Jane Chastain : Politically Direct

“A chicken in every pot” is the temptation waved under the noses of voters by politicians of every political stripe. It’s an alluring promise. Little wonder that the average life of a democracy is a mere 200 years.

Americans are smart enough to realize that there is no such thing as something for nothing. Barack Obama was elected on the idea that he was going to reward 95 percent of us at the expense of the top 2 percent, those making more than $200,000 per year. What could be wrong with that?

It was an easy sell to the 95 percent on the receiving end of that promise. Now it’s time to deliver the goods in the form of tax cuts for all but the very wealthy.

So, just how much is that tax cut really worth? Read the rest of this entry »

So much for the kind of government promised by Barack Obama where citizens have a full five days to review and comment on all non emergency bills on the White House website before they are signed into law! Not only did “we the people” not have an adequate means or opportunity to review the so-call economic stimulus bill, our representatives in Congress did not have that opportunity. Read the rest of this entry »

Just when you thought it was impossible to stop the Obama Administration and Congress from going on an uncontrolled spending spree with our tax dollars, a lowly junior senator with no political aspirations has stepped up to defend us.

While Republicans have offered an alternate to the so-called economic stimulus bill that has zero chance of being enacted, and the infamous gang of 14 moderates (some say 20) is meeting to come up with a pork-lite compromise, Tom Coburn, the only practicing doctor in the United States Senate, is doing what he does best, taking a scalpel to the massive bill in an effort to carve it down to size.

You might say that Dr. Coburn is preforming a spendingectomy. Read the rest of this entry »

A dark cloud is behind every rainbow. Don’t enjoy flowers because they wither. If you get lemons, make sour water. Rich people are bad and must be punished. Smiling will make you sick. The U.S. isn’t strong enough to win a war against thugs and, by the way, Santa Claus is dead.  Read the rest of this entry »

Democrats in the House of Representatives have an ambitious list of proposals they will try to ram through in their first 100 hours at the controls. While some are worthwhile, even laudable, others are counterproductive. However, the one proposal that is most likely to pass both houses of Congress and be signed into law by President Bush – raising the minimum wage – represents the worst kind of political pandering. Read the rest of this entry »