They Said What?
Extolling the Virtues of Good Journalism and Politics
Special interest much?
May 10th
Among the many things that escape notice in the not-so-free press are reported facts coupled with interesting similarities. Here is a fine example.
First, the reported facts…
Congressman Dan Maffei, New York Congressional District 25, has accepted $600,232.00 from the finance, insurance, and real estate sectors alone. He is also adamantly in support of Congress moving forward on the most sweeping overhaul of federal financial services regulation in a generation.
Now, the interesting similarity…
Given that Dan Maffei has demonstrated a profound penchant for ignoring the voices of his constituents in the past, should it be any wonder that they look at this and ponder whose side Dan Maffei is on? Do they give pause to consider what special interests get their way with Dan Maffei? And why is it that Dan Maffei and the big Wall Street banks seem so much alike? At the very least, and from the perspective of many voters in NY District 25, these collective observations should be listed among “Things that make you go hmmm…”.
We Don’t salute you Dan Maffei
May 3rd
Political advertisement showing Dan Maffei being saluted by what appear to be uniformed military service members.
When friends and I, who are fellow veterans, first saw Congressman Dan Maffei’s recent advertisement for a veterans’ service fair, we were immediately offended. The front of the glossy, cardstock flyer depicted soldiers standing in formation and saluting towards a photograph of Mr. Maffei. Our shock at this inappropriate and blatantly political advertisement turned to deeper resentment when, upon flipping it over, we saw the words “This mailing was prepared, published, and mailed at taxpayer expense”.
Only two civilians are entitled salutes by military personnel, the President of the United States, and the Secretary of Defense, both of whom are in the chain of command. Rendering a salute is governed by military regulation and is not taken lightly by most active duty service members or veterans and is typically reserved for exchanges of respect among senior officers and subordinates and for flag ceremonies. On the flyer neither a senior officer nor the United States flag were present. There was only the image of Mr. Maffei to which the soldiers’ salutes were directed. We don’t salute you Dan Maffei.
Dan Maffei used taxpayer dollars to pay for his political advertisement.
The fact that American Taxpayers paid for this may have added ethics violation to injury. Members of Congress are prohibited from using congressional resources, which include mailings for political purposes. Perhaps other mailings by Dan Maffei would warrant inspection. I recently noted an AP-sourced article that listed him among the top 20 spenders for congressional mailings with an expenditure of $308,641.09 in 2009. This is also notable because it was Mr. Maffei’s first year serving as a congressman.
Dan Maffei should know better. This is reminiscent of recent inappropriate demands for undue respect by other Democrat members of Congress. I recall last summer, Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) demanded that Brigadier General Michael Walsh address her with the title “Senator” after he had respectfully referred to her as ma’am.
Since the Vietnam War era, leftist Democrats have shown strong disrespect toward our military service members. With this mailing, Congressman Dan Maffei has demonstrated profound ignorance about the sacredness in which the military performs their duties. From my perspective as a veteran, Dan Maffei has only exposed more resentment by the left towards those who have proudly served our Country.
Leftist progressives are fluctuating between denial and panic over Tea Party / Patriot movement
Apr 24th
Though it faced fierce competition, this is the most delusional editorial that I’ve read all week:
Tea Party a media-created paper tiger
This opinion piece by E.J. Dionne (Washington Post) in The Oakland Press has a laughably new theme with old and recycled memes. The thesis is that the Tea Party movement is nothing new, that it is insignificant, and is only receiving attention because it is a media created phenomenon. Some of the older and more tired arguments are that Tea Party movement members are racist, do not reflect the demographics of the general population in the U.S., and are only following the bidding of GOP leadership. While Dionne makes vague references to polling data, I’ll post links to demonstrate that these assertions are far from the truth.
First, considering the charge of racism, there has been indignant backlash from Americans of all colors who have demonstrated that these claims are hollow and utterly without merit. Andrew Breitbart’s $10,000 reward for video evidence, now up to $100,000, remains unclaimed. Rather than shrinking from this all-too-common leftists accusation as conservatives have done in the past, conservatives have decided to take a stand and put this falsehood to its long overdue rest. In the face of these false and deplorable accusations Tea Party movement members have stuffed the facts in the faces of shocked leftist progressives who undoubtedly thought that we would run away as we have done in the past. In particular, videos by Tea Party members and inadvertently by liberal media hacks have had huge impact in defeating this leftist trump card. Though there have been many, two noteworthy examples are:
White NBC Reporter Confronts Black Man at Tea Party Rally: \’Have You Ever Felt Uncomfortable?
The tired race-baiting tactics of the left are finally backfiring on them. They have shot past the line of decency and everyday Americans have taken notice and are fighting back. I am particularly proud and in awe of a growing number of black Tea Party members who are ironically taking the major brunt of vitriol from the left by their free thinking. The left claims that you can’t be a person of color and be anything other then what they say you can be. The Tea Party welcomes free thinkers of all colors. I should know because I am a member of a federally recognized tribe and would be among the first to notice any racism at the Tea Party events.
