“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.”

Before we get into today’s topic, let me set up some background on myself. I have never voted for a Republican for President in my life. I had never voted for a Republican for national office in my life until the midterm elections in 2010. I have no problem with gay marriage and while not a fan of abortion, I do not find it in my power to dictate whether or not a woman should or should not get an abortion. I am against foreign military entanglements. Thus, no one could consider me a conservative, neo con, Republican, etc.

However, that does not mean I condone vile and vicious political speech, no matter who is spouting it. Today’s topic focuses on that type of political dialog that constantly comes from the Democrats/liberal/left side of the political spectrum. 

It seems to me that the level and intensity of political hate and hateful speech has accelerated over the past few years. And in my observations, the majority, if not vast majority of that increased hatred and hate speech, has come from the liberal side of politics.

We first approached this subject with a couple of posts from our past, posts that documented how the left side of the spectrum had called those that disagreed with their views a whole slew of disgusting and hurtful names: whores, sluts, a__h____s, terrorists, racists, KKK members, Neanderthals, hate rape opportunities, etc. It becomes very difficult as a human being to have constructive political dialog when the other side is slinging these types of vile names at you. Those discussions can be viewed at:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/03/ignorance-of-rush-limbaugh-hypocrisy-of.html

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-slime-sleaze-immorality-and_17.html

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2012/04/wasserman-schultzs-and-obamas-silence.html

And the political class and the current set of politicians within it have done nothing to inhibit such speech and hatred since then. In fact, it is obvious that they encourage such name calling to “energize their base,” get their supporters hyped up to get themselves reelected over and over again. This type of divisive talk and silence is not leadership, it is not statesmenship, it is cheap, thug politics. 

As a result of their encouragement of this type of hate speech and their silence in the face of it, in reality condoning it, the country’s major issues never get a rational and adult conversation and thus, never get resolved. William F. Buckley once observed: “Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.”

See if that is not the case as we do an update on what the left side of the political spectrum are calling those that disagree with their views and positions on issues.

1) Dana Loesch is a well-known conservative writer and thinker. Pascal Robert is a left leaning blogger and contributor to the left leaning Huffington Post. In a Twitter debate over gun rights and gun control, rather than stick to the points of the argument, Loesch went vile with the following Tweet: 






When all else fails, threaten anal rape. Classy (not).
2) The Hill reported on September 13, 2013 that Vice President Joe Biden called some House of Representatives members “this sort of Neanderthal crowd” when the House did not pass a piece of legislation as quickly as he wanted it passed. The legislation did eventually get passed but rather than discuss the one sticking point that delayed passage, the Vice President, the second in line of succession to leading the country, would rather just call people names. Pathetic lack of leadership. 

3) Allan Brauer is the communications chair for the Democratic Party of California. Amanda Carpenter is an aide to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Carpenter sent out a tweet expressing her and her boss’s political opinions back in September:  “GOP beat gun control, changed Obama’s mind on Syria, is holding the line on amnesty. We can defund Obamacare, too!”

Rather than engage in constructive discussion with Carpenter and put forth the Democrats’ view and reasoning on gun control, Syria, amnesty, and Obama Care, Brauer went to Twitter and directed a message back towards Carpenter: “May your children all die from debilitating, painful and incurable diseases.”











Wishing that a fellow American’s kids would die a horrible, painful death. Is there any doubt why nothing ever gets resolved in this country today, in light of people wanting other people’s kids to die?

4) Bill O’Reilly is a very successful talk show host on the right leaning Fox news channel and author of many best selling books including “Killing Lincoln” and “Killing Kennedy,” books that examine the assassinations of these two Presidents. Chris Matthews is a talk show host on MSNBC, one of the most hard left leaning news entities in the world.

While being interviewed on the Colbert Show and O’Reilly’s name came up, Matthews replied: “When are we going to have the book we’ve really been waiting for? –’Killing O’Reilly.’” There it is again: let’s just kill off those that agree with us rather than embrace diversity and dialog.

5) The Roll Call website reported on October 13, 2014 that California Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer compared Republicans to wife beaters in the midst of the Federal government shutdown (which really wasn’t a shutdown at all since we have previously cited two experts that estimated about 85% of the Federal government did NOT shut down): 

“It’s a self-inflicted wound. I never questioned, never questioned the fact that Republicans, Democrats, and independents love this country. Love this country. I never questioned it. But I have to say, when you start acting like you’re committing domestic abuse, you’ve got a problem. ‘I love you dear, but you know, I’m shutting down your entire government. I love you dear, but I’m going to default and you’re going to be weak.’ Something is dreadfully wrong.”

