Conservative, veteran, family man, raised in Des Moines and currently living in Northern Minnesota (since 1968). I was and still am a social, fiscal and cultural conservative. I am a student of our culture its values, politic, its foreign and domestic policies. Personal Liberty is the historical cornerstone of our way of life.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Wacko Fringe takes advantage of Tragedy
Sunday, March 13, 2011
This is "We the People's Land"
You know this notion that Unions have that this land is MY land and equating this with what is happening in Egypt and else where is ridicules at best. This land is not there land. This land is the land of the free and the land that is ruled by the rule of law not the mob. Not intimidation to get what we want. My emotional reaction to the union’s noise is to get all the more set in not bending. I wonder if this is not the effect it is having on the silent majority that is paying the public employees wages, benefits, etc, and who are currently suffering many more job losses, less pay for similar jobs, lack of health care and no lifetime benefits. Unions have had a great run and have done great things for their membership and have had a need to be there but they have forgot that occasionally the opposition votes and they loose. If there reaction to this is to equate this loss with that of oppressed people of the world, that are being killed, maimed, staved, in slaved etc., diminishes their meaningful gains in the past.
"We the people" have said in a number of states (37) that public unions have gone to far and "We the people" have pulled back some of the collective bargaining agreements just as "We the People have a constitutional right to do. My suggestion is to unseat all the persons who voted for what ever it is that the unions do not like. That is the way it is suppose to be done. For the Democrats to leave the state and for the Unions to take over the "we the peoples" house is beyond reasonable and I believe that "we the people" have come to the end of tolerating this from corrupt public officials whose vote is for sale and the public unions that by the votes. "We the people" in fact have the right to control. Unions themselves have no constitutional protections, but they have acted like they do. They have bought votes and have participated in the corruption of our public institutions. To the extent they have participated in the corruption of the elected officials they are themselves corrupted. It is time for this to stop.
If we had not had such a deep recession, I think most of the way it was would still be going on and "we the people" would still be buying the spin, keeping our heads in the sand, adding more un-funded benefits to public workers and continuing to increase debt with out a possible way of paying it back. The cry that these are negotiated, contractual benefits through the collective bargaining is to say that the Mob should keep the money they stole, extorted, killed for etc. and not go to prison because they had a DEAL. If the basis of a negotiation is corrupt the outcome of the negotiations are corrupt. I say let the politicians whose vote was bought by the union pay the debt. Seems to me to be reasonable restitution for selling the country and the taxpayer down the toilet.
I do not care what party did this to us but we need to stop it now and attempt to move on from here with new relationships that are not corrupt at heart. If we do not we will just rebuild the same old, same old. As I said earlier money is at the heart and is all we have to do is to follow the money. Term Limits, Reduction of Money in the Campaigns, Aggressive prosecution of politicians and Staffers who use there power to in rich themselves. Prosecution of Special Interests who buy votes. Democracy should not be for sale but we have allowed a system to develop that supports the notion that not only is our country open for business but so are our politicians and others of power and influence
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Term Limits Render Special Interests Impotent
Term Limits Render Special Interests Impotent
The Unions are reeling from the votes in a number of state legislatures over the past few months. The AFL/CIO president has said the this is "War". The Wisconsin votes have been the best publicized of all but it is not the only vote to accomplish the limiting of Union power in the decisions state governments have recently made. See the chart below.
Not backing down to the union strong arm, with all its money, and ability to reek havoc for a periond of time, will in the long run take power away from this particular special interest and away from the politicians who are aligned through money and purchased votes. It is unconscionable to support a system that allows for the direct purchase of votes, political contributions, (1.8 million too Wisconsin Democrats, 97% of all political giving in Wisconsin), on one hand and to prosecute Blogovich for thinking about selling an appointment. The only way to limit this systems’ continued cheating of “we the people” is to limit terms.
Term limiting of politicians can be done in two ways. Elections, and Legislatively. The election term limiting is what we are seeing in the recent election of 85 new congressman and women to the federal house and the change of power in a number of state legislators this past election cycle. The unions are betting the “we the people” will find the error of their ways and return to politics that are controlled by the unions, in the next election cycle. More power to them. That is how it is suppose to work. Politicians govern and make the tough decisions, which are not always the politicall correct or polled decisions but they are the best for the county, city, state or nation at the time. Then after a short period of time go home and stay. The system as it is currently constructed would have power bought with political money and thereby the vote. That system is practiced by both major parties as of now. That system has to stop if we are to return to a system that represents “we the people” and not special interests.
The only leverage that a special interest has on a politician is the Special interests ability to get them money and to turn out the vote in the politicians’ reelection campaign. Turning out the vote is only done for the candidates that have promised to vote a specific way in an election that would benefit the special interest and not “we the people”. The special interest has only its ability to raise money and maintain power by using that money to keep them in power through vote purchasing. The longevity of a politician should never be a consideration as to how he/she will vote. But with the system as is, it is always the first consideration. The very basis of a legislator’s decision making has been how his vote will help him raise more money and to stay in power, not how will his vote effect the common good based on the principles of democracy.
Lately we have seen a few politicians be elected who have given their pledge to term limit themselves and to push in congress for term limits. This push would effectively bring down the special interest ability to own a large portion of the elected officials. With out the longevity of legislators the special interests influence could not have the leverage of reelection. The ability of the special interests to own legislators through contributions and votes is at the heart of the corruption of power by the individual legislator. To want to hold on to power and to accumulate his own assets wealth is as human as can be. Jefferson and the founding fathers new it and so do we. This human characteristic leaves the legislator at the mercy of special interest that can, in effect, guarantee his continued access to his own riches. This all stops if there are reasonable term limits. If the legislator cannot be reelected, at a point, then he is free to vote his conscience not his pocket book. He is free to vote for “we the people” not special interest. He is free to deal with reality and not to spin according to special interests needs. He is free to vote across party lines because the party line becomes blurred when the influence of special interest has waned.
Term limits have been placed on 15 state legislatures, eight of the ten largest cities in America adopted term limits for their city councils and/or mayor, and 37 states place term limits on their constitutional officers.
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Thursday, March 10, 2011
Rhetoric Ain’t the Issue: Spin Ain’t the Issue,
Rhetoric Ain’t the Issue: Spin Ain’t the Issue,
"In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin. Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten," said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller. "Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people."
With the passage of the bill in Wisconsin today and the behavior of the Unions we are in for the larges and most aggressive rhetoric, lies, spin, verbal attacks, character assassination, flaws in logic, death threats (written and verbal), use of the “f”bomb on a regular basis and general emotional hysteria. Most of the published pictures, written word, video, one on one interviews and pundits speak with be completely party line. Demos pro union (Wisconsin Reps have violated the law of man, have committed a moral murder, have overturned what has been fought for with American blood).
"You are cowards!" spectators in the Senate gallery screamed as Wisconsin lawmakers voted.
The Reps (this is what American voted for, Unions have unfair advantage, the cost is unsustainable in today’s budgets, they negotiate with those they give money to). The problem with all this is that we loose the essence of what is happening in Wi, Fl, Oh, In, and many other states as well as the US Congress. That is we are broke and we can not continue business as usual. The public dollar has to have some limits put on it and it will be a fight to see what limits will be place on it by our politicians. That is providing they have the courage the political will and the willingness to term limit themselves.
"I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government," Walker said
Some of the politicians that make the tough decisions will loose there seats. That is exactly what needs to happen. Example, after the WWII who lost his Job. Churchill and Truman. They had made the tough decisions and the country was interested in another direction. That is the way it should work. Show up, serve and leave.
A crowd of 5,000 union protestors swarmed the state Capitol in Madison shattered windows and barricaded themselves inside amid calls for a “class war” after news got out that Senate Republicans had circumvented a Democratic blockade of a bill curbing state union power.
Authorities eventually gave in and allowed the mob to reoccupy the Capitol without resistance; setting the stage for a melee today as the state Assembly reconvenes to consider the Senate proposal.
Today I have seen the same protester removed from the Wisconsin Capitol building at least 25 times. I have seen out of control anger by protesters directed at the legislator. I have seen and heard at least 15 times that the legislature has been threatened with death threats. I have seen the Union AFL CIO president say the “Union is not about children or jobs it is about power and the money we get from union dues that is at stake. (Interesting) At least the Union leadership is willing to tell it like it is. I have been saying all along that it is about the money and the rest is a smoke screen designed to distract us from what is really at the heart of the argument in Wi. and all over the country.
From here on out it is potentially a dangerous situation in Wisconsin and dangerous to be a Republican Legislator. The outside agitators the union have brought to Wisconsin are not helpful. I am afraid that something very bad could happen in the Dairy State. I hope not but the emotions are being whipped to a frenzy during the protests and the protestors are acting as if this is a life or death situation in Wisconsin. With the media at every corner, with everybody having a video camera, with the nations attention on this Capitol, with the national unions engaged at the local level, with the determination of the Republicans to not be bullied by the protesters, with all the history of union organizing seemingly at stake, with the world protesting everything: I fear for the safety of persons who are trying to continue a democratic process. You do not have to like the outcomes, but if you choose to not participate in the process then you should not have anything to say about the outcomes. Democracy at the legislative level should never backdown to violence, the threat of violence, the mob, or any special interest. We need to govern by the well of the majority of people not the will of the mob. I don’t have to agree with what Wisconsin has done to respect the fact that they have and have the constitution right to do it. They have, with in the law of the land, done what they think is right. If “we the people” do not agree with them we should vote them out next time around.
I consider a legislature that is willing to risk reelection and loss of special interest support a brave and courages person. I would vote for him again. For at least another term then out. I think some of the legislators in Wi have term limited themselves and I think this is a better way to govern. Lets continue to get new persons who are not beholding to special interest in the mix. Look what can happen when you take the largest special interest in the US on. They should not have this amount of power. It is not healthy for democracy. Jefferson said:
Taxes should be continued by annual or biennial reenactments, because a constant hold, by the nation, of the strings of the public purse is a salutary restraint from which an honest government ought not wish, nor a corrupt one to be permitted, to be free. ... We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, or profusion and servitude. ... The multiplication of public offices, increase of expense beyond income, growth and entailment of a public debt, are indications soliciting the employment of the pruning knife." Thomas Jefferson
Monday, March 7, 2011
Money is the Root
Money is the Root
Some simple facts to ponder as to the relationship between politicians (democrats especially) money and the unions. Now we can argue about the nickels and dimes but the overall relationship is built on money. Money that is collected from union members checks and in some states and districts from non union members checks. In Iowa there has been a “fair share bill” in the legislature for sometime. They want to have non union members be assessed 75% of the union members dues. It has not yet passed much to the disappointment of teachers unions. Their vote has already paid for and they want the elected officials to come through on what has been bought.
2008 Iowa State Education Association-Revenues($) Raised
Des Moines and others,
Total Revenue: $ 14,425,643 (IRS)
West Des Moines:
Total Revenue: $258,000
2008 Union State Level, Political Contributions
Total $1.8 million (13% kickback to politicians)
97% went to the Democratic bank accounts 2.5%to Republican
**National Institute on Money in State Politics
The situation in Iowa is typical of what has happened to the unions and their relationship to legislatures and elected officials across the country. Some would say that the non union member benefits from what the union collectively negotiates with the state, school district, county, city etc. And that they therefore owe some money for the efforts, money etc that was expended during the negotiation. Seems like a fair argument if you believe that the collective can infringe on your personal freedoms in the name of fairness. I think we have lost the essence of the problem with unions and government. The problem is not with the union worker. It is with the money flow to the union that is collected, legislated and brought to the union leadership is baskets. In Iowa the teachers union collected $14 million in 2008 and returned to the legislatures and other elected officials $1.8 million in the same year. That, in other terms other than “union speak”, is a kickback and everybody knows it. Kickbacks are illegal except in the case of collective bargaining with unions. The payoffs are in the open and there is nothing anybody can do to stop the unions from buying elected officials votes. Of course the proponents of the unions invoke the “were only doing what the other side is doing”. But in the case of public sector unions the other side is “we the people”. The broker in the deal making is taking his cut (the politician) when in fact he is suppose to be working for “we the people”.
Our elected officals have sold “we the people” down the toilet for a few dollars from the unions. Our only recourse is to vote. However, that has become very difficult to remove a sitting elected official because of all the money, power, and media access the sitting elected official has at his fingertips.
This is precisely the reason I am an advocate of Term Limits for Elected officials. It is the accumulation of political power based on longevity that is at the heart of special interest vote buying. The longer a politician is in power the more money comes his way from special interests. The more the money, the higher the expectation for voting in a specific way. Buying votes is wrong. The question should not be what can a special interest do for me (politician) it should be what is the right vote for “We the People”. The right vote is never to bankrupt our future just for the short term personal gain of the politician.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Public Employee Union Negotiations are Frauds
Negotiations are Not Fair, They are the Process of Fraud
Some of what is not said in the media about the doing away with collective bargaining is this: FDR gave the private sector the right to collective bargain (this simply means the union can take your dues with out your say so and spend them anyway they want). That really worked for the Mafia, Teamsters, AFL-CIO. Vegas was built with union money, the union bosses got rich and union corruption was and is the norm. The corrupt relationships have been with the private sector since the beginning of union collective bargaining.
FDR did not want and did not see that the public sector civil servants needed or would benefit from unionization. But the Camelot boy did. He needed the union vote to be elected or steal the election which ever. Remember the Chicago vote that put Kennedy over the top. He promised the public sector employees to the unions. Why did the unions even care? Money, they would be able to capture, with one fell swoop, another population of money givers. Not only that but the governments would collect the dues for them because it would come right out of their checks. As can be seen by the graph http://www.data360.org/temp/dsg228_500_350.jpg the increase of unionized workers has increased as the number of government workers has increased. Pre 1964 virtually no government workers were union now the local and state government employees are virtually everybody with the federal government about 2 in 4. Unionization sure took off. Congress has gotten it wrong ever since they sold their reelection to the unions. They no longer represented the people. The now represented their own reelection interests. They needed and used the union vote as a means to maintain power by the fraudulent process of negotiating with the unions, giving them what the wanted and having the people continue to pay even though all manner of good sense new this was not sustainable. That the benefits and wages they were making could not possible be paid. They did not care they had got theirs and the unions had got theirs. See this graph
Why are there persons who just can not see this. The union employee can not because he thinks he will loose something that he rightfully got. That he earned. I question the concept that it was earned just as the prosecutor questions and claws back the Madof earnings. If the money used was gotten fraudulently then the earnings are fraudulent. So it seams to me that the congress has a right to take back some of the earned rights, benefits, wages etc. If the congress (local, state, federal governments) enter into the conspiracy with the unions to dupe the public and to use the public money for individual gain then we have the moral and maybe the legal right to get some of it back. They have take hundreds of millions of Madof like scheme money back from those who thought the money was legit but turns out it was not. The negotiations were a scheme from the beginning to dupe the public.
We need to due a couple of things that benefit we the people. One we need to stop the negotiations, on a collective bases, when politicians in the mix. No more collective bargaining with public sector unions for wages, benefits, retirement, health or any other thing that costs the taxpayer money. To have as our negotiator a person or committee that does not have “we the people” at the uppermost in his mind is foolish at least and possible fraudulent at most. This would not even be called negotiation as in the NFL-Players Union, or the Auto Workers etc. It is called “lets make a deal” that benefits all of us and have “we the people” pay for it. Not a bad days work if you can get it. Maybe that has something to do with politicians at all levels of government starting in as a politician broke and ending years later as millionaires. Enough, this is not about workers rights, child labor law, equal wages. This is simply about attempting to maintain the gravy train that the Politicians and Unions have established over the past 60 years. “We the People” continue to Pay.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Special Interests Include Countrys-Term Limits
Politicians have been taken over by the lobbyists,” Trump said. “China and Chinese companies have big lobbyists – OPEC [Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries], too. It has to be the lobbyists.”
