OOPS

I must admit this proposed Earmark moratorium in the Senate Republican Conference (SRC) has me in a bind.

When I wrote the article before I should have seen the writing on the wall. Once Sen. DeMint put out the proposition against earmarks, there was no stopping it. In this political environment even those opposed understood that to not vote for it would be way more harmful to them and the party. What I didn’t like was the way I was being treated.

People were acting towards me like I was in favor of earmarks; I’m learning what the baby feels like when it’s thrown out with the bath water. Or more fittingly I’m feeling like the messenger getting shot for carrying the wrong message.

Either way I don’t like it. But then again in a free country I don’t have to.

One more time, I HATE EARMARKS. I applaud the house under Boehner’s efforts to cut out earmarks. I will fight in the trenches alone if need be to ban earmarks. I will back any effort to have separate votes on each and every spending bill – alone and by themselves – without adding all the extra spending to it.

One more time, I LOVE JIM DEMINT. I contributed to his Senate fund wholeheartedly and rejoiced when most of his candidates won.

For the first time, I’LL KEEP MY RESEARCH TO MYSELF.
Let me give you an example to illustrate what I mean.
In the run-up to the 2008 Presidential Election I was working the County GOP HQ handing out signs for the candidates etc. when in walked a pissed off UAW union member. He said he was a lifelong Democrat but wanted all the Republican signs we had to put in his yard.

I was curious so I asked him why and he said that at a union meeting he had asked a simple question about something Candidate Obama had said. This guy told me he was just asking a question but everyone got angry with him. So he shut up and went home to bed to forget about it. When he and his wife woke up the next day his yard was covered in Obama/Biden signs. That he didn’t forget.

I felt like that guy when I asked fellow Tea Partiers about the arguments Inhofe and McConnell were using in favor of earmarks. I was asking for reasoned responses based on facts and I got the same kind of “How Dare You” response my new Union friend received.

In my previous article I did make a bad judgment call in that the “moratorium” was approved by the Republican Senate Conference. McConnell changed his mind.
Sen. DeMint has been proven right again. I applaud that and I applaud the outcome. My fear had been that McConnell would carry the day and the Republicans would be seen to be in favor of earmarks. This was a nonbinding vote of only the Republicans and only in the Senate. I did not think it was the right way to go about it. I wanted to see it come up on the floor of the Senate and voted on there.

This time the power and rhetoric forced a good conclusion that however, is not why I’ve been fighting for grassroots government. If I had wanted to follow thuggish ideology blindly I would have voted liberal. Like my UAW friend however I’m always willing to travel the road less traveled to try to get the facts under the rhetoric. For that right I will keep fighting. I hope the Tea Parties will continue to be my ally in this.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative


RSC Chairman Lamar Alexander put out this release last Wed about what he is also proposing at the upcoming RSC meeting.

-----release------
http://alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=056defea-23f0-417b-b153-49db66833738&ContentType_id=778be7e0-0d5a-42b2-9352-09ed63cc4d66&Group_id=80d87631-7c25-4340-a97a-72cccdd8a658
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This resolution goes directly to the cause of overspending. This too will cut government spending and intrusion into our life.

Earmarks.

The Republican Earmark Moratorium

Why it will fail; and Where DeMint went wrong.




During the last Senate session a ban on earmarks was voted on by the entire Senate and was defeated. Everyone knew it would lose even if all the Republicans voted for it so they did.

They looked good then and can say today that they were part of the Conservative Revolution that swept the last election.

Now there is another vote by some Senators coming up on Earmarks. This is quite a different vote however.

At first blush, I said great, we have to start cutting spending and stopping corruption through lobbyists etc. that banning earmarks seem to facilitate. I also am a fan of Sen. Jim DeMint who put forth this measure because of the tireless effort he made during the last election backing Conservative candidates early on when no one else gave them a chance; his proposal in the RSC seemed like a “slam dunk”.

That is the courageous leadership I was looking for.

Then another Senator whom I greatly admire for his courage came out against DeMint’s “earmark moratorium” that is in front of the Senate Republican Caucus (RSC). That Senator is Jim Inofe from Oklahoma. I admire him because he is one of the most conservative Senators and he was the lone, loud and unafraid voice against the whole “Global Warming” hysteria – Way before it was cool.

That also is the courageous leadership I was looking for.

The link below from Politico sums up the obvious.
-----link-----
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/44975.html
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Now I’ll sum up the obvious.
1. This is only a vote within the Republican Caucus or Conference as they call it.
A. The Dems will still be free to earmark to our pocketbooks disdain.
2. It will be a secret vote so the public will not know who voted for or against the measure only the outcome will be known.
A. Individuals will not be held accountable, but the Party will be next time they try to raise this issue.
3. The outcome will be non binding on the members.
A. This will lead directly charges of Republican hypocrisy by the left and they will be right.

Obviously I’m conflicted. I assume some of the RSC are also wondering what to do. Initially it was Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell who came out against the DeMint moratorium. That was the first voice of dissent I heard and I immediately chalked it up to the power struggle going on within the Republican Party between the insurgent “Tea Party”/conservative wing led by Sen. DeMint and the established Republican leadership aka Sen. McConnell. I obviously sided with DeMint.

But when I saw Sen. Inofe coming out against it and on the side of McConnell I knew it was more than just a political power squabble.

According to Politico, Sen. Inofe is passing around to the members of the RSC a 20 page essay on the reasons not to vote for the moratorium. I would love to read it, but it hasn’t been made public yet.

-----link-----
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1110/45017.html
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I still am conflicted, but I understand the issues better now after some research.
I don’t know the workings of the SRC but I hope they have a way that DeMint and Inofe/McConnell can compromise and change the measure to one that would force a vote in the entire Senate on Earmarks that will be open and binding on all members.

A statement needs to be made against earmarks, but this proposal as written seems as if it could actually be unproductive in the fight against earmarks and a distraction in the main fight - to cut spending.

The first Politico article I linked seemed confident that the DeMint measure would pass. Since Senator Jim Inofe joined the fray I’m sure the measure will go down to defeat. The reason I believe this is that now Sen. Inofe has provided the political and more importantly the ideological cover to those who needed it to vote against it.

The second Politico article I linked talked of Sen. Inofe promising very specific spending cuts in a bill he was going to introduce Monday. This tells me that he thinks the whole earmark thing is detracting from some very “specific” spending cuts the Senate should be taking up. On this I agree too.

We should keep our eyes on the target which is to shrink the size of government in our lives. Until we have the Senate and the Presidency behind us we must not get distracted with the likes of this. Yes Earmarks increase spending but cutting only Republican earmarks seems counterproductive. We would be better served to cut all earmarks including the executive earmarks in the likes of those found in the Stimulus Bill.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Charge

I would like to echo what George F Will talked about in his article for the Washington Post Nov. 7th, entitled “Democrats in Denial”. I would however take his assumption and expand the scope of the people in denial to include the Republican apparatus in general. Below is the link to Mr. Will’s article

-----Link-----
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/05/AR2010110507653.html
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From his vantage point overlooking the national scene I agree with his assumption. From my vantage point at the local County level, I see however more than Democrats are in denial as to the just ended election.

There seems to be an undercurrent about the role the Tea Party played in this election throughout the Republican Party. Both the self congratulatory literature put out by the State Party and the narrative of their representatives at the County level do not mention the Tea Party, either pro or con as to its role in the past election. I might add here to buttress my credibility that at the county level in my neck of the woods, the Tea Party was responsible for half of the precinct delegates at our Republican County Convention, and I would add 3/4ths of the excitement about this election and 4/5 of the new faces at the County meetings came directly from the Tea Party or were motivated by what the Tea Party was saying. I was there and know full well how late the State and County Party came to the Tea Party table.

Most of the education of the electorate was spread or disseminated not by the GOP but through the hundreds of individual Tea Parties throughout the country. The anger and frustration of the electorate was focused upon and brought to the fore not by the Republicans but by the Tea Party. This was done almost exclusively through the “Alternate Media” in a remarkable grass roots effort. This buzz was created and fanned by the Tea Party through what the Republican Party dared not do in its blinkered effort to “go along to get along” with the Liberals; namely protest rallies and an in your face to anyone from whatever party who told lies.

I remember when the American Dream was more than two cars in every garage. I remember when the freedom of the average citizen to say what was on their mind to their representative was an integral part of the American Dream. Before the Tea Party brought that to the fore at the rallies and Town Halls, we had forgotten that. Not only forgotten but let it be suborned for “the common good”.

Individual rights and individual freedom is what this election was all about. That is what the Tea Party is all about. That is why people got excited about a talk Alan West gave in October 2009. This talk crystallized the emotions freedom loving Americans had about the “over reaching federal government”.



Here was someone not saying why we as a nation can’t do something, why it is too complicated to undertake, why we must “go along to get along”. Lt. Colonel West was reminding us of the American Dream before McDonalds; reminding us of the power each and every one of us has if we choose to use it.

Well a lot of citizens did flex that Freedom muscle once and then over and over - through repetition that muscle grew. We also had a perfect tool, the alternate media and we exercised that too till we refined our initial attempts into something beautiful.

