BluegrassBulletin.com

Massie Implicated In Plot Against House Leadership

Thomas Massie who continues to push a Ron Paul type unorthodox agenda in Congress has now been implicated in a plot against House leadership.  According to a report in the National Journal, a small band of House members is "scheming to infiltrate the GOP leadership next year".

While intra-House battles are usually not made so public this one is expected to erupt into a breakdown of the conservative coalition which the GOP represents as a bulwark against liberal policies.

The masterminds of this mutiny are trying to stay in the shadows for as long as possible to avoid putting a target on their backs. But one Republican said the "nucleus"of the rebellion can be found inside the House Liberty Caucus, of which he and his comrades are members. This is not surprising, considering that some of the key players in that group—Justin Amash of Michigan, Raul Labrador of Idaho, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky—were among the 12 Republicans who refused to back Boehner's reelection in January 2013.

Boehner isn't the only target. The conservatives find fault with the entire leadership team. [National Journal]

Rand Is Getting Some Very Bad Advice

Rand Paul got a standing ovation at Berkley University in California, one of the most liberal universities in the nation when he railed against government surveillance.  According to one report “That Paul decided to take his libertarian-leaning message to one of the most liberal campuses in the country is no mistake. He is actively making an effort to appear before crowds that have not been supportive of Republicans to demonstrate his ability to appeal to a broader electorate.” [Daily Caller]

Appealing to a ‘broader electorate’ is certainly a good November strategy, but I’m not sure the republican base that Rand needs to convince in the primary season are going to be impressed by some of the moves he has been making lately.

Rand has been widely quoted as saying

"I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues," Paul told vocativ.com. "The Republican Party is not going to give up on having quite a few people who do believe in traditional marriage. But the Republican Party also has to find a place for young people and others who don’t want to be festooned by those issues." [Washington Post]

I get it.  He sees a future where young people don’t want to be “festooned” by prohibitions against abortion for example.  But that sounds dangerously close to what Barack Obama said when he told an audience he wouldn’t want his daughter to be “punished with a baby.”

And Rand says that young people need to be embraced by the Republican party if it wants to win and that means accepting their moral standards on a variety of issues or face losing to the liberals who those same youth find more appealing.  In other words, to win as republicans we need to think and behave like liberals.

I get the whole notion of running a big campaign across a broad spectrum of American cultural differences and how the desire to be liked by everybody can be intoxicating.  And when you find a way to get that kind of adoration it is easy for those around you to convince you that you have found a populist appeal that will transcend the mendacity of politics, set you apart as a true visionary and lift you upon the shoulders of your countrymen into the White House.  And they may be right.  But you would be presiding over an Idiocracy.

Leaders lead.  Conservative leaders only qualify if they have a firm conservative core.  I doubt many of the kids a Berkely will be voting in republican primaries.  And I doubt that the social conservatives are the crippled elephants headed to the grave yard that the mainstream media would like to think we are.

If you think the TEA party folks get riled up when their principles are not met, think for a minute what those of us who place a very high value on life are capable of when compromise on that front is being urged by those who would have us choose them as leaders.

No, as much as I like and respect Rand, somebody is giving him some very bad advice.  Caving on social issues and courting liberals in California are not steps on the path to a republican nomination.  He needs to go into those places more like Reagan went to Germany, not the way Lord Chamberlain did.

Russia Matters

Vladmir Putin may be losing his grip on reality says German Chancellor Merkel.  Hillary Clinton compares Putin to Nazi Germany.  Putin timed his threats over the Ukraine to coincide with a pre-announced launch of an inter-continental ballistic missile.  He sent a warship to Cuba, is patrolling very close to our maritime borders, supports Iran and is making deals with Communist China.  Russia matters.

Condoleezza Rice and Donald Rumsfeld both said the same thing within the past week.  Our president has conducted himself in a way that has given the rest of the world the clear impression that we are weak economically, weak morally, weak militarily and have a weakened political system that is weak on threats to democracy.  In other words, Obama has made America more vulnerable in direct contravention of his first and foremost job, protecting the security of our nation and defending our Constitution.

