Monthly Archives: December 2011

Two Congressmen Trying To Get It Right

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Today’s Wall Street Journal (no link–subscribers only) posted an article on their Opinion Page written by Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Paul Ryan. The two Congressmen have worked together to design a plan that will ensure the future of Medicare. My experience in watching Representative Ryan is that he is a true geek on the subject of Congressional spending. I am not familiar with Senator Wyden, but I suspect he is also strong on the subject.

The basic outline of the Medicare proposal is that it would not effect people under the age of 55 and that it would include the toughest consumer protections in American government. Part of the plan is a ‘premium support’ system that would allow Medicare users to choose between a government and a private plan. There would be conditions in place to make sure the private plans provided the same service as the government plan.

The article concludes:

Yes, these are ambitious reforms, and while we are hopeful for the future, we are under no illusions that they will pass tomorrow. Nevertheless, we offer this plan as proof that Democrats and Republicans don’t have to spend next year making Medicare reform more difficult. Instead, our parties can work together on bipartisan reforms to save and strengthen Medicare.

I have no idea what Congress will do with this plan. It is, however, extremely encouraging to see the sort of co-operation that this plan represents. When members of Congress from both parties work together, America wins.

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There’s Something Rather Ironic Here

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John Hinderaker at Power LIne reported today on a speech Attorney General Eric Holder gave at the LBJ Library on election reform. Attorney General Holder denounced the Texas voter id laws as discriminatory and said that he would use the power of his office to enforce civil rights protections during the 2012 elections.

The article reports:

One last bit of irony — if not hypocrisy — was experienced as people lined up to enter the LBJ Library to hear AG Holder rail against voter ID laws. As each person entered the library they were required to present their photo IDs in order to be allowed in to hear the speech.

If Attorney General Holder feels a photo ID is necessary to hear him speak, why isn’t a photo ID necessary in order to vote?

 

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Agenda 21

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In June I wrote an article (rightwinggranny.com) about an Executive Order signed by President Obama establishing the White House Rural Council with 25 executive branch departments. This Executive Order is the beginning of the implementation of Agenda 21.

On Monday night, I was fortunate to attend a seminar on Agenda 21 put on by the Northborough Massachusetts Tea Party. The seminar was eye-opening. It revealed how the ‘green’ movement was going to be used to undermine the concept of private property in America and allow for the redistribution of wealth. t would take too long to detail everything discussed at the seminar, but I would like to share a few quotes. If you would like to learn more, I suggest you google ‘Agenda 21’ or ‘ICLEI.’

Some interesting quotes:

“Current lifestyles and consumption patterns of the affluent middle class–involving high meat intake, use of fossil fuels, appliances, home and work air conditioning, and suburban housing–are not sustainable.”  Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the UN’s 1992 Earth Summit

“Land, because of its unique nature and the crucial role it plays in human settlements, cannot be treated as an ordinary asset, controlled by individuals and subject to the pressures and inefficiencies of the market. Private land ownership is also a principle instrument of the accumulation and concentration of wealth and therefore contributes to social injustice; if unchecked, it may become a major obstacle in the planning and implementation of development schemes.”  This is a quote from the 1976 UN Conference on Human Settlement, held in Vancouver, Canada. Under “Section D. Land,” of the Report of Habitat, which came out of the conference. It is from the preamble and speaks of the private ownership of land.

Please do your own research on how Agenda 21 has impacted your community. When one member of our Tuesday night discussion group went to the website of his community, he found evidence of ICLEI involvement all through the website. The idea that we should protect our environment is a good one–but that protection needs to be done on a local level in a way that respects individual property rights. As you do your research, remember that private property rights are one of the pillars of our representative republic.

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Two Good Things Happening In The Senate

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Scott Brown was elected as Senator from Massachusetts in a special election in January of 2010, after the death of Senator Edward Kennedy. I tend to be somewhat more conservative than Senator Brown and have disagreed with him on some of his votes, but I think he is a man of integrity who is trying to do what is best for the country and for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is responsible for two good things that happened in the Senate this week.

On his facebook page, Senator Brown reports:

On 12/14/11 the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs passed Senator Brown’s revised STOCK Act, which would prohibit insider trading in Congress.

I have no idea what is in the revised bill, but it is an accomplishment to get it out of committee. Thomas.gov should have the revisions up tomorrow.

The second good thing is a Press Release Scott Brown released on December 13. In part, the Press Release reads:

Washington, DC – Following a series of major electric outages that have left millions of New Englanders without power in recent years, a bipartisan group of U.S. Senators from the region today, including Senator Scott Brown (R-MA),  called for a hearing to review our nation’s electric grid reliability standards.  In a letter to the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Senators highlighted the fact that power outages not only pose a threat to public safety, but also to local businesses and economies.

