WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LIBERALS?: “Conservatism in America is on the way out. Progressives are finally on the offense and we’re not playing defense anymore.” - Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood
VETO ONSLAUGHT ON THE HORIZON
“(President) Bush plans to veto the Homeland Security appropriations bill nearing final passage, followed by vetoes of eight more money bills sent him by the Democratic-controlled Congress. That constitutes a veto onslaught of historic proportions from a president who did not reject a single bill during his first term. Of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008, only three will be signed by the president in the form shaped by the House. What’s more, Bush correctly claimed he has the one-third plus one House votes needed to sustain these vetoes. The unpopular president is taking the offensive on fiscal responsibility.”
- Columnist Robert Novak
BIKE-PATH TO NOWHERE
“The city (of Chesapeake, VA) will move forward with a plan to build a two-mile bicycle path along Dominion Boulevard at an estimated cost of $16 million. . . . City Council members recently voted 7 -1 in favor of the bike path… Mayor Dalton Edge cast the lone vote against the idea, arguing the money should be used elsewhere. ‘It’s a $16 million project,’ Edge said Thursday. ‘It reminds me of the bridge to nowhere in Alaska. You talk about government spending, and to spend that kind of money on a bike path that would be rarely utilized is stunning to me.’”
- The Virginian-Pilot, 6/14/07
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE HOUSE, STAYS IN THE HOUSE
“Despite the new Democratic congressional leadership’s promise of ‘openness and transparency’ in the budget process, a CNN survey of the House found it nearly impossible to get information on lawmakers’ pet projects.
“Staffers for only 31 of the 435 members of the House contacted by CNN between Wednesday and Friday of last week supplied a list of their earmark requests for fiscal year 2008, which begins on October 1, or pointed callers to Web sites where those earmark requests were posted. Of the remainder, 68 declined to provide CNN with a list, and 329 either didn’t respond to requests or said they would get back to us, and didn’t.”
- CNN.com, 6/19/07
WHOLE LOTT-A PAIN COMIN’ HIS WAY
“Senator Trent Lott has long had his issues with alternative media. Recall that it was a swarm of bloggers that elevated his remarks about Strom Thurmond to the status of a major-league news story and forced him to step down as Majority Leader in 2002… Well, Mr. Lott can expect to be in the doghouse again with the alternative media after comments he made on the Senate floor last Thursday.
“Upset that populist talk radio hosts have come out four-square against the immigration compromise he supports, Mr. Lott admonished fellow senators to decide if they are ‘men or mice’ and complained: ‘Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.’ I can understand Mr. Lott’s frustration, but his words are guaranteed only to bring more pain his way.”
- John Fund, Political Diary, 6/18/07
DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE
“In southern Alabama, a school board fired a teacher for helping students cheat on a standardized test. His union-supported appeal to an arbitrator reduced the penalty to an 18-month suspension. If school boards can’t permanently get rid of tenured teachers who teach beating or cheating, what hope do they have for getting rid of teachers who are just lousy?”
- Center for Union Facts op/ed in the Birmingham News, 6/10/07
MONEY ISN’T THE PROBLEM
“Our statistics should be a wake-up call to anyone who believes that the abysmal graduation rates from Newark (NJ) schools are a result of underfunding. Clearly, money isn’t the problem. The problem is that the Newark Teachers Union won’t hold bad teachers accountable for poor results and hamstrings good teachers with endless bureaucracy.”
- Rick Berman of the Center for Union Facts
BIG LABOR’S BIG BUCKS
“Just this week the Center for Responsive Politics issued a list of the top political donors in the 2006 elections, and it’s no surprise that unions made up six of the top 10 names on the list. Almost all of their money went to Democrats. Leading the pack among all Political Action Committees was AFSCME, the union for government workers, which spent $31 million. A strong second was the National Education Association at $21 million. . . . Rounding out the list of top spenders were the Teamsters, the Electrical Workers, the Service Employees and the Communications Workers, all of which spent over $17.5 million apiece to elect the new Democratic Congress.”
- John Fund, Political Diary, 6/19/07
EUROPEANS BUST POSTAL MONOPOLIES
“European lawmakers have voted in favour of liberalising EU (European Union) postal services across the 27 member bloc in four years time, a move that could eventually mean the end national monopolies on delivering lightweight letters and postcards. . . . The EU started out on the road to opening up the postal sector 15 years ago and the current proposal would finalise the process, meaning that national postal operators would lose their monopoly over the distribution of any type of mail, including letters weighing less than 50 grammes.”
- EUObersver.com, 6/19/07
UNCOMMON SENSE
“Those who are trying to force through the Bush-Kennedy-McCain immigration proposal argue that only their version of comprehensive reform will work,” writes Newt Gingrich. “They are simply wrong.”
As an alternative, Gingrich offers “Ten Simple, Direct Steps to a Legal American Immigration System.” I’ve posted them here on Uncommon Sense.
THE UNION LABEL
Speaking of Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker also weighs in on Big Labor’s efforts to get Congress to eliminate secret ballots elections…
“The left-wing machine is an alliance of activists and union leaders dedicated to their mutual benefit — at the expense of the American people. I was convinced that it’s a real threat when Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s new Democratic majority in the House voted in March to strip American workers of the right to a secret ballot in deciding whether or not to unionize.
