Posts Tagged ‘Congress’

Kelly Anderson Wright

Congressional Democrats and mainstream media heaped high praise on Speaker Pelosi for finally delivering the House health care reform bill, all 2000+ pages of it. In the aftermath of a liberal love fest that focused more on Pelosi’s historical win than on how close the vote actually was, the question is, will Majority Leader Harry Reid be able to duplicate Pelosi’s success in the Senate?

Will Harry Reid adopt Pelosi's tactics?

Pelosi claimed the win was easy, but facts, fans and foes say otherwise. Pelosi’s final push to birth H.R. 3962 required a Saturday night, rush-rush hush-hush roll call vote, when most Americans were already asleep or too pooped to pay attention. At roughly 11 p.m. EST, Pelosi and Company got their last 3 votes out of 435 possible, passing the House version of health care reform by just .7%. Hardly a mandate or majority, “barely” describes it better.

Kelly Anderson Wright

In America, little girls learn they can grow up to become anything they want: ballerinas, movie stars… even Tom Cruise’s wife. Some dream of becoming basketball players, business owners or heads of state.

Thankfully, a few brave lassies become soldiers, cops and heroes. And sometimes they become all three, without wiggling their noses or clicking their ruby slippers.

Little girls can become big heroes... in America, home of the brave.

Let us forget, just for a moment, what ails our nation. Congress, Pelosi and health care reform pale in light of the Ft. Hood massacre.  Veteran’s Day should be every day, when we  celebrate the men and women who bravely and selflessly protect human life, liberty and freedom, in battlefields and war-torn cities around the world, and less predictably, in Killeen, Texas. That’s where a little girl all-grown-up became a true red-white-and-blue American hero, in the blink of a feminine eyelash.

Sgt. Kimberly Munley, 34, is a DoD civilian police officer at Ft. Hood. She is also a veteran, having served as a loyal soldier in the United States Army. As such, Sgt. Munley took an oath to defend her Army brothers and sisters against any hostile force, even if it meant killing a fellow officer. Read the rest of this entry »

Dan Sherrier

The 2009 elections are over, thank goodness, and next up is an opportunity to reshape the House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate.

So the main question is: Who do we want in our House?

Unfortunately, we cannot elect Captain America, on account of him being fictional. What would be the next best thing?

Shame we can't have him.

Excluding political ideology, here are the qualities that I believe would make for a great Congressman:

1.) He doesn’t want to be there.

There are about 50 billion other things he’d rather be doing, but someone’s got to serve the district. If nobody better is stepping up to plate, he throws his hat into the ring–not because he sees any personal gain in doing so, but because it’s the best option for his community and country (which does benefit him, too, but not only him.)

He lacks the desire, but not the willingness. He feels he should put in a term or two, maybe three at the most, and then he’s ready to return to his life. Read the rest of this entry »

Lawrence J. Haas

In late February, a week after signing the landmark $787 billion economic recovery bill into law, President Obama tried to change the focus of debate in Washington by shifting attention from the short-term necessity of reviving the economy to the long-term challenge of reducing soaring budget deficits. 

On Monday, February 23, he hosted a “fiscal summit” with congressional leaders, other lawmakers

You call this recovery?

and outside experts to highlight the problem. A day later, he spoke to a joint session of Congress and outlined his plans to begin addressing it. Two days after that, he issued a 134-page budget blueprint. 

Entitled “A New Era of Responsibility,” the blueprint proclaimed a sharp reversal from Bush-era recklessness. “[W]e must,” Obama wrote, “begin the process of making the tough choices necessary to restore fiscal discipline, cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term in office, and put our nation on sound fiscal footing.” 

Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Hefty

It’s one thing as president of the United States to surround yourself with a cabinet and group of czars that do your bidding.  It’s completely different to direct their general path and provide decision-making leadership that doesn’t embarrass you.  Now that nine full months have passed into the record books of the Obama Administration, I believe we can safely assume a few things about his ability to lead.

In a nutshell, he can’t.

