Entitlement, The Nanny State, New Orleans and Katrina Recovery

One of my fellow bloggers, Texas Fred, has posted two very interesting articles in recent days.

The first post here illustrates the ongoing, generational welfare entitlement attitude held by a portion of the New Orleans residents who can't seem to get off their butts and get their lives in order without believing they are entitled to endless government handouts.

The second post here illustrates another portion of the New Orleans residents, those who have stood up, yanked on their boots, gotten their lives in order, cleaned up their communities and gone on with their lives, without waiting for the government to step in and bail them out.

Neither group is white nor rich. Both groups are minorities (although one group is the predominant majority in New Orleans, essentially "flipping" the national "norm").

One of the most mis-attributed quotes we've heard a lot of lately is this:

"A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have. (often attributed to Barry Goldwater; however, was taken from Gerald Ford who used it in a Presidential address to a joint session of Congress on August 12, 1974)".

In the past week or so, we've heard a lot of nonsense regarding the California fires and the government's response thereto. Frankly, I'm sick of the whining coming out of New Orleans about the only reason California had such excellent response was because the victims are "white", "rich", "Republican", etc.

The truth of the matter is California has to deal with wildfires on a yearly basis. They have the responders and the action plan in place. They drill on those action plans. They prepare, hoping they never have to use their skills, but ready when called upon to do so. They have the chain of command in place and it's followed, like a well-oiled machine.

The population listen to their radios and tv's, paying attention to news alerts; they pack up their cars, prepare their pets, pack up their treasures so they aren't lost in the oncoming disaster, and when they are told to evacuate, they go. They protect their homes and valuables with insurance so the government doesn't have to rebuild their homes for them. Often, they lose their homes. Sometimes, they're lucky and their homes are spared.

They don't sit on their asses, watching disaster approach, waiting for the government to bail them out rather than taking some personal initiative and getting themselves, their loved ones, pets, etc. out of harm's way. They don't look to a corrupt mayor and governor to rescue their asses. Once disaster DOES hit, they don't roam the streets looting everything in sight. They don't take shelter in a sports stadium and trash it, committing felonies on their fellow victims.

The difference in the behaviour of the two groups of people in their respective stadiums couldn't be more telling. One group finishes the job a devastating hurricane started--and while they're busy finishing trashing the stadium, raping, robbing and in one or two rumored instances, murdering their fellow victims. No provisions made for emergency situations, even though the stadium was an obvious choice to shelter a large number of victims--none. Over in California, people were orderly, provision had been made for emergency situations, people pulled together, hotels donated shelter and food. All recognized they were in, essentially, the "same boat" (no pun intended) and pulled together for each other, not turning on each other like animals.

The bottom line? Both areas of the country suffered devastating disasters.

One area of the country, rotten to the core with corruption, is still trying to recover and get things under control, hampered by corruption and flat out laziness, perpetuated by a governmental nanny state and generational welfare wherein no one is responsible or accountable for even their own lives--they simply do not have the pride, the wherewithal, the motivation or the incentive to think for themselves and pick themselves up, dust themselves off and get down to the four letter word of 'W O R K" to get their lives back on track. It's been bred out of them. What's been bred INTO them is the blame game--blame all their misfortunes on anyone and everyone other than themselves.

The race card, the victim card, all of it is someone else's fault because they're black, or they're poor or they're whatever--just as long as they don't have to look into a mirror and see themselves reflected back. No one forced them to sit on their asses waiting for evacuation. No one forced them to act like turkeys that are too stupid to come in out of the rain and therefore "drown". No one forced them to loot, rob, rape and murder, thereby exacerbating an already horrendous situation. No one forced them to sit on their lazy asses waiting for the government to bail them out. The only ones who "forced" them was THEMSELVES and their own irresponsibility, laziness, their liberal brainwashing. The only ones "forcing" them to "stay down" now, while waiting for that government bail out at your and my expense, is themselves.

The other area of the country was prepared, well prepared and was able to implement its emergency plan in a well-rehearsed manner, thereby saving lives, if not property. No one is expecting the government to bail them out, they have provided for their needs themselves. they engage in that four letter word, "W O R K", prepare, follow evacuation procedures, etc.

It has NOTHING to do with being "white", "rich" or "Republican". It has everything to do with accountability, responsibility, maturity, pride, motivation, etc. It has everything to do with either expecting the government to be everything to you and providing you with everything from cradle to grave or getting off your lazy ass and doing for yourself.

That's the deal between a hurricane that hit a below sea level city, that the residents knew was coming, and did nothing to help themselves and a conflagration that again, residents knew was coming and did everything to help themselves.

And recovery? Ah, now we're back to Fred's posts.

It seems ALL we hear about regarding Katrina is the bad. We rarely, if ever, hear about those who have successfully put their lives back together and gone on. It doesn't make for very interesting news, you see, and it doesn't serve the media bias in the MSM.

But there is a success story to Katrina and that is within the Vietnamese community. From Fred's post today:

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The view from Kinh Nguyen’s front door these days is nothing like the “abandoned cemetery” she saw upon returning to her New Orleans neighborhood two months after Hurricane Katrina.

Gone are the blue tarps and plywood boards that covered storm-damaged homes in Village de l’Est, a mostly Vietnamese-American neighborhood. Nguyen’s lawn, which turned dark brown after briny floodwaters killed her grass, is now a lush green. Streets once littered with storm debris are as clean and pothole-free as any in the city.