As an example, the Senators pointed to last month’s New England snowstorm that left more than 2 million utility customers without power, including 672,000 in Massachusetts, 315,000 in New Hampshire and 830,000 in Connecticut.

“This year, Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm caused hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts residents to lose power for days or weeks, often with little information about when the lights would turn back on,” said U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA).  “I share their frustration and, as we have learned, a reliable power grid is not just critical to our economy, but a matter of life and death.  I hope the Committee will hold this oversight hearing to reveal the extent of our energy reliability issues, and help our nation be better prepared for major disruptions to our power supply.”

“Power outages can have significant consequences, even life-threatening ones when they come during the brutal cold of winter.  Families can be forced out of their homes and businesses forced to close unexpectedly,” said U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.  “Unfortunately, over the past two years, significant and sustained outages have been occurring across New England with unacceptable regularity.  Our electric grid reliability standards are designed to protect the welfare of the American people and the American economy, and it’s time that we review their effectiveness and adequacy.”

“This hearing can be highly significant, not only in fact finding but change making,” said U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).  “An oversight hearing should enable us to explore and expose defects in utility preparation and response, and empower reforms in policies and practices at every level.  The prolonged power outages from this past October’s storm had real and pernicious consequences for the economy, health, and safety of Connecticut residents.  An oversight hearing is essential to upgrade our reliability standards as well as improve Mutual Aid Agreements, so that states can protect against similar catastrophes.”

There is another issue here. An organization called EMPact America has been trying to wake Americans up to the dangers of an Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.

The EMPact America website reports:

An EMP can be caused by a natural event like a severe solar storm or a malicious act using a weapon like a high-altitude nuclear burst. National experts have concluded that consequences of a natural or manmade EMP event could be long-lasting, continent-wide and cripple the U.S. critical electricity-dependent infrastructures, which are highly vulnerable and largely unprotected.

On a personal note. I have been aware of the potential of an EMP attack for a number of years. As I have previously stated on this website, I am not particularly scientifically inclined and not always totally logical. Before I retired, I worked about 20 miles from my home, I knew that in the case of an EMP attack my car would not work and I would want to get home if I was at work. Since I generally wore high heels to work, I always kept a pair of jogging shoes in the trunk of my car. That was my security blanket. I felt very secure until my husband pointed out to me that after an EMP attack I would have no way of getting into my trunk–it has an electronic latch. That is an example of one of the little things that would not work after an EMP attack.

Shielding the electric grid is not an expensive proposition. It needs to be done to protect the people of America. I am grateful Senator Brown is calling for hearings on the reliability of our power grid.

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About That Common Sense In The Senate I Just Mentioned–Here Is The Other Side Of The Coin

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Yesterday the Daily Caller reported on Senator Barbara Boxer’s reaction to the bill that the House of Representatives passed that cuts payroll taxes.

The article reports:

Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Boxer, the chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, assailed a provision House Republicans attached to their payroll tax-cut bill that would delay boiler regulations the Environmental Protection Agency recently enacted.

“They have attached a poison pill — literally, colleagues — because it will kill 8,100 more people more than would have otherwise been killed from pollution,” Boxer said. “They attach that to the payroll tax cut. So have that for a Christmas gift.”

“We have asked for a lot from Santa in our day but we have never asked for lead, arsenic and mercury,” Boxer concluded.

This is the kind of rhetoric Senator McCaskill was speaking out against in the previous article. These words are not true, not constructive, and not consensus building.

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Common Sense Is Not Always Welcome In The Senate

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 Hot Air posted an article today about a comment by Senator Clair McCaskill that is causing a bit of a stir. Senator McCaskill asked, “Why don’t we give Republicans the pipeline?” I’m sure Harry Reid had a heart attack when he heard those words, but they do actually make sense.

The article reports:

Democratic Sen. McCaskill accused Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) of using divisive rhetoric during the payroll tax cut extension debate raging in Congress this week.

“I think if I were going to critique Harry Reid this morning, I really wish we would stop with this ‘dead on arrival, not going to go there’ and begin to have language like, ‘we’re going to take a look at it and see if there’s anything that we can agree on here and over the next couple of days try to come to an agreement,” said McCaskill on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown” Wednesday.

“That’s what’s really going to happen, and I don’t know why this place is so set on, you know, looking like we’re combative all the time,” she added.

I understand that one of Senator McCaskill’s reasons for making that comment may be that she is up for re-election next year; however, it is still a valid comment. It would be nice to see the Senate and the House of Representatives work together for the good of the country.

The pipeline in questions would accomplish a number of good things–it would immediately provide jobs and it would begin to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Any money that we can put into the western hemisphere instead of the Arab countries that are not our friends is money well spent.

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Why We Need To Be Energy Independent

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British map showing the Strait of Hormuz

Image via Wikipedia

Yahoo News posted a Reuters story yesterday about a recent statement by Parviz Sarvari, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee. Mr. Sarvari stated that the military was preparing for a military training exercise to practice closing the Straits of Hormuz. At least 40 percent of the oil traded in the world leaves the Gulf States through the Straits of Hormuz. United States warships patrol the area in order to protect shipping in that area. To close those Straits would create chaos in the world’s oil markets. 

The article reports:

Tension over the program has increased since the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported on November 8 that Tehran appears to have worked on designing a nuclear bomb and may still be pursuing research to that end. Iran strongly denies this and says it is developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Iran has warned it will respond to any attack by hitting Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf and analysts say one way to retaliate would be to close the Strait of Hormuz.

When America has a weak president, the world is less safe. The current actions of Iran are further proof of that.

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The Real Number

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The lead article at Ezra Klein’s Wonkbook at the Washington Post reports that the real unemployment rate in America is actually 11 percent. Where does this number come from? In order to keep the unemployment number below 10 percent, the government has been statistically shrinking the work force. They can actually do this in a logical way–let’s say that because of the Christmas season, you have momentarily stopped looking for a job–statistically the government does not count you as part of the work force or part of the unemployed. You have fallen into the abyss of ‘people not looking for work.’ That may be temporarily true, but it’s a little self-serving. Anyway, according to government statistics, if the number of people looking for work today were the same is it was in 2007, the unemployment rate would be 11 percent.

The article reports:

Since 2007, the percent of the population that either has a job or is actively looking for one has fallen from 62.7 percent to 58.5 percent. That’s millions of workers leaving the workforce, and it’s not because they’ve become sick or old or infirm. It’s because they can’t find a job, and so they’ve stopped trying. That’s where Luce’s calculation comes from. If 62.7 percent of the country was still counted as in the workforce, unemployment would be 11 percent. In that sense, the real unemployment rate — the apples-to-apples unemployment rate — is probably 11 percent. And the real un- and underemployed rate — the so-called “U6” — is near 20 percent.

The problem with statistics is that they can be easily spun to appear to show whatever the person citing them wants them to show. The current ‘drop’ in unemployment is an example of that spin.

When The World Is Upside Down

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 A Time To Betray, a website run by a former CIA agent who infiltrated the Revolutionary Guard in Iran, posted a story yesterday about the visit to the White House by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The article can also be found in yesterday’s Washington Times. Mr. al-Maliki, an Iraqi Shiite, included Hadi Farhan al-Amiri, transportation minister in Mr. al-Maliki’s Iraqi government.

The article reports:

 Louis J. Freeh, who served as FBI director in the Clinton administrationand the early months of the George W. Bush administration, said it was shocking that Mr. al-Maliki would include Mr. al-Amiri in his visit to Washington.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been involved in “countless acts of terrorism, which are acts of war against the United States,” Mr. Freehsaid in an interview.

Mr. al-Amiri served as a commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s Badr Corps, a battalion that was tasked with operations in Iraq. He remained active in the Badr Corps during the late 1980s and 1990s, when he was working on resistance efforts against Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq.

Unfortunately, the rest of the information in the article is also not encouraging. While Mr. al-Maliki was visiting the White House, there was a group of protesters outside protesting in support of the Iranian exiles in Camp Ashraf, located about 49 miles north of Baghdad.

The article further reports:

The Iraqi government has set a Dec. 31 deadline to close the camp, which houses members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), listed by the U.S. as a terrorist group. The exiles’ supporters fear the camp’s unarmed residents will be massacred because of their opposition to Iran’s government.

Current and former members of Congress, former officials who served in Republican and Democratic administrations, a former Iraqi official and a former senior commanding officer at Camp Ashraf spoke at the protest.

“We did not fight and die … for you to deliver the integrity of Iraq to the mullahs in Iran,” said former Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, New Jersey Democrat, in remarks directed at Mr. al-Maliki.

My concern here is that Iraq will degenerate into a situation similar to the killing fields of Cambodia after America left Vietnam. America is leaving Iraq before the government can stand on its own. Despite statements from the President, Iraq will now become a satellite state of Iran, as have most of the other countries in the region. I believe we could have prevented this had President Obama taken the time to complete the job President Bush had nearly finished when he left office. It is unfortunate the President Obama values the support of his political base more than he values the safety of the Iraqi people and the people in the Middle East.

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Direct From A Friend At Facebook

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In a bid to stem taxpayer losses for bad loans guaranteed by federal housing agencies Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) proposed that borrowers be required to make a 5% down payment in order to qualify.

His proposal was rejected 57-42 on a party-line vote because, as Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn) explained, “Passage of such a requirement would restrict home ownership to only those who can afford it.”

I can’t add anything to this.

I Think There Is A Problem With This

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 America has three branches of government–the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. The idea is to divide the power so that no one branch takes control of the government. There is also the added benefit that each branch protects its own interests by keeping an eye on what the other branches are doing. Thus, we have Congressional hearings when the Executive branch gets a little feisty. The purpose of these hearings is to hold everyone accountable. The process works when everyone is held accountable. The process does not work when information is withheld from Congressional committees and the committees cannot properly do their work.
 

Yesterday the Daily Caller reported on some recent testimony by Attorney General Eric Holder at the Operation Fast and Furious hearings. It seems that Attorney General Holder has not been entirely forthcoming with his emails regarding Operation Fast and Furious.

The article reports the following testimony:

“Most of the 5,000 documents you turned over are emails,” Issa said to Holder. “Mr. Attorney General, I have a question for you. Not one of these emails, in fact, is yours. Aren’t you a prolific emailer?”

Holder responded that, “No,” he is not a “prolific emailer.”

Issa followed up: “Don’t you email?”

Holder responded in the affirmative. “Do you have a personal email account as well as an attorney general email account?” Issa pressed.

“I have an email account at the Justice Department, yes,” Holder equivocated.

If I remember correctly, the press went after former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for using her personal email account for business when she was governor. Somehow the major press is not noticiing that the Attorney General seems to have done the same thing.

The article further reports:

Holder continued to avoid the line of questioning, and said that he’s provided an “unprecedented” amount of documents to Congress. But, he still wouldn’t cite a legal reason why he’s refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas and requests.

“In making production determinations, we have followed what attorneys general in the past have always used — applicable standards, whether these are Republican or Democrat attorneys general,” Holder said. “The information we’ve provided you has been responsive, has been, I think, wholesome and also unprecedented.”

I think this is political-speak for I am not going to willingly give you the information you are looking for–you are going to have to come after it. I hope Committee Chairman Representative Darrell Issa will do just that.

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Where The Money Goes

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the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Essex (CVS-) off...

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The Defense Department faces severe budget cuts; yet, as Hot Air reported yesterday, the Navy bought 450,000 gallons of biofuel for $16 a gallon. The standard marine JP-5, which they usually buy sells for less than $4 a gallon. The Navy bought the fuel from a company named Solazyme, a California energy company which got a $21.8 million grant from the 2009 stimulus package. Oddly enough, the ‘strategic advisor’ to Solazyme is T. J. Glauthier, a member of Obama’s presidential transition team. The article reports that Glauthier worked – shock, shock – on the energy-sector portion of the 2009 stimulus bill. Nothing to see here, folks, move along.

The article reports:

Solazyme’s partner in the biofuel sale is Dynamic Fuels, a Louisiana company owned jointly by Tyson Foods and Tulsa-based Syntroleum.  Tyson and Syntroleum are distinguished by having profitable lines of business that do not rely on government grants to unprofitable “green” projects.  This does not make their biofuel product price-competitive with fossil fuels, however.  (They were induced to develop biofuel manufacturing processes by a combination of subsidies and tax breaks.)

There will come a time in the future when alternative energy is practical. That time is not now. When that time comes, the marketplace will develop that fuel at a competitive price and the economy will naturally make the switch. To block the development of America’s domestic fossil fuel resources (which would create jobs and leave the country less vulnerable to petroleum blackmail) while spending large amounts of taxpayer money on alternative energy is not smart. Aside from the crony capitalism aspect of this, it is simply bad economics.

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Defending The Constitution

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December 12, 2011

7:00 pm, at the Northborough Free Library, 34 Main Street

Northborough, MA

 If you have not heard of the United Nation’s “Agenda 21”, you are not alone … 99% of the citizenry are equally in the dark.

Why should we be concerned? There has been a continual, two-decade effort by thousands of “One World Order” advocates to destroy our capitalist system by promoting environmental programs that not only sound plausible, but appear to be absolutely necessary. Under the guise of protecting our planet, these programs have multiple objectives – all intended to redistribute wealth, hand-cuff industry, undermine national sovereignty, restructure the family unit, and take away our property rights.

The public is invited to attend this eye-opening meeting on Monday, December 12th, 7:00 pm, at the Northborough Free Library, 34 Main Street.

Guest speakers Hal Shurtleff, of the John Birch Society and Dave Kopacz, a Municipal Conservation Agent will describe the evolution of U.N. Agenda 21 and its impact on Massachusetts – 37 towns are currently involved, in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution.

According to Cameron Carey of the Northborough Tea Party, “This U.N. directed program, also known as “sustainable development” is truly insidious – it is motivated by the notion that human beings are less important than saving the planet. But as we will discover, that is only the tip of their philosophical iceberg.”

The free admission, public service program is open to residents of Northborough and surrounding towns, the Press, and especially to high school students. It is sponsored by the Northborough Tea Party. Contact: John O’Mara 508.393.2044,

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Losing Faith In Political Leadership

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I think cynicism might be popular right now. That’s not really the problem–the problem is that it is justifiable. Yesterday Big Government posted an article on a new crony capitalism scandal that is breaking. This scandal is a further development in the LIghtSquared scandal I wrote about initially on September 17 (rightwinggranny). My initial problem with the scandal was that it endangered our soldiers, but it seems that there is a whole lot more to it than that.

The article at Big Government reports:

 Harbinger Capital Partners LLC hedge fund just acknowledged its highly political founder Phillip Falcone and other key executives have received “Wells Notices”. Such communications are normally sent by the Securities & Exchange Commission to a target for fraud just before the Justice Department launches a civil and or criminal case. Although the Wells Notice appears to relate to allegations that Mr. Falcone used his hedge fund customers cash as his personal slush fund; an indictment of Mr. Falcone will also inflame the swirling crony capital investigation by the Congress of White House pay-to-play donations in support of a $14 billion scheme to siphon off part of the U.S. military and civilian Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)’s dedicated wireless bandwidth by a start-up company Mr. Falcone controls, called LightSquared.

There are a lot of layers to this scandal, and I suggest that you follow the link and read the article at Big Government, but I will attempt to highlight it here. LightSquared was going to create a new wireless network from an area of bandwidth on the fringe of the safety zones for military and civilian GPS’s. Obviously GPS coordinates are vital to our military. After corporate officers made large donations to Democrat organizations in 2010, the bandwidth standards were relaxed enough for their project to move forward. There were Congressional hearings to determine whether the project would endanger our military, and there were some questions as to whether corporate executives’ testimonies were influenced by the White House.

The article at Big Government concludes:

With Phillip Falcone potentially about to do the perp walk and Congress already geared up for crony capitalist investigations of Solyndra and MF Global; the White House and several of the Executive Department agencies may have a very busy schedule over the next few months trying to figure out what they didn’t know and when they didn’t know about LightSquared. The miraculous timing of the release of this crucifying technical report will inflame Congressional suspicions that only crony capitalism could have allowed a proposal that would have disrupted navigation systems on cars, boats, tractors and planes to come so close to approval.

Washington is not Chicago. It’s time to vote out the people who are trying to make it Chicago.

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Human Rights Commission in the House of Representatives Testimony

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Please click on the link below to hear testimony on coverage of events in Egypt as the Muslim Brotherhood consolidates its power.

Raymond Ibrahim (Middle East specialist and Associate fellow, Middle East Forum) testified before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the House of Representatives. Reps. Frank Wolf and James McDermott presented \”Under Threat: The Worsening Plight of Egypt\’s Coptic Christians.\”

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Something To Watch In The Next Week

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This article is based on two stories–one from The Hill on Friday and one from Power LIne today. Both stories deal with legislation drafted by House Republicans regarding the F.I.C.A. tax holiday extension requested by the President, the extension of unemployment insurance, and the delay of changes to the Medicare  reimbursement rate for doctors. The House Rules Committee has scheduled a hearing on the legislation for Monday. This is the legislation that President Obama says has to be passed before he will go on Christmas vacation.

The problem with the bill, as President Obama and the Democrats see it, is the inclusion of a provision that directs the executive branch to approve the Keystone pipeline within 60 days, or else report the reasons to Congress. The details of the President’s previous actions regarding the Keystone Pipeline are detailed in a rightwinggranny article of November 10. For the President, the pipeline represents a dilemma–unions support it (it will create a huge number of union jobs) and environmentalist oppose it (it produces carbon-based domestic energy–that is not their stated reason, but that is the reason). To act on the pipeline before the November election is going to alienate one of those two groups.

John Hinderaker at Power LIne comments:

But there are a number of other significant provisions in the House bill. It would strip Obamacare of $34.9 billion in implementation funding; extend unemployment benefits while gradually reducing the time for which they can be claimed; delay implementation of the EPA’s new boiler and incinerator regulations; freeze pay for federal employees; and more. Some of the provisions are a little silly, like barring millionaires from receiving unemployment insurance and food stamps. But on the whole it is a good package.

For people trying to shrink government spending and create jobs, it’s a good bill. Politically for the Democrats, it’s a poison pill. Unfortunately this bill does nothing to create peace and harmony in Washington, so prepare to hear a lot of name calling on the Sunday news shows this weekend and in the mainstream media during the coming week.

The article at Power Line concludes:

But there is something more serious going on as well. If the payroll tax holiday extension passes–and both parties are now on record as favoring it–the dam will have been breached, and Social Security will be massively insolvent, not at some point in the future, but today. Many liberals have argued–I think correctly–that this is a decisive step that will probably doom the program in anything like its present form. Inevitably, with revenues grossly inadequate to pay benefits to all retirees, Social Security will be means tested. In other words, it will become a welfare program that provides a safety net to the indigent elderly. Will today’s young workers be willing to pay for forty years into a program from which they anticipate that they will get no benefit when they retire–unless, of course, they are planning on being indigent? No way. The consensus that has sustained Social Security will be broken, and the program will be just as popular as other welfare programs; which is to say, not very popular at all. It will be the beginning of the end of the welfare state as we now know it. (That trend, by the way, is prefigured in another feature of the House Republican bill, which would begin the means testing of Medicare.)

The Democrat Party likes the issue of extending the F.I.C.A tax holiday because if the Republicans oppose it, it looks as if the Republicans support raising taxes on the middle class while protecting ‘the rich.’ The fact that extending the F.I.C.A. tax holiday puts Social Security at greater risk and really does not significantly stimulate the economy does not really enter into the political discussion of the issue.

The root of the problem in passing this bill is not the bill or the additions to the bill–the root of the problem is that there is an election in November of next year. Unfortunately we have a bunch of career politicians on both sides of the aisle who are willing to put their re-election ahead of the good of the country. We need the Keystone Pipeline project to go forward for national security and economic reasons, and we need a middle class tax cut (although not out of the ‘Social Security Fund’, which in reality does not exist). It would be nice to see both sides work together for a change.

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Any Bets On Where This Will Go ?

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Capital Building

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On November 15, I posted an article (rightwinggranny.com) thanking Senator Scott Brown for his introductions of the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge, or STOCK Act, (S.1871) which would clarify insider trading regulations that do not clearly identify whether the use of inside government information constitutes insider trading. On November 15, the bill was read and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. Hearings were held.

USA Today reported on December 6 that the bill could be voted on by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the House Financial Services Committee on December 14. If the committees vote for the measure, the full Congress could vote on it early next year.

The article reports that there is some opposition to the bill:

New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island said the STOCK Act could leave lawmakers vulnerable to “a witch hunt.”

“It’s flawed, and everybody knows it,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. “I hope there’s another way of doing this.”

Cleaver suggested alternative approaches, such as letting lawmakers put their investments into blind trusts handled by professional investment managers, or having the SEC issue guidance letters advising individual lawmakers on what’s legal.

Two Republican freshmen, Reps. Sean Duffy of Wisconsin and Francisco Canseco of Texas, have proposed letting lawmakers choose between a blind trust and reporting financial transactions more frequently.

Duffy’s legislation would require reporting them within three business days. Canseco’s proposal, which would change the internal rules of the House, would require reporting them within five business days after the end of each month.

I think one of the problems here is that for a long time we have expected Congress to police itself, and obviously it has not done a very good job. I am not sure that the current bill is the answer to the insider trading problem, but I can guarantee that doing nothing is not the answer. Congress needs to be under the same laws as the rest of us. It seems as if this bill would move that idea closer to reality.

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This Is Not Unexpected But It Is Unfortunate

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Many people had high hopes for an Arab Spring when tyrants in the Middle East were toppled during the beginning of this year. Unfortunately, the tyrants that were toppled allowed freedom of religion and were somewhat tolerant of Israel and the West. Now in Egypt the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Al-Nur party, both of which support an Islamic state, have gained control of the Egyptian Parliament. As a result of these two Islamic parties gaining control, the Coptic Christians (who have been in Egypt since 42 AD) have been increasingly under attack. Now we are seeing Egypt’s attituded toward Israel reflect the new political reality in Egypt.

Haaretz is reporting today:

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said that the country’s peace treaty with Israel needs re-evaluation by the country’s new parliament, in press remarks by a senior member of the group published Friday.

“A long time has passed since the Camp David accord was signed, and like the other agreements it needs to be reviewed, and this is in the hands of the parliament,” said Mahmoud Hussein, the group’s secretary-general.

This is like asking the local foxes to reevaluate security in the chicken coop. The article further reports:

“The brotherhood believes the treaty is of great importance, but it is not on the top of our list. There are other priorities for the time being,” Hussein told the regional Asharq al-Awsat daily.

“Generally, Israel does not honor the agreement,” he added.

He denied a report saying that the Muslim Brotherhood had reached an understanding with the United States and Israel on “the importance of safeguarding the peace treaty with Israel.”

