Parliament of Whores (Part 2)

So Harry Reid bribes Sen. Ben Nelson (D, Nebraska) with money from the U.S. Treasury to support Obamacare. But that's just the beginning - let's check the whore score:

• Ben Nelson (D-NE) - prostituted himself for $100 million to fund, in perpetuity, the Medicaid expansion in Nebraska.
• Patrick "Leaky" Leahy (D-VT) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) - whored themselves for $250 million over a six year period for Vermont's Medicaid program. Bernie also got $10 billion for national community health centers. 
• Paul Kird (D-MA) and John Kerry (D-MA) - also whored themselves for Medicaid subsidies.
• Chris Dodd (D-CT) - $100 million payoff. Whore.
• Mary Landrieu (D-LA) - $300 million for Louisiana's Medicaid program.  Whore.
• Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA) - $300 million for California for increased Medicare programs. Whore.

So now we're going to borrow money from China so we can payoff these whores.

If we had a balanced budget amendment, this kind of public bribery would be harder to pull off.

No, YOU Go To Hell

Although I usually don't blog about foreign policy*, this is a great example of  what we're dealing with in the war on terror:

This is a great example of non-assimilation and the fruit salad. This is in the U.K. -- doesn't look like they're on their way to being British, does it?  It's a fanatical nest in the U.K.

* See The Dignified Rant for a great blog on national security

The Liar Media

Forget the "mainstream media" - by which people usually mean CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN. They are no longer "mainstream" -- they're leftist cheerleaders and propaganda machines. Since they can't support their positions with facts, they'll go ahead and lie whenever they need to (which is often). They lie by commission and omission.

So they're the Liar Media. I don't watch them and I don't trust them.

Losing Traditional America

Pat Buchanon wrote an essay today on how "traditional americans" (which he later defines as working class americans) are losing their country; I quote:

In their lifetimes, they have seen their Christian faith purged from schools their taxes paid for, and mocked in movies and on TV. They have seen their factories shuttered in the thousands and their jobs outsourced in the millions to Mexico and China. They have seen trillions of tax dollars go for Great Society programs, but have seen no Great Society, only rising crime, illegitimacy, drug use and dropout rates.

They watch on cable TV as illegal aliens walk into their country, are rewarded with free educations and health care and take jobs at lower pay than American families can live on – then carry Mexican flags in American cities and demand U.S. citizenship.

They see Wall Street banks bailed out as they sweat their next paycheck, then read that bank profits are soaring, and the big bonuses for the brilliant bankers are back. Neither they nor their kids ever benefited from affirmative action, unlike Barack and Michelle Obama.

They see a government in Washington that cannot balance its books, win our wars or protect our borders. The government shovels out trillions to Fortune 500 corporations and banks to rescue the country from a crisis created by the government and Fortune 500 corporations and banks.

America was once their country. They sense they are losing it. And they are right.

 Now the usual liberal counter-argument is specious and disrespectful -- basically slandering one as a racist, and saying that slavery, Jim Crow laws, antisemitism, lynchings, etc.  But this misses the point, as no one wants those things back.

What "traditional Americans" want is our country united under traditional american values:

• the protestant work ethic, in which work is a duty that benefits the individual and society (get off your dead ass and onto your dying feet)
• independence and self-reliance (i.e., cowboy instead of group)
• Liberty - don't tell me what to do, and I won't tell you want to do
• Freedom - I don't want the government telling me what I can and can't do (as much as possible)
• property rights - I have the right to own and enjoy property; this property may also carry responsibilities so that I don't infringe on your rights

America needs to be a melting pot, not a fruit salad.

Anita Dunn's Lame Comeback

Well, if you haven't seen it yet, Anita Dunn (interim white house communications director) was outed as a Maoist last week by Glenn Beck.

She should resign. Although I expect Obama will throw her under the bus like he did Van Jones.

Here lame excuse?  She was being "ironic".  Really?  Didn't look like it (or sound like it) to me. Or she was quoting Lee Atwater*.  Sure...  Get out, commie.

