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It most certainly is the end of an era particularly on the Senate side of Congress. Earlier this morning in a hospital in Fairfax, VA, Senator Robert Byrd (D) WV passed away. You heard me right the pork king, former KKK member, and ultimate senatorial power player has finally passed away after becoming the longest serving and eldest member of the Senate body. However, I cannot just say negative things about Bob I have to say something good about the man too, because I am sure, he had to have done some good, or why else would he be undefeated in every election he ran in.
One good thing I can say about Mr. Byrd is the fact the he was a stalwart defender of the U.S. Constitution and recognized as the foremost authority on matters of constitution within the U.S. Senate. Another good thing I can say about Senator Byrd is the fact that he fiercely defended the right of both the Senate and the House of Representatives to keep any Presidential administration from usurping any Congressional powers. That is right it did not matter whether the President was a Republican or a Democrat he kept their hand out of the cookie jar.
Make no mistake though Robert Byrd is most certainly a Democrat although at one time he was considered the most conservative of that party. What does the loss of Byrd mean politically though? I do not think it means much since the Governor of West Virginia will appoint a person to replace Byrd until the 2012 election and the Governor is a Democrat. However, it does lose a critical vote for the ruling Democratic Party in the Senate for a bit, and it also puts on hold legislation that both the administration as well as the majority party in both houses of Congress consider necessary to advance their agenda.
My personal opinion is that now that Robert Byrd has passed away that the U.S. Senate will lose some of its prestige. However considering the current political climate after the mid-term elections this year I do not think that either Byrd’s Senate seat and vote would have mattered anyway. What does matter with regard to the passing of the Senates greatest orator is that both houses of Congress have lost their greatest and toughest defender. I think that not only will the administration now attempt to gain control even more, but also I think that the Democrats in the Senate will further slip into mediocrity.
That is all for now form Simple Man Politics, but I will be back again soon. Have a marvelous Monday my friends, CIAO4NOW!!!!!
P.S. Rest in Peace Mr. Byrd.
You all know the 1992 movie Distinguished Gentleman starring Eddie Murphy who plays a con man that swindles his way into congress on name recognition. Well it appears that we may actually have a real life story that echoes the movie playing out right now in South Carolina. The candidate's name is Alvin Greene and absolutely no one knew who this guy was until after the dust of the Democratic Party primary for Republican incumbent Jim DeMint’s senate seat had settled.
Once it had become apparent that this man had won the Democratic primary to challenge DeMint for the seat Democrat Party officials began to urge Mr. Greene to quit the race against DeMint possibly to install their own and probably well known candidate in his place. Some of the Democratic Party’s top lawmakers have even gone as far as to suggest that Mr. Greene is a Republican plant to stop opposition against DeMint who is seeking another term in the Senate.
Alvin Greene is an unemployed military veteran who is a citizen of the state of South Carolina. There have also been reports that Mr. Greene has been charged with a felony involving a college student and pornographic material. Mr. Green who is unemployed has also paid out more than $10,000 to enter the senate race and contends that it was his own money. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D) has accused Mr. Greene of accepting the money from an as yet unknown contributor and should be federally investigated.
In an interview Mr. Greene was asked how he had won and replied that South Carolinians were able to relate to him more so than to his opponent Vic Rawl (D). That may be true for all we know, or maybe I can suggest an alternative reason for Mr. Greene winning the Tuesday Primary. Maybe Mr. Alvin Greene won purely on name recognition. Maybe more South Carolina Democrats like singer Albert Greene’s (Al Green) voice more than Vic Rawls message.
Whatever the reasons were for Alvin Greene winning the Democratic Primary in South Carolina, Mr. Green has flatly stated that he will not withdraw from the race much to the chagrin and consternation of Dem Party officials in the state. I say more power to the guy since he obviously doesn’t reek of Washington politics and business as usual inside the beltway. I will also say that if the Dem’s in South Carolina are dumb enough or smart enough to vote for him, this remains to be seen, well then good for him. I will also say that the Democratic Party may well get what they deserve in that state too.
That’s it for now from Simple Man Politics and until next time we meet CIAO4NOW!!!!!
Last night saw some very interesting results in primaries throughout the country. With only one real important exception in Blanche Lincoln (D) AR, it was a clear message that incumbents were unpopular. Another interesting result is the fact that the big primary winners were female and conservative. I am also intrigued with the effect of Sarah Palin’s effect in the campaigns of those she supported.
