Friday Follies for November 30, 2012

Obama’s minions have been in “secret” talks with the GOP congressional leadership on how to divert our approach to the fiscal cliff. What the White House wanted and what they offered in return made McConnell laugh out loud.

Obama wanted more taxes, no commitment to any spending cuts (unless it was to the military), and authority to raise the debt limit at will—no Congressional approval required! Quoting Dave Ramsey, that would be giving a drunk a drink.

White House ‘Cliff’ Offer to Boehner a ‘Break from Reality’

By Billy House, Updated: November 30, 2012 | 8:00 a.m



Yes, your read that first paragraph correctly. Obama wants congress to give him complete authority to spend and borrow without regard to the debt limit—in short, there would be no debt limit other than what our creditors were willing to give us. It would be a fiscal disaster.

We need to keep the pressure on McConnell and Boehner to reject Obama’s offers. Obama will never cut spending regardless of any agreements. He has done that many times before. Obama lies. Democrats lie. They will never honor any agreement except when it is what they want.

The real danger is that McConnell and Boehner will revert to their normal spinelessness and roll over again. We must make the establishment GOP more afraid of us than they are of the dems.


Speaking of the fiscal cliff, more and more analysts and pundits are saying, “Do nothing.” According to them, the fiscal cliff is a myth created by the 2011 Budget Control Act. Boehner and McConnell sold the GOP a bill of mythical goods and allowed Obama and the dems to defraud the country. That act was limited to only discretionary spending—35% of the national budget while doing nothing to the big entitlement ticket items.

The GOP establishment is really afraid of being accused of shutting down the government if they don’t cave once again. Get real! The media and the dems will make those accusations anyway! Expect the demagoguery.

The government has been shutdown before and the world didn’t end. A year or so ago a blizzard hit the east coast including Washington. Most of the rank and file government employees were told to stay home. Only the “essential” workers had to report to work. That makes it easy where to cut. Cut those who didn’t have to go in to work, keep those who did have to report for work.

Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel discussed the GOP’s media fears in their column today.



Krauthammer urged the ‘Pubs to stand their ground as well.

Krauthammer urged Republicans to take the short-term hit on the fiscal cliff, and said eventually Obama would be held accountable for the consequences. — The Daily Caller.

Krauthammer declared that Obama’s demands were worse than those given to Lee at Appomattox and Lee had just lost a war.

“It’s not just a bad deal — this is really an insulting deal,” Krauthammer said. “What Geithner offered, what you showed on the screen, Robert E. Lee was offered easier terms at Appomattox, and he lost the Civil War. The Democrats won by three percent of the vote, and they did not hold the House. Republicans won the House. So this is not exactly unconditional surrender, but that is what the administration is asking of the Republicans.”

“This idea — there are not only no cuts in this, there’s an increase in spending with a new stimulus,” Krauthammer continued. “I mean, this is almost unheard of. I mean, what do they expect? They obviously expect the Republicans will cave on everything. I think the Republicans ought to simply walk away. The president is the president. He’s the leader. They are demanding that the Republicans explain all the cuts that they want to make.” — The Daily Caller.

Yes, some business sectors would take a hit. Some government contractors would take a hit. The GOP would be blamed, again, for shutting down the government. But if that is what it takes to get ALL government spending on the cutting table, so be it. It is time to get our governmental house in order and we know the dems won’t do it.


Continuing on today’s theme, I’ll leave you with this parting thought from Michael Ramirez.The Fiscal Cliff

Campaign Reform: Lies and Misdirections

Missouri democrats have opened their offensive for the next election cycle now that the 2012 elections are over. What they are attempting to do is to impose their version of McCain-Feingold at the state level. Significant portions of McCain-Feingold were later to be found unconstitutional.

A local democrat legislator is proposing similar restrictions for Missouri. The restrictions include a $5000 donation limit and exposing the contribution lists for non-profit organizations.

Michael Mahoney, a reporter for a Kansas City TV station, wrote the article below on his blog.

Reform, Including Crackdown on Hidden Money

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri House Democrats on Tuesday called for new campaign finance rules and stiffer ethics laws that cap political contributions, limit gifts from lobbyists, require departing legislators to sit out before becoming lobbyists and impose new reporting requirements for some not-for-profit groups.
Democrats said they believe the proposal is a priority for Missourians and that, if necessary, they could attempt to take the issue directly to voters through an initiative petition. Lawmakers return to the state Capitol in January for their 2013 session.

The wide-ranging legislation would cap campaign contributions for legislators and statewide elected officials at $5,000 per donor for each election and would limit gifts lawmakers and immediate family members can accept from lobbyists to $1,000 annually. Legislators also would be barred from working as paid political consultants while in office and would need to wait at least two years after leaving the Legislature before returning to lobby former colleagues.
In addition, the Missouri Ethics Commission would gain the authority to launch its own investigations instead of waiting for a compliant to be filed, and the ability to move campaign contributions among political action committees would be restricted.

The pertinent portion of the proposed reform is this.

The House Democrats’ most recent proposal also adds some new issues. For example, it would require not-for-profit organizations contributing money for political purposes to disclose their donors. During this year’s elections, there were instances in which a political action committee that is required to report on its finances received contributions from a not-for-profit group that is not required to report its donors. That made it difficult to determine the original source of the money.

That last sentence is the true motivation. The democrats want those donor lists. Those conservative contributors would soon find themselves targets. The entire reform plan has one goal—to get those donor lists. If you read Mahoney’s entire column, you’ll discover that dems attempted to “reform” campaign finances in 2010. Their scheme failed when the proposed legislation was modified once it was out of committee. When that failed, they had one of their judges (why is it always the same Cole County judges?) declare it unconstitutional on some technical grounds.

I’m sure there is one or two RINOs around the state who will sign onto this proposal and allow the dems to claim it’s bipartisan. The reality of it is that it is never bipartisan, just another skirmish in the continuing battle between us and them in Jeff City.

A Rose by any other name…

There have been strange items appearing in the news today. Cuba has announced that “everyone” will pay taxes in the future. In general, the Cuban people have not paid taxes since the 1959 revolution—the country was subsidized by the former USSR. That ended in the 1990s.

With the reshuffle of their government two years ago, small, low-level capitalism was allowed in Cuba. Some were small business, a few were small private farms. The Cuban government wanted their share of those small successes.

It wasn’t enough. Now the Cuban government says everyone will pay taxes, not just those few “greedy” capitalists.  Sounds familiar, doesn’t it.  The parasite class in the US was sold a bill of goods by Obama and the dems declaring a plethora of free goodies. They, too, will discover like Cubans, that the list of freebies will end and someday the bill will come due. For the parasite class, that will begin next year with the first portions of Obamacare is implemented.


Here in Missouri, and I expect in many other states across the nation, conservative groups are gathering to form a unified platform they hope to implement in the Republican Party. Included in these groups are conservative ‘Pubs, Libertarians, Constitutionalists and Ron Paul supporters.

The hoped for fusion of these groups is to create an opposing force against the tactics of the ‘Pub establishment and the rule changes the establishment forced through in last Summer’s convention. They have a long list of grievances against the ‘Pub establishment—most of them well justified.

The discussions have, for the most part, been limited to private Facebook groups and other private lists. The initial goal of these groups is to work within the party to force a bottom-up change to core the party. Most of the members but not all, recognize that unification means power. They don’t want to create a new third party. A third party doesn’t have sufficient power to enact change—witness the futility of the Libertarians and the Constitution party. No, their goals are to change the nature of the Republican party, to stop the slide towards being just another democrat party, to reform the ‘Pubs to the original conservative, small government party of Reagan and Goldwater.

I haven’t seen much unification so far. All the motivations that created the conservative splintering still exists. The Libertarians cling to their party manifesto with its legalization of drugs and emasculation of themilitary. The Ron Paul faction still has their personality cult. It is now shifting to Rand Paul with the expectation that he, Rand Paul, is a clone of his father. That’s not yet proven. And, the Constitutionalists still hate the ‘Pubs for all their supposed offenses against conservatism.

So the name calling, the backbiting and backstabbing continues. Maybe, just maybe, these divergent groups will settle their differences and merge into a single force for change in the Republican Party. I’m not confident of their success. It will be interesting to see what happens. After all, as the old story goes, “Perhaps the horse will learn to sing.”


1. strict and demanding obedience: favoring strict rules and established authority
2. demanding political obedience: belonging to or believing in a political system in which obedience to the ruling person or group is strongly enforced
au·thor·i·tar·i·an NOUN
au·thor·i·tar·i·an·ism NOUN

Synonyms: strict, tyrannical, demanding, totalitarian, despotic, absolute, dictatorial, autocratic

Antonyms: liberal

Why bring this up? Well, Harry Reid is attempting to create a dictatorship in  the Senate with himself as the dictator. How? By eliminating the fulibuster…the sole remaining weapon of the ‘Pubs against a rubber stamp for Obama’s political appointments and foreign treaties. The dems were all against this when the ‘Pubs controlled the Senate prior to 2006 and they were the “obstructionists.”

