Don't feed the animals.

I recently read an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News by Heather Denkmire  that tries, quite poorly, to justify welfare by including safety services and municipal services under the umbrella of welfare. You can access this article here. The National Parks Service under the Department of the Interior states "Do not feed the animals." The reasoning behind this statement is that "animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves." Welfare isn't a dirty word...but it's the massive fraud and abuse that makes it fair game for critique.

The first thing to address in the article are the portions of it that she used to try, valiantly I might add, justify welfare. Her qoute "There is no such thing as a self-made man or woman in this country" is how the left perceives us Americans. She goes on to say that municipal services such as water, sewer, fire, police and rescue and road building/maintenance are services that amount to welfare. I was unaware that these services amounted to welfare. These some of these services are payed covered by property taxes some generate an outright bill. As a matter of fact, some fire and most rescues have taken to billing the insurance of homeowner/individuals for services rendered. Police fine people who break the law and confiscate property. Water and sewer...these are paid for by the individual home owner/business unless that homeowner/business gets their water from a well and have an onsite septic. Let's add one to her list that she missed...public school. All of these services are paid for by the people. Some of these services are administrated by the government but none of them can be construed as welfare. Infrastructure is not welfare and for some reason, prior to the 1960's the United States of America was doing quite fine without a majority of welfare programs.

wel·fare  

/ˈwelˌfe(ə)r/

Noun The health, happiness, and fortunes of a person or group. Statutory procedure or social effort designed to promote the basic physical and material well-being of people in need.

Synonyms well-being - prosperity - weal - good

Many of the Americans that are critical of welfare are critical of such programs as Temporary Assistance for Needy Familys (TANF), the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP),  Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicaid/Medicare (When used by people under retirement age and over adolescence) do so because we all know someone that is screwing the system. ALL OF US KNOW AT LEAST ONE. So let's break it down a bit. For the fiscal year 2011 federal welfare spending was pegged at $1.03TRILLION. That number doesn't include the programs Medicare, Social Security and Veterans benefits. In 2011 about 146 Million people filed tax returns, about 46 Million of those had no tax liability..in other words they got their money back or paid in none. So, if we estimated that 10% (I know, rather small estimation) of welfare was subject to fraud or abuse (like I said WE ALL KNOW SOMEONE ON WELFARE and we've all witnessed some form of abuse or fraud) we could begin looking at the bigger picture or see why Conservatives have a fit about them. Let's start here.

• $1,030,000,000,000 = cost of welfare to taxpayers
• 146,000,000 (taxpayers) minus 46,000,000 (people who file but don't pay any taxes) =100,000,000
• $103,000,000,000 = 10% of fraud or abuse in the system

So, if we do the simple math, 103,000,000,000 divided among the 100,000,000 taxpayers we come up with a very simple $1030. Are we to just accept the fact that every year, out of  EACH our tax receipts the government pisses away $1030 JUST ON FRAUD AND ABUSE?? Before any of you Moonbats start crying at my numbers the author of that piece used her creative liberties in her column and most of my numbers are culled directly from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Internal Revenue Service. I took liberty with the 10% but I'd be willing to put my ass on the line that it's actually higher than that. I know college kids that can live off $40 a week for food. If we look at these numbers, $40/wk X 26 = $1040, then just the fraud and abuse could feed 100,000,000 College students! That's 100 MILLION people!! That's a lot of ramen!!

These people think that taxing the rich more will solve the problem. When the government taxes the rich, the people that offer the goods and services, they just raise the cost of those goods and services on people that use the goods and services, who in turn have to either raise their prices or lower their standard of living. Any tax on the rich causes a TRICKLE DOWN of costs to the people at the bottom. Don't believe me? Fill your tank lately? How about buy a gallon of milk? Wow...that loaf of bread sure has gone up hasn't it? Jeesh...it seems we're paying a whole lot more for goods and services lately, I wonder why? Why is my check smaller I thought I got a raise?

Keep living in your fantasy world  Heather Denkmire I bet it's a happy place. The very people that your kind profess to help are forgetting how to help themselves. When the bottom falls out those people will be knocking on your door to eat you. Be kind, don't feed the animals.

That's my two cents, spend 'em or put 'em in the dish for the next person.

Distract Divide and Defeat.

Riding home this morning in the car, I was listening to a local talk radio show take calls on a proposed new helmet/motorcycle law here in Maine. Listening at the passionate replies to the hosts questions from the callers made me ponder, why can't we apply that fervor to our growing national problems like the economy, debt and security? Then it hit me. STRATEGY!

Politics have become a game of strategy. I'd wager that politicians utilize more strategists than professional sports franchises. Think about it like this: Football isn't just about throwing the ball for a touchdown, it's about fooling the other side to think you've thrown the ball while you move the ball on foot, or vice versa. Same with basketball, fake out then pass. Of course there is offense and defense as well, but the best plays are made when you don't see them coming. Looking at the disarray we face in the political landscape doesn't seem to make any sense on a local and state level, but when we apply all those state/local issues to a national issue it becomes a little more clear. DISTRACT, DIVIDE AND DEFEAT. This is the game of the POLITICIAN. Not a game of left or right, conservative or liberal, it's a game they ALL play in order to further an agenda! And we the American people can't get our collective shit together to keep on one issue long enough to influence a positive outcome. WE GIVE THEM THEIR VICTORY!

The current issue in Maine about helmet laws has been tried over and over again. This time is no different. Same issues different player. At first I couldn't really understand the reasoning behind revisiting a topic that has been played out before. It was soundly defeated before because of the collective disdain for the legislation. Why would this make any difference right now in our current political climate? Then a caller came on the radio and said something that put it all in place. The caller stated, "The United Bikers Of Maine are stronger than the National Rifle Association". That statement put it all together. Conspiracy theories are  not usually a topic for that I subscribe to or propagate, but if I was the coach for the national team...this is exactly what I'd be looking to do. Tying up a large, vocal, powerful voting machine with a hot button issue. They want them to think that they have the ball, but there's a bigger game being played outside of their view. Distract, divide and ultimately DEFEAT.

If we look across the local political landscape state to state, numerous hot button legislation is coming to the table. Even nationally the current administration is touting gun control an issue that has even pulled the wool over my eyes. At many times it's distracted me from the policies that are being ferreted thru on an administrative basis. No vote, no legislation, no input from the people these policies govern. In essence, taxation without representation. The very same issues that drove our forefathers into declaring our Independence from the British Monarchy. This administration will push through executive policies through entities like the Environmental Protection Agency, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Energy, Department of the Interior, Justice Department and others really too numerous to list. Go here for list. All of these policies will take effect unbeknownst to the American people, at least that is until you cross the government.  

All of this legislation seems like it's not connected and on it's face, it's not. But step back and look at the whole picture. Look at it like a strategist would. Take all of the information to form a game plan. That's when it starts to make sense. In this world we're all connected electronically. We get our news from numerous sources. Information is widely disseminated quickly and efficiently over the internet and politicians are losing control of that information. So what better way to control the information people get by creating noise? They are solidifying their political power simply by clouding the issues with so much crap we can't come together collectively to support or defeat their policies. We also are the ones making the noise, but instead of a collective crescendo, we just add to the white noise that clouds the subject. I'd like to think I'm a clear voice in the noise, but I'm not sure about that now. I may be a shill in the political strategists game. Maybe they are one step ahead of me.

Now I know why conspiracy theorists are seen as whack-jobs...I'm beginning to question my place in the grand scheme of things! I'm not sure if this is really my two cent's or if I'm just the next guy in line OR IF THOSE TWO CENTS HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO ME TO SPEND AS THEY SEE FIT!

That's my two cents, spend 'em or put 'em in the dish for the next person?