Monday, April 26, 2010

APRIL MORON OF THE MONTH

You know how at the local carnivals where certain rides have a height restriction? They post a sign with a line drawn across it to designate the minimum height you must be to ride. To ride you must be this tall. That seems quite effective and lets the operators as well as parents know who should and who shouldn't be riding. What does this have to do with this month's moron of the month, you ask? Well I am going to tell you.

I waited all month to see if anyone could take the honor away from Rep. Hank Johnson, Democrat, Georgia, but alas no one even had a chance. Hank wins hands down. I couldn't make up the story I am about to tell you. I would not even try. I couldn't keep a straight face.

Our selection for this month's moron of the month is Rep. Hank Johnson, two-term Representative from Atlanta, former lawyer and judge, law school graduate, and duly elected by his district. He was chosen for this month's dubious honor for his questioning of an Admiral at a hearing regarding the placement of 8000 more troops on Guam. Johnson, in his arrogant sanctimonious manner, was a questioner at a televised hearing regarding this troop placement. He literally asked the Admiral what would happen if these 8000 more bodies were on the island of Guam if that wouldn't cause the island to tip over, capsize, and the entire population would then slide off into the ocean. I am not making this up. I watched the testimony and could not believe what I was hearing. Apparently Johnson believed that the addition of these new troops would cause an island that is something like twenty-five miles long and about ten miles wide, to just tip over and spill all the residents. This from a college and law school graduate. This from a former judge. This from a duly elected member of Congress. From all indications, Hank Johnson couldn't shine the shoes of the man he was grilling. If the episode wasn't so serious it would be just down right tragic.

This brings me to the matter at the beginning of this column. Shouldn't there be a minimum level of intelligence to serve as a member of Congress? Shouldn't one have to pass some sort of IQ test to see if they are qualified to make laws that affect the entire country? I can see it now. There would be a board with a line drawn showing minimum levels of intelligence. All freshmen Congresspersons would have to meet or exceed the line. I wonder how many would be sent home if that were applied today. Do you remember Cynthia McKinney? She was the Congresswoman who didn't know the difference between Mars and the Moon. She honestly believed we had landed men on Mars and had planted a flag. Fortunately she no longer serves in that august body.

So you say to me, Ron, these people are elected by their constituents, right? Shouldn't that make it okay? To that I can only ask, what does that say about the idiots who voted these morons into office? Do they not care about the level of intelligence of their elected representatives? Do they not care that they are inflicting their morons on the entire country?

It is clear to me that the Founding Fathers never imagined such an event as we have witnessed. They would be as amazed as you and I are.

Once again I don't have any answers. I can only report to you and offer my opinions. One opinion I have is that this and other events like it are causing a number of states to reconsider their position in our union. Arizona has passed a strict new immigration law. Montana is passing new gun legislation. Texas and Oklahoma are pressing forward with state's rights issues which could have dramatic effect on the future of the United States. These states are acting because of the direction in which our country is headed.

We are always going to have to deal with morons. It is just a part of life. It truly gets to be disturbing, however, when they occupy positions of power.

Ron Scarbro April 26, 2010

Saturday, April 17, 2010

ARIZONA AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Apparently Arizona is finally fed up. They are fed up with the influx of illegal immigrants and the unwillingness of the Federal Government to do anything about it. The Arizona legislature has passed and sent along to the Governor for signature a law making illegal entry into Arizona illegal. What? I thought it was already illegal. I guess that depends on who you ask. It seems that some laws are more important than others. It also appears that laws are selectively enforced. The problem faced by Arizona is their close proximity to the southern border and the absolute lack of enforcement by the border patrol. A prominent rancher was murdered by suspected illegals engaged in drug trafficking. It seems he was just trying to patrol and protect his property when he was killed. This and much more has riled up the good citizens of Arizona and they have demanded this new approach.

The new law, as I understand it, would have penalties of fines up to $2500 as well as jail time and deportment. It further requires local police and sheriffs to identify suspected illegal immigrants and to also require those suspects to prove their legal status in America. This, as you may well imagine, has the usual suspects up in arms. The ACLU and other liberal groups are screaming. They believe this will give authorities license to profile possible perpetrators. Oh no, not the "P" word again. Well here's a scenario that could play out. The cops stop a car load of people none of whom can speak English, none of whom has a driver's license or car insurance. What is he supposed to think? The reality is that several US laws have already been broken by this driver. No driver's license. No car insurance. Who knows what else? The fact is they are probably here illegally and that breaks yet another law.

Previously police officers have had to refer such cases to Immigration Enforcement. Often ICE cannot or will not do their job and the perpetrators are just sent along to whatever mischief they might be up to.

Let's just say, for example, that these are not criminal types. Let's say they are just looking for work to improve their lives and the lives of their families. As this scenario plays out, they go and find jobs using phony or stolen Social Security numbers. They avail themselves of the emergency room at the hospital because they have no insurance and of course we can't turn them away. If they get involved in a car accident your insurance costs and mine go up to cover the losses. What money they make is sent back to their real home. Often they bring their women with them to have their children born in America thereby giving them US citizenship. Of course again we are paying the hospital bill for these births because these poor immigrants can't afford it. Obviously this isn't just an Arizona problem. It is happening all across America. Arizona has just decided to bring it to an end.

The next scenario that is going to play out is that if Arizona is successful they will chase all their problems to other states like, for example, California as if they can afford it.