There are two things to note in this statement–Israel is accused of not honoring the treaty (therefore Egypt can easily break it) and the denial of the report that there was an understanding with the United States and Israel on the importance of the treaty. Unfortunately, the Obama administration is not viewed as dedicated to protecting Israel, and the enemies of Israel will probably use the months before the 2012 elections in America to do as much damage to Israel as possible, fearing that if a new U. S. President is elected in 2012, he might support Israel.

The statement by the Muslim Brotherhood about the Israeli-Egypt treaty is not encouraging.

 

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The Cost Of Occupy Boston

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The Occupy Boston camp at the Dewey Square section of the Greenway has been removed. Across the nation, the rap sheet on the Occupy Wall Street movement reached 417 as of December 9th according to Big Government. So what is the legacy of Occupy Boston?

The Boston Herald reports today that 46 of the Occupy Boston protesters were arrested as the camp was closed.

The Boston Herald reports:

Brennan (Nancy Brennan, executive director of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy) said the grass, which has turned into a mud pit, will need to be completely resodded, and she fears several trees that have been damaged will have to be replanted.

“Three or four trees might be lost. There’s browning of the foliage, and there are some broken and bent limbs,” she said. “Part of what we need to do is check on the root systems, and that is just going to take a little bit of time.”

Brennan also expects that the sprinkler system was damaged so much it will have to be repaired or replaced. Also in need of replacement are about 20 percent of the shrubbery and the pebbles from a pedestrian walkway that runs along Purchase Street.

She also said the wall of the large air intake tower for the O’Neill Tunnel will have to be power-hosed to remove markings and messages left behind by the squatters.

“The grass crete has really taken a beating,” said Brennan, referring to the concrete-type material covering the delivery truck driveway that allows grass to grow through. “We need to see if we can restore or replace it.”

Brennan couldn’t provide an estimate for what the final repair bill will be, but local landscapers pegged it at upward of $50,000.

My first question is who will pay for the restoration. There were never any permits for Occupy Boston, so there was no deposit to the city for sanitation fees or police detail fees.

WCVB TV5 reported on November 30:

Crime in the Dewey Square encampment of “Occupy Boston” is out of control, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis told Newscenter 5.

“(There are) drugs, vandalism and assaultive behavior,’’ Davis said.

As of Wednesday, taxpayers had paid $723,000 in police overtime to patrol the tent city protest.

I believe in free speech, but what happened in Dewey Square was ridiculous. The Occupiers should have been removed at the end of the first day–not allowed to set up camp and destroy public property. As a taxpayer, I resent having to finance the activities of people who decided it was their right to camp out on public property at my expense without proper permits or sanitary facilities.

 

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The Continuing Attack On Domestic Energy Production

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I’m not quite sure why the radical environmentalists (and the Obama administration) are so opposed to domestic energy production, but their actions indicate that they are. The recent postponement (read that as opposition) to the Keystone Pipeline is one example. Now they are attempting to stop hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). Fracking is the process being used in the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota. I need to mention at this point that the development of the Bakken oil fields has resulted in an unemployment rate in North Dakota of 3.5 percent in October 2011.

On Thursday the Washington Examiner posted an article on some of the latest attacks on the process of fracking.

The article reports:

Fracking was first used in Oklahoma in the 1940s and in the years since has been employed in more than a million oil and gas wells across the nation. There is not a single independently documented instance of groundwater contamination by fracking anywhere in the country, a fact that was confirmed as recently as May by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson during congressional testimony.

However, the EPA is not deterred by mere facts. On Thursday the EPA announced that they had found chemicals “likely” associated with fracking at a drilling site near Pavilion, Wyoming.

The article further reports:

“EPA also re-tested private and public drinking water wells in the community. The samples were consistent with chemicals identified in earlier EPA results released in 2010 and are generally below established health and safety standards.” By “below,” the EPA means that chemicals in the groundwater do not exceed acceptable health and safety standards.

Please follow the link to read the entire article to discover what the EPA really found and what it means. At some point you have to wonder why the EPA and the Obama administration are working so hard to eliminate a domestic energy program that has the potential to provide jobs for Americans and to turn the economy around.

 

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Defending The Constitution

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Monday, December 12th, 7:00 pm, at the Northborough Free Library, 34 Main Street.

Northborough, MA – If you have not heard of the United Nation’s “Agenda 21”, you are not alone … 99% of the citizenry are equally in the dark.

Why should we be concerned? There has been a continual, two-decade effort by thousands of “One World Order” advocates to destroy our capitalist system by promoting environmental programs that not only sound plausible, but appear to be absolutely necessary. Under the guise of protecting our planet, these programs have multiple objectives – all intended to redistribute wealth, hand-cuff industry, undermine national sovereignty, restructure the family unit, and take away our property rights.

