Category Archives: Spending Cuts

Friday Follies for November 14, 2014

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I haven’t used the ‘Follies’ headline for awhile. I do so when there are a number of items appearing on the ‘net but none worthy for a longer post nor discussion.

We won the mid-term ten days ago. We should be celebrating but we’re not. Why? Because we are watching the Washington GOP leadership selling us down the river0—again. The day after the election, McConnell tells a reporter he will not use Congress’ more potent weapon, the power of the purse. “We won’t shut down the government!” he declares meaning he will continue with the stream of CRs and upholding Harry Reid’s plan for funding everything we’re against—Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, open border, and governmental tyranny across the nation.

“Throw the bum out!”  Too late, McConnell has been re-elected as Majority leader. Boehner was re-elected Speaker of the House with only three dissenting votes.

McConnell chosen as next Senate majority leader, Boehner re-elected as House speaker

WASHINGTON –  Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell joined House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio on Thursday at the pinnacle of the congressional and Republican power structures in Washington — two establishment deal-cutters, each on occasion frustrated by the other’s inability to rein in their party’s most zealous ideologues.

The pair, formally selected Thursday to lead their party’s new majority control of Congress, will be charged with guiding Republicans on Capitol Hill for the final two years of President Obama’s presidency. Their success or failure could determine whether the GOP can take back the White House in 2016.

McConnell, 72, is taciturn and rarely cracks a smile. “Why don’t you get a life?” he joked to photographers trying to snap photos of him after he was unanimously chosen by his Senate GOP colleagues Thursday to serve as the new majority leader starting in January.

The article blathers on here, if you’ve the stomach to read it.

***

For some good news, Sullivan has been declared the winner in the Alaska Senate race. Begich continues to wallow in his fantasy and has not, as far as I know, conceded the race. No class. A common fault of democrats.

Sullivan brings up the number of GOP Senators to 53. The last race still to be determined is Cassidy vs. Landrieu in Louisiana. Landrieu is pushing the Keystone Pipeline bill in an attempt to gain votes but it doesn’t appears to have helped.

‘Her campaign is running on fumes’: Final Senate race looks to be a Louisiana laugher as internal polls show GOP’s Bill Cassidy opening up 16-point lead over Sen. Mary Landrieu

  • Poll commissioned by GOP candidate’s campaign shows massive advantage leading up to Dec. 6 runoff 
  • Win by GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy would bring total Republican pickup to a whopping 10 seats
  • Landrieu is hoping a long-awaited vote on the Keystone XL pipeline will improve her fortunes
  • Poll was leaked in Washington to send a message to energy lobbyists who think she can prevail
  • Survey is an ‘automated’ phone poll that Landrieu’s campaign considers less credible than traditional surveys conducted by voice
  • ‘Her campaign is running on fumes,’ the pollster told MailOnline 

Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu is trailing her Republican challenger by a giant 16-point margin in a runoff for one of Louisiana’s two U.S. Senate seats, according to poll results obtained by MailOnline.

The survey, commissioned by GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy’s campaign, was leaked to media in order to fire a shot over the senator’s bow and send a signal to energy lobbyists that her ship is taking on water.

It suggests that Democrats’ worst fears have been realized even though Landrieu edged Cassidy by 1 percentage point on Election Day.

…

A second Republican candidate, Rob Maness, won 14 per cent of the vote on Nov. 4, enough to deny them both the 50-percent showing required to avoid a December 6 runoff. 

Now Maness has endorsed Cassidy, helping him erase his 1-point deficit with Landrieu and adding far more.

Cassidy is ‘trying to shut K Street down for Mary’ by selectively releasing the polling data, a source close to his campaign in Louisiana told MailOnline.

‘The energy folks, the lobbyists, keep trying to say she has a chance to win. That’s why it was leaked.’

Landrieu has lined up for what Republican Capitol Hill aides are calling the ‘Hail Mary XL,’ a legislative strategy to save her Senate seat by winning a vote to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring 700,000 barrels of oil daily from the Canadian province of Alberta to the Gulf coast.

From the information I’ve been able to gather, Landrieu is toast. Cassidy will bring the total number of GOP Senators to 54. It would be nice if McConnell would use that number as leverage dealing with Obama and the democrats but my expectation for that is…nil.

One question I have…why do we see these breaking news stories in the UK Daily Mail instead of a US news outlet? Our country is in sad shape when we have to use foreign sources for news here in the US.

***

I wrote yesterday about the push to expand Missouri’s medicaid using the three-year funding promised as part of Obamacare. What the advocates for that expansion don’t bother to tell you is that the state would be responsible for the added ocsts after that third year. Why is Jackson County and Truman Medical Centers in such dire straits? Increased cost of medical care compounded by the cost of complying with federal regulations.

Those increased cost are having another negative medical impact—rural hospitals.

Rural hospitals in critical condition

Rural hospitals serve many of society’s most vulnerable.

Jayne O’Donnell and Laura Ungar, USA TODAY

RICHLAND, Ga. — Stewart-Webster Hospital had only 25 beds when it still treated patients. The rural hospital served this small town of 1,400 residents and those in the surrounding farms and crossroads for more than six decades.

But since the hospital closed in the spring of last year, many of those in need have to travel up to 40 miles to other hospitals. That’s roughly the same distance it takes to get from Times Square to Greenwich, Conn., or from the White House to Baltimore, or from downtown San Francisco to San Jose.

Those trips would be unthinkable for city residents, but it’s becoming a common way of life for many rural residents in this state, and across the nation.

Since the beginning of 2010, 43 rural hospitals — with a total of more than 1,500 beds — have closed, according to data from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. The pace of closures has quickened: from 3 in 2010 to 13 in 2013, and 12 already this year. Georgia alone has lost five rural hospitals since 2012, and at least six more are teetering on the brink of collapse. Each of the state’s closed hospitals served about 10,000 people — a lot for remaining area hospitals to absorb.

The Affordable Care Act was designed to improve access to health care for all Americans and will give them another chance at getting health insurance during open enrollment starting this Saturday. But critics say the ACA is also accelerating the demise of rural outposts that cater to many of society’s most vulnerable. These hospitals treat some of the sickest and poorest patients — those least aware of how to stay healthy. Hospital officials contend that the law’s penalties for having to re-admit patients soon after they’re released are impossible to avoid and create a crushing burden.

“The stand-alone, community hospital is going the way of the dinosaur,” says Angela Mattie, chairwoman of the health care management and organizational leadership department at Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University, known for its public opinion surveys on issues including public health.

The closings threaten to decimate a network of rural hospitals the federal government first established beginning in the late 1940s to ensure that no one would be without health care. It was a theme that resonated during the push for the new health law. But rural hospital officials and others say that federal regulators — along with state governments — are now starving the hospitals they created with policies and reimbursement rates that make it nearly impossible for them to stay afloat.

Low Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements hurt these hospitals more than others because it’s how most of their patients are insured, if they are at all. Here in Stewart County, it’s a problem that expanding Medicaid to all of the poorest patients -– which the ACA intended but 23 states including Georgia have not done, according to the federal government — would help, but wouldn’t solve.

“They set the whole rural system up for failure,” says Jimmy Lewis, CEO of Hometown Health, an association representing rural hospitals in Georgia and Alabama, believed to be the next state facing mass closures. “Through entitlements and a mandate to provide service without regard to condition, they got us to (the highest reimbursements), and now they’re pulling the rug out from under us.”

For many rural hospitals, partnering with big health systems is the only hope for survival. Some have resorted to begging large hospitals for mergers or at least money to help them pay their bills. But Douglas Leonard, president of the Indiana Hospital Association, said these days, “I’m not sure they can get anyone to answer the phone when they call.”

The article continues at the website. Obamacare does not just increase the cost of an individual’s medical care, it also reduces the reimbursement of those services to hospitals and physicians. In the end, we all suffer. The institutions with tighter cash flows are hit first and worse.

Obama’s Targets

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“Make it hurt!” That’s been Obama’s instructions to his troops when the Shutdown began. He had been planning for the shutdown for some time. The blockages, barriers, and propaganda appeared within minutes of the deadline.

Who are Obama’s targets? Those who have invested the more in our nation—the veterans, the military, the sick, the rank-and-file conservatives, anyone who won’t line up and kiss Obama’s feet.

The Washington Examiner identified six target groups, groups chosen by Obama as his personal enemies. I can only hope he reaps what he’s sown. It will not be what he thinks.

6 groups targeted to make the shutdown look worse

By ASHE SCHOW | OCTOBER 7, 2013 AT 4:22 PM

A partial government shutdown just wasn’t going to hit people the way the Obama administration needed it to, so officials resorted to some unprecedented acts to make Americans feel the pain, as Conservative Intel’s David Freddoso notes:

Most people — even the poor in state-run safety net programs — don’t have that many interactions with the federal government agencies affected right now by the shutdown.

So it’s a challenge to make people notice that your agency is vital to the survival of the Republic. The feds have to apply a lot of force and behave in unsubtle ways to make you angry with Congress.

1. Veterans

No group has been more visible during the shutdown than veterans. Memorials were closed, and House Democrats voted against bills that would restore funding to veterans programs.

A short list of some of the monuments closed (note that veterans moved barricades to see their monuments anyway):

» World War II Memorial

» Normandy cemetery

» Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

» Iwo Jima Memorial

Just 4 percent of employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs have been furloughed, according to Government Executive magazine, making it even more odd that the department’s funding wasn’t restored.

2. Lake Mead, Nev., property owners

Suddenly, owning a home on federal land causes homeowners to be kicked out of their domiciles.

Ralph and Joyce Spencer, an elderly couple who own a Lake Mead cabin, were forced out of their homes by park rangers saying they had to leave until the federal government reopens.

The Spencers have owned their home since the 1970s, and fellow Lake Mead resident Bob Hitchcock, who’s owned a cabin on the lake for 26 years, said he wasn’t told to vacate during the previous government shutdown that occurred under the Clinton Administration.

3. Cancer patients

House Democrats also voted against a bill to restore funding to the National Institutes of Health, a federally funded medical research center.

Yes, there is privately funded cancer research still occurring, but saying no to cancer research of any kind is probably not a winning strategy.

NIH is an agency within the Health and Human Services Department, which furloughed 49 percent of its employees, according to Government Executive.

4. National Guard and Reserve units

House Democrats (noticing a pattern?) also voted against funding that would allow members of the National Guard and Reserves to return to work during the shutdown.

Democrats say the reason they won’t pass piecemeal funding bills is due to GOP “cherry-picking” parts of the government to fund instead of funding the entire government.

5. Tourists

Imagine saving up to visit the nation’s capitol or the Grand Canyon. The family is packed up and ready to fly — or drive — cross the country to see the sites and have a great time.

Then the government shuts down. No worries, how can the government shut down open-air monuments? Well, apparently they can — and did.

The Grand Canyon National Park is closed. How does one shut down a giant canyon? Apparently with gates and barricades similar to those veterans crossed to see their monuments.

Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., refused to allow the federal government to close state parks in Wisconsin, since the state had the authority to operate the parks and provided most of the funding for them.

Mount Rushmore is also closed. Cones have been placed along the highway to keep tourists from pulling over and snapping pictures of the monument. Because it’s apparently cheaper to pay people to set up cones than it is to … not do that.

Across the country, in D.C., the Lincoln Memorial is closed. Note that this monument was not closed during the 1995-96 government shutdowns. Barricades were also set up outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

The National Parks Service attempted to shut down Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home. Problem is, the site is privately owned and operated by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association. Also, NPS tried to shut down the Claude Moore Colonial Farm, which hasn’t received federal funding since 1980. Oops!

The NPS is on a roll, actually, when it comes to closing down privately owned businesses.

6. Taxpayers

One thing that isn’t closed during the partial shutdown: tax collection.

“The IRS will accept and process all tax returns with payments, but will be unable to issue refunds during this time,” the IRS website said.

Every day we hear of more villainous acts by the federal government and their surrogates. The National Park Service seems particularly apt and eager to oppress the public. Over the weekend the NPS issued 21 tickets to people wanting to see the Grand Canyon. They must appear in person before a federal Judge.

I wonder how long it will be before some trigger-happy federal JBT shoots someone for wanting to see one of our nation’s treasures?

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Thursday’s Thoughts

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We’re in day three of the shutdown and, besides closing public access to open air memorials and blocking access to privately owned parks and memorials, nothing much has happened.

Oh, people are being hurt. People chosen specifically by Obama, like the military, who, on a hunt and miss selection, have had their commissaries closed—commissaries and other facilities, like golf courses—except for Obama’s favorite golf course at Andrews AFB outside Washington, DC.

For those who don’t know what the commissary is, it’s a supermarket for military dependents. The prices aren’t all that much cheaper anymore. Commercial groceries, Walmart, has matched prices in most locations. No, the issue is that in some locations, the nearest civilian grocery is 60 miles away!

The House ‘Pubs are standing their ground. I’m surprised, frankly. Perhaps it is due to Senators Cruz and Lee meeting with House conservatives providing leadership missing from Boehner and Cantor.

Harry Reid blocked the CR. He blocked the 2nd and 3rd revisions because each either defunded Obamacare or defunded parts of it, or delayed its initiation. Now, the House is sending up specific funding items aimed a specific functions—fund the military, National Guard and Reserves, fund the National Parks, fund medical research. Each time, Reid had blocked those efforts.

It’s time to lay aside the entire effort to fund the government by Continuing Resolution. Let’s either fund the government piecemeal, which Harry Reid hates, or submit a budget—one the defunds Obamacare and cuts, drastically, Obama’s bureaucracy.

It’s time to do one or the other or keep the government shut down. The House has the responsibility for funding legislation. Let’s use that responsibility as originally intended by the Founders, as checks and balances against a tyrannical executive branch.

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The House ‘Pubs are standing firm…for the moment. I sincerely hope they continue to do so. One ‘Pub representative said, “It’s not about Obamacare anymore.”

GOP stands firm against funding bill, will link to debt ceiling fight

By DAVID M. DRUCKER | OCTOBER 3, 2013 AT 10:55 AM

House Republicans are unlikely to blink in the standoff over Obamacare that precipitated a government shutdown, fearing that acceding now to Democratic demands for a “clean” spending bill would weaken their hand in upcoming negotiations over the the debt ceiling.

Those Republicans said Wednesday that the spending impasse that shut down the government early Tuesday is less about conservatives’ desire to derail Obamacare than it is about strengthening their hand in the debt-ceiling talks. That borrowing limit must be raised by Oct. 17 to prevent the government from defaulting on its financial obligations and Republicans say any future agreement to reopen the government would link the spending bill and the debt ceiling.

“This is not just about Obamacare anymore,” centrist Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., said.

“We’re not going to be disrespected,” conservative Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., added. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s government shutdown, House Republicans pushed for a short-term budget bill that would fund the government at current levels, but also fully and permanently defund Obamacare. President Obama and Senate Democrats rejected that proposal and three others that would have at least slowed implementation of the Affordable Care Act.

House Republicans now say they won’t agree to a funding bill unless Senate Democrats agree to meet in a conference committee to hash out their differences. They rebuffed a proposal from Senate Democrats Wednesday to form a conference committee only after the funding bill was approved and the government reopened.

With the third day of the shutdown dawning and the deadline to raise the debt ceiling fast approaching, House Republican leaders believe maintaining party unity over the budget bill is paramount. Any divisions or concessions would only bolster Obama’s hand in the debt ceiling talks.

House Republican leaders will drive their rank and file particularly hard to support a debt ceiling proposal that includes provisions on tax and entitlement reform and other GOP priorities. They also don’t want to cut short the epic battle against Obamacare that conservatives have long sought. For those reasons, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is unlikely to put up a “clean” budget bill that funds the government without Democratic concessions.

“The [budget bill] is now part of the debt ceiling fight and we may see a shutdown that extends to mid-October,” said a veteran Republican operative with relationships on Capitol Hill. “Boehner could not pass a [budget bill] with mostly Democratic support now and then have any chance of holding Republicans on the debt ceiling.”

House GOP leaders and most of their rank and file never supported conservatives’ efforts to use the budget bill and the threat of a government shutdown to defund Obamacare, fearing a political backlash. Polls consistently show most people oppose the strategy and would blame Republicans if the government closed.

But having gone as far as they have, House Republicans now say they won’t back down. And they expect to score political points in the process.

The article continues at the website. It continues with the statement that House ‘Pub leaders were surprised when Reid blocked their efforts to fund the government piecemeal.

Really?

If that is true, Boehner and Cantor are more stupid than I ever believed.

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Obama really pissed Mark Levin off yesterday. I don’t know how many of you listen to his radio show, but yesterday’s broadcast was a jewel. On the air, Levin read an article that Obama had specifically ordered the National Park Service to close the WW II Memorial in Washington, DC. These orders were issued after a ‘Pub congressman asked Obama to exclude the Washington memorials from the shutdown. Honor Flights, for WW II veterans, had been scheduled for this and coming weeks and the ‘Pub congressman saw no reason why these aging veterans should be disrespected.

But disrespect them is exactly what Obama did.  Not only did he order the open-air memorials closed, he ordered that anyone who violated the barricades were to be arrested.

That was too much for Levin. The more he read, the louder grew his voice. The link below is to a website that provides the audio of that portion of Levin’s show. It is great!

Mark Levin: You lay one damn hand on a WWII vet, I’ll bring half a million people to DC [VIDEO]

10:33 PM 10/02/2013

Conservative talker Mark Levin has a stern warning for President Barack Obama and his administration: Don’t mess with the World War II veterans.

Levin, author of “The Liberty Amendments: Restoring the American Republic,” told his audience on his Wednesday radio show should there be any action taken against those veterans for visiting the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, even with the government shutdown, he would bring 500,000 people to march on the Washington, D.C. in response.

“I want to tell you folks something — I want to say this loud and clear to the people who are on Capitol Hill who are listening, to this administration: You lay one damn hand on one of those World War II vets at that memorial, I’ll bring half a million people to that damn memorial,” Levin said. “You got that? I’m sitting here stewing thinking about this — playing these damn games. You will ignite a movement in this country like you have never seen before — the biker patriot army, veterans from all over the country, every single war and battle in this country — Republican, Democrat, Independent, whatever.”

“I’ll be damned if one president with his feet up on the desk in the Oval Office, with a smirk on his face, looking at his golf cart — I’ll be damned if this president or anybody else is going to shut down that World War II Memorial, period,” he continued. “These men are in their 80s and 90s, so let me repeat: You lay one hand on one of those men and arrest them for going to their memorial, which they fought, which was not paid by you, dammit — was paid by the American people — we will come out of every town and city in this nation, we will come out of every county on both coasts, both borders and we will march on Washington against your tyranny. You have been warned.”

Levin iterated that the sentiment was heartfelt and was in no way a stunt.

“This isn’t intended to be controversial,” he added. “This isn’t intended to be a joke. This is exactly how I feel in my heart and soul. I take this very personally. My grandfather fought at Iwo Jima and he fought at Guam. And my great uncle fought at Guadalcanal. And I’ll be damned if this community activist is going to shut down their memorial. They beat the Germans. They beat the Nazis. They beat the Japanese. They beat fascist Italy. And I’m not going to allow as one person, this administration, these people to beat them now that they’re in their 80s and 90s. No damn way.”

Good on ya, Mark.

The Tea Party Counterattacks

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Since 2010, the ‘Pub establishment has been attacking the Tea Party. They accepted the Tea Party’s help to win back the House in 2010 but once that was accomplished, the establishment has tried their best to push the Tea Party to the back of the bus—whenever they didn’t throw them under the bus. Most recently has been the attacks by Karl Rove and others like him.

Now the Tea Party is beginning to fight back. It’s about time.

By Alexandra Jaffe – 02/18/13 04:35 PM ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) could see a primary challenge from local businessman Matt Bevin, who sources say is reaching out to Tea Party groups in the state to gauge support for a 2014 Senate run.

Sarah Duran, president of the Louisville Tea Party, told The Hill that Bevin had been in touch with her over the phone to discuss his run multiple times over the past few weeks, and that he met with the group two weeks ago to discuss his interest in the race.

“We met with him to just discuss our feelings about the Senator, our feelings about someone running against him, what the challenges would be, the risks involved,” she said.She added that other Tea Party groups had reached out to Bevin to encourage him to run, and that even “some people that have supported McConnell in the past” had been in touch with him about a potential bid.

Kentucky is the state than elected Rand Paul over the establishment’s pick.  Having the “Paul” name didn’t hurt either.

The Tea Party ran an opponent against John Boehner in the 2012 primary, David Lewis. The local and state ‘Pub establishment sided with Boehner as did the RNC. Lewis was outspent in the primary 6 to 1. The Ohio Tea Party hasn’t forgotten. I’ve heard reports they will run another candidate against Boehner in 2014.

***

Obama is in the news railing against Sequestration. The media conveniently is not reporting that it was his plan. He’s touring the country again with his usual dog ‘n pony show of firemen, cops and teachers whom he claims will be put out of work.

It’s a lie.

The reality is that with Sequestration, the FedGov will spend MORE this fiscal year than it did the last. The cuts are only 3% of the spending growth! The real issue is that the cuts are aimed at sacred cows.  For the ‘Pubs, this is the Defense Department.. The military issue is compounded by massive mismanagement by the Pentagon—lead by the exiting Leon Panetta.

Investor’s Business Daily ran this piece.

Sequestration Isn’t A Meat Ax—It Requires Cuts Of Just 3%

By Posted 02/15/2013 05:35 PM ET

“For too long, our budget process in Washington has been an exercise in deception,a series of accounting tricks to hide the expense of our spending and the shortfalls in our revenue and hope that the American people won’t notice,” Obama declared. “We do ourselves no favors by hiding the truth about what we spend.”

Obama’s clarity was a breath of fresh air. But four years later, that clarity has vanished.

Indeed, the president now denies we even have a problem with spending.

The shameful shift from honest concern about spending to denial is more than political opportunism — it reflects an unwillingness to confront the most serious economic challenge facing our nation.

The result is an ongoing series of budget crises, short-term “fixes” and emergency deadlines.

…

We’ll soon mark the latest of these deadlines as budget cuts under the process of “sequestration” take effect in March.

Under this process, originally slated for January but delayed by Congress in the deal to avert the “fiscal cliff,” federal spending would be cut by $1.2 trillion over the next nine years.

This strategy is, to say the least, unpopular among many D.C. politicians, who object to what they say is a blunt “meat ax” approach to budget cutting.

No Offsets

For example, the scheduled cuts target defense and discretionary programs and would have an immediate impact on certain industries.

…

And how much would they have to find to offset the sequester for this year? About $85 billion. Based on spending last year of $3.6 trillion, that means cutting roughly three cents out of every dollar the federal government spends.

Because the White House refuses to cut three cents out of every dollar the government spends, they are proposing another round of tax increases.

While the sequester is not perfect, it would be a step in the right direction toward fiscal responsibility, absent offsetting spending cuts.

With the White House’s stubborn insistence on another round of tax increases, it might be the best worst option.

The budget cuts under sequestration will be tough, an unfortunate consequence of Washington’s short-term approach to budgeting.

But the status quo is also quite painful.

What about our 7.8% unemployment rate? What about the 4.7 million who have been unemployed for more than six months?

What about our shrinking economy? What about declining consumer confidence? Has all of that been forgotten?

It’s clear that the big spending agenda of the last four years has not delivered on its promise.

The budget restraint that sequestration would bring would forestall long-term damage to the economy, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

To be sure, it will get ugly before it gets better. The DoD has already eliminated hot breakfast for troops in the combat zones of Afghanistan. They reduced our carrier battlegroups from eleven to eight and extended the length of fleet cruises and the length of service in combat while cutting the size of those same combat services. It’s the old story of doing more with less.

Spending cuts are needed and necessary. How those cuts are being implemented, however, is abominable—striking directly at our ability to defend this nation.

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Ssschluup!

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That’s the sound of someone sneaking up behind you and slipping a knife betwixt your ribs.  It means that the nation has been sold out, once again, for political expediency. 
Headlines say, “…the Tea Party won.”  Not so, there are two core principles in the Tea Party.  Those are No More Taxes and Cut Real Spending.  We “may” have achieved the first—maybe, but we didn’t win the second.  At best, all this deal does is slow the rate of spending. No, the Tea Party was betrayed.

Plus! Obama gets his automatic debt limit increase and able to override congressional disapproval until after the next election.  That probably removes the debt limit increase off the issue table in the coming elections.

As far as spending goes, supposedly there will be $917B immediate spending cuts to be determined by some bipartisan committee.  Those cuts have to pass both houses and Obama has to sign off too.  Just how confident are you that those cuts will pass the Senate?  I’m not.

In addition, Obama will have to sign off too.  Just how confident are you the Liar-in-Chief will keep his word?  I’m not.

The deal says cuts will be made equally from the Defense department and discretionary spending.  Why?  The DoD has been cut drastically already.  We’d be much better off eliminating Obamacare and Dodd-Frank.  Those two cuts would get business back in the running.  What more impediments to recovery removed? Eliminate the DoE and the EPA.  Neither follow their original mandate having been captured by the Eco-Wackos.

Rueters published a Factsheet on the agreement as it’s known at the moment. Here’s a partial bullet-list.

* The deal would allow President Barack Obama to raise the debt ceiling in three steps. Congress would get a chance to register its disapproval on two of these, but would not be able to block them unless it musters a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate — an unlikely prospect.

* It envisions spending cuts of roughly $2.4 trillion over 10 years, which Congress would approve in two steps — an initial $917 billion when the deal passes Congress and another $1.5 trillion by the end of the year.

* The first group of spending cuts would apply to the discretionary programs that Congress approves annually, covering everything from the military to food inspection.


…

* Some $350 billion of the $917 billion total would come from defense and other security programs which now account for more than half of all discretionary spending. Republicans are resisting this idea and it is one of the few areas of dispute left.


…

* A 12-member congressional committee, made up equally of Republicans and Democrats from each chamber, would be tasked with finding a further $1.5 trillion in budget savings.

* That committee could find savings from an overhaul of the tax code and restructuring benefit programs like Medicare — the politically risky decisions that lawmakers have not been able to agree on so far.

* The committee would have to complete its work by November 23. Congress would have an up-or-down vote, with no modifications, on the committee’s recommendations by December 23.

 …


* Those cuts would fall equally on domestic and military programs. Medicare would face automatic cuts as well, but Social Security, Medicaid, federal employee pay, and benefits for veterans and the poor would be exempt.

* The plan also calls for both the House and the Senate to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution by the end of the year. It is not likely to receive the two-thirds vote in each chamber needed for passage, but its inclusion will make it easier for conservatives to back the overall deal.

 So, the cuts are nebulous. Real cuts are left to a committee and I doubt any will see the light of day. And, if any do get formalized, they’d still have to pass the Senate.  Which won’t happen with Reid still in charge of the dems.

No, the deal is nothing more than a modification of the McConnell plan that gave everything away for political expediency.

Ssschluup!  There’s that sound again and it came from the establishment republicans.                          

Friday Follies for July 29, 2011

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Wow!  Another week has gone by and we still don’t have a solution to the debt crisis.

Good.

The democrats are incapable of curbing their spending.  They can’t.  If they stop with their various payoffs to special interests and dependency groups, they’ll lose their power.  Also, Obama’s socialist plans would come to an end.

Can’t have that.

I’ve lost count how many ‘Pub plans have been submitted. Three? Four?  How many have the dems and Obama submitted?  Zero.

They think the ‘Pubs will cave as usual.  It’s beginning to look like they will.  McConnell’s “Plan B”, that he foolishly announced while the House plan was being negotiated, sunk any further efforts.  Why?  It gave Obama and the dems what they want.  Higher debt ceiling. An extension past the upcoming federal election and any cuts would be determined later—read that as never.

Boehner’s plan is a little bit better.  It only runs through the end of the year.  It counts on future cuts that he and his plan cannot enforce.  It does have some cuts this year but the actual amount is yet to be determined.  Some say $1billion, others say less. No one really knows and the worse of all is that it only cuts THE AMOUNT OF INCREASE!  No real cuts.

As far as I’m concerned, Boehner and the establishment ‘Pubs have zero credibility.  At least there are some Tea Partiers in the house standing by their commitments. 

I was listening to Laura Ingraham on the radio this morning.  She was attacking the Tea Party for having the guts to stay true to their constituents.  Ann Coulter has been doing the same.  

A Pox on both of them.

What we are seeing is the formation of a third party.  The establishment pubs are showing they are no better than the dems. It’s not about saving the country, nor about limited government, nor about conservatism.  It’s solely about political power and not looking bad to some nebulous voting blok.

The Republican Party is about to go the way of the Whigs.

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It seems there is one area of education that must observe immigration law—the University of Northern Virginia, a private, for-profit school that boasts it is the largest private university in the country.  Too bad the state operated and funded schools don’t have the same requirement.

Dozens of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents raided offices at the University of Northern Virginia’s Annandale campus Thursday.
The University of Northern Virginia is an unaccredited, for-profit private university that calls itself the most popular American university for students from India. Thousands of students are registered at three locations in northern Virginia.
Agents have removed boxes of documents from a building on Little River Turnpike where the university leases two suites.

The university temporarily can’t accept any foreign students, reads a notice posted on the door of the offices. UNVA students must leave the country immediately if they are unable “to continue to attend classes and maintain their active status in a manner required by federal government regulations,” the notice reads.
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Here’s something I found happening in the Czech Republic.  They want to ban the Communist Party.  If we did that here, we’d be banning the democrat party.
 
By KAREL JANICEK
Associated Press
PRAGUE (AP) — They’re the Czech Republic’s fourth-largest political party, but the hardline Communists could soon be outlawed if the center-right government has its way.
It’s more than two decades since communism collapsed here, but the survivors and ideological heirs to the party that ruled from 1948 until the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 are under increasing political pressure.

The party, which is vehemently opposed to NATO, brands opponents “terrorists” and maintains friendly ties with the ruling Communists in Cuba, China and North Korea.
Unlike most other communist parties in the region that have joined the left-wing mainstream, the Czech party has maintained its hardline stance.
Supporters of the ban say it is a direct successor of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, whose members killed more than 240 political prisoners while thousands of other opponents died in prisons.

With the killing of political opponents aside, they sound just like members of the democrat party.  They have advocated harm to their opponents, though, on numerous occasions.
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As the economy worsens, who is being hurt worse?  Apparently, many are those who voted democrats into office.

African-American Middle Class Eroding As Unemployment Rate Soars

By
Published July 28, 2011 FoxNews.com
The unemployment situation across America is bad, no doubt. But for African-Americans in some cities, this is not the great recession. It’s the Great Depression.
Take Charlotte, N.C., for example. It is a jewel of the “new South.” The largest financial center outside of New York City, it’s the showcase for next year’s Democratic National Convention. It was a land of hope and opportunity for many blacks with a four-year college degree or higher.
According to an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute, in Charlotte, N.C., the unemployment rate for African-Americans is 19.2 percent. If you add in people who have given up looking for jobs, that number exceeds 20 percent, which, according to economists Algernon Austin and William Darity, has effectively mired blacks in a depression.
Of course if you ask them, they’ll claim it’s all a racist plot not the purposeful mismanagement by their own party.
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This weekend will be interesting.  Will the Tea Party hold out and force changes in Boehner’s plan to include some real spending cuts?  Will they take up another plan such as that put together by Rep. Connie Mack and endorsed by Sen. Rand Paul?

That’s the question. What will happen between now and next Tuesday, August 2nd? We’ll have to wait and see.

Cartoons of the Week: McCoy

Posted on by
I’m taking the land-barge, uhhh, my Tahoe in for an oil change, inspection and licensing today.  Here’s a cartoon by Glenn McCoy to tide you over.
       
Obama’s reaction to Cut, Cap and Balance

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