Foreclosing on Foreclosing

Here we go again. Another banking crisis at our feet. Yet another round of recrimination, blame, stupid ideas and finger pointing. And guess what? It is all about mortgages...again. Because the banks messed up...again.

First, let's simplify and identify the problem. It is actually pretty straight up this time. The banks, in their haste to foreclose on those mortgages they should not have issued, were sloppy about the paperwork. Yes, I know. A lot of people bought houses they could not afford and agreed to mortgages they could not pay. They share in the responsibility for this mess, too.

But not the foreclosure debacle we now have. This one rests squarely with the banks. They simply failed to review the documents as they filed thousands of foreclosures. This led to uncertainty about the titles of the homes and that has led to canceled sales and removal from the market. This is not rocket science. In a lot of cases, the documents that are flawed are affidavits of ownership or delinquency.

It is important to note that the banks themselves stopped the foreclosures. Not the government as some would like to say. In fact, except for some really stupid ideas, government is not all that involved yet, which is partially a problem and partially a blessing.

Several so-called leaders including the false queen Nancy have called for a nationwide freeze on all foreclosures. This is idiocy. Lots of the proceedings are just fine and have no problems. A freeze would actually make things worse since those people being foreclosed on for non-payment would get to live for free in homes they should not be in. And it would embolden even more people to stop paying. Nancy's little freeze idea is the result of election year panic and her need to sound like she is in charge of anything other than 435 severely incompetent congress critters.

This is a problem created by the banks and one that can only be resolved by the same banks. Many are claiming that this mess will further harm the economy. Probably not. See, these homes will be foreclosed on and become available. Nobody is forgiving mortgages. Nor should they. The banks need to learn to do their job properly. It is really that basic.

My question is where are the regulators? Again? I thought this lax regulatory issue was being dealt with. What happened to the promises of vigilance from Obama's pre-failed economic team? Where are all of the regulators now? Well?

Because that is the question here. The banks freely admit they messed up. That is not up for debate. The real problem is that once again, the Federal Reserve under the ever incompetent Bernanke and the Treasury under the always incapable Geithner have simply not done their jobs. They have once again looked the other way. Once again pretended it is not a real problem. Once again yielded to the corrupting forces.

In an interesting side note, the Senate quietly and without any fanfare at all passed a bill that would actually make it easier for the banks to not do the proper paperwork by allowing out of state notarization, thus making it almost impossible to verify the documents' legitimacy. Obama says he will not sign this and he should not. The banks need to learn to do their jobs, not keep asking government to relieve them of their responsibility. I am sure that this will become part of the whole silly political shouting match, too and be wildly misrepresented by both sides. My question is how did this pass the Senate while aid to Haitians still suffering from an earthquake and tropical storm did not. I guess bankers write bigger checks than homeless families.

Some on the right want to claim this is somehow Obama's fault. Well, except for the lack of any kind of regulation or oversight, it is not. They would like to somehow get us to believe this will cost the taxpayers and further hurt the economy. Not so much. All this does is reduce the inventory of homes for sale by less than a third. What ehey don't tell you is that 2/3 of foreclosures are procedurally okay.

Some on the left want to use this to again try their ludicrous and dangerous mortgage forgiveness scheme where those folks that bought homes they could not afford are suddenly free and clear of their mortgage. They want to use this to basically reward idiotic behavior by home buyers. It was a bad idea 2 years ago, a bad idea last year and a bad idea today.

What needs to happen is everyone should step back from this and let the banks sort it out. They made the mess through sloppy and lazy procedures. Let them fix it. In most cases, it involves actually reading the paperwork. Just like Congress doesn't and apparently like the banks don't.

This entire mess can be simply summed up. The banks messed up again and they want to make it our problem again. Well, I say no. They broke it, they can fix it. This time, they will have to just deal with it.

To those in government - on both sides - looking to make political points, I say shut up, shut up, shut up! Stop! Enough! These are home foreclosures we are talking about. Families and businesses. Not some abstract you can use in your sad election bid.

To the pundocracy, I say happily, who cares what you think? You are more part of the problem than any solution. Screaming about this as if it is the end of the world. Looking for the partisan angle. It isn't there. This is a simple paperwork snafu. Caused by laziness and arrogance at the banks. Yell at them. I dare you.

Maybe we need to vote on November 2 for anyone not an incumbent. No matter how wacky they seem, they have to be better than what we have now. Come November 2, let's foreclose on their political careers and take our house of government back from them. They certainly have not paid as promised.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Steaming Rhetoric, Anyone?

Usually, I try to be balanced on this blog when it comes to stupid politicians, but Congressman Alan Grayson of Florida's 8th district makes it difficult at best.

Recently, this pathetic excuse for an intelligent being ran a campaign ad calling his opponent "Taliban Dan," based on some very out of context clips. Essentially, Grayson took a single sentence quoting a passage of the Bible (the one about a wife submitting to her husband) that Dan Webster used in a long speech and turned that into evidence that Webster somehow supported the total subjugation of women like the Taliban.

Now, to be as fair as possible, Webster is not exactly a proponent of equal treatment for woman across the board. He is known to be extremely anti-choice and anti-gay. That said, he is not Taliban. A full view of his speech reveals that he was pointing out that there are more than just that one verse in the Bible about women. I am not giving Webster a pass on his views towards women. He is most assuredly somewhere before Suffrage with his positions. But I am pretty sure that this does not include stonings.

That did not slow Grayson down, though. He put up a 30 second television ad that used Arabis looking lettering and the phrase "Taliban Dan." This from a congressman that has decried the Republican smear machine.

Or more appropriately, from a hypocritical congressman looking to save his job at any cost. Another fat, lying, thieving politician that would sell his children to keep his corrupt job. Another perfect example of what is wrong with our government.

In all fairness the Republicans are not a lot better, but not as bad or deplorable as Grayson. Their endless cries of socialism and not so subtle suggestions of Democrats being pro-terrorist and so on are bad enough. They have been pounding that drum for 2 years now.

But Grayson? Well, he just made them look good. It will be hard to top this one for even the most hateful and goofy Republican. Sure, the GOP has been playing the hate and fear card heavily, but that is what they do. And Grayson was one of the folks decrying it. But now he is one of the folks using it.

Alan Grayson is pretty much the new poster boy for what is wrong with American politics. Both sides engage in this endless hate filled food fight. Both sides feel an entitlement to elective office and feel the ends always justify the means. Both sides hurl insults and threats as if they were candy canes and cheap beads. Neither side takes actual responsibility for their words.

And Grayson has now redefined the apex of that method. One look at Grayson and you have to knows it is time to throw all of them out. They don't care about us. They barely knows we exist. His ad proves that. Instead of a logical argument against Webster's extreme positions, he hurls hate and vitriol. They all do that.

Why? Because, truth told, there is no real difference between to 2 corrupt tired parties in Congress. Both sides main interest is staying in Congress. They will do and say anything. Grayson is not alone in this Hall of Shame. Michelle Bachmann deserves a place in there. As do Boehner and Pelosi. And Cantor. All of them. If dishonesty, mean spiritedness and plain old hate were ranking factors, Grayson is number one this week.

In just over a month, we get to have our say. We get to fire the entire stinking lot of them. Send them all home. They have not served us at all, let alone well. Not one thing they told us they would do has been done. On either side. It has all been about them and their need to win the next election. And while they play this idiotic game, we pay the price.

Look around. Think things got like this in just 2 years? Nope. Both parties have been so busy serving themselves that they totally forgot to govern. And we are paying for it. Well, on November 2, we can end that by simply voting them out. Tell both parties that their day is over. All incumbents at all levels need to be replaced. On November 2, cast a vote that sends that message.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Whose Civil Liberties?

In one of the least covered stories last week, the federal government invoked the privilege of state secrets to try to stop a lawsuit brought on behalf of a terrorist by the ACLU.

Anwar al Awlaki, known to be linked to the Fort Hood terror shooter and multiple attempts to bring a WMD into the US, is suing the US government on the grounds that he has a right to not be killed in defense of the nation. Specifically, he claims in this insane lawsuit that he has a right to not be targeted by our anti-terror efforts. To make this even more mind boggling, the misguided folks at ACLU are demanding all defense and intelligence documents relating to this terrorist.

This would be ironically funny if it were not so serious.

Note I do not say alleged. Because he admits all of this. He is proud that he had a hand in the failed "underwear bombing" attempt. He openly advocates attacks on the US. He is currently hiding in Yemen and spewing his anti-American hate daily. The only alleged I can apply to Awlaki is his alleged humanity, which is apparently non-existent.

This is the guy that the ACLU is helping. Because his rights are more important than mine. Or yours. They are suing on the grounds that it violates international law to target an individual with death. Really? So all those fatwas issued by radical Moslems are illegal? Where are those lawsuits and condemnations? It is against international law to seek the death of an enemy? So why was not the ACLU suing Islam when it issued their death threats against an American for her (misguided but Constitutional) "Draw Mohammed Day?" Where was the ACLU when Comedy Central went all coward and censored South Park?

This disgusting terrorist would happily kill a school full of American children and then post the video on an Al Qaeda web site. This truly vile person wishes death on innocents every day, yet the ACLU is concerned about his rights. Apparently the right to promise death and destruction outweighs the Constitutional obligation of government to protect us from enemy attacks.

And there is the problem with American understanding of the threat of terror. Folks like the ACLU do not perceive the real threat of terrorism. They simply do not understand that people like their client Awlaki wish all Americans harm, including the ACLU. They don't want to accept that this guy is playing them for fools. So , they are suing.

The ACLU claims that the courts must have a role in the pursuit, capture and - where necessary - killing of terrorists. Seriously? Perhaps they need to review the Constitution which is amazingly clear on granting defense and war powers to the Executive Branch with limited approval power to Congress. The Courts are never mentioned.

This is why organizations like ACLU - that have done amazingly good work in the past - are in such disrepute today. They have no sense of the real world. No concept of the actuality of the enemy and their desire to kill and do great harm. They pretend that this is all a classroom exercise in law and not an actual ongoing life and death struggle. In my opinion, the ACLU is allowing its institutional dislike for our military and intelligence organizations to direct this action. They hate the military so much, they are willing to defend a publicly self proclaimed anti-American terrorist just to hurt our defenses.

The good news is that the administration has claimed official secrets on all requests for discovery. It seems the ACLU thinks they need lots of secret intelligence documents to make their case. They don't. There is no case. The ACLU's "client" Awlaki has openly called for attacks on America. He is currently the top English speaking Al Qaeda thug. He has participated in the planning of attacks. The only case the ACLU has is one where they need to prove their own sanity.

So the question remains - whose rights matter more? Those of a traitorous American that has taken up with our enemy and participated in attacks that killed Americans on US soil and others that came close or the rights of the other 300 million Americans who rely on our military to defend us from killers like Anwar Al Awlaki? And what of the rights of our military and intelligence people? Those documents could put them further into harm's way, unlike ACLU client Awlaki who is hiding behind and protected by the terror loving Yemeni government.

At what point does the ACLU ever realize that they need to reign in their ideological idiocy and see the reality. This is not about desegregating schools or Illinois Nazi rallies. This isn't even the somewhat abstract debate over the rights of Gitmo detainees. This is about real life and death from a real enemy. A real terrorist. One the ACLU has inexplicably chosen to side with. One that is working right this second to kill more Americans, even while Americans are working to prevent us from taking this piece of human trash out of the gene pool.

It is time for folks to stop sending ACLU money. It is time for our government to stop funding ACLU. After all, those funds are now being used to try to expose our covert efforts to stop terrorists who want us dead. And that violates MY civil liberties. Will ACLU sue itself on my behalf?

Taxes, Lies, Media and Politicians

As this election season thankfully heads to a close in November, the issue of whether or not to renew the "Bush Tax Cuts," stands at the top of the list of items the cowards in Congress hope to avoid taking a firm position on. This includes both parties, which are all over the place. In general, Democrats want to extend them for everyone except the top 3-4 percent and Republicans want to extend them for everyone, especially the top 3-4 percent.

Oddly - or perhaps not so oddly - both sides are not being totally honest about their positions. In brief, the Democrats claim that raising taxes on the top earners will somehow resolve the deficit. Not so much. The amount gained over 10 years would not cover this year's deficit, let alone a 10 year run. They also want us to somehow believe that those that earn more want to pay more taxes. Well, except for big fat liars like Warren Buffet (he really is a big fat liar who get on Goldman to profit from our misery) nobody wants to pay more taxes.

And the Republicans claim that this top 3-4 percent of earners are job creators. Again, not so much. Every bit of research indicates that this tax cut on top earners has almost no effect on the greater economy and creates very few jobs. The GOP also makes goofy claims about small businesses being harmed. Also not really true. I run one of those small businesses and this tax change would not affect me at all. The truth here is that those top earners will not spend the tax savings, nor will they be seriously harmed by the increase.

All of that said, this is simply not a good time to raise taxes. Not because of the false economics put forth by the 2 corrupt parties. Not because of any actual economic harm. It is just a bad time to raise taxes because of the psychological factor. There is a saying that in politics, perception is reality, and the tax issue fits right into that.

A tax increase of any kind right now would have a serious psychological impact on the economy that far outweighs and real dollar impact. Before folks start yelling, remember that we have spent over 2 years being told scary things about the economy that mostly were not true. The banking system was not about to implode, depression was not around the corner, stimulus did not stimulate, states did not default, nations did not go bankrupt and the Wall Street gang did not need our money. So the claims about these tax cuts have to be viewed in the light of over 3 years of lies from Congress and both administrations.

However, the damage to the recovery of the economy from the psychological factor of a tax hike is real. Businesses would stop growth and people - at all income levels - would stop spending. Not because of anything tangible, but because of the intangible effect, which is endlessly amplified by the nonsense spewing forth from the financial media. One of the unspoken truths about this entire financial mess is that the financial media has way exaggerated the situation to increase the drama for ratings. In much the same way as the ever unreliable Jim Cantore at the Weather Channel exaggerates a simple thunderstorm into a disaster of epic proportion. This has not helped at all.

Well, the same financial media is exaggerating the real impact of increasing taxes on the top 3-4 percent to try to extend their relevance. Oh, don't forget that most of them have a personal and undisclosed interest in the tax situation. Their taxes might go up.

What we never hear and what we should be hearing more about is a flat tax. If there ever was a time to put one into place and eliminate the zillion page tax code, this is it. If the financial commentators were honest and not spinning for politics and profit, they would talk about a flat tax. Instead they prattle on - incorrectly - about how Wall Street dislikes uncertainty. Wall Street love uncertainty. They profit from it.

Businesses dislike uncertainty. Families dislike uncertainty. It makes planning impossible and fairly pointless.

Imagine if every business and person knew - for certain - what their tax burden would be. Say the flat tax is set at 20 percent. No deductions, credits, exemptions or tricks. You make a dollar and 20 percent goes to tax. No property tax, no sales tax, none of that. Then businesses could plan. Then families could plan. Of course Wall Street would have to go back to fundamentals and actually working for a living, but that is not a bad thing.

Best of all, imagine never again having to deal with 2 inch thick tax returns and instructions that are written in some language that defies understanding. No more Schedule C, Form 1040, Earned Income, Deferred Income and the rest of the jungle of garbage that we call the tax code. No more paying someone else to decipher that maze of nonsense. Imagine the stimulus the billions spent on tax preparation would have if it suddenly was available in folks' pockets. Not to mention the psychological boost of being freed from the servitude of those forms.

If the Tea Party people were serious (they are, but not enough for this) they would be advocating a flat tax and a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. Put those 2 together and government will shrink to fit. If the Eric cantors of this world were serious about taxes, they would be advocating this, but the Eric Cantors of the world are not serious about this. They are puppets on the strings of their masters, who like the complex tax code that allows them to hide money legally.

So let Congress know that a flat tax beats a tax cut all day every day. Date those elected morons to defy their special interest masters and do something for the people they pretend to represent. I would tell my failed Congressman Kendrick Meek, but he is too busy running to lose for Senate to care about actual constituents. As if he ever cared.

And on November 2, lets help Congress with their taxes by firing the lot of them.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

US Senate - A Division of Goldman Sachs

One of the items in the recently passed financial reform bill is the creation of a consumer protection bureau. While I have never been sure this was really needed and certain it should be not part of the Federal Reserve or Treasury, I was always of the belief that if it did come to pass then Elizabeth Warren should head it up.

Way back, I suggested that Warren and Fox's Eric Bolling head up an investigative panel to see exactly what happened on Wall Street before new regulations were created. Obviously, like they do most citizens, the Congress ignored me completely and passed a set of new regulations without benefit of a full investigation. And, as is usually the case when Congress acts hastily, new information comes out regularly that points up the flaws and shortcomings in the new law.

That said, since passage, only one name has been floated to head this new agency. That would be Dr. Elizabeth Warren. She was initially chosen to head up the TARP oversight for the Congress. This is perhaps one of the few intelligent decisions Congress has made in a long time.

As head of that oversight panel, she has been relentless in holding the banks' feet to the fire and is well known for asking tough questions and speaking her mind without the normal prevarication and nonsense that is so much part of Washington. Her plain spoken and honest assessments are what have made her as well known and respected as she is.

However, it appears unlikely that she will head up this new agency after all. According to the Associated Press, "The 61 year old Harvard professor and consumer advocate had been considered the leading candidate to head the bureau itself, but her lack of support in the financial community could have set the stage for contentious hearings that might ultimately have derailed her confirmation." (this is directly quoted from the article itself which appears in today's Miami Herald).

So the "financial community" is still able to tell the Senate what to do and not do. And by financial community, one can only assume that this means Goldman Sachs. Sure, there are others like Citi, JP Morgan, Bank of America and so on, but Goldman is the leader of this perilous pack. And apparently now in charge of the Senate.

I am not sure what is worse here. The fact that Goldman and their gang of thieves can assert this kind of control or the fact that the media states it as a simple conclusion with no further comment.

It is bad enough that the Senate is obviously a bought and paid for enterprise. The simple fact that all the Senate as a whole has been concerned about since the passage of the original TARP has been their Wall Street benefactors is bad enough. Remember, it was the Senate that amended TARP to another bill after the House resoundingly defeated it. It was Reid and McConnell (who now lies and says he was opposed) that subverted the Constitutional requirement that all spending bills initiate in the House. It was Dodd (now leaving the Senate before the investigation into his own depth of corruption) who jammed it into an unrelated bill just for the "HR" heading required to end run Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution.

Now, it appears that the same Wall Streeters that used fear and intimidation to get $700 billion in free money from the taxpayer is still in charge enough to prevent the nomination of an actual regulator that might just force them into following the laws and rules. Apparently, the only thing this joke of a Senate does in a bipartisan manner is genuflect before the all powerful "financial community" and ignore the best interests off their constituents.

What is worse is that the media sees no problem with this. They state it in the same way they note that the sun rises in the East. At least according to Erica Werner and Julie Pace of the AP, this is OK. In fact, as far as I can tell, neither of these so-called journalists even flinched at the idea that the financial community has adequate sway to not only control the Senate but also to apparently cow the White House as well. There is no follow up, no mention of just how wrong the concept is. Just a simple sentence that appears to accept the corrupt practices of our government.

So, we the people will have to settle for mediocrity as demanded by Goldman and their corrupting cronies on Wall Street. We shall have to accept that any financial regulation will only be at the pleasure of the regulated. And we might as well prepare ourselves now for the next crisis and the next bailout of these jerks. Because they own them a US Senate and we have nothing.

Of course, that is changing. Perhaps the recent victories by non-traditional candidates is a sign that Americans are sick and tired of this kind of nonsense. Perhaps these candidates are winning because Americans have done the math and realized that only these candidates will be able to resist the corrupting influences of Wall Street and the rest of the big money crowd.

Let me remind folks in both parties of something. To pass TARP, House Minority Leader John Boehner actually wept on the House floor. Look it up. He stood there in tears begging for money to bail out the big banks. Mitch McConnell predicted the end of the world if the money didn't come. Obama, Palin, McCain, Frank, Dodd, Pelosi, Bush, Paulson, Clinton, Reid and the rest of them all supported this mess. Since then some have decided to pretend they were opposed. They weren't and they are lying if they say they were. TARP was a bipartisan screwing of the American People. For those that fear government's destruction of the free markets, well, it started with TARP. It started with both parties.

We can stop the game on November 2 by simply voting these corrupt clowns out of office. Look at the reaction from official Washington to a Senate primary in Delaware. Or a gubernatorial primary in New York. The favored, party picked candidate lost and the politicians and pundits on both sides went loony tunes. While I am not a fan of a lot of the policies that these candidates espouse, I am a huge fan of irritating the political/pundit world. I am also a fan of simply tossing the entire Congress out on their heels come November. they have done a bad job, They have lied, cheated, stolen and now apparently take their orders from Wall Street.

Come November 2, vote to take America back from the special interests and corrupt politicians. This time, America is depending on all of us to help all of us. Let's not let us down.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Spenders, Tax Cutters and Liars. Oh My!

According to the US Constitution, Congress has the power to tax and spend. And they do know how to exercise those powers. It is a bipartisan activity, although the 2 parties will both happily lie to you about which they are doing more of. And both parties do plenty of both...and plenty of lying about it.

Now that it is time for this joke of a Congress to actually deal with the soon to expire Bush tax cuts, the flow of dishonesty and misdirection from all sides is just blinding. Start with the basic positions. Democrats want to pretend to end tax cuts for the "wealthiest Americans," so they can spend more and Republicans want to cut more taxes so they can pretend to spend less.

Let's start with the party in power. Seems fair - they are currently in charge of the Congressional honeypot. And the Democrats are in trouble on the tax issue. Seems that the recently former chair of the House Ways and Means Committee that actually has to initiate all tax laws (Article 1, Section 7) was himself apparently evading taxes like a Wall Street pro. Charlie Rangel is currently waiting for the full House to hear what amounts to a trial for the ethics violations he committed with his multiple residences, unpaid taxes on revenues and money he just "forgot" he had. In other words, false queen Nancy's hand chosen tax writer was actually a tax cheat. Oh, and a big fat liar.

This tosses a wrench into Pelosi's plan to raise taxes on high income folks and also raise taxes more deviously on everyone else. And that makes it almost impossible for her to keep handing out billion dollar gifts to get legislation passed. The House has gotten into the habit of simply waiving their own rules regarding spending. According to the rules, expenditures or tax cuts (they are actually the same thing) have to be paid for with an offsetting reduction in spending elsewhere. Incovenient.

Now that Rangel is no longer in charge of Ways and Means, false queen Nancy has to find another way to fund her corrupt empire of greed and nonsense. Seems that Rangel was willing to do whatever she wanted as long as he didn't have to own up to his own crimes. Remember, Pelosi kept him in that position for 2 years before finally moving him out.

This would normally be good news for Republicans, who believe that cutting taxes is the magic answer to everything. The GOP position on taxes versus spending was summed up best most recently by Mike Pence. When asked by legacy qualified interviewer Chris Wallace why the unemployment benefit extension was stalled, Pence said it had to be paid for with an offset in spending. That made sense, but Pence's next answer totally negated any logic momentarily present. Wallace asked the redoubtable Pence how extending the tax cuts would be paid for. This sent pence off into a long explanation of economics that I suspect Pence did not fully understand. When brought back down to Earth and pressed for a real answer, Pence said tax cuts pay for themselves in stimulus and job growth. And that is perhaps the lie of the millennium.

See, tax cuts are spending. the same Republicans who decried Obama's stimulus plan as unpaid for spending want to spend almost a trillion dollars on more tax cuts for high income folks. Now I have no problem with cutting taxes. None at all. However, I do have a problem with the false belief that tax cuts somehow stimulate anything and are not really spending. I have an even bigger problem with all of this targeted tax cut garbage.

Tax cuts are spending. I am saying this again because liars like Pence and Cantor can't seem to grasp this. A tax cut removes money from the government just like spending does. It costs someone. Just like spending. But the Republicans never seem to want to admit that. Just like Democrats never seem to want to admit that spending endlessly does not solve anything.

While Pence and company push to cut taxes to somehow magically increase revenue, Democrats are pushing to spend money to somehow magically save money. Only in Congress does this make any sense.

What those 535 boneheads should do is level the taxes to a single rate flat tax. No deductions, credits, exemptions or other trickery. Then they should simply only spend what they have. No deficit spending. If they need more, then let them raise taxes and justify it to the people. Same with the endless tax cuts. Tell us what programs and spending are getting cut to cover those tax breaks.

I am all for lower taxes and less spending. I think the estate tax is an obscenity and the capital gains tax is a deterrent to investing. I think the current multi-tiered tax structure with the bazillion deductions, credits and exemptions is stupid and ineffective. I fully support a one line flat tax with no breaks. Same rate for everyone. Imagine how easy it would be for business if they knew in advance exactly how much of each dollar was tax. Imagine the real dollar savings in paperwork alone.

Here in Florida, we know all about unwise tax cuts. Ask Marco Rubio - the current darling of the reduce taxes and not spending movement. As Florida Speaker, he pushed tax cuts through the legislature with no matching spending cuts. His attitude was to let the counties figure it out since he was leaving the Florida House anyway to run for US Senate. He knew he wouldn't have to deal with the fallout of his irresponsible and unpaid for tax cuts.

And that is exactly what spenders and tax cutters in Congress are doing now. Democrats keep spending in the belief that somehow all of it magically comes back. Republicans keep yelling for tax cuts in the belief that cutting revenue will somehow magically increase revenue. Do any of these morons have a working checkbook?

I think they all need to go. If they worked in private industry, they would have been fired long ago for incompetence and lying. Well, come November, we can do just that. Fire the whole stinking lot of them.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

The Racism Race

The last week or two have been nothing if not filled with crossing charges of racism. Oddly, none are correct and all are politically motivated and hurled by lazy politicians and pundits looking for a quick sound byte or ratings boost.

I will spare all of us (especially me) a recitation of the growing misuse of the accusations of racism that started over the 2008 election. We all watched and saw and know better. In a nutshell, supporters of Obama label everyone opposed to them as racists and opponents of Obama seize on every minor opportunity to point out racism among Obama's supporters. In other words, racism is the new corruption or sex scandal.

Recently, however, the charges have gotten way out of control and even further out of proportion to the reality.

The first salvo in this new standoff came from the NAACP. At their annual convention, they passed a resolution calling on the Tea Party to end racism in their ranks. OK. Except the Tea Party movement is not racist. At all. What the NAACP was overreacting to was the presence at some Tea Party rallies of a very few individuals who took the opportunity to put their racist message on a poster and join the rally. These were not actual Tea Party signs and not at all part of the Tea Party agenda.

To be fair, you can find racist messages at the NAACP convention, the Democratic and Republican conventions, probably even the Jewish Federation. None of these organizations - including the Tea Party - is racist. None. Yet somehow, the media decided to focus on those one or two at Tea Party rallies, thus branding lots of good folks unfairly. And the Tea Party organizers were already doing everything they could under law to remove those signs and messages.

The NAACP was asking them to do what they were already doing. An unnecessary action by an organization desperate for relevance. Most serious Tea Party folks just waved it off. Like them or not, the Tea Party movement is not about race. It is about the Constitution and smaller government.

Sadly, one responded. Tea Party Express founder and leader Mark Williams issued a nauseating racist screed on his blog (later removed) that among other things accused the NAACP of being racist for having the word "Colored" in its name. Williams later called it parody and sarcasm. It wasn't. Rightfully, the rest of the Tea Party leaders told Mr. Williams to go away. As they have told other race baiters to go away.

Not content with this, some on the far right started looking for a black person being racist to somehow embarrass the administration. And they thought they had one. An old tape of USDA official Shirley Sherrod (a black woman - sadly it matters in this context) speaking many years ago was edited to sound like she was denying white farmers full services. This was not the case, but too late for that.

The pundocracy swung into motion without any fact checking, which caused the Obama administration to panic before checking all the facts and they forced this woman to quit her job. Because they were afraid of the publicity. Even though there were no official complaints and in fact many good reviews of her work. The NAACP, still trying to recover from the Tea Party embarrassment jumped in and - with no fact checking again - condemned this woman as a racist.

As it turns out, she was not and her remarks, when viewed in totality are obviously not even vaguely racist. Too late, though. She had already been forced to resign while driving home. Seriously. And thus, the damage was already done. To make it worse, the NAACP - again looking rather bad - blamed conservative pundits and bloggers for their error. No mention that they never looked into the matter themselves or even bothered to call this woman. They didn't. They - just like the Obama White House - jumped to head off some bad PR and to look proactive.

Well, they just look stupid. All of them the NAACP, Williams, The White House, the pundits - all of them. None of them researched anything and none of them was honest about it. And why is this now the new battleground? Because Congress is moribund and intellectually bankrupt. How can I pin Congress for this? Easy.

If members of Congress would actually take on real issues and have real debates with real substance, then that would be what we all talked about. That would drive the pundits and press. Those would be the headlines. Since Congress has locked itself into this eternal partisan p***ing contest pointed solely at the next election, not much of substance happens and certainly nothing surprising.

Every debate is predictable, every vote countable days in advance along hard party lines. Every utterance of the self proclaimed leaders is a rerun of the day before and nothing ever really gets done. Both sides have conspired to derail public policy in favor of political gamesmanship. Since Congress has become a permanent campaign festival, the rest of the body politic follows suit. And as the extremes in Congress go further out on the ledge, so does the rest of the gang.

Thus, the American discourse has devolved - pretty much by an act of Congress - to a name calling spat not worthy of an elementary school playground. Until those 535 clowns are replaced by serious people, this idiocy and this "gotcha" strategy will rule the roost. I actually don't care about party or liberal/conservative. The only difference between Democrats and Republicans these days is whose picnics they attend.

I care about issues and those serious about actual governance. Those willing to set aside the permanent campaign and actually do the job they were elected to.

We can send a lot of them home for food on November 2. Come election day, do something really good for America and vote to fire your Congress Critter. The nation and world will be a better place for it.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Party Line Moronics

Yesterday, almost at the same time that BP announced that oil had stopped pouring into the Gulf for the first time in 3 months, a Congressional committee announced that the partisan trash would keep pouring into the nation unabated. The trash flow in question has to do with legislation revamping the horribly failed MMS. Something that literally every Congress Critter except Joe Barton agrees on publicly. But when it is time to actually go on the record with a vote, same old party line nonsense.

The bill in question is HR 3534, intended to divide MMS into three agencies with distinct responsibilities and reporting, prevent the corruption that was found to exist in the last administration and endorsed when Obama rehired the same corrupt failed team and to try to stem the flow (pun very much intended) between regulator and regulated by enacting a 2 year ban on going from regulator to oil company executive.

This is one of those pieces of legislation that should move right through without the partisan rancor. It is something that almost every member of Congress that has been interviewed for the last 90 days has called for. Not one member of Congress actually has a reason to oppose this.

It is something the American people want done rapidly. It is something overdue and overlooked by an administration that seems to rehire failures (see Obama economic team) and a dysfunctional Congress that only looks to the next election cycle.

Remember the hearings? With the exception of BP property Joe Barton, every member of that committee had sharp words for BP and even harsher words for the MMS. All except BP Joe pledged to reform the agency and made marvelous statements to that effect. But once the hearings were over and the cameras off, the partisan idiocy was firmly put back in place.

The legislation passed the committee on mostly straight party line, by a 27 to 21 vote. Yep, 21 members of this committee voted to reject cleaning up MMS. All Republicans, all automatically opposing any Democratic legislation. This bill could have been to rename an office building after Ronald Reagan and Republicans would oppose it as long as a Democrat is Speaker.

Democrats should not be giggling right now. They are just as bad if not worse, having spent years opposing all things when they were the minority in the House. This is not new at all. It is just worse than ever. And it is never about the actual legislation. This vote was not about MMS.

It was not about correcting one of the worst agencies our government has ever had. It was not about trying to actually regulate the drilling industry in a fair and effective way. It was not even about trying to prevent the next disaster. It sure as heck was not about you and me or the folks who live on the Gulf coast. Not even close.

The only thing those bought and paid for talking puppets in Congress care about is themselves and their precious 2 party system. The only thing these charlatans are focused on is the next election. And that pathetic blind ideology says to vote party line regardless of the issue. The goal is not to govern, but to ruin.

In this case, the minority, led by "Mr. Repeal" Boehner is going to vote no on everything that comes along on the simpleton's theory that they can then say they opposed the false queen Pelosi's majority. Boehner and his masters at the Republican Party seem to think that 'NO' is a good answer to everything Democrats propose. Even common sense stuff like fixing the failed regulatory agency that allowed BP to drill an unsafe well and pollute the Gulf of Mexico.

On the flip side, the majority led by the false queen seems to think that being the majority gives them the right and privilege to steam roll the minority and ignore their input. False queen Nancy's masters at the Democratic Party seem to think that passing legislation willy nilly because they can without regard for the public or the rest of Congress is a great idea.

Therein lies the problem. The tired, corrupt 2 party system is struggling to keep itself in command of all that happens. The differences between them are barely noticeable except at election time. All they care about, think about, worry about and work on is their own power base. All either party wants is to win the next election, and they will sell every one of us down the river to do so.

For them it is a grand game with the laws of this nation as their playing cards and us as chips to be tossed on the table. For them it is not about governing or the good of the people. It is not about the right thing, the wrong thing or the true thing. It is only about the winning thing.

Boehner and Pelosi are the same. 2 tired, corrupt politicians who have sold so much of themselves that they no longer have any actual persona. They have sold us out to their party leaders without a flinch. They have sold this nation out for the chance to win an election.

Well, come November, we can sell them out by voting them out. All of them Every last one of the House and those Senators that are up for election. Because that is the one thing these miserable excuses for leaders cannot sell out from under us. Our right to vote them away.

On November 2, let Pelosi, Boehner and the rest knows their services are no longer desired.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Praeter Nos, Nimirum

That should be the official motto of the entire Congress. "Except For Us, Of Course," in Latin. Perhaps it would look best engraved into a 24 carat gold seal and then reproduced as diamond studded platinum lapel pins for each member of Congress. As a show of their serious concern over spending of course.

I wax sarcastic because I just spent more than a little time trying to find Congress' own budget online somewhere. I couldn't find it, which is not all that surprising, given their commitment to transparency and all, but I did find some intriguing numbers.

Let's start with how much these clowns earn annually. The base salary for a freshly purchased Member of Congress is $174,000. For which they work an average of 3.5 (three and one-half!) days a week for about 6 hours a day with a minimum of 12 weeks paid vacation and unlimited sick time. That does not include almost unlimited expenses and benefits that most of us will never see or imagine. Like free postage. The "leadership" does even better for themselves, adding anywhere between $20K and $50K to that base. Committee chairs get a little boost in the paycheck, too.

So, figuring 535 members at base salary plus the add ons for the various leaders and chairs gives us a total cost for these fairly poor employees to We the People of around $94 million. Figure the same or a little more in expenses and let's call it $200 million.

Congressional staff is not cheap. And the largesse there is truly bipartisan. Here is what some of them spent on staff in 2009. Most of this info is from LegiStorm.

The false queen, Nancy Pelosi spent $1.13 million on her staff. This does not include some of the permanent Speaker's staff.

Famed budget and tax cutter Eric Cantor spent $1.12 million. Yep, within a rounding error of Pelosi.

House Minority Leader John Boehner spent just under an even $1 million. By Congressional standards, this is cheap.

Renowned and unrepentant tax and spend maestro Henry Waxman spent $1.3 million topping even Pelosi.

On the Senate side, where everything costs more, just like at the Neiman end of the mall, Majority Leader Harry Reid spent $2.27 million.

Minority Leader and self proclaimed budget balancing spending cutter Mitch McConnell spent $2.5 million.

Just for fun, I looked up Obama's 2007 (has last full year in the Senate) staff expenditure and he spent a whopping $3 million. No surprise there. I think we all know about the president and spending other people's money.

So, 435 House staffs at around $800K per (average) and 100 Senate at $2 million per (average) gives us about $550 million.

We are already at three-fourths of a billion dollars and we have not even counted standing staff, maintenance on the Capitol and office buildings, printing (2,000 page bills cost real money to reproduce in accordance with the Rules), Capitol Hill Police, office space (district offices cost rent), furniture and supplies and the rest. It would not surprise me to learn that it costs us over $3 billion per year for Congress. And that is a huge waste.

$3 billion so that they have a sandbox in which to have their petty partisan squabbles. $3 billion per year so they have back rooms in which to make the dead of night deals that end up costing us in money, freedoms or both.

The Democrat-Republican partisan chokehold on the Congress has rendered it useless and ineffective. It does not matter which party is in charge. In 2006 (the last year Republicans had control) Cantor spent a million dollars on staff. To add insult to the injury of a useless Congress is that they are deficit spending not only on stuff that we know about, but a lot of it on themselves.

The tired, corrupt 2 party system that controls the Congress makes sure that members of Congress are well taken care of. In fact, they have it set up so that they get an annual pay raise unless they vote not to. Yep, you read it right. The pay raise is automatic for Congress (and therefore staff) unless they actively vote no. To get the raise all they need to do is nothing.

Of course, nothing is what they do best. Come November, we can cut the cost of this huge waste of our resources by voting the whole lot of them out. They are not looking out for us, not interested in us and sure as heck not listening to us. So let's do the only thing we can - vote them away. They will have to hear that.

Praeter Nos, Nimirum indeed.


As a capitalist and a free thinking person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Issues? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Issues.

As the mid-term campaign drones on and candidates of all stripe begin to actively advertise, it is apparent that none of them has any desire to actually run on issues and ideas. In fact, I am fairly comfortable saying that they are going to avoid any and all issues. They being both parties and their anointed candidates.

The Democrats recently unveiled an ad that uses Joe Barton's apology to BP and John Boeher's analogy of the recession to an ant as proof that the Republicans are out of touch. In this ad, there is not one idea, issue or thought that might tell us what Democrats think. Just smacking around the fools. We already know that Barton and Boehner are as useless as the rest of the Congress and exist only to obstruct. So?

Democrats fail to understand that people want to hear solutions not problems.

Republicans are just as bad. Palin recently unveiled an ad for her PAC that basically says a lot of Republican women are running for office. I believe she calls them "pink elephants." Whatever. What she does not do in this ad is mention where any of them (or her for that matter) stand on actual issues. Apparently, to the GOP, just running women for office is adequate. But we already know that there are many campaigns that feature female candidates. So?

Republicans, just like their donkey logoed counterparts, fail to understand that people want solutions, not symbolism.

To be fair, Obama started the symbolic train really rolling in 2008. And McCain jumped right on the empty symbol bus with him. Both ran campaigns almost devoid of actual ideas and solutions. Obama talked Health Care and such, but in vague generalities. McCain just talked.

Well, it is now 2 years later and both parties are even further along in their obvious quest to be as non-specific as possible.

Let me get very local as an example. Here in Broward County, Florida we have a county commission race between 2 well known corrupt career politicians - incumbent Sue Gunzberger and former State Senator Steve Geller. Both are spending huge sums of money to accuse the other of corruption and to defend themselves against those same accusations.

Geller charges that Gunzberger steered millions in county business to her late husband's company. This is actually accurate. In fact, there is an investigation underway into her actions as a commissioner. The investigation is based on 17 years of complaints from competitors that were denied any business. Gunzberger's defense? She claims they are using her late husband to attack her. Novel, but untrue.

Gunzberger charged that Geller was a lobbyist during his tenure as a State Senator and made over a million dollars as a lobbyist during that time. This is also true. Geller did actively lobby many cities in Florida on behalf of private companies while a senator. No revolving door for Geller. No door at all. One big cash collecting office. His financial statements bear out the money. His pathetic defense? Gunzberger is attacking him for making a living in the private sector.

Well, both are corrupt and both belong in a jail cell somewhere. Both openly profited from public service and both claim they were right and the other wrong. But neither has advanced one single idea for this county. Nothing about budget issues or crime or anything other than the pointless attacks and lying defenses.

When I said corrupt career politicians, I meant it. Neither has even lifted a finger for anyone except themselves. Geller wouldn't know an honest day's work if it bit him in his leg and Gunzberger has apparently never heard the phrase "conflict of interest." Yet, these are the only choices we get for that seat. Why?

Because nobody wanted to take on the lobbyists' choice of candidates. Nobody wanted to try to run against the millions these 2 corrupt-o-crats will spend to shame each other. As if they could be shamed. Seriously. One is hiding behind her dead husband doing the grieving widow act and the other calls being a lobbyist while an elected official the private sector.

And this is what we see across the country. Boxer-Fiorina: Failing US Senator versus failed former CEO. McCollum-Sink: failed Attorney General versus failed state CFO. Reid-Angle: Failed Senate Leader versus failed repeat candidate. And so on.

None of them can run on actual issues because none of them has the courage to stand for anything. None of them is adequately independent of the tired, corrupt 2 party system to even try. they are all just thralls waiting to be told what to say and what to think. Republicans are swaying back and forth between moderate conservative to far right and Democrats between moderate liberal to far left.

Both parties care nothing about issues or the people. In fact, they would prefer to avoid all issues all the time. It would be so much easier for them to just run on blind symbolic ideology. Of course, that is how we got this non-functioning Congress in the first place. And that is how we will continue to have a non-functional Congress. Because the courage of one's convictions is also the last thing that is tolerated by the parties.

Unless we vote the party hacks out of office and start picking candidates based on their issues and not their party, we are doomed to continue this endless cycle of waste and corruption. the 2 parties have become too comfortable and too lazy. They are identical in almost every way. Look just below the rhetoric and you will find very few differences or distinctions. It is as if they are putting on a show for our benefit and then running backstage to count the proceeds.

We have the power to end their little game. On November 2, vote out all incumbents. All of them. Replace the entire stinking lot. It cannot be worse than it is now.


As a capitalist and a free thinking person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Dividers Divided

As if the seemingly unbridgeable gap between Democrats and Republicans on every issue was not bad enough, the last couple of days have brought us infighting within the 2 tired and corrupt parties. Since they seem so determined to turn every single issue into a wedge issue for the November election, it seems somehow sadly fitting that they should now be fighting among themselves. After all there is no honor among thieves and apparently no loyalty among politicians.

I suppose since they are in power, we should look first at the messy little fight at the very top of the Democratic Party power players. This week saw the false queen of America, Nancy Pelosi, announce that she would support an amendment challenging Obama's strategy for Afghanistan. She wants to bring the troops home now. Today. Regardless of consequence or cost. Why?

Because the false queen has problems at home. It seems that her constituents are no longer happy that she lied to them about her knowledge of waterboarding or military action. It appears that her commitment to country and party only extends as far as the next opinion poll. So, in a rare act, the Speaker of the House announced that she would vote for his amendment despite the damage it might cause to Obama's efforts in Afghanistan. Nancy first, party second, country last.

Now that Obama and Pelosi have managed to turn the already poisonous atmosphere in Washington into an all out war for dominance, the false queen decides she is going to add some more divisiveness for her own benefit. Not that this was not a predictable act. It is not like Nancy was ever anyone's actual friend or actually loyal to anything other than her own ambitions. It is however a cowardly action, since she did it right before leaving town for a week. Now she can go home to her district and proclaim her opposition to a war she has supported for 9 years.

The Democrats have been a divided party forever. Samuel Clemens expressed it best when he said, "I am not a member of any organized party. I am a Democrat." Democrats are not known for orderly process or the lockstep that is (or was) the trademark of the Republican party. For good or bad, the Democrats cannot help but quibble among themselves. The false queen does not help matters nor does Obama himself. they perpetuate the fiction of bipartisanship while secretly doing everything they can to prevent it. And then they happily alienate the more moderate members of the party.

Think about it. A Democrat in the White House and a Dem controlled Congress and they still argue about everything. The House Dems want to go to the hard left extreme while the Senate Dems just want to protect their phony-baloney jobs. And Nancy, the false queen, foments this chaos to keep her power intact.

The GOP should be dancing in the streets over this except their own house is now even more divided than it already was. It has been very obvious that the last year has really divided the GOP. The hard conservatives of the party have taken to ousting anyone who is even vaguely moderate. They have been all about the extreme. And they have been a large contributor to the bitter partisan atmosphere in Washington that has pretty much stopped any kind of progress or recovery. The label, "Party of No," has been an accurate one.

But just this week, GOP Chairman Michael Steele, in his haste to score points against Democrats at any cost, called the war in Afghanistan "a war of Obama's choosing," and not one the US wanted or needs. This despite the fact that we have been there for 9 years and the fact that most Republicans think we need to send more troops there. Steele, who has been committing gaffes at the Biden level, has actually outdone himself. In his desire to smear Obama with anything and everything, he actually agreed with the false queen.

Most senior GOP types want him to resign. Not Karl Rove, but then again, Rove will say almost anything to preserve the facade of a united Republican party. I am sure Steele will step forward and say he misspoke. Sure. That is always a good one. Misspoke. The same way he misspoke when he called government a game in the title of his column on the GOP website. Steele's statement and the reaction from the GOP tells the story of the Party of No. They are so anxious to reject everything and anything this president proposes, they are actually on the verge of rejecting their own war.

The GOP is already a party divided. Between the Tea Party folks, the Palin folks and the mainstream Republicans, they are in the midst of an identity crisis. The phrase "Republican in Name Only" should tell that story. Apparently some Republicans want to tell other Republicans what they should think and say. Otherwise, they are tossed out of the club. As far as I can tell, any Republican that dares agree with Obama on anything, including the day of the week, is simply out. It does not mater what the issue is. Even on those issues where they agree, they oppose anyway.

And what does all of this mean to us, the long suffering and ignored people of America? Well, it means we are the pawns in their pathetic chess game. We are the people they all claim to represent, while ignoring us totally. What is means is that until one of both parties are gone and replaced, we will continue to have a dysfunctional government. We will continue to have a Congress that exists solely to get itself reelected. We will continue to be the victims of their little game.

Well, we don't have to be. In November, we can send them all home. Permanently. Democrats and Republicans need to be tossed out of office and replaced with pretty much anyone. Seriously. We could not do a lot worse. They may be playing the game, but we can end it on November 2.


As a capitalist and a free thinking person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Supremely Silly

Hearings open today in the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Of all of the things that the Senate does, this one is at the top of the important list. Not only is it actually in the actual Constitution (a document frequently ignored or misquoted by Senators on both sides) but it is a decision that will affect generations of Americans.

Most Senators take this very seriously. Most try to put aside the partisan nonsense and hold fair hearings. Or they used to anyway. I have noted before that Republicans are far more likely to have dignified proceedings than Democrats. This is simple history.

However, history is not preamble and things change. Sadly, I suspect that Kagan's hearings will be more about November elections and political spitballs than the actual Supreme Court.

Needless to say, the hard conservative branch of the GOP in the Senate is going to vote no on Kagan no matter what. They would vote no on their spouse's nomination if Obama made it. That is their plan and mantra. That voting no on everything regardless of what will somehow lead them to a glorious victory in November.

The hard liberal branch of the Democrats in the Senate will, of course, vote yes. They would vote to approve a rooster for Secretary of Defense if it was an Obama pick. Their mantra and plan - approving everything blindly with zero regard for the consequence will lead to a glorious victory in November.

For the record, these same sides voted the opposite way on most Bush nominations. They just vote reflexively and represent nobody as they do so. For these 2 hardened ideological camps, it is all about the next election and forwarding the packaged agenda.

That leaves a decent number of Senators that still exercise some free will when voting. Not many, but some. It is difficult to enumerate them or even identify them since they prefer to be very quiet and do not race for the cameras.

The hearings themselves will be about November. They will be more of the same stupid ideological tug of war that has effectively stymied progress for years if not decades. For the pathetic collection of soiled egos on the committee, these hearings will be about the president and the sitting court, not Kagan or her qualifications.

Both sides seem to agree that she is qualified. Nobody has come forth with anything that is really a factor that would lead to her not being confirmed. The weeks of research and investigation have turned up little that is even controversial. But that really won't matter when the lights come up in the committee room. It won't really be about Kagan.

The one serious controversy surrounding her is the decision she made as president of Harvard Law School to ban military recruiters over the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. Was this wrong? Well, as an American I am offended that our military is excluded from recruiting the best and the brightest. However, I also recognize that Harvard has a long tradition of this and rules in place regarding it. Is it a disqualifying factor? Probably not. However, it should raise serious questions about her position regarding the law (don't ask, don't tell is law) versus school policy.

Were this to be the level of disqualification, we would have no justices on the court. Not one of them would survive this process as it now stands. In fact, some of the great jurists to ever serve on the court would fail this nomination/confirmation process.

Two Senators' recent comments on the Kagan nomination stand out as particularly goofy.

Jeff Sessions says: "What Ms. Kagan's nomination says about President Obama will be part of the discussion." Really? Is Obama nominated for the court? Or is this just a way to toss a bunch of flaming spitballs around? Perhaps create some controversy and noise for the November election?

New York's own lawn mower man Chuck Schumer: "In decision after decision… corporations are winning over ordinary citizens. The current conservative bloc is bending the Constitution to suit an ideology." Come on Senator. We're not that stupid. First off, Kagan would not change the make up of the court. Secondly, didn't Schumer vote for most of those justices?

(New Yorkers will get the lawn mower man reference from his last re-election campaign)

Both are as wrong as wrong can be. Neither is looking at this nominee for her ability and qualifications. They see her as a pawn in their endless game. All they see is the next election cycle and the shifting majority. To them, it is all about the game and not at all about the people. Even something as important as a Supreme Court nomination is fodder for the endless partisan hackery. These Senators and their colleagues are unable to rise above their selfish little games and actually serve the people.

The Senate and the rest of the Congress are beholden to those that put them there. Not us. Not the voters. The money people. The lobbyists. The special interests. The 2 failed and corrupt political parties.

It is time to let these clowns in the Senate know that we are tired of these games. Tired of our government being just a kick ball in their school yard rivalry.

Come November, toss the lot of them out. No incumbent should return to office after this last Congress. They have shown themselves to be useless and irresponsible. They are blind ideologues, reading the day's talking points without comprehension. They are corrupt and arrogant.

They need to be fired. To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Primarily Primaries

Yesterday, several states held primaries leading up to the November election. As has been the case recently, many of these were won by seemingly new faces. Most of the primaries being bandied about today were on the Republican side.

One thing to realize about primaries in mid-term elections is that they tend to have fairly low turnout. This is not to take away from those that won yesterday, but a little perspective never hurts.

One thing was clearly obvious from yesterday's results - those that did turn out for the Republican races are more conservative and want a more conservative government. That is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself.

What makes it a bad thing is that now both parties - the same tired old failed parties that have always lied to us - are somehow claiming that this scattering of primaries and small sampling of voters gives them victories. Both parties are actively lying to us right this minute about yesterday's results.

The Republicans are heralding "America's obvious shift to the right." Nonsense. What shifted to the right are those voters that came out. Not all of America. Not every American voter. They are proudly pointing to those races where even their chosen candidate lost and declaring victory.

Democrats are also trumpeting yesterday's results. They point to the GOP's sharp shift to the right. And again, they massively generalize and marginalize the actual voter in this. They point to the same primaries and call that somehow victorious for them. Their heavily flawed theory is that the perceived shift rightward will benefit them come November since they see America as more Centrist. Donkey-poo if you ask me.

The Tea Party folks point to the few where their candidate won and declare victory. They are the closest to the truth, but not quite there either. Again, those results represent only a small slice to the American electorate and are not indicative of anything other than the feelings of that small slice.

What really happened? Well, folks in those states got sick and tired of the lies and false promises that both parties have been issuing for decades. They finally grew weary of being used as pawns in the Democrat/Republican power game. After all this time, the voters in those states made a choice to try to elect someone who is not part of the extremely inbred 2 party culture.

Inbred? Yes. Heavily inbred. The problem we have now in our political/government structure is that the 2 parties have dominated for so long that they are basically one and the same. Elected officials and party leaders pick candidates that mirror themselves. No divergent views are tolerated. Those that try to voice a different opinion are effectively culled from the herd by these same self serving corrupt leaders.

Republicans are desperate to claim the Tea party as their own, even though it is not. They are happily willing to toss all other Republicans overboard for any winning strategy. Any at all. To them it is not abut ideology or policy. It is only about winning. The same GOP that has been opposed to Medicare is suddenly a constant defender of Medicare. The same GOP that pushed the bailouts from day one now says they are bad.

Democrats are equally dangerous and dishonest. These are the people that cannot utter the word "terrorist." They decry attacks on the US, but refuse to call them what they are. The same Democrats that have claimed to support Israel suddenly cannot wait to blame them for the terror that Israel sees daily. Their kowtowing to political correctness in words leads to inactions that endanger us all. The same Democrats that once advocated for the poor and the working person now leads the bucket brigade in pouring our tax dollars on the largest banks and companies.

Both parties are badly broken and inherently dishonest. Both regard governance as a game to be played for points. Neither cares about anyone except themselves. And neither deserves to govern.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Summertime and the Dodging is Easy

While almost all of America took one day off from work to remember our fallen heroes, the folks in Congress took a full week. While most of us hurried Friday to make sure that we would be caught up before our holiday weekend, Congress just walked away from a pile of unfinished business. And while most of us stayed home and had our vacation in the backyard to save a little money, Congress took off for pretty much everywhere and mostly on our dime.

They are supposed to be back on June 7. I don't know which is better anymore. Them being away on vacation and therefore not making things worse with their amazingly lazy and self serving vacations that leave important business undone or them being at work, messing things up even more with their endless game playing.

For the record, one of the only things they do in a totally bipartisan way is to adjourn for these vacations. In effect the only thing those 531 clowns agree on is their desire to avoid work.

Let's look at what they left undone:

Financial Reform. This was urgent and needed immediately according to the leadership of both parties in both houses. It currently is in that limbo state where the House passed version A and the Senate version B. And there it sits. Waiting for the ever unimpressive Barney Frank to appoint the House half of the conference committee. Apparently this is so urgent, Frank had to wait until after the week long Monday holiday to even consider appointees. No mention of this urgency in the quiet adjournment on Friday.

Iraq and Afghanistan War Funding. Left nowhere while the Congress took off on their vacation. Our men and women in uniform will just have to wait while Pelosi and Boehner and Reid and McConnell get their tans in order. Note that not one Republican had a peep about this. Nor any Democrats. Nor anyone in the Executive branch. Hmmm. Fund the troops or get away for some vacation time? Obviously Congress has their priorities in order - themselves first and everyone else second. Forget that these troops are in harm's way protecting us. Forget their needs. Congress has campaigns to finance.

Extending Unemployment Benefits. This is a difficult and fairly controversial measure and one that needs immediate attention with so many out of work. I am not saying that they should extend the benefits. Actually, I am not really sure if they should be extended again, but I am saying that they should debate and take action. It must be really easy to ignore those that have no income while cashing a bloated Congressional paycheck. For the record, the current benefits will expire tomorrow, 6/2, while the Congress is happily sleeping in and ordering room service on our dime.

The Gulf Oil Spill. After multiple hearings and speeches, condemnations and demands, the Senate passed a weak relief bill, tossed it to the House and left town so fast all you saw was a trail of lobbyists in their wake. The House, much like a Miami Dolphin wide receiver chose to not even bother to catch this ball and took off in hot pursuit of campaign contributions. Oh sure, a lot of members of Congress will pass through Louisiana during their vacation for the mandatory photo opportunity and press release. But there will be no real action taken. Wonder why Gulf Coast residents feel ignored? Well, here is the answer. The largest oil spill in US history with the possibility of massive economic and environmental implications and Congress reacts by taking a vacation. No time to deal with the issues coming out of this one, including the amazing mismanagement of the drilling and the crisis by the administration. There are lobbyist sponsored events to get to.

Ben Nelson of Nebraska lamented to the Miami Herald that, "They think all we do here is play games." There is that word again. Games. And that is exactly what they do. Play a huge game with our futures and our well being. The game has now extended to our troops who are bravely fighting for freedom along with every other facet of our nation's business.

To the troops this is no game. It is real life and death every day. To the unemployed families, this is no game. It is a matter of food and shelter. For those on the Gulf Coast, this is no game. It is real and getting worse by the hour. For Wall Street, the regulation bill is no game. It will determine how they shape their businesses (employing literally millions and affecting all of us) going forward.

Lest the administration take solace in Congress' epic low 13 percent approval rating, take note that not one peep from Obama and company about this. Not one call for immediate action on any of these items. Not a single gripe that Congress has again gone walkabout. I heard nothing demanding that out troops get their funding. Nothing demanding that the Gulf Coast get some economic relief. In fact, what we heard was mostly nothing.

If Congress really wants time off, I suggest we give them all permanent vacation starting November 2. Vote them all out. They work for us and their performance is beyond unsatisfactory. In a real job, these clowns would have been fired long ago. We have the power in November to do just that. Reward them appropriately for their poor job performance and send them home once and for all.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

No Vote..Radio!

According to the news this morning, Pelosi has come up with a way to totally avoid an actual vote on the Health Care/Student Loan bill. As far as I can determine, she wants to acknowledge the Senate bill as read via a simple "procedural" vote, thus avoiding the difficulty of actually honoring the US Constitution.

I am sure that this is within the rules of the House. But I am equally certain that the rule was never intended to slide a major piece of legislation through the House without an actual vote.

Once upon a time, I was in favor of reforming the health insurance industry. I wanted to see some changes. Not punishment, but changes. Unlike so many in Congress, I am not challenged by the idea that a company exists to make a profit. I get that. My company exists to make a profit. I just wanted the insurers to be held to the rules and forced to treat people fairly. Now, however, with all the garbage in the bill and all of the late night tricks from both sides, I have to be opposed to it. I am not happy about it, but I am honest enough to be able to say that what they propose is wrong and bad for everybody.

Which brings me full circle. The House "leadership" on both sides is basically stalling and trying to avoid an actual vote that they might have to be responsible for. Put in less pleasant terms the 435 cowards who pretend to work there would prefer to slink away from this and just blame someone else.

On the one side, we have the Democrats who are pulling every procedural loophole out of the bag to pass this bill and the other side features the Republicans who have promised to use every procedural loophole to prevent passage. On other words, none of them want to actually vote this thing. They just want to be able to declare some kind of victory and toddle off to the bar.

The only victory I am interested in is the one that replaces the entire House of Representatives with new people. These 435 are so sold out, they are no longer capable of the simplest thing - voting on legislation - without tugging on the leashes of their corporate masters.

For shame on Pelosi for even suggesting this kind of a stunt and for shame on Boehner for not calling for the vote now.

This is no longer about health care, financial reform or even basic legislation. This is now about the simple and stated fact that our Congress has chosen to operate outside Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution: "But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively."

In other words, a vote!

Health Care - the Procedural Prognosis

So the giant health care bill released in the middle of the night on a Sunday is actually the framework to be somewhat stripped and redone as they reconcile the bill.

Congratulations to the Congressional leadership for continuing a decades long tradition of misleading and misdirecting actions to conceal their true decision.

Maybe page 2079 - Wellness Programs - is more their true intent. Grants and special programs for companies that try behavior modification on employees to get them to stop smoking or make them eat healthy (at least "healthy" as defined by government) and the like. Sounds like the nonsense the Waxmans and Stupaks pump out daily.

Or the innumerable, Commissions, Panels, Boards and Task Forces this thing creates. All paid on a per diem, but not really federal employees. Sounds like a jobs for lobbyists program to me. And sounds a lot like the kind of garbage Pelosi, Reid, McConnell and Boehner peddle all the time.

So not only won't they put the thing to a simple up or down vote - they release this version to make sure they make their promise of days of public review before the rigged vote while they secretly rewrite it before the rigged vote.

And what is the deal with the Sunday night thing? Remember all those stupid bailouts? Sunday night. Bear Stearns gifted to JP Morgan on a Sunday night. Lehman shut down on a Sunday night. Goldman bank charter - Sunday night. And so on. Now health Care - Sunday night.

I do not know a nice way to put this, so let it be plain. Over the last 3 years, anything our government has done on a Sunday night has most likely been something we didn't want and didn't need. If only they would just not come back Monday morning.

Counting Your Votes Before They are Hatched

For the last few days, we keep hearing about how many votes "they" have on The health care mess. And, depending on who last spoke, maybe it can pass, maybe not. But, either way, this endless pre-voting that Congress does is not only suspect at best, it is a direct abrogation of the purpose of Congress.

By the way, "they" are Pelosi, Boehner, Reid and McConnell. The people that are slowly eating away at truly representative government. But that is another rant for a different day.

For all too long, the leadership in both houses has taken to counting and announcing counts of votes before the legislation comes to the floor. Then, once the so-called leaders are satisfied with the count, they schedule a long debate during which many passionate speeches are made, but not one mind is changed. Not one vote moves, not one.

If the idea of Congress is to debate the issue and then vote, then why the prolonged vote games? Well, it is simple. Neither side wants to appear to lose. And some members of the Congress prefer to play coy until the last moment in the hopes that they can be the deciding vote and get all the free PR.

See, it stopped being about governance a long time age and became a large, expensive chessboard on which Democrats and Republicans, bloated with power and egos that challenge the sun for attention, play out their sad games at our expense.

Given the more than a year of debate, multiple rewrites and endless hearings, they should simply put the health care thing to a vote. Up or down. Yea or Nay. Not this prolonged passion play in which Pelosi and Boehner trade jabs via an all too willing press. Nopt the declarations of deadlines. Want a deadline Madame Speaker? Schedule the damned vote, already. And keep it scheduled. Let the bill come to the floor and be voted on in the House. According to the rules, there is a Senate bill pending a House vote. Well, vote!

On the Senate side, the same thing. Bring it to the floor. If the minority has the needed 41 votes, then let an actual filibuster run. Let the process work. If the vote is to use reconciliation withing the rules, then have the vote. Let both sides make a case and then have an honest vote. On the issues and not the ideology.

This is exactly what is wrong with Congress. They are all way too worried about posturing to remember that they are the employees, not the employers. They forget that their primary, Constitutional duty is to vote on legislation. Not to quibble and wheedle. Not to pre-count votes. Not to assure a victory or defeat.

The job is to debate and then vote on the legislation. Period. If it passes, it passes. If it fails, it fails. See, that is the point of representative democracy.

And, our job, come November, is to vote. Vote them all out of office. They have performed poorly. Were they line employees, they would have long ago been fired. Well, their human resources department meets in November. And we should prepare a lot of exit interviews for a lot of bad representatives and senators.

Reconciling Reconciliation

Depending on who you listen to, reconciliation is either the solution to getting health insurance reform passed or the act of a despotic Congress. I thought it might be a good idea to look up the actual history and procedures for reconciliation.

Reconciliation was created in 1974 to prevent the filibuster of a contentious budget bill. In short, the process is designed to allow the 2 houses of Congress to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions without needing another 60 vote cloture majority in the Senate to get anything done. Since 1975, it has been invoked 22 times. 19 of those were successful. 16 of those 19 were invoked by Republican led Senates. I have listed some of these at the end of this post.

Historically, the minority party in the Senate complains about the use of reconciliation, while the majority party calls it a valid tool. Both are right and wrong.

What we now have is the specter of luminaries like the ever redoubtable Mitch McConnell trying to make the point that there is something bad about a 50 percent plus 1 majority. This is the new theme among Republicans. Majority rule is bad. Of course, when they had the slim majority, they said the opposite.

And, as always, the Democrats are equally dishonest and hypocritical. When they were in the minority, they screamed about reconciliation as despotic. Now that they have the majority, they sing a different tune. What the Democrats in Congress will not admit is that their leadership destroyed the chance to pass the bill when they adamantly shut Republicans out of the process.

Republicans cemented their being out of the loop by failing to offer any alternative legislation, thus establishing themselves as the permanent nay sayers.

Whether either side likes it or not, this is what the concept of reconciliation is intended for. A hopelessly deadlocked Congress intent on doing nothing or as little as possible while hiding behind pointless partisan bickering.

Here are some of the bills subjected to reconciliation:

1) The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1993, AKA the 1993 Clinton budget. Senate vote: 50-50 with Vice President Al Gore breaking the tie.

2) The Balanced Budget Act of 1995, which sought cuts in Medicaid and welfare programs, restructuring of Medicare and major tax cuts. Senate vote: 52-47.

3) The Taxpayer Refund and Relief Act of 1999, a package of tax cuts and health care reforms. Senate vote: 54-46.

4) The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001, AKA the Bush tax cuts. Senate vote: 58-34.

5) The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, further tax cuts. Senate vote: 50-50 with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote.

6) The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which included cuts in Medicaid and Medicare. Senate vote: 50-50 with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote.

7) The Tax Increase Prevention and Reduction Act of 2005, an extension of tax cuts. Senate vote: 54-43.

8) Marriage Tax Penalty Relief Reconciliation Act of 2000, which reduced certain taxes for married couples. Senate vote: 60-34.

9) The Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which included reductions in Medicare payments and the creation of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Senate vote: 85-15.

10) The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, a tax cut package that also included education savings measures. Senate vote: 92-8.

11) The College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, which increased federal funding and loans for higher education. Senate vote: 79-12.

12) The Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1990, which included tax increases proposed by President George H.W. Bush. Senate 54-45.

The list speaks for itself. Note that most are not the "wide majorities" McCain pointed out, nor are they evil laws as Reid and Pelosi pointed out when they were leading the minority.

Like everything else in Congress, this has become another excuse for more flaming spitballs across the aisle and another excuse to do nothing in an election year. Well, if it is nothing they want to do, let's give them that option by voting them all - Democrat and Republican - out in November. That should reconcile the problem.