Tag Archives: corruption

January 20, 2025 – Mixed Emotions

Posted on by Standard 1

What a historic day as President Trump is inaugurated to be our 47th president. The story is Braveheart revisited – pushed to the edge of the cliff, we let out a primal scream, and charged behind our leader into the teeth of our evil enemy. To victory!

The last four years has been nothing less than an existential battle for those of us who are engaged in the war to save our nation and culture for our children and future generations. I find myself in a swirl of mixed emotions today and am recording them for future reflection.

THANKFULNESS – thanks to God for answering prayers and for His perfect plan. Salvation is there for those who will accept it and it is our responsibility and honor to preserve and share that good news.

CELEBRATION – Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble! We have taken a daily beating from the press, from our political adversaries, from every institution in society. But we kept fighting, knowing that truth and justice always wins out in the end.

BROTHERHOOD – We had to stick together and keep each other inspired, informed, and encouraged in the face of withering attacks from a relentless enemy. For some of us it was a four year battle, but many of us have been in the trenches since the Tea Party days almost twenty years ago. I am so proud of all of my brothers and sisters who have led – and followed – when the going was tough.

HUMILITY – Our battle isn’t personal, although the other side wanted it to be. It’s tempting to shame and embarrass our vanquished opponents as they did to us. But some of those who have not been on our team just didn’t know any better. We should celebrate today and then get to work for all of our fellow citizens, because we know better and we are better than the few evil ones that did so much damage.

ANGER – I will try to release the anger I have toward those evil ones and will cut their sheep followers some slack. But it will take a while because of all the personal carnage they caused. And justice must be meted out to those with evil intent, as a deterrent to future villains. It will be hard to forgive those who arrested innocent protesters like my nephew on January 6, 2021 at the cost of prison time, loss of careers, homes, and savings. I’m confident that TODAY President Trump will pardon them all. He promised me.

DETERMINATION – I doubt most people know how close we came to losing our precious American way of life. Let’s make damn sure we don’t get pushed to the edge of that cliff again.

Onward! And may God continue to bless America!

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Let’s grab the world by the scruff of the neck
And drink it down deeply and love it to death
So button your lip, baby, button your coat
Let’s go out dancing, let’s rock and roll
You’re not the only one with mixed emotions!

MIXED EMOTIONS – the Rolling Stones

Trump’s “To Do” List

Posted on by Standard 6

1. Resign from the United Nations and NATO.

2. Eliminate the FBI, Homeland Security, Dept. of Education, ATF, IRS, CIA, Dept. of Commerce, BLM, Dept. of Agriculture, HUD, and any other programs and departments that have become inefficient, unmanageable, corrupt, or obsolete. Merge their necessary functions into remaining departments and a reformed, streamlined Dept. of Defense. Task the Dept. of Defense with securing all borders and ports.

3. Establish a new federal Department of Technology and Efficiency (DOTE), headquartered in the former UN building, funded with recovered spending from the UN, NATO, and the eliminated departments and programs. The DOTE would research, develop, and implement new methods, procedures, devices and facilities with and for all agencies of the federal government.  It would be directed by a board of carefully selected industry and government leaders under the authority and oversight of Congress via a workforce of world-class tech experts in engineering, defense and security, management, artificial intelligence, energy, and transportation. Priorities would include eliminating 50% of the federal workforce with efficient technology; restoring energy independence, and building modern infrastructure including a national satellite system for communication and security.

4. Push all federal functions not enumerated in the Constitution back down to state and local control, including health, education, agriculture, welfare, law enforcement, etc. Eliminate the federal taxes that were allocated to these functions and let states fund their own systems.

5. Challenge Congress to establish and maintain a balanced budget at the new, significantly reduced spending levels.

6. Restore integrity to our courts and system of justice. Enforce laws without discrimination with an intense scrutiny for corruption and fraud by government officials and employees.

Our federal government is so huge, with a budget beyond human comprehension, that corruption and inefficiency is inevitable. We have to make government smaller and eliminate politics as a source of personal wealth. That will take new thinking and big change for Trump and a rehabilitated Congress.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ on the Right Side

Someday, somehow
Something has to change

Am I ready for times such as these?
Emphatically no
Though I did see it coming
A long time ago

SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE – Rodney Crowell

NGOs – the Death of Democracy

Posted on by Standard 1

The proliferation and power of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in recent years has become a threat to democracy in the USA and around the world.

