Goodbye Barry - Welcome Home AMERICA!

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Is Barack Obama the USA's Robert Mugabe?

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the name Robert Mugabe, he has been the leader of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) for almost three decades. Although his early history shows him as a "freedom fighter" for the rights of native black Africans, and a relatively 'good shepherd' of his flock, his most recent actions show him to be an incapable administrator, dictatorial in his governance and oblivious to international concerns over the direction in which he has taken Zimbabwe.

After the recent fraudulent Zimbabwean Presidential election - in which Mugabe was defeated - he simply refused to vacate the office of President or surrender control of the government. He demanded a unity government, and got it. He creates Zimbabwean "law" on the fly, and ignores international law and the needs of his people.

By now you may be wondering, "What does this have to do with any behavioral relationship to Barack Obama?"

1. At the time of Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, slightly over 45% of Zimbabwe's arable land was owned by approximately 6,000 (primarily white) farmers. Zimbabwe was productive and considered to be the "breadbasket of southern Africa". Zimbabwe was a major exporter of agricultural products. Life was good, and it remained so for the better part of 20 years.

2. In April of 2000 the Zimbabwean constitution was amended in such a fashion as to allow the government to confiscate white-owned land for redistribution to black "farmers" without compensation. Almost immediately, self-styled "war veterans" began invading white-owned farms. Those owners who did not leave voluntarily were often tortured and sometimes killed. One was forced to drink diesel fuel as a form of torture.

3. This redistribution of wealth resulted in the collapse of Zimbabwe's agricultural industry, and the destruction of their economy. Zimbabwe now depends on food programs and support from outside to feed its population. A third of the population depends on food supplies from the World Food Program to avoid starvation.

4. The daily inflation rate in Zimbabwe is slightly more than 98%, which equates to an annual inflation rate of 516 quintillion per cent. Based on my comments in my most recent previous posting I understand how difficult that number is to really understand. It is the number 516 followed by 18 zeros. This figure is totally unfathomable as a concept of quantity or anything else! It is, most probably, the highest inflation rate any sovereign country in the world has ever experienced.

5. Mugabe said the unity government will continue to push for a majority stake of "at least 51%" in companies operating in Zimbabwe, to be controlled by dubiously qualified indigenous black Africans ... including banks. (Nationalization of private businesses by government. How is this different than our Democratically-controlled government becoming invested in the banking, housing, and the automotive industries?) Mugabe was recently quoted as having said:

"In the areas of mining, agriculture and manufacturing, a methodological and systematic identification of areas in which the state and indigenous entrepreneurs can participate, is being carried out, in line with the Indigenous and Empowerment Act."

The nationalization law, which Mugabe signed a few days before last March's general election, seeks to transfer majority control of foreign firms, including mines and banks, to indigenous blacks.

In the long term, no good has come to Zimbabwe as a nation - or the average Zimbabwean - as a result of Robert Mugabe's reign. If you observe Zimbabwe, you will get a preview of what's in store for the USA if our current government does not change its course. (My guess is that Mugabe, as with most dictators, suffers from a serious mental illness ... similar to a Messianic Complex.)

There is the remote possibility that I could be wrong about this ... but I'm NOT!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Yo Ho Ho And A Bottle of Rum!

Arrrr, Maties! 'Tis the crewe of Cap'n Obama, sailing up the Potomac into D.C., and plundering the coffers of the United States of America ... and they're taking no prisoners. Instead they are putting the financial future of this country into jeopardy for the next one hundred years!

Most people, myself included, have no concept of the word "trillion" or what it represents numerically. Certainly most of us understand hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands, but the numeric concept becomes a bit blurry around the million mark, and from there on it's all downhill. Thanks to Alexander E. Braun, I have a few examples of what a trillion actually represents in terms that you may be able to get your head around:

A trillion seconds add up to 31,710 years. If you started your count while Egypt’s Great Pyramid was being built, you’d have over 26,000 years to go.

