Sunday, June 26, 2011

Lengthy Lapses in Liberal Logic

By William L. Garvin

It is hard to determine if all the holes in what passes as liberal logic are because of selective amnesia, two-faced hypocrisy, or bald-faced lying. Evidence seems to support the latter. Lately, libs are spouting that Republicans are deliberately sabotaging the economy for political reasons. This flies in the face of the ubiquitous democrat propaganda piece that the GOP is controlled by Big Business, specifically Big Oil. It also conveniently ignores the 60-70 “fat cat” Big Business donors that spent $38,000 apiece to have dinner with the Prez. It ignores all the contributions that Goldman Sachs made to Dems and more to President Obama than any other individual. Many other Big Businesses have been equally supportive of this President…can I have an amen, General Electric and other Wall Street progressives?

If anything has sabotaged the economy, it is the 2,000 pages of ObamaCare and another 2,000 pages of Dodd-Frank financial reform (sic) that will result in tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of pages of implementing regulations. Until the private sector finds out how badly they will be damaged by bureaucratic fiat and the President’s promise to raise taxes, they are going to hunker down and keep their powder dry. For example, coal-fired plants produce about fifty percent of America’s electricity. It is estimated that electricity costs will increase about 60% as new regulations force old plants to close and make it prohibitively expensive to open new plants. Cap and trade may not have passed but the cap and destroy bureaucracy is already in place.

When libs complain about “corporate welfare” and outsourcing, they conveniently ignore the fact that the heavily subsidized Government Motors now has four plants in Mexico and has invested over $5 billion in the last five years to employ Mexican workers and expand Mexican manufacturing capacity. At the same time, this union label Administration is doing everything it can to stifle the opening of Boeing’s new billion dollar plant in South Carolina that would employ two thousand American workers! There’s your illogical liberal logic at work.

Liberals also forget about the corporate welfare that is doled out to agribusiness, ethanol, solar and wind industries? What about the continual subsidizing of losing enterprises such as Amtrak and the Postal Service? Let’s not forget Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the real causes of the financial meltdown. The President says they will cost taxpayers another $130 billion but in reality, the tab will be closer to $317 billion! USA Today says the unfunded liability for the federal government is $61.6 trillion…where is the Democrat plan to deal with the shortages in Social Security, Medicare, and their government pensions? They have no plan and they don’t intend to produce one. Even though it’s irresponsible, it’s much easier to lie and distort the Republican positions. Practice has made perfect! It’s easier to ignore the International Monetary Fund’s warning that the U.S. is “flirting with disaster” even though their high-risk tactics may result in economic disaster! We’re one step behind Greece under this Administration with one major difference: no one is big enough to bail America out! The President should have been rolling up his sleeves and getting to work but apparently he has a hard time fitting leadership into his golf and fund raising schedule!

Speaking of fund raising, the Associated Press notes that President Obama has raised patronage to a new level. They reported that 80 percent of the “bundlers” who raised $500,000 or more for the Obama election ended up in “key administrative posts.” Take Donald Gips for example. After his successful fund raising, he took charge of hiring in the Obama White House. Subsequently, he was named Ambassador to South Africa. That part is marginally okay but then Level 3 Communications, Mr. Gips’ company, received $13.8 million in stimulus money from the taxpayer pocket. That definitely fails the smell test! Yes, Candidate Obama promised to eliminate special interest influence in the White House but he also promised to reduce the deficit by one-half in his first term. Say one thing and do the opposite…that’s liberal logic and it’s the only plan they have.

Monday, June 20, 2011

Sarah Palin and the Piranha Press

By William L. Garvin

Back in 1986, the media took a massive clown pratfall. After much ballyhoo and hype, Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone’s safe and found…NOTHING! Recently, the main stream media exacerbated this ineptitude. The New York Times and the Washington Post managed to get the state of Alaska to release 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin’s emails. Yes, this is the same Sarah Palin that these “august” press icons had declared to be “irrelevant” and whose “political career was finished.” So exactly why was there a school of thirty-strong press piranha in Alaska and what did they find? Given that volume of information, with their flesh-eating press corps, with their enlisted army of “citizen readers”, surely the piranha feeding frenzy would find a smoking gun, a sinister cover-up, a shadow government, evidence of malfeasance and hopefully, criminal wrongdoing. In fact they found…NOTHING!

That is to say, they found nothing of substance to support their preconceived biases and further their vindictive assassination of all things Palin. What they did find was evidence of a very hands-on and knowledgeable Governor in Alaskan oil and gas policy and its relationship to United States energy independence. They found someone who was very interested in conservation and fish and game issues. They also found a hard working Governor who not only pursued ethics reform but took on a wide range of corruption in Alaskan politics including some in her own party. She was a tireless advocate for smaller, more efficient government and for second amendment rights despite a plethora of death threats against her. Of course this does not fit the destructive yarn they choose to fabricate so the piranhas were called home and the story was killed.

If Sarah Palin is truly irrelevant as the supposed intelligentsia and ruling class claim, why are they still suffering from Palin Derangement Syndrome and why are they addicted to “every move she makes and every breath she takes”? Wasn’t it rather unseemly for the piranha press to act like predatory paparazzi as they followed her every step on her family’s bus tour along the east coast historical sites? Apparently they are incurably addicted and are nothing more than malevolent Palin-hating junkies of the worst order.

