The Political Fish

I would call this a shock poll, except that I am not the least bit shocked. I have been saying now for months that the liberal wing of the Democrat party is nothing more than a bunch of socialists bent on changing the America that has made us great.

Gallup today released a poll that confirms that statement, as far as polling can confirm something at least.

PRINCETON, NJ — More than one-third of Americans (36%) have a positive image of “socialism,” while 58% have a negative image. Views differ by party and ideology, with a majority of Democrats and liberals saying they have a positive view of socialism, compared to a minority of Republicans and conservatives.

“Socialism” was one of seven terms included in a Jan. 26-27 Gallup poll. Americans were asked to indicate whether their top-of-mind reactions to each were positive or negative. Respondents were not given explanations or descriptions of the terms.

Americans are almost uniformly positive in their reactions to three terms: small business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurs. They are divided on big business and the federal government, with roughly as many Americans saying their view is positive as say it is negative. Americans are more positive than negative on capitalism (61% versus 33%) and more negative than positive on socialism (36% to 58%).

Is it any surprise that just about the only bloc that still staunchly supports Barack Obama is the hard left (socialist) wing of the Democratic party? They know where he stands. Unionization, Government Health Care, Cap and Trade….all socialist programs aimed at taking down the free market and installing a level playing field i.e. socialism.

It must have made the socialist left giddy to see our President sucking up to the socialists around the world. Thankfully, the vast majority of Americans (read those of us producers) still believe in the free market, hard work, freedom and prosperity and have decided to fight for it.

Socialist Labor union leader Andy Stern, a frequent visitor to the White House, issued a veiled threat to Washington this week. Stern, the head of the SEIU labor union, stated that the unions might “have some difficulty staying focused on national politics” if the Obama administration does not ram through the health care bill as is, including of course the sweetheart deal for the unions and their “Cadillac plans“.

PlumLine reports:

SEIU chief Andy Stern took a hard shot at Dem leaders just now for considering a scaled-down health care bill, strongly hinting that labor might not work as hard for Dem candidates in 2010 if they failed to deliver real and comprehensive reform.

“It’s gonna be incredibly difficult to stay focused on national politics if by the end of 2010 we have minimal health care and minimal changes on what’s important to our members,” he said in an interview, ridiculing the emerging Dem approach as “fear masquerading as a strategy.”

Stern unloaded on Dem leaders in resonse to reports today that they’re mulling either a scaled down bill to win GOPers or a broken up bill passed in pieces. His anger suggests Dems risk paying a big price with labor if they fail to figure out how to pass the Senate bill and fix it later, as labor wants.

Stern hinted that if House and Senate members don’t move forward with the Senate bill and some kind of fix, they could see union members spending more time on races for governor, perhaps at the expense of their reelection campaigns. “If something significant doesn’t happen in Congress, I hope the legislators appreciate that there are 37 governors races important to our members,” Stern said suggestively.

Ahh, the scorned lover. We have long known that Obama and his secretive administration have been in bed with the SEIU and other labor unions, but now the it seems the Unions have found themselves in the position of the jilted lover. They have been let down by the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts, and can see the writing on the wall that they will not get their big government socialist bill that they had hoped for all along.

Will Obama continue to cave to the Unions?? We will have to wait and see, but it appears we have gotten a preview yesterday in Ohio.

Yes…Obama is tone deaf.

Has it really been one year?

Sure, we all remember President Obama’s inauguration. Two million people crowded the National Mall, he placed his hand on the Bible, Chief Justice John Roberts flubbed the oath of office, Dick Cheney looked like Mr. Potter from It’s A Wonderful Life, Obama gave a speech, and pundits across the radio and television dial hailed the coming of the Golden Age of liberalism.

Let me check my calendar… Yep, that was January 20th, 2009.  One year ago.

