Tragedy…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of the theater shooting in Aurora, CO.  But I can’t help but wonder about the ‘security’ provided to the theater. I think we will be hearing much more about this, and sadly VPC/Brady/others will once again dance in the blood of the victims. 

posted from my iPhone

And the ‘spin’ is starting… HERE

Reality Check…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
I find it truly interesting how ‘little’ coverage sequestration is getting… Either folks don’t realize what is going to happen, or they are ‘ignoring’ it and hoping it will go away!

BUT, the dems are hard over to force sequestration to get their way…

Excerpted from DOD Buzz yesterday…

Standing up and trying to explain how sequestration and the resulting defense cuts are a bad thing because the Air Force can’t buy planes and the Army will lose soldiers is going right over the public’s head. Three out of four Americans want to see the Pentagon take a healthy cut in these fiscally austere times, according to a survey done by the Program for Public Consultation, the Center for Public Integrity and the Stimson Center.

Instead, the defense industrial base hopes they can grab Americans’ fleeting attention spans with a report Tuesday morning that states sequestration will force defense companies to fire more than 1 million Americans. At 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Aerospace Industries Association will release a study done by a George Mason professor that states that sequestration will almost certainly cost America 1.09 million jobs over the next year and put another 600,000 federal jobs at risk.

As a reminder, these are NOT low paying menial jobs, these are professional folks, engineers, researchers, highly skilled assembly folks, technicians, etc.  I saw a blurb on-line yesterday too that stated it looks like Northern Virginia and Norfolk stand to lose 60,000 jobs just in those two areas…

Another point is that if this occurs, we face a significant risk of impacting the few high tech manufacturing/shipbuilding/aircraft manufacturers that are left in the USA.  If we lose those folks, you can stick a fork in us, because those skills (and capabilities) are perishable…

 Oh yeah, and a LOT of these jobs are union jobs too!  THAT is really going to make things interesting…

Keep this in mind if you get a chance to ask your congresscritters any questions between now and November! 

Yo Beyotch…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Yeah, YOU in the Audi convertible, yapping on your cell phone…


It’s NOT a real good idea to decide to slam a U-turn in the middle of a busy 4 lane street without even bothering to look!


And you are DAMN lucky neither I nor the other SUV center-punched your ass with that stupid move (ALL the way into ABS and steering to the curb to miss the bitch)!


And shooting us the bird after we honked at you, well… Let’s just say you didn’t endear yourself to EITHER of us…


And ignoring the Tahoe that happened to be an undercover unit when he lit you up?  Well, you were in a convertible so I know you could hear the siren!


And you refused to pull over, okay fine.  But when you drove AROUND the marked car that stopped ahead of you and the officer got out to wave you over?  


Well, I’ll have to give you a below average for headwork on that one… 


And when he jumped back in his car and both of them came after you and you CONTINUED to ignore them? Well, you had to be either drunk or stupid, so them forcing you over was fine by me.


I TRULY hope you enjoy all the tickets I’m sure you’re reading right now!!!

Days like this I really wish I had my old beater back with the push bars on the front… Sigh

What If…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Tongue kinda, sorta in cheek…

Please note that Texas  is the only state with a legal right to secede from the Union . (Reference  the Texas-American Annexation Treaty of 1848.)

We Texans love  y’all, but we’ll probably have to take action if Barack Obama wins the  election. We’ll miss you too.

Here is what can happen:

1:  Barack Hussein Obama is President of the United States, and Texas secedes  from the Union in summer of 2013.

2: George W. Bush will become the  President of the Republic of Texas . You might not think that he talks too  pretty, but we haven’t had another terrorist attack, and the economy was  fine until the effects of the Democrats lowering the qualifications for  home loans came to roost.

So  what does Texas have to do to survive as a Republic?

1. NASA is  just south of Houston , Texas . We will control the space  industry.

2. We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United  States .

3. Defense Industry–we have over 65% of it. The term  “Don’t mess with Texas,” will take on a whole new meaning.

4. Oil –  we can supply all the oil that the Republic of Texas will need for the  next 300 years. What will the other states do? Gee, we don’t know. Why not  ask Obama?

5. Natural Gas – again we have all we need, and it’s too  bad about those Northern States. John Kerry and Al Gore will have to  figure out a way to keep them warm….

6. Computer Industry – we  lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications equipment  -small companies like Texas Instruments, Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon,  National Semiconductor,Motorola, Intel, AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials,  Ball Microconductor, Dallas Semiconductor, Nortel, Alcatel, etc, etc. The  list goes on and on.

7. Medical Care – We have the research centers  for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the  world, as well as other large health centers. The Houston Medical Center  alone employees over 65,000 people.

8. We have enough colleges to  keep us getting smarter: University of Texas , Texas A&M, Texas Tech,  Texas Christian, Rice, SMU, University of Dallas , University of Houston ,  Baylor, UNT ( University of North Texas ), Texas Women’s University, etc.  Ivy grows better in the South anyway.

9.  We have an intelligent and energetic work force, and it isn’t restricted  by a bunch of unions. Here in Texas , it’s a Right to Work State and,  therefore, it’s every man and women for themselves. We just go out and get  the job done. And if we don’t like the way one company operates, we get a  job somewhere else.

10. We have essential control of the paper,  plastics, and insurance industries, etc.

11. In case of a foreign  invasion, we have the Texas National Guard, the Texas Air National Guard,  and several military bases. We don’t have an Army, but since everybody  down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an Army  in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we can  always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over a  Texas Ranger — only need one!

12.  We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and several types  of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let’s not forget seafood from the  Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste  good. Don’t need any food.

13. Three of the ten largest cities in  the United States , and twenty- three of the 100 largest cities in the  United States , are located inTexas. And Texas also has more land than  California , New York , New Jersey , Connecticut , Delaware , Hawaii ,  Massachusetts , Maryland , Rhode Island and Vermont combined.

14.  Trade: Three of the ten largest ports in the United States are located in  Texas .

15. We also manufacture cars down here, but we don’t need  to. You see, nothing rusts in Texas, so our vehicles stay beautiful and  run well for decades.

 16.  We also will be in charge of protecting our borders so, a visa may be  reuired to enter at the border crossings.

This  just names a few of the items that will keep the Republic of Texas in good  shape. There isn’t a thing out there that we need and don’t  have.

Now to the rest of the United States under President Obama:  Since you won’t have the refineries to get gas for your cars, only  President Obama will be able to drive around in his big 5 mpg SUV.The rest  of the United States will have to walk or ride bikes.

You won’t  have any TV as the Space Center in Houston will cut off satellite  communications. You won’t have any natural gas to heat your homes, but  since Mr. Obama has predicted global warming, you will not need the gas as  long as you survive the 2000 years it will take to get enough heat from  Global Warming.

Signed,
The People of Texas

P.S. This  is not a threatening letter – just a note to give you something to think  about!

 

Falcon 230…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
MSgt B posted HERE about his travels back in the day, and caused a (bad) trip down memory lane…


This was in late 77 or early 78, and I was supposed to go up to Adak as a fill in for a guy who was going on emergency leave that day.  Since the next scheduled P-3 wasn’t for a week, it was ‘decided’ that I could get up there via a C-130 that was flying from Moffett to Barbers to Elmendorf to Adak (ye ol’ trash hauler).  Basically about a 24 hour trip…


So… Friday night I hie my ass down to base ops at 1800 with clothes in one bag, and flight gear in a parachute bag.  At 2300 they FINALLY get all four fans turning and off we go into the night.  About 9 hours later (e.g. sunrise) we finally touch down at Barbers Point.  Now those that ‘know’ 130s ‘know’ the canvas seats are impossible to sleep in, and they’re colder’n hell; so no sleep for me.  


Day 2- 


Another reserve crew comes in to pre-flight and launch for Elmendorf, only to find that the airplane has gone hard down for a flap asymmetry (now it’s about noon); ETA for repair a couple of days!!!   


Frantic scramble ensues as I: 
a.- Phone home, now what coach? Squadron Duty Officer (SDO)- I dunno, see what you can find…
b.- Check with Hickam, all the P-3 Squadrons, and finally the Coasties. The Coasties have a C-130 departing for Kodiak the following morning at 0800, and yes they have seats.  
c.- Go over with orders, show them to the Coast Guard SDO and get on the manifest (still dragging all my bags with me)…


Coastie takes pity on me and gives me a ride back to billeting. Since I don’t have Hawaii as a destination, I get 20 questions from billeting as to why I’m in Hawaii and NOT in Alaska where I’m supposed to be and am I UA???


Finally get THAT crap sorted out (I think), get a shower, get some sleep and back over to the Coasties at 0 dark 30.  Phone home and tell the SDO there I’m on a Coastie bird to Kodiak, and can the squadron sent a pilot trainer to get me from Kodiak? Of course he has NO idea…


Load up, and off we go… For about 4 hours, UNTIL we start pissing hydraulics everywhere over the cargo bay… Divert into Midway Island after the gear is blown down for an emergency landing!


Now Midway is NOT real busy on a GREAT day, much less an average day; so there we sit, the ONLY airplane there, and broke, and no hydraulics guys handy.  The engineer and loadmaster/observer, along with myself and a Coastie jet mech start trying to just ‘find’ where the leak is coming from and the engineer finally guesses it’s from the aft reservoir feeding PC2 and the landing gear (but there are no spare parts on the aircraft OR in Midway’s supply).  So we sit, and I’ve now got a flight suit covered in hydraulic fluid…  And I phone home and tell em I’m now in Midway (and the SDO is NOT happy)…


Day 3-


24 hours later, another C-130 shows up with the right people, equipment and pieces/parts to fix everything.  About 12 hours later it’s fixed, BUT there is a test flight needed… So we sit, and I go wash the flight suit again… And I phone home and tell em I’m STILL in Midway (and the SDO is still NOT happy)…


Day 4- 


The ‘rescue’ C-130 and it’s maintainers leave at 0600 as they have to assume the ready SAR at Barbers.


Our crew comes in  about 0800 and the test flight is finally completed; C-130 returns, reloads the pallets, picks up us pax, and away we go. Until we hit two birds on takeoff and FOD #2 engine and crack an outer pane on the windshield…  And come back and land at Midway AGAIN…


And as we taxi back, hydraulic fluid starts spraying all over the cargo compartment AGAIN…


And we have no support AGAIN…


And I’m REALLY dreading calling the SDO again…


Day 5- Another C-130 comes in with spares, repairs are made yet again, equipment is offloaded, another test flight is flown, and equipment is reloaded AGAIN… Phone home and the SDO doesn’t even want to talk to me!


Day 6- One more time… And this time we actually make it all the way to Kodiak (and an engine gets a chips light, and the cargo area springs yet another leak)… The flight engineer comes down and says F-it, Falcon 230 and I busted out laughing because that meant “This sumbitch has more downing gripes that the USS Arizona”.


So I call the SDO one more time, and he tells me the P-3 coming from Moffett will stop and pick me up on the way…

Kodiak on an unusually clear day…

And yes, that IS a 2500′ hill at the end of runway 25…



Day 7-  I wake up and look out the window to 0-0 conditions, totally fogged in!  SSS, get a ride to ops; and sure enough, the fog is NOT expected to lift all day.  I sit around until the P-3 calls in (doesn’t even bother to descend/make an approach), and says they are going direct Adak.  Call the duty office, and they don’t even want to talk to me…


Day 8- Get a call in the barracks at 0 dark 30, P-3 is inbound to get me, haul my ass down to ops, duty truck is waiting outside…


Grab my gear, haul it to ops, and sure enough here comes a P-3! Yea!!!


Haul my crap out to the airplane, get aboard, check in with the PPC, and find out we’re heading BACK to Moffett. They’d flown a replacement up on the P-3 that went over Kodiak yesterday…


So eight days later I get back to home base, without ever having actually made it to where I was supposed to be, only to find out that in fact billeting at Barbers Point DID put me on report for being UA from day 2 since I was in Hawaii instead of Adak… Sigh…


So NO, I don’t particularly ‘like’ C-130s…


And teh funny… From my daughter, the ‘hellhound’ slobbering, drooling and whining over his CASE of 48 tennis balls. And those eyes…



Damn dog ‘eats’ about 2 tennis balls a week, so hopefully these will last a while…

And now you know…

Posted on by March 6, 2013

Those pesky little questions one often wonders about…


Q: Why do men’s clothes have buttons on the right while women’s clothes have buttons on the left?
A: When buttons were invented, they were very expensive and worn primarily by the rich. Since most people are right-handed, it is easier to push buttons on the right through holes on the left. Because wealthy women were dressed by maids, dressmakers put the buttons on the maid’s right! And that’s where women’s buttons have remained since.


