Liberal State Idiocracy: California Won’t Cut the Pork & Massachusetts Houses Homeless in Motels
California just can’t seem to beat the habit of government spending. The latest proposal coming out of the state legislature originally had $11B in cuts to state services, but that proposal was shot down. So while California burns, literally and figuratively, the state legislature sits there battling back and forth on “to cut, or not to cut.” My advice to California: cut the fat and start doing what’s best for your constituents and your state not your lobbyists, special interests, and your own pockets. I know it’s difficult for politicians, since so many have forgotten who they really work for, but it’s about time to start voting all these people out of office and voicing our concerns. California will be bankrupt before the legislature comes to a decision on the $24B budget, how sad is that?
“All of the cuts that were rejected by the majority party that the governor proposed are things that unfortunately have to be done,” he said. “We can’t afford some of those things when we’re talking about revenues that are back to where we were in 1999 or 2000.
Moody’s Investors Service has warned that California could face a “multi-notch” downgrade in its credit rating, citing the state’s expected massive shortfall for fiscal 2010 of more than 20 percent of its general fund budget and limited options for plugging it.
Schwarzenegger and lawmakers face the task of closing a $24.3 billion budget deficit for the state’s fiscal year beginning on July 1.
Besides the idiocy coming out of California, Massachusetts has also created a plan to house the homeless in motels. They aren’t housing them in motels because they are overwhelmed or out of room at shelters. No, they are paying for them to stay in motels due to complaints that the shelters didn’t have enough amenities to satisfy their needs, like kitchens, living rooms, etc. Are you kidding ME? These people are jobless, don’t pay taxes, and just become leeches on society. Not everyone, but the majority. What would be the incentive to me to make a better life and find a job if the government enabled me to live the way I have always lived and be lazy and complacent? This is the exact same problem with bailouts, welfare, unemployment benefits, and entitlements in general. This has become insane. This is not the innovative, hardworking American society that I studied and read about in school. This is not what my parents taught me or what those in our military have fought for. I’m appalled by the idiocracy that we are now calling our government and our country.
Housing Massachusetts’ homeless is costing tax payers around $2 million per month. It costs an average of $85 per night to have families, including nearly 1000 children, stay in motels.
The Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness admits that the use of motels for the homeless is not ideal, but is the best that can be done at this time.
Homeless advocates are worried that families are not getting the support of shelters with living rooms, kitchens, and play areas.
More Obama Cover-Ups, At This Point What’s New?
Obama has become quite good at covering up incidents, but I guess you have to be good if you want to be engaged in the Chicago Political MachineMafia… That’s why the latest cover-up by the EPA for recent emails regarding some interesting findings regarding GloBull Warming, and the latest Obama administration cover-up of the canning of the bio-ethics panel for embryonic stem cell research, come as no surprise.
The EPA must be aware that something fishy is going on with the global warming alarmism. Why else would they cover up recent emails, found by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, that voiced the opposite concerns of what Democrats, the UN, and the EPA would have you believe?
CEI is submitting a set of four EPA emails, dated March 12-17, 2009, which indicate that a significant internal critique of EPA’s position on Endangerment was essentially put under wraps and concealed. The study was barred from being circulated within EPA, it was never disclosed to the public, and it was not placed in the docket of this proceeding. The emails further show that the study was treated in this manner not because of any problem with its quality, but for political reasons.
CEI hereby requests that EPA make this study public, place it into the docket, and either extend or reopen the comment period to allow public response to this new study. We also request that EPA publicly declare that it will engage in no reprisals against the author of the study, who has worked at EPA for over 35 years.
The emails, attached hereto, consist of the following:
1) a March 12 email from Al McGartland, Office Director of EPA’s National Center for Environmental Economics (NCEE), to Alan Carlin, Senior Operations Research Analyst at NCEE, forbidding him from speaking to anyone outside NCEE on endangerment issues;
2) a March 16 email from Mr. Carlin to another NCEE economist, with a cc to Mr. McGartland and two other NCEE staffers, requesting that his study be forwarded to EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, which directs EPA’s climate change program. The email notes the quantity of peer-reviewed references in the study, and defends its inclusion of new research as well. It states Mr. Carlin’s view that “the critical attribute of good science is its correspondence to observable data rather than where it appears in
the technical literature.” It goes on to point out that the new studies “explain much of the observational data that have been collected which cannot be explained by the IPCC models.” (Emphases added); [Read More Here.]
This data will never reach the media, and even if it did, most far left media outlets will not disclose the information anyway. Nobody wants to destroy the scheme that has been built up over the last few years. The jig is up Democrats, but they have too much money to make from cap and tax and passing Green legislation. They would rather pad their pockets than release this information to the American public.
The latest firing and cover-up happens to involve the bio-ethics panel for embryonic stem cell research. Bush implemented this panel for opposing views and ethics regarding that specific type of research. The panel expired in September and only had one other meeting before that time, however, Obama fired he panel before allowing them to expire appropriately when their time was up. This sounds very familiar to the IGs who happened to disagree with Obama or were investigating his cronies. He fired those IGs and now this panel before their contracts expired. I’m not sure why Obama feels it so difficult to allow the law to reign supreme and just not renew the contracts when time is up. There is something extremely suspicious about all of this.
The White House has dismissed the members of the President’s US Council on Bioethics just a few months before their mandate expires, indicating their services are no longer required by the President and that he is looking for a more “practical” advisory board.
So, if you don’t agree with Obama and his agenda count yourself on the enemy list – you are bound to get fired or savaged by his media minions.
Will Nancy Pelosi Make Money Off of Cow Farts Too?
Nancy Pelosi is set to make millions of dollars if cap and tax is passed on Friday. She currently has an estimated $15K-50K worth of shares invested in Clean Energy Fuels Corporation (CLNE). This company is of course heavily vested in alternative energy sources and given the fact that any legislation that passes effecting the energy sector will undoubtedly up the price of any public company currently trading in that sector on the stock market.
T. Boone Pickens is also a big investor of CLNE and he has been lobbying for clean energy for a number of years. He is set to make millions, if not billions from cap and tax. T. Boone was not very happy when he found out about Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin’s deal with Exxon Mobile, Trans-Canada and AGIA. Natural gas and oil supplies, if we were able to manufacture them in our own backyard would put big “Green” moguls out of business. Natural gas is also a compound that CLNE is vested in and given the fact that supply would be limited and demand high, prices would sky-rocket - now, if Palin’s gas-line comes to fruition, volume and supply of natural gas will increase for everyone and therefore the price will go down…
Shares of CLNE have gone up and down in value in recent years, thanks to the fluctuations in the price of natural gas and changes in the oil industry worldwide. And a Pelosi spokesman told The Washington Examiner last year that her husband takes care of their stock portfolio, so she has no knowledge of how any of her family investments will be affected by any particular piece of legislation before Congress.
Another prominent public figure with an interest in OWM is CLNE’s major domo, T. Boone Pickens, best known of late as a wind-energy investor and the man behind the largest-ever single donation to a state university, $165 million to Oklahoma State University for its athletic programs three years ago. CLNE is a cog in Pickens massive plan to create a giant wind farm in West Texas to generate electricity.
Pelosi will profit because OWM will boost the price of natural gas on the market. This is because natural gas burns with significantly less carbon emissions than other fossil fuels. For companies trying to get under OWM limits for greenhouse gases emissions, burning more natural gas instead of, say coal, will be a no-brainer. That will drive up demand for natural gas, which in turn will create upward price pressures.
So my next question for Pelosi, Gore, Pickens, GE, and all other entities that have banked on “Green” legislation; will money be made off of taxing cow farts?
Yes, folks, there was an idea floating around out there to tax methane and cow farts. All living beings happen to pass gas, so I would assume that they would first come for the cows, and then for us… There are those that are getting into the business of breeding cows that pass less flatulence, believe it or not. Would green cows make green burgers and would green burgers make my flatulence green? Yeah, didn’t think so…
The government is becoming Godzilla, toppling tall buildings and destroying everything it touches. I guess you could consider the government much like the opposite of Midas… everything it touches turns to…
Reagan was right when you said: ”If it moves tax it, if it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving subsidize it.”
We Need An Eye-Opening Movement In DC
I have been feeling disenfranchised for a couple of years, ever since I became politically awakened in my twenties and no, not liberally awakened – I choose to live in reality and celebrate the here and now.
We have so much at stake when it comes to politics. Politics has become the Fannie & Freddie of the nation, if I were to make it analogous. The beltway establishment has turned into the tentacles that has brought down our once prosperous nation and undermined the essence of American exceptionalism. The political world is becoming much like where the Democrats can be considered ‘Fannie’ and the Republicans are ‘Freddie.’ Each one was established years ago based on the idea that the public needed the two institutions parties. These two entities would help people by passing laws and regulations to clean up society, give people a better life, and help further the American dream. They actually did the opposite. They have instituted policies like No Child Left Behind. They over-regulated the economy such that we have “fake” capitalism. The war on drugs has not panned out very well. The war on poverty is the longest war waged in the history of the United States. They have instituted the ongoing battle over welfare, the sub-prime market, hate crime legislation, banning prayer or the pledge of allegiance (due to the use of God) in schools. These are only some of the many offenses brought to you by the corruptocrats in DC, who have never so much as worked outside of their law schools or their sociology classes. The most egregious acts against our country have been stomping over the constitution and spending trillions of dollars to support failed policies and failed legislation,or to just simply pay-off their cronies.
Fannie and Freddie spent millions of dollars and they also have a lovely habit of paying off cronies who, in case you are unaware, are government officials – elected and appointed. And now the tentacles of the Republicrats and the Democrats are reaching far and wide into the pockets of Americans and sucking dry our very futures and livelihoods.
I propose that much as Fannie and Freddie had to be destroyed to be saved, so should Congress. Our party system is so incredibly corrupt and elite, on both sides of the aisle, that I sometimes wonder if there is any hope at all.
You can call, email, fax, and write to your Representatives, but they don’t care. They have lost the concept of service or the notion that they are actually working on behalf of “We The People.” While Rome burns many complacent citizens sit around wondering who they like now that America’s Got Talent is back for the summer, or what the latest electronic gadget or video game is. People in society have become so self-absorbed, they have no clue what’s going on in DC. They are so used to immediate gratification that they couldn’t care less about legislation being passed… it’s not like they are feeling the pain, YET. Those who are in tune can see the train-wreck miles ahead and simply want to take action and warn those who don’t. Unfortunately, we are called fear-mongering because we are concerned about future generations and the future state of our great nation. The frog in the pot analogy is coming true and the more we sit idly by watching it take place the more our country is taken from us.
I propose that we wake DC up – maybe not today, maybe not this month, but soon! And, although we plan on marching on 9/12, there has to be some other way we can draw attention to the disaster that is Capitol Hill? Would a sit-in on their own turf work? Would the movement grow? I know we all have jobs, but what if we decided that all or some of our vacation time was spent camping out in front of the White House or on the Capitol Steps? Could we get enough Democrats to switch party affiliation to Independent so Republicans and Democrats could prove they are disenfranchised?
What can we do to stand up, be heard, and be accounted for? It’s time to take back this country and it’s time to fight.
ACTION! Cap & Tax… America’s Worst Nightmare
Late last Tuesday night the House Democrats made a deal on cap and tax (cap and trade) so the more conservative Democrats felt better about the bill and would ensure their vote for the legislation. The deal involved many of the Democrats from the mid-west and farm country where agriculture was a major concern for these representatives.
The House is prepared to vote on the bill to push it through the Senate by this Friday. Nancy Pelosi believes that given 2 days’ time she will have enough votes for a majority.
This bill is incredibly harmful, hurtful, expensive, and it quite frankly is one of the nastiest pieces of legislation I have seen in a long time. Liberals continuously use the straw-man argument that Republicans try to fear monger others into voting a certain way or believing certain things… I could say the exact same thing for GloBull warming, which is the biggest hoax of this century. In fact, when people finally wake up and figure out that the politicians are all in bed with “Green” companies, holding significant amounts of equity, and wanting legislation like this passed, not because it’s based on a true premise, but because it will line their pockets – then maybe common sense can reign supreme.