Now, having diagnosed the very serious condition in which we find ourselves, what do we do to heal these problems and how much time do we have to get back on our feet?  The answer is: we have precious little time and we need radical change.

Impeachment takes too long and it would get hung up in the Senate.  Obama's term in office isn't up until January 2017.  So how do we rid ourselves of this sickness?

We must take back the majority in the Senate, increase our seats in the house and move swiftly to remove him from office or at the very least deny him any power over our future.

If you really think that the world is just awash with enthusiasm over Obama then let's assume you are right.  Why would they be?  Is the rest of the world thrilled that we have enjoyed so much prosperity?  Do they celebrate our successes?  No.

The rest of the world is like a pack of wolves at our doorstep, living off the scraps we throw into the yard but waiting patiently for the one opportunity to exploit our weakness to come inside, take all the food and eat us in the process if possible.

Why does Russia matter?  Because they have just demonstrated for the rest of us how totally inept and dangerous the Obama administration really is.

Courier Journal Misses The Point Of Rand's Objection

The Courier Journal published an opinion piece in which they said this:

Dr. Paul — himself a physician — is trying to block Dr. Murthy’s confirmation as the nation’s top doctor because he has dared to suggest that “guns are a health care issue” and because he formed “Doctors for America,” which supports the Affordable Care Act.

But perhaps Dr. Paul, who is traveling a lot as a potential presidential candidate, has been too busy to follow the very real public health menace of firearms.

Say what? 

If a person owns a gun are they exposed to infection, a virus, dangerous levels of toxins?  How is a firearm a "public health menace?"

The answer is that they are not.  People who are hurt by the "USE" of firearms are hurt by the actions of people "USING" firearms.  Some of the people who are hurt by others through the use of firearms are the victims of criminal acts, the same as those hurt by knives, ball bats, pillows, and other items converted by a human into a tool of violence.

Other people who are hurt by firearms are hurt by negligent or reckless conduct of humans the same as those hurt by vehicles, fire, unattended buckets of water around babies, alcohol and other items misused in a way that causes injury.

No, Rand is correct to oppose this man precisely because he is likely a plant by the gun grabbing Obama administration who will require some sort of reporting in your medical records of all the guns you own, who will likely place "medical" restrictions on who can and can't own a firearm as a "public health" issue and who will serve Obama's ends of finding ways around the Second Amendment the same way he found his way around the "individual mandate" of Obamacare which forces people to buy a product in direct contravention of their individual liberty right to spend their money as they see fit.

The Courier taking this stance reveals that they are either as dumb as a box of hair, or complicit in the Obama plot to register firearms as a step toward confiscation. (see Connecticut) In either case they have clearlly established that their publication isn't worthy of respect.

1200 Fools Gather In Louisville

1200 people gathered in Louisville yesterday to be fooled into believing that a man who sexually violated his 20 year old intern and disgraced the Oval office was worthy of their time.  And what is worse, it appears that they were conned into giving money to Obama's next "reliable vote" by the cad.

Bill Clinton helped Alison Grimes rake together what in the final analysis could be just short of a million dollars, according to one democratic insider.  In addition, Clinton convinced the assembled "marks" that Alison has all the momentum in this race.

As time goes on the entire campaign of both Grimes and Matt Bevin boils down to a hatred of Mitch McConnell.  And for what?

He was hired to do a job, a specific job, and that was to serve as a check on the runaway liberal agenda, see that Kentucky was front and center when it came time for federal budget consideration and to enhance the image of a state which everywhere else in the nation is considered to be home to a bunch of corrupt backwoods politicians, barefoot hillbillies and black faced coal miners living in shacks on stilts in muddy snake infested mountains.

And McConnell has achieved everything we sent him to Washington to do, and more.

He is now the most prominent and powerful republican in our Commonwealth's history.  He has continued to see that Kentucky is a receiving state, that is we get back from Washington more money than we send there in taxes.

He has studied and mastered the rules of political engagement using them to advance the interests of Kentucky and stem the bleeding which would occur at the hands of an unchecked liberal president.

