Thoughts of Obama From Bama

Weeks 88: Taxation With Representation

Someday I'm more gone in here
Some days I like to just sit and drink beer.
And some days I can't wait until I get home
All I like to do is play music and golf
The money I make pays the IRS off
Without you, Susan, I'd simply be a rolling stone

All I know is you gotta keep trying
You gotta laugh now and then to keep from crying
The only sure thing is taxes and dying
And your lovin makes the living worth while
“Lovin Makes Livin Worthwhile”, Jerry Jeff Walker

“No taxation without representation” was one of the most fervent battle cries of the American Revolution. King George’s taxes on tea and ultimately the Stamp Act, which essentially levied a tax on every piece of printed documentation in the Colonies, were the catalyst that finally compelled our Founding Fathers to take up arms and show the British Empire what for.

Two hundred and thirty-five years later the same Country founded on a rebellion against oppressive taxation has imposed more taxes than white on rice. Cradle to grave, backward and forward, Uncle Sammy gets a piece of the action every step of the way.

With an over abundance of representation at every level of government, County; City; State; Federal, all of us poor dumb pilgrims mindlessly fork over thousands of dollars every year for all manner of taxes our founding fathers would have considered abhorrent. Slowly but surely like sheeps to slaughter we have been conditioned / brainwashed to view this thievery as necessary and acceptable.

Not only are most of these taxes unnecessary and unacceptable their also unconstitutional, illegal and to some extent immoral. If the church only expects ten percent why do we tolerate a government that’s suppose to be “of, by, and for the people” confiscating north of fifty percent of our income.

We sure enough ain’t got anybody to blame but our own trusting, uninformed and apathetic happy asses for allowing the Government to steal us blind. That being said, by no means are all of the corrupt addicted to other people’s money County Commissions; City Councils; State Legislatures; The US Congress; and all the bleeding heart liberal Democrats and a few misguided Republicans occupying the Oval Office off of the hook for to the extent possible secretly / under the radar imposing hundreds of new oppressive taxes that would make most any Marxist/Socialists right proud.

Following is a list of representative taxes our representatives have created to fund our Government that is spreading faster than kudzu into every facet of our lives. Sad to say this is a partial list that includes only a fraction of the taxes we are subjected to by Uncle Sammy and friends:

• Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
• U.S. capital gains tax
• Corporate income tax
• U.S. estate tax
• U.S. excise tax (includes taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages)
• U.S. federal income tax
Federal unemployment tax (FUTA)
• FICA tax (includes Social Security tax and related programs)
• Gasoline tax
• Generation Skipping Tax
• Gift tax
• IRS penalties
• Luxury taxes
• Property tax
• Real estate tax
• Recreational vehicle tax
• Rental car tax
• Resort tax (also known as Hotel/Motel tax, occupancy tax)
• Road usage taxes (Commercial Vehicle Operators)
• School tax
• State unemployment tax (SUTA)
• Tariffs
• Telephone federal excise tax
• Vehicle sales tax
• Workers compensation tax

It sure enough is hard to imagine ole Tommy Jefferson, John Boy Adams, Bennie Franklin, the G Man Washington and Al Hamilton sitting around Ye Old Tavern knocking back a few cold pints of grog after a long day of nation building and rebellious conspiracy discussing the merits of the Alternative Minimum or Generation Skipping Taxes. Even income taxes would have been viewed as intrusive, oppressive and tyrannical by these patriots.

In stark contrast our current Big Time Spender-In-Chief has never seen a tax he didn’t greet with a warm embrace and sloppy wet kiss. The Obama Administration has been imposing new and growth choking taxes faster than a scalded dog running home to Mama.

During the last 88 weeks President Obama and his Congressional Democrat comrades have imposed tax increases totaling more than $670 billion. These tax increases include at least 20 violations of the President’s pledge not to raise taxes even a penny on anyone earning less than $250,000.

As bad as this thieving is the real insanity doesn’t start till January 1, 2011 when the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect. Following is a summary of the pending financial disaster headed our way compliments of Obama, Pelosi and Reid.

• Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief
• Personal income tax rates will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed).
• The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent.
• Itemized deductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the same effect as higher marginal tax rates.
• The "marriage penalty" will return from the first dollar of income.
• The child tax credit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child.
• The dependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.
• Return of the Death Tax.
• The capital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. • The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011.
• There are over twenty new or higher taxes in the new Obamacare.
• Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines.
• The "Special Needs Kids Tax" This provision of the new healthcare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children.
• The HSA (Health Savings Account) Withdrawal Tax Hike. This provision of the healthcare plan increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.
• According to the Tax Policy Center, Congress' failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosion of AMT taxpaying families-rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million. These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes at the higher level.
• Small business expensing will be slashed and 50% expensing will disappear.
• Tax Benefits for Education and Teaching Reduced.
• The deduction for tuition and fees will not be available.
• Tax credits for education will be limited.
• Teachers will no longer be able to deduct classroom expenses.
• Coverdell Education Savings Accounts will be cut.
• Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed.
• Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longer allowed.
• With Obama your insurance will be INCOME on your W2's!
• Starting in 2011 your W-2 tax form sent by your employer will be increased to show the value of whatever health insurance you are given by the company. It does not matter if that's a private concern or governmental body of some sort.
• For many, it also puts you into a new higher bracket.

