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Hey Liberals: Boycotting Chick-fil-A Solves Nothing

July 24, 2012 by 9 Comments

chick fil a SC Hey Liberals: Boycotting Chick fil A Solves Nothing

I ate at Chick-fil-A six times last week to do my part to show support for a company currently under attack for upholding wholesome values. Eating at Chick-fil-A last week was my version of offering a one finger salute to the activists who allowed their feathers to ruffle after discovering the privately-owned restaurant chain supports the Biblical definition of marriage.

With all the clucking coming from these activists, one would think that Chick-fil-A contributed humanitarian meals to Hezbollah or money to a militant anti-gay group like the group of Muslim men on trial in the UK for allegedly handing out leaflets calling for the murder of gay people and purportedly describing methods to eliminate them. According to the UK Guardian, one of the men claimed the brochure simply “expressed what Islam says about homosexuality, adding that it was his duty as a Muslim to condemn it.”

Then there is Chick-fil-A, a family-owned and -led organization committed to strengthening individuals, the family, and the community at large. The company reiterated their values in a recent statement articulating in part: “The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1600 restaurants run by independent owner/operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena….”

The end. Curtains. Done. Forgetaboutit.

Oh, if only life were that simple. People are dying in other parts of the world because of their sexual preference, and people are worried about a chicken-serving fast food restaurant? That’s ridiculous on so many levels. Why can’t we celebrate the diversity we enjoy here in America over a chargrilled chicken sandwich and waffle fries?

The blogosphere is teeming with same-sex marriage activists labeling Chick-fil-A as a “hate group” and encouraging people to join them in a boycott against a company, which is the antithesis of hate. Their public statement reflects their position, and the superior customer service I’ve personally witnessed over the years — to every customer, regardless of their size, shape, color, religion, sexual preference, or scent (I’ve eaten breakfast there after a few of my long runs, and I’ve never been turned away) — speaks volumes as to the character of this company.

Chick-fil-A donates millions of dollars annually to various organizations besides pro-traditional marriage groups. It provides food during times of crisis, similar to what they did last week for the Aurora, Colorado police after the horrendous movie theatre massacre. It provides college scholarships; sponsors the Chick-fil-A Bowl (donating much of the proceeds to a range of charities and universities); and founded the WinShape Foundation that helps, among many other worthy causes, to support 11 foster homes.

We live in a free country, so we have the right to do just about whatever we want — within the boundaries of the laws of the land and our personal convictions. Despite what we’ve been led to believe, politics is not everything, so why do so many of us (including the conservative anti-Oreo cookie crowd) feel compelled to politicize everything, including businesses?

Somehow, I don’t think we’ll ever get an answer to that question. Oh well, I need to put my money where my mouth is, so I’m off to the grocery store and drive-thru to pick up Oreos and a chicken sandwich. Chop-chop.

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Obama’s Foreign Policy Communicating Wrong Message Globally

July 18, 2012 by 4 Comments

Obama Foreign Policy SC Obamas Foreign Policy Communicating Wrong Message Globally

Awhile back, I drove past a sun-tanning salon sharing a property line with a cemetery. The salon posted a sign that, in my opinion, was positioned too close to the cemetery’s property line. The sign read: “Walk-ins Welcome.” Obviously, the owners failed to communicate the message they intended but did their part to lighten up the normally somber atmosphere around the cemetery. Playwright George Bernard Shaw was right when he said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion it has taken place.”

Without a doubt, George W. Bush received a lot of flak over what some viewed as ineptitude in communication skills, but anyone can be made to look like a chump if everything he says is scrutinized under a host of antagonists’ microscopes.

It’s quite entertaining to observe the grace now bestowed upon President Obama by the same people who had nothing positive to say about Bush. Obama has had his own share of gaffes — with and without his most beloved teleprompters. Mainstream media have pretty much overlooked occasions when Obama has lost his bearings, like the time he said he had visited all “57 states”. Or his verbal slip-up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, when he said he saw “fallen heroes” (dead people) sitting before him in the audience, or when he mispronounced the word “corpsman” as “corpse-man” during a prayer breakfast.

Innocent communication blunders by our leaders are funny and should not be turned into character assassination tools by the mainstream media or by overweight, BVD-adorned, middle-aged basement-dwellers (bloggers).

Liberals also criticized Bush for the way he communicated his foreign policy and claimed the world loathed us because of it. Bush’s strong-armed approach effectively protected us from another 9/11 for nearly a decade. Bush understood that pansy-bottomed diplomacy antics like bowing and apologizing foster disrespect and do little to promote America’s image globally. Communicating niceties like “please” or “thank you” may not compute in the minds of those living in a part of the world where the chopping off of body parts aptly communicates just punishment for theft.

As good as that moment was, the taking out of Osama bin Laden did not make sound foreign policy. Peace has not come to the Middle East from the marginalization of our long-term ally Israel while buddying-up to her enemies. Nor has it come with the betrayal of former friends like Egyptian ally Mubarak. Diplomacy has not reduced the saber-rattling of Iran’s trigger-happy nut job Ahmadinejad.

A June 2012 Pew Global Attitudes poll “Global Opinion of Obama Slips, International Policies Faulted,” found global approval of Obama’s policies has “declined significantly” since 2009. Of 19 countries polled, just 23% approve of Obama’s drone war tactics. Although Obama’s approval ratings in Muslim countries are better than Bush’s 2008 numbers, 69 percent of Muslim countries polled (including Egypt) have no confidence in Obama.

Despite his Cairo speech and his effervescence, healing of the nations has not occurred under Obama’s watch.

Another Pew poll on July 10, 2012 conducted in 21 countries found that Obama’s policies have hurt our image and his in the Arab Spring countries of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Tunisia, as well as in Turkey and Pakistan. 55 percent of those polled said they consider America an enemy of democracy! In Tunisia, where the Arab Spring purportedly began, 57 percent said they had zero confidence in Obama’s ability to handle international affairs.

To no surprise, Obama remains a rock star to youth in the nanny states of Europe, but his approval numbers are nearing rock-bottom in countries he bent over backward to not offend and forward to befriend.

The administration’s ham-fisted communication skills and foreign policy blunders have left citizens of the world with the task of muddling through mixed messages sent by way of sugary speeches, ally betrayals, and drone attacks. The Obama era has not made the world a safer place, and as to being more dangerous, history will reveal in due time.

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Heat Wave No Reason For Global Warming Alarmism

July 10, 2012 by 3 Comments

Man Made Global Warming Denier SC Heat Wave No Reason For Global Warming Alarmism

Baby, it’s hot outside. If it wasn’t for the refreshing cold front pushing through parts of the U.S. right now, one might be tempted to think there is something to all that global warming nonsense that conveniently breaks out every time it is warm enough for a climate change alarmist to break out in a sweat.

To be fair, climate change is real. It occurs four times a year when winter turns into spring turns into summer turns into fall. Alarmists don’t see it that way, so they squawk “The sky is falling” every time conditions vary outside their interpretation of what they think is normal.

If there was ever a case to be made for global warming, it would have been in 1936 — back in the days when no one worried about how cow flatulence or greenhouse gas affected the atmosphere.

Unlike anything we’ve experienced since; the three-month long 1936 North American heat wave wiped out crops and snuffed out lives during the Great Depression’s “Dust Bowl” days. The heat wave that began in June largely ended in September, leaving in its wake over 5000 deaths, drought, and widespread destruction. Even as hot as it’s been, many of the record-high temperatures experienced then are unmatched today.

To make matters worse, the 1936 heat wave was preceded by one of the most severe cold waves of the 1930s. The 1936 North American cold wave included recorded wind chills of minus-100 degrees Fahrenheit in the Midwest, ending with March floods. People concentrated on how to put the next meal on the table rather than obsessing over things like air temperature fluctuations.

It’s good they didn’t obsess because temperatures returned to normal that fall, just like the cold front making its way across the country is doing today as I write.

