As California goes . . .

. . . so goes the nation.  According to a California consultant, the number of companies leaving the state in 2010 is up to 144!  In 2099 the number was 51.  So why the threefold increase?  The companies want to reduce their California footprint because of the anti-business environment of the state.  They are moving to attractive, lower-cost alternative locations like Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Virginia and Utah.  And of course they are moving to other countries that appreciate that it is business that drives the economy, not government.

California's posture of  high taxes and intense regulation damages companies' ability to compete.  This is a problem that faces the entire country, not just California.  Will people take heed?  If the current culture in Washington is any indication then, no, we won't.  Raising taxes, increasing business regulations, and forcing questionable environmental restrictions on American manufacturers is sure to drive even more business (and jobs) overseas.

I live in a city that is less than business friendly.  We have plenty of open spaces, parks, and bike trails but apparently not enough revenue to run our schools and library.

Maybe we should all pay more attention to California.  They are a shining example of where we are headed.

111 reasons. . . and still counting

So if Obamacare is so darn good why have 111 companies asked for, and received, one year waivers?  They don't have to participate.  There are some pretty big companies, unions, and insurers.  You can find a list of these exempt companies on the Department of Health & Human Services website at http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/regulations/approved_applications_for_waiver.html .

This opens up the discussion to so many questions:

Who decides what companies get one?
Why do companies need one?
How does this affect the companies forced to participate?
Wasn't this supposed to be better?
Wasn't this supposed to drive down costs?
Why has the MSN not picked up on this story?
Just what was the hurry?
How do we apply?

This whole fiasco explains the results of the mid-term elections.  First of all read the damn bill before you vote.  Second - Government is best that governs least and, third, fast government is bad government.  Repeal this crap then give me:

Gridlock Sweet Gridlock.

We're number - 30?

Have you heard this one?  A high school in suburban Houston named 30 valedictorians this year.  That's about 6 1/2 % of the class.  Is it just me or is this ridiculous?  The Valedictorian is supposed to be the best - The MVP, Numeral Uno, top of the heap.  You can only have one of these!!!!

So what caused this?  I'm sure grade inflation played a big part.  And you know that all students are gifted now right?  Ask any parent.  And of course the PC crowd spouts that we can't single out the true achievers because it'll "harm" the lesser achievers.  My home town has done away with the "My kid is an honor student" bumper stickers because it's not fair to those who aren't. 

This is a dangerous trend.  We must recognize and encourage success.  This is how real life works.  We no longer keep score at kids sporting events.  We give everyone a trophy just for showing up.  How does this prepare a child for that first real job?  They're going to expect to get every promotion, every raise without having to earn it.  They will have the false belief that life is fair.

The same trend is showing up nationally.  We should embrace America's exceptionalism.  We should strive to be the best country in the world not just average.

So go ahead and be the best you can be.  Hopefully you'll be recognized for it.

Obama’s Katrina

Ah that old saying – “It’s lonely at the top”. Will the gulf oil spill turn the media against Mr. President? They were sure quick to jump on W. To be clear, I do not believe Obama should have to take the brunt of this but I also know that Bush should not have had to take it for Katrina.

It’s the shear size, bureaucracy, and ineptness of our federal government to respond to anything. (Maybe another reason they shouldn’t touch healthcare – but I digress). It also appears that once again the state of Louisiana was ill-equipped or ill-informed to take action. This is strike 2. If you build your city below sea level you might want to have a plan in place in case a big hurricane hits. When you have oil drilling off your shores you might want to have a plan in place to contain a spill.

But now there’s chirping on the left that Obama is out of touch with the situation. When James Carville doesn’t have your back sir you may have a problem. Can the media be far behind? They are biting their tongues for now but if Top Kill doesn’t work you better grease up that silver tongue of yours ‘cause you’ll need to deliver another magical (yet empty) speech to save yourself.

Pretty soon we’ll be hearing the sports reporters on ESPN bash Obama like they did Bush. There’ll be the poignant picture of you gazing at the sludge covered birds and gooey marshlands with a caption of “why did I wait so long to react?” Eight years from now they’ll still be talking about how disconnected you were.

Again, there was not much you could have done Mr. President. You can blame BP but we all know you are indebted to them just as much as all of our politicians are.  You can rail against the evils of offshore drilling even though we all know we need to do it (and its track record was pretty darned good until now). Of course you can look for someone or something else to blame but remember –

It’s lonely at the top!

So only the federal government can profile?

