Report on the Nation

Stop thinking in terms of Left or Right, Liberal vs Conservative, or good vs evil. It's time to bring things closer to home, to look at things thru the lens of common sense.


I posted this earlier but thought it worth re-posting.
We're Saved!
Took ‘em long enough to come up with a budget???

2011 Federal Budget DealFederal Budget:   $3,820,000,000,000  (3.82 Trillion)
Income:               $2,170,000,000,000  (2.17 Trillion)
New Debt:           $1,650,000,000,000  (1.65 Trillion)
Amount Cut:            $38,500,000,000   (38.5 Billion) – about 1% of
the total budget.Harry Reid is calling this a “historic amount“. The President said it
is a “historic deal”. John Boehner simply said, “We’ve come to an
agreement”.
Let’s Put This In Perspective.  It helps me to think about these
numbers in terms that I can relate to.
Let’s remove nine zeroes from those numbers and pretend this is a
monthly household budget for the fictitious Jones family.
Amount of money the “Jones`s” family spent this month:          $3,820
Total income for the “Jones`s” family this month:                      $2,170
Amount of new debt added to the credit card this month:          $1,650
Outstanding balance on the credit card:
$14,271     (This represents our national debt).
So last week, the “Jones’s” sat down at the kitchen table and agreed
to cut $38 from their monthly budget. A historic amount!
Are You Impressed?
Me neither!

Based on the FACT that Fedgov borrows .42 cents of every dollar it spends. Based on the FACT that the GAO has documented $100's of billions in wasteful and fraudulent spending that Fedgov does little to correct. Based on the FACT that billions upon billions are spent on ineffective and inefficient programs. Based on the FACT that by Fedgovs own projections, in 10 years there won't be enough money in the world to bail us out, does not common sense tell you..... we should do better?
  
year                                                                                                                                                                      PRES         S           H

2002

157.8 Billion Dollar Deficit

186.204 Billion Deficit

R

D

R

2003

374 Billion Dollar Deficit

430.1 Billion Deficit

R

R

R

2004

413 Billion Dollar Deficit

462.56 Billion Deficit

R

R

R

2005

319 Billion Dollar Deficit

347.71 Billion Deficit

R

R

R

2006

248 Billion Dollar Deficit

260.4 Billion Deficit

R

R

R

2007

162 Billion Dollar Deficit

165.24 Billion Deficit

R

D

D

2008

455 Billion Dollar Deficit

455 Billion Deficit

R

D

D

2009

1416 Billion Dollar Deficit

1416 Billion Deficit

D

D

D

2010

1294 Billion Dollar Deficit

1294 Billion Deficit

D

D

D

2011

1650 Billion Dollar Deficit

1650 Billion Deficit

D

D

R

It does us little good to point fingers and place blame. Repubs and Dems are both culpable. I will only point out for historic reference that in 2008 the projected budget deficit for 2009 was under 600 Billion, an insultingly high number. When the Dems took over in 2009 the deficits exploded. It does none of us any good for our leaders to pound sand and blame Bush over and over, there's enough blame to go around....... it's time to fix this. 

Largest Foreign Holders of US Debt The most recent numbers available from the Treasury Department are from: May/2011 Country Holdings Month Over Month Change YoY China, Mainland $1159.8 Billion +0.63% +33.66% Japan $912.4 Billion +0.61% +16.26% United Kingdom $346.5 Billion +4.05% -1.2% Oil Exporters $229.8 Billion +3.75% +0.52% Brazil $211.4 Billion +2.17% +30.9% All Other $202.5 Billion -1.12% +15.98% Taiwan $153.4 Billion -0.71% +21.55% Carib Bnkng Ctrs $148.3 Billion +7.39% -10.82% Hong Kong $121.9 Billion -0.41% -16.33% Russia $115.2 Billion -8.13% -9.15% Switzerland $108.2 Billion +1.79% +28.2% Canada $90.7 Billion +3.42% +6.96% Luxembourg $68.0 Billion -13.27% -10.05% Germany $61.2 Billion -0.16% +9.68% Thailand $59.8 Billion -1.48% +29.16% Singapore $57.4 Billion -4.81% +41.38% India $41.0 Billion -2.61% +39.93% Turkey $39.3 Billion +3.69% +42.39% Ireland $33.5 Billion -16.67% -30.21% Korea, South $32.5 Billion +5.52% -14.02% Belgium $31.4 Billion -0.63% +78.41% Poland $27.9 Billion +1.82% +19.23% Mexico $27.7 Billion +3.75% -19.01% Italy $25.4 Billion +2.42% +22.12% Netherlands $23.7 Billion +0.42% +34.66% France $23.6 Billion +16.26% -37.73% Philippines $23.6 Billion -1.26% +63.89% Norway $21.1 Billion 0% +38.82% Sweden $20.9 Billion -2.34% +55.97% Colombia $19.9 Billion +0.51% +26.75% Israel $19.1 Billion -1.04% -4.98% Chile $18.9 Billion +1.61% +57.5% Egypt $12.9 Billion -5.15% -53.93% Malaysia $12.7 Billion +4.1% +20.95% Australia $12.3 Billion -6.11% -12.77%