If you wanted your trillion dollars in $100 bills, you’d have to carry off 10,000,000,000 bills. This roughly adds up to 9,370 tons of paper—the U-Haul folks will love you!

Stacked one on top of the other a column of those $100 bills would reach 631 miles up, endangering low-orbit traffic, such as Shuttle flights, the International Space Station, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

A car going at 65 miles per hour would take 1,756,235 years to travel a trillion miles.

And those figures are just for ONE trillion. Do you have some idea now? The debt that the Obama administration is creating for our country via the $789,000,000,000 "stimulus package"
, including pork earmarks and interest, (which has also been referred to as the Generational Theft Act of 2009) will cost American taxpayers $3.27 trillion over the next 10 years. (That stack of $100 bills is now 1,893 miles high. Or, if you got your $3.27 trillion in $1.00 bills, you could construct a wall of bills [laid on their edges] 13.08 feet high extending from New York City to San Francisco.) Now, keep in mind that the only money the government has is that which they collect from the citizens in the form of taxes and fees for services. Even the left wingers that elected Obama are beginning to have second thoughts, although most won't admit it, because to do so means recognizing that they were stupid enough to be taken in by Obama's mezmerizing, but empty, oration. The Democratic Spend-A-Thon will surely cripple the country for several generations to come.

I wonder what the shortest time record is for the impeachment of a United States President ... and will we set a new record? Oh, no ... I forgot ... impeachment proceedings against a sitting President must be initiated by the Congress, the body of which is overflowing with socialist liberal lefties itself. No impeachment on the horizon! Somebody wake me when the revolution begins ...

A trillion here, a trillion there ... before long we're talking about serious money!

I suppose there's an outside chance that I could be wrong about all this ... but I'm NOT!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

States Rights? What A Ridiculous Idea!

The headline at HumanEvents.com reads: "Eleven States Declare Sovereignty Over Obama's Actions" and the following is an excerpt from that site ...

"In the first five weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama has acted so rashly that at least 11 states have decided that his brand of “hope” equates to an intolerable expansion of the federal government’s authority over the states. These states -- "Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California...Georgia," South Carolina, and Texas -- "have all introduced bills and resolutions" reminding Obama that the 10th Amendment protects the rights of the states, which are the rights of the people, by limting the power of the federal government. These resolutions call on Obama to “cease and desist” from his reckless government expansion and also indicate that federal laws and regulations implemented in violation of the 10th Amendment can be nullified by the states."

It was unsurprising that our left-wing Socialist Government would move quickly to minimize states rights. Equally unsurprising are the various left-wing efforts around the country to make gun ownership extremely difficult and/or extremely expensive, inasmuch as they understand the immediate citizens response to making ownership of firearms illegal. Labyrinthine laws, Draconian in their intent and confusing by design, have sprung up in many places. One state legislator has proposed a law requiring that all gun owners must provide proof of a $1,000,000 liability insurance policy specifically for their firearms. This is good news for the insurance companies, but not so good for the honest working-class citizen. Illinois Representative Bobby Rush has submitted HR45: Blair Holt's Firearms Licensing and Record of Sales Act of 2009, as a proposed law in an attempt to intimidate gun owners by tracking them like ex-convicts, and burying them in an avalanche of administrative requirements. THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A STATES RIGHTS ISSUE! And apparently, it's one of the many Constitutional protections the left-wing wishes to eliminate. Registration is the first step toward confiscation.

Here's an excerpt from a little known passage in our Declaration of Independence - "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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security." The reference, of course, is to the tyrannical rule of King George III over the "subjects" of the British Colonies now known as the United States of America.

Given our present course, I see the USA being replaced by the SSA (Socialist States of America), because of our complacency. According to the published election results, a slight majority of our countrymen - both living and dead - chose to elect a known left wing Socialist as our President. Barack Obama is a man, who through deed and word, has demonstrated his disdain for our country, its customs, and our cultural heritage. He failed to show respect to our flag - a flag for which tens of thousands of freedom-loving Americans have sacrificed their lives. And in his book, "The Audacity of Hope" there's this statement:

“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”

I'm sorry, but how ignorant does one have to be to NOT understand that Obama does not now, nor has he ever, had the best interests of our country at heart? IF he is an American by virtue of his birth to an American mother - and notice that's a big IF - it is the only connection he has to America. Factual proof of his place of birth has not yet been made public. In fact, those records have been sealed. Why? Another unanswered question surrounds the origins of the financial means by which he attended "Ivy League" universities ... but, again, those records have been sealed. Why?

I could be wrong about all this ... but I'm NOT!

Monday, February 23, 2009

U.S. lawmaker to push repeal of online gambling ban

Barney Frank strikes again! From Reuters Washington D.C. desk ...

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Democratic lawmaker will push legislation this year to repeal a U.S. ban on Internet gambling that has hurt trade ties with the European Union, a congressional aide said. "The bill introduction should happen in the next month," a spokesman for House of Representatives Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said."

Barney Frank (with the able assistance of his faithful sidekick, Chuck Schumer) was the driving force behind the collapse of our banking and mortgage industry, by requiring Fannie May and Freddie Mac to back loans for people who obviously didn't meet the minimum standard to qualify for such loans under established banking principles! Now he wants to insure that a huge amount of American's disposable (and in many cases, not-so-disposable) income be used to support gambling interests overseas? And, to make this acquisition of U.S. dollars even easier for the Europeans, the gamblers won't even have to leave their homes to lose their money! What is wrong with this man's thought processes? Has he lost his mind?

I spent a couple of years working in the gaming industry in Las Vegas, and I have seen what happens to the weak-willed and the undisciplined. These are the folks people generally refer to a "inveterate gamblers", but who casino workers (who are less P.C. than the general public) refer to, and much more accurately, as "gambling degenerates". I saw them lose cars, homes, and families to their addiction ... an addiction they cavalierly refer to as "a fun night out", or "just something to do", or almost anything other than "getting my gambling fix." Until the mid-1900s, people who gambled away more than they could lose were frequenly:

a. coerced into doing business "favors" for the casino management ... IF their line of work proved to be profitable for the casino ownership, or

b. physically abused with fists, brass knuckles, saps, baseball bats, lead pipes, 2x4 lumber, or anything else that may have been handy, or

c. never seen or heard from again.

Items b & c, above, were means of providing examples to others who may be inclined toward slow, incomplete and/or non payment. And the "vigorish" or "vig" for short (interest on money owed) was absolutely outrageous, sometimes doubling the amount lost in a week. These things combined to motivate many people who were otherwise honest and upstanding citizens, but now caught in the machinery of gambling, to commit crimes ranging from prostitution, auto theft and drug dealing, to robbery, embezzlement, and yes, sometimes even maiming and murdering.

But, Las Vegas isn't that place any more ... they say. There is no Mafia there these days - just ask Salvatore, the pit boss from Detroit - or Dominic, the casino manager imported from Chicago - they'll set you straight.

Gambling, for many people, is an addiction. Perhaps it's the socializing at the craps table, the electric atmosphere generated by all those people "having a good time", the lure of the city lights, or just the obscure hope that they can turn their last $10 into $10,000. For those people, gambling is an illness, and they either lack the will-power - or the desire - to cure themselves. They will bet their ability to live indoors, their children's college fund, the money their son was saving for that all-important sex change operation, or any other negotiable item on the next roll of the dice or turn of the cards.

Barney Frank wants to make it almost impossible for them to "kick the habit" ... to escape, what for them is, the grim reaper of gambling, by allowing it into their domiciles. Why should we care if the Europeans are upset by the loss of gambling revenues from Americans? Our laws are supposedly designed to protect those who are incapable of protecting themselves ... even if it's FROM themselves!

Shame on Barney Frank! He's nothing but another punk politician willing to sell out his countrymen for a few words of praise from some foreigners.

