This administration has been anything BUT transparent. So the following is good advice for the upcoming election, and doesn’t even touch on the continuing slow-drip looks into Fast and Furious, the IRS shenanigans, Benghazi, etc, etc, ad nauseum. NO INCUMBENTS, PLEASE!
– According to the New York State Supreme Court, it’s now the consumer’s fault if they fall for deliberately misleading product statements. Caveat Emptor is one thing; legalizing fraud is something else. If this precedent stands it will require every consumer to fact-check every statement made by someone selling something… or lose any recourse when it turns out to have been misleading. This, no doubt, will create a climate favorable for the resumption of expanding commerce and economic prosperity (/sarcasm)
– Apparently, NOBODY’S email at the IRS is archived properly. What do you bet they blame it on insufficient tax revenue next?
– After months of pushing the narrative that voters aligned with the Tea Party are just ignorant and racist, the Corporate Media is shocked–shocked—at the idea they can also be college professors capable of ringing true enough to unseat the #2 Republican in the House of Representatives. Hint: that’s what ideological blinders and a habit of building straw men will do for you…
– None dare call it evil. Yet. Maybe after a few more bloody data points?
– And finally, a reminder as primary season continues for this election cycle: NO INCUMBENTS, PLEASE!
The number two-ranked Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives now needs a new job:
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost in his Republican primary election Tuesday to a little-known economics professor, a stunning upset for the GOP’s No. 2 in the House and a major victory for the tea party. Cantor, viewed as a possible successor to House Speaker John Boehner, was taken down by a political novice with little money named Dave Brat.
If the flood stage is to crest and have any chance to recede, there are 434 other Representatives who need to be ‘taken down by a political novice’ this year. Such ‘novices’ are also needed for more than 35 Senate seats.
It’s up to you, America. “Get ‘em skeered and keep the skeer on ‘em.”
Harry Reid channels his inner Hillary over the Bergdahl-Talian swap:
A reporter asked, “How come it seems that you were the only one who got a heads-up the day before?”
Senate majority leader Reid answered, “Im not sure I’m the only one. I mean, this is making a big deal over nothing. The whole deal, is it Friday or Saturday? What difference does it make? What difference does it make?”
I suppose if he’d gone for more than a sound bite echo of Her Hillariness, Reid might have tried to explain how a law requiring notification of Congress prior to releasing any detainees at Guantanamo is really just a suggestion. But when our nation’s leaders treat Constitutional and statutory law like many citizens treat speed limits, there’s a real problem.
NO INCUMBENTS, PLEASE in 2014!
…because the weight of the State is only for throwing against the little people … preferably on a whim that supports pretensions of tyrannical power.
1) California Democrats block expulsion of a legislator convicted of eight felonies — including not residing in the district he allegedly ‘represents’ (meanwhile, another is facing 24 felony counts)
2) Department of Veterans’ Affairs destroyed medical records to ‘clear’ backlog
3) The Environmental Racket Protection Agency’s top-paid employee boosted his salary and perks by about $1 million… by pretending to also be a CIA operative.
4) The FCC and IRS continue to be ‘weaponized’ for partisan advantage… and Congress still hasn’t received a full accounting of shenanigans from the 2012 election cycle
This kind of thing is becoming frequent enough that people are starting to take note. Which is probably why the next international crisis is being carefully prepared in the Ukraine, with a backup in the South China Sea, so that the serfs can be distracted if they get too focused on cleaning house.
DON’T FORGET WHO THE REAL ENEMY IS… No Incumbents, Please!
The famous question Ronald Reagan asked during the 1980 election season was “are you better off than you were four years ago?” It was a valid question then… and equally valid today. But let’s open the aperture a bit, and see where our political and economic leaders have led us over the past couple generations:
Only when we look at longer periods of time do we see the large impact inflation has on our ability to buy real goods and services. Since our middle class did not fully emerge until the end of World War II, it might be useful to compare the price of items back from 1950 to where things stand today. Has inflation had a big impact on our purchasing power? Let’s look at a few data points from 1950:
The average family income: $3,300
The average car cost: $1,510
The median home price: $7,354
These are three very important metrics when it comes to measuring purchasing power in the United States. The linked article goes on to calculate this meant in 1950 an average home cost 2.2 times one’s annual salary, and a car was 45% of it.
Expensive, yes, but not out of reach for those with the discipline to save for them.
Fast forward to 2014:
The average family income: $51,017
The average car cost: $31,252
The median home price: $188,900
Now a home costs 3.7 one’s annual salary — not quite double what it was sixty years earlier. A car costs 35% more, relative to one’s salary (61% from 45%).
Clearly, wages are not keeping pace with prices. Most of this is due to inflation, which has the effect of enriching those who get first access to “new money” (banks, corporations, etc) at the expense of everyone else. There are other factors, however, such as the impact of massive immigration (legal and illegal), which increases the size of the labor pool, thus depressing wages.
The common factor in all of this: public policy, which has promoted both inflation AND immigration as key tenets. It’s pretty clear that under the trajectory of the D.C. Empire, we are NOT ‘better off than we were’ several decades ago.
So what do we do about this? The only thing we can: demand an end to business as usual. NO INCUMBENTS, PLEASE!
If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result, then America is certifiable:
Mitt Romney leads the Republican field among New Hampshire primary voters for 2016. Yes, you read that right.
Why not make it a third run for president? That’s something that the former Republican nominee is definitely not thinking about right now. To put it in his own recent words: “Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no.”
But that didn’t stop the Virginia-based bipartisan policy firm Purple Strategies from adding his name to a recent survey for Granite State voters, which shows Romney in the lead with 25 percent support. Libertarian firebrand Rand Paul (who has strong infrastructure in New Hampshire) and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are behind with 18 percent and 17 percent support, respectively.
For some reason, this reminds me of Bob “I’ve been in Washington three decades and it’s my turn, goshdarnit” Dole’s 1996 GOP run against Bill Clinton. Stop going to the same well of self-proclaimed talent, America! Find someone not steeped for decades in the same rot you’re expecting them to remedy! There’s 300 million + people in this country… why do all the Presidential candidates tend to have one of about a dozen last names?
It’s like every first Wednesday in November we wake up to “I’ve got you, babe…”
NO INCUMBENTS — or perennial candidates — PLEASE!
If Congress isn’t going to do its Constitutional job, and maintain checks and balances, why are we still spending money to keep it around?
Tonight the President will deliver the annual pablum known as the State of the Union address. Far from being a report on the true state of living in the formerly land of the free and home of the brave, it will be yet another partisan pep rally of applause lines and passive-aggressive political sniping. Pundits from both approved sides of the aisle will parse paragraphs and puff chests, in an attempt to deliver “red meat” to their particular base.
And thus will another Two Minutes’ Hate toward their political team of choice divert Americans’ increasing exasperation from its legitimate target. Few of those watching from home (if they even bother), will stop to consider that the message isn’t really meant for them. It’s meant for the denizens of the Capitol — that isolated bastion of idealism that remains insulated from the effects of its wretched policies. Want proof of the disconnect? The President enjoys an 80% approval rating there! And why not? After all, it’s not as if unemployment is rising, or house prices falling, in that Federal enclave of unreality.
In the popular series “The Hunger Games,” the protagonist is reminded the second time she’s forced to fight for her life to “remember who the enemy is.” Americans need to realize it isn’t the (R) or (D) after a politician’s name that’s the problem. It’s the political class itself, along with the enormous power it’s amassed — powers the Founders NEVER intended for it to have. The incestuous, interlocking relationships between Big Government, Big Business and Big Media have created an aristocracy that is isolated both from the peasantry (that would be those of us in “flyover country”) and accountability.
I heard earlier today that a number of Congresscritters, in the latest PR stunt, would be wearing orange badges to the State of the Union event to signify their support of “bipartisanship.” Americans don’t need no stinking badges. There’s an excellent way this year to show our bipartisanship as a people:
Several Senators have apparently decided it’s time to find something else to do:
Even if Democrats hold control of the Senate for 2015, the chamber will be a different place, with five chairmen set to retire at the end of the 113th Congress. These senators are among the last connections to the “Old Bulls” who steered their committees in the past, having about 150 years of combined service…
Five top Democratic chairmen are now in their final year as senators. In addition to Levin, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia are set to depart when their terms expire. Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., is expected to resign early to become the U.S. ambassador to China.
Yes, an average career of 30 years for these “Old Bulls” is certainly more than long enough. The atmosphere of Mordor the District of Corruption is such that after a couple terms they mostly become full of “bull” anyway. One wonders if internal polling is showing 2014 is likely to be a disastrous election season for the Donkey Club. Regardless, both sides of the aisle need cleanup. Perhaps others, including in the House, will announce their retirement soon. As for the rest*, you know what to do, America:
NO INCUMBENTS, PLEASE!!
* – yes, I’m aware only 1/3 of the Senate stands for re-election each cycle. That just means this particular clean-up job requires a sustained effort. Hercules would be impressed.
A True Progressive 