SPOILER: They Didn’t

One of the few benefits about me still being behind in my blogging. The Friday in question was last Friday. It’s now Tuesday.

Congress Seeking To Fund Government, Raise Debt Ceiling By Friday To Avoid Shutdown | The Daily Wire

Democratic leaders are attempting to juggle several objectives in the coming days — namely, passing the $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act, approving the National Defense Authorization Act, and raising or suspending the debt ceiling.

Politico explained:

The House could vote as early as Wednesday to avert a shutdown, sending the stopgap measure to the Senate. While leaders have yet to settle on an end date, they are mulling mid to late January. That span would buy top lawmakers and the White House less than two months to hash out a bipartisan deal, which would include revamped spending totals for the military and all the other federal agencies that have been running on autopilot since the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1.

Democrats had originally eyed a short-term funding fix that would expire before the holidays, hoping to keep the pressure on Republicans to negotiate a broader funding deal before Christmas. But GOP leaders have shown no inclination to participate in those talks, leveraging the threat of sticking Democrats with non-defense funding levels established when Donald Trump was president.

This is not something any of the Democrats will accept. I doubt even Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Krysten Sinema (D-AZ) are okay with that. So, something will get passed. Something that just about everyone hates, probably. The gamesmanship is a little interesting. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has made it clear that he’s going to force the Democrats to go it alone on the debt ceiling. I don’t think he’s going to back down on that, but he may have to give them something else in return.

Possibly, but a Lot Can Happen in a Year. Or Three.

Red alert: Crushing defeat in Virginia could signal trouble for Democrats ahead (msn.com)

But in Virginia Tuesday night, the victory in the governor's election was scored not by Democrat Terry McAuliffe – rated the favorite when the race began – but by Republican Glenn Youngkin.

In New Jersey, an even stronger Democratic stronghold, Gov. Phil Murphy narrowly  defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli in a race not called until Wednesday evening.

The results fortified Republican hopes of winning back control of the House and the Senate in next year's midterms. They complicated President Joe Biden's embattled efforts to push his ambitious agenda through a Congress under Democratic control, albeit narrowly.

I haven’t mentioned New Jersey, a race that was won by the Democrats by the narrowest of margins. It shouldn’t have been close. Neither should have Virginia. Democrats have to be nervous.

But a year ago, they were giddy. A lot can happen in a year. Always in motion is the future.

I make no predictions for 2022 or 2024. Ask me the day after the election and I’ll tell you who won. Maybe. Not before.

“Papers, Please” II

BREAKING: Washington Lawmaker Locked Out of Office For Refusing to Present “COVID-19 Papers” (lifezette.com)

Walsh said, “I have not presented COVID vaccine papers.”

“So I can’t access my office,” Walsh continued. “I can’t access the main chambers, I can’t do work from the Capitol as a legislator in this state.

“This is unusual. It’s not something that the majority of the members of the legislature have voted on. It’s not an emergency proclamation from the Governor. It’s an interim policy made by a small group of legislators.

He’s been locked out of his office without his consent or without a vote by anyone. This is tyranny. I’m not even sure it’s tyranny in it’s infancy anymore. It’s grown up tyranny.

It’s time for the pitchforks and torches.

Democratic Strategy? Abdication

For the better part of the last two years, indeed, for the better part of President Barack Obama’s (D-USA) administration, the game plan of the Democrats has been simple: abdication of responsibility.

The Democrats apparently believe that the best political policy is to do nothing, and to blame the Republicans when things go wrong, or attack the Republicans when they actually attempt to do something.

Don’t believe me? Let’s look at a few examples, shall we?

A search of “Obama blames Bush” on Bing is a good place to start. 96,000 results. You see, nothing bad that happens to Obama is his fault. It’s always Bush’s. He’s abdicated complete responsibility for anything bad in his administration.

Then there’s Obama’s signature piece of legislation, the so called Affordable Health Care Act. Despite campaigning about it for over a year, and consistently saying “my plan does” and “my plan does not”, he never offered up a single plan. Instead he abdicated that responsibility to Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-08). They in turn abdicated that responsibility to any and every special interest that could claim to have any interest in socialized health care.

Then, after it was written, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI-14), voiced the opinion of all Democrats when he laughed at the idea of actually reading it.

“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill,’” said Conyers.

“What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”

Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) had essentially the same statement.

So, once again, Democrats abdicated their congressional responsibility of actually reading the legislation before passing it. And they thought it was funny that anyone would even suggest that they read it.

In a similar exchange, Madame Pelosi couldn’t care less whether the bill was constitutional.

CNSNews.com: “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?

Pelosi: “Are you serious? Are you serious?"

Want more abdication? I’m still in 2010. How about Democrats in congress avoiding their constituents?

A New York Times article is reporting that the leaders of the Democrat party urged members of congress not to engage in any town hall meetings during the latest break so that legislators wouldn’t have to face the voters in what could be a heated argument on the issues.

Democrats heeded the advice of party leaders and tried to avoid unscripted question-and-answer sessions

Instead of actually facing their constituents, the following is what the Democrat leadership proposed:

hold events in controlled settings — a bank or credit union, for example — or tour local businesses or participate in community service projects

Of course you remember that 2010 was an election year. And that Democrats received a “shellacking”. The Democrats, however, did everything they could to limit the shellacking. They even avoided not only passing a budget, but writing one. This is the one Constitutionally mandated duty of the House of Representatives. And yet, somehow, Madame Pelosi and her party couldn’t find time to write one.

But, 2011 has brought us new, unbelievable levels of abdication of responsibility.

Democrat lawmakers in Wisconsin and Indiana decided that rather than do the jobs they were elected to do, and are paid to do, it would be better to leave the state in an attempt to shutdown the government. Give the Democrats in Washington, D.C. some credit. They at least still show up for work. For now.

As I have indicated numerous times on this blog, we are facing an impending economic crisis. Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI-01) has offered up his Path to Prosperity to head off this crisis. Democrats response? You guessed it. Abdicate. Do nothing. Demonize the opposition.

See, the Democrats aren’t completely stupid. They know the crisis is coming. But they’re caught between a rock and a hard place.  Their core constituency will abandon them if they attempt the serious entitlement reforms necessary to stave off the crisis. Their only other option is to raise taxes on every single person in America by about 30-50%. They know if they do that that the GOP will likely claim veto proof majorities in both chambers of Congress. And they know that there will be an even louder cry to repeal ObamaCare if they admit there’s a financial problem. The Democrats need for power is far greater than their need to preserve the United States. Plus, they figure that when the end comes, there will be someone else to blame it on. So, we have Nancy Pelosi saying:

It is a flag we’ve planted that we will protect and defend. We have a plan. It’s called Medicare.

No, Ms. Pelosi, Medicare is the reason we need a plan. It’s not a plan. But she knows the Democrats can’t create a plan of their own. They only thing they can do is attack anyone who does.