“They approved something called the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ which gives employees the kind of ‘choice’ favored by Tony Soprano — the kind you can’t refuse. It exposes every American worker to coercion and intimidation by unions that are attempting to get their dues money. It was the Democrats’ version of payback for union support in last year’s elections.”
Posted on June 19th, 2007 by Chuck Muth
Filed under: National
VETO ONSLAUGHT ON THE HORIZON! Bush and Heller are AGINST homeland security! The are pro terrorsim! Pass it on!
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE HOUSE, STAYS IN THE HOUSE; Democrats and Reublicans caught lying about transperacy with regards to earmarks. Voters are stupid to keep voting for any of these ass clowns!
MONEY ISN’T THE PROBLEM; Once again it poor school performance isn’t the kids fault or the parents fault, it is the systems fault. Blah, blah, blah….
BIG LABOR’S BIG BUCKS: well for the last 7 years business was the largest contributor to political candidates…quess it wasn’t a story until working men and women wanted a sy in how America is run.
UNCOMMON SENSE, from Gingrich?! This is the bastard (who doesn’t uphold our “values”), who started this ongoing decline in politics/public policy that we have today….another ass clown.
THE UNION LABEL “The left-wing machine is an alliance of activists and union leaders dedicated to their mutual benefit — at the expense of the American people.” Gee wasn’t it just yesterday when the Right was saying Unions are irrelevant as only 3.8% of Americans belonged to a Union? LOOK OUT, BOOGYMAN BEHIND YOU!
The Republicans aren’t pro-terrorism, and they aren’t against homeland security. They’re just opposed to pork barrel spending on everyone’s costly but narrowly beneficial (i.e., “they’ll get me re-elected) projects. It’s about time President Bush woke up and smelled the coffee on this issue given that it’s one of the reasons that the Republicans lost control of Congress last year.
If Southy’s correct that the problem with public education isn’t the teachers, but rather the kids and the parents, then maybe he can explain how more money will solve that problem. Also, maybe he can explain how the requirement to offer free public education to illegal immigrants solves things. Maybe he can also explain how spending $17,000 per year per student in Nevada like they do in New Jersey will improve the system.
The money that business donates to poltical parties and candidates comes from their business revenue, which comes from customers. If we don’t like their contribution patterns, we can boycott their products and bring pressure on them to cut off their donations. Until last week’s Supreme Court decision (which only had a limited effect on public employee unions and no effect on private sector unions), labor unions had a captive audience. If a person was a union member in a non right to work state, he/she had no voice in how his/her union dues were spent for political purposes.
Liberals like Southy like to complain about the Republican lack of values, but they seem to view “values” as a private matter when it comes to Democrats. Ted Kennedy committed vehicular homicide, but I’m sure Southy finds much to commend in Teddy’s politics.
Southy got one thing right. They Dems and Reps are all ass clowns (that’s the reason I quit the Republican Party back when Governor Guinn raised taxes back in 2003). Unfortunately, Southy’s comments reveal him to an ass clown too.
John,
My comments said NOTHING about more money for schools. My issue is that “everyone” blames thes schools when the issue is with the student and their parent(s). reading comprehension is important, too.
Business donations from publically held corporations are from the shareholders who have NO SAY in how THEIR profits are spent.
I am a Republican and not very liberal at all.
The spending in Homeland Security bill is less than what Republican Congresses sent up in the last 3 years and Bush signed everyone of them; the “joke” is that when the Ds didn’t support a bill they were tagged as “against” this or that…I thought it would be enligtening to see how it plays with the shoe on the other foot. “They’re just opposed to pork barrel spending”, you say, but the anecdotal evidence is contrary to your lollipop view.
I have been opposed to giving Millenium Scholarships to illegals…as for grades k-12, we’re stuck with the 1982 Plyler V Doe case that mandates states provide a free education to illegals.
Kennedy should have gone to jail. Neither Party has a lock on values-I believe North Carolina’s Republican Treasurer just got indicted for selling crack cocaine.
Southy:
Since when are corporate shareholders forced to hold their stock?
Your comment about my “lollipop view” reference cutting pork barrel spending was appropos. When I wrote it, I was on a sugar high from eating too much candy (I’ll soon be filing a class action lawsuit against the candy companies), and the statement was a reflection of wishful thinking on my part. You’re right, the reality says otherwise, and it was my realization of this back in 2003 that caused me to quit the Republican party. However, the stereotypes are contrary to the view that Republicans would be pro terrorist or anti homeland security, and it would be pretty laughable if Reid, Pelosi, et al tried this tactic. If anything, we’ll have more rhetoric from Senator Reid about how Las Vegas needs billions of dollars in additional funding because it’s an obvious terrorist target. If memory serves me, the last time a major Democrat was able to show more machismo than his opponent on national security was in 1960 when JFK lambasted Ike and Nixon on the issue of the missile gap, and when he actually advocated an increase in defense spending and Army staffing well beyond the Eisenhower levels. Last time I checked, the Democrats are the party of weakness, appeasement, destroying the capitalist system and perpetuating the welfare state, while the Republicans are the party of destroying the environment, keeping our children illiterate while smoking cigarettes, shipping all the good jobs overseas, catering to the oil companies and having happy trigger fingers on the nukes.
I never mentioned anything about Millenium scholarships, but I agree with you 100% regarding the awarding of these scholarships to illegal aliens. In fact, I’ll go a step further and say that I don’t think they should be awarded to “anchor” babies either.
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