About Me

In writing the "About Me" portion of this blog I thought about the purpose of the blog - namely, preventing the growth of Socialism & stopping the Death Of Democracy in the American Republic & returning her to the "liberty to abundance" stage of our history. One word descriptions of people's philosophies or purposes are quite often inadequate. I feel that I am "liberal" meaning that I am broad minded, independent, generous, hospitable, & magnanimous. Under these terms "liberal" is a perfectly good word that has been corrupted over the years to mean the person is a left-winger or as Mark Levin more accurately wrote in his book "Liberty & Tyranny" a "statist" - someone looking for government or state control of society. I am certainly not that & have dedicated the blog to fighting this. I believe that I find what I am when I consider whether or not I am a "conservative" & specifically when I ask what is it that I am trying to conserve? It is the libertarian principles that America was founded upon & originally followed. That is the Return To Excellence that this blog is named for & is all about.

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Removing The Influence Of BO, de Blasio, & Sharpton Is Key To Solving Race Problems

"The (anti-police) rhetoric this time is not from the usual suspects, but from the Mayor of New York City, the Attorney General of the United States, & even the President.  It emboldens criminals & sends a message that every encounter a black person has with a police officer is one to be feared." - Howard Safir, former NYC Police Commissioner from 1996 to 2000 under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, writing online for Time magazine on December 21, 2014. 
 
The Thin Blue Line Emblem used by law enforcement to commemorate fallen officers.
 
Even the least discerning among us must sense that BO has raised the stakes for America since the 2014 midterm elections with his executive actions regarding 1) the biggest rewrite of U.S. immigration policy in decades that removes the threat of deportation for millions of illegal immigrants & 2) the normalization of relations with Cuba that will do nothing but aid the Castro brothers who will wind up with any tourist or trade money as the general population remains tyrannized.  In addition BO has escalated the release of prisoners from the Guantanamo prison & has consistently worked to harm race relations during his entire term as former Police Commissioner Safir describes above. 
 
These are not the type of issues we faced with Jimmy Carter when he told us to put on a sweater in the winter, raise the thermostat setting in the summer, & comply with voluntary wage and price controls – in short the good old days.
 
After becoming Mayor of NYC in 2014 Bill de Blasio joined BO @ the top of the most committed anti-American communist leaders elected to high office by We the People of the United States.  Such politicians @ this level clearly plan to confiscate the wealth created in America through any one of several methods – the most stunning involving the takeover of the military & police.  Think NoKo or Cuba except with infinitely more wealth to confiscate - & that is why the focus is on America & not Darfur for instance.
 
However, de Blasio never thought things could go wrong this quickly for him but the murders of two NYC police officers on December 20 jeopardizes his plans to make everyone in NYC wards of the city except for a very few elites. 
 
After all in November 2013 de Blasio had won the Mayor's race 72% to 28% after clearly campaigning on anti-police priorities such as reining in the "stop & frisk" police technique that had been so successful in cleaning up NYC crime.  In addition de Blasio had campaigned on raising taxes on high income earners, stopping the practice of closing low performing schools, & slowing the growth of charter schools.  The new mayor was sworn in by Bill Clinton with Hillary on stage nodding & clapping approvingly in a sign of things they hope to see nationally.
 
Recently de Blasio & BO along with their joint top aide & adviser, Al Sharpton, had all encouraged the on going anti-police protests centered around the grand jury decisions to not indict policemen in the Mike Brown death in Ferguson, Missouri last August & the Eric Garner death last July in Staten Island.  Because of these protests New Yorkers have had to tolerate bridge closings, department store "die-ins", & street blockages – all unsafe incidents themselves that could produce violence.  As the protests became more hate filled – calling for the death of police officers – a deranged man in Baltimore was motivated by these events & came to NYC & murdered the aforementioned two NYC policemen.
 
Now if a man has a killer dog on a leash & he unleashes the dog from time to time to kill babies do you blame the killer dog or do you hold the man responsible who let the dog loose?  BO's, de Blasio's, & Sharpton's support of the protesters represent the man with the leash in this analogy.  Turgot answered the question over 200 years ago – "One ought to execute the author & not the project."
 
This is the issue for reasonable people in America (& particularly NYC) to decide as the stakes for America keep getting higher as BO's term in office winds down.  We are desperate for leadership that can bring peace & stop those intent on destroying more of America than they already have.  De Blasio & Patrick Lynch (President of The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York) have informally agreed to stop arguing until the two slain police officers are buried – but de Blasio's erstwhile pal Sharpton will have none of it & has continued to egg on the protesters. 
 
The continuance of the protests, as Sharpton (& BO & de Blasio) prefers will inevitably lead to the killing of both more blacks & police officers thereby keeping the cycle going.  Until people on both sides can get passed emotions & try to see the points of view of those on the other side there will be no end to the disorder. 
 
Following the principles of the Constitutional Convention each side should appoint delegates to a convention who are thought to be capable of dedicating themselves to determine the kind of society they wish to live in.  Getting these type of people into the world of ideas may quickly result in any number of solutions that will clearly distinguish right from wrong thereby ending the strife & accordingly exposing BO, de Blasio, & Sharpton as the agitators who are causing all of the trouble.
 
The best thing that can happen is for blacks to realize BO & by extension de Blasio & Sharpton have been working against them all along.  The sooner that blacks discard these agitators from their lives the better for everyone.
 
For instance, if BO's recovery had been as strong as the average Reagan-Clinton recoveries, per capita GDP would be $6,678 higher & 15.8 million more Americans would be @ work today.  -  Source Phil Gramm & Mike Solon. 
 
With regard to blacks Steve Moore reports that the median black household income fell by nearly $3,000 from June 2009 to June 2014 – all so called recovery years.  The BLS reports black unemployment in November was 11.1% & teenage black unemployment was 28.1%.
 
To help us all in this regard – black or white, Hispanic or Asian, man or woman, straight or homosexual – just ask yourself to name one of the policies, practices, or executive actions listed hereinbefore that will help anyone in America?  Even make it wider - is there one initiative that BO has ever proposed that would help businesses grow & invest so that high quality jobs would be created?
 
BO has clever distinctive techniques that he uses on all of us – for blacks it is to keep them discontented with their perceived circumstances so that they are made to feel they are victims in a white world where everything is stacked against them.  The above results show just how ineffective BO has been in helping blacks & of course that is by design so that fifty years from now America will be facing the exact same problems as today & a hustler like BO will be there to carry on with identical deleterious results.  BO's only fear is that blacks catch on in which case it is game over for him & people like de Blasio & Sharpton.
 
But BO, de Blasio, & Sharpton have come too far in their destructive pursuit of evil.  Their plan is to demoralize the police & military so the type of officers who were murdered in cold blood on December 20 will leave the force & new people of their quality do not replace them.  BO & de Blasio could never force a takeover of the country as long as the military & police are served by men of the caliber of the two officers who were slain in Brooklyn on December 20.  But when enough of the replacements are of the caliber of the current protesters you will have a condition ripe for take over of America.
 
It could be a long road to travel before this is over but it doesn't have to be - as described above.
 
Meanwhile click here to hear the late Paul Harvey's recording entitled "The Policeman" that was originally played for Mr. Harvey's radio audience in 1970.
 
Paul was three when his father, a policeman, was murdered in 1921. 
 
 

Monday, December 22, 2014

USAF Band Provides Christmas Doubleheader

The Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum has been the site of the U.S. Air Force band's flash mob Christmas celebration the past two years.
 
Click here for the 2013 performance & here for the 2014 performance.
 
 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Safety Awareness Insights

Upon receipt of the excellent safety suggestions below that were sent to me from a long time subscriber to RTE I in turn sent them to my friend – the Somerville Chief of Police - for further insight. 
 
Chief Manning, who also is a subscriber to RTE, called & told me that the points of the message are basically good but that readers should use them mostly to increase their awareness of potentially dangerous conditions – not as a universal panacea for every specific unsafe situation that could cause physical harm.
 
The Chief explained that probably all of the points below have been used somewhere @ sometime (example he gave – elbow is the strongest part of your body) but it is best to read the entire message to see & understand the principles involved to help become aware of your personal surroundings like when you are going to your car that is parked on the outskirts of a large parking lot that could be fraught with danger.  Being able to anticipate danger & act preemptively is the key to remaining safe.
 
The Chief thinks the point of messages like the one below is to make people think so that they know how to deviate from specifics as need be to remain safe.
 
As such, please read the points below with the insight provided above by the best policeman I have ever known.
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Democrat Report On Alleged CIA Torture Part Of Concerted Plan To Disarm The Military & Police

After learning last week that MIT Professor Jon Gruber would be hauled before the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform this past Tuesday to testify about his remarks regarding the stupidity of the American voter & the advantage BO obtained in passing ObamaCare by the lack of transparency of the entire process I was certain that @ least some of the news media would have been full of reports on Gruber's testimony immediately upon its completion – if not before.

