Manipulation by Democrats

The average benefit for food stamp recipients is currently $113.41 per month. The food stamp program was re-named SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) for politically correct purposes, but the “assistance” it provides is still not intended to be the only means of paying for food. Otherwise, the “A” (for Assistance) in SNAP would not be there.

Apparently, 26 Democrats in Congress are too dense to understand that or are just putting on a show in the media by taking what is being called the “SNAP Challenge” in order to protest a Farm Bill that, if passed, will reduce food stamp benefits. (Why a “Farm Bill” is dealing with food stamps is a whole different problem.) This SNAP Challenge is to live off of $4.50 per day for food to show how difficult that is, eliciting sympathy for keeping and/or increasing the current food stamp benefit.

Food stamps were never intended to be used in that manner, but idealism is blind to reality. This challenge involves spending $4.50 per day instead of buying in quantity like those actually receiving food stamps would do. It is a transparent ploy to make things seem as bad as possible. Would you buy just one apple or one hot dog per day if you actually had to subsist on food stamps? Would you buy them from an “organic” food store where prices are exorbitant? Would you buy pre-packaged, individually wrapped cheese slices? Would you buy just one apple?

The media, of course, loves this SNAP challenge and treats it as if it is a display of sensitivity in a creative, witty way instead of political theater. Unfortunately, many voters are manipulated easily. They bought the lie of being able to keep the health insurance they have and still believe health care premiums will go down. It’s a small step to believe food stamps should pay for all the food one needs. Don’t be surprised if it becomes one of Hillary’s campaign promises.

David J. Hentosh

Our Disabled Country

According to a January article in Forbes, 5.9 million people have been added to the Social Security Disability program (SSDI) since 2009 while only 2.5 million jobs were created during the same period. One in fourteen workers are now on the SSDI dole costing taxpayers $128.9 billion in 2011, and the program is carrying a deficit of $25.3 billion.

A recent investigation found that the federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for disabled workers than it does on food stamps and welfare combined. Since disabled workers are not counted in unemployment figures, the full extent of the erosion of the American workforce ends up hidden from the public.

It should come as no surprise that the increasing number of disabled coincides with an increase in qualifying conditions for disability. Some of these conditions have been watered-down enough to include almost anyone willing to go through the process. The investigation found that 33.8% of the newly diagnosed disabled cited “back pain and other musculoskeletal problems”, difficult conditions to disprove.

Some qualifying mental conditions called “Affective Disorders” seem to rely on a self-diagnosis. These include such things as: decreased energy, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbance, difficulties maintaining social functioning, and marked difficulties maintaining concentration. A doctor needs to sign off on these conditions but has to rely on the word of the patient for verification.

Obviously, the program is ripe for fraud and, consequently, it is rife with fraud. Getting around the system is easy and many alcoholics and drug addicts (conditions which do not qualify for SSDI) find a way in, as do many others. The possibility of receiving up to $1100 a month makes it attractive to those having menial, low paying jobs, especially since free Medicare comes as a bonus after two years on the disability rolls.

The American work ethic is dying and the “system” continues to assist in its death. What was once a ‘safety net’ has become ‘money for nothing’ because of progressive tendencies that put the individual above the common good. The continuous expansion of government assistance programs is occurring with no foresight or oversight and it needs to stop before the entire country becomes disabled.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s State of Denial Address

President Obama once again delivered a campaign speech disguised as a State of the Union address. Obama is good with rhetoric that stirs emotions while denying reality, so those who succumb to such gibberish will be ecstatic. Those who are not in denial will be frightened by the direction this president is taking.

Obama’s denial of his administration’s failure to improve job growth was evident in his calling for a higher minimum wage. If there are no jobs available at a minimum rate of $7.25 an hour, how would raising it to $9.00 help create more? It wouldn’t, and many experts have warned against such an increase at this time, especially since it could result in jobs being exported to China.

Obama further denied the job crisis and threw out another emotional bone to hungry believers by stressing a college education. The unemployment lines are full of college graduates unable to find jobs, so the primary emphasis needs to be on the economy and job growth. Talking of college educations certainly plucks parents’ heart strings, Obama’s intent; but it hides his administration’s failure to improve the job market and reduce unemployment.