Q: Why do ships and aircraft use ‘mayday’ as their call for help?
A: This comes from the French word m’aidez -meaning ‘help me’ – and is pronounced, approximately, ‘mayday’.


Q: Why are zero scores in tennis called ‘love’?
A: In France, where tennis became popular, the round zero on the scoreboard looked like an egg and was called ‘l’oeuf,’ which is French for ‘the egg’. When tennis was introduced in the US, Americans (mis)pronounced it ‘love’.


Q. Why do X’s at the end of a letter signify kisses?
A: In the Middle Ages, when many people were unable to read or write, documents were often signed using an X. Kissing the X represented an oath to fulfil obligations specified in the document. The X and the kiss eventually became synonymous.


Q: Why is shifting responsibility to someone else called ‘passing the buck’?
A: In card games, it was once customary to pass an item, called a buck, from player to player to indicate whose turn it was to deal. If a player did not wish to assume the responsibility of dealing, he would ‘pass the buck’ to the next player.


Q: Why do people clink their glasses before drinking a toast?
A: It used to be common for someone to try to kill an enemy by offering him a poisoned drink. To prove to a guest that a drink was safe, it became customary for a guest to pour a small amount of his drink into the glass of the host. Both men would drink it simultaneously. When a guest trusted his host, he would only touch or clink the host’s glass with his own.


Q: Why are people in the public eye said to be ‘in the limelight’?
A: Invented in 1825, limelight was used in lighthouses and theatres by burning a cylinder of lime which produced a brilliant light. In the theatre, a performer ‘in the limelight’ was the centre of attention.


Q: Why is someone who is feeling great ‘on cloud nine’?
A: Types of clouds are numbered according to the altitudes they attain, with nine being the highest cloud. If someone is said to be on cloud nine, that person is floating well above worldly cares. 


Q: In golf, where did the term ‘Caddie’ come from?
A. When Mary Queen of Scots went to France as a young girl, Louis, King of France, learned that she loved the Scots game ‘golf’. He had the first course outside of Scotland built for her enjoyment. To make sure she was properly chaperoned (and guarded) while she played, Louis hired cadets from a military school to accompany her. Mary liked this a lot and when returned to Scotland (not a very good idea in the long run), she took the practice with her. In French, the word cadet is pronounced ‘ca-day’ and the Scots changed it into ‘caddie’.


Q: Why are many coin banks shaped like pigs?
A: Long ago, dishes and cookware in Europe were made of a dense orange clay called ‘pygg’. When people saved coins in jars made of this clay, the jars became known as ‘pygg banks’. When an English potter misunderstood the word, he made a container that resembled a pig. And it caught on.

Random Things…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
Firearms Refresher Course

1. “Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.” Thomas Jefferson

2. “Those who trade liberty for security have neither.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

3. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.

4. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.

5. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.

6. Gun control is not about guns; it’s about control.

7. You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

8. Know guns, know peace, know safety- No guns, no peace, no safety.

9. You don’t shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.

10. Assault is a behavior, not a device.

11. 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.

12. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.

13. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.

14. What part of ‘shall not be infringed’ do you NOT understand?

15. Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.

16. When you remove the people’s right to bear arms, you create slaves.

17. The American Revolution would NEVER have happened with gun control.

And if you ever wondered…

Yes, there ARE tests to make sure weapons WILL fall off/launch from airplanes safely; but ‘sometimes’  it doesn’t quite go as advertised…

THAT is why they are called TEST Pilots, and deserve ALL the credit they seldom get!!!


And I FINALLY got that little clip of Snigs shooting to work…

She’s definitely NOT a wimp, these are full up .357 magnum defense loads through her Ruger Blackhawk and they were ALL COM!!!


