Brushfire of Freedom
Ram Rants
Well, when Barry was running for office, he and his friends promised to clean things up. They promised transparency. They promised to post bills on the internet for viewing BEFORE the bills were voted on in Congress. They promised to open the doors and windows of the legislative process and let the eyes of the people see how they were running the country. C-SPAN would be broadcasting the health care debates. After all, the government belongs to The People, so we should be able to see what the government is doing.
So when was that going to start?
With a year gone by, it is clear that what Obama meant by transparency was “invisibility”. The legislative processes he is overseeing, led by Reid and Pelosi, are so see-through that they can’t be seen. Whether it’s TARP, Stimulus, Health Care, or any of the other key initiatives the Dems have on the table, there is little that can be said to be “out in the open”. But hey, don’t take my word for it, let’s take a look at the past legislative year and see the “Highlights of Transparency” that have defined the Obama administration to date.
Let’s start with the biggest boondoggle of 2009, the Stimulus package. First, we’ve got a piece of legislation that was passed without being read by those who voted. Over 1,000 pages of law, written by Liberals, passed in the House and Senate. No one really knew what was in that bill. There was money for wooden arrows, money for pet projects for the various members of Congress, and money for friends of Dems. The end result, a slush fund of $787B, most that has not yet been spent, sitting in the hands of our government. Those are our dollars, being used to supposedly create and “save” jobs.
An aside. To count a “saved” job, you have to be able to predict the future. You see, to count a job “saved”, you have to demonstrate that it would have been lost had it not been for the Stimulus. That means you have to know what was going to happen in a future that didn’t happen. While you’re at it, can you contact “Pre-Crime” for me? I need to get that Minority Report.
So let’s talk about those jobs created by that 787 billion of your tax dollars. If you go to Recovery.org, you can check out the number of jobs saved by the stimulus bill. You can see those saved in the Congressional districts that do not exist. You can see jobs created in zip codes that do not exist. You can see jobs created at the cost of more than $200,000 per job. In other words, you can see data that is about as valid as the global warming analysis from EAU. In other words, it’s not. Obama’s very own web site is full of junk numbers, making it about as transparent as mud.
So let’s take a look now at the health care debate. This little “Model of Liberal Transparency” has included late night votes, weekend votes, passing bills that are not even fully written, and tons of “smoke-filled rooms” where bills are assembled. That’s right, despite the promises from Barry and his buds, little surrounding the health care debate has been done “in the open”. The House version was passed without the promised internet publication. In fact, portions of the bill were not even complete when it came to the floor for vote. Most of the bill was written by the Democrat leadership, with little input from Conservatives. When members of the GOP tried to amend the bill, they were promptly shut out. Efforts by the GOP to force the bill into the open prior to the vote were squashed by Nancy and her leadership team.
The Senate bill was crafted in a back room, and modified in the hallways by Harry and his buds. They bought and sold votes to ensure they could get passage. The Louisiana Purchase cost tax payers $300M to ensure Mary Landrieu voted for the bill. Ben Nelson was bought out with a lifetime supply of taxpayer money. Chris Dodd got his cut, maybe his last, as a “parting gift”. Even the “independent” Joe Liberman held out his hand and got his wish so that he would vote to support this monstrosity.
Now that the Senate bill has passed, we have the back-room deals between Obama and the unions to ensure their support. There’s been no televised debate on the combined bill because, well, there’s been no real debate. Harry won’t post the bills to the internet, nor negotiate openly with members of the Senate. There are rumors that the House will be asked to vote for whatever the Senate puts together, just to get something passed. Of course, what that something is remains to be seen. We’ve been treated to holiday votes, more weekend votes, and votes at 1:00 AM to ensure the Senate bill got passed. In other words, in the dark, when no one is looking. Not what you would call “transparent” by any stretch of the imagination.
The result? Support for the current version of health care bill has plummeted. Several Dems are pulling out of the 2010 elections simply because they don’t think they can win. Some are changing parties. Some are saying they will vote for this bill, no matter the outcry from their constituency. In other words, they are ignoring the people. Despite what people want, Dems intend to pass SOMETHING called “health care reform”, no matter how many dark, smoke-filled rooms they have to visit.
You can almost see it. The dark glasses. The groups of men (and women) puffing cigars, speaking in soft, rasping voices with heavy New Jersey accents, making deals, shaking hands, and making more deals. They walk back into Congress, vote on a Saturday morning at 1:00 AM, then back to the dark rooms. No lights, no cameras, no internet postings. No discussion, no debate, no “voice of the people”. They are working under cover, not doing “the people’s work”, but lining their own pockets with our money. This year, we need to turn on the lights, and send them scurrying back to their little holes where they belong. This year, 2010, should mark the beginning of the end of the “Undercover Congress”.
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