Happy New Year

Randi and I wish all of our family and friends a Happy New Year and a wonderful 2010. Here is a quick video of 2009!

Grassroots or AstroTurf...

So, let me get this right. When Democrats organize folks in the community to express their support or dissent to something the government is doing or is planning to do it is a "grassroots" effort. On the flip-side when Republicans organize folks in the community to express their support or dissent to something the government is doing or is planning to do it is a "AstroTurf" effort or worse a "mob".

So, basically what we have is a hypocritical situation. A situation where if it is good for us we will support it and encourage it; however, if it is not good for us we will discredit it and discourage it. Seems like a typical liberal move to me.

Now, the scary part is that the White House has asked your neighbors to spy on you and report you to the White House if you disagree with the Democrat's plan for nationalizing health care. In a blog posted to www.whitehouse.gov by Macon Phillips on Tuesday, August 4, 2009, entitled "Facts are Stubborn Things", there is a request that asks folks to forward something to the White House if it seems "fishy". So, let me get this straight...if you disagree with the White House and your neighbor sees it or even thinks that it is "fishy" they are supposed to forward it to the White House. Now, the scary thing is that records maintained by the White House can fall under executive privilege. Meaning the records and what the White House does with them could be kept secret.

So, let's throw this out there...if President George W. Bush had asked or even expressed an interest in things that were a bit "fishy" and asked your neighbors to report them to the White House...would all hell have broken loose? I guarantee you that the ACLU would have been up in arms and every liberal from California to New York would have been shouting "big brother" at the top of their lungs. The news media would have been going crazy...reporting on the Gestapo tactics of the White House, President Bush, and of course Rover and Cheney.

So, let the hypocrisy continue...but, be careful and make sure you let your elected officials know your perspective. It is your right...do not forget that. Remember how The Constitution starts, "We the people" and don't ever forget that the people are the government and we control the government. I think this is a fact lost on our current elected "representatives" in Congress and the White House.

The government wants to run health care...

So, let's get this straight. The U.S. government wants to run the U.S. health care industry. Now, some of you may argue that is not what the government wants to do, but what else would you call a single-payer system? In a single-payer system one entity (the government) cuts all the checks and provides near-universal health care. In essence, we would be turning over the U.S. health care industry to the government. The health care industry is massive. It employs over 15 million people and is the 5th largest sector of the U.S. economy. Is this something that we really want to turn over to the U.S. government. Seriously, let's look at their track record with social service programs, let's start with Social Security:

The Congressional Budget Office(CBO) says that only 74% to 78% of benefits will be able to be paid after 2052. The Social Security Trustees suggest that either the payroll tax should increase to 16.41% in 2041 and steadily increased to 17.60% in 2081 or a cut in benefits by 25% in 2041 and steadily increased to an overall cut of 30% in 2081. So, basically Social Security is broken and can only be fixed by raising taxes or cutting benefits.

Now, let's look at Medicare:

According to the 2008 report by the board of trustees for Medicare and Social Security, Medicare spentd more than it brought in from taxes in 2008 and will do the same in 2009. The Medicare hospital insurance trust fund will become insolvent by 2019. This is the fund that pays for Medicare. So, basically Medicare is broken and can only be fixed by raising taxes or cutting benefits.

So, let's summarize this...the two largest social programs in the U.S. are broken or are in the process of becoming insolvent. Yet, the Democrats want to turn over the entire health care industry to the government.

Are you kidding me? With a track record like that I wouldn't let them run a lemonade stand. Seriously, this borders on ridiculous. I think folks are starting to catch on:



We will see what happens over the next few weeks as Congress returns home. I have a feeling there are going to be lots of scenes like this. At least I hope there are.

President of the United States or Pitchman of the United States...

So, does the President of the United States really feel compelled to be on television all the time? This guy gets more coverage than anyone I have ever seen. Is he more interested in being a celebrity or running this country. Also, when did the President become the main "pitch man" of the United States...I mean Billy Mays has been dead less than a month and the President is trying to take his spot. Seriously, I can see Barack selling health care right now on late night television..."act now and not only do you get billions of stimulus but you get 1 trillion...that's right 1 trillion in healthcare costs...but act now this offer only lasts until August!"

This stuff is bordering on lunacy. When have we changed the fundamental direction and idea of our country in less than 6 months...not only is that dangerous...it is wrong. It is time that we all stand firm and tell our elected officials that it is time to slow this President down.

Duh...It's a Job's Bill...

So, now the Cap and Trade scheme is not an environmental protection piece of legislation...now it is a "job's bill". Can someone please tell me how increasing the price of everything creates jobs? I think this flies directly in the face of conventional economic theory. If you increase the price of goods, consumers (that would be us) buy less. When consumers buy less, producers produce less...which means they need less employees. Thus, unemployment increases. This is not rocket science...this is fundamental economics.

I have really had enough of all of this. First, the Economic Stimulus legislation was going to save the economy and keep unemployment from increasing. Remember all the scary figures President Obama threw out? If the legislation was not passed unemployment could approach double digits. Interestingly enough...the legislation was passed and guess what...unemployment is approaching double digits (9.5%). Vice-President Biden laid it out clearly..."we guessed wrong". Beautiful...our elected leaders are "guessing".

Now, we are trying to pass health care...climate change legislation...and a whole slice of the liberal agenda. Seriously, do we really want the government to control health care? Look at the great success of the government managing your retirement funds (Social Security)...it is almost bankrupt. Or we can look at the wonderful job the government does with Medicare. Medicare is so bad that most doctor's won't even touch it.

Let's be honest...what do you expect to get when you have a bunch of elected officials passing legislation that they have not even read...much less researched. This is egregious stuff folks. Passing legislation without reading it is tantamount to complete and absolute failure to perform their basic job functions. I am absolutely ashamed of our elected "officials" right now. We need to throw all of these fools out of office as quickly as possible before they bankrupt and destroy our nation. We need elected officials that understand the foundations of our democracy and understand that they are servants of the people.

Back in Memphis...

All right it has been a little while since the last entry...but, hey we moved from Hong Kong back to Memphis, Tennessee...I think a little slack is deserved.

So...I will hit the key points of the last 60 days or so.

Randi, Henry, and I successfully moved from Hong Kong to Memphis. The trip was a little easier this time on Henry...as we flew direct from Hong Kong to Newark. We then drove from Newark to Washington D.C. and hung out with the family for a few days as that wicked early March snow storm moved through the country. I think Henry was a little shocked to go from Hong Kong to snow. Albeit he had a grand old time playing in the snow at my parents house. We eventually made it back to Memphis after a little bit of car trouble...my Dad's Mercedes Benz died on us 45 minutes into our trip...compliments of a faulty crankshaft sensor.

Once in Memphis we hung out at our friends' house until our household goods arrived from Hong Kong. That took a little longer than anticipated but David and Andrea were awesome and did not mind us staying for a few extra days. Our stuff finally arrived around the 18th of March and honestly since then we have been getting things settled. It is a heck of an event getting everything moved in, sorting through things that were put in storage, and of course getting things just the way you like them. I think there are still a few things left to be accomplished.

On the political front...I am shocked...well actually I am not shocked at the "mess" that President Obama is creating of our country. Sure, I will get lambasted by a few folks out there...but, seriously folks did anyone really think that an incredibly liberal State Senator turned U.S. Senator who ended up in the White House would be anything but liberal? Let's see what he has done thus far to really create a mess:

1. Bowing to the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would be a great place to start. Did anyone not tell him that he and specifically the United States is not subject to the King of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? This is beyond belief...and quite frankly it doesn't surprise me...President Obama has kissed so much foreign ass since he stepped into office that Joe Biden needs to kick him squarely in the ass.
2. Giving Gordon Brown DVD's in the wrong format...priceless.
3. Let's get to some serious stuff...how about forcing the President of GM to step down...since when did anyone in the U.S. government get to make decisions about private industry.
4. Apologizing to Europe for the arrogance of America. I don't call it arrogance...I and most American's call it leading. Leading the world in relief work, leading the world in charitable giving, leading the world in defending those that cannot defend themselves (WWI and WWII ring a bell here), and too many numerous deeds done on the world stage to count...from saving South Korea to kicking Saddam's sadistic ass out of power in Iraq.
5. Nominating apparently every individual in politics who is either too stupid to figure their taxes out correctly, too arrogant to pay their proper taxes, or lacking the morals required to pay their proper taxes. For an administration that is all about "paying taxes" they sure don't take their own advice.
6. Nominating some truly left-wing nut jobs to important offices...Harold Koh as a prime example.
7. Creating some dangerous ethical grounds with "stem-cell" research changes...although the Dickey-Water amendment signed two days after by President Obama (probably without his knowledge) put many of the Bush-era restrictions right back in place.
8. Releasing state secrets (CIA interrogation memos) to satisfy the ACLU. Why don't we just broadcast all of our tricks of the trade to the terrorist organizations out there...that way they know what we are capable of...which will make them play fair...right?