What . . . I'm not being fair because I'm not mentioning her Mother Theresa comments?  Well, putting the two of them together is just . . . bizarre.

* You'd think quoting Lee Atwater would get her thrown out of the Democrat party.
   Or . . . it's not about what Lee Atwater said (if he said it) -- it's about what she said; keep focus people.

Amendments We Need

The U.S. Constitution needs several new amendments. These are to address the corruption and dysfunction on Congress.  I will describe what's needed, but don't expect it to be in legalize or in Constitutional language - just try to focus on the concept, OK?  The Constitution has been amended as recently as 1992.

Amendment 28: No Gerrymandering
Districts for Representatives shall have the shapes of simple polygons to the extent possible, unless they border a the natural obstacles of a an ocean, river, or mountain range; or a state boundary. Each district may have only two sides defined by such obstacles. District boundaries shall be drawn to be as simple as practical and without foreknowledge of the voting registration of the residents.

Rational: One of the roots of corruption - drawing "safe districts" for incumbents, or for certain parties, or based on race. The prohibition of gerrymandering will make districts more competitive and responsive to the people.

Amendment 29: Term Limits For Congress
Senators shall be limited to 3 terms.  Representatives shall be limited to 6 terms.

Rational: The time in office correlates to the level of corruption. If the people can't vote out the corrupt congressmen, this will at least get them out eventually. The limits are long enough that there will always been experienced congressmen present to help the newbies. If the politician wants to stay in office, he can run for the other branch of Congress.

Amendment 30: No Discrimination
Neither Congress, or the several States, shall discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.
Nothing in this amendment shall be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex that are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.

Rational: Another source of corruption - political patronage to favored groups or individuals. Also, a constant source of political conflict.

Amendment 31: Balanced Budget
Several different balanced budget amendments have been proposed over the years; anything is better than nothing. The key concepts are 1) no deficit spending year-to-year, 2) can run deficits when a declaration of war is in effect (but only to fund the war), 3) Congress can't shaft the states by requiring them to spend money (unfunded mandates).  
Every state constitution has a balanced budget amendment - and guess what, the budgets are balanced every year. It can be done.


Rational: Agency problem -- politicians are more interested re-election than they are the welfare of the country -- they'll raid the public treasury to buy votes as often as they can.  None risk voter ire by cutting programs or raising taxes.

Amendment 32: Line Item Veto for the President
The President can veto any appropriation line item.  Congress can override in the usual manner.

Rational: A spending control.

Amendment 33: Abortion neutral
Congress shall make no law pertaining to human abortion in any State of the United States. The legislatures of the several states can regulate human abortion by state law.

Rational: Seven Philosopher Kings made up the right to abortion. It's not in the Constitution - either for or against. The result has been 36 years of political conflict.  This amendment would put abortion back in the political arena -- where the people's will can be demonstrated by voting for state legislators. A democratic solution. It's time to end the war.

We can't expect Congress to vote these amendments out to the states -- instead, we'll need 34 states (two-thirds) to call for a Constitutional Convention.

Parliament of Whores (Part 1)

Congress is corrupt to the core.  Case in point: Charles Rangel:

The House voted 246-153 along mostly partisan lines to refer a GOP resolution to remove Rangel to the House ethics committee. The Democratic maneuver rendered the Republican effort meaningless, since Democratic leaders have said they have no intention of removing Rangel while the ethics committee is conducting a long-term investigation of his conduct.

Rangel has failed to pay taxes, not disclosing assets and income, while enjoying several rent-controlled apartments in New York.  He should be thrown out. If the leaders had any integrity at all, they would toss him.  But they're corrupt too -- they wouldn't even toss the congressman who was caught with bribe money in his freezer.

The "Ethics committee" is a joke--it's a fig leaf used by both parties to 1) delay (so the public will forget about it), and 2) cover-up, by issuing weak ethics reports and recommendations on the unethical conduct.

Congress is corrupt--to the core. They need to go.