And this one is just plain funny…



And welcome a new blogger to the fold!  Joey is an old friend from mumble years ago, and will soon be starting her pistol training. She’s promised to blog about her experiences as she progresses to her CCW!  Her blog is Have to Scream Now, as in “It’s been lovely, but I have to scream now”… 


Y’all have a good week, ya hear! 🙂

One to think about…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
this is another one that came over the transom at work today… From the mil-email…

A scary contribution from one of our “friends”. But the real scary part is if you read the paper or watch TV…nobody seems to care. The fact OUR parents cared….and their parents before them…is the only reason we exist today. AND it seems we are emulating Europe who represented greatness ONLY in the past.


Surely folks will wake up…   Maybe…
Tink… tink… Is this thing on??? 

With a second term for Obama, the world-leading America we have known and hoped to leave to our children will be gone. Last Friday’s jobs report confirms that Obama is well on his way to transforming America into a third world country, with declining living standards and perpetual economic stagnation.

Argentina enjoyed the world’s fourth highest per capita GDP in 1929, on par with America at the time. But then the nation lost its way in embracing a leftist, union allied government, which took control of the economy and imposed wildly irresponsible taxes, spending, deficits, and debt. After World War II, the hugely popular Juan Peron came to power and institutionalized the madness. It has been all downhill for Argentina ever since. Do you recognize the pattern?

Today, Argentina ranks 53rd in the world in per capita GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund, 57th in the CIA World Factbook, at a level less than one third that of America. But its national debt at 51% of GDP is actually less than that of the United States under the Obama administration, where we are rocketing towards 100% of GDP by the end of this year, and 200% in 25 years, according to CBO.
Read the rest below the break…


The Worst Economic Recovery Since the Great Depression: Confirmed
Last Friday’s jobs report indicated the most commonly cited U3 unemployment rate remains stuck at 8.2%. That makes 41 straight months of unemployment over 8%, which the Joint Economic Committee of Congress confirms is the worst recovery from a recession since the Great Depression almost 75 years ago. The total number of Americans unemployed actually rose over the last 3 months by 76,000, 54 months after the recession started, and 3 years after it was supposedly over. Since the Great Depression, and before this last recession, recessions in America have lasted 10 months on average, with the longest previously lasting 16 months.

Indeed, the last time before Obama that unemployment was even over 8% was December 1983, when Reaganomics was bringing it down from the Keynesian fiasco of the 1970s. It didn’t climb back above that level for 25 years, a generation, which is a measure of the spectacular success of Reaganomics. That success was centrally based on reducing tax rates, which our ignorant Marxist President says was tried but didn’t work.

Moreover, Obama’s June unemployment rate was not much, much higher only because over 7.2 million working people have given up even looking for work as a hopeless waste of time under President Obama, so they are not counted as unemployed in the U3 unemployment rate. Including these workers, who still exist and still do not have jobs, the unemployment rate would be 11%.

Besides the 12.7 million Americans who are counted as unemployed, another 8.2 million were employed part-time for economic reasons. “These individuals were working part-time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job,” the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported. Another 2.5 million workers were marginally attached to the labor force, as they “wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months,” but “[t]hey were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the [prior] 4 weeks.”

That leaves the total army of the unemployed and underemployed at 23.4 million Americans. Counting these workers, the BLS reports the U6 unemployment rate as rising to 14.9% in June. If we add in the long-term discouraged workers that the BLS does not even count anymore, the Shadow Government Statistics website reports the total unemployment rate increasing to 22.8% in June.

In contrast, Obama promised us when he first entered office that if his nearly $1 trillion in stimulus spending passed, the unemployment rate would never exceed 8%, and would decline to 5.8% by May of this year, when in reality it was 8.2% and rising that month. The peak of the Obama Presidency came in February 2009, his first month in office, which is the last time he said something correct about the economic recovery, predicting to Matt Lauer on national television, “If I don’t have this done in three years, then this is going to be a one-term proposition.” We are now well past Obama’s own self-imposed deadline.

The unemployment rate for African -Americans actually rose last month to 14.4%, and it has remained at such depression era levels for Obama’s entire Presidency. Hispanics have suffered double digit unemployment throughout Bush’s Presidency as well, at 11% again last month. For teenagers, the rate last month stood at 23.7%. For black teenagers, unemployment rose last month to 39.3%. For Hispanic teenagers, the unemployment rate rose to 31%.

