So until I find a way to raise campaign dollars to afford to post more often, I have a day job helping to raise my little sister who will be one a month from now. Let me tell you, she is a walking handful getting into everything. She especially loves to get into my water. And because I am a good big sister I never ever bite her. Mostly I follow her around sniffing her diaper. I can't help it.
So back to politics and the Republican race for the nomination. Much has happened since my last post. Perry apparently had a chance and has been blowing it over and over since. Herman Cain actually appeared to have a chance and then blew it enough to drop out. I don't know one way or the other if those women are lying or not. But as a dog, I would never have a friendship that my family didn't know about. And I am instantly best friends with everyone I meet. I want to meet you all!!!!
So the replacement to Cain at this point seems to be Newt. Does he have too much baggage or is his baggage enough in the past that people don't care anymore? For sure Romney and Perry are going to try and remind you all of it as if they have no skeletons to be found. I have no idea but if they have any someone somewhere will find them and pull them out.
Does Perry have a chance still? I tend to think his latest add campaign was not genius. People will see it as a shot at gay people rather than what I think he was trying to portray that the rights of Christians are being picked away at. I admit, it took me a second or third listen to hear that. I don't think many people are hearing it that way. I originally heard it as 'it's a shame gay people can now serve openly in the military.' It comes across as that is what he believes at first so much so that most people won't bother to give it a second or third chance. That is why I think this ad is the nail in his coffin because even though they aren't paying to play it everywhere, people everywhere are hearing it.
Romney....I don't even know what to say about him. Since he won't support the fair tax, I don't like him. Not sure about the health care plan in Massachusetts either. I've heard/read conflicting opinions about success vs. disaster. I don't live there so I don't know how it's working for everyone and for the state budget. I will admit it was definitely interesting 4 years ago. Here's what bothers me about him. I have heard traditionally 'liberal supporting' people say they would be ok with Romney. So that makes me think he's going to be politics as usual. I don't know. I suppose he could surprise me. I hope, given that he looks like a shoo in at this point.
You still think these guys are better than me??? Seriously?!?! Who's more loyal to humans than a dog??? No one I tell you.....NO ONE!!!! Now spread the word.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Does Herman Cain Have a Chance?
Is it possible?? Could it be true?? Are people finally paying attention to what Herman Cain has to say?? The only non-politician in the Republican race? According to this cnn article, he just cleaned Perry's clock in the Florida straw poll with 37% of the votes. Perry came in 2nd with 15% of the votes. All others were relatively close behind Perry.
Is it possible that the annoyance of Perry v. Romney is causing the masses to pay attention to the fact that Herman Cain is offering or pitching actual solutions as opposed to political rhetoric? It's kind of sad that he's forced to run for the Republican ticket because he doesn't sound like other Republicans. He sounds like a conservative who knows what he's talking about and doesn't spit out talking points. Ron Paul sounds similar except his delivery is in the form of grumpy old man.
If you haven't bothered to listen to Herman Cain yet, take the time to listen to his message. Take notice of the fact that he's the only non-politician running.
Side note back on Perry. He's suddenly pitch school vouchers at the 'federal' level, but for someone who talks about 'states rights,' he didn't bother to even mention or pitch school vouchers during the recent Texas legislative session that he had both the house and senate full of republicans. Watch their actions. If they don't match their words, then you have a politician. I thought we were sick and tired of politics as usual.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Rick Perry: An Opinion from the Perspective of a Texan
So Rick Perry is finally in and you're super excited because he sounds so 'conservative.' In fact he sounds so libertarian for that matter with his talk of freedom, no taxes, and secession here in Texas. He brags about how many jobs he's brought to Texas. It's hard to argue that under his 'leadership' the Texas economy has fared better than most.
But here's the deal. The lieutenant governor has more responsibility for that than the governor in this state. This state has the ideal structure in that it has a weak governor. The most power he has is to veto legislation or not. He just gets to tout around the united states making speeches and taking credit for the positives. What's he's not telling you is that we faced a huge legislative short fall this last session that just ended. They made up for it with accounting tricks. Meaning we (state government) are only funded through the first half of the fiscal year 2013. (Texas operates/budgets on bienniums as the legislature meets once every 2 years). So there are 6 months that we're not funded for yet. They also deferred payment of many bills to the next biennium. Meaning the next legislature will have to find the money to pay for it. How convenient since Perry supposes he will be president by then and this fiasco will 'blow up' under someone else's watch.
These accounting tricks are all so he can run for president and tell people that Texas balance the budget unlike Washington. We might not be in as much trouble financially as Washington, but the political budgeting isn't all that different. And Texas isn't out of the hole yet.
What else has he done while here. One of the big recent items is that he's committed state funds ($25M/year to the owner) during a major budget shortfall to pay for the rights to have the formula one race come to Austin. Not really Austin but outside of Austin where there's a 2 lane road that is not prepared to handle the traffic for 150,000 people (more or less). Well maybe less if some people helicopter in from the airport. They originally planned the race during June or July. But I suppose the record triple digit heat during both of those months helped race organizers think better than to have a summer race.
He mandated the HPV vaccine for school girls. Not very libertarian of him. Luckily that fell through. He failed to veto a steroid testing bill which is testing high school kids for steroids, when there is clearly physical evidence to give clues to the abuse of steroids. The program is costing the state $6 million with about 24 in 150,000 kids testing positive. He also failed to veto a bill taxing tanning. Tanning is now a sin and deserves a sin tax associated with it. He had the chance to take a hard stance against illegal immigration and just kind of avoided it. He (and the legislature) also had the chance to stand up against the TSA airport searches but backed down when the federal government bullied their way in to that bill.
But here's the deal. The lieutenant governor has more responsibility for that than the governor in this state. This state has the ideal structure in that it has a weak governor. The most power he has is to veto legislation or not. He just gets to tout around the united states making speeches and taking credit for the positives. What's he's not telling you is that we faced a huge legislative short fall this last session that just ended. They made up for it with accounting tricks. Meaning we (state government) are only funded through the first half of the fiscal year 2013. (Texas operates/budgets on bienniums as the legislature meets once every 2 years). So there are 6 months that we're not funded for yet. They also deferred payment of many bills to the next biennium. Meaning the next legislature will have to find the money to pay for it. How convenient since Perry supposes he will be president by then and this fiasco will 'blow up' under someone else's watch.
These accounting tricks are all so he can run for president and tell people that Texas balance the budget unlike Washington. We might not be in as much trouble financially as Washington, but the political budgeting isn't all that different. And Texas isn't out of the hole yet.
What else has he done while here. One of the big recent items is that he's committed state funds ($25M/year to the owner) during a major budget shortfall to pay for the rights to have the formula one race come to Austin. Not really Austin but outside of Austin where there's a 2 lane road that is not prepared to handle the traffic for 150,000 people (more or less). Well maybe less if some people helicopter in from the airport. They originally planned the race during June or July. But I suppose the record triple digit heat during both of those months helped race organizers think better than to have a summer race.
He mandated the HPV vaccine for school girls. Not very libertarian of him. Luckily that fell through. He failed to veto a steroid testing bill which is testing high school kids for steroids, when there is clearly physical evidence to give clues to the abuse of steroids. The program is costing the state $6 million with about 24 in 150,000 kids testing positive. He also failed to veto a bill taxing tanning. Tanning is now a sin and deserves a sin tax associated with it. He had the chance to take a hard stance against illegal immigration and just kind of avoided it. He (and the legislature) also had the chance to stand up against the TSA airport searches but backed down when the federal government bullied their way in to that bill.
As you should know by now he used to be a democrat, running Al Gore's campaign here in Texas. Many of us would call him a RINO (Republican in name only) which I believe was formerly referred to as a 'country club republican.'
But here's the deal with politics. We the people (as a whole not every individual) vote for good looks and what we want to hear. I'm not sure how I don't fit that mold yet as I'm cute as can be and am saying what perhaps I wish you wanted to here. Though I'm sure it has to do with my thoughts on Social Security and Medicare. So Rick Perry has mastered the art of telling us what we want to hear. Don't believe me? He keeps getting re-elected in a state full of people disgruntled by him. His big opponent last election was supposed to be Kay Bailey Hutchinson and she barely made a showing because he was running against Obama and Washington the whole time. And she represented Washington. Even then when he 'wasn't running for president' (well he was claiming he wasn't going to run) he was running. As evidenced as he barely acknowledged Kay Bailey and didn't need to his whole campaign. Though unless you live in Texas you probably won't remember that he said he had no plans to run for president during that campaign. He said that because he knew most of Texas wasn't paying attention or didn't care. He's the ultimate politician which should make you all wary of him. He's better at being a politician than even Obama was. And I'd say Obama was a pretty good politician while he was running for president. You should be wary of such politicians. We all should be. What happens if our options are one formerly great politician against another even better politician??? Trust me, nothing good.
So get out in the primaries and vote for Lola!!! Because I'm not in the news so apparently I'm a sucky politician. Which is what you should want. Wake up People!!
Labels:
Lola For President,
Politicians,
President Obama,
Rick Perry
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The World Must be Coming to an End
Why such a dramatic title to this post? For once I found an opinion of Roland Martin, CNN contributor, that I agree with. His August 12, 2012 article, Bachmann 'submission' question was offensive. Her response to the question was correct. And he is right that 'they' don't put religious beliefs of other candidates on trial. They picked a woman who has used the term submission and tried to trip her up with it because there's no room for 'submission' in leadership positions or in the White House. That has nothing to do with her or any other woman's religious belief about submission.
So to Roland Martin, kudos to you for expressing an opinion that might, just might be, the only opinion I will ever agree with you on. Let's take this one moment to celebrate that! Perhaps there's hope that you could agree with a young dog once.
Labels:
Michele Bachmann,
Republican Debate,
Roland Martin,
Submission
Friday, July 29, 2011
Balance
Am I the only one that finds the new Washington definition of balance to be ironic? Increase taxes and increase spending.
Mind you this is on both sides of the aisle. Because when $900 billion in cuts over 10 years is meant to offset an immediate $900 billion increase in the debt ceiling, the result is a net increase isn't it? Or did the laws of math change while I was sleeping?
Labels:
California Economy,
Debt,
Debt Ceiling,
Irony,
Washington
Saturday, July 9, 2011
More Evidence Making the Fair Tax a Logical Solution
I don't know how many of you check PolitiFact.com or see their articles in the newspaper, but I just ran across one of their articles about a statement Senator John Cornyn from Texas made that they ranked True or Mostly True. Apparently as true as you can get on their 'truthometer.' The statement: "Fifty-one percent, that is, a majority of American households, paid no income tax in 2009. Zero. Zip. Nada."
Read the article, but the part the really pisses me off is the part where 30% actually got money back from the government in 2009!!! Are you kidding me. No wonder we're in debt up to our great grand children's' ears. And I'm still young. Granted it goes on to say that appears to be a high for not paying income taxes but the projects for 2010 is 49.5% and for 2011 46.4% That's ridiculous! If the tax code didn't piss you off before, it should now.
I will bring up the Fair Tax again. The fair tax eliminates this ridiculous income tax that apparently only applies to half of the population, my family included. It replaces it with a national sales tax much like several states have in lieu of an income tax. That means everyone that shops in this great country of ours pays taxes. Legals, illegals, residents, visitors, rich, middle-class, poor. There's a provision to pre-bate the tax for food necessities to everyone. Hence the fairness factor. It doesn't discriminate against anyone. If you are receiving government assistance, you are at least paying some of it back when you spend. If you are rich out the wazoo and spending like a kid in a candy store, then there are no loopholes to keep you from paying taxes.
This takes the level of households taxed from 50% to 100% of the people in this country at any given time. So why can't democrats and republicans agree on this? Because they are both filled with power hungry politicians who realize that the fair tax takes some power away from them. Self-righteous sons of bitches!!!!
You should first read up on the Fair Tax and then write your representative and your senators and let them know you want them to support the Fair Tax.
Labels:
Fair Tax,
Income Tax,
John Cornyn,
Tax Policies
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The 2012 Republican Candidates
So what do you think of the Republican candidates so far? They are in no particular order:
Newt Gingrich - Campaign over before it began
Ron Paul - Unrefined libertarian with clueless supporters. Though I personally agree with most of what he says.
Herman Cain - Too logical to win. Again agree with most of what he says and if I weren't running, he might be my man.
Michele Bachmann - Ok we get it, you fostered and birthed lots and lots of children. But I don't cast my vote based on that.
Tim Pawlenty - Yawn...
Mitt Romney - hmmm how's he going to live down Romney care that's not unlike Obama care except a proven failure. Though I much prefer a business man for president.
Rick Santorum - No opinion one way or the other which means I neither like nor dislike him and therefore he would have to make more of an impression on America to win.
John Huntsman - Again don't know enough about him one way or another to have an opinion about him yet.
There are also list of others that have either declared or still exploring that include a bunch of unknowns by me or have no chances including Jimmy McMillian of "The Rent is too Damn High" party. How that makes him a republican is beyond me. Unless it's by default since there's no room elsewhere. I thought starting his own party was not a bad idea though. We need another viable party. It's just not going to have that name if you ask me.
The only person that's really caught my attention so far is Herman Cain, the guy I think is not electable. So perhaps I should change my campaign slogan to "...because electable humans can't be trusted." What do you think about that?
Does anyone on the above list make you want to get out and vote? Might I add if there is one person up there that tickles your fancy, you must vote in the primary to get to vote for them at least once. If you get your way, you'll get to vote twice for the same person.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Weinergate 2011
I know this is a deviation from the campaign, but this is what's dominating the news the last couple of weeks. So I thought this Weiner guy would go away as fast and he entered our lives, but apparently I was wrong. Surely I'm not the first one to use the term "weinergate". I just have better things to do than search the Internet for weiners for fear of what might come up on my computer.
What is he? A 14 year old girl? Seriously!! Who in their right mind sends naked pictures of themselves?? Normally I would say what he does on his own time with his own resources is his business. But do you really want a man with the bad judgement of a 14 year old girl making and voting on laws that affect you and your family? There are plenty of 14 year old girls that have better judgement than he does and their brains aren't fully developed. What's his excuse?
And what's with the word 'certitude'? Apparently it's a real word. From dictionary.com; 'freedom from doubt, especially in matters of faith or opinion; certainty.' Actions speak louder than words and he looks and sounds like a complete fool.
What is he? A 14 year old girl? Seriously!! Who in their right mind sends naked pictures of themselves?? Normally I would say what he does on his own time with his own resources is his business. But do you really want a man with the bad judgement of a 14 year old girl making and voting on laws that affect you and your family? There are plenty of 14 year old girls that have better judgement than he does and their brains aren't fully developed. What's his excuse?
And what's with the word 'certitude'? Apparently it's a real word. From dictionary.com; 'freedom from doubt, especially in matters of faith or opinion; certainty.' Actions speak louder than words and he looks and sounds like a complete fool.
Labels:
Anthony Weiner,
Certitude,
Weinergate
Monday, June 6, 2011
Lola's In for 2012!!!
Apparently now is the time to announce one's candidacy for president. So in the event there was any doubt, I'm in!! I hope my campaign financiers will sponsor a bus tour for me and my family so I can get out and meet you all and kiss lots of babies. (That's how one wins right?)
Now which party's ticket am I running on? Well the Republicans are who's announcing or rumoring lately. The thing is I don't feel like a republican, but mostly because I don't believe any of them act what they preach on the campaign trail once they get into office. Rick Perry, rumored Republican candidate is a perfect example of this. I will go into more detail in the coming weeks if he officially puts his hat in the ring.
I could run as a libertarian, but we all know they get no where.
I can't run as a Democrat because as we are all aware from last elections that "liberal" is a bad word. That and I don't share most of their beliefs. Though we share a few that if talking on certain particular topics, one might think me a democrat. But I'm far from it.
I could run for the Green party nomination, but lets be honest, Ralph Nader has that locked up until he dies.
So I guess that leaves Independent. But here's the problem with that. When was the last time anyone other than a Democrat or a Republican got elected president? That said in order to make the point that neither party is living up to expectations, I'm going with Independent. Look at my platform page to see what I stand for.
A vote for Lola is a vote to take your country back. It's a vote for your liberty. It's a vote for personal pride. It's a vote against the lame humans that are screwing up this country's economy.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Waiting for Superman - A Must See
So I might be a little late to see Waiting for Superman, but I believe everyone should see this documentary. It is a look into the quality of public education in the U.S. now, and I know the criticism when it came out was that it demonized teachers, the very heroes that educate our children, are under paid, etc etc etc. Though I didn't get that it demonized teachers at all. In fact it stood up for the good teachers that are under paid and do an excellent job of educating children.
The system is broke and is structured so that it is no longer putting children first. In just about any school you have to put up with the bad to get the good. Why can't they all be good? Why can't teachers be graded on their merits like employees in the real world? (By the way I believe all government employees should be terminated if their performance merits termination).
Rent the movie. Care about quality public education. After all, it's not free, you're paying out the wazoo for it whether you use it or not! At least bother to care about the service it's providing future adults that will be sustaining our economy, or become a drain on it.
The system is broke and is structured so that it is no longer putting children first. In just about any school you have to put up with the bad to get the good. Why can't they all be good? Why can't teachers be graded on their merits like employees in the real world? (By the way I believe all government employees should be terminated if their performance merits termination).
Rent the movie. Care about quality public education. After all, it's not free, you're paying out the wazoo for it whether you use it or not! At least bother to care about the service it's providing future adults that will be sustaining our economy, or become a drain on it.
Labels:
Public Education,
Unions,
Waiting for Superman
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
The Truth about Texas Government
So I've been on hiatus for quite awhile now. I haven't lost interest in my campaign, I've been busy caring for my mom while she grew and birthed my little sister who's now a month old. Now I'm busy protecting her too! That said it's time to get back to my day job.
So being from the great state of Texas, I'm going to talk about something that never seems to get talked about outside of Texas. Or maybe it does and I'm just not aware of it. Texas has always had articles talking about it's 'surplus' (which I find completely wrong that a surplus is retained in a 'rainy day fund' and isn't returned to the taxpayers), 'what Texas is doing right,' etc. etc. Many of you may have seen the great hair Governor Rick Perry traveling the country touting his book and talking about how great everything is in Texas, and trying to sound like a libertarian, while 'not running for president of the United States.'
What the great Rick Perry isn't talking about is the $25 Billion deficit that they must tackle in the current legislative session. He and Republicans insist this will be tackled 1. by not raising taxes, and 2. by not touching the rainy day fund. Suddenly Texas government is not so different from California's in the sense that they are writing checks their budgets and banks can't cash.
The solutions will have to come from the 3 biggest programs that make up the Texas budget.
1. Health and Human Services
2. Education
3. Higher Education
I'm all for deep cuts in these areas but here's the thing. Cuts made from the state budget result in cuts from federal funds received that help operate these programs. In Medicaid services, the expenditures are primarily for funds paid to providers. So cuts have to come in rates paid to providers and/or the number of clients services are provided to. This is not a popular choice for anyone. Though personally, I'm in favor of tougher eligibility requirements.
When it comes to Education, essentially this is paid for with property taxes whether you have kids in public school or not. If you've read through any of my posts, you'll see I'm all in favor of a voucher system. Eliminate the education bureaucracy and minimize the number of public schools available. Keep only the highest performing ones open and those that have enough voucher participants to stay open. I would also say operate all public schools as charter schools. Parents and students could choose where kids go to school. All schools would be operating as a business and if there is no demand for their services they would change or go away.