Obama declared Al Qaeda to be a “shadow of its former self”, denying Al Qaeda’s continued successful attacks around the globe. Declaring Al Qaeda defeated doesn’t make it so, but it rationalizes bringing troops home so he can cut the defense budget. Obama only cares about his social programs and cutting the defense budget will help him finance those programs. Pretending Iran and North Korea are of little threat also helps him in that endeavor.

In Obama’s eyes, everything is going well because he is, by hook or by crook, finding a way to get everything he wants. Consequences are meaningless to one convinced of superior intelligence, especially when duped voters and a highly invested media ignore accountability.  His “green” agenda has been a costly disaster, but that bandwagon is still full and rolling.

Inadvertently, the president did touch on reality in his speech at one point when he said his spending proposals would not increase the deficit by “a single dime”. They will increase the deficit by billions of dimes and saddle future generations with the bill, higher taxes, and programs they will no longer be able to afford. On the brighter side, fast food joints will end up with the most educated employees of any industry – as long as Michelle doesn’t find a way of eliminating fast food.

David J. Hentosh

Frightening Inauguration Speech

President Obama’s inauguration speech was a frightening glimpse into the next four years. He let it clearly be known that he is set to govern totally from the left and with carefully chosen rhetoric, he revealed his end game for “totally transforming” America.

Obama used his favorite obfuscating straw man tactic (clearly explained and revealed by Glen Beck) to validate his approach to almost everything. It is the smoke that carried him this far and will continue to do so as long as the mainstream media continues to inhale – and inhale they did.

Mainstream media praise knew no bounds and its bias could not be contained, exemplified by CNN correspondent Jim Acostas’ on-air giddiness at being so close to the president. Keeping in line with the adoration of Newsweek’s cover proclaiming Obama’s “second coming”, Obama’s communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, stated: “There’s a moment of opportunity now that’s important…What’s frustrating is that we don’t have a political system or an opposition party worthy of the opportunity.” That’s some arrogance on display.

Obama gave us his top priorities for his second term: equal pay, gay marriage, voting protections, immigration reform, and gun control. If you are in the 7.8% unemployed (the same unemployment rate as when Obama was first elected), that may be disheartening to hear but Obama also assured us that the economy is in recovery, eliminating the need to make unemployment a priority. He’d much rather increase spending.

National Defense and the military are not on the agenda because Obama informed us that a decade of war is now over. That must have occurred by means of one of his executive orders. Relief in Middle East countries will be immense when they learn of it. Perhaps part of his gun control priority will be an executive order for terrorists to turn in their guns and Iran to give up nukes.

Although Obama didn’t say climate change was a priority, one-trick-pony Al Gore still praised him for speaking “powerfully and eloquently” about it. Obama’s consistent first-term failures on the “green” front cooled his climate change desires but with no re-election holding him back, the “green” light is sure to be lit once more.

Obama’s focus on social issues got him re-elected but the larger, neglected issues are eroding the country. Obama is much more like Nero than Lincoln, blindly fiddling away as the country burns.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s Fiscal Fallacy

President Obama continues to demand that the debt ceiling be raised, inferring that the nation’s bills will not be paid unless that ceiling is raised. His framing of economic issues skirts the truth and is done in such a way as to make him look like a rational and knowledgeable expert. The reality is that he is no expert; He is the problem.

Forty cents out of every dollar spent by the federal government is borrowed money and raising the debt ceiling only allows the government to borrow more money. It will not help reduce the debt or reduce the forty cents on the dollar borrowed. It will only help Obama increase entitlement spending to meet his personal, ideologically driven goals – by borrowing more money.

Obama has shown that the poor economy, high unemployment, and the enormous debt take a back seat to his personal ideology. This is why he fails to meet the legal requirement of submitting a budget by the first Monday in February. He has done that only once and will fail to do so again this year. In fact, he has failed to meet that requirement more than any previous president. It is not a priority on his agenda and legal requirements mean little to him.

Obama continually uses the blind faith many have in him, telling believers what they want to hear and spinning everything his way. It is the reason he was re-elected with an economy doing as poorly as it is and unemployment at such a high level. He uses rhetoric to solve economic problems in the minds of his followers while running up the tab fulfilling his personal agenda.

With no future re-election to hamper him, Obama’s arrogance is increasing as fast as the debt. His fiscal policies have been a farce and he is now aiming to ram through legislation on guns and immigration – through the back door. The bill for all of this will have to be paid eventually but by then he will be gone, leaving behind a costly and “fundamentally transformed” America for our children.

David J. Hentosh

The Farce Goes On and On

The National Monitor contains a headline stating: “Obama scores another victory: Unemployment rate falls to 7.8 percent, hiring continues”. The second sentence in the article reveals that the unemployment rate remains “unchanged” at 7.8%. How, then, can a stagnant unemployment rate be considered a victory for Obama? The answer, of course, is that everything Obama does must be considered a victory by today’s biased media.

An unemployment rate of 7.8% since September clearly shows that our economy is stagnant and not recovering, indicating that Obama’s economic policies are not working. Rising health insurance premiums reveal the fallacy of Obama’s promise of lower rates under Obamacare. The increase in social security taxes currently being felt by the middle class comes from Obama’s “successful” tax increase on the rich, breaking his promise to protect the middle class.

Obama was re-elected in spite of all of these failures, and more, because the media protected its investment with repeated spin, reporting success in everything. That spin continues even as Obama’s promises continue to fall and warnings and predictions from conservatives continue to become reality. Obama voters have been duped but, like the mainstream media, they continue to keep the dream alive through denial.

This denial is dangerous and it is allowing Obama’s promise to “fundamentally transform America” to come true – the one promise he is actually keeping. That promised “transformation” was ignored by a media intoxicated by “hope and change” and, therefore, never investigated. Tragically, it still remains ignored.

So, the farce goes on and on and points of no return are being passed with little awareness by the media and Obama voters. Eventually, the truth will become unavoidable and consequences will have to be faced but by then, too many bridges may have been burned. One can only hope that our children will be able to re-construct from those ashes some of the greatness America lost due to the hollow promises of “hope and change”.

David J. Hentosh

When Rights are Wrong

Obsession over “rights” continues to grow with little consideration of responsibilities. Distorted perceptions concerning “rights” have become commonplace, demonstrated by the right to free speech being considered by many as immunity from any consequences from speaking their mind.

The list of perceived “rights” grows annually, from the European Union’s vacation “right” to a cellphone being considered a “right”. Now, we find Assemblyman Tom Ammiano in San Francisco introducing a “Homeless Persons’ Bill of Right” in response to the city’s recent attempt to restrict homeless behaviors.

This bill would protect the “right” of the homeless to sleep in public places, camp on city streets, urinate in public, panhandle, have access to bathrooms, showers, water and clean syringes, get welfare cash payments, and protect many other behaviors that the city has been trying to curtail. Treating these things as “rights” degrades the very concept of what a “right” is.

San Francisco currently spends over $200 million a year on the homeless, although little of that goes toward addressing the underlying causes. It is often called the “homeless capital of America” but has recently begun scaling back policies allowing homeless behavior many residents found to be offensive. Taking it to the limit is a common liberal trait and San Francisco, as liberal a city there is, seems to have reached a limit that Assemblyman Ammiano doesn’t like.

All rights come with responsibilities, but that has been sadly forgotten by a self-absorbed generation no longer concerned with the “common good”. Many feel-good, idealistic notions are being considered rights, being demanded as rights, and being granted – but that doesn’t make them right. These “rights” are wrong and the very concept of a right is being lost.

David J. Hentosh

Minority Now Rules

We are often reminded that the U.S. is not a democracy, it is a republic. The difference being that in a republic, elected representatives make policy decisions rather than the people directly as in a democracy. Our Founding Fathers were adamant about this distinction, knowing how easily a democracy can be distorted.

Our republic, distorted in the public’s mind as a democracy, is now fast becoming an ochlocracy, colloquially better known as a mobocracy. This is a form of government where a mass of people (a mob) rules, usually by means of intimidating authority. An ochlocracy easily arises from a distortion of democracy when passion overrules reason.

It is apparent that passion is overtaking reason in our society. Obama utilized this passion and preyed on the fear of many receiving government assistance to get votes. An overwhelming number of them voted for Obama, overlooking the fact that his policies actually hurt them with continued unemployment, increasing national debt, and unfulfilled promises.

Obamacare, a major impact to our economy and entire society, mainly benefits 10% of our population who are uninsured. The gay community, comprising fewer than 10% of the population, demands and receives special attention and special legislation impacting all of society. Issues surrounding illegal immigrants are polarizing and fracturing society to the point of endangering the nation’s security. Abortion, a procedure utilized by a small minority, overshadows national security, the failing economy, and the common good.

The minority is beginning to rule and because we have so many differing minorities, splintering of society is a given. This could easily lead to an oligarchy as a solution to the chaos, where power rests in the hands of only a few. From there, it is one small step to tyranny, where one rules all.

For those who believe tyranny can’t happen here, reflect upon how easily Obama bypassed Congress and disregarded laws for his own purposes – with impunity. Combine that with the blind faith in Obama held by many, exemplified by Jamie Foxx’s recent statement at the Soul Train Award Show: “First of all, give an honor to God and our lord and savior Barack Obama”. This is a frightening display of passion over reason.

Also frightening is Egypt’s newly elected President granting himself absolute power, promising it is only temporary and that he won’t be another dictator. If you believe that one, you’re already far past reasoning and ripe for tyranny.

David J. Hentosh

Obama’s Dangerous Campaigning

Obama’s prime occupation for the past year has been campaigning for re-election. Refusing to ask hard questions, the biased media has been a willing partner in Obama’s attempt to hide his failures in order to get re-elected. Rather than investigate the administration’s glaring missteps and blunders, the media has focused on finding fault with Romney while echoing administration spin. This obsession with re-election has become a danger to the country.

Afghanistan, Obama’s “right” war, is failing and the American death toll is approaching 2000 at a current rate of approximately one per day. That’s slightly less than half the toll from 8 years of the Iraq war, and neither Obama nor the press mentions it. This is a far cry from the nightly reports of war deaths during the Bush administration. Afghanistan, for Obama’s sake, has become a silent, hidden war – and it is failing.

The economy, a definite smear on the Obama administration, continues to be spun as “recovering” in spite of all data and statistics, and voters are being told Obama has saved us from disaster. One need only look around to see the fallacy in this, yet, the spin continues in the hope of repetition becoming fact in voters’ minds.

Perhaps the most dangerous failure of Obama has been on the international front. Iran sneers at Obama and is on the verge of having nuclear weapons. Recent embassy attacks and deaths have been determined to have been planned terrorist actions and the administration is still immersed in blaming them on a video clip. The cover-up is part of a re-election campaign considering danger to the country as irrelevant.

We have had an absentee president for the past year and it is taking a toll. There is no national budget, immigration reform has been ignored, the Middle East is exploding, the economy is failing, class warfare is raging, the race card is alive and well, “green” policies hamper economic recovery, the deficit is increasing, and the media has lost all credibility

Obama’s solution is fund-raising, appearances on “The View” and “David Letterman”, ignoring national leaders, cover-ups, Romney bashing, and empty rhetoric. Four more months of this kind of irresponsible neglect is frightening. Four more years would be disastrous.

David J. Hentosh

Who Creates Jobs?

It is not the government’s responsibility to create jobs. Period. It never has been and never should be. The pressing need for jobs today has framed the issue for both political parties and they are both wrong if they believe that government is supposed to create jobs. The only jobs the government creates are government jobs, and we have enough of those already.

The government’s responsibility in this area lies in helping to create an atmosphere that allows the business community to thrive and expand, thereby, promoting the creation of more jobs. When the economy is down and jobs are needed, businesses need assistance from the government, not tighter controls, regulations, or taxes that hamper efforts to invest and expand.

The Obama administration has not created an atmosphere friendly to businesses and the consequence is poor job growth and a weakened economy. Obama’s class warfare has turned many against the rich, the ones who actually can create jobs, and the job market will not open up again until that atmosphere changes. Get rid of the rich and many more jobs will evaporate, along with the unions their businesses keep alive.

Obama doesn’t get it. Romney does. We are in an economical crisis and the solution will not come from a rigid ideology that treats business as the enemy. It will come from a practical understanding of how business works. Obama doesn’t have it. Romney does. It’s as simple as that.

David J. Hentosh