The Ex-Whipper and Eleven Other Reasons Give Us No Reason to See A Budget Deal Ahead..
Like wa always seem to say, Washington has a bad habit for avoiding the tough decisions, and taking the easy way out. They did it earlier this year, when they passed a BS $1.5 trillion budget cut over the next decade. If it sounds like a lot of cutting, keep in mind that this year's deficit is $1.2 trillion. So, they essentially did about 13% of the business needed to be done... Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
But, fear not, for there is a little-known codicile in the Faber constitution (OK, it's pretty well-known) that formed the Budget Select Supercommittee to create a bi-partisan solution to cut even more from the fuure budgets. A Gang of Twelve: Six Senators, Six Congressmen. Six Republicans, Six Democrats. All entrusted with working together to hack and chop fairly, so the automatic cuts don't take effect.
Yeah, it does sound pie in the sky and far fetched to us as well. For those of us who live in the 6th District of South Carolina, we KNOW nothing will happen in the next 60 days.. Why? Because one of those members is our own Whipmaster, Jim Clyburn.
We all know that Clyburn is a budget hawk and expert, with his decades of private business experience, and years of serving on every financial and business-related committee in Congress. Oh wait, he hasn't done any of that. No, he's there for two reasons...
First off, he's there for himself. You see, the lobbyists now know that instead of paying off every Committee Chair and Whip (which are probably 100), they now only need to coddle 12 people of the 535 members of Congress. Clyburn has already gotten flack for doing a ton of fundraising as all of this has gone on to fill his coffers. Well, he DOES need all the money he can get to fight off those tough challenges every 2 years....
But, the main reason he is there is that both he and Barack Obama - who calls him The Sage, which really is polispeak for 'Old' - is to ensure that NOTHING happens to the Sacred Cows of Medicare, Social Security and other programs that are going to sink the US economy eventually. Clyburn and Obama are both on the same page as far as their vision of America, and Cly and the Family Stone will make sure almost no cuts occur, and that taxes are installed wherever possible.
He's not our only reason for doubts about a deal. We're not very happy with either side's choices. The other House Dems? Xavier Becerra is another super-liberal, who fought every compromise brought by the Bowles-Simpson panel. Chris Van Hollen could be better, but his job is essentially to make sure Democrats are elected. Bipartisanism isn't exactly a prereqisite for that gig... The Senate Dems are Patty Murray, who has the same gig as Van Hollen, only in the other chamber, John Kerry, and Max Baucus. Could be worse, but not great.
As bad as the Dems choices were, the Republicans loaded their side with guys (literally ALL guys) just as rigid on tax reform. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is a Tea Party-type, no taxes, no how stiff who will not help the cause of compromise. Rob Portman (R-OH) has the OMB experience to break out the paring knife and make the tough decisions, but his tenure in the Bush Administratio will not make him friends. John Kyl (R-Az) is another big wig in the GOP who didn't get there by being nice wih the other side. Maybe the fact he's quitting soon will soften him up, but we doubt it.
On the House side, Jeb Hensarling (R-Tx , which says it all) leads the team, along with Michigan committee chairs Dave Camp (Ways and Means) and Fred Upton (Energy). Hensarling has been the GOP floor hammer for a decade now, and Camp opposed any tax hikes on Bowles-Simpson. Upton is more of a wildcard, but has been a thorn in the side of Obama lately. Not much daylight for compromise there either...
No, we're not big fans of tax hikes, but if we get a 3-1 or better deal on cuts vs. tax hikes, then make the deal. My economic guru, Joe the CPA, says the megarich know they have been getting sweetheart deals the past decade, and they can and would pay it. Everyone talks about payinr 'their fair share'... the best way to do it? A Flat Income Tax, two tiers, with one exemption tied to the poverty line. Simple. Fair. Will this every happen? Never....
More importantly, will the budget deal get done? Maybe, but we doubt it. Our hopes are for Baucus, Portman, Kyl and maybe Van Hollen to reach a deal. We know the likes of Clyburn will not get it done - he's just there to get Obama's way in the deal as much as possible. And of course, he's in it for himself.... But, we do look forward to Clyburn's reunion with John Kerry.
We STILL love this picture.... They look SO comfortable together!
.
If This Guy Is Like Most Diplomats, His Car Is Illegally Parked.
You may have noticed all the news this week from the United Nations, as they have been discussing possible recognition of Palestine. With all of the leaders that have been in town this week (Obama, Ahmadinejad, Abbas and Netanyahu among them), the East Side of Manhattan has been one gigantic traffic stop.
Yes, when the UN diplomats are in town, most of the major thoroughfares in New York are blocked. In short, millions of commuters have to wait or figure out how to get to work, home or a client some other way. All week......
Apparently, that is still not enough for UN diplomats... It seems that they have trouble parking legally as well - anywhere! As of this week, New York City is owed a total $16.7 million for unpaid parking tickets. Egypt leads the pack at $1.9 million, followed closely by Nigeria at $1 million, and Indonesia at $725k.... Literally EVERY country in the UN owes New York money for parking tickets...
It has gotten so bad, a group of New York-area congressmen are submitting legislation that would impose sanctions for any country that owes the city money. We're not sure exactly what those sanctions are, but it should be interesting to see them try and collect..
So, while you may think diplomatic immunity was only used for DWI's, drugs and killing prostitutes, you are corrected - and it's been going on for a long time, as we can attest. Back in the Summer of 1990, I worked at Robert Moses State Park, which is a beach basically. I found a car parked in the corner of the lot, literally blocking the entry way to the beach. So, if an ambulance or police had to get on the beach, they could not. I called the police, had the car towed, then waited for the diplomat to return.... I advised him he endangered lives, so we towed the car back to the mainland 12 miles away, and I gave him the phone number to the tow company and a taxi company that would pick him up - and for him to fuck himself. I was 22, and it was my first experience at giving a political bigwig the finger. It was beautiful....
.
You should be used to this by now... In the bait and switch world that is DC, the hocus pocus game of budget cuts has begun. Rather than take the paring knife to programs that waste money or do nothing, the Obama Administration has counted the money that they SHOULD NOT spend if we withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan as deficit savings....
No, it's not necessarily false. If we aren't there, the defense budget - which has gotten pretty hefty in the past decade - will drop. But, WILL we be out totally? How about Pakistan? Somewhere else? What if we finally invade Canada? It could happen, but there are plenty of other cuts available that are spinning out of control. It's time Washington stopped taking the easy way out, and make the tough decisions we paid them to do... Yeah, I just laughed too.
.
"Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day."
- Benjamin Franklin, 1771.
In short, if you're looking to hit the lottery to change your life, don't be surprised when nothing happens, and you're in the same hole you've always been. Work hard. Work smart. Think. Good things will happen. They can't keep you down forever..... Speaking of going down, how about Claudia Alvarez?
.
One Post Causes SC6 To Have More Hits in 3 Days Than The Previous Six Months....
More stunning to us than Hermain Cain's Florida win today was what we saw when we clicked onto our Blog Stats. We have a decent traffic stream - more than even we originally thought. Most months, we have about 12-15000 hits a month. Our alltime high was last October, right before the 2010 Elections.... We had 21,862 hits. On September 13th, that was blown out of the water.....
Apparently, SOMETHING made the rounds suddenly. The 12th was a normal day - 629 hits. Like a lightning flash, SC6 became a hot blog..... Here are the numbers:
9/13 - 24,985 hits
9/14 - 43,588 hits
9/15 - 11,463 hits
9/16 - 2298 hits
9/17 - 1461 hits
and it continued pretty much through the 21, which was our last day over 1000 hits. We checked the data, and it appears that our source for the hits had nothing to do with our bread and butter - politics. Nope, politics only gets you so far. To get the hits, you gotta show some leg... Specifically, Scarlett Johanssen.
We can't even remember when that post was exactly - we may have posted on her twice. But after the 78,000 hit total in just 72 hours, SC6 is well poised to crack the 100,000 hit barrier - in a single month! Yes, we're both proud and not proud at the same time. Almost six years now, and we're still just throw poop against the wall......... and seeing what sticks. Still haven't figured it out!
.
The Texas Governor: Not As Smooth a Talker As He Is a Dresser
So, being able to speak DOES matter... It's a skill I found out as a candidate was important. Now Rick Perry knows it too. After his totally incomprehensible salvo on Mitt Romney on Thursday's debate, his campaign has lost a lot of steam. Not totally gone, but then again, if you can get the salvo out of the rocket launcher, it isn't a salvo, is it??
Yes, doing a good job is primary, but being able to ENUNCIATE what your vision is falls right in behind it. Voters don't want to have to sift through what you meant to say to decipher your vision - you have to pound them on the skull with a sledge hammer. If you fail at that, you fail. Period....
Perry's flub reminds us of a clip featuring a certain Trashmen song.... Just replace 'Bird" with 'Before That'....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184&feature=related
.
Take Your Bow, Godfather ..... For Now.
After working 11 1/2 hrs 12 of the last 13 days, we woke up to our usual Sunday am routine - an omlette and Fox News Sunday! One thing that broke our routine and woke us up real fast was the word that former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain won the Florida Straw Poll....
Now, the rule that has always applied (and still does here) is that STRAW POLLS DON'T MEAN ANYTHING.... No, Cain did not win Florida - he got about 1000 of 2657 attendees to vote for him. Yeah, he bum rushed the party, and walked out with the keg, a couple CD's, and the hottest girl there... But, there are legitimate reasons for the win as well....
In a year where jobs, and the Federal Budget are paramount, Cain has submitted perhaps the most realistic and fair tax reform plan. His 9/9/9 Plan, which includes a flat tax and national sales tax, has a good amount of equity and fairness to it. No, we are not Fair Tax fans at all, but compared to the 23% tax they've been dropping, a 9% sales tax is more reasonable. Everyone else's plans haven't made much of a splash - while most of them haven't even submitted a plan. 2012 is not the year of semantics and promises - we want numbers. Cain has done that, and it paid off Saturday.
So, do we now put Cain in the top spot? Uh, no. 1000 supporters is not a campaign make. But, we might be apt to move him up to a Top Three or maybe Four. Wins in anything do that, but it is fleeting and fluid. Ask Michelle Bachmann... The main fact to pull from the Florida Straw Poll is that GOP voters are not happy with the field, to it's own detriment, and we'll get into that shortly. For now, Cain can finally put a notch in his belt, and hope it starts a roll up the polls with more participants than an old Pee Dee Pride hockey game.
.
"The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
- Thomas Jefferson, 1816.
There's a lot of big words there, but basically TJ is saying that funding the government by raising taxes, rather than cutting their spending, is BS. It is and will always be most important for the citizens of the United States to be liquid, rather than their government. If we run out of money, then the government must cut back accordingly some as well.... Seems simple enough to us. We're not crazy budget cutters, but there is a limit. What has no limit? The hotness of Yvonne Strahovski!
.
We meant to post on this last week, but post-hangover syndrome got to us.... In case you missed it, a study showed that watching Spongebob Squarepants for as little as 10 minutes causes your kid to lose his/her short term memory. For those of us who live near young kids who watch Spongebob, this is no surprise... Uhhh, what the hell was I talking about again????
.
"It is certainly true that a popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people."
- Richard Henry Lee, 1786.
Government is a reflection of it's people - usually. If we allow only people with character to represent us and our values, then good things will eventually happen. One thing that flourishes nicely? Summer Altice!
.
We were surprised it wasn't a Smiley Face 'Have a Nice Day' t-shirt.... On this anniversary, it's fitting that we remind Congress what America became ten years ago on this day. Somewhere along the way, the unity was lost - but it's never too late to get it back!
.
We're Guessing Left to Right It's Romney, Bachmann, Huntsman, Palin and Obama ...
OK a-holes, Summer Vacation is over.... Time to get back to saving America. The campaigns are back in gear, and apparently everyone's "What I Did This Summer" project was creating jobs plan.
Like most smart people, we are reserving judgement on all three plans submitted this week by Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. We do wonder how the others plan on winning without a plan. We are well past the days of generalized bullshit. We all want specifics....
Granted, we will probably find one or two things from each plan that will help, but the malaise will be here much longer than we hoped. We're talking years of low job growth here folks. This bodes badly for Obama, who's re-election lives and dies by the economy. He isn't helping himself by building all of this up. He will have no magic bullet, and it has to cost money, which will undo everything he did a month ago.