How wrong I was because the long delayed Democrat majority Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA detention & interrogation practices in the wake of 9/11 (over thirteen years ago) was released simultaneously with Gruber's testimony.  It is a reestablishment of Gruber's stupidity comments about Americans to think that the citizenry would believe that the $40 million 500 page summary & the 6,700 page report just happened along @ the very moment that Gruber's damaging testimony would dominate some airwaves.  We find out more & more every day just how stupid BO thinks we are.

As we all know it was, is, & will continue to be the aforementioned Democrat majority report that dominates the airwaves as Gruber fades into oblivion.  MSNBC, not even mentioning Gruber that I saw, was all over the possibility that Americans used torture against Islamic Fascists who would behead Americans as soon as look @ them while other outlets like FNC & the WSJ offered scant coverage of Gruber.

Now while everybody these days is offended @ the least little old thing I am offended to think that it is possible that the U.S. government did not do everything it could to protect the country not only after 9/11 but any time or does not conduct interrogations to obtain the most information possible by whatever means.  I don't think it is a political winner for BO to think that Americans are more concerned about the safety & comfort of hard core terrorists intent on killing us than it is to protect the country by whatever means possible.

The problem over the decades is that America has fought too many wars not to win.  Whether it was seeing our troops killed in Iraq by IEDs (improvised explosive devices) with signs on them that said "made in Iran" or currently having our citizens humiliated @ airports by assuming they are guilty until some TSA screener pronounces them innocent using a government scan is just another sign of the complacency & apathy that overrides our country.

Over the past week I have gone through stores & heard Brenda Lee sing Rockin Around The Christmas Tree or Bobby Helms sing Jingle Bell Rock so many times I am certain we are losing the war on Christmas if we haven't lost it already.  The constant playing of these songs, nice as they are, represent a movement away from the traditional Christmas carols we used to hear all month long this time of year including after December 25. 

People hear Brenda & Bobby sing these songs & think it is Christmas when it is Christmas that is being taken away with no one noticing except our enemies.

But getting back to Gruber, before even I forget him, the deliberate news drop @ the time of Gruber's testimony of the Senate report that has become known as The Torture Report removed Gruber's damaging testimony about ObamaCare from the news cycles & ensures it will fade in memory. 

This emphasis on alleged torture by the CIA is part of a concerted plan by our enemies that includes disarming & hampering the military & police.  Who would want to be in the military, border patrol, or a policeman, where the morale has to be very low, with all the vilification they have encountered as evidenced by the three recent police cases where unarmed people, none of whom were cooperating with the police, were killed?  Extend this to CIA officials where not only is the morale also very low – @ a known dangerous time – but their concern down the line is very real especially when they remember that one of BO's promises made to John Conyers was to indict Bush officials for war crimes – including Bush & Cheney.

I have listed on RTE The Five Points Of Citizen Control.  We lost the first four points a long time ago – poor government school system,  hostile anti-American media, judges who cannot tell right from wrong, & Hollywood where a weak, free with no responsibilities, & non-wealth creating society is portrayed as the norm..   The fifth point of citizen control is to gain control of the military & police forces so that the people will have no choice but to capitulate any remaining rights not already lost under the first four points.

A lot of what we see today in Ferguson, Staten Island, Cleveland, airports, department stores, the Democrat Torture Report, & our healthcare system under ObamaCare continues the undermining of America – if we let it.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

BO's Plan To Ingrain A Permanent Underclass Can Be Overturned

"Unfortunately, Democrats blew the opportunity the American people gave them.  We took their mandate & put all of our focus on the wrong problem: healthcare reform.  It wasn't the change we were hired to make; Americans were crying out for an end to the recession, for better wages & more jobs, not for changes in their healthcare. . . only a third of the uninsured are even registered to vote – about 5% of the electorate . . . to aim a huge change in mandate @ such a small percentage of the electorate made no political sense."  - NY Senator Chuck Schumer speaking @ the National Press Club last month.  Schumer went on to say that Democrats must focus on the presidential race of 2016 by specifying policies "that, if enacted, would actually improve lives & incomes. . . had we started more broadly, the middle class would have been more receptive to the idea that President Obama wanted to help them" correctly implying that none of BO's policies did this.
 
