Wanted: Tough Guys in Congress

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 1

mick-mulvaney 2 My congressman, Mick Mulvaney, keeps in regular contact with his South Carolina constituents, mostly via social media. He is accessible, articulate, and sharp – a conservative / libertarian / pragmatist who seems to really enjoy doing the people’s work.

As a by-product of his accessibility, Mulvaney wears his heart on his sleeve, and doesn’t do a good job of hiding his frustration with the “system”. That frustration was one of the reasons he was a founding member of the rebel Freedom Caucus.

Because we have such remarkable access to him, we pepper him with our own frustrations, hoping that since he actually hears our concerns, usually agrees with us, and seems to give a damn, he might actually be able to do something.

Today Mulvaney spent an hour or so on Facebook in an open question-and-answer session, something he does frequently. Frustrated questions, frustrated answers:

Bob: “Can someone please tell me how we are going to survive, as a nation, with a $19 trillion federal deficit? It seems no one is concerned. We have entrusted our country to Congress and NO Congressperson is taking a stand against spending.”

Mulvaney: “The House Freedom Caucus is pushing exactly that. But as the debt isn’t a sexy issue right now, we get almost no media coverage.”

Micheal: “The Pentagon has been required by law to be audited since the 90’s but has failed to do so. How can we give them more money when we have no idea how they are already spending the money they’ve received?”

Mulvaney: “I’ve been fighting against the OCO [Overseas Contingency Operations] slush fund since I got to Congress. I just wish more people cared about how badly we waste money in the Pentagon.”

Me: “Mick, have you followed the land grabs out west? I’m originally from Montana you know, and my friends back there are pretty worried. Between the EPA, the BLM, and taking land for “national monuments” it seems like the federal government is hell bent on owning or micromanaging every acre west of Nebraska. What’s going on?”

Mulvaney: “We push reforms every year, but they don’t rise to the level of getting much media attention.”

$19 trillion is not “sexy enough”? Nobody cares about wasted taxpayer funds? Not enough media attention to stop the federal government from acquiring 80% of the land west of Colorado, and torturing (or murdering) the few citizens who own the other 20%?

What happened to the idea that the people set the objectives for their representives? When did we start relying on the media to decide which issues are “sexy enough” to get attention? If Congress is waiting for the media to set their work priorities and schedules, we have a big problem.

Congressman Mulvaney and the Freedom Caucus are the ‘good guys’. We don’t need them to be ‘nice guys.’ What we need are some ‘tough guys’ who will take charge and get the important work of the people done.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

For you baby I would, swim the sea
Nothin’ I’d do for you that’s too tough for me
I’d put out a burnin’ building with a shovel and dirt
And not even worry about getting hurt
Ain’t that tough enough?

Tough Enough – the Fabulous Thunderbirds

Tough Political Decision? Let History Be Your Guide

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Decisions, decisions. Man is a thinking animal, and every waking moment involves decisions. Most are ordinary choices of personal comfort. Some decisions are a matter of life or death, or even something so paramount that one will risk his own life to achieve the desired result.

Some of us are better at making decisions than others. But one thing is clear – at the root of every decision is one primary element: self-interest. And that’s a good thing. The desire to improve our lives and the lives of the ones we love is universal, timeless and unbreakable. God knew what he was doing when he designed the human soul.

God also put us all on the same planet, so we not only have to serve our own self-interests, we also must co-exist. And that’s where it gets interesting. We all want what is best for ourselves and our families, but we can’t agree on the best way to make that happen. What might be best for you could be terrible for me, or vice-versa.

Those who see life from the “left” side believe individuals should sacrifice personal freedoms to gain physical and economic security as a group. Socialism calls for more control by the state, assuming that most people are not so good at making decisions for themselves. If decisions are made by fewer humans who are presumably smarter than the rest of us, there will be less likelihood of catastrophic failure. Individuals will have their basic needs met, but will not have the chance to make decisions that might lead to far greater success and happiness for themselves and others.

Those on the “right” side holds the opposite as truth. They would rather make their own decisions, because nobody is more interested in his own well-being than oneself. One may totally fail, but he would rather have the opportunity to achieve a higher level of happiness and fulfillment than settle for bland shared security.

There is, of course, middle ground, and that’s where the war between left and right takes place. Fortunately, in this political battleground of decisions and the philosophical fog of war, there is a bright, neon sign showing the correct path. It’s called history.

