Month: March 2013

Grow That Big Tent

CPAC is in full swing……I have listened to as many speeches as I could stomach…….and then yesterday that MORON Gohmert made a comment that I took exception to about the Vietnam War (see yesterday’s rant……”I Have Had Enough Of These Morons)…..but the one that made me chuckle (sorry to my conserv friends) was a statement by the head of CPAC……….

(Newser) – Chris Christie isn’t CPAC material, American Conservative Union Chairman Al Cardenas said today, explaining why the New Jersey governor hadn’t gotten a spot in the annual conference that begins today. “I’m a firm believer that if the Republican Party’s going to have success, it’s going to do so by being a conservative party and not a home for ah, for everybody,” Cardenas told reporters, according to NBC News. “You grow your tent by convincing others, and persuading others, that yours is the way … not with a watered down version of who we ought to be.”  (Does this sound like the big tent they keep talking about for the next election?)

Addressing Christie specifically, Cardenas said that, “We felt like, ah, like he didn’t deserve to be on the all-star selection, ah, and, for decisions that he made.” (Hint, he probably means incidents like this.) “So hopefully next year he’s back on the right track and being a conservative.  (Sounds like a purity test to me and they have said they have NO purity test)

Personally, I want to see the conservs have a good party and a good substantial platform….but if this dude’s thinking is the future of the party…..then you guys are so screwed!  You lost the last election and you have yet to change much on your policy stances……and you somehow think it will be better next time around?

At what point to the conservs starting trying to build that big tent?  At what point do they realize that the last election was decided by their lack of substantial policies?

On this path they will have more to whine about after the 2016 election…….please pull your asses out of your collective butts…..fresh air smells good……

I Have Had Enough Of These Morons!

It is inevitable that I have this conversation when people learn that I fought in Vietnam……..someone always says we could have won that war if we were allowed to, right Chuk?  My first question to them is, “were you there”…..and almost everytime it is no…….and then I reply….then your opinion means NOTHING!

I bet you are wondering why I bring this up now?

To answer your question….I was reading Raw Story and came upon this piece of crap……

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Thursday asserted that the U.S. war in “Vietnam was winnable, but people in Washington decided we would not win it!”

“One of the things that we’ve heard over and over again since Vietnam is, you know, we don’t want to get in another un-winnable war like Vietnam,” Gohmert told the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). “I’m not going to debate the merits of whether we should or should not have gone to Vietnam, but what I will tell you is, Vietnam was winnable, but people in Washington decided we would not win it!”

“Folks, when you hear people talk about the lesson of Vietnam, it ought to be this: You don’t send American men or women to to harm’s way unless you’re going to give them the authority and what they need to win and then bring them home!”

This person is a MORON!  The American soldier did everything he was ordered to do in Vietnam…….we were fighting troops that would take a French 75 apart put it on bikes and walk them across mountains, reassemble and use……..we are talking about troops that would tie tree tops together on the Ho Chi Minh trail to form a tunnel to keep aircraft from spotting them……we were fighting troops that had 75 miles of tunnels that included R&r centers, hospitals, mess halls and ammo storage………we were fighting troops that would repair the Trail after b-52 runs in less than 24 hours…..we were fighting a committed enemy….and any moron that says different is lying!

And anyone especially someone that is suppose to be a statesman that makes comments like Gohmert is a worthless lump of crap!   And anyone who believes his crap is a stupid lump of crap who NEVER served but has all the answers….and that makes him less than worthless!

You may pass on to Mr. Gohmert what I think of him…..I WILL!

An Answer To Immigration

Yes, we have a pope today!

While the battle of the budgets is playing out…..there is another issue that will be arriving………

Soon, very soon the airways will explode with the rhetoric on the path of immigration that the US will travel…..we will have hard core people that thinks this country is only good enough for white people and then those that think everybody should be welcome……the truth be known the answer will be somewhere in between the two extremes and a very watered down bill that everyone can claim victory when it is signed………and then there is the answer that I like…….and it would not cost much money to implement……

(Newser) – Hey buddy, wanna be a US citizen? How much is it worth to ya? Because if it’s enough, you can stay, as far as two writers at Stanford’s Hoover Institution are concerned. “We propose that, instead of the current maze of rules and formulas, the US should sell the right to become a citizen,” argue Gary Becker and Edward Lazear in an op-ed via Real Clear Politics. A $50,000 price tag “would attract those who place the highest value on citizenship,” pulling in young, enterprising immigrants “more likely to be positive contributors to the economy.”

This proposal, they argue, would “enhance the country’s stock of human capital,” spur growth, and even reduce the federal deficit. Poorer immigrants could pay with a loan, with installments extracted directly from their paycheck to ensure they don’t default. Current citizens could “pay the fee of immigrant relatives who matter the most to them,” encouraging “the best kind of family reunification.” All of this may sound radical, they admit, but it would “be a more open and fairer system than the one we have now.” Click for the full column.