Senator Reid is on board with Pelosi to the bitter end:

“There’s no need to have a Democratic budget, in my opinion,” Reid told the Los Angeles Times last week. “It would be foolish for us to do a budget at this stage.” Instead, Reid wants to wait to see if the deficit-reduction meetings led by Vice President Biden bear any fruit. Before that, Reid wanted to wait for the Gang of Six — now nearly defunct — to come up with something.

Sessions was appalled when he read Reid’s words. “It was a fundamental statement that they’re playing politics,” Sessions said. “They don’t think it’s politically smart to produce a budget. They’d rather produce nothing and attack Paul Ryan and the Republicans and think they’re going to gain politically by avoiding their fundamental statutory responsibility. It’s pretty breathtaking to me.”

Reid isn’t alone. The chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad, is also happy to not produce a budget. Last week, he told reporters that he planned to “defer” work on a 2012 budget indefinitely.

As the above article notes, it has been, as of 5/24/2011, 755 days since the Senate Democrats passed a budget. Abdicate and attack. It’s the Democrat way:

At Reid’s instigation, the Senate will engage this week in a meaningless faux debate over the budget. Reid wants the Senate to vote on the House-passed GOP/Ryan budget, so that Reid and fellow Democrats can accuse Republicans of voting to kill Medicare. In return, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will likely force a vote on President Obama’s proposed budget from a few months ago that did virtually nothing to reduce the deficit, so Republicans can accuse Democrats of ignoring the fiscal crisis.

[…]

The most amazing thing about all this, to Republicans, is that Reid’s abdication of responsibility has attracted so little attention. In a country drowning in debt, where’s the outrage?

Well, I’m outraged. But, I’m not surprised that the issue isn’t attracting much attention. If the last 2 1/2 years have taught the Democrats anything, it’s that abdicating responsibility is their best play.

An Open Letter to Speaker Boehner & My Congressman

TO: House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH-08)
CC: Congressman Dan Burton (R-IN-05)
Mr. Speaker,

I realize that the election of 2010, while historic, granted the Republican party very limited power in Washington, D.C. We still have to deal with President Barack Obama (D-USA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). However, I wonder if you are making proper use of even what limited power you have. Like Velma Hart, I am exhausted of defending you. I stood by you after the budget deal over the CR for the rest of fiscal year 2011. I understand the difference between appropriations and allocations, and I realize that you probably got all you were going to be able to get out of that deal. I think you got played on the “czars” part of the deal, but I have faith you won’t let that happen again, and will punish Obama for bargaining in bad faith.

However, your recent comments regarding Congressman Paul Ryan's (R-WI-01) Path to Prosperity leave me gravely concerned. You seem to agree with Congressman Dave Camp’s (R-MI-04) statement regarding the plan:

"I'm not really interested in laying down more markers," said Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.). "I'd rather have the committee working with the Senate and with the president to focus on savings and reforms that can be signed into law."

In fact, your own words on the subject are these:

"My interpretation of what Mr. Camp said is a recognition of the political realities that we face. While Republicans control the House, the Democrats control the Senate and they control the White House," Boehner said at a Thursday press conference.

Again, I understand the political realities we face. I realize that in the end, to pass both chambers and to get the President’s signature, any measure will have to have bipartisan support. I also understand the desire to avoid a vote that will be interpreted by many as purely symbolic. Mr. Camp is correct that the Ryan plan does not have any chance of success in the Senate.

However, I think this path is fraught with peril.

The people that brought you this majority in 2010, did so because we are gravely concerned about the future of this country. Not just for our children, not just for our retirement savings, but we have serious doubts about the next 10 years. We see the headlines about Greece and other countries in the EU, and we wonder if we’re very far behind. Just this weekend it was revealed that the Greece bailout may be failing and that while there is a high risk of default, further bailouts are being considered.

“We have not been discussing the exit of Greece from the euro area. This is a stupid idea. It is in no way - it is an avenue we would never take,” [Head of Eurogroup] Juncker told reporters.
“We don't want to have the euro area exploding without reason. We were excluding the restructuring option, which is discussed heavily in certain quarters of the financial markets.
“We think that Greece does need a further adjustment program,” Juncker said. “This has to be discussed in detail.”

In fact, some economists are not just saying that we’re following Greece, but we’re already there.

[Boston University Economics Professor Laurence] Kotlikoff believes a better benchmark of fiscal fitness is the fiscal gap, or the present value difference between all future expenditures and receipts. His calculations reveal Greece future expenditure at 11.5% of the value of future GDP, after incorporating the new austerity measures.
The US figure, based on the CBO projections--12.2%--is worse than that of Greece, but not by too much.
However, Kotlikoff says the U.S. is in much worse shape than the 12.2% figure suggests, because the CBO’s projections assume “a 7.2% of GDP belt-tightening by 2020,” with "highly speculative” assumptions, such as a substantial rise in tax receipts and wage growth.
A separate analysis by the New York Times also put the U.S. debt--measured by medium term deficit as a percentage of GDP--higher than that of Greece. (See chart)  Furthermore, in a roundabout way, Kotlikoff and Da Gong, the largest credit rating agency in China, seem to be in agreement as to the fiscal position of the United States; although many have dismissed Da Gong’s objectivity when it downgraded the U.S. from AAA to AA.

Mr. Speaker, the time has come to draw a line in the sand. This far. No further. The people that gave you this majority are not interested in bipartisanship. They are interested in saving this country. That will take some hard bargaining on your part, and some strong efforts by Mr. Camp and others, as well as your counterparts in the Senate. We realize that Medicare reform as designed by Chairman Ryan may not pass, but we can not afford to take it off the table without getting something just as significant in return. The Ryan plan should be the starting point in negotiations. We can not move the starting point even further to the left.

We expect you, no, we need you, to stand firm against the destructive plans of Leader Reid and President Obama. We will do our best to give you more tools to work with in 2012, but you have to prove that you’re willing to use the tools that we’ve given you so far.

It’s not entirely your fault, but the citizenry of this country has acquired a high level of distrust for our elected officials. We came out in historic numbers in 2010, not because we suddenly believe in the Republican party, but because of our concerns for the future. We had hope and belief that you understood your mandate and what we expected of you. Then we read things that make it seem as if nothing has changed in Washington, and that you still don’t get it. That doesn’t help your case in attempting to regain our trust. If you want more of our trust and more tools, you’re going to earn it. That means fighting for us, every day, every hour, with every breath you have. We demand, expect, and will accept nothing less. Because we will be doing the same.

If you’re not willing to do that, let us know now. We’re tired of being fooled and we’re tired of waiting for real leadership.

Uh Oh, Here comes P.T. Again

When we last left our erstwhile hero, the sucker hunter, he’d found out that ObamaCare is nothing but a thinly disguised way of rewarding political favors by the Obama administration.

What has P.T. found since then?

Well, remember that part of the bill entailed huge cuts to Medicare. That’s part of the budget math they did to enable them to claim it was cost effective.
But guess what? Turns out those lawmakers were fibbing to us. I know that you’re as shocked as I am to discover that.

Soon after Obamacare was passed into law, Medicare Chief Actuary Richard Foster wrote that seniors’ access to care would be threatened as a result of reductions in payment updates included in the new law. Foster wrote, “[P]roviders for whom Medicare constitutes a substantive portion of their business could find it difficult to remain profitable and, absent legislative intervention, might end their participation in the program.”

