Obama's Shutdown

 As Americans anxiously await to hear if the House and the Senate can come to an accord on the budget, or face  the shutting down of the government, Barack Obama and his family preapre to leave town for a previously planned family getaway.  Someone should have warned Mr. Obama that being POTUS requires more intense work than that of community organizer or a Senator who is better known for voting "Present."  One wonders, "Does Obama care if the government shuts down?" 


Utah's Republican, Sen. Mike Lee  is quoted as saying that President Obama's inability to get a budget passed last year may have been "deliberate."  Has the liberal media questioned why, if the Democrats controlled both Houses of Congress, they were unable to come to an agreement and to approve a budget in 2010? According to Senator Lee,  "It was either irresponsible on one hand or deliberate and malicious on the other with intention to bring about a sequence of events that would culminate inevitably in a government shutdown." Speaking on the Senate floor today, Senator Lee was quite serious.


Lee was not the only person to suspect that the government shutdown could have been preplanned.  Speaking on FOX News, radio talk show host, Chris Plante, questioned how former DNC Chairman Howard Dean could possibly have been able to predict weeks ago that the Republicans would get the blame  for a shutdown.  The answer according to Plante is simple --Dean  knew that  a showdown was coming, and he also knew that the media would be on the side of the Democrats because they are working together.  How else could Dean have stated that he knew who would win?  Plante called the media, "the Bucket Brigade, whose job it is to carry the water for the Democrats."  An apt description and a devious  ploy which does not come as a big surprise. 


The media is ready and very willing, to blame the GOP for the impasse. We believe that in doing so they are underestimating the American public's intelligence and sophistication.  There are some who are willing to be spoon fed by the  news media, but there are entirely too many others who will no longer accept the media bias as gospel.  Both the Democrats and the media persist in repeating the same tired mantra:  "The Tea Party controls the Republicans."  "The Tea Party is whispering in the ear of Republicans."  The Tea Party does not need to whisper in any one's ear.  The Tea Party has a voice of its own and speaks out in the most effective way possible -- at the polls.


The truth of the matter is that in spite of Obama's fear tactics and threats to veto any attempt to keep the American military funded, the government doesn't really "shut down" during a shutdown.  The rules for who works and who doesn't date back to the early 1980s and haven't been significantly modified since.  The Obama administration hasn't issued new guidance.


The air traffic control system, food inspection, Medicare, veterans' health care and many other essential government programs would run as usual. The Social Security Administration would not only send out benefits but would continue to take applications. The Postal Service, which is self-funded, would keep delivering the mail. Federal courts would remain open.


Once again during these negotiations, what has become most apparent to Americans is Barack Hussein's Obama inability to lead.  He threatens to veto any effort on the part of Republicans to continue paying the U.S. Military during a new government shutdown, and the media report it without question.  In case Mr. Obama has forgotten, our country is engaged in three wars in three different countries, the last of which is HIS war in Libya.  The arrogance of the man to threaten to withhold payment to the very people he has sent to put their lives in harm's way!  The insensitivity of the man to play political games with the lives of military families!


There may be a silver lining in this dark cloud that hangs over our country.  If Obama's government withholds payment for all who would be affected by the government coming to a standstill, two important things could take place.  The American people could very well realize how smoothly the government functions without all the bureaucracy and waste of money, and like it.  The Democrats' ploy to turn the voters against Republicans and the members of the Tea Party could backfire and blow up in their face. 


Everyone knows that the Democrats and the White House rejected the Republican's stopgap plan to keep the government going for another week while extending the military's pay for the rest of the fiscal year.  Using the excuse that the two riders contained in the measure were unacceptable, they turned their backs on the GOP offers.  The riders include not funding abortions in the D.C. area and keeping the terrorists detained at Gitmo without coming on American soil.  These are not new demands.  These are provisions that were in place until they were changed by the Obama administration.  If they can be called anything, the word is reversals -- and welcome reversals they would be.


In the end, the stalemate, and the refusal to reach a compromise boils down to defending Obama's health care bill.  Democrats will go to great lengths to protect Barack Obama's legacy - socialized medicine for Americans - at all costs. That includes shutting down the government while placing the blame on Republicans and the Tea Party. Their reluctance to come to an agreement with the GOP is strictly political. In spite of our country facing an astronomical deficit, they are willing, for purely political reasons, to risk bringing the government to a standstill, letting women and children go without money for groceries and bills, furlough federal employees, and close national parks.


These are the same Democrats, Reid, Pelosi, Hoyer, et al. who rammed Obamacare down our collective throats and who hid an outrageous amount of expenditures in it. If Senate Democrats are really serious about cutting down on wasteful expenses and getting the economy back on track, they would realize that the path to fiscal health begins with the repeal of Obamacare.



twosisters_ftr@yahoo.com  

The Democrats' Rebellion: December 2010

Unless something goes awry, it looks as if those of us who celebrate Christmas might be able to do so with one less concern on our minds.  It appears that a compromise has been reached by Congress to allow us to go into the new year with a government that has not been shut down by pig headed Democrats. 

Most of us recall December 2009.  That was when the Democratic Congress led by the queen sow, Nancy Pelosi stayed in session until December 24, while they bribed, cajoled, and pushed through one of the worst pieces of legislation in the history of our country -- Obama's Healthcare bill.  Readers might remember that Speaker Pelosi announced that we would have to wait until the bill passed before we could know what it contained.


