A LIGHTNING STRIKE

It was a beautiful day. The sun was warm and the sky was clear. It was calm. In just a matter of moments however, thunder was heard in the distance. Then black clouds appeared on the horizon. The wind picked up. You could see lightning flash. People scattered looking for cover. Some sought protection under trees. You, of course, know the rest of the story. A flash of light, a tree is hit, and people under the tree are struck and they die. Innocent, unsuspecting, men, women, and children die.

This sadly is not an unusual story. It happens all over the world. So what is the point of this discussion?

Let us consider the events at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. We are being told the “alleged” perpetrator was a somewhat normal, albeit brilliant, individual who was calm and quiet. A loner some said. So what does the massacre in Colorado have to do with lightning? I will try to offer some perspective.

In the case of the lightning storm, signs were everywhere. Dark clouds and thunder announced the arrival of the storm. Most people sought cover in safe ways. Some, however, even though they know one should never get under a tree in such a case, did it anyway. The sad and unfortunate result is they died.

The twenty-four year old suspect in the theater assault did not go crazy three weeks before he acted. He has been crazy for a long time. There were signs and they were ominous. There were dark clouds and there was thunder. I believe his parents knew. I believe many people knew. When he finally blew up, there was no place to hide. His actions were premeditated and vicious and his killings were as random as a lightning strike.

I was struck by the uncanny resemblance between this perp and the shooter in the Tucson shopping center. Look at their mug shots. Frightening. I believe in both of these cases many, many people knew these people were nut cases. They as much as announced they were going to, like lightning, strike. It was never a matter of if, it was only a matter of when.

All around the world we see these types of events. In Norway, where guns are totally controlled, dozens of innocents were killed by a nut case. It has happened in Germany. It happens where guns have been outlawed and it happens in more free societies where guns are readily available. These types of mass killings are very similar to lightning strikes. You can only protect yourself so much. One thing is clear. If an armed citizen with a conceal carry permit had been in the audience at the theater and shot the perpetrator, far fewer might have died. Sadly, we will never know. If history has taught us anything though, it is that the only way to stop a gun is with a gun.

Today the usual suspects are railing against the second amendment. People who, in my view, are at least as dangerous as many of the nut jobs among us, want to eliminate guns from our society. I have my guns to protect myself and my family from the crazies and the government. Both are equally dangerous to our freedom and well being.

In life random events occur. Most are good. Some are tragic. The people who went to see the Batman movie never imagined they would die that day. The people who sought protection under a tree in the storm never imagined they would not see tomorrow. Such is life.

Embrace your loved ones. Life has no guarantee. Lightning strikes.

Ron Scarbro July 25, 2012

THINGS THAT AMAZE ME

In my time on this earth some of the things I have experienced have amazed me. Even when I have had time to consider all of the reasons people act the way they do, I still come away confused.

As an example, Bill Clinton, a disgraced, disbarred, and impeached former President still is considered by most Democrats a statesman. His popularity has never been higher. He commands millions in speaker fees. The world doesn’t forget however. Hillary was heckled loudly in Egypt just last week by crowds screaming “Monica, Monica, Monica” at her last visit. Still the Democrats don’t get it.

Obama is pushing Romney to release his income tax returns for several years and at the same time he refuses to release his college records or his phony Social Security information. What amazes me is that his hard core supporters will not see anything wrong with this. Are they blind, or just stupid?

Obama rails against Romney regarding his business experience demanding he explain policies of Bain Capital which occurred after he had left the company. Could anybody tell me of any business experience Obama has had? Is “community organizer” considered business experience to the Democrats?

Obama criticizes Romney for the wealth he has earned but has never offered any explanation of how he afforded his time at Occidental College, or Columbia, or Harvard. How much do you suppose those colleges cost? Oh, and by the way, Obama also traveled around the world during this time and to that point had never had a job, had questionable parentage, and zero means of visible support. Who paid his bills? And why don’t any of the so-called intelligent people in the media ask these questions? Why don’t his so-called intelligent supporters ever question this? Do they just believe in magic? I personally know some of his supporters and I know them to be otherwise intelligent, but for some reason, which I cannot explain, they put blinders on when dealing with the most important issues facing us in this lifetime.

When Obama ran against Hillary, the Republicans left the vetting of Obama to the Clinton machine. They failed miserably. Now it is up to the Republicans to do the vetting and they are doing a terrible job. As a voter I demand to know the background of Barak Obama. I demand to see his college records. I demand to know why he has a Connecticut SSN but he has never lived there. I demand to know who supported him financially during his early years. Who does he owe and how is he paying them? Doesn’t anybody else in this country wonder about all this?

Today we have no choice but to find out about Obama. If he is given another four years as President, this country will suffer untold harm from which we may never recover. The Republican Party has to take the gloves off and go after this charlatan and find the answers he has kept from the American people. Where did Obama come from and how did he get here? Who owns him? Who is controlling his actions? I need to know and so do you.

I have been amazed by many things in my life but how somebody like Barack Obama can come from nowhere, community organizer, to President of the most powerful country on earth tops the list of amazing things. And if, after seeing him in action for the last three years plus, he is reelected, my list of amazing things would have to include yet another item which would top all other entries. Amazing.

Ron Scarbro, July 18, 2012

THE DEATH OF LIBERALISM

Let’s assume the worst. Let’s assume Obama gets re-elected. Most of the problems of Obamacare, and his entire presidency for that matter, are purposely delayed until after the next election. But, what is going to happen when it all hits the fan? And it will hit the fan. What is going to happen when the American people see what exactly the new health care law, for example, is going to cost in real money and jobs?

It is obvious to me that Obama doesn’t really care about anything beyond the next election. He and the Democrats haven’t given much thought to the damage they are doing to their own party or to the country for that matter. How would you like to be a Democrat running for a seat in government when the truth about Obamacare manifests itself? Even today none of them are running on his “coattails.” Have you heard anyone campaigning as an Obama Democrat? No and you are not likely to either. When private health care coverage cost is doubled and tripled, when doctor appointments are set months in advance because of shortages, when emergency room waits are extended to hours and hours, when government agents decide who gets care and who doesn’t, when the IRS begins collecting the Obama tax for failure to buy insurance, and when the Catholic Church decides to excommunicate  members who support this new socialism, how would you like to be a Democrat running for election?

Here is a truth. Obama cannot run for reelection past this next term. His party, the Democrats, will be on their own left to try to explain to the American people why the change they voted for failed so miserably.  

While  none of us can see into the future, we can speculate. What do you think is going to happen? The points I made earlier I believe are inevitable. Small business is going to suffer. Most will probably cancel their employee health care coverage. People who have in the past never bought health insurance because of its cost are not going to buy it now for the same reason. The threat of a new tax is not going to cause them to spend money they say they don’t have. Estimates are that over 30 million new patients will seek health care from a dwindling number of doctors and hospitals. That will definitely have a negative effect on the medical profession’s ability to function successfully. Many doctors are going to just take their money and run. Many others are not going to accept medicare or other government subsidized patients. What we are about to experience is a gigantic mess. Contrary to the “pie in the sky by and by” you have been told, this has disaster written all over it.

Do you remember when Clinton had his sex scandal? When it subsided, the Democrats said we should all just move on. In fact they even started an organization called “Move on Dot Org.” Reid, Pelosi and Schumer are out and about now saying the same things about Obamacare, we should just move on. Well that is not going to happen. The movement they will see will be at the ballot box.

First and foremost, we need to get rid of the perpetrators of this nonsense. That’s what elections are all about. If we hold the House and just capture a few Senate seats, we can curtail this wild eyed spender in the White House. Aside from just spending us into oblivion, there will also be new Court appointments coming up in the next few years. This truly will be the most important election of our time.

I predict that when the full impact of Obama’s presidency hits this country, the Democrat party will suffer for years and years. There will be no place to hide. In fact the only running they will be doing is running for the exits. Once again it will be left to the Republicans to clean up the mess. When the smoke clears on Obama’s fiascos, we may well be witnessing the “Death of Liberalism.” One can only hope.

Ron Scarbro July 11, 2012

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2012

I re-read the Declaration of Independence today before I wrote this column. I paid particular attention to the part where the authors wrote that governments derive their powers from the consent of the governed. In light of recent events and court decisions I thought that would be especially apropos because if the governed do not consent, our government has no power.

Today I am ingesting and digesting the Court’s decisions. I am frankly both  surprised and disappointed with John Roberts. He, in my opinion, basically re-wrote a law he was only supposed to judge. I am hearing all the spin from both sides of the argument and it is deafening. But I am not a seer. I cannot determine what the future holds any more than anyone else. I can only offer my thoughts and opinions.

America is fundamentally changing. From my early years to now one would have a difficult time recognizing this country. It just is not the same place. Whether the changes are for the better or the worse is for you to decide. I have made my decision.

I do not believe in the America of my youth the Federal Government would have  refused to enforce laws against illegal immigration. Now not only are they refusing, they are also forbidding states from enforcing the law. I do not believe the America of my youth would force any citizen to buy any product for any reason and then penalize them if they refused. The America of my youth would never attack an entire religion representing millions of people both here and throughout the world by requiring them to endorse and fund activities against their beliefs.

What we now have in this country is a dysfunctional executive, legislative and judicial government, and while these three branches of government are independent from each other, they are not independent from us, the American people.

