Tag Archives: Paul Ryan

Aug 14 2012

ClubMaine

 

Traveling southbound, headed towards Bangor from Dover-Foxcroft, if one looks close and is aware, there is a crude wooden sign, partially obscured by the undergrowth, which spells a surprising admonishment to those proponents of the East-West Highway.  It questions why anyone who supports the building of a highway should live in the State of Maine.  This columnist is admittedly paraphrasing the words on the sign, but the theme is accurate to be sure.  What is startling is how little effort the author of this placard exerted to conceal his or her disdain for those who hold a difference of opinion.  The hypocrisy flaunted between the waving blades of grass in the field is not unique to the liberal movement.  It is at its core and essential to its function.

These sentences painted on slabs of wood are prompting travelers to agree that any who view the great resources of Maine as anything other than a pretty painting or fine piece of china merely to be observed in admiration from afar, untouched by human hand, are not fit to live in Maine.  Those who view Maine’s working resources as a bounty of blessing to be handled and utilized to the benefit and prosperity of all those who reside within its shadow are surprisingly encouraged to leave the State.  This is a curious request indeed from those who have long clamored that the wilds of Maine should be here for all to enjoy.  It seems that is true only if you resign yourself to be shuttered, isolated and cut off from the rest of the Nation, who would pay handsomely for the riches and bounty of these resources.  So there is a litmus test, in some minds, for those who can be allowed to enjoy Maine’s beauty.

In the coming months, studies concerning the highway in question will be researched and information will come forward.  This will be presented to the people and the legislature.  We all will have an opportunity to make, hopefully, a reasoned and thoughtful decision.  But this writer takes great exception to those on either side of the issue who would state or otherwise imply that those that disagree with their opinion should leave the State.

But, sadly, hypocrisy seems to be the norm for my friends on the left.  The head of the new stealth-Democrats, Angus King, has told Maine people that the huge budget shortfall he left Maine was merely a “theoretical” one.  Those on the left decry the ownership of guns, unless they can use them to call for the murder of Olympian markswoman, Corey Cogdell and her family.  The left has already screamed many times that the Republican budget would destroy MediCare and MediCaid, when it is, in fact, a plan to save it.  The fact that the President has already, through ObamaCare, cut 700 billion dollars from MediCare is somehow kept quiet.  The President has accused Governor Romney of indirectly causing the death of a woman through a company the Governor was no longer was part of, while Mr. Obama takes no responsibility for the death of border agent Brian Terry and the thousands of innocent Mexicans, who have been murdered as a direct result of the guns his administration gave to Mexican drug cartels.

Those of us who believe in traditional marriage are often labeled as hateful, but standing for our beliefs is not hate. It is our right.  We work side by side throughout this Nation with those of alternate lifestyles without any threat of violence. Young Bristol Palin has been brutalized in the media for her Christian beliefs. When snidely asked by a reporter if she would dance with a man if he were gay, she calmly answered to the affirmative.  But then she asked in return, would the gay man dance with her even though she is Christian and will not compromise her beliefs?  That really is the question, isn’t it?  Is the left really comfortable with an open debate on the facts?  Or, does it prefer to establish an exclusive club only for those that parrot their teachings and all other voices that dissent are excluded, exiled or eliminated?  What is your view of freedom?  Is it the freedom that denies all other dissenting expression or is it the freedom that allows all expression on the platform of decent debate without repression for the majority to decide?  Where is freedom in Maine?

Aug 11 2012

Romney picks Ryan

Governor Romney has picked his running mate and it is a good one.  Paul Ryan has been the one consistent voice in DC calling for fiscal sanity, but not only calling for it, providing solutions for it.  While the media prefers to stay on the nether that they deem important, such as the President’s socks, in an effort to avoid the President’s record and his lies, the media will now be forced to attack Ryan on his message, which is right where the Romney ticket wants to be and not where the President wants to be.

May 2 2012

Slight of Hand

 

Nothing is more repugnant to a civilized culture than to have its most vulnerable exploited.  Even the more appalling are revelations that such behavior could be practiced by the leaders we entrust with guardianship of the domestic tranquility.  Sadly, this reviled behavior has raised its festering head as the election tips the horizon.

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) has called out the Obama administration for a Medicare bonus payout that the White House was trying to quietly work into the Medicare system.  The payout consists of an $8 billion bonus program that is to be divvied out to various healthcare groups throughout the United States.  The GAO calls these groups “mediocre” and admonishes the President that the plan is “badly designed” and is “unlikely to have meaningful results”; in fact, the plan would only delay the impending Medicare disaster until….after the election.

“What disaster?” the reader might ask?  The Medicare trustees announced that Medicare would crash, run out of money, between 2016 and 2020. With so small an amount of money, comparative to the Medicare crises, being pushed forward, obviously that’s not the disaster that the President is worried about.  What, then, is the looming Medicare disaster so close to the election that has the White House wringing their hands?  In order to fund ObamaCare, the Democrats cut $500 billion from Medicare, $150 billion of which is from Medicare Advantage.  These cuts to Medicare will hit seniors a month before the election, in enough time for the realization to set in before millions of Medicare recipients cast their ballot.  Instead of joining Paul Ryan, Republicans and some Democrats who are desperately and repeatedly trying to save Medicare, the President prefers to stealthily move money from a Medicare slush fund into the Medicare Advantage program even though it is “unlikely to have meaningful results”.  Simply put, $8 billion cannot cover, by any stretch of the imagination, $500 billion.

The President calls this an “experimental” program.  The flippant tossing of $8 billion at an “experiment” is, for the reader, representative of an unfortunate pattern with this leadership especially in the light of the administration’s litany of fiscally “prudent” expenditures such Solyndra, GSA, TARP, General Motors, etc., etc.  The President also claims it is to reduce the deficit.  Moving monies from one fund to another does not change the deficit…period.   Has this man ever balanced or budgeted anything?  This arrogant disdain for the citizen’s perception and intellect is, in itself, repugnant.  The move to inject a temporary “bonus” into the system is nothing more than a seedy political move by the President to anesthetize the electorate against the effects of his failed policies until after the election.  Once the election is done, it is simply too late.  The cuts will still devastate Medicare and Medicare Advantage.  The President is just working feverishly to keep some of our most vulnerable Americans oblivious to their calamity until he can be elected.  And then…well…he’s elected.  In essence, what President Obama and the Democrat Party are saying to our seniors and retirees is this, once we’ve gotten what we need from you, we’ll take from you what you so desperately need and thought you had.  Are we the people going to stand for it?  The true test of a society is how it cares for its most vulnerable.

Aug 7 2011

THE UNFIXABLE

THE UNFIXABLE

 

And they thought the Governor was joking.  At the recent Piscataquis “Capital for a Day”, Governor LePage and Treasurer Poliquin both explained the dire fiscal picture they found painted on the books of the accounts in Augusta.  They revealed to us that one of the first hurdles for the duo to overcome was convincing the S&P not to downgrade the credit rating of the State of Maine, which they had learned was imminent.  Those of the “People are Merely Percentage Points” ers crowd scoffed at this revelation.  It was unthinkable that we would receive a credit downgrade.  Just scare tactics, stuff and nonsense.

Yes, thankfully the strength of leadership shown by the Governor and the Treasurer has saved Maine from such an embarrassment; in fact, a recent listing of the worst States to do business did not even mention the State of Maine.  It is quite a turnaround in seven months to go from a “top of the list regular” to a “no show”.  There is some recognition we’d rather not have.

Not so good though for the President and his merry band of obstructionists.  While the “Hope and Change messiah” has yet to lower the sea level, he has succeeded in lowering our credit rating for the first time in the history of this great Nation.  It was simple really.  Standard and Poor’s wanted 4 trillion in deficit reduction.  Paul Ryan and the Republicans wanted 4 trillion in spending cuts.

Enter Harry Reid.  Nevada must be so proud.  Smugly preening his arrogance before any microphone and camera he could find, Harry, no he’s not a Prince, promised that he would kill such a plan in the Senate.  He did.  Nevada must be so proud.

The President and the Senate President balked and stonewalled until they were forced into a desperate last minute anemic $2.4 trillion compromise that still raised the debt ceiling.  The S&P was not bluffing.  They lowered the credit rating of the United States for the first time in its history.  They have also warned in no uncertain terms that if remaining cuts are not found to reach the $4 trillion mark, where have we heard that before, they will downgrade our credit rating once again.

So the unthinkable has happened.  This begs the question- is Washington fixable?  I think not.  As we watch all the posturing, playacting and nonsensical behavior, it becomes more apparent the Federal government is a delinquent who is completely out of control beyond the reaches of reason.  Our Governor calls their actions “antics”.  Treasure Poliquin aptly calls them “poison”.  The restoration of this great nation to its once proud glory will not come through the Federal government.  We the people must look to our several States and local Counties to apply pressure upon our state officials to be fiscally prudent in their approach to governing.  As we strengthen the might of our States from the Counties up and wean them from their dependence upon the Federal government, we will find that the pathetic behavior of our Federal officials will have much less the detrimental effect on our lives.  Perhaps if those in Washington come to realize that they have thought of themselves more highly than they ought, they may start to behave better.