My goodness is this sound byte priceless or what? I previously wrote about the lack of tact that the head of the RNC has. Well this is beyond irresponsible for the Senate Majority Leader to say. Yes thank you Harry, only 36,000 lost jobs last week. BUT government jobs continue to grow and expand. Interesting...
Hey good luck getting re-elected in November....
An unapologetically conservative thinker doing his thinking...or something like that.
Friday, March 5, 2010
The latest flap
You may or may not have heard about this from the Politico, also Joe Scarborough spoke about it yesterday (3/4) on his MSNBC show Morning Joe. Quite frankly it is the only level headed programming that abomination of a news channel puts out, but I digress. While I agree with Joe that someone's head should roll, namely the finance officer of the RNC, it points to a more systemic problem with the guys currently at the top of the RNC. Namely Michael Steele. He has time and again failed to persuade the larger donors to donating to the RNC, no doubt he has increased the web presence and the smaller donors (which were significant in Obama beating Hillary) but that simply isn't enough. Mr. Steele inserts his foot into his mouth so often he has become quite the connoisseur of shoe leather. And I am pretty sure his tone is what turns off the major donors, but I'm just thinking out loud here.
See the funny thing is, the controversial presentation on it's face is mostly true. Is it overly cynical? Absolutely, and that is why it has no place in official documents. I have had my problems with the RNC this past year backing some non-conservative types, most notably Dede Scozzafava in upstate NY and Charlie Crist in FL's Senate primary. The problem for the RNC is that the trend is moving away from giving money to the larger party to giving it to the individual campaigns. That trend comes from the true grassroots nature of the whole tea-party, anti-tax, anti-big government movement. It is the kind of Internet fueled grassroots we saw in Howard Dean's candidacy in 2004 and Obama's primary battle with Hillary. Tea Partiers are for the most part independents but are moderate to conservative and have no brand loyalty so to speak. That accurately describes the majority of the country and this is a point that is often missed by media pundits and leaders on the left. They are getting out in front of the parties and endorsing candidate by candidate. This is easy to notice when you read how the movement is organizing, what candidates they are getting behind,etc. This is why when the Republican party drifts to the left they repudiate the hell out of them. See the 2006 mid-terms. And if you don't know the number of reasons how the Bush Administration went to the left in domestic policies and spending, see me after class. Look quite simply America already has one Democratic party they do not want another.
Now back to the controversy at hand, this PowerPoint presentation. Everyone is up in arms over the "fear" tactics, talking about "socialism". Oh G_d, really? Save the phony outrage for someone who hasn't followed election over election covering the last 16 years. Heck history shows that this kind of stuff has been going for HUNDREDS of years. Get over it. OK now that I got that off my chest. Let me take a look at what is really offensive in the presentation, it's the tack they use to attempt to shame the big donors into giving. Now I know most charities to an extent do this, BUT this isn't a freaking charity Mr. Steele! It is just one more embarrassment for this Chairman and it is becoming increasingly clear that the only thing standing between a Republican landslide in the midterm is Michael Steele.
As for the socialism talk, it is true. BUT the party heads should be talking about the real ideas being brought forth by the conservative leaders who happen to be Republican. The solutions are what should be presented to potential donors, but breaking out the MoveOn.org playbook from 2004 is not inspiring anyone. The problem is that some of them do not know what these ideas are, they haven't backed most of the candidates that espouse it! Every conservative has been saying it since Bush left office, it is time for the conservative principles of Ronald Reagan, Lincoln to come back. It is time for the party to once again embrace our philosophical forefathers, Alexis de Tocqueville , Edmund Burke, the Federalist papers, etc. When given the choice and if the principles are laid out, the American people WILL choose the conservative candidate, not some watered down John McCain type. Most of the inside the Beltway Republicans need to be reminded of these things, it is their path to electoral victory.
See the funny thing is, the controversial presentation on it's face is mostly true. Is it overly cynical? Absolutely, and that is why it has no place in official documents. I have had my problems with the RNC this past year backing some non-conservative types, most notably Dede Scozzafava in upstate NY and Charlie Crist in FL's Senate primary. The problem for the RNC is that the trend is moving away from giving money to the larger party to giving it to the individual campaigns. That trend comes from the true grassroots nature of the whole tea-party, anti-tax, anti-big government movement. It is the kind of Internet fueled grassroots we saw in Howard Dean's candidacy in 2004 and Obama's primary battle with Hillary. Tea Partiers are for the most part independents but are moderate to conservative and have no brand loyalty so to speak. That accurately describes the majority of the country and this is a point that is often missed by media pundits and leaders on the left. They are getting out in front of the parties and endorsing candidate by candidate. This is easy to notice when you read how the movement is organizing, what candidates they are getting behind,etc. This is why when the Republican party drifts to the left they repudiate the hell out of them. See the 2006 mid-terms. And if you don't know the number of reasons how the Bush Administration went to the left in domestic policies and spending, see me after class. Look quite simply America already has one Democratic party they do not want another.
