Category Archives: Political polemics

TIMES PREDICTS END OF AMERICA

Posted on February 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

“We’ve always known that America’s reign as the world’s greatest nation would eventually end.” On that dour note the New York Times begins to tell us why that end may come sooner rather than later. Typically Times.

As they see it, we are at risk of  “re-enacting the dissolution of 18th-century Poland” when “By 1795 Poland had disappeared”…”not to re-emerge for more than a century.” According to the article it took only one objector to block any piece of new legislation at the time and that led to the nations demise.

How is America being put at risk of vanishing like Poland?  It’s the Republicans. Their party is now out of power. So they are doing what Democrats do when Democrats are out of power, namely, use procedural rules to their advantage.  In our republican form of government we not only want our representatives in office to do good, we also expect them to prevent bad. When totally out of power you can’t do much good but you can prevent some bad. That’s what’s happening and the newspaper doesn’t like it.

By the way, New York Times, I trust the “We”  in your opening sentence means – we, the New York Times. It certainly does not include me.

Bob B

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LECH WALESA, REMEMBER HIM?

Posted on February 8, 2010 | 3 comments

Lech Walesa -, founder of the first independent labor union in the Soviet Bloc, leader of the Polish Solidarity movement, hero to many in the Balkan nations, rose to become President of Poland. That’s quite a list of accomplishments for a man whose formal education never reached the level equivalent to  high school graduate. What he did have is an abundance of integrity, common sense and courage.

The intelligencia of Poland were critical of him, for his earthiness. The farmers and factory workers respected him, for his earthiness. Honest people everywhere respected him for his integrity. He is a man of simple words that express profound truths.

Lech Walesa is in America today in support of the gubernatorial candidate for the state of Illinois. To be sure, he shares a common heritage with candidate Adam Andrzejewski, but more than empathy for a fellow Pole is afoot here. Walesa loves his country and fears for its future given the recent turn of affairs in America. He sees support of Andrzejewski as a move toward restoring a greater measure of security for Poland. Listen to him as he speaks (via interpreter):

“The United States is the only one superpower.
Today they lead the world, no one doubts, militarily.
They also lead economically but are getting weak.
But they don’t lead morally or politically any more.
The world has no leadership.
There was hope that whenever something was going wrong we could always count on the United States. Today we have lost that hope.” (emphasis mine)

The entire video is here, courtesy of Founding Bloggers.

I am saddened by the truth this man speaks.

Bob B

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PALIN AND THE PLUMBER

Posted on February 7, 2010 | Leave a comment

No, this is not a sequel to Lady Chatterley’s Lover. But Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber do have something in common. Both were the subject of instant, vicious and very personal attacks from the left.

Promptly upon McCain’s announcement of his choice for running mate, a passel of investigative lawyers were dispatched to Alaska to explore, not for gold but for dirt. The Daily Kos crowd railed against both Joe and Sarah. The charge that the Palins lied about who was the real mother of baby Trig was first levied less than 10 hours following Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech. Joe the plumber’s integrity was called into question when some researcher discovered the plumber’s first name was not Joe, but Samuel. The fact that his middle name is Joseph remained unsaid. Ohio government workers were given the illegal task of rummaging through confidential files in search of something to discredit workingman Joe.

Watching all this unfold reminded me of one fateful day when I was a child, growing up on the coast in the great state of Maine. Dad was working on a customer’s boat and I was sliding down a dirt bank on the nearby shore. Boys do those things. I slid right through a massive nest of ground bees. The bees did not like it. Instant, vicious and personal came the united attack, a sample of community organization at its best.

Palin and the plumber, two fine and decent Americans suddenly and viciously were set upon by those perceiving a direct assault threatening their ideology, responding like that swarm of bees suffering a direct assault on their home in the turf.

I hold no grudge against the bees. But I find it difficult to be as generous to those who attack people who have ideas when they should be directing their attacks at the ideas, not the people.

Bob B

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BUSH MADE ME DO IT, part II

Posted on February 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

We found a theme song to go with our post BUSH MADE ME DO IT. I hope you enjoy it. It is Random Thots first audio offering.
Click the triangular play button and read the lyrics while you listen to Kathleen sing

Blame it on the Last Administration    by Kathleen Stewart

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BUSH MADE ME DO IT

Posted on February 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

A group of Republican Congressmen snookered Obama into meeting with them in Minnesota on January 29th. Paul Ryan (R-WI) asked the President why he had found it necessary to increase discretionary spending by 84%.  Obama said – Bush made me do it!

The exact words he used to say this were ” The fact of the matter is, is that most of the increases in this year’s budget, this past year’s budget, were not as a consequence of policies that we initiated but instead were built in as a consequence of the automatic stabilizers that kick in because of this enormous recession. So the increase in the budget for this past year was actually predicted before I was even sworn into office”

I can see it now. The year is 2012. The location is Iowa. The speaker is incumbent President Barack Obama. He speaks…” My fellow Americans, unemployment is touching 20%. The stock market is the lowest it has been since I took office, and mortgage foreclosures hit an historic high last month. I have said it before and I will say it again, I inherited this mess. As you know, the prior administration left this nation in such dreadful shape that even I could not put it back together in just 4 years.

When you walk past the SEIU polling place peacekeepers in November remember, what the world needs now is more Hope. Vote for more Hope. Your vote is important. Every vote counts. Vote as often as you can.

I have delivered on my promise. Scientists all agree, the oceans have not risen since I came to power. I can do the same for this alleged great nation as I did for the seas, but, as I said from the beginning it will take time. Give me 4 more years and you will see even greater Change.

(With a wave of the hand he departs ) Glad to be with you! And May God Change America”

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EXECUTIVE ORDER WATCH

Posted on February 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

Wm F Buckley said “A liberal is someone who wants to reach into your shower and adjust the water temperature.” In today’s political environment, timid soul that I am, I’m reluctant to step into the shower totally nude.

Their hand has not touched my faucet yet but I do see it reaching for my wallet. This time it is not to take some money. They are doing that already with taxes. It’s not about controlling on what it may be spent. They are doing that already from light bulbs to automobiles. This time they want to tell you how to invest it.

According to Investment News, Obama signed an Executive Order on Friday creating a council whose advice will decide which financial products are to be supported by the government. The council will consist of approximately 20 members, all appointed by the President. The Council will support “those products and services deemed beneficial to consumers”. Deemed not by you the investor, the one who earned it, the one who saved it, but as deemed by the government to be best for you.

If given a choice, I would prefer they just adjust the water temperature.

Bob B

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SOTUS SITS

Posted on January 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

United States Supreme Court justices fail to applaud their being insulted, all of them. If Obama was trying to gain populist favor by his remark it was neither the time nor target for it. Attacking the Court does not elicit populist cheers like attacking banks, insurance companies or lobbyists.

Obama has been very critical even of the liberal Warren court. Why does he do it? He does it because the Constitution was written to protect the American people from those with an agenda like Obama’s and the Supreme Court is the peoples defender of the Constitution. The Constitution was an impediment to Wilson who tried to change its composition. It was an impediment to FDR whose NRA the Court declared unconstitutional. It is an impediment to Obama’s big government agenda for America.

Hooray for the Supreme Court !!

And so it sat.

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THEY BROKE IT. I’LL FIX IT

Posted on January 28, 2010 | Leave a comment

They broke it. I’ll fix it. Such was the gist of Obama’s State of the Union address last night. The title I had in mind for this post before the speech was “The Good. the Bad and the Ugly”. I scrapped that idea because there was not enough of any of those qualities in the speech to justify it. It was a lot of whining and not much more.

Clinton’s first State of the Union address was inspiring and full of encouragement. Reagan’s was uplifting and turned the mood of the nation from one of embarrassment over the Nixon affair to a vision of America as a shining light on a hill. Obama’s speech last night was very much the opposite. It was a downbeat presentation of the President’s view of America as a struggling and suffering nation in need. A loser, if you will allow the vernacular.

He blamed the need on reckless actions by banks, speculators, insurance companies, and failures of prior administrations.

There is a time and place to criticize the Supreme Court if you are so disposed. Obama seemed not to realize this was neither the time nor place. The Supreme Court of the United States of America is without doubt the most respected of the three branches of our government. The President’s broadside was an insult to that august body.

Obama said “The best anti-poverty program around is a first class education”. I liked that. In an effort to appear open to Republican input regarding health care reform he said if others have ideas  “Let me know. Let me know. Let me know.  “I’m eager to see it” (sic). Does he not know Republicans were locked out of a health care deliberation room? Did he forget he his own refusal to allow CNN to televise proceedings despite his promise otherwise? Is he not aware  of the attempts to  limit health care debate in the Senate to 48 hours? And that Republicans were not to be given a copy of the bill in advance of that 48 hours?

Given such history it takes a lot of hubris to claim you are open to other ideas. Then again, it may not be hubris, just humble dishonesty.

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AIG LOOK-BACK

Posted on January 27, 2010 | Leave a comment

Was it corruption that brought down AIG ?
No it was not. AIG was brought down by excessive holdings of derivative securities, primarily those known as Credit Default Swaps. It is an over simplification, but one could say Credit Default Swaps are a form of insurance against loss due to defaulted debt, i.e. mortgage foreclosures. AIG was on the wrong side of a monumental insurance bet.

Was there corruption? Yes, but it was not responsible for the fall. It came after the fall. It came in an effort to save the company. Credit Default Swaps do not trade in a high volume auction market like common stock. There is no widely recognized value for these esoteric instruments. Nevertheless, there was no doubt the real value had plunged to somewhere near zero. Sarbanes -Oxley required such securities be “marked to market”, i.e. reflect the loss on the books. AIG did not do so. AIG may not have been squeaky clean but they certainly were not Enron corrupt.

If it wasn’t corruption that brought them down, what was it?
Bad Risk Management. A mortal sin for an insurance company.

Was taxpayer money required to bail out AIG ?
No, not one red cent. Polls at the time revealed that the public recognized this but our politicians did not. In a properly functioning free market system Darwinism prevails. Governments do not infuse capital into companies that engage in failing practices. That is not free market, it’s’s intervention.

Indeed, taxpayer money was used but it was not required. It was a choice made by elected representatives who, once again, failed to represent our interests.

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JOBS SAVED

Posted on January 26, 2010 | Leave a comment

I am neither statistician nor economist but my profession requires a good working knowledge of both fields. There is no measure of overall “jobs saved”.

If such a claim were to be made by an unbiased source it would be but opinion. When such a claim is made by a politician with much to gain by its assertion, it would be charitable to call it propaganda.

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