PREVENTING THE LOOMING FALL

Press Secretary, Jay Carney, said, "So the President made clear that he is not wedded to every detail of his plan," said Carney. "The President has also made categorically and abundantly clear that he will not sign an extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for top earners. It’s bad economic policy and we cannot afford it. He will not sign that."

President BO (the amateur president) keeps saying he is willing to work with "the other side" and is willing to negotiate with them on their ideas.

The only thing he won't negotiate is the very thing that is at the heart of the "fiscal cliff:" an increase on taxes for the "rich."

In other words, we can work on all of the irrelevant things, but when it comes to what he is really after, it's a no-go.

There is a remedy for the "fiscal cliff," if anybody really wanted to solve it. They won't, though, because solving the economic issues facing our country is not at all important to politicians...none of them.

The solution to the country's economic woes is as simple as it is complex.

If that seems contradictory, that's because the solution is mathematically easy, but politically difficult.

The reason it's politically difficult is that politicians really, really care about the country on an emotional level, but are much more concerned about their personal influence, power and getting re-elected...all of them.

The solution is a flat tax on every earned dollar, be it corporate, individual, interest or whatever, over the "poverty" level.

Do not confuse the flat tax with the so-called "fair tax," which is not fair at all, but is a glorified sales tax which would place a larger burden on poor people than it does on rich people wanting the same goods or services. It would also be as big an accounting nightmare as the present despicable system.

With a flat tax, everybody pays the same fair percentage of their earnings. There would be no more of this "they don't pay their fair share" idiocy.

For the sake of discussion (and keeping the math simple), let's say the poverty level is $20,000.00 per year.

Every earned dollar over that amount would be taxed at say 10% (an arbitrary figure for the sake of this discussion - see the above paragraph). Dollars earned would be the total of individual earnings, the profits made by a company or corporation, interest earned on savings and investments and the like.

There would be no deductions, no exclusions, no "loopholes" and no exceptions.

The filing of tax returns would be made on a simple 4" X 8" card with just a few lines:

FEDERAL INCOME TAX RETURN

1) What was your total individual income. Include personal income from wages, interest earned, tips and all other sources excluding direct gifts.  If this is a corporate return list the total income of the corporation. ___________

2) If this is a corporate return, list the gross profit of the corporation. ____________

3) Subtract $20,000.00 from your total individual earnings or the corporation's profit. -____________

4) Multiply the remainder by .10. ________________

5) The quotient of #4 is the federal income tax you owe. Make checks payable to the U.S. Treasury.

With a system this simple, fraud and cheating would be minimized, as employers would be required to report the gross income of employees and corporations would be required to provide proof of their corporate earnings.

The major reason something this simple is so difficult to grasp and implement is that politicians actually prefer fraud and corruption over honesty, integrity and character. They enjoy the game of trying to "put one over" on the other guy (or gal).

There are a couple of other things that would be needed to avoid "fiscal cliffs." One of those would be a "one bill, one subject" amendment to the Constitution, which would eliminate unrelated amendments to a bill that favor a particular political district.

The "fiscal cliff" would also be avoided by opening free and easy competition on the world market, coupled with a reasonable tax on goods produced overseas for import to this country.

Another would be an amendment that removes all regulations on individuals and corporations that do not directly involve preventing physical, emotional or fiscal harm to another person or a person's property.

Still another part of the remedy to the "fiscal cliff" is to get the federal government out of involvement with things that do not directly include uniting the country, establishing true justice, keeping domestic peace, providing a strong defense for the nation, promoting (not providing) the well being of the people, and ensuring that liberty is not violated.

The final death of the "fiscal cliff" would be to remove all duplicate federal laws and simply enforce the ones necessarily left in place after implementing the removal of regulations as mentioned above.

I wonder whether President BO would be willing to compromise his Socialistic and class warfare agenda in order to achieve the actual demise of the "fiscal cliff."

I doubt it.

DID YOU MAKE IT?

(Thanks and a hat tip to American Perspective, who hat-tipped Nobody Asked Me.)

I lived through all of that.

I rode my bike with my friends all over the neighborhood, including up and down the sides of a basement that had been dug for a house before its owner died. The sides were steep and the bike went really fast. I wore no helmet. My parents knew what I was doing and when I would be home (or else), but they did not supervise me all day every day.

I played baseball with friends on a vacant lot about three blocks from home. We had no helmets, we won or lost, used cardboard box parts for bases, and occasionally argued over whether we were "safe" or "out."

I jumped out of swing sets after "pumping" as high as I could go.

I broke a finger climbing through a window into the house. I landed on a couch with all of my fingers flat except my pinkie, which, by the time it was over, was flat back against the side of my palm. I lived through it with no residual side effects.

I raced my friends up and down the street, because we didn't have a track to run on. The winner was the winner and the rest of us were losers. I almost always came in last, but I didn't care. We were having fun.

I walked or rode my bike to school because there were no buses. I didn't ride a school bus until 9th grade, and then it was to attend Paris American High School, about 40 miles from home.

I played backyard football, sometimes tackle, with no uniforms.

I played basketball, at which I was dismal. But it was fun, even when my team lost (often because of me). The kids sometimes made fun of my basketball skills, and guess what? I didn't slug them; I laughed.

I climbed trees and jumped from the roofs of houses into a pile of leaves.

I never was, nor did I know, anybody seriously injured by our play. I'm not saying it never happened, I'm just saying I never knew anybody who was seriously injured.

We rode in cars without seat belts, and although there were some who were hurt or killed in accidents, we never hurt anybody by not having seat belts.

I learned to backpack and eventually taught others.

We hiked places that would be "off-limits" today.

I was big, but never fat and had strong muscles.

As my "unintense" work demanded more and more of my time, I became more and more sedentary, much to my detriment.

But I made it through those years with minimal supervision and almost no organized sports (until high school).

Then came the government and all kinds of regulation and the lawyers with all kinds of litigation.

And the country got fat.

Can you see any correlation there?

HAMAS THE INNOCENT

Appearing on MSNBC’s NOW with Alex Wagner, NBC News reporter Ayman Mohyeldin took a strong position, on the United States’ role in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He blamed the unresolved crisis on the United States’ refusal to recognize Hamas and for not doing enough to rein in Israel’s military actions.

Ayman Mohyeldin is an Arab-American journalist based in Los Angeles for NBC. Previously he worked for Al Jazeera and CNN. See his bio HERE.

Of course we've been told over and over again that this whole conflict is really Israel's fault and if they'd just lie down and roll over in defeat, all fighting in the region would cease.

I watched a talking head program on which a pro-Palestinian American "expert" explained how Palestine in general and Hamas in particular were victims in all of this, and only wanted Israel to stop "attacking" them.

Meanwhile, Hamas executed some alleged Jewish "spies" and then behaved in a totally civilized manner, dragging one of their corpses through the streets, as illustrated in the photos below.

Of course we all remember the pictures of Christians and other Americans hanging members of Hamas in the public square, torturing members of Hamas on CNN and MSNBC and photos of our citizens dragging members of Hamas through the streets.

And there is no objective evidence that Hamas is anything other than peace loving old grandmas who just want to represent their fellow countrymen.

Oh, wait...yes there is.

Everything about them is barbaric.

So is everything about those who stand with them.

SUNDAY RESPITE-O Come, O Come Emmanuel-Barlow Girl

IT'S TIME TO BE A CONSERVATIVE IN MORE THAN NAME ONLY

DIFFERENCES PERSONIFIED (UH...CRUSTACEANIZED)

One of my favorite shows from the past was the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour.

It was hysterically funny and dealt with topics that were borderline taboo.

 They dealt with those subjects through the use of misdirection, illustrating social ills and ignorance with commentary disguised as folk-songs.

 They were actually quite on the edge of acceptability in their time and eventually, CBS cancelled the show.

 Here's a song they did called "Crabs Walk Sideways and Lobsters Walk Straight." It was a song about race relations. CBS's censors almost refused to let then sing this song, but it did finally make the show.

 See whether you can find the "hidden" race relations message.

HAVE A THANKSGIVING DAY FILLED WITH AN ATTITUDE OF GRATTITUDE!