Month: April 2016

Many years ago, Wendy’s did an advertising campaign centered on the question, “Where’s the beef?”

A similar question was running thru my mind today after reading a blast email from my church’s Google group. It was sent by a person that is a hardcore supporter of Ted Cruz. The guy is a CPA and figured that since today was tax day, he would blast it out to us. I’m sure it’s based on an email from Cruz’s campaign.

I’m including a link from the Tax Foundation that gives an analysis of Cruz’s tax reform plan, but here is a summary:

Ted Cruz’s tax reform plan is brilliant:

—> A 10% flat tax on individuals and families (on all income);

—> Eliminate itemized deductions, except charitable contributions and the home mortgage deduction;

—> Eliminate all individual tax credits, except the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (for poor people) by 20%;

—> Eliminate the first $36,000 of income from tax (people making less than $36,000 per year would not pay any tax at all);

—> Eliminate the estate tax;

—> ELIMINATE THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX! (YES!);

Replace the corporate income tax with a flat 16% consumption tax – YES! (This would cause corporations to pay taxes on what they consume (pay for) in the U.S. (like salaries, rent, goods, services, etc.) and would eliminate all the game playing corporations do to off-shore their profits – what the government calls “inversion”.) – It is the RIGHT thing to do!

—> ELIMINATE ALL CORPORATE TAX LOOPHOLES! (YES!).

 

I wrote a reply that was not forwarded to the mail list so I’m putting it on my blog just to I can be on the record.

Thanks for the Cruz plug but I respectfully dissent.

1. If this tax plan is so great then where is the legislation?

Cruz is in his second term in the US Senate and this is the first that I’m hearing all this. If this economic proposal is his heartfelt belief and is so great for the country where is the bill package? Who are his co-authors?

Cruz has been campaigning for President since he took part in the filibuster many years ago. He has given the run for President much thought and planning.

2. After New York votes tomorrow, he is mathematically eliminated from an outright win. (I’m getting told this by people involved in the Cruz campaign.)

3. The biggest practical problem in changing the tax code is how do we get from where we are to something new without ending up with both. The Federal Income Tax was a temporary tax to pay for World War I and we still have it.

What Ted Cruz says and what he does are frequently different. This is just another example.

These ideas may have some merit over the current system but I see no path for Cruz to get to the White House except possibly in the Vice Presidential slot.

I’m getting really tired of being told that I have to vote for Cruz because of his religion. I thought we are supposed to look at the content of a person’s character. Cruz’s faith has no impact on how he conducts his political life so why should I let it influence my vote?

At my church, it is traditional that after the service, we have refreshments and then regroup for a question and answer period. This is an opportunity to ask the pastor any questions that you have on his sermon or to clarify what application to our lives that he was trying to advocate. In the course of the discussion, two folks decided that sharing the gospel was not enough, they were adamant that we must get involved in politics. Of course, for them, this means Presidential politics. Like many others, they have fallen for Ted Cruz. To them, he is God’s gift to the American electorate. They said, look at the great things he has said.

Not wishing to cause problems, I waited until the question and answer period was over and went up to one of the Cruz advocates and said to him, “I respectfully dissent. Cruz may say the right things but look at what he is doing.” Instead of this being an opening for an intellectual discussion, I got a knee-jerk emotional one.  This man—that is highly respected—began to list all the moral failings of Donald Trump and concluded how can any Christian vote for such a person. For him, only Cruz is worthy of his vote.

I had hoped to point out that no Christian in politics actually brings a Christian worldview to bear in the political arena. None believe that their faith has any influence on government or public policy. Somehow Christians in politics think they are immune from the commands of God. They—like their secular counterparts—compartmentalize the world in such a way that their faith is excluded from the public square.

Unfortunately for them, the Bible has much to say about how we treat each other. Friends and foreigners are not to be treated differently. Lying, cheating, stealing, murder, and bearing false witness are wrong.  Equal weights and measures are honoring to God, dishonest scales are abominable in his sight. The concept of equal justice under the law comes from the Bible.

If Cruz is really God’s guy in this election, wouldn’t it be reasonable that he would show God’s love in how he treats other candidates? Or as Glen Kaiser once preached, “The way you treat the person you love the least is the way you love God the most.”

• Would a Christian man be upright in his dealings with others or the first guy to put a knife in your back?
• Would a Christian man lie about others for advantage?
• Would a Christian man take things that are not his?
• Would a Christian man resort to duplicity and deceit?
• Would a Christian man move his neighbor’s boundary markers?
• Would a Christian man take what he has not earned?

• Why should God honor such a man?
• Then why should you vote for such a man?

Christians in politics think only in terms of “power”. This is Satan’s paradigm not God’s. Gary North’s commentary on Exodus and his book Political Polytheism both show that if we do things like the other guys then ultimately we will fail. The paradigm of the Christian is not the power of the state (Pharaoh) but submission to God (Moses).

I have seen how this scenario plays-out. Can you say CRA and Barbara Alby? I told Cruz, “Beware the Ides of March” but he took the bait from the Establishment.

Trump has been calling Cruz “Lyin’ Ted” since before Florida and I now think he is correct.

Cruz isn’t just lying; he is stealing too. He is trying the steal delegates earned by Trump. I have previously documented some of these efforts but this is what is on the Internet today.

Manafort, a veteran GOP strategist who worked on White House campaigns for President Gerald Ford in 1976 and Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in 1996, told NBC’s “Meet The Press” that the Cruz campaign was using a “scorched earth” approach in which “they don’t care about the party. If they don’t get what they want, they blow it up.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/04/11/trump-slams-gop-nominating-process-as-top-aide-accuses-cruz-gestapo-tactics-to-win-delegates.html?intcmp=hpbt2

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump erupted on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning after a weekend that saw Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas sweep all of Colorado’s 34 delegates without any votes being cast by citizens in a traditional primary process.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/trump-erupts-as-cruz-sweeps-colorado-without-votes

GOP leaders have never provided a satisfactory reason for forgoing a presidential preference poll, although party chairman Steve House suggested on radio at one point that too many Republicans would otherwise flock to their local caucus.

Imagine that: party officials fearing that an interesting race might propel thousands of additional citizens to participate. But of course that might dilute the influence of elites and insiders. You can see why that could upset the faint-hearted.

By contrast, far-sighted party leaders should have welcomed the extra attention to their caucus and the potential activism on the party’s behalf it would have spawned.
http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_29563108/colorado-gop-blundered-2016-presidential-caucus

The Cruz campaign ran the table in Colorado, capturing all 34 delegates at a series of seven congressional district meetings this month and the state party convention Saturday in Colorado Springs.

Colorado GOP leaders canceled the party’s presidential straw poll in August to avoid binding its delegates to a candidate who may not survive until the Republican National Convention in July.

Instead, Republicans selected national delegates through the caucus process, a move that put the election of national delegates in the hands of party insiders and activists — leaving roughly 90 percent of the more than 1 million Republican voters on the sidelines.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29750206/angry-donald-trump-blasts-colorado-gop-results-totally

Despite Donald Trump winning Virginia on Super Tuesday, two of three delegates elected in the first district convention here are supporters of rival Ted Cruz — which could matter if a second ballot were to take place at the national convention.

In the 9th congressional district, Donald Trump took over 47 percent of the votes on Super Tuesday. In Virginia’s primary for this district, Ted Cruz won only about 19 percent of the votes.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/cruz-nabs-delegate-backers-virginia-district-trump-won-n553641

In Nashville a week ago, supporters of Donald J. Trump accused Republican leaders of trying to stack the state’s delegate slate with people who were anti-Trump. The Trump campaign posted the cellphone number of the state party chairman on Twitter, leading him to be inundated with calls. Several dozen people showed up at the meeting at which delegates were being named, banged on the windows and demanded to be let in.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/us/politics/primary-process-is-seen-as-in-conflict-with-democracy.html?_r=0

The Colorado GOP is getting some backlash after someone with access to the party’s Twitter account posted, and quickly deleted, the following message: “We did it. #NeverTrump.”
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/politics/colorado-gop-hastly-deletes-nevertrump-tweet-following-sweeping-ted-cruz-delegate-victory

Rush Limbaugh 04-11-2016

CALLER:  I’m a disenfranchised Colorado voted who attended the non-caucus caucus.

RUSH:  Yeah, how was it?

CALLER:  It was a sham. (chuckles) There were a few people there, all Republican office people who wouldn’t even tell you who they were going to vote for as your delegate. So you had no idea.

RUSH:  Wait, wait, wait.  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! They wouldn’t tell you who they were gonna vote for as your delegate?

CALLER:  Yes.  We had to vote on delegates, but they would not announce who they were going to vote for as the delegate —

RUSH:  So you were choosing delegates who would not tell you for whom they were going to support at the convention?

CALLER:  That’s correct.

RUSH:  Wow.  Who was in charge of that, Ted Cruz?

CALLER:  I have no idea.  All I know—

RUSH:  I’m just kidding!  I’m sorry.  Folks, I’m getting giddy here at the end of the program.  I just made it up.  I take it back.  Who was in charge of making that decision?

CALLER:  The Republican Party of Colorado.  They don’t trust the voters.  Last election we voted for Santorum, which they didn’t like, and the election before that we voted for Romney, who they didn’t want. They wanted McCain.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/04/11/ted_cruz_isn_t_cheating_he_s_winning

Yesterday I got a call from my sister that lives in another state. She is upset with the remaining field of Presidential candidates from both Parties. I told her that if she really wants change that her choices are named Sanders and Trump; anyone else is the status quo. She said that she would rather vote for Mickey Mouse because he at least stands for something.

Really? Like what?

Having given it more thought, I think Mickey is actually a good example of someone living off a reputation that hasn’t been true in decades.

Walt Disney worked very hard to associate his brand with family values and patriotism. All his movies and his beloved theme parks were geared to be family friendly fare. Once Walt was gone, the company continued in the general direction that he had set for it. The first area where the company departed from Disney’s publicly stated values was movies.

Disney diversified to begin producing movies under various names in the 1970’s. They started making PG and R movies under different labels. One of the most prevalent was Touchstone. Once the PG-13 designation was created, many of their films earned that rating.

With the advent of satellite TV, they started several channels that targeted both younger and older children. Much of their programming is terribly mediocre; especially, that targeted to the pre-teen crowd.

About a decade ago they bought the ABC television network; which includes ESPN and Pat Robertson’s old Family Channel (later ABC Family and now Freeform).

ABC—under Disney’s ownership—is now a huge advocate of sin: homosexuality, abortion, pre-marital and extra-marital sex, false religious practices, and a whole pantheon of social decay. This includes its programming for children, not just the stuff they put on in primetime.

The most insidious part of this is that they are using Walt’s reputation as a smokescreen to get into your living-room and in front of your children without you parents actually checking the content because it has Disney on the label.

In the political arena, Mickey Mouse is just like John Doolittle, Dan Lungren, and Tom McClintock (just to name a few from my area of California); all were living off reputations earned decades ago that were no longer true.

Once people have an image of you, you can do pretty much whatever you want and they will default to their first impression of you.

In reality, Mickey Mouse is a symbol of the perversion and decay of our country. Furthermore, he and his subsidiaries are leaders in the corruption of our country morally and spiritually.

So this November, remember that a vote for Mickey Mouse is a vote to continue the current decline of our once great country.

Dumbest Quote of the day

“Our key is continuing to acquire delegates,” Cruz spokeswoman Alice Stewart said. “Several of the states coming up ahead—they’re proportional, and we may not win overall but we can rack up some delegates by district and that’s what we see as our way to get to 1,237.”
Cruz has tough road

Translation: Cruz will lose the upcoming states but he will get some delegates and that is his path to victory.

Alice is clearly deluded and overpaid. Oh, she is also blond which explains much. Here is a video where she sings the praises of Ted Trump.
Ted Trump Video

Cruz is running a comfortable third place in New York which votes later this month but never fear.
Trump Tops 50 Percent

Meanwhile the Trump camp is calling Ted the Trojan horse candidate.

Trump national spokeswoman Katrina Pierson defended the statement on an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, saying the so-called establishment has no intention of supporting Cruz at the convention—suggesting the goal is only to use him to hold back Trump and force a floor fight, and then back somebody else.

“Their loyalty is not with Senator Cruz. However Senator Cruz has now made himself that Trojan horse to push this to a contested convention,” Pierson said. “This is going to be a very serious problem if Senator Cruz continues to go down this path, and then neither Trump or Cruz becomes the nominee.”
GOP using Cruz

Today, World Net Daily asks the question that I posed yesterday: Is the Cruz campaign moral?

Regardless of whom you support for the GOP presidential nomination, ask yourself whether what Team Cruz is doing is moral or “sleazy”? There doesn’t seem to be any question that it’s legal. But setting aside legality, which hinges on the complicated and arcane delegate rules that vary from state to state, the question is: Is it moral?

Is it fair for the Cruz campaign essentially to thwart the will of Arizona primary voters who overwhelmingly chose Donald Trump and intended their delegates to represent their choice? Are you OK with Team Cruz feverishly recruiting and converting delegates duty-bound to support Trump on the first ballot into Cruz supporters on all subsequent ballots?

What does this mean for Arizonans’ and other Americans’ right to vote?

Later in the article, the author, David Kupelian, states,

I am troubled by this. The Cruz campaign is going from state to state, after each primary election has been decided by voters, in efforts to turn Trump delegates into Cruz delegates: Do you believe this is right?

Is the Cruz Campaign moral?

The short answer to the question of this article is, “Hell no”.

And yes, “Hell” is the correct modifier to “NO”.

The devil has been a liar from the beginning.

For Cruz to use lying and manipulation to gain advantage is cheating or as I said yesterday, “putting his thumb on the scales”. Cruz may call himself a Christian but when his claim of faith has no affect on his behavior in the political arena then he is a fraud. He has failed both his God and his country. In the final analysis, he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“Behold, I stand at the door and pick the lock. Don’t kick the door down, just pick the lock.”
This advice from one demon to another was recorded by Isaac Air Freight as part of their skit on “Battle of Invisible Empires” back in 1979.

This quote is what I think of when I read that Ted Cruz is not happy with his delegate count and has decided to pull his version of the “hanging chad” by stealing delegates from rival Donald Trump. Cruz is systematically switching slots won for Trump delegates with folks that will secretly support him at the Cleveland Convention.

On the one hand, Cruz is marketing himself as this upstanding and ethical guy that is the son of a preacher man, and is as squeaky clean as the Osmond Brothers or Pat Boone. While on the other, he is the consummate insider with deep ties to Wall Street and the D.C. Establishment. Cruz’s actions are just like any other career political politician, the ends justify the means; why? Because his ego is so big that he can do no wrong.

It is this duplicity of Cruz that has a big red flag waving in my mind when I look at him. Like so many other Evangelicals, he has to find a way of putting his thumb on the scales to give himself an advantage because he doesn’t trust in Providence or the rules of the contest.

In addition to trying to siphon off delegates that Trump has won, media reports also say that Cruz is hijacking the Republican National Committee (RNC) Rules Committee to make the rules more favorable to him.

I think this behavior stinks to High Heaven (literally).

Inquiring minds should want to know…but they don’t. Cruz voters aren’t willing to call Ted to account for his actions.

Hey Cruz voters, I’ve seen this before and I assure you it will not end well. The blow-back will be hurtful to us in the long run.