February 29, 2008
Feb 29 02:04 Democratic Stimulus Package Feb 29 02:51 Bush, Obama & Castro Feb 29 11:17 Rubbing Elbows With Governor Pawlenty
Prior Months: Jan
Democratic Stimulus Package
Captain Ed has posted this YouTube of Sen. Bob Casey probably saying too much:
Here's the transcript:
Mr. CASEY: "We want to do a couple of things with this legislation, which we know is the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008. Our Majority Leader, Senator Reid, and our leadership and the members of the Democratic Caucus set it out fairly specifically. A couple of basic things this legislation would have done: first of all, it would have continued what we started in the end of last year, foreclosure prevention counseling dollars, to give money to organizations around the country that are certifiably expert at this, organizations like La Raza. I know the presiding officer knows that group. We know also the Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, known by the acronym 'ACORN.' They're headquartered in Philadelphia. These are organizations which understand what a lender has to deal with but more importantly deal with borrowers when they're borrowing money, when they're dealing with the difficulty and complexity of borrowing money. These organizations would have helped even more so than they're helping now with $200 million more of counseling money. That's not going to happen right now because of what the other side did; they blocked that money by blocking this legislation."I wrote extensively about ACORN in 2006. What I wrote wasn't flattering to their image. Here's some things I wrote then:
ACORN Voter Registration Fraud Allegations Are Just The Tip of The IcebergThis is startling. Sen. Casey admitted that the Democrats' stimulus package sends money to a corrupt organization like ACORN during a speech on the floor of the United States Senate.
Illegalities, Fraud and Contradictions Detailed in Report on Lead Organizer of Florida's Amendment 5
A Florida state attorney is investigating thousands of potentially fraudulent voter registrations associated with the leading organizer of Florida's Amendment 5 ballot initiative. But this is just the tip of an iceberg of illegalities, fraud and contradictions connected to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). In recent days, ACORN has been at the epicenter of reports on thousands of potentially fraudulent voter registrations across the nation, including many by ex-felons, submitted by ACORN employees in the presidential swing states of Ohio, Colorado, Missouri Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Minnesota.
ACORN has paid workers for every voter registration card collected, a felony in Florida and also illegal in Missouri and Pennsylvania. ACORN also routinely accepted signatures for Amendment 5 from individuals who were not currently registered to vote, a requirement under Florida law. Voter registration and petition fraud is just the latest chapter in ACORN's long sordid history.
In the late 1990s, ACORN's Project Vote was involved in an $850,000 embezzling scheme, where union funds and kickbacks were used to illegally aid the 1996 re-election bid of then-Teamsters President Ron Carey. A New York federal jury found the Teamsters political director guilty of the conspiracy.
In 1996, the Inspector General of the AmeriCorps program stripped a $1 million grant from the ACORN Housing Corporation (AHC). When applying, AHC had denied any connections to ACORN, since the grant was not intended for political advocacy organizations. Evidence later uncovered by the Inspector General found that not only was AHC created by ACORN, engaged in numerous transactions with one another, and sharing staff and office space, but it utilized the AmeriCorps grant to increase ACORN membership, a violation of federal guidelines.
It's good knowing that Reid's Democrats don't discriminate on the basis of race, creed or corruption level.
Posted Friday, February 29, 2008 2:05 AM
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Bush, Obama & Castro
Those three people don't have alot in common but they were linked together during President Bush's Thursday morning news conference. Here's how President Bush tied Obama and Castro together:
Bush was particularly hard on Obama for saying that, as president, he would meet with the leaders of Cuba, Iran and North Korea.Sen. McCain is thanking President Bush for this slapdown because it plays into McCain's strength and Obama's weakness. Obama saying that he'll meet with despots without preconditions is irresponsible. We gain nothing from it while they'd gain international credibility.
"What's lost by embracing a tyrant who puts his people in prison because of their political beliefs? What's lost is it'll send the wrong message," Bush said. "I'm not suggesting there's never a time to talk, but I'm suggesting now is not the time" to talk with new Cuban President Raul Castro.
I'm certain that this is part of Obama's playbook to say that Democrats have to occupy the White House in order to restore America's good name around the world. That's the Democrats' fatal flaw. They're so enamored with being seen as good guys that they don't play the bully when it's appropriate.
Obama better get used to this type of slapdown because it's likely that this is the pattern Sen. McCain is likely to use in contrasting Obama's inexperience with Sen. McCain's experience. Hillary tried making the experience argument against Obama. That tactic didn't work because she wasn't that experienced and she didn't do anything to distinguish herself in her brief time in office.
Mara Liasson made an astute observation during Wednesday night's roundtable:
LIASSON: Yes, but here's the thing: last night, against Senator Clinton, Obama said, look, once we've driven into the ditch, there is only so many ways we can get out. The question is, who made the initial decision?I think she nailed it with that opinion. I definitely think that foreign policy will become a serious problem for Obama in the general election because he hasn't been tested in the Democratic nominating process. The only thing that's been discussed during the nominating process is who wanted to get out of Iraq fastest. That worked in a field of pacifists but it won't work against John McCain.
That is actually not going to be the debate anymore. The debate is going to be now what are the options? There are many of them.
He is actually wrong that there are only a few. There are many of them. McCain has a different one. And for Obama to say, look, I would be willing to go back in if al-Qaeda has a base, well, that's exactly what the surge is doing now.
And I just think the debate will get much more complicated for whoever is the Democratic nominee.
The Democrats will have to adjust to McCain after beating up on President Bush. They could beat up on President Bush because he made some glaring mistakes in Iraq. That work against McCain because he's the guy who pushed for the surge, which is now working well.
Posted Friday, February 29, 2008 2:54 AM
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Rubbing Elbows With Governor Pawlenty
Leo & I attended a fundraiser for Gov. Pawlenty last night. I was fortunate enough to talk with him for the better part of 10 minutes, which is a long time at an event of this nature.
One of the things that we talked about was the nature of Minnesota's tax structure, which Gov. Pawlenty essentially said was antiquated & needed a massive overhaul in its thinking. One of the things he stressed was that 'Minnesota companies' were choosing to expand outside the state, specifically mentioning 3M as an example of that. He said that 3M wasn't moving, just that they wouldn't pick Minnesota when they expanded.
Following that theme, I asked Gov. Pawlenty if I was wrong thinking that "Anytime I hear the DFL talking about a jobs bill, we should expect a tax increase & for it to be all about public works projects." He said that that's exactly what to expect. I then followed up, asking what longterm stability these jobs bring & whether they helped people amass wealth. His reply was that they don't bring longterm economic stability (no shock there, right King ?) & that they aren't an opportunity to create wealth.
During his speech, Gov. Pawlenty impressed me with his talk about not getting rid of the public school system but supplementing that system with online learning opportunities to challenge ambitious students. He said that the days of relying solely on hard-covered books as the main source of information were essentially over.
When he talked about the Omnibus Transportation Bill, he mentioned that gas tax revenues were flat-lining & that they'd soon drop sharply as more people buy "plug-in hybrids" such as the one I talked about here :
The Minnesota legislature is about to take up a "comprehensive transportation bill" which naturally includes billions of dollars in tax increases. I've had several conversations recently that have convinced me that this legislation is a stopgap measure at best. At worst, it's a total waste of time. One reason why it's a stopgap measure at best is because of the vehicles being built by Tesla Motors. Their sales pitch on the homepage of their website brags that the car is 100 percent electric, goes from 0 to 60 in less than 4 seconds, gets the equivalent of 135mpg, can go 220 miles on a single charge and costs .02 per mile to operate.The DFL doesn't have an answer to that question, instead retreating to imposing another tax designed in the last century. Their approach is a 'Well that's the way we've always done it' approach rather than thinking about a forward-thinking solution.
Considering that that's just one such 'vehicle of the future', shouldn't we be asking the DFL how it'll fund road & bridge repairs once these vehicles become the rule rather than the exception? That day is coming, most likely sooner than people think.
One of the things that was perfectly clear is that Gov. Pawlenty enjoyed the retail politicking, having conversations with the various people. He was very comfortable talking with people on a wide range of topics.
Another thing that's obvious is that he's a big fan of blogs. When I introduced Leo, I told Gov. Pawlenty that Leo, King & I were the first members of the SCBA. His first reaction after greeting Leo was to ask if it isn't a little different thinking of blogs in terms of them belonging to associations. He then asked if we were solely a center-right association or if we let other political persuasions into the organization.
The other tidbit of news from the event came from St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis, who told Leo & I that he'd ordered a hiring freeze for the time being, saying that he was determined to not raise property taxes. Thanks Mayor.
Finally, Thanks to Gov. Pawlenty for taking the time to talk with us. It's obvious that he's fighting for his agenda in a more public way this year than in the past. That's good news because he's an appealing advocate for the conservative cause.
Posted Friday, February 29, 2008 11:17 AM
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