Biden gets off free in Peoria, Palin and Schock pay freely

Ok, if you are local you will remember Bush’s visit to Peoria a couple of years ago to help raise money for Aaron Schock.  The cost to the city was brought up, the city demanded reimbursement, and Schock paid.  This sounds all well and good right?  If someone visits, and costs the city money, someone other than the taxpayer should foot the bill.  I am all for that.  Now, here is what I am not for…Jim Ardis was asked about Obama’s trip to CAT last year, and who would pay.  He said:

“the cost of public services during Obama’s visit on Thursday will not be an issue. He said the issue last July [Bush’s trip] involved a political fundraiser.”

Ok, get it?  Since Bush’s trip was a fundraiser, someone should have to pay.  Since Obama’s trip wasn’t a fundraiser it was fine for the taxpayer to foot the bill for added security and other expenses.

Now fast forward to a couple of weeks ago.  Joe Biden visits Peoria for a, wait for it…fund raising event at the center for prevention of abuse.  It cost the city an estimated $43,000 in extra costs for the visit.  Now, at this point you are probably thinking that someone is going to cover it right?  I mean, it’s a fundraiser.  Mayor Ardis said that’s the criteria right?  Well, you would be wrong, the taxpayer is expected to pick this one up.

Also a couple of weeks ago was Palin’s visit to Five Points Washington.  She spoke to a sold-out crowd of 1,100 to kick off Five Points leadership series.  Now, this wasn’t a fundraiser right?  This was a seminar, so according to Jim Ardis the city should have to cover it.  Well, if it were in Peoria I guess.  Maybe since it was in Washington and not Peoria…oh well it doesn’t matter because it was arranged with the city ahead of time, and Five Points Washington paid the city for the added security.

You see, fundraiser or not, there is one common criteria here.  If the visiting head of state is a Democrat, Peoria is all fine and good with the citizens footing tens of thousands of dollars for security.  If they are a Republican however, they better pay their own way.  Funny because Ardis is a Republican Mayor, you would think that he would be concerned about everyone paying so that his city could remain fiscally responsible.  Maybe he signed up for the wrong party.

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Liberals Circle the Wagons Again in a Blinding Display of Racial Doublestandard

With the internet and Hollywood abuzz with how racist Republicans are, you might expect the latest story to bring these high-handed liberals to feed one of their own to the wolves to save their image.  Well, I guess that’s because you have a common sense, and a sense of honor that most liberals just say they have.  No one ‘talks the talk’ more than liberals, or fails to ‘walk the walk’ like they do.

The AP reported late in the week on apologies from Democratic leader Harry Reid to the President, for words spoken during the 2008 campaign.  Reid said that Obama could win because the was ‘light-skinned’ and ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one’.  Of course as soon as the AP got a hold of the book that had these quotes, Reid came out and apologized, which begs the question; would he have said anything if those quotes had gone forgotten forever?  Isn’t it the sign of a true penitent if they apologize before the offended even know there is anything to apologize for?

Of course, contrary to what they would have done of it had been a Republican that said it, the Democrats circled the wagons, throwing their support behind the Democratic leader.  Even the congressional black caucus got behind it.  The President accepted the apology, sure as expected, that’s what a president does.  He leaves the punishment up to the people whose responsibility it is to punish.  Where is the censure?  Where are the hearings?  We had to listen to a whole week of rhetoric because a congressman called the President a liar, but nothing here?  Where is Nancy Pelosi to cry about the ‘dangerous rhetoric’?  Where is ‘uber left’ activist Janeane Garofalo who said about the tea-parties:

“a bunch of teabagging rednecks,” adding “this is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up.”

Is it only racism if you don’t agree with the person who made the statement?  The last head of the RNC was forced out, by his own party under pressure from Democrats, because he hearkened back to segregation in a speech.  Don’t get me wrong, as far as I am concerned, racism is racism, no matter where it comes from.  I will be just as disgusted next week when it comes out that a Republican said something racist and the Democrats crucify him for it.  I think just about every politician is a scumbag and a liar, but when I see non-politicians like Gerofalo, taking a stand on something, and act like they are better than everyone else because they have something to stand for, it disgusts me when they show their double standard so blatantly.

New Regulations Remind Anyone of Atlas Shrugged?

The house of representatives passed new legislation regulating the financial market, and big business in this country.  One of the “protections” in this bill is giving the government the power to break up companies that are deemed “too big to fail”.  Um, really?!  Who decides what company is too big to fail?  Where does the government get off breaking up any company for any reason other than illegal activity?  You can get the info on this here or in my article at the Examiner (cannot link it, the site is down but the link is on the side there, yeah right there, down a little, under FRIENDS.  Yes, I am my own friend, just click the button).

If you have not read it get a copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.  Opponents, and people who just do not get it, are criticizing the book and fans of Rand right now.  Fans are called crazy, the book is called delusional, but as I read it myself I am astounded that it was written in the 50s and not today.  People said that our government would never be like the one in her book, but…see above.  I have even heard our own politicians use words that could have been taken right from the mouths of the fictional “looter” politicians portrayed in the book.  If you have not read it, Atlas Shrugged is essentially a novel about an America where business has been forced to operate for social justice instead of profit.  Those who work for material ends, profit, property, and livelihood are deemed evil, while those that keep failing businesses open for the “common good” are considered saints.  Eventually one of the “evil capitalists” decides he wants to see what will happen if all the successful “evil” businessmen just quit.  Walk away from their business, leave the rest of the country to fend for themselves.  I am a little less than halfway through and so far reading it is a mixture of fascination, fear, and foreboding (wow lots of f words).  Every day I watch the news or read something online and wonder, was Ayn Rand a prophet or did she know, before the rest of us, what the progressive movement would mean for this country.

On a side note, what we talked about yesterday, I forgot to mention that in 2006 the same Democrats, including President (then Senator) Obama, criticized President Bush for over spending and they voted against raising the debt ceiling.  Yeah, great huh.  You know what makes that better, it was an election year for all of them, and they voted against it in March.  They were not voting what is best for the country, they were voting to get reelected, or to win more Democrat seats.  When will people wake up and realize that politicians do not care about what is best for this country, they only care about votes.

Hypocrisy and Double Standards, New American Politics

The past couple of weeks have been a dark, blighted example of the kinds of double standards that have become ‘standard’ within the American political system.  Whether it’s watching the main stream media attempt to stay on top of actual news, without alienating their liberal base, or listening to guests on NPR make points and counterpoints that run contrary to one another, it has become clear that our politicians and those who support them, are completely disingenuous and downright disreputable.

Take, for example, something as simple as golf.  According to a CBS reporter President Obama has been to the golf course 25 times between January and November.  It took George W. Bush two years and ten months to get to the links that many times.  Now, where are all the Democrats that criticized the former president’s trips to the green?  Why are the Republicans, that supported Bush, now criticizing President Obama?  It goes to show that neither party is above a childish display finger pointing for image.

Another great example was on NPR last Wednesday.  The topic was the recent decision by the Catholic Diocese of Washington D.C. to refuse to support the health care bill without a strict ban on abortion funding, and a side issue in which the Diocese would lose funding for social services if they do not comply with same sex marriage legislation in the district.  The guest spent several minutes condemning the church for not supporting the health care bill and funding for abortion with the cry, “What about the poor people, doesn’t the Catholic Church care about poor people getting abortions if they need them?”  She then went on to discuss the loss of funding, condemning the Church again, but failing to realize that her earlier argument in favor of the poor people should now be turned on the government, who would pull funding for poor people.

In the most glaring example of double standards Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton feel quite safe making racist jokes about Eastern Indians all while the left continues to point the racist finger at the right.  Biden’s joke was captured by C-Span as he spoke to an Indian American, the punchline being “You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”  Hillary Clinton’s joke about Gandhi running a gas station also promoted a racial stereotype and was insensitive to people who revere the famed activist.  Whether you are tired of political correctness or not, hypocrisy in our government officials is something that should not be tolerated.

Seriously, Do Democrats Really Believe They Are Better People?

Ok, I was looking up information on Indiana Congressman Baron Hill, and what he said in a town hall meeting on Sept 2.  If you haven’t seen it, there are a lot of sites out there that cover it.  Basically he is an arrogant politician that has forgotten who he works for.  While I was doing this I stumbled upon a website called democraticunderground.com.  After reading a post on this site, which I will link to in a second, I realized that some democrats are just as bad as some republicans, but the problem is no one is pointing this out.  While politicians and media claim that ‘teabaggers’ and health care opponents are organized by big business, this site actually has people suggesting that health care supporters lie when they go to town hall meetings.  What the media, and supporters are failing to point out is we all want reform, what the conservatives don’t want is government control, but many of the other reform plans seem to be good ideas.  What the opponents of the current incarnation of the bill are failing to point out are things that they would like to see in the bill as well.  What both groups are failing to point out, is that we are being led around by the nose by politicians and media, and we should realise that we have more in common than not.  We need to get together on this, figure out what we want, and agree.  Once the people agree the politicians will have no choice but to follow along.

Ok, so here is the link.  Now, when I talked about supporters suggesting that town hall attendees lie, I mean this one…

“Or, pose as a physician and state that you have to spend more time arguing with insurance company accountants to get a needed procedure covered than actually treating patients. Say that you had a patient who actually died while waiting for insurance company approval.”

Now, let’s get this straight.  ‘Teagabbers’ are liars, mobs, astroturf, and nazis, but here is a democrat site, suggesting that other democrats lie at a town hall meeting and ‘pose’ as a doctor to make a question seem more important.

Here is another one that shows the problem with the debate…

“They talk about the “death panels” that will come with health reform. There really are “death panels” now…the insurance companies. They decide if they want to help you or not – more often times it’s not.”

How can we have an honest debate, when something that was obviously misunderstood keeps getting brought up by liberals.  Let’s get past the death panels, and talk about what is really an issue.  There is a lot more in this site, that just makes me sick, but the glaring fact is that instead of focusing on the fact that we all want change, they focus on how to make opponents look bad.  Isn’t it possible for us all to agree that this is something we want, we just have two different visions on how it should look?  Many of these post get just plain insulting.  Look, I have read a lot of the bill, I have researched the things that are in it.  I agree that some of it might work, and if it does it will make things better.  What I don’t agree with is that the public option is one of those.  If we can come to a compromise, that pushes reform without takeover, and install more reform like fixing malpractice problems, we would have a great reform bill.

PEOPLE, stop listening to politicians and media and start listening to each other.  We all agree on about 90% of this issue, but because we are letting party politics drive a wedge between us we can’t come together on it.  Talk to each other without insults.  Have civil discourse without throwing in stereotypes and hate.  Please, don’t let this issue die because we can’t come to a compromise.