So what happened?  Well, let’s recap:

• ECONOMICS – In the middle of the Great Recession, Obama unleashed the $787 Billion stimulus plan.  Obama’s people said without the plan, unemployment would go up to nine percent.  We should consider ourselves to be so lucky.  Conservatives said that the bill would increase unemployment, and sure enough, they were right.  But hey, we did save / create a few jobs in some Congressional districts.  It’s a shame those districts don’t exist.
• FOREIGN POLICY – I suppose Obama’s big Foreign Policy moment came during his speech in Cairo, where he tried to seek common ground with Muslims.  The speech was well-received by both sides of the aisle.  A short time later, Obama showed his support for freedom-seeking Muslims by delivering a rousing speech where he proclaimed that America stood together with the young men and women of Iran who were protesting the sham elections and… oh wait, that last part didn’t happen.  Instead, while Iran was burning, Obama was silent, but at least he did get the chance  to get ice cream.  It wasn’t the first time that ice cream played a part in Obama’s foreign policy, four Gitmo detainees were sent to Bermuda.  And yes, they were allowed to get ice cream.  But no sprinkles!  By the way, the “ice cream diplomacy” should not be confused with the “hot dog diplomacy”, or the infamous beer summit.  Other highlights from Obama’s first year: saying that we would not abandon our missile shield in Poland if Iran continues to pose a threat.  That worked for awhile, until the Russians asked us to change our plans.  We caved to the Russians.  Right after we found out that Iran could build a nuke.
• WAR – I haven’t heard much about it, but I’m pretty sure we’re still in Iraq.  After spending the campaign telling America how George Bush screwed up that war, Obama carried over Bush’s policy.  He also spent the campaign talking about how Afghanistan was the “good” war, then once elected President, he proceeded to dither.  Months after Gen. McChrystal asked for more troops, Obama complied.  Somewhat.  He pledged 30,000 more soldiers, but added a withdrawal date.  In a related note, if the leader of the Taliban said that he was going to train / send more terrorists to reek havoc on the world, but only for 18 months (and then they’d have to stop), wouldn’t it sound like that, I dunno, like he was dealing from a position of weakness?
• TERRORISM – Unfortunately, the terrorists (as a whole), aren’t dealing from a position of weakness.  One-third of the terrorist attacks against Americans occurred in 2009. We saw two attacks on our soil, at Fort Hood and in on a plane above Detroit.  Thankfully, the Detroit bomber was incompetent (much like another would-be terrorist bomber from 40 years ago.  Yes, I went there).  Both incidents happened because America missed the warning signs.  Let us pray Obama can rectify these mistakes in 2010.  As for the “victory over terrorists front”, kudos to Obama for giving the thumbs-up to an operation that rescued kidnapped sea captains from the hands of the Somali pirates.  We sent the right message, and that was the last we had to deal with them.  Oh wait. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t joke about this.  Piracy is no laughing matter.
• HEALTH CARE – And yes, we’ve reached the elephant-in-the-room.  While Americans lacking health insurance is a serious problem, Americans rejected Obama’s solution (e.g., usurping the entire health care system, creating massive new entitlement programs, and basically saddling our great-great-great grandchildren with a debt they could never hope to repay.  And for a more on this disaster of a bill, I refer you to my older brother’s column on the subject.).  Where would Obama be if he didn’t try to usurp one-seventh of our national economy?  Well, for starters, he probably wouldn’t be sitting under 50% in the approval polls.  Second, he probably wouldn’t have lost his filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.  Third, Democrats wouldn’t be quaking in their boots.

So, I suppose that takes us back to today.  January 20th, 2010.  One year ago, Barack Obama entered the presidency with dreams and visions of a New America.  And one day ago, voters from the bluest of blue states got their chance to say they don’t want to be a part of that vision.  Meanwhile, the rest of the country salivates.  On November 2nd, 2010, they’ll get their chance, too.

In an effort to open up the transparency of the federal government, President Obama hammered out a deal behind closed doors with the labor unions over the issue of the so-called “Cadillac tax” on expensive health insurance plans. It seems if you can show your union card, you will be exempt from that tax. Its quite a deal. From the NY Post.

The sweetheart deal, hammered out behind closed doors, will save union employees at least $60 billion over the years involved, while others won’t be as lucky — they’ll have to cough up almost $90 billion.

The 40 percent excise tax on what have come to be called “Cadillac” health-care plans would exempt collective-bargaining contracts covering government employees and other union members until Jan. 1, 2018.

But wait….there’s more.

In another major concession to labor, the value of dental and vision plans would be exempt from the tax even after the deal expires in eight years, negotiators said.

