The Return of the ‘Gang of 14′

January 31, 2009 by 2 Comments

My ears perked up this morning as Senator Ben Nelson (D- NE) was interviewed on FOX News. Some searching on the net revealed further news about what Nelson is doing to pass the economic stimulus bill. I don’t know how much comfort IDA readers will take in knowing that a version of the  “Gang of 14″ is at work again. Here is the article. You read – you decide.

A portion of the article Senate’s Gang of 14′ May be Poised to Strike Again follows:

The ‘Gang of 14′ compromise in 2006 displeased many conservatives – now, with Democrats in power, a similar compromise may be brewing for Obama’s $819 billion economic stimulus bill.

Senate Republicans and some Democrats met Friday morning to seek common ground on how they can improve the $819 billion economic stimulus bill.

One item that likely will be discussed is an amendment that would add billions of dollars to infrastructure projects. Nelson is crafting that measure with Sen. Patty Murry, D-Wash, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D- Calif, both on the Appropriations Committee.

And Nelson doesn’t want to stop there. He wants to pluck out what he says are extraneous projects in the stimulus bill to pay for the amendment. Providing hundreds of millions of dollars for prevention of smoking and sexually-transmitted disease — though they may be worthy causes — does not create jobs. Nelson even is willing to remove popular Pell Grant increases, saving them for annual spending bills later in the year.

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Matt Strawn Supporting Duncan for RNC Chair: What the Heck?

January 30, 2009 by 8 Comments

As my least favorite conservative, Ann Coulter, would say, “Matt Strawn, you have some ‘splainin to do.”  Our new RPI Chairman has thrown his support behind current RNC Chairman Mike Duncan to be re-elected to the party’s top spot.  Didn’t we just lose this past election season?  Isn’t our party in shambles right now and is in desperate need of a new face with fresh ideas to re-energize the party?  If you failed miserable at your job last year would you be expected to get your job back this year?  Evidently some in the Republican party think it is wise to reward failure.

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GOP: some cheer and communicating

January 30, 2009 by 1 Comment

I enjoyed reading a Politico article that actually had the word “cheer” in the title! Even crusaders like some good news. I especially liked reading that the Republicans seem to have a plan which I read to be communicating with the voters. As others have written and shared on talk radio, the Republican Party has to be more than the party of  “NO”.

We need to know what Pelosi and her tribe are saying and doing AND we need to know what ideas and solutions the Republicans have that are BETTER for America.

So a few words from the article “Members cheer vote at GOP Retreat”…

During his remarks, Gingrich told the Republicans not to “think about the future of the Republican Party” but rather “think about the future of America.

“If the Republican Party takes care of America, America will take care of the Republican Party,” the former speaker said.

He then predicted Boehner, his one-time rival, would be speaker “at a speed that will shock Democrats,” according to one person in the room.

Before Gingrich offered that somewhat surprising praise, Boehner reminded Republicans that they are no longer in the business of legislating and should focus almost solely on communicating their message with voters.

“We are in the communications business,” Boehner told the crowd during his opening remarks. “We can build a new Republican majority one issue at a time.”

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NRC Chairmanship race and the GOP

January 30, 2009 by 6 Comments

I had been wondering about the NRC Chairmanship race and happened upon this article by Kevin Tracy. I share a brief part of it plus one comment. Reading words such as these gives me great concern about the Republican Party. It is one thing to wage battles with the Democrats. Just keeping the public aware of what Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Culver, and company are up to requires much diligence and effort. Now word filters down of continued problems with the Republican Party nationally. How many bail outs from party faithful will it take before those in power have a wake up call?

I don’t know but will share what I found on Twitter this early A.M.

One of these days, people will universally accept that I know what I’m talking about and do as I say. But until such a time comes, the GOP seems poised to continue punching itself in the face. My pessimism, as you may have guessed, comes from news that Chip Saltsman was forced to drop out of the NRC Chairmanship race yesterday evening after failing to secure just six endorsements from the 168 voting members of the RNC. It goes without saying that the ridiculous CD scandal cost him the opportunity to make it on the ballot. Saltsman was the hugely successful chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party and later served as campaign manager for Mike Huckabee before anybody knew the candidate’s name.

