Thursday, September 23, 2010

41 Days, but who's counting?


More CEOs Seeing Obama As Bad Hire


More news that really isn’t news.


The Presidency: He doesn't look or sound radical. President Obama, in
fact, is so calm, almost regal, he makes government takeovers and redistribution
schemes seem almost reasonable. But the facade is wearing thin.


Fortune 500 leaders who believed Obama's moderate rhetoric, and
even raised cash and voted for him, have soured on him. They now believe he's
bad for business and hostile to the American free enterprise
system.

Even die-hard Obama fan Tom Wilson, head of Allstate, says the
president could have used some executive experience on his all-academic
economics team. Not a single former corporate executive is in Obama's Cabinet or
among his top economic advisers. "I think it was a hiring mistake for the
administration," Wilson told CNN last week.


http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/548002/201009211903/More-CEOs-Seeing-Obama-As-Bad-Hire.htm


Obama is losing the environmentalists vote


So what to do? As enthralled as environmentalists and progressives once were
about Obama’s promise, we cannot ignore that for all his fine rhetoric, his
accomodationism and reserve are allowing the planetary crisis to deteriorate and
leaving America behind in the race for a clean energy economy. It pains
me to say it, but success will require a new presi
dent -- and that
means that after the midterm elections, we need to start
looking for a primary challenger
who has the heart and soul
required to save the planet from catastrophe and rescue American from its
economic morass -- even as we throw ourselves into grassroots action to do what
we can to save the planet despite the president’s interference.


http://www.grist.org/article/environmentalists-need-a-new-president

Obama’s illegal aunt speaks out


Jimmy Carter had his brother Billy, Reagan had his son and daughter “Ron and Patty” and Clinton had Hugh Rodham who embarrassed them. Here’s Obama’s crazy old aunt in the attic.


“It’s a great country,” she said. “It’s nice to live here. You can do
whatever you want when you live here.”

Despite what’s she’s been given, Zeituni Onyango said flatly that she owes this country nothing in return. “But, it’s given you so much?” Elias
asked. “So? It’s a free country under God,” was her terse response.

When asked why the taxpayers should be burdened with her needs,
the feisty Zeituni said, “This country is owned by almighty God. You people who
preach Jesus Christ almighty God and the rest of it, you are here to help
people, help the poor, help other countries and help women. That’s what
the United States is supposed to do? And you have to give me my right
light, every person’s right.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/247345/auntie-zeituni-gift-keeps-giving-mark-krikorian

It never ceases to amaze me how those who are given so much in tolerance, support, etc. seem to be the least grateful.

Senate deals blow to proposed 'Don't ask, don't tell' repeal in 56-43 vote

Sometimes the remarks I make write themselves, but don’t ask and don’t tell what they are.
The Senate on Tuesday dealt a significant blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to repeal the ban on openly gay people serving in the military. This also confirms what I said would happen. Waiting so long for DADT legislation hurts Obama and the Democrats. Those who are invested in this rather than being fired up are likely to not bother to vote.


In a 56-43 vote, Senate Democratic leaders fell short of the 60 votes they
needed to proceed to the 2011 defense authorization bill, which included
language to repeal the Clinton-era “Don’t ask, don’t tell” law. Every Senate
Republican present and three Democrats voted to block debate on the bill.

http://thehill.com/news-by-subject/defense-homeland-security/120029-dadtnosenate-deals-blow-to-dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal


The Next Two Years

Here’s an interesting op-ed on Progressivism and how they have attempted to rule (not govern). It concludes as below.

This is one American who has no interest in finding a middle ground
with such people in whatever arena they operate. If Republicans win big in
November they might consider that such a victory--so shortly removed from the
America left's predictions of multi-generational progressive ascendancy--is
indicative of the electorate's desire to obliterate progressivism, not
accommodate it. If they need courage, they might want to ponder how often
Democrats accommodated them in the last four years. It might even be useful to
remember what president Obama himself said about accommodating the wishes of the opposition, which can be summed up in two words:


"I won."

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0910/ahlert.php3

Is any Democrat safe?

Here’s two different polls, but it makes you ask the question, “Is any democrat safe this election cycle?”


Flame-throwing Republican Carl Paladino is within striking distance of
overtaking longtime gubernatorial frontrunner Andrew Cuomo, a shocking new poll finds. Among likely voters, the Democrat Cuomo has a paltry 49% to 43% lead over Paladino, the blowhard Buffalo businessman who won a shocking and decisive victory last week in the GOP primary, the Quinnipiac University poll finds.
Quinnipiac's findings are in stark contrast to a Rasmussen Reports poll released
Monday that showed Cuomo with a more robust 54% to 38% lead.

http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2010/09/oof-paladino-within-six-points-of-cuomo.html


Pelosi, again, insisted the light at the end of the tunnel wasn't an oncoming train.

