YOU CUT

Congressional Republicans, headed by Minority Whip Eric Cantor have started a new website called "You Cut" that allows common Americans to vote for what spending cuts you want to see Congress adopt.


This is an interesting idea, if it takes off. They are offering up five different spending programs for the chopping block each week. Whatever program earns the most votes from the public will be offered up for a vote in Congress the next week. No doubt they will get a lot of flack and ridicule from the left over this one, but I personally think it's great for a few reasons.

First of all, it's fascinating to see all of the ways that Congress is wasting our money (and how much is being wasted). You hear rumors about some of the crazy or unnecessary things our money is being spent on, but to see it in black and white on a Congressional website, well, it really puts it into perspective. If you have high blood pressure or ulcers, you might want to medicate yourself before you check it out each week!

Second, in a political climate where it often feels like the train is out of control and heading off the tracks, this offers a way to give Congress your two cents on a very important issue - spending. And not just spending in general, as we have been attempting to do with the Tea Parties - we're talking specific, targeted spending programs. President Obama created the deficit reduction committee, but it won't be coming out with anything constructive until December, and doubtless there will be more in the way of taxation instead of spending cuts in their recommendations. Increased taxation will only prolong our suffering - especially at the levels they will need to tax in order to make a dent in the deficit. The only way out of this hole is through spending cuts. Politicians hate spending cuts because someone always loses out and voters become alienated. Perhaps if the cuts are brought to them by popular demand, they will grow some spines and do what's necessary to save this country from financial ruin. Don't hold your breath, though. These are politicians we're talking about, after all.

Finally, there are major political ramifications to this. As I mentioned before, the left will attempt to ridicule the Republicans on this - after all, when they have no other defense, they always turn to derision. The odds of the democrats voting down these proposed cuts are very high, but they need to really think before they do so. Not only will they be voting down Republican introduced spending cuts at a time when they are trying to paint themselves as deficit hawks, but they will be voting down cuts that were presented to Congress by popular fiat. They are used to thumbing their noses at We the Peons in general, but this will be a direct dismissal of what the American people want. The big question is, will their unprecedented tone deafness go that far?

In order to submit your vote, you must give them an email address. That's it. No other personal information required. You can vote more than once (I voted first for the Welfare Non-Reform Program and then the Subsidized Union Activities), and you can vote online or via text. So check out "You Cut" on Eric Cantor's website. Let me know what you think, and, as they say in Chicago, vote early and vote often!

 

Cross Posted at The Sisterhood of the Mommy Patriots

A 'HEALTHY' DOSE OF DENIAL

In an interview with Katie Couric, President Obama defended his hopey-changey message.  "Democrats wrote to me," Katie began with an apologetic smile, "saying you campaigned on a slogan of change you can believe in, but their lives and the ways of Washington, they wrote, haven't changed at all."

President Obama then launches into a denial-filled explaination of how transparent his administration is.  He mentions the fact that his visitor logs for the White House are available to the public - something unheard of with other administrations (and you know who he means!).  Of course he neglects to mention that those same logs were kept locked up (even after two federal rulings that the informtion was public), until November of '09 and even then, the list wasn't quite complete, it just went back to Sept. '09.  The new era of transparency leaves much to be desired, in my opinion.

But it gets better.  "We are eliminating lobbyists from boards and commissions," Obama insists.  And what is happening to those lobbyists who are suddenly jobless in DC?  Why, they miraculously get waivers to work in the White House

He finishes up with "There's more transparency on something like the Recovery Act and how taxpayer dollars are being spent than there/s ever been on a project of this size and scale." (has there ever been a project of this size and scale?)  Sure, as long as you don't mind phantom zip codes and congressional districts that don't exist.  And why, exactly, does the website say that about 650,000 jobs have been 'saved or created', but the administration keeps citing 1.5 - 2.4 million?  Easy - they have now changed the rules so that if a company receives stimulus funds, any job within that company now counts as 'saved or created'.  Quite a racket, no?

Obama, Pelosi et al have a little problem.  They truly believe perception is reality, and that if they simply say something often enough, with enough conviction, it will be so.  For the rest of us living in the real world (which luckily has internet access and youtube - something the administration, as tech-savvy has it has been touted as being, seems to have forgotten about), we can hear the spin and find out what's really going on.  Apparently, for about 60% of Americans, their BS detectors are set to ultra sensitive, and claptrap like he was peddling to Couric just doesn't sell anymore.

Now Obama is calling for a health care summit, this time including Republicans and C-SPAN cameras.  I guess bipartisanship and transparency are only necessary if you can't manage to pass it strictly on party lines and behind closed doors.  Can you say 'political act of desperation'?  I know that he is 'pivoting' to jobs, but why can't he just drop the whole health care thing completely for a while?  Get the economy running again and then take up health care over the summer or fall (or, more realistically, next year).  Unfortunately, the administration has managed to sell to their progressive base that economic recovery just won't happen until the health care system has been reformed. 

One thing this administration has gotten really, really good at is painting themselves into corners.

What really strikes me, though, is the petulant tone of the democrats - particularly Obama.  Well, except for Pelosi, who apparently has decided that tone-deaf defiance is the way to go.  Hey Queen Nan - when you said you would "Go through the gate.  If the gate's closed, we'll go over the fence.  If the fence is too high, we'll pole vault in.  If that doesn't work we'll parachute in but we're going to get health care reform passed for the American people", who do you think is making all of those obstructions?  That would be the American people, Nan.  You know, your bosses? 

The woman is the poster child for power drunk career political hacks. 

