BluegrassBulletin.com

I May Switch Parties

I am a fourth generation Kentucky Republican.  My wife's family have been republicans since the Civil war.  I've devoted myself to the cause of the Republican party over my entire life.  But I'm about to tell them, enough is enough.

Congress is celebrating the upcoming vote in favor of the likely passage of the Farm Bill.  Once again the GOP is bought and paid for by big business.  Here's just one little straw they added to my back.

Congress‘ mammoth farm bill restores the imposition of an extra fee on home heating oil, hitting consumers in cold-weather states just as utility costs are spiking.

The fee — two-tenths of a cent on every gallon sold — was tacked on to the end of the 959-page bill, which is winding its way through Capitol Hill. The fee would last for nearly 20 years and would siphon the money to develop equipment that is cheaper, more efficient and safer, and to encourage consumers to update their equipment.

It’s just one of dozens of provisions tucked into the farm bill, which cleared the House on a bipartisan 251-166 vote last week and faces a key filibuster test in the Senate on Monday. It is expected to survive and face final passage Tuesday before heading to President Obama’s desk.

Taxpayer groups say the bill could increase spending over the previous version and that it’s crammed with favors for individual lawmakers, such as rules legalizing industrial hemp.

The heating oil fee was backed by Northeast lawmakers who said it would fund important research to benefit consumers. [Washington Times]

Forget the fancy hemp provisions that somehow have blinded the rest of my fellow Kentuckians into falling in line behind the farm bill.  And put aside the slam to those of us who use heating oil.  Do you know what the farm bill really is?

[T]he bill’s main budget attribute is that it ratifies the huge recent increase in food stamp spending. The House bill had proposed trimming a modest $39 billion (5 percent) from food stamps, but Republican leaders caved in and agreed to just a token 1 percent trim in the final bill.

The farm bill is far too costly. George W. Bush vetoed the 2008 farm bill because it “would needlessly expand the size and scope of government.” Unfortunately, Congress overrode his veto and enacted that bill, costing $640 billion over 10 years. Today, the House is considering a farm bill that would cost taxpayers $940 billion over 10 years — 47 percent more than the one that even big-spending President Bush couldn’t stomach.

Food stamp costs have exploded. About four-fifths of the cost of the farm bill is for food stamps.

Farm subsidies are reverse Robin Hood.Farm subsidies even go to millionaire farmland owners such as Mark Rockefeller and Ted Turner.

Subsidies are very concentrated. Although politicians love to discuss the plight of small farmers, the vast majority of farm subsidies go to the largest farms. In recent years, the biggest 10 percent of farm businesses have received three-quarters of farm subsidies, according to the Environmental Working Group.

Farm programs harm free trade.

Farm subsidies are scandal-prone. As in all federal subsidy programs, a substantial share of farm subsidies are wasted on fraudulent and improper payments. Subsidies also go to farmers who haven’t suffered substantial losses. [CATO]

Now back to the heating oil tax.  I don't think that many of my republican elected officials have any sense whatsoever of the plight of millions of their countrymen.  I know many people trying to live on less than $700 per month.  That's TOTAL INCOME!

Out of that they have to pay rent, or a mortgage payment, utilities, taxes, insurance if they can afford it, food, gasoline, car repairs, medical expenses, pharmacy expenses, clothing and all of the other things needed to survive in this world today.  They do it on less than $700 per month. 

Do you Republicans have any sense whatsoever of how hard it is for those people to survive?  They are your grandmothers, your disabled brother, your neighbor.  They are human beings and they are struggling while the big businesses, like big agriculture, are getting billions in support.

Yes, the farm bill does indeed fund food stamps.  And that is a help to some, but the next time you have a minute, go to Walmart, watch a family of illegals push two or three shopping carts piled to spilling over up to the checkout and pay for it with their food stamp card.

And then watch as the hard working guy with a paycheck struggles to pay for a few items in a nearly empty cart out of his earnings.  Why is this wrong?

Because the money for food stamps isn't really helping all the poor.  Not all of them qualify for food stamps.  I know many people who own their homes who don't qualify but are trying to pay for everything else on a pittance.  And now you want to tax their heating oil, in the middle of this cold winter, to fund research?

Bullship!  That research money is going to go to some of the well connected who will spend it to conclude that we need to give the government control over thermostats, or that we need tighter emission controls on furnaces in order to force people to buy new furnaces, a ploy by the furnace makers, or some other cockamamie pop culture idea that will either result in fewer freedoms or be swept into a dust pan with all the other wasted money we spent researching how the government can make life better.

If any one of our Kentucky republicans votes for the farm bill with this level of spending and with this heating oil tax in it, you will disgrace our Commonwealth and our party.

Get over yourselves.  What you do hurts real people.  Forget the rich donors for once and be human again.

Has TEA Party Won The Battle Of Ideas In Washington?

POLITICO has a piece up on top of its website today that starts like this:

If this was a dud year in Washington, get ready for 2014 — the year to “go small.”

