Tag Archives: Politics

Economy, Media, Politics

Shucking And Jiving In Washington

The contortions and obfuscations of facts and history as relates to this administration and its attempt to railroad health care  legislation upon all of America is laughable. Well, it would be funny if it weren’t so serious.

What’s worse is how the media gives it all a pass. Unfortunately for America, the media watchdog died last year.

Events of the last two days epitomize the shucking and jiving I’m talking about.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, for two days in a row, refused to reconcile the barring of C-SPAN from these final and all important deliberations to show the American people the openness that Obama promised when he was a candidate. Obama said on eight occasions he would use C-SPAN cameras ‘so the American people can see what the choices are.’ But Gibbs did it by saying he already answered the question and, that there has been a lot of open discussions. See the transcripts HERE. They’re out of this world.

Then there is the response of Speaker Pelosi, when asked about President Obama’s rejection of C-SPAN’s specific request and his promise to use C-SPAN while on the campaign trail and in Presidential debates. She flat-out laughed in the reporter’s, and your face. Saying ‘There are a number of things he was for on the campaign trail.’ And it gets better, or worse. She adds ‘there’s never been a more open process.’ What was impressive about that statement is that she said it with a straight face.

No doubt the administration is circling the wagons here. Betraying the public trust is not a trivial matter.  Question is, are we seeing acts of desperation, or is the Democratic leadership showing its true colors?

links: White House: We will NOT discuss broken C-Span promise | Pelosi on ObamaCare: There’s never been a more open process evah

Media, Pensacola, Politics

Today's Special, The Healthcare Legislative Coup

The greatest story never told is the letter that Brian Lamb, the founder, Chairman, and CEO of C-SPAN, sent to President Obama Dec. 30, 2009, requesting to ‘allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American’ via C-SPAN cameras. The subject of his request is the final stages of deliberations to propose a health care bill to send to the President.

Imagine having to request this of the President, since while he was appealing for our votes as a candidate, he said all such deliberations would be on C-SPAN for all to see. And America fell for it.

Obama pledged during a presidential debate in January 2008 that he would be ”bringing all parties together, and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are.”

If the shoe were on the other foot, the media would be up in arms 24/7 calling for impeachment or some such nonsense. It would be front-page, above the fold. But since it isn’t, you have to get the news from the new media, the blogosphere.

No mention of it on CNN. MSNBC is more creative. They disguise the story by putting it at the bottom or the nut of the story. A story that has two titles, neither of which say a word about C-SPAN or Brian Lamb or transparency in the titles.

The New York Times has a small article in the dead tree version far from the front page and said this . . .

The C-SPAN television network is calling on congressional leaders to open health care talks to cameras — something President Barack Obama promised as a candidate.

Instead the most critical negotiations on Obama’s health plan have taken place behind closed doors, as Republicans repeatedly point out. In a Dec. 30 letter to House and Senate leaders released Tuesday, C-SPAN chief executive Brian Lamb asked for negotiations on a compromise bill to be opened up for public viewing, as Democrats work to reconcile differences between legislation passed by the two chambers.

None of the above media, the ones the Obama referred to as the real news media, offered the letter itself that Lamb sent if it was mentioned at all. Same with our local paper. Not enough space to print it? Not enough bandwidth to link to it? The White House wouldn’t approve if they did?

Here it is:

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi

Speaker, United States House or Representatives

The Honorable Harry Reid

Majority Leader, United States Senate

The Honorable John Boehner

Minority Leader, United States House of Representatives

The Honorable Mitch McConnell

Minority Leader, United States Senate

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

Representative Boehner:

Senator Reid:

Senator McConnell:

As your respective chambers work to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate health care bills, C-SPAN requests that you open all important negotiations, including any conference committee meetings, to electronic media coverage.

The C-SPAN networks will commit the necessary resources to covering all of these sessions LIVE and in their entirety. We will also, as we willingly do each day, provide C-SPAN’s multi-camera coverage to any interested member of the Capitol Hill broadcast pool.

