Failure to Learn

It is obvious from the recent State of the Union address by the Thin Skinned One as well as other recent statements he has made that he has not learned from his errors. When Bill "Pants on the Ground" Clinton had a disastrous first year as President and then saw the Order of the Elephants sweep into power in Congress in his second year, he was smart enough to change his ways. He abandoned the left wing and moved to the center and enjoyed a sudden "market correction" where his poll numbers were concerned. Not so with Obama. He has chosen to cling to the left wing and is trying a different tack that will also ultimately fail. He is still trying to blame all the Realm's problems on the Bush the Younger but is also trying to capitalize on "wealth envy" by grouping Wall Street into the blame kennel. However, the financial problems we are experiencing today have more to do with bad government policy than the mistakes made on Wall Street. The failure to recognize the causes of the "Great Recession" and instead focus on populist distaste for the rich will only breed more failure. The causes of the recession have still not been corrected because to do so would require an honest assessment of poor policies implemented and defended by the Order of the Donkeys. While the Elephants are certainly not blameless in the policy errors, they at least made a token effort to correct them. Your Emperor despairs to see the Thin Skinned One digging in and clinging to certain failure. The Realm will suffer as a result.

Scalpel Becomes a Hatchet

The Emperor was reading the Thin Skinned One's plan to freeze spending to help control run-away spending. A brilliant idea in the Emperor's humble opinion. His Highness, however, recalls hearing that plan before--accept it was proposed by Obama's opponent, the Aged Warrior of Arizona known as John McCain. The Thin Skinned One mocked the Warrior's words. He said that a spending freeze would be like using a hatchet on the budget when a scalpel was needed. The Thin Skinned One said he would go through the budget line by line and remove those items that weren't working and keep those that were. The Emperor supposes that the Thin Skinned One decided that everything in the budget was working and decided to add lots and lots more to the runaway success of all those government programs. Now the Obamanites want to use the Warrior's unused hatched to freeze spending. Except, of course, they only want to freeze spending on those programs that aren't welfare programs, climate change programs, health care programs, or programs that have anything to so with homeland security or national defense. That leaves the Washington D.C. dog pound as the only spending program that can be cut. And the Baroness Pelosi rejected that. The Emperor agrees that it is time to "use the hatchet" but it will have to be wielded by someone who actually has the courage to swing it.

Brown's Historic Win

The Emperor was pleased with Scott Brown's victory in the Land of the Kennedy's. Not so much because he clearly stated he was opposed to the policies of the Obamanites but that he was able to criticize those policies without being negative. As your Emperor has said before, the beloved subjects of the Realm seek leaders who can point the way forward without pointing fingers. Hopefully Brown's election will help Congress to return to some measure of sanity as the Donkeys realize that many of their initiatives and behaviour is objectionable to the people.

STRIKE THREE!

The Thin Skinned One has finally struck out. First he missed with the bid to host the Olympics in Chicago, then he put his credibility on the line during the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, and now, in an epic upset, the Order of the Donkeys has lost the fabled seat of the "Lion of the Senate." To the Emperor, a casual observer of politics of the Realm, it was a clear repudiation of the Obamanites and their agenda. The beloved subjects of the Realm have consistently and strongly rejected the Obamanite agenda at every opportunity. And yet, the Emperor can't help but notice that the Obamanites either are oblivious or do not care and plan to stick to their plans anyway. Their mouthpieces in the MSM continue to bleat that the election was not a rejection of Obamacare but just the results of a little confusion about the difference between the Yankees and the Red Sox. It will be interesting to see how many of the Donkeys stick by their leader and how many desert the SS Obama. This year's elections will be brutal for those who stay the Donkey course. That carrot on the end of the stick is starting to look a lot like a stick of dynamite to those Donkeys not wearing the rose colored Obama goggles. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Obama's innauguration. My, how far he has fallen in a year.

MLK Legacy vs Malcolm X

The Emperor believes it is appropriate to celebrate the accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr today. MLK was a Christian minister who believed in bringing about racial equality and desegregation through non-violent means. He believed that all men were brothers and should treat each other as such. Malcolm X believed in the opposite. Malcolm X believed that white man was the devil and Christianity was the white man's religion. He was a Muslim who believed that blacks should be completely segregated from whites and that this should be achieved by whatever means necessary including violence.

King grew up in the south in Atlanta, Georgia and had many obstacles to overcome growing up. However, he acquired an university education including two doctorates and became a Baptist minister.

X was born in Nebraska and was raised by foster families. He had an opportunity to live a normal and prosperous life but he wanted more. He moved to Harlem and became a criminal. He ended up in prison before long and there became a Muslim. After leaving prison he became a leader within the Nation of Islam.

Both men were assassinated in the prime of their lives. MLK killed by a white racist; X killed by other Muslims due to a power struggle with them.

But who's legacy has been stronger? Although there are elements of black separatism still existing in the Realm today (black universities, black television, black beauty pageants, etc.) it is the Emperor's opinion that King's legacy has been the stronger. Greater equality has been achieved and mostly though non violent means. Segregation seems to be slowly fading away and will hopefully, one day, be gone forever. Perhaps some day when we no longer feel compelled to celebrate history along racial lines, we will have achieved King's goal.

Thin Skinned One's Skin Gets Thick

The Emperor was slightly amused by the recent revelations of odd comments by Baron Reid of the Order of Donkeys concerning the Thin Skinned One. The Baron commented during the campaign a couple years ago on the electability of Obama due in part to his skin color and savvy speech patterns. The comments were slightly "off color" so to speak. The Order of the Elephants pounced on the comments like hobos on a hot dog and demanded that Baron Reid the "Out of Touch" resign his powerful position immediately citing double standards. But the Elephants could have saved their breath. The double standard for Elephants and Donkeys is well established and understood by the public. Had an elephant made the same comments, his hide would be hanging on the wall in the Senate chamber. Donkeys get a free pass and always will. The Thin Skinned One suddenly developed a thick skin of hypocrisy since the comments were made by a key member of the Donkey Order. The Emperor advises the Elephants to get over it and stop making it such a big issue. It is enough to point it out without belaboring it. Besides, the comments weren't that bad. Elephants should have not made a fuss over it, letting the media handle it. Elephants should have just smiled wryly and shaken their trunks in amusement when asked to comment. It is time for the Elephants to stop feigning indignation at every careless comment made. Let the Donkeys gnash their teeth and paint themselves as "thin skinned." They are better at it anyway.

Barney on Skates

Your beloved Emperor read today that the Thin Skinned One wants to impose a new "tax" on the banks of the Realm. The banks will be subjected to the new tax regardless of whether or not they paid back what they borrowed from the government or whether or not they ever borrowed money in the first place. The rationale of the Obamanites is that the banks are responsible for the Great Recession and should have to pay for it. The Baron of Shamelessness, Barney Frank stated, "Look, the financial institutions collectively, particularly the larger ones, caused problems by their errors -- their errors of judgment, their irresponsibility, in some cases their skating around dishonesty."

Your beloved Emperor sees this as nothing more than a shameless shakedown of the Realm's banks to try and cover money that was lost in the automaker bailout and the home buyer subsidies. The banks did not foster the recession. The recession was brought about by bad government policy and the corruption of those responsible for providing government oversight.

The government instituted policy that tried to force banks to give loans to low income people so they could buy houses. The problem was then compounded by government incentives to compel the government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy mortgage backed securities involving loans to the poor. This link helped turn the crash of the Realm's housing market into a global meltdown.

In the middle of all this was the Baron of Shamelessness himself. He steadfastly refused to allow Congress to improve oversight of the GSEs while taking large sums of cash in campaign contributions from these very same institutions. In 2003 when Bush the Younger tried to push for more regulation of the GSEs Frank blocked the effort and stated, "These two entities...are not facing any kind of financial crisis.... The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

Emperor Edict 2010-1: No politician shall be allowed to accept money from anyone other than private individuals. These donations will be limited to $200 per person per year and the individual making the donation must be fully identified.

Medicare Millionaires

The Emperor was reading a report today about Medicare fraud. Apparently the amount of fraud in the system is believed to cost about $60 billion a year. It sounds like Robbing Hood's Merry Men are running circles around the sheriff. Except in this case, the money is not going to the poor. It is being used to buy luxury cars and diamond rings.

The Thin Skinned One promised to pay for his new Obamanite Care by stopping the fraud and waste in the Medicare system. One of his ideas was to automate the filing of claims. However, it appears the Robbing Hoods are using the automated feature to overwhelm the people approving the claims. There are so many claims the bureaucrats cannot take the time to verify their veracity. The criminals set up false offices, file the claims, receive the money, then move on before the feds can get figure out what is happening.

Of course, there is no real incentive for the Medicare bureaucrats to take the time to prevent or uncover the fraud. Losing $60 billion is no sweat to a non-profit government organization that draws more tax payer money each year regardless of how effectively it uses it. A real insurance company would never be able to allow a $60 billion loss each year.

The Emperor is certain, however, that expanding the governments role in the health industry will make all these fraud problems go away.

Dodd the Knave

The Order of the Elephants is salivating at their prospects at the November elections. Several prominent Donkeys have indicated their intent to retire and several more are looking vulnerable. The Donkeys are lucky, however, that the vile knave Dodd has bowed out. It is unfortunate that he will retire in comfort using the riches he acquired from the loyal subjects of the realm when he should be retired to a dark dungeon somewhere.

The Elephants are premature, of course, in thinking their status will greatly improve. While many of the Emperor's loyal subjects are upset with the ways of the Donkeys that does not necessarily translate into a majority of Elephants in the House. At best the Elephants will break the super majority but only if they change their own ways. It was not long ago they were being blamed for all of the ills within the realm. Their own supporters were disenfranchised by their foolish acts resulting in a complete loss of power to the Donkeys. They need to stay off the "red meat" and stick to "meat and potatoes."

The people of the realm will respond better to good ideas delivered without rancor than they will to the tired old campaign attacks that are delivered year after year. The Elephants have a golden opportunity here. The Donkeys came to power by blaming all the realm's problems on Bush the Younger. Now, however, it is hard for them to use that argument as they have held the Congress for three years and the White House for one. Their campaign message has become stale and it is obvious to everyone their ideas don't work. The Elephants need to explain what they plan to do to fix all the problems without pointing fingers at the Donkeys. They will reap many benefits if they do.

Housing Slump

Once again the Emperor read in the news today how government involvement in the free market has backfired. The housing market which had been badly damaged by the creation of sub prime loans fiasco through the Community Reinvestment Act has been improving the past nine months due to government subsidies for home buyers. Now, however, the tax credit is expiring and housing sales slumped more than expected in November and indications are that December's numbers will be even worse. Industry experts speculate that the improvement in the housing market is a "house of cards" ready to fall the instant the tax credits disappear. Conversely, the market for steel, computers, and chemicals is rebounding nicely and will probably lead us out of the recession. Of course, those industries were not subsidized. The Emperor wonders when the government will learn this simple lesson: stay out of the free market.

Bio Fuel Industry Trouble

The Emperor noted a story in the news today about trouble in the biofuel industry. It seems a government subsidy of $1 per gallon of biofuel expired at the end of the year. This development along with the worldwide drop in oil prices and a few other developments makes biofuel unprofitable. So what else is new in the renewable energy world? If these energy sources were economically viable, they would already be proliferating throughout the realm. If renewable energy production can't survive without giant government subsidies, they will never work. The only hope for renewable energy advocates is that the world runs out of fossil fuels or that the energy industry becomes nationalized. Until one of these things happens, renewable energy technology will remain too costly to be viable in a free market.