DASHING DASCHLE

Well. The chickens are coming home to roost. In the early days of his presidency, Obama is getting a lesson in cronyism gone bad. Seems that TomTom is a tax evader. So is the commerce head. easy to vote to raise taxes if you do not pay your own. Makes one wonder what went through ol' TomTom's cranium when he decided to skip all that tax obligation. Is he too GOOD to pay taxes? Is he thinking he already pays too much in taxes? Any Republican would say he likely has too high a tax burden...the rich do. They really do. But given the "jobs/stimulus" package passed by nearly every democrat in the house (and not ONE republican vote) they NEEEEEEED all the money they can get from productive people to pay for the layabouts with their hands out. OH...and lets not forget the:

• $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• $75 million for “smoking cessation activities.”
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into “green” buildings.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
• $1.2 billion for “youth activities,” including youth summer job programs.
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
• $160 million for “paid volunteers” at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• $5.5 million for “energy efficiency initiatives” at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.

(credit: rightpundits.com).

Not bad for those who don't pay taxes anyway. Whether because they don't work or cheat like the sanctimonious liberal elites we are flushing out into the light. Isn't it TomTom who disdained those who did not pay their taxes????? What a hypocrite. But, he is not alone. I will be running a DEMO-TAX-RAT list right here at Rightzilla!

OBAMA DRAMA

The orderly transition of power has taken place again in what I believe is the best country on the face of the planet. Most comforting to me is that two grueling years of full time media campaign coverage has ended. Now, for at least two years, we can pay attention to governing. Make no mistake, I did not support Obama. I do NOT expect that his policies will be to my liking. That is how it works and I know that. So, until we are dragged kicking and screaming into the depths of yet another onerous campaign, we can perhaps focus on issues and not politics.......if there is still a difference. We live in a wonderful country. But let us not lose site of the fact that our lives here are not all about who is governing.......we have friends and families that are far more deserving of our attention than to get sucked into the media vortex that is created during a campaign. Think of them when we think of policies. Understand that one person's solution may be different than your own with good reason. If discussions take place, they should focus on learning about each other, not attacking the past or Nay saying the future. Maybe things closer to my heart are tempering my voice right now. But if we lose sight of that which is close to our hearts, we don't need this country or any other one. 'Nuff said.

WHOOPS, I Missed Again

We heard the President speak tonight regarding his new plan in Iraq. It was a concise and coherent briefing on what would happen next. No real surprises. However, what was interesting was Dickie Turban's response. After spending the beginning of his remarks poo-pooing the presidents plan and painting a grim picture of the Iraq experience, he started reeling off what we had given the Iraqis while we have been there........we had captured their dictator, seen through to his execution, gotten to the point where they were holding elections and on and on. Afterwards, I expected the talking heads to point out the obvious contradiction in Turbans remarks: HE ACKNOWLEDGED MUCH SUCCESS IN IRAQ!!!!!!!!!! It stymies me when these things simply float over the heads of those who sit in their chairs, powder on their faces where egg should be. They pontificate about what they heard but miss the nuances that a good debater would chomp down on like a pit bull on a wiener dog. Weeks. Months. Years of how we have done nothing good in Iraq, spent too much money and lost too many lives. Yet on the heels of such remarks look at all we gave them. CHECK-MATE. The liberals lose. We HAVE had much success. And as far as war goes, we have had little in the way of American human loss. (insert caveat that each life is valuable). Fact is, war is death and we see as much death in an American city as we have seen throughout this entire war. Difference being those dead in the cities did not sign up for the job of ... er... SOLDIER.

Goodbye, Mr. Ford

The passing of President Ford has been an interesting study in political equivocation. He was a man largely forgotten, sandwiched between President Nixon who stepped down in scandal, and President Carter, who injects himself into politics to this day in just as ineffectual a manner as he did during his tenure in office. He lost his re-election, which actually was his election campaign, and then simply waved goodbye and sank into the backs of our minds, rarely conjured up except for when he was useful as the butt of a good golf joke.

The most memorable action of our 38th president was his controversial pardon of Richard M. Nixon. He was berated by the democrats and people claimed he was simply playing favorites with his predecessor to save him from deserved criminal action. But this man was no dummy. He knew that the country was in a spiral after Watergate, the Viet Nam War and the scandals that elevated him to the highest office in the land. But rather than not do what was controversial and make sure that instead he could live another four years at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he did what he thought was right and he issued the pardon. Historians today widely credit him with having committed the act that single handedly began a national healing that was badly needed, and not any too soon.

Now the liberals, many the same ones who so vehemently opposed him, praise his actions. Even our own Harry Reid has doubled back on his view of the pardon.

My favorite John Wayne movie is The Quiet Man. It is the story of a strong but silent man who overcomes his demons of the past to stand his ground and maintain his pride. For 30 years, Ford sat back and awaited the taming of his demon while standing his ground and maintaining his pride. No sooner had he passed into the hereafter then his demons were tamed. He did not have to demand his place in history, or engineer the historical record to get there, he simply had to await the unfolding of history and let what he believed to be true play itself out. I am glad for men like Gerald R. Ford. They work for what they truly believe is right and they accept their fate as a result of their actions. Many times, as with Ford, fate shines upon their memory and affirms their good choices. R.I.P., President Ford.

The Hot Summer Days

It has been quite a summer. All of the bar prep classes have done more to create anxiety than to make me feel prepared.

Lance is not in the tour, which makes it a much less interesting race. Some good wrecks, though. Talk about broken colllar bones.

Hezbolah sure messed up the summer. I wish Isreal would simply UNLEASH on Lebonon and get it over with. Some real Shock and Awe. William Techumsa Sherman knew that if you fight a war, it has to be ugly. Real ugly, or it won't end. Soldiers fighting soldiers aren't enough to stop it, the war has to be like the Blitzkreig to get people's real attention.

Gotta stomp on Iran and Syria while we are at it.

The summer storms in Vegas are always nice. Thunder ... lots of good light storms. But the fires in California screw up the air.

116 in the afternoons lately. Makes me wish I was in the pool. But not to be yet.

One week from tomorrow the bar exam begins. This is my Mount Everest in my seven summit quest over the last seven years. I am anxious and have some trepidation going in. But that is what they want. It is an all out war to get a ticket to earn a living and the bar examiners are not your friend. I have been in boot camp for four years and officer's training all summer. This is the big dance and then the long silence until October when they deem to tell us our fate. What a system.

Big Bad Harry

So. It is his JOB to take free stuff from people who have a stake in the way he votes. He should take MORE stuff. Harry Reid is the embarrassment of Nevada that keeps on giving....er....taking. The little boy from Searchlight must be proud that he now has a job where perks are better than wages and ethics is a living, changing thing.....like the Constitution. Mold it bend it and make it fit the situation. I can only hope that people finally get the picture with Harry the Bad. He seems to feel a sense of comfort in the five years remaining in his term and I predict his behavior will only get worse.

Objection!!!!!!!

On any given day you can watch the news and hear someone upset that the jury was not allowed to see all of the evidence, but if they had, the defendant would certainly have been convicted/aquitted. Evidence at trial is tricky business. It involves a complex set of rules all of which have exceptions. One thing the court does not allow is a witness to get up and tell us all what she heard others saying. This is because our constitution requires that the defendant be allowed to confront and cross examine the persons who have something to say about his being locked up. However there are over 20 exceptions to the hearsay rule. I like evidence. It is part of what makes trial work exciting because you have to be on your toes in order to launch your objection. You can't yell out "I OBJECT!" prior to the question being completed, but then again neither can you wait until the witness has answered in some situations. You have to think all the time and be prepared to explain the theory on which you base your objection. Though Robert Duval in A Civil Action says that when you have fallen asleep in court and wake up, the first thing you do is fire off an objection, I would advise against it. It maight wake up the judge.