Top Line Numbers:
- Gross Total Spending: $1.2 Trillion
- Medicare Cuts: $523.5 Billion
- $202 Billion from Medicare Advantage
- At least 4.8 million fewer seniors will receive Medicare Advantage benefits
- Tax Hikes: $569.2 Billion
10 Years of Taxes, Six Years of Spending:
- The bill raises $60 billion in taxes before any of the major benefits go into effect.
Budget Gimmicks:
- Democrats are promising to pass a doc fix bill that could cost at least $371 billion, after they pass this bill.
- Democrats rely on new Social Security revenue and new Medicare taxes and cuts to achieve the appearance of deficit reduction, but these funds are meant to pay Social Security & Medicare benefits, not fund a new entitlement. If you remove the Medicare double counting, the bill increases the deficit by $260 billion.
Massive Tax Increases on Job Creators & Investors:
- 20% Income Tax Hike: Currently, the top marginal Federal tax rate on earned income is 37.9% (35% income tax + 2.9% Medicare tax). After the health care bill is implemented and Congress lets the tax cuts expire, the top Federal tax rate on earned income will be 45.4% (39.6% income tax + 3.8% Medicare tax + 2% exemption phase-out).
- 37% Investment Tax Hike: Currently, the top rate on Capital Gains and Dividends is 15%. After the health care bill is implemented and if Congress adopts the President's Budget, the top rate on Capital Gains and Dividends will be 23.8%. (Note: If current law expires as scheduled, the top rate on dividends will be 43.4% or a 289% increase.)
- Hits Small Businesses: 50% of those in the top tax bracket (all of whom will pay these higher taxes) earn at least 25% of their income from small businesses.
- Triples the employer mandate tax from $750 to $2,000 per employee.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Monday, October 5, 2009
Too Familiar to Too Many
I was watching Glenn Beck the other day, talking to the FOX Business guy (I have forgotten his name, sorry) about that High School student who was beaten to death. This was a boy who, in the midst of terrible circumstances, was making the most of his opportunity to learn and grow. The video is horrific, but another tragedy hidden from the camera is the sheer number of children who are exposed to the violence every day.
I grew up in very rural Wisconsin, my hometown has fewer than 1000 people and always has. On top of that, my family were farmers, and the nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away. Here's a blast from the past: Our home phone was on a party line we shared with 3 other homes. For you youngsters, that means we couldn't just pick up the phone and call someone, we had to make sure the line was free. My family did not fit in to the prevailing environment, and my schoolmates made it very clear they did not like the difference. My mother and father were very smart, very moral, and very Catholic
My classmates, as well as older kids, would always pick on my sister, brother and I. I am the oldest, so it was my responsibility to protect them, and I tried. I remember several fights I got into and lost. A few on the bus, a few at school. Here I need to point out that the only weapons were hands and feet and no one was killed, although I would have liked to kill some of them. Once we even got into a feud at a campground with another "gang" of kids. This type of violence is and was not restricted to large urban areas.
Yes, the violence is worse and more widespread today than back in the day, but violence is violence. And it has a lasting effect on those who have lived through it.
That's the real tragedy for children in this country.
I grew up in very rural Wisconsin, my hometown has fewer than 1000 people and always has. On top of that, my family were farmers, and the nearest neighbor was 1/2 mile away. Here's a blast from the past: Our home phone was on a party line we shared with 3 other homes. For you youngsters, that means we couldn't just pick up the phone and call someone, we had to make sure the line was free. My family did not fit in to the prevailing environment, and my schoolmates made it very clear they did not like the difference. My mother and father were very smart, very moral, and very Catholic
My classmates, as well as older kids, would always pick on my sister, brother and I. I am the oldest, so it was my responsibility to protect them, and I tried. I remember several fights I got into and lost. A few on the bus, a few at school. Here I need to point out that the only weapons were hands and feet and no one was killed, although I would have liked to kill some of them. Once we even got into a feud at a campground with another "gang" of kids. This type of violence is and was not restricted to large urban areas.
Yes, the violence is worse and more widespread today than back in the day, but violence is violence. And it has a lasting effect on those who have lived through it.