“They’re all back,” Nguyen, a 45-year-old mother of four, said of her neighbors. “Every home looks nicer, newer.”

Village de l’Est’s rebound has been a remarkable success story in this misery-stricken city. At the same time, for better or worse, the hurricane has brought profound political and cultural change to the community.

And:

An estimated 90 percent of the 25,000 Vietnamese-Americans who lived in southeastern Louisiana before Katrina had returned within two years of Katrina’s onslaught, according to community leaders. They were among the first to start rebuilding their homes and reopening their businesses, and their community is recovering much more rapidly than some other parts of New Orleans.

Like many of her neighbors, Kinh Nguyen didn’t wait for the government’s help to repair her home, a modest, ranch-style house. She moved her family back in in March 2006, about 18 months before she received a federal housing grant.

Now. I don't want to hear about slavery, reparation or any other piece of crap nonsense. I don't want to hear "whitey owes it" to the "black man". I don't want to hear "lack of educational opportunities". I don't want to hear you grew up in a dysfunctional family, or your neighborhood was bad or any one of a kazillion excuses utilized for your behaviour other than the obvious one--you're too damn lazy to do anything for yourself and you expect me to pay the taxes to take care of you and your drug dealing, hip-hopping, gang-banging, procreating ad nauseum sorry asses. I plain don't want to hear it.

Why? Because it's old. It's whiny. It's bullshit. And here's why.

Contrary to the revisionist history you were taught at that public school, your people were not the only people enslaved or oppressed. Whites (read: "Irish") were enslaved and oppressed as well. So were Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Taiwanese,--an entire host of Asiatic peoples. Currently, many millions of Chinese, Koreans, Vietnamese and Taiwanese, to name a few, are enslaved, starving, brutally hunted down and slaughtered in absolutely horrific ways.

Many come here.

Perhaps if you were to google the "Fall of Saigon in 1975" you would get an honest report of the refugees and boat people that came here after the democratic-led congress cut off funding for our troops and we had to leave, never having lost a ground war or battle in Vietnam, but losing the war here at home. Perhaps you would learn about the Vietnamese who literally escaped with nothing more than their lives to come here, crossing the ocean in flimsy, overloaded boats.

People who were terrified of the regime left in power by the complicity of our own congress, led by those democrats you so admire. Did they know English? Often, no. Did they have homes to come to? Families waiting for them? Any idea where their next meal was coming from? Again, in most instances, no.

And what did these people do? They assimilated, became citizens, learned the language. While they were doing that, they found shelter. They found jobs. They worked their asses off. They opened businesses. They saved their money and brought relatives over, one by one. They supported each other within their families, each family member owning a business and each family member supporting one another.

They came from NOTHING. Literally NOTHING. And they made successes of themselves by their own hard work, their own pride, in themselves, their homes, their adopted country. They reveled in the freedoms they gained and they produced and gave back to the communities. Their children entered school, often hampered by linguistic barriers, and through sheer force of will, those children succeeded--often spectacularly.

They didn't wait for government handouts. They PRODUCED. And Katrina is a small example of this will to survive, to succeed, to achieve. They were hit just as hard as the blacks. But their community is nearly rebuilt, bigger, better, cleaner. In the same amount of time the blacks have had, waiting for handouts, the Vietnamese have assessed the situation, pulled on their boots and taken care of business. They didn't hand their lives over to government control; they took control of their own lives, their own responsibility to rebuild, their own accountability.

And they have succeeded.

So, why do we hear nothing but the bad coming out of New Orleans, focused on Jackson and Sharpton, the civil rights bullshit and how the government has let the people down? Because that's what fits the agenda.

While looking for pictures to illustrate this post, I ran across a very interesting spot, Katrinablog.org. Here's a sampling of both the victim/race mentality as well as an exemplary spotlight on the advantage this author took of the educational opportunities afforded--to both the author as well as his Vietnamese counterpart:

first of all i would like to send out my regards to those who lost there lives or those trying to regain theres in hurricane katrina after all it has been christmas and i wish them all a happy (if thats possible) new year.


this site was made to point out the faults in what seems to be a stable society that is only glossed over because the government doesnt want people to know whats going on, only to then complain when the worst happens.


i can only point this out through the disaster of hurricane katrina, its nearly half a year since the hurricane hit the bahamas and then went on to reap its way through parts of america and still people are trying to find loved ones and are struggling to rebuild there lives, why you ask because some people are more concerned with stopping tyrants thousands of miles away and fighting wars that have no meaning, than say helping communitys in its back garden.


what i really dont get though is how can a countrys government which claims to have some of the best technology in the world not moniter and pre-empt the course of a hurrican the day it formed. i mean it hit the bahamas first and it was widely noted there what its predicted course would be, where was the evacuations, where was the help, there was none.


it seems yeat again that we are failed by leaders who are so ego driven that they cannot see past their nose to the damage they've caused and show no sincerety in the remorse for the people involved.


our love goes out to those who were involved in katrina and we wish them a happier year than the last.

Is that the worst piece of anti-government, "give me my gubment handout now" bullshit you've ever read? Where did this person spend the time he was supposed to be in school? It's obvious he couldn't be bothered to attend any kind of english class.