In the grand scheme of things “Taxation With Representation” hasn’t exactly been an improvement over “No Taxation Without Representation”. Word from the Capital this week from Obama, Pelosi and Reid no vote to extend the W era tax cuts which means trillions in wealth are about to be redistributed.

Instead of dumping tea in Boston Harbor maybe it’s high time we threw Madam Speaker Pelosi off the Golden Gate bridge into the bay, tossed Majority Leader Reid off Hoover Damn, and sent President Obama on a long walk off a short peer into the Potomac. After all it was Thomas Jefferson who said “Every generation needs a new revolution.”

I am, “American by Birth and Southern by the Grace of God”

Ron W. Garikes

Alabama, (4-0) 24 – Arkansas, 20

Thoughts of Obama From Bama

Weeks 87: The Politics of Public Opinion

“The South is dry and will vote dry. That is, everybody sober enough to stagger to the polls will.” Will Rogers

Politicians live and die by Public Opinion Polls. Every move they make, the words that roll off their tongue, even the most seemingly trivial goin ons are poll tested and focus group reviewed.

Barack Husain Obama is no exception to this tried and true political reality. For example, his decision to back up his standing Sunday morning tee time and take the little woman and youngins to church last week for the second or third time since his occupation of the White House was a political decision based on two factors:

1. The real chance of a Democrat blood bath in the upcoming midterm elections.
2. A recent poll showing that 25% or there abouts of the folks in this country think our “Reluctant Church Attendee-in-Chief” is a Muslim.

A short weekend vacation at the Gulf this summer, letting his hair go naturally grey and what TV anchors to grant interviews and news programs to appear on are all decisions driven by public opinion polls and the political hacks in the West Wing analysis of this information. Political strategies, tactics and priorities are also to a great extent poll driven.

Current polling, even from Obama media sluts and enablers including the likes of CBS, NBC, CNN and the New York Times, ain’t exactly looking too good for the “Yes We Can in Only 87 Weeks Fall From Most Loved, Adored and Worshiped to Boneheaded, Incompetent, Socialist, Muslim” gang. A review of recent polling from Real Clear Politics and Fox News reveals the Obama Administration and their Congressional Democrat Comrades are ranked right behind any cable TV company, IRS Customer Service and a warm bucket of spit in job approval and performance.

Consider the following:

• The GOP has a 20 point lead generically with likely voters
• 80% believe the US is viewed weaker by the rest of the world than under W
• 47% to 37% favor replacing Speaker Nancy “Unemployment Checks Are The Most Effective Economic Stimulus the Government Can Provide” Pelosi with a Republican
• President Obama’s approval rating has sunk to a new low at 42%
• Less than 40% approve of his handling of the economy
• 60% believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, 33% don’t
• Republicans have a 11% edge on dealing with the economy
• An 18% advantage on trustworthiness
• A big ole 29% lead on taxes
• In direct opposition to Obamacare the GOP scores 12 points higher on taking care of all the sick folk
• The Pelosi Reid Congress has a below 20% approval

To his credit, and the Country’s detriment, President Obama does tend to ignore public opinion when it comes to his core values. In fact, this man is the most dangerous type of political leader – a zealot, true believer, transformative revolutionary committed to fundamental change.

In the case of Mr. Obama covert change that slowly but relentlessly chokes out capitalism, freedom and personal liberties to be replaced with Socialism, the redistribution of wealth and intrusive big government control of our life. The Obama gang by all means has the Constitutional right to pursue and advocate their leftist Socialist agenda.

We only wish they’d man up, be honest, and openly and without shame make their case in public based on the merits instead of cowardly sneaking their Marxist/Socialist Utopian dreams of world dominance in the backdoor under the cover of night. Reckon that’s why most folks know as much about our 44th President as they do about Chinese calculus.

In our never ending efforts to keep the public informed we conducted our own poll to uncover what the folks really think about our Young Revolutionary-in-Chief. Following is a summary of our findings:

• 72% think the President is a Bolshevik
• 73% think the President is a Communist
• 75% think the President is a Marxist
• 80 % think the President is a Socialist
• 62% think the President is a KGB Agent
• 57% think the President starred in the 1960’s civil rights classic “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”
• 25% think the President is a Muslim
• 15% think the President is a Islamic Jihadist
• 23% think the President is is a Islamic cleric
• 41% think the President was the voice of the evil Arab in Disney’s Aladdin
• 51% think the President is the most dangerous man in the world
• 60% think Ahmadinejad from Iran is the most dangerous man in the world
• 52% say OBL is the most dangerous man in the world
• 44% say Hillary “of the Butt Ugly Pants Suit Clan” is the most dangerous man in the world
• 61% think Obama moonlights as hip hop rapper SPENDMOOTHERPEOPLESMONEY
• 67% think the President is is a bonehead
• 65% think the President is is a pinhead
• 64% think the President has a pointy head
• 68% think the President is is a egg head
• 80% think the President is is an elitist who views the American people with disdain and arrogance
• 70% say they enjoyed his role as Sherriff Bart in “Blazing Saddles”
• 80% think Obama is the worst President is in the history of the Union
• 60% think the President should change their theme from “Yes We Can” to “Liar Liar Pants on Fire”
• 65% say they’d gladly take a beatin usually reserved for a red headed stepchild than vote for Obama again
• 90% just absolutely loved him as Bubba in “Forrest Gump”

President Obama is busier than a one legged man at an ass kicking contest stealthy implementing his radical Marxist/Socialist coup. Polls, the Constitution and the will of “We the People” are not even a consideration to a singularly focused boneheaded revolutionary, or at least so say 67% in our latest poll.

I am, “American by Birth and Southern by the Grace of God”

Ron W. Garikes

Alabama, (3-0) 62 – Duke,13

Thoughts of Obama From Bama

Weeks 87: The Politics of Public Opinion

“The South is dry and will vote dry. That is, everybody sober enough to stagger to the polls will.” Will Rogers

Politicians live and die by Public Opinion Polls. Every move they make, the words that roll off their tongue, even the most seemingly trivial goin ons are poll tested and focus group reviewed.

Barack Husain Obama is no exception to this tried and true political reality. For example, his decision to back up his standing Sunday morning tee time and take the little woman and youngins to church last week for the second or third time since his occupation of the White House was a political decision based on two factors:

1. The real chance of a Democrat blood bath in the upcoming midterm elections.
2. A recent poll showing that 25% or there abouts of the folks in this country think our “Reluctant Church Attendee-in-Chief” is a Muslim.

A short weekend vacation at the Gulf this summer, letting his hair go naturally grey and what TV anchors to grant interviews and news programs to appear on are all decisions driven by public opinion polls and the political hacks in the West Wing analysis of this information. Political strategies, tactics and priorities are also to a great extent poll driven.

Current polling, even from Obama media sluts and enablers including the likes of CBS, NBC, CNN and the New York Times, ain’t exactly looking too good for the “Yes We Can in Only 87 Weeks Fall From Most Loved, Adored and Worshiped to Boneheaded, Incompetent, Socialist, Muslim” gang. A review of recent polling from Real Clear Politics and Fox News reveals the Obama Administration and their Congressional Democrat Comrades are ranked right behind any cable TV company, IRS Customer Service and a warm bucket of spit in job approval and performance.

Consider the following:

• The GOP has a 20 point lead generically with likely voters
• 80% believe the US is viewed weaker by the rest of the world than under W
• 47% to 37% favor replacing Speaker Nancy “Unemployment Checks Are The Most Effective Economic Stimulus the Government Can Provide” Pelosi with a Republican
• President Obama’s approval rating has sunk to a new low at 42%
• Less than 40% approve of his handling of the economy
• 60% believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, 33% don’t
• Republicans have a 11% edge on dealing with the economy
• An 18% advantage on trustworthiness
• A big ole 29% lead on taxes
• In direct opposition to Obamacare the GOP scores 12 points higher on taking care of all the sick folk
• The Pelosi Reid Congress has a below 20% approval

To his credit, and the Country’s detriment, President Obama does tend to ignore public opinion when it comes to his core values. In fact, this man is the most dangerous type of political leader – a zealot, true believer, transformative revolutionary committed to fundamental change.

In the case of Mr. Obama covert change that slowly but relentlessly chokes out capitalism, freedom and personal liberties to be replaced with Socialism, the redistribution of wealth and intrusive big government control of our life. The Obama gang by all means has the Constitutional right to pursue and advocate their leftist Socialist agenda.

We only wish they’d man up, be honest, and openly and without shame make their case in public based on the merits instead of cowardly sneaking their Marxist/Socialist Utopian dreams of world dominance in the backdoor under the cover of night. Reckon that’s why most folks know as much about our 44th President as they do about Chinese calculus.

In our never ending efforts to keep the public informed we conducted our own poll to uncover what the folks really think about our Young Revolutionary-in-Chief. Following is a summary of our findings:

• 72% think the President is a Bolshevik
• 73% think the President is a Communist
• 75% think the President is a Marxist
• 80 % think the President is a Socialist
• 62% think the President is a KGB Agent
• 57% think the President starred in the 1960’s civil rights classic “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”
• 25% think the President is a Muslim
• 15% think the President is a Islamic Jihadist
• 23% think the President is is a Islamic cleric
• 41% think the President was the voice of the evil Arab in Disney’s Aladdin
• 51% think the President is the most dangerous man in the world
• 60% think Ahmadinejad from Iran is the most dangerous man in the world
• 52% say OBL is the most dangerous man in the world
• 44% say Hillary “of the Butt Ugly Pants Suit Clan” is the most dangerous man in the world
• 61% think Obama moonlights as hip hop rapper SPENDMOOTHERPEOPLESMONEY
• 67% think the President is is a bonehead
• 65% think the President is is a pinhead
• 64% think the President has a pointy head
• 68% think the President is is a egg head
• 80% think the President is is an elitist who views the American people with disdain and arrogance
• 70% say they enjoyed his role as Sherriff Bart in “Blazing Saddles”
• 80% think Obama is the worst President is in the history of the Union
• 60% think the President should change their theme from “Yes We Can” to “Liar Liar Pants on Fire”
• 65% say they’d gladly take a beatin usually reserved for a red headed stepchild than vote for Obama again
• 90% just absolutely loved him as Bubba in “Forrest Gump”

President Obama is busier than a one legged man at an ass kicking contest stealthy implementing his radical Marxist/Socialist coup. Polls, the Constitution and the will of “We the People” are not even a consideration to a singularly focused boneheaded revolutionary, or at least so say 67% in our latest poll.

I am, “American by Birth and Southern by the Grace of God”

Ron W. Garikes

Alabama, (3-0) 62 – Duke,13

Thoughts of Obama From Bama

Weeks 86: Meet the Press

Take the government to court
Is the Mayor really bought?
Who went to the Hockney show?
Michael Cain, Brigitte Bardot
Ol' Lee Harvey will never die
CIA or the FBI?
Feed sir Santa's nose a tissue
Centerfold, the x-mas issue
She's such a good reporter - workin' for a magazine
She's such a good reporter - got a big editorial dream
She's such a good reporter - watchin' from the trampoline
She's such a good reporter - keepin' her desk very clean
She's such a good reporter P Gessle

Our Orator of Soaring Empty Rhetoric- in - Chief conducted his eighth Propaganda, we mean Press Conference during Week 86 of the Socialist regime adoringly referred to as the Obama Transformational Presidency by his loyal dominions in the main stream media elite. With few exceptions the stunningly Obama biased White House press corps gave what is quickly shaping up to be the most disastrous Presidency in US history a pass on his unprecedented number of failed policy initiatives, foreign and domestic.

Standing right on up behind the Presidential podium just like he had good sense our Propagandist-in-Chief held court in the East Room of the White for one hour and fifteen minutes or there abouts. He spent most of the time during his opening remarks lying about how his economic policies saved us from a financial catastrophe of biblical proportions.

He also kept rambling on incoherently about digging, ditches, driving, cars keys and such. Talking points that seem to have infected every boneheaded left wing radical liberal who keep repeating this ridiculous dribble add nauseam.

When all was said and done the White House scribes asked the enlightened one a grand total of thirteen questions about a variety of topics including healthcare cost, tax cuts and Gitmo. In all likelihood breaking a Presidential record our Master of Stall/Filibuster/Obsfucationor-in-Chief responded in 9,050 words. An astonishing long winded; empty suit; blow hard; evasive; deceitful; low down lying cheaten and misleading 696 words per reply.

That equates to almost three single spaced typed pages per answer. Sure enough some serious bloviating even for our He/Who/Loves / the / Sound / of / His/Own/Voice-in-Chief.

Following are selected excerpts from this propagandafest along with some extremely astute and profound editorial comments:

Opening Remarks

• THE PRESIDENT: Have a seat, everybody. Good morning. Before I take your questions, I just want to talk a little bit about our continuing efforts to dig ourselves out of this recession and to grow our economy.
• This bonehead is obsessed with this dig metaphor. The thought of Mr. Harvard Law Constitutional Scholar liberal elitist actually commandeering a shovel and subjecting himself to manual labor is ludicrous.
• As I said in Cleveland on Wednesday, I ran for President because I believed the policies of the previous decade had left our economy weaker and our middle class struggling. They were policies that cut taxes, especially for millionaires and billionaires, cut regulations for corporations and for special interests, and left everyone else pretty much fending for themselves. They were policies that ultimately culminated in a financial crisis and a terrible recession that we're still digging out of today.
• Hey bonehead, ever hear mention of the bursting of the housing bubble brought on by liberal social engineering and a handful of greedy Wall Street bankers. Try digging on the truth for a change as opposed to that diatribe of lies in your comments above.
• We also announced a six-year plan to rebuild America's roads and railways and runways. Already our investments in infrastructure are putting folks in the construction industry back to work. And this plan would put thousands more back to work, and it would help us remain competitive with countries in Europe and Asia that have already invested heavily in projects like high-speed railroads.
• More shovel ready projects and that psychotic obsession with digging. The same policies that led to 9.5 – 10 % unemployment, no growth and unsustainable debt. Great plan bonehead