Our country isn’t respected anymore, he said. “It has the potential to be great, but it’s not great now. China will take over as the No. 1 economy in 12 years.”
Another great reason for term limits. Our congress no longer does the work of the people it does the work of the special interest that can benefit the congressman or women personally. These benefits are not usually criminal although they should be but it always enriches at least three elements in a congressman’s life. Reelection contributions or free travel or something that is immoral but not illegal; His pocket book directly; or power that can be brokered. They make no decisions that do not help them get reelected. There is an old saying in law enforcement when trying to find out who done it. “Follow the money”. In the case of the lobbyist we should say “follow the lobbyist” or “what good did this or that vote do for the congressman”. Instead we are left with lies, spin, and misdirection, which are the major tools of modern politicians.
The 50’s brought us Relief from War and Ike and Baby Boomers; The 60’s brought us the Military Industrial Complex and the growth of military power; The 70's brought us Better Ideas Through Chemistry and the downturn of Religion; The 80’s and 90’s brought us Banking by Government Guarantees and the Fed and no Foreign policy; (these paid off in the 2000’s costing $250,000 per job). At each of these special interests rise to power there was a backlash led by opponents to the deals being made, the $350 hammer: home mortgages for all the poor even though they could not pay; the saving and loan collapse, the recessions, and the rise of terrorism for 40 over years now. The government constant in all this is they printed money and raised taxes, during each of the rises, as a means to fund whatever interest that was popular at the time. The governments answer to all problems is money because that is all they can do. They collect and spend. That is it. You would think the could have figured out that spending more than they collected was wrong and eventually damaging to America. They knew and did not care. They all have sold us down the river and have turned our country into a debtor nation, which may not be able to return as a world leader if this is not turned around now.
One major difference between now and the last 60 years of special interest rule, is that the special interest that is now making noise is not just the unions, military, banks, poor, minorities, or others. It is the American People, the actual rulers, saying enough. Enough of the lies, enough of politicians doing as they please and not what we please. This is the only way we can turn this around. The Wisconsin stand off is not just against the unions (special interest group who want to be treated special) but attempting to make our government responsive to "we the people". The people want government to live with in a budget that is covered by cash not by promises of better times. We want government to get out of our lives. If you read the founding fathers comments our current realities are similar to the reality of our relationship with Kind Edward 350 years ago. He wanted for himself only just as the politicians want today. The only way to end this permanently is to term limit politicians now.
We have a new philosopy of who we elect. We do not want people who are smart, belong to a minority, who have enough money to buy a seat, who have great ideas for the future, who will turn around education, cut the military, take on the entitlement programs, reform election and all the rest of the empty jargon. We now want what we can demand. We need not to ask but demand our government officials take care of the government and not everybody else. That they make decisions base on a few and simple principles that should be inherent in all political decisions in this country. No more deficits, no more special interests, term limits for all legislators, strong states rights, smaller government, get away from social justice as the rule of law and back to equal justice as the rule of law. Most of all get government out of our individual liberties.
Trump also said;
Question: So what would Trump do about it if he were president?
Answer; Trump “I would tell the Chinese that, if you don’t straighten out the manipulation of your currency fast, we’ll tax your products 25 percent. We’d be making our own products immediately.”
This is the simple answer to a seemingly big problem. Why is this a big problem anyway. It should be as simple as Trump says. It once was. Who cares what the Chinese think of us, we should care what we think of us. Who cares what the world thinks. They are just jealous. It is time for people who will use the own common sense to make decisions for America and not for their own personal gain.
