Mr. President, Common Sense is on Line 1

The Federal government has been quietly slipping by a tax to the American people that costs as much as 20 C-130 cargo planes. "What for?", you might ask.

 Free cell phones.

Let that sink in. For cell service, one and a quarter billion dollars (yes with a b) has been spent by Uncle Sam every year since 2008 and the cost has not stopped rising. Some people even have multiple phones that are being subsidized by ALL OF US.

Does this sound ludicrous to anyone else?

Basically, the Universal Service fee that you will see on every one of your phone bills constitutes the passing on of a mandatory payment from the phone company to you. The federal government requires companies pay into the Universal Service fund and they pass the buck, so to speak, to the consumer.

Originally the program only serviced land lines. That sounds reasonable, right? Well in 2008 the program was expanded to include cell phones and to say the cost skyrocketed would be an understatement. Rep. Tim Griffin of Tennessee has posted an excellent video explaining this lunacy to youtube, and it is embedded below.

With our economy severely recessed, and a pile of debt as tall as the Chrysler Building and growing, what on Earth is our government doing paying for data and minutes? This kind of idiotic and reckless spending has to be brought to someone's attention; it doesn't even sound rational.

Woodward Calls Out Obama on Hyper-Partisanism

Photo Credit to The Daily Beast

Over the weekend, Washington Examiner writer Conn Carroll wrote an insightful synopsis of author Bob Woodward's new book, "The Price of Politics". In it, Carroll notes Woodward's feelings on Obama's miserable mishandling of the presidency and the damning consequences of Obama's hyper-partisanism.

In the book, the President himself is quoted as shooting down a bi-partisan Republican stimulus plan early in his term with the words "I can go it alone, I have the polls". His own chief-of-staff, Rahm Emanuel, has spoken on the fact that Obama's final stimulus plan had zero contribution from House Republicans, "We have the votes. (expletive) them." 

It is a well-known fact that this President has mishandled the problems that America faces. It is a well-known fact that Obama does not have a bi-partisan bone in his body. But for a President to not only mishandle a situation, but to metaphorically spit in the face of a concerned Republican Party that is willing and able to help...

It just isn't something you do.

Obama has derisively described House Majority Leader John Boehner as a "cigarette-smoking, country-clubbing Republican who makes deals." Deals are a part of legislating effectively and compromise is important to America's democracy. Boehner has tried to make many deals in his years in Congress. But appeals to reason in the White House often fall on deaf ears.

We have a President who cannot handle the job himself; who refuses to compromise for the good of his nation; and who slaps bi-partisanism off of the table. The facts are as plain as day. America can only hope for a change.