50 Job Ideas for Joe Biden in 2013

In a spirit of cooperation, and because I'll be doing everything I can to evict the current residents of the White House in 2012, I think we may need some type of outbound job placement. Well, not for the President or Mrs. Obama. They're set for life. There will be book deals and I'm fairly certain that there will be plenty of "business" opportunities in Chicago for the two of them. No, the Obamas will end up quite wealthy.

Dr. Jill Biden has a doctorate in education and two masters degrees and actually holds down a job as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, so it's Joe that's likely to be a drag on society.

Vice President Joe Biden
Image via Wikipedia

I have taken Joe's abilities and his likely connections into account while preparing this list. There is even speculation that Biden will be dropped from the Democratic ticket  next year. I've also taken that into account. I encourage you to submit your own suggestions in the comments section. My suggestions for Joe Biden (Tweet hash #jobs4joe):

Job Suggestions For Joe:

1.  Donald Trump Apprentice - That should last for a good two hours - If The Donald is in a good mood.

2.  Manager of GM's new wind-powered car division. If anyone's got the wind, it's Joe.

3.  Public relations consultant for Charlie Sheen

4.  Dr. Teeth's stunt double on the next Muppets movie

5.  Night manager at Denny's - "I'm shooting for a job at IHOP. After all, I have lots of experience with international relationships - - and pancakes."

6.  Based on his experience, the perfect Vice-President of the Hair Club for Men: “ . . . And there were almost no ingrown hair plugs.”

america all over your ass

Marc Tracy, the owner and author of the america all over your ass blog, has kindly agreed to write a monthly guest blog for this site. In fact, if you'll look at the top of the page, you'll see that Marc now has his own tab, where he already has a blog posted. I'll also have some contributions on Marc's site, and I appreciate the opportunity for his readers to read some of my scribblings.

Marc is a talented, edgy and humorous writer that I enjoy reading and I think you will too. When you finish reading his contributions here, take a look at his website, There's more where this came from. You'll find that Marc is a no-holds-barred conservative and an excellent read. Hey, who loves ya, baby? Enjoy!

Ken

Why Hippies Are Better Than OWS Hippie-crits

Love is understanding
Don't you know that this is true
Love is understanding
It's in everything we do
In this generation
In this loving time
In this generation
We will make the world shine . . .
We were born to love one another
This is something we all need
We were made to love one another
And we must be what we're going to be
And what we have to be is free
Love is understanding we gotta be free
Love is understanding we gotta be free
We gotta be free; we gotta be free
 - For Pete's Sake by Peter Tork and Joseph Richards, 1967, performed by The Monkees




There is a massive difference between the original Hippies and the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Hippie-crits. It gives a bad rap to the original Hippies when you call the current bunch of grasping, selfish, me first (and last) whiners the same name.

Why The Supercommittee Was Doomed

It's confession time. The eventual outcome of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as "the Supercommittee", was so obvious that I wrote most of this blog two weeks ago. There was no reason why there would be an outcome other than failure.

The Supercommittee was composed of twelve members, evenly divided among the bicameral Congress and evenly subdivided among the two major political parties. It was supposed to be a tool for getting around the stalemate between the Democrat-controlled US Senate and the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives.

Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA)
Image via Wikipedia

There is a non-profit, non-partisan, conservative organization called The Club for Growth. It measures the economic policy votes cast by members of Congress. Members favor low tax rates, free trade, limited spending, repeal of the inheritance tax and regulatory reform among other things. You may or may not agree with their positions, but they issue a scorecard that is a convenient measuring stick for the comparison of the Supercommittee members' approach to taxes and spending.

In the following paragraph is a list of members, their home state and their party affiliation. In parenthesis are their lifetime Club for Growth ratings. I've included this as a way for readers to see where members stand relative to each other. Two members have not been in office long enough to have a rating. You may wish to know that Senator Toomey, one of those two members, is a former head of Club for Growth. So though Toomey does not have a rating, if you pencil in 100%, you would likely be very close.

Chu on This

Poor US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, the Nobel Prize winner is characterized as a brilliant academic but his lax management style makes him too incompetent for even the hapless Obama Administration. Sadly, the Obama Administration is, indeed, so hapless that they haven't yet accepted the fact that Chu is not an able or even competent administrator.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu
Image via Wikipedia

I'm being kind in that assessment, because if Chu isn't incompetent then it means that he participated, with or without specific knowledge, in routing taxpayer money to benefit the billionaire buddy of our current President. Of course, there is still the alternative that both things are true. It's also telling that Solyndra was the very first loan Chu approved.

Chu says that he accepts responsibility for the Solyndra debacle, but that's not quite accurate is it? Accepting responsibility doesn't stop at making excuses for why you made the wrong decision despite evidence to the contrary. It means making amends. If Secretary Chu wants to be responsible, then he should actually be responsible. We'll even allow him to finance the $535 million dollars as long as he pays it back to the taxpayers. That would be taking full responsibility.

OWS: Return of the Useful Idiots

It was a little rocky last night (November 4th) here in DC. The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) people were out in force, surrounding the convention center where Americans for Prosperity (AFP) held their two-day summit. There was some excitement in the building, as well.

In the opening moments of Judge Andrew Napolitano’s speech during the Reagan Dinner, one of the OWS protesters who had paid admission, stood up and began to scream something unintelligible about Jefferson. I’ll be kind and assume he meant Thomas and not George. Besides, I’m fairly certain he doesn’t believe in the concept of “movin’ on up”.

As the protester was peacefully escorted from the room, Judge Napolitano loudly quoted Voltaire, “I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.” It’s too bad the protester didn’t stick around for the entire speech; he might have learned something. Except that he could have not learned a thing because he wasn’t there to learn.

The OWS people, as a whole, are not interested in understanding. They are interested in transforming our current system, which they do not understand to a system they cannot describe for reasons they cannot properly communicate through demands they cannot enumerate. Do you see the beginnings of a problem here? - Ken Carroll, Below the Gnat Line

It's Not Just the Economy

Image by Truus, Bob & Jan too! via Flickr

I'll be in Washington for the next few days at Americans for Prosperity's (AFP's) Defending the American Dream Summit (Twitter hash: #dream11). It's been interesting so far.I spoke with several of the other AFP attendees yesterday on the bus ride up from Georgia.

Surprisingly, most of the conversation revolved around non-financial topics.I posed the same question to several people on the trip up, "What do you believe is the most significant problem facing our country and what is its underlying cause?"I got some interesting answers but none were specifically related to fiscal or monetary policy. In fact, all of the answers were either directly or indirectly related to moral issues. Nearly all involved the American family.

Do the thoughts of a few people, all from the same part of the country with similar beliefs and backgrounds offering similar opinions prove anything? No, they do not; but, their responses do raise the possibility that many people do understand the link.

“No matter how noble the objectives of a government, if it blurs decency and kindness, cheapens human life, and breeds ill will and suspicion – it is an evil government.” - Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind

Let's face it, there are federal policies that encourage the break-up of families, especially among lower

In Defense of Capitalism

I hate to tell the Occupy Wall Street group (OWS) this, but not only do they not understand capitalism, they aren’t even the trendsetters of anti-capitalism. For years, American culture and tax policy has been at odds with the values of capitalism. It’s a pity, but it’s true and one can trace the majority of our current economic problems to that fact.

Wall Street, 1867
Image via Wikipedia

The basis of capitalism is self-denial; the intentional delay of gratification for the chance of a greater reward later. If you think this is still the core of our country’s values, then you haven’t been paying attention.

In order to generate capital, individuals have to consume fewer resources than they have available, meaning that they save rather than consume. Then those individuals must be willing to risk those savings to acquire the tools necessary to provide desired goods. If the individuals make poor decisions, or as our Commander-in-Chief calls them “bets”, then they will lose their investments. This means that their sacrifices were in vain, except for some new knowledge of what fails.

Capitalism is what people do when left alone. Anything other than capitalism is because of a government that restricts what people freely do. Even simple barter requires a saving of resources and an investment to obtain other goods. Simple farming was also capitalism long before tractors and center-pivot irrigation systems. Early farmers sacrificed the consumption of seeds in order to invest them in next year’s crop.

Is capitalism good? It rewards innovation and efficiency. It creates job opportunities and allows families to

My Advice? Slow Down

Slow down; you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last; just
Kickin’ down the cobblestones;
Lookin’ for fun and feelin’ groovy.
          - 59^th Street Bridge Song – Music and Lyrics by Paul Simon

What is the rush? We’re in the beginning stages of selecting who will be the next President of the United States. This is an important decision that will have consequences far beyond the next four-year term of the leader of the free world. So, again, what is the hurry?

Are you states that want to move your presidential preference primaries up to next week paying attention? Probably not. Yes, we all want our state primaries to matter, but if you love this country you will not turn a marathon into a blind sprint. If we’re going to do something that stupid, let’s save some money and just cut cards.

Governor Perry and the Great Economics Debate

Last night’s debate on Bloomberg TV focused on the US economy. This was a good choice by debate sponsors, because the American people are focused on the economy out of self-defense. The abject failure of President Obama and his gaggle of academic charlatans and Wall Street Wonderboys to grasp even the basics of business, is no surprise to economic conservatives. If one is overly kind, one could call the state of our current economy “iffy”. For that reason alone, people are ready to hear Republican ideas to repair the economy.

The debate was an opportunity for Republican presidential candidates to discuss their thoughts on the economy in more detail than other formats have allowed. Many of them, including Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney made good use of the format. Others did not do as well.

Image via Wikipedia

Texas Governor Rick Perry didn’t lose the economics debate last night, but it may eventually cost him the nomination anyway. Perry needed a reversal in direction for his campaign and his lackluster performance did not do that. He will continue to slide in the polls because he gave no reason for the slide to stop.

Perry is right, of course, on his statements about the necessity to utilize our natural resources to save the economy. He mentioned it several times but never ventured beyond the painfully obvious. Simply put, Perry never connected the dots. There was no analysis; no linking of job production outside of the energy sector; and most importantly to his campaign, no burning reason why voters should stick with the Perry bandwagon.

Perry could have easily pointed out that we need relatively inexpensive energy to increase production of both goods and jobs. Less expensive goods - and lower transportation costs - means more exports in all sectors, which means more jobs. Less expensive products are more affordable to America’s middle class. Common

Fear of a Tea Party Planet

- Why the Democratic National Committee wants to co-opt the Occupy Wall Street Protesters -

Why would former US House Speaker and legislative airhead Nancy Pelosi go out of her way to embrace the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters? Why would civil rights movement icon John Lewis attempt to address the OWS group in Atlanta’s Woodruff Park? Why would President Obama praise these groups even after hundreds were arrested in New York City?

Tea Party Rally in Washington, DC
Image via Wikipedia

These are legitimate questions because of the significant political risks undertaken by these nationally known Democrats. They risk their personal reputations, if not their re-election chances, to mingle their fortunes with an little known group of protesters. They are also placing their party’s lower tier candidates at greater risk with this affiliation. Generally a high risk should have an opportunity to generate high rewards, and this is the case. Democrats are playing high stakes poker to counter the Tea Party.

Publicly, Democrats deny that the Tea Party had any effect on the 2010 elections and will soon disappear. No one really believes Democrats are that stupid and recalcitrant regarding reality. Having failed to destroy the Tea Party movement, though slandering it so that the movement’s popularity has decreased, the Democrats want a left-wing movement to counter the Tea Party.

What's Newt's Real Beef with Campaign Coverage?

I'm not going to attempt to psychoanalyze Newt Gingrich, a very complicated man with whom I've exchanged fewer words than I'll use to write this blog. I will do something most writers do not do when addressing a politician's comments; however, I'll examine what he said.

Image via Wikipedia

Former US House Speaker Gingrich

Viewers remember the exchange between Speaker Gingrich and Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace during the Iowa GOP debate. Gingrich accused Wallace of using "gotcha questions" and "playing Mickey Mouse games". Wallace responded by stating that he was sorry if Gingrich thought questions about his record were "Mickey Mouse". It was interesting political theater, but it missed Gingrich's real point while proving that he was exactly right.


Do you remember the point Mr. Gingrich was making? It was a legitimate issue that challenged journalists and political analysts in an area where they should be held accountable. In that same exchange with Wallace, Gingrich said the following, from the debate transcripts:

GINGRICH:  I'd love to see the rest of tonight's debate asking us about what we would do to lead an America whose president has failed to lead . . .
GINGRICH:  I think that there's too much attention paid by the press corps about the campaign minutia and not enough paid by the press corps to the basic ideas that distinguish us from Barack Obama.(APPLAUSE)