Virginia Libertarian

So this is how our “representatives” choose to work now.  Like the kid that brings the ball to the playground, but doesn’t get to make all the rules, they’ve just decided that they won’t play the game any more.

Rep. Kreg Battles, "I will say as a minority member I don’t expect to run the show. But I do expect my voice to get heard, and this is a way that we can demand that we’re not locked out of the process."

I fail to see how not getting your way equates to not being heard.  Just because you have been heard doesn’t mean that you are agreed with. 

"If I did that in my job, I’d be fired," said David Stevens, 44, a database analyst from Indianapolis who is sympathetic to the unions but not to the Democrats delaying the proceedings.

Gee, you think?  People get fired when they don’t show up for work?

Wisconsin Republicans have said they will not heed Democrats’ demands for them to abandon efforts to strip public employees of some collective-bargaining rights. But the Republicans have tried other measures to bring home the missing – voting to fine them and holding up their paychecks. On Thursday, Republicans authorized their arrests. So far, nothing has worked. State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Thursday that layoff notices could be delivered as early as Friday to as many as 1,500 workers if his budget bill doesn’t pass the state legislature.

Yeah, that $100 a day fine is not going to work on someone making $175k+/year.  I think they can hold out on that one.

"Nobody likes to lose. But sometimes you have to just go in there and accept the adverse vote, no matter how high the stakes are, and plan to get your revenge at the next election."

I think this is where the crux of the issue is, they don’t think there’s going to be any backlash on the next election over this, and I think they’re probably correct.  People (those of us not suckling at the government’s teat) are sick of the way the unions have killed the manufacturing industry in this country.  We need someone to do what Reagan did with the Air Traffic controllers.  Fire them all and moveon.org

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend when talking with people who say that they are unhappy with the way congress, and the government in general, has been performing.  They want things to change, they want less government, more accountability, etc, etc, whatever.  They say “vote them all out”, then they say the magic words “except for my congresscritter, (s)he is the exception.”  Folks, if you don’t vote out your congressperson, who do you think is going to vote them out?  You can’t vote out other peoples congressperson.  What concerns me is that this is how everyone is thinking, and in November we’re still going to see that 80%+ re-election rate.

I love this tweet and article from Rep. Cantor today. It’s just great how our congresscritters “believe” in something when it’s expedient for them to do so. Where was your belief when you were voting for the bailouts Mr. Cantor? Where was this sentiment when you voted for the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act? Where were your ideals when you voted for the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Continuing Authorization Act? Where was the Constitution when you were voting for the Enhancing Small Business Research and Innovation Act, and the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, and the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act? I could go on, but I think my point is made. The tea party movement seems to be changing a lot of the establishments mind.

While I commend the ideas that Cantor espouses in his article, it is not the words of the weasels that you must watch, but their actions.

When asked at a 2009 press conference whether he believed in American exceptionalism, Obama said no.

America is no more unique or exceptional than Britain or Greece or any other country.

How Obama Thinks

So someone sent me a link the other day to the list of tax breaks set to expire, and the new taxes coming down the pike.  At first I got mad (no suprise there), but then I got to thinking: “What better way could the current goverment screw themselves but to let the tax breaks expire and pass more taxes while we are in a down economy?”  So I decided to look on the bright side and hope people will take this into consideration when voting for their new congress critter in November.  Remind all your friends out there what congress is doing to us.  And remember, most of this shit doesn’t apply to those in congress.

We need Amendment 28:

Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States.

So my daughter just got the Linkin Park album “Minutes to Midnight” and there are a couple of songs on it that I like from a purely political perspective, “Hands Held High” and “No More Sorrow”