Buddy Can You Spare A Trillion?

Barack Obama went to Congress with hat in hand and asked for another trillion dollars of debt. He wants the debt ceiling raised another trillion dollars so he can borrow and spend more. This will likely be done because Congress can do nothing to stop it.

Under the deal struck last year, Obama can ask for the increase and unless Congress votes not to allow it then it will happen. Since the Democrats control the Senate they will likely not vote to stop it and if they do (it is an election year) Obama can veto them and there are not enough votes to override the veto.

Obama and his policies have given us the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression and he is on track to borrow more than all the presidents from Washington to Clinton combined!

According to the Washington Post, Obama formally notified Congress on 12 January that he will raise the debt ceiling by 1.2 trillion dollars. The Congress has 15 days to say no or it will automatically happen. The House does not return until the 17th and the Senate the 23rd. So Congress will have very few days to actually work on this. This also brings up an off topic question.

Obama’s justice Department sided with him on his recess appointments saying that Obama is unable to communicate with the Senate because it is not in session. He, according to Justice, was able to make recess appointments because he can’t communicate with the Senate because they are not there. How is it then, he is able to communicate with Congress regarding his desire to raise the debt ceiling? How can he formally notify them of his desire to raise the debt and then claim he can’t formally notify them of nominations because they are not there?

OK, back on target. I think Obama will raise the ceiling because the cowards in Congress set it up so they do not have to deal with it. They can claim they never raised the ceiling even if they make a show of trying to stop it. They gave up their power on this issue just as they have done with many other powers they have.

I think that Obama is going to have a hard time convincing people that we need to keep borrowing to get out of debt. Borrowing money to put it into the economy does not stimulate anything and makes as much sense as taking water from the deep end of a pool and putting it in the shallow end and claiming that the shallow end is getting deeper while the deep end is getting shallower.

It simply does not work.

But it is an election year and Obama needs more seed money to pay off his base.

We need a do over on government. We need to get rid of them all and start over with the fresh minds of people who have not been corrupted by their position in office.

November is our revolution.

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Big Dog

Gunline

You say Smartgrid, I Say Intrusive

I have had an ongoing discussion with several people who have advocated for the smartgrid technology, while I have had many reservations, especially since it appears that this technology will attempt to alter your consumption habits whether you want to or not. This limits freedom of choice, and is but one manifestation of how the government believes it knows what is best for you than you yourself do. Incredible. They can’t chew gum and walk at the same time and they want to tell us how to act?

In the newest issue of my Electrical Co-op magazine, (I live in the country, hence the Co-op), which is intended to educate the consumer, the author expounds on the new “smart house”- the house that communicates with the power plant, ostensibly to exchange information about electrical usage. There is a problem in River City with this scenario, however.

The “smart” grid, which is in constant communication with your electrical generator, can accurately predict if the system is approaching peak capacity. The grid informs your distribution co-op about unusually high energy usage.

By prior arrangement, has provided you with a programmable thermostat  with the understanding that the co-op can take control of the system and cycle it on and off for short periods on very hot or cold days.

Texas Co-op Power, June 2009

Wow- it’s so wonderful that my government takes such an intrusive interest in my life that it knows just how hot or cold I need to be, or, more to the point, want to be. But wait- there’s more!

You can, in this smart” house, have a refrigerator, washer, dryer, and dishwasher who will tell you when you may do the chores. If you choose to do the chores on your schedule, you will have to override the “high- tariff” warnings that will blink on their electronic readouts.

That has a chilling effect on me- “high- tariff”- this means in addition to the regular price you pay for your electricity, now you will have a “punishment” payment, in effect, a tax on your”excessive” usage. If you do not use the electricity that you pay for in a way the government approves of, you will have to pay more money, on top of the rates you already pay. 

Does anyone other than me believe this is an intrusion into our Right to privacy? The government doesn’t need to know anything about when I wash my clothes, or turn the thermostat lower, as long as I pay my bill. The government doesn’t need to be in the power business- private markets should take care of this need. What the government wants is a source of data- mining, where the government collects information on its citizens and then sifts through it for what it might consider useful. That is a Constitutional No-No.

FERC (Federal  Energy Regulatory Commission) has looked to the Electrical Co-ops to take the lead in this smart technology, and admittedly, even now, there’s just 16% of the Co-ops who have this technology, but you can believe that this will snowball in a hurry, as the socialists in the government want to know all they can so they can control you all they can, because after all, they know what’s best for you.

The FERC defines “advanced metering” as a system that records customer consumption on at least an hourly basis and provides at least a daily transmittal of measurements over a communications network to a central collection point.

Texas Co-op Power, June 2009

This is a path we should tread with extreme care- our right to privacy is in peril, and for those who do not believe this, remember one thing- change is incremental, and what seems like a little thing now can be used as precedent, and enable the next step to be taken with less outrage. 

