We now know why the Democrats continue to say we must tax the rich. It is because they are not paying their taxes. First there was Timothy Geithner picked to head the Treasury Dept. and now we have Tom Daschle picked to head Health and Human Resources. It seems from their comments if they were not selected, they would not have paid their back taxes. Interesting. Yet, if the IRS advises us of an audit of our taxes, we get letters and phone calls demanding payment. Are these people and others like them above the rules and law. It appears influence has it's benefits. This is not just a Democratic issue since I am sure there probably Republicans and Independents in the same boat. But, it seems when the Democrats do it, the news goes to page 5 and page 1 for the Republicans. And we continue to elect these people to Congress with a salary of approximately of $170,000 and they want more. How many out there wish they were getting this salary in addition to an expense account. Now we know why some members of Congress, if not the majority, spend upwards of a million dollars if not more to get elected to a job that pays $170,000. Think about that. Obviously, there is something in this job they are not telling us. Of course, one must be a lawyer or have mega dollars to get elected. When one the last time the average American got elected. The person making enough money to get by. Very few of our representatives seem to care about us that elected them. It is themselves, their party, family, friends and if anything left, those who elected them.

By the way, did you see what is really in the Stimulus package. More earmarks then you care to shake a stick at. We are not stimulating the economy but the pockets of friends of the politicans. Again I say, put money in the hands of the common working man and watch the economy grow. Put the money in the hands of the politicans and watch inflation grow and the budget deficit go into orbit. But we know who will get the blame. Not anyone in Congress, but former President Bush and not Barney Frank or Chris Dodd. We better get use to the blame game from Congress for the next 4 years at least.

President Obama rescinded the global gag rule on abortion making sure our tax dollars go to support abortion outside this country. Something most taxpayers have indicated that they do not want. But for a country that cries for justice for our Gitmo prisoners who only tired to kill our soldiers in combat and are really prisoners of war, we do not hear from these same Democrats and other left wing radicals for justice for the unborn. Just destroy life and do not worry about the effects it has on the female having the abortion as well as other family members or the father. Murderers can get justice, but there is no justice for the unborn. I guess God will give out justice when the time comes.

NEWS FLASH!

Timothy Geithner has been approved to head the Treasury Dept. It goes to prove that you can avoid paying your taxes and still become a government success. Then again, President Obama has lived up to transparency in government. Of course we thought he meant honesty and integrity. All of us that use TurboTax know that if you make a mistake, you get an alert that there was a problem. But Mr. Geithner indicated he got no such alert. Obviously, he was mistaken about what tax program he was using or he just plain lied. But, he is supposed to lead us out of our economic turmoil. I guess if we do not pay our taxes, we will have more money to spend and that will spur the economy. Maybe that is why he was nominated and we could not recognize this.

While campaigning for office, President Obama indicated that he was going to have a Performance Improvement team that he called “a SWAT team” that will be responsible for working with Federal agencies to set tough performance targets and hold managers accountability. He will fire managers who are not getting the job done. Too bad the public could not do this with members of Congress rather than have to wait 2 years. Making mangers accountability is a great idea and what would the housing crisis be like if we had that for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. However, will firing mangers open the way for featherbedding? What kind of performance can one expect from political cronies? Let’s hope qualified appointments are made if replacement becomes necessary rather then just satisfying political interest. Of course this will require a balancing act between what type of individuals are in the SWAT team and how mangers respond to their inquiries. A tough team will result in uncooperative management and a soft approach may allow for management manipulation. But we must remember it is not just management of an agency but also the qualifications of the line management that is assigned a particular task. You can have the best manager in the world, but if those under him/her are incompetent the agency will not function as required. Sometimes, political appointments can be the main problem in organizations not living up to expectations. Competent personnel top to bottom and the tools to do the job is what is needed. Politics should not get involved or else we will have a screwed up agency.

Government agencies should be held accountable and if they fail, then new qualified leadership should be appointed. The time for fancy rhetoric and deception must end. This also applies to members of the House and Senate. They should be addressing the problems of the country and not trying to get a political advantage on investigations that they know will really go anywhere but make good headlines in the news media.

We are hearing that some leaders of committees as well as Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi are thinking about Congressional investigation into the Bush administration. Now we also know that 99% of the policies that the Bush administration performed had Congressional approval. So if Congress wants to investigate the Bush administration, they should begin with themselves.

Furthermore, if that is the direction that the Democratic controlled Congress wants to take, then I suggest they also look into the incompetency of Congressmen Barney Frank whose finance committee was suppose to oversee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the nice, sweet mortgage deal the Senator Dodd got from Fannie Mae a big campaign contributor. Then while at it, they should also look into the then Vice-President Al Gore’s trip to California in the ‘90’s to collect $500,000 from a group of monks as a campaign contribution. Also, lets look into the pardoning of Mark Rich by the Clinton Administration. Since Mr. Rich lived up to his name by making big contributions to both Bill and Hilary. Gee, so much to investigate and yet, the public wants the economic situation addressed first and foremost, but Congress wants political headlines over action. The public better be prepared for another do nothing Congress. All talk, no action unless there is political gain.

In the future to prevent anymore Gitmo’s, we should tell our troops not to take any prisoners. Case solved. The ACLU will not be happen, but who really cares.

One of the darkest days in the history of the United States is coming up again as it has done for the past 35 years. I am referring to January 22, 1973, another day that will live in infamy for the beginning of the destruction of life as we know it. The day the Supreme Court said it was okay to destroy life through the hideous method known as abortion.

Ever since that day, there has been an ongoing battle between the forces of evil (pro-abortion) and the forces of good (anti-abortion) people. Now I know this past sentence will infuriate some claming that pro-abortionist are not evil. But what do you call the callous destruction of life. As they have claimed, they are only defending the women’s right to choose whether she wants to continue through to the end with her pregnancy or end it for her own personal reasons that is justified because of the women’s mental or physical health. Over the years, this argument has been filled with holes, but do to the pro-abortion mainstream media, very little is reported on mental and physical health of a women who has an abortion. Taken that a step further, what about others who are witness to or read about the destruction of life over the past 35 years. What has been the result of such treatment of the unborn? Well, one only needs to read the newspapers or watch the news on television and a clearer picture emerges. What we see is the senseless destruction of life by teens and pre-teens that appear to have grown into a society that values the treatment of animals over human life. Human life has become cheap and replaceable. Have an abortion today and a child when you are better prepared to take on motherhood and/or fatherhood later in life. Oh, how horrible it is to see how some people treat cats and dogs and how our legal system is pushed to prosecute the offender because of public outcry. However, these same people keep silent on the destruction of life.

Some people like to use the argument that they are pro-choice although they are personally opposed to abortion. An argument that is used only to convince the people using it in their own mind or to be politically correct. In reality, in the real world you are either for or against abortion. There is no middle ground. Such arguments make no since but are used repeatedly to justify the end, the killing of a human life.

We can never hope to renew society unless we ourselves are committed to renewal in our own lives. We can never hope to renew society as long as we find ways to accommodate social values that are fundamentally opposed to God’s value that he gave us in the Ten Commandments.

To prevent the continual destruction of our human existence, families should be encouraged to assume responsibility as the first and primary educators of their children. Abortion is a poor role model of how society operates.

We are going to have a new President taking office this month that has vowed to sign the Freedom of Choice Act if passed by Congress. This bill will be come the most reprehensible act against human life that will surpass Roe vs. Wade. This legislation ignores the argument when life begins. We are taking about human life not animal life. Science has concluded that life does begin as conception. So destroying life although called a fetus in the womb, is still a human life in its’ earliest development. This bill will permit an abortion from the 1st day of pregnancy to the last day.

Dr. Maureen L. Condic, a senior fellow at the Westchester Institute for Ethics & the Human Person and an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Utah School of medicine disputes and claims the argument that when life begins is unknowable or unresolved and are scientifically unfounded. She has written a Scientific Perspective, a detailed authoritative report, known as a white paper. It was published in October and can be downloaded at http://www.westchesterinstitute.net/.

Unless we as a society stand up to the senseless slaughter of human beings for personal monetary gain of some doctors and organizations, life will become even cheaper. You will see the destruction of life advocates turn to those individuals that become a financial burden to society or insurance companies. This includes all ages. We here more about euthanasia every year and if we continue on this path you will not have to worry about being financially secure when planning retirement or what my Social Security payment will be. You will not be around to enjoy it. Reminds me of the movie in the 60’s titled, Soylent Green, where as you reached a certain age you were processed into food for the remaining populace.

So what can we do? We must contact our legislatures in the state and federal government expressing our displeasure on abortion and offer financial support to those organizations that defend life. To do nothing, to look the other way or to say it is not my problem will not suffice in today’s society. Action is needed and we must make our voice heard or the minority that support such despicable acts will continue to force their agenda upon us and what I have mentioned in this letter will come to fruition. Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of human life and have their voices heard.

Will the Democratic Party be known as the party that promotes a culture of death?

It was interesting in watching the news today that President-Elect Obama has allowed a maximum of $50,000 donation to his inauguration and it appears approximately $26,000,000 has come from Hollywood and the left wing of this country. Now why would these people contribute so much to this inauguration in support of a President-Elect who campaigned on raising taxes on those making more than $200,000 or $150,000 or whatever since during his campaign this amount changed depending on who his audience was. It makes you wonder who is really going to pay when he decides to push for an increase in taxes? It does not appear to be the so-called rich that he was campaigning against. Don’t forget, President-Elect is not that poor either. Why would you want to tax yourself in oblivion? That is just like asking Congress to legislate against themselves. The voters in this country have got to start thinking past the rhetoric and think about what is actually being said and how that is going to be accomplished.

If one was to review history, that we know is not taught that well in school today in order to change our world view on this country and the world, one would discover that this has been the case in many countries where the voters got a big surprise after the candidate was elected. The current example is President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela who many of the Hollywood elite think is just darling in how he is governing his country. I think that says bundles about that crowd. Of course the people of Venezuela are extremely happy to have given up many freedoms they enjoyed before President Chavez. Since history is being changed to support a certain ideology, I must say before this is removed from history books, that the same thing happened in Germany after Hitler was elected. It was too late for the electorate then. People must examine closely what the politicians who we elect or are running for office they say and not rely on others to decide for them . As Sergeant Friday use to say in his T.V. series, Dragnet, “Just the facts, maam, just the facts”.

President-Elect Obama

From looking at the choices President-elect Obama has made concerning the invocation etc for his inauguration that he is attempting to be a President for all people. He has chosen an anti-abortion minister, a gay bishop and a female minister. Of course the only clergy missing is a Catholic Bishop, a Muslim and a Jew. Whether that was intentional or not remains to be seen. But it is food for thought. It would be an opportunity to show his respect for all popular religions and not just those that were chosen for political correctness.

Whether you like him or hate him, one thing President Bush did was govern to protect this country and not for popularity. If President-elect Obama wants to govern according the popularity poles, he will be putting himself first over the country and we will be heading down a path of future 9/11 events. Not making the tough decisions because it may affect your popularity will invite less monitoring of those that want to destroy us and increase the threat against this country both internally and externally. I hope President-elect Obama sees the light and puts the country first and political party way back. This country and the safety of all of us is in the balance.

I am against the large amount of money that is being spent on bailouts and the proposed additional monies. The government is spending money like there is no tomorrow. In fact, there may be no tomorrow with the huge amount of money that is in the works. We cannot continue to dump money into companies and organizations because of poor management and greed.

We got into this mess because of greed in the housing market from the real estate company, the buyer, builders and the mortgage lenders. As of a result of their behavior we have seen the ripple effect throughout the economy. This is not entirely the President's fault, although that is what Congress and the news media wants the public to believe. Congress lack of oversight and ignoring allegations that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack were potential problems way back in 2005 shows they deserve most of the responsibility. That goes for both political parties. But, all we see is the blame game for political expediency. It is time Congress grew up and stopped acting like a bunch of little children.

The auto industry continued to produce gas-guzzlers and vehicles that had a reputation of poor quality. Now we know that many vehicles had customer satisfaction, but still could not compete with the reputation of Toyota, Honda etc. As the price of gas increased, Detroit kept producing gas eaters that many customers turned away from in favor of keeping their present vehicle or purchasing a foreign vehicle that would get better mileage. Detroit dug themselves a hole that is and will be difficult to dig out from unless they can streamline their operation and increase production of more fuel-efficient vehicles. They also need cooperation from the UAW to renegotiate labor contracts to be more in line with the foreign manufacturers that are producing vehicles in this country. This does not seem to be the case. Instead we see the union maneuvering to avoid any givebacks. Since incompetent management created this problem, these same mangers will have to resolve the problem they created without me financing this endeavor of sinking good money into badly run operations. We live in a democracy and not a Socialist/Communist form of government. And as history has shown, these governments all fail over time. But we can be assured that management will make sure they get their large bonuses from the money allocated to them. The 15 billion allocated so far is not going to resolve the issues in Detroit and we knew it when this money was appropriated and we know it now. Incompetency should not be rewarded. We all know that Detroit auto manufacturers will not go under except maybe for Chrysler. But what the public has not been made aware of is that 80% of Chrysler is owned by a private corporation. They bought Chrysler as an investment and I do not want my money going to help their investors.

As previously mentioned, all this can be traced back to the housing market and greed if an honest assessment is done rather than resort to the blame game. Because if we want to go that route, then President Clinton deserves much of the blame by his executive order directing banks and other lending institutions start lending money without down payments and not resorting to the 28% of income that was used by banks as an instrument for determining whether a buyer could afford a house and payments. Buying a house with no down payment encouraged owners to walk away from the house, since the payments were just like paying rent and they really had nothing to lose. A down payment may have altered this thinking. As a result, I believe the latest stats on foreclosure for the year 2008 was up 81%.

However, if Congress and President elect Obama want to pursue this course of action, then I have better idea in improving the economy without dumping good money into bad. My suggesting is for giving me and others $20,000 to purchase a new automobile, that must be from an American company and that must cost more than $20,000. We all could then purchase a vehicle, get financing to cover the additional cost. This will provide income for the automobile dealer, the salesperson, manufacturer and others in the food chain, in addition to the suppliers of parts and other services. All will have money to spend which can give a jolt to shopping for groceries, restaurants, housing and other necessary shopping. Money would be flowing through the system. And we see the vacant house being purchased as the people see economy picking up. This is a much better idea because it puts money into the hands of the buyer and not the manufacturer. Remember what AIG did with their influx of money by going out and having luxurious conferences at the citizen’s expense. After all, this is in essence, this country’s money and for the next 100 years we will be trying to get back to balancing the budget that appears never to happen again. We are heading down a path that the future does not seem to have an opening to get our budget in balance. Besides, where is this money coming from? Who has the billions, trillions or zillions of dollars that is being shoved out there as a solution? The individual is the solution not government. Government cannot resolve this problem, but the individual can if given the tools. If Government could resolve problems, we would not be in this position.

Another item I would like discuss is the income of retirees. Those that are solely on Social Security and/ or a pension where there total income is below $50,000 should not have to pay Federal taxes for at least the next 5 years. This would provide a double benefit by helping the senior retirees as well as them putting money into circulation by purchasing items. We have learned that reducing taxes actually has increased income to the Treasury. President Regan and Bush #2 have demonstrated this with their tax cuts. It is just that we must reduce spending at the same time. Getting money into the hands of the citizens will resolve our current economic problems. This must not be done through handouts or stimulus checks, but a reduction in all taxes from income to Corporate and Capital Gains. In fact, a total revision of our tax policy is in order. Who can read and understand a tax code that has more than 66,000 pages if not more. What we need is a sales tax for all items purchased. This way, everyone who purchases anything in this country whether a foreigner or citizens provides income to the Treasury. This is fair and ends class warfare that President elect Obama talked about during his campaign for the office of President. If the rich purchase an item, they will pay more. Buy a $50,000 vehicle you will pay more than the one who buys a $25,000 vehicle and so on for all purchases. Bailouts will not work. When was the last time a tax increase hurt a rich person. People with money always propose this course so you know they will not be hurt.

I would like to add by two cents on drilling for oil in this country. Now I know President elect Obama has nominated Carol Browner for the EPA. A position we will regret she will be in, especially with her background with socialist groups. Hopefully, she will not be approved. With nearly 700 billion dollars leaving this country to purchase oil to meet our needs, it is imperative, considering our economical situation, we explore and drill for oil in this country as quickly as possible. If all that 700 billion dollars stayed in this country, we would resolve the question where are all the handouts coming from. Oh! I mean welfare stimulus checks that are totally unnecessary if we start drilling for oil. We should have offshore drilling to begin as soon as possible. The oil companies have indicated that within 2 years, they may be able to get some of this oil to market. Drill now should be our model as former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich has been pushing for. We all would like to see alternative sources here and now, but reality indicates that even 50% of alternative use is almost 30 years away. We cannot wait that long and see billions of dollars go oversees to those that want to destroy us. It is about time we woke up to that reality. Keep our money here. Just think how many jobs that would be created in this country and not just the oil platform personnel. This is what Congress should be pushing. Of course, we know Congress does not act unless there is benefit to themselves, their party and their friends and then our country. Our live as a country depends on it. In today’s technology, there is very little chance of an oil spill or an oil spill that cannot be contained. This is the way to go in today’s global climate while providing the needed jobs to generate the bounce back of our economy. What better way to spend the taxpayer’s money. Independence from foreign oil is a move that may also have the additional benefit of reducing conflict involving our military in the Middle East where a cutoff of oil could be more devastating than the current atmosphere.