Kathy Carpenter for Kenosha Alderman District 5

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Congratulations Taxpaying Americans, you now own another major bank

Heck of a job, Timmy and Barry.

That is right, we just bailed out yet another bank. The nation now owns GMAC.

Now I know you must be thinking, haven't we already bailed out GMAC once?

Why, yes we have already bailed them out before.

In fact, this is the third time American taxpayers have bailed out GMAC. Last year, Bush's bailout gave GMAC $5 billion. President Obama then bailed them out again in May with $7.5 billion. Today, President Obama is bailing them out again with $3.8 billion.

The additional aid for GMAC underscores both its struggles and its importance to the administration's efforts to revive the auto industry. GMAC, which already has taken $12.5 billion in direct federal aid along with other forms of government support, is the largest lender to General Motors and Chrysler dealerships and to their customers.

Treasury said that it will increase its stake in GMAC to 56 percent from 35 percent. The government also will hold about $14 billion in what amounts to loans that GMAC may eventually repay. The government plans to appoint four of the company's nine directors.

Okay, so the lists of major assets that the American people now own:

Freddie Mac
Fannie Mae
GMAC
AIG
CitiGroup
General Motors
Chrysler

You must also be thinking that this is just another loan, we will eventually get paid back by GMAC, right?

Well, not exactly...

The government is investing $3.8 billion in GMAC, increasing to $16.3 billion the total direct aid that the company has taken from taxpayers. In exchange, Treasury received securities, including preferred shares, that require the company to make regular interest payments. Both GMAC and Treasury said they expect the aid will eventually be repaid.

The government also announced Wednesday that it will exchange $3 billion of these preferred shares for common shares of GMAC stock which do not pay interest and will not be repaid, though they can be sold for a profit if the company's share price increases.

What? We demand preferred shares of stock, so the bill will be repaid and then immediately turn around and exchange $3 billion to common stock ensuring that we will not be repaid.

So we just handed $3 billion taxpayers dollars to GMAC with no intent of recovering that money for the American people?

Heck of a job, Timmy and Barry!

Then Obama's Treasury Department has the nerve to say this:

"These actions fulfill Treasury's commitments made in May to GMAC in a manner which protects taxpayers to the greatest extent possible," Treasury said in a statement.

How in the world do these nitwits have the nerve to make this type of statement?

You just gave away $3 billion in tax dollars to GMAC and told them they do not have to repay it! How does that little move protect taxpayer?

By the way, you have got to love Obama's transparent government that once again dumps this on the people during a holiday when they are not paying attention!

Oh my goodness, my head is hurting again!

"Heck of a job, Barry"

You would think that the mockery of our President and his unenthusiastic reaction to a terrorist on US soil, came from a Republican.

You would think that the person making statements like the following is far right wing radical:

Instead of modernity, we have airports where security is so retro that taking away pillows and blankies and bathroom breaks counts as a great leap forward.

If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in Al Qaeda sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counterterrorism watch list, who can we catch?

You may be as shocked as I was when reading this op-ed. A liberal's liberal wrote this. Maureen Dowd.

Top 10 most corrupt politicians in America

Judicial Watch has been known to go after both Republicans and Democrats over the years.

This year, it is no different.

What is amazing is the very same characters screeching in the 2006 election "culture of corruption" are now equally as corrupt or in some cases even worse.

Who can ever forget Nancy Pelosi's screeching for months on end about the "culture of corruption" in 2006?

About Tom DeLay, Pelosi stated "The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people."

Tada!

Now looky here...Guess who's names are at the top of the list of most corrupt politicians in America?

That is right... President Barack "most transparent government evah" Obama, Speaker Nancy "screeching" Pelosi, Timothy "tax cheat" Geithner and US Top Cop AG Eric Holder.

See for yourself.

1. Senator Chris Dodd (D)
2. Senator John Ensign (R)
3. Rep. Barney Frank (D)
4. Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner (appointed by Democrat President Obama)
5. Attorney General Eric Holder (appointed by Democrat President Obama)
6. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D) and Senator Roland Burris (D)
7. President Barack Obama (D)
8. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D)
9. Rep. John Murtha (D), Rep. Peter J. Visclosky (D), Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D), Norm Dicks (D), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D), C.W. Bill Young (R), Todd Tiahrt (R)
10. Rep. Charles Rangel (D0

Where are the media elitists?

Heads would have rolled.

If this were a Republican Senator, the media elitist would have howled in complete hysterics demanding the resignation of the Republican Senator.

This would have been front page news across this nation, if it were a Republican.

Instead, many of the media are making excuses, claiming the Senator was not slurring his words.

The Senator at the head of the awful Senate Heath Care bill was drunk and making a speech on the Senate floor. See for yourself:



I cannot believe the lengths the media is going in order to protect the healthcare bill, all Democrats and this President.

It is just staggering.

Pitifully stupid comment from head of DHS on terrorist

I know that throughout this nation's history, many a politician has made a pitifully stupid statement.

Today's pitifully stupid comment grand award goes to DHS head Janet Napolitano:

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the thwarting of the attempt to blow up the Amsterdam-Detroit flight this week demonstrated that "the system worked."

This woman is the head of Department of Homeland Security. So how safe do you feel now?

Perhaps Secretary Napolitano did not notice that nothing was thwarted. A terrorist managed to get on a plane headed to the US. He managed to smuggle explosives on board. While over US soil, the terrorists attempted to blow up the plane. The explosive was faulty.

Nothing was thwarted.

Oh my goodness, my head hurts.

Where is President Obama?

A attack, even if it failed, by a terrorist on US soil is a serious event. This is something we can all agree on.

Where is our President?

I know he is on vacation. We have all heard about the his workout at a military base and golf outing. We hear that President Obama is on conference calls and is monitoring the situation.

Imagine for a moment if this were President Bush's reaction. All hell would have broken loose. The media would have launched themselves into complete hysterics over the President's lack of attention to the terrorist attack.

There has been no official statement from President Obama or the Department of Homeland Security.

Nothing. Nada. Zippo.

As typical of the lame stream media, they are making excuses for the President. One idiot even goes so far as to say this is Obama's strategy. What a pant load that excuse is.

This was an attack on the US, not Israel, Iraqis, or Afghans. This attack was on the United States. This is the second one in our country on Obama's watch.

Geez, when will this President and his administration get a clue? No apology tours will fix this. Calling terrorists attacks, "man-caused disasters", will not fix this. The man caused disasters are getting out of hand, don't you think?

A simple statement reassuring Americans from the President of the United States, when there is a terrorists attack on US soil is all that is needed here. It has been 48 hours and the President is too busy golfing.

PS. Edited to add...The media is not really helping President Obama's case with statements like this:

But once at the Marine base, Obama had one thing on his mind. According to a pool report, the president exited his SUV and headed without pause for the course.

Hmm... Golf is a priority and the only thing on his mind. Terrorist attack on US soil, not so much.

An act of terrorism over Detroit

Er...I am sorry. My title should read "A man-caused disaster over Detroit".

CNN

A Nigerian man is "talking a lot" to the FBI, said a senior U.S. official, after what the United States believes was an attempted terrorist attack on an inbound international flight.

The initial impression is that the suspect was acting alone and did not have any formal connections to organized terrorist groups, said the senior official who is familiar with the investigation.

The suspect, identified by a U.S. government official as 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, ignited a small explosive device Friday, shortly before a Northwest flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, made its landing in Detroit, Michigan.

Other reports state that this guy did have ties to the terrorist organization al-Queda.

Here are the facts that we do know.