***
 
Now the first part of Schumer's remarks above are completely true.  But regarding the last statement, Democrats may run for political office pretending to "help improve lives & incomes" but that has been the farthest thing from BO's mind as well as anyone else's mind who joined up with him the last six years - like Schumer.  BO's plan is, & continues to be, to make people totally dependent on government - both financially through taxes & physically through universal healthcare.  BO has virtually accomplished this & now Schumer worries about the next election which for him comes up in 2016.
 
From the very beginning BO has had an agenda designed to ingrain a permanent underclass of government dependent people on the citizens of the American republic.  Until everyone, especially his political opponents such as congressional Republicans, start to clearly articulate an eloquent, effective, & persuasive understanding of this we are working @ a disadvantage.  For instance, recently Charles Krauthammer laid out an excellent commentary on BO's immigration lawlessness but when asked if he thought BO was dishonest he replied "no, of course not," thereby losing all credibility @ least with me.  Only Jon Voight & RTE (& possibly Democrat pollster Pat Caddell) consistently express the reality of the destructive lie that has been perpetrated on America the last six years – those who make excuses for BO, give him the benefit of the doubt, or do not recognize what has been happening after six years in plain sight of one example after another are either complicit or are just trying to build ratings for some TV program by changing positions from time to time.
 
But getting back to Schumer's remarks – both Schumer & Ringside Reid took losing the Senate Democrat majority & therefore control of the Senate to Republicans very badly.  Many Dems believe that BO's delay in processing the executive action on immigration hurt Hispanic turnout in the election – meaning Republicans won since low turnout is the most reliable way for Republicans to win any election.
 
BO knows that over 30% of Hispanics under 65 in the U.S. lack healthcare insurance – the highest rate for any group.  BO is making a major effort to sign Hispanics up for healthcare in 2015 after their small participation in 2014 – thereby once again revealing his two major goals of universal healthcare & comprehensive immigration reform.  Right from the start in 2008 BO promised that he would reintroduction comprehensive immigration reform during his first year with all of its welfare laden benefits thereby building up additional future votes for himself, his wife, or other like minded statists.  BO didn't deliver, even though he had control of Congress his first two years in office, and now he has decided to act & accordingly has painted Republicans in a corner with his unlawful executive actions.
 
Sooner or later deceits like BO's catch up with the perpetrators.  During the past six years Ringside Reid has blocked literally hundreds of bills from reaching the Senate floor for a vote thereby providing BO (& Democrat senators) with the luxury of never having to make a decision on anything – giving the appearance of non-involvement & innocence to the poorly educated disengaged citizenry.  This should change in 2015 with Republican control of Congress especially since all of the promises BO made six years ago have not been kept to labor unions (card check), the anti-war movement (shut down the Guantanamo prison & pull all troops out of Afghanistan & Iraq), environmentalists (cap & trade's huge energy taxes), Pelosi (seizing IRAs like Argentina did), & Conyers (indicting Bush officials on war crimes).
 
Schumer's comments above makes it appear that there are divisions in the Democrat Party – but it could be as simple as the lifers like Schumer realize they have ridden BO's horse as far as he thinks it will carry him & his colleagues so they go back to a faux position of acting like they want to help middle class Americans after spending the last six years trying to destroy them.
 
All of this gives Republicans an opening if they can develop an agenda they can clearly convey especially by showing they believe it themselves – an agenda based on the libertarian principles the country was founded upon & originally followed.
 
 

Monday, December 1, 2014

BO Is No Ordinary Lame Duck

BO's recent executive action – the biggest rewrite of U.S. immigration policy in decades – has taught Republicans, & for that matter the entire country, that BO is no ordinary lame duck content on just living out his days in the White House the last two long years of his presidency.  BO is intent on continuing his destructive anti-American plans right up to 12 noon on January 20, 2017.
 
BO's latest onslaught will allow over four million illegal aliens who are parents of children born in America, who are claimed to be American citizens – but not by me, to obtain work permits that allow them to apply for work legally.  The executive action removes the threat of deportation for these people.  An additional 270,000 people are eligible for protection from deportation under the Deferred  Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) expansion that is also part of BO's executive action.  All tolled almost five million illegal aliens initially benefit – more to come.
 
So much for the sensitivities of the people who are following the legal steps to become citizens & are still waiting in line or the concerns for low income working Americans who have been out of work for many months & now face additional competition for the few jobs that are available from the illegals who will come out of the shadows on January 1.  Like the rest of us, these people who are trying to follow the rules, are all pawns to BO.
 
