Guest Commentary-Asleep at the Wheel

Christopher Reed-2008 Republican candidate for US Senate in Iowa

Christopher Reed-2008 Republican candidate for US Senate in Iowa

Sleep:  to be careless or unalert; allow one’s alertness, vigilance, or attentiveness to lie dormant

Meeting: an assembly or conference of persons for a specific purpose

Rollcall.com had a story this week about United States Congressman Dave Loebsack (D-IA-02) being asleep during a meeting on health care. It can be said that meetings in Washington are probably not as fun as running marathons in Cedar Rapids or attending rallies with Nancy Pelosi in Des Moines. However, how long should Iowa’s Second District continue to put up with this complete lack of leadership? My answer: about 16 more months.

In these perilous times of tumult and world chaos, can we afford leadership like this?

The book Improving Leadership Effectiveness says “The quality of leadership, more than any other single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization”. Well friends, we cannot afford failure of the organization known as the United States of America. Unfortunately, keeping Mr. Loebsack at the helm will almost assuredly accomplish just that.

We need a leader who will not only stay awake and alert during important meetings, but we need someone in Washington that will stand up for what is right for Iowa and America. We need a leader who is willing to make tough choices and stand up for what he believes in.

Today, more than ever, we need real leadership in Washington, and sadly it is lacking from Iowa’s Second District. Dave Loebsack is alright with being asleep at the wheel, but the voters in District #2 need to be awake and ready to enact a change in leadership come November, 2010.

Christopher Reed

Marion, Ia.

Pelosi’s Iowa Puppets Should Resign

Puppet_MasterAs I was sitting here this evening contemplating the passage of the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill yesterday evening I continued to get more and more irate. Sure I have been opposed to any form of cap and trade legislation because I firmly understand that it is a job killer, an economy killer. I understand that it is nothing more than a massive tax on all Americans. I understand that it does have good intentions, however I remain unconvinced that it will achieve the objectives that the bills supporters have been claiming. I understand that it will drive good paying employers from our country. I understand that it will drive the cost of energy beyond the reach of many families. I understand that it will drive the cost of many products beyond the reach of many families. Be that as it may, these are not the reasons that my anger continues to rise as I contemplate the bills passage.

I will admit that I was pissed that this bill was even considered for the reasons stated above. But it was the circumstances in which the bill was passed that put me over the top. The speed in which this legislation was pushed through the House of Representatives prevented many Representatives from even conducting a rudimentary review of the bill. There was just one copy of this legislation available for review on the day of the debate which further exacerbated any attempts at genuine review of the bill. To further stifle any true review of the Democratic leadership successfully placed a limitation on any debate yesterday. I find it laughable that any of the Representatives that voted for this bill could actually have a firm grasp of what the plan entailed. For all the 219 legislators know the bill could have included wording that would change the name of our country to the United States of Ignorance. My point is that passing this legislation of this magnitude in this fashion constitutes a dereliction of duty.

Upon further inspection I have found that the Iowa delegation split in a party line vote. Iowa’s two Republican Representatives; Steve King and Tom Latham; voted against the legislation. Our three Democrat Representatives voted to approve the plan. I had fully expected Bruce Braley and Dave Loebsack to vote for the bill as they are nothing more than pawns used by their puppet master, Nancy Pelosi. I had higher hopes for Leonard Boswell. As the debate raged in the House I had heard rumblings that Boswell was on the fence. As more and more Americans called in to voice their disapproval of the plan I thought that Boswell would succumb to the pressure of the public. That was not to be though. Ultimately he fell on the side of the puppets.

As I contemplated the actions of these three I decided to see if they had any press releases rationalizing their affirmative vote for this legislation. It should come as no surprise that there is no statement yet released by them. I would love to hear what these three puppets have to say in defense of their vote. I would contend that in voting to pass the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill without a full understanding it’s contents amounts to a dereliction of duty. Iowan’s elected these three to competently represent Iowa in the US House of Representatives. But when they act in this fashion they have failed miserably. The fact that they have remained silent on this action should be an indictment as to the character of all three men. They are not fit to represent the wise and honest people of Iowa. If you are as upset about their actions as I am, please contact their offices in Washington, D.C. and urge these men to do the honorable thing and resign. They have become an embarrassment to all of Iowa.

