SUCKING THE GOVERNMENT TIT?

Ok, so I’m sure that like me you’ve been following the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling with bated breath, and like me, I’m sure that many of you have wondered why some in our congress refuse to raise taxes, while others don’t want to cut programs for the poor and disenfranchised.  Well this article will hopefully give you some insights into why unless you and I wake up and vote every single person currently in office out, we’ll never be able to balance the budget.

Twenty years ago I was a Federal employee working under a retirement system called the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).  Now you have to understand that CSRS was without question the greatest retirement system ever created aside from that provided to the House and Senate of the United States.  You see unlike people in traditional private sector employment who paid into Social Security, with CSRS, I didn’t have to contribute a single penny to my retirement.  In addition, had I stayed in government service, I would have been able to retire at age 55 with 25 years of service and collect full retirement and have full health insurance benefits at the expense of the American Taxpayer for the rest of my life.  I don’t tell you this story to pick on Federal Employees, I’m telling you this as an example of why our government can’t balance the budget or get spending under control.  I personally know of a number of Conservative Americans collecting retirement under CSRS who believe in their hearts that we have to cut spending, however if you mention limiting Cost of Living Increases for them, they squeal like pigs.  You see, when these folks think about cutting spending, their thinking about an entire different class of people, they can’t fathom a world where they would have to sacrifice so that others might benefit.

The Tea Party – Many in the Tea Party ran on a platform of cutting spending, and during the Debt Ceiling Negations, they made a point of ensuring that none of their rich friends, neighbors or contributors paid one penny in additional taxes.  Now please don’t get me wrong, I like the rest of you don’t want to pay any more in taxes than I have to, but before you elevate the Tea Party Congress men and women to hero status, consider the following.

Michele Bachman, the queen of the Tea Party and presidential candidate also happens to be the queen of sucking on the Government Tit.  Yep, that’s right, good ole Michele’s family farm has collected more than $251,000 in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2006, yet she describes programs to help poor people as Socialism, and oh by the way, her husband’s counseling service also receives subsidies from the Federal Government.  I guess that to Michele if you’re trying to help folks who can’t help themselves, you’re a Socialist, but if you’re helping yourself to the tax payer’s money you’re a (___________________________) you fill in the blank!

In addition to Bachman, Chuck Grassley of Iowa who describes Obama as a Socialist has taken over a million dollars in Farm subsidies, although most of that amount ($699,248) went to his son and the remaining $239,000 going directly into Grassley’s pocket.  I could go on for a couple of days like this, but let me just give you some additional examples and we’ll move on:

Sam Brownback (R) Kansas $500K over 11 years, Rep Stephen Fincher (R) Tennessee who’s bio says he’s a farmer and gospel singer has pocked over 3 million dollars between 1995 and 2009, Rep Vicky Hartzler (R) MO got $775K and the list goes on and on.  These people are your Tea Party Patriots, they are the people you’re relying on to cut spending, yet they and their consistutiant's continue to suck on the tit of government subsidies to the tune of billions of dollars a year.  Make no mistake, while my focus has been on Tea Party members, there are also a number (about half as many) Democrats sucking on that tit as well, however they for the most aren’t the ones banging the monkey about controlling spending on one hand while pocketing millions in taxpayer subsidies with the other, but make no mistake, their all guilty. 

Last year the US Congress spent over 4.8 Billion dollars to prop up corporate farmers, all the while trying to make you and I believe that we need to cut Social Security, Medicaid, Food Stamps and Head Start in an effort to keep us out of default with our foreign creditors.  

Most of my friends are Conservatives, and whenever I talk to them about welfare, or other government assistance, I almost always walk away with the feeling that unfortunately they don’t see the face of people getting government assistance looking anything like theirs.  You see, in America, we tolerate Corporate Welfare, tax breaks and loop holes for those who don’t really need them because those folks create jobs!  Really, how many jobs have been created in the last 4 years?  When George Bush entered office, the unemployment rate was around 4%, when he left office it was close to 7.5%, and after 2 years of Obama, it’s slightly above 9.2%.  Bush cut taxes and continued to give corporations subsidies, and Obama continued the Bush Tax cuts, yet there are no additional jobs and every day I read that major corporations are laying off additional workers. 

As long as the politicians can keep the middle class and poor at each other’s throats, this country will continue to decline.  Most people have no idea what those they vote for stand for, or many of those in office would be out making honest livings like the rest of us.  Did any of you knowingly vote for folks telling you that you or your parent’s social security benefits need to be cut while they were taking subsidies from that same government?  If your answer is yes, at best you’re an idiot, worse case, you’re misinformed. 

Stop watching ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX and find other ways to inform yourself, or you’ll continue to make the same mistakes when you vote.  If you’re rich, you can afford to put people into office who don’t have the best interest of the country at heart.  If you’re not rich, you had better wake up and realize that the next poor face that you see might be staring back at you in the mirror someday soon!

I’m Just Sayin!!

WINNERS AND LOSERS

The older I get and the more of today’s world that see, the more I realize what great parents I had.  My parents taught my siblings and I that sometimes life isn’t fair, and more importantly, we learned that there are winners and losers in the life.  When I was in high school, I was on both the track and football teams, but our school had one of the best basketball teams in the state, and I really wanted to get on that team.  I knew that I wasn’t a very good basketball player, but I figured that since I was such a hot shot football player, and All American track star that surely the basketball coach would want me on his team right?  I was 16, and I’ve never forgotten the day that coach sat me down and told me that I really wasn’t a very good basketball player, he wouldn’t even put me on the practice squad for fear that one of his starters might get hurt.  Basically, the coach told me that I Sucked at basketball and should stick to the sports that I was good at.  When I told my dad what had happened, he told me that if I wanted to play basketball that I should practice more and maybe tryout again at some future point.   I never made the team, but I did learn that I wasn’t going to be great at everything, and that no one was going to make exceptions for me if I wasn’t good enough.   I can’t begin to tell you how many times over the years that lesson has pushed me to work harder so that I was on the winning side of life.

I told you my story to set up the following story: 

I’m driving down the highway last week, listening to ESPN when they start talking about a parent in Iowa who is suing her daughter’s high school because she failed to make the cheerleading squad for the third time.  Never mind that the young lady did not have full use of her legs and arms and could not perform even close to the level of the other girls on the team, her parents felt like she should be put on the team anyway.  When the coach refused, the parents headed straight for their lawyers office and filed suit.  What a great country!  Unfortunately, this young lady along with so many other youngsters are being taught that you don’t have to accept losing or being rejected, you can run to court and claim that you were discriminated against.

If you’re a parent reading this, please do us all a favor, and teach your children that there are Winners and Losers in the life.  Please explain to your children that those participation trophies they get in the local sports league even when they finish last, just isn’t the way the real world works.  Please let them know that despite the fact that some teachers might grade on a curve so that no one fails the class isn’t how the real world works.   People there are Winners and Losers in life, and the sooner that people recognize that, the better off they usually are.  I know lots of people who worked their way to the top, but I don’t know anyone who sued their way there and got any respect! 

If you teach your children that, “THE PERSON MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR DETERMINING IF YOU WIN OR LOSE IN LIFE IS STARING BACK AT YOU IN THE MIRROR EVERY MORNING OF YOUR LIFE”, you may be surprised how they turn out!  At best, they’ll realize that not everyone makes the teamJ

WHO REALLY CREATES JOBS IN AMERICA?

The first thing that everyone should understand is that no matter who the President is,  he is not responsible for job creation.  George Bush wasn’t, and Barack Obama isn’t.   So, if the president isn’t responsible for job creation then who is? 

In my view, you, I and American Business are all responsible for the unemployment rate being so high, and the lack of job creation.  Don’t believe me?  Take a look around your house, and in your garage and it’s easy to see why the employment rate is so high.  Virtually everything that we buy these days is made in another country, and nothing that those folks use is made in America.  When I was a kid, I still remember people laughing if you wore a watch or had a radio or TV made in Japan.  Until the mid 1970’s, no self respecting American would be caught dead in a car made in Japan or any other country, the exception being the rich guy in the neighborhood having a Mercedes to show his status in life.   Take a moment and just walk through a portion of your house, pick up ten items.  I bet that none of the items were made in this country. 

You see, in America, both consumers and business like for things to be cheap.  Business wants cheap labor, and knowing that they can’t pay people slave wages in America they move their factories to other countries.  They’ll tell you that it’s because taxes in America are too high, yet a closer look shows that corporate taxes are lower today than they were 30 and 40 years ago.  If a company has a choice between hiring an American for $12 to $15 an hour, or moving that job to China or Taiwan for $2 or $3, there went your jobJ  We all continue to do business with the companies that have moved their call centers off shore for less money, while our bills for their products and services continue to go up.  Try to get service on your computer or cell phone, that guy named Sammy with the funny accent is actually in Pakistan or India.  I have to wonder what would happen if people decided to start doing without some of those products unless those companies brought the jobs back home?

It’s easy to blame businesses for moving jobs off shore, but you and I are just as much at fault as they are.  Yep, that’s right; you and I could create American jobs, if only we would be willing to spend a few pennies more to Buy American.  We don’t even look for American made any longer, we just look for lowest price, yet we know that products made in sweat shops by children overseas are almost always going to be cheaper than products made in America.  We love Wal-Mart, and Wal-Mart loves shit made in China, yet for most of us if we need something, that’s our first (and usually) last stop. 

So, what can we do?  Well in the interest of helping my fellow Americans, this is what I’m going to do! First is that when I go to make my next purchase and every purchase from now on, I plan to look for a product made in America, I have changed my telephone, TV and internet to Comcast, because unlike Verizon,  their workers and call centers are in America.  Except for my motorcycle, my garage is filled with foreign made vehicles, but my pledge is that the next vehicle that I purchase will be an American brand, or if it’s a foreign brand, I will make sure that I check the VIN, and purchase one assembled in the United States.  Finally, I will refuse to support any politician who supports NAFTA or any of the other half dozen Free Trade Agreements; I will not support any candidate who has voted to allow tax breaks for businesses that have moved jobs to another country.

If we all commit to simply buying American and doing business with American companies, we can create jobs in America, because if you’re waiting on the Democrats and Republicans to do it, you may have a very, very long wait.

THERE IS NO PARTY LIKE A FAUQUIER SPRINGS PARTY

This week, Fauquier Springs CC had their annual Member Guest Golf Tournament for Men, and quite honestly, it was like no other Member Guest that I’ve ever played in.  First, I’d like to send shout outs to some of the people who made it so successful.

First and foremost, let’s thank the entire Golf Shop Staff, Andy, Brant, JD and the Cart Dogs who worked from before sun came up and well past sun down every day to make sure that every member and his guest was taken care of and enjoyed the event.  Also, thanks to Angela and her staff, with special thanks to Dani and Adam who seemed to always be in the right place at the right time to ensure that we had whatever we needed, and more importantly, what we wanted.  Thanks to the Grill Room staff, and the cooks out on the course for great food and drink, always served with a smile. Also, let’s not forget Mike and his grounds crew who had the course in spectacular shape for the event.  Thanks also to the members who signed up and made this a full field event.  Finally, thanks to the guest, starting with my good friend Sam, the other members of the Oakmont Flight and all of the other guest who helped make this such a successful and fun event.  

Have you ever gone to a golf tournament where a party broke out?  Well, that’s what happened at Fauquier Springs this week.  As someone reminded me on the first day, if your focus is on winning, you’ll ruin the entire experience.  Sure, we would all like to win, but quite honestly, this wasn’t a tournament about just winning, it was much more about getting re-acquainted with the guys you’ve gotten to know over the years, catching up on their lives, and getting them caught up on yours.  It’s about meeting and getting to know the guys you didn’t have a chance to meet or get to know better last year, and meeting and getting to know those for whom this is their first FSCC Member Guest. 

On Thursday, we played our first 9 holes, followed by a Pairings Party, but this was no ordinary Pairings Party.   Our club manager and her spouse opened up their home to host the party, complete with great food and Adult beveragesJ  Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t know of many clubs where the Club Manager opens up their homes to the membership for a party that goes in to the wee hours of the evening, but I’m Just Sayin.  There was something for everyone, even the cigar smokers could sit on the porch and partake of a little Scotch and a good smoke.  I hear that there may have even been a little trash talk and possibly a couple of bets placed, but I can’t confirm any of that.  Well maybe the trash talks part.

Friday morning started early with the first matches starting at 8:30 (you’ll understand the significance of the time later) and to my amazement, everyone was ready to go on time.  We played two 9 hole matches on Friday, and when we finished and all scores were posted, the pros had a multi station Skills Challenge set up for us.  The skills consisted of the usual stuff, like hitting a 130 yard shot, chipping and putting as well as a long drive contest with your partner.  I know, so far it’s kind of boring, but now to the challenges that we only seem to have at the Springs Club.  Following the skills challenge, a group of about 30 of us decided to place wagers on who could hit what appeared to be a 1950’s 1 iron and a Balata ball the farthest off the number one tee.  Small wagers, but if you get enough people involved, it adds up, and given the amount of alcohol floating around, it was clear, this was more about fun than money.  If you’ve never hit a 1 Iron, give it a try some day, it’s quite a challenge. After a couple of rounds of the Blades and Balata challenge, 18 of us decided to put a little more in the pot and have winner take all three hole challenge.  Now, I know what you’re thinking! What’s the big deal about 18 guys playing 3 holes of golf right?  Well, when all 18 are starting on the same tee and playing together, that’s specialJ  Yes, we all started together and finished together, dropping the high scorers along the way.  By the time that we got to the third hole, there were only 6 of us still in the competition, none were totally sober, so it was amazing that two of us got par on the final hole and decided to split the money, or we could continue until dark and miss the Boat Challenge.    

By now, it was almost 8pm, but our pros still had one more challenge set up for those of us who weren’t too tired to continue on.  It was the Ball in the Boat Challenge.  Yep, that’s right, they had a boat in the pond at the 7^th hole and you had to hit a 61 yard shot into the boat to cash.  Problem was that by now, the 15 or so of us remaining were completely toasted and in the no pain zone, every one of us had a drink in hand, and some could hardly stand, but we were all determined to give it a try. I did manage to hit the boat twice in 4 attempts, which was pretty good considering how good I feltJ  Two others managed to duplicate my feat,  my friend Kirk and Tom (a guest and really good guy) both hit it twice as well.  By now, it’s pretty dark, but Andy, JD and Adam were still with us, making sure that we were all ok, and that we got all of the carts back to the Pro Shop without incident (really good idea).  I went home after the Boat challenge, but I heard a rumor that some of the guys didn’t get to bed until around 4am, but I don’t want to spread rumors, so you didn’t hear that from meJ  All I know for sure is that 6am Saturday morning came really fast for me, so it had to be super fast for the late nighters.

Saturday was another great day of golf and fellowship, from the opening round, right down to the Ball Toss at the end of the evening.  In the three days of the tournament, I didn’t meet a single person who wasn’t enjoying himself, and that’s a major accomplishment.  Every guest that I talked to complimented the event, and the condition of the course, every one of them seemed to be having a great time and was looking forward to returning next year. 

Now, I’m Just Sayin, every club has great Member Guest, but this is our place, and we can all be proud of our club, it’s members, management and staff for a great event.     

AIN’T NO CHEESE LIKE GOVERNMENT CHEESE

As most of my friends know by now, I am a pretty conservative person, and have been since my late teen years. I have always also always believed that we should have systems in place to assist those who are poor and disenfranchised however, sometimes I see things that are so outrageous they make me want to shut down every safety net ever created and leave all those folks on their own without any help from government or anyone else.  This article is about a couple of those outrages.

So, I’m watching Judge Joe Brown one day last week, and there’s this guy being sued by his ex girlfriend for a cell phone bill that he’s run up to over a thousand dollars, and no that’s not the outrage.  As the case goes on, Judge Joe is asking this lazy A-Hole if he works to which he replies; No, I get SSI.  For those of you not familiar with SSI, it stands for Supplemental Security Income, which is the government’s term for Disability payments to people who by all accounts should be disabled to the point that they cannot work and care for themselves.  However, I digress.  Judge Joe then says to the guy, you get SSI? To which he replies yes, I have trouble reading.  Judge Joe says you have trouble reading, what kind of disability is that? To which the guy replies, well I get some words mixed up.  By now, Judge Joe and I are about to leap out of our skins!  I was so angry that I thought my head might actually explode.  So, here I am a good American tax payer, watching some smuck on national TV who by all accounts could be working at something, but NOOOO, he’s collecting SSI and you and I are paying that Butt Hole not to work, un-F___ing Believable.

I have also recently encountered a “Grown Ass Man” who is perfectly capable of working who is collecting $200 per month in Food Stamps.  Get this folks he was approved because he works for a Temp Agency, which in some communities make you eligible for public assistance like the Food Stamp Program. Yes, and you get to pay for that too.

I personally know a young woman (age 32) who had a massive stroke while at work back in December of last year, who’s vocabulary is now limited to the word “OH”.  This woman has to be taught to read, write and perform all of the other functions of daily life, and thus she’s not able to take care of herself.   In the meantime, her benefits from her job have been cut off, so now she has no income, Health Insurance or Disability Income.  You would think that a person like this would be able to easily get SSI right? Nope, it seems that our government is so busy giving aid to people like the two dopes described above that she’s been waiting almost six months, and she still hasn’t been approved.  And they wonder why so few have any faith in government.

When I was growing up, there used to be government trucks that would sometimes go into under prividgledged neighborhoods and hand out things like Cheese, Powered Milk and mostly Stale Bread.  My mom and her sisters used to joke when they saw people running to get in line at these trucks by saying “Ain’t No Cheese like Government Cheese”.  People really loved getting that free food, and yes some of them didn’t really need it, but they took it anyway.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve used my mom’s phrase over the years to describe people sucking on the tit of government, but SSI system make the old school Welfare Queens look like saints.  I’ve discovered that there are people on SSI because they drink too much to hold a job (say what?), some have drug problems, so clearly they can’t work either, and yes many are homeless, but don’t worry, you and I are paying for Post Office Boxes so that they can have their checks delivered.  What a great country!!

My purpose isn’t to say that we should stop helping those in need, however there has to be a better way.  It seems that the people who know the system well enough to abuse it are the only ones getting help under the current system, and that has to stop.   We have to somehow work out a system that identifies those truly in need and weed out the frauds taking advantage of the system, thus taking advantage of you and I, the American Tax Payer.

Now, I'm Just Sayin, Let's Help the Needy, not the Greedy.

WHITE PEOPLE – CLAIM YOUR HALF

At least once a week, I get an email or text message from someone trying to tell me either why Obama shouldn’t be president, or what a bad president he is. I finally got something earlier this week that made me want to write this article.  I find it funny that these things would come to me since I voted for Ron Paul, but they just keep coming.   Please understand that I find many of the items sent to me humorous, but I also find a small number of them offensive and distasteful.  It seems that the worse the person thinks Obama is at doing his job, the more stuff they send to me.  It’s almost like they think that I can do something to ease their pain, or perhaps get a message to the white house and let them know what  they think, or what the President needs to do next.

Does anyone remember that during the last election, everyone was celebrating the fact that a Bi-Racial person was actually making a serious run for President of these United States?  Even Fox News recognized that Obama was part Black, and part White, and yet now that he’s in office everyone just remembers his blacknessJ  Well I haven’t forgotten, and I’m not going to let you forget either, in fact every other time he does something I consider to be stupid or bone headed, I’m going to blame it on his white side, and start sending folks emails letting them know that their White President just screwed things up again! 

I know some of you by now are thinking I’ve lost my mind right?  Well I assure you I have not.  It’s time that all you White folks stand up and “CLAIM YOUR HALF”, yes, that’s right you need to claim your half!  In fact since we’re all Americans, and his father was born in Africa (not the USA)and his mother in Kansas, I actually think he’s more yours than oursJ   Please don’t be embarrassed, or ashamed, to just step right up, and “Claim Your Half”.  Black people have already claimed their half and now it’s your turn. 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you have to support him, or that you have to like him, I’m just sayin that you need to claim the half that’s rightfully yours.  You can continue to send the distasteful Obama emails, and say that he’s the worse president in history (I assume you missed the Carter Years), but in any case, you need to claim him.  While there are still some who question if he was born in the United States, I have heard no one say that he isn’t Bi-Racial, and we all know that at least in this case, bi-racial does not mean Black and Chinese.   The one thing that those who love Obama and those who hate Obama agree on is that he is part Black and part White, and I for one am tired of you folks trying to deny your half.  If he were doing great things, many of you would have stepped up and claimed him long ago, so just because he’s not doing such a great job, don’t try to disown him, after all he’s part yoursJ

Now “I’m Just Sayin”  CLAIM YOUR HALF – CLAIM YOUR HALF – CLAIM YOUR HALF

I TRIED, BUT I CAN'T WRITE ABOUT HER

I know that some of you were expecting me to write about Sarah Palin this week, but the truth is that I just can't.  First of all everyone already knows what an air head idiot she is, so it would be a huge waste of time to spend time writing or reading about her.  So, I will limit my comments to the following two items, one of which I pulled from someone making a comment on Yahoo news yesterday.

If Paul Revere were still alive, and Sarah Palin's bus was rolling into town, he would ride through town yelling "The Idiot is Coming, The Idiot is coming".

Finally, it is fair to say that the only people dumber than Sarah Palin are the folks who would consider voting for her for anything other than the United Idiot Society!

Please read the next Article, I think you'll find it much more positive and uplifting.

I'm Just Sayin