Friday’s labor report further indicated that the jobs picture has only been worsening under Obamanomics. A million more workers were suffering long-term unemployment of 27 weeks or longer in June than at the supposed end of the recession 3 years ago. Moreover, the median length of unemployment had risen to 19.8 weeks in June compared to 17.2 when the recession supposedly ended.

How Stupid Do They Think We Are?
Obama tells us that the 80,000 jobs created last month (25,000 were mere temp jobs) were “a step in the right direction.” A very tiny baby step at best, as the working age population grew by 191,000 in the same month. Moreover, 85,000 went on the disability rolls during the month, fleeing the Obama economy for their only alternative, taxpayer dependency. Another 275,000 applied for disability during the month.

Obama’s chief economic policy advisor Alan Krueger actually boasted that private sector jobs have grown for “28 straight months for a total of 4.4 million payroll jobs during that period.” But at the same point during the Reagan recovery, the economy had created 9.5 million new jobs.

Krueger thinks we are too stupid to know that job growth is the norm and not the exception for the American economy. In the 62 years from the end of World War II in 1945 until 2008, jobs grew in 86% of the months, or 640 out of 744. His statement is just a further example of the Obama administration’s practice of Calculated Deception.

Reagan’s recovery produced job growth in 81 out of its first 82 months, with 20 million new jobs created in those first 7 years alone, increasing the civilian work force at the time by 20%. That grew into 50 million new jobs over the entire Reagan 25 year boom from 1982 to 2007. Compare that to the disgrace of Obamanomics. While Obama tries to claim 4.4 million new jobs created, total jobs today are still half a million less than in January 2009 when he entered office. Even George Bush oversaw 52 consecutive months of job growth, including 8 million new jobs created after his 2003 capital gains and dividends tax rate cuts became effective (which Obama is dedicated to reversing).

Krueger also solemnly told the public, “it is important not to read too much into any one monthly report.” But as documented July 6 by Bryan Preston for PJMedia, the Obama Administration has said the exact same thing for each of the last 30 months. Do ya think 2 ½ years might constitute a trend?

The Disgrace of Obamanomics
Obama’s tragic jobs record reflects the dismal economic growth under his Administration’s perverse economic policies. For all of last year, the economy grew by a paltry real rate of only 1.7%, only about half America’s long-term trend. The average so far this year has been no better.

In sharp contrast, in the second year of Reagan’s recovery, the economy boomed by a real rate of 6.8%, the highest in 50 years. During the first 7 years alone, the economy grew by almost one-third, the equivalent of adding the entire economy of West Germany, the third largest in the world at the time, to the U.S. economy. Real per capita disposable income increased by 18% from 1982 to 1989, meaning the American standard of living increased by almost 20%. The poverty rate, which had started increasing during the Carter years, declined every year from 1984 to 1989, dropping by one-sixth from its peak.

But President Obama, following the exact opposite of the policies of Reagan in every detail, is on exactly the opposite course. The Census Bureau reports falling real wages under Obama, kicking median family income back over 10 years. Census also reports more Americans in poverty today than at any time in the more than 50 years that Census has been tracking poverty. That is why Obama can also boast an all-time record number of Americans on food stamps, which is why Newt Gingrich has rightly labeled him “the food stamp President.”

Obama cannot explain away this disgrace of Obamanomics by arguing that the economy has performed so poorly under his Administration because the recession he inherited from Bush was so bad. That is exactly what he is arguing when he says “there are no quick fixes to the problems we face that were more than a decade in the making.” But the American historical experience is that the worse the recession, the stronger the recovery, as the American economy snaps back to its world-leading, long-term, economic growth trend line. Based on this historical record, we should be enjoying the third year of a raging economic recovery boom right now.

This historical experience was reflected by the surging Reagan recovery boom from the deep 1981-1982 recession. And it is why Obama was confident enough to tell Matt Lauer and the nation in 2009 that if he doesn’t have the economy hopping after 3 years, he is going to be a one-term President. If anything, because of the severity of the recession, Obama should have been blessed with an even more booming recovery than Reagan. But the dismal economic performance we have suffered instead, with no real recovery from the steep 2008-2009 recession at all, is the disgrace of Obamanomics.