1st District Bruce Braley

Email

Phone: (202)225-2911

2nd District Dave Loebsack

Email

(202)225-6576

3rd District Leonard Boswell

Email

(202)225-3806

NO to Barbour’s advice

While I did not attend the Night of the Rising Stars I have taken the time to read about the event and to hear from those who were attendance.

A  take away I have from what Haley Barbour had to say is that “pro-lifers need to vote for pro-choice candidates and vise-versa if we are to win elections.”

The Republican Party is in big trouble if they think Social Conservative Republicans will take this advice. In fact, let me be clear, the answer is NO!

For me it boils down to trust. If a candidate can support killing babies then I can not and will not trust them to support other issues that I care about.

Big Tent is a nifty term for some but for me if it means compromising my beliefs I will not cave in to support moderate candidates.

There are grass roots social conservatives who also care about other issues that need to be solved. We are out in our communities working to make our voices heard. We may not attend party events or be in the “in” crowd of political circles but we are networking and supporting each other to be strong and committed to candidates who share our values and beliefs.

DesMoines Register.com fails to report Climate Bill Vote

Last night  I went to the Des Moines Register web site to see if they had reported anything on the Climate bill vote that congress passed by a vote of 219-212. And much to my surprise nothing on it. So I just went back again few minutes ago now its almost 12:30 pm in the afternoon  and heres the top articles they have on their main website homepage. Story about the person who shot the Parkersburg coach, Hog prices are down, Postville  leaders lets talk about a lawyer, Dog parks leap in popularity,Man stalks record fish for 3 days before getting it with a bow and arrow, man fatally shot at a dice game ” Oh Crap” that’s surely interesting news isn’t it. Wouldn’t you think they would want the public to know who don’t get the Register’s newspaper and read their news online to report the vote on this Climate bill that will become the biggest increase in taxes ever. Cap and trade will effect EVERYONE  of us more than just our light and gas bills. It will cause food prices to go up as everything we buy uses energy to produce or package it. So that cost is gonna be passed on down to us the consumers. But here its in middle of the afternoon on the day after the vote and nothing on their main web page about the vote. Do they not want Iowan’s not to know about this vote? I do not get the news paper as i’m out in the rural area it would come by mail man a day late. So I come online to find my news. And looks to me so far the DesMoines Register.com will not tell us the House passed the bill. It now goes  on to the Senate and if passes there we all better brace ourselves for much higher food prices and anything we would buy that’s not edible. As this will all have a bigger price tacked on thanks to this bill. I don’t know how people who are barely getting by would get by this coming winter? Guess we will be sitting in our houses fully dressed with long johns couple pairs of socks and coat on wrapped in a blanket because they can’t afford to go over and turn up the dial on the furnace. And their cubboards will be getting bare as the cost of canning food and packaging will increase. I was reading about the bill they want to decrease the greenhouse gases by 80% by middle of this century. Think about this what would be left going in this country to be producing only 20% of the gases we are now? Not much i can tell you. Would there be any semis on the highways?   One person said on a radio program about this many months ago that we would be basically be going back and living in the dark ages if we reduced it that much. I don’t know about any of you but i don’t think i want to go back to living like pioneers in the 1800′s or 1700′s  If any of you have kept up with Congress lately they passed another bill unread. If you remember the stimulus bill was passed without being read by most of Congress. For one it was passed so fast only a speed reader could have read it before the vote took place. Im sick and tired of these arrogant congressional leaders who are voting without ever reading the bills they voted on. That is flat out Wrong !  Nancy Pelosi said “We passed transformational legislation which takes us into the future,” Pelosi said at a press conference following the vote,

I fail to see how this will take us into the future. To me it looks more like a bill that will take us into the past. What industry we have left will not spend the money and many can’t afford to make the changes so they will move the industry out of America to a country who simply doesn’t care if there is pollution. Only thing i can see leading us into the future is  cleaner ways to produce energy. We better get busy the middle of the century is about 40 years off and we haven’t built any nuclear power plants since the 70′s. Mainly all i see coming out of this bill is people like Al Gore and the thousands of other rich people who invested in this scam called carbon credits.Its like the bully standing on the street corner you have to pay him to let you pass.  They will be come even richer and the poor will either starve or freeze to death.
Thanks again Desmoines Register.com for keeping me informed about some guy stalking a giant Carp thats way more important than the Climate bill that will effect EVERYONE of us in this country.

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