The planet spins, the seasons change, temperatures fluctuate — and mere mortals are foolish enough to think they can control the forces of nature on a global scale and believe they can turn back the tides by the sound of their voice. Four years ago, then-Senator Barack Obama proclaimed his policies would lead to future generations acclaiming “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal,” attributing zero credit to the planet’s creator in whom Obama professes to believe.

It’s funny how nature has a way of rebounding all by itself. The BP Gulf Oil Spill illustrates this “God Factor” in contradiction to everything alarmists believe. A most informative January 10, 2011 Time Magazine article, “After the Great Spill: How the Gulf Cleaned Itself” explains how it did just that when “microscopic bacteria” digested “much of the hydrocarbons while they were still deep under the surface.” Texas A&M University chemical oceanographer John Kessler said the spill “helped us understand the capacity of a natural system to handle this kind of event by itself.” Wow.

Kessler’s study also found formally “significant amounts of methane” scientists thought might impact global warming and assumed “would be around for years” had “largely disappeared” when “methanotrophs (bacteria that feed off methane)” mopped up most of the mess.

Reasonable stewardship of the planet is a non-partisan no-brainer, but there is a line to be drawn at the point where choices inflict indelible injury on mankind — making man subservient to the very things created to serve him.

According to The New Yorker, Obama has said “the most important policy he could address in his second term is climate change.” Unemployment numbers are abysmal, and the economy is in tatters, so the Alarmist-In-Chief elevates his pay grade to do something a little more vexing like healing the planet. Amazing.

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Obamacare: Lies, Mistruths, Falsehoods And Fabrications

July 5, 2012 by 5 Comments
Obamacare In The Moon SC Obamacare: Lies, Mistruths, Falsehoods and Fabrications

Legalization of something does not necessarily make it a good idea. It was once legal to own a slave. Democrats who voted against abolishing slavery in 1864 have been doing their part ever since to enslave Americans to one social program or another. Obamacare is just the latest example.

For years, Americans have been abundantly blessed with a mostly free-market healthcare system in which competent physicians at state-of-the-art healthcare facilities deliver the latest medical care. Yes, that care comes at a cost, but the alternative, which Obamacare will certainly create, is rationing.

Now that the Supreme Court deemed Obamacare’s individual mandate for what it is — a tax, Democrats are attempting to redefine it as a penalty. It’s just their nature. Why call it a baby when you can reduce it to a fetus? Why bother worrying about illegal aliens when the term “undocumented workers” sounds so much more nebulous? I’ll go halfway; let’s call it a “penalty tax.”

Lies, lies, and more lies.

No tax increases on the middle class: Has anyone noticed Democrats are always talking about strengthening the middle class, and yet almost all of their legislation ends up hurting it? It’s the new “trickle down” theory. Take money from the top and sprinkle it over everyone else with no plan for growth. What you get is an increased lower class and a dwindling middle class. To make matters worse, Obama’s administration keeps redefining down the definition of middle class.

President Obama pledged (his word, not mine) “No family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase.” The “Wall Street Journal”‘s senior writer Stephen Moore claims that almost 75 percent of Obamacare expenses will be funded by those making less than $120,000 annually.

Trying to get ahead by doing a little investing? Think again. Section 1411 of the law will levy a 3.8 percent “Medicare tax” on capital gains, dividends, rents, and royalties. The plan also penalizes “Cadillac” insurance plan holders by charging a whopping 40 percent excise tax — unless they are part of the White House’s chosen few who were given permission to opt out. Overall, Obamacare imposes 18 tax increases at a cost of $503 billion, mostly funded by the middle class and the elderly via Medicare cuts.

In other words, there are no freebies that aren’t paid for by the same middle class taxpayers Obama purports to defend. Odds are, many of you reading my column will be recipients of this broken promise.

Medicare will be protected: Well, not actually. Funding cuts of more than $500 billion, in addition to more than 150 new provisions, will affect quality care. Like any business, physicians cannot remain in practice when their profits don’t keep pace with costs to do business. Obamacare will bleed them dry. It may not happen overnight, but rest assured, it will happen, and when it does, the government will be right there to fill the gap with government-run facilities. Ask veterans and their families how that’s working out for them.

Medicare’s Patient-Doctor relationship will be preserved: Much like the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS), Obamacare is more about cost control than quality care. The NHS determines medical needs based upon a calculation created by economists and uses it to determine who does or does not receive treatment. We’re not there yet, but Obamacare pushes us in that direction. Baby steps. And former Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) had the audacity to suggest the Republican vision for healthcare boils down to letting people die. Physician heal thyself!

Obamacare will not add to the deficit: Democrats’ pants should be on fire for this promise. Research done by experts at the Heritage Foundation reveals Obamacare is “a trillion-dollar budget buster” and claims Democrats rigged their numbers using “budget gimmicks, sleights of hand, accounting tricks, and completely implausible assumptions.”

One of the greatest things about America is that we have the opportunity to right our wrongs by way of the ballot box. What the Supreme Court declared as constitutional, voters can declare as history come November.

Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at writestamper@gmail.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com.

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Time To Clean Up The Obamacare Mess

June 26, 2012 by 1 Comment
Obamacare SC Time to Clean Up the Obamacare Mess

Americans love their freedom, so no matter how the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) rules on the Democratic Party’s Darling, viz a viz, Obamacare, one thing is for sure: Obamacare’s days are numbered should, come November, voters decide to send a president to office who wears big boy pants and is qualified to clean up the mess Democrats have made of healthcare reform.

Obama was against the vexing mandate found in Obamacare that forces everyone to purchase health insurance before he was for it. In 2008, then-candidate Obama said healthcare reform should be devoid a mandate. “If a mandate was the solution” Obama stated, “we can try that to solve homelessness by mandating everybody to buy a house.” Brilliant. It’s too bad he didn’t hold to that thought after he became president.

I’ll bet Republicans would have supported certain aspects of the bill had they not been excluded from the one-sided discussion Democrats dubbed as a “debate.” The next thing we knew, the 2700-page pile of constrictive and nonsensical garbage was shoved down the throats of freedom-loving Americans who largely loathed the bill then, and still do.

Liberals hoped over time we’d warm up to this infringement of our freedom, but recent polls show quite the opposite is true.

A June 20, 2012 AP-GfK Poll found only a third of Americans support Obamacare, 47 percent oppose it, and only 21 percent of Independents polled favor it.

Back in February, a Gallup poll posed a question as to the constitutionality of Obamacare. Of those polled, 94 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of Independents said they thought the bill is unconstitutional.

A stunning 56 percent of Democrats sided with those Republicans and Independents, but inexplicably, 71 percent of those same Democrats admitted they are pleased of its passing, despite the legislation’s assumed unconstitutionality.

As I write, the countdown to the announcement of the Supreme Court’s decision is hours away. Demonization of the SCOTUS justices has already begun. Pundits suggest the court will be swayed by public opinion based on polls citing public confidence in the SCOTUS has deteriorated in recent years. Others suggest the decision will be based on partisan political views rather than the law.

Mark my words: if Obamacare is defeated, liberals will demonize certain justices rather than acknowledge their opinion was based on the case’s merits. That’s just how they roll. Their leader is no different. President Obama shows about as much respect for the SCOTUS as he does the Constitution. Obama’s dysfunctional administration has shown us by its actions that the court and the Constitution are nuisances that stand in the way of getting his way.

During his 2010 State of the Union address, the Agitator-in-Chief publicly disparaged the SCOTUS justices while they were graciously seated before him. Obama’s dissing roused a standing ovation from like-minded misguided Democrats whose lack of decorum made them look more like jesters than legislators.

Obama did it again this April when he disparaged SCOTUS justices, calling them an “unelected group of people” and branding them “judicial activists” should aspects of Obamacare be overturned. Normally, only punks make cheap shots.

If Obamacare is not overturned by the SCOTUS, and voters give Republicans the opportunity, the GOP plans to repeal Obamacare and replace it with a constitutionally compliant plan that will contain costs without expanding the size of government, as well as provide individuals the freedom to keep healthcare decisions personal. Funny, isn’t that what we’re all after anyway?

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Obama Administration Over-Regulating Farms Out Of Business

June 6, 2012 by 15 Comments
Farm SC Obama Administration Over Regulating Farms Out Of Business

The Obama administration is no friend of farmers, and the recent stunt involving the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sending spy planes over the state of Nebraska to keep an eye on where cows drop their patties is the latest example of overreach by an administration that is bent on controlling every aspect of our lives, but farming in particular.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality has been overseeing the health of Nebraska’s waters for more than 30 years, and its director, Mike Linder, says he’s not sure why the flyovers are taking place. Why let the states do for themselves what our all-knowing, all-seeing government can do for them?

At an agricultural conference in November 2011, keynote speaker and environmental attorney Harriet Hageman warned “The EPA is one of the most insidious organizations in the US” and is “a prime example of regulation without representation.”

Farmers and ranchers have similar concerns about Obama’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). During a bus tour across rural America last summer, Obama was confronted time and again by ranchers and farmers concerned that unsubstantiated regulation was regulating them out of business. According to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, proposed USDA regulations “would cost 114,000 jobs nationwide and increase retail meat prices more than three percent.” A statistic likely lost on a president whose discriminating palate includes $100 steaks.

Certainly, no one can forget the USDA’s attempt to impose a Christmas tree “tax” (fee) to “improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.” Bah humbug.

Last fall, the Department of Labor (DOL) attempted to regulate the relationship shared between parents and their kids on family farms. According to Politico, the proposed rule would have prohibited those under age 16 from manual labor like stall cleaning using a shovel and using a battery-operated screwdriver. When I was a kid, this type of manual labor was called Saturday morning chores. The bill also limited exposure to sunlight based upon wind speed and humidity as well as participation in 4-H clubs. And Mrs. Obama wonders why our kids are so fat.

Last but not least, the Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed a rule that would reclassify all farm vehicles as commercial motor vehicles, meaning anyone driving a tractor or operating certain farm equipment would require a commercial driver’s license. Never mind the fact that many farm workers are migrant workers who do not qualify for drivers’ licenses, let alone commercial drivers’ licenses.

Admittedly, farmers have their hands dirty in this corner they find themselves backed into. Farming subsidies almost invite the government to meddle in an industry it plays such a big role in propping up. But farms are not just part of the fabric of this country; American farms provide much needed food aid to the third world. When you apply bureaucratic pressure to any industry, you run the risk of driving those same workers out of the industry, which becomes self-defeating.

Government control of the farming industry is illustrative of the Obama Administration, which operates more like a dictatorship than a representative democracy. Whether it’s farming, healthcare, the auto industry, or energy production, there is no amount of government intervention and overreach that can replace good, old-fashioned American ingenuity and hard work.

Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at writestamper@gmail.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com.

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A Case For Governor Scott Walker

June 4, 2012 by 1 Comment

43rd and grange in greenfield 300x225 A Case For Governor Scott Walker
Name-calling is the coward’s way to avoid intelligent discourse. Liberals are notorious for responding to just about anything or anyone with whom they disagree using ad hominem rebuttals to discredit their opponents. Rather than exercising brain cells to engage in scholarly debate, most liberals will leapfrog over the subject at hand and conjure-up a baseless and unrelated charge that makes about as much sense as calling Bill Maher a patriot.

If you are a pro-capitalist, you are a fascist. If you are a Christian, you are an extremist. If you are a Mormon, you are a polygamist. If you reject Obama’s liberal policies, you are a racist. And, if you are Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, you are a liar.

Liberals are so busy trying to get their way they fail to see the yearning for fiscal integrity rumbling across the highways and byways of this great country. They have no idea this real and present dissatisfaction is non-partisan in nature. In this unstable economy, many Americans have lost their appetites for labor unions and the ginormous government budgets they inspire.

Liberals would love to blame this dissatisfaction on those right-wing nut jobs, but they cannot. A good example is what happened in South Florida in March 2011 when Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, a Republican, was shown the door for doing for doing the opposite of what Walker is attempting to do in Wisconsin. Alvarez raised property taxes by 13 percent to fund public-sector union expenses.

In an attempt to discredit him, liberals label Walker as “too extreme.” I partially agree with them; Walker is extremely effective. Wisconsin was drowning in debt until the governor’s fiscally conservative measures erased Wisconsin’s $3.6 billion deficit. Rather than adopting the Democratic Party’s “cure-all” prescription of raising taxes, Walker lowered them, signing a property tax freeze and lowering school property taxes. Wisconsin is expected to have a budget surplus by 2013.

Governor Walker made tough decisions during tough economic times. Walker’s proposal allowing union participation to be voluntary and requiring union workers to contribute to their generous benefit plans sent Wisconsin state senate Democrats reeling � literally. Once they realized Walker wasn’t going to back down, they absconded to a neighboring state in a childish display of political theatrics.

Once it was enacted, the bill President Obama once described as “an assault on unions,” became a pathway to independence. Wisconsin schools and local governments were given the freedom to live within their means when they were granted the ability to hire, fire and compensate based upon performance. The nonpartisan group, Wisconsin Taxpayer’s Alliance, reported that the savings from employee benefits “allowed districts to reduce costs” allowing districts like the Kaukauna school district to control their own destiny and convert a $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus.

Walker’s success in Wisconsin is a threat to labor unions, Progressives and the Democratic Party. According to the New York Post, New York unions are sending resources “to oust the union-busting Walker on June 5 and stop the anti-union movement from spreading to other states.”

For political zealots, truth is a wonderful thing to twist, spin and slant � especially if it means discrediting a sitting governor prior to his recall election. Why debate an issue when you can call your opponent a liar? To no surprise, Walker has been accused of misrepresenting the truth over a variety of issues for the actions he’s taken to regain fiscal stability. Nevertheless, the best defense for Walker is the truth, which has manifested itself in Wisconsin’s economic recovery.

A win for Walker will be a win for the rest of us because his policies could serve as an antidote to the economic contagion spreading across this country. No matter who wins in Wisconsin on June 5th, or in Washington this November, our economy will not improve without making tough choices. Either way, the job requires a strong leader and skillful surgeon, and Governor Scott Walker has proven he is up to the task.

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The Case For Governor Scott Walker

May 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Scott Walker 2 SC The Case For Governor Scott Walker

Name-calling is the coward’s way to avoid intelligent discourse. Liberals are notorious for responding to just about anything or anyone with whom they disagree using ad hominem rebuttals to discredit their opponents. Rather than exercising brain cells to engage in scholarly debate, most liberals will leapfrog over the subject at hand and conjure-up a baseless and unrelated charge that makes about as much sense as calling Bill Maher a patriot.

If you are a pro-capitalist, you are a fascist. If you are a Christian, you are an extremist. If you are a Mormon, you are a polygamist. If you reject Obama’s liberal policies, you are a racist. And, if you are Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, you are a liar.

Liberals are so busy trying to get their way they fail to see the yearning for fiscal integrity rumbling across the highways and byways of this great country. They have no idea this real and present dissatisfaction is non-partisan in nature. In this unstable economy, many Americans have lost their appetites for labor unions and the ginormous government budgets they inspire.

Liberals would love to blame this dissatisfaction on those right-wing nut jobs, but they cannot. A good example is what happened in South Florida in March 2011 when Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez, a Republican, was shown the door for doing for doing the opposite of what Walker is attempting to do in Wisconsin. Alvarez raised property taxes by 13 percent to fund public-sector union expenses.

In an attempt to discredit him, liberals label Walker as “too extreme.” I partially agree with them; Walker is extremely effective. Wisconsin was drowning in debt until the governor’s fiscally conservative measures erased Wisconsin’s $3.6 billion deficit. Rather than adopting the Democratic Party’s “cure-all” prescription of raising taxes, Walker lowered them, signing a property tax freeze and lowering school property taxes. Wisconsin is expected to have a budget surplus by 2013.

Governor Walker made tough decisions during tough economic times. Walker’s proposal allowing union participation to be voluntary and requiring union workers to contribute to their generous benefit plans sent Wisconsin state senate Democrats reeling � literally. Once they realized Walker wasn’t going to back down, they absconded to a neighboring state in a childish display of political theatrics.

Once it was enacted, the bill President Obama once described as “an assault on unions,” became a pathway to independence. Wisconsin schools and local governments were given the freedom to live within their means when they were granted the ability to hire, fire and compensate based upon performance. The nonpartisan group, Wisconsin Taxpayer’s Alliance, reported that the savings from employee benefits “allowed districts to reduce costs” allowing districts like the Kaukauna school district to control their own destiny and convert a $400,000 deficit into a $1.5 million surplus.

Walker’s success in Wisconsin is a threat to labor unions, Progressives and the Democratic Party. According to the New York Post, New York unions are sending resources “to oust the union-busting Walker on June 5 and stop the anti-union movement from spreading to other states.”

For political zealots, truth is a wonderful thing to twist, spin and slant � especially if it means discrediting a sitting governor prior to his recall election. Why debate an issue when you can call your opponent a liar? To no surprise, Walker has been accused of misrepresenting the truth over a variety of issues for the actions he’s taken to regain fiscal stability. Nevertheless, the best defense for Walker is the truth, which has manifested itself in Wisconsin’s economic recovery.

A win for Walker will be a win for the rest of us because his policies could serve as an antidote to the economic contagion spreading across this country. No matter who wins in Wisconsin on June 5th, or in Washington this November, our economy will not improve without making tough choices. Either way, the job requires a strong leader and skillful surgeon, and Governor Scott Walker has proven he is up to the task.

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Obama Meets The French Version Of Himself

May 23, 2012 by 3 Comments

President Obama face WH photo SC Obama Meets the French Version of Himself

It could be said that a narcissist’s best friend is the reflection he sees of himself in the mirror. No other relationship comes close — unless the narcissist has the unique opportunity to meet another version of himself, which happened last week during the recent Group of Eight (G-8) summit at Camp David.

“President Obama, this is new French president Francois Hollande. President Hollande, c’est le president americain Barack Obama.” “Tweedledum, meet Tweedledee.”

If, as they say, a picture paints a thousand words, then it is obvious it was amour at first sight for Obama and Hollande — ahem — as compared to snapshots taken of Obama with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; Obama’s body language expressed he’d be more comfortable sitting next to a rattlesnake.

It isn’t every day an American president hits it off so jovially with a staunch socialist leader, but these are strange days we are living in. Ignoring the obvious is supposed to be the norm.

Obama and Hollande share much in common, including the way each coasted to victory riding on the winds of social unrest and economic uncertainty while using slogans promising change. Obama used “Hope and Change” and Hollande, “Change is now.” Does it actually matter? Not really. Except for the fact that both cases show us how people are willing to compromise core beliefs when times get tough.

At the G-8 summit last week, both leaders left German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the lone voice promoting the common-sense approach to fixing Europe’s economy by living within one’s means. Instead, the not-so-dynamic duo promoted a plan for “growth.” The same kind of “growth” America experienced after implementing the stupid stimulus bill that grew the deficit instead of “shovel ready” jobs.

The type of “growth” Hollande and Obama espouse translated into layman’s terms means: The government has license to steal money from job creators so it can spend like hell.

Obama calls it “paying your fair share.” Hollande calls it “socialism.” Simintics, semantics.

Obama later joked about his failure saying, “Shovel-ready was not as shovel-ready as we expected,” which was about as funny as Obama admitting he’s in over his head. Rather than admit failure, Obama whitewashed over his “Hope and Change” slogan and replaced it with the word “Forward.” Despite obvious failure, Obama wants us to proceed forward, in lemming like lockstep over the cliff.

Thanks to a tip from a reader named Ted, I discovered the “forward” shtick has a dark side. According to Russian immigrant Svetlana Kunin, who writes for Investor’s Business Daily, Obama’s new slogan, “Forward,” is the same motto (when translated) used by a Russian anti-capitalist left movement founded in 2005 that merged with the “Socialist Resistance” in 2011. (You can see her enlightening article online at: http://tinyurl.com/cph2yef.)

To the unaware, Hollande’s plan for “growth” includes raising taxes on job creators from 41 percent up to 75 percent. Lord knows what will happen here, should Obama be entrusted with a second term.

In the meantime, we’re already hearing talk about the need for additional stimulus spending to fix those rickety roads and wobbly bridges the first stimulus bill failed to repair. Just like an addict promising that one more hit will be his last, it’s time to admit Washington has a spending habit that cannot be fixed with another fix.

Once upon a time, personal responsibility ruled the day, and living within one’s means was honorable. Purchases extended on credit were the exception to the rule, and saving for a rainy day ensured personal “bailouts” in cases of emergency.

But that was then. We’re not in Kansas anymore, and it will take more than clicking a pair of ruby shoes together to get us home. Blindly proceeding forward into the unknown is a dumb idea when you know you’ve lost your way. The best thing you can do is go back to a point of familiarity and then proceed with caution.

Susan Stamper Brown is an opinion page columnist, motivational speaker and military advocate who writes about politics, the military, the economy and culture. Email Susan at writestamper@gmail.com or her website at susanstamperbrown.com.

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Time To Declare A War On Liberal Stupidity

May 15, 2012 by 6 Comments

Time to Declare a War on Liberal Stupidity

America is not the “social issue fixer-upper in disrepair” Progressives make her out to be. Instead, America is the “world’s last great hope” and will continue to be, just as soon as we are able to get our head above the water economically.

The wave upon wave of “wars” on race, women, class, and now gay marriage  were devised to sink this magnificent “city on a shining hill” into the depths of the sea and replace her with a European-style socialistic utopian theme park I affectionately call “Progressive World.”

Progressives, there is a much simpler way to get to that happy place filled with e-ticket rides and no work: Hop on a plane to Greece and send us a postcard to let us know how it’s working out for you.

God bless them; it seems Progressives honestly thought the sun, moon, and planets had lined up just for them that magical Greek column-themed Inauguration night in 2009 when Democrats owned Washington.

President Obama and Democrats had two years to do something about gay marriage if they wanted to. Instead, the president waited to make his “public service announcement” until now. Obama made no promises; he simply stated his opinion. The shrewd politician he is, Obama understood the power of words and threw out a few to rally his base and raise Hollywood big-dollar campaign donations — which goes to show you that intelligence is not a prerequisite for fame.

Rally, he did; within days, Newsweek canonized Obama as America’s “First Gay President” and plastered his face on their front page, rainbow flag colored halo and all. I shall bite my tongue here for further comment and leave the editorializing to readers.

Especially during these days of pending economic ruin, the “war” on gay marriage is a waste of time. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that as long as gays stay within the same legal boundaries we are all bound to, they can do whatever they want behind closed doors. It’s their business. I’m sure the GOP would be happy to accommodate them with reasonable things like hospital visitation rights. Sexual activity is between an individual, God, and the fly on the wall and has nothing to do with civil rights.

Conservatives must sit this one out and let nature take its course. If liberal men marry men and liberal women marry women and those who want to abort their babies do so, it won’t be long before liberals will “social right” themselves out of existence. In this case, patience is a virtue conservatives should wholeheartedly embrace.

Meanwhile, our ship is sinking, and Democrats are dressing themselves for dinner.

Focusing on non-issues intended to pit Americans against each other rather than acknowledging the iceberg we’re about to crash into was an exercise in futility. How far this one, who once promised to bind us together, has fallen.

It truly is “still about the economy, stupid.” Maybe someone needs to declare a war on “stupid.”

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