We Can Rebuild the Military AND the Budget

Posted on February 8, 2017 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

carrier-landing

President Trump’s campaign promise to “Make America Great Again” included his plan to restore our military preparedness to at least pre-Obama levels. His message resonated with voters, and still meets little resistance from political leaders or from citizens.

Most Americans sense that our armed forces are no longer up to the task of defending our homeland while dealing with international conflicts, and this week’s briefings to Congress by our top military brass didn’t leave us feeling any less hinky.

General Daniel Allen reported that only three of the Army’s fifty combat brigade teams could deploy if needed. Admiral William Moran said less than half of the Navy’s fighters are in service and our fleet is the smallest it has been in 100 years. Our Air Force planes average 27 years in age, well past their life expectancy, and we are short 750 pilots and over 1600 maintenance technicians.

Of course every government program wants more money, more money, more money. Always. But it appears the military has been cut to the bone, and our leaders made it clear to President Trump that they need funds, now – if we want to continue to have any foreign policy leverage.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is pushing for a huge military budget increase, but he may have to fight that through a conservative Congress and a tough new OMB director, Mick Mulvaney. Mulvaney agrees with President Trump that national defense is our highest priority. But he is also a budget hawk, tasked with keeping Congress’ promise to the voters to stop the insanity of our $20 trillion debt.

McCain attacked Mulvaney over his alleged “failure to support the military” by blindly supporting every request for “more money” as a congressman, but Mulvaney’s counterpunch embarrassed the crusty McCain, who could not differentiate between the “top line military budget” and the “overseas contingency operation”, a much-abused and unaccountable military slush fund.

McCain wants $100 billion. The generals are asking for a $40 billion increase. Trump is thinking more like $30 billion – with the requirement that it not be wasted.

Is President Trump right about the need to refresh our military? Yes.

Is it time to send John McCain to the glue factory? Yes. Thanks for your service, John. Have fun at Sun City.

Am I glad to have a tight-fisted skinflint like Mulvaney at OMB keeping an eye on our money? Hell yeah!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Hell yeah!
Turn it up!
Right on!
Hell yeah!

Hell Yeah! – Montgomery Gentry

Think Our News Media is Bad? You Should See the UK!

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

sky-news-trump I just spent a week in the UK and was anxious to observe the political mood of the Brits. I expected their focus to be on Brexit, their new prime minister Theresa May, the impact of immigration in the UK, the pound vs. the euro – you know, British stuff.

After a long red-eye flight, and suffering a butt-dragging case of jet lag that first evening, my son and I had an early dinner and retired to our hotel room. We soon learned that British television is abysmal – mostly old American reruns and effete comedy that’s just not funny. But that’s okay, we are both news junkies, so I switched to BBC News.

To my surprise, every minute of programming on the Beeb was a non-stop assault on Donald Trump. There was no balance, no “other side”, no pretense of fairness or even any attempt at honesty. And no non-Trump news at all.

So I switched to the other news network, SkyNews. It was worse! Nothing but unbridled, hair-on-fire, heads-exploding, cobra venom spit in the eyes of Donald Trump and all the Americans who chose him to be their president. MSNBC is Mister Rogers compared to British television news. And nothing changed for the entire week of our visit. Both networks ran anti-Trump propaganda full-time, 24/7. Only passing mention was given to the fact that Parliament was engaged in a pretty significant discussion about whether they would honor the people’s vote for Brexit. The newspapers (which are free and stacked up on street corners every evening) were also fixated on all things American, with only a smattering of local news.

We were given a warm welcome in the pubs and at the football (soccer) games. Like us, British guys love beer, football, and politics and are ready to discuss all of the above, especially with a couple of Yanks. They were very curious about the Trump phenomenon, and were surprisingly up-to-speed on American politics. But then, why wouldn’t they be? That’s all they get on their news networks.

I was surprised to find that most of the Brits we met were on the conservative side, despite their hard-left news media. They understand our “drain the swamp” revolution and see parallels with their own Brexit experience. But some can’t get past our new president’s persona.

“I agree with everything that Trump is doing,” said one new friend over a couple of pints. “But I can’t support him because he hates women.” When I pressed him about what that meant, he said he just can’t tolerate a president who goes around grabbing women by the pussy. Groan.

Another conservative limey said he agrees with American conservatives right down the line, with one big exception. “Why do you all think you need guns? Your crime rate is terrible.” I had to explain that’s why we need guns.

Like American lefties, British liberals love to protest. They even feel compelled to protest about an election that took place 3,500 miles across the pond. There are subtle differences, though. Left-wing British protesters don’t break windows and start fires, and left-wing American protesters don’t give a rat’s patootie about who is elected on the other side of the planet.

I left my British friends with this advice: don’t believe what you see and hear on the television! I guess the same advice would serve us Americans well, too.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

We don’t believe what’s on TV
Because it’s what we want to see
And what we want we know we can’t believe
We have all learned to kill our dreams

We Don’t Believe What’s On TV – Twenty One Pilots

This fun young duo is filling venues all over on their US tour and were nominated for three Grammy awards. Check ’em out!

Mulvaney Set to Drain the Swamp

Posted on January 19, 2017 by Tom Balek Standard 1

mulvaney-alligator For a long time I have suspected that because liberals see everything through the prism of skin color, they assume conservatives do too, and are therefore racists.

Only recently have I realized that the same is true of political corruption. Liberals think that conservatives who run for office or accept administrative posts must be doing it to enrich themselves unethically because that’s what they, the liberals, do – or would do, given the chance.

For instance, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) excoriated HHS nominee Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) during his hearing for a $300 profit he made on a stock purchase in a company that benefited from a ruling his committee made. Her condescending rebuke was designed to paint Price as a monster who made shady self-serving deals using his government influence. How rich. Warren, a “one-percenter” with assets estimated at $10 million, falsely claimed Native American heritage to land a professorship, and received $350,000 for teaching one college course.

Democrats point out, with faux concern and anger, that President-elect Trump’s cabinet picks are mostly wealthy individuals. Like Trump himself, his nominees have accomplished a level of business (not government) success that not only builds wealth, it also indicates competence.

The Democrats can grandstand and delay, race-bait and class-envy ad nauseam, trying to hold up the confirmation process. But it won’t work. The swamp will be drained.

Only the shallowest of observers can’t see that these all-stars are not in it for personal profit. Quite the contrary; they are sacrificing their earning power and precious time as an act of patriotism, service and charity. And isn’t it just possible that the wealthy Democrats, most of whom have never earned a dollar in the private sector, are panicking at the prospect that their own gravy train may soon fall off the tracks?

The Trump team tapped budget hawk Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) to head up the Office of Management and Budget. Mulvaney was a co-founder of the uber-conservative Freedom Caucus and has a stellar resume in budget, finance, and business – both inside and outside the Beltway. Mulvaney isn’t rich – during legislative sessions he slept in the closet of his office. But he is focused and determined. And he is building his own all-star team, starting with Heritage Action brainiacs Russ Vought and Jessica Anderson. The Beltway is abuzz today with talk of a plan to reduce the national debt by $10.5 trillion in ten years, based on the Heritage Foundation’s Blueprint for Reform published last year.

This is what common-sense Americans have been praying for since Rick Santelli’s rant on CNBC gave birth to the Tea Party in 2009 – a glimmer of hope that our children will not have to deal with the economic destruction caused by our monolithic $20 trillion federal debt. In his rant, by the way, Santelli gave kudos to Wilbur Ross, another Trump appointee.

President-elect Trump calls it “draining the swamp”, which encompasses both rooting out corruption and slashing out-of-control spending. It makes me picture OMB Chief Mulvaney in the role of Amos Moses, that badass Cajun in the Louisiana bayou, knockin’ alligators in the head with a stump!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Now Amos Moses was a Cajun
He lived by himself in the swamp
He hunted alligator for a living
He’d just knock them in the head with a stump!

Jerry Reed – Amos Moses

I love this 1982 video of Jerry Reed and Glen Campbell rockin’ it up with this funky, swampy, bluesy version of Reed’s “Amos Moses.” You won’t find more guitar pickin’ power in one camera shot. Reed is most widely known as Burt Reynold’s sidekick in the “Smokey and the Bandit” movies, but he was an outstanding musician and songwriter, and was revered by guitar players world-wide. Among his innovations was the “claw” style of picking, which he allegedly taught to Chet Atkins. Campbell had a stellar career until it was derailed by alcoholism and, later, Alzheimer’s disease. He started as a studio guitarist, was an early member of the Beach Boys, and eventually had his own television show plus many gold records.

Liberals Must Hate Children

Posted on January 18, 2017 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

referee-clipart-as0968 Here we go again. Another example of how liberals hurt our kids.

My daughter and I have played, coached and officiated sports for many years. We love working with kids and we see the positive effects of organized sports on their growth and development. Coaching is fun and rewarding. But it’s not easy these days.

A while back I wrote about coaching my grandson’s first baseball season. Here’s a recap: First inning of the first game of the season. The batter hits a ground ball to our pitcher, who makes the catch and easily throws him out at first. Instead of returning the batter to the dugout, the coach holds him on first base. “Hey!” several people yelled. “That batter was out!” But the coach kept him on first base, saying, “We don’t put kids out in this league. Everybody gets to run the bases.” There are no umpires for the 5 -year old beginners league, so the coaches are in charge.

None of our coaches saw anything like that in the rules we had received before the season, but being new to the league, and not wanting to make a scene in front of the kids, we didn’t put up a fight. Over the rest of the game, only one of our players actually got put out, and we returned him to the bench, but the nine batters our team put out still ran the bases. No score was kept. The game was weird, and our players, who were being taught to play by the rules and are naturally competitive, were confused and upset. Why are we trying to put players out when they still get to run and score?

We called the league manager to express our concern about trying to teach baseball with no rules. His reply was, “We just want the kids to feel successful and have fun. Besides, five-year olds never put anybody out anyway,” which sent my daughter/coach into orbit! So we had all the parents call the league manager, and they let him know what they thought of his “no winners and losers” version of baseball. He relented, and for the rest of the season an out was an out, the kids learned how to play by the rules, and everybody had fun.

Fast forward to my grandson’s first basketball game, almost two years later.

Again, our players had been taught the rules and were expected to abide by them. First game of the season, our team gets the ball, dribbles to their basket, and my boy made the first basket of the season. Yay! The other team throws the ball in, and their guard dribbles and stops. Dribbles and stops. Again. And again. And again. After 13 double-dribbles he tucked the ball like a running back, ran all the way across the court, and took his shot.

Our coaches asked the referee why he didn’t call double-dribble or travelling. “Oh, we don’t have any infractions in this league. We just want them to have fun.”

Attempts by the coaches to get rules enforced in that game, and the next, were unsuccessful. It wasn’t long before the players who had been taught how to play by the rules abandoned them. I was appalled when I saw my grandson start double-dribbling and travelling like the other kids. Why should he play by the rules when nobody else has to? He’s not dumb! To make matters worse, it wasn’t long before the kids figured out that fouls weren’t called, and the game became a bloody free-for-all. My kid has a beauty of a shiner.

liberal (lib • er • al)

ADJECTIVE

open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values

(especially of an interpretation of a law) broadly construed or understood; not strictly literal or exact

NOUN

a person of liberal views.

I know they mean well, but liberals should be kept away from impressionable children. Kids need structure. They want to know the rules. They grow by experiencing the rewards of hard work, the thrill of fair competition, and the joy of winning. Building character includes losing with dignity, and learning from one’s mistakes.

One thing I know about children: nothing hurts them more than being treated unfairly. And nothing is more unfair than letting some kids break the rules while others abide by them. The same holds true for adults, but it’s larger than life for children. What happens if you give one sibling candy, but not the other?

This is not just about sports and kids. It’s about life, and it’s about the moral decay we see all around us. Some are expected to work while others don’t. Some follow the laws while others flaunt them – or political leaders decide to not enforce them. Some put their shopping carts in the rack at Costco. Others just leave them in the parking lot, for somebody else to take care of.

And it seems like the people who complain loudest about being treated unfairly are the ones who don’t respect the rules. The liberals.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ on the Right Side

When I fight authority, authority always wins
When I fight authority, authority always wins!
I been doing it, since I was a young kid and
I’ve come out grinnin’.
I fight authority, authority always wins!

John Cougar Mellencamp – the Authority Song

Take a minute to enjoy a young John Cougar Mellencamp – kid had some moves!

Trump’s First Thirty Minutes in Office

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

trump-phone

[operator]: Good morning, Mr. President. I hope you will enjoy your first day in the Oval Office.

