HAPPY FOOLS' DAY

HAPPY FOOLS’ DAY!!!!

(April 1, 2010)

I was awakened this morning by my 7-year old granddaughter Claire who informed me that the dog had made a mess in the house. As I began to get out of bed to investigate, she got me with “April Fool”, smiled her beautiful ‘gotcha’ smile, and ran back to her room.

A few minutes later, as I was trying to get back to sleep, her 5-year old brother Angus, who hadn’t quite mastered the vernacular, came in with the same message and, as I feigned surprise and started to jump out of bed, he shouted, “Happy Fools’ Day”.

As I think about “April Fool” vs. “Happy Fools’ Day”, I concede that Claire’s “April Fool” may be correct by historical standards. Supposedly Charles IX mandated the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in the 16^th Century, changing the beginning of the new year from April 1 to January 1, and those who rebelled against of were unaware of the change were called…..you guessed it…..and were subject to pranks such as being sent on ‘fool’s errands’. However, while Angus’ “Happy Fools’ Day” may have no foundation in the Renaissance, it does sound remarkably appropriate for the 21^st Century.

> Happy Fools’ Day to all those who voted for Obama and still support him after the most duplicitous and inept 14 months of any administration in our history, even worse than the peanut farmer. (At least Carter had run a farm and served in the Navy before what has been jokingly referred to as “his presidency”).

> Happy Fools’ Day to all the young idealists who thought they were voting for a better tomorrow for themselves, who believed in the siren song of the Socialists. It will be they and theirs who will be the inheritors of the crushing debt and witnesses to the disappearance of personal liberty. As a wise man once said, “Anyone who’s not a Socialist at age 18 has no heart – and anyone who’s still a Socialist at age 30 has no brain.”

> Happy Fools’ Day to our congress men and women who followed the Pied Piper, dancing to his tune and singing his song without knowing what the lyrics said. Following the up-coming election in November, those ex-career politicians who will not have been offered a seat on the Obama welfare trolley will find themselves seeking real jobs for the first time. The delicious irony here is that they will become part of the statistic that they helped to create – the unemployed.

And finally, let us pray that the electorate is not lulled to sleep over the next seven months, that the Republicans regain their conservative footing, that the independents continue their drift away from the liberal/progressive agenda of Soros/Obama presidency and that the center-right of this country prevails.

On my 78^th Birthday, November 3, 2010 (the day after the mid-term elections) I don’t want Angus wakening me once again with “Happy Fools’ Day”.

MEMO TO SELF

WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU
AND HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THERE?

You’ve lived through a depression, several recessions, 12 presidents (6 of whom you voted for), a world war, a ‘cold war’, several other declared and undeclared ‘hot’ wars and a ‘police action’ in which you participated. You’ve witnessed the space race, men walking on the moon, little man-made vehicles traversing the Martian landscape as well as little Japanese-made vehicles traversing the American landscape. You’ve seen the malevolent influence of the drugs and sex driven zombies of the 1960’s anti-war, America-hating left, the crowd which dragged this country through the disgraceful retreat/defeat in Vietnam, and whose influence and progeny will continue to pollute our politics for generations to come. You’ve watched the rise and fall of communism and its related collectivist ideologies all over this planet and you now sense the very real possibility of their rebirth, in the United States, of all places. You’ve no way of knowing what else may be in store, but nothing really surprises you anymore.

Now, two days after your 76th birthday, and one day after casting your vote for John McCain and watching him lose to Barack Obama, you sit there pondering the future of America under President Obama. You sit there wondering what the hell has happened over the last two years and, more importantly, what might happen in the next four. Has your country become a place where emotion has completely replaced reason, where respectful disagreement has been replaced by harangue, where all the failed collectivist ideologies of this planet’s history will find a new home?

You’ve given up analyzing this presidential campaign, trying to understand why a thoroughbred with the track record and credentials of a John McCain was unable to win the race against an untried and unproven individual with no track record and a long list of questionable relationships. You feel you know the four reasons for McCain’s loss. First, the liberal-oriented mainstream press has been telling the country for almost eight years how George W. Bush is a disaster, a stupid man, the worst president ever. The fact that he was re-elected 3+ years ago means nothing to them. Is it any surprise then, with the constant battering of the media, that Bush is held in low regard? All Obama had to do is wrap Bush around McCain’s neck, even though McCain often disagreed with Bush. Secondly, the Republicans behaved like Democrats for the past six years, helping to spend us into the deficit mess we now enjoy. Thirdly, and very importantly, about seven weeks before the election, the economy tanks as a result of the Democratic Party’s meddling in the mortgage market, using Freddie Mae and Freddie Mac to pollute the market with sub-prime mortgages. The Democrats, in effect, converted home-renters into home-owners into homeless as the mortgage market tanked and took the rest of the economy with it. The fact that it happened on George Bush’s watch, along with the fact that the Democratic controlled congress had neither the desire nor the will to address the problem at its source and endanger their presidential candidate, was a killer for McCain. Finally, and most importantly, the Democratic candidate proved to be one of the most capable and adroit politicians ever to seek the Oval Office, was able to raise and spend unheard of amounts of money and ran a masterful campaign.
However, you now hear esteemed members of the mainstream media admitting that they are hard-pressed to predict what our new President will do because they just don’t know the man, have no sense of who he really is.

Perhaps, you think, if they hadn’t spent all their time and effort pulling Obama’s bandwagon and avoiding any examination of the man, his associations, his voting record or his campaign promises, they might have attained some knowledge of the man behind the charisma. If they had replaced some of their adulation with the slightest bit of journalistic integrity and curiosity they might have achieved some sense of what they were enabling.

Perhaps, on reflection, you really can’t blame the young for voting the way they did. It is no surprise that the young are idealistic. It is also no surprise that many have been influenced by their teachers and professors and, to a large extent, by peer pressure. But, they voted honestly and in great numbers. And if, as they mature, they are able to maintain some of their idealism and factor in some degree of wisdom gained from experience, it could auger very well for our future.

Perhaps the overwhelming number of blacks voted along racial lines. That shouldn’t surprise you or distress you. If you were black, you very well may have done likewise. Human nature is an integral ingredient of the political process.

Barack Obama was not your choice but he will be your President. So, pray for him and his family, pray that the Lord give him wisdom and strength to lead us through the current financial and economic mess. Pray that he fully recognizes the need for us to be strong in the face of our enemies. Pray that he sees the wisdom (if not the necessity) of governing from the center. Pray that he adheres to his campaign promises to do just that and does not allow the far left faction of his party to drag him (and us) closer to socialism or into the self-destructive sewer of capitulation, recrimination, retaliation and vengeance.

So there, self. I hope that closes the book for you on this election. Go on with your life, fight the good fight and do whatever you can to help your party reclaim its principles, if not its very soul.

Regards,

Me

YESTERDAY PEOPLE - JIMMY, HUGO & BARACK

or- DON QUIXOTE OBAMA - TILTING AT WINDFALLS

Windfall Profits Tax 101: How to Make the Producers Pay and Damn the Consequences.

1. April 1980: Windfall Profits Tax - JIMMY CARTER - SOCIALISM FOR THE UNITED STATES IN THE OLD CENTURY

In the United States, President Jimmy Carter signed the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act into law in April 1980.

The windfall profits tax was forecasted to raise more than $320 billion between 1980 and 1989. However, the government collected only $80 billion in gross tax revenue and, to the extent that the tax was deductible against corporate income, the actual net realized was closer to $40 billion.

According to the Congressional Research Service, the 1980 windfall profits tax depressed the domestic production and extraction industry and furthered our dependence on foreign sources of oil.

2. April 2008: Windfall Profits Tax - HUGO CHAVEZ - SOCIALISM FOR VENEZUELA IN THE NEW CENTURY

Venezuela starts collecting new windfall profits tax on oil companies, as part of President Hugo Chavez' plan to gain a larger share of oil company profits.

President Chavez, a Socialist, has said the tax is necessary to fund key social programs as part of his effort to implement an economic and social system he calls "21st-century socialism."

Critics say the tax will slow investment and development in the oil sector, and also discourage other foreign direct investment in Venezuela.

3. April 2008: Windfall Profits Tax - BARACK OBAMA - SOCIALISM FOR THE UNITED STATES IN THE NEW CENTURY

“Obama wants windfall profits tax on oil companies” (The Guardian April 25, 2008). “Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama today called for a windfall profits tax on oil companies, which he said would be used to ease the burden of rising energy costs on poor and middle-class Americans.”

Campaigning in Indiana, Obama selected a gas station as the forum in which to announce his attack on “…the energy lobby, (who) have blocked ‘meaningful relief’ to consumers hard hit by high gasoline prices.” He went on to say that, "It isn't right that oil companies are making record profits at a time when ordinary Americans are going into debt trying to pay rising energy costs. That's why we'll put a windfall profits tax on oil companies and use it to help Indiana families pay their heating and cooling bills and reduce energy costs".

Obama's campaign did not indicate how much money a windfall profits tax would raise.

I shouldn’t be surprised at Mr.Obama’s evocation of the present policy of Hugo Chavez or the past policy of Jimmy Carter. I was surprised, however, that he decided to make his policy announcement at that gas station. He very well could have caused a crowd to gather, evoking images of the lines of those waiting for gas in Jimmy Carter’s time.

Oh well. Just another example of Mr. Obama’s commitment to change.

Now, we know that the Socialists, Liberals and Progressives all love the idea of taxing, their DNA demands it. Most especially, they insist on taxing the producers for, as Willie Sutton explained that he robbed banks ‘cause that’s where the money is’, Liberals tax where they can find the most capital. The possibility that such capital might better be utilized by the producers to expand exploration and production has no appeal.

And specifically, we should ask why the whole question of windfall profit taxation exerts such a strong attraction for the Democrats. Why is it their philosopher’s stone? Is it because there is such an imbalance between the ‘obscene’ profits of the oil companies and the taxes they pay in the normal course of events? Is it because of the extremely beneficial impact that these windfall profit taxes will have on the underlying problem of energy use and availability? Well, at the risk of being accused of using facts rather than emotion, let’s see what history shows us.

It may be an oversimplification, but the truth of the matter is that the price paid by the consumer for oil products is only partially dependent on the price of crude and the costs of transporting and refining it. Historically, "..taxes of various kinds add substantially to the price of the finished product, and greatly exceed the cost of the original petroleum."
(THE AGE OF OIL - Leonardo Maugeri, 2006)

As to the comparison between oil profits made and taxes paid, in the final quarter of the last Century the oil companies paid about 2 trillion in taxes to the federal and state governments – about triple what their profits were for the same period. So, it seems that the real recipients of windfall profits were the governmental taxing agencies who made three times what the rapacious oil companies made. Do you suppose it might be possible for these agencies to impose windfall profit taxes on themselves?

As to the beneficial impact of such Liberal policies on the underlying problems of energy availability and cost, do you remember asking yourself about that as you waited in Jimmy Carter’s gas station lines then - or do you ponder over all the promises made by Nancy Pelosi and company a year and a half ago and the complete lack of accomplishment since then?

The Democrats are trying to characterize John McCain’s campaign as an attempt to establish the 3rd term of the George Bush presidency. Would that they were right. I would much prefer that to what Obama is promising, the 2nd term of Jimmy Carter.

YESTERDAY PEOPLE - JIMMY CARTER

April 16, 2008

According to today's New York Post, "Former President Jimmy Carter warmly embraced a Hamas leader, praised Yasser Arafat and accused Israel of holding up the peace negotiations as his controversial Mideast tour reached the West Bank yesterday. Carter hugged and kissed Nasser Shaer, a former deputy prime minister in the Hamas-led government who was the highest ranking politician arrested by Israel during confrontations in 2006 and 2007."

In 1976, the peanut farmer from Plains, Georgia became the 39th President of the United States for one simple (and ill-conceived) reason. In the wake of Richard Nixon's downfall, the collective American psyche decided that we couldn't find ability and integrity in one person and, therefore, had to sacrifice one to get the other.

So what if Nixon had negotiated the cease-fire that ended JFK and LBJ's Vietnam War, established detente with the USSR, opened up diplomatic relations with China, had a thriving economy? He was held responsible for a 2nd rate burglary, tried to cover it up, and was forced to resign in the face of impending impeachment. Gerald Ford assumed the mantle, unconditionally pardoned Nixon, invoking the enmity of the press and the public. In the wake of all of this turbulence, the electorate opted out on the ability thing and settled for integrity (or so they thought).

As a result, the country enjoyed the administration of James Earl Carter, a man-made disaster which, thank God, was limited to one term. Four years that were marked by double digit interest rates, stagflation, an economy with a growth rate that had plunged to less than 1/3 of what it had been, long gas lines, our Embassy in Teheran being taken over and hundreds of Americans held as hostages by Iranian students, failed rescue attempts, the creation of two new cabinet-level Departments - Energy and Education - one more worthless than the other.

But, as liberals will tell you, the outcome doesn't matter, it's what's in one's heart that counts. He meant well, so it's okay. So what if his policies created problems? If the economy went south, if the public school system kept deteriorating in spite of all the money he dumped into it to appease the teachers' unions, as long as his heart was in the right place. It's not his fault if the drop-out rate rises and the literacy rate goes in the other direction. If many of the larger cities governed by liberal politicians kept deteriorating, well, he meant well.

However, in 1980, even the Democrats were fed up and tried to get him not to run for re-election. Teddy Kennedy challenged him for the nomination but Carter prevailed and then, thank the Lord, lost to Reagan. Obviously, the electorate had reversed themselves and concluded that, after all, it was possible to get ability and integrity in one package, a very attractive package called Ronald Reagan.

So, here we are years later. Having been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 (the whole world is thankful for the era of peace he established in the Middle East, especially Palestine), the peanut man is off on another of his unsanctioned swings through that area. Despite the urgings of the President of The United States and both political parties, ex-President Jimmie Carter is embracing the terrorists of Hamas and blaming Israel for not doing enough to appease their tormentors, to mollify those who would wipe them off the planet.

He had already proven his lack of ability. Now he's won the daily double.

So, Hillary hide! Obama duck! Somewhere out there is a TCE (a Toxic Carter Endorsement) which will destroy one of you.