Reid threatens filibuster change

McConnell hits back, says move threatens collegiality

By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times, Monday, November 26, 2012



The back-and-forth spilled over onto the Senate floor Monday, with Mr. Reid facing off against Sen. Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s top Republican, in a rare and acrid head-to-head debate.

“This is no exaggeration. What these Democrats have in mind is a fundamental change to the way the Senate operates, for the purposes of consolidating their own power,” the Kentucky Republican said. “In the name of efficiency, they would prevent the very possibility of compromise and threaten to make the disputes of the past few years look like mere pillow fights.”

The fight is not only about the filibuster, but the way the Senate writes all of its rules — of which the filibuster is just one example.

Mr. Reid plans to use his newly expanded majority to make the changes on the first day of the new Congress next year, which is the only time rules can be adopted on a simple majority vote. Any other time, a rules change requires a two-third vote, and most major changes are done through the two-thirds method.

Mr. Reid, though, said Republican blockades of bill after bill have left him no choice but to use the majority route — dubbed the “nuclear option” in some quarters — and said voters in this month’s elections showed they want faster action in the chamber.

“We’re going to follow the rules to make a couple of minor changes to make this place more efficient, and that’s what the Senate has always been about, is revising itself to become more efficient,” Mr. Reid said, dismissing GOP “threats” as bluster and wondering, “What more could they do to us?”

If Harry Reid is successful, the minority party—the ‘Pubs, will be powerless. A simple majority—which the dems already have, will be sufficient to pass anything not already requiring 2/3rds of the Senate. And, with this rule change, those 2/3rd requirements could be changed to require simple majorities as well. That is the real danger of Reid’s proposal.

Our government is funded by a series of “continuing resolutions” not a budget. The Senate has become a democrat rubber-stamp. Obama continues to act like a dictator ignoring the Constitution whenever it prohibits his acts. And 51% of the voters lap at the public trough.

It’s going to be a rough four years.

Sold down the river

There is a historical reference to today’s post title. It once meant that recalcitrant slaves would be sold for heavy or dangerous work. The practice broke up families, divided parents from children, husband from wife, and frequently led to injury and death. Once you get past the connotations, it sounds much like today’s welfare state.

The ‘Pub establishment is about to sell us down the river. How? By a number of methods. First, there is a growing number who are disavowing Grover Norquist‘s Anti-Tax Pledge. Next, they are willing to “accept” some tax increases (that means bye-bye to extending the Bush tax rate) and closing tax “loopholes”. That last means removing some tax deductions like charitable giving and interest paid on mortgages. Nowhere in all this discussion, whether from John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, Saxby Chambliss and other RINOs, is any demand for spending reductions—unless it’s cutting the military.

The ‘Pubs have retained their control of the U.S. House. That’s the good news. The bad news is that it’s controlled by RINOs like John Boehner who never saw a political battle he couldn’t evade.

So what can we expect from our Congressmen? Not a whole lot. Spending legislation is supposed to originate in the House. However, we’ve not had a budget passed in six years. The House has lost its major political function—controlling the government’s purse-strings. Real power is currently in the Senate. And what’s happening there? Harry Reid is attempting to remove the filibuster—the sole weapon remaining to the ‘Pubs, giving him rubber-stamp authority over all functions of the Senate—like approving appointments to the Judiciary, approval of treaties and the like. When that happens, our republican form of government is gone and the Constitution, already damaged, is powerless.

Our only hope remaining is to replace Boehner and McConnell with people who have the guts to fight to the last remaining limit. No, that’s not right. There can be no limits opposing the authoritarian rule of Obama and the democrats. The gloves must come off. It may be too late already. I hope not.

A whiff of secession



Separatists winning in Catalonia, Spain: early results













Secession, y’all: Why Texas can pull it off

Bob Smiley, Author, “Don’t Mess with Travis”



Here’s why:













Does the Rule of Law still exist?



“We the People…”









Anarchy is the result.







Thanksgiving Remembrance

I hope you all are having a great Thanksgiving. As I am known to do, I repeat some selected posts on Holidays. Some Holidays trigger particular memories. Thanksgiving always triggers one for me about an older cousin of mine. My Grandmother’s nephew actually.

Here for your enjoyment is a tale of Heinie Mueller. I hope the story may trigger some memories of yours of those who have gone before us and left a memorial mark on our lives.


Heinie (Henry) Mueller was Grandma’s nephew. He served in the US Army during WW1 though most of the battles on the front lines. He was gassed twice, received two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star plus some French medals.

Heinie was a character. He walked with a slight limp and cussed every third word. He didn’t care who he was with nor who heard him. If somebody didn’t like his language, it was just too bad. Usually, Heinie would send them on their way with a few choice words and phrases.

After the war, he married a lady named Irene and moved to Woodriver, IL. They would drive down to visit us every few months—more often after we moved to the farm. Heinie liked to hunt squirrels, rabbits, and geese and he would frequently appear during hunting season. He, Dad and I would go hunting while the women-folk visited.

I don’t remember Heinie ever shooting much. He seemed to just like getting outdoors and walking in the woods. When we flushed some game, he would more than likely let Dad or me have the shot.

One year, Heinie and Irene came down for Thanksgiving. They arrived on Wednesday and Irene brought makings for oyster dressing. She and Grandma would fix Thanksgiving dinner the next day while Mom went to pick up my sister who was attending college. Heine, Dad and I planned to get up early Thanksgiving morning and go goose hunting.

We left the house early Thanksgiving morning, about an hour before sunup, and drove down to the Muddy River bottoms where Dad share-cropped corn on a ten-acre field. Dad built some hunting blinds along the edge of the field when Heinie announced he was coming.

The blinds were set up along a tree line with an open view across the corn field. The field had been picked late in the season and there was a lot of corn spillage to attract geese and an occasional deer.

It was cold. Ice had formed on the surface of the field and crunched as we walked across it towards the blind. It had been built out of salvaged two-by-fours and scrap sheet-metal for the roof with a covering of corn stalks for camouflage. Across the front was a tarp that would be dropped to allow us to step forward to shoot.

For whatever reason, the wind, or low hanging gray clouds or just general cussedness, the geese didn’t appear that day. Heinie had brought a hip-flask and would take a nip every so often. Dad was a Baptist and didn’t drink, but Heinie didn’t care.

By 11 o’clock, we decided that we’d give up hunting for the day. Dad started a fire to make some coffee and to fix a quick lunch hoping to sober Heinie up a bit before we went back to the house.

Heinie had been nipping steadily since we arrived and was feeling good. While the coffee was perking in an old coffepot, Heinie started talking about when he was in the Army. He had joined the US Cavalry in 1912 at the age of 17 and had gone down into Mexico with Black Jack Pershing after Pancho Villa.

After a bit, he talked about going to France to fight the Germans. Heinie was a Corporal by that time and had transferred from the Cavalry to the Infantry. After Mexico, he said, he didn’t want to ride or see another horse for the rest of his life.

Heinie was promoted to Sargent on arriving in France and took over a rifle platoon. He fought in a few battles and managed to survive with only some minor wounds. He was lightly gassed with chlorine a couple of times when his British-made gas mask leaked.

After we had finished our coffee and the fried egg and bacon sandwiches Dad had warmed over the fire, Heinie was silent for awhile. Then he began to talk about the Second Battle of the Marne and tears started flowing.

Heinie had been in charge of a rifle squad when they had left the US, first as a Corporal and then as a Sargent. Not long after arriving in France, he was made a Platoon Sargent and Company interpreter. Heinie had known many of the men in the platoon for several years, some from the excursion into Mexico.

Heinie’s grandparents had immigrated from Hesse, German in the early 1880s. They spoke both German and French. Heinie, born in Illinois, didn’t speak English until he entered school and retained a slight German accent the rest of his life.

Heinie’s company was in the front line trenches and preparing for battle. The Battle of the Marne had been going on for some time and the allies were preparing counter-attacks. An hour before the company was scheduled to attack, Heinie was sent back to the battalion headquarters. It had been decided that all interpreters would be held back and would not attack with their troops because they would be needed to help translate for all the prisoners that would be captured—so they assumed.

Heinie paused several times to blow his nose and wipe his eyes before continuing. The whistles blew and the troops attacked. After several hours, survivors began filtering back through the battalion headquarters area. It was later determined that out of Heinie’s company, he and seven others were the only survivors. None were from Heinie’s platoon.

Later, Dad told me that every year Heinie would get a bit liquored up and start talking and remembering. One of my uncles, Dad’s older brother, joined the Army just before WW1 but had spent the war in the Cavalry patrolling the Mexican border out of El Paso. Usually Dad wasn’t too tolerant of drunkenness but Heinie was different. Dad said it was a small thing to give Heinie an audience. It quieted his ghosts.

Heinie is long gone now. But every Thanksgiving, I remember him.