PA Blog

I was recently contacted by an owner of a website that tracks how Senators and Representatives in Washington have voted on the major issues of the day. It is a very interesting and easy to use down-loadable PDF for each state. Here is the link to how Pennsylvania Congressman have voted on the major issues. Click Here. If you are reading this and you are from one of our other states Click Here to find your state.

The nice thing is you can print this out on one page and take it with you to the place you vote and easily share it with your friends, churches and other organizations.  The chart does not get into party affiliation. In all honesty that should not matter to most of us. While I may be a Conservative and often vote Republican I will stand by anyone who is for smaller government, lower taxes, energy independence, fiscal responsibility and tough on terror. I don’t care what party affiliation you have if you believe in these things.

Washington will never learn unless “We the people” decide to make them listen by voting out the wrong headed career politicians and vote in the new blood, pro Constitution small government types.

You can stop reading now if you want. The rest of this is just my venting on recent political issues. If you need to rant simply register and submit your rant via a Post. We will review and approve it if appropriate.

Since Barack Obama has taken office with his Democrat majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate they have wasted time and precious American resources. Not that Bush was much better. However, I believe if a Conservative was in office he or she would have immediately pivoted towards the economy. Just like after the 9/11 attack we should have gone aggressively towards fiscal responsibility.

Just think about this for a minute or maybe you already have. While the country tail spins our Congress and President squandered an entire year on 2 major issues that Americans were overwhelmingly against. They were Cap and Trade, known as Cap and Tax as it would cost all Americans billions if not trillions of dollars and hurt our economic standing in the world. All based on faulty science that says man is causing the earth to warm. If you been paying attention to the news you now know the earth has been cooling for the past 15 years or so and that it is all a natural thing. The next thing our politicians have been wasting time on is Government run Health Care. Even though all the polls prove Americans want to take a slow incremental approach to changing they way health care is delivered, the President, Pelosi and Reid are going to try and ram through a government take over of health care against the wishes of the American people.

I remember the line that rocketed Bill Clinton into office: “It’s the economy stupid!” However catchy that slogan was it did not come to fruition until the Contract with America came about by Conservative leaders in 1994.The Tea Party Movement is similar only it is a grass roots outcry of the people to our government to reform the way it does business now. It is the people saying “It’s the economy stupid” rather than the politicians. It is the people wanting a new Contract with America.

If you did not know it, Congress is the branch of our government that holds the purse strings. They decide how and or if money is spent. A President can Veto bills he doesn’t like but it can be overridden by a two thirds majority vote by the Congress. You may have recently seen how Congress planned to stop Obama and Eric Holder from putting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on trial in civilian courts. The measure failed by just one vote. However, the point is Congress was going to use “the power of the purse” to stop this as it will likely cost us anywhere from 300 million to 1 billion dollars to try him in civilian court. A military tribunal would cost virtually nothing.

Back to the main point of my rant. It is time to vote these jokers out. The only problem is when it comes election time we often forget how our Senators and Representatives voted on previous issues. Visit http://www.votetrackers.com and grab your states voting history on the major issues today.

The insurance giant that was “too big to fail” was bailed out under the Bush administration with 160 BILLION dollars, lost another 67 some Billion last year and requires another 9 Billion this year. As I watched Cavuto today he ran the clips showing he and Mike Huckabee were against the bailout before and all along the line and have not wavered in their view. He also ran several clips of Republicans insisting they needed to bail AIG out.

I suppose few who read this are business news junkies like me. If you own a business  you almost have to be. I’m not going to ask “where is my bailout” like some have quoted small business owners asking. I’m just going to suck it up and do the best I can. In business that means letting someone go or severing a relationship that is just not beneficial. Other times it means cutting costs and doing without. We really need to sever our relationship with AIG.

I can’t help but wonder in the American Capitalist system how you get “too big to fail.” I though the government was there to ensure monopolies do not exist since this allows them to set and control  prices. I suppose that is how some become too big to fail, government failing to do its job!

Capitalism is based on having winners and losers. We can’t all be winners, no matter what the new Socialist leaning government in Washington tells us. I include some Progressive Republicans in that statement.

The one sure fire way to ruin a child is to continue to bail them out when they get in trouble. The same holds true for business. Sure, there will be tons of pain when they learn their lesson the hard way. Yes, it will impact more than just the loser. As in a family, when one sibling screws up it hurts the entire family and possibly the community. However, that is no reason to continue to bail them out. Out of failure comes the ability to learn from our mistakes. Bailouts prevent this learning experience and serves to continue the bad behavior.

We all have had the brother, sister, friend or employee who continues to seek being bailed out when they screw up. Many of us are guilty of helping people too many times. I believe in Alcoholics Anonymous they call it “enabling.”  I know because I once tried to help an alcoholic friend and he told me I was an enabler. I suppose I was but I’m trying to learn my lesson about bailing people out too often myself.  I say enough is enough. While we work hard to maintain a decent living the leaches of society try to suck the life out of our hard work. It is time to knock off the government bailouts. It is not their money, it is our money.

That’s my thought, I welcome yours.

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), 77, a Vietnam veteran who staunchly supported military spending and became a master of pork-barrel politics, died today at Virginia Hospital Center following gallbladder surgery last month, usually a minor operation.

Elected to the Congressional legislature in 1974 from a southwestern Pennsylvania district that has been economically devastated by the decline of America’s coal-mining and steel industries.  Murtha was beloved by his constituents and loathed by conservatives for earmarking  billions of dollars in taxpayers’ money for his area.

He was respected among Democrats for his skill over 19 terms in using the power of the federal purse to make kings and deals. An ally of Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Murtha  was one of the most influential lawmakers in Washington and credited with her rise.

Critics called Murtha the “King of Pork” for the volume of taxpayer money he could direct to the area around his home town of Johnstown. Most of the money came in defense and military research contracts he steered to companies based in his district or with small offices there.