HT to Calculated Risk, who always seems to be three steps ahead of the world...
If the whole Hopey/Changey/SpendLikeADrunkenSailor approach to governance and economy were so self-evidently wonderful, why is the office vacancy rate in San Francisco, Nancy Pelosi's home district, on a climb toward 20%? That means there are no people working in all that empty office space, not producing anything, not paying more taxes for Miss Nancy to spend.
It isn't like the great Federal helicopter hasn't been able to hover and rain money down upon the City By The Bay. Miss Nancy's at the stick of the chopper, by gosh and by golly.
It's now her and Obama's economy. They made sure of that by ramming through the great 'Stimulus' bill, seizing automakers and insurance companies, making good on unpayable pension promises for the UAW. They have gotten their way on everything, including a massive health care bill.
So, what happened? Or didn't happen? Does she deserve to be trusted to continue down the same path?
What happens this fall if the voters ask these questions?
Showing posts with label Pelosi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pelosi. Show all posts
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Vote Early, Vote Often!
That's an old gag line, which may actually be sourced in Chicago politics.
But there is some truth to jokes that endure. That's why they endure.
So, how does one vote early and often?
Ten bucks at a time, donated to the brave souls who decide to run against the Pelosis, Reids, and Barney Franks of this world.
Here's one for starters: John Dennis, seeking to unseat Miss Nancy.
It's Miss Nancy's birthday today, especially apropo to contribute the fund that may just initiate her retirement from the House.
Vote early, vote often.
HT to Junior Deputy Accountant. What would we do without her?
But there is some truth to jokes that endure. That's why they endure.
So, how does one vote early and often?
Ten bucks at a time, donated to the brave souls who decide to run against the Pelosis, Reids, and Barney Franks of this world.
Here's one for starters: John Dennis, seeking to unseat Miss Nancy.
It's Miss Nancy's birthday today, especially apropo to contribute the fund that may just initiate her retirement from the House.
Vote early, vote often.
HT to Junior Deputy Accountant. What would we do without her?
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
March Madness: The Obama Full Court Press
March Madness traditionally refers to the NCAA college basketball tournament. The term is taking on a new life in 2010.
Politico is covering the frantic efforts by Obama and Pelosi to strongarm, bribe, cajole, threaten, and/or blackmail wavering Democrat House members into submission. Himself is calling lowly House members, Himself's loyal troops that still remain are gearing up to flood offices, member's donors are being strongarmed, Cabinet members are being thrown into the effort. It's a scorched-earth approach, with uncooperative members threatened with revenge from the Democrat party organization. Al Capone would be proud.
Which leads to the obvious question: If this 'health-care reform' is such a great idea, why is it such a struggle to get it passed? Why the need to hide behind so many procedural dodges? Why is this likely to be 'voted on' (or not?) sometime this weekend while the NCAA tournament will be underway?
Why? Why? Why?
For those overseas who don't follow basketball, the Full Court Press is a technique practiced by a team, usually behind in the score, with little time left on the clock. From one end of the court, the offensive player with the ball is assigned two defensive players to harass him. Sometimes, one is used to block the view of the referee, to obscure the beating administered by the other. Well executed, the tactic forces the ball to turn over, and a few quick points can be scored. It can't be sustained for long, and within a minute or two, the press is broken by passes to open players downcourt, easy layups are scored, and humiliation follows.
Time to break the Press. That little red widget on your right displays the Capitol Hill switchboard numbers. Click on the widget, and you've got the list of the Democrat members being subject most relentlessly to Obama's ChicagoLand pressure. Their contact info is there. If the members hear, once again, that the overwhelming sentiment is against this folly, they can hold out. The Press can be broken.
OS called a regional office of his House member, John Tanner. A tired-sounding woman answered the phone and took my message urging him to oppose the measure. A reminder that the 'Slaughter' approach, whereby the Members avoid that nasty 'up-or-down' vote, is odious to the Constitution was also noted, and the lady's tone turned chillier. She really did not want to hear that constituents are paying attention...
Tanner is not running for re-election, which means his local staff will all have to locate new jobs, in a depressing job market. Imagine if he votes for this nonsense, and his staffers have to go looking for work in TN-8 with their long and faithful service to the man on their resumes. It won't be pretty...
It will be hard enough if he votes 'no'. After all, Tanner bailed out early, knowing what awaited him in November.
Politico is covering the frantic efforts by Obama and Pelosi to strongarm, bribe, cajole, threaten, and/or blackmail wavering Democrat House members into submission. Himself is calling lowly House members, Himself's loyal troops that still remain are gearing up to flood offices, member's donors are being strongarmed, Cabinet members are being thrown into the effort. It's a scorched-earth approach, with uncooperative members threatened with revenge from the Democrat party organization. Al Capone would be proud.
Which leads to the obvious question: If this 'health-care reform' is such a great idea, why is it such a struggle to get it passed? Why the need to hide behind so many procedural dodges? Why is this likely to be 'voted on' (or not?) sometime this weekend while the NCAA tournament will be underway?
Why? Why? Why?
For those overseas who don't follow basketball, the Full Court Press is a technique practiced by a team, usually behind in the score, with little time left on the clock. From one end of the court, the offensive player with the ball is assigned two defensive players to harass him. Sometimes, one is used to block the view of the referee, to obscure the beating administered by the other. Well executed, the tactic forces the ball to turn over, and a few quick points can be scored. It can't be sustained for long, and within a minute or two, the press is broken by passes to open players downcourt, easy layups are scored, and humiliation follows.
Time to break the Press. That little red widget on your right displays the Capitol Hill switchboard numbers. Click on the widget, and you've got the list of the Democrat members being subject most relentlessly to Obama's ChicagoLand pressure. Their contact info is there. If the members hear, once again, that the overwhelming sentiment is against this folly, they can hold out. The Press can be broken.
OS called a regional office of his House member, John Tanner. A tired-sounding woman answered the phone and took my message urging him to oppose the measure. A reminder that the 'Slaughter' approach, whereby the Members avoid that nasty 'up-or-down' vote, is odious to the Constitution was also noted, and the lady's tone turned chillier. She really did not want to hear that constituents are paying attention...
Tanner is not running for re-election, which means his local staff will all have to locate new jobs, in a depressing job market. Imagine if he votes for this nonsense, and his staffers have to go looking for work in TN-8 with their long and faithful service to the man on their resumes. It won't be pretty...
It will be hard enough if he votes 'no'. After all, Tanner bailed out early, knowing what awaited him in November.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Too Much Fun...
Poor Nancy Pelosi.
She just keeps getting caught in the act of being herself.
She has the unique gift of pouring gasoline onto any fire with reach.
On the first attempt to pass the TARP, she delivered a scathing partisan speech, and then called for the vote, which failed. She was notably silent the next time.
Now, of course, we can't criticize The First Woman Speaker In The History Of This Great Country.
After all, she's a girl, and that would be sexist.
And we can't object to any of the grand designs of the President.
After all, he's black, and that would be racist.
This reasoning is beginning to wear thin.
She just keeps getting caught in the act of being herself.
She has the unique gift of pouring gasoline onto any fire with reach.
On the first attempt to pass the TARP, she delivered a scathing partisan speech, and then called for the vote, which failed. She was notably silent the next time.
Now, of course, we can't criticize The First Woman Speaker In The History Of This Great Country.
After all, she's a girl, and that would be sexist.
And we can't object to any of the grand designs of the President.
After all, he's black, and that would be racist.
This reasoning is beginning to wear thin.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Pull The Camera Back
It is good, in an emotionally-charged environment, to try to 'pull the camera back', to see the drama a bit more in context.
Members of Congress and Senate have been greeted by rooms full of enraged constituents, and Nancy Pelosi once again demonstrated her gift of throwing partisan gasoline onto the fire of public discourse by referring to the protestors as 'un-American' in last Saturday's USA Today Op-Ed.
