The week in news

This week, the big news was the proposed ammendment to the constitution. I know why the President supported it, but I think his timing was bad. And it just reinforced one of the reasons I am no longer voting Republican. As I have been clarifying my political opinions, it has come down to a simple statement: I will not vote for people who have a fundamental difference in their belief of the role of government.

In my humble opinion (and that of the founders of our country), government was intended to serve a couple of simple purposes: "Government should keep the peace, coin money, establish a post office, postal roads, and the courts, and secure time-limited copywrights and patents." For those of you whom I sent a "pocket Constitution," that comes from Article 1, Section 8.

However, things began to dramatically change, mostly as we began to get more involved in war. Around the beginning of World War I, the Federal Reserve was created. It near sole purpose was to prevent the reduction in currency purchasing power. It became known to protect the financial markets, but it didn't stop the Depression of 1920-21, or the Great Depression of 1929-1941. In fact, the more government intervenes, the more damage it tends to do. President Franklin Roosevelt hired an economic advisor named John Manynard Keynes. Keynes became lauded for his "central planning," government-controlled economic policy. It supposedly worked until the 1970s when stagflation occurred. In this environment, any "push" in demand, created more inflation, causing higher interest rates and further decline in the purchasing power of our currency. I would argue that Keynes policy didn't work when is supposedly did. England came out of their own depression in 1934, many years before the United States, simply by implementing free-market, supply side policies. Pres. Roosevelt may have kept us in the Depression longer because of his economic policies. This certainly didn't mean that he wasn't a good President. It just means that history's glowing review of his performance may be flawed.

I will close this post with the quote from Thomas Jefferson I found in John Stossel's new book, "Give Me a Break:"

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain."

Men of the People

I have heard much lately of our Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates (and current occupants) declaring they know what the middle class needs. Oh really? How many of you are in the middle class. I find it a bit condecending when someone like Preisdent Bush or Sen Kerry pretends they have ever had to worry how they were going to pay for groceries this month. In fact, I would doubt very much if either had ever created a personal budgets.

So next time you hear this drivel, remember where it is coming from. Each of these men are worth many, many millions of dollars.

Celebrity and Politics

It may have started with Jane Fonda, but it has now expanded. What makes celbrities think that we want to know where they stand on any political issue. This seems to be a much larger problem for liberal celebrities. And for the record, I don't care who a celebrity supports. If he/she likes Republicans, Democrats, or Socialists. This will not impact my financial support of their projects. Where I do get upset is when celebrities denegrate certain candidates with insults. It is at this point that I create my own celebrity embargo list. These are people who I will not pay any money to buy their videos or music, buy tickets to their movies or watch them on TV. If I hear them on the radio, I turn the station.

Celebrity Embargo List:

Barbara Streisand (some people aren't bright enough to attempt to speak without a script, but do anyway).
George Clooney (there is only one exception: Ocean's 11; I love that movie, but maybe I should watch the original)
Jeneanne Garafolo (I would try to verify the spelling, but I don't really care)
Al Franken
Whoopi Goldberg
Tim Robbins (I liked Bull Durham, but that was about it)
Susan Sarandon (I can't think of a single thing she has ever done that I have the slightest interest in)
Meryl Streep (ditto)
Chevy Chase (this is too bad, but he has tied my hands)
Jessica Lange (I am sure she has done something, but I couldn't name one project if you'd give me a million bucks)

Most of these people were in New York for Sen. Kerry's fundraiser. There were others, but I didn't hear any other offending statements. I encourage you to join me in my boycott.