My Baby Wrote Me A (Mulvaney) Letter

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 2

A few months ago, Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) wrote a letter. He had seen the horrendous videos of Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the price for the body parts they harvest from unborn babies. His letter to his counterparts in Congress said:

“The recent reports that Planned Parenthood has sold the tissue of unborn babies for profit is deeply disturbing. This is simply unacceptable. I vehemently urge House Republican leadership to use every available tool to strip this organization of any and all taxpayer funds and take measures to prevent the group from receiving taxpayer dollars in the future. Furthermore, we will not support any funding measure that provides taxpayer dollars for this organization.”

He asked his fellow members to join him, and at least 36 did.

With all the excitement going on (not chaos, according to Mick!) over the need for a new Speaker of the House, I asked the Congressman if the “Mulvaney Letter” is still operative, and if other members of the House should still be signing on to it. By signing “The Letter” a member of Congress commits to vote against any appropriations bill (Continuing Resolution) that includes full funding for Planned Parenthood.

His response was, “Nope. We will revisit ‘The Letter” in December.” And he observed the “fireworks” going on all around him over the speakership.

Funding for Planned Parenthood remained unscathed, at least for a few months. And I know that most of their funding is allocated by an agency, and not budgeted directly by Congress.

Still, we – the Conservative Constituents of the United States of America – want to make it clear that we do not, under any circumstances, condone our tax dollars being used by Planned Parenthood for (1) late term abortions, (2) trafficking in baby body parts and 3) campaign contributions for Democrats who support (1) and (2).

So if any of you other Congressmen and Congresswomen feel inclined to sign on to the Mulvaney Letter (whether or not Mick still feels it is “operative”), please DO!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Give me a ticket for an aeroplane
I ain’t got time to take no fast train
Oh the lonely days are gone I’m coming home
My baby she wrote me a letter

The Letter – Joe Cocker

Dude has got soul. Please take a minute from your busy day and enjoy some Joe Cocker.

Corruption – Time To Raise A Little Hell

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

75% of Americans think our government is corrupt. No kidding?

Everybody knows the game:

Taxpayers give money to government.

Corrupt politicians give some of that money (or favors) to organizations

Organizations kick back some of the money to the corrupt politicians as campaign contributions.

The politicians use the dirty money to get re-elected.

Return to number 1.

The corruption game is nothing new. Call it payola, quid pro quo, scratch my back – it has gone on ever since the first government came into being, and still occurs all over the world. In Mexico and similar “banana republics” nothing gets done by government without illegal payoffs.

No, the corruption game isn’t new, but the playbook has changed. Until recently, corrupt deals were made between public officials and private businesses. That arrangement was problematic – when the public found out about massive corruption (back then we had real journalism) the citizens would raise hell until the corruption was at least somewhat beat down. They didn’t like their tax dollars going to fat cat big business operators. But corrupt politicians didn’t appreciate these temporary interruptions in the game. So instead of using corporate cronies to fatten their wallets, they learned to cycle the dirty money through government employee unions, quasi-government organizations and NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) instead of private businesses.

This week’s scandal du jour is the uproar over Planned Parenthood’s use of taxpayer money for purposes that most citizens find repugnant. The dollars aren’t huge – only a half a billion or so – but what they do with the money sure has a lot of taxpayers’ underwear in a knot. Moreover, Planned Parenthood uses a good chunk of the money for campaign contributions and lobbying. They claim the government funds they get are applied only to honorable pursuits. But we all know that money is “fungible”.

Remember Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? These behemoth quasi-government organizations almost buried our economy in 2008 when the real-estate bubble of their creation popped and the government bailed out the big banks. Even President Obama, a master of quid pro quo, called the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac business model “heads we win, tails you lose.” We really still haven’t recovered. But the Fannie and Freddy corruption machine keeps chugging along, making big contributions to campaigns, paying monster salaries to its officials, and playing fast and loose with taxpayer money with almost no oversight.

Government employee unions are now the largest group of contributors to political campaigns. What a concept: the unions contribute taxpayer money to the very politicians who promise to protect their jobs and raise their wages. Jefferson would have loved that one.

