Carl's Desk

Happy 4th of July

2009-07-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

So many years ago a few people were smart enough, bold enough and brave enough to conceive the possibility of change from tyranny to a more free society. For that I am thankful.

Today, a group of elected officials are trying to end that dream and pervert the ideals of our founding father's to their ideals of a society based on government hand-outs, government take-overs and government take-your-money-and-give-it-to-someone-else. Freedom means keeping government out of our lives as much as possible. If the founders of this nation has sat on their asses waiting for the government to solve their problems, feed them, cloth them, provide health care for them, house them and wipe their butts for them, we would all be singing God Save the Queen today!

Let's pledge to get Obama out of office in 2012 and put him in charge of PTA meetings, where he belongs!

Frog in a Frying Pan

2009-06-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

When I was kid, all those years ago, I remember someone telling me that if you put a frog in a pan of cold water, put it on the stove, turn on the gas and heat it up, the frog will not sense the temperature change and will actually sit there until it boils alive. Now, I do not know if that is true, and I am not about to test the theory, but it reminds me of the American voters. Every day of every year the Democrats slowly take away our freedoms a little bit at a time. Right now they are in the business or grabbing businesses from the private sector. They are working on gradually taking more money to pay for national health care. They want to reduce free speech by forcing radio stations to give time to alternate views.

And we are the frogs! They are making changes, just like the change in temperature in the frog's frying pan, and we do not sense it. If we don't jump out of the pan (missing the proverbial fire, of course) we are going to have out bones picked clean just as sure as someone will eat those frog legs.

Sure, it is a rather odd analogy, but it does make me think.

Politics and Taxes

2009-04-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

President Obama is warming up to Latin America and Cuba these days. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Many people in the U.S. and abroad felt that the Bush administration strained our relationships around the globe. I can understand that. Freeing millions of people and fighting the bad guys tends to hurt the feelings of those being rescued or those who are part of the problem. If the President can get more accomplished, and make our country safer -- or at least keep it as safe as it has been for the past 8 years -- more power to him.

Unfortunately, making a non-stop apology for being the force of good only emboldens the terrorists and the squirrely leaders like those in Iran and North Korea, not to mention any rag-tag group of mis-fits in a canoe who want to seize shipping vessels on the high seas. Can anyone tell me why we are going to have a trial for a pirate? Is there some sense that he may not really be the guy the entire crew saw on the ship with weapons and who has multiple stab wounds? I thought piracy was punishable by hanging. Or take him out to international waters and make him walk the plank. I am sick or us coddling these people.

The release of the "torture" documents was another giant leap into the pile of bovine biscuits. "We're sorry we put an insect in the cell." Give me a break! The people who are out murdering women and children and repressing all who oppose them deserve what they get. And telling the world only means our allies no longer trust us to keep a secret. That should go a long way to building international respect.

Then there are the tea parties and fair tax rallies. If I give you $100 and I give your neighbor $50, then take $5 from your neighbor in taxes and $50 from you, does that sound fair? Of course not. But Obama's answer (remember, his motto is all about Change) is to re-write the tax codes in a few years! What??? Change means a bold departure from the norm, like the Fair Tax. Everyone pays the same percentage and people are not penalized for success or rewarded for failure. How is giving someone who pays no taxes a refund check a tax cut? It isn't even a refund check. To get a refund, you have to pay something! I can't walk into Walmart empty handed and ask for a $10 refund. I have to actually first buy something and pay for it. Don't get me wrong. There are times when people who are struggling and trying their best need help, but let's not call it a tax cut. Let's use the word welfare, or government assistance if that sounds better. And let's put some specific criteria around how you become and stay eligible. Just wanting money does not count. If the effort put forth by an able-bodied recipient stops after the walk to the mailbox to get the check, stop sending the check. This is not rocket science. People take the path of least resistance by nature. Making it easy to live off the government does not help someone. Making them attend mandatory trade schools or some other form of education and actively participate in a job placement program and keep the job helps.

It is time to wake up, but then again, when isn't it time. We need to work together, but we first need to agree on the goal and the language. If the goal is less government and more freedom and self-determination, I am afraid we are lost in the woods at best and heading in the opposite direction at worst.

Enjoy the day.