It's certainly not something you see written by his Vietnamese counterpart. It does illustrate where the nanny state will take us.

Go read Fred's articles here and here. Then contrast it with Katrinablog.org here.

Who would you rather be associated with? I would rather be with the people who exemplify what this country stands for, the Vietnamese, and their indomitable will to survive and thrive, succeed and achieve. What about you?

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Tom Cole, GOP Strategist, Is Smiling

Good for him, but in all honesty, this far before the actual elections, I do not think strategists from either side of the aisle should be smiling.

If there is one thing politicians (Democratic and Republican) are GREAT at, it is sticking their feet in their mouth, pandering to the extremists of the party, the ones that scream and screech the loudest, and ignoring the moderates that make up the bulk of voters for either party.

From Broder:

It all adds up, Cole said, to a political environment reminiscent of 1992 -- a tough year for entrenched incumbents of both parties who suddenly saw their margins shrink or disappear. "The American people are rising up in disgust," Cole said, "and incumbents will pay. It's not anti-Republican anymore. It's anti-Washington."

Cole argues that the House Democratic leadership has made a strategic error by wielding its narrow majority to craft partisan bills that invite a Bush veto. That was the case with several resolutions to shorten the Iraq war, and it will be the case later this fall with a series of appropriations bills. Polarization is exactly what the voters hate, Cole said; they are looking for cooperation and agreement.

The screeching over this piece has already begun and yet with over a year to go before polls and opinion pieces even start to matter, we are left wondering, who will make the next fatal error.

He does make a point I have made here before though about Hillary Clinton.

She might just be the shoe in for the Democratic primary and that is the best news the GOP can have.


With her massive connections to crooks, (Hsu to name just one) corruption (NJ Mayor to name just one of her corrupt supporters), court cases where she will have to testify, her ability to pander to anyone and any time without regard to principle, her flip flopping and that fact that she already holds a 48% disapproval rating and most everyone already knows her name and has an "opinion" one way or another-- her supposed shoe in candidacy will probably be the most fatal error on the Democratic side before the 2008 elections.

Her disapproval ratings are higher than those of Sen. John Kerry in the days leading up to the 2004 election (45 percent) and Al Gore (42 percent) just prior to the 2000 presidential election.

"No one with her level of negativity has won the nomination, let alone let alone the White House," University of Texas political science professor Bruce Buchanan said.

Rove said on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday that Clinton will have a difficult time changing her public image, because so many people have already formed an opinion about her.

If the Republicans do not make an error of that size before then, Democrats will hand the election right to the GOP simply by making her the candidate of choice.

With that said, do not forget to stop by facebook and join "Stop Hillary Clinton (One Million Strong against Hillary)" which as of right now has 452, 671 members from both sides of the aisle and independents. (When I joined on September 25, 2007, there was only 421,000+, so you can see how that movement is growing fast).

Note to Tom Cole: Quit smiling, it is too early, but at least we, the GOP supporters, are not calling for the ouster of our party leaders, like the Democratic blogs are..

If they keep eating their own like this, then the GOP sure will be smiling by November 2008 with you Mr. Cole.

Example of what I mean by "eating their own":

Back in August Matt Stoller first floated the idea of a "Bush Dog" campaign against Democratic members of Congress who enable the right-wing through their support of Bush's policies on core progressive values at key moments.

Now the campaign is in full flight. If you type "Bush Dog Democrat" you now get thousands of results. Profiles of all 38 House Bush Dogs have been completed. Among critics are the DLC, DSCC and insider news source National Journal.

However it has been primarily focused on House Bush Dogs. However with a little research I found that Senate Bush Dogs are a much bigger problem.

They are right, a search for Bush Dog Democrats shows they are, indeed, eating their own and saving the GOP the trouble of having to do it for them....LOLOLOL

Ok, so I might be wrong, Tom Cole might just have a reason for a smirk at this time, but please, don't get cocky because we have a lot of work ahead of us.

Cross posted from Wake up America

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Democratic Organization, 527 Group Agrees to Pay $775,000 for Violating Campaign Finance Laws

Cross posted from Wake up America
Surprise, surprise.. the group has ties to the Clinton's and to George Soros.

Hillary isn't having a good couple of days now is she, right on the heels of the latest controversy, found here, we now have the 527 Group, America Coming Together, financed by George Soros and labor organizations that sunk more than $100 million into campaign activities intended to help Democrats in the 2004 elections.

The group, whose president was former top Clinton aide Harold Ickes, agreed to pay the penalty without acknowledging any violations. It had registered as both a 527 organization, named after a portion of the I.R.S. tax code, and as a federal political action committee. But through its 527, it had raised and spent large amounts of money that did not fall under strict federal donation limits.

Critics of 527 groups have contended that they proliferated in the last cycle through a loophole around the ban on soft money — unregulated money — that was imposed under the McCain-Feingold campaign finance laws. Democrats used 527’s to a wide advantage in the 2004 election cycle, with contributions from the likes of billionaire George Soros. Republicans also used them, with major donors like Bob Perry of Texas.

In recent months, the Federal Election Commission has begun a crackdown on these groups, especially if their activities in using unregulated, or soft money were specifically geared toward the election or defeat of specific candidates. In earlier actions, an arm of Progress for America agreed to pay a sizable penalty of $750,000 for operating outside the rules in the 2004 election, and agreements were reached with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and a now-defunct arm of MoveOn.org.