Education is also funded by the Texas lottery. Another thing that will get brought to the table is casino gambling. I'm all for this, but I would be shocked if this got approved as it's always been shot down in the past as immoral or whatever other stupid reasons they have to vote against it. They'd much rather people go to Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, rather than stay in or come to Texas. Gotta love the logic. Even if it did pass this session, it wouldn't do anything to help the current deficit as it would take a legislative cycle (2 years) to build and make a difference to the state's budget.
Higher education. These are freaking universities. Why aren't they self sufficient? They should have their own budgets made up of money out equals no more than money in. If they want more money they need to either raise tuition, increase the number of students allowed in or both. And/or they need to find other ways to generate revenue for the schools. There is no good reason, that anyone will convince me of, for Universities to be part of the state's budget. Though I'm sure many will disagree with me.
Anyways I just wanted to talk about the reality in Texas. It's not going to be a pretty session. It's going to be interesting to see how they 'solve' this. And I find it interesting how 'conservative' leadership got us to this deficit rather than plan for this last session when we already had an indication that the economy was headed for a recession.
So being from the great state of Texas, I'm going to talk about something that never seems to get talked about outside of Texas. Or maybe it does and I'm just not aware of it. Texas has always had articles talking about it's 'surplus' (which I find completely wrong that a surplus is retained in a 'rainy day fund' and isn't returned to the taxpayers), 'what Texas is doing right,' etc. etc. Many of you may have seen the great hair Governor Rick Perry traveling the country touting his book and talking about how great everything is in Texas, and trying to sound like a libertarian, while 'not running for president of the United States.'
What the great Rick Perry isn't talking about is the $25 Billion deficit that they must tackle in the current legislative session. He and Republicans insist this will be tackled 1. by not raising taxes, and 2. by not touching the rainy day fund. Suddenly Texas government is not so different from California's in the sense that they are writing checks their budgets and banks can't cash.
The solutions will have to come from the 3 biggest programs that make up the Texas budget.
1. Health and Human Services
2. Education
3. Higher Education
I'm all for deep cuts in these areas but here's the thing. Cuts made from the state budget result in cuts from federal funds received that help operate these programs. In Medicaid services, the expenditures are primarily for funds paid to providers. So cuts have to come in rates paid to providers and/or the number of clients services are provided to. This is not a popular choice for anyone. Though personally, I'm in favor of tougher eligibility requirements.
When it comes to Education, essentially this is paid for with property taxes whether you have kids in public school or not. If you've read through any of my posts, you'll see I'm all in favor of a voucher system. Eliminate the education bureaucracy and minimize the number of public schools available. Keep only the highest performing ones open and those that have enough voucher participants to stay open. I would also say operate all public schools as charter schools. Parents and students could choose where kids go to school. All schools would be operating as a business and if there is no demand for their services they would change or go away.
Education is also funded by the Texas lottery. Another thing that will get brought to the table is casino gambling. I'm all for this, but I would be shocked if this got approved as it's always been shot down in the past as immoral or whatever other stupid reasons they have to vote against it. They'd much rather people go to Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, rather than stay in or come to Texas. Gotta love the logic. Even if it did pass this session, it wouldn't do anything to help the current deficit as it would take a legislative cycle (2 years) to build and make a difference to the state's budget.
Higher education. These are freaking universities. Why aren't they self sufficient? They should have their own budgets made up of money out equals no more than money in. If they want more money they need to either raise tuition, increase the number of students allowed in or both. And/or they need to find other ways to generate revenue for the schools. There is no good reason, that anyone will convince me of, for Universities to be part of the state's budget. Though I'm sure many will disagree with me.
Anyways I just wanted to talk about the reality in Texas. It's not going to be a pretty session. It's going to be interesting to see how they 'solve' this. And I find it interesting how 'conservative' leadership got us to this deficit rather than plan for this last session when we already had an indication that the economy was headed for a recession.
Labels:
Education,
Higher Education,
Medicaid,
Rick Perry,
Texas Economy
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