What’s Wrong with Congressional Oversight November 12, 2014

After Jonathan Gruber’s elitist statements that Obamacare was passed due to lack of transparency and the stupidity of the American voter, Rep. Jim Jordan has an idea:

“We may want to have hearings on this,” said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), an influential voice among GOP hardliners and a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in an interview at the Capitol. “We shouldn’t be surprised they were misleading us.”

Actually Congressman Jordan, unless you want to waste a bunch of time, you should not have a hearing on this. There’s nothing to be learned from a hearing.

The type of hearing Jordan would go exactly like this:

1. Jonathan Gruber delivers a long and boring opening statement.
2. Republican member of Congress spend the entirety of the hearing trying to smack down Gruber or confronting him while Democrats defend him or more likely Obamacare and its outcomes.
3. After the hearing the best clips appear on You Tube, Talk radio, and partisan television programs.
4. A day of committee time is wasted.

And so many of these sort of hearings which are political showcases take place in Washington. Both sides have been guilty of these sort of hearings. You can track it back it to the Iran Contra hearings. The American people have seen the dance and knows that the one thing these hearings aren’t about is: finding the truth. Congress has destroyed its credibility and destroyed the power of its oversight process, and a hearing on Mr. Gruber’s statement would be just another in a train of abuses.

Besides, Gruber was wrong. The American Voter wasn’t stupid. Congress passed Obamacare despite calls, letters, and emails showing the opposition of the American people. The voters then punished Democrats in the 2010 elections. There’s no need for an investigation of that.

Support My Run for Heaven’s Gate (4 Half Marathons in Five Weeks) September 1, 2014

I’m not fast.

I’m not a runner.

This Fall, I’ll be participating in four half marathons in five weeks.  Here’s the reason why:

There are hundreds of thousands of AIDS orphans in India. Either their parents have died or they have been abandoned. They face starvation, and a future without hope.

Send Hope has established orphanages in India where these children who would otherwise be abandoned, are given food, clothing, medicine, education, and more importantly, love and hope.

Run for Heaven’s Gate began in Boise at a grassroots level several years ago to raise funds for these children in India with walker and runners doing four half marathons to raise funds for the orphans in India. I heard about it church and decided that this year, I was actually going to do it and I’ve been training for it since March.

It’s been quite an experience. Prior to this year, the longest I’d ever walked was 5K or 3.1 miles. Prior to Run for Heaven’s Gate, Saturday was my “sleep in day,” now I’m getting early and going to bed early on Friday. I’ve been introduced to a whole new world where people take things like GU to prepare for long runs and where it really does make sense to pay extra for good shoes because good shoes are cheaper than physical therapists.

While I hope that  I become more fit through this whole process, I admit that there is no way I could imagine doing this except for the fact that in India, there are children whose futures lay in the balance between life and hope and death and despair. Run for Heaven’s Gate gives me an opportunity to make a difference in their lives. Every dollar raised goes to help these kids and every $400 raised will cover all the needs of a child in India for a whole year.

You can make a tax deductible pledge in any amount support of my walk by going here/.

How I’ll Be Voting on Tuesday May 19, 2014

This blog has been quiet as I’ve been pursuing other projects. Yet, I should share how I’ll vote on Tuesday.

Senator: Jim Risch

I’m pleased with the job he’s done for our state and I think he deserves another term.

Congressman 2nd District: Bryan Smith

Mr. Simpson has fought dirty throughout this race and tried to lie about liberal he is. And let me say, I don’t think he’s liberal per se. He’d be considered Conservative if he were running in I don’t know Brooklyn, but this is Idaho. He doesn’t take the threat of our national debt seriously as he proposes only the passage of a Constitutional Amendment to Balance the Budget. Given how Simpson spends tax money on bigger government and more spending, he’s practically begging us, “Stop me before I spend again.” We need more fiscal discipline.

Governor: Russ Fulcher

I think Butch Otter may have held to many fine principles, maybe sometimes in the 1970s or 1980s,  but his tenure in office and overall legacy as Governor is as someone who flounced around reactively from one situation to the next. He has no ideas to move the state forward. He has no ideas to create an environment to create high quality jobs. He represents a time of careerism and cronyism that is the corrosive battery acid eating away at our state’s civic life. His desperation was shown in his stunt on the debate stage.

I would give more credence to his malarkey rhetoric about wanting every candidate to be heard if he hadn’t flat out refused to debate Rex Rammell, Sharon Ullman, Pete Peterson, and Walt Bayes in 2010.

Lieutenant Governor: Jim Chmelik

I support replacing Brad Little because getting rid of Otter without replacing Little merely allows the oligarchy to continue.

Secretary of State: Lawrence Denney

It’s a tough call between him and Toryanski in my heart, but my gut says it’s either Denney or another four years of the party establishment.

State Controller: Todd Hatfield

Attorney General: Chris Troupis

I don’t hold the matter of Wasden’s office accidentally signing wrong brief in Heller and then correcting it. It was a bad show to be sure. I just believe Chris Troupis would be a better attorney general.

Treasurer: Ron Crane

Superintendent: John Enyon

Supreme Court Justice: Joel Horton

Judicial campaigns are studies in false advertising. A candidate has to give both sides of the aisle that they’re with them and I know that are convinced that Breck Seiniger is with them, but he’s also posting on the Idaho Young Democrat Facebook wall. Horton hasn’t been that bad and I’m not convinced his opponent will be better, so I’m voting for Horton.

Ada County Coroner: Mike Chilton

District 4 Judge: Richard Greenwood

I honestly don’t even known if I’m in this district. Judged by the mailers by Les Bock I am but several tools say that I’m not. Regardless, if you have this race on your ballot, vote for Arnold. Bock failed as one of Idaho’s furthest left legislators and now once his chance to began a career in the world of black robed tyranny.  Let’s retire Les Bock for good.

District 4 Judge: Samuel Hoagland

Pass On Our Cultural Heritage July 7, 2013

There are few characters as wholesome in the golden age of entertainment as wholesome as the Lone Ranger. He stood as a symbol of decency and honor in the nearly three decades the show aired over radio and television who aimed never take a life, only to wound his appointment. He used silver bullet as a reminder that life was valuable.

Apparently, someone at Walt Disney didn’t the memo based on what the studio managed to produce, a violent and dark movie that left little room for the Lone Ranger creed or its high ideals. Many who have a memory of this character are saddened and angered by the motion picture version’s bastardization of the concept.

There was a time when the American entertainment industry produced great works: Comedies that were funny without relying on lewdness and profanity to get a laugh with comedic geniuses like Abbott and Costello and Red Skelton, there were great human dramas that taught moral points, and productions that had to tell powerful stories that would engage us without the benefit of being able to drop a stream of F-bombs, throw naked bodies on the screen, or just blow things up for the heck of it.

Hollywood doesn’t usually produce these type of films. Hollywood will often try to recapture golden age glory with their own updated version of classic stories but usually ends up producing something really stupid or offensive. The best Hollywood can do is to mock and belittle any wholesomeness and goodness in productions like Dragnet ’87 or The Brady Brunch. Hollywood only rarely gets it right, as they did with the 2011 film Captain America, but that was a definite exception.

The only way that future generations will understand and enjoy the great cultural works of the 1940s and 50s is if people deliberately and intentionally pass them on. The best way is from parents to their children. Growing up, my dad exposed to me to Abbott and Costello, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Pride of the Yankees, and many other programs and movies that were before my time. Because of that I really gained an appreciation of so much golden agen entertainment.
With the proliferation of DVDs, we’ve never had greater access to golden age cultural works of years gone by. If we want kids to enjoy wholesome quality entertainment, we shouldn’t wait for Hollywood to produce a film. It’s really a do it yourself job.

Robo Dinosaurs at Zoo Boise July 5, 2013

Let me preface this blog post by saying:

1) I love animal and I love the zoo.

2) My wife and I hold an annual pass to Zoo Boise.

3) We were upset when the monkey was killed by the burglar there several months back.

I say all that to say that overall I really enjoy the zoo and there’s a lot of great things to see there from Butterflies to Giraffes.

However, today I encountered something that was disquieting: robotic dinosaurs have invaded Zoo Boise. The park is full of several of these large metal beasts. The design ranges from lifelike T-rex to the somewhat less implausible looking specimens.

And they roared.

Loudly.

All the time.

It was hard to find a single corner of the zoo where you couldn’t hear dinosaurs “roaring.” I couldn’t help but wonder if some of the animals were bothered by the noise. None showed it full proof, but it bugged my wife and I.

Yet the kids at the zoo to love them and be fixated on them. Adults had some mixed reaction. I heard one guy say, “I didn’t know the dinosaurs would be such a big distraction.”

At times, I felt like at 32, I’d become just an old grump unable to relate to kids joy at the dinosaurs. Maybe, I was too worried about the noise to really enjoy it.

I did have some fun with a t-rex later. But I think it comes back to what that other gentleman said. It’s a distraction from the point of the zoo. The point of a zoo is to enjoy living animals who don’t always roar from lions to tigers, giraffes, the sloth bear, the red panda. These are wonderful masterpieces of Almighty God

We get so much electronic stuff, the zoo ought to be place where we ought to be able to appreciate enjoy the real natural creatures, even in a situation that’s far removed from their natural habitat. The zoo has welcomed several new baby animals, in addition to the existing wonderful stock.

Loud roaring robotic dinosaurs have their place: At a theme park,  or a big science center. But at a zoo, they’re just stealing the show from the creatures who should be on center stage.

Should Raul Labrador Run for Governor? February 10, 2013

I’ve read a lot of opinions on the question of whether Raul Labrador should run for Governor. Some have said that Labrador running for Governor would be harmful and that he should stay in the U.S. House.

Let me say that first off, if Raul Labrador runs for Governor, I will be behind him 150%. The question of whether he should run is going to be up to him and will depend on where he can make the most difference?

Being in the House of Representatives is an often difficult job particularly when the House as a whole has such weak-kneed and fiscally liberal folks as Mike Simpson in it. It’s dysfunctional and any conservative gains are going to be stymied by a Democratic President and Senate. This will be the case for at least the next four years.

In Idaho on the other hand, Raul Labrador would have a huge Republican contingent in the legislature, and the ability to dramatically impact state policy on issues such as taxes, size of government, and reform of education.

I have to wonder if people who think Raul Labrador should stay in Washington DC have fallen into the trap of thinking what goes on in Washington is far more important that what is happening at our State Capitol. It’s not so.

Republicans have held the Governor’s Mansion in our state for going on 20 years, with all but Jim Risch’s six month tenure seeing the Governor’s mansion occupied by hard-core party establishment guys like Phil Batt, Dirk Kempthorne, and Butch Otter. The question Idaho Conservatives is, Are we better off now than we were twenty years ago?

Other than getting some pro-life legislation passed, how different would our state be if we’d been led to that most endangered of political dinosaurs, the Idaho Moderate Democrat leading our state with Republican legislatures we have had. Given the size of the GOP majorities, we ought to have made serious changes to our state, we ought to be a model of wise and prudent tax policy, of innovative limited government.

Instead, what do we have? We have an income tax code that’s a refugee from the progressive era.  A sales tax that plays so many favorites and picks so many winners and losers that it excludes more sales than it taxes. We have an education system that is in desperate need of reform, and a sprawling state government that we didn’t use the late fiscal shortfalls as a chance to fix.

The reason for this is that we have a state leadership that views power as an end.  Conservatives need to change the state executive desperately but have shown very little competence in doing so.

In 2010, the best conservatives could come up with was Rex Rammell.  If conservatives don’t plan to win the Governorship in 2014, they’ll easily lose it with another lackluster candidate.

To be clear, Raul Labrador is not the only candidate who would make a fine Governor. I’ve often thought the same of Senators Russ Fulcher and Marv Hagedorn. However, what makes Raul Labrador such an interesting potential candidate is that he has the name recognition and fundraising base to easily run this campaign while others will have to work to get that statewide recognition.

While I’d hate to lose Raul Labrador’s legislative capabilities in Washington, our state needs Conservative leadership in the governor’s office that’ll make up for the past twenty wasted stagnant years. So, if Raul Labrador thinks he can makes a difference as Governor, I hope he runs.

If not, I hope conservatives can offer a serious alternative to a continuation of the status quo of Batt-Kempthorne-Otter.

Sheriff Raney Will Take Your Gun Away-But He Won’t Like It January 30, 2013

Across the West, Sheriffs have been pledging not to seize firearms. Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney sounds an entirely different tone in a Reader’s View in the Idaho Statesman. He writes:

I did not swear to uphold just part of the Constitution. Our Constitution includes the right to keep and bear arms, but it also includes the “supremacy clause” that says that every state shall abide by the laws passed by our Congress.

So, despite the fact that I personally oppose some of the gun control measures currently under consideration, my oath requires me to uphold the laws that are passed by our federal and state representatives…

I fear that passions have led people into a rally of mistruth. It is time we truly respect the Constitution and our system of justice. Regardless of your personal opinion on the Second Amendment, embrace everyone’s liberty and use our well-established process to pass laws and contest them.

Raul for Governor….And Other Conservative Idaho Thoughts January 27, 2013

Some quick Idaho notes:

• I’m on board if Congressman Raul Labrador runs for governor. We’ve had a Republican Governor in Idaho for 20 years but you wouldn’t know it looking at the state of our state’s finances, its tax code, or its education system.  We ought to be one of the most innovative conservative states in the nation. Instead, we have a Governor who is willing to rest on his laurels and propose insignificant bills that due nothing to address our state’s fundamental tax and fiscal problems which sees our state so often running behind. I think Raul Labrador would offer Idaho a new generation of leadership. Though if he doesn’t run, I hope some conservative will actually offer an alternative to Otter. If Otter is re-elected expect to accomplishment the name of his running mate-little. And if conservatives choose to sit idly by and let Otter cruise to another term, they’re choosing the slow and steady decline of our stat.e
• Idaho Reporter notes Butch Otter has gone from proposing eliminating funding for IPTV to offering an increase a budge. Of course Otter was for eliminating in 2010 when he was facing a primary and needed to throw a bone to conservative voters. Though perhaps, its a case of “once bitten twice shy.” I don’t think the way that Senator Sheryl Nuxoll framed the issue helped the cause of reducing it, “Private enterprise is where innovation comes from. I believe the private sector could fulfill the niche that Idaho Public Television currently fulfills.” Laudable sentiments but that turns the debate into an existence over IPTV and state funding or no, it won’t go away. They’ll run an extra telethon or so, but it won’t go away.  There are people who like classical music on the radio or Masterpiece Theater who get upset when you threaten their public broadcasting. This debate shouldn’t be about “ending public television” but ending subsidies for public television. The reason the left is gung ho about government funding is that they believe the government should be funding this in toto as an ideological commitment. That’s the argument you have to take down. Going to war with Public TV as a concept is a bad idea.
• Count me as a “yes” for making it harder for initiatives and referenda to qualify for the ballot. I’ve become less a fan of direct democracy over time. As someone who tries to cast informed voters and really studies issues, I love the idea of  direct democracy. The reality is though that our founders had good reason for making our country a Republic. If you look at California and how its problems have resulted (to some extent) from a bevy of ballot initiatives that often run at cross-purposes from one another.  The California ballot is unruly with its endless pages of initiatives.  Few people are going to realistically take the time to study every little issue on a very lengthy ballot. That’s why our founders gave us a republican form of system where we the people designate representatives to act on our behalf. Now, if we have representatives who refuse to pass good laws or pass bad ones, we don’t need a referendum, we need new representatives.
• Finally, I’ve never before announced that an issue will be on the Idaho Conservative scorecard, but let me go ahead and make an exception. Health Care Exchanges will be on the scorecard and a vote against the Health Care Exchanges will be scored a conservative vote.

Our Tolerance for Evil January 26, 2013

From the Idaho Statesman:

Owyhee Prosecutor Doug Emory said Thursday he would not seek the death penalty against Herrera, who could still be sent to prison for life, without parole, if found guilty of first degree murder.

An Owyhee County grand jury found late last year that Herrera, “with the intentional application of torture,” intentionally inflicted “extreme and prolonged pain,” by “inflicting repeated acts of blunt force trauma upon (Nakita) by means of physical force … emotional abuse, and/or lack of physical and/or medical care, which caused bruising, pain, burns, broken bones, and injuries,” that led to the toddler’s death on Aug. 16.

You know some people think Idaho is intolerant. Let me suggest that we’re way too tolerant and lax on real evil. I’m not an advocate of willy nilly application of the death penalty, but if there’s a case where it should apply. It’s this one. If what the prosecutor alleges is true. This woman took a child who it was her duty to protect and tortured and destroyed her. If Convicted, this woman should face the death penalty.

But I think prosecutors have been very lax in using it when it should be used against people who have done unspeakable acts of evil. Prosecutors shy away from it. Maybe, it’s because it’s such a pain to work through and Idaho’s Capitol Punishment laws are a joke. We have people who’ve been waiting thirty years for their execution and their victims also waiting.  It is a messed up system and it needs to be fixed.

It also requires prosecutors who are willing to actually pursue the necessary sentence rather than taking the easy way out.

It’s Time for John Boehner to Go January 2, 2013

In 2008, then-Minority Leader John Boehner urged Republicans to vote for the TARP- a $750 billion Government bailout, calling it a “crap sandwich” but he voted for it and led Republicans to vote for it.

In 2011 When Speaker Boehner had a chance to demand real fiscal change, he instead blinked when facing President Obama and relented with a milquetoast deal that raised the debt ceiling with the feckless expectation that a bi-partisan commission would come up with cuts or there would be automatic spending cuts. The bi-partisan commission predictably failed and the cuts that were proposed to justify the last giant increase in the debt ceiling have been something every politician has been trying to avoid occurring.

Then this past year, Speaker Boehner,  floundered in negotiations with President Obama punted to the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, ending up with a bill that increases the debt limit by increasing taxes $40 for every $1 in spending cuts.

Talk about crap sandwiches. It’s time for John Boehner to go.

He became Republican leader in 2006 after Tom DeLay resigned. He was chosen as a compromise candidate between the status quo roughshod management style of then Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Conservative Stalwart John Shadegg (R-Az.).  He is Speaker by accident and he has shown no talents particular for the job.

Boehner has no negotiating acumen. He is constantly outmaneuvered at every turn by the White House in negotiations. Despite, a working class background, he does not communicate effectively with the American people.

He doesn’t seem to have a Caucus that’s willing to follow him. He proposed a “Plan B” that would raise taxes only on those earning $1 million or more and was unable to get his own caucus to support it.  This could have been because, knowing that he would need conservative support for any sort of debt ceiling deal, he antagonized that part of his caucus by punishing four members of the Caucus for not towing the party line. He’s no better with the moderate side of the Republican Caucus. When he was minority leader, he failed to get the moderates to go along with an earmark ban within the Republican Caucus.

The only sort of “leadership” Boehner is capable of is presenting doomsday scenarios as he did on TARP and on the fiscal cliff to frighten cowardly politicians into betraying conservative principles. John Boehner is like a general whose only talent is leading retreats.

When people speak of John Boehner and his defense, they say he’s a good man. I don’t dispute it, but that’s not good enough. They say it’s a tough job, and they’re right. But the fact remains that it’s a tough job he has shown himself incapable of doing.

They may even argue in defense of this bill that it was necessary for Republicans to get the tax issue off the table. The debate had ceased to be about deficit spending and had become about the willingness of Republicans to vainly block tax increases on the rich. Their may be a kernel of truth to that, but whose fault is it that the debate got away from Republicans? None other than Boehner’s.

Republicans might hope that with the tax issue off the table they can turn this debate back to spending and reducing our mammoth debt. However, they’d be wrong, as long as John Boehner remains Speaker of the House. Boehner has turned the Speaker’s office into a veritable “Crap Sandwich” stand and Democrats can expect that he will cry and quote poetry, but at the end of the day, he will blink and once again he’ll serve up his apologies and tell the House and the American people to swallow the latest confection that has happened to him. If Republicans expect a different result, they’d better get a different Speaker.

Nothing symbolizes what’s wrong with the Republican Party in America than that the fact that John Boehner is the most powerful Republican in this country. As long as that’s the case, the Republican Party is pointless and irrelevant. The Republican Party’s position today is reminiscent of the post-World War II GOP that enjoyed terms in the majority but squandered it’s time there behind the listless leadership of Speaker Joseph Martin who led the Republican Party to become a minority for forty years.

If there are not seventeen members in the entire House Republican membership who have the courage to prevent the re-election of this leader who is dragging our Party and our country, than the Republican Party isn’t worth a red cent. To be clear, if John Boehner is re-elected Speaker of the House, I intend to expend no effort for and give no money to the national Republican Party and its various committees. As long as John Boehner remains America’s most influential Republican, it is  a waste of time, energy, and money.