I suppose there's a chance I could be wrong about all this ... on second thought ... nah, NO WAY!


Tuesday, February 17, 2009

*OINK* - I Smell PORK!!

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi goes to to visit the Pope on the public dime ... this seems to be an issue of state endorsement of a specific religion. She is an official of our government, flying with her entourage of sycophants, in a government (read: taxpayer) supplied 200 seat aircraft, to have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI.

In an attempt to be perfectly fair about this though, she will meet with representatives of the Italian government during her week long visit to Italy. Pelosi, who arrived in Rome on Sunday after spending the day in the Tuscan capital Florence, was to meet with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and lunch with her Italian counterpart Gianfranco Fini on Monday.

Monday afternoon she was to lead a conference on security before meeting the press. (Excuse me, but what the hell does Nancy Pelosi know about security, other than the fact that our government provides it for her?)

On Tuesday, Pelosi was to meet Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the defence and foreign ministers, Ignazio La Russa and Franco Frattini.

Pelosi plans to spend Thursday in southern Naples (doing what ... shopping??).

Okay ... so here's her iternerary:

Sunday: Pelosi goes shopping and sightseeing in Florence

Monday: Pelosi meets with the head lefty of the left-wing Italian government for lunch, then "leads a conference on security" in the afternoon before she meets with the press. (She's used up maybe 4 hours of Monday for "business".)

Tuesday: Pelosi meets with 3 other lefties, probably simultaneously in the PM's office. But, let's be generous and say she meets with them individually in their own offices. (That takes care of 3 hours or a half workday.)

Wednesday: Audience with "Il Papa". (There goes 45 minutes.)

Which leaves Thursday, Friday and Saturday, which are unaccounted for. With no published official schedule, one can only assume that it will be spent touring and shopping
, at our expense. And, although her airplane has a large bedroom, and a staff to see to her every need, I seriously doubt that she's sleeping in it in these hard economic times. My money says that she stays in a 5-star hotel everywhere she stops.

The Head Porker puts the perennial pork to the people again!

I suppose I could be wrong about this ... but I'm
NOT!


Saturday, February 14, 2009

Unbelievably STUPID!!

Alrighty then ... Obama and his entourage of incompetents (and incompetence, too) continue to put the blame for the current financial condition of the USA on Gee Dubbya, in spite of the fact that the liberal Democrats have controlled Congress since 2006. What's that got to do with it? Y'all take notes now ...

1. Control of Congress means they also controlled the pursestrings of the government.
2. The government insisted that Fannie May, Freddie Mac and other lenders make home loans to people who did not meet the established standards that insured the ability to repay the loans.
3. George Bush started warning people about the foreseeable recession in 2001, specifically asking for better controls on Fanny and Freddie. John McCain made a similar speech on the floor of the Senate in 2003.
4. Liberal Dems Barney Franks and Chuck Schumer denied there were any problems with the GFE's Fanny and Freddie.
5. In 2008, thanks to the Dimocrats resistance to doing the right thing, the financial house of cards began crumbling.

And the fat lady ain't sung yet, folks! I predicted a recession well over a year ago, but I wasn't blogging then, so only family and a few close friends might remember it. We've been in that recession for about a year now, although the government wouldn't admit it (because of a semantic technicality) until just a few months ago.

Obama lacks the courage to admit where and how the problem began, and - as any good politician (isn't that an oxymoron) would - he blames the other party and the previous administration for his partys refusal to cooperate in resolving the problem before it reached gargantuan proportions.

Are there those in the Pork Palace (House and Senate) who still want what's best for the country, as opposed to what's best for them? I doubt that any elected official at the Federal level would be voted out of office, or run out of town on a rail, for doing what was in the best interests of the UNITED STATES, as opposed to what's best for Califlorisotazona.
1. Almost 600,000 jobs were lost in the USA in January 2009.
2. Wall Street has shown how much they believe in Obama-as-Messiah by floundering for the last 2 months.
3. Illegal aliens have actually begun voluntarily returning to Mexico (which is not a bad thing) because the job market is in such bad shape in this country and the cost of living keeps going up on a weekly basis.
4. Socialism has reared its ugly head, and it is revered by those who would rather nurse at the government teat than work for a living and support themselves! Apparently, based on the recent election results, they are in the majority these days.
5. Those who supported Obama will be repaid by getting "tax refund checks" on taxes they never paid! (That is called "welfare", right?) Too many grasshoppers and not enough ants ...

