U.S. Spending and Debt (from American Thinker)

Average spending for the federal budget as a percent of GDP from Eisenhower through Bush was 20.0%.  In its first year, the Obama administration blew out the budget to 25% of GDP.  That was when the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress.  In order to lock in the 2009 level of spending, which included the allegedly temporary stimulus, the Senate has not passed a budget since April 2009, even though the Budget Act of 1974 requires it to do so every year (making Harry Reid a scofflaw). 

The whole article is worth a gander.

 

NBA Spurs fined $250K for sitting players – ESPN

http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId=8695865 So, when the NBA collects the fine, where does the money go? Does it go to the fans in attendance? Does it go to TNT for poor ratings? I’m not sure I understand the purpose of the fine. The article says they broke league rules, so they deserved the fine, but is a useful rule? I don’t know, and I’m not an NBA fan, so I don’t really care that much, but the thought of being fined for resting players is odd to me. Maybe the league should play fewer games. In the end it makes me think about how we submit to authority and to what authority we are submitting. This could be the government telling you that you can’t sell large sodas to customers. Oh wait…they already do.

 

Blogging A-Z: C is for cookie

…and that’s good enough for me.

Munch, munch, munch

Well, it’s not good enough for the politically-correct health-nut ninnies in our government and on public television. Apparently, Cookie Monster is not allowed to eat cookies anymore because it sets a bad example for the impressionable youth of our country.

Bah!

I let my kids eat cookies but I don’t let them watch Sesame Street. So there!

Seriously, why do we allow these “I-Know-Better-Than-You” types to dictate what my kids can and can’t eat? If they (they being the government “officials”) want to suggest to me healthy ways of feeding my kids, I’m all ears. But to dictate to PBS and the creators of Sesame Street that Cookie Monster can’t eat cookies? Oh wait? Taxpayer money subsidizes PBS…so I guess they have to do what Nanny Sam tells them. (Well, truth be told, I don’t know how that decision was reached so I best not pontificate too much on the connection between the Nanny Government and Sesame Street.)

Let Cookie Monster be Cookie Monster, I say. Let loose the cookies!

 

Gas Prices

With gasoline prices at a two-year high, President Barack Obama today called for a crackdown on “price gouging” at the pump. Some consumers may feel relief to hear that the White House intends to protect them from supposedly unscrupulous suppliers. But the President’s energy policies are a lot more to blame for the current high prices than any market manipulation. And to the extent his “price gouging” rhetoric persists, the rise in oil prices could worsen.

No one person can “control” gas prices, but the president of the United States certainly has a lot of potential influence, for better or worse, in that department.

The record shows that government price controls have consistently proven to be disastrous. In the 1970s, for example, artificially low prices imposed by the Carter Administration resulted in shortages that caused gas lines a la Eastern Europe.

Quotes are from the Diane Katz at the Heritage Foundation

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American Thinker: Challenging the Teachers Unions

The federal government supports less than 9% of the cost of public education. Why should Americans tolerate the central government directing policy in local districts?

Unfortunately, he doesn’t cite a reference for this figure. If its accurate, wow! That needs to be publicized more in order to highlight the bizarre relationship that local schools have with the federal government who typically clamor for federal monies. Of course, if it isn’t true then I wonder what the real figure is.

From American Thinker

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/challenging_the_teachers_union.html

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Government Union Collective Bargaining 101

From the Heritage Foundation:

 

What Won’t the Government Unions Tell You? Unions 101 – AskHeritage

Granting unions a monopoly over work done in government gives unions enormous leverage over budgets and taxes. Unions use this power to raise taxes and get more of the budget spent on them.

via What Won’t the Government Unions Tell You? Unions 101 – AskHeritage.

 

Lunch Time Bloggin’ – Year-Round School Cartoon

The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Year-Round Indoctrination

Shared via AddThis

 

Found in the Health Care Bill (H.R. 3200), part 2

SEC. 401. TAX ON INDIVIDUALS WITHOUT ACCEPTABLE HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

via Search Results – THOMAS (Library of Congress).

I tried to read through this section of the bill because its title caught my attention.  There are many things that I did not take the time to find out and if some one wants to challenge me then I guess I’ll have to look harder.  However, the title of this section should say enough.

Taxing people because they aren’t carrying acceptable health care coverage?  That is insane!  That’s like taxing some one for not eating enough spinach.  This is about control.  You don’t have to get bogged down in the details to know that the health care reform as proposed by Obama and the Democrats is bad news for our country.  In fact, I would argue its because of the details that too many people are willing to just throw up their hands and say, “oh, I’ll just let the politicians work that out.”

A bill as lengthy and complex as H.R. 3200 is symptomatic of the problem with our government, not the health care industry.  Let’s try something less complex:

Health Care Bill 1.0

Step 1: Start over from scratch – scrap Medicare, Medicaid, VA, SCHIP

Step 2: Make things equal (keep in mind equal does not mean fair) – scrap the tax code.  If an income tax is necessary, make it the same for everyone (a flat tax).

Step 3: Privatize, or incentivize, retirement savings – scrap Social Security

The Law

1. Section 1 – individuals are responsible for their own care
2. Section 2 – government shall establish no law abridging Section 1

Step 1 is necessary to get the government to stop controlling prices that they have no business controlling.  Despite good intentions, price controls only serve to make things worse for the general population.

Step 2 is necessary so that everyone can keep as much of their own money as possible.  A tax that is applied the same to all voters is equal and will help prevent elected leaders from abusing the power entrusted to them by the electorate.

Step 3 is necessary to help establish the proper attitude for Section 1.

***

Once the law is that simple to understand, even our public school students will be able to learn how government works and how they are responsible to keep it working.  (Full Disclosure: I attended public schools.)

 

10-year-old girl hit with $50 fine for selling lemonade

Click the link for the whole story:

SWEET LEMONADE KID $LAPPED – New York Post.

Three sourpuss Parks Department agents put the squeeze on a 10-year-old girl in Riverside Park yesterday, slapping the tyke with a $50 ticket for hawking lemonade without a permit.

The fine was eventually thrown out and the agent responsible for writing the fine will be “re-training” on the proper procedures, but I hope that the lesson is learned: anyone can abuse their power at any level.  I encourage my liberal friends to rethink their commitment to having the government do everything for us.  Let’s limit the powers that the government (and it’s bureaucratic army) has available to it.