HALF-FULL REPORT 02/03/12
Before we discuss who should be the HFR Hero of the Week, today we're initiating its antipode: designating the HFR Scum of the Week. The hands-down winner this week is an evil, racist, corrupt, lying, treasonous accomplice to murder who belongs in jail. Instead he's the most powerful law enforcement official in the country as head of the Zero Justice Department: Eric "I'm the Attorney General of the United States, OK?" Holder. He testified at a Congressional hearing yesterday (2/02), once again refusing to accept any responsibility or knowledge of his department's Fast & Furious gun-running scandal that, had it been conducted by a Republican Attorney General would have gotten him impeached and imprisoned long before now. Holder's testimony was so disgustingly outrageous it prompted the mother of murdered border patrol agent Brian Terry - murdered with a Fast & Furious gun - to publicly label Holder a joke and a coward. He is certainly that and so much worse.
THE FARCE OF THE STATE OF THE UNION
Congress has a constitutional duty to prepare a budget, but hasn't for more than 1,000 days because the Democrats who control the Senate fear it would embarrass them to put down in black and white how much they plan to spend, and how large a deficit their spending will create. Democrats plan to shirk their obligation for another year, to give credence to Barack Hussein Obama's plans to run against a ‘do nothing' Congress...even though the half of Congress that's doing nothing is run by Democrats. Not so long ago, such blatant political maneuvering would have prompted howls of outrage from press and public. But few in the news media mention it. If constitutional duties can be shrugged off so easily, may we -- since it is merely a tradition -- also dispense with the State of the Union address'.
A TALE OF TWO PARTIES
‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,' said Charles Dickens (1812-1870) in one of the most celebrated passages in English literature. ‘It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.' ‘A Tale of Two Cities' illustrated how starkly different were the views in London and Paris of the French Revolution. There's a similar gulf between Democrats and Republicans on economic policy. Particularly in state capitals if not Capitol Hill. To get the economy moving again, increase spending, bail out failing businesses, invest taxpayer money in ‘green' technologies, and redistribute wealth, Democrats think. Reduce government spending and debt, lower tax rates, slash government red tape, Republicans think. What is Light to Democrats is Darkness to Republicans, and vice versa. Both approaches have been tried. They've produced very different results.
TEA PARTYING ROMNEY
I've been talking to a lot of folks here in Washington after Romney's Florida romp over Gingrich on Tuesday (1/31). The consensus is that Mittens has sewn it up. As Jack Kelly says, either Romney killed Gingrich or Gingrich committed suicide, but either way Newton's candidacy is a dead man walking. Romney is the last man standing. This is obnoxious. The Gravy Train Party has triumphed over the Tea Party. Gravy Train Republicans pay lip service to "limited government" as long as nothing actually threatens to derail the flow of government gravy to their lobbyists and their perks of power. Romney is their guy. So what do we do? Are there any ponies in this giant pile of horse manure? Let's see, proceeding on the assumption that Mittens wins. The two biggest ponies in his pile are Marco Rubio, who will be his Vice-President, and John Bolton, who will be his Secretary of State. Bolton would be our #1 SecState choice whomever would be the Pub president. We would have the most pro-American foreign policy of our lifetimes - and that certainly includes Reagan's, for his SecState George Schultz fought the Reagan Doctrine every step of the way. Rubio would be our #1 VP choice whomever would be the Pub president as well. It's the reverse of Reagan-Bush. Romney-Rubio would be a squish president and conservative vice-president. Rubio could do to the Romney Administration what Bush did to Reagan's. With Rubio, Tea Party Conservatives have the opportunity to make a deal with Romney. It would go something like this:
OBAMA-IN-WONDERLAND ECONOMICS
President Obama keeps demanding that the rich pay more because ‘it is only fair.' In his State of Union address, he said millionaires should pay a minimum of 30 percent of their income in taxes. The 30 percent number seems to have come from divine inspiration rather than an exercise in logic. When Mr. Obama was asked about this during his first presidential campaign, he acknowledged that a capital-gains tax increase might lose revenue, but he wanted it anyway because of ‘fairness.' So, according to the president, it is ‘fair' that everyone has to pay higher taxes or have fewer government services in order to make sure that high-income earners pay an increased rate of tax for risking their capital and creating jobs. This is perhaps the best description of ‘Alice in Wonderland' economics.
HALF-FULL REPORT 01/27/12
Here's a quartet of choices for who should be the HFR Hero of the Week. When the week started out, the choice seemed obvious: an extraordinary athlete with the initials of TT. Not Tim Tebow, however admirable he is. It's the greatest hockey goalie on earth, who enabled the Boston Bruins to win the 2011 Stanley Cup (he was named MVP), Tim Thomas. Then on Wednesday (1/25), two Republican governors came into Hero contention. First is Arizona's with a name all tipplers admire, Jan Drinkwine Brewer (yes, Drinkwine is her maiden name and she married a fellow named Brewer: how can you beat that?). You've all seen the picture of her telling off Zero on the Phoenix tarmac regarding his attack on Arizona's attempts to protect its border from illegal invasion. The night before his tarmac scolding (1/24), Zero delivered his pathetic SOTU speech to a bored Congress. The GOP response was delivered by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. This is worth reading entire. So who could give TT and these two governors competition this week? We don't know their names and never will, just that they are Navy SEALs.
HOW MUCH TIME DO WE HAVE?
Is there a road so long that, no matter how many times you kick a can down it, you will never reach the end? The answer is yes, there is - because the operative word in the question is not "road" or "long," but "you." The game is to keep kicking your can down the road until you're able to force others to make it their can, like taxpayers or your children when you die. Another proven successful alternative is to blame the existence of the can on a scapegoat, like "the 1%" or "capitalism." Most successful of all is to deny there is a can at all, and demonize anyone who says there really is one. All of these strategies work - until they don't. Reality exists, no matter how much people engage in reality-denial. Thus the time always comes when reality bites. So the question we all need to face is, how much time do we have until it does? For reality is getting ready to bite us all in our backsides big time. When almost everyone engages in reality-denial, the kicked can really does reach the end of the road, and that's just about where we are right now. Here are two screamingly unpalatable facts. The first is, the odds are growing now that Zero will be reelected. The second is, it may not make much difference if Zero is defeated.
CALIFORNIA IS OBAMA’S DREAM
I live in California. If you were wondering what living in Obama's second term would be like, wonder no longer. We in California are living there now. California is a one-party state dominated by a virulent Democrat Left enabled by a complicit media where every agency of local, county, and state government is run by and for the public employee unions. The unemployment rate is 12%. California has more folks on food stamps than any other state, and seven income tax brackets. In California, we hate the evil, greedy rich (except the rich in Hollywood, in sports, and in drug dealing). But we love people who have broken into California to eat the bounty created by the productive rich. California is also near fulfilling the environmentalist dream of deindustrialization. All of this is Obama's dream.
I WANT THE GUY WHO’LL BRING A BAZOOKA TO A GUNFIGHT
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she has dirt on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich that will keep him from ever becoming president. "There is something I know," she claims. I doubt it. Every bad thing that could possibly be said about Newt already has been said. Which is probably why he told her in response to "Put up or shut up." Democrats usually spring an "October surprise." If the GOP candidate doesn't have a skeleton in his or her closet, Democrats make stuff up, as they did with Sarah Palin. But what lie could they tell about Newt that would be both credible, and worse than what's already out there? Baggage and all, Mr. Gingrich may be a better bet than any other candidate running -- certainly including Mr. Zero. Here's why.
US FINANCIAL REGULATION NEEDS TO BE MORE LIKE THE CAYMAN ISLANDS
Last week, ABC News ran a story that led with the statement, ‘Mitt Romney has millions of dollars of his personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven.' What the reporters failed to mention was that ABC, a unit of the Disney Corp., also has millions of dollars in Cayman-registered funds. Probably most employees at ABC, including the reporters who wrote the story, have some of their money in Cayman-registered funds, as probably do many of you reading this column, even though you don't know it. This is how the real world works. There is a very good reason why fund managers place a portion of their portfolios in the Caymans. It's that the Cayman financial regulatory system is far superior to America's.