The Coming Crash of 2013
For the first time on Monday, Obama indicated that the Bush tax cuts may not be made permanent for those making less than $200,000 a year. For why would he otherwise propose only a one-year extension of those tax cuts? If he terminates those tax cuts after one year, that would constitute yet another tax increase on the middle class, besides Obamacare.

This partial one-year extension of the Bush tax cuts will not do anything to promote the economy. Temporary tax relief does not work in any event to advance economic growth, because it is discounted by investors, consumers, and businesses as only a passing fad. But extending the Bush tax cuts for those making less than $200,000 per year would not be a tax cut from the current rates, but only an extension of the same rates that have been in force for 10 years or more. So there is no boost to the economy from that. Note that these are the tax cuts adopted by Bush and the Republicans for those making less than $200,000 per year, contrary to Obama’s claims that Bush and the Republicans only cut taxes for “the rich,” which are only despicable, manipulative lies so dishonest that they should disqualify Obama from office.

Indeed, instead of adopting tax cuts promoting the economy, Obama’s tax proposal on Monday would terminate the Bush tax cuts for those making over $200,000. So it would only trash the economy, because it would involve a huge tax increase on the nation’s small businesses, job creators, and investors. Counting the tax increases of Obamacare that will also go into effect next year under current law, the top two income tax rates would increase by nearly 20%, the capital gains tax rate would increase by nearly 60%, the tax on dividends would nearly triple, and the death tax would rise from the grave with a 55% top rate. While Obama says only 3% of small businesses would be affected, the tax increases would apply to close to two-thirds of small business income, which is the foundation for most jobs.

This is all on top of the corporate tax rate which under President Obama is the highest in the industrialized world at nearly 40%, counting state corporate rates on average. Even Communist China offers a 25% corporate rate. The social welfare states of the European Union are even lower on average, with formerly socialist Canada now featuring a 15% corporate rate, and economic powerhouse Germany not much higher.

American businesses are uncompetitive in the global economy with this tax burden. But under President Obama, there is no relief in sight. Instead, he has been barnstorming the country for the last two years calling for still more tax increases. Under his so-called Buffett Rule, which would double the capital gains tax, America would suffer the fourth-highest capital gains tax rate in the industrialized world, besides the world’s highest corporate tax rate.

When you add up all those multiple tax rate increases on top of Obama’s exploding regulatory costs, the result will be to push the economy back into recession next year, with unemployment soaring back over double digits, and the deficit soaring to new all time records over $2 trillion, the highest in world history. It is working people who will be hurt the most, because they are the ones who will lose the jobs they need for their basic standard of living. Even those with jobs will suffer further declining real wages and incomes because of the shredded demand for labor.

There is no economic theory under which increasing tax rates promotes economic growth and recovery, particularly rate increases on job creators and investors. Even under Keynesian economics, such tax increases are contractionary. Indeed, even Karl Marx would tell you that such tax rate increases would bring a market economy down, not up.

Obama falsely claims he is only restoring the Clinton era tax rates. But Obama is well beyond that now, because he is imposing the Obamacare tax increases next year as well, and he has been proposing still further tax increases. The top marginal income tax rates that drive the economy would consequently soar by well over 30%, probably close to 40% or more.

Obama says we tried the Bush tax cuts for “the rich” and they didn’t work. So let’s review how exactly they did work out. Bush cut the top income tax rate by 11.6%, from 39.6% to 35%, and the second highest rate by about 8%, from 36% to 33%. But he cut the lower rates by higher percentages, including slashing the bottom rate by 33%, from 15% to 10%. Then in 2003, he cut the tax rates on capital, reducing the capital gains tax rate by 25% from 20% to 15%, and the tax rate on corporate dividends to 15% as well.

These tax rate cuts first quickly ended the 2001 recession, despite the contractionary economic impacts of 9/11, and the economy continued to grow for another 73 months. After the rate cuts were all fully implemented in 2003, the economy created 7.8 million new jobs over the next 4 years and the unemployment rate fell from over 6% to 4.4%. Real economic growth over the next 3 years doubled from the average for the prior 3 years, to 3.5%.

In response to the rate cuts, business investment spending, which had declined for 9 straight quarters, reversed and increased 6.7% per quarter. That is where the jobs came from. Manufacturing output soared to its highest level in 20 years. The stock market revived, creating almost $7 trillion in new shareholder wealth. From 2003 to 2007, the S&P 500 almost doubled. Capital gains tax revenues had doubledby 2005, despite the 25% rate cut!

Consequently, the Bush tax cuts helped to extend the Reagan boom for 25 years, until 2008. By then, the government had induced the financial crisis, through regulations looting the banks for subprime mortgages demanded in the name of affordable housing for the poor and minorities, and through the Fed’s cheap dollar monetary policies, which began the restoration of perverse Keynesian economics.

Punishment for the results is now long overdue for the advocates of those policies.

Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy for the Heartland Institute and General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under the first President Bush. He is the author of America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb (HarperCollins).

With reference to next to last paragraph on previous article “until 2008” read following:

Subject: The Real Story

This tells the real story why Bush was so mad at the end of his term.

Don’t just skim this over, read it slowly and let it sink in. If in doubt, check it out!!!!.

The day the Democrats took over was not January 22nd 2009; it was actually January 3rd 2007, the day the Democrats took over the House of Representatives and the Senate, at the very start of the 110th Congress.

The Democrat Party controlled a majority in both chambers for the first time since the end of the 103rd Congress in 1995.

For those who are listening to the liberals propagating the fallacy that everything is “Bush’s Fault”, think about this:

January 3rd, 2007 was the day the Democrats took over the Senate and the Congress. At the time:

The DOW Jones closed at 12,621.77

The GDP for the previous quarter was 3.5%

The Unemployment rate was 4.6%

George Bush’s Economic policies SET A RECORD of 52 STRAIGHT MONTHS of JOB GROWTH

Remember the day…January 3rd, 2007 was the day that Barney Frank took over the House Financial Services Committee and Chris Dodd took over the Senate Banking Committee!

The economic meltdown that happened 15 months later was in what part of the economy?

BANKING AND FINANCIAL SERVICES!

Unemployment… to this CRISIS by (among MANY other things) dumping 5-6 TRILLION Dollars of toxic loans on the economy from YOUR Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac FIASCOES!

Bush asked Congress 17 TIMES to stop Fannie & Freddie – starting in 2001 because it was financially risky for the US economy.

And who took the THIRD highest pay-off from Fannie Mae AND Freddie Mac? OBAMA!

And who fought against reform of Fannie and Freddie???? OBAMA and the Democrat Congress!

So when someone tries to blame Bush…

REMEMBER JANUARY 3rd, 2007…. THE DAY THE DEMOCRATS TOOK OVER!

Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 was the Democrat Party.

Furthermore, the Democrats controlled the budget process for 2008 & 2009 as well as 2010 & 2011.

In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases.

For 2009 though, Nancy Pelosi & Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 budgets.

And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete 2009!

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets.

If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is “I inherited a deficit that I voted for and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20th”.

There is no way this will be widely publicized, unless each of us sends it on!
It’s obvious the current administration is willing to lie, cheat and steal to get another four years to destroy the USA…
If WE don’t wake up, I’m truly afraid for our country and what will be dumped on our children and grandchildren in addition to a massive debt!!!

Weird History…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
This is the picture that started it all…

This was the first picture ever posted on the Interwebz…

And it figures, it was from a “government” installation! LOL

HERE is the rest of the true story!  And it went downhill from there…

Sigh…

A new ‘toy’ to play with…

Posted on by March 6, 2013
A few months ago, somebody found a website that allowed you to ‘color’ a US map with all the states and how often you’d interacted with them.

In comments somebody wondered if there was one for the ‘world’…

Guess what???  Yep, got one in an email from the mil-email list! 



visited 59 states (26.2%)
 

You can go HERE and build your own map…

Sigh… I’ve been doing this crap WAY too long…  And I’ve only hit 26% of the world…


No wonder my butt is flat, when I think about how many miles/hours I’ve spent on airplanes in the last 40+ years…

Feel free to play along if you so desire!