Tag Archives: Politics

Economy, Fair Tax, Organized Labor, Politics

Cash For Clunkers, A Teachable Moment

It didn’t take more than a few days of the ‘cash for clunkers’ program to illustrate a few things.

  • When people have money in their hands, they will spend it. And consumers spending money is what drives the economy. In this case, it stimulated the auto industry.
  • The program has already had its meltdown in red tape for car dealers, and has run out of money. And Democrats are looking for TWO BILLION more dollars from our grand children’s future to hand out.
  • That the Obama administration believes that they have a right to choose the winners and losers in our economy, instead of the people. They do that by choosing who they want to bail out (with money that hasn’t been printed yet), and ‘everyone’ is not among those that they want to bail out.
  • This cash for clunkers program could have been done BEFORE the administration fired auto executives, put their own people (who’ve never run a business) on the boards of directors, gave a majority ownership stake of the company to the United Auto Workers ahead of secured creditors, thereby nationalizing the auto industry.
  • That this whole scheme was done more as payback to the UAW than it was to improve the auto industry’s bottom line.

Returning to the first point. Once you realize that the money you earn belongs to you and not the government to selectively dole out, what mechanism puts money in the economy without committing inter-generational theft? The answer is tax cuts.

An even better answer to cutting taxes would be to let the people (there’s that ‘everyone’ concept again) keep all the money they earn and finance the government with a consumption tax as proscribed by the Fair Tax.

Politics

NJ Corruption Nets One Body, So Far

Update to corruption in New Jersey.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Authorities say Jack M. Shaw, a top political consultant who was one of 44 people arrested in last week’s massive New Jersey political corruption scandal has been found dead in his Jersey City apartment.

Mr. Shaw was a longtime Democratic operative who cut his teeth working for Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago and later was a campaign aide to Gov. Jim Florio.

He also worked on Robert G. Torricelli’s 1996 Senate race, Robert E. Andrews’s 1997 bid for the Democratic nomination for governor, and Jon S. Corzine’s election to the Senate in 2000.

For the full effect, start this video before hitting the link below.

link: N.J. Man Facing Bribe Charge Is Found Dead

Economy, Immigration, Media, Politics

What's In The Health Care Bill?

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Here are some of the highlights of some of the change the President has in mind for our health care. Complete bill here.

{UPDATE 11/10/09: This is the old version, as of July 2009. The latest version is H.R. 3962. We’ll call it Obamacare v2.0. You’ve come here due to a net search. The latest incarnation of this is the one the House approved last Saturday night and is HERE.}

But first, the lead sentence of the bill H.R. 3200 .

To provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans

and reduce the growth in health care spending, and

for other purposes.

‘Pan American’ would be a truthful description. That this bill is intended to cover only Americans is a deception that Democrats and their willing accomplices, the mainstream media, continue to perpetuate.

Below is some of the highlights from the first 500 pages.

Continue reading What's In The Health Care Bill? →

Economy, Politics, War On Terror

Who's Passing Bills Without Reading Them?

Listen how Obama characterizes the Bush administration’s reaction to keep the terrorists from killing our people and our economy with their quick reaction to the 9/11 attacks with the Patriot Act. Compare that to what the Obama administration is doing to merely kill the economy. The hypocrisy is priceless.

Wait. On second thought. Under his proposed government-run health care called the ‘public option,’ the rationing of health care will be giving a death sentence to senior citizens as well. Odd that the AARP supports his plan. I guess they’re liberals first, then senior citizens.

The results are the same, only with Obama’s plan, way more than 3000 people will die before their time.  Whew, talk about an inconvenient truth. . .

h/t National Center Blog

Politics

Corruption In New Jersey

So what else is new? In a New York Times article on the recent arrests of 44 people for corruption, the Times ponders the question why.

A decade-long building boom has flooded towns with millions of development dollars, as well as wealthy businessmen eager to secure sewer permits and zoning waivers. The Democratic Party firmly dominates local politics, turning most elections into sleepy coronations. The state’s news organizations, once vigorous watchdogs, have been decimated by a deep industry downturn.

Of the public officials arrested, one was a Republican. The rest were Democrats.

related links: In New Jersey, Ideal Conditions for Corruption | 44 Charged by U.S. in New Jersey Corruption Sweep

Pensacola, Politics

Pensacola's Grass Politics

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Under the guise of frugal landscape management, the Pensacola City Council is poised to limit and restrict the use of Plaza Ferdinand VII. In doing so, they are stomping on our constitutional rights to assemble in public places.

There is no shortage of grass seed, sod, or landscapers in the area as far as I know. Just as there is no shortage bums that reside there.  The ‘shortage’ seems to be somewhere in City Hall. It smacks of a more nefarious way to limit public assembly for dissent or any other reason.

The constitutional right to assemble is not dependent upon the amount of money in the bank.

The matter will come before the City Council for a final yes/no vote on August 13. Locals should make plans to attend that council meeting and tell City Council what you think. I think that grass does not trump the constitution.

related link: Council moves to restrict use of Plaza Ferdinand VII

Politics, Race Relations

Obama, Not Man Enough?

It’s been a few days now since President Obama’s derogatory and racially charged statement against a Cambridge police officer and the entire department, and still no apology.

Obama conceded his words had been ill-chosen, but he stopped short of a public apology.

I have to agree with the President when he says this is a teachable moment. To say that his behavior was less than Presidential is being generous. That his reaction was what it was says volumes about ‘the real’ Barack Obama. What we saw was the ACORN community organizer himself, having received his spiritual and societal inspiration from Rev. Wright, just telling us how it is. The image of my President having a racial chip on his shoulder so large that it overcomes common sense is disturbing to me. We elected a President, not Rev. Wright.

That’s why there is absolutely no surprise that our President would react exactly the way he did. Not to lose his street creds, there won’t be any ‘I’m sorry’ coming from his lips. Not in public. Bottom line, he’s not man enough. And that is our President.

link: AP Obama rushes to quell racial uproar he helped fire

Economy, Immigration, Media, Politics

Obama's Pan American Health Care

Last Friday, Democrats in Washington were forced to show their hand when it comes to providing taxpayer-funded health care to millions of Mexican citizens, PG 50 Section 152 of H.R.3200. The House Ways and Means Committee nixed a Republican-backed amendment that would insure that whatever health care legislation comes out of Washington will not include health care for citizens of Mexico or any other country.

On Friday, Democrats moved one step closer to giving free health insurance to the nation’s estimated 12 million illegal aliens when they successfully defeated a Republican-backed amendment, offered by Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., that would have prevented illegal aliens from receiving government-subsidized health care under the proposed plan backed by House Democrats and President Barack Obama.

The House Ways and Means Committee nixed the Heller amendment by a 26-to-15 vote along straight party lines, and followed this action by passing the 1,018-page bill early Friday morning by a 23-to-18 margin, with three Democrats voting against the plan.

Additionally, the Democrats are exempting illegals from paying the same penalty that would be assessed on US citizens for not participating in the government-run health care system. Short of amnesty, I can’t think of a better illegal alien magnet. Instead of removing incentives to illegals, they are supplying them.

Thanks to Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev) for introducing the legislation that forced Democrats to show their hand when it comes to illegal aliens.

As usual, the media gives this action little attention, paying more attention instead to what Obama and his administration is saying rather than to what it is actually doing.

The fact that Mexicans, if and when they are allowed to vote in the US, would be a solid Democrat voting block has not been overlooked by the Obama administration. Doing that is not an unintended consequence of ‘health care reform.’ It is, by design, politics by the numbers.

link: Citizenship Verification Should be Used for Government-Run Health Plan

Economy, Politics

Obama, Republicans Just Don't Care

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There will always be people that just collapse at the mention of  Barack Obama, a few Democrats in Washington excepted. But tonight’s performance of President Obama’s fourth press conference to sell his health care plan was, thank you Dick Gebhardt, a dismal failure.  He rambled on to obfuscate answering questions to the point beyond which he came off as knowing what he was talking about. It was embarrassing to watch.

But he did make one thing clear. That if you don’t like his health care plan, then you’re not for improving health care. You know, when Bush told the world’s leaders that where the war on terror is concerned, you’re either with us or against us, that was laying out the line to defend us as well as the rest of the world. The Obama version of this is not directed at terrorists or world leaders, but rather right-wing extremists, otherwise known as Republicans. So much for all that ‘working together’ malarkey.

Don’t know why it didn’t occur to him that most Republicans and right-thinking Democrats can’t seem to swallow the whole socialized health-care idea that the President has in mind. Key word is ‘idea.’ This health care plan isn’t totally written yet, and Obama wants it voted on before Congress takes a vacation in two weeks.

Last I knew, lowering the cost of health care was a bi-partisan issue of serious concern. Normal Americans, as opposed to people like Bill Ayers, Saul Alinsky, and Barack Obama, believe that lowering health care costs can be done within the private sector and without socializing the industry and twenty percent of the economy.

Politics

Today's Special, Taking Power

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Today’s Special is about the administration’s power grab in ways that are extra-constitutional. Their full court press against business and industry through ‘bailouts’ and ‘takeovers’ is evident. In fact, these two words have now become synonymous in Washington.

What comes next is right out of the Hugo Chavez playbook. Taking control of those responsible for government oversight like the Office of Inspectors General, and control of the census completes the task.

“Requiring the Census director to report directly to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is a shamefully transparent attempt by your administration to politicize the Census Bureau and manipulate the 2010 Census,” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)

Who knew that the census bureau was in such bad shape that it needs to be taken under the wing of Rahm Emanual  and the executive branch? Since its inception, Congress has the oversight of the census. Why does it now need to be in the executive branch? Can you say ACORN?

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