Guess Who Obama Let Out From Underneath The Bus?

While I was surfing the web today I came across this article and thought it was of interest:

Oct. 23–SANFORD — Retired four-star Gen. Wesley Clark, who once commanded all of NATO’s forces in Europe, used a downtown coffee shop Wednesday as his theater for political combat.

Clark, stumping for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, said this election season has shown him just how divided the nation is.

This is interesting as Obama threw Clark under the bus back in June:

Besides Obama’s personal remarks disdaining criticism of McCain’s military service, the campaign’s spokesman, Bill Burton said, “Sen. Obama honors and respects Sen. McCain’s service, and of course he rejects yesterday’s statement by Gen. Clark.”

Makes you wonder who else might find their way back out from underneath the bus?

In case you forgot, here is what Clark said that got him sent packing to begin with:

“In the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk,” Clark said “It’s a matter of gauging your opponents, and it’s a matter of being held accountable. John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war.

“He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world, but he hasn’t held executive responsibility,” Clark said. “That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron.”

Congress Starting To Feel Like They Have Been Had Over The Bailout Bill

It is being reported that Congress is starting to complain that the bailout bill they approved is no longer what is being done as is being 000reported on FoxNews here.  Many in the blogs (not to mention many a constitute) warned Congress that this would happen, but we were all told we did not know what we were talking about and that this was necessary to help the economy.

Well it looks like things have changed.  Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle that voted down the first bill now realize that some of their colleagues in Congress and the Bush Administration has changed what the original bail out was about into a huge monster (which is what myself and many, many others in the blogs warned would happen).

It started out to help homeowners stay in their homes, then it was lets by stakes in banks so that we can unfreeze the credit market (although banks have said they will use the money to buy other banks instead), now it is let’s buy into the insurance companies.  The only question is what is next?

I contacted my Congressman (Congressman Baird WA-3CD) about this issue and here is his response:

 As you may know, through the program, the federal government will buy troubled assets. It is quite possible, and even likely, that the value of these assets will go up over the next few years and that the federal government will be able to sell them at a profit. If this occurs, the federal government will make money off of this deal. (ed – I told him the government has never been any good at making money only printing it so I doubt this will happen) However, there is a chance that this will not happen. That is when my “recoupment clause” would kick in. Under this clause, a fee will be imposed on the financial services industry and that fee will remain in place until the taxpayers recoup the loss. This provision ensures that, at the end of the day, the taxpayer will not be forced to bear any cost associated with the program.

So Congressman Baird, do you still believe that this will help people stay in their homes?

 

Congressman Baird also had this to say:

 

I am pleased that the bill also provides for strong oversight. As you may know, the original proposal laid out by the Administration did not provide for any oversight or review of the Department of Treasury’s actions under this program.

Yet here is what Mr. Neel Kashkari (pronounced cash carry by the way) had to say about the safeguards:

Neel Kashkari, head of the Treasury’s financial stability program, told Dodd’s committee this past week that there are few strings attached to the capital-infusion program because too many rules would discourage financial institutions from participating.

 

Like I told Congressman Baird in my letter to him that oversight without any ability to actually enforce means nothing at all.  I wonder if the Congressman sees the truth in that now?

It seems to me that Congress passed yet another bad bill in an election year under the mantra of “we must do something” to help provide them political cover in November and ultimately it will be the taxpayers who get stuck with this $700 billion tab. 

 

 

 

The Case for Steve Beren

In the 7th Congressional District in Washington State there is a race going on in which the two candidates are as different as night and day.  On one side you have the incumbent Jim McDermott, who has been found in violation of a persons right to privacy, had a trip to Iraq prior to the war funded by Saddam’s Intelligence Service, has made derogatory comments about our brave men and women and who believes that the government knows how to spend your money better than you do.  On the other side you have Steve Beren.  A man of integrity, who supports our troops, who believes in putting our country and the American people before political showmanship, who understands and lives fiscal Conservatism and believes in all his heart that in America your dreams for a better future can become a reality if you are willing to work for it.

This is a no brainer here.  I think it is obvious that Steve Beren is a man who has a vision, much like Reagan’s, of our country as the great nation it is.  He is a man who believes in the American people and trusts that they can make better decisions with their own money and get more bang for their buck that way too.  He does not believe in the Democrats plan regarding eliminating the tax exempt of 401k’s or creating another form of Social Security.  Steve Beren is man who understands that America has enemies in this world and would not look at cutting our military spending by 25% like the Democrat party has vowed to do.  Steve Beren knows that to create jobs you must cut taxes as this puts more money in everyone’s pockets which is the basic fundamental or Reagan’s proven trickle down economics.  He understands if you raise taxes it leads to less jobs which in turn creates what I like to call “trickle down unemployment”.

These are just some of the reasons that Steve Beren is the only choice for Congress in the 7th CD.  To vote for McDermott is to vote for the Socialism of America and that I assure you is something our Founding Fathers never intended.