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Marie Lozito	June 11, 2011 Marie Lozito is a Registered Nurse, Licensed Massage Therapist, wife, mother, grandmother and life-long conservative. She wrote a text on medical massage and taught at New York College of Health Professions.  Interested in, and observing politics since 1960, she ran for elected office in 2010.

MISCELLANEOUS MUSINGS

An accumulation of thoughts about a few different topics.

Budgets do not come from the White House. Budgets come from Congress, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party. The Democrats have controlled the budget process for fiscal years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. The first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending because Bush, somewhat belatedly, got tough on spending increases.

During fiscal years 2009 and 2010, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in the House, along with Harry Reid and the Democrats in the Senate, bypassed President George Bush, entirely. They kept passing continuing resolutions to keep the government running until Barack Obama could take office. When that happened, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the 2009 fiscal year. Barack Obama was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and as President he signed the omnibus bill.

What happened to our national debt during that time? Our annual deficit between 2008 and 2009 went from less than $500 Billion to over $1.85 trillion - an increase of over 300% ! THAT IS JUST THE ONE YEAR DEFICIT for 2009! (Now our full deficit is almost a bankrupting $15 trillion!)

If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the 2007 deficit, the last of the Republican budgets. That deficit was the lowest in five years, and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of the spending, and that includes Barack Obama, who voted for the budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself. In a nutshell, what Obama is saying is: I inherited a deficit that I voted for, and then I voted to expand that deficit four-fold since January 20, 2010.

"So here's the question for 2012: If we the people don't want the higher taxes that are needed to support not only ObamaCare but a growing federal government, are we willing to support the real cuts that go along with that choice? And if we decide we don't want these programs touched, will we acceptthe higher taxes that go along with keeping them, including for people making a lot less than $250,000?" 
- columnist William McGurn


"An unlimited power to tax involves, necessarily, a power to destroy; because there is a limit beyond which no institution and no property can bear taxation."
- John Marshall, Supreme Court Justice, McCullough v. Maryland, 1819

Want to see where your federal tax dollars go? Check this out. (It's from Heritage Foundation)

“In 2009, Obama took itemized deductions of $514,819, a foreign tax credit of $59,372, and a deduction for interest on his home of $52,195. He was also able to take a deduction for $49,000 he contributed to his self-employed retirement fund. If he had not taken these deductions, he would have paid taxes on an additional $675,386, which in his income bracket would have meant he owed somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 more in taxes at the top marginal tax rate of 35 percent. 

Furthermore, he instructed the Nobel committee to donate his entire $1.4 million Nobel Prize directly to 10 charities, thereby avoiding the necessity of declaring the money as income on which he would have owed an additional $490,000 in taxes. 

If the president is so appalled at the rich and their ability to hire accountants to take advantage of each and every deduction, why doesn't he simply take the standard deduction on his tax return, like most Americans?" 
- columnist Linda Chavez

Knowing this, it's pretty nervy of him to have said, "Now, you know we just had Tax Day so nobody wants to pay taxes. Let me tell ya, I looked at my Tax Reform and I thought, 'hmm...' Ya know there was a moment there where you look at the figure you're paying and you say, 'Wow, let me think about my position on taxing the wealthy here.' I understand that. Nobody volunteers and says 'Boy, I'm just wild to pay more taxes.' But it's a matter of values and what we prioritize. And I certainly don't think my taxes should be even lower!"

The hypocrisy in media reporting is really amazing. How many of you even heard that the U.S. House formally rebuked President Obama the other Friday for his handling of the war in Libya? The lawmakers stopped short of calling for a withdrawal of U.S. Forces but the their action puts pressure on Obama to give Congress a clearer picture of where the mission is headed and when it might end. Also since he has not properly reported to Congress after 60 days of starting a military engagement, he is in violation of the War Acts. (The president launched the operation in Libya over three months ago.) Where is the media uproar about that?

"If you think I'm being unfair to liberals, let me remind you that when Obama's predecessor was in office, not a day went by when the MSM (main street media) didn't let us know how many American soldiers were dying in Bush's wars. Garry Trudeau even devoted Sunday editions of Doonesbury to listing the names of the fallen. Anyone else find it odd that now that Obama is in charge, you don't get a daily, weekly or even monthly, update of numbers and names? Well, just for the record, nearly 1,500 American warriors have died in Afghanistan over the past 10 years, with two-thirds of the fatalities occurring since it became Obama's war in 2009!" 
- columnist Burt Prelutsky