Jeffrey Schott

Candidate for Pennsylvania's Eighth U.S. Congressional District

Are the American people obsolete?

I ran across this thought-provoking article by Michael Lind today.  Michael Lind is policy director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation.

The article basically says that due to: outsourcing, cheap immigrant labor, and emerging markets, the rich have a decreasing dependence on the middle and lower class.  While I don’t agree with everything in the article, it sure makes you think.  Our government should be looking at these trends and addressing accoudingly.  Unfortunately, it is difficult to get elected to national office unless you are rich and/or sold out to rich people!

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• Are the American people obsolete? (salon.com)

Chirp, Chirp, Chirp

I got a kick out of this quote in the Morning Call:

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Suppose you gave a news conference and nobody came.

That happened to U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy Thursday outside the West Wing of the White House. Actually, journalists were there to hear Murphy’s brief remarks at a portable podium in the driveway. But none asked any questions after he stopped speaking, according to a reporter from ABC-News.

Silence. Awkward silence. Still nothing.

Finally the Bucks County Democrat broke the mood with a joke before leaving the executive compound.

Elapsed time: Less than two minutes.

What was Murphy there to talk about? Cutting federal waste.

— Pete Leffler

Are others as tired of Patrick Murphy’s lies as I am?  He ran in 2006 as a fiscal conservative pushing for: elimination of waste and “pay as you go”.  Here are a couple of his campaign quotes:

If we want to put forth a piece of legislation that’s going to help out people, which is a good piece of legislation, I’ll support it. But we have to figure out first how we’re going to pay for it because we cannot keep racking up these record debts and these deficits.  – From this NPR interview on January 7th, 2007, shortly after being elected

If families in the 8th District have to balance their checkbooks, then so should the federal government. With each of us owing $30,000 to the record national debt… it is immoral to leave our $9 trillion debt to our children. ..Government spending is out of control. — From Patrick Murphy’s 2008 campaign web site (this quote was removed after I brought it up in a press conference and it was published in the Intelligencer/Courier Times).  Below is a  picture from that press conference:

Now we are running record deficits and our debt is over $13 Trillion dollars.  He tells us what we want to hear and does what Nancy Pelosi tells him to.  It’s time for change that won’t bankrupt our country!

Press Conference - May 25, 2010

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• Uncomfortable Silence: Congressman Vamps When Reporters Don’t Ask Questions (blogs.abcnews.com)

Taking apart the federal budget

The Washington Post posted an interactive graphic that shows where the federal money comes from and where it goes.  You can see it by clicking here.

I discovered this graphic through the Thomas Jefferson Club blog at http://thomasjeffersonclubblog.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/taking-apart-the-federal-budget/.  They always have good information there.  Well done!

News of note this week

Here are some articles on major political news this week:

• The Wall Street Journal has an article on The Obama-Pelosi Lame Duck Strategy.  I hope that Patrick Murphy becomes a “lame duck”, but has some class and does not participate in more complete disregard for the will of his constituents
• The Intelligencer has an article on Murphy: Failed policies cost jobs.  It’s nice to see that Congressman Murphy has finally decided to show up in public.  I’m sure the upcoming election threat from Mike Fitzpatrick has nothing to do with this sudden/abrupt change.

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• Shep Smith Unleashes On Judge Napolitano After He Blames Gov. For BP Spill (mediaite.com)
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Yet another discriminatory bill passes

The Philadelphia Inquirer published this article on the house passing a campaign spending bill.  Here is a quote from the article:

The original exemption was limited to groups with more than one million members, active in all 50 states, that derive no more than 15 percent of their funds from corporations, and have existed for more than 10 years. After liberal Democrats threatened to sink the bill, Democratic leaders expanded the exemption to groups with more than 500,000 members.

No bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed

A bill of attainder (also known as an act or writ of attainder) is an act of the legislature declaring a person or group of persons guilty of some crime and punishing them without benefit of a trial.

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• Let’s Make A Deal…With the NRA? (crooksandliars.com)
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Obama cuts another great deal

President Obama managed to get BP to agree to $100/million dollars to cover payroll expenses for his six month moritorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  The problem is that the monthly salaries of the workers is actually $330/million per month.  So, 6 months would amount to $1.98 Billion dollars or $1.88 Billion dollars short.  That’s the way our government does math. 

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• BP fends off further oil spill costs(ftalphaville.ft.com)

Obama in way over his head

President Obama just made some brief statement regarding the Gulf Oil Spill.  Now he’s blaming communication problems.  That might have been acceptable in the first week or two after the disaster, but not now.  Are you telling me that they couldn’t find a way to communicate between boats before now?  How about marine radios?  How about temporary cell phone towers and handing out cell phones?  How about using the Coast Guard to aid in communications?

So far, here’s a recap of Obama’s actions during this crisis:

• He ignored it
• He made a trip to the Gulf when it looked like the Top Kill method was working (but before we could know that it wasn’t)
• He made a trip when it looked like the cap would work
• He’s making a trip now after BP gave a plan to speed up containment (but before anything could be done) and before actually meeting with BP
• He sent plenty of lawyers to start placing blame
• He’s already talking about new regulations (and I’m sure Cap & Trade will be included).  Maybe his administration should have been enforcing the current regulations.  Missing inspections, unrealistic contingency plans, and safety awards.  A third of your term is already over, you can’t blame Bush anymore.
• Played plenty of Gulf, had plenty of vacation time, and plenty of social events

His lack of ever having a real job, and total lack of management experience, are painfully apparent.  Mike Huckabee managed to find and air 9 possible clean-up solutions (on his show last Saturday).  At least two of them were already EPA approved and already proven.  Can’t Obama’s Nobel prize winning and “best and brightest” scientists do the same?

The disaster is not his fault.  It’s BPs.  But his lack of leadership is sadly grossly apparent.

Mr Obama, please find someone who knows how to manage a disaster and get out of their way.

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Patrick Murphy – Blue Dog Progressive?

I ran across this blog post on PatrickMurphyWatch.com that contained a video of Patrick Murphy declaring himself a “progressive”.  It’s a little choppy due to the editing, but it gets the point across.  Here is the YouTube Video:

Analysis of job numbers and Patrick Murphy’s spin on it

Image via Wikipedia

BucksRight.com published an excellent article analysing the job numbers and Patrick Murphy’s spin.  He tried to make them look good, but the truth is that since he took office unemployment went from 4.4% to the current 9.7%.  We’re not buying it anymore Congressman Murphy.   You can read the full article at http://www.bucksright.com/murphy-to-constituents-youre-welcome-for-that-crap-job-report-5717

Government takeover of BP – Shoe on the other foot

In this article by Robert Reich, he calls for government takeover of BP.  This is a very dangerous and slippery slope.  Our government keeps taking over businesses (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GM) and are imposing their dictatorship over entire sectors (banking, health care, etc).  Ignoring the fact that all of this: kills jobs, is unconstitutional, and socialist at best (communist at worst), let’s take a look at another angle.  What happens if an extreme Republican administration takes control of our government.  Will unions be too big to fail and be taken over and/or nationalized?  Just imagine the reaction of the “left” if the “right” has the powers that their accumulating now.  What if the shoe is on the other foot?  Regardless of what side of the political line you’re on, consider what would happen if the opposing party has these powers.

Personally, I don’t want our government to have any of these powers.  They should be an enabler not a provider and certainly not a dictator.  This much power is dangerous.

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