There is an excellent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning written by Fay Vincent, former baseball commissioner.  He discusses his earlier experiences while working in the Securities and Exchange Commission and reviewing the reports of corporate executive perks.

The theatrics we observed during the recent automobile executives' testimony only serves to remind us of the 'classes' that exist in our society.  That was very effective as a tool to embarrass the executives, but it played a spotlight on what, to me, is at least as serious a problem as are corporate jets in our present economic situation.

Mr. Vincent also tagged our elected representatives for the perks they have given themselves over the years.

Two things jumped out:

• Elected officials have a fleet of military 'executive' jets awaiting their needs and stationed at Andrews Air Force base near the capitol.  Not many of them has ever likely flown on commercial flights when they go abroad on their junkets.  Nancy Pelosi was taken to task for her reported use of military jets to fly her home from Washington, D.C. to California.  She was angry that she didn't get as good a jet as she thought she deserved.  Hers had to stop to re-fuel and that was apparently an unbearable delay. 
• How many members of the House of Representatives and of the Senate have flown on those very same corporate executive jets when on their way to 'speaking' engagements or some other junket?

At least the corporate executives are taxed on the perks they receive.  I don't recall that is the case for our elected representatives when they fly on a military flight or use other perks they've managed to create for themselves like a gymnasium. 

Our elected officials supposedly are required to reimburse for the costs incurred if they fly on corporate aircraft, but I suspect there are some methods employed to assure that they remain 'whole', such as through an increase in speaker fees to offset any out-of-pocket expense that might have been incurred.

We have an 'elected' class and a 'rest of us' class.

Our political system creates winners and it creates losers.  It has done that since there was a political system.  It does that no matter the party in power.  We are watching the reshuffling of the seats of power in Washington now, and that is a great thing to watch since it did not involve a military coup or the forceful overthrow of one regime in favor of another.

The winners and losers are being resorted as the result of the most recent election.  It is interesting to me that I see many of the same faces that I recall seeing over the course of time.  They seem to ebb and flow almost like the tides.  They may be "out of favor" for awhile and then they're back "in favor".  In their cases, there is relatively little difference between the two except that there may be more prestige when they're "in favor".  Money always seems to flow in their direction although it can be diminished when they are "in favor" if that means they hold an office in the government of our country.

We shouldn't anguish over their plight for too long since they seem to make up for any financial duress suffered when they 'retire' from the government position.

Government employees are adept at remaining winners.  Some in Milwaukee County walk away with a million dollars in their pocket at retirement.  Few are ever laid off even though that threat hovers every once in awhile.  All have solid benefit programs.  Few seem to be overworked.  It seems almost impossible to "privatize" any of these positions as we see from the trials and tribulations of Scott Walker as Milwaukee County Executive

Some winners seem adept at remaining winners almost without regard to the party in control.

Some losers seem adept at remaining losers, too.

The perennial losers of whom I am thinking are us...the taxpayers.  It seems we are always coming out on the 'short end of the stick', doesn't it?

Just over the course of three days in November, we learned why we are in the column called "losers".

MATC was given the seemingly perpetual right to tax us to the tune of at least $5.7 million every year since we are blessed to be part of that taxing district.  Us taxpayers took another one in the shorts!

Governor Doyle was quoted as saying "the pain must be shared" in speaking of the current $5.4 billion expected shortfall in the next biennial budget.  We know to whom he was speaking...us taxpayers!

Then to add insult to injury, three gentlemen wrote an article called "How to raise money for our state" that was published on JSOline on November 22nd.  I tote up the great ideas they espoused:

• the Doyle proposal to increase taxes on oil companies and hospitals to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars
• a sales tax increase of 1% that would raise something on the order of $800 million per year
• the extension of the sales tax to non-medical professional services like tax preparation and accounting services that would raise some $300 million per year
• the extension of the sales tax to business services that would raise $230 million
• closing business tax "loopholes" for companies doing business in and out of Wisconsin (so-called "combined reporting") that would generate an estimated "several hundred" million dollars a year.
• elimination of something that is called the "domestic production deduction" that would 'only' impact companies with over $100 million in assets and that would yield "at least $40 million"
• changing the taxing of businesses from that of taxing profits to a system where business receipts would be taxed instead (so that a business not making a profit would still pay taxes) which would generate some $400 million
• increasing the top rate on personal income tax from 6.75% to 7.75% ( a nearly 15% increase) which would raise another $180 million
• taxing all capital gains thus adding some $280 million to the treasury
• restoring the tax on the first 50% of social security earnings to get another $100 million
• elimination of a thing called the "itemized deduction credit" that would 'only' hit people earning more than $100,000 per year thus generating $320 million
• bringing back the tax on inheritances that would generate another $95 million
• and, last but certainly not least, restoring the annual inflation indexing of our already highest in the nation tax on gasoline that would bring in another $32 million for every penny of gas tax (that would mean something in the range $1 billion annually if the gas tax is now $0.30 per gallon)

I certainly appreciate their attempt to be helpful but I doubt that our governor and the senate and the assembly majorities need any help to raise taxes.