Now just what steps can the Republicans take to counter BO's executive actions?
 
1.  Republicans can't pass a comprehensive immigration bill because BO cannot be trusted to enforce the parts of the bill he does not like such as securing the border – whatever that really means – just think, what does it mean?  Accordingly passing a bill, as he dares Republicans to do, leads to BO's checkmate of the Republican Party in that the floodgates open for future Democrat voters as BO lets in only those who please him.  If Republicans do not have enough firepower to stop this latest offensive they will be even more disarmed after getting in deeper by passing a legal bill enforced @ random by BO. 
 
2.  Republicans can't withhold funds from BO's plans because U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (CIS), the DHS agency that will finance BO's programs, is self funding in that it collects fees for its services – i.e., - Congress has no power of purse control over them.
 
3.  Republicans have the option to take BO & his obvious unconstitutional actions to court but we all know how that worked out in 2012 with the legal challenge to ObamaCare.  Republicans could lose again thereby setting another dangerous legal precedent as if we need another dangerous legal precedent.  Courts supposedly don't want to get involved in battles between the two elected branches – they often dismiss the lawsuits as "political questions" to be decided by the electorate – I wish someone would have told that to Roberts in 2012 in the ObamaCare case.
 
4.  With none of the above options viable (& throw in the fool's errand impeachment option as another) it is best for Republicans to work with their own agenda like the Keystone XL pipeline & spoon feed any immigration bills one @ a time thereby constantly drumming home BO's unconstitutional executive actions.  Elections have consequences & this is the best way for Americans to learn them – the hard way.  It is best to let the next two years play out with Republicans taking the most positive action possible on all of the issues.
 
BO has obviously painted Boehner & McConnell in a corner – for now.  To come out of this corner every action they take should be to present an agenda of optimism & prosperity where freedom is the supreme principle.
 

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Thanksgiving Proclamation In The Year Of The Independence Of The United States Of America The One Hundred & Fiftieth

While in another room I recently heard the following Thanksgiving Proclamation read on TV – One America News, a channel worth giving a chance to.  As I listened I wondered what the reading was from since it was so foreign to present day America.  I learned it was from President Coolidge's 1925 proclamation & I present it below.
***
Calvin Coolidge__________________________
XXX President of the United States: 1923-1929


Proclamation 1753 – Thanksgiving Day, 1925
October 26, 1925


By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation

The season approaches when, in accordance with a long established and respected custom, a day is set apart to give thanks to Almighty God for the manifold blessings which His gracious and benevolent providence has bestowed upon us as a nation and as individuals.


We have been brought with safety and honor through another year, and, through the generosity of nature, He has blessed us with resources whose potentiality in wealth is almost incalculable; we are at peace at home and abroad; the public health is good; we have been undisturbed by pestilences or great catastrophes; our harvests and our industries have been rich in productivity; our commerce spreads over the whole world, and Labor has been well rewarded for its remunerative service.


As we have grown and prospered in material things, so also should we progress in moral and spiritual things. We are a God-fearing people who should set ourselves against evil and strive for righteousness in living, and observing the Golden Rule we should from our abundance help and serve those less fortunately placed. We should bow in gratitude to God for His many favors.

Now, Therefore, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States, do hereby set apart Thursday, the twenty-sixth day of November next as a day of general thanksgiving and prayer, and I recommend that on that day the people shall cease from their daily work, and in their homes or in their accustomed places of worship, devoutly give thanks to the Almighty for the many and great blessings they have received, and to seek His guidance that they may deserve a continuance of His favor.


In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.


Done at the City of Washington this 26th day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and fiftieth.

Calvin Coolidge






Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Gruber's Honesty Reveals The Truth About The Uninformed American Voter

Gruber is politically incorrect for making his remarks regarding voter stupidity & I am politically incorrect for saying he is right.
 
***
 
MIT Professor Jon Gruber has turned into the unwelcome leprous outcast of the Democrat party simply by saying what, by all known evidence, is true regarding "the stupidity of the American voter."  After Gruber received almost $6 million in consulting fees, mostly from the federal government (HHS, NIH, DOJ, & DOS), BO referred to Gruber as "some adviser who never worked on our staff" & Pelosi claims to not even know who Gruber is.  The White House records show Gruber had over a dozen scheduled appointments during the development of ObamaCare – including with people like the deputy assistant to the president for health policy & the director of OMB.  Their positions now show exactly how stupid BO & Pelosi think we are by just simply denying knowing Gruber with all this money paid to him & all of his White House appointments.
 