Since the US is the capital of capitalism then this is the best answer for the country and we could not be accused of being so much socialist or whatever derogatory form one chooses to accuses of in the future…..

Whatcha think?  Good idea?

Can We Stop The Budget Game?

This game of battling budget proposals is getting weary……..Recently, whiz kid Ryan offered up his new budget proposal…..here is the rub……the newest budget is almost word for word the last whiz kid proposal…….only the new one says it will balance the budget in 10 years as opposed to the 40 years in the last one…….but do not take my word for it……..

(Newser) – Paul Ryan is unveiling his latest budget proposal, and this time, he says, it’ll balance in 10 years—half the time he claimed for his previous budget, NPR notes, because he’s including new revenue from the fiscal cliff deal. As promised, the new plan calls for repealing ObamaCare, to be replaced with “patient-centered reforms,” Ryan writes in the Wall Street Journal. Ryan would also boost oil drilling and reform Medicare, the tax code, and welfare, Politico reports.

“On the current path, we’ll spend $46 trillion over the next 10 years. Under our proposal, we’ll spend $41 trillion,” Ryan writes. “Because the US economy will grow faster than spending, the budget will balance by 2023, and debt held by the public will drop to just over half the size of the economy.” Among his proposals:

  • On taxes: Instead of the current “Rubik’s cube,” “our goal is to have just two brackets: 10% and 25%,” Ryan writes.
  • On welfare: “After the welfare reforms of 1996, child poverty fell by double digits,” he notes. The budget would let states “tailor programs like Medicaid and food stamps to their people’s needs.”
  • As for Medicare: “Starting in 2024,” seniors will see “a range of insurance plans from which they can choose—including traditional Medicare.” It will be “a premium support program,” notes NPR.
  • Meanwhile, Patty Murray, Democrat head of the Senate Budget Committee, is proposing her own plan, which would raise tax revenues by almost $1 trillion as it cuts spending to the same extent, Politico reports. She’ll meet with party members, including President Obama, today.

Why waste time?  This budget is dead on arrival at the Senate……..and the Senate budget will be dead on arrival in the House……..and Obama’s budget will just tickle somebody’s fancy…..but wait!  This sounds a lot like the budget that Ryan ran on in 2012…..oh yeah, he lost!  so why go through this BS?  Why waste the country’s time?

Someone Explain ‘Loopholes”!

We hear the GOP talk about closing loopholes…….we also hear Obama and the boyz speak on the need to close tax loopholes……well it seems we have bi-partisan deal working, right?

I recently did a three part series about “Rates or Reform?  In these post I listed the most common tax deductions for the individual, small businesses and large corporations and then I asked if any of those would be acceptable to eliminate……NONE of them will be touched…….so with that said……what are these loopholes that both parties are saying that need to be closed?

I say that closing loopholes will not do anything to help the budget……it is a con job or at best just code for corporate tax reform…..where NO loopholes get closed, rather corporations just get more help with the avoidance of paying taxes…and then there is one LARGE loophole that should be included but will not be for the obvious reason…..

The top 83 US-based companies now hold a massive $1.45 trillion offshore, parked in low-tax countries, after increasing those holdings by 14.4%—or $183 billion—just in the last year, reports Bloomberg. The leader in offshore profit parking is GE (owner of MSNBC), with $108 billion, up $6 billion from last year, followed by Pfizer with $73 billion. Tech giants Google, Apple, and Microsoft increased their non-US holdings by 34% last year and $75.2 billion over the past two years. Experts say the rise is due to US tax laws, which incentivize booking profits offshore, and estimate the total amount all US companies (not just the top 83) are keeping offshore could be $1.9 trillion. “The corporate system is broken and it’s broken primarily because of international,” says one professor of tax law. The United States is one of the few countries that applies its full 35% corporate tax rate to profits made by US-based companies’ overseas offices, but companies can defer paying taxes until they return those profits home. Congress is working on alternative tax strategies—such as levying a much smaller tax on accumulated earnings, whether repatriated or not—but for now, those stockpiles keep growing.

This is the sort of loopholes that should be in the mix…..but my guess is that they will skate like they always skate……any thoughts?

Does anyone have a good idea what is meant by the generalization of “closing loopholes”?

Jodi Arias Sex Life: Defendant Reveals More Dirty Details

WTF?  Where has this story been?  I usually keep up with gossip or trash stories in the media…I did keep up with that woman in Italy and her trial of sex, drugs and rock and roll….and then it was that Anthony chick and her kids death……but where has this story been?  This looks like perfect story for the media to latch onto…….

 

Jodi Arias Sex Life: Defendant Reveals More Dirty Details.