A Note To Professional Athletes: A Plan To Create Positive Societal Change Vs. Your Empty Disrespectful Kneeling and Ranting

On a periodic basis we do some posts that fall under the theme of “by the numbers.” Rather than trust what the American political class tells us about reality, we like to examine the real numbers and the real reality in the world to understand what is actually going on. Relying on politicians, and their cohorts in the media, to tell us what is reality is always a sucker bet. They have their own agendas and goals, usually centering around their needs and self-enrichment. So we need to look at the reality of the numbers to determine what is really going on.

Previous analyses of “by the numbers” can be accessed by entering the phrase in the search box above. This is the second post this month where we look at the numbers to truly find out how good, not likely, or bad, most likely, the American political class is doing in managing our tax dollars, protecting our freedoms, and resolving major issues that affect all of us. 

Usually in these “by the numbers'' posts we examine real numbers that exist in different areas of life and show how things got so screwed up number wise because of the arrogance, ignorance, or stupidity of politicians. We are going to go at today’s numbers from a different angle in that we are going to generate our own hypothetical numbers in an attempt to make the world a better place.

As almost all of you probably know, athletes across all of the professional sports leagues have taken up the mantles of social justice, defund the police, all police are bad, all white people have privilege, etc. Rather than just play the sport and games that they are good at, they want to tell us how to live our lives, what horrible people we are, and in the process insult and attack our country’s heritage, flag, veterans, and police officers.

Most of them lecture us about how much smarter and insightful they are than us, they take a knee when the anthem is played, they walk off the court or field when the anthem is played, or they denigrate and insult other players who have a different opinion than them relative to the flag and anthem.

Frankly, myself and probably a lot of other people are getting tired of their act, not because they have an opinion that may differ from others but because their antics and disrespect do nothing to get solutions to current day problems. Taking a knee before a football game does not make a kid safer in violence prone south Chicago. Homeless Americans in Los Angeles are no better off because these athletes refuse to respect those that fought for freedom in this country. No abused woman, a victim of domestic violence, in a shelter somewhere is better off because of their egotistical rants.

Now let’s be clear, I am fully aware that a lot of professional athletes make meaningful contributions to their communities with foundations, financial contributions, etc. And that is great. But two things:

1. I don't need a second string safety on some NFL team lecturing me on social justice when they do nothing to fix what is wrong in their communities.
2. Second, if they want me and other fans to step up our game on fixing society’s wrongs, then I want to see them also step up their game or at least get in the game since they certainly can afford to do so, more than most fans.

Which is where our hypothetical numbers come into play. Let’s start in Minnesota, specifically Minneapolis, the city where the recent social unrest, protests and violence started due to the horrific and unnecessary murder of George Floyd at the hands of some very bad police officers. If professional athletes want to do something more valuable and more positive in their communities than just making empty and meaningless symbolic gestures during the national anthem, let’s put forth the following mathematical model, using Minneapolis as the test case: 

• From what I can gather from online sources, the player salaries for the NFL, MBL, NHL, and NBA franchises located in Minneapolis is about $415 million a year.
• Let’s assume that we impose a 5% “social justice” tax on those salaries that the players would have to pay every year.
• Let’s assume that the revenue from this social justice tax would be used in the community to solve some real problems that affect real people rather than taking a knee during the national anthem that solves nothing.
• 5% of $415 million comes out to about $20.75 million every year.

Great, we now have some revenue numbers to work with, what could be done with them:

• Checking online sources, it looks like a good, middle of the road Chromebook computer costs about $300 on average.
• Thus, simple math shows that the annual $20.75 million could buy about 69,000 chrome books in a single year.
• There are currently 36,350 kids attending Minneapolis public schools.
• Which means that one year’s worth of social justice tax could buy every kid almost two Chromebooks.
• But that would not make much sense so let’s buy each kid one Chromebook which would cost $10.9 million, leaving us just under $10 million to fix other human problems in the city.
• Maybe we could take a couple of hundred thousand dollars and give it to Minneapolis resident, Korboi Balla, a retired city firefighter who invested his life savings in a city bar, an investment that was destroyed by rioters, and give him another chance to build his dream that was destroyed before his eyes in a single night of violence.
• Maybe we could take a few million dollars from that social justice tax and give it to the owner of the 7-Sigma corporation, a city business that had been operating in the city for 33 years, a business that had 50 local city residents on the payroll, and a business that was burned to the ground by rioters so that the owner could rebuild his business and save those city jobs.
• After these two acts of support there would still be millions of dollars left to help others in need, be it the homeless, the sick, the addicted, etc.

