Politics – Page 133 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Voting the Wallet: Dwight Evans in Trouble?

Capitol Ideas is reporting that Dwight Evans could be in trouble this coming election. Those of us in the shooting community in PA certainly know Rep. Evans well, as he’s one of the leaders of our opposition. Evans has been in his seat as long as I can remember, so the idea that he might be in trouble shows just how pissed off people are over economic conditions, and the African-American communities that Rep. Evans represents have been hit the hardest by the financial crisis.

Home ownership losses among the black community are of historic proportions, and they’ve taken a larger pounding on their net worth than any other community. That must be why Obama’s favorability ratings are slipping even among black voters. I don’t care what color you are, or what language you speak, or what country you originally came from, there’s a universal truth in politics that when you boil away all the bullshit, people vote their pocketbooks. Something like a financial crisis of this magnitude has a tendency to boil away an awful lot of bullshit, and make things a lot more real.

I’ve never been of the opinion that there’s any politician that owes me a living. Obama didn’t start the Financial Crisis, and things would still suck pretty bad had McCain been elected instead of Obama. What I do blame Obama for is passing a massive, expensive, and incomprehensible entitlement program in the middle of a financial crisis. What I’ve been noticing in the job market is an abundance of contract positions, and a relative dearth of full time positions. Those hiring full time are taking their time about it. It’s my opinion that no one wants to hire full-time people because no one has any real clue how much Obamacare is going to cost, and the mandates on employers are not insignificant.

In my volunteering with NRA, I’ve talked to businesspeople who say they have work, but don’t want to hire because they have no idea what they are going to be paying for health care for workers in a few years. This is going to affect lower wage workers a lot more than upper middle class professionals who already had gold plated health plans.

Politicians of all stripes are going to have to face angry voters in the 2012 elections. Dwight Evans will certainly not be alone. I just hope some of the people replacing these long time left-wing politicos start to understand that the money for free lunches has run out, and the only way we’re getting back on track is to get out of the way, and give people the opportunity to make their own living. That doesn’t mean we can’t solve most people’s health care anxieties, or at least ease them, but those solutions are going to have to come with the understanding about free lunches.

UPDATE: Speaking of easing people’s health care anxieties, repealing this stupid law, and letting employees pay for their own health care with pre-tax money would be a good start. My main anxiety is that my health care is tied to my job. Since the job loss, I got a cheap, major medical plan. A plan, that, ironically, will be illegal under Obamacare. Glad I didn’t become unemployed after 2014.

Bush Did it Too

That seems to be the latest deflection from the Administration. I’m not really all that concerned about whether there were guns being walked during the Bush Administration too. If that’s the case, a pox on the Bush Administration as well. But Bush isn’t in office, Obama is, and Holder decided to let it continue rather than stopping it. Sorry guys, but trying to deflect the blame isn’t going to cut it. You want to go after Gonzalez or Mukasey? Be my guest. But this isn’t a get out of jail free card.

Disrespect for the First Amendment …

… apparently runs in the McCain family.

A Little Touchy Are We?

Instapundit is reporting that CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson was screamed at by the White House over her reporting on Fast and Furious:

Â They will tell you that I’m the only reporter–as they told me–that is not reasonable. They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, andÂ they think I’m unfair and biasedÂ by pursuing it.

I guess they want her in the tank along with all the other papers mentioned. It’s worth noting that at one time, reporters felt it was their responsibility to hold the government and its officials accountable. I guess that time has passed.

Ms. Attkisson better watch it, or she’ll get the Chicago treatment. I hope she’s been meticulous and scrupulous about her tax returns.

UPDATE: House GOP is calling for a special prosecutor to investigate Eric Holder. This is coming from Judiciary. Maybe this is why the White House and DOJ are so testy.

Holder Knew Sooner than He Testified

From CBS News:

New documents obtained by CBS News show Attorney General Eric Holder was sent briefings on the controversial Fast and Furious operation as far back as July 2010. That directly contradicts his statement to Congress.

Of course, the White House is claiming they never knew this operation was about letting guns walk. Holder is also claiming he didn’t know details. TheÂ documents released by the White House this weekend would appear to show that if the White House wasn’t aware guns were being walked, they are pretty stupid:

As CBS News has reported, the email exchanges between Newell and O’Reilly lasted for more than a month. Among the documents produced is an email Newell sent O’Reilly with an “arrow chart reflecting the ultimate destination of firearms we intercepted and/or where the guns ended up.”

It was mostly the latter since, as we have documented, ATF agents were ordered by superiors not to interdict the weapons traffic, surveillance would be called off, and requested interdiction teams were not sent to arrest the traffickers when opportunities to do so arose. Most of the guns were allowed to “walk” into Mexico.

I’m wondering if Congress has enough now to at least impeach Holder.

A President who Doesn’t Golf?

Rick Perry says he doesn’t golf, but I heartily approve of the hobby he chose instead:

More Bad News for Our Opponents

New Rasmussen poll out:

… the latest national telephone survey finds that 39% consider it a positive when a political candidate is described as being â€œpro-gun.â€

Only 27% see this as a negative description, while another 30% say it lies somewhere in between. (To see survey question wording,Â click here.)

Of course, this seems to vary between Democrats and Republicans:

Naturally, there are strong partisan divides on both labels. While most Republicans (62%) and a plurality of voters not affiliated with either party (42%) sees being labeled â€œpro-gunâ€ as positive, 49% of Democrats see that as negative.

But it’s interesting that even among Democrats, you can’t get half of them to describe being pro-gun as negative. I’d really hate to be our opponents these days. It’s nothing but bad news chasing after more bad news, from their point of view.

Latest in Fast and Furious

Fox seems to be moving farther away from the “botched operation” that’s been prevalent in the “in the tank for the Administration” news outlets, and understanding that Fast and Furious was working exactly the way it was intended to work. Here’s more evidence from Fox:

In June 2010, however, the ATF dramatically upped the ante, making the U.S. government the actual “seller” of guns.

According to documents obtained by Fox News, Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy six semi-automatic Draco pistols — two of those were purchased at the Lone Wolf gun store in Peoria, Ariz. An unusual sale, Dodson was sent to the store with a letter of approval from David Voth, an ATF group supervisor.

So taxpayer money was being used. The article goes on to note that this wasn’t your standard undercover sting. Agent Dodson is essentially reporting that he was ordered to let the weapons go. No attempt at all was made to interdict the weapons, or the people trafficking them, on order from ATF superiors.

I’d really like to know how all these gun violence organizations continue to dodge, deflect, and continue to make excuses for this. There is a world of difference between guns that, through criminal theft, or through an unlawful gun purchase, happen to end up in criminal hands, and guns that are deliberately being trafficked to criminals with the full aid and blessing of our government. Where is their outrage? They should be joining our call to get to the bottom of this scandal and try to find out who’s responsible. The fact that they are not should tell you everything you need to know about what they really stand for.

Fast and Furious Not Getting Play in GOP Field

The Daily Caller is upset that the GOP isn’t saying anything about the widening scandal involving Fast and Furious. Now we have tapes, just like in Watergate. Today comes news that Customs has seized 30 guns headed south into Mexico. Anyone bother to check to see if any of those 30 were Fast and Furious guns. Also note Reuters continuing the meme that this was just a botched operation, rather than a deliberate effort. It’s pretty clear Fast and Furious was working exactly how it was intended to work.

It’s sad enough that the media is, for the most part, completely ignoring Fast and Furious. There’s no reason for the entire GOP field to ignore it too.

Does Anyone Remember the Movie “Brewster’s Millions?”

It was an 80s movie starring Richard Pryor, where he had to spend 30 million in 30 days, in order to get a 300 million inheritance. But the catch was that he couldn’t have anything to show for it at the end of 30 days. He also couldn’t just give the money away. I keep thinking of that when reading about the Solyndra scandal.

Part of me feels for the people who were let go. Our management blew through 130 million, instead of 500, but some of the stories the employees are now speaking about in regard to waste sound eerily familiar. Nonetheless, it took us ten years to burn through our money in an industry that’s inherently quite costly. It’s hard for me to even fathom how a 1100 person manufacturing company burns through a cool half-billion in a year without just taking 100 dollar bills and using them for toilet paper, or as filters for the coffee machine, and even then I think it’d be tough. These people clearly put the management of my previous employer to shame, when it comes to wasting cash.

The other thing that upsets me about Solyndra is the fact that the GOP had to go blow the whole impeachment thing on Bill Clinton for getting a blow job in the oval office and lying about it. Giving a half-billion dollars of our money to your political cronies to take a match to is exactly the kind of thing I want to see a President standing before Congress in chains over. But that’s not going to happen. No, they blew that wad. Thanks guys.