And So It Begins -- The Sacrifice of the Safety and Financial Security of the American People

I've kind of been following the Somali pirates for years now, because. . . well, I'm into sailing.  So naturally anything that makes international waters less safe is concerning to me.  But, it seems like it's only now starting to be in the news.  I wonder why.  Perhaps because the first American crew has been kidnapped?

Up until then, terrorism doesn't happen to Americans, right?

I had known that the captain of this particular ship had volunteered to stay as a hostage so that his crew could get to safety.  And, last night, husband mentioned that the captain jumped overboard and tried to swim to safety.  A US destroyer was nearby, and no one helped him.  So he was recaptured.

Husband mentioned that in order for the crew on the destroyer to help him, someone had to give the order.  Husband says that if Obama had given the order -- after all, he is head of the executive branch of the government -- it would have been done.  But instead, the captain was recaptured, and remains a hostage for ransom.  How strange.

So apparently some people are irate about this.

But I am not surprised.  Our current president somehow thinks that everyone will somehow be nicer to the United States now that he is our leader.  That simply deposing Bush means that there will peace and prosperity for all.

So, I guess that's why he didn't even slap North Korea's hand, when they decided to test their long range missiles.  It's also why he's talking about nuclear disarmament (as if anyone could "talk" the Middle East into not making nuclear weapons).  What kind of dream world did he grow up in, where people stopped doing bad things because you "talked" to them?  Obviously he didn't grow up in South Side Chicago, as so many of his constituents did.

Anyway, no, I'm not surprised.  And I find it laughable that others are.  With everyone in this country being taught that mere words can be grounds to sue, no wonder people have lost the ability to see what a true threat is.

A lot of "conservatives" make fun of the French for being cowardly, but even the French had the presence of mind to rescue their own from the Somali pirates.  And just this month, too.  Does Obama care that little for the American people?  The French actually bothered to save people from a luxury yacht, and Obama couldn't even lift a finger to save the captain of a shipping vessel -- a vessel that is used for TRADE.  Trade that he supposedly desperately wants for our country to pull itself out of its financial recession.  Hello?  What is the executive branch of the government supposed to do other than ensure national security -- and the protection of free trade.  Apparently, all the executive branch of the government is used for these days is to sign bills that require that citizens hand all their money over to the government for doing absolutely nothing but yahoo.

French military rescues woman and child from Somali pirates in early April.

Hostage, 2 pirates killed in French rescue operation (CNN) -- A French hostage and two pirates died Friday in a rescue operation off Somalia, the French president's office in Paris said Friday. Four hostages, including a child, were freed from the hijacked yacht after almost a week of captivity, Nicolas Sarkozy's office said. The four adults and a child had been held aboard their yacht, the Tanit, since it was seized in the Gulf of Aden on Saturday, the president's statement said. The military made its move after the pirates refused their offers, including one to swap an officer for the mother and child held aboard, and threatened to execute the hostages one-by-one -- and because the Tanit was drifting closer to the Somalian coast, the defense ministry said. The possibility that the pirates could take their hostages ashore was a red line that prompted the mission. The same red line triggered two successful rescue missions by the French military last year, the ministry said. According to French media reports, a special forces unit attacked the hijacked vessel from different directions in two motor-powered rubber boats. The pirates opened fire and the special forces team fired back. Two of the five pirates were killed, along with Florent Lemacon, the owner of the Tanit, French media said. The military rescued Lemacon's wife and 3-year-old child along with two friends of the Lemacons. The Lemacons and their friends left Brittany last summer in the Tanit on a round-the-world trip, according to a blog they were keeping about the trip. The blog's last post on March 20 -- when the Tanit was in the Gulf of Aden -- said the French military had twice contacted them in the previous few days to warn them of pirates. The French military brought back 12 pirates to stand trial in the previous two rescue missions, the Defense Ministry said. There has been a series of high-profile and increasingly sophisticated pirate attacks in recent months. Also off Somalia this week, the cargo vessel Maersk Alabama was boarded by pirates, who briefly took control of the ship. Although the crew retook the ship, its captain, Richard Phillips, on Friday was still being held by the gang holed up in a lifeboat. The Maersk was hijacked about 350 miles off Somalia's coast, a distance that used to be considered safe for ships navigating in the pirate-infested waters. International navies have increased patrols in the area but the region is so large the pirates can still operate. The U.S. military warned earlier this week that recent attacks have occurred hundreds of miles off the coast, suggesting that pirates are using "mother ships" -- a practice of using bigger boats with longer range to launch smaller pirate ships against targets further out to sea. Last year, Somali pirates seized another French luxury yacht and the French military launched an operation that ended with them chasing the gang across the desert. from http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/10/somalia.france/index.html

