Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Lemongate



Sep. 27, 2011


Before September 16, 2011, I’d never heard the term, Lemon Socialism. Charles Krauthammer educated me that day on Hannity. I naturally thought he said, Lenin, and not Lemon. So, what is it? Lemon Socialism occurs when the government doesn’t allow a failing company, a ‘lemon,’ to fail. Instead, the beaurocrats pick the industry they want to succeed, and invest heavily in associated corporations. I can hear the Obama defenders in unison saying, But the Bush Administration propped the oil companies up. Perhaps, and if true, therein lies another wrong, but do two wrongs make a right? For some, maybe they do. In any case, the oil companies were already successful, and they didn’t fail. The green industry, as Krauthammer said, is a “fantasy.” Their poster child corporation, Solyndra, failed - and over a thousand people were laid off. This, after a $535 million loan guarantee was paid to the Green Goliath - out of the massive $787 billion stimulus program by the Obama Administration. Funny, Obama supporters will overlook the same thing for which they wanted to jail George Bush’s team, and throw away the key. Wasted millions to rich corporations... The only difference is, the Bush Administration didn’t do it.


Tulsa billionaire, George Kaiser, a rich guy, and one of the largest contributors to the Obama campaign in 2008, invested heavily in Solyndra. He made three visits to the White House in Mar., 2009, and after the $535 gift, Solyndra went on a wild spending spree, according to the Washington Post. The company then lobbied for $400 million more, which, fortunately, was not approved. But this story has twists and turns; and legs. Some Democrats said that the Bush Administration, not blamed enough in recent years, supported Solyndra’s application from the beginning. However, the Bush Dept. of Energy voted down a Solyndra loan guarantee in the final days of their administration.


Thinking Solyndra could fill the role of poster child for green jobs, the Obama Administration propped it up. What its success could have done for the environmentalist movement! But this is what their green goop is based on. Hope and change. If only there were an alternative to gasoline. If we only invest trillions of dollars in green energy research, another fuel will be developed. But this is foolishness. Most likely, someone will develop an alternate fuel someday, but this hasn’t happened yet. (Due to such differences in thinking and philosophies, politics is endlessly appealing to me.) As Charles Krauthammer said, “It’s like throwing $billions at jet engines in the 1920’s.” He meant that the idea for the jet engine has been around for centuries - yes, it has, look it up! However, it had to be slowly developed over time before it became useful (in the mid-1940’s).


The left will try to force the future to come to us, but that’s not the way it works. So, when the environmentalists tell you to stop denying science, have them realize: It’s not the denial of science; it’s an acceptance of the math. Tell them to stop propping up the lemons. When the lemonade finally arrives, we’ll all be called to the table for a glass or two!



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Monday, September 19, 2011

The Genius, Part I

Aug. 28, Sep. 6 and 19, 2011


The mainstream media (MSM) calls the Tea Party extremist, racist, and unpatriotic, among other things. The MSM and the left blames this ‘third party’ for many ills, including the bad economy and American’s discomfort with the current status quo. When we write about or debate politics, one thing is true. Each of us has our own opinion, and each is unique. Therefore, when we say something is obvious, we are correct in our own mind. Yet, it’s one person’s opinion, and the other side sees things differently.


New York Times correspondent Thomas Friedman appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources on Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011. He is deemed a genius by many on the left for reasons which elude me. Friedman, according to host Howard Kurtz, is now backing an outfit called Americans Elect. The website, at http://www.americanselect.org, features the title: Are Politics As Usual Working For You? The choice Yes, points to the left, which is bathed in red (this color usually signifies blood, bad, conservative, or Republican). The other choice, No, points right, and is the blue half of the screen (blue is generally considered the good color, reserved for free-thinking, liberal, and Democrats). It’s easy to see where the website is headed… (The ridiculous implication here is that if you like Washington gridlock, then you're a conservative.)


During his broadcast, host Kurtz made sure to mention that the debt ceiling debate failed because the left and right couldn’t agree on “a way to raise the debt ceiling and keep the country out of default,” which wasn’t the true goal, but is the liberal talking point on the matter. As Friedman did his impression of a bobble-head, Kurtz continued, saying, “this frustrated everybody.” Yes, he said "left and right," but it's standard fare to hear that what stopped the whole thing was only Republican rigidity, and we hear often that the Tea Party wing are the trouble-makers. Every time a generalization is made, though, it’s wrong. And, everybody was frustrated by what, exactly? The rigidity of the left is what frustrated me. As we've seen, members of the MSM abhor the idea of any third party, but Kurtz in this case, made sure to open his mind with regard to Friedman’s third party idea. To twist a famous expression: What’s right for the proper goose is not necessarily right for the propaganda…


Thomas Friedman, the wily columnist, said he admired Republican President George H.W. Bush (41, or, Bush the Elder). But why, oh, so clever one? Friedman said it was because Bush believed in math. Okay, so far he had me. But he went on to generalize, “it’s hard sometimes to find a Republican who believes in math these days.” A nasty remark, but the demagoguery continued. Friedman said this Bush, who said, “read my lips, no new taxes,” then faced reality (as Friedman and the left say) and raised taxes. He said this, the fact that Bush raised taxes, was what paved the way for the good economy of the 90’s. Thomas Friedman’s attitude tells us, “it’s so obvious,” but Friedman's impressions don't make it so. Bush 41’s breaking of his “no new taxes” promise hurt conservatives so badly they still remember it vividly today, 23 years later. To improve the economy all lawmakers should join the pledge to not raise taxes.