What is forgotten, ALWAYS, is that it is us losers...us taxpayers...who pay every penny of every tax levied in the state in one form or another.

Taxes always find their way to the lowest rung on the economic ladder, and that is us, the consumer and the taxpayer.

There certainly are winners and losers.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could experience being a winner once in awhile?

And...isn't it amazing that we never learn how much could be saved if some of the jobs would be eliminated, and if some of the benefits would be reduced, and if some of the massive 'give-away' programs were curtailed?

Yup.  I'm hallucinating, all right!

Hedged promises...

Promises are made in every election campaign, and especially in presidential election campaigns.  We're told that one candidate will do this for us and the other will do that for us.  We are made promise after promise, almost on the order of a 'can you top this' game.

Today, as the president-elect makes his preparations for the assumption of office, there is a decided 'tamping down' of his promises.  Those promises are said to have totaled some $135 billion per year.  Those are the promises that can be specifically identified.  There are another 'passel of promises' that we'll never be able to price because they were implied to special interest groups and/or made in somewhat more private settings as deals were cut.

Already, we see and hear that some are "shocked" that their pet things are being relegated to the back of the line so far as promises to be kept.  There is a very simple thing that all should remember, and that is this:  If you vote for a person on the basis of promises made that will favor you or your special interest group, you need to step back and reassess just how you'll make voting decisions in the future.  After the campaigning is done and reality begins to reestablish itself, we realize that not every promise will be kept, that some will but they won't resemble what you expected and that some will result in nothing like what you expected they would.

Today, there simply isn't $135 billion available for the grandiose promises made on the trail to the White House.  And, even the money that may be available will be allocated according to lobbying and the back-room deals in Congress.  Your needs and my needs be damned; there are more important things that have to be accomplished...such as the payoffs to those who got the next president to this point.  And that is the case no matter which ticket won the popular vote.

Character would be a much better barometer with which to gage decisions than promises which were probably only intended to gather a few more votes.  I hope all of us voted on that basis...but I am skeptical.

Bail-out expectations...

It is amazing to me, although it shouldn't be at my age, to see the length of the lines of those special interests seeking a government bail-out.  The Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae sub-prime mortgage debacle (Barney Frank, Christopher Dodd, and Charles Schumer continue to try to hide from their special culpability in all this) pointed out just how shaky the economy was.  That proved to be more than the economy could swallow without massive corrections.

And, it showed the truly global nature of the economy...every country was in a very tenuous position economically and all are now in the tank...except maybe for China and maybe for India.  Even the oil sheiks are pinching pennies or whatever it is they pinch.

Enter stage-left...

The likely actors were lined up before we knew the magnitude of the debacle to come.  The investment banks, the insurance companies, the commercial banking industry, the Wall Street stock barons, the hedge fund managers; all were waiting for their piece of the bail-out.  So some $700 billion was thrown into a thing called TARP and the Treasury Secretary, Paulson, was given the go ahead to steer us through.  Of course, Congress began almost immediately to try to seize the tiller and steer where it thought it could garner the greatest political gains.

Detroit has been in shambles, and that happened long before the most recent economic decline; and that is in no small part courtesy of both federal and state politics and excessive payroll costs, both labor and executive.  The auto makers were 'given' $25 billion for "green" manufacturing change-overs.  That money has yet to be dispensed, by the way, as is so often the case when Congress does something like this.

The Democrats are now working their behinds off to force the Bush administration to move ahead on the next major phase of the 'bail-out' by trying to get a new hand-out through in the coming "lame duck" session starting tomorrow.  The obvious reason behind this is simple, they can then point to one more "failure" on the part of 'Bush 43' when this all goes down the toilet...which is most likely where it'll go.

The Republicans, of course, are trying to sit this one out by saying that the $25 billion of "green" money ought be the bridge that Detroit is seeking, to force the Democrats to finally have to show some political courage of their own come January 20th.  It would make the Republicans happier if they were able to paint the Dems with the brush that had been reserved for President Bush and the Republicans.

Underlying all this action on the 'stage', to which I referred earlier, is the problem you and me are facing as members of the audience for this multiple act thriller/dark comedy.  Yet again, we see that politics trumps everything in Washington, D.C. 

Our representative democracy is the greatest form of government ever seen on this earth, but it sure has its seamy and vulgar sides...and we seem to be witnessing most of it today.

And you and me are the only people who can make that less a problem as we cast our future votes.  We must demand better...and we must punish those who disobey our demands by sending them home!

I find myself in a contemplative mood following the election last Tuesday.  I was not a Barack Obama fan but he is our president-elect and will guide us, in conjunction with the Congress, over at least the next four years.  He is my president-elect and, as he said during his press conference yesterday, "We have only one president at a time."  I really want him to be successful!

There were three articles on the Opinion pages of the week-end Wall Street Journal this morning that I found particularly appropriate in these days of transition.  Maybe you'll find them such as well.

The first, was Jim Towey's piece titled Why I'll Miss President Bush.

The second was Jason Riley's The Weekend Interview with Rahm Emanuel, the newly selected Chief of Staff for President-Elect Barack Obama.

And, finally, an editorial concerning my favorite rising star, Rep. Paul Ryan.

I hope you enjoy these items.

