The Conservative Son

I saw the video at the link below and my head nearly exploded! I've had it in for Little Jimmy Duncan for years because of his lack of respect for our military, but this is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay beyond the pale! So, I sent this email to him, post haste.

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Con. Duncan:



Do they know you want to cut their retirement, Jimmy?



I am furious! I am disgusted! I just watched a clip of you on You Tube.

So, now you want to “balance” the budget on the backs of veterans? You think allowing men to retire after twenty years in the military makes no sense?

I served three years proudly in Uncle Sam’s Army. I am not a retiree, but I was honored to wear the uniform and my heart goes out to those who have the courage to at least potentially, if not literally, face enemy bullets, dismemberment or death to protect this great nation.

Hey, Jimmy! If you want to find a way to “balance” the budget, why don’t you refuse that big, fat pension you’re going to get when you retire. Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.

“…very unnecessary foreign wars…” I wrote you years ago and said I’ll never vote for you again over remarks like this. Can’t you just support the troops and quit saying what they are doing is “unnecessary”? (I’m sure Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid agree with you.)

“…healthy, able bodied people…” Oh, sure, all we ask is that they leave their homes for months and months on end, go to strange countries, dodge enemy bullets and bombs and maybe die a little bit one day. Oh, yeah, they also have to listen to their Congressman saying that they don’t deserve a proper retirement after twenty years of that.

What will your retirement be after way too long in D.C.? Oh, yeah, that’s right. You believe your worth a six figure salary and pension with full health benefits and a retired Army colonel isn’t? Sheesh! You’re a veteran! What happened? When did you become a professional politician?

“…working as a waiter or waitress is more physically demanding…” Well, I’ve been a waiter and I’ve been a soldier. I was fortunate enough to never experience combat, but have friends who have. No waiter/waitress with any humility thinks their job is “more physically demanding” than that of a cop or a soldier.

I have been a life-long Republican and my family has been Republican since Lincoln. Shamefully, Republicans, such as yourself, can spend with the best of the Democrats as long as it’s your own pet project. (Yes, I read the DPA and see you passing out checks all the time.) This is the sort of thing that makes me ashamed, almost, to be a Republican.

I’m convinced you’ve been in D.C. too long and maybe feel you deserve your office and that you’re unbeatable. (Perhaps you think you can bequeath your office to someone?) This is another of the reasons, though I’ll never vote Democrat, I said I’ll never vote for you again and will discourage everyone I can from doing so. (I’ve met with some success on the latter.) When I hear you talk like that, all I can think is “Term Limits”!

This is also one of the reasons why I was proud to finally, after a decade, vote for a Congressional candidate again. I voted for Joe Leinweber, thank you.

I was always proud to vote for your daddy. For years, I felt the same way about you. Something changed about a year or two after 9-11. I don’t know what the polls told you, but pretty much everybody I talk to wants to give the troops a raise!

It breaks my heart to hear the words like you said in that video come out of a good old boy from East Tennessee that I once admired and respected so much. It really just makes me so sad.

I’m thankful for our military and their hard work and sacrifice! God bless them! Lay off! Don’t cut their pay! Don’t cut their retirement! Cut the pay of U.S. Congressmen and Senators! Talk about a cushy job!

Sincerely,

etc.

Con. Duncan calls for cuts in military retirement, but not his own.

Labels: Congressman John Duncan, Democrat, government, Harry Reid, Jr., military, Nancy Pelosi, patriotism, R.I.N.O., Term Limits

Let me be, perhaps, the first to predict that in a year when President Obama kicks off his reelection campaign, the experience that he said didn't matter two years ago, will be his main argument for reelection. The experience that didn’t matter for John McCain will be the salient reason for reelection of our president.




Funny how a thing like that works. You don’t have to have any experience to set on the president’s cabinet, to be a Supreme Court Justice or even to be President of the most powerful nation on the planet.



You don’t have to have ever had a real job. You don’t have to have ever have hired or fired anyone. You don’t have to have ever had to have met a payroll. You don’t have to have ever have had any accomplishments whatsoever! You don’t have to have ever done anything more than get yourself elected to a couple of political offices. Still, none of that matters if you talk glibly about “hope and change.” Sheesh!



It reminds me of the ‘92 campaign, when military service and/or draft dodging didn’t matter because Bill Clinton was a Democrat. Yet, in 2000, when questions were raised about George Bush’s honorable service, suddenly it did matter since he is a Republican. Well, when the campaign commercials begin next year that talk about the “steady, experienced, proven leadership of Barack Obama,” that explosion you hear is not the balloon going up…it’s my head!

Labels: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Democrat, George Bush, John McCain, presidential campaign, presidents, Republican, Supreme Court

Well, there ya go. I messed up, again, and said something nice about a Democrat and it jumped up and bit me on the buttocks!

After what Leon Panetta said about Dick Cheney "almost" wishing for an attack on the U.S. just to prove his point, I'm sorry I said anything nice about Panetta. Notice, he tried to qualify his statement with "almost" as if that is any difference.

So, finally, I apologize, Mr. Panetta. I won't make that mistake twice.

Labels: apology, Democrat, Dick Cheney, Leon Panetta

I am well past sick of hearing the Democrats talk about Hilary's "experience"! Exactly what "experience" are they talking about? They just keep saying experience" like it's some sort of magic word that will give them what they want. No one will exactly say what that "experience" is. Silly people.

They think the fact that she has spent the last thirty years or so servicing Bill Clinton qualifies her for the presidency? If that's the case, there are probably fifty women who qualify to be president. It seems the Democrats idea of "experience"
differs from that of the Republicans.

Labels: Bill Clinton, Democrat, Hillary Clinton

Recently, I wrote this letter to my local newspaper. They've been kind enough, or crazy enough, to print every letter I've written "To the Editor" over the past few years. They didn't print this one, though. I realized, after I'd mailed the letter, that since I'm a county resident, they would prefer to print only letters from city residents.

It's just as well. If they had printed this one, I'm sure the "Republicans" in my county would have banished me, for sure. Although, after their support for a totally unneeded tax hike, I probably wouldn't have minded.

By the way, the tax was defeated by a two-to-one margin. Hallelujah!

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So, here we go again. Sunquist tried his best to get a state income tax, Bredesen gave us the lottery tax and the legislature has tripled the cigarette tax. (Yet, strangely enough, they’ve made it almost impossible to light up in our fair state.) We even get legal liquor tax now. Yet, City Hall has decided that Athens is not paying enough taxes. And guess what! Oh, yeah, you got it. “It’s for the kids”! Sheesh! If the federal, state, county or city government comes up with one more tax “for the kids,” I won’t be able to afford to feed mine!

They tax everything from driving, to owning land, to buying a coke, to playing air hockey to buying a stick of gum. (Is oxygen taxed yet?) Still, they raise taxes every time we turn around and it’s all “for the kids”!

Who can say “no” to the “kids”? What sort of beast would tell the “kids” that we don’t have the money or aren’t willing to pay the money for their education? Certainly, anyone who is unwilling to make the small sacrifice of a silly, little half a percent sales tax must be a heartless cad. It’s only a little half a percent, isn’t it? Well, isn’t it?

The kids need pencils and paper and books and notebooks and squares and compasses and a myriad of other stuff. Someone has to pay for it. Sure, the parents buy lots of this stuff right out of pocket and also have raffles and bake sales along with other creative fund raising projects. Recently, I even had one little girl just walk up to me and flat out ask me for a donation for her school. At least she wasn’t trying to sale me some candle or discount card I really didn’t want or need. Still, It’s not enough.

From the band wagon we hear local politicians, Republican and Democrat, at last, shoulder-to-shoulder, playing in harmony a familiar tune, promising us that the school system needs, desperately needs this sales tax. After all, it’s just a silly half a percent. Well, I guess the Democrat and Republican politicians have found something they can agree on: Stick it to the consumer.

I’m certainly no mathematician, but it doesn’t take an Einstein to understand that there are only one hundred percents in one hundred percent. Today, one hundred dollars of groceries costs me one hundred and nine dollars. Now, that’s after Uncle Sam already has taken thirty plus percent of my income before I ever see it. (Oh, I’m sure Teddy Kennedy and "Little Jimmy" Duncan are spending it wisely though...not!) How many “percents” are left to take?

Now, fifty cents to a man making six figures a year isn’t much, though he, understandably, wants to keep his hard earned cash too. Yet, hit a poor man just a few times like that and you’re soon taking food out of his “kids” mouths.

You know, if you follow the politicians line of reasoning here, you’ll realize that they aren’t wanting to raise the sales tax enough. Why raise it a pitiful half a percent? Imagine how much money Athens could put in its coffers if the sales tax were fifty percent! Wow! Just think of it! Every car, t.v., computer and pound of ground round sold in Athens would gross the city fifty cents on the dollar. Of course, that’s only if anyone were stupid enough to buy anything ever again in the "Friendly City."

Now, I’m not an anarchist and I understand that we need government to pave our roads and police our streets and even, occasionally, teach our children the “Three R’s.” We must pay taxes to fund these worthwhile projects. Yet, taxes, like government, should be kept to a minimum.

If these R.I.N.O. (Republican In Name Only) Republicans really wanted to get money for the schools, they would try some good, old fashioned Reaganomics. Cut taxes! Yes, I said, “cut taxes!” Make Athens a haven from sales tax oppression.

Imagine if we lowered our sales tax to eight or seven or, even, six percent? People would drive for miles for the savings. Our retail stores would be swamped. Even more, industries would break their necks to build plants here. One or two percent to a corporation can result over a short time into millions in savings. Imagine the jobs coming to Athens and McMinn County! Are these RINO’s going to say that Reagan was wrong?

A final thought to those who vote for the tax rate hike. For those who trust politicians to keep their word and spend this money wisely and exactly as promised. For those who think they won’t see this same, sad scenario again within five years. I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you. Best of all, the sales tax is only, hmmmmm, five percent? Besides, It’s for my kid.

Labels: Democrat, education, R.I.N.O., Republican, Ronald Reagan, taxes

I love Howard Dean! He is the best thing to happen to the GOP since Terry McCauliffe or, perhaps, Jimmy Carter!

I hope they keep him around a long, long time. He just keeps running that yap and proves everything I've said about what is left of the Democrat party. All they have are the leftist, liberal, socialist, anti-God, anti-individualism, anti-capitalism, hard-liners like Teddy, Hillary, Al, Barbara and the rest of the nutty gang.

Anyone, no matter what your heritage, who stands up and proudly calls themselves a Democrat today, aligns himself with people who think spearing a baby in the head and destroying it's brain is a good thing. They align themselves with people who think that men should be able to marry one another and adopt children and that that's a good thing. They align themselves with people who think we should stop the war on terror and try to be more understanding of the terrorists. Sheesh!

So, just keep on talking Dr. Dean. It's like the wise man said: some people are thought a fool and then they open their mouths and prove it.

Labels: Democrat, Howard Dean, Jimmy Carter