Now back to the controversy at hand, this PowerPoint presentation. Everyone is up in arms over the "fear" tactics, talking about "socialism". Oh G_d, really? Save the phony outrage for someone who hasn't followed election over election covering the last 16 years. Heck history shows that this kind of stuff has been going for HUNDREDS of years. Get over it. OK now that I got that off my chest. Let me take a look at what is really offensive in the presentation, it's the tack they use to attempt to shame the big donors into giving. Now I know most charities to an extent do this, BUT this isn't a freaking charity Mr. Steele! It is just one more embarrassment for this Chairman and it is becoming increasingly clear that the only thing standing between a Republican landslide in the midterm is Michael Steele.
As for the socialism talk, it is true. BUT the party heads should be talking about the real ideas being brought forth by the conservative leaders who happen to be Republican. The solutions are what should be presented to potential donors, but breaking out the MoveOn.org playbook from 2004 is not inspiring anyone. The problem is that some of them do not know what these ideas are, they haven't backed most of the candidates that espouse it! Every conservative has been saying it since Bush left office, it is time for the conservative principles of Ronald Reagan, Lincoln to come back. It is time for the party to once again embrace our philosophical forefathers, Alexis de Tocqueville , Edmund Burke, the Federalist papers, etc. When given the choice and if the principles are laid out, the American people WILL choose the conservative candidate, not some watered down John McCain type. Most of the inside the Beltway Republicans need to be reminded of these things, it is their path to electoral victory.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Castro Connection...
As usual Humberto Fontova exposes the liberal hypocrisy when it comes to their fawning of Castro and Che. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad how these Black Liberation theology types get duped into supporting Castro and his Stalinist regime. If they only bothered to think or do the research on the man they love (and his Revolucion) they would realize how racist and antithetical Castro/Che/Communism is to any idea of racial equality.
» The Friends of Barack Hussein Obama: the Castro Connection - Big Journalism#more-31726
» The Friends of Barack Hussein Obama: the Castro Connection - Big Journalism#more-31726
Break out the Astroturf
This piece is just great. The work that the bloggers and writers do over at the Big Sites is encouraging. We are beating these lefty clowns at their own internet game. These types of stories would have been glossed over in the past but now the rest of the country can get to know the motives and tactics of those who "wanted to drain the swamp"....
» NY Times, Washington Post Hide Phony ‘Coffee Party’ Astroturf Roots — at the NY Times! - Big Journalism
Posted using ShareThis
» NY Times, Washington Post Hide Phony ‘Coffee Party’ Astroturf Roots — at the NY Times! - Big Journalism
Posted using ShareThis
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
The axe is out
I could not be more proud of a person I personally voted for and helped get elected. This is exactly why this guy won. He speaks the hard truth and so far is walking the walk. It is a 20 minute or so speech (without notes and teleprompter i might add) he made to 200 mayors from our state. By the way, just that number is part of the reason this state is a mess. Having over 500 taxing municipalities in a state of our size is outrageous, but that is a discussion for another time. Here is the video link:
Christie speech to mayor's conference in Trenton
Here is a partial transcript as well if you do not want to sit through a 25 minute policy speech:
"In the time we got here, of the approximately $29 billion budget there was only $14 billion left. Of the $14 billion, $8 billion could not be touched because of contracts with public worker unions, because of bond covenants, because of commitments we made accepting stimulus money. So we had to find a way to save $2.3 billion in a $6 billion pool of money.
When I went into the treasurer's off in the first two weeks of my term, there was no happy meetings. They presented me with 378 possible freezes and lapses to be able to balance the budget. I accepted 375 of them.
There is a great deal of discussion about me doing that by executive action. Every day that went by was a day where money was going out the door such that the $6 billion pool was getting less and less. So something needed to be done.
People did not send me here to talk, the people sent me here to do. So we took the executive action we did to stop the bleeding.
As we move forward, and we evaluate what we need to do three weeks from now in our fiscal year 2011 budget address, you all need to understand the context from which we operate.
Our citizens are already the most overtaxed in America. US mayors hear it all the time. You know that the public appetite for ever increasing taxes has reached an end.
So when we freeze $475 million in school aid, I am hearing the reverberations from school boards saying now you are just going to force us to raise taxes.
Well there is a 4% cap in place as you all know, yet school boards continue to give out raises which exceed that cap, just on salary. Not to mention the fact that most of them get no contribution towards the spiraling increase in health care benefits.
Now, we are going to reduce spending at the state level. And we are going to continue to reduce it because we have no choice but to do so. Our obligation to you is twofold. One, is to let you know that. So I'm' letting you know that.
Second to work with the legislature to give you the tools helping you to reduce spending at the municipal level. Now the pension and benefit reform package that was passed unanimously in the senate this week begins to give you some of those tools.
But it is only a beginning.
Do we need to change some of the rules of arbitration to level the playing field to allow municipalities and school boards to have a more level sense of collective bargaining?
I think the evidence of ever increasing raises being given to public sector workers as a result of the arbitration system tells us that we do. [Applause From Mayors]
But you have to stand up and give the support to the legislators in this building to get them to do that. I can guarantee you this, that more pension and benefit reforms which I will consider arbitration reform to be one of them, are things that when they come to my desk, they will be signed. [Applause From Mayors]
Because we can no longer continue on a path where we say we are going to reduce spending at the state level but we are not going to give you any tools to do that at the municipal level and the school board level.
By the same token I am tired of hearing school superintendents and school board members complain that there are no other options than raising property taxes. There are other options.
You know, Marlboro, after a two year negotiation, they give a five year contract giving 4.5% annual salary increases to the teachers, with no contribution, zero contribution to health care benefits.
But I am sure there are people in Marlboro who have lost their jobs, who have had their homes foreclosed on, and who cannot keep a roof over their family's head there is something wrong.
You know, at some point there has to be parity. There has to be parity between what is happening in the real world, and what is happening in the public sector world. The money does not grow on trees outside this building or outside your municipal building. It comes from the hard working people of our communities who are suffering and are hurting right now.
I heard someone in the legislature say two days ago that they wanted no fare hike in New Jersey Transit, no cuts in service, and no cuts in subsidy. And I was thinking to myself, man I should have made this guy treasurer. [Laughter] Because if you can pull that one off, you're obviously magic.
This is the type of awful political rhetoric that people sent me to this city to stop.
I would love to be able to do that, but I can't. I would love to tell you that municipal aid will stay level, but it's not. And it's not because we don't have the money. So you need to prepare. You need to prepare for what's coming down the line because we have no choice but to do these things.
And so we need to get honest with each other. In this instance, the political class,for which unfortunately all of us are a member of, the political class is lagging behind the public on this. The public is ready to hear that tough choices have to be made. They're not going to like it. Don't confuse the two. But they are ready to hear the truth.
In fact, they find it refreshing to hear the truth.
They are tired of hearing, don't worry I can spare you from the pain, because they have been hearing that for a decade, as we have borrowed and spent and taxed our way into oblivion.
We have done every quick fix in the book that you can do. And now we are left, literally holding the bag.
Leadership should be about making tough decisions. I'm not hear to tell you that anything you are going to have to do as mayors, council people will be easy. But I firmly believe after spending the last year traveling around the state of New Jersey, talking to regular citizens, that this is what they are expecting us to do.
They are also expecting us to ferret out waste and abuse. But they also know that old song that waste and abuse is going to balance the budget is an old and tired one, and it's not going to.
Now we are going to have a fight about COAH. And I have engaged in that fight and I have engaged in it directly. Not only will I be fighting COAH, I will be fighting the courts too. [Applause From Mayors]
That's OK.
We need to understand we are all in this together. And you know, all of you know in your heart, what I am saying is true. You all know that these raises that are being given to public employees of all stripes, we cannot afford. You all know the state cannot continue to spend money it does not have. And you all know that the appetite for tax increases among our constituents has come to an end.
And so the path to reform and success is clear. We know what it is. We just have to have the courage to go there. What we are doing is showing people that government can work again for them, not for us. Government has worked for the political class for much too long.
There's no time left. We have no room left to borrow. We have no room left to tax. So we merely have room left now, to do this. We are all reaching the edge of a cliff. And it reminds me a bit of that part of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where the had a seminal decision to make. So what did they do? They held hands and they jumped off the cliff.
We have to hold hands at every level of government, state county, municipal, school board. We have to hold hands and jump off the cliff.
I firmly believe we will land and we will be fine. It does not mean it will not be a scary ride on the way down. And it does not mean there won't be moments of fear and moments of apprehension.
But for certain, the troops of the decades of overspending and overborrowing and overtaxing have gained on us. So the ruination of New Jersey's economy, and of the quality of life we want all our citizens to have, is certain if we do not take this course.
It's time for us to hold hands and jump off the cliff. It's time for us to do the difficult things that need to be done and to stop playing the petty politics of yesterday, of lying to the people telling them they do not have to pay for it because someone else will.
We are going to make the leap because that's what people elected me to do. We are going to make the leap because it is the responsible thing to do. We are going to make the leap and we are going to do it together because that is what leadership demands for us. That is what the responsibility of the offices we hold requires of us.
Forget about the next election. Forget about the next editorial in the newspaper, and forget about the next angry letter or phone call you are going to get from someone who wants something for nothing.
One thing is certain. The alternative will lead to certain defeat. And so it is time for us to show courage, and resolve. And we can do it because we are from New Jersey. And I have never, in all my travels around the country, met a group of tougher people than we all have the opportunity to lead.
Christie speech to mayor's conference in Trenton
Here is a partial transcript as well if you do not want to sit through a 25 minute policy speech:
"In the time we got here, of the approximately $29 billion budget there was only $14 billion left. Of the $14 billion, $8 billion could not be touched because of contracts with public worker unions, because of bond covenants, because of commitments we made accepting stimulus money. So we had to find a way to save $2.3 billion in a $6 billion pool of money.
When I went into the treasurer's off in the first two weeks of my term, there was no happy meetings. They presented me with 378 possible freezes and lapses to be able to balance the budget. I accepted 375 of them.
There is a great deal of discussion about me doing that by executive action. Every day that went by was a day where money was going out the door such that the $6 billion pool was getting less and less. So something needed to be done.
People did not send me here to talk, the people sent me here to do. So we took the executive action we did to stop the bleeding.
As we move forward, and we evaluate what we need to do three weeks from now in our fiscal year 2011 budget address, you all need to understand the context from which we operate.
Our citizens are already the most overtaxed in America. US mayors hear it all the time. You know that the public appetite for ever increasing taxes has reached an end.
So when we freeze $475 million in school aid, I am hearing the reverberations from school boards saying now you are just going to force us to raise taxes.
Well there is a 4% cap in place as you all know, yet school boards continue to give out raises which exceed that cap, just on salary. Not to mention the fact that most of them get no contribution towards the spiraling increase in health care benefits.
Now, we are going to reduce spending at the state level. And we are going to continue to reduce it because we have no choice but to do so. Our obligation to you is twofold. One, is to let you know that. So I'm' letting you know that.
Second to work with the legislature to give you the tools helping you to reduce spending at the municipal level. Now the pension and benefit reform package that was passed unanimously in the senate this week begins to give you some of those tools.
But it is only a beginning.
Do we need to change some of the rules of arbitration to level the playing field to allow municipalities and school boards to have a more level sense of collective bargaining?
I think the evidence of ever increasing raises being given to public sector workers as a result of the arbitration system tells us that we do. [Applause From Mayors]
But you have to stand up and give the support to the legislators in this building to get them to do that. I can guarantee you this, that more pension and benefit reforms which I will consider arbitration reform to be one of them, are things that when they come to my desk, they will be signed. [Applause From Mayors]
Because we can no longer continue on a path where we say we are going to reduce spending at the state level but we are not going to give you any tools to do that at the municipal level and the school board level.
By the same token I am tired of hearing school superintendents and school board members complain that there are no other options than raising property taxes. There are other options.
You know, Marlboro, after a two year negotiation, they give a five year contract giving 4.5% annual salary increases to the teachers, with no contribution, zero contribution to health care benefits.
But I am sure there are people in Marlboro who have lost their jobs, who have had their homes foreclosed on, and who cannot keep a roof over their family's head there is something wrong.
You know, at some point there has to be parity. There has to be parity between what is happening in the real world, and what is happening in the public sector world. The money does not grow on trees outside this building or outside your municipal building. It comes from the hard working people of our communities who are suffering and are hurting right now.
I heard someone in the legislature say two days ago that they wanted no fare hike in New Jersey Transit, no cuts in service, and no cuts in subsidy. And I was thinking to myself, man I should have made this guy treasurer. [Laughter] Because if you can pull that one off, you're obviously magic.
This is the type of awful political rhetoric that people sent me to this city to stop.
I would love to be able to do that, but I can't. I would love to tell you that municipal aid will stay level, but it's not. And it's not because we don't have the money. So you need to prepare. You need to prepare for what's coming down the line because we have no choice but to do these things.
And so we need to get honest with each other. In this instance, the political class,for which unfortunately all of us are a member of, the political class is lagging behind the public on this. The public is ready to hear that tough choices have to be made. They're not going to like it. Don't confuse the two. But they are ready to hear the truth.
In fact, they find it refreshing to hear the truth.
They are tired of hearing, don't worry I can spare you from the pain, because they have been hearing that for a decade, as we have borrowed and spent and taxed our way into oblivion.
We have done every quick fix in the book that you can do. And now we are left, literally holding the bag.
Leadership should be about making tough decisions. I'm not hear to tell you that anything you are going to have to do as mayors, council people will be easy. But I firmly believe after spending the last year traveling around the state of New Jersey, talking to regular citizens, that this is what they are expecting us to do.
They are also expecting us to ferret out waste and abuse. But they also know that old song that waste and abuse is going to balance the budget is an old and tired one, and it's not going to.
Now we are going to have a fight about COAH. And I have engaged in that fight and I have engaged in it directly. Not only will I be fighting COAH, I will be fighting the courts too. [Applause From Mayors]
That's OK.
We need to understand we are all in this together. And you know, all of you know in your heart, what I am saying is true. You all know that these raises that are being given to public employees of all stripes, we cannot afford. You all know the state cannot continue to spend money it does not have. And you all know that the appetite for tax increases among our constituents has come to an end.
And so the path to reform and success is clear. We know what it is. We just have to have the courage to go there. What we are doing is showing people that government can work again for them, not for us. Government has worked for the political class for much too long.
There's no time left. We have no room left to borrow. We have no room left to tax. So we merely have room left now, to do this. We are all reaching the edge of a cliff. And it reminds me a bit of that part of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid where the had a seminal decision to make. So what did they do? They held hands and they jumped off the cliff.
We have to hold hands at every level of government, state county, municipal, school board. We have to hold hands and jump off the cliff.
I firmly believe we will land and we will be fine. It does not mean it will not be a scary ride on the way down. And it does not mean there won't be moments of fear and moments of apprehension.
But for certain, the troops of the decades of overspending and overborrowing and overtaxing have gained on us. So the ruination of New Jersey's economy, and of the quality of life we want all our citizens to have, is certain if we do not take this course.
It's time for us to hold hands and jump off the cliff. It's time for us to do the difficult things that need to be done and to stop playing the petty politics of yesterday, of lying to the people telling them they do not have to pay for it because someone else will.
We are going to make the leap because that's what people elected me to do. We are going to make the leap because it is the responsible thing to do. We are going to make the leap and we are going to do it together because that is what leadership demands for us. That is what the responsibility of the offices we hold requires of us.
Forget about the next election. Forget about the next editorial in the newspaper, and forget about the next angry letter or phone call you are going to get from someone who wants something for nothing.
One thing is certain. The alternative will lead to certain defeat. And so it is time for us to show courage, and resolve. And we can do it because we are from New Jersey. And I have never, in all my travels around the country, met a group of tougher people than we all have the opportunity to lead.
Wow MSNBC....
...has gone off the deep end. The usual lefty dregs that have shows on there must be getting desperate. Then again looking at their ratings I can see why. This is an all too typical exchange you get on this channel and just about every host on MSNBC loves throwing around the "You're a racist! You're a Nazi" crap. It is funny and sad, because I am not sure that they realize they are diminishing real acts of racism. Hey geniuses if everything is racism, then NOTHING is.
Monday, March 1, 2010
When I am told...
....that we need Euro style social democracy, I shudder to think. I hear it all the time..."Ocho, we are the richest country in the world we should have (insert your favorite entitlement here) for EVERYONE!" Seems like an easy decision that is right, just mortgage everything to in essence have what the rest of Europe has slowly become. When that continent made the choices they made at the turn of the 20th Century to follow down the road of Bismarck and the welfare state for all they sealed their fate. We are in a position to reject it, we have had enough creeping socialism in this country (New Deal, Great Society) it is time to send the rest of it back to the dustbin of history. Otherwise we face the similar fate, plain and simple fact. Read this, and as always comments are welcome:
When Responsibility Doesn’t Pay -Welfare always breeds contempt
When Responsibility Doesn’t Pay -Welfare always breeds contempt
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)