Some Quotes From Ronnie

"Socialism only works in two places: Heaven where they don't need it and hell where they already have it."

"Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."

"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."

"Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong."

"I have wondered at times about what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress."

"The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination."

"Government is like a baby: An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

"The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program."

"It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first."

"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it"

"Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed, there are many rewards; if you disgrace yourself, you can always write a book."

"No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women."

"If we ever forget that we're one nation under GOD, then we will be a nation gone under."

What Is Wrong With This Country?!

What is wrong with this country? The three main headlines today are as follows – 1.) John Edwards Admits He Fathered Rielle Hunter’s Child - 2.) Conan Signs $45M Deal To Leave Network and - 3.) The New Heidi Montag. While most days when I pop open MSN for the first time (it’s my home page), I shake my head and think to myself, “…and we wonder why religious fundamentalists want us dead”, but today takes it to entirely new level.

The man who would have been Vice President and just as much a single heartbeat away from the Presidency as Sarah Palin had an affair while his wife was battling cancer, fathered a child with his mistress then took some very politician-like steps to cover up the whole thing, including a very Willy Jeff-esque denial with later denial retraction. It seems as if he even went as far as to have one of his staffers ready to take on the role as the baby’s father. 

While John Edwards is the latest in a long line of disgraced politicians from both sides of the aisle, this again leads me to ask the question, “Why do we tolerate this type of behavior from our politicians? Why do they feel that they can continually get away with being on the very bottom step of the moral ladder?”

This behavior is unacceptable and we should hold our politicians to a better standard in this country, yet it seems there will be a good percentage of people out there who will not only defend this behavior but try to convince us that a politician’s actions in their personal life have no bearing on the job they do, or the person that they are. I, for one, beg to differ.

What has gone on with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien and NBC is a fantastic example of how we view agreements and honesty in this country. While it is our right to change our mind here in America, I also think that we are too easily ready to let people out of their agreements. Bankruptcy is a fine example of this. You get to run up debt, promise to pay it, but then get to say, “Oh, no, I don’t want to pay it after all,” and come up with an excuse as to why you can’t. We, as a society, and as an economy, should be holding people to better standards than that.

If you look at the history of our government, you will see time and time again, this same type of back-tracking and revisionist history that we as Americans should not allow to be forced upon us. I, for one, do not believe that agreements are made to be broken. America, however, seems to feel differently. We allow people, businesses, and our entire government to back out of agreements that we have made way too easily.

Who do you think that Al Qaeda is thinking of when they form their description of the average American? Heidi Montag, that’s who. Poor troubled, vain, oblivious and self-centered Heidi, whose coming out party with her new ten plastic surgeries is taking up valuable space on my news page.

While I will be the last to condone the efforts of our enemies, we also must take a few minutes to try to understand where they are coming from. Think if every morning you had to wonder how you were going to eat, or how you were going to get medicine for your kids, whether your house would be standing when you got home from a job that paid you pennies a day, and/or if a rebel army, or even your own government was going to come and take you away, drag off your family, etc. etc. etc. – and then you turn on the TV and there is poor little Heidi Montag, the picture of America, talking about how she was teased as a child and how hard it was for her growing up, and how hard is to be poor little Heidi Montag. You’d want to wipe her off of the face of the earth, too, America. Don’t lie and tell me that you wouldn’t.

We have reached such a level of complacency in this country because we don’t have to fight for anything anymore. We have truly lost sight of what is important and what should be the main focus in our lives, and honestly, what should be the focus of our free press. Your children should be learning about all the wonderful things the world has to offer from arts to music to literature, but instead, the best that we can offer up as a nation is a two-part interview with Heidi Montag so that she can explain to us why she felt she needed a new look to the extent of spending 10 hours under the knife. Go America!