This problem is not going to fix itself. The big question is when will enough people get as fed up as Arizona? When will other legislatures act to curtail and end this invasion of third world types who rapidly become a drain on our treasuries and our services? The contamination of our Social Security system is already probably beyond repair. Our census numbers will be out of kilter because of the count of illegals. That, of course, alters legislative districts as well. In an environment of 10% unemployment how many jobs are you willing to give away to non-citizens? How much are you willing to spend to support countries who are unwilling to support themselves? When are you going to get fed up?

Ron Scarbro April 16, 2010




Friday, April 9, 2010

V.A.T.

Have you heard the new word? The word is VAT. I thought a vat was a pot that you cooked your goose in. Well as it turns out that is exactly what it is. VAT is the recently floated idea "Value Added Tax". This trial balloon has been offered by Paul Volker, former head of the Federal Reserve. The best definition is that it is a tax on every product from its origin to the consumer. From the cotton picker to the finished shirt every step of the way is taxed. It has been reported that a lowly VAT of only ten per cent would generate revenues of one trillion dollars per year. That, ladies and gentlemen, has the entire wild eyed spending Congress salivating. I am sure they see this as a never ending stream of money to continue to grow the government and fund all their hair brained liberal ideas. This tax would not appear on your receipt when you make a purchase. It would be built in. How convenient. How convenient that the Congress could just spend away and when they cap out that stream, they just raise the rate of the tax to increase the revenue. It is estimated that each percentage point represents one million dollars. This, they proffer, is the way it is done in Europe. Look at how successful it has been for them. What? Are they crazy? European socialism, and that is what this is, is a dismal failure, tired and exhausted. Is that what you want for us?

If a value added tax were offered instead of income tax, sales tax, property tax, and all the other various gouges we must submit to, I would certainly consider it. I would favor a national sales tax whereby everybody pays equally when they buy anything. From the illegal alien to the billionaire to the factory worker to the criminal who is pushing drugs. I would favor these taxes if they were instead of the current tax burden we face. I, however, would not favor ANY such tax if it were in addition to the taxes we now must submit to.

But Ron, we are out of money. We are running up huge deficits. Our revenue is down to such a degree that we just cannot continue to fund our programs. Really? Is that the case? Here's a novel idea. Stop spending money we don't have. This moronic Congress just approved a new spending program that will cost an estimated ten trillion dollars over the next ten years and that is ten trillion dollars that we just don't have. These trillions are dollars our children and grandchildren will have to pay. And, guess what? There is still no end to the spending this Administration and Congress have in mind. I wonder if anyone in this government has ever had to balance a check book. I wonder if any one of them has ever had to meet a payroll.

Being a serious student of current affairs I realize we have a problem. We cannot solve it by continually throwing money at it, especially money that we don't even have. The time has come and gone that we must take a different approach. Stop spending our future generations' wealth. Stop trying to destroy this country in order to replace it with a failed European socialist experiment. I hope it is not too late.

In my seventy years on this earth I have never seen our populace quite so upset at what is going on. It is my belief and my hope that in November this nonsense will be changed. When you consider new employees who would deign to run our government, let's find people who are aware of limits. Someone who loves America and doesn't need to turn her into a European Socialist State. And to you who would consider running, "It's the economy stupid". Got that???

Ron Scarbro April 9, 2010




Friday, April 2, 2010

MARCH MORON OF THE MONTH

It is that time again. I think you will agree with me when I say that it is fitting that I choose April 1st to honor this particular moron. April first is a day when we recognize fools.

I was tempted to name Sean Penn as this month's choice but that would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Penn is busy down in Venezuela trying to prop up the little dictator Hugo Chavez. To name Penn would be at best redundant. He is to be sure a moron but he is also a traitor to this country as well as just a pure idiot. To hang the moniker of moron on him would cheapen the title for the rest of the morons in the world. Besides any recognition of Penn by this blog is considerably more attention than I intend to pay to him or his ilk.

No, today, April Fool's Day, we select the Civil Rights Commission of Davenport, Iowa as moron of the month. Why this august body of scholars and thinkers? Well they, in their wisdom and through their sense of fair play, decided to send a letter to the city manager of Davenport asking him to change the name of Good Friday to "Spring Holiday". It seems that to use the words Good Friday was to impose religion on the poor unsuspecting citizens of Davenport some of whom may not even be Christians. You'll pardon the expression but, Heaven forbid! According to the Civil Rights Commission political correctness, not to mention church/state separation, requires that absolutely no reference to any Christian observance be allowed by any city official. After all there are some Muslims and atheists in Davenport. They might be offended. I haven't asked the commission but I suppose that would also apply to all religious observances such as Ramadan, Yom Kippur and possibly even Christmas. The City Manager did in fact address the day as Spring Holiday and was pummeled by calls and e-mails. He and the city were overrun by hate mail and criticism. Even the unions got into the act because they had Good Friday off but not Spring Holiday. The City Manager quickly reversed his position and once again restored Good Friday to its rightful place as a Christian observance. 

This of course is what happens when political correctness and its practitioners run amok. Some people just can't seem to accept history and feel the need to re-write it. Some people just can't seem to accept the fact that this country was founded on Judao/Christian principles and continues to live by them. No where in the Constitution of the United States is there a guarantee of not being offended. If you are a Muslim or an atheist or even a warlock, that is your choice. If you choose to live in a Christian country such as America, that is also your choice. America will continue to celebrate her Christian observances and rituals whether you like it or not. If you are offended, too bad. As long as you obey the law you can observe your traditions as well. Just clean up after yourselves.

As has been pointed out by a judge at trial of an atheist who wanted Christmas abolished because it didn't include his group, atheists already have their day. It is in fact April 1st. As the judge quoted from the bible, "a fool has said there is no God." Happy April Fool's Day.

Ron Scarbro April 1, 2010