Puerto Rican Statehood, Now Why Would Democrats Do That?

Having passed the wildly unpopular health care bill through all methods of chicanery, the Democratic leadership in Congress now wants to legalize 12-15 million illegal immigrants currently residing in the U.S. and force (more on that in a minute) the island of Puerto Rico with its population of 4 million to become the 51st state. This will result in 16-19 million additional uninsured Americans which the rest of us will immediately begin buying health insurance for; along with the full allotment of other welfare benefits, Social Security, Medicare, education, etc., etc., etc. Now why would the Democrats do that?

Well, this doesn’t take a rocket scientist to answer – 19 million mostly poorly educated, low wage earning, not politically savvy new citizens; I wonder which party they would vote for? But, in the case of Puerto Rico it gets even better. As you know, each state gets two Senators and Puerto Rico would immediately elect two more Democrats to that body. In the House of Representatives the seats are capped at 435 and divided among the states based on population. The redistributing would result in Puerto Rico gaining 7 or 8 seats and other states losing that number. Two new Senators and 7 – 8 House seats guaranteed to go to the Democrats; considering that 1 vote in the Senate and 3 in the House were the difference between passage and failure of Health Care reform it becomes immediately apparent the stakes we’re talking here!

But, here’s the best part… Puerto Rico doesn’t even want to be a state. The people of Puerto Rico have overwhelmingly voted against it 3 times, including twice in the 90’s. Perhaps you’re thinking, ‘Well what’s the problem then, they’ll just vote against it again’. If only it were that simple, but as James Simpson explains here, this time the game has been rigged and if HR 2499 passes it will push the citizens of Puerto Rico into a process that will virtually force statehood upon them. Even members of their own party don’t like their tactics on this one. Democrat Congressman Luis Gutierrez shares his opinion of the shenanigans here.

The Democrats can’t pass their agenda (Health Care, Cap ‘n Trade, etc.) without trampling on the Constitution to get around those pesky citizens. Now it looks like they will lose most if not all of their majority in Congress come November. They are running out of time, so they have settled on a new plan. Use the power they have for the next 6 months to manipulate the make-up of the future electorate to ensure their retention of or return to power. Nineteen million welfare addicted new voters should do the trick.

Isn’t It Ironic?

Oh the irony! In the same week that Democrats cram through their Health Care takeover legislation, yet another government entity admits it is losing money hand-over-fist and has no idea how to stem the tide of red ink. Postmaster General John Potter admitted to the Senate committee responsible for oversight of the Post Office that they are expecting to lose $238 billion over the next ten years.

Mr. Potter wants to eliminate Saturday delivery to save $3 billion a year, but the Senators don’t like that idea. He discussed the need to cut some of the 36,500 post offices around the country (more locations than McDonald’s or Starbucks), many of which see far too little traffic to be financially justified. The Senators weren’t crazy about that idea  either. He pointed out that his organization is heavily burdened by far too many employees with benefits that are far too generous including retirement plans that exist nowhere other than in government jobs. Shockingly the Senators weren’t keen on the idea of reducing the bloated USPS workforce either. In other words, Mr. Potter was arguing that the Post Office needs to be allowed to run like a private company – as a matter of fact, he said exactly that.

If the Postal Service were provided with the flexibilities used by businesses in the marketplace to streamline their operations and reduce costs, we would become a more efficient and effective organization. Such a change would also allow us to more quickly adapt to meet the evolving needs, demands, and activities of our customers, now and in the future.

So, in the same week that Democrats took a giant step towards their end-goal of a government run U.S. health care industry, the Postmaster General went to the Senate and admitted that the government can’t even manage to effectively run the Post Office. What do you think, is it harder to deliver the mail or heal the sick?

Massachusetts Legislature Out Corrupts Itself!

Just when you thought it was impossible for the Massachusetts legislature, the Boston Globe or Governor Deval Patrick  to be any more corrupt, they descend to new lows. Yesterday the state Senate voted, mostly along party lines, to give Governor Deval Patrick the authority to appoint an interim Senator to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in Washington until a special election is held in January. The House voted similarly a few days ago.

The corruption lies in the history of this decision. In the fall of 2004, during Senator John Kerry’s failed Presidential bid, with the polls indicating that Kerry might win the Presidency and thus vacate his Senate seat, the overwhelmingly Democratic legislature (mostly the same people still in office today) voted to take appointment power away from then Governor, Republican Mitt Romney. The legislators all got up and spoke of how it was important for the people to have a voice even though anyone being honest with themselves knew full well that if the Governor at the time were a Democrat, their would have been no discussion of such a measure.