I think Allen West would agree that now is not the time for newly elected Representatives of the people to “go along to get along” but rather to fix bayonets and charge.

After the charge we will have the perfect opportunity to pick up the pieces and with a clear conscience – with resolve – Finish Taking America back in 2012

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Party of No We Don't Want To Do Nothing.

We think therefore we are, to paraphrase Rene Descartes.

To that I would add,

We act then only do we become.

Both are scary to politicians when they think of voters doing either, let alone both.

Both presume an individual freedom to think and do as one wishes, in the context of this blog – simply people can change only through thought AND action.

Voters this time round said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what we can do for our own damn selves".

Both thinking and doing are necessary for real change to occur.

So far both Obama and Boehner have thought and spoken of Change but it will only be through action that we will tell if they are serious; or whether we need to take action again against one or the other or both.

What was new this election was that the citizens not only thought but by an increased number were willing to actually do the work to affect change.

Since the election I’ve heard a lot about how the new majority in the US House should consolidate their new found power so they basically can do the same to the Liberals as has been done to them.

We saw this in ‘94’ and we saw what happened.

This is nothing new in the history of man. When given power people and parties abuse it – Gleefully. Revenge is sweet I must confess. Now I must learn to say Enough is Enough for the Revenge. Time to get to work.

What was new under the sun was the American Constitution which came to grips with that reality and tried to set up a framework that would work against itself enough to keep the power base split.

Their magic ingredient, the glue that was to hold that government together was the citizenry – the people. You remember that quaint phrase “We the People”? From citizen militias to citizen office holders, to citizens leading our schools, business leaders and just plain everyday people.

It was the founders dream that all citizens would take part in the governance of our Republic, to keep themselves part of the system. We need to keep things simple, not because citizens are simple but because complexity exists to hide hidden agendas. Elites are formed through the use of the idea that the problems we face are so complicated, only they have the wisdom and skill to steer a proper course. I think the election showed us one thing above all else, we the people know we are not on the proper course.

While this complexity may be true in laser surgery, it is not in regard to political decisions such as earmarks. In this example the “complexity” excuse is merely a subterfuge to keep doing the same ole same ole.

Does anyone still think that the 2500 pages of ObamaCare couldn’t have been a bit shorter? Does anyone still think the complexity of this bill is not hiding a hidden agenda along with enough extra unrelated pork to sink a battleship?

Talking or “speech making” is another good analogy where simplicity denotes truth and complexity usually means someone is hiding something.

Listen for example to a Reagan or Churchill or a Lincoln speech then compare them to an Obama, Neville Chamberlain or a Douglas speech and see which man you believe – which man leaves you with a feeling that this can be done – whatever it is.

This new majority in the House needs to lay the groundwork to get things done by reforming the rules for example; then learn how to get things done by actually doing them.

I voted for these public servants because I want them as well as myself to be able to read and understand the bills that become law.

The Speaker to be, John Boehner caught some flak for stating how difficult it will be to change how congress works. He is right and that truth seems simple enough.

Simple is not always easy. The power brokers hate simplicity.

I like it – so what?

I voted, that’s what. It was simple enough, I would ask no more of whom I voted for.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

No I don't want to do nothing.

Thinking

I just finished listening to Thomas Sowell being interviewed. The program was long and I’ve embedded it below but the very last sentence by Dr. Sowell was “It doesn’t matter how smart you are, unless you stop and think.”

The entire interview was well worth watching; but that last sentence seemed to epitomize the difference between what has made America great and what is breaking it down.

I/We have all seen some really smart people who seem “dumb as a board” and also if you think back you will remember a person you considered dumb come who came up with something pretty smart. Invariably that which accomplished either end result was thinking or the lack thereof.

Thinking by my definition is what one does when he/she steps back from the reality of the moment and decides which path to continue upon. That ability to step back and think is a key in therapies from AA to post traumatic stress disorder. Thinking is the one ability we have that allows us to control our environment instead of being controlled by it.

Thinking is the one thing that is ours alone, it is what defines us as an individual.
Thinking is the key to the concept of individual freedom and responsibility.
Without using our ability to think, we as a people of a self governing nation turn into a herd of sheep being herded by whatever name you give the leader as Thomas Sowell pointed out.

In sympathy with Dr. Sowell, all around me I see examples of us falling into the trap of not thinking. When we or people in power put off fixing things that are wrong because we/they say the problem is too complicated; I see someone who is not willing to do the work within our brain of thinking, then following through with the work of our bodies.

