Obama's leadership strategy seems to be the same in most major issues. He has enough presence to be a factor, but rarely shows insight, strategy, or good judgment. Obama also works hard to cut out any figure who might garner more attention than he does.
We see this in foreign affairs. Under George W. Bush and his predecessor, the Secretary of State truly represented the foreign policy of the nation. Rice and Albright obviously had the confidence of their bosses and were part of major deals in our diplomacy. Hillary Clinton has been a figure of neglect and ridicule; her most recent achievement being the scheduling of a Lady Gaga concert. However, Obama's foreign policy has been one of confusing drift. He alienates allies while blundering into wars with no explanation.
Obama's main concern with the debt issue appears to be whether or not he wins a political battle. He has expanded the debt considerably. This issue by itself has undermined public confidence in Democratic leadership. Interestingly, a CNN reporter recently asked him about his predictions of doom if the debt ceiling were not raised by a certain day. Many such days have passed and we're still here spending too much money. His attempt at leadership was to compare Congress to his children, saying that they were disciplined and got their homework done on time.
Sorry, Obama, the issue of national debt, the interests of the people, and the future of this nation is of more importance than your daughter's math homework. It takes more time. And for the president to refer to Congress in this way really betrays his mindset. He is a paternalist with a desire to control. Luckily, he lacks political ability and competence, or we'd be in a lot more trouble.
In any event, he needs replaced. I am surprised there is no Democratic challenger yet.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Capito and McKinley Fight the EPA
Capito Applauds Senator Toomey For Introducing Bill To Mandate EPA Consider Jobs
6/29/11
Today, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., applauded Senator Pat Toomey, R-PA, for his leadership in introducing the Senate version of Capito’s bill, the Employment Protection Act, which would require the EPA to consider the impact of any new regulation, new policy statement or permit denial on jobs.
In May, Capito introduced H.R. 1872 the “Employment Protection Act” to ensure the EPA considers how their actions impact jobs and the economy. Capito has fought hard to limit the EPA’s assault on Appalachian job-creators, specifically pushing back against the EPA’s intent to use broadly interpreted regulatory authority to overstep the bounds of its traditional role in the permitting process.
“The energy industry provides thousands of good-paying jobs, and coal aloneprovides over half of our nation’s electricity and over 95 percent of the power in West Virginia,” stated Capito. “I am proud to work with Senator Toomey to ensure that the EPA cannot continue to push rules and regulations without considering what it is doing to local economies and families.”
Earlier this month, American Electric Power announced it will be forced to cut jobs and decrease production in order to comply with a series of regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would impact coal-fueled power plants.
Capito’s bill has 12 cosponsors
McKinley Measure Just a First Step
06/27/11
The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
Thanks to U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., thoughtful Americans concerned about the liberal war on coal have won a battle.
Last week an important bill introduced by McKinley, concerning Environmental Protection Agency plans to establish harsh new rules on fly ash generated at coal-fired power plants, advanced in the House of Representatives. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy approved the bill.
McKinley estimates that if the EPA is allowed to proceed, hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost. In addition, costs to the economy "could surpass the hundred-billion dollar range." And that is just part of the liberal war on coal.
McKinley's bill would prevent the EPA from classifying fly ash as hazardous waste. It should not be viewed as such, of course. The material is used extensively in production of widely-sold goods such as drywall and concrete.
The bill probably will be approved by the full House - but may stall in the Senate.
Still, it is a small victory - one battle in what may be a long, brutal conflict to keep President Barack Obama and other liberals from destroying the coal industry.
McKinley is to be commended for his initiative, and encouraged to keep up the good work.
6/29/11
Today, Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., applauded Senator Pat Toomey, R-PA, for his leadership in introducing the Senate version of Capito’s bill, the Employment Protection Act, which would require the EPA to consider the impact of any new regulation, new policy statement or permit denial on jobs.
In May, Capito introduced H.R. 1872 the “Employment Protection Act” to ensure the EPA considers how their actions impact jobs and the economy. Capito has fought hard to limit the EPA’s assault on Appalachian job-creators, specifically pushing back against the EPA’s intent to use broadly interpreted regulatory authority to overstep the bounds of its traditional role in the permitting process.
“The energy industry provides thousands of good-paying jobs, and coal aloneprovides over half of our nation’s electricity and over 95 percent of the power in West Virginia,” stated Capito. “I am proud to work with Senator Toomey to ensure that the EPA cannot continue to push rules and regulations without considering what it is doing to local economies and families.”
Earlier this month, American Electric Power announced it will be forced to cut jobs and decrease production in order to comply with a series of regulations proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that would impact coal-fueled power plants.
Capito’s bill has 12 cosponsors
McKinley Measure Just a First Step
06/27/11
The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register
Thanks to U.S. Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va., thoughtful Americans concerned about the liberal war on coal have won a battle.
Last week an important bill introduced by McKinley, concerning Environmental Protection Agency plans to establish harsh new rules on fly ash generated at coal-fired power plants, advanced in the House of Representatives. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy approved the bill.
McKinley estimates that if the EPA is allowed to proceed, hundreds of thousands of jobs could be lost. In addition, costs to the economy "could surpass the hundred-billion dollar range." And that is just part of the liberal war on coal.
McKinley's bill would prevent the EPA from classifying fly ash as hazardous waste. It should not be viewed as such, of course. The material is used extensively in production of widely-sold goods such as drywall and concrete.
The bill probably will be approved by the full House - but may stall in the Senate.
Still, it is a small victory - one battle in what may be a long, brutal conflict to keep President Barack Obama and other liberals from destroying the coal industry.
McKinley is to be commended for his initiative, and encouraged to keep up the good work.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
TSA Needs Restrained
On Monday, a 95 year old woman dying of cancer was humiliated by TSA. They forced her to remove her adult diaper because they couldn't tell what might be in it after groping her around her mid section.
Add this to the horror stories of uniformed guards feeling up toddlers and you get a body of work by TSA that has exceeded worst case scenarios. Thankfully some states have considered legislation to restrain or eliminate TSA from their airports.
We need security in airports. Most people understand that. But we need people with common sense working as gate keepers. We also need more Americans to stand up and say that they will not endure humiliating treatment and are willing to be loud about it.
West Virginia needsto join the states that are putting together restrictive legislation on TSA.
Add this to the horror stories of uniformed guards feeling up toddlers and you get a body of work by TSA that has exceeded worst case scenarios. Thankfully some states have considered legislation to restrain or eliminate TSA from their airports.
We need security in airports. Most people understand that. But we need people with common sense working as gate keepers. We also need more Americans to stand up and say that they will not endure humiliating treatment and are willing to be loud about it.
West Virginia needsto join the states that are putting together restrictive legislation on TSA.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Disgraceful Show In Pasadena
My wife is the soccer fan in this family. Until recently, I thought Tim Howard was a car dealer in Morgantown, not the U. S. national team goalie.
However, he summed up the frustrations of many A mericans a few days ago. His team collapsed in the championship game of the Gold Cup against Mexico. But that isn't what would anger most Americans. Howard said that the postgame ceremony, which was conducted in Spanish, was an absolute disgrace. He's right.
The United States was the host country. Americans speak English. This was meant to be yet another slap in the face of the big bad Yankees by international soccer. If the post game announcer could not speak English, get someone who can speak it. Translations are not good enough.
This would have happened nowhere else, and Howard made that point. More Americans need to stand up for the fact that we are an English speaking nation, not Spanish or anything else. English.
Yes the U. S. team's collapse in that final was embarassing, but not nearly as disgraceful as the wanton disrespect shown to the host country by international soccer.
However, he summed up the frustrations of many A mericans a few days ago. His team collapsed in the championship game of the Gold Cup against Mexico. But that isn't what would anger most Americans. Howard said that the postgame ceremony, which was conducted in Spanish, was an absolute disgrace. He's right.
The United States was the host country. Americans speak English. This was meant to be yet another slap in the face of the big bad Yankees by international soccer. If the post game announcer could not speak English, get someone who can speak it. Translations are not good enough.
This would have happened nowhere else, and Howard made that point. More Americans need to stand up for the fact that we are an English speaking nation, not Spanish or anything else. English.
Yes the U. S. team's collapse in that final was embarassing, but not nearly as disgraceful as the wanton disrespect shown to the host country by international soccer.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Education and Health Care Are Not Natural Rights
We talk about natural rights on here a lot. Natural rights are essential to existence. They are granted by God, or nature, to each individual. Jefferson recognized some in the Declaration of Independence while Madison included the most of the rest in the Bill of Rights. Most of us would agree that the Earl Warren court recognized an important natural right in the right to privacy as well.
Leftists want to ask why we do not list health care, right to a job, etc. among our rights. They accuse us of picking and choosing issues as if we were in a cafeteria. Leftists do not recognize a key difference.
Natural rights only involve the individual. An individual's right to speak, own and enjoy his property in privacy, worship in his own fashion, own guns,vote in elections, etc. do not demand resources from any other individual or group. You do not have to plunder from another to enjoy these rights. That makes them natural.
Health care, food, and work are commodities. You have the right to seek ways to obtain them, but they are not yours by right naturally because they require resources and the participation of others. If society were to truly state that something like health care was an ironclad right, that would result in the enslavement of anyone qualified to treat medical conditions. They would be compelled to work for someone else, which would violate their natural rights on a number of levels.
Medicare and social security are not rights, but in this case the government is bound by a contract to provide these services to those who paid into them for decades with the expectation that they be there. Whether or not the government is able to fulfill this contract is in question in the long term. People under forty generally have no expectations that they will ever see these benefits in their advanced age.
The worst injustice ever done to teachers was in treating education as a "right." Again, this is not a natural right. It should be treated more as a privilege. When we started operating under the belief that every child has a right to an education, we threw our public education teachers and administrators under the bus. We demanded that they take on a rising population of drug addicts and dealers, budding psychopaths, sexual predators, and educationally inert people. Not only are the educational professionals forced to divert attention and resources to dealing with these people, but those who go to school to get an education are literally victimized. Where else do we force regular folks with regular dreams to sit cheek to jowl with the worst miscreants of society and call it positive socialization? Let's be clear. You have the right to pick up a book and educate yourself, but society has no obligation to cater to those who seriously and chronically misbehave. Teachers, administrators, and real students should not have to deal with those who are in school to violate the rights of others to be secure. Our assumption that every child has the right to an education has turned our schools into prisons complete with cameras and armed guards.
The term "rights" is only applicable when there is no demand of resources from any other person or source.
Leftists want to ask why we do not list health care, right to a job, etc. among our rights. They accuse us of picking and choosing issues as if we were in a cafeteria. Leftists do not recognize a key difference.
Natural rights only involve the individual. An individual's right to speak, own and enjoy his property in privacy, worship in his own fashion, own guns,vote in elections, etc. do not demand resources from any other individual or group. You do not have to plunder from another to enjoy these rights. That makes them natural.
Health care, food, and work are commodities. You have the right to seek ways to obtain them, but they are not yours by right naturally because they require resources and the participation of others. If society were to truly state that something like health care was an ironclad right, that would result in the enslavement of anyone qualified to treat medical conditions. They would be compelled to work for someone else, which would violate their natural rights on a number of levels.
Medicare and social security are not rights, but in this case the government is bound by a contract to provide these services to those who paid into them for decades with the expectation that they be there. Whether or not the government is able to fulfill this contract is in question in the long term. People under forty generally have no expectations that they will ever see these benefits in their advanced age.
The worst injustice ever done to teachers was in treating education as a "right." Again, this is not a natural right. It should be treated more as a privilege. When we started operating under the belief that every child has a right to an education, we threw our public education teachers and administrators under the bus. We demanded that they take on a rising population of drug addicts and dealers, budding psychopaths, sexual predators, and educationally inert people. Not only are the educational professionals forced to divert attention and resources to dealing with these people, but those who go to school to get an education are literally victimized. Where else do we force regular folks with regular dreams to sit cheek to jowl with the worst miscreants of society and call it positive socialization? Let's be clear. You have the right to pick up a book and educate yourself, but society has no obligation to cater to those who seriously and chronically misbehave. Teachers, administrators, and real students should not have to deal with those who are in school to violate the rights of others to be secure. Our assumption that every child has the right to an education has turned our schools into prisons complete with cameras and armed guards.
The term "rights" is only applicable when there is no demand of resources from any other person or source.
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