I’m not sure if this is part of keeping a positive attitude or being delusional.


ROBERT: If your party does lose the House would you step aside as
leader?


PELOSI: First of all , I don't accept that premise in any way shape
or form. The momentum is with us. We are out there to dispel many of the
misrepresentations that have been going out there for nearly two years by the
Republicans and the special interests, the oil industry, the health insurance
industry, the banks and their allies.


We're out there. Our members are great articulate spokespersons for
their point of view into their districts. And district by district we feel very
confident about the election. And we believe that six weeks from today, six weeks from Wednesday of this week we will have no regrets but instead we will
have a great Democratic victory


http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2010/09/21/130027010/nancy-pelosi-momentum-is-with-us


Healthcare in the courts.

The fate of the new healthcare law in the courts is of enormous importance. If it is found constitutional, we will have precedent that says the congress of the United States has unlimited power over its citizens and will in effect nullify the Tenth Amendment


The lawsuits—more than 15 so far—argue that Congress has no such power. Last
month, federal district Judge Henry Hudson, of Richmond, Va., rejected a Justice
Department motion to dismiss a similar suit by Virginia's attorney general. But
some leading legal experts, especially defenders of the new law, confidently
predict that if any federal appeals court strikes it down, the Supreme Court
will step in to uphold it, with some predicting a margin as lopsided as 8 to
1. Critics of the law's constitutionality scoff at such predictions. They're
confident that they'll get at least the four conservative justices' votes and
that they have a good shot at swing-voting Justice Anthony Kennedy. Nobody seems to doubt that the four more liberal justices will support the new law. They
appear to see Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce as virtually
unlimited, except by the Bill of Rights and other specific constitutional
amendments.


Poll Watch - Hope for the Dems?

Both the Real Clear Politics Congressional Generic average and the new Gallup
track
show similar national trend lines - Dems gaining ground, GOP
dropping. Similarly, the
Gallup track has Obama's approval rating improving by 10 net percentage points in the past month, from 42/51 to 47/46 (RCP has shown movement despite 2 clear outlier Rasmussen and AP polls).

http://ndn.org/blog/2010/09/poll-watch-hope-dems

This may or may not mean something. It is impossible to plot a trend from a single point as this article seems to want to do. We need to watch to see what happens in the next few weeks to see if there is anything to this.


Electoral College
And so the dominoes continue to fall. The D.C. Council yesterday approved
the National Popular Vote plan that has been pending before several state
legislatures. D.C.’s approval comes less than two months after Massachusetts
approved the plan.

Two procedural steps remain before NPV is officially enacted in D.C.: The mayor must sign the legislation and Congress has 30 days to review it. If these two hurdles are overcome, then D.C.’s approval will bring the total number of entities supporting the bill to seven: Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington. These six states and D.C. together hold 76 electoral votes. NPV goes into effect when states holding 270 electoral votes are committed to the pact.

I posted this because it appears to me to be another bad idea by the Democrats that most likely will come back to bite them on the butt in the future. Much like independent prosecutors this is a law they like because it would have given them the presidency in 2000, but they will hate it if and when it adversely affects them. Small states would do well to avoid approving this since the Electoral College gives them better representation.



Here is an excellent look at what will happen if we continue with the economic course the Democrats have put us on.


I appreciate Senator Casey’s effort to contrast my invitation for solutions
with his non-solution to exacerbate our uncontrolled fiscal trajectory, standing
idle with icy indifference as the social safety net implodes. Senator
Casey’s “do-nothing but demagogue” plan will result in painful austerity:
job-killing tax hikes; deep cuts to current seniors; and a debt-driven economic
crisis. I put forward a plan for prosperity — a proposal that makes no
changes for Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries in and near retirement,
and offers future retirees — those now 54 and younger — the same health and
retirement security options that he himself enjoys as a Member of Congress.
My Roadmap protects and strengthens these critical programs for
current and future retirees, lifts our crushing burden of debt, and restarts the
engine of economic growth and job creation. I will continue to call upon
my colleagues — including Senator Casey — to accept the invitation to offer
solutions of their own so we can get on with the business of meeting our most
pressing fiscal and economic challenges.

Here’s what happens when liberals need more of your money


The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all
employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.

That sounds pretty farfetched, but 30 years ago gay marriage, cap and trade, amnesty for 11 million illegal immigrants, etc. also would have sounded crazy.

3 comments:

  1. The small states are the most disadvantaged group of states under the current system of electing the President. Political clout comes from being a closely divided battleground state, not the two-vote bonus.

    12 of the 13 smallest states (3-4 electoral votes) are almost invariably non-competitive, and ignored, in presidential elections. Six regularly vote Republican (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota),, and six regularly vote Democratic (Rhode Island, Delaware, Hawaii, Vermont, Maine, and DC) in presidential elections. So despite the fact that these 12 states together possess 40 electoral votes, because they are not closely divided battleground states, none of these 12 states get visits, advertising or polling or policy considerations by presidential candidates.

    These 12 states together contain 11 million people. Because of the two electoral-vote bonus that each state receives, the 12 non-competitive small states have 40 electoral votes. However, the two-vote bonus is an entirely illusory advantage to the small states. Ohio has 11 million people and has "only" 20 electoral votes. As we all know, the 11 million people in Ohio are the center of attention in presidential campaigns, while the 11 million people in the 12 non-competitive small states are utterly irrelevant. Nationwide election of the President would make each of the voters in the 12 smallest states as important as an Ohio voter.

    The concept of a national popular vote for President is far from being politically "radioactive" in small states, because the small states recognize they are the most disadvantaged group of states under the current system.

    In the 13 smallest states, the National Popular Vote bill already has been approved by nine state legislative chambers, including one house in DC, Delaware and Maine and both houses in Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It has been enacted by Hawaii.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Most of the medium-small states (with five or six electoral votes) are similarly non-competitive in presidential elections (and therefore similarly disadvantaged). In fact, of the 22 medium-smallest states (those with three, four, five, or six electoral votes), only New Hampshire (with four electoral votes), New Mexico (five electoral votes), and Nevada (five electoral votes) have been battleground states in recent elections.

    Because so few of the 22 small and medium-small states are closely divided battleground states in presidential elections, the current system actually shifts power from voters in the small and medium-small states to voters in a handful of big states. The New York Times reported early in 2008 (May 11, 2008) that both major political parties were already in agreement that there would be at most 14 battleground states in 2008 (involving only 166 of the 538 electoral votes). In other words, three-quarters of the states were ignored under the current system in the 2008 election. Michigan (17 electoral votes), Ohio (20), Pennsylvania (21), and Florida (27) contain over half of the electoral votes that mattered in 2008 (85 of the 166 electoral votes). There were only three battleground states among the 22 small and medium-small states (i.e., New Hampshire, New Mexico, and Nevada). These three states contain only 14 of the 166 electoral votes.

    Anyone concerned about the relative power of big states and small states should realize that the current system shifts power from voters in the small and medium-small states to voters in a handful of big states.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and DC).

    Every vote, everywhere, would be politically relevant and equal in presidential elections. Every vote would be counted for and directly assist the candidate for whom it was cast. Candidates would need to care about voters across the nation, not just undecided voters in a handful of swing states.

    In Gallup polls since 1944, only about 20% of the public has supported the current system of awarding all of a state's electoral votes to the presidential candidate who receives the most votes in each separate state (with about 70% opposed and about 10% undecided). The recent Washington Post, Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University poll shows 72% support for direct nationwide election of the President. Support for a national popular vote is strong in virtually every state, partisan, and demographic group surveyed in recent polls in closely divided battleground states: Colorado-- 68%, Iowa --75%, Michigan-- 73%, Missouri-- 70%, New Hampshire-- 69%, Nevada-- 72%, New Mexico-- 76%, North Carolina-- 74%, Ohio-- 70%, Pennsylvania -- 78%, Virginia -- 74%, and Wisconsin -- 71%; in smaller states (3 to 5 electoral votes): Alaska -- 70%, DC -- 76%, Delaware --75%, Maine -- 77%, Nebraska -- 74%, New Hampshire --69%, Nevada -- 72%, New Mexico -- 76%, Rhode Island -- 74%, and Vermont -- 75%; in Southern and border states: Arkansas --80%, Kentucky -- 80%, Mississippi --77%, Missouri -- 70%, North Carolina -- 74%, and Virginia -- 74%; and in other states polled: California -- 70%, Connecticut -- 74% , Massachusetts -- 73%, Minnesota -- 75%, New York -- 79%, Washington -- 77%, and West Virginia- 81%.

    Most voters don't care whether their presidential candidate wins or loses in their state . . . they care whether he/she wins the White House. Voters want to know, that even if they were on the losing side, their vote actually was counted and mattered to their candidate.

    The National Popular Vote bill has passed 31 state legislative chambers, in 21 small, medium-small, medium, and large states, including one house in Arkansas (6), Connecticut (7), Delaware (3), The District of Columbia (3), Maine (4), Michigan (17), Nevada (5), New Mexico (5), New York (31), North Carolina (15), and Oregon (7), and both houses in California (55), Colorado (9), Hawaii (4), Illinois (21), New Jersey (15), Maryland (10), Massachusetts (12), Rhode Island (4), Vermont (3), and Washington (11).

    See http://www.NationalPopularVote.com

    ReplyDelete