Watch where you step....there are mines EVERYWHERE!

With immigration front and center again these days, we'd better be careful what we wish for.  There's a huge "unintended consequences" minefield out there.

I don't believe those who are saying we need to slam our borders shut and deport all illegals here now are thinking it through all the way.  If they get their wish, any nasty, dirty job that needs to be done, especially outdoors, might not get done.  Need to pour any concrete or spread any asphalt, put on a new roof, or have any landscape work done?  Haha....good luck!  Do you think your favorite restaurant can keep its doors open without them?  Farmers everywhere are already reporting they're having trouble finding seasonal help to get their crops harvested....much of it is now just being plowed back under.  (Wouldn't THIS be the ultimate "national security" crisis?)

What we need is an expedited method of vetting those who want to immigrate here, say within 2 or 3 months, vs the current 2+ years.  This long wait time is what drives many to just wade the river.  Let them apply at US embassies and consulates in their home countries and GET THEM AN ANSWER WITHIN A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME.  We need to bring illegals out of their thriving underground economy and make them full taxpayers.  Right now they pay little more than the sales taxes on their daily purchases.  Lets vet them, and if they're good people, welcome them and put them to work.  And if they aren't, turn them back / send them packing. 

Now, about those kids separated from their families....it's still wrong.  Why are we punishing the kids for the sins of their parents?  And I don't want to hear about what Obama or Dubya did.  Wrong was, is, and always will be WRONG!

S

Doing the wrong thing for the right reason

Tonight during President Obama's State of the Union speech that I'm not going to watch, he will request an additional tax on the wealthy in order to fund a cash distribution to middle class Americans. 

I read in the paper yesterday that by 2016 the 80 wealthiest people in the world will together own $1.9 TRILLION in assets.  Just last year it took 85 billionaires to equal that figure.  In other words, the rich are indeed getting richer.  The biggest gainers came from those with interests in finance, insurance, and health care.

"Well, yeah.  They're smarter, they work harder, and they deserve it", right?

Haha!  It seems by-and-large they got richer not by the sweat of their brow, but due to "multi-million-dollar lobbying campaigns to protect and enhance their interests."  They had connections.

That's the rub.  More people with more money to spend will mean additional profits for those who own the means of production...the wealthy.  Win-win!  Right now the wealthy are gradually strangling the goose that laid the golden (middle class) egg.  IMO we NEED more income equality, but just grabbing a chunk of the rich's cash isn't the way to do it.  

Aren't the foaming-at-the-mouth Tea Party types against government handouts?  Isn't a cash subsidy/tax break to the wealthiest just a high-class handout?  So why can't the Democrats and the Tea Party work together to end handouts?  (Love to be a fly on the wall in that conference room!) 

Come on Obama....wise up.  You're NEVER going to get a tax increase on the wealthy with the Republicans in control of congress.  But by holding the Tea Party's feet to the fire, making them produce on their promise to end government handouts, he just might have a chance.  End special favors, reform the tax laws, and income inequality will take care of itself.

And either the Tea Party will do what they promised, or they will be exposed as liars.  What's it gonna be, Tea Party?

And my dossier at the NSA just gets bigger and bigger

I don't understand all the stink about Benghazi.  It seems that in trying to police the world....north Africa in this case....we botched security at one of our diplomatic missions.  A bunch of #$%^& Libyans attacked and killed 4 Americans.

At the time, it seems that an Administration official at some level decided that the American people wouldn't care if they thought our people were killed by a crowd spontaneously angered by some movie or some such nonsense vs an out-and-out terrorist attack, which would be horrible.  So they lied.

Why would one be worse than the other?  Our people are still dead, regardless.  

"Hello, Mrs. Widow.  I have some good news and some bad news.  First, your husband's dead.  But the good news....it was just a spontaneous demonstration."

So a bunch of politicians lied.  Lying is what they do.  *yawn*

Somebody please tell me again why we give a rats ass what happens in Libya?  The f__kers just fight for the sake of fighting.  That seems to be the #1 pastime in that part of the world.  Why don't we seem to get that?  You scramble an ant pile with a stick, you're gonna get stung.

