Listen Carefully, Choose Wisely

America is in an economic weed patch.

The cost of energy and groceries is hitting every American family right between the eyes. Once Sniper-Gate and Reverend-Gate fade, the economy will emerge as the primary issue in the general election.

The outcome of the fall election will determine the direction of the government’s intervention and cure. The timeframe for withdrawal from the Iraqi battlefield is barely divisive compared to the substantial differences in the fiscal remedies offered by the Democratic and Republican candidates.

Choose wisely! The platitudes and political pandering we hear prior to the fall election will be cemented to your family budget in 2009.

Don’t let the candidates insult your intelligence. Every prescription touted for your economic salvation, if enacted, will be paid with your tax dollars—or be added to the national debt.

On average, state, county and town governments siphon off about 24% of a family’s earnings. Families with incomes under $90,000 send 7.65% to of their gross income to the federal government for Social Security and Medicare.

Thus, about 32% of a family’s income evaporates before one penny is claimed for federal excise and income taxes. Now take a careful look at your last pay stub. How much more do you want withheld for the care and feeding of government entitlements?

The federal tax burden has increased 60% since 1965. Last year Washington raked in 2.7 trillion dollars. And that didn’t cover the cost of the current programs. The US debt has spiraled to 9 trillion dollars. That is equivalent to a family earning $40,000 a year accumulating $133,000 in unsecured debt.

The politicians pretend it’s a big deal when federal spending patterns predict a balanced budget in three to five years. That means in three to five years they can pay the bills they have incurred, plus the $400 billion required to pay the interest on the national debt.

In the meantime, the national debt keeps growing, which depreciates every dollar you earn.

Now, let’s pretend that the candidate of your choice is sincere when he/she promises the trillions of dollars required for the new programs he/she is advocating will be paid by the other guy.

Then listen carefully! There is a mighty good chance that this is the same candidate that is recommending higher taxes on your 401K, higher taxes for natural resource consumption (electricity, heating oil, water), and tax penalties on homes over 2400 square feet.

This could be the same candidate that wants higher capital gains taxes on stocks, mutual funds and IRAs, higher corporate taxes which increase the cost of the goods and services you buy, and higher taxes on gasoline.

It’s possible that this candidate wants the Bush tax cuts to expire, and is willing to kick a solution for fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax into a dark corner.

Now look in the mirror. If you can tell yourself that your taxes won’t increase if Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is elected, it means one thing. You don’t live in the United States.

Feel the Love

The 2008 presidential election is one ugly contest. Rattlesnake venom will soon be classified with mothers’ milk when compared to the poison spewed by the political vipers.

The caustic exchange of insults between the Obama supporter, Governor Bill Richardson, and the Clinton apologist, James Carville, defined the only rule: Shoot to kill.

Don’t expect a prisoner exchange before the votes are counted in November, as none of the combatants are taking hostages. The wounded should expect no mercy.

The political pundits need calculators to keep track of the body count. Of course, the news stars at ABC, NBC, NPR and CNN will rely on their memories as they hate to be hobbled by objective facts.

A major overture of the Democratic Party is unraveling in broad daylight. How many times have we heard both of the Democratic candidates and their party representatives seek voter support due to their willingness and unique ability to heal the nation’s divisions?

One only has to look at the win-at-any-cost tactics employed by the Obama and Clinton campaigns to realize that promise is a hallucination. They are demanding unconditional surrender, and compromise has yet to appear in their vocabularies.

If this is their definition of love, unity and cooperation, one can only imagine the tone of the rhetoric once the Democrats start attacking Republicans.

Moderates and conservatives had better place orders for body armor before the Democratic primary is settled.

The leftwing zealots are correct about one thing. This is a watershed election. The outcome will determine whether the newly elected president will walk hand-in-hand down the path with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid, or defend our shores and values.

The liberals are just winding up. So keep the children indoors. It’s not going to be pretty. They are stashing away funds for the final shock and awe assault on America’s sanity.

The message of hope, peace, change and truth has been redacted from the Democratic handbook. It’s already too late for their candidates to pretend they are guided by these principles.

The Hate America crowd will embark on a pro-terrorist, open borders, anti-capitalism, race baiting, anti-Christian media blitz to destroy those Bible thumping, misguided patriots who still believe in personal responsibility and the rule of law.

And expect to be neck-deep in hypocrisy. This is the same crowd that will be simultaneously screaming at the Republicans to address the issues, rather than practicing the politics of personal destruction. Huh?

Let's Hope They Are Right

Many families celebrate Easter. It is the crescendo of the Christian calendar, the imprimatur on Christ’s divinity. Without the Resurrection of Christ, Christianity would have withered away during the first century A.D.

As with many events in the Christian curriculum, Easter slowly supplanted a pagan celebration, the Saxons’ spring festival. It was the annual tribute to Eastre, the goddess of springtime and fertility.

The Easter bunny, colored eggs and baskets of sweets hidden in obvious places add to the joy of the day. Many confuse this tradition with the secularization of the holiday. Not true.

The goddess, Eastre, was commonly represented by the image of a rabbit. And for centuries eggs were exchanged by friends as a symbol of hope for the earth’s fruitfulness. This tradition was brought to our shores by the Anglo-Saxons. We call them Germans.

In historical context, Easter is a celebration of the earth’s generosity and the blessings bestowed on mankind. People of every religion, atheists and agnostics share a common bond. It’s called dependence on the earth’s bounty.

Much of our common law, our constitution and our respect for each other are founded on the conviction that a final arbiter exists. But how we got here, and who we thank for our blessings, seems less relevant than acknowledging our inter-dependence.

Belief in a Supreme Being is a personal decision and is usually handed down from generation to generation. Our nation reserves and defends the rights of all beliefs. It’s a perspective that we must respect.

That’s the essential message of Easter, the message of Christianity. It’s a message that should offend no one.

The controversy over subjects such as creationism and evolution seem contrived; little more than a pretext to incite divisiveness. The two can co-exist in perfect harmony. To deny that mankind is evolving seems as irresponsible as denying the possibility that it is the game plan of a Supreme Being.

The belief in a creator is neither more nor less inclusive than atheism because both demand the bridge of faith. There is no empirical, scientific proof that either side can submit which will end the stalemate.

If the atheists are correct, death will provide no answers. If those who believe in an afterlife are correct, the debate will eventually end. It seems natural to hope they are right.

So Happy Easter. Or if you prefer, may Eastre, the pagan goddess of fertility, bless your life.

The Killer Question

Senator Obama is taking a shellacking. His twenty year friendship with the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is knocking the stuffing out of the Senator’s presidential aspirations.

The race-baiting, anti-America diatribes of the recently retired minister of the Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois must have the Clintons giddy. The audacity of hope is now firmly lodged in their campaign tent.

You can believe the Clinton team is scouring every frame of the recorded footage of Reverend Wright’s sermons for Obama’s image in the crowd of parishioners. A single frame will unmask the defense that he wasn’t aware of the Rev. Wright’s hate America, racist vitriol.

On its face, this supposition is preposterous. Rev. Wright was Obama’s closest political mentor. Only a leftwing zealot would pretend to believe that the pastor’s common, public displays came as a surprise to anyone in Rev. Wright’s inner circle.

Michelle Obama’s “no pride in America” remark has now come home to roost. Rev. Wright’s words place her comment in undeniable context. It’s a fact, not hypothesis, that she is a disciple of Rev. Wright’s message. Can her husband be far behind?

The disclosure is a terrible setback for a country that was poised to mute the racist innuendo touted and groomed by the far left. A lot of decent people—Democrats, independents and Republicans—knew that he was more than a presidential candidate. He was a symbol of hope.

Even those who despise his politics were proud of his reception as a viable candidate. His delegate lead had all but slammed the door on the leftwing political concoction that deliberately, and with malice, mires the country in racial distortions.

Our nation was within inches of believing that it was free at last. What his candidacy epitomized can’t be denied, but it has been soiled.

The leftwing apologists’ only option is to blame white America for his predictable fall in the polls. They will condemn Americans for silently turning their back to Senator Obama. Expect an onslaught of revisionist history. He will be morphed into a victim of racism.

They will demand sympathy for Rev. Wright’s bigotry and blame America for not understanding and sharing his pain. Only hate mongers can justify hate speech. And hate defines the actions and words of this sordid element in America.

Senator Obama doesn’t deserve our sympathy . . . but America does. We were deceived, and that’s the real shame. Don’t blame Obama for this disaster. He is but a politician.

Had the media properly vetted him when he first arrived on the national stage, he would have had time to define a new epoch. His response on March 18, 2008 was at least six months too late.

As he walked away from the cameras, one question lingered. If Senator Obama was not running for president would he and his family still be members of Rev. Wright’s congregation?

The answer is obvious. We’re sorry and good-bye Senator Obama.

Why Senator Obama?

Senator Obama’s near meteoric success is not difficult to understand. The confluence of technology, a biased media, youthful idealism, an irradiate economy and the struggle with terrorism have left Americans questioning the nation’s health.

The Clintons’ reputation has also contributed to his success. The revelation of Governor Spitzer’s naughty behavior reminds everyone of the sordid scandals that is the Clinton legacy. By comparison, Senator Obama is a saint.

Anyone who denies that Senator Obama’s ethnicity hasn’t contributed to his delegate lead is choking on the inherent deceit of political correctness. A white person with presidential aspirations and such a thin resume would never have gotten off the starting block.

This doesn’t dismiss what he has accomplished with great dexterity. Nor does it besmirch his talent. He is a charisma machine. But it would be the height of hypocrisy to pretend his ethnicity isn’t the lynchpin of his ascendency. His ethnicity underscores his message of change.

The internet has altered politics. When harnessed to a political campaign, it’s a powerful engine for fund raising and expressing opinion. It’s a grass roots, egalitarian platform, which makes it an ideal instrument for cause advocacy. But it didn’t arrive with a truth check.

The Net can substitute and confuse enthusiasm with fact. This makes it the perfect breeding ground for political manipulation. It’s this generation’s introduction to the fog of war. The truth is lost in the chaos of the worldwide battleground.

The national media offers no resistance to the Internet’s precarious relationship to the truth. The traditional news outlets have succumbed to mimicking it. Their headlines and lead stories are equally subjective and pander unmercifully. There is no yin and yang in the coverage—no reverence for truth.

Obama’s message of hope has inspired the nation’s youth. Their enthusiasm hasn’t been tempered by experience. It would be safe to say they de-value experience; and it is natural for them to believe that it’s overrated.

The MTV generation has yet to discern that reality shows are staged productions. The footage is cut and spliced for affect. They have yet to differentiate objective reporting from reporting with an objective.

And where would they learn this? Certainly not in our schools. The educational establishment is using its position of authority to indoctrinate it charges. It’s a monopoly that doesn’t suffer independent thought. It’s the incubator of Hate America ideas.

Senator Obama is not a media creation. But his status is polished by those who control the media and our institutions of higher learning. They love socialists; and that he is.

As long as he espouses their pro-terrorist, anti-capitalism, entitlement message, they will treat him like the messiah. He offers them the best chance of ridding the nation of traditional values. And that’s their definition of Mecca.

Don't Blame Me

Arelia Margarita Taveras is suing seven gambling casinos because she wagered and lost nearly $1 million. She is looking for a better return than she found at the blackjack tables, as she has socked them with a $20 million lawsuit.

She is not an ignorant hayseed. This writer, TV commentator and recently disbarred attorney, who admitted stealing funds from her clients’ escrow accounts, is claiming the casinos should have stopped her.

The casinos made the right decision. Can you imagine the size of her lawsuit if they had forbidden a Hispanic woman from entering and gambling on their premises? They would have been smeared as gender biased racists. You can bet the ACLU would have been drooling over the prospects of bringing that to court.

If her lawsuit is successful, my future will be filled with litigation. My first target will be the ocean resort where I received a painful sunburn. Its poolside, lounge chairs were entirely too comfortable.

And I don’t remember seeing a single warning about the danger of the sun’s radiation posted on the cocktail napkins. That should be worth a few million dollars and smacks of class action potential.

Chrysler made a big mistake when they sold me a vehicle with four wheel drive and all disc brakes. After carefully reading the Users Manual, I see a few more million dollars coming my way. They never warned me about stopping in front of a car with lesser capability.

Getting rear-ended at a red light by a car with rear-wheel drive on an icy road was definitely Chrysler’s fault. My neck is getting stiff just from the anticipation of this settlement.

I might end up owning The Home Depot. The company really left itself wide open to the big one when they sold me a riding lawn mower. The staff that loaded it on my trailer never mentioned how heavy it was. There were no complaints, no warnings and no consideration for my mental health.

I almost died of exhaustion getting it off the trailer without physical injury. The endeavor caused great mental distress. Had the associates complained about the weight, I wouldn’t have felt so inadequate.

There should be a big reward for the mental anguish and pain I endured after discovering I am not as young as I used to be. This may be a good time to sell your stock in the company. I can almost hear the surf breaking on my own Caribbean island.

Of course, I am considering the ultimate class action lawsuit. The litigation will be aimed at Personal Injury Attorneys. It’s still in the planning stages and there are a few glitches. Getting the names of the 300 million US citizens they have deliberately harmed is a bit of a task.

It will be worth the wait considering that about 30% of the cost of every product and service we buy just covers the manufacturers’ and service providers’ liability insurance. The first defendants on the list will be Arelia Margarita Taveras’ attorney and those suing McDonalds for their clients’ inability to put their forks down.

Nanny State Morality

The insurance company, Liberty Mutual, reminded America that courtesy is contagious. Its recent commercial depicts small acts of kindness by strangers. The cause and effect scenarios teach, without preaching, the value of human consideration.

The commercial reminds us of how little it takes to contribute to the safety and wellbeing of others who share our streets, our sidewalks and our neighborhoods. The ad prompts us to remember Confucius’ Golden Rule—Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

The message is striking because it’s rarely heard or seen. It has been displaced with clichés we often hear: It’s not my job; don’t blame me; it’s not my responsibility, and no good deed goes unpunished.

These clichés are little more than excuses to forgive and condone selfish behavior. Our culture is becoming a monument to the addiction of self. The ad is welcome because it confirms that others have noticed the deterioration of manners and ethics in our society.

The permissive attitude centered on self is a natural outcome of the decline of moral values, civic pride and personal responsibility. It reflects the baseline of a nanny state mentality.

It seems we’ve been conditioned to believe that only government is responsible for the wellbeing and safety of our neighbors. We practice what the state preaches.

Being polite has always been an option. Rudeness is the converse of thoughtful behavior. Thoughtless conduct isn’t criminal, but it’s loathsome. It assumes that someone else will clean up the mess, respond to an emergency or stop and help another person.

Litigation has become a substitute for expressing thanks for trying. The passage of Good Samaritan laws reflects how much we have debased ourselves. We are now a nation that needs laws to protect kindness and heroic acts.

Once we were a nation that held people responsible for their actions and inaction. This nobility was shunted aside by government mandated shared responsibility. When government becomes the sole arbiter of responsibility, individual accountability is negated. It frees everyone from personal judgment and guilt.

Shared responsibility demeans, maybe squanders, the moral code upon which this nation was built. It makes selfishness a right and mocks the true meaning of individual freedom. It assigns loyalty and integrity and honesty to the same category as beauty.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the origin of this downward spiral. Maybe it happened when the Supreme Count condoned killing unborn babies, maybe it occurred when diversity supplanted equality, and maybe it stems from equating absolute truths with unfounded whims.

Or maybe the decline in morality can’t be pinpointed to a single event. But be sure that anyone who condemns the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance shares the responsibility.

Year of the Clothespin

Senator Clinton survived the March 4, 2008 primaries and lives to fight another day. The Republicans are ecstatic. Her victories in Ohio and Texas guarantee she will continue to tear Senator Obama apart for at least another few months.

The electorate will be bombarded with variations of the Clintons’ message—Senator Obama is an empty suit. This is true, but unpalatable to the super liberals. Remember in their view of the world order ethnicity trumps gender. Thus, he is entitled to be the chosen one.

The Clintons are well aware that they lost the hearts and minds of the Hate America crowd months ago, so they have nothing to lose by continuing.

The left wingers are going ballistic. They worship Obama and want Hillary to concede the contest. And with good reason. Hillary can win the remaining twelve states and still come up short of delegates. Statistically she has to crush Obama, capturing about 63% of the votes in each coming election.

The likelihood of this happening is improbable—but possible. It’s doable because the Clintons are not afraid of bloodshed.

They are betting that their campaign message and the media’s recent focus on Senator Obama’s lack of credentials will undermine his sainthood status. Once it’s exposed that the king in waiting has no cloths, they see the rank and file Democrats abandoning him in droves.

That’s the Clinton game plan. They will spend the next six weeks savaging Obama. Behind-the-scenes they will bribe, threaten and cajole the Super Delegates.

It’s going to get Clinton ugly.

This all benefits the Republicans. If Senator Obama manages to win, he will be damaged goods. If Senator Clinton wins, African Americans will believe they were robbed of the chance to vote for a black president. They will be riot and loot angry.

The Clintons aren’t worried.

Hillary and Bill understand the black leaders will huff and puff and threaten to sit the election out. The pair will regard this backlash as a big so what? For fifty years the Democrats have purchased their cooperation with government largess. Expect more of the same.

The Clintons will fill a barf bag with treats and the black constituency will follow it to the polls like mice to a flute tune. This is the identical strategy of Senator McCain. He is romancing the conservatives who disdain him as much as Clinton and Obama. In the end he expects to win their votes by default.

So it appears that 2008 will be the Year of the Clothespin. These handy little devices will be prominent on the noses of much of the electorate as they head to the ballot boxes.

Trapped in the Primary Struggle

Any person who hasn’t noticed that Senator Obama is a gifted orator, and exhibits grace under fire, must still be hibernating. His skills trashed the most formidable political machine ever assembled, and set the Democratic Party establishment on its ear.

But never underestimate the Clintons. Their fight for convention delegates will make a barroom brawl in Tijuana, Mexico look like a church social.

The Clintons’ true colors will materialize in the coming months. They have too much at stake to withdraw with grace if beaten in Texas or Ohio. It’s not about Hillary’s vision for America; it’s about “Show me the Money.”

With Senator Clinton enshrined in the Oval Office, her husband’s speaking fees will rise exponentially. He will rake in tens of millions of dollars peddling his White House influence. And one can only guess the value of the sweetheart deals they will receive from foreign corporations.

Selling pardons, stealing the gifts presented to the nation by foreign dignitaries and exchanging strategic technology for political contributions from the Chinese will look like chicken feed. The Clintons aren’t about to give up this mega-bucks opportunity without an eye gouging, hair pulling fight.

The Clintons’ stamina, greed and lack of morality benefits the Republicans. As long as Hillary remains in the fray, Senator Obama will have no opportunity to soften his leftwing rhetoric and move toward the middle.

Nor will Senator Obama be able to concentrate on defeating Senator McCain. This was exemplified by the recent exchanges between Obama and McCain concerning Iraq and al Qaeda. Obama’s responses delighted the far left, but sealed his option to modify his Middle East platform.

Still trapped in the primary battle, Obama was cornered. He was unable to concede that if the military surge and the Iraqi government unite the disparate parties into a workable, democratic union the United States will win an incredible victory.

And that is exactly what is happening. Whether the US should have invaded Iraq is moot. But walking away from a major victory against terrorism is not. Obama is saddled with cut-and-run despite the preponderance of evidence showing victory is imminent. By November it will be undeniable. He will look naïve, inexperienced and foolish.

McCain will continue to bait Obama. And Obama’s responses will remain limited to satisfying the leftwing of the Democratic Party until he captures the nomination. Obama will be forced into corners where moderates won’t tread.

The Clintons could care less about the fate of the election if Hillary isn’t the presidential nominee. To them the Democratic Party is little more than a stepping stone to power and riches. To them the election is about the Clintons and only about the Clintons.

The Republicans can be thankful the Clintons have no honor.