Under the plan to help fund health-care reform, the tax would kick in for plans valued at $8,900 or more for individuals and $24,000 or more for families.

That’s slightly higher than the $8,500 and $23,000 thresholds in the bill passed by the Senate last month.

The threshold will be even higher for certain plans with many older workers and women — a move to benefit unions with a high proportion of female membership, sources said.

This sort of deal should soften some of the hardest dissenters within the Democrat party, we all know that the Dems live in the bed with big labor.  WIth their largest backer on board, they will probably be able to force this bill through the conference and back into a vote.

Looks like more cronyism, sweetheart deals, and shady back room dealings from the President who promised to us all that he would change the way business was done in Washington. How’s that hopenchange working out for ya?

Just yesterday, the Hill.com ran a story on Michigan representative Bart Stupak, who has apparently broken rank with House speaker Nancy Pelosi on the health care bill, due to the language in the bill that will federally fund abortions. He noted that the “Speaker is not happy with me” along with some of the other fraudulent blue-dog Democrats who have taken much the same positions on some of the radical proposals in the bill.

Rep. Bart Stupak said Speaker Pelosi is not pleased with his effort to change abortion-related provisions in the healthcare bill being crafted by the House.

During an interview on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” show, Stupak (D-Mich.) said he is undeterred in trying to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not pay for abortions. Stupak, who opposes abortion rights, acknowledged that some in his party are upset with his public campaign to change the bill.

“The Speaker is not happy with me,” Stupak said.

The Energy and Commerce subcommittee chairman said he has been working with Democratic leaders on a compromise, but they haven’t been able to strike a deal. Stupak pointed out that he and Democratic leaders have a fundamental disagreement on whether health plans that receive subsidies from the government should be allowed to provide coverage options on abortions.

Stupak wants a vote on the House floor to strike the language, and predicts he would have the votes to pass such an amendment.

“This has been federal law since 1976,” he said, noting that President Barack Obama has vowed not to allow healthcare reform to pay for abortions.

“We have to have a vote,” he said.

 

Turns out, as is usually the case with most politicians, while he may vehemently oppose federal abortion funding, it doesn’t mean he is willing to vote against the bill. Heritage Foundation released this video this afternoon highlighting the hypocrisy of yet another House Democrat, this is a video of Congressman Stupak at a townhall meeting, discussing with his constituents in northern Michigan the idea of abortion in the healthcare bill.

By the way, one will remember the Obama speech to Congress where he clearly stated that federal funding for abortions would not be a part of this healthcare bill….YOU LIE!! I wonder if he would be man enough, or even principled enough to veto a bill that included such language. Not likely, but a guy can dream for some hope and change in Washington right?

Humana Inc, one of the nations largest healthcare insurers is the new target of the United States Government employing political intimidation and hardball tactics on the private company in response to a letter they sent out to their customers enrolled in the Medicare Advantage program about looming changes coming their way through the new health care reform bill, currently being brokered by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). This is amazing by even Obama administration standards to go after a private company voicing its opposition to the Presidents plan. From WSJ.

Earlier this month, Humana sent a one-page letter to its customers enrolled in its Medicare Advantage plans, which offer private options to Medicare beneficiaries. Humana noted that, because of spending cuts proposed by Democrats, “millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage health plans so valuable.” The Kentucky-based company also urged its customers to contact their Representatives. Pretty tame stuff, as these things go.

Mr. Baucus took it as a declaration of war. He complained to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal health-care agency, which on Friday duly ordered Humana to cease and desist. CMS claimed the mailer was “misleading and confusing” and told the company it has opened an official probe as to whether the mailer violated laws about how the insurers that manage Advantage plans are allowed to communicate with their customers, as well as other federal statutes.

“Please be advised that we take this matter very seriously and, based upon the findings our investigation, will pursue compliance and enforcement actions,” CMS concluded, ominously. Humana could be fined or booted from Medicare Advantage altogether.

Ah yes, nothing like the government vendetta against a private company, who one might consider the expert on the subject of health insurance reform. Now I am sure all of the haters out there will tell us that the only reason Humana would dare send that type of letter out is because they are the big greedy corporation ready to kill off any and every person on their rolls if it can save them a dollar, its the typical scare tactic from marxist progressives. But check out the facts here, they can after all be stubborn things.

