Welcome to Tax Day 2011.

I can literally hear your excitement.

I think the Beatles made an eloquent statement about paying taxes:

According to the Internal Revenue Service, the average income for the tax returns with the 400 highest adjusted gross incomes in 2007, was nearly $345 million. Their average federal income tax rate was 17 percent, down from 26 percent in 1992.

However, over the same period, the average federal income tax rate for all taxpayers also declined to 9.3 percent from 9.9 percent.

The nation’s tax laws are packed with breaks for people at every income level. There are breaks for having children, paying a mortgage, going to college, and even for paying other taxes.

Plus, the top rate on capital gains is only 15 percent.

Per the Tax Policy Center, only 45 percent of U.S. households will pay no federal income tax for 2010.

Both sides of the aisle in Congress want the Tax Code to be changed, because of all the breaks available to the American Taxpayer.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have a plan to eliminate breaks to pay for lower overall rates, reducing the top tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent. While Republicans are against raising taxes, they argue that a more efficient tax code would increase economic activity, generating additional tax revenue.

President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm, while basically attacking America’s wealthy, said last week he wants to abolish tax breaks to lower the rates and to reduce government borrowing.

Notice that he did not say that he wants to reduce government spending.

According to an analysis by the National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent watchdog within the IRS, our nation’s tax code is filled with a total of $1.1 trillion in credits, deductions and exemptions, an average of about $8,000 per taxpayer.

Speaking of wealthy people, on 5/17/2008. latimes.com reported that:

Obama is the least wealthy of the three major presidential candidates. But with advances and royalties from two bestselling books, Obama’s assets were worth between $2.02 million and $7.35 million at the end of 2007, according to a public financial disclosure report filed with the Federal Election Commission.

On 4/16/2008, washingtontimes.com reported:

Mr. Obama and first lady Michelle Obama reported a taxable income in 2008 of $2,656,902, paying $855,323 in federal taxes and $77,883 in their home state of Illinois.

The Obamas paid a tax rate of 32 percent, which is below the 35 percent top tax rate for incomes above $357,700.

…The president’s two best-selling books, “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope”, brought him $2.6 million, compared with $3.9 million in profits the previous year.

For 2007, the Obamas reported a significantly larger taxable income of $4,139,965.

They also contributed less to charity in 2008 than they did in 2007, giving away $172,050 of their own money compared with $240,370 the previous year.

The two biggest recipients of the Obamas’ giving were the United Negro College Fund and CARE, a nonprofit that targets global poverty.

Mr. Obama did not give any money to his former church, Trinity United Church of Christ, after donating $26,270 in 2007. He and the church’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., had a falling-out after incendiary sermons by the pastor surfaced during the presidential campaign.

The Obamas also paid $47,488 in tuition for their two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, to attend the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

On 4/15/2010, whitehouse.gov reported:

Today, the President released his 2009 federal income and gift tax returns. He and the First Lady filed their income tax return jointly and reported an adjusted gross income of $ 5,505,409. The vast majority of the family’s 2009 income is the proceeds from the sale of the President’s books. The Obamas paid $1,792,414 in federal income tax. The President and First Lady also reported donating $329,100 to 40 different charities. The largest reported gifts to charity were $50,000 contributions to CARE and the United Negro College Fund. In addition, the President donated his $1.4 million Nobel Prize funds to 10 charities. The President and First Lady also released their Illinois income tax return and reported paying $163,303 in state income taxes.

So, while Americans were scrambling to finish their tax returns ,what was the Leader of the Free World doing?  Working on getting 1/6th of our fellow Americans off of Food Stamps?  Trying to reduce our pain at the gas pump?  Working on getting our Best and Brightest out of harm’s way in 3 different theaters of war?

Errr…no.

It was beautiful yesterday afternoon in Washington, DC. Perfect golfing weather: Sunshine and 64 degrees. So, of course, you know where the President of the United States was:  Fore!

He and his buds:  Energy Department staffer David Katz, White House trip director Marvin Nicholson, and Marvin’s brother Walter, hit the links.

This was Obama’s 64th golf outing as president.

President Bush played golf 24 times in office.  He stopped after the Iraq war began, out of respect for those parents whose young men and women were giving their lives for this country in a foreign land.

President Bush was only fighting one war.  Obama has 3 wars in progress.

This was Obama’s third golf outing in the last three weeks, and his sixth time out this year…and it’s just April.

Excuse me, Mr. President.  Do you have any Grey Poupon?

Something very rare in contemporary American politics happened yesterday.  A leader stood up and addressed the concerns of the American people.

It wasn’t President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).  And it wasn’t either of the announced Republican Candidates for President, Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty (zzzzzzzz).

Standing in the snow in Madison, Wisconsin, addressing a crowd of 7,000 – 15,ooo, depending on whom you talk to, Sarah Palin gave a stemwinder of a speech, leaving no doubt as to where she stands on the issues that are on the lips of Americans.

Here is the speech, divided into two parts:

During the speech, Palin said:

If you stand by your platform, if you stand by your pledges, we will stand with you, we will fight with you, GOP, we will have your back.

What we need is for you to stand up, GOP, and fight. GOP leaders need to learn how to fight like a girl.

I’m in Madison because this is where real courage and real solidarity can be found.

You saw these violent rent-a-mobs trash your capital and vandalize businesses. You held your ground. Your governor did the same thing. And you won.

Referring to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s union-limiting legislation, she gave her support, because “he understands that states must be solvent to keep their promises” and “a pension is a promise that must be kept.”

She went on to nail GOP leaders for promising to cut $100 billion in federal spending but compromising at $38 billion in the recent bipartisan budget agreement. According to Palin:

 That’s not courage, that is capitulation.

She also gave a shout out to President Obama, blasting him for getting the country into a “third war” it can’t afford, cutting off oil development and “misrepresenting” deficit spending.

 You ignored us in 2010. But you cannot ignore us in 2012.

She then praised the crowd in Madison, saying:

When the history of the Tea Party is written, what you accomplished here will not be forgotten. And the 2012 election begins here.

In what is sure to be the subject of all the talking head shows this morning and a million t-shirts, Palin recalled the Green Bay Packers’ 2011 Super Bowl win, saying:

What better place to call out the liberal left and let them know, Mr. President, game on!

The detractors’ reaction to her speech was predictable.  The Progressive minions in the Main Stream Media labelled the speech “fiesty” and anti-establishment”.

Speaking of the Establishment, they’re spreading the story that she’s trying to get her name out there for a possible presidential candancy announcement.

Whit Ayres, president of Ayres, McHenry & Associates, which provides research and advice for Republican candidates, said:

 In the past couple of months Michele Bachmann has sucked up much of the Sarah Palin oxygen in the Republican Party.

This seems to be a way to keep her name out there and the venue appears to be designed to give her maximum exposure.

And then you had the self-identifying fiscal Conservatives, on internet Conservative sites, wanting to know why she didn’t address policy issues in a speech given at a Tea Party Rally.

What part of the word “rally” don’t you geniuses understand?

While Palin was addressing the massive rally in Wisconsin, announced Republican candidate Tim Pawlenty, and unannounced potential candidate Herman Cain addressed a Tea Party Rally in Iowa.

According to Reuters.com:

One of the organizers of Saturday’s Tea Party gathering described it as an “iced tea” rally as temperatures hovered around 40 degrees, with whipping winds making the wind chill feel more like 30 degress.

Also speaking at the outdoor rally, which drew more than 300 supporters, was former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain, who said he was “weeks away” from making a final decision about a run for the White House.

“In January I had put my toe in the water, but I’ll just give you a little hint,” Cain said. “It’s now all the way up to my chin,” Cain said, to cheers from the crowd.

Cain told the crowd about his battle with cancer in 2006, saying he’s been “totally cancer free” for the past five years.

“You want to know why? God said, ‘Not yet Herman,'” Cain told the crowd. “God said, ‘Not yet. I’ve got something else for you to do.’ And it might be to become the president of the United States of America.”