Now for those who never realized that the Democrat party has called into question or otherwise doubted or had suspicions about their constituents' intellect the past six years (really longer) or that the Republican party & FNC anchors like Jeanine Pirro, Martha MacCallum, & Greta Van Susteren had defended this same intellect for about the past six nights please consider the following Gruber quotes:
 
"Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage.  And basically, you know, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing (ObamaCare) to pass."
 
"Over time it's gonna apply to more & more health insurance plans [referring to the excise tax on high end (Cadillac) healthcare insurance plans]."  The "tax that starts out hitting only 8% of the insurance plans essentially amounts over the next 20 years (to) essentially getting rid of the (income tax) exclusion for employer-sponsored plans." – referring to more tax revenue coming into the treasury @ the expense of the individual taxpayer who Gruber feels will never realize what happened.
 
"We just tax the insurance companies, they pass on higher prices that offsets the tax break we get,  it ends up being the same thing.  It's a very clever, you know, basic exploitation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter." – further elaboration of the point directly above
 
It is hard to call someone smart who puts the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle in place after being oblivious that a puzzle was being worked on during the entire process.  That is the analogy I draw after writing about ObamaCare since its inception.  In this case the last piece of the puzzle is Gruber telling everyone the answer.  After six years of abuse, on November 4 one fifth of the voting eligible population finally made a strong statement against BO.  The other 80% still are not smart & remain an easy target for more Gruber-like tricks.
 
In addition to the above remarks Gruber said that "seniors do a terrible job choosing" healthcare plans.  About five years ago I asked a group of senior citizens what Medicare Supplement plan they had & not one in ten knew – they may not be stupid but it is hard to call these people healthcare smart.
 
Republicans were quick to jump on the Gruber remarks but it was the Republican party that nominated Mitt Romney for president in 2012 after Gruber helped orchestrate RomneyCare in Massachusetts.  Not too smart to throw rocks while living in a glass house.
 
The Supreme Court is a major player in this ObamaCare charade.  After all in 2012 the Supremes agreed to unconstitutionally hear the case & then nonsensically found they cannot regulate a non-activity but they can tax it & accordingly pronounced ObamaCare the law of the land.  Now in my judging whether or not something is constitutional I first ask myself what would the Founders approve of re the matter & then check the Constitution itself – which will never let you down.  In the ObamaCare matter the Founders would never have found it constitutional & neither did KY Senator Rand Paul who correctly said "just because a couple of people on the Supreme court declare something 'constitutional' does not make it so.  The whole thing remains unconstitutional."  How smart is it for 320 million people to let nine unelected judges decide such a matter?
 
But the Supremes have another bite @ the apple & once again unconstitutionally accepted a case regarding State Versus Federal Health Insurance Exchanges - ObamaCare's Double Edged Sword.   Gruber is front & center again in this one saying "if you're a state & you don't set up an exchange, that means your citizens don't get their tax credits. . . I hope that that's a blatant enough political reality that states will get their act together & realize there are billions of dollars @ stake here in setting up these exchanges."  This statement provides a wealth of ammunition for the anti-ObamaCare attorneys & if Gruber indeed has credibility it could help bring down the entire law as people in the thirty seven states that did not set up their own state exchanges do not receive tax credits (subsidies).  Checkmate on Gruber himself for stupidity. 
 
Let's complete the stupidity circle with first BO & then Pelosi reversing course by lauding Gruber before disowning him to one degree or another above, followed by a Pelosi-Gruber video that sums up the matter & an excellent montage entitled All of #GruberGate in Two Minutes.
 
So where does this leave the American Republic on the eve of 2015 with two years remaining in the mistake known as BO's presidency? 
 
Will the past six years have sufficiently shown the public that BO is not pursuing the same goals as every other president? – in fact BO has consistently demonstrated without end he is the biggest enemy the country has faced since King George III.  Will the public grasp the dangers America has faced & will continue to face with even more intensity the next two years under BO's insidious skillful training as a community organizer following Saul Alinsky's Socialist-Marxist method described in the book "Rules For Radicals"?  BO gets away with his onslaught against America if it is not explained from every rooftop that none of what has happened since January 20, 2009 is not by accident but rather by purposeful design by an enemy of America who campaigned to fundamentally transform America – for the worst.
 
