The Smuggler’s Blues – Our Battle With A Security Officer

Posted on July 24, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

Omaha Airport Evacuation I opened the back door of my truck and removed our contraband from under the rear seat – two small ziplock bags, stuffed to capacity. I carefully tucked them into the bottom of my canvas bag, under the foam seat cushions and between the Kansas City Royals umbrellas.

Nervously, we approached the gate. The officer glared at me, his brow furrowed in deep suspicion. I handed the tickets to my son, the blind guy, in the hope that the authorities would be so distracted with him and his white cane that they would forget to check my bag.

“Hold on there, I have to check that bag,” the officer said. I sheepishly held it up, knowing that I was about to be busted. This security professional was no newcomer to smuggling. He knew what he was looking for, and he would find it. Groping around the bottom of my baseball fan bag, he soon found what he was looking for – contraband peanuts.

“You can’t bring outside food into this stadium,” he sneered, contempt dripping from his lip.

I shoved my son through the gate with instructions to wait for me. I told him I would return the peanuts to the truck and re-join him at the gate, clean as the driven snow, and worthy of admission to the Charlotte Knights minor league baseball game. Back to the truck I went. But somehow, I knew I would have to try again.

This time I packed the peanuts more carefully. I folded the foam seat cushions completely around the peanut bags so that “the man” would not detect them without actually emptying the canvas bag. Back I went to the gate.

But Officer Dudley DoRight was up to the challenge. Empty the bag he did, and once more I was banished from the gate, skulking back to the truck, head hung in shame. Busted again.

Having failed twice, I gave in. I threw my peanuts back in the truck and returned to the gate empty-handed, joining my very-confused son, and muttering something about “getting through next time”.

For weeks I schemed. There must be some way to get peanuts into that stadium undetected.

And then it hit me. Cargo pants.

Tonight my preparations for our smuggling operation took on a new sense of purpose and zeal as I put on my ghetto-length cargo shorts, the ones with the big long pockets all up and down the front, and buttons for added stealth. Ha ha! I snickered as I loaded up two, NO, make it THREE! bags of peanuts! I slid them into the huge pockets of my cargo shorts and they were barely even detectable.

We arrived early at the stadium. Carrying our Kansas City Royals umbrellas in hand, we didn’t even bother with the canvas bag. I looked the cop right in the eye as we approached the gate. I DARE YOU to check me out! No bag! No suspicious bulges!

He gave me his usual contemptuous glare, but without a bag to check, all he could do was wag his head toward the gate.

Success! Finally we had smuggled contraband peanuts into a Charlotte Knights baseball game!

After a two hour rain delay the announcer declared that the game was cancelled. We took our peanuts home, but we vowed we would be back.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

From the office of the President,
Right down to me and you,
It’s a losing proposition
But one you can’t refuse
It’s the politics of contraband
It’s the smuggler’s blues!
Smuggler’s blues

Smuggler’s Blues – Glen Frey

Detroit Autopsy – Defined Benefits, Union Paybacks

Posted on July 22, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 6

Back in the 1980s I was CFO for a family-owned chain of lumber yards and home centers. The company had grown to about 300 employees, and was making the transition from a small, easy-going operation to a more fast-paced, modern corporation.

Like most companies of that age and size, mine provided its employees a defined-benefit pension plan. A defined-benefit plan is one in which employees are guaranteed a specific monthly check at retirement.

There were several problems inherent in these defined benefit plans. The amount received by the employee after decades of service was actually pretty minimal. The insurance companies who ran the plans quietly took a huge slice of the pie for their participation, and paid minimal interest on the funds they held. If an employee changed jobs before he was fully “vested”, he lost most, if not all, of his pension. And many of these plans were “overfunded”, meaning the company had paid more money into the plan than the employees would ever be able to receive – this cash should be used by the company for some purpose other than making the insurance company richer.

We made the decision to terminate our defined pension plan and convert to a new 401(k) defined contribution plan, which had just been authorized by Congress. Employees were encouraged to save some money, tax deferred, from every check, and the company generously matched the employee’s contribution. Employees chose how they wanted to invest their savings, and in no time we all had considerable accounts to look forward to in retirement, which we could take with us if we changed jobs.