[Trump]: Thanks, Rosie. But just remember, one screw-up and You’re Fired! You’ll be back cleaning bathrooms at ‘The View’ with those other ugly broads in a New York minute!

[operator]: Of course, sir. I have made your first call – President Putin is on the line.

[Trump]: Hello, Vlad. Hey, I just wanted to let you know, no hard feelings about hacking the DNC. I don’t blame you, it’s a hell of a lot of fun tweaking that bunch of whiney snowflakes, isn’t it? I would have done it myself, but I can barely do Twitter. Anyway, what do you say we get together next week and make a plan to take out those ISIS bastards once and for all? Should be fun! Later, comrade.

[operator]: Mr. President, President Kim Jong-un of North Korea is ready to speak with you.

[Trump]: Is that you, King Kong? I have a message for you on my first day in office, you fat little f***, so listen up. If you test one more nuclear device, if you launch one more missile – if you so much as pee one drip outside your hole in the floor, my boys will turn your God-forsaken armpit of a country into a flamed-out marshmallow on a stick. You got that, Ping Pong? Fagettaboutit!

[operator]: President Trump, the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto has been holding for you.

[Trump]: Hello? Hello? Now, Enrique, please stop crying. It’s . . . there, there, Enrique, it’s . . . now please . . . Look, I know it was Vicente Fox that said he wouldn’t pay for my f***ing wall, not you. Enrique? You need to get yourself together amigo, call me back when you can talk. Okay, Adios.

[operator]: Mr. President, I have reached Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada.

[Trump]: Well hello, there, neighbor! I called to invite you to join me later this week, eh? We need to work on our plan to make North America the energy powerhouse of the world. I am so ready to get everybody back to work and our economy flying, eh? Our low energy cost will attract the best manufacturers from all over the world. What a one-two punch, eh? Heck, if Mexico cleans up their act, maybe Enrique will want to join the party, too. He’s got a lot of good workers down there, eh? All right, my friend, let’s start Monday. Oh, and by the way – let’s talk about that “Liberal Party” of yours, eh? Okay, bye.

[operator]: Mr. President, our conference call with the leaders of Germany, France, Great Britain and Japan is ready for you.

[Trump]: Fellows, thanks for joining me on this call. Oh, and you too, Frau Merkel, sorry. I just wanted to let you know that I bought the UN building in New York City this morning. Yes, and I am evicting all of those whiney little despots so I can turn it into a first-class resort hotel. Right. Last I heard they are going to meet up in Kinshasa. I don’t know, it’s somewhere over there in Africa. But hey, I thought we could start our own little club, you know? We could watch each other’s backs and get some of these messes cleaned up, instead of paying for all those other little piss ants to cause trouble all the time. Then if some of these other countries want to stand up for democracy, and human rights, and free trade and forget about getting rich by global warming hoaxes and identity politics, maybe they can join the club later on. Right. I’ll see you guys at Mar Largo next month.

[Trump]: Rosie, hold my calls for a while, I have to straighten out the tax code, fix our immigration problem, and get a new health care system running. But I should be done in time for my 4:00 pm tee time!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Listen kid, you paid for the call.
You ain’t bad but I’ve heard it all before.
Don’t call us, we’ll call you!
Don’t call us, we’ll call you !

Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You – Sugarloaf

Jerry Corbetta, founder and leader of the Denver band Sugarloaf, passed away a few months ago. Sugarloaf had some monster hits in the seventies and they are as crisp today as they were then. I feel a tiny connection to this band – I played in a band with a guy who played in a band with a guy who played for Sugarloaf. Probably every musician in the world has played with every other musician in the world, twice removed! Anyway, enjoy this classic – sorry, no live video of this song.

The ObamaCare Zone

Posted on January 4, 2017 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

obamacare-zone What made the United States an economic powerhouse with the highest standard of living in the world? Without a doubt, it is our belief in free market economics. Why then would we even consider nationalizing one of the largest segments of our economy? After six years of ObamaCare we have been to the edge of the abyss, looked in, and recoiled at what we saw. Government takeover of private industries is always a disaster.

We are at a watershed moment in history, with an opportunity to hit the reset button and get it right. It’s time to set aside the political posturing and get to work on repairing our health care financial system – not as an entitlement, but as a BUSINESS. Because that’s what it is.

Problem: When an industry like health care is removed from the free market and taken over by the government (nationalized), it always results in higher costs, reduced access and choices, and poorer products (outcomes).

Solution: Repeal ObamaCare immediately, remove as much government interference as possible and restore free market for health care and insurance. Implement reasonable regulations to protect consumers and maintain fair competition.

Problem: Health care costs and health insurance premiums continue to increase much faster than normal inflation.

Solution: Require consumers to have “skin in the game” by paying directly for minor medical care – health insurance should be geared toward major medical coverage. Make medical expenses and premiums tax deductible for individuals, just like they are for corporations. Require all medical providers to show costs to consumer before treatment. Require insurers to offer large pool pricing and ERISA protection for individual plans at rates comparable to corporate group plans. Establish reasonable restrictions on malpractice payouts. These reforms will put purchase decisions in the hands of consumers where normal free market forces will result in price competition and improved product.

Problem: Even though health care is not an entitlement, most Americans want to help fellow citizens who are legitimately unable to purchase their own care and/or insurance.

Solution: There are many ways to provide a safety net for the truly needy, such as subsidies and/or tax relief for private health insurance, taxpayer funded or subsidized health clinics, etc. Regulations should prevent health insurance companies from cancelling coverage due to claims experience. On the other hand, insurance companies can not be expected to cover consumers with pre-existing conditions, so state assigned-risk pools are necessary. In all cases rigid vetting is absolutely necessary. Our system can not support unlimited care for non-citizens and false claims of disability and indigence.

Problem: Many Americans fear that if the government is not between them and their health care, and they are left to their own devices to purchase health care, the powerful health care industry will abuse them for profit.

Solution: The strongest motive to provide a good product is profit. Consumers make good purchasing decisions every day. The cost of products goes down as the quality improves, because consumers will always, always, ALWAYS select the best value when they are spending their own money.

Repeal ObamaCare now. Release the health care and insurance industry to seek honest profits in the free market by competing for customers. Implement common sense regulations that are fair for providers and consumers alike. Stop pretending that health care is free and everybody is entitled to it. Let the magic of the American free market work again.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

The Twilight Zone – the Ventures

No More “Fake News” – Repeal ObamaCare Now!

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Tom Balek Standard 3

coverbatboy This just in: the mainstream news industry has confirmed the existence of “fake news”.

It’s not yet clear exactly what qualifies as “fake news”. Some online political trouble-makers have learned that there is nothing to prevent them from writing stories that are flat-out untrue. Worse, they have learned that lazy mainstream journalists and pundits will often repeat their fabrications without an ounce of verification.

The label “fake news” can apparently be used by a reporter to discount any news that doesn’t support his ideology. It is also acceptable for one to use fake news to plant his own ideology in the minds of the low-information masses.

And there has been, especially in the recent election silly season, a serious epidemic of Facebook and Twitter users (of all political persuasions) sharing and re-posting titillating but bogus information without testing its veracity – or even reading anything more than the title.

Now, I can cut Average Joe and Jane some slack for not knowing journalistic “best practices”. But it’s pretty hard to excuse paid media professionals who engage in fake news. Facebook and Google claim they are going to crack down on fake news. Who can take them seriously after they were caught manipulating search results and “trending” lists to drive viewers toward their left-wing point-of-view?

After all the hand-wringing and accusations about fake news, it is astonishing how left-wing media pundits still have no shame about making their own false or misleading public statements. On last weekend’s Sunday news shows, the “media professionals” strapped on their Pinocchio noses and went to work.

Karine Jean-Pierre dropped this little stool on ABC’s This Week : “Donald Trump does have a vote in Congress to repeal, to take away, health care from many Americans.”

There was no mention of how many people lost their private coverage due to the ACA. In fact, she didn’t mention ObamaCare at all. No elaboration on how Congress’ proposed replacement plans are designed to cover more people rather than fewer. Certainly no reporting on the need to beat back the crushing cost increases taxpayers currently bear (my forced ObamaCare premium is 400% higher than my private insurance was, and is now mostly subsidized by the taxpayers.)

Jean-Pierre just laid out her fake news “fact” that President Trump wants to take your health insurance away. Job done, let’s go get a Starbucks.

During that same show, there was an advertisement paid for by the taxpayers, encouraging viewers to sign up for ObamaCare. The ad’s appeal is that “most people who are enrolled receive ‘financial help’ with their premiums” – specifically, your individual premium might be as high as $650 per month, but you might only pay $50 per month. Fake advertising news alert: it’s not “financial help,”, it’s a taxpayer-funded subsidy.

If ObamaCare is such a good deal for everyone, why do we have to pay for TV advertisements to drum up business?

The left-wing media has become so adept at “fake news” that half of the Democrat party’s sobbing supporters believe Vladimir Putin actually hacked into the voting machines and threw the election for his buddy Donald Trump.

Here’s hoping the incoming administration will discard the corrupt mainstream media like a Hillary Clinton disk drive and take its messages straight to the people by whatever alternative means are available. Because chances are, if it came from the mainstream media, it’s fake!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You’re a fake, baby
You can’t conceal it
Know how I know?
‘Cause I can feel it!
You’re a fake, baby
No rhyme or reason
‘Cause in your mind it’s lyin’ season.

FAKE – Alexander O’Neal

Now here’s a funky one! O’Neal on Soul Train, mid 80s.

Right and Wrong

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

ussoldierafghanistan Throughout our nation’s history there has been conflict between religion and government. In fact, our nation came to be largely because of this conflict. And our founders established, through the first amendment to our Constitution, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

The USA was born as a Christian nation; developed by Christians, and governed by Christians. Still, the separation of church and state has been, and remains, the subject of considerable debate. That’s partly because we view most offenses in terms of severity. A crime, in the eyes of government, might fall anywhere in the range of “not so bad” to “extremely bad”. Some crimes are rigidly enforced by the government; others are completely overlooked. Sometimes overlooking a minor crime can lead to one that is unthinkable.

When it comes to that “extremely bad” category, we Americans pretty much unanimously agree on one thing. Regardless of religious or political affiliation, we do not tolerate the murder of innocent people. Period. Anybody disagree with that? Anybody?

It’s the ultimate “right” and “wrong”. Most of us believe we’re born with an understanding of it. Still, we allow a few excuses for murder. Insanity. Crime of passion. Capital punishment? Abortion? War, maybe?

What happens when another culture or religion has a different view of “right” and “wrong”? Some radical Muslims are raised and required to believe that the murder of non-Muslims is not only acceptable, it is righteous. Their treatment of women, children, and minorities is abhorrent to us.

Should we non-Muslims accept their religious belief that the murder of innocent people is okay, in the name of tolerance? Conversely, if a non-Muslim kills a Muslim terrorist to protect innocent lives, is that righteous? What about killing a communist (that’s government, not religion) to protect innocent lives?

What sometimes seems simple (right vs. wrong) seldom is. There comes a time when tough decisions must be made, by our mortal American men and women – soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and political leaders. All we can do is base them on who we, as a nation, are and what we believe to be true and right.

Maybe that’s why “our” God gave his only son to die for our forgiveness, and to grant us peace.

Merry Christmas and God bless our military men and women and our leaders.

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing over the plains
And the mountains in reply,
Echoing their joyous strains.
Gloria, in excelsis de-o

Pentatonix – Angels We Have Heard On High

Maybe It’s Time To Retire My Obama Phone

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

obamaphone I have had some fun over the past several years at President Obama’s expense.

Those of you who have rocked with me for a while remember that several years ago I applied for, and received, an “Obama Phone” – a free cell phone, with 250 free minutes and unlimited texts. I only got my free phone to prove that anybody can get one, and to show how ridiculous and unmanaged the whole program is. My application, and my renewals, have been completely honest – no mis-stating income or anything. Now, I’m not going to lie to you. We live a pretty fine Southern lifestyle here on the lake. But I still qualified for a free phone, and I contend that anybody who asks for a taxpayer-subsidized ObamaPhone will receive one too.

President Obama didn’t actually start the free cell phone program. It debuted under President GW Bush and his Congress as a well-intended but soon-corrupted “LifeLine” benefit for us poor folks, funded by a tax on the cell phone bills of all you rich folks. During the free-stuff-for-everybody Obama years, the profiteering cell phone providers, led by Mexican kingpin Carlos Slim, really got with the program. Soon it was Party Central, and people were dancing and singing and selling free ObamaPhones all over the place.

Here’s a fun exercise: type “Obama Phone” into any search engine. Go ahead, try it! Up pops a whole bunch of “providers” who are more than happy to set you up for a free cell phone, courtesy of the taxpayers. The really cool one is ObamaPhone.com. Here’s part of their sales pitch:

Millions of Americans have been economically devastated by the economic meltdown, by the deep recession that followed it, and by the nation’s ongoing economic struggles. Many of those needy Americans have reached the point where they consider a telephone a luxury that they cannot afford.

The Obama Phone program (also known as Lifeline Assistance) can lift that burden. More than 20 million Americans have already received a free Obama Phone and get 250 free cell phone minutes every month.

I was so grateful for my free phone that I made my own little musical thank you message to my friend Barack. The phone was free, but even though I was a Tea Party guy, he still sent me an email asking me for five dollars every day.

Well, now that President Obama is about to retire, maybe it’s time for me to retire my ObamaPhone too.

Which raises the question: Will Trump and the Republican House and Senate finally put an end to this stupid-ass, corrupt entitlement program once and for all? Or will we all be carrying Trump-a-Phones for the next eight years?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Russians? Chinese? They Are Just Spies Like Us

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Sadly, the glory days of Spy vs. Spy are gone. No more encrypted notes taped under park benches. Forget about secret meetings in parking garages. Throw away your fountain pen with the camera in the cap.

Was that sultry Russian babe James Bond’s friend or enemy? How did Maxwell Smart get such good phone reception in his shoe?

Today’s spies aren’t nearly as cool and clandestine as the spooks we grew up with. You won’t find them sneaking through the fog in trenchcoats with microfilm and hidden cameras, digging up tidbits to sell to the KGB or the CIA. But there are still plenty of them, and they are gainfully employed by governments all over the world. They spend their workdays in front of a computer screen, looking for an open port or a compromised password. They write worms of code that can be planted in a target computer to reveal government secrets from yesterday, today, and into the future.

Democrats and the mainstream media (sorry, redundant) have suffered ‘hair-on-fire syndrome’ this week, blaming Russian hackers for helping Donald Trump defeat their heroine Hillary in the presidential election. It’s amusing on a number of fronts. They want to impugn Trump because somebody hacked their DNC servers and emails. They assume it was the Russians, but they don’t know. They don’t seem concerned about the ugly Democrat secrets revealed. They can’t explain why Russian president Putin would prefer Trump to their golden girl. Wasn’t it Hillary who gave 20% of our strategic uranium supply to Russia?

Vladimir, when asked by a reporter about Russian hacking, said, “It wasn’t us, but thanks for the compliment.”

“There’s nothing there benefiting Russia,” Putin told the Russia Calling conference. “The hysteria is simply to distract the American people from the contents of what the hackers have posted.”

Putin doesn’t deny that his government employs hackers. He would be foolish to do so, at a time when China, the United States, and many other governments are feverishly at work trying to dig up each others’ secrets. China, in fact, is setting the bar high for other wanna-be hacker spies. They nailed the personnel records of 4 million US government workers. Oops, make that 21.5 million government workers. They busted into the White House, the US Postal Service, the State Dept., and the NOAA. They infiltrated the FDIC. It may be hard to find a government server that hasn’t been hacked by the Chinese. Several years ago the Chinese Army filled a building with hackers, and has since built a small high-tech city around it, putting a whole lot of their espionage eggs in the computer hacking basket.

And if stealing secrets isn’t bad enough, foreign hackers are developing offensive weapons that could black-out our electrical grid, bring the stock market to a screeching halt, or make our barely-functional air traffic control system totally dysfunctional. Chances are some or all of these dastardly deeds are already do-able.

As early as 2011 the US government recognized hacking as the next big thing in intelligence and intrigue, ramping up to hire its own army of geeks. Mum has been the word since then, but it would be naïve, to say the least, to think that we haven’t tried to sneak into Putin’s database.

As to the latest knots in the Democrat underwear about Trump conspiring with big, mean Putin against poor little Hillary (who got her own top-secret server hacked by lord-knows-who) – I say, fagettaboutit. It’s Spy vs. Spy all over again, and our spies had better be at least as smart as the other guys spies.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Hey don’t feel afraid
Of an undercover raid
There’s no need to fuss
There ain’t nobody that spies like us!

Spies Like Us – Paul McCartney