If all these folks quoted by the Won are so keen on getting taxed at a higher rate and all that, why aren’t they writing checks to the US Treasury right now? It’s not like they US is going to turn the extra cash down or something. I mean, if they (and you!) really believe what you said and all….

I smell something, and it smells like ass, Mr Obama. No one is stopping you from returning your salary while you are in the White House, with all those folks stepping and fetching for you, and free transportation and free food and rent…..After all, by your own definition, you are “rich”

Step up, or shut up.

Put yer money where your mouth is. Set the example. Be the leader. Write the check for the past 2+ years of Presidential salary. Make it out to the U.S. Treasury. Failing that, then pledge this year, and next years salary.

Or shut the fuck up. I tire of your platitudes.

I’d be PISSED if this happened to me.

Mistakes do happen, but what if the guy or gal who won threw away their tickets?

Just a prediction before Mr. Obama’s speech:

“Equitable.”

“Fair Share.”

“Balance.”

“Equitable.”

“Share the pain.”

Betcha he uses ’em all. More than once.

Oh, and let us not forget his favorite: “Rich”.

Bet he pegs the use meter on that one….

You heard it here first!

An email from Mr Boehner, speaker of the house, to whom I had written in support of real budget cuts.

The return reply I got sometime today was, to be honest, a disappointment.

April 12, 2011 Mr. B Thank you for taking the time to contact me. It’s good to hear from you. Your ideas, comments, and questions help make possible my goal of leading a House of Representatives that listens and reflects the will of the American people. That’s why I’d like to ask you to keep speaking out by: Visiting Speaker.gov to sign up for email updates on issues that concern you; Offering your solutions and engaging other Americans on the challenges facing our country at AmericaSpeakingOut.com; Joining the conversation on Facebook.com/OfficeofSpeakerBoehner/; and Connecting with my office on Twitter.com/SpeakerBoehner/. I made a Pledge to America to focus on removing government barriers to private-sector job creation and economic growth – that includes cutting spending to help end the uncertainty facing job creators; repealing the job-crushing health care law and replacing it with common sense reforms that lower costs; reining in excessive regulations; and promoting an American Energy Initiative that increases energy production to create jobs and lower energy prices. I also pledged to lead an effort to reform Congress and rebuild the bonds of trust between the American people and their representatives in Washington. I hope you’ll stay engaged and keep me updated on your thoughts as we work to keep this pledge. Thank you again for contacting me and please stay in touch.

Sincerely, John Boehner Speaker of the House

My reply:
You ass. You are either a total loser at negotiating, or you are stupid enough to let the Democrats lead you around by the nose, or you are actually in league with the tax and spend folks.

Either way, you disappoint me, and many of my fellow citizens. You screwed the fiscal conservatives in this deal, and effectively were complicit in damaging the country farther. How did you serve the people of the United States in any way with your actions regarding the budget of the government of the United States? How did you help any citizen by allowing the incredible amounts of deficit spending to continue?

I had respect for you, once. No more. You have shown yourself to be either in league with those who would spend this country to bankruptcy, or you are a weak leader who cannot fight the good fight in order to better serve the citizens of the United States.

You are not fit, in my opinion for your current position. In fact, your actions on the Budget show that you are not fit to be dogcatcher in a small town. You sir, by your actions, have shown that you should not be Speaker of the House, nor should you represent the Republican Party. You have, by your own actions, damaged this country.

You have failed in your promise to the American people, and have shown yourself to be a failure of the worst kind. I hold nothing but disgust for your actions.

No, seriously:

” But the fact is that elections shouldn’t matter as much as they do“

Again: It be interestin’ how dese folks be thinkin’…..

I find it frightening that these people are in Washington, making decisions that affect the country.

Not that her Republican counterparts are showing me much either.

Romney enters the race.

What a waste of time, effort, and  a bunch of money that could be used to support a viable candidate.

If he is the best that they Repubs have got to offer, then we had better look forward to another 4 years of the Big “O”.

I mean, seriously? As far as I am concerned….No. Just no. Not a chance. Not even a remote one. I won’t hold my nose and vote for him like I did McCain in the last election. Just fucking “NO”. Fuggedaboutit.

One word: Rommneycare. Need I say more?

He’ll crash and burn like a shot down fighter jet over Libya. The sad part is he’ll bring a lot of folks down with him. And waste a lot of effort and money doing so.

Brigid is a wonderful friend of mine. Not only on the interwebz, but in Real Life. What is important to her is, by definition of “friend”, important to me.

She asked me to post this. Likely, if you read my blog, you also read hers. But, just in case:

Please, go read. Donate if you can. Or not. You have free will… But I think the kids and wife are gonna have a hard enough time, and a donation can help with one small part of their struggle. And enough small donations make for a really big help.

Help demonstrate the power of the Internet.

Thank you.

So 38.5 BILLION equals 100 BILLION. At least, that seems to be the way the Republicans do math.

Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ. WTF is wrong with these people?!?

The promise was ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS. Which, BTW, wasn’t really enough, but would have been a good start. The current deficit, depending on who you ask, is somewhere north of 1.5 trillion dollars. so while the cuts of 100 billion dollars would not have erased the deficit (that is deficit spending, not total debt, by the way) it would have begun a process wherein we could have cut a bit more each year until we as a nation were at parity with our collected taxes in a few (maybe 15) years.

These Republican legislators sold us out. They failed in their promise. $38.5 billion isn’t even close.

Just to put things in perspective:

The US was (is?) currently spending one hundred twenty five billion dollars more each month than we, as citizens are giving it in taxes, fees, and other income. $125,000,000,000 EACH MONTH. That is, BTW, one hundred twenty five thousand thousand thousand dollars.

Our legislators cut a really big amount off of that: 3.2 billion per month.  $3,200,000,. So this year we as a nation will now go 1.46 trillion dollars farther into debt each year. That number is 1,460,000,000, dollars DEEPER into debt.  While I will agree that 1.46 trillion is a smidge better than 1.50 trillion, it really isn’t all that much. We are drowning. The hole we are in is being filled with 4 firehoses going full bore….they are bailing with a teaspoon.

   $1,500,000,000, (before)
   $1,460,000,000, (after)

Not a whole lot of change, is there?

Yeah, those folks in congress and the senate really helped here, didn’t they?

 A little perspective…
Think about this:
If you were to make a stack of dollar bills (of you could find enough….there aren’t actually that many actual bills in existence) containing all of the deficit spending that we do each year, it would make a stack about 537,500 feet high. A little less than 102 miles high. the stack would weigh 3,303,964 pounds…give or take a bit. 

Now that the “spending reductions” are in place: The stack of dollar bills that are spending (that we don’t have) will only be 523,167 feet high….or only about 99 miles high. It would weigh only 3,215,859 lbs…more or less.

Note: these numbers are for the deficit spending THIS YEAR, not the debt.

Yep. those folks in congress sure fixed things, didn’t they?

Sometimes I feel that the ballot box isn’t going to get us out of this mess. The soapbox isn’t getting the job done either.  There are other boxes….

Me? I like lampposts. More visual. But it is hard to get good American made rope these days.