Category Archives: Malfeasance in Office

Friday Follies for March 14, 2014

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Coyotes are back. Mrs. Crucis and I were awaken around 1:30am when several coyotes started howling. That was soon followed by yipping, then growling and fighting. I fear one of my neighbors let their pet stay outside in the warmer weather and they became lunch for the coyotes.

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If you are not, what Rush calles a ‘low information’ voter, or not interested in the news, you may not have seen this Drudge headline:

DOJ PULLS FBI OFF HARRY REID

It appears the FBI investigators were getting too close and were about to get the real dirt on Harry Reid. Holder couldn’t let that happen, so he recalled the FBI. They asked, and someone granted permission, to give the local Utah prosecutors their case…along with all the evidence. It’s up to those local prosecutors, now, to do the job that rightfully belongs to the FBI. ‘Course, that assumes we have a law-abiding federal administration, not the criminals currently in authority in the DOJ.

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Chrissy Matthews must have read my post earlier this week. He’s throwing in the towel on the dems retaining the Senate after November.

Chris Matthews is already bracing for a disappointing November for Democrats, and he sees little that can be done to change that outcome.

“It’s going to be very hard to hold the Senate — I think the Senate goes,” he said on Morning Joe on Thursday. “I think we heard from the Ghost of Christmas Future this week; they’re going to lose the Senate,” he added, referring to Republican David Jolly’s victory Tuesday in Florida’s special congressional election.

Matthews offered his own campaign advice for Democrats if they want to minimize the damage this fall: Go all-in on scare tactics. He encouraged Democrats to up the ante on various issues, such as framing voter-ID laws as attacks on minorities and pro-life measures as attacks on abortion rights. — The National Review.

According to Matthews, the only hope for democrats is to lie and smear their opponents. Isn’t that business as usual for democrats?

Matthews looked at the results of the Florida Jolly (R) vs. Sink (D) election and panicked. The democrats used their usual tactics in a district that twice voted for Obama. It was a done deal, they thought.

Sink campaigned on the usual democrat Eco-wacko topics and attempted to paint Jolly is a “flat-earth” denier. Jolly didn’t take the bait. Instead he hammered on one issue—time, after time, after time: Obamacare. Jolly, an unknown Washington lobbyist won. Sink, the democrat golden-girl didn’t.

‘Pubbies, there is a lesson there if you’re smart enough to learn it.

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Erick Erickson has a column today about Lindsey Graham selling us out on another ‘hot mic’ incident recently. Do you ever wonder why you never hear about these incidents on the MSM. You shouldn’t. They only mention ‘hot mic’ bloopers when it affects ‘pubs. In this case, they didn’t want anyone to know Graham was betraying us again—especially before a primary.

IMF Bailout Exposes Schism in Party

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  March 13th, 2014 at 03:50 PM

If you are looking for an illustration of why we need to replace most of these failed Republican incumbents, look no further than Lindsey Graham’s hot mic comment to John Kerry today.

As I noted earlier, Senate Democrats have attached to the Ukraine bill an IMF bailout that will weaken our power on the international stage.  McConnell and the Senate Republican Surrender Conference are willing to capitulate.  However, as of now, Speaker Boehner is opposed to the IMF provision.  Take a look at this video and watch Lindsey Graham sell us out to Kerry.   After Kerry pitched the IMF proposal to the Senate committee, Graham was caught reassuring Kerry: “Hey John, good job. Let me know what I can do to help you with Boehner.”

This type of behavior will not change with a Senate majority so long as the same members are in charge.

On the other hand, Senator Cruz is taking the lead on the issue.  He is sending a letter to Senate colleagues urging them to oppose this rider to the Ukraine loan bill.

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Obama continually amazes me with his stupidity and lack of business and economic sense. I guess if you’re a ‘community organizer’ you don’t need intelligence. His latest scheme for income equality concerns overtime.

Obama signs order to revise overtime pay rules

By |

President Obama on Thursday unveiled his latest initiative to boost workers’ pay, saying he wanted to “restore the common-sense principle behind overtime.”

Obama signed an executive order directing the Labor Department to develop new rules to expand the number of Americans who can receive overtime pay. The president was joined by workers he said would benefit from the strengthened rules at a White House event.

The move is the latest executive action Obama has taken this year to push his economic agenda in the face of opposition from the GOP-controlled House. He has signed orders raising the minimum wage for new federal contract workers and created new public-private partnerships on manufacturing and education.