We see from The Trail that this is the FEC's third largest penalty in it's three decade history.

The complaint against ACT was brought by Democracy 21, a non partisan campaign finance reform group. In a statement yesterday, the group's president, Fred Wertheimer welcomed the decision, but suggested that the fine was too little too late -- not nearly large enough to deter independent groups from engaging in "huge illegal expenditures ... in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections for the third federal election in a row."

"The amount of the penalty imposed against ACT in this case represents only a tiny fraction of the nearly $100 million that the FEC found ACT illegally spent to influence the 2004 election," Wertheimer's statement said.

A little bit about George Soros:

The December 1, 2003, USA Today quoted Soros's worth at "about $7 billion," of which Soros had pledged "$15.5 million to anti-Bush, anti-conservative groups ... giving $10 million to Americans Coming Together, $2.5 million to MoveOn.org, and $3 million to the Center for American Progress."

One has to wonder about those other organizations Soros has contributed to.

More from Politico.

FEC Statement.

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John Boehner : Democrats deeply invested in defeat

Cross posted from Wake up America

Time and again we have said that the Democrats are too heavily invested in defeat. Nancy Boyda could not even stand to stay in the same room with General Keane when he was discussing the progress that was being seen in Iraq.

Thats right, she got up and walked out rather than become educated on what was happening in Iraq from the expert.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn actually admitted that good news from Iraq would "be a problem for us", speaking about the Democrats... how sad is that?

Good news, progress that our military is achieving is bad news for them. Iraqi's being able to see a light at the end of a long dark tunnel, and being given the chance to live free, is bad news to the Democrats? Our country, making headway in the one place that al-Qaeda has stated publicly is the "central front" in the war on terror, is bad news for the Democrats?

What does that say about them? Really?

On a more basic level, we see from our own comment section that every time news comes from Iraq that is good, that shows progress and that even mentions the words success or victory, the bats come flying, attacking.

What does it say about people that to them the worse news they can stand is good news from Iraq?

John Boehner tells it like it is:

"The fact that Democratic leaders continue to push for precipitous withdrawal despite the significant progress our troops are making shows just how deeply invested they are in failure," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Harry Baghdad" Reid and Nancy Pelosi, are you listening? He is speaking to YOU.

In that same article Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said a premature withdrawal would be a "giant step backwards", which is just what the Democrats want and need right now because they have bet their careers against America.

Betting against our military and our country to succeed is always a bad idea.

Yet that is exactly what they have done.

They deserve what they get.

Thank you John Boehner for stating it so clearly.

More along this same theme go check out NRO with "The Democrats’ Counsel of Despair".

Bonior’s position appears to be that admitting that the surge is working should be avoided as much as possible, lest it increase political support for the war.

[...]

The fact is that the surge is President Bush’s policy, and one that he implemented over the vociferous opposition of Democrats who thought the best strategy against al Qaeda in Iraq was to begin to leave. Now the surge has helped turn Sunni tribes against al Qaeda, advancing the goal that nearly everyone in the U.S. notionally shares of routing the terror group from Iraq. Democrats try to chalk up this progress generically to the courage and the adeptness of our troops. Our troops were just as courageous and adept a year ago but they were burdened, unfortunately, by a flawed strategy of prematurely pulling back to let Iraqi forces take the lead — exactly the strategy Democrats have favored ever since President Bush announced the surge.

Interesting.

Read it all....

[UPDATE]Then if you want a real belly laugh, go on over to Think Progress, where they are trying to claim that the Democrats should actually receive some credit for the progress in Iraq, you know the progress they have been fighting tooth and nail to stop from happening?

OK, THAT cracked me up.

What jackasses.[End Update]

(NOTE: Instead of leaving you with the advertisements I usually have at the bottom of each post, I will leave you with one of the videos from Freedoms Watch) [30 second video.]

Wife who has lost her husband in Iraq:

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The Dem's Itinerary for the Next Blabathon

2008 Democratic Convention Soon To Be Upon Us

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

Oh. Wait. Wrong universe...

7:00 pm... Opening flag burning

7:15 pm... Pledge of Allegiance to the U.N. and All Hail to L.O.S.T.

7:20 pm... Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

7:25 pm... Nonreligious prayer and worship with Jessie
Jackson and Al Sharpton

7:45 pm... Ceremonial tree hugging

7:55 pm... Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

8:00 pm... How I Invented the Internet - Al Gore

8:15 pm... Salutary salute to the New Russian Federation of the North Pole

8:35 pm... Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

8:40 pm... Our Troops are War Criminals - John Kerry

9.00 pm... Clone Saddam Rally - Cindy Sheehan and Susan Sarandon

11.00 pm... Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

11:05 pm... Collection for the Osama Bin Laden kidney
transplant fund - Barbara Streisand

11:15 pm... Free the Freedom Fighters from Guantanamo
Bay - Sean Penn

11:30 pm... Oval Office Affairs - William Jefferson Clinton

11:45 pm... Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

11:50 pm... How George Bush Brought Down the World Trade
Towers - Howard Dean

12:15 am... "Truth in Broadcasting Award" - Presented to Dan
Rather by Michael Moore

12:25 am... Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

12:30 am... Satellite address by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

12:45 am... Nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Nancy
Pelosi

1:00 am... Ted Kennedy proposes a toast

1:05 am... Coronation of Hillary Rodham Clinton

1:30 am... Ted Kennedy propoes a toast

1:35 am... Bill Clinton asks Ted to drive Hillary home...