There is ample evidence that, contrary to Dionne’s assessment, the major news media outlets have gone out of their way to ignore the Tea Party movement over the past year. See Media Cheers Obama, Ignores Tea Party Movement. In my local area, a Tea Party crowd consisting of hundreds of participants picketed outside local news media outlets and there was zero mention of the event. I have previously written about my personal experiences at the Washington, DC, Rally against Obamacare – The truth about the anti-health care reform rally in Washington, DC .
A recent Gallup poll shows that
Tea Partiers Are Fairly Mainstream in Their Demographics and that 28% of the population supports the movement. In my personal observation, having now attended a few Tea Party events, this is a fair assessment. A new Pew poll, Distrust, Discontent, Anger and Partisan Rancor, shows that 80% of Americans distrust the Federal Government and that the Republican Party has as much to fear from the Tea Party movement as does the Democratic Party. Again, my own experiences in this movement backs this up. One of my closest compatriots, is a lifelong Democrat and former Hillary Clinton supporter. I have met many other Democrats, and people of all colors, who find a welcoming place among their local free-thinking Tea Party organizations.
One minute pundits are calling Tea Party members violent racist militia members and the next they are discussing how we are a bunch of insignificant old geezers who are on public assistance and protesting the social programs that sustain us. In this manner, the left fluctuates between denial and panic because they’ve swatted at the hornets nest one to many times and have awakened the hive. The Tea Party movement is for the most part, leaderless. We are simply free-thinking Americans of all colors who have decided not to let leftist progressives take over our country. We will not be stopped. We are standing against leftist progressive Republican and Democratic candidates and are supporting constitutionally conservative candidates, regardless of party. Obama, Pelosi, and Reid have pushed too hard and we are finally pushing back. We are growing in numbers because we represent the true America, and there is nothing to be done now to stop us. We are not racist, we are not violent, we are just no longer silent.
North Carolina and Colorado Skirting The Commerce Clause
Apr 20th
Those of you who follow tax issues are familiar with the Commerce Clause. It’s essentially a statement that indicates that no State shall force any out of state retailer from collecting sales tax on it’s behalf UNLESS that out of state company has a physical property (definition of “physical property” has been debated…) within it’s borders.
For example, a Rochester, NY based catalog company or e-tailer cannot be forced to collect Colorado sales tax on orders made by Colorado citizens. Unless, of course, that Rochester, NY company hires a sales person IN Colorado, or builds a warehouse or distribution center there.
Now, the key consideration here is the “collection of sales tax.” No retailer can be MADE to COLLECT the sales tax.
As we also know, due to rising costs (both just and unjust, good spending and bad spending, etc), many States are feeling a new level of financial hardship. It’s likely, and in fact expected, that they will scrape to collect every penny they can from resident citizens and corporations.
So two States have stepped to the plate to raise the bar on SKIRTING the Constitution, most particularly in this case, the Commerce Clause.
North Carolina and Amazon.com: Bad Blood, Bad Policy
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20002870-38.html
North Carolina has issued a subpoena requesting seven years of North Carolina resident purchase history from Amazon.com. The idea then is that they can pursue Sales and Use Tax. It would also provide some relatively sensitive purchase information to the North Carolina Tax folks, which is also protected somewhat under the Constitution. Book purchases and movie/media purchases are supposed to remain anonymous, and away from the prying eyes of the government.
Amazon has sued in Seattle to stop this action, and the outcome is pending.
Colorado: Just a Brief Reminder if you Could….
Colorado, in the mean time, has given catalogers and retailers two choices: Collect sales tax on purchases made by our residents (voluntarily, of course), or send them each a letter every year itemizing how much they owe to Colorado in Sales and Use tax.
This is one step short of subpoenaing the information themselves, but it serves the same purpose.
Conclusion
In conclusion I’d simply state that States will continue to find ways to fill their coffers. Primarily, since those coffers are empty in record proportions.
How do you feel about these developments? Are they Constitutional? Will other “tax adventurous” States follow along soon?
The truth about the anti-health care reform rally in Washington, DC
Mar 24th
There are really only a limited number of conclusions that can be made concerning the media coverage of the anti-health care reform rally that took place in Washington, DC, 20-21 March 2010. Among those conclusions, I have first hand experience that no coverage that I’ve seen thus far has been anywhere close to accurate. I was there all day long on the Capitol grounds on both Saturday and Sunday.
The majority of media coverage that I have seen portrays the numbers as much fewer than I experienced and characterized the group as out of control racists coordinated by the GOP. I received no such request by any political group, nor did my traveling companions, one of which was a lifelong Democrat. I saw and met thousands of people from all around the country who are concerned about losing their freedom and desired that the government return to operating within its Constitutional limits of power. Not one time did I hear, nor did I read any sign that was racist in nature or intent. I saw people of all ethnic backgrounds and races on both sides of the issue co-mingling through the crowds and saw not one instance of the hatred that the media projected upon the participants of this rally.
I walked around and throughout the crowd seen in this video on Saturday, and found less than a dozen participants (anti-war protesters) who were not part of the anti-health care bill sentiment. This video give a good impression about how many participants there were at the height of the rally.
Anti-health care reform rally, Washington, DC, 20 March 2010
Rally participants outside of congressional office buildings.