History proves that quality of life is always best where individuals have more freedom to make decisions in their own self-interest. And hell on Earth is where all decisions are made by the state. If more state control is so great, how did that work out for the people of the Soviet Union? Or Cambodia? Or Nazi Germany?

Why does our entire educational system deny this historical fact? How does a generation of our youth clamor to follow socialist demagogues who promise security but don’t explain the consequences of relinquishing individual rights and freedoms? Could it be that the few who would be the designated decision-makers are acting in their own self-interest?

History also shows that there were, and still are, individuals who understand the value of individual freedom so well that they would make the ultimate decision to put their lives on the line to preserve it.

My message is this: when faced with a decision between group security and individual freedom, let history be your guide.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You can choose a ready guide
In some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice

Free Will – Rush

Watch this fantastic Rush rocker featuring drummer Neal Peart and his HUGE set of DW drums. Free Will!

Easy First Step to Make USA Stronger – Eliminate EITC

Posted on January 23, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Our federal deficit and debt is so huge and out of control, there’s just nothing anybody can do about it. We’re screwed, right?

Wrong. We CAN fix it, and we must, if we give a damn about our kids.

Our debt and stagnant economy is a huge mess, that’s for sure, and the only way to clean up a huge mess is to start somewhere. I once stood awestruck on the deck of an aircraft carrier and wondered, “What was the first bolt the shipbuilders put in this baby?” Some Assembly Required. Instructions: 1. Insert 40 mm grade 5 bolt 16432-A-1216 into the top left threaded hole in whizzle restrictor plate 76-523215654.

You have to start somewhere. And I have an idea where to start the task of repairing our budget and tax code. We could do it tomorrow, it would be easy to do, and it would cost nothing. In fact it would save the taxpayers a ton of money, and would, over time, improve the economy and actually increase revenue to the government. Here it is:

Eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Wait, come back! I know you hate even thinking about taxes. That’s why you, and almost all Americans pay some total stranger to do your tax returns instead of doing them yourself. But this one little change would make a huge impact, and it’s easy. Really! Stick with me.

The earned income tax credit was enacted in 1975 under Gerald Ford. It is, simply put, a federal welfare program. Workers earning up to $52,000 per year are eligible to receive a direct credit on their tax returns, with the amount based on a number of criteria – mostly the number of dependent children. What began as a modest little income booster for low-income parents grew over time (like all federal programs) into a monster. The 2015 cost of the EITC is estimated at $70 billion. But there are other insidious side effects that are even more harmful than the cost.

You have probably heard that almost half of US workers pay no federal income tax. What you don’t ever hear is that many of these people get a tax refund even though they didn’t pay federal income tax. This includes foreign workers and illegal aliens. In fact, a new cottage industry has sprouted where tax returns are filed for illegals, winning them big tax refund checks for EITC and dependent child deductions. These returns go unaudited, with expedited payouts, despite rampant fraud including the claiming of children who never lived in the US. Senator Chuck Grassley even learned that illegals can file for EITC for previous years in which they didn’t file taxes!

When some complain that the minimum wage is not adequate for the survival of families with children, you never hear about the EITC tax refund checks, among many other benefits, that are received. At least 26 states also have their own additional EITC programs.

The most disturbing thing you don’t hear about the EITC is the damage it has done to the American nuclear family. Unmarried filers receive more EITC than married ones, and the direct result has been an increase in single-parent households. Many parents just don’t get married because it would cost them a significant chunk of change. At a time when 54% of 15 to 17 year-olds do not live with a married mother and father, this is just plain wrong.

Financial support from EITC and other programs enables and encourages many parents to remain single. Others live together, but remain unmarried. I know a couple in this category. Despite sharing a home for twenty years, and raising two kids together, she still calls him her “boyfriend”. For many years she claimed the kids on her single-filer tax return and benefitted from EITC. When she got a promotion and her income exceeded the threshold, her “boyfriend” claimed the kids on his single-filer return so he could continue to receive the full EITC. Their combined income exceeded $60,000.

These are good, hard-working people, doing nothing illegal. You can’t fault them. But why is the federal government hell bent on destroying the institution of marriage?

