Congress sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong…again.
Congress is at it again. They are pressuring the NCAA to switch from the BCS to a play-off format.
Now, as a college football fan, I am all for a play-off, in some form. I think the BCS doesn’t really do any better than the old poll system did at deciding a national champion. I do think that the BCS does a really good job of creating a thunderstorm of media coverage every year with all the disagreements and arguments both for an against it. But ultimately, I’m in favor of a ply-off.
What I’m not in favor of is Congress mandating that NCAA switch from one format to another. Not only is this type of action a complete waste of taxpayer time and money, it’s an flagrant abuse of power. In no part of the Constitution is the right to a fair and balanced college football championship format guaranteed. There are certain congressmen who are reaching far beyond the scope of the Congress’ power to win votes in their own states and are attempting to bring big-time college football money to their state funded institutions.
With the shape of the economy (it’s recovering but not we’re not completely out of the woods yet), justices using international law to influence decisions in American cases, and a president who has forcibly taken control of an automaker and illegally changed bankruptcy laws to favor unions in the most blatant of vote buying actions, you’d think our congressmen and women would have better things to do with OUR time than tell the NCAA what to do with college football. But when you consider the actions of our president in regards to GM, then they could simply be playing a very expensive, very dangerous game of follow-the-leader.
If you are as pissed about this or any other issue as I am, I highly encourage you to contact your Senator and Representative and let them know. The only way that we can change this country is to change the leadership. And the only way they will change is if they think Americans have begun to pay attention again and aren’t simply sitting in front of the TV with their eyes glazed over as Simon Cowell yells at the latest American Idol flunky.
Make your voice heard.
P.S. – I know that a while back, I promised a few articles on the FairTax, since it was tax season at the time. Due to illness, craziness at work, a friends wedding and the launching of a new site, I was unable to sit down and write some comprehensive posts on the FairTax. I will at some point actually do it, I just don’t know when. Sorry to all those who were expecting the posts.
Time for limits?
With the enormous amount of spending being done by our current Congress (pork included), I think the questions needs to be asked:
Do we need to impose limits to the number of terms senators and representatives can serve?
We limit the terms our President can serve (which limits his power), yet we do nothing to limit the power and influence of the Congress. Take Ted Kennedy, for example. Here’s a guy that has been in the Senate since 1962. So this man has exerted influence over the country for 47 years. Read that again.
47 years.
47 years of Kennedy’s politics. 47 years of extreme left wing ideas. 47 years of one man’s agenda affecting the outcome of bills and the money being spent by our government (read: you and I).
If there were limits to the number of terms served, you’d get more accomplished. If you knew you only had 6 years to accomplish something while in office, you’d be a lot more focused in your approach. Also, you’d be a little less worried about buying votes (through pork spending and the like) for the next election (since you wouldn’t be eligible) and more worried about making a real change.
Why do we limit the term of one man, but let 535 people serve for as long as they want, especially when they are passing garbage like the most recent spending bill? (For those wondering, “What spending bill?”, it’s the one masquerading as a “stimulus” bill.) It doesn’t make sense.
Limit the number of terms and you’ll see a more focused Congress and a more efficient Congress.
Mmmm… Barbeque
Well, it’s time to trot on down to the “Omnibus Barbeque Pit” for a healthy dose of government pork. Who’s comin with me? It’s all you can eat, all the time! I mean, seriously folks, how else would they dispose of all the extra pork in that place?
Well, now we know. Attached hereto is a list of the top 20 “Porkers” in the senate, taken from a database compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense. I have modified the list slightly (added party and state) and deleted empty columns, but have not altered or skewed the raw data in any way.
You will see that the pork is actualy spread around both the left and right side of the table, and has been generously dished out all the way around. Does this surprise us? No, probably not. Should it concern us? Yer damn right it should. What is all this money paying for? Do we as citizens get to look at any of this before we get to pay for it? Well, I suppose we can wait for the media to tell us what all these earmarks are… nevermind. Most of us won’t live that long. I guess we could go look it up, or even call your congressman to see what’s in it. Of course, all of that is fairly reactionary in nature. How about a proactive path?
Here’s a thought: How about a constitutional ammendment that prohibits any expenditure in a Federal Budget or Spending bill that is not vital to the function of the federal government? WHAT??! Slow down the pork? You betcha. Slow down the whole system? Absolutely. Cut the federal budget in half? Amen.
Would it not be much more pallatable to the citizenry of the United States to have every expenditure of Federally collected money (note I said collected, since it is actually YOUR money) individually approved by our representatives so that we have a much more valid expression of OUR will in congress? Remember that ‘Bridge to Nowhere’? How do you think that would have fared as an idividual bill? Probably never would have seen it’s way out of committee… which is how it SHOULD be. If every one of these bills had to be individually approved, most of this garbage would disappear overnight simply because there isn’t enough time to look at all of it. The very fact that irrelevant line items can be added to whatever legislation happens to be running through the congress at the time is an affront to the very idea of tranparency of governance. Don’t put a million dollar line item for a museum in a veterans affairs bill just so that it will HAVE to be passed. That is deceitful at best (I use the above listed scenario merely as an illustration of what usually happens).
Nowhere in the constitution does it describe the far-reaching role that our national government has taken (again, note I said ‘taken’, not ‘been given’). Of course, most of this garbage would be stuffed into the ‘general welfare’ clause. Not that any of it ‘promotes the general welfare’ as the preamble to the Constitution states. Most of it encourages the disbursement of even more ‘welfare’ to the dependent class, or merely affects the ‘welfare’ of a politician’s chances at re-election. Why do you think that the government assistance program is called “Welfare”? Could it have been an underhanded way of justifying it under the constitution? Wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
Our government is nothing more than a game. It has been that way for a long time, and I doubt very much that it will change, so long as our nation stands. Should we the people, though, not continue to show our outrage at this type of irresponsible behavior? It is your duty to be outraged. My Senators are #66 and #79 on the full list, which is still higher than #99 and #100, where they should be.
Until Federal spending is brought under strict control, nothing will change and this nation will continue on its downward path to irrelevance and weakness. Any pork is too much. The government of this country owes us an explanation and a full accounting of every dime that they take from us. Anything less is a failure to uphold the confidence of the citizenry. Successful and responsible leadership depends on men and women of character and integrity. If that were the case, none of this under the table spending would even be an issue. That is why elections matter. Only the best, brightest and most upstanding should be given the mantle of governance. It is, short of joining the Armed Forces, the best way to defend the Constitution of the United States.
Oh and for all you government types out there… If I want pork in my neighborhood, I’ll head to Williamson Bros.
Presto, You’re Dead.
Much like a corpse in the summer sun, the Barack Obama “Stimulus Bill” is starting to smell more and more rotten as it sits in the light of the day. All last week and the beginning of this one, it was impressed upon us by PresBO that this bill must be passed NOW! If we don’t, the world will collapse. Horsecrap as usual from a democrat mouth. Now we are beginning to find out why…
Turns out that the longer this bill is exposed to the American public, the more socialist garbage we find stuffed inside. Now it is being reported that there is to be a federal system to oversee your doctor and to “guide” him or her how to best treat you. Uh, last I checked, my representative IS a doctor and voted no on this bill.
A quote taken from Bloomberg news article dated Feb 9th by Betsy McCaughey:
…National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”…
I am imagining a system whereby some mid-level, minimally qualified govermnment union worker sits at a desk in an overpriced building under the buzz of the sterile, mind-numbing energy saving light bulbs with a big manual of spreadsheets. It will be his or her job to look at what you have had done recently, how old you are and then look across the spreadsheet to the corresponding “no” column. THAT will be your doctor’s guidance. Knee replacement? Hell no, you’re 65. That would be a waste of money. What? You want treatment for your emphesema? But you’re 80. You’ll be dead in 5 years anyway. We’re gonna save the money for the indigent mothers of 6 that want to have 8 more kids. They’re the ones that REALLY need it anyway, right?
I don’t think that there is anyone with one ounce of sense in their head that actually believes that this will improve the healthcare system of this nation. The driving force is power people. If you own someone’s healthcare, you own the person. Now I’m not going to go as far as to say that people could or would be deprived medical attention based on their politcal views (although it’s a thought provoking scenario for a short story) but imagine the campaign slogans for years to come: Democrats- Protecting your free health care since 2009! … or perhaps… Vote Republican and your personal health care costs will skyrocket!
Are you getting the picture now? They’ve been doing this for years with Medicare and Medicaid! Now look at what has happened to the geriatric voting block… sorry, old folks. We got what we want, now we’re throwing you to the wolves. You don’t need all the healthcare you’re getting because you’re old and you’ll be dead soon anyway. Just deal with it.
You have been betrayed. Next up, the rest of us. Starting with the stupid. Oh, wait. That’s already happened. They thought that they were going to get their mortgages paid and their cars filled with gas because they voted Obama. Well, ‘Change’ is here and ‘Change’ couldn’t care less about you idiots. Go watch American Idol. We’ll contact you when we need your votes again. You’ll have forgotten about this by then anyway…
Ask yourself why this was stuck in the middle of a ‘stimulus bill’ that is 700+ pages long. Why not shout this from the rooftops? Isn’t this a democrat Utopian idea? This is a platform issue for them! Really, if this is so popular, it should be a stand-alone signature item for PresBO.
If this bill passes, health care is going to suffer horrendously and they know it. You had better call your congressmen and senators to ask why they aren’t crucifying this bill openly on every tv channel and the floor of the house and senate. This is a covert government power grab and it is a LIE. Stand up and fight it or suffer the tyranny.
You have your orders.
Now or Never? I’ll take Never, thanks…with a side of ‘stop lying’.
So Barack says that it’s now or never on the bailout? Horsecrap. That’s what they said about the first one. It was “We have to act this week or the economy will collapse!” (Um, it didn’t) Then it was… “We have to act this week or the economy will collapse!” (yeah, two weeks in a row no less). Again, no total collapse, no riots, no nation-wide mass economic system failures. So here we are again: Now, or catastrophe. I beg to differ, it’s “Catastrophe or not”. This ‘stimulus’ bill is a total scam. Tell me how rebuilding libraries is going to do ANYTHING for the economy… The craziest part is that Prez O says that there aren’t any earmarks in the bill. THE WHOLE DANG THING IS AN EARMARK!!!!! Infrastructure? How about a tax cut? I don’t give one sweet rats rear how nice the roads look if I DON’T HAVE A JOB TO DRIVE TO!!!!!! FDR did this before and it FAILED miserably. Let’s try the other option, shall we? By the way, the real reason that this HAS to happen is that the American public (even the ones that don’t pay attention) are starting to hear about what’s actually IN this bill. That’s why public support of the bill has dropped a few points in the last week. Even the liberal mouths are talking about it openly… This bill MUST die in the senate. I don’t want my great grandkids paying off a tab so big that it can’t ever be repaid.
By the way, divide 1 trillion by 31,557,600… that gives you the number of years that it would take to pay off the stimulus at the rate of one dollar per second. Don’t want to do the math? Here’s the answer: 31,688.08 years. Yes, that’s right, 32 THOUSAND years. Now, does this still sound like a good idea? How is it that these idiots that get elected to lead our nation get to make decisions on how much we spend using numbers that are so large that they may as well be theoretical? This goes beyond fiscal policy. This is insanity. I intend to write my senators a very terse letter about this. How about you?
Loony toons… every last one of ‘em.
Filed under: Economy, Education, Foreign Policy, Politics, Taxes, Uncategorized, Waste
A couple of subject are under my microscope today. Each of them is appaling in it’s own right. First, we have Gov. Blagojevich in Illinois. Is there anyone on the planet that actually believes this guy to be innocent? Now in all fairness, I must give this man his due process.
Evidence toward his guilt: Audio recordings of the man saying that he is trying to profit off of the appointment and may actually appoint himself if nobody wants to pay him what he thinks the senate seat is worth.
Evidence of his innocence: He says that he hasn’t done anything wrong and that ‘they’ are out to get him in order to make it easier for the democrats in Illinois to raise taxes.
Verdict: Guilty as the day is long.
Now, what makes this amusing is that he is making the rounds today on all the lefty morning shows protesting his innocence and demanding that this is some sort of unfair ‘witch hunt’. Then he says that he is being denied due process and makes the case that his being “railroaded” legally speaking is dangerous to all the rest of us because if the government can deny him his due process then they can do it to us. As far as answering to the tapes:
“I can’t address what is on those tapes”.
Does anyone hear a tinge of “I don’t recall senator” in there? In order to believe this guy you have to:
a) Disregard audio recordings of the man describing his intent to commit a crime and conspiring with someone else to do so.
b) Believe that he has a witness (any witness) that will be able to put any of that ‘back in context’ so that we can all understand what he really meant by “this think is f*ing golden, you don’t just give it away for nothing”.
c) Intentionally ignore the fact that he immediately shifts focus to this being a personal vendetta against him when he is directly questioned about any of it.
Blago has to be clinically insane. Egomania and an ability to disregard the obvious truth on this scale is a sickness. I think he honestly believes that he has done nothing wrong. Either that, or he is working hard on a basis for a book deal later. When the democrats are throwing their own under the bus, there’s a good chance that they are pruning ‘obviously diseased’ branches off the vine. I say ‘obviously diseased’ because the whole liberal vine is infected with ignorance and arrogance on a lethal scale. Kinda like a tapeworm. Yeah, that’s a good analogy.
On to more lunacy!