Obama's YouTube Question and Answer

Even though I think his first actions in the White House are unsconcionably stupid (This bailout doesn't seem to bother anyone except me and husband.  Apparently all my non-self-employed friends and relatives seem perfectly fine with my paying over 40% of my income to prop up failing businesses and help other people pay off their mortgages while we struggle to pay our own with what the government leaves us. . . .), I have to admire Obama for setting up "question and answer" sessions via YouTube.

An example below is from http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/03/Open-for-Questions-Follow-up-Kareem-Dale/.  It features a woman with spinal muscular atrophy who wants to work, but would not qualify for health insurance.  Even if she could qualify, it's likely she couldn't afford it.  (Join the club, lady.  I'm not disabled, and I couldn't even afford maternity insurance for my current pregnancy, as I'm too busy working to pay taxes for Medicaid so all my patients' mothers can have free maternity health care.  It's laughable.  Physican, afford to heal thyself!)  I post her video and Obama's Disability Advisor's response below:

While I commend Obama's Disability Advisor's attempt to answer her question, all he did was say that Obama supports independent living for people with disabilities, making sure they won't be institutionalized.  Um.  Okay.  No firm plan there, I see.  Surprise surprise.  And I'm sure she's relieved to know that Obama is working towards legislation to make sure she is not institutionalized.  Whew!  Being institutionalized would really interfere with her graduate studies.

The answer will not lie with Obama.  The answer to her question lies with people reducing the cost of health care, via tort reform and lowered costs for hospitals and doctors.  Try reducing malpractice insurance, for one.  Medicaid and Medicare is a boon for those who cannot afford health care, but too many on Medicaid and Medicare have learned to screw the system over, and hospitals and clinics cannot survive on Medicaid and Medicare alone.  Thus they make up for it by charging insurance companies.

Now, imagine a National Health Care Service, where NOBODY pays for anything (except taxpayers, but they don't realize it because it comes out of their paycheck automatically.  There is no such thing as "free health care.").  Everyone learns to screw over the system.  And it is unsustainable.

Taxes increase.  Good physicians leave or just decide to leave the practice of medicine, as they just cannot support their families.  Don't believe me?  Ask me where I'll be in 5 years, if Nationalized Health Care becomes the norm.  'Not practicing medicine in the U.S.  That's for sure.

Anyway, thanks, Obama, for showing us that you really don't have an answer.

I also find it sad that as of this post, only 1,366 people have seen that poor woman's video.  Obama set up this lovely means of communicating with him to ask him questions concerning the state of the Union, and no one seems to give a shit except 1,366 people.

It's sad how apathetic Americans are.

Bad Boys!  Bad Boys!  Whatcha Gonna Do?

So, my parents call me the other day from California, and my mother asks me, "Have you heard?  Gun sales are going up since Obama was elected."

No, I haven't heard, Mom.

"I feel so unsafe!"

Needless to say, I haven't told my mother that *I* am a CCW holder.  Nor have I told her that we (*GASP*!) have guns as well.

I find it funny that the left is so afraid of people owning guns.  Why?  What are they worried about?  That people will accidentally kill them with a gun?  I dunno.  I've driven in L.A., and I personally feel I'm more likely to get killed in a car accident in L.A., with thousands of people irresponsibly driving, than I would be in Texas with thousands of people who own guns.

What else could worry lefty gun-control freaks?  Are they worried that people are so irrational that they'd just shoot someone who disagrees with their ideas?  Hm.  Paranoid, ever?