Now that the dust of the election returns has begun to settle, the talk of the governance approach of our new president has taken flight.  I have read several pieces that discuss this subject and heard several discussions on the same subject.  The Wall Street Journal had an excellent editorial today titled Obama's Real Opposition.

The subject of that piece was the old line liberals who will be pushing and pulling President Obama as they wish, to make him decide as they wish him to decide.

There are many who believe that President Obama will actually move to the center left as he takes office and begins to face the daily decisions required of him.  There are also many who remind us of his very liberal voting record and suggest, therefore, that he'll govern from the left or far left.

We are reminded of those with whom President Obama will interact:

• David Obey from our own state who wants to slash the defense budget to get money for his social entitlements.
• Barney Frank who recently said that he thought defense could be reduced by 25%.
• Chuck Schumer who continues to push banks to lend more money even after being heavily involved in causing the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae problems due to similar tactics.
• George Miller who heads the House Education and Labor Committee who is talking about 'nationalizing' 401K and other private pension plans to free up all that money for other purposes.
• Jim McDermott who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee and who seems to like Mr. Miller's ideas.
• John Conyers who loves the idea of the Europeans indicting President Bush and Bush officials for 'war crimes'.
• Henry Waxman who wants to grab the Chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee from Rep. John Dingell so that he can really push the global warming agenda.
• Pete Stark who believes that a Canadian-style single payer health care system is exactly right for us.
• Rep. Pelosi whom we presume will retain her leadership post will continue down the very liberal path she has trod to now.
• Sen. Reid whom we presume will continue in his leadership role, although he could find that a difficult task given his miscues so far.

These men are well-seasoned congressional combat veterans who know the inner workings much better than does the new President Obama.  They will stop short of nothing to take advantage of what they see as a 'significant mandate' from the United States electorate.  They are running short of time in which to make the country over into the image they believe is best for us all; they will not be anxious to slow their pace simply because a new president wants that to happen.

President-Elect Obama has seemed to recognize this in his appointment of Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D from Chicago) as his new Chief of Staff.  This is the single most powerful position in any White House.  The person in this role manages the President; he determines who the President will see and what he will hear; he selects those on the staff who will be granted limited access to the President; he will play a very large part in determining the programs the new president will pursue and the order in which various initiatives will occur.  Everything goes through the Chief of Staff.  Everything.

Emanuel is a rough and tumble Chicago-style politician.  He is liberal.  He is going to be a tough Chief of Staff.  The battles between him and those in Congress who believe they deserve the President's ear will be legend before this tour of duty is finished.

I suspect that our new president will be pushed to the left of center very quickly whether or not he wishes to be in that position.  The question in my mind is just how far left of center he'll end up after the first hundred days that seem to be so magical.

He will have inherited a terrible economy and a country with so much debt that it will be able to do only limited things in the way of new programs.  Against that backdrop stand the legions such as described above who simply don't care about this, that or the other.  They are intent on getting their way, on making their imprint seen.

This Congress has it within its power to limit this new president to a single term, as was the case with President Carter, if it forces the new president too far to the left and pushes too hard for what it thinks is now being demanded by a country they believe to be left-leaning like themselves.

I am overloaded with politics!  This election for president has been going on seemingly forever.  Obviously, it has been going on for nearly two full years.  The two final candidates have spent nearly $1 billion between the two of them.  They have filled the airwaves with television and radio advertisements and they have filled the newspapers and mailboxes with written advertisements.

In addition to the presidential campaigns, we have been inundated with congressional campaigning and local senate and assembly campaigning.  Telephones have been ringing with 'get out the vote' campaigns and with 'robo calls'.  Lawn signs have seemed to grow for the past three or four months.  Early voting has been going on for a month or better.

I have watched the 'talking heads' tell me what I should be thinking until I want to throw something through my television screen.  I have seen the Saturday Night Live videos over and over again.  I have seen the late night show clips over and over again.

I have listened to the 'pollsters' explain this and that trying to convince us as to their method's accuracy.  The plethora of polls has produced varying numbers for months on end.  If there are six polls released in a day, there six different sets of numbers.  Exit polls were even wrong last time around.  Why should I put money on pre-election polls?

The candidates seem unable to even agree with themselves.  One tax plan has three or four different versions in as many weeks.  Amazingly, each political party is to blame for everything bad that has happened according to the other party.  Washington insiders dress up to appear on the Sunday morning talk shows and spew the day's 'talking points' as if they are gospel.

We are given the treatment befitting idiots by both parties.  If we are so dumb as to fall for their lines, why in the world are we given a vote?  We would obviously not even be able to find a polling place if we were susceptible to their diatribes.

Political activist organizations are falling all over themselves to sign up new voters.  Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck get registered and we are to feel assured that every vote cast is a legitimate vote from a legitimate voter.

Senators running for re-election are convicted of accepting bribes.  Congressmen who took money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac like it was going out of style are now sitting in Washington meeting rooms with the look of the pious telling us why it was someone else's fault that our economy took a nose dive.

Re-election to office is so nearly automatic that we citizens ought to be examined carefully to assure full mental faculties before we permitted to get close to a ballot box.

I am tired and it isn't even election day yet.  I am disgusted with what we have permitted to happen in our country.  I am disgusted that so many of my fellow citizens seem to fall for the largest promise of good things if we'll simply elect the right people from the right party.  Elect me and I'll give you this; no, elect me and I'll give even more than he will!

Have we lost our senses completely?  Do we really think that government creates anything?  Is it possible that we can all get a tax cut, especially when tax reductions from one administration will be ended?  Is it really possible for 95% of Americans to receive a tax cut?  How is it that we can reduce taxes when we have the national debt that we have?  How is it that we permit ourselves to be hoodwinked on a regular two year and four year cycle?  Should we really end our foreign trade deals?  Will we be able to have what we want when others don't get what they want?  How will we keep our economy moving when we refuse to recognize that we can't possible get to the level of greenhouse gas emissions the various players are telling us they'll get us to in the time span allotted by their plans?  Where do we think the money for such programs is coming from?

Are we nuts?

I have political overload, and I fear it isn't going to end on the evening of November 4th

If you've watched the Fox News Channel chances are good that you've seen Judge Andrew Napolitano, the dapper and perpetually happy senior judicial analyst for Fox News.  He has written a piece titled "Most Presidents Ignore The Constitution" that appears on the Opinion page of today's Wall Street Journal.

He writes about the 2001 Public Radio interview of Barack Obama where Obama was lamenting that the civil rights movement had become too 'court centered' and therefore failed to cause 'reparations' for past abuses.  That, of course, serves as quite a bombshell so far as future implications if he is elected and presuming he has the same thoughts today that he held then.

I thought, however, that the balance of the opinion piece was quite interesting as Judge Napolitano discussed how the majority of presidents of our country have ignored the Constitution and forged ahead as they desired.  Roosevelt caused agriculture to be subjected to a "Soviet-style central planning" process and rejected arguments that this was unconstitutional.  Roosevelt said that the Constitution was "quaint" and that it was written in the "horse and buggy days" and predicted that the public and the courts would agree with him according to Napolitano's article.

Napolitano cites that Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland were the exceptions he recalled who didn't ignore the Constitution.

As we move into the next presidency, regardless of who wins, I'll have to remind myself that most have ignored our Constitution whenever I feel the current President has crossed the line.  He probably will have crossed the line, and appears to have had a lot of company over the history of our country.

We have survived even with the intentional ignoring of our Constitution...but it doesn't seem right no matter who ignores that document.  Where will it end, if it ever will end?

I received an e-mail containing the following quotations and thought it simply had to be in front of as many readers as possible as we approach perhaps the most important election in my lifetime.  Much food for thought follows:

• Suppose you were an idiot.  And suppose you were a member of Congress, but then I repeat myself.---Mark Twain
• I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.---Winston Churchill
• A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.---George Bernard Shaw
• Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.---James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)
• Foreign aid must be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.---Douglas Casey, classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown
• Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.---P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian
• Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.---Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
• 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.---Ronald Reagan (1986)
• I don't make jokes.  I just watch the government and report the facts!---Will Rogers, Humorist (1879-1935)
• If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it is free.---P.J. O'Rourke
• In general, the art of government consists of taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.---Voltaire (1764)
• The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings.  The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.---Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
• What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.---Edward Langley, Artist (1928-1995)
• A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.---Thomas Jefferson, Virginia Patriot (1743-1826)

 Some things, it seems, never change.

There is more and more speculation as to the potential that we'll see a 'clean sweep' by Democratic candidates on Tuesday, November 4th at both the state and federal levels.  I hope that isn't the way it turns out, but I'm tiring of being beaten about the head and shoulders every time I read a newspaper article or watch the bulk of the television news items.  Maybe that is the intent.  If us conservatives can be sufficiently demoralized, maybe we'll just stay home.  Not this conservative!

What do I mean by 'clean sweep'?  I refer to the potential that both the Assembly and the Senate in Wisconsin will see a sufficient Democratic majority that will be able to pass anything they wish in spite of the number of Republican votes that could be massed, with assurances on most such items that those will be signed into law by the Democratic Governor Doyle.

Similarly, I refer to Democratic victories in both the U.S. House and Senate that will be Republican-proof and that will likely find favor with a Democratic President Obama.

Jay Weber has done a good job on setting forth 23 items that could be part of the triumvirate of Sen. Harry Reid (D), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) and a President Obama and you can find those by clicking here.  Things included on Jay's list include renegotiating NAFTA, ending secret ballots in union organizing, government-run healthcare encroachments, reintroduction of the 'Fairness Doctrine' to control conservative access to the airways, and so on.

At the state level, we could easily see state-run health care, the increase in costs of education, ever larger portions of our income going to state and local taxes,  more and more loss of personal freedoms and so.

There has been, in most of our history, a certain "check and balance" relationship in most of our governments so that not everything that was proposed was ever likely to be passed.  That 'protection' could disappear for years if we see the 'clean sweep' at the state or federal levels, or both, as the result of our national election on November 4th.  Our country tends not to flourish well under such governments regardless of party in power.

Vote your conscience next Tuesday!

Main Street & The World...

It wasn't all that long ago that I wrote about the St. Francis Bank being acquired by a northern Illinois banking company called Mid-America followed by the take-over of Mid-America by Cleveland-based National City Bank.

National City Bank has had its problems, as have many banks, with poorly performing mortgage loan portfolios and its stock has been in the dumps for some time.  It received a $6 billion infusion of cash not long ago from a private equity group by the name of Corsair Capital.

We'll have a new bank, at least a new bank name, in our world.  National City Bank agreed yesterday to be purchased by the PNC Corporation which is based in Pittsburgh.  National City "agreed" under duress since the government had told it to either get itself acquired or fail.  The PNC purchase is expected to close by year-end, and is being financed by a government infusion of $7.7 billion, some $5.8 billion of which will go for this deal.  The Corsair Capital group squeaks through this deal whole since it had the sense to build some protective language into the deal it did earlier this year.  That begs the question of why you and me are always at risk when the big capital organizations can do 'sweetheart' deals.

I went through this 'dry' explanation of the change for the simple reason of reminding us of just how global is our economy and of just how much each of us has at stake in the world-wide financial problems now on the front pages.  The people whom I see when I bank are about to get their fourth set of bank 'logo' clothing before the first set ever showed signs of wearing out.  They are about to be "treated" to the need to learn another banking system and another banking language.  I hope they all remain in place because they do an excellent job at customer service!

Even though we live in Germantown, we can't hide from the world wide realities of economics.  We're subject to the ups and downs of the global stock exchange system as much as we are to the ups and downs of Wall Street because it is all inter-connected.  The 'futures' trading in Japan and China set the tone for the rest of the world as it awakens to another day.  OPEC makes our gasoline prices fluctuate when it decides to reduce production...except for yesterday when it dropped production 1.5 million barrels and saw the price go down by $4 per barrel instead of rising as it had expected.  Even the oil barons are flummoxed with the current 'goings-on'.  It isn't just hitting you and me, although admittedly we feel it more intensely since most of us don't have the luxury of big cash cushions.

Another thing this should remind us of is this:  our government makes decisions we don't know about until after the fact, and those decisions are often critical to our existence.  We are the ones who determine who leads that government as we will again in a week or so.  There are already discussions going on in Washington that would impact our individual 401Ks dramatically and that would see the money accumulated being used by our government as it sees fit with guarantees of interest made to those of us holding the account.

Those promises are only so good as our economy and are only so trustworthy as our government.  Let us not go down the pathway that Argentina is on where we permit nationalization of individual accounts.

Conservatives are accustomed to being involved in 'come from behind' situations and many of those, I submit, are created by the media.

For those of you seeking a decent piece on media double standards, I invite you to read the Human Events opinion piece by Patrick J. Buchanan titled Camp Followers.

~~~~~~~~~~

Then we have the debate concerning experience over hope with hope appearing to be ahead at this point in the race.  Charles Krauthammer has done a good job on his Washington Post opinion piece, McCain for President.

~~~~~~~~~~

Finally a cute little item that you may've seen before:

A woman in a hot air balloon realizes she is lost.  She loses altitude and spots a man fishing from a boat below.

She shouts to him, "Excuse me, can you help me?  I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his GPS unit and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above the ground at an elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level.  You are at 31 degrees 15 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees 49 minutes west longitude."

She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican".

"I am", replied the man.  "How did you know?"

"Well", she answered, "everything you tell me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost.  Frankly, you're not much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be a Democrat".

"I am", replied the woman.  "How did you know?"

"Well", said the man, "You don't know where you are or where you're going.  You've risen to where you are, due in large part to hot air.  You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and now you expect me to solve your problem.  You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it is my fault."

The following words are variously attributed to both Abraham Lincoln and to Rev. Wm. J.H. Boetcker (circa 1916).  Without debating from whom they flowed, I thought it very important that these be shared during this particularly important election season.

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away men's initiative and independence.

You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could, and should, do for themselves.

Powerful words and powerful thoughts, indeed!

Barack Obama could be suffering from too many Joes.

We have become very much aware of "Joe the plumber" who posed a question to Obama and received an honest answer.  Of course, we've become ever more familiar with that Joe since as the result of the 'excavation' of his history including the tax lien, the fact that he is a not a 'licensed' plumber and the fact that he drove without a valid drivers license in Arizona a decade or more ago.

I imagine that Barack Obama would've re-thought his answer if he had a 'do over'.

Then there is the other Joe, "Joe the Senator", who has had more Dan Quayle moments than Dan Quayle ever had but who seems impervious...courtesy of the mainstream media.  His Seattle speech indicating that our country would be challenged within six months of Obama's election as our President certainly was comforting.  He was so certain of it that he asked those present to remember his words.

This comment came easily for him because he had used it before...back when he was opposing Barack Obama, before he became number two on the ticket.

I would imagine that Barack Obama knew there would be these flubs when he selected Biden but I wonder if he has any regrets today with that decision?

The media permits those in power to simply pass these events off as 'gaffes' by Joe.  That's "just Joe" goes the common response.

Is there equity employed by the media?  NO.  But does the media still lay claim to being unbiased?  YES.

Et Tu Brute?

Or should I have said Et Tu Peggy?  The Latin sentence above means "Even you, Brutus?" according to my teacher of Latin, Mrs. Chase.  She had to bear up under the strain of me in two years of her classes.  I'm sure you would send her your condolences just having read this Blog and without knowing how I struggled in her classes.

Peggy Noonan writes in her current Wall Street Journal Opinion Piece, Palin's Failin', about Sarah Palin and my first thought was just that:  "Even you, Peggy?"  Noonan has been among my 'must read' columnists for a long time.  I occasionally find myself disagreeing with her, and this was among those times in which I disagreed, strongly enough to have to express that to anyone foolish enough to be reading this.

Noonan seems to have succumbed to the Eastern Elitist buzz on Sarah Palin.  She mocks the dropping of g's at the end of words.  She seems offended that some of us ne'er-do-wells in fly over country would be dumb enough to think she is one of us.  She feels that McCain made a bad selection while I think it was a stroke of brilliance...even if an accidental stroke of brilliance.

Noonan doesn't yet know what Palin stands for.  I think she pretty well stands for the things that many of us hold dear.  Noonan sees her as a follower, and I can't square that with her history to this point.  How many governors have you seen who were followers.  How many people have you seen who took on members of their own party whom she thought to be wrong-headed?  That doesn't strike me as being a follower.

Noonan takes Palin to task for not speaking as eloquently as Noonan must think she (Noonan) writes.  I would submit that Sarah Palin speaks as the large majority of United States citizens speak...without the affectation that elitism seems to bring forth from some.

I can say that I believe Palin would be far more effective for conservatives and for John McCain if she were permitted by the campaign 'handlers' to be herself.  I am convinced that Sarah would've had the perfect rebuttals for Katie had she been following her own instincts.  Palin hasn't been a wilting house plant in her life to this point.

I know we'll argue as to the 'qualifications' to be Vice President and whether she or Mr. Biden are better qualified to assume the presidency.  That, for me, is for another day.  For today, I am a bit disgruntled with Ms. Noonan.  Would that she could spend a few weeks with real people again.  Maybe it would take a few years, though.  Seems she has succumbed to the charm of the upper crust.

There is a very real sense that we have been placed in a new world of politics.  I'll call it Politics 2.0 signifying the coming of a new genre.

As I watched the debate last evening involving Barack Obama and John McCain, it was as if I was witnessing a battle between the old and the new politics.  And, that is exactly what we've been hearing during this twenty-month plus campaign.  Obama has been pointedly making himself the leader of Politics 2.0 so far as the race for the presidency.

Obama has appealed to those of us who are younger and has been successful.  He outlived his Democratic challengers and he appears poised, if we are to believe the pollsters and the mainstream media, to become our next President.  He is a masterful communicator so far as style points.  Too many of us are unable to, or don't feel the need to, dig beneath the smooth, suave surface to get at the underlying meat in his answers and in his speeches.  He has run a campaign of nearly two years in length and we are still waiting for some definition to his talking points; we'll wait until after November, 2008, too.

Obama has deployed one of the most effective campaigns I can recall, and I've been an active observer since Au H20 (Goldwater) days.  He has had an advantage in campaigning against one of the 'old' pols who can 'barely' communicate when viewed in the glow of Obama.  He has, in my opinion, had the advantage of having the mainstream press firmly in his pocket for well over a year, if not longer.  I have seen mainstream "journalism" largely trumped by Politics 2.0, and I have seen the Internet used to very nearly its current maximum potential by one candidate. 

As if this wasn't sufficient, we see our economy reeling and that almost always portends defeat for the party in the Whitehouse without regard to the cause or finding of true fault.

I have made no pretense as to my views of the final two candidates.  I am a fiscal and social conservative and there is but one place for my vote.

That having been said, I can say that I am fearful of a Democrat sweep that leads to control of the Congress and of the Whitehouse.  If that should occur, I will see much of which I disapprove happening in our country.  If there is nothing remaining but a vocal, versus meaningful, minority, the minority's voice will be silenced except for the Internet and talk radio for the next four years.

While our federal government usually takes a long time to get anything accomplished, that is usually because the two-party system is sufficiently active and potent to thwart some of the less-than-wise moves attempted by the majority.  If the Democrats sweep to the degree that they have absolute control in both the House and the Senate, and if they have Barack Obama in the Whitehouse, we'll see an activist government such as we've not before witnessed.

We will see Supreme Court justices that will re-interpret the constitution to their liking.  We will see congressional hearings into everyone who ever served in the Bush administration.  We'll witness the complete take-over of healthcare by the government.  We'll see 'progressive' taxation policies that will cripple the economy and stifle the growth of businesses.  We'll see states governed by liberal majorities creating laws recognizing same sex marriage.  We'll see attacks on our rights to keep and bear arms.  We'll see our education system subverted to become a political indoctrination tool beyond that which already exists.  We will see an inexorable slide toward socialism.

I hope that I am wrong...but I fear that I may be correct.

I had intended to scan a copy of the sample ballot for Germantown however that wasn't sufficiently legible.  So, we'll list the offices for which there are candidate selections to be made by all of us who are registered to vote in the village.

You may elect to vote a straight ticket including, in the order found on the ballot:

• Democratic
• Republican
• Wisconsin Green
• Libertarian

The race for President and Vice President, in the order found on the ballot:

• Barack Obama/Joe Biden (Democratic)
• John McCain/Sarah Palin (Republican)
• Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente (Wisconsin Green)
• Bob Barr/Wayne A. Root (Libertarian)
• Brian Moore/Stewart A. Alexander (Socialist Party USA)
• Gloria LaRiva/Robert Moses (Party for Socialism, & Liberation)
• Ralph Nader/Matt Gonzalez (Independent)
• Chuck Baldwin/Darrell L. Castle (Constitution Party)
• Jeffrey J. Wamboldt/David J. Klimisch (We, the People)
• Write-in________________

Representative in Congress District 5, in the order found on the ballot:

• F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (Republican)
• Robert R. Raymond (Independent)
• Write-in________________

State Senator District 8, in the order found on the ballot:

• Sheldon A. Wasserman (Democratic)
• Alberta Darling (Republican)
• Write-in________________

Representative to the Assembly District 24, in the order found on the ballot:

• Charlene S. Brady (Democratic)
• Dan Knodl (Republican)
• Write-in________________

District Attorney:

• Todd K. Martens (Republican)
• Write-in________________

County Clerk:

• Brenda J. Jaszewski (Republican)
• Write-in_________________

Treasurer:

• Janice Gettelman (Republican)
• Write-in_________________

Register of Deeds:

• Sharon Martin (Republican)
• Write-in_________________

Referendum - Germantown School District

Question #1:

Shall the following Initial Resolution be approved?

INITIAL RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $22,500,000

BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of the Germantown School District, Washington County, Wisconsin that there shall be issued pursuant to Chapter 67 of the Wisconsin Statutes, general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed $22,500,000 for the public purpose of paying the cost of constructing a new elementary school on school district property next to Kinderberg Park; technology, safety and security initiatives District wide; and acquiring furnishings, fixtures and equipment.

Yes ____

No   ____

Question #2

Shall the following Resolution be approved?

RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE SCHOOL DISTRICT BUDGET TO EXCEED REVENUE LIMIT BY $500,000

FOR RECURRING PURPOSES

BE IT RESOLVED by the School Board of the Germantown School District, Washington County, Wisconsin that the revenues included in the School District budget for the 2010-2011 school year and thereafter be authorized to exceed the revenue limit specified in Section 121.91, Wisconsin Statutes, by $500,000 a year, for recurring purposes consisting of costs associated with the new elementary school.

Yes ____

No   ____

~~~~~~~~~~

The ballot is two-sided as you would expect from the many questions.

As the recent chain of events concerning our country's economy has unfolded, I found myself thinking about 'slippery slopes' and just how easy it would be for us to begin a slide that we'd be unable to overcome.

We have just partially nationalized our major banking entities.  We have effectively nationalized the AIG insurance giant.

I have never felt so close to the point where it could become possible that our country would become the United Socialist States of America.  There will be those among you who see this as pure and unadulterated blasphemy.  There will be those among you who will nod your heads up and down in total agreement.  There will be those among you who have not given this any thought; and among that group there will be those who now begin to think about nationalization/socialization, and there will be those who simply aren't concerned.

We have a candidate for President of the United States of America who has openly stated that he favors re-distribution of wealth so that those on the lower rungs of the economic ladder can enjoy the fruits of our nation's wealth.  And, we have a mainstream media that seems to have missed this statement in its entirety...or we have a mainstream media that agrees with this stated position...or we have a mainstream media that doesn't care.  This is a socialist mantra.

We seem intent on moving ourselves into government run and controlled healthcare.  Our government has become our 'nanny' concerning all kinds of things from the food we eat, to making decisions for us because it knows better than each of us does.

While I have thought, until now, that the alteration of our country to that of a socialist state was so preposterous as to be silly to contemplate, I have come to see how it could happen in the comparative blink of an eye and just how close we have come to that possibility.

The presidents of the major banking firms in the United States met with the Secretary of the Treasury for about an hour, and then left the room having signed off on a deal that has the United States of America becoming the owner of preferred stock in each of those entities.  These bank leaders didn't know what the proposition would be when they entered that room, and they didn't even consult with their respective directors.  They felt as though they had no choice.  This happened shortly after AIG was 'purchased' by the United States of America for $85 billion that was later escalated to just short of $125 billion.  AIG felt as if it had no choice.

We have an automobile industry begging for similar treatment after seeing their stock erode to 1950s prices.  These industry leaders feel as though they have no choice.

This is written in one of the last socialist strongholds of the United States...Milwaukee, WI.  I know several people who prefer the 'good old days' under socialist mayors.

So, as much as you might suspect my sanity at this point, I would submit to you that we have already taken several steps down that slippery slope in the name of protecting our economy.  Our economy got to this point through actions taken and not taken by our politicians.  That was, I believe, simply coincidence...but it could've been part of a conscious plan.  It makes little difference after the fact.  We delude ourselves if we think it impossible.

Once we are at the bottom of the slippery slope, we'll not climb back in our lifetimes.  We were warned years ago about "irrational exuberance".  "Irrational panic" is a much worse taskmaster.  Incremental erosion of our freedoms is insidious, and, too often, we aren't even tuned in sufficiently to comprehend what we're losing. 

We drink the kool-aid and then wonder how in the world we got to the point we're at.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, has been in the news for several of the past election cycles and finds itself there again.  Is this simply a politically-driven campaign or does ACORN merit this attention?  How does ACORN influence elections, if it does?

The Journal Sentinel editorialized yesterday on this subject, and essentially took the position that this is much ado over nothing.  The editorial staff cites the recent revelation that ACORN hired seven felons to serve as 'deputy registrars' and justifies this with its further discussion about how the registration cards are subjected to review before being handed over to the election officials, etc.

That seems to miss the fact that 49 'deputy registrars' in Milwaukee were referred to the authorities for possible voter registration irregularities discovered by the Election Commission.

It is interesting to me that ACORN has no political agenda but seems to somehow find itself registering Democrat-leaning voters in over 95% of the cases.  It specifically targets parts of the communities in which it works that typically vote heavily for Democrats.  Barack Obama's campaign actually donated some $832,000 to an ACORN affiliate to 'get out the vote'.  It originally tried to obfuscate the reason for the payment but finally admitted that it was to be used to 'get out the vote'.  We can surmise which voters that money will be used to identify and push to the polls.

Why did the first 'solution' offered to end the economic crisis in our economy include an automatic funding mechanism to get more and more money to ACORN?  Do you think there might be a political agenda at work here?  That was removed as the result of the initial failure of that 'solution' to get sufficient votes.  That speaks well for Jim Sensenbrenner voting no.  Yes, I know that the Democrat in Appleton voted no, as well, but he was given permission to do that only because he is in a tough race for re-election at the end of his first two years in the House of Representatives and Ms. Pelosi needs to be able to count on his re-election.

Finally, there are legal actions being taken against ACORN in other parts of the country over the issues that have dogged this organization for years.  Why were only the 'deputy registrars' referred for legal scrutiny while the organization proper again was given a pass in our state?

Why has the state Government Accountability Board not required voter registration lists be checked for irregularities since early-August of this year?  Why have voter registration officers across the state been told to not cross-reference with the motor vehicle department database?  There was time for that yet it didn't happen...it isn't being permitted even where community officials have asked to be able to do the verification.

The action brought, finally, by the Attorney General has been 'slow-walked' through the system so as to assure there'll be nothing to interfere with the 'system' until at least after the race for President is decided. 

Beyond all this lies a simple solution, so far blocked by the party in power in Wisconsin (Democrat if you've any question).

What is that simple solution?  It is voter photo identification.  It also could be a dose of 'no same day registration' that would give our officials the opportunity to verify the information provided by those who register at the pools the same day as they vote.

Last, but possibly most important is this:  Wisconsin voters are so evenly divided as to make any illegally-cast votes significantly more important to the outcome.  If we again have a difference of a few thousand voters deciding the outcome, a few thousand illegally-registering and voting people could easily change the outcome thus impacting every honest vote in the state.  And, there can be no credible argument that illegal votes do not occur.  We all know better...or should!

Kimberley Strassel of the Wall Street Journal has done a good job with her Obama's Magic opinion piece in today's Journal.

There will be a lot of "magic" required to accomplish all that he has promised us, but we're accustomed to 'rude awakenings' following  Presidential campaigns.

The story of five school districts that invested borrowed money in an attempt to earn larger returns is back in the news as the result of their court case against the two organizations that sold them the deal.

This is an up close and personal portrayal of the rather esoteric things referred to as CDOs...Collateralized Debt Obligations.  The CDOs that were purchased contained some of the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac garbage that blew up a short time ago.  So, bad mortgage deals that some politicians wanted made so that their constituency would continue to vote for them have come home to roost in five school districts in Wisconsin.

Up until recently, we've listened to news and watched hearings on television and been somewhat removed from the whole discussion.  Now we watch the stock market lose something on the order of thirty percent of its value even after the "bailout" plan was enacted.  Those who have investments see their hopes being delayed, if not dashed.  People thinking of retiring within the next year to five years are probably re-thinking if they counted on their investments as part of the money they'd live on in their 'golden years'.

All that is bad enough, but now we learn that these school districts were owners of some of the 'crap' mortgages.  The districts have tried to portray themselves as 'innocents' but news articles today appear to destroy that position.  They were apparently told about the 'risk' but chose to ignore it for a greater return than otherwise available.

They seem to have known that they could lose their entire investment if the default rate rose above 4.95% but would remain whole if the default rate stayed beneath 3.95%.  They were also told, apparently, that the "highest historical default rate in the past 23 years" was 1.85%, so where was the risk?

The risk was in the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac garbage loans that were a part of these 'great deals', and the default rate did exceed the 23 year high.  And some of our (the nation's) elected officials were pushing for even more.  100% mortgage loans to questionable credit risks is simply stupid.  These politicians wouldn't have lent their money in that manner, but they were really anxious to get our money into those deals!