Many analysts have spent most of 2010 reading, studying, dissecting  what has become known as Obamacare, and the majority have concluded that the bill will be a disaster for Americans.  In fact, at the time of this writing we are still waiting for a judge to decide on the constitutionality of the bill.  Twenty states have filed suit against the bill which will more than likely have to be settled by the Supreme Court.  Since the last two Justices on the court are Obama appointees,  the thought is not very comforting. 


These recollections bring us to today's main topic:  "The Democratic Rebellion of December 2010"


When Obama surprisingly reached an unexpected compromise with GOP leaders that would extend the so called "Bush Tax Cuts" while at the same time extending unemployment benefits, not everyone in Congress was in agreement.  Members of both parties had reservations about this newly found bipartisanship.  Republicans as well as Democrats stated that they would not support the compromise, even if it was for the good of the country.  Feeling left out of the negotiations, the very same Democrats who had so many times met behind closed doors, completely excluding Republicans, decided to revolt...and revolting they were, we might add. 


Led by Steny Hoyer and Nancy Pelosi,  House Democrats decided that they would not support the President's compromise, and Pelosi vowed not to bring it up for a vote in the House.  Instead, they proposed a 1,924 page spending measure which was filled with more pork than Jimmy Dean's sausage factories. When television journalists and commentators began to read what some of the earmarks included in the bill were, it was astonishing. 


Frankly, it is  an outrage that these men and women who have been elected to represent the people of their individual states would engage in such frivolity merely out of pique because they felt they had not been consulted by the President.


There is no place for wounded vanity or revenge in the United States Congress. Throughout these negotiations the Democrats have behaved as resentful children, not the responsible adults they must be to hold high office in this country. Did they not hear the voters' message on November 2?  Are they not in touch with the American people, their constituents?




Americans are tired of big government encroaching in our lives. Some of us are particularly tired of serving as the government's own private piggy bank by being constantly taxed.  During a time when our country is facing an extreme financial crisis, and our solvency is in question, we have no time to be playing games with a 1,924 page pork laden bill written out of spite.


Consider if you will that the bill they were refusing to pass extended the unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs during these tough economic times. All of us have had to tighten our belts at home. We live with the uncertainty of what the future holds for us and future generations. Not enough can be said about the appalling behavior of these Democrats. If anything, they have demonstrated a true lack of regard for the example they have set to the young people of America who follow the news either on their own or as school assignments.


On Wednesday Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell filed a one page resolution to accept the compromise that the president had reached with the GOP that would extend the so called "Bush Tax Cuts", instead of the 1,924 page additional spending bill introduced by angry Democrats.

 

After Senator McConnell made that speech Nevada's Democratic Senator and Majority Leader, the despicable Harry Reid, gave an an angry and insulting speech on the Senate floor in which he said “I don’t need to hear the sanctimonious lectures of Sens. Kyl and DeMint to remind me of what Christmas means,” Reid's speech was in response to Senators Kyl and DeMint who called Reid "The Grinch" and stated that he was disrespecting the Christmas holiday by threatening to keep Congress in session through the Christmas break.

We really don't care how angry Harry Reid was at the president or the Republicans in the Senate.  His use of the word "sanctimonious" applied to those who celebrate Christmas was unpleasant, offensive, and yes, disrespectful to Christians.  We venture to wager that when speaking about a holiday other than a Chistian one Mr. Reid would have taken pains to be more politically correct, and not refer to those who observe a religious holiday in such terms.

 

Early Thursday evening, after realizing that he might not have the votes and support of some Republicans who had considered voting for the Democrats' bill, Reid gave up on the nearly $1.3 TRILLION bill which included $158 billion to keep the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars going.  This is a bill that should never have been proposed or written. 

This rebellion by the House Democrats in particular has presented them in a most unflattering light.  Hopefully, Americans who have supported these malcontents, and who can reason  for themselves will now see why voters went to the polls in droves this past November.

At 12:47 a.m. on Friday Breitbart reports that U.S. legislators  approved Obama's  deal with the GOP which extends middle-class tax cuts for two years and jobless benefits for 13 months. " A day after the Senate passed the package by an 81-19 margin, the House of Representatives followed suit 277-148, sending the measure to Obama to sign and reap a restorative bipartisan victory six weeks after an elections rout. "

All the acrimony and disagreement could have been averted if all the parties involved had put the interests of the country and the American people above their political ambition and their ideology.  If the Chief Ideologist of them all, Barack Hussein Obama can agree to a compromise, then the members of his party should have given him their support.   We are reminded of the Michael Ramirez cartoon printed earlier in this blog that shows the donkey holding a gun to his nose.  That is exactly what the Democrats did.  They showed the country that they are so narrow minded and petty that they're willing to "cut off their noses to spite their faces."

We hold high hopes for this new crop of Senators and Representatives going to Washington in January.  Much is expected of them, and they will be held accountable by those who voted them in office.  Two Sisters From The Right have every intention of monitoring their votes, and their comportment.  We don't ever expect to  see a ridiculous tome of 1,924 pages of irresponsible spending ever again.  Those to be sworn in the new Congress have been given a mandate.  It was loud, and it was clear.  Never forget that they are there to represent us -- We The People.