Who Gets to Decide How You Live?
Well the so called Bush tax cuts are going to be extended for all Americans and there is much hatred in the land. It seems to me that the questions here are very simple. It is the truth of the answers that people are struggling with.
First, lets start with a misnomer, this is not a tax cut for the super-rich. These tax levels have been in place for about 10 years. So painting this as some benefit for the rich that is costing regular taxpayers billions of dollars is at the least, disingenuous. The constant barrage of this by democrats and liberal media types is starting to wear thin to those of us that think and understand.
Second, it also seems to me what we have here is the age old story of how some people want others to do what they would have them do. Every time I have a conversation with someone that thinks rich people should pay more in taxes I tell them the same thing, they already do. To this they then try to convince me that they pay a smaller percentage, to which I say the top marginal tax rate for 2009 is 35%, how much more should they pay? I ask them what do they think would be "fair"? Well at that they usually go off on some rant about how "the rich should want to pay more to help the country" or some such nonsense.
This for me is just classic class-warfare. Some people have been taught that rich people are all greedy and only want for themselves and they have all built these empires "on the backs of the poor and down trodden." When the truth is often very different. The truth is that a great number of people that we might consider rich built their businesses from the ground up. Many worked very hard and invested their personal fortunes into their endeavors.
A great number of these "evil rich" employ the rest of us. Allowing us to send our children to college in hopes of being well off. Also, many of the charitable institutions we have would not be possible if it weren't for some of these awful greedy rich types.
Again this is all about some people making decisions on how much is enough or too much for someone else. This is about some people deciding what someone else should with their own resources. This is about some folks thinking its their right to make these life choices for me. It isn't.
Do Conservatives "get" the Power of Pop-Culture?
In the current culture war it is my thought that conservatives are missing something that would be a "game changer." It seems obvious that the left has harnessed the power of pop-culture. While conservatives are still struggling with what the popular culture is. I hope to bring some items to the light in this piece that will help the conservative movement.
First a definition of pop-culture; (from Wikipedia thanks GS) is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes,[1] images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society.
Now this being said, there seems to be an attitude that pop-culture is trivial, transient, and only appeals to the lowest common denominator in human kind. Well frankly, I don't disagree with that however, conservatives must recognized that in order to present conservative values we most also appeal to the lowest common denominator in human kind. By definition the LCD is an important in factoring in the largest number of items, or people in this case.
It is my view that some conservatives believe that they are "above" such things in pop-culture such as reality shows, latest trends, latest fashions, current music, current films, latest technology and anything else frankly that their children understand better than they do. Conservative pretend that it is their express purpose in life to "elevate" people to THEIR level. What this really means is only dealing with things that they understand even if those things are completely irrelevant.
The real problem with this attitude is that conservatives are missing a very important vehicle by which to reach their own children. Sarah Palin's Alaska is a great thing. I am afraid that Rove, Morris, and Mrs. Bush, God bless them all do not understand the power there. The premier episode had over 5 million viewers. This is appreciably more viewers than anything that has ever been on C-Span. It simply makes sense to present your message where people are and in a way that they can understand.
more later........
world news, and news about the economy
Senate bill 729 Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2009 provides for the amending the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to repeal the provision making unlawful aliens ineligible for higher education benefits based on state residence unless a U.S. citizen or national is eligible for such benefits without regard to state residence.
On the surface this all seems so nice and welcoming to those poor children that were here in this country by no fault of their own. We however have to look at this a little differently. This act offers higher education to people that are in this country illegally. It does not matter how they got here. It does not matter how they got to stay to here. These very nice hard working young people are not due access to higher education in the United States. I understand how cruel this might seem to some of you but there are hard truths that must be faced.
We in this country are still trying to figure out how provide a decent education for those citizens that are supposed to be in this country. We are still forcing citizens into failing schools. We are subjecting them to violent educational environments. All of this combined to keep a large portion of citizen minorities out of the higher education sweepstakes. This plan to allow illegal aliens into that sweepstakes should be a personal affront to many in this nation.
Where is the outrage from the NAACP, Urban League, and the UNCF? All of these organizations see the inequities of sub standard education in this country, but all remain silent as another minority group gets a "Fastpass' to the higher educational ride.
The above video features one of my least favorite people on earth, Joy Behar. She is joined by a panel of women that often portray themselves as educated, glamorous, cool, hip, and generally better than you! That fact is as you can see by their insults and attacks on Bristol Palin maybe that liberal passion is reserved for the right kind of people. If you are a young woman that has made a mistake and had a child out of wedlock say like Fantasia, then these are the type of people that will heap praise upon you for pulling yourself up, not hiding, facing your condition and becoming victorious. But if you are a young woman that made a mistake and had a child out of wedlock and your mother is Sarah Palin, then all you deserve is scorn and hatred.
Friends we are in a culture war that we must win. There are so many ways for those that would destroy this country to get their message out that we are simply ignoring is it frustrating. I a not, repeat not a fan of of Dancing With The Stars, but like it or not it is on the cultural landscape and we must pay attention. I personally don't give a rat's butt about anything these women on the above video say about anything but there are people that do. If nothing else these are the kind of people that are directing the discussion. Unless we mount a culture war counter attack we will always behind the culture "eight-ball" in this nation.
Are We Paying Attention?
As this "lame-duck" session of congress blathers on I am starting to wonder if anyone is paying any real attention to what these folks are up to. I know that what people are most focused on are the "Bush" tax cuts, but are people aware of of what else is afoot within the hall of congress?
For instance, H. Res. 1723 which calls for the disavowing the partisan impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) is the sponsor of this bill. Folks this is revisionist in action. This person is trying to re-write history before our very eyes. The Clinton impeachment hearing were at their best distasteful but, it is a part of our history. This attempt to make it just some partisan bickering is insulting. This is really an an attempt to offer a "pardon" to Bill Clinton as a thank you for his work with the Obama administration and his work to get democrats elected in the past midterm elections.
Our friend Charlie Rangel has put forth this gem of legislation that should make your "spidey-sense" tingle. H. Res. 5741 The Universal National service Act. This gem require that each citizen and resident of the United States from 18 to 42 to perform national service in either the military or some other civilian service. Now I know that on its face some of you like this idea. But I always wonder about what is NOT said. What other service will we be required to serve? This is REQUIRED service folks. In a free society I thought that unless in time of great national danger we would be be able to freely choose what, when and if we served. Being required to "serve" seems a little scary based on who is making it a requirement.
I understand the if the "Bush" tax cuts expire that the economy will tank and will may be pushed into a disastrous economic situation. But this "lame-duck" session may be employing the "scorched-earth" tactic on us as the leave office.
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Will the GOP blow this chance to make real change?
The players are in place. The speaker of the house, minority leader, and all of the other players have taken their seats. This pre-game of a lame-duck session seems like it won't amount to much. We are all about to have our thanksgiving tailgate before heading in to the game. The question on everyone's mind is will it be different in January? Will the GOP use this opportunity to change the way the GOP handles its business. Will the GOP take this opportunity regain its brand? Will the GOP opens its doors to the grassroots conservative movement that put them back into power? Or will they blow it?
It already seems the cast of players is the same. How can you make the type of changes that need to be made with the same people in charge? Unless they have a visitation from God can they make those changes. I have found that people will do what they always do. So when the player are back on the floor, back in those meetings, and dinner parties, will they resort back to what they have always done, or remember what the American people have told them?
I hope that you and I will band together and make sure that congress, state government, and local governments get the message that was sent on November 2nd. I also hope that we, the electorate do not revert back to business as usual. We have participate at a higher level than ever. I hope we are willing to continue to email, phone call, and generally make pests of ourselves. After all, these people I have mentioned all work for us. Its time we put the servant back into public servant.