Michael Oberndorf
Random thoughts
By Michael Oberndorf
It's been cold lately, especially in the mornings. Snow in Denver and New York. Not unusual in late October, when one lives up north, but I'm about as far south as y'all can git. Global warming is getting out of hand. But then, so is our government.
Obama-Soetoro is actively end-running Congress — again — and the elected boobs on both left and right sit quietly, like good children, making not a peep in protest over their purloined prerogatives. They appear to be the kind of victims all bullies hope for, whether it involves schoolyard theft of lunch-money, or selling out your country to a would-be dictator. Reminds one of Germany and the rise of Hitler, except they haven't burned the Capitol, made it irrelevant, instead. Nice to know though, that John Boehner can still "work with" them.
I'm still waiting, too, for Republicans to repeal Obama-SoetoroCare. I guess that will happen about the same time that Democrats realize that they have set the forces in motion that will destroy Medicare. Destruction of Medicare is, however, inevitable, since, expensive though it is, it more-or-less seems to work. Nature abhors a vacuum, and Democrats abhor a government program that works. This, by the way, explains why they refuse to do anything about Social Security: it is obviously broken and thus, needs no "fixing."
I am curious, too, to see how government workers react to what happened to their retirement benefits last quarter. Like most everyone else's retirement plan, government workers have a small percentage put into funds that are stock-based. For those of you conservatives who think gummint workers have a Cadillac retirement plan, it's actually very similar to what G. W. Bush proposed as a fix for Social Security, that was hysterically rejected by Democrats as a give-away to the hated Wall Street Fat Cats. Most of the time, it works very well. However, the Obama-Soetoro administration's destructive financial policies have been working really well — they are out to destroy capitalism, if you recall — and last quarter, retirement accounts lost at least 10%. My guess is that these folks, especially the ones closing in on retirement age, may well vote with their wallets.
By the way, folks, there's another big misconception conservatives have, and that's that all government workers are liberal Democrats. While many are, the fact is that many are not. Many are conservatives who work hard to give the taxpayers their money's worth, and often more. You make no friends nor garner votes by tarring them all with the lazy, greedy, liberal brush.
So, here we are, half the way through the fall, i.e., nearly to winter, and not a single lying Democrat has risen up to accuse the administration of trying to kill off the poor, the elderly, and minorities by doing nothing to lower the insanely high price of heating oil. While it's a pleasant relief not to have to listen to their caterwauling, it would be nice to know that someone in government is aware that the obscene cost of fuel is a major job and economy killer. I mean, it wasn't all that long ago that it was impossible to fit $25 worth of gas into a car. Now, that will barely get you to the grocery store and back.
Speaking of not so long ago, kids used to go from door-to-door, dressed in cute costumes their mothers had made, saying, "Trick or treat!" and getting cookies, candy, apples, popcorn balls, and so on, dropped in their goody-bags. This may still happen in a few places, but in Democrat-run cities, it's too dangerous. Perverts, and a variety of really twisted and violent wackos have been allowed to destroy this once safe, fun part of American childhood.
Today, Hallowe'en is, like more and more of American life, organized and controlled by government. Interesting to note, though, that more and more adults, mostly liberals and leftwingers, dress up on Hallowe'en, and go parading around in public. Not surprising, since most lefties are a) pretty immature; b) confused about who they are; and c) dislike who they think they are, and want to be someone they are not. Oh, well.
Actually, it's not shocking that everything in America seems to be falling apart. Public life has become a perpetual campaign for re-election that begins the minute the last election is over. Everything becomes surface, rather than substance.
I say let's think about replacing elections with lotteries, a draft, if you will, of qualified citizens. I have come to deeply distrust people eager to get elected to government. Or, if we must have elections, limit the campaigns to six weeks maximum. Got any other ideas?
© Michael Oberndorf
October 31, 2011
It's been cold lately, especially in the mornings. Snow in Denver and New York. Not unusual in late October, when one lives up north, but I'm about as far south as y'all can git. Global warming is getting out of hand. But then, so is our government.
Obama-Soetoro is actively end-running Congress — again — and the elected boobs on both left and right sit quietly, like good children, making not a peep in protest over their purloined prerogatives. They appear to be the kind of victims all bullies hope for, whether it involves schoolyard theft of lunch-money, or selling out your country to a would-be dictator. Reminds one of Germany and the rise of Hitler, except they haven't burned the Capitol, made it irrelevant, instead. Nice to know though, that John Boehner can still "work with" them.
I'm still waiting, too, for Republicans to repeal Obama-SoetoroCare. I guess that will happen about the same time that Democrats realize that they have set the forces in motion that will destroy Medicare. Destruction of Medicare is, however, inevitable, since, expensive though it is, it more-or-less seems to work. Nature abhors a vacuum, and Democrats abhor a government program that works. This, by the way, explains why they refuse to do anything about Social Security: it is obviously broken and thus, needs no "fixing."
I am curious, too, to see how government workers react to what happened to their retirement benefits last quarter. Like most everyone else's retirement plan, government workers have a small percentage put into funds that are stock-based. For those of you conservatives who think gummint workers have a Cadillac retirement plan, it's actually very similar to what G. W. Bush proposed as a fix for Social Security, that was hysterically rejected by Democrats as a give-away to the hated Wall Street Fat Cats. Most of the time, it works very well. However, the Obama-Soetoro administration's destructive financial policies have been working really well — they are out to destroy capitalism, if you recall — and last quarter, retirement accounts lost at least 10%. My guess is that these folks, especially the ones closing in on retirement age, may well vote with their wallets.
By the way, folks, there's another big misconception conservatives have, and that's that all government workers are liberal Democrats. While many are, the fact is that many are not. Many are conservatives who work hard to give the taxpayers their money's worth, and often more. You make no friends nor garner votes by tarring them all with the lazy, greedy, liberal brush.
So, here we are, half the way through the fall, i.e., nearly to winter, and not a single lying Democrat has risen up to accuse the administration of trying to kill off the poor, the elderly, and minorities by doing nothing to lower the insanely high price of heating oil. While it's a pleasant relief not to have to listen to their caterwauling, it would be nice to know that someone in government is aware that the obscene cost of fuel is a major job and economy killer. I mean, it wasn't all that long ago that it was impossible to fit $25 worth of gas into a car. Now, that will barely get you to the grocery store and back.
Speaking of not so long ago, kids used to go from door-to-door, dressed in cute costumes their mothers had made, saying, "Trick or treat!" and getting cookies, candy, apples, popcorn balls, and so on, dropped in their goody-bags. This may still happen in a few places, but in Democrat-run cities, it's too dangerous. Perverts, and a variety of really twisted and violent wackos have been allowed to destroy this once safe, fun part of American childhood.
Today, Hallowe'en is, like more and more of American life, organized and controlled by government. Interesting to note, though, that more and more adults, mostly liberals and leftwingers, dress up on Hallowe'en, and go parading around in public. Not surprising, since most lefties are a) pretty immature; b) confused about who they are; and c) dislike who they think they are, and want to be someone they are not. Oh, well.
Actually, it's not shocking that everything in America seems to be falling apart. Public life has become a perpetual campaign for re-election that begins the minute the last election is over. Everything becomes surface, rather than substance.
I say let's think about replacing elections with lotteries, a draft, if you will, of qualified citizens. I have come to deeply distrust people eager to get elected to government. Or, if we must have elections, limit the campaigns to six weeks maximum. Got any other ideas?
© Michael Oberndorf
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