Castles in the Sand

As we continue to endure this recession, as more people lose work, and more savings evaporates, Obama continues to assemble monuments to himself. The latest is his presiding over a UN meeting in which the Security Council passed a meaningless paper resolution to "end nukes." He's passed an unbelievable and dangerous number of multiple-billion dollar programs (ranging from the $1.2 billion 'Making Home Affordable' to the $1,200billion 'stimulus' plan). Now, he seeks to impress upon us a fact-denying, ludicrous health care plan, energy tax, and union-coercion act. For me, these monuments show that he wishes to be the Father of the American Socialist State.

Does he wish a statue of himself, molded of gold and silver, to indoctrinate students that pass and look up at the leader who destroyed their world? Does he want to be a successful where Woodrow Wilson was a failure: in setting up a New World Order?

Does Mr. Obama not know that the tides of history will wash away his sandcastles?

No matter what monuments he builds to himself, Obama's nuke-free utopian fantasy along with his gambling with Europe's safety will disintegrate all in radioactive fire. His bureaucracies, though they are the closest thing to immortal life we see here on earth, will rust and crumble; his statues, fall.

We've always had two great parties in this country and they are not the Republicans and the Democrats. We must offer the bold, historical choice between the party of big government and national failure, and the party of the American people and freedom and renewal. We must choose to be the latter and we can bring realism, sensibility, and stability back to this world. Only real change and realism in the tri-partisan tradition will fix America, and the New Republicans can do it. God's not finished with us just yet.

A Time for Choosing

There's been a flurry of reports in the last few months over Afghanistan. As you may have read or heard, things are getting worse: July and August were the worst months in years of the war in terms of casualties. I wouldnt be complete if I didnt mention that some of the problem is Obama's fault. He put in place several directives to "protect civilians;" being that our enemies use these civilians as shields, these policies have resulted in some casualties on our side. With the politicking out of the way, I can get to the necessary facts.

Michael Mullen, US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman - a big guy in the military, first called for more troops in Afghanistan (sending 21,000 during the Afghan elections) and "stalled" on liberal calls for allowing morale-damaging gays in the military. Doing his job (read: these two grievous offenses) provoked Sen. Susan Collins (D-somewhere) to request a review of the 'rules of engagement' from Mullen (meaning that she doesnt have confidence in his work). In the executive branch, the reaction has been much less exciting: Obama has stated that he will not make an 'immediate' decision on sending more troops and that he's going to be boring and "take a very deliberate process" of decision. In other words, Obama has reached a time for choosing and he doesnt know what to do - therefore he pulls over his legacy from the senate...and does nothing.

On the side seemingly pressuring him towards giving up on the war is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Michigan's wonderful senior senator (who hits the deck if an engine backfires) Carl Levin, seems to think he and his life of Lansing, caviar and fine wine are better suited to make military judgment calls than those who eat MRE's and sleep in foxholes outside Kabul. He's supported by the liberal lifestyle groups, European socialist nations, and my more libertarian friends. Cumulatively, this support is a remnant of the arthritic "New Left" who would scrap the war effort on the advice of a few misguided, anti-pragmatic leftist faculty members who, themselves, are holed up in a fantasy world. This, however, is the world Obama comes from.

Thus his choice: he can choose to side with those who actually understand the issue, or he can play politics, satisfy his base, and secure renomination. Judging from the Guantanamo Bay Prison issue (where Obama decided to close it against common sense, the majority of the American people, and Dick Cheney), Obama will side with his Lefty base in order to gin-up sufficient inflammation to pass the energy tax, health care, and "card check." On the other hand, Dem Sen. Max Baucus' Gang of 6 (which includes John McCain...the ranking Senate Armed Services Committee Republican, who fervently disagrees with Levin's anti-war recommendation) has just released a misguided health insurance bill that will need some GOP support to have legitimacy post-passage. Upon the desk in the oval office sits one choice: it is a complex choice when viewed through a political lens yet a simple one if based in common sense.

If he decides pragmatically, Obama will apply Patraeus' model in Iraq (troop surge, essentially) with a little flexibility to compensate for Afghanistan's historical lack of a developed government. This choice will get harder and the conditions worse the longer he puts it off; regardless of what he decides, his decision will dramatically shape the future of the Obama presidency. I, for one, hope the president makes the prudent one.

College is bad and adolescence is worse

So, I've just started my second week of torture at Grand Valley State University and am already seeing a white imprint of I must not tell lies on the back of my hand. As opposed to this view, most people see college as an important growth stage between high school and adulthood. Herein lies the rub: I am already an adult.

That statement is not just an immature rambling of a teenager wishing he were older: there is evidence that I and others see. To name a few: I connect with very few people my own age, I associate much more with people far older than I am, and I am set in who I am. This drives a very divisive wedge between me and my classmates with the most relevant example that I think and live for 100 years from now while a good 80% of them live for friday night. Many of my classmates are here because they are supposed to be, they are here to develop themselves as people and change their fundamentals which will lead, presumably, to their building a personality upon these changed principles.

If youre a friend of mine or a long time reader, you understand that I know who I am. The difficulty of this relatively simple advancement in maturity is far tougher for many people to empathize with than one would suppose. As those my age in my life change, our relationship -and I as a person- become(s) somewhat of a relic of a past life to them.

I dont write this as an angst-filled projection of my feelings, but a real analysis of what I, and others like me, go through in a culture dominated by central ideas. This process is not unique in history whatsoever, but its frequent occurance in the textbooks doesnt make it right nor tolerable. Like single mothers, I and others must face or deflect hard, teary realities our peers are simply exempt from.