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Prophetic BC

We all know Johnny Hart died at Easter this year. I didn't realize anyone was still doing his column with new updates--this one is dated 2007. However, if it's an earlier strip with simply an updated publication date, then Johnny indeed saw things a lot clearer than we may have thought.

This strip illustrates the arrogance of the dems in changing votes after the gavel dropped AND in then trying to eliminate the evidence.

I agree with Snooper, it's time for some SERIOUS civil disobedience!

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The Democrats are ERASING House Votes Now? Updated: BUSTED

[Major Update on top] The Corner tells us that they just replayed the whole thing on C-Span and the Democrats DID cheat!!!! (A huge thank you to Snooper from Take Our Country Back for the comment in comments section, alerting me to this whole story)

They just replayed the whole mess from the House last night on C-Span. I spoke to Novak and he doesn't remember anything quite like this happening before. Pretty outrageous, really. It is about as blatant an abuse of power as you can have in a legislative body, to cheat on a vote total.

Republicans were playing a game that the minority usually plays — you have your guys vote with the other side, then have them change at the last minute. This forces the majority to come up with votes quickly. Although on close issues they would rather spare their endangered members in swing districts and give them a free vote, the majority leadership then has to tell their endangered members to bite their tongues and vote the party line.

Two Democrats changed their votes to ensure that the measure would fail, but then three Republicans did the same. The vote total was 215-213 in favor of the Republican motion to recommit. At that moment, Rep. Mike McNulty ( D-N.Y.), who was in the Speaker's chair, gavelled out the vote, thinking that it was a tie and the motion had failed. But he had miscounted — the motion had actually passed. The Democrats were only able to change this by cheating and changing more votes after the gavel.

[End Update]

[Update #2]
(Via Hot Air) From The Hill we see that McNulty apologizes (Maybe because C-Span replayed the entire thing and the Dems knew they were busted?)

McNulty took to the floor Friday morning to apologize for his action.

“I want to express regret that I gaveled the vote too early,” McNulty said and apologized for his role in the confusion that rocked the House floor last night.

McNulty gaveled the motion to recommit closed at 214 to 214, when the final vote tally on the board was 213 to 215 after Florida Republican Reps. Mario Diaz Balart, Lincoln Diaz Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen changed their votes from a “no” to a “yes.”

“We went to the front of the House [to change our votes],”Rep. Mario Diaz Balart said, adding that the board had changed to the count of 213 to 215 in favor of the motion to recommit, and that the gavel went down but McNulty hadn’t seen the change.

“It stayed there for several minutes …then the votes started to change again,” he said, causing the vote to flip. “That’s when there was the meltdown.”

Let me repeat...BUSTED

[End Update #2]

[Update #3] An additional thought after watching the comments on C-Span about last nights fiasco, is the underlying issue behind that vote. It was the Republicans attempt to STOP ILLEGAL ALIENS FROM BEING GIVEN WELFARE, with us, the American people, footing the bill. It is an important issue. Our tax dollars should not be used to support illegal aliens, those that have broke our laws in coming here and are here illegally. Now, the Democrats think we should pay for their foodstamps and healthcare also? Nope, not happening. [Update ended]

I rarely do this, but because of how I titled this post, I am going to quote the last paragraph first, from Politico, then move along with the story.

When Democrats finally moved to consider the spending bill as the last vote of the night, furious Republicans left the chamber en masse to protest the maneuver. The House eventually recessed at 11:18 p.m. But Republicans quickly discovered that there was no longer any record of the controversial vote and immediately charged Democrats with erasing the bad result.

So, the Democratic politicians have hit a new low, even for themselves. If they cannot win a vote, they will simply cheat.

No big surprise actually, but it is good their hands are being called on it.

(Continued below the advertisement)



(Continued from above)

In a massive flare-up of partisan tensions (video link courtesy Breitbart.tv), Republicans walked out on a House vote late Thursday night to protest what they believed to be Democratic maneuvers to reverse an unfavorable outcome for them.

The flap represents a complete breakdown in parliamentary procedure and an unprecedented low for the sometimes bitterly divided chamber.

The rancor erupted shortly before 11 p.m. as Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.) gaveled close the vote on a standard procedural measure with the outcome still in doubt.

Details remain fuzzy, but numerous Republicans argued afterward that they had secured a 215-213 win on their motion to bar undocumented immigrants from receiving any federal funds apportioned in the agricultural spending bill for employment or rental assistance. Democrats, however, argued the measure was deadlocked at 214-214 and failed, members and aides on both sides of the aisle said afterward.

One GOP aide saw McNulty gavel the vote to a close after receiving a signal from his leaders – but before reading the official tally. And votes continued to shift even after he closed the roll call - a strange development in itself.

Whatever the final tally, acrimony quickly exploded between lawmakers on either side of the aisle as Democratic leaders tried to plot a solution, while parliamentarians on either side argued over protocol.

Wow.

The Corner has an email that a house aide sent in, explaining things:

An outrage was committed on the House [last night].