That's the real tragedy for children in this country.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The Left-Wingnut Media
All this talk about the media ignoring, downplaying and belittling the Tea Party and 912 movements has gotten me thinking. The Left-Wingnut media has been fairly irrelevant for years. Let me explain.
Back in the day-the early 90s-when my family and I and thousands of others were involved in the pro-life patriots and sit-ins, we witnessed first-hand the apathy of the media. When Operation Rescue launched the "Summer of Life" rescues in Wichita, KS, against George Tiller, the Left-Wingnut Media was almost there. Their slant on the sit-ins was about how unreasonable the protesters were. Then the coverage completely disappeared.
Do you know that the brutality the police (to protect and serve) unleashed against the pro-lifers was never reported? Peaceful, non-violent protesters suffered broken bones, numerous soft-tissue injuries from bruises to nerve damage, dislocated joints (usually shoulder) and more. Pregnant women were hit and kicked in the stomach, and at least one woman suffered a miscarriage as a result.
What about the annual March for Life in Washington DC? This event routinely brings tens of thousands of protesters to DC, yet almost nothing is said about it, even by FOX News.
So, what's my point? Twofold, I think: 1) The Left-Wingnut Media has been irrelevant since before the advent of 24 hour news outlets. The difference today is that the print media has decided to go the way the video media went long ago. 2) We no longer, if we ever did, need the Left-Wingnut Media. The internet and other alternative information outlets have worked very well this year, and will continue to serve as a way to get the word out.
Back in the day-the early 90s-when my family and I and thousands of others were involved in the pro-life patriots and sit-ins, we witnessed first-hand the apathy of the media. When Operation Rescue launched the "Summer of Life" rescues in Wichita, KS, against George Tiller, the Left-Wingnut Media was almost there. Their slant on the sit-ins was about how unreasonable the protesters were. Then the coverage completely disappeared.
Do you know that the brutality the police (to protect and serve) unleashed against the pro-lifers was never reported? Peaceful, non-violent protesters suffered broken bones, numerous soft-tissue injuries from bruises to nerve damage, dislocated joints (usually shoulder) and more. Pregnant women were hit and kicked in the stomach, and at least one woman suffered a miscarriage as a result.
What about the annual March for Life in Washington DC? This event routinely brings tens of thousands of protesters to DC, yet almost nothing is said about it, even by FOX News.
So, what's my point? Twofold, I think: 1) The Left-Wingnut Media has been irrelevant since before the advent of 24 hour news outlets. The difference today is that the print media has decided to go the way the video media went long ago. 2) We no longer, if we ever did, need the Left-Wingnut Media. The internet and other alternative information outlets have worked very well this year, and will continue to serve as a way to get the word out.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
TED KENNEDY......THE MAN
The Last of The Kennedy Dynasty
As soon as his cancer was detected, and certainly since his death, I noticed the attempt at the "canonization" of old Teddy Kennedy by the mainstream media.
They are saying what a "great American" he is. I say, let's get a couple things clear & not twist the facts to change the real history.
1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.
2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two.
Oops! The man can't count to four! His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush received).
3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!
4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!
5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?
6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.
7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of- state to her family before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the Distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.... a "token of friendship"?
8. Kennedy held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors, and is widely held as the "standard-bearer” for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.
9. Since that time, he was the prime instigator and author of every expansion of an increase in immigration up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he were the standard bearer for the nation in matters of what’s right. What a pompous ass!
10. Kennedy was known around Washington as a public drunk; loud, boisterous, and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American". "A blonde in every pond" was his motto. Let's not allow the spin doctors to make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is.
As soon as his cancer was detected, and certainly since his death, I noticed the attempt at the "canonization" of old Teddy Kennedy by the mainstream media.
They are saying what a "great American" he is. I say, let's get a couple things clear & not twist the facts to change the real history.
1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.
2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two.
Oops! The man can't count to four! His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the US from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was raging. No preferential treatment for him! (like he charged that President Bush received).
3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris, never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private!
4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark.. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959. Amazing!
5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?
6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.
7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party passing several houses and a fire station. Two friends then returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew - that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside-down car. The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was whisked out-of- state to her family before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the Distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small payout from the Kennedy's insurance policy and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills.... a "token of friendship"?
8. Kennedy held his Senate seat for more than forty years, but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, funded Meals on Wheels for fixed-income seniors, and is widely held as the "standard-bearer” for liberalism". In his very first Senate roll he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.