You get the idea. If you as a professional athlete want to lecture others on social justice and call others privileged and racist based on no facts or evidence, than I want to see you step up your game, step up your commitment, and finally do something more productive than take a knee, walk off the court or field, berate others that dare to have a different opinion and continue to insult those that have served and continue to serve this country, protecting your lives, your property, and your freedom.

The numbers above are just an example of what could be done in a single city based on a small sliver of the fabulous wealth professional athletes enjoy today. This would be especially true if the social justice tax money flowed directly to the schools, directly to those in need, etc. and not through any government agency or other bureaucratic organization that would find a way to mishandle, misspend or lose the money. Directly to those in need in the community. 

The numbers don't lie. A small social justice tax, properly administered, and paid out directly to those in need would create more good, more benefits, save more lives, than any number of times the national anthem and flag are abused and disrespected with players' disrespectful actions. 

So, to those that kneel, to those that walk off the field or court, to those that think you are wiser, better, and more moral than the rest of us, either pony up some money and create real, positive societal change or just shut up.

***************
Related thoughts: https://americanvision.org/24307/black-sports-stars-squandering-their-moral-capital/

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Note: we have done a lot reporting on the dire and ever worsening situation in Chicago. The crime, the violence, and the shootings have resulted in more wounded citizens, more fatalities and a more dangerous place to be. In those discussions we have always pointed out that the mayor and those in public office in Chicago have no idea how to fix this deteriorating situation. While the vast majority of people cannot help fix what the local political class has broken, may I suggest that a donation be made to the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago to at least give the kids of the city a chance, a safe place to go and just be kids. The address for donating to this fine organization is:

Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Club Support Center

2102 W. Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60612

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:

https://www.amazon.com/Walter-Bruno-Korschek/e/B002KYU08Q/ref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share

Please visit the following sites for freedom:


http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

The Hypocrisy and Idiocy of The NFL - A Follow Up To My Letter To Roger Goodell

Two days ago we wrote an open letter to Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner, suggesting a way for he and the NFL to get themselves out of the terrible jam they have created by pissing off millions of Americans and millions of NFL fans. The root cause of this jam is the hypocrisy and infantile behavior of Goodell and many NFL players in disrespecting the American flag, the national anthem, the country, and the service men and women and police men and women that protect all of us.

As a result of their behavior:

• Social media is red hot with fans expressing their disgust at the players’ and Goodell’s disrespectful behavior.
• Fans are vowing not to buy NFL tickets and memorabilia, boycotting NFL sponsors, and not watching NFL games on TV any more.
• Fans that have purchased special and expensive NFL TV packages have been asking for and receiving refunds on their purchases.

A couple of observations and talking points:

• First and foremost, President Trump should have never entered the fray, this is a marketplace matter, it does not have anything to do with Federal government functions. Trump should have been focusing on much more important national matters including a potential nuclear war with North Korea, the mess in Syria, terrorism in general, the repeal of the disastrous Obama Care legislation, tax reform, and any number of other pressing matters.
• But having said that, Obama also should have also kept his nose out of non Federal government, trivial matters: he should not have taken time off as President to record a commercial for a comedian’s (George Lopez) TV show, he should not have wasted so much time prancing and primping around on daytime talk shows like The View, Ellen, and others, he should not have wasted so much time every March thinking that he was an expert in picking March Madness games and going on ESPN to brag about his picks (which were never any good.), etc. He should have been focusing on much more important national matters  including a potential nuclear war with North Korea, the mess in Syria, terrorism in general, the repeal of the disastrous Obama Care legislation, tax reform, and any number of other pressing matters.
• Goodell comes off as hyper hypocritical in this matter. When players wanted to mark up their sneakers to honor those that died on 9-11 he stopped them because it was not consistent with and was disrespectful of league uniform rules. When a player wanted to mark up his spikes to honor his mother, he stopped the gesture because it was not consistent with and was disrespectful of league uniform rules. When the Dallas Cowboys wanted to put a decal on their helmets to honor the five Dallas police officers that were murdered by a domestic terrorist, he stopped the gesture because it was not consistent with and was disrespectful of league uniform rules. But when a bunch of players disrespect the flag, the country and the national anthem, acts of defiance that are not consistent with league rules, he goes mute. When quarterback Colin Kaepernick comes to an NFL practice wearing socks that depicted all cops as pigs, surely inconsistent with NFL uniform rules, Goodell was silent. So hypocritical.
• In fact, he got himself in a snit by claiming that Trump disrespected the league. He needs to keep in mind that the NFL needs America, America does not need the NFL. His players and employees disrespect the flag and country and those that protect us and he’s upset because he thinks that the league got disrespected, give me a break.
• Last week, a New York Giants receiver, Odell Beckham, caught a touchdown pass and as part of his post score antics he got down on all four legs and acted like a male dog taking a piss on a bush. To my knowledge as of today, Goodell has not reprimanded or punished Beckham for such crass and disgusting behavior but he tolerates the disrespecting of the country, the anthem, and the flag.
• But probably the other biggest screw up by Goodell, besides his super hypocrisy, is that all of these player protests, supposedly against racism in America, are totally useless. These protests are an empty gesture of spoiled millionaire players taking a few minutes to execute an empty protest without any plans, initiatives, and sense of what it takes to actually make a positive difference in society. As a result, the issue they think  they are highlighting is getting lost because of the way Goodell let them go about it. If there is widespread racism in this country, and real data would dispute the widespread assertion of these players, they blew the opportunity to address it with their disrespectful behavior. The issue they protested, racism, is now an afterthought to the furor and disrespect they have incurred and for that I blame Goodell for letting the crazies run the asylum and not focusing their passion into a positive action that involved fans, sponsors, law enforcement, and politicians.
• No kid in south Chicago is any safer from the drug trade violence in the streets as a result of millionaire players not respecting the flag. No opioid drug addict in inner city Baltimore is more likely to get addiction treatment as a result of millionaire players not respecting the anthem. No inner city school kid in Washington DC is getting more than a mediocre education as a result of millionaire players not respecting those in the police and armed forces that have died and suffered protecting all of us. And no bridges between police organizations and local communities have been built as a result of millionaire players pissing like a dog.

I have provided a way out of the mess he created. I doubt he will ever read it or act on my suggestions. That is certainly his right. But I am done with the NFL for now. Not so much because I disagree with the players but what they did and how they did it was stupid and self defeating. And the hypocrisy of Roger Goodell in this whole mess is juvenile, and certainly not the mark of a great leader. Two things I hate in life is hypocrisy and stupidity, and the NFL and Goodell have certainly displayed both of them in this issue, causing the real purported issue, racism, to  get lost in the noise.

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

An Open Letter To Roger Goodell and A Way Out Of The Current Mess He Created - Follow Up Discussion Tomorrow

September 26, 2017

Mr. Goodell:

It seems you have quite the problem on your hands given the now widespread habit of players not respecting the American flag or the national anthem at the start of NFL games this season. No doubt you know that this behavior has caused quite the discontent among your fan base as many in this country interpret the player's’ behavior as disrespecting the brave armed forces and police forces that protect our country and safeguard our towns, streets, and families.

I am assuming that you are also aware that the players’ behavior is resulting in formal and informal efforts getting underway to boycott NFL games, sales, and sponsors. Yes, you have quite the quandary to dig out from if the NFL and the NFL revenue stream is to be protected.

To be honest with you upfront, I too have a serious problem with both the players’ behavior and your behavior. I have had many friends and relatives who have served in this country’s armed forces and some who died in that service. I have many friends who are able, kind, and non-racist members of police forces that are being tarnished with this feeling that all police members are racists. In my opinion, the players’ pre-game behavior is a slap in the face of these other brave Americans. Your refusal to fine Colin Kaepernick for wearing socks at an NFL practice depicting all police officers as pigs while fining players for having a minor fashion discrepancy on the field is the height of hypocrisy. 

But whatever got us to this situation, the question now is how to get out of it so that all parties get what they want. And this letter is a suggestion to that end. You and the league are now stuck in a vortex that is not going to get any better if you and the league proceed in a business as usual manner. No good will come to the league and its owners, no good will come to those that are offended by the players’ behavior, and no good will come to protecting and advancing the protesting players intentions, which seem to be to combat racism is this country. 

My proposed solution attempts to break the league out of the muck and mire before it swallows you up while making positive contributions to humanity. The main components of this plan include the following aspects:

- The players that are protesting the American flag, the national anthem, and insulting all service members and police forces across the country will contribute to a fund to address society’s problems. If these millionaire players want to make a statement, let them back up that statement with the financial resources that they can surely afford. I propose that the protesting players put up $100 million for this effort.

- You have many, many rich corporate sponsors. I would suggest that as good societal presences that they also put up a contribution to this effort, with the intention of matching the $100 million put up by the protesting players.

