George Rebane
Some people maintain that it is only the ignorant, mostly minority populated congressional districts that send similarly endowed idiots to represent them in Congress. A poster child for this thesis is the notorious Maxine Waters who recently and inadvertently blurted out the Democrats’ intent to socialize the country (video here). I contend that this one-sided view is in error. Here is an example from C-SPAN of the sleazebag John Murtha serving as speaker pro-tempore during a session of the House of Representatives. Murtha comes from a mainly white district in Pennsylvania. Idiots and sleazebags are voted in by constituencies of all races and intellectual acumens. Their common denominator is simply hopeful greed that makes voters think they will be getting the something for nothing that their candidates promise.
And here we all thought that Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb) was standing on principle while holding out his vote on Harry Reid’s version of Obamacare. (Well, not all of us.) The honorable senator finally sailed into friendly waters under a federal guarantee to fund Nebraska’s Medicaid programs at more favorable rates. Reid has been at this tit for tat payola game with a number of equally honorable senators who know how to play ‘The Price is Right’.
More Taxes = More Democracy. Under various guises, this is the mantra that most liberal members of Congress have been reciting to us for decades. Now they may have a new leg to stand on. Two French researchers (guess of what political hue) have run some numbers and conclude (here) that countries with higher tax rates are more democratic. The astute reader immediately recalls that most tyrannies are named ‘Democratic Republic’ of this or that, and all claim very high voter turnouts to support their single party/ideology systems. The authors of the study are very careful not to confuse democracy with individual liberty, and neither should we.
Finally, we note that Al Gore beat out the late Irena Sendler for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. Al Gore gave a slide show on the growing hokum of anthropogenic global warming. Ninety-eight year-old Irena Sendler (pictured) was also nominated. She saved thousands of Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto until caught. I would like to think that fifty years from now both will still be remembered for what they respectively did to and for humanity. In this Christmas season, get inspired and google Irena Sendler. (Hat tip to RR reader.)
Meanwhile back at the ranch (aka the Capitol), the rats are having a bit of problem in pulling together all the various promises and lies of Obamacare into something that can first get 60 votes in the Senate, and then survive the House-Senate joint committee to produce the hernia pack that Obama can sign in front of the choir shouting ‘O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!’. Perhaps at that time our President will show us where he has been keeping the “stash” of cash to pay for it all.
