There is so much going on right now.  Some days I don’t seem to have time to form an educated opinion on one issue before we’re on to the next meltdown.  So, I’ve just collected some random thoughts…

One things that has been on my mind of late…did people who supported Obama KNOW how he intended to accomplish all his plans or did they just believe in the outcome?  The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow looks marvelous, but wouldn’t you feel differently about it if you understood that that pot of gold was stolen from your neighbor?  Or maybe they don’t…I don’t know.

Does anybody else think that Tim Geithner is spineless?  Does anyone else also think he looks a bit like Beavis of Beavis and Butthead?

Hot off the press – chipping away at the 2nd Amendment Rights…it starts: “Court blocks rule allowing guns in national park.”  Yep, even if you have a concealed handgun license, you can’t bring the gun into the park.  Of course, this only pertains to law abiding citizens.  So, if you’re a homicidal maniac, a national park is the place to do business.  No one there will be able to protect themselves from you.

A Taxing Situation – The House today approved a 90% tax on bonuses given to employees with family incomes above $250,000 at AIG and other companies that received at least $5 billion in government bailout.  This scares the heck out of me.  Don’t get me wrong.  I get think the bonuses are reprehensible.  But it was just a little bit scary how fast the House could pull off writing a tax for something they didn’t like.  Shouldn’t you be worried that you’re going to get taxed next.  Do you drink alcohol?  How about we just triple tax alcohol in order to reduce the number of DUI’s?  Do you have an SUV?  Let’s tax the extra gasoline you’re using in it.  They’ve already talked about taxing miles driven.  Do you have a gun?  Let’s tax the ammunition so you can’t afford to shoot it. 

And last….it occurs to me that the AIG debaucle isn’t really that big of a deal.  I mean we’re not talking national security here or the loss of life.  But the Democratic side of the world has fallen to pieces in the face of a pretty simple issue.  Democratic Congressman (and Republicans, but you would have expected it from them) are blaming Geithner; Geithner is blaming the Feds, Democratic Senator Chris Dodd is blaming “the administration,” David Axelrod is blaming everyone and Obama takes a road trip.  Party on, Dude!

I think in recent days it has become painfully apparent that the President needs to watch how he says things.  The nation has gotten caught up in his charisma, his intelligence, his talent as a public speaker.  And while those qualities are great, I believe his inexperience has been showing a bit.  If we travel back in time a couple of months we heard him say things like…”it’s going to get worse before it gets better” and “unprecedented crisis” and “losing a generation of potential.”  These were comments made in January and early February.  These remarks were followed by spending, spending, spending, as well as expansion of government and earmarks that were supposed to cease to exist.  And the economy and the market responded….

While stock markets plunged to their lowest levels in 20 years and unemployment continued to rise, citizens flocked to buy guns, ammunitions and emergency supplies, depleting the stock almost everywhere you looked.  Media and blogs across the Internet were abuzz with stories of worry, angst and fear. 

Now it appears that President Obama realizes the power of his words.  The message this week has changed in what seems to be an attempt to reverse the slide.  Yesterday’s message was “it’s not as bad as we think it is.”  WHAT?!?!?  Just last month we were told it was going to get worse, but now it’s not that bad.  Now Obama is the “confidence builder in chief.”  How very fraternity sounding.  And today, Larry Summers, Chairman of Obama’s National Economic Council is inferring that it’s the people who are afraid that are creating the problem, by saying that the cycle of fear has to be broken before recovery can begin.  Um….who is partially to blame for creating the fear?  And all this feel good, warm and fuzzy message came as the premier of China, Wen Jiabao expressed concern over the US economy.  Please remember, that China is our biggest creditor with abotu $1 trillion in government debt.  What happens when your creditors start losing confidence in your ability to repay?  They make you cut up your credit card.  He goes on to say that overspending (HELLO…stimulus and bailouts) would drive down the dollar. 

But the omniscient President Obama says his long term view gives him reason to remain optimistic despite a continued rise in unemployment and sharp downturn of the economy.  I sure wish he’d share the details of that view so I could feel optimistic too.

This first video is a report from Fox News Network.  I hated to have to use it because admittedly Fox has a conservative bias (but thank God something offsets the rest of the media).  But it was the best compilation I could find regarding a good explanation of Cap and Trade and what it means to your personal finances.  I actually watched the live version of Geithner speaking.  But I was suprised to never hear much about it on the news.  I’m completely amazed that they are actually verbalizing that the program will cause price increased for the consumer but no one seems real concerned about it. Click on the links below to watch the videos.

Obama Says Energy Prices Will Skyrocket

The next video is Tim Geithner testifying just this past Tuesday before the Senate and saying essentially the same thing.

Geithner Talks Cap and Trade

Listen very carefully to what they’re saying.  Basically, the little bit of a tax cut that you’ll be receiving in the next month or so as well as the Making Work Pay Program will go to offset your higher energy bills that the administration knew would be coming as a result of the Cap and Trade.  AND…as we well know from the $4.00 a gallon gas price we just got beyond, when the cost of energy goes up, so does the cost of EVERYTHING else.  So, in the next few years, there will be fewer people out of work but they won’t be able to afford to drive get to their jobs because of higher gas prices.  Or they can get to work, but can’t afford to feed their families.  And because they’re solidly in the middle income bracket, they will be receiving no assistance.  Add to this today’s headlines that indicate that many businesses will be cutting back wages in order to stay in business.  To put it simply, with this plan we’ll be no better off in 2 years (or longer) than we are today.  Quite possibly the members of the middle income bracket will probably be worse off than they are today.  Good luck out there!  We’re all gonna need it.

For those of you who are tracking, here’s the most current information from Texas Online.

HCR 50 – Affirming that the State of Texas claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution, serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates, and providing that certain federal legislation be prohibited or repealed.

On February 23rd, the resolution was referred to the House Committee on State Affairs. Twenty or twenty-one other states have introduced similar resolutions.

Interesting article on the AMAZING spike in gun sales.  If you’re interested in buying stock, gun manufacturers are not experiencing a recession.  Hmmmmm……

http://blogs.moneycentral.msn.com/topstocks/archive/2009/02/25/fear-of-obama-drives-gun-stocks-higher.aspx

You know…I should know not to pay attention to mainstream media.   But I guess some lessons take longer to sink in.  I did not watch Obama’s speech last night, knowing full well that any of it that I wanted to see would be paraded in front of me most of the day.  To be fair, I did read a transcript of what he had to say…LOL, that transcript was actually printed next to the video that I watched with the sound off.  I could not stop laughing at the video, because Nancy “Mussolini” Pelosi kept popping out of her chair to applaud like a silly little jack in the box.  But, I digress…

Because I decided not to watch the main event, I also chose not to watch the GOP response.  I was surfing the Internet and doing my homework, so I visited MSN and their headline for the GOP response was “Jindal calls strategy irresponsible” or something like that.  My thoughts were “Oh great.  Nothing I need to know about from that.”  But in the same spirit of fairness, I read the transcript.  NOW…I’m inspired.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/25/america/25jindal-text.php

This is a pretty good article.  He asks the same questions I’ve been asking….Who’s gonna pay for all this stimulating?

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/stocks/commentary/gkitermi/Margaret-Thatcher-Was-Right-80168.cfm

I heard a comment last night as I was falling asleep.  I haven’t confirmed it yet, but I found it frightening.  In Obama’s first month in office, more money had been spent that the total cost of the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and the recovery funds for Hurricane Katrina.  WOW!!

I did run across some additional information about H.B. 45.  (It’s really amazing how much I’m learning about how our government works….and here I thought I knew it all…haha).

H.B. 45 is actually the second attempt at the Blair Holt Act.  Representative Rush proposed it the first time in 2007 where it died in committee.  It’s likely to do the same this time.  If a bill doesn’t gather any interest or co-sponsors, it’s not likely to gain much ground.  The article I read speculated that even House Democrats are reluctant to support the bill because they realize that they may alienate their constituents enough to lose their elected position in 2010. 

Meanwhile, it’s still hard as heck to find ammunition, and in some cases guns.  I’m wondering if I shouldn’t take up archery as a means of self defense.

It was an enlightening day.  As many of you know, Bill and I are interested in obtaining our CHL – Concealed Handgun License.  Every day, it seems, the urgency I feel in the pit of my stomach to get that accomplished gets larger.  Today, I think the urgency quadrupled.  People are scared…and they are scared of the new administration. 

We had a good day at the range.  I shot better than I anticipated since I don’t get out to practice as often as I’d like.  The folks at the Texas City Gun Range are so nice and they run a tight ship out there as far as safety is concerned.  It was there that I started noticing the fear.  The range was BUSY!  And the murmurs out on the line were about gun rights and the urgency to purchase firearms. 

After we shot about 400 rounds between us, we headed for Academy to replenish our ammunition supply.  We couldn’t even get up to the counter at Academy without battling a crowd.  They were four deep in front of the gun case and the clerks were selling one weapon after weapon.  Bill finally got to the counter and lo and behold, they were completely out of ammunition. 

Ok, no big deal…we’ll head to the next place.  So we decided to try The Arms Room.  Once again, super people running the place.  We talked to the owner and his family for a long while.  We learned that he’s so busy with CHL classes that he can hardly keep up.  He’s now doing two a month where he used to only do one and this month he may even have to do three.  It was an hour until closing time when we went in and the place was packed, once again 2 and 3 deep at the gun counter.  And once again, NO AMMO!   Now I’m getting a bit concerned.  I can’t very well get a CHL if I have no bullets for the gun.

We decide we’ll come on home and give online purchasing a try.  I’ve been to 3 different websites, Cheaper Than Dirt, Ammunition to Go and A1Ammo.  Now I’m really concerned.  Look at the pages if you don’t believe me.  All the 9mm ammo that is suitable for my gun is out…each choice says out of stock.  I am hopeful that this ammunition shortage is confined to ammunition for personal protection.  I shudder to think what the world will be like if our law enforcement personnel are unable to acquire ammo for their service weapons. 

While I’m perusing the Internet for ammunition, I visit the website for Carter’s Country.  The little notes he places on his sales fliers make for some interesting reading.  Scary, perhaps, but interesting.

I encourage everyone who might be even remotely interesting in preserving Second Amendment Rights to join the National Rifle Association (NRA).  Finally, stay informed about HR45.  The bill has made it to committee but still has no cosponsors.  I hope that this bill, like most, never makes it out of committee.