We have an indication that the twenty percent of the voting eligible population who voted the Democrats out of office earlier this month deserve another chance. 
 
But are we, as a country, sophisticated enough to understand the Socratic maxim that the recognition of our ignorance is the beginning of wisdom as Hayek taught?  It is a gigantic leap to believe that the majority of Americans could go from all of the mistakes documented above, where in truth they could not be bothered with even the least degree of civic responsibility or concern for their own welfare, to a position now where suddenly they understand the stakes involved.  
 

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Pass The Salt

Click on photos to enlarge
 
Thanks to a long time subscriber for sending the above two photos that show a typical modern day @ the beach & a museum respectively.  He sent many more similar photos but the above two make the point. 
 
Click on Pass The Salt to see how a member of an older generation got caught up in the technology of his day.
 

Monday, November 10, 2014

Mindset Change - Dependency To Freedom - Republicans Have The Chance To Make It Happen

"Doug - Now GOP better work smart & pass pro market legislation even if vetoed. They must make case for the private economy and I hope the FairTax soon. Need great communicators. McConnell is weak in this." – Our Wall Street Finance VP.

"I'm just watching the talking heads on all the news outlets. They seem to be like politicians as they can say anything they want & are not held accountable. However a loud & clear message has been sent to BO.  Now let's see if this latest batch of gutless politicians are any better that the last ones (I doubt it)." – My brother-in-law.
 
"I was wrong in predicting Republicans would lose the election.  I thought BO would make a big push for Hispanics to vote - he did not.  I thought he would make immigration an issue - he did not.  I thought people would remember Republicans were not doing anything positive in Congress - people forgot that.  Do not be surprised in the next election if Democrats win – assuming that Republicans pass bills that cater to the rich & ignore the general population." – The Historian.
 
Click on photo to enlarge
 
The above three messages, received from long time subscribers to RTE, are representative of the uneasiness that people in general view the results of Tuesday's midterm elections.
 
After the House Republican freshman class of 2010 capitulated within three months of taking their oath of office in January 2011 we have every reason to be uneasy again.  The 2010 midterm did not set a reassuring precedent – see Only 21 Of 87 Freshman House Republicans Are Still With You for details.
 
We start this time with the contradictory Mitch McConnell, the presumed new Senate majority leader, not making us feel better when, during a debate with his feckless opponent the week before the election, he endorsed Kentucky Kynect, the ObamaCare website in Kentucky that has been used by over 400,000 people to sign up for ObamaCare – mostly through the Medicaid expansion feature of the law.  Although Mitch assures us that he wants to tear out ObamaCare "root & branch" his endorsement of the website is disconcerting & I am scared to death that it is an indication of more contradictions to come. 
 
It is true that the majority of 2014 Senate midterms were held in Republican home-court states, defined as states that BO lost in 2012, which put most Senate Democrats @ a disadvantage.  But the real story of the midterms was the record low turnout & the profile of that turnout that has allowed one fifth of the voting eligible population to make such a strong statement against BO.  The pre-election polls that called for one squeaker after another missed the low turnout, meaning they thought more Democrats would vote than actually did.  See graph below for turnout.
 
 
  Click on graph to enlarge
 
The electorate in 2014 was "far whiter, more male, older, & angrier" than in 2008 & 2012 when BO won the presidency.  Seventy five percent of the electorate was white in 2014.  This profile of the electorate may never be repeated in a winning combination for Republicans as the share of white voters declines & older voters die.  For instance Democrats won the under 45 vote, the female vote, & the Black & Latino vote but Republicans won the 45 & over vote with heavy influence by both those white voters over 65 & male voters.  Click here to see the entire breakdown
 
Turnout is measured in three ways: 1) as the percent of actual voters to those who were registered, 2) the percent of voters to the voting age population (VAP) , & 3) the most accurate measurement - the percent of voters to those eligible to vote – the voting-eligible population (VEP).
 
The 2014 midterm VEP was 36.6% versus 40.9% in the 2010 midterm.  Only twelve of the fifty states turned out a higher percentage of eligible voters in 2014 than in 2010.
 
In raw numbers this means that 83 million people voted in 2014 & 144 million people eligible to vote did not vote.  Now if the turnout in 2016 is the normal 60% presidential turnout then @ least another 53 million people will vote in 2016 – not counting population growth.  This means the profile of the electorate in 2016 will be substantially different from the one that voted last week. 
 