The difference between “defined benefit”, which promises security but not prosperity, and “defined contribution”, which offers rewards based on saving and investing, is the difference between “communism” and “capitalism”.

And it is what killed Detroit. It will kill more cities and states, and perhaps our nation, if we don’t learn this difference and take action now.

Our government union employees are about the only workers left in our country who are promised a guaranteed, and in most cases very lucrative, income at retirement. Virtually no businesses operate this way. Our government officials have promised their union employees a great deal more money than they can extract from the taxpayers. The result is economic disaster.

Maelstrom_of_Money How did this happen? Simple. Elected officials control the compensation paid to their union employees as well as the revenues extracted from taxpayers. Union employees promise to help (with cash and labor) elect the politician. When elected, the politician pays the union back with higher compensation, using money that is extracted from the taxpayers. It goes around and around until the government is broke.

We must guard against government growth with every breath. The framers of our constitution were trying to create a system that would not be subject to the corruption that has eventually destroyed every government in history. Government must be restricted to only strictly necessary spending, according to the constitution, and let the miracle of free-market economics build our wealth and improve the standard of living for all.

The only way out is to elect officials who will eliminate government employee unions, and stop the unholy cycle of pay-backs. Government employees should be compensated fairly based on actual performance, and compete for their jobs, just as employees in the private sector do.

Before you vote for any elected official, ask him or her for a statement of position on government employee unions.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

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

Pay You Back With Interest – the Hollies

Brian Schweitzer, Say It Isn’t So!

Posted on July 18, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

photo by Alex Wong

It’s so sad to see former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer limping unceremoniously off the national stage, when everyone expected him to fill Max Baucus’ seat in the Senate.

Schweitzer was so good for Montana as governor – vetoing all those bills. There was no doubt, Brian Schweitzer knew what was best for Montana, regardless of what the citizens or the legislature wanted. His judgment was obviously superior to everybody else’s.

House Speaker Mike Milburn, R-Cascade, said they sent Schweitzer jobs-creating bills and believe the vetoes went against Montanans’ will. “We’re hoping that he’s doing this not for political purposes or not for entertainment purposes, that it’s something that he truly believes in,” Milburn said. “But the show, whatever it was, we were figuring it was more for entertainment value.”

And you know, it’s just heartbreaking to know that the Commission of Political Practices was actually doing corrupt and despicable things while Schweitzer was in office. Surely Brian Schweitzer would not have tolerated any hanky-panky if he had known about it, right?

According to IRS records, Council for a Sustainable America, or CSA, was formed in 2008 in Helena as a 527 political action committee to “educate voters about elected officials and candidates.” Gallik, the former commissioner of political practices, was listed as the group’s treasurer. Gallik, a Helena attorney, declined to comment on the organization, its purpose or its activities. Citing attorney-client privilege, Gallik said, “Even if I knew — and I’m not saying I do or I don’t — I can’t go there.”

We know what a loyal Democrat Brian Schweitzer was. And obviously, all of his fellow Democrats just loved him.

The source said Tester was “sticking knives” in Schweitzer’s potential run. In the days before Schweitzer decided to drop his potential bid, a number of stories emerged about Schweitzer’s ties to “dark” and “secret money” groups. Three sources close to Schweitzer’s campaign fingered Tester’s camp as the source of two unflattering stories that popped up in the past week — one in Politico and one in the local Great Falls Tribune. These sources singled out Tester and Tom Lopach, his chief of staff.

Brian Schweitzer was for the common man. He was opposed to dark money in politics – umm, I mean, well, for . . . other people.

It’s just such a shame. Brian Schweitzer was as clean as the driven snow. He was a star on David Letterman and Bill Maher. He had no ego at all. Everybody loved him! So much so, in fact, that he was being groomed to run for President some day! And those rumors about corruption, well . . . how could they be true?