- With this $200 million fund, call it the NFL Player Humanity Fund, the funds would be distributed to worthy and credible charity and activist organizations that would address the problems facing society, especially minority neighborhood problems across the country:

Some of the funds would be used by minority organizations to build bridges and relationships with local police forces, to build understanding and compassion between those in the community and those that police those communities. These efforts would help increase police training sensitivity awareness and build positive community outreach programs between all parties involved in a community’s safety.
Some of these funds would be used to protect the nation’s urban youth from the violence that many of these kids faces on city streets everyday with help going to organizations like Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCAs, etc. that would provide a safe, constructive haven for urban youth.
Some of the funds would be used to help treat the drug addicted throughout the country and especially in urban areas, a plague that in some places is now more fatal than gun violence.
Some of the funds would be used to fund viable and accredited education institutions, especially in urban areas where city kids never seem to get the opportunity education-wise to break out of the cycle of poverty.
Some of the funds would be used to support those that have been injured in the line of duty of protecting the country, be it servicemen and women or police men and women, helping in their recovery from wounds and injuries or in the case of death, helping the families they left behind.

Once this fund is established, any player that continues to disrespect the flag and the anthem would be fined $1,000 per game, money that would go into the fund. That helps the fund grow to help others, puts some skin in the game for these wealthy players, and takes the fever out of the sore with fans who know that if a player continues to disrespect the flag and anthem at least some monetary support will go towards helping society.

Hopefully you get the idea. Players disrespecting the flag and country without a viable plan to fix what they protest come off to many Americans as spoiled rich brats who think a minute or two of disobedience in their million dollar careers actually accomplishes something. People upset with the players need to recognize that there are actual racism issues in this country that need to be addressed beyond a couple of minutes of protest. Kids in urban areas that are getting shot, drug addicted and under educated never have a chance at a better life that I am sure the protesting players and the protesting fans would want to see happen. And despite what  Kaepernick thinks and you condone, the vast majority of police officers in this country are not pigs.

You need to break this vicious cycle of everyone shouting at each other, accomplishing nothing. A program such as the NFL Humanity Fund would address the issues that fans, players, and the underprivileged in this country are facing and actually have a plan to get things done. It gives everyone something that is important to them and puts the league in a much better public relations position.

I am aware that the NFL and individual players already donate a large amount of funds and time to worthwhile efforts in communities across the country. However, most fans are not aware of that so the current player protests make them come off as selfish hypocrites. However, the players have upped the ante so to speak with their protests and disrespect and thus, the need to up the ante on combating racism and society’s problems have to be upped also.

I hope this proposal lands on an NFL desk of someone who is interested in breaking this cycle of yelling and protests, by both players and fans, that accomplish nothing. The NFL PLayer Humanity fund would get some good out of a bad situation that is getting worse. Ignore it at your own peril, die hard football fans like myself are not going to be patient forever, the volume of yelling that gets worse every week and accomplishes nothing is turning may of us off, many who just want to watch a football game and relax without all of the distractions that now surround the game for no good reason and which, most importantly,  accomplish nothing.

Sincerely,

Walter “Bruno” Korschek

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

December, 2016, Part 4, Poltiical Class Insanity: Under Educating Our Kids, MInimum Wage Fallacies, and Corruption in Minnesota

It has been almost a month since Donald Trump has been elected which means at some point in the future we may run out of material to talk about. With the demise of the Obama administration, eight years worth of wasteful and excessive spending for nothing in return, foreign affairs blunders, Obama Care disasters, and assorted other administration and government blunders and screwups might end with the onset of a new administration. Trump may usher in a new paradigm of government actions that are limited, effective, cost efficient, and protective of the Constitution. If so, then this blog would run out of material to discuss and would have to be shut down.

But I doubt it. Even if Trump is truly a different type of President, he is still fighting over 500 embedded and entrenched politicians in Congress and thousands and thousands of government bureaucrats who will not go peacefully into the night for the good of the country. I wish him well and hopefully he can fix at least some of the myriad of problems the American political class creates everyday but until then, enjoy the latest political class insanity from Washington and beyond:

1) We have often discussed the reality of how poorly our public schools educate our kids despite having spent trillions of dollars over the past few decades pumping money into our public schools. On standardized testing processes, U.S. kids usually end up behind dozens of other countries’ kids when those tests are graded. And every year, the Federal Department of Education is given a budget worth tens of billions of dollars and nothing ever changes with respect to how well our kids are educated.

Einstein once said that, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” This is particularly true as it applies to the American political class and how it has spent our education dollars over the years: more and more money being spent and test results never getting better.

