August 13, 2010
Tom Coburn for President in 2012

Posted at 2:12 pm, in: Uncategorized

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

What is wrong with CT Democrats? I have to wonder. Years ago they voted Joe Lieberman out of their party for anti-war crazy Ned Lamont. Yesterday, they gave the nomination to a proven liar who lied about his service during the Vietnam War. I’m adding this to my list of reasons that I won’t move back to that state.

What is the one major difference between any disgraced Republican and any disgraced Democrat? The Republican Party, as worthless as it has proven to be, will force a fellow Republican under a cloud of suspicion for ethics violations to resign. Democrats? Not only do they not force their ethically challenged colleagues not to resign, but the colleagues under suspicion boast about how they’re not going anywhere. Message to Charlie Rangel: You’re a billion years old! Could you effing retire already?

And, my Democrat-bashing must continue on one more note, on this fabulous Wednesday. The House passed yet another stimulus bill, yesterday, to save union and Democrat politicians’ teacher and police jobs:

Specifically, the bill stipulates that federal funds must supplement, not replace, state spending on education. Also, in each state, next year’s spending on elementary and secondary education as a percentage of total state revenues must be equal to or greater than the previous year’s level.

Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi did the math and figured out his state will be worse off. Mr. Barbour says the bill will force his state “to rewrite its current year [fiscal 2011] budget. Preliminary estimates of the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration show that we will now have to spend between $50-100 million of state funds—funds that must be taken away from public safety, human services, mental health and other state priorities and given to education—in order for an additional $98 million of federal funds to be granted to education. There is no justification for the federal government hijacking state budgets, but that is exactly what Congress has done.”

For Texas, and only Texas, this funding rule will be in place through 2013. This is a form of punishment because the Beltway crowd believes the Lone Star State didn’t spend enough of its 2009 stimulus money. Apparently Texas politicians have been clinging to the quaint notion that the government should try to live within its means.

Texans also seem to have an old-fashioned appreciation for the rule of law. On Friday, 22 GOP Members of the state’s Congressional delegation sent a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “This provision would have Texas violate her own State Constitution,” they wrote. “The Texas Legislature has sole authority to determine State appropriations. Moreover, one Legislature cannot bind a future Legislature. Requiring the State to assure that a future Texas Legislature would commit to spend funds in accordance with these provisions would violate the Texas Constitution.”

Texas Governor Rick Perry is also opposed to this new “assistance” from the federal government. He understands that one-time payments that force permanently higher state obligations are a windfall for government employees. But if given the choice, taxpayers would just say no.

That’s because taxpayers are figuring out that these state bailouts are only making unions more reluctant to share their sacrifice. While Mr. Obama quotes the union figure of 160,000 potential lost teacher jobs, those don’t have to come out of the classroom. According to research by Eric Hanushek of Stanford University, student enrollment grew by 22% from 1990 to 2007, but teacher employment grew by 41%. Since 2000, enrollment has grown by 5% but teacher employment by 10%.

Back to that part about why they really passed this bill:

The unions themselves could have prevented some layoffs had they been willing to adjust their rich benefits. In Milwaukee, for example, nearly all of the 500 teacher layoffs announced earlier this year could have been avoided if the unions had agreed to change health plans that cost $23,000 per teacher per year for family coverage. They could have accepted a still-rich $17,000 plan. The unions chose the layoffs, betting (correctly) that Democrats in Washington would come to their rescue.

Keep in mind that this teacher bailout also amounts to a huge contribution by Democrats to their own election campaigns. The National Right to Work Committee estimates that two of every three teachers belong to unions. The average union dues payment varies, but a reasonable estimate is that between 1% and 1.5% of teacher salaries goes to dues. The National Education Association and other unions will thus get as much as $100 million in additional dues from this bill, much of which will flow immediately to endangered Democratic candidates in competitive House and Senate races this year.

When these people go on recess I wish they would stay on recess and, since they’re so into extending things, why don’t they extend that recess for the next twelve months? I wonder how much money we could save that way. They should spend a year in their districts getting reacquainted with the people they are supposed to represent.

Levi Johnston is such a tremendous loser. I feel sorry for Bristol Palin that she will have to let that tool be a part of her life for the rest of her life, but I guess that’s just one of the negative consequences to having unprotected sex. How does he get a TV show? How is he famous? I love ho he is running for mayor of Wasilla. He should probably concentrate on getting a high school diploma and being a father. Just a thought.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Bruce Walker has a piece over at American Thinker about who should be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012: Tom Coburn (Awesome-O.K.!). Coburn’s book, Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders Into Insiders, is an awesome book that everyone should read. I read it while I was in college, in the summer of 2004. It changed the way I viewed all politics. I met Coburn back in 2005. I asked him if he would consider running for president. He said that his wife wouldn’t let him. So, on that note, I say we start appealing to his wife. I’m going to Oklahoma in a couple of weeks. Anyone know her address?