Nancy Pelosi is at it again, opening her skeletal maw to spew forth stupidity on a grand scale. Now we are being informed by her highness that government provided contraceptives will stimulate the economy. Uh, well I suppose if we were all prostitutes that might be true. The long and the short of this is that she is trying to cut costs on wards of the state by making less of them. Good plan. While your at it, why don’t we just put all of our seasoned citizens on old rusted out freighters that have no more use in the fleet, run them out in the deep water and sink em! That would mean less Medicaid payments, less Medicare part ‘B’ costs, less stress on the medical industry, less frustration for the younger drivers in florida… the list goes on and on…
This type of idiocy is beyond words. Almost. I actually wonder why Nancy is trying to cut down on her voting base. Poor, stupid, dependedent people vote for democrats. It’s a fact. The more dependent people there are, the better off the democrats are in terms of keeping power in DC. So this seems a little counter intuitive. I suppose that we have to consider the long-term effects of this program. First, just because you hand ‘em out doesn’t mean that they’ll be used. Second, if you give something to the dependent class and get them used to it, then you can use it as a threat in future elections. “If you vote for them, they’ll take away your *insert entitlement here*. Heck, they’ve been doing that for years with the old folks and medicare (Which is probably why the frieghter thing I mentioned is a no-go). None of what they have listed in the stimulus bill will to the first thing to lift the economy. In fact, most of it will damage it further. We’re talking about state and county-level projects that ought not be funded on that level by government, much less by FEDERAL government. Art Programs? Money for schools to teach Native American language classes? How the heck does that help? How about a tax cut, you idiots? Here, check this out:
If congress sends ME the money, then I use it to buy things. If they send me enough money for long enough (or let me keep my own money in the first place) then I am more likely to buy things like cars, televisions, movie tickets, dinner out… you get the picture. All of those things are (guess what) part of the American economy!!!! Giving money to local governments to build their pet projects does little to nothing for anyone but the contractor who gets the job. But then again, he’s being taxed through the floor so that it can be built. What I would LOVE to see is a local county or state government apply for a big chunk of the money (but not disproportionately large) and allocate it for a big fat tax cut to the taxpayers of that municipality. Could you imagine the positive repercussions if, say, the State of Georgia did that? Suddenly, there would be a flash of monetary input for the market and the lending institutions as people pay down debt. Either way, that helps my personal economy. If we all do better, then so will the economy. If the engine requires gas, why don’t they give us all a little gas and let us get the engine started again? Well, that makes a little sense, so I guess that won’t be happening. Perhaps I could get a billion or so in the meantimeto do a study on why my cat is snoring right now. Loudly, in fact. Yeah, a billion should cover it. I mean, some of that has to buy earplugs for me and the dog… and buying earplugs stimulates the economy, right?
28th Amendment – The Right to Cable Television
I read this the other day and I’m just now getting around to posting it.
I tried to come up with something creative and witty to get my point across, but it’s late and this makes me more furious as I think about it. So I’ll be short and brutal in getting to my point.
Here’s the gist of the article for those too lazy to read it: Obama wants to delay to transition from digital cable because the majority of Americans who use analog TVs to receive broadcasting are unprepared for the digital switch.
Folks, this required transition was mandated by Congress in 2005. That’s 4 years to get your ass in gear. If 4 years wasn’t enough time – tough. Turn off the TV and go buy a converter box right now.
And that’s not even the part that pisses me off. The fact that Obama or any politician wants to help people receive TV broadcasting by delaying the switch to digital and passing out government (read: THE AMERICAN PEOPLE) funded vouchers is bullshit.
Take a look at the Bill of Rights. While you’re at it, take a look at all 27 amendments of the Constitution.
Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Show me the one that guarantees you and I the right to cable television. You can’t because it’s not there.
So why are we wasting taxpayer money on converter box vouchers so people can watch TV? Why is the Congress now going to waste our time (and it is OUR TIME since we voted them into office as our voice in government) discussing a potential delay in the digital switch?
The answer is simple. Americans see television broadcasting as a right and not a luxury. The Government knows this and will use that fact to further our reliance upon them. No need for us to make sure that my TV will work after the switch – government will take of me.
Welcome to the death of individualism.
Um, can Elmo count that high?