2009-04-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

Just signed up for Twitter. Not sure why. Signed up for Facebook 2 weeks ago and it confuses the hell out me. I guess I signed up for Twitter to stay ahead of the curve. That way, when people ask why I am never on Facebook, rather than say "I'm an idiot and can't figure it out", I can say"sorry, I'm doing Twitter because I am that hip."

I know, it really doesn't matter since I won't check Twitter either. For some reason I have this mental block where I want to be sitting on my patio sipping a tasty beverage rather than hunched over a keyboard staring at a monitor.

That's it for now. Took me 4 months to come up with.

2009-01-21T16:48:00.000-08:00

President Obama Calendar:

January 20: Inauguration

January 21:
Stroll in to work around 9-ish
Start the process of releasing all terrorists from U.S. custody
Pull troops out of Iraq so they do not get in the terrorists way

Lunch break

January 22:

???

Am I the only one that finds this concerning?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/21/guantanamo.hearings/index.html

Election memories

2009-01-10T12:30:00.000-08:00

As we enter the last days of President Bush's term in office and look to the Obama presidency which will be starting soon, I find myself thinking back on the election cycle of 2008. In fact, I find myself thinking back to many previous election cycles.

I believe myself to be a typical American. I am not a political pundit, I do not live and breath politics or even open a newspaper or website on a daily basis. Sure, I know who the President and Vice President are. I fact, I can name both going back to the days of Kennedy. I can even give you some names of Congressmen and Supreme Court appointees. But I have no clue who the Secretary of the Interior is now, or will be under Mr. Obama. Don't really care.

But, like most Americans, I have a sense of what I feel is important, what the priorities of the new administration should be and what things I think government should keep out of. I also have a sense of what the pollsters told us was on the minds of many of my fellow citizens.

One issue was taxes. Some said taxes were too high, others said the rich get too many breaks and another camp insisted the Bush tax cuts be made permanent. Being a Fair Tax fan myself -- I just like the term "Fair", it sounds so, well, fair -- I was part of yet another voter block.

Immigration, the war and the economy were the other biggies I remember. Quite frankly, with the exception of the war, I think this makes up the usual list of election year issues, not counting the normal flash issues that get thrown in the mix, like gun control one year, Wall Street another year, abortion another year.

My question is this. Can you give me a list of the specific things President Elect Barak Obama claimed he would do during his presidency that caused you to vote for him or against him. I am not talking about thing like "create more jobs." I mean, specifically, how many jobs did he say he would create? Specifically, what was his idea for our tax system. I don't mean "lower the tax burden on lower and middle income families". I want to hear exactly who is considered "low income" or "middle income" and how much their taxes will be lowered, and who falls into the rest of the income brackets and how much their taxes will be raised to pay for the low and middle income tax break. This is important because those same people we want to pay higher taxes also give us our paychecks. I want to make sure the rich keep enough money to be able to do both. I also want to know if anyone remembers whether the people who pay zero income tax will continue to get tax refunds. I never have figured out that one. How do you get a refund on something you never paid? I could be a millionaire if I could solve that.

I do recall Obama saying something about bringing the troops home in 18 months, or so. I think that was a no-brainer. All you needed to do is see the progress being made and make an educated guess to reach that number and have a 90% chance of being right.

I am not trying to pick on Obama. I don't really recall too many specifics about the McCain pledges either. My point is, every four years we go through this same exercise. And every four years millions of people across this country come out of their shells and voice very powerful opinions and everyone gets riled up about the issues, or perceived issues.

And then it just goes away.

Just like that. We don't remember what was promised, or at least not the specifics. If Barak comes to us in 2012 and says "I created 6 million new jobs", did he keep his promise? I don't know. I would scratch my head and think "was it supposed to be 6 million new jobs? Or did he promise us 10 million new jobs 4 years ago? And what does he mean by "new jobs" anyway?" That's another one that always puzzles me. Did the old jobs go away or are they still there? If 15 million people had jobs and those jobs are now obsolete, but we invented new jobs for 10 million people, isn't that 5 million people out of work that were working before? I don't think my wife would be very happy if I told her I have made one hunder new dollars if she found out all the old dollars were now gone.

How are we supposed to keep track of all the campaign promises at a specific level for four years? Now, I know we have more than enough political reporters and annalists and the like that we can turn to in four years for the "facts", right? Sure, pull the other leg and it plays Jingle Bells. If that were true, why did I hear so many different versions over the past eight years of what Bush did or did not promise? Again, I am going to be the first to say I have no idea what Bush promised in any detail, and shame on me, but wouldn't you think everyone could at least agree on what was promised and then argue over whether or not it was actually accomplished?

I think it be great if, right before the election, every candidate had to send a contract to every voter. That way the candidate could then be held accountable for the results if they get elected to whatever office they are running for. I picture it as a fill-in-the=blanks kind of affair. For example, the Presidential candidates would send each of something like this:

Candidate name (please print using a #2 pencil)_________
I will create _____________ jobs by the year 20__.
I will cut/raise (circle one) taxes by __% by the year 20__.
I will start ___ new wars by 20__.
I will end ___ current wars by 20__.
Unless action proves otherwise, I believe the following countries are allies of the United States:
(list countries)

Unless action proves otherwise, I consider the following countries to be enemies of the United States:
(list countries)

I will reduce oil imports by __% by the year 20__.

You get the idea. And each of us could hold on to this and at the end of four years put grades next to each item using the old school straight percentage method where 90% or better is an A, 80%-89% is a B, etc. I wonder how many Presidents would even be C students.

A clear "Statement of Scope" should also be inclded to make sure voters understand what a President can and can not do. This would be a blanket statement that would have to be prominently printed on each mailing and would list what issues any President can or can not solve without the help of Congress and what issues are simply not the problem of the U.S Govenment. For example:

In Scope:
Lobby Congress for favorable tax laws to support my pledges above
Conduct foreign policy
Safeguard the country

Out of Scope
You losing your job
You not being able to make house payments because you live beyond your means
You not being able to pay the doctor because you elected not to sign up for the health insurance offered by your company or elected to work for a company that does not offer insurance and failed to buy it yourself
You having a low paying job because you elected to drop out of high school which was being provided free of charge

And then, maybe, a final statement reminding everyone that Congress is the body of elected officials that control 90% of what impacts our daily lives. That plus a color coded pie chart showing which income groups pay the most taxes and which income groups benefit the most from the taxes.

It is a wild dream, and one I doubt will ever come true. Funny what you can think of when you start scratching your head.

2009-01-07T10:40:00.000-08:00

I am getting very weary of people not understanding what is happening between Isreal and the Gaza Strip. Do we Americans understand that what Isreal is going through and has been going through is the equivilent of Canada lobbing missles into U.S cities? Would you expect your government to sit idly by as rockets land at random in your neighborhood? Would you only get upset if it was more than 5 rockets, or more than 10 rockets? Or would one rocket be too many?

The media seems more focused on the issue of Palestinian civilian casualties, which is, of course, a very real and horrific part of any conflict. However, I think the media also needs to justly talk about the years, even decades, of terror attacks on the tiny nation of Isreal. Talk about the Hamas fighters that were hiding out in the school surrounded women and children, knowing full well they would bring down attacks on the heads of the innocents.

The very cowardly act of Hamas fighters hiding in schools just as the women and children do is nothing new or surprising. The acts of Hamas randomly spreading terror in Isreal and then crying "foul" when they become the target of retaliation is no different than the actions of little children who throw stones at dogs and then cry to mommy when the dog bites them, claiming the dog is treating them unfairly. And, of course, the UN acts like any parent who thinks their child can do no wrong and demands the dog be put to sleep rather than slapping the childs hand and telling them "That serves you right for throwing stones."

We are all too willing to look at the tragedy of war -- and tragic it is -- and immediately sympathize with the opposition when colateral damage takes place, or immediately believe the people with the greater military might must be in the wrong for attacking the "innocent." The media is all too willing to bring their sensationalistic one-sided ratings clips to bear against national and global security and peace by turning aggressors into victims and defenders into criminals.

Casualties of war and collateral damage are the inherit, horrible by-products of civilization trying to rid itself of the worst parasites of humanity. Who, if they were able, would not stop civilian injury and death? Those who would strap bombs to their women and children and send them into market places, onto crowded buses and into houses of worship, that's who.

Let us not forget the enemy. Let us not forget who was throwing the stones of hatred in the first place. Let the people of Palestine, like the parents of the stone throwing children, tell their Hamas leaders "Enough! Look what you are doing to us! Get out!"

Who will have the courage to stand up?