Q & A

• And now I'd be happy to take some questions, and I'm going to start with Darlene Superville of AP.
• Q - Thank you, Mr. President. You said this week that Democrats wouldn't do well in the November elections if it turns out to be a referendum on the economy. But with millions of people out of work and millions of people losing their homes, how could it not be a referendum on the economy and your handling of it, and why would you not welcome that? Oh great anointed one.
• THE PRESIDENT: Well Darlene darlin, the -- what I said was that if it was just a referendum on whether we've made the kind of progress that we need to, then people around the country would say we're not there yet. If the election is about the policies that are going to move us forward versus the policies that will get us back into a mess, then I think the Democrats will do very well. Besides, the Republicans drove us into this ditch and now they want the keys to the car back. We can’t afford to go in reverse back to their failed policies. We need to put it in drive a move forward.
• The Democrats are on their way to the woodshed for a whooping usually reserved for a red headed stepchild.
• Caren, Sweet britches. Q - Thank you, Mr. President. You're looking for Republican help on the economic proposals that you unveiled this week, and you also mentioned the small business bill. But you're at odds with them over tax cuts. Is there room for a middle ground whereby, for example, the tax cuts on the wealthy could be extended for a period of time, and then allowed to expire?
• THE PRESIDENT: Well, certainly there is going to be room for discussion but the GOP yahoos aren’t ever gonna get me to agree to extending W’s tax cuts for their rich friends. That’s just too contrary to my Marxist/Socialist nature.
• Chip “The Chipper” Reid. - Q Thank you, Mr. President. On the economic package that you rolled out earlier this week, first on the business tax cuts. Why did you wait until this superheated campaign season to roll it out? A lot of your critics and even some Democrats say, well, clearly he's just using this for political purposes, he doesn't have any expectation it's actually going to be passed, it's a political weapon. Why did you wait so long to bring that out?
• And on the stimulus part, we can't get people in the White House to say it is a stimulus -- $50 billion for roads and other infrastructure, but they avoid the word "stimulus" like the plague. Is that because the original stimulus is so deeply unpopular? And if so, why is it so unpopular?
• THE PRESIDENT: Well, let me -- let me go back to when I first came into office. We had an immediate task, which was to rescue an economy that was tipping over a cliff. And we put in place an economic plan that 95 percent of economists say substantially helped us avoid a depression.
• How about naming 5 of those mystery Economist bonehead.
• Hans “The Yodeler” Nichols. - Q Thank you, Mr. President. I'll ask my real question. It's now been more than two months since the financial reg reform bill has passed. A centerpiece of that was what you talked about as a consumer financial protection bureau. And yet you haven't named a head. Is Elizabeth Warren still a leading candidate? And if not, are you worried about some sort of Senate hurdle for her confirmation? Thank you.
• THE PRESIDENT: So this agency I think has the capacity to really provide middle-class families the kind of protection that's been lacking for too long.
• Who is gonna protect all of us from you and your oppressive Communist Regime?
• All right. Chuck “The Truck” Todd. Q - Given the theme, I think, of all of your answers, I've just got a short question for you. How have you changed Washington?
• THE PRESIDENT: Well, I'll tell you how we've changed Washington. In less than two years we are well on our way to transitioning to Socialism, bankruptcy, and an international joke.
• Anne “Baby Cakes” Kornblut. - Q - Thank you, Mr. President. Nine years after the September 11th attacks, why do you think it is that we are now seeing such an increase in suspicion and outright resentment of Islam, especially given that it has been one of your priorities to increase -- to improve relations with the Muslim world?
• THE PRESIDENT: I think that at a time when the country is anxious generally and going through a tough time, then fears can surface, suspicions, divisions can surface in a society. Being a Muslim myself, I mean a friend of Islam, me and all my Jihadist brethren down at the Ground Zero Mosque have been burning some holes in the ole prayer rugs on this one.
• Natasha “Brown Eyed” Mozgovaya of Haaretz. Q - Mr. President, back in the region, the Palestinian and Israeli leaders, they sound a bit less ready for this historic compromise. President Abbas, for example, said the Palestinians won't recognize Israel as a Jewish state. The question is, if these talks fail at an early stage, will this administration disengage? Or maybe you're ready to step up and deepen your personal involvement.
• THE PRESIDENT: President Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu were here last week, and they came with a sense of purpose and seriousness and cordiality that, frankly, exceeded a lot of people's expectations. Combine that with my undeniable winning personality and powers of persuasion and this almost a done deal.
• Maybe when pigs fly and Hillary quits wearing a butt ugly pants suit.
• Jake “The Snake” Tapper.Q - Thank you, Mr. President. A couple questions. First, were you concerned at all when you -- when the administration had Secretary of Defense Gates call this pastor in Florida that you were elevating somebody who is clearly from the fringe?
• THE PRESIDENT: With respect to the individual down in Florida, let me just say -- let me repeat what I said a couple of days ago. The idea that we would burn the sacred texts of someone else's religion is contrary to what this country stands for. It's contrary to what this country -- this nation was founded on. And my hope is, is that this individual prays on it and refrains from doing it.
• What do you mean “we” Kemosabi? You got a frog in your pocket?
• Helene ”Sweet Cheeks” Cooper. Q - Thank you, Mr. President. Two questions. One on Afghanistan. How can you lecture Hamid Karzai about corruption when so many of these corrupt people are on the U.S. payroll?
• THE PRESIDENT: So what we have done is to say we are going to, after seven years of drift, after seven years of policies in which, for example, we weren't even effectively training Afghan security forces, what we've done is to say we're going to work with the Afghan government to train Afghan security forces so they can be responsible for their own security.
• Hey bonehead, not one attack on the mainland for those seven years of “drift”. Sure wish we could say the same about the last 86 weeks
• Wendell “Token Black Uncle Tom from the evil Fox News” Goler . Q - Thank you, Mr. President. I wonder if I can get you to weigh in on the wisdom of building a mosque a couple of blocks from Ground Zero. We know that the organizers have the constitutional right. What would it say about this country if they were somehow talked out of doing that? And hasn't the Florida minister's threat to burn a couple hundred copies of the Koran, hasn't the threat itself put American lives in danger, sir?
• THE PRESIDENT: With respect to the mosque in New York, I think I've been pretty clear on my position here, and that is, is that this country stands for the proposition that all men and women are created equal; that they have certain inalienable rights -- one of those inalienable rights is to practice their religion freely. And what that means is that if you could build a church on a site, you could build a synagogue on a site, if you could build a Hindu temple on a site, then you should be able to build a mosque on the site.
• If we’re not mistaken the 9/11 sneak attack wasn’t conducted by radical Jews; Hindus; Catholics; Methodist or Christian Scientist. It weren’t Southern Baptist, a fringe sect of Mormons or Reformed Druids (worship shrubs and bushes as opposed to trees) neither. It was radical Islamic Jihadist. From our way of reckoning and for anybody with half a brain a mighty powerful distinction.

On that note the President thanked everyone for coming and was ushered out of the East Room mumbling incoherently to himself about digging, ditches, driving, car keys, Islam and Victory Mosques. The letter W and tax cuts were also over heard several times.

I am, “American by Birth and Southern by the Grace of God”

Ron W. Garikes

Alabama, (2-0) 24 – Penn State, 3

Thoughts of Obama From Bama

Weeks 85: “Those who can – do. Those who can’t – teach” HL Menckenn

Fly down to Miami
Get yourself a boat
Fill it full of suntan oil
And rent yourself a goat

Ain't no registration
Ain't no student loan
You may not learn to read or write
But you will surely learn to roll dem bones

Get on back to school
Domino college, back to school
Boneyard full of knowledge
W-w-w-orking vacation in a third world nation
Back to school “Domino College”, Jimmy Buffett

Diverse backgrounds, experience, skill sets, and perspectives typically add value to any endeavor. Private sector businesses, nonprofits, academia and government agencies can all benefit from this approach when staffing their respective organization.

What’s also required to be great is a backward and forward knowledge of your core business. A combination of practical experience, education, core competency skills and a common/shared vision.

Our current Administration led by the most unqualified and inexperienced “CEO” to ever hold court in the Oval Office lacks any diversity or expertise and shares a common vision with the likes of Castro, Chavez, Mao and Islamic Arab despots throughout the Middle East. With few exceptions the entire West Wing is infested with pointy headed academics, (mostly with a Harvard connection) Socialist and tax cheats without a lick of executive leadership experience in government or the private sector.

All these academic geniuses, including our Harvard Scholar and Mr. Law Review-in-Chief, view governing, the economy and business as one big ole theoretical experiment or educational seminar. Having spent most of their careers in the pampered and sheltered confines of the world’s most elitist institutions of higher education meeting a payroll; negotiating a line of credit; creating wealth; developing strategies to infiltrate a new market; dominating the competition; leading through innovation; and maximizing productivity are literally foreign concepts to these folks.

So what we have at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a bunch of Ivey League yahoos with not much more than a frog’s hair of practical business or governing experience running the world’s largest economy and only super power. These academic egg heads with absolutely zero relevant experience are also in the process of nationalizing a big chunk of our private sector economy including the healthcare, financial, energy, and auto industries.