While voting on a motion to recommit for the agricultural appropriations legislation, the presiding chair (who is a Democrat member) gaveled the vote closed. The tally was clear and the vote was over. The Republicans had won. Then, realizing what had happened - the Dems allowed just their people to keep voting to change the result. Let's be clear, this wasn't holding the vote open - they change the results of a vote that was legally declared over.

Rep. Cantor wrote a blog post describing what happened.

This is an insult to our democracy, something that Stalin would recognize. It is an unprecedented violation of our democracy that can not be allowed to stand. Do we live in a democracy or a dictatorship?

And, what was so important that the Dems went to all this trouble — it was vote to ensure that illegal immigrants couldn't get taxpayer funding in the agriculture bill. The Dems are so opposed to this, that they would violate our democracy.

Eric Cantor's blog says this:

High drama on the house floor tonight. Dems brought an Agriculture appropriations bill to the floor greatly expanding government programs, yet again. Republicans moved to recommit the bill to committee, in order to add language prohibiting any taxpayer funds under the agriculture programs from going to illegal immigrants.

The Democrat chair closed the roll call when Republicans had won – as the electronic voting tally indicated enough votes to return the bill to committee. Shouting erupted on the floor, as the Democrats attempted to change the outcome of the vote after the gavel had come down – the vote was closed.

Republicans attempted to adjourn, but we were ruled out of order. Confusion set in as members waited at least five minutes for the chair’s decision.

Republicans members then began to leave the floor in protest, after Democrats proved they would go to whatever lengths necessary to further their agenda. A bad call by the chair, the vote was closed. Then the Democrats allowed their members to continue voting to change the outcome. An outrage. Is this a democracy or a dictatorship?

All but a few Republicans refused to vote on final passage since it became obvious that a fair vote would not happen.

UPDATE:Republicans are conferencing this morning after the travesty that occurred last night on the floor of the house. The overwhelming sense of the members is, we have to stand up and reject the democrats manipulation of the rules of the house to further their attempts to thwart Republican efforts to stop government benefits from flowing to illegal immigrants. Republican house members are demanding that democrats right their wrongs..

Compliments of Captain's Quarters, we have the video of Cantor's response on the floor, afterwards:

If we all thought there was massive partisanship before this, count on it being worse now, because once the old rules of procedure are stripped away like this, nothing but chaos can be left over.

Then again, after these maneuvers, if this manages to get past the Senate where the Republicans can demand a 60 vote threshold, the president can and should veto it and force them to do it right as they should have to begin with. With such a close vote, there is no way in hell that either house will be able to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto.

I am sure more will be coming out about this, so check back for updates.

Cross Posted from Wake up America

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Howard Dean's Craziness Continues Leading Moonbats

This came from one of my blogroll buddies, Jimmy Z at A Newt One and he graciously allowed me to post here. Jimmy Z's comments to the letter are in blue.

********************

HOWARD DEAN CONTINUES THE EFFORT TO DIVIDE AMERICA AND LEAD THE DNC TOWARD DEFEAT

Is this really what rank and file Democrats want?

I stumbled into getting my name on the mailing list some years ago for the DNC emails that come out and pollute the internet on a regular basis. Most of them are said to be written by and sent from Howard Dean.

The guy who bellowed AAARRGGHH! and ruined any shot he had at the White House.

That screaming, ranting, insane fellow is always like that, even when soft spoken. The crap that whirls around in his head is amazing to see. His hatred for Conservatives is stunning - he is bold and brazen as he lies through his teeth about what we Conservatives desire for this county. His words are pure poison to freedom and our country's political system.

What is most disheartening is that there are actually democrats who eat this stuff up - the moonbat base - and that's who Dean is speaking to. A few shards of nastiness from Heir Dean for your contemplation, from an email received by myself and presumably a great many democrats on 2 August 2007:

"Last year, we put DNC staff on the ground all across the country to rebuild our party and stand up to the lies and failures of the Republican Party. The 50-State Strategy worked. Those organizers were key to our unprecedented victories up and down the ballot in 2006."

[Right Howie, the fact that Conservatives were angry with Republicans and failed to show up to vote had nothing to do with democrats barely eeking out majority in congress - BARELY --JZ]

"Our organizers are still on the ground in all 50 states, preparing for 2008 in every way possible. And starting this month, they are kicking off an unprecedented voter protection effort, of a scale never attempted by any organization."

[Doesn't this sound more like a threat? --JZ]

"While Democrats protect everyone's right to vote, Karl Rove and the Republican Party have a long history of threatening this right, working to make it harder for Americans to vote. We're going to stop them."

[LOL! Howie's going to stop Rove and the Republicans from doing something that NOT ONE SOURCE in the leftist media that supports Howie's party has reported. Holy cow. --JZ]

"Protecting the right of every eligible American to vote is our party's top priority because we know that it's good for America and good for our democracy when everyone votes.

[No, Howie, it's good when everyone who is a citizen and cares enough to go out and vote, votes. We do not want or need lazy ass, brain dead, television drenched morons going to the polls because democrats made it a holiday or paid them to do it. No way. --JZ]

"All Americans deserve to go to the polls confident that they won't be harassed or intimidated."

[Howie acts as if Republicans have said that Americans don't deserve that. What a liar! --JZ]

"That they won't wait hours for a ballot and that their vote will be counted fairly and accurately."