Obama has said that he will work with Congress on his economic agenda where he can but will move unilaterally where lawmakers fail to act.

“I’m going to do what I can on my own to raise wages for more hardworking Americans,” the president pledged.

“I’m going to use my pen to give more Americans the chance to earn the overtime pay they deserve,” he continued. “If you have to work more, you should get paid more.”

The president is asking Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to expand the number of workers who qualify for overtime by revising an exemption that allows employers to avoid paying overtime to employees deemed to have managerial positions and who are paid more than $455 a week.

For most of my working life, I’ve been salaried. I did work hourly for a short period before I went into the Air Force (no overtime allowed per union rules.) Thereafter I was in salaried positions as a manager or as a professional. My boss told me that being salaried meant I never had to ask for overtime. I was paid to get the job done, not by the hour. He was right. I usually worked more than forty hours per week. Often, much more than forty, much, much more.

The difference was that as a salaried manager or engineering profession, I wasn’t paid overtime…nor did I expect it. If I met my work goals, I kept my job. If I exceeded those goals, I received a bonus at the end of the year. Frequently those bonuses were five-digit ones.

Under Obama, that would all change. No more bonuses and overtime would be strictly regulated—read that is seldom. You see, overtime is an expense that must be budgeted and funded up front.

Bonuses are paid from the profits you helped make for your employer. No profits, no bonus. Overtime, however, has to be paid, if actually worked, regardless of profitability.

What will be the result of this scheme? Fewer jobs. The cost of doing business just went up. Employers must budget costs against expected revenue. If that revenue doesn’t appear, the company takes a profitability hit. No profits, no jobs.

Democrats and liberal just can’t, or won’t, understand that simple piece of business math. Increased cost, such as making all those formerly salaried jobs, hourly, is a cost…an expense. It’s no joke Rush Limbaugh calls his show and his products, ‘profit’ centers. All too many employers have people work in ‘cost’ centers.

What’s the difference? HR, for example, is an expense, a cost of doing business.  Their primary purpose is to insure a company complies with employment—local, state, and federal, law. Salesmen sell. They bring revenue to the company. They are a profit center. HR = cost, Sales = revenue. HR is on the expense side the balance sheet, Sales are on the income side of that same sheet. When costs exceeds or equals income, the company makes no profit. No profit, no company and no jobs. Isn’t that easy to understand?

Obama is just stupid, stupid, stupid!

 

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Malfeasance in Missouri

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An article was published, surprisingly, in the Kansas City Star that damns Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Chris Koster. Koster for current and potential acts as Missouri’s Attorney General, and Nixon when he held the same post.

The case in question, is about a murder trial. A woman was murdered in her home in November 1990. The Sheriff was incompetent. Instead of investigating, as he was required, he allowed a private investigator, hired by the victim’s family, to be the investigator.

Major error #1. The PI concocted a scenario that fit—blame a neighbor who didn’t have an alibi because he was home asleep. The PI also ignored other avenues of investigation. The local prosecutor declined to file charges.

That’s where Jay Nixon stepped in. He needed a win. His reputation was in tatters and he wanted to run for Governor. He assigned an assistant AG to prosecute the case. That AG, Kenny Hulshof, withheld information from the Court and from the defense attorney. Those acts, hiding evidence, was illegal and prejudicial. The defendant, Mark Woodworth, was convicted.

During the trial review, some of the errors were noted and a new trial was ordered. Another assistant AG prosecuted and withheld still more evidence in the second trial. The Woodworth was convicted again.

But the friends and family of Woodworth didn’t give up. They fought and acquired another judicial review. In 2010, Boone County Judge Gary Oxenhandler was tasked with that review.

Oxenhandler said he was convinced that had the investigation and prosecutions been handled properly, “no jury would have convicted Woodworth of the crimes charged.” — KC Star.

The Supreme Court set aside Woodworth’s conviction.

At this point, Chris Koster enters the scene. He vowed to try Woodworth again. Never let it be said that Koster let an opportunity to allow an injustice pass him by.

On a change of venue, the Judge reviewed the case. In his order, returning the case to the Livingston County prosecutor, the judge said, “Given the history of this case, at this point in time there is absolutely no reason the office of attorney general should prosecute this case.” His other comments included the phrases, “a manifold injustice,” and, “the concept of ‘due process of law’ took flight.“

… in a stunning rebuke to some of Missouri’s most powerful politicians, Platte County Judge Owens Lee Hull Jr. has ordered the state attorney general’s office off the case. — KC Star.

Now, Koster has lost his opportunity to continue this example of governmental malfeasance. In all this, besides Nixon and Koster, is another well known name. The initial prosecutor against Woodworth, was Kenny Hulshof, who later was elected to the US House.

The final word in this travesty of justice comes from the article in the Kansas City Star.

As is usually the case, those who mismanage criminal justice meet with few consequences. Nixon spent 16 years as attorney general and moved up to governor. Hulshof served 12 years in the U.S. Congress. Courts have raised serious questions about his handling of several cases during Hulshof’s time as Nixon’s assistant in the attorney general’s office.

Now Koster, another attorney general with big political ambitions, has held a third trial over the head of a man who already has been subjected to two unjust prosecutions and years of lost freedom. — KC Star.

You can read the entire article, here, as reported by Barbara Shelly. Woodworth is currently out of prison, on bond, waiting for the Livingston County prosecutor’s decision whether a third trial is warranted.

When you have democrats in offices of authority, examples of malfeasance seems to be the norm. Democrat Cass County Prosecutor Teresa Hensley, mimics the policies of Koster. She has refused to investigate and prosecute clear cases of malfeasance in the Cass County Clerk’s and Collectors offices—violations of the State nepotism statues and possible fraudulent payments to close relatives.

Hensley went so far, in one case, to have the AG research for any excuse to not prosecute. They came up with one that insiders in Jeff City agree was not applicable. However, Hensley seized the excuse and ran with it.

In the case of the County Clerk, a democrat associate Circuit Judge, who has since left office, declared the Clerk could not be charged for violations that had occurred during a previous term. When proof was provided to Hensley that acts also occurred during the Clerk’s current term, Hensley refused to acknowledge the evidence and has refused to act.

Democrats protecting corrupt democrat office holders.

Wherever democrat politicians are involved, you can be assured, whatever is being done, will not be hindered by law. Lawlessness is the motto of the democrat party from the lowest level of local government, to the county, state and federal governments.

When government is lawless, why should anyone obey the law?

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/29/4785479/koster-furthered-injustice-against.html#storylink=cpy
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Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/29/4785479/koster-furthered-injustice-against.html#storylink=cpy.”
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Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2014/01/29/4785479/koster-furthered-injustice-against.html#storylink=cpy

 

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Democrats Lite

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Judge Napolitano appeared last night on FOX news debating Juan Williams on the passage of the Ryan-Murray budget bill in the House. Boehner gained kudos from  Juan Williams and the Left.

Judge Napolitano On Budget Deal: “No Distinction Between Boehner And Pelosi”

JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: The speaker has demonstrated a poverty of leadership. The speaker has demonstrated that he can. —

BRET BAIER: Wait a second, he just got 332 votes.

NAPOLITANO: Well, he did get 332 votes because he got the Democrats to vote with him and he scared — and he lost the Republican who retain the value of small government. This doesn’t decrease the deficit, it adds to it. It doesn’t decrease the debt, it adds to it. It spends $63 billion more than we are spending now. It obliterate the concept of the sequester which they said was going to decrease all this stuff two years ago. This is an absolute fraud. They’re afraid of reality. They have no sense, the Republican establishment. They have no sense of small government values that they were elected to put into law.

JUAN WILLIAMS: Wow, tell us how you feel.

NAPOLITANO: This is basically Democrat lite. There is no distinction between John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi on this.

BAIER: What about the argument that Charles makes, Judge, that holding off the government shutdown allows Republicans to focus on what they want to focus on, which is Obamacare and other things to win elections because they need W’s on the board.

NAPOLITANO: It used to be a basic tenet of Republican principles you don’t have what you don’t have and you don’t go in more debt. They are spending a trillion and a half more than they are taking in and that is simply unacceptable. It’s going to make matters far worse. That $17 trillion will be $20 trillion at this rate at the end of President Obama’s term.

WILLIAMS: Listen, they are doing the right thing finally. Let me just tell you something, they’re doing the right thing for the American people and for Republicans. You have just written off, by the way, the majority of the Republicans on the Hill because the majority voted for this bill.

— RealClearPolitics, December 12, 2013.

Yes, Juan, perhaps we should just write off the majority of the ‘Pubs on the Hill. They aren’t representing us!

In other news, Texas Senator, and McConnell’s #2 in the Senate, John Cornyn acquired a strong primary opponent.

Stockman issues serious challenge to Cornyn in Texas senate race

Thursday, December 12, 2013 – Liberty In Our Time by Dave Nalle

AUSTIN, Texas, December 10, 2013 — One minute before the Texas filing deadline for primary candidates on Monday, Senator John Cornyn received a serious primary challenge from conservative Congressman Steve Stockman.

Stockman declared war on Cornyn in an uncompromising press release, calling Cornyn a “Harry Reid Republican,” calling him a “liberal” in almost every sentence and referencing Cornyn’s record of supporting Obamacare and big government in the Senate and his opposition to conservative candidates like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio as head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

Stockman’s comments point pretty clearly at his strategy for the campaign with multiple references to recently elected Senator Ted Cruz. Despite the attacks he has faced from the left and in the national media, Cruz is hugely popular among conservatives and Republican voters in Texas. Stockman’s goal in the campaign will be to convince voters who like Cruz that they would like to have another Senator like Cruz to replace Cornyn.

When reached for a comment Monday evening, Stockman said “John Cornyn seems to only be a conservative around election time. For the other five years of his term he spends his time violating Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment and undermining conservative Republicans as we saw with his misguided attack on Ted Cruz.”

Cornyn’s record in the Senate gives Stockman plenty to work with. With votes for Medicare Part D, TARP, the NDAA and PIPA, Cornyn seems to line up with Democrats and Senate moderates like John McCain and Lindsey Graham pretty consistently. Cornyn has a record as a big spender, raising the debt limit 8 times, voting for the Fiscal Cliff deal that raised taxes on 77% of Americans and voting against fiscally responsible Senate budget proposals. Cornyn’s recent vote against defunding Obamacare and his derisive public attack on Ted Cruz after his record setting floor speech against the president’s troubled healthcare plan have made Cornyn particularly unpopular with Texas voters.

Although Cornyn had drawn no major challengers prior to Stockman’s last minute filing, a poll taken by Public Policy Polling a month ago showed that 49% of Republican primary voters wanted a major conservative candidate to run against Cornyn. Cornyn’s approval rating has dropped to 33%. The poll also showed that 62% of Republican primary voters prefer Cruz to Cornyn.

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So it begins…

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Yesterday, Harry Reid detonated the nuclear option in the Senate by arbitrarily changing the Senate rules concerning federal appointments, including the Judiciary. Before Reid’s act, appointments required a 60 vote super-majority. Reid changed that to a simple majority.

Immediately after the vote, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) called for more reforms—eliminating the filibuster for legislation. Harkin’s call for eliminating the filibuster was retaliation against Senator Ted Cruz’s and Rand Paul’s filibusters this year.

Reid’s act and Harkin’s call to eliminate all filibusters is a blatant power grab effectively making the Senate a democrat rubber stamp. The days of polite discussion, of gentlemanly discord are gone. The democrats have known this for decades. The ‘Pubs, hopefully, have finally realized the same. Politics has turned bloody. When will the ‘Pubs realize you don’t show up unarmed to a gun-fight?

I’ve said before, our current history appears to be a repeat of those days before the start of the Civil War in 1860. The issue then was not solely about slavery, although that was a very significant issue. A major issue at that time was the loss of political power by the Southern States to the more populous and economically powerful North. Tariffs and trade issues were passed that favored the North to the detriment of the South, issues that reduced the South’s trade with Europe. The result, when the South saw no other recourse,  was Secession.

Reid’s act yesterday followed immediately by Harkin’s call to eliminate all filibusters is another step that mirrors the conditions immediately before December, 1860. South Carolina seceded on December 20, 1860. Is it coincidence that Reid’s elimination of 225 of Senate tradition, of a history of a balance of power, happened in November? Are we approaching a day like that of 153 years ago?

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Positive Discrimination. What is that? It’s better known by its other name, Affirmative Action. Erick Erickson was invited to a debate on the issue at Oxford in the UK. The debate subject was “that positive discrimination is a necessary evil.”

Oxford Union Results: Winner

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  November 21st, 2013 at 08:03 PM

It is after midnight here in Oxford, UK as I write this.

Tonight, I debated in the Oxford Union — a society that has gathered each Thursday night for a black tie debate since 1823.

The proposition debated tonight was “that positive discrimination is a necessary evil.”