In fact, the Baucus draft legislation slashes $123 billion over the next decade from Medicare Advantage, which Democrats hate despite the fact that almost one-fourth of beneficiaries have chosen it over traditional fee-for-service Medicare. One reason seniors like it is because private insurers focus on quality and preventive care and try to manage benefits, as opposed to simply paying bills.

A new study from America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry trade group, finds that seniors on Advantage in California spent 30% fewer days in hospitals over fee-for-service patients, based on federal data. Democrats say that insurers are “overpaid,” but the cuts—as Humana correctly noted—mean that seniors may lose this coverage.

Mr. Baucus doesn’t want seniors to be educated about these facts, and obviously he’s willing to use his enormous power to punish any private company that doesn’t affirm his, well, creative version of reality. Nearly half of Humana’s yearly revenue comes from Medicare Advantage, and the insurer says that it is complying in full with the CMS investigation. Yesterday, the agency also barred all Advantage insurers from providing similar information to their beneficiaries.

Where are the Republicans in Congress standing up to this sort of over the top tyrannical behavior on the part of Baucus and the CMS. This is clearly part of their overarching strategy of intimidation and stifling of dissent in this country. We have watched it happen with all of the brushing aside of the teaparty movements, the outcry at the townhalls this past summer and every other opposing view of the Presidents healthcare proposal. It seems that once again, powerful Congressman are being allowed to run amock, while their colleagues stand idly by and watch. If Humana broke the law in their communique to their customers, then so be it, prosecute them. But the writing is on the wall here that the plan is to spin around some vague interpretation of a law and make an example.

It is sickening behavior on the part of the Obama administration. It does however fit the character of this Chicago-thugocracy that currently resides in the White House.  Its a non-violent crackdown on the part of the United States Government to silence dissent. Its un-Constitutional and needs to be called out. I am sure we  won’t see it on the DNC’s Call em Out website though.

That darn Constitution, it really gets in the way of the political ambitions of our President these days.  I mean, follow what the Constitution says, and we may not be able to stay a one-party ruled “democracy” any more.

Recently the Fish revealed the back-room conversations that Obama was having with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick regarding the replacement of Ted Kennedy in the United States Senate. Obama realizes that the guaranteed yes vote from the Chappaquidick-stained Kennedy is an absolute necessity in his fight to take over 17% of the US economy via the healthcare industry. He must have it, so he needs to manipulate the law of the State of Massachusetts in his favor, much as it was manipulated a few years back during the ill-fated campaign of John Kerry for President.

Now we hear that the White House is worried about the Governors race in the state of New York, where current Governor David Patterson is a very unpopular man these days. He has lost control of his government in recent months, and Albany has all but ground to a screeching halt as far as providing for the well-being of her citizenry.  That being said, its time for The One to intervene.

The Obama White House made the request to Paterson’s office under instructions from Obama’s key political advisers, two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic official told the New York Times Saturday evening.

The Obama administration has reportedly grown wary of Paterson’s statewide unpopularity, the officials said, fearing Paterson’s status in New York could demoralize other sitting Democrats in Congress.

“Is there concern about the situation in New York? Absolutely,” one of the administration officials told the Times. “Has that concern been conveyed to the governor? Yes,” the source said.

Governor Patterson basically told the President to go pound sand. He has stated that he will be running for re-election, even though the White House has even brought in Al Sharpton to advise the governor. No confirmation on what advice Sharpton will be giving (but one could assume it would be to go away).  Why would the White House be so concerned over the New York governors race? According to the NY Daily News, they are very concerned about the prospect of former NYC mayor Rudy Guiliani running against Patterson, and all polls show that the race would be over before it was even started.  The Obama administration would much rather see NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in the race against Rudy, as it would be much closer, with many polls showing Cuomo coming out on top.

From the “didn’t see this one coming” file, the Obama administration has vehemently denied telling Patterson to drop out of the race, only saying that of course they are acutely aware of the political situation in the key state of New York.  I’m sure the unnamed Democrat official made this story up for the NY Times and other media outlets to pounce on. So, since Obama is going up to NY today, all should be well right…I mean, if it never happened there should be no issues.