9. Since that time, he was the prime instigator and author of every expansion of an increase in immigration up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court nominees, as if he were the standard bearer for the nation in matters of what’s right. What a pompous ass!
10. Kennedy was known around Washington as a public drunk; loud, boisterous, and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American". "A blonde in every pond" was his motto. Let's not allow the spin doctors to make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is.
Maybe Seen on Craig's List
To the Guy Who Tried to Mug Me in Downtown Savannah night before last.
Date: 2009-05-27, 1:43 A M EST.
I was the guy wearing the black Burberry jacket that you demanded I hand over shortly after you pulled the knife on me and my girlfriend, threatening our lives. You also asked for my girlfriend's purse and earrings. I can only hope that you somehow come across this rather important message.
First, I'd like to apologize for your embarrassment, I didn't expect you to actually crap in your pants when I drew my pistol after you took my jacket. The evening was not that cold, and I was wearing the jacket for a reason. My girlfriend had just bought me that Kimber Model 1911 .45 A CP pistol for my birthday, and we had picked up a shoulder holster for it that very evening. Obviously you agree that it is a very intimidating weapon when pointed at your head ... isn't it! I know it probably wasn't fun walking back to wherever you'd come from with that brown sludge in your pants. I'm sure it was even worse walking bare footed since I made you leave your your shoes, cellphone, and wallet with me. [That prevented you from calling or running to your buddies to come help mug us again].
After I called your mother, or "Momma" as you had her listed in your cell, I explained the entire episode of what you'd done. Then I went and filled up my gas tank as well as four other people's in the gas station on your credit card. The guy with the big motor home took 150 gallons and was extremely grateful! I gave your shoes to a homeless guy outside Vinnie Van Go Go's, along with all the cash in your wallet. [That made his day!] I then threw your wallet into the big pink "pimp mobile" that was parked at the curb ... after I broke the windshield and side window and keyed the entire driver's side of the car.
Later, I called a bunch of phone sex numbers from your cell phone. Ma Bell just now shut down the line, although I only used the phone for a little over a day now, so what's going on with that? Earlier, I managed to get in two threatening phone calls to the DA's office and one to the FBI, while mentioning President Obama as my possible target. The FBI guy seemed really intense and we had a nice long chat (I guess while he traced your number etc.). In a way, perhaps I should apologize for not killing you ... but I feel this type of retribution is a far more appropriate punishment for your threatened crime. I wish you well as you try to sort through some of these rather immediate pressing issues, and can only hope that you have the opportunity to reflect upon, and perhaps reconsider the career path you've chosen to pursue in life.
Remember, next time you might not be so lucky. Have a good day!
Thoughtfully yours,
Bill
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Distressed and At War
I’ve cussed-out people for hanging the US flag above the Canadian (or any other national) flag. It’s an outrageous insult saved for your enemies in wartime. Flying the US flag upside down means you are in distress, I guess we are, but are we at war with Mexico? These Mexicans seem to think they’re at war with us!
Montebello High School in California
You will not read this heart-stopping article on the front page of the NY Times, nor on the lead story of the major news networks. The protestors at Montebello High School took the American flag off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while putting up the Mexican flag over it.
I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington .. The image of the American flag subsumed to another and turned upside down on American soil is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail.
If you choose to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be 'redistributed' to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out of the 'fray'. Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person CAN make a difference.
One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one........ ..
The battle for our secure borders and immigration laws that actually mean something, however, hasn't even begun.
Montebello High School in California
You will not read this heart-stopping article on the front page of the NY Times, nor on the lead story of the major news networks. The protestors at Montebello High School took the American flag off the school's flag pole and hung it upside down while putting up the Mexican flag over it.
I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington .. The image of the American flag subsumed to another and turned upside down on American soil is already spreading on Internet forums and via e-mail.
If you choose to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be 'redistributed' to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out of the 'fray'. Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person CAN make a difference.
One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one........ ..
The battle for our secure borders and immigration laws that actually mean something, however, hasn't even begun.
And Then What Happened? How Our Founding Fathers Fared
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.
What kind of men were they?
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated, but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.
Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.
At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and
she died within a few months.
John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished.
Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't.
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