The public is invited to attend this eye-opening meeting on Monday, December 12th, 7:00 pm, at the Northborough Free Library, 34 Main Street.

Guest speakers Hal Shurtleff, of the John Birch Society and Dave Kopacz, a Municipal Conservation Agent will describe the evolution of U.N. Agenda 21 and its impact on Massachusetts – 37 towns are currently involved, in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution.

According to Cameron Carey of the Northborough Tea Party, “This U.N. directed program, also known as “sustainable development” is truly insidious – it is motivated by the notion that human beings are less important than saving the planet. But as we will discover, that is only the tip of their philosophical iceberg.”

The free admission, public service program is open to residents of Northborough and surrounding towns, the Press, and especially to high school students. It is sponsored by the Northborough Tea Party. Contact: John O’Mara 508.393.2044,

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The Establishment Republicans Are Still Trying To Dilute The Power Of The Tea Party

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Last November was a pivotal election. Many of the Republicans who won victories in Congress owe their election to the Tea Party. The Tea Party reflected a growing concern on the part of many Americans about the growth of government and the rate of spending. Had the Tea Party formed a third party, they would probably disappeared on the trash heap of history, but they were smarter than that–they decided to try to work within the bounds of the current Republican Party. The Republican Party has not totally embraced the Tea Party. The Republican Party has said most of the right things, but their actions have not backed up their words. Both political parties are part of the establishment that is entrenched in Washington. The Tea Party is a threat to that establishment. Thus, when the Tea Party Congressmen begin to move into positions of power, they usually encounter pretty strong opposition from both parties.

Big Government posted a story today which illustrates the power struggle between establishment Washington and the Tea Party. Next week Senate Republicans will vote for a new Conference Vice Chairman.

The article reports:

Nevertheless, it is the way in which the contest between the two senators came about that has perhaps created a bit more tension. According to RedState, up until this week, Sen. Johnson was the only candidate for the vice chairman’s position, and the election was scheduled for January. However, Sen. Blunt announced his candidacy on Tuesday of this week, an action which was followed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Kentucky) decisions to move up the election to next week, rather than January, and to begin a supportive campaign for Sen. Blunt.

Needless to say, Senator Johnson is considered the more conservative of the two men.

The article concludes:

Conservative Republicans will need the strength of the vice chairman’s post to bring about the reforms needed in the country. Sen. Johnson has not only stuck to the principles he put forward when he ran for the Senate, but he is also known as a bridge builder between conservatives and establishment Republicans- something years of business experience has taught him.

About the two Senate candidates, Sen. DeMint said, “Roy is a friend of mine, but Ron Johnson is what I consider the right face for the Republican Party. He’s a nonpolitician, business guy, reform-minded.”

If you have a Republican Senator, think about calling him or her to speak about this important vote.

We need to make it clear to those in Washington that they need to do what is necessary to stop the growth of government and the spending that goes with it or they will be voted out of office. We have to elect enough conservatives in 2012 to actually fight establishment Washington. Just being a Republican does not make you part of the solution–in many cases it makes you part of the problem.

 

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Did You Know That Something Passed The Senate Last Week 100-0 ?

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I hate to admit that blogging has contributed to some cynicism on my part, but it has. I am really not sure if you put the fact that today is Thursday up for a vote in the Senate you could get a 100-0 vote. Therefore, the fact that something was voted on unanimously totally got my attention.

On December 1, 2011, the Senate voted to add Amendment 1414 to S.1867 (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 ). According to Thomas.gov The purpose of the amendment is to require the imposition of sanctions with respect to the financial sector of Iran, including the Central Bank of Iran.

Today’s Wall Street Journal (I am not linking to the article because it is subscribers only) asks why the Obama administration is working behind the scenes to neuter the sanctions that the Senate passed.

The Obama Administration has a few reasons–officials have stated that they fear that U. S. trading partners will stop trading with America and continue trading with Iran, thus hurting American businesses. The Treasury claims that the sanctions could destabilize the world oil market, creating windfall profits for Iran. The way the amendment is currently written, the sanctions would take effect after 60 days. The President would have to issue three waivers to block them before the 2012 election (and explain to the American public why he is doing so). The Treasury wants to change the bill so that the sanctions take effect after 180 days, so President Obama would only have to waive them once before the 2012 elections.

So what is this about? If the sanctions increase the price of gasoline at the pump (where almost all Americans feel it), it might endanger the chances of President Obama for re-election. This is ridiculous. What do you think Iran’s obtaining nuclear weapons will do for President Obama’s chances of re-election and for our national security?

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