Blixseth and Flynn have repeatedly charged that Kirscher’s bankruptcy decision was fraudulently influenced in a 2009 meeting with Montana’s governor at the time, Schweitzer. The meeting resulted in a decision to allow Blixseth’s ex-wife and Sam Byrne, a Boston real estate investor with ties to the Democratic Party, to buy the Yellowstone Club at a price substantially below market value after the bankruptcy had been declared. Flynn further alleged in a letter shared with WND, addressed to the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, that Burkle, Byrne and Schweitzer funneled more than $1.2 million through the Democratic Governor’s Association in 2008 to the Montana Democratic Party for the benefit of Schwitzer’s re-election campaign.

Well, I am just heartbroken that former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer is being accused of all of these terrible things when we all know they could not possibly be true! Say it isn’t so, Brian!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Say it isn’t so painful
To tell me that you’re dissatisfied.
Last time I asked you
I really got a lame excuse.
I know that you lied.

Say It Isn’t So – Hall and Oates

A More Conservative Senate in 2014 – the Rocky Mountain Way

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 1

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) was forced into retirement after admitting the damage he and his liberal colleagues had done via the ObamaCare “train wreck”.

Scandals caught up with heir-apparent former Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, forcing him to pull out of the upcoming Senate race.

Senator Jon Tester, while not on the ballot next year, has been trying his best lately to move to the right, away from the mess his Democrat party and the Obama administration have created. He knows his incumbency hangs by a thread.

Steve Daines, Montana’s conservative representative in the House, is the leading candidate to replace Baucus in the Senate. There are no viable Democrat contenders. And today Liz Cheney threw her very large hat into the ring, squaring off against squishy Republican Senator Mike Enzo in the Wyoming primary.

Anyone who has paid attention to Liz Cheney over the last several years knows that she is tough, intelligent, polished, deeply educated on the issues, and solidly conservative. She is virtually impossible to defeat in debate. Establishment (as in moderate) Republicans are outraged. Alan Simpson, former Wyoming senator, said Cheney’s candidacy “threatens to start a civil war within the state’s Republican establishment, despite the reverence many hold for her family.”

The electoral losses in 2012 were devastating to conservatives. Many “right-siders” threw up their hands and decided to just let the liberal Democrats and moderate incumbent Republicans hang themselves with their own ill-conceived policies.

Maybe that plan is coming to fruition – the Rocky Mountain Way.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ on the Right Side

And, we don’t need the ladies
Crying ’cause the story’s sad
‘Cause the Rocky Mountain Way –
It’s better than the way we had!

Rocky Mountain Way – Joe Walsh

Blacks Need This Kind of Leadership

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 1

Black unemployment is nearly double that of the national average. Black Americans are disproportionately represented in the lower-earning strata of workers because so many have education and technical skills that lag significantly behind the norm.

Why, then, do so many black leaders support more immigration, both legal and illegal? Why do they fight education reforms, such as school vouchers, which would allow black families access to better schools? And why do they continue to advocate government dependency programs instead of directing time, effort, and money to financial and workplace literacy and competency?

Bernard Anderson, economist from the University of Pennsylvania criticizes our current government policy, but for the wrong reason. “One thing the president can do is accelerate, deepen, and strengthen the enforcement of anti-discrimination policies, Anderson said. “That’s one thing the president can do and from all evidence, the Obama administration has been asleep at the switch.”

Wrong. If discrimination is part of the problem, it is a minor part. From 1900 to 1960 the black participation rate in the labor force was equal to or higher than whites. Was there less discrimination then? Did we not just elect a black president? Twice?

Our labor market is flooded with immigrants, many here illegally, which has the double-whammy effect of stealing entry-level and baseline jobs from Americans while pushing down pay rates – simple supply and demand. When combined with well-meaning government benefits programs, and an education system that does no favors to poor families, it sets up the perfect storm for a perpetually unemployed class of citizens, a disproportionate number of whom are black.

Maybe this is no accident. A person dependent on government benefits for his free food will probably vote for the person who, cynically, promises more free food (whether or not he delivers).

Today the Black American Leadership Alliance hosted a march and rally in Washington, DC. Calling it the “March for Jobs”, the organization called on Congress, the Gang of Eight, and the Congressional Black Caucus to oppose the headlong rush toward amnesty for illegal immigrants and increased legal immigration.

This is the kind of leadership needed, not more of the same old failed liberal policies: increased immigration with less border enforcement, government and union control over education, and accelerating dependence on benefit and food programs.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Where you lead, I will follow
Anywhere that you tell me to
If you need, you need me to be with you
I will follow where you lead

Where You Lead, I Will Follow – Carole King

Where’d All the Good People Go? to MontKotaWyoRasKanRado!

Posted on July 12, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard Reply

MontKotaWyoRasKanRado Residents of ten counties in northern Colorado have had enough. Even though they provide most of the money for school funding in their state, and the vast majority of oil and gas revenues, they feel like the ‘Rodney Dangerfield’ of the state house – they get no respect.

The conservative rural counties are outnumbered and outgunned by liberal city slickers in the legislature, which led to new restrictions on energy production, stricter gun controls, and a heaping helping of government overreach in the recent legislative session. Colorado’s rapidly growing minority population and low-information urban voters handed control of the governor’s office and both houses over to the Democrats, who are now chugging full speed down the track of destruction behind the liberal federal freight train. Feeling underrepresented, and expecting the demographic shift to worsen before it gets better, the northern counties are considering a drastic move – secession from the state.

The 51st state of the union would be called North Colorado, and it would instantly be an economic powerhouse, leaving the rest of Colorado to a California-like fate – lots of Agenda 21 spending and no revenue.

No sooner had the plan been announced than other rural counties in the state wanted in, as well as counties from Nebraska and Kansas.

Residents of rural Montana counties feel the same way. You won’t find the Missoula gang and eastern Montana ranchers and oilmen exchanging back-slaps and buying each other beers any time soon. Wyoming and North Dakota have quietly set the standard for good conservative government in recent years.

Conservatives all over the US are mystified by the counter-intuitive and self-destructive tendencies of our current leadership. While personal wealth, employment, and standards of living continue to tumble, they focus on gay rights. As the middle east boils over, threatening our national security and energy supply, they do everything possible to damage our ability to be energy self-sufficient. If providing medical care for all Americans wasn’t tough enough, they impose a “train wreck” new system that will drastically raise the cost while destroying quality and quantity of health care.

Why not let conservatives start fresh, building a place where common sense, minimal government interference, constitutional rights, free market economics, personal responsibility, and family values are the orders of the day?

I think it’s a great idea. The gerrymandering might be kind of complicated. But I’ll bet a new 51st state – let’s call it MontKotaWyoRasKanRado – would be a GREAT place to live. A place for all the good people to go!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You win, it’s your show, now
So what’s it gonna be?
‘Cause people will tune in
How many train wrecks do we need to see?
Before we lose touch of . . .
We thought this was low,
It’s bad, getting worse, so
Where’d all the good people go?

Where’d All The Good People Go? – Jack Johnson

Don’t Tell Me That 20-Week Abortion Isn’t Murder!

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 6

Jeff Balek from Caution Blind Driver This is the hardest post I have written. I have delayed this for a long time, but can’t hold back any longer.

You who have rocked with me on the “Right Side” know that I stick pretty much to fiscal issues. I believe that our failure to accept economic reality will be the downfall of our nation, and it is our duty to fight the fight against national economic suicide. I pretty much avoid social issues, because when the economic s**t hits the fan, it’s over anyway. But this is a social issue that I just have to address.

Abortion is a topic that hits people in the gut. It is a polarizing issue – it seems that you are all for abortion or completely against it, and there is no middle ground.

I have never had personal experience with abortion. I imagine it is a pretty scary situation to be a young woman, pregnant without intention, and facing a life-changing event. I have immense sympathy for anybody in that situation. And here is what I want you all to know.

A fetus is a person.

Not an “unviable mass of tissue”. Not an embarrassment. Not a roadblock to success. Not a woman’s “choice”. It’s a person.