Now, lawmakers have already begun to squirm under the political pressure to prevent the planned cuts to seniors’ care. In a recent article, The Hill highlighted the fact that Senators on both sides of the aisle promised to fight proposed cuts to the home health care industry under the new law. According to Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), “Deep cuts in access to home healthcare takes us in completely the wrong direction at a time when we’re trying to control costs.” Collins, along with Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), plans to introduce legislation that would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to justify her reasons for cutting payments to home health care.

I might be tempted to believe this was an honest mistake, and that this was just missed in the overwhelming complexity of the enormous bill. Except for the fact that many people were bringing this up at the time.

Of course, even the argument that it was lost in the complexity is a failed one. The overwhelming complexity of ObamaCare is one of the biggest reasons that it should have never even made it to the floor of the House or the Senate. Every day we discover parts of it that need rewritten, or nullified, or ignored.

I think it’s reasonable to deduce that in this area, our legislators knew what they were doing, and never intended to take the money from Medicare. They smiled, knowing they’d fooled us again, and called us “suckers”, knowing that they’d fix it later, after the bill passed, when it was too late.
So, if you’re one of the vanishingly small number of people that still think this law is good for the country, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, then you’re the one P.T. is looking for.

Sucker.

How The Tea Party Can Win

We can change the debate. In fact, we already have. as has been said previously, the debate is no longer about whether to cut, but where to cut, and how much to cut. The importance of that point can not be overstated.
But…
We have to realize we’re not going to win this war in one shot. We’re not going to get President Barack Obama (D-USA) to suddenly cut trillions of dollars. Probably not even hundreds of billions. It’s just not going to happen. Even if we get someone in the White House with an R after their name, it’s still not going to be as easy as we’d like.
We have to fight this war one battle at a time. One penny at a time. Every single appropriations bill that comes along needs to be attacked and whittled down. If someone wants the debt ceiling raised, that’s going to come at a price. As heavy a price as we can manage. Every single tax bill needs to be attacked. If a new department or grant is being considered for creation, we need to jump in and shut that off or trim it down.
Obama and Reid need to know that we’re not going away. That we’re going to penny pinch them to death, and that we’re in it for the long haul.
And we don’t let up when we do get a better Senate and White House. That’s a big reason we got into this mess. Despite all my compliments about President George W. Bush (R-USA), there’s no doubt he was a big spender.
But…
We have to understand that we’re not going to get everything. When we ask for $100 billion in cuts, we might only be able to achieve $30 billion, and then only by some serious brinkmanship. And if that means using the troops as a bargaining chip, then we have to do that. We have to use every bargaining chip, every tool we have at our disposal. Because the other side is going to do that, and it’s the only way we’re going to win.
Yes, we’re trying to kill socialism in the United States. But it’s going to have to be a death by a thousand paper cuts. We don’t have the tools and there isn’t the political will in Washington to kill it out right. There may never be.
Those that say that compromise is wrong, and that Boehner screwed up, are flat wrong. Yes, compromises got us in to this mess. But it’s a whole different ball game now, and the compromises we’re seeking are totally different. As I said at the beginning, we’ve changed the argument. We’re not compromising on how much to grow, but how much to cut.
And if we can do that every time, there’s still hope.
Now yes, we have to get that clown out of the White House. And we have to replace him with someone who is serious about cutting. Because we do need some big cuts, and we do need them fast. But, sorry to say, Tea Partiers, but those big cuts ain’t happenin’ before January 2013. It’s impossible.
Shutting down the government is a losing proposition. Independents expect our government leaders to lead and to compromise. Not to pick up their ball and go home. Allowing the government to shut down is no different than what the Democrats did in Indiana and Wisconsin. And in fact, in many ways it’s worse. The GOP might get a boost short term. But then people are going to be needing to go to the Social Security Administration office because they’re dealing with identity theft, and they’re not going to be able to. People are going to get ticked off because all construction has stopped on the interstate they take to work. And the tide will turn against the GOP. And not slowly. Quickly.
Also, there’s a fine line between standing firm and being obstinate. Speaker Boehner (R-OH-08) et al have to walk that line very carefully. Tea Partiers may want him to step over the line to obstinate, but that’s a losing proposition for us long term. Frankly, so far, Beohner has been brilliant. We’re getting an up and down vote in the Senate on ObamaCare. Ed Morrissey describes perfectly how big that is:

So this isn’t important because it holds some new hope for a quicker repeal.  Rather, it forces Democrats to defend the massive government expansion of control yet again, this time closer to the 2012 election.  Democrats didn’t run on ObamaCare in 2010, except in reliably liberal districts for House races, and the last thing they need in an already-difficult cycle is another reminder to voters of the unpopular program.  By forcing a floor vote in this agreement, Reid will have to get his caucus — now reduced to 53 rather than 59 — to entirely back ObamaCare in a new vote.
That means Senators like Bill Nelson in Florida will have to back it, even with the latest Quinnipiac poll showing voters there opposing it 41/49 more than a year after its rollout.  Jon Tester in Montana will have to explain yet again to his constituents why he wants the IRS to be health-insurance cops.  Claire McCaskill already has enough problems in Missouri, as does Ben Nelson in Nebraska.  Even Democrats running for re-election in 2014 — like Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Pryor in Arkansas — will have to go back on the record to support it in order to keep the repeal from passing Congress, and that comes after the clear expression of voter disapproval in last year’s midterms.
Of course, even if that happened, Obama would veto it, but that creates problems for him as well.  If Democrats peel away from ObamaCare and he has to veto it to keep it in place, he suddenly looks very extreme and out of touch.  He’d have to explain why his only real legislative accomplishment has become so toxic that his own party doesn’t back it any more, which would put him even further on the defensive and eliminate the “GOP used scare tactics” defense of ObamaCare that he’ll undoubtedly use on the campaign trail.
Frankly, I’m surprised Reid and Obama agreed to this.  This has zero upside for Democrats heading into 2012, and looks like a political trap.

Brilliant.
The next big battle is over raising the debt ceiling. We’re going to have to get some concessions for that. And frankly, they should be big. Bigger than the $39B we just got. But we’ll see how it goes. Then we have next year’s budget, which will be in a dozen different budget bills. That gives us a dozen different votes. And then we’ll have the 2013 budget, which will be voted upon right before the elections in November 2012. Huge opportunities there.
Attack each one. Get every penny. But understand when you’ve gotten all the pennies you’re going to get.
And move on to the next battle.
Perseverance is the key. This isn’t the lottery. We’re not going to wake up one day and discover that we hit the jackpot and now we’re flush with money.
So, in that spirit, I can accept yesterday’s compromise. Am I happy about it? No. Am I even satisfied? Not hardly. But I can accept it. Win what you can. Move on to the next battle. That has to be our motto, or we’re going to lose.
Remember, the very future of this country is at stake. We can’t afford to lose the war because we’re pouting that we didn’t get enough from one tiny battle.
And we can win this way. Remember, a billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money.

