“What I’ve said is that we would put a cap-and-trade system in place that is more — that is as aggressive if not more aggressive than anybody else’s out there, so if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can, it’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”
Consider the case of Democrat Charles Rangel. After serving in the military Rep. Rangel was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives where he rose to the extremely powerful position of Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. As chairman of that committee he oversaw the development of the tax code to which you and I have to comply. During his ascension to power Mr. Rangel seems to have accumulated a great deal of wealth, perhaps even beyond the amount you would expect on his government salary. Recently found guilty of breaking house ethics rules and censured Rangel does not seem to understand what he really did wrong…for the most part.
One of the topics likely to take center stage this summer is going to be the crowd that will seek to get the Republican Party nomination to take on Barrack Obama in the 2012 presidential election. I have no doubt that there will be a crowd as many sense Obama’s weakness and a country tired of the poor economy, big government spending, and Washington in general.
A few weeks ago I postulated about how much damage the lame duck session of Congress would inflict on the American people (Duck Duck Screwed). Like my Amazon Wish List, liberals had their own, more costly wish list that we would have to pay for. Many of these items were specifically not brought to the floor prior to the election as they were vote killers and would have likely precipitated an even more lopsided win by Republicans.
At the risk of sounding really old wrestling was different when I was growing up. It was still scripted (AKA fake – alegedly), but it was less “steroidial,” fewer sweaty stares, no maniacal rants, and weird in a good way. I grew up with Studio Wrestling and athletes named The Iron Sheik (a bad guy from the Middle East would cause CAIR to file a lawsuit today), Jumping Johnny DeFazio, Bobby “Hurricane” Hunt, Chief White Owl, Larry Zbyszko, George “the Animal” Steel, Baron Mikel Scicluna, Ivan Putski, Killer Kowalski, and Pittsburgh’s own Bruno Sammartino. Bruno Sammartino was the ultimate good guy in professional wrestling and being from our home town, we all loved him and rooted for him and hated his many enemies on the canvas.
If you had asked me two months ago who my top ten favorites Steelers were Merril Hoge probably would not have been even on my list…maybe not even on my top 25. He was a running back during the years toward the end of Emperor Chuck Noll’s coaching days and the start of Bill Cowher’s tenure. There were some solid teams, but no where near the glory days of the franchise. A good friend recommended his book saying that she found inspiration in his words and that intrigued me so it was off to Amazon for me.
I am not sure they play this on the air on network television anymore.
Here’s wishing you a very happy Christmas and Holiday Season. Thanks again for reading Framingthedialogue and please spread the word.
News briefs are a collection of interesting news stories…
Brief 1: Let’s call this one “Corn For Clunkers.” Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency(:EPA”) is looking out for you or so they claim, but they are not as in tune with what’s good for your car. EPA has approved the sale of an ethanol/gasoline mix containing up to 15% of the corn-based ethanol. The only problem is that this mix would be very harmful to engines manufactured before 2007 (that’s two out of three vehicles in our household). Will someone explain what law gives the EPA the authority to approve/push consumer products? A group of auto manufacturers and engine makers has filed suit against EPA.
It’s an oft repeated story, government’s abuse of power discriminated against a group. In this case the United States Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) denied loans to black farmers based on race. A group of black farmers (I wonder why they are “black” farmers and not “African-American” farmers) sued and after a while the USDA admitted to the discrimination. The USDA settled the Pigford vs Glickman case and agreed to pay affected black farmers $50,000 per claim. Here is my first hiccup. The USDA, while a bloated bureacracy, is made up of people some of whom discriminated against black farmers. None of the article that I read mentioned anything about people being fired, going to jail, or being fined because of the offenses. Yet another case of government screwing up and costing us money.