Well, at least she did not  hope that someone died.

6) The same thing cannot be said of Dan Savage, a liberal writer, speaker, and author who recently went the “hope they die route” when discussing Sarah Palin via the following tweet: 

Woke up to Sarah Palin’s voice. She’s taken up chewing tobacco now cuz LIBRULS or Bloomberg or something. Now seeing upside of oral cancers.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) May 4, 2013

Don’t debate, don’t constructively discuss, just wish death, this time via cancer. 

7) Sarah Pain is an especially favorite target of hate spewing leftists. Martin Bashier, recently speaking from prepared remarks on his former MSNBC show, suggested that someone defecate into Sarah Palin’s mouth, simply because she holds different opinions from Bashier and the left, left leaning MSNBC news channel. 

Bashier was eventually forced to resign but should have immediately been fired along with his producers and writers for the most vile thing I have ever heard in the political arena. This is the same “journalist” and news channel that put together a video montage of buses exploding, killing all inside in a fiery death, during the last Presidential election. This hideous video was positioned as something they would like see happen to the Romney campaign. Disgusting.

8) Former Montana Lieutenant Governor  John Bohlinger announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from Montana in early November. No big news there, another American trying to get elected to office.

But rather than focus on his abilities and skills to get things accomplished, he degenerated his announcement into yet another opportunity to slander Americans with a different view than his. During his announcement, Bohlinger disgustingly compared Tea Party Republicans to the Taliban, those religious extremists that once ran the Afghanistan government and who murder people without trials for violating the Koran and whose disdain for women’s rights, gay rights, and non-Islam rights is well known: “We need to challenge the Tea Party representatives who like the Taliban shut our country down,” Bohlinger said on Wednesday, according to the Billings Gazette, which covered the announcement. 

The paper also noted that the Montana Democrat also compared the shutdown to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor and the September 11 terrorist attacks. Pathetic attempt at politics. 

Again, we know that the country did not shut down. More than 85% of the Federal government stayed in operation at all times. No one missed a Social Security check, no one failed to get Medicare coverage, our national defense was never threatened, etc. But rather than deal with facts, this Democrat would rather falsely persecute Americans with different ideas of what government should and should not be doing.

9) I could go on and on, left leaning political operatives and sitting politicians hurling insults and slurs at Americans who simply have a different view on issues than themselves.

Rather than engage in constructive dialog, which is much more likely to lead to constructive solutions, they would rather call others Nazis, racists, simpletons, and heartless individuals, as illustrated in this compilation of political hate speech from the left that was cataloged by the Independent Journal Review earlier this year:

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/08/72646-20-most-divisive-democrat-quotes-of-the-obama-era/24/

And it is not just Republicans and Tea Party supporters that get slandered and verbally abused. The following post, also from the Independent Journal review, points out that Democrats also bully African Americans, journalists, women, and others that dare to disagree with this administration or other Democratic Party positions:

http://www.ijreview.com/2013/03/39675-bullied-10-people-intimidated-by-the-democrat-party/7/

Through all of the insults and slander, one person has remained silent. President Obama, who is supposed to represent ALL Americans, who originally campaigned on a promise to unite the country, has stood silently by as the hate words and hatred from the liberal side of the political spectrum, his side, flew by. He has actually contributed to the vitriol, calling large segments of Americans bitter as “they cling to their guns and religion.” He has insulted large segments of Americans who happen to be global warming doubters, degrading them as flat earth believers.

And then he whines when he does not get his way from Congress. Could it be that as fellow human beings, people in Congress cannot help but get a little defensive and mad when the President of the United States allows his political operatives and Party cohorts to call Americans such a wide range of nasty, hateful names? 

I am sure that the President has endured a wide range of equally hurtful names and insults. I am sure that these names were likely racist and uncalled for. But great leaders rise above the petty and mundane and the “small” people that walk among us. They unite people despite the name calling. 

This President, and many in the Democratic/left/liberal wing of the political spectrum have refused to do so, proving again that fifty years ago that William F. Buckley was right: “Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.”

Unfortunately, until this President and those around him are NOT shocked and offended, until the hatred and insults stop, the ability to come together and resolve the major issues of our times will continue to be elusive.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Part 3, The Obama Presidency: Many Promises Made, Many Promises Unfulfilled

The first ten broken promises of the Obama administration that we have covered over the past two posts were originally compiled by the Independent Journal Review with my additional comments and observations added in. However, I am not sure they got all of the broken promises since they failed to discuss the following:


Cronyism and Failed Alternative Energy Investments

11) “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.” Both of these aspects of our lives from the President’s 2009 inauguration speech never came to fruition.

His wind and solar dreams were derailed when his administration handed out billions of dollars of taxpayer wealth without due diligence and without being independent of how that money was disbursed, with most of it going to political cronies and fund raisers of the President. Billions and billions of dollars wasted on bogus alternative energy endeavors with absolutely no societal or environmental benefit.

Recent financial analyses, analyses that we will cover in more detail in future posts, estimates that over $11 million was needed to create ONE green job. Hardly an efficient use of taxpayer wealth and just another angle on how this promise went unfulfilled.


End Ugly Partianship In Washington

12) The President promised to "turn the page on the ugly partisanship in Washington, so we can bring Democrats and Republicans together to pass an agenda that works for the American people." Nice words, bad follow up:

• When Congressional members of his party equated those American citizens that disagreed with the tenets of Obama Care to the vicious racists of the Civil Rights era, the President was silent.
• When a Congressional member of his party openly stated that those American citizens with a different political viewpoint of her should go to hell, the President was silent.
• When a Congressional member of his party openly stated that Republicans were “knuckle dragging Neanderthals,” the President was silent;
• When a White House czar openly stated that Republicans were “a__h___s,” the President was silent.
• When multiple Congressional members of his party and his Vice President called those opposed to some of his policies barbarians and terrorists, the President was silent.
• When political supporters in the media said that a Republican Congresswoman should commit suicide by self decapitation, that ten Republican political woman needed to be hate raped, that Sarah Palin was a [insert numerous, unmentionable slurs here], that a Fox female commentator was a slut, and any number of other numerous affronts, the President was silent.
• When a major media news source produced and aired a video clip showing the Romney tour bus being consumed in a ball of flame during the 2012 Presidential campaign, killing all of those on board, the President was silent.

You cannot claim you want to “turn the page on the ugly partisanship in Washington” and then standby meekly and silently when your political allies slander, slam, and rant at citizens who might be exercising their right to have a different opinion or viewpoint.

A Transparent Administration

13) One of the President’s main promises was his call for “the most sweeping ethics reform in history.” He also promised that there was no place in his administration for lobbyists. However, according to a recent Washington Post article:

• More than half of Obama’s 47 biggest fundraisers, those who collected at least $500,000 for his campaign, have been given administration jobs.
• Nine more of these fundraisers have been appointed to Presidential boards and committees.
• At least 24 Obama campaign fundraiser bundlers were given posts as foreign ambassadors, including posts in Finland, Australia, Portugal and Luxembourg.
• Obama has appointed 59 ambassadors who were not career Foreign Service officers, and of those, 40% were campign fund raising bundlers.
• Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was a bundler, raising at least $500,000.
• Julius Genachowski, the recent chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, raised at least half a million dollars.
• Bundler Steve Spinner was hired as a liaison in the Energy Department. According to internal e-mails turned over in a Congressional investigation, Spinner pressed for the Energy Department to finalize a government loan for Solyndra, the now bankrupt solar panel company in which yet another campaign bundler was a major investor.

An October 16, 2013 article from the Washington Examiner identified 56 lobbyists that were working in high level positions in the Obama administration:

http://washingtonexaminer.com/oh-no-we-cant-let-romney-win-hell-let-lobbyists-in-the-white-house/article/2510879

A small sample of these lobbyists include the following:

• Fannie Mae, Cigna, and Credit Suisse lobbyist Laricke Blanchard was named deputy director of policy for the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.
• Former teachers union lobbyist Gabriella Gomez is an assistant secretary of Education.
• Former crop-industry lobbyist Krysta Harden is assistant secretary of Agriculture.
• White House staff members include Patton Boggs lobbyist Emmett Beliveau, O’Melveny & Myers lobbyist Derek Douglas, and Pfizer’s and AT&T’s lobbyist at Akin Gump Dana Singiser.

Lord knows how many lobbyists would be working at the White House and in the Obama administration if the President had not vowed to keep lobbyists out of government during his reign.

Protect Social Security

14) "Now is the time to protect Social Security for future generations." Promise broken since the President has devoted virtually no effort to finding and implementing a fix to the Social Security System, a system that effects every retired and current American worker. The inaction of the President and Congress on this topic is certainly distressing since the system is now in a negative cash flow situation that will only get worse in a business as usual environment.

Protect The Constitution

15) "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." I am assuming that that this oath that was taken by this President and all previous implicitly includes the requirement that the President enforce and aide by not only the tenets of the Constitution but all current Federal laws that were passed under the tenets of the Constitution.

Given that assumption, the polices and positions of this President have violated this oath many times over:

• The botched Fast and Furious gun running operation which sent guns to violent Mexican drug cartels under Federal government guidance broke numerous internal laws and international treaties.
• The NDAA legislation, which allows the Federal government to hold a person in detention indefinitely, violates our nation’s due process of law, the right to a speedy trial, and the right to confront one’s accuser.
• The President’s unilateral decision to not enforce DOMA is a violation of his oath to enforce the laws of the land (even though DOMA is a lousy law which allows the Federal government to define personal relationships). If it was such a lousy law in his mind, he should have Constitutionally repealed it when his approval rating was sky high and his party controlled both houses of Congress. He did nothing and now does not have the right to ignore an existing law.
• The President’s decision to ignore the ruling of a Federal judge in Louisiana relative to the administration’s Gulf oil drilling ban is a gross violation of the Constitution’s checks and balances.
• The dangerous and growing power and reach that the government has relative to reading our emails, texts, instant messages, and other correspondences without legal standing and without our knowledge violates an American’s right to privacy as laid out many times by the Supreme Court.

Adequate Pending Legislation Review

16) During his first Presidential campaign, President Obama pledged not "to sign any nonemergency bills without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days."

This promise has been broken too many times to list but the most blatant violation of this vow came with the House of Representatives voting on the Obama Care legislation. In this case, a bill that was over 2,000 pages long was distributed and voted on within 48 hours. Many members of Congress complained about this insane turnaround from receiving the bill to voting on it, never mind anyone in the American public getting it, reading it, and commenting on it before passage.

Slash Earmarks

17) In a 2008 speech, President Obama promised to "slash earmarks by more than half" and to reduce them to "less than $7.8 billion a year, the level they were at before 1994 when the Republicans took over control of Congress."

During every year of his adminsitraton, earmarks have continued to hover around the annual $15 billion level, not coming close to being slashed by more than half, allowing the politicians in Washington to conitnue to use the earmark process to support their continual relection campaigns.

Balance The Federal Budget

18) Early in his Presidency, President Obama proclaimed that "what my budget does is...by the middle of this decade, our annual spending willmatch our annual revenues. We will not be adding more to our national debt."

This is one of the President's bigger "lair, liar pants on fire" statements. For the first five years of his term, the Federal govenrment has run up over a trillion dolalrs worth of deficits and debt every year. His long term, ten year budget, that is currently under consideration, never comes close to matching spending with annual revenues. Not even close on this promise. Guess he never got around to going through the Federal budget "line by line" as he promised since trillion dollar annual deficits are the rule not the exception with this President.

Violating Constitutional rights even though he promised to abide by the Constitution. Not proposing any fixes to an ailing Social Security system even though he promised to fix it. Allowing Washington to remain a crony infested, earmark addicted, ethically challenged environment even though he promised to clean it up. Standing by silently as the divisive language and attitudes from his political allies reached all time lows even though he promised to end the hatred. Using taxpayer money to reward his political allies and fund raisers who happened to own bogus or shaky alternative energy endeavors, resulting in billions of dollars wasted and no long term alternative energy progress made. Annual deficits that are record setting and economically destructive.

Again, remember how we opened this series of posts two days ago. In January, 2009, this President had sky high approval ratings and his party had solid control of both parts of Congress.

He could have done anything he wanted, fulfilled any promise he made. However, he spent much of his time traveling the world, meeting with athletic teams, playing golf, taking vacations, raising campaign money for himself and his party, and reveling in his fame and popularity.

Thus, blaming any one or any opposition for his lack of success is a groundless argument. He had a historic two year window of opportunity to make his mark in history, fulfill his promises, and go down in the history books for implementing epic changes in this country (for better or worse).

Instead he will likely go down as a President who missed a historical moment, who saddled the country with national debt that will span generations, who left a country more divided than when he came into office, implemented economic policies that left the country in a low growth economic rut, and who fulfilled a minimal amount of his most grand and impactful promises.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:

www.loathemygovernment.com

It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.reason.com/
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Retro 23 - Why Is A Billion A Lot Except When Talking About U.S. Politics?

Given family visitors and event this week, we will be rerunning some of our more popular posts from the past for your reading. We will continue with new posts later this week.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Why Is A Billion A Lot Except When Talking About U.S. Politics?

In most contexts, a billion of anything is a lot. It's a thousand times bigger than a million, which has always been a benchmark for a wide variety of things including being the minimal threshold for the millionaire's club, having a gold record in the music industry, etc. Yes, a billion is almost always a lot of something.

Consider a billion seconds of time. If you do the math, a billion seconds is about 32 years:

•32 years ago, Jimmy Carter was still President.

•32 years ago, about 41% of the current U.S. population had not been born yet.

•32 years ago, very few people owned a personal computer, no one owned a cellular phone, the Internet did not exist, and TVs were neither flat or large.

•The cumulative national debt was only about $900 billion or about $11,300 per U.S. household.

Yes, a billion seconds was a pretty long time ago. However, a billion minutes is even longer. A billion minutes is about 1,903 years ago:

•1,903 years ago is within a hundred years or so when Jesus Christ walked the earth.

•1,903 years ago is within the reign of the Roman Empire.

•1,903 years ago is about 1,400 years before Columbus discovered the New World.

Yes, a billion minutes is a long time ago. But a billion hours is even longer. A billion hours is about 114,000 years ago:

•114,000 years ago is prior to the last Ice Age (according to the NOAA).

•1114,000 years ago, Neanderthals were still walking the earth.

Yes, a billion of anything, even things as small as seconds, minutes, and hours, is really a lot and lasts a very long time...unless your are talking about the U.S. Federal government and the political class who operates it.

Based on Obama's recently submitted 2013 budget, one dollar, if multiplied a billion times, would be spent, on average, by the U.S. government in about two hours and 19 minutes:

•Yes, in less than the time it takes to watch an NFL football game, the Federal government would have spent a billion dollars.

•In less than the time it takes to typically to go out and see a movie in a theater, the Federal government would have spent a billion dollars.

•In less than the time it takes many trained runners to run a marathon, the Federal government would have spent a billion dollars.

•If Obama's proposed 2013 budget is not changed, it will add about another $11,300 to the national debt burden of each American household on average. This is equivalent to the debt burden that all American President's combined from Washington through the Carter adminisration had added to the national debt burden of American households over two centuries.

Yes, a billion is a lot of anything and everything and last a long time unless you measure it against how out of control this administration and the current political class in Washington is when it comes to spending, and wasting, taxpayer wealth. A billion seconds, a billion minutes, a billion hours, all seemingly last forever. A billion dollars in the hands of a Washington politician, not so much.

And this anomaly of a billion is what will destroy this country, this democracy, and our freedom long before a billion seconds, a billion minutes and a billion hours transpire.

We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:

http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/

The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.

The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.

Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Please visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/

Disgust And Disappointment With Our Political Class... and Free Hugs

I was going to do a mid-year review of the behavior of our political class but they kept creating new gaffes or crises that I never got around to it until now. Someone recently asked me why I was so angry with our politicians. I found the question to be pretty ridiculous, given the horrendous performance of our politicians over the years, with that performance seeming to get worse and worse as time goes by. However, when I thought about the question, I realized that I am not so much angry as I am disappointed and disgusted with the American political class:

- I am disappointed in the inability of politicians to understand the concept of "conflict of interest" especially when Senator Dodd, chairman of the Senate committee that oversees the financial industry in this country, accepts very favorable mortgage considerations from a business (Countrywide Mortgages) in that industry (Earthlink News - 7/27/2009), when that same Senator Dodd receives substantial campaign donations from Federal mortgage agencies he is overseeing and regulating (Fannie and Freddie), when Senator Hilary Clinton gets substantial tax relief for a mall developer in New York after that mall developer makes a $100,000 to Bill Clinton's foundation (New York Times - 1/3/2009), or when Senator Baucus nominates his girlfriend for a U.S. attorney general position in Montana (New York Times/St. Pete Times - 12/6/09).

- I am disappointed when the government tells me that almost $100 billion of taxpayer dollars are wasted every year through fraud and incorrect payments (Earthlink News - 11/188/2009) and that number was up $26 billion or more than 36% from the year before, i.e. the fraud is getting worse at a very rapid pace.

- I am disgusted when that same article also quotes the government as claiming only .5% of the U.S. Defense budget is wasted, I simply do not believe that an entity that large and that far flung has that low of a waste factor.

- I am disappointed in the low level of esteem and high level of contempt Senator Reid displayed for the very taxpayers that pay his salary when he claimed back in December, 2008 that "in the summer time...you could literally smell the tourists coming into the Capitol."

- I am disgusted that several months after the major financial corporations (including AIG, Citigroup and Freddie Mac) made substantial donations to the bankrolling of the national conventions for both the Republicans and Democrats, these same corporations received untold billions of taxpayer dollars as a bailout for their poor management of their respective businesses (Associated Press article - "Troubled Firms Bankrolled Political Conventions").

- I am disappointed that Senator Reid would resort to racial stereotypes when he described President Obama as "light skinned" and "with no negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one" (Associated Press - 1/9/2010).

- I am disgusted when some in the Democratic Party liken me to the racists of the civil rights era because I expressed an honest opinion in disagreement with Obama Care while Senator Reid can refer to a persons' skin color and stereotyped speech pattern and not get branded as a racist.

- I am disappointed that we continue to pay taxes to government safety agencies that are supposed to protect consumers from dangers when we have had three major heavy metal (lead and two cadmium product recalls) situations where these metals were involved in the production of children's toys (Associated Press 1/11/2010).

- I am disgusted that when the country faces so many major issues that Congress would take time to wastefully debate and expend resources to draft and pass a bill aimed at forcing college football to set up a new playoff system (Associated Press - 12/09/10).

- I am disappointed that when one of the few decent folks in the Senate, Senator Bayh of Indiana, decides that the fight in Washington is so dysfunctional and so no longer worth the battle that he decides not to continue his political career (Businessweek - 3/1/2010).

- I am disgusted that while the country's financial systems and economic base was falling apart in the lead up to the latest recession that at least two and a half dozen SEC employees, some at very high levels of responsibility, were spending most, if not all, of their work time surfing the Internet and downloading the pornographic images they found onto their government issued computers (Associated Press - 4/23/2010).

- I am disappointed it took so long for the government to figure out that the Federal Head Start program, which has already eaten up and wasted $150 billion in taxpayer money, has no long lasting positive effect on the children that go through the program, i.e. Head Start is no more than an expensive Federal day care program, as reported in a recently published Department of Health and Human Services study. This finding negates Obama's 2009 claim that "for every dollar we invest in these programs (like Head Start), we get nearly $10 back in reduced welfare rolls, fewer health care costs, and less crime." Why did it take so long to figure out the waste of the program? Very disappointing.

- I am disgusted that Department of Interior Minerals Management Service employees in the Gulf Of Mexico offices spent a lot of their work time downloading pornography to their government computers, did not do the required number of inspections of Gulf oil rigs, received free hunting and fishing trips from the companies they were supposed to be inspecting, negotiated job offers with the very companies whose rigs they were inspecting, and approved a safety and contingency plan for the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon well in 2009 that had absolutely no chance of working (Associated Press - 5/17/2010, 5/28/2010, and 6/9/2010).

- I am disappointed that the political class has not the faintest understanding of basic economics and this shallow understanding continually results in wasteful, expensive, and ineffective programs such as Cash For Clunkers, the New Home Buyers Credit program, Cash For Appliances, etc. that merely shift economic demand around in time, do not result in increased demand, and just give away taxpayer money to those that would have purchased a new car or new home anyway (Associated Press - 6/23/2010).

- I am disgusted that a candidate for Congress would stoop so low on the illegal immigration issue that he thinks "we should catch 'em, we should document 'em, make sure we know where they are and where they are going, I actually support micro-chipping them. I can micro-chip my dog so I can find it. Why can't I micro-chip an illegal?" (Cedar Rapids Gazette - 4/27/2010).

- I am disappointed that the Obama administration sees fit to sue the state of Arizona for trying to control the illegal immigration flow over its borders rather than trying to solve the root cause of the problem, i.e. the overwhelming illegal flow of people, guns, and drugs across all of our borders, while not suing U.S. cities that actually welcome and service illegal aliens in violation of Federal law.

- I am disgusted that President Obama has remained silent while those that respectfully and legally disagree with his policies have been called racists, un-American, knuckle dragging Neanderthals, terrorists, and other names, resulting in a country more divided than ever against itself.

- I am disappointed that it took over 3,700 claims by an elderly Brooklyn woman before the Federal government finally decided there was some fraud going on, resulting in 94 arrests and busts of crime efforts that had bilked the Medicare program of about $250 million. The disappointment is why did it take so long to crack down when Medicare fraud has been a problem from Day One of the program (Associated Press - 7//16/2010)/

- I am disgusted that the political class continues to pit one group of Americans against another, whether it is rich vs. poor, gay vs. straight, pro life vs. pro choice, resulting in Americans fighting each other rather than bringing heat to bear on the American political class to finally solve some real issues facing the country.

- I am disappointed that GM and the Obama administration thought the American public was too dumb to find out or too dumb to understand that when GM announced that it was paying back $4.7 billion in government loans, that it was not repayng the fund out of its own earnings but were drawing funds from another government fund to repay the government loan, i.e. taxpayers were paying taxpayers (The week magazine - 5/7/2010).

- I am disgusted that in these tough economic times, politicians at all levels seem to ignore these hard times and the suffering of their constituents: 1) members of the Illinois Governor's staff got substantial raises (some more than 20%) at the same time that the Governor was cutting the state budget by $1.4 billion (Associated Press - 7/2/2010), 2) three town administrators in a small town in California, where 17% of the town residents live in poverty, received $787,637 (city administrative officer), $376,288 (assistant city manager), and $457,000 (police chief) in salary in addition to outrageous pensions (Associated Press - 7/22/2010) and 3) the members of Congress that automatically raise their salaries every year regardless of how poorly they lead and perform and how poorly the economy and the nation is doing.

- I am disappointed that money still continues to pervert our elective system with a recent article reporting that a long time Democratic fund raiser, Hassan Nemazee, was recently sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud, using some of the fraud money he gathered to donate to the campaign funds of Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Al Gore (Associated Press - 7/15/2010) and another recent article (Associated Press - 7/22/2010) that reported that Congressman Charles Rangel was recently charged with multiple ethics violations including using government resources to raise money for the Charles Rangel Center For Public Service, receiving improper advantage from New York City's rent stabilization program, and his failure to report income on his disclosure forms.

- I am disgusted that so-called leaders of this country continue to have adultery problems including President Clinton, Governor Spitzer, Senator Ensign, Governor Sanford, Governor MacGreevey, and Senator Edwards, just to name a few. It is not the sex that I am disgusted with, it is the lies of adultery (if they lied in this area, can they be trusted in another area), it is the time it takes to cover up such affairs, time that could be better spent governing, and it is the potential for blackmail that would never result in the good of the taxpayer.

- I am disappointed in the inability of either party to solve any issue of consequence with the drug problem lingering over this country since the late 1960s, the inability to come up with a comprehensive and sane energy program hanging around since the mid-1970s, the continued failure of public schools despite the warnings of a national commission on education in the early 1980s and the failure to secure our borders from terrorists despite numerous terror attacks in the 1990s (USS Cole attack, African embassy bombings, first World Trade Center bombing), etc.

- I am disgusted when I see how poorly we are represented, as proven by the comments coming out of the Wisconsin county politician who believes that Arizona is not a border state with Mexico, the comments from a Georgia Congressman who spoke at a Congressional hearing of his fear that the island of Guam could tip over in the ocean, and the Speaker of the House who believes that unemployment is the best way to create jobs in this country (all of these outrageous claims can be found on YouTube).

It does get overwhelming so I will stop now. However, just when you start to lose all hope, you often stumble across something that reinvigorates that hope. For me, it was a YouTube video that was sent to me over the weekend. To view it go to the YouTube site and search for "Free Hugs In Sondrio, Italy." Apparently this movement has been going on for a while and while there are several related Free Hugs videos on the site, I recommend this Italian one. In a nutshell, people go to public places and hold up signs offering free hugs. The results are amazing. Total strangers going up to each other and giving each other a hug. No one accusing another of being a racist or a Neanderthal or a terrorist or unpatriotic or too rich or too white or too pro choice or too pro life or too anything. Just humans connecting on a very personal and enjoyable level. No politicians around to point out our differences, just individuals making some good, simple memories.

Thus, this video gave me hope, that all of us are basically good people and I still think we can overcome our differences, our disappointments, and our disgust. If we can go up to and hug a total stranger, than just about anything can be overcome. This proves there is a disconnect somewhere and the cause of that disconnect is the political class. They need us to hate each other and defend our "tribe," it allows them to divert attention from their failings and nonperformance. This video proved to me that term limits, as proposed in Step 39 of "Love My Country, Loathe My government" are needed more than ever. We need to continually replenish Congress with people that believe in hugs and not divisiveness. Getting them out of office before they lose the free hugs aspect is critical to working together and solving our problems going forward.


Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Also visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/

The Sounds Of Silence and The Obama Administration

News reports today reported that a California man had been arrested for making deaths threats towards Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Of The House. I do not know the man's motivations at this point but there is likely a high probability it had something to do with Pelosi's part in forcing through Obama's health care reform bill. Why I vehemently disagree with both the contents of the bill and the slimy way it was ramrodded through Congress, I have also never advocated violence in this case or any other case to attain political means. Violence accomplishes nothing constructive. It leaves destruction in its path and leaves the opposing sides even more bitterly divided, making a solution even more difficult to attain. This type of behavior, directing violence towards anyone involved in the political process, is the earmark of backward and corrupt countries, not one striving to be the primary democracy for all of mankind.

However, now that I have stated my position, let me say that President Obama has done nothing to tone the rhetoric that has caused America to become even more divided in the past year or so. Some of these examples have been discussed previously in this blog and some are new but consider the following sounds of silence from Obama:

• When Nancy Pelosi called certain Americans unpatriotic and un-American because they did not support Obama's health care plan, even though they were just exercising their freedom of speech right, Obama was silent.
• When an Obama czar called Republicans assholes, Obama was silent.
• When a Democratic Congressman called Republicans "knuckle dragging Neanderthals," Obama was silent.
• When a D-list actress was getting more than her fair share of attention when she categorized those that disagreed with Obama's views as being racists, Obama was silent.
• When Henry Reid said that Americans visiting their nation's capital physically smelled, Obama was silent.
• When Democratic members of Congress likened those that disagreed with Obama's health care plan to be like those racists that opposed the civil rights bills from long ago, Obama was silent. I find this sound of silence particularly despicable in that I should not be called a racist because I disagree with a government approach to solving a problem. Most sane people know that something has to be done to curtail high health care costs in this country but we should have the freedom to disagree on how to fix that problem without being labeled as racists.
• When Karl Rove was recently driven from a speech event he was scheduled to give, and to freely express his opinions, by hecklers that approached him waving handcuffs (source: The Week magazine, April 9, 2010 issue), Obama was silent.
• When rioting outside of a Canadian university location forced Ann Coulter to cancel a speech that she should have been able to give (source: April 9, 2010 issue of the The Week magazine), Obama was silent.
• When Beck, Palin, and Limbaugh get death threats, Obama is silent.

Many more times than not I do not agree with the contents or the tone of the words spoken by Palin, Beck, Limbaugh, Rove, and Coulter. I have never voted for a Republican for national office in my life. I do not think their actions generally contribute to the solving of problems facing Americans today. In fact, I believe that angrily reacting to them only encourages and strengthens them. However, they have the right to express those opinions regardless of what political positions they take. This tolerance of diverse views is a vital, vital part of freedom in America for everyone, regardless of their political bent.

If Obama was a great American leader, he would have the same opinion. He would not allow any American to be called a racist, a Neanderthal, smelly or an asshole for having their own personal opinion. As President, he should be protecting ALL of the rights of ALL Americans. That's what a great leader would do. However, it appears that we are finding that Obama is just another politician that will allow the various tribes in America to tear themselves apart as long as they continue to elect the same old, tired politicians. Seems to me that Obama is like Bob Rumson in the movie, "The American President":

"And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson is not the least interested in solving it. He is interested in two things, and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections."

The President is not interested in protecting EVERY American's freedom of speech. He is only interested in staying in office, energizing his tribe, and keeping as much of his party's members in office with him, even if it means allowing the name calling and the death threats to continue. A leader would never allow that to happen. Consider the lyrics from the Simon and Garfunkel classic, "Sounds Of Silence":

People hearing without listening,

People talking without speaking.

This is where America is today. We talk (or yell) at each other without giving each other the respect of listening to each other. And given Obama's track record, his sounds of silence will keep America divided for years to come and the problems facing the country unsolved for at least as long.


Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.