What does the Tea Party Stand For? I found this website on the Tea Party Platform, which is summarized below.
The Tea Party Movement is an all-inclusive American grassroots movement with the belief that everyone is created equal and deserves an equal opportunity to thrive in these United States where they may “pursue life, liberty and happiness” as stated in the Declaration of Independence and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. No one is excluded from participation in the Tea Party Movement. Everyone is welcomed to join in seeking to achieve the Tea Party Movement goals, which are as follows:
1. Eliminate Excessive Taxes
2. Eliminate the National Debt
3. Eliminate Deficit Spending
4. Protect Free Markets
5. Abide by the Constitution of the United States
6. Promote Civic Responsibility
7. Reduce the Overall Size of Government
8. Believe in the People
9. Avoid the Pitfalls of Politics
10. Maintain Local Independence
I am an independent, moderate conservative, but support the above goals of the Tea Party and do not believe that they are a close-minded, racist group of bigots (as they are most often portrayed in the media.
No Federal Government Shutdown: If the spendthrifts in Washington DC only spent what they took in taxes, there would be no extension of the debt ceiling, and thus no government shutdown! Hey Congress and Obama - spend within your means and the government continues to run - ever think about that?
Federal Employees Get Paid to Not Work: During the shutdown, Congress and the President get paid, while 800,000 federal workers do not! This is an outrageous practice and should end immediately. Also, while the workers are furloughed, they do not work and do not get paid. However, after the government is back up and running, Congress will enact legislation to pay those 800,000 for the time they did not work, thus turning this shut-down (once again) into paid vacation. This too should stop.
Reference: This article shows the federal government deficits and surpluses between 1940 and 2013. It includes the deficit in current dollars of that year, as well as inflation-adjusted dollars of today. You should read that article before continuing with this one.
Teach your children well: We taught our children to live within their means, as well as to save 10 to 15% of everything they make in their entire lives, no matter how little they make. If you save it, you'll never know what you are missing. We believe this to be wise advice. Its even good advice for all government entities (federal, state and local). In fact, it applies even more so for to our government, because they are spending someone else's money (i.e., the taxpayer's hard-earned money).
Upcoming Federal Borrowing Cap Limit: In mid-November 2013, we are forecast to hit our $16,700,000,000,000 federal budget cap. Congress must give its approval in order to increase this borrowing limit, thus creating (yet another) budget showdown between the D's and the R's. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) is forecasting a federal budget deficit of somewhere around $700,000,000,000 for the current federal fiscal year ending September 30, 2013.
CBO reports that federal health care (mainly Medicare) and retirement programs (mainly Social Security) are overwhelming the budget. This will harm the economy in coming decades unless measures are taken now to get it under control. It will overwhelm our children and grandchildren, as they will be the ones that have to pay it back. Yet, "living within their means" will never happen because politicians like to have fun spending the taxpayer's money, instead of being miserly and saving it.
Ultimately, it is the people's fault because we elect these politicians. Since we have now passed a threshold where more than half of all people in America receive government aid, voters will, IMHO, be increasingly likely to vote for politicians that will ensure that the government help checks continue. Eventually, logically, the system will collapse. Hopefully, I will be dead by then, but it is likely that my children will still alive to bear the brunt of my generation's burdens. Sorry boys. Time will tell.
Yes, another boring topic - budget deficits - I realize that. Sometimes boring can also be important, as in this case. Think about our future. Do the right thing. Somebody. Anybody.
The New York times has a bunch of articles on the upcoming debt ceiling battle. None of them talk about how the federal government should live within their means (i.e., spend only what you take in, and don't borrow). Here's an article that contemplates what it would be like if we managed your family's budget like our government manages their budget. Truly pathetic.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
PERSONAL: The waterman has fallen, the wave continues on (Part II)
Bob Meistrell's paddle-out and memorial service took place in Redondo Beach, California on 9/15/2013. Read this excellent article that covered the event: 1,000 Surfers Take To the Water To Honor Surf Legend Bob Meistrell as well as this article from the Easy Reader.
Sue and I were there to pay our respects to one of the legends of the diving and surfing world. But more than that, Bob was a person who always had time for the "little people" like us. He always had a smile on his face, and words of encouragement. Thanks Bob (and the entire Meistrell family) and also to Ricky and Scott, for creating the opportunity for me to become a Scuba instructor at Dive N' Surf. It was an amazing dream come true for me. I never thought I had it in me, but they sure did, and they were right!
My Dad, Bob Waag, got certified at Dive N' Surf some time early in the 1960's, and I was proud to be teaching divers at that same location where he learned to dive.
Below: Some photos from the paddle out and memorial (click to enlarge). Thanks to our friends Tom and Jill for sharing this important event with us, and letting us crash at their place in Hermosa Beach!
Above: I brought a flower from twin brother Bill's 2006 paddle out. I swam out with it and gave it to his son, Billie, who said he had not saved one from his Dad's memorial and would keep it forever. That was an awesome moment for me. I knew Billie from my days at Dive N' Surf, though I'm sure he doesn't remember me!
Sue and I were there to pay our respects to one of the legends of the diving and surfing world. But more than that, Bob was a person who always had time for the "little people" like us. He always had a smile on his face, and words of encouragement. Thanks Bob (and the entire Meistrell family) and also to Ricky and Scott, for creating the opportunity for me to become a Scuba instructor at Dive N' Surf. It was an amazing dream come true for me. I never thought I had it in me, but they sure did, and they were right!
My Dad, Bob Waag, got certified at Dive N' Surf some time early in the 1960's, and I was proud to be teaching divers at that same location where he learned to dive.
Below: Some photos from the paddle out and memorial (click to enlarge). Thanks to our friends Tom and Jill for sharing this important event with us, and letting us crash at their place in Hermosa Beach!
Thursday, September 5, 2013
INTERNATIONAL: Obama Puts Syria Issue in the Rear View Mirror for Good!
This issue has become so silly that I had to comment. Sorry if its boring!
Obama's Syria Chronology:
• 2 years ago: "The time has come for Assad to step aside". No action taken.
• 1 year ago: "Any Syrian use of chemical weapons would cross a Red Line, leading to enormous consequences". No action taken.
• 8 months or so ago: Congress authorizes the president to arm the Syrian rebels. To date, no arms have been supplied to the rebels.
• Early in 2013, Assad was believed to have crossed Obama's Red Line. No Obama speaches about it, and no action taken.
• Late August 2013: Assad uses bio-terror gasses, with an estimated 1,400 Syrians killed. Obama says that his proof is absolute. No action taken - yet.
• Last week: The president has the authority to bomb Syria with or without congressional approval.
• Yesterday (9/4/2013): I didn't set that Red Line. The world set that line. I am seeking congressional approval to bomb Syria. However, if Congress does not approve, it is still my decision whether to bomb them or not (my paraphrase).
• Russia misses all the deadlines on the disarming and disposing of the Syria chemical weapons stockpile (Putin's plan all along), and the federal government shut-down puts the Syria issue on the back-burner forever! Smooth moves, Prez.!
If I was in Congress, my vote on permission to engage Syria directly on the Syrian chemical weapons would be: Present. I would tell Obama that I learned that technique from him, when in his single full term in the Senate, he voted present on all contentious issues so as not to have a voting record that could be used against him in his run for the Presidency.
Obama has told Congress that their vote does not matter. He has, in one swift sentence, disrespected both houses of Congress. Why should they vote, when regardless of how they vote (yay or nay), he will do what he wants? If it is an opinion poll of Congress that he seeks, and if I were a Congressman, I would tell the president where I stand on the issue, thus giving him his opinion poll. But I would not give him the satisfaction of a vote that he has told me to my face would not count for anything.
Alternate ending number 1: If Obama's looking for a strong statement to make in the middle east, he should bomb Iran's nuclear bomb building facility before they produce a viable nuke.
Alternate ending number 2: Let the Arab League and their neighbors take action. Syria is next door to them, and they have much to lose from getting sucked into the Syrian civil war. These countries (many of them oil-rich ) have the cash, and we have sold them the weaponry. Let Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Yemen, etc. patrol their own backyard, and clean up their own house. If the world wants to blame anyone for doing nothing, they should blame the rest of the middle east sitting on their hands and doing nothing.
Alternate ending number 3: Whether we act or passively sit by, all middle eastern countries will hate us. If we save muslim lives, they hate us. If we do nothing, they hate us. Why? Because we are foreigners that have invaded their lands. Until somebody proves to me otherwise, the Syrian civil war appears to be pitting one group of our enemies against another. Let them kill each other. Our own American civil war killed a very large percentage of our population, allowing us to duke it out, decide a winner, and make our country a much better one. Maybe Syria should go through the same process? If a peaceful, democratic country emerges, then its a win for us. If Syria comes out with another despotic dictator at the helm, then we're no worse off than before.
• Putin and Russia, the closest allies and supporters of Syria gets involved. Putin writes an Op-Ed in the New York Times "A Please For Caution from Russia" on 9/11/2013 (of all dates). Putin now controls the situation and the dialog - oh yeah!
• Putin and Russia have taken on the responsibility of working with Syria and Assad to remove all of their bio weapons and dispose of them. Yeah, that's gonna happen - NOT! This however, gets Obama off the hook, as he feigns complete trust in those Russian fellers to do what they say they will. Now, it is out of Obama's hands for good, and he can go back to the task at hand of hammering the Republicans and non-negotiating with them.
• Putin pull a North Korea and say all the right things, pretend to be doing something, while actually never doing anything to take a single ounce of actual chemical weapons out of the hands of Syria. Putin will either pretend to try but fail (its too difficult, with the civil war going on and all), or say that Syria does not have any chemical weapons after all (perhaps they've fallen into the hands of those awful rebels), or (my favorite option) haul away something that looks alot like chemical weapons (but actually isn't) and destroy them in Russia once and for all (until Assad somehow uses chemical weapons again - maybe Russia missed a few? they'll say). How naive we are.
Obama's Syria Chronology:
• 2 years ago: "The time has come for Assad to step aside". No action taken.
• 1 year ago: "Any Syrian use of chemical weapons would cross a Red Line, leading to enormous consequences". No action taken.
• 8 months or so ago: Congress authorizes the president to arm the Syrian rebels. To date, no arms have been supplied to the rebels.
• Early in 2013, Assad was believed to have crossed Obama's Red Line. No Obama speaches about it, and no action taken.
• Late August 2013: Assad uses bio-terror gasses, with an estimated 1,400 Syrians killed. Obama says that his proof is absolute. No action taken - yet.
• Last week: The president has the authority to bomb Syria with or without congressional approval.
• Yesterday (9/4/2013): I didn't set that Red Line. The world set that line. I am seeking congressional approval to bomb Syria. However, if Congress does not approve, it is still my decision whether to bomb them or not (my paraphrase).
• Russia misses all the deadlines on the disarming and disposing of the Syria chemical weapons stockpile (Putin's plan all along), and the federal government shut-down puts the Syria issue on the back-burner forever! Smooth moves, Prez.!
If I was in Congress, my vote on permission to engage Syria directly on the Syrian chemical weapons would be: Present. I would tell Obama that I learned that technique from him, when in his single full term in the Senate, he voted present on all contentious issues so as not to have a voting record that could be used against him in his run for the Presidency.
Obama has told Congress that their vote does not matter. He has, in one swift sentence, disrespected both houses of Congress. Why should they vote, when regardless of how they vote (yay or nay), he will do what he wants? If it is an opinion poll of Congress that he seeks, and if I were a Congressman, I would tell the president where I stand on the issue, thus giving him his opinion poll. But I would not give him the satisfaction of a vote that he has told me to my face would not count for anything.
Alternate ending number 1: If Obama's looking for a strong statement to make in the middle east, he should bomb Iran's nuclear bomb building facility before they produce a viable nuke.
Alternate ending number 2: Let the Arab League and their neighbors take action. Syria is next door to them, and they have much to lose from getting sucked into the Syrian civil war. These countries (many of them oil-rich ) have the cash, and we have sold them the weaponry. Let Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Yemen, etc. patrol their own backyard, and clean up their own house. If the world wants to blame anyone for doing nothing, they should blame the rest of the middle east sitting on their hands and doing nothing.
Alternate ending number 3: Whether we act or passively sit by, all middle eastern countries will hate us. If we save muslim lives, they hate us. If we do nothing, they hate us. Why? Because we are foreigners that have invaded their lands. Until somebody proves to me otherwise, the Syrian civil war appears to be pitting one group of our enemies against another. Let them kill each other. Our own American civil war killed a very large percentage of our population, allowing us to duke it out, decide a winner, and make our country a much better one. Maybe Syria should go through the same process? If a peaceful, democratic country emerges, then its a win for us. If Syria comes out with another despotic dictator at the helm, then we're no worse off than before.
• Putin and Russia, the closest allies and supporters of Syria gets involved. Putin writes an Op-Ed in the New York Times "A Please For Caution from Russia" on 9/11/2013 (of all dates). Putin now controls the situation and the dialog - oh yeah!
• Putin and Russia have taken on the responsibility of working with Syria and Assad to remove all of their bio weapons and dispose of them. Yeah, that's gonna happen - NOT! This however, gets Obama off the hook, as he feigns complete trust in those Russian fellers to do what they say they will. Now, it is out of Obama's hands for good, and he can go back to the task at hand of hammering the Republicans and non-negotiating with them.
• Putin pull a North Korea and say all the right things, pretend to be doing something, while actually never doing anything to take a single ounce of actual chemical weapons out of the hands of Syria. Putin will either pretend to try but fail (its too difficult, with the civil war going on and all), or say that Syria does not have any chemical weapons after all (perhaps they've fallen into the hands of those awful rebels), or (my favorite option) haul away something that looks alot like chemical weapons (but actually isn't) and destroy them in Russia once and for all (until Assad somehow uses chemical weapons again - maybe Russia missed a few? they'll say). How naive we are.
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