Part Two:  The Problem With Politicians

The problem with elected officials is that they're more concerned with being reelected than with acting in the nation's best interests. Sure, we have a couple of good ones here in Louisiana like Senator David Vitter and Congressmen Steve Scalise, Jeff Landry, John Fleming & Co. Unfortunately, they represent a tiny, almost irrelevant minority of the legislative bodies which they represent.

Someone needs to be elected House Speaker and ideally have another person elected President (I know, we'll be speaking Chinese before that'll ever happen) who will eliminate these federal bureaucracies knowing full-well that doing so will effectively end their political careers once their terms have expired.

I think I have enough of a disdain for politics and liberal Republican elites in the RNC and in Washington in general to justify running for Congress for no reason other than to do that which everyone else is either unwilling or too afraid to do. 

I have no desire to become a politician of any sort - including a Congressman; although I do have much respect for Louisiana's delegation minus Richmond. It occurred to me some time ago that the very fact that serving as an elected official at the federal level is probably the least appealing job I can conceive of is exactly what makes me uniquely qualified to offer the voters of Louisiana the opportunity to elect a representative who would be embarassed to admit his job title due to his extraordinarily low opinion of that particular legislative body.

At least if there were bills filed and scheduled for debate proposing the elimination of all of the aforementioned bureaucracies effective nearly immediately upon passage (we'll give them six months or so to close up shop and sell off all furniture, equipment and anything else of value that can be sold to help repay the national debt).

Speaker Boehner and virtually all other top Republican leadership throughout the majority of my lifetime (with a handful of exceptions of genuinely good Congressmen from Louisisana) are too big of cowards to ever even threaten to take on the task of cutting millions of useless government jobs. The thought of being labeled as heartless and thrown out of office by the very people feeding at the public trough supported by working-class taxpayers is too devastating a consequence for them to even consider doing what everyone with an IQ that exceeds their waist size knows must be done to save the country and the value of its currency, not to mention Americans' wealth, investments and savings.

To put it in other words, people like Speaker Boehner and most everyone at the RNC believes their own jobs are more important than saving the greatest nation in the recorded history of the planet. If that's not gradiose narcissism to the enth degree, I know not what is. Sure, they're not bad people, but losing an election is a small price to pay for saving a country of more than 300,000,000 people, and doing what's necessary to ensure that it remains the "land of opportunity".

It appears it may be too late to salvage the whole "land of the free" thing, but who knows? Maybe if the 18-trillion ton parasite that is the federal bureaucracy were slayed by a brace group of legislative warriors, an copy of the United States Consitution complete with its original wording might turn up someday in someone's basement and could be restored as the document defining that which government cannot do.

However, the wording of the Second Amendment to the Constitution may need to be tweaked from "… the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed", to read something more to the effect of "the dutiful obligation of the people to keep and bear arms, and use them against anyone and everyone who in any way threatens the legal governing authority of this document as originally worded, shall not be infringed, and shall be encouraged with explicit permission granted by law to the citizenry to use force if necessary to defend against any and all legitimate threats to the legal authority of this document."

Anyway, if anyone reading this has an opinion about whether or not you would support a candidate who ran for federal office (most likely either the House or Senate) who would go to Washington for the sole purpose of performing a massive liposuction and gastric bypass on the United States government (then de-worming it), with the understanding that the candidate's actions while in Congress would virtually assure his or her inability to win reelection, please do share it in the comments.

I have absolutely no desire to become a part of a government that I despise and would mutilate (figuratively speaking, of course) if given the opportunity. I would be ashamed to admit my profession when meeting new people if I worked in government. If I ever were to find myself in the unenviable position of having as colleagues the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the criminal (eff) Chuch Shumer, I would be about as miserable and depressed as a result of my misfortune that the only thing that would motivate me to get out of bed in the morning is knowing that I would say and do things at work that would virtually guarantee my termination upon my initial performance review (i.e. reelection) followin my hiring (being elected).

If I ever ran for public office it would not be because I want to be a Congressman or Senator. If I ever ran for office it would be because I DO NOT wish to be associated with the likes of Reid, Pelosi, Shumer, Durbin, Boxer, Romney, Obama and the hundreds of other sleazeballs who make the laws we the people must abide by (and from which they often exempt themselves…. See N. Pelosi's $36 million fortune acquired largely via insider trading, racketeering, pay-for-play and money laundering). Therefore, I would relish the opportunity of playing the role of the villain, taking aim at slashing somewhere between half-to-two-thirds of the entire federal government with financing being cut off immediately upon passage, not phased out over a couple of decades so that the legislation to eliminate these parasitic bureaucracies never actually takes effect and is either repealed or sunsets before any actual cuts and closings occur.

That is why I am growing increasingly convinced that my combination of "radical" ideas involving governmental reform and the elimination of more than half the government literally overnight; my absolute indifference to the opinions of others regarding myself, my character, my actions and my work; my enjoyment of being villainized by the real wolves in sheep's cloting and my attitude/ego that would best be described as something akin to that of a gamecock (a rooster that will never back down from a fight when challenged - even if it costs him his life) makes me uniquely qualified to serve in Congress, the Senate or the Presidency of the United States.

The reality is that there is so little hope remaining for the nation's survival that literally, the only conceivable path leading to America's return to greatness is for the people to elect fearless leaders who don't want the jobs they're campaigning for and are only doing so in order to destroy all but 1/4 or so of the government whose legislative chambers they seek to temporarily commandeer for just long enough to sever the parasitic majority of the federal oganizational body, and do so in such a way that it would take decades if not cenuries to rebuild.

If no one else besides David Vitter, Jim DeMint, John Fleming and Jeff Landry are willing to take "drastic" measures such as these for fear of the consequences associated with doing so, I may just have to move to a state that isn't already well represented and get elected to do the job myself --- a job I reiterate that is among the very last I'd ever choose to perform under any set of circumstances in which the country was not on life support with the nation's very survival at stake.  

Not That I Wish to Run For Office, But if I Did, Here's What I'd Do...

By: Peter Egan

Over the past decade or so, people asking me if I intend to run for public office has become a relatively common occurrence. Many simply assume that I must have political ambitions of my own given my involvement with the congressional and senatorial campaigns of now-Governor Bobby Jindal (2004 campaign for LA's 1st Congressional District seat) and United States Senator David Vitter (R-LA), respectively.

That I've actively supported candidates in the past and have worked campaigns courting votes for two of the few good guys in Congress is anything but an indication that I would ever want to have their jobs. In fact, I can think of very few jobs I would be less inclined to pursue out of a genuine desire to embark on such a career. Being an abortion doctor, a government bureaucrat, a criminal and a union boss would top the short-list of jobs I would never accept regardless of pay, benefits or any other incentives associated with the positions. Aside from these, I would never want to be a politician.

For what it's worth, I love my job running my small Covington medical equipment business, and have no plans to pursue another career anytime in the foreseeable future. I like what I do, and until the government strips away all of my incentive to work I have no plans on embarking on a new career. Thus, the scenario discussed herein is entirely hypothetical.

However, if I were to ever decide to run for a post in the U.S. Senate or House of Representatives, the decision would be driven by my LACK of desire to become a Congressman or Senator. The reason being that the majority of those in Washington like their jobs too much, and are willing to cast aside the nation's best interests if that's what it takes to keep their jobs, term after term while the country goes to hell.

Congress should consist entirely of people who would rather NOT be there. People who would rather be in their home states with their families, working for themselves in the private sector and praying that the government stays out of their lives as much as possible are the very people our nation's founders envisioned as those who should represent their respective states and districts in Washington.

If I ever run for office, it will be for a single term. The legislation I would introduce and fight like hell to pass would virtually assure me of being made an example of in one form or another, and I'd likely be voted out of office if I tried to seek reelection as the propagandists we refer to as mainstream media outlets would slander and defame me with so much vitriol their treatment of Dick Cheney would appear mild by comparison.

I might not get anything passed, as the odds of that actually happening are virtually nonexistent. However, I would obstruct as much legislation and cause as many problems as possible, and by taking on the role of the scapegoat for the heinous (their words) legislation I would introduce and promote like hell might just embolden a few others, perhaps even enough to get a bill out of committee proposing that the left would label "draconian cuts", and if the stars align right the bill(s) might even be scheduled for debate on the main House or Senate floor.My agenda, were I to run for federal office, would consist of the following points, outlined below.

Peter Egan's Agenda Were He to Be Elected to Federal Office:

• Eliminate Medicare altogether for everyone that hasn't spent an entire lifetime paying into it (some of us will have to make sacrifices in order to save the nation, and it shouldn't be the elderly who bear the brunt of the blow).
• Eliminate Social Security, refunding proportionately the amount paid in by each individual taxpayer and participant. Those already receiving benefits would be the only ones unaffected.
• Eliminate the Department of Education.
• Eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• Eliminate the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
• Eliminate the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
• Eliminate the Department of Energy.
• Eliminate the Department of Health and Human Services.
• Eliminate the Department of Homeland Security.
• Eliminate the Department of Labor.
• Eliminate the majority of the Department of Commerce and the Department of Agriculture.
• Drastically reduce the size and scope of the Department of Transportation.
• Eliminate the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
• The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) would be restructured to about 1/20 it's current scope and size, with its sole purpose post-changes being to monitor elections for fraud, and investigate allegations of voter/election fraud. Penalties for election fraud would range from a minimum of life in prison without the possibility of parole to the death penalty. Even the most minor offenses would be punishable by life in prison or death.
• Eliminate most if not all of the Department of the Interior. If any useful functions of this agency are identified at a later date (more research is needed), they may be considered for a possible exemption to the otherwise total elimination of this bureaucracy.
• Eliminate the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).
• Eliminate a substantial portion of the Department of Justice (DoJ), revamping and restaffing whatever is left.
• Eliminate some agencies within the Department of Commerce, leaving only those (if any) which have a positive effect on commerce and economic growth. Whether or not any such agencies exist is yet-to-be-determined.
• Eliminate or completely restaff and restructure whichever agency decided Planned Parenthood (or more accurately Planned Murder of Defenseless Babies) and MiniTrue (the Ministry of Truth; the hyper-partisan, quasi-governmental organization that also goes by the name of Media Matters).
• Conduct a thorough review of whatever is left of the American government, eliminating funding for any agency, bureau, department or commission that lacks justification for existence.
• Propose legislation requiring a 2/3 majority vote by the states, with the voting to be determined however each respective state sees fit (for example, states could choose between a voter referendum, legislative debate/passage or gubernatorial signature as its method for determining how it will vote) in order to create, establish or fund any non-elected government agency, commission, bureau, department or other agency funded by taxpayers and/or in possession of any measure of authority over anyone or anything.
• Propose legislation making it easy for citizens to sue the IRS over taxes owed when tax money is being used to fund practices for which the citizen has a moral, ethical or religious objection (for example, taxpayer funded abortions). The taxpayers would only be able to sue for those funds proportionately allocated for such activities, taken as a percentage of the total tax revenue used to fund such activities consistent with that same percentage of the citizen's tax bill, thus making it difficult and costly for large amounts of citizens to file frivolous suits to avoid paying taxes.

The above constitutes the agenda I would pursue, and do so aggressively at that. By the time I left, it's possible I would not have a single friend or ally in the entire district.

Virtually everyone alive today that has or has ever had a credit card is keenly aware of the recent explosion in credit card fraud and theft. We hear the endless radio commercials from companies claiming to protect consumers from identity theft and fraud, and many have had the misfortune of having a credit card (or the information therein) stolen.

What many remain unaware of is why this is happening. For most of my adult life I fell into this category of cardholders. However, after taking over the retail medical equipment and supply division of my father's Metairie, LA home health care company in January of 2011, I have seen far too many attempts at fraudulent purchases that were paid for with stolen credit cards.

Just this week alone we've seen three cases in which over $1,000 total was charged to the victims' cards. In two of these cases, we were the first to notify the credit card companies that their members' cards had been stolen. The third charge occurred over the past weekend, and I learned about it Monday morning while driving in to work from my condo in Long Beach, MS, when the cardholder called to notify me that the purchase was placed fraudulently.

The thieves operate under a formulaic approach. They usually buy the highest-margin medical equipment products I have in stock (presumably to entice me into actually shipping them the items purchased). The buy in quantities of multiples of 10, and the total purchase amount is usually somewhere in the range of $150-$450. The billing address and shipping address obviously aren't the same, and there is usually some tie to either the Miami area and/or southern California. One recent order involved Albuquerque, New Mexico, and I haven't yet checked the area code from the phone number provided at checkout to see if it is/was based in the Miami area. The criminals are not afraid to call the business pretending to be the cardholder, and are usually of Hispanic descent.

Each time we suspect an order was not placed legitimately (and we've become quite good at identifying fraudulent purchases), our first step is to call the credit card company and report that card as stolen on behalf of the cardholder. Our next step used to involved the notification of law enforcement in hopes that a police department, sheriff's office, Crimestoppers or a federal law enforcement agency would work with us to catch the criminals.

Unfortunately for all Americans with credit cards, this turned out to be an exercise in futility.

It's not like it would be difficult to make an arrest with compelling evidence that would almost certainly win a conviction. The thieves use stolen cards to purchase retail goods. The goods are then shipped to the destination of the thieves' choosing (assuming the retailer doesn't catch the fraud or doesn't care that the order was not legitimate). The thieves then retrieve the package and sell the stolen goods on the black market.

Note that within this process the thieves must at some point come into possession of the shipment of the goods purchased using the stolen credit cards. In order to catch at least one member of the theft ring, all a law enforcement agency need to is stake-out the shipping address and wait for the package to be delivered. When the thieves go to retrieve the shipment, the cops could arrest them and offer them a sweet plea deal in exchange for turning in the other members of the group and testifying against them.

If only law enforcement had an interest in catching the criminals.

The unfortunate reality is that every single time I or someone on my behalf contacted a law enforcement agency the response is always the same. This is true both of local law enforcement within the same city, county or locale as the shipping address specified by the criminals, as well as federal law enforcement. The call is quickly ended, usually with the person on the other line opposite myself informing me that it essentially isn't there problem, and that I need to contact someone else. Unfortunately, I've contacted everyone that could possibly have jurisdiction over such crimes and nobody is willing to make an arrest much less prosecute.

So as a result, the number and severity of crimes involving credit card theft continues to skyrocket as the thieves operate with total impunity. The crooks are well aware that nobody (save for the cardholders) seems to care that they are doing this, and none have any interest whatsoever in putting a stop to it. So it continues.

I've given up on trying to figure out why no law enforcement agency that I've contacted (and I've contacted a LOT of them) is even remotely interested in arresting someone known to have made purchases online using a stolen credit card or at minimum acted in coordination with those who stole the cards and made the fraudulent purchases. The would-be evidence against them is compelling enough for me to call to report them to the agencies one would think would be charged with making such an arrest and protecting the public from financial ruin at the hands of someone who stole their life savings. I've tried everything I can to get the situation to make sense, and nothing does.

The bottom line is that credit card fraud in America will become increasingly prevalent as long as local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are more concerned with passing the buck than catching the criminals. It is most unfortunate that there is absolutely zero indication that anyone with the authority to make such an arrest has any inclination whatsoever of actually doing so.

As long as credit card theft and fraud remains a de facto legal practice, Americans should only expect the frequency and severity of such financial crimes to increase.

If you have a credit card, please protect it with your life because no one else in the country seems to care whether or not it gets stolen and your life ruined as a result.