Jane Chastain : Politically Direct

Archive for the ‘Republican Party’ Category

Whom do You Trust?

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The question for voters in the 2012 election is not, “Whom do you trust?” but, “What do you trust?” It’s not about Obama versus a Republican candidate, regardless of who he or she may be. It’s about your basic philosophy of government.

Do you put your trust in the free market or do you trust the government to give you a better life?

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Written by Jane Chastain

September 14th, 2011 at 9:00 pm

Give the Lady a Break

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Liberals hate professional conservative women because they fly in the face of left-wing dogma. That is a given. But, why is it that so many on the right refuse to give accomplished women like Michele Bachmann their due?

I secretly hoped that Bachmann would not enter the 2012 presidential race. Frankly, I didn’t want to be put in a position of having to defend her considerable accomplishments. It’s a thankless job.

Nevertheless, now that Bachmann is in this race, can’t we give her a break? Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Jane Chastain

September 1st, 2011 at 12:00 am

End Oil — No — All Subsidies

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The president has renewed his call to end the billions of dollars in oil subsidies so that he can “invest” the savings into alternative energy vehicles.   House Speaker John Boehner got caught up in the rhetoric and put his foot firmly in his mouth.  The speaker indicated that he might be interested in eliminating the subsidies for all but “small independent oil and gas companies.”

It is no secret that the Obama Administration wanted $5 a gallon gasoline.  Now that the president has achieved this goal,  he is looking to deflect public outrage by beating up on the oil and gas companies, again.  But is Boehner pilling on?  And what about eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for “big oil” but not “little oil”?

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Written by Jane Chastain

April 28th, 2011 at 12:00 am

The Flimflam Artist Versus the Green Eye Shade

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The response to the annual State of the Union address usually receives about as much attention as a quilting contest.

If the State of the Union address is a yawner, than the response is a sleeper: a deep, deep sleeper.

Not this year.   With the country’s economy stagnant and jobs as scarce as boyfriends for Ellen DeGeneres, we were ready for the unvarnished truth and that is exactly what we got from Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

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Written by Jane Chastain

January 27th, 2011 at 12:00 am

What’s that smell coming from D.C.?

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If you are going to clean out a refrigerator, you start with the part that smells.  In Washington, it’s pork, not in the frig, but on Capitol Hill.  This pork, otherwise known as an “earmark,” is a project that is slipped into a bill by a lawmaker that circumvents the merit-based or competitive process and serves a narrow or special interest.

An infamous one that shows up almost every year is “wood utilization research.”  We’re spending $4,841,000 on new ways to use wood (trees) this year.  Has anyone heard of paper bags?  I’ll give it to you for free and you can save taxpayers $4.8 million.  That’s a perfectly good use for wood.  However, many cities now are trying to ban paper bags in order to save trees!  The irony of it all!

These projects add up.  Citizens Against Government Waste has documented 109,952 of them worth $307.8 billion since 1991.     Read the rest of this entry »

Written by Jane Chastain

November 18th, 2010 at 12:00 am