Good Morning Blog World

Will it be politics as usual when the republicans take over the house this week? The NY Times laments...or maybe not lament but wishing?...that the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, will have curb the tea party influence. Hmmm...

Mr. Boehner, a 61-year-old Ohio native who revels in his big-family, Roman Catholic roots, now faces the challenge of harnessing the Tea Party zeal that propelled him to power without disheartening those who might be expecting too much.

Expect too much? WTF? The people voted the socialists out of power and the fiscal conservatives in. Why? Because there are enough voters who woke up to the fact that there is not a free lunch! And that they are the ones paying for it. If the new house doesn't realize this then in two years there will be another new house and next time it may be a brand new party running the show.

What will it take to get the politicians to understand that government simply cannot spend its way to prosperity unless that spending has some kind of lasting positive effect on the economy. The kind of spending that not only creates jobs (and not government jobs) but the kind that keeps an economy rolling. Bridges, roads, schools, and merchandise shipping facilities. Money spent on social programs is of course a must...but just how much is a must?

I have an idea my friends...

Those serving in the military are subject to random drug testing. How about making it a requirement that to receive an unearned benefit, ie a welfare check and/or food stamps, one must pass a drug test each month? Moreover, how about those who receive such do something to earn them? If nothing else how about just picking up trash along the highways?

Yeah, I am pissed this morning. I just found out that the $500 Canadian I got from the ATM yesterday cost me $503 American plus the usual $10 bucks in ATM and transfer fees. There is only one way to fix this rapid decline of the American dollar and that is for the new congress to do something that will convince the rest of the industrialized world that America is serious about putting its financial affairs in order and quit spending billions more each year than it takes in.
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Still no snow to speak of here in St John's NFL. We had some light flurries during the night but barely enough to say it snowed. The air is about 32F and there is a light breeze. The sun even peeked out from behind a cloud for a few minutes. All in all a nice day but still weird weather for Newfoundland this time of year. We may just take a long walk after while and enjoy it while we can...it is bound to get cold one of these days, heh.

Life is good my friends. The jumpstart was hot and strong and I am still getting by without that daily darvocet...go figure. My angel kissed me good morning and told me she loves me...and I am well and in love and happy on the rock. Y'all come, heah?

Good Morning Blog World

Heh, looks like there are some in state governments wising up about unions...especially public unions. I have been preaching (mostly to the choir) about the danger to an economy when unions are allowed to dictate to management and/or government. I am glad that some governors are finally trying to bust or at least limit the union power. I still contend that right to work laws will do more for the economy than tax cuts...such would inspire business to expand and hire and the more people working the more taxes will be paid. Just the payroll/medicare taxes alone amount to 15 plus percent of wages...all wages. This adds up fast when several million are added to the work force even at sub-union scale.

Here in St John's we are seeing what happens when a union is out of control. The metro-bus employees have been on strike since early November. The city thought they had a deal but then the union came up with new demands. In the meantime about a third of the city that depends on the bus system for transportation has had to look elsewhere for a ride. Many have lost their jobs and some students have had to drop college because they have no way to get from home to classes. Others such as my angel and I had holiday plans curtailed because of the lack of transportation...Taxi service is just too damn expensive. And as it looks right now no one knows how long the strike will last.

Ronald Reagan had it right...if a public employee union goes on strike fire every gotdam one of them! Maybe the broke governments of the states will find the gonads to pass legislation that will put the brakes on the public employee unions. I certainly agree with the new governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin...

“We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots,” Mr. Walker, a Republican, said in a speech. “The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers.”
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It is another unusual winter day in ST John's Newfoundland. 4C degrees (nearly 40F) and a light drizzle. What snow we had is gone again although we might get some more later in the week. But the weather quacks are telling us that is will be warming back up and raining by the weekend. Hard to believe this weather this time of year this far north! I WANT SOME SNOW! Hell, we have not even built a snowman yet...but I did see some yellow snow the other night.

My angel is 'fixin' supper already...looks like a baked yardbird with dressing, a Jiggs dinner (boil cabbage, turnips, and potatoes seasoned with salt pork), and some oven bar-b-qued pork ribs. She is a great cook and I have to watch it else I will be back to 300 pounds of quivering blubber. Life is so good my friends when you are spending it with someone who loves you with a passion. Y'all come, heah?

Good Morning Blog World

I make no claim to being an expert when it comes to economics...I am a 'Jack of many trades and master of none' but I do know this much. A country cannot spend its way to prosperity any more than a private citizen can. Unless governments actually own business (and those that do have never made them pay) governments only have three ways of raising money; taxes, borrowing, or printing more money. None of the three are necessarily bad for an economy unless it is done in excess. But people, the USA is doing all three in excess.

Why am I complaining this morning? Because I just checked to see what it was going to cost me this morning at the ATM to get S500 in Canadian dollars from my American bank account. GOOD GAWD GIRTY Whut a gash! The US Dollar is going to hell in a hand basket carried by Obama and his hoods and the fucking GOP just looks on and applauds. WHY?

Does the American government really think a weaker dollar will be better for the country? Such will of course make American exports cheaper to purchase and might...just might...help business some...if in fact there is any left that manufactures something that could be exported. But any gain in more exports will be offset by the higher cost of imports....especially crude oil. If you think I am just blowing hot air take a look at todays price of a barrel of crude! Yeah, damn near $92 a barrel. I reckon this is what the American people wanted when they kicked out the bums last November? Yeah right.

Is there an answer? Yeah but most of the public does not want to hear it. The public just doesn't understand that it is THEM that pay the government bills and that the only way to stop this madness is to force government to control spending. That means
a cutback in government services at all levels of government and a freeze on benefits if not a cut on same. Face it folks, we have been 'living too damn high on the hawg' for too long and it has caught up with us. There just ain't no free lunch.
Can anyone spell "JOHN GALT?"
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But life is good my friends and we will survive regardless of what the US dollar does. My angel and I were reared poor and we know how to cut back...and beans and spuds have a lot of nutrition and we ain't gonna go hungry. And it doesn't take much to heat this place. Hell, I have lived on Skoal and jumpstart for years anyway, heh. All I need is my angel's love. Y'all come, heah?

Stranger Than Fiction???

I doubt that you saw this in your local news...this sounds like something Obama and his hoods would do, BAWAHAHAHAHAHAHA


BUCHAREST, Romania - Romania has changed its labour laws to officially recognize witchcraft as a profession, prompting one self-described witch to threaten retaliation.

The move, which went into effect Saturday, is part of the government's drive to crack down on widespread tax evasion in a country that is in recession.

In addition to witches, astrologists, embalmers, valets and driving instructors are now considered by labour law to be working real jobs, making it harder for them to avoid income tax.

For months the measure had been debated, protested by witches and mocked by the media.

On Saturday, a witch called Bratara told Realitate.net, the website of a top TV station, that she plans to cast a spell using black pepper and yeast to create discord in the government.

1/1/11 HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YA

We brought in the New Year right! We spent the early evening with friends at a house party and then went to a club to bring in the New Year with a drink and dancing...when midnight hit the band stopped playing and I had my first New Years first minute kiss in decades. Hell, it was the first New Years Party I had been to in decades. Looks like it is gonna be a great year for us and we wish all of you the same.