Tag: politics

Memo to Chris Rossini: Please, cut the crap!

I have Ron Paul’s new institute for freedom feed in my rss reader.

More specifically I have the sub-blog “Neocon Watch” in the reader; which I do enjoy reading; because quite frankly I believe the neocon right should be watched. 

But, there was a blog entry that was done on November 6, 2013; that really makes me wonder, what exactly is the point of that blog? Is it for the honest reporting of the actions of the neoconservative right; or is it just another idiotic love fest of the former Representative from Texas?

What I am referring to; is this entry here, which is about the actions of a Democratic Senator from Illinois. 

Quoting the entry:

Congressman, Brad Schneider (D-IL), was in the process of introducing a bill in the House that sought to delay a new round of sanctions on Iran. That is, until the neocon Free Beacon caught wind of it.

How dare Schneider suggest waiting a measly four months before increasing sanctions?

Following the Free Beacon’s story, Schneider shelved the bill. He then“organized an impromptu conference Tuesday evening to explain to pro-Israel leaders why he authored a bill that could delay a new round of Iran sanctions…”

So Schneider shelves the bill, and then explains himself to pro-Israel leaders? What?

The story gets even better. The Wall Street Journal reports that:

Congressman Schneider has called upon the Senate to immediately pass the ‘Preventing a Nuclear Iran Act’ and opposes any legislation that would delay, hinder, or stop current or future sanctions.

Okay, that is all fine and dandy; but this is where the blog entry stops being about factual reporting and starts sounding like an idiotic Ron Paul commercial.

Quote:

What a turnaround!

Kinda makes you miss Congressman Ron Paul, doesn’t it?

Here’s how the story would have been different were he still in the House. Congressman Paul would have drafted a bill that would abolish all sanctions against Iran. After all, sanctions are an act of war.

The neocon Free Beacon could then write whatever it wanted to show its displeasure. They would surely use every derogatory name in the book. Congressman Paul would still file the bill. There would be no apologies, and the great American Congressman would surely not feel the need to explain himself to special interest groups.

While it may be sad that the voice for liberty is no longer in Congress, there is a tremendous bright side to the story. The much freer, and non-restrained Ron Paul is representing liberty like never before!

Again, I ask; what exactly is the point of this blog; is it to legitimately report on the Wilsonian right and left……..or is it an continuous Ron Paul commercial?

Not to make this about personalities; but when it comes to pro-American policies; especially those of economics, Patrick J. Buchanan wins that hands down. Ron Paul would rather see America undermined in trade, than to protect the American worker. Which is why I prefer him over Ron Paul any day of the week.   

The problem with Derek Hunter is…

The problem with Derek Hunter is, that he is an idiot.

At the link above this idiot goes on a rant about libertarianism and how it’s no longer truly defined and how they don’t seem to change policy. Which is true in some respects, but then he proceeds to compare the Libertarian Party to the Republican establishment and blames them for the loss in Virginia. Which in my opinion is quite stupid.

Reason why the guy up in Virginia lost is because not everyone is down with the extremist wing of the GOP which is represented by Ted Cruz. Some people believe that causing the government to default on its debt obligations is not always the smart idea.

Furthermore, why the guy up in Virginia lost is because he was a social conservative and now in the GOP social conservatism is not a real big priority.

One of the biggest mistakes I believe that the GOP could make now is to go off on a tangent of social conservatism. Folks whether we like it or not we lost that battle. The 1980’s as Dr. James Dobson correctly observed was simply a holding action and in the internet came in and killed any chances of that actually succeeding.

Not to mention that George H.W. Bush came in with his new world order and went soft on taxes and destroyed the Reagan Revolution.

So,I think we really need to get off of the social conservatism kick and concentrate on what’s truly important and that’s the financial state of the United States.

Not everyone thinks like the Tea Party and furthermore not everyone thinks that Ted Cruz is some sort of a rock star. There are some of us who actually believe the Ted Cruz is done more to damage the brand of the GOP then he has done to help it.

Update: Just thought I would let everyone know. Mr. Hunter wrote me on twitter and posted a link to my blog entry with a rather condescending and sarcastic remark. Well, I am all for political discussion; but I am not for ad-hominem attacks. I posted a legit criticism of his column and he responded with a personal attack. So, for this; I blocked him on twitter. Therefore, I am shutting off the comments and trackbacks on this blog entry. Because Mr. Hunter wants to turn this into a spit ball contest and I am a bit old for that sort of a thing. So to Mr. Hunter I simply say this: Grow up. If you cannot handle dissenting opinions; then stop writing on TownHall.com. Furthermore, stop writing whining columns about how your candidate did not win.

Update #2: I think this speaks for itself:

Smart move by David Barton

I wrote about this before and it appears that David Barton has conceded to reality.

Via the Corner over at NRO:

Controversial Evangelical author David Barton just announced that he won’t challenge Senator John Cornyn in the 2014 Texas Senate primary. On Glenn Beck’s radio show this morning, he told Beck’s listeners that, though the primary is “winnable,” the timing isn’t right for him.

“What can I do to talk you into this?” asked Beck, disappointed.

Texas tea-party activists had been hankering for Cornyn to get a primary challenger ever since he removed his name from Mike Lee’s letter urging his Senate colleagues to refuse to support a CR that funded the Affordable Care Act. But finding a candidate with the requisite name recognition, connections, and willingness was a tall order. Enter Barton, former vice chairman of the Texas Republican party, who’s well-connected in the Evangelical movement and has deep ties with the Texas conservative grassroots. Barton is a lightning rod for controversy: The publisher of his most recent book, The Jefferson Lies, pulled it because of concerns over numerous factual inaccuracies. (Beck wrote the foreword for that work and has promised to continue publishing it.)

Barton told Beck’s listeners that he had done polling to investigate his odds in the race, and believed it would have been easy for him to raise the first $3 to 4 million.

“Has Louie ruled it out?” Beck asked, hoping Representative Louie Gohmert would challenge the senator. The Texas congressman did reject the idea in July, and it’s ultimately unlikely Cornyn will get a competitive primary challenger.

I believe this to be a very smart move by David Barton. Because quite frankly, Barton would be a lightening rod for the left to attack the GOP as an extremist party. Furthermore, it would cost the GOP a important seat in the Senate. The plain truth is that while Barton might have some noble intentions; he is simply unelectable and his campaign would be unwinnable.

It simply boils down to credibility and Barton has a credibility problem; his book was pulled because of issues with accuracy. Those sort of things are not exactly a feather in ones cap, when it comes to politics. Either way, I am glad to see that Barton did not try and run; because in his case, the Republican Party simply did not need someone of his ilk trying to run for office. 

Detroit elects first white Mayor in 40 years

I see this as a very good thing and not for the reasons you might think!

But, first, the video:

The Story:

Detroit’s New Mayor – Mike Duggan

For Duggan, born in Detroit but who lived much of his life in the western Wayne County suburb of Livonia, it was a victory rooted in his turnaround persona that may also reflect a move away from decades of racial politics.

He will replace one-term Mayor Dave Bing in a city where 83 percent of the residents are black and in a region where racial divisions have strained city-suburb relations until recently.

A beaming Duggan Tuesday made a veiled reference to race but immediately brushed it aside to focus squarely on the monumental tasks that voters decided to put in his hands — and which he’ll share with an emergency manager appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder who holds the power to make most major decisions.

“What we have in common is much more powerful than what divides us. Now the real work begins,” Duggan said. “They want somebody to go into City Hall, get rid of the bureaucracy and get city services going.”

via Duggan: ‘Now the real work begins’ | The Detroit News.

Now about why I believe that Mike Duggan won the election; I believe that Duggan won because quite frankly, the people of the city of Detroit and I mean everyone — was sick and tired of the racial politics of the city. Those racial politics, by the way, date back to the first black mayor of the city of Detroit, Coleman A. Young. Quite bluntly, Young hated white people with a passion; and it showed in the white parts of the city, namely southwest Detroit — where I grew up.

Also too, I believe that many people in Detroit were sick of business as usual. That “Business as usual” bankrupted the city and put the city in the position that it is in now. I believe that Duggan represented a better path for the city of Detroit.  What amazes me, as that Duggan has, as you can see in the video; an overwhelming support of the black community, which I think is an awesome thing.

I am convinced Mike Duggan has his work cut out for him. I wish him and his staff the best. However, I believe that if he plays his cards right and goes in with the right attitude; I believe that he can possibly do some great things for the City of Detroit.

Here’s to a prosperous future in the City of Detroit!

A perfect illustration why the GOP should not run candidates who cannot win

This is the Country’s payment for the GOP’s stupidity:

Ongoing Federal “stimulus” spending per year = $700B+

$700B+ / ~320,000,000 people = ~$2,200/yr/person.

$2,200 / 12 months = $180/mo/person. (that includes illegals, uninsured, transient tourists, etc. i.e. every “warm body”)

$180/mo could pay for basic catastrophic and (genuine) emergency treatment for every warm body in the US, and NOT require huge bureaucracy or expensive non-functional web sites to accomplish. Canadians pay less than half that per-person for their lame CannuckCare coverage.

via Ace of Spades HQ: The socialized medicine you paid for but never got.

This is what happens when the GOP decides to run a made beltway boy and some Alaskan shrieking harpy Femi-Nazi. Then, after being beaten badly and made to look like fools; the GOP then decides to run a man who is basically the “in the flesh” manifestation of the comic strip “Richy Rich“.  Say what you want; but that is basically what happened.

17 trillion and counting… All because the GOP wanted to twice play nice and wanted to appeal to people, who would not vote for them anyhow. 😡

No, The Republican Party does not need David Barton serving in the Senate

Christians, Tea Party members and Republicans need to avoid people with extreme views.

The National Review’s blog “The Corner” reports:

David Barton, an Evangelical Christian historian who recently made headlines for a controversial history of Thomas Jefferson, is seriously considering primarying Senator John Cornyn (R., Texas), per multiple sources. Rick Green, one of Barton’s closest advisers, tells National Review Online the following in an e-mail:

More than 1,000 (zero exaggeration, that is an actual number) tea party and republican party leaders have asked David Barton to run. Polling says Sen. Cornyn is vulnerable and that’s why he is running ads right now. Like America’s Founding Fathers, David Barton will not “seek” this office, but if the people of Texas speak loud enough in the next few days, he could most certainly be drafted in by the voters.

Another Republican consultant in Austin familiar with Barton’s thinking elaborates on that. “The conservatives are putting in a significant effort to get him into the race, and this is not a drill — he might actually do it,” the consultant tells me. “I think David is probably mulling the race because he’s getting pushed really hard to mull the race. If people weren’t really pushing him hard, I don’t think he would be considering it. He probably fits the one profile which would be really threatening to Cornyn.”

And JoAnn Fleming, executive director of Texas-based Grassroots America We The People, says that a number of tea-party leaders are slated to have a conference call with Barton in the next few days to discuss his senatorial prospects. “We need a Constitutional conservative in that seat,” she says. “We believe that Senator Cornyn has become part of the establishment and we don’t believe that his priorities reflect the priorities of the people of Texas any longer.”

Here is why I say this; David Barton holds to some of the same views as I, on some subjects. However, David Barton’s work and even his book has been brought into question, even by other Christians and political historians. Furthermore David Barton is a believer that America happens to be a Christian Republic. This is a gross error. America is a Constitutional Republic; nothing more, nothing less.

It is one thing to be a blogger or writer that holds to Fundamentalist Christian views, and have some of them to be considered extreme by some. It is another entirely to be a holder of these views and run for public office. I want my elected officials to uphold the constitution; and it alone. I do not want my elected officials to be operating under some sort of pseudo religious mandate. David Barton believes that there is no such thing as a separation of Church and State. While it might be true that the phrase does not exist in the constitution; Thomas Jefferson made it very clear to the Danbury Baptists that there was a full wall of separation between Government and Religion. This is why the pilgrims fled England, because the pilgrims were being persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church! Yet, people like David Barton want Christianity forced upon Americans!  

Anyone who says anything other than this, seeks to hijack the United States Government for a religious cause; which flies in the face of the founding principles of this great Nation of ours. Again, we must be alert for Christian extremists, who want to infiltrate our Government for their nefarious purposes. I want a free Republic, not the Christian version of Sharia Law in America.

Anonymous Twitterer @natsecwonk outed as now fired Jofi Joseph, a former White House Official

This is most interesting. How this guy got away with this for as long as he did; speaks volumes to the incompetence of our Government. I thought the NSA could press a button and know all of this stuff? I thought that the Government was listening on everything; as snowden told everyone? Hmph, guess not.

If the house was smart; they would subpoena the man, force him to testify under oath, about everything he knows about fast and furious; and benghazi. Maybe even offer him clemency, if he tells everything; and I mean everything. But, it won’t happen now. The Republicans cannot afford anymore bad press; no thanks to the stupid, idiotic, clown actions of Ted Cruz. 🙄

The Story:

A White House national security official was fired last week after being caught as the mystery Tweeter who has been tormenting the foreign policy community with insulting comments and revealing internal Obama administration information for over two years.

Jofi Joseph, a director in the non-proliferation section of the National Security Staff at the White House, has been surreptitiously tweeting under the moniker @natsecwonk, a Twitter feed famous inside Washington policy circles since it began in February, 2011 until it was shut down last week. Two administration officials confirmed that the mystery tweeter was Joseph, who has also worked at the State Department and on Capitol Hill for Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Joe Biden. Until recently, he was part of the administration’s team working on negotiations with Iran.

During his time tweeting under the @natsecwonk name, Joseph openly criticized the policies of his White House bosses and often insulted their intellect and appearance. At different times, he insulted or criticized several top White House and State Department officials, including former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, Secretary of State John Kerry, and many many others.

via Exclusive: White House Official Fired for Tweeting Under Fake Name – The Daily Beast.

