Sen. Max Baucus Payback to Big Tobacco Donors – Kill Small Businesses

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 1

The “pay for play” culture of corrupt cronyism is alive and well in Washington, DC.

Sen. Max Baucus, (D) Montana

Senator Max Baucus, (D) Montana, has just taken out an entire industry, its small business owners, and their employees with the stroke of a pen. By hiding a small amendment in the transportation bill that passed last week, Baucus ensured that every small “roll your own” tobacco company in the US will go “up in smoke”.

The roll-your-own cigarette companies sell papers and loose tobacco through retail outlets and vending machines. The market advantage of roll-your-own cigarettes is lower price and the pureness of the tobacco – the RYO companies do not add chemicals to the product like the big guys do.

Before Baucus’ amendment, the loose tobacco companies were exempt from the big sin taxes which afflict the finished cigarette manufacturers. His amendment eliminates this exemption, and the crushing cost of these taxes will snuff out the small companies, according to Robert Weissen, owner of nine Sin City Cigarette Factory outlets in Las Vegas.

These entrepreneurs are just trying to make an honest buck and are barely a blip on the big tobacco radar. The additional tax revenue will certainly not make a dent in the $16 trillion debt Baucus has helped create. Montana does not have any roll-your-own companies. So why does Baucus care about this tiny band of entrepreneurs? Well, among Baucus’ campaign contributors is Altria, aka Phillip Morris. Connect the dots.

Baucus has become the prototypical corrupt, sold-out, big-money, big-government, purely partisan, inside-the-beltway, showing-off-his-new-girlfriend cartoon character at its worst. He embodies everything a thinking citizen should abhor. Max does NOT represent Montana and seldom even SEES our beautiful state or its people. He has become an embarrassment to the citizens of the Big Sky state.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I got one hand in my pocket –
And the other one is flickin’ a cigarette

Alanis Morissette – Hand In My Pocket

The Government Sucks – So We, the People, Have to Step Up

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Today’s bad news: our economy added only 80,000 jobs in June – while another 85,000 workers dropped out of the labor force to join the ranks of the disabled. As fewer people can find or keep jobs, our federal government continues to take former workers onto the “dole” to artificially hide the true unemployment rate.

Our President’s reaction? “It’s still Bush’s fault”, and “We need more government union workers who will vote for me (teachers and firemen)”, and “Things are not all that bad”, and “There are no quick fixes”. Not exactly inspirational, is it?

By the way, when did you agree to have your federal tax dollars spent on more firemen for the city of El Paso?

And when did your local school board decide that your federal tax dollars should pay for “hundreds of thousands more teachers”?

Punch after punch, the federal assault on citizens continues. It’s enough to drive one to depression or drink, or both. Unless . . .

Unless we conservatives can make ourselves so strong individually and collectively that we can fight and win the daily battles in our city, state and federal government offices – and strong enough to educate and convince our misguided or disengaged brethren to vote correctly this fall.

When times are tough I take comfort in something I learned a long time ago, when I joined a bunch of young friends in a civic group called Optimists, Intl. Even the first line is enough to bring you out of your funk: “Promise yourself to be so strong . . . ”

The Optimist Creed

Promise Yourself …
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

Sounds kind of “Reagan-esque”, doesn’t it?

Tom Balek, Rockin’ On the Right Side

Give me a job, give me security
Give me a chance to survive
I’m just a poor soul in the unemployment line
My God, I’m hardly alive

“Blue Collar Man” – Styx

The Insults That Triggered our Declaration of Independence Are Here Again

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 1

On July 4, 1776, representatives of the States (not the nation) declared their Declaration of Independence independence from King George and Great Britain. The document they presented to the world included a list of grievances against the King that justified their bold action.

There are grand passages from the Declaration that are widely quoted and remembered. But the part that interests me today is the list of grievances. These guys were really ticked off, and with good reason. It surprises me how many of these “repeated injuries and usurpations” against the States exist today.

“Let Facts be submitted to a candid world”, they began. Each complaint in the list begins with “He . . .”, referring to King George. I can’t help making a mental substitution.

“He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome necessary for the public good.” (We now have an administration that has stated it will choose which laws it wishes to enforce.)
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” (Over-reach and bloated, uncontrolled growth by the EPA, the BLM, HUD, Fanny/Freddy, Education, Labor, Energy, Commerce, Justice, Agriculture, Health and Welfare, all of the “czars” – where do I stop?)
“He has combined with others . . . giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation for imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.” ObamaCare is the tip of the iceberg.

Fortunately, we can redress our grievances today without the bloodshed our forefathers bravely endured. We can again declare our independence by voting this fall to end the creeping tyranny that, left unchallenged, would destroy the freedoms our States have enjoyed for 236 years.

Tom Balek, Rockin’ On the Right Side

“Somebody Get Me A Cheeseburger!” – Steve Miller, ‘Livin’ In the USA‘

They Don’t Talk about “The Children” Any More

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Tom Balek Standard 2

Remember when the favorite justification for every liberal idea was “the children”? We would hear countless public service announcements on radio and TV, extolling the virtues of this government program or that, in the ubiquitous deep, oh-so-sensitive PBS voice – stretching out that first syllable – “the CHILLLLLdren.” It didn’t matter if the latest big-government program had anything to do with children – it could be providing free socks for desert toads – you could still count on hearing that it must be done for “the CHILLLLLdren.”

Something changed. In recent years you seldom hear “the children” invoked by the left. Could it be because any rational person knows that a 16 trillion dollar debt is really not so good for the children?

I became a grandpa when my twins grandbabies were born a couple of years ago. And, while I have known for some time that we are screwing things up pretty royally for future generations, it really hit home when I realized that one of those future generations includes my own precious twins. Now I see everything in a broader context. It makes political activism real for me. I feel compelled to do whatever I can for the future of my grandkids.

If you are still reading at this point, you should meet Lydia, the apple of Grandpa’s eye! I write and record songs for the kids, and here’s one I did for her – along with a video. By the way, if you remember “the Jetsons”, chances are you have grandkids to worry about too. We can’t let them down. Here she is!