GOP Proposes $2.5 Trillion In Cuts Over 10 Years

January 20, 2011 Leave a comment

House Republicans unveiled a plan to cut $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years.  While it only amounts to $250 billion a year in cuts, it’s a good start. Gone are Amtrak subsidies, wasteful legal services and tons of unnecessary grants and Federal expenditures.

This is a terrific start for the House Republicans. Now the question is whether or not they’ll be able to force Obama into signing these cuts into law. I suggested earlier today that the increasing debt ceiling is a good way to get Obama to latch onto cuts. Now it’s time for the GOP to play politics and get these cuts into law.

Filed under Obama, Politics, Republicans Tagged with , , , , ,

Two Ways The GOP Can Push Obama And Score Political Points

January 20, 2011 Leave a comment

Here are two ways the Republicans can push Obama on issues that voters favor the GOP on.

Yesterday the House passed a bill repealing Obamacare. Pressure will be on Sen. Harry Reid to allow a vote in the Senate on the repeal. I highly doubt it will happen. Even if Reid allows the bill to move forward, the Democrats will filibuster any attempt at a vote. Even if it passes the Senate, there isn’t any chance that Obama will sign it into law.

This of course doesn’t mean the repeal of Obamacare is dead. What the House Republicans ought to do next is pass a repeal of the individual healthcare purchase mandate. This is one of the most unpopular provisions of the bill but it’s also the glue that holds Obamacare together. Without the individual mandate, Obamacare sort of withers away. So what the House GOP needs to do is pass a repeal of this part of the bill and send it onto the Senate. In the Senate, there are any number of moderate Democrats who will consider voting in favor of the repeal in order to get re-elected next year. Don’t forget, 23 Democrat seats are up for re-election in the Senate next year. Senators like Ben Nelson might be willing to vote for a repeal of the individual mandate, knowing full well that Obama will veto it. The veto is key as it will cause Obamacare to continue being an issue into the 2012 campaign. Obamacare won’t be a distant memory, it will be a fresh memory with a fresh veto from the President.

Like Obamacare, the Republicans can keep the deficit issue going through this year and into next year if they play their cards right. The debt ceiling issue is going to go viral in the next six weeks. There’s been talk that the GOP will agree to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for spending cuts. The Republicans need to hold their ground on this and force the issue.

The GOP cannot raise the debt ceiling to high. They should only agree to raise it $500-750 billion in exchange for $100-200 billion in spending cuts. This sets up another showdown over the debt ceiling in the fall. At this time the Republicans can demand more spending cuts and defund Obamacare in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

If the Republicans do these two things, they can score political points. They’ll keep Obamacare in the nation’s thoughts as the 2012 election ramps up. They’ll also force Federal spending cuts, which voters favor the GOP in doing. The spending cuts will annoy if not outrage Obama’s base, making him all the weaker heading into 2012. Meanwhile the GOP can continue running against Obamacare and they can wave around some modest spending cuts they forced the President to go along with.

Filed under 2012 election, Obama, Obamacare, Politics, Republicans Tagged with , , , , , ,

Speak Boehner Set To Repeal Obamacare’s Massive Tax Hikes

January 15, 2011 Leave a comment

Next week Speaker John Boehner has promised a vote to repeal Obamacare. While it is unlikely that a repeal will pass the Senate and it’s even more unlikely that Obama would sign a repeal, it’s still an important vote. It’s important not just because we get to watch the newly elected Republicans make symbolic votes. It’s important because it gets us talking about Obamacare again. This is a bill that over 50% of the country wants repealed, it’s important for the GOP that we continue talking about it.

The group Americans for Tax Reform has published a list of tax increases found in Obamacare. This includes the infamous tax surcharge (which is not what Congress called this during the debate last year) for people who do not buy health insurance. It also includes a capital gains tax increase., a hike in the medicare payroll tax on the self-employed, an excise tax on charity hospitals and an elimination of a tax deduction for employer provided Rx coverage in retirement. Not to mention the infamous tanning bed tax. Not to be out done, in order to curb increases in health insurance Obamacare is going to increase taxes on health insurance companies. Because that’s sure to keep insurance costs down.

Just looking at the tax increases it’s clear what the goal of Obamacare is. The goal is to set the stage for complete socialist health care, a government paid for and provided system. All the tax increases simply make it more difficult for businesses to provide health insurance to their employees. We’re not even talking about the massive paperwork Obamacare is creating for businesses, just the taxes.

In short, Obamacare needs to be repealed. It won’t happen next week but it could happen if the Republicans win back the White House in 2012. We need to move away from government health insurance towards a true free market system. Make no mistake, the government’s greedy paws were in healthcare long before Obama. Government regulations created by the Clinton administration and furthered by the Bush administration have made health insurance costs rise dramatically. Government needs to step back and allow the free market to handle this situation.

Filed under John Boehner, Obama, Obamacare, Politics Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Michigan Government Schools MEAP Scores Inflated

January 13, 2011 1 Comment

The dismal state of education in Michigan is on full display today as the Education Trust Midwest released a study showing that Michigan government school students only pass on average at a 30% rate on a national test. The state loves to brag that nearly 84% of Michigan 4th graders pass the Michigan MEAP test. Unfortunately only 30% pass a national test. The MEAP test isn’t as rigorous and likely does not demonstrate sufficient 4th grade standards. Lower standards mean more schools pass and the more schools that pass the more money government schools receive.

News that the MEAP is to easy makes last years 11th grade MEAP scores all the more disturbing. While 16% of 4th graders fail the MEAP reading exam, the number more than doubles for 11th graders. Around 35% of 11th graders in Michigan don’t pass the MEAP reading exam. Since it’s clear that the MEAP test is easier than it should be, one can only imagine how many 11th graders in Michigan would fail the national test.

Even with 35% failing the 11th grade reading test, Michigan government school officials bragged about their terrible MEAP score numbers last year. Most were up slightly but that didn’t stop nearly half of 11th graders from failing math and science. It didn’t stop 56% of 11th graders from failing the writing portion of the exam. It didn’t even stop 21% from failing the social science MEAP exam. These are numbers the state of Michigan bragged about. The numbers are absolutely terrible and now we find out the test is to easy!

Government education is a complete and total failure. Michigan has wasted billions on k-12 education with nothing to show for it but a failing students and over paid teachers. The government school system is heavy on left-wing indoctrination and light on actual academics. Kids aren’t learning to read, they aren’t learning to write and they surely aren’t learning to think for themselves. They’re learning a lot of left-wing nonsense to repeat about the environment, abortion and government but they’re not actually learning how to think. Even if they’re learning how to think, they haven’t been taught how to express their thoughts in coherent writing.

It will be interesting to see what the State Republicans are going to do about all of this. They control the House, Senate and the Governor’s Mansion. It’s now on their shoulders to change this system. More of the same will result in more children wasting their days away not learning in government schools. How many more thousands of children will be allowed to not learn at taxpayer expense before the GOP wakes up and radically changes the system?

Filed under Education, Michigan Tagged with , , , , , ,

Unemployment Claims, Food and Energy Costs Going Up

January 13, 2011 1 Comment

New unemployment claims rose last week unexpectedly to 445,000 from 410,000 last week. The economy hasn’t gotten any better over the last year. Unemployment dipped slightly last month but only because hundreds of thousands of workers stopped looking for jobs and are no longer considered part of the job market. Obama’s stimulus failed miserably.

Meanwhile inflation is being to show itself in several different markets. While the Federal government declared that inflation was just .2%  in December, they conveniently leave out energy and food costs in their inflation determination. Food prices are up substantially over the past year. Butter and milk are up substantially. Sugar has nearly doubled in price in the last two years. Corn is up 52%, which means meat prices are on the rise. Overall, food prices are up 25% in 2010. Energy costs are also on the rise as we saw gas prices over $3 in December, which is highly unusual. Gas prices usually drop during the winter as demand weakens, this year gas prices increased.

The economy hasn’t gotten any better under Obama and the Democrats leadership. In fact the economy has gotten worse. Wasting $800 billion on Obama’s Stimulus did nothing but stimulate the national debt. Having the Federal government post yearly deficits over $1 trillion the last two years has done little more than discourage investment and job creation. The national debt has made the dollar a risk.

It is clear that Obama and the Democrats failed to fix the economy with all of their spending and regulation. The Republicans unfortunately are unable to right the ship with less spending and regulation across the board. They can throw a wrench into Obama’s spending plans, albeit from all accounts a small wrench, but they can do little to curb the administration’s thirst for more market controls. The end result is that the economy is going to move very along very slowly. With food and energy prices going up, the middle class is going to feel the pinch of inflation over the next year or two. We can only hope and pray that the Republicans pick a conservative capable of winning in 2012. The country can’t afford four more years of Obama’s malaise.

Filed under economy, Obama, Politics, unemployment Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Peter King’s Proposed Gun Law Ineffective

January 12, 2011 Leave a comment

Republican Rep. Peter King is planning on proposing a law that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a ‘government official.’ These officials will include members of Congress, the President and Vice President as well as Federal judges. This law is unnecessary and would have done nothing to prevent Jared Loughner from shooting Rep. Giffords last weekend.

To put Rep. King’s proposal into perspective, he wants to make it illegal to bring a gun within nearly three full football fields (I’m including both end zones) of a government official. It’s a radius of nearly a half mile. The size of this area is overly burdensome for gun owners. It’s arguably overly burdensome for law enforcement because if a Congressman has security with him the law would allow weapons checks within 1,000 feet of him. If law enforcement wanted to do such checks, the focus would move away from the Congressman himself thus setting him up for other forms of attack.

What really gets me about this proposal is that it places the burden on gun owners in two ways. First, it places a burden on gun owners to know when they are wining 1,000 feet of a ‘government official.’ Second, it places a burden on gun owners to know who government officials are. Focusing on the second point first, how many millions of Americans have no idea who their Congressman is? Yet it is up to the gun owner to know who he is and keep their gun 1,000 feet away from him. Almost no one knows who Federal judges are, most can’t name anyone on the Supreme Court much less local District Court judges. Yet it is up to the gun owner to know who they are and keep their guns 1,000 feet away from them.

Getting back to the first point, let’s imagine a certain person has a concealed carry permit that allows him to take a concealed gun anywhere he wants. Let’s say that first this person takes his gun to the local mall. Let’s also imagine that a Congressman is shopping at that mall with his wife. Even if the man with the concealed weapon has no idea the Congressman is even at the mall, he is guilty if his gun is anywhere within 1,000 feet of the ‘government official.’ They could be in different stores and never see each other, the gun owner is guilty under Rep. Peter King’s law.

Let’s imagine that a certain Congressman is running for re-election and is going door to door to solicit votes. Let’s say he knocks on the door of a gun owner who is at the time carrying a concealed or even an unconsealed gun. That gun owner is now guilty because he’s carrying a gun within 1,000 feet of a Congressman. Let’s say the Congressman never knocks on the gun owners door but does knock on the door of his next door neighbor. It’s a shame for the gun owner, he is guilty of having a gun within 1,000 feet of a Congressman because of Rep. Peter King’s proposed law.

The possible scenarios are endless. Someone with a gun could be at the 7-11 when a Federal judge comes in to pick up milk or get a Slurpee and he is guilty because he’s within 1,000 feet of the judge. This is so whether he knows the guy buying a Slurpee is a judge or not. What if a Federal judge moves in next door? Sorry but you’ll have to give up your guns lest you have them within 1,000 feet of a government official. This is so even if you have property large enough to shoot on. If your gun is within 1,000 feet of the judge, you’re guilty.

The sad part of this reactionary and draconian law is that it isn’t going to protect government officials from anyone. Law abiding citizens don’t use guns in illegal ways and are thus not dangerous when they bring their guns around Congressmen or judges. Criminals like Jared Loughner by their very criminal nature ignore the law and it’s a safe bet that they won’t be deterred by Rep. Peter King’s law. Does anyone really believe that Jared Loughner would have decided not to go through with his shooting had King’s law been on the books? He’s a murderer, I promise you he could care less about what the law is. Thus making King’s proposed law ineffective at protecting government officials and overly burdensome on gun owners.

Filed under Guns, Politics, Republicans Tagged with , , , , , ,

The Left Attempts To Chill Conservative Free Speech

January 10, 2011 Leave a comment

As I’m sure everyone is aware Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was the victim of an assassination attempt on Saturday. The shooter, Jared Loughner, appears to be a mentally unstable lunatic with no serious political motivation. Loughner has been described as a left-wing pot smoker who may have been part of some micro-racist organization. According to videos he posted on You Tube, he appears to be obsessed with government mind control and government control over grammar. In short, Loughner is a lunatic.

Just an hour or two after word of the Giffords shooting hit the news the left began attacking Sarah Palin and other conservatives for heated political rhetoric that contained mildly violent imagery. Palin told Tea Partiers last year to not retreat but ‘lock and reload.’ Her message was clear, rather than retreat and accept defeat Tea Partiers should reload and prepare for the next election or next big political fight. But of course, her context is completely ignored by liberals who have an agenda.

There’s no doubt that political debate in this country is heated and contentious. People on both sides of the aisle make statements that contain violent imagery, though in context are not violent at all. Today liberals are using the Giffords shooting to advance an agenda aimed at silencing conservative speech. They may not attempt to regulate it via Federal law but they are attempting to create a chilling effect on free speech by associating conservative speech with this shooting. This isn’t the first time the left has done this, they did it after the Oklahoma City bombing. They accused conservatives and Christians of using charged language which then Caused Timothy McVeigh to go over the edge. In reality, McVeigh was an atheist who could hardly be described as conservative.

Statements made by conservatives during the 2010 election campaign had nothing to do with Loughner’s shooting rampage. This guy was a lunatic and had been for quite some time. There is no evidence he was influenced by any mainstream political group. In fact, since he believes that government controls grammar and is involved in mind controlling conspiracies, he’s just as likely to hate Republicans as he is Democrats.

Three years ago he met Rep. Giffords and asked her ‘what is government if words have no meaning?’ This suggests two things to me. First, Loughner has been a nutter for more than the last six months. He’s clearly been off in his crazy world of government mind control for three years. Second, it suggests to me that recent political debates have nothing to do with Loughner’s rampage. Three years ago we had a Republican President, if he believes in government mind control it isn’t just Giffords who is involved in the conspiracy. It would have to include conservatives.

The fact is, heated political debate and even political speech that includes violent imagery doesn’t create a situation where Federal House members are shot. The left wants conservatives to just shut up and so they’re going to use Saturday’s tragedy to try to force conservatives to self censor themselves. But the fact is, there’s no amount of self censoring that could have stopped Saturday’s shooting. Jared Loughner is crazy and was hellbent on killing Giffords.

By demanding conservatives censor themselves, the left is really signaling that they want us to shut up while they try to force socialism on the country. They want us to shut up when Obama tries to force through Cap & Trade via regulation. They want us to shut up while Obama tries to push death panels via regulation. They wanted us to shut up last year during the Obamacare debate. In short, the left wants conservatives to keep quiet while they abuse their power. If they can’t force the right to shut up through Federal agencies like the FCC, they’ll guilt conservatives into shutting up by accusing us of being responsible for a lone lunatic like Loughner. The left has politicized the Giffords shooting. These people on the left have no shame and no decency.

Filed under Free Speech, Obama, Politics, Sarah Palin Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

Speaker Boehner and Republicans Show Weakness In Constitution Reading

January 7, 2011 4 Comments

Yesterday the Constitution was read by Congressmen in the House chamber. Speaker John Boehner made good on a promise that he and other Republicans made during the 2010 campaign. It’s all pomp and show of course, but it’s symbolic of the importance the Constitution has on the decisions made in the House. Or at least it’s symbolic of the importance the House Republicans would like the Constitution to have on decisions made in the House.

But in reading the Constitution the House Republicans made a fundamental political error by not reading the entire Constitution. Boehner and the Republicans read everything but the portions of the Constitution that have been eliminated by amendments. In particular, they did not read the three fifths clause regarding slaves nor did they read the 18th amendment on prohibition. This was an incredibly weak decision by the newly elected Republican majority, all meant to avert our eyes away from the truth and away from issues that might not be politically expedient. In short, it was pathetic.

The Democrats wanted to read the entire Constitution, in particular the three fifths clause. They believe the three fifths clause casts the Constitution in a negative light and see reading this portion as an opportunity to cry racism at Republicans. The three fifths clause however is an important clause for blacks because it acknowledged that black slaves were indeed people.  The alternative to counting black slaves as at least a portion of a person was to not count them as persons at all, which is what many considered blacks to be. In having the Constitution acknowledge that black slaves were people, the three fifths clause gave abolitionists an argument for their freedom. This isn’t something to run from, it’s something in American history that must be acknowledged. In failing to acknowledge the three fifths clause, Boehner and the Republicans showed incredible weakness.

The other clause not read was the 18th amendment which prohibited the sale or consumption of intoxicating liquors. Prohibition was one of the hallmarks of the progressive era in American politics. Why the Republicans would want to run from an opportunity to warn the country about the dangers of controlling progressives is beyond me. Prohibition was one of the biggest mistakes this country ever made. The notion that we could obtain national salvation via banning booze is not only unbiblical, it’s patently absurd. Yet the 18th amendment passed anyway. As a result crime increased and organized crime suddenly became a major problem in the United States. All thanks to liberal progressives. Why are the Republicans running from this?

Reading the Constitution was nothing but show yesterday. But in this grand show the Republicans showed major weakness. We can only hope that the Republicans don’t get weak and pathetic when it comes to the major legislative fights that are going to be staged in the not to distant future. I’m not overly optimistic at this point.

Filed under John Boehner, Politics, Republicans Tagged with , , , , , ,

Quite A Pair: Weepy John and Shrill Nancy

January 6, 2011 1 Comment

Weepy John Boehner became Speaker of the House yesterday. I don’t think a day goes by when he isn’t overcome with tears. He wins an election he weeps. He’s interviewed by a media jackal he weeps. He becomes Speaker of the House he weeps. Man up already John.

The real news yesterday is that Nancy Pelosi was opposed by 19 Democrats in her failed bid to remain as Speaker. While the whole process is little more than a formality, each party nominates their leader to become Speaker. Most Congressmen vote for the person who their party nominated. Congressmen have the right to vote for anyone however and yesterday 19 Democrats voted for someone other than Nancy Pelosi. Heath Schuler received the most votes with 11.

This is the highest number of protest votes for Speaker since 1923. Since 1945 there have been a total of 7 protest votes. This year there were 19, so that suggests to me that there is some serious friction in the Democrat Caucus. As well there should be after they lost over 60 seats. The Democrats lost most of their moderate Congressmen, mostly because of Pelosi’s extreme liberalism.

The problem the Democrats face is that Pelosi won’t go away. She’s the first losing Speaker to stick around in a couple of generations. Her disapproval ratings are sky high and yet she remains as the face of the House Democrats. We can still look forward to her shrill press conferences and her plastered on fake smile for the next two years. For a party that would presumably like to win the House in 2012, Pelosi as the face of the House isn’t exactly a winning strategy for Democrats.

Filed under John Boehner, Nancy Pelosi, Politics Tagged with , , , , ,

Unseemly $2,500 Lobbyist Fundraiser For GOP House Freshmen

January 4, 2011 Leave a comment

As you know the House is being taken over by the Republicans tomorrow. With the Republican takeover will come dozens of Freshman Congressmen, including my new Congressman Justin Amash. Most of these guys ran on a platform of changing Washington as well as the typical GOP family values platform. 

The night before the GOP takes over there is going to be a big DC fundraiser for the new House Freshman. The cost is astronomical, the lobbyists planning to attend are almost uncountable. LeAnn Rimes is set to perform. This is the same LeAnn Rimes who committed adultery and recently sang with a homosexual choir. It didn’t take long for the seedy underworld of Washington politics to step in and try to influence the new Freshmen in the House.

I expect the DC underworld to try to undermine the Tea Party by seductively influencing the new, largely inexperienced GOP Freshman. What’s sad is that it has the full endorsement of the GOP leadership. If these new Freshmen are really going to change Washington, they are not going to do so by attending lobbyist fundraisers with famous performers at fancy DC hotels . The work that the people sent these guys to DC to do is not going to be achieved at the W Hotel in front of an adulterer like LeAnn Rimes.

This fundraiser and others like it do not bode well for the Tea Party or the conservative values the House GOP Freshmen ran on.

LeAnn Rimes Headlines Pricy ‘Swearing-In’ Event for GOP Freshmen

Filed under Justin Amash, Politics, Republicans, Tea Party Tagged with , , , , ,

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