Where was the media when I saw someone through a window on the third floor of our Nation’s Capitol, the House Rules Committee Office, flip a middle finger to American Citizens on the ground below on Sunday? What that unknown servant of the People projected in their crass salute was a metaphor for what a majority of the House of Representatives would do to the American People later that day.
This is the first time that I have experienced firsthand the incompetence and bias in the mainstream media. It is sure not to be the last.
Changing the Semantics of Health Care
Feb 11th
Barack Obama meets with healthcare stakeholders
Regardless of the outcome of the current administration’s efforts to reform health care, one fact will always remain true. Health care is expensive, and it will continue to remain expensive. The science of maintaining a human being through medical means has progressed into some really impressive, and perhaps over effective areas.
And with that science comes prolonged life spans. We live longer if we take care of ourselves, and enjoy a higher quality of life for a far longer time than did any of our ancestors.
With that comes some mental and emotional responsibility, however. While it has always been natural for humans to fear death. it’s entirely possible that we have, at least in the United States, come to EXPECT a long life as a right. We often confuse privileges and rights here. I’m not sure that our Founding Fathers assumed we were all due prolonged medical treatment with the cost being passed on to the general public. And by that, I don’t necessarily mean through federally subsidized health care, but even through increased insurance costs to everyone.
So I think we as Americans need to adopt some simple truths into our way of thinking about mortality, and our way of life.
We Don’t Save Lives. We Prolong Them
One of the biggest semantic mistakes I think we make is using the term “saving lives”. To date, no one has lived forever. Yet when we use terms such as “that surgeon saved my life” we project a tremendous untruth. The surgeon, skilled as he or she may be, prolonged your life. They didn’t save it. In fact, no one can save your life.
It’s our fear of death that causes us to talk this way. I think that we have subconsciously failed to accept however that some day, despite years of medical treatment, costing thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars, we are going to die.
So what role does that play in our health care expenses? They are clearly beyond our means as it is. And it drives us towards some tough choices.
Is there a measurable right time to stop medical treatment for an individual, and let them go?
Is there a right time for insurance, public or otherwise, to stop covering treatments when a case is “beyond normal help”?
Should public insurance provide medical treatment in cases where private insurance wouldn’t, theoretically giving the disadvantaged people BETTER healthcare than paying subscribers?
These are all difficult questions, and they must be answered before any meaningful healthcare reform can take place.
And I think we really need to stop believing we will live forever before ANY of them can be answered, and we can move forward with reasonable, effective, and affordable medical protection for Americans.
Note: Photo Courtesy of Wikicommons.
Obama administration rhetoric is suspect: Their lackey, the U.S. media.
Feb 4th
I can’t help but take notice of the the vitriolic rhetoric coming from the Obama administration against Toyota in its recall of over 4 million of its automobiles Worldwide. Yesterday in testimony before Congress, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood said “My advice is, if anybody owns one of these vehicles, stop driving it, take it to the Toyota dealer because they believe they have the fix for it.” and then confirmed that his federal department is looking into levying civil penalties against the automaker. In a statement the same day LaHood said “I want to encourage owners of any recalled Toyota models to contact their local dealer and get their vehicles fixed as soon as possible. NHTSA will continue to hold Toyota’s feet to the fire to make sure that they are doing everything they have promised to make their vehicles safe. We will continue to investigate all possible causes of these safety issues.”. These particularly inflammatory statements predictably caused stock prices for Toyota to immediately drop and a panic among Toyota owners who deluged dealers with demands for immediate action.
LaHood later took a step back from his comments and the same day White House Deputy Spokesman said “The administration’s involvement with GM, of course, would not have any impact on this administration’s commitment to making sure that Americans are kept safe on our roads”. This was said even as GM launched a campaign targeting incentives specifically toward Toyota owners.
The U.S. mainstream media, too focused on the blood in the water, is oblivious to the particularly biased government-backed pressure on Toyota. The recent and near-constant barrage of mainstream media hype about this particular recall has attained an unprecedented fervor that is fueling a pro-bono slander campaign against Detroit’s (and Obama’s) biggest non-union competitor. This attention has also stirred up union-backed anti-foreign product sentiments, despite the fact that Toyota makes the top-three American Made automobiles in the Country with non-union American Labor.
Since the initial bailout of GM by the federal government and the Cash for Clunkers program, auto sales have dropped sharply for the government controlled and largely union-owned automaker. Pandering politicians like Michigan Democrat U.S. Rep. John Dingell, (D.-Mich.), who wrote in a letter “NHTSA’s actions related to the Toyota recalls trouble me, especially as reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles predate the recalls by at least two years.” I’m sure there’s no conflict of interest in this statement either…
The fact remains that Toyota has a problem with certain models of an electronic accelerator pedal that might stick which has been linked to many accidents, some of which may have caused deaths. Absolutely, Toyota should take care of this problem and it appears to be doing so. However, government interest and control of major private industry cannot be overlooked in these matters. The Obama administration has much to gain or lose from the ultimate success or failure of General Motors and Chrysler companies. Where is the unbiased media attention regarding this?