A gift for Democrats
One would hope that the Tea Party zealots from Indiana are currently suffering from buyers’ remorse. By defeating Sen. Richard Lugar in the GOP primary they took what should have been a safe Republican seat and gift wrapped it for the Democrats.
Meanwhile in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District Michele Bachmann squeaked out a very narrow victory in a Republican stronghold. That suggests that the Tea Party fad is losing its momentum. That can’t happen soon enough for me. The notion that we can balance our federal budget and pay down the national debt without increasing taxes is a wild fantasy.
I am eagerly awaiting the day when the Tea Party and Grover Norquist join the John Birch Society in political oblivion. When that happens I will once again be able to vote Republican.
Jerry Miller
Sebeka
Comments (18)
Add commentRichard Mourdock lost
because he thought women who are raped and become pregnant, should accept the consequences. Later he said he regretted saying it, but to say such a thing showed his true feelings.
"Mourdock was asked during the final minutes of a debate whether abortion should be allowed in cases of rape.
He replied: “I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that’s something God intended to happen.”
Ironically, his Democratic opponent was also pro-life.
I see Obama's hand picked Muslim Brotherhood
Egyptian has now declared himself Pharaoh also, southie.
How long before Obama declares himself Dictator for Life here?
You pathetic child murderers are really getting full of yourselves lately.
TEA
For the people on here who have a thing for this Murdock guy, the local tea parties around him did not like him.I don't think he was endorsed by any tea party. They are not a real party.
The tea parties are people who feel we are taxed enough
already. Why people keep throwing in the social issues
and associate them with the tea party people is beyond me
I also can't figure out why people are irritated and offended
by taxed enough already. They see all the waste and duplication in government. How is that offensive?.
The blunt truth is they need to cut first before raising taxes
or they will never cut.. That has been proven,they just
can't cut.
It amazes me
that people have become so attached to the financial drip hose of government that they can no longer see the mess we are in. They would rather continue the insane spending than trim the packages that are abusive to taxpayers.
I no longer wonder what is wrong with the country. Its as plain as can be. It also is clear that it is just a matter of time before the United States of America become a nation inflamed in bitter civil war.
You can only push people so far, you can only expect people to support you so long, you can only demand that my child go without or with less so your child can have more, for only so long before society explodes into war. No, I am not advocating war. I am saying you can see the freight train a-comin on down the tracks!
I just pray the good Lord has punched my checkout ticket when it happens, because this country is going to get some kind of ugly!
What can we cut?
We can start by consolidating all the job programs down to
2-3. I think there are currently 40 something.
Cut funding to PBS and NPR with the idea of phasing out altogether.
Block grant to the States any program that you can.
Including all the pork that they somehow keep funding.
The federal programs that keep growing with bureaucrats
such as: TSA, FHA, Frannie May, Freddie Mac, Amtrak,
Federal Pension Guarantee Corp, Homeland Security,
Dept. Of Agriculture and more.
The Federal employee unemployment is only 4.5%.
Medicaid could be block granted to the states.
This is all just without me researching anything. So
if I wanted, I could find more.
Cuts and spending
Take the VA medical system away from the govn and make it privately run. Without federal funding.
Take Amtrak, make it privately run and funded
Take the Postal system, shut it down and revamp it. Make it private. And frankly, why can't 99.99999% of ALL postal shipments other than packages, be done online? bill payments? Online. advertising? Online. junk mail? Online.
Letters? Online.
Privatize any federally funded program to farmers. If it isnt profitable, they will cut it within weeks.
Cut and eliminate ANY grants of any kind. Anywhere. To anyone.
In Government, re: elected officials:
1) eliminate any and all programs where companies are given special priorities or access to special funding
2) eliminate ALL govn subsidies of any kind to any company or individual
3) eliminate any and all advertising allowances in elected official campaigns, specifically, NO elected official, incumbent OR pending, can buy advertising, run ads on print or air. Anyone caught lieing about their opponent is hauled into court and spends time in jail. Period.
4) cut any college grants and loans. if you can't afford to go to school, work your way through it. or don't go.
5) All highway work is taken private. No grants, no govn loans
6) All medical programs are privately run. NO govn affiliation or association.
7) Shut down ALL lobbying, all political affiliations with lobbyists, all grants and programs granted to lobbyists.
here is a question for you all: how much money do you think the US Govn spends per month trying to get people to fulfill their loan agreements and contracts? Do you suppose it would be immensely cheaper to just not lend college students money? We spend more trying to get paid back than we loaned them!
If all govn work was taken private
prices would go skyhigh, until the companies realized noone would be able to afford it and that they were losing huge annual chunks of in come to bartering. Then they would plummet, and people would once again consider doing business with them.
Unions would get run out of town because the top union officials would try their tactics in the new business environment and people would laugh at them. Thus, the death of another tyrant that wouldn't be missed.
Hey Perpetuity-Cuts and Spending-two thunbs up
Hey Perpetuity, I'll bet you were just waiting for me to get tight undies over your suggested cuts at the VA. Well, you're wrong. There are millions of dollars being mis-spent daily at the VA. If this money was used to treat veterans instead of being wasted elsewhere, there would still be money left over for the federal budget drawdown, and veterans would get better care Example: The VA spends millions on research (diabetes, ptsd, alcohol and tobacco, etc.) that is being duplicated all around the country in the private sector. It is the job of the VA to take care of the veterans with the medical practices that are developed in the commercial world. The VA has no business in diabetes research etc. There are a few medical problems that could only be dealt with and researched by the VA only (agent orange) etc. These ailments do not benefit the rest of society however 90% of research being done at the VA is a total waste of money other than to create government jobs. Also, the Mpls VA medical center has training/schooling programs combined with the Uof M and HCMC. This is another waste of VA money. These students have no business training at the VA for several months on the VA budget. Again, the VA should be in the business of treating and caring for veterans and not on duplicating private sector research and the training of future doctors. These are just a few of the many ways the VA budget could be cut without hurting the Veterans. Are you aware that while the VA researches diabetes, etc, 12 Veterans per day in our country (that's 4380 per year) are committing suicide when they could satisfactorily be treated with todays current medical practices. Oh well, every suicide is money spent on treatment that can be used on research instead. That is the attitude of todays leadership at the VA in Washington DC. Did you know that the media is banned from the VA Hospitals. They say this is to protect the privacy of the Veterans. This was true at one time but banning the media at this time in history is for the purpose of keeping the media from actually seeing the abuse at the VA medical centers. Money being wasted, Veterans being treated like animals etc. and the VA wants to hide it. (more on Veteran mistreatment at Mpls VA medical center available upon request). I speak on this issue with facts, not heresay. Why are Veterans committing suicide? Well, as you walk into a VA hospital, you are greeted by photos of a Kenyan(Commander-in-chief) and a photo of a Japanese Guy (remember pearl harbor)Director of Veterans Affairs, DC and at the Mpls VA, they even have a Muslim woman live and in full garb, standing under these photos, passing out info pamphlets about the hospital. Why are Veterans committing suicide? You don't have to look beyond the front door of the VA hospitals. Millions of dollars being wasted daily. HOWEVER: I'm not sure that privatizing the VA will solve this problem. I have to think about that a little more. I think saving money in the VA can be handled within the current system with proper leadership.
From one Vet to another
I have no problems with you or your feelings about the VA. Didn't even know you were a Vet, honestly. I don't pay much attention to posts without punctuation or paragraph breaks, that may be part of it. (no offense, sire)
The VA is a verifiable mess, it's poorly run, its mismanaged, there is so much middle management that it's stupid, they make error after error and the errors cost them tons each month. I often get 3-5 letters for each appointment. Thats labor, materials of ink, paper and envelope, more labor to mail it out, then the cost of mailing. If you multiply that times every vet that it probably happens to, that alone is a heck of a stupidity expense.
