Where's "Occupy the West Wing" protests?

Where is the "Occupy the West Wing" movement?

On 11 July 2011, President Obama talked about his ideas of who should pay more in income taxes. His notion is one of "need", in that those who earn more than they "need", should pay that which they don't need (or perhaps only a portion thereof?) in more taxes. [Note: it is not clear if he consulted with Michelle and his girls about their ideas of "need" prior to his discussion.]

Mind you, presumably those who have "excess" to their needs, have already paid the amount required by law and US Tax Code. Here is what President Obama said:

And I do not want, and I will not accept, a deal in which I am asked to do nothing, in fact, I’m able to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income that I don’t need, while a parent out there who is struggling to figure out how to send their kid to college suddenly finds that they’ve got a couple thousand dollars less in grants or student loans.

So, my question is this: Clearly, President Obama has not only identified that he has income "excess" to his needs, but he has identified that he has a possibility based on his moral view, of providing that money to others who have "needs" that are excess to their income. Yet he has not. Is he not "guilty" of greed and inaction when he has the ability, and self-identified what he could/should do?

Where are the protesters marching on Pennslyvania Avenue?

Hard to Argue

This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco, TX 18 Nov 2010 --

Put me in charge ...

Put me in charge of food stamps. I’d get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho’s, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese, and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza ..... get a job.

Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I’d do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then we’ll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings .... get a job.

Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your “home” will be subject to inspections anytime, and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360.... get a job and your own place.

In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a “government” job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the“common good.”

Before you write that I’ve violated someone’s rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules..

Before you say this would be “demeaning” and ruin their “self esteem,”consider that it wasn’t that long ago when taking someone else’s money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.

If we are expected to pay for other people’s mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.

Alfred W. Evans, Gatesville, Texas

Very hard to argue with Mr. Evans. Indeed, much of what he wrote I've been saying for years. "Assistance" is voluntary, if you don't like the rules, don't sign up for the help. We need to hold all those who are ceipients of tax money accountable --- be they contractors, the military, our elected officials and certainly those who receive from Uncle Sam's largess, but contribute little to the country.

Self esteem comes from standing on your own two feet. And it is not something the taxpayer should be taxed to provide.

I'd also go one further: those who receive welfare, food stampes, public housing, etc, should not vote. In order to vote, one should be a net contributor to society. We can work out the details, but the simple truth is that those who receive from a government more than they pay in, will always vote to keep the cash flowing. And thus can be easily manipulated by self-serving politicians.

But this is not good for our Republic or any democracy.

Pearl Harbor

69 years ago today, December 7th, 1941, the Imperial Japanese forces launced a surprise attack on the US forces stationed on the island of Oahu, Hawaii.


Thus, America was thrust into a war that already had been raging on the European continent since 1939.


The following 4 years would see the world embroiled in the most destructive war the world has ever known, leaving very few parts of the world untouched.


Today, 69 years later, those who lived through the attack on Pearl, which cost upwards of 2,400 American and Hawaiian lives, are thinning at an accelerated pace.


And this blog salutes those who still are among us to recall what happens when a nation ignores the blowing winds of war, and chooses to sleep when the call to action should be heard.


Pearl Harbor, like 9/11, show what happens when America fails to act decisively, pre-emptively, in its own best interests. Those who parrot the lines like "Bush Lied, people died" would have you forget history... Pearl Harbor, 9/11, the USS Cole, etc.


Remember Pearl Harbor! Today and always.

Obama-Care

A Christmas Carol

We The People Video

Nearly 7 million views so far. Perhaps it has touched a nerve?

Education - The Thread of Freedom's Cloth

There are few who disagree that our education system is not holding up to its promises. Indeed, in a country that ranks near the top of per student spending on education, the results are dismal, especially for those who need education the most.

How can this be?

Simply put, "In business terms, we have a system that rewards the providers and punishes the customers," according to a very interesting editorial penned by News Corp's Rupert Murdoch.

I couldn't agree more.

Eisenhower warned us that Freedom is always just one generation away from death. I'd argue that our decline in an educated citizenry will hasten that death, which just may be what "progressives" are hoping for.