1. Security failed and this guy managed to get on a plane to the United States

2. The terrorist was successful in igniting a device strapped to his body. The terrorist act succeeded, but the device failed

Merry Christmas

Luke 2
Jesus' Birth in Bethlehem
1Now in those days a decree went out from (A)Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of (B)all [a]the inhabited earth.

2This was the first census taken while [b]Quirinius was governor of (C)Syria.

3And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city.

4Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because (D)he was of the house and family of David,

5in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child.

6While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.

7And she (E)gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night.

9And (F)an angel of the Lord suddenly (G)stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened.

10But the angel said to them, "(H)Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;

11for today in the city of David there has been born for you a (I)Savior, who is [c](J)Christ (K)the Lord.

12"(L)This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14"(M)Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men [d](N)with whom He is pleased."

In complete defiance of the American people...

You would think that we live in a democracy, but the Democrats have proven today that this is no longer a democracy and we do not have a representative government. We now have an imperialistic government, determined to do as they please, and tax the commoners to do their bidding.

Before we get in trouble with our new King Obama and his court jesters, we better say this first:

Long live King Obama! All hail his court jesters!


If we truly had representative government, the healthcare bill would not have passed in the House or the Senate.

If was truly a good bill for the American people, the people would have recognized this and supported it.

If this was truly a good bill there would have been no need for backroom deals.

If this were truly a good bill, there would have been no need to buy votes with taxpayer funded goodies.

If this were truly a good bill, there would have been no need to cast votes under the cover of darkness, while America sleeps.

If this were truly a good bill, there would have been plenty of bi-partisan support.

The Democrats and a desperate President have defied the will of the people and rammed this down their throats.

A few minutes after the vote was taken, I scanned the poll numbers as proof of the Democrats defiance of the will of the American people. Now this is not a single poll, but an average of all the latest poll numbers.

The Democrats will try to explain away, make excuses, etc... for their defiance, but the proof is right here:

Double click to enlarge



As we all gather with family and friends to celebrate the birth of the real King of Kings, remember this moment and say a prayer for the country you know and love. She is in trouble and we have very little time to right the ship and regain our freedom from our government.

Perhaps it wasn't a surrender

Yeah, I heard all the normal blather from folks yesterday about Mitch McConnell caving in and allowing the healthcare vote to take place at 8:00am on Christmas Eve instead of voting at 7:00pm. I know conservatives were upset by the change in the voting time.

I had hoped that Mitch McConnell would at least get something for allowing the vote to be moved up by several hours.

Kudos, Mitch McConnell.

Byron York has the scoop. Apparently McConnell did have a plan to force difficult votes for the liberals in an election year.

There's no doubt that McConnell, with just 40 Republican votes, holds the weak hand in negotiating with Reid. But according to the source, in exchange for agreeing to hold the vote on Christmas Eve morning instead of evening, McConnell got Reid to agree to hold a high-profile debt-limit vote next month -- just before the president's State of the Union address -- instead of burying the issue later, as Democrats had wanted. In addition, McConnell got Reid to agree to showcase a number of deficit-related Republican amendments, forcing Democrats to vote on issues they had hoped to avoid.

The Senate has still not voted on a bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling. It has to do so by tomorrow, before lawmakers leave for the year. Democrats have taken hits for wanting to raise the limit by about $1.8 trillion; raising it by that amount would allow them to avoid another vote on raising the debt ceiling before next year's elections. They also hoped to hide the measure inside a conference report so that lawmakers would vote on a larger package of measures and would not have to cast a vote specifically in favor of such a huge increase. When they couldn't reach agreement on that, they came up with a plan for a two-month debt-ceiling agreement, which would at least mean they would not have to come up with a longer-term agreement until February.

That is important because Democrats want to hold the debt-ceiling vote after the president's State of the Union address, in which Obama is expected to emphasize fiscal responsibility and deficit control. Given Democratic spending in the last year, Obama will have a difficult time making the argument with a straight face, and Senate Democrats had hoped that pushing the debt ceiling vote until well beyond the speech would make the president's task a little easier. Thus the plan to pass a two-month debt ceiling bill before leaving for Christmas.

Let's make a deal

When even the mainstream media is showcasing the legislation used to buy the vote or support of certain special interest groups, you know this is a real problem.

The AP:

SEN. BEN NELSON, D-NEB., who provided the critical 60th vote that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid needed, received numerous benefits for Nebraska, along with tighter curbs on abortion. Among the Nebraska-specific provisions:

_The federal government will pick up the full cost of a proposed expansion of Medicaid, at an estimated cost of $100 million over 10 years.

_Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska will be exempted from an annual fee on insurers; the exemption could also apply to nonprofit insurers in other states, possibly including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

_Supplemental "Medigap" policies such as those sold by Mutual of Omaha are exempted from the annual fee on insurers, something that would help other companies selling such policies.

_A physician-owned hospital being built in Bellevue, Neb., could get referrals from doctors who own it, avoiding a new ban in the Senate bill that will apply to hospitals built in the future. Without mentioning Nebraska or other states by name, the Senate bill pushes back some legal deadlines by several months, in effect making a few hospitals near completion eligible to continue receiving referrals from the doctors who own them.

Financial Times

Mr Nelson wanted tougher restrictions on abortion funding in the bill, but after days of wrangling, agreed to support the bill in return for the federal government permanently funding Nebraska’s bill for Medicaid, the insurance plan for the poor, worth about $45m in its first 10 years.

Mary Landrieu of Louisiana also won about $300m in support for Medicaid for her state, and Vermont and Massachusetts will also receive additional funding.

Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont and the most liberal of senators, obtained $10bn for community health centres after failing to get a government-backed public health insurance scheme in the bill.

Dana Milbanks at the Washington Post

First there was the "Louisiana Purchase," $100 million in extra Medicaid money for the Bayou State, requested by Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.).

Then came the "Cornhusker Kickback," another $100 million in extra Medicaid money, this time for Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

This was followed by word that Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) had written into the legislation $100 million meant for a medical center in his state. This one was quickly dubbed the "U Con."

Earlier, when GOP staff member mistakenly thought the medical center was destined for Indiana rather than Connecticut, they named it the "Bayh Off" for Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.).

For Democratic leaders, this created an appearance problem. Fortunately, they had removed from the bill the tax on cosmetic procedures (the "Botax") and replaced it with a tax on tanning (which would primarily impact House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio).

...

Gator Aid: Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) inserted a grandfather clause that would allow Floridians to preserve their pricey Medicare Advantage program.

Handout Montana: Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) secured Medicare coverage for anybody exposed to asbestos -- as long as they worked in a mine in Libby, Mont.

and on and on...

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Wall Street Journal

For Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and President Obama to not recognize that Americans are watching and Americans are furious, is political suicide.

I do not understand why one of these three do not have the common sense to stand up and say "stop, let's do this right", is just staggering.

Even New Yorkers saying "no" to Obamacare?

Very interesting, less than 24 hours after President Obama and the liberal pinheads were celebrating their "victory" in healthcare "reform", New Yorkers are calling to have this bill killed.

From the Buffalo News.

Now you would think after reading the following statements, that this was a conservative editorial board writing these things:

...Americans are likely to get a bill that drives unsustainable costs even higher, does not completely solve the problem of the uninsured and does little to improve the quality of medicine. And it won't kick in until as late as 2014. But taxes, mainly on the wealthy, would go up pronto.

and this:

While the Congressional Budget Office has projected that new revenues and cuts in spending would reduce future federal budget deficits by $132 billion between 2010 and 2019, no conscious person believes Congress will follow through with spending cuts.