Certainly not the first Administration to staff up with a “those who can’t – teach” gang of tenured PhD types possessing more useless book smarts than white on rice while at the same time so deficient in street smarts/common sense a lot of these academic wizards would forget to put on their britches in the morning if somebody didn’t hang um up on the front door knob the night before.

True to form for the Harvard /Chicago /Socialist/ Hope /Change/ Believe/ Yes We Can Run the Government and Wall Street without any experience or qualifications for the job because it’s our fate, burden, and destiny to rule the world bunch their the first to take it to such extreme and unprecedented levels. A comparison with previous Administration’s staffing strategies sure enough reveals cause for great heartache, misery, consternation and alarm.

Following is the percentage of the past eighteen President's cabinet members who had worked in the private business sector prior to their appointment to the cabinet:

1. Eisenhower............57%
2. Reagan...................56%
3. W..............................55%
4. Nixon.......................53%
5. Wilson ....................52%
6. GH Bush.................51%
7. F. Roosevelt..........50%
8. Truman...................50%
9. Harding...................49%
10. Coolidge..................48%
11. Johnson..................47%
12. Hoover.................... 42%
13. Ford..........................42%
14. Taft............................40%
15. Clinton ...................39%
16. T Roosevelt………..38%
17. Carter........................32%
18. Kennedy...................30%
19. And the winner, winner, chicken dinner is the Obama Administration with a 22 point spread between 2cd to last and last and 49 points between first and last coming in at a truly astonishing 8%.

A whopping 92% of Obama’s senior leadership group wouldn’t recognize a private sector business enterprise if one crawled up behind them and bit um on the ass. This lack of real world business experience xplains a lot.

For instance:

• The President is not only anti-business but hostile towards the private sector. His remarks and actions towards oil companies, BP in particular; Insurance companies; Doctors; Wall Street banks and financial services firms; Auto industry management; open shop non union manufacturers; non green energy companies; and even news channels that question his policies have been irresponsible, in many cases unsubstantiated, and detrimental to stock values adversely impacting millions of middle class stockholders.
• Their bullheaded insistence the Fed can spend us out of a recession. To an egg headed academic it looks good in theory but it’s never worked before and it ain’t gonna work now.
• Their obsession with Marxist/Socialist Utopian theory.
• Their hankering towards the redistribution of wealth
• A propensity to over evaluate everything leading to indecision, uncertainty and inaction
• Total indifference and lack of knowledge of the importance of Returns on Investments and Cost/Benefit Analysis
• Inability to and no interest in balancing a budget
• Clueless about the adverse consequences of deficit spending and the accumulation of unsustainable debt

What are these academicians good at?

• Achieving tenure
• Advocating every extreme leftwing cause known to man
• Enjoying themselves on paid leave for every holiday and long breaks including summer vacations that folks in the private sector that actually work for a living would never be granted. With the exception of Union members, Federal and other government workers of course
• Conducting so called research funded by our hard earned tax dollars on such pressing issues including “Why college freshman tend to gain weight?” – Might be the beer and pizza but let’s spend a $100 grand to be sure; “Does sexual activity decline as we age?”; “Do video games contribute to child obesity?”
• For the sake of argument lets accept the Administration’s numbers that their One Trillion Stimulus/Spending Bill saved or created three million jobs. That equates to around $330,000 or there abouts per job. These pointy headed academics think that’s one hell of a good deal. A CEO in the private sector reporting these figures to their Board would be fired on the spot
• Publishing papers and articles on subjects nobody cares about, have no practical applications and that typically appeal to only fellow academic boneheads

President Obama has surrounded himself with a bunch of over educated anti-business academics whose abstract economic theories combined with the Administration’s Socialist program initiatives have led to an anemic, jobless and painfully slow recovery. It’s high time we sent these eggheads back to school before this slow recovery transforms into a double dip recession.

I am, “American by Birth and Southern by the Grace of God”

Ron W. Garikes

Alabama, (1-0) 48 – San Jose State, 3

Thoughts of Obama From Bama

Weeks 83 & 84: The Summer of Recovery

“The business of America is business” Calvin Coolidge

Sure enough hope all y’all are enjoying what the “Hope/Change/Believe” political hacks are referring to as “The Summer of Recovery”. A mythological economic recovery created in the White House propaganda office probably by the likes of comrades Gibbs, Press Secretary; Axelrod, Chief Political Hack; Emanuel, the Enforcer; and Economic Czar, Larry “Pointy Headed Harvard Academic” Sumners.

Under the incompetent and even hostile view of free markets and capitalism the Obama Administration has redefined President Coolidge’s pro-business maxim quoted above to something more akin to the following:

• “The business of America is big Government”
• “The business of America is creating a Socialist Nanny State”
• “The business of America is creating a secular progressive Marxist/Socialist Utopia”

Our Economist-in-Chief has been so hell bent on pursuing his Marxist/Socialist dreams of grandeur his so called “Summer of Recovery” has been nothing but an abject failure across the boards. Any hint of real economic recovery has been few and far between.

Truth be told, following are the only things we’ve observed having anything at all to do with recovery coming from the “Change” gang this summer:

• President Obama’s recovery from his addiction to Kools. We have it on good authority he’s backed off from three packs a day down to two.
• Veep Biden’s recovery from his addiction to high octane Irish whiskey. Giving Uncle Joe the benefit of the doubt that he must be really slanted and/or wasted as opposed to being dumber than a bag of hammers considering his almost daily completely asinine comments on any variety of topics
• Madam Secretary of State Hillary “Expert ducker from enemy sniper fire extraordinaire” Clinton’s recovery from her addiction to shaved butt ugly pants suits.
• Eric “Member of the New Black Panther Party” Holder, Attorney General, is rumored to be working hard with his recovery from his addiction to appease Islamic terrorist.
• Madam Speaker of the House Nancy “Who truly is dumber than a bag full of hammers” Pelosi’s recovery from her addiction to Socialism which is beating her like a red headed stepchild.
• And last but by no means never least Senate Majority Leader Harry “Soon to be X Senator” Reid’s recovery from his addiction of looking and acting like a clueless bonehead. Considering recent comments and TV appearances that loud thump we keep hearing is ole Harry falling off the wagon.

It might be high time to change Mr. Obama’s “The Summer of Recovery” to a more accurate description of the actual status of the Country’s precarious fiscal position. We are tickled pink to provide two alternatives that achieve this objective.

“The Summer of Uncertainty” and “The Summer of Absurdity”

• “The Summer of Uncertainty” – The only certainty American business has towards the Obama Administration is their recognition of Obama’s anti-business agenda. The uncertainty created by the ambiguity of Obama’s Socialist policy positions puts the private sector in a state of inaction, apprehension and caution. In other words, small business owners from coast to coast don’t know if they should scratch their watch or wind their butt.

Following are a few of Obama’s policies and regs currently stifling growth, killing job growth and discouraging risk taking:

1. Obamacare/Socialized Medicine – This hostile takeover of 1/5th of our economy is the biggest manmade disaster to hit this country in our 234 year history. This deficit/debt exploding Socialist nightmare just might be the catalyst that ultimately transforms this great nation from a free market capitalist society to a Marxist/Socialist Nanny State. With our capitalist economy in peril it’s no wonder the business community is in a state of shock and paralysis.
2. New Financial Reform Legislation – Another humongous piece of Socialist legislation with untold innovation and risk taking adverse regs and intrusive fines, fees and taxes that will cost trillions of dollars and millions of jobs.
3. Cap and Trade – Another massive Marxist/Socialist legislative initiative that will not only nationalize the US energy industry but also cause prices to sky rocket and the loss of millions of jobs.

• “The Summer of Absurdity” – Some of the policies, positions and remarks advocated by this Administration are not only leftwing dribble they are also strange, foreign, bizarre and in many instances just downright absurd. If the main stream media elite had even a frog hair’s worth of journalistic integrity and reported on half of the insanity perpetrated by this bunch Mr. Obama would have been run out of town on a rail months ago.

Following are a few examples of the absurdities we’ve all been
subjected to by the head cases currently occupying the White
House.

1. Taking credit for the success “victory” achieved in Iraq under the leadership and policies of W’s Administration.
2. Blaming W for our current economic meltdown citing the cost of both wars as major factors causing the recession. Aside from the total lack of honesty do any of these yahoos remember what happened on 9/11.
3. Blaming the GOP for obstructing economic recovery in Congress when the President and his Democrat comrades have super majorities in both Houses.
4. Having Hillary Clinton’s State Department submit a report to the UN claiming Arizona’s new Immigration law is in violation with global human rights standards. Claiming a moral equivalency between Arizona’s law and human rights violations by the likes of Iran, North Korea, Russia and every Islamic governed country is not only absurd it’s lunacy and possibly treason’s.
5. Supporting the construction of a “Victory” mosque that will cast its Jihadist shadow over the sacred battle field of Ground Zero. The fact this is getting serious consideration goes way beyond absurd and into the realm of crazier than an outhouse rat.

President Obama’s so called “Summer of Recovery” is more empty rhetoric intended to divert attention from the uncertainties and absurbities emblematic of his failed Administration. We can only hope the “Summer of Recovery” transforms into the “Fall of Obama”.

I am, “American by Birth and Southern by the Grace of God”

Ron W. Garikes

Author/Columnist Note: as the President was on vacation most of the summer we felt so inclined to take a little time off ourselves and combined Weeks 83 & 84. Good Lord willing and the crick don’t rise we’ll be back on schedule next week.