[No, Howie, wrong again - Americans do NOT have a right not to have to wait in line to vote. You're a fool! --JZ]

"Unfortunately, nearly forty-two years after the signing of the voting rights act, millions of American's are treated like criminals just for trying to vote."

[Just where did this happen, Howie? Even in the areas said to have the most problems, investigation revealed ... ? NOTHING! --JZ]

"So we're going to meet with every election official in the country, visit every polling place, and make sure that every American will have their vote counted-and we will do it now, instead of waiting to hear about big problems on the news on Election Day 2008."

[OH BOY! They're going to solve a problem that does not exist! Typical democrat thinking ... --JZ]

"Under the Bush Administration's politicized Justice Department we have seen an outright attack on voting rights. In their latest scheme, the Republican Administration has manipulated the mission of the Department of Justice, firing U.S. Attorneys who were unwilling to pursue phony "voter fraud" cases, and politicized the Civil Rights Division."

[Astounding! Two outright, unsubstantiated lies in ONE paragraph! Is this what it takes to motivate opposition to Republican ideals? Sure seems that way. --JZ]

"We need your help. By giving $20, $50 or $100 ..."

Then, the email provides no less than FOUR links to a site labeled ProtectTheVote, but the four links take the reader to ... ? You guessed it - a page where you are asked to give money. All of this vitriol and dishonesty is written and sent simply to appease the moonbat base and encourage that same group of moonbats to give money.

Howard Dean is that AARRRGGGHHH! guy 24/7, and he's in charge of the DNC.

--Jimmy Z

********************

Since I work with a liberal, sometimes I can guess what their gobbledygook means. So I'll give it a shot here.

It sounds as if this is a slam against conservatives on three levels--the 2000 and 2004 elections the democrats SWEAR we "stole" (regardless of the innumerable forests cut down for the paper in disproving this bit of nonsense) and the Alberto Gonzales debacle (you know, attorneys that serve under the President serve at his pleasure--and it's okay to fire 93 at a whack because they were appointed under a Republican and you're a democrat (can we say CLINTON boys and girls?) but not 8 for possible misconduct.

Further, it sounds as if he's accusing Conservatives of not providing appropriate, legal ballots for all LEGAL CITIZENS when he and his moonbat brigade would love to have the illegals, the illiterate, the lazy who refuse to educate themselves (I mean come on, do you REALLY need votes that badly you'll reach out to idiots who lived below sea level, knew a record breaking storm was coming and were too lazy to evacuate to save their lives while waiting on the GOVERNMENT to rescue them?), not to mention those who want a "re-do" when they're candidate doesn't win in a fair election.

This is what we're dealing with, folks. The democrats will go to any lengths, tell any lie to get your vote--and look what they do to the country when they get it. Conservatives, this country will NOT, can NOT stand for four to eight years of what we've been dealing with since November, 2007. The country simply won't survive.

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The Wrong Party at the Wrong Time Driving the Wrong Bus

Cross posted by request-Snooper

I give you the Democratic Party. Please. Take them. They are all yours. I don't recognize them any longer as a viable party let alone a viable source for a.n.s.w.e.r.s. Never before in the history of this nation; all 236 years of it, has there been such a shallow minded and a fettered gang of lucid drivel oozing from the mind-set of an American governing body, such as the once GREAT Democratic Party. Never. Ever.

The Republican Party ain't much better but at least there are still those that remain that give a damn about this country and are not the power-mongering, jealousy-ridden and easily led by the short-hairs ingrates such has occupied the Democratic Party. Those that are in bed with the Democratic Leadership might as well jump ship...their days are numbered in the Republican Party. And THAT you can take to the bank...with interest.

I have been reading a plethora of blogs today. I have been reading ALL of the once Main Stream Media, now the Lame Stream and Passe Media. I have been reading the way out there in the outer reaches of space left-handed moonbat rags. I have been reading the way out there in the outer reaches of space right-handed freak-show rags. And, as Spree said earlier today in a comment board, "LOLOL, today has been chalk full of idiocy in the news, hasn't it?"

Yes. It has. I even watched CSPAN for a while and had to turn it off...I ran out of air bullets (I'm going to have get some more of that ammo). Fox News was a joke and many other "news" groups were equally staffed by inept concierges of moonbattiness. What has happened to by-God HONESTY? Personal Integrity? Professional Integrity? What is with the sly looks into the cameras and the gaudy showmanship? I don't watch the news to be entertained. Do you?

And why do people park in driveways and drive on parkways? Who decided that?

I left the safety of my Death Chair and strolled into my domain...The Garage. I have a VERY clean garage. It wasn't clean enough. I turned on the "didio" and listened to that evil Talk Radio as I commenced making a mess of my perfectly clean garage...the three cats looking at me like I had lost my marbles. Evidently, I messed up their entire existence but they hung around in earnest curiosity as I guffawed now and again and spit nails the rest of the time.

There are some really odd people in this world and I have decided that most of them stroll the Halls of CONgress roaming around seeking those of whom they may devour. We have the RINO of The Bridge Leading To Nowhere in Alaska getting busted for being a egotistical charlatan right on down to the Freezer Man.

We have the reddest-faced Mutant Murtha the Toad that has just GOT to be messing in his drawers. He reminds me of that British cartoon of forest creatures and the key character was a toad. That is Murtha. A pompous, egotistical baboon. I sure hope he gets what is coming to him and I hope it is a United States Marine that does the deal.