When we eliminate the EITC we reduce the incentive for illegals to come here and defraud the taxpayers. We stop the disincentive to marriage. I would require all workers to pay some federal income tax – even a small amount, so all would have ‘skin in the game’ and a reason to become engaged citizens again. With $70 billion to work with, there are plenty of ways the loss of EITC could be replaced for low-income families. Wage rates would increase, employment numbers would improve, kids would have two married parents, and the quality of life in America would be back on the upswing.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Where are you goin’ to?
What are you gonna do?
Do you think that it will be easy?
Do you think that it will be pleasin’, hey!

Livin’ In the USA – Steve Miller

Here’s a cool updated version of Steve Miller’s classic, “Livin’ In the USA”. Somebody get me a cheeseburger!

Let’s Fix Immigration – Voters Demand It, And It Can Be Done

Posted on January 9, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard 2

illegal_immigration Americans are worried as hell that our country, like many other Western nations, is hurtling headlong toward third-world status or worse by failing to control our intake of legal and illegal immigrants, asylees, and refugees. I attended a Trump rally last night at a jam-packed arena, and when he promised to deal with the immigration crisis the place exploded. It is unquestionably the priority item on voters’ minds this election year.

Most of our elected leaders, and some citizens, believe that it is impossible to solve our immigration and refugee problems, and we have no choice but to accept whatever happens. As long as we have the current bunch of knuckleheads in Washington, DC, I agree, there is probably no hope.

Their standard line is, “Even if you could build a wall on the southern border, you can’t round up 10 million illegals at gunpoint and bus them out of the country.”

That kind of talk is shallow, cynical, and lazy. Nobody in his right mind would attempt an armed roundup. And there are many illegal immigrants who have been here for many years, raised families, and have become responsible Americans – we can’t treat them the same as the border-hopping drug dealers. It will take a little bit of time and work to straighten this mess out.

By the way, there are probably at least 50 million illegals in the country now, not 10 million (that statistic is at least ten years old and was grossly underestimated then). Just wait until the birth rate of the immigrants and their extended families exponentially kicks in.

The DC knuckleheads can’t do it, but if we can elect some officials who will actually listen to what the American people want, and take some firm but basic steps, it’s not impossible. Here’s what I, your humble correspondent, would do.

Stop Illegal Immigration

Build the wall.

Tighten security on the Canadian border

Abolish the TSA and turn security responsibility (including identity information technology) over to the FBI, who would contract and oversee private security companies to protect borders, airports, marine ports, and any other egresses. Build stiff financial penalties into their contracts for any security failures. Make the contractors compete for the best performance at a reasonable cost. Reward the successful contractors and terminate the weak ones. Allow them to profile travelers and use any new technology or innovation that works.

Require any foreign nations with passengers/freight to the US to cooperate and meet our standards, or refuse them direct access to our ports.

Establish a security clearance process so that US citizens who travel frequently can be vetted one time and can then move through our ports easily.

Fix Legal Immigration

Revert to the proven effective legal immigration policies of the past that favor limited numbers of immigrants, based on economic conditions, who are self-sufficient, bring needed skills and talents, and will assimilate to our American language, laws, and customs. No more floods of needy third-world, predominantly Muslim, refugees who end up in monolithic ghettos on benefits. Stop using immigration as a forced-charity program, and stop allowing asylum to anyone with a lame story who asks for it. No more H1-B mid-skilled foreigners who take jobs away from Americans.

Establish a sensible work visa system for needed temporary labor, such as seasonal agriculture workers. Enforce minimum wage laws and appropriate working and living conditions.

Have the FBI contract and oversee private IT companies to establish an electronic control system that rigidly tracks all non-citizens on US soil. Non-citizens do not have Constitutional rights and must comply with restrictions and monitoring, utilizing chipped ID cards, GPS, surveillance, or any other methods.

Deal With Illegal Immigrants or Visitors Currently Here

No more government-paid benefits of any kind to non-citizens. Period. This policy change alone would make a huge difference.

Non-citizens who are employed must obtain renewable work visas. Perform rigid enforcement and stiff penalties against non-compliant employers and non-citizen employees, enforced by the FBI. Foreign employees will pay income tax but not social security or any other benefit-related taxes.

Any non-citizen convicted of any serious crime will be deported, along with family members, and permanently barred at the borders and ports.

A few key points: Our government has proven it can not perform any real work with efficiency and effectiveness, so we must turn over the critical tasks of information management and security enforcement to private contractors with firm oversight by Congress and the FBI who should publish performance statistics on the internet. The TSA is a bloated, inept, expensive failure. It must be eliminated. Private businesses who compete with each other for profit have no problem finding process improvements and cost reductions at the same time.