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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

My Twins



Sep. 12-13, 2011


My twins. They were such tiny, red things, starting out in life. These well-behaved kids didn't cry one bit, and they didn’t hurt a soul. Most people don't know they were conceived in the early 1960's, but were born in 1968 and 1969. They could have been named East and West, but they went by the names North and South instead. The first time I laid eyes on them was in the very first week of 1970 - during a short trip on the West Side Highway. I'll bet they were shorter than twenty stories each at the time. My first glimpse of the twins didn’t impress me much, but I happened to take my movie camera that day and have some silent and shaky 8mm pictures of the twin towers to prove it. You see, my friend and his family returned from a week-long cruise that cold but sunny morning, and I surprised them. I took the subway all by myself at the age of 15 from Brooklyn to meet them at their ship’s Manhattan dock. The car ride home became an unexpected gift for me. Now you know how I met my twins.


Why do I call them my twins? Well, I was born in the same city, and I matured along with them. Five years passed, and the towers approached their completion. One day in March of 1975 I took the subway there and stood at their base, impressed by their no longer red, but now silver majesties. Needless to say, my camera recorded a few images. Difficult to tell them apart from ground level, I pulled on the door handle of one tower. It opened, I stepped inside, and enjoyed a day I'll never forget. Three hours of peace and quiet on an empty floor - a wonderful prize for someone entombed in noise all day, every day, in the city that never sleeps. I photographed the scenes, inside and out. I promise, although a little chilly outside, it was a perfect, beautiful day inside.


Within the next few years I visited my twins at least twice. One cloudy day some friends and I stood atop one tower, outside, and I pointed to my friend, shouting, "Hey, your hair's standing straight up." I didn't realize my long hair did the very same thing. What a laugh we had! Another friends' dad worked in one of the towers and a group of us visited him just for the heck of it, and to say we'd been in the World Trade Center. One year I took the family back to New York to visit. I have a picture, taken in 1996, of my wife and kids at Liberty Island with my two guys standing across the river from us, oh, so tall in the background. Tons of pride welled up in me when I took that photo. I needed plenty of self-control to not shake the camera. My wife, my kids, and my twins - all in the same shot! I try not to look at it too much these days.


Along with a fire-ball vision and personal stories of friends and family who narrowly escaped death in the horrible pancake effect, I keep those who lost their lives on a fateful Tuesday fall morning in 2001 in my mind. I think of the heroes of 9/11, and wonder what I would have done had I been in the towers that day. These are the thoughts that return to me on the same week, the same day, every year. Ever since the day that changed everything, I compulsively add a new flag to my car’s antenna as each one wears out - for my twins - I loved them so much. But now they're gone, over ten years gone. Who would take them from me, and why? I’m sure we must ask, "Why?" I feel blue for the most part, but we should learn what we can from that awful day, and never let anything like it ever happen again. It's not just simple hyperbole. The twin towers were a symbol of the American spirit. I know that thousands of others lost a whole lot more than I did on September 11, 2001. Yet, my twins are gone forever! Please understand how much I miss them.


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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

John Andrews: How to Restore Responsibility



Sep. 5-6, 2011


The Tea Party represents "the hope of America," John Andrews, a Denver Post columnist, said at a recent event. In these days when the left represents the status quo (don't you dare modify Social Security and Medicare), and the right is for change (lower our taxes and stop spending), Andrews advocates a responsibility movement outside the two parties. "We need to fix politics as it is," he said, and he told the audience there are four basic steps we can use to mend it: Self-assertion, self-restraint, self-reliance, and civic knowledge. These are close to some ideas put forth by leftists during the 1960's, but they haven’t opted for them much since. Specific steps, how refreshing!


Self assertion means we push back on government. Self restraint means doing things in an even-toned manner. Mr. Andrews described it as a "musket over the fireplace, break glass in an emergency only" situation. Self reliance says we do enough things ourselves so that government doesn't have to reach in. A case in point is a family taking care of a member instead of relying on Medicare to do it. John Andrews wonders how so many Americans changed their attitudes so quickly - from being ashamed of accepting welfare - to demanding it. Some insist it's a right and not a privilege, and say, "Don't you ever take it away!"


People need to understand the founding documents of the United States. This is known as civic knowledge. For example, many U.S. citizens can't distinguish between Karl Marx' statement, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," and the Declaration of Independence, which says, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." It is surprising to realize that our slanted education system has failed us so horribly. No wonder many clamor for private educations for their children.


Societies follow predictable patterns. History shows that fiscal suicide follows moral suicide in the decline of a civilization. From bondage comes faith. Out of faith comes courage. As with bondage, faith, and courage, each of these follows the other in this order: liberty, abundance, complacency, entitlement, apathy, dependence, and bondage once again. Please think about those items for a moment, and reread them, if you will. Mr. Andrews stated that most civilizations get about 250 years, and this country has reached age 235 this year. "We are in the kill zone," he said. "Time is running out." Then he reminded us there's nowhere else to go in the world if freedom goes out in America. "Don't let it." Let's get to 2076 intact as a nation. As Mr. Andrews put it, "Let's get there and beat the odds." I felt inspired, and I thought the rest of the audience did as well.


I enjoyed John Andrews' latest column, Color the state red in 2012 at www.denverpost.com/andrews. When I read the narrow-minded responses to it there, online, I could only lament that our public education system has failed us. It needs a complete overhaul. The other side is myopic. They see tantrums, psychoses, fanaticism, and hatred where none at all exists. Every response but one seem to insist the right wants to take away people's rights, pollute, and hate gays. How and why do they believe this lie? These folks want to censor Mr. Andrews, and what they said is hateful. Their lack of cohesive thought and absence of intelligent rebuttal is stunning, and a bit disturbing. We must work to change the false perception these extremists have of us on the right. Please read the column and then the responses. You may respond either here or there, if you like.


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