She is the snarling, snapping, rabid pitbull to Obama's shivering chihuahua, barking furiously to cover his uncertainty and incompetence as he hides behind her.  If the republicans can manage to take back the House, she will be neutralized, and that is more than half the battle.    The spin for this administration has become so lame and transparently, patently false that it is hard to believe anyone is falling for it anymore.  Well, except for their hard-core base, which only comprises about 20% of the voting pool, thankfully.  The rest of us respond to the desperate spin with a hearty chuckle these days, as we mark off one more day on the calendar.

The administration will be learning a hard lesson that perception is not reality, come November.  Until then, let them spin away. 

CONGRESSIONAL HIJINX

First on the docket today is the vote to force Charlie Rangel D-NY to step down from his chairmanship of the powerful Ways and Means committee. Mr. Rangel has hidden assets and cheated on his taxes - which has a special irony, since he is responsible for writing tax code - as well as bribing 119 members of congress, including three members of the ethics committee charged with investigating his criminal acts (to the tune of about $20,000 each). The result of the vote was predictable. One of his biggest supporters is none other than Nancy Pelosi, she of the 'most ethical Congress ever'.

Yeah, riiiiiight....

Although that particular vote illustrates the corruption and cronyism rife in Washington, the shenanigans surrounding the health care reform attempts takes the underhandedness of our current government to a whole new level.

As everyone knows, the democrats are currently enjoying a super majority, and, technically, can ride roughshod over the republicans and pass any legislation they want. And yet, curiously, they have been unable to pass health care reform. Why is this? Well, if you ask the democrats, it is because of the republicans being the 'party of no' and holding up the bills.

Let me reiterate: they have a Super Majority, including a filibuster-proof Senate. They don't need even a single vote from the republicans.

Even so, they still don't have the votes.

So what are they going to do? Well, there is a possible plan percolating that would bypass the voting process, so that when midterm elections come around next year, democrats can deny voting for this mess while still managing to get it implimented.

This is CYA (cover your ass) on a whole new level. They know this bill is unpopular and those in purple districts will face defeat in the voting booth if they support the bill, so they are trying to eat their cake and have it, too.

This plan is incredibly sneaky and underhanded. The Max Baucus bill will be part of the scheme, but the CBO estimate that came out yesterday claiming the bill will be deficit neutral is a preliminary report, as the bill still needs to be mashed together with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which the CBO has scored at costing over $600 billion over the next decade.

The 'mashing together' of the two bills will be done solely by Harry Reid D-NV, who will be able to add or subtract key points at his discretion, with no oversight. Those changes will not be voted on; the votes getting them out of committee, before his changes, will be binding, even though he may completely change the bills into something completely unrecognizable from what was originally voted on.

They will then use a previously voted in House bill (another option not mentioned in the Heritage article below is the House-passed Cap and Trade bill - two birds, one stone) as a shell for the health care legislation. This will be ground into the HELP/Finance committee bill to create a craptastic sausage of 'reform'

The Heritage Foundation explains the process best (I strongly suggest reading the whole article):

"Step One: “The Senate Finance Committee will finish work on the marking up of Senator Max Baucus’ (D-MT) conceptual framework for legislation by this Friday.” Progress on this had been stalled and the bill was not passed by the end of last week. Foxnews.com is reporting that the Congressional Budget Office score of the bill will be released later today and a high score may further stall progress on the Committee’s Vapor Bill. Senate Finance Committee’s progress on passing something out of committee – INCOMPLETE.
Step Two: Next, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will take the final product of the Senate Finance Committee and merge it with the product of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee. CNSnews.com has confirmed that “the actual final text of the legislation will be determined by Reid himself, who will consolidate the legislation approved by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and the still-unapproved legislation from the Senate Finance Committee. Reid will be able to draft and insert textual language that was not expressly approved by either committee.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will write the final version of Obamacare to be considered in the Senate with no input from the American people. This is an extremely complex procedure that will not be done in public, or in the form of a hearing, or a public conference committee, and only Senator Harry Reid, some other Senators chosen by Reid and Obama Administration officials will be allowed to read the bill before the Senate debate starts. Merger of the bills – IN PROGRESS.
Step Three: Senator Reid will then move to proceed to H.R. 1586, a bill to impose a tax on bonuses received by certain TARP recipients. A senior aid to Senate Majority Leader Ried has confirmed that he will move to proceed to Senate Calendar Number 36, H.R. 1586, or another House passed tax measure, so the Senate can avoid the Constitutional mandate that tax bills originate in the House. Proceed to tax shell of a bill – CONFIRMED.
Step Four: This scenario would most likely be implemented after the Massachusetts state legislature gives Governor Deval Patrick the power to appoint a new Senator and that Senator is seated by the Senate. The Senate swore in new Massachusetts Senator Paul Kirk on September 25th. Change Law of Massachusetts to allow for interim Senator – COMPLETE."

The Baucus plan is rife with taxes, which is why it is deficit neutral. And where it doesn't tax, it passes on costs to states, to the tune of $14 billion over ten years. States like California, already on the brink of collapse, simply cannot sustain such expenditures. The other taxes are aimed at medical devices, insurance providers and hospitals, among others, but, really, all those 'fees' (liberalese for taxes) will be passed on to consumers.

So, although technically they aren't raising our taxes, believe you me, we will ALL be paying for this mess. The fact that we have no say in the legislation, and won't even know what the bill truly entails until after President Obama signs it into law illustrates the contempt our 'betters' in Congress hold for the public.

The desperate measures the administration is stooping to in order to pass this legislation speaks volumes about the true purpose of this legislation - power and control. If it was a good bill that would win over a majority of voters, it wouldn't have to be passed in the dark of night, unread. Heck, the darn thing isn't even written yet, and they want to vote on it.

How can they constitutionally pass legislation that isn't even written, and the few bits that are on paper will be radically altered after it is voted on?

Not only are they refusing to read the bills, now they aren't even bothering to write them!