The Failing States

For those of you who pay close attention, listen to Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and/or other right of center commentators, you are well aware of the US's national debt and exponentially growing deficits. Though the official amount is hovering around $12,000,000,000,000 (Trillion - using the zeros makes a bigger impact than spelling it out). When unfunded government mandates - which have harmed the states - are added in, our total debt jumps up to $105,000,000,000,000 (Trillion again). Now I don't know about you, but I'm not entirely sure that the value of the land, resources, and buildings in the whole US of A are worth $105 Trillion. With a population of 300,000,000 (million) if you were born today, you would come into the world OWING $3,500,000! That is your share of the debt. Considering that most people will earn between $600,000 and $1,000,000 in their lifetime, it is impossible to pay off. When you owe that much money you are not free, you are a serf.

Of course the national debt isn't the whole picture. Forty-three of the fifty states are facing budget shortfalls. If you can, you may want to consider moving to Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Alaska, Texas, Indiana, or West Virginia which will balance their budgets or have modest surpluses in FY 2010. We're all aware of California's budget problems and the fact that they are facing a $23 Billion budget gap. Naturally the leftist loonies in Sacramento are considering hefty tax increases which will drive anyone of means and businesses from the state. The state of New York faces economic collapse as well and millionaires are bailing out of both the city and state like mad.

My adopted state - the People's Republic of Washington - is facing an $8 Billion shortfall this year which places it in the top 10 nationwide for percent of budget deficit ratio. Now to my surprise, Governor Skeletor (Gregoire) has proposed what I believe to be rational changes. She has proposed cuts in state health care assistance and suspension of pay increases for state workers and teachers. I don't think she went far enough on those but at least it is a start. It appears that she, unlike many other state and local legislators, has realized that taxpayers are no longer going to accept threats of cuts in ambulances, police, and other ESSENTIAL services. No doubt the unions are already pressing legislators in Olympia against these cuts but after Boeing announcing that it will be taking more jobs to Right to Work states, the unions may be losing power in Washington.

Down in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Oregon, they face a $1 Billion shortfall. The governor there has proposed a 1.2% across the board budget cut. That seems to be a bit of a panic response and cuts like that rarely get through because they hit too many sacred cows at once. This may have been a play for time to sit down and push for certain cuts but we always have to be aware that when a politician talks about a cut, it is usually a cut in the amount they are increasing spending rather than an actual cut in spending. But like Gregoire, he might be realizing that his taxpayers are ready to revolt as well.

Then there is my true home state of Idaho. Idaho is facing a $411 gap in its 2010 budget. It is also the only one of the three run by Republicans. Even so it spends far too much on non-essential services; many of which are aimed at the currently non-existent tourist industry. (My ire at the conversion of Idaho's economy from resource to tourist based could take up an entire blog of its own. Needless to say, being a tourist based economy SUCKS!!!)

Across the nation we have banded together to demand that our governments stop spending money that we don't have. We have been ridiculed by the press - except for Fox News Channel - for this. We have been called names by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Bill Clinton (I guess he stopped feeling our pain). Some are stuck in the party politics game but many are realizing that the only difference between Republicans and Democrats has been how fast they are sending our hand basket to Hell.

It is unlikely that our Fascist trio (Obama, Pelosi, and Reid) will ignore our demands and continue spending anyway. We are at least three generations in debt (four if you're a Baby Boomer) which means that the great grandchildren of people my age could be out of debt IF and only IF we start acting like responsible adults right now. We need to stop electing people based on what they promise to give us and start asking them what they will do to pay off what we owe without turning the US into a Third World country. I'm willing to forgo a lot if it means that future generations will have a better life than me. I've had it pretty good already and wouldn't mind clearing some of the junk out of my house and life. I'd much rather give that up and start buying less than giving up my freedom.

Jackboots Tromp...Are you listening?

The smiley faced jackboots are moving forward everywhere in the former land of the free and they are doing it just as comedian George Carlin said they would; with a smiley face. If you haven't read Jonah Goldberg's book Liberal Fascism, I HIGHLY recommend you run out to your nearest new book retailer and pick it up. It details many of the ways we are giving up our freedoms merely because of the promise of an easier way. If someone is telling you that something is "for your own good" or "for the children" there better be red flags and sirens going off in your head.

In Cleveland the fascists are out with green shirts and baseball caps. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that First Energy will be outfitting a small army of these people to deliver two 23 watt CFLs and some energy 'saving' propaganda to every customer. To cover the cost of this seeming act of generosity, First Energy will be adding about a $0.60 surtax (don't know what else you can call it) to every customer's bill until the customer pays $21.60 for the two light bulbs that cost about $5.00 in the store (let's ignore the fact that an incandescent light bulb can be bought for about twenty cents) PLUS the cost of the energy the customer would have used anyway! All of this is legal because the Ohio State Assembly passed a law requiring that First Energy cut emissions and switch over about a fifth of its energy production to alternative sources by 2025.

That goes in line with GE's (General Evil) attempt to implement the "Smart Grid" which will regulate the amount of electricity going into a person's house. Hmmm...nothing sinister about that. GE claims it can save energy by lowering the amount of electricity it allows into a house while you're at work. I can't imagine anyone...like out Kenyan dictator...abusing THAT system. Of course GE funnelled millions into the Obama campaign.

GE is also behind the death of the incandescent bulb. Surprise, surprise, they own the lion's share of the CFL market. Not only that, but they closed an incandescent bulb factory back east and moved the jobs to China where the Commies can put as much mercury in our CFLs as they want.

In California, a legislator is floating the idea of banning big screen televisions. What the...? I'd like to tell that person I'm floating the idea of banning oxygen exchange in their lungs.

Judge David Hamilton up for a lifetime Federal position ruled that the Indiana state Legislature could not invoke the name of Jesus Christ at the opening prayer but could invoke the name of Allah. I believe we should issue a Christian Fatwa against this moron.

If Health Care passes SEIU stands to become the single most powerful union in the nation. Not only that but there is language in the House bill that would allow lawyers to sue for pain and suffering in cases where an insurance agency dropped a client (which they cannot do now). Of course government health care cannot be sued. This will be a multi-billion dollar boon to lawyers in the short term but once the government runs all health care do you think they'll allow anyone to sue them for anything?

Santa Claus is under fire again this holiday season even though he has been turned into a completely secular figure at this point. Unless you use the almost unheard term St. Nick or even know who St. Nicklaus was, you'd never associate him with Santa Claus (which is a corruption of Saint Nicklaus). Unless you pay attention to Here Comes Santa Claus (best sung by Gene Autry and Elvis) in which Santa Claus is identified as an agent of God (...Santa knows we're all God's children...) you would never think about it.

The jackboots keep us from calling the Fort Hood killer what he really is: A TERRORIST!!! Not every Muslim may be a terrorist but virtually every modern terrorist is a Muslim in spite of what the media tells us. Of course if one deranged Christian kills an abortion doctor or if clinically sane Christians peacefully picket a Planned Parenthood clinic (which is illegal thanks to a blatant misuse of RICO laws), he is instantly branded as a terrorist but thanks to PC you can ram two planes into skyscrapers or shout "Allahihu Akbar" before killing 13 people and the media will not call you a terrorist.

There are countless examples and they are coming at us so fast that one person can't keep up with all of it. Barry Goldwater said the the price of freedom is eternal vigilance but even that may not be enough anymore because we can't watch every angle every moment of the day and that is how the enemies of freedom are attacking us. Its time to stop taking it. When someone gets in your face and threatens to take your freedoms stand up and shout them down. If they push you push them back. A war against individual freedom is coming and if we aren't willing to fight back then we will live out Natalie Portman's words from Revenge of the Sith "so this is how liberty ends; amid cheers". Granted that was the best line from all three of those movies, it was also the most potentially prophetic.