Last night in Fairfax County Virginia, the far-left wing of the local Democrat Party convened in Bonnie Brae precinct to help their beloved, but failing candidate for the county Board of Supervisors, Janet Oleszek. State Senator Chap Petersen, and School Board candidate Megan McLaughlin did most of the talking for Oleszek, since debating, explaining, and having ideas are not her strong points. In 2007 when she ran for the Senate against Ken Cuccinelli the Washington Post wrote that she was "embarrassingly short of substance." Just last Sunday when they evaluated her current performance against John Cook, they labeled her "lackluster," which must be Post speak for dumb.
The format for the contest last night, the fifth of ten such events, was that each of the three candidates had 30 minutes to introduce themselves, explain their programs and take questions. The incumbent, John Cook went first and answered many questions with exacting detail. He is quite plainly the best supervisor this magisterial district has ever had, and is the best on the current board. The Independent candidate, who often serves as a foil for Oleszek, meaning she only has to talk 1/3 of the time and not half,while he lobs the bombs, commented on Cook's answers and took some questions as well. Oleszek then calls up her friends to do most of the talking for her, and all of the talking was about the school board. Almost none of it had to do with issues that the Board of Supervisors would deal with, and she took no questions.
The most interesting thing about the evening was not that Janet did not talk much--that was actually a blessing for those in the audience. The interesting stuff was what candidates McLaughlin and Petersen had to say, and the fact that they are so closely allied with the candidate furthest to the left probably in the entire state and that their remarks were often at odds with their campaign speeches in other venues with other audiences. McLaughlin portrays herself as a reformer, advocating transparency and an audit of the school budget. Clearly her political party is more important to her than good governance, because no one would say that having Janet Oleszek on the BOS would mean good governance. So, her claim as a reformer is in doubt. And, she also agreed with the implied premise that taxes should be raised and that the school budget should go up automatically. Petersen was then asked to explain the State retirement system for teachers, a subject over which the county board would have no jurisdiction. Petersen was happy to help out since he is the one who recruited Oleszek to run in the first place as they are ideologically sympatico.
The bottom line is that the school board, dominated by Democrats, and indeed the school system has serious issues and a vote for a Democrat like McLaughlin is a vote for the status-quo. With half of the board resigning, everyone in the county understands the status-quo is no longer tolerable.
The same is true of the Board of Supervisors where the current leadership, if we can call it that,is ignoring the under funded public employees pension funds and the projected $100 plus million short-fall beginning a year from now. One of the more astonishing things McLaughlin said last night was that the county has pulled out of the recession. This county has never been in a recession., but it is coming with hundreds and maybe thousands of lay-offs from the federal government. It's just hard to imagine where she has been, but not difficult to understand where she wants to go and that is not a place that would be good for the Fairfax school board or school system. The only logical vote in the Braddock race is for retired Navy Captain Nell Hurley.
As for Petersen,the Virginia version of Huey Long, his left-leaning politics were evident though he constantly poses as a "moderate." No one can push someone as far to the left and yet as totally incompetent as Janet Oleszek, and keep up that pretense. The vote here is for Gerarda Culipher.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Sunday, January 31, 2010
The Definition of Corruption
I heartily agree with Bruce Ackerman and Ian Ayres in "A Hatch Act reply to the high court, (Tuesday, 26 January, 2010 in the Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012502970.html), that all corporations or entities, especially the very large ones, should have to make a choice between receiving money from the federal government and endorsing candidates. Like all Democrats they are outraged by the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the First Amendment and give due deference to Freedom of Speech.
Their solution is to disallow any federal contractor from contributing to political campaigns., and they specifically mention defense contractors, believing that would cut down on money for Republicans. I agree with that, but I would broaden it to any federal payout. If an entity gets a subsidy, whether for a service or a good or not, it should not then be able to turn around and subsidize the person or persons who decided to give them the subsidy in the first place. This is the very definition of political corruption.
Not long after the 1994 political revolution, Newt Gingrich proposed just that, but the proposal did not last through the day. In the lead with the hatchet was AARP; and interested parties included Planned Parenthood, La Raza, ACORN, the NRA et al. There isn't a substantive difference between a company that builds and maintains an airport for the benefit of one politician and 10 of his friends, the company that supplies replacement toilets for the Army, and the group that uses federal money to locate AIDS patients among illegal itinerant workers. Whether the business is for or not for profit, they are all in the business of generating income and they all get their opportunity to do this from the American taxpayer. But, the taxpayer only has the privilege of paying, never of deciding who gets the cash.
So, yes, Mrs. Pelosi, who promised the most transparent and honest government four years ago and who has delivered just the opposite, here's your chance to produce as promised. Follow the advice of these two Yale lawyers, and ban all contributions to members of Congress from entities receiving federal subsidies. Indeed!
Their solution is to disallow any federal contractor from contributing to political campaigns., and they specifically mention defense contractors, believing that would cut down on money for Republicans. I agree with that, but I would broaden it to any federal payout. If an entity gets a subsidy, whether for a service or a good or not, it should not then be able to turn around and subsidize the person or persons who decided to give them the subsidy in the first place. This is the very definition of political corruption.
Not long after the 1994 political revolution, Newt Gingrich proposed just that, but the proposal did not last through the day. In the lead with the hatchet was AARP; and interested parties included Planned Parenthood, La Raza, ACORN, the NRA et al. There isn't a substantive difference between a company that builds and maintains an airport for the benefit of one politician and 10 of his friends, the company that supplies replacement toilets for the Army, and the group that uses federal money to locate AIDS patients among illegal itinerant workers. Whether the business is for or not for profit, they are all in the business of generating income and they all get their opportunity to do this from the American taxpayer. But, the taxpayer only has the privilege of paying, never of deciding who gets the cash.
So, yes, Mrs. Pelosi, who promised the most transparent and honest government four years ago and who has delivered just the opposite, here's your chance to produce as promised. Follow the advice of these two Yale lawyers, and ban all contributions to members of Congress from entities receiving federal subsidies. Indeed!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The First Massachusetts Republican Senator
The first Republican Senator from Massachusetts was Charles Sumner who held the seat from 1851 until his death in 1874. Sumner was first elected as a Democrat, but he was a fervent Abolitionist. He was instrumental in organizing the Republican Party and in the election of Abraham Lincoln.
In 1856 Charles Sumner, not known for rhetorical restraint, delivered a speech in the Senate that was full of invective. Two days later he was attacked by the nephew of the South Carolina Senator that Sumner had singled for particular scorn. It took Sumner nearly three years to recover, but the beating did nothing to dim his passion for abolishing slavery in the United States.
Shortly before his death he wrote a bill that would outlaw discrimination in public accommodations, but he died before it passed. His bill became known as the 1875 Civil Rights Act and though it was struck down by the Supreme Court, the Republican Charles Sumner’s bill would be re-born 89 years later as the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
During a speech in the campaign of 1860 Charles Sumner said, "If ever there was a moment when every faculty should be bent to the service, and all invigorated by an inspiring zeal, it is now, while the battle between Civilization and Barbarism is still undecided. Happily, a political party is at hand whose purpose is to combine and direct all generous energies for the salvation of the country. The work must be done, and there is no other organization by which it can be done. A party with such an origin and such a necessity cannot be for a day, or for this election only.
If bad men conspire for slavery, good men must combine for freedom. And when this triumph is won, securing the immediate object of our organization, the Republican Party will not die, but, purified by long contest with slavery, and filled with higher life, it will be lifted to yet other efforts for the good of man.
Others may dwell on the past as secure; but to my mind, under the laws of a beneficent God, the future also is secure, on the single condition that we press forward in the work with heart and soul, forgetting self, turning from all temptations of the hour, and, intent only on the cause."
This certainly has echoes for the present. While we are not looking at slavery per se, it is evident that were the many provisions on Obama’s agenda being pushed by the far left in this country to be enacted, the individual freedom of Americans would be greatly curtailed. And, more important, the security and prosperity of future generations would be all but erased.
Scott Brown, the new Senator from Massachusetts, has captured the imagination and support of Republicans and Independents from across the country simply because he enunciated the concerns of the majority as well as their desire for common sense and private sector solutions to the nation’s dilemmas. Brown took Obama’s promises during the 2008 campaign and in effect committed the Republican Party to carrying out those promises on behalf of the American people.
Sources: Michael Zak: grand_old_partisan@hotmail.com, Columbia Encyclopedia
In 1856 Charles Sumner, not known for rhetorical restraint, delivered a speech in the Senate that was full of invective. Two days later he was attacked by the nephew of the South Carolina Senator that Sumner had singled for particular scorn. It took Sumner nearly three years to recover, but the beating did nothing to dim his passion for abolishing slavery in the United States.
Shortly before his death he wrote a bill that would outlaw discrimination in public accommodations, but he died before it passed. His bill became known as the 1875 Civil Rights Act and though it was struck down by the Supreme Court, the Republican Charles Sumner’s bill would be re-born 89 years later as the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
During a speech in the campaign of 1860 Charles Sumner said, "If ever there was a moment when every faculty should be bent to the service, and all invigorated by an inspiring zeal, it is now, while the battle between Civilization and Barbarism is still undecided. Happily, a political party is at hand whose purpose is to combine and direct all generous energies for the salvation of the country. The work must be done, and there is no other organization by which it can be done. A party with such an origin and such a necessity cannot be for a day, or for this election only.
If bad men conspire for slavery, good men must combine for freedom. And when this triumph is won, securing the immediate object of our organization, the Republican Party will not die, but, purified by long contest with slavery, and filled with higher life, it will be lifted to yet other efforts for the good of man.
Others may dwell on the past as secure; but to my mind, under the laws of a beneficent God, the future also is secure, on the single condition that we press forward in the work with heart and soul, forgetting self, turning from all temptations of the hour, and, intent only on the cause."
This certainly has echoes for the present. While we are not looking at slavery per se, it is evident that were the many provisions on Obama’s agenda being pushed by the far left in this country to be enacted, the individual freedom of Americans would be greatly curtailed. And, more important, the security and prosperity of future generations would be all but erased.
Scott Brown, the new Senator from Massachusetts, has captured the imagination and support of Republicans and Independents from across the country simply because he enunciated the concerns of the majority as well as their desire for common sense and private sector solutions to the nation’s dilemmas. Brown took Obama’s promises during the 2008 campaign and in effect committed the Republican Party to carrying out those promises on behalf of the American people.
Sources: Michael Zak: grand_old_partisan@hotmail.com, Columbia Encyclopedia
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Letters to Congress
Today the House voted down a planned rate hike for Medicare. Now I'm not particularly fond of that hike, but since the main problem with the health bills they are considering is the cost, how do we believe anything they say when they cannot even pay for those ongoing programs that are already on the verge of bankruptcy. Not to mention that some kind of made up currency is now going to replace the dollar in foreign exchanges. These people are determined to preside over the demise of the United States.
The health care bills being considered are travesties. You had the chance today to start paying for obligations already incurred in medicare and the vote was to rescind the rate hike. How in the world do you think any rational person can sign on to anything more when you can't even pay for the programs in existence. No to Barney Frank's "medicare for everyone"
The health care bills being considered are travesties. You had the chance today to start paying for obligations already incurred in medicare and the vote was to rescind the rate hike. How in the world do you think any rational person can sign on to anything more when you can't even pay for the programs in existence. No to Barney Frank's "medicare for everyone"
Friday, September 18, 2009
Birds of a Feather...
It is no surprise to me that the Obama administration supports the extra-constitutional actions of the Hugo Chavista former president of Honduras, since their ambitions are the same. If any of the health care bills pass by this time next year the White House will control 95% of all mortgages, a hefty slice of the banking industry, 100% of all student loans (they can have high default rates, which taxpayers will be responsible for), the health industry including doc and hospitals, health insurance, and good chunks of the rest of the insurance industry. Zalaya should be so lucky.
http://hondurassoberana.wordpress.com/
http://hondurassoberana.wordpress.com/
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Archie-izing and Other Liberal Strategies
If you have no cogent argument against a proposition, attack your opponent and ignore their argument. That’s a basic tactic of liberals/progressives. They have been using it successfully for decades. The most popular form of this tactic is using the straw man of race against anyone opposing the loony liberal (sorry for the redundancy) ideas supported by the left. The archetype of this is Archie Bunker, a creation of the liberal entertainment elites that conveniently depicts the angry, bitter, stupid, hate-filled racist that, to them, illustrates the troglodyte thinking of white men in America. The idea, which has had great success, is to demonize all the white men and all of their ideas as something to be scorned and disregarded, regardless of what any one of these people think or say or do because their thinking and therefore their thoughts, words and actions spring from the hideous well of race hatred. This idea is rooted in the belief that you can judge the thoughts, words and actions of a white man by the color of his skin.
Enter Joe Wilson, who for some reason that may or may not involve his being emotionally overcome by having to listen to a bald-faced lie by President Obama, shouted “You Lie!” during a speech before a joint session of the Congress. Don’t consider that what was just uttered is certainly a lie. Just look at Joe Wilson and make your judgment that his statement must be disregarded because it is surely motivated by race because – horrors! – he’s a white man! Jimmy Carter, whose signal accomplishment as President was to do such a horrible job that the electorate elected Ronald Reagan in a landslide, provides cover for those who believe that you can judge a white man by the color of his skin by calling the people who have demonstrated against the policies of the Obama Administration racists. Whenever I think about the miserable incompetence and worse of the Carter administration, I always think about their signal accomplishment. It may have been worth it.
Expect to see more of this race straw man and “Archie-izing” from Obama surrogates, because it has worked for forty years or more. Don’t expect to see or hear any such talk from Obama. He’ll stay out of sight on this issue – along with Rev. Wright.
Dennis Sienko, Bend Oregon
Enter Joe Wilson, who for some reason that may or may not involve his being emotionally overcome by having to listen to a bald-faced lie by President Obama, shouted “You Lie!” during a speech before a joint session of the Congress. Don’t consider that what was just uttered is certainly a lie. Just look at Joe Wilson and make your judgment that his statement must be disregarded because it is surely motivated by race because – horrors! – he’s a white man! Jimmy Carter, whose signal accomplishment as President was to do such a horrible job that the electorate elected Ronald Reagan in a landslide, provides cover for those who believe that you can judge a white man by the color of his skin by calling the people who have demonstrated against the policies of the Obama Administration racists. Whenever I think about the miserable incompetence and worse of the Carter administration, I always think about their signal accomplishment. It may have been worth it.
Expect to see more of this race straw man and “Archie-izing” from Obama surrogates, because it has worked for forty years or more. Don’t expect to see or hear any such talk from Obama. He’ll stay out of sight on this issue – along with Rev. Wright.
Dennis Sienko, Bend Oregon
Monday, September 14, 2009
Tea Party II
I was right up there on the Capitol lawn just to the left of the steps behind that tree. For 4 hours people marched up Pennsylvania Ave. We watched as the lawns filled up then the mall filled all the way the way to the Washington Monument. It was a glorious sight. We heard on the radio that there was 1.5 milllion. I did see on Fox&Friends this morning a wonderful picture that actually shows more people than this one from London. People were all so friendly, just like your hometown neighbors. One sight I will never forget as we passed a station on the Metro--a lone man stood on the platform with a sign that read"One Disgusted Democrat'. My two grown daughters were with me. It was a time in history that I shared with them and we will keep working for America and the Constitution. It was a wonderful day that I feel we all did make a difference and we will know for sure in the elections.
Ruth Carroll
Ruth Carroll
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