And While We’re Talking about Taxes and Tea Parties…
April 21, 2010
It would do us good to peruse what the “loyal opposition” is saying, as exemplified by another writer in USA Today, this time a guy they gave a column to:
I sincerely appreciate Mr. Benjamin’s patriotism and don’t question it one whit: what I question is
- Does he really understand what the Tea Party movement is all about?
- Does he understand the red herrings that litter his piece and demonstrate, once again, the convoluted reasoning of so many liberal types?
- Does he seriously believe that the Founding Fathers envisioned the big government, bureaucratic mess that Washington has become? Seriously? With a straight face?
- Does he really think that comparing us to Europe or Japan persuades anybody who can think for himself?
- Does he really lack the imagination to envision an America that can accomplish not only what he envisions, but so much more, without the mess we have today, particularly the horrid entity he professes to love so much, the income tax?
- And does he really, honestly, “secretly love the ritual” of paying income taxes? Does he also love, I don’t know, diphtheria, brussel sprouts, and the designated hitter? Sheesh…
Good Thoughts on Obamacare
March 20, 2010
I will withhold the full fury of my thoughts until Obamacare passes, if indeed it does, this travesty that is being foisted on the American public against its will by a lying President, a power-possessed Speaker, and a tone-deaf Democrat Congress. But in the meantime, here are two articles that need to be read, particularly the first, by Peggy Noonan.
The Health Care Wars are Only Beginning
The first deals with the embarrassment that Mr. Obama has already become, so quickly in his administration; that this man is deceitful is obvious; that his ideology is far-leftist is clear; that he is in way over his head experience-wise isn’t hard to discern at all. Peggy Noonan’s article deals mainly with the latter, and his pitiful attempts to cover up this fact.
The second, by Freddie Barnes, deals with the fact that passing Obamacare will signal, not the end, but the beginning of a long, drawn out fight that may last decades. Good reading, both.
And Speaking of Flip-Floppers…
March 19, 2010
Here’s our flip-flopping Commander-in-Chief, whose principles are apparently only good as long as he’s theorizing. Once he gets in office, well…you be the judge…
This video should be seen by every American; it really exposes the blatant hypocrisy of the current occupant of the White House; follow the link; sorry that WordPress decided to “improve” its system—such that it doesn’t work right anymore…
Kucinich Switches His Vote: Now There’s a Shock
March 17, 2010
He said, tongue firmly in cheek.
For all of Mr. Kucinich’s professed allegiance to principle (in his case, of course, far left fringe principle, but principle none the less), this was predictable; this isn’t the first time that the “principled” Kucinich has been a sell-out (and it certainly won’t be the last). Most people don’t remember this, but do you know what Dennis Kucinich was before he ran for prez the first time in 2004? Kucinich, for all his liberal ways, was a reliable pro-life vote. Yes, that Dennis Kucinich. Ah, but then he wanted to be president from the Democrat side of the aisle, and as everyone knows, “abortion rights” support is an essential for a person who wants to be elected president as a Democrat so…so Mr. Kucinich decided he could sacrifice a few million babies so he could make a Quixotic run for the White House.
Wonder if Dennis Kucinich has ever met a principle he wouldn’t abandon for p0litical expediency?
What Should Minimum Wage Be?
March 10, 2010
Zero, of course.
In a great article published yesterday by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution–which does seem to be diversifying a little bit to the right in its editorial page, a welcome change–Richard Burkhauser makes the point that if we are serious about reducing unemployment—particularly among the young and inexperienced, who if allowed to remain chronically un-and under-employed, will create all sorts of headaches down the road—then politicians need to revisit the 40% increase in the minimum wage passed in 2007. Well, duh.
Cutting the Basic Wage to Spur Jobs
It’s just common sense, so much so as to be, effectively, axiomatic: the artificial inflation of the cost of goods and services—which is exactly what happens with a “minimum wage”—messes up the economy. When government meddles in what ought to be private affairs—even when government does it with the best of intentions—the train goes off the tracks. It is so predictable as to be laughable that when employers are forced to pay employees more than the employees are worth, there will be less employees doing more work.
Progressive politicians don’t understand this—or if they do, they are simply evil people. Because it hurts everyone when the minimum wage is increased—everyone. The price of goods and services go up, and/or the quality of goods and services goes down, and/or the unemployment rolls increase. There’s simply no way around that, because to think otherwise is to subscribe to what I call the “Big Bag o’ Money Theory” about business: businesses have a big bag o’ money just sitting around collecting interest and dust, and it’s a bag o’ money that business ought to be sharing with others, so when the government passes silly laws to make businesses give more money to its employees, it’s as simple as digging into the big bag o’ money and divvying up “their fair share”.
And leprechauns will soon be flying out of…somewhere.
Want to put people back to work? At the very least, create a second minimum wage targeted at the young unemployed. Get ‘em working for, say, $5 an hour. They won’t get rich—minimum wage won’t make anybody rich, nor should it—but they’ll get working. And they’ll help business. And they’ll develop skills and prove their merit and all sorts of good things that are currently being blocked by this monstrosity we call “minimum wage”.
Obama: Rescuing Everyone from the Truth
January 1, 2010
Great piece by Roger Scruton on the difference between conservative and liberal thinking, and why Europeans love Comrade Obama so much that they awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize:
This phrase comes from the 1978 "Jonestown massacre" in which most members of the Peoples Temple cult, blindly following their leader Jim Jones, committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool-Aid.
Osborne: A Contrarian's Guide to Knowing God
Schlossberg: Idols For Destruction
