On January 13, 2009, Hillary Clinton's personal email server was set up under the domain name of "clintonemail.com". This happens to be the exact same day that her confirmation hearings began in Congress.
Not only did Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not have an official State Dept email address; but her Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills and Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin both had "clintonemail.com" email addresses in addition to their official State Dept emails.
A State Dept cable issued June 29,2011 under Clinton's signature warns all State Dept employees to “Avoid conducting official Department business from your personal e-mail accounts.”
The State Dept's Foreign Affairs Manual was updated on November 4, 2005 to state that:
“It is the Department’s general policy that normal day-to-day operations be conducted on an authorized AIS [Automated Information System], which has the proper level of security control to provide nonrepudiation, authentication and encryption, to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the resident information,”
In October of 2009, the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations on the handling of electronic records was updated: “Agencies that allow employees to send and receive official electronic mail messages using a system not operated by the agency must ensure that Federal records sent or received on such systems are preserved in the appropriate agency recordkeeping system.”
and it stated the the "head of each agency" was responsible for making and preserving these records.
And it is also true the the U.S. Ambassador to Kenya, Scott Gration was forced to resign in 2012 for setting up an unsactioned private e-mail system.
As far as the "two devices" defense goes; up until about 2 years ago I only used Blackberrys. A lot cheaper Blackberry than Mrs. Clinton had. I had 3 email accounts linked to my Blackberry. And if she is indeed a Ludite, I'm sure that Chelsea could have set it up for her.
Now, knowing all this; the only conclusion that a sane person can estrapolate from this is that Hillary Clinton knew that the content of her official electronic communications would be much more damning than if the fact that she had withheld said communications from the public record (as mandated by Federal regulation) ever became known. She knew from past experience that Clinton had a knack for talking their way out of scandal (Whitewater, Vince Foster, etc).
I have no problem with America electing a woman to be President. But not this woman. A woman that is only qualified to serve time in a Federal Prison.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Sunday, January 9, 2011
A Crazy Idea About Income Taxes
What would you say if I told you that I had an idea that would eliminate Income Taxes and generate more revenue for the U.S. Treasury? Crazy, right? Yes indeed. It is quite the crazy idea. Crazy enough that it would work.
Let us start this off with me asking you a simple direct question:
"Do you pay income taxes to the Federal Government?"
Good answer.
"Do you buy things with the wages that you earn?"
Another good answer.
"Do Drug Dealers & Money Launderers pay income taxes on their earnings?"
"Do Drug Dealers & Money Launderers buy things?"
My idea is quite simple, really. Instead of paying taxes at the front end; why not pay at the back end?
Eliminate all income taxes and replace them with a Federal Sales Tax. The rate would be much lower than the rate we are paying on income because more people would be paying the tax. No more loopholes for people to use and abuse. And even the criminals would be contributing. And there are no "loopholes" for sales tax.
So crazy it just might work? Too crazy for anyone to join the bandwagon and pass it? Who knows. The idea has been rolling around in my head for years and it feels good to let it out.
Now this will never go anywhere; so let me give you my second best solution:
Tax every American at the same rate and ELIMINATE ALL LOOPHOLES!
You could have everyone paying a lower rate than they currently pay and with the elimination of the loopholes you would still be bringing in greater revenues.
Upside for either of these plans:
The size of the Internal Revenue Service could be cut in half!
"Do you pay income taxes to the Federal Government?"
Good answer.
"Do you buy things with the wages that you earn?"
Another good answer.
"Do Drug Dealers & Money Launderers pay income taxes on their earnings?"
"Do Drug Dealers & Money Launderers buy things?"
My idea is quite simple, really. Instead of paying taxes at the front end; why not pay at the back end?
Eliminate all income taxes and replace them with a Federal Sales Tax. The rate would be much lower than the rate we are paying on income because more people would be paying the tax. No more loopholes for people to use and abuse. And even the criminals would be contributing. And there are no "loopholes" for sales tax.
So crazy it just might work? Too crazy for anyone to join the bandwagon and pass it? Who knows. The idea has been rolling around in my head for years and it feels good to let it out.
Now this will never go anywhere; so let me give you my second best solution:
Tax every American at the same rate and ELIMINATE ALL LOOPHOLES!
You could have everyone paying a lower rate than they currently pay and with the elimination of the loopholes you would still be bringing in greater revenues.
Upside for either of these plans:
The size of the Internal Revenue Service could be cut in half!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Is the vote to repeal ObamaCare a waste of time?
Yes, and No (and No)
What can really be accomplished by this?
