The Right Rev Rowland

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California is on the verge of bankruptcy. New York state is struggling with solvency. The two highest tax and spend, high-pension states find that they cannot take enough money from their citizenry to pay for all the spending that the state’s ‘leaders’ have signed up for.

So, Nevada has been feeling left out apparently, finding that all the gushing lib press has been poured out on places like CA & NY and we are unable to live with it anymore. Our state legislature, faced with falling revenues due to a faltering economy and the collapse of the real estate market in the state, is facing a budget shortfall. The budget has more than tripled over the last decade, and while the economy was good, BOTH political parties crammed as many tax hikes into the budget as the populace would let them get away with, and set us up for the current hardship.

Now, when I got laid off, (years ago)we immediately cut all non-essential spending, stopped eating out, didn’t go to movies, and conserved what little we DID have without counting on what we DIDN’T have. NV has overspent since 2003 easily, and now the bills are due and has had a drastic pay cut forced upon its revenue. So, the first response of the state government is that we need to force the populace to cough up more dough in the middle of a bad economy.

While many Nevadans are suffering, and many more are OUT OF WORK entirely, and have had to make drastic cuts in their home budgets, or MOVE to a CHEAPER  home, the State of Nevada doesn’t want to cut the necessary spending to meet projected revenue. The Gov. of the state submitted a balanced budget at the beginning of the session, and our elected ‘representatives’ have spent the WHOLE DAMN SESSION cramming  hundreds of millions back into the budget with money we DON’T HAVE!

Please excuse my caps but I am vexed and perplexed that every one of our leaders, representatives, and taxpayers who has advocated cutting out of a bloated budget spending which we cannot afford, have been vilified and pilloried in the press and by a professional class of politician. We have a class at UNLV that studies the history of pizza! Someone is paid to teach it. We have in the UNLV President’s office a $15,000.00 desk that was ordered without even checking the price!(cause it’s not his money, who cares?) We have a VP of inclusion and diversity that is paid well over 100k along with all the perks and the benefits that go with being a VP!

Is there NOWHERE we can cut spending before we start threatening police, fire, and education? Please. The Nevada Policy Research Institute submitted a budget that not only was balanced, but met the decreased level of revenue projected for our state. It was dubbed the Freedom Budget, as it freed us from unnecessary spending and higher taxes. It cut spending and yet preserved all of our essential services. It was soundly ignored by the ruling political class. Republicans are siding with Democrats to override a threatened gubernatorial veto for tax increases. We’ve lost our freaking minds in the deserts of Nevada.

This fall when I register my two vehicles, it will cost me much more. When couples fly to Vegas from all over the world to get married, it will cost more to apply for a marriage license and then even more to apply for a certificate of marriage afterwards. All of this courtesy of a legislature which engaged in thuggery and outrageous lapses of ethics to screw the voters.

There is not much difference between the parties these days, which is why Pew Research shows more independent voter registrations than EITHER Rs or Ds for the first time. More and more people have freakin’ HAD it! The way government -local, state and federal- take OUR money and then turn around and control us with it is criminal! If the original war for our founding was really about taxes and representation, then conditions are ripe for a second revolution.

So, as California finally goes through its long-coming financial meltdown and is finally forced to become responsible with its spending, Nevada is plugging it’s ears and closing it’s eyes and singing ‘LA LA LA LA LA LA LA’ as we teeter down the same irresponsible path. Maybe one day the average Joe taxpayer and voter will sit down and think, “They promised me more, but I keep ending up with less.. Why do I keep voting for them?” Maybe someday could start today?

I’m just sayin……

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When I was a kid, and older, wiser young man gave me the best advice for winning a street fight I ever heard. Hit hard, hit fast, and don’t let them get up. I saw it in action once, and it was impressive. The fight was over in less than 20 seconds.

It seems that the Obama Administration subscribes to the same philosophy of a street fight. Since taking office, through executive order, intimidation, budget legislation, economic emergency exploitation, threat of scrutiny, and 24/7 campaign-mode governance, the President has hit hard and fast.

There are so many hard-left changes flying out of Washington day after day, that it is almost impossible to keep up with them all. If you pick one or two to highlight and draw attention to, it only helps him slip two more past you where you aren’t looking. I wonder if it is even possible to educate yourself on ALL the kooky, progressive tripe that we are being subjected to at a record pace.

So I figured I would take a run at it. Here goes:

Guantanamo: In January, the President signed an executive order to close Gitmo in one year and suspend military tribunals. (just today they reinstated those, because they realized there was no other way to deal with enemy combatants) Since then, almost no other countries will take back their citizens who were caught fighting against us. So we are talking about putting them into the US prison system, or releasing them into the US population. Great…..

Overseas Abortion Funding: One of the first decisions Obama handed out by executive order was to allow funding for NGO’s that promote or perform abortions around the world. This policy was a reversal of Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City policy established in 1984 which prohibited US taxpayer funds from being used to promote or perform abortions in foreign countries.

Economic Stimulus Bill or, Porkulus: President Obama chose early on to double-down on the Bush TARP plan with his own ’stimulus’ bill. Throwing billions of dollars to special interest groups like ACORN along with offering funds to states who are struggling with their budgets was just the beginning. The strings attached to all this ‘government’ money are long and unbreakable. Estimates about the inability of the US government to repay even the interest on this spending continue to rise.

Auto Bailout: When the US automakers asked for government loans, they little understood the coffin they were building for themselves. Rather than letting the market correct their corporate mistakes by utilizing existing bankruptcy provisions, we had to give them billions. After the billions given to GM and Chrysler because we CAN”T let them fail, they are both preparing to go into bankruptcy. The major change, however, is the direct control the President of the United States has taken over these two hapless auto companies. Obama demanded the resignation of GM CEO Rick Wagoner, and appointed a ‘car czar’ that will choose the board members of these private corporations. He then strong-armed the debt-holders into forgiving debt and reducing their expected return on their investment, and gave 55% interest to the UAW for free. The American taxpayer got the shaft and the union got an auto company. Now, GM is in talks with the Canadians, Mexicans and Chinese about building their cars outside the US. Watch for the imports from Government Motors in the future.

Vilification of Capitalism: Along with all the increased government spending that a majority of the American people don’t want, comes the argument that capitalism has failed us, so the government had to step in and take over, just like the auto companies. The furor over the AIG bonuses further soured the mob on those greedy capitalist pigs on Wall Street, and gave cover for the SAME DAMN BONUSES at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. AIG execs worked for a year on a dollar salary because of the promise of the bonus to come. Come payday, the President and ‘Turbo-Tax’ Tim Geithner claim the bonuses were an outrage. NOT reported is the fact that the bonuses were disclosed a year prior and that the stimulus bill that NO ONE READ allowed them to be paid.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Reversing the stance of President Bush, Obama has signed an executive order allowing the use of embryonic stem cells for medical research. All promising research has come from ADULT stem cells, not from embryonic stem cells but that is ignored in all the hype about Michael J Fox being cured if it wasn’t for Bush, and Christopher Reeves would still be alive if not for Bush. What everyone ignores is that private research can and has always been legal and possible, Bush just held back federal funds. And rightly so.

World Apology Tour: Our fearless leader managed to traipse over to Europe and trash the reputation of not only capitalism but of Americans in general. While there at the G20 summit, he bowed low to the Saudi King, and then lied about it. It was almost reflexive, unthinking. His reaction upon seeing a robed King was to bow at the waist, left hand firmly held against his side while he reached for the king’s hand with his right. He then managed to sit through an hour of Daniel Ortega trashing us in South America and said nothing to correct the record when he got up. He might have been having flashbacks to one of Rev. Wright’s sermons, but the point is, he didn’t stand up for us. He then glad-handed and mugged for the camera with Hugo Chavez, making him a best-selling author overnight, and legitimizing his tin-pot dictatorship.

Crappy Appointments:Leon Panetta? Seriously? Okay, maybe if the highest qualification of the head of the CIA is the ability to lie without compunction, then he makes sense. In any other universe…. what the hell?
Tim Geithner……. well, if it takes one to know one, and Obama is serious about cracking down on tax cheats…..
Tom Daschle failed because he has more shame than Geithner, otherwise he would be heading HHS right now.
Kathleen Sebelius needed the PANDEMIC of the Swine Flu to sneak into her appointed position, because she is the most liberal, pro-abortion, pro-partial-birth militant and her nomination was in danger of being scrutinized in the senate.
Then there is Janet Napolitano. The Department of Homeland Security now cannot protect us from foreign terrorists, but they CAN protect us from right-wing extremists that are Americans. Oh, and the definition of a right-wing extremist means if you love this country enough to go to war for her, or vote, or believe in the constitution, or have a logical, reasoning mind.
Eric Holder, the architect of the ‘Americans are cowards when it comes to matters of Race’ Doctrine, failed to disclose his conflict of interest as a US attorney in advocating for the Marc Rich pardon from President Clinton. You would think the nation’s top law-enforcement official would be clearer on his responsibility under the law.

President Obama has used deception and backtracked when he feels the need, he has redefined what certain words or phrases mean. For example, when he says he doesn’t want to run car companies and banks, but he determines who the owners will be, and sets salary caps, and chooses on a whim to convert the preferred shares of stock to common stock AT NO BENEFIT to the US taxpayer, but it gives the US GOVERNMENT a controlling interest in voting stock in those banks, he is a liar. He says there will be tax cuts for 95% of Americans. There will be an increase in taxes for 100% of Americans to pay for all the bailout spending.

He has threatened the credit card industry and is setting his sights on the healthcare industry. He connected the tea parties with health care at a recent townhall meeting, which left many scratching their heads. He refuses to believe that there is a groundswell of resistance forming against him. He will overreach on the environment by pushing a cap and trade system that will destroy what is left of the economy. He disdains those who have earned their success through individual effort and ingenuity, telling college graduates to not pursue a life of success but to work for non-profits. I wonder where the non-profits will get their funding when there is no more capitalism…. oh, right, the government!