Others: Talking Points Memo, Washington Wire, Mediaite, Hot Air, Right Wing News, BillMoyers.com,Outside the Beltway, The Other McCain, The Daily Caller, The Week, BBC, Taylor Marsh, Gawker, Weasel Zippers, The Raw Story and Althouse

Sebelius says President didn’t know of Obamacare website’s woes in advance

The Video:

Any other time, I would say that I find this to be very hard to believe. However, when it comes to the President of the United States; I can believe this one. Because it is a fact that President Bush was kept in the dark about what was happening in Iraq and with what was happening in afghanistan; and about the enhanced interrogation; until they could not keep it from him any longer. So, this could be entirely the case.

The Story:

(CNN) — President Barack Obama didn’t know of problems with the Affordable Care Act’s website — despite insurance companies’ complaints and the site’s crashing during a test run — until after its now well-documented abysmal launch, the nation’s health chief told CNN on Tuesday.

Rough Obamacare rollout: 4 reasons why

In an exclusive interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta asked when the President first learned about the considerable issues with the Obamacare website. Sebelius responded that it was in “the first couple of days” after the site went live October 1.

“But not before that?” Gupta followed up.

To which Sebelius replied, “No, sir.”

via Sebelius: President didn’t know of Obamacare website’s woes in advance – CNN.com.

Others: Yahoo! News, “The Lid”, BuzzFeed, Real Clear Politics, americanthinker.com, Scared Monkeys, The PJ Tatler, Business Insider, NBC Politics, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Weasel Zippers, Washington Wire, The Fix, Taylor Marsh, The Other McCain, Hot Air, The Raw Story and New York Times

Good News for Seniors: Sen. Bernie Sanders Will Be On Budget Conference Committee

I think this is a good thing. Because I do not like the idea of the Republicans attempting to tinker with Social Security and Medicare.

Via The Huffington Post:

In what can only be seen as good news for people who like traditional earned-benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare, here’s one name that appears on the list of Senate conferees in the upcoming Paul Ryan-Patty Murray budget talks — Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. This ensures that beneficiaries of these programs will, at the very least, have one strong, supportive voice in the room who won’t go down in a squishy heap of “grand bargaining.” (I’m sure Paul Ryan is thrilled.)

Statement via Sen. Bernie Sanders Official website:

Sen. Bernie Sanders was appointed to a Senate and House budget conference committee to create a long-term budget plan by Dec. 13 to avert another government shutdown. A member of the Senate Budget Committee, Sanders said he looks forward to developing an alternative to the stopgap, sequestration-level budget that Congress approved late Wednesday as part of an agreement to reopen the government. “I am excited about being a member of the budget conference committee and I look forward to working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues to end the absurdity of sequestration and to develop a budget which works for all Americans. In my view, it is imperative that this new budget helps us create the millions of jobs we desperately need and does not balance the budget on the backs of working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor,” Sanders said.

The conference committee was assigned to try to reconcile differences between separate budgets passed earlier this year by the Senate and the House.

[…]

The Senate budget protects Medicare while the House version would end Medicare as we know it by providing coupons for private health insurance. Unlike the House budget, the Senate resolution does not repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would prevent more than 20 million Americans from getting health insurance. The House version would eliminate grants for up to 1 million college students while the Senate plan protects Pell grants. The House version would kick up to 24 million Americans off of Medicaid while the Senate budget would protect their benefits. The Senate budget calls for new revenue while the House version would provide trillions of dollars in tax breaks mainly for the wealthiest Americans and profitable corporations offset by increased taxes on the middle class.

Progressive Blog Corrent has the full list:

House Democrats:

Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.)
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.)
Rep. Nita Lowey (N.Y.)

From Senate Democratic Caucus:

Sen. Patty Murray (Ore.)
Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.)
Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.)
Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.)
Sen. Mark Warner (Va.)
Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.)
Sen. Chris Coons (Del.)
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.)
Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.)
Sen. Angus King (Maine)

In case anyone cares, here’s the list of Republicans:

House Republicans:

Paul Ryan (Wis.)
Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.)
Rep. Tom Price (Ga.)
Rep. Diane Black (Tenn.)

Senate Republicans:

Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.)
Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa)
Sen. Mike Enzi (Wyo.)
Sen. Mike Crapo (Idaho)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.)
Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio)
Sen. Pat Toomey (Pa.)
Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.)
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (N.H.)
Sen. Roger Wicker (Miss.)

The reason why I say that Bernie Sanders is good addition to the group is this; Bernie Sanders is an independent populist type. He is not a Obama loyalist, and he will not be afraid to stand up to the Obama Democrats.

I have always said on this blog, that the solution to America’s debt problem is not the ripping out of Social Security or Medicare. The solution is to get rid of the so-called “Free Trade” deals and the pork barrel spending, which both parties partake in. Furthermore, tariffs for all imports would pay down our debt and fund the social safety net.

Either way, it is good to see someone like Bernie Sanders fighting for the seniors and the disabled in this Country; like my aunt, who is developmentally disabled.