First; even though 70% of Americans did NOT want this passed; Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi decided that Americans were too dumb to know what is good for them or what they need. They held locked door meetings in the middle of the night to get it done. (I'm thinking they are too dumb to understand what the title "Representative" means). This is evident in Pelosi's famous quote: "You have to pass the bill to find out what's in the bill".
Secondly; a lot of the new people in Congress got elected based on their stance on ObamaCare. And a lot of Democrats lost their job based on their stance. So even if the bill to repeal does not pass the Senate; every American voter will know who is for and who is against.
The time for the political bullshit is over.
Mr. President, Mr. Reid, Ms. Pelosi: You say you now think it is time to focus on fixing the economy? Your ObamaCare is a major hinderance to job creation, which is what is needed to fix the economy.
There are a few good things in the Healthcare Reform, but all the other crap in it negates the good stuff.
It is time for every elected official to stand up, face the microphone and say "Yea" or "Nay"!
What can really be accomplished by this?
First; even though 70% of Americans did NOT want this passed; Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi decided that Americans were too dumb to know what is good for them or what they need. They held locked door meetings in the middle of the night to get it done. (I'm thinking they are too dumb to understand what the title "Representative" means). This is evident in Pelosi's famous quote: "You have to pass the bill to find out what's in the bill".
Secondly; a lot of the new people in Congress got elected based on their stance on ObamaCare. And a lot of Democrats lost their job based on their stance. So even if the bill to repeal does not pass the Senate; every American voter will know who is for and who is against.
The time for the political bullshit is over.
Mr. President, Mr. Reid, Ms. Pelosi: You say you now think it is time to focus on fixing the economy? Your ObamaCare is a major hinderance to job creation, which is what is needed to fix the economy.
There are a few good things in the Healthcare Reform, but all the other crap in it negates the good stuff.
It is time for every elected official to stand up, face the microphone and say "Yea" or "Nay"!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
"Power Corrupts" aka Term Limits
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902)
The United States is a government "By the people, for the people"; but the government is run by professional politicians. Does anyone see something wrong with that picture?
Or how about this: In 2010, an E-4 (cpl/specialist/petty officer) serving in the armed forces made $22,993.20 last year. Your Senator/Congressman made $174,000 (that just being their government paycheck. Doesn't include other sources of income.) And the kicker is: we use the same adjective to describe what they are doing.
SERVING. One is eating a cold MRE out of a brown plastic bag during a 4 hour watch in the middle of the night on the side of a mountain in Afghanistan. The other is eating lunch at a fancy DC restaurant, talking with his colleagues about how he is going to hide a $1.5 million appropriation for his district in bill that has nothing to do with his "pet-project". Which of these two is "serving" the American people? Which of these two is taking the American people for a ride?
I do not believe that it was ever the intention of our founding fathers to create a class of professional politicians. I feel that they envisioned that a community would send a trusted neighbor to Washington to speak for them for 2 years, and then expected him to return to his community and profession afterward and send another neighbor to take his place.
The way the system is set up, as soon as they take office they have two things to work on: paying back the people that contributed to their campaign, and start thinking about the next election. Do they really have time to represent those that sent him there in the first place. Who really is represented in our representative government? Is it you? Is it me? Is it the corporation/union/lobbyist that pay to get him elected?
Come on now 112th Congress. We are all waiting to see if you got the message that we are sick of "business as usual" and we want change. Change we can really believe in. Not just reciting the Constitution, but following it. No more doing things in secret in locked rooms in the middle of the night. No more "pass the bill to see what's in the bill". Let's vote on one issue at a time instead of cramming 250 non-related spending clauses into a bill that has nothing to do with the original bill.
Maybe you can start the new session by watching "Schoolhouse Rock"...............................<just saying>
Next topic: Eliminate the Income Tax!
John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902)
The United States is a government "By the people, for the people"; but the government is run by professional politicians. Does anyone see something wrong with that picture?
Or how about this: In 2010, an E-4 (cpl/specialist/petty officer) serving in the armed forces made $22,993.20 last year. Your Senator/Congressman made $174,000 (that just being their government paycheck. Doesn't include other sources of income.) And the kicker is: we use the same adjective to describe what they are doing.
SERVING. One is eating a cold MRE out of a brown plastic bag during a 4 hour watch in the middle of the night on the side of a mountain in Afghanistan. The other is eating lunch at a fancy DC restaurant, talking with his colleagues about how he is going to hide a $1.5 million appropriation for his district in bill that has nothing to do with his "pet-project". Which of these two is "serving" the American people? Which of these two is taking the American people for a ride?
