Candidate Obama ran on a post-partisan theme. He was going to rise above the lethal Washington partisanship to accomplish his change agenda. If he had done this he would not be in the mess he and his fellow Democrats are in right now. The legislative impasse is one hundred percent his own creation.
President Obama outsourced the development of the healthcare bill (as well as the cap and trade and bailout bills) to the hyper-partisan Congress. The Democratic congress was beside itself with legislative super-majorities and saw no need to involve the Republicans on the largest piece of social legislation since social security. The congressional leadership saw an opportunity to get what they wanted and did not need the Republicans for anything, or so they thought. As we all know, it did not turn out that way.
For just a moment consider what would have happened if President Obama acted like candidate Obama and incorporated a few Republican ideas into the current legislation. Not meaningful concessions, just a few bones to throw the more liberal Republicans. He could have easily picked up 3-5 Republicans who were eager to pass healthcare legislation. If he had done this, he would not have been scrambling to secure the 60th vote. There would have been no Louisiana Purchase, Cornhusker kickback, labor union buy-off’s, etc. He would have had this legislation passed in the Fall and the Democrats would not be facing the 2010 electoral tsunami they are looking at now.
If only president Obama had led as he campaigned, he would have his precious legislation. He has no one to blame, not even the Republicans, other than himself. To that end I say “the Lord works in mysterious ways.”
LDN - 1.20.10
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Monday, January 04, 2010
A Few Items You Might Have Missed This Year
This past year has had more than its fair share of news items. From the economic crisis, to the inauguration of America’s first African American president, to the apparent passage of a massive healthcare bill, this year has been one for the record books. Lost in all of these headlines are a few events that you might have missed. Some of these items are just bizarre while others might give you pause.
• A priest in Northern England told his congregation that it is acceptable for desperate people to shoplift as long as they do it at large national chain stores, rather than small family businesses. The Reverend Tom Jones of York said that shoplifting could help people who are legally entitled to government welfare benefits but have the benefits delayed for bureaucratic reasons. What a load of bunk. You can steal from Belk’s but you can’t steal from Solomon’s. I can just see Charlton Heston carrying the Ten Commandments in a wagon because Thou Shall Not Steal had been annotated with footnotes explaining the difference between a national chain and a family owned store.
• The world met in Copenhagen last week with the goal of establishing far reaching targets and mandates to control the world’s carbon emissions – all in the hope to manage global warming. Before you run off and buy your Prius you may want to consider this interesting news item:
Man’s best friend’s, aka your family dog, carbon footprint is more than double that of a gas guzzling SUV. Researchers Robert and Brenda Vale have concluded that the land required to generate the food for a medium sized dog is twice that of a 4x4 driving 6,000 miles a year.
Just so you cat lovers do feel glib, cats were found to have an “eco-footprint equivalent to a driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year. Two hamsters equate to a plasma TV and even the lowly goldfish is the equivalent to two mobile phones.
The results were confirmed by the Stockholm Environment Institute in York England. Something weird is going on in York (that is where the shoplifting priest is from – go figure). The Institute concluded that “owning a dog really is quite an extravagance.”
• This little factoid is probably one of the more obvious but this time it is backed by facts.
Democrats are feeling stimulated these days. Jerry Brito and Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center tracked stimulus spending in all 435 congressional districts plus the District of Columbia. They found that the amount of stimulus money received by a district was influenced by its partisan representation, rather than economic need. Districts with a Democratic congressman received almost twice as many dollars as those with Republican representation, whereas there was no relationship between a district’s unemployment level and the amount of stimulus money it received.
• In Wellington New Zealand cops warned two nude Kiwi men after they were found cycling without a helmet. The men said they were cycling naked because "they wanted to experience total freedom". The officer said to them ''the way you're heading, you're going to experience total confinement.” The officer issued them with a warning for not wearing protective headgear and sent them home. What can you say to top that one?
