Specter's and Sebelius' Call to Arms

Courtesy of IowaHawk

Guest Opinion
By Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA)
and Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

Over two hundred years ago, America's founding fathers established a constitutional republic based on the audacious notion that the interests of its citizens would be best served by a wise body of their democratically-elected representatives. In the two centuries that have since transpired, that bold experiment has largely been a success. But we should also realize our system only works when the interests of voters and their government are in harmony. Unfortunately, recent evidence suggests that America's hard-working hometown legislators are feeling the pinch from a fickle and increasingly out-of-touch voter class who no longer serves our needs.

Nowhere has this disturbing trend been more evident than in the recent debate over health care reform. Like hundreds of our fellow legislators and government officials, we recently traveled to a town hall meeting to distribute a grassroots press release explaining why this critical legislation is a done deal. Our advance staffs said that should anticipate a respectful, positive hearing from local media and bused-in union members. Instead we were greeted by a rude howling mob of idiot "voters" who refused to listen to reason, and ruined what should have been a killer photo op for our re-election ad campaign.

Have these arrogant ivory tower armchair quarterbacks ever had to live with the pressures of being a working stiff Senator or Cabinet Secretary in Washington DC? Have they ever had to juggle markup language on a supplemental appropriations bill, or deal with an incompetent Chief of Staff who constantly double-books fund raising dinners? Apparently not, if their whiny obnoxious chants are any indication. "Read the Bill! Read the Bill!" blah, blah, blah, as if we weren't already exhausted from writing and voting for the damned thing...

Sadly, that brief shining Camelot in Washington has suddenly been replaced by a new Dark Ages, with hordes of placard- and plague-carrying voter vermin pouring up from the sewers of our home districts, threatening us and our very re-elections. Across Washington, hundreds of everyday legislators and consultants are paralyzed by fear, wondering where these these intrusive bubonic boobs will strike next.

The reasons for this are difficult to understand, but the results are clear: we have come face-to-face with a national crisis of confidence, as America's struggling government increasingly loses faith with its electing class. A recent Rasmussen tracking poll showed American Voters getting a paltry 23% approval rating from members of Congress and the Executive branch, and only 17% from members of the media...

Enough is enough. It's time for us to get out our pitchforks and tell the Outside-the-Beltway gang that we're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more. We are the little guy, the junior senator from some godforsaken Nebraskansaw, just looking to make that subcommittee with the big contributor action. That fresh young regulatory agency head who only wants to test that bank nationalization idea from her Harvard term paper. We are the people who get up every day, work hard, and play inside the rules. Most of the time. And if one of us accidentally plays outside one of those rules, then, by golly, the rest of us will make sure to modify that rule so he's still playing inside the rules. And we're tired of getting pushed around the town hall by the likes of you, Big Voter.

Will our call-to-arms spark a grassroots movement among Government-Americans to take our town halls back? Call us irrepressible optimists, but we have high hopes. Because we still believe in the American ideal that one man, with a staff of 83, and a chair on an $800 billion subcommittee, and an iPhone full of contact numbers, can still make a difference.

In the end, democracy means that voters get the government they deserve. In fairness, shouldn't we get the voters we deserve?

Who Says Politicians Don't Have a Sense of Humor?

Rep. Russ Carnahan held a townhall-like meeting the other day to "explain" Obamacare. Part of his "explanation" included the usual party regurgitation that Obamacare would not only save Americans money, it would give them more options and better coverage, etc. He also claimed that Obamacare would create "efficiencies", and then he had the nerve to flat out lie and claim that the CBO issued a report stating that the proposed health care plan would actually produce a $600 billion surplus over ten years. Pretty sure that the CBO said that Obamacare was unsustainable. But I really shouldn't be such a hatemonger. Anyway, enjoy the video, especially Kevin Jackson's question, "If it's so good, why doesn't Congress have to be on it?"

h/t: MM

Conservative Bob Dylan

Even Bob Dylan says it's time we start changin'. Yeah, the video is kind of creepy, but the song and voice are great.

h/t: 912

Barbara Boxer Plays the Race Card Against....Wait for it...the CEO of the National Black Chamber of Congress

Holy crap, this is priceless. Barbara "Please Call me Senator" Boxer gets positively, utterly, and unquestionably destroyed. What kind of self-absorbed, condescending WHITE person tries to play the race card against a BLACK man??? Especially someone as educated as Mr. Alford obviously is. All I have to say is, "California, you got exactly who you deserved." God love you, but this one's on you.

h/t: Jawa

Bill Whittle Issues Cali Beatdown

I just love this guy. Watch the following beatdown of politicians in California...and America, courtesy of Bill Whittle and PJTV.

Big Brother is Looming

I've spent most of my waking moments since 26 June thinking about that monstrosity of a bill known fondly as Cap-&-Tax that recently passed the House. What is especially frustrating about the passage of the bill (we'll get to the atrocities that are actually in the bill in a moment) is that not a single representative read the entire, completed bill. How could they, with the final 300 page amendment not being submitted until around 3a the morning it was voted on? Apparently those of us that think our representatives and senators should be held 100% accountable for what they vote on (meaning they should actually, oh I don't know, read the bill) are insane. Just ask House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

“If every member pledged to not vote for it if they hadn’t read it in its entirety, I think we would have very few votes,” Hoyer told CNSNews.com at his regular weekly news conference.

Hoyer was responding to a question from CNSNews.com on whether he supported a pledge that asks members of the Congress to read the entire bill before voting on it and also make the full text of the bill available to the public for 72 hours before a vote.

In fact, Hoyer found the idea of the pledge humorous, laughing as he responded to the question. “I’m laughing because a) I don’t know how long this bill is going to be, but it’s going to be a very long bill,” he said.

Anyone with any shred of self-respect should be fuming right now. Our "representatives" mock us "common folk" at every turn. If it's not getting a speed-reader to read part of the porkulus bill, that it's claiming that Americans don't care about pork. There aren't words to explain how incensed I am.

Then there's the whole premise of the bill being based on "scientific" data that is still very questionable. The Obamanation would have you belief that the science is settled, but that is far from true. This bill attempts to regulate every aspect of our private lives (we'll cover that in a moment, too, just in case you think I'm blowing this out of proportion) based on the assumption that global warming and climate change are real and man-made. It strips us of our individual liberties, and the fact that the EPA suppressed a 98 page report by EPA senior research analyst Alan Carlin draws serious questions about climate change.

Carlin's report found "that global temperatures have declined for 11 years; that new research predicts Atlantic hurricanes will be unaffected; that there’s 'little evidence' that Greenland is shedding ice at expected levels; and that solar radiation has the largest single effect on the earth’s temperature." These findings are not what the administration wanted to get out right before the vote on climate change legislation.

The EPA justified suppressing this report by saying that Carlin is not a scientist. In her weekly column Michelle Malkin points out that "neither is Al Gore. Nor is environmental czar Carol Browner. Nor is cap-and-trade shepherd Nancy Pelosi." Carlin does, however, hold a B.S. in physics and has been with the EPA for 35 years.

So with regards to the bill itself, I've read bits and pieces of it (probably more than any single representative has). AIP has a great article on one particular section (304) that should make you tremble with rage. Let me just highlight a couple of other mildly interesting sections of the bill.

- This bill will creates a new energy tax (remember, Obama himself claimed that energy prices would necessarily skyrocket under Cap-&-Tax) at a time when America is facing one of the worst recessions (bordering on depressions) in history.

- This bill will force jobs overseas. The Obamanation claims it create all these wonderful "green jobs," windmill farms, solar panels and so on (ask Spain how that's working out for them). Meanwhile, coal plants will be pushed out of business as will refineries and many small businesses. We will lose many jobs overseas, and if we try to impose some kind of import tariff to prevent that from happening, we will successfully start a trade war at a time when we manufacture absolutely nothing, and consume everything. The Heritage Foundation predicts that this bill will "destroy 1,145,000 jobs on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 2,479,000 jobs."

- There are light bulb restrictions (no more than 60 watts in your candelabra); in fact there's a whole section that deals with lamps.

- If you decide to build a new home, it must meet new and specific energy requirements. If you decide to sell your existing home, a federal inspector must inspect your home, determine it's energy rating, and if your home is found to be unacceptable then you must retrofit and make changes before you will be able to sell, or have your home official labeled and registered as non-compliant and non-energy efficient (this is the infamous section 304 that you absolutely must read).

- There are "scientific based measurements outlining the species and minimum distance required between trees planted...in addition to the minimum required distance to be maintained between such trees and building foundations, air conditioning units, driveways and walkways...". Yes, you read that right. The government is going to tell you what kind of trees you can plant, and where you are going to plant them.

- There's a section dealing with outdoor lighting that determines the kind of landscape lights, lights in your swimming pool, lights on artwork and other architectural lighting that you are allowed to install. The federal government is going to tell you what wattage that light can be and how many you can have.

- The government will regulate water dispensers, hot tubs and other appliances. They'll regulate water usage and wood stoves (in fact, any wood stove that does not meet regulation must be "destroyed and recycled").

- The bill dictates where plugs for your hybrid cars must be, and deals extensively with transportation.

There is precious little time to stop this. The democrats already possess that crucial 60th vote in the senate, are now filibuster-proof. That means that we must get democratic senators to defect to prevent this egregious trampling of our individual liberties to pass. Contact your senators, and make sure they know you strongly and vehemently oppose this bill. Unless you like paying higher taxes and doing exactly what you're told. Then you don't have to do anything.

Shifting Polls

Rasmussem Reports has some interesting polls available today:

The presidential approval index has been steadily falling over the last couple of months, and is now at a -2 (more people strongly disapprove than strongly approve).

69% of Americans think that the stimulus has either hurt or not helped the economy.

74% trust their own judgment more than Congress' when it comes to economic issues. (Gee, you don't think the Crap & Tax bill had anything to do with that, do you?

Only 37% believe the country is headed in the right direction.

76% think that the government is likely to waste stimulus money. And yet we're looking at another stimulus package looming on the horizon.

So, will all this public "discontent" actually translate into something substantive? If history is any indication, the answer will be no. The 2010 congressional elections will see the same corrupt politicians (republican and democrat alike) weasel their way back into office. Will Americans care enough to be informed and vote for a candidate who actually represents them? We'll just have to wait and see. I still have a small amount of faith in the American spirit, but that diminishes with each election cycle.

Energy Czar Hasn't Read Cap-&-Tax? Shocking!

Apparently I've read about as much of the Cap-&-Tax bill that just passed on the House on Friday as Obama's energy Czar.

Here's a transcript, just in case you couldn't hear (emphasis mine).

STEVE DOOCY: “[I] know the bill is over 1,000 pages long. Have you have read it?”
CAROL BROWNER: “Oh, I’m very familiar with this bill.”
DOOCY: “Have you have read it?”
BROWNER: “We have obviously been watching this for a very long time. I am very…”
DOOCY: “I’m sure you’ve got an idea of it, but you have read it?”
BROWNER: “I’ve read major portions of it, absolutely.”
DOOCY: “So the answer no you haven’t read it. But you’ve read a big chunk of it.”
BROWNER: “No, no, no that’s not fair. That’s absolutely not fair.”
DOOCY: “No, I’m just asking you if you read the thousand pages.”
BROWNER: “I’ve read vast portions of it.”
DOOCY: “Ok.”

Not fair? Not fair? You don't think it's fair to be held wholly accountable for everything in that sham of an energy bill? You're the freaking Energy Czar, whatever the hell that means! Of course you're accountable to know what goes into the bill! If 1200+ pages is too much to read, then submit a smaller bill! Or give yourself (and everyone else) more than a couple of hours to read the damn thing!

And for any nerds out there (like me) who actually watched the debate, there was this maddening exchange:

And that debate over whether there was even a physical copy of the bill present, or whether it needed to be, continued for several minutes. It was later revealed that it had just been brought in, and the 300+ page amendment was being added at that very moment, but that it wasn't available for anyone to view yet. Rep. Waxman (D-CA) brought up that a copy was available online, which Rep. Barton (R-TX) astutely pointed out was useless for those on the freaking floor debating the bill!

Even John Boehner (R-OH) took advantage of his position as minority leader to spend over an hour reading from the 300+ page amendment and tearing it apart. When asked why, he said, "Hey, people deserve to know what's in this pile of s--t." Holy crap, I need some duct tape. Please allow me to repost a video that succinctly sums up my feelings (I will probably be coming back to this video many, many times over the next 3 1/2 years. Just a reminder: you may want to cover your children's ears).

Oh, and here are the 8 republican turncoats. There were reportedly others who promised Pelosi that they would support the bill if their votes were needed, but these were the ones that actually sold their souls. Make sure you contact their offices and voice your frustration at their lack of "representation."

Bono Mack (CA) (202) 225-5330
Castle (DE) (202) 225-4165
Kirk (IL) (202) 225-4385
Lance (NJ) (202) 225-5361
LoBiondo (NJ) (202) 225-6572
McHugh (NY) (202) 225-4611
Reichert (WA) (202) 225-7761
Smith (NJ) (202) 225-3765