This Is Why We’re Doomed

Word of Hostess’ response to union demands at three of its plants is all over the news. It’s another “looking glass” moment for me. It’s surreal. You see the train coming, why do you jump into it’s path?

The makers of Wonder Bread and Twinkies declared bankruptcy earlier this year. Bankruptcy. Remember the good old days when bankruptcy carried negative connotations which suggested that a business’ health was poor and its longevity in doubt? Because they were broke? Well, apparently those days are over under Obama. Because even though Hostess declared bankruptcy, the bakers’ union went on strike for more.

In the middle of the worst economy since the great depression, the union ignored their responsibility to safeguard jobs. The union ignored the workers and their families. The union ignored the real implications of bankruptcy. And the union treated the whole episode as if it were a bluff or other sort of extended negotiation tactic. Those workers were sacrificed on the altar of Union Pride. Congratulations on your solidarity, Brothers.

Posted in Economy, Society | Tagged | 1 Comment

Class Warfare: Vilification Versus Reality

Bill Kristol went on Fox News on Sunday and said it “won’t kill the country” to raise taxes on millionaires, a standoff issue between Democrats and Republicans, suggesting that the Republican Party should not “fall on its sword to defend a bunch of millionaires, half of whom voted Democratic and half of whom live in Hollywood and are hostile to Republican principles.”

For such an intelligent person, I am gobsmacked that Kristol would embrace this position. It has never been about protecting or defending millionaires.

This is simple math. Do the figuring for yourself. If we started taxing the rich under the anticipated tax laws, it would make absolutely no difference to the deficit or the national debt. All of this class warfare rhetoric is window dressing. Double the taxes on the Rich; go ahead. It won’t have any impact. Do. The. Math. Quadruple their taxes; it STILL won’t have any measurable impact on the annual deficit or the national debt.

There’s only one way taxation will work, and that’s for all of us to pay more while demanding that the Government spend dramatically less. Both of these things must occur for the math to work. The questions then become pragmatic: How much tax and what to cut? But as long as we continue to insist that the solution is taxation on a tiny minority of high earners we’ll continue to distract ourselves from the real, substantive conversation of relevant issues and the development of real solutions to end our fiscal problems.

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Happy Veterans Day!

Today, while enjoying a crisp autumn day, football and family, we remember that today’s holiday honors America’s veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. Army, Navy Air Force, Marines; Thank you for your service.

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Progressive Utopia In Bloom

If the world and the humans inhabiting it were evolving towards the positive, I believe I would be more supportive of progressives. But near as I can tell in my 47 years, man is not generally predisposed to good. Sure, there are many good people. But there’s a reason you lock your car door when you’re in the mall. Or you lock your house when you’re gone or sleeping. Someone will steal your property from you, or worse.

Here in California, things have really started to go off the deep end. From SF Gate:

A KPIX news cameraman was punched and robbed during a live broadcast outside an Oakland high school, the latest in a spate of holdups targeting the media, police said Thursday.

Reporter Anne Makovec and cameraman Gregg Welk were on the air shortly after noon Wednesday outside Oakland Technical High School near the corner of 42nd Street and Broadway. They were at the school to do a story on the passage of Proposition 30, the tax measure preventing deep cuts to education.

As Makovec was finishing her report, police said, five men rushed up and grabbed a $6,000 camera from the tripod. Viewers saw the live picture being jarred and turned sideways for about two seconds.

One of the assailants punched Welk in the mouth before the group fled in a Mercedes-Benz, which apparently was accompanied by a Lexus, police said. Welk declined treatment by paramedics but saw his doctor.

And that was not an isolated incident. The media has been robbed numerous times in the East Bay, including Oakland Tribune photographer Laura Oda who has twice been robbed of cameras since July, a KTVU news crew robbed of a computer, camera and tripod by several men who pushed their way into their van parked on Redwood Road in the Oakland hills in June, and a man stole a camera and tripod from a KNTV crew at 20th Street and San Pablo Avenue in May.

For their part, the old media have been relatively silent. One would think that it would be in their best interests to broadcast the stories far and wide to not only point out the problem(s) but also protect their crews lives when they head out to cover stories in the future. But that’s where things get sticky. Strong law enforcement and individual self-protection aren’t exactly pillars of the progressive movement. So how do you protect your crews when you can’t really talk about what happened because it would highlight significant issues with California as a progressive social experiment? Simple. You can’t.

So, while San Fransisco focuses on important issues, like paying for citizens to have sex change operations, the media ignores wanton violence against its own employees because it doesn’t fit The Narrative. And the reality is that this is the new normal. More and more people know that the government will help them, and that the help is not contingent on anything other than simple economic qualification. There is no positive behavior modification required, voluntary or otherwise. You don’t even have to affect a pretense that you’re a good person, morally, ethically, or legally. You can have a criminal record a mile long, be a wife abuser, a child molester, a rapist, you name it, but a pulse and proof of income are the only requirements for eligibility for a whole host of social programs.

When there is no incentive to behave, and in fact shameless people are monetarily rewarded even when they don’t behave, what message are we sending as a society? Is it really a surprise that people are becoming increasingly brazen and cruel in taking property that doesn’t belong to them? Of course not. We teach and reinforce that behavior from cradle to grave. We call it Social Services and we pat ourselves on the back for our high-minded and charitable ways.

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Something Is Very Wrong

This:

THIS DOESN’T EQUAL THAT:

1) Record Republican Enthusiasm

2) Record Republican Fundraising

3) Record GOTV

4) Record Early Voting

5) Record Republican Crowds

6) Record Independent Support

= Record Low Turnout?

How low was Republican turnout? Lower than 2004!

Folks, something stinks.

Posted by: Bill Mitchell at November 07, 2012 09:26 AM (hlUJY)

Posted in Government/Politics | Tagged | 1 Comment

Turning the Other Cheek

Dear New York City:

I donated to Red Cross Disaster Relief because of the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy.

It’s not that I’ve forgotten your arrogance and demeaning attitude toward us slope-headed country bumpkins. It’s not that I’ve stopped clinging to my Bible or my Winchester. And it’s not that you’ve apologized for suggesting that you’re superior for packing yourselves into a concrete, asphalt and steel metropolis like mindless sardines.

Now that you’ve come face-to-face with a real natural disaster, and it has kicked your ass, and you’ve de-evolved to savage looting, the rest of us neanderthals will come to the aid of you highly evolved homo-sapiens, even while the President goes to campaign, FEMA can’t even get you water and Bloomberg pays you worthless lip service.

Like millions of Americans, I’m helping you because you need help and it is the right thing to do. Period.

You’re welcome.

[Added:] Please donate.

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“Conservatism is Calling”

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