Look at the above list of the countries that are financing Fedgovs spending. Yearly A full 5th of the worlds GDP is used to buy our treasuries. This is just one of many reasons the stock market drops when the other world economies struggle.

Can We Tell the Truth?

In this instance, they are deathly afraid of that number. The “fair share” can never be quantified — not in theory, not in practice. Conceptually, it is a non sequitur, because it gets the Left’s premise exactly backwards. To peg the rich man’s “fair share” at anything greater than zero would be to admit that the wealth is his in the first place. Having intensely focus-grouped the matter, the strategists are quite sure you’re not ready to be told that all wealth belongs to the state, and that since it is theirs, not yours, “fair share” is whatever they decide under the exigencies of the moment. Read more... I have met the weasel, and he is us.


U.S. Government Used Taxpayer Funds to Buy, Sell Weapons During 'Fast and Furious,' Documents ShowOperation Fast and Furious began in October 2009. In it, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives encouraged gun stores to sell weapons to an arms smuggling gang, then watched as the guns crossed the border and were used in crimes. Each month, the agency allowed hundreds of guns to go South, despite opposition from some agents.
Read more... us-government-bought-and-sold-weapons-during-fast-and-furious-documents-show/

Documents Detail ATF Involvement in 'Fast and Furious'

The following documents detail the role the ATF played in buying and selling weapons as part of its controversial "Fast and Furious" operation. More...2011/09/26/documents


Lawmakers Claim Justice Inspector Obstructed Probe Into ‘Fast and Furious’
The inspector general of the Department of Justice undermined and obstructed a congressional investigation by releasing secret tape recordings that corroborate allegations of misconduct in "Operation Fast and Furious," according to a letter written by Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley. Read more... fast-and-furious gunrunner scandal


Many think The Fast and Furious scandal was a one time mistake. A truck load of guns delivered and then lost track of. No, it was an operation involving thousands of weapons sold to gunrunners and drug dealers over many months. With 3/4 of all the weapons unaccounted for and 150+ deaths linked to these weapons you have to ask where the logic is in all this. From the start there was substantial opposition from many in the Justice Department and ATF but the brain trust pushed on. Based on the number of weapons ATF lost track of, it was an abject failure from the start but they kept the operation going anyway. Ask yourself... does any of this make sense to you?



Obama’s Charade

There was a very revealing segment on The Chris Matthews Show on Sunday. The discussion was about President Obama’s recent focus on jobs, jobs, jobs. Obama gave his much ballyhooed speech in Congress, right after everyone returned from their August recess. You will recall that Obama first tried to schedule it up against a long-planned Republican presidential debate, the first day Congress was back, but that was rejected in what was treated by the media as a show of disrespect. The President agreed to speak the next night, and had to carefully schedule it so as not to conflict with the opening game of the National Football League season. Read more... gulagbound






Subdividing America—to Win
“Operation Vote will function as a large, centralized department in the Chicago campaign office for reaching ethnic, religious and other voter groups. It will coordinate recruitment of an ethnic volunteer base and push out targeted messages online and through the media to different groups, such as blacks, Hispanics, Jews, women, seniors, young people, gays and Asian Americans.
Read more..... subdividing america








To any who have attempted to weigh thru the thousands of pages of the new healthcare law one thing stands out, Fedgovs plan is to reduce the amount spent on healthcare..... by everyone. The less we spend, the less they will have to spend. They continue to work at it incrementum.

Medicare and the President’s Deficit Reduction Plan: Shifting Costs to Seniors

New Medicare beneficiaries would be hit with a penalty if they purchase MediGap insurance that covers all or most of Medicare's copayments and deductibles. Administration officials claim that such insurance encourages excessive use of medical services. Read more... shifting-costs-to-seniors







From the creative minds at  The Woodpile Report




Eric Holder: another fine appointment by our president.


Taxpayers foot the bill for Justice Department’s $16 muffins

The Justice Department and several of its agencies engaged in “extravagant and wasteful” spending on food, beverages and event planning for law enforcement conferences, including paying $16 each for muffins, $76 per person for lunch and more than $8 for a cup of coffee, according to an audit released Tuesday by the department’s Office of Inspector General. Read more... washingtontimes


The question then is... what are we to do? Our options seem limited. Continue on with the same incompetent leaders we have now. A president who now seems capable of little else other then blaming others and making excuses.“We had reversed the recession, avoided a depression, got the economy moving again. . . .But over the last six months, we’ve had a run of bad luck.” B. Obama. From George Bush, the GOP, the Tea Party to the Arab Spring and the earthquake in Japan. Obama seems to have no end of excuses to blame for failure, other then his policies that is. We deserve better, better from both parties. We need a Government that will work on our behalf and be accountable. We must insist that our government uphold certain principles, principles of self-discipline, high ethical standards and to honor the responsibility we entrust to them. Yes, it's time for change, not small change, but big and sweeping. We have been playing this tired old game for most of the last 40 years... It's not working! The median income of American families has been stagnant for 15 years and is now starting to shrink. If we don't fix this now the American Dream of a better life for our children will be replaced by something 3rd worldly.

Report on the Nation

NOTE: I am late with this update and for that I apologize. I have started looking for a job and the search has occupied much of my time. Since there are no new jobs everyone is competing for the rare job opening created by those lucky enough to have moved on to something they feel is an improvement. And  positions left vacant by those who have retired or...ummm...... passed away.  It's all done over the internet now so there's no way to bs your way into a job. I haven't gotten anything yet but a couple places have shown interest. One is a grave digging service looking for a shovel holder. The other a local nuclear power plant in need of a safety inspector......... what ya think?

Inconvenient Truths:
I don't know why but my home page is Yahoo. I'll log on, check e-mails, scan Yahoo's news stories 
then go about my business. The other day while paroozing Yahoo news I clicked the story on Obama's new deficit reduction plan, the one with the Buffett Tax. I read the story which was full of Obama quotes from his campaign style announcement and my 1st thoughts were 1) When he tries he's still an impressive speaker,  2) Is there no result, is there no consequence of policy, is there no stark and desperate reality that can shake this man from his life long delusions, 3) What is it that can push a man to stand at a podium in front of tv cameras, reporters, and the people who elected him, the people who he promised so much, and so blatantly and shamelessly lie. -JP

FACT CHECK: Are rich taxed less than secretaries?
                                                  
STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press
On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than the middle class or the poor, according to private and government data. They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government.

The 10 percent of households with the highest incomes pay more than half of all federal taxes. They pay more than 70 percent of federal income taxes, according to the Congressional Budget Office. READ MORE Fact Check: Buffett Tax

People are busy, for "most" life is hard.... pressure filled.... a struggle. Overwhelmed by life's demands and complicated by a flailing economy there is little time or energy left for watch-dogging Fedgov. You can understand why far to many opinions are formed by 5 second sound bites, news bit radio broadcasts and water cooler chatter. CNN, MSN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and... to a lesser degree ... Fox News.... are secretly more interested (with rare exception)  in pushing an agenda. People are just unwilling or unable to commit the time necessary to investigate... to filter thru the bullshit, to find and understand the facts.  When people don't investigate on their own they are often influenced by the above and by their environment and location. Red State / Blue State.
    If you would allow me... lets take a look at my daughter as an example of environmentally influenced poly-scientific beliefs. Born and raised in the south Miranda (my daughter-name changed to protect the innocent) grew up as a strong willed and fiercely independent thinker. She was then as she is now... influenced by her environment. She was for the most part in line with the self responsibility, write your own future, earn your own way thru your own hard work mentality while at the same time helping bring those around you along. Basically a semi republican / semi democrat... known as an Independent. Upon her graduation from High school she moved north to Massachusetts.... OH my god NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Now before she left, had she been old enough she would have voted Republican. Now she votes Democratic. She hasn't changed, she's still the strong, fiercely independent thinker. And busy, busy, busy. A demanding job in the medical field, she's back in school to further her education and she and her husband are new parents. Yes, life is hard, pressure filled.... a struggle.
      

The Day I Left the Left

. Jim Goad wrote this piece. I confess I'm not familiar with him.... But based on this, he is one hell of a writer. Here he writes about what he knows....and.... it sucks you in .. totally. -JP   
Late one Saturday morning in 1990 under the skeleton-bleaching California sun, I motored through a crumbled, hilly, ashen section of East LA looking to see if any of the Hicks Boys Stoners were around to sell me some weed. Named after East LA’s Hicks Avenue, they were a loosely amalgamated gang of longhaired Mexican metalheads who shunned traditional cholo gang culture’s aesthetic trappings in favor of Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez-styled muerte obsessions, Satan worship, and generally aimless nihilism. Read more: leaving the left

By 2020, 90 cents of every dollar will go to entitlements and debt interest

Long-term simulations of government debt offer a cold, harsh look at the federal economic situation, according to the Government Accountability Office.

“Absent policy changes, our simulations indicate that the federal government faces a rapid and unsustainable growth in debt,” the GAO said. “Delaying action increases the magnitude of the changes needed and hence the probability that the changes will be more drastic and therefore more disruptive to individuals and the economy as whole.” Read more... iwatchnews

961 days in, Obama becomes sick and tired of someone dawdling about jobs

Seriously. Now that his Martha's Vineyard vacation is over, this situation is urgent.

Citing the plight of millions of struggling Americans whose wishes for jobs Obama ignored for most of the 961 days he's been in office while chasing shinier healthcare and financial reforms, Obama said it was time that Congress stop blaming others. He said it was time members take responsibility for their inaction and halt their phony partisan games and political circus acts that pervade Washington culture.

Because the Americans Obama hasn't been listening to are really hurting now. And -- who's....

....counting? -- but it's only 424 days until Nov. 6, 2012. No plan yet to pay for Obama's ideas. But he wants immediate passage of his American Jobs Act anyway. Read more.... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/09/obama-jobs-speech-congress-bad-news-polls-.html

A Ponzi scheme that should be fixed

Now, Social Security is a pay-as-you-go program. A current beneficiary isn’t receiving the money she paid in years ago. That money is gone. It went to her parents’ Social Security check. The money in hercheck is coming from her son’s FICA tax today — i.e., her “investment” was paid out years ago to earlier entrants in the system and her current benefits are coming from the “investment” of the new entrants into the system. Pay-as-you-go is the definition of a Ponzi scheme. Read more...-should-be-fixed-

Post-September 11, NSA ‘enemies’ include us

Somewhere between Sept. 11 and today, the enemy morphed from a handful of terrorists to the American population at large, leaving us nowhere to run and no place to hide.
Within weeks of the attacks, the giant ears of the National Security Agency, always pointed outward toward potential enemies, turned inward on the American public itself. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, established 23 years before to ensure that only suspected foreign agents and terrorists were targeted by the NSA, would be bypassed. Telecom companies, required by law to keep the computerized phone records of their customers confidential unless presented with a warrant, would secretly turn them over in bulk to the NSA without ever asking for a warrant.  Read more......http://www.politico.com/news/stories/


When a government stops working well. When it no longer works for it's people but instead works for itself it must be changed. When a government spends it's energies protecting it's citizens from the truth it is in fact protecting itself from it's citizens.... And we allow it to happen. What of solyndra as an example! Look hard and the facts show themselves more and more. The evidence circles the White House with relentless inevitability, time and effort will show the truth. But we know already where it ends, President Zeros office. The screaming silence from President Zero... / President Transparency,.. on this is both deafening  and damning. It's just starting, there will be much more Presidential disappointment to come. Yes... life is hard, busy, complicated, only so many hours in a day......................................... There is an awakening coming. It will arrive late, to late for some. Don't be one of those!.. JP






President Zero

Report on the Nation

Troubles Ahead:


This probably won't come as news to most of you but people tend to ignore reality. I've been guilty of it myself from time to time, most have. Lets be honest, it's often just easier to turn a blind eye to reality than deal with it. Ignored long enough and it will sneak right up on you and slap you in the face. After all it is reality... it's not going to go away. Survivalist, preppers and the like tend to be forward thinkers. They pay attention to their environment, look to the future and plan for the possible realities they see... good for them.... the rest?.. "now which is my blind eye"...........

Try to set aside whatever biases or preconceptions you might have for a moment and ask yourself why death threats against politicians aren’t considered national news, especially in the wake of the all too fresh shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other bystanders. And there hasn’t just been one death threat, but a number of them.


Here, you’ll find a compilation of 20 days worth of the death threats, vandalism, and intimidation practiced by pro-union thugs opposed to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill. http://bigjournalism.com/20-days-of-left-wing-thuggery-in-wisconsin

AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka plans to take his union's methods nationally in an effort to stop various governments attempts at reigning in runaway spending.
Does he look familiar? Trumpka was invited to President Obama's Address to Congress on jobs and sat by the First Lady.

500 Tea Party Protesters Storm a Government Building, Take Hostages

Got your attention?

Good. Because it seems that unless a story has negative implications for the tea party no one (even Fox News) is going to make a stink about it.

On Thursday morning, over 500 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (an AFL-CIO union) did something that should have been the top news story on every major news network in the country. Read more.....http://bigjournalism..com unions thugs

In January when a smirking schizoid goony loon who claimed no political affiliation sprayed hot lead on an

Arizona crowd—killing six and injuring fourteen—the barking dogs of leftist punditry pounced like starving hyenas on the carnage, making raw political hamburger out of it. After two years of falsely depicting the Tea Party as a short-fused bomb waiting to explode into a blood-stained cum shot of racist violence, the left’s paid puppets rushed to the crime scene like the blind men of Hindu legend jostling to squeeze the elephant’s testicles until they burst. There was the predictably vomit-inducing pecksniffery about scary rhetoric, angry mobs, and how hateful speech has consequences. They saw no conflicts of interest in the fact that their own crowd had openly cheered for violence against people such as Sarah Palin and George W. Bush for years. When it became evident that shooter Jared Loughner was politically unclassifiable, there was a screaming silence when it came to apologies and retractions. Read more...... http://takimag.com/article/the_stench_of_civility

........... This is no longer just about party affiliation, differing  views or apposing ideologies. This is now about the survival of our freedom to disagree. The Lefties have decided they've heard enough about cost cutting, balanced budgets and responsible governance. Their strategy is clear. They will bully and shame us into submission, if that doesn't work.... the baseball bat will. The Lefties seem desperate and nothing is off limits.  Paul krugman's touching post on 9/11 is a perfect example. Read it and tell me there is not something wrong with this man. Check out AFL-CIO's. Richard Trumka's 9/11 call to activism. I was a UAW member for 4 years. I walked a strike line for 4 1/2 months for $65 a week. I understand the union way, and I understand Trumka's position. Union membership is dwindling and he's trying to save union jobs and union contracts. He ignores our new economic reality and demands that the rest of the nation keep paying, he should know we can't. And when we don't... there will be war. So here we are, Heading toward an election I believe will be like no other in resent history. Sure we've gotten a taste in the last couple of elections with the SEIU high jinks, the Lefties rhetoric of racism, Homeland Security's rightwing extremism report, voter intimidation and voter fraud. 

It's going to be a lot worse this time. The unions and New Black Panthers are brushing up on their thuggery, and the Left wing talking heads and their media machine spread their propaganda of fear & hate--- A return to Jim Crow, lynchings  racism and the usual "they want to throw orphans and the elderly out on the street. I know.... to you and I it sounds like insanity. But to the uneducated, unread and dimwitted among us it's believable. Keep watching, pay attention or get bitch slapped.... JP 




The Homestead Report:

 Fruit trees and bushes are a great way to add to your diet, and the value of your homestead. Fact is that even if you live on a 1/8 acre lot in a subdivision you can grow a few fruit trees and bushes. Apple, peach, pear and plumb trees would  be great additions to any home, homestead or retreat. As well as blueberry, blackberry, strawberry and raspberry  bushes.

We have 1 old pear tree that continues to put out lots of delicious sweet pears every year. We also have 1 apple and 1 peach tree. They have put out 2 of the last 4 years, not sure why yet. We have lots of wild blackberry bushes all over the property. Next spring we hope to add a few pear, peach and apple trees along with a couple of plumb trees, a few raspberry and strawberry bushes.

crab apple

peach

Deer in the front yard the other night.

Sacrifice..... a word we know well

Liberty, Independence, Freedom.  These 3 words are synonymous.  Look up any of the 3 and the others will be there.  They are forever linked, both by meaning and by our history.  There is another word with a different meaning.  It isn't synonymous with the other 3 although we couldn't have the other 3 without it.  That word is Sacrifice.  It has been with us since the very beginning and is woven into the foundation this nation was built on.   Throughout our history we have known the word well in defense of the ideals we cherish.  America has always been blessed with a citizenry that understands the cost of freedom.   Time and time again, when that freedom has come under attack they have come to it's defense, risking all to ensure our future.

On September 11, 2001 we once again came under attack, a new kind of attack from a new kind of enemy, an enemy most knew little about. Thousands died that day and thousands more lost loved ones, family and friends. The sorrow and loss from that day so intense. The sacrifice forced on so many so extreme it has been embedded into the lexicon of our very existence. And like so many times before, patriots among us put themselves between us and those who would do us more harm. How many of us have friends or family who enlisted or re-enlisted after 911? I personally have several friends who re-enlisted and went to Iraq and Afghanistan. Fortunately they all have come back safe and sound. Yes we are blessed, blessed with a freedom so rare and fragile it is the only one like it in the world..... and blessed by those willing to sacrifice all they are to keep it safe.- JP

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."- Ronald Reagan