My Reply to Steve

Thoughtful, calm, intelligent and reflective are qualities that my friend Steve has possessed the entire time I've know him.  It's likely he's been this way all his life.  And, he has great balance in his life, able to separate politics from his family and personal life.  He keeps things in balance.  I urge you all to read his blog, The Peripatetic Blogger.  He generally posts only once a week,and only after great reflection and analysis.  He loves the Oklahoma Sooners and the Dallas Cowboys.

He wrote a blog this week which, in part, chastised some Democrats for breaking ranks with the President over the Affordable Care Act.  He feels they should "all hang together."  Indeed I'm tempted to agree with him, especially on the "hanging" part.  But, hey, I don't want to be accused of pulling a Martin Bashir, so please disregard that last comment.

I wrote a short response to Steve that I felt deserved repeating here.  In short I don't ever feel that Party Loyalty should ever interfere with good judgement.  Here is my response to Steve:

Dear Steve, 

I believe the President Obama had the very best of intentions.

And I know that our Congress is badly broken and that caused The ACA to be written in back rooms and passed late at night by a Congress that never read the bill or had the time needed to resolve potential defects.

And, even though not a single Republican voted for the act, they deserve equal blame for the dysfunction that forced Pelosi and Reid to act in a hurried and secretive manner.

Regardless of all this, the bill is nothing short of a disaster. Forget the website as that will get fixed. It’s not the problem anyway. As a result of the ACA more people, not fewer, will be uninsured. Most people will pay substantially more for insurance, not less. The blow to the middle class, financially, will be nearly unimaginable. Meanwhile the rich, who had Cadillac Plans to begin with, will be virtually unaffected.

This will all get fixed, eventually. But, in the meantime, the ACA doesn’t deserve the support of any self respecting Democrat (or Republican). Let’s admit our mistakes, avoid placing blame, and get on with the job of repairing the system.

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Here is just one of the first (and certainly the most ironic) examples of the financial disaster awaiting the middle class: Woman Hailed by President as Obamacare Success Story Now Can't Afford Obamacare

Harry Reid

Sadly, there is a thin line between dishonesty and illegality.  I'm guessing Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) hasn't crossed that line.  But if you or I or anyone in the private sector had done the things he has done, we would be in jail.

Just one small example from The National Review Online article by Betsy Woodruff: 

"On December 20, 2005, [Harry Reid] invested$50,000 to $100,000 in the Dow Jones U.S. Energy Sector Fund (IYE), which closed that day at $29.15. The companies whose shares it held included ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, and ConocoPhillips. When he made a partial sale of his shares on August 19, 2008, during congressional recess, IYE closed at $41.82. Just a month later, on September 17, Reid was working to bring to the floor a bill that the Joint Committee on Taxation said would cost oil companies — including those in the fund — billions of dollars in taxes and regulatory fees. The bill passed a few days later, and by October 10, IYE’s shares had fallen by 42 percent, to $24.41, for a host of reasons."

Read the entire article.

Harry survived the last election because his opponent, Tea Party upstart Sharon Angle was sadly incompetent.  The voters will ultimately decide Harry's fate, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him retire before the next election.

Wag the Dog

As I say at the top of every page of this blog, stick to your principles and NOT political parties which manipulate facts in order to increase their vote count, and ultimately, their power.


One of the biggest , most used, tricks of political parties is to create a false story to detract from a real one.  Right now Gas Prices and a still faltering economy are not good for Democrats or President Obama.


So what to do?


Well, thanks to a very minor amount of blabber mouth slut-shouting help from Rush Limbaugh, Democrats have created an entire non-existent "War on Women."   Curiously, Republicans, most women and virtually all independents haven't fallen for the ruse.  I'm slightly surprised.  The public is so often easily misled.


Ahhhh.... but Progressives? They've fallen for the ploy hook, line and sinker.  They've fired up their virtual presses and launched their vast army of followers into the Twittersphere.


To keep the progressive armies fully motivated, Senator Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats have set up a Kabuki Theater around another completely false meme: Republicans are now supposedly against the very "Violence Against Women Act" they originally passed and have overwhelmingly supported for two renewals.


Here's how Harry is manipulating a false story:

The Democrats quietly and secretly included four new “poison pill” provisions into this years proposed renewal.  These odd "poison pills" were never in the act before. These provisions have nothing to do with violence against women or the Act itself, but instead deal with Immigration and an massive increase in Visa’s, Budget Office Accounting (loosens rules in a time of budget deficits???) and funding of third party providers.


ONCE AGAIN LET ME EMPHASIZE NOT ONE OF THESE WEIRD PROVISIONS HAS EVER BEEN IN THE BILL BEFORE. But they're there now, ugly and festering.


Next Harry Reid sets up a demand for a very quick quick vote with limited debate and absolutely no amendments – no chance to remove or modify the poison pills. WHY? Reid knows that the very deliberative  Senate, with its 60 vote threshold, will NEVER pass any bill under these circumstances.


Here's the fun part!  Harry Reid DOES NOT WANT THIS RUBE GOLDBERG OF A BILL TO PASS. But he does want to force the Republicans to be the bad guys and vote against the bill just so he can CLAIM (completely falsely) that Republicans are against VAWA.


Later, after all the stupid political posturing is over, Reid will allow the real bill to come before the Senate and it will pass with the overwhelming support from Republicans it has ALWAYS enjoyed.


This is not an anti-Democratic Party rant. Historically, Republicans have played the same game. It's often called Legislative sausage making.


What bothers me is that so many folks believe the false meme and repeat it, never once bothering to learn the facts.