Since the initial introduction of the America’s Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 in the House and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the Senate C-SPAN has televised literally hundreds of hours of committee hearings, mark ups and floor debate on these bills for the public to see. And importantly, we have archived all of this video for future generations to study in the C-SPAN Video Archives.

President Obama, Senate and House leaders, many of your rank-and-file members, and the nation’s editorial pages have all talked about the value of transparent discussions on reforming the nation’s health care system. Now that the process moves to the critical stage of reconciliation between the Chambers, we respectfully request that you allow the public full access, through television, to legislation that will affect the lives of every single American.

We hope you will give serious consideration to this request. We are most willing to employ the latest digital technology to make the cameras, lights and microphones as unobtrusive as possible.

Please contact me if I can answer any questions.

Sincerely,

Brian Lamb

We are witness to a coup to remake America into something that, if given the chance, America would not want or vote for. And the President, the Democrat majority in Congress, and the media are so far, carrying it out successfully.

Politics

Our Open, Transparent Congress At Work

Keeping Republicans locked out of anything to do with their so-called health care reform has been the modus operandi from the beginning. Funny how definitions change from one administration to the next. Open means closed. And bi-partisan means we’ll create the legislation and you’ll vote for it.

Well, there’s that and there’s the lying about Republicans not having a plan or suggestion of their own, from the President on down the liberal chain. According to David Bender, since H.R.3400 doesn’t have a government option, then it’s not really a plan. Translation, if it isn’t socialism, then it can’t work, nor does it exist.

The latest scheme for Obamacare . . .

The Talking Points Memo website reported Monday that Democrats in both the House and Senate are saying the process will likely follow the path of the House taking up the Senate-passed legislation, amending it and sending it back to the Senate, which will have to pass it again. “This process cuts out the Republicans,” a House Democratic aide told TPM, indicating the congressional majority intended to make sure the Republican minority would “not have a motion to recommit opportunity.”

link: Democratic Leaders Plan Secret Health Reform Deliberations

Media, Politics, War On Terror

Cheney Saying What Most Are Thinking

As documented HERE, HERE, and HERE, the actions taken by the Obama administration that pertain to the war on terror have been anything but helpful to us in fighting the war. It is Obama’s pre-9/11 mindset put into action that brings out the inexperience and naivete of our Commander In Chief in dealing with real life and death situations.

But nobody, imho,  sums it up better than Vice President Dick Cheney whose direct quote is below and in all its glorious context.  See it all here because the left leaning media probably won’t include all of it.

“As I’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low-key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of Sept. 11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won’t be at war.

“He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core Al Qaeda-trained terrorists still there, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gets rid of the words, ‘war on terror,’ we won’t be at war. But we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe. Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency — social transformation — the restructuring of American society. President Obama’s first object and his highest responsibility must be to defend us against an enemy that knows we are at war.”

Like Cheney said so profoundly, he is pretending that there isn’t a war being waged against us, not to mention the rest of the free world. Even if you don’t accept Cheney’s premise, you have to ask yourself why this is? Why he is acting the way he is?

  1. He thinks it is Bush’s war. So it’s back to the 9/10 mindset of minding our own business and hoping we don’t get fooled / killed again.
  2. He thinks he has the world mesmerized by a few speeches and our enemies will have a change of heart, stop trying to kill us, and maybe even like us?
  3. He thinks that after releasing Gitmo prisoners and closing Gitmo, and not using military tribunals for captured terrorists, but instead give them the same legal rights guaranteed to American citizens, that the war will stop and the enemy will have a change of heart, stop trying to kill us, and maybe even like us?
  4. He is simply too green and inexperienced to be President and Commander In Chief. Is in way over his head. And has surrounded himself with the worst bunch of advisers to handle the problems the Country faces, both economic and in terms of national security.

It’s almost as though President Obama has forgotten, or really does not believe the oath he took when he became President. That’s about all I can think of. Your mileage may vary.

links:

Energy, Politics

Democrats Alternative Energy Policy?

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Becoming energy independent and developing and employing alternative energy sources like wind and solar are, in fact, something that Democrats and Republicans alike are in favor of. Well, except for these Democrats. Is this Democrats Energy Policy in action?

Like I’ve been saying, a Democrat energy policy is not to get any energy and, not to use what you have. It has been reduced down to the NIMBY principle of this unprincipled bunch.

On wind power, the Kennedys, especially Sen. Ted Kennedy, won’t have anything to do with the Cape Wind project, where a real wind farm there can make a difference. But they are concerned about their oceanfront view. Which I don’t think would be visible from The Kennedy Compound.

On wind and solar power, Senator Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation in Congress on Monday (12/21/09) to protect a million acres of the Mojave Desert in California by scuttling some 13 big solar plants and wind farms planned for the region. Let’s call it the Mojave Desert monument. Oh those pesky environmentalists. Here’s your bone.

DiFi learned from the best. President Bill Clinton shut down the entire domestic low-sulfur coal industry by making that part of Utah a federal park where no mining activity takes place. Where Clinton is concerned, there is a lot more involved. But, the end result is the same. Don’t use it. You may remember some mention of things like the Communist Chinese making illegal campaign contributions to the Clinton campaign, and the Lippo Group. {background: besides Utah, the only other place in the world that has low-sulfur coal is under Communist China control and the Lippo Group.}

So imagine that. Democrats don’t want solar panels or wind farms in the desert where there is lots of sun and wind. And they don’t want wind farms where there are coastal winds. Maybe it’s OK as long as it isn’t in their area? And don’t even think of using any more coal. Who cares if coal produces about half of our electrical energy? We can always buy it from China.

Seems to me that this is an issue that Democrats could brag about working with ‘the other side’ by seeking bi-partisan support for one of the goals we (D’s and R’s) have set for ourselves. What is odd (not really), is that it is members of their own party who need to be told to get on board, not Republicans.

Of course, the action of two senators and a president couldn’t be the definition of the party’s energy policy. That would be making a political leap. Political dynasties in their own right aside.

The story on whether the Feinsteins or the Kennedys shape the Party’s energy policy will be told by how the party handles it. Or not.

Politics, War On Terror

alQaeda, Help Is On The Way

It is a good thing that everyone was focused on the health-care disaster in the Senate last week, otherwise they might have heard about the return of 12 Gitmo detainees, or enemy combatants as I see them, to their home countries. Church lady, ‘isn’t that special?’

It certainly is in keeping with the President’s campaign promise to close Club Gitmo. So let’s see how it breaks down for the 12.

Over the weekend, four Afghan detainees were transferred to their home country. Two Somali detainees were transferred to authorities in Somaliland, the semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia. Six Yemeni detainees also were sent home.

The Justice Department said that since 2002, more than 560 detainees have departed the military prison in Cuba and 198 remain.

It looks like we’re getting down to the worst of the worst at Club Gitmo. And what an encouraging sign for the enemy.  ‘Returning’ these terrorists to these three countries, make that two countries, because Somalia isn’t recognized as a legitimate government by the U.S., but there is that ‘semi-autonomous northern region of Somalia.’

Sending this dog-squeeze back to Yemen, ‘Somaliland’ (rhymes with DisneyLand), and more than even likely Afghanistan, will create a heroes welcome in those countries and most likely be released or allowed to escape back to resume the fight against us.

The announcement came after Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., sent a request to President Obama on Friday to stop the release. The nearly 100 Yemenis remaining at the Cuba facility make up the largest group there. But releasing more detainees to Yemen is raising concerns, because of the country’s security problems and lack of resources.

“I have written you and others in your administration on three occasions imploring you to halt the release of detainees to these countries due to the deteriorating security situations and the dangerous potential for recidivism,” Wolf wrote in his letter.

Now, I don’t blame him for trying to get that trash back to where it came from. But if doing that has the potential for making us less safe, then his judgment comes to question. Maybe not from a point of view of just who’s side is he on? But from a point of view of being stricken with political correctness to the detriment of our safety? Or from the point of view of being an incredibly naive Commander In Chief?

I’m not seeing a good choice.

While we’re on the subject of the War on Terror, and how Barack Obama wants to end it. Did you hear the one about the self-described alQaeda suicide bomber from Nigeria? He’s the one that nearly brought down a jetliner a couple days ago.

Lucky for you (alQaeda), our President doesn’t take your threat seriously enough to keep you under control and behind bars. What it looks like is help is on the way.

links: US transfers 12 Gitmo detainees to home countries | AP source: US knew of terror suspect |  Administration Transfers 12 Gitmo Detainees Overseas, Despite Concerns

Florida, MRIOTD, Politics

Alan Grayson Can't Handle Free Speech

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Liberal Bed-wetter and M.R.I.O.T.D. Award winner Alan Grayson (D-FL)

Hands down, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) wins the M.R.I.O.T.D. Award, for

petitioning the Atty. General of the United States, Eric Holder, to put a website operator in jail for running a website called mycongressmanisnuts.com that seeks to support his removal via the ballot box.

For what? Because the operator doesn’t reside within his district. This guy personifies the ‘Liberal Bed-wetter’ for his childish yet threatening act. Using his authority, or rather, abusing his authority to cause a criminal action against another U.S. citizen for exercising speech that he doesn’t happen to like would be cause in and of itself to bring him under investigation and in front of a Grand Jury. It is typical of how the Left views the First Amendment.

Here’s an idea. Start a website called makealangraysontestifybeforeagrandjury.com and see how he likes that?

The Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day Award goes to Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)

related links:

Economy, Politics

How Do They Do That?

How does the Democrat plan to run the health insurance and health care industries cover 30-40 million more people and reduce the deficit by $132 billion? The short answer is it doesn’t do that in and of itself.

I’m reminded of a saying that I first heard in statistics class. Figures lie, and lairs figure. According to the CBO, it does it by over $1 trillion in Medicare cuts and tax increases. That’s how. It cannot do it without enslaving the economy and the people with a government-run plan. That is, presuming the American people will want to be enslaved in that way.

If that’s not a prescription for economic disaster and the destruction of the best health care system (as bad as it is) in the world, I don’t know what is. The only success story here is that the government will be taking the giant leap in remaking America into the socialist/Marxist model that the Obama administration so worships. Hip Hip, Ho-ray! Or is it Ho-Ho-Ho?

link: Merry Christmas, from Harry

Politics

Dems Clinch Deal Among Dems

In what can only be called a bi-partisan victory for Obamacare, Democrats on Saturday managed to get the 60 votes needed by bridging the gap between the far Left of their party and those giving the impression that they’re not part of the far Left of their party. So by the administration’s definition, they can claim bi-partisan support.

Not letting a crisis go to waste, whether real or imagined, Democrats can take pride in their success for a seismic piece of legislation that did not appeal to a single Republican or a majority of Americans.

NYT link: Democrats Clinch Deal for Deciding Vote on Health Bill

Politics

Tax The Rich Shifts To Tax The Young

Not only will your insurance premiums go up under Obamacare, but if your earnings are under $80,000/year, typically a younger demographic, your cost will be much higher. Tax the rich shifts to tax the young.

The other effect, which is the whole point of a single-payer health care system, is that the government will own you. You will no longer be allowed to make your own health care decisions including where and how you want to spend your money for it.

These increases will stem from the bill’s provisions that bar insurance companies from raising rates on sick people and from excluding people based on pre-existing conditions. Both of these mandates will mean higher costs for the younger and healthier population. This bill is, in effect, a tax on the young.

Nor will subsidies do much to mitigate the impact. To get a subsidy under the bill you have to earn less than about $80,000 a year (combined household income) and have spent between 2 and 10 percent of your income on premiums.

So a couple making a combined income of $40,000 would have to pay about 5% of their income: $2,000 before they could get subsidies. Those making $60,000 would have to pay about 8% of their income — $4800 – before they could get a subsidy. And those making $80,000 would have to chip in 10% of their income — $8,000 – before they would get a subsidy.

link: HOW OBAMACARE WILL HURT YOUNG PEOPLE