Pete Nowicki is a classic example of someone Obama calls a “Public Servant;” He is the retired Fire Chief in Orinda California. But to me, Nowicki is yet another living example of why the government can’t be trusted with our hard earned money.

Although Nowicki no longer works, he is a relatively young man who actually retired in 2009 at the tender age of 51. And what makes the case of Peter Nowicki curious is the circumstances  surrounding his early retirement.

You see, Nowicki “pulled a fast one” with the government board that managed his employment contract. In early 2008, he approached the board of the Moraga Orinda Fire District (MOFD) seeking to sweeten the way his retirement benefits would be calculated.

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As I pointed out last week, plans have finally started to emerge to address the out-of-control deficit spending by the US Government.

Paul Ryan started it off with a rather aggressive plan, but it was criticized because it avoided the “third rail of American politics” – entitlements.

Obama responded with a very flimsy plan that lacked specific spending cuts, included massive tax hikes, but as I reported last week, even if all of Obama’s tax increases were passed, it would only reduce his own 2010 deficit by about 5%.

This Problem Won’t Go Away

One would think that liberals and conservatives would agree on the severity of this problem and simply disagree about the solution. I wish this were true, but as someone who frequently probes the minds of liberals to the point of outright hostility, I can report that this is not case.

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As the battle rages on about raising the $14 trillion dollar national debt limit, democrats and republicans alike are laying out their plans for deficit reduction.

First Paul Ryan provided a rather detailed plan called A Roadmap for America’s Future that lays out $6 trillion in cuts from Obama’s 10 year budget without raising taxes.

Obama responded with his own plan, however even the very liberal San Francisco Chronicled criticized Obama for his lack of specifics (see: Obama Deficit Reduction Plan Short On Specific).

However, Obama was very specific about his plans to raise taxes on the private sector. His targets are the usual suspects; “The Rich,” Multinational Corporations, and lately – “Big Oil.”

This all sounds good to an angry electorate who want to believe that they can continue to get trillions in government “freebies” and have someone else pick up the tab. Unfortunately, this is just another self-serving fib from our Campaigner-in-Chief.

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"According to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States has a smaller share of prime age men in the work force than any other G-7 nation."

- David Brooks
"The Missing Fifth"
The New York Times

When did this happen; when did the men in America lose "Their Mojo" and decide it was okay to stay home and let someone else put food on the table?

In the late 90's I lived in an affluent neighborhood in suburban San Francisco. It was kind of like Beaver Clever's home town; dads went to work and mom's stayed home and nurtured the children, well in most cases. Actually, in 2 of the 34 homes in our tract, it was actually the dads who raised the kids and the "she-men" drudged off to work each day. Perhaps this was a clue of things to come.

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"As lovers of peace, we call on our leaders to let the death of this mass murderer move us to a deep reexamination. How have we have allowed the unspeakable violence against us turn into unspeakable violence by us?"

- "Madea" Code Pink May 2, 2011

People will digest the news that "Osama won't be down for breakfast" differently. Democrats will call it a great day for Obama, Republicans will call it a great day for George Bush and the War on Terror, and with the possible exception of Code Pink, most Americans will call it a great day for the Navy Seals and CIA.

What most people seldom consider is the impact the War on Terror and the recent death of Osama Bin Laden has had on their careers.

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Here's a weekly presidential address I'd like to see, based on President Obama's address last week on "Taxpayer Subsidies for Oil Companies Farms are Neither Right, nor Smart, and They Should End." 

WASHINGTON – "As oil and gas companies U.S. farms make tens of billions in profits and the government scours the budget for savings, President Obama called on Congress to stop handing them$4 billion $12 billion annually in taxpayer subsidies.

After the worst recession since the Great Depression, our economy is growing again, and we’ve gained almost 2 million private sector jobs over the last 13 months. But I also know that a lot of folks aren’t feeling as positive as some of those statistics might suggest. It’s still too hard to find a job. And even if you have a job, chances are you’re having a tougher time paying the rising costs of everything from groceries to gas. In some places, gas ground beef is now more than $4 a gallon $3 per pound and milk is more than $3.50 per gallon meaning that you could be paying upwards of $50 or $60 to fill up your tank $500 or $600 per month to feed your family.

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