Romney has said that his first official act as President will be to grant waivers to all fifty states which would essentially gut and eliminate Obamacare. Several Governors have said in the past few days that they would not put the new law into effect. That would have the same effect. One thing is clear. Any law is only as good and effective as its enforcement. Back in the sixties some hippies wore a t-shirt that said, “What if they started a war and nobody came?” What now if they passed a law and nobody obeyed it?

The Court has basically said to the American people, if you don’t like the laws your President and Congress passed, and over 60% of those polled don’t, get rid of those who passed the law and start over. That appears now to be the order of the day. Since the SCOTUS decision, Romney’s campaign fund has been exploding with donations. We also need to change out Congress.

I am indeed saddened by the changes our country has been experiencing. I regret the loss of individual responsibility. I detest the loss of our basic freedoms. I absolutely hate the direction this country is headed. Our values are being eroded.

There is good news though. We have an election coming up, you know.  So I wonder, have you had enough yet? Are you better off today than you were three years ago? Are you pleased with our headlong rush into socialism? Is this rush the change you thought you were voting for in the last election? Just wondering.

We all are guaranteed equal opportunity. That is one of our basic rights. However, we are not now nor have we ever been guaranteed equal outcome. No amount of wealth redistribution is going to materially alter the lives of some of our citizens. We succeed or fail based on our own individual initiative, not on any government handout. How I long for the America of my youth.

Ron Scarbro July 4, 2012

SUNSHINE IS A GREAT DISINFECTANT

It wasn’t my original line, I wish it was. I heard a politician say it recently. “Sunshine is a great disinfectant.” I thought about this concept. How many times have people of note, politicians as well as others, gotten themselves into trouble by trying to hide facts from the public. It has been said over and over, “The crime is usually not as bad as the attempted cover up.”

For some unknown reason people of note seem to forget that everything they say or do is recorded by someone somewhere and that information is readily available for all to see and hear. Their picture is being taken every minute of every day. There are no secrets. When Phil Mickelson won the Masters Golf Tournament, he took his family out to a local hamburger joint for lunch. He happened to put on the “Green Jacket” he was awarded for his Masters win. The lady at the restaurant took his picture and posted it. Phil’s reaction? Everybody is press now.

Nixon tried in vain to cover up his criminal action as did Clinton and so many others. It didn’t work. It never works. Today the Obama administration is trying to cover up the “Fast and Furious” gun running scheme. They are playing the “race card.” I believe they will try anything. Guess what? It isn’t going to work. Eventually the facts will come out for all the world to see. I am sure their primary effort for now is just to delay the inevitable until after the election. They have a good chance of pulling that off, but eventually the truth will be known. The sun is going to shine on this and there will be clarity and that clarity will serve to disinfect this ridiculous scheme.

I remember my mother used to hang her wash out on the clothesline in the sun. She believed the sun would take stains out. She always preferred drying her laundry in the sunshine for its beneficial effect on her clothes.

Government activities absolutely must be public business. Attorney General Holder’s attempting to withhold information from the Congress and the American people serves only to make us all the more determined to discover what they are trying to hide. Who knew what and when did they know it? These are the simple questions that have plagued people of note before and questions which have led to their downfalls. In the case of this gun running scheme, people have been killed. Two have been law enforcement agents. Who knows how many Mexicans have died because of this ridiculous, amateur fiasco?

Executive privilege is not automatic, even for Emperor Obama. When this administration is sued, and they will be, a judge will review all the documents being sought by the Congress. The judge will then decide if they are in fact qualified for “executive privilege.” Embarrassment of  public officials is not a legitimate reason for the privilege. Hiding criminal activity also is not a legitimate reason for privilege. In fact there are only a very few actual legitimate reasons executive privilege can be claimed.

The simplest answer is to let the sun shine on this deal. Allow the facts to be known. They’re going to come out sooner or later. If this is nothing more than stupidity causing embarrassment, we will all just laugh at you. If, however, criminal activity has been perpetrated, prosecution will most surely follow. A president and an attorney general should know better. This I know, this matter will see the light of the sun and it will be disinfected and you can count on it.

Ron Scarbro June 27, 2012

THE EUROPEAN MESS EXPLAINED

I am going to try to explain what is happening in Europe, especially Greece. Now everybody who knows me knows I am not an economist. I don’t even balance my own checking account. But I think I can paint a word picture explaining the mess in Europe.

Greece is a member state of the European Union as California is a member state of the U.S. So I am going to use California to explain. I could use any state but as I have said before, it is more fun to pick on California. California is deeply in debt and they need a bailout from the Federal Government. The Feds tell California that in order to be bailed out, they must change their way of doing business. They must reduce their obligations to pension funds, salaries, and most of their giveaway programs. When Californians hear of this, they object. They much prefer the debauchery of their past. So they decide to secede and elect a government which will then print its own money and continue life as it has always been. Well there are problems with this. First, paper money is nothing more than a promissory note. California, like Greece, is deeply in debt and they owe much more than they take in. Hence the 19 billion dollar deficit California faces. Ergo, their paper money, let’s call it the “Golden Bear,” would be worth about half of a U.S. dollar. That means that a five U.S. dollar artichoke would cost ten California golden bears. Since one could then go to Nevada and buy an artichoke for five dollars, California doesn’t get the money.

Of course there are many other problems with California seceding from the U.S., like forming their own army for defense, controlling their own borders, and generally protecting themselves from the chaos that would ensue with runaway inflation. In a matter of days, most Californians, especially the wealthy, would pack up and move to Texas and try to turn that state into the cesspool they just escaped from. California’s roads and bridges would deteriorate, their cities would crumble from lack of maintenance.  Remember, there would be no Federal money so Californians would have to go it alone. I could go on, but I think you get my drift. It just would not be pretty.

So Greece says, like California, we don’t like the austerity measures the European Union is requiring of us so we are just going to return to the past. We will print our own drachmas. Unfortunately, because of the debt they have incurred, their drachmas will be worth about half of a euro. Their five euro shot of ouzo will cost ten drachmas. Other governments who have purchased Greek debt will require repayment in real money, not worthless drachmas. Of course they could not pay, so they would then go into default. Basically the rest of the world would then have to foreclose on their debt. The once great country of Greece with all its history would be divided up among her creditors. At that point, whether the Greek citizens like it or not, they would then be the subjects of other governments and under their laws.

For world markets the event would be disastrous at least in the short term. I believe most of the world has been divesting themselves of Greek debt for several years so that would be the justification for calling it a short term problem. Any way you look at it though, it would continue to be a mess for some time.

Now some of you Californians are asking, “What would happen to us?” I suspect your beautiful state would once again be settled by pioneers who would establish a new government which would immediately attempt to rejoin the union. I can assure you however, that the new state would look nothing like the old one.

I hope you enjoyed this little example of Economics 101. If you have a better explanation, I would love to hear it. In the meantime, hang on to your IRAs and savings accounts. It promises to be a wild ride.

Ron Scarbro June 20, 2012

UNIONS, SMUNIONS

It is pretty obvious that “Big Labor” suffered a “big defeat” in the Wisconsin recall  election. It pleased me but I thought I would do some investigation to see if I was justified in my satisfaction with the results. I went to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics to learn who is a union member and how many of them there are.

The numbers are rather surprising. Through 2011, the percentage of employees working in the private sector who are members of a union total 6.9%. The percentage of civil service workers (public sector workers) represented by a union totals 37%. The total workforce union representation of both private and public sector workers is 11.8%. That of course means that 88.2% of workers in this country are not union members and are working away on their jobs without benefit of union representation.

If you had been paying attention to the national media over the past several months you would have to have come to the conclusion that most of the country was beholding to big unions and big labor. It turns out that is just not true. Their membership is tiny by comparison. What is true is that big labor spends millions of dollars which they collect from their paltry membership to try to control elections and elect Democrats. What is true is that union bosses who control the money taken from their members live opulent lives of wealth and privilege. It certainly is no surprise to me that they would do whatever they must do to keep their gravy train running. Otherwise they would have to get a real job. What is also true is that big labor owns a few politicians and controls several others through phony intimidation.

I have never been a union member but I know many of you are, either now or have been so in the past. My opinion of unions is not very good. I think at one time in our history they probably served a purpose. Today I think they have  lost their value to their membership. Today they seem to exist only to continue themselves. They don’t really represent their members any more. They have become money mills designed to collect money and control elections.

It is past time for the American people to wake up and see the truth. Civil Service unions are ridiculous. Teacher’s unions are as well. People who work in these jobs have more job security than anyone in the private sector and it is not because of their union.  It is because they are civil service workers.

In addition to never having been a union member, I also have never held a civil service job. In the private sector where I worked,  job security is defined by an employee’s value to his employer, not the other way around.  If you wanted to keep your job, it was incumbent upon you to make yourself a valuable asset to your employer. This philosophy could not be improved by any collective bargaining group.

Big labor, it turns out, is nothing but a paper tiger. Their membership is tiny and is dwindling more every year. Their influence is governed by the money they extract from their hapless members and then spent trying to control Democrats. It didn’t work very well in Wisconsin, did it? As municipalities and local governments continue to face deficits requiring them to further reduce pension and medical benefits to their employees and retirees, public sector union membership is going to dwindle even further. Today if there were no public sector unions,  total employee union representation in this country would be something less than 5% of the workforce. Unions, smunions.

Ron Scarbro June 9, 2012