Now, let me go on record saying that I choose to face and not deflect them. Confronting ones problems and not dismissing them from thought is a key step in maturity, one I have passed yet others seem to linger behind. Whatever happens, I know that I am actuated in this human struggle by a higher Being and I pray He grant guidance to me and to all of you that survived reading this post :)

Fascist Michigan?

Hello again...I apologize for the delay, but I have been getting settled in here at GVSU and that point has finally come...now I can write about something that has been irking me for a while.

As you know, Granholm has been awarding these single tax incentives to single companies in the tradition of Spartan Stores and Meijer being written into the state tax code (Examples: 1, 2, 3). This will***** create a comparative handful of jobs based around 'green' things over the next few years.

These tax incentives show that Granholm accepts the premise that lower taxes bring jobs to Michigan. She is, however, giving these on an ad hoc basis to companies that will forward what she sees as her 'legacy.' However, she's enacting her economic plan to blow us away, or as we here in reality call it, a Fascist model of planning the private sector.

I'm serious. You know I'm not one to make seemingly outrageous claims like this...but Granholm's case-by-case evaluation of privately owned corporations for move-inducing tax incentives is the defintion of 'soft-Fascism.' Put this softie stuff on top of her iron fisted, anally constrictive regulation framework (once the corporations are actually in place) and you have carrot-and-whip, Moussolini model Fascism. Remember, the Nazis were the National Socialist German WORKERS Party...and what are the Dems? Buddies of Big Labor. It's scary stuff....GVSU itself is bribing (with actual money) students to tattle on others who break oppressively specific 'school rules. This, along with the snitch website of Obama's, shows a brutal, Brown-shirt trend among this nation's left that has me deeply worried.

This is further exposed by the Left's tendency toward Orwellian New Speak in calling small government conservatives, 'Nazis.' They can continue to do this, there's nothing stopping them. We just need to win the arguments. The little secret the elite media hides from us is that we are winning! Obama's losing on health care because of free-thinking, individual Americans not part of some socialist closed-shop union. Obama's lost the Gitmo-closing issue because of Dick Cheney and a thousands of discerning citizens in search of the truth.

Keep it up! :D

Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VeqP2uB0Ac

Wouldnt it be nice to tell GM: "Hey, what will it take to bring your production back from Mexico? Lower taxes? What will make us better than Mexico or China?"

Bob's Holland Sentinel Letter

'Feds No Friend to Michigan'

When times are tough, it is always instinctive to look to a friend for help. With state budget deficits and unemployment soaring, more and more people are looking to Washington for help. I have to express caution about any effort to land help from the federal government.

by Rep Bob Genetski

The feds are no friend to Michigan, and examples of their “help” leave Michigan taxpayers poorer and more frustrated than when they first needed aid. Michigan’s infrastructure, roads and bridges are in dreadful shape. In looking to the feds for help with fixing these, our state receives back 92 cents for every Michigan taxpayer dollar we send to Washington in the form of the federal gas tax. The U.S Department of Transportation does send more money to MDOT, but the feds tie strings to it, forcing Michigan to spend the money on highway rest stops. Even if Michigan’s dire need is for roads, Washington forces us to rebuild highway rest stops and our state loses the money if we do not spend it in that manner.

When our “friends” in the federal government passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus bill, to “create jobs,” only 12 percent of the $7 billion translated into infrastructure projects. Some might argue that state government is so intertwined with the feds that the two are not friends but in fact dating. If this is the case, Michigan is in an abusive relationship or dating a control freak. Either way, we have to question any friendship that makes us buy highway rest stops when we need roads.

Obamacare

Socialized health care...leftism as an umbrella concept...works to best streamline society to take according to one's abilities and invest according to one's needs. When you can eliminate people having needs (i.e. aborting/killing...'euthanizing,' 'dying with dignity'...them allows for more to be pooled per capita in the whole. It makes total utilitarian sense to simply dispose of the handicapped and the retired for they do not produce into the nation's economic well being. Obama's health care plan is now and will come down to utilitarian thinking..."are you, cancer patient, worth the investment? Is there an acceptable chance you will live and produce into the pool more than you are drawing for this treatment?"...I simply cant accept objectifying human beings into a grand economic scheme...this is why I opposed the MI Legis. bill to fund abortions as way to reduce social services costs...this is why I oppose this healthcare plan. Not one of our ancestors that made America great thought just of dollar signs and budget items, we lead the world because of the human factor: the freedom factor.

Democracy...but not.

We live in a country where the people run the government, right? No, of course not...it wasn't set up that way and doesn't exist today. There are elements, however, that run on 'direct democracy.' These are purportedly at the state and local levels with specific concentrations in states that were overwhelmingly Populist or Progressive just over 100 years ago. Alas, the tides have turned against this noble, American tradition, we see its demise in Saugatuck...

When a millage is voted down as the Saugatuck school millage was on the basis of school administration mishandling money, is it really democracy to propose the millage over and over until it passes? There shouldn't be anything as a 'routine election result' in this country...it's bad for democracy and horribly for our government.

Routine elections breed complacency with problems and an opposition to new ideas. This comfort of position is the singular reason it took 25 years to add a new lane to the runway at the Atlanta airport...and why it's necessary to shut down the bureaucracy in Michigan to effect change. This is not a sustainable path we are on...it is our responsibility as citizens and conservatives to break the machine...

Do it...teach the kids fancying themselves administrators in Saugatuck a lesson and vote no. Speaking as a former student in Hamilton, it would be great for the Saugatuck imports to attend the state's finest high school.