Big Dogs Weblog

Tribute To George Bush

Jan 20, 2009 General

Today at noon George Bush will hand over the reigns of power to his successor. This is a time honored part of American culture that separates us from most of the world. We do not have coups in the US, we have elections and the winner takes control from the current leader despite their differences. It is done with manners and dignity. That is much more than I can say for the way George Bush has been treated these past eight years.

I will miss W. Sure there are things he did that I did not agree with and there are mistakes that he made. No leader has ever been mistake free and no matter what choices the leader of our country takes, about 50% of the population will be pleased and the other 50% not. Even though I did not agree with him all the time there were plenty of things he got right and there are a number of things with which I agree.

He might be unpopular but the things he has done are being justified by his successor. Gitmo will likely not close down any time soon because the new guy is finding it as difficult to find homes for the residents as Bush did. Our troops will remain in Iraq until at least 2012. They won’t be out today or even in 16 months despite what was preached. The wire tapping that was such an issue is being embraced and will likely continue as will many of the terror fighting tools Bush put in place. History is beginning to vindicate him as his successor finds that things look differently from the inside and decisions are made to not quite undo everything we have worked to achieve.

President Bush inherited a recession and he is leaving with one. He warned on at least 17 occasions that Fannie and Freddie were troublesome but his warnings fell on the deaf ears of those consumed with their own greed. He bears some responsibility for what took place but there is enough blame to go around despite what his detractors say.

George Bush failed us when it came to immigration reform. He and John McCain (a Democrat-lite) working with Ted Kennedy tried to force amnesty on this nation. We were expected to accept the people who broke our laws and reward them with citizenship. The public uproar was finally heard and a border wall was promised. We have yet to see the wall but we will get more bills favorable to illegals. Fortunately, Bush will not be involved.

George Bush was also responsible for moving toward the center rather than staying right and exercising strong conservative principles. He spent a lot of money and government grew. He had help from the Republican majority that was willing to go along to get along. People decided if Republicans were going to act like Democrats then they might as well vote for the real ones.

Perhaps though, the thing that stands out the most in this presidency is the tragedy that occurred on 9/11. On that fateful day hijacked airliners were flown into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Only the devotion to an idea bigger than self allowed people on Flight 93 to prevent a hit on the Capitol or the White House. I have often stated that Congress would be behaving much differently if that plane had hit the Capitol. It is a weird kind of irony that the people who took the decisions that enraged radicals enough to attack us were spared by the selfless people on Flight 93 while 3000 in New York, who had nothing to do with our foreign policy, perished.

George Bush rallied this nation and for a brief time we were one again. We all felt the pain of the families affected by the attacks. We were all praying for the rescue workers and those who were affected by the biggest attack on our country in its history. We all wanted action taken to find who did it and to make them pay. Bush was the one who sounded the rally cry. He was the one who brought us together and he was the one who went after those responsible. We can debate the actions and whether they were the right ones or what could have been done better but there can be no debate about the President’s resolve.

George Bush is a pretty straight shooter. He says what he means and he means what he says. He believes that his word is his bond and he genuinely cares about people. I know many of his opponents (and I use that word out of kindness) will disagree but they suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome.

I am not bothered by the way he mispronounces words or stumbles at times when trying to express himself. The fact is that when push comes to shove you can count on him. I would much rather have a man such as he in my corner than a smooth talker who has his own interests at heart. I want a person I know I can count on when the chips are down and I know Bush is such a man. I have heard that a friend is someone who will bail you out.

A true friend will be sitting next to you cut and bruised laughing about the whole thing. Bush would be sitting next to you because he would have your back regardless of the consequences.

George Bush is a religious man who used his religion to guide him. He never turned his back on his religion or its leaders for political gain. Perhaps it is because he is of faith that he does not have questionable religious leaders who hate this country.

I will miss George Bush but admit that after eight years it is time for a changing of the guard. Whether or not the change is good will be seen but the worry will no longer be George Bush’s. Now is the time for him to go do what he wants while enjoying what time he has left on this planet in the country that he loves. I know he counts himself as truly blessed because he was born in the United States of America, the greatest country on the face of the Earth.

I served under George Bush until my retirement and it was my honor to serve under him in his capacity as Commander in Chief. I knew that no matter what the mission and no matter what the orders, he was behind us 100%. He cares deeply about the men and women of the armed forces and they know it.

If we were in a tight spot would I follow George W Bush?

Through the gates of hell and back. I’d walk through the fires of hell carrying gasoline to accomplish whatever mission he gave. Despite his failings, he earned that.

It will take a bit more than hope to earn that same amount of commitment.

So Mr. Bush, enjoy your retirement. You earned it as you now pass the torch that illuminates this Republic. You kept us safe and you never wavered from doing what you thought was right even if it was not the popular decision. You were not perfect but you stayed the course and many in this world owe a debt of gratitude to you. Those who follow will soon see how difficult it is to lead from the front.

Talk is cheap. Action comes with a price.

Good luck and Godspeed.

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Tags: freedom, george bush, inauguration

Merry Christmas 2008

Dec 25, 2008 General

This has been around a time or two and I think now is a good time to use it again:

To My Democrat Friends:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2009, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere . Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

To My Republican Friends:

And a Happy New Year. Wishing you good health and great prosperity in 2009.

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Tags: democrat, merry christmas, republican

Requesting Help For A Friend

Oct 4, 2008 General

My friend Kender has been on dialysis since he was a child. He has spend countless hours at dialysis centers and as a result he has missed much of the things those with normal kidney function take for granted. Kender was able to get a home dialysis machine and gained greater control over his life. He is involved in politics, the community, and he is writing a book.

Kender must take caution in how much he is compensated for any work he does because his medical benefits will be greatly reduced or stopped if he exceeds some arbitrary limit set by the government. Therefore, he lives on limited funds.

Recently Kender lost his place of residence and is working on getting another. In order to keep his independence he must have a place to live and transportation which he also lost as a result of his recent setback. I am asking that if you have a few dollars to spare, please consider making a donation via Pay Pal. If you do not have Pay Pal but would like to make a donation please send me a note via my contact form and we can work out a way for you to help. I know we can make a difference with small donations. Look what it has done for Obama.

Kender’s site is here and there is a Pay Pal button in the left sidebar. I have also put up a button and 100% of all donations will be sent to him.

I know times are tough and the government just spent 700 billion dollars of our money but if you can help it would be greatly appreciated. He has a great group of friends who are working to help him out. We have been partly successful and I think we can get him back on his feet but we sure could use your help.

Thanks and God Bless

Tags: dialysis, donate, help, Kender

A New Plan For The 85 Billion

Sep 26, 2008 General

UPDATE: I thought about this after I had shut down my computer and something did not seem right. I checked the math this morning and this amounts to 425 dollars per person not 425,000 as the writer claims. I should have checked it before I posted it. Well, it seemed like a pipe dream anyway but might accurately describe government math. Some people have been kind (and others not so) enough to point out this error. Maybe it would work out if we gave the money only to those who pay taxes. I was going to simply delete it but I made the mistake so I will suffer the insults…
My apologies for being careless. What is it they say about passing along things you get in an email?

My brother sent me this in an email and I thought it sounded more reasonable than anything the Congress has come up with:

Hi Pals,

PS: Feel free to pass this along to your pals as it’s either good for a laugh or a tear or a very sobering thought on how to best use $85 Billion!

Now this is pure genius and a hell of a lot better than anything the government will come up with.

Tags: bailout plan, new idea

Privatize Social Security, Absolutely

Sep 21, 2008 General, Political

Ever since the instability in the market started last week with its subsequent government bail outs I have heard a number of Democrats blame the entire mess on Republicans. I am not going to pretend that the problems belong solely to one party. There is enough blame to go around but Democrats can’t seem to understand that. While blaming George Bush and John McCain they conveniently forget that Clinton Administration policies that relaxed the requirements to get loans led to a lot of people borrowing more than they could ever hope to afford. Democrats also seem to have forgotten that it is hard to manage a business when it is shoveling truckloads of money in your direction and when your friends are making millions because they are bilking the system.

In the last week I have also heard that George Bush and John McCain supported privatizing Social Security and then that statement was usually followed by, “Imagine where your money would be right now after this market collapse.” Yes, we are led to believe that Bush and McCain’s idea of privatizing Social Security was to invest it in the highly volatile housing market and hedge funds (where Chelsea Clinton could manage them) when the fact is, the plan has always been to allow investment in a range of securities from those with no risk to those with moderate risk. The government already allows investment in those kinds of funds for its workers. The program is called the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) and there are five funds in the family of investments. Workers are able to allocate their money between the funds and to determine how their earnings are invested. There are also life cycle funds which incorporate the five funds in an automatically adjusting format that goes from higher risk when one is younger to little risk as one gets older.

What does all this mean? First, there are risks with everything. The federal government cannot insure that people will get their Social Security checks. There is no guarantee that the money you paid in will ever be paid to you. The program can be reduced or increased at any time and Congress can continue to raise taxes in order to fund a program that earns less than 1% interest. Congress can also pilfer from the money at any time. In fact, Social Security is in bad shape because Congress has raped it over the years.

So there is risk even with the government. But there is also the injustice that the money is taken from you and if you die before you can collect, it goes away. There might be survivor benefits but if you had been able to invest the money yourself you would have made more and could have passed it to your heirs.

How does all this square up with the volatility in the market this week? The price of the shares in the TSP have remained steady since the problems began. There have been minor fluctuations in price as there are in any stocks but the change was less than a dollar. This chart at the TSP website shows the daily price for each fund in the program. Notice that the five individual funds and the life cycle funds remained constant.

Of course, almost all investments carry risk. The G Fund is the only one that is protected from market changes but even with the potential risks the other funds did not fall. So for those who say that if we had privatized Social Security we would have a bunch of bankrupt old people eating cat food, they are just plain wrong. Old people will still receive money under the current plan and younger people would transition into a TSP kind of plan over time. As the elderly die off the current system would gradually fade. It will work and those who believe otherwise are wrong.

Social Security is a system that allows the government to have control over your money and your lives. It is a weapon used to scare old people during elections and it is a socialistic system where money is redistributed. People who believe in this system are use to having the government take care of them instead of taking care of themselves. Social Security is not guaranteed and it is no safer being controlled by the government than it would be controlled by you. It is your money. You should be able to say where it is invested and where it goes when you die.

Just to drive the point home, the G Fund is the safest fund in the portfolio therefore it has the lowest rate of return. The 10 year monthly average for the G Fund is 5.12% and it has not been negative in that period of time. So people would have the opportunity to invest in a fund like this paying just over 5% or they could just stick with the government run program that gets less than 1% return on its money.

People work to grow personal wealth and by letting invest their own money and take control of their own destiny we will have a whole lot more they retire. Additionally, there would be little need to have a retirement age that continues to rise in order to meet the needs of Social Security. The government should not be able to keep raising the retirement age, you should decide when you will retire. As it stands now, the government controls YOUR money so it can make the rules. If you controlled your own money, you could make the rules.

To further illustrate the point, assume a person starts working at 20 and will retire at 60. This person has $100 taken from his check for Social Security each month. At 0.08% (best guess for the less than 1% return) the person will have $48,774 when he reaches 60. If that person invested in a fund like the TSP G Fund the amount after 40 years would be $157,469. A hundred dollars a month would equate to an income of $10,000 a year. Certainly no one will make that amount of money for an entire working career. Besides, minimum wage is $4000 higher than this. The point is, while it would be unreasonable to think a person could retire on $157,469 it is also unreasonable to think that the same person would only make 10 grand a year for 40 years. It is also unrealistic to think that a person would even see an increase under Social Security. They have formulas to determine how much you get. If you invest your own money, you get to keep what you make.

There are safe market investments and those who are trying to make an issue out of the current market and how Social Security would have been affected are not paying attention or don’t understand.

I will make a deal though. I am willing to take the risk. Let me keep the money I would be required to pay into Social Security and I will invest it myself. I have no worry that I will not retire a wealthy man and I will absolve the government of any responsibility should I fail.

UPDATE: Newsbusters reports that Newsweek has caught Obama in a blatant lie while trying to scare the elderly in Florida:

[OBAMA] And I’ll protect Social Security, while John McCain wants to privatize it. Without Social Security half of elderly women would be living in poverty – half. But if my opponent had his way, the millions of Floridians who rely on it would’ve had their Social Security tied up in the stock market this week. Millions would’ve watched as the market tumbled and their nest egg disappeared before their eyes. Millions of families would’ve been scrambling to figure out how to give their mothers and fathers, their grandmothers and grandfathers, the secure retirement that every American deserves. So I know Senator McCain is talking about a “casino culture” on Wall Street – but the fact is, he’s the one who wants to gamble with your life savings.
~snip~
That’s not true. The plan proposed by President Bush and supported by McCain in 2005 would not have allowed anyone born before 1950 to invest any part of their Social Security taxes in private accounts. All current retirees would be covered by the same benefits they are now.

Obama is pulling the same scam I discussed earlier; lie to seniors about Social Security in order to scare them into voting for Democrats. Obama is a liar. I wonder if the liberals will hold him to the same standard they demand of McCain?

Tags: higher return, privatize, safe, social security, steady rates