Another cool quasi-government corruption setup is the Export/Import Bank, which uses taxpayer money to make risk-free loans that benefit crony corporations like Boeing, General Electric, and Caterpillar, to foreign governments and companies, some of whom actually compete with other domestic companies. There are all kinds of opportunities for bank employees to profit personally from shady arrangements. Some honest legislators, prodded by conservative constituents, may have finally put an end to this game, although General Electric and their political partners in crime are trying hard to keep it going.

And it’s not just about dirty politicians seeking campaign funds any more; federal agencies are in on the act. They now extort funds from US companies by threatening huge fines for trumped-up regulatory violations. Agencies like the EPA, FCC, NLRB and others routinely set up schemes that trade a “consent decree” (an agreement to not destroy a business with a long, expensive legal action) for cash. The feds also use consent decrees to take control over local government operations, such as police departments and local utilities.

Some federal corruption is simple and creative. Conservatives in Congress were furious to learn that VA Administration bigshots received big bonuses by faking the real performance records of their agency while patients died waiting for care. When the congressmen found out these guys could not be fired (this belongs in Ripley’s Believe It or Not!) they passed a law that making it possible to fire VA officials. So how many were fired? You guessed it. Zero.

The exploding corruption culture in Washington, DC is not a partisan issue – both Democrats and Republicans say they oppose corruption, but only a few true Conservatives are making any effort to do something about it. Leading Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump admitted paying off politicians. One can only assume the practice would continue under his watch.

One thing hasn’t changed. The only way to kill corruption, or at least slow it down, is for citizens to raise hell about it.

Ask your public officials and candidates what they plan to do about corruption. Give them specific examples. Most of them don’t mention the issue and haven’t even thought about it. Let’s raise a little hell.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

If you want to see an angel
You got to find it where it fell
If you want to get to heaven
You got to raise a little hell

If You Want To Get To Heaven –
Ozark Mountain Daredevils

Another great seventies band, still on the road, gray hair and all, bangin’ on guitars!

“Most Govt. Spending Is Mandatory – That’s BS

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Federal officials and elite media pundits ridicule conservatives who demand lower government spending levels. They say only 24% of the budget is discretionary, and most of that is military spending, so there is nothing anybody can do about increased spending and debt without taking a hatchet to social security benefits.

Horse Hockey. There is a heck of a lot of discretion in that “mandatory” spending.

The Heritage Foundation points out that in 1965 only 27% of federal spending was mandatory. By last year mandatory spending had grown to 63% of the total, and it’s not just a function of our aging population. Over time our government has pushed a ton of new spending into the mandatory category.

Our government has made the discretionary decision to give millions of legal and illegal immigrants and refugees social security benefits, medicaid, disability, earned income credits, and a host of other “mandatory” federal benefits and subsidies. The majority of foreign-born in our country are on one or more welfare programs. And this does not even begin to address the cost of education, health care, fraudulent tax returns, cost of police and prisons and other infrastructure that cost billions. Our government has made the discretionary decision to not enforce the borders, to not follow up on visa violations, and to not keep illegal alien criminals out of the country. There is nothing mandatory about inviting foreigners to dip into the American taxpayers’ soup.

Our government has also made the discretionary decision to not crack down on waste and fraud in the mandatory spending programs. A study by Senator Tom Coburn’s office indicated as many as 45% of disability claims were questionable. Social security and food stamp fraud is rampant.

When it comes to spending, our government doesn’t have a reputation for using good discretion. It has dropped billions of public dollars on corrupt and hopelessly inefficient green energy programs and other corporate cronies. It has stifled economic development with disingenuous environmental and social programs. By its fed policy to eliminate interest, it has destroyed the US currency and transferred much of the wealth saved by a generation of middle class families to the big banks and their benefactors.

Our government has made discretionary payroll decisions that have resulted in government workers earning far greater compensation than private sector workers do, and many of them are frightfully ineffective and inefficient. Five of the six wealthiest counties in the United States are Washington, DC suburbs. Much of the cost of these discretionary payroll decisions are embedded in mandatory spending.

Worst of all, our government has made the discretionary decision to pass on an insolvent nation to our future generations by refusing for decades to even write, much less balance, an honest zero-based budget. They didn’t have to do it, they chose to, pandering for the votes that bring them personal power and wealth.

I, for one, am tired of hearing that there is nothing anybody can do to reduce government spending because it is “mostly mandatory”. Elections have consequences, so we had better elect people who won’t use lame excuses to defend this unsustainable spending and debt.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You made me love you,
I didn’t want to do it!
I didn’t want to do it!
You made me want you,
And all the time you knew it!
I guess you always knew it!

You Made Me Love You (I Didn’t Want To Do It) – Judy Garland

National ID or Uncontrolled Immigration – Make Up Your Mind

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 1

Curveball As a teenage baseball pitcher I had a pretty good fast ball, and liked to throw everything hard. But my curve ball just wasn’t working. Then I got a physics lesson from my coach. “Son, ” he said, “you can either get speed on the ball or spin. But not both.”

He was right of course. The more spin you put on the ball, the more it will curve. With less spin, the ball will go straighter, and faster. Watch the “jugs” gun at a professional baseball game. A good pitcher throws a 95 mph fast ball, but his curve ball will come in at about 80 mph.

I think of that lesson whenever a news story reveals the trade-off between security and freedom.

Conservative Americans tend to guard their anonymity. They don’t think the government has any right to know a lot of details about their lives. Many just don’t trust the government to keep our information confidential, and recent examples of sloppy data security and failure to prevent hacking would seem to support that skepticism.

Others worry that corrupt government officials might actually use personal data to harm us for political purposes. Again, there is recent evidence that this kind of stuff happens; the IRS has become a weapon of personal destruction. It’s not hard to see why many Americans would prefer to be invisible to their own government.

But many of the same people who want to fly beneath the government’s radar also demand that the government provide us optimum security, which would require the feds to know a lot about everybody who is inside our borders. Here’s the hard truth: you can have security or anonymity, but not both. Speed or spin.

The United States has a serious problem with immigration in all varieties: legal, illegal, and refugee. Unskilled and under-educated illegals, mostly Mexicans, flow across our southern border, wreaking havoc here that would not be tolerated in their home country. USA Today reported this week that 76% of immigrant families with children are on welfare. Media sources say about 30% of inmates in our federal prisons are illegal immigrants, but that number is based on “self-reported” immigration status by prisoners and is likely much higher. Criminals who are illegal immigrants are routinely released by law officers in our sanctuary cities. Illegal immigrants have made a multi-billion dollar industry out of tax fraud – the IRS is totally indifferent to the outrageous refunds they receive, using fake tax returns and fake social security numbers.

Immigrants who are legally admitted to the US with temporary visas for work, education, or other purposes, often overstay their visas or take up permanent residence. Vote fraud by citizens and non-citizens alike is a growing problem, largely due to the failure of precincts to prove that voters are legitimate. Identity theft losses continue to accelerate.

Homeland Security, ICE, and the other federal agencies all say there is nothing they can do about any of these problems because they just can’t keep track of everybody.

Well, people, it’s time. It’s time for all legal American citizens to have a micro-chipped USA identification card, and the federal government must update its technology to be able to identify every human being within our borders. Our government should collect DNA, retinal scans, palm scans, or any other physical individual identification from everybody who lives here, visits here, or is discovered to have arrived here. The technology is readily available, and the cost should be more than offset by savings.

Scary? Yes.

But so is the reality of thousands of Muslim refugees arriving on our shores unvetted at a time when Iran is on the verge of receiving $150 billion and a free pass to build nuclear weapons which it will share with its aligned Muslim terrorist groups from all over the Middle East. So is the prospect of a US economy crushed under the weight of an exploding population of needy, unskilled third-world immigrants and refugees, reproducing at a much greater rate than native-born Americans. So is the loss of our national identity, our character, our traditions, our heritage, and our sense of unity, as American-born citizens become outnumbered by foreigners who don’t speak the same language, don’t understand our unique system of government, don’t recognize our laws, and don’t intend to assimilate into our common culture.

It may be hard to trust the government after what we have been through the last several years. Under the circumstances we have no choice but to trust, and we’d better be careful who we put in power. I don’t see how we will ever get this hot mess back under control until we know who is who.

Speed or spin. Security or anonymity. Time to make up our minds.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Did you ever have to make up your mind?
And pick up on one and leave the other behind?
It’s not often easy and not often kind.
Did you ever have to make up your mind?

Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind? – the Lovin’ Spoonful

Charlotte Taxpayers Get Fouled Again On Stadium Upgrades

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 1

TIME WARNER ARENA – photo by LeighSells.com

Charlotte won its bid to host the 2017 NBA All-Star game, and already the calculators are overheating.

Last fall Charlotte’s city council committed local taxpayers to $27.5 million in upgrades to Time Warner Arena, enough to persuade NBA commissioner Adam Silver that the Queen City deserves the event. The city will spend at least an additional $6 million on All-Star Weekend, including a $600,000 hosting fee to the league and another $600,000 in incremental police, fire, and medical costs.

The city of Charlotte shares ownership of Time Warner Arena with the Charlotte Hornets, having paid $260 million of the original construction cost in 2005. The arena replaced the Charlotte Coliseum, which was built in 1988 and was the home of the Hornets for 17 years before it was demolished despite a public outcry.

About $1.5 million of the cost will be paid from hospitality taxes and the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority is forking over a similar amount. Mecklenburg County and the state of North Carolina will also be asked to chip in, but the rest of the cost will be borne by city taxpayers. Hornets owner Michael Jordan, who boasts a net worth of $1 billion thanks to the appreciation in the value of his team, has offered to pay $150,000 of the tab out of concession profits.

Charlotte Mayor pro tem Michael Barnes said, “We have to invest in assets the city owns.” The city’s somewhat vague contract requires it to maintain a facility that is “among the NBA’s most modern”. The city council approved the spending on a partisan 9-2 vote. One of the dissenters, Republican Ed Driggs, thinks the taxpayers are on the receiving end of a flagrant foul.

“Many don’t believe public money should be used to subsidize a for-profit business,” Driggs told the Charlotte News Observer. “How do we rationalize the terms of this? We pay all the capital costs and receive no proceeds. What kind of partnership is this?”

Charlotte taxpayers are still looking for an ‘unnecessary roughness’ penalty flag after the city council gave NFL owner Jerry Richardson $87.5 million for questionable improvements to Panther Stadium. And the fiscal finish line is nowhere in sight for the uptown money-pit Nascar Hall of Fame, which cost $194 million in public funds and is still losing over a million bucks a year.

The residents of Charlotte own some of the finest sports facilities that money can buy, but most can’t afford to enjoy them, thanks to ever-escalating ticket and concession prices. The players seem to have more success negotiating with team owners, as evidenced by Cam Newton’s new $104 million contract with the Panthers.

Maybe Charlotte taxpayers need a new agent.

• this article can be seen in its entirety at Watchdog Arena, a sponsor of “Rockin’ On the Right Side” •

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Sometimes building ivory towers, sometimes knocking castles down
Sometimes building you a stairway, lock you underground
It’s that old-time religion, it’s the kingdom they would rule
It’s the fool on television, getting paid to play the fool

The Big Money – Rush

I play in a three-piece band on weekends and am occasionally looked down upon by a prospective venue booker who thinks that it takes a bunch of musicians to make good music. Hmm. Here’s a pretty darn good little three-piece band:

I’m About To Give You All My Money, Give Me Some R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Posted on July 15, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

What does government do? What CAN government do?

In a nutshell, the only thing government can do is spend our money. Period. That’s all, folks.

Our governments – city, county, state, federal – pass bills that spend our money. Whatever they do, it involves spending our money. If they are doing more, that means they are spending more money. The more they do, the more they spend. If we criticize them for not doing enough, that means we think they are not spending enough of our money.

Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Greenie Meanie Weenie, it doesn’t matter. The only reason any politician exists is to spend our money.

The longer a politician is in office, the more money he/she has spent. In fact, those elected officials who rise to the top of the food chain find themselves in position to spend even more money than everybody else. They get re-elected by promising to spend more of our money. Two of the most powerful people in Congress are the heads of the Appropriations Committees. In the Senate, that would be Thad Cochran (R-MS) – whose last election is legendary in the annals of dirty and criminal political maneuvers. In the House, it would be Hal Rogers (R-KY), known as the “Prince of Pork”.

Thinking Americans have come to realize that more government, bigger government, more spending has not solved our problems as a nation. Big government has only funneled money from some of us to others of us, but has not improved the standard of living for all of us. Those with government connections continue to thrive while the middle class has all but disappeared and the growing underclass has become hopelessly dependent on government programs.

It took a few hundred years, but today’s politicians have figured it out – election and re-election can be easily won by buying votes with somebody else’s money.

If this sounds cynical, I’m sorry. Tell me where I’m wrong.

But there is good news. We can get out of this mess, and it’s an easy fix. All we have to do is ask every candidate for public office one simple question: Will you reduce the size and cost of government?

If the answer is yes, give that person money and vote for him or her. If the answer is no, run like hell.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I’m about to give you all of my money
And all I’m askin’ is for a little respect
When I come home.
Hey, hey, hey!

Respect – Otis Redding

You thought I was giving you a song by ARETHA didn’t ya! Otis Redding wrote and recorded Respect in 1965. Aretha Franklin covered it two years later, and it became a classic – one of the rare instances where the cover beats the original. I do this song every weekend with my family band Caution! Blind Driver, and our audiences are always surprised when I sing it instead of our female vocalist, my daughter Jenny. Here is a video of Otis singing this R&B standard on Dec. 9, 1967. Sadly, he was killed the next day in a plane crash.

First Obama Phones – Now Obama Web

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

This week the FCC will review and perhaps vote on a proposal to expand the “Lifeline” telephone subsidy program to include entitlements for broadband internet services for the poor.

The Lifeline program was authorized by Congress with good intentions in 1985. It provided subsidies for land-line telephone service to the poor, on the theory that a telephone is necessary to maintain basic health and safety. The program, funded by federally mandated surcharges on consumer telephone bills, flew under the radar until 2005 when it was expanded to include cell phone service. The subsequent rapid growth and explosion of fraud and abuse in the program drew considerable attention as free cell phones, derisively dubbed “Obama Phones”, were widely distributed – even unscrupulously collected and resold – with little qualification or oversight.

The program cost $1.4 billion in 2014.

To test the veracity of reports that virtually anybody could apply for and receive an “Obama Phone”, I filled out an online application (honestly) and hit “enter”. Four days later I had a new cell phone, complete with 250 minutes of cellular service per month and unlimited texts. It’s mine to use, apparently forever, no questions asked. And I don’t think anybody would consider me the slightest bit “needy”.

In 2012, pushed by congressional oversight, the FCC attempted to assert some discipline in the program. While costs were somewhat reduced, the rampant fraud continues, according to FCC commissioner Michael O’Rielly. He wants to see the Lifeline program cleaned up before any consideration is given to expanding the entitlement. O’Rielly would:

Set a budget for the Lifeline program – it currently has no limits on spending

Disallow any increase in the reimbursement rate paid to providers for adding broadband services

Limit the services covered under the program

Offer subsidies to only those who really need it – a survey indicated 19 out of 20 Lifeline users would have their own smart phones even if the program didn’t exist

Require participants to have “skin in the game” – no more completely free phones

Senator David Vitter (R-LA) wrote a scorching letter to FCC chairman Tom Wheeler, calling the program, “. . . one of the most abused and fraud-ridden federal programs ever.” He excoriated Wheeler for denying the Office of the Inspector General the authority to investigate.

After decades of relative obscurity, the FCC, under Wheeler, is grabbing headlines with regularity this year. Their new “Net Neutrality” rules took effect last week, making internet service providers regulated utilities like phone companies, and preventing them from charging higher rates to high volume customers. Congress has vowed to undo the new provisions and might even cut the FCC’s budget.

Some view the FCC’s move to expand the Lifeline program as a natural and timely adjustment to rapid change in communication technology. Others say it is just one more entitlement – payback and pay-forward for the political support of a growing segment of government-dependent voters.

This article can be seen in its entirety at Watchdog Arena.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I’m free to choose what I please any old time
I’m free to choose what I please any old time
So hold me, love me, love me, hold me
I’m free any old time to get what I want, yes I am

I’m Free – the Rolling Stones

Here’s a nice and kind of obscure tune by the Stones – enjoy!

USDA Food Stamp Program Benefits Yemen

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 1

photo courtesy LegalInsurrection.com

About 25 years ago my wife and I were on a vacation trip in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We had just got out of our car on a downtown street near the post office when a wild-eyed, shaggy-haired young guy ran up to us. “Hey!” he yelled. “You guys wanna buy some food stamps? 50 cents on the dollar!”

We were so caught off-guard, all we could say was, “No thanks.” He ran off to the next stranger on the street – “Hey! You wanna buy some food stamps . . . ”

After we figured out what had happened, we realized we should have called the police. But we were a couple of naive middle-class Americans, who, like most, never had the time or inclination to figure out ways to commit fraud. It honestly never crossed my mind that one could sell his taxpayer-funded benefits at a discount, receive cash, and spend it on whatever floats his boat more than groceries for the kids.

Even then, before EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) cards, the fraud was painfully easy. Food stamps were printed on paper and they were as good as cash. I could have easily saved 50% on my next grocery shopping trip. And the “needy” young guy on the street could have landed a weekend supply of Ludes and Mary Jane, compliments of the taxpayers. Neither of those outcomes were the intention of LBJ, or the legislators who passed his Food Stamp Act in 1964 and upgraded it several times since, or the taxpayers who write checks to the IRS every year. Little did we know that the food stamp fraud problem was going to get worse – much worse – over time.

We all exchange frustration about being in the grocery checkout line behind somebody with a cart full of extravagant fare, paid with an EBT card. We are alarmed when we hear that SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) will cost over $84 billion in 2015. We wonder why schools plan to feed kids during the summer months, as well as throughout the school year, when their families already presumably receive food stamp benefits.

photo by Tameka Moore AL.com

This week a Birmingham, Alabama task force raided twelve convenience stores and arrested 17 suspects involved in an alleged food stamp fraud ring. The convenience store owners had been buying EBT cards from their customers at 50 cents on the dollar, and using the cards to buy merchandise for resale, including steaks at Wal-Mart. Worse yet, some of the Muslim store owners were accepting EBT cards in exchange for cash payments to individuals in

Yemen. This was no small operation, as officials identified hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent transactions. And authorities only have the resources to deal with a tiny tip of this huge Alabama iceberg. Food stamp fraud cases like this show an accelerating trend all over the country.

While it is somewhat reassuring that some fraud cases are being prosecuted, it is disheartening to know that we are not even scratching the surface. Citizens question why our government agencies aggressively promote benefit programs regardless of whether recipients are legal citizens or not. There is inadequate prevention and policing of the rampant fraud by both consumers and providers. Our border and immigration policies invite throngs of third-world indigents who hold little hope of becoming contributors to the economy and land here fully expecting benefits.

A group of clear-headed conservative Congressmen have lined up behind Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) to introduce the ‘SNAP Verify Act of 2015’ in hopes of putting the brakes on the food stamp fraud program. The law would require EBT users to present photo ID cards when making purchases.

Unfortunately, until Democrats and less-conservative Republicans recognize the scope of the problem, and put some teeth into enforcement, food stamp fraud will only get worse.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

It’s a cheating situation,
A stealing invitation
To take what’s not really ours
To make it through the midnight hours

A Cheating Situation – Moe Bandy

Federal Employees – Here’s How to Get More Paid Vacation Time, Free!

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

vacation A message for Federal Government Employees:

Are you stressed out from all of those meetings and conferences in fancy hotels? Is that 30-hour work week wearing you out? Five weeks of vacation couldn’t possibly be enough. Couldn’t you use a little extra time off from that exhausting desk job?

How would you like an extra two weeks of paid vacation, free? No tricks, no gimmicks, no downside! No kidding! Up to 14 days of extra paid vacation time!

It’s easy. All you have to do is screw up!

That’s right, section 5 of the civil service code says that if you screw up, your boss can’t fire you. In fact he or she can’t even recommend any kind of disciplinary action. Your “punishment”, if any, will be determined by some middle-management guys in your agency who don’t have any skin in the game. These “deciding authorities” have no interest in whether you follow the rules, break the law, embarrass your department, or threaten national security. No skin off their noses, right? They just need to be sure that their boss has plenty of CYA sauce, and that they don’t gum up the works.

If they give you any punishment at all, it will be paid leave. Sorry, usually that is limited to 14 days, because if they assess more free vacation time than that, the “Merit Systems Protection Board” has to get involved, and it could complicate things for the boss. But don’t worry, really there is no risk. Nobody EVER gets fired from the federal government in the Obama era.

Here’s how it works. Let’s say you are on assignment for the DEA in Columbia, and you need a little extra time off (with pay) for a spring break getaway. All you have to do is go hang out at the local brothel and have some fun with the working girls. Really! Don’t worry, your sex party is paid for by the drug cartel (you know, those guys you have been pretending to bust for shipping container loads of cocaine to the fine citizens of Philadelphia and Detroit). So go and enjoy your time off. Your boss doesn’t mind.

The taxpayers don’t mind either. Heck, they have been giving out paid leave for all kinds of federal employees who have learned that screwing up is the best way to get some extra paid vacation time. According to the Washington Post, tens of thousands of federal employees are home on paid leave right now as part of their “disciplinary action” for screwing up. Over a recent three year period the tab to the taxpayers was $775 million in salaries alone, not to mention the cost of replacing these bad boys and girls while they were on their extra paid vacations.

The taxpayers even pay government employees at retirement time for sick pay that they didn’t use because they didn’t get sick. What’s another couple of weeks of vacation for you? No big deal.

So if you want a couple of weeks of extra vacation, take my advice: do something terrible!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Vacation, all I ever wanted
Vacation, had to get away!

Vacation – the Go Go’s

We Must Demand Real Federal Budgets

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 1

zero based budgeting Zero-Based Budgeting is a simple concept, practiced by every family and every company in the USA. We all determine how much money we will receive for a given period, and then decide how we are going to spend it. We give priority to necessities, and then, if funds are available, we may indulge in luxuries or less-important items.

In fact the practice is so simple, so obvious, so common-sense that we don’t even give it a thought. We just do it. Most Americans would be surprised to learn that our federal government, with the largest budget on planet Earth, does not. The government simply takes whatever amount each department or agency spent last year, and adds to it. It is a recipe for economic disaster, and our $18 trillion debt is exactly that.

Last month Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL) introduced HR1591, the “Zero-Based Budgeting Ensures Responsible Oversight Act of 2015”. ZERO for short. It’s his third attempt to bring reason to our federal budget process.

The ZERO Act would require each department to justify all of its spending every year. Congressman Ross points out that in recent years taxpayers paid $615,000 to digitize Grateful Dead tickets, $442,000 to study male prostitutes in Vietnam, and $2.5 million for a Super Bowl ad. Neither you, nor I, nor any of our elected representatives authorized that spending. But it happened because there is no oversight, and under the current “continuing resolution” system, there can’t be.

If ZERO is enacted, departments would have to describe every activity for which funding is requested, provide the legal basis for the activity, and offer three alternative funding levels, two of which would be below the current year’s level. They would have to provide details on the benefits derived from each activity and any added benefit for increased funding. Plus, they must show measures of cost efficiency and effectiveness.

Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) told me he and the budget committee “will take up zero-based budgeting as part of budget reform later this summer.” So far only one congressman, David Jolly (R-FL) has co-sponsored HR1591.

At least three presidential candidates are advocates of Zero-Based Budgeting. Two of them, Rick Perry and Jeb Bush, are governors who understand budgeting. The third is Carly Fiorina, a dollar-savvy former CEO to whom ZBB is second nature. Fiorina told Breitbart News about something I personally experienced as a small business owner:

“I started my career in Washington, D.C. and sold to the federal government. As anyone who has done business with the federal government knows, in the last six weeks of every year, every government agency spends every dime,” she continued. They do that because they want to make sure the appropriations process is focused on the rate of increase for the following year – not what they actually need or whether they actually need to spend it.”

We taxpayers are dropping the ball. First of all, we don’t understand our own tax returns. And second, we don’t do a good job of holding our elected officials and the bureaucrats they are supposed to oversee accountable for spending our money.

It is admittedly hard work to budget every year, and to actually plan and prioritize spending. Families do it. Businesses do it. Is it too much to ask of our government officials and employees? Let’s encourage our congressmen to get behind real budget reform.

This article can be seen in its entirety at Watchdog Arena.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

What’s that honey?
Pick you up at eight? And don’t be late?
But baby, I ain’t got NOOOOOOOO money, honey!
Oh, all right honey, you know what I like!

Chantilly Lace – the Big Bopper

Here’s a fun video about a guy with a budget problem: