Warren Buffet on Growing Mountain of Debt

Wheeewwww! Taking a moment to exhale here. I have been working on the blog all night long at this point. About 7 hours thus far. I am working on my promised series on health care. To say that there is a lot to read and research is an understatement. With all the political games being played on this issue, you literally cannot take anyone at their word on either side of the aisle. So every statement requires some research. Tonight included the reading for two hours of a UN report on population (life expectancy, mortality, fertility, population growth, and factors). Boring read but essential to actually understanding the staggering numbers politicians throw at us. I had thought tonight would be the night I posted the first part to the series. After working all night on it, I have realized there is no way I can finish part one tonight. So it gets pushed to at least tomorrow. And instead of writing a nothing article with no coherent thought (which I am sure that some of you think all my articles are), I figured I would offer up a little bit of someone else’s thoughts that I found interesting.

Guest Commentary – Goldman Sachs

We have come yet again to Friday night. I had a couple of different things in my inbox that I didn’t have time to read all of yet, so I am unsure if what was there was suitable guest commentary material or not. But I saw a familiar name in there who had done guest commentary before. Life of Illusion had offered some more information to me. Knowing this was a name I could trust, I opened his email and found that the information, while not “technically” a guest commentary, was very pertinent to the discussions we have been having all week. LOI offered several different portions of articles that discussed the series of events involving Goldman Sachs. I have followed this saga for some time as, in my opinion, it offers a fairly important glimpse into how high the corruption in our federal government goes.

Too Big to Fail, or Too Easy to Control?

I was reading an interesting article this evening on the Washington Post website. I had actually diverted there from another site, I don’t remember which, that was discussing the article and the facts around it. We all are fairly fed up with the bailouts that we have seen. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) was the only one that I even remotely understood as possibly being needed. That isn’t to say I approved, because I am not sure that it was needed (I would be interested in what some of our more economically inclined folks think about whether it was needed or even good). But, the government unfortunately does not seem to be too interested in my opinion about what they should or should not be doing these days (or the opinion of any other regular citizen for that matter). The bottom line is that they passed the TARP bill and President Bush signed it on into law. They blamed Bush for deregulating and allowing the madness to happen, despite the fact that both parties (and especially you Barney Frank) were fully responsible for what happened.

A Thought on Dividing the Discussions…

I have been sitting around the last couple of days thinking about the direction of the site. For anyone who has not done so, I have to say that it is really daunting to write your own blog, especially when it concerns something of substance. What I mean by that is that writing a blog about your dog is easy. Writing a blog about college life is easy. Writing a blog about politics…. NOT so easy. Especially when I have managed to bring together some really intelligent people from all over the political spectrum. From one angle I have those coming from the point of view of BlackFlag and Kent. Two highly intelligent guys who challenge me on every principle and force me to seek true freedom. I also have Just A Citizen and PeterB.(although Peter is quickly moving more towards BF than JAC! LOL), who are similar in their intelligence and principles, but slightly different in their political views. Folks like these four routinely challenge me in great ways to stick to principles and morals, even when doing so makes my task a hundred fold harder.

Open Mic Continuing Conversations… August 26, 2009

Wow, over 600 comments in the open mic thread. I read through many of them and found that many discussions were still going on. So I have decided to start a new thread spot over here. Instead of scrolling through 600 comments over and over as you debate, you can copy the comment you want to reply to, paste it as a comment over here, and then reply and begin the conversation over here. It should make it easier to continue the discussions today and give you all kind of a clean pallet to begin with as the new days comes upon us. I will post a few comments as an example of what I mean. I know that some of you will get the idea immediately, while others will be unsure what I mean to be able to do.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for August 25, 2009

Well, I have to say that the article on “the Greater Good” yesterday certainly drew some interesting responses. To be honest I found myself sitting and reading the responses from Mathius and Chris, thinking, “This has to be some kind of joke. No person is really this clueless to the moral ramifications of what they are espousing.” I honestly thought they were joking at first in order to get a rise out of folks. It appears that is not the case. So topic number one will be dedicated to some continuation of that topic. I realize of course there will still be discussions continuing on yesterday’s article as well. There is certainly plenty of big news out there to discuss. I want to reiterate what some new readers may not realize. Open Mic is the chance for everyone else to offer topics that they want to discuss. It helps cut down on “hi-jacking” on other days. So if there is something you want to discuss, start a thread and discuss it!

Defining the Greater Good

I read through yesterday’s comments with some level of fascination. The discussions about the greater good were simply too good to pass up the opportunity to continue them by posting an article with my thoughts on the topic. As many of you may remember, I am a proponent of social darwinsim. I understand that in some people’s eyes, that makes me evil. I can live with that, simply because I reject your definition of evil. I have seen evil in my lifetime. It can take many forms. I saw pure evil in the eyes of men. But the purest evil I know is that which takes the form of a smile as someone tells me they have the right to control another’s destiny in order to serve “the greater good”. So I thought I would write out some thoughts here and merge them with the Atlas Shrugged content that I was going to share. I think the place where many are getting hung up is the idea of true freedom….

The Idiots on the Fringes

I was looking through some news stuff tonight. Somewhere I stumbled across an audio clip of our favorite village idiot Jeanine Garofalo. Seriously, does this woman not look as though she just crawled out of a crack den to deliver her arrogant and completely false claims each night. I try not to be hateful. But you have to call a spade a spade sometimes. Garofalo is a nasty partisan hack. And it would be easy to simply blow her off as a greasy, dirty, homeless looking crackpot, if so many people were not packing into her shows and listening to her hate and giving her a standing ovation for it. I am no fan of Ann Coulter. But at least she has some semblance of reality to her rants. Coulter is hateful and nasty, but she brings facts to the table and 50% of the time the facts are presented honestly (at best). But Garofalo isn’t even close to presenting facts. I know those on the left are going to skewer me for offering up Garofalo as an example, but she was merely the thing that got me thinking on this subject.

Guest Commentary…

A dejected night for me…. Brad Penny continued to show why he is not prepared to pitch in the American League. As a result, my Red Sox got thrashed by the New York Yankees. The upside: we scored 11 runs, not bad. The downside: They scored 20. Baseball is so frustrating to watch sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I have already seen two more World Series Titles in Boston than I thought I would see in my lifetime. My grandfather lived his whole life without ever seeing one. But I digress, it is Guest Commentary Night! I know that you are all chomping at the bit for the second part of BlackFlag’s guest commentary. But it isn’t ready yet. Excellence takes time. Perhaps that means I need to spend a little more time writing my articles! At any rate, tonight’s guest commentary comes from a new reader to the site…

As the Poll Numbers Drop…

It seems that there are endless numbers of polls out there that tell us whatever the talking heads want us to believe. I take them all with a grain of salt. So when the new poll numbers came out from Pew, I wasn’t surprised. I had already seen about 30 different polls claiming that Obama’s approval ratings were dropping. It brings to light an interesting conundrum for the far left in America (and remember I speak of the far left, not all the left). For they have been rubbing this last election cycle in the faces of conservatives and Republicans for quite a while now. So as we see the changes occurring in public opinion, what are we to make of it? I know there will be some out there who simply say the polls mean nothing. But those same folks sure thought the polls meant something 6 months ago. I was reading over at CNN and Jack Cafferty, someone I have a healthy respect for, offered some thoughts that I will share below. But I am interested to hear what everyone thinks on this subject.

Mess With the Bull… Get the Horns

I saw this article on Fox News tonight discussing health insurance companies possibly being targeted for not supporting the Democrat’s health care reform plans. Being Fox News, I decided I wanted to read a bit more before I actually just bought the concept and formed an opinion. As I researched, I found a lot of articles on many different major news outlets so I am filing it under “the actions are true”, while opening the debate for whether the intent offered is present or not. Why do I have a feeling that those on the left will support the move and deny the motive, while those on the right will not support the move while accepting the motive as true? Because, my friends, I have a crystal ball. I got it from the illegal intergalactic aliens in Ohio. Once I was alerted to their presence yesterday in the comments, I contacted them and demanded they fork over the ability to see the future. I turned them in for being undocumented anyway, and Agent “O” was assigned to bring them in. He chose not to do so, as he realized they vote, and he didn’t want to offend the intergalactic alien voters and risk them voting Republican. Typical government response ….

Tuesday Night Open Mic for August 18, 2009

As we breeze through another week of fun and politics, we reach tuesday night open mic once again. Its been an interesting week thus far, with the far left taking a shot at me, a new dog in my household (which in day one has been a lot of work), and a return to work coming that I am not looking forward to. But tonight is easy. Open mic is always a nice break for me. Although, as you have all noticed, I have taken a few nights off here and there. Good for the sanity (and the marriage I might add!). I appreciate all the health care questions you guys submitted as we trek towards the upcoming series. I was surprised to see so much that people wanted to know. I will do my best to not let you down. As for tonight, the topics I have to offer include a fraudulent campaign by the Clean Coal Coalition, Charges pending in the Obama as Joker posters, and weapons being brought to Presidential Town Hall meetings….

Offering A Rebuttal…

I have some work to do tonight on a speech for a friend, so I didn’t have the time to really research and write a full article the way that I would have liked. I have lately been trying to do more research on the health care stuff and the series I promised is coming very soon. Wednesday or Thursday night will bring an article about a candidate in a local election that I think we can all get behind. We talked about supporting local candidates that can make a difference in terms of what many of us believe. This candidate is one so I want to make sure you get introduced to her personally. Tonight, since I have little time and wanted to respond to this, I make it my topic! Bob Cesca, who I wrote about from the Huffington Post the other night, decided that he would write about me on his site. Which is cool with me. I deserve it. I took him to task. He has the right to do the same. I certainly wish he would take a second and do so with some sort of informed opinion rather than making assumptions and trying to marginalize me with blatantly false claims about who I am, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers…

Howard Dean Publicly Exposes All Politicians

Whew…. Back at home once again. After a month and a half or so filled with travel and family and all kinds of stuff, my life begins its return towards normal (or at least my own abnormal version of normal). I spent the weekend back in my hometown. I had taken my computer, hopeful of some quiet time with my blog. No such luck, the one hotel in town had no internet access. Which was actually kind of nice. So I spent some time at Gettysburg battlefield (I grew up about 25 miles from there) educating my son and wife on the historic battle. Visited a couple of old friends. Marveled at the town’s growth. And didn’t know a single political thing that happened for the entire three days. Tomorrow begins the adoption process for our new family dog from the local shelter. But other than that, things begin getting back to some semblance of normalcy. I had been thinking about this article prior to leaving, so I return to it now. It seems Howard Dean felt it necessary to remind our representatives that they don’t answer to their contituents….

Arianna and Her Den of Hateful Idealogues

I was looking around this evening figuring out what I would write about. I have had so little time with my son here that I end up not starting until late in the evening. As I begin here I look at the clock and it is 1:43 am. But I was reading at a bunch of sites and I stumbled upon this article on The Huffington Post. I have to say, reading the Huffington Post often disturbs me. To read some of what the liberal folks post there and the things they say is downright infuriating. So I am going to take a moment here to single out one jackass who writes for the Huffington Post. Because it is important to realize the hate and vitriol that is being spewed at some of the most read far left sites out there. It gives you insight into the far left (which, for the record, does not include Ray, lest he be offended thinking I am talking about him). But I am also going to point to some folks there who have written some good stuff too.

Pigs Revenge… Just the Facts Please

I have seen several comments on this site over the last couple of weeks that lead me to believe that many of us are quite uneducated in regard to the Swine Flu pandemic that has been proclaimed by the World Health Organization. And it is starting to hit the news cycle regularly again, after an initial die-down following the first outbreaks. So I thought maybe I would take some time to weigh in on it, and perhaps even give my left leaning folks some stuff that even they can agree with (after all it is no fun having them NEVER agree with me). So I am going to answer some of the myths about the H1N1 virus, using information I found on the web. And I am then going to quickly discuss the entire subject broadly to offer my thoughts on where we are and why.

Upcoming Health Care Reform Discussions

As many of you know I have been working to put together a series of articles about the health care reform we seem to have government ramming down our throat whether we like it or not. It is a tough series to do as there is so much to read and so many different ways I could tackle the subject. As some of the parts to the series I have decided I am going to research as best I can and answer questions about the reform ideas that are out there and what is actually in the bill. To that end, I need a little help from all of you over the next couple of days.

Tuesday Night Open Mic for Tuesday August 11, 2009

Well, a fortunate thing to have open mic tonight. I am getting a late start on this after a three hour conversation about politics with my 15 year old son. First, it isn’t often that you see a 15 year old actually want to spend time hanging out with his dad, which my son thankfully still does. And tonight he asked me to explain to him how the American political system is supposed to work. So we had a lengthy discussion on liberty, freedom, and the difference between how government was supposed to work and how it has ended up working. Tomorrow he is going to explain to me how he interprets the constitution and its principles. That should be an interesting conversation! He is taking classes in government this year and I want him prepared to challenge and critically think about what he is taught. But enough about my extremely satisfying night… On to Open Mic!

Not the Country I Grew Up In….

I was again going through the news tonight, reading different stuff from all kinds of stuff, mostly further researching for the upcoming series on health care. I ran across this video of Chris Matthews on MSNBC. It seems that his segment focused on the idea that the people who are against the health care reform offered by Obama are doing so because they are racists. You all know how much I hate that term being thrown around these days. He was interviewing a woman from the Atlanta Journal Constitution (a true biased rag of a paper). And she made a comment that just completely threw me for a loop. First because her conclusion is so faulty and unsubstantiated, and second because I think that the left may possibly be completely misunderstanding the position of the average American today.

