Archive for October, 2009
Remember this?
“This leadership team will create the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history” – Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Press Release, November 16, 2006
Compare that with this.
“Dozens in Congress under ethics inquiry” – Washington Post headline, Oct. 30, 2009
Here is the lede to the Post story:
House ethics investigators have been scrutinizing the activities of more than 30 lawmakers and several aides in inquiries about issues including defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling, according to a confidential House ethics committee report prepared in July.
The problem for Democrats is that the vast majority of the Members under investigation are fellow Democrats, and some of them are pretty high-ranking Democrats. You have Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (for tax fraud), Appropriations subcommittee Chairmen Jack Murtha and Alan Mollohan, and other big time and small time Dems.
On the Republican side, you have Appropriations subcommittee Ranking Member Bill Young and Appropriations committee member Todd Tihart.
Not only is the current Congress among the most corrupt in recent history, it is also one of the least “open”. The health care bill that is supposed to go to the House floor for a vote late in the week hasn’t even been written yet. Sure, Pelosi held a press conference to announce the bill, but she is still negotiating the language, and it will get to the floor using a process called a “mangers amendment” which will go through the rules committee the night before it goes to the floor and no one will have time to actually read the bill.
Let’s just say that Democrats are facing a drumbeat of bad news – and that bad news is only going to get worse after Tuesday’s elections in Virginia and New Jersey. The Republican candidate for Governor in Virginia is a near certain lock for a strong win, and it’s too close to call in New Jersey, which is usually a Democrat stronghold.
Pile on top of the ethics challenges and a shifting political environment, Pelosi continues to push a too-far left agenda making her conservative Democrats walk the plank. And the problem with walking the plank is that you don’t survive.
In politics, there are little mistakes, and then there are whoppers. The Arizona Republican Party made a whopper of a mistake in a recent fundraising appeal. Pay close attention to the wording of question 2 below. Oops!
2. Thinking about the current budget crisis in Arizona, do you think it was right that former Governor Jan Brewer increased government spending at a rate which was double to the population and inflation resulting in the problems we see today?
o Yes 0 No 0 Undecided
3. Do you think it’s right that the State House and State Senate Democrats have refused to participate in the budget process causing chaos and higher spending?
o Yes o No o Undecided
4. In this period of economic turmoil, some Democrat leaders have actually suggested an increase in state spending. Is it possible to spend our way to prosperity?
O Yes 0 No 0 Undecided
5. Education is one.of the keys.to our.lonq.terrn economic securitv.. Do vou think that schools in our state do an adequate job of preparing children for the jobs of the future?
oYes 0 No 0 Undecided
6. Will you help the Arizona GOP implement your ideas and help keep our party-building
programs for the 2009-2010 election moving forward by making a contribution today?
o Yes, Randy! I support the Arizona GOP and the work you are doing to put our Party on the path to victory in the 2010 elections. To support the AZGOP’s efforts, I am enclosing my most generous contribution of:
I0 $1,000 0 $750 0 $500 0 Other$__ I Please make your personal check payable to:II Arizona Republican Party”
Contributions to the Arizona Republican Party are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.
Type of Credit Card: O~OllaOIl-lO.
Personal Cards Only, Please Credit Card Number
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John Fund, writer extraordinaire for the Wall Street Journal, is a smart, connected and a fixture in the D.C. - New York power corridor. And sometimes he finds the most obscure stuff to expose in a pretty darn funny way. This is from a recent WSJ Political Diary piece. There is nothing I can add to this.
Here, Kitty, Kitty . . .
Is it time to eat Fluffy in order to save the planet?
I’ve always wanted to read an environmental book that was brutally honest about the size of the sacrifices the greens are demanding of average people. Now Brenda and Robert Vale, two professors at New Zealand’s Victoria University and winners of a United Nations Global 500 Award for Environmental Achievement, have filled that market niche. Their new book is provocatively titled: “Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide to Sustainable Living.”
They argue that the carbon pawprint of a typical canine is twice that of an SUV that’s driven 6,000 miles a year. The main reason is all the energy that goes into producing meat for its diet. Keeping a cat is the equivalent of owning a Volkswagen Golf. Two hamsters are as bad for the planet as owning a plasma TV.
In order to stave off global warming, the Vales suggest pet owners swap dogs and cats for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits. “There is certainly some truth in the fact that if we have edible pets like chickens for their eggs and meat, and rabbits and pigs, we will be compensating for the impact of other things on our environment,” the authors write.
The authors issue a dire warning about the eco-hazards of a wealthy lifestyle. If everyone shared the standard of living of Americans, they say, humanity would need five planet Earths to sustain itself. Thus it’s allegedly time to take drastic measures: People should ride bikes for all but the longest errands, and they should give up holidays. The authors even offer marriage advice: Don’t get divorced until you find a new partner so you can save the environmental cost of maintaining two homes.
Robert Vale says the couple wrote their book because current efforts fall so pitifully short in tackling the world’s environmental problems. “There are so many wussy sustainability books out there. It’s a bit more complex than grocery bags and light bulbs.”
I agree. That’s why getting people to think about eating Fido will help clarify just how far-reaching the aims of radical environmentalists are.
– John Fund
Most people will expect me to be very critical of Obama for golfing more in 9 months than George Bush did in more than 2 years. I’m not. Bush had a ranch to go to in order to get some down time – Obama has the streets of Chicago. I’d go golfing too.
The headline of a London Telegraph story reads: Barack Obama sees worst poll rating drop in 50 years.
That’s pretty ominous and fatalistic sounding, but there are a few details that make it somewhat misleading. Here is the bottom line of the story:
Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from the 62 per cent he recorded from April.
His current approval rating – hovering just above the level that would make re-election an uphill struggle – is close to the bottom for newly-elected president. Mr Obama entered the White House with a soaring 78 per cent approval rating.
Yes, he is taking on water, no question, but when there is an artificially high expectation, the grind of Washington, D.C. is going to take a heavy toll. Obama’s election was a watershed moment in U.S. history: we elected the first African-American in our history. That’s a big deal, and with his campaign of “hope and change” most people’s expectations were very high. Even many voters who cast a ballot against Obama had high expectations. Think about it, his approval was at 78 percent on inauguration day. That is a remarkably high number for a President when there isn’t a national crisis that rallies the nation (e.g. Bush 41’s approval in the 90’s after Desert Storm and Bush 43’s approval in the 90’s after 9-11)
So, of course Obama’s numbers were going to come down. Yes, he certainly had something to do with his own slide in popularity. The American people are very uneasy with the rush of government involvement in huge swaths of our economy (stimulus, auto bailout, bank bailout and now the march toward a government takeover of health care) and the incredible amount of money that is being shoved out the door to pay for all this. Remember when Clinton was President and we (read Republicans) were screaming bloody murder over a budget deficit of $300 billion? That’s chump change. This year the U.S. budget deficit is an eye-popping $1.75 TRILLION. That’s almost SIX TIMES larger than Clinton’s deficits.
So, yes, Obama has seen huge fallout in his numbers, one, because he started so high, and two because he is trying to too much too fast and Democrats in Congress are not helping him.
I’m obviously no fan of MoveOn.org, but the latest ad they have on health care is good. It’s an effective message and uses a known Hollywood star. What I like most about it is that for all intents and purposes, the “public option” on health care is dead in Washington, and every dollar they spend on this ad is completely wasted. To that, I say, be good liberals and spend, spend, spend!
Sarah Palin is going to have the last laugh. After all the media scrutiny, the laugh lines by late night comics, the shabby treatment by her own staff and lawsuits over nothing, Sarah Palin is going to wow Oprah Winfrey and her audience and completely change the conversation about her viability for a Presidential run in 2012.
I suspect her appearance on Oprah will be among the most-watched episodes of all time, and it will create a spike in her book sales that will make Stephen King green with envy.
Palin will not pull any punches, and Oprah won’t land any blows and at the end of that show, millions of women are going to think to themselves, “Now that is some woman.”
Say what you will about the drama of Palin’s story for the last year. One thing for certain is that her Oprah appearance will just be the beginning of a Palin resurgence.
The Obama administration is changing the way it enforces drug laws related to the medicinal use of marijuana. It may seem innocuous, but all I needed to see to know that it probably wasn’t a good idea was this quote:
“This is a major step forward,” said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “This change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting scientific and practical reality.”
If the Marijuana Project folks think this is a major step forward, then it’s probably not a good idea.
“A new study determined that the phrase President Obama uses most often is ‘Let me be clear.’ The phrase he uses the least often? ‘Let me be SPECIFIC.’” – Jay Leno
This last weekend it felt like 17 again.
That is, I drove south on I-17 past the location of my July 4th rollover. It was the first time since the accident, in which I lost my spleen, that I had driven that stretch of road, and there was a surreal feeling driving by. It was night (not as late) and it wasn’t raining – and I made sure I was steering with my knee.
You see, I get a bad rap about not driving with both (or either) hands on the wheel and on the night of my accident my hands were at 10 and 2, just like they’ve taught me in the multiple driving school courses I have been compelled to attend. So, rather than jinx myself, I figured I’d drive the way I usually do and NOT roll my car. Hey, it worked!
Now if I could figure out how to look like Zac Efron…