This must be a conservative, right?

how about this:

In the weakest economy in decades, with unemployment around 10 percent, Washington can't make matters worse for American businesses, who pay the lion's share of health coverage.

Now tell me only a conservative writer would actually call the following real reform, right?

Where is the effort to combat the $210 billion annual cost of defensive medicine? Malpractice suits drive up the costs of doctors' insurance, but far worse on the economy and the soaring cost of care are the unnecessary tests doctors order to protect themselves. The bill does nothing to combat this insidious problem.

These must be conservative New Yorkers, right?

Not true.

The editorial board had this to say about conservatives:

No one likes this bill. Not Republicans — who, it must be said, would vote against Christmas if they thought supporting it would benefit Obama — and some Democrats.

These are no right wingers writing this op-ed.

The Democrats and this President are so desperate to throw anything down and call it healthcare reform, they have lost any sense of common decency.

Now they tell us

Seems the NY Times might be growing a tiny conscience.

The intended beneficiaries are identified in a cryptic, mysterious way: individuals exposed to environmental health hazards recognized as a public health emergency in a declaration issued by the federal government on June 17.

And who might those individuals be? It turns out they are people exposed to asbestos from a vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont.

For a decade, Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, has been trying to get the government to help them. He is in a position to deliver now because he is chairman of the Finance Committee and a principal author of the health care bill.

Working for a 21st consecutive day, the Senate on Sunday pushed toward a final vote on Christmas Eve on the bill, which would provide health insurance for more than 30 million Americans. Democrats said on Saturday that they had secured the 60th vote needed to pass the bill, and a 60-to-40 procedural vote early Monday morning was the first in a series testing their ability to maintain party unity on the issue.

So, Senator Baucus has added a few little goodies for his state also.

This bill is clearly not about the American people, it is about party unity and passing a bill that makes President Obama look good.

Party unity? How about the American people?

What are the chances that the American people will unite and throw these bums out?

Another $100 million down the drain

Wasn't the snow storm in Washington DC on Saturday?

It is now Monday and the entire federal government in Washington DC is closed because of the snow, costing the people of this nation $100 million.

How much does a US Senator cost?

There is some good news in this. Americans know exactly what it takes to buy a US Senator into betraying them.
By the way, the idiot reporters who keep claiming that Senator Ben Nelson won some concessions for his vote, need to start telling the truth. Senator Nelson sold his soul and won not a single concession. Nelson's vote changed because he was bought, not by getting anything tossed out of the bill, but because his state will get more Medicaid funding than every other state. Senator Nelson conceded, nothing was removed from the bill.


The deep dark side of America's wheeling and dealing from its politicians has been utterly exposed.

Our government can be bought into betraying the will of the American people.

Is this the nation that our forefather's built?

America has been betrayed by the Democrats

In complete defiance of the American people, the Democrats vote for cloture on the health care bill. It is all but a formality that massive tax increasing/government controlling boondogle healthcare plan will pass the Senate.

NOT ONE SINGLE POLL SHOWS THAT AMERICA SUPPORTS THIS BILL IN ITS CURRENT FORM.

Not a single poll.

How does any single Democrat vote for this with a clear conscience and actually state that they did this for the American people?

Uh-oh Things did not go well for President Obama in Copenhagen

I was following Twitter a while ago and the American media is just gushing at President Obama's wisdom and leadership on ClimateGATE...er I mean Climate Change.

The worldwide media is not being so kind to President Obama. I guess the HopeyChangey fever is wearing off on the world stage.

But his speech offered no indication America was ready to embrace bold measures, after world leaders had been working desperately against the clock to try to paper over an agreement to prevent two years of wasted effort — and a 10-day meeting — from ending in total collapse.

Obama, who had been skittish about coming to Copenhagen at all unless it could be cast as a foreign policy success, looked visibly frustrated as he appeared before world leaders.

He offered no further commitments on reducing emissions or on finance to poor countries beyond Hillary Clinton's announcement yesterday that America would support a $100bn global fund to help developing nations adapt to climate change.

He did not even press the Senate to move ahead on climate change legislation, which environmental organisations have been urging for months.

The president did say America would follow through on his administration's clean energy agenda, and that it would live up to its pledges to the international community.

"We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, and we will do what we say," Obama said.

But in the absence of any evidence of that commitment the words rang hollow and there was a palpable sense of disappointment in the audience.

Another unelected board raises taxes on Wisconsinites

As if this economy is not bad enough, a Milwaukee County District Board, not elected or unaccountable to the people, raised taxes in Milwaukee County.

Beginning July 1, consumers will pay a little more for food and beverages purchased in Milwaukee County.

As expected, the Wisconsin Center District board voted Wednesday to raise the tax from 0.25% to 0.50% in order to meet its own debt-service obligations. But the board also said it was interested in retiring the tax increase as soon as possible.

The district's taxes - it collects four in all - have not been raised since the district was formed in 1994, according to Franklyn Gimbel, the board's chairman.

The vote to approve the tax was 10-2. Voting against the increase was Wauwatosa Mayor Jill Didier and Jim Villa, the head of the Commercial Association of Realtors. The following board members voted in favor of the tax: Gimbel; restaurant owner Jack Weissgerber; Milwaukee Aldermen Willie Hines, Ashanti Hamilton and Terry Witkowski; W. Martin Morics, Milwaukee city comptroller; Joel Brennan of Discovery World; John J. Burke Jr., of Burke Properties; James Kaminski of Kaminski Consultants; and Stephen H. Marcus of the Marcus Corp.

Curious questions...Where does this money go? What is the debt obligation? What have these folks borrowed the money for? Who put these people in a seat of power allowing them to increase taxes?

God really does have a sense of humor

Blizzard in Copenhagen

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders flying into Copenhagen today to discuss a solution to global warming will first face freezing weather as a blizzard dumped 10 centimeters (4 inches) of snow on the Danish capital overnight.

“Temperatures will stay low at least the next three days,” Henning Gisseloe, an official at Denmark’s Meteorological Institute, said today by telephone, forecasting more snow in coming days. “There’s a good chance of a white Christmas.”

Delegates from 193 countries have been in Copenhagen since Dec. 7 to discuss how to fund global greenhouse gas emission cuts. U.S. President Barack Obama will arrive before the summit is scheduled to end tomorrow.

Denmark has a maritime climate and milder winters than its Scandinavian neighbors. It hasn’t had a white Christmas for 14 years, under the DMI’s definition, and only had seven last century. Temperatures today fell as low as minus 4 Celsius (25 Fahrenheit).

Merry Christmas, Denmark!

Proving yet again, God is in Control. No one else, not even The One!

President Obama: America will go bankrupt without his healthcare plan

Now who is scaring people, Mr. President?

President Obama told ABC News’ Charles Gibson in an interview that if Congress does not pass health care legislation that will bring down costs, the federal government “will go bankrupt.”

The president laid out a dire scenario of what will happen if his health care reform effort fails.

Is this the same type of promise that if we do not pass a massive stimulus plan then unemployment will go over 8%?

As the President was promising these dire consequences, Congress increased the debt limit by $290 billion dollars.

The real question is, aren't we already bankrupt?

The stimulus is working, but...

The stimulus is working, but they need a lot more money.

As the House was preparing to pass a $150 billion bill for additional job creation, reporters on Wednesday evening pressed White House officials on why the country needs another fiscal boost even as the Obama administration argues that the first stimulus, with $787 billion, is doing the trick.

White House economist Jared Bernstein, stimulus overseer Ed DeSeve and press secretary Robert Gibbs assembled reporters to tout the impact of the $787 billion stimulus, saying it had helped turn the economy around even though much of its force will only start to be felt in the coming months.

But if the stimulus was working as planned, reporters asked, why were congressional Democrats and the White House talking about a new "jobs" package? After his recent "jobs summit," Obama announced that he would push for tens of billions more to jolt the economy.

The question still remains unanswered. Why is a second stimulus needed if the first one is working?

The whole point of taking this nation $787 billion in debt was to create jobs.

What was the original stimulus for, if not to create jobs?

Health Care bill is collapsing

This is interesting to watch. Support for healthcare legislation is collapsing right before our eyes.

In the Senate, the bill started with co-ops, those have been removed. The co-op was really just another form of government run health care. The bill then added a public option. It too collapsed and fell out of the bill. They then used Medicare expansion and a trigger option as their government run options. They too have now been removed.

With that removal, super libs at Daily Kos have encouraged the Senate to throw the bill out and start over again.

Yesterday, Howard Dean, Mr. Health Care reform crisis, has began calling on the Senate to kill the bill and go to reconciliation.

Just to put a little more pressure on this explosive situation, the unions have called an emergency meeting to discuss whether they intend to continue to back the bill.

Just to make matters worse, a whole new round of poll numbers are out and not one single poll shows support for ObamaCare.

Ben Bernanke- Person of the year?

Boy, the liberals desperately want the economy to recover before the 2010 elections. Liberal magazine, Time, has named Ben Bernanke as their person of the year. For heaven's sake, neither side of the aisle likes Ben Bernanke.

Has he saved this economy?

Er...not really.

AMERICANS OPPOSE OBAMACARE

I have listened and read cheesy excuses all over the internet for more than 3 months from liberals about healthcare reform. When a poll comes out showing Americans against ObamaCare, the liberals make the excuse that it is a right wing poll. Even if that poll shows that more Democrats were polled than Republicans and Independents.

The time for excuses is over. It is no longer just Rasmussen or Fox News showing a clear majority of Americans hate these new health care "reform" proposals. A clear and decisive overall majority oppose the steps currently being taken by our President and his Congress.

For a moment, ignore the labels of left wing and right wing poll. Let's look at the average of all of the polls.

Poll Date Favor Oppose Spread
RCP Average 11/19 - 12/9 -- 37.8 52.7 Against/Oppose +14.9

That is just the average of all of the recent polls.

Please, someone on the Democrats side of aisle, explain why it is you are defying the American people and proceeding with this garbage anyway?

New Senate ObamaCare will not save a penny

I read about this late on Friday and have been waiting to see the internet explode on this news. But as typical with Friday night releases, the media was too busy worrying about something else, like Tiger Woods.

However, Monday always comes.

Not only with the new ObamaCare policies increase costs to the average middle class American, it still does not cover anyone. In fact, according to the New York Times, only an additional 900,000 will be covered.

Even as the budget office warned of diminished revenues should more employers provide tax-free health benefits, there are two possible upsides for the Democrats.

One is that as many as 900,000 more people might gain insurance –- contributing toward a main goal of the legislation, which is to expand coverage to as many of the uninsured as possible.

900,000 and cost will rise??

More analysis from the LA Times shows much of the same:

Analysts in the Obama administration's Health and Human Services Department reported Friday that the nation's $2.5-trillion annual healthcare tab will not shrink at all under the Democrats' legislative blueprint as being pushed by happy Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader in the Senate.

Instead, they said, the nation's medical costs will actually grow faster under the new bill than....

...they would if that chatty crowd of Washington spenders did absolutely nothing nada zippo about it. And even if they did pass the existing version for all that money, 24 million Americans would still remain uncovered.
"Although several provisions would help to reduce healthcare cost growth," the report said, "their impact would be more than offset through 2019 by the higher health expenditures resulting from the coverage expansions" to millions more Americans.

This new plan that expands Medicare to millions more Americans starting at the age of 55 actually is a the worst idea to come out of late. The Senate is moving backwards, not forwards.

Do you remember that the Senate has already agreed to cutting Medicare by $500 billion? The Senate is calling it savings, but they are really cuts in services.

Now they plan on covering millions more Americans starting at the age of 55, and they still expect the $500 in "savings"?

That does not make sense to any common sense thinking Americans.

This is the new bill that President Obama lauded as the best evah, just this past week.

Bradford's Reality Check

I had a great time volunteering for Bradford's Reality Check. Since Bradford High School is in my district, I received an email request from the Educator's Credit Union; the hosts of the program.

Here is a little ditty in the Kenosha News about Reality Check.

I, of course, worked at the Government Station. The taxes were taken out of the kids paychecks before they even made it to our table. I worked the government station with Jeff Coe, an alderman from Racine, who had done these Reality Checks before at the Racine High Schools. Before the event started, Jeff told me I would have a blast.

He was not kidding. I did have a great time. Basically our job was to just try and help get these kids through the process. One young lady approached out table with about $1000 in her "checkbook", and needed to pay $821 in child support. She went ahead and paid the child support and had $179 left. Since we were trying to help these kids, we continued to ask the basic question. Do you have a roof over your head? Have you paid you electricity? Do you have a way to work? etc. I found out the young woman with $179 left in her account still did
not have a place to live. Yikes! I sent her to the "SOS" table to try and find a part time job.

The kids were well behaved and a lot of fun. The teachers milling around really did a great job in just trying to steer the students to the right tables and helping them balance their checkbooks.

Those from the Educator's Credit Union were so helpful and so attentive to the kids. They were also very organized and kept things moving pretty quickly for the 300 students moving through the process.

All in all, there were a lot of great students, great teachers and the hosts of the event were a lot of fun.

I appreciated the opportunity to work with this program.

Merry Christmas from the Kenosha Police Department

Sarah Palin can be funny

One of the benefits of not being the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin gets to events like this and starts hitting back.

Great sense of humor from the Governor, Conan and Captain Kirk.

Do we care?

Honestly, I have to take a moment and just share something with you all.

I could care less who Tiger sleeps with or the color of their skin.

Can we move on?

Staggering Debt

Just two days after Obama pointed the finger at Republicans for the deficit(yes, Republicans did screw up), pretending like he had nothing to do with this debt, the Democrats are now proposing raising the debt ceiling for the second time this year.

I am not sure if there has ever been a US government that has spent money faster than this Administration and this Congress. Holy cow! The Democrats want to raise the debt ceiling by another $1.8 TRILLION dollars.

I do not care if you are a Republican, Democrat or an Independent; that is a staggering amount of debt the Democrats plan on foisting on the American people.

In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year’s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections.

“We’ve incurred this debt. We have to pay our bills,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told POLITICO Wednesday. And the Maryland Democrat confirmed that the anticipated increase could be as high as $1.8 trillion — nearly twice what had been assumed in last spring’s budget resolution for the 2010 fiscal year.

The leadership is betting that it’s better for the party to take its lumps now rather than risk further votes over the coming year. But the enormity of the number could create its own dynamic, much as another debt ceiling fight in 1985 gave rise to the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction act mandating across-the-board spending cuts nearly 25 years ago.

Already in the Senate, there is growing pressure in both parties for the creation of a novel bipartisan task force empowered to force expedited votes in the next Congress on deficit reduction steps now shunned by lawmakers.

As introduced Wednesday, the legislation sets no specific targets for deficit reduction, but its 18-member task force — 16 of whom would come from Congress — is promised immense leverage to force change if they can first come together behind a plan.

“This is a defining moment,” said Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), one of the lead sponsors, and New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, the panel’s ranking Republican, is already maneuvering to try to add the legislation as an amendment to any bill tapped to carry the debt increase.

As explained by Hoyer and other Democrats, that will almost certainly be a pending $636.4 billion Pentagon appropriations bill that includes $128.3 in contingency funds for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Politico

Obama gives ACORNs for Christmas?

I should say that is quite symbolic and audacious for the President to do. He served ACORN shaped cookies at the White House Christmas Party.

I mean, really...Who serves ACORN shaped cookies at a Christmas Party? Is it a tradition? Perhaps it is?




Fox News

Any fan of Cookie Monster on Sesame Street knows that "C" is for cookie.

But at the Obama White House, "A" may be for acorn -- as in acorn cookies served at Monday's annual Christmas party.

The chocolate cookies shaped like an acorn were quite a hit with Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

"I didn't expect to see such stark symbolism," King said in an e-mail.

President Obama worked with the community organizing group ACORN in the mid-90s. But now ACORN faces a host of allegations related to voter fraud in the 2008 election and has been weakened by an undercover expose that shows employees offering tax advice to a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute.

Another day, another new low poll number for President Obama

Attention Liberals, stop pretending like everything is fine. Even the polling average is under 50%.

At 46%, President Obama's latest job approval rating is the lowest ever in Quinnipiac polls, and he has an upside down rating for his handling of health care.

The new survey (Dec. 1-6, 2313 RV, MoE +/- 2%), released this morning, finds 44% disapproving of the job Obama's doing. More than half (51%) of independents now disapprove of Obama's job performance, while 37% approve.

In the RCP Average, Obama's job approval rating has fallen to a new low of 48.5%.

GOP is to blame

Have you seen a President ever whine more than this one?

Once again the President is blaming the GOP for all of the country's woes even though his party controlled the entire Congress for the last three years.

When does this President stop whining?

President Barack Obama packed an economic speech with a political punch on Tuesday, blaming Republicans for creating high deficits, mismanaging bank bailouts and obstructing efforts to reform healthcare.

MJS- You did good

I am normally the first one to blast the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when they ignore a serious problem as they try to protect their own politicians.

It is only fair to point out when they have done a good job. The MJS brought to light the rampant fraud taking place in the state's taxpayer subsidized child care program.

The number of children in the state's subsidized child-care program hit a 14-month low in October and November - dropping by roughly 6% from the same time last year and by nearly 8% since September.

The cost per child has also dropped, a fact state regulators attributed Tuesday to the recent crackdown on fraudulent parents and providers.

In recent weeks, regulators cut public funding to more than 130 child-care providers suspected of scamming the state's troubled Wisconsin Shares program. The program was designed to help low-income parents get jobs by covering the cost of child care.

In an ongoing investigation extending more than a year, The Journal Sentinel has uncovered rampant fraud within the $350 million-a-year program as well as shoddy oversight.

In August, the newspaper published a story detailing how one provider amassed nearly $3 million in taxpayer dollars, and built a mansion in Menomonee Falls with an indoor swimming pool and indoor basketball court - all while regulators ignored numerous warning signs that she was conning the system.

The story, coupled with another one revealing how government has frequently overlooked fraud in the program, triggered a flurry of responses from lawmakers and regulators. New laws have been enacted, stiffer rules implemented and several child-care providers have since been criminally charged.

"What that means is that providers are more accurately reporting children coming to their child-care centers," said Reggie Bicha, secretary of the Department of Children and Families, of the drop in numbers. "The deterrent effect is beginning to pay off."

The state issued $23.9 million in child-care subsidies last month to cover the cost of care for 56,550 children. That compares with $28.2 million in November 2008 for care for 60,417 children, according to data released by the state.

continued...

It's snowing in Wisconsin

Yes, it is snowing.

Apparently this comes as a real shock to the media in Wisconsin. It is December and snowing. Who would have thought snow would happen here!!!

December 7, 1941

Unless you were there, it is hard to imagine the hell these men and women went through.

Chicago Tribune:

On the morning of Dec. 7, 1941, Ralph Laedtke was working on a medical support vessel in Pearl Harbor when the sound of nearby torpedoing rumbled through his ship.

"I scrambled up the ladder and I saw bombs and ships exploding and smoke belching into the sky," said the former pharmacist's mate third class on the USS Solace.

Laedtke, 89, of Grayslake, and eight other Chicago-area Pearl Harbor survivors met Monday at Navy Pier to mark the 68th anniversary of the attack by Japanese forces that prompted the United States to join World War II.

The commemoration, which drew more than 300 people, included a bell-ringing ceremony to honor seven Chicagoans who died on the USS Arizona, one of several ships moored at the Hawaiian port that were sunk or severely damaged in the attack. Attendees included members of the Illinois Pearl Harbor Survivors Association and their families.

"You cannot forget the sacrifice that men and women have made, not just for Pearl Harbor Day, but for this country continually," said Mayor Richard Daley, alluding to the current U.S. conflicts in the Middle East.

continued...

Sarah Palin; Godly woman first

I know it sends liberal heads a twirling, but the fact remains, not only is Sarah Palin a Christian woman, but that is her highest priority.

Last week, as many already know, Governor Sarah Palin visited with Billy Graham, Franklin Graham (his son) and the entire Graham family.

Here are the video links on an interview conducted at Billy Graham's house

Link to Video #1 Beginning of Sarah's relationship with Christ

Link to Video #2 Personal challenges

Video #3 On meeting Billy Graham

Video #4 On Godly Leadership

Our video team also spent time talking with Governor Palin about leadership. "I believe our country has been touched by God," said Palin, "because when we formed our union, leaders back then dedicated our country to God and said that we would seek His will for our great nation.

"I think if we could get back to that humbleness," she added, "with that kind of contrite spirit, I think that we would be able to be provided more of the answers to so many of the great challenges that we’re facing."

Gov. Palin noted that it takes Godly counsel, prayer and "a collective humble heart of a nation seeking God’s hand of protection and His blessings and prosperity. I think if we could get back to that, our country will be a safer, more prosperous and healthier nation."

Our nation was founded on religios freedoms. When watching this video, I remembered a quote by the "Godfather" of the Constitution, James Madison.

"The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded."

Video #5 Samaritan's Purse

Samaritan's Purse does a great deal of work all across America and throughout the world.

Take a moment this Christmas Season and remember Samaritan's Purse and donate.

Holdren spins as Congressman grills

One more question I would have asked. Why is Congress being asked to make multi-billion dollar decisions on cap and tax even as the science is under question and incomplete according to Dr. Holdren?

Hat Tip WisGOP

Good news?

Word is out that unemployment dropped from 10.2% to 10% this month. Job losses for last month(Oct) were revised down from 190,000 to 111,000, part of the reason for the drop, I am sure.

However, I cannot find anyone reporting on how many jobs were lost or gained in the month of November.

Is it a secret?

Oh, I see...we actually lost 11,000 jobs. Everyone including the Obama Administration does not expect the unemployment to continue to go down. It appears to be seasonable hiring. By January, we are on the ropes again.

Decades?

Oh goody. It will take "years to decades" under ObamaCare to fix the healthcare system.

Don't ask me to defend this statement. This was Obama's guy making this statement.

2012

Stolen from Tammie Bruce

I want a seat at the table

There will be a job summit tomorrow with President Obama. I got the time, perhaps I should go tomorrow.

So how much exactly is it for a seat at President Obama's table?

Then I read this:

Anna Burger of Change to Win, who is invited to attend Thursday's White House job summit, is secretary treasurer of Service Employees International Union Committee on Political Education or SEIU COPE, a political action committee that gave $29,442,016 to Obama between February 2008 and September 2009

.

$29 million! I cannot afford that much. How does 20 bucks sound?

Read the rest of the article here:

A large number of union executives and academics who were heavy donors to President Obama's 2008 campaign will be at the table for his White House jobs summit Thursday.

But few big Obama donors are among the top corporate executives on the list -- and they are the ones who will bear the burden of creating the jobs that are needed to bring down the staggering unemployment rate.

And the Chamber of Commerce, with whom the Obama administration has battled over health care and climate change policies, and the National Federation of Independent Business confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday that they were not invited to attend the forum on expanding job creation.

Attention Glenn Beck

Rush Limbaugh has a message for you:

I am confused with Obama's decisions

Let me get this straight...Senator Obama was against the surge in Iraq, but as President, he is for a surge in Afghanistan.

Then the President and his advisers began talking down the timeline for withdrawal.

Is it just me or does President Obama sound exactly like President Bush here:

Just as we have done in Iraq, we will execute this transition responsibly, taking into account conditions on the ground. We will continue to advise and assist Afghanistan's Security Forces to ensure that they can succeed over the long haul. But it will be clear to the Afghan government - and, more importantly, to the Afghan people - that they will ultimately be responsible for their own country.

When President Bush talked about conditions on the ground dictating events, he was evil incarnate.

When President Obama talks about conditions on the ground dictating events, he is a genius.

When President Bush asked for a surge in troops so we can escalate this thing to an end, then Senator Obama, was leading the charge to cut and run. Now, President Obama sounds like President Bush.

All the lefties told us that if we really cared about our troops we would bring them home. I wonder if they will make the same demand out from President Obama.

I believe this is the smartest decision President Obama has made since becoming President. As far as a timeline, he seems to be walking a tight rope with his lefty buddies. The President does not sound real committed to a timeline. Worse yet, the President does not sound committed to victory, so we can leave Afghanistan.

I love the blame Bush disease that President Obama has, especially now when he sounds just like President Bush. Blame Bush and then follow in his footsteps. Slam Bush for his winning strategy and then President Obama takes credit for the miraculous turn around.

Perhaps President Obama will think that nobody will notice.

My biggest amazement with this, is how long it took the President to arrive at this moment. Of course, I was also amazed at how long it took President Bush to figure out that Rumsfeld need to go.

In the end, we still do not really have a path for victory in Afghanistan, nor does the President appear to really care if we succeed in Afghanistan.

Yep- I am confused. Things are about as clear as mud now, huh?

Edited to add: Seems I am not the only one confused.

No kidding

71% of Americans are angry at the federal government.

Anyone shocked by this number?

Seventy-one percent (71%) of voters nationwide say they’re at least somewhat angry about the current policies of the federal government. That figure includes 46% who are Very Angry.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 27% are not angry about the government's policies, including 10% who are Not at All Angry.

Increased Medicare Costs?

Hum?

Who would have thought this would happen?

A government run health care plan price has increased in price by 50% since 2006?

Medicare is once again increasing in costs. That is even before Obamacare is voted on.

Good grief- Obamacare will cut benefits to Medicare recipients by at least $400 billion. Even so, costs to Medicare recipients is starting to really skyrocket.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The average monthly premium for a Medicare prescription drug plan will increase 11% next year - and it has increased 50% nationally since 2006.

Those figures make clear why shopping for the best Medicare Part D plan should be an annual chore for people who want to save money.

"Everybody needs to check their plan and make sure it's still right for them," said Tom Frazier, executive director of the Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups.

The same holds true for the Medicare Advantage plans run by private companies that are an alternative to traditional Medicare.

This makes total sense right in the middle of the ObamaCare debate right?

About a month ago, the Obama administration told our senior citizens that there would be no social security cost of living increase for the next two years. Our seniors have also been informed that in every version of ObamaCare, at least $400 billion has to be cut from their Medicare for the plan to be able to financially work. Now this. Their prescription drug costs are going up again.

When do our seniors catch a break?

In it to win it?

Interesting Facebook post from Governor Sarah Palin today:

Heading into December and Tuesday’s announcement of our nation’s strategy in Afghanistan, I ask the President to reassure us that the administration is in this War on Terror to win.

And I’ll pass along the following from Harold B. Estes, a 95-year-old member of the Greatest Generation: “I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out.”

Thank you, Mr. President. Please tell us on Tuesday that America is in it to win.

I followed the link posted by the former governor and was amazed at this letter written to Congress.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president. You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.
Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes

McAlpin , FL

I think there is a legitimate question to be answered by our President.

Are we in it to win it or is the President just trying to buy himself some time?

Great foreign relations there, Mr. President

When even the NYT begins to question the President on foreign relations, then you know things are bad:

Mr. Obama’s own credibility is so diminished (his approval rating in Israel is 4 percent) that serious negotiations may be farther off than ever.

Peacemaking takes strategic skill. But we see no sign that President Obama and Mr. Mitchell were thinking more than one move down the board. The president went public with his demand for a full freeze on settlements before securing Israel’s commitment. And he and his aides apparently had no plan for what they would do if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said no.

An approval rating of 4% ??? Okay, now that is worse than President George Bush.

Now what exactly was accomplished in his Asia/China trip? Kind of tough to talk about our relationship with China, especially since they own us.

For Obama, going back home from a weeklong Asia trip with little more than hopes that he's laying groundwork for better cooperation could sour, fast, on Americans. He was elected in part because of his promises to restore the battered U.S. image abroad. But if the cost of that is too much listening and too little getting, the public could well grow impatient.

One sign, albeit small, that people are growing weary with Obama's pragmatic humility overseas: A mini-furor erupted in the U.S. when he bowed to greet the emperor of Japan in Tokyo on Saturday. Conservative commentators are calling it another instance of groveling before a foreign leader.

Pragmatic humility? Pragmatic humility does not sound like a good thing to me.

Take another bow, Mr. President. You are doing great.

Going Rogue #1

I have to tell you. I warms my heart to know that former Governor and VP candidate Sarah Palin currently sits on top of the best sellers list.

The media attempted to destroy her life and there she is, right there on the front cover smiling at them.

New York Times Bestseller list

USA Today Bestseller list

What am I thankful for?

Hmm.

I am thankful for a healthy and happy family.

Thankful I got to see my parents a couple of months ago. Not thankful my family lives in Texas and I live here, especially when holidays roll around.

I am very thankful for a wonderful local Italian family who have taken me in as one of their own especially during the holiday season.

Very thankful that Americans have awakened to the dangers facing us under this new Obama administration.

What are you thankful for?

Who else cooks with a hammer?

Okay, fess up, who else cooks with a hammer?

I finished making chocolate suicide cake today and used my hammer while doing it.

I have to add crushed Heath bars in between each layer. Health Bars are the hardest candy ever! Had to use the hammer.

Republicans were blamed

Hat Tip Michelle Malkin

Over and over again, Republicans were blamed for murdering a census worker in Kentucky. At least it had to be our fault because we were objecting to the ACORN administering the census. The guy was a census worker with the federal government.

You see the entire theory was that because of the whole tea party movement, Republicans had turned into such an angry mob that we were now killing people. Glen Beck and Rep. Michelle Bachmann.

Check out this flaming lunatic's blog:

Despite fomenting by comments like Bachmann's "enough is enough" (as seen in the video at right), Sparkman's death having come on September 12 (the day which Beck had called for his "9/12 Movement" Teabagger protests in D.C.), and the letters scrawled on Sparkman's chest, there is not yet definitive evidence that the hanging was tied to the Bachmann/Beck movement, though the blogosphere is understandably abuzz about it today.

After tea partiers and Republicans were accused of murdering this census worker, law enforcement was pretty quick to state that this may have been a suicide.

That did not stop lunatics. Check out this guy's outrageous claims:

That's the detail that makes you stop and think. If this was a revenge murder for stumbling upon a meth lab or pot plantation, it's hard to understand why such a big deal would be made out of his census identification card. It's possible, I suppose, that anger at the feds in general could make a drug dealer murder a census worker. But the most worrying possibility - that this is Southern populist terrorism, whipped up by the GOP and its Fox and talk radio cohorts - remains real. We'll see.

This is the same lunatic that started the whole theory that Trig Palin is not Governor Palin's son. He has demanded the Governor take a paternity test, harassed the Palin family doctor and leads the entire Trig Truther movement. The guy still believes that Trig is actually Bristol's son and not Governor Palin's.

Rep Michelle Bachmann was pretty much called a murderer because she was part of instigating the revolt against the government.

The truth is out now, the guy killed himself. It appears the guy thought he was dying, so he killed himself and tried to make it look like murder so he family would get the benefits.

You have to wonder about people sometimes.

Health Care boondoggle: Can you hear us now?

Ramussen shows that support for the healthcare boondoggle has fallen to a new low.

56% Oppose
38% Support

Since some of those that read this page think Rasmussen is a right wing pollster, I thought I would wait until there were additional polls out showing low support for the boondoggle.

A USA Today/Gallup poll out today shows support for the healthcare boondoggle is still down.

42% Oppose
35% Support

Partisan breakdown:

Democrats 76% support, 17% Oppose
Republicans 86% Oppose, 12% Support

Big Democrat problem
Independents 53% oppose, 37% support

Probably the most disconcerting news for Democrats is what Americans think of President Obama's handling of the nation's health care.

40% approve
53% Disapprove

In the meantime, Democrats in Congress and the President are in complete denial. A majority of Americans do not want the healthcare boondoggle. Why are they ramming this down our throats?

Budget

I got home about 45 minutes ago from a budget finance committee meeting. The meeting started at 5pm. So, long night. You will read some stuff in today's paper that has changed since the paper will printed.

Hang tight, for tomorrow's paper for more current information.

Why No One Expects a Strong Recovery by Jeb Hensarling and Paul Ryan

This is a good article in the Wall Street Journal, even if it is news that we do not want to hear.

One of the strongest factors promoting recovery from our 10 post-World War II recessions was an unshakable conviction that, regardless of the immediate trouble, the American economy is fundamentally strong. Based on this underlying confidence, recessions and recoveries roughly conformed to the principle of the bigger the bust, the bigger the boom, and vice versa.

Thus real growth in the four quarters following postwar recessions averaged 6.6% and 4.3% over the following five years. As the chief economist for Barclays, Dean Maki, said in this newspaper on Aug. 19, "You can't find a single deep recession that has been followed by a moderate recovery."

That may no longer hold. Since the current recession has lasted a record seven quarters—and has been marked by a near-record average GDP decline of 1.8% per quarter—we should be witnessing the start of a powerful and sustained recovery. Yet forecasts of a 2% recovery in growth are only one-fourth as strong as postwar experience suggests. Meanwhile, unemployment sits at a generational high of 10.2%.

The New Louisiana Purchase

Those people wondering if your political leaders are still for sale, look no further than Louisiana.

Harry Reid has bought Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu vote for healthcare reform. Of course, Harry Reid did not actually spend one thin dime of his own money, he used taxpayer money instead. Total cost to American taxpayers, $100 million for a health care reform bill that Americans do not want.

ABC

What does it take to get a wavering senator to vote for health care reform?

Here’s a case study.

On page 432 of the Reid bill, there is a section increasing federal Medicaid subsidies for “certain states recovering from a major disaster.”

The section spends two pages defining which “states” would qualify, saying, among other things, that it would be states that “during the preceding 7 fiscal years” have been declared a “major disaster area.”

I am told the section applies to exactly one state: Louisiana, the home of moderate Democrat Mary Landrieu, who has been playing hard to get on the health care bill.

Snuffaluffagus or Eeyore?

I am finally able to get caught up with some things after a busy week.

The week started off in a pretty interesting way. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett started of the week with a bang(kinda) announcing he was running for governor. Interestingly enough, there was no real bang.

Not even a week into the announcement, Mayor Barrett's announcement has already fallen off the radar screen. I do not care which side of the aisle you lean towards, all have to admit that Mayor Barrett's lack of enthusiasm is very apparent. Worse yet, the lack of enthusiasm state wide is even more apparent.

Maybe there are some democrats that are excited, but I have not really seen that yet.

I really got a kick out of Vicki McKenna's evaluation of the situation on Monday. She likened the lack of enthusiasm from the mayor to Snuffaluffagus. A few moments later, someone added Eeyore to the mix.

So which is it? Snuffaluffagus or Eeyore?

We all love Snuffaluffagus and Eeyore, but would you make either of them your governor?

Listen to Vicki's audio here.

Team McCain blew it

I originally posted this at Conservatives4Palin. I have since updated it for my home page.

Well, the moment has finally arrived. To those of us that are fans of Governor Sarah Palin, the year in exile has been tumultuous and long.

Governor Sarah Palin has been unleashed!

After watching and listening to numerous interviews over the last few days, the melting of Barbara Walters’ heart, the hysterics of certain McCain staffers and the dedication to conservatism with Rush Limbaugh, it is now clear that Governor Palin will not hide and will not head off into retirement quietly.

Governor Sarah Palin is part of America’s future, not just a stigma of America’s past.

Before we move into the future of this country and the dangers that lie ahead for America as we follow President Obama’s path, it's only fair to address the mistakes in the 2008 that brought us the President currently sitting in office.

I know that many in the McCain campaign are vehemently defending themselves and the mainstream media is all too happy to give them a platform to slam Governor Palin (see MSNBC, et al).

It's time for an honest reality check.

Team McCain blew it and they blew it bad.

Many of us sitting on the bottom rung of Team McCain at the grassroots level could easily look up the ladder and see that we had a big problem. Team McCain had a message problem and it grew as the election wore on.

Amazingly, today’s mainstream media is attempting to defend Team McCain and wondering why Governor Palin went “rogue”. Shouldn’t Governor Palin have just gone along with Team McCain’s messaging? When asked by interviewer Barbara Walters, Governor Palin said yes to Team McCain controlling the messaging and they lost anyway.

The message out of Team McCain was a problem from the top of the campaign all the way down to those of us on the grassroots level. The grassroots could clearly see the problem.

I stood a few feet away from a high level McCain policy adviser on October 31st, 2008 as Team McCain was making its last rounds, and asked a simple question. I asked the adviser to please give me a sixty second statement so I could explain Senator McCain’s health care policy. All I needed was a short simple answer about health care to give to the people that were calling our county GOP headquarters. The adviser managed to drone on for about 10 minutes without ever actually explaining McCain’s health care policy. Disappointed, I finally cut him off.

To this very day, I am willing to bet that not a single McCain adviser could clearly define McCain’s health care policy and make it coherent in a 60 second sound bite.

Of course, this messaging problem started early, long before Governor Palin was on the ticket and continued all the way through the election last year. Steve Schmidt, for all of his defensive babbling right now, had the McCain message heading along the wrong path for a long time.

Still, to this day, Mr. Schmidt cannot admit the real problems with the campaign. By the summer of last year, Senator John McCain was already defined as President George W. Bush. Team Obama got that message out early and often and John McCain could never shake that label.

Then Governor Palin was added to the ticket, and the messaging problem got worse. I believe that Team McCain recognized immediately that there was an energy surrounding Governor Palin. Many folks were inspired back into the political fight. Instead of guiding Governor Palin and allowing her to define herself with their guidance, they shut her down and the media quickly defined her as unqualified. Big mistake.

This was one of many epic failures by Steve Schmidt’s Team McCain. Both candidates on the GOP had now been defined by the mainstream media and Team Obama.

Probably the biggest messaging problem for Team McCain was on the economy. The economy was the problem that was first and foremost on America’s mind when heading to the polls. A clear and concise message was needed. Americans never got a clear and concise message from Team McCain.

Can anyone honestly remember Team McCain’s message on the economy? After the McCain debacle of calling the economy strong, the messaging battle on the economy was lost immediately. What I fail to understand is why Team McCain never recognized that the strongest positive message on the economy from all the candidates was Governor Palin's. Only one of the four candidates could relate to the average economic problems of Americans. Only one of the four candidates actually ran a state that is financially stable. Only one of the four candidates had ever written a budget. Only one of the four candidates had lived without healthcare coverage and has small business experience.

Team Obama’s message on the economy was clear, concise and simple. “95% of Americans will get a tax cut under my plan”.

Amazingly, Team McCain never figured out what a great campaigner Governor Palin actually is. In the last several days alone it has become painfully obvious that the problem was the ineptitude of the elitists running the McCain campaign. Team McCain never recognized the power of the average American and what they expect from their government. Governor Palin is an average American and can relate to our problems.

Americans live in a fast paced world and they like their news in short, precise sound bites. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Governor Palin managed to do on her own, what the entirety of the Team McCain did not last year. Governor Palin was asked about unemployment and the economy by interviewer Barbara Walters and the Governor gave a simple yet powerful answer on what she would do about the economy.

"I would start cutting taxes and allowing our small businesses to keep more of what they are earning, more of what they are producing, more of what they own and earn so that they could start reinvesting in their businesses and expand and hire more people," she told Walters. "Not punishing them by forcing health care reform down their throats; by forcing an energy policy down their throats that ultimately will tax them more and cost them more to stay in business. Those are backassward ways of trying to fix the economy."

In a short, concise 39 second message Governor Palin managed to state what she would do and smack President Obama on healthcare reform and the atrocious cap and trade bill. It's that simple.

It's time for Team McCain to admit they blew it on messaging so we can all move on. For the past year Team McCain has blamed Governor Palin. Governor Palin was not the problem, letting your opponents define your campaign was the problem. Losing control of the message was the ultimate mistake and that happened long before Governor Palin joined the ticket.

Surely Team McCain must know this by now. Americans are clamoring for a conservative option (not a Democrat-lite option) and we need to give it to them. Governor Palin has recognized this. Less than 24 hours after the release of her book, Governor Palin was forming a message that Americans can embrace. It is time to move on to 2010.

Added:
Even as bad as things went at the elite level of the McCain campaign, locally and statewide, things could not have been more organized. The state made sure we had everything we needed on the local levels. The volunteers arrived by the hundreds at our local office. Even though I have not seen things run better for the GOP in the state of Wisconsin, we still needed a clear and concise message from the top of the ticket. A great disservice was done to John McCain and Sarah Palin the moment we lost the message war.

Voters reject him, President Obama embraces him

I do not understand it. Voters have rejected Loophole Louie twice now. Even though the voters have made it pretty clear they do not want Louis Butler sitting in a judicial seat, twice now, the Democrats in charge have overridden the will of the people and placed Loophole Louie into a judicial seat anyway.

Wall Street Journal

As consolation prizes go, Louis Butler can't complain. After being twice rejected by Wisconsin voters for a place on the state Supreme Court, the former judge has instead been nominated by President Obama to a lifetime seat on the federal district court. If he is confirmed, Wisconsin voters will have years to contend with the decisions of a judge they made clear they would rather live without.

Judge Butler served on the state Supreme Court for four years, enough time to have his judicial temperament grow in infamy. Having first run unsuccessfully in 2000, he was appointed by Democratic Governor Jim Doyle to the seat vacated by Justice Diane Sykes in 2004. But after serving four years, voters had seen enough of his brand of judicial philosophy, making him the first sitting justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in four decades to lose a retention election last year.

continued...

Clearly the Democrats are not listening to the people. They are ignoring the will of the people when it comes to taking over the healthcare industry, car companies, energy policies and banks.

We Wisconsinites just need to learn that the Democrats are smarter than us and just let them have their way.

Where did our tax dollars go?

Remember "3 to 4 millions jobs saved or created"?

Remember "transparency"?

Remember the promise of accountability?

All of this is what we were told about spending $787 billion on the stimulus.

Now we have the person heading the stimulus who will not verify that Obama's numbers of 1 million jobs created from the stimulus as being accurate.

Politico

The chief federal oversight official for the stimulus program said in a letter Wednesday that he can’t certify whether the number of jobs “created or saved” by stimulus funds is accurate.

Recovery Board Chairman Earl Devaney was responding to a request for information by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In a letter to Issa dated Nov. 17, Devaney wrote, “Your letter specifically asks if I am able to certify that the number of jobs reported as created/saved on Recovery.gov is accurate and auditable. No, I am not able to make this certification.”

Continued...

Cut taxes?

This makes to much sense:

To address the highest unemployment levels since 1983, Palin said she would cut taxes. "I would start cutting taxes and allowing our small businesses to keep more of what they are earning, more of what they are producing, more of what they own and earn so that they could start reinvesting in their businesses and expand and hire more people," she told Walters. "Not punishing them by forcing health care reform down their throats; by forcing an energy policy down their throats that ultimately will tax them more and cost them more to stay in business. Those are backassward ways of trying to fix the economy."

Watch the video.

The disgrace of Stimulus reporting

I am certain many of you have already heard, the disgrace of the falsified and ignorant reporting for the money spent in stimulus funds.

These guys cannot get the reporting right. Congressional districts that do not exist reporting stimulus jobs. Jobs that do not exist. Overreporting by tens of thousands of jobs.

Check out this report for Wisconsin. Where did these congressional districts come from?

Even better, why is Con 2 getting such a majority of money? Madison? I want proof that Doyle actually created 8,000 jobs in Madison.

Votes by Tom Barrett

I found a nifty little tool here. This link provides insight into Mayor Tom Barrett's voting record during his time in Congress.

Typical liberal tax raiser and spender here.

Again?

Could someone get the President to stop doing this?

Americans do not bow to royalty. We never have.

H/T James T.




Up next, Robert Gibbs will deny that this was a bow.

Way to go County Executive Kreuser

Thank you, Jim Kreuser!

Taking the bull by the horns, County Executive Jim Kreuser vetoed the insurance raise the county board supervisors gave themselves this week.

Thank you Jim Kreuser for taking no chances at letting this travesty against Kenoshans get through.

Kenosha News

“I am exercising the county executive’s veto authority in the spirit of the shared sacrifices made by most of our Kenosha County employees to help us address an anticipated $5 million deficit for 2010,” Kreuser said in a news conference in his office.

Board Chairman Joe Clark, alongside Kreuser at the news conference, said he agreed the veto was the most expedient way to undo the board’s actions, which he opposed.

My guess is that this will be a gigantic campaign issue this year.

County Executive Jim Kreuser did the right thing.