SNAP -- Food for Thought

Despite the happy news reports from the Lamestream Media that the economy is on the mend and the end of the housing meltdown, a record number of Americans are on food stamps.  In 2012, the federal government spent $74.6 billion on food stamps, which was increase of 70% from the amount spent prior to the 2008 downturn.   Now 15% of the populace or 47.8 million people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

As the federal government defaulted its budgeting duties to sequestration, which is just a 2.3% cut in the rate of domestic spending growth, the Obama Administration has been making these budget reductions as painful as possible for the American people.  So a variety of high profile ham-handed cuts have been made, like releasing hundreds of illegal immigrants in detention facilities, cancelling White House tours for school kids, rolling closures at the Smithsonian Museums, reducing the size of the Marine Corps by 22,000, cutting military contractors by one day furlows amount to a 20% salary cut, cancelling Blue Angels flights, cutting the Air Forces flights by nearly 20%, delaying maintenance on navel vessels delaying deployment, cuts in air traffic controllers delaying flights and more. 

 In this artificially austere environment, the Obama Administration continues sharing the SNAP program for illegal aliens.





Judicial Watch has exposed documenst from the U.S. Department of Agriculture of Spanish language advertising campaign sent to the Mexican embassy advising people how to apply for food stamps in the United States.  The salient detail is a statement that is both bolded and underlined  which notes: “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.”

So a government that is so supposedly cash strapped that it is laying off air traffic controllers,  government contractors and risking military readiness continues a campaign for what the politically correct Obama Administration (and the White House stenographers working for the Associated Press) would label  "undocumented immigrants."   Or as Jay Leno joked, "undocumented Democrats."



Nevertheless, this neither inspires confidence in the competency of comprehensive immigration legislation, Executive Branch budgeting skills or public policy prioritization.

 While this information has prompted Senator John Thune (R-SD) to vow that this USDA program will be cut, these seem like empty words from a minority party in a Senate that did not even bother to pass a budget for three years.  When Senator Harry Reid decided to finally pass a budget, after the threat of not being paid unless they did their jobs,  the Senate Democrat passed budget featured another $1 trillion tax hike and the budget deficit actually increases. 

Rather than appealing to Mexicans, maybe we should target our advertising to give succor to Chavistas, as America is currently being run like a banana republic, albeit without the comfy upscale clothing.  

A PC DOD is FUBAR

Last Thursday, President Obama posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award, to Korean War Army Chaplain Emil Kapaun for his heroic bravery.  It is sad to think so soon afterwards  that we need to consider how the Department of Defense fervently seems to battle the military chaplaincy and traditional religiosity to evangelize for faith in politcal correctness.

Recently, the U.S. Army proffered Equal Opportunity training for Pennsylvania Reserve Troops that included this helpful poster on “extremist groups”.  

The Army presentation stipulates that extremism is a complex phenomenon present in many religions when "some followers that believe that their beliefs, customs and traditions are the only 'right way' and that all others are practicing their faith the 'wrong way,' seeing and believing that their faith/religion superior to all others."

It is fascinating to see how Evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews, Latter Day Saints (Mormons) and Catholics were lumped in with Al Quaeda (spelled incorrectly in official Army materials), the Ku Klux Klan and Hamas as dangerous extremist groups. And being leery of the spread of Sharia over secular democratic civil lawyer is also defined as a hate group "Islamophobia".

The American Family Association postulates that the Army relied upon propaganda from the Southern Poverty Law Center to label Catholics and Evangelicals as extremist because of this scriptural stances considering  homosexual relations sinful and opposing same-sex so called marriage. 

The danger of the state imposing laws for same sex marriage is that the force of government makes opposing views anathematic, even if it is a tradition that has ordered Western society for thousands of years and is deeply held spiritual beliefs.  There is the fear that non-profits and churches which dissent from the state stampede of same sex marriage may lose their tax exempt status, especially based upon charters for many charity organizations which stipulate following the societal law. 

