From Today's Inbox -- Cutting the Deficit

Pepper forwarded this to me today.  It really puts things in perspective:

object: I'm cutting back and you may want to also!

I'm cutting back and you may want to also....

    I'm going to bite the bullet, too!!!!

President Obama ordered the cabinet to cut $100,000,000.00 ($100
million) from the $3,500,000,000,000.00 ($3.5 trillion) federal
budget.

I'm so impressed by this sacrifice that I have decided to do the same

thing with my personal budget. I spend about $2,000 a month on
groceries, household expenses, medicine, utilities, etc., but it's
time to get out the budget cutting axe, go through my expenses, and
cut back.

I'm going to cut my spending at exactly the same ratio (1/35,000) of
my total budget. After doing the math, it looks like instead of
spending $2,000 a month, I'm going to have to cut that number by six
cents. Yes, I'm going to have to get by with $1999.94, but that's what
sacrifice is all about.

I'll just have to do without some things, that are, frankly, luxuries
- six cents worth.

Did this President actually think no one would do the math? Please
send this to everyone on your list so people understand how idiotic a
$100 million cut is in a $3.5 trillion budget - ludicrous!!!!!!!

"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation...

    One is by sword...

    The other is by debt."

    John Adams 1826



*sigh*

Check. Next Crisis, Please.

Sorry I've been AWOL for awhile.  We're getting ready to start a construction project in Little Rock -- adding on to our little rent house there -- and I'm kind of the project manager, travelling back and forth.  It should be an "interesting" couple of months, leading up to starting on Moogie's Retirement Villa.  I wish I had Lou and Toby around to advise me!

Anyway, I'm choosing to side-step the whole debt ceiling mess for awhile with one small exception --

Although, I'm not so sure the Young President can claim a victory lap on this one.  The Conservatives seem to have taken the biggest chunk out of the compromise pie (except for the not really cutting any spending part -- it's really just not spending as much more as the left would like to spend).  Kind of refreshing -- And promising.  Sort of.  Moogie appears to be wearing those rose-colored glasses again.

Well, maybe I made a medium-sized exception.  Hey, we all have to take a "balanced approach," right?

 P.S. -- the Young President is yammering again, after the vote in the Senate on the Debt Ceiling debacle-bill.  Egad, if he doesn't go on a golf trip or junket or climb a mountain sometime soon, and STFU, I may lose it.  He needs some new speechwriters -- every time he gets to a microphone lately, what comes out of his mouth turns into a key-word-trigger drinking game opportunity.  AA must have seen a big uptick the last few weeks.) 

P.P.S. -- I REALLY don't like this "Super Congress" thing.

In Today's Inbox

[I don't know who started this email, but I like it. Not the idea behind it, of course, I just like the way it crawls down into your stomach and just grinds. Sorta.]:




Once upon a time the government had a vast scrap yard in the middle of a desert.

Congress said, "Someone may steal from it at night."

So they created a night watchman position and hired a person for the job.

Then Congress said, "How does the watchman do his job without instruction?"

So they created a planning department and hired two people, one person to write the instructions, and one person to do time studies.

Then Congress said, "How will we know the night watchman is doing the tasks correctly?"

So they created a Quality Control department and hired two people. One was to do the studies and one was to write the reports.

Then Congress said, "How are these people going to get paid?"

So they created two positions: a time keeper and a payroll officer then hired two people.


Then Congress said, "Who will be accountable for all of these people?"

So they created an administrative section and hired three people, an Administrative Officer, Assistant Administrative Officer, and a Legal Secretary.

Then Congress said, "We have had this command in operation for one Year and we are $918,000 over budget, we must cut back."

So they laid-off the night watchman.


Let this last statement slowly sink in.


Quietly, we go like sheep to slaughter.




Does anybody remember the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY.....
during the Carter Administration?

Anybody?

Anything?

No?


Didn't think so!

Bottom line is, we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency....the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember!

Ready??

It was very simple... and at the time, everybody thought it very appropriate.

The Department of Energy was instituted on 8/04/1977,


TO REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

Hey, pretty efficient, huh???

AND NOW IT'S 2011 -- 34 YEARS LATER -- AND THE BUDGET FOR THIS "NECESSARY" DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR. IT HAS 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000 CONTRACT EMPLOYEES; AND LOOK AT THE JOB IT HAS DONE!

(THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY, "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?")

33 years ago 30% of our oil consumption was foreign imports. Today 70% of our oil consumption is foreign imports.

Ah, yes -- good old Federal bureaucracy.

