Dancing & Taxing & Spending

Dancing With the Stars

Last night the DWTS judges thought that Cloris Leachman did a pretty good job with her salsa dance. We can agree that it was better than some of her other dances, but there's still no doubt that it's time for her to go.

Lance Bass didn't get high marks from the judges, but we still think he can make it to the last three. Brooke Burke consistently looks like the person to beat.

Follow Up...

The following is a follow-up to yesterday's Joe Biden blog:

Bill Kristol interprets Biden's remarks as follows:

"So Biden expects a test of the kind Kennedy faced after his disastrous meeting with Khrushchev in Vienna in June, 1961, less than five months into Kennedy's presidency. Biden's presumably thinking of the Soviet-backed construction of the Berlin Wall a couple of months later. Kennedy did nothing, and was criticized for his weakness back home.

"So--leaving aside the merits of what Kennedy did or didn't do in 1961--Biden is forecasting that Obama will have what seems to be a weak response to a provocation from, say, Iran or Russia, and he's urging the liberals of Seattle and elsewhere to stand with Obama against the expected domestic criticism.

"In other words, Biden is forecasting inaction by Obama in the face of testing by a dictator. I suspect he's right in this forecast. McCain might want to clarify this point. It's not just that Obama's own running mate expects an international crisis early in his presidency. It's not just that Obama has a weak foreign policy record. It's that Biden himself expects what will appear to be a weak response from Obama to testing by a dictator."

By the Way...

Las Vegas Review-Journal Endorses John McCain - "If the United States is to emerge from this downturn in a position to ensure its citizens have the opportunities enjoyed by previous generations, we must get a handle on out-of-control federal spending -- and that is nowhere reflected in the policies advocated by the Democratic candidate. In contrast, Sen. McCain has a proven record of battling the drunken sailor culture so pervasive in our nation's capital. He has been an outspoken advocate for fiscal restraint, angering many of his colleagues by embarrassing them over their penchant for pork. Sen. McCain vows to veto any bill that includes earmarks and says he will freeze spending in many areas of the budget." -- Las Vegas Review-Journal

Our Thoughts...

Barack Obama clearly stated to Joe the Plumber that a President Obama will re-distribute the wealth by placing the heaviest tax burden on those who make over $250,000. Most Americans don't know, or don't understand, that the richest Americans already pay the most taxes. Either that, or they have the most tax shelters, which would explain why Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and those like them don't have a problem with increased taxes -- they don't intend to pay them, regardless of the fact that they are clearly among the $250,000+ a year earners.

What's interesting to us is that Obama's tax plan pits Americans against each other. The people who vote for Obama are in essence saying "yes, I want to stick it to the rich Americans. Those jerks earn way too much money." Obama will have us fighting amongst ourselves about how much success we can have before it's just too much. To us it sounds like a plan that enslaves us by limiting our success, and manipulates us by using our potential jealousy of someone else's success by encouraging our support to restrict capitalism and success in this country. Hard to believe that so many Americans are falling for it.

On Hannity and Colmes last night, Joe the Plumber told Alan Colmes that Joe's personal integrity and code of ethics wouldn't allow him to support an Obama plan. He doesn't feel that it's right or fair to rain on someone else's success. Now that's how it should be. Why are we limiting each other's success instead of cheering each other on? The top earners in this country are the job creators and the Wall Street investors. Imposing more taxes on them will increase unemployment and keep the stock market in its current poor state.

America should be like your favorite baseball team. You may watch it from the sidelines or from your T.V. while wishing you were on the team roster, but you still cheer on the team. And when they win, you feel like you have won -- you talk about the game at work and with your friends. The team's success becomes your success, as if you hit the homerun or caught the final out.

This seems like a good way for Americans to treat America. We cheer on the team, even if we're not the homerun hitter, because America's success is our success. We may not be the top wage earner, but the top wage earner may create a job and hire you to be on his team. And there's always the dream that some day you will hit the home run and then the rest of the team will cheer for you.