tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39412382024-03-14T04:27:55.581-04:00Dead DriftsA Journal on Freedom, Faith, and FishingRollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.comBlogger823125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-36970131716899743902013-08-23T23:19:00.001-04:002013-08-23T23:21:04.284-04:00An Obamacare WorksheetThe Kaiser Family Foundation has an Obamacare Subsidy Calculator. One simply enters family size and composition and family income and voila! it returns the yearly cost of a "Silver" coverage plan for the family, including a breakdown of citizen and State contributions for the premium and maximum out of pocket costs. For example, for a citizen-family of four, two adults and two kids, with a yearlyRollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-21187518984293176022013-05-19T09:58:00.001-04:002013-05-19T09:58:28.793-04:00Nothing to Benghazi?The usual Obama apologists are now whining that the Benghazi incident, although certainly tragic, has been inflated into a pseudo-scandal by opponents of the Administration.
We assert that the Administration wanted to believe, either sincerely or to preserve a critical election narrative, that "Al Qaeda was on the run". Let us review the actions of the Administration RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-81105442752740071682013-04-19T21:32:00.001-04:002013-04-19T21:32:19.472-04:00What Boston should teach us.We are relieved and very grateful that combined law-enforcement forces at local, state, and federal levels have concluded the capture of the Boston Marathon bombers with speed and efficiency.
But let's not kid ourselves: these "terrorists" were amateurs, deadly, but amateurs. We need to seriously contemplate what a professionally trained platoon of well-armed terrorists, fanatical and RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-36152991055674923662013-04-08T22:58:00.001-04:002013-04-08T22:58:29.485-04:00OBF - Obama Bombast FatigueToday President Obama led a Connecticut crowd into a frenzied ecstacy for gun control laws that would not have prevented the tragedies that the White House has exploited to push for this legislation.
The President thrives on this stuff. He loves the sugar rush of affirming crowds that accept platitudes and tabernacle oratory as policy. He's become bored with the day to day real problems ofRollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-42163485122978803042013-03-29T18:49:00.000-04:002013-03-29T18:49:20.611-04:00It is finished?
Christians remember this day as when Jesus of Nazareth was condemned by his own people, crucified by the Romans, and died. Holy Week's climax is the complete removal of God from Jesus. Infinitely remote from his Father, Evil encircled Christ, mocked, taunted, tortured and killed him. It was a manic orgy of darkness, heralding the triumph of Satan over RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-22956180593765704072013-02-21T20:50:00.000-05:002013-02-21T20:50:04.260-05:00Minimum Wage Math.Suppose you own a Subway store.
A healthy store grosses about $7000 per week (about 1000 sales per week).
Per week, you pay two full time workers, and another three full-time equivalents of part-time employees. Four of them are minimum wage, $7.25 per hour (sans FICA, etc). If you keep your store open for ten hours, seven days a week, you are paying at least for 280 hours ofRollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-24839235801980116402013-02-16T12:38:00.000-05:002013-02-16T12:40:14.073-05:00More details on budget prestidigitation.This correspondent, in pursuit of accuracy and fairness, ammends an earlier dispatch on the Magic That Is Federal Budgeting. Here we include spending, revenue, and the resulting deficit from 2008 through the estimate 2013 budget, courtesy of the OMB. Numbers in 2005 Gigabucks. The 2012 and 2013 entries are estimates:
2008: receipts = $2288.1 outlays = $2703.8 surplus (deficit) = $(RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-38106780363655190112013-01-16T19:13:00.001-05:002013-01-16T19:13:18.909-05:00Gun Violence: The facts that will not be wished away.
Wafting away the emotionalism and vitriol from the gun violence debate, this writer discerns the following facts:
It's very hard to stop someone killing scores of people if they are willing to die while doing it.
You will never rid the country of all of the guns that could possibly cause mayhem such as Sandy Point or Aurora. The spectrum of guns that can accomplish this includes the RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-37408949840688977262013-01-05T10:51:00.000-05:002013-01-05T12:26:40.479-05:00The Honesty DeficitThe President has won his tax rate hikes on the Needlessly Rich, so now in the second round of deficit-reduction he turns to...additional tax increases on the Needlessly Rich.
Why no budget-cutting? In a recent interview, President explains: "...if you look at my track record over the last two years, I cut spending by over a trillion dollars in 2011."
Really? Let's take a look at the numbers, RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-85676702470530209532012-12-04T22:01:00.003-05:002012-12-04T22:01:48.064-05:00The Word for Our Times
an·o·mie
noun \ˈa-nə-mē\
: social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values; also: personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that comes from a lack of purpose or ideals
RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-20695659270104032442012-08-19T09:00:00.001-04:002012-08-19T09:00:39.866-04:00Two Budget and Tax Untruths.Two claims continue to circulate about our present fiscal crisis: the first, that we can grow our way out of debt, and the second, that a more aggressive tax policy toward the top earners (those making above $250K per year) will effectively fill the deficit hole.
