Nemo me impune lacessit

No one provokes me with impunity

____________________________________

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Article 1, Section 9, Constitution of the United States

If this is the law of the land...why in a republic (little r) and as republicans, do we allow mere POLITICIANS to the right to use a "title of office" for the rest of their lives as if it were de facto a patent of nobility. Because, as republicans, this should NOT be the case...just saying...

The Vail Spot's Amazon Store

Monday, February 28, 2011

George & The NAACP

This was sent to me by Linda D...


George Washington statue is hidden at the MLK rally in Columbia , SC


The annual MLK observance at the state house in Columbia SC had an interesting twist this year. The event is held on the north side steps of the statehouse. Prominent at that location is a large bronze statue of George Washington. This year, the NAACP constructed a “box” to conceal the Father of His Country from view so that participants would not be offended by his presence.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this picture of the MLK Day rally in Columbia , South Carolina yesterday. This rally was sponsored by the NAACP and they said that they covered the statue because they “didn’t want to offend anyone”. Really? George Washington is the father of this nation. How is he offensive to anyone? Can you imagine what would happen if we covered the statue of Dr. King on President’s Day? Of course, this disgusting display of anti-Americanism wasn’t covered at all by the national media and only the local paper in Columbia had a little piece on it. It has been covered a little by the blog-world and I think the word needs to get out to the general public that this is what the NAACP is all about…..militant, hateful and racist.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Rand Paul On Letterman Show

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was on the Letterman show last week.  Here's the video via Hit & Run,



Here's where Rand is right, and Letterman is wrong, according to Thomas Woods
Rand correctly noted that the top 1% of income tax earners pay one-third of all the income taxes, with the top 50% paying 96%. So the "rich" are already paying plenty. Letterman's response? There must be something wrong with those numbers, he said to applause from the audience. So the audience is in effect saying, "We also refuse to believe those numbers!" But those numbers are correct....


Rand explains, again correctly, that spending more money on education has not improved educational outcomes. Letterman's response? Well, education is important, so we've got to try something -- how about spending more money? But by the time of George W. Bush's term, per-pupil spending, adjusted for inflation, had already doubled since LBJ....

Letterman wonders why we can't just loot the "rich" some more. Well, if we'd like to make still more firms leave the U.S., that'd be a good start. Want to strangle the growth on which everyone's welfare depends? By all means pursue this strategy....

Rand points out, correctly, that the compensation package for Wisconsin teachers is extremely attractive, amounting to over $80K annually. Letterman, to general applause, says that figure should be doubled. Isn't education important? This is the level of reasoning people appear comfortable with. On Big Rock Candy Mountain there's a giant pile of cash overlooked by the governor and the rest of us. Don't worry that the pension systems are going to bankrupt the states -- that's nothing a doubling of teacher salaries won't solve.
This is an excellent illustration of the ignorance that abounds on the Liberal left's [self deluded] "intelligencia."   Not enough money in the state's budget, just raise taxes.  Teacher's don't make enough raise their salaries.  Unforunately for tax payers, teachers aren't paid, based upon the performance of their students.  Just over 50% of Wisconsin children graduate from high school...yet these people are paid upwards of $80,000.00 per annum in total compensation...for what in academia are...failing grades.

We, as a nation have fed hopper after hopper's full of cash into the education system, yet that system hasn't produced the desired results.  Eventually, the taxpaying public is going to revolt...and begin demanding results, or else the termination of those teachers who aren't doing their jobs.  After all, if kids are failing in school...who's fault is it?  It can't possibly be the parents fault, after all, they probably don't ensure that their kids are actually doing any homework...but then, our system tends to just throw more money at problems rather than actually attempting rational solutions. 

After all, the Obama Administration terminated the one program in the Washington, DC school system that was actually producing results...vouchers and school choice...

Scott Walker, Meet The [Biased] Press

The Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker was on Meet the Press this morning.   Here's the transcript of the appearance.   As expected David Gregory kept on trying to interject, interrupt with the same tire talking points that the liberal media has been trying to pin on this controversy.  
GREGORY: So that context is important, because there's collective bargaining, which you'd like to limit. And there are those, the specific contributions that you ask the unions. They said they would do that. They would meet those demands.


So the question that comes up again and again, is if you want to deal with the budget and the deficit, why not take yes for an answer?
WALKER: Well, because we've seen that actions speak louder than words. For us to balance the $3.6 billion deficit we have, not only now, but to insure we can continue to do it in the future, so our kids don't inherit the same dire consequences, we've got to have assurances. And over the past two weeks even after they made those promises we've seen local union after local union rush to their school boards, their city councils, their technical school boards and rush through contracts in the past two weeks that had no contribution to the pension and no contribution to health care.

And in fact one case in Janesville, they actually were pushing through a pay increase. Actions speaks louder than words --
(CROSS TALK)
GREGORY: But governor, you could have extended the bill -- you could have extended the bill to those local government agencies. You chose not to.
WALKER: No, that's just the opposite. I was a local government official for eight years. This bill precisely helps local governments and it's effective once it passes.

In fact, we're -- we're facing a $3.6 billion deficit. Like nearly every other state across the country, we're going to have to cut more than $1 billion from our schools and local governments. You know, in New York and California where there are Democrats for governors, they're doing that. The difference here is with this budget repair bill, we give those schools and local governments more -- almost $1.5 billion worth of savings.

So the savings they get from our budget repair bill exceed the amount --
(CROSS TALK)
GREGORY: But --
WALKER: -- that they're costing that state budget --
GREGORY: -- all right, but let me -- let me be clear, if the unions, who -- who it seems to me have been clear in saying that they would agree to those extra contributions, if they did that, and you say you're concerned about the budget shortfall, why not accept that?
WALKER: But when I -- my point is, they can't. Because they, the two people that suggested [that] are statewide union leaders. There are 1,000-plus municipalities, there's 400 -- more than 424 school districts, there's 72 counties. I know -- I used to be a county executive for eight years -- I know that collective bargaining has to be done in every jurisdiction. They can't guarantee that. And the actions of those local unions in the past two weeks show that.

If they were serious about it, they would have offered up contracts that -- that paid something for health care and something more for pensions. But they're not. The reality is, even beyond the five and the 12, collective bargaining does have a cost. In Wisconsin, a great example of that is, we have -- in many of our school districts, a requirement to collective bargaining contract that they have to buy their health insurance from a company that's owned by our state teachers union, W.A. Trust.

Because of that it costs them up to $68 million more than if they could just buy it from the state employee health care plans. Those are real costs, about putting real money in the classrooms, instead -- in -- into these collective bargaining agreements.
(CROSS TALK)
GREGORY: What's wrong -- but governor let me just --
WALKER: And to me at this -- at this county level I tried to avoid layoffs.
GREGORY: -- but what -- what's wrong with collective bargaining? Let's be clear so unions organize public employees, they're able to bargain not just about wages, but also about health benefits and pension benefits. What you're trying to do is say no, you can just collectively bargain when it comes to how much you make, but not those other benefits.
WALKER: Right.
GREGORY: What's so wrong with that, collective bargaining?
WALKER: Well, our proposal is less restrictive than the federal government is today. Under Barack Obama, he presides over federal government when most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for benefits nor for pay. So what we're asking for something less restrictive than what the federal government has in fact --
(CROSS TALK)
GREGORY: But I asked you a more specific question, which is what's wrong with collective bargaining?
WALKER: Well for us it's -- it's about the fact that again, as a local official, I can tell you personally, time and time again, because of collective bargaining when we had tough budgets in the past when I was at the county presiding as a C.O. there, I tried to do modest changes in pension, I tried to do modest changes in health care.

In fact, one year, I literally tried to do a 35-hour work week to try and avoid massive layoffs and furloughs and the union said, forget it. Embodied, emboldened by the fact that they had collective bargaining agreements, they said go ahead, literally lay off 400 or 500 people. And to me, laying off people in this economy is just completely unacceptable.
(CROSS TALK)
GREGORY: Let me -- let me ask you about --
WALKER: If we do not get these changes and the Senate Democrats don't come back. We're going to be forced to make up the savings in layoffs and that to me is just unacceptable.
If, Mr. Obama manages to hang on in 2012...Mr. Walker would be one hell of a candidate for 2016!

The Rudeness Expert

Ann Althouse and her husband Mead have been covering the Wisconsin protest rather well...but when they started asking questions, a "rudeness expert" butted in:



From Althouse:
A woman who does not have a Wisconsin accent noses in to tell me I'm "rude" to take pictures.


I say: "Let me ask you a question about 'rudeness.' This is a Veterans Memorial, for people who died in the war. These are all things..."

The rudeness expert interrupts me: "They do things for democracy, which is what we're trying to save right now."
I say: "What would you say to people that are..." And she's turned her back on me and walked away. The rudeness expert.

She had her point and she made it: The memorialized veterans "do things for democracy." That's a poor use of the present tense. They did "things." They died. They fought and they died. But what's important "right now" — according to her — is that the protesters are "trying to save" democracy.

I didn't get to ask follow-up questions, but I think her point was to equate the protesters to the veterans and to make that a justification for piling sleeping bags and all sorts of junk up against the monument. I didn't get to ask how trying to undo the results of the last election is an effort to "save democracy," and, obviously, she wasn't interested in having a conversation with me.
Ms. Althouse has done great work covering this mess in Madison.  If you can afford to do so, please hit her tip jar to help defray the costs she's run up trying to get out the Tea Party message....for that matter hit mine to the right as well!  [while I'm finally back to working full-time, we're still in dire financial straights, every little bit helps.]

H/T Instapundit

Typical Public Union Supporter

Here's video of a typical public union supporter in Wisconsin:



Here's Mike Tobin's report on Geraldo At Large:

On Saturday night’s broadcast of “Geraldo at Large,”
Fox News correspondent Mike Tobin took some critical shots at protesters attempting to shout down and disrupt his broadcast. He told host Geraldo Rivera he has observed hate and an effort to shut out other viewpoints.

“One thing I think should make clear – the people coming after us from every live shot here, these people hate,” Tobin said. “These are people who don’t respect diverse viewpoints. In fact, they’re so afraid I’ll present a diverse viewpoint, that’s why they try to heckle me and shut down every live shot. They’ve made it clear, that what they want to make it harder for me to do my job. They are proud of that when they disrupt a live shot, when they really trample over the First Amendment rights or the First Amendment’s obligations of a reporter. Now, I am not saying that’s all of the people. Those are the people that come here and heckle and try to disrupt things. I look in their eyes – there is hate in their eyes. They don’t want to hear any kind of viewpoint that is different from their own. That’s why they do what they do.”


Pretty much  everything the MSM has tried to pin on the Tea Party movement in particular and the conservative movement in general is projection of what they and the Liberal Left think and feel.  The hatred that's oozed out of the Left over the past two years has come to the forefront in the past 6 weeks, starting with the assasination attempt on Congresswoman Gifford in Arizona, and the hate fest that's occuring in Wisconsin and now spreading all across the country.

Instead of the "new civility" we have Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts calling for union suporters to get their enemies "to get a little bloody." 




The mere thought that Sarah Palin was encouraging her supports to do this...sent the media into a frenzy of blame and recimination...yet this Congressman gets off lightly with little or no punishment from the enablers in the media.  This is not helping the public union's cause, nor that of the Democratic Party...independent voters, those people who win elections turned away from the spending binge of the Democrats last fall, and this sort of rhetoric is pushing them turning them off in ever greater numbers.

Have You Seen These Missing Children?


If you have  please contact the Wisconsin Attorney General, or the Sargeant at arms of the Wisconsin Senate.

UPDATE:  Hideaway in Rockford:

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Public Employee Unions: What's At Stake...

Here's an excellent video on what's at stake with the public employee unions.



Via Powerline

Here's another video from Tim Pawlenty in solidarity with Scott Walker of Wisconsin


Also via Powerline

But not to be outdone...here's a video showing the hypocrisy of the left on civility.  Listen around 7:30 or so into for the money quote:

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Wisdom

Submitted by Linda D.

1. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.


2. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

3. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

4. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

5. Was learning cursive really necessary?

6. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on # 5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

7. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

8. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

9. Bad decisions make good stories.

10. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

11. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

12. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.

13. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call..

14. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

15. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

16. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

17. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

18. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

19. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

20. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

21. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

22. The first testicular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realize that their brain is also important.

American History Quiz

Do you think you know a of American History?  Here's a link to a quiz...our public school system is so good...that 50% of graduating seniors failed it.  How did you do?  Please let me know in the comments.  I did 29 of 30 right...

UPDATE...link fixed...sorry about that.

Quiz...

Just how intelligent are you?  Here's a quiz of recent quotes by famous people.  Can you guess who said what? Ready? Here we go!

1) "Let me be absolutely clear. Israel is a strong friend of Israel 's."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

2) "I've now been in 57 states I think one left to go."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

3) "On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience here today."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

4) "What they'll say is, 'Well it costs too much money,' but you know what? It would cost, about. It it it would cost about the same as what we would spend. It. Over the course of 10 years it would cost what it would costs us. (nervous laugh) All right. Okay. We're going to. It. It would cost us about the same as it would cost for about hold on one second. I can't hear myself. But I'm glad you're fired up, though. I'm glad."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
5) "The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

6) "I bowled a 129. It's like - it was like the Special Olympics, or something."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

7) "Of the many responsibilities granted to a president by our Constitution, few are more serious or more consequential than selecting a Supreme Court justice. The members of our highest court are granted life tenure, often serving long after the presidents who appointed them. And they are charged with the vital task of applying principles put to paper more than 20 centuries ago to some of the most difficult questions of our time."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

8) "Everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma, they end up taking up a hospital bed, it costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early and they got some treatment, and a, a breathalyzer, or inhalator, not a breathalyzer. I haven't had much sleep in the last 48 hours."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush
9) "It was . interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate. There's a lot of I don 't know what the term is in Austrian, wheeling and dealing."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

10) "I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future."
A. Barack Obama
B. Dan Quayle
C. Sarah Palin
D. George W. Bush

Sorry, nieither Geo. Bush, Sarah Palin or Dan Quayle said any of these things.  It's a trick quiz.  All of the asnwers are President Barack Obama. If only he was as smart as the media has played him up to be...

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Union Thug Assault Tea Party Activist!

In yet another example of the hypocrisy of the liberal Left, a  Communications Worker's Union thug assaulted Tabitha Hale of Freedom Works today.



Despite the media's attempts otherwise, all of the political violence since the election of Barack Obama to the presidency has stemmed from the Left.  The assaults on the Tea Party by SEIU in 2009 and 2010, are added to the assasination of a Federal Judge and near murder of Congresswoman Giffords in Arizona last  month.  All of these attacks have come from people who support the Democratic Party.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Public Doesn't Trust Politicians to Make Budget Cuts

Rasmussen Reports polling shows that a large majority of Americans don't believe that politicians of either party has the stones to make the necessary cuts in spending to place the nation on a path to sound financial footing.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% of Likely U.S. Voters think voters are more willing to make the hard choices needed to reduce federal spending than elected politicians are. Just 17% say the politicians are more willing to make the tough spending cut decisions, while 13% more are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here).


The Political Class disagrees, however. Sixty percent (60%) of Political Class voters say elected politicians are more willing to make hard budget cutting choices, but 79% of those in the Mainstream feel otherwise and see voters as more willing to do it.
 Oddly enough...our political "elite" also think the country is heading in the right direction...while a vast majority thinks just the opposite.

Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 67% of Political Class voters believe the United States is generally heading in the right direction. However, things look a lot different to Mainstream Americans. Among these voters, 84% say the country has gotten off on the wrong track.
 Of course...most of them have highly lucrative elective or lobbying positions, so they're perfectly happy...as long as the money lasts, which won't be a whole lot longer.

Wisconsin Protests: Myth Vs Fact

Here's a great video on what really is the root of the issues in Wisconsin




thanks Instapundit for finding it.

Bin Ladin's Liquor Store Game

Here's a link to a silly game...

Bin Ladin's Liquor Store

Congressional Corruption

I received this from a reader who asked to remain anonymous...It's frightening - somehow - someway things have to change:  
I found this interesting, Children of congress members do not have to pay back their college student loans. How nice. Monday on Fox news they learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans. This will get national attention if other news networks will broadcast it. When you add this to the below, just where will all of it stop?

The governors of 35 states have filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention.

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform... in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop.

Will history repeat itself?

By
JP Bender

Thirty years ago—on Aug. 3, 1981—workers in the union know as the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO), walked off the job. Their demands included seeking a shorter workweek, additional pay increases, improved working conditions and better safety for air travelers. This was all done in the name of collective bargaining. The union defied an ultimatum by the newly elected President Ronald Reagan to return to work.

The union members rallied, demonstrated and had the backing of the liberal democrats. Forty-eight hours later, Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers.

Union leaders and members were arrested, jailed and fined. PATCO’s $3.5 million strike fund was frozen, the strike was broken and eventually the government decertified the union.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R), faces a similar situation with public employees, taking to the streets, challenging his proposals for lower wages, increased contributions of retirement funds and the elimination of collective bargaining. The state of Wisconsin, like 30 other states, and the federal government too, faces financial ruin in the face of a depressed economy and budget shortfalls.

Protesters are pledging to remain in the Wisconsin Capitol while Senate Democrats are committed to staying out of state until a compromise can be found with Gov. Walker on collective bargaining rights for public sector employees.

The Republican governor said that while the state enjoys a lower-than-average unemployment rate -- about 7.5 percent compared to 9 percent nationally -- about 5,000-6,000 state workers and 5,000-6,000 local government workers will find their jobs on the chopping block as the state looks to close a $3.6 billion biennial budget gap.

Under the governor's proposal, unions still could represent workers, but they could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized. Only wages below the Consumer Price Index would be subject to collective bargaining, anything higher would have to be approved by referendum.

If the situation cannot be resolved, more than 14,000 state employees could be fired.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Obama: "Elections Have Consequences"

Guess what?  now the "chickens are coming home to roost," to quote Mr. Obama's spiritual advisor.  On today's Meet The Press Senator Linsey Graham, (not one of my favorite Senators...) spells it out for Mr. Obama:
MR. GREGORY: Let me ask you about what is becoming a federal issue, and that is what's happening in Wisconsin. This was the scene on Friday in the rotunda in Madison as union workers were protesting the move by the governor of Wisconsin to demand a greater participation on unions in terms of pension contributions, as well as health care contributions, also trying to end collective bargaining in the state. And you see the response there. President Obama did an interview and weighed in on this. This is what he had to say.


(Videotape, Wednesday)
PRES. BARACK OBAMA: Some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally, seems like more of an assault on unions. And I think it's very important for us to understand that public employees, they're our neighbors, they're our friends.
(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: Senator Graham, did the president do the right thing weighing in to this controversy?


SEN. GRAHAM: I think the president should be focusing on what we're doing in Washington. The president's budget this year is the highest level of spending as a nation--25.3 percent of GDP--since World War II. So that's not the number to use to get this place in, in, in fiscal sanity. We should be looking at the dollars we're actually spending. That's what the House did. But when the president talks about Wisconsin, I think that's--that really is inappropriate. The governor of Wisconsin is doing what he campaigned on. He said he would ask contributions from government employees for pension and for health care at a level that I think is reasonable. And he also put on the table renegotiating and reforming collective bargaining. He told me yesterday it takes 15 months to do a contract with government employees in Wisconsin. And so he's doing what he said. There was an election on his proposals, and he won, and he should be allowed to fulfill his mandate just like the House Republicans.

MR. GREGORY: Senator Durbin, is the White House, is the president, using his own campaign operation, an operation of supporters, to fuel protests in Wisconsin?

SEN. DURBIN: Let me tell you why what's happening in Wisconsin, just north of Illinois, goes way beyond the discussion of the Wisconsin budget. If you think this is just about money and the budget, then you might believe Cesar Chavez was just working to get a couple pennies more per pound for grapes or that Martin Luther King was really working for access to hotels and restaurants. There's a much bigger issue at stake here. For over 80 years in America, we have recognized the rights of our workers to freely gather together, collectively bargain, so that they could have fairness in the workplace and fairness in compensation. And that is what's at stake here. It goes way beyond this budget issue. This governor of Wisconsin is not setting out just to fix a budget, he's setting out to break a union. That is a major move in terms of American history. I believe the president should have weighed in. I think we should all weigh in and say, "Do the right thing for Wisconsin's budget, but do not destroy decades of work to establish the rights of workers to speak for themselves."

SEN. GRAHAM: David, if I could just add, this is a campaign flier I have--I don't know if you can see it--from the last election cycle where Wisconsin unions said, "If you elect this guy, Scott Walker, he's going to reform or limit collective bargaining." He was open about what he was going to do about contributions to pensions and retirement, and he told the people of Wisconsin, "I'm going to change collective bargaining because it is--impedes progress when it comes to education. It's too hard to fire anybody, it is too complicated. And I'm going to change that system." So, in a democracy, when you run on something, you do have an obligation to fulfill your promise. He didn't take anybody by surprise. He's doing exactly what he said. There was a referendum on this issue, and the unions lost. And the Democrats in Wisconsin should come back to Wisconsin to have votes. [emphasis is mine, ed.]
But Liberals, aren't about elections or Democracy...they're about mob rule.  In Wisconsin,  the unions, the Democratic Party and Obama's Organizing for America, are trying to overturn last November's election results.  They haven't learned the lesson of Texas in 2003-2009...
The mess in Wisconsin has happened before. In 2003, faced with a new Republican majority intent on redrawing an electoral map that preserved power for Democrats that the voters no longer gave them, the Texas Democrats fled the state. And in 2009, rather than allow a vote on an election security bill that they didn’t want, the Texas Democrats brought the state legislature to a halt — killing the voter ID bill and everything on the calendar that followed it. . . . So the Democrats are trying to bring both houses of the legislature to a full halt to kill the union bill. It may work, at least temporarily, just by running out the clock. But if what has happened in Texas is any guide, it will be a pyrrhic victory. Democrats in Texas have won very little since the 2003 run to the Red River. And after they filibustered the voter ID bill in 2009, which a heavy majority of the voters supported, they suffered an unholy beating in 2010. The Republicans now have a super majority in the House, and the man who led the filibuster, state Rep. Jim Dunnam, was defeated. He didn’t lose just because of that filibuster, but having that on his record certainly didn’t help him.”
It will take decades for the Democrats to recover from their stupidity in Texas...and probably the rest of the country from the current act of their own self destruction.  Our country is made up of roughly 25% self described Liberals, 33% Conservatives with the remaining 42% independent/moderates...those moderates are watching what is occuring in Wisconsin very, very closely...and what they see, according to Gallop polling, they don't like.  Not even FDR or the founder of the AFL-CIO approved of government employees belonging to unions   
Roosevelt openly opposed bargaining rights for government unions.  "The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," Roosevelt wrote in 1937 to the National Federation of Federal Employees. Yes, public workers may demand fair treatment, wrote Roosevelt. But, he wrote, "I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place" in the public sector. "A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government." [emphasis is mine, ed..]
The simple fact that the Democratic Senators of the Wisconsin Legislature have abdicated their responsibility to their constituents, and to their state means that for all intents and purposes, they have abandoned their jobs, and their offices.  The GOP majority in both houses should peel off those portions of the proposed legislation that are tax-finance based, and require a qourum to pass, and simply pass the rest of their agenda by majority vote. Over at the Chicago Boyz...comes this comment: 
Ryan Says: February 19th, 2011 at 11:32 pm
Actually, it appears that the three-fifths requirement is only for fiscally-related bills. (See Wisconsin’s Constitution, Art VIII, Sec 8; Wisc. Legislature’s Joint Rule 11(2)) However, for non-fiscal bills, the quorum is only one-half, which the Republicans could muster on their own. (Wisc. Const. Art IV, Sec 7; Wisc. Leg. Joint Rule 11(1); Wisc. Senate Rule 15.) It doesn’t appear that a stand-alone union reform bill would require the three-fifths majority for a quorum, only a simple majority. The Republicans could, theoretically, pass a stand-alone bill reforming public sector union collective bargaining practices (or simply abolishing public sector unions altogether, if they wanted to play hard ball) without needing a single Democratic senator to show up to constitute a quorum. (At least, according to my reading of the relevant Constitutional provisions and legislative rules.) This would take the issue out-of-play for the Democrats vis the remainder of the budget bill, and could bring them back to the table if the Republicans wanted to play hard ball as well (if I’m reading this correctly).
In another thread there, comes this far more telling comment: 
Subotai Bahadur Says:

February 19th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
From what I have seen, Shannon Love is right. The firing will have to be by the school districts. There are other routes available to the governor; assuming that events are not overtaken by violence [I firmly expect the Obama/DNC goons will physically assault the pro-Walker demonstration today. Everybody bring videocams to document!]. This is a cross post from something else I did. If this is not allowed, feel free to delete:

The quorum requirement that covers this bill is from Article VIII, Section 8 [Finance] of the Wisconsin State Constitution. Short form, for all bills having to do with money, the quorum is set at 3/5 of the Chamber. Fair enough. But …budget bills are the only bills that require a 3/5 quorum. All other business is governed by Article IV Section 7, which specifies a quorum for each House of the Legislature to be 50%+1.


Hold the Budget Repair Bill in abeyance until they have an Article VIII quorum. In parallel, start passing a simple one page bill that a) ends all collective bargaining for all government employees in Wisconsin, b) decertifies all public employee unions, and c) creates a joint House-Senate STUDY commission to determine how pay and benefits will be set for state employees. With no Democrats in the Senate, committee hearings should be somewhat quicker than usual. If they stay out of the Capitol, the bill can be passed handily. If any one of them shows up; they get grabbed, cuffed, and stuffed in their chair in chambers [perhaps not literally, but it is a wonderful thought], and the Budget Repair Bill is brought up for a vote.


Indeed, there are a number of bills that are not budgetary in nature that can be started and run through the Senate if they do not show up; bills that Patriots will love and which will make Democrat heads explode. How about proof of citizenship and residence to register to vote? State issued picture ID to cast a ballot? Requiring all candidates for Federal office to file notarized copies of original documents in advance to prove that they meet Constitutional requirements of the office to get on the ballot? How about closing party primaries, if they allow crossover voting now? How about the proposed Federal Constitutional Amendment that would allow 2/3 of the states to void any Federal statute or regulation? This could be fun, and it could be never-ending.

They either come back to the Capitol, or get their a***s handed to them.
Subotai Bahadur

Politizoid: ObamaFeld

The Obama Admnistration is demanding that Judge Vinson, the US District Court (North Florida) judge who declared the entire law unconstitutional, rule that the law must be enforced while the appeal process is under way.
Essentially, the Obama administration wants Vinson to tell the states to obey an unconstitutional law. This isn’t a necessary step for an appeal, although it might or might not be a prerequisite to an application for a stay at the 11th Circuit. Either way, it’s a fool’s errand. If a judge declares an entire law void on the basis of constitutionality, he is hardly likely to issue an order telling states to obey it anyway.


Assuming this isn’t fulfilling some arcane check box on an appeal, what’s the point of asking Vinson to do this? Either Obama’s team doesn’t understand how to read a legal brief — an amusing prospect, but utterly untrue — or they’re trying to delay the appeal a little longer. Perhaps they’re hoping for a few more decisions to go their way in circuit courts before Vinson’s ruling gets reviewed at the next level. Frankly, though, that doesn’t make a lot of sense, either. Except as a political pose, this seems completely futile and meaningless.


Talk about chutzpah!  This administration is probably the densest we've ever had...at least since the Buchanan administration directly led to the Civil War.

H/T Ed Driscoll

Obama Supports Union Priviledges

via Powerline blog

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Medical Fraud in Wisconsin

ObamaCare is resulting in the proliticization of medicine in Madison Wisconsin, where Dr. Patrick McKenna was video'd giving out fraudulent physicians notes to cover the unionized teacher's missing work to attend the protest at the state capitol this week.  Ann Althouse, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin has this video of the physician in question.



Here is video from the McIver Institute



“I asked if they were handing out doctors’ excuses and a guy said yes and asked me if I needed one,” she said. “When I told them I needed one for February 16 and 17th, he wondered if I wanted to come back here for the protests next week.”


What happened next?

“I said, ‘sure,’ and I received a doctor’s note for the 16th through the 25th of February, without a medical exam.”

The notes read

Feb 19, 2011
Patient’s name______
Date of birth ____/_____/_____

To Whom it May Concern:
This is confirm I have seen and evaluated the above named patient.
Please excuse from work/school due to a medical condition from
____/____/____ through
Please contact me at badgerdoctors@gmail.com if additional information is needed. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Physician Signature:
Physician Name
WI license number

Based on an examination of the signature and medical license number provided, one of the men handing out these notes was purporting to be James H Shropshire MD, a Clinical Associate Professor at the University Wisconsin Madison.
Instapundit reader, Dr. Steve White notes that,
I noted the Althouse blog reference at Instapundit. I’m a physician. I take care of patients. Yes indeed, if I were to give a doctor’s note to someone without conducting a proper medical evaluation (however brief), I’d be guilty of improper behavior and ethics and could be brought before the medical licensing board.  However, there’s another name for this: FRAUD. The teachers will use these notes to justify their absences and collect their pay. Both the doctors and the teachers are perpetrating a fraud.  Wonder if the Wisconsin attorney general could be motivated to look into that? At the very least, demand that any teacher turning in a doctor’s note over this work action also turn over the record of the medical ‘evaluation’. That would put a stop to this real quick.



More importantly, this is the first politicization of fraudulent medical coverage to give, as Prof. Jacobsen of Cornell University says,
“We have seen the future of the health care system, and it is the doctors on the streets of Madison, Wisconsin, handing out free sick notes to public sector union members so they can fraudulently collect their pay for missing work. Boy, oh boy, I can’t wait for Obamacare. Politicized medicine, massive fraud in the name of progressive politics, and a callous disregard for the law free from fear of prosecution for those aligned with the Democrats.” [emphasis  is mine, ed.]
If you are a union member and support the politically correct party, you can break your union negotiated contract...to fraudulently call in sick to attend a political rally...that's the future of ObamaCare.  In my union, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Mid Atlantic Regional Council,  you can be terminated from your employment for doing this...why are teachers and public employees being given special treatment?  Best of all...here's a video of a physician giving Andrew Breibart a note...



From the comments come this:
The doctors in question are Lou Sanner, Anne Eglash, Hannah Keevil, James Shropshire and Patrick McKenna. I wouldn't be surprised to find they have already been referred to the Wisconsin Dept. of Regulation and Licensing and/or the WI Attorney General. Handing out obviously phony medical evaluations on the street and in front of cameras is pretty dumb, even for self-absorbed leftist pigs. 
golgathum 52 minutes ago 4

Treasury Sec Admits Obama's Budget Unsustainable

Straight from the tax dodger's mouth:

Wisconsin's Missing Children

If you see these missing children please contact the Wisconsin Attorney General's Office:


This whole thing is an excellent example of the childishness of liberals in general and the Democratic Party in particular.  If they can't get their way...even though their party suffered a historic loss at the polls last November, then, they'll just not play at all and refuse to participate by running away. The Republican Party has been the minority party for decades in Wisconsin...but despite that status has always attempted to work with the majority party...not so the Democrats...it's their way or the highway...so  they ran away.

I strongly suspect that this won't help their cause one bit.  It just goes to show that this will be a fight to the finish...the Left has pushed voters too far...and if they continue, it will only cause them worse harm at the polls next year.

CLOSE AIR SUPPORT (UNCLASSIFIED)

Here's a great video of how to kill the bad guys with air support...submitted by Linda D.



The attached video was filmed by some Air Force Joint Tactical Air Controllers (JTAC) in Tal Afar, west of Mosul , in Iraq .  A marine unit got pinned down in the street. They set their video camera on the bumper of their armored HUM-V, which they were using for cover. Keep an eye on the opposing van parked just down the street.   On the audio you can hear them shooting back and forth. The rounds you can hear are from the Marines, and the ones you hear pinging against the side of the vehicle with no accompanying pop are from the bad guys.  When the Marine says they just fired the "rifle," it means an F-16 aircraft just launched a Maverick missile. You can hear it come in and see it strike the vehicle the bad guys were using for cover.


Talk about pinpoint accuracy! End of story...for the bad guys.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Democrat suggests 'ObamaCare' rhetoric should be banned from House floor

By
J P Bender  
House Republicans and Democrats started Friday morning's debate over whether to defund last year's healthcare law, and as part of this debate sparred over whether members should be allowed to call that law "ObamaCare."

After two House Republicans called it "ObamaCare," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) asked the chairman whether these "disparaging" remarks should be allowed on the House floor.

"That is a disparaging reference to the president of the United States; it is meant as a disparaging reference to the president of the United States, and it is clearly in violation of the House rules against that," she said.

Because Wasserman Schultz only asked if it would be appropriate to curb the use of the term "ObamaCare," the chairman said he would not rule on a hypothetical. But he did urge members to "refrain from engaging in personalities or descriptions about personalities in general."

I don't remember any Democrat taking the floor of the House of Representatives, to ask their fellow Democrats to refrain from using the term "Reaganomics".

Reaganomics (a portmanteau of Reagan and economics) attributed to Paul Harvey, which referred to the economic policies promoted by the U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. The four pillars of Reagan's economic policy were to:

  1. Reduce government spending,
  2. Reduce income and capital gains marginal tax rates,
  3. Reduce government regulation,
  4. Control the money supply to reduce inflation.
To bad we didn't listen to President Reagan then - or we wouldn't be in the mess we are in today. Rep. Wasserman Schultz is a mental midget.

Left Threatens Political Violence in Wisconsin

In Wisconsin over the past few days, teachers unions and public employees unions have been spouting all  sorts of threats against the governor and Republican controlled legislature.  Where are all the voices in the media calling for "moderation"?



...oh, my bad, it's ok for the LEFT to do this...it's ok for the left to impugn anything about their opponents.  Mr. Obama needs to lead...not follow as he did after the Tucson shootings when leftist media and leftist pundits blamed the Tea Party for all sorts of heinous crimes...

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Obama's "Deep" Spending Cuts

Here's a very telling graph...the "deep" spending cuts Mr. Obama is proposing for the 2012 budget:

If you look closely at how spending spiked in 2008-2011...while Congress and the White House are/were under the control of the free spending Democratic Party...you'll see that Mr. Obama's spending cuts aren't real, they're illusory.

REASON TV: Three Reasons This Budget Won’t Win The Future.

Great video from Reason TV:

Obama To Cut Small Business Admin Budget By 45%

For a president who claims to be "pro-business" Mr. Obama's budget guts the Small Business Administration by more than 45%.  His proposed budget for the SBA will be a mere $985 million for 2012.  That's well down from the $1.8 billion the SBA was budgeted in 2010.  This stands at odd to the speeches he's given over the past several months as well as the SOTU address last month.

A Conservative Manifesto For Reforming Government

Representative Paul Ryan is the only Republican to come up with a comprehensive plan to reform spending in Washington.  Here's the summary from his plan:

A Roadmap for America’s Future is a comprehensive alternative to the heavily government-centered ideology now prevailing in Washington, which pursues a relentless expansion of government, creates a growing culture of dependency, and in the process worsens a status quo that already threatens to overwhelm the budget and smother the economy.

The Roadmap – updated since its previous introduction in 2008, to reflect the dramatic decline in the Nation’s economic and fiscal condition – draws on Americans’ strengths to restore the Nation’s legacy of leaving the next generation better off. It achieves three key objectives:

PROVIDING HEALTH AND RETIREMENT SECURITY. The plan ensures universal access to health insurance; and it rescues and strengthens Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – allowing them to fulfill their missions and making them permanently solvent.

LIFTING THE DEBT BURDEN. It returns Federal spending growth to sustainable rates, and lifts the huge projected debt burden from the shoulders of future generations.

PROMOTING AMERICAN JOB CREATION AND COMPETITIVENESS. It promotes solid, sustained economic growth and job creation here in America, and puts the United States in a position to lead – not merely survive – in the global marketplace. The plan also modernizes job training programs to meet the effects of globalization.

Why America Needs an Alternative. America faces an immense challenge – and an extraordinary opportunity.

THE CHALLENGE. The Federal Government’s current fiscal path is unsustainable: it leads to unprecedented levels of spending, deficits, and debt that will overwhelm the budget, smother the economy, weaken America’s competitiveness in the global 21st century economy, and threaten the survival of the government’s major benefit programs. The President and congressional Majority are hastening America’s march toward this reckoning, adding to trillions of dollars worth of unfunded liabilities, and accelerating the erosion of Americans’ health care and retirement security. Their “progressive” ideology leads to a future in which America’s best century is the past century.

THE OPPORTUNITY. Putting the Nation on a sustainable fiscal course may be one of the greatest domestic challenges in America’s history. But it is also an extraordinary opportunity to restore a national character rooted in individual initiative, entrepreneurship, and opportunity – and to transform the Federal Government to the realities of the 21st century.

Major Plan Components.


HEALTH CARE. The plan ensures universal access to affordable health insurance by restructuring the tax code, allowing all Americans to secure affordable health plans that best suits their needs, and shifting the ownership of health coverage away from the government and employers to individuals.
- Provides a refundable tax credit – $2,300 for individuals and $5,700 for families – to purchase coverage in any State, and keep it with them if they move or change jobs.
- Establishes transparency in health care price and quality data, so this critical information is readily available before an individual needs health services.
- Modernizes Medicaid and strengthens the health care safety net by reforming high-risk pools, giving States maximum flexibility to tailorMedicaid programs to the specific needs of their populations. Allows Medicaid recipients to take part in the same variety of options by using the tax credit to purchase high-quality care.
MEDICARE. The Roadmap secures Medicare for current beneficiaries, while making common-sense reforms to keep it solvent for the long term.
- Preserves the existing Medicare program for those 55 or older.
- For those currently under 55 – as they become Medicare-eligible – creates a Medicare payment averaging $11,000 per year when fully phased in. Adjusts the payment for inflation, and pegs it to income, with low-income individuals receiving greater support. Provides risk adjustment, so those with greater medical needs receive a higher payment.
- In addition to the Medicare payment, establishes and fully funds Medical Savings Accounts [MSAs] for low-income beneficiaries (to cover out-ofpocket costs), while continuing to allow all beneficiaries, regardless of income, to set up tax-free MSAs.
- Makes Medicare permanently solvent, based on Congressional Budget Office [CBO] estimates and consultation with the Office of the Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
SOCIAL SECURITY. The proposal saves and strengthens this important retirement program and makes it sustainable for the long term.
- Preserves the existing Social Security program for those 55 or older.
- Offers workers under 55 the option of investing over one third of their current Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts, similar to the Thrift Savings Plan available to Federal employees. Includes a property right so they can pass on these assets to their heirs, and a guarantee that individuals will not lose a dollar they contribute to their accounts, even after inflation.
- Makes the program permanently solvent, according to the CBO, by combining a more realistic measure of growth in Social Security’s initial benefits, with a gradual, modest increase in the retirement age, consistent with Americans’ improving lifespans.
TAX REFORM. This plan offers an alternative to today’s needlessly complex and inefficient tax code, providing the option of a simplified mechanism that better promotes and rewards work, saving, and investment.
- Provides taxpayers a choice of how to pay their income taxes – through existing law, or through a highly simplified income tax system that fits on a postcard with just two rates and virtually no special tax deductions credits, or exclusions (except the health care tax credit).
- Simplifies tax rates to 10 percent on income up to $100,000 for joint filers, and $50,000 for single filers; and 25 percent on taxable income above these amounts. Also includes a generous standard deduction and personal exemption (totaling $39,000 for a family of four).
- Eliminates the alternative minimum tax [AMT].
- Promotes saving by eliminating taxes on interest, capital gains, and dividends; also eliminates the death tax.
- Replaces the corporate income tax – currently the second highest in the industrialized world – with a border-adjustable business consumption tax of 8.5 percent. This new rate is roughly half that of the rest of the industrialized world.
JOB TRAINING. The Roadmap helps the Nation’s workforce prepare for success in the global economy by transforming 49 job training programs, scattered across eight agencies, into a flexible, dynamic strategy focused on results, and accompanied by clear measures of transparency and accountability. The plan requires the development of performance measures, and gives each State the option to consolidate funding into one program, if such an approach can be shown to improve outcomes and achieve job training goals.

Why ‘A Roadmap for America’s Future’ is Different.
As mentioned above, the status quo is not sustainable. But Washington’s current leaders are making matters worse. The Roadmap is not simply a slimmer version of the “progressive” government expansion now prevailing in Washington. It is a true alternative, and a complete legislative proposal consisting of specific policies supported by CBO estimates of its fiscal and economic consequences.

Other key features of the plan:
COMPREHENSIVENESS. Whether the issue is health care, international competitiveness, or debt, piecemeal, incremental “fixes” will never match the magnitude, urgency, and interrelated nature of America’s greatest domestic NOTE: The “current policy” paths in the graphics above reflect what the Congressional Budget Office [CBO], in its June 2009 report The Long-Term Budget Outlook, terms its “alternative fiscal scenario.” In describing this projection, CBO says it “represents one interpretation of what it would mean to continue today’s underlying fiscal policy,” and that it reflects “policy changes that are widely expected to occur and that policymakers have regularly made in the past.” challenges. This plan provides the comprehensive approach critical for achieving real, long-term solutions.

BACKED UP BY NUMBERS. It is a real plan, with real proposals, real numbers to back them up, and real legislation to implement it. Based on estimates provided by the CBO, this plan is projected to make the Social Security and Medicare programs permanently solvent. It will lift the growing debt burden on future generations, and hold Federal taxes to no higher than 19 percent of GDP.

A TRUE ALTERNATIVE. This plan is based on a fundamentally different vision. It focuses government on its proper role; it restrains government spending, thus limiting the size of government itself; it rejuvenates the vibrant market economy that made America the envy of the world; and it restores an American character rooted in individual initiative, entrepreneurship, and opportunity – qualities that make each American’s pursuit of personal destiny a net contribution to the Nation’s common good as well. In short, it is built on the enduring truths from which America’s Founders established this great and exceptional Nation.
If the GOP in Congress had any balls, they would adopt this plan and run with it.  Use it to fundamentally change the direction of America, since our sitting president has no ability to lead...
The message of the budget the Obama administration released today is the same as the message the president delivered in his State of the Union address: All is well, full speed ahead, and let’s invest a little more in solar panels and high-speed rail.
...and is merely upping the ante in his poker game for re-election by proposing a $3,700,000,000,000.00 budget that includes a $1,650,000,000,000.00 deficit and calling is spending cuts.

Unfortuantely for America, the GOP in Congress are already hemming an hawing
But others, including some of the selfsame tea-party heroes who raised hell over what amounts to one percent of the budget, are hemming and hawing on the Roadmap and entitlement reform in general — non-committal at best and cowardly at worst.  Rep. Allen West (R., Fla.) calls Ryan’s plan “a good start” but “not perfect,” and calls for Republicans to be “flexible.” Rep. Kristi Noem (R., N.D.), already the recipient of favorable Sarah Palin comparisons, says she likes portions of the Roadmap but hasn’t “explored too far.” That dog-ate-my-homework theme repeats itself among a number of freshman, and maybe it’s even true, but then are there members like Rep. Steve Chabot (R., Ohio), an RSC guy now entering his eighth term, who says he is “still studying” the Roadmap and is “not ready to announce a position” just yet. Well, maybe by his tenth term.
..and generally just playing politics now that it's come down the brass tacks.  We have to do something or we will be in the shoes the Greeks are in already...and that day will arrive within the next five years...

Shit, even Andrew Sullivan is freaking out over this budget...and say's that Obama is
The crisis is the cost of future entitlements and defense, about which Obama proposes nothing. Yes, there's some blather. But Obama will not risk in any way any vulnerability on taxes to his right or entitlement spending to his left. He convened a deficit commission in order to throw it in the trash. If I were Alan Simpson or Erskine Bowles, I'd feel duped. And they were duped. All of us who took Obama's pitch as fiscally responsible were duped.
That's from one of his cheerleaders on the left.  Mr. Obama is making a cynical political move by proposing a budget that will never make it though the Senate (that his party controls), much less the House which is controlled by the GOP...who don't have the balls to do what needs to be done to return this country to a sound fiscal basis...G-d help  us all....

Taxation-Spending Proposal

Here's an interesting suggestion in how to amend the current taxation structure along with real solutions to reigning spending by Congress.  It's put forward by James MacDonald a commenter in the WSJ.  Here's the article link
Change the motivations that drive congressional spending.


The current tax and budget system rewards high spending members of the legislature that vote for more spending than low spenders. The high spending members “bring home the bacon”, seek positive press by supporting new spending, and approval of their political contributors. This increase in spending is paid for with increased taxes by all citizens, not just the local district that put the representative in office. This lack of linkage between spending by a representative and the district tax rate rewards high spending representative’s districts, and other representative’s districts unfairly suffer the high tax rate with out the high spending benefits.

A tax system in which the personal and corporate tax rates have a district specific multiplier would adjust the tax rate such that districts of high spender representatives would pay a higher rate than an average district.

The legislative record of votes on spending bills would provide the required spending information. This would require that all spending bills be passed by recorded vote, not with a voice vote. It would also require that the all of the government spending be subjected to an annual vote, or at least every two years so as to match the election cycle. The sum of each representatives voting would provide their total spending, and the total of all the members numbers would provide an average spend per representative.

If a member’s vote record matched the average, the tax rate for the district would remain unchanged at 100% of the stated tax rate. If a member voted for 50% more spending than average, the district tax rate would be changed from 100% of the stated rate to 150% of the stated rate. With the US Congress, the district rate would need to reflect the House representative and both senators. Districts that value high government spending would be willing to pay a higher tax rate and send high spending members to Congress. Districts that value lower tax rates over higher government spending could send members that reflect their wishes.

The district representative adjustments would reset each tax year, and the adjustment for each House and Senate member would be clear and separate line in the tax form. The rate for multiple years of service from the most recent election would be based on the average for the representative for the years from the last election cycle. The tax rates would be computed on the votes for spending from October to the next years September, and announced on the second week of October, so as to be known to the voters prior to the elections.

This proposal if adopted should change the motivations of our representatives, making them more sensitive to high levels of spending.
 You could pretty much guarantee that high spending Congressmen wouldn't stay in Congress too damn long...as their constiuents would get very tired, very quickly on paying the higher level of taxation to support all that spending.

H/T to the blogfather:  Instapundit

Monday, February 14, 2011

You Can Tell the Reader by their Newspaper

 This was submitted by JP...who liked #11.
Here's how to keep all that political 'news' in perspective...
  1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.
  2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
  3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.
  4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.
  5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the country, if they could find the time -- and if they didn't have to leave Southern California to do it.
  6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a poor job of it, thank you very much.
  7. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
  8. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.
  9. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is read by people who want only the score of the Cardinals game. They drink Budweiser, Budweiser, and wait a minute -- what was the question?
  10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.
  11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.
  12. The Seattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something to wrap it in.


 Thanks JP.

 

 

Gay Marriage Will Pass Maryland Senate

Well, it looks like the Gay Marriage proposal will pass the Maryland Senate...here's how the Baltimore Sun is reporting voting:
Question: Do you intend to vote for or against the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act?

For
Sen. James Brochin, Baltimore County Democrat
Sen. Bill Ferguson, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Jennie Forehand, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Brian Frosh, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Rob Garagiola, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Lisa Gladden, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Verna Jones, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, Baltimore and Howard counties Democrat
Sen. Delores Kelley, Baltimore County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Nancy King, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, Howard County Republican
Sen. Richard Madaleno, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Roger Manno, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Karen Montgomery, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Paul Pinsky, Prince George's County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Catherine E. Pugh, Baltimore Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Victor Ramirez, Prince George's County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Jamie Raskin, Montgomery County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. James Robey, Howard County Democrat
Sen. Ronald Young, Frederick County Democrat (sponsor)
Sen. Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore County Democrat (sponsor)
Against
Sen. Joanne Benson, Prince George's County Democrat
Sen. David Brinkley, Carroll and Frederick counties Republican
Sen. James Brochin, Baltimore County Democrat
Sen. Richard Colburn, Eastern Shore Republican
Sen. James DeGrange, Anne Arundel County Democrat
Sen. Roy Dyson, Southern Maryland Democrat
Sen. George Edwards, Western Maryland Republican
Sen. Joseph Getty, Baltimore and Carroll counties Republican
Sen. Barry Glassman, Harford County Republican
Sen. Nancy Jacobs, Harford and Cecil counties Republican
Sen. J.B. Jennings, Baltimore and Harford counties Republican
Sen. James Mathias, Eastern Shore Democrat
Sen. Thomas Middleton, Charles County Democrat
Sen. Thomas V. Mike Miller, Prince George's and Calvert counties Democrat
Sen. C. Anthony Muse, Prince George's County Democrat
Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters, Prince George's County Democrat
Sen. E.J. Pipkin, Eastern Shore Republican
Sen. Edward Reilly, Anne Arundel County Republican
Sen. Christopher Shank, Washington County Republican
Sen. Bryan Simonaire, Anne Arundel County Republican
Sen. Norman Stone, Baltimore County Democrat

No public position/Undecided
Sen. John Astle, Anne Arundel County Democrat
Sen. James Brochin, Baltimore County Democrat (supports)
Sen. Joan Carter Conway, Baltimore Democrat
Sen. Ulysses Currie, Prince George's County Democrat
Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, Baltimore and Howard counties Democrat (supports)
Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, Baltimore County Democrat
Sen. James Rosapepe, Prince George's County Democrat
Personally?  I oppose homosexual marriage because once this is permitted then any opposition to marrying more than one person at a time will be moot...I do support civil unions...or better yet, get government out of the marriage business altogether.

UPDATE:  It passed the Senate...but died in the house...

Worst Tattoo Ever?

Haven't been posting much as I've been rather depressed lately.   Can't imagine why...but I just had to post this picture of possibly the worst tattoo ever...Jimmy Carter's ass:


H/T Instapundit

Friday, February 11, 2011

Riley's Gone Too...

My wife and I came home from work tonight...expecting the usual yips and yaps from our remaining dog Riley...but he wasn't in the window looking for us...and he didn't answer us when we opened the front door as he usually does...we found him dead and cold next to his favorite spot...his too small dog bed...dead.


Riley was and odd duck...he always had to have a pillow of some sort....


Riley and "The Mommy"...relaxing on the futon...Riley has his pillows...but both Radar and Riley are together again.  Riley just never was the same after Radar died last November...mostly he was just sad....

They Boys in better times...trolling for food...Riley & Radar, together at last.

Dumbass Of The Year Award...

This guy leads the early running for Dumbass of the Year Award.

Sunday, February 06, 2011

The Sailor Has Spoken



Hat Tip:  Chicago Boyz

Explosive Video Reich, Obamas economic advisor no "White Male Construction Workers"

Here's how Robert Reich feels about "white construction workers"...and the wasted stimulus package:

Federalist Papers No. 20: The Insufficiency fo the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union (The Same Subject Continued)

From the New York Packet. Tuesday, December 11, 1787.


To the People of the State of New York:

THE United Netherlands are a confederacy of republics, or rather of aristocracies of a very remarkable texture, yet confirming all the lessons derived from those which we have already reviewed.

The union is composed of seven coequal and sovereign states, and each state or province is a composition of equal and independent cities. In all important cases, not only the provinces but the cities must be unanimous.

The sovereignty of the Union is represented by the States-General, consisting usually of about fifty deputies appointed by the provinces. They hold their seats, some for life, some for six, three, and one years; from two provinces they continue in appointment during pleasure.

The States-General have authority to enter into treaties and alliances; to make war and peace; to raise armies and equip fleets; to ascertain quotas and demand contributions. In all these cases, however, unanimity and the sanction of their constituents are requisite. They have authority to appoint and receive ambassadors; to execute treaties and alliances already formed; to provide for the collection of duties on imports and exports; to regulate the mint, with a saving to the provincial rights; to govern as sovereigns the dependent territories. The provinces are restrained, unless with the general consent, from entering into foreign treaties; from establishing imposts injurious to others, or charging their neighbors with higher duties than their own subjects. A council of state, a chamber of accounts, with five colleges of admiralty, aid and fortify the federal administration.

The executive magistrate of the union is the stadtholder, who is now an hereditary prince. His principal weight and influence in the republic are derived from this independent title; from his great patrimonial estates; from his family connections with some of the chief potentates of Europe; and, more than all, perhaps, from his being stadtholder in the several provinces, as well as for the union; in which provincial quality he has the appointment of town magistrates under certain regulations, executes provincial decrees, presides when he pleases in the provincial tribunals, and has throughout the power of pardon.

As stadtholder of the union, he has, however, considerable prerogatives.

In his political capacity he has authority to settle disputes between the provinces, when other methods fail; to assist at the deliberations of the States-General, and at their particular conferences; to give audiences to foreign ambassadors, and to keep agents for his particular affairs at foreign courts.

In his military capacity he commands the federal troops, provides for garrisons, and in general regulates military affairs; disposes of all appointments, from colonels to ensigns, and of the governments and posts of fortified towns.

In his marine capacity he is admiral-general, and superintends and directs every thing relative to naval forces and other naval affairs; presides in the admiralties in person or by proxy; appoints lieutenant-admirals and other officers; and establishes councils of war, whose sentences are not executed till he approves them.

His revenue, exclusive of his private income, amounts to three hundred thousand florins. The standing army which he commands consists of about forty thousand men.

Such is the nature of the celebrated Belgic confederacy, as delineated on parchment. What are the characters which practice has stamped upon it? Imbecility in the government; discord among the provinces; foreign influence and indignities; a precarious existence in peace, and peculiar calamities from war.

It was long ago remarked by Grotius, that nothing but the hatred of his countrymen to the house of Austria kept them from being ruined by the vices of their constitution.

The union of Utrecht, says another respectable writer, reposes an authority in the States-General, seemingly sufficient to secure harmony, but the jealousy in each province renders the practice very different from the theory.

The same instrument, says another, obliges each province to levy certain contributions; but this article never could, and probably never will, be executed; because the inland provinces, who have little commerce, cannot pay an equal quota.

In matters of contribution, it is the practice to waive the articles of the constitution. The danger of delay obliges the consenting provinces to furnish their quotas, without waiting for the others; and then to obtain reimbursement from the others, by deputations, which are frequent, or otherwise, as they can. The great wealth and influence of the province of Holland enable her to effect both these purposes.

It has more than once happened, that the deficiencies had to be ultimately collected at the point of the bayonet; a thing practicable, though dreadful, in a confedracy where one of the members exceeds in force all the rest, and where several of them are too small to meditate resistance; but utterly impracticable in one composed of members, several of which are equal to each other in strength and resources, and equal singly to a vigorous and persevering defense.

Foreign ministers, says Sir William Temple, who was himself a foreign minister, elude matters taken ad referendum, by tampering with the provinces and cities. In 1726, the treaty of Hanover was delayed by these means a whole year. Instances of a like nature are numerous and notorious.

In critical emergencies, the States-General are often compelled to overleap their constitutional bounds. In 1688, they concluded a treaty of themselves at the risk of their heads. The treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, by which their independence was formerly and finally recognized, was concluded without the consent of Zealand. Even as recently as the last treaty of peace with Great Britain, the constitutional principle of unanimity was departed from. A weak constitution must necessarily terminate in dissolution, for want of proper powers, or the usurpation of powers requisite for the public safety. Whether the usurpation, when once begun, will stop at the salutary point, or go forward to the dangerous extreme, must depend on the contingencies of the moment. Tyranny has perhaps oftener grown out of the assumptions of power, called for, on pressing exigencies, by a defective constitution, than out of the full exercise of the largest constitutional authorities.
Notwithstanding the calamities produced by the stadtholdership, it has been supposed that without his influence in the individual provinces, the causes of anarchy manifest in the confederacy would long ago have dissolved it. "Under such a government," says the Abbe Mably, "the Union could never have subsisted, if the provinces had not a spring within themselves, capable of quickening their tardiness, and compelling them to the same way of thinking. This spring is the stadtholder." It is remarked by Sir William Temple, "that in the intermissions of the stadtholdership, Holland, by her riches and her authority, which drew the others into a sort of dependence, supplied the place."

These are not the only circumstances which have controlled the tendency to anarchy and dissolution. The surrounding powers impose an absolute necessity of union to a certain degree, at the same time that they nourish by their intrigues the constitutional vices which keep the republic in some degree always at their mercy.

The true patriots have long bewailed the fatal tendency of these vices, and have made no less than four regular experiments by EXTRAORDINARY ASSEMBLIES, convened for the special purpose, to apply a remedy. As many times has their laudable zeal found it impossible to UNITE THE PUBLIC COUNCILS in reforming the known, the acknowledged, the fatal evils of the existing constitution. Let us pause, my fellow-citizens, for one moment, over this melancholy and monitory lesson of history; and with the tear that drops for the calamities brought on mankind by their adverse opinions and selfish passions, let our gratitude mingle an ejaculation to Heaven, for the propitious concord which has distinguished the consultations for our political happiness.

A design was also conceived of establishing a general tax to be administered by the federal authority. This also had its adversaries and failed.

This unhappy people seem to be now suffering from popular convulsions, from dissensions among the states, and from the actual invasion of foreign arms, the crisis of their distiny. All nations have their eyes fixed on the awful spectacle. The first wish prompted by humanity is, that this severe trial may issue in such a revolution of their government as will establish their union, and render it the parent of tranquillity, freedom and happiness: The next, that the asylum under which, we trust, the enjoyment of these blessings will speedily be secured in this country, may receive and console them for the catastrophe of their own.
I make no apology for having dwelt so long on the contemplation of these federal precedents. Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred. The important truth, which it unequivocally pronounces in the present case, is that a sovereignty over sovereigns, a government over governments, a legislation for communities, as contradistinguished from individuals, as it is a solecism in theory, so in practice it is subversive of the order and ends of civil polity, by substituting VIOLENCE in place of LAW, or the destructive COERCION of the SWORD in place of the mild and salutary COERCION of the MAGISTRACY.
PUBLIUS.