It seemed a little awkward in Albany, as President Obama was greeted on the tarmac by New York Gov. David Paterson, whom the White House has been suggesting should drop out of the governor’s race next year given his abysmal poll numbers.

The two attempted an uncomfortable hug of some sort, though later at a rope line in Troy, the president’s smile vanished when he once again was forced to greet Paterson.

At the event in Troy, the first-ever African-American president praised the heart of the first-ever African-American governor of New York.

But he beamed at Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and effusively praised the work of the man whom many Democrats would like to see pursue the governor’s mansion next year instead of Paterson.

Obama has not personally spoken with the governor about the race, “but it’s no secret that Democrats in New York are very concerned about the situation and those concerns have been conveyed in an appropriate way,” a source said.

The conveying of those concerns was first reported Saturday night by the New York Times.

“No one has ordered him out of the race,” the source said. “Nor does anyone have the authority to. He has to look at his situation and make the decision that he thinks is right for himself, the party and the state.”

Hmm, thats weird. I’m sure ABC News correspondent Jake Tapper made this up…

So back to the larger point here. If it were the DNC that was making these type of calls to Patterson and advising him against running for re-election than fine. The DNC is the political party. At what point did the White House become the political advisement wing of the DNC?? This unprecedented invasion into state politics should alarm the public, as it is not the place of the White House to be forcing their agenda on any state. We all know the President and Veep will be stumping for candidate across the country in the upcoming election cycle, its the way things work, but to attempt to strong-arm a candidate OUT of a race (a sitting governor no less) that has not even started is inappropriate to say the least.

The Obama Presidency has never stopped campaigning. They have a radical leftist agenda that MUST be forced through, and he will take whatever steps necessary to make that happen. If that is to intrude into every level of state sovereignty, than so be it. I mean, Alinsky preached the greater good philosophy right?

Too bad that darned Constitution with that pesky 10th Ammendment is still the law of the land. Obama is flirting with blatant disregard for the document that he is supposedly considered a scholar of.

I guess the term “ILLEGAL aliens” doesn’t mean much to certain Senators on Capitol Hill these days. Obama hasn’t passed out free citizenship amnesty to all just yet, so for the time being illegal aliens are still…ahem…illegal. Check out the story from Judicial Watch.

An influential senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee is withholding support for his party’s recently drafted healthcare reform bill because illegal immigrants won’t benefit under the plan. 

The only Hispanic in the U.S. Senate, New Jersey’s Robert Menendez, doesn’t like the way illegal aliens are treated in the bill, recently released by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, and refuses to vote for it until changes are made. This could create a huge problem, according to the congressional newspaper that broke the story, because Menendez has considerable leverage and may represent the committee’s deciding vote. 

Specifically, Menendez objects to the portion of the bill that forbids illegal immigrants from buying health insurance through newly created exchanges that will be set up to cut costs. The senator, once among the highest ranking Democrats in the U.S. House, has joined forces with Hispanic advocacy groups that have denounced the proposed measure’s emphasis on legal and illegal immigrants. 

Sickening how race-based politics gets in the way of that pesky rule of law thing….Shame on you Senator Menendez!

Earlier this summer, the people of Honduras decided to fight for their own democracy. They had lived under the repressive rule of a dictator, and they desperately wanted to keep what they had.

Manuel Zelaya was clearly in violation of the countries constitution by attempting to institute changes in the law that would allow him more than the one-term limit imposed by the law of the land.

In addition, Article 239 specifically states that any president who so much as proposes the permissibility of reelection “shall cease forthwith” in his duties, and Article 4 provides that any “infraction” of the succession rules constitutes treason. The rules are so tight because these are terribly serious issues for Honduras, which lived under decades of military rule.

In response to Zelaya’s backdoor attempt around this article in the Constitution, the military came in and removed Zelaya with cause. Thats the background of the Honduran story. A lawful removal of the President for attempting to subvert the Honduran democracy. The Honduran government took all the steps necessary to do it the right way. They installed an interim President (Roberto Michelletti) and moved on.

The months since have been a shameful look into the mindset of the current administration. Early on, the administration took an extremely uneducated, dangerous approach to the situation, insisting that Zelaya be reinstated because he was democratically elected. Completely ignored was Zelaya’s actions after being democratically elected.  Obama and Hillary Clinton began taking the wrong-headed approach of aligning themselves with the likes of Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, Daniel Ortega and Fidel Castro aka the worst of Latin American tyrants. One would remember that Hugo Chavez was brought to power by democratic election, and remains in power today by the same means that Zelaya was attempting to use.  They joined in chorus with these dictators in denouncing Michelletti, stood quietly as the United Nations and other anti-freedom organizations denounced Honduras, and cut off relations with the government of the tiny Central American nation.

In recent weeks, the Obama administration has continued to press forward its anti-democracy agenda in the Western Hemisphere by suspending non-humanitarian aid to the impoverished nation, cutting off most Honduran visas into this country, and stood on the sidelines as they were forced from the United Nations Human Rights Council, by none other than Cuban strongman Fidel Castro. Honduran President Roberto Michelletti stated that he will not be attending the United Nations gathering this week, since he has been unable to get a visa into the United States.  You will notice that the victor in the tainted Iranian election was able to get his visa, despite the obvious election fraud and brutal repression of the Iranian people. Libyan dictator Muamar Quadaffi, fresh off the heros welcome he gave to the Lockerbie bomber was able to get his visa. The other tyrants of the world have received visas and unfettered entrance into this country, yet we refuse to give President Michelletti a way to get to the United Nations General Assembly.

Shameful.

Wait…not done yet.

After meeting last week with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other U.S. officials, Zelaya warned that time was running out and that if a political solution was not found soon, Honduras would fall into anarchy and chaos.

Once again condemning the June 28 coup in which Zelaya was removed from his home at gunpoint by the military and put on a plane to Costa Rica, Washington cut off all non-humanitarian aid last week and said it would not recognize the results of the Nov. 29 elections under the current circumstances.

The governments of Latin America have also stated that they will not recognize the elections, as has Organization of American States Secretary General José Miguel Insulza and other figures in the international community.

Wouldn’t the  upcoming Honduran election be the end of the story? Manuel Zelaya would not be eligible to run for reelection in this race anyhow, so why would the administration not even recognize an election that could put an end to their stupidly crafted policy against freedom and democracy? By the way, that snippet above was from the Havana Times, Castro’s media mouthpiece. Classic.

Wake up America. We are one crisis away from having our own democratically elected lifetime president in Barack Obama. He cannot be stupid enough to not understand what ACTUALLY happened in Honduras. His policy and mindset indicate his willingness to trash constitutional law in favor of power.

American Spectator reports:

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick lets the cat out of the bag: President Obama has been pressing behind the scenes for the state to change its Senate succession law back to the way it was in 2004 so the Democrats can regain their filibuster-proof Senate majority. Not surprising, especially given the higher profile taken by other national party leaders, but not exactly the image the White House was going for. But perhaps necessary given their health care ambitions.

Fits the standard operating procedure of the federal government and Obama administration inserting itself into every level of state sovereignty issues. The rules for succession are in place, recently changed to fit the needs of the Democrat party in 2004.

You will remember, shortly before Ted Kennedy died he also wrote a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick asking for a rule change for how they would replace him. It appears Obama now knows how desperate he is in this healthcare debate, that losing one stalwart yes-man vote could be devastating, and wants that yes back in place in short order.

Will Governor Patrick cherry-pick some new executive power to change the rule again? If Obama has his way he will. Disgusting.

From Townhall.com

House Republican leader John Boehner says nationwide protests known as “tea parties” are the result of pushback against Democrats’ spending.

Boehner says his Democratic colleagues are “bankrupting” the country.

People are demonstrating and attending town hall meetings because, Boehner says, “we’re in the midst of a political rebellion in America.”

Sorry John, the teaparties are more than just an opportunity for you to play political games against your Democrat opponents.

I like John Boehner, he is truly one of the few conservatives left, but he is dead wrong with that statement. He clearly has missed the entire point.

Boehner (R-OH) is correct on one hand, we are definetely in the midst of a political rebellion in this country, but sorry to say it sir, this has nothing to do with Democrat vs.  Republican and everything to do with out of control government. That would be Democrat AND Republican.  It has everything to do with liberty and freedom from an oppressive government bent on ruling the lives of each American individual.

The discontent (although much quieter) started during the Clinton and Bush years. It has reached a boiling point now, as the American public made the grave mistake of electing a progressive (aka socialist) in 2008. I stood shoulder to shoulder for many hours with a life-long Democrat in DC on 9/12 , who was there voicing his discontent at the government. All of it.

The Constitution is the law that rules our land. Our government has abandoned it as a guide. The GOP and the Democrats are both to blame, plenty to go around John.

Do not use the people to play political games. Your gamesmanship is no longer going unnoticed.

Race baiting Congresswoman (and closet socialist) Maxine Waters has now come under investigation (add her to the long and ever-growing list) for possible misuse of federal bailout funds, steering funds toward a questionable bank which just happens to be connected to her husband (hmm, imagine that).  From Judicial Watch.

Months after the media exposed the shady deal involving prominent California Democrat Maxine Waters, the House Ethics Committee is finally investigating the veteran lawmaker’s controversial intervention on behalf of her husband’s failing Massachusetts bank. As a result, the financial institution (OneUnited) received $12 million in federal bailout funds. 

Waters pressured Treasury officials to bail out the minority-owned bank whose executives have donated heavily to her political campaigns. At the time she and her husband, Sidney Williams, held big financial stakes worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in OneUnited and her husband had just been the bank’s director and still served on its board.  

The conflict was so blatant that even the scandal-plagued chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, her good buddy Barney Frank, urged Waters to “stay out of it,” assuring her that he would see to it that her precious bank got bailout money. Earlier this year Judicial Watch uncovered documents that Congress, especially Frank, for years ignored corruption at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so it’s not surprising that he took no action when Waters ignored his suggestion.  

Ms. Waters, I hope this doesn’t make you think that we are all racist, I mean you really are corrupt. Clean out your own closet first please before you demand investigations into peaceful opposition, and cry wolf with your ever present race card.

A real conservative speaks out against Obama, odd that 30 years ago this man would be arguing against exactly the things that President Obama is trying to stuff down our collective national throats. President Reagan had it right then, and its still right today. Enjoy. (h/t Mike L)

AMEN again and again!!

HOUSE VOTES TO DEFUND ACORN

From BigGovernment.com, the House passed the “Defund ACORN act” today by a vote of 345-75. See the text of the ammendment above. Not surprisingly, all 75 votes to continue funding came from Democrats. This bill would effectively cut off ALL federal funding of the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN). This in response to all of the controversy surrounding the organization in recent days after Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe released their investigation of the group on BigGovernment.com.

Here is the list of 75 Democrat Representatives who opposed the measure. It might be interesting to look into their ties with ACORN, because even the ACORN CEO admits that the actions the world has seen in the last few days are indefensible. For some reason, this group of 75 would like to defend them. Interesting.

NOES    75 —

Baldwin Becerra Brady (PA) Brown, Corrine Butterfield Capuano Carson (IN) Castor (FL) Cleaver Clyburn Crowley Cummings Davis (IL) DeGette Delahunt Doyle Edwards (MD) Ellison Engel Fattah Filner Fudge Green, Al Grijalva Hinchey

Hirono Holt Honda Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Johnson, E. B. Kilpatrick (MI) Kucinich Larsen (WA) Lee (CA) Lewis (GA) Lynch Markey (MA) McCollum McDermott McGovern Meeks (NY) Mollohan Moore (WI) Moran (VA) Nadler (NY) Neal (MA) Olver Pallone Pascrell

Payne Polis (CO) Price (NC) Rahall Rangel Roybal-Allard Rush Sánchez, Linda T. Schakowsky Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Serrano Sherman Sires Slaughter Stark Thompson (MS) Towns Tsongas Velázquez Waters Watson Waxman Wexler Woolsey

It has been a whirlwind news cycle the last few days as video after video has been coming out exposing the corrupt underbelly of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

Andrew Breitbart and his new website BigGovernment.com has been absolutely destroying ACORN, and for his opening act he started releasing the videos and stories from Hannah Giles and James O’keefe as they sought to expose ACORN for who they really are, and contacted Breitbart to get the word out. And what a massive success they have been. They have travelled to Baltimore, Washington DC, New York City, San Bernadino and most recently San Diego playing the same act as a pimp and a prostitute looking for housing. Clearly, the ACORN employees were well versed in manipulating the system, even if it meant aiding and abetting criminal behavior. Things got really good in San Bernadino California, where the Tresa Kaelke (ACORN employee) admitted on camera to killing her husband, effectively illustrating her street cred to the “hooker” Giles and her “pimp” O’Keefe.  Sean Hannity got the scoop tonight on the newest video to come out, which happened in San Diego. Take a look at the interview with Breitbart and Giles, along with the newest damning video evidence.

Its simply amazing. Even though to look at them, it would seem there would be no way they could pull off the act, they apparently have convinced ACORN employees across the country, even so much as to get a solicitation from the San Diego representative.

This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.
-Bertha Lewis, Chief Organizer, ACORN

Sorry Bertha, it doesn’t look like they failed. It looks like ACORN has been exposed.

THE FALLOUT

And boy has there ever been some fallout. Shortly after the release of the Baltimore video, Senator Johans (R-NE) added an ammendment to HR3288 which is the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. Senate ammendment 2355 cut funding to ACORN, and was passed in overwhelming fashion, 83-7. Believe it or not, yes there were 7 who voted to continue funding ACORN. They are as follows:

NAYs —7
Burris (D-IL) Casey (D-PA) Durbin (D-IL)	Gillibrand (D-NY) Leahy (D-VT) Sanders (I-VT)	Whitehouse (D-RI

I know that I am not surprised by this list. Burris and Durbin jump out at me though, as likely being deeply connected with this organization, as they hail from the very center of government corruption in America, the great state of Illinois.

Also, in the days following ACORNs new found (albeit unwanted) fame, the US Census Bureau decided to cut ties with ACORN as well.  Ben Smith at Politico points out…

The latest ACORN expose, in which a conservative producer and his partner got two ACORN employees to give him advice on running his prostitution business and evading taxes with their underage Latin American prostitutes (really) has dealt the organization a final blow as far as the Obama administration is concerned: The Census has chosen to stop working with the group, with Census Director Robert Groves writing ACORN President Maude Hurd that public “concern” about the group has become “a distraction from our mission” and that recent events — an apparent reference to the expose — has “added to worsening negative perceptions of ACORN.”.

Conspicuously absent in this whole process has been the mainstream media. This expose from Giles and O’Keefe has exposed ACORN for who they really are (1 or 2 times coincidence, 5 is a pattern, sorry ACORN), but it has also exposed the inept main stream media for who they really are as well. They have been all but silent, other than MSNBC and CNN blasting these radical conservative 20-somethings who are on a witch hunt, following the right-wing obsession with ACORN. Actually MSM, they are doing your job…real investigative journalism.  Check out the piece MSNBC put out, including an interview with ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis. Tell me after watching this there isn’t some sort of leftist bias and radical agenda from this news organization. Its so thick in this segment, it cannot be missed.

Classic MSNBC…I was actually waiting for Rachel Madcow or Keith Olbermann to rush the stage and start up with one of their inane right-wing demonizing rants. One can dream I suppose.

I will end with this. We should all lift these two patriots up in our prayers, as the media and this organization has threatened them with lawsuits and other smears, and I’m sure its just a matter of time before more serious threats are levied in their directions. With a little creativity, they have accomplished what millions of decent Americans were hoping for, which is effectively bring down the largest “social justice” aka socialist community organizations in the country. Their website uses this social and economic justice double speak in its “ABOUT” section. Too bad the American public is awake now to what that term actually means.

It will be interesting to see more of the fallout in the coming days and weeks. Potential Congressional investigations into lawmakers ties with this group would be appropriate, and let us not forget that the Obama administration and campaigns have been intricately involved with ACORN. It was after all his first job out of college! Already the White House has thrown ACORN under the bus, by attempting to distance itself from the group. But the American public already knows better than that. Its their typical modus operandi to sell out their friends when times get tough.

This has truly been a shock and awe campaign unleashed by the grassroots in America against corruption.