This week there has been considerable talk about personhood and abortion. The US House of Representatives recently passed a law, with fierce opposition from the secular left, which would ban abortions after 20 weeks gestation. Texas has led the charge on the state level, and others are following suit.

My twin sons, Jeffrey and Mathew, were born at 26 weeks. Each weighed barely two pounds, and they fought for every breath. Fraternal twins, they weren’t anything alike. Mathew was smaller – fair and handsome, dark hair and fine features. Jeffrey was bigger, stronger – red hair and stocky build. Mathew held on for a week, but just didn’t have the strength to win the fight. Jeff, on the other hand, showed a toughness – a will to survive – that could not be denied.

Jeff is now 33. Totally blind, but he is the center of our family and we – his mother, father, and sister – would not have a complete life without him. He is our drummer, our anchor, and he keeps us honest and straight up every day.

Try to tell me that a 20-week old fetus is not a person. Just try.

Abortion at twenty weeks is murder. Period. My son is proof positive.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On The Right Side

Oh, no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive
I’ve got all my life to live, I’ve got all my love to give
And I’ll survive, I will survive, hey, hey

I Will Survive – Gloria Gaynor

Our Nation Nearly Committed Suicide

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 1

Today is Independence Day. It typically brings to mind the bravery and wisdom of the founding fathers of our nation, and rightfully so.

But today I am mindful of the bravery and wisdom of the men who fought and died to preserve our nation at a time when its future was hanging by a thread.

Hospital-Field-Civil-War You might know that 700,000 American men died in the Civil War. You probably have heard anecdotes about how ugly and brutal the battles were. As I grow older I am more somberly aware of the toll the war took on our nation and its people. I recently viewed the movie “Lincoln”, and it was sobering, to say the least.

While there weren’t a lot of battle scenes in that movie, I was reminded of an old question for which I never sought the answer: why do cannonballs explode when they hit the ground in movie war scenes? Isn’t a cannonball just a solid ball of steel or iron?

So I did a little research, and learned: don’t believe everything you see in the movies.

The Civil War was called “the last of the ancient wars and the first of the modern wars”, because the military tactics included old-fashioned cannon, muskets, and close-rank troop formations as well as new innovations in guns and cartridges, iron-clad ships, and advanced ordnance.

Old-style cannonballs were solid balls of metal, 3″ to 6″ in diameter, that could be fired as far as a mile. Obviously a cannonball can knock down a wall or sink a ship. For anti-personnel purposes, cannon were fired into columns or masses of troops at a low trajectory, and would bounce along a deadly path with gruesome effect. A typical cannon shot could blast through up to forty men, knocking off arms, legs and heads as it passed, with no warning. Imagine the fear it lodged in the gut of a young soldier.

Just before the onset of the war, a British Army officer named Henry Schrapnel invented an even more efficient artillery weapon. He called it “spherical case” ammunition – a hollow cannon ball filled with lead shot and a timed explosive that would cause it to explode above ground, blasting lethal projectiles in every direction. His name defines the deadly metal pieces engineered into bombs and shells even today.

As I learn more about the ugliness of war and its place in our U.S. history, I reflect on the patriotism, honor, and bravery that our ancestors carried into battle. Not just those who fought the British and forged our great nation, but also those who stepped up to save the union at a time when it nearly committed suicide, and the healing that God makes possible between seemingly intractable enemies.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Well, he was just 18, proud and brave,
But a Yankee laid him in his grave.
I swear by the blood below my feet,
You can’t raise a Caine back up
When it’s in defeat.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down – the Band

RIP – Levon Helm

Max Baucus Was Right – ObamaCare CrazyTrain Wreck Will Be Brutal

Posted on July 2, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 2

A few months ago Montana senator Max Baucus committed political suicide by telling the truth. The finance committee chairman pulled back the ObamaCare curtain when he told Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “I just see a huge train wreck coming down.” He was immediately thrown under the Obama/Democrat bus and announced his retirement, relieved of the burden of living lie after lie for the benefit of his party.

The ObamaCare train is barreling down the tracks full speed even as we speak, and in a few months the inevitable, explosive wreck will occur when millions of Americans find that their employers have dropped their coverage, leaving them at the mercy of a government bureaucracy that doesn’t know what it’s doing, and the rest take a huge hit to the pocketbook, jolting the already-fragile economy.

Employers have been weighing whether to pay higher benefit costs or take the cheaper route of paying the penalties for dropping health care coverage. Neither is good for business, employees, or the economy. Workers who still have employer-provided health care will find their premium cost share much higher. Those who don’t will begin paying their own premiums to the government exchanges, which are years from being functional (if any government program can actually be functional). And employees who refuse to sign up will face stiff tax penalties at the end of the year.

Sebelius said, “I don’t know what he [Baucus] is looking at . . . we are on track to fully implement marketplaces in Jan. 2014, and to be open for open enrollment.” Yeah, right.

Enrollment is supposed to start October 1 – ninety days from now. Do you see any evidence that the Dept. of Hope and Change is ready to provide health care to millions and millions of new dependents? Is the health care exchange ready to go in your state? Have you been informed of your options?

The Obama administration soldiers on in the face of adversity, doing what it has always done when faced with a difficult problem – more campaigning. Sebelius is trying to enlist the NBA, NFL, and other celebrities to launch a propaganda campaign promoting ObamaCare. Response has been tepid, at best – not surprising, considering Kobe Bryant’s taxes will go up by a quarter million dollars because of ObamaCare.

Oh yeah, this is going to be ugly.

Conservatives in the House have voted to repeal parts or all of the train wreck, but it’s like putting pennies on the track – not going to even slow the behemoth down.

Of course we will all be watching – you can’t help but look at a train wreck, even though the carnage is gut-wrenching. Let’s just hope somebody steps forward in the upcoming elections who can clean up the mess from this crazy train.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

I’ve listened to preachers,
I’ve listened to fools,
I’ve watched all the dropouts,
Who make their own rules,
One person conditioned to rule and control,
The media sells it and you live the role.
I’m going off the rails on a crazy train!

Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne

Here’s some fun for all you Headbangers on the Right Side!

Top Priority: Gay Marriage? Get Serious!

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Tom Balek Standard 2

gay marriage - photo from LA Times Here we go again – the ruling class and the media avoid all of the big problems our nation faces by staging a mudfight over minutiae.

The bold type all last week was “gay marriage”. According to the Census Bureau, gay couples constitute less than 1% of American households. But most people think the number is 20% or greater. Could it be because the Democrats constantly pound gay/lesbian rights as the most compelling issue of our time?

Among gay couples, how many want to be married? Most heterosexual couples are not married, why would gays be any different? If even half of gay couples actually want to be married, now we are talking about less than one half of one percent of US households.

I really don’t care if gays are married or not. Actually I believe there are churches in every state which will perform the ceremony. Regardless, THIS IS JUST NOT A BIG TICKET PRIORITY FOR OUR NATION.

The gay marriage issue may directly affect a few thousand people in the US, at most. In comparison, how many Americans are unemployed or have dropped out of the work force? How many are working ungodly hours, sacrificing family time to put food on the table and pay their taxes? How many families struggle financially because the only work available is low-wage service jobs? How many Americans have little or no savings and just squeak by, paycheck-to-paycheck? How many families wait for a parent to return home from costly and dangerous military campaigns with no palpable objective? How many suffer from medical crises, disabilities, substance abuse, and urban violence?

I guess our real unemployment rate of 11.3% is not important. Our $17 trillion (and growing) debt just doesn’t matter. Our nation’s declining status and security in an increasingly threatening and unstable international climate – who cares? Gay Marriage! That’s what really matters!

Come on. Let’s get serious.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Let’s get serious
Let’s get serious
Let’s get serious
And fall in love

Let’s Get Serious – Jermaine Jackson

Here’s a cut by the “forgotten” Jackson, Jermaine. Damn good musician, and never seemed to have the personal drama that plagued his siblings, although he has had his share of marriages and flings. He is now a devout Muslim and credits that for his calm demeanor. Jermaine was nominated for a Grammy for this song.