If you  read this site regularly, you know that I am very upset about the fact that our new Senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, has not been sworn in.  This delay has allowed the raising of the debt ceiling without the input of the voters of Massachusetts (the appointed Senator was the decisive vote), and I am sure there will be other things going through before Senator Brown is sworn in.

Boston.com reports that Senator Brown is hoping to be sworn in February 11th–more than three weeks after the election.  When Ted Kennedy won that seat in a special election, he was sworn in within two days.  My, how times change.  Anyway, The Hill is reporting that Obama nominee for Solicitor of Labor, Patricia Smith, may be confirmed before Senator Brown is seated.  The problem with this nominee is that she seems to have lied to the Senate about her involvement with the Wage and Hour Watch program.

Ms. Smith said that she had no intention to expand the program throughout the State of New York, but the Washington Examiner reports:

“But the e-mails obtained through New York’s Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) suggest otherwise. Outside groups were being consulted as early as April 2008, and played a key role in developing the program. Smith herself was copied on e-mails discussing the program with these groups as early as November 2008. The program was announced publicly in January 2009, and Enzi’s memo contends that the businesses affected weren’t even allowed a meeting with Smith until March.”

According to the Washington Examiner, the program “was an effort to deputize unions to detect illegal employment practices — for example, by confronting and interviewing employees as they leave work, or even while they are on the job.”  It would open the door for all kinds of intimidation tactics toward employers and employees.  The question is not only what the program would do, but why she felt it necessary to lie about the program.

The Hill reported Sunday that AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stated during an appearance on CNN that card check legislation will pass this year in spite on the fact that the Democrats no longer have a filibuster-proof majority.  Card check is the legislation that takes the secret ballot out of the unionization vote.  Tumka also stated that healthcare reform would also pass this year.  I have two reactions to these statements–the first is that he reinforces the need for all of us to pay attention to what is going on in Washington every day.  Both of these bills seemed to have died, but evidently they have not.  The second reaction is to wonder if he has accurate information and what it is based on.

Congress seems to have a temporary hearing problem.  I guess we just have to elect more Senators who will listen to the people to correct the problem.

I thought the purpose of a budget was to help keep your spending under control.  The document that President Obama has submitted to Congress does nothing of the sort.  It might be called an unbudget or a spendget.

Articles and information on the proposed budget are all over the internet.  My sources are the Washington Examiner, an article at Power Line concerning about the energy policy built into the budget, an article at Power Line about the increasing debt, and an article at The Hill.

The spin on this budget is that it will end the ‘tax cuts for the rich’ put in place by the Bush Administration.  We need to consider that the majority of those ‘rich’ are small business owners who because of the way they file their taxes appear rich although they are not.  These are the people who hire workers.  To raise their taxes at this time is to increase unemployment until that burden is lifted.  The budget also includes a tax increase on those making less than $ 95,000 a year. 

According to The Hill:

“The $3.8 trillion budget request rolled out by the White House on Monday would renew the Making Work Pay tax credit for fiscal 2011, but then would have it sunset.   That’s a switch from last year, when Obama’s budget called for making the tax credit permanent.”.

This is directly opposite of the promise of no tax increase for the middle class.  You can’t spend the kind of money this administration is planning to spend and not raise taxes.

Power Line points out:

“[Obama’s budget] contained $36.5 billion in new taxes over ten years on the oil and gas industries, while heaping new billions in taxpayer support for politically-favored energies.”

Power Line asks the question:

“If they claim tax hikes on the oil and gas industries won’t have any incentive effects on production or jobs, then how can they claim that “green investments” will create jobs in the solar and wind industries?”

This is all smoke and mirrors.  Power Line points out how much spending increases with this proposed budget:

“Today the Obama administration unveiled its budget for FY 2011. The budget ostensibly covers the next ten years, but its projections for future years are meaningless. The only year for which it has any significance is 2011, in which it anticipates $3.8 trillion in spending and an astonishing $1.6 trillion deficit. In 2006, the last year in which the Republicans controlled Congress, the deficit was $248 billion–one-seventh what Obama proposes for next year.””

I am in no way a budget expert, buy I know that when times are tough, you need to be careful what you spend.  I don’t know if there is a way to stop this budget and cut it down, but for the good of the country that needs to happen!

The source of this article is CNN.com.  Iran is celebrating the anniversary of its Islamic revolution on February 11.  It has been thirty years since that revolution changed the face of the Middle East.  The leaders of the opposition to the current government are calling for protests against the government on that day.  Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is telling the world that Iran will deliver a harsh blow to “global arrogance” on that day.  It really doesn’t sound like a happy anniversary.

According to the article:

“About 4,000 people have been arrested in the post-election crackdown. As of January 24, the government had confirmed the deaths of at least 37 people in the protests or in detention, seven of those deaths happening on the religious holiday of Ashura.

“On Thursday, authorities hanged Mohammed Reza Ali Zamani, 37, and Arash Rahmanipour, 20, who had been convicted of being enemies of God and plotting to topple the Islamic regime.

“The two were convicted in mass trials of opposition supporters in August, but Rahmanipour’s lawyer said the young man was arrested two months before the election.”

The fact that the President Ahmadinejad is murdering dissidents and making threats against the world is an indication that his regime is in trouble.  He may be attempting to provoke an attack against his nation by a foreign power that will unite his people against a common enemy.  Unfortunately there is no way to determine whether or not he is bluffing.  

Yesterday one of the blogs at the Wall Street Journal reported that the heathcare reform bill is not dead.  The Democrats say that they are one vote in the House of Representatives from passing the current healthcare bill.  The Republicans support the idea of healthcare reform, but oppose the current bill.  The Democrats are claiming that they are willing to listen to Republican input on the bill and that they are willing to compromise.  I’ll believe that when I see the new Senator from Massachusetts sworn in and voting!

Healthcare reform could be done in a way that would cut costs and make insurance more available.  There are a few key things that would not drastically change what we have now, but simply adjust it.  The basic changes we need are tort reform, portability across state lines, coverage for pre-existing conditions, and a tax credit to help low-income people afford health insurance.  (Lower taxes in general probably wouldn’t hurt either!)

We need to remember that the purpose of government is to defend its citizens–not run their lives.  The Tenth Amendment limits the power of the federal government and makes sure that the states can administer much of their own business.  We existed for our first one hundred years or so without an income tax.  I realize we can’t go back to that, but we should be able to go back to a time when income tax freedom day (the day you begin working for yourself and not the government) came before April 13th (the day in 2009).  When you add the deficits into the equation, the date for 2009 becomes May 29.  These numbers are from TaxFoundation.org.  We pay a higher percentage of our wages in taxes than the Midieval serfs paid to their feudal lords.  That needs to change.