I pray that more and more Americans begin to wake up to the fact that we have been pummeled in the first four months of this Presidency, and that a more vocal and determined opposition will start holding our elected officials accountable and requiring them to act in the best interest of the people, and not their party or re-election campaigns.

Here is a great place to start. Attend an Independence Day Tea Party to show that we are determined and committed and this is not a flash-in-the pan. Then think really hard about going to the National Taxpayer Protest on 9/12 in Washington, DC. Let them SEE and HEAR you on the issues that matter.

We’ve got to get back up, and get into this fight, or we may never get up again.

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The Republican Party has moved too far to the right, says Arlen Specter as a lame excuse for his narcissistic jump to the enemy’s camp. The GOP needs to stop bowing to the demands of Rush Limbaugh, says faux-Republican and Obama-endorser Colin Powell. So do Jeb Bush, John McCain, and, surprisingly, Mitt Romney.

All the afore-mentioned ‘Republican’ elites want us to get beyond the enormous respect we hold for Reagan, Goldwater, Buckley, & Thatcher and move away from our most cherished ideals. They tell us that by running on a more watered-down version of our core principles we will create a bigger tent for more people to join. Being open to moderates is all the rage these days, and it is how you win elections, they say.

‘Scuse me while I wipe the BS out of my eyes….. these guys are on crack! Let’s see, Romney lost to McCain, Johnny Mac floundered horribly until that far-right hillbilly from Alaska rode in on a polar bear and breathed fresh enthusiasm into his campaign, and Colin Powell….. well, shoot. Powell has never run for anything, has he? And didn’t this ‘Republican’ elder statesman endorse the MOST LIBERAL Democrat ever to run for the Presidency? Jeb was a fairly conservative governor in Florida, but he didn’t win by trashing Reagan, that’s for sure.

When conservatism is communicated clearly and with conviction, without flip-flopping, it wins the day. Most Americans are more conservative than they are progressive. That is startling considering that most of the media and public school system breed and feed progressivism from kindergarten through retirement. The media jumped on Sarah Palin with both feet, fabricating wild and outrageous scenarios and fantasies about her, and when the truth came out, they simply ignored it or buried their corrections, and she STILL brought momentum to the McCain campaign.

Politicians who mouth pseudo-conservatism in front of one crowd and then sound more moderate with another crowd are panderers who treat the voters like suckers. They don’t deserve our respect, much less our votes.

The claim that the Republicans have moved too far to the right is a total fabrication. The Republican party has moved more leftward than anywhere else, and conservatism is about holding to principles and beliefs that work for America, not just one party or another. Conservatism hasn’t moved anywhere. The fantasy that these ‘moderate’ Republicans are pushing that the party has moved rightward is a ploy to gain power only for themselves. The progression from Goldwater to Bush the younger has been a slide toward progressivism, not a turn to the right.

Currently, there is no national Conservative leader in any party. Newt Gingrich comes the closest, followed by Mike Huckabee, but there is no clear national leader for those who believe in independence and liberty to rally to. There is no national organization or movement for conservatives that provides a clear path to follow.

Arlen Specter’s complaint that the party of Reagan no longer had no room for moderates reflects narcissistic view of the world. When three Republican senators hand the majority an iron-clad victory over the entirety of the rest of their party, they are not acting in the best interest of their party or their nation. The notion that Reagan would not have had words with Arlen over his backing of the opposition over his own party is ludicrous. Ronald Reagan would have been genial about it, but he was ruthless at pushing his agenda.

Over the course of the last five decades, the Reagan era was only a short pause on a never ending march to the left in American Politics. Those who come to power in Washington, or even appointed to high office in DC seem to have their principles sucked out of them and become more moderate or liberal in a few short years. Those who are faithful to their conservative principles are treated like racists or terrorists.

Independent registrations are on the verge of passing up both Democratic and Republican voter registration. For the first time, neither major political party will have the largest number of voters. More and more Americans are weary of the blame game, of the loss of liberty under BOTH parties and the un-ending growth of government regardless of who is in office. Many of us are looking for viable alternatives. The key word being viable.

Too many regular Americans are willing to buy into this latest assessment that the Republicans have ‘moved’ rightward. There has been no right move, only progressivism in the Republican Party, and when conservative stand for what they believe in, they are vilified as hijacking a party that has already been hijacked by the moderates! We used to call that liberating, now it is hijacking.

If no one is willing to look at the history of politics in America and see how we have marched steadily leftward for the last century or so, then as a whole, we will swallow the lies of the media and the left about what conservatism is. But if we are willing to look for truth, we will see that conservatism is all about preserving the freedoms willed to us by the Founders for ALL Americans. Some things are worth conserving and preserving. Individual freedoms, personal responsibility, a respect for God and morality, a love of country – all worthy of conservation. It’s what conservatives DO.

So let’s DO IT!!!   I’m just sayin……..

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