Why was security botched in the first place?  Didn't Congress vote to cut back funding for State Department security to help reduce the deficit?  Then this happened, and they're surprised?  Really?

Attacks on Americans overseas have been happening since the Reagan days, maybe before....I can't remember.  Here's one for you:  How come every time something bad happens in their back yard the Europeans expect the US to come and "fix it"?  Do we ask them to come over here and slap around the drug cartels in Mexico for us?

Republicans are just looking for something to throw in the face of the Democrats, just like the Democrats had a field day complaining about how NJ Governor Chris Christie (R) caused a traffic jam on some bridge to NY.  This whole thing is just sleazy politics.

You're on a slippery slope, Republicans, feigning outrage over Democrats lying about Benghazi.  Talk about the pot calling the kettle black!  You ALL lie!  Nixon lied, Reagan lied, Clinton, Bush, and Obama lied also.  And it is with great confidence that I can predict the president after Obama will lie to us, too.

Instead of distracting us with more Benghazi BS why not get your house in order?  Do your job....let me rephrase that.  Do the job THE AMERICAN PEOPLE sent you to Washington to do.  NOT the job the special interests (think: Goldman Sachs & Friends) are paying you to do now that you're there.

S

Screwed again, and we didn't even get a kiss

So our politicians tell us that we're broke....way past broke, actually....because of all the old-timers now signing up for their Medicare and Social Security, which, by the way, they PAID for over their working lives.  (And if the tax rate was insufficient to keep those trust funds properly topped off, whose fault is that?)

But wait....now we find out that a cool $76 BILLION DOLLARS in special-interest tax credits was included in the recent "fiscal cliff" legislation.  Lobbyists such as the firm headed by former Senator's John Breaux (D-LA) and Trent Lott (R-MS), representing companies like General Electric and Citigroup, secured for them an extension to the provision that allows multinational corporations to defer US taxes by moving profits into offshore financial subsidiaries.  (Their profits are all credited to subsidiaries in low-tax countries like Luxembourg where they might have nothing more than a PO Box.  They then pay Luxembourg taxes, not US taxes.)

Known as the "active financing exception", this is the tool that GE (and quite a few others, too) uses to avoid paying nearly all US corporate taxes.  Also blessed with sweetheart tax breaks were companies like rum distiller Diageo, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, the American Wind Energy Association and the Motion Picture Association of America. (I checked and Park Place Custom Homes didn't get crap!)

Obviously their shareholders are ecstatic, but how is the taxpayer's interest served here?  

This scam was one the Obama administration insisted be included, and the Republicans feebly and quietly objected to, then voted "aye" anyway.  ("I'll vote for yours if you'll vote for mine?")  I wonder if we went back over the past 30 years or so and looked very carefully how much of our $16 TRILLION DOLLAR debt could be attributed to these kinds of giveaways?

No....no kiss, or dinner, or a movie, or even cab fare home.  Just a plain old fashioned screwing.  "I feel so....so used."

S

It's official. The winner is.....

....actually it's a tie.  It seems the good folks, all 10 of them, in Dixville Notch, NH have split their votes 5 (Obama) to 5 (Romney).  Dixville Notch is famous for opening its polling place at midnight, becoming the first to report election results to the world.  What they need is one more person to move there, and assuming he's an eligible voter, insuring there will never be a tie again.  Until one of the others dies. *sigh...why is this always so complicated?*

Here's what I'm proposing to end the stalemate:  I'll offer myself up as President.  Actually "Dictator" might be more appropriate.

My agenda: 

First, I'd banish all professional politicians to France.  That would mean no more Congress.  Those 9% of you who still like Congress....get over it!  They're now France's problem.

Next I'd go to "Wall Street" (the term to include all the ivory-tower crooked financial types), round 'em all up, and banish them to France.

Telemarketers and those who load up my mailbox with junk mail will be banished to France.  (This means YOU credit card companies!)

Anyone who's mean to dogs....let's make that just mean people in general....will be banished to France.

Chefs who insist on putting "colorful vegetables" on the same plate with my steak....will be banished to France.

Football would become a year-round sport, playing in two shifts.  Each plays for six months, then takes six months off for knee surgeries and rehab while the other shift keeps us me entertained.  Anyone who objects will be banished to France.

Anyone driving an electric car will not have to pay taxes.  Not because I like electric cars, but because they're saving lots of gasoline....FOR ME!  They'll be allowed to vacation in France, but they won't have to.

Anyone not in construction or agriculture who owns a pickup truck will be banished to France.  Minivan owners are on thin ice, too.

And people who are in front of me at a traffic light, yapping and texting and not paying attention, who wake up just as the light turns yellow again, making me miss MY turn to go.....will be banished to France.

I think I'm gonna like this Dictator thing.

Feel free to petition me with those you'd like to see banished to France, too.  After all, I'm here to serve.  :)

S

Sorry for dozing off....is it over?

No, I didn't actually doze off during the final presidential debate last night, but it was touch and go for a while.  The polls this morning all agree President Obama won, but I certainly saw no knock-out punch or anything even close.  What I saw was a surprising amount of agreement on the issue of foreign affairs.  On many occasions Romney said he agreed with Obama's handling of (xyz).  Where was the blood and broken, flying teeth?  I just thought it was a boring event.

I will have to say that Obama did successfully (in my mind) call out the discrepancy in Romney's claim of a plan to generally cut spending and move towards a balanced budget all while cutting taxes across the board and increasing defense spending.  That arithmetic just does not compute, and unless Romney can/will provide specifics on how he's going to do it, I'm a skeptic.

I will also agree with Obama that raw numbers of military hardware (ships, planes, etc) are no longer as important as weapons system capability and survivability.  I've met many military leaders over the past dozen or so years and they all seem to agree.  I sleep well.

What shocked me was the fact that Europe, Africa, South America, Australia, and most of Asia except China have just disappeared.  They are apparently no longer even discussed when it comes to foreign affairs.  Did you hear them mentioned last night at all?  (OK, Russia was mentioned very briefly, but that was it.)  They've just vanished!

No, the only part of the world that matters seems to be the Mideast and SW Asia.  We seem to spend ALL our time / money / effort trying to civilize those heathens, and all we ever really do is buy off a few despots and corrupt generals.  All because they have oil.  There isn't a damn thing there besides that.  As I've said before, we need to develop our own secure sources of energy so we can quit beating our heads against the wall trying to schmooze those bastards.

OK, now I'm worked up and awake....about 12 hours late.

S

The next Big Stink

This has been a really bitter election year, a really bitter and divisive 4 years for that matter.  Here's something to consider:  I'll bet you the upcoming election results will NOT end the bitterness, but will intensify it.  Here's why....the electoral college might well crown one man the duly-elected "winner" while the popular vote will say the other candidate really won.

So what exactly is this electoral college? It was our Founding Father's way of putting a layer between the common man, the actual voter, and the election process.  They didn't actually trust the common man.  They were afraid a tyrant would somehow get control of a party and be able to manipulate enough uneducated naive voters to win the popular vote, and this was their way of being able to override such vote rigging.  (They were a very suspicious / paranoid bunch!)

FYI, in the election of 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes had a quarter-million fewer popular votes, but won the electoral college vote 185-184.  In the election of 1888 Benjamin Harrison had 80K fewer popular votes, but won the electoral college vote by a lopsided 233-168.  And more recently George W. Bush won the election of 2000 with 500K fewer popular votes, but with 5 more electoral votes, 271-266.

I'm seeing signs something similar might happen next month.  They say Obama and Romney are neck-and-neck in popular votes, but the number of solid Obama states has many more electoral votes than Romney's solidly red states. Regardless of which candidate you / I prefer this election year, I just think that's wrong.

So why don't we just do away with the electoral college and vote directly for president?  Because it would take a Constitutional Amendment, which would require a super majority of state legislatures and congress, and BOTH parties have benefited at one time or another from the screwy electoral college process.  Both see they have more to lose than to gain.  In short, nothing is going to change.

Sharp as our Founding Fathers were, I'm thinking they bungled this one, at least as seen through modern eyes.

S

Wanna see my vacation pictures?

It's odd to me how politics is all the talk around the water cooler, yet here on Blogger people seem to be going out of their way to talk about the weather, the grand kids, what they had for lunch, anything BUT politics.  This seems like a very non-confrontational group.  I'm not looking for "confrontation", but just a good healthy discussion and exchange of ideas.  I guess I'll just have to have that exchange with myself.  So be it.  Y'all can relax.  I've got this.

Anyway, I thought last night's presidential debate was a good one.   Both candidates came prepared and it showed.  Neither fell on his face like Obama did 2 weeks ago.  The consensus this morning is that Obama narrowly won the night, and I guess I wouldn't argue with that.  It seems pretty obvious that these two don't like each other....it's become personal.  

I'm guessing Romney thought it a good thing that he got to go first, based on a coin flip.  Trouble was, it meant Obama got to speak last, with no time for rebuttal.  Obama in essence had a closing statement, and Romney didn't.  This is where Mitt's 47% quip was brought up again and eloquently hammered home, and was left in the audience's mind to ponder overnight.  Shrewd or just luck, I think it will show up in this coming week's polls.

Speaking of polls, have any of you ever been polled by Gallup or ABC or CNN any of the more prominent companies?  I haven't, nor do I even know of anyone who has been.  Part of that might be because I live in Texas, which means the pollsters just consider me and everyone else here a Red Stater, so why bother polling me?  Because of the fairly wide discrepancy in results, I'm thinking polls get waaaaay more attention than they deserve.  That's what I think.

S

VERY encouraging signs....with EDIT

In my daily drives around town I've begun to pay attention to what's going on around me as opposed to just trying to get from Point A to Point B.   Here's what I've noticed just within 1 1/2 miles of my home:

Everywhere I looked I saw construction.  LOTS of it!  New apartments, retail, a hotel, and more than a few new office buildings.  Yes, I know Dallas and Houston and Austin and Texas in general are doing well, but I suspect if you paid attention when driving around Atlanta or Chicago or Boston or Denver you'd see something similar.

Either our economy is turning the corner as I write this *fingers crossed* or it's close at hand and these forward-looking companies are getting the jump on their competition.  

So, does Obama get credit for this?  Who knows.  I'm of the opinion the President can sit in the Oval Office late at night eating Cheetos and watching porn and he'll still get the credit for or the blame for whatever happens, whether he deserves it or not.  In most cases whatever a president does, for better or worse, isn't obvious until years later.  

You can credit Obama or the Easter Bunny or Batman for this light at the end of the tunnel, I don't care.  I'm just glad to see these encouraging signs.

S

EDIT....from USA Today:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Existing home sales jumped 7.8% in August to the highest level in more than two years, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday.

In an earlier report, U.S. builders started work on more homes in August, driven by the fastest pace of single-family home construction in more than two years.

It's the BANKS, stupid!

Dateline NY, Sept, 7, 2012

"...after four years of studies, hearings, and round tables, the Securities and Exchange Commission late last month abandoned efforts to impose new regulations on money market funds intended to prevent another panic like the one that occurred in 2008 and eliminate the need for a taxpayer bailout of the multi-trillion-dollar funds."

It seems three of the five SEC Commissioners, two Republicans and one Democrat, indicated they would NOT support any new reform proposals.  Make that BANKERS, 1; all the rest of us, 0.  Game, set, match.

Here we are in the heat of another election year, our economy is still in the toilet, and the Democrats and the Republicans are both pointing fingers at each other saying, "It's all THEIR fault.  If you elect us WE'LL FIX THIS!"

Truth of the matter is, it's BOTH their faults, and until someone stands up to the bankers, NOTHING is going to get fixed!  Oh sure, they'll let us squabble over things like abortion and gay marriage and whether there should be prayer in public places, but when it comes to anything with a dollar sign attached, they (the bankers / financiers) call the shots.  And the outcome is pre-ordained:  They will win, and the rest of us will....well, they don't give a flip.

From 1999 (essentially the end of any meaningful banking regulations) until 2008, the bankers had things going exactly as they wanted, and they made BILLIONS along the way.  Then when their unrestrained speculation imploded in 2008, they (mostly) kept their winnings, hit the reset button (raided the taxpayer's piggy bank) and started over again.  (It's nice to know own the right people, huh?)

So which political party is most likely to get us out of this vicious financial cycle of boom (for them) and bust (for us)?  Let's review:

Mitt Romney is firmly in the banker's camp (he's actually one of them!) and his veep is their head cheerleader.  Now don't get to feeling too smug, Democrats, because Obama had his chance to stand up to them in March (?), 2009 and wimped out.  And the people he listens to most closely, such as Sec Treasury Geithner, are so far up the banker's asses all you can see are their shoelaces.

So who then?  There are a few brave, knowledgeable people out there such as former Fed Chmn. Paul Volcker and former Citibank CEO Sandy Weill who say publicly that our mega-banks all need to be reigned in and broken up into not-too-big-to-fail pieces.  Problem is they're older, retired, and not in policy-making positions.  They're non-factors.  (The premise is if the bankers know they won't be bailed out again....that they're not "too big to fail".... and know they're being watched over by regulators with teeth, they'll act more responsibly.)

We're gonna have to start from scratch.  I'll volunteer to stand out front, but I'll need about fifty million other uncorrupted citizens to stand up with me.  (Do we even have fifty million uncorrupted citizens?)  And we can't become fractured by other social issues.....we must stay focused on this one issue only.  So who's with me?

*que the music*

As John Belushi so eloquently said in the classic 1978 movie Animal House, "Our forefathers didn't back down when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor, and we can't afford to back down now, either!"

Seriously, they're probably too rich / powerful to take on right now.  We'll have to catch them when they come calling again for a handout, and that day WILL happen.  Unfortunately I'm afraid the next crash could be even more devastating than it was in 2008.

S

Spewings from my odd mind

Ever wonder about the origin of holidays?  Some are obviously religious....Easter, Christmas, Hanukkah.  Some are obviously contrived for commercial reasons, like Valentine's (thank you Hallmark Cards and FTD).  Some are to recognize the sacrifice of our armed forces....Memorial Day, Veteran's Day.  But Labor Day?   Yes, it is to honor those who "labor", and it was pushed for by the early labor union movement, but it wasn't until 1894 that President Grover Cleveland made it a national holiday after a particularly bloody fight between the military and federal marshals and strikers at the Pullman Co. (railroad car mfg.) ended in a number of deaths.

Fearing more labor violence, Labor Day was a bone thrown at workers to calm things down and prevent further unrest.  The Prez was careful, however, to NOT have it the same day as International Worker's Day so as not to give any credence to the growing communist movement.  Now you know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I heard a quote today that resonated with me:  "Don't have an opinion where you have no responsibility."

This as opposed to the way things are now, namely, "Opinions are like a__holes....everybody has one."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I also read something interesting written by a journalist covering the Republican convention last week.  He observed, "There is no organic connection between Romney and the GOP base.  He is renting the party to fulfill his dream of becoming president, and they're renting him to get rid of President Obama."  Good point.  It really doesn't feel like they belong together, but they're trying to force it, sort of like an arranged marriage.  It's just an odd chemistry.  

The Democrats start their convention this week.  Now it's their turn to bore us to tears.  Football season couldn't have come at a better time, for me at least.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We're forecast to have triple-digit heat most of the week in Dallas, but a weather front comes in for the weekend cooling things off into the 80's.  Do I dare hope?  Is this "it"....the first stirrings of Autumn?  I even like the sound of it....."Autumn".  :)

S

"Survivor: Texas"

Did you hear about the newest TV reality show?  It's to be called Survivor: Texas.  Here's how it works:  Contestants start at the Dallas Convention Center, then drive south to Waco, Austin, San Antonio, then to Brownsville.  On day two they drive west thru Del Rio and El Paso, then turn back east to Midland/Odessa, where they spend the night.  Finally on day three they head north to Lubbock and Amarillo, then back south/east towards Abilene, Fort Worth, and finally back to Dallas.


Each will be driving a pink Toyota Prius with bumpers stickers that say:


I'm a proud Democrat


Amnesty for Illegals


I love the Dixie Chicks


Boycott Beef


I voted for Obama


George Strait Sucks


I'm here to confiscate your guns


Re-elect Obama 2012


The first one to make it back to Dallas alive wins.


;)  S