There is video everywhere, but two examples, here and here, are illustrative.
Close-up camera work is very immediate, but it's valuable to pull the camera back and see the context.
The lawmakers assumed they were going to meet rooms half-full of supportive constituents, and 'explain' their support of a massive piece of legislation they themselves had not read.
The constituents, on the other hand, heard news of the meetings, and saw it as the opportunity to express their utter frustration with a government that has totally gone out of control. ObamaCare was just the final exasperating proposal that brought them out in droves, and the meetings provided the forums to vent their anger.
Add to that a few well-publicized disparaging remarks from White House staffers referring to the citizens as 'AstroTurf', and Pelosi's comment that the protesters were seen carrying Nazi emblems, stir gently for a few days, and stand well back as you wait for the explosion.
What seemed to stun Arlen Specter was the fact that his constituents were not happy that he had switched parties, just to preserve his chairmanship! He was surprised to find that they had begun reading about what was happening to them, and truly shocked that they were talking to one another. Some had even read the bill! The most telling moment was when a 35-year-old small businesswoman declared, 'You have wakened a sleeping giant!', to roars of approval in the room.
Then, video begins to surface of Obama's union supporters beating people who dared to disagree, scenes of citizens locked out of meetings, with more comments from the elites that these people are just racists, etc.
OldSouth thinks that something big is being overlooked in the coverage of the emotional moments: It isn't just about ObamaCare, or Obama. It's about Congress, spending, spending, spending the future away, ignoring the pleas of the voters to stop.
They have lost faith in their government, and have concluded the only means of getting the attention of their representatives is to show up in droves and scream at them.
There is something happening in the culture, a true green shoot. The internet is allowing people to read about what has happened to them, and what may yet happen, from authoritative voices such as Simon Johnson, professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, who was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund during 2007 and 2008.
This post from Jesse is a great introduction and summary.
The entire article is here.
Members of Congress and Senate have been greeted by rooms full of enraged constituents, and Nancy Pelosi once again demonstrated her gift of throwing partisan gasoline onto the fire of public discourse by referring to the protestors as 'un-American' in last Saturday's USA Today Op-Ed.
There is video everywhere, but two examples, here and here, are illustrative.
Close-up camera work is very immediate, but it's valuable to pull the camera back and see the context.
The lawmakers assumed they were going to meet rooms half-full of supportive constituents, and 'explain' their support of a massive piece of legislation they themselves had not read.
The constituents, on the other hand, heard news of the meetings, and saw it as the opportunity to express their utter frustration with a government that has totally gone out of control. ObamaCare was just the final exasperating proposal that brought them out in droves, and the meetings provided the forums to vent their anger.
Add to that a few well-publicized disparaging remarks from White House staffers referring to the citizens as 'AstroTurf', and Pelosi's comment that the protesters were seen carrying Nazi emblems, stir gently for a few days, and stand well back as you wait for the explosion.
What seemed to stun Arlen Specter was the fact that his constituents were not happy that he had switched parties, just to preserve his chairmanship! He was surprised to find that they had begun reading about what was happening to them, and truly shocked that they were talking to one another. Some had even read the bill! The most telling moment was when a 35-year-old small businesswoman declared, 'You have wakened a sleeping giant!', to roars of approval in the room.
Then, video begins to surface of Obama's union supporters beating people who dared to disagree, scenes of citizens locked out of meetings, with more comments from the elites that these people are just racists, etc.
OldSouth thinks that something big is being overlooked in the coverage of the emotional moments: It isn't just about ObamaCare, or Obama. It's about Congress, spending, spending, spending the future away, ignoring the pleas of the voters to stop.
They have lost faith in their government, and have concluded the only means of getting the attention of their representatives is to show up in droves and scream at them.
There is something happening in the culture, a true green shoot. The internet is allowing people to read about what has happened to them, and what may yet happen, from authoritative voices such as Simon Johnson, professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, who was the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund during 2007 and 2008.
