Random Thoughts

Afghanistan - Why did it take Mr. Obama only days to decide to ignore the Constitution and fire the CEO of GM, while it is taking him  months to decide how to fulfill his Constitutional duty to defend the nation?

Reform - In an ideal world, the 2010 election would make the 1994 "temper tantrum" by voters seem like a hiccup.  "Throw the rascals out" is fast becoming an imperative, if we are to avoid becoming the Argentina of the Northern Hemisphere. 

Further in that ideal world, the new Congress would begin with certain amendments to the Constitution, such as:

Stating explicitly that the Congress possesses ONLY the powers explicitly granted to it by the Constitution.  We'd probably cut the work load of the Supreme Court in half.

Providing that tax cuts are permanent, but all tax increases MUST sunset.  Of course, a "tax" would be any fee, imposition, charge, etc., no matter how named.

The tax burden would be limited to a percentage of GDP, perhaps 20%.

Taxes collected for welfare programs, such as Social Security, would be sequestered and unavailable for any other purpose.

Any raise for any Senator or member of the  House must be approved by the voters back home.  Any increase would be tied to increased GDP.

It would also be good to bring back substantive due process, but I think we should start with a manageable work load.

The time to begin is now.  If your representatives will not support your views, it is time to find some who will. 

Recovery Jobs

It was not much of a surprise to learn that the figures for "jobs saved or created" on Recovery.gov are unreliable.  Some of the figures have been inflated, some were claimed for places that don't exist.  There are two "terms of art," that can explain these errors:  incompetence and "cooking the books."

In other words, is the Obama Administration incompetent or is it lying to us?

Consider this - If a publicly regulated, for-profit organization published such shamelessly inaccurate information, the SEC would doubtless be considering fines, if not criminal penalties against the responsible executives.  (Under Sarbanes Oxley, that would be one B. Hussein Obama).  If I had money invested  in such a company, I'd be selling out FAST.

Alas, the Stimulus is a government program and we are at the mercy of the avarice and mendacity of our political masters.

Recommended Reading

BO declined to mark the fall of the Berlin Wall.
In part I believe he is still peeved that he was not allowed to speak at the Brandenberg Gate during the campaign.  I also believe he is so dense that he is upset that Germans did not vote for him in '08.

I also think that, in large part, he believes the Fall as a tragedy, that he believes the Soviet Union was a great and romantic and utterly worthwhile experiment, undercut by human failings.

If you have been infected by this delusion, I recommend two books, once famous, but now almost forgotten.  Both are by the dissident Russian, Alexander Solzhenitzen:  The Gulag Archipelago and One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich.  Both offer eye-opening accounts of real life in what BO regards as a "worker's paradise."

Moving to domestic policy, we recommend The Shame of the Cities, by Lincoln Steffens.  At over 100 years old, it still resonates.  Its accounts of the rape and pillage of the public fisc by pols of all shapes, sizes and competence bear a remarkable resemblance to the Obama recovery programs.

Hope and Change

Quite frankly, this is not the change I was hoping for.

Fort Hood Shootings

I have little to add to what has been said about the crimes at Fort Hood.
But there is one thing I believe I am required to say; indeed we are all required to say, although I've seen very little of it:

THANK YOU Sgt. Kimberly Munley!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!