All of the talk about illegal immigration reform centers on cracking down on employers who hire illegals. The theory I guess is that if there are no jobs then they’ll go home. I doubt that’ll work because we’ll just put them on welfare – but that’s not the point of this rant. How is an employer supposed to be sure the workers are legal citizens? Sure they check the box that says “Yes I am” but that’s not proof. They will have to ask for proof. The dreaded “Where are you papers?” question.

So people who are peacefully looking for work will be subject to proving their citizenship to people not trained or qualified to ask for such proof. Meanwhile Arizona is not allowed to ask people who have broken the law or are acting suspiciously to prove their citizenship to trained law enforcement officers? Ah government run amok again!

Here’s a historical (or hysterical) perspective. As an assignment for an English class some 30 years ago when I was a junior in high school, I wrote a letter to the editor of my local paper stating my position that the US should not take in the Cuban refugees. It was actually sent in and published by the paper. 30 years later we are still talking, and only talking, about illegal immigration.

Freedom is not free. Yes the US has vast resources but they are limited. 700,000 people immigrated to the US legally last year. Who knows how many came in illegally? We must get control of this problem – and it is a problem.

Maybe we should just adopt Mexico’s laws on this issue. There you go to jail period. How does that sound Presidente Calderon?

A "Profile" in Courage

Guess that new Arizona illegal immigration law has caused quite a stir heh?  I think the best outcome from Arizona's courageous attempt to control the crisis is that it has re-ignited the debate.  I still don't get what part of "illegal" people don't get.  They are not simply undocumented immigrants, they have entered the US illegally!  We are a free nation but we are also a nation of laws.  To be a functioning society we need to obey the laws and punish those who don't.

I do not purport to have any answers here but I know that no politician wants to tackle this issue. The far left wants amnesty for all.  The far right says throw them all out.  I suspect the answer lies somewhere in the middle but none of our leaders have the courage to take a stand.  The key is to have open, honest debate (something seriously lacking in DC today).  For example:

• There are cries that the new law violates the illegal's rights.  How about this - not US citizens, then not entitled to US rights.
• It will lead to profiling.  We all profile everyday - get over it.  Advertisers target (aka profile) their audience all the time.  A father will profile his daughter's date choices (trust me on this one).  Maybe if the TSA was allowed to profile they'd leave the 80 yr old grandma alone and pay attention to the guy with a fuse sticking out of his pants.
• People shouldn't have to prove their citizenship.  I'm guessing the people saying this have never traveled to another country.  First rule - don't lose your passport.

I applaud Arizona's attempt to control their border.  And by the way, their law does not differ much from the federal law that is currently not being enforced.  That's why the state had to take matters into their on hands.  I'm sure a liberal judge or two out there will shoot this law down.

But hey, at least we're all talking about it.

College - at what cost?

My oldest daughter is a junior in high school so this was a good time to spend spring break looking at colleges. I had heard all of the horror stories about how tuition costs have increased much more than the inflation rate. I choose to ignore this fact until now when I can't anymore.

First up was the school that I went to. It's a private school so of course tuition is even higher. When I went there costs averaged about $9,000/yr. When I graduated I got a job paying $28,000. So my 4 year education cost was 130% of my first year salary. Today that education will cost $40,000/yr. My comparable starting salary would be $60,000. So that 4 year education will now cost 267% of that first year salary! And that's assuming you can get your kid in and out in 4 years. All of our tour guide students seemed to be on the 5 to 7 year plan. We also went to several state schools and I'm confident the numbers are similar.

So is today's education twice as good as the one I got? I didn't hear much from the schools on how they've improved the education. All I heard about was how all the dorms are are conditioned and have cable TV. And the highlight of each tour was the new recreation building with rock walls and lazy rivers.

Maybe we should shelve all the talk about healthcare, taxes and redistribution of wealth and address this education issue. It dwarfs all that other stuff.

We were smart (and lucky) enough to start saving for the kids education early on. It ain't gonna cover it all but at least we should be able to make it work. Of course, since we had the wherewithal to save we won't be eligible for any financial aid. Maybe we would have been better off taking better vacations all these years and buying a bigger house.

The progressives always talk about giving the poor a better chance at success. There's no better place to start than education. We all agree that college grads do better in the real world so shouldn't we work on keeping the cost of higher education down for everybody?

Now that’s change I could believe in.

Those who forget history. . .

. . . are bound to repeat it.  I borrowed this from Ann Coulter:

ARTICLE 42 OF THE SOVIET CONSTITUTION

Article 42. Citizens of the USSR have the right to health protection.

