1) We have often successfully made the case that politicians are more interested in extending their careers in office and self enrichment than resolving the major issues facing the country today. Given that the current set of politicians have never resolved any major issue, the back half of that statement is easy to verify.
The front half is also pretty easy to prove. The news show “60 Minutes” did the best job of that a little while ago when they showed how insider trading was against the law for every American except the Washington political class and their staffs. This loophole, created by the Washington political class, has enabled them to trade stock and legislative favors for self enrichment while in office.
We have also reviewed how sitting politicians act on laws and government activities that benefit their spouses and their spouses businesses. The most recent case of such spouse enriching involves New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen. The Boston Globe recently reported that in 2009, Jeanne Shaheen’s husband served as a consultant for a company named Ultrawave Labs.
It seems that in 2009, Ultrawave Labs received $78,000 in Federal stimulus funding for company research. No big deal there, lots of companies got economic stimulus funding. However, rather than recuse herself from a conflict of interest perspective, Senator Shaheen voted to approve the funding to a company that her husband had an active financial interest in. As always , worse than the crime is the cover up after the crime, as illustrated by the Globe’s reporting: “The Shaheens declined multiple requests for interviews and would not answer most detailed questions about their investments and connection to the firm.”
A New Hampshire paper followed up with an editorial that correctly points out how this type of behavior is typical of the crony capitalism that perverts and pervades Washington: [Senator Shaheen] “should have recused herself from voting on the stimulus bill because of its funding of Ultrawave. She will have to answer for the consequences of that vote. But it seems to us that the real issue here is Shaheen’s willing participation in the pay-for-play scheme that is the federal appropriations process. Shaheen complains about big-money influence in politics while engaging in the very behavior that encourages companies to hire lobbyists and senators’ spouses to obtain the connections necessary to access federal money. This is crony capitalism – and Jeanne Shaheen is one of the cronies.”
And that kids is just one way to get rich being a politician in America.
2) What would a political class insanity post be without a quote from Nancy Pelosi? Given a recent visit to see firsthand the growing crisis and humanitarian disaster that is expanding at our southern border, Ms. Pelosi showed her complete lack of geography and history skills: "This is a community with a border going through it. And this crisis — that some call a 'crisis' — we have to view as an opportunity," Pelosi said at her press conference in Texas. So, in other words, the United States and Mexico are just one big happy country that some poor fool drew an arbitrary boundary right through the middle of? Out of this world thinking.
3) We recently a short series talking about how things are not what they appear to be, that the political class makes up myths to energize their base and keep themselves in office by keeping myths and falsehoods alive. The post in that series that discussed voter id laws can be accessed at:
In two instances, Georgia and Texas, we disproved the political class myth, using real data and research, that reasonable voter id laws do not inhibit voting by minority groups. In fact, in two states that had recently implemented voting id laws, voting by people in those minority groups actually skyrocketed, debunking the efforts of Eric Holder and President Obama to overturn laws that may actually help increase minority voting turnout.
To follow up on that reality, consider a list of actions that every American cannot due without providing official government identification. The list was put together by Ashe Schow on August 14, 2013, writing for the Washington Examiner:
1. Purchase alcohol
2. Purchase cigarettes
3. Open a bank account
4. Apply for food stamps
5. Apply for welfare
6. Apply for Medicaid/Social Security
7. Apply for unemployment or a job
8. Rent/buy a house, apply for a mortgage
9. Drive/buy/rent a car
10. Get on an airplane
11. Get married
12. Purchase a gun
13. Adopt a pet
14. Rent a hotel room
15. Apply for a hunting license
16. Apply for a fishing license
17. Buy a cell phone
18. Visit a casino
19. Pick up a prescription
20. Hold a rally or protest
21. Blood donations
22. Buy an "M" rated video game
23. Purchase nail polish at CVS
24. Purchase certain cold medicines
But according to certain people in this administration, requiring an id to vote should not be needed even though it affects an underpinnings of our democracy and freedom. Insanity.
4) Getting back to voter id laws. We have previously shown that when the states of Georgia and Texas implemented common sense voter id laws, the voting rate in minority communities actually went up substantially despite requiring legitimate citizens to prove they were legitimate citizens and voters.
Judicial Watch recently completed a similar study in North Carolina. They compared the voting of minorities in the 2010 elections, which were held prior to the state’s voter id law going into effect, and the voting rate of minorities in the similar 2914 elections after the law went into effect. They found the same trend: while voting rates increase across all sub groups of citizens, voting rates went up even higher in minority groups.
Which makes you wonder while Eric Holder and the Obama administration want to gut this state law also, a law that actually does what Holder and Obama want to happen, increase the voting rate of minorities. Insane.
5) Vice President Joe Biden was recently speaking at the White House Summit on Working Families when he tried to show his connection and empathy with working class and middle class families. He claimed, despite being in Washington for decades, and drawing salaries during those years substantially higher than the average household income level that he supposedly owned no stocks and had no savings: “But I got a great pension and I get a good salary,” Biden said to applause.
What a man of the people, what a regular guy, struggling to survive like the rest of us, and Hillary Clinton, in these tough economic times. But is this truly the reality of Biden’s financial situation? Probably not since:
- Buzzfeed reported that when Biden joined the Obama ticket in 2008, he was indeed the poorest Senator but as the fact checker PolitiFact pointed out at the time, poorest Senator was still far wealthier than the average American.
- USA Today reported that in this year’s White House financial disclosure, Biden listed assets “valued at $276,000 to $940,000, including a rental property owned jointly with his wife, Jill,”
- We have previously reported in this blog that not only do the Biden’s own this rental property but they have the gall to rent it out to the Secret Service to use to protect the Bidens, which of course is paid for by the American taxpayer.
- Time magazine’s Zeke Miller pointed out that contrary to what Biden stated at the meeting, Joe Biden definitely owns a savings account in his own name.
- And finally, other news sources claimed that the reason that Biden does not have a savings account or stock holdings in his name is because much of the family assets are listed not in his name but in his wife’s name.
- Do they really believe their own deceptions and lies as reality?
- Do they think we are too stupid to believe their own deceptions and lies?
- Do they think no one will fact check their own deceptions and lies because they lie so well?
That will definitely do it for this month’s political class insanity. Today we learned that nepotism and crony capitalism is still alive, at least in New Hampshire politics, that Nancy Pelosi likely flunked geography in grammar school, that needing a valid id is necessary for most aspects of life even if some politicians find it necessary to vote as an insult, and Joe Biden plays fast and loose with words and claims about his family’s wealth. Insanity all around.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at:
www.loathemygovernment.com
It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
Term Limits Now: http://www.howmuchworsecoulditget.com
http://www.reason.com
http://www.cato.org
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08j0sYUOb5w
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