10 Predictions for the New Congress

Despite, thousands of letters, emails and phone calls, John Boehner was re-elected speaker of the House of Representatives but it wasn’t an overwhelming show of support.  Twenty-five brave Republican congressmen (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/01/06/here-are-the-republicans-who-voted-against-john-boehner-for-speaker/ ) withstood pressure from within the conference and were willing to suffer retaliation in order to cast a vote for someone else or simply vote “present.”  It was the largest number of congressmen to vote against a sitting speaker from their own party in 100 years.

Boehner ran up the white flag of surrender shortly after the election.  It’s going to be a long, disappointing two years.  That said, here are my predictions for the new Congress, predictions that I hope and pray will not come true.   Continue reading “10 Predictions for the New Congress” →

Ring in the New Year by Ringing out the old Budget

The time has come to put away the holiday decorations and prepare for the new year.  It’s also time to deal with an old piece of business, the 2015 CRomnibus budget deal that was rammed down our throats at the 11th hour by an unholy trinity: John Boehner, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

The  1600+-page CRomnibus was passed much like ObamaCare, cloaked in secrecy until hours before the vote.   Lawmakers were urged to “pass it” before they could” find out what was in it.”

The time has come to take a cold, hard look at this pig in a poke.   Continue reading “Ring in the New Year by Ringing out the old Budget” →

The Christmas Difference

Holidays are special times.  They offer a brief respite from our regular routine.   It’s a chance to get together with family and friends.  Holidays give us an opportunity to forget about our cares, have fun and celebrate whatever.

We use holidays to commemorate special events, to ring in a new year,  to show our love, to rest from our labor, to feast and help the less fortunate and to dress up in outrageous costumes.

But Christmas is different from all the other holidays.  It’s about giving and receiving.  It’s not about the gifts we buy and exchange with others, although we do a lot of that.  It’s about the greatest gift that was ever given.  Have you received it? Continue reading “The Christmas Difference” →

Can Boehner really be Dumped? (Yes! Here’s How)

Our system of government was designed to be run from the bottom up.  Our founding fathers wanted to be sure that we the people would have the final say in matters of great importance, not the president or congressional leaders, and certainly not the Supreme Court.

They also recognized that it was we the people who must have absolute control of the power of the purse, not the other way around.  That is why the Constitution mandates that all spending bills must originate in the House of Representatives and that the members of that illustrious body must stand for re-election every other year.  They gave us the ability to rein in congressmen if they overstep their bounds.

To say that John Boehner has failed as Speaker of the House is to state the obvious.

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to dump a sitting speaker.  As the old saying goes, “Power corrupts, and absolutely power corrupts absolutely.”  Congressional leaders have a lot of power and they do everything they can to maintain it.  That is why the current Congress holds the elections for party leadership positions for the next Congress before the new members are seated.  It’s all supposed to be a fait accompli but is it? Continue reading “Can Boehner really be Dumped? (Yes! Here’s How)” →

If I were King for a Day

I have mixed emotions this time of year.  I love the holidays but I hate what our elected representatives do to us in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It’s the most dangerous time of the year.

While we are absorbed with the holidays, they are absorbed with seeing how much of our money they can spend or how many of their pet projects they can sneak through before they tiptoe out of town.

The Repubican-led House and the Democrat-controlled Senate are expected come together in a great kumbaya moment in the next few days to pass an omnibus (ominous is more like it) appropriation bill hashed out between congressional leaders behind closed doors.

It was released late Tuesday evening giving members only 48 hours to wade through the 1600 plus pages before the voting begins.  Although a few details have been publicized, it would take days to fully digest all the gory details.  It is wordy and purposefully difficult to understand, enough to challenge the most proficient Evelyn Wood’s graduate.  Continue reading “If I were King for a Day” →

Deck the Halls with Federal Regulations (Fa, la, la, la, la – la, la, la. la!)

While we were feasting on the holiday turkey and celebrating with family and friends, Obama was pulling another fast one.  While we enjoyed the Thanksgiving stuffing, he was busy stuffing the federal register with 3,415 new regulations.

At this time of year, average Americans are worried about scraping up some holiday cash Meanwhile, Obama seems hellbent on driving up the cost of everything.   Continue reading “Deck the Halls with Federal Regulations (Fa, la, la, la, la – la, la, la. la!)” →

How to be Thankful when Your World is falling apart

The world appears to be spinning out of control.  This once great country of ours is no longer trusted.  We are in debt up to our eyeballs.  Our friends cannot count on us.   In fact, we often bully them.

Our president has become a source of ridicule.  Russian President Vladimir Putin taunts him.  Terrorists execute our citizens and dare him to do something about it.

Closer to home, we call right, “wrong” and wrong, “right.”  Marriage is denigrated.  Having children out of wedlock is rewarded.  Personal responsibility is out.  Government benefits are in. Continue reading “How to be Thankful when Your World is falling apart” →

“D-Day” for Republicans

“D-Day” is a military term used to denote the beginning of a combat mission.

There is a new D-Day coming.  Let’s call it “Decision Day for the United States.  It falls on December 11.  That is the day the GOP must decide if it will accept the mandate it was given by the American people to lead or if it will run up the white flag of surrender to an unpopular but stubborn president.

If you have been paying attention, then you know that this is the day the government runs out of money.  The timing is awful, two weeks before Christmas when most people are busy with the holidays and have checked out politically.

This timing is no accident.  The price of liberty really is eternal vigilance.  There can be no liberty without the ability to control a fair portion of what we earn which is slowly slipping away with each passing tax increase.  And don’t kid yourself, if we don’t get the nation’s spending under control, more hefty tax increases are coming.  It’s just a matter of time. Continue reading ““D-Day” for Republicans” →

Three Land Mines for Republicans

Now that Republicans have won the election war, the real work begins:  the cleanup.  As with any war, this is the tedious part.  In these next two years there are no more glorious battles to be won, just a lot of grunt work.  As with any war, dealing with the aftermath is difficult.  It requires  hard work, focus, commitment and, make no mistake, it is dangerous.

One of the biggest obstacles is land mines.  These are not real land mines that can physically kill you but if the GOP doesn’t disarm them, they can kill the party’s chance for a victory in 2016.

The three biggest land mines standing between Republicans and victory in 2016 are:

The bad news? GOP’s same Spineless Leaders

So you think the fact that Republicans now control both houses of Congress there will be a rollback of Obama’s unpopular policies?  Guess again.

If you hit the snooze button for another two years, there will be a lot of whining and gnashing of teeth, but nothing important will get done.  Obamacare will still be the law of the land.  We will still be spending more than we take in and our immigration laws will still be a joke.

But wait a minute.  Isn’t this why the electorate gave the Republicans control of Congress?  What about the millions that were spent on the ads Repubican candidates were running touting these very things?  Aren’t these the very issues this election was supposed to be all about? Continue reading “The bad news? GOP’s same Spineless Leaders” →