Liberal Democrat Insists Current Health Care Plan is Worth Losing His Seat Over: If He Insists, But if It’s Come Down to That, Why Doesn’t He Resign Immediately and Save Us the Trouble?

This Congress is so far out of control with the electorate that they don’t take the time to read the bills that are before them before casting a vote, don’t care what their voters think and are willing to lose their seats to get what they, and only they, want.

So says Democratic Senator Michael Bennett of Colorado, who thinks that the health care bill is worth losing his seat over.

It’s worth noting that his constituents did not get to express their opinions of his choices as their representative, as he did not schedule any town hall meetings during the summer break as many of his Democratic colleagues did, though he has mentioned health care in other town hall meetings. So, he’s bound and determined to vote on this bill the way that the Democratic leadership wants it, regardless of the consequences. Sounds like someone who needs to be recalled immediately, before the bill is voted on in the Senate. I don’t think he’ll step down on his own.

I’m glad he’s not my representative.

ACORN Files Lawsuit Against Government: Claim That Congress Passed a Bill of Attainder May Be Valid

I am no fan of ACORN, or the things that they’ve been accused of doing, including their roles in pressuring banks to extend loans to people who had no business getting loans, which lead to the sub-prime mortgage mess.

But when Congress de-funded the group of millions of dollars, ACORN was effectively crippled. Again, no big loss in my view.

But ACORN filed a lawsuit, claiming that the act of Congress that de-funded them was a bill of attainder, which is a law that targets one individual or group for punishment without due process or a trial, and is illegal under Article 1 of the Constitution. Individuals who are members of ACORN have been on trial, but the group as a whole has not.

They may have a point. Under the circumstances, the Congress probably should have suspended funding pending an investigation, rather than banning it outright.

How much more is this going to cost the taxpayers?

Congress "Retires" F-22 Raptor: NOT

The press is reporting that Congress has officially "retired" the F-22 Raptor, which was to replace several older models of strike fighters operated by the Air Force and Navy.

No they didn't.

They decided to end the production of the F-22, but the 200 that have already been built will remain in service for 10-20 years before the model is officially "retired" by the military, not by Congress.

Congress abandoned the F-22 Raptor in favor of the newer and cheaper F-35 Lightning II, which will be operated by the U.S. military as the "Joint Strike Fighter." They've just placed an order for more F-35s even as they cut production of the F-22.

If this new fighter can do the workload of the F-22 for less cost, then this is a good decision. In it's heyday, the now-retired F-14 Tomcat cost $30 million per copy; the F-22 cost $99 million per copy, which made many in Congress choke on the cost.

For the billions they put into the F-22, the military should use the F-22 Raptor for a while to justify the cost that was put into R&D and procurement of the F-22.

That's a financially sound decision too.

Pelosi & Co. Need To Stop Treating the U.S. Air Force Like It's Their Private Airline: If They Want Their Own Aircraft They Should Purchase Them

Speaker Pelosi & Co. are in Judicial Watch's spotlight again, and it's an old tune that the Speaker and her friends haven't grown tired of yet.

They keep requesting military aircraft to fly them around the country, rather than flying commercial like everybody else.

If they want all of these aircraft at their disposal, then perhaps they shouldn't be cutting the military budget. The U.S. Air Force is not their private airline. If they don't like that, perhaps they should contract with the Yankee Air Force or some other private organization to fly them all over the place.

I thank the Air Force for not cooperating, whether it was intentional or unintentional. They've got more important things to do than fly these Congressional airheads around.

Congress ought to fly commercial, just like we have to.

OINK!! OINK!! The Piggies are Back at the Trough Again: So Much for Change We Can Believe In

President Obama and Congress decided to break their "no pork" campaign promises and pack the budget full of pork projects.

Change we can believe in, eh? BULL HONKEY!! This looks to me like Bush III.

Someone pass the mustard, because we're all going to be eatin' this pork for a LOOOONG time to come.

Start shoveling!

Obama's Budget Has $1.75 Trillion Shortfall: He Should Balance the Budget By Cutting $1.75 Trillion in Spending

President Obama's budget spends more than it takes in by $1.75 trillion. He shouldn't stand for that and cut at least $1.8 trillion out of his spending proposals.

Yes, that's trillion with a "t." He can start by cutting out the big bailouts and let the system self-adjust, as painful as it will be. All they have to do is protect the value of the U.S. currency, as is Constitutionally required. That will leave him about $800 billion to cut in spending.

He should make these cuts now, and inject the system with a bit of self-discipline, which will help us more in the long run, rather than loaning billions to companies that will fail, unless they learn how to take in more than they spend.

But the socialists won't allow that to happen. They'll keep throwing other people's money at the problem until we are teetering on the brink. How many more problems are they going to create in trying to solve the current ones?

Stimulus is 100% Pork That Has Simply Been Repackaged: Same Thing CAN Be Done for $170 Billion

The entire stimulus bill needs to be scrapped; it's full of CRAP! The current plan has stuff in it that has NOTHING to do with providing jobs.

STD prevention, more funding for NASA, a federal tracking system for your health treatments, tax breaks for Hollywood to purchase movie film, Smithsonian funding, smoking cessation, providing public computer centers, alcohol and substance abuse reduction, Farm Service Agency computer upgrades, golf carts for golf courses and dozens of other pork projects totaling $124 BILLION, and that's the stuff that's the stuff we know about.

Pelosi & company are keeping REAL quiet about what's actually in the bill. As of 10:38pm Thursday, Congress hasn't even seen the 780 page bill that they're voting on Friday morning, and they're out securing votes for a plan that no one has even seen in it's entirety. Congress should be ashamed of itself!

Welcome to the Democratic change that President Obama was promising.

What else is in this piece of crap bill?

On a side note, I found it very interesting to read about a Congressional Blue Dog (Conservative Democrat) alternative that does what the current monstrosity of a stimulus rescue plan does, except it does it a lot cheaper and wiser.

Instead of spending nearly $800 billion on pork, which the Democratic Congress is ram-rodding through, the Blue Dogs came up with a $170 billion plan that accomplishes the intended effect of stimulating the economy and implements controls that are missing in Pelosi & Company's $800 billion stimulus plan.

And the Blue Dog plan self-terminates when the economy recovers. The Blue Dogs call it their "Strategic Targeted American Recovery and Transition Act" or START Act.

It's an interesting read.

Bill Clinton Doesn't Need to be Involved in Senator Sniper-Fire's Confirmation Hearings: Obama's Calling the Shots, Not Bill's Charities

There's been a story circulating around that former President Clinton may be called into Senator Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearings to testify about possible conflicts of interests with regards to her nomination as Secretary of State.

He's already agreed not to accept foreign government donations to his charities. But more than that, Hillary's not taking orders from her husband on foreign policy matters; her boss is President-elect Obama.

Former President Clinton doesn't need to testify. It's a side-show that Congress doesn't have time for, and can handle privately with the Clintons and AWAY from the hearings. This hearing is about Senator Sniper-Fire, not President Clinton.

Oops, did I say that out loud?

Democrats Should Keep Their 15% Approval Rating in Mind: With Fewer Republicans Around, They're in the Hot Seat

Before they get too carried away, the Democrats need to keep their approval rating in mind. As of a CBS poll from last week, Congressional job approval stands at 15%, which is half of what President Bush's is.

And with fewer Republicans around to blame, and a Democrat preparing to move into the White House on January 20th, the Dems will be squarely in the hot seat.

It will be interesting to see if they succumb to the same pressure that the Republicans did, with one-party in control of the Congress and the White House.

If anything, the Democrats are even more vulnerable, as their party is a sewn-together coalition of competing factions. There's a few triggers that we've already seen will cause the Democratic Party to splinter; remember when Pelosi and Reid decided to knuckle under to President Bush and his war budget last year? The anti-war Democrats nearly rioted in the aisles.

We'll see how this goes.

Presidential Signing Statements: President Bush Has Exceeded His Authority

In the history of the U.S. presidency, every President since George Washington has added comments to bills that they just signed; in many instances, it's to thank people who were instrumental in passing the legislation through the House and Senate; other times it's to voice displeasure with parts of the bill, or why they're supporting it, or other reasons.

President Bush has done something new.

In his presidential signing statements, he announces which parts of the bill he won't enforce. On a bill he just signed. What is the point in signing a bill if he isn't going to enforce it in it's entirety? Why didn't he veto it instead?

But that's not the worst of it. He's done this 500 times now, citing his interpretation of the Constitution and "national security." Since he's been so busy shredding parts of the Constitution that he doesn't like, perhaps he needs to re-read Article I Section 7.

The long and the short of Article I, Section 7: if the President signs a bill, it becomes law, and the President's branch of government oversees it's execution.

These 500 signing statements have impacted nearly 750 laws in all.

And it nearly equals the number of signing statements by all his predecessors--combined.

Every President has had legislation come across his desk that he didn't like, but forty-two of them were big enough to tell Congress to publicly "stick it where the sun don't shine" by vetoing an objectionable bill and forcing Congress to try an override, or signing it and living with it. But President Bush and his obsession with national security and secrecy decided to not enforce parts of dozens of laws, behind closed doors and out of the spotlight.

He should have been vetoing bills left and right, and if Congress overrode a bill he considered "unconstitutional" or imposing on presidential power, he should have filed suit in court.

This is nothing short of an all-out assault on the separation of powers. I don't like it, and some major judicial reviews need to happen to shrink presidential powers back to a more reasonable level.

The current administration is lucky that we're not midway through their term in office; Congress might have taken these five hundred presidential signing statements and turn them into parts of articles of impeachment. I don't know how the government will deal with this now, if at all.

I think after the Bush Administration leaves office, the full extent of what they've been doing will come into the light, and we'll be shocked beyond belief at what's been really going on. I'm more disappointed in this Administration than I was in the last one. I don't make that statement lightly.

What a mess.

Dr. Death Running for Congress Under Banner of 9th Amendment: There Goes the Neighborhood

"Dr. Death" Jack Kevorkian announced his candidacy for a seat in Congress as an independent.

I couldn't be more opposed to a candidacy than this one. I hope the voters of the 9th Congressional District of Michigan keep this man out of Congress. He's a one-issue candidate whose only claim to fame is killing 130 people. And the only reason he got out of prison is that he was supposedly dying.

I think he should stay on the public speaking circuit instead of getting onto the taxpayer payroll.

Congress is enough of a circus without Dr. Death adding his two cents.

WWE Drug Enforcement and Treatment Programs Upgraded: Heat From Congress Improves WWE Record

World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has taken some remarkable steps forward in the effort to discourage it's professional wrestlers from using drugs and alcohol; it's about time, and we have pressure from Congress to thank for the improvements.

In recent weeks, WWE sent the following letter out to all of it's former employees:

Over the last ten years, an inordinate number of wrestlers have passed away. Some of those deaths may in part have been caused by drugs and alcohol.

In an effort to prevent such tragedies in the future, the WWE is willing to pay for drug and/or alcohol rehabilitation at a certified treatment chosen by WWE for any performer with a prior WWE booking contract who may need this service. The WWE will pay for this service in full.

There is no cost to you or your family. Help will be provided regardless of the circumstances of your departure from the WWF or the amount of time you performed for the WWE.

If you do not have a drug and/or alcohol problem, but know you know a former WWE performer who does, we are asking you to try to help them by encouraging them to take advantage of this opportunity.

Liz (last name deleted) has been appointed as a representative in this matter. Liz has been with the company for over 24 years and has been directly involved with the majority of WWE performers who have received treatment for substance abuse. She understands emotions that individuals and family members go through in this process. Any conversation you have with Liz will remain confidential and will not be released to the public.

In many instances, an individual in need of help is in denial and will not want rehabilitation. There are professional intervention companies that will help persuade that person that they need treatment. Liz will be able to facilitate such interventions, should they be necessary. An intervention and treatment will be at the cost of WWE exclusively.

This service is being provided for performers with a prior WWE booking contract only. No family or friends. Please reach out to Liz if you think you might have a drug or alcohol problem or if you know someone who does. We all need to do anything we can to help prevent another tragedy.

Sincerely,
Vincent K. McMahon
Chairman, World Wrestling Entertainment

Four former WWF/WWE wrestlers have taken Vince McMahon up on his offer so far. This is very good news and I'm glad that WWE is responding to a dire need of it's athletes--both past and present. It may be too late to save all of them, but it's not too late to save some of them. The damage that these wrestlers have done to their bodies may not become evident for a while--and that's what's so heartbreaking about the loss of some of these wrestlers.

Some, such as the late Eddie Guerrero and Road Warrior Hawk, had already gone through rehab and had walked away from drugs. Both died young; Eddie at 38, Hawk at 46, and years after they had stopped taking drugs and turned their lives around. Hawk found Christ for the first time in his life in the last four years of his life.

In addition to the free drug/alcohol rehab, the WWE has stepped up it's Wellness Program--the details of which were sent to Congress at their request. WWE has suspended several of it's main event talents due to failed drug tests. Some are now on their 2nd strike with one to go before having their contracts terminated by WWE.

I think that if it weren't for Congress taking an interest, however limited, this small turnaround in WWE policy might not have come or would have been delayed for years, as it already has been. I hope many former WWE wrestlers are considering this offer to get help if they're in trouble.

Drugs eventually strip away a person's sense of wellness and control, and all that is left is addiction, pain, conflict, and in some cases (more so in professional wrestling), death.

This is a minor victory in the overall battle against substance abuse in sports, but a victory nonetheless.

Congress and WWE Owner Tangle: McMahon Says 'No' to Appearing Before Congressional Committee Investigating Steroids in Sports

Nebraska Congressman Lee Terry got into a verbal sparring match with World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon over his failure to appear with representatives of pro sporting leagues, such as the National Hockey League, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.

McMahon said that his attorney was in court at the time of last Wednesday's hearing and was unavailable. That did not go over well with Congressman Terry, who blasted McMahon for flipping off the committee and Congress in general. McMahon called Terry's office, then issued a press statement blasting Terry for his comments.

Subpoenas for WWE officials will probably be next.

I think some on this committee are ready to go after McMahon, who is well known for doing mocking skits on his Raw and Smackdown! shows against people he's debating, such as former Parents Television Council president Brent Bozell. McMahon took some of his most offensive gimmick wrestlers and turned them into a tag-team stable called the "Right to Censor", which was a really insulting (and at the same time funny) parody of the PTC. Right to Censor went after other offensive (and popular) gimmicks in use by other WWE wrestlers.

When WWE was going head-to-head against Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (which WWE eventually bought out) he featured a weakling wrestler called "Billionaire Ted" who was manhandled by McMahon's largest and strongest wrestlers.

This Congress is aggressive enough to issue subpoenas to WWE officials if McMahon starts making fun of this committee in his WWE programming.

Final Post on Clemens Testimony Before Congress: Hearing Made No Difference in Determining Whether Security Bill Vote Was Scheduled or Not

I've been hearing rumblings in the last several days about Congress wasting time on pro baseball while the FISA bill is set to sunset tomorrow. I'm so-so on that point.

FISA is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows for electronic monitoring, physical searches, wiretapping and business record access with the permission of a special federal court. It expires at midnight.

The Senate passed a version with legal protection for phone companies that have cooperated with the U.S. government against dozens of pending lawsuits; the House went on a twelve-day vacation without bringing it up. And the blame game between the White House and the House of Representatives has been in full-swing ever since.

With regards to the baseball hearing, the truth is that the FISA bill was not going to be approved or disapproved in the five-hour span that the nation's attention was focused on Congressman Waxman's committee hearing on baseball. Nor was the presence or absence of the second stringers involved in that committee going to turn the tide of whether the House voted on FISA or not, either.

If a House leader who could schedule a vote on FISA was on that committee questioning Clemens and McNamee, then there would be some hell to pay. But there wasn't a senior member of the House leadership, such as Nancy Pelosi, present.

So the baseball hearing had no impact on the impending expiration of FISA. One had nothing to do with the other. The House leadership decided days ago that they were not going to bring up FISA until after their midwinter break. That's what really happened.

More on Clemens vs. McNamee: Justice Department Needs to Make an Example Out of One or Both of Them

In the case of Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee appearing before Congress to give testimony while under oath, one of them MUST suffer the consequences for decisions that they've made in relation to that testimony.

Because one of them lied while under oath. Either McNamee injected Clemens with illegal substances, or he didn't. There's no in-between possible. McNamee lied, or Clemens lied.

It's obvious that one of these men, by blatantly lying while under oath, has attempted to make a mockery of our legal processes. And the scales of justice need to be brought back into balance.

While it's true that this was no court of law, an oath to tell the truth before Congress carries the same weight as someone testifying in a court of law. The only difference is that a judge can find someone in contempt immediately, while Congress must file a complaint with the Justice Department, which can bring charges using their prosecutors. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's how it will play out in this case.

Justice had representatives at that hearing yesterday, so they don't need to wait for Congress to refer the matter to them.

And all of this is on top of the mistruths that both men have already been caught in. Both should face misdemeanor charges; one should face felony charges. I am sick and tired of celebrities getting off light simply because they're celebrities.

This must STOP.

Bush Goes After Congressional Earmarks: FINALLY!

President Bush is set to sign an Executive Order, directing federal agencies to ignore funding projects that have not been debated or voted on by the Congress.

This is a step in the right direction. Congressional irresponsibility on funding is a major problem that was long overdue for a fix. Promises made by Congress to reign in pork barrel spending have been broken, and the time is right to force the issue.

In addition, President Bush has promised to veto any funding bills that do not reduce under-the-radar additions by half. I suspect that if he holds his ground, there will be some bills being volleyed back and forth between Capitol Hill and the White House.

We'll see if this plan holds water or not. I do wish he had started this at the beginning of his second term, not the end.

Law of the Seas Treaty (LOST) Needs to Get Lost: Both Houses Should Reject Treaty Immediately

The Law of the Seas Treaty (LOST) is an abomination in it's current form and should be rejected by the United States, not ratified.

The only things this treaty should address are piracy, war, salvage rights, emergency protocols on the high seas, and establishment of territorial waters.

If the U.N. wants to have treaties on protecting the oceans, preventing pollution, demilitarization of the high seas, placing all undersea mining operations under U.N. control, taxation, making the U.S. pay for the entire treaty (as the current version does), and giving the U.N. the right of eminent domain to give new technology to enemy countries, then the U.N. should draw up separate treaties and present them to members, not bind them into an over-broad LOST agreement.

And the fact that the world expects the US to pay for the treaty is ludicrous! The Senate needs to throw this treaty out the nearest window without a signature on it.

Letter to Limbaugh from Senate Condemning Him Up to $800,000+ on E-Bay; Profits to be Donated to Charity

Rush Limbaugh is maximizing the splash from the Senate's "phony soldier" maxi-screw up by putting the letter that the Senate sent to his employer on E-Bay.

To recap, here's a partial write-up of an earlier post:

...Limbaugh was commenting on a soldier who had reported seeing/participating in atrocities in Iraq on a recently completed tour. The problem was that this "soldier" wasn't a soldier at all, and had never been in Iraq. Limbaugh referred to him--truthfully I might add--as a "phony soldier," and was immediately attacked by Media Matters and the usual crowd--as being an anti-military commentator who was going after soldiers who were opposed to the Iraq War. Again, several of the networks picked up the story and ran with it as their lead story for several days. Then the Senate Democrats got involved, demanding that Limbaugh and the company that syndicates his national radio show, Clear Channel Communications Inc., retract the "phony soldier" comment immediately. Senate Majority Leader Reid made a speech on the floor of the Senate, as did several of his colleagues. They even went so far as to sidetrack their already-sidetracked agenda and put together a letter that condemned Limbaugh and demanded the retraction. Forty-one Democratic Senators signed the letter.

The letter is up to over $800,000 on E-Bay. Profits are to be donated to a fund for the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, which sees to the education children of Marines and law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.

This letter is somewhat historical, as it is a very public attack (based on blatant lies) on a private citizen by part of the U.S. Congress. I hope it is bought by someone who will see to it that this document is displayed publicly and prominently as an example of politics run amok in Washington.

Government About to Hit Debt Limit Again; Bush Administration to Ask for an Additional $950 Billion on Credit Limit

Here we go again with the debt limit. Not content with the $9 trillion plus debt ceiling, the Bush Administration requested that Congress extend the ceiling by an additional $950 billion.

That's quite ENOUGH!

This government needs to make more than it spends and lower it's debt load to a more manageable level before it's too late. $10 trillion is too much debt. It must spend our taxpayer money much more conservatively.

The trade deficit is of particular concern; as is the devaluation of the U.S. dollar against other major world currencies. I do think the brakes should be put on free trade agreements until the damage from NAFTA and CAFTA are fully assessed. Whoever said that the North American Free Trade Agreement would create a sucking sound from south of our border has definitely been proven correct.

But of more concern is this government's willingness to outspend how much it makes. Income must always exceed expenses. I think that the next President is going to have to make major cuts across the board in order to get the country's budget back into order.

And Congress is going to have to stop earmarking as they're contributing more than their fair share to the debt load with their peanut storage facilities and bridges to nowhere. The days of blank checks from the government for useless projects must become a thing of the past if the country's financial situation is to recover quickly from the financial disaster we're in.

Soldiers Want Politicians to Embed With Them in Iraq: Now That's a GREAT Idea

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have seen the beginning of something new inside U.S. military units who are engaged in combat: reporters embedded with the troops. They traveled with the troops, ate and slept next to them in the dirt, ate the dirt when the troops did, and shared the danger. And they reported as combat was ongoing.

Now some soldiers want Congress to spend some time in the dirt with them, too. Having members of Congress embed with the U.S. military??! That's a GREAT idea. This should be put into effect immediately with a six-month rotation (with no going home for Thanksgiving or Christmas either--their units will be overseas--they should be too.)

A firmer understanding of what the military is going through would be beneficial to Congress. Of course, this will NEVER happen. But it's an interesting idea.