My endorsement now goes to Ken Blackwell… but I’m not nearly as enthused about him as I was for Saltsman. Steele is my second pick. If Anuzis, Dawson, or Duncan win the RNC Chairmanship, I’m formally terminating my ties to the Republican Party and becoming an independent.

I’m that serious about this.

And a comment left at the site:

Kevin,
I believe the same attitude that limited Chip’s candidacy and has now caused him to drop out of the race is the same attitude that limited Mike Huckabee’s campaign for President. The old guard of the Republican Party seem to be too blind, deaf, and dumb to realize we need someone with some new ideas and a drive to make it happen. Instead they want to just continue the status quo and as you said, that will do nothing but doom us in 2010. We have been saying it’s going to be a long four years with a President Obama and a Democrat controlled Congress, but I am beginning to believe it’s going to be much harder and much longer than just four years.

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The heat is turned up in the Oval Office

January 29, 2009 by 5 Comments

A bit of news from junkscience.com:

The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?” said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. “He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there.”

Could this be the same Barack Obama who said last May that,

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say “OK”… That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”

And could this be the same Barack Obama who is looking to sign a stimulus bill that would spend billions of dollars installing millions of “smart meters” that would enable your power company to prevent you from being as comfortable as Bambi on hot and cold days?

My husband would just love it if we kept our thermostat set on 72 degrees.

His cheap wife  says he must wear a sweatshirt and cover up with a blanket. Oh, and we have a cat to keep us warm.

I guess the White House does not worry about paying the heating bills or keeping to a campaign comment.

But, I do have a suggestion for President Obama: see if you can get one of those Aretha Franklin hats for warmth.

http://www.junkscience.com/

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Not shocked that Harkin is “shocked”

January 29, 2009 by 6 Comments

As indicated in the article below Harkin is “shocked” that nary a Republican would vote for the economic stimulus bill, gag, actually the Pelosi (and Harkin, etc.) SPENDING BILL!

I, the taxpayer, am not shocked that Harkin is shocked. This is Harkin being the Harkin that Iowa voters continue to send back to D.C. “I ‘spose” that Harkin thinks the folks back in one of his vacation spots (Iowa) don’t know a pork filled, pull-the-wool-over-the-voters-eyes spending spree when we see one. In the article Harkin sugar coats and brings up the positive ways the money will be spent. No mention about the pork and the debt heaped upon generations.

In thinking that readers of IDA will want to know how “shocked” Harkin really is, I share the Radio Iowa article.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat, says he’s shocked the $800-billion economic stimulus bill passed the U.S. House without a single Republican vote. Harkin says it’s surprising with all the people being laid off and conservative economists saying the government needs to do more, not less.

“I ‘spose someone can always say ‘well I found something wrong with the bill’, but I think there’s a heck of a lot more good in it than bad,” Harkin says. Harkin says he hopes the bill picks up more Republican support in the Senate. Republicans raised concerns that millions of dollars are in the bill that won’t do anything to help stimulate the economy.

Harkin says he’s looked at those complaints and thinks “they are off base.” Harkin says the stimulus bill is not just about creating jobs right now, as he says a big part of the bill is “laying the groundwork for solid recovery and transforming our economy and we have to keep that in mind.” Harkin says the measures that change the economy are important.

“So that when we start coming out of this recession or depression, or whatever it is we are in, that we’re going to have a stronger basis, and that could mean a lot of things,” Harkin says. He says it means healthier people, so we’re more productive, smarter kids using higher technology in the classroom, community colleges having better equipment to retrain people for the new jobs of the future. Harkin says the vote on the stimulus bill is a repeat of what happened before.

Harkin says it reminds him of 1993 when every Republican voted against President Clinton’s economic plan, saying the sky was going to fall and it would lead to massive unemployment. Harkin says the country was instead able to pay down the national debt and recover. Harkin says the Senate stimulus bill had bipartisan support when it passed out of the appropriations committee, and he hopes the final bill will see that support.

Senator Charles Grassley has called the Stimulus Bill a “gravy train.” This causes me to remember that Harkin is in love with pork and if the bill passes, he will have gravy on the menu as well!

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Blitzkrieg of Big Government

January 29, 2009 by 2 Comments

America is under attack. It is under attack by the very people that are tasked with preserving it. Yesterday the United State House of Representatives passed the massive stimulus plan promoted by President Barack Obama, a virtual blitzkrieg of big government. The bill in question is touted as being able to save the American economy by creating massive new government spending, but it does little to ensure that the jobs that it creates are American jobs. The amount of new spending is outrageous; by some accounts the total cost to the taxpayers of the United States for this hideous bill will top 1 trillion dollars when interest is figured into the mix. Some people may have a hard time coming to grips with how much money that is. It is enough to fund the State of Iowa under the current budget for more than 150 years. If you are still having a hard time understanding how much money that is I will type out the entire amount for you, $1,000,000,000,000. A lot of zeros isn’t it. President Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats are gambling the future of our country on a plan that has doesn’t really create new American jobs. Instead what it will do is create a more bloated and unresponsive government that sucks more and more money from the life blood of our great nation, its citizens.
There really is some provisions in this bill that would help create new American jobs, however, they are other provisions that limit and even negate the effectiveness of the stimulus plan. One attempt to make it appear that the so called stimulus package is actually designed to create American jobs is a provision that requires the usage of American iron and steel. Here is the actual text of this requirement.

SEC. 1110. USE OF AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL.
(a)    IN GENERAL.-None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron and steel used in the project is produced in the United States.

If it had been left alone this provision would have been enough to create numerous American jobs, however Congress had to put in a provision that would allow the government to get around it. The following provision is the one that would allow the government to skip out and purchase imported steel and iron.

SEC. 1110. USE OF AMERICAN IRON AND STEEL.
(a)    EXCEPTIONS.-Subsection (a) shall not apply in any case in which the head of the Federal department or agency involved finds that-(1) applying subsection (a) would be inconsistent with the public interest; (2) iron and steel are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a sufficient ; or (3) inclusion of iron and steel produced in the United States will increase the cost of the overall project by more than 25 percent.

Another ludicrous provision of the stimulus bill is targeted at the National Endowment for the Arts Grants. You guessed it; the stimulus would provide an additional $50 million in grants to fund art projects. Quick question for the brains in DC that developed this bill, just how do additional grants to artists whose artistic talent is questionable to begin with stimulate the economy? Really I am puzzled as to how this is supposed to help our national economy recover?

In short the stimulus bill will do very little to stimulate the American economy, instead it will put us more increasingly under the shadow of debt that will take years to dig out from under. What also should be clear is which legislators have no problem selling the future of the United States in order to pad their political pockets now. Each of Iowa’s three Congressional Democrats fit this category. All three of them; Leonard Boswell, Bruce Braley, and Dave Loebsack; voted to pass this bill.  These men had the opportunity to bring accountability and fiscal responsibility back to Washington, but they failed miserably.

On the other hand I must congratulate Iowa Congressmen Steve King and Tom Latham for standing up to the Obama administration and demanding fiscal responsibility in Washington. These gentlemen withstood the blitzkrieg of big government.

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How does $1 Trillion plus in debt sound to you?

January 29, 2009 by 1 Comment

I have watched with horror today at the vote to pass the Economic Stimulus Bill in the House of Representatives. While I am appreciative of the 100 percent of Republicans who voted “Nay”, their efforts were not enough to stop the madness of spending the money that Americans work so hard to earn.

 

My mom used to tell my siblings and me that “money does not grow on trees.” It was her way to say that our family could not afford something. Her little saying seemed to work for our family but the Democrats must not have had mothers to enlighten them about not spending what you don’t have.

 

Thanks to Twitter I found an article called “Special-Interest Groups Line Up for a Piece of Stimulus.” Reading it made my sick feeling even worse. The article relates that when Congress passes out money “every special interest in the country reaches for a bucket.” The bucket brigade must be made up of Americans who have no shame about filling up their bucket.

Soak up this sentence- it surely will put a damper on your day:

“The Congressional Budget Office says borrowing $820 billion will cost $347 billion more in interest, which of course pushes the total cost of the stimulus package to more that $1 trillion.”

 

Sorry, I can not comfort you as I share this bit of news:

“… action moves to the Senate, which is considering a more expensive bill. Its price tag is now about $887 billion because it will include a one-year fix to insulate middle-class taxpayers from the Alternative Minimum Tax, which originally was aimed at the wealthy but is affecting a growing number of middle-class taxpayers because of inflation.”

Money on trees… bucket brigade… hands in the cookie jar…debt that will be like a bottomless pit. Welcome to America run by Obama and the Democrats.

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I’ll just say NO to Ashley Judd

January 29, 2009 by 2 Comments

If you have a desire to go to a movie….if you can afford such an event…I want you to remember the name Ashley Judd. The article below tells you what kind of person you are supporting with your hard earned dollars. And, sad to say, Ashley has lots of friends who like to make fun of former President Bush and others who support pro-life issues.

I plan to stay far away from anything to do with Ms. Judd.

http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/YeasandNays/Ashley_Judd_Breathless_0127.html

Ladies room

Among the millions of people who are excited by the election of President Obama is Ashley Judd, as she demonstrated at the 40th birthday luncheon for NARAL Pro-Choice America at the Hilton Washington Tuesday.

After flubbing a few lines, Judd, who emceed the event, stopped and said, “I need to take a breath. I get so excited.”

After a brief slide show featuring Bush and other anti-abortion politicians, during which the crowd booed and hissed, Judd remarked, “It’s so nice to live in America again.”

NARAL President Nancy Keenan, whom Judd called the “Barbra Streisand of the pro-choice movement” because “she does it all,” had the mostly female crowd cracking-up during her speech, as she showed a picture of the bathroom at NARAL’s headquarters, which sports a photo of President Bush signing anti-abortion legislation.

“Can you think of a better birthday gift?” Keenan questioned as the picture morphed into the new president and this year’s newly elected Democratic senators.

Also on hand for the event: freshman Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Pulitzer-Prize winning writer Cynthia Tucker.

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Grassley and the NSF probe

January 29, 2009 by 3 Comments

Senator Grassley was interviewed on FOX News on Wednesday about the National Science Foundation probe that has come about from a report to Congress that mentioned an NSF official who was “found to have spent as much as 20 percent of his working hours over a two-year span “viewing sexually explicit images and engaging in sexually explicit on line ‘chats’ with various women,” Politico said.”

I checked out the website of the NSF and found these words to welcome me: “National Science Foundation – Where Discoveries Begin”. Hmmm. More information on the site says: The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense… With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion, we are the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America’s colleges and universities. In many fields such as mathematics, computer science and the social sciences, NSF is the major source of federal backing.”

So, while the Democrats are pushing their version of stimulating the economy our tax dollars are going towards other kinds of, well, stimulation. Very expensive stimulation I would say!

There is discussion and some rather unkind words being said about Grassley and his attempt to holding the NSF accountable for their funding. I am pleased that there is a watch dog to pay attention when reports of such abuse are “tucked in to” a report. A version of hide and seek seems to be going on with how our money is being spent.

I agree with Grassley: “The semiannual report raises real questions about how the National Science Foundation manages its resources, and Congress ought to demand a full accounting before it gives the agency another $3 billion in the stimulus bill,” Grassley said.

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