“No Man’s life liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session”.

- attributed to NY State Judge Gideon Tucker



Friday, February 19, 2010

Biden's Ashes

I cannot dispel the image of how lame and idiotic VP Joe Biden looked on Wednesday, running around with ashes on his forehead.

Honestly, every time I saw that video, I thought 'target.'

How can you not? The idiot bumbles his way around as perhaps the most useless US Vice-President in history. It's as if he is just begging to be put out his misery.

What a moron.

Wonderboy Orders A "Deficit" Commission

As I noted in this recent post, Wonderboy promised to create a "Deficit Commission," since Congress saw fit to not pass legislation forming one.



So, today, for the third day in a row, the president appeared on television. This time, signing an Executive Order to create a Deficit Commission.



Oooohhhhh! Now we're really scared! It's an executive order!



Of course, the First Rookie said all sorts of things that were, as usual, lies.



First, he blamed his predeccesors, ignoring the fact that he single-handedly increased the deficit by more than any other single president in history.



Second, he claims to be interested in managing the deficit. Another lie from the guy who is requesting yet more spending for "jobs," as if government can actually create long-lasting, high-paying, valuable jobs.



What the president, and Congress, won't do, is cut spending.



This is not about deficits. It's about spending.



All Wonderboy is doing is looking for political cover to raise your taxes. He says deficit, but he means taxes. Because you can bet he won't be seriously cutting any spending.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Chris Christie On CNBC This Morning

Newly-elected NJ Republican governor Chris Christie gave his first interview this morning. He chose as his venue CNBC, indicating a serious business and investment angle to his message.

What ensued was high comedy, if you were watching and listening closely.

First, the good news. Christie was absolutely adamant that he will NOT raise taxes. Period. To paraphrase his repeated reply to questions on the subject,

'Raising taxes is the easy part. That's already been done. We can't do that anymore. Our state's tax rates are too high already.'

On a program, and network, which is in passionate, big sloppy-kisses love with deposed NJ Democratic governor Jon Corzine, Christie wasted no time informing viewers, and his inquisitors, of some of the tricks Corzine & Co. performed, to the detriment of NJ taxpayers.

For example, Corzine's people wired out funds to municipalities on the morning of Christie's inauguration, so concerned were they about spending money in a way that could not be revoked or frozen by the new governor.

Christie detailed Corzine's tax and spending increases. He took full advantage of being the marquee guest at that time slot and savaged Corzine's gubernatorial record.

What was comedic, however, was the constant- and I mean constant- insistence of the CNBC co-anchors that Christie would just have to raise taxes, wouldn't he?

The Hispanic male co-anchor must have asked Christie at least four times if he would raise taxes. Wouldn't raising them 'just a little' help close the budget gap?

Becky Quick, also a liberal, chimed in two or three times, too, with the same question.

Only fiscal and political conservative Melissa Lee, dragged onto the set for this segment, focused on asking Christie how he planned to grow NJ's economy out of its current mess?

At one point, though, Christie drew himself up and repeated his campaign promises of smaller government, lower spending and taxes. He said that everyone voting in the election knew what he promised, and it shouldn't surprise them that he intends to do just those things.

In reply to the constant barrage of questions and diatribes that he simply must raise taxes in NJ to balance the budget, Christie gave a repetitive tutorial on how spending had gotten out of control, taxes were raised to attempt to close the gap, and, as a result, wealthy residents had left the state.

At one point, he silenced the co-anchors by citing the statistic that some $70B of wealth had left the state in the past year, seeking lower tax domiciles. That's why, Christie noted, taxes cannot and will not be increased.

He also hammered away on regulation, insisting that some needless rules which make doing business harder or more expensive in NJ, will be dropped.

Another topic on which he held forth- one of my favorites- was the amount and expense of state and local government in New Jersey. Citing the number of municipalities with separate police, fire and other services, and taxing authorities, Christie contends that NJ is perhaps the most over-governed state in the union. He cited one example of a town and its education board both possessing 'public works' departments.

As a current NJ resident, I can attest to the hope Christie gave for the right kind of change. Lower spending. Lower taxes.

Change we NJ voters and taxpayers can believe in.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Evan Bayh's Exit from the Senate

This weekend's stunning news from Senator Evan Bayh, D-IND, that he will not seek re-election, must be sending shock waves through Harry Reid's Senate Democrats.

In his announcement speech, Bayh lectured on what, in his view, is an inability of the Senate to be non-partisan anymore.

Then again, here's an article which, while lamenting his words, seems to incite that of which he complains,

"The realist in me watches the fervent Tea Partiers, tugging the Republican Party even further to the right, and the Republican congressional leadership, reaping the short-term rewards of obstruction -- and worries. "

Yes, yes, it's the Tea Party nutters who are the problem, isn't it? Those whackos who want to limit government spending and power.

Isn't it more likely that the truth is, Evan Bayh can no longer find moderation in his own party? The Democrats have lurched left, leaving Bayh to have written increasingly distressed pieces in the Wall Street Journal over the past year.

In an earlier time, Bayh would have been the quintessentially attractive Democratic presidential candidate. A seasoned mayor, legislator and all-around nice guy from a moderate midwestern state.

Instead, a socialist Senate novice from the state next door swept to victory on race and anger.

Yes, Evan Bayh can probably find more fulfillment elsewhere.

But that doesn't mean that conservatives have to cave into liberals in order for America to move forward.

Maybe, in fact, Evan Bayh just didn't think hard enough about which party radicalized first....his own.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Wonderboy Uses Alinsky's Tactics On Paul Ryan

The Wall Street Journal's Kim Strassel wrote an excellent piece in Friday's edition detailing how Wonderboy is employing his hero, Saul Alinsky's tactics against Congressman Paul Ryan, R-W.

Ryan is one of the most outspoken of Republican House members on the subject of healthcare, and has offered reasonable, effective ideas for health care reform over the past year.

Of course, Wonderboy and his Congressional allies initially ignored Ryan, then cried that the GOP is the party of "no."

Now, hard on the heels of the First Rookie's claim that he'll listen to any new ideas on health care, he has, according to Strassel, fingered Ryan.

Then set his attack dogs after the Republican.

The president's budget director weighed in to criticize Ryan's plan, while ignoring questions about Wonderboy's own scheme. Democratic House members chimed in, as if on cue.

Strassel views all of this, correctly, through the lens of classic Alinsky doctrine,

"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

The Democrats in Washington aren't interested in any new or other ideas on health care, aside from their own monstrosity.

And their recent actions, from Wonderboy to his minions, bears this out.

Monday, February 15, 2010

The Final Lowdown On John Murtha's Corruption

Friday's Wall Street Journal featured a shocking article by John Fund.

Apparently based on information Fund obtained from recently deceased, long-time Texas Democratic Representative Charlie Wilson, it revealed also recently deceased Pennsylvania Democratic Representative John Murtha's explicit guilt of corrupt practices as far back as the Abscam sting of the 1970s.

Wilson is now famous for the book and movie portraying his political leadership, with Ronald Reagan, in the war against the Soviets, through our proxies in Afghanistan.

What Fund's piece details is that Tip O'Neill, then Speaker of the House, ended the special prosecutor appointed by the House Ethics Committee, E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr.'s investigation, when it was clear that Prettyman had Murtha in his sites.

To do this, O'Neill named Wilson to the Ethics Committee in order to protect Murtha. Fund refers to CBS producer George Crile's 2003 book about Wilson, Charlie Wilson's War, from which the movie was made. According to Fund, Crile wrote,

"Before Prettyman could fully deploy his investigators to move on the Murtha case, he was informed that the committee had concluded there was no justification for an investigation."

Fund notes that Prettyman resigned his post "the same afternoon the committee voted to clear Mr. Murtha."

He then writes,

"When I called Wilson in 2006 to ask if the Crile account was accurate, he reluctantly confirmed that it was. He also noted, "I hope nothing will hurt" Murtha's bid to become majority leader."

Sickening, isn't it?

I mean, Charlie Wilson did a good thing regarding the Afghanistan war. But look at what he, O'Neill and Murtha did on the ethics front.

They were all scum. They violated their oaths of office, conspired to cover up corruption and extend the career of a corrupt Representative.

Regardless of the party, this is just wrong. Look how the Democrats immediately closed ranks and, from the Ethics Committee, of all places, shut down an investigation, by their own appointed special prosecutor, which they knew would indeed find corruption.

No wonder why Tea Party movement members and supporters distrust Washington politicians. This week's revelations reinforce why we can't trust either party's long-serving, entrenched legislators to abide by their oaths, call out their colleagues for misconduct, or remember whom they serve.