If she was a candidate for public office that would be one thing but it is hard to imagine that there is anything more to be learned about this totally transparent life given the last three years of microscopic analysis. Of course there is always the truth but don’t expect to find that in the main stream media.

Is it a question of priorities? The press could have covered the latest developments from the Strategic Arms Treaty that shows Russia has only 521 strategic launchers but START allows them 700; they have 1,537 warheads but START allows them 1,550. They have stated their intentions to build up to the limits while the United States must reduce its launchers by 25%. Who negotiated that bonehead deal? The press is either cowardly or complicit.

Since the President says the “rich” should pay more taxes and since the Vice-President says it is “patriotic” to pay taxes, why did they both claim all available charitable deductions? These two rich guys could have foregone those deductions and voluntarily showed their patriotism. The press could have pointed this out but they are either cowardly or complicit.

When the President said “Shovel ready was not as…uh…shovel ready as we expected” there was virtually no press follow up. The President and his Council of Economic Advisors (most who fled back to academia) failed in their problem analysis, failed in their data collection, and failed in selecting an effective economic solution. Since the Great Depression, recessions have lasted an average of ten months with the longest being sixteen months. As of May, thanks to the disastrous economic policies of this President and his egghead advisors, this recession is at 41 months and counting. One thing is certain: this is the WORST RECOVERY since the Great Depression! The media doesn’t cover this because they are either cowardly or complicit.

Wait…breaking news…Sarah Palin misspelled a word on Twitter. Let’s get our ace reporters right on it!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Donkeys Fiddle While Medicare Burns!

By William L. Garvin

By all estimates, the Medicare trust fund will be exhausted within ten years. Given the huge numbers of retiring Baby Boomers, it is likely that the end will come sooner than estimated. Despite the political risk, Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) submitted a budget proposal that addressed this problem. What did we get from the Donkey Party? A commercial!

Rather than addressing the impending demise of Medicare, the Donkeys brayed their usual ad hominem attack, misstated the Ryan proposals, and made a commercial. In it, they had a Ryan look-alike pushing a struggling grandma in a wheelchair up a mountain where he predictably threw her over the cliff. That’s what passes for intelligent political discourse in the corrals of the Donkey Party.

I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that the Dems don’t have any substantive solutions to the Medicare dilemma. After nearly 800 days, they still haven’t submitted a budget proposal and Harry Reid does not seem inclined to do so. The President’s feeble offering was rejected by a 97-0 vote; he couldn’t even get a single Donkey vote! Also keep in mind that ObamaCare was funded by the Obama-Reid-Pelosi combine by cutting Medicare by $500 billion in “waste and fraud.” Why didn’t we see commercials of Pelosi and Reid throwing Grandma off the cliff? Maybe it’s because it boggles the imagination to even consider the diminutive Nevada waif pushing an empty wheel chair up a hill, let alone one containing a struggling senior citizen.

Another of their ad hominem attacks is to mock the “death panel” phrase that was popularized by Sarah Palin. When will you Donkeys explain exactly how the Independent Payment Advisory Board is a) constitutional and b) not a potential death panel? You passed it so explain it. This atrocity of ObamaCare is specifically chartered to contain costs by promoting “efficiencies.” Given the presidential appointees’ predilection for “comparative lives systems” (rationing) and their charter to determine which procedures will be authorized, how much physicians will be compensated, and whether or not hospitals can continue to participate by having “reduced spending,” expect the current exodus of physicians from Medicare and Medicaid to become a flood of Biblical proportions!

Donkeys will attack the Ryan budget proposal. They will not offer one of their own. Donkeys will attack the Ryan Medicare proposal. They will not offer one of their own. Donkeys will say they have “saved or created” 2.5 million jobs; the Bureau of Labor Statistics says this Administration has lost 2.5 million jobs. Donkeys will tout the economic recovery when there is no such thing. Donkeys will ignore the fact that nearly 15% of the country is on food stamps. Donkeys will ignore the fact that there is over 9% unemployment. Donkeys will lie about the success of Government Motors and the pathetic Volt.

Don’t expect any substantive problem solving from the Donkey Party because they think this is a winning strategy. Their template was made clear in the New York 26 race. Republican Chris Lee resigned after posting a shirtless photo and sexy message on Craigslist (take a lesson Anthony Weiner!). Then the deep pockets Democrat Kathy Hochul mercilessly misrepresented the Ryan plan and lied about Republicans ending Medicare with no replacement. Furthermore, Jack Davis (who had run for the office three times as a Democrat!) spent $3 million of his “own” money to pretend to run as a Tea Party candidate. It is clear that the Ruling Class has no sense of decency or fair play in their ruthless quest to retain power at any cost. Davis, a big government, big spending liberal, pulled enough votes away from the Republican candidate to toss the election to the Donkey. Now they have a national game plan. If they have enough voters who are too ignorant to look at the facts or the history of the candidates, they can elect even a radical politician who intends to fundamentally transform America and who thinks government has all the answers. It happened in 2008 and it can happen again.