Lawmakers had already lost their appetite to “go big” this year, letting reforms of immigration, guns and the Tax Code slip away in the face of gridlock and dysfunction.

And now there’s a new problem. Lawmakers are reluctant to rely on the federal government to get anything done — a guilt-by-association consequence of Obamacare’s botched rollout. Republicans have called it an indictment of more than a website, but of Big Government itself.

While Democrats argue the problem is obstructionism — not ideology — the result will be the same: As Washington laments the end of a do-nothing year, lawmakers are fully prepared to do as little — or even less — in the new year.

“I think anything that has a significant expansion or role for the federal government is going to be problematic,” South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a top Republican message strategist, told POLITICO. “Because I just think there’s going to be such a cynicism and skepticism attached to any promises made with regard to the federal government’s role.”

Ron Paul, the Grand Poobah of the smaller is better ideology has been saying that the Republicans and Democrats are all the same, even saying on some occassions that they are all part of the same party.

Does this mean that his brand of governance which has usurped the TEA party movement has finally caught on?  The answer is no.

The reaction that POLITICO is predicting for 2014 is more a response to the ineffectiveness of the Obama administration and a growing uneasiness with what many used to dismiss, but now fear, are his nefarious plans for America.  In fact most of the anger and angst of the TEA party was born in reaction to Obama, has fed off of Obama's agenda and is still a reactionary movement rather than a pro-active one.

I saw this meme on Facebook sent out by a local TEA party group:

 

You have to ask yourself, what does this really say to people?  Is it some sort of rallying cry to keep the flames of discontent burning hotter than ever?

The phrase "More Constitution" means what exactly?  Lower taxes?  Taxes are undesirable no doubt, but they are certainly constitutional.  Does it mean more civil liberty?  We certainly have suffered in this area lately and numerous cases are working their way through the court system which ultimately decides, as the arbiter of these debates, what is and what is not constitutional.

How does this meme fit into the reality of political life?  What, no republican who wants more civil liberty and lower taxes can be trusted, and neither can any democrat?  Then who?  What other party is out there?  Aren't most of the TEA party candidates running as republicans?  And isn't it a fact that in places where they do, for the most part, they give democrats an added advantage of being able to run on their liberal agenda while republicans eat each other alive in primaries?

So just what does the observation of the POLITICO piece mean.  Has the TEA party won the battle of ideas in Washington?  Is there really some meaning to the concept of "More Constitution" that is controlling how elected officials act?

No, and no.

The fact is that even the proper role of government, as seen even by TEA party types, is considered dangerous territory.  Standing up in favor of building bridges and fixing roads, and repairing a half century or older infrastructure lights a match under the "big spender" accusers who have found a way, much like the protesters of the sixties did, to get attention in front of cameras and try to steer the policy of the nation.

Spend no money, collect no taxes, go to Washington, do nothing, dismantle the federal government, weaken our military, and withdraw into a kind of isolation that fools people into believing that the world will just leave us alone and allow us to prosper so long as we don't intervene in anybody else's business.

Foolhardy, reckless, ignorant thinking like this makes America vulnerable to the evil forces at work in the world.  If the worst happens it will be on the shoulders of those who failed to take charge in difficult times.  The blame will be squarely upon the heads of those who would give Israel over to the Palestinians, chemical weapons to Assad, control of Afghanistan to the drug cartels, who would remove border security and issue terms of engagement to our military that told them to stand up and take the first shot before firing back.

War is, as the saying goes, hell.  And hell is at our doorstep.  The last thing we need is a nation of bong hugging gamers driving the ship of state.

If the TEA party really wishes for an America that used to be, maybe they ought to be asking things like, where are the real men, the John Wayne's of our time, instead of asking that old time policy be implement by a bunch of impotent 'fraidy cats. 

Think about it.  America was strong, and stood up for itself in the days the Ron Paul folks wish they could return us to.  To get there might take a much tougher, rougher approach than the rally attending, flag-shirt wearing, malcontents and protesters can deliver on their own.

If a do nothing Congress is the result of a TEA party victory, then I think Merle might have asked the right question a long time ago: Are the good times really over for good?

 

Whoops! If You Go On The Obamacare Website, You Can't Delete Your Account

I warned you on day one about the lack of privacy on the Obamacare website in Kentucky.  Since then  other commentators have picked up on the fact that the information you supply in order to browse the website can be shared with law enforcement and auditors.  Now it appears you can't delete the data you are required to supply even if you don't go any further than browsing!

The option to delete account information has become a staple of online services, from Facebook to Amazon. But HealthCare.gov isn’t a private-sector business transaction. And on the federal health insurance portal, people for at least the next few weeks will have to create a basic account even to browse health plan options.

For those who’ve busted through glitches on the federal Obamacare insurance website to create an account, there’s no clear, obvious way for consumers to delete the accounts if they choose — at least not in the current incarnation. [POLITICO]

Ted Cruz Exposes Immigration Bill For What It Does

Ted Cruz has exposed the Senate Immigration Bill for what it really does, establishes "de facto" affirmative action for those who entered the country as criminals. 

And while that fact alone should be enough to stop this steam roller in its tracks, there's more.  Illegals will get by with more crimes and lesser penalties THAN LEGAL US CITIZENS!

And as if that is not enough, there's this:

Oh and to sweeten the pot, the Gang of 8 bill of course comes with a heaping helping of pork in the way of a new stimulus package.

The original Gang bill ended with a section designated Title IV, which was headlined REFORMS TO NON-IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAMS. The Hoeven-Corker version of the bill added a Title V, with the headline JOBS FOR YOUTH. The measure would provide $1.5 billion in the next two years to provide jobs for Americans between the ages of 16 and 24. It was originally pushed by Democratic Sen. Bernard Sanders, who wanted to come to the aid of young workers who were “hard hit by the Wall Street-caused recession.” Now, Sanders says immigration reform will further damage youth job prospects.

According to Sanders, each state would receive a minimum of $7.5 million to run a summer jobs program for young people in 2014 and 2015. States with high youth unemployment would receive a lot more. Many of the bill’s provisions are based on President Obama’s American Jobs Act, which Congress never passed. Sanders claims it would be paid for by “imposing a temporary $10 fee on employers who hire guest workers and international workers who receive green cards.” [Washington Examiner]

It may be up to the House to block this mess.

Immigration Bill Passes Senate Hurdle, McConnell And Paul Vote Nay

The US Senate passed an amendment to the Immigration bill last night with pseudo-border security language with a 67 vote majority.  Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul were not part of that majority, instead voting against the measure. 

The notion floating around on the Hill is that the addition of border security language will help get the bill full senate approval.  But the liberals have made it pretty clear that the border security issue is sham.  Juan Williams, a FoxNews contributor went on air and said that the GOP concern over border security "is just ridiculous".  Sure Juan, because all the dems really want is millions of new voters to effectively eliminate the last vestiges of a two party system.

 

Gang Of 8 Says Immigration Is Done Deal

Wonder why the likes of Marco Rubio joined up with the gang of 8 in the Senate to pass the Immigration bill?  Now it looks like big business is behind the proposal because they get cheap labor without having to incur the expense of moving their entire factories to Mexico.  Some say big money will now flow into campaigns.

Great.  One more example of how the US government is really just the enforcement arm of international corporations and big money interests that basically buy and pay for votes in order to get the benefits of government power behind their desires to make gobs of money.

It would make becoming a full time TEA party member a lot easier if the big money interests in DC haven't spoiled the whole bunch by now.

Immigration Bill Spells End To GOP

The warnings are everywhere that passage of the Immigration bill will be the end of any viable challenge to the progressive agenda and will send the GOP the way of the Whigs.  From conservative politicians, to talk show host Glenn Beck to the writers of conservative commentaries there is unanimity over what's at stake.

The bill is not about border security, as the defeat of Rand Paul's amendment so soundly yesterday reveals.  And the bill is not about adding a significant amount of tax revenues to the US coffers as Marco Rubio's foolish barkering tried to persuade us to believe.

No, the Immigration bill is all about adding millions of new votes to the tally sheets for democrats effectively giving them control of the government from which they will use their power to enslave millions more under government giveaway programs thus insuring their domination of the agenda virtually forever.

And just in case you were wondering why the passage of the Immigration bill is divided along partisan lines, you ought to consider what really motivates those in Washington on both sides of the aisle, incumbency.

With the exception of the true millionaires inside the beltway who now only want 'power' most of the people in Congess and the Senate are in the best, highest paying jobs they could ever expect to get.  Besides, after a very short while they all get screwed up in the head due to the weird experience of having people jump to their feet an applaud everytime they walk into a room.

Add to that the ego addicting effects of having staff do virtually everything for you to the sudden development of a sense of importance which comes from the fawning attention you get in the press and with people who all want something back at home and before too long your only goal is to keep your job.

That's why Congressmen will say whatever is popular, will find a core group of supporters and kiss their derrieres.  They all want to stay in power and have been cajoled into seeing the path to that goal according to the threats to their position that they perceive.  Very few give a rat's patooty about what's best for this country, what is right in a moral sense or what is legal if they think they can get the votes to change the law.

Voting for the new amnesty bill, against securing the border first or anything short of putting evey illegal back to their country of origin and requiring them to go through the normal immigration channels in order to come here and stay here is, no pun intended, borderline treasonous, plain and simple.

Wake up and smell the smokestacks.

Kentucky Jobs And Confidence Suffer Consequences Of Immigration Plans

Jobs in Kentucky are a problem.  Considering that we have a Democrat in the White House, democrats controlling the US Senate, democrats controlling the Kentucky House, the Governor's office and all of the administrative offices in Kentucky (with the exception of the Ag department) this poll is an indictment of the failed immigration policies of the left.

Jobs, and worker confidence, both suffer greatly from the consequences of these failures.  What a shame.