Let's dispose of Whopper Number One. Suppose that the US GDP grows at 3.5% per year (the effective growth rate from 2000-2010). RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-18016586358899005112012-07-16T22:08:00.001-04:002012-07-16T22:08:18.456-04:00Obama: Plain Stupid on Business.This is how the President really thinks economic growth happens: by government initiatives. No one is arguing about the need for infrastructure; his arguement is, as he would say, a false choice. And the man doesn't understand that economic growth is based on initiative and risk by individuals.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2012/jul/15/RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-64009093886551148942012-07-05T23:37:00.001-04:002012-07-05T23:37:05.059-04:00Has the President brought us together?
A few days ago, we pondered all of the groups of people that the White House or its proxies have attacked in pursuing their expansion of social welfare and state control in the last three years. Here's our list, it may not be complete:
The "1%"
Oil Companies
Doctors
Hospitals
Pharmacutical Companies
Insurance Companies
Bankers
The Tea Party
"RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-53430286589388347822012-02-26T11:41:00.002-05:002012-02-26T11:41:57.693-05:00Hiatus.
We have neglected this journal for several months, and our excuse is simple. We've had nothing much to say that wasn't expressed by others with greater felicity. Now, however, we dare to speak up.
Our country has serious troubles beyond debt and unemployment. The premise of our republic is not the "right" to a job, not a "right" to healthcare, nor education, nor housing, nor other RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-64495089234052859412011-11-05T22:22:00.001-04:002011-11-05T22:22:57.187-04:00Two Paths Diverged.With which of these statements do you agree?
The prevalence of gun-related violent crime requires that we remove the possession of handguns and "assault weapons" from 2nd Amendment protections.
There should be limits imposed by government on the amount of money that an individual can make per year.
Freedom of speech should not include "hate speech", that is, speech that is considered offensive RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-19802288342166890712011-10-18T08:24:00.001-04:002011-10-18T08:24:30.313-04:00Lest We Forget.The conflict in Iraq continues. RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-41937793449767317962011-08-26T08:49:00.001-04:002011-08-26T08:51:25.622-04:00 One Lousy Fly Fishing Year for the Huron River.
The chart says it all.
RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-28501592035606744932011-08-07T00:18:00.003-04:002011-08-07T00:26:20.471-04:00But We Meant So Well...The Washington Post chronicles the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars in the Department of Housing and Urban Development on public housing projects that are either ficticious or going nowhere. This is a perfect example of the brain-dead spending that has been going on year in and year out by the Federal government, apparently with no accountability.RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-6783580904191035662011-07-30T22:01:00.002-04:002011-07-30T22:10:29.161-04:00Essential Reading:Victor Davis Hansen on how our view of entitlement is going to change...quickly.The Wall Street Journal chronicles our slide to insolvency.Mark Steyn considers the post-American planet.RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-21195242674714335702011-07-30T00:08:00.004-04:002011-07-30T00:24:45.213-04:00Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economyNoonan: He is a Loser.Now it becomes clear why experience is important: the President has gamed the debt ceiling crisis into a very serious risk of a downgrade of US debt instruments. The lofty speeches won't save us now.RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-3167892643819684872011-07-14T23:54:00.002-04:002011-07-14T23:59:54.233-04:00Just Because It Is So Beautiful. RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-6733174023100968832011-07-13T08:28:00.004-04:002011-07-13T09:03:06.116-04:00Politically-Induced Alcoholism.Steven Ratnner has penned an excellent critique on the ethanol racket in the United States. He states clearly what many pols know but dare not speak: the US program to promote ethanol production for transporation fuels drives food prices up, is comparable in the energy to produce it than in what it displaces in petroleum, has led to a bizarre and contradictory RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-31643352446199532432011-07-10T10:32:00.005-04:002011-07-10T11:50:01.040-04:00What a "Three-to-One" Deficit Solution Means.As the United States hurdles toward the Great Debt Extinction Asteroid, the predictable calls for "reasonableness" in a solution have manifested themselves in the "Three-to-One" Proposal: 3 parts spending cuts to 1 part tax increases. Exactly how reasonable is such a solution in what it would require for tax increases?The "long term" solution proposes RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-71285660849666474512011-06-24T09:23:00.003-04:002011-06-24T09:31:37.883-04:00Ultra Premium Irony.Yesterday the United States Government announced the release of 30M barrels of oil from the SPR to help ameliorate the effects of rising oil prices on economic recovery. We note, however, the effect of the Gulf drilling moratorium and glacial rate of new drilling permitting imposed by the Administration has been to reduce domestic oil production by 240K barrels per day, or RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3941238.post-31003130086843084082011-06-19T21:38:00.003-04:002011-06-19T21:52:09.275-04:00The Closing of the Krugman Mind.PK recently commented on his reading tastes in politics and economics. He finds nothing on the web from a conservative point-of-view that is worth reading regularly. Nothing. One can only hope that he no longer teaches students.RollCasthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03187869955773830620noreply@blogger.com0