The side favorable to the proposition went first and vice versa to the end with me as the final speaker of the night. Each side had four participants — one student and three guests. The proponents included both Martin Castro and Ada Meloy, along with Carla Buzasi and Oxford student Toby Fuller. My side included Richard Kahlenberg, Heather McGregor, and Oxford student Martine Wauben.

I must thank Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity for encouraging me toward talk radio. I spoke for 8 minutes unaided by notes, which would have been impossible, but for two years of doing a talk radio show consisting of just me talking with no script. If you’ve ever seen the British House of Commons, you know how it went. We all stood beside dispatch boxes given by Winston Churchill. We all were interrupted by points of information by opponents.

Everyone told me I should expect to lose. Just last week the Oxford Union voted against patriotism. I simply made the point that positive discrimination, or affirmative action, is still discrimination and evil is still evil. Likewise, I pointed out that the United States is 150 years removed from the Gettysburg Address, we have our first black President, and we still have people clamoring for positive discrimination. We cannot trust that those who benefit from it will ever say we need no longer have it.

Likewise, I pointed out that we have had and will always have racism. A government that claims we are equal under the law, but still sees racism is not a government we can expect to write a law to dramatically get rid of racism.

But we do know that those negatively affected by positive discrimination will be bitter and those who benefit from it will always be under a lingering doubt that they were chosen as tokens, not on merit.

I had a wonderful time, topped off by a pint of Guinness with my wife and friends. Thanks for the prayers along the way. A guy who sounds like me somehow convinced a group of Brits that affirmative action is wrong.

My side won by 9 votes.

I agree with Erick Erickson. Discrimination, positive and negative, is evil and must be abolished. I prefer a meritocracy, myself.

mer·i·toc·ra·cy  (mr-tkr-s)n.pl.mer·i·toc·ra·cies

1. A system in which advancement is based on individual ability or achievement.

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An act of tyranny. The FEC by a 3-2 vote, refused to grant an exemption to the Tea Party Leadership Fund allowing them to keep their donar list private. The FEC has granted exemptions to the NAACP and the Socialists Worker’s Party but not the Tea Party.

Divided FEC rejects tea party group’s bid to conceal donors

Groups said disclosure opened door to harassment

By Kellan Howell – The Washington Times, Thursday, November 21, 2013

A sharply divided Federal Election Commission on Thursday denied a request from a leading tea party group for an exemption from disclosing its financial backers to protect them from harassment.

The FEC board voted 3-2 against a motion to exempt the Tea Party Leadership Fund. The fund will have to continue to disclose donors who contribute more than $200, despite its contention that its donors should be given an exemption given to special persecuted groups such as the Socialist Workers Party and the NAACP during the civil rights era.

FEC Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub, quoting Supreme CourtJustice Antonin Scalia, said “requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed.”

Commissioner Steven Walther, who also voted against the fund’s motion, said the group was “not a minor organization” requiring special protection from the normal rules of disclosure.

The TPLF “has a lot more muscle and a lot more money,” Mr. Walther said. “I don’t think the donors are really worried about threats to themselves and safety issues that plagued the Socialist Workers Party.”

But Commissioner Matthew Petersen, one of the two Republican members of the panel who supported the exemption request, said the TPLF’s petition documenting past harassment justified the group’s request. The fund submitted more than 1,400 pages containing examples of harassment, ridicule and threats against tea party members from the media and the general public. The submission also noted the still-simmering scandal over whether the Internal Revenue Service deliberately targeted some conservative groups applying for federal tax-exempt status for special scrutiny and regulatory delays.

The case of the TPLF, Mr. Petersen said “is just as strong as, if not stronger than that of the Socialist Workers Party. I think [TPLF] is entitled to exemption.”

The FEC will grant exemptions to leftist, socialist organizations but not to conservative ones. This is what we get when Obama and the dems have unlimited power to appoint heads of federal agencies.

Tick…tick…tick…

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Ducking and Running plus other items

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Obama is expected to arbitrarily change Obamacare today to allow people “to keep their old insurance.” There’s two problems with his turnaround on the failure of Obamacare. First, he doesn’t have the authority to make these changes. Yes, I know, he’s already done so numerous times for his corporate and union buds. Those exceptions weren’t legal, either.  The second problem is—those policies no longer exist and are, themselves, illegal to be sold under Obamacare. Obama can’t, with a wave of his hand, recreate plans that no long exist.

Whoops!

More lies from the Liar-in-Chief.

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The light-bulb banner, ‘Pub representative Fred Upton, has proposed a bill to modify Obamacare to correct some of the problems. There are numerous problems with Upton’s bill. First, it creates additional issues—shall we say more unintended consequences, and, while Upton and some ‘Pubs, like Vicky Hartzler who is co-sponsoring the bill, think it will gain dem support, it is stepping into a dem trap.

You see, in the Senate, Mary Landrieu, D-LA, has a plan, too. One that is even worse than the Upton bill, if that’s possible. So what happens if Upton’s bill is passed in the House? It reaches the Senate, where Reid will swap it for Landrieu’s bill and send it back to the House. If the ‘pubs don’t pass it, they’ll be blamed for “not fixing Obamacare.” If they pass it, it just makes Obamacare worse and saves Landrieu’s butt because of the backlash from her constituents over her votes for Obamacare.

Yes, It’s a Trap.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  November 14th, 2013 at 02:24 AM

Since yesterday afternoon a bunch of good Republicans who’ve decided to put their faith in the man who banned the incandescent lightbulb, have been telling me how wrong I am for thinking the Upton Plan is a trap.

Folks, it is a trap. You may not think it is a trap, but the Democrats are going to use it to turn the tables on the GOP

Certainly Upton and House Republican Leaders do not think it is a trap, but it is one the Democrats have flipped skillfully on the GOP.

First, understand that Upton is messaging legislation. It allows everyone in Congress to say they support people being able to keep their healthcare plans, but it lacks measures to force insurance companies to let people keep their plans. It is a paper tiger.

But Republicans are starting to pick up worried Democrat votes for the Upton legislation who feel they must stand for something with 2014 on the horizon.

So Upton will pass. It will be “bipartisan.”

Democrats, meanwhile, need to get Mary Landrieu and a host of other red state Democrats re-elected. The President’s law be damned, they want to save their Senate majority. Remember, Obamacare already has embedded in the law provisions bailing out insurance companies and the Democrats and Republicans have shown themselves perfectly comfortable bailing out businesses deemed “too big to fail” in the past. Insurance companies participating in the exchanges will be deemed “too big to fail” I guarantee. So the Democrats can hurt insurance companies and undermine their own exchanges, but the government will bail out the insurance companies affected under the terms of Obamacare as already written.

The House would send the Senate the Upton measure. The Senate Democrats will respond, “But Upton has not teeth. Landrieu has teeth.” The Senate will substitute Landrieu’s legislation for Upton’s, send it back to the House, and watch the GOP try to explain why they say their for letting people keep their health insurance plans, but will not actually force insurance companies to let people keep those plans.

Yet again, the GOP will be cast as the tool of insurance companies and Mary Landrieu as the savior of plans people already have. Republicans will cave. They’ll console themselves thinking Landrieu’s bill will undermine Obamacare and cause it to collapse.

Upton’s legislation by itself isn’t worth worrying about. But Upton passed with Landrieu’s bill still on the table gives the Democrats the offense back. Republicans will absolutely flub the response and, embarrassed, vote for Landrieu. If you don’t believe me, Fred Upton is open to Landrieu’s plan himself.

Lots of Republican pundits and folks at the NRSC are giddy thinking Landrieu will blow up Obamacare. No. It will deliver even quicker rate shock to Americans, but it will not stop Obamacare. Landrieu will do much harm, but it won’t somehow repeal or obstruct Obamacare.

The GOP is getting too clever by half. They need to just demand full repeal of Obamacare — not let Democrats like Landrieu save themselves while claiming to fix the unfixable.

Obamacare is not fixable. If anything, Landrieu shows just how unfixable it is.

In any event, this is all going to become academic as I expect the President, by the end of this week, to find some new way to claim he is saving people without Congress doing anything and then put the GOP leadership on defense where GOP leaders will spontaneously and pre-emptively blame Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and do whatever the President wants them to do.

Republicans thought themselves clever, but the Democrats are baiting a trap of the Republicans’ own design. The Democrats, and especially the President, want to be thrown in that briar patch.

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Military deaths aren’t always due to combat nor to enemy action. Sometimes, they occur during training. A number of years ago, some Marines, being trained on a mortar, were killed when a round detonated while being loaded into the tube. Apparently, it’s happened again.

Being in the military is a hazardous job. A young man from our church is in the Navy attending A-school. We pray for him daily.

Some times, deaths occur during normal operations. While such deaths are regrettable, and while operations are conducted as safely as possible, sometime, through no one’s fault, military members die in the course of their duties.

I witnessed one such incident. I was in the Air Force stationed at Richards-Gebaur AFB on the south side of Kansas City. R-G AFB, being situated in the center of the country, was a fuel stop for many aircraft from all services when travelling from coast to coast. There were other military airfields close by, Leavenworth, and Whiteman AFB, but they weren’t used. Leavenworth’s field was too short for some aircraft. Whiteman AFB was a SAC missile base and closed to most traffic, military and civilian alike. That left Richard-Gebaur as the favored fuel stop…and allowed for crew and passengers a change to use the ‘facilities’ and get something to eat.

It was early morning, bright and clear. I don’t remember the date nor month except it was in the Fall and the weather was warm. I had just stepped out of a building facing west. A Navy A-6 aircraft was in the pattern for landing. I saw it bobble, up-down, then flip on its back and go down. Moments later I heard a BOOM from across the main runway and saw a black mushroom rising from the distance.

Sirens started from the flight-line triggered, probably, from the air traffic controllers in the tower. Flight-line fire trucks, always on standby during flight operations, pulled out and headed for the north gate closely followed by base Security Police and a line of blue trucks and ambulances.

I had no duty to join the rescue and recovery operations, I’d be in the way. My only duty was to submit a written statement, later, of what I’d seen as a witness. I went back inside the building and reported the incident to my boss.

Later in the day, I was told there were two deaths in the crash, the pilot and a PO1, a Petty Officer First Class, who was catching a ride. Apparently the A-6 suffered hydraulic failure in the pattern. The pilot and the PO1 ejected just as the A-6 flipped upside down. Neither the pilot nor the PO1 had time for their ‘chutes to open.

The worst part was that the PO1 was coming to R-G AFB on leave. His parents were at base operations to greet him. They witnessed the accident, too.

The local TV news reported the crash that evening. The KC Star ran a few column inches on an inside page. Two lives lost during normal state-side operations. The accident was lost in the other reports arriving daily from South-East Asia.

The news of the four marines killed during training at Camp Pendleton won’t last long on the headlines either. All of the media’s attention, little of that as it is, is focused on Afghanistan. By tomorrow, the day after at the latest, this incident will vanish, too…except in the memories of those who survived or were involved, and their families.

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Criminal goverment

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That is a shocking title for a post, but it is accurate. We have governments, federal, state, and local, that commit criminal acts…and get away with it. Some years ago, our county commission approved contracts where some commissioners had a monetary interest and would profit. One commissioner resigned and another lost his re-election bid.

At the state level, we have the commander of the State Highway Patrol illegally send personal information on all Missouri CCW holders to the federal government, not once, but twice. In addition, the DMV, or whatever name it is, collected personal data from CCW and driver license renewals and new applicants and sent that information to an outside organization, again, in violation of state law.

Then there are the feds. For them, the list seems to be endless from shipping guns to the drug cartels in Mexico, to refusing to enforce numerous federal laws, to arbitrarily changing federal law without authorization. I call it thugocracy.

But I guess, nothing reaches the level of one of our elected officials advising the public to commit manslaughter at best or murder at worst.

Joe Biden gets a Detroit woman killed.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  November 12th, 2013 at 10:00 AM

Good job there, Mr. Vice President:

It was shortly before 1 a.m. Nov. 2 and Renisha McBride was involved in an accident with a parked vehicle in Detroit.

More than two hours later and six blocks away, she was shot in the face by a man who told police he thought someone was breaking into his Dearborn Heights home. The 54-year-old homeowner, according to police, said his 12-gauge shotgun discharged accidentally.

…and by “good job” I mean “I hope that you’re happy, Joe Biden.” Because that homeowner did what Joe Biden told people to do (bolding mine):

V.P. BIDEN: Well, the way in which we measure it is—I think most scholars would say—is that as long as you have a weapon sufficient to be able to provide your self-defense. I did one of these town-hall meetings on the Internet and one guy said, “Well, what happens when the end days come? What happens when there’s the earthquake? I live in California, and I have to protect myself.”

I said, “Well, you know, my shotgun will do better for you than your AR-15, because you want to keep someone away from your house, just fire the shotgun through the door.”

And he told them that more than once:

In a Facebook town hall hosted by Parents magazine, vice president Joe Biden responded to a woman concerned that bans on various weapons may make law-abiding citizens more susceptible to criminals with the following advice: “If you want to protect yourself, get a double-barreled shotgun.” “You don’t need an AR-15, it’s harder to aim, it’s harder to use,” he stressed.

Biden indicated that he has given his own wife the same advice. “I said, ‘Jill, if there’s ever a problem, just walk out on the balcony here, put that double-barreled shotgun and fire two blasts outside the house,’” he said, and urged viewers, in closing, “Buy a shotgun, buy a shotgun!”

This is what a Democrat politician thinks is a ‘pro gun’ message, by the way: shake the Magic Boom Stick in the air and fire the Devil Bees in random directions until the Bad Man flees into the night. Out in the real world, what actually happens when you try that is that you run an unacceptably high risk of having a woman take a load of buckshot to the face.

Look, guns are not toys* and they are not magic staffs. They are very dangerous tools, designed to do a very specific job. If you do not treat them with respect and caution, you run the risk of misusing it, and thus causing a tragedy. If this is too difficult, it’s best to not have a gun in the first place. But even if you do not have a gun, it is still in everybody’s best interest if people speak responsibly about firearms. That includes the people that do not like firearms.

So you do not COWBOY it, Mister Vice President. This is not the WILD WEST or a VIDEO GAME. This is the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and IN the USA there are people who think that surely the government would not let the Vice President say stupid things that would get people KILLED. Until they figure out that we really are letting Joe Biden do that, I suggest that Joe Biden stop talking.

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Friday Follies for June 21, 2013

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I was going to make a FB post yesterday and was distracted. It’s a little thing, personal only to me and my sister. Yesterday was my father’s birthday. If he were still alive, he would be 111.

Happy birthday, Dad.

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An item was disclosed this week about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that appears to violate the Constitution’s 4th Amendment.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. — 4th Amendment to the US Constitution.

It now appears that FISA modified part of the 4th Amendment.

Authorized by Section 702 of the amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the program did away with the traditional individual warrant for each foreign suspect whose communications would be collected in the United States. In its place, the FISA court, which oversees domestic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes and whose proceedings are secret, would certify the government’s procedures to target people overseas and ensure citizens’ privacy. — The Washington Post.

Instead of individual warrants as required by the 4th Amendment, NSA was given a blanket certificate—a hunting and fishing license, so to speak, that allowed them to search anyone, everyone, whether hard evidence for probable cause existed, or not.

A comment posted on the Washington Post article above said, “I’m beginning to think the FISA court was set-up by the executive branch to rubber stamp all executive branch demands. The world’s most secret self-licking ice cream cone.” (Panhandle Willy, 6/20/2013 8:03 PM CDT)

 

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Today is the anniversary of the ratification of the US Constitution. It received its 9th approving vote 225 years ago today by New Hampshire.

On June 21, 1788, New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the document, and it was subsequently agreed that government under the U.S. Constitution would begin on March 4, 1789. — www.history.com

Virginia and New York followed New Hampshire later in June but New Hampshire’s vote was sufficient to actually getting the new government running.

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The Tea Party was out in force, yesterday, with a rally in Washington DC to protest the actions of the IRS. A number of Congressmen attended as well, Sens. Mike Lee (Utah), Rand Paul (Ky.), Ted Cruz (Texas), Reps. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and Dave Camp (Mich.). The question now is whether any of our Missouri Senators and Representatives were there?

I’ve not seen any of the Missouri delegation post about their presence at the rally. I’ve asked Vicky Hartzler and Jason Smith that question but I’ve received no answers yet.

We must remember those absences when the primaries come next year and candidates want Tea Party endorsements.

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Unsatisfied with the bureaucrats in your state and federal government? That makes you a terrorist says a Tennessee bureaucrat.

Unsatisfied with the quality of your water and eager to let the government know about it?

You might be a terrorist, according to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

“We take water quality very seriously. Very, very seriously,” deputy director of TDEC’s Division of Water Resources Sherwin Smith told a baffled and outraged audience in Maury County, Tennessee. “But you need to make sure that when you make water quality complaints you have a basis, because federally, if there’s no water quality issues, that can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism.”

Audience members saw the official’s answer as a means of deterring complaints from the public, according to a report in The Tennessean. — The Daily Caller.

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