We can really do better as a nation and as a people…

Some Thoughts On U.S. Relief Efforts Around The World

As you read this, U.S. war ships are on the move again, but they're not doing what is typically laid upon the Great Satan as the only action that America takes in the world...war. The U.S. military machine has been mobolized to take the lead in providing disaster relief in Haiti. Quite literally, millions of Americans have also been mobilized in making donations, providing relief supplies, and even getting on planes to go down there and do what they can to help save lives and stave off the coming famine and civil unrest.

I am very proud of, and fully support the efforts of both or government and our citizens in the endeavor. Throughout Haiti's entire history, which began in 1804, relations between our two nations have been strained, and I hope that we can show our true colors in the face of this tragedy and change the course of our relations with our neighbor to the south (If you have some spare time at some point, read a bit about the history between the U.S. and Haiti and you'll see that we actually started the relationship off on a very bad foot).

I spend a good deal of time writing and speaking out about what is wrong with America, but, in my opinion, what we are seeing right now is one of the things that is right with America. Despite our strained relations with Haiti, we still have sent over $3 billion in aid to the country over the past two decades. This is a perfect exampe of how the U.S. government can object to the policies and practices of another country's government, yet still wield our power and industry to help the very people that are being mistreated by that government. While I will be one of the first to argue that at times we have no choice but to enact policy through force, I also think that we need to continue to positively affect the lives of people around the world.

There are, however, two exceptions to this rule. One, is that I whole-heartedly believe that we should take care of those who are in need here at home before we look to the rest of the world, and we should do more to ensure that our aid dollars are actually going into the hands of the people and not into the corrupt governments that we are trying to help the people survive under. A good example of this would be the fact that Saddam Hussein was able to pocket billions in U.N.-funneled U.S. aid dollars that were meant to provide food and aid to the Iraqi people.

Another change I would most definitely like to see is a more concerted effort by America to let the rest of the world know how often the U.S. military machine is used to do good in the world. Yes, we use it to wage war, and that is a debate that we should continue to have in America, but perhaps if those who relish in seeing us killed by terrorists had a better understanding of all of the good the Great Satan America does in the world, they'd be a little less apt to want us dead. I know that for some people, we just can't change their mind because of how absolutely dedicated they are to wiping us off the face of the Earth, but I think there are some who would stand against us that we could convince otherwise.

I also know that you peace-symbolizers out there would argue that we should never make war and that we create our own enemies, etc., etc., but I would like to encourage a real-world debate (one that is based in reality where we live, not in the fantasy land where you live where the U.S. never has to use force again in the world for any reason whatever) about how we, as a nation, can not only continue to positively affect lives around the world, but perhaps also use the good that we are doing to win points around the world. Just think, then the Magician wouldn't need to go everywhere bowing to everyone because they would already like us.

I hope you will join me in supporting The Magician administration's efforts in Haiti, as long as he stays on the straight and narrow, of course, and in thanking the brave Americans who are already in country and those that are in line waiting to go help. They are our best line of defense in the world, winning hearts and minds during people's time of need.

Taxifornia's Runaway Spending Continues!

Please allow me share some very alarming, and quite infuriating numbers with you.

The Taxifornia Legislative Analyst's report about fiscal outlook for 2010 is out, and while we all know that we are in a bad spot, even this year's numbers are a bit of a surprise.

The Great State of Taxifornia is set to spend 14.5% more in 2010 than it did in 2009. That's right...a spending increase of 14.5% in the midst of the worst economic crisis in 100 years.

Now, mind you, that some of this increase is because the fudging of numbers that the Taxinator and the Taxislature were able to pull off in 2009 is not repeatable this year, and Federal Stimulus money for 2009 is not being sent to Taxifornia again this year, but there still is an actual substantial spending increase as well.

Would you not agree that the state should be spending less money this year than last year? That would make sense, wouldn't it? Not in Democrat-land where you need to spend money to make money, Lou. And don't try to remind me that the Taxinator is a Republican because we've already had that discussion!

So, this year, while the state continues to legally borrowing money from your paycheck without your permission, there will, however, be no borrowing from cities, no stealing from development agencies, and so shifting of the last state employee payroll pay date for the year to next year because it was just a day later.