This right is ensured by free, qualified medical care provided by state health institutions; by extension of the network of therapeutic and health-building institutions; by the development and improvement of safety and hygiene in industry; by carrying out broad prophylactic measures; by measures to improve the environment; by special care for the health of the rising generation, including prohibition of child labour, excluding the work done by children as part of the school curriculum; and by developing research to prevent and reduce the incidence of disease and ensure citizens a long and active life.

Hey, does anyone know how that worked out?
 
I'm guessing if you actually read the current health care bill it'd sound a lot like this.

Only in Washington!!

Where else can you take a word like Reconciliation and make it divisive? It is simply ironic, oxy-moronish, and ludicrous. Webster's dictionary defines Reconciliation as:

a : restoring to friendship or harmony
b : settle, resolve

If the Democrats decide to push through an unpopular healthcare bill (that poll after poll shows the American people don't want) by using this arcane motion than they should call it irreconciliation. Congress will have failed us. Our country works best when we compromise.

But Obama has too much at stake. There are two reasons that he got himself into this situation. First is that he is an intellectual and, as such, he thinks he knows what’s best for all of us. Second, his only leadership experience before becoming president was being a community organizer. In a small community he could affect the majority of the people and ‘sway’ them to see his point of view. Our country is too vast and our people too varied (and smart) for this to work.

Since Obama is actually a president-in-training, and has surrounded himself with equally inexperienced people, he needs to start with smaller initiatives. Taking control of 1/6th of our economy is a daunting task for even the most experienced of leaders.

Now is the time to pay close attention to how our elected officials act. If they throw public opinion out the window and shove this catastrophic bill down our throats then we need to be committed to throwing the bums out in November. It will be the most important vote in your lifetime.

And it’s what I would call reconciliation!!

Choose your Heroes Carefully

I had promised myself I would not write anything about Tiger Woods and his troubles. I have continued to be amazed by the uproar and media blitz. But I have been more surprised by the reaction of so many of my friends and this post came out of that amazement. Why do we continue to attach our hopes, dreams, and morals to people we don’t even know? Just because a person can hit a ball, throw a ball, or shoot a ball we expect them to be as good or better than us?

So last week I get in this conversation with good friends of mine and one of them still can’t believe Tiger could be so stupid, wrong, immoral, or whatever. He’s never even met the guy. Plenty of our “heroes” have disappointed us over the years. Based on many of their transgressions, what Tiger did could be considered to be not so bad. Heck it appears plenty of people have forgiven/forgotten Bill Clinton’s transgressions. I’m just guessing but I bet he cheated more than Tiger!!

Anyway, this thought came to me during this conversation. I looked at the three guys I was sitting with at Nick’s Bar and I realized they are all bigger heroes to me than any celebrity. I know them and have for years. They are all good husbands and fathers. They try to make the world and people around them better and happy. Then I started thinking about all the other heroes in my life. My wife is incredible. My parents – incredible! My in-laws - raised six successful kids – incredible. Then I thought about all the people that came to our aid during my cardi-astrophe. The love and support they provided was absolutely heroic.

So just maybe we should stop attaching these mythical fantasy attributes to people we don’t even know. Look around your own life and I bet you’ll find plenty of heroes that deserve your respect and admiration.

I sure know I did.

It's already a victory

I wanted to be sure to write this before the election tomorrow in Massachusetts. Coakley vs Brown, a Democrat for the infamous Ted Kennedy seat against a Republican. This election should be a slam dunk for the Dems. But the latest polls all show Brown ahead. Now I won’t believe it ‘till it’s over but one can only hope.

If it really happens it is absolutely a referendum on this past year of congressional politics. Actually, the fact that the race is this close is already a referendum. But watch what happens if Brown actually wins. The democratic spin machine will be in full force. Since the oh so popular Obama couldn’t even help then whom? They may need to bring in the master himself, James Carville, to spin this one.

They’ll say Martha Coakley was a weak candidate.
They’ll say the third party candidate pulled votes away from her.
They’ll say Brown was more likable.

Hell they’ll say whatever they have to shift the talk away from healthcare reform and the rest of this administration’s unpopular agenda.

But it won’t work. Don’t let it work. Every incumbent Congressman/woman should already be shaking in their boots, from both parties. But the Democrats should be more worried. The largest expansion of government and the excessive spending is all on them. The back room deals and late night votes are all on them too.

So yes, tomorrow’s election is a referendum. Just maybe come November there will be a changing of the guard in Congress. Maybe we can get back to enough gridlock so we can have thoughtful, open, and bipartisan decisions.

Hey one can only hope.