We are all busy with life and have little time to play with politics. That is the trap. Someone offers to do that thinking for us and we say great, go for it.

People are waking up. It is time for us to start thinking again to start working again to start again demanding those we put in charge do what we want.

Problems have solutions. Perhaps those solutions are not perfect but neither are we. In real life we get nowhere striving for perfection, but we can come a long way if we continue to make progress in all we do.

I possit that perfection should be found in the why of what we do.

A corollary to “I think therefore I am” could be “I think therefore I can control myself” or perhaps “I think therefore I can be free”. Thinking goes to the crux of why we claim to have inalienable rights. We have been given the ability to think for ourselves; upon the shoulders of that ability/right stand the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Whether we take advantage of those rights depends upon our ability and willingness to think.

The work of the brain is thinking, after that the body has to do the work to make the thinking into reality. My favorite Drucker quote comes into play here.

“Unless a decision has “degenerated into work” it is not a decision; it is at best a good intention.” Peter F Drucker, “The Effective Executive” pp114 Harper Collins paper back edition, 2006.

Sounds like a lot of work, but such is life.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

Last Throes

I was saddened last night reading about the First Lady stooping to race baiting.

Across the board the left is losing the argument about who should control the country - the government or “We the People”. Even some of it’s old allies are turning against them.

The fear is mounting. So is the name calling.

I was also embarrassed for those still blaming the ills of the country along racially based lines. They could do better, on numbers alone they should at least fall back to the “class warfare” model. In this economy they would pick up more members.

The preposterousness of the First Black First Lady of the United States still trying to make the case that people who oppose her and her husband need to be fought along racial lines was glaring. An unspoken trust violated.

As the Barack Obama said about transparency while running to become President; the light of day is the best disinfectant. The First Lady’s recent remarks to the NAACP and that organizations stance about the people in Tea Parties indeed let in the light of day as to the motivation for her to call on black people to “increase intensity”.

That motivation seems to be blatantly political.

The desperation of the Left as it sees its support among the public disintegrate in the "light of day" coming from the alternative media and the growing Tea Party movement is becoming palpable.

The racism charge, always a ploy of last resort is being taken up by all the different groups of the left, in a desperate effort to revitalize their old coalition. This link tells not only of the NAACP’s effort to paint the Tea Partiers as racist but also their plan to gather 170 other groups. From the above link, “The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in coordination with 170 other groups, including labor unions, is planning a protest march in Washington, D.C., Oct. 10 as the next step in building momentum against the Tea Party”.

The Tea Parties simply need to do what they have done so far and that is not to overreact but simply and truthfully debunk the charges with the "Light of Day"

The left's coalition should have taken the vaunted slogan of “Change” to heart and changed with the mood of the people and lived up to the campaign promises. Instead they seem determined to fight the People on every issue from immigration to transparency to free markets.

They also seem determined to prove the basic truth that “power corrupts” and its corollary “absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

Come November we will see if the people can get rid of the “absolute” part – restore some balance in government.

Again the fear the left has of the Tea Party is palpable, the desperation intense and turning to name calling.

The Tea Party is used to it as the personal insults of Sarah Palin and her children and family attest to. But more to the point the fear the left is of losing the high ground on their agenda of “Big Government control over all aspects of our lives”. Make no mistake they are losing that due to that agenda which is thoroughly getting disinfected and debunked by the “light of day” brought by the Tea Parties, the alternative media and more recently by the MSM and some less than radical Democrats especially those wishing to be elected.

As Mr. Zuckerman noted in US News and World Report last week; “A year and a half ago Obama was walking on water. Today he is barely treading water. Then, his soaring rhetoric enraptured the nation. Today, his speeches cannot lift him past a 45 percent approval rating.”

-----link-----
http://politics.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2010/07/02/mort-zuckerman-obama-is-barely-treading-water.html
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The left is doing what it does so well and that is trying to turn the issues of its opponents against them and claiming those issues for themselves.

The recent uproar over the dropping of the open and shut case against the New Black Panthers being a case in point. The Tea Party and majority of Americans are making an obvious case of racism and or voter fraud against the Panthers. Some are thinking the NAACP should be passing a resolution calling for the outing of racist members of its own membership; has instead called for the Tea Parties to oust their racists.

How’s that working for the Left???

Gary Langer of ABC polling in a study of racism in the Tea Party finds that the polling does not support the idea.

-----link-----
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenumbers/2010/07/the-naacp-the-tea-party-and-the-question-of-racism.html
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Even the Main Stream Media is seeing “the light of day” and starting to not be so biased in order to survive. (Free Markets will out. LOL)

As President Obama is bemoaning, “The light of day” is indeed a powerful disinfectant.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

A BIG PS Notice the next day questioner talking about a stake in who wins the House, or more aptly saying "Say it ain't so Joe" (LOL) Another new meaning to unbiased reporting.

