Attention all public union members: your days in 'Fat City' are numbered....

The election next Tuesday to recall Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) looks like a conservative victory in the making.  Things could change between now and then, but a recent poll put the governor ahead of democrat challenger and failed Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett by 7 percentage points. 

This election was driven and contrived (by fraudulent recall signatures) entirely by public sector unions, whose power was reigned in (rightly so) by the governor after his election in 2010.  These public sector unions have been drunk with power for over 50 years, ever since their creation by John F. Kennedy in the early 1960's, and they have never missed an opportunity to give themselves opulent raises (at the expense of taxpayers), give themselves lucrative pensions (at the expense of taxpayers), give themselves free 'Cadillac' medical care packages (at the expense of taxpayers), give themselves ever younger retirement eligibility (at the expense of taxpayers), and on and on and on (at the seemingly never ending expense of the weary and broke taxpayers).

Governor Walker ended all of this drunken sailor spending by public sector unions, and they started screaming bloody murder.  So much so, that an enormous pile of money has been spent in this recall effort funded entirely by the SEIU, AFSME, the NEA and a few other giant public sector unions.  This effort was designed to not only remove Gov. Walker from office, but to destroy him and his lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch personally.

All in an attempt to fire a shot across the bow of all conservative politicians who try to take the meat and potatoes off of any public sector union plate: the message was intended to be crystal clear on a national level: 'mess with us, and we will destroy you.'

I will guess that the margin of defeat next Tuesday of the unions and their stooge Tom Barrett will be by perhaps as much as 20 points.  Maybe even more, that would be sweet for sure.  And the message that DIDN'T get sent nationwide is the one that these union thugs spent so much money on (taxpayer money, BTW).

The message that the Wisconsin 'canary in the coal mine' election will send nationally on Tuesday is this: 'Attention Public Union members: your days of lounging sideways in the public trough are OVER.  We won't fund it anymore, so get ready to vacate Fat City, you filthy parasites.'

THAT is the message that is getting out nation wide.

What will the future in America look like....

...if we continue to spend trillions more each year than we take in via taxes?

I have yet to see anyone articulate their best speculation as to how things will be when we finally run out of other people's money to fund a luxurious safety net for every American, and quite a few foreigners here illegally.

If you ask a liberal, they will give some lip service to the out of control deficit spending as a problem, but will suggest we get rid of our military, tax fat cat corporations out of existence, and ditto with those greedy millionaires and billionaires to correct the national deficit.  Once all of that money that formerly went to the military complex and greedy rich sumbitches flows into the U.S. treasury, we will have plenty of money to make the U.S. a heaven on earth, where nobody has any want, need or even a single tear in any eye.

If you ask a rock ribbed conservative as to how things will end up, given our current trajectory of deficit spending, you might get a different spin as to what the future holds.  First things first: Social Security (FICA) will become insolvent around 2030, give or take ten years.  Once the treasury finds that it takes in less money than it needs to cover the checks, it will probably not send out notices to senior citizens that their checks will stop.

Nope, that will certainly end up with blood in the streets straight away.  So what will our government likely do? Start printing money, just like they are now.  Call it 'quantitative easing,' or whatever you would like to call this smoke and mirror tactic.  In short order, since we will have so many dollars in circulation chasing the same amount of goods and services, inflation will ramp up.  Once that occurs, oldsters' savings accounts (those that have them, most don't seem to have planned for the future) will buy less and less with these dollars.

Rather than just cut these geezers off cold turkey, this QE34, or whatever it is called by then, will simply delay the blood in the streets by a decade or two.  But rather than simply screw the geezers out of their promised SS checks, the government will have screwed everybody, young and old, by wrecking the dollar and accordingly the economy.

But here is where people stop short (except Glenn Beck, a.k.a. Doctor Doom) in their speculation as to how this profligate irresponsible spending of money we don't have will manifest itself in our daily lives at some point in the future.

Once the checks stop, or continue to show up but are virtually worthless, people will opt out of the economy and a black market will replace it, much like the Weimar Republic in Germany after WWI, or more recently like the early days of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.  Rubles were no good, as it took a wheel barrow full of them to buy a Snickers bar.  Cash was not worth the paper it was written on, and had value only as something to wipe one's posterior after a trip to the powder room.