Filed under: Finance, Foreign Policy, Politics, Uncategorized, Waste
Many of you will remember the days when you actually waited impatiently for the end of Sesame Street to hear the phrase: “Sesame Street was brought to you today by the letter ‘A’ and the number ’12′ (or whatever the generously inclined alphanumeric benefactors were for that day). Well, I want to know if they are going to have an episode that is brought to you by the number 3,000,000,000,000…
Given that congress stands ready to burden the children of today with a ‘bailout’ tax bill that carries the same number, I would suggest that “The Count” get himself a packet of no-doz and a pot of coffee. It’s gonna take a hell of a long time to count that high…
One! One Woefully Wasted dollar! Ah AH AH… Two! Two Terminally Taxed Toddlers! Ah AH AH!
Who on earth REALLY thinks that this is a good idea? I mean seriously… do these idiots go home and tell their kids that if the piggy bank doesn’t have enough that they can raid the “Monopoly” box for the rest?
AUGGGGGGHHHH!!!! I could spit nails. In fact, I might. Just to see if it helps.
I think we can… I think we can…
So I get news today that Barack is going to be emulating Good Ol’ Abe Lincoln for his trip to Washington for the Inaugural. What a pandering load of horseapples. He’s NOT Abraham Lincoln any more than I am Queen Elizabeth. Barack has decided that rather than take the fast, secure and easy to guard plane ride to Washington, he is going to take a circuitous TRAIN route to the inaugural. WHAT? You want to use the technology of yesteryear and travel along hundreds of miles of usually unguarded railroad just to play at a flimsy (completely useless and incorrect) illusion? Lincoln took the train because it was the fastest way to get there at the time… now, it is certainly NOT. Especially when you are going from Chicago to Philly to Delaware to Baltimore to DC. Could this be an omen of things to come? Is this “Change we can believe in”? How many otherwise useful police and secret service officers will be standing out in the freezing cold northern winter (since global warming seems to have taken the year off) to guard all this rail line? What kind of expenditure is this to the taxpayers? Couldn’t those officers be doing other things than guarding an overly long, and completely outdated route to Washington? Way to look out for the middle class there, Barak. Think of the absolute limits of an expenditure for a flight.. private plane, existing secret service detail, MAYBE an armed escort of F-16′s… done. Instead we have countless man hours protecting and monitoring rail lines for weeks and months ahead of the trip, the guards at every bridge and overpass on the day of, the guards, surveillance and planning at each stop along the way… we’re already into hundreds and hundreds of man hours, plus equipment and gas. You know that train is going to be retrofitted with Bullett Proof Glass… which ain’t cheap. This really burns me up. I hope all of his “change” doesn’t reek of the 19th century.
You know what though, maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Medicare will start demanding that doctors “bleed” patients to cure ailments and leeches will be used for all sorts of fun illnesses. Of course this would lead to a severe and rapid decline in the number of people on medicare (which might solve some of the budget overruns). We could start hanging convicted murderers in the square rather than giving them years and years to suck up taxpayer cash in appeals and frivolous lawsuits about broken cookies. Now THAT’s change we can believe in…
Waste of Money
I’m sure you’re already aware that Congress wastes your money. Sometimes it’s wasted on pork spending. Sometimes its wasted saving poorly run auto companies from themselves. But, no matter how bad we think those are, they are no where near as bad as this.
That’s right. Congress will now spend time on legislation designed to scrap the BCS and implement a play-off in college football. Now, I want to make it clear, that as an avid football fan (and a rabid Alabama fan), that I am in favor of some sort of play-off system in college football. But I don’t think that the American public’s time and money should be wasted in an attempt to get a play-off implemented.
Does Congress have nothing better to do right now? We’re in the middle of the worst recession since 1980 and Congress is going to waste our time and money debating the merits of this legislation. And did anyone notice who it was that introduced this garbage legislation? That’s right, Republican Joe Barton from Texas. Anyone care to take a guess as to which team felt they got screwed by the BCS this year? That’s right! The Texas Longhorns. This jackass is TAKING A DUMP ON THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS so that he can maybe score a few more votes from the Longhorn fans.
I might not be this pissed off, if this wasn’t a persistent problem in all levels of government. Last year, the legislature in my home state of Georgia passed legislation supporting the implementation of a play-off in college football. This was after the Georgia Bulldogs felt they were screwed out of the title game. Last year and earlier this, the US Congress spent an insane amount of time and resources investigating steroids in baseball.
Government needs to stay the hell out of sports. The American people have their hard earned stolen from them by Congress and in turn, Congress wastes that money on bullshit like this. Write your Senator and your Representative and tell them NOT to waste your time – and it is your time if you elected them to serve you – on crap like this. Make sure they know that there are worse problems in this country than the Texas Longhorns not playing for the national title. The last thing we need is for Congress to ignore the demise of the country in favor of getting their hands into sports.
Besides, government has already screwed up education; they’d probably screw this up too.