• The US national debt is over eleven trillion. The 2009 debt was almost two trillion. It was not that long ago we used to worry about billion dollar deficits. Now the magic number is a trillion. It is impossible for the human mind to comprehend a trillion. This might put it into perspective:
o A million seconds is 12 days ago
o A billion seconds 31 years ago
o A trillion seconds is longer than recorded history – 31,688 years ago
That might help but here is another way of looking at a trillion. A trillion is approximately the sum total of income taxes collected by the federal government. So to eliminate next year’s projected 2 trillion dollar deficit your income tax would have to triple. That’s right – you federal income tax would have to triple to eliminate next years projected deficit. Think about that the next time our politicians offer us something that we don’t have to pay for.
The year 2009 is over and 2010 has just started. The only thing that can be said for certain is 2010 will hold as many surprises as 2009. I just hope and pray they are more pleasant than the surprises of 2009. Happy New Year!
Published in the LaGrange Daily News
December 31, 2009
• A priest in Northern England told his congregation that it is acceptable for desperate people to shoplift as long as they do it at large national chain stores, rather than small family businesses. The Reverend Tom Jones of York said that shoplifting could help people who are legally entitled to government welfare benefits but have the benefits delayed for bureaucratic reasons. What a load of bunk. You can steal from Belk’s but you can’t steal from Solomon’s. I can just see Charlton Heston carrying the Ten Commandments in a wagon because Thou Shall Not Steal had been annotated with footnotes explaining the difference between a national chain and a family owned store.
• The world met in Copenhagen last week with the goal of establishing far reaching targets and mandates to control the world’s carbon emissions – all in the hope to manage global warming. Before you run off and buy your Prius you may want to consider this interesting news item:
Man’s best friend’s, aka your family dog, carbon footprint is more than double that of a gas guzzling SUV. Researchers Robert and Brenda Vale have concluded that the land required to generate the food for a medium sized dog is twice that of a 4x4 driving 6,000 miles a year.
Just so you cat lovers do feel glib, cats were found to have an “eco-footprint equivalent to a driving a Volkswagen Golf for a year. Two hamsters equate to a plasma TV and even the lowly goldfish is the equivalent to two mobile phones.
The results were confirmed by the Stockholm Environment Institute in York England. Something weird is going on in York (that is where the shoplifting priest is from – go figure). The Institute concluded that “owning a dog really is quite an extravagance.”
• This little factoid is probably one of the more obvious but this time it is backed by facts.
Democrats are feeling stimulated these days. Jerry Brito and Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center tracked stimulus spending in all 435 congressional districts plus the District of Columbia. They found that the amount of stimulus money received by a district was influenced by its partisan representation, rather than economic need. Districts with a Democratic congressman received almost twice as many dollars as those with Republican representation, whereas there was no relationship between a district’s unemployment level and the amount of stimulus money it received.
• In Wellington New Zealand cops warned two nude Kiwi men after they were found cycling without a helmet. The men said they were cycling naked because "they wanted to experience total freedom". The officer said to them ''the way you're heading, you're going to experience total confinement.” The officer issued them with a warning for not wearing protective headgear and sent them home. What can you say to top that one?
• The US national debt is over eleven trillion. The 2009 debt was almost two trillion. It was not that long ago we used to worry about billion dollar deficits. Now the magic number is a trillion. It is impossible for the human mind to comprehend a trillion. This might put it into perspective:
o A million seconds is 12 days ago
o A billion seconds 31 years ago
o A trillion seconds is longer than recorded history – 31,688 years ago
That might help but here is another way of looking at a trillion. A trillion is approximately the sum total of income taxes collected by the federal government. So to eliminate next year’s projected 2 trillion dollar deficit your income tax would have to triple. That’s right – you federal income tax would have to triple to eliminate next years projected deficit. Think about that the next time our politicians offer us something that we don’t have to pay for.
The year 2009 is over and 2010 has just started. The only thing that can be said for certain is 2010 will hold as many surprises as 2009. I just hope and pray they are more pleasant than the surprises of 2009. Happy New Year!
Published in the LaGrange Daily News
December 31, 2009
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