Photo by Ted Abbott
Can we now drop any pretense that Joe Biden is anything but a CINO (Catholic in Name Only)? On his latest state visit to China, Biden gave a speech that should be characterized as other than “just Joe being Joe.”
People from California
Minimal to non-existent; Unlikely; No serious reforms were on the way; Needs to take a close look; Hardly the inspiring rhetoric of Knute Rockne or Winston Churchill. Tim Bishop’s back in his congressional seat starting his fifth term in office and already the group he was meeting with, the Long Island Farm Bureau, was expressing buyer’s remorse.
It is difficult to imagine that a nation which began, at least in part, as the result of opposition to a British mandate giving the East India Company a monopoly and imposing a nominal tax on all tea sold in America would have set out to create a government with the power to force people to buy tea in the first place. – Judge Roger Vinson opinion in STATE OF FLORIDA v UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Perhaps the most arrogant, condescending act of Congress was the passage of ObamaCare. Opinion polls consistently counted the American public to be strongly against it. Town hall meetings during the summer before its passage were raucous and united in opposition as politicians cowered before their constituents. Many politicians who voted for the bill stopped holding town hall meetings, choosing instead to hide under their desks. During the fall 2010 elections, rare was the Democrat who boldly campaigned on ObamaCare.
Nancy Pelosi is not feeling the love. After all she has done for us, we ingrates are not showing our proper appreciation. So, Speaker Pelosi is in talks with Steven Speilberg to see if he can help remake the image of the Democrats.
Bailouts
I’ve seen Tim Bishop’s new ad to help re-elect him to Congress. He glares into the camera and says “no more bailouts.” Having voted with the Democratic leadership (Nancy Pelosi) more than 97% of the time, who is Tim Bishop running against, himself? Is this another “I voted for the bill before I voted against it?”
- Tim Bishop voted for TARP.
- Tim Bishop voted against repealing the rest of TARP and returning the money to taxpayers. (HR 4173 [Roll Call 967]. The House defeated an attempt to repeal the Troubled Asset Relief Program and lower the national debt limit)
- Tim Bishop voted for the bailout of GM and Chrysler rather than letting them go through bankruptcy.
- He voted yes on a bill to modify bankruptcy rules to avoid mortgage foreclosures. A fellow Democrat who also voted in favor of the bankruptcy bill said, “Rep. PETER WELCH (D, VT-0): Citigroup supports this bill. Why? They’re a huge lender.” Wow, Tim Bishop is really tough on those Wall Street banks.
- Tim Bishop voted for the stimulus package that cost more in one year than the entire War in Iraq and has failed. Unemployment is almost 10% when we were told the stimulus would cap it at 8%. The administration keeps telling us about “jobs saved,” something that no one can measure, but they don’t tell us how many jobs were actually created which is a statistic that can be measured. Why? (Hint: 3 million jobs have been lost since stimulus signed)
So the guy who helped give us all these bailouts is now talking tough that he is protecting us from bailouts.
Credit Cards
His ad then goes on to say how he is protecting consumers and their credit cards. One of the features he voted for is to cap the interest rate on credit cards at 16%. Well that sounds good, but what is so magical about 16%? Why not 17%, why not 12%? Wait a minute, New York State used to have a cap on credit card interest rates of 12%, but then we got the Jimmy Carter economy where interest rates skyrocketed. What happened then? Major banks with credit card operations in New York state moved to other states that had no limit. I worked at Citibank shortly thereafter, and they picked up their operations and moved them to South Dakota and Nevada. New York lost thousands of jobs. So what Mr. Bishop wants to do is place a limit at the federal level so those tricky people in South Dakota and Nevada can’t steal jobs from New York. So instead, if we get another Carter economy, those jobs will go overseas. But wait, doesn’t his commercial say he will create jobs here, not overseas? What it proves is that Tim Bishop doesn’t understand economics and free markets, which he opposes.
Does Tim Bishop know what he’s talking about, or just waiting for the next instructions from Nancy Pelosi?
Have you ever heard of an arcane legislative procedure called a discharge petition? Well, pull up a chair and I promise to keep this brief.
There is a bill in the House of Representatives H.R. 4972 – “To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”, which, if passed would repeal ObamaCare. Naturally, Nancy Pelosi is determined to never let this see the light of day and has it buried in committee. Here’s where the discharge petition comes into play.
If a majority of the House of Representatives signs the discharge petition (Discharge Petition 11), then H.R. 4972 has to come to the House floor for an up or down vote, over Nancy Pelosi’s dead body, objection. Isn’t this fun? Now, here’s where it gets interesting. It seems that every Democrat it running and hiding from ObamaCare, because they know most Americans oppose it. They can claim that it was too big to read, they were drunk, their families were being held hostage if they didn’t sign it, so they reluctantly went along. Eureka! Now they can have a second chance to vote against it before Election Day! And if they don’t, we’ll be watching.
So contact your Representative, especially those Blue Dogs out there and get them to sign Discharge Petition 11 and watch the fireworks begin. Who said politics wasn’t fun? Have a nice day.
In a previous post I described how I wrote to my Congressman on a particular topic. He responded with a letter I thought was so flawed with logic that I felt compelled to respond, even as I believed it would have the equivalent effect of arguing with my dog. He would politely listen, cock his head, and then go about his business, but I wrote it anyway. What I got in response surprised me. I got the exact same letter as the first time around with only the date changed.
Fool Me Once…
With all the town halls and people finally beginning to find their voice, I tried to communicate with my Representative again. This time I sent him a short e-mail with two very simple questions:
- On the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and Health Care, did you read these bills in their entirety before voting on them?
- Can you help me by directing me to that part of the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to get involved with health care.
An honest response would be along the lines of:
- Yes, Yes, No
- Article I, Section…
But instead a got a long e-mail telling me that health care was complex, that he wrote a letter to Nancy Pelosi requesting a delay in voting, and basically all the statist talking points. My two simple questions were simply ignored.
Town Hall Outrage
The outrage being demonstrated in the town halls is not the result of right-wing organizers. It is the result of being treated by our elected Representatives as children who should be seen but not heard. They schedule a town hall meeting, read an opening statement of their carefully crafted talking points, and then take questions that they answer by rephrasing the question so that a reply can be given from the talking points. At the appointed time, they thank the crowd for their input, which they will ignore, wave to the crowd and hurry away from the unwashed masses to marble halls of Congress, their $169,000 salary, their staffs, etc.
The people will not stand for this anymore. They see these power hungry, career politicians, not representing the people but lecturing them. Americans have had enough, and they’re not going to take it anymore.
Here is Congressman Tim Bishop’s Town Hall experience, in two parts.
Can anyone offer us a deal to give us cash if replace our Congressional Clunkers? How about the health insurance companies? They’d probably kick in, since they are Congress’ new whipping boy. Oil companies, coal companies? They get bashed every time Congress screws up and bans nuclear power, offshore drilling, ANWR, and coal as the price of oil climbs. Banks who didn’t take TARP money? Well Congress wants to set their salaries now.
Congressional Mileage
How much liberty per dollar are we getting for the money guzzling Congressmen and Senators who pull down $169,300 per year (more for committee chairs, and Speaker Pelosi who weighs in at $217,400)? And this doesn’t begin to count their expense budgets, gold plated health care, etc. I’m sure we could get much better mileage from a smaller government and a Congress that only meets half a year. I’m willing to bet that the longer Congress stays in session the more trouble they get us into, while consolidating their power and feathering their own nests.
Here’s the Plan
Let’s set up a fund. We’ll let Goldman Sachs run it, as they seem to know how to turn a buck. Anyone can contribute to the fund, no limits. For every Congressman who voted for the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and the Health Care disaster and is run out of office, the fund will pay out a percentage of the fund to everyone who registered and voted. The percentage will be calculated as the percentage of these clunkers who are retired out of Congress.
Think about it. If you are a voter who really, really believes that the Stimulus, Cap and Trade, and the government takeover of our health care system is a good thing, you will vote to re-elect the members of Congress who voted the same way. However if you don’t, then perhaps you need a little personal stimulus to cross party lines, or set aside ideology, and vote the bums out. It might even help improve voter turnout. And why not? If ACORN can get illegal aliens and dead people to vote for their candidates, we need a way to fight back.
What do you think?
Congressman John Conyers made this remarkable statement regarding reading a bill before voting on it?
“I love these members, they get up and say, ‘Read the bill,’” said Conyers.
“What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two days and two lawyers to find out what it means after you read the bill?”
Here’s the video: Why would I read health care bill John Conyers. These people are paid $169,300 a year and they are voting on legislation that will alter 1/6 of the American economy and they don’t know what they are voting on? Who demanded that this be done in two days? Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. If it takes them six months to read the bill, then TAKE THE SIX MONTHS!!! We wonder why there is so much government waste and fraud? It’s really quite simple. All the crooks and lobbyists are reading the bill very carefully, every page, probably 2-3 times. Why? Because as soon as it is passed they will know exactly where all the loopholes are, where the best opportunities for fraud are, so that they can rip off the taxpayers for billions, while Congress says, oh well, we better make the program bigger and put in more regulations and enforcement.
How much money do you make? In your job, what would happen to you if you did your job without following instructions and did so willfully? If you were a nurse and administered medication without following instructions what would happen to you? If you were a fireman and rushed into a building without following safety procedures that are there to protect your fellow firefighters what would happen to you? What is the fundamental job of Congressman, if not writing laws? And they can cavalierly say, they don’t read what they are voting on?
Why does Texas have such a booming economy? Could it be their legislature only meets once every two years? Could it be they are required by law to complete their business in 140 days? Could it be the legislators are only paid $7,200? Think about it.
In the beginning days of 1789, Congress was paid only $6 a day, which would be about $75 daily by modern standards. But by 1965 members were receiving $30,000 a year, which is the modern equivalent of about $195,000.
Currently the average lawmaker makes $169,300 a year, with leadership making slightly more. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) makes $217,400, while the minority and majority leaders in the House and Senate make $188,100.
John Adams made $6 per day, $75 per day in today’s dollars. Nancy Pelosi makes $217,400 per year. Whom do you admire more? If that doesn’t make you ill, you are made of sterner stuff than me.
Code of Hammurabi
When I was in engineering school, I was introduced to this part of the Code of Hammurabi, an ancient Babylonian king:
- If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
- If it kill the son of the owner the son of that builder shall be put to death.
It was intended to drive home the point that as engineers we should take what we do very seriously as someone may get killed if we get careless. What could be more careless than what Conyers said.
I have said this before, the bill that created the Interstate Highway System, was only 29 pages long. Our tax code is horrendous and incomprehensible, the stimulus bill is a disaster, Cap and Trade is another unread boondoggle, and health care is following. And for this we pay these people, or should I say they pay themselves since we don’t vote on their salaries, more than four times the national average?
Read the 10th Amendment folks, we have got to take back our government and cut it down to size.
