Jane Chastain : Politically Direct

In ancient times, it was not unusual to kill a messenger who brought bad news.  Many of the great prophets in the Bible suffered unspeakable treatment and even death.  Tradition has it that the prophet Isaiah was sawn in half.

These dedicated men of old were desperately trying to warn their countrymen to keep them from  a horrible fate but few listened, especially those who had the power to change things.  Most rulers simply surrounded themselves with “yes” men.    Little has changed.

King Obama, who had never run so much as a lemonade stand, has surrounded himself with tax cheats and economic “yes” men like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who admitted that he has “never had a real job.”  The same holds true for most other members of his royal court.  The notable exception is his chief of staff, Bill Daley, the token businessman — a sop to “diversity.” Read the rest of this entry »

The American people just got flimflamed by their elected representatives, again.

It’s a matter of simple arithmetic.  You are spending more than you are taking in.  Your salary is flat with no relief in the foreseeable future so your family is forced to cut its budget.  Will you be spending more or less next year than you are this year?

“What kind of question is that?” you ask.  “Of course, I will be spending less.”

Not in Washington.  Our lawmakers were asked to cut the budget and they made a deal that has us spending more each and every year.  It’s a con game that has been going on inside the beltway for far too many years now and it has got to stop!

Read the rest of this entry »

There are certain words that are overused in Washington.  They have proven effective in covering a multitude of sins and soothing an angry electorate: These words include compromise, bipartisan, comprehensive, and deficit reduction.

The beauty of using these words in Washington is that there is no expectation by lawmakers that they be grounded in reality.  The “comprehensive immigration reform,” during the administration of George W. Bush was the code for amnesty.   Before that, we had back-to-back “five hundred billion dollar deficit reduction” bills offered by George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.   Both of these bills had nothing to do with reducing the deficit and everything to do with getting out from under the constrains of the current budget.  They were designed to increase, not decrease, federal spending.

Now we have this new word, “balanced,” trotted out by Barack Obama.  On Monday, he used it seven times in his brief address to the nation.    It is designed to make us feel comfortable about rasing the debt limit, again, because we have maxed out the national credit card. Read the rest of this entry »

“What would Jesus do?” is a popular question posed by Christians facing moral dilemmas.

However, the man using it over the weekend was none other than Charlie Rangel, the disgraced slick-talking New York congressman who was caught cheating on his taxes while chairing the committee responsible for the tax code.

No, Rangel hasn’t found religion but he isn’t above using it when it suits his purpose.    He’s been doing nonstop press interviews trying to prevent Republicans from following through on their promise to cut the size of our bloated government and get federal spending under control.    Read the rest of this entry »

The bumbling, vice president who was put in charge of:

• touting the administration’s record on transparency (his speeches are often off-limits to the press)
• ensuring that the $787-billion stimulus spending was done wisely (cost taxpayers $278,000 per job)
• holding fund raisers to help Democrat Party keep control of the House of Representatives (GOP now holds a 48-seat advantage)
• reaching a budget compromise last winter (veep got rolled, Bush tax cuts were extended)
• getting a solution to the debt ceiling crisis (don’t hold your breath)

finally won one! Read the rest of this entry »