Debt Ceiling

I am generally a big fan of Charles Krauthammer but his recent take on the looming debt limit crisis is troubling. Why is it an 'adult moment' to get yet another credit card to pile up more debt? Shouldn't the adult thing be to stop spending beyond our means? The Republicans are falling all over themselves with their plans to cut $100 billion of spending. Oooh! Will that reduce the deficit from $1.4 trillion to $1.3 trillion? Wow, that's some cutting. Tragic and painful as it may be, we need to cut a bit more deeply than that. Racing toward the cliff at 75 mph rather than 80 mph still leaves us hurling into the ravine.

There is talk of defaulting if we don't raise the debt ceiling. How does that work? I've already borrowed for my mortgage and I'm on time with my payments but if I fail to borrow more, I'll have my house in foreclosure? No, I don't think so. If the debt ceiling isn't raised, the spending will have to slow down immediately to the rate of incoming revenue. Wow, what a concept! Spending within our means.

Sadly, this is just another political football. If the Republicans try to hold the line at $14.3 trillion, the Democrats will not join in. Economic disaster may follow and the Democrats will blame the Republicans and vice versa. So, what to do? Wait for 2012 and the chance that they win both the Senate and the Presidency? Risky. The car may have already gone off the cliff. I vote to slam on the brakes and shut the government down if need be. The spending must stop, the sooner the better. It will be unpopular no matter when it is done so best to do it right out the gate. The House controls the purse strings and it must choke off the funds. Get on TV every night and say "We don't have the money" over and over again. It has the benefit of being true.

Oklahoma City Redux

Yes, already I read stories that Congresswoman Giffords was shot because of the vitriolic rhetoric from, just for example, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Movement. Those darned right wingers are pushing people to violence again. When Obama says you must 'punish your enemies' or wants to know 'whose ass to kick' or has his 'boot on the neck' or such, that isn't vitriolic rhetoric. However, when Sarah Palin 'targets' the 8th District in AZ with a graphic showing a cross hair, well, that's over the line. Of course someone is going to go on a shooting rampage.

Much like the guy who flew his plane into the IRS building last year, this guy is a crackpot. I watched a couple of his YouTube slide shows and they were pretty kooky. He really does talk about mind control through grammar and declares that sadly only 5% of Americans dream. Of interest, he had a list of his favorite books on his profile. Nothing by any contemporary right wingers but he did mention We The Living (Ayn Rand), The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx), Mein Kampf (Adolf Hitler), The Republic (Plato), and Meno (Plato). Notably missing are any books by Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Ronald Reagan, Bill Buckley, etc. A classmate of his reportedly says he was a left winger.

As a congresswoman has been shot, there is already a push to provide security for all members of congress. I vote no. You don't change policy for one incident. When congressmen are being gunned down on a regular basis, then we can talk. If we change nothing, the vast majority (99%+)of congressmen will be fine. In any case, we can't afford yet another federal agency.