The government does not need to know any of this information, and certainly should not be telling us how to live our lives- if we want to turn the thermostat lower, or wash our dishes at an odd time, that should be our business, and we should not be penalized for this. Not everyone lives their lives like everyone else, and to use a “tariff” to punish any power usage different from what the government considers the “norm” is punitive and excessive, and possibly unconstitutional.

But we have come to expect unconstitutional behavior from this administration.
Blake
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McCain Looks To Regain Maverick Image

It is no secret that I supported John McCain in the last election. McCain was not my first choice nor was he my second or third but the media worked hard to get him the nomination and so we were stuck with him. I backed John McCain because he has some positions with which I agree and Obama has virtually none. However, McCain is not a conservative and I was not happy with him as the choice. The pundits have declared that conservatism is dead and that the last election was a repudiation of conservatism but since no conservative ran, the claims of its early demise are greatly exaggerated.

Make no mistake. I think McCain is a war hero and he endured challenges that most of us could never imagine or tolerate but his time as a POW, while character building and a tribute to him, is not the same issue as his political ideology.

John McCain was a media darling and they wanted him as the Republican choice because he would be tolerable to them if a Democrat did not win. Obama was their messiah and they wanted him but McCain was a good second choice. The media rapidly turned on McCain and that was something he did not like.

Now that the election is in the history books McCain is looking to regain his status in the media and his image as a maverick. John McCain is a “maverick” because he often sides with the left. There is a lot of legislation that has McCain-[Democrat name] in the title. One of them dealing with campaign finance reform bit him in the rear during the election.

McCain chided his colleagues over the desire of some to delay the confirmation of Hillary Clinton to be Secretary of State. He told people that the election is over and the citizens have spoken. He said that we want them to work together.

Here is a newsflash for John, we have wanted the members to work together regardless of who won or how it turned out and not just for this election. These people get paid a lot of money and we expect they will work together to come to some kind of consensus as to what is best for the country. Instead, we get childish games based upon who is running for reelection and how positions will be perceived among the electorate. These people jockey for power and insist on putting in place measures they want as opposed to what the country wants.

The Democrats wanted 60 Senators so the could have a filibuster proof majority.

With Democrat-lite McCain, they just might have it.

At least the media will, once again, be happy with him.

Source:
Washington Post

Big Dog

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Early Hillary; Practice for Marriage to Bill

There is a story about when Hillary was a young lawyer and her assignment to a case involving the rape of a 12 year old girl. Hillary was assigned as the defendant’s attorney so it is expected that she would do whatever it took (within the bounds of the legal system) to either get her client exonerated or get a deal favorable to him. I have never been a fan of plea bargains when they are used as an easy method to win a case or allow a criminal to serve less time for a serious offense. I have a friend in New Jersey who has been accused of something he did not do and they are continually offering him a deal to end the case. He refuses to capitulate because he is innocent, but that does not stop them from using the deal as a method to win a conviction, truth be damned.

Hillary is reported to have been very aggressive and to have badgered the 12 year old rape victim. She tried hard to question the integrity of the victim and insinuated that she sought out older men for sex. Hillary tried to indicate the girl was lying because she had told lies in the past. All of this has been deemed ethical by legal scholars and I am in no position to question that view. I figure a defense attorney has an obligation to do what it takes on behalf of the client.

The article indicates that Hillary approached that case in a manner that has been a reflection of her life indicating that she immerses herself in unpleasant tasks with a will to win. I don’t doubt that as it has been demonstrated time and again in her public life. She will do whatever it takes to win and she does not care what mess she leaves or who gets destroyed in her wake.

However, I believe that the badgering of a rape victim gave her the experience needed to confront the many women who have had sex, either consensually or against their will, with her husband. Bill Clinton has a long history of sleeping around and there have been accusations of rape. This was so prominent that Hillary had a group whose job was to handle the “bimbo eruptions.” Hillary, in addition to being the enabler of her husband’s sexual misdeeds, was the enforcer when it came to dealing with the women. She used intimidation to ensure they remained silent. Hillary approached every bimbo eruption with a desire to destroy the woman making the claims even if it meant that a victim of rape would be victimized again.

Hillary’s early life experiences molded her into the person she is today. One can make the argument that she immerses herself in any task with a desire to win and that is an admirable trait. However, when that desire to win is a driving force in destroying lives in the name of obtaining power then it becomes obsessive rather than admirable.

Both Clintons are obsessed with obtaining power and they will destroy anyone who gets in the way. There are still those who find themselves in the path or hurricane Hillary and her overbearing nature. The only difference, as far as we know, is that they are not 12 years old.

As an aside, Barack Obama seems to agree with what I wrote earlier.