General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt has a lot of nerve. While he leads the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, at the same time GE competes with an unfair advantage over its competitors. His company received billions in stimulus money to subsidize green energy and TARP money because GE Capital was treated as a "lender". While GE plans to cut jobs, Immelt recently delivered a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, lambasting fellow corporate CEOs for failing to hire. Meanwhile, Immelt's compensation doubled to $15 million dollars last year. No wonder he could afford to yuk it up (Immelt is to Obama's immediate right) when the president joked about "shovel ready" jobs funded by the stimulus, saying it turned out they were not shovel ready after all. Then where in the hell did our tax dollars go? … [Read more...]

The election cycle is in full swing. It's time to trash the opponent with inflammatory rhetoric. No one would suggest Newt Gingrich was trying to be kind calling Obama the "most successful food stamp President in American history." But hey, if the shoe fits... It also sounded harsh when Sarah Palin told us that Democrats want "death panels" for senior citizens as part of Obamacare. Democrats prefer the more pleasant euphemism "end of life" planning. Several Republican presidential contenders have made the misleading claim that Obamacare cuts $500 billion from Medicare spending.  It's a repackaged version of the school lunch program lie -- it's reductions to future spending, not necessary cuts to current spending. Nobody has the guts to do that. The biggest problem I have with the Democrat argument for Obamacare is that it is based on a fallacious assertion -- that people will die unless the government offers health insurance. You're going to die with or without health insurance. Medicine might extend your life, but only for a relatively short while (in the big scheme of things). It's a foregone conclusion you're going to die.   Not a question of "if" but "when." You don't have to lie about Obamacare. Tell the truth. It's an unprecedented, egregious assault on personal freedom. Nudge, nudge, say no more. Don't worry; Democrats know how to fight back and they're more than unfair. They demagogue Republicans as wanting to starve children (by not buying them school lunch) or kill Grandma by cuts to Medicare (going so far to produce an ad … [Read more...]

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that activists staged a violent protest during a recent concert by U2 in Glastonbury, England. Security personnel at the show forcibly deflated a large balloon labeled "U Pay Your Tax 2" foisted by the protestors calling themselves Art Uncut. U2 fan Gary Noble expressed shock and dismay at the unpleasant turn of events, saying I love U2 but I think everyone should pay their taxes. The campaigners have a right to voice their opinion Excuse me, but the members of U2 pay taxes -- where they live. If they didn't, they would be in prison. The anti-capitalist members of Art Uncut whined that "while Bono campaigns against poverty in the developing world, his group has avoided paying Irish taxes at a time when his austerity-hit country desperately needs money." The protesters conveniently forgot, but Tom Morgan in the SMH reported, "the members of U2 invested in a wide range of Dublin properties, including a luxury riverside hotel and a planned Norman Foster-designed skyscraper on the River Liffey. Plans for the "U2 Tower" were shelved when property prices collapsed in 2008." The moral of the story is no matter how much tax you pay, how much investment you put back into your native country,  or how much you donate of your time and money to charity, for these leeches it's never enough. Get a job! These socialists are human parasites, wanting to bleed the productive members of society dry. I would not be at all surprised to learn that in the collectivist minds of Art Uncut, the concert should have been … [Read more...]

Last night we held our scheduled meeting of WAG, the Writer's Alliance of Georgia. Beverly served as our lovely and gracious hostess, which means she set the evening's agenda. She challenged us to think under pressure.  A hat was passed containing ten slips of paper. Each slip had both a number and the name of a celebrity or other famous figure in history. We were given ten minutes to think of something to write in the voice of the name on the slip. I drew Henry VIII. What could I think of to say as the famous king of England in ten minutes or less? I gently edited the work to make it slightly more readable, but resisted the temptation to add any new lines except one I really wanted to add has been separated from the original work by parentheses. This was the best I could do in the time allotted... It’s not easy being a monarch. My life’s ambition was to be a florist. (I'm particularly fond of peonies.) It’s not easy holding the power of life and death over people. It gets rather tedious after a while. I need to think of a new line besides “Off with his head!” One doesn’t really get a choice in these matters. I inherited my throne. To be sure, holding the crown does have its advantages. When the church gave me problems about my wanting a divorce for a lack of an heir, I started my own. If I wanted a new wife, I simply got rid of the old one. It seems that I’ve got a thing for women named Catherine. I’m so fond of them, only one has had her head chopped off to date. I rather liked Jane Seymour, but I never trusted her after that … [Read more...]