Lost?

When it came to the so-called stimulus bill, he left the architecture of it to the leaders in Congress.  It was like handing clean needles and raw opium to a kingpin dealer.  Congress, instead of crafting legislation that would cut taxes, diminish overburdening regulation, and decrease spending, went on a spending binge that would make an alcoholic look like he only drank in moderation. Read the rest of this entry »

Bob Franken

You’ve heard this before. It doesn’t matter whether those of us who fancy ourselves politically informed are right or wrong when we pontificate. No one really pays close enough attention to remember, and certainly we don’t. It’s a great gig.

Well, I hope you’re sitting down, because this pundit-wannabe is about to utter something that would otherwise knock you off your feet: “I might have been wrong.”

Over-playing their hand?

There. I said it. I feel much better now. Except I may end up being wrong about being wrong.

Right now you’re probably asking yourself “What in heaven’s name is he talking about?” It’s a fair question and it deserves an answer. Finally. Read the rest of this entry »

Lawrence J. Haas

You might think the Obama Administration’s recent announcement that Washington just ran its largest-ever deficit in dollar terms, and its largest as a share of the economy since World War II, would discourage policymakers from giving more freebies to more Americans who don’t need them. 

Think again. 

Making lawmakers everywhere shake in their boots.

This fall, the White House and Congress will likely provide one-time payments to tens of millions of senior citizens, and they may cut a tax that’s paid by the heirs of only the very largest estates in America. 

That’s just a warm up to next year, however, when policymakers will take the far costlier step of extending most or all of President Bush’s huge tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, which are due to expire after 2010. Meanwhile, they will keep providing annual relief from the “alternative minimum tax” that would otherwise raise taxes on millions of middle-income Americans. All of that will add literally trillions to future deficits.  Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Hefty

Climate symbolism, zero substance.

In the never-ending parade of symbolic gestures trumping substantive measures, the government of the island nation of Maldives has struck a new low, literally.  The AP reports that the president, vice president and cabinet all donned scuba gear and “signed a document calling on all countries to cut their carbon dioxide emissions.”

Anybody got a pen that writes down here?

So let’s try to get this straight.  An island country – loved by Al Gore and the global warming alarm-sounders as a reason to enact ever-increasing socialist policy – wants everyone else to stop breathing so polar ice caps half a world away won’t melt, thereby covering their nation in water.  The pictures provided for this staged photo-op were very telling.  Desks, chairs, cameras, lighting equipment, and water-proof office supplies were all laid out at the bottom of the ocean, some 20 feet down. Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Hefty

Congressional Democrats have really stepped in it this time.  Rather than focusing on ways to keep Americans safe from further attack (remember September 11?), they voted yesterday to allow terrorist detainees at Guantanamo to enter U.S. soil for prosecution and trial.

Are they out of their Berkeley-educated minds?

On their way to a U.S. court near you

Understand a few facts.  First of all, these prisoners were captured on the field of battle in Afghanistan.  They were fighting as Taliban and al Qaeda soldiers.  But they were not part of any standing army for any one nation.  They were (are) terrorists.  These prisoners – even after capture – have attacked our soldiers and Marines who guard them, tried to start riots and have conducted themselves in unspeakable manners.

They killed Johnny “Mike” Spann.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kelly Anderson Wright

September 10, 2009 — “My guiding principle,” President Obama told Congress, “is, and always has been, that consumers do better when there is choice and competition….”

What? Did I hear that right? The words reverberate in my conservative mind. “Choice” and “Competition” are the words of a free market capitalist, not the words of a big government fat cat! Befuddled and flummoxed, I’m momentarily at a loss for words… clearly, the president stole mine.

Change you can believe in.

Obama’s use of the words “choice and competition” rings hollow to me, but why? I take a deep, cleansing breath, a long swig of Peet’s House Blend coffee, and tap into the keen problem-solving ability I cultivated seemingly light years ago, as a UC Santa Cruz student, earning my first degree in Mathematics.

Read the rest of this entry »