Now I am not going to arbitrarily bash President Obama...I will give him kudos for few things:

1. Going to Iraq after his "European vacation" was a good move as the troops always need and want to hear from the Commander-In-Chief.
2. Not pulling troops out of Iraq precariously fast and actually listening to the commanders on the ground is a sound move.
3. Taking the fight to the Taliban and putting more troops on the ground is a solid move.
4. My personal favorite though has to be letting the special operations guys do their thing and kill three terrorists...I mean...pirates off the coast of Somalia to save a U.S. citizen.
5. I am also a fan of him telling Mexico's President Calderon that the U.S. is not going to enact a new "assault weapons ban" just to put a band-aid on the growing drug war in Mexico. Let's be honest if Mexico was securing their border...the guns would not be getting into the country and if we were securing our border...drugs would not be getting into our country...problem solved...secure the bloody border.

Now...let's move onto some lighter subjects. Where oh where do you think FedEx is sending me on my first project since arriving back in the States...you guessed it Asia...you have to love the irony of the situation. Moving all the way back to the United States just to get sent back to Asia.

I understand it though...expatriates are not cheap...and we are all in cost saving mode...even FedEx.

Randi is working hard trying to figure out what she is going to do...school...job...both. All the options are on the table. She had a second interview today at one company and I think she is pretty excited about her prospects there. It looks like it would be a good company to work for and it would provide a challenging environment for Randi to work in.

Lastly, when did humans drop down on the food chain. Today I was walking on the FedEx campus where we have some particularly hostile geese and noticed that several individuals were walking around the geese at the slightest hint of aggression from them. As I strolled closer to one particularly aggressive goose...he/she lifted his/her head and hissed at me. Now on any other day and particularly in any other location this particular goose would have ended up on the wrong end of a Benelli shotgun. However, being at work I suppose there were only two options...walk around this goose and let him/her think just for an instant that they were the apex animal on the block. Not a good option in my opinion...or number two charge said goose and make him move his aggressive ass out of my way. I chose option two and clapped and charged said goose and watched him get out of the way in a hurry. Hey folks...humans are apex predators in case you missed the latest addition of National Geographic. In order to stay that way...animals need to know their place...you can also check your bible for this...we are at the top of the food chain. There is not an animal on earth that we cannot hunt and kill. So...why would we as humans let some arrogant goose think that they are at the top of the food chain? All I have to say is that is one lucky goose...he/she should have been on my plate this evening.

What's a few more billion...

While we are literally throwing billions around like pennies...why not just throw a few more billion at the U.S. auto industry? I stated clearly in my November 18, 2008 post that bailing out the auto industry was a big mistake and that it would just lead to more and more billions.

Let's be honest the U.S. auto industry could be weathering this economic downturn quite well if they had been managed effectively over the last few decades. There are thousands of companies out there (big and small) that are weathering this downturn and not turning to the U.S. government for a bailout. So, why is the U.S. auto industry turning to the government...the reason is pretty clear...they suck. Seriously, they have been managed so poorly that no one (outside of the U.S. government) is willing to provide loans to them. Think about...would you loan money to GM right now? How about Chrysler? Maybe Ford? I certainly wouldn't...they would only ask for more later. I certainly would not expect my money back any time soon.

So, the companies have been mismanaged and now we (the taxpayers of the U.S.) are being called upon to bail out the companies. This is beyond ridiculous. These companies are publicly traded (or were in the case of Chrysler) and operated in our capitalistic system successfully for decades. Decades until they lost ground to the competition. Most companies, when they lose ground to competitors, have to get creative to save their business. They can come up with innovative products, reduce price, cut costs, etc. All of these things are things the U.S. auto industry should have been doing since the late 80's. However, they have not...and now they are in trouble...I am not surprised.

We need to stand firm and let our elected officials know that enough is enough. We need to stop loaning them money and let the free market work. If they leave the market (go out of business) so be it. That won't mean our economy will fall into some abyss...usually when businesses collapse other businesses fill in. This means that other companies (Toyota, Honda, Audi, Hyundai, Mazda, etc.) will fill in the gap and provide vehicles to U.S. consumers. Many foreign auto makers (Honda, BMW, Nissan, etc.) are already producing cars in the U.S., buying U.S. parts from U.S. suppliers, employing U.S. citizens, etc. This is how the free market works.

The U.S. government needs to butt out of the free market and let the market work. If they continue to mess with the free market; we could be facing some serious and lasting problems for generations to come. Let's be honest...most politicians are lawyers...and most politicians have been in politics for a long time...would you bring in a politician to run your business? I wouldn't...and we need to remember this when it comes to election time.