Tell Republicans to stand firm: No New Taxes

They call it the Fiscal Cliff. Falling off it is seen as disastrous to the U.S. economy and will cause us to fall back into recession. (Did we ever leave it?) If we do nothing to avert the cliff, we fall off on New Year's Eve.

But what is the Fiscal Cliff? Primarily, it is the end to the Bush Tax Cuts they band-aided back into law in December of 2010. It also includes expiration of the Payroll Tax Cut, which has little support from either side of the aisle. If you remember, it reduced the Social Security payroll deduction from 6.2% to 4.2% so workers would have a bit more take home pay. (Did you even notice?) However, it also reduced the amount of money flowing into the Social Security coffers--a bad idea for an entitlement already facing solvency issues. The $700 billion or so Doc Fix, military reductions, and some token spending cuts also part of the mix.

Our Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner wrote, Don't trade a cliff for an iceberg.  In it he points out,

Currently, the US debt is on track to reach 187 percent of GDP by 2035. But unlike Greece, there is no "Germany" to bail us out. If our debt reaches this level, an international economic crisis would ensue. 

The President and Congressional Democrats have called for a “balanced” approach to reducing the deficit. 

But their approach has been anything but balanced. The President’s “offer” included $1.6 trillion dollars in taxes and $400 billion in spending cuts. That’s neither balanced nor helpful for our economy. When spending on entitlements is 62 percent of our budget, the President’s focus on tax increases is not going to cut it.

We can’t solve our debt problem without economic growth, and tax hikes could cost 710,000 jobs according to an independent Ernst &Young study.

Simply put, the President wants no cuts in spending, in fact wants even more increases including another Stimulus! Obama wants to increase taxes on the "rich" that will raise only around $85 billion, enough to run our country for 8 and a half days. So losing over 700,000 jobs in exchange for running the government for 8.5 days is a good deal?

House Speaker John Boehner has been offering up plans, even more generous than last time, to President Obama. They include increases in tax revenue by closing loopholes. But on whose authority? Boehner certainly doesn't have the backing of his party. By the way, Obama rejected his offers.

So at this point, if you don't want America to increase tax rates, spending, and debt, I think your representatives need to hear from you.  I would like to see the House pass an extension of the Bush Tax Cuts for all income levels, then see what the President offers. Don't forget we have a debt ceiling deadline coming and Obama will need Republican votes then.

Contact your Representatives and Senators
Find your U.S. Senators by last name
Wisconsin's U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (202) 224-5323
Wisconsin's U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (202) 224-5653

Find your U.S. House of Representatives member by state
House Representative James Sensenbrenner Washington D.C. (202) 225-5101, Brookfield (262) 784-1111

House Speaker Boehner phone line (513) 779-5400

More Reading:
The Social Security payroll tax cut: Let it die
Don't trade a cliff for an iceberg

Boehner tax increase sparks conservative backlash

Links: Practically Speaking, Fairly Conservative, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, WisPolitics Quorum Call, Wisconsin Reporter, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation, The Way <><

How is Barrett "knee deep" in sewer water yet squeaky clean? JournoList?

FEMA came to town yesterday; they will be assessing the flood damage over the next few days. Residents in Whitefish Bay, Shorewood, Milwaukee**, and other flooded areas, are still cleaning up (some for the 2nd and 3rd time) and hoping to get some help.

Tom Barrett campaigned for mayor "with a pledge to clean up MMSD*" in 2004. (Scroll down to 3rd entry: "Rains Bring Flood of Troubles for MMSD".) Since then, the sewers have been backing up, flooding, and sewage dumps into Lake Michigan have become more commonplace than ever, as in 2 Billion Gallons of Sewage!

I have heard horror stories of acquaintances living there. What a nightmare. A thought came to me: Since Tom Barrett is ultimately at the helm of the failed MMSD and these people from the more liberal area of the Metro Milwaukee area are justifiably fed up by the flooding and dumping, would their ire carryover to the voting booth in November?

But there doesn't seem to be any tie in to Barrett. Where is the criticism of the Mayor in the news media?

They were quick to jump on County Exec. Scott Walker for going on the campaign trail last Saturday instead of visiting the flooded as Mayor Barrett and Gov. Doyle did. No matter that Walker already visited the flooded areas and signed the documents declaring Milw. County a disaster area the day before on Friday. The Journal Sentinel article didn't mention that bit until midway down the page. No mention of Tom Barrett's pledge to clean up MMSD in his 2004 election in that article.