This post from Jesse is a great introduction and summary.
The entire article is here.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
How Much Is 12.1 Trillion?
So, I'm taking a break from the day's project on deadline, and this story keeps popping up:
Timmy Geithner's letter to Harry Reid on Friday, telling him Congress needs to raise the US government's debt limit to 12.1 trillion(that's with a 't').
Otherwise, there's a possibility of default in October.
The 'D' word. That's not good!
The House is in recess, with the members hiding from their constituents, and shaking down the donors for 2010. Lots of folks on what vacations they may muster, and not paying attention, at least that's what the Obama administration hopes.
I can't think they'll be happy to hear that the letter's existence is now out in the open.
So, how much is 12.1 trillion dollars?
A billion is a thousand million. That's a lot of dough.
A trillion is a thousand billion. That's a lot more dough.
So, now we're at 12 times a thousand times a billion, this year alone.
That little 'point-one' stands for only a hundred billion--chump change for the Obama administration.
There are about 300 million people in the USA. So 12 billion(no need to worry with that 'point-one' divided by 300 million is....
(Had to do this on my spreadsheet, as my calculator won't do this..)
40,000 dollars for every man woman and child present in the country.
For just this fiscal year.
That's just the budget shortfall for this year.
That's what Congress is borrowing in your name, this year alone.
That's not factoring in that maybe 20 million of the 300 million are illegal aliens, and of course in every population there are those who cannot/should not work, such as the aged, small children, the ill and infirm. So, that 40,000 per person actually is a conservative estimate, and we'll ignore that 'point-one', since those in charge aren't too concerned about it, either.
This is before ObamaCare, or another 'stimulus' bill now being chattered about, or some emergency like another bad hurricane, or a war breaking out, or a bunch of biiig bank failures, etc.
Federal tax revenues are down 18% year-over-year, by the way, and real unemployment is well over 10%.
And Nancy Pelosi seems confounded that the voters are upset at their local Congressman/woman? She thinks it's just kooks, wackos and neo-nazis showing up to act ugly...
Maybe she's just out of touch and overworked.
Timmy Geithner's letter to Harry Reid on Friday, telling him Congress needs to raise the US government's debt limit to 12.1 trillion(that's with a 't').
Otherwise, there's a possibility of default in October.
The 'D' word. That's not good!
The House is in recess, with the members hiding from their constituents, and shaking down the donors for 2010. Lots of folks on what vacations they may muster, and not paying attention, at least that's what the Obama administration hopes.
I can't think they'll be happy to hear that the letter's existence is now out in the open.
So, how much is 12.1 trillion dollars?
A billion is a thousand million. That's a lot of dough.
A trillion is a thousand billion. That's a lot more dough.
So, now we're at 12 times a thousand times a billion, this year alone.
That little 'point-one' stands for only a hundred billion--chump change for the Obama administration.
There are about 300 million people in the USA. So 12 billion(no need to worry with that 'point-one' divided by 300 million is....
(Had to do this on my spreadsheet, as my calculator won't do this..)
40,000 dollars for every man woman and child present in the country.
For just this fiscal year.
That's just the budget shortfall for this year.
That's what Congress is borrowing in your name, this year alone.
That's not factoring in that maybe 20 million of the 300 million are illegal aliens, and of course in every population there are those who cannot/should not work, such as the aged, small children, the ill and infirm. So, that 40,000 per person actually is a conservative estimate, and we'll ignore that 'point-one', since those in charge aren't too concerned about it, either.
This is before ObamaCare, or another 'stimulus' bill now being chattered about, or some emergency like another bad hurricane, or a war breaking out, or a bunch of biiig bank failures, etc.
Federal tax revenues are down 18% year-over-year, by the way, and real unemployment is well over 10%.
And Nancy Pelosi seems confounded that the voters are upset at their local Congressman/woman? She thinks it's just kooks, wackos and neo-nazis showing up to act ugly...
Maybe she's just out of touch and overworked.
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