Since current Commander in Chief President Barack Obama evolved his public position endorsing same sex marriage in May 2012, the Department of Defense has nudged military chaplains to accept and even perform same sex marriages.   Even though the federal government does not recognize same sex marriages, the first gay military wedding was held at  Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey in May 2012, in a state that has yet to approve state blessing of such nuptials.  

Pro homosexual rights types complain that the ceremony was done by clergy that recognize same sex unions and that it was never meant to be public, despite being done in public on government facilities.  Yet somehow this private affair made it on ABC News among other media sources.

In 2010, then Joint Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen was asked about those who hold bibilical views about homosexuality and Mullen responded “Chaplain, if you can’t get in line with this policy, resign your commission.”  Chaplains were promised that the repeal of   “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would change things very little.  But that promise has not been kept, with Chaplains being prohibited from quoting certain scriptural passages or using the name of God while presiding over traditional services. 

According to Senator James Inhofe (R-OK), retired military chaplains report that is considered to be a career ending move for a military chaplain to abstain from officiating  these same sex unions.   That is why Senators Inhofe and James Wicker (R-MS) proposed the Military Religious Freedom Protection Act., which the Obama White House promised to veto while dismissed the conscience clause legislation as being “unnecessary and ill-advised.”

Lest anyone think that the PC DOD is all about hot button societal moral issues, consider the way the Obama Administration has used America’s military to advance his political agenda with little regard to national security. 

The Navy under President Obama has steamed ahead with the “Great Green Fleet” initiative to have a blend of 50% alternative and 50% conventional fuel that costs $26 a gallon or seven times the cost of conventional fuel.  Green energy proponents claim that the price will come down when the alternative energy becomes more popular.  Doesn't the Green Fleet insignia look familiar? Change we can believe in ?   Navy Secretary Ray Mabus plans to have half of the ships in the “Great Green Fleet” by 2020.  Legislative efforts to roll back this green initiative failed during the 2012 Lame Duck Session of Congress by a 62-37 margin. 

Obama Administration Navy Secretary Ray Mabus

As sequestration was being implemented, the Navy warned that it would scuttle repairs on a dozen ships due to the 2.3% cut in the rate of growth of the Federal domestic budget.  In addition, sequestration cuts were attributed for delaying dry dock work on the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in Norfolk.  The Navy is cancelling Blue Angel flyovers for the year.  But more significantly, the Air Force  was grounding 1/3rd of its ordinary flights, leaving some pilots wondering if they would have sufficient training time with their aircraft.

It is frightening to think that as we live in an increasingly dangerous world that a PC DOD is more concerned about making political points that it is about defending our nations interests.  If that is the case then it is not SNAFU but FUBAR.

Budgeting Time for Barack-etology

As March Madness begins in earnest today, President Obama took the time before his quick Spring Break trip to the Middle-East to fill out his NCAA March Madness Brackets.  

The Celebrity-in-Chief then taped an ESPN segment to explain his choices--

While the POTUS picks have been one in four during his tenure in the Oval, it calls for an even basic question--why is he wasting time on inconsequential items when he has a nation that he should be governing?

As sequestration comes into full effect, and the Obama Administration cancelled school tours of the White House and threatens the Easter Egg Roll (while still having costly golf outings with Tiger Woods and a St. Paddy's Day party), he vexes over college hoops.   As Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) call for US boots on the ground in Syria, additional missile interceptors are deployed on the West Coast for a North Korean nuclear ICBM threat and Iran is close to having nuclear weapons, our re-elected leader plays with Barack-etology? 

The law requires that the Executive Branch submits its Federal Budget by February 4th.  As it stands,  the Obama Administration won't have it done by April Fools Day. 

If it's any consolation,  Barack Budgets have gotten zero votes in  Congress. So it seems that he does better at his Bracketology than budgeting anyways. 

Perhaps we could profit from the POTUS picks and make up the sequestration shortfall.  But considering that he chose safe picks: Ohio State, Florida, Louisville and Indiana, it won't have much of a payout.  Unlike if someone chose in Paddy Pool chose Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the Conclave Championship --The Sweet Sistine. The man who became Pope Francis paid off at 33-1. 

We do not need  bread and circuses.  We need leadership from Washington.  A couple of weeks ago, President Obama went through the motions of a Capitol Hill charm offensive.  Then he cracks wise against Congress when setting foot on foreign soil. It make one wonder if he is serious about the responsibilities as the Leader of the Free World, or if he just seriously enjoys the spotlight and the trappings of the Oval Office.  

Obama's Sui Generis Charm Tour Does Less Than Impress

This week, the Obama White House engaged in a concerted charm offensive on Capitol Hill, seeking to thaw relations with legislators who are giving him a cold shoulder and not passing the Obama Administration’s second term agenda, whatever that is exactly.  Mr. Obama expected his four meetings over three days to lay the foundation for some sort of Grand Bargain.  

The Grand Bargain language seemed to have been the buzz following the fancy dinner at the Jefferson Hotel which Senator John McCain (R-AZ)  and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) facilitated last week but was overshadowed by Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) blockbuster filibuster. 

While Mr. Obama was warmly received by both Republicans and Democrats, including a standing ovation from the Grand Old Party, there does not appear to be headway in reaching consensus on legislation.  If one wonders why Mr. Obama’s outreach efforts were not successful, it would be wise to consider three countervailing currents coming from President Obama.

During the hour long meeting with Republicans,  Mr. Obama spoke about compromise on fiscal issues.  But once again, Mr. Obama’s charming redefinition of compromise puts the onus of giving ground only on those who disagree with the President’s positions.  And on fiscal issues, the sine qua non seems to be Republicans raising taxes (again).

Democrats were not spared President Obama’s particular charm.  President Obama met with Capitol Hill Democrats.  At that closed door meeting, Freshman Congressman Dan Kildee (D-MI 5th), the legacy of 17 term Congressman Dale Kildee (who was coincidentally representing MI 5th), asked a long winded question regarding economic development for his depressed Flint district.

 Mr. Obama did not appreciate Kildee representing his district’s interests.  So President Obama chose to sarcastically respond: “I can tell you’re a freshman because you didn’t pay much attention to the State of the Union,” Obama joked. “I talked about that.”  Charming.

If truth mattered, the joke would be on Obama, as Kildee had just been briefed by White House legislative affairs  staffers about the innovation centers which the President spoke of during the State of the Union. Of course, the State of the Union speech alluded to 15 innovation centers but gave no details aside from the $1 billion price tag to American taxpayers ( or more likely adding to the nearly $17 Trillion deficit).  

Mr. Obama’s glib rebuff of Kildee is reminiscent of an old adage–with “friends” like that, who needs enemies?

A third example of President Obama’s sui generis charm working against his best interests involves White House tours. President Obama chose to implement the sequester to maximize pain through all of the Executive Branch agencies.  What really incensed the public was the cancellation of school tours of the White House supposedly due to Sequestration cuts in the rate of Federal budgetary growth.  

After a bunch of bad press, the Obama Administration looked for ways to relent.  But as he retreated from his scorched earth Sequestration strategy, a petulant President Obama blamed the Secret Service for disappointing student tourists.  Really?    Now that White House tours might be spared, the Lamestream Media is trumpeting the charge that Sequestration might cancel the Independence Day concert and fireworks on the National Mall. 

Pope Francis' impromptu visit to St. Mary Major

This week in the Vatican, the Papal Conclave elected Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergogio as Pope Francis.   Many observers wondered why the College of Cardinals chose a 76 year old pontiff.  But the simple charm of the humble Jesuit (not necessarily a contradiction in terms) as the Vicar of Christ endeared himself to the faithful.  Moreover, the fact that Pope Francis walks the talk by being modest, striving to build bridges yet being firm on bedrock principles is the affirmative orthodoxy which secular leaders should quickly adopt.

Obama White House Dog Run?

White House photograph Pete Sueza  snapped a telling shot of President Barack Obama running through a corridor of the White House with First Dog Bo.

Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA  49th) took a great verbal snap with this snapshot by combining this picture with  the controversy of the Obama Administration's cancellation of White House tours supposedly due to Sequestration.    Issa's commentary was "We've finally got he place to ourselves..." along with the caption  "Our Capitol doors are always open".

On a related note, President Obama blamed the Secret Service on Wednesday for laying off personnel due to the sequester and he has hinted at the resumption of tours for student groups of the American People's House.  

It should be noted that this statement comes after what ABC News' George Stephanopolis characterized as "considerable heat" over the cancellations.  Several prominent people, including Fox News Channel anchor Eric Bolling along with real estate mogul and "The Apprentice" host Donald Trump had offered to write checks to continue the White House tours after the Sequester. 

It seems that the Obama Administration is shifting the heat, as there are current headlines that the sequestration's "shoestring" budgeting (which is just cutting the rate of increase of the federal budget) will cancel the Fourth of July concert and fireworks on the National Mall.  At least this aggressive austerity does not indiscriminately release incarcerated illegal aliens.   And no Independence Day celebration would allow the Ellipse to be a gigantic dog run. Or a nearby golf course on Federal land.

An Animated John McCain Dishes and Disses

Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) blockbuster filibuster of CIA Director John Brennan’s nomination sparked  considerable friction by his  fellow party member Senator John McCain (R-AZ) both on and off the Senate floor.  

To try to discern why the senior Senator from Arizona lashed out at the McCain Mutiny, it is instructive to delve into a recent friendly interview that McCain had with radio talk show host Michael Medved.  Medved was an early supporter of McCain’s Presidential race in the 2008 cycle and his center-right politics sync well  with the maverick Senator's stances.

A major aspect of  McCain’s P.R. campaign was to continue a hellfire drone attack against Senator Rand Paul’s attention-getting filibuster.  




To his credit, Senator McCain fought hard for military issues and worried about isolationist tendencies of libertarian oriented Senator Paul. 

What was revealing was Senator McCain’s evasive answer to Medved question about regretting the polarizing effect of the internecine intramural argument about the drone filibuster.  Instead of calling a truce or even diplomatically claiming that these were frank exchanges of impassioned opinions, McCain continues on the offense.  




“Maverick” charged that the cuts from in the sequester, that were favored by Tea Party types, will “devastate our military.”  Of course, the leading force behind the “Gang of Fourteen” proved himself to be utterly ineffective to find smarter budget cuts that the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats prior to the sequester. 

When McCain was questioned about his dinner with Barack Obama, the Senator dished that he hoped that they could reach a Grand Bargain with the Obama Administration.




It seems that he is banking on McCain/Graham facilitated dinner party with Obama to begin backroom bipartisan banter to ameliorate the sequester cuts.  So Rand Paul’s filibuster stole the spotlight from the bipartisan dinner show, it threatened the perception of McCain’s perception of Senatorial leadership and it alluded to  foreign policy priorities that McCain considers anathematic. 

Conversely, McCain played fast and loose with some aspects of the Constitution.  McCain suggests that the drone program is alright but that it should be put under military auspices.  Rand Paul’s filibuster was premised on evasive answers by Attorney General Holder about initiating a drone attack in America on Americans not engaged in imminent battle.  

The weapons which drones carry are Hellfire missiles, which indiscriminately damage upon impact, which could take out innocent bystanders.  So McCain is unconcerned about the lack of due process execution of a non-emergency, so long as it is run by the Pentagon which has more oversight.  OK, so Posse Comitatus may not be a constitutional tenant, but it has kept the military from doing police actions in 1878, unless we are in a state of martial law.


On an ancillary note, CIA Director took his oath of office in a closed door ceremony. But the Obama Administration reveled that Brennan was sworn in not on a Bible but the original U.S. Constitution (without the Bill of Rights).  Why that curiosity? 

 Maybe this can be a topic at the next Cocktail Party. Amuse bouche are often served with wine–considering the company, presumably it will be of French origin.  

Post Scriptus 03/15/2013  While it took a week, Senator McCain walked back his Wacko Bird remarks.  But a better question is will the conservative/libertarian base forgive "the clueless old man"?  

Taxing Credulity in Honesty

Debbie Bozaneck at 2012 State of the Union

During the 1992 Presidential campaign, both Warren Buffet and President Obama loved to point out that secretaries paid at a higher personal tax rate than the billionaires.  His secretary paid the higher 35.8% income tax rate whereas the Wizard of Omaha paid an effective 17.4% rate. In fact, Debbie Bozaneck, Buffet's personal secretary,  was invited to sit in the Presidential box during the 2012 State of the Union to highlight the inequity.

The truth be told, Warren Buffet derived most of his income from capital gains, not salaried income. Thus Buffet's long term capital gains were taxed at 15% and most of his earnings were not subject to the 4.2% Social Security and the 1.45% Medicare payroll taxes.  Nor does Buffet's low figure take into account double taxation coming from taxable income from long term capital gains, which would be  taxed at an effective rate of 49% (15% long term capital gain and 34% personal income).  Of course, none of these figures include state, local and sales taxes.

This flurry of tax inequity publicity ostensively was meant to sell the stillborn Buffet Rule which Mr. Obama parried during his re-election campaign. But instead of being the basic of tax reform, it served as a campaign cudgel of class warfare against upper income Americans (the top  2%) who already shoulder  the bulk of the tax burden. 

If Buffet really felt like he was fleecing the Feds, he can always gift the Treasury Department more money, surely Uncle Sam will spend his largess.   Maybe it will mitigate the effects of sequestration.  But Buffet's bravado reveals that his honesty taxes credibility and serves as a cheap trick in public policy discussions.

The Nekkid Truth as America Approaches the Fiscal Cliff

As politicians on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue perform the strip tease regarding the avoiding Fiscal Cliff, it is worth stepping back to chuckle and simultaneously smirk at what brought us here.

In late November, "nekkid" protesters who could have been typecast out of the Occupy Wall Street sit-ins, albeit better bathed and sans clothes, decided to demonstrate in Speaker John Boehner's office regarding cuts from the sequestration


 

When commenting on the Capitol Hill streaking spectacle, former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) quipped at a Christian Science Monitor luncheon about the difference between being "naked" and "nekkid".  Obviously from the messages on their backs, they were up to something.

During his successful 2008 Presidential campaign, candidate Barack Obama promised to double spending on world AIDS prevention from its FY 2009 level of just over $20 billion to $50 billion.  In FY 2009, the last year the Democrats in the Senate deigned  to do their duty and pass a budget, AIDS funding increased to $25 billion.  Since both President Obama's subsequent budgets failed to get a single vote and Senate Democrats did not approve a budget, AIDS spending went from $23 billion to close to $24 billion.  Yet the nekkid "happening" was at Speaker Boehner's office allegedly to protest a 10% across the board spending cut.

Out on the 2012 campaign trail, President Obama urged raising taxes on the top 2% of taxpayers (who currently pay 45% of all taxes) from the Bush tax tables which was supposed to raise $800 billion over time.   But the nekkid truth is that once Mr. Obama was re-elected, his naked ambition was to double revenues to $1.6 trillion, along with another stimulus package, the ability for the Executive Branch to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling and without any spending cuts in the first eight years of the ten year plan.

Republican have been desperate not to take the blame for going off the Fiscal Cliff and have further draconian cuts to an already emaciated armed forces along with resuming Clinton era tax rates with Obama era federal spending.   Prior to Christmas, Speaker Boehner was even willing to adopt Rep. Nancy Pelosi's proposal of raising taxes on true millionaires (not those making $250,000), but "Plan B" was summarily rejected by Democrats and more importantly by the important tea party elements of the GOP caucus, who were not anxious to take the blame for willingly raising taxes.



Typical of his governing style, President Obama had a hands off approach to budget negotiations when he went on his Hawaiian holiday.  When the President showily returned to the District of Calamity for budget talks, he gathered politicos for a photo op, offered nothing new and dictated how Congress should legislate by demanding an up and down vote, which might not even carry the upper chambers majority caucus.

Speaker Boehner called back House Members on Sunday afternoon in case there was a legislative compromise.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have tried to craft a last minute compromise.  It would not be surprising if the proverbial can gets kicked another month down the road.

But the naked truth is  that Americans (even the top 2%) are not undertaxed, but that the federal government is spending too much. Unless politicians on Capitol Hill and the White House make real spending reductions, the US will not just go over the fiscal cliff but we will go into the abyss which would drive a world-wide depression, significant currency devaluation, inflation and devastating cuts in an already weakened military still on a war footing and no money  for discretionary programs like world AIDS funding et cetera.



So expect lawmakers to realize that they are "nekkid" and find a fig leaf.  The problem is that such a fig leaf of a plan essentially covers nothing and may get everyone banished from the land of the free and the home of the brave.  Is that what we really want or what we voted for in November?

Fiscal Cliff Notes

In one month, unless Congress and the President can agree upon a solution, sequestration will occur which will automatically make an across the board 10% budgetary reduction. In the District of Calamity, this willy-nilly cost cutting is know as going  over the fiscal cliff.


As most Americans are in the Christmas preparation rush and President Obama is set to rush off to a 20 day $4 million holiday in Christmas Vacation in Hawaii, it does not seem that the calamitous effects if the Lame Duck Congress is unable to craft a compromise budget are widely understood. So here are some fiscal cliff notes:



 President Obama offered an idea to allegedly avoid the sequestration crisis:

It is worth noting that all of the savings which the White House offers are vague and in the future.  So what do conservatives think of this "plan"?  Think of Charlie Brown trying to placekick the football with a conniving center like Lucy.





Maybe we should not take Mr. Obama's first proffered plan seriously.  Charitably, it might be an opening bid.  Maybe Mr. Obama's pronouncement during the debate the sequestration will not happen alludes to political omnipotence.  More likely, President Obama is posturing and forcing the fiscal cliff is a strategy to blame Republicans either for the resulting taxes or for the wrecked economy when we go over the fiscal cliff.  Then the White House can look "reasonable" by trimming their outrageous opening offer by a third and still blame what Mr. Obama has termed "the enemy".

Well, President Obama's proposal was not taken too seriously on Capitol Hill.  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) laughed at Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner when the White House's "Modest Proposal" was presented last week. McConnell opined that Obama made an outlandish proposal that should not be taken seriously and was a step backwards.  Moreover, the Senate Republican leader proclaimed:  "President Obama can't get everything that he wants. Those days are over."

President Obama played Campaigner-in-Chief by pitching his opening offer at a toy factory near Philadelphia, comparing uncooperative Republicans who were Scrooges and going to give middle class folks lumps of coal in their stockings.  The urging the wealthy to pay "their fair share" class warfare is rich, as there is no way that the top 2% of taxpayers will be able to cover the $166 billion tax hike in 2013.

Some have suggested that Republicans should take President Obama at face value and then vote "present" on his outrageous offer.  Of course, there are not enough Democrat votes to ensure passage in the House, but much like the Obamacare bill, a handful of squish Congressmen can be "bought off". A better tact might be to take Guy Benson's suggestion and pass the Simpson-Bowles bi-partisan deficit reduction plan, which the Obama Administration commissioned and was hailed by an adoring Lamestream Media and then promptly abandoned.  But unless Congress and the President get serious about avoiding the fiscal cliff, it might be Thelma and Louise time.



h/t: A.F. Branco