More Media Bias and Marginalizing American Sentiment

What would happen if that creepy “Sham Wow” pitch guy had an audience that called him out on the things a critical viewer notices in his sham of a commercial? What if someone pointed out during the commercial that that piece of rug he just showed wasn’t the same one that he had just poured the soda on (or pointed out that he shouldn’t beat up prostitutes?) ? Last week, when I had time, I was following the happenings of the supposed “town hall” meetings that were happening throughout the country. With Congress in recess, members were back in their districts “getting in touch with their people” (read as: doing more personal Sham Wow commercials for health care BS). I think that the answer to what would happen to the Sham Wow guy is being shown to us each day at these town hall meetings. I know my liberal friends here are going to cry foul, but I am personally tiring of every public outcry against the policies of this administration being labeled as either “right wing extremists” or “GOP plants that are not the feelings of regular voters”…..

How To Get There From Here Part 1… Guest Commentary

I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers being sent my way in regard to my Grandmother. Rest assured they do not fall on deaf ears. I appreciate each and every one. I am doing really well with the situation. She has lived a good life. I have always been close to her so nothing is left unsaid. I truly hated not writing the last couple of nights. As all of you know, I am quite passionate about politics and the issues of our country. Taking away my time to write and more importantly, my ability to read all of your responses and debate with you all is definitely a tough thing for me. I enjoy it so much and consider so many on here to be friends. Tonight’s guest commentary comes to us from none other than Black Flag himself. You have often heard him make the argument against voting in one way or another. This expands on that a little…

Just a Quick Update

Good evening all. As you all know I am down with my Grandmother. Last night and tonight were late nights. She had the energy to stay up and talk until I lifted her into her bed 20 minutes ago. She is fading quickly so I cherish every extra minute I get. But that has left me with no time to write this evening. But I wanted to jump in and let everyone know that there will be a Friday Night Guest Commentary this week…. from none other than Black Flag. It is a good article and will have a follow up article next week. I am also working on the health care series diligently. I am going home Saturday so next week I should be back to the normal writing schedule. I look forward to it. I miss writing and discussing with all of you here. So until Friday night…. I am off to bed and then another day with Gram!

Tuesday Night Open Mic for August 4, 2009

Here we are at another Tuesday night open mic. I was looking through the different news sites that I regularly peruse and I found some interesting stuff out there. I always feel so out of the loop when I am out of town. Being down here with my gram is difficult because I don’t have the regular internet access that I would normally have. I am shocked that she had internet access at all! So things move slow and it becomes a bit of a pain to look stuff up and navigate the way I am used to doing. But I have to admit the long loading time I endured on the first topic was well worth the wait to read about politicians being booed and jeered by their constituents. Remember, with these open mic nights, any or all of you can submit topics by simply talking about them in a new comment. I want to make sure we are all discussing the things that you want to talk about too!

So How Much is that Old Rusted Government Worth?

Good Evening All! I apologize for the unplanned evening off last night. I am currently down with my son visiting my father and grandmother. It is a trying time here. My grandmother is quite ill. We are down to that time when she can go anytime, and where every minute spent with her is precious. She had not seen my son (her great grandson) in 3 years. At the rate he is growing, that means she hasn’t seen him in about a foot and 40 pounds! She was amazed to see how big he has gotten (only 3 inches shorter than his dad now). Needless to say, this week is all about her. When she is up and lucid, I am there. That is not a plea for pity. Believe me there is no need to pity me. I have had my grandma for 40 years, and that is more than many get. And I have never missed an opportunity to see her or to tell he that I love her. So I have no regrets on my relationship with her. But it is meant to help you all understand why writing may be hit or miss the rest of this week.

New Values to Old Ideals… Guest Commentary

I come to another Friday night and the always popular guest commentary. As I have always said, I truly enjoy reading these and I value the effort that people put into writing about a subject that they believe in. Tonight we have a repeat guest in G.A. Rowe. I have to say that while he almost always has something to pick in the articles that I write, I also greatly respect that he sticks to his guns and doesn’t back down from a challenge. For anyone who isn’t familiar with him, G.A. believes in the Constitution, and defends it vigorously. And to say that he is a man of action, well that would be an understatement. A retired Marine, he is ready to again defend his country against a movement that he sees as harmful to the American ideals. And that is a trait that is rare in America these days, in a land of folks willing to accept the status quo rather than stand up for the rights that are being stripped from them….