I think a lot of people thought that once President Obama was elected, we wouldn’t see the traditional bargaining and compromising and things taking so long.
Let’s say this: the president became president with a nation in crisis—an economic crisis, a budget crisis, two wars, and a climate crisis. People want change, but they are menaced by it; they are cautious about it. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the ratings of Congress. I really don’t.

Menace: 1 possible source of danger 2 nuisance (a constant source of trouble and annoyance) 3 threatening quality 4 threatening act

Which one of these definitions is the House Speaker referring to?  Well, if change includes giving more power to an ever growing federal government at the expense of individual liberty, we can see how that may fit definitions 1, 3 & 4 quite nicely.  Is change a nuisance?  Sure, if it’s a nuisance to witness escalating national debt and rampant international treaties that wreck havoc on our beloved Constitution.  With Congress constantly digressing from their Constitutional authorities, it’s no wonder people are “cautious” about change.  Many Americans feel this caution absolutely warranted.

It was reported that you were negotiating with the conference of bishops.
I talked to one of the cardinals. I said to him that I believe that what we are doing honors the principles we talked about: we want to pass a health-care bill, we want it to be abortion neutral, and we want it to [have] no federal funding [for abortion], which is the law. And we believe that our language does that. They said, “We believe that it does not.” I said, let’s sit down at the table and our lawyers can compare language. That’s what the meeting was about—to make our case. Clearly, the people at that table were not willing to accept what we know to be a fact.
I think you have had some brushes with [church] hierarchy.
I have some concerns about the church’s position respecting a woman’s right to choose. I have some concerns about the church’s position on gay rights. I am a practicing Catholic, although they’re probably not too happy about that. But it is my faith. I practically mourn this difference of opinion because I feel what I was raised to believe is consistent with what I profess, and that is that we are all endowed with a free will and a responsibility to answer for our actions. And that women should have that opportunity to exercise their free will.
Is it difficult for you to reconcile your faith with the role you have in public life?
You know, I had five children in six years. The day I brought my fifth baby home, that week my daughter turned 6. So I appreciate and value all that they want to talk about in terms of family and the rest. When I speak to my archbishop in San Francisco and his role is to try to change my mind on the subject, well then he is exercising his pastoral duty to me as one of his flock. When they call me on the phone here to talk about, or come to see me about an issue, that’s a different story. Then they are advocates, and I am a public official, and I have a different responsibility.

One year after Pelosi’s controversial comment in an ABC interview, the Drudge Report article covering the fact still comes up close to the top every time someone “googles” the House Speaker’s name.  Her comment was this: “family planning services reduce cost… contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government.”  Is it any wonder then that she is “soft” on abortion, to put it nicely, and attacked regularly by the Church she supposedly represents?  Regardless of religious affiliation, think about the implications of her motives… they’re not comforting.

We have had very few high-profile political women. Hillary Clinton is very popular now, but she has had some low moments. Ironically, in the past, she has been the most popular when she shows her vulnerabilities. Do you draw any lessons from that?
Well, I don’t care how popular I am. I’m not putting myself out there to run for higher office. I just [want to] make sure that we win the election next year.
And 2010 looks a little problematic.
Oh, no. We will be fine. We have great candidates. I am constantly raising money.
You have zest for this job. You’re not beaten down.
I actually take some level of pride in the opponents I have gathered. And it helps with my fundraising. [Laughs.]

Since Nancy is a practicing Catholic, no doubt it is a waste to remind her: “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” KJ (Proverbs 16:18).  And if excessive money is the foundation for her pride, she may be in for a surprise come this November elections.  More than ever dissatisfied citizens nationwide are putting their hard earned money towards the candidates most promising to upset significant seats in the House and Senate, and surely the Speaker’s seat is primarily so.  Visit www.johndennis2010.com to review the opponent she takes so much pride in having, and donate what you can to make a difference.  This year will resemble no “sparring match,” such as she is used to.  This is a prize fight; this is a fight for our Republic, and more are waking up to this fact daily.

She doesn’t care how popular she is for one reason: She feels that she has the votes she needs to win.  But what if more residents of the 8th District (SF) register to vote, considering the severity of the potential upset in the upcoming election?  San Francisco certainly has enough non-voters to make a difference.  It is up to us (citizens nationwide, remember) to inform and educate as many SF voters as possible within the next ten months.  Every dollar raised for John Dennis will contribute as efficiently as possible to raising awareness in SF voters before November.

Pelosi is learning the hard way that there’s a difference between receiving attention for being a pioneer and receiving attention for fouling up on the job…  To call it a disastrous public performance would be polite.  NY Times

Having been in office since 1987 with virtually zero opposition, what kind of havoc could this woman wreak?

The first and foremost complaint has been her readiness to support and advocate “bailouts” for American industry.  Especially considering the “industry” originally bailed out, which can hardly be called an industry at all; i.e. the banking (money derivatives) sector of our economy.  America has lost its position as a manufacturing superpower some years ago.  It has since been saturated with international finance derivatives specialists.  This position is only strengthened by government bailouts, and to the dismay of citizens, our “real worth” in the world has diminished as a result.  To bailout the institutions responsible is absolutely ludicrous; unless your agenda differs form that of the people you serve, Ms. Pelosi.

Healthcare reform under Pelosi has blatantly included penalties of up to $250,000 and 6 years in jail for those who cannot afford health insurance.  Yet we are to believe that this is GOOD for the 40 million or so who are uninsured?  This is the same practice Obama denounced in reference to Hillary Clinton’s reform plans.

Although she is currently unloading her war efforts on the President, no one can deny that she has been a pivotal force in the funding for both the Iraq and Afghanistan war fronts.  This kind of “flip-flop” policy making is nothing unheard of to those following the Speaker’s procedures.

The Hill says that she is looking for a new “boogeyman” come 2010, pointing out:

In her book, “Know Your Power”, Pelosi wrote that the first agenda item in winning campaigns is, “You must take down the ratings of your opposition.”

And keep in mind that she is not new to the game.  This is a multi-generational political spinster, as John Armor points out here.

There is one hope, one person, one candidate that can usurp the Queen of the House.  His name is John Dennis, and he needs your help now more than ever.  Please visit his site and “vote with your wallet” TODAY to show the Madame Speaker that we are serious.  She wants a “boogeyman” for 2010?  She has one.

THE PELOSI INDEX, analyzes and tracks every member of Congress’ true voting record and details how often these self proclaimed moderates vote to support Pelosi’s radical transformation of America.

SUMMARY

Since the beginning of the legislative cycle in January 2009, 150 House Democrats have voted for Speaker Pelosi’s radical agenda on all nine major pieces of legislation scored in the INDEX. More than 220 Democrat members have sold out America’s core values to vote for the Speaker’s liberal plan more than 75% of the time.  These members threaten to destroy the American way of life through economy-crushing tax increases and the massive expansion of government control and spending which has already begun to saddle our future generations with enormous levels of unsustainable debt.

The Chart is absolutely fascinating and VERY detailed.  But even a quick glance will give an accurate overview of which Congress members are supporters of the “Pelosi Agenda,” sort of speak.  View Chart

The Department of Defense didn’t ask for money to update the old officers club in San Francisco’s Presidio into a visitors information center and exhibition space. Neither did any other member of Congress – except House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. (SF Gate)

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the $626 billion defense appropriations bill approved by the Senate last Saturday.  $128 billion is allocated to Iraq and Afghanistan.  

Typical to modern legislation, it was heavily laden with earmarks.  The total came to 1,720, amounting to $4.2 billion.  Congress recently passed a $447 billion spending bill (Dec 13th) with over 5,000 earmarks, as reported in a previous post.

After the defense spending bill passed the House this week, Pelosi issued a statement praising the measure for making “critical investments in the success, health, well-being and training of our men and women in uniform.”

Pelosi mentioned that the bill included a pay raise for military personnel and resources for everything from treating troops suffering from traumatic brain injury to money for “first-class equipment and armor.”

But she didn’t mention the money for the Presidio Heritage Center.

[...]

The $5 million earmark will fund close to 25 percent of the center’s estimated renovation and help leverage other donations from corporations and foundations, said Tia Lombardi, director of public affairs at the Presidio Trust.

In other words, the trust needs federal subsidies to lure private investment – so it no longer has to rely on federal subsidies. The building, which dates to the early 1800s, is now used for exhibitions and events.  (SF Gate)

Sunday the Senate passed the $447 billion spending bill with a number of earmarks (5,224 special spending requests) totaling $3.9 billion.  The Peterson-Pew panel calls for immediate action to stabilize our GDP to debt ratio at 60%, according to the San Francisco Gate.  Our GDP to debt ratio is estimated to be over 90% by the end of this year.  Soon, more than 100% of our gross domestic product will be used to service our national debt.

Pelosi has opposed the idea, and so has the powerful retiree group AARP. But Pelosi now would agree to it as long as a “pay-as-you-go” budget rule favored by conservative “Blue Dog” House Democrats is included.

That would require new spending to be offset by spending cuts or tax increases.

[...]

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has railed about stimulus pork, singling out for ridicule $54 million going to Napa Valley’s “wine train.”

“Wine train”?  Conflict of interest anyone?  If you’re unaware, Pelosi and her husband own a vineyard worth up to $25 million in Napa Valley.

John Boehner represents Ohio’s 8th district in the House.  He strongly criticizes Pelosi’s actions in the Hillsboro Times-Gazette.

On Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) completed the latest chapter in this lengthy story by ramming a massive $447 billion spending bill through Congress that contains double-digit funding increases to Washington agencies.

In addition to these excessive increases, the bill includes more than 5,200 earmarks, including $300,000 for music and education programs at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, where they pay the employee who oversees the props more than $530,000 in salary and benefits.  Regardless of whether these are worthy projects, are they really more important than our children and grandchildren, who will have to repay the debt we’re piling up to do all this stuff?

[...]

This is just another ploy to increase spending at a time when our national debt hit a record $12 trillion last month.  Before the end of the year, Democrats plan to raise the debt limit by another $1.8 trillion dollars.

He asks John for 3-5 hot topics, to which John replies:  Individual liberty, respect for the Constitution and the free market.

Nancy Pelosi’s jet transportation has costs the American taxpayers $21- to $28-million over the last 3 years, and we are borrowing 1/3rd of that money.  “That to me is unconscionable,” he says.
Dennis has the ambitious goal of ending the IRS, saying that we do not need the income tax to fund the government, despite popular belief.

When asked about the drug war, he recognizes the futility, saying: “I think we’ve seen that we’re not prohibiting anybody from doing anything.”  We are creating an underclass of former prisoners and costing a fortