The message coming from the thousands of public service employees is clear, but disingenuous. In the beginning, it was about their displeasure over being required to pay for their health care benefits and pensions. Once public opinion showed that most citizens found that to be a reasonable request, they changed tactics. Now, they have no problem with paying more for these benefits. In fact, they seem to love the idea. In Wisconsin, newly elected Governor Scott Walker went a step further, requiring collective bargaining be used by unions only in negotiating salary. This takes away the unions power to demand increasingly expensive medical benefits and pension plans. In many states, these two culprits have led to increasing debt as the costs have sky rocketed. Unions have made it clear that they are not concerned about the states budget problems, and have had the attitude of “that’s not our problem.”

The most disturbing thing about the protests and subsequent public opinion surveys is that the propaganda spewed by the unions seems to be working on an overwhelmingly clueless citizenry.  In an editorial for USA Today, Mary Bell, president of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, stated that taking away collective bargaining rights, “does nothing to balance our budget.” This is the new rallying cry of the unions. Sympathetic news outlets allow this nonsense to go out on the airwaves without challenge.

Under the Wisconsin plan, public employee unions will continue to bargain collectively for wages. This is something that can be planned for by a state budget office, allowing states to have a “ballpark” figure of public employee costs. However, under current law, states must negotiate expensive and unpredictable costs of health and pension benefits.  Allowing unions to demand more expensive health benefits every time they negotiate new government employee contracts is not a sane way to insure states can maintain a balanced budget, as Wisconsin is required to do.

So, yes, Mary Bell, collective bargaining does have something to do with the budget. And, yes, allowing the state to set benefits and pension plans will allow them to be as generous as the budget will let them be. Not allowing the unions to demand more than the state can afford in this area is a step in the right direction for states who have seen pension and benefit costs destroy budgets year in and year out.

Public opinion polls show that a majority of those questioned favor allowing unions to continue collective bargaining. But I have yet to see a poll ask respondents whether they would accept tax increases every couple of years to pay for the increasing cost of state workers benefits. I bet we’d see a different set of numbers if they did.

If Barack Obama wants to go down in history as a successful president, he will need to forget everything he came to Washington to do. No massive health care overhaul, no cap & trade, no card check, no amnesty for immigrants. His place in history will be determined by his ability to pull our economy out of the ditch he has helped run it into. If he looks at history, he will see that his plan to create jobs with government intervention doesn’t work here or anywhere else in the world. And the world is watching. He will have to look to the private sector, which must be gut wrenching for him, in order to properly create an atmosphere that allows businesses to hire and expand. It’s got to be painful for him.

Even more painful must be the mood of the nation. The electorate just sent him a nasty message, saying we’re not too keen on the direction he’s moving the nation. And I must say, it’s about time. I’m inspired by the Tea Party Movement, because it indicates that we as a people are not going to sit back and let the governing elite walk over us any longer. They have brought us to our current fiscal emergency by blindly wasting our tax money, supposing we’ll never know what they’ve been up to over the last 20 years since our budget was last balanced. Yep…the very people we’ve “employed” have been stealing us blind. And we’ve done nothing but return them to power every two years.

There may be brighter days ahead. With the ascendancy of the Tea Party has come a number of groups that are taking a stand against our out of control government. In particular, the Tenth Amendment groups are most impressive. They aim to return our government back to it’s constitutionally mandated boundaries, giving the states their rights back and limiting what the national government is able to do. This movement, if successful, will move us closer to being able to roll back huge and costly programs that are draining our resources….many times for wasteful purposes.

We were warned about this scenario by our Founding Fathers. Examples are limitless….

“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”  George Washington

“That government is best which governs the least, because its people discipline themselves.” 
Thomas Jefferson

“I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”  James Madison

And Jefferson wrote about one of our options in the Declaration of Independence….

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

As 2011 begins, I’m a bit optimistic. Our newly elected Congress will be made up of a number of members from the Tea Party Movement. They are entering office without regard toward participating in a popularity contest. They mean to get things done. If they are able to stand against the draw of special interest money, the kind that flows to members of Congress as they vote on their particular issues, then there is a chance we may see a light at the end of the fiscal tunnel. We must watch them closely to guard against Madison’s “gradual and silent encroachments” on our freedoms.

If we remain an active and watchful electorate, we will have our country back. Educating ourselves, holding our elected officials at all levels of government accountable, and making sure we’re heard is vital to our country’s survival. During the Cold War, our enemies stated that they would one day defeat America without firing a single shot. They were referring to our economic collapse…and we are now teetering on that very premise. Allowing further erosion of our economy would be treasonous. Will we be forced to think seriously about Jefferson’s allowing us to “abolish or alter” a destructive government to one that suits us? Hey, Tea Party congressmen….the clock is ticking. We’re counting on you.

There is loud and reasonable opposition to the City Of New York’s acquiescence to Muslim’s in their choice of location for a new Islamic mosque. Being located only a block from Ground Zero, it has stoked a wild fire of heated rhetoric and cries of outrage. While it is still not a done deal, the city seems determined to let it go forward. All that remains is fund raising for the construction, and that should be a given.

“(Insert Year Here) is the most important election in the history of this country!” Most of us have heard this at least once in our lifetime. And I’m sure our parents and grandparents have heard it at one time or another. And that’s why it’s so hard for me to say it now. But I am compelled by what I see happening in my country to pull the much abused statement out, dust it off and scream it from the rooftop.

Since the election of Barack Obama in 2008, we have seen our government go from a center-right path to an extreme left leaning tack. Yes, Obama told us during the campaign that he would lead a “fundamental change” in the way our government worked, and in the way government tackled the social and economic ills that confront us. He set a stage that drew liberals and moderates out of the woodwork to support him, saying that he would run an efficient and open administration. When being honest, many conservatives have to admit that they were tempted to allow themselves to be swept up in the excitement as well.

We had, after all, painted ourselves into a corner. We had allowed the state of New Hamphire to open it’s primary to whoever wanted to call themselves a Republican. As a result, they gave the victory to John McCain instead of the conservative favorite, Mitt Romney. McCain, already running behind Obama and Hillary Clinton, needed to do something to shake the race up. What did he do? He picked the unknown Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. So, we were left to face the young, exciting, charismatic Barack Obama with a 70 year old moderate Republican who selected a running mate who had no clue about the world outside of Alaska. Result? Obama romps.  And now, we howl with anger because Obama is doing what he said he would do.

Note to the GOP governing Committee: There should always be a fair primary competition between anyone who chooses to seek the nomination. For too long,  you have made the decision about who you will throw resources to before a single primary has been run. You have your own “merit system” that is going to destroy our chances in 2010 if you don’t knock it off. In 1996, you decided that Bob Dole had “earned a shot” at the White House due to his years of hard work and fine reputation. Again, an aging legistator running against a youthful and energetic Bill Clinton. In 2000, you put your money behind George W. Bush who spent us into a huge deficit again.  Due to the overwhelming fear that people had about the chances of a second attack on the U.S., he was re-elected in 2004. 2006 saw the GOP take terrible hits in the polls and eventually lost control of the Congress. In 2008, John McCain was pushed on us because he had paid his dues in the drubbing he took by GW Bush in 2000.

That brings us to the opportunity that we have to recover those losses and then some in 2010. Obama has run roughshod over the citizens of the United States in passing the Health Care Bill. Americans became incensed over the Slaughter Solution that would have shredded the Constitution. We were angry when we learned of the kickbacks and give-aways that were included in the bill to appease wavering legislators. Republicans can be proud that they remained solid in their rejection of this boodoggle. With this victory under his belt, Obama is planning to steamroll ahead. He is willing to go it alone with the Democratic majority on Cap and Trade, immigration, card check, and the rest of his agenda if necessary. And that agenda is daunting.

Obama Promises Not Yet Enacted:

• Increase taxes on capital gains and dividends for those earning over $250k
• Raise taxes on oil and gas production
• Phase out deductions and exemptions for those earning over $250k
• Require comapnies that employ 25 workers of more to offer FMLA, down from 50 employees
• Require all companies to provide 7 paid sick days to all employees
• Set aside $1.5 billion to help states offer paid time off for FMLA
• Expand the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to include sexual orientation and gender identification.

To make matters worse, Obama has broken a number of his campaign promises. And most of them were the ones that appealed to the majority of Americans:

• End income tax for seniors making less than $25k per year
• End no-bid contracts over $25k
• Allow 5 days for public comment before signing bill into law
• Tougher laws regarding former lobbyists working in White House
• Reduce earmarks to 1994 levels
• Negotiate Health Care Plan on C-Span

So, are we going in the right direction here? I certainly don’t think so…and I’m willing to say it. Will the GOP wake up in time to see that? Who knows. The party is currently run by Michael Steele, who appears to be enriching himself over the party. Steele says that the GOP is not ready to regain power in Washington, but then wants all the credit when there are GOP victories. Moreover, he seems to be out of control in spending party cash. He spent $30,000 for private cars and planes in the month of February. He had bills totalling nearly $19,000 from a single trip to Hollywood, including a $1900 bill at a club that features a bondage themed show and includes topless lesbians imitating sex acts. Steele, of course, has no idea where those bills came from and vigorously denies any knowledge of how such a mistake could occur. I think it’s time to kick this one to the curb.

There are plenty of issues which Republicans can run on. The CBO is now saying that the budget deficit will be $9.8 trillion by the end of the decade. Kinda makes the HC bills deficit reduction of $130 billion look rather puny. With all of the new “fees” and tax increases on businesses to fund the HC system, there will be less money to hire workers, so the employment outlook will continue to look bleak. Medical costs can be expected to go up due to the tax that will be put on producers of medical equipment, among other things. We can’t just rail against these things, we must have solutions that we can explain to the voters.

Another important equation in the election mix will be how the newly empowered Tea Party Movement handles itself. So far, I’m not terribly impressed. They are being shown in the press to be screaming, angry, costume wearing, whack jobs who don’t really have a clue about what’s happening in the world other than they’re pissed. I’ve yet to hear any of them offer a reasonable alternative to Obama’s agenda other than calling him a socialist who just might be the Anti-Christ. We have to do better at educating ourselves if we’re going to topple the ObamaNation. And just because someone calls himself a Tea Party Patriot, doesn’t mean I’m going to jump to their cause. The Democrats are crafty, and they know we’re coming for them. They wrote the handbook on controlling the media and distorting reality for their gain. So we must not allow them to paint us as out of touch with what is needed in this country. And again, we must be able to articulate our vision, and our solutions to the problems that plaque our citizens.

So, here I go….2010 is going to be the most important election in the history of the United States.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan described America as “a shining city on a hill.” In 2010 we have a decision to make. We can either vote to empower and brighten that that light, or we can vote to shut the lights out and begin the demolition process. I’m not being overly dramatic here. That’s just how important I think the vote this year is. We can allow the democrats is congress to follow President Obama’s lead in bankrupting the country, or we can do something about it.

As 2010 begins, conservatives are in a frenzy. We are wailing and gnashing our teeth. Now we’ve begun to drool over our prospects at re-taking congress in November. Oh, really? Do we think this is possible? I do. But it will take way more work than we are willing to do.

The shining city is still visisble through the gathering clouds, and I can see it. Reaching it, however, has rarely been so daunting. The hill is steep, and those willing to climb to it are few. Most of us will be content to sit back and vote for those that offer to do the climbing for us. But if that is all we offer, our vote, then we will likely not make it. We have seen it before. “Conservatives” have promised to take us all to the shining city, but they tire along the way. They were distracted by the view, they were hoodwinked by liberals who were abandoning the city, or they became enraptured by their own ability to climb. In any case, it’s time to find true climbers.

In 2000, we were told by the Republican Party leadership that George W. Bush was a true conservative and that we needn’t fear that he would be anything like his waffling father. We believed it and made him our standard bearer over Sen. John McCain. When Bush won the election over Al Gore, he was given a gift from his predecessor, Bill Clinton, that few presidents ever get.  It was a budget surplus of $80 billion. Clintons hand had been forced by an aggressive and conservative Congress, and he did end up being successful.

So, in 2000, the Republicans are in charge. We felt we would be able to watch that surplus grow for several years and see the national debt reduced. But it wasn’t meant to bge. Bush and the Republicans burned through it and then some, enacting big spending programs like the Medicare Advantage Program. this one cost the treasury hundreds of billions, and their was no mechanism in the bill to pay for it. Bush and congress offered every excuse for blowing a hole in the budget, but to no avail. The 9/11 attacks were blamed, as was the war he chose to fight in Iraq. Neither cut it.  By 2006, the conservatives were ready to sit on the sidelines in frustration, and that’s what they did. this gave the democrats the opening they needed as they took over the congress. And by 2008 they were chomping at the bit to elect a Democrat president. They did it, and they have worked with him to triple the deficit with incredibly foolish spending on programs that continue to damage the US debt situation. And there is no end in sight to unrestrained spending.

Funny how we crowed about our defeat of the Soviet Union in the 1990′s. We could barely keep from smiling  as we awtched them bankrupt themselves trying to keep up with us militarily. The USSR fill like a ton of bricks under the weight of crushing debt. It’s not so funny anymore as we begin to see signs that we may be the next to fall under that weight. Many of our enemies have prdicted that they would defeat us without firing a shot. This may end up being true.

But I have a plan. It’s not new, or unique to me. It’s a plan that must work if we are to survive as a nation. In 2010 we are truly faced with Robert Frost’s “two paths in the wood.” One leads to the status quo, the other is more difficult to follow. It’s time to wake up and face our reality.

The solution is simple, but difficult. Change Congress. This is the hard part. If your congressional representitives have been in office for more than 12 years, then they have seen the reality of a budget suplus. If they then voted for the Bush budgets, the Bush and Obama stimulus packages, the Obama bailouts for banks or automobile companies, then they have been doing a diservice to the country. They are damaging that to which they swore an oath to protect. The congressional oath of office includes the words that they will protect the nation from “all enemies, foreign and domestic.” They are the domestic enemies of our nation.

In Glen Beck’s book, “An Inconvenient Book,” he says something we all need to remember. “We, the people, still have the ultimate voice in this country, and we can change our course by empowering those who not only stand for the truth but are willing to fight for it.” Many of us suppport our congressperson. They’ve been around forever, we went to school with them, they attend our church, our kids play soccer with their kids. But consider what they have done for, or to, our country. Did they vote themselves a pay raise this year while they stopped seniors from getting Social Security cost of living increases? Some of them did. Are they supporting or fighting the health care bill that has been put together behind closed doors because you don’t need to know what’s in it? Not sure about how your representitives in Congress are voting? Do some homework by visiting Thomas.com. This site tracks the voting record of all of congress.

The only thing congress truly fears is the voter. But they haven’t feared us in generations, because they are rarely ever voted out.  And that fear is waning further, as they now just shut the door and legislate is secret. The only way to stop this nasty pattern is to shake the congress to its core. If we were to recruit strong, articulate and experienced conservative candidates, we could replace numerous RINO’s. But we must remain committed to the goal of reducing Democrat control of Congress.

In 2010 we may have our last chance to change the course of America before she is pushed off the fiscal cliff. If Obama is able to maintain a supportive congress, he will be able to run the table. Cap and Trade, more meaningless stimulus, a horrific and unconstitutional health care bill, and an appeasing foreign policy.

Let’s not forget Reagan’s shining city. We can stop it’s demolition this year. But we’ve only got one shot, and it’s now. Once demolition starts, we’ll be powerless to stop it. One vote at a time, hand in hand, we can take this hill.

As 2009 draws to a close, many folks are beginning to ponder what 2010 will bring. Some are concentrting on the micro…”will I get married this year?” Some, like myself, are into macro thought…”will I be better off in 2010 than I was in 2009?” Not that 2009 was any kind of picnic, mind you.

I am a political junkie. I thrive on watching what our elected officials do to us (or occassionally for us). Based on the fact that all legislative power is now vested in the Democrats, I will look at their agenda for the new year. This agenda is safe, as Republicans can do nothing to stop it, and they don’t need Republicans to pass it. Let’s start with the Obama agenda as it has played out so far.

Americans elected Barack Ohbama by having a huge turnout by people who rarely participate in voting. He inspired tens of thousands of young, college-age voters to go to the polls, a group not especially politically active. Along with them came record numbers of blacks, gays, Hispanics, liberals, and the poor. Unfortunately for Obama, they all came with their own agendas. They heard him during the campaign saying that their issues could no longer wait for action. Change had come, and they expected to be on top of his list of priorities. These groups have now become “disgruntled,” because they have been told by the Democrats that they must wait. “The timing isn’t right.” “The economy is not recovering fast enough.” the truth is that 2010 is an election year, and for all their joy and expectation, the tide has turned against their aggressive plan to socialize much of the U.S. economy. They know that they must be quiet about the bulk of their agenda in order to be re-elected and continue controlling Congress.

Just as a reminder, the Democrats have complete control of the Congress, and can do whatever they want. The whole attempt to bring in Republican votes on legislation like the Health Care Act is a ply to say “see, it wasn’t just us,” when the program ends up costing voters more in insurance premiums, medical costs go up, and adds to our national debt. When I think of all the things that the Democrats have pushed through this year, “Cash for Clunkers,” bank bailouts, insurance bailouts, auto industry bailouts, and the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I wonder why they aren’t parading around the country tooting their own horn. These were all good for the country, right?

The Democrats agenda for 2010 has been set. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are revving the engines and working to keep wavering moderates in line. If you want support of party money for re-election, you better get ready to play ball. But I believe this will be the year of Gomer Pyle’s “surprise, surprise, surprise!” The Dems will pass the Health Care Act, and then all those secrets that we cannot see will come into the light of day. As the bill is gone over with a fine tooth comb, the public gets to see what’s in it. Regardless of Obama’s promise of transparency in his government, the Democrats have written this bill behind closed doors, keeping the public out of it. And regardless of the promise of bi-partisanship, none of the Republican amendments were allowed…and there were scores of them. Shutting the public and the opposition out seems to have worked, and they will forge ahead with the bill in 2010, crying all along that Republicans are the party of “no.”  And all this in the face of voter opposition to the bill.

CAP AND TRADE

Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer (Calif), has steadfastly refused to back down from pushing this garbage down Americans throats. IT has been shown to be nothing more than a tax increase on all of us. Theis happens because all power generators will be given expensive new regulations and hefty taxes that they will pass on to you and me. The whole “cap and trade” program has been tried in Europe for the past decade and has been a miserable failure. It didn’t make a dent in carbon reduction, but cost Europeans a lot in higher utility bills. Democrats should tread lightly here, but hey won’t. Al Gore and Boxer will see to that.

TAX CUTS

Democrats have been chomping at the bit to repeal the Bush tax cuts that they say only benefit the rich. Let me remind you that this group already pays the vast majority of America’s taxes. They also are the group that creates most of the private sector jobs in the economy. But that doesn’t matter to liberals. They plan to increse their taxes by cancelling the tax cuts, rasie them more to hepl pay for their health care bill, and yet again by taxing their “cadillac” health insurance policies. All this during an economic downturn. Their cries of “soak the rich” will only prolong the recovery and slow job creation as less money goes into the economy and more goes into government coffers.

IMMIGRATION REFORM

Harry Reid has said that this is his #3 priority, following health care and climate change. With the election of Obama, there has been a huge push by liberals to bring the 15 million or so illegal aliens “out of the shadows,” and into US citizenship. While I agree that we can’t ship them all back to wehre they came from, there are things we can do to deter others. A Republican plan would deport any illegal who has been convicted of a felony. You would think this is common sense legislation. But, no. Liberals cry that his would split families apart and mean certain poverty conditions for those left behind. But I say not necessarily. The whole family can be deported! Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how this issue plays out. With powerful immigrant rights groups demanding action, and a majority of voters against the assumption of millions of illegals, will Democrats cave on the issue and punt? I think so. Should be fun to watch, though.

BUDGET

Obama has promised to get the deficit under control. He also promised to get rid of earmarks. Both of these are ridiculous. Just today he approved a Defense Department appropriations bill loaded with pork and special earmarks for special Democrats. Included were weapons systems that the Pentagon did not request, but that are built in a Democrats district. The Edward Kennedy Visitors Center in Massachusetts? Teddy would be embarrassed. Altogether around $4 billion  in pork. Another broken promise on top of the fact that he ignored earmarks in his budget bill, saying “wait til next year.” Don’t hold your breath. In order to balance the budget, he promised not to raise taxes on the middle class…”not one dime!” This will be another “surprise, surprise, surprise” moment. Get thyself ready.

JOBS

This will be the Democrats war cry in 2010. The will tell us about the hundreds of thousands of “green” jobs that will be generated by the “green” agenda. But, as I mentioned before, we can look to Europe to see what this promise has in store for us. They are way ahead of us in green technology and laws, but have no meaningful job base to shwo for it. The billions of dollars that Obama wants to spend on jobs will be another rabbit hole. The stimulus bill was supposed to create thousands of jobs, but ended up “saving” the jobs of government workers who belong to unions that Obama owes for electing him. Yes, that includes teachers, firefighters, police and many other government jobs. These are all vital services, but should be paid for at the local level, not byu the federal government. These do not help grow the economy. We need private sector jobs, they only keep the unions humming. Payback? Ya think?

Then there are the other problems facing the Democrats. Problems like terrorism, a nuclear Iran, an increasingly aggressive Russia, and how to beat Al Quiada. These will take a backseat to the Democrats domestic agenda, which is more important to the vote seekers. But watch what happens when one of these issues explodes.

2010 will either be quiet, allowing Democrats to be re-elected and keep their grip on Congress, or it will be as loud as a bulldozer ramming through legislation that Americans don’t want. I don’t know which is worse. But one of them guarentees that in 2010, there will be change the White House can believe in.

There is one part of the Health Care Bill that has liberal women’s groups upset: it’s stance on elective cosmetic surgery, which affects women more than men.  It is not covered in the health bill, and there is a proposed 5% surtax on the procedures. This tax would be levied on liposuction, cosmetic implants, Botox injections, teeth whitening, and tattoo removal. All of these are surgeries that are performed on women considerably more than men. The only thing on the list that affects men more than women is the tax on Rogaine, the hair growth product, used primarily by men. Many women consider this sexist.

Originally known as the “Botax,” the tax would generate about $1 billion a year, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. But opponents point out that the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons has reported that one-third of the women who have plastic surgery make less than $30,000 per year. Only 13% make over $90,000 and this fact causes many to see the tax as oppressive to poor women.