Why isn't Barrett held more accountable in the local news? He is in effect knee deep in the sewer water problem yet remains squeaky clean in the media and people's perception.

Nationally, Conservatives and Republicans ask this same question. They knew the news stories were skewed favorable toward Obama during the election while McCain and Palin were skewered. Nothing negative would stick to Obama, not Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, his radical positions...nothing. It seemed the media was and still is in cahoots: No negative stories on Democrats--eviscerate Republicans.

Then we found out our suspicions were confirmed with the now exposed "JournoList" group. (My emphasis) Outed journalist "Dave Weigel is a portal into the dark world of hardcore liberal bias in the media. This opening gives us a deeper insight into the insidious relationship between liberal think thanks, academics and their mouthpieces in the media." These people "form the narrative used by the press to thwart conservative messages. Like a ventriloquist’s dummy, the reporters on the listserv mimicked the talking points invented and agreed upon by the intellectuals...”

Barrett blamed mayoral opponent Marvin Pratt for the "overflows and inadequate sewer system" back in 2004. But we don't hear much about the mayor's responsibility regarding the MMSD from mainstream media now that the hip boot is on the other foot.

Could it be that Milwaukee's media has some sort of JournoList pact too?


*I wouldn't have remembered this because I didn't live in Milwaukee, but talk show host Mark Belling certainly does! He is one of the few media people discussing Barrett's MMSD tie in. Bloggers such as Freedom Eden have made a good case: 2 Billion Gallons of Sewage, Flood: Journal Sentinel Spins for Barrett, Slams Walker.

**The combined sewer in these areas of Milw. County are largely responsible for the dumps and sewer laden flood waters.

Post from the past: Teflon, Velcro, and Teflon II of presidential politics

Links: Practically Speaking, Betterbrookfield, RandyMelchert, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, The Right View Wisconsin, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation

Who knew? Kevin Costner's super-slurpers to clean up BP spill

No reasonable person believes the President is solely responsible for the BP oil explosion. Nor do they think he should don deep-sea gear and go down and cork the hole himself. The well itself is some 12,000 feet under water, with the burst pipe at around 5,000 feet. Obviously, these are not friendly working conditions.

What people do want is their President to act like a leader and make the containment and clean up process as efficient and effective as possible, while BP works on capping the well. Unfortunately, our government, under the President's authority, seemingly has done everything but make the containment/clean up process as easy as possible.

W. Wansley at American Thinker wrote a great piece comparing Katrina and BP, "In the Gulf, a group of people have been trying to get in -- to apply American ingenuity to clean up the oil spill or prevent it from reaching the shore." Unfortunately, they "have been held up -- by government."

We are now hearing more about these rejected possible solutions to bar, contain and clean up the oily water before it reaches the shores. One of the pleas came from Governor Bobby Jindal. "...Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has begged for approval to put up temporary sand bars as a barrier to the oil. The EPA, worse than saying no, delayed and studied and pondered and then said no." Tired of waiting for BP, Jindal gave the order to build them on Monday.

From Am. Thinker: "We have seen countless stories in the news of innovation and ingenuity by Americans attempting to bring proven applications, equipment and tactics to bear on the oil. Each attempt is met with the same federal dithering, inaction and impedance. ... In the Gulf oil spill,...After they show their process to the media, the inevitable question is asked, 'Have you shown this to BP or the EPA?'" They answer, "yes, ...they are considering it" or "they would get back to us".

But at long last, enter actor Kevin Costner. An actor? Yes, but also a partner in Ocean Therapy Solutions, a company that has developed a machine that separates oil from water. Last week he testified at the House Science and Technology Committee meeting.

Even Costner, ever so diplomatically, said, "'We’re coming to this fight very late, I think everybody would recognize that. And so we’re going to do the things that we can do but this company is poised to mobilize in order to step this up and to create an environment where people can go back to work. There is a single moment that exists right at this moment and that is there are people out of work. There’s a moratorium and there’s no way to lift that unless I believe the government feels that people can operate in a safe way. This represents that pivot point.' "

"'If we want to discuss the ‘what ifs’ looking back, I think you could fill in the blanks of understanding if these machines were already deployed, what we would be looking at,' said Costner. 'I could scale this out for you and we would be chasing this oil out at the derrick itself. We couldn’t do anything about the size of the leak but we would be chasing that and we would be keeping that offshore.'"


Well, better late than never. BP recently placed an order for 32 of these clean up machines. With an efficiency rate of 99+%, it should help. Some are not so optimistic.

For everyone's sake, I hope between Costner's centrifuge machines, sand bars, siphon tankers, and other clean up measures, they will help clean up the water and prevent further damage. Time will tell.

Read the complete article: Heritage Foundation: Crisis of Competence
American Thinker: Katrina and BP, Two Sides of the Same Coin
Kevin Costner Says Early Use of Oil-Cleanup Machine Could Have Kept Gulf Oil Spill Offshore

Links: Practically Speaking, Betterbrookfield, RandyMelchert, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, The Right View Wisconsin, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation

Pres. Obama's oil spill action plan: Ignore, delay, blame, demand, overreach, Cap & Tax (no real containment / clean up)

Last night Obama declared from the Oval Office, "We will fight this spill with everything we've got for as long it takes." But it doesn't seem like many Americans are buying that sales pitch. Even Democrats and Liberals are shaking their heads over his inaction so far and hum-drum Oval Office spiel. How will he make sure this never happens again? By talking it to death? We are now at day 57.

Never one to let a crisis go to waste to implement more government control, regulation, taxes, and now even overreaching to dictate how a foreign owned company should spend its money and use its stock dividends, President Obama is using the BP oil spill to push his Cap & Trade tax agenda. He says we need "...to move forward on legislation to promote a new economy powered by green jobs, combat climate change, and end our dependence on foreign oil."

Amidst his floundering in the Gulf he is touting alternative energy like wind and solar as a way to end oil spills--as if America can thrive without oil? Since Cap and Trade deals mainly with electricity generation, how will wind and solar end oil spills? America only uses oil to generate about 2% of our electricity. Maybe he would like to lead the way by converting Air Force 1 to solar panels?

In an email he sent out yesterday, the President wrote, "Many businesses support this agenda because shifting to clean energy creates opportunities for entrepreneurship." I am betting those businesses are involved in writing the Cap and Trade legislation or will benefit from the Carbon Credit exchange or an increase in wind and solar use? Companies such as BP--Beyond Petroleum or GE?

I think it is clear that the President squandered his Oval Office clout to peddle his Cap & Trade Tax bill. Most aren't buying it. No matter, his EPA can do what the Senate won't.

As for the spill, from what I have seen, Obama's first action on the spill was to ignore the event. The 11 workers who died as a result of the explosion on April 22nd were barely noted. At last, Obama went to the gulf on May 2nd. "The visit, which White House officials said on Saturday would be within the next 48 hours, signaled Obama was anxious to be seen to be paying close attention to the cleanup and containment of one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history." "Anxious to be seen" seems to be the key phrase there.

The President has visited several times since then but does not have much to show for it. Obama did authorize the deployment of 17,500 National Guardsmen; so far, only 1,600 have been deployed. Gov. Jindal just announced he will be using Guardsmen to build a barrier.

The Jones Act still has not been lifted (as it was after Hurricane Katrina) which would have allowed the Dutch and others with their offers of containment booms and salvage tankers into the area to at least contain and suck up some of the oil. Our own government had their own disaster plan that included the use of containment booms. Trouble was, the U.S. never purchased those emergency booms! In other oil spills, booms are put in place and then tankers come in to suck the oil/water mixture into their holds. They then then separate it later. But you need to contain the oil to do this. There are some booms in place but not nearly enough.

There are some things that just are not adding up with the BP accident. I am sure there is plenty of blame to go around. Let's face it, a blow out a mile under the sea is a problem that won't correct itself. Where was the discussion by the President on how to clean up or keep the oil from the shores? The one thing that is clear, Obama will use the spill to push for green energy, regardless of its negative impact on the U.S. economy!

More reading: BP Accused of Repeated Shortcuts
Sen. McConnell: Obama 'Holding the Gulf Hostage"
Gov. Bobby Jindal Orders National Guard to Build Barrier Wall Off Louisiana Shore
Cap and Trade: A New Disaster Waiting to Happen in 2009
The Spill, The Scandal and the President, How Obama failed to crack down on corruption of Bush years and let world's most dangerous oil company get away with murder.
Obama's Uncertain 'Battle Plan'


Links: Practically Speaking, Betterbrookfield, RandyMelchert, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, The Right View Wisconsin, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation