Is there no standard of decency at all anywhere in the Democrat Party?  Is there no one in the entire mass of the party who will stand up and say this is outrageous and unacceptable?? Apparently not!!!  Shouldn’t liberals be coming out with legislation to ban tornados since they indiscriminately kill innocent men, women, and children???  Is there no honor, no class, no soul in the party???  Is there no one to call these Neanderthals out for their lack of any kind of human decency at all????

America as a nation is lost if this is the best we can find to represent We the People in government and “media”.  Everything about them is agenda driven.  There is no feeling, no dignity, no honor, no honesty, no class, no decency anywhere in these obscene pronouncements.  These same people cheer for a professional no-name athlete “coming out” as gay and praise women who murder their unborn children, then protest the death penalty for convicted murderers as “cruel and unusual punishment”; they decry guns, inanimate objects, used by a nut to murder children in a school and cheer when children of the same age are killed by a tornado.  How does any human being do that???

These people are beyond despicable!!!  No one with this attitude should ever be allowed to sit in the seat of government, nor should anyone of this ilk be a member of the media.  Politicians swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America yet spend every breath looking for a way to destroy said document, and will use any event or any tragedy to further their control and their power over the citizens of this once-great nation.

Where are we to go if this is what We the People put in charge of our nation?  How can any nation or group of people survive if this is the kind of heartless trash that are in charge of government??  What does this say about the overall quality of American society???

This reminds me of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Democrats blamed George W. Bush despite the fact that the requests for help had to come from Democrats who were in charge of the city and state at the time.  They made as much political hay as they could from a tragedy that befell other Americans. Democrats allowed poor blacks to die rather than use available assets to save them. Conservatives didn’t gloat when most of the Katrina victims were black Democrats in New Orleans.  At that moment they were Americans beset by a tragedy they couldn’t stop, Americans that needed our help.  And help we did; with prayers, money, labor, supplies, and anything else we could do to help.

It also reminds me of the reaction in the Muslim world to Katrina. Remember the cries of joy and statements that their satanic “allah” had punished America for its evil ways?? Do you remember the earthquake a few weeks later in Pakistan/Afghanistan that killed over 200,000???   Did Americans gloat, laugh, and point fingers???  No, we jumped in to help those devastated and in need of help.  They were people in need of help and we did what we could to help because they were suffering.

America is the heartland of the world and Oklahoma is the heartland of America. Oklahomans are a resilient bunch and we will come back by the sweat of our brow and the love and help of our neighbors.  We believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and that the right to cling to our faith and our guns comes from God not from government.  We believe in helping our neighbors, not out of duty but out of kindness and love.  We don’t need bureaucrats and politicians to tell us how to look after those who suffer loss of property and life from any cause.  We don’t care who, what, when, where, why, or how; we are there to help in any way possible.

For anyone to make light of this tragedy and to use it for cheap political theatrics is beyond despicable.  We are either a nation or we are not.  For a group of people to gloat over the misfortune of others because their political opinions don’t match up is disgusting and perverted.

This kind of behavior, although typical of liberals, is not what our founders had in mind when they established this great nation.  They expected us to pull together and to help when help is needed, not play cheap parlor games with the pain and suffering of those we see as opponents.

Liberalism is a mental disorder highlighted by a total arrogant disdain for others, and the selfishness of an evil that lurks in the realm of Satan.  Our nation cannot survive the kind of vitriol we see in liberalism.  If this continues to be the rule rather than the exception we will lose what little bit of liberty we have left and find ourselves at the mercy of people who have no mercy in their hearts and no soul in their being.

And the ultimate insult will come Sunday May 26, 2013 when His Royal Highness King Barack I will honor us with his presence.  He will come forth from his mighty palace and say a few kind words to us “bitter clingers and Bible thumpers”.  He will pronounce the problems solved, pose for a few photographs, then jump back into his limousine or helicopter. In the meantime, all those who have been actually doing something trip over the media and Secret Service circus clowns.  We don’t need the federal government to “help”.  We don’t come with hat in hand begging for benevolence from government and We the People don’t want government here.

We don’t need Barack Obama and his henchmen in Oklahoma and we don’t want him here.  Gov. Mary Fallin should immediately stand up and tell him to stay where he is.  We have enough to do without him adding to the mess.

Barry, instead of coming to Oklahoma for a photo-op, spend your time telling the mental midgets who you call fellow Democrats that us “bitter clingers” don’t need them; and don’t want them, you, or the money you so freely promise to borrow on our behalf.  We Oklahomans will cling to our God and our guns, not the “benevolence” of government bureaucrats and their red tape.  We will take care of each other and provide for the needs of those displaced by the tornado.  Keep your pathetic posturing in Washington, D C (De Cesspool) where it is appreciated because it won’t be appreciated in Oklahoma.  We don’t need, and we don’t want, your phony sympathy or your cheap promises.

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.

Bob Russell

Claremore, Oklahoma

May 23, 2013

May 20, 2013 tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma

For the second day in a row, Central Oklahoma was hit with severe weather and deadly tornadoes. Moore, Oklahoma is no stranger to the danger of tornadoes. On May 3, 1999, the city of Moore, which is just South of Oklahoma City, was devastated by an EF5 tornado that killed 46 people. The tornado today, which followed a strikingly similar path, has already been estimated at least an EF4, and reportedly already has a higher death toll. It may be days before we have an official number of fatalities.