Here are some further comments on this issue from State Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard:

To put this into perspective, consider these figures distilled in a recent issue of Political Pulse: In 1990-91 the state spent $1,350 per person. By the current fiscal year, that was up to $2,644 per person. Have you seen double the benefit from the state since 1990? Political Pulse says that if the state had limited its spending in those years to the average Consumer Price Index and population growth, our current surplus would be in the neighborhood of $15 billion. Instead, that figure represents just a portion of our deficit.

I came across some other numbers that help explain how such an insane situation developed. According to my estimates, only about 34% of California residents pay income taxes. So if you look at your neighbors on either side of you, only one of you actually paid into the state coffers via income tax. Unbelievably, there are 4.4 million MORE people registered to vote than people who paid income taxes. Now, not all of those registered actually cast ballots, but it provides insight into the dynamic that is crippling our state. When there are more takers than givers, the system cannot work and California's system is not working in many, many ways.

Some people look at these numbers and facts and lament that there is nothing to do but wait for the inevitable collapse of the state. But that is not only extremely unlikely, it is irresponsible. It is as irresponsible for an individual who cannot pay his current bills to run up all his credit cards figuring that he will "just" declare bankruptcy and be done with it, sticking someone else with his bills. We know that debt service has first call, then education, on all state funds, but to continue to accrue debt is reckless because that debt will be paid even if we shut down every state spending program. We simply must cut spending and programming and services or whatever you want to call the outflow of money. We must stop the budget smoke-and-mirrors that allow one year to look okay while pushing the pain into the next fiscal year. Cut first, cut now.

As We Begin 2010...

2010!...Can you believe it's here? As we officially begin this new work year, I am optimistically looking forward. Despite the fact that I will always remember 2009 to be a “year of years”, I honestly feel that I ended the year in a much better position than I started the year.

October of 2008 was really when the world changed for us, but luckily, much more in fear and anxiety than in actual tragedy and fruition. It was about nine months later, in July of 2009 that I honestly began to feel like things were starting to turn…that we had seen the very worst of it pass.

Then, about a year after it all began, October of 2009, was when it felt the recovery was starting to finally gain ground. I am aware that there are still tough times ahead for all of us in some areas, and harder times ahead for some than others, but as 2009 finally drew to a close, I came to a very stark realization that, in all honesty, I was better off on January 1, 2010 than I was on January 1, 2009.

While the media continues to paint 2009 as the era of doom, I think there are still a good 85% of us who are starting 2010 in a better spot than we did at the beginning of 2009. It is as if we have survived one of the major battles of our lives in a much better spot than we anticipated to be.

I am, however, also well aware that now is not the time to sit back and relax, but in fact, it is time to dig in our heels even deeper and get ready to work harder than ever before. Things could take a turn for the worst just as easily this year as they could have last year, but with a staunch routine of completing work, seeking out new work and opportunities, and ensuring that we are performing at the top of our game, I think we will find 2010 to be a much better year, and 2011 an even better year still.

We need to look forward, we need to work hard, and we need to keep up the fight, because while things are looking up, there is still a tough fight ahead of us. We have to perform our jobs better than ever before, we have to be mindful of brining true value to our business relationships, and we have to continue to be diligent to keep our eyes out for thieves. Both Taxramento and Taxington, D.C. are going to continue to fight for our money and The Magician is going to do all he can to spend the money that we haven’t even earned yet, but you can also feel the tide of favor swaying back towards conservative spending and values as the novelty of a new President and "new" party wears off and people see The Magician and his party for The Politician that he truly is, and the thieves that they really are. The tax pool has grown weary, and while we are willing to work, fear is subsiding and we are going to start questioning what was done to us during those turbulent times by the people that were in office.

So, let’s get back to work, let’s continue to be successful, and above all, let’s do all that we can to ensure that the largest amount of the fruits of our labors remain just that…ours.