Six Days and Counting

Only six days until the first votes of the 2012 presidential election cycle begins. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will Ron Paul take Iowa? Or will Mitt Romney prevail? Of course only time will tell. I won't make any predictions on the outcome. After all I said some things about Herman Cain having a good chance to be the nominee and look what happened to him.

What I will say is that I like some of what I hear from all that remain in the race. Like most normal folk I think that Ron Paul needs to wake up about foreign affairs and realize that Iran can and will be a force to be dealt with, especially if they come up with a nuclear weapon, but cutting the size of our federal government sounds good to me.

Mitt Romney will have trouble with Romneycare in Mass. and Gingrich will have trouble because he is Newt Gingrich. Three marriages and admitted infidelity, plus sitting on the couch with Nancy Pelosi. Michele Bachmann is polarizing and Santorum and Perry don't have a chance.

Still, like Sean Hannity said, I would vote for a potted plant over Obama. As long as whoever wins the nomination vows to repeal Obamacare, cuts the federal budget and has a solid plan to get this country back on track they will win. We've seen how the current administration has done nothing to further our nation. Any of the Republican candidates would do a better job.

What I'm really happy to see is that the primary season is finally getting under way. It will cause some to drop out and narrow the field. Most will hang on for the first few state primaries,but before long Huntsman, Santorum, Perry and Paul will drop out. Now that I've said that, let's see what happens. I think Bachmann will hang on until the bitter end.

I wish we could find someone that is a combination of Romney, Gingrich and  Bachmann all rolled into one. That would be a great candidate and would easily beat Obama in November. No matter what, Obama will look silly in any upcoming debate because any of these three are certainly more experienced than Obama in the ways of the world and government.

Our current Prez has not done well trying to learn as he goes. 

Maria to Sean, "Communist"

I just finished listening to a radio interview done by Maria Conchita Alonso about her recent run in with Sean Penn at the LA airport. It's no secret that Maria does not care much for Sean's politics or his man love for Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. In the past Ms. Alonso put an open letter to Penn on the internet chastising him for his position. So now I'm sure that the consternation goes both ways.

During the interview Maria says that their conversation started reasonably enough but soon voices were raised. She then admits that she called Penn a "communist "@$$hole." Good for you, Maria. If I was wearing a hat I would give you a tip of said hat. No one could have said it better if you ask me. And you must have because here you are.

Now in fairness Ms. Alonso went on to say that Penn is a gifted actor, although she said that it was a shame he was. She mentioned that it is difficult for her to watch a movie that he is in. She also mentioned voting, I'm not sure what she would be voting on, but she votes for something that Penn is involved in. I would have to agree that it would be hard to watch a movie that Penn was in, because I refuse to watch his movies. If Maria can, then she is probably better person than me because she can put her personal feelings aside. I just find it difficult to patronize someone that I don't care for. I'm not saying anything about his acting ability, but about his personal opinions.

So why is Chavez such a fan of Penn's? Didn't Penn win an award for playing openly gay San Francisco councilman Harvey Milk? I think he did and in his acceptance speech blasted folks that oppose gay marriage. Now Mr. Penn's views are certainly liberal, but I didn't think that commies were cool with homosexuals. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not. Maybe I'm not as up on what commies like as I should be.

I don't harbor any illusions that either of the participants will read this, but I can only hope they do. Sean Penn would know how conservatives see him and Maria Conchita Alonso could see the praise I at least am sending her way. I know nothing of Ms. Alonso's politics, but I'm guessing they are not near as left as Sean Penn's.

But then again, who's are?

Another One Bites the Dust

Is that too harsh? The title I mean. Of course I'm referencing the death of Kim Jong-Il of North Korea. I just heard that he recently died. Now the country seems to be in the hands of his youngest son Kim Jong-Un. Kim light? Now that's too harsh, I'll erase that. Better? Ok.

Kim Jong-Il was a madman of the first order. Of course that's just my opinion and probably the opinion of most of the world too. Here was a guy that reminded me of a villain from a James Bond movie. That hair, those glasses and his elevator shoes. Plus his total lack of any regard for his people. His people starved while he built nuclear weapons. Yet they loved him. Crazy. The people of North Korea are completely brainwashed. This can happen when the rest of the world is totally cut off.

Now we have to wonder what will happen next. Will it be worse? Will it be better? Who knows. I just hope that we don't have a repeat of what's happening in Egypt at the moment. Can you imagine if some rouge General in the military decides to try a coup and gets his hands on the nukes? What if civil war breaks out?

We can hope that the folks of North Korea deify the latest Kim as they have the last two and nothing major happens. Then Kim III can start to bring his country into the 21st century and begins to have normal relations with the rest of the world.

It seems that the North Koreans have also just test fired two ballistic missiles. I wonder if this was just to let the world know that they are still there. I'm sure it was. And I'm sure the Chinese said it was okay to do. I doubt that Kim III is Chinese, but I would bet tons of dough that they will have his ear. Maybe he won't listen much.

All I know is that another nutty dictator is dead. This one seems to have died by natural causes instead of his own people rising up against him. Lucky him. Now his son gets the throne.

I wonder if the DNC will challenge Kim III's ascension to the throne and want a recount.

Payroll Tax Cut Extension

I just couldn't leave this alone any longer. As I watch the news this evening I see a clock behind Barry counting down the time until the payroll tax cut expires and taxes go up for working class folks like me, and probably you, if Congress does nothing. WTF! Really, Mr. President? Have sunk so low that this is all you can think of?

First of all let's get some things straight. According to the items I have heard from our wonderful national media if the payroll tax cut does not get extended the average family will pay about $1,000 more in taxes. BS is my response to that. Isn't the average salary about $40k? Well, doing the math that comes out to about $38 a paycheck if a person gets paid every two weeks. Nothing to sneeze at for sure, but no one is getting "rich" because of this either. Now I was fortunate enough to make a little bit more than this last year. When the payroll tax cut went into effect my paycheck went up only $30. I do get paid every two weeks. So I think the first figure of $1,000 a year is inflated. Plus, plus, it did not reduce my overall tax burden at the end of the year. I broke about even after my deductions.

I know this sounds callous, but people making $40k or more won't miss $30 a payday if it doesn't reduce their overall tax burden. Just reduce the amount people need to pay the government by reducing spending and balancing the Federal Budget. I don't expect my government to make money, but I expect them to spend what I send them wisely and do not spend more than they take in.

Barry also wants to extend unemployment insurance. I hate to sound cold, but come on, how long is long enough? 99 weeks is the limit now, what does he want it to go to? I think two years in plenty. How many folks are just sitting on their collective behinds collecting tax payer dollars instead of taking what they can get. Just because you have a trade, skill or college degree you are not guaranteed a job in that field of endeavor. More than once I've taken jobs that I really didn't want while I continued to look for a job in the field I wanted. Sometimes working multiple jobs at the same time.

Now here comes the shocking part of this. The Republicans are trying to attach the Keystone Pipeline plan to this bill. Barry said he would veto any bill about the tax cut and unemployment extensions if it contained the pipeline plan. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that this "has no place" in this bill. I can't believe I'm about to type- Mrs. Pelosi is right. I just shuddered after typing that. But I have to admit that Mrs. Pelosi could not be more correct. I also have to give the President a tip of the hat on this as well. I'm surprised my computer hasn't blown by now.

But really this is part of the problem of the political system. This idea isn't about liberal vs. conservative, it's about just concentrating on one thing in a bill. Not putting pet projects in with things that have no connection. If the Keystone Pipeline plan is to pass the Congress, then let it stand alone and have it's merits be judged.

So let the tax cuts expire, do not extend unemployment and look at the Keystone plan separately.