As rescue efforts continue, and families wait to be reunited, the residents of Oklahoma City and surrounding areas have rallied to provide for the victims of this devastating storm. Several area locations have set up donation centers, and the response from the community has been overwhelming. Local news channel 9 ( KWTV) set up a donation center a their station and, at the time of this writing, volunteers were still unloading donated water, shovels, nonperishable food, clothing and more from the generous residents in their viewing area.

To assist: Text: STORM to 80888 for Salvation Army. Text REDCROSS to 90999 for Redcross. Text FOOD to 32333 for Reg. Food Bank.

America’s thoughts and prayers are with the people of Moore tonight, and the images below should serve to remind that kindness and compassion abound. ‘Merica.

Line to donate at Channel 9 News collection center

Well, it is an extension of the ‘Peter Principle.’ Under the PP theory a person is promoted to their highest level of incompetence where not being able to advance to a next promotion due to lack of ability they will remain in place until quit, fired, retire.

Now, for the government I came up with ‘The Bureaucrat-Functionary Principle.’ It is simply that no one will ever get fired and no matter the blatant lack of ability, skill, ethics or number of performance failures that they will continue to receive promotions, bonuses, backing of peers and awards until they retire rich and living off a taxpayer funded pension until the day they die.

Rep. Kathy Lohmer-R, Lake Elmo, Minnesota

Minnesota continues to go in the wrong direction politically, it’s latest disastrous endeavor was to force the unionization of child-care and adult-care workers. Governor Mark Dayton is expected to sign the bill that passed through the Senate with a 35-32 majority.

The Pioneer Press’s “Political Animal” online publication was almost gleeful in it’s reportage of the passage of the bill. In the lead, author Megan Boldt writes,

“After a marathon overnight debate that lasted almost 17 hours, the Minnesota Senate approved a bill that would allow (emphasis mine) child care providers and personal-care attendants to bargain collectively with the state.”

Boldt continues her article mentioning that the bill Dayton signed into law was passed with a 35-32 majority and proceeds to throw four Democrats under the bus that had the good sense and judgment to join Republicans and vote against the lame law. You can read Boldt’s complete article here.

Proponents of the new law say that it will increase access for people seeking childcare and adult in-home health care, and improve working conditions and pay for those who provide such care. Like most Liberal-Progressive brain-children, it will in fact do the exact opposite of what it says, while at the same time increase the money flowing to Liberal union bosses in the state who will continue to use that money to crush political voices of opposition.

Republican Senator Sean Nienow of Cambridge properly described the law in his comments to the Pioneer Press.

Sen. Sean Nienow-R, Cambridge, doing what many DFLers won’t or can’t do – read the bill!

“It receives the dirty diaper award. Few bills stink this bad and I think many members will have to hold their noses to vote for it,” -Nienow

“Many problematic bills have been moving through the legislature during this session.

“Among the very worst proposals that the DFL-controlled House is considering is the unionization of in-home private childcare providers. This legislation represents an unprecedented power-grab by AFSCME and their allies to unionize small business owners.”

Problematic? What an understatement! In her jam-packed, pithy article, it’s hard to pick one paragraph that stands out over the others in her description of how very bad this law will be. I recommend you read the whole thing. Here however, is what I believe the nut-graph of Lohmer’s comments as they appear in the middle of the story.

Lohmer writes,

“Unionizing childcare providers will also lower the quality of childcare. Through the requirement of paying union dues, taxpayer dollars meant for quality childcare programs will be redirected to union bank accounts and political campaign activities. Many providers are concerned that the deduction of dues would require them to stop accepting childcare assistance families or to make drastic cuts to their childcare programs — reducing the quality of care.”

You can read Lohmer’s brilliantly pithy column in it’s entirety here.

Lohmer and Nienow are correct in their assessments of this new law. Liberals in the state continue to blast bad law through the houses of legislature aimed at doing good, but in their naiveté they continue to harm small business owners and the middle class. At the same time they continue to support their one funding source that keeps them in power election after election, the powerhouse liberal labor unions.

Minnesotans need to come to their senses and do what Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker did recently, and that is to become a right to work state and end the tyrannous power grab of corrupt unions.

Update: The Childcare Unionization Bill passed the Senate earlier this week. Now it goes to the House for discussion and a vote. The Minnesota Chapter of Americans For Prosperity are encouraging people to go to the capitol and show their opposition. Call your House Representative and make  yourself heard. Saturday is a big day. 

The cicada: Mascot of the federal bureaucrat?

People in the Washington, DC area like to worry. Part of it’s because leftists are required to show “concern” about the darnedest things and part of it is because a large government workforce has to discover something to do or at least find a way to look busy.

For example, the National Weather Service suffered a crippling budget cut of about 3 percent when the sequester went into effect. I had assumed that after the cut hit, a spokesperson would inform us there would be no more rain or rainbows due to evil Republican budget cuts.

Instead the service is now under a hiring freeze and unable to begin what the WaPost called “a major pilot project aimed at helping the local community prepare for extreme weather.”

For those of you who tuned in late, “extreme weather” is what used to be “global warming” before it stopped getting warm.

According to the Post, “Previously, the emergency response meteorologists were tasked to assist “on the scene” during major weather events, offering on-demand briefings to emergency managers and stakeholders. They also were charged with developing more event-specific forecasts, explaining possible impacts in detail, and getting key messages out using new communication technologies and social media.”

In laymen’s terms this means highly–paid government meteorologists would appear during a hurricane or tornado to tell damp citizens with frizzy hair that they had just been hit by a hurricane or tornado. The weather people would then pass out small, waterproof maps with colorful depictions of pressure zones and isobars. Then advise survivors to take shelter, cut down on salt and keep hydrated. Once the citizens were dispersed, the weather service employees would be free to teach elected officials how to post heroic photos of themselves in galoshes on Twitter.

How they intend to accomplish this without power remains to be seen. A more practical plan would involve teaching Pepco customers how to buy and install a generator, since long term loss of electricity is much more common here than severe weather.

Somehow, Oklahomans have managed to endure weather without federal intervention. Twice during my youth I lived in Duncan, OK. Smack dab in the middle of tornado alley. In spite of the fact we did not have weather service types parachuting in to state the obvious, we managed to survive. The municipal tornado siren sounded, you picked up the babies, grabbed the old ladies and headed for the nearest tornado/bomb shelter or leaped in a nearby bar ditch.

I distinctly remember one evening when we gathered in our neighbor’s backyard shelter to wait out the alert. Since I was just a kid, I had no idea how long a tornado lasted. My idea of a long duration was waiting for Christmas and that took forever.

What’s more, I was a chubby kid who suffered “food anxiety” before it came to Michelle Obama’s attention. Not wanting to add hunger pangs to potential tornado problems, I filled my pockets with cheddar cheese. (It could have been that I also wanted to prevent diarrhea, but my memory is fuzzy.) This caused something of a commotion later in the week when Mom opened the washer and saw the laundry looked like nachos.

So without the weather service to gin up worry, the media here has turned to the insect world and found this summer will mark the return of the cicada. Cicadas sleep underground for 17 years and then emerge blinking into the sunlight, looking for sex and a square meal. This alone would make the cicada a perfect mascot for the less motivated federal bureaucrat.

Insects on the make would not normally be an issue for the front page of the Metro section. What makes the cicadas newsworthy is they return in the billions. They cover the landscape and make a loud buzzing sound to attract a mate, similar to disco but without mirror balls.

The insects are about an inch long with red eyes. The outer shell is crunchy but they’re soft on the inside, much like a Democrat. The reporter even found publicity–hungry omnivore who claimed he eats cicadas. His recipe calls for sautéing them with lemon and butter. I can’t remember if he serves the finished product with MD–20/20 or WD–40.

After sex cicadas don’t smoke, which would at least shut them up, instead they eat the shrubbery. I actually saw a handful while walking the dogs, but the density did not begin to approach the 1,000,000/acre of which the WaPost warned. Maybe these were scouts, wary of people with frying pans.

The important part of the infestation for our purposes is that I’ve been inspired to write another song. This time to the tune of the Angel’s “My Boyfriend’s Back.”

The bugs are back and there’s gonna be trouble

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

When you see them fly you better cut out on the double

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

Cicadas been gone for such a long time,

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

Better watch your step don’t slip on insect slime

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

And the trees are full of buzzin’

And the males are wantin lovin’

A mating dance right on your front lawn

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

They’re here right now, about a trillion strong

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

Buried underground for 17 years

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

It’s time to mate, so cover up your ears

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

And the trees are full of buzzin’

And the males are wantin lovin’

Beady red eyes on a body one inch long (Wa–ooh, Wa–ooh)

Eating your shrubs while they play a mating song  (Wa–ooh)

It’s time to flee

The bugs are back and there’s gonna be trouble

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

When you see them fly you better cut out on the double

(Hey la, Hey la, the bugs are back)

Thanks to Tj Thompson for putting my thoughts into video format.

Mom,

Through out the years, I have made many mistakes, struggled, and been lost in finding my purpose in life. Throughout that time you have continued to support , encourage, and offer me guidance. In all that time, I have never truly showed you appreciation for being my biggest supporter. I apologize for that. You have shown me more support than anyone in the family and I should show you more appreciation for that. Thank you for your past support and your support in the future.

As the day progresses, today, I pray you have a wonderful day, are blessed by the family, and enjoy yourself with us. You deserve double the love, support, and blessings you have been giving us, for years to come.  Please know, as I get my life together, finally, my biggest desires are to make you proud, be the success I know I can be, and be able to give you the support & love in return, that you have given me.

I love you MOM.

Your UNDESERVING Son,

John

P.S.

Thank you for not giving up on me when others in the family told you I should be locked up because of the emotional issues I had.

                        I received this message in an e-mail from The TEA Party Express and was appalled at what I read.

First Tea Party Victory of the 2014 Cycle

Tea Party Express, the nation’s largest Tea Party political action committee, congratulates Mark Sanford on his election victory tonight.

Sanford, a Republican, defeated Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch by a 54 percent to 45 percent margin in the 1st Congressional District race to replace Tim Scott.

Thanks to your commitment to elect fiscal conservatives and your generous support, Mark Sanford was victorious in defeating liberal Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in yesterday’s special election

Yesterday, a grassroots issue-based campaign upset the national Democratic campaign machine. Voters saw past the personal attacks and elected a Tea Party candidate who is willing to stand up for fiscal responsibility and limited government. Mark Sanford was once rated number one by the National Taxpayers’ Union for his efforts to reduce spending and the national debt, and we are confident that he will bring that same conservative leadership back to Washington, D.C.

The Tea Party movement continues to fuel election upsets, while political talking heads continue to try and reject the strength of our message. With $17 trillion in debt, the Obamacare train wreck, and anemic economic growth, Americans are looking to elect leaders that are willing to swim against the current. Mark Sanford’s proven record of standing up for the taxpayer and reducing the size, cost, and intrusiveness of the federal government represent the conservative qualities voters are looking for in candidates.

This is both a victory for Mark Sanford and Tea Party grassroots activists in South Carolina’s first Congressional District. We are now looking to carry this momentum into the 2014 election cycle.

I thought this sounded odd and did some checking to make sure my instinct was on target.  This is the same Mark Sanford who, as governor of South Carolina, essentially embezzled money from the taxpayers of his state to carry on an illicit affair with some Argentinian beauty.  The fact that she is young enough to be his daughter is beside the point.

Sanford intentionally used state assets to travel to South America to carry on this affair.  Regardless of how this is spun, he stole from WE the People.  He paid a fine and reimbursed the state to buy off an ethics investigation, but only did so after getting caught and to just make it all go away.  Oh, he apologized in his best Jimmy Swaggart “Ah have sinnnnnned!!!” song and dance tear party, paid a fine, reimbursed the state for PART of the money and all of a sudden everything is fine.  NO, everything isn’t fine!!!!!!

I especially like the sentence about Sanford “standing up for the taxpayer and reducing the size, cost, and intrusiveness of the federal government”.  The man is an adulterer who embezzled public funds to carry on the affair and only when he got caught did he “do the right thing”.   Included in the message was a picture of Amy Kremer and Sanford.

I have a question for Ms. Kremer and the others who are so high on Sanford.  What the hell are you people thinking????? Just who and what are you representing??? Isn’t embezzlement a crime?? I thought it was a felony.  Shouldn’t that disqualify Sanford from public office???  This man has trampled on every value I thought the TEA Party stands for.  I would like to hear Amy Kremer’s definitions of honesty, integrity, and morality.

The question of forgiving him for having an affair isn’t my business; that is for his wife and children to deal with.  To forgive him for stealing funds from hard working taxpayers to fund such a thing is fine also, to a point, after punishment for his crime.  I have no problem forgiving him for bad judgment but see no reason to put him right back into a position of trust and honor instead of a prison cell where I would be if I had stolen the same money.  I wonder of Sanford’s wife trusts him as much as Amy Kremer does.

I saw a comment on one of the social network sites I belong to that if I am looking for a saint to run then to name one and the poster would support him/her.  A SAINT??????  Mark Sanford is a far cry from a saint.  This old worn out intimidation tactic of “he who is without sin cast the first stone” from supposed Christian conservatives in the Republican Party is as lame as the race card from the liberals.  The man committed a crime against the trust of We the People.  He used the public treasury as his personal piggy bank.  No, Sanford is not anywhere near sainthood!!!

Do we no longer stand behind the values we claim to live by when it becomes politically expedient to throw them by the way side?  So, “Mark Sanford is not as bad as his opponent” is the standard we are looking for now???  We should forgive him for all of his “bad decisions”, promote him, and give him our trust again???  I don’t think so!!!

Isn’t irrelevance and forgiveness the ploy the Democrat Party is doing right now in the Benghazi hearings circus, and formerly in the Fast & Furious “investigation”?  Isn’t this the same rhetoric we got about Clinton and Lewinsky??  Isn’t this the same rhetoric we got on the Charles Rangel tax evasion, the Tim Geithner tax evasion????  Isn’t this the same attitude that we saw over the Ted Kennedy Chappaquiddick incident????  Bless his heart; he said he was sorry, awwwwwwwwwww!!!!!

The TEA Party Express group, self-touted as being the largest of all the TEA groups, has now apparently bought into the ruling class political establishment attitude that “he might be a criminal but he is our criminal”.  Are we no better than the Democrats; people who will do anything, tell any lie, break any law, destroy any moral value, cheat on anything that helps their cause??

How is our nation to return to our founding principles if those of us looking to get there throw those very principles away like this?  Is defeating Democrats, who are a virtual mirror of the Republican establishment, so important that we will vote for an embezzler and adulterer because he “isn’t quite as bad” as the Democrat candidate?  Oh, he cried and said he was sorry!!!  Really????  Is this the best America can do??

I can’t go along with this surrender of values.  If I toss everything that is important to me in the trash can to win an election what have I won?  How would I have made this nation better by voting for a person as “flawed” as Sanford?  He can’t apologize enough, can’t pay enough fines, and can’t promise enough for me to accept that he should not be in prison for his crime of embezzlement instead of sitting in the seat of government.  He should never be allowed to hold any public office, EVER!!!!

If this is the standard now upheld by the majority of WE the People I have little hope for ever getting back to the honor and prestige America once held.  We cannot restore America as “a shining city on a hill” by continually lowering our standards to keep just ahead of those who are joyfully descending into Hell.  If a man who has no better moral and ethical standards than Mark Sanford is the standard bearer for the TEA Party Express and the conservative movement in America then our nation is lost.   This is like jumping on the back of the bus and trying to claw our way to the front while the bus careens over the cliff of destruction.  We cannot stop a perpetual slide into an abyss of partisan political games, and the loss of all moral political standards, by jumping on the back of the bus.   Our only hope to stop the slide is to oppose it not help it.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/24/south.carolina.governor/index.html?_s=PM:POLITICS

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/16/17784234-mark-sanfords-ex-wife-says-former-sc-governor-trespassed?lite

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/sanford-to-reimburse-his-state-for-commerce-trip/

http://www.walb.com/story/10879433/senate-probe-sanford-broke-state-law-on-travel?clienttype=printable

http://azstarnet.com/news/national/gov-sanford-agrees-to-fine-settling-ethics-case/article_d1db78b6-6176-5a2f-b660-ddc051741593.html

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.

Bob Russell

Claremore, Oklahoma

May 9, 2013

He has no concept of our American culture having been brought up in Indonesia and attending schools there. He has produced three versions of his birth certificate all of which were proven to be faked or photoshopped. He was surrounded by people who hate America and blame America for the world’s woes which is what he does. He sat on boards with and gave speeches with Weather Underground radical/terrorist Bill Ayers who set off bombs at the pentagon, U.S. capital and N.Y. police station and who on 9/11 in an article in ESQUIRE magazine said he wished he set off more bombs.. Obama started his campaign at Ayers’ home in Chicago. That shows you the type of friends he has. When he first became president, the first thing he did was fly to Cairo and give this speech calling us “arrogant and dismissive” towards them. He has since given free of charge 20 F-16 fighter jets and 200 Abrams tanks to the muslim brotherhood in Egypt who are dedicated to eradicating Isreal off the map as is Iran. He thrives on tearing us down, rather than building us up. He is the Architect of the decline of America.

He said he “would side with the muslims if the winds took a different direction” and that’s just what he seems to be doing by not cracking down on terror attacks in the country.There have been five terror attempts under Obama compared to just 9/11 under Bush and none here since then. He calls the attack by the muslim Major Hassan at Ft. Hood as “workplace violence.” The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are “overseas contingency operations”and the attempts by the Times Square bomber and underwear bomber as “manmade disasters.” He will not use the word terror or muslim in any of these attacks even the recent Boston bombing since he declared the war on terror over with the killing of Bin Laden.

Now in his trip to Mexico he took the opportunity to once again blame America. He blamed America for the murders and violence there. He said, “Much of the root cause of violence that’s been happening here in Mexico, for which so many Mexicans have suffered, is the demand for illegal drugs in the United States.” Forget that the president of Mexico has lost control of his country and our president has lost control of our borders.

He then went on to apologize for America imposing it’s soverignty of five western states. By doing so he’s sending messages to Mexicans, letting citizens south of the border know that he agrees with their contention that much of the Southwestern U.S. rightfully belongs to Mexico.

But he didn’t stop there he went on to blame the violence in Mexico on America and gun control. He said: “Most of the guns used to commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States. I think many of you know that in America, our Constitution guarantees our individual right to bear arms. And as president, I swore an oath to uphold that right, and I always will. But at the same time, as I’ve said in the United States, I will continue to do everything in my power to pass common-sense reforms that keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people. That can save lives here in Mexico and back home in the United States. It’s the right thing to do.”

Never mind the fact that he and Eric Holder sent 2000 guns to the drug cartels, kidnappers and other vermin under the guise of “fast and furious” which killed 200 Mexicans and two of our border guards.

What is a president who thinks like this doing in the white house? I’ll tell you who thinks that way in a comment I recently saw that said, “an intellectually bankrupt, socially and racially divisive, psychologically fractured, morally vacant, cowardly, anti-America, anti-Americans, anti-Constitution, anti-military, anti-sovereignty, anti-family, anti-life, Muslim, megalomaniacal, Marxist, seditious, clear and most present danger to our Republic and us” who goes by the name of Barack Obama. That’s who.

» Limbaugh: The America-bashing president » Commentary — GOPUSA

Barack Obama: America’s Enemy – Jesus is Savior

Check out this cool video by The Rivoli Revue.They are warning to save our country before it’s too late and we become this. YouTube – U.S.S. of A.

Lamar Alexander (TN), Roy Blunt (MO), John Boozman (AR), Richard Burr (NC), Saxby Chambliss (GA), Dan Coats (IN), Thad Cochran (MS), Susan Collins (ME), Bob Corker (TN), Mike Enzi (WY), Deb Fischer (NE), Lindsey Graham (SC), Chuck Grassley (IA), John Hoeven (ND), Johnny Isakson (GA), Mike Johanns (NE), John McCain (AZ), Rob Portman (OH), Jeff Sessions (AL), Richard Shelby (AL), John Thune (SD), Roger Wicker (MS)

Ask them why they joined tax–and–spend Democrats and voted for the disingenuously named “Marketplace Fairness Act” that expands the size of government and extends crony capitalism by allowing states to force online and mail order retailers to collect sales tax from shoppers that don’t live in the state where the retailer is located.

When does a conservative philosophy include coercing retailers based in a state with no sales tax into collecting sales tax for states that do? How can the laws of Virginia apply to a company doing business in New Hampshire?

As of now a state can only require a company headquartered elsewhere to collect sales tax if the firm has a physical presence (a store, warehouse, distribution center) in the state that wants the tax collected. Obviously Wal–Mart, Sears, Home Depot and so on already collect sales tax because they are located nationwide. Amazon and eBay only charge sales tax in California where they’re located and a few states where distribution centers are located.

Consumers who buy from out–of–state online stores are supposed to send a check to their state revenue service each year in the amount of sales tax they would have paid locally, but the honor system for tax payments does not seem to be working.

States could withhold a percentage of your paycheck each year to cover the estimated amount you would pay in online sales tax. (Does term ‘withholding’ ring a ball?) At the end of the year you could file a return with receipts from online purchases and if you spent less than the state estimated, you would get two refunds, instead of just one!

Somehow state politicians don’t think this idea would be too popular. Instead they want the federal government to force online retailers who don’t have a location in their state, don’t use any services in their state and don’t have any representation in their state to collect taxes for their state. And if they don’t, the state will seize the company’s property through court proceedings in a state where the company isn’t located. It’s remote control taxation without representation.

I can understand why Democrats support this, it’s right up their alley. What I can’t understand is how a Republican that’s supposed to support limited government can vote for it. The rationalization they use is “fairness,” which is the handmaiden of “share the wealth.”

Proving he can string clichés with the best of them, Sen. Enzi says, “This bill is about fairness. It’s about leveling the playing field between the brick and mortar and online companies and it’s about collecting a tax that’s already due. It’s not about raising taxes.”

So the fact you will now be paying more tax is just an unfortunate byproduct that can’t be blamed on Enzi.

I’m with the folks at Catholic Online who describe the bill thusly: “There’s nothing fair about a tax whose sole purpose is to punish businesses that employ an efficient business model. The tax does nothing to improve consumer choice, rights, or value. It’s another case of big business using its influence in Washington to compete by legislation against small, private retailers.”

Enzi can spout “fairness” all he wants, but the bill is about revenue.

This bill will cripple smaller online operations that have created a niche business on eBay. The magnanimous potentates in the Senate have graciously agreed to exempt businesses that don’t gross $1 million in yearly sales, but that just proves how ignorant politicians are regarding the market. A business that grosses $1 million might net 10 percent of that amount if they’re lucky. There’s no room in $100,000 to hire someone to manage sales tax collection for the 50 states.

The bill also requires states to provide “free” software to help retailers become revenuers. We all know how well that’s going to go. For a look at Virginia’s adventures in software see here. And if the state can’t get the software to work, there’s no penalty. But if the company can’t get the software to work it wins a nice tax lien.

This bill is crony capitalism attracting Republicans who confuse being “pro–business” with being “pro competition.” They are dupes of businesses that want to limit competition rather than compete.

Local retailers already have an advantage over online retailers. The product is in stock. The customer can examine it. If the customer has a question, there should be an informed salesperson nearby ready to provide information (I realize you can fire a howitzer in Wal–Mart, Sears, Best Buy, Home Depot or Costco and not hit a salesperson, much less an informed one, but we’re talking an ideal competitive situation here). Even better there are no shipping charges when one buys locally. And if the product is defective or the buyer changes their mind, it’s returned locally.

Meddling in the market on behalf of favored businesses is second nature for Democrats, but you would think GOP members would know better. Here in Washington, DC an out of control city council is busy writing regulations to ruin the business of lunchtime food trucks in downtown DC. The justification is identical to that of the “Marketplace Fairness Act.”

Brick and mortar restaurants are complaining that food trucks are stealing customers and they don’t have to pay property taxes like the restaurants do. Sound familiar? But even if the council banned food trucks altogether — and with this council you never know — there would not be a boost in lunchtime restaurant business because the restaurants and the food trucks serve a different customer base.

Food truck customers are in a hurry. They line up; they grab the food and head back to the office. Or sit on a park bench and fight the pigeons and the homeless for their fish taco. The food trucks don’t take credit cards and the prices aren’t all that cheap. But the process is faster than a sit down restaurant and there’s no tip.

If food trucks vanish, customers will bring their lunch or visit a deli or sandwich shop that is faster than a restaurant. They won’t be filling a table at whatever uppity lunch spot is hot this month.

A conservative would hope the “Fairness” the bill is DOA in the House, but there are dupes everywhere. Rep. Steve Womack (R–Wal–Mart) explains, “Obviously there’s a lot of consumers out there that have been accustomed to not having to pay any taxes, believing that they don’t have to pay any taxes. I totally understand that, and I think a lot of our members understand that. There’s a lot of political difficulty getting through the fog of it looking like a tax increase.”

If the esteemed representatives really want to “level the playing field” with online merchants, then lets go all the way. Charge the sales tax but require local merchants to make the following changes:

• Customers in the store can’t actually hold the merchandise; instead they must examine a series of small photos.
• If customers have a question regarding a product, they are required to email or call customer service for information. Hold time must be at least five minutes and you have to press three numbers to guarantee an answer in English.
• Customers won’t be able to get buying advice from salespeople, but they can go through a box of 3X5 cards filled with poorly spelled recommendations from anonymous random people who may or may not actually own the product.
• Customers may buy the product at the store, but they must wait five days to pick it up and they must pre–pay a pickup fee. If the customer wants the product sooner, they must pay a larger pickup fee. In no case can the customer get the product in less than 24 hours.
• If the product is defective or the customer changes their mind, they must ship the product back to the store, rather than take it themselves.

Brick–and–mortar stores with high prices and disinterested staff deserve to lose out to online merchants. It’s what happens in a competitive marketplace, unless Big Government politicians start interfering.

Special thanks to TJ Thompson for putting my thoughts into video format.

Relaxed Wisdom

HARRY, your White House friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except in what they can control. They think that nothing can be which is not controllable by their little minds. All minds, Harry, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole truth and knowledge of liberty.

Yes, HARRY, there is Liberty. It exists as certainly as faith, reason, wisdom and devotion to honor exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Liberty. It would be as dreary as if there were only Harry Reid. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Liberty! You might as well not believe in life! You might get your papa to hire learned men to explain, but even if they did not produce it so you that could touch it, see it, smell it, hear it, or taste it, what would that prove? Nobody sees Liberty, but that is no sign that there is no Liberty. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men, and most especially those of power can see. Did you ever see faith reason, wisdom, or devotion to honor? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there, other than the results they produce. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world, Because of Liberty.

You may trample upon the Liberty of men.  You may bind every last man upon the earth in unbreakable chains.  You may make illegal all things even the act of breathing, but there is a veil covering the unseen eternal nature of Liberty which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men, congresses, and presidencies that ever lived, can tear from the heart of every man. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory which Liberty supplies.

Is Liberty real? Ah, HARRY, in all this world there is nothing else so real and abiding.

No Liberty! Thank God! It lives, and It lives forever. A thousand years from now, Harry, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, Liberty will continue to make glad the heart of mankind.

On May 25, 1787 the Constitutional Convention opened.  One hundred sixteen days later, on September 17, 1787 they concluded their official work.  All but one of the thirteen states (excluding Rhode Island) participated in the convention.  Those twelve States gave unanimous order the Constitution should be submitted for ratification.

Among the forty-two specific delegates that participated in the convention thirty-eight voted in favor.  The principle concern of the remaining four was that proposed constitution did not contain a bill of rights articulating the rights of the people and the states over the authority of the national central government.

Yet, even in the Federalist victory for the Constitution they gave promise that such a bill of rights would be championed by the Congress as amendments to the Constitution.

Two hundred seventy-eight days later the Constitution was ratified.  Then on March 4, 1789 Congress convened in New York City for the first time. Just ninety-seven days later, even before the Supreme Court was officially established, James Madison, true to the promise given, introduced The Bill of Rights to Congress to be acted upon.

It is really quite amazing what we witness in the United States of America today.

The rights articulated in those first ten amendments to the Constitution, under the honor of those men given authority and trust of the people, are tossed aside by our current crop of congressional members.

The first amendment set the people apart from the dictates of the federal government over the free exercise of consciences.  Yet, the rights of religion, speech, assembly, and opposition to government tyranny are assailed routinely by operatives of that government.

The second amendment guaranteed the uninfringed right of the people to keep and bear arms distinctly for the purpose of preserving the strength of states against the dominance of the national government.  Yet, on every hand federally elected officials seek to superimpose their desires over the rights of the people.

The third and fourth amendments assure protection of the people against the quartering of soldiers in their homes, and against unreasonable search and seizure.  Yet, police forces with arms and fire power of a standing army may now routinely enter homes at gunpoint.  The president advocates for the power to impose upon every American via the modern technology of drone warfare.  Departments of the government may intrude private home and confiscate children.  Is it truly beyond imagination that such people will not soon advocate for armed incursion of the military into private homes?

The Fifth Amendment protects every citizen against double jeopardy and against the taking of private property.  Yet, we see routinely how the government hounds citizens.  Numerous examples exist of government trying a person for a specific crime, and upon failure to establish guilt go about finding an alternate charge to try them…only demand a retaliatory sentencing for guilt.  In my own city a man is hounded endlessly by a federal agency.  His goods and property have been confiscated without trial.  In like manner his extended family’s good have also been stolen by the government…again without trial or conviction.

The sixth and seventh amendments were meant to protect the citizenry against an executive government exercising undue length of trials and avoidance of the judicial government to punish a presumed perpetrator.  Yet, the revenue arms of the federal government taunt citizens literally for over a decade for crimes which they cannot generate evidence for against a citizen.  Further, because of the arrogance of the courts the eighth amendment, protecting the people against a zealous government intent on setting an appearance of justice, impose indiscriminant sentences.

Corresponding with the first eight amendments the ninth reiterates for emphasis that it is the rights of the government that are restricted, not the rights of the people.  Yet, routinely, elected federal officials purport to have authority over the rights people in all matters.

Finally, in the tenth amendment, simply to slam the point home with an exclamation mark the federal government is told in no uncertain terms that ALL the power given to the federal has been stated, and if it has not been stated it does not exist with them.  Yet, the federal government wields a whip of revenue over the heads of the various states coercing compliance.

It is really quite amazing what we witness in the United States of America today.  We have been turned upside-down and inside-out like a carnival contortionist.

If Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Washington and the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were alive today they would be standing in awe at the failure that modern America has made of the nation they created at such great a cost.

Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli brandishing one of the forms he forgot to fill out.

What is it about an elected official that compels rich people to want to give him gifts? Do they look needy? Hungry? Depressed? Is there a secret gift registry of which I’m unaware? Could it be a mentoring program where plutocrats adopt a middle–class governor or attorney general and show them how capitalism has paid off? Sort of a rescue program except no Labradors are involved?

Any of those reasons are an improvement over the suspicions of my wife. She believes the gifts are given because the recipients hold high public office and it might come in handy for a rich person to have a governor or attorney general in their pocket. So she is disappointed in Ken Cuccinelli. Again. And that goes for me, too.

For those of you who don’t follow Virginia politics, Ken Cuccinelli is the Tea Party–backed Republican attorney general who filed the first court case against Obamacare. He also fought the EPA on job–killing regulations. And the AG filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the papers “global warming” guru Michael Mann used to get grants while he was at the University of Virginia.

I was first disappointed in Cuccinelli when he broke a promise to serve two terms as AG and not run for governor after his first. Details are here. Now Cuccinelli and Gov. Bob McDonnell are enmeshed within a gift controversy brought on in large part by McDonnell’s failure to use his head and Cuccinelli’s failure to use his ballpoint.

The nexus of the scandal is Jonnie R. Williams, Sr. who runs Star Scientific, a former cigarette company that has progressed from selling cancer to marketing Anatabloc a nutritional supplement made from a substance found in tobacco. Anatabloc is used to fight inflammation and its also contained in facial cream where it may help to remove wrinkles caused by smoking.

Williams is a new BFF that both Cuccinelli and McDonnell have known for about five years. (Hmmm that’s just about the time they’ve been in office, but it must surely be a coincidence.) Williams gave $15,000 to McDonnell’s daughter so she could pay the ‘Let ‘em Eat Cake’ catering bill at her wedding. Williams has also given the family free use of his vacation home at Smith Mountain Lake and let the governor drive his Ferrari back to Richmond from that same vacation spread in Western Virginia. All told William’s publicly disclosed gifts to McDonnell and his political action committee come to over $120,000.

And it’s all perfectly legal. I just hope the wedding catering smelled better than the rest of the gifts. In fact, the catering started the scandal ball rolling, because McDonnell didn’t declare the gift, since it went to his daughter. I mean, what’s out of the ordinary about some BFF you’ve known since 2009 dropping 15 gees on your daughter’s wedding? It sure beats a blender.

Now FBI agents are investigating the relationship between the governor, his wife Maureen (who has promoted Anatabloc) and Williams to see if there was a quid pro quo.

Once the media started following the foie gras the trail led to Cuccinelli. He hasn’t had any weddings recently — although with a brood his size it’s only a matter of time — but he did invest in Star Scientific stock after meeting Williams. I’m sure he thought it was a great opportunity. Lance Armstrong and Barry Bonds had such great success with dietary supplements, what could possibly go wrong?

Cuccinelli also stayed at the Smith Mountain vacation home twice, accepted $6,700 worth of Anatabloc, took a flight to New York, borrowed Williams’ boat, took a trip to Kentucky, stayed at Williams’ house near Richmond, ate a Williams’ provided turkey dinner and was surprised to discover he owned over $10,000 in Star Scientific stock.

Many of these gifts and the stock were not reported promptly on disclosure forms. It’s appears Cuccinelli is a lawyer, but he’s not good with details and paperwork.

The worst part of this mess is that none of it had to happen. Conservatives were convinced Cuccinelli was different. He wouldn’t fall prey to the pitfalls of influence and influencers. But he did. And because he did, Cuccinelli is dealing with a campaign issue that never should have happened and one that sullies his reputation for ethics and honesty.

Delusional Democrats are fantasizing that the controversy may force McDonnell to resign. This is very unlikely, not the least because the events don’t rise to the level of a major scandal. But if McDonnell did resign, it would restore a disenchanted Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling’s faith in Providence. At the stroke of a pen Bolling would get to be governor without running a primary campaign, and even better he would be governor before Ken Cuccinelli!

Meanwhile I have some practical gift receiving advice for Cuccinelli and other conservative politicians who — I hope — don’t want to lose touch with the Americans that elected them:

1. Don’t take a gift from any ‘friend’ you made after you left high school unless it comes with a receipt, preferably from Wal–Mart.
2. Don’t buy stock in a ‘friend’s’ hot company if you didn’t know him in high school.
3. Even if you knew him in high school, don’t take any gifts from a company with ‘science’ in the name that isn’t run by someone in a lab coat.
4. Don’t take a gift from any ‘friend’ who owns a company that the SEC, FEC, IRS, FDA or the PTA is investigating.
5. Don’t hitch a ride on an airplane, yacht or submarine owned by a stranger you met after high school, unless you all chip in for gas.
6. Don’t accept free vacation housing from a ‘friend’ you met after high school, unless it’s a tent.
7. Don’t offer to valet park a ‘friend’s’ Ferrari if you have to drive it more than 200 yards.