But it does not have to be that way if only the political class worked for our kids’ benefits and not the campaign donations they get from teachers’ unions: 

• The November, 2016 issue of Reason magazine showed how charter schools in Colorado prove that there is a better way to educate our kids.
• A Colorado Department of Education study found that charter schools have a more diverse population, students in the state’s charter schools do better on tests, and those higher education levels are attained at less cost than traditional public schools.
• More impressively, Colorado charter school’s students tested higher than EVERY other state’s overall 8th graders in math and were 11 points higher than the nearest state’s schools.
• Hispanic charter students outscored their peers in all other states except for three. 
• The Colorado charter students also outperformed just about every other states’ test scores in 8th grade reading.

There are better ways to spend our taxpayer dollars and Colorado proved it. To bad the Einstein theory still binds today’s politicians to the same failed approach of public education in our country today.

For another example of where changing the way to educate our kids is working despite the political class, please go to the following post:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2015/07/part-1-why-there-is-hope-to-better.html

2) Politicians, especially Democrats and liberals, think they know a lot about economics. But as we have pointed out many times in this blog, most of their economic programs depress growth, over regulate businesses, and raise costs for all products and services. 

But Democrats think that raising the minimum wage level at the Federal level will cure poverty and make everyone happy and wealthy. They obviously do not understand the basics of supply and demand, as witnessed by a recent article by Boston Globe writer Jeff Jacoby:

• A University Of Washington study found that when Seattle raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour it created an “unintended, negative side effects in hours and unemployment, “ i.e. available hours for working went down while unemployment went up.
• A similar raise in the minimum wage in Washington, DC caused Walmart to not open two planned stores in the city, costing the city’s citizens hundreds of potential job opportunities.
• DC restaurants experienced a decrease 1,400 jobs in the first half of 2016, the biggest drop in 15 years despite a slowly growing economy, likely the result of a higher minimum wage.

The reality is that politicians meddling in the economy usually results in fewer jobs at lower earning rates, the data available proves this fact of life and economics. And yet, they continue to push for policies that do the exact opposite of what they think they know: raising the minimum wage to $15 makes no difference if there are no jobs available at the $15 dollar level. Insanity.

3) A recent article by Deadspin writer Kevin Draper proves again that corruption and unethical behavior is not restricted to Washington, that local and state politicians can be just as bad. But first a little background:

• The NFL’s Minnesota Vikings football team franchise recently moved into a brand new arena.
• Local taxpayers were forced to put up half a billion dollars to build it and pay for it.
• It will take the local taxpayers about 28 years to pay off the bonds used to finance the half a billion dollars.
• The entire process is controlled and operated by a five person agency called the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority.
• These five Authority members are appointed by the governor and the mayor of Minneapolis.

We won’t even get into the insanity that taxpayers were forced to pay for an NFL building (keeping in mind that the NFL in total has annual revenues approaching a whopping $10 billion a year) but that most of them will never be able to afford to get into to see a Vikings game. Let’s focus on the perks that local and state politicians have granted their friends and themselves relative to this scheme:

• The five Authority members get to use two luxury suites in the new arena for free, suites that usually sell for between $200,00 and $300,000.
• Use of the suites includes free food and often free parking at the arena.
• The use of the suites and free food can be used by the members to give to friends and family.
• These are not small suites, each can hold up to 18 friends and family members of the Authority members.
• It appears that many local state politicians attended some games for free while using the suites, putting them in violation of gift ethics rules.
• Some politicians paid for the use of the suites AFTER a local newspaper investigation revealed that they had not paid for the suite sue prior to attending a game, i.e. they had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

As always, corruption with public officials who take care of themselves and their friends, sticking the taxpayer for the bill, whether at a local football game or in Washington.

That will do it for today’s insanity: corruption at the local political level, minimum wage insanity, and the continuing failure to properly educated our kids despite proof that it can be done and be done less expensively. More insanity tomorrow.

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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

July, 2015, Part 1:Political Class insanity: Expensive Helter Skelter Bombing, Lining Up The Next Bank Bailouts, and More

At the beginning of each month we take a week or so to review the latest insanity from the American political class. Insanity from them includes a wide range of very depressing actions which can include wasteful spending, idiotic quotes, an inefficient and ineffective government bureaucracy, failed economic policies, etc. Every month we continue to prove that we are being served by the worst set of politicians ever.

And as you will see, this month’s review and discussions do nothing to prove that this thesis is wrong in any way:

1) Many Americans, and possibly a majority of Americans, were against the political class using billions and billions of taxpayer dollars to bailout their Wall Street financial backers during the Great Recession. Most, like me, would have let them crash and burn since their greed and incompetence was what made their companies go to the brink of extinction and caused the great suffering of the Great Recession.

