Some SNAP Food For Thought

Despite the happy news reports from the Lamestream Media that the economy is on the mend and the end of the housing meltdown, a record number of Americans are on food stamps.  In 2012, the federal government spent $74.6 billion on food stamps, which was increase of 70% from the amount spent prior to the 2008 downturn.   Now 15% of the populace or 47.8 million people on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

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 In this artificially austere environment, the Obama Administration continues sharing the SNAP program for illegal
aliens. 
  


Judicial Watch has exposed documenst from the U.S. Department of Agriculture of Spanish language advertising campaign sent to the Mexican embassy advising people how to apply for food stamps in the United States.  The salient detail is a statement that is both bolded and underlined  which notes: “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.”

So a government that is so supposedly cash strapped that it is laying off air traffic controllers,  government contractors and risking military readiness continues a campaign for what the politically correct Obama Administration (and the White House stenographers working for the Associated Press) would label  "undocumented immigrants."   Or as Jay Leno joked, "undocumented Democrats."



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Rather than appealing to Mexicans, maybe we should target our advertising to give succor to Chavistas, as America is currently being run like a banana republic, albeit without the comfy upscale clothing.         SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com

White House Conflicting Signs

It is interesting that at a supposed time of governmental austerity due to the sequester that the Obama Administration can cancel school tours of the White House, yet still have a PBS Blowout concert celebrating the Memphis Soul.  

The Air Force has cancelled 25% of its regular flights as well as ceremonial fly-overs due to the Sequester.  But has that grounded Air Force One?  Or what about the surf and ski tours for the First Family?  

The other ironic conflicting sign that the Lamestream Media will prompt the public to blame Congress for the pain of Sequestration.  

All of this is due to a cut of 2.3% in the rate of GROWTH of the Federal Budget. These conflicting signs should make it clear that it is the White House decides how sequestration is applied.  

Political Peeps

Now that people in the District of Calamity have recovered from their Easter basket sugar comas as well as the elation over Bryce Harper hitting two homers to secure the opening day win for the Washington Nationals, it is a good time to consider Easter epicurean art in the form of political peeps.

Peeps are a marshmallow confection produced by Just Born candies from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania since 1953.  The Peeps are formed in the shape of chicks and bunnies and are often associated with Easter.

Had the creators of Occupy Peeps have watched Occupied Unmasked, their take on the protest might not have been so sweet. 

Since 2007, the Washington Post has sponsored a contest challenging budding artists to make dioramas with Peeps.  This year a few of the outstanding entries had playful yet poignant political themes.  

Nicholas Burger and  Radga Iyenger honored the heroics of Seal Team Six in administering justice to Osama bin Laden in Diorama of Zero Dark Thirty (with Peeps).

It is unclear what exactly was inside the wrapper. Assuredly, it was not kosher. 

Others took a more whimsical approach to governance in the District of Calamity.  A group from the Siemens Technology Team in Beltsville, Maryland satirized Sequestration by splicing it with imagery inspired by Despicable Me in their creation: DesPEEPable Congress.

Despite the demagoguery of the Obama Administration, Sequestration was not the bomb that the White House expected.  The 2.3% reduction in the rate of growth for the federal government did not not blow up between the beltways.  The White House did hold the annual Easter Egg Roll but decided to cancel school tours of the White House, blaming it on Secret Service funding.  Maybe if the First Family cut down on their jet setting (first daughters surf and ski spring break at Paradise Island, the Bahamas and Sun Valley, Idaho,  the President taking Sunday Golf jaunts to Florida to have a round with Tiger Woods), they could avoid the damage. 

h/t: The Washington Post

Harry Reid Doubles Down on Squelching Sequestration

In response to the tragic deaths of seven Marines and many more injured during a training exercise in at Hawthorne, Nevada,  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) took to the Senate floor to blame... sequestration.

Of course Reid's, thesis makes no sense. The USMC issued a blanket ban on using the mortars and the associated tubes, as they are suspected as being defective.  Then there is the inconvenient truth that sequestration would have killed a live fire exercise for budgetary considerations.   Besides, the Marines can't take the bullets away from the huge DHS acquisitions which has been creating ammo shortages in the civilian population.

While Michael Ramirez was funny in postulating that Reid lost 98% of his remaining moral principals due to sequestration,  it is unclear if Reid still had any ethical chips left in his stash considering his cozy relations with casinos for his re-election as well as miraculously multiplying his personal wealth while serving in the Senate. 

Yet the Lamestream Media will intimate that Republicans would sell their soul to the devil for political advantage.  Consider Late Show host David Letterman's funny observation over the perceived likeness of Obama in the History Channel's "The Bible" series.

Unlike Democrat Senate Leader Reid's punch-line for sequestration, at least Letterman's laugh line  did not exploit the deaths of seven Marines to achieve his objectives, damn the truth.


h/t: Michael Ramirez

Budgeting Time for Barack-etology?

As March Madness begins in earnest today, President Obama took the time before his quick Spring Break trip to the Middle-East to fill out his NCAA March Madness Brackets.  

The Celebrity-in-Chief then taped an ESPN segment to explain his choices--

While the POTUS picks have been one in four during his tenure in the Oval, it calls for an even basic question--why is he wasting time on inconsequential items when he has a nation that he should be governing?

As sequestration comes into full effect, and the Obama Administration cancelled school tours of the White House and threatens the Easter Egg Roll (while still having costly golf outings with Tiger Woods and a St. Paddy's Day party), he vexes over college hoops.   As Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) call for US boots on the ground in Syria, additional missile interceptors are deployed on the West Coast for a North Korean nuclear ICBM threat and Iran is close to having nuclear weapons, our re-elected leader plays with Barack-etology? 

The law requires that the Executive Branch submits its Federal Budget by February 1st.  As it stands,  the Obama Administration won't have it done by April Fools Day. 

If it's any consolation,  Barack Budgets have gotten zero votes in  Congress. So it seems that he does better at his Bracketology than budgeting anyways. 

Perhaps we could profit from the POTUS picks and make up the sequestration shortfall.  But considering that he chose safe picks: Ohio State, Florida, Louisville and Indiana, it won't have much of a payout.  Unlike if someone chose in Paddy Pool chose Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the Conclave Championship --The Sweet Sistine. The man who became Pope Francis paid off at 33-1. 

We do not need  bread and circuses.  We need leadership from Washington.  A couple of weeks ago, President Obama went through the motions of a Capitol Hill charm offensive.  Then he cracks wise against Congress when setting foot on foreign soil. It make one wonder if he is serious about the responsibilities as the Leader of the Free World, or if he just seriously enjoys the spotlight and the trappings of the Oval Office.  

Obama White House Dog Run?

White House photograph Pete Sueza  snapped a telling shot of President Barack Obama running through a corridor of the White House with First Dog Bo.

Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA  49th) took a great verbal snap with this snapshot by combining this picture with  the controversy of the Obama Administration's cancellation of White House tours supposedly due to Sequestration.    Issa's commentary was "We've finally got he place to ourselves..." along with the caption  "Our Capitol doors are always open".

On a related note, President Obama blamed the Secret Service on Wednesday for laying off personnel due to the sequester and he has hinted at the resumption of tours for student groups of the American People's House.  

It should be noted that this statement comes after what ABC News' George Stephanopolis characterized as "considerable heat" over the cancellations.  Several prominent people, including Fox News Channel anchor Eric Bolling along with real estate mogul and "The Apprentice" host Donald Trump had offered to write checks to continue the White House tours after the Sequester. 

It seems that the Obama Administration is shifting the heat, as there are current headlines that the sequestration's "shoestring" budgeting (which is just cutting the rate of increase of the federal budget) will cancel the Fourth of July concert and fireworks on the National Mall.  At least this aggressive austerity does not indiscriminately release incarcerated illegal aliens.   And no Independence Day celebration would allow the Ellipse to be a gigantic dog run. Or a nearby golf course on Federal land.

Taxing Credulity on Honesty

Debbie Bozaneck at 2012 State of the Union

During the 1992 Presidential campaign, both Warren Buffet and President Obama loved to point out that secretaries paid at a higher personal tax rate than the billionaires.  His secretary paid the higher 35.8% income tax rate whereas the Wizard of Omaha paid an effective 17.4% rate. In fact, Debbie Bozaneck, Buffet's personal secretary,  was invited to sit in the Presidential box during the 2012 State of the Union to highlight the inequity.

The truth be told, Warren Buffet derived most of his income from capital gains, not salaried income. Thus Buffet's long term capital gains were taxed at 15% and most of his earnings were not subject to the 4.2% Social Security and the 1.45% Medicare payroll taxes.  Nor does Buffet's low figure take into account double taxation coming from taxable income from long term capital gains, which would be  taxed at an effective rate of 49% (15% long term capital gain and 34% personal income).  Of course, none of these figures include state, local and sales taxes.

This flurry of tax inequity publicity ostensively was meant to sell the stillborn Buffet Rule which Mr. Obama parried during his re-election campaign. But instead of being the basic of tax reform, it served as a campaign cudgel of class warfare against upper income Americans (the top  2%) who already shoulder  the bulk of the tax burden. 

If Buffet really felt like he was fleecing the Feds, he can always gift the Treasury Department more money, surely Uncle Sam will spend his largess.   Maybe it will mitigate the effects of sequestration.  But Buffet's bravado reveals that his honesty taxes credibility and serves as a cheap trick in public policy discussions.

Sequester Cliff Driving

Surely, President Obama's eleventh hour 59 minute meeting will avoid the sequester cliff. 

More likely it will help President Obama avoid the blame for going over the sequester cliff by passing the wheel  to the GOP.  It seems that former President George W. Bush wasn't available for blame. 

With navigation under President Obama's in control, who needs Toonces the Driving Cat?




h/t: Mike Skelton

A Glimpse of the Nekkid Truth as America Approaches the Fiscal Cliffs

As politicians on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue perform the strip tease regarding the avoiding Fiscal Cliff, it is worth stepping back to chuckle and simultaneously smirk at what brought us here.

In late November, protesters who could have been typecast out of the Occupy Wall Street sit-ins, albeit better bathed and sans clothes, decided to demonstrate in Speaker John Boehner's office regarding cuts from the sequestration


 

When commenting on the Capitol Hill streaking spectacle, former Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) quipped at a Christian Science Monitor luncheon about the difference between being "naked" and "nekkid".  Obviously from the messages on their backs, they were up to something...

A similar case can be made about approaching the fiscal cliffs and budgetary sequestration

Typical of his governing style, President Obama had a hands off approach to budget negotiations when he went on his Hawaiian holiday.  When the President showily returned to the District of Calamity for budget talks, he gathered politicos for a photo op, offered nothing new and dictated how Congress should legislate by demanding an up and down vote, which might not even carry the upper chambers majority caucus.

Speaker Boehner called back House Members on Sunday afternoon in case there was a legislative compromise.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have tried to craft a last minute compromise.  It would not be surprising if the proverbial can gets kicked another month down the road...



So expect lawmakers to realize that they are "nekkid" and find a fig leaf.  The problem is that such a fig leaf of a plan essentially covers nothing and may get everyone banished from the land of the free and the home of the brave.

SEE MORE at DCBarroco.com

You've Got to Hand It to the Feds

The Food Stamp program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is proud to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever.

Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Interior Department,  asks Americans to "Please don't feed the animals".

 The stated reason for this U.S. Government policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves.

Irony anyone?

As there is drama in the District of Calamity to find paths away from going over the fiscal cliff, President Obama and the Republican leadership both have proposals which increase taxes without firm cuts in federal spending.

Maybe we should not feed the political animals for our own good.

A Primer to Fiscal Cliff Notes

In one month, unless Congress and the President can agree upon a solution, sequestration will occur which will automatically make an across the board 10% budgetary reduction. In the District of Calamity, this willy-nilly cost cutting is know as going  over the fiscal cliff.


As most Americans are in the Christmas preparation rush and President Obama is set to rush off to a 20 day $4 million holiday in Christmas Vacation in Hawaii, it does not seem that the calamitous effects if the Lame Duck Congress is unable to craft a compromise budget are widely understood. So here are some fiscal cliff notes:




 President Obama offered an idea to allegedly avoid the sequestration crisis:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) found this proposal laughable.

READ MORE at the DCBarroco.com blog

Lotto Luck Avoiding the Fiscal Cliff

As American teeters at the edge of the fiscal cliff, and most of the Lamestream Media gave saturation coverage to Powerball mania, it may be instructive to use the lotto fever paradigm to explain the futility of “soaking the rich” via President Obama’s unceasing class warfare campaigning as governing strategy.

As the Heritage Foundation’s graphic illustrates, even confiscating all of the lucky Lotto winners gross (granted government already takes around 50%), this would only fund the Federal Government for 86 MINUTES.

... If the American public thinks that by soaking the wealthiest one percent, it will balance the budget, then lotto luck. If they are able to engage in critical thinking, it would behoove them to determine what is someone’s “fair share”. Moreover, since the Obama Administration has defined millionaires downward to just $200,000, they should discern how low the label of the wealthy will go when seizing true millionaire’s incomes only funds the government for around just 100 days. As Ayn Rand observed in Atlas Shrugged: “If you don't know, the thing to do is not to get scared, but to learn.” READ MORE at DCBarroco.com

Naked Ambition on Capitol Hill

Yesterday, some publicity seeking protesters with naked ambition briefly occupied the ante-chamber to House Speaker John Boehner's office.

WARNING the video exposes the naked truth from this "happening". It is not for the faint hearted or those offended by public nudity.



 Former Majority Whip Senator Alan Simpson (R-WY) quipped "If you are naked, you're without clothes. If you are nekkid, you're also without clothes but you're up to something."  Aside from generating some titillating news pegs, it is unclear what these demonstrators are really seeking to do.

Presumably, they are agitating over sequestration (a.k.a. the fiscal cliff) during the 112th Congress' Lame Duck session, but that is a 10% across the board spending reduction. So is their plan to not cut discretionary domestic to make the greenback as worthless as Monopoly money or to follow a donkey plan to extract all savings at the expense of the Pentagon?

Maybe President Obama could show some leadership and offer a real plan to avoid the fiscal cliff, instead of remaining in the role of campaigner-in-chief for class warfare without offering any real solutions.  

But then the protesters would have to move to Lafayette Park and it's pretty cold in the District of Calamity right now.

One thing is for sure is that these protesters are better bathed than the Occupy types who were permitted to take over McPherson Square last year.