The government is about to stick its nose into our medical records through an act of "benevolence" ... bring socialized medicine to the USA. Yet another failed systematized process, as proven by 95% of the countries that have tried it. It does provide everybody with medical care. Unfortunately - for many in the system - it will not provide any post-mortem benefits, of which they may become in need while waiting their turn for medical care.

Change simply for change sake is ridiculous! What kinds of morons have we permitted to reproduce during the last generation or two, that would vote a socialist leader into office? If we do not, collectively, wake up before it's too late, and demand that our government be responsive to the will of the people, and serve us as they were elected to do, we will never recover from the plague of social, moral, philosophical, and financial ills of the Obama administration.

I could be wrong about this ... but I'm NOT!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Have You Wondered Why ...

Have you wondered why "our" President has had his "public records" placed under lock and key. Records like his birth certificate and his college transcripts? I have to wonder why, if they are indeed legitimate, official and accurate records of his birth and educational achievements, they are not available to the public, the press, or the Federal Judiciary?

The normal assumption, whenever public records have been hidden away from the public, is that there is something extremely embarrassing or extremely detrimental to the well-being of the individual to whom those records belong. The average person cannot have (otherwise public) personal records classified. Supposedly our medical and mental health records (see the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA] to find out just how "confidential" your medical records are ... NOT) are confidential, as are the records of our attorneys, and counseling sessions with clergy ... the key word here being "Supposedly". Arrest and conviction records are even available as public records! So if somebody is hiding otherwise "public" records, perhaps the information contained therein is more damning than an arrest and conviction record. Now I have to wonder what types of information could be more damning or embarrassing than arrest/conviction records? This is a question of such volume that it almost supplants the really big question of: "How could the majority of Americans - both living and dead - have voted a man who has so few concrete qualifications, and so many unanswered questions about his origins and financial backers into the most important office in the country?"

What is Mr. Obabma hiding from the people of this country? What does he fear we would discern from those records should they be made available to us? Why is he appointing tax evaders to cabinet-level positions - especially to head the IRS? Could it be that he knows no honest people to appoint to those positions? After all, he DID come out of the most corrupt political machine in the country. He has close associations with anti-American terrorists - both physical (William Ayers) and psychological (Rev. Wright) - and shady financial dealings with others (Tony Rezko). This is the man the morons of the United States of America elected as President!

Of course, I could be wrong about this ... but I'm NOT!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Latest Headline: US Turned Blind Eye to Somalia Abuses

Whine, whine, whine ... perhaps the eye that was used was the same one the Somali's in the capital city of Mogadishu poked their fingers into on October 3rd, 1993, when they killed 18 American soldiers and wounded 73. American soldiers who were there on a mission of mercy! Deployed to bring food to starving Somalis, they were greeted with hostility and small arms fire.

But simply killing the Americans wasn't enough. These savages felt motivated to dismember and burn the bodies of these dead and dying American samaritans ... after which they dragged the bodies through the streets of Mogadishu in a triumphant display of hatred for the United States. And the U.S. based Human Rights Watch accuses the United States of "turning a blind eye to rampant abuses by the Ethiopian and transitional government forces." Are these people so ignorant as to be incapable of understanding where our lack of interest in Somali internal affairs could come from?

Somalia could disappear from the face of the Earth today, and I wouldn't miss it. If Somalia were to slide into the ocean it would also put an end to the piracy in the high seas off Somalia. Somalia is a wart on the derriere of this planet.

I could be wrong about this ... but I'm not!