He voted the way Kentucky wanted him to vote until in the most recent days people started saying "No more spending."  In all the years he has been in office voters clearly wanted money for roads, bridges, factories, schools, universities and other government programs that helped the people of Kentucky.  The pop culture trend to despise those who spend federal money is a sea change from the world of just a few years ago.  To hate Mitch now for doing what we asked him to do then is just plain ignorant.

And clearly his class and calm demeanor has helped the image of Kentucky around the world.  The kind of snake handling, back slapping, tobacco spitting hick that most of the people of this country envision when they hear of Kentucky politicians dissolves when the success of Mitch McConnell is mentioned as a real life example in contrast to the fictional images they carry in their heads.

So, for all you who were fooled in Louisville to follow the lead of man who dishonored our country, cheated on his wife in public office, was impeached by Congress, disbarred as an attorney and has been accused of rape like conduct by many women, admit to your debauchery.

And to you republicans out there who still think that Mitch has to go because ......well......he voted for spending, put down the bong and back away.  We sent him there and told him what we wanted.  He delivered what we wanted.  The fact that you now want something else doesn't support your argument that he has to go.

In fact, if you were honest about it, looking for example at his support for the hemp initiative and other measures supported by Rand Paul, it looks like Mitch is more than willing to listen to what you want and to use his superior skills to deliver it to you, something Bevin could never offer.

And to the rest of you conservatives who think that somehow not supporting Mitch shows how truly conservative you are, consider this, once again.

Michelle Obama took the stage at 12:42 p.m. inside a softly lit ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan for a women-themed fund-raiser benefitting the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The ballroom had about 25 tables, with several female senators and three Senate candidates in attendance. Candidates included Michelle Nunn in Georgia, Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky and Natalie Tennant in West Virginia.

Obama spoke about the importance of electing a Congress to support her husband, alluded to the government shutdown, and invoked the narrow margin in the Senate to encourage the crowd to "max out."

"And let's not forget about that common-sense gun legislation, that so many of us feel so strongly about. Sadly as you know, that bill failed. Anyone know by how many votes? It failed by just six votes in the Senate. Six. So make no mistake about it: the midterm elections, they matter. They matter."

Obama said there was something the crowd could do to make a "huge difference."

"And it's simple, you can write a big ol' fat check," she said. [Capitol New York]

Read that over and over to everyone who will listen. 

Michelle Obama has singled out Alison Lundergan Grimes as a reliable vote for Barack Obama's agenda, including gun legislation.

It's just what our former adulterer in chief told people in Louisville.  "Follow me.  Write a check so Alison can help Obama."

Don't be fooled by disgusting Bill Clinton who left semen on a young female employees dress.  And don't be fooled by his "Scarlet Letter Tour". 

What he is up to is helping Obama get more votes in Congress and removing the most effective check on that runaway power Kentucky has ever sent to Washington DC.

I ain't fooled, are you?

Obama Fires Direct Attack On Liberty

This my friends is a direct attack on Liberty.

From Forbes:

"President Obama’s Kansas speech is a remarkable document. In calling for more government controls, more taxation, more collectivism, he has two paragraphs that give the show away. Take a look at them.

there is a certain crowd in Washington who, for the last few decades, have said, let’s respond to this economic challenge with the same old tune. “The market will take care of everything,” they tell us. If we just cut more regulations and cut more taxes–especially for the wealthy–our economy will grow stronger. Sure, they say, there will be winners and losers. But if the winners do really well, then jobs and prosperity will eventually trickle down to everybody else. And, they argue, even if prosperity doesn’t trickle down, well, that’s the price of liberty.

Now, it’s a simple theory. And we have to admit, it’s one that speaks to our rugged individualism and our healthy skepticism of too much government. That’s in America’s DNA. And that theory fits well on a bumper sticker. (Laughter.) But here’s the problem: It doesn’t work. It has never worked. (Applause.) It didn’t work when it was tried in the decade before the Great Depression. It’s not what led to the incredible postwar booms of the ’50s and ’60s. And it didn’t work when we tried it during the last decade. (Applause.) I mean, understand, it’s not as if we haven’t tried this theory.

Even you, dear reader, are probably wondering how on earth anyone could challenge things like Social Security, government schools, and the FDA. But that’s not the point. The point is: these statist, anti-capitalist programs exist and have existed for about a century. The point is: Obama is pretending that the Progressive Era, the New Deal, and the Great Society were repealed, so that he can blame the financial crisis on capitalism. He’s pretending that George Bush was George Washington."

Anniversary Of Stimulus Smells Like A Bust

From the Wall Street Journal:

Five years ago today, President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. The $830 billion spending blowout was sold by the White House as a way to keep unemployment from rising above 8%. But the stimulus would fail on its own terms. 2009 marked the first of four straight years when unemployment averaged more than 8%. And of course the unemployment rate would have been even worse in those years and still today if so many people had not quit the labor force, driving labor-participation rates to 1970s levels.

It might seem like old news since everybody knows the recovery act was a terrible failure, but what needs to be remembered is that the money actually went somewhere, it's just that it went to well connected cronies and into the pockets of the wealthy.

 

But what is perhaps worse than all of that is the reality that no one, and I mean no one seems to have a plan or an idea that will save us from catastrophe.  I have a plan, and a good one, but damned if anybody ever wants to listen to reason.

Right now we are an economy of consumers with most of our products being made overseas.  That means the money you spend on foreign made goods is going out of this country and not coming back.

Our economy is a "circulatory system".  When a manufacturer sells a product he pays his workers, distributes his profits to his shareholders and sets aside a certain amount to be spent on improvements or business expansion.  The workers then take their paychecks and spend them in our economy.  That in turn pools money into the local grocery store, the local car dealership or that money pays the local carpenter to add a deck onto the worker's house.  In turn the grocer has money to spend on new flooring, on advertising, on parking lot expansion.  The car dealer makes money which he in turn spends on a new house.  The carpenter buys lumber from the local lumber yard improving the bottom line of the lumber dealer and on and on and on the money in circulation in our nation passes through any number of hands and improves the life and the prosperity of us all.

But when the money made by a foreign manufacturer comes in, it gets spent in that country, not ours.  The workers may be subjected to near slave labor conditions in that country and thereby unable to improve their own economy, but regardless, the money leaves America and does not come back, except as a loan to us, a debt we are required to pay.

The solution to our economic problems may lie in a very simple policy change, one that doesn't increase taxes at first but will in the end increase revenues thus alleviating our dependence on borrowed money.

Not all foreign manufacturing is being done by foreign owned companies.  Many of the jobs which have gone "off shore" are jobs in foreign plants working under contract to supply goods to American importers.  And in some cases, the companies that used to make goods in America are now making them elsewhere.

If the Federal Government would give a tax credit to any company equal to 100% of the wages paid to workers for every job now being done overseas if that job was brought home to America, think what that would do.

First, the foreign companies are not paying taxes here anyway, so giving them a tax credit is a net zero impact on revenue.

Second, the tax credit could be phased in over a five year period and tied to the requirement that the jobs be maintained for five years in order to get the credit.

For every job brought into the USA a worker would get a paycheck that is now going to somebody in another country.  That paycheck would be taxed as always and thus the government would be receiving revenue from a source that currently does not exist.

In addition the earnings would be put into circulation in our country.  Those earnings would not only improve the prosperity of the workers, but as they spent that money in our own economy, they would lift all boats along the way.  And as things currently exist, as that money circulated and became income to more and more people as it traveled around in our economy, it would generate revenue at many stages along the way.

Over a short period of time a large number of people could return to work.  This would lessen the economic burden on the government at the same time as revenues were increasing from the growing prosperity.  Because manufacturers would be free from heavy corporate taxes this would provide an incentive for companies to find America a friendly environment in which to do business.  In addition, free from heavy taxes due to the tax credits, companies could keep prices competitive with foreign produced goods particularly adding to our nation's awareness of how despite our current racial tensions, we are still supporting slavery around the world.

With more and more jobs being created, with prices more competitive due to the favorable tax environment, with more revenue pouring in at the same time as entitlement costs are going down, an aggressive Congress might see enough light at the end of the tunnel to begin a serious plan to balance the budget.

Over time as the notion of tax cut incentives improving the overall economy caught on the opportunity for more people from other countries to come here and participate in our prosperity could add many more people to our consuming public all living here rather than in some other nation, spending money there.

The plans for fixing our nation's bleak outlook isn't as hard as some might like you to think.  But it is very difficult when you have Barack Obama, Harry Reid and their democrat friends in power who are pulling us in the opposite direction, increasing the cost of government, increasing unemployment and incorrigible when it comes to talking about any form of tax cut or credit.

Is my idea workable?  Might it succeed?  Others can make that decision on their own.  But one thing is clear.

We are not going to get out of this rut until we remove Barack Obama, Harry Reid and the progressive liberal democrats from power and the start of that juggernaut begins this year.

God help us.

Here's How To Gain The Right To Arrest Law Abiding Citizens

From the Hartford Courant:

Everyone knew there would be some gun owners flouting the law that legislators hurriedly passed last April, requiring residents to register all military-style rifles with state police by Dec. 31.

But few thought the figures would be this bad.

By the end of 2013, state police had received 47,916 applications for assault weapons certificates, Lt. Paul Vance said. An additional 2,100 that were incomplete could still come in.

That 50,000 figure could be as little as 15 percent of the rifles classified as assault weapons owned by Connecticut residents, according to estimates by people in the industry, including the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation. No one has anything close to definitive figures, but the most conservative estimates place the number of unregistered assault weapons well above 50,000, and perhaps as high as 350,000.

And that means as of Jan. 1, Connecticut has very likely created tens of thousands of newly minted criminals — perhaps 100,000 people, almost certainly at least 20,000 — who have broken no other laws. By owning unregistered guns defined as assault weapons, all of them are committing Class D felonies.

"I honestly thought from my own standpoint that the vast majority would register," said Sen. Tony Guglielmo, R-Stafford, the ranking GOP senator on the legislature's public safety committee. "If you pass laws that people have no respect for and they don't follow them, then you have a real problem."

Any doubts as to why you need to oppose any gun registration legislation of any sort that comes down the pike?

How will Connecticut deal with all of the unregistered guns owned by the thousands of new felons they just created?

The problem could explode if Connecticut officials decide to compare the list of people who underwent background checks to buy military-style rifles in the past, to the list of those who registered in 2013. Do they still own those guns? The state might want to know.

So how would the government arrest and detain so many gun owners?  That would be a good subject for conspiracy theorists to discuss, but in reality disarming the people by making them felons isn't really all that hard.  Felons cannot own guns, legally.

In 1763 [General Thomas] Gage was appointed commander in chief of all British forces in North America—the most important and influential post in the colonies. Headquartered in New York, he ran a vast military machine of more than 50 garrisons and stations stretching from Newfoundland to Florida and from Bermuda to the Mississippi. He exhibited both patience and tact in handling matters of diplomacy, trade, communication, Indian relations, and western boundaries. His great failure, however, was in his assessment of the burgeoning independence movement.

Thus Gage is chiefly remembered in the U.S. as the protagonist of the British cause while he served as military governor in Massachusetts from 1774 to 1775. In this capacity, he ordered the march of the redcoats on Lexington and Concord (April 1775), which was intended to uncover ammunition caches and to capture the leading Revolutionary agitator, Samuel Adams who escaped.

As the folks over at Truthaboutguns.com reminded us:

First they came for the ARs
and I didn’t speak out because I had other guns.

Then they came for the high capacity magazines,
and I didn’t speak out because I wanted to keep my guns.

Then they came for all semi-automatics,
and I didn’t speak out because I had a revolver.

Then they came for my revolver,
and I couldn’t speak out because I’d lost my ability to speak.

What Happens In California Comes Here In .....

No doubt you've heard it said that what happens on the west coast happens here in the heartland 10 years later.  Well let us hope and pray that what is happening in Los Angeles county never happens anywhere else.

Residents are complaining that the police, dressed in military armor, have a pattern of behavior "oppressive" to the people they are supposed to be serving.  And as in this case, many times the police raids are based upon "anonymous" tips.

You will recall how law enforcement behaved after the Boston Marathon bombings.  Now, in this video, you will see how an innocent 80 year old man was gunned down in his bedroom.

I've asked these questions of you before, but now you need to be asking yourself again, when will we take back our country?  What will you do?

Here's the 7 minute video that should wake you up.  It is very hard to do damage control once the flood breaks out of its banks.

 

The Problem Isn't Republicans, It's The Hated View Of Republicans

EDITORIAL RANT

I was once asked by a news paper editor if I was a Republican, or a TEA partier.  I told him that I prefer to avoid labels because they are over-broad.  I am who I am, think what I want and try to have good reason for what I think always willing to be persuaded, if possible, where I am wrong.

As Emerson once said "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."  I would emphasize the word "foolish" in that quote as I do not believe that there is anything inherently wrong in being consistently wise.

I know many people who are registered to vote under different banners who think very much alike on many issues.  The Republicans certainly have no special claim to the "right to life" issue, the "right to bear arms" issue, the right to be free from intrusive government regulations issue or many other issues that are of real concern to people regardless of their party registration.

But listen to the haters and you would think that all Republicans are evil.  Such thinking is over broad, over inclusive and born of a little mind.

Dea Riley, former candidate for Lieutenant Governor with the late Gatewood Galbraith recently posted this to her Facebook page:

Come on Dea.  Do you really think that all persons in the Republican Party openly embrace exclusion, elitism and social categorization?  That we are all radical fascists seeking to impose a specific ideology/theology on everyone, embracing intrusion into individual rights?  That certainly doesn't define me, and neither does it define or describe many of the republicans I know. That is an insult.

But you are in good company.  MSNBC which has turned out to be the great hater of all things republican made up out of thin air a claim that "conservatives" hate bi-racial families. 

My God!  First of all there was no "conservative" backlash last year which the facts prove and which caused MSNBC to amend it's tweet to remove the word "conservative".  But that doesn't cure the problem.

The far left, the liberals in the democratic party and yes, even some of the TEA party liberals who are hiding out under the banner of "constitutional conservatives" hate republicans so much that they refuse to see that we are all individuals, with individual thoughts, feelings and beliefs.

As a republican I still believe in individual freedom, and that is because like our founders I believe that my life is a gift from God and that I am endowed by Him with inalienable rights.

As a republican I still believe that when a government fears the people there is hope for liberty, but when the people fear the government we have tyranny.

As a republican lawyer I defend the constitution every day, which on some days means that I defend the rights of people to do things, and say things with which I might personally disagree, but they have the right to do and say them.

And as a republican I have no compelling desire to see that we control people through a particular theology.  I am a Christian and my faith teaches me that I am to love my neighbor, introduce them to God when the chance arises, but recognize that they operate with free will and their choices are their own.  Do I want everybody to be a Baptist, or a Catholic, or a Methodist, or a Quaker or a Mormon or a Pentecostal?  Of course not.  As a Christian I would like everyone to know and accept Christ and I think the best way to do that is to live what I believe to the best of my ability and introduce them to each other.

But as an American, who believes that people should be free from government dictates as to whether and how they worship, I do oppose the goal of radical Islam to force the world to capitulate to their twisted worship of a pedophile prophet or be killed or enslaved.

And likewise I oppose any effort, by any person or group of persons to enslave people under any ideology, including the disgusting political game that addicts people to government hand outs, destroying their sense of self worth, de-incentivizing them to reach their full potential and thus enslaving them to the masters who they eventually think are the only ones who can provide for them.

The problem in this nation isn't republicans, it's the irrational, unsupportable, off the chart hatred OF republicans.  And THAT my friends is not an accident. 

Hating republicans is not the natural consequence of an honest study of history.  It is not the result of deductive reasoning.  Hating republicans is the cold and calculated strategy of those who wish to fundamentally transform America into the kind of nation our founders and thousands upon thousands of our best and brightest ever since have fought to prevent.

It is unfair to say that all democrats are far left liberals.  It is unfair to say that all republicans are cracker-assed racists.

We are all Americans.  We all have the right to want and pursue different paths to happiness.  But hatred of others is destructive.

You may assign to me a desire to run things by my theology, but only on this one point.  In my view, hatred has no place in America.  I would prefer that we love each other, and all people, as we love ourselves. 

If that was our guiding principle, I believe everything else would fall into place.