It is metaphysically impossible for the United States citizens to even make a dent in the poverty and insecurity of the entire planet by bringing the poor to our country – follow this link to an amazing video for proof . Forcing taxpayers to participate in the dangerous and ineffective relocation of third-world populations to our own county in the name of charity is just plain crazy. If we think it is in our national interest to help foreigners, it makes so much more sense to use our knowledge, wealth, statesmanship, and military capabilities to help eliminate poverty and oppression where it exists.

And (against my libertarian nature) I believe it’s time for everyone on US soil, citizens and non-citizens alike, to possess a national ID card and use identification technology like other modern nations do.

We have the opportunity to learn from the current and ongoing immigration disaster in Europe. Let’s not miss it. Show me where I’m wrong. Argue the details. But don’t say there’s nothing we can do about the immigration and refugee crisis.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I hear you knockin’,
But you can’t come in.
I hear you knockin’,
Go back where you been!

I Hear You Knockin’ – Dave Edmunds

Dave Edmunds still sounds mighty fine.

Liberal Politicians Make Me Want to Holler!

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

frustration I spend a good part of every day shaking my head. I know you do too. We ask ourselves, “what is wrong with these damn dumb liberal politicians?

For a long time I thought there could only be two possible explanations for why liberal politicians (both Democrat and Republican) act the way they do. In order to believe and do such ugly, hateful, damaging and illogical things, they must be either stupid or evil. Stupid, for instance, when they increase federal spending on frivolous stuff and refuse to cut spending on anything, no matter how corrupt or obsolete, while our national debt approaches $20 trillion and personal incomes stagnate or decline. Evil, for instance, when they insist on using taxpayer funds for killing babies and selling their body parts and then call anyone who objects a “woman hater”.

Some say maybe these liberal politicians are regular people who just never grew up. But I don’t buy that. My five-year old grandkids have already, on their own, figured out that the guy in the baggy red suit with the heavy southern drawl is not Santa Claus. Reindeer do not land on the roof. And the tooth fairy thing? The kids are just in it for the money. They haven’t grown up yet, but they aren’t stupid.

Somehow liberal politicians are immune to paradox. They think expecting a woman pay $9 a month for her own birth control pills is a “war on women”. But they can’t wait to import hundreds of thousands of Muslims, most of whom believe a woman should not be seen or heard, go to school, drive a car, hold a job, or have a clitoris.

Liberal politicians still make the wild-eyed claim that asking a voter to provide identification is a naked attempt to suppress the minority vote. Is there a human being alive in this country with no identification, other than the illegal and unvetted immigrants who can’t vote anyway? There can only be one reason to not verify the identity of a voter, and that is to enable vote fraud. Liberal politicians line up in lock-step on this one. Stupid? Or Evil?

I could go on all day, and so could you. They won’t allow a Christian bakery to refuse to make a gay wedding cake, but they love the Muslims who routinely execute gays. Guns in the hands of responsible citizens are unacceptable, but don’t touch the ones used by the liberal politicians’ bodyguards. Ordinary families can’t have school choice, but the rich liberal politicians can.

I ruled out the theory that they just never grew up. And I don’t think they are stupid. They might think we are, and that we will continue to swallow any old crap they throw out – like, “I never had sexual relations with . . . “, or “there were no classified documents on my server” or “I never blamed the Benghazi attack on a video”, or “all of our hard drives crashed at exactly the same moment”, or “we can’t stop this horrible legislation even though we control both houses of Congress.”

I know, you are shaking your head too. Makes me wanna holler. Throw up both my hands.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side Rockets, moon shots. Spend it on the have-nots.
Money, we make it. ‘Fore we see it you take it.
Oh, make you wanna holler. The way they do my life.

Crime is increasing. Trigger-happy policing.
Panic is spreading. God knows where we’re heading.
Oh, make me wanna holler. They don’t understand.

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) – Etta James

One of my favorite songs by one of my favorite singers. It was written in 1971 by the amazing Marvin Gaye, but the lyrics couldn’t be more current. Gaye’s song never went anywhere until Etta James recorded her arrangement in 1998, and since then it has been covered by stars like John Mayer, Grover Washington, Joe Cocker, the Chi-Lites, and many other artists. We got to see Etta on her last tour before she passed, and it was really special. Sorry, no live video of her doing this great song exists.

Republican Voters Would Crawl Over Broken Glass to Defeat Hillary

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 3

trump1 Here we are at the end of 2015, and it’s still all Trump, all the time.

Trump’s juggernaut campaign remains a total mystery to the Washington Insiders, especially the Republicans. Michael Medved, one of many pretend conservatives on talk radio, pees his pants every time he hears Trump’s name. Wonder where Trump’s campaign funds come from? He takes Medved’s lunch money every day – and Bill Bennett’s, and George Will’s, and Karl Rove’s and a whole bunch of other wimps.

Here’s the latest CNN national poll results and my unfiltered opinion of each.

Pataki (withdrew)- 0%: Ptooey.

Santorum – 0%: Nice guy, desperately means well, but Rick, it ain’t ever gonna happen.

Graham (withdrew) – 1%: His (my) own conservative state can’t stand him – it took Democrat votes via our open primary system to keep him in DC. He wants strong military and open borders. Huh?

Huckabee – 2%: Bright. Maybe devious. For some reason I wouldn’t want to buy a used car from this guy.

Kasich – 2%: Why can’t we all just be friends and play nice together?

Fiorina – 2%: She is so smart and so strong-willed. Oh wait, that scares the hell out of most people.

Paul – 4%: He really understands the Constitution. Sadly, nobody cares.

Bush – 3%: Sigh.

Christie – 5%: He says his greatest attribute is his desire to make deals with the liberals. Next.

Carson – 10%: Brilliant, and conservative. But people who visited his house said every square inch of wall space is covered with pictures of Ben and awards presented to Ben. He may have a bigger ego than Obama.

Rubio – 10%: Gang of Eight. Next.

Cruz – 18%: If I am ever caught in a dark alley with a menacing gang of debaters from Harvard, I want Ted on my side. He will shred any opponent, including Hillary. He’s smart, tenacious, ambitious, conservative. A few weeks ago he chaired a Senate committee meeting, and not a single Republican senator attended, leaving Cruz to face a roomful of Democrats alone. His fellow Senators absolutely HATE him. That’s good enough for me.

Trump – 39%: At first I was really put off by his personal insecurity (“I’m really smart! Really I am!) And I was convinced he had no depth of thought on any issue. I still sometimes think he might be a few fries short of a happy meal. But I’m starting to get it.

I listened to a complete hour-long Trump speech tonight, for the first time. And I found that he actually does address important issues, albeit in his own odd way. He talks off the cuff, and his stories wobble and wander all over the place. His over-use of adjectives and hyperbole is almost criminal. He spends too much time talking about himself and his lead in the polls, which he defends, saying, “But I am leading the polls! Jeb Bush sure doesn’t want to talk about the polls.” I guess maybe saying “we’re number one” is not a bad marketing pitch.

If you get down to the nitty-gritty, you find that his message is usually right, and sometimes even illuminating. Tonight Trump talked about a friend who had always bought Caterpillar tractors but just bought a new Komatsu instead. “It’s the devaluation of their currency, Caterpillar can’t compete, ” Trump explained. That led to talk about international trade, and the exodus of American manufacturing companies overseas, and the billions of dollars of offshore profits held by American companies due to our outdated and unfair corporate tax structure. “It’s called ‘corporate inversion'”, Trump said. “I doubt the other candidates have heard that term.”

I have mixed feelings about his admission to “paying off politicians” for business favors. I don’t get the feeling he could be bought, though. And I know damn well the vast majority of our elected officials are, shall we say, influenced by big contributors.

Most of his positions and proclamations are just populist common sense, but they shine brightly in a world that has gone PC. I think his strong stand against unfettered immigration and refugees is the biggest bullet in his pro-second amendment clip.

“He can’t beat Hillary,” they whimper. It seems to me he is probably the only Republican candidate who will smack Hillary between the eyes with her blatant lies, her stinks-to-high-heaven “charitable” foundation, and her coverups for her violently lecherous husband. Yep, he can beat Hillary. And the recent revelations that he has strong followings among minority groups doesn’t hurt.

Am I in the Trump camp? Not yet. But I’m like the caller on Little Mikey Medved’s show the other day. Medved challenged him, “If it came down to Trump or Hillary, would you vote for Trump?” The caller responded, “No question. I’d crawl over broken glass to beat Hillary.”

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

So take me from the wreckage
Save me from the blast
Lift me up and take me back
Don’t let me keep on walking…
Walking on broken glass

Walking On Broken Glass – Annie Lennox

One of the all-time greats, Annie Lennox has got it going on!

Are The Three Stooges Running Our Energy Policy?

Posted on December 17, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 1

Gas is down to $1.65 a gallon here in South Carolina, and dropping.

It seems like only yesterday we feared industrial nations would need more oil than could be produced, and that we might even run out of oil. The price of oil spiked upward, motivating scientists and entrepreneurs to search for new sources and methods for meeting the world’s growing need for affordable energy.

rusty-wind-turbine Pressed by our federal government, and rewarded with huge taxpayer-funded subsidies, domestic energy providers tried wind power, but that was a bust. It quickly became evident that windmill farms are horribly inefficient, difficult and expensive to maintain, and damaging to birds. Not to mention they are an eyesore. Now thousands of rusting, inoperative windmills blot the American landscape, and the ones that still work require ongoing federal cash infusions.

Solar power didn’t work either. The cost per unit of power produced was even worse than wind, requiring financial support from taxpayers to bring it to market. Solar panels take up too much real estate, are subject to weather, and could only provide a small part of our electrical needs even in the best of circumstances. In the scramble for easy government money, corruption in the solar power industry was rampant.

The government even forced us to add ethanol to gasoline, despite estimates by scientists that corn ethanol production uses six times more energy than it produces. The push toward ethanol threw a monkey wrench into the agricultural industry.

But while the federal government (like always) failed miserably to solve the problem, the free market (like always) came through with flying colors, finding a way to affordably meet our current and future energy demands. Guess what? It’s still oil and natural gas. Thanks to new high-tech methods of finding and tapping oil and natural gas reserves with a small and ecologically benign footprint, we now have an overabundance of available energy.

So now we can get rid of the expensive, corrupt, and unproductive taxpayer subsidies for solar power, wind generators, electric cars and ethanol plants, right?

Sigh.

Today our congressmen and women are voting on yet another bloated omnibus spending bill which includes:

a five-year extension of the solar investment tax credit (ITC)
a five-year extension of the wind production tax credit (PTC)
an increased allocation to the Department of Energy, most of which gets used for subsidies and contracts to politically-connected cronies
a three-year extension of the land and water conservation fund (LWCF), which will result in even more government ownership of resource-rich land

The uber-rich will still get $7500 from taxpayers for each $100,000 Tesla electric car they buy. The owner of Tesla will rake in millions more in subsidies. Meanwhile your own ten-year old Chevy will die prematurely from burning 10% ethanol while the prohibitive price of The-Three-Stooges-1 beef erases steaks and roasts from your grocery list. And the pure gas you buy for your boat, which can’t use ethanol, costs 70 cents per gallon more than the stuff with ethanol added. Huh?
I think I know who is in charge of our energy policy. Larry, Curly, and Moe.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Hey Moe! Hey Moe!
Well, nyuck nyuck nyuck nyuck!
La da dee, la da dee!
Woo! Woo! Woo! Woo!

The Curly Shuffle – Jump N’ the Saddle Band

Liberal Comedy – You Can’t Make This Stuff Up

Posted on November 4, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

So there we were, my wife and I, patiently waiting for the York County (SC) council meeting to start. I was one of several constituents there to make a statement in support of our councilman’s resolution to prevent the Refugee Relocation program from dumping third-world citizens in our county. I wanted to point out that bringing in needy refugees does not benefit our nation or citizens in any way, so it can only be viewed as charity. And taking money from taxpayers to give to a foreign charity without our consent is unconstitutional and illegal.

Next to my wife sat a 40-something guy – longish hair with a balding spot, rimless glasses, Mister Rogers sweater, 20-year old Birkenstock sandals. A slight lisp. I’m pretty sure that was his Prius in the parking lot, the one with the “Bernie Sanders Works For Me” sticker next to the faded “Hope and Change” decal.

My wife is a chatty sort of person, and of course she had to strike up a conversation with her next-seat neighbor. “Are you here to talk about the Refugee problem?” she chirped. I thought Mr. Birkenstock’s eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.

“What do you have against those poor people?” he said, revving up. “We should be helping them! It’s our duty as a society! What about the CHILLdrennnn?”

Yep, I had heard that sound before, on PBS. “The CHILLdrennnn.” I’ve always wondered why the Hope and Change crowd doesn’t seem to have any problem dumping $20 trillion of debt on the CHILLdrennnn. But I digress.

My wife is chatty, all right. But get on her wrong side and she is chatty like a Rottweiler. She lit into Mr. Birkenstock with a scorched-earth monologue detailing the many reasons why moving throngs of hostile, unemployable, non-English-speaking, permanent welfare recipients to York County at a time when we can’t even take care of our own underachievers, is a bad idea. “Why don’t you donate YOUR money to the refugees, instead of trying to take mine?” she asked.

Mr. Birkenstock shook his head at us, his face dripping with a condescending mix of pity and disgust.

The meeting began, and we all sat through hours of the mostly boring and often icky sausage-making of low-level politics. Then the agenda turned to how the county will manage the rapid growth we are currently experiencing. It was Mr. Birkenstock’s time to take the microphone.

“I am opposed to all this growth!” he wailed. “We don’t want any more of these big apartment buildings going up in our nice, peaceful neighborhood! The traffic is getting terrible. And what about the CHILLdrennnnnn! They can’t play safely in the street any more!”

We laughed out loud.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Laugh, laugh, I thought I’d die
It seemed so funny to me
Laugh, laugh you met a guy who taught you how it feels to be
Lonely, oh so lonely

Laugh, Laugh – the Beau Brummels

Hurry! Free Lunch! Right Over Here! It’s Free!

Posted on October 14, 2015 by Tom Balek Standard 2

free lunch Free! It’s all free! Vote for me, and I’ll give you a free college education, free health care, open borders with free everything for every poor person who walks in! Step right up, it’s free, free, free!

Last night’s Democrat presidential primary was my first good look at the Bernie Sanders Show, and it did not disappoint. I knew that Sanders is a socialist – a magna cum laude graduate of Robin Hood University. Still, I just couldn’t picture in my mind a grown man trying to convince people that there IS such a thing as a free lunch. With a straight face.

The throng of helpless college girls (plus Debbie Wasserman Schultz) screaming lustily for this tired old draft-dodger was bizarrely reminiscent of a Beatles gig at Shea Stadium. These poor kids apparently had no parents, or at least no adults, to guide them through adolescence.

When I was their age, my hard-working, truck-driving dad drilled his one-line lessons into me enough times that they stuck. “There is no such thing as a free lunch.” he would say. “If it looks too good to be true, it’s not true.” “Nothing that’s free is worth having.” “If somebody gives you something for free, they want something from you.”

And my everyday experiences have repeatedly proved him right. My dad made me work all summer to pay for the motorbike I wanted. I treasured that little Honda and never allowed so much as a speck of dust to tarnish a chrome spoke. When I outgrew the bike, my Dad bought it from me and gave it to my little brother, who destroyed it within a few weeks. It was free, so it just didn’t have much value to him.

Have you ever accepted a free weekend at a time-share? Or a free dinner from a financial planner? Or a free campaign contribution from General Electric? All come with “strings attached”.

For decades our public schools and liberal universities have taught us to never question an academic authority. Or a Democrat. Free stuff? Why not, you deserve it. If you are poor, you are a hero, and even more deserving! Don’t ask where all the free stuff will come from! Don’t look behind the curtain at the wizard making all the promises, or question his motives!

I expected it, but the Sanders Show still saddened me deeply. The $20 trillion national debt (over $100 trillion of unfunded liabilities) was never mentioned. Nobody wondered whether the rich would remain in the USA when faced with having their wealth stolen. Sanders didn’t even flinch when Hillary pointed out that producing goods and services actually does matter. Sanders apparently really believes that government handouts grow on trees, and the Freebie Forest will never run out of fruit.

That any adult American can swallow Sanders’ unfiltered Jonestown KoolAid is a terrifying indictment of our failure as parents, educators, and elected officials.

Please grab your kid. And his teacher. And make them repeat after you, “There is no such thing as a free lunch . . . There is no such thing as a free lunch . . . There is no such thing as a free lunch . . .”

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Yeah there was ham and there was turkey,
There was caviar
And long tall glasses, with wine up to “hyar”!
Then somebody grabbed me, threw me outta my chair
Said before you can eat,
You gotta dance like Fred Astaire!

Long Tall Glasses – Leo Sayer

Leo Sayer is still having fun after all these years. And he says there is no such thing as a free lunch!

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!