Shutdown Averted

Ok, first the bad. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH-08) agreed to a mere $39 billion in cuts. That’s about 1%. Or about 2.8% of the deficit. Symbolic, at best.
Ok, now that’s out of the way. Let’s talk about the good.
Despite controlling only 1/2 of one branch of the government, the GOP was able to achieve the first actual spending cuts in modern history. And did it despite the biggest spending President and Senate this country has ever seen.
The Corner has a couple nice quotes for us.

Harry Reid, Feb. 3, 2011, on Paul Ryan’s initial offer of $32 billion in spending cuts:

The chairman of the Budget Committee today, today sent us something even more draconian than we originally anticipated…So this isn’t some game that people have been playing. The House of Representatives [is] actually sending us some of these unworkable plans.

Harry Reid, April 9, 2011, on a deal to cut $38.5 billion:

This is historic, what we’ve done.

Yes, this is a drop in the bucket. But it’s the first drop in our bucket we’ve ever gotten. I believe that Boehner got the best deal he was going to get. Shutdown or no. We have a Keynesian socialist President, who is either incapable of seeing the crisis in front of us, or does see it and honestly doesn’t care. Every financial battle against him is going to go like this. We’re going to have to push him to the brink and settle for the tiniest of cuts.
But we’re setting the table for 2013, when hopefully someone more reasonable will be in office. And the GOP is keeping its promise to push as hard as they can. Victories are going to be small and far between. For now, we’re going to have to be happy with the ones we get, as long as there is reason to believe we took it as far as we could.
But we also got some more things.
Our military will receive their paychecks. That’s good. Not sure how you feel, but I find slavery somewhat abhorrent. Apparently the President feels differently.
The D.C. school voucher program has been restored. This is a huge win for Boehner.
Funding for Planned Parenthood and ObamaCare will receive an up or down vote on the Senate floor. ObamaCare defunding has no chance of passage, but it’s not out of the question that PP defunding could get to 51 votes. It’s a stretch, but not an unbelievable one. There are several vulnerable Democrats who are not going to want to go on the record on this issue.
Remember, the one cut proposal we got from the Dems prior today was for $4 billion in cuts. And passage of that looked unlikely. The Democrats are totally unserious about the financial state of this country.
Next big battle: raising the debt ceiling. We’ll hit it in about 5 weeks, so round 2 is coming up fast.
One question though. How did the Senate vote first on the CR? I thought funding bills started in the House? Was our shutdown avoidance unconstitutional?
UPDATE: Some good points at HotAir:

We’ll see who won in September, but Republicans have achieved one major accomplishment.  Not only did they force the first actual reductions in government spending in ages, but they have changed the political paradigm from whether to cut to how much and where to cut.  That’s a pretty impressive victory for a party that only controls one chamber of Congress.
Update: One last point along these lines.  Democrats have spent the last four months arguing that Republicans were too radical to govern and wanted to destroy government.  Instead, Republicans fashioned a deal on their own terms and passed a budget deal — something Democrats couldn’t or wouldn’t do when they had all the power in DC.  This gives the GOP a lot of credibility on leadership and governance, and all of it at the expense of Harry Reid and Barack Obama.

Current Budget Battle

Other than on my Twitter feed (@ChrisOfRights), I haven’t said anything here about the current budget battle and impending shutdown.
What’s there to say that isn’t obvious or hasn’t been said already?
I guess I’ll say it.
Democrats are cowards and shirked their responsibilities in 2010, so that they could blame Republicans in 2011. If they’d passed a budget last year, we wouldn’t be in this situation. They didn’t even try. Neither the House nor the Senate even submitted a budget proposal. The Senate, despite being required to do so every year, has not submitted ONE since the Democrats claimed the majority. They knew that any budget they passed would hurt them in the 2010 elections, and they already knew they were going to get a shellacking, so they tried to lessen the damage by not doing their job.
The current CR passed by the House that funds the government for one week and the troops for the rest of the year should be passed. There’s absolutely no reason not to pass that and for President Barack Obama (D-USA) to sign it, unless the Democrats want a shutdown. The only rider it has on it, defunds abortions in Washington, D.C. This rider has been submitted and approved pretty much every previous time it’s come up, with bipartisan support, including names like Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), and then Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).
Therefore the only reason not to pass it is to cause, rather than avert, a shutdown. The only conclusion that can be drawn from that is that the Democrats actually want one.
Again, this is cowardice. They think they’ll win the PR battle on this and by doing so force the Republicans to cave on some provisions and be able to win some seats back next year. Notice, however, that all they have done is demonize. They haven’t submitted one budget proposal or CR proposal on their own. They haven’t tried to amend the ones that have passed the House, and then resubmit to the House. That’s because, again, they’re playing politics and trying to avoid being the bad guys. They’re more interested in political power than making the choices necessary to keep this country moving forward. They would rather see this country go down the toilet, as long as it helps them gain power.
That’s despicable. Every action that the Democrats have taken here since April 2010, is despicable. And if it doesn’t make you angry, then you’re part of the problem.

Ryan’s Path To Prosperity–First Look

Ok, I took my lunch hour and read Congressman Paul Ryan’s (R-WI-01) The Path To Prosperity. Is it perfect? No. In fact, my biggest criticism is that it doesn’t go far enough.
But overall, it’s a great start. Highlights:

Brings government spending to below 20 percent of the economy, a sharp contrast to the President’s budget, in which spending never falls below 23 percent of GDP over the next decade.

This is a necessity. Play all the games with taxes you want. We know from history that we can’t consistently get tax revenue over 20% of GDP for any extended period of time. President Barack Obama (D-USA) and the rest of the Dems ignore the problem. If you never get anywhere near 20%, you’re being criminally irresponsible.

Corporate Tax Reform: Improves incentives for job creators to work, invest, and innovate in the United States by lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 percent, which is the highest in the industrialized world, to a more competitive 25 percent.

Well, if you’ve ever read this blog before, you know how I feel about that. It doesn’t go nearly far enough. Still, if you want to get the economy going and consistently moving forward, this is a necessity. It’s the minimum we can do, and we should do much more, but it’s a good first step.
And the first big chart:

Debt over 100% of GDP is not sustainable. Japan’s debt is right at 200% of GDP and they are on the verge of economic meltdown. Greece was even higher, and they have already collapsed. You’ll notice that under Obama’s current plan, we hit 100% around 2020, and 200% around 2035, and then it really starts climbing. These are conservative and very optimistic projections. We’re likely much closer to these numbers than that. But even accepting them at face value, we have a date. 2035. Game over.
Got that? At that point, we will have no choice but to cut, and cut deep. And it’s going to be painful for every single man, woman and child in America. Dems will tell you that the Ryan plan is “extreme” and complain about all the people that are going to be hurt by it. Well, to respond to the first criticism, it’s not extreme. The President’s own Debt Commission’s plan was far more extreme than Ryan’s.

As for the second criticism, they’re right. A number of people are going to be impacted negatively by his plan. The government will not be giving them the money that they’ve been expecting. Frankly, this probably applies in some way to just about all of us.
But, you know what? Doing nothing is far worse. Sure, we get 20 years (maybe) where we can blissfully ignore the coming collapse and continue giving out free lunches to everyone. And then, we have to stop giving out free lunches to anyone. Ryan’s plan is the choice between getting a bloody nose now, and getting both legs amputated later.
I’ll take the bloody nose, thanks.

At a time when the free-market foundations of the American economy were in desperate need of restoration and repair, the last Congress took actions that further undermined them. The President and his party’s leaders embarked on a stimulus spending spree that added hundreds of billions of dollars to the debt, yet failed to deliver on its promises to create jobs. Acute economic hardship was exploited to enact unprecedented expansions of government power.
This did not sit well with the American people. Citizens stood up and demanded that their leaders reacquaint themselves with America’s founding ideals of liberty, limited government, and equality under the rule of law.
In recent years, both political parties have squandered the public’s trust. The American people ended a unified Republican majority in 2006, just as they ended a unified Democratic majority last fall. Americans reject leaders who focus on the pursuit of power at the expense of principle. They reject empty promises from a government that cannot live within its means. They deserve the truth about the
nation’s fiscal and economic challenges. They deserve – and demand – honest leaders willing to stand for solutions.

Ryan remembers last November. I hope the rest of Congress does also. Yes, I’m talking to you too, GOP.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “We cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves.” Will this be remembered as the Congress that did nothing as the nation slouched toward a preventable debt crisis and irreversible decline? Or will it instead be remembered as the Congress that did the hard work of preventing that crisis – the one that chose the path to prosperity?

Call me skeptical. I still believe that this Congress will be remembered as the Congress that did nothing.

Defense spending as a share of the budget has fallen from around 25 percent thirty years ago to around 20 percent today. Like all categories of government spending, defense spending should be executed with greater efficiency and accountability.

Ryan plays a game with the numbers here. Sorry, but I’m not going to let him get away with it. Defense spending has fallen as a share of the budget, but that doesn’t mean that there have been defense spending cuts. There haven’t. Defense just hasn’t grown as fast as other parts of the budget. He should be comparing defense spending to GDP here, as he does with other things. In terms of GDP, defense spending has grown, so it’s still part of the problem. It’s just not as much a part of the problem as other areas of the budget.

[It is] very clear that, absent action, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will soon grow to consume every dollar of revenue that the government raises in taxes. At that point, policymakers would be left with no good options. Making do without any federal government departments, including the military, is not really an option at all, and neither is raising taxes to a level that no free and prospering
economy could sustain.
Of course, if Congress continues to delay, it will lose even the ability to make such choices on its own terms.

Bingo.

Each year that Congress fails to act, the U.S. government gets closer to breaking promises to current retirees while adding to a growing pile of empty promises made to future generations. The government’s unfunded liabilities – promises the
government makes to current workers about their health and retirement security for which it has no means to pay – are growing by trillions of dollars a year.

This isn’t spin. It’s a fact. To deny facts is to stick your head in the sand like an ostrich. Dems today want you to be an ostrich.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has concluded that the tax rates needed to sustain the nation’s current fiscal trajectory into the future would end up sinking the economy. That is one reason that the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform proposed, as part of an overall effort to fix the nation’s
unsustainable deficits, a fundamental tax reform plan that actually lowered income tax rates to promote growth, while eliminating tax loopholes to broaden the tax base.

Actually, I disagree with part of that too. I don’t want to eliminate loopholes. I want the “loopholes” to apply to everyone. There’s been a lot in the papers recently about GE not paying enough in taxes. The problem isn’t that GE doesn’t pay enough. It’s that everyone else pays too much. But I digress.

The recent sovereign debt crises in Greece and other highly-indebted European countries provide a cautionary tale of the rough justice of the marketplace – lenders cannot and will not finance unsustainable deficits forever, and when they cut up the credit cards of profligate countries, severe economic turmoil ensues.
Over the past few years, Americans have seen just how quickly a  severe financial crisis can create widespread pain and chaos. But the last crisis was foreseen only by a small number of perceptive individuals who recognized the implications of unwise decisions being made in Washington and on Wall Street.
By contrast, nearly every fiscal expert and advisor in Washington has warned that a major debt crisis is inevitable if the U.S. government remains on its current unsustainable path. The government’s failure to prevent this completely preventable crisis would rank among history’s most infamous episodes of political malpractice.

We are on the exact same path as Greece, Italy, and others. And we’re not as many steps behind as you might think.
And here’s what Ryan says about how the debt crisis would unfold.

The first sign that a debt crisis has arrived is that bond investors lose confidence in a government’s ability to pay its debts – and by that point, it is usually too late to avoid severe disruption and economic pain. Right now, the U.S. government is able to borrow at historically low rates, partly because of the Fed’s interventions in the market, but also because the bonds of most foreign countries are looking even riskier. Neither of these conditions is going to last. Interest rates – and the burden of paying interest on the debt – have nowhere to go but up.

We may be mere months from this. If it’s years, it’s not very many (think less than 5).

If foreign investors, especially foreign governments such as China, begin to lose confidence in the U.S. government’s ability to solve its most difficult fiscal challenges, they will demand higher compensation to offset the perceived risk of holding U.S. debt – meaning sharply higher interest rates.

They may also demand payment in tender other than U.S. dollars. If China required that all future debt payments be made in gold, that would be catastrophic. At some point, that becomes not just a terrifying thought, but an destructive inevitability.

The economic effects of a debt crisis on the United States would be far worse than what the nation experienced during the financial crisis of 2008. For starters, no entity on the planet is large enough to bail out the U.S. government. Absent a bailout, the only solutions to a debt crisis would be truly painful: massive tax increases, sudden and disruptive cuts to vital programs, runaway inflation, or all three. This would create a huge hole in the economy that would be exacerbated by panic.

Well, that’s a pleasant thought.
Want more pleasant thoughts? Ryan doesn’t have them.

In the end, the debate about rising U.S. debt is not just about dollars and cents, but also about America’s status as a world power and its freedom to act in its own best interests. If the nation stays on its current path, interest payments on the national debt will begin to exceed yearly defense spending just 11 years from now. In just 16 years, yearly interest expenses will be double national defense spending.
If it stays on its current fiscal path, the United States will be unable to afford its role as an economic and military superpower. Other nations with very different interests will rush in to fill that role.
Last year in Foreign Affairs magazine, financial historian Niall Ferguson surveyed some of the great empire declines throughout history and observed that “most imperial falls are associated with fiscal crises. All the… cases were marked by sharp imbalances between revenues and expenditures, as well as difficulties with financing public debt. Alarm bells should be ringing loudly… [for] the United States.”

That’s where we are. The rest of the document lays out how to fix it. And it ain’t pretty. But overall, it could look much worse. The cuts aren’t extreme. They’re manageable. In fact, it’s easy to argue that in some places, they’re too small. Far too small.
Some more details of the plan:

Ending corporate welfare: There is a growing and pernicious trend of government overreach into sectors of the private economy – a trend that stacks the deck in favor of entrenched interests and stifles growth. This budget ends the taxpayer bailouts of failed financial institutions and stops Washington from picking the winners and losers across sectors of the economy.
Boosting American energy resources: Too great a percentage of America’s vast natural resources remain locked behind bureaucratic barriers and red tape. This budget removes moratoriums on safe, responsible energy exploration in the United States, ends Washington policies that drive up gas prices, and unlocks American energy production to help lower costs, create jobs, and reduce dependence on foreign oil.

And:

This budget puts an end to empty promises from a broke government, offering instead real security through real reforms. The framework established in this budget secures health and retirement benefit programs both for current beneficiaries, who will receive the benefits they’ve organized their retirements around, and for future generations, who will inherit stronger programs they can count on when they retire.

As Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) said recently:

I went before the firefighters convention on Friday down here in Wildwood, New Jersey, and I said to them, you know, I understand why you're angry. For 20 years, governors have been coming here to your convention and lying to you about the kind of benefits they can provide to you. And you want to "boo' me, that's fine, but I'm the first guy who's telling you the truth, which is if we don't make these reforms, we are going to wind up with you not having a pension in 10 or 15 years, because the situation is so dire.

I’ve seen a lot of booing and anger directed at the GOP lately. Especially the Tea Party wing. These aren’t the people you should be booing. You should be booing the people who have been promising you unicorns and rainbows for the last 50 years and telling you not to worry about how to pay for it because that’s a problem for the future. Guess what? The future is now.
Look, this is very simple. You may disagree with the items on Ryan’s plan. You may think that parts of it are too extreme. You may think that parts of it don’t go far enough. You might think that it goes too fast or too slow. You may think that it cuts taxes too much. You may think it doesn’t cut them enough. You might even think that we should raise taxes. If you think any of those things, that’s fine. Those are reasonable criticisms, and would promote a reasonable debate. Ryan’s plan is not the only solution. It’s not even the best solution, in my opinion. But it is a solution.
What you can’t do is to deny the need for a plan like Ryan’s. That is a path to economic suicide, and it’s not even a slow one. From what I’ve seen, and maybe they’ll surprise me and change, is that the Democrat leadership wants to continue down the path towards economic suicide. They will destroy this country if you let them.
Again, that’s not hyperbole. It’s not even exaggeration. It’s not even a criticism of progressive policies versus conservative ones. It’s math. And no matter how much the Dems try to make it not be so, math trumps politics every time.

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The GOP and ObamaCare

As I said in my last post, and many times previously, ObamaCare must be repealed before it destroys this country.

The GOP seems to get that. They’re going to vote in the House to repeal it next week. Yes, it’s for show. Yes, it will pass easily. No, it will not make it through the Senate. It will probably never even reach the Senate floor. And, if by some miracle, it could pass the Senate, it would be vetoed, and there’s not enough votes even in the House to survive a Presidential veto.

Does that mean that the GOP is wasting time? No. Symbols do occasionally count for something. And doing this right before the SOTU will be a slap in the face to Obama.

And the GOP seems to understand that this isn’t the only way to defeat this POS law. A couple of GOP members are stating publicly that every single appropriations bill that passes the house should include specific language that prohibits any funding for implementation of ObamaCare.

I agree. I also think that this is something where there’s no room for compromise. Such a bill won’t pass the Senate. So the GOP needs to make sure that ObamaCare becomes a PR nightmare for the Democrats. It’s the only way they win this showdown. The first side that blinks is doomed. When nothing less than the future of the country is at stake, the GOP can’t afford to be the side that blinks. Obama blinked on taxes, but this is even bigger. For both sides.

Hold your Congressman’s feet to the fire on this one, and make sure you let him know you’ve got his back, if, and only if, he votes the right way.

Top 10 Labels at Chris of Rights

We don’t believe in ‘No Labels’ here.

As we enter a new year, it’s fitting to take a moment to look back at where we’ve been.

1. Election 2008 – 113 posts
2. Barack Obama – 92 posts
3. Democratic Party – 75 posts
4. Election 2010 – 62 posts
5. 9/11 Remembered – 54 posts
6. POTUS – 46 posts
7. Republican Party – 38 posts
8. John McCain – 35 posts
9. Obama-McCain and Civil Liberties – 34 posts
10. War on Terror – 32 posts

Probably POTUS should be higher. I should check and make sure I’ve used that label where appropriate.

Anyway, I’m often accused of being a cheerleader for Sarah Palin. She didn’t even make the top 10.

That’s overall, of course. The list for 2010 only is somewhat different.

1. Election 2010 – 56 posts
2. 9/11 Remembered – 36 posts
3. Democratic Party – 33 posts
4. Barack Obama – 26 posts
5. Tea Parties – 23 posts
6. Economy – 15 posts
7. Republican Party – 15 posts
8. POTUS – 14 posts
9. General – 12 posts
10. Congress – 10 posts
11. Election 2012 – 10 posts

Palin didn’t make the top 10 for 2010 either.

My predictions for the big topics for 2011? 9/11 Remembered, Barack Obama, Election 2012, Republican Party, and Economy. I’ll probably make  new label, something like ‘2012 Republican Primary’, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in the top 5.

Stay tuned.

This Has Been a Pretty Good Week

Senator Harry Reid’s (D-NV) NIGHTMARE act died a glorious and painful death. The New York Times calls its fate “uncertain”, but that’s putting so much spin on it that they should sell tickets for being a thrill ride. If a bill granting amnesty to illegal aliens couldn’t be passed in the first two years of President Barack Obama’s (D-USA) Presidency, it has no chance whatsoever of passing in the second two years, facing a Republican controlled House and a much slimmer Democratic majority in the Senate. The only things more certain than this bill’s demise are death and taxes.

Obama’s pork-laden omnibus spending bill died a glorious and painful death. And Republicans may be finally getting the message. Some of them, anyway. Others still need work.

But Republicans said one lesson they learned from last month's election that big spending bills - in this case, a 1,924-page measure Democrats produced just two days earlier - shouldn't be jammed through the chamber with short-circuited debate.

Bingo. That goes for START too, btw.

Most of the Obama tax increases were defeated.

The bill, which was largely worked out earlier this month between the White House and Congressional Republicans, extends the Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans for two years, extends unemployment benefits for 13 months and includes a one-year Social Security tax cut, among other measures.

Yes, I know that DADT repeal passed a cloture vote in the Senate, and therefore will likely head to the President’s desk for signing before the year is out. But…

First, I’m ambivalent on the entire topic. Yes, I think it will create some hardships on the American military. However, these are some of the best people we have, and I’m confident of their ability to handle the hardships. Will there be bumps and bruises along the way? Yes. But it’s clear that homosexuality is far more mainstream and acceptable to the average Joe than it was when Clinton put DADT into effect. And the military is a dinosaur in that respect.

Second, let’s face the truth here. DADT is going away, no matter what. The courts have made it clear that if the legislative and executive branches don’t act on this topic, then they will. And that’s very wrong. The way to handle this is through legislative deliberation and executive sign off. That’s what we’re going to get, and from that perspective this is a victory for the Constitution.

Third, DADT does amount to discrimination. Something that I am opposed to in any way shape or form. Anytime discrimination is eliminated, I’m going to be generally for it.

So, as I said, a pretty good week. Of course, this week least year, I thought ObamaCare was dying, so there’s obviously more weeks ahead that will not be as good.

Phase I–Complete. Phase II and III Start Now

Well, started Wednesday actually.

Yes, there are still two more phases in turning this country around.

Phase II – Hold the GOP’s feet to the fire. Remind people like Senator Lindsey Graham (RINO-SC) how we got here.

“Candidates matter,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). “It was a good night for Republicans but it could have been a better one. We left some on the table.”
[…]

“If you think what happened in Delaware is ‘a win’ for the Republican Party then we don’t have a snowball’s chance to win the White House,” he said. “If you think Delaware was a wake-up call for Republicans than we have shot at doing well for a long time.”

Let me be blunt, Senator. If you think that Mike Castle is an example of what’s right with the Republican party, then you’re an example of what’s wrong with the Republican party.

Did the Tea Party movement make some bad choices. Possibly. Does that happen every election cycle, no matter who we’re talking about? Absolutely. However, when the Tea Party movement’s candidate lost in a primary, they (generally) supported the winning Republican candidate. There’s a lesson to be learned there and it ain’t the grassroots that needs to learn it, Mr. Graham.

My advice to Senator Graham. Read this article from RedState. And this one by Sarah Palin. Then sit down, shut up, and get out of the way.

After getting clobbered over the NY-23 race and Dede Scozzafava, the NRCC took a hands off approach and let local voters choose their candidates. Not the NRSC. It doubled up around the country igniting a civil war with the grassroots — a civil war that would have never happened but their getting into Florida and doubling down.

The NRSC’s argument amounts to telling the world that voters exercising their right to pick their candidates are stupid and Jim DeMint is stupid for siding with the voters.

And:

But even more to the point, we saw in the last decade what happens when conservatives hold their noses and elect liberals who have an “R” after their names. Our party’s message of freedom and fiscal responsibility became diluted. In 2008, it was difficult to claim on the one hand that we were the party of fiscal responsibility and on the other hand that our fiscal policies work. It was clear to the electorate that the GOP had not adhered to fiscally conservative positions, and that the liberal positions they did adhere to didn’t work. If we go on in that direction again, we won’t have a base, let alone a majority. Certainly we can and should back sensible center-right candidates in bluer states, but I see no point in backing someone who supports cap-and-tax, Obamacare, bailouts, taxes, and more useless stimulus packages.

The Sarah Palin article is one of her best, and that’s saying quite a bit.

So, Phase II is to keep the pressure on the GOP, not only people like Lindsey Graham, but our new freshman class as well. Senator-elect Marco Rubio (R-FL) needs to put actions to his words. The next two years can set up the GOP for even bigger wins in 2012, or they can destroy the party. Following Graham’s path leads to that destruction. The Palin path can lead to success.

Phase III is the campaign for 2012. Actually this almost be divided into a Phase III-A and a Phase III-B.

We want to win the White House in 2012. But that’s useless without several more seats in the Senate, and big pickups in the House would be nice as well. In fact, if I have to choose between getting rid of Obama and getting to 53-55 seats in the Senate, I chose the Senate. Really, we want both. And we need to take that into consideration during the 2012 primaries.

I will have more to say about Phase III in the coming days. I probably won’t say much more about Phase II until Congress is back in session.

Here’s a little something to whet your appetite for Phase III, though.

 

P.S. It’s worth mentioning that our Senate gains were pretty big. The fact that anyone can actually argue about how we could have gotten to 10 seats is amazing considering what the GOP was looking at even 6 months ago. the GOP did better than average for an off year election, and with retirees, the Senate is going to be a far more conservative body than the last two years. Some people are saying that the GOP has “effective control” over the Senate which is probably a stretch, but this article sums up the situation very well.

Where Are We And What Next?

My plan was to have this written for this morning, but I was too tired when I went to bed.

The wave came ashore and the House was hit hard by the flood. The GOP made historic gains in the House, and fared far less well in the Senate.

As I write this, it appears that Lisa Murkowski will return as Senator from AK. There has been some speculation that she might switch sides and caucus with the Democrats. That would be extremely surprising. The Murkowskis are one of the leading families in AK’s “Corrupt Bastards Club”. The rest of the Club is all Republican, and they’d never forgive her if she went over to the other side. This term would absolutely be her last, and she wouldn’t even be able to sell space heaters in AK afterwards.

Still, Murkowski doesn’t strike me as the brightest bulb in the box, so maybe she’ll switch after all.

The other big surprise is Nevada, where Sharron Angle appears to have lost rather decisively, despite never trailing in a single poll over the last several weeks. There are a couple reasons for this, I think, and one relates to general underperformance in the Senate races overall.

It went relatively unnoticed at the time, but several weeks ago, Michael Steele elected not to spend money on Get Out The Vote (GOTV) efforts, and leave that to the local organizations. Despite what you may have read/heard, the RNC was cash strapped for most of the year. Steele had to choose between funding an increasingly larger GOP field, or to spend money on GOTV. His decision will undoubtedly be second-guessed for years to come, but it’s pretty certain that the Democrats outplayed the Republicans in GOTV. The Dems overperformed the polls in every close Senate race.

However, even without the GOTV issues, Sharron Angle may have been doomed. I noticed another thing several weeks ago, and then later forgot it, and I wish I hadn’t. The Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) came out resoundingly in support of Harry Reid (D-NV). I’m not so sure this was a smart decision, because it seems to me that Reid has not delivered for Nevada gaming in the last 10 years at least, and definitely since he became Majority Leader. But, the NGC understands the way the game is played, and knows that the Senate Majority Leader is a stronger ally to have than a freshman Senator.

If you’ve spent any significant time dealing with politics in Nevada (and I have), there’s one thing you learn very quickly. Nothing, and I mean nothing that’s political happens in Nevada without the permission of the NGC. You can’t raise the rates on parking meters without NGC approval. Their strong endorsement turned Angle’s already steep uphill climb into climbing Mt. Everest.

So, that’s where we are. Frankly, a great place to be, and miles better than the GOP could’ve expected to be a year or even six months ago.

What next?

Already the media is clamoring that the GOP will have to work with the President and come to compromise with him. I’m trying to remember the last time I heard someone from the MSM say that a Democratic congress would have to work with a Republican President and come to compromise with him. I don’t think it’s ever happened.

Well, the answer to that is still “Hell, no”. The President didn’t want to work with us on the stimulus. He didn’t want to work with us on Obamacare. And he paid the price, and Democrats will pay the price for years for them. He has the country going in completely the wrong direction. Compromises aren’t going to fix that. We need to turn around. If he wants to help with that, then we can compromise. Otherwise, he needs to shut up and get out of the way.

Now, there is some bad news here. We’re not going to repeal Obamacare. Not while he’s in office. And we may never be able to get rid of it entirely. Even defunding it runs risks, as it will likely produce a government shutdown showdown with the President.  We’re also going to have to accept the fact that deficits are going to be extraordinarily high for a while, and that we may have to raise the debt ceiling again.

That’s the bad news. There’s much more good news, however. Cap and trade is now dead. At least until 2013. So is “comprehensive immigration reform”. So is any new huge government stimulus package. None of these have a chance at passage in either the House or the Senate. On the other hand, extension of the Bush tax cuts for all Americans is a near certainty. It will easily pass both Houses, and the President will have to sign it. In fact, there’s a good chance this is on his desk before the end of this month.

Now, just because we’re not going to be able to slash the budget wherever we want, doesn’t  mean we shouldn’t try.  We should try to set a spending freeze at the very minimum. Across the board. Including defense. The GOP needs to have their feet held to the fire on this one. Force President Obama (D-USA) to say no.

We should come up with our own stimulus plan. One that doesn’t require $700 billion of government faux shovel ready projects. One that promotes real and long term growth. We should pass it and dare the President to veto it. As I’m writing this, Obama is speaking. And he’s still petulant and condescending. That’s good. The more combative the next two years are, the better for the country.

The economy is already showing small signs of coming out of its doldrums. In the last few weeks there have been a few good economic reports. We should expect to see more over the next six months or so, as the private sector finally can stop worrying about uncertainty. However, due to the high number of “discouraged” job hunters out there, the unemployment rate may stay over 9% for quite some time. I’d be extremely surprised to see it below 8.5% a year from now.

I still have to finish my series on the Tea Party. I haven’t forgotten that. I’ve just been too busy with other things. Those posts will be coming in the next few days, I think, and now I’ll be able to add my thoughts on how the Tea Party successes and failures will impact our Congress over the next two years.

Independence Day

Today we can vote to remove ourselves from the bonds of tyranny that have shackled us these last two years. It seems only fitting that I post the following:

In Congress, July 4, 1776.
A Declaration
By the Representatives of the
United states of America,
In general Congress assembled.

When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the Present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People; unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.
He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.
He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and Amount and Payment of their Salaries.
He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.
He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislature.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:
For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule in these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Powers to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.
He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic Insurrections among us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.
Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of the divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Signed by Order and in Behalf of the Congress,
John Hancock, President.

Attest.
Charles Thomson, Secretary.
The flood is here.

It’s Official–Democratic Party Says Sayanora To Catholics

From the Democrat-Farm-Labor party of Minnesota (they go by DFL, but they are the Minnesota Democratic Party) sent out the mailer below.

If you’re having trouble reading it, that’s a man wearing a Catholic Priest smock wearing a button with the words “Ignore The Poor”.

As Gateway Pundit points out:

The Catholic Charities network is the nation’s fourth largest non-profit, according to The NonProfit Times. The combined revenue of the Catholic Charities network from all sources, public and private, was $2.69 billion in 2000. Nearly 90 percent of these funds were spent on programs and services, making the Catholic Charities network one of the country’s most efficient charities.

Stay classy, Dems.

A local TV station called them on it:

 

No apology. No response.

This is disgusting. The Democratic party of Minnesota has declared war on the Catholic Church.

Think this election isn’t important? These people want to destroy America. There’s no other way to look at it.

6 days. Time to clean house with a nice big flood.

Cocktail Party Gets One Right, One Wrong

I’ve gotten tired of calling our Republican elites the “GOP Establishment”. From now on, I’m just going to call them the “Cocktail Party”.

They’ve decided not to have a “party” on election night.

[Y]ou don't celebrate at a time when one in 10 Americans are out of work and our children's future is threatened by mountains of debt," NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain told CNN.

Several Republican sources have told CNN over the past few days that Boehner made clear to colleagues and staff that he wants Americans to see that Republicans in Washington understand that the public is angry at Washington – and that includes the GOP establishment.

These sources say that even if Republicans take over the House, Boehner and other GOP leaders want to avoid the images of the Democrats in 2006, where Speaker Pelosi, then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel, and others were dancing on the stage.

Good. Perhaps there’s hope for these folks yet.

On the other hand, there’s this:

In anticipation of major GOP gains in next week’s elections, House Republican leaders have put together a list of experienced Washington hands to help fill top staff positions for the surge of newly elected outsiders.

Leading the effort are Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio), Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Ugh. We’re voting for these people because they’re outsiders. We don’t want your insiders infiltrating and corrupting these people. This is so very wrong and exactly the thing citizens need be on the lookout for over the next two years.

The Cocktail Party thinks that come January, they’ll be running the show. They still haven’t gotten it, but they will. The Tea Party is running the show. We have the leaders. Now you can follow or get out of the way.

We Have To Pass The Bill, So That You Can Find Out What Is In It

Yes, it’s an old quote.

It’s still one of the dumbest things any sitting member of Congress has ever said. And you have to work to make it high up on that list.

Well, Speaker Pelosi (D-CA-08), you passed it. And now we’re finding out what’s in it.

What have we learned?

It’s not deficit neutral as promised.

It’s costing fortunes to businesses, which is keeping them from hiring, which is slowing the economy even further. Of course, we were told that it would help the economy.

If you’re in Texas and on Medicare, you might not be able to keep your doctor, even if you like your doctor.

Instead of increasing coverage, it’s decreasing it, as major health insurers are no longer doing children-only policies, rather than face the bill of dealing with existing conditions.

We were also promised that we’d be able to keep our existing coverage. Wrong. More wrong.

Having to fill out a tax form for any transaction over $600 is definitely not a boon to small businesses.

And now, the Secretary of DHHS, Kathleen Sebelius has started writing waivers for large corporations because they started screaming that they were going to go out of business if they had to adopt the coverage plans required by the government.

Let that last one sink in a moment.

Kathleen Sebelius has the power to decide which corporations act in accordance with Obamacare. She can let McDonald’s off the hook, but require it of Burger King if she wishes. She can let the UAW-owned GM off the hook, but require it of Ford.

Does anyone think this is a good idea? ANYONE?

This is insane.

I try to keep it clean and civil here, but the law is crap. It’s beyond crap. Anyone who actually voted for the thing should be compelled to explain how any of the above is good for America. They won’t be able to. None of it is. And most of what’s above is not surprising to the legions of people who were trying to prevent the bill from being passed. We were told that we were crazy, and that we didn’t understand the bill. That was a lie. We knew, and they knew, and they still sold us a crap sandwich.

It’s all bad, and it’s getting worse. We still don’t know all about the law, it’s direct consequences and it’s unintended side effects. But everything we find out is bad.

Madame Speaker,  you have failed your country.

Someone take the gavel away from this bitch.

26 days until we make that happen. Speaker Pelosi, the flood is coming for you.

UPDATE: Flopping Aces has one I missed, and should have mentioned as it’s already affected my wife and I. If you use a Healthcare Spending Account (HSA) to pay for OTC pharmaceuticals, you’ll need a prescription for them starting January 1. This covers everything from aspirin to vitamins to humidifiers.

And it’s bending the cost curve dramatically upwards in some places already.

ObamaCare does exactly the opposite of what it claims to do in nearly every instance.