No, my husband and I did not purchase guns after the election.  We purchased the rifle 3 years ago.  We also purchased handguns about 4 months ago.  I love that silly little lefties think people only purchase guns because one is a 2nd amendment right freak -- "clinging to one's guns and religion."  The Supreme Court has already made it clear that individual gun ownership rights are not going to be taken away.  Or did people miss that bit of news in their rabid campaigning for Presidential candidates who are all the same?

I'm guessing that people in New York are going to wish that they purchased guns as well.  Since, apparently, due to New York overextending its state budget, the mayor of NYC decided to lay off cops.

What a strange world it is, when a city doesn't not have enough money to pay police officers to protect the city's people, but still has money to pay artists to make a bunch of useless, unpainted, tall metal structures -- funded by the NEA* (our tax dollars hard at work).  Frankly, I don't want my tax dollars going to support "art" that looks like someone just drilled a bunch of holes in metal and put Light-Bright lights behind them.  At least citizens of New York can hide behind these kinds of wonderful sculptures, if they get mugged.  Perhaps the lights will blind the muggers, and allow their victims to escape unarmed.

*"James Yamada's Our Starry Night is part of the Public Art Fund program In the Public Realm, which is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts; and in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs."

Quick Lesson in Why the Stock Market is Dropping

I find it amazing that journalists can be so dense in not understanding why the stockmarket is falling.  People who are on the verge of retirement, and who are still letting their 20-something-year-old kids use their parents' credit cards, know that capital gains tax is going to shoot through the roof under the Obama administration and a near-fillibuster-proof Democrat Congress.

People who have saved money all their lives, so that they can retire and still afford electricity, running water, food, and a little bingo on the side are seeing it all being taken away from them in the form of capital gains taxes.  (Which Obama has plainly announced he will increase. . . . because after all, only "rich" people have stocks, right?)

Faced with that, old folks can either pull their money out now, while taxes are low.  Or they can wait until Obama increases taxes, and see more of it go to the government.  It only makes sense, they're selling now.

By selling now, they hope they can rescue a little bit of their retirement funds before they get taxed to death.  And still afford to let their 20-something-year-old kids continue to use their parents' credit cards.  The same 20-something-year-old kids who turned out in droves to elect the candidate whose political party is hellbent on forcing their parents to go broke.

It's hilarious to watch people wonder what is going on.  It's so obvious, and yet people still don't get it.

Four legs good.  Two legs bad, people.  Just keep chanting that, and you'll be happy.

Accentuate the Positive, Eliminate the Negative, Latch on to the Affirmative, Don't Mess with Mr. Inbetween

I find it hilarious that the news media is elated that stocks in the Asian market are going up after the announcement that Obama is going to be President in January.  What's even funnier is that they fail to mention that the NYSE is going down.

At least China is happy!

'Gotta love it when people who don't understand supply-side economics have been running the government since 2006.  The abolishment of U.S. production is your baby.

Here We Go Again

I'm really glad to see that so many people actually did vote this year.  I know so many people are relying on President Barack Obama to instigate the change they so badly want.  I wish they understood, however, that change doesn't come from government.  It comes from people.  Just changing one's President will not change one's income, nor one's education, nor one's health.  Some people in California will still be paying exhorbitant taxes.  They will still be paying outrageous amounts for their mortgages.  They will still continue to drive (and guzzle gas) for 30 minutes or more to get to work.

Things won't change unless they change in the home.

That being said, I think the new First Family is going to be a refreshing change of pace from all the negative news about Bush for the last four years.  I know the media will not dare to say anything bad about them.  (Or would they?  On second thought, I'm sure they eventually will.  Assholes.)

What a lovely First Family!

Voting Ignorance Into Office

I find it amazing that Biden is so articulate.  How can someone so articulate say something that makes so little sense?

This video reminds me of a conversation I had with a girl who was voting for Kerry 4 years ago.  She said we were in Iraq for "free oil."  I asked her, "If we plan to get free oil by invading Iraq, why aren't we invading Venezuela, too?"  Her answer:  "We own Venezuela?"  Oh we do?  So that's why they can strike for higher oil prices, eh?  Seriously, I have yet to meet a Democrat who fully understands economic issues.

And Biden clearly doesn't either.  And what level of delusional is he, that he actually thinks he can control China.  China is already outstripping us in terms of production.  Therefore, it's almost surreal to watch Biden proposing that we hobble the U.S. even more by abolishing one of the largest sources of energy in the U.S.

At least we'll all be "clean."  Or as clean as one can be without electricity or running water.

I suppose I better put in more hours at work, so that I can pay for everyone else's electricity bill for the next four years.  (Not.  You'll see me retiring early before I pay more taxes to support this kind of economy-killing bullshit.)

It's really quite laughable that Biden is essentially proposing to make an airplane fly without wings.

Get Your Grubby Paws Out Of My Wallet

It's a good thing legislators are pushing to have government ownership of banks before election day, because that's the last fucking thing they're doing before I vote them out of Congress.

Wall Street Isn't Dumb

So the Dow plunged again.  What gives?  Haven't they been informed?  The government is bailing out lenders.  It may even bail out California.  Or Michigan (Didn't a representative recently go to Ford company on September 16, 2008 to discuss Ford company receiving government loans?  It's already happening, people.  We are bailing out Michigan.).  Or Delaware.

So why are people cashing in their shares of the market?  Could it possibly be because they think that capital gains taxes are going to increase under Obama?

Oh, but no!  Obama promises that he'll cut capital gains taxes to small businesses.

What's wrong with this picture, folks?

If you can't answer "Small businesses usually don't have shares, and therefore don't have capital gains taxes," then you just fell for a line of bullshit.  One of many coming out of the mouth of that dipshit.

And apparently people are falling for it.  Doesn't *anyone* take economics in high school anymore?

Over-extending Your State's Budget

A lot of states have overextended themselves, using the State budget to support programs and things that require taxpayer money.  So once personal income drops, taxes drop.  And those programs, supported by taxpayer money also lose funding.  This is what happens when you depend on the government to give you money for programs -- socialism.  The government cannot be an efficient spender of money, due to bureaucracy.  It passes many many hands before it ends up in the programs/charities for which it is intended.  And the bargaining tools are usually not there.  There is no bargaining for the government.  If they need more money, they just increase taxes, or print more of it.

Here are the states that the government is now going to be asked to bail out, because for some reason, these days, the government is asked to solve everyone's problems.

States who have overextended their budget
(map created from http://www.cbpp.org/1-15-08sfp.htm)

I'm all for charity.  I believe that helping my neighbor is fine.  But, in order to help my neighbor, I have to survive too.  I guess people are forgetting that if you want to be a successful parasite, you can't kill your host.  I expect that people don't understand this.  And therefore, I see that taxes are going to go up this year, despite anything the government can do.  For some reason, we will all be asked to share our loaves of bread, because of the sins of a few.

So, the federal government can run deficits?  Where does the federal government get the money to pay back those deficits?  From us.  What they're saying is that we are becoming a socialist country, where the government is bailing out everyone.  Why?  Because of the threat that the economy will crash if we don't let the government have our money and do whatever they like with it.  People like the idea of the government handing out money to the poor and those who are sick.  But they don't like the idea of doing it themselves.  I don't get that.

Instead, liberals look down on using the government for its intended purpose.  National security.  Yeah, it's not nice to think about sending money to the government to support the executive branch of the government.  But schools and businesses don't run well, if people are shooting and bombing you, or flying planes into your office.

It is not the government's place to save people from their follies.  That's a personal responsibility for citizens to help their fellow citizens directly.  Not through a bureaucratic mess which will divert some money to pork based on either corporate lobbying, or a representative's personal agenda.

In other words, why are people waiting for the damn government to pass a bill to help their fellow neighbor, just down the street.  For God's sake, just go over and help them, dipshits.

The other thing that bothers me is the constant reference to "improving the housing market."  The housing market is not what makes a country.  It's industry.  Sure, the process of house building creates jobs and encourages industry.  But, I've seen how the housing industry just moves people from bad parts of town to another part of town, leaving those older houses empty and creating dangerous neighborhoods with increased poverty.

People don't like to admit it, but what pulled us out of the Great Depression was not the New Deal, but WWII, which created people who learned to save money, and who supported industry that helped the military.  But no one likes to think of that, these days.  War is bad.  And that's the end of the discussion, unless you want to be called insightful names.