We have Reid The War Is Lost In Spite of the Plethora of Good News Via Once Staunch Critics of The War moron sinking ever lower into obscurity and irrelevance as each day passes. Yet he maintains that ignorance stance and beleaguered stature and thinks he is the cat's meow. I will venture a guess here that if Reid were to sit down in my garage, my three cats would commence to bury him; the turd that he is.

We have a People's Rep Kansas Rep. Nancy Boyda stepping out of a hearing room last week while a retired Army general testified about U.S. progress in Iraq. And I quote;

“There was only so much that you could take until we in fact had to leave the room for a while,” Boyda said after she returned, according to a transcript of the hearing. “So I think I am back and maybe can articulate some things — after so much of the frustration of having to listen to what we listened to.”

Yes, Sir. That's my baby. No, Sir. I don't mean maybe.............moron. Boy does SHE have some "splainin" to do, eh? How in the HELL do these people get elected?

Others walked out as well but I shant list them. If you need to know, go find out. I am not in the mood.

We have Hillary saying she wants to develop "re-education camps" for public servants. What is that all about?

We have theoretically very highly educated people running for public office that won't debate on Fox News (even though Big Man donates to Hillary's campaign) but they will blow bubbles in the bathtub to drool over the Kos Kids.

We have John effing Kerry that said in an interview not all that long ago that there were NO killing fields in Cambodia, now being called on the carpet as a material witness by a fellow being charged with crimes against humanity than ran the "torture club" in Cambodia after he and his ilk lied to the American People and thousands upon thousands upon thousands died. There's something to brag about to Queen Heinz, eh? (By the way, there are absolutely ZERO Heinz products allowed in my household...NONE.)

While our allies in the GWOT decry, "Don't go!", we have GOP members wanting to rebrand retreat. WTFO?

Out of ALL the articles I read today...not blog articles...but hired writer's stuff, this one impressed me the mostest.

You'll see why if you read on.

Thanks for sharing.

The Wrong Party

Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut may officially be an independent after losing his party's nomination to a well-financed anti-war challenger last year, but there's no doubting his heart belongs to the Democratic Party.

In an interview with Washington's Hill magazine this week, Lieberman lamented that after the party's "most important and successful times" of fighting Nazism and communism last century, there is now "a very strong group within the party that I think doesn't take the threat of Islamist terrorism seriously enough."

Clyburn sees a big "problem."

Some Democrats in Congress, he noted, oppose a strong stance against the Islamofascists "because anything President Bush is for, they'll be against, and that's wrong."

Just how wrong was illustrated by James Clyburn of South Carolina, the Democrats' chief vote counter in the House. In a Washington Post interview Monday, he envisioned it being "a real big problem for us" if the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, presents Congress with a positive report of progress in September, which seems increasingly likely as sectarian violence drops. House Democrats could be fractured, making it harder to mandate a pullout, Clyburn repined.

When your country's winning a war is "a real big problem" for you, it's time to take stock of exactly what your party stands for.

Lieberman called Democratic leaders "naive in thinking we can somehow defeat this enemy with talk, or they're simply hesitant to use American power, including military power."

Echoing the late Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington, Lieberman pointed to the "great tradition in our history of partisanship generally receding when it comes to foreign policy. But for the moment we've lost that."

Jackson, a legendary figure from a Democratic Party that is no more, liked to say that on national security, "the best politics is no politics." He was chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was considered for running mate by JFK in 1960 and ran for his party's presidential nomination in 1972 and 1976.

His prescience on the war on terror was, in retrospect, nothing short of astonishing. Before 1980, Jackson was warning, "I believe that the ultimate but seldom-stated goal of these terrorists is to destroy the very fabric of democracy. I believe that it is both wrong and foolhardy for any democratic state to consider international terrorism to be someone else's problem."

Like Lieberman today, Jackson became an outcast in his own party. But just as history has vindicated Jackson's uncompromising stance against the Soviet Union, it will prove Lieberman right and his party colleagues misguided on the war on terror.

All the signs are that we have a chance to win in Iraq and prevent large-scale genocide. Yet rather than going all-out to win there, most Democrats in Congress are going all-out to win in Washington against Bush; they're dying to see him blamed for a failed war. And instead of recognizing the historic threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran, they pretend that talk can be used as an effective weapon against an Islamofascist madman.

The sadness that Lieberman feels for his beloved party gone awry would surely be shared by Scoop Jackson, not to mention Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman — just as it is by the millions of patriotic Democrats all across this land.

Had enough? Me neither. Read on.

It's all a kerfuffle.

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Couldn't Resist!

This came to me in my email today:



with all the good news coming out of Iraq and the moonbats chasing their tails:


trying to spin defeat, I think we ALL need to invest in this for the coming barrage--

from moonbats:


and Congress alike.

Now, where do we go to get one?

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Driving The Leftinistra INSANE

Cross posted from Snooper

A blurb from the NY Slimes:

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

Here is the most important thing Americans need to understand: We are finally getting somewhere in Iraq, at least in military terms. As two analysts who have harshly criticized the Bush administration’s miserable handling of Iraq, we were surprised by the gains we saw and the potential to produce not necessarily “victory” but a sustainable stability that both we and the Iraqis could live with.

Read the rest at the NYT

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