No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for posts by Shoebox.

August 20, 2011

Just (UN) Do It!

by @ 20:51. Filed under Economy, Economy Held Hostage, Miscellaneous, Politics - National.

Following his most recent campaign tour through the Midwest, the Divider and Agitator in Chief is going on vacation.  Oh, but don’t call this a real vacation as the Divider and Agitator in Chief will be working hard while hanging out on Martha’s Vineyard. 

If you hadn’t noticed, the economy isn’t doing so well these days.  It’s apparent that the Divider and Agitator in Chief has noticed the poor economy.  Just before going on vacation to the Vineyard, he announced that he will make a serious policy speech addressing his ideas on what should be done to get job creation going right after his vacation he spends some time contemplating what should be done.

I’m glad the Divider and Agitator in Chief will be addressing the jobs issue.  However, I’m getting really concerned about all that gray hair he opportunistically sports.  Michelle says he has earned everyone of those gray hairs, I can only imagine it’s because he worries so much and works so hard for us.  As a heart attack and bypass survivor, I want to do my part to keep our Divider and Agitator in Chief’s stress in a safe range.  To that end, I offer the President the following advice for his “jobs creation speech” so that he can rest, relax and play golf while he’s on vacation at Martha’s Vineyard.

Are you ready?  My idea is so simple I’m surprised The Divider and Agitator in Chief hasn’t come up with it before.  Here’s what the Divider and Agitator in Chief should propose doing in his big speech:

NOTHING!

The problem this Divider and Agitator in Chief has is that like a two year old in a fine crystal store, everything he touches he breaks!  Doing or touching anything at this point, will only result in higher unemployment because that is what every effort of his has resulted in.  In fact, now that I think about it, if the Divider and Agitator in Chief really wanted to create jobs, the best thing he could do is UN DO damn near everything he has done since being in office!

OK, this is a hard concept for the Divider and Agitator in Chief.  In fact, it’s probably a hard concept for damn near every government employee and elected official.  They all think their jobs are “to do things.”  No, dammit, get your fingers off and quit coming up with a new set of uncertainty to insert in the economy!  See, I told you it was simple.

Still don’t understand?  Let me give some specifics to the Divider and Agitator in Chief:

  • UN DO the restrictions and blocking on new fossil fuel exploration – how many jobs have we lost or sent away in the Gulf of Mexico?  How many jobs could we have in ANWR or Colorado?  How many additional mining jobs could we have if we quit running scared of our own shadow over coal?  Turning loose our energy industry would not only increase jobs, it would decrease energy costs.  Wow, a twofer on the first suggestion!
  • UN DO the EPAs undercover efforts to implement cap and trade by regulating carbon dioxide off the planet!  Take a look at what’s happening in the utility industry.  Major electrical generating companies are looking at shuttering plants because they’re too expensive to upgrade for the new regulations.  Do you think any of these companies are hiring people for these plants?  Only enough to eek by.  If a plant is slated for closing, companies will get by on skeleton crews so that they don’t incur extra costs when it comes time to close the plant.  Oh, and if you don’t think businesses across the country are concerned about the threat of increasing electrical costs and potential brown outs, you’re fooling yourself!  All you need to do is look at Texas where they are already planning for brown outs as a result of the new regulations!
  • UN DO the NLRB’s rabid intensity against all jobs that are none union.  How many jobs would begin in South Carolina alone or not uncreated or shipped overseas,  if the NLRB quit trying to enforce all union all the time policies?

Oh, I could go on and on listing things that the Divider and and Agitator in Chief could UN DO but let me leave you just one last one:

Placebocare!  UN DO it!  I talk to a lot of senior business executives as a part of my work.  The number one thing discussed as we look into the next year or two and the number one thing that has them tentative about the future is understanding the impact of Placebocare on their businesses.  UN DOing this legislation alone would remove a huge overhang on the US business environment.

OK, there’s my idea.  I hope this helps the Divider and Agitator in Chief have a more restful vacation time for planning his campaign his next year.  It probably will be a part of his speech because look at the cool T-shirt I just received as a thank you:

July 27, 2011

Negotiating Against Yourself

by @ 10:41. Filed under Economy, Economy Held Hostage, Miscellaneous, Politics - National.

After a several week “government shutdown” in Minnesota the recently passed budget has been celebrated as a great success for the tea party and other conservatives. Rush Limbaugh himself heralded the announcement by Governor Mark Dayton that he would accept the Repubilcan’s proposal as “Dayton caves!”

Admittedly, there is much to like of the new Minnesota budget: The total package is a bit under $36B as compared to a projected need of $39B, there are legislative changes that will give greater leverage for school districts to negotiate with teacher unions and several that will help to reduce the acceleration of growth for future budgets.

Unfortunately, there are also some things in the new Minnesota budget that are not good. To get the agreement, Republicans agreed to some one time revenue in the form of bonding a settlement from cigarette companies and most offensive, putting off payment of approximately $700M committed to schools that will force the schools to borrow until they get paid.

I’m told that the Republican leadership wanted the final budget to be $34B. Unfortunately, rather than leaving themselves room for negotiating, their original offer to Governor Dayton and the Democrats was $34B. Leadership was concerned about the MSM and Democrat meme that they were “cutting spending” when in fact they were increasing it from the previous budget. They thought that by offering $34B, they would be seen as “reasonable” and not have to fight for their principles. They were wrong.

Dayton promptly vetoed the $34B budget and demanded that any new budget must have tax increases. It was fairly obvious that Dayton was expecting and planning for a state government shutdown. Rather than hold pat, the Republicans immediately began negotiating and their negotiations were focused on adding revenue to increase the budget beyond the $34B.

Dayton rebuffed all of the Republican attempts to find a “compromise” and caused the government to shut down. After nearly three weeks, Dayton announced that he would accept the Republican’s last offer and “caved.” Unfortunately, the “cave” was at a number much higher than the Republicans wanted the budget to be and paid for in part, with “accounting tricks.”

Some would call the final budget the result of compromise, I wouldn’t be among them. Unfortunately for Minnesota taxpayers, the final budget was a result of poor negotiating by Republican leadership. Had they begun their negotiation at a number lower than what they were willing to accept or if they had caused Dayton to make major concessions before they found “new revenue”, the outcome could have been much better. In my opinion, the Republican leadership in Minnesota made critical errors and negotiated more against themselves than they did the Democrats.

Why am I outlining in a Wisconsin based blog, what happened in Minnesota, especially since I no longer live there? Because, what happened in Minnesota is exactly what is happening with John Boehner and DC Republicans.

In April, Paul Ryan set out a detailed roadmap for dealing with budget deficits including methods to deal with ever increasing entitlement costs. At the time, John Boehner endorsed the Ryan plan saying:

“In order to move forward I think Paul Ryan has set the bar in terms of the kinds of targets we need to meet and the kind of serious effort that is required given the deficit we have. I fully support Paul Ryan’s budget, including on Medicare.”

The “Ryan Plan” passed the House but was voted down in the Senate.

Roll forward to July and Boehner supported “Cut, Cap and Balance,” a bill that didn’t have a detailed budget but did provide for a combination of budget cuts and a balance budget amendment in exchange for an increase in the debt ceiling. On the day the House voted on CCB, Boehner said:

…(CCB is) the most responsible thing that we can do to address our problems today, and to address our problems long term.

Cut, cap and balance was killed by the Senate.

After CCB, Boehner tried “the grand bargain” with President Obama. Reportedly, that would have had $4T of reductions….until Obama threw a hissy fit and left.

Now Boehner is trying a paltry $1.2T of cuts which have been scored by the CBO as only $850B in cuts.

Boehner is now on record with supporting at least four and maybe as many as five or six different plans for dealing with the budget and at least indirectly, the debt limit. Rather than standing on one of these plans, Boehner has spent the last 2 weeks negotiating with anyone who will talk to him, Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Bo the dog, to find a solution for raising the debt limit. Every negotiation he enters further undercuts his credibility and resolve (if he really had any) to the only two plans (Ryan or CCB) that actually deal with our current situation in a way that doesn’t simply kick the can for some additional period of time.

The effect of Boehner’s “negotiations” have been not one iota of change from the Democrats.  If anything, Obama has become more transfixed on raising taxes and Reid yelling “no” even louder.  With all of his “negotiations,” it turns out that the only negotiating Boehner has been doing is with h

I’ve said numerous times that Boehner is no conservative. Worse, I’m not sure he is a whole lot better than Barack Obama. Boehner is unable to determine what he stands for and is even less willing to stand for it once he determines what it is that he does stand for. Boehner has been in Washington too long and is too committed to being a participant in the dance that is Washington politics rather than fighting for the principles that he purports to hold.

Washington operates under the false assumption that doing something, anything is always better than doing nothing. Boehner’s proposal for a debt limit increase is worse than doing nothing. John Boehner is about to but the period at the end of the sentence that will head our country into history as a banana republic.

July 18, 2011

Belatedly

by @ 18:50. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Sorry, I missed it Steve….I was out of the country…Really!

July 4, 2011

Yes but No

by @ 19:40. Filed under Global "Warming".

It’s been a lot of fun watching the contortions the folks invested in global warming have been going through the past couple of years.  Begin with the stolen emails that showed severe credibility questions with foundational AGW research, add the recent lack of high count hurricane seasons and double it with increasing studies that tie Earth’s temperature changes to solar activity and you get AGW scientists chasing theories looking like the Keystone Kops chasing a petty thief. Yet, for all the pretzel logic moves employed in an attempt to keep AGW alive, I can’t remember any as wacky as this from Reuters:

Asia pollution blamed for halt in warming: study

According to this study, sulphur from coal burning plants in Asia have offset the increase we nasty humans have created in carbon dioxide. The result is that global temperatures are no longer rising!

Oh, lucky us! Now we don’t have to cut back on our carbon dioxide emissions! Wait, not so fast! The article goes on to say that as the nasty coal plants are cleaned up and sulphur is reduced, we’ll go right back to sending our temperatures towards those of Mercury. Damn, we can’t win!

Let me see if I have this correct:

  1. If we pollute the world with carbon dioxide, we’ll all burn up…
  2. If we pollute the world with sulphur, the world is fine…
  3. But we can’t pollute the world with sulphur because it’s bad?  Can it be worse than being burnt to a crisp by our own sun?

I thought pollution was bad but now pollution is good, right?  Well yes, but no!

I’m so confused!

Update 7/5 –If the above irony isn’t enough, glance through this article and you can see why the logic has gotten so contorted.  Some people will tell you anything you want to hear if their…livlihood depends on it.

June 30, 2011

No Shit Sherlock!

by @ 19:56. Filed under Economy, Economy Held Hostage, Politics - National.

In remarks today to CNBC, Federal Reserve Governor, Alan Greenspan said that the quantitative easing (stimulus) undertaken by the current Fed Chairman hasn’t done squat!

“There is no evidence that huge inflow of money into the system basically worked,” Greenspan said in a live interview.

This current criticism is not to be confused with Greenspan’s admission last September, that the Porkulus bill had no where near (if at all) the effect that was promised (remember that unemployment was never going over 8% if we did porkulus and now can’t seem to get under 9%!)  No, today’s revelation is focused on Brenanke’s attempt to revive the economy by printing billions and billions (hello Rod Serling) of additional greenbacks and shoving them into the economy.

Since late 2008, the Fed has pushed nearly $2B of additional paper money into the economy.This during a time when the economy was somewhere between marking time and shrinking.  the Fed’s basic theory was that by putting those dollars into the economy, various asset prices would increase and this would cause businesses and consumers to feel more “wealthy” which would let them feel like they could spend more, thus moving economic growth along.

Brenanke was right about increasing asset prices.  Since QE1 and 2, the stock markets have all increased and commodity prices have all increased, some of them dramatically.  However, none of this has seemed to convince businesses or consumers that it’s now OK to spend like the federal government.  Why?  What did Brenanke miss?

I told you here that Obama’s election chances would hinge on the 3Gs; Gas, Groceries and GDP.  Equally, Brenanke’s ability to get people to believe they had more wealth and therefore to spend it, also was driven by the 3Gs.  Through the entire time of QE1 and QE2, gas and groceries (made up from commodities that Brenanke wanted to increase the price of) increased in price.  At the same time, net home values (the place where much of the “wealth” from about 2004 to 2008 came from) continued to decline.  Add to all of this the fact that unemployment has increased or stayed relatively flat during the money influx and what do you know…..consumers have acted rationally and decided to save and pay down debt rather than buy new stuff with the bucks that Uncle Ben has been air dropping into the economy.

The real question is what will happen to the economy now that the stimulus has ceased?  One theory would suggest that if the economy doesn’t pick up, commodities have been artificially run up and have the potential to be the next asset bubble to pop.  If the economy does pick up, the additional dollars available could take an inflation rate that has been recently increasing to an accelerated level and bring us back to the days of Jimmy Carter.

Obama and his administration acolytes continue to operate with the belief that if they say it is so, it is.  While “repeatedly says” that he focused on jobs and the economy and that things are improving, anyone outside of the Washington belt way can easily see that none of that is true.  When Alan Greenspan says that the stimulus had no effect, as if it is some kind of an oracle insight, the rest of America says “No shit Sherlock!”

June 6, 2011

Righteous Indignation

by @ 19:59. Filed under Politics - National.

After ten days of denying, claiming “hacker”, not knowing anything with “certitude,” and suspecting everyone but himself, Anthony Weiner admitted to sending inappropriate and suggestive photos of himself to women via Twitter.

As is usually the case with issues of moral turpitude, the story is less about the acts and more about the denials and the cover up of the acts.  Had Weiner done a mea culpa when first caught, the Democrat friendly media would have scuttled the story with one of the responses popularized by Clinton i.e. “it’s a personal matter,” “It’s between he and his wife” or most probably, “it’s just about sex, why are you so uptight about sex?”  Instead, Weiner denied in every way possible.

Worse than the personal embarassment that Weiner has caused for his family, his week long denial has cost him all of his personal integrity. 

Compare the defense and indignation that Weiner mustered in this video:

With the alleged remorse in this video:

Anthony Weiner emphatically stated that he was not resigning today. It’s hard to take his apology as genuine as a result. Weiner may yet have a second thought about that now that Nancy Pelosi has called for an ethics review into his actions.

It’s sad and ironic that Weiner chose the anniversary of D Day as the day he came clean.  We are fortunate as a country, to have had men and women who could rise above their personal, self absorbed egos to do something for their country at personal costs to themselves.  It’s sad that we seem to have very few with that character trait in today’s legislative leadership.

If Weiner doesn’t ultimately “want to spend more time with his family,” there will be no doubt that the top video above will get a lot of airtime by Weiner’s next election opponent. It’s possible that even with this ad Weiner could be reelected in his NY district. After all, in the words of P.T. Barnum: “There’s a sucker born every minute,” and there’s no doubt that NY Democrats have been birthing them for an awful long time.

Oh, and because this issue is now likely put to bed and I won’t get a chance to do it again…Weiner, weiner, weiner, weiner!

June 3, 2011

The Lowest Common Denominator

by @ 7:12. Filed under Miscellaneous.

As Barack Obama prepared to take his oath of office in early 2009, there was a fairly active debate amongst the political elite and bobbleheaded idiot box pundits.  The debate was over what type of President Barack Obama would be.  Would Obama be a lean left President who would continue the country along its leftward walk or, would he feel the gravity of his office and become a centrist once in office.  Ironically, no where in the discussion was the option of “leaping off the most leftward edge” opined on.

Since his arrival in office, it has been clear that Obama is not content in continuing the steady leftward walk or in becoming a centrist.  Every time Obama has had a opportunity to put his stamp on the Presidency and this country, he has chosen an option that is as far left as he could jam or manipulate through.  With the auto industry, banking, energy or foreign relations Obama has implemented policy and programs that are nothing but a run to the left, dare I say, Socialist ideal. 

Socialist?  Yes, I said Socialist!  Can you find any policy or program that Obama has offered or implemented that didn’t have the government taking a bigger role and control of the matter discussed?  Can you find a policy or program that Obama has offered or implemented that wasn’t about giving “workers” or “the poor” an elevated status in society simply because they were a “worker” or part of “the poor?”

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against helping the poor.  I am against policies and programs that enshrine “the poor” as perpetually “the poor.”  Obama, on the other hand, not only assumes that “the poor” will always be “the poor,” he holds them out as that which should be aspired to.   

Yesterday, during arguments over the constitutionality of Placebocare, Obama’s solicitor general defended the government’s position with a new and unique argument: If you don’t like the individual mandate, then become poor!

So it’s a penalty on earning a certain amount of income and self insuring. It’s not just on self insuring on its own. So I guess one could say, just as the restaurant owner could depart the market in Heart of Atlanta Motel, someone doesn’t need to earn that much income.

Now, the solicitor general qucikly attempted to cover his tracks by suggesting that this was “a fanciful” option….Yeah, right.

If Obama had his way, Cap and Trade would be the law and we would be seeing dramatic rises in electric costs. Obama has had his way in the oil industry and we can see the impact of that on gas prices. Obama has had his way with the federal budget and monetary policy and we can see the impact of that on our economy, the value of the dollar, overall inflation.

Example after example of Obama’s policy result in higher costs or lower buying power for all Americans. Obama’s solicitor general may think making people poor or poorer is a fanciful option but I’ll bet most Americans don’t see it as fanciful. As a result of just 2 1/2 years of Obama, being poorer is a reality for most American families.

April 28, 2011

The 3 G’s

by @ 20:41. Filed under 2012 Presidential Contest, Economy, Economy Held Hostage, Politics - National.

If you started grade school around or before, the time that I did, or, if you are a student of history, you are familiar with the 3 R’s.  Readin’, Ritin’ and Rithmetic.  The 3 R’s were the core, the foundation of a public education.  Nearly everything we were taught in grade school was, or was tied to the 3 R’s. 

When I went to school, if you wanted to know if a teacher was a good or poor teacher it was simple process.  If a parent looked at their child and their child knew the 3 R’s, the teacher was good.  If the parent’s child didn’t know the 3 R’s, the teacher wasn’t good.  It wasn’t a very complicated process of evaluation, nuance didn’t play a role.  Parents knew who was responsible for the 3 R’s and they knew if their child was accomplished in them.

Gallup – Obama approval hits 5 month low
New Hampshire – Obama approval rating below “break even” point
Pennsylvania – Obama approval rating at all time low

Renewed combativeness (some would say snippiness), a new spokesperson and even dropping drone bombs in Libya have not helped President Obama’s approval ratings.  In fact, regardless of what he attempts to use to distract his audience, nothing seems to change the trend of his approval polls.

President Obama talks and behaves as if all those who disagree with him and his policies were included in what he calls “the far right fringe.”  In his mind, “the fringe,” is made up of all the people who doubted that he satisfied the Constitutional requirement for being a natural born citizen.  In other words, President Obama believes, or at least communicates, that all those who disagree with him are “birthers.”  I have no doubt that at whatever fundraiser he is attending this evening, he is perplexed by the fact that his approval rating continues to drop even though he has released his birth certificate.

As it was with the link of the 3 R’s with the approval of teachers throughout my education, there is an alphabetical link to explain the falling approval rating for President Obama; the 3 G’s.

Gas, Groceries and GDP are the only items you need to watch to determine whether President Obama’s approval ratings are moving up or down.

Gas and Groceries are fairly obvious.  The average price of gas is now $1.02 more than it was a year ago.  More importantly, those who follow the prices are suggesting that the price may well go over $4.50 before peaking.  At the current price, a family with two cars averaging 15,000 miles a year each, is paying over $125/month more for gas than a year ago.  If it peaks at $4.50/gallon, the average increase will be over $200 per month.

Grocery costs are getting nasty.  Just this week the USDA announced that US food inflation will run 4 to 5.5 times the rate it did just last year. With those averages, and some items like Beef (up 12.2% in a year), Pork (up 11.2% in a year) and Citrus fruits (up 8.5% in a year) running far higher than the average, it’s not hard to see how a family of four will face food cost increases of over $100 per month.

If you don’t think everyday food and gas costs are catching up with the average consumer, guess again. Today, Walmart, the largest food retailer in the US, said that they are seeing spending patterns that suggest that many of their customers are expending their budgets before getting to the end of the month.

Wal-Mart’s core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.

“We’re seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure,” Duke said at an event in New York. “There’s no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact.” Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.

Lately, they’re “running out of money” at a faster clip, he said.

“Purchases are really dropping off by the end of the month even more than last year,” Duke said. “This end-of-month [purchases] cycle is growing to be a concern.

So, core costs are increasing but how does GDP impact Obama’s approval ratings?

There is a strong correlation between GDP and real wage growth. GDP has slowed to an annual rate of 1.8%. At the same time, inflation is running at 3.8%. This means that the real incomes are likely not keeping up with the rate of inflation.

Everyday costs are going up but incomes aren’t. That’s a recipe for a very unhappy employee base let alone electorate.

Keep an eye on the 3 G’s. As the 3 G’s get worse, so will Obama’s approval ratings. If they improve, so will the ratings. I believe the relationship between the 3 G’s and Obama’s approval is so strong that I would wager the following: If the 3 G’s do not improve from where they are today, and I don’t think they will, Obama will lose his reelection bid.

As a country, we’re failing the 3 G’s.  I don’t think it’s difficult for most people to figure out who’s in charge of the class.

April 24, 2011

He is Risen!

by @ 5:18. Filed under Miscellaneous.

April 23, 2011

Directive 10-289

by @ 13:17. Filed under Business, Defending the American Dream, Economy, Economy Held Hostage, Law and order, Politics - National.

This week, the NLRB filed a complaint against Boeing in an attempt to prevent them from opening an new manufacturing facility in South Carolina.

Boeing is opening the new facility for two reasons.  First, it wants the ability to manufacture its new airliner in a redundant facility giving it greater capacity.  Second, after several contentious years with the Union at it’s Washington State facility, Boeing was looking to find a location to mitigate the Union’s impact on production.  Enter South Carolina.

South Carolina is a right to work state.  Right to work means many things for employees and employers.  Amongst them is that an employee can not be required to join a union and pay union dues as a condition of employment at a particular business i.e. “closed shop.”  The benefits for Boeing are obvious.  The benefits for Boeing are those that any prudent business would seek given the troubled labor history of Boeing’s Washington State facilities.

In what can only be the missing chapter from Atlas Shrugged, the NLRB’s complaint is based solely on Boeing’s desire to mitigate it’s labor challenges:

The NLRB said its investigation found that the company violated two sections of the National Labor Relations Act in 2009 when it picked Charleston International Airport as the site of its second 787 assembly plant rather than expanding its existing factory in Everett.

Specifically, Boeing officials made “coercive statements” to its unionized employees starting in 2009 that the company would shift or had shifted production work away from the Puget Sound area because of labor walkouts, the agency said.

Wow! “coercive statements,” including their desire to move away from labor disputes are the basis for the NLRB complaint! Can anyone possibly imagine that there may have been some “coercive statements” from the union that may have included threats to shut Boeing plants down which the have done on numerous occasions?

With his desire to “spread the wealth around” and now his NLRB agents attempting to dictate business decisions as basic as where they will do business, I’m beginning to believe that Obama doesn’t view “Atlas Shrugged” as fiction but rather as a road map for full implemention of his socialistic desires. Does anyone really believe Obama would not implement an “Equalization of Opportunity” plan or Directive 10-289?

April 13, 2011

Having Balls

by @ 20:05. Filed under Budget Chop, Politics - National.

When running for the 2010 elections, Republicans attempting to harness the Tea Party enthusiasm promised that they would cut $100 B from the budget.  Barely had they gotten elected and the Republicans backed off their $100 B promise and said they could only get something in the $60 B range.  When it came to actually getting an agreement, they managed to hold on to a cut that was advertised as $38 B, but quickly identified as only $14 B.

Now that folks have had a chance to read the actual legislation, it turns out that none of the previously touted numbers are the real reduction that Boehner was able to negotiate.  According to numerous sources, the actual amount of deficit reductions that Speaker, “We are going to cut $100 billion in discretionary spending next week” Boehner managed to get was only $353 Million…MILLION!

When it became apparent last year that the Republicans would retake the house I had conversations with several people who are much more knowledgeable of Republican leadership than I.  I told them my reservations about Boehner becoming speaker and how everything I had seen from him lead me to believe that he was another Washington lifer who would say or do what he needed to to keep his position.  I was told by several of them that Boehner was the “real deal.”  While now living in Kentucky, I agreed to be from Missouri and be shown that Boehner was a conservative.

No more!

I am now on record as saying that Boehner is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with the Republican party.  Boehner is either a charlatan or ignorant.  Regardless of which, he is not worthy of leading a party’s effort that is overwhelmingly made up of a base that desires, no, DEMANDS reductions in government spending.

This continuing resolution needs to be voted down.  Boehner needs to be personally repudiated by any true House conservative for putting them in a position of having to support this sham of an agreement.

I hate Nancy Pelosi.  I despise everything about the woman.  Even with my level of disdain for her I give her props for one thing; she has a set of balls as big as two moons hung side by side.  Nancy has balls and Boehner is a eunuch!

March 13, 2011

Kicking the Can

by @ 21:54. Filed under Budget Chop, Politics - National.

At the federal and state levels, from the east coast to the west coast, in traditionally conservative and even traditionally liberal jurisdictions, the 2010 elections had one message: fix the fiscal problems!  It seems that jurisdictions that saw the biggest shifts in political ideology have taken their mandate on acted on it. 

The State of Wisconsin which ousted long time liberal Senator Russ Feingold and equally liberal Governor Jim Doyle, wasted little time in responding to voter expectations.  Governor Scott Walker and the Republican led Assembly and Senate have delivered budget changes that will benefit taxpayers not only today but into the future.

Michigan, under the new leadership of Governor Rick Snyder, is also taking steps to restore fiscal sanity to a state long led by Democrats who thought that Washington would fund them in perpetuity regardless of the outcome.  If you thought the screaming and ballyhooing in Wisconsin was entertaining, Governor Snyder has a plan that allows the State to take over failing counties and municipalities under emergency decrees.

Yes, there are signs across the country that adults are finally in charge of the checkbook.  Across the country but not in Washington, D.C.

The same “fix the fiscal mess” message that changed leadership in Wisconsin, Michigan and other states elected 6 incremental Senate seats and 63 incremental House seats.  These increases came with an expectation that a host of fiscal issues including defunding Obamacare, reducing the deficit, reigning in government mandates, fixing entitlements etc., etc., etc., would be fixed.

To date, the newly elected Congress, especially the House, has been nothing but a disappointment.  They have provided a show legislation for reversing the Obamacare mandate.  However, they have tacitly or purposely avoided all opportunities to date of defunding the mandate.  This in spite of finding a surprise $105 B implementation mandate in the Obamacare legislation!  With all that we know now, it is hard to understand why every effort and every method is not being used to starve Obamacare of every dollar it needs for implementation and management.

There seems to be no recognition by this Congress of the need to shrink the size of government.  Even though the GAO has issued a report showing massive duplication of authority of government agencies, the elimination of which has been estimated to save $100B annually, the current budget proposals show no desire to address this low hanging fruit of spending reduction.

Perhaps the most disappointing action of the short life of this Congress is their action, or rather, inaction of dealing with a budget. 

As part of their campaign promises, the House Republican leadership comitted to a $100 B spending reduction for the current fiscal year.  However, each time they go to the microphone, that number seems to slip.  At this point, the House budget has $60 B in cuts with concerns being raised that this amount is “draconian.”

Draconian?  Really?  We had a deficit of $222 B in February ALONE and someone has the audacity to think $60 B is a problem?

The House is expected to pass ANOTHER continuing resolution on Tuesday.  The Senate is expected to agree to that resoltution to keep the government running past Thursday.  WHY?

With a $222 B shortfall in February (that’s one single month if you went to Wisconsin public schools) and the House budget fighting to get a reduction of $60 B for the rest of the year, what’s the point?  Even if they got the House plan adopted, should we really be congratulating them and doing high fives?  NO and HELL NO!

Wisconsin, Michigan and other states finally got some adults to deal with their fiscal situations.  Where are the adults we thought we elected to the House and the Senate?  McConnell has been a known RINO and inside the beltway guy.  Second only to Obama, he decides his principals by what he believes the personal political impact to be.  While it’s only been a few months, I’m ready to throw the towel in on Boehner as well.  Rather than force the issue of really addressing a spending reduction, Boenher is allowing Congress to continue to kick the can down the road.  For what?

We have a spending problem in Washington.  We elected men and women to address this spending problem.  Every day we allow the current administration to continue to function without forcing the issue is a day that the American people say “see, you’re no different than the Democrats” and another day that spending continues without abatement.

Like Governors Scott Walker and Rick Snyder, it’s time to address the spending problem head on.  We should have no more continuing resolutions.  Let the government “shut down.” Let’s see who notices.  Let’s have the debate.

February 23, 2011

Just Wonderin’

by @ 20:03. Filed under Budget Chop, Politics - Wisconsin.

Boy, it’s been a week of non stop fun hasn’t it?  Employees have been threatening their employers to the point of physical harm and the President sides with the employees.  Have we gone through the looking glass and I didn’t notice?

The employees have backed down from their “hell no we want mo’…money” to “can’t we compromise?”

So you want to compromise huh?  Well, let’s see….

  • They claim to be fighting for worker’s rights.  Would that include the right to fail?
  • They claim to be fighting to protect teachers’ rights.  What to they think about parents’ rights to educational choices.  Would they support vouchers?
  • They claim to be fighting for a voice for students and schools.  Aren’t they they same group who complain when parents aren’t involved with students and schools?  Don’t parents and taxpayers get a say about the students and schools?
  • They claim that rallies and demonstrations prove support for them.  I can only assume that they believe the passage of Obamacare was an abuse of power based on even larger rallies and demonstrations?

I wouldn’t compromise a lick with this group.  Through their actions they’ve shown that they are either thugs or condone thuggery.  It’s time to put parents and school boards back in charge of education. 

Keep on Governor Walker!

February 21, 2011

It’s Monday

by @ 8:31. Filed under Budget Chop, Miscellaneous, Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes, Tea Party Movement.

Do you know where your State Senator is?

Mike, a reader of NRE, sent me the following aides to assist us in the location and safe return of the Madistan 14. Maybe this could become a collectors series? Get all 14!

February 17, 2011

Who’s That Man in the Black Fedora?

by @ 7:44. Filed under Envirowhackos.

Oh, as an added bonus, an envirowacko gets their own hypocrisy exposed and in turn, their head handed to them!

H/T Redstate.com

February 8, 2011

That Was Then, This is Now

by @ 9:23. Filed under Miscellaneous.

In February, 2009, in an attempt to be the blue collar POTUS, Barack Obama said:

You can’t get corporate jets. You can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime

At the time, Obama was in the middle of justifying bailouts for Wall Street and Detroit. Numerous “tin ear” incidents by CEOs such as the infamous private jet transportation of Detroit CEOs to a DC hearing where they were asking for bailouts, had created a level of outrage amongst US taxpayers.

The result of Obama’s comments were to make an already challenging situation for the Las Vegas economy and make it impossible. As companies cancelled existing reservations and avoided new Vegas reservations, unemployment in Vegas grew to a point where it is amongst the worst hit of American cities.

That was so “yesterday!”

CBS Chicago is reporting that at least 14 Chicago public school employees went on an all expenses paid trip to a Las Vegas resort and spa. This while the school district is facing a $700M budget shortfall. Admittedly, the $15,000 spent on the trip won’t be a rounding error in the shortfall. However, the school at which the 14 employees are employed, is the same school that had sex acts being performed in class rooms!

“For the children” is the retort we hear from any teacher’s union when budget reductions are contemplated. I’m hard pressed to figure out how massages whether at a spa in Vegas or in the school classroom, benefit any children!

February 7, 2011

Cause and Effect

by @ 20:48. Filed under Miscellaneous.

A new studyclaims that there is a link between diminished IQs and eating a junk food laden diet.  According to the British study:

Toddlers who have a diet high in processed foods may have a slightly lower IQ in later life

Wow, who’d of thunk it! Have these folks never done the grade school experiment of nutrition using two rats? In case you haven’t seen it, you take two rats. You feed one a healthy, vegetables and water diet and the other, potato chips and Coke diet.

After about two weeks you will see that the rat that is eating healthy food is still healthy. You’ll also see that the rat who has been fed a poor diet is losing hair, has yellow eyes and other notable physical effects of the poor diet. Once placed backed on the good diet, the unhealthy rat returns to health within a couple of weeks.

The study claims that it went to great links to make sure that there were not other contributing factors that could explain the difference in IQ:

“We have controlled for maternal education, for maternal social class, age, whether they live in council housing, life events, anything going wrong, the home environment, with books and use of television and things like that.”

It sure looks like they covered everything, or maybe not:

While it is possible that diets impacted the children’s IQ I think I see one factor that the researchers missed. It doesn’t require Michelle Obama screaming at parents for them to know it isn’t good to feed their children a preponderance of junk food. I’m not so sure the children’s IQ is a result, it may well have been genetic!

February 1, 2011

Speaking of Demon Snow…

by @ 18:57. Filed under Global "Warming".

The second greatest job in the world is to be a media weather forecaster. All you do is spend a few minutes a day getting a forecast from the national weather service and spend a few minutes more repeating that forecast. The best thing about being a media weather forecaster is that you never have to be right. After all, if you’re wrong you just say “Weather can be unpredictable.”

The best job in the world has to be a global warming evangelist. With this job, you don’t have to do any analysis. You just take any weather oddity and explain it as caused by global warming. Doubt me?

Here’s a video of global warming evangelists telling us how the lack of snow is sure proof of global warming:

Oh, and that “Governor” that Amy Klobuchar was referring to is my former Governor Tim Pawlenty. Yes, he was a global warmist which is a key reason why I could never see him as a viable Presidential contender.

And…….here is Al Gore telling us that snomageddon is a sure sign of global warming.

It’s hard to wrong if your central theory is based on change.  Then again, it appears pretty hard to be right as well.

H/T:  Instapundit

January 24, 2011

A Preview

by @ 18:53. Filed under Budget Chop, Politics - National.

Tomorrow evening, President Obama will address a joint session of Congress and present the annual State of the Union Address.  We here at NRE will be joining the festivities and Drunkblog the event live, or as close to “live” as several Tanqueray martinis will allow me to be.

You can watch the SOTU address and determine for yourself, whether Obama has become the centrist that the MSM claims he has been reincarnated as or whether he remains the hard leftist that brought us Placebocare, stimulus and bail outs for all of his leftist friends.

As a public service, NRE brings you the following preview of the SOTU address:

Do you remember the Godzilla movies? Do you remember how the sound tracks were never in sync with the video?

Exactly two weeks prior to the SOTU address, President Obama went to Arizona to address the memorial for those killed in the assassination attempt on Representative Giffords. In that address, Obama lectured us about civility. He did so even though he himself, and those advisers like Rahm Emanuel, who have been closest to him, have rarely had a second thought about using graphic, violent language to describe a political opponent or policy they don’t agree with.

It was as I watched the Arizona address that the visual of the old Godzilla films hit me. Like them, the words that come from Obama’s mouth rarely match the actions of his administration or himself.

Tuesday night you will hear Obama talk about our need for fiscal responsibility. You’ll hear Obama give a nod to things like smart and efficient oversight that is somehow intended to be different than the ever increasing excesses that all administration agencies have lorded over their subjects. You may also hear Obama talk about corporate tax reform but don’t be fooled. Regardless of what you hear from his lips that may have you saying “Clintonesque,” ignore it. There is no “center” or “movement to the center” with Obama.

The Godzilla movies were fairly formulaic: monster arrives, monster destroys everything in sight, monster is subdued by a resilient people. Our national Godzilla movie has seen the first two acts. Will we see the resilient people subdue Godzilla?

Revisions/extensions (6:54 am 1/25/2011, steveegg) – I’m just adding a little reminder widget from Cover It Live so you guys will know where to head tonight.

January 10, 2011

Can’t We Do With One Less?

by @ 20:22. Filed under Politics - National.

I think it goes without saying that the events of this weekend were tragic.  Steve and Kevin have done a good job of laying out some of the double speak and self service that some on the left have used the events of this weekend for.  There is however, one reactive action that NRE hasn’t covered.

Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA) has introduced a bill that would criminalize the use of “threatening imagery” against lawmakers and judges. Rep. Brady is reacting to Sarah Palin’s website that had a cross hair shown over certain jurisdictions which had incumbent Democrat representatives that could be targeted for defeat.

Certainly, it is easy to agree that no one cares to see physical harm come to any elected official, regardless of their party affiliation. However, a move to ban “threatening imagery,” especially against politicians seems to allow entirely too much latitude for courts to interpret. After all, as you may have heard in last week’s reading of the Constitution, the First Amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…

A couple of things to note about that amendment. First, the free speech issue was not geared towards our day to day speech as to whether we liked or disliked Oprah’s latest guest. The free speech reference was geared specifically towards political free speech. The Founder’s wanted the public to be able to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their government. The latter was particularly important as one of the checks against a run away, out of touch, political elite.

The second thing to note is that the amendment doesn’t say “Congress can make some laws…” or “Congress can’t completely eliminate free speech.” No, it says “Congress shall make no laws.” Zero, zilch, nada, none.

Imagery, especially political imagery, should be jealously guarded. Like hate crime legislation, treading into what imagery is “right” or “wrong” requires the enforcer to know the mind of the “artist” and that just isn’t possible.

“War,” “Battle” and “Target” wording and imagery have been a part of political campaigns and imagery since before the nation was founded. If enacted, which of these images would the legislation limit?

The first known US political editorial cartoon?

This editorial at the start of the Civil War?

Or this editorial of President Bush?

I guess when you consider all the amendments we have to the Constitution we should be able to get by with at least one, or part of one less!

January 5, 2011

Was That a Tingle I Just Felt?

by @ 7:05. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

On Monday, Harry Reid and some of his bestest Senate comrades, sent a letter to new House Speaker John Boehner.  In it, they warned him against proceeding with any action that would attempt to repeal Placebocare.  Shortly thereafter, it was announced that the House will vote January 12th, on a bill to repeal Placebocare in its entirety.

An aside:

I have had strong reservations about Boehner.  What I have seen from him in the past has me concerned that he talks a tough game but that in the end, he works the “let’s all get along” deals that move this country on a continual path left.  That said, while I live in Kentucky now, call me from Missouri.  I’m willing to give Boehner the benefit of the doubt and see where his actions lead.  Along with “from Missouri”, I guess you could say I’ll be “doing the Reagan” as I trust but verify.

Yesterday, in response to Harry Reid’s letter to him, Boehner sent the following response:

Senators Reid, Durbin, Schumer, Murray and Stabenow:

Thank you for reminding us – and the American people – of the backroom deal that you struck behind closed doors with ‘Big Pharma,’ resulting in bigger profits for the drug companies, and higher prescription drug costs for 33 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D, at a cost to the taxpayers of $42.6 billion.

The House is going to pass legislation to repeal that now. You’re welcome.

– Speaker-Designate John Boehner’s Press Office

I’m not the type that has physical responses to events but, I could have sworn I just had a tingle run up my leg!

January 4, 2011

My Old Kentucky Home – No More!

by @ 21:10. Filed under Immigration, Politics - Kentucky.

As many of you know, after spending my entire life in Minnesota, (except for the year that all Minnesotans are required to spend in Iowa for penance) Mrs. Shoe, the Things and I loaded up the Beverly Hillbillies truck and moved to Kentucky.  As attuned to Minnesota politics as I had become, I am nearly as untuned to the political scene in Kentucky.

Reading a few web news stories I came across this from my own new backyard:

Ky. Republicans file immigration bill as promised

Kentucky Republicans are attempting to pass an immigration enforcement law ala Arizona. The Kentucky version would allow law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants for trespassing if they are found on
“any public or private land in this state.” As the article notes, that should cover all property in Kentucky. Even though the Democrats here tend to be of the blue dog variety, I’m not placing a lot of money on the final passage of this bill given the Senate (where the bill was introduced) is controlled by the Republicans and the House is controlled by the Democrats.

Regardless of whether the bill passes, I find some of the comments and arguments against the bill illuminating.

The local representative of the Catholic Church, similar to how this issue is handled everywhere by the Catholic Church says this about the bill:

“It’s much broader and much more harmful than the Arizona law,” said the Rev. Patrick Delahanty, head of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, which is opposing the bill. “This bill does nothing but turn people who are generally hard-working and law-abiding into criminals and drains resources from local governments and police departments that ought to be put into protecting citizens from serious criminals.”

(emphasis mine)

Um, Rev. Patrick, doesn’t the fact that they broke they law to get here and continue to break the law to stay here, fly in the face of your assertion that they are “generally…law-abiding?” Haven’t they turned themselves into criminals but not following our immigration laws?

The good Reverend goes on to display his ignorance of all things not theological with his follow up statement:

Delahanty said Republicans are trying to solve a problem with illegal immigrants that doesn’t exist in Kentucky. The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center estimated last year that Kentucky has about 30,000 illegal immigrants.

I wonder at what level Reverend Delahanty believes the law should be enforced. Should one person speeding be OK but two not? How about drunk drivers? Vandalism; how much should be OK?

More and more I see Catholics at least talking about (I can’t say I’ve actually heard that Pelosi and others have been denied Communion) not conveying Communion to a Communicant who lives in unrepentant sin. I can only assume that Reverend Delahnty follows the Catholic Church in this regard. Isn’t it ironic that when dealing with issues of eternal life the Reverend likely believes that unrepentant sin has consequences but in our momentary, earthly life it shouldn’t?

Budget Chop – Oil and Gas Management

by @ 20:10. Filed under Budget Chop, Energy, Politics - National.

I’ve already highlighted the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for the need of a budget reduction.  My argument at the time was that if they didn’t want to issue any permits for drilling, there wasn’t need for more than one person to be able to answer the phone and say “NO!”

In one of the first acts of the new year, the Obama administration announced that they would now allow 13 companies to resume their deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  While this doesn’t mean that they will be issuing new permits, I take this as a sign that the Administration is concerned that my suggestions are sure to be implemented.

It’s becoming clearer and clearer that despite Obama’s rhetoric about job creation, there is no desire to create jobs in the oil and gas industry.  The Energy Information Administration now projects that offshore energy production will be nearly 20% below what they had predicted for the year.  That shortfall translates into thousands of lost jobs and the wages associated with them.  Not only does the Administration’s war on fossil fuels cause lost jobs, it also causes lost revenues.

According to this spreadsheet (I’ve verified them to the reported revenue) in FY 2008, the Federal Treasury received over $22 Billion in revenue from all oil and gas leasing activity.  in FY 2009, that number dropped to to under $9 Billion and in FY 2010 it was about $8 Billion. Now admittedly, there was approximately $10 Billion of “bonuses” received in 2008 which inflates that number a bit. However, even when adjusting for that, revenue to the treasury for oil and gas leasing has dropped by 33% in just two years.

Let’s recap:  No new leasing, more drilling area restrictions, lost jobs and wages….Oh, that’s not so bad…..

Former executive predicts gas to hit $5 by 2012

January 3, 2011

The Budget Chop – Federal Headcount

by @ 10:36. Filed under Budget Chop, Politics - National.

I have a riddle for you:

Q.  What do Russia and Cuba have that the United States doesn’t?

No, it’s not a massive federal deficit; they each have that.

No, it’s not a hard core leftist as the leader;they each have that.

Nope, it’s not a government that is more interested in itself than it’s citizens; they each have that.

The correct answer is: Federal employment that is being reduced.

After announcing earlier that they would be reducing the size of their federal government employment, Russian President Medvedev signed a decree  that will reduce the number of people employed by the Russian government by 20% over the next few years.

The civilian federal employment jumped over 10% from 2008 to 2010 and that is after subtracting the temporary census workers.  2011 is slated to grow that number by another 3.5%.  So federal employment has grown by double digit percentages will private employment has decreased by millions.

An area for the new GOP House to focus on for balancing the budget is the number of people employed by the federal government. 

Senator Orrin Hatch introduced a bill last year, that would have reduced federal employment to 2008 levels.  According to Hatch, this would be a reduction of 20% although I don’t think his math is quite right as he’s including the temporary census workers.  Not surprisingly, Senator Hatch’s bill went no where. 

Fewer federal employees would be good for at least three reasons:

1.  Fewer employees means fewer dollars spent today.

2.  Fewer employees should be coupled with privatizing more of the things that the federal government does but doesn’t need to do.

3.  Fewer employees means fewer dollars spent tomorrow in the way of pensions and other retirement benefits.

The next few weeks will be interesting to watch.  By the end of January, we should know whether the message of reducing spending, has been received by Congress.  I know the message hasn’t been received by President Obama but we’ll cross one bridge at a time.

January 2, 2011

If Only Kathleen Sebelius Were Still Here

by @ 16:06. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Four nursing students have reportedly been expelled from a community college nursing program for having a picture of themselves with a placenta placed on Facebook. Details as to whether the girls got specific or implicit approval to take the photo are murky. Regardless, upon finding out about the posting of the photo, the college responded with a “We are not amused,” and expelled the students.

What’s ironic about this story is that it occurred in Kansas. For those who may not remember, Kathleen Sebelius is from Kansas. In fact, Kathleen Sebelius was Governor of Kansas during the time when the notorious Dr. Tiller carried on late term abortions as frequently as President Obama says “let me be clear!”

While Governor, Sebelius vetoed a bill that specifically targeted Tiller’s activities. The bill would have required details to be reported to the state on each late term abortion. The bill was important as Tiller was alleged to be performing abortions on underage and situations of coerced abortions. As I think about it now, isn’t it ironic that Sebelius thought reporting of late term abortions was improper but now wants reporting on all of our health issues sent to the federal government.

While I agree it was classless, I have a hard time agreeing that explusion is the appropriate response for the student’s behavior. I mean, it’s not like they got it by performing an abortion or something!

If “classlessness” were grounds for expulsion, I would have never graduated from Whats-a-matta U. Perhaps the students can be re-enrolled under probation. Unfortunately for them, Kathleen Sebelius has left Kansas. If not, they would have likely received a hearty congratulations and not expulsion!

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

[No Runny Eggs is proudly powered by WordPress.]