The price of gas is goin’ nuts. Jobs are only barely beginning to come back. We need help in both arenas. We need more and more stable sources of oil. We need to reduce the amount of oil that we obtain from unstable sources and increase the amount of oil that we obtain from stable ones.
We need to rely on Canada, on Mexico. We need to rely more on ourselves.
And when we can accomplish that with the added benefit of creating jobs, all the better.
But the DNC won’t allow it.
Posted in Elections 2012, Energy, Environment, Politics: National
Tagged Barack Obama, Democrats, Jobs, Keystone Pipeline, Price of Gas, Republicans
In a night dominated by the republican presidential nomination there is another primary race being decided. That of democrat Dennis Kucinich.
Remember, just last cycle the man was running for President. Today he’s lost his bid to be the democrat candidate for the House of Representatives.
Just another example of the positive impact of the republican wins in 2010. Mr. Kucinich faced a democrat challenger only because districts were remapped as a result of those 2010 elections.
I’ve made the point over and over again that gay marriage is an issue that Republicans should be leading on. At its most basic, and perhaps only legitimate, issue, the conversation is one of individual Liberty. That is the ability of one person to consciously and willingly decide who to live with, form a relationship with and enter into financial contracts with.
Any other considerations aside, this is a basic human dignity issue.
But this IS politics. And if we wanna be able to advance the case for Liberty and Libertarian based policy, we need to win elections. We need to support more like-minded folks and generate momentum and a movement. In other words, we need to generate good will that translates into votes. And by alienating a group of people who might otherwise be loyal conservatives, you fail in that mission.
Posted in Liberty, Politics: National
Tagged Democrats, Gay Marriage, Gay Rights, Republican
The last few days have been interesting ones here in Raleigh. The state House has been called for a special session in order to determine if they could override a governor’s veto of the Racial Justice Act.
They could not.
However, in a very unconventional move last night, house republicans called an extra special session in order to consider overriding the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 727. This bill was designed to prevent the NCAE from collecting teacher’s dues automatically from teacher’s paychecks. In this case, the House did override the veto and the bill became law:
In an unprecedented move early Thursday, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to hold a special legislative session after midnight for veto overrides, prompting a sharp rebuke from Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue.
Perdue said the Republican-controlled legislature’s actions were unconstitutional.
The House voted 69-45 to override the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 727, which stops the North Carolina Association of Educators from collecting dues from teachers’ paychecks via payroll deduction.
I certainly agree with the legislation though I have a certain distaste for the methods involved. There is nothing stopping a teacher from going down the bank and authorizing a payday deduction for the dues to the NCAE. Nothing at all. Further, it is not incumbency upon a school district to handle the administration of the collection of dues to an outside body; that is admin overhead that should be absorber by that organization.
However, there are certainly valid calls of shenanigans concerning the method of the vote. If a body has the votes to override the veto, by all means, call the issue to the floor and vote for it. On the other hand, calling a special session at 11:15 at night in order to get that override passed in the dead of night is disingenuous.
Is this where we are with our political posturing? Is it really the case that this type of maneuvering is how business will get done? I hope not.
In the last few days and weeks we’ve been hearing a lot about the payroll tax hike/cut. Lately the pitch has ramped up for two reasons. One, the Senate was ale to negotiate a bipartisan agreement to extend the tax cuts.
For 2 months.
Now, most recently, the House Republicans have declined to accept that compromise. They voted Tuesday to reject the Senate deal and are asking for the two bodies to meet in committee. We’ll see who blinks.
However, for me, what has been lost in all of this is why the Democrats are fighting for a tax cut to begin with? I certainly understand the whole “We-They” thing, after all, the whole payroll tax cut idea was the Democrats brain child. But why, at all, do the tax more, big state liberals want ANY tax cut? Especially one that funds their most precious social program, Social Security?
Why? Because Social Security is SO broken, so in debt and so “no chance of survival” that the Democrats feel they have little to lose. In fact, they KNOW the government will “bail out” Social Security. So, in some perverse way, the payroll tax cut can be seen to be a stimulus program. Albeit not a perfect one. For starters the more you make the more it benefits you. And, you have to actually be working to benefit. But other than that, any money not sent to Social Security is just added to the bill that Congress will eventually pay.
Rascally Rabbits!
Posted in Government, Middle Class, Politics: National
Tagged Democrats, John Boehner, Payroll Tax Cut, Politics, Republicans, Social Security, Tax
So, I get the hinge. The Democrats in the Senate won a vote to extend the payroll tax cut for 2 months. The House GOP doesn’t like that bill and wants to vote on one of their own. They want the tax cut to be longer than 2 months, more like a year:
The fourth-ranking House Republican argued Tuesday that a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut “would do more harm than good.”
Now, in so far as we can reduce the tax burden for a s long as we can, I resonate with the good Mr. Hensarling, Rep from Texas. What I don’t understand however, is why even such a relatively short extension of a year is thought to be THAT much better. If you’re gonna end the tax, end the tax. A temporary reduction is just as random and unpredictable if it’s 2 months or 12.
I’m a little disappointed in both parties over this one.
Posted in Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Democrats, Payroll Tax Cut, Politics, Republicans, Tax
Most certainly, however, I am sure they are not alone. But I can’t blame ’em. Really. They’re just a victim of the tribalism going on in Washington.
So, specifically, Democrats labelled Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan as one that would “end Medicare as we know it.” And they defend this statement thusly:
“The very definition of the Medicare program is a national health insurance program for seniors which House Republicans would abolish under their budget,” the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in an earlier rebuttal of Politifact’s analysis of the Ryan plan.
And additionally:
“It seems foolish to have to parse the meaning of the word ‘end,’ but if there’s a program, and it’s replaced with a different program, proponents brought an end to the original program,” liberal blogger Steve Benen wrote at the Washington Monthly. “That’s what the verb means.”
Okay, but the silliness is obvious. Using this logic any time any program is changed, even by the slightest bit, the old existing plan would “end” and the new plan, complete with all it’s new language, would be the new plan.
Wanna change the test scoring system in public education? Well, go ahead, but be aware that you are “ending public education as we know it”.
Wanna increase the speed limit on I-40 from 60 to 65? Okay, but be prepared to defend how you are “ending the federal interstate program as we know it.”
Absurd, truly.
And I am not alone. Politifact has named the Democrats charge the “Lie of the Year”.
Republicans muscled a budget through the House of Representatives in April that they said would take an important step toward reducing the federal deficit. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the plan kept Medicare intact for people 55 or older, but dramatically changed the program for everyone else by privatizing it and providing government subsidies.
Democrats pounced. Just four days after the party-line vote, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released a Web ad that said seniors will have to pay $12,500 more for health care “because Republicans voted to end Medicare.”
Rep. Steve Israel of New York, head of the DCCC, appeared on cable news shows and declared that Republicans voted to “terminate Medicare.” A Web video from the Agenda Project, a liberal group, said the plan would leave the country “without Medicare” and showed a Ryan look-alike pushing an old woman in a wheelchair off a cliff. And just last month, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a fundraising appeal that said: “House Republicans’ vote to end Medicare is a shameful act of betrayal.”
After two years of being pounded by Republicans with often false charges about the 2010 health care law, the Democrats were turning the tables.
PolitiFact debunked the Medicare charge in nine separate fact-checks rated False or Pants on Fire, most often in attacks leveled against Republican House members.
Now, PolitiFact has chosen the Democrats’ claim as the 2011 Lie of the Year.
Go read the whole thing. There are worse things to do on December 20th.
Posted in Government, Health Care, Politics: National
Tagged Democrats, Lie of the Year, Medicare, Paul Ryan, Politifact, Republicans
A long time ago President Bush lowered the marginal federal tax rate. However, he was only able to do it through reconciliation. This meant, of course, that they were not permanent; they would have to expire. Since then we’ve been engaged in class warfare as the Left screams to reset the rate for the richest 1%. As Republicans work to prevent the tax increase, all the rage from the Democrats was that this wasn’t a tax hike, it was simply allowing the tax to go back to where it previously was.
Now, in an admittedly bizarre twist of fate, we have the Democrats bemoaning the fact if the the House doesn’t pass the most recent tax bill, it would be a tax hike on the middle class:
“The bipartisan compromise passed in the Senate yesterday received 89 votes, including 39 Republican votes, and Speaker Boehner himself just yesterday called it a ‘good deal’ and a ‘victory,’ ” the White House communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, said in a statement.
“If House Republicans refuse to pass this bipartisan bill to extend the payroll tax cut,” Mr. Pfeiffer said, “there will be a significant tax increase on 160 million hard-working Americans in 13 days that would damage the economy and job growth.”
As I mentioned, this is bizarro world and I happen to agree with the Democrats. If the bill fails and the payroll taxes are reset, it would represent a tax hike on America.
I’m just glad that the Democrats finally agree with me.
Last night I spent some time over at alan.com. Alan Colmes is a liberal commentator on Fox. He has his own radio show that I enjoy and his blog and chat room are both exceptional. In fact, it’s because of Alan that I started TarheelRed. Anyway, so, I was chattin’ up the locals and, as you would expect, found myself in the minority on many topics.
We discussed taxes, education, labor, Presidential politics and even Iran. The banter was back and forth, very quick and not unpleasant. It’s hard and frustrating, to be sure, being the only Voice of Reason in a room full of Liberals, but hey, good times.
As I left I had two takeaways:
I think that all people, from the Left and the Right, want good things to happen to people. I think all people wanna help people when they need that help. I think all people feel that everyone should contribute to society. I think we’re all on agreement there. And it goes even further.
Both Republicans and Democrats want to coerce man to cast aside their wicked ways.
The vehicle for the Republicans is Religion. Via faith and God, the Right attempts to coerce people into doing good things. The vehicle for the Democrats is the State. Via laws and guns, the Left attempts to coerce people into doing good things.
We were discussing education. I tried to make the case that given we ALL want a great educational system, up to and including college, we should work towards building a system that works. I was immediately accused of wanting to privatize education. When I admitted that would be preferable I also ceded the argument for the sake of discussion and said we could keep it public. Even in a public setting, we have room for reform. For example, disband the unions and allow administrations to hire and fire based on merit. Provide bonuses and pay increases based on performance.
The response?
I hate teachers and don’t wanna educate the poor. Why don’t I want the whole country to be educated? It’s for my own good. Even evil capitalists want and need educated children and adults.
The premise?
People, left to their own devices, will not find it within themselves to provide an educational experience that satisfies the needs of the society. And so the Leftist enacts laws, the Conservative pulls on faith, all in an attempt to coerce people into doing what is deemed to be in their self interest.
The folks felt that even college education ought to be free.
I asked them if my neighbor to the west was unable to provide college tuition for his daughter, would I be within my rights to knock on the door of my neighbor to the east and demand money and time from him, by force of gun or sword, in order to provide tuition for my neighbor’s daughter.
They laughed and considered me extreme.
I then asked what real difference is there in THAT scenario and the one where a bunch of people vote to take my eastern neighbors money via the state. I mentioned that they had a confused sense of Liberty.
Which brings me to point number 2 and perhaps the quote of the year:
Liberty Schmiberty
Sadly, I had to acknowledge that neither the Democrat nor the Republican are interested in Liberty. Rather, only forcing their brand of charity through their approved vehicle of coercion.
Liberty Schmiberty indeed.
Posted in Faith, Government, Idiots on Parade, Liberty
Tagged Alan Colmes, Democrats, Leftists, Republicans
Children! Children, gather ’round. I wanna tell you the story of the Leftist.
When someone you disagree with enters into a war to overthrow a brutal dictator, you protest him, call him Hitler and burn him effigy. It is IMMORAL to use force against a foreign nation in an attempt to overthrow an evil brutal dictator.
But. But….if Barack Obama would like to do the same, it is okay if:
See, if one President goes to the United Nations and obtains resolution after resolution forcing the evil bad-guy dictator to allow this or allow that, and the evil bad-guy dictator doesn’t, AND the President gathers a coalition of foreign nations to assist in the overthrow of that evil bad-guy dictator AND that President goes to, you know, CONGRESS, AND….AND Congress authorizes force to remove evil bad-guy dictator AND that evil bad-guy dictator is captured AND that evil bad-guy dictator is imprisoned with human right’s representatives on guard AND that evil bad-guy dictator is given a trial and found guilty; well, THAT is immoral and the President is a douche.
He is greedy and is Hitler.
But, if the other President is Barack Obama, well, then we can target the evil bad-guy dictator in an assassination attempt, never go to Congress, the UN or any other body, watch as he is strung up on the hood of a truck like a deer, beat and shot without trial THEN allowed to have his body, decaying, be placed on public display for all to see while crooning:
We came, we saw, he died.
THAT is a foreign policy success, and the President is macho.
The Left is without morals. They have none. Which is why they try to legislate morals to force ME to abide by ’em. They demand the rich donate to charity, but never do the same. They demand that the Right care for the poor, but never do the same. They scream that the Right engages in immoral wars, yet don’t care that they are the worst offenders.
They legislate others to do what they themselves can’t or won’t.
Posted in Diplomacy, Government, Liberty, Politics: International, Raising Men, States Behaving Badly
Tagged Democrats, Leftists, Libya, Muammar Gaddafi