I do not believe that it was ever the intention of our founding fathers to create a class of professional politicians. I feel that they envisioned that a community would send a trusted neighbor to Washington to speak for them for 2 years, and then expected him to return to his community and profession afterward and send another neighbor to take his place.
The way the system is set up, as soon as they take office they have two things to work on: paying back the people that contributed to their campaign, and start thinking about the next election. Do they really have time to represent those that sent him there in the first place. Who really is represented in our representative government? Is it you? Is it me? Is it the corporation/union/lobbyist that pay to get him elected?
Come on now 112th Congress. We are all waiting to see if you got the message that we are sick of "business as usual" and we want change. Change we can really believe in. Not just reciting the Constitution, but following it. No more doing things in secret in locked rooms in the middle of the night. No more "pass the bill to see what's in the bill". Let's vote on one issue at a time instead of cramming 250 non-related spending clauses into a bill that has nothing to do with the original bill.
Maybe you can start the new session by watching "Schoolhouse Rock"...............................<just saying>
Next topic: Eliminate the Income Tax!
Monday, December 27, 2010
My Political Compass
Just so everybody know before we start this; I think it only fair to give you a brief overview of my political and moral leanings so that most things that come out of my mouth don't surprise you too much.
I am registered as a Republican and have been since I registered to vote on my 18th birthday. The reason that I registered such; is because the basic premise (in 1983) was that the Republican Party believed in "less government" and "lower taxes" and that the Democrats believed in "higher taxes" to fund a "bigger government".
And although I still believe in "less government/lower taxes"; I think that my political "leanings" are most in line with the Libertarian Party. But because of the "2 Party" System that seems to control what we do politically in this country; I shall remain enrolled in the Republican Party because I can be more involved in more of the process.
So my political views are more often on the Conservative side of things, although I can be quite liberal on certain social issues.
In N.Y. state up until this last election we always voted in these old mechanical voting booths, where you entered and pulled a lever which closed the curtain. After casting all your votes, you would pull the lever back and that would register your votes and open the curtain. These machines had a feature that always drove me nuts. There were "master switches" to the left so that you could "robot vote". What I mean is this: there was a switch I could flip which would automatically flip all the Republican switches so as to vote for all Republicans on the ballot; for whichever office they were running. (There were also master switches for the other parties, too)
For local/state elections; voters should have some working knowledge of local current events and should therefore have an idea of what certain people running for offices believe. Even more so today, with the internet; voters can find voting records for people who currently hold public offices in all levels of government. So what I am trying to say is that it is utterly asinine for a voter to base their decision solely on a candidates party affiliation. Because as we all should know: there are "conservative" Democrats and there are "liberal" Republicans and all kinds of species in the mix.
So please; everybody: do yourselves, your families, your communities and your fellow citizens a favor and go into the voting booth each year educated on the candidates and the issues. I have never told anyone who to vote for. And I will not start now. If I vote for "RED" and you vote for "BLUE" and our votes cancel each other out; I am fine with that. It means that the process is working just the way that our founders intended.
Until next time.......
I am registered as a Republican and have been since I registered to vote on my 18th birthday. The reason that I registered such; is because the basic premise (in 1983) was that the Republican Party believed in "less government" and "lower taxes" and that the Democrats believed in "higher taxes" to fund a "bigger government".
And although I still believe in "less government/lower taxes"; I think that my political "leanings" are most in line with the Libertarian Party. But because of the "2 Party" System that seems to control what we do politically in this country; I shall remain enrolled in the Republican Party because I can be more involved in more of the process.
So my political views are more often on the Conservative side of things, although I can be quite liberal on certain social issues.
In N.Y. state up until this last election we always voted in these old mechanical voting booths, where you entered and pulled a lever which closed the curtain. After casting all your votes, you would pull the lever back and that would register your votes and open the curtain. These machines had a feature that always drove me nuts. There were "master switches" to the left so that you could "robot vote". What I mean is this: there was a switch I could flip which would automatically flip all the Republican switches so as to vote for all Republicans on the ballot; for whichever office they were running. (There were also master switches for the other parties, too)
For local/state elections; voters should have some working knowledge of local current events and should therefore have an idea of what certain people running for offices believe. Even more so today, with the internet; voters can find voting records for people who currently hold public offices in all levels of government. So what I am trying to say is that it is utterly asinine for a voter to base their decision solely on a candidates party affiliation. Because as we all should know: there are "conservative" Democrats and there are "liberal" Republicans and all kinds of species in the mix.
So please; everybody: do yourselves, your families, your communities and your fellow citizens a favor and go into the voting booth each year educated on the candidates and the issues. I have never told anyone who to vote for. And I will not start now. If I vote for "RED" and you vote for "BLUE" and our votes cancel each other out; I am fine with that. It means that the process is working just the way that our founders intended.
Until next time.......
Are you the "ruled"; or are you the "ruler"?
Let me start out with who I am:
I am a 45 year old man with a family (2 boys 10 & 6). I am a high school graduate with no college. I tooled around a couple years after high school; then ended up joining the Marine Corps in time for a trip to Desert Storm. I tried several things before the job I currently have. I work for a municipal public works department as a laborer making around $33,000/year. Momma does custodial work @ $9/hour. We own a small home. I drive a '98 Dodge and momma a '99 minivan. Some may call us "middle class" but these days; it sure feels a lot like being poor.
The premise of my "rantings":
Having been born and raised in New York state; I have been a 1st hand witness of dysfunctional government at it's finest. As the years have gone by, I have been very vocal about how I feel about it and "what I would do" if it were up to me. My family, friends and co-workers all thought I should blog about it (thinking they wouldn't have to hear it from me anymore.....sorry).
Our forefathers put a lot of thought into the form of government that they created for us. Of course Monarchy was out. They dismissed Democracy because that can lead to Anarchy when decisions are made rashly. So we got a Republic. (A Democratic Republic to be accurate. Which means: "we the people" DO NOT make the decisions directly; we elect the people who make the decision for us.
So with this being a government "by the people, for the people"; it is my opinion that "we the people" who have for a very long time, been detatched from the process, should get back involved in the process.
I will be ranting on subjects such as Taxes, Term Limits, Government Accountability, Immigration, Military and countless others.
Like I said in my intro posting: I don't expect everyone to agree with me. But we can have constructive discussion on the issues; and maybe we can come up with some workable solutions.
I am a 45 year old man with a family (2 boys 10 & 6). I am a high school graduate with no college. I tooled around a couple years after high school; then ended up joining the Marine Corps in time for a trip to Desert Storm. I tried several things before the job I currently have. I work for a municipal public works department as a laborer making around $33,000/year. Momma does custodial work @ $9/hour. We own a small home. I drive a '98 Dodge and momma a '99 minivan. Some may call us "middle class" but these days; it sure feels a lot like being poor.
The premise of my "rantings":
Having been born and raised in New York state; I have been a 1st hand witness of dysfunctional government at it's finest. As the years have gone by, I have been very vocal about how I feel about it and "what I would do" if it were up to me. My family, friends and co-workers all thought I should blog about it (thinking they wouldn't have to hear it from me anymore.....sorry).
Our forefathers put a lot of thought into the form of government that they created for us. Of course Monarchy was out. They dismissed Democracy because that can lead to Anarchy when decisions are made rashly. So we got a Republic. (A Democratic Republic to be accurate. Which means: "we the people" DO NOT make the decisions directly; we elect the people who make the decision for us.
So with this being a government "by the people, for the people"; it is my opinion that "we the people" who have for a very long time, been detatched from the process, should get back involved in the process.
I will be ranting on subjects such as Taxes, Term Limits, Government Accountability, Immigration, Military and countless others.
Like I said in my intro posting: I don't expect everyone to agree with me. But we can have constructive discussion on the issues; and maybe we can come up with some workable solutions.
Friday, December 24, 2010
First Post - Mission Statement.
I don't know if anyone will be reading this blog; but let me say a few things.
This is America.
I love America.
I don't expect everyone to agree with me 100% of the time. What I would like is some conversation and thought about the political process in this country on all levels. Most people would agree that the process needs fixing. And because ours is a government "for the people, by the people" it is up to us to push the changes needed to fix it on the city, state and federal levels.
Not sure I love the title I picked, but I started this from my Blackberry. I had lots of "catchy" names in my head, but all were taken and I was getting a headache trying to find a good one. I did the best I could.
This is America.
I love America.
I don't expect everyone to agree with me 100% of the time. What I would like is some conversation and thought about the political process in this country on all levels. Most people would agree that the process needs fixing. And because ours is a government "for the people, by the people" it is up to us to push the changes needed to fix it on the city, state and federal levels.
Not sure I love the title I picked, but I started this from my Blackberry. I had lots of "catchy" names in my head, but all were taken and I was getting a headache trying to find a good one. I did the best I could.
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