Halloween Ideas and Musings

Friends, Halloween is but four days away, and your
spooktacular Peasant has a wonderfully fun idea for
you: Buy an Obama mask at your local Halloween
costume store, and scare up some big laughs!

Last year I bought one and have been having a ball
with it ever since; I have danced out to greet friends
in it, singing a fitting Irish ditty "The Liar" all the while!
Some of my friends nearly popped some ribs they were
laughing so hard!

As President Barack Obama winds down his time in the
White House, this is a fine and fitting tribute to the man
and his legacy; a legacy of disingenuousness, double-talking,
four-flushing, empty promises, baseless boasts, and just
plain bad old-fashioned lies (if you like your doctor/health plan,
you can keep your doctor/health care plan!). We may as well
have a laugh or two to shake off the tribulations of these past
eight years!

And while you're shopping for your Halloween cheer, why not
pick up a Hillary mask as well? Double the spooktacular political
fun with the presidential election coming right behind Halloween!
You can go out trick-or-treating and tell people that you're imposing
a candy tax, to be paid in candy!

Enjoy! And have a Happy Halloween!


MEM

Hillary's Hypocrisy

The latest imbroglio surrounding former First Lady,
former U.S. Senator, former Secretary of State and
Democrat nominee for the Presidency, has
Hillary Clinton centering on her plan to rid American
politics of big money and the shroud of secrecy.
There it is: the joke and the punch line all in one
statement.

Clinton recently announced that as President
she would have the federal government provide
matching funds for campaign donations below a
given dollar amount, as well as lower the cap on the
amount individuals can give to candidates, and mandate
independent groups to disclose their donors. Oh, and
she would push for rewriting the First Amendment
to allow more regulation of political speech.

Gee, your quizzical Peasant wonders how this would
affect the Clinton Foundation? Would the foundation begun
by Clinton and her husband even be included in the coverage
of her legislation? Now we know that their cozy little group
has happily accepted contributions from other countries
including Qatar --- while she was our nation's top diplomat,
no less. Moreover, this outfit raised money to hire
unofficial advisers such as Sidney Blumenthal and new
campaign aides such as Huma Abedin. Does anyone seriously
believe that the Clintons are going to, along with their
foundation, submit to these rules and regulations?
Hillary Clinton already has an ever-widening credibility gap
concerning many subjects, including Benghazi and her
e-mails. She is a liar like her husband, except that she lacks
Bill's smoothness and panache in the art of speaking the blarney.
And this is threatening to catch up with her in a big, nasty way,
with the election coming up in thirteen days.

The ongoing spectacle is not unlike a car wreck in the making;
you know it's coming, you know it will be horrible, yet you
feel you cannot avert your gaze.


MEM

Wanted: A Good, Pro-Growth Tax Plan

A note to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump
and running mate Indiana Gov. Mike Pence:

Here is a tax plan worth closer study and certainly of
serious discussion: The Main Street Tax Plan, an idea
from the Hudson Institute, a conservative non-profit
think tank specializing in economic and foreign policy
issues. This tax plan would give a tax cut to nearly all
American taxpayers: $2,153 to a single person earning
$60,000; $2,020 to a couple earning $80,000; and $2,055
to a family of four earning $95,000. The middle-class
would be the plan's biggest beneficiaries, and would fare
twice as well as those in the lofty top 1% of earners.

The Hudson Institute's plan would expand the U.S.
economy by $2 trillion within ten years, according to
the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, which took a close look
at it. This tax cut would raise revenues by $679 billion
over ten years, and taxes on increased growth would
replace and exceed lost revenues in that time frame.

And that's not all: the Main Street Tax Plan would make
for 7% of increased GDP growth over ten years for every
$1 trillion in tax cuts. And the plan would do away with
the business tax deduction for interest paid, thereby
ending Uncle Sam's preference for debt-financing.
And the plan would streamline the tax code by cutting
back on the number of different federal taxes. This plan
would end the Medicare payroll tax and would fund
Medicare through general revenues. The $679 billion in
extra revenue would leave more money for Medicare
funding, not less.

Furthermore, the plan would maintain the deduction for
charitable donations and for the mortgage-interest donation
(for one home), while eliminating almost all other deductions
currently in force.

The Main Street Tax Plan concentrates on the typical Amer-
ican. There would be no ordained winners or losers.
So how about it, Misters Trump and Pence? Worth a look
to you? It is certainly worth a look to Americans fed up with
ever-escalating taxes and getting little or nothing for their tax
payments.


MEM

Trying to Have It Both Ways

Your beloved Peasant saw this story headlining a recent copy
of USA Today: Well-heeled Democrat donors have to date
donated $134 million to help their party's presidential nominee
Hillary Clinton's campaign, a sum being 2 1/2 times that given
by Republicans to aid GOP nominee Donald Trump. The 'Pubs
have given $51 million thus far, and the reasons being many
Republicans with deep pockets are still not very keen on the
party's presidential hopeful, many of whom had supported
with votes and money other GOP candidates who unsuccessfully
vied for the party's presidential blessings. Moreover, these
big-boppin' Republicans have been instead donating to
down-ballot candidates on the ticket, from the senatorial
hopefuls to House candidates to gubernatorial contestants to
state legislature office seekers.

These folks think, and your observant Peasant isn't going to
dispute them, that Trump hasn't the temperament, the tact,
the command of the issues of the day, his sudden changes of
opinion regarding same, or the sufficiently thick skin to
withstand the barrage of attacks that he is presently facing,
and will face more of if elected, from the opposition.
I share these criticisms and concerns as well, but I maintain
that Donald Trump is not as awful a candidate and would not
be as awful a president as Clinton would be.

Meanwhile, former hedge fund manager and now a
radical environmentalist billionaire Tom Steyer is frantically
busy raising money for Hillary Clinton and the Democrats'
candidates for the Senate. His own super PAC, NextGen
Climate Action, has been an indispensable tool in his efforts;
he donated over ten million dollars to his creation, and
over $20 million to other fundraising organizations raising
money for this and for sufficiently left-wing candidates.
Just yesterday Steyer announced a $2 million campaign with
the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and
Planned Parenthood Votes to reach out to approximately
200,000 voters in New Hampshire, a battleground state
which is featuring a fiercely contested battle for the U.S.
Senate seat currently held by first-term GOP incumbent Sen.
Kelly Ayotte. She is being challenged by the state's Democrat
Governor Maggie Hassan, a very far left-wing politician.
Steyer crowed "We are committed to doing everything in
our power to deliver (Trump) a resounding defeat on
November 8,". And this is just one limousine liberal donor!

Again, I hold the same concerns and worries about Donald
Trump as do the big GOP donors. But let's not kid ourselves,
Hillary Clinton is the bigger danger to our republic, to our
country, to our prosperity, to our liberty, and to our way of life.
If I were a cash-laden fellow I would write a check right now
to assist Trump by making sure he has the essential funds
to mount an effective and triumphant campaign against Hillary
Clinton and her fellow left-wing elites. As it is, your determined
Peasant is certainly going to mark my ballot on the day for
Donald Trump, even though I may need to hold my nose,
even if I need to bring incense, an air freshener, maybe a
gas mask, for the simple reason being that Trump is at least
pro-marketplace rather than pro-state, and we can get him to
lend an ear to us, whereas Clinton would give us a deaf ear
and the middle finger.

And as for the Dems raising all that cash for Clinton and their
party's entire ticket, keep in mind that this is the same bunch
that decried the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which upheld the right of
large organizations such as corporations and labor unions (yes,
labor unions!) to donate money to influence political campaigns
under the First Amendment, yet they have no compunction
regarding raising astronomical sums of money for the same
purpose. And of course they are getting lots of dollars from
both the unions and from corporations and fat cats like Steyer
to load their campaign war chests! In other words, they are
benefiting from the very ruling which they lambasted!

With each and every day that passes, the Democrats and the
Left demonstrate their unfitness to hold political power.
Between now and November, Republicans and conservatives
both in and out of the party, wealthy and not, have an opportunity
to level the playing field, so come November we can prevail.
Let us take advantage of this great gift while we can!


MEM

Shimon Peres, R.I.P.

One of Israel's greatest political leaders,
a guiding figure to this nation since its
nationhood in 1948, a staunch ally to
the United States and the west, and always
in the midst of the action, Shimon Peres,
passed away September 28 after several
years of increasingly debilitating illness.
including two strokes, aged 93.

A protege' of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's
first head of state and a founding father,
Peres himself was Prime Minister on three
separate occasions, Foreign Minister as
many times, and president from 2007 until
2014. Peres was pivotal in building Israel's
defensive capabilities through helping to
establish Israel's electronics and aircraft
industries, as well as building his country's
nuclear arsenal. The leader of Israel's Labor
Party, Peres had no illusions of the dangers
posed by Israel's dangerous Arab neighbors.
Peres also revitalized Israel's economy in addition
to expanding and upgrading her defense
capability, as well as her economy.

A farmer and a shepherd in his younger days,
Peres rose to lofty heights as a political leader.
Statesman, warrior, then peace advocate, speaker
of several languages including Polish, Russian,
Hebrew, English and French, poet, songwriter,
an all-around renaissance man, Peres made his
mark not only upon Israel, but upon the Middle
East and the world. Principled yet pragmatic,
strong yet flexible, single-minded yet open to
new ideas, Shimon Peres was a great leader
for his people and an indefatigable ally of
the United States, he leaves a huge pair of
shoes to fill and a vast void in his part of the world.
Repose in comfort, sir. Enjoy your everlasting
reward after your yeoman's work. R.I.P.


MEM