Fast forward five years to the passing of Senator Kennedy. Within 48 hours of his death, the talk began that although there would be a special election in just five months, the citizens of Massachusetts simply couldn’t survive without two Senators representing them in the interim. Never mind that during his Presidential run Kerry was almost entirely absent from the Senate for 18 months. Neither does it matter to the pontificators of this drivel that during his illness Kennedy missed more than a year and hundreds of votes. Nope, now that the Commonwealth has a Democrat in the Governor’s mansion, the legislature wants him to have appointment power. Could these pols be any more disingenuous?

In 2004, Senator Kennedy wrote a letter to the legislature stressing that the Democratic process demanded that the people, not the then Republican Governor, be given the power to replace Senator Kerry. Just prior to his death last month, Kennedy wrote another letter completing reversing himself, saying that the now Democratic Governor should be allowed to appoint an interim replacement. He didn’t spell it out, but clearly his fear was that the Democrats in the U.S. Senate might be short the needed votes to ram health care legislation down America’s throat. Not to be outdone, the Boston Globe fails to even point out the hypocrisy, saying nothing of Kennedy’s letter from 2004 or of the legislators who flip-flopped between 2004 and 2009.

Today the story takes an even more stunning ‘only-in-Massachusetts‘ twist. For legislation to take effect immediately, rather than after the normal 90 day review period, there must be an emergency preamble attached and both houses must pass the measure with a two-thirds majority. This bill contained the preamble, but did not pass either house with the required 67%. Now the corrupt Governor and his Democratic cronies in the legislature are ignoring the law and claiming he can simply declare an emergency and appoint someone. Of course, this position will lose in court as it is completely un-Constitutional, but in all likelihood, by then the Governor will have appointed someone and the damage will be done.

Two weeks from now those challenging the Governor’s appointment will look mean-spirited and/or petty to the citizenry, who in all honesty are not paying close enough attention to the corruption on Beacon Hill. Truth be told, the corruption in the Commonwealth is so bad, and has been for so long, that the people have ceased to pay attention entirely. Which, like cockroaches with the kitchen lights turned off, is exactly the environment your Democratic representatives hope for and thrive in.

Anything To Stay In Power

Yesterday Senator Arlen Specter switched his political party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. This action was pure political cowardice and a perfect example of why politicians have, and deserve, such a bad reputation. Contrary to what Democrats and the media are trying hard to sell you, Mr. Specter did not switch parties for a change of heart on a key philosophical issue; he did not wake up yesterday and find himself at odds with Republicans; the Republican party is no more out of touch with the American people then the Democratic party. No, the Honorable Arlen Specter did this for one reason and one reason only; to stay in power – he likes being a U.S. Senator.

For the first 35 years of his life Specter was a Democrat, but in 1965 he switched parties in order to win an election as district attorney in Philadelphia. Now 44 years later the 79 year old is switching parties again, and for the same reason, to win an election. Apparently having been in the Senate for the last 29 years isn’t good enough for Mr. Specter and he’d like to win another 6 year term in the 2010 electionm, when he will be EIGHTY-ONE years old (87 by the time that term ends). However, he was facing stiff competition in the Republican primary from an actual Republican, Pat Toomey, and his pollsters told him he was going to lose. So Mr. Specter makes a deal and switches parties.

Arlen Specter is exactly what this country doesn’t need, a career politican with no interest except serving himself. In his near 30 years in the U.S. Senate he has quite famously accomplished virtually nothing. And now, approaching 80 years old, when Pennsylvania Republicans had finally gotten so sick of him they were preparing to exercise the people’s power and vote him out of office, he’s miraculously found his inner Democrat. Anything to stay in power a few more years.

Nothing Better To Do?

In an apparent admission that they have nothing better to do (something many of us have known for quite some time), the U.S. Senate is holding hearings on how the NCAA picks it’s national champion in college football. I know it sounds like I must be making this up, but unfortunately, I’m all too serious. Still can’t believe it, view the press release; the Anti-Trust Subcommittee has listed this crucial topic of grave national concern (he said with dripping sarcasm) as one of the handful of issues they intend to hold hearings on during this session of Congress. While most fans of college football would agree that the current system is far from ideal, U.S. Senate hearings are the last thing we need.

Frankly, I would just as soon they not hold hearings on any issues, including the important ones, since everything this government touches turns into a larger more expensive government run program sucking the life out of the U.S. economy, but if they are determined to do something this year, perhaps they could make it something the slightest bit relevant to the management and protection of our country!

Senators, please do something, anything, to earn your keep.  Here’s a hint… This isn’t it!