So, is it all much ado about nothing? No, there are always things Washington can do to set the plate better... We doubt it will happen, but yu have to listen at least - and we'll be there....
.
New Android App Lets You Make Speeches In Obama or Bush 43's Voice...
We figured out today that Hurricane Irene cost me about $350 this week....Between having to eat out 3 meals a day for 4 days, lost food, and lastly, buying a new cellphone - one with a car charger - that was the total extra expense. Yeah, I was planning to finally get a smartphone soon anyway, but Irene pushed it a little ahead of schedule....
The big fun of getting a new phone are the apps. Android Market is pretty damned cool, and there are plenty of things available that are free. One we heard about comes from I-Speech. If you're a political junkie like me, it's right up your alley...
Ever want to send your friends a crank call from President Bush, or just for once hear Barack Obama say 'let's cut entitlement programs and balance the budget'? Well, now you can. The I-Speech app allows you to type in whatever text you want, and it then plays it for you in Obama or Dubya's voice..
The app uses voice recognition technology, which for a President is very hard. After all, using all of a President's speeches gives you plenty of fodder to make the program possible. It does have a few spots where it blends stuff together, but for us, a free app that allows us to hear Barack Obama say our favorite quote, it's awesome.
Yes, I've been listen to Obama say "I'd like to introduce my friend and political consultant, Jim Clyburn.... As you know, Jim is a tax and spend liberal, he race baits, and he also molests puppies." Well, he doesn't molest puppies anyway, but it's fun to hear...
.
The Ex-Prez Trades In Burgers For Fruits, Veggies and Beans..... No Word If Hillary's With the Program Yet.
In case you missed it this week, word is out that the Extreme Left has finally gotten to Bill Clinton - not that it was too hard. Yes, in a case that proves that in politics, anything can happen, Bill Clinton has become a Vegan...... Viva Las Vegan, Mr. President!
Yep, the 42nd Prez has traded Big Mac's and McNuggets for fruits, veggies and beans... and a nation mourns. Word is, McDonald's stock dropped 25% on the news alone. Granted, we could never go that route - we love meat just too much to give it up. It's just about our only vice. But, it has done Clinton some good. Word is, he's dropped about 20 pounds so far, so good for him....
Now, for our concerns. We're hoping it doesn't all go to his head. We don't hate vegetarianism.... we just hate Vegan 'Superiority'. In our book, Vegans act more conceited and judgemental than Jehovah's Witnesses... So, our advice is for Clinton avoiding taking the 'Vegan Edge'. If you need an example, we give you a couple clips from our favorite recent movie - last year's 'Scott Pilgrim vs. The World'...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqqGZBRBLcM
Now, before you all go out and drop meat and eggs in order to do mad Bass Guitar solos and kick skinny kid's asses, watch what happens...
www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=dLpCZ8g5uK8
So, we'll just it back and remember the Bill Clinton we know and love... Something tells me that we'll see him there again soon. Vegan Edge, my ass!!
www.dailymotion.com/video/x7ms6k_saturday-night-live-clinton-at-mcdo_fun
.
In selecting (Men) for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate -- look to his character..."
- Noah Webster, 1789.
At first,we confused this quote with 'let you conscience be your guide', but this is actually better. Conscience can be clouded, principles are less apt to be adjustable.... We doubt any sect or denomination would have a problem with Brooklyn Decker - unless you're a bunch of reporters who mistook her for Erin Andrews or some other blonde at the US Open this week. She almost got onto a media bus and waited outside it, when the reporters started getting mad at her for getting on the bus. I would have begged for Mrs. Roddick to get on if it were me....
.
While zero job growth was a tough story to pass up, no one bothered to make a cartoon about it - at least not by Friday... So, we're going with former Veep Dick Cheney's new tell-all book. We saw a clip of Cheney from yesterday's Fox News Sunday, and we gotta say one thing: either he has cut out the bacon and sausage, and is in the best shape of his life, or he is pretty sick. Either way, the book should be a decent and interesting read... Unless you're a Gitmo detainee.
.
