Is this a joke?

I’m not even sure what to say about this. Part of me just wants to laugh at the absurdity of it; part of me is pissed off.

I wish I knew just what was going through his mind when he put that t-shirt on so I could better define how ridiculous he looks. It would almost make sense if he were on a Marine base playing basketball with a group of Marines. But then I think you’d be hard pressed to find a Marine who would willingly give him a t-shirt.

The closest thing this man has to military experience is maybe watching Full Metal Jacket when he was in college, but I’m pretty sure the crowd he ran with back then would have frowned on that. It’s heartbreaking that he may indeed be our next commander in chief.

I’m pissed because, while uniform regulations obviously apply only to actual uniform items, you don’t wear it unless you’ve earned it. Exceptions being wives and girlfriends; they look sexy in our t-shirts. With zero affiliation with any branch of the military, let alone the Marine Corps, where does he get off wearing that?

He didn’t earn the title, and he’s not going to earn respect by posing.

What is a windfall?

so·cial·ism –noun

1. a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.
2. procedure or practice in accordance with this theory.
3. (in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

Exxon Mobil last week reported the highest ever quarterly profit. El Presidente wannabe wants to take a good portion of that profit and give it to the community in the form of more “stimulus” checks. The “windfall” tax. With a profit margin less than two points above the industry standard, where is the windfall? If it’s a 10% profit margin that defines windfall, the majority of American corporations would fall prey to this idiocy. The Illinois Senator said the government would take “a reasonable share” of the major oil companies’ profits. Who decides what a reasonable share is?

During the five previous years, Exxon gave up nearly $65 billion in taxes. Their after-tax earnings for the same period were roughly $19 billion less than that. It sounds to me like their reasonable share has been taken.

Mr. Obama claims concern for the American pocket in its battle against $4/gallon gasoline. What happens when he steals even more from the oil companies and they pass that cost of business on to the consumer? $5 or $6/gallon gas will wipe out a $500 stimulus check and then some.

Obama and his cadre of useful idiots don’t like the oil companies because they make capitalism work. They have defined “windfall profit” as any profit made by an entity they don’t like. In order for them to have the government they want, they desperately need the people to be beholden to them. So they make themselves to be heroes by stealing from the big bad oil companies so they can toss a few bucks to the common folk. This is socialism. Socialism is evil.

So why am I so riled up about an idea that could put as much as $1000 in my pocket? I’m riled because that is not the government’s job. It’s not the government’s job to “fix” the economy. It’s not the government’s job to decide how much money a company can make before they’ve made too much. The government’s job is to make sure my country’s borders are safe against enemies, and not much else.

American individuals and corporations already have their income redistributed at near criminal levels. What the government needs to do is STOP SPENDING. Stop doling out entitlements to those who are unwilling to earn their keep. It’s my job to feed and house myself and my family, not the government’s.

There is no greater example in this country of fraud, waste and abuse than the government. Obama would be better of offering a plan to clean up that mess. If whoever our next president ends up being would simply cut the waste from government, the idea of more tax, windfall or otherwise, would be moot.

But Obama won’t do that. He actually wants a nanny state. What scares me is that enough Americans will buy his hype, and that’s all it is, to put him in office. How happy are they going to be when he and his congress start taxing not just Big Oil, but their family’s windfall?

I wish I could vote for Forest Gump

The liberal blogs and columns today and over the weekend are all full of heartache and whining about McCain’s campaign of “character assassination” ads against Obama, all the while spewing their own vile verbal abuse toward McCain. Whatever; let them fight. The thing of it is, Obama’s character needs to be assassinated. Before you get your panties in a bunch, I said his character, not him.
To be honest, I’m not real excited about the prospect of President McCain. But I’m absolutely terrified of the idea of President Obama. I wish I could vote for Forest Gump.
Obama is a man who wants to build an already bursting at the seams government into something even bigger, more controlling and more invasive. He wants to be at the helm of a machine that will give, give, and give some more to those who have not and will not lift a finger to earn. And the only way he can do all that giving is by taking away from those of us who do earn. He wants to tell you which doctor you can go to and what kind of car you can drive. You think your doctors and cars are expensive now?
Democrats, liberals, left wingers, whatever you want to call these useful idiots, are all yapping about the Republican’s decimation of the Constitution with the wire tapping and habeas corpus and whatnot. Will someone please explain to me which part of the Constitution dictates the federal government’s authority to establish universal healthcare? They’re upset that someone listened to a bunch of phone calls without asking permission. How many American lives did that cost? Zero. How many American lives will it cost when ‘free’ healthcare for everyone has driven the cost of that care beyond tolerable limits? When emergency rooms are so packed with non-earning illegal immigrants that earning Americans can’t get in?
How many American lives does it cost to have an enemy combatant, a man who put bullets and bombs downrange to kill Americans, stand a military tribunal and be sentenced to life behind bars, or, preferably, execution? Zero. How many American lives will it cost when that same man is afforded a ‘fair’ trial, a right guaranteed to American citizens, and acquitted on some BS technicality? When he is allowed to return to the battlefield to send more bullets and bombs downrange?
These are things that are already here, and an Obama administration will only bring more. He will take money away from each and every one of us in order to feed his nanny state. Even worse, he will cost American lives.
The man who has preached ‘unity’ and ‘working across the aisle’ recently asked supporters to throw their money toward senate reelections. “We must have a deadlock-proof Democratic majority,” he said. He will not work ‘across the aisle’ or attempt any sort of ‘unity.’ He will fight very hard for a decisive liberal majority that will allow him to move this country further toward socialism. Don’t be fooled by his silver tongue. Look at his actions. He has already hurt America, and plans to hurt us more.