BROTHERS (AND SISTERS) CAN YOU SPARE A TRILLION?

Here is financial wizard Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader, on the state of the country’s budget situation.

“The fact is, we’ve had plenty of spending cuts. … What we need is growth. We need growth with jobs. … So, again, we have to make a judgment about how do we get growth with jobs, that’s where the real revenue comes from.

You don’t get it by… cutting into education, cutting back on investments in science and National Institute of Health, food safety, you name it. …

So, it isn’t as much of a spending problem as it is a priorities, and that’s what a budget is, setting priorities. … Nothing brings more money to the Treasury of the United States than investments in education of the American people. … So if you recognize that, which cuts really help us and which cuts hurt our future. And cuts in education, scientific research and the rest are harmful.

So, it is almost a false argument to say that we have a spending problem. We have a budget deficit problem.”

This gentle reminder of the nation's bloated entitlement spending came after Pelosi, in an interview with "Fox News Sunday," challenged those calling for more cuts. 

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney countered Pelosi’s, (ahem), interesting take on deficit spending. "Of course, the president believes that we have a spending problem," Carney said Monday, adding that the problem is "specifically driven" by health care spending. "And that's just a fact."

Pelosi was aligning herself with Obama in calling for Washington to avert a looming round of budget cuts -- by replacing them with a blend of cuts and tax hikes. 

The cuts are set to kick in March 1 and will impact the Pentagon more than any other single department. Republicans want the package replaced with a less arbitrary slate of cuts. But Pelosi argued that more cuts would hurt the economy, and in turn do little to close the deficit. 

I guess I cannot argue with Pelosi's claim that the government has a deficit problem….I simply reject the notion that this has nothing to do with overspending.

That’s what a deficit is-you spend more than your earn!

And Ms. Pelosi seems to have all of the budget savvy of a teenager in the mall with their parent's credit cards.

The government’s overspending exceeded $1 trillion for each of the past four years, adding $6 trillion total to the national debt during President Obama's first term. 

People-King Obama and his cheerleader Pelosi don’t care about this debt! 

They won’t have to pay it back-your children will!

This irresponsible behavior cannot be remedied simply with tax increases…we need to cut up Washington’s credit cards.

First step-admit that Washington has a rather severe spending problem. 

Even many in the Democratic Party concede that the growth in entitlement spending -- on Medicare and other budget gobblers -- needs to be checked. 

I’m sure Emporer Obama will give us a stirring speech about “investing in our future” during his State of the Union address. 

When have you seen excessive use of credit work well as an investment vehicle for any of your friends?

Why then, would you think it would work for your country?

GREAT GONZOS!

Ted Nugent's well-documented dislike of President Barack Obama won't keep him from attending the State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

The rocker, who likened gun owners to civil rights hero Rosa Parks last month, will be a guest of Republican congressman Steve Stockman from Texas, who last month suggested impeaching Obama over gun control.

"I am excited to have a patriot like Ted Nugent joining me in the House Chamber to hear from President Obama," said Stockman in a statement. "After the Address, I'm sure Ted will have plenty to say."

Nugent has long been a staunch conservative and a vocal opponent of Obama. Last April, his comments towards Obama and the Democratic party at an NRA convention led to an appointment with the Secret Service. 

Nugent denounced immigration reform and gun control at a biker rally last June and called Obama voters "pimps, whores and welfare brats" after last November's election. 

MAKING DEMANDS

A lot has been said about guns this year in the blogosphere.

Arlee Bird at Tossing It Out has put forth a couple of posts (one HERE and another HERE) on the gun control debate, as have yours truly and Stephen T. McCarthy.

I do not meant to revisit that debate with this post.

No, faithful readers, with this post I am here to bring you EXCITING NEWS that will make you all feel safer knowing that Hollywood has your back!

A group of Hollywood stars have recorded a "moving" public service announcement for the "Demand A Plan To End Gun Violence" campaign.

And I promise you, the public, this has nothing to do with servicing you, unless you mean they're bending you over and screwing you again.

The clip features celebrities like Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Amanda Peet, Nick Offerman, Cameron DIaz, Jennifer Aniston, Zooey Deschanel, John Slattery, Debra Messing, Elizabeth Banks, Jeremy Renner, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Munn

In their best teary-eyed dramatic voices, the stars recount many of the tragedies that have happened in recent years (and they ARE tragedies), and point out the need for new gun legislation to protect us all.

Too bad so many of them are full of shit.

For example, Jamie Foxx, who is so against the idea of violence that he stars in the ultra-violent Tarantino film Django Unchained, wants gun control legislation

Jon Hamm, with turbulent films like The Town and Sucker Punch to his name, would like to see your second amendment rights curtailed....for your own good, of course! 

And we all saw Jeremy Renner's message of non-violence in films like The Bourne Legacy, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, The Avengers, and his most recent, Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Do you really want advice about legislation from someone willing to start in a movie called Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters?

And Jennifer Garner was walking the walk through five hyper violent seasons of Alias, as well as in the films, Daredevil, Elektra, and The Kingdom.

All she was saying was give peace a chance.

Want more hypocrisy?

How about Amanda Peet in The Whole Nine Yards, a comedy about a hit man, or Cameron DIaz in the Charlie's Angels fims and Knight And Day?

Or Nick Offerman in 21 Jump Street and Sin City, or John Slattery in The Adjustment Bureau and Iron Man 2. Gwyneth Paltrow in the Iron Man films, or the lovely Jessica Alba in Sin City?

Need I go on?

If you want to see how deplorable guns are to Hollywood, just look at what was offered up in just the first month of 2013?

Arnold came back from politics and infidelity with a bang...

And Sly did what Sly does best...

Now I am not saying that I think we should ban these films.

That would make ME a hypocrite, as I have seen many of them.

But I am saying that guns have been around longer than movies and have not changed all that much.

But our entertainment HAS changed.

Movies, television and video games are all very different than the television and motion pictures of forty-five years ago.

Video games did not even exist forty-five years ago.

Which also seems to be when these shooting sprees started.

When the subject of violence in movies comes up, the talking heads that represent Hollywood's profit margins will tell you that "no clear causal link between violence in entertainment and real-life violence has ever been established."

I am not disputing that statement.

But I would also say that no evidence has been presented to prove that the UNCONSTITUTIONAL measures being proposed by Emporer Obama or the bleeding-heart celebrities stumping for "Demand A Plan" would have precented ANY of the recent shooting incidents that these initiatives are exploiting to push their agenda. 

After the bad guy killed off all the underdeveloped characters
The good guy put a bullet right through his head
The screenwriter stood up and told us that all the loose ends had been tied
Justice is irrelevant
Violent problems need violent solutions
'Cause in America we like our bad guys dead
It's called box office, baby
It's bigger than the damn Stones

-Todd Snider, from Tension

Everybody wants to blame guns, and perhaps there could be something done to better weed out who we let posess a gun, although we do let ANYONE become a parent, which is a far bigger responsibility.

And that, I believe, is the real problem.

Two parent families working full-time so they could afford that second BMW in turn created an inflationary cycle that that pretty much ensured that two income families would become a necessity, so we have a generation of children raised by the CW, the WB, NBC and Nintendo that were never exposed to anything resembling values in school or in the media, and certainly not at home where the parents were too tired for such things after both working all day that they never noticed that the schools never got around to teaching their children anything, or suggesting that they read anything more challenging than Harry Potter or Twilight, and along the way they fed them fast food and pumped them full of drugs for ADD and bipolar depression and told themselves this was medicine.

And we WONDER why some young people are screwed up?

I hope that second beemer was worth your children's souls!

But I digress...back to the video.

Tell me something.

If "Demand A Plan" is such a grass roots movement (defined as being driven by the politics of a community), why is it that only Hollywood celebreties and large liberal organizations are involved?

Could it be that some people are using these tragedies to further their own agenda?

Beware, America!

When you let your pop culture icons do all of your thinking for you, you do not end up with a world where everyone lives like a pop culture icon.

But you may end up flushing the last of the freedom America is reknowned for right down the toilet.

Coming next from "Demand A Plan?"

A public service announcement featuring the mellow, non-violent players of the National Football League, a game where violent contact, steriods, and bounties for serious injuring a player and taking him out of the game could not possibly have an impact on our society, right?

What better role models for America than our actors and atheletes?