MT Senate Candidate Confuses Tea Party with Taliban

Posted on by Standard 1

Tea-Party-TalibanJohn Bohlinger was once lieutenant governor of Montana – a Republican who shared quarters with Democrat governor Brian Schweitzer.  Strange bedfellows?

Maybe not so much.

Bohlinger is running for Montana’s US Senate seat – as a Democrat.  And his first official act as a member of the progressive party is to bash the Tea Party.   Despicable, but true to form.

My knuckles were white as I wrote our response:

On Tuesday, former Lieutenant Governor John Bohlinger announced his candidacy for the Montana US Senate seat in next year’s election.  Today Bohlinger told Chuck Johnson, Lee Newspaper Capital Bureau Chief, that his decision to run was driven by last month’s federal government shutdown, which he blamed on the “Tea Party Taliban”.  He said the Tea Party thought the shutdown was “clever” and “cute”.

It appears that Mr. Bohlinger’s campaign will consist of the same kind of inflamed rhetoric that currently paralyzes our capital.  His alarming lack of understanding of both the Taliban and the Tea Party does little to qualify him as a candidate for such an important office, and insults Montanans who actually fought the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Taliban is a violent terrorist organization of religious extremists who routinely torture and murder innocent men, women and children.  Women, gays, and anyone who opposes their oppressive Sharia laws have no rights under Taliban rule.

The Tea Party is made up of concerned American citizens who support the US Constitution, including its carefully designed citizens’ rights and limits on the scope of government.  We are opposed to government fraud, corruption and waste, and seek fiscal accountability.  We are concerned about profligate government spending, our unsustainable $17 trillion debt, and the mismanagement of our national economy, recently epitomized by the disastrous Affordable Health Care Act.  We want our children and grandchildren to enjoy a standard of living at least somewhat commensurate with our own.

If asked, Mr. Bohlinger would say he supports the Constitution.  He would most likely claim to oppose government waste and fraud.  And he may have good intentions for his children and grandchildren.

The Montana Tea Party Coalition asks Mr. Bohlinger if that makes him a member of the Taliban, too.

Yeah, kinda makes me so mad I want to just go out and behead some women and kids.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Now it cuts like a knife
But it feels so right
It cuts like a knife
But it feels so right

Cuts Like A Knife – Bryan Adams

 

EBT – Our Government “Fatness” Program

Posted on by Standard 2

EBT cardThis from USA Today, today:

“Food stamp benefits to 47 million Americans were cut starting Friday as a temporary boost to the federal program comes to an end without new funding from a deadlocked Congress.

Under the program, known formally as the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, or SNAP, a family of four that gets $668 per month in benefits will find that amount cut by $36.

“It may not sound like a lot but to a person like me, it is,” says Annie Crisp, 30, a single mother of two girls in Lancaster, Ohio. “It’s not just a number.”
She says she received a little less than $550 a month in food stamps and now will receive $497. Crisp, a babysitter who brings home about $830 a month, says the food stamps help her buy her family fresh fruits, vegetables and meat.”

Let me get this straight . . . a single mom, with two girls, can’t survive on $497 a month worth of groceries?

Once again, I am forced to do the simple math exercise (remember, I went to school before Common Core).

30 days x 3 meals a day x 3 people = 270 meals a month.  The two girls get “free” breakfast and lunch (actually paid by taxpayers) at their government school.  There are 19 school days in November, so subtract 76 meals.  That leaves 194 meals at home per month for the taxpayers to buy.  $497 divided by 194 meals = $2.56 per meal.

Now if you eat most of your meals at Olive Garden, that doesn’t sound like a lot.  But who eats 194 meals a month at a restaurant?  These are two schoolgirls and a single mom who can pack a lunch when she babysits (I’m guessing Annie scores a few free meals while babysitting.)

My family can afford to eat anything we want.   Like most Americans, we eat too much, and our profiles reflect it.   Here are some typical menus at our house (my wife helped me calculate the per meal costs):

Typical breakfast:  yogurt, OJ, cereal, milk = $1.50 per meal.  Or 2 eggs, toast, OJ, banana, milk = $.90 per meal.

Typical lunch:  ham sandwich, fruit, cookies, iced tea = $1.90 per meal.  Or tuna salad w/dressing, crackers, cheese and boiled egg, iced tea = $1.95 per meal.

Typical dinner:  our favorite beef goulash, with veggies, drinks and brownies for dessert = $1.58 per meal.    Or pork chops, baked potato, veggies, and ice cream = $1.50 per meal.

An average meal costs my family $1.56 for each of us.  We don’t consider this a “subsistence” diet at all; in fact, we really need to cut back.

Now, back to the simple math.  If the Annie Crisp family ate meals like us, they would have about $194 a month left over from the taxpayers.  They could easily go out to Olive Garden once a week, or eat steaks at home twice a week, or enjoy 50 items each from the dollar menu at McDonald’s and still have money to spare.

Am I missing something here?

I am not a grinch.  I don’t want kids to starve, and I understand there are families in trouble through no fault of their own.  But it gets harder every day to stand in line behind the 350 lb. mama in the Wal-Mart checkout line, whipping out her EBT card to pay for basket loads of junk food.  And never – ever – ever saying “Thank You.”

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

I was travellin’ down the road feelin’ hungry and cold,
I saw a sign sayin’ food and drinks for everyone,
So naturally I thought I would take me a look inside.
I saw so much food, there was water coming from my eyes!

Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance) – Leo Sayer


If You Love Your Children, Hold Them Close

Posted on by Standard Reply
you can keep your children

via T Patrick Duffy

If our elected leaders will lie about the takeover of our health care system, about the deaths of Americans at Benghazi, about Big Brother electronic eavesdropping, about the use of the IRS and other federal agencies to manipulate elections, and about the corruption epidemic in our government – why would you trust their motives with your children?

President Obama, president-elect Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the elite progressive establishment really believe that “it takes a village” to raise your child.  They are convinced that you are not qualified to make decisions about your family’s well-being,  and they have an aggressive agenda that will continue to dilute parent’s rights and personal sovereignty.  Next on the list is mandatory government daycare/preschool for toddlers.

Parents, if you love your children, hold them close.  They are at risk.  Please learn about Common Core.  Read the textbooks and other materials they bring home and don’t be afraid to overrule the disinformation you find.  See how your childrens’ precious time is being spent at school.  Be active in your school district and school board affairs.

Do not allow federal programs to take over your local schools.  Take the time to pass on your knowledge, beliefs and values to your children.  Do not “trust” the school to raise, feed, educate, or protect your precious children – you must be involved at every step.

If you can home-school your child, you will do your family and your nation a tremendous service.  If not, you must fight for your family’s right to choose the approriate school and educational path.

Be aware of what is happening to our economy and our way of life.  Your children’s futures depend on you – nobody cares about your children as much as you do.  They can’t afford your abdication of parental rights to the government.  They can’t afford the insurmountable debts we are placing on them.  They aren’t able to defend their constitutional rights – we must fight on their behalf.

There was a time when we could trust our government to tell the truth.  We knew that our elected leaders had our families’ best interests at heart.  The American Dream was universally understood and shared.  Sadly, that time is gone.

I know you are busy, but is anything more important than your children?

If you are already aware of the dangers, and actively involved in protecting and improving their futures, please pass this on to someone you know who is not engaged.  On behalf of my kids and grandkids, I thank you.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Hold me tight
Tell me I’m the only one
And then I might
Never be the lonely one

Hold Me Tight – the Beatles



On a lighter note, here’s an old Beatles recording session including outtakes.  Note the Fender Bandmaster amp in the photos – I had one of these way back when, and wish I had kept it – they are worth a fortune today!

And They Blame the TEA PARTY?!

Posted on by Standard 3

blame-gameTea Party conservatives think our government is too big and inefficient, it wastes tons of hard-earned taxpayer money, and it is destroying our economy by trashing the dollar while doing nothing to promote growth and employment.  We believe in personal responsibility, free markets, and taking care of only those who truly need and deserve help.  We would like our kids and grandkids to have a shot at a decent standard of living.

More people now receive entitlement checks than full-time paychecks, and the national debt continues its meteoric rise.  But when is the last time you heard anybody – ANYBODY in the government or the media – express interest in doing something about jobs and the economy?

Our nation is going to hell in a jet-fueled handbasket, and instead of working toward solutions, all fingers point to blame the Tea Party.  Somebody tell me: How does anybody find fault with the Tea Party’s economic principles?  If you disagree with anything I said in the first sentence above, please e-mail me or call me on my Obama Phone.  I welcome the debate.

The media and the Democrats are terrified of the Tea Party and continue their wild-eyed personal attacks.

Recently the Beltway Republicans have decided the Tea Party is a threat to their re-election – a higher priority than doing actually something constructive while in office.

Now large business groups are turning on the Tea Party as well.

What do they fear?  What harm could come to any American from embracing the conservative fiscal principles of the Tea Party? 

Is it wrong to allow working men and women to keep more of their earnings with which to take care of their own families?  Do they think the government cares more about children than parents?  Could they possibly believe that we can just keep printing money until everybody is stinking rich, with no repercussions?  Are Americans now so pathetic that we have to rely on the government to feed, clothe, house, and care for us all, cradle to grave?

If you think the Tea Party is the problem, please go back to the top of this article and read it again.

But if you agree with us, please teach your children and your friends.  Stand up and defend us.  Better yet, join us – before it’s too late.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Don’t blame me if I just don’t like it that way,
Please let me go, don’t ask me to stay,
I’m beggin’ you please, just don’t blame me!

Don’t Blame Me – Little River Band

I Didn’t Just Fall Off A Turnip Truck

Posted on by Standard Reply

“No matter what you’ve heard, if you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan.  Period.”



“Your premiums will go down.”



“We have four dead Americans . . . What difference does it make?”



“We’re the most transparent administration in history . . .  so long as I’m president, I won’t stop fighting to eliminate waste and abuse in Washington . . .  to eliminate what we don’t need to pay for what we do . . . to rein in exploding deficits . . . and I’m going to keep on fighting for real health insurance reform.”



Here are 65 more lies.



Call me and my conservative friends racists, obstructionists, uneducated “crazies”.  Accuse us of being the new Ku Klux Clan.

At least we know better than to believe much of anything this group has to say.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ on the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Well now I don’t read that daily news
‘Cause it ain’t hard to figure
Where people get the blues
They can’t dig what they can’t use
If they stick to themselves
They’d be much less abused

I Know A Little – Lynyrd Skynyrd

My favorite Skynyrd song!  Too much guitar-power for one band – enjoy!

Hail to the Whiteskins!

Posted on by Standard 1

redskinsI am so offended by all of these politically-incorrect athletic team names.

There are too many teams named after American Natives.  The Redskins, the Braves, the Indians, the Utes, the Fighting Sioux, the Chiefs, the Seminoles.  Very few major sports athletes are Native Americans.  Shouldn’t we call the football team from our capital city the Washington Whiteskins?  Or better yet, the Blackskins!  After all, 70% of NFL players are black.  Or would that be offensive?  Would the white football players sue the NFL under affirmative action, which requires employment that reflects the pigmentation of the general population?

Los Angeles Angels.  San Diego Padres.  New Orleans Saints.  Hey, you can’t talk about religion!  That’s against the Constitution, ain’t it?  Separation of church and sports, or something like that.

Oakland Raiders?  Tampa Bay Buccaneers?  Pittsburgh Pirates?  You bigots, what have you got against those hard-working guys from Somalia?

And speaking of stupid team names, what does Los Angeles have to do with lakes?  There are no lakes anywhere near Los Angeles!  The Los Angeles Lakers should change their name, maybe to something like the “Los Angeles Traffic Jams” or the “Los Angeles Smog”.  Much more accurate and appropriate.  (Actually, the Lakers team was transferred from Minnesota, the “Land of 1000 Lakes”).

And the Utah Jazz!  What a stupid team name.  There is no “jazz” in Utah – trust me, I lived there!  That is totally offensive.  We should call them the Utah Boring People with Lots of Kids.  (The Jazz team was transferred from New Orleans, which was rather famous for jazz music).

We need a new federal agency to control this important aspect of American culture.  No team should be allowed to offend even a single person by using a team name associated with any protected cultural group.   University of Washington Huskies?  Offensive to fat people.  UCLA Trojans?  Sexually aggressive.  Mary Baldwin College Fighting Squirrels?  Too confrontational.

Our new Federal Department of Team Names (annual budget $750 billion) might choose to just number the teams.  The New York #12.   The Boston #4.  Or maybe just stop the name-calling altogether.  The Detroit Baseball Team.  The Chicago Basketball Team.

We really must address this pressing problem.  Certainly this is more important than, say, writing a federal budget.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

I call your name
But you’re not there
Was I to blame
For being unfair?

Another Letter From My Friend Barack

Posted on by Standard Reply

As you know, I am a friend of Barack Obama.  I get an e-mail from him every day (personally addressed to “friend”!  That’s me!) asking for $5.  He even gave me a cool cell phone, with 250 minutes a month, for free!

Yesterday the letter from my friend Barack was all about how much money he gets from these e-mails.   I’ll be happy to share it with you:

Organizing for Action
This is amazing: 355,367 people have chipped in to own a piece of this movement.
Our average contribution is $59 -- that's as grassroots as it gets.
We're standing up to lawmakers who are doing anything to stand in the way.
...like Senator Ted Cruz.
Shady groups are spending millions to scare folks out of health care.
Scary Uncle Sam.
But they don't scare us.

The other side will spend millions to maintain the status quo. We’re fighting for change —
chip in $5 or more to support OFA today.

Let’s do some quickie math (I learned that before Common Core).  355,367 people “chipped in” to fight for ObamaCare, times an average contribution of $59.  Hmmm, that’s about $20,966,653.  I have a question for my friend Barack.  Where does this $21 million go? Is anybody keeping an eye on it for you, so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands?

Barack, I know you’re worried about shady groups trying to scare people out of getting health care.  These groups are so scary that women will probably stay home and have their babies on the pool table in their rec rooms, rather than go to a hospital.  People will be so afraid of health care that they will fix their own broken arms with sticks and duct tape.

Maybe you should use the money to fix your website so somebody could enroll in your ObamaCare program!  Then they won’t be afraid, right?

Today I got a letter from Bill Clinton.  It said “Friend – send $3”.

I think I like my friend Bill better.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side Best Friend – Harry Nilsson

PLEASE WATCH THE SHORT VIDEO OF ME AND MY FRIEND BARACK!

Adrian Peterson’s Love Child – Never Meant To Be

Posted on by Standard 4

AdrianPeterson[update 10/17/13 th to Hank Jones, related article from Baltimore Sun]

 

Another sad headline via the sports pages:  “Adrian Peterson’s Young Son Dies After Assault”.

Peterson has received much sympathy from the public and his teammates, and has reported that he will unquestionably play in today’s game against the Panthers.  Yes, it’s a tragedy, but it’s not Peterson’s fault.  Or is it?

It’s certainly a tragedy for the two-year child, who did not pick his parents. He was born to Peterson and a “girlfriend”.  Then shaken to death by her new “boyfriend”.  Call me old-school, but I still think kids should be raised by married mothers and fathers, not boyfriends, girlfriends, gay lovers, and Hillary’s “village”.

Kansas City Chiefs fans still wail about the tragedy when star defensive end Derrick Thomas was paralyzed and later died from a car crash while driving to the airport in a snowstorm.  One of his two passengers was also killed.  Thomas left behind seven children by five different mothers, he was not married to any of them, and he blew his millions of dollars so fast he didn’t leave them a penny. State Senator Bill Kenney, a former Chief, called Thomas “a true hero.”

Marriage is now obsolete, and I think this may be the biggest threat facing our society and our economy.  Look at the listing of births in your local newspaper.  Only about half of these precious little creatures are born to parents with the same last name.  The other half begin their journey through life with two strikes against them.  Some will succeed, but most will face poverty and will be dependent on their peers who were raised in a traditional family.

The breakup of the American family, and the subsequent dependency of unwed mothers on the government, has caused an avalanche of social problems.  By eliminating the economic need for fathers, we have done untold damage to generations of kids that will be tough, if not impossible, to reverse.  The solution is not as simple as just cutting back spending on welfare and food stamps – that would only do more damage to the kids. A culture shift is the only thing that will get us out of this tailspin.

Too many parents are now conditioned to think it is “somebody else’s” responsibility to see that their kids get an education.  That they get breakfast and lunch.  That they have school supplies and warm coats.

My wife recently visited with a single mom who was concerned about the federal government shut-down.  “What if they stop Head Start?” the stay-at-home welfare mother asked.  “My kids are supposed to know their ABC’s before they get to grade school.  What am I going to do?”  It obviously never occurred to her to turn off the TV and teach them herself.

I’m guessing all of you who read this are old enough to remember the Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story about a young Puritan woman who was branded as an adulterer and shunned by her community.  It was required reading for junior high kids back when we were in school, when marriage mattered.  The Scarlet Letter is no longer in the curriculum, for two reasons:  One is Common Core, which limits most school reading to non-fiction, featuring themes such as global warming and diversity.  The other is the fact that today’s kids don’t “get it” when they read about adultery.  What’s wrong with two unmarried people having sex?  Doesn’t everybody do that?

I know, I am a social dinosaur, severely outnumbered and out-dated.  But I was here when life was better – back when kids had moms and dads with the same name.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Love Child, never meant to be
Love Child, born in poverty
Love Child, always second best
Love Child, different from the rest

Love Child – Diana Ross and the Supremes

ObamaCare Navigators – Just Another Political Payback

Posted on by Standard 3

obamacare[Update 10/14/13 – it gets uglier by the minute]

[Update 10/13/13 – new related post here, by I-4 Activist Watch]

Lost in all the ObamaCare kerfuffle is the fact that President Obama gave the contracts for “navigators”, those in charge of educating the public about enrollment, to crony left-wing organizations instead of insurance professionals.

This is just one more slap in the face to the taxpayer public, as more and more public funds find their way to the people who campaigned for the president (and still do).

A report in the Missoulian illustrates how Planned Parenthood of Montana received $300,000 from Obama to act as navigators.  So far the services rendered are two meetings – one had seven attendees and the other had “less than a half dozen”.  But Planned Parenthood is getting a ton of PR in addition to the money, and both will go a long ways toward killing more babies.

The navigators were apparently chosen strictly on the basis of political payback – only Obama community organizer types need apply.  In addition to Planned Parenthood, the paybacks also extend to the SEIU and Acorn (yes, the group that was convicted of vote fraud , misappropriating HUD funds, and a host of other ugly crimes.)   There are no background checks for navigators – an alarming invitation to identity theft and invasion of privacy as citizens divulge their social security numbers, personal and financial information, and medical details to total strangers, some from groups who are notorious bad actors.

I used to think that blatant, corrupt, under-the-table paybacks from elected officials only happened in banana republic third-world countries.  It couldn’t happen here.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Too many people need me
I’ve got so much, So much to do
But when my travelling is over
I’ll pay you back with interest
I’ll pay you back with interest

Pay You Back With Interest – the Hollies

http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/14/obamacare-navigator-in-kansas-has-outstanding-arrest-warrant/2/

Surviving the Shut Down

Posted on by Standard Reply

Shut DownWe are in the seventh day of the federal government “Shut Down”.  By now, according to the dire predictions of the Democrats on Capitol Hill and the elite media, we should all be dead.

Actually, things don’t seem so bad.  If there are hardships, they appear to be rare and minimal.

Our federal employees are enjoying their paid vacations.  As I predicted, Congress voted unanimously to provide back pay for all 800,000 furloughed federal workers.  It isn’t enough that they earn double what private-sector employees do for comparable work, or that their benefit packages are far more generous than ours.  Now they are on extended paid leave, with no end in sight.  Children used to dream of being princes and princesses.  Now they aspire to be Assistant to the Undersecretary of Diversity for the Department of Sustainable Green Diaper Recycling.  Have a Corona for me, guys, and don’t forget the sunscreen.

Disappointed that Americans are not feeling enough pain, the Obama administration has worked diligently to manufacture some in the most unexpected places:

Each of these shameless, finger-in-the-eye provocations has been turned back by public outrage, but our shameless imperial leaders offer no apologies.  Many more insulting shutdowns are being revealed by the hour.  When the government spends tax money to shut down services or facilities that did not cost anything to keep open in the first place, their motivation is obvious.  This is nothing more than arrogant, childish bullying, and flat-out disrespect for the citizens.

Obama/Reid defenders claim these spiteful political actions are self-defense against the growing opposition to their train-wreck ObamaCare program.  We Americans are more than justified taking whatever action is necessary to stop this monstrosity – my health insurance premiums have increased by more than double (please check yours).  And we know damn well that a government who can’t even make a website work in three years is not capable of managing the complexities of our entire health care system.

Please, Congress stand your ground.  Our children will pay the price if we allow this insanity to continue.  If our government can no longer operate within a budget and a constitution, if it has nothing but contempt for the very citizens it pretends to serve, if it refuses to reverse its tragic mistakes and prevent more in the future, then now is the time.  Shut her down!  Somehow, I think we will survive.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Shut it off, shut it off,
Buddy, gonna shut you down!

Shut Down – the Beach Boys