Random Observations: Weekend Roundup

Welcome to Baton Rouge, DC. Legislators in the state capitol have placed $11 million in pet projects into the House Appropriations Bill for next year. This includes things like boat ramps, neighborhood associations, and museums. According to the article, the Senate is expected to add their own.

By comparison, the first two places targeted for spending cuts are healthcare and higher education. LSU is due for a budget cut of almost $40 million which will set the flagship agenda back nearly 10 years. Louisiana consistently ranks near the bottom in healthcare primarily because of the charity hospital mentality pervasive in the state. Doctors do not want to spend 8-12 years of their lives to come here and not earn a proper living. While I’m sure we have some good doctors here, the best and the brightest leave for greener pastures. And this doesn’t just apply to doctors anymore. People are voting with their U-Hauls these days.

We’ll see if the GOP’s rising star Bobby Jindal has the fortitude to veto anything that comes to his desk with more “pork”. He waffled on legislators designs on doubling their own pay last year and that cost him some serious political points.

Get credit flowing! This is the mantra from Wall Street and Washington. What I can’t seem to understand is that those clamoring for credit for businesses and consumers don’t’ seem to realize that’s exactly what got us into the mess we’re in. As a nation, we have been living well beyond our means for a long time now, and this is the result. People maxed out their credit cards and then turned to their houses as ATM’s (home equity). Families making six figures or better are living paycheck to paycheck so they can give the appearance of living a lifestyle they cannot afford. What’s the solution? Government reduction or elimination of the bad debt using taxpayer money.

How many times have you heard commercials on TV or radio by companies promising to reduce or eliminate your credit card debt as your “right”. Under what law is that your right? So, what’s their plan? Never mind personal responsibility. Reduce the credit burdens and start over. A perfect example of the cure being worse than the disease.

What message are we sending to the Carrie Prejeans of the future? Well, if you happen to disagree with a clearly partisan homosexual gossip blogger who has no business being a judge of a pageant, the message is clear. If you plan to be representative of the country in any way, especially by way of a pageant, then check your personal beliefs and opinions at the door because there is no tolerance for people who have principled positions in this country. Granted, what we see on TV of kids getting entered into pageants at such early ages is mind-boggling behavior to say the least, but to openly quash a dissenting opinion is simply the wrong message to send. Didn’t Hillary say dissent was patriotic?

Nancy Pelosi channels Bill Clinton. So Nancy Pelosi claims she did not know waterboarding was going to be used as an enhanced interrogation technique (EIT). She who would be 3rd in line for the presidency is claiming semantic ignorance.

Okay Nancy, here’s the deal: If you knew about the EIT's, and said nothing, then you are a hypocrite for condemning them now. However, if you really only thought that you were being briefed on EIT's for future use, then you are both naive and also a hypocrite. By the way, waterboarding has been used as an EIT since the Spanish-American War.

Regardless of what you knew and when, if you were grounded in principles and not politics, your position would have been consistent from the start. But as the political winds shift, so does your position. Someone at your level playing politics to CYA is disingenuous and shameful. You should step down as House Speaker immediately. You'd demand the same from a Republican for far less an offense.

Comedian in Chief. I’m saddened and a bit surprised at Obama joking about the AF1 flyover of lower Manhattan as a “joy ride” stunt pulled by his daughters Sasha and Malia. It clearly was no joking matter to those who have to live and work in the area hit by the 9/11 attacks. To make light of the issue is as insensitive and irresponsible as the flyover itself. He laughs while likely thousands of people were caused undue stress and anxiety thinking they were in the crosshairs again.

Meanwhile, Obama also gets a huge chuckle out of Wanda Sykes wishing death on Rush Limbaugh. Such behavior is not becoming to a president, but since Obama seems to revel in the celebratory spotlight, he’s proving that he’s more enchanted with the trappings of the presidency than being a principled leader – one who would have indicated that such things still cross the proverbial line.

Monica Crowley lays it all out in terms of how taxpayer money is being used… Obama promises to cut the deficit in half after he’s more than doubled it on his own. What?!

ACORN in our side. Can anyone explain to me how an organization with such a shady past and now under official indictment for corruption and election fraud continues to get millions if not billions from the government? How is it that such an organization is expected to truthfully assist with the 2010 Census? I guess the corrupt ACORN doesn’t fall far from the corrupt congressional tree. If this was a conservative organization, this would be a completely different story.