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Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 | 2:01 a.m.
Another view?
View more of the Las Vegas Sun's opinion section:
• Editorials - the Sun's viewpoint.
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In regard to Robert Blanner’s letter, “GOP hypocrisy in skipping Sandy aid”:
Why is it hypocrisy for the senators who voted against the final Sandy bill when they were trying to protect our tax money?
Mr. Blanner showed his dislike of senators of principle when it comes to giving away our tax dollars to areas not covered by the needs of the real victims of Sandy.
The 2005 hurricane relief bill for Katrina was probably not scrutinized as carefully as a 2012 relief bill because we have increased our national debt more than $8 trillion since that time.
Maybe if they had taken a closer look in 2005, they would have tried to tighten the beneficiaries of that relief bill. Today, that is a necessity.
We can’t just keep passing a bill because it makes us feel good. Somebody needs to evaluate each bill and ensure that it benefits only those who actually need it, and I am thankful for 36 senators who tried to do just that.
Why didn’t the other senators try to preserve our dollars while providing relief for those who actually suffered from Sandy?
A PORK BILL
THAT WAS ALL IT WAS
PURE PORK
One has to understand where Blanner is coming from. It's not about Sandy, at all. It's about a leftist ideology that sees no bounds when it comes to throwing money at problems; particularly if it is someone elses money. Trillions spent on poverty "programs," yet poverty is higher today than ever before. Trillions spent on a public "education" system that is hopelessly broken and spews out more functional illiterates then ever before. Billions spent on the "homeless;" yet the number of "homeless" keeps on growing. Zillions spent on food stamps; yet there are now a record number of Americans, many slothful and greedy, receiving them. The insanity continues unabated by the guy with the Cheshire Cat grin, empty rhetoric and failed programs, along with his fellow travelers, because they buy the lower class parasites with "goodies" paid for by the working class; folks with honor, dignity, self-respect and the work ethic. A class, BTW, that is shrinking everyday.
"We can't just keep passing a bill because it makes us feel good."
There you go! Misery for everyone! The GOP can guarantee more legislation that makes us feel bad.
Discipline is what most people in DC lack. With our slow economy and our debt, legislation should be kept 'focused' on the task at hand, such as disaster relief, and expenditures should be considered separately and voted on separately. It's never been that way in DC, for either party, but times and circumstances have changed. DC needs to change too.
This change will not come voluntarily in DC. Americans will have to demand it... and so far, we haven't. If I am correct, the President tonight will call for more spending but will not call for less waste, less duplication, less fraud or more discipline in spending, and we will get more of the same.
It's sad that we keep accepting this lack of discipline and refusal to make tough choices, from all those we elect. Term Limits, Public Financing of Campaigns and Lobbying reform. We can start there.
Michael
Democrats like Reid and Pelosi are very good at spending other peoples' money. They think it grows on trees in endless supply. Time to retire both of them along with a host of others who spend taxpayer money like it's theirs. It's not. It's ours.
CarmineD
I think that it's a stretch to ascribe "principle" to the Congressmen who voted against Sandy relief, unless we include in the definition the "principle" of sticking it to your opponents at every opportunity. Take, for example, Rep. Palazzo Republican, Tea Party Branch] of Hattiesburg, MS. Voted against Sandy but was quick on the draw last week when his District was hit hard by a tornado. His office, in cooperation with local authorities, put out a list of what's needed. In addition to the usual and sundry the list includes replacing trees [oh, the waste], fixing museums and art galleries, upgrading or completely rebuilding "buildings at risk" which were not damaged but "do not meet contemporary standards of health and safety" as if a Tea Party Republican really cares about health and safety.
When the Tea Party Republicans take on something truly bloated that furthers their own interests....say military contracting which produces fast attack vessels whose hulls split under stress....I'll become a believer.
Pat says "When the Tea Party Republicans take on something truly bloated that furthers their own interests....say military contracting which produces fast attack vessels whose hulls split under stress....I'll become a believer."
Did you miss the sequester bill?
Even Obama wants to add back money for the military
Sequestration hypocrisy
Obama wants to get out of his own sequester deal by calling for more tax revenue by taking your deductions (charity and home interest) away? Pure hypocrisy. When conservative proposed deduction elimination as part of TAX REFORM Obama claimed it did not add up - the math did not work.
Obama say "I am prayed, eager and anxious to do a big deal." Well I am highly skeptical based on Obama track record.
Well tough - it was Obama's idea, Obama signed the bill, Obama failed to lead the Super-committee to a revised deal, and Obama had over a year to plan an orderly implementation.
Obama conceived the the sequester bill (The Obama Budget Control Act of 2011) to resolve the debt limit process in 2011 and Obama SIGNED THE SEQUESTER BILL August 2, 2011.
Furthermore the agreement established the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, sometimes called the "super committee", to produce deficit reduction legislation by November 23, 2011, that would be immune from amendments or filibuster - and yet Obama FAILED TO LEAD A DEAL TO AVOID SEQUESTER.
Every time a budget crisis comes along like the fiscal cliff Obama wants to use the sequester as hostage in another deal
Now in February 2013 after an 2012 election in which to win Obama took full credit for the budget reduction, Obama does not want to implement the budget reduction sequester bill he signed
Under Ronald Reagan,
"As a short-run strategy to reduce inflation and lower nominal interest rates, the U.S. borrowed both domestically and abroad to cover the Federal budget deficits, raising the national debt from $997 billion to $2.85 trillion. This led to the U.S. moving from the world's largest international creditor to the world's largest debtor nation."
"Reagan described the new debt as the "greatest disappointment" of his presidency." (From Wikipedia)
In our current political climate during the past 4 years, the American People are seeing House and Senate Republicans voting against items, and changing position, when President Obama agrees with them.
The more we see Republicans vote again items they once championed and believed in, and changing positions when President agrees with them, the more it become apparent that Race is at the heart of the decision making in the House of Representatives on the Republican side, as well in the Senate.
If the blue are states are lucky, the red moocher states will take Rick Perry's secession threat and run with it.
Except they won't. Why? Because red state blood-sucking parasites depend on their blue state hosts for survival.
"In the red states, government is cheaper, which means the people who live there pay lower taxes. But they also get a lot less in return. The unemployment checks run out more quickly and the schools generally aren't as good. Assistance with health care, child care, and housing is skimpier, if it exists at all. The result of this divergence is that one half of the country looks more and more like Scandinavia, while the other increasingly resembles a social Darwinist's paradise."
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/polit...
Republicans want to cut, cut cut until the whole country is equally poor, backwards and uneducated as their own moocher states.
Wow, I didn't realize that posters here had courses in mind reading and can predict what politicians do and why. Too bad they don't use this skill when they vote. Or do they?
CarmineD
Mr. Beckham you have it all wrong. They aren't protecting our tax dollars. If that were true why do they hand billions in taxes to corporations making huge profits, a military complex producing antiquated weaponry or congressional members supporting their family businesses? Those people on The Hill are far out of touch with Americans because their puppet masters are the ones pulling the strings via bribes (lobbying) and political donations. We still hear about the "job creators" who haven't created jack, but continue to suck the wealth out of our great nation. In 2010 93% of income gains went to the top one percent. Which is why we have a shrinking middle class heading into poverty with reduced purchasing power.
What a strange world we live in.
Some people actually believe that anyone that is a Republican is totally stupid, totally greedy, and wants everyone to be poor and dumb.
Other people believe that anyone that is a Democrat wants to turn America into a Socialist country and wants to support every lazy person that exists with other peoples money.
Neither view is accurate of course but that doesn't stop people from holding them.
Michael
Vernos - did you see the RJ articles by Steve Sebelious about Glass Steagall. Heller said during the campaign that he'd support re-instituting Glass Steagall, but now that he is elected..... nothing. Do you notice the complete silence by those in Congress (Republicans and Democrats) regarding Glass Steagall?
Just like when Shelley Berkeley supported the repeal of part of Glass Steagall in 1999, due to pressure from banking / investment house lobbyists, now those same lobbyists are telling Heller ---- just forget about Glass Steagall... or else... so he is.
Term Limits, Public Financing of Campaigns and Lobbying Reform. Unless a member of Congress is for all 3, they are not worth jack, no matter what letter is next to their name.
Michael
It does NOTHING to harp and digress about personalities (of legislators) and political affiliations. Let's deal with ISSUES. Katrina damaged levees which are a federal responsibility via the Corps of Engineers. The Sandy relief is "bailing out" cities and states and replacing infrastructure they didn't bother to maintain. The Sandy relief is NOT about helping homeowners.
wtplv - "Do you notice the complete silence by those in Congress (Republicans and Democrats) regarding Glass Steagall?"
Yes I do and that's why our political system is corrupt from the inside out, thier puppet masters are calling to do their bidding. I am a bit upset by Obama and Holder not going after the banks who financially raped the United States and european banks.
Roberta,
Your point is well taken but much too informed and nuanced for most to understand. People would need to understand the difference between infrastructure that is a government responsibility and that which is a city, County or State responsibility.
Just like at the Federal level, Americans for the most part don't even realize that many Cities, Counties and States take their tax dollars and don't even use them for such mundane and boring tasks such as maintaining and upgrading infrastructure.
It's sad but it's true and the Feds will bail almost anyone out these days...using borrowed and printed money.
Michael
Vernos,
Obama and the present Congress is little different than Bush and the previous Congresses in this regard. In all cases, the banks and investment houses and their lobbyists say 'jump' and our elected representatives say 'how high'?
This is why it saddens me so much when so many Americans still believe either elected Democrats or elected Republicans have our best interests at heart. We must break this system and Term Limits, Public Financing of Campaigns and Lobbying Reform are the essential tools we need.
We are never going to see that by re-electing people named Pelosi, Boehner, Cantor, Reid, McCain, Schumer, and many, many others.
Michael
Carmine.....
We already know where all of the money is.
republicans stash it in the Caymen Islands.
republicans fool no one.
I'm with you, Michael. Term limits are the answer. We need "citizen" representatives - not "professional" ones and, I believe, that is also what the Founders envisioned. If he or she cannot get the work done in 12 years, it should be "out of here!" And if he or she can get the work done, it should still be "out of here." Let some new blood with some new ideas take over.
The Republican'ts demand that we "reduce spending." There seems to be an exception made whenever their constituents or large donors want something. If you are not one of those, the mantra is "We can't POSSIBLY afford that! We MUST Reduce Spending NOW!"
That is where the hypocrisy rests. It's the good old "Do as I say, not as I do" schtick that is so popular among Republican'ts. And it's not just spending. Remember John Ensign? Remember his drive to "Protect Marriage!"? Remember how he protected his own marriage? It's all part of the Republican't philosophy.
Yes, renorobert, I remember John Ensign. He let all of us who believed in and voted for him down, no question there. But, I also remember John Edwards, "Sick Willie" Clinton, Anthony Weiner, and the Grand Daddy of all of them, Ted "Ladykiller" Kennedy, plus a score of others on both sides of the "Aisle" and I have no respect for any of them. To be so blinded by ideology that one cannot be disgusted by the flaws of their "heroes" is a real problem. We need to hold everyone, and I mean everyone, responsible for their actions, not just those whom we disagree with. To do otherwise shows the hypocrisy we harbor within. Take off the blinders, renorobert!