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A History Of Wrecking Things

Posted by MrWebsmith on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 12:21:00 AM

Most everyone has heard or read about the tragic wreck that happened on the Washington, D.C., area Metro Transit Red Line earlier this week. Let me say straight up that I'm not trying to make light of this event but it does provide a vivid example of how government runs things.

National Transportation Safety Board officials said the system failed to heed a 2006 warning to upgrade or eliminate its oldest train cars, including the lead car of the train that slammed into another train Monday, killing nine people. Despite NTSB concerns that the 30-year-old cars couldn't withstand a crash, the officials said the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority didn't act. --from the Wall Street Journal article here

Public transportation, light rail in particular, is being promoted by some groups and politicians as an answer to traffic headaches in many metropolitan areas. However, reality met with the law of unintended consequences earlier this week. The dangers lurking in these outdated, overused cars in use by the DC Metro Transit were well known by the authorities. So why wasn't action taken to help prevent a disaster like the one on Monday? A glaring, disturbing pattern, year after year, is a primary culprit. The pattern of insufficient funding for the upkeep of the Metro Transit cars. In other words, caring for the rail system was RATIONED because public funding was routinely cut. We are told it will cost, for example, 300 million dollars to build a light rail system but extreme environmentalists and politicians often forget about those pesky little things called maintenance, operating expenses, and depreciation. Why should they care? Unlike in the business world, Congress will just raise taxes or ask the Federal Reserve to print more money if it turns out to be an ill-conceived plan. The Light Rail Myth 
 

One could also consider the congressional oversight of the mortgage and financial markets another train wreck that resulted in the market meltdown of the past couple of years. The federal government demanded that banks and lending institutions make bad loans even though many had warned again and again that a financial markets and housing crash would ensue. A Completely Preventable Crisis

I suggest that the Metro Transit tragedy is also a preview of what ObamaCare would be like. As the population continues to increase, and the incentives for innovation are obliterated by a national or socialized health care system, funding will be a perpetual concern for politicians. Which line will get the needed maintenance? Why spend needed money on repairing older models (senior citizens) or defective cars (people)? Rationing of care will become urgent as ObamaCare slides into an unsustainable bottomless pit of despair. Kiss Your Access Goodbye

Unfortunately, Monday's tragedy was not the first nor will it be the last disaster coming down the line from Washington, D.C. How many more train wrecks, literally and figuratively, must we endure before realizing that public funding of industry will always, uh, jump the tracks?
 
**Originally posted on my companion blog MrWebsmith's Reports
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Freedom Lovers Shouldn't Let Politicians Drive Drunk

Posted by MrWebsmith on Monday, April 06, 2009 3:00:23 PM
Several weeks ago I made several "tweets" on Twitter about the results of some U.S. elections. One thing I find quite striking is how similar the House and Senate majorities elected in 2008 are to those elected in 1992.

Reviewing this brief list also confirms the view of many that big government harms our nation rather than helping it. For instance, consider the presidency of Woodrow Wilson, who also had a Democrat governing majority. During his watch the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Reserve Bank were created. And now, the "tweets" of the story: 

>>2008 current House count is 255 Democrats (very similar to 1992 results as some have noted)-Pelosi/Reid will go too far to left and >>2010? about 1 hour ago from web  
  
>>2006 elections result in return of House to Dem control, after a couple years of Republicans acting like big spending liberals-Reps lost >>way about 1 hour ago from web 

>>1994 elections result in repudiation of big government policies,give Republicans control of House and Senate for first time in 40 years! >>about 1 hour ago from web  
  
>>1992 elections gave Clinton a 258 seat majority in House of Reps and control of Senate-HillaryHealthcare,Interstate Banking >>Act,stronger CRA about 1 hour ago from web

>>Imagine, people get to keep 72% of income at the highest level rather than 30% - talk about new capital available for economic >>growth! about 1 hour ago from web  
  
>>Why is he known as Ronaldus Magnus? Reagan accomplished what he did even though he never had a majority of House of Reps. >>Freedom works! about 1 hour ago from web  
  
>>Carter's bumbling also allowed fall of Shah which resulted in Muslim radical control of Iran,American hostage crisis,high interest,inflation >>about 1 hour ago from web  
  
>>1976 election results gave Carter a 292 seat majority in House of Reps-created Depts of Education,Energy and C.R.A.,gave away >>Panama Canal about 2 hours ago from web  
  
>>Result of 1964 elections gave Dems 295 seats in House of Reps. Can anyone say War on Poverty, Medicare/Medicaid,Vietnam War >>escalation? about 2 hours ago from web  
  
>>As result of 1936 elections there were only 88 Republicans in House of Reps! The next election Republicans gained 81 seats-FDR >>went too far about 2 hours ago from web


There is not space enough to list the behemoths given life by FDR and his long majority in both houses of Congress. Suffice it to say that the depression only became The Great Depression after years of big government programs enacted by those in Washington, D.C. who could not effectively run the government but somehow thought they knew how to run the businesses across the land. 

And what of LBJ and the hapless peanut farmer from Georgia? War On Poverty, Medicare, Departments of Energy and Education.

The Clintons' co-presidency is almost entirely responsible for the mortgage meltdown we now find ourselves in. Attorney General Janet Reno threatened banks with lawsuits if they did not make loans to people who could not possibly repay them. The Interstate Banking Act of 1994, passed while Clinton still had a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress, cleared the way for the likes of Lawrence Summers, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Robert Rubin, Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick, Rahm Emanuel, Kent Conrad, Jim Johnson and a host of other Democrat Wall Street insiders to pillage the markets and then design plans to have taxpayer money fund their shananigans.

History makes clear that liberals and, might I add, their RINO accomplices, easily succumb to the drunken stupor of spending everyone else's money. Freedom loving citizens have as their duty taking away the keys of elected office from these ego-centric miscreants. Friends of freedom do not let politicans drive drunk on the spending of OUR MONEY! Take note, TARP and stimulus bill supporters - rooms are being prepared for you at the detoxification center known as a return to private life. WE THE PEOPLE are declaring 2010 as the year of sobering up. Got it? We're coming to take away the bottle.

 

 
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Twilight Zone? A Tale Of Two Inauguration Days

Posted by MrWebsmith on Sunday, February 01, 2009 1:44:48 PM
There are many similarities between the Carter administration and the Obama administration. A souring economy, a majority in both houses of Congress, the worship of diplomacy as the answer to all conflicts, and promotion of government programs for every imaginable purpose, to name a few.
 
What follows here is a comparison of the inaugural speeches. At times it is hard to distinguish Carter's 1977 entry from Obama's 2009 prose. See if you can correctly guess who is speaking in these excerpts:
 
Excerpt 1: "This inauguration ceremony marks a new beginning, a new dedication within our Government, and a new spirit among us all."
 
Excerpt 2: "What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility, a recognition on the part of every American that we have duties to ourselves, our Nation, and the world."
 
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Excerpt 3: "To be true to ourselves, we must be true to others. We will not behave in foreign places so as to violate our rules and standards here at home, for we know that the trust which our Nation earns is essential to our strength."
 
Excerpt 4: "Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort, even greater cooperation and understanding between nations."
 
 
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Excerpt #5: "Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked ‘til their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions, greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction."
 
Excerpt #6: "We cannot afford to do everything, nor can we afford to lack boldness as we meet the future. So, together, in a spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best."
 
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 And now, the envelope please, ... the answers are #1,3,6 belong to the peanut farmer turned president; #2,4,5 are statements made by the man with the "funny name" as he put it. The nation and the world have changed much since the 1970s. Isn't it strange that liberals have not changed? America is selfish, rogue nations can be tamed if we only sit down and talk with them, it's time for the rich to share with everyone else, and the citizens of the United States aren't smart enough to know what they really need or want.
 
Four years of incompetence by Jimmy Carter led to an inflationary monster consuming everything in its path, a former ally becoming a radical, sworn enemy of the West, and the roots of this current financial crisis by enacting the Community Reinvestment Act.  The question then is what friendly nation will turn venomous as a result of Obama's diplomacy? Also, what behemoth similar to the infamous Departments of Education and Energy will Obama saddle our nation with? Finally, who is it that is waiting in the wings to lead us, in 2012, to that shining city on a hill where, as Reagan believed and proved, citizens are seen as more capable than bureaucrats in spending their money?
 
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Collusion Of Mainstream Media A Criminal Offense?

Posted by MrWebsmith on Sunday, November 09, 2008 10:27:03 PM
 

I’m not an attorney and I don’t play one on TV. However, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and others appear to have conspired against the public they are licensed to serve or report the news to.

Collusion is defined in Webster’s Dictionary as “a secret or agreement for fraudulent or illegal purpose.” The mainstream media purposely withheld information about Obama before the election. Furthermore, The Communications Act of 1934 specifies that media outlets must serve in the public’s interest - NOT the presidential candidate(s) interests. To put it even more bluntly: Get a clue Chris Matthews!

This is the same mainstream media that shoved story after story down our throats about inappropriate emails from Republican Mark Foley, but earlier this year all three evening news broadcasts failed to make any mention whatsoever about Democrat Tim Mahoney’s sexual misconduct.

This is the same mainstream media that has dropped the ball on who really caused the mortgage scandal/crisis because some Democrats would suffer by being exposed as the money-grubbing, lying crooks and thugs they really are. For crying out loud, in the late 1980s and early 1990s even Democrat attorney Bob Bennett, in his final report on the Keating 5 scandal, indicated he wanted to exonerate the only Republican of the five, John McCain. However, the Democrat-controlled Congress balked at the idea since it would leave only three of their party members (John Glenn was also cleared of wrongdoing) responsible for the S & L scandal.

This is the same mainstream media that refused to cover Monica Lewinski even though they knew about the scandal. All of them spiked the story and made efforts to keep the facts hidden. The Drudge Report did the job the mainstream media neglected-check that-refused to do and brought them kicking and screaming into covering the story.

This is the same mainstream media that ran with false stories about George W. Bush’s National Guard service. Dan Rather and his producer Mary Mapes were exposed as frauds and executive management at CBS News had no choice but to fire them.

Shame on you Charles Gibson, Brian Williams, and Katie Couric, Chris Matthews and other journalistic imposters! Such brazen disregard for your audience and their right to the information you’ve withheld from them should result in ABC, CBS, NBC and other guilty entities being fined, reprimanded or even the networks’ possible loss of license due to malfeasance. As the regulator of the airwaves the Federal Communications Commission has the obligation to mete out punishment when media outlets commit crimes against the viewing public.

The first amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees freedom of the press but it does not mean the press has the freedom to subvert information the public should know about a party’s presidential candidate. Plain and simple, we have witnessed journalistic malpractice!  
 
 
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