The Right Direction?

Barack Obama was in Maryland yesterday stumping for Moron OweMalley, the Democrat Governor (who endorsed Hillary Clinton). When he was not making the crowd ill, he used the same tired analogy he has used for the past few months. He told the crowd of sycophant Democrats that if you want to move a car forward you put it in D and if you want to move backwards you put it in R. He told them this was no coincidence (it actually is a coincidence but he is talking to Democrats).

If we were to carry Obama’s analogy further we would have to point out that the R on a car is an important feature. If your car was facing the edge of a cliff what would you put the gear selector in? I am willing to bet most folks would pick the R and get out of trouble. Then there would be those few who think it is a coincidence and drive on.

The country is on the edge of a cliff that, until Obama took office, we approached rather slowly. Once Obama took office he put it in D and kicked in the turbo chargers. We are now on that cliff and voters need to decide whether we select the D and drive off the cliff or if we pick the R and reverse course.

The Titanic was in D when it hit the iceberg…

We know that Obamanomics is not working. He has spent trillions of dollars and tripled the deficit that Bush left. Obama is the Bush spending agenda on steroids (great, now Congress will be investigating steroid use).

Obama spent a trillion dollars on stimulus and the only thing stimulated was the payoff to his supporters. There are no jobs being created (they overestimated last year by nearly a million jobs and we lost nearly 100k more in September) and the economy remains in the doldrums. Obama’s legislative agenda has been filled with Socialist wishes and lies. The Health Care takeover that would save money is estimated to cost trillions of dollars and will burden the country.

Remember, Obama says that government can do it better. It is your mommy and daddy and can care for you. This would be the same government that spent over 20 million dollars on stimulus checks that went to dead people and those in jail. Where was the government oversight in this relatively small program (when compared to the size and scope of health care)? If this government cannot avoid wasting millions of dollars on the dead and felons then how on Earth will it ever run a program the size of health care with any efficiency?

The answer is, it will not because it cannot.

[note]The dead and incarcerated have long been Democrat constituents so one could argue that they were paying off their supporters…[/note]

And this is the so called forward progress that Obama discusses when he talks about putting the car in D.

It would do voters well to also note that Recovery begins with R…

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

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More Troubling Information About Eddie Bernice Johnson

Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas has been caught doling out scholarships to her family members and to the children of one of her aides. She did this in violation of the rules governing the scholarships which are paid for through the Congressional Black Caucus. Among the rules are specific prohibitions on awarding scholarships to family members and to people related to anyone associated with the scholarship program. Those awarded must live or study in the district of the member of Congress or in a district of another member of the CBC. I assume white children are eligible though I wonder how many actually get the awards. I also wonder how it would be received if there was a scholarship program that was open only to people in the districts of Tea Party Caucus members…

Anyway, Johnson is in hot water. In my opinion she should be prosecuted and she should be investigated by the Ethics Committee. Her responses to the discovery of her illegal activities have been underwhelming and have highlighted her arrogance. Johnson has stated that names came across her desk and that she was not directly involved and all kinds of things but then we see this statement and wonder what planet she is on:

Last week, Johnson initially defended her scholarship choices, then acknowledged violating the scholarship rules, though she said she did so “unknowingly.” She also said that all qualified applicants have gotten a share of scholarship funds each year, and that she might not have picked relatives had there been more qualified applicants. Dallas News

How could she have violated the rules unknowingly when the rules say that no family member is eligible? She had to know that the people involved were related to her because they were her grandsons. In addition, she admitted that she knew in her last sentence. She said she would not have awarded the scholarships to family members if there had been more qualified candidates. Therefore, she knew they were her family.

Also, and here is where she shows her true stupidity, her family members were NOT qualified. Therefore, any other applicant (who met the standards) was MORE qualified. She does not seem to understand this little piece of logic so let us spell it out one more time. Her family members were NOT qualified so all other applicants (who met the standards) were MORE qualified and her argument is only a fabrication to cover her rear end.

If she claims ignorance then not only should she be prosecuted for the scholarship fraud, she should also be removed from office for gross incompetence.

Johnson says she will pay back the money for the scholarships by the end of the week. I am unsure which ones she means but if she is going to pay for all of them it will cost quite a bit of money.

I would also like to point out that the application for the scholarship asks applicants if they are related to anyone associated with the program. The people who investigate this might want to look at the applications and see how those questions were addressed. There might be fraud coming from more than one direction.

Maybe they can all get a family cell at the iron bar hotel…

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

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These Are The People Who Will Run Health Care

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is in charge of the new health care takeover that was recently signed into law. The Democrats say it will save money and “bend the cost curve” but new figures from the CBO (figures arrived at using all the specifics) show this is not the case. Don’t worry though, the crack, fiscally responsible bureaucrats will watch our money like hawks.

Or will they?

The same DHHS that will oversee the health care takeover wasted millions of dollars in a program designed to pay for heating and air conditioning for the poor. There was no oversight and the “hawks” ended up paying for the needs of dead people, people in prison and folks living in million dollar homes. One person who received the assistance lives in a 2 million dollar home in a ritzy part of Chicago. Oh, and she drives a Mercedes.

A federal program designed to help impoverished families heat and cool their homes wasted more than $100 million paying the electric bills of thousands of applicants who were dead, in prison or living in million-dollar mansions, according to a government investigation.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spent $5 billion through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program in 2009, doling out money to states with little oversight of the program. Some states don’t verify applicants’ identifies or income. For example, the program helped pay the electric bill of a woman who lives in a $2 million home in a wealthy Chicago suburb and drives a Mercedes, according to the yet-to-be released report obtained by The Associated Press. AP via Yahoo News

Compared to the health care system in this country this energy assistance program is relatively small and yet the people who are supposed to be responsible with our money allowed millions of dollars in waste.

How on Earth will they manage a health care system estimated to cost in the trillions of dollars?

Medicare is already fraught with waste and abuse and, it too, is small compared to the entire health care system.

If the government is not capable of managing our money responsibly in these smaller programs what makes anyone think it will be responsible with the huge sums of money their takeover of health care will cost?

This is what happens when government gets involved in things, especially when it grows too big.

On the heels of the disclosure that California welfare ATM cards are being used at casinos, a new report indicates they are also being used at strip clubs. And don’t get me started on the waste involved during Katrina (which continues to this day).

The California waste is at the state level and the energy assistance program is at the federal level and the similarities are striking. In neither case did the government have proper oversight of our money. This happens when an entity has control of money it does not have to earn. If the money came out of their pockets they would actually be watching it.

It is just a matter of time before the health care takeover gives us stories like this on a regular basis.

But don’t worry. Government will tell us it needs more money and more oversight (which it sorely lacks all the time) and then push for greater control and more revenue to fix a problem that it created.

Government spends a lot of time working to fix problems that it creates.

Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

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California Taxpayers Fund Welfare Casino Visits

California is in financial trouble and that is an understatement. The state is near bankruptcy and has no viable plan for reducing debt and getting back on sound financial ground. Generous pension plans, unions and out of control spending as well as a welfare mentality has led this state to the precipice of insolvency.

Welfare should be for those who absolutely need a helping hand, or a hand up as opposed to a hand out. It should be sufficient to help people get on their feet and it should be short in duration. The longer people are on welfare the less likely they are to actually go out and make their own money. This leads to generational welfare where the entitlement mentality is passed from one generation the the next.

One would think that people who receive benefits because of the generosity of taxpayers (as if taxpayers actually have a say) would be responsible as to how the money is spent but that is just a pipe dream. Those who receive something for nothing usually care little about how they get “their checks” as long as they get them.

The aftermath of Katrina demonstrated the welfare entitlement mentality as the federal government issued $5000 ATM cards so that people could get necessities and make it during the turmoil. Instead of taking care of their families, many folks used the money to buy alcohol, tobacco products and other non necessities. Some folks spent the money are bars and strip clubs.

Why not? After all, it is free money…

California is experiencing the same issue with its welfare program. At least 1.8 million taxpayer welfare dollars were withdrawn from casino ATM machines. While one can argue that there is no evidence that the money was spent in the casinos a thinking person would have to ask why use the casino ATM when there are plenty of ATM machines around?

Welfare recipients used taxpayer money to gamble, that is the only conclusion that can be reached and while $1.8 million is a small amount of money when compared to California’s entire welfare expenditures, it is a substantial misuse of the money and puts a huge burden on an insolvent system.

The fraud is also not the only that is in the system. How many people use the welfare money to buy booze or cigarettes? Elaborate scams have been developed by welfare recipients and unscrupulous business people to circumvent the system and allow taxpayer provided money to be used for things that are not permitted by law.

Taxpayers in California should be outraged at the fraud in the system and should demand change. Governor Schwarzenegger has put a halt to use of welfare cards in casinos but this will not prevent people who can get cash for the cards from getting the cash and going to the casinos anyway (or from participating in the myriad of fraud schemes that run rampant in such a system).

The state needs to reevaluate the situation of every person on welfare and tighten up on those who should not be in the system or are abusing it. People should sign a contract when entering welfare so that they are clear on what is allowed and what the penalties will be if they defraud the system. Start by removing illegal aliens from the system and working to get them deported.

In addition, people who can work should be forced to get a job. If a job is advertised and they are able to do it (NO MATTER WHAT IT IS) they should be forced to take it. If they get fired or quit they are ineligible for welfare. People on welfare should be randomly tested for drug use and if they test positive they should be removed from the program. People who use welfare money for alcohol, tobacco, or gambling (and this is not an all inclusive list) should be removed and prosecuted. All fraud should be prosecuted in order to foster an environment of fear. People on welfare should fear being caught doing something wrong.

In addition, business people who assist in defrauding the system must be prosecuted. If workers in a business devise a scheme to defraud then they must serve mandatory jail time. If business owners are knowingly part of the scheme they should have their business licenses revoked and their businesses seized and sold to pay restitution. Obviously, they should serve jail time.

Continually rewarding people with “free” money makes them less willing to work and more willing to devise schemes to keep that money coming. They lose the desire to work for something and to contribute to society. Ignoring the illegal things that take place in the welfare system helps to foster this attitude and further degrades the system. It also makes it much tougher for people who actually need welfare assistance.

One more thing that should be considered. California should require people on welfare to work for the money. Obviously there are some people who will not be able (the truly disabled) but most will be able to participate. The state has plenty of roads and parks that need to be cleaned of litter. There are plenty of housing projects and parks that need the grass cut. There is a lot that can be done to earn the money from taxpayers and it is time we forced welfare recipients to do something to earn the money.

Sitting on the couch watching Jerry Springer or Oprah while waiting to squirt out another entitlement baby is not productive work.

And California is not the only state that should be doing these things.

Imagine how much money could have been saved if welfare recipients were required to shovel all the snow from this past winter’s brutal storms…

If we make welfare an uncomfortable way of life fewer people will be willing to go on it.

Who knows, maybe they can get a job at one of the casinos…

Articles:
LA Times
The Desert Sun

Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

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Global Warming Science That Hides The Truth

Looks like the Global Warming science that is “settled” became a bit unsettled after a large amount of data from climate scientists was either hacked into or released by an insider. The email messages among climate scientists paints a picture of deception and cover-up.

Scientists lamented about data that showed cooling rather than warming, discussed tricks to manipulate data to get the results they wanted, lamented over data that showed a cooling trend, cheered the death of a scientist critical of global warming, and discussed ways of breaking the law to avoid freedom of information requests as well as ways to keep critics from publishing peer reviewed papers.

Not that any of this has been thoroughly investigated by the main stream media.

Does this mean that man made global warming is a hoax? Not in and of itself though it is highly suggestive that the so called settled science is anything but settled.

The so called reputable scientists that global warming supporters point to as the beacons of truth have taken a serious hit because they demonstrated that they are not so reputable after all. Their leaked emails show a group of people who manipulated science to push an agenda rather than people who used science to prove or disprove global warming.

This shows what I have said all along and that is the science is not settled. It can’t be when the data used to settle it is flawed. It also shows that while we need to continue using good science to investigate the climate, we do not need to commit trillions of dollars to something that is quite unsettled.

The global warming crowd tried to squeeze out scientists who did not toe the line for the cause and this has come back to bite them.

The hockey stick graph has been discredited and now the scientists involved in global warming study have been discredited as well.

Al Gore needs a new line because the science is not settled.

If anything, the dishonesty is quite unsettling.

Sources:
Daily Mail UK
Washington Times
Guardian UK (Lamenting about how this hurts and throwing blame to deniers)
WSJ (very damning article)

Big Dog

Gunline

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