Approximately 1.5 million NGOs operate in the United States. These NGOs undertake a wide array of activities, including political advocacy on issues such as foreign policy, elections, the environment, healthcare, women’s rights, economic development, and many other issues . . . Their sources of finance include donations from private individuals (American or foreign), private sector for-profit companies, philanthropic foundations, or grants from federal, state, or local government. Sources of finance may also include foreign governments. There is no prohibition in U.S. law on foreign funding of NGOs; whether that foreign funding comes from governments or non-government sources.

US Dept. of State – NGOs in the United States

Primarily a tool of the political left, the NGO has become the preferred method to funnel enormous amounts of money and power to those who implement their often-clandestine liberal policies.

For example, in the 2020 presidential election, the Democrat party mobilized an army of workers in blue cities all over the country to harvest ballots, work the polls as ballot counters, and perform whatever other work, legal or not, required to win. Most of these shock troops were hired and managed by NGOs using leftover Covid funds and other federal grants.

The most compelling evidence to date has emerged in “2000 Mules,” the upcoming documentary by conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, who draws on research by election integrity group True The Vote to expose suspicious ballot harvesting. Using cellphone geotracking and surveillance video, it shows a network of “mules” in battleground states busily collecting ballots from get-out-the-vote NGOs and stuffing them, a few at a time, into multiple drop boxes in the dead of night. 

NY Post – April 24, 2022

Meanwhile, at the southern border, millions upon millions of illegal immigrants cross into the USA aided and abetted by Democrat-operated NGOs. These immigrants are given first-class tourist treatment on the way to destinations all over the country where they are set up with taxpayer-funded housing, food, medical care, education, and often voting privileges. Texas is investigating the Biden administration’s unholy alliance with NGOs and its role in the border crisis.

Since none of this is legal and is strongly opposed by taxpaying Americans, it must be done in secrecy. NGOs are the perfect vehicle for corruption – they can be created and discarded quickly, leave no traces, have unlimited access to non-taxable grant funds and private contributions from zillionaires, and are accountable to no-one.

What’s worse is that Democrat legislators can grant taxpayer funds to NGOs with the full expectation that large sums of money will be returned to them as campaign contributions. Planned Parenthood rakes in about a half billion dollars from the government per year and gives at least 10% back to Democrat members of Congress, plus large contributions from well-paid Planned Parenthood executives. Is it any wonder this despicable organization gets funded year after year?

These unelected, unaccountable, shadow organizations are at the root of much of the corruption we decry in our government these days. Increasingly they are used by foreign governments as political weapons and agents of covert invasion all over the world.

It’s time for our new Congress to take a hard look at NGOs and their dirty deeds.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Dirty deeds (done dirt cheap)
Dirty deeds (done dirt cheap)
Dirty deeds (done dirt cheap)
Dirty deeds and they’re done dirt cheap
Dirty deeds and they’re done dirt cheap

DIRTY DEEDS – Joan Jett

INCOMPETENCE!

Posted on by Standard 1

Does this sound like anybody you know? Hmm . . . maybe our federal government? Maybe the Biden administration? Maybe the Democrat Party under Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer? The crazy team on the Marxist crazy train?

Does the term “incompetence” bring to mind minority leader Kevin McCarthy or Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, neither of whom has ever initiated or demanded a regular-order federal budget, instead playing the “continuing resolution” game year after year?

Is it just me, or is the incompetence of our elected officials becoming absolutely mind-boggling?

Anyone who has owned a business, or has been a manager at any level, or for that matter, has been a line-level employee who gives a damn, completely understands the term incompetence. It just can’t be avoided. It slaps you in the face when you see it. Incompetence is so intolerable, and smells so bad, that families go to war over it. Workers quit their jobs over it. Customers flee from suppliers over it.

Have you had a boss who is or was incompetent? Did it piss you off so badly you couldn’t even see straight?

Just for fun, let’s look at some specific recent examples of the incompetence of our national leaders:

  • Our nation needs a low-cost, reliable energy supply and just one year ago enjoyed economic success and foreign policy prowess as the world’s leading producer of energy
    • until the Biden administration cut off pipelines and drilling, while pressing for scientifically indefensible green policies, and advocating for competing nations’ carbon-based energy development, even begging OPEC to increase oil production to hold down the inevitably skyrocketing gas prices
  • Americans endure endless business, education and home life shutdowns, mask mandates and vaccine requirements due to questionable government and media COVID-19 “science”
    • while our federal government overturns all existing border controls and encourages tens of thousands of illegal migrants to walk into our states without any vetting or medical clearance, and while hundreds of thousands of American COVID patients die without being allowed access to proven, inexpensive therapeutic drugs
  • Federal budgets blow trillions of taxpayer dollars on corrupt schemes to reward political supporters disguised as “community organizers” who work feverishly, and illegally, to ensure the re-election of their leftist sugar daddies

The founders of our nation embraced a free-market economy and expected that government would dovetail into a routine that rewards competence. You build a better mousetrap at a lower price, and you are rewarded. I think almost everybody feels that government should run like a business – after all, what else does government do but receive and distribute money?

So how the hell did our government, made up of those we have elected, become so INCOMPETENT?

The only way out of this mess is to do what any business must do to survive. Find employees and managers who are competent, and FIRE all the incompetents.

Tom Balek, Rockin’ On the Right Side

Feeling better now that we’re through
Feeling better, ’cause I’m over you
I’ve learned my lesson, it left a scar
And now I see how you really are

You’re no good, you’re no good, you’re no good
Baby, you’re no good!
YOU’RE NO GOOD – Linda Ronstadt

https://youtu.be/Q3SOosWH6_M

The “China-fication” of America

Posted on by Standard 5
(Color China Photo via AP, File)

Two months into the Democrat takeover of our nation, I am plenty worried. Not about myself and my wife. Not about our children. Our grandchildren? You bet.

As I recover from the shock of a stolen election followed by the unraveling of all the progress made over the last four years, my worldview has begun to clarify. I think I am finally beginning to understand what’s going on.

My son asked me today, “Do you really think we will never again have a fair election?” After some thought, I had to admit that the likelihood of a real election in our near future is pretty remote.

Look at it this way – the Democrats now have control of the three branches of federal government, the news media, the education system, the military, the judiciary including the Supreme Court, the FBI/DOJ/CIA/State Dept., the entire federal bureaucracy, most of corporate America, the internet, social media, pop culture, entertainment and sports. Their control is so complete that they are able to steal an election in front of God and everybody, get away with it and laugh about it, with virtually no opposition. They can presumably do that again, repeatedly. How in the hell could we traditional Christian conservative Americans expect to ever gain back even a tiny portion of control over our government or our destiny without a deadly civil war?

It appears that the United States (and perhaps the civilized world) has come to accept the Chinese model of government, culture, and morality as the new paradigm of success. After all, the communist leaders of China have maneuvered their huge nation from abject poverty and utter failure to world champion status in just a few decades. Yes, their model richly rewards the ruling elites while “genociding” or “disappearing” unwanted citizens. Yes, their air is unbreathable, their genome-bending diseases are unstoppable, and any disagreement with the CCP is brutally, even militarily, extinguished. But the billions of people in the great Chinese middle class have been elevated to a sustainable, somewhat comfortable standard of living. That is, as long as they do as they are told, maintain an acceptable social score under constant surveillance, and accept mediocrity for their entire lives.

We apparently want the same one-party control system that China has. No need for citizens to make decisions of any kind. No need for freedom of expression, religion, or truth. The government knows best, just shut up and live.

There’s only one problem here. China was able to build their system by using and abusing American knowledge, creativity and money. If America wants to emulate China, who will we look to as our “cash cow” to finance our growth and progress? Guatamala? Mexico? Using the wealth they pilfered from us, China has already taken over most of the third-world at breakneck pace.

With Democrats now controlling every aspect of American civilization, and promising (already delivering) the China model to our nation, those of us over age 40 who give a damn about our grandchildren don’t seem to have a lot of options.

But there is one last hope. And it is that individual states will re-affirm their sovereignty, rights and freedoms under the Constitution of our forefathers. If there is no room for the “Make America Great Again” spirit in our nation, I pray to God that there is room for it in our states. If we have hope to restore the USA to greatness, that hope lies in the flyover states, not the metropolitan coastal areas that are willing and happy to sell their pitiful, fearful souls to the federal government for promise of a crust of bread. May God bless the United STATES of America!





I stumble into town just like a sacred cow
Visions of swastikas in my head
And plans for everyone
It’s in the white of my eyes

China Girl – David Bowie

I’ll Give You Money!

Posted on by Standard 1

Ah, America – the land of opportunity, where any entrepreneur with a good idea can get rich. All you have to do is be in the right place at the right time with the right scam.

So here’s the next big opportunity.

Americans no longer have to show up to vote, right? And mail-in ballots do not need to be verified in any way to be considered valid, as many of our states have proven in the 2020 elections, right?

The old-school method for getting stinking rich by being elected to office in Washington, DC has been to collect huge sums of money from lobbyists and rich fatcats and then buy advertising that will make the voters hate your opponent. For example, Democrat Jaime Harrison and incumbent Republican Lindsey Graham collected and spent about $230 million on hate advertising in their recent senate race. But this technique is now obsolete. SC voters already hated both of them before the advertising. Harrison had more money and bought more advertising, but South Carolina loves President Trump, so we plugged our noses and voted for Graham, hoping he would support Trump.

But wait a minute – if that kind of fatcat money is available to candidates, and there is no control over mail-in ballots, why go through all the hassle and risk of advertising? Why not just buy votes directly on the open market?

I think I am going to run for Lindsey Graham’s seat next time around using a combination of old-school and new-school tactics. Like the current group of “corrupticrats” in DC, I will collect a ton of lobbyist/fatcat money by promising legislation that will make them even richer. But instead of spending it on hate advertising, I will create a website where voters can send their mail-in ballots, marked for me, directly to my campaign manager, who will conspire with corrupt postal workers and poll employees to dump them in the ballot boxes. In return for their ballots I will send each voter a Visa gift card for the going rate, which was $130 per vote this year. If you can collect or create 100 ballots I will send you $13,000, and I don’t care how you get them.

It’s the American way – supply and demand, efficiency of production, stuff like that. Oh, but it’s dishonest, you say? Tell that to CNN and Google.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ on the Right Side

All I need is someone to believe in me
Even if you’re losing
Watching from behind
I’ll give you money, I’ll give you lovin’
Everything

I’ll Give You Money – Pete Frampton

Who Will Have the Next Revolution?

Posted on by Standard 2

We see news of protests on a daily basis now, from every corner of the world.

photo by WireNewsFax

Hong Kong has erupted in street protests over the Chinese Communist Party’s aggressive push to strip the “autonomous” region of its freedoms guaranteed under the 1997 agreement when the UK gave clear title to the CCP.

Protestors continue to march in Venezuela, demanding the ouster of dictator Nicolas Maduro after suffering through years of economic devastation and loss of personal rights.

Ethnic attacks in Mali and DR Congo have inflamed citizens to the boiling point. In the Middle East civil unrest in several nations including Yemen, Syria and Libya have become a fact of daily life.

And in the US this week, riots have erupted in several cities over the police killing of a black man during an arrest in Minneapolis. This follows weeks of protests at state capitals by conservative activists who oppose the government’s coronavirus-inspired economic shutdowns. America is polarized, with every news development devolving into a red / blue showdown. There doesn’t seem to be even an inch of middle ground in our political turf-war. The very structure of our constitutional government is in play as lines of authority continue to break down. The separation of powers as defined in the constitution is taking a beating as rogue judges attempt to override executive and legislative authority, while corruption runs rampant and unpunished.

Tensions between the ruling class and the governed simmer all over the world. We know that civil unrest can lead to civil war or bloody revolution, and the results can lead to positive change or down the highway to hell.

The world is now averse to hot wars, but in the USA we openly hope for revolutions in Iran, Venezuela, Syria and China that lead to regime change. Do they wish the same for us? The US has shown a proclivity to get involved in foreign civil wars in the past, with less-than-stellar results. And we are seeing our adversaries brazenly meddling in our domestic affairs lately.

Could we be the first in line for civil war or revolution? Will we soon be watching bloodshed in Hong Kong or Tehran? Or will they be cheering while watching ours?

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

You say you want a revolution?
Well you know,
We all want to change the world.

Revolution – the Beatles

The United States of Africa

Posted on by Standard 1

megacities_poverty_mainA few weeks ago I ran into Samuel, a dual citizen of Nigeria and the United States.   A well-educated businessman, his wife is a political consultant whose work takes her to every corner of Africa.  Samuel made his living buying cars in Europe and the USA, and selling them in Nigeria to corporate clients who work for Shell, Coca-Cola, and other well-heeled clients.  But he says it’s getting almost impossible to do business in Nigeria.

I try to keep up on international news, including Africa, and eagerly asked Samuel what’s happening in his home country.  He confirmed and amplified what I already knew: that Nigeria would be one of the wealthiest nations on Earth if it were not for the relentless government corruption.  Muhammadu Buhari was elected president last year, replacing the incumbent Goodluck Jonathan.  Samuel told me Jonathan had risen to the presidency promising to put an end to the rampant cronyism and corruption that has infected the Nigerian government since its independence.  But under Jonathan the corruption only got worse.  And his replacement, Buhari, is no better, having installed his own cronies and schemes.   Samuel described how the government officials and their friends are putting him, and most Nigerian entrepreneurs, out of business.  He now drives Uber full time to put food on the table, and hasn’t been home for six months.

I sympathized with Samuel.  “That’s where my country is headed, too.  I would never have dreamed the United States government could become so corrupt.”

Hollywood could not come up with a plot so thin and unbelievable, and yet it unfolds before our eyes.

The U.S. Secretary of State sells influence to foreign leaders – greasing the skids for defense contracts, granting uranium mining rights on US soil to Russia, steering favorable rulings from international agencies – in exchange for cash contributions to her “foundation”, which is nothing more than a multi-billion dollar slush fund.  The foundation pays no taxes and makes few charitable contributions; even worse, it siphons off legitimate disaster funds for the benefit of the Secretary’s family, friends, and cronies.  American corporate cronies get in on the act, expecting “pay for play” rewards from the Secretary, who is presumed to become president.

The Secretary sets up a secret and illegal communication system to hide her corrupt dealings from public view, and when it is discovered, she has all of the records professionally “bleached” from her servers, laughing at congressional subpoenas demanding their release.

An FBI investigation ensues, but the director of the FBI gives immunity to everybody who could have been indicted for illegal handling of classified government communications and tampering with evidence.  He does not even listen to the damning facts revealed in Congressional hearings or an FBI interview with the Secretary under oath, and hastily proclaims that the Attorney General should not prosecute.  Almost simultaneously, the Attorney General has a clandestine meeting with the Secretary’s husband and former president, the subject of which is clearly either threat or payoff.  The inquiry is dropped.  And the stench of corruption hangs thick all over the nation’s capital.

The most creative fiction writer on planet Earth could not come up with less plausible story.  Or at least this could only happen in a third-world hell-hole in Africa, right?  Certainly not in the United States of America, the world’s champion of fairness, truth and democracy.

But it is happening, here and now.  And our media, plus most of the American public and all of our representatives and senators (except for a few brave Freedom Caucus members) are perfectly happy to look the other way.  No indictments.  No impeachments.  Not even a breath of criticism.  The most corrupt political leader in the history of our nation may very well soon be our president.

This is unprecedented.  It is clear that our government is now irretrievably corrupt.  Citizens can no longer have any confidence in the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Congress, the Administration, or any federal agency. Congress could impeach the director of the FBI, and the Attorney General.  But they won’t.  Laws don’t apply to the politically connected.  There is nobody left to stop the corruption except the citizens.

I don’t want our government to collapse, and I don’t want my grandchildren to live (or die) through a civil war.  Sound extreme?  Look back through history.  Whenever governments become unbearably corrupt and untouchable, change ultimately comes via brute force.  And it’s never pretty.  Ask any African.

Right now American citizens have only one course of action: to elect a president who is not part of the corrupt political machine, and hope for the best.  The corrupt legislative branch and the corrupt judicial branch will take years to turn over, but the corrupt administrative branch can be overthrown in one day.  Failing that, we might as well be the United States of Africa.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Let’s fight corruption. Let’s fight corruption.
Let’s fight corruption as much as we can.
Let’s fight corruption. Let’s fight corruption.
Let’s fight corruption, together we stand.

The Child Africa Corruption Song

 

 

More Ugly Obama/Clinton Crony Corruption

Posted on by Standard Reply

hillary-and-warren-buffett

Hillary Clinton and billionaire Warren Buffett, who invested $30 billion in taxpayer-subsidized solar and wind energy –  photo by NPR

Robert Murray may be the most frustrated and abused CEO in the USA.

The owner of Murray Energy is the last man standing in the fight to save the coal industry from the Obama / Clinton “war on coal”, and his emotional appeals on the news networks reveal that he may be down for the count.

robert-murrayMurray grew up poor, picking up a shovel at age 16 to keep his family afloat after his father was paralysed in a mine accident.  He persevered through good times and bad to become one of the biggest players in the coal business, and now, at age 75, Murray sees all his hard work and investment going up in smoke, along with the livelihoods of his employees.

When President Obama declared in 2008 that he would destroy the coal industry, he wasn’t kidding. “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” he said.  “It’s just that it will bankrupt them, because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

Over 400 coal mines have shut down since then, putting 83,000 miners on the street.  As coal companies headed for the exits, Murray bought many of them, unable to accept that the nation would allow such a valuable and strategically critical industry to just die at the whim of an imperious and misguided president.

Eight years later, Obama’s pre-ordained successor, Hillary Clinton, has doubled down, promising to “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

Obama’s and Clinton’s pretense for eliminating the source of one-third of America’s electricity is their desire to save the planet and its inhabitants from “carbon pollution”.  But Murray isn’t buying it, as he told Fox Business:

“Windmills and solar panels generate 26 cent per kilowatt hour electricity – coal is only 4 cents a kilowatt hour.  The reason why she wants to see coal eliminated is because she’s getting millions of dollars of kickback to the Clinton Foundation and to her campaign from people who she says needs government help. You know who she’s talking about? She’s talking about Warren Buffett, the Pritzkers, Elon Musk, Tom Steyer—all billionaires that are making billions of dollars off of windmills and solar panels that are made in China.”

“She’s getting hundreds of millions of dollars from some of the largest banks in the country, from some of the largest electric utilities, and from these billionaires that I just mentioned.  They need the subsidies – wind and solar are not competitive with coal or other fossil fuels.  So they are making billions of dollars, these billionaires, and they are kicking back millions to the Clinton Foundation and to Hillary Clinton – it’s a story we have been hearing over and over.  The lowest 25 million families on the poverty scale in the country now spend 22 cents of every dollar they earn for energy.  We need to be worrying about the energy poverty in this country, not making more billionaires as Hillary Clinton attempts to eliminate the reliable low-cost electricity and substitute these ‘crony capitalists’.  It’s fraud – it’s absolute fraud!”

Today President Obama announced his “Clean Power Plan”, a new set of standards to limit “carbon pollution” from power plants.  The plan makes the outwardly pure-hearted promise to “decrease the pollutants that contribute to the soot and smog and can lead to more asthma attacks in kids by more than 70 percent.”  We all love kids, and don’t want them breathing soot and smog, right?  But the plan’s main thrust is to control carbon dioxide emissions, which have absolutely nothing to do with “soot and smog”.  Carbon dioxide is clear and odorless, it is necessary for plant life, and it has no impact on global temperatures or pollution of any kind.

coal-fired-power-generation-plantDemocrats sob about “the children” and flaunt blown-up photos of old Chinese factories belching smoke, pretending they are modern American electrical power generation plants and hoping the low-information public will believe the carbon dioxide hoax pumped through their politically-motivated news media.  Meanwhile, they destroy our clean and efficient energy infrastructure for no purpose other than to generate profit for their crony friends and receive kickbacks in return.

I never dreamed my government could become so corrupt, or that so many of our citizens would be unwilling or unable to put up a fight.

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

Hanging on every word, believing the things I heard
Being a fool
You’ve taken my life, so take my soul
That’s what you said and I believed it all
Liar!  Liar!

Liar – Three Dog Night

 

 

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

Posted on by Standard Reply

Government_spending2What does government do?  What CAN government do?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tom Balek – Rockin’ On the Right Side

Rockin' On the Right Side

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

Respect – Otis Redding

 

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