Right to Survive

What can be done through diplomacy?
How can diplomacy be effective?



Israel has proven itself time and again to be an effective negotiator, an effective user of diplomacy.

They (Israel) may soon accomplish behind the scenes what most other major powers have failed to do. Simply stated they are working through diplomatic channels behind the scenes to put a leash on Iran’s nuclear threat.

Israel has used the nuclear threat as leverage to put Iran on another leash as far as their stated public desire to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

Throughout their short history Israel has had to use force or the threat of its use to protect itself. Israel was founded in an area surrounded by countries that would rather have Israel not exist. Tiny Israel has from the start accepted the concept that they needed to be in a state of constant readiness for war. Their citizenry (men and women) are in the military and are armed.

The double edged sword of the threat of violence on one hand keeps Israel doing all it can to prevent confrontation. The other side of the sword is that for the threat of force to keep the enemy at bay, it must be a potent force that Israel is willing to use if facing an imminent attack as well as an actual one.

To survive Israel has been forced to use their perceived weakness (their smallness) as a strength. Due to their geographic and numerical “smallness” their lines of communication with its militia are short and efficient as the last Israeli/Arab war has shown. Their ability to adapt quickly is legendary. Israel has also used its underdog (David and Goliath) status to unify its people quickly in time of crisis.

The recent forced boarding of an Iranian sent ship to Gaza was a test of the Israeli resolve to determine their own destiny. In the face of worldwide condemnation they did what they thought best for their own defense and as the article below states; the end result was to stave off future attempts.

Below is a list of some sources, scroll down to see the chronology of how the Iranians threat to send another “Aid Ship” played out and was thwarted.

-----link-----
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2541341/posts
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The World and particularly the US has been trying through diplomacy for quite awhile now to get Iran to quit and dismantle their nuclear weapon capabilities. The Arab states around Iran have been as always (Remember the Iran Iraq war) cautious of Iran and their threatened hegemony over the region.

Our President who campaigned upon his ability to sit down and talk turkey with the Iranians has failed to make any headway and is increasingly being seen as not only ineffective in his efforts but amateurish on the world stage.

Yet while so much bungling has been going on, Israel the small focused and beleaguered country has seemingly been making some pretty large behind the scenes inroads.

As the link below attests, Saudi Arabia is building on Saudi soil a military base for the Israelis for no other logical reason than to give Israel an easier platform to attack Iran.

-----link-----
http://www.conservativeoutpost.com/israel_brink_reported_secret_base_near_tabuk_saudi_arabia?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ConservativeOutpost+%28Conservative+Outpost%29
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Below is a map of Saudi-Arabia and if you look up in the upper left corner of Saudi you’ll see Tabuk which is where the base is being built. While it is not on the Iran/Saudi border, as the article says it puts Israeli helicopters within easier reach of Iran.

-----Map-----
http://www.maplandia.com/saudi-arabia/
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In the defense of the US we have recently beefed up our presence in the Persian Gulf. As to what role the threat of an Israeli attack played in that decision I’ll leave to the reader. It seems clear to me that without Israel and their threatening posture regarding their defense, the US would not have had the ability to get into this position to protect our interests in the region. If our President claims diplomatic success; I’ll leave the reader free again to decides who get the credit. I’ll tell you Israel could care less, they are doing what they need to do to survive not reading poll numbers.

In the video below, once you get past the Iranian talking points; you will notice near the end of the interview that the speaker is seemingly unaware that Saudi-Arabia is helping Israel build a military base. It would seem that not only are Israel and the US the only would be the aggressors but other Middle East states may help or at least not get in the way of a pre-emptive attack on Iran.



While I care how America is viewed in the world. The two really important things that matter are these.

1. Israel has the right to protect itself
2. Iran’s nuclear threat needs to be contained
For all the blustering this administration has done about diplomacy, it is small outnumbered Israel that has forced the issue through what Reagan said during the Goldwater run about “peace through strength”. President Reagan took that philosophy and with that idea broke the USSR winning the cold war.

-----Reagan-----
http://www.entertonement.com/clips/htlyncqdcn--Peace-through-strengthRonald-Reagan-A-Time-for-Choosing-The-Speech-
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The USSR had thousands of nuclear missiles aimed, fueled and targeted at us just a button push away.

Perhaps we need to remember how that felt and what we did about it before we disparage small Israel further.

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative