So it continues

More Discourse, Of Course

Pilgrim: Welcome to the wide open spaces of Wyoming. We should have enough time here to advance the conversation. I’d like to take a moment to congratulate us on the successful completion of the Republican Primary Debates; where we accomplished the stellar record of 0-20. We did indeed manage to miss each one. The far more entertaining spectacle has been the media derision. Between the illusive phantom of ‘the republican establishment’, the co-conspiracy of Romney-Paul, Newt’s demise and Santorum’s rise, this primary is like a George Lucas film minus the special effects: mediocre acting and a comic book plot line.

Captain O.B. Obvious: Let me address Carter’s lunacy about the argument being over and that the progressives won. For all one hundred years of progressive argumentative drool, the conclusion is the same: they announce victory and disallow rebuttal. Thus, Al Gore’s famous pontification: “the science is over.” What they have accomplished; is the destruction, by education, of historical precedent. Without a historical basis to reference, they have completed their ultimate goal: a population of the drones (see

Occupy Wall Street

) and the gullible (see Today’s Media). You do not need to make sense to the gullible. It is like forcing yourself on the willing. Or, per the sage:”…teaching peace to the conquered.” By the way Pilgrim, I haven’t seen this much concern about women’s issues, since you were late to Seattle with that truckload of women’s products for Wall Mart in 2004.

Carter Vaughn Saucy: Do I need to remind you Captain, that we live in the same brain?   

 They’re spoon feeding Casanova

 To get him to feel more assured

 Then they kill him with self-confidence

 After poisoning him with words

(B. Dylan – Desolation Row, 1965)

So, don’t go getting all dylanesque with me. Genius is not always pretty and does not always sing with a soothing voice. Speaking of genius, I thought President Obama’s remark about developing algae, as alternative energy, was a brilliant deflection of blame. (Languidly cheered by people who just paid $4.97 p/gal to get there.)By the time the republicans discover their shoes have all been tied together, the media pseudo-intellectuals will have completed the task of finalizing the narrative; that 8% unemployment,$5.00 p/gal gasoline, $15+Trillion in debt, world chaos and unparalleled  corruption far exceeded anyone’s expectations for a mere neophyte. The rise from tyro to tyrant is unprecedented; it is like jumping from kindergarten to graduate school, by-passing all the foundational knowledge in between. The concluding declaration is beautiful: It could have been worse!

Captain O.B. Obvious: Carter, you just made my point. Simply, listing Obama’s record leaves the progressives wishing for more, while the sane are crying STOP! I hope we can find a cure for Stupid before November. Perhaps I can apply for a research grant. The problem is finding a university not already terminally infected. I wish the liberals/progressives would finally decide on a name for themselves instead of changing it every twenty years. I don’t even think John Kerry is still a liberal; now isn’t he a progressive too? Of course, my suggestion would be something timeless and accurate that can transition to every generation with out losing its meaning: IDIOTS!

Pilgrim: Hey guys, it is starting to snow. We’ll come back in a couple of days, but for now I need to visit reality.

READY, SHOOT, AIM! Part 3 - The Conclusion

“Happy Days are Here Again” was the theme song for the Franklin D. Roosevelt campaign and became one of the most popular songs in America. He swept into the presidency after a campaign of class warfare, which was decried by his most prominent democrat rival, Al Smith, former mayor of New York City. FDR set the precedent of, at the time of nomination, acceptance speech. He and his advisors, who became known, as the ‘brain trust’; three Columbia University professors: Raymond Morley, Rex Tugwell and Adolph Berle fashioned the “New Deal”. During the first 100 days they set about to accomplish through legislation, by a newly elected democrat majority, what fell under the large umbrella of Relief, Recovery and Reform.

Although the ‘New Deal’, in my opinion, and confirmed by several historians turned out to be a failure, the democrat congressional majority lasted until 1994. What the “New Deal” did irrevocably accomplish, was the transformation of America.

During FDR’s 12 year presidency the American electorate lost the anchoring fortitude that its moorings to the constitutional restraints and historical foundation of limited government had previously provided. The individual; his preeminence and his freedom of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, which was foundational to the framers of the constitution, were now subject to full confrontation of new legislation and thought. Commerce was now attacked, rather than, promoted by the government. Taxes were changed from the rich paying their ‘fair share’ to everyone paying far more. (See 1945 Table) Supposedly, everyone needed to ‘sacrifice’ for the ‘greater good’ due to the crisis. Sound familiar?

Franklin D. Roosevelt was very charismatic, and took full advantage of the newest technology to reach the masses: Radio. He was, in effect, the 1^st media president. From “Fireside Chats” to numerous speeches and press conferences, it seems he was constantly in the homes across America; continually relaying the benevolence of his administration for ‘good’ of the American people. These included the government take-over of the electrification of America, the Wagner Act, which provided an easier pathway to unionization of labor, the Social Security Act which was rewritten to bypass its rejection by the Supreme Court and a wide array of legislation that was in direct contradiction to previous legal precedence. His threat to expand the Supreme Court with judges, who were more flexible, seemed to be made unnecessary when he received more legal accommodation from the existing 9 justices. By the time of his death in 1945, America was no longer attached to its foundation of limited government. Roosevelt even introduced a second Bill of Rights. Although never passed by Congress, many of its tenets are repeated as guaranteed to Americans today: the right to healthcare, the right to a home, the right to a job with high wages, etc. These are not qualified as “unalienable” and there is absolutely no provisional basis for them within the language of the US Constitution.

The sad commentary and the vulgar ignorance of historical revisionists, to the realities of the Roosevelt 4-term presidency, is that none of these huge changes in government policy and economic interference did anything to correct the economic problems the country was facing. Where President Hoover can be rightfully blamed for starting the slide down a slippery slope; President Roosevelt placed the country on a Racing Sled! (Can you say Bush and Obama?) The country did not experience anything closely resembling the promised economic recovery until the outbreak of World War II in 1940, with America’s full commitment in 1941. Even then, the unemployment levels were misleading because the majority of the work force was now joining the armed services. Factory productivity was increased due to war production.  Dismal levels of unemployment (14.45% 1940 and 9.66% 1941) were now falling because replacements, including women, older workers and men, who were not militarily qualified, were now production employees; servicemen were no longer counted as unemployed. This caused some cynical historians to claim that Adolph Hitler did more for full employment in the US than Roosevelt’s government spending and programs in the previous 7yrs.

I am not a historian; I study history as a passion. My point is: the better one knows history; the easier it is, to recognize the mistakes repeating. I believe, due to progressive’s dominance of academia, this is the reason that only revisionist history is taught when history is taught at all.

President Barrack Obama is dangerous for the longevity of America. Not because he is evil or even a ‘bad’ man, but because he is a political ideologue, who is totally committed to empirically proven, failed policies. The current media wants to celebrate unemployment levels falling to 8.3% (15% higher than the 7.2% on the day of his inauguration and .3% higher than the 8% they promised to avoid with the $787 Billion of stimulus!) He is surrounded by men and women who have committed themselves to detrimental doctrines, contrary to what is in the best interest of our nation. He must therefore be removed from office, through the ballot box, this November. Although, even an empty chair would be a dramatic improvement, I favor Mitt Romney and would settle for Rick Santorum or even Next Gingrich.

Please follow links to understand the results of an unrestrained federal government:

http://www.heritage.org/budgetchartbook/PDF/All-Budget-chart-book-2011.pdf

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/02/2012-index-of-dependence-on-government

http://www.google.com/search?q=us+government+organizational+chart&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SKPT_enUS402&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=sk8gT7qMEoqjiALn2LTJCw&ved=0CEAQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=502

Hold on tight

The Discourse Continues

Pilgrim:  Welcome once again ladies and gentlemen. Your tolerance; exhibited by your return, is only exceeded by your mental masochism to listen again to our panelists. In the slight hint of chance, that my companions have not been indelibly seared into your mind; I will re-introduce on my right, Captain O.B. Obvious and to my left, Carter Vaughn Saucy. If you ever heard the raucous bawdiness that these two can sink to in their banter, you would understand the necessity of keeping them separated  and sitting up straight as it were. Before we begin tonight’s discourse, let me caution the two of you; it is my desire that you be given a fair amount of time to elaborate. I would hope you would limit your thoughts to our two categories of discussion: an evaluation of media coverage of the Presidential Race and a discussion of the success or failing of our current set of political opportunists. If you can color within the lines that I have drawn, for as much as decorum will allow, I will let you talk unfettered. Let’s begin.

Captain O.B. Obvious: Well Pilgrim, at the risk of being plucked, I would say regarding the media: Hyperbole is the new understatement. It is as though the Weather Channel is now forecasting the news. I fully expect Chris Matthews to don his bright yellow, foul-weather gear and stand in a 40mph wind announcing a catastrophe if anyone other than Mr. Obama is president. If I were the republicans, I would schedule a debate where Mr. Obama’s 1^st year teleprompter faced his 4^th year teleprompter. The President could moderate and attempt to explain the difference. It is amazing to me that a screeching Hillary Clinton screamed to an imaginary antagonist that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism!” while after one term of an Obama Administration, dissent is now a ‘hate crime’.

Carter Vaughn Saucy: Whoa Captain! Are you sure you are not a Koch brother or perhaps an unacknowledged child of Rupert Murdoch? It is that Fox News mentality that gives credence to the kind of thinking; that federally financed programming would have a bias. Just because Jeffery Immelt, as CEO of GE, was able to secure $140million of TARP funding for GE Captial, and give raises to the anchors of a minor subsidiary, MSNBC, doesn’t mean you can go from 1 to 4 completely bypassing 2 and 3. Besides, GE sold MSNBC eliminating any remaining signs of a conflict of interest.

Captain O.B. Obvious: Carter, I could never follow your fuzzy math anyhow. It sounds like the famous Biden 3-letter word: J O B S! (By the way. I think President Obama’s remaining healthy for his first term is something we are all grateful for). I think the democrats have about as much chance of defending the President’s record and listing his accomplishments as completing a census of the jackalope population in South Dakota. (jackalopes - Google Search)

Carter Vaughn Saucy: Pilgrim, perhaps you can explain something obvious to the Captain that he has obviously missed: the argument is over; the progressives won. When I was working towards my PBS in Political Scientology it was apparent that Keynesians had far more complicated equations to basic economic functions. Everyone knows that people are always impressed with complexity. For example: the economists of the think tank, Wonder, Ponder & Yawn have the entire democrat party repeating their equation that for every $1.00 spent in unemployment benefits;  it returns $1.33 to the economy. You can’t get there with simple addition.  It requires a complex calculus, coupled with a crystallized understanding of sectors, vectors and trifectas. Throw in a Romulus and a parallelogram and the American public will conclude that they do not understand, but obviously you do.

Captain O.B. Obvious: Meanwhile, I can pick any Bubba from the bayou who will tell you: “C.V. why then, don’t we break-out the Billy Beer and all go on unemployment so that the economy can really take-off?” Have you ever tried talking a gator into letting go of your leg?

Pilgrim: Go easy please. Don’t make me shake my head and return to sanity.

Carter Vaughn Saucy: I was listening to Mitt Romney’s victory speech in Nevada; he picked up 14 delegates (Whoopee); kind of like Mickey Mantle playing home-run derby in a Little League park. He said: “Our immigrant ancestors did not come to America for a free check, they came for freedom.” It is that kind of statement that reveals how out of touch he is. Everyone else knows that hasn’t been true for at least 25 years! Hey Mitt, ever hear of California?

Captain O.B. Obvious: I did not see Matt Lauer needing a helmet when he did his Super Bowl interview of the president. Mr. Obama said he deserves a second term, but the job is not done. Thank goodness! Because when the job is done so will America be done.  He can’t justify now, $5 Trillion in debt; will he be twice as smart, to justify $10 Trillion? He thought it was “interesting” that a woman’s high-tech engineer husband was unemployed for two years. He asked that she send the resume to him. I think all 23 million resumes of those still looking for work should be sent to the White House. Maybe his understanding will rise to “fascinating”!

Pilgrim: If there is any hope of having a returning audience, we need to end here.

Captain O.B. Obvious: One more quick thing before I return to my neuro earthworm duties. The Chrysler Super Bowl Ad was a lot of Americana for an Italian owned company and can we please start enforcing our laws against abusing the elderly; Clint Eastwood is 81 years old for crying out loud!

Western Kansas Dialogue

The Discourse

Welcome ladies and gentlemen, please sit and relax. It is hoped tonight that the following discussion will prove to be insightful and entertaining. To provide the necessary background, let me briefly introduce the participants.

I am Don Allen, your moderator: Known on the road, as the Pilgrim. I will be asking pertinent questions of my companions and travel commentators: Captain O.B. Obvious (Donnie) and his antithesis, Carter Vaughn Saucy (Donald).

I have asked that both refrain from interrupting each other and to stay within the content of the posed question. Before I ask the first question, let’s take a minute for you guys to tell us a little about yourselves. Captain you go first.

Captain: Well, thank you Pilgrim. A very appropriate choice, since I was first. May I state the obvious?  You are the only one of three with a physical presence; therefore, the only fingers actually on the keyboard. Would it not be your responsibility to keep us from interrupting each other? We’ll just stipulate that point. As to my background; well Pilgrim, until fairly recently you were quite content that I spend my entire existence in the background. While dodging the random firing synapses of your frayed nerves, avoiding the refuse piles of your dead brain cells; I have been overtaxed trying to find concise coherence to the amount of nonsense you have gathered through knowledge and experience. You have taken in more than the limited useful space your brain can hold. I spent the better part of the last ten years clearing clutter. I turned on the vacuum of forgetfulness to dispose of the mundane and useless. It is my goal to sort through the remaining 3% and break it down, so I can explain to you simply what you know.

Pilgrim: We’ll talk about it later. For right now; Carter, please gives us a little background.

Carter: Thank you Pilgrim, it is obvious that I was deemed unnecessary until the Obama Administration led you and the captain to explore the unchartered territory of the left side of your brain. I completely understand that western Kansas is monotonous alone. Though I may have existed previously in a circadian form, it is a great honor to take a rightful seat in your frontal lobe. I learned history through our youth from Sherman and Mr. Peabody, came to an expanded vocabulary with Clyde Crashcup and, of course, geopolitics from Boris and Natasha. My undergraduate days were done under the influence with Professor Irwin Cory and I received my masters at the University of NPR. It is my goal to present alternative thinking; adding corrigibility to the infractions of your mindset. Personally mentored by Norm Crosby, he is my dad’s 2^nd cousin on my mother’s side, twice removed; it will be a challenge to offer thoughts beyond your imagination.

Pilgrim: Thank you, with the limited time we have tonight I am only going to ask one question and then ask for a small reflection of your thinking this week. With a sincere apology to our audience; we will have to continue this at a later date.

First let me deal from the bottom of the deck of Barbara Walter’s inane questions. Captain, what food item, such as fruit or vegetable, would you use to describe Mitt Romney?

Captain Obvious: Well Pilgrim, I would have to say grapes. Whether you take him as he is, crush him or let him dry; he still remains desirable and profitable as a grape, wine or raisin.

Pilgrim:  Alright. Carter, please apply the same question to Newt Gingrich.

Carter Vaughn Saucy: Fig is not only obvious, it is correct. Despite his propensity to prolasping, he is well preserved. He is often thinly spread in his thinking and has the viscosity to be smeared. In his current prune form he is still adroitly capable of initiating a new movement.

Pilgrim: Thank you. Although we have to end tonight’s discourse early; I would like each of you to briefly summarize your thinking this week. Given the magnitude and gravity of our current dilemma and the natural confusion that embodies presidential politics; what insight can you share with our audience?

Captain Obvious: Well Pilgrim, I do not share your strong pull to understand magnets and gravity.  Although Newt has a family history of studying gravity; I believe he is the apple that did not fall all the way to the ground. I believe he must have been inhaling rocket fumes to bring up colonization of the moon. It reminded me of an old adage I created this month: “Out There” is not a reachable destination; no matter how ‘out there’ you get, there is still more ‘out there’ out there.

Carter Vaughn Saucy: Thank you Pilgrim. In reference to the natural confusion of presidential politics, my post graduate work at NPR qualifies me as having more experience and spending the greatest amount of time in confusion. We understand that the smoothest shape is a circle; there are no sharp points, nor abrupt changes in direction, as one would find in a square, triangle and the other geometric possibilities. Therefore, nearly all of our arguments and discussions are circular. I’ll admit that to many, who watch from outside in, at first, second and even third glimpse it appears confused. Once inside this confusion you only see the smoothness of the circle.

READY, SHOOT, AIM! Part 2

The general misunderstanding that has been taught as history is that the “Roaring Twenties” and Republican laissez faire policies led to the stock market crash of 1929 and caused the depression of the 1930’s before the 4 term (1933 until death 1945) presidency of FDR and the Democrat controlled congress were able to save the country by the policies of expanding the role of the Federal Government through the “New Deal”. Slobberknocking Hogwash!!!

First, the stock market crash was caused by fear and speculation. It was more of an investor disaster than an economic collapse. The fear was two-fold; Banks were weak, due to monetary supply decisions by the Federal Reserve (which was exerting more influence), and a growing nationalism that was dominating thought on a global scale, this was combined with the short-sightedness of investment speculator’s fantasy of a never bursting bubble. Even with the crash, unemployment rose from 3+% in 1929 to 8+% in 1930; not enough to crash the economy. Economists like Milton Friedman and historians who lay blame on the Smoot-Hartly Tarriff Act of 1930 have given different damage causing weight to the effect of varying political decisions. My contention is that Republican President Herbert Hoover’s  decision to abandon laissez faire restraint and to initiate market interference by federal policy and manipulation created an upheaval, from which, our country has never returned. He used misguided persuasion to insist that companies maintain their wage levels and as much of their employment numbers as possible. He signed into law the Smoot-Hartley Act in 1930 and more than doubled the income tax during his one term 1928-32. These government policy moves crashed the American economy! Smoot-Hartley initially created a sharp increase in factory production and employment before its devastating effects (unforeseen consequences) were understood. Starting with bank failures in Europe, the law triggered a trade war. US imports fell 66% while exports fell 61% and world trade fell by 66% between 1929 and 1934. Unemployment and business failures exploded; by 1932 unemployment was above 23%.

Depression Era Unemployment Statistics
Year	Population	Labor Force	Unemployed	Percentage of Labor Force
1929	88,010,000	49,440,000	1,550,000	3.14
1930	89,550,000	50,080,000	4,340,000	8.67
1931	90,710,000	50,680,000	8,020,000	15.82
1932	91,810,000	51,250,000	12,060,000	23.53
1933	92,950,000	51,840,000	12,830,000	24.75
1934	94,190,000	52,490,000	11,340,000	21.60
1935	95,460,000	53,140,000	10,610,000	19.97
1936	96,700,000	53,740,000	9,030,000	16.80
1937	97,870,000	54,320,000	7,700,000	14.18
1938	99,120,000	54,950,000	10,390,000	18.91
1939	100,360,000	55,600,000	9,480,000	17.05
1940	101,560,000	56,180,000	8,120,000	14.45
1941	102,700,000	57,530,000	5,560,000	9.66
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 (Washington, D.C., 1960), p.70.

The income tax increase was more than doubled at the top and bottom. In 1931 the bottom rate was 1.5% on income $0 - 4000 and the top was 25% on $100,000. In 1932 the bottom rate was 4% $0- 4000 and the top was moved to 63% on $1 million. $100,000 was now taxed at 56%. Considering that the average income throughout the 30’s was less than $2,000 per year, who was nearly destroyed by these increases? Let me help:

EVERY BUSINESSMAN/EMPLOYER IN AMERICA!  Click on link to compare 1931 rates to 1932. Follow the comparison through 1945 to see Roosevelt’s salvation (lol).

http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/fed_individual_rate_history-june2010.pdf

With the election of 1932 Franklin D. Roosevelt (the “Savior”) swept into office surrounded by a ‘Brain Trust’ of young intellectuals who were the new wave of academic progressives. Some  wishing, with jealousy,  for the ambitious transformation that was taking place worldwide; Stalin’s communist Russia, Mussolini’s fascist Italy and the new rising star Adolf Hitler’s national socialism (Nazis) were all held in high esteem by intellectuals and progressives in the early 30’s.

To be continued...

“Fun and Educational”: http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1930s.html

READY, SHOOT, AIM!

And so it has begun…

Two hoots for Newt; you are confirming my political analytical   genius. You are a very intelligent teacher and speaker who knows history well. However, you are far removed from the character of the men you claim as role models. Instead, the pettiness of your fragile ego is your driving force. It is that pettiness that has often placed you in direct contradiction to the principles you claim as your over used ‘fundamental’ foundation. A special award to Governor Perry for taking your foot out of your mouth long enough to stick your head into a permanent sub-orbital exploration of Uranus. The attacks of these two men and their ad men, which sound more like Occupy Wall Street slogans than conservative principle, is inexcusable. As far as I am concerned, it is permanently disqualifying; rendering anything else that they say as meaningless! Let me make this easier for the republican voters who are trying to determine the ‘true’ conservative from among this field of candidates. HE IS NOT HERE! (Sweater vests confirm dorkiness; not principle) Many of my friends, who know from even a cursory conversation that I am a fit-to-be-tied constitutional conservative, were surprised by my endorsement of Mitt Romney. Evidently, I did not make it clear that my pick of Romney is based on political realities of demographics, not his adoption of my personal (correct) philosophy.

Let’s return to the basics: Defeat Obama Period

He, after all, as leader of the Democratic Party is the culmination of one hundred years of the self defeating, misguided, nonsensical, and empirically wrong stew of errant philosophies of progressivism/communism/socialism. Spread and supported by the so-called ‘enlightened’ academics, aided by the creation of mass media, that has brought our country to the brink of bankruptcy. Despite the misdirection of media idiocy, a class system was first introduced into the American culture through Franklin Roosevelt’s administration successful transformation of thought & law from individualism (rights & responsibilities) to the collective “people” who look to government as the provider of jobs, subsidies and protection benefits, as well as the arbiter of rights and economic management. This system divided the country into only two classes: the Rulers & the Ruled. The dumbing down of America through revisionist’s history or the complete lack of teaching history for nearly two generations has left the country gullible enough to elect an incompetent ideologue who is asking for another $1.2 Trillion to add to the $5 Trillion debt he has already saddled our country with in only 3 years in office.  Fortunately, we now have Republicans in congress that support fiscal austerity. So they say all the right things first, before giving him the $1 Trillion as in 2011. Furthermore and probably worse, is the thinking that “Wall Street” as construed today, with privatized gain and socialized risk, is free enterprise.

By now, some may be asking: Are you going to tell us what you really think about all of this? Why yes, Bunky, I will.

From 1789-1930 a mere total of 2700 pages of law were written by the federal government. During that time America changed the world, by becoming the most prosperous nation the world has ever known. Thereby, attracting millions of people from every other country on earth to legally immigrate, becoming a part of liberty and opportunity in a classless society.  While the rest of the world wrestled with the changes from Monarchies to letting those same ‘enlightened’ philosophies come to their inevitable fruition as totalitarian regimes enslaving and killing people by the millions and threatening the entire world by warring for domination. It was the prosperity of America and the commitment of its organically diverse people to liberty that saved the world in the 20^th century.

The greatest percentage of rise in the standard of living for the largest number of ‘average’ Americans came about through a combination of technology (electricity, affordable automobiles, modern ovens, indoor plumbing, radio, low cost home building, increased wages in new businesses and corporations) and a supposedly ‘do nothing’ president, Calvin Coolidge; who with the best Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon this country has known, left the economy alone. An economic recession was ended in 16 months, gaining nearly full employment, allowing taxes to be increased to a top rate of 25% through his term1921-28.  Known as the “Roaring Twenties” it has been condemned by progressive historians ever since. It flies in the face of their ‘enlightened philosophy’ of a managed economy, consolidated and centralized power.

                  

TO BE CONTINUED… http://youtu.be/DyLmru6no4U