Once the government realizes that nobody is paying taxes anymore, they will ramp up enforcement of tax collection efforts, and beef up IRS enforcement agents with hand cuffs, guns and mortars.  They will target any and all sources of revenue for arrest, and society will at that point begin to break down.  People targeted by the government, who had the foresight to see this kind of thing coming and to keep themselves well armed, will not take kindly to an armed government agent coming in to arrest them. 

At this point, I would expect that a revolution of some kind would erupt.  Would this revolution resemble the 1789  French Revolution, where Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette lost their heads in a short three years?  Probably not.  France was for centuries prior to the revolution governed by an aristocracy and theocracy, widely considered to be a conservative bunch, where the wealth of the land was controlled by a privileged few well born and pious folk.  The rabble that toppled this centuries old form of conservative government was considered at the time left wing.

We are still living with the progeny of the French Revolution, in the here and now with their Rights of Man baloney.  It may indeed be the source of all of our crazy spending we are doing now: everyone has a right to a house, a right to food, a right to medicine, a right for this and a right for that.  And included in these rights are nothing about paying for them, since a right is a right, regardless of the cost.  Right?

No, our revolution will be somewhat the reverse of the French Revolution.  Our government has been liberal based for many, many years now, and has spent us into oblivion.  Conservative voices (anyone ever heard of 'The Tea Party'?) are speaking out against this madness with increasing volume.  The revolution will be one of conservatives holding the torches and pitchforks, and the liberal leaders will be riding in the back of the wooden tumbrels en route to the guillotines.

I expect, however, that all of this revolution doom and gloom will likely be avoided, once America starts electing conservative adults to represent our long term interests, and oust the drunken-sailor liberals, who have spent us into a pending catastrophe.

OWS protesters = Life's Losers

In Chicago, the teeming mobs of malcontents, misfits and general human debris have all one common goal.  No, that goal is not the dissolution of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), the anachronistic dinosaur of an alliance whose purpose was to deter a Soviet invasion into Europe.  The Soviets have long since disappeared, but sadly NATO is still alive, breathing and consuming mega-billions of US dollars while essentially doing nothing.

And even though I agree that the dissolution of NATO is indeed a worthy endeavor, the OWS (occupy wall street) movement has really nothing to do with politics, nothing at all.  The one main common goal of the OWS movement is strictly economic in nature.  The typical member of this mob is a disaffected soul who finds him or herself on the outs of the fabric of our society.  They are either fat, ugly, lazy, stupid, mentally retarded or criminal (or any combination thereof), and accordingly have been shunned by polite society.  They can't seem to obtain employment, and if they do they can't quite figure out how to advance within the system and stubbornly remain at the bottom of the ladder in perpetuity. 

As a disaffected soul, they can't afford some of the finer trappings of being a contributing member of the community, such as a relatively recent model of car or truck, own perhaps a 'starter' home, or even possess a formal business suit or ensemble.

Accordingly, that one main goal is simple for these losers in life: stick it to 'the Man,' find a way to extort money from 'the Man,' mainly through intimidation and property damage, or otherwise find ways to gain assets through terrorism and threats of violence rather than earn it in any responsible manner.

These protesters are nothing but the bottom layer within our society, the dregs of the system.    Additionally, if these losers think that they can prevail with their cheesy, tired slogans and insults over a well armed, trained and prepared police force in any kind of confrontation, then the case for irreversible brain damage on the part of these imbeciles is certainly bolstered.  Nothing good can happen when a law breaking idiot shoves a policeman on alert.  Nothing good at all for the stupid perp, that is.   If they think that they can change the fabric of America and its base in capitalism via the chucking of a few Molotov cocktails here and there, they are sadly mistaken.

And being sadly mistaken is the basic way of life for such losers as the OWS crowd,  it's what they do: botch things up, create a disaster area everywhere they have ever been, and then subsequently wonder why life has passed them by.

Idiots, cretins and fools, the lot of them.  That or irreversible brain damage, it's hard to tell the difference.

Illegal aliens stole MY job!!

Yes, Fredd lost his job to illegal immigrants.  In 1970. 

Remember the good ol' days, when teenagers had unskilled jobs available simply if they had the gumption to show up?  Yes, even know-nothing, lay-about teenagers were valued way back when.  Mostly, the jobs involved busing tables, washing dishes, and harvesting food crops.

And particularly during the harvest season, farmers couldn't hire enough teenagers: they sent buses around neighborhoods to pick up the teenagers and transport them to the fields.  Young Fredd was one of those teenagers who boarded the Saunder's Bean Farm bus Monday through Friday, (and Saturday's too: we got a 1/4 cent per pound bonus for showing up on the weekend).

Me and my bean picking buddy would pick blue lake beans near Eugene, Oregon in the late 60's and got paid by ol' man Saunders 2 and 1/4 cent for every pound we picked.  If we lasted through the entire season, ol' man Saunders would sweeten our entire season's production by another 1/4 cent a pound.  This money paid for school clothes and a little something-something for the upcoming year, perhaps 200 bucks for a season. 

Not bad for a teenager in 1968.

But one summer, my bean picking buddy and I noticed some Mexicans show up, in their own car, and out-pick us slouching teenagers by two or sometimes three to one.  My record for a single day of picking was 212 pounds, and these Mexicans would pick four and five hundred pounds - every day!!

These illegals were just as unskilled as us American teenagers: only they were in their twenties, thirties, forties and fifties, and understood that the more they picked, the more money they took home to Guadalajara.  No bean fights, no 'King-Bean' contests, no chitty-chat, like us teenagers were prone to do.  Nope, they busted their asses, from dawn to dusk, and ol' man Saunders LOVED those guys.

Before we knew it, the Saunders Bean Farm bus no longer showed up on our block, and it never returned.  All of our jobs, ALL OF THEM, the bean picking gigs were given to Mexicans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and Hondurans.  Some of them legal, most not.  But they snagged every bean picking job available.

And sent lazy ol' Fredd and his bean picking buddy packing.  We really never even knew what hit us.  Does anyone wonder why the unemployment rate among teenage Americans is now probably around 50%?  Is there any question?

No.  These illegals have snapped up the formerly widely available teenage labor market gigs, and now our teenagers roam the streets, looking for trouble with no scratch in their pockets, instead of working for ol' man Saunders.

It just ain't right.

"The War on Poverty:' Did we win or lose?

Back in LBJ's day, when he declared a "War on Poverty" on January 8th, 1964, the poverty rate of Americans was about 19%.  LBJ, being a rock solid social justice type liberal, thought that everybody should have a chicken in every pot and car in every garage.  Just like his socialist predecessor, FDR, whom coined the 'chicken in every pot' phrase, LBJ was bound and determined to see that nobody in the U.S. would be poor.

And in the following 47 years, the poverty level has remained relatively constant, as in 2009 the Bureau of Labor and Statistics put the rate at about 20%.  And also in those 47 years, approximately 15 TRILLION dollars has been taken from the American taxpayers and given to targeted groups of poor folks, and namely the elderly populations.

Although the relative poverty rate has remained stable, the groups who are in poverty have changed dramatically, specifically the oldsters among us.  In 1964, when the War on Poverty was declared, approx. 27% of all Americans over the age of 65 were living below the poverty line.  Now, in 2009, only about 10% of all Americans over the age of 65 are living in poverty.

So who are the ones who filled the vacuum created by all of the geezers moving on up in life over these last 47 years?  Without going into the BLS stats (of which I would rather have red hot pokers jammed into my eyeballs that stare at BLS stats for even 30 seconds), it's obvious: more younger Americans are as a percentage are living in poverty now than in 1964.

And the reason for that is also obvious: geezers vote, vote often, and they vote as a block.  Politicians, who have access to the confiscated gobs of money taken from taxpayers, promise these oldsters lots of money in exchange for votes.  It's that simple.   Younger folks don't have the political clout that geezers do, as they do not vote as regularly as the old farts.  Accordingly, promises made to geezers produce reliable results at the polls, and there you have the results on the 'War on Poverty.'

Geezers are now living large, sipping their Mai Tais in their condos in Boca Raton, while young Americans with children are the ones in the soup lines. 

But no so fast, however: in 1964, a family of four living under the poverty line (as defined by income of $3,104 annually or less) was truly poor: no car, no TV, no heat in the winter, no AC in the summer (but in fairness, NOBODY had AC in the summer back then, I know, I lived through 1964).  Life for poor folks in 1964 was miserable.

But those living under the poverty line in 2011 are hardly miserable: the poverty line for these folks is an annual income of $22,811 for that same family of four, and these 'down and out' folks have TWO cars on average, a wide screen TV, cable or satellite, microwaves, dishwashers, iPods, iPads, iPhones, and every other conceivable luxury known to mankind.

In other words, the War on Poverty is a success: for the non-producers in the U.S.  It is an unmitigated loss for the producers in our society.

And it's not arguable.

Caveman Ribs over a campfire

Silverfiddle posted a few words about grilled fajitas a few days ago (http://westernhero.blogspot.com/2012/04/fajitas-on-grill.html), a slight departure from his liberal bashing ways, and I thought if Silverfiddle can stray from the conservative reservation to dwell on all things smoky, then I might as well give it a stab myself.

Everybody, both liberals and conservatives, would agree on the following statement: things taste better when cooked over a campfire. Burgers, hot dogs, brats, smores, bacon and eggs, all excellent campfire fare and I don't think I will get a single syllable of disagreement on this.  It's just an immutable law of nature.  But campfire cooking has its limitations, in that controlling the fire and heat are problematic at best, and a campfire is not an ideal venue for preparing baby back ribs.

Not until now.

There are some purists out there who would gasp in disbelief at the following method of preparation of a rack of baby backs, and would curse such barbecue heresy, and wish a pox upon my house.  But I will press on in the face of the howls of rage from such purists, because there is nothing that tastes better than campfire baby back ribs, using a recipe that I affectionately call 'Caveman Ribs.' 

Read on, if you dare. 

First and most important, secure a nice full rack of baby back pork ribs.  And this next step is the one that creates the rabid, vicious cries from the purists out there: BOIL them for 30 minutes in water along with some chopped onions, peppercorns and a bottle of your favorite beer.  Yes, boil that nice rack of baby backs.  It's OK, you can bring yourself to do it, once you see how this works out over the campfire.

After boiling, allow the ribs to cool to room temperature and then place them in a large zip lock bag and marinate them with liberal amounts of your favorite store-bought barbecue sauce, or make your own, it's a matter of preference, along with chopped onions, some more beer and peppercorns.  Refrigerate the ribs for at least 4 days, and longer if possible.

Then go camping.

Once you are ready for cooking, with a low campfire going (low flames are OK), place the ribs on your camping grill that you put over the fire and simply heat them (they are already cooked, remember boiling them?).  Once they are up to temperature, coat them with your favorite barbecue sauce, and sear the sauce onto the ribs a minute or so on each side, and serve.

You won't believe how good these taste.  Caveman Ribs. 

Just remember, I told you so.

Can't swing a dead cat without hitting a crook....

...here in the Chicago area.  We're famous for crooks.  Just like Philadelphia is famous for Pat's Philly Cheesesteaks, Chicago is famous for Felony Franks, the hot dog joint that employs ex-cons to dish out such delicacies as the Misdemeanor Wiener or the Court Ordered Combo.  Two of the last three Illinois governors (George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich) are currently in 'The Big House.'  And if you ask me, that third governor (Pat Quinn) should join the other two in the slammer, just for being dangerously stupid. That and just being a Chicago Democrat, that ought to be a felony owing to the blatant, in your face corruption that the Chicago Democrats foster and in truth are boastful of.

Corruption in politics is just the way things are in Chicago.  People accept it.  It's a fact of life.  The Chicago Machine is so powerful, and it's crooked ways are so imbedded into the fabric of the city politics, perfectly honest people actually believe that it's OK for dead people to vote.  Twice. 

Happens all the time, right?  Nothing can be done about it, right?

The former mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, is universally loved in the Windy City.  And he was so damn crooked, each and every scandal that involved the mayor's office was shrugged off as either a misunderstanding, a misrepresentation of the facts, or some other muddying of the water.  Now it appears that Daley manipulated his retirement pension by shifting from one pension to another for one month in 1991, and this little skullduggery resulted in raising his pension at the time from $20,000 to around $97,000 a year: for life, regardless on whether he would have won another election.   Turns out he won 5 more elections after that to become the longest serving mayor in Chicago's history, but the abuse of taxpayer largess is simply accepted by everybody.

Except me, that is.  Every damn Chicago Democrat should get sent up the river for the shameless robbing of taxpayers to fund opulent public pension programs.

A pox on them all.