I have been on same low level blood pressure, etc types of medications for 25+ yrs now and every month they send me the same medications along with 5+ pages of warnings, precautions and instructions on how to take the meds. For each medication. for each month. x 25 yrs. and thats just me. imagine if they streamlined that issue alone what it would save them!
From One Vet to Another
Sorry about the punctuation etc. I try not to be perfect in my writings unless they are more formal than these posts. I agree 100% on the miles of paperwork with each prescription. Also, you are only allowed 4 refills on each prescription and then you need to go through a bunch of red tape again to get a renewal. That's real cool for a diabetic like myself. Like my diabetes might go away and I wouldn't need any more meds. Get real. I imagine the same thing with your BP meds. I get a 3 month supply with each refill but I have to pay co-pay of $8 for each month. In other words $24 co-pay for each refill. They burn money at the VA as a fuel for heating the place. A total mismanagement of money for very little results in care. At the VA hospital in Mpls, they have been working on a new parking ramp (needed 20 years ago) since before I worked there in 1992 and they are still working on the preliminaries. The management at the VA could be cut in half and they would still have room to cut more. What can you say, more government employees, more votes for certain political parties. All this for the atrocious treatment some of these disabled vets receive. I have said for years now, don't send your Veteran to the VA medical facilities without a guardian with him/her to stick up for him/her as the personnel at the VA will take advantage of them every time. It is a criminal waste of money and abuse of human dignity.
Again, sorry about the punctuation. PS: Did you know that the employees at the VA are unionized. AFGE.
I did not know that, Charlie!
re: the unions.
And NO problem on the punctuation, the only reason is that I sometimes get lost in the sentence and it can be hard to find my spot again. Otherwise, I hear ya!
Sounds like you are on the same Govn nightmare I live in too. I have written Senators, the VA Manager in St Cloud (it was Barry Bahl at that time) etc, with lists of errors going on in the system there and they never get fixed and it just marches on.
Its a shame to see the funds wasted, I could live VERY nicely on what it costs the VA on duplicate postage and mailing costs each month!!!! Or the duplication of the med info each time you reorder. Its a crying shame to see it wasted. The money could be going into the pocket of some new disabled Vet that just came home and is in culture shock and probably emotional pain, as well. God bless em all, Charlie, I wish em well!!
I did not know that either
I did not know that Barry Bahl was at the St Cloud VA hospital. He has been the interim director at Mpls VA Hospital since last January, when the previous director got the boot for colluding with Al Franken and violating the 10th amendment (the federal government shall not infringe upon the states right to govern), regarding an issue at the Hastings Vets home. They finally got a new director at Mpls in Sept and Barry Bahl has been sent elsewhere. He really messed up the Mpls hosp. when he was there. Screwed up a lot of veterans. The new director is just as bad. She is the former deputy director of the regional headquarters in St Louis. The regional hdqtrs in St Louis is over the hospitals in our area and they are half the problem. Then the regional director, she sends her deputy to take over Mpls. A real nice combination of mismanagement from the top down. Veteran abuse runs rampant at Mpls VA right next to financial mismanagement. I am currently working on a congressional with Craavack people but I don't know where that will end up now that he is gone. It's a shame vets have to go through this. And they wonder why 12 veterans per day commit suicide in the US. The employees at the Mpls VA are more concerned about Fridays paycheck than they are about taking care of the veterans. Not a good thing.
Barry was decent with me
He wrote me back and said things would be looked into deeply, especially the Brainerd VA's denial of pain meds to me (for damaged vertebrae and residual migraines that last 5 days) along with the statement, "you will just get addicted to them anyways..."
Senator Klobuchar and Barry weren't too happy with them for that one. This was several years ago, though, just for a timeline.
Careful there eyolf.
if you offend the Dept. of Ag you might have to pay for all of your groceries.
F&B
Me thinks old eye is getting some radiation from his summer neighbor Rolf & is really growing some HIGH potent weed on that thar hobby farm ehh???
Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation, 1863...
Enjoy...
http://www.twincities.com/opinion/ci_22044031/lincolns-thanksgiving-proc...