Republican pundits like Laura Ingraham & Ann Coulter took comfort that statewide candidates in Texas (44% gov & 48% senate) & Georgia (47% gov & 42% senate) scored over 40% with Latino voters - but the overall percentage of Latino support for Republicans is under 40% which is not enough to win a national election & is actually down from the 2010 midterm election so we can't say that Latinos broke for Republicans.  See Pew Research Center graphic below – notice the Latino gap actually increased from 22% in 2010 to 26% in 2014.
 
Click on graphic to enlarge
 
The small total electorate in 2014 will expand in 2016 – the 2014 electorate consisted of people who were responsible & motivated to vote.  The 2016 electorate will include the Latinos, Blacks, Asians, & single women who need a presidential figure to lure them to the polls with the idea of getting something for nothing.  "These are entitlement seeking voters strongly lured to vote for what keeps them in the same place - not developing their talents, not seeking new and more promising employment opportunities; rather many just desire a continuation of entitlements, oblivious that continued policies will soon jeopardize these entitlements" writes our Wall Street Finance VP.
 
It took six years before enough people finally realized that their own government was purposely being made the enemy to their way of life under BO's policies – thus the rejection of the Democrat candidates last Tuesday for the most part.  People voted against the status quo because the status quo had become so egregious for Republicans & Independents while Democrats stayed home because they saw BO's promises of hope had been hollow all along.
 
People saw through false issues like the Republican "war on women" to the point that one losing Democrat candidate was labeled "Mark Uterus."  The insincerity of the Democrat campaigns was best illustrated though by Michelle Obama when she campaigned in Iowa for a person she did not know.  Click here to hear MO finally being corrected after giving out a fictitious website that has now grown in mock popularity.
 
Nevertheless for now BO will be slowed down & Republicans have a chance – but a chance for what?
 
Many pundits have told Republicans to go slow or to present bills that BO has to sign or if he vetoes them he will show how Harry Reid has protected him from governing during his entire presidency.
 
That is fine as far as it goes but it is a complete mindset change from dependency to freedom that is needed & the Republicans have the chance to make it happen.
 
To turn the country around the newly elected Republicans have to show that the problem with America is not economic but political.  In this regard they must unleash the free enterprise system so that businesses are no longer seen as the enemy but rather the way to prosperity especially for the much maligned middle class.  They have to show that the Federal Reserve, in cahoots with BO, is swindling Americans @ the median income level out of $1,000 per year in purchasing power with their seemingly benign policy of 2% inflation each year.
 
They have to change the mindset expressed by Hillary Clinton when she said that businesses do not create jobs.  Republicans have to explain what a job really is under a free enterprise system – namely, an opportunity to create more present or future value for an employer than it costs to maintain the worker in the job.  If the employee's value drops below the cost of maintaining the employee the job disappears & that of course includes minimum wage jobs.
 
It must be pointed out that none of BO's policies create one job that results in wealth creation - how do you create sustainable wealth-producing jobs by taxing income?  How do small businesses expand when you increase taxes?  What economic freedom principles are enhanced when you raise taxes? 
 
Republicans have the chance to go back to basics & govern like they really believe it – that the general Welfare of the United States is best served by people – men & women, homosexual & straight, Hispanic, Black, & Asian, – working in the cooperation that is the free market capitalistic system – this is the inclusive message that they never clearly deliver.  America's brightest future will be realized when all of the really unclever gamesmanships that BO & the Democrats play are not just put aside but are unmasked as the domestic enemy of America that has infected our country with the clear intent of ruining everyone's chance @ the American dream.  Republicans have to show government dependent Democrats – "Romney's 47%" of the people who are dependent on government, believe they are victims entitled to government handouts, & pay no income tax - that they are not getting anywhere.  Republicans have to positively reach these people to improve their lives with free market policies they undertake.
 
We have to face that something different happened in November 2008 & it was confirmed in 2012 – & that something is evil & a deliberate deception to overrun our country.  The last six years has not been about the usual sort of things the two parties argue over & take turns winning elections over.  These years have been about robbing liberty from people by increasing dependency on government & promoting destructive class warfare & envy & there was no end in sight to this nightmare until last Tuesday & no foreseeable practical solution other than for those of us who still believe in America to teach & live the libertarian principles that our country was founded upon.  Start with the thought of freedom & explain that all prosperity comes from unleashing the free human intellect.  If we lose with that message all is lost anyway @ least until John Galt comes forth.