Month: January 2012

I saw my first Chevy Volt commercial on TV today.  I don’t remember much about it because it was gone before I realized what I had seen.  That may be the fate of the car itself.

Back in March I wrote about the Volt (The Miracle Car Nobody Wants) and again in September (Timing Is Everything). Then General Motors was planning to build 15,000 in 2011. That number was since revised to 10,000 but the sales figures for the year missed that target too. By the end of November only 6,142 Volts had sold.

But apparently it’s worse than even that, since quite a few of that number have been sales to Federal and local government agencies or fleet sales to companies like General Electric, which is making the charging stations for the Volt and whose CEO is an Obama adviser.

So basically, we the taxpayers, have paid for the Volt twice: first in the bailout of GM and then through purchases made by the government and it’s crony capitalists to prop up sales.

It is becoming apparent that, in spite of cheerleading by the Obama administration and non-stop emoting about the Environment from Hollywood, Americans are not as enthusiastic about “Green” energy as we might have thought. The serial bankruptcies of “Green” companies the Obama administration has loaned money to can hardly be misinterpreted: there is very little marketplace demand for these products (see “It’s ALL Solar Power“).

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When the Obama Administration refused to approve the Keystone XL Pipeline this week, it was a betrayal with many more victims than beneficiaries. That makes it all the more curious during an election year.

The most obvious group who was betrayed is the American people, who are today paying double for each gallon of gasoline what they paid when Obama took office.  With Iran rattling sabers in the Persian Gulf, there’s a better-than-even chance those prices will go up. Keystone could have neutralized the impact of the threats of the Terrorist in Tehran. Energy independence would seem to be a no-brainer.

And what a feather Obama might have had in his cap with all the unemployed people who could have gone to work on the construction during this time when unemployment is higher than it has historically been for an incumbent president to be re-elected.

Another relatively obvious betrayal is of the unions that were counting on the 20,000 jobs that would result immediately and the nearly 200,000 jobs that the Heritage Foundation says will result by 2035. Obama’s commitment to radical environmentalism is greater even than his loyalty to the unions.

But there are others.  In making his decision, Obama pointed to the State Department, which has been evaluating the environmental impact of the recommended route, and said there wasn’t time (after three years) to adequately evaluate the situation, although State seemed to be leaning toward approval with some changes in the route. So, once again, Obama has thrown Hillary Clinton under the bus.

And then there are all the Democrat House members and senators from the affected states that are up for election in November. Oops.

But there are also several contractors who geared up and ordered millions (billions?) of dollars of equipment and materials to prepare for the work after it appeared the State Department would recommend approval. Manufacturers went into debt to make the equipment and materials and construction contractors hired people in expectation of the work to be done. But he doesn’t care about them. They’re just greedy capitalists and Big Oil people.

And of course he blamed House Republicans, but they’re used to that.

The only people Obama didn’t betray are the radical environmentalists, of which there must be, what, 10? Most curious in an election year.

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The Obama Administration was embarrassed recently by the revelation that, back in 2009, during the height of the recession, there was a star-studded White House Halloween party decorated by none other than eccentric Hollywood director Tim Burton and featuring his favorite leading man, Johnny Depp in full costume as his character in the mind-bending blockbuster “Alice in Wonderland”.

The administration had successfully kept news, photos and video out of the press about the lavish soiree until the release of a book detailing the party and other White House gossip.

Actually, “Wonderland” is a pretty good metaphor for the Administration.  Think of all the idealistic but imaginary projects it has undertaken.

There was the stimulus that added nearly a trillion dollars to the deficit without slowing the slide into recession.  There was Obama’s belief that Ahmadinejad just wanted someone to talk to and he would stop building the bomb.  Then there was “Cash for Clunkers”, which offered money for older cars, but then took most of it in taxes, because it was regular income.

And how can we forget “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (Obamacare), which we were told would lower health care costs, but already has led to increases in insurance premiums, even while older doctors are opting to retire early to escape the coming healthcare cataclysm, leading to a shortage of healthcare professionals.  And shortages always mean increased costs.

And what was up with “Fast And Furious”?! Giving guns to Mexican drug runners and then NOT tracking them? That’s REALLY grounded in reality!

More recently we have seen that there are no less than a dozen “green” companies that the administration made high-dollar loans to which now are falling to bankruptcy like so many dominoes. Idealistic ideology is no match for the realities of demand (or lack of it) in manufacturing. (see “Barak Obama The Venture Capitalist”)

Oh, and there was the campaign speech during which Obama said if he was elected, the seas would recede. Whoa!

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said: “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” (Through The Looking Glass, Chapter 5).

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I was reminded recently of the words of the evil emperor to Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi”.

It only took me four years to understand. When we were told that Barak Obama was qualified to be President because he had been a “Community Organizer”, I think I was not alone when I said, “Community Orga – – what?”  It was a term most of us had never heard of.  However, now I understand.

Thanks to “Occupy Wall Street” and its many imitators across the country, we have seen what a C0mmunity Organizer does.  Despite desperate claims by left-leaning politicians and the press, the “Occupy” movement is obviously “organized” and not a spontaneous, grass-roots movement.  Proof of that has been abundant in the interviews of random “Occupiers” conducted by members of the press.  There has been a remarkable lack of unanimity of stated purpose.

In fact, for several weeks it was impossible to determine from the statements of the “Occupiers” themselves what exactly they were protesting. One example was found by John Stossel, late of ABC, now working for Fox Business.  “Since the recession started” quoth the Einstein in the pup tent, “the banks are not regulated AT ALL.”

A-HEM.  Could ignorance be more complete?  Has he never heard of Dodd-Frank, just the most recent stricture placed on the Banking industry by Congress?  Has he never heard of  the Federal Reserve, the Senate Banking Committee, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, the House Committee on Financial Services, the House Financial Crisis Inquiry Committee, the House Standing Committee on Banking and Insurance, and similar committees in the legislatures of each of the 50 states?

Perhaps he hasn’t heard of the Commerce Department, the FEC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board. the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, and of course, the IRS.

Sorry but I was worn out by the time I got to the “I’s”.  I feel sure there are more government agencies that regulate banking in the rest of the alphabet.

But to the anonymous “Occupier”, the banks are presently not regulated “at all.”

Poor ignorant dupe. Actually I’m not talking about him.  I’m talking about me, but even more, about all the people who voted for Barak Obama because of his vast experience as a “Community Organizer”.

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A Twitter record was set for the most Tweets per second (for a sports event), 9420 PER SECOND(!) after QB Tim Tebow’s 80-yard pass won Denver’s playoff game with the Steelers last week.

Part of the reason was that his yards-passing was 316, also a record, and 31.6 yards per pass.  An interesting coincidence made amazing by the fact that Tebow, whose public praying and references to his “Lord Jesus Christ”, painted “John 3:16” in the blacking under his eyes in a playoff game in 2009.  After the coincidence of the stats of the game, Google lit up with searches for John 3:16.

Since, as my pastor pointed out in his sermon this morning, apparently a lot of people don’t know what John 3:16 says, I wanted to share my interpretation of it.  Here’s what it says in my own paraphrase, plus my own commentary and context in parentheses:

“God loved the whole world (and everybody in it) so much that He gave (the life of) His only Son, in order that, anybody who believes in Him will not die (which is the natural result of sin), but (instead) live forever (in a wonderful place God has prepared).”

And the next verse, John 3:17, is every bit as good: “God didn’t send his Son into the world to condemn it, but because He wanted everyone to have eternal life.”

Tebow’s outspokenness about his faith has raised the hackles of some, but it shows that he recognizes there are things that are more important than a football game or all the fame he is experiencing right now.

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Besides questions about whether President Obama was born in the US and whether he is in reality a Muslim, Obama has been called a Socialist, a Communist and even a Fascist.  The Left hoots with derision when any of these accusations is made, as if merely making the accusation certifies the accuser as having intelligence below that of a mollusk.

However, the reason these rumors persist is because Obama keeps doing things that make people doubt his Americanism, his Christianity and his devotion to economic freedom.

The reaction to cries of “Socialist” or “Communist” ranges from derision to contempt. I can’t help but think of the Left’s attitude toward “McCarthyism”, referring to the “Anti-American Activities” investigations of the 1950s.  What is forgotten is that those investigations actually did find Communists and their sympathizers in the government and Hollywood.

The Left’s reaction to charges of Communism are very much like their reaction to belief in a literal Devil.  But as someone famously said, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist”.  Communists do exist.  So do Socialists and Fascists (Nazis) and they have ideology that can be defined and identified.

The Left often calls conservatives Nazis, but they usually don’t have a clear definition of what a Nazi is and they aren’t using the term to refer to Fascist economic or political policy.  They just use it as an epithet: “Your mother wears combat boots and you’re Hitler.”

Conversely, I believe when conservatives say that Obama or members of his administration are Socialists, Communists or Fascists, they ARE referring to policies or statements of those people. In fact, it’s pretty easy to find admissions by people like Van Jones, who for a while was the “Green Jobs Czar”, that they are, in fact Communists. If you call someone a Communist after they say they are one, no one can call you crazy.

The dictionary definitions of Communism and Fascism show that they are both subsets of Socialism, the main difference between them being that Communists believe the government should OWN the means of production in an economy and Fascists believe the government should CONTROL the means of production.  Looking at the policies of the Obama Administration, it’s easy to find examples of both philosophies.

Speaking of “Green Jobs”, one glaring example is the Department of Energy’s “investments” which are turning out to be expensive boondoggles.  Surprisingly, some of the best investigative reporting on this has come from CBS News( ! ). CBS reports that the are no fewer than a dozen companies that the Dept. of Energy loaned taxpayer money to that are bankrupt or headed that direction (video).

This activity in providing funding to companies makes the Federal government look like a venture capitalist.  But, asked the CBS reporter, is that a proper role for government?(answer: No! Duh!). Manipulation of the “free” market to this extent can only be called “Fascist”.

Another example is Obama’s involvement with General Motors and Chrysler, to the point of transferring ownership to the Feds and unions, leaving bondholders out in the cold, ousting GM’s CEO and requiring them to close dealerships. In the case of the government owning part of General Motors, that is, by definition “Communist”.

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Here I am, autographing the very first copy of my very first book.

Read more about “Backlash” here: www.backlashbook.com.

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Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary handily as expected, but not before giving the Democrats, as well as his Republican rivals a gift: “I enjoy firing people,” he said in a speech just before the voting started.

An unfortunate choice of words, when what he was saying in context was, “I like being able to change health care providers if my current one isn’t giving me good service; something we won’t be able to do under Obamacare.”

Naturally the Democrats had a TV ad produced in about five minutes, with just “I enjoy firing people” as its sound bite and Romney depicted as a greedy capitalist who salivates over spreading misery.  Romney’s disingenuous Republican primary rivals piled on as well.

But after I thought about it, maybe a president who enjoys firing people is exactly what we need.  After all, the national debt is now north of $15 trillion, which is equal to our Gross Domestic Product.  That means we owe as much as we produce annually.  That can only point to disaster, threatening our national security and even our existence as a nation.

So, what needs to be done? Well, a great deal actually, but a start would be to take a look at the Federal government and see what expenses could be cut.  As a businessman like Romney knows, payroll is always your largest expense in a business.  Now that may not be true for the Federal government, since it simply gives money away by the boatload and no private business can do that and survive, but certainly staffing levels are something that should be examined.

For instance, I believe it was Newt Gingrich and the Republican Revolution of 1994 that asked why we need a Department of Education in the Federal Government.  Makes sense, since the Federal Government doesn’t actually run any schools.  Eliminating the department would cut about $100 billion from the annual budget.  Not much, you say.  Yes, but $100 billion here, $100 billion there and pretty soon you’re talking about real money (with apologies to Everett Dirksen).

Next, there needs to be a house-cleaning at the EPA. Maybe we shouldn’t eliminate the department, but the outrages that emanate from it make it high on my list of targets for reorganization.  The latest insanity is hitting oil companies with fines for not using a bio-fuel that doesn’t exist! See this link for details.

I could go on (and on) but you get the idea.

Barak Obama claimed to be concerned about waste, fraud and abuse in the Health Care/Insurance industries as a basis for instituting Nationalized Health Care, but there is no greater locus of waste, fraud and abuse than the Federal Government and its bloated bureaucracy, plus the lobbyists, crony-capitalists, overpriced contractors and boondock boondoggles that cling to it like parasites.

So maybe the best thing in the world would be someone who knows how to turn a situation around, and can start by doing the painful work of cutting where cuts are needed.

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My pastor recently returned from a trip to Israel, where he and a group of pastors toured the usual holy sites: Golgotha, the Garden Tomb, the Sea of Galilee, etc.

Also part of the trip was information about the current situation there in Israel, with the shifting political situation in many of the surrounding countries with doubts about whether the “Arab Spring” will, in the end, be positive for Israel.

It’s actually not looking good.

I forget what Jewish philosopher/comedian said it, but it’s easy to understand why some in that beleaguered country might wish, if they are God’s Chosen People, “Please God, choose someone else!”

My pastor told of meeting more than one Palestinian who told him frankly that he much preferred the Israelis to Hamas, which rules Gaza.

He also told of seeing video, edited by an American News organization to make it appear that the Israeli army had shot an unarmed Palestinian civilian, but then seeing the raw footage showing the Israeli’s taking an AK-47 from the man that he had been firing at the Israeli’s before they shot him.

That’s why we call them the “Lame-stream Media”.

It’s been my experience that, every time I have had first hand knowledge of any news story, the media has gotten it, not just wrong, but usually 180-degrees out of phase.  The adage is true when it comes to the American media: Don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see.

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