Despite that reality, it does not seem like the politicians are listening or if they really care. According to a Wall Street Journal article that was summarized in the June 5, 2015 issue of The Week magazine, the U.S. government (really the American taxpayer) currently stands behind 60% of the financial industry’s total liabilities. This total is a whopping $26 TRILLION.

This obligation includes both explicit and implicit backing, based on previous bailouts. And given that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the main culprits in the collapse of the housing industry which led directly to the Great Recession, it does not feel good that the American taxpayer, via the Federal government, is still backing $5 TRILLION of their liabilities.

To put these insane numbers in perspective, the American political class has put each American family on the hook for:

1. Each American family on average is responsible for over $215,000 of the $26 TRILLION.
2. Each American family on average is still responsible for over $41,000 of the $5 TRILLION Fannie and Freddie liabilities.

The more things change the more things stay the same, especially if the politicians in Washington still try and take care of their political backers vs. doing the right thing for regular Americans.

2) According to the New York Times in an article that was summarized in the June 5, 2015 issue of The Week magazine, the American taxpayer via the Pentagon is spending about $8.6 million a day to bomb ISIS positions in Iraq and Syria. Combine this fact with the reality that the President has readily admitted that he does not have a final strategy for dealing with the ISIS terrorists. Thus, it would seem that maybe he should focus on finally getting a viable strategy in place since without one, spending $8.6 million a day, over $2.1 billion so far, seems like a waste of money if you do not know what your end game is.

3) According to Vox.com, as summarized in the May 15, 2015 issue of The Week magazine, in the poorer neighborhoods of Baltimore, the infant mortality rate is about 20 per 1,000, which makes it worse than the rate in the West Bank, Honduras, and Venezuela. One has to think that possibly spending $8.6 million a day within this country for problems like this is more worthwhile than randomly bombing targets in Iraq for no overarching strategic reason at all.

4) According to the July, 2015 issue of Reason magazine, back in February Hillary Clinton put forth the following quote: “I don’t throw anything away. I am like two steps short of a hoarder.” In light of the fact she had recently deleted a whopping 30,000 emails of hers in an attempt to thwart a Congressional investigation into possibly shady dealings in her State Department, it appears that she and I have a substantially different definition of what a hoarder is. 

5) We have often made the case that government bureaucracies have gotten so big and often so unnecessary that the bureaucrats who operate them make up regulations and take actions solely for the purpose of preserving their unneeded jobs. Such was the case of a recent directive by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. They put out an alert that required Kroger to recall a certain type of children’s hooded sweatshirt since according to the commission, “The sweatshirt zipper pull can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children.”

Great work, government bureaucrats. We certainly do not want kids choking. Even if it cost $1.4 million to recall the sweatshirts, certainly worth it for child safety.

Or was it? The basis of the recall was that ONE, yes ONE, zipper pull out of 140,000 sweatshirts had detached, resulting in NO ONE getting hurt. Really? Does not this government entity have better things to do than worrying about a one in 140,000 chance of maybe something bad happening? 

This probability is approaching the chances of being struck by lightning, which according to the National Lightning Safety Institute is just a little higher at one in 280,000. And if they do not have anything better to do, than maybe it is time to save some taxpayer money and downsize or terminate this unnecessary government function.

6) When Obama took office, he made a big deal about minimizing the impact of lobbyists in his administration. As always with this President, this high rhetoric was quickly abolished by low actions. it is no secret that high powered lobbyists almost immediately took high ranking positions in his administration.

And a Washington Times article by Tammy Bruce, that was summarized in the April 10, 2015 issue of The Week magazine, pointed out how lobbyists and corporate interests had easy access, and probably easy influence, in the Obama administration. According to Ms. Bruce, thanks to a secret Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report that was accidentally sent to the Wall Street Journal (you really cannot make this incompetence stuff up it is so unreal, accidentally sent to the Wall Street Journal, geez) we now know how cozy the Obama administration was with Google during the time that the FTC was investigating Google for antitrust violations.

Since 2009, when Obama took office, Google executives and lobbyists had averaged an astounding one White House visit per week over the past six years. Given that visitation rate, is it just a coincidence that while the FTC staff had recommended in 2012 that the government put together an antitrust lawsuit against Google, the FTC commissioners vetoed such an action? Is it just a coincidence that former Google CEO Eric Schmidt personally handled customized voter turnout software for Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign?

Or as Ms. Bruce concluded, “If you help Barack Obama with what he wants, the rule of law will bend, or even break, for you.”

7) In a little piece of political sanity in the enormous sea of political class insanity, and a very sad commentary on the country’s tax code, the National Football League announced that it would voluntarily give up its tax exempt status. While the 32 teams in the NFL have always had to pay taxes, somehow, the league office, which takes in over $300 million a year, somehow was able to be tax exempt on those revenues. 

Which raises two obvious, and depressing questions:

1. Why has this condition existed for so long?
2. And why did the league give up the status, why didn’t the Washington political class tax action long before this to ensure that a private, for profit enterprise like the NFL office paid its fair share of taxes?

That will do it for today, a good start to the bad news coming out of the American political class. Letting a for profit entity not pay taxes on $300 million in annual revenue for years, letting Google lobby the heck out of the Feds, creating sweatshirt crises when there is no crisis, expensive helter skelter bombing in Iraq and Syria, and the potential of another banker bailout. And we are just getting started.

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.loathemygovernmobama,washington post,politifactent.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.bankruptingamerica.org
http://www.conventionofstates.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w

Politicians Say the Darndest Things...Unfortunately - September, 2014 Update

On a regular basis we like to review the quotes and silliness that comes out of our politicians’ mouths. If their words and actions were not so dangerous to our freedoms, liberty, economic well being, and general happiness, their ridiculous and inane quotes would be quite funny. As you read them, consider the following facts and observations:

- In a country with over three hundred million people, how sad is it that we cannot find five hundred people or so that are far better problem solvers than the current members of Congress and the White House, given the insane quotes and inabilities of the current Washington class?

- With the real unemployment rate over 10%, with the national debt due to excessive Washington spending at about $18 TRILLION, with a war on drugs still being lost, with public schools still failing to educate, with a leaky southern border that exposes everyone to potential terrorist attacks, with anemic economic growth, etc., after reading the following quotes and thoughts, do you really think that our current crop of politicians are capable of resolving these major issues facing Americans today?

- Past American politicians have given us great quotes, memorable quotes, inspirational quotes like:

• John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you…”
• Abraham Lincoln: “Four score and seven years ago…”
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself…”

Instead of greatness, we are stuck with quotes from people like Nancy Pelosi who once said something to the effect that: “We have to pass the legislation [Obama Care] to see what is in it.” This is like saying we have to drive down a fog enshrouded, icy mountain road at night so we can see where the road turns. Pathetic.

Past posts in this bog that looked at silly and inept political quotes can be accessed by typing “politicians say the darndest things” in the search box above. The last time we reviewed quotes was at the following link:

http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2013/06/june-2013-politicians-say-darndest.html

Let’ see what our politicians have been saying recently:

1) Joe Biden is always a good source for inane comments. Recently he put his foot in his mouth again when he stated:
“My son as attorney general, the year in Iraq, came back and that’s one of the things that he finds is, was most in need, when he was over there in Iraq for a year, people would come to him and talk about what was happening at home, in terms of foreclosures, in terms of bad loans that were being, I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas.”

The Shylock reference is from Shakespeare’s play “The Merchant of Venice,” where the bad guy, a Jewish moneylender, named Shylock, literally required a pound of flesh from someone who didn’t repay their loan. It has long been considered a vile and offensive term, a derogatory slander of any person of the Jewish faith. And here the Vice president is throwing it around casually in his very public remarks, remarks that can be seen at:

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/09/178566-just-biden-biden-anti/

2) As most knowledgeable know, the ISIS terrorists have beheaded at least two American journalists over the past month or so, simply because they were Americans. There are no indications they were CIA operatives, contract killers, mean people, just two journalists trying to report the news on the ground in the Middle East.

I can think of no worse way to die or any act so heinous than the beheading of any person, never mind innocent people. But according to Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, it was the journalists fault for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, that is the real reason they were beheaded. 

The Congresswoman recent stated that the recent beheadings of American journalists does not justify air strikes by the U.S., even suggesting the journalists were committed because “we were on their [ISIS] ground” and Americans “need to be careful where they are.” So it’s their fault that they were reporting, doing their job and they deserve what they get, beheadings? Talk about lack of compassion. The interview of the Congresswoman when she showed such ignorance and dispassion can be accessed at:

http://www.headlinepolitics.com/unbelievable-democrat-congresswoman-suggests-beheaded-journalists-brought-upon/

3) Rather than try to explain a recent John Kerry appearance in front of a Senate committee, an appearance where he just rambles on incoherently trying to answer a Senator’s simple question, see for yourself on the following link how lost and incoherent he sounds and then ask yourself: does this man exude confidence, intelligence, leadership or any kind of positive attribute or does he come off as completely lost:

http://americanoverlook.com/video-watch-john-kerry-stumble-like-an-idiot-after-being-asked-one-simple-question-about-isis/26949

4) Let’s see, Joe Biden insults the entire Jewish religion, how much worse could it get? How about Senate majority Leader Harry Reid insulting an entire race of people, namely the Asians. Reid was giving a speech recently at the Asian Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas when he dropped not one, but two, insults on his Asian hosts:

“I don’t think you’re smarter than anybody else, but you’ve convinced a lot of us you are.” In other words, the stereotypical portrait of Asians as being really smart is not correct but you sure convinced us country hicks that you are.

“One problem that I’ve had today is keeping my Wongs straight.” In other words, you all look alike to us non-Asians.

How much more insulting can you get? Puts Biden to shame with his Shylock comment, something that I thought was hard to do.

5) Let’s see if Biden can make a comeback. He recently gave a speech at a Democratic Party forum dedicated to women’s issues when he stated:

“It’s Republicans who were involved, guys like Mac Mathias and [Bob] Packwood and so many others,” Biden said in remarks to the Democratic National Committee, saying today’s antagonistic Republican Party doesn’t resemble the GOP that used to work across the aisle.

Typical political speech…. except for one embarrassing fact, especially embarrassing since his words were delivered in the context of women’s issues: Packwood was forced to resign from the Senate in 1995 after the Senate Ethics Committee voted to expel him for sexual misconduct. His misconduct included having nearly 20 women accuse Packwood of sexual harassment.

Do these high paid, supposed leaders never think before they open their mouths or are they really that stupid and ignorant? A question for the ages.

6) Sometimes politicians say things that are not stupid or silly or inappropriate, they are just plain falsehoods. Consider the remarks of the President from a few years ago:

“Under our plan [Obama Care legislation], no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.” 

But according to an analysis and report on Obama Care that was recently published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Obama Care legislation has indeed allowed women to use Federal dollars to have abortions. Obama made these comments while the fate of the legislation was still pending, trying to convince Democratic, ant-abortion Congressmen that abortion was off the table as far as public funding under Obama Care and that they should vote for approval of the legislation.

However, his claim of no abortion funding, like many, many other of his promises, proved to be just another plain deception and falsehood, a trademark of his administration and himself.

7) Let me say up front that I am totally against domestic violence and any coddling of those that assault their spouses, girl friends or significant others. It is a cowardly act, an act that should be punished to any extent necessary.

That is why we have police, prosecutors, trials, juries, and judges, to make sure that justice is done to domestic abuse instigators. There are processes in place to make sure these types of cowards pay for their violent acts.

In that context, let me repeat the state of the union that we discussed above: With the real unemployment rate over 10%, with the national debt due to excessive Washington spending at about $18 TRILLION, with a war on drugs still being lost, with public schools still failing to educate, with a leaky southern border that exposes everyone to potential terrorist attacks, with anemic economic growth, etc., after reading the following quotes and thoughts, do you really think that our current crop of politicians are capable of resolving these major issues facing Americans today?

Probably about half of that 10% unemployment are women. About half of that $18 TRILLION national debt is going to be paid by women. A lot of our citizens that are suffering as a result of the lost war on drugs are women. You get the idea. There are far greater issues for Washington to work on to resolve that will affect tens of millions of American women than to worry about how the NFL handles a few of its players accused of domestic abuse.

But that did not stop a bunch of women U.S. Senators from getting together to write a letter to the NFL rather than spend their time and their staffs’ time on the pressing issues above, a letter that included the following quote: “If you violently assault a woman, you shouldn’t get a second chance to play football in the NFL. It is long past time for the NFL to institute a real zero-tolerance policy and send a strong message that the league will not tolerate violence against women by its players, who are role models for children across America.”

I get it that you are pissed at the NFL. But let the justice system handle the prosecution, let the weight of public opinion and league sponsors force changes to how the league treats these types of players. You go to work and fix the major issues that affect far more women than a few bad and cowardly NFL players.

And anyway, if you try to resolve this issue like you have tried to resolve others issues facing Americans, you will probably make things worse than better. Besides, since you are all out on another extended vacation that will keep you out of Washington until November 12, what good can you do anyway?

That will do it for now. These are the people that are supposed to be leading the country. Instead, they are busy insulting Jews, Asians, beheaded journalists, and women, bumbling and stuttering in front of Congress, and sticking their noses in situations that they should stay out of. Their own words portray their insanity and idiocy. And as they insult, bumble, stutter, and intrude, the real issues of American just keep getting worse.

Seems like we need some different people in Washington via term limits, these quote machines are getting tiresome and insulting to all:
www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com

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