The Conservative Son

Well, I sure am glad that Congress avoided the shutdown. Yeah, those courageous Republicans were able to hold the line and get two thirds of what amounts to an infinitesimal budget cut. Yeah, and isn't it great that Harry Reid can now keep government abortions..."health care"...for his daughter and granddaughters. Too bad he doesn't have government-paid-for health care for his family already. Too bad he isn't a multi-millionaire who can pay for his granddaughters abortions..."health care"...himself. Poor, poor, pencil-neck Harry. Do we really expect him to let go of some of his own money? Shame on us for not wanting to pay for poor millionaire's daughters' abortions..."health care."

Labels: abortion, government, Harry Reid, health care, Senate

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

This is a letter I wrote to the local newspaper a couple of years ago concerning out state lottery. I was recently perusing it and decided I'd like to add it here.

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So, you think you’ve heard the last word on the lottery. I only wish it were so. I hear it every time I listen to radio or pick up the newspaper.

I’ll not hide my disgust over Tennessee finally succumbing to the “quick buck” crowd and amending our Constitution, allowing the lottery camel to not only get his nose in the tent, but to bring in his whole big, fat hump! (I’m sure you’ve heard the analogy.) I believe that gambling is a sin and I’ll be happy to tell anyone who asks me, I think exactly that. I’ve fussed and fumed and campaigned against allowing the beast in, but I, along with the apparent minority of Tennesseans who saw the monster for what it is, lost our battle to follow the wisdom and morality our legislature has shown for more than a century.

As for those who said, “It’s for the children,” the only thing that’s
holding them down, considering how full of hot air they are, must be their big feet. If they are so concerned about “the children,” then why haven’t they been donating that $20, $50 or more a month that they will spend on the lottery, to the schools for all these years to pay for books, computers, improved infrastructure or even raises for teachers. If they would be truthful about it, they are less concerned about “the children,” than the prospect, albeit a slim one, of becoming an instant millionaire. The intellectual dishonesty of our state legislators and community and educational leaders is, at best, nauseating and, at worst, sinful. One might argue whether or not gambling is a sin, but I guarantee you it’s a sin to give more money to politicians .

Still, there is more to this little varmint than most will admit. The truth is, it’s really all about an income tax.

You say, “How in the world do you figure that?” Well, lets put on our
little thinking caps for a minute and imagine this scenario: The first lottery winner receives, let’s say, ten million dollars. Assuming he takes it in a lump sum, he’ll pay a couple million social security taxes, about the same federal taxes and that would leave him a cool six million. Not a bad little sum. The only taxes he has left to pay are sales taxes on that new Hummer he’s finally got the bucks for.

Think a little further: what if he decides to do all of his spending in a
state, like Georgia, where the sales tax is half ours? Or even worse, he
pulls up stakes and moves there. What if he’s not a Tennessee resident in the first place, and takes all of his left-overs to California, New York or wherever he lives, and there pays another two million or so in state income tax. (That’s part of the twisted irony of this whole lottery business. Some hot shot wins a hundred million dollars, but, by the time the feds and the state gets through taxing him, he takes home half or less. Granted, fifty million is still a lot of cash, but it would really frost me to know the government got fifty million of my hard “won” cash!) Now, when this high-roller leaves our state without us getting a nickel back, as all other lottery states do, can’t you just hear our legislators and governor whining that it’s not right for other states to get the money that Tennessee would’ve gotten if only we had an income tax? (If I’ve thought of it, you know they have.)

Can’t you just hear them now: “It would only be a small tax on the
lottery winners. All we need is a constitutional amendment allowing us, your trusted Representatives and your honest governor, to pass this teeny-weeny income tax...for the children.” Then let the games begin! It’s bad enough that we are taxed on everything we spend or eat or drive, walk on, in or around, but when they get there mitts on our paychecks where they can take it before we even see it...sheesh! (Remember, Dr. Frankenstein thought his creation beautiful until he gave it life and it killed everyone he loved.)

You can say I’m going off the deep end, but history will bear me out. Our original U.S. Constitution forbade an income tax, but fast-talking politicians, complaining about rich robber barons, convinced our
slow-thinking citizenry to accept the sixteenth amendment allowing a, reportedly, small income tax on only the richest of Americans. They argued that these evil rich could afford it and it was time to spread the wealth around. I’m sure they must have told their constituents, “It’s for the children.” The rest is history.

If you’re in doubt, just take another look at your paycheck and take a
serious listen to these politicians who can always give themselves raises and yet, can’t balance the state check book. These are the same guys who tell you the lottery is “for the children.” Well, it may be for their children, but not for mine.

Labels: children, gambling, government, lottery, sin, taxes, Tennessee