Whether the women’s groups and other liberals can get this removed from the bill or not, it shows a glaring example of the hypocracy of the left when it comes to the health care of the human fetus. Doctors who perform abortions, as well as liberals everywhere, are pleading with Congress to include the procedure under the public option. But wait…isn’t abortion an elective surgery? Why is it that other elective surgeries are not only not covered, but they’re taxed! And for those who insist that this would not be elective cosmetic surgery, consider what the bill declares is covered under the tax. According to a BusinessWeek article from November 19th, “The tax in the Senate bill would apply only to surgical procedures that qualify as ‘not necessary to ameliorate a deformity arising from, or directly related to, a congenital abnormality, a personal injury resulting from an accident or trauma, or disfiguring disease.’” Pregnancy is not a deformity, an injury, or a disfiguring disease. So why isn’t abortion being seen as elective surgery, banned from coverage, and taxed?

Instead, we have this debate as to whether it should be included in the public option or not. Because I recognize that abortion is legal,  I have no problem with people buying their own private insurance policy that pays for abortion. I also have no problem with covering abortion for those women whose life is endangered by continuing the pregnancy. Thgis is a medica emergency for the mother. I do not think that people who view abortion as murder should be forced to have their tax money used to pay for it. Again, abortion is a legal medical procedure, just like liposuction.  Hmm…that reminds me of something.  Pro-abortion folks will usually tell you that the fetus is nothing more than tissue…a worthless irritation that has attatched itself to a woman’s body.  Just like the fat that is sucked out in liposuction, right? Right?

Ban abortion from government coverage and tax it!

It’s been several month’s since I started blogging. In the beginning, it was just about anything that caught my eye on that particlar day. Over time, I found myself moving towards politics, which is my passion. I guess I knew that eventually it would work out this way. And as most readers know, I am slightly right of center. But I do consider myself lucky in that I have friends on both sides of the aisle. Even though we disagree on some very important issues, we can agree to disagree. Yes, some of my best friends are liberals. And lately, some of those liberals have been sending emails asking what my “problem” is with Barack Obama. Today, I will try to answer that question.

All of us have, at one time or another, had a gut feeling that something just wasn’t right about some aspect of our life. We can’t always put our finger on it, but we can’t ignore it either. I get that way about our government, sometimes watching what goes on in Washington and just being uncomfortable about it. For a long time, I ignored politics because of that feeling. I followed the crowd who said, “why pay attention to something you can’t change.” After 9/11, I found myself glued to the television, watching the news day and night. It was during this time that I once again got that feeling, and I’ve had it three distinct times since then.

The first was May 1, 2003, the day President George W. Bush flew onto the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. He gave a speech that sounded very much like he was declaring victory in our war in Iraq, all the while standing in front of a giant banner that said “Mission Accomplished.” The purpose of the speech was unclear to me, but it upset me. We had invaded Iraq under questionable intelligence reports that said Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was hiding large amounts of weaponry know as “WMD”, weapons of mass destruction. We had been told that it was vital to our security to invade Iraq and take those weapons out. My discomfort was due to the fact that the one thing we did know was that Osama bin Laden was behind the attacks on our country, and he had not been found yet. I couldn’t stand the thought of him running loose in Afghanistan while we chased what I considered imaginary threats in Iraq. I didn’t agree with Bush, and “mission accomplished” was a slap in the face of those soldiers who were chasing Bin Laden. I felt that things just weren’t right. I was uncomfortable.

I continued to feel that way throughout the Bush Presidency. As the war in Iraq continued, we found Saddam, watched his trial, and cheered when he was hanged for his crimes. Bush praised the Iraqi people for their perserverance, and we set out to rebuild the country we had destroyed in war. I relaxed a bit after that, feeling like I was back at square one. “Why get all upset over things I have no control over,” was my theme again. As a conservative, I swallowed hard as I watched Bush sign legislation that blew our budget deficit wide open. Bill Clinton had begrudgingly left a fiscal surplus behind when he left office, his arms tired from being twisted by conservatives in Congress. But to his credit, he closed the deficit left by the Reagan and Bush administrations. But Bush II allowed it to get out of control again by signing on to liberal Democrats bills like “No Child Left Behind,” a Ted Kennedy favorite, and the Medicare Prescription Drug bill, that was estimated to cost over $70 billion a year, with no funding in the budget. “No Child Left Behind” allowed the federal government to have unprecidented reach into what I considered a state or local board of education realm. And Bush made sure that if any state refused to participate, it would see it’s education funding disappear. This alone turns the Constitution on it’s head. The Medicare bill was a really nice idea, if we could afford it. But again, there was no method of paying for it in the bill. The cost would be picked up by individual states, who were already struggling with budget shortfalls.

As we approached the election year 2008, I was certainly ready for change. I felt we needed to find candidates who were fiscally conservative if we were to ever turn the economy around. Unemployment was going up, trade imbalances were growing, and banks were failing at a record pace. On top of that, there were record numbers of home foreclosures, due to a loosening of the requirements to buy a home. People who had no down payment, some who had no credit, and some who had not completed bankruptcy terms were getting mortgages and they were going bad.

So Bush wrecklessly devistates the economy and an election is coming. I began studying some candidates that I thought would be willing and able to deal with the economy and find an exit strategy from Iraq. I settled on Mitt Romney, who had business credentials, had been Governor of Massachusetts, and had a solid plan for turning the economy around. My alternatives were Mike Huckabee, who preferred to talk about societal ills, Rudy Guiliani, who was considered socially liberal, and John McCain, who had also been buddying up with liberals in the Senate.  I had supported McCain in 2000 when he ran against George W. Bush, who I considered too stupid to be president (I was right!). I knew I couldn’t support McCain when he proposed legislation that would grant “earned” citizenship to illegal aliens, which allowed them to jump ahead of those who were waiting in line legally.

Republicans lost my vote and any donations that I might have made when they rallied behind McCain, saying he had earned the nomination because he finished second to Bush in 2000. McCain then went on to vanquish Romney and Huckabee with love and support from the GOP. I could not bring myself to be an enthusiastic supporter. Andwhen he introduced Sarah Palin as his running mate, I knew he was dead in the water.

Watching the rise of Barack Obama was like watching a new movie star who makes a splash on the big screen in his debut. He came out of nowhere and was suddenly being endorsed by Ted Kennedy. The campaign of the assumed nominee, Hillary Clinton, seemed over. She found herself swamped by the celebrity of Obama. It would be Obama v. McCain, and I knew I would only be a spectator. Thus, my second occassion of feeling like something was just not right. The whole country was going gaga over a very liberal democrat who I could never imagine voting for. The reason for my refusal was based on a single vote that Obama had cast as a Senator. He had voted to allow children to be taken out of state to have an abortion without parental consent. Anyone could take them….caseworker from Planned Parenthood, teacher, friends parent….anyone. I believe that this vote indicates that Obama is totally irresponsible and I would not consider voting for him.

So the rise of this candidate disturbed me. But he went on to crush McCain and I began to hope that he would govern as he had campaigned, sort of in the middle. It would not take long to see that it was a pipe dream.

That brings me to my current feeling that something is wrong. With deficits skyrocketing, Obama has spent money that we don’t have. We are borrowing everything we are spending. And we are borrowing it mostly from China. He has greatly expanded the power and reach of the federal government, something that I feel is detrimental  to our country. It has not been a year since his election, and already he has taken over General Motors, numerous large banks, insurance companies, and now he is reaching for our healthcare system. He has also spent nearly a trillion dollars on an ineffective stimulus package, and continues to lie about it’s impact. There were several billion more spent on the “Cash for Clunkers” program, which was a payoff to the United Auto Workers for the millions of dollars they sent to his campaign. It’s impact on the economy? None.

How will we pay for all this spending? I just have this feeling….

I count myself as one of many Americans who knew better than to trust congressional Democrats. When they were working to elect Barack Obama president, they kept quiet as he proclaimed that he was not a tax and spend liberal. He promised that we in the middle class needn’t worry about taxes increasing. If you make less than $250,000 a year you “will not see your taxes go up one dime.” Many of us were skeptical then, and it seems we may have been right.

It appears that the liberals in Congress are about to ask the president to break that promise. They are looking at a plan that will increase taxes on the middle class, starting with incomes as low as $30,000 a year. The reason? It seems that Congress has come to the conclusion that the country is broke when it comes to fighting the war in Afghanistan. There is plenty of money for their social programs, but not the war effort. You see, they hate the war, and by taxing us to fight it, they want to make us hate it too. And it also frees up money they need to push new social legislation. From bailouts, green energy, junk cars, welfare programs, illegal aliens and more bailouts, the Dems need some new cash. They call their war tax temporary. But we all know what that means. Long after we are out of Afghanistan, this tax will continue. After all, we just recently got rid of the telephone tax that was imposed over 100 years ago to fight the Spanish-American War.

So now Obama faces a critical decision. If he goes along with the congressional  liberalswho support this tax increase, ge breaks his most important promise to the middle class. Most of the Democratic leadership in the House favors the tax. From Speaker Pelosi, to her committee chairmen Charlie Rangel, John Murtha and John Larson. they are calling it the “Share The Sacrifice Act.” It raises taxes on millions of Americans, including a 1% surtax on households earning between $30,000 and $250,000 a year. There was no effort to “share the sacrifice” for health insurance because they don’t want that issue tied to a tax increase.

The Government Accounting Office has recently released a report that shows how much federal spending is truly wasted. It is far and away more money than the Democrats will raise with their new taxes. Remember, we are spendiong $43 billion on the war in Afghanistan. Here are some examples of where they could get the money to pay for the war:

• Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other entitlement programs made improper payments to people and doctors totalling $73 billion.
• The federal government pays $25 billion a year maintaining buildings around the country that unused or vacant.
• The GAO determined that 22% of all government social programs have no impact whatsoever on the populations they serve, costing $123 billion.

The problem is program duplication. Congress continues to churn out more social programs every year without determining if there is already a program that does the same work. In an effort to please all their special interest groups, they end up piling program on top of program, all doing similar work. Examples:

• The Government Accounting Office reports that there are 342 economic development programs, 130 programs serving the disabled, 130 programs serving “at risk” youth, 90 early childhood develpment programs, 75 programs funding international education and culturaql programs, and 72 safe water programs.
• Nearly half of all credit card purchases on federal government credit cars are improper. We taxpayers funded federal employees mortgages, gambling trips, XBoxes, IPods, jewelry, internet dating services, just to name a few.
• Many federal employees refuse to fly coach, costing $146 million.
• Bloomberg reported in an article dated August 16, 2009, that the Pentagon spent over $998 thousand to ship two 19 cent washers to Florida.
• After Hurricane Katrina, victims of the disaster were sent debit cards to purchase food and basic necessities. When the reciepts started coming in, they were for Carribean vacations, NFL tickets, “GIrls Gone Wild” videos, a sex change operation, and lots and lots of jewelry.

The list above is not nearly complete, but shows a few examples of fraud and waste in government. Congress has not considered closing these loopholes before going to the taxpayer to pay for the war. They ignore the cost overuns that cost the budget over $1 trillion a year, duplication of programs, and many other GAO reported fraud and waste examples. Many of these costly and wasteful programs have the names of members of Congress attached to them, so they aren’t going anywhere soon.

If Congress pushes Obama to break the promise he made to the middle class, I will gladly join an impeachment movement that is already gaining support due to  other problems with this administration. He would be wise to resist the liberals and turn back this ill advised piece of legislation.

Once again, the Obama Administration is being questioned about the stimulus report thast they put out last week. After much fanfare in which the White House bragged about the number of jobs “saved or created,” they had to reverse themselves when news organizations began digging tnto the numbers. What they found was that the numbers were not only vastly overstated, but that there is a concerted effort by the Obama Admimistration to fool the public. this tells me that Barack Obama is in over his head. If he thinks that the American people are drones who accept everything that comes from the White House press room, he doesn’t know the American people at all. He apparently thought that was the case when he allowed Ed Pound, communications director for the administrations website, recovery.com, to put our ridiculsously false claims about the impact of stimulus funds in different congressional districts.

And ridiculous might be too light a discription of what these numbers show. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Ariz), noted in “The Hill” newspaper, that the report showed his state of Arizona has 86 congressional districts. Uh, not even close. And to make matters worse, the report showed that the 86th district recieved over $50 million and created or saved 106 jobs! In a district titled “District 00,” the stimulus cash totalled about $600,000 and a whopping 8 jobs were reported. It would be bad enough if thesse numbers were real, but there not. When being questioned by Rep. Issa in a congressional hearing, Pound was asked if he could certify that the numbers in the report were accurate, Pound was left stammering, “No, I cannot make that certification.”

One glaring example of the Obama administrations intent to decieve us was that one recipient of stimulus funds, Head Start, was questioned about the 317 jobs it reported as being “created or saved.” While appearing on ABC News, Head Start’s Chris Whitley had to admit that the jobs were bogus. It turned out that 317 regular imployees recieved a 2.3% raise, using the stimulus cash. Whitley made matters worse by saying, “…it wasn’t illegal, immoral or unethical. And they told me to do it,, so I did it.” Who told him to do it? Someone is telling these employers to lie about jobs “created or saved.” I blogged back when this whole “saved or created” crap was introduced by the Obama administration that it would result in lies and distortions.

This week, the Government Accounting Office reported that 58,000 jobs reported by the administration were bogus. The companies that they sited hadn’t even spent their stimulus money yet. That’s 10% of the jobs Obama claims were saved.

The Obama team is calling these “reporting errors.” I call them distortions…lies. This administration is not to be trusted. The country needs to wake up and realize that Barack Obama is in over his head. He believes the hype about being a savior, one who can do no wrong. But the rest of us are beginning  to see the truth. And it gets uglier everyday.