A reply to recent misinformed letter writer

Dear Editor,

 

Mark Twain once noted that people who don't read newspapers are ill informed; people who read newspapers are misinformed.  It is hard to believe that Mr. Guzenda could put so much misinformation into such a short space in his LTE.  For openers, he quotes an International Monetary Fund figure as the basis for the Social Security cost of living adjustment.  SSA uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for COLA determinations.

 

He criticizes Reagan's "trickle-down" economics but ignores the fact that income inequality in 2012 under Obama is the worst since 1917.  A UC Berkeley study shows that the top 10% earned twelve times what those in the bottom 10% earned.

 

He blames the Tea Party for the government shutdown but it was Harry Reid who refused to consider the Republican/Tea Party proposal to delay Obamacare for a year.  Of course, the President is now (unconstitutionally) implementing delay after delay by executive order.  Maybe Reid should have listened given the train wreck that was predicted has now come true.

 

And how does he manage to blame the Republicans for the sequester when the idea originated in the White House and was signed into law by the President?  If President had carried out the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles commission (which he appointed), the entire fiasco would have been avoided.  Of course, the record shows he chose to ignore them.

 

Another curious contradiction in Mr. Guzenda's narrative is the job creation myth.  The labor participation rate is now down to 63.2%, which is the lowest it has been since 1978!

 

However, the biggest whopper, excuse me, "factually untrue" statement is that every Republican president has left behind a deficit and every Democrat president has left behind a surplus.  I'll minimize the boring numerical facts by listing the increase in national debt by recent presidential terms.  Reagan's first term was a $656 billion increase and his second term was a $1.036 trillion increase.  George H.W. Bush's only term showed a $1.587 trillion increase.  Bill Clinton's first term showed a $1.122 trillion increase and with a Republican House, only a $418 billion increase in his second term.  George W. Bush oversaw a $1.885 trillion increase in his first term and a $3.014 trillion in his second.  Barack Obama called this "unpatriotic" and a "failure of leadership."  However, in his first term alone, the debt increased $5.806 trillion.  He is the only president to ever have a trillion dollar annual deficit and he managed four in a row!  When he took office, the debt was $10.6 trillion.  Now it is $17.3 trillion with a bullet to twenty!

 

One should be very careful to stand on solid ground before accusing others of spreading misleading claims!

 

Sincerely,

Bill Garvin

For the Love of Christ

By William L. Garvin

 

Many find the opportunity during this Christmas season to do what they wish they had been doing all year.  In the hustle and bustle of our modern world, it’s far too easy to ignore friends and family both far and sometimes near.  Psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote that “Hurry is not of the devil; it is the devil.”  That is why we often sacrifice the important in the interest of the urgent.  Christmas gives us the chance to make amends for our poor priorities and refocus on what is truly important in our lives.

Many will take the time to send a Christmas card to old friends and maybe a gift of appreciation for someone they hold near and dear.  Others will notice that they have not been focusing on their spiritual needs during the year and will visit their church or other place of worship.  Some will take the time to give thanks for what they have instead of complaining about what they don’t have.  Others will make New Year’s resolutions to change their ways but will slip back into their old habits by mid-February.  And maybe, just maybe, some will find new purpose and direction.  Maybe, just maybe, they will know true joy, find renewed hope, and bask in the glow of faith.

Of course, there are those who physically battle for that great bargain at the department store on Black Friday.  There are those who will prey on innocent shoppers at the mall.  There are those who will steal turkeys donated for the homeless and will steal the toys gathered for children of the poor.  And there are those who will ridicule and mock the faith of others during their season of worship.  Jesus Christ said: “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.”  John 15:18.  I would surmise that is why we have the American Atheists.

In their latest display of intolerance, they purchased a billboard in Times Square that poses the electronic question “Who needs Christ during Christmas?”  A hand quickly crosses out “Christ” and the word “NOBODY” appears.  While they have every right to do so, this is clearly another example of their hypocritical lack of sensitivity.  It is a deliberate poke in the eye to Christians everywhere and particularly to those parents and children walking in Times Square.

What I found particularly interesting were the responses of the president and the director of communications for the organization.  The president said his goal was to “improve” Christmas and to free the millions who were “unhappy” and “not having fun” going to church on Christmas.  I’m assuming they think that this billboard will cause their ranks to swell by millions of disaffected Christians who will now flock to their new, “improved” light!  Of course, they need recruits since they number less than three percent of our population.

When challenged as to whether they knew this would be offensive to Christians, they both repeated that they didn’t care if others were offended!  That’s it in a nutshell.  Once again we have a narcissistic, self-centered focus where only their personal sensitivities are of importance.  If there is the slightest indication of a Christian religious reference elsewhere, they will bully through lawsuits, threats of lawsuits, and boycotts.  They recently managed to get a nativity scene removed from an air force base by claiming that 39 Christians in the military had complained to them.  Not one of those supposed victims had lodged a complaint through their chain of command.  Someone should read up on “bearing false witness.”

They should also read up on the truth in advertising laws.  When they say that “NOBODY” needs Christ during Christmas, they’re simply and disastrously wrong.  I, for one, need Jesus Christ not only on Christmas but every day of every year I remain on this earth.  He is my only hope.  He is mankind’s only hope.  You may mock, scoff, and ridicule, but He is your only hope.  You will have to make up your mind because we know how the story ends.  “For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”  John 3:16.  He will knock at the door but you will have to open it.  There is no better time than now, during this glorious celebration of the birth of “the Reason for the Season.”  We’ll be praying for you.

 

The “Inconvenient Truth” Trilogy

By William L. Garvin 



The popularity and support for the International Panel on Climate Change is falling faster than President Obama’s poll numbers!  A recent survey by the American Meteorological Society shows that only 52% now agree with the IPCC shibboleth that “global warming is happening and mankind is the cause.”  What are the reasons for this precipitous fall from the previous, carefully constructed “scientific consensus” of 97%?

Maybe it’s because the IPCC hand selected the scientists in their survey.  Maybe it’s because the IPCC was caught fudging their data.  Maybe it’s because “consensus” is not “science.”  Maybe it’s because of the record setting COLD SPELLS in the United States and Europe.  Maybe it’s because 35% of the U.S. was covered in snow at the earliest date ever this year.  Maybe it’s because there is now 17.2 million square miles of sea ice which is .9 million square miles above average, and that too is a new record set this November.

Maybe it’s because the models predicting “above average” hurricane and tornado activity were horribly (thankfully!) wrong!  The tornado count is 58% below normal this year.  Additionally, the U.S. had only two hurricanes reaching landfall this year and neither reached category 3.  In fact, the Obama administration has had only three hurricanes compared to the 26 during the Grover Cleveland presidency.  Which administration had the most CO2?  Then there are those pesky German scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology whose data show “no surface warming” since 1998 contradicting the predictions of 23 climate models.  Naturally, they are now derided by the IPCC as “skeptics” or “deniers” which is the scientific equivalent of “racist.”  An inconvenient truth.

Speaking of racism, what about the assaults mischaracterized as the “Knockout Game.”  Young blacks are not hunting “black bears” or “brown bears” but “polar bears.”  However, liberal media is working hard to minimize or ignore the racial aspects of these assaults.  Maybe some data from the FBI and the Department of Justice will help.  Blacks make up about 13% of the U.S. population.  There are about 770,000 violent interracial crimes committed every year between blacks and whites.  Blacks commit 85% of those crimes and whites commit the remaining 15%.  Blacks commit 45% of their crimes against whites; 43% against other blacks; and 10% against Hispanics.  In stark contrast, whites commit only 3% of their crimes against blacks.  The danger of course is that if this abhorrent trend by youth continues, the numbers will increase and the ratio may be altered.  It’s time for leadership in the African-American community to stand their moral ground before the violence escalates.  An inconvenient truth.

Much of this violence stems from hopelessness brought on by poor education, a jobless recovery, the lack of parental guidance and having no father in the family.  The same results can be seen in poor white families in England.  The education and economic policies of this administration do not bode well for the future.  Despite all the specious pronouncements of “jobs created or saved,” we have the lowest labor participation rate of the last fifty years.  The only reason the unemployment rate is at 7% is because over 11 million workers have given up and left the work force!

It’s also ironic that Democrats who say they are the party of choice are anti-choice in so many areas.  Education is just one area of hypocrisy.  In Washington, D.C., there are 1,600 low income kids in the District’s school voucher program.  They have a terrific graduation rate of 91%!  The District as a whole can only muster a 41% graduation rate.  School choice for the District was signed into law by George W. Bush but has become a political football.  President Obama’s 2013 budget did not include funding for the program.  Now the District is being accused of not providing sufficient oversight.  Louisiana is facing similar anti-voucher battles.

The Louisiana voucher program allows low income youth to escape many of the poor performing schools.  Twelve thousand children applied for the 8,500 vouchers this year and 6,800 accepted them.  The Department of Justice sued the State of Louisiana.  Their erroneous premise was vouchers interfere with desegregation.  In fact, moving low income youth into private schools has enhanced integration.  The Obama administration has now dropped the lawsuit but continues to drown Louisiana’s highly popular, bipartisan program in regulations and additional requirements.

The Department of Education was established by President Carter in the 1980’s.  The U.S. now spends $115,000 per student for K-12 education but U.S. students rank 26^th worldwide in math and science.  Give the kids a choice or they have no chance.  Just another inconvenient truth.  

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

By William L. Garvin

 

“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”
H.L. Mencken

The liberty guaranteed by our constitutional republic is at risk.  On many fronts, we are seeing our federal government successfully consolidate power under the guise of “the common good.”  Whether the “fundamental transformation” of America is because the ruling class honestly feels it knows what is best for every citizen or whether the motivation is to reconstruct the United States into a European socialist state is unclear.  Whatever the motivation, keep in mind the words of Ronald Reagan:  “Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.”

The reality of Obamacare is that it will do nothing to improve the quality of health care for the “vast majority” of Americans; it will only serve to further central planning and control of government over the most intimate details of citizens’ lives.  Keep in mind that the overpriced, poorly functioning website is not the problem—it is only symptomatic of the problem, which is a badly flawed law that has no possibility of success short of rationing.  Many Americans, even congressional Democrats (who knew all along!), are finding that no, you can’t keep your health plan.  No, you can’t keep your doctor.  No, you won’t save $2,500 in premiums.  No, you can’t afford the premiums and deductibles under Obamacare.  No, you won’t have many choices and no, your doctor is no longer included in what few plans are available.

Democrats who brayed opposition to Republican efforts to legislatively change “the law of the land” now stand by in mute acquiescence as the President Supreme unilaterally changes “the law of the land” by executive order.  Displaying their bald (and bold) hypocrisy, some Democrats are now urging the same one-year delay on the individual mandate that Republicans previously proposed.  Of course, Harry Reid buried that offer and refused to have it debated.  His Napoleonic party action begs the question, who was really responsible for the government shutdown and the $24 billion economic hit?  No wonder the little leader needs to silence opposition and “nuke” the filibuster by rewriting Senate history and precedent.

On another front, the Department of Education lurches forward with another central planning theory called Common Core.  Salting the states with federal funding, they now wish to institute a “one size fits all” propaganda model under the guise of education.  When you follow the money, you see the driving forces and easily recognize that there was very little input from professional educators.  The touted critical thinking appears to be more an analysis of group emotive process rather that results orientation.  Expect America to fall farther and farther behind…except in the massive data base that will be compiled on students and their families.

Simultaneously, the Environmental Protection Agency continues its frontal assault on the poor and middle classes.  The Energy.gov website notes that half of the electricity in America comes from coal.  Yet, because of EPA regulations, 280 coal-fired generating plants are slated to be closed.  The president’s promise that electricity prices will “necessarily” skyrocket is about to come true.  The poor will be disproportionately impacted by this megalomaniacal pursuit of ideology.

On a final troubling note, EPA regulations have forced the closing of the Doe Run Lead Smelter in Missouri.  This smelter has been in business since 1892 and is the last in this country.  They estimate that they would have to expend $100 million dollars to comply with the new and draconian EPA regulations.  The upshot is that lead ore mined in this country will have to be shipped out of this country (China?), refined, and then imported.  It is not difficult to connect the dots and see why the military, the Department of Homeland Security, and other government agencies have been stockpiling billions of rounds of ammunition.

If the direct assault on Second Amendment rights by government and other gun control zealots is successfully repelled, the war may still have been lost.  It will be unavoidable that American citizens will find ammunition to be increasingly scarce and increasingly expensive.  George Washington noted that: “A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.”  If you value your freedom; if you value your liberty, beware the jaws of the ruling wolves.

Too Big to Fail?...NOT!

By William L. Garvin

 

 

“The bigger they are; the harder they fall.”  Many can remember this childhood exhortation to stand up to bullies.  Politicians and government agencies should take this as an admonition.

 

This seems particularly appropriate with the disastrous Obamacare implementation and now the president’s fading glory.  It is increasingly clear that this sprawling government monstrosity is redefining winners and losers.  The obvious winners are those with preexisting conditions and those who never had insurance, a good thing.  The losers are all those who have had their policies cancelled and are now facing budget busting increases in premiums and deductibles, a bad thing.  The former signups are in the thousands; the latter are in the millions with millions more to come.  Also in the loser category are state budgets because the vast majority of enrollees in Obamacare are in the Medicaid category.  The federal aid to the states will quickly be phased out.  The economic reality of any government trying to take control of one-sixth of the economy to aid one-tenth of the population is beginning to sink in.  Remember that this administration has the least amount of private sector experience of any modern presidency.  It’s becoming increasingly clear that the glitches are indeed train wrecks and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Concurrently, as THE ECONOMIST cover clearly demonstrates, the president who used to walk on water is now in it up to his neck and desperately flailing about to restore his fading luster.  If the heaviest burden is a great potential, President Obama had plenty to live up to.  In his book THE BRIDGE: THE LIFE AND RISE OF BARACK OBAMA, David Remnick quotes the president’s long time Svengali advisor and handler extraordinaire, Valerie Jarrett.  “I think Barack knew that he had God-given talents that were extraordinary.  He knows exactly how smart he is…He knows how perceptive he is.  He knows what a good reader of people he is.  And he knows that he has the ability—the extraordinary, uncanny ability—to take a thousand different perspectives, digest them, and make sense out of them, and I think he has never been really challenged intellectually.  I mean, he’s the kind of guy you’d hate in law school, who would pick up the book the night before the final, read it, and ace the test.  So what I sensed in him was not just a restless spirit but someone with extraordinary talents that they had to be really taxed in order for him to be happy.”  As George Will pointedly observed, how can anyone so smitten possibly be an effective advisor?  As the coup de grace, Valerie adds: “He’s been bored to death his whole life.  He’s just too talented to do what ordinary people do.  He would never be satisfied with what ordinary people do.”  All those little people, all those ordinary people, the ones who go to work every day, who balance their budgets, who don’t live and spend beyond their means, they just don’t understand His Magnificence!  What elitist claptrap!

 

What ordinary people do understand is that for all that money, they could have built a hundred working websites.  What ordinary people do understand is that the “good jobs for the jobless” promise has been a miserable failure and one of a long line of broken promises.  What they do understand is that they will soon forget his lofty boast that “This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” 

 

That’s why ordinary people in the latest left-leaning CNN poll shows that 56% disagree with President Obama on the major issues.  The same percentage says he “does not inspire confidence.”  It also shows that 53% of ordinary people do not regard him as “honest or trustworthy.”  Ordinary people now know the emperor has no clothes.

 

That’s why Democrats are finally moving out of lockstep with the President, voting against his decrees, and showing open rebellion.  Senators like Landrieu in contested states don’t even want to be seen with him.  That’s why liberal fanatics spin fantastic yarns about Republicans being responsible for Obamacare failures.  Three months ago, the Tea Party was irrelevant; now they are responsible for the latest “right wing conspiracy”; they are the cause of the website implosion; their mean words are the genesis of the public rejection.  Sorry spinmeister Democrats-- this is all on you.  Oh what tangled webs you weave since from the beginning, Obamacare was built to deceive.

 

 

Half Vast Ideas

By William L. Garvin

 

 

Military veterans probably remember the maxim that “Proper prior planning prevents p--- poor performance.”  Civilian applications were politically corrected down to “prior planning prevents poor performance.”  There are other colloquialisms for caution such as “don’t let your mouth write a check that your body can’t cash” and don’t let your alligator mouth overload your hummingbird butt.”  My favorite has to be “don’t take on vast projects with half-vast ideas.”  Apparently, the Obama administration never heard or has chosen to ignore these maxims.

 

Of course, when you start with a flawed premise, there is very little room for success.  How could any sane person possibly believe you can add thirty million people to the medical rolls, suffer a status quo or decrease in medical practitioners, mandate a plethora of additional benefits in every policy, and expect your insurance bill to decrease by $2,500 per family per year?  Yet, that’s what President Obama promised and Democrats and the media swallowed it, hook, line and sinker.  It was shoved down the throats of the remainder, the majority of citizens, who have never approved of Obamacare, who were satisfied with their own insurance, and were pleased with their medical care.

 

With a flawed premise, it’s important to embellish with lies.  If you like your health insurance, you can keep it.  If you like your doctor, you can keep him.  Period.  Don’t forget the emphatic assurance of what has proven false.  In order to keep your insurance, no changes could be made since passage of the Affordable Care Act.  Of course, Health and Human Services then told all the insurance companies that there were certain benefits that had to be included.  So far, a million and a half policies have been canceled since they don’t have all those benefits.  Now the liberal spin is all of those policies were “garbage,” the insurance companies that sold them were predators, and the consumers who bought them were ignorant rubes.  Only the government knows what is good for you; you can’t be trusted to make your own decisions!  Now it’s being reported that President Obama’s administration (you can’t say President Obama because he continually demonstrates that he knows nothing about anything!) knew from the beginning that 50 to 75% of the 14 million individual subscribers would be canceled out.  He both knew and lied or he is absolutely ignorant about his “signature” accomplishment.  It’s unclear as to which is the worse offense.

 

Now there’s the disastrous rollout of Obamacare.  After three and a half years and three-quarters of a BILLION dollars of taxpayer money, the website crashes.  On the grand launch, a miniscule total of six (6) people were able to sign up.  That will be the height of inefficiency in the textbooks for years to come.  Maybe if it hadn’t been a “no bid” contract, things would have been better.  Maybe if it had been an American company with a proven, positive track record, things would have been better.  Maybe if the companies hired hadn’t previously been fired for overbilling, ineffectiveness, and weren’t being investigated for possible criminal wrong doing, things might have been better.  They’re not.  Keep in mind that this is only one piece of the government takeover of one-sixth of the economy.  Wait until they start processing claims.  There are already problems with privacy and inaccurate information being transmitted.  Furthermore, over ninety percent of the enrollees are not enrolling in Obamacare but are enrolling in Medicaid!  That will have a disastrous effect on state budgets and will also be disastrous to the Ponzi scheme financing of Obamacare.  Someone once said that a camel was a horse designed by a government committee.  Unless young, healthy citizens enroll in Obamacare, the government camel will dehydrate from lack of financial water.

 

If this concoction was so good, you wouldn’t have to threaten consumers with fines if they didn’t purchase the government mandated offerings.  If this concoction was so good, Congress would have been first in line.  If this concoction was so good, Congress would not have given themselves an exemption from the law they are foisting upon others.  And large corporations wouldn’t have been given a year delay.  (Wait until they start dropping their insurance plans for employees!)  If this concoction was so good, Democrat donating unions wouldn’t have been carved out and thousands of waivers granted.  Contrary to your congressional testimony, Secretary Sebelius, it is not illegal for you to go to an exchange.  But no, you’d rather keep your government health insurance with 80% of your premiums being paid by the American taxpayer.  You passed the law; now we know what’s in it…and it stinks.

Bludgeoned, Bloodied, and Bowed

By William L. Garvin

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.  The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.  It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”  Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister

Now that the government shutdown and world threatening crisis has temporarily ended, it’s time to take stock of what we have learned.  First, if a president refuses to negotiate, refuses to make any concession, refuses to enact legislation that would protect the most vulnerable among us, it is principled.  However, if the opposition offers compromise after compromise and concession after concession, they are obstructionists and the moral equivalent of al Qaeda and the Taliban.

When Republicans offer to fully fund the government in exchange for delaying the individual mandate of Obamacare for one year, they are at best anarchists and at worst racists.  Ignore the fact that every poll shows the majority of Americans do not approve of Obamacare.  Ignore the fact that Kathleen Sebelius and Health and Human Services spent three years and over $500 million to build a website that doesn’t work.  Ignore the fact that seventy percent of Americans were happy with their health insurance.  Ignore the fact that the president said we would have an average decrease in premium costs of $2,500 per year but we are facing continued increases in both premiums and deductibles with fewer options.   Ignore the fact that the president said we could keep our doctors but that is not true for millions of Americans.  Ignore the fact that the president unilaterally changes the law by carving out special treatment for his cronies and supporters.  Ignore the fact that Congress does not have to live under the law they are imposing on others.

We’ve also learned that Harry Reid would rather sacrifice children enrolled in National Institute of Health clinical trials than consider funding by Republicans on a matter of political principle.  We’ve learned that the national parks and memorials do not belong to the people but to the president.  He can now close them at will and employ armed guards against the citizenry.  Members of his party have even suggested martial law.  He can take his ball and go home by blocking access to open air memorials and blocking veterans from the site that citizens built specifically to honor them.  Of course, as Nancy Pelosi noted, he can also open them to gatherings of illegal immigrants if it suits his whim and political purpose.  We have also learned that patriotic Americans, like the Fisher House, will step forward to care for families of our warriors who die in battle when the president and the Secretary of Defense default on their obligations in reprehensible and immoral fashion.

We’ve learned that Thomas Jefferson should be ignored when he said “I, however, place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.”  We’ve learned that Senator Obama was just kidding when he said:  “Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.”  We’ve learned it’s okay for him to vote against raising the debt limit when it was “only” $9 trillion but demand another increase even after it’s soared to $17 trillion under his leadership!  We’ve learned that after exceeding the first ever trillion dollar deficit level (for four years in a row!), you can claim to be a fiscal conservative by finally not exceeding that trillion dollar level this year.

We’ve learned that when George Bush’s approval rating drops to 37%, it’s a crisis of confidence but when Barack Obama drops to the same level, it’s a non-news event.  It’s apparently not news when only 13% of Americans think we are on the right track and 78% think everyone in congress should be dismissed.  It’s also not news when Harry Reid has the lowest approval rating of the four congressional leaders.  It’s also not news when we have the highest percentage of citizens living in poverty since the War on Poverty began back in 1965!

We’ve also learned that when you believe the government should not spend more than it has, that government policies should support free market capitalism, that the Constitution should be the supreme law of the land, and that the United States is an exceptional country, you are either an anarchist, terrorist, bigot, racist, sexist, misogynist, or quite likely, all of the above.  We’ve learned they have no shame in repeating the big lie over and over and over….