Now I will admit that both Whitman and Fiorina are California Republicans, and are not necessarily as conservative as others are in the GOP. However, Fiorina along with candidates like Sharon Angle, Nikki Haley are all Tea Party favorites that Sarah Palin supported and who have won their primaries. In the case of Carly Fiorina she won over another Tea Party favorite supported by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.
There is no doubt in my mind that this election season is a referendum on the Obama Administration as well as both houses of Congress. Figures such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D) NV and Senator Barbara Boxer (D) CA will certainly have their hands full with Palin backed Angle and Fiorina. In addition to these contending opponents, incumbent Democrats will also have to explain their unpopular support of Obama and his agendas.
While the Tea Party may be a very vocal as well as a very visible political force they are by no means organized. There is no real main arm of the Tea Party, but a loose knit coalition of Tea Party’s around the country. They often see things pretty much the same way, but not always, which will sometimes create divisions within the movement. California primary Fiorina versus DeVore or more accurately Palin versus DeMint is a prime example.
It appears to me that Sarah Palin is certainly a driving force, in both the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement and wields tremendous star power amongst the blue collar conservatives. The fact that she is also willing to go against the GOP base and Tea Party candidates she does not support has not appeared to damage her credibility within either group. There is definitely evidence that you have a better than even chance of winning at least within your own party if Sarah Palin picks you to support.
Another Tea Party and Palin backed candidate Terry Branstad won the GOP Party nomination yesterday for the Governors race in Iowa against incumbent Democrat Chet Culver in November and is a race to watch. It is said that Iowa is one of the states that sets the tone for election politics so we will see if they see eye to eye with Sarah Palin on Terry Branstad.
I will tell you before I go that I am not a Republican but an NPA (No Party Affiliation), I am also a fiscal conservative as well as a social conservative with one or two exceptions. I do like Sarah Palin and agree with her political views 99.998% of the time. I will definitely support her candidates with one exception and that is Senator John McCain (R) AZ.
I hope you all have a great day and I will see you all again soon my friends. From Simple Man Politics CIAO4NOW!!!!!
If you ask the 89 year old legendary White House correspondent Helen Thomas it seems she would almost certainly say they are the same. At least it appeared that this might be Helen Thomas’s view during the Jewish Heritage American History Month celebration that took place on May 27th at the White House. The video with Thomas in her own words can be found at both Yahoo and RabbiLive.com, which was aired a full week after the incident.
During the celebration Rabbi David Nesenhoff approached Helen Thomas with the idea of asking for her views on Israel. During the impromptu interview Thomas stated flatly that Israel should get the hell out of Palestine and that the Palestinian people are occupied. She went on to further say that Israeli’s should return to their homes in Poland, Germany, and oh yeah…..America, indicating that the people and the Jewish state have no place in the Middle East.
Apparently Helen Thomas either didn’t know that the Jews and Israel have both been in that very region for as long as there have been other races there. It also seems to me that Thomas has no idea of the history of the Jews in Israel such as the fact that they were also an occupied people. Over the course of history Israel was occupied by Rome who ruled the Jewish people for hundreds of years. I also believe that Helen Thomas forgot the more than 6 Million Jews were murdered in Germany and Poland.
Now I have to tell you that I am a big supporter of both the Constitution and its 1st amendment. I not only fervently defend the right of individuals to freely express their personal views without persecution I also defend the same right for those in the press that is what the 1st amendment is all about. However what I will not defend is someone who is anti-semitic or racist. I am not sure if Helen Thomas is either one of these, but her comments definitely need to be scrutinized closely.
Since her controversial comments, Helen Thomas has resigned from Hearst Newspapers. Thomas has also repeatedly apologized for her comments and admits that they were offensive. The board of the White House Press Corps has not yet announced what actions they will take with regard to Thomas’s front row center seat in the White House briefing room. The board has also issued a statement that they do not police the speech of members or colleagues.
What ever else may happen to Helen Thomas because of her comments, there is this lesson to be learned. Those in the media should realize that while they may have the right to freely express their views and opinions, they would do well to remember that they will also have to deal with the consequences of their actions, for which they are solely responsible. This is often an expensive lesson to learn and all you have to do is look at the now disgraced Helen Thomas to see the cost.
That is all for now from Simple Man Politics. I hope you all have a marvelous day and I will be back again soon, CIAO4NOW!!!!!
As you all know I am somewhat of a political animal and as a result I couldn’t help boring my kids with the coverage of the Healthcare debate and vote in House of Representatives yesterday. The end of all of this culminated in my complete and utter disbelief that they actually passed the Senate version of the Healthcare Monstrosity through the Lower House.
After all of the votes were counted and guaranteed the payoffs to those whose votes were purchased we were treated to speeches by both President Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In their speeches they both indicated that they had passed this bill for the people, even though almost three quarters of the US population were dead set against the bill. The truth is they didn’t do this for the people they did it to the people.
You know I have to wonder just how great this Healthcare bill is going to be for the American people. Why would they need 16,000+ new IRS/Treasury agents because of this new bill? IS it because they know all about healthcare or is it because they know how to enforce the tax code. Yep this sounds like a very tax payer friendly bill to me, and I am sure it has nothing to do with new taxes because Obama doesn’t lie.
Since it is the Senate version of the healthcare bill that has passed I wonder if tax payer funded abortion is the new law of the land. After all the language to support using tax payer funding abortion is in this bill. Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts expect this to be repaired in the senate through reconciliation, are they crazy? The Republicans now have 41 votes and can filibuster now, and not only that but why would the senate fix the bill for the lower house when this is the bill they want?
Another big problem with the new Healthcare Bill is the language within it that supports healthcare for Illegal Aliens at tax payer expense as well. I find this to be fortuitous for the Democrats since Comprehensive Immigration Reform is the next thing they want to tackle. Unfortunately for the Progressive Left I think that President Obama may have expended all of his political capitol on the Healthcare bill and Immigration Reform will have to wait for now.
Of course now all of the Congressmen and women will have to go home and answer to their constituents for passing the government takeover of one sixth of the American economy despite the tax payer majority who were against the move. I am sure this has made the mid-term elections for them interesting because they are all up for reelection unless they are going to retire in November 2010.
Well that is all for now from Simple Man Politics, but I am sure that I will be back again soon. I hope all of you have a great week full of health, wisdom, happiness, and wealth, although I am sure that at least 2 of those things will be even less possible very soon. I will talk to you all later my friends CIAO4NOW!!!!!
I know that I have not really blogged about politics at all this year and very little near the end of last year as well, but I thought this topic worth bringing up with the mid-term elections only eight months away. The topic in question relates to an article written by Charlie Reese who has been a journalist for forty-nine years titled “545 PEOPLE”. A very good friend of mine sent me the article, which I researched, and the facts stated in the article are accurate.
(ARTICLE):
545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered; if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , It's because they want them in IRAQ
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible.
They and they alone, have the power.
They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.
Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
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Pretty amazing article isn’t it? When I read it I thought to myself that Mr. Reese has definitely hit the nail right on the head with regard to our nation’s problems both past and current. As a rule when I consider voting for a candidate the 2nd Amendment accounts for about 50% of my consideration. However I think this November I will take a lot of this article into consideration, because it is time to hold our elected officials to account and make them do right by us the American people.
Well that is about all I have for now, but I will be looking for more interesting stuff to bring to you all as we near this years elections. I am going to enclose in this post a list of taxes at the bottom that have only existed in the last 100 years so you can see what some of our venerable representatives have done to our nation. I hope you all have a great evening and I will see you again soon here at Simple Man Politics, CIAO4NOW!!!!!
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge T ax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Sales Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Ser vice Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge=2 0 Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
Look you guys it is true that Thursday's Supreme Court decision will allow Corporations to directly finance their candidates now. However it is also true that organizations such as the Teamsters and the AFL-CIO will be able to do the same. Besides as a friend of mine pointed out campaign contributions are public record, so it is easy to see who an organization supports financially.
As for the Democratic Party being the new socialists I don't believe that to be true of all Democrats, but only those who consider themselves to be "Progressives". As for lumping all conservatives together with the Republican Party I find that to be distasteful. Not all Republicans are conservatives although they might claim to be, and as an example I will use Arlen Specter who has since showed his true colors.
I for one am a Conservative who has no political party affiliation, and I would take offense to being categorized as a Republican. However if you wish to categorize me where my political beliefs are concerned, I would rather be in the category of a PATRIOTIC, RED, WHITE, and BLUE, natural born American citizen. I think that is much better than Islamic, un-naturalized, foreign citizen like someone we all know.
That is all I have to rant about today here at Simple Man Politics, but I am sure I will find something to rant about next week, so I will see you all then. I hope you all have a great evening my friends, CIAO4NOW!!!!!
