Time to Move On

This is the final entry for this blog. 

I should have written this yesterday (12/31/12), but I was still ruminating about whether (and why) to end this blog. 

This morning, I have more clarity. Like a person sitting in a bus, I've traveled long but gotten nowhere. I peer through the window. The road ahead looks like more of the same. 

It's time to get off at the next stop. 

I started this blog on Friday, October 24, 2008. Between then and now, I have posted 186 entries. This is my 187th. Other than an occasional diversion (once, in May 2011, I discussed American Idol), the dominant focus of this blog has been politics and the media. 

Four years of obsessing about politics? What, if anything, was accomplished, as I tracked with growing alarm the rise (and continued rise) of Barack Obama? If I thought that somehow this blog might influence even one person to re-evaluate his or her allegiance to this man, whom I perceive as nothing more than a sleazy politician at best, then surely I was mistaken. 

It's time to concede the futility of the endeavor. People's loyalties are not swayed by facts, especially when their loyalties lead them to suspect the veracity, not to mention the very character, of those who challenge their beliefs. Indeed, I've come to suspect that Obama supporters are not unlike members of a cult. There's a religious zeal, an intolerance for anything even remotely related to scrutiny, that brooks no criticism of their leader.

Scrutiny. This, too, was a theme I returned to again and again these past four years. The lack thereof, not by the average person, but by the media. In fact, this collusion by the media to shield Obama from scrutiny while at the same time skewering his opponents at every possible turn is what distressed me more than anything. The only thing even more distressing was that people (Obama people) didn't seem to care.  

Ah, but don't let me get started. There are others out there better equipped to engage in that battle. The time has come for me to get off at the next stop, as it were. Not exactly sure where the journey goes from here, but I've got something in mind. 

Thanks for reading. 

"Symbol of a New America"

Ya think? Some of us already knew this. You're just figuring this out? 

"We are in the midst of historic cultural and demographic changes, and Obama is both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America " (Time Magazine Managing Editor Richard Stengel, explaining why Obama was chosen as this year's Person of the Year). 

Here's Gary Bauer commenting on this selection: "Obama's election and reelection were historic events. But the 'fundamental transformation of America' is not something to celebrate. The redefinition of marriage. Abortion on demand. Using the power of big government to force churches and men and women of faith to violate their cherished values. Record deficit spending that threatens to rob future generations of the American Dream."

To Bauer's description of this "new" America, I'd add: the balkanization of society; a dishonest, possibly even corrupt media; a polarized and divided electorate; the cynical celebration of Alynskyite/brass-knuckle, ends-justifies-the-means/Chicago-style politics in which the most polarizing, divisive, smarmy, and dishonest politician is somehow transformed into a messiah-like symbol of hope and unity while a decent, successful, morally upright, kind, honest, hard-working, politician is mocked and demonized. 

Barack Obama receives the Nobel Peace Prize for doing nothing. 

Barack Obama is elected president of the United States with a weak legislative voting record, radical pro-abortion positions, far left ideology, and little to no vetting from the mainstream media.

Barack Obama is re-elected president of the United States despite the fact that he has overseen:

• four years of rising unemployment (highest among blacks and Latinos)
• record deficit spending (eclipsing all previous administrations combined)
• foreign policy debacles
• botched smuggling of firearms that ended up getting into the hands of Mexican cartels
• wasted taxpayer dollars on failed green energy investments
• and the list goes on
• and on
• and on

Symbol of a new America, indeed. One hardly recognizes it anymore. 
  

"Show up and shut up"

Let the dogs do the talking. 

I agree with Hugh Hewitt here. The media are despicable, and the preening politicians, equally so. 

My memory of George Bush was when he went to comfort those who had experienced great loss, the media were not invited.
By contrast, Barack Obama's visit to Newtown, Connecticut, tonight is a media event. 

Can't these politicians have the decency to wait until the children are buried, to wait until we know more about the circumstances of this horrific crime, before talking about  what the government should or should not do?

Despicable people. Despicable media.

Shame, shame, shame on them all. 

"Local Dogs Taken to Newtown to Comfort Massacre Survivors," by Naomi Nix (Chicago Tribune, December 16, 2012)

"The Mainstream Media Vultures Gather," by Hugh Hewitt (The Examiner, December 16, 2012)

Never Forget

Non Sequitur, by Wiley Miller (June 11, 2006)

Pay Up, Please, Obama People

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC 20500, where the rubber meets the road....

"A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama's executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes  . . . 

Nearly one-third of Obama's aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being paid the top White House salary of $172,200, each.  

The IRS' 2010 delinquent tax revelations come as part of a required annual agency report on federal employees' tax compliance. Turns out, an awful lot of folks being paid by taxpayers are not paying their own income taxes. 

The report finds that thousands of federal employees owe the country more than $3.4 billion in back taxes. That's up 3% in the past year."

Uh huh.

Read more here: "36 Obama Aids Owe More than $833,000 in Back Taxes" (Andrew Malcom, Investors Business Daily).

Googling the Wealthy: By the Numbers

Let's do the numbers: 

First, Google employees and affiliates were among Barack Obama's top donors in the 2012 election, contributing  $357,382 to re-elect the president.

Source: "Microsoft, Google Folks are Top Sources for Obama Funds" (CNET). 

Second, according to Bloomberg Business Week, Google (the company) "avoided about $2 billion in worldwide income taxes in 2011 by shifting $9.8 billion in revenues into a Bermuda shell company, almost double the total from three years before, filings show. By legally funneling profits from overseas subsidiaries into Bermuda, which doesn’t have a corporate income tax, Google cut its overall tax rate almost in half. The amount moved to Bermuda is equivalent to about 80 percent of Google’s total pretax profit in 2011." 

Source: "Google Revenues Sheltered in No-Tax Bermuda Soar to $10 Billion" (Bloomberg Business Week).

Third, as a reminder, let's not forget Jim Senegal, CEO of Costco (who I blogged about in November), who is saving his shareholders millions in taxes by hurrying through a special dividend payment before Obama's higher tax rates kick in. 

Fourth, while we're on the subject of tax-dodging Democrat millionnaires, let's not forget the left-leaning, Obama-endorsing Washington Post, who "will pay its 2013 dividends before the end of this year to try to spare investors from anticipated tax increases." 

Fifth, staying on that same subject (to wit: vociferous advocates, etc.), shall we include in this list one of the beneficiaries of the Post's early payout from the Post, none other than Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway firm stands to benefit from the Post's actions: "Berkshire Hathaway [is] the largest shareholder with an estimated 1.7 million shares, which means it could get a roughly $17 million dividend payment").

Source: "Washington Post Co. to Pay 2013 Dividend Early Ahead of Potential Tax Changes," (Associated Press, December 7, 2012).

There's not much more to say here: the numbers speak for themselves. One can only conclude that: 

a. Apparently über-wealthy Democrats do not actually want to share their wealth, which is why they're at the top of their class when it comes to sheltering their income from Uncle Sam. So much for compassionate liberalism. 

b. Democrats (writ large) are cynical, hypocritical liars. 

Not only do I no longer believe a word Democrats say, I find it difficult to respect people who continue to support this duplicitous president and his despicable agenda.  

Four More Years: The Age of Obama

Good article by Victor Davis Hanson (a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution), published here in National Review Online. The tagline of the article is, "'Hope and change' has been replaced by envy and jealousy." Hanson discusses five likely consequences of the Obama administration: 

1. Massive government spending (i.e., expansion of government services and entitlements)
2. Diminishing support for Israel (and the ho-hum response from American Jews, over 60% of whom voted for Obama)
3. Failure of conservatives to counter Obamism. Here's how Hanson put it: 

"The traditional conservative antidote to Obamaism has fallen short. That is, the arguments of principled conservatives about the perils of big government, redistributionist economics, and diminutions in personal freedom seem for a majority of Americans to be outweighed by the attraction of government subsidies and entitlements."

1. Balkanization of American society (i.e., pitting one racial group against another, which is ironic since Obama ran on the now disproved ideal of uniting America and healing the racial divide)
2. Class envy (i.e., not just the haves vs. the have-nots, but the haves vs. the have mores)

Here's Hanson's final paragraph: 

"One of the great lessons in the age of Obama is that wealth and poverty will always remain relative. Happiness is now defined not as having the basics I need, but as ensuring that someone else does not have more. Obama has successfully appealed to the oldest and basest of human emotions — envy and jealousy, masked with the notion of enforced fairness — and for now they trump even the human desire to be free."

Not mentioned in Hanson's discussion are other likely consequences which others have articulated (Dinesh D'Souza in his book called Roots of Obama's Rage, followed by his documentary called 2016: Obama's America) and Steve Emerson, founder of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, which has produced a documentary called Jihad in America: The Grand Deception. Both D'Souza and Emerson seem concerned about the influence of radical Islam on America (more on this later). 

Here's the link to "Ripples from the Election," by Victor Davis Hanson (National Review Online, December 11, 2012).

Have Fun, Mr. President

Well, la di da. 

"President Barack Obama is headed to Hawaii for a posh 20-day vacation costing some $4 million to the taxpayers. The First Family will head to Kailua, where they’ll erect barricades to prevent the commoners from interacting with them. But it’s not the cost and inconvenience that Americans should wonder about – it’s the timing. President Obama heads out of town from December 17 to January 6. The fiscal cliff is slated to hit on January 2."

 "As Fiscal Cliff Looms, Obama Set for 20-Day, $4M Hawaiian Vacation" (Ben Shapiro, Breitbart News).

"The total cost (based on what is known) for a 20-day round trip vacation to Hawaii for the President and his family and staff and security is more than $4 million."

"Residents Alerted to the Obamas' Holiday Plans," (Hawaiian Reporter).