Fri AM Musings

Gus commented, with sarcasm, a while back, "...got to find the money somewhere." Yep, as long as the gov't continues to spend money, that's true. It was most poignant this week, thanks to the almost always spot-on Charles Krauthammer. Obama wants to tax corporate jet owners. He was pretty nasty toward them. (I'll omit, for the time being, any comments about all the jetting around he does--on our dimes! And I'll save for later anything about his wife's 22 personal assistants on the gov't payroll.) There's something wrong, not with the jet owners, but with spending when the scenario is examined. If the proposed tax is collected, it could finally pay off the debt, well, just the national debt incurred last year, in 5000 years! (As Krauthammer explained, "that is not a typo." And Obama also wants to eliminate a tax break received by oil companies. That will do a lot more for paying off the debt. If both the jet and oil taxes collected, not enough money will be obtained to pay off the deficit spending for the past February alone! No doubt, Obama's supporters will say something like, "We have to start somewhere" or "Every little bit/drop helps." Funny, when one brings up some expenditure, the usual gov't spending nuts' response is, "Oh, that's just a drop in the bucket." (And that's what at least three of the principals I worked under said to me on more than one occasions, "That's just a drop in the bucket.") Apparently, "We have to start somewhere" doesn't include spending cuts.

It's hard to believe there are no major candidates aiming to square off against Sen Debbie Stabenow. I know she has a large war chest, several million bucks. But if anyone deserves to be sent home, it is she. She is one of the problems in DC. First, she is known, humorously or otherwise, as "Do-Nothing Debbie." Second, if she finally decides to "do something," it's the wrong thing--higher taxes, more gov't spending. I would think Reps would be chomping at the bit to challenge her because she is so defeatable. Does money carry that weight?

How about if voters deal with this campaign money in their own ways. How about we find out what candidate has received how much money from whom. Then, we vote for the other guy. First, we send a message that our elections can no longer be bought. Second, we make it so the large campaign donors have wasted their money.

OK, in Las Vegas we passed many restaurants with simply outrageous prices. Hey, even the buffets were far too high. But, if that's what people will pay.... Then, I ask, no matter the price, can any meal be better than the one I had at Antonio's last weekend for $15????? I think not. Some places might offer more food, although I did bring home about 1/3 of my meal along with four breads. At Antonio's, the main course was outstanding, the pasta fagioli was great, and the bread has never been equalled. So, what do the $40 a meal places have to offer?????

Speaking of food, the pizza at Antonio's is also wonderful. About the only one, recently, that I've liked better is De Luca's pizza, with the real, not the fake salami-style, pepperoni. We had folks over a while ago and ordered pizza and salad. Maybe we were pretty hungry (it was late), but more than one remarked, "Hey, this is good pizza!" Maybe so, but not anywhere near Antonio's or De Luca's--not even in the same ballpark.

How about that guy who returned Jeter's HR/3000 hit? Wow! What a gesture. No doubt some will say he's pretty stupid; certainly he could have received a six-figure sum had he kept and sold it. But he did something that was nice, noble even. So, what pops up? Yep, a possible IRS bill for about $15,000! How typical of gov't! Let's punish the good things people do and reward, even encourage, the bad things they do. I've said it before, but this reminds me of the song the Brits played in surrendering at Yorktown, "The World Turned Upside Down."

It's nice when our elected officials encourage our participation and input. But it's also typical that, if we do offer participation and ideas, esp different ideas, we never get responses--or even the time of day. Since I lambasted Sen Stabenow before, I will admit that I often get responses from her or her office. Now admittedly, almost always the replies have little or absolutely nothing to do with my letters/concerns, but I guess an answer is at least something. Gov Snyder and/or his office hasn't responded to a pretty lengthy letter I e-mailed. Now, it was only a week ago, so maybe there hasn't been time. Still, with all of the "personal assistants...."

Remember, in this time of difficulty, "We have to share the sacrifice!" Well, at least some of us have to "share."