This cap and tax bill will have very little effect on the poorest – because they don’t pay taxes to begin with. They are leeches on productive society. The top quintile of the country, or the richest, will be burdened with this particular tax, but not as much as their federal income taxes. No, cap and tax will fall squarely on the middle class. Whether you are lower-middle class, middle, or upper, you will feel this significantly.
If you look at only the bottom quintile, C&T is more progressive than anything else in the federal tax system. But it’s downhill from there: The share of cap and trade paid by the middle quintile is three times the federal tax system’s average, and the share paid by the richest quintile is half that of the average.
I don’t really have a strong normative point to make here. Progressivity is in the eye of the beholder and all that. Nonetheless, I hope this puts some of the debate over the burdens of cap and trade in context.
If you are the least bit curious you can actually calculate the cap and tax burden on your household/family.
I have written several times regarding Cap and Tax – whether it was posting a video clip of Democrat Rep. Dick Durbin stating that all this legislation is one big tax, or Henry Waxman’s incompetency. I have written about our economy and how this will completely destroy sectors, increase the cost of living, increase our gas and energy prices, decrease our standard of living, and repress those who work hard to make a living.
Most of America disagrees with Cap and Trade, and congress was trying to come up with ways in wich they could cover up the bill and pass it off as some other cleverly deceptive rubbish:
The latest IBD/TIPP poll shows that cap and trade is a no go in the public eye. More people are beginning to understand what it actually entails/means. Indiana has also found a way around cap and trade this past week.
However, the Obama administration seems as though it may want to advance this agenda, but just under a different name.
How does the “The Clean Energy Divide” sound to you?
The Obama administration is exploring alternative names for cap and trade legislation.
People don’t really know what cap and trade means, but they don’t like it. So a new name is being concocted to gather support for the legislation.
It doesn’t look like the names “carbon tax” or “regressive tax” are in the mix, though. How does “clean energy divide” grab you?
WSJ: Seeking to bolster public support for climate legislation, the Obama administration is consulting pollsters who advocate avoiding phrases such as “cap-and-trade” and “global warming.” On Monday, the White House Council on Environmental Quality was scheduled to meet with Robert Perkowitz, president of ecoAmerica, a Washington-based nonprofit that uses “psychographic research” to “shift personal and civic choices of environmentally agnostic Americans,” according to its Web site.
“We’re trying to give them phrases that work,” Mr. Perkowitz said in an interview. He said that in a survey of some 2,000 Americans conducted by his group in March and April, less than half of the respondents said they would support a “cap-and-trade” policy, and that only 24% said they knew what the phrase means. “If you call it ‘clean energy dividend’…almost anything other than ‘cap and trade,’ you’ll get people responding a lot more favorably,” he said.
Isn’t that nice? let’s trick the American people so we can still strap the poor and the middle class with tax hikes to obtain our faulty liberal green agenda so Al Gore can receive a bunch of profits as well as GE, Google and Microsoft…
Not only will we have to ration Obamacare we will be back to rationing gas and unemployment will not only reach 10%, as Obama predicts, but higher – you cannot destroy the mining/coal industry and expect your unemployment rate to stay the same. Coal is one of the most abundant natural resources that America has… it is one thing that keeps us competitive abroad – and with this legislation you can kiss that goodbye. Is it really so “tin-foil” hat to think that the Democrats are in bed with foreign countries, selling out America for a little extra cash? (I’m sure we will also figure out who some of the Republican Reps./Senators are after the vote as well).
There still exist some principled Congress-critters and politicians, but they are few and far between. Michele Bachmann has been on the forefront of this debate, Jim DeMint is pretty outspoken when it comes to fiscal irresponsibility and unconstitutional legislation… but, other than that, it’s hard to make a case for most who waffle on their principles – so much so they may as well say “Leggo” my values.
The only way we can at least attempt to curtail the passage of this bill Friday is through melting the phones. Many of our represenatives won’t listen to our pleas or our common sense logic – believe me, my Senator and Represenative are Progressives! (Sarbanes & Cardin), but it’s still imperatiave that we at least try.
Find your Reps. here.
