Sure, the mess we are in in this country is not all Obama's fault. You have Pelosi, Dodd, Rangle, Frank, Waters, etc.
Merle
Wis. Governor Tells Obama to Butt Out Again
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker repeated Sunday what he said last week -- that President Barack Obama doesn't need to meddle in the affairs of the state of Wisconsin. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Walker said, “The president ultimately should stay focused on fixing the federal budget because they’ve got a huge deficit."
“And believe me they’ve got their hands full," Walker said. "They’re far from getting it accomplished in Washington.”
Wisconsin's capital city has been the scene of daily protests over Walker's attempt to plan to cut pay, benefits and some collective bargaining rights for public employees.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Another Reason Why I Support Governor Walker of Wisconsin
Milwaukee has the reputation as being the worst school system in Wisconsin. Average pay is approximately $60,000 a year. I do not understand why people unhappy with their jobs in the public sector don't go to work in the private sector. In previous blogs I've given the real reason. Most of them are not qualified nor could they make this much money or be granted all the benefits doled out by weak school boards and demanded by smarter full-time union bosses.
Ranting Ravitch is correct on one thing. Walker may advocate tax breaks to the harassed private sector. Why? Because the private sectors are the prime taxpayers who pay educational salaries.
Locally, a relatively young retired #150 teacher complained in a comment on my blog site about her pension being only $40,000 a year and she receives no Social Security payments. She didn't mention that she didn't have Social Security deductions made from her paychecks either. Nor all the other benefits of tenure, vacation time, sick leave, personal days, mostly taxpayer paid health and insurance benefits, etc.
Why do people working in the public sector feel they are more "valueable" than those who work in the private sector? Most are already earning more and have considerably more benefits.
It is an oft repeated lie that most teachers have to pay for their own chairs and supplies. If they don't like the chair provided they can buy their own. Same for supplies. Most good teachers I know are not effectively teaching sitting on their butts.
Not all teacher fall under the radical union spell as a picture in Friday's WSJ confirmed. What role models these economically greedy teachers present for the kids they claim to care about deeply. Worse yet, most of these teachers take their left wing liberal Democrat approach to the classroom.
And we wonder why this great nation is in danger of both moral and fiscal bankruptcy in the not too distant future.
My wife is a former Wisconsin teacher. She stands firmly behind Governor Walker. I suggest the teachers who are shills of the fading power of union bosses are earning less respect for their claimed "love of teaching".
But then, recently teaching has become "all about the benefits, job security and money to a growing number of teachers. It's called "American Greed" and many in the educational system are not immune to the disease.
Merle
"Why America's teachers are enraged"
By Diane Ravitch, Special Consultant to CNN
Thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters and other public sector workers have camped out at the Wisconsin Capitol, protesting Republican Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reduce their take-home pay -- by increasing their contribution to their pension plans and health care benefits -- and restrict their collective bargaining rights.
Republicans control the state Legislature, and initially it seemed certain that Walker's proposal would pass easily. But then the Democrats in the Legislature went into hiding, leaving that body one vote shy of a quorum. As of this writing, the Legislature was at a standstill as state police searched high and low for the missing lawmakers.
Like other conservative Republican governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Rick Scott of Florida, the Wisconsin governor wants to sap the power of public employee unions, especially the teachers' union, since public education is the single biggest expenditure for every state.
Public schools in Madison and a dozen other districts in Wisconsin closed as teachers joined the protest. Although Walker claims he was forced to impose cutbacks because the state is broke, teachers noticed that he offered generous tax breaks to businesses that were equivalent to the value of their givebacks.
The uprising in Madison is symptomatic of a simmering rage among the nation's teachers. They have grown angry and demoralized over the past two years as attacks on their profession escalated.
The much-publicized film "Waiting for Superman" made the specious claim that "bad teachers" caused low student test scores. A Newsweek cover last year proposed that the key to saving American education was firing bad teachers.
Teachers across the nation reacted with alarm when the leaders of the Central Falls district in Rhode Island threatened to fire the entire staff of the small town's only high school. What got their attention was that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama thought this was a fine idea, even though no one at the high school had been evaluated.
The Obama administration's Race to the Top program intensified the demonizing of teachers, because it encouraged states to evaluate teachers in relation to student scores. There are many reasons why students do well or poorly on tests, and teachers felt they were being unfairly blamed when students got low scores, while the crucial role of families and the students themselves was overlooked.
******************************************************
--
Ranting Ravitch is correct on one thing. Walker may advocate tax breaks to the harassed private sector. Why? Because the private sectors are the prime taxpayers who pay educational salaries.
Locally, a relatively young retired #150 teacher complained in a comment on my blog site about her pension being only $40,000 a year and she receives no Social Security payments. She didn't mention that she didn't have Social Security deductions made from her paychecks either. Nor all the other benefits of tenure, vacation time, sick leave, personal days, mostly taxpayer paid health and insurance benefits, etc.
Why do people working in the public sector feel they are more "valueable" than those who work in the private sector? Most are already earning more and have considerably more benefits.
It is an oft repeated lie that most teachers have to pay for their own chairs and supplies. If they don't like the chair provided they can buy their own. Same for supplies. Most good teachers I know are not effectively teaching sitting on their butts.
Not all teacher fall under the radical union spell as a picture in Friday's WSJ confirmed. What role models these economically greedy teachers present for the kids they claim to care about deeply. Worse yet, most of these teachers take their left wing liberal Democrat approach to the classroom.
And we wonder why this great nation is in danger of both moral and fiscal bankruptcy in the not too distant future.
My wife is a former Wisconsin teacher. She stands firmly behind Governor Walker. I suggest the teachers who are shills of the fading power of union bosses are earning less respect for their claimed "love of teaching".
But then, recently teaching has become "all about the benefits, job security and money to a growing number of teachers. It's called "American Greed" and many in the educational system are not immune to the disease.
Merle
"Why America's teachers are enraged"
By Diane Ravitch, Special Consultant to CNN
Thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters and other public sector workers have camped out at the Wisconsin Capitol, protesting Republican Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reduce their take-home pay -- by increasing their contribution to their pension plans and health care benefits -- and restrict their collective bargaining rights.
Republicans control the state Legislature, and initially it seemed certain that Walker's proposal would pass easily. But then the Democrats in the Legislature went into hiding, leaving that body one vote shy of a quorum. As of this writing, the Legislature was at a standstill as state police searched high and low for the missing lawmakers.
Like other conservative Republican governors, including Chris Christie of New Jersey, John Kasich of Ohio, Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Rick Scott of Florida, the Wisconsin governor wants to sap the power of public employee unions, especially the teachers' union, since public education is the single biggest expenditure for every state.
Public schools in Madison and a dozen other districts in Wisconsin closed as teachers joined the protest. Although Walker claims he was forced to impose cutbacks because the state is broke, teachers noticed that he offered generous tax breaks to businesses that were equivalent to the value of their givebacks.
The uprising in Madison is symptomatic of a simmering rage among the nation's teachers. They have grown angry and demoralized over the past two years as attacks on their profession escalated.
The much-publicized film "Waiting for Superman" made the specious claim that "bad teachers" caused low student test scores. A Newsweek cover last year proposed that the key to saving American education was firing bad teachers.
Teachers across the nation reacted with alarm when the leaders of the Central Falls district in Rhode Island threatened to fire the entire staff of the small town's only high school. What got their attention was that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and President Obama thought this was a fine idea, even though no one at the high school had been evaluated.
The Obama administration's Race to the Top program intensified the demonizing of teachers, because it encouraged states to evaluate teachers in relation to student scores. There are many reasons why students do well or poorly on tests, and teachers felt they were being unfairly blamed when students got low scores, while the crucial role of families and the students themselves was overlooked.
******************************************************
--
Saturday, February 19, 2011
True and Funny? Hopefully, Neither
Passed to me by a friend. Not funny but most likely true and not only in Detroit.
Merle
Who's your baby's Daddy?
These are sooooo funny!!
The following are all replies that Detroit women
have written on Child Support Agency Forms in the
section for listing 'Father's Details', or putting
it another way...Who's your baby's Daddy? These
are genuine excerpts from the forms. Be sure to
check out #11, it takes 1st prize and #3 is runner
up.
1. Regarding the identity of the father of my
twins, Makeeshia was fathered by Maclearndon
McKinley I am unsure as to the identity of the
father of Marlinda, but I believe that she was
conceived on the same night.
2. I am unsure, as to the identity of the father
of my child as I was being sick out of a window
when taken unexpectedly from behind. I can
provide you with a list of names of men that I
think were at the party if this helps.
3. I do not know the name of the father of my
little girl. She was conceived at a party at 3600
East Grand Boulevard where I had sex with a man I
met that night. I do remember that the sex was so
good that I fainted. If you do manage to track
down the father, can you please send me his phone
number? Thanks...
4. I don't know the identity of the father of my
daughter. He drives a BMW that now has a hole
made by my stiletto in one of the door panels.
Perhaps you can contact BMW service stations in
this area and see if he's had it replaced.
5. I have never had sex with a man. I am still a
Virginian. I am awaiting a letter from the Pope
confirming that my son's conception was ejaculate
and that he is the Saver risen again.
6. I cannot tell you the name of Alleshia's dad
as he informs me that to do so would blow his
cover and that would have cataclysmic implications
for the economy I am torn between doing right by
you and right by the country. Please advise.
7. I do not know who the father of my child was
as they all look the same to me.
8. Tyrone Hairston is the father of child A. If
you do catch up with him, can you axe him what he
did with my AC/DC CDs? Child B who was also
borned at the same time..... well, I don't have
clue..
9. From the dates it seems that my daughter was
conceived at Disney World. Maybe it really is the
Magic Kingdom .
10. So much about that night is a blur. The only
thing that I remember for sure is Delia Smith did
a program about eggs earlier in the evening. If I
had stayed in and watched more TV rather than
going to the party at 8956 Miller Ave , mine might
have remained unfertilized.
11. I am unsure as to the identity of the father
of my baby, after all, like when you eat a can of
beans you can't be sure which one made you fart.
Merle
Who's your baby's Daddy?
These are sooooo funny!!
The following are all replies that Detroit women
have written on Child Support Agency Forms in the
section for listing 'Father's Details', or putting
it another way...Who's your baby's Daddy? These
are genuine excerpts from the forms. Be sure to
check out #11, it takes 1st prize and #3 is runner
up.
1. Regarding the identity of the father of my
twins, Makeeshia was fathered by Maclearndon
McKinley I am unsure as to the identity of the
father of Marlinda, but I believe that she was
conceived on the same night.
2. I am unsure, as to the identity of the father
of my child as I was being sick out of a window
when taken unexpectedly from behind. I can
provide you with a list of names of men that I
think were at the party if this helps.
3. I do not know the name of the father of my
little girl. She was conceived at a party at 3600
East Grand Boulevard where I had sex with a man I
met that night. I do remember that the sex was so
good that I fainted. If you do manage to track
down the father, can you please send me his phone
number? Thanks...
4. I don't know the identity of the father of my
daughter. He drives a BMW that now has a hole
made by my stiletto in one of the door panels.
Perhaps you can contact BMW service stations in
this area and see if he's had it replaced.
5. I have never had sex with a man. I am still a
Virginian. I am awaiting a letter from the Pope
confirming that my son's conception was ejaculate
and that he is the Saver risen again.
6. I cannot tell you the name of Alleshia's dad
as he informs me that to do so would blow his
cover and that would have cataclysmic implications
for the economy I am torn between doing right by
you and right by the country. Please advise.
7. I do not know who the father of my child was
as they all look the same to me.
8. Tyrone Hairston is the father of child A. If
you do catch up with him, can you axe him what he
did with my AC/DC CDs? Child B who was also
borned at the same time..... well, I don't have
clue..
9. From the dates it seems that my daughter was
conceived at Disney World. Maybe it really is the
Magic Kingdom .
10. So much about that night is a blur. The only
thing that I remember for sure is Delia Smith did
a program about eggs earlier in the evening. If I
had stayed in and watched more TV rather than
going to the party at 8956 Miller Ave , mine might
have remained unfertilized.
11. I am unsure as to the identity of the father
of my baby, after all, like when you eat a can of
beans you can't be sure which one made you fart.
Thanks, Governor Perry
Copied from the Republican Governor Association. What a sad indictment of the radical union bosses, our liberal uninformed (about current events) teachers and our current president paying back the unions who elected him. He didn't even read the bill which EXCLUDES firemen and policeman.
We have a lot of Ivory tower idiots running this country into bankruptcy and embarrassment.
Merle
Friend,
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is in the middle of what will be a defining moment for our country and the conservative movement.
Governor Walker is directly confronting unsustainable state entitlements by asking government-sector unions to agree to reforms that would limit collective-bargaining for most government-sector employees to wages only, with wages capped to inflation. Under his proposal, union members would also have to vote every year to keep their union.
Rather than debate the measure Thursday, Wisconsin Democrat state senators fled the state while thousands of teachers in Madison and other cities called in sick at the urging of their labor union and forced entire school districts to be closed.
Even President Barack Obama’s political operatives have helped to orchestrate protests.
Simply put, the stakes could not get much higher, which is why I am asking you to show your support for Governor Scott Walker today by clicking HERE.
It is essential that we stand with Governor Walker and show political leaders throughout the country that America is ready to take on its toughest political challenges, and we will not be deterred by the protests of a noisy minority.
Please CLICK HERE right now to show your support for Governor Walker.
Sincerely,
Gov. Rick Perry
Chairman, Republican Governors Association
P.S. You can also show your support by clicking here to add a twibbon to your twitter account.
We have a lot of Ivory tower idiots running this country into bankruptcy and embarrassment.
Merle
Friend,
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is in the middle of what will be a defining moment for our country and the conservative movement.
Governor Walker is directly confronting unsustainable state entitlements by asking government-sector unions to agree to reforms that would limit collective-bargaining for most government-sector employees to wages only, with wages capped to inflation. Under his proposal, union members would also have to vote every year to keep their union.
Rather than debate the measure Thursday, Wisconsin Democrat state senators fled the state while thousands of teachers in Madison and other cities called in sick at the urging of their labor union and forced entire school districts to be closed.
Even President Barack Obama’s political operatives have helped to orchestrate protests.
Simply put, the stakes could not get much higher, which is why I am asking you to show your support for Governor Scott Walker today by clicking HERE.
It is essential that we stand with Governor Walker and show political leaders throughout the country that America is ready to take on its toughest political challenges, and we will not be deterred by the protests of a noisy minority.
Please CLICK HERE right now to show your support for Governor Walker.
Sincerely,
Gov. Rick Perry
Chairman, Republican Governors Association
P.S. You can also show your support by clicking here to add a twibbon to your twitter account.
If
Sent to me by a friend. Interesting questions.
Merle
No matter what your political affiliation, you have to admit this is truly disgraceful.......pretty sad actually, as most elementary school kids could answer some of these questions, i.e. # states, May 5th, etc. Think about it....!!
SOME OF YOU WILL APPRECIATE THIS AND SOME OF YOU WILL NOT. I DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR SENDING THIS BECAUSE ALL OF IT IS TRUE. I SURE HOPE MOST OF YOU WILL FORWARD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS WHO THINK OUR (current 1/1/2011)) PRESIDENT IS SO GREAT.
If George W. Bush had doubled the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
If George W.. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had criticized a state law that he admitted he never even read, would you think that he is just an ignorant hot head?
If George W. Bush joined the country of Mexico and sued a state in the United States to force that state to continue to allow illegal immigration, would you question his patriotism and wonder who's side he was on?
If George Bush had pronounced the Marine Corps like Marine "Corpse" would you think him an idiot?
If George W. Bush had put 87,000 workers out of work by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling on companies that have one of the best safety records of any industry because one company had an accident would you have agreed?
If George W. Bush had used a forged document as the basis of the moratorium that would render 87000 American workers unemployed would you support him?
If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a TelePrompTer installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?
If George W.. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , would you have said that he is clueless.
If George W. Bush would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in Texas , would you have thought he was a self important, conceited, egotistical jerk.
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued
to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had misspelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoes as proof of what a dunce he is?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?
If George W.. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have approved.
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 21 months -- so you'll have two years and two months to come up with an answer. Every statement in this email is factual and directly attributable to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable.
Merle
No matter what your political affiliation, you have to admit this is truly disgraceful.......pretty sad actually, as most elementary school kids could answer some of these questions, i.e. # states, May 5th, etc. Think about it....!!
SOME OF YOU WILL APPRECIATE THIS AND SOME OF YOU WILL NOT. I DO NOT APOLOGIZE FOR SENDING THIS BECAUSE ALL OF IT IS TRUE. I SURE HOPE MOST OF YOU WILL FORWARD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS WHO THINK OUR (current 1/1/2011)) PRESIDENT IS SO GREAT.
If George W. Bush had doubled the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
If George W.. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had criticized a state law that he admitted he never even read, would you think that he is just an ignorant hot head?
If George W. Bush joined the country of Mexico and sued a state in the United States to force that state to continue to allow illegal immigration, would you question his patriotism and wonder who's side he was on?
If George Bush had pronounced the Marine Corps like Marine "Corpse" would you think him an idiot?
If George W. Bush had put 87,000 workers out of work by arbitrarily placing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling on companies that have one of the best safety records of any industry because one company had an accident would you have agreed?
If George W. Bush had used a forged document as the basis of the moratorium that would render 87000 American workers unemployed would you support him?
If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a TelePrompTer installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?
If George W.. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?
If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , would you have said that he is clueless.
If George W. Bush would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in Texas , would you have thought he was a self important, conceited, egotistical jerk.
If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued
to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
If George W. Bush had misspelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoes as proof of what a dunce he is?
If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?
If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?
If George W.. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have approved.
If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in 21 months -- so you'll have two years and two months to come up with an answer. Every statement in this email is factual and directly attributable to Barrack Hussein Obama. Every bumble is a matter of record and completely verifiable.
Dr. Charles Krauthammer Correctly Nails Obama
Long before Obama ran for president I warned my readers that he was a scary man. Krauthammer describes Obama and Obama's plan for our future. Republicans and Independents and some Democrats should be really worried and must work together to select the right person to defeat Obama in 2012.
Krauthammer describes Obama as a far left secular progressive even more dangerous than a socialist.
I add Governor Walker of Wisconsin to the list of potential Republican presidential candidates with possibly Scott from Florida as his running mate.
Merle
Dr. Charles Krauthammer Brief summary
TAKE A MINUTE TO READ THIS; VERY INTERESTING!
Fast Facts
Born: March 13, 1950
Birthplace: New York City, New York
Raised in Montreal, Canada
Attended McGill University and Harvard Medical School
1972 diving accident left him a paraplegic
Directed psychiatric research for the Carter administration
Began writing career in 1981 with The New Republic
Helped develop the "Reagan Doctrine" in the 80s
Appointed to Presidential Council on Bioethics in 2002
Dr. Charles Krauthammer
We see him on TV every weekday on the Fox news channel
Dr. Krauthammer is on Fox News . He is an M.D. And a lawyer and is paralyzed from the neck down. A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. The ramifications are staggering for us, our children and their children.
Last Monday was a profound evening, Dr. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment.. He is a brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views . He is a fiscal conservative, and has received a Pulitzer Prizefor writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post.
The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have summarized his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally. Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said!
Summary of his comments:
1. Obama is an intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's behind the mask. The taking down of the Clinton dynasty was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.
2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton .. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather,watch what he DOES!
3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can't be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .
4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada .
5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can't work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.
6. Obama doesn't really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world.. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!
7. He is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.
8.. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. Republicans are pining for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future... We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and state's rights.
9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We are spending trillions that we don't have.. This could lead to hyperinflation, depression or worse.No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn't work, nor will the stimulus packages. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama's allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.
10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in,we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally.Any Dem. would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.
11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy. I hope this gets you really thinking about what's happening in Washington and Congress. There is a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we're right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.
Do yourself a long term favor, send this to all who will listen to an intelligent assessment of the big picture. All our futures and children's futures depend on our understanding of what is really going on in D.C., and our action pursuant to that understanding!! It really IS up to each of us to take individual action!! Start with enlightening your friends and neighbors!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Krauthammer describes Obama as a far left secular progressive even more dangerous than a socialist.
I add Governor Walker of Wisconsin to the list of potential Republican presidential candidates with possibly Scott from Florida as his running mate.
Merle
Dr. Charles Krauthammer Brief summary
TAKE A MINUTE TO READ THIS; VERY INTERESTING!
Fast Facts
Born: March 13, 1950
Birthplace: New York City, New York
Raised in Montreal, Canada
Attended McGill University and Harvard Medical School
1972 diving accident left him a paraplegic
Directed psychiatric research for the Carter administration
Began writing career in 1981 with The New Republic
Helped develop the "Reagan Doctrine" in the 80s
Appointed to Presidential Council on Bioethics in 2002
Dr. Charles Krauthammer
We see him on TV every weekday on the Fox news channel
Dr. Krauthammer is on Fox News . He is an M.D. And a lawyer and is paralyzed from the neck down. A friend went to hear Charles Krauthammer. He listened with 25 others in a closed room. What he says here, is NOT 2nd-hand but 1st. The ramifications are staggering for us, our children and their children.
Last Monday was a profound evening, Dr. Charles Krauthammer spoke to the Center for the American Experiment.. He is a brilliant intellectual, seasoned & articulate. He is forthright and careful in his analysis, and never resorts to emotions or personal insults. He is NOT a fear monger nor an extremist in his comments and views . He is a fiscal conservative, and has received a Pulitzer Prizefor writing. He is a frequent contributor to Fox News and writes weekly for the Washington Post.
The entire room was held spellbound during his talk. I have summarized his comments, as we are living in uncharted waters economically and internationally. Even 2 Dems at my table agreed with everything he said!
Summary of his comments:
1. Obama is an intellectual, charming individual. He is not to be underestimated. He is a cool customer who doesn't show his emotions. It's very hard to know what's behind the mask. The taking down of the Clinton dynasty was an amazing accomplishment. The Clintons still do not understand what hit them. Obama was in the perfect place at the perfect time.
2. Obama has political skills comparable to Reagan and Clinton .. He has a way of making you think he's on your side, agreeing with your position, while doing the opposite. Pay no attention to what he SAYS; rather,watch what he DOES!
3. Obama has a ruthless quest for power. He did not come to Washington to make something out of himself, but rather to change everything, including dismantling capitalism. He can't be straightforward on his ambitions, as the public would not go along. He has a heavy hand, and wants to level the playing field with income redistribution and punishment to the achievers of society. He would like to model the USA to Great Britain or Canada .
4. His three main goals are to control ENERGY, PUBLIC EDUCATION, and NATIONAL HEALTHCARE by the Federal government. He doesn't care about the auto or financial services industries, but got them as an early bonus. The cap and trade will add costs to everything and stifle growth. Paying for FREE college education is his goal. Most scary is his healthcare program, because if you make it FREE and add 46,000,000 people to a Medicare-type single-payer system, the costs will go through the roof. The only way to control costs is with massive RATIONING of services, like in Canada .
5. He has surrounded himself with mostly far-left academic types. No one around him has ever even run a candy store. But they are going to try and run the auto, financial, banking and other industries. This obviously can't work in the long run. Obama is not a socialist; rather he's a far-left secular progressive bent on nothing short of revolution. He ran as a moderate, but will govern from the hard left. Again, watch what he does, not what he says.
6. Obama doesn't really see himself as President of the United States , but more as a ruler over the world.. He sees himself above it all, trying to orchestrate & coordinate various countries and their agendas. He sees moral equivalency in all cultures. His apology tour in Germany and England was a prime example of how he sees America, as an imperialist nation that has been arrogant, rather than a great noble nation that has at times made errors. This is the first President ever who has chastised our allies and appeased our enemies!
7. He is now handing out goodies. He hopes that the bill (and pain) will not come due until after he is reelected in 2012. He would like to blame all problems on Bush from the past, and hopefully his successor in the future. He has a huge ego, and Dr. Krauthammer believes he is a narcissist.
8.. Republicans are in the wilderness for a while, but will emerge strong. Republicans are pining for another Reagan, but there will never be another like him. Krauthammer believes Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty & Bobby Jindahl (except for his terrible speech in February) are the future of the party. Newt Gingrich is brilliant, but has baggage. Sarah Palin is sincere and intelligent, but needs to really be seriously boning up on facts and info if she is to be a serious candidate in the future... We need to return to the party of lower taxes, smaller government, personal responsibility, strong national defense, and state's rights.
9. The current level of spending is irresponsible and outrageous. We are spending trillions that we don't have.. This could lead to hyperinflation, depression or worse.No country has ever spent themselves into prosperity. The media is giving Obama, Reid and Pelosi a pass because they love their agenda. But eventually the bill will come due and people will realize the huge bailouts didn't work, nor will the stimulus packages. These were trillion-dollar payoffs to Obama's allies, unions and the Congress to placate the left, so he can get support for #4 above.
10. The election was over in mid-September when Lehman brothers failed, fear and panic swept in,we had an unpopular President, and the war was grinding on indefinitely without a clear outcome. The people are in pain, and the mantra of change caused people to act emotionally.Any Dem. would have won this election; it was surprising it was as close as it was.
11. In 2012, if the unemployment rate is over 10%, Republicans will be swept back into power. If it's under 8%, the Dems continue to roll. If it's between 8-10%, it will be a dogfight. It will all be about the economy. I hope this gets you really thinking about what's happening in Washington and Congress. There is a left-wing revolution going on, according to Krauthammer, and he encourages us to keep the faith and join the loyal resistance. The work will be hard, but we're right on most issues and can reclaim our country, before it's far too late.
Do yourself a long term favor, send this to all who will listen to an intelligent assessment of the big picture. All our futures and children's futures depend on our understanding of what is really going on in D.C., and our action pursuant to that understanding!! It really IS up to each of us to take individual action!! Start with enlightening your friends and neighbors!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, February 18, 2011
Eric Turner, Peoria City Councilman and Mayor Wanna-be
Turner admits he has "always wanted to be Mayor of Peoria" even if by being appointed, current laws would prevent him from running for election when his appointed term expired.
Based on how Peorians reason, Turner would be the first black mayor and would relieve their conscious by not having an all white administration.
I speculate Turner will be Peoria's next mayor. Meanwhile, Urich will still be the "main" man to help bring the city out of some of their problems, not all financial.
Based on how Peorians reason, Turner would be the first black mayor and would relieve their conscious by not having an all white administration.
I speculate Turner will be Peoria's next mayor. Meanwhile, Urich will still be the "main" man to help bring the city out of some of their problems, not all financial.
Greg Chance County Health Administrator
I speculated that the present Associate County Administrator would be named Interim County Administration after Urich vacates this position shortly. Instead, a person with a background in health services, Greg Chance was selected Interim Administrator.
I was not aware that Chance had the qualifications to administer an $120 million dollar budget and oversee 1000 employees.
Hm.
Why Sorrel didn't get the job indicates there may be more here than meets the eye.
Admittedly, I have been on vacation for two months and have not followed events closely in Peoria. Nor have I been in contact with any County Board members. My comments are prefaced by words like "I speculate" and based on my experience in political dealings.
Over the years, my "speculations" have turned out to be about 95% true.
Just as a reminder, I seldom print "anonymous" comments on this site. But thanks to those of you who don't get printed anyway for giving your erroneous and personal hate comments.
I was not aware that Chance had the qualifications to administer an $120 million dollar budget and oversee 1000 employees.
Hm.
Why Sorrel didn't get the job indicates there may be more here than meets the eye.
Admittedly, I have been on vacation for two months and have not followed events closely in Peoria. Nor have I been in contact with any County Board members. My comments are prefaced by words like "I speculate" and based on my experience in political dealings.
Over the years, my "speculations" have turned out to be about 95% true.
Just as a reminder, I seldom print "anonymous" comments on this site. But thanks to those of you who don't get printed anyway for giving your erroneous and personal hate comments.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Risinger Blog
One of my many faults is blogging in a hurry. I made a major error is citing Ardis as resigning early when or course I knew it was Urich who resigned early. Ardis, I predict, will resign as the master plan matures.
Expect Steve Shearer to run Ardis's campaign. He has been most successful. Don't expect Ardis to be more successful in saving Illinois from further reneging on paying way past due bills. He too, will be a member of a minority party for some years to come.
How did Illinois Republicans get in this sorry situation? Look no further than their Central Committees. Some elected Republicans are trying to change to situation with some success. But the deck is stacked and Democrat politicians will drive more people and business out of Illinois as witness the loss of 7% of Chicago's population.
Expect Steve Shearer to run Ardis's campaign. He has been most successful. Don't expect Ardis to be more successful in saving Illinois from further reneging on paying way past due bills. He too, will be a member of a minority party for some years to come.
How did Illinois Republicans get in this sorry situation? Look no further than their Central Committees. Some elected Republicans are trying to change to situation with some success. But the deck is stacked and Democrat politicians will drive more people and business out of Illinois as witness the loss of 7% of Chicago's population.
Risinger Resigns Early - February 28
Good job Dale. Hard to get much done when you are the minority party.
I believe I see the big picture now. Here is the plan I believe was conceived by the movers and shakers in the area:
We need a replacement for Dale. Mayor Jim Ardis is the most likely candidate for the Repblicans. We will need someone to replace Ardis and Moore. Most qualified candiate is Pat Urich. Urich is offered the job as City Manager with the City Manger's job descriptions altered to give Urich more power than any City Manger in recent history.
The plan includes the reisgnation of Urich several months before Risinger's resignation.
Eric Turner will replace Ardis as interim Mayor. Remember the email I received from Republicans Ardis, Montelongo, Spain and McCoy, all Reublicans, asking me to support Turner for another council term. That allows one minority to assume a management role although the position of Mayor will be a figurehead simiair to Joe Biden.
Expect few dominos to really fall. Ardis will need to be replaced which will be done by law. Or perhaps, Ardis replacement will come from one of the candidates or oncumbenets runing for the April electio as one more candidates with less votes wll automatically become seated as the councilperson to replace Ardis on the horseshoe.
Over at the County, the Democrats will appoint Associate Administrator Scott Sorrell as Interim Administrator and Katy Van Beek will be appointed to fill Sorrels position.
Urich will be close at hand to assist Sorrell since the whole idea is to combine more city/county services into some form of Uni-Gov with Urich eventually holding the top spot.
Makes sense? It does to me and I generally support the plan.
And Turner gets the Mayorship he has long coveted but fortunately he will be mainly a figurehead.
Urich is the man of the hour and the man of Peoria's future.
I believe I have it right but maybe not. Both Spain and Riggenbach have higher ambitions.
The results of the upcoming April election I believe will be of less iportance tnan the following election elections for Mayor and Council.
Speculatio? We'll see.
I knocked this out between tennis on Longboat Key and heading for dinner. My spell-check isn't working so forgive my typo errors. Be back in Peoria soon.
I believe I see the big picture now. Here is the plan I believe was conceived by the movers and shakers in the area:
We need a replacement for Dale. Mayor Jim Ardis is the most likely candidate for the Repblicans. We will need someone to replace Ardis and Moore. Most qualified candiate is Pat Urich. Urich is offered the job as City Manager with the City Manger's job descriptions altered to give Urich more power than any City Manger in recent history.
The plan includes the reisgnation of Urich several months before Risinger's resignation.
Eric Turner will replace Ardis as interim Mayor. Remember the email I received from Republicans Ardis, Montelongo, Spain and McCoy, all Reublicans, asking me to support Turner for another council term. That allows one minority to assume a management role although the position of Mayor will be a figurehead simiair to Joe Biden.
Expect few dominos to really fall. Ardis will need to be replaced which will be done by law. Or perhaps, Ardis replacement will come from one of the candidates or oncumbenets runing for the April electio as one more candidates with less votes wll automatically become seated as the councilperson to replace Ardis on the horseshoe.
Over at the County, the Democrats will appoint Associate Administrator Scott Sorrell as Interim Administrator and Katy Van Beek will be appointed to fill Sorrels position.
Urich will be close at hand to assist Sorrell since the whole idea is to combine more city/county services into some form of Uni-Gov with Urich eventually holding the top spot.
Makes sense? It does to me and I generally support the plan.
And Turner gets the Mayorship he has long coveted but fortunately he will be mainly a figurehead.
Urich is the man of the hour and the man of Peoria's future.
I believe I have it right but maybe not. Both Spain and Riggenbach have higher ambitions.
The results of the upcoming April election I believe will be of less iportance tnan the following election elections for Mayor and Council.
Speculatio? We'll see.
I knocked this out between tennis on Longboat Key and heading for dinner. My spell-check isn't working so forgive my typo errors. Be back in Peoria soon.
Tea Party Targets for 2012
Can these three change some of their disliked colors before Nov. 2012 and can the Tea Party come up with stronger and more common sense replacements that can be elected?
Merle
Tea Party Out to Defeat 3 Longtime GOP Senators
Thursday, 17 Feb 2011 07:05 AM NewsMax Article
What does a longtime Republican senator with a national reputation for working well with Democrats do in the face of a potentially career-ending tea party challenge?
If you're Richard Lugar of Indiana, you tell them to "get real."
If you're Olympia Snowe of Maine, you fight off the "Snowe Removal" effort by making key alliances with tea party activists and highlighting your record of fiscal conservatism.
And if you're Orrin Hatch of Utah, you woo them.
Lugar, Snowe and Hatch are all on notice that their approach to governance may no longer be welcome.
It's clear the tea party — not even 2 years old — isn't going away anytime soon after huge success in last fall's congressional elections. Dozens of its favorite candidates — Republicans who champion limited government and sharply reduced spending — won House and Senate races. Now, the tea party is empowered and turning its attention to vulnerable Republicans up for re-election in 2012. How the three GOP senators handle the tea party threat will go a long way to determining whether the outcome mirrors that of 2010.
In Indiana, the tea party is organizing to unite behind one candidate who could challenge Lugar in a primary. In Maine, the plan is for a spring "Snowe Removal." In Utah, Hatch's efforts have begun to pay off, but the junior senator, Mike Lee, who replaced Sen. Robert Bennett in a tea party upset in 2010, has said he won't endorse Hatch for re-election.
Unlike in 2010, when incumbents were surprised to be overtaken by upstarts, these longtime senators can't say they were caught off guard.
Lugar, 78, is telling tea party activists to "get real" if they want to take on the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty. They also oppose his support for President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominees and for the DREAM act, legislation that would give a faster path to citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants if they graduate from college or serve two years in the military.
There is also a more abstract complaint about Lugar's genial disposition, something that has for years been viewed as a strength as he worked with Democrats. They want someone pugnacious, less willing to make deals with Democrats.
"We feel like we can do better and get someone who will listen to us more," said Monica Boyer, one of the co-founders of Hoosiers for Conservative Senate, a tea party-inspired group. "We feel he needs to be challenged."
Top Indiana tea party leaders recently met to coalesce behind one Lugar challenger. State Treasurer Richard Mourdock is expected to announce his candidacy later this month.
Apart from some quiet efforts — Lugar has met in private with tea party leaders in his state, including Boyer — Lugar has shown no signs that he will change his message.
"Sen. Lugar just expected this. He's good-humored about it," said Mark Helmke, a senior adviser to Lugar. "He's going to continue to do what he's always done."
Hatch, for his part, is doing anything but what he's always done. The senator who teamed up with a liberal icon, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, to create a government program to provide health insurance for poor children is now showing up at tea party events, sounding far more partisan than he has in his six terms in the Senate.
Hatch has good reason to be nervous. After seeing Bennett, a longtime colleague, defeated amid a tea party revolt in Utah's byzantine GOP nominating convention last year, Hatch immediately signaled he would not be caught flat-footed. He began assiduously courting the tea party in his home state. Now Hatch emphasizes his view that Obama's health care overhaul is a monstrous job killer that would raise taxes and threaten liberty.
"He's clearly been reinventing himself a bit," said Matthew Burbank, a political science professor at the University of Utah. "When George Bush was president, you didn't hear him complaining a lot about spending."
Hatch, 76, attended an event last week billed as a tea party town hall. The stately Hatch sat next to conservative upstarts such as Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. Hatch went out of his way to speak the language of the movement.
"It's a real good thing for us to see that we're finally getting people up in arms . willing to do the things that pull this country where it really ought to be, which is a free-market system without government intrusion in every step of our lives," he said.
The charm offensive has worked, to an extent. Hatch recently secured a promise from the national Tea Party Express that he wouldn't be targeted in 2012 — assurances that Lugar and Snowe have not received. But the peculiarities of Utah's political system, which requires candidates to win over their party's most fervent supporters in a convention just to advance to a primary election, mean that Hatch could still be vulnerable.
In Maine, which has a conventional primary, Snowe is unlikely to face the same purity test. Her home state also has a much more moderate streak than Utah or Indiana. Still, her willingness to buck her party, particularly on social issues, has raised talk of a primary challenge.
The Tea Party Express has announced its disapproval of her votes for stimulus funding and her support of the Supreme Court nominations of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.
Snowe swept to a third term in 2006 with 74 percent of the vote. But four years later she saw an unexpected conservative resurgence in her state, with tea party-backed Paul LePage capturing the governor's mansion and Republicans winning both chambers of the Legislature.
Snowe has played up her credentials as a fiscal conservative, and LePage, who counts Snowe's late husband as a mentor, has said he will back her, even if a more conservative challenger emerges. That's payback for Snowe's backing of LePage's gubernatorial bid last year.
Merle
Tea Party Out to Defeat 3 Longtime GOP Senators
Thursday, 17 Feb 2011 07:05 AM NewsMax Article
What does a longtime Republican senator with a national reputation for working well with Democrats do in the face of a potentially career-ending tea party challenge?
If you're Richard Lugar of Indiana, you tell them to "get real."
If you're Olympia Snowe of Maine, you fight off the "Snowe Removal" effort by making key alliances with tea party activists and highlighting your record of fiscal conservatism.
And if you're Orrin Hatch of Utah, you woo them.
Lugar, Snowe and Hatch are all on notice that their approach to governance may no longer be welcome.
It's clear the tea party — not even 2 years old — isn't going away anytime soon after huge success in last fall's congressional elections. Dozens of its favorite candidates — Republicans who champion limited government and sharply reduced spending — won House and Senate races. Now, the tea party is empowered and turning its attention to vulnerable Republicans up for re-election in 2012. How the three GOP senators handle the tea party threat will go a long way to determining whether the outcome mirrors that of 2010.
In Indiana, the tea party is organizing to unite behind one candidate who could challenge Lugar in a primary. In Maine, the plan is for a spring "Snowe Removal." In Utah, Hatch's efforts have begun to pay off, but the junior senator, Mike Lee, who replaced Sen. Robert Bennett in a tea party upset in 2010, has said he won't endorse Hatch for re-election.
Unlike in 2010, when incumbents were surprised to be overtaken by upstarts, these longtime senators can't say they were caught off guard.
Lugar, 78, is telling tea party activists to "get real" if they want to take on the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty. They also oppose his support for President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominees and for the DREAM act, legislation that would give a faster path to citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants if they graduate from college or serve two years in the military.
There is also a more abstract complaint about Lugar's genial disposition, something that has for years been viewed as a strength as he worked with Democrats. They want someone pugnacious, less willing to make deals with Democrats.
"We feel like we can do better and get someone who will listen to us more," said Monica Boyer, one of the co-founders of Hoosiers for Conservative Senate, a tea party-inspired group. "We feel he needs to be challenged."
Top Indiana tea party leaders recently met to coalesce behind one Lugar challenger. State Treasurer Richard Mourdock is expected to announce his candidacy later this month.
Apart from some quiet efforts — Lugar has met in private with tea party leaders in his state, including Boyer — Lugar has shown no signs that he will change his message.
"Sen. Lugar just expected this. He's good-humored about it," said Mark Helmke, a senior adviser to Lugar. "He's going to continue to do what he's always done."
Hatch, for his part, is doing anything but what he's always done. The senator who teamed up with a liberal icon, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, to create a government program to provide health insurance for poor children is now showing up at tea party events, sounding far more partisan than he has in his six terms in the Senate.
Hatch has good reason to be nervous. After seeing Bennett, a longtime colleague, defeated amid a tea party revolt in Utah's byzantine GOP nominating convention last year, Hatch immediately signaled he would not be caught flat-footed. He began assiduously courting the tea party in his home state. Now Hatch emphasizes his view that Obama's health care overhaul is a monstrous job killer that would raise taxes and threaten liberty.
"He's clearly been reinventing himself a bit," said Matthew Burbank, a political science professor at the University of Utah. "When George Bush was president, you didn't hear him complaining a lot about spending."
Hatch, 76, attended an event last week billed as a tea party town hall. The stately Hatch sat next to conservative upstarts such as Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky. Hatch went out of his way to speak the language of the movement.
"It's a real good thing for us to see that we're finally getting people up in arms . willing to do the things that pull this country where it really ought to be, which is a free-market system without government intrusion in every step of our lives," he said.
The charm offensive has worked, to an extent. Hatch recently secured a promise from the national Tea Party Express that he wouldn't be targeted in 2012 — assurances that Lugar and Snowe have not received. But the peculiarities of Utah's political system, which requires candidates to win over their party's most fervent supporters in a convention just to advance to a primary election, mean that Hatch could still be vulnerable.
In Maine, which has a conventional primary, Snowe is unlikely to face the same purity test. Her home state also has a much more moderate streak than Utah or Indiana. Still, her willingness to buck her party, particularly on social issues, has raised talk of a primary challenge.
The Tea Party Express has announced its disapproval of her votes for stimulus funding and her support of the Supreme Court nominations of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.
Snowe swept to a third term in 2006 with 74 percent of the vote. But four years later she saw an unexpected conservative resurgence in her state, with tea party-backed Paul LePage capturing the governor's mansion and Republicans winning both chambers of the Legislature.
Snowe has played up her credentials as a fiscal conservative, and LePage, who counts Snowe's late husband as a mentor, has said he will back her, even if a more conservative challenger emerges. That's payback for Snowe's backing of LePage's gubernatorial bid last year.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
IDIOTS - SO MANY IN POWER
While this release is 10 month old, the drive to ban never ends.
Merle
Opinion
Should the American Flag Be Banned -- in America?
By You Decide
Published May 06, 2010
| FOXNews.com
Print Email Share Comments (97) Text Size Share your thoughts. First, answer our question below. Then click "Leave a comment."
Thank you for voting!
No. This is a lame decision. Teach the kids what the flag means, instead of banning it. 79.88% (3,195,128 votes)
Yes. The safety of students comes first. 15.03% (601,322 votes)
Not sure, but of all things to ban, the American flag would seem the least 'incendiary.' 0.19% (7,673 votes)
Other (post a comment) 4.9% (195,952 votes)
Total Votes: 4,000,075
Comments (153)
Return To PollShare This
Create Your Own Poll
This is not a scientific poll.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE
INTERESTED IN
Ten Worst Places to Live
Merle
Opinion
Should the American Flag Be Banned -- in America?
By You Decide
Published May 06, 2010
| FOXNews.com
Print Email Share Comments (97) Text Size Share your thoughts. First, answer our question below. Then click "Leave a comment."
Thank you for voting!
No. This is a lame decision. Teach the kids what the flag means, instead of banning it. 79.88% (3,195,128 votes)
Yes. The safety of students comes first. 15.03% (601,322 votes)
Not sure, but of all things to ban, the American flag would seem the least 'incendiary.' 0.19% (7,673 votes)
Other (post a comment) 4.9% (195,952 votes)
Total Votes: 4,000,075
Comments (153)
Return To PollShare This
Create Your Own Poll
This is not a scientific poll.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE
INTERESTED IN
Ten Worst Places to Live
Eric Turner, Peoria City Councilman and Mayor Wanna-be
I received a form email from Peoria City Councilman Jim Montelongo; he who lost big time to Gordon, Mayor Jim Ardis, who has his eye on Dale Risinger's state job, and Sheriff Mike McCoy who has his eye on the minority vote and Uni-Gov with the county in charge of security, asking me to support Eric Turner for another term on the City Council.
No way would I vote for a man who PUT HIS NAME ON A WIDELY CIRCULATED LETTER DESCRIBING THE BAD CONDITIONS AT LINCOLN LIBRARY WHEN THEY WERE ASKING (and succeeded) for millions of property tax payer dollars for additional space and improvements, WHEN HE HAD NOT, BY HIS OWN WRITTEN ADMISSION, VISITED LINCOLN LIBRARY TO CONFIRM THE ERRONEOUS DETAILS OF THE LETTER. (LYNN PEARSON, ONCE COUNTY BOARD CHAIRPERSON WHEN THE COUNTY WAS RUNNING A HUGH DEFICIT AND IS STILL ON THE BOARD AFTER 24 YEARS, WAS THE PRIME DRIVER BEHIND THE ERRONEOUS FACT FILLED LETTER)
Among statements including in the Turner signed letter was "not enough space, the seldom used lower floor was poorly lighted and damp." I made another of my many visits to Lincoln Library and reviewed this claim with a local reporter. We found that a simple humidifier like we have in our home would have solved the humidity problem and lowering the fluorescent lights from their recessed position in the ceiling would have solved the lighting problem. We also noted a large percentage of the books on the shelves had never been checked out.
Lack of space at Lincoln was a misnomer. Lack of readers would have been more appropriate truth. Remember my blog describing I and a reporter visited a class at Lincoln where not one kid showed up?
Montelongo and Turner also appeared on local TV deriding County and City citizens the right of a referendum. He and Turner are major decision makers who have put the city in a rising $14 million deficit.
Are longtime councilmembers like Turner, the people you want to continue to build up debt in our city?
Apparently so as witness the State of Illinois and Chicago who census results show, lost almost 7% of their population in the past decade. I have yet to note the gain in growth of the city of Peoria. Perhaps it has been published and I missed it.
I believe the census showed the County includes the city) grew about 200 a year over the
No way would I vote for a man who PUT HIS NAME ON A WIDELY CIRCULATED LETTER DESCRIBING THE BAD CONDITIONS AT LINCOLN LIBRARY WHEN THEY WERE ASKING (and succeeded) for millions of property tax payer dollars for additional space and improvements, WHEN HE HAD NOT, BY HIS OWN WRITTEN ADMISSION, VISITED LINCOLN LIBRARY TO CONFIRM THE ERRONEOUS DETAILS OF THE LETTER. (LYNN PEARSON, ONCE COUNTY BOARD CHAIRPERSON WHEN THE COUNTY WAS RUNNING A HUGH DEFICIT AND IS STILL ON THE BOARD AFTER 24 YEARS, WAS THE PRIME DRIVER BEHIND THE ERRONEOUS FACT FILLED LETTER)
Among statements including in the Turner signed letter was "not enough space, the seldom used lower floor was poorly lighted and damp." I made another of my many visits to Lincoln Library and reviewed this claim with a local reporter. We found that a simple humidifier like we have in our home would have solved the humidity problem and lowering the fluorescent lights from their recessed position in the ceiling would have solved the lighting problem. We also noted a large percentage of the books on the shelves had never been checked out.
Lack of space at Lincoln was a misnomer. Lack of readers would have been more appropriate truth. Remember my blog describing I and a reporter visited a class at Lincoln where not one kid showed up?
Montelongo and Turner also appeared on local TV deriding County and City citizens the right of a referendum. He and Turner are major decision makers who have put the city in a rising $14 million deficit.
Are longtime councilmembers like Turner, the people you want to continue to build up debt in our city?
Apparently so as witness the State of Illinois and Chicago who census results show, lost almost 7% of their population in the past decade. I have yet to note the gain in growth of the city of Peoria. Perhaps it has been published and I missed it.
I believe the census showed the County includes the city) grew about 200 a year over the
Borders Files Bankruptcy
As predicted, the bookseller Borders filed for bankruptcy today. Whether the store in the Shoppes will remain open is unknown at this point. Private booksellers all over the country struggle as Peoria voters asked and the City Council granted power seeking Library Board members to spend approximately $40 million ($27 million the city didn't have plus 20-30 years interest, all to be paid by a largely misled property tax payer). Most of the yes voters supporting this $40 million dollar boondoggle, and some Councilpeople like Eric Turner, by his own admission, hadn't set foot in a library for years.
This money built a new library along Rt. 6 inaccessible by bike or foot, renovation of the downtown library; this library was considered for closing in 2000 because of underuse, (usage has actually declined unless you count the homeless who now take up the expensive casual seating) massive improvements to underutilized Lincoln Library, including $600,000+ to remove bodies from graves the "experts" don't know were there. And these "experts" are highly paid?
Good grief!
A million or so was spent for underutilized McClure Library and additional $7 million would have been spent if it wasn't for my efforts to sway the vote of one councilman, 5 yes and 6 nays, to wait and see what the effect the new library off Allen Rd. would have on the "claimed" overuse of Lakeview Library.
My company furnished the Lakeview Library and I have been a consistent visitor to all Peoria Public Libraries, including the now closed Taft Homes Library, the now closed River West Library and the once highly hyped and now closed Southside Library.
An un-informed and beleaguered (exactly the same services for the minorities, whether they use them or not) City Council approved an $80,000 elevator to the second floor at Southside, accessible only if the head librarian was available, she was the guardian of the key that operated the elevator, and monitored by an expensive security system. And did I say used only for the storage of pottery items, 4 computers, some that didn't work and male and female restrooms. Restrooms and storage was also available on the first floor.
The main point of this blog is to call attention to how propaganda can sway the voter most recently displayed by the $600,000 plus spent to "educate" the public on the value of museums when we already had a centrally located museum, the envy of many communities our size.
To promote the library expansions, then Journal Star Editorial Board member Shelley Epstein wrote a series of articles, based on his blatantly false information supplied by library supporters to pursue the promoting this eventual $40 million expenditure at a time when chain companies like bookseller Borders are failing and Waldenbooks have closed at Northwoods. Barnes and Noble appear to be doing well largely because of the success of their electronic book which eventually leads to less space needed for books.
Meanwhile Peoria expands it's library systems putting the City further in debt while kids are reading less hard cover books, the private tax-paying sector is financially hurting and computer users come to the library to use computers furnished by property tax payers so they don't "wear" out their computers at home.
Meanwhile, by a very close referendum vote, Dunlap built a beautiful new Library barely 5 miles from the new Peoria Library off Allen road. My visits and comments of other visitors indicate this new expanded library is, as predicted, very underutilized.
It is understandable that in hard times, more "free" public facilities are in demand.
However, all recessions eventually end as taxes continue to rise and regulations on the private sector become more restrictive, the taxpayer may be awakening.
In Peoria, it is getting late in the game.We may have all these envied amenities but NONE of them are as yet debt free.
This money built a new library along Rt. 6 inaccessible by bike or foot, renovation of the downtown library; this library was considered for closing in 2000 because of underuse, (usage has actually declined unless you count the homeless who now take up the expensive casual seating) massive improvements to underutilized Lincoln Library, including $600,000+ to remove bodies from graves the "experts" don't know were there. And these "experts" are highly paid?
Good grief!
A million or so was spent for underutilized McClure Library and additional $7 million would have been spent if it wasn't for my efforts to sway the vote of one councilman, 5 yes and 6 nays, to wait and see what the effect the new library off Allen Rd. would have on the "claimed" overuse of Lakeview Library.
My company furnished the Lakeview Library and I have been a consistent visitor to all Peoria Public Libraries, including the now closed Taft Homes Library, the now closed River West Library and the once highly hyped and now closed Southside Library.
An un-informed and beleaguered (exactly the same services for the minorities, whether they use them or not) City Council approved an $80,000 elevator to the second floor at Southside, accessible only if the head librarian was available, she was the guardian of the key that operated the elevator, and monitored by an expensive security system. And did I say used only for the storage of pottery items, 4 computers, some that didn't work and male and female restrooms. Restrooms and storage was also available on the first floor.
The main point of this blog is to call attention to how propaganda can sway the voter most recently displayed by the $600,000 plus spent to "educate" the public on the value of museums when we already had a centrally located museum, the envy of many communities our size.
To promote the library expansions, then Journal Star Editorial Board member Shelley Epstein wrote a series of articles, based on his blatantly false information supplied by library supporters to pursue the promoting this eventual $40 million expenditure at a time when chain companies like bookseller Borders are failing and Waldenbooks have closed at Northwoods. Barnes and Noble appear to be doing well largely because of the success of their electronic book which eventually leads to less space needed for books.
Meanwhile Peoria expands it's library systems putting the City further in debt while kids are reading less hard cover books, the private tax-paying sector is financially hurting and computer users come to the library to use computers furnished by property tax payers so they don't "wear" out their computers at home.
Meanwhile, by a very close referendum vote, Dunlap built a beautiful new Library barely 5 miles from the new Peoria Library off Allen road. My visits and comments of other visitors indicate this new expanded library is, as predicted, very underutilized.
It is understandable that in hard times, more "free" public facilities are in demand.
However, all recessions eventually end as taxes continue to rise and regulations on the private sector become more restrictive, the taxpayer may be awakening.
In Peoria, it is getting late in the game.We may have all these envied amenities but NONE of them are as yet debt free.
Union Bosses Don't Need Members Consent? Not Always
An article from my National Right to Work friends.
Merle
Teachers Collect Settlement After Foundation Supreme Court Victory
This month, thousands of teachers in Washington state will receive checks from the Washington Education Association (WEA) union, which had illegally spent their forced union fees on the union bosses' political agenda.
In March 2006, the Washington State Supreme Court struck down a state law that required union officials to obtain the prior consent of nonunion public employees before spending their mandatory union dues for political campaigns.
On January 10, 2007, oral arguments took place at the U.S. Supreme Court after a successful appeal by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys. They asked the High Court to reexamine whether nonunion members should automatically have compulsory dues for politics deducted from their paychecks in the first place.
The Supreme Court ruled on June 14, 2007 in a 9-0 unanimous decision that reversed the Washington State Supreme Court's misinterpretation of the First Amendment.
The case highlights the importance of the Foundation's program, as well the as the need for states like Washington to enact Right to Work laws to protect independent-minded employees from these schemes.
For more information, please visit the Foundation's Freedom @ Work blog.
The Foundation relies on the voluntary support of individual Americans who believe in our cause and wish to advance our strategic litigation program. To make a fully tax-deductible donation in whatever amount, please click here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in more than 200 cases nationwide. The Foundation's mailing address is 8001 Braddock Road, Springfield, Virginia 22160. Its web address is www.nrtw.org/.
To help the National Right to Work Foundation grow; please forward this to a friend.
To view as a web page, please click this link: view online.
This message was intended for: merlewidmer@msn.com
You were added to the system April 14, 2010. For more information
click here.
Update your preferences | Unsubscribe
Merle
Teachers Collect Settlement After Foundation Supreme Court Victory
This month, thousands of teachers in Washington state will receive checks from the Washington Education Association (WEA) union, which had illegally spent their forced union fees on the union bosses' political agenda.
In March 2006, the Washington State Supreme Court struck down a state law that required union officials to obtain the prior consent of nonunion public employees before spending their mandatory union dues for political campaigns.
On January 10, 2007, oral arguments took place at the U.S. Supreme Court after a successful appeal by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys. They asked the High Court to reexamine whether nonunion members should automatically have compulsory dues for politics deducted from their paychecks in the first place.
The Supreme Court ruled on June 14, 2007 in a 9-0 unanimous decision that reversed the Washington State Supreme Court's misinterpretation of the First Amendment.
The case highlights the importance of the Foundation's program, as well the as the need for states like Washington to enact Right to Work laws to protect independent-minded employees from these schemes.
For more information, please visit the Foundation's Freedom @ Work blog.
The Foundation relies on the voluntary support of individual Americans who believe in our cause and wish to advance our strategic litigation program. To make a fully tax-deductible donation in whatever amount, please click here.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in more than 200 cases nationwide. The Foundation's mailing address is 8001 Braddock Road, Springfield, Virginia 22160. Its web address is www.nrtw.org/.
To help the National Right to Work Foundation grow; please forward this to a friend.
To view as a web page, please click this link: view online.
This message was intended for: merlewidmer@msn.com
You were added to the system April 14, 2010. For more information
click here.
Update your preferences | Unsubscribe
Progressive Insurance And Lefist Peter Lewis
Ditsy woman and ditzy advertising? The media has turned into one big pot of b-ll s--t.
Merle
Subject: Fwd: PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE AND ACLU
To:
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2011.
PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE is owned by Peter Lewis: Who is he?
Well, you're about to learn the rest of the story:
PROGRESSIVE AUTO INSURANCE
You know their TV commercials, the ones featuring the ditsy actress all dressed in white. What you might not know is that the Chairman of Progressive is Peter Lewis, one of the major funders of leftist causes in America .
Between 2001 and 2003, Lewis funneled $15 million to the ACLU, the group most responsible for destroying what's left of Americas Judeo-Christian heritage.
Lewis also gave $12.5 million to MoveOn.org and American Coming Together, two key propaganda arms of the socialist left.
His funding for these groups was conditional on matching contributions from George Soros, the America-hating socialist who is the chief financier of the Obama political machine.
Lewis made a fortune as a result of capitalism, but now finances a progressive movement that threatens to destroy the American free enterprise system that is targeting television shows on Fox News.
Peter Lewis is making a fortune off of conservative Americans (who buy his auto insurance) that he applies to dismantle the very system that made him wealthy. He's banking on no one finding out who he is, so, STOP buying Progressive Insurance and pass this information on to all your friends.
Verify at Snopes http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/peterlewis.asp
Merle
Subject: Fwd: PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE AND ACLU
To:
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2011.
PROGRESSIVE INSURANCE is owned by Peter Lewis: Who is he?
Well, you're about to learn the rest of the story:
PROGRESSIVE AUTO INSURANCE
You know their TV commercials, the ones featuring the ditsy actress all dressed in white. What you might not know is that the Chairman of Progressive is Peter Lewis, one of the major funders of leftist causes in America .
Between 2001 and 2003, Lewis funneled $15 million to the ACLU, the group most responsible for destroying what's left of Americas Judeo-Christian heritage.
Lewis also gave $12.5 million to MoveOn.org and American Coming Together, two key propaganda arms of the socialist left.
His funding for these groups was conditional on matching contributions from George Soros, the America-hating socialist who is the chief financier of the Obama political machine.
Lewis made a fortune as a result of capitalism, but now finances a progressive movement that threatens to destroy the American free enterprise system that is targeting television shows on Fox News.
Peter Lewis is making a fortune off of conservative Americans (who buy his auto insurance) that he applies to dismantle the very system that made him wealthy. He's banking on no one finding out who he is, so, STOP buying Progressive Insurance and pass this information on to all your friends.
Verify at Snopes http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/peterlewis.asp
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Obamaism and Rising Taxes
Forwarded to me by a fellow real conservative. Information like this brings the Obama lie of less taxes to print by like-minded bloggers and emailers.
Merle
Besides enegy tax increases, here's a 'current' listing of m-a-n-y additional areas where each and every one of us citizen-peon will (IF it goes into play) be scalped somewhere along the way:
February 14, 2011
Under the Obama budget, tax revenues will grow from 14.4% of GDP in 2011 to 20% of GDP in 2021. By comparison, the historical average is only 18% of GDP.
Tax hike lowlights include:
Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike
Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%
Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike
Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike
New bank taxes totaling $33 billion over ten years { Higher fees for customers]
New international corporate tax hikes totaling $129 billion over ten years
New life insurance company taxes totaling $14 billion over ten years { Higher fees for customers]
Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years { Oh yes, higher and higher fees for customers]
Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years
Taxing management capital gains in an investment partnership ("carried interest") as ordinary income. This is a tax hike of $15 billion over ten years
A giveaway to the trial lawyers-not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement. This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years
Increasing tax penalties, information reporting, and IRS information sharing. This is a ten-year tax hike of $20 billion.
Add it all together, and this budget is a ten-year, $1.5 trillion tax hike over present law. That's $1.5 trillion taken out of the economy and spent on government instead of being used to create jobs.
The "tax relief" in the budget is mostly just an extension of present law, and also some refundable credit outlay spending in the tax code. There is virtually no new tax relief relative to present law in the President's budget.
http://www.atr.org/obamas-fy-budgetbr-taxes-more-a5844#
Merle
Besides enegy tax increases, here's a 'current' listing of m-a-n-y additional areas where each and every one of us citizen-peon will (IF it goes into play) be scalped somewhere along the way:
February 14, 2011
Under the Obama budget, tax revenues will grow from 14.4% of GDP in 2011 to 20% of GDP in 2021. By comparison, the historical average is only 18% of GDP.
Tax hike lowlights include:
Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike
Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%
Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike
Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike
New bank taxes totaling $33 billion over ten years { Higher fees for customers]
New international corporate tax hikes totaling $129 billion over ten years
New life insurance company taxes totaling $14 billion over ten years { Higher fees for customers]
Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years { Oh yes, higher and higher fees for customers]
Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years
Taxing management capital gains in an investment partnership ("carried interest") as ordinary income. This is a tax hike of $15 billion over ten years
A giveaway to the trial lawyers-not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement. This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years
Increasing tax penalties, information reporting, and IRS information sharing. This is a ten-year tax hike of $20 billion.
Add it all together, and this budget is a ten-year, $1.5 trillion tax hike over present law. That's $1.5 trillion taken out of the economy and spent on government instead of being used to create jobs.
The "tax relief" in the budget is mostly just an extension of present law, and also some refundable credit outlay spending in the tax code. There is virtually no new tax relief relative to present law in the President's budget.
http://www.atr.org/obamas-fy-budgetbr-taxes-more-a5844#
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Special Interests? Ask The Republicans Why They Are No Different From the Democrats
Republicans Are Weak on Farm Subsidies
by Michael D. Tanner
Michael D. Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution.
Added to cato.org on February 9, 2011
This article appeared on National Review (Online) on February 9, 2011.
PRINT PAGE CITE THIS Sans Serif Serif Share with your friends:
ShareThisLast month, when the conservative Republican Study Committee released its plan for $2.5 trillion in budget cuts over the next ten years, one enormous item of wasteful government spending was conspicuously missing — farm subsidies.
Perhaps that reflects the fact that 24 of the RSC's 165 members sit on the House Agriculture Committee, the notorious overseer of farm-welfare programs. Total direct government farm payments to the districts of those 24 representatives alone costs taxpayers more than $1 billion per year. Numerous other RSC members hail from farm states, and therefore have a vested interest in protecting payments to their constituents. For example, RSC chairman Rep. Jim Jordan is not a member of the Agriculture Committee but represents an Ohio district that receives $30 million in direct payments annually.
We are also seeing the usual quadrennial pilgrimage of supposedly fiscally conservative Republican presidential candidates to Iowa, where they swear eternal fealty to farm subsidies generally, but, even worse, to ethanol subsidies in particular. Perhaps the most revolting example of this spectacle was former House speaker Newt Gingrich's claim that opposition to ethanol subsidies and mandates stems from "big city" folks who just don't like farmers.
The level of hypocrisy is breathtaking.
But Gingrich is hardly alone. Mitt Romney defends farm subsidies as a "national-security issue," because somehow if farmers don't get an annual government check, al-Qaeda will hold our food supply hostage. Romney, of course, is also a big backer of ethanol subsidies, as is former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who once keynoted the annual convention of the American Coalition for Ethanol. Sarah Palin? Mike Huckabee? Sorry, they are on the farm-subsidy/ethanol bandwagon too. Indiana governor Mitch Daniels sounded promising: "Farm subsidies in general ought to go away," he says. But he too can't break the ethanol addiction. A "national-security issue," he says.
Incidentally, ethanol subsidies were extended as part of the lame-duck session's compromise tax agreement in December. It was pushed in large part by six Republican senators, including John Thune, another putative presidential candidate.
The level of hypocrisy is breathtaking. For example, conservatives rightly denounced government subsidies to business when the auto industry was at issue. Why, then, are subsidies a good idea when directed to, say, Archer Daniels Midland?
Similarly, since the rise of the Tea Party, many Republicans have rediscovered fealty to the Constitution. Witness the cheers for Judge Vinson's decision striking down Obamacare on constitutional grounds. One might ask, therefore, where these "constitutional conservatives" find constitutional authority for farm programs?
And it is hard to see how anyone can claim to be a fiscal conservative while supporting $15 – 35 billion per year in government spending that largely goes to a group of people with incomes above the national average. Farm income for 2010 exceeded $92.5 billion. That's a 34 percent increase from 2009, and — even if you subtract payments from the government — 28.8 percent above the previous ten-year average. While conservatives often mythologize small farms, most farm subsidies go to large and corporate farms. In fact, the largest 10 percent of recipients receive 73 percent of all subsidy payments.
Michael D. Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution.
More by Michael D. TannerAs for ethanol, this is a program that cost taxpayers $7.7 billion last year while driving up food and gasoline prices — and that causes more environmental damage than it solves. The national-security argument is far more slogan than reality. Ethanol's impact on oil imports is minimal, less than 1 percent according to some studies. We could plant subsidized corn on every square inch of available land, and we would not significantly reduce our reliance on imported oil (most of which actually comes from such hostile countries as Canada).
Unsupportable as farm subsidies are, they are part of a larger context that will continue to bedevil Republicans as they try to cut federal spending. It is always easier to cut the other guy's subsidy. And some of the most deeply "red" states are among the biggest collectors of federal largess. In 2010, solidly Republican states such as Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Virginia were among the largest recipients of per capita federal spending. That means any serious attempt to cut federal spending is going to require Republicans to take on their own constituencies.
Farm subsidies will provide an early test of whether Republicans can do this. So far, the results are disappointing.
Share with your friends: ShareThis
by Michael D. Tanner
Michael D. Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution.
Added to cato.org on February 9, 2011
This article appeared on National Review (Online) on February 9, 2011.
PRINT PAGE CITE THIS Sans Serif Serif Share with your friends:
ShareThisLast month, when the conservative Republican Study Committee released its plan for $2.5 trillion in budget cuts over the next ten years, one enormous item of wasteful government spending was conspicuously missing — farm subsidies.
Perhaps that reflects the fact that 24 of the RSC's 165 members sit on the House Agriculture Committee, the notorious overseer of farm-welfare programs. Total direct government farm payments to the districts of those 24 representatives alone costs taxpayers more than $1 billion per year. Numerous other RSC members hail from farm states, and therefore have a vested interest in protecting payments to their constituents. For example, RSC chairman Rep. Jim Jordan is not a member of the Agriculture Committee but represents an Ohio district that receives $30 million in direct payments annually.
We are also seeing the usual quadrennial pilgrimage of supposedly fiscally conservative Republican presidential candidates to Iowa, where they swear eternal fealty to farm subsidies generally, but, even worse, to ethanol subsidies in particular. Perhaps the most revolting example of this spectacle was former House speaker Newt Gingrich's claim that opposition to ethanol subsidies and mandates stems from "big city" folks who just don't like farmers.
The level of hypocrisy is breathtaking.
But Gingrich is hardly alone. Mitt Romney defends farm subsidies as a "national-security issue," because somehow if farmers don't get an annual government check, al-Qaeda will hold our food supply hostage. Romney, of course, is also a big backer of ethanol subsidies, as is former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who once keynoted the annual convention of the American Coalition for Ethanol. Sarah Palin? Mike Huckabee? Sorry, they are on the farm-subsidy/ethanol bandwagon too. Indiana governor Mitch Daniels sounded promising: "Farm subsidies in general ought to go away," he says. But he too can't break the ethanol addiction. A "national-security issue," he says.
Incidentally, ethanol subsidies were extended as part of the lame-duck session's compromise tax agreement in December. It was pushed in large part by six Republican senators, including John Thune, another putative presidential candidate.
The level of hypocrisy is breathtaking. For example, conservatives rightly denounced government subsidies to business when the auto industry was at issue. Why, then, are subsidies a good idea when directed to, say, Archer Daniels Midland?
Similarly, since the rise of the Tea Party, many Republicans have rediscovered fealty to the Constitution. Witness the cheers for Judge Vinson's decision striking down Obamacare on constitutional grounds. One might ask, therefore, where these "constitutional conservatives" find constitutional authority for farm programs?
And it is hard to see how anyone can claim to be a fiscal conservative while supporting $15 – 35 billion per year in government spending that largely goes to a group of people with incomes above the national average. Farm income for 2010 exceeded $92.5 billion. That's a 34 percent increase from 2009, and — even if you subtract payments from the government — 28.8 percent above the previous ten-year average. While conservatives often mythologize small farms, most farm subsidies go to large and corporate farms. In fact, the largest 10 percent of recipients receive 73 percent of all subsidy payments.
Michael D. Tanner is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and author of Leviathan on the Right: How Big-Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution.
More by Michael D. TannerAs for ethanol, this is a program that cost taxpayers $7.7 billion last year while driving up food and gasoline prices — and that causes more environmental damage than it solves. The national-security argument is far more slogan than reality. Ethanol's impact on oil imports is minimal, less than 1 percent according to some studies. We could plant subsidized corn on every square inch of available land, and we would not significantly reduce our reliance on imported oil (most of which actually comes from such hostile countries as Canada).
Unsupportable as farm subsidies are, they are part of a larger context that will continue to bedevil Republicans as they try to cut federal spending. It is always easier to cut the other guy's subsidy. And some of the most deeply "red" states are among the biggest collectors of federal largess. In 2010, solidly Republican states such as Alaska, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Virginia were among the largest recipients of per capita federal spending. That means any serious attempt to cut federal spending is going to require Republicans to take on their own constituencies.
Farm subsidies will provide an early test of whether Republicans can do this. So far, the results are disappointing.
Share with your friends: ShareThis
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Patrick Urich - New City Manager of Peoria
All as I predicted in my two blogs shortly after Urich announced his resignation from the County Board. He is still employed by Peoria County until around the first days of April.
Now we will see how well I predicted his salary and benefits. Also. whether Peoria County Associate Administrator Scott Sorell is appointed interim administrator of full Peoria County Administrator.
Weather in Sarasota is lovely. Next stop Cancun. We are in touch with our neighbors and some friends.
Now we will see how well I predicted his salary and benefits. Also. whether Peoria County Associate Administrator Scott Sorell is appointed interim administrator of full Peoria County Administrator.
Weather in Sarasota is lovely. Next stop Cancun. We are in touch with our neighbors and some friends.
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