NOW, WE HAVE TURNED OVER THE BANKING SYSTEM, HEALTH CARE, AND THE AUTO INDUSTRY TO THE SAME GOVERNMENT?



Hello!! Anybody Home?

[Can you say "Patient Protection and Affordable Healthcare Act?" Gives you the creeps, doesn't it?]

Sunday Funday

Busy, busy day yesterday!  All kinds of interesting football (Woo Pig Sooooieee!  Please stop trying to give me a stroke at game's end!) and our friend's Second Annual Spooktoberfest!  I went dressed as "Deer in the Headlights" and Pepper went as "Deerstalker."  (But, I got to wear the orange vest.)  I didn't win the Punkin' Chunkin' Contest, Ladies' Division, with my bridal bouquet technique, but we wowed 'em at Karaoke.  Sort of.

Today sees brunch with out-of-town friends, a little Blues Festival to benefit the Second District NOPD HQ, and SAINTS, Baby!

I think I need a nap.

Today's foolishness (although this does look like a reasoned, governmental method to spend some of the stimulus money -- apologies to Inno!)

Who's Scamming Whom?

A Facebook friend posted this little vignette today:

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.”

The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves. “What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!”

Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store. “Hey, son! May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?”

The boy licked his cone and replied, “Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”

So -- is the kid a clever capitalist? Or is he a clever recipient of government (givernment?) handouts?

Of Pigs, Wearing Beagle Suits, at the Trough: A Cautionary Tale

Since we lost our Wendy Whiner beagle girl, I've noticed a change in the eating habits of Bouie, the sweet young lab, and Rosie, the geriatric mostly-blind-and-usually-deaf shih tzu.



Supper Time used to be a closely monitored activity. There were three bowls, in three different spots in the kitchen, and the bowls for Bouie and Rosie were not set in place until Wendy had her bowl. Rosie and Bouie had to wait because, otherwise, Wendy would nudge them out of the way and glom theirs down before they had a chance even to sniff their food; but, if she was preoccupied with her own bowl, the other two stood a chance of getting to eat.


Wendy never left a morsel in her bowl. Holding it down with one paw (quite the clever and talented hound dog), she always licked the bowl down several times, even after it was empty, digging in to scrape the last tiny morsel out of the creases in the bottom with that all-powerful beagle tongue. After she gave up on finding anything else in her own bowl, she would slyly (in her own mind!) set off to check out the others' bowls, hovering near them and staring down her canine brethren much like Snoopy did when he was pretending to be a vulture, willing them to step away from the bowl. If, by chance Rosie and Bouie didn't finish the whole serving, Wendy would take care of that for them, licking their bowls doubly clean as she had her own. On more than one occasion we feared she might explode. So, we took to picking up Rosie's and Bouie's bowls when they left something in them, both to preserve what was theirs and to prevent a bursting beagle. It was time-consuming, but worth the effort in the end, even if sometimes Rosie and Bouie didn't get quite full enough.


Since Wendy has been gone, the other dogs have felt free to nosh at will, not feeling obligated to clean their bowls all at one time; knowing that what they left would still be there waiting for them later when they felt like a little snack, but still willing to let the other have a nibble or two if he or she felt the need.


I think there's an allegory in there somewhere: the Tale of the Federal Government and the Taxpayers at Supper Time, starring Wendy as the Feds (and featuring Bouie and Rosie as The Taxpayers).


We should all take heed of the tale -- sometimes The Feeder has to monitor the action and pick up the supper bowls early; sometimes the beagle explodes and everyone has to clean up the mess.


The Feeders still have a choice -- for awhile.

Too Frightening to Contemplate?

I just ran across this at Chicks On The Right. The post originally ran back in March as the healthcare debacle was winding down, and documents our IRS in action.

I think the poster bears re-running today in connection with the Gulf mess.

And maybe again near Halloween -- it's definitely scary.

You Don't Know What You Got 'Til It's Gone . . . .

YES! Please come back, T.J.!

A Thanksgiving Before Healthcare Reform: From the Land of the Pilgrims

I have a cousin who lives just outside of Boston. He's a very bright guy -- an architect -- who is less than pleased with the Massachusetts plan for healthcare. He hints that having to file an additional form with one's tax return (to assure that you're contributing your appropriate, fair share) is about as much fun as a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as my Mama used to say, and just about as useful.

The following are excerpts from the weekend's email correspondence:

"Following up on earlier emails re: the health-care mess, I thought you might be interested in this excerpt from a fairly recent Boston Herald article:

Wading into the contentious national health-care debate...[Massachusetts State] Treasurer Timothy Cahill blasted the state's landmark plan and warned President Obama that a similar scheme could bankrupt the country.

"If universal health care is breaking us, what's it going to do to the federal government?" Cahill told the Herald yesterday.

The treasurer...said the state's universal health-care plan...focused on insuring all state residents first and controlling costs second. As a result, Cahill said, the plan has been a major drag on the state budget.

"Health-care spending has exploded, and unless the federal government continues to reimburse us, we cannot afford it," Cahill said. "But who's going to bail the federal government out? Probably us, the taxpayers."

A report by the Massachusetts Taxpayers
Foundation, a business-based organization that supported health-care reform,
found that Bay State spending on the health-care overhaul has increased by about
$88 million annually since the law was passed.

Out of the $10 billion spent on health care in the state's fiscal 2010 budget, $1.7 billion is spent on health-care reform.

It reminds me of a quote by Thomas Jefferson: "If I could not go to heaven but with a [political] party, I would not go there at all."

I replied:

"Thanks for the update. I shudder to think what's to become of you in Massachusetts if this debacle passes at the national level. You might just as well open a vein with a direct line going into the tax coffers."

His observation:

"People will continue leaving the state in droves -- but once the feds wade in, there'll be nowhere to run to."

Giving the IRS yet more responsibility and authority, plus ineffective actual healthcare delivery. How's that for an uplifting start to the week before Thanksgiving.

"Nowhere to run to." New Zealand, maybe? 1981?

UPDATE: I'm going to have to try to figure out what happened to the quote. I hate computers on Mondays.

Ramirez Says It All --

I'm thinking it's a jackass.

Federal Health Care Land: And We're Going to Pay For This, How Exactly?

In honor of the Young President's next teleprompter-a-thon this evening, I'd like to share this little chart prepared by Congressional Republican staffers. It analyzes the House proposal for reform and flows health care from the citizen to the provider, pointing out all new and existing bureaus and agencies that will meet our every important health need. Like the Office of Minority Health. Or the Advisory Committee on Health Workforce and Evaluation. Or the Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (courtesy of the Stimulus). Or -- this one has such potential -- the Health Choices Administration. Do you wonder who's going to be doing the choosing?

And remember -- it all begins with mandatory insurance coverage! Buy it -- or provide it, if you're an employer, no matter your size -- or pay a rather substantial penalty!

Study the chart at your leisure, but be warned: it can give you a serious headache. And aspirin ain't gonna be cheap.

(You can see a full-size version here.)

From One Failed Superpower, With Love

The following is the final 2 paragraphs of an online op-ed piece chronicling America's descent into Marxism. The piece is entitled,"American Capitalism Gone With a Whimper," and is dated April 27, 2009.

"The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed
in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money
printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in
the world. If this keeps up for more then [sic] another year, and there is no sign
that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst
Zimbabwe.

"These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First
came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax
system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, los[s]es and
swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs
look [like] little more then [sic] ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear [sic] volumes. Should we congratulate them?"

The source? Pravda.online.

Scared enough?

R.I.P., Dear Goose

I just joined the Facebook group, "Stop the Stelly Tax Increase," a Louisiana measure to reverse part of the Stelly tax plan that prevents Louisiana families from fully deducting charitable gifts, mortgage interest and certain medical costs from their Louisiana state income taxes. I also started a Discussion topic entitled, "The Legislature Should Read This Obituary." Here it is:

"R.I.P., Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs. Killed by government appetite for shiny omelets, and rampant demands for increased egg output to stimulate less
productive barnyard fowl.

"The Goose leaves no survivors."

Amid reports that first quarter tax revenues are down significantly nationwide, it appears that there will soon be pretty slim pickings at Old McDonald's place

E-I-E-I-Owe.

Memorial Day Constitutional Tea Party Picnic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJHKtLnT0Ak

(I'm not sure why this just printed the link. This is a funny poke at government spending).

Your Government is looking out for you. Not.


Head on down to West End Park from 11:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 24th, for our Memorial Day Constitutional Tea Party Picnic! Bring your own food and drinks, hear some patriotic music and a few NON-POLITICIAN speakers, and participate in a Tribute to our Veterans at 2:00. Other activities are planned for kiddos, too.

Keep our momentum going!

Going to Gitmo: Part Deux

Dropped in snail mail today:

President Barack H. Obama
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear President Obama:

I am writing to you once again as an Independent voter from Louisiana. As you might surmise from the watermark on this page, I was an active participant in the New Orleans Tax Day Tea Party -- one of those "folks waving tea bags around."

On April 15th, your economic advisor, Jared Bernstein, announced that you were unaware of the many Tea Parties taking place in small towns and large cities all across the nation; but, in your First-100-Days Town Hall Meeting in Missouri, you not only acknowledged the Tea Parties, you actually proceeded to mock both the participants in and the significance of Tea Parties. Unfortunately, in your belated effort to smile, nod, and belittle the grassroots Tea Party movement, you chose to miss the point intended by most Tea Partiers -- or, worse, you chose to mischaracterize it.

As a consequence of your words at the Town Hall Meeting, I am indeed gratified to learn that you are "happy to have a serious conversation" about the issues facing the nation which you believe to be the most urgent -- your holy trinity of healthcare, energy and education, joined by Social Security during your performance in Missouri. I am most certainly pleased that you and "Claire" are working diligently to audit all federal spending, even though you didn't suggest what might be the outcome of that audit. I am thrilled beyond belief that you sent the world notice from Missouri that you intend to have a "serious discussion" about how to reduce health care spending -- open, thorough, and genuine debate are the hallmarks of democratic deliberation -- instead of rolling out another juggernaut like you did with the Recovery Act. That is what you meant by that comment about "serious discussion," isn't it, Mr. President?

But, then you suggested that the Tea Parties were all about -- and only about -- the Recovery Act. Wrong.

The ill-thought-out, helter-skelter overspending embodied in the Recovery Act is certainly an element of "the point" of the Tea Parties. What you must come to understand, however, is that "the point" is most assuredly not only about the Recovery Act. The passage and signing of the Recovery Act were simply the tipping point.

In April, the implementation of the Recovery Act was coupled with teasers of what other spending plans you and Congress had yet to announce. Add that fact to the rapid growth of the federal government in the mere first weeks of your administration, together with overt steps in Congress that threaten individual freedoms contained in the Bill of Rights. When all these straws came together, the Recovery Act broke the camel's back.

We camels -- we defenders of the Constitution -- coalesced, we spoke, and our numbers grow daily. That is another point. Our numbers grow daily.

Your administration's condescension to the patriotic men and women who serve in our military is deplorable; its social agenda to "spread the wealth" is a turn to the "failed policies" of former first-world nations. You and the Congress have corrupted the spirit of volunteerism with the passage of the Kennedy Act. The road upon which you and the Congress have placed the country is heading straight toward the destruction of the Republic by centralizing too much power in Washington in defiance of the Constitution.

You were elected to be our president -- a leader -- not our nanny or our omniscient exalted ruler. Please start listening to all American citizens and assume the appropriate presidential role as conceived by the Framers.

Sincerely,

Send cookies to my cell at Gitmo, and tell my family I love them.

Crossposted here.

This Lady "Gets" It: Katrina Pierson at the Dallas Tea Party

I found this posted on I am Simon Jester. This "just a Mom" rocks the Dallas Tea Party. What an elegant and eloquent address!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sV6bNpNU4ls

The Genesis of My BFF Relationship with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the Young President

Ok, my new plan is to correspond with Washington every couple of weeks to keep reminding them that we're the boss. They need my input, so I'm gonna let 'em have it (Harry Reid and Young President Obama will receive the same letter, as tailored for their positions). Please consider doing the same, or at least come visit me after they throw me under the prison.

This was placed in snail mail today:

April 18, 2009
Dear Speaker Pelosi:

I am a taxpayer in both Arkansas and Louisiana, registered as an Independent voter. You are the leader of my House of Representatives, so I am writing to let you know that I was a participant in the Grassroots 2009 Tax Day Tea Party in New Orleans -- a participant with a purpose.

My purpose was to be part of a message -- a mass message -- to our federal government, enlightening our elected officials that our Constitution is being ignored and our very form of government is being transformed, at breakneck speed, into European statism. Congress should be aware that We, The People, will campaign our hearts out against politicians who fail to listen to, comprehend, and support our message.

I will no longer stand idly by as Congress enacts Bills of Attainder, using the Tax Code to punish a small group of American citizens. I will no longer stand idly by as both Democrats and Republicans race like giggling schoolchildren to enact behemoth spending and budgetary bills that have already mortgaged our grandchildren's future. I will no longer stand idly by as medical decisions are removed from my hands and the hands of my private physicians and turned over to a bureau of the federal government. I will no longer stand idly by watching the first step in the demise of the secret ballot while American workers have no choice but to submit to union thuggery, and more jobs pour out of the country. I will no longer stand idly by as the federal government wrests more and more control over education from the states. I will no longer stand idly by as volunteerism is corrupted into nothing more than government service. I will no longer stand idly by as the Second Amendment is shot full of holes. Ill-conceived and uncontrolled spending will earn my wrath.

I will no longer stand idly by and merely observe as my Republic devolves into an intrusive nanny state, and I certainly will not tolerate a Speaker who dismissively talks down her nose about me. The Tenth Amendment is alive.

I will actively campaign against any Member of Congress who attempts to usurp the power reserved to the states by the U.S. Constitution. I will actively campaign against any Member of Congress who continues to vote on important legislation without adequate study and debate. I will actively campaign against any Member of Congress who continues to ignore the will of her constituency. I will so campaign through the sweat of my brow and the depth of my pocketbook.

On April 15th the world bore witness that I am not alone.

Sincerely,
Terry C. Paulson, J.D. (Mrs. W. A.)

Let's see just how long it takes them to invite me to tour Gitmo.

Cross-posted here.

NOLA Tax Day Tea Party: A Resounding Success!

My serious post about yesterday's T.E.A. Party will have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, I'm still basking in the afterglow; basking in the exhilaration that my husband and I shared at the Veterans' Memorial on Veterans Avenue in Metairie across the street from a major mall where our economy is stimulated everyday.

We were there with 1,500+ like-minded American citizens who are fed up with Congressional raids on the 10th Amendment and our wallets. (The number of folks who showed up is quite impressive, considering that there were 2 other, separate T.E.A. Parties in Mandeville and Covington just across Lake Ponchartrain). Scores of passing cars honked their accord all the way down the Memorial. There were even 2 Jefferson Parish Police cars stationed nearby to watch after our security. Many people observed the scene from the Macy's parking deck across the street.

Then -- when we got home and watched some of the television coverage (not MSM, obviously) and began to appreciate the massive numbers who took time to "Come Together" (there's a golden oldy Beatles tune!) to vent their outrage, we were overwhelmed.

Okay, I'm getting a little gooshy now, so I'll lighten up until tomorrow and share a few pics of a few of the clever signs.

Cross-posted here.

T-Day, Minus 1

There are now 16 confirmed Tax Day Tea Parties scheduled around Louisiana!

Tiedye Judy has some great pre-Tax Day Tea Party ruminations on her blog HERE. My favorite is her idea to call Congress and the White House from your TEA Party to "share the wealth" of support out there for smaller, smarter government. A great idea, no? The phone number for Congress is 202-224-3121 and the White House is 202-456-1414.

I've come up with a few protest sign slogans. We've been advised to keep the signs relevant and family-friendly. One of mine treads the line, but I live in New Orleans, for crying out loud! We'll see if I take it along or not. How do you vote?

"Turn ON the Lights, the (political) Parties are OVER"

"The Tenth Amendment Rocks!"

"Size DOES Matter -- re: Government, Smaller is Better!"

Yesterday's Times-Picayune ran a nice article about our TEA Party tomorrow. The posts on the e-version are predictably volatile; most of the againsters are typically clueless about the purpose of these protests, choosing to Bush-bash rather than accept the fact that D.C. is out of control.

My purpose is to be part of a message -- a mass message -- to our federal government, enlightening our elected officials that our Constitution and our very form of government are being transformed, at breakneck speed, into European statism. And we will not stand for it.

I will not stand idly by as Congress enacts Bills of Attainder, using the Tax Code to punish a small group of American citizens. I will not stand idly by as both Democrats and Republicans race like giggling schoolchildren to enact a behemoth spending Bill that has already mortgaged our children's future. I will not stand idly by as medical decisions are removed from my hands and the hands of my personal physicians, only to be given to a bureau of the federal government. I will not stand idly by watching the first step in the demise of the secret ballot while American workers have no choice but to submit to union goon thuggery, and more jobs pour out of the country. I will not stand idly by as the federal government wrests more and more control over education from the states. I will not stand idly by as volunteerism is corrupted into nothing more than government service. I will not stand idly by as the Second Amendment is shot full of holes.

I will not stand idly by and merely observe as my Republic erodes into an intrusive nanny state.

The Tenth Amendment still lives -- let's pump a little life into it before the federal government suffocates it.

The Tax Day Cometh

I'm getting ready for Wednesday's Tax Day Tea Party by filing for an Extension and planting a sign in the front yard.

There's an atmosphere of enough-is-enough in the air. Smells like a shrinking government.

I know, I know. I'll go take my meds now. To sleep, perchance to dream of a smaller, smarter, thriftier, more self-assured federal government that keeps its nose out of my business and its hands out of my pockets -- and doesn't wait 5 days before dispatching scurvy pirates to their bitter afterlife. Go Seals!!