A GAME OF INCHES
By T Blogger | October 22, 2008
In the movie Any Given Sunday the coach (Al Pacino) reminds his players that football is a “game of inches”. Lately, it seems that politics is also a game of inches. John McCain is not a conservative Republican, and I did not vote for him in the primary. He is probably the most liberal Republican to run for the presidency since Richard Nixon. That having been said, let me also say that he is more than a handful of inches more conservative than Barack Obama, and I intend to vote for him.
Given McCain’s liberal bent, I am dumbfounded by the Democrats’ attempts to paint him as some sort of right wing fanatic. The whole thing would be laughable if this election weren’t so important. The “politics of personal destruction” that Bubba Bill Clinton accused Republicans of have become the sole property of the Obama Campaign and its allies in the mainstream media. The New York (Obama) Times accused McCain of having an affair when there was absolutely no evidence to support such an accusation. When an Ohio plumber dared to ask The Anointed One a serious question about his tax policy, the media camped out at his house and accused him of not being a plumber and not even being registered to vote (both falsehoods). Obama tipped his philosophical hand when he told the plumber he thought it was a good thing to “spread the wealth around.” In stump speeches, Obama and Biden dismissed his question with an arrogant sneer. Obama yucked it up at a rally by saying that McCain was relying on a “Plumber” to bolster his tax policies. The curled lip condescension was thick enough to cut with a hacksaw. The Obama faithful laughed racously at the presumption of this mere plumber to question The Great One. Again — it would be funny if this country weren’t so close to electing this smug, socialist shyster lawyer president of our country.
I spent most of my life thinking of myself as a Democrat. I voted for Jimmy Carter in 1976 because the economy had become bad under the Ford administration. Things got very much worse under Carter, but, being a slow learner, I voted for the Peanut Farmer again in 1980. Thank God most of the rest of the country had the good sense to nullify my ridiculous vote.
The slide toward socialism has now become a game of inches, and John McCain is the last unlikely defender against Obama’s left side sweep toward the goal. The polls are actually narrowing, making the “inches” metaphor even more appropriate. We Americans have to decide if we want a liberal Republican, or a socialist Democrat at the helm of our ship of state. John McCain seems to be an honorable man, and he has suffered for his country in ways that most of us can’t even imagine. To my mind he’s at least a half-yard to the right of Obama, and in this game of inches, that’s good enough for me.
©2008, Tom Weeks
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A HOUSE OF CARDS
By T Blogger | October 8, 2008
The American economy has revealed itself to be a house of cards. Many economists have known this for years, but their protestations have been ignored. Hard times are coming, and it appears that the American electorate is eager to make things even worse by giving the architects of this house of cards total control of the government.
Many of us citizens have noted (anecdotally, of course) that things seemed to be somewhat out of whack. I, for instance, over a period of about thirty-five years, have never failed to marvel at the overwhelming number of apparently well-fed people at the supermarket who were loading up their shopping carts and paying with food stamps while my wife and I were counting our pennies and clipping coupons to be able to afford to eat. This became so painfully obvious that the government came up with the subterfuge of issuing cards that mimic debit/credit cards instead of actual food coupons.
Democrat politicians have, for about forty years, told us that a huge number of our citizens are living in “poverty”. They even had the audacity to suggest that children were starving. Perhaps the most compelling evidence (anecdotal, of course) against this contention is that a majority of the allegedly poverty-stricken in America seem to be overweight, dressing to the nines, and driving fancy automobiles.
Money doesn’t grow on trees. Wealth must be created. Governments do not create wealth. The only way a government gets wealth is by taking it from its people through taxation. Wealth is created by trading goods and services that have value for money. This is a system that ought to work quite well. Unfortunately, however, in the modern world, it is government that controls the issuance of money. Since the United States abandoned the gold standard, our money has been backed by nothing more than the word of the government, and its value is set by a sort of international consensus. This system lends itself to manipulation by people like George Soros, a thoroughly evil man. With the current “bailout” the government has tipped its hand. We don’t have an extra $700 billion dollars lying around, so we are going to purchase a bunch of worthless paper (mortgage-backed securities) with another stack of almost worthless paper (US Dollars), which will be made even more nearly worthless by printing up another un-backed $700 billion.
If the American electorate were thinking logically, they would be thinking about electing politicians who would try to bring some sanity to our fiscal policy. But no – the guy leading in the polls wants to go to the almost empty well of the US Treasury and fund universal health care and a huge laundry list of government giveaways. He has the gall to suggest that he can finance all these governmental goodies by taxing the “wealthy” and reducing the taxes of everyone else. The word for this bit of fantasy starts with “B” and ends with “T”, but let’s use the kinder one—nonsense.
One of my favorite Will Rogers quotes is: “When you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging”. If we elect Barack Obama and load up the congress with Democrats, we will be trading our shovels for backhoes.
©2008, Tom Weeks
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DOWN FOR THE STRUGGLE
By T Blogger | September 11, 2008
What could possibly be more entertaining than the babble fest that develops in late summer of every leap year? The Democrats in Denver spun tales of woe that make Les Miserables look like a romantic comedy. The Republicans in St. Paul had their rose-colored contact lenses super glued to their corneas. Great fun.
Underlying all this political theater, however, are two different visions for our country. The Robin Hood party (need I identify them?) thinks there are far too many rich people, and that by taxing the bejeebers out of them and redistributing their wealth we can alleviate the “suffering” of the struggling poor. The other party says it believes (ironically in the words of a Democrat icon — JFK) “A rising tide raises all boats.” Kennedy uttered these words in support of tax cuts. Oh my, how times have changed. Senator Obama is often compared to Kennedy. Note to Mr. O: I voted for Kennedy. I will not vote for you.
It is a fact of human civilization that some people, for a variety of reasons, will always have more wealth than others. This will never change. The Communists in Russia couldn’t change it. The Maoists in China and the Socialists in western Europe couldn’t change it. And make no mistake about this: Barack Obama and the Democrats won’t change it in America.
Life is a struggle from the cradle to the grave, and the best way to lead a happy, rewarding and, yes, prosperous life, is to embrace and enjoy the struggle. Want more money? Work harder and smarter. I believe that God put us humans on this planet to work. I love to work. The day I have to stop working will be a sad day for me. A perfect ending for my life would be to die at work.
It seems to me that to the “community organizer”, being “down for the struggle” means manipulating the government into removing the need for people to struggle by stealing from those who embraced the struggle. Thanks, but no thanks, Mr. O. I enjoy the struggle.
© 2008 Tom Weeks
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA
By T Blogger | July 2, 2008
Two hundred and thirty-two years ago representatives of thirteen loosely aligned colonies produced an open letter to the king of England. This document put to paper the notion that it was time for the people in these colonies to cut the umbilical cord that bound them to an increasingly abusive motherland. And so began the greatest success story in the history of the world.
We live in a country that people are literally dying to get to. The United States of America is the best place on the planet to live. It has once again become trendy to accentuate the negative when speaking about our great nation. I would like to suggest that, at least for a day or two, we Americans institute a moratorium on bad-mouthing ourselves .
Happy birthday, America. May God bless you and keep you through many more.
©2008, Tom Weeks
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NO ONE TO VOTE FOR
By T Blogger | June 4, 2008
In the presidential election of 2000 I voted for Harry Browne, the Libertarian Party’s candidate. I could not, in good conscience, vote for Al Gore, who I believed to be developmentally challenged (I still feel that way about big Al). I couldn’t vote for George W. Bush because I knew absolutely nothing about him, and because I was not a big fan of his dad. I felt pretty good about my vote until big Al and the Democrats tried to steal the election from the man who had obviously won. When the Democrats tried to use lawyers and judges to get what the voters had denied them, I had a minor epiphany. It became crystal clear to me that the Democrats cared a lot less about the country than they did about political power, and I started to doubt the wisdom of voting for Mr. Browne.
On September 11, 2001 the frat boy from Texas stepped up the the plate and I was horrified to realize that my wasted vote could have resulted in Al Gore being in the White House when we were attacked. I promised myself never to waste another vote, and in 2004 I voted for Bush.
But now it’s 2008 and I have no one to vote for. John McCain is an honest-to-God war hero, but that “R” after his name is a lie. He’s a big government Democrat, and Senator Obama is a Socialist. It is a shame that one of them has to win! This country is on the brink of sliding into the stagnant sea of Socialism and multiculturalism that is drowning western Europe, and we have no one running for the presidency who will lift a finger to stop the slide.
The country is in deep trouble. I have a damaged heart and will be 66 years old next month, so I probably won’t be around when the exceptional America I grew up in finally fades to insignificance. I take no comfort in that realization.
©2008, Tom Weeks
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