God bless everyone who braved the cold weather at those rallies.

The talking heads on television are desperately trying to convince Americans  that the era of the Tea Party is over with.  Don’t believe them.  Just wait until things start heating up this summer.

If our elected representatives actually started listening to their constituents, as they promised they would after the Mid-term Elections, the Tea Party Rallies would not be necessary.

Unfortunately, the majority of America’s politicians, on both sides of the aisle, are presently demonstrating a very short memory.

I make no attempt to hide it. I am a Christian American Conservative, a Reagan Conservative, or what the cool people up in the Northeast Corridor call a SoCon, or Social Conservative. That means that I actually believe in God, and, such irrelevant, according to our president, concepts of right and wrong.

In what he thought was a private chat with campaign donors Thursday evening, President Barack Hussein Obama offered the most revealing behind-the-scenes account to date of his budget negotiations with GOP leaders last week.

In the video, you’ll note that Obama speaks about last week’s Budget negotiations with House Speaker Boehner:

I said, ‘You want to repeal health care? Go at it. We’ll have that debate. You’re not going to be able to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget. You think we’re stupid?’

Mr. President, may I answer that?

In your little speech to donors on Thursday, when you thought the microphones were off, you showed your true character, or actually, the lack thereof.

Scooter, you’ve been counting all along, in your presidency, that the majority of Americans are just like you.  That they could care less about the innocent lives, abruptly ended in the womb, during a procedure performed by a private company, paid for by our tax dollars.

And, for some reason or another, even though the poll numbers are proving you false, you seem to think that we unwashed masses, in awe of your benevolent leadership, are ecstatically embracing the coming of the nightmarish bureaucratic monster you invented, known as Obamacare.

Mr. President, were you asleep on the night of November 2nd, 2010, or has the medication kicked in?

I think it’s the medication.

This week, in the middle of the Budget Battle, you filed for re-election.  Then, you told a sycophantic interviewer with the Associated Press that:

I think I can make that case, and I think that, in the debates that take place over the next 18 months, the American people will feel that I deserve a second term.

You also went on television, on Wednesday afternoon, after the vote on last year’s budget, turning what was supposed to be a speech about the passing of those measures that will keep the government running into a campaign speech, pontificating about medicare, medicaid, ending the evil Booosh tax cuts, and taxing any capitalists, err…I mean American families making over 200,000 a year.

And ,also, during the week,  you whined about not having a cool phone in the Oval Office, and also about Donald Trump daring to bring up the subject of your super-secret long-form birth certificate that you have paid a bunch of money to keep hidden, along with your college transcripts.

The laser-like focus which you demonstrated this week has been bragged upon by your people during your term, as your management style, along with an unprecedented transparency, seemingly belied by the video seen earlier in this post.

Speaking of transparency, there seems to be a little problem with the White House Visitor Logs, per politico.com:

[T]he logs are missing the names of thousands of other visitors to the White House, including lobbyists, government employees, campaign donors, policy experts and friends of the first family, according to an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity.

The White House website proudly boasts of making available “over 1,000,000 records of everyone who’s come through the doors of the White House” via a searchable database.

Yet the Center’s analysis shows that the logs routinely omit or cloud key details about the identity of visitors, whom they met with and the nature of their visits. The logs even include the names of people who never showed up. These are critical gaps that raise doubts about the records’ historical accuracy and utility in helping the public understand White House operations, from social events to meetings on key policy debates.

Additionally:

Another practice calling into question the veracity of the logs: Junior White House staff members routinely list themselves as the “visitee,” or person being visited, when in fact the visitor has arrived to see someone higher up the chain of command.

The practice appears to apply to the commander in chief in some instances.

Reggie Love is recorded as receiving nearly 300 visits in the West Wing of the White House. Love is Obama’s personal assistant, the young aide who is constantly at the president’s side. Celebrities like NBA star Kobe Bryant and some Obama friends are listed as visitors to Love.

In addition, nearly two dozen campaign fundraisers and their family members are listed as visiting Love. The records give no hint as to who else they saw once they entered the White House or the purpose of their meetings. Among them was Hildy Kuryk, a New York fundraiser for Obama who now is deputy national finance director of the Democratic National Committee.

While Emanuel is listed as having fewer than 500 visitors, the logs show health care czar Nancy Ann DeParle had three times as many visitors. But three young aides who scheduled meetings for Emanuel — Katherine Kochman, Amanda Anderson and Benjamin Milakofsky — collectively had more than 2,600 visits in their names.

And yet, despite your two-faced nature, your behind-the-scenes machinations and all the Elitist, immature, condescending garbage that you’ve pulled on the American people during your time as president, you expect to be re-elected?

Do you think we’re stupid?  Evidently.

For the last month, millionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump has made it his mission in life to shout from the mountaintop that something shady is going on concerning President Barack Hussein Obama’s long-form birth  certificate, or lack thereof.

He’s appeared on all the talk shows, including the one featuring that band of shreiking harpies, known as The View:

This morning, a video has hit the scene, showing a Bush-hating, Obama-supporting Donald Trump.

In an interview with Dominic Carter on NY1, New York’s Internet News Station, originally released November 11th, 2008,  The Donald said:

McCain, really, that was almost an impossible situation. Bush has been so bad, maybe the worst president in the history of this country. He has been so incompetent, so bad, so evil that I don’t think any Republican could have won.

On President George Bush’s foreign policies:

You know, you can be enemies with people, whether it’s Iran, Iraq, or anyplace else and you can still have dialogue. These people wouldn’t even talk with him. It’s terrible.

At the time, however, he absolutely loooved President-elect Barack Obama:

I think he has a chance to go down as a great president. Now, if he’s not a great president, this country is in serious trouble.

I think [Obama’s] going to lead through consensus. It’s not going to be just a bull run like Bush did. He just did whatever the hell he wanted. He’d go into a country, attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the World Trade Center and just do it because he wanted to do it.

Carter asked Trump if he ever thought he would see an African-American president in his lifetime:

They always said 100 years before a black man or woman could be elected president. And the 100 years turned out to be, like, one year. He’s done an amazing job.

An Associated Press GFK poll released at that time, showed that a majority of people shared Trump’s then-approval of Obama.

A total of 72 percent of those surveyed were confident the president-elect will do what it takes to revive the economy, while 68 percent predicted that Obama would be able to carry out his campaign promises.

Strengthening the economy was a top priority for 61 percent of those surveyed.

As of April 13th, 2011, per rasmussenreports.com:

Twenty-three percent (23%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, April 10. That’s down one point from last week.

And, 45% are worried that the federal government will do too much in reacting to the nation’s economic problems. But 41% are more worried the federal government will not do enough responding to those issues. Another 14% are undecided.

Trump, as a real estate mogul, has made his living by riding the wave of market trends, know when to jump on and jump off.

As of yesterday, 23% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -15. Overall, 49% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president’s performance. Fifty percent (50%) disapprove.

The Donald has ridden into prominence once again, on a wave of national discontent.  Even over-the-top Liberals like Chris Matthews of MSNBC are calling for Obama to release his birth certificate.  Several polls have Trump in second place among Republicans (of which we’re not even sure he is one), behind the GOP Legacy Candidate, Mitt Romney.

Jeffrey T. Kuhner, in an article posted on washingtontimes.com, makes a great point:

The reality is that until Mr. Obama shows his proper, documented long-form birth certificate, the issue will not go away – nor should it. Many in Kenya’s political and media class say he was born there before being brought to the United States. His Kenyan family members make the same claim, while others in Hawaii insist he was born in Honolulu. There is only one way to end the controversy: Show us the birth certificate.

…The president’s supporters, however, cannot answer one simple question. If the controversy is so preposterous, then why has Mr. Obama’s legal team spent campaign money to prevent the birth certificate from being unsealed?

The answer: He is hiding something. It may be the stated religious affiliation, the possible identity of his true father, the location of his birth – no one will know until the records are revealed. But protecting Mr. Obama’s privacy is not a plausible reason and certainly not a justification for spending millions.

Any Liberal or so-called “fiscal” Conservative (a pseudonym for an incognito Libertarian or socially-Liberal Moderate ) acts like you’ve run over puppies or your family tree doesn’t fork, when you try to broach this subject with them.  So, perhaps, The Donald, in all of his egotistical flamboyance, is actually performing a service for our nation by pushing the issue of Obama’s missing birth certificate into the national spotlight once again.

That being said, I don’t trust Donald Trump anymore than I believe that he has a full head of hair under that comb-over.

However, I am enjoying watching the Liberals and fiscal Conservatives squirm.

Pass the popcorn.

Accomplishing nothing except the kick-off of his 2012 Re-election Campaign, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm), yesterday afternoon, used his bully pulpit to demand tax increases and miniscule spending cuts he claimed would reduce deficits by $4 trillion over 12 years (not nearly enough). At the same time, he attacked Republicans’ deficit proposal as an assault on the elderly and poor.

In a related story…

President Barack Obama’s approval among the poorest Americans dropped to an all-time low of 48 percent last week, according to the Gallup poll, leaving the president with less-than-majority approval among all income brackets reported in Gallup’s presidential approval surveys.

Each week, Gallup publishes the president’s average approval rating for the previous week among four income brackets: those who earn $2,000 per month or less, those who earn between $2,000 and $4,999 per month, those who earn between $5,000 and $7,499 per month, and those who earn $7,500 per month or more.

That wasn’t factored into his speech, was it? Naw, not at all. Moving on…

Obama continued his seemingly-endless campaign speech by saying that he wants a final deficit reduction deal by June, and blasted the House Republican proposal on the table now as not being “serious.” He also imperiously proclaimed that he said he would not work with Republicans on Medicare, Medicaid, or extending all of the Bush-era tax cuts.

So, there. Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah.

I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves. We will reform these programs, but we will not abandon the fundamental commitment this country has kept for generations.

Republicans replied immediately, saying that they would not go along with Scooter’s proposed tax increases and also saying that the Pentagon would not be able to absorb the $400 billion in defense cuts that Obama wants in place by 2023.

Speaker of the House John Boehner said:

Any plan that starts with job-destroying tax hikes is a non-starter. We need to grow our economy — not our government.

Obama announced that VP Joe Biden will be leading Congressional meetings early next month to attempt to have a bipartisan deficit-reduction deal completed by the end of June.

That is, if Joe’s woken up from his nap during Scooter’s speech, yet.

Obama wants Biden to somehow come up with an extra $360 billion by 2023 from automatic spending programs, which are based on formulas and not renewed by Congress each year; steal an additional $480 billion from Medicare; and cut America’s defense spending by $400 billion versus projected levels and another $200 billion in regular domestic spending.

Scooter  also wants to stop those eeevil Boooosh  tax cuts for taxpayers making over $200,000 per year, and for canceling other tax breaks many Americans receive such as the mortgage interest deduction. However, instead of having the guts to call them “tax increases”, the spineless Leader of the Free World tried to hide them by calling them “spending reductions in the tax code.”

Right, Scooter. And this is not a “Blog”, it’s a “Public Internet Diary”. Pathetic.

Obama claimed, during his speech that he was just setting parameters and expects others to suggest or actually make the cuts.

Like, for instance, with Medicare, in which the new payments board set up in last year’s health care law will clamp down tighter on cost increases, while he will have his defense secretary figure out where military funding can be cut.

That way, he can claim that any poor results are not his fault.

But, don’t worry., Gentle Reader, I’m sure that we can count on the GOP to stand strong against Obama and the Democrats during this critical time in our nation.

Or can we?

From the nationaljournal.com:

A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the fiscal 2011 spending deal that Congress will vote on Thursday concludes that it would cut spending this year by less than one-one hundredth of what both Republicans or Democrats have claimed.

A comparison prepared by the CBO shows that the omnibus spending bill, advertised as containing some $38.5 billion in cuts, will only reduce federal outlays by $352 million below 2010 spending rates. The nonpartisan budget agency also projects that total outlays are actually some $3.3 billion more than in 2010, if emergency spending is included in the total.

The astonishing result, according to CBO, is the result of several factors: increases in spending included in the deal, especially at the Defense Department; decisions to draw over half of the savings from recissions, cuts to reserve funds, and mandatory-spending programs; and writing off cuts from funding that might never have been spent.

You don’t have to cry over this, Speaker Boehner.  We’ll do it for you.

Unless more Republicans begin showing some backbone, like Rep. Paul Ryan did yesterday, there is going to be a mass political evacuation on both sides of the aisle, beginning in November of 2012.

Imagine that you are the owner of a popular restaurant. Things are going well for you, until a new restaurant opens up across the street.

This new competitor starts luring your regular customers away from you by offering cheaper meals, better service, and even an separate indoor playground for children to entertain themselves in.

These folks are driving you out of business. Do you:

a) Put out a NO CHILDREN ALLOWED sign?

b) Hire a bunch of know-nothing smart-aleck teenagers with no customer service skills?

c) Raise all the prices on your menu?

d) All of the above?

Back to this scenario in just a moment…

President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm) is going to speak to his customers, the American Public, today at 12:30 p.m., in an effort to get us to buy what he is selling.

Our man Scooter wants to bring back the meatloaf entree of Democratic policy back:

Hey, let’s increase taxes on the wealthy!

It was only last December that Americans had to suffer an exhibition of horrible customer service as Obama and Congress went back and forth concerning extending the George W. Bush Tax Rates.

Scooter wanted to go ahead and keep those tax rate for the middle class, but not for those that he considered wealthy, those individuals who make more than $200,000 a year and couples who make more than $250,000.

Folks who are only considered wealthy in a Third-World Country.

Republicans objected, along with the rest of Americans.

Running out of time, due to the end of the year, the politicians decided on a temporary, two-year extension of those tax rates.

Scooter warned that he would raise the issue again the next time the Bush tax cuts expire: in 2012, a re-election year.

Today’s appearance is, in all reality, the first speech of President Barack Hussein Obama’s Re-election Campaign.

As I reported earlier this week, senior White House adviser David Plouffe, making the rounds of all the Sunday morning talk shows, claimed that Americans won’t go for budget plans that place burdens on the middle class while asking nothing of people who make more than $200,000 a year.

Plouffe said on Fox News Sunday:

The president’s belief is this has to be a balanced approach. And if we do that, we can get deficit reduction in the country.

Just an aside here:  What in the name of Dow Jones and all her little averages does Obama know about how Americans think?

But, I digress…

While Pfouffe was playing his role as herald for the Leader of the Regime, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., also on Fox News, said:

They’re insisting that we have to (look) at raising taxes again, all while holding up the tax agreement that was signed in December. So, on one hand, we’re going to defend that tax agreement but then go ahead and violate it.

Per rasmussenreports.com:

Roughly two-out-of-three voters think Americans are overtaxed, and nearly as many say any federal tax increase should be subject to a vote by the American people. Complicating things for would-be budget cutters, however, is the belief by even more that any changes in Social Security and Medicare also should be voted on by the public.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 64% of Likely U.S. Voters believe America is overtaxed. Twenty-four percent (24%) disagree, and 11% are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

This is virtually unchanged from this time last year.

But the Political Class strongly disagrees. While 79% of Mainstream voters think Americans are overtaxed, 87% of those in the Political Class don’t share that assessment.

And, in a related survey:

Twenty-four percent (24%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, April 3.

Since Obama assumed office in January 2009, confidence in the nation’s current course has ranged from a low of 22%, reached three weeks ago, to a high of 35% measured in early April 2009.

Remember my question about the Restaurant owner earlier?  Think about President Barack Hussein Obama as the owner of that Restaurant, and us, average working Americans, employers and employees, as his customers.

Remember the choices I gave you?

a) Put out a NO CHILDREN ALLOWED sign?

b) Hire a bunch of know-nothing smart-aleck teenagers with no customer service skills?

c) Raise all the prices on your menu?

d) All of the above?

All of these choices would drive your customers away, right?  And without customers, you would eventually have to close down your restaurant.

As customers of Obama’s restaurant, he seems determined to feed us a menu consisting of higher prices and poor customer service, while punitively punishing the investors in his restaurant by charging them more to invest.

After  President Obama’s speech to the nation this afternoon, if you still believe that his plan makes any sort of Economic sense whatsoever, then, I would advise you to never try to go into business for yourself.

KJ UPDATE 1:45 PM: I hate it when I’m right.

My, oh my, how the mighty have fallen.

On February 22, 2008, future and now-former CNN Hostess  Kathleen Parker wrote the following, as reported on realclearpolitics.com:

Barack Obama has many appealing qualities, not least his own reluctance to be swaddled in purple. Nothing quite says, “I’m only human” like whipping out a hankie and blowing one’s nose in front of 17,000 admirers. The audience’s applause was reportedly awkward, as if the crowd was both approving of anything their savior did, but a little disappointed at this rather ungodly behavior.

So what is the source of this infatuation with Obama? How to explain the hysteria? The religious fervor? The devotion? The weeping and fainting and utter euphoria surrounding a candidate who had the audacity to run for leader of the free world on a platform of mere hope?

…It is thus no surprise that the young are enamored of Obama. He’s a rock star. A telegenic, ultra-bright redeemer fluent in the planetary language of a cosmic generation. The force is with him.

But underpinning that popularity is something that transcends mere policy or politics. It is hunger, and that hunger is clearly spiritual. Human beings seem to have a yearning for the transcendent — hence thousands of years of religion — but we have lately shied away from traditional approaches and old gods.

Thus, in post-Judeo-Christian America, the sports club is the new church. Global warming is the new religion. Vegetarianism is the new sacrament. Hooking up, the new prayer. Talk therapy, the new witnessing. Tattooing and piercing, the new sacred symbols and rituals.

And apparently, Barack Obama is the new messiah.

Here’s how a 20-year-old woman in Seattle described that Obama feeling: “When he was talking about hope, it actually almost made me cry. Like it really made sense, like, for the first, like, whoa … ”

This New Age glossolalia may be more sonorous than the guttural emanations from the revival tent, but the emotion is the same. It’s all religion by any other name.

Whatever the Church of Obama promises, we should not mistake this movement for a renaissance of reason. It is more like, well, like whoa.

From bible.com:

Matthew 7:16-20, English Standard Version:

16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

After two years of horribly mishandling the most important job in the entire world, the Liberals’ “New Messiah’s” crown is weighing heavily upon the Leader of the Regime.

During a recent session with Hearst publishers and editors at the White House, Scooter whined that while he loves his life in the White House, he doesn’t enjoy some of the ways of Washington, like the “kabuki dance” among  professional politicians (like him) before serious policy discussions begin…and the most powerful man in the Free World petulantly mourns his loss of personal privacy.

I just miss – I miss being anonymous. I miss Saturday morning, rolling out of bed, not shaving, getting into my car with my girls, driving to the supermarket, squeezing the fruit, getting my car washed, taking walks. I can’t take a walk.

And, by the way, there is a legitimate reason for those 60-something golf outings since Scooter’s been president:

It’s the only excuse I have to get outside for four hours at a stretch.

You could do something more worthwhile, Scooter, to “get outside”. Like, go visit our wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, without the cameras, like President Bush did.

Obama concluded his Pity Party by saying:

I just want to go through Central Park (in New York) and watch folks passing by … spend the day watching people. I miss that.

Yesterday, per rasmussenreports.com:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 19% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20 (see trends).

Today’s numbers reflect the lowest level of Strong Approval yet recorded for this president. There has been a sharp decline in enthusiasm among liberal voters.

Currently, just 37% of liberals Strongly Approve of the president’s performance. That’s down from 63% a year ago, 57% at the beginning of 2011, and 52% a week ago. Some liberal commentators have expressed disappointment with the president over the extension of the Bush tax cuts, the military action in Libya, and, most recently, the budget deal to avert a partial shutdown of the federal government. While liberal enthusiasm may be declining, 57% of voters believe the president is more liberal than they are.

Evidently, Mr. President, you’re not alone in your longing for your past anonymity.

Now that the Circus Parade that was last week’s Budget battle is over with, the street sweeper has shown up, ready and eager to take credit for all the entertainment.

Per wsj.com, President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmm) will grace us with a national address on television this Wednesday night.  During  the upcoming speech, he will unveil his brilliant plan to reduce America’s deficit,  after the parade has passed him by.

But that’s not all.  America’s sooooper genius will also present a plan to rid those evil, rich people of some more of their money, in order to spread the wealth around.

During this Wednesday’s speech, the president will unveil his plans for cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, and changes to Social Security. He also will premier plans tax increases for people making over $250,000 a year, which are contained in his 2012 budget, and, of course, our socialist president wants to change parts of the tax code he thinks benefit the wealthy.

David Plouffe, a senior White House adviser, hit the Sunday morning talks shows yesterday, as a messenger, or herald, trumpeting the upcoming arrival of the Leader of the Regime and the magnificence of his upcoming pronouncement:

Every corner of the federal government has to be looked at here. Revenues [tax increases] are going to have to be part of this.

Wow. It’s pretty easy to be brave after the first wave takes all of the enemy’s fire for you, isn’t it?

According to White House insiders, Obama’s planned speech has caught Democrats in Congress off guard, and no one seems to know the details of the speech itself.

According to Plouffe, Obama will name a specific amount for deficit reduction, although, so far, the White House has kept mum about the amount.

Obama’s and his Administration’s excuse for the after-the-fact nature of this Presidential Address is that, even though they have long been working on a comprehensive plan to tackle the country’s debt, they waited so they would not complicate budget negotiations that almost shut down the government.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R – VA), the No. 2 Republican in the House, is not buying what the White House is selling. According to Cantor, Obama already passed up his chance to show how serious he is about deficit reduction with his 2012 budget:

Instead of returning back to the age-old playbook of raising taxes so that spending can continue, I think maybe the White House ought to take a look at what we’re talking about…which is to cut spending as well as to reform these entitlement programs.

Rep. Cantor said that the debate over top personal-income-tax rates has already been “settled” by last year’s elections and the end-of-the-year tax deal:

It was then that we all agreed it wouldn’t be a good thing if we want to see job creation for taxes to go up.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) released a plan last week that would make permanent the tax cuts approved under President George W. Bush. It would also close loopholes and lower tax rates. Ryan’s plan would essentially privatize Medicare and cut Medicaid spending by turning the program over to states to run. The GOP plan cuts $6.2 trillion over 10 years. Mr. Obama’s budget forecast a $1 trillion cut over the same period.

No one is sure what sort of Medicare cuts that Obama will be offering in his speech on Wednesday night. Plouffe would only say in his Sunday talk show appearances that the White House supports the Ryan provisions that preserve Medicare savings already in the health law. Regarding Social Security, Plouffe would only say that Obama is willing to work with Congress on a long-term plan.

Obama’s fellow Democrats are not impressed.

Around a month ago, senior Congressional Democrats pleaded with the White House to get involved in some bipartisan deficit-reduction talks led by a group of senators known as the Gang of Six. The Democrats thought that Obama could influence the talks before they became too focused on spending cuts. A Democrat from that group said that they never saw any help from the White House in the matter.

Norman Matoon Thomas (1884-1968) was a six-time Presidential Candidate  representing the Socialist Party of America.  In a campaign interview in 1948, he said the following:

The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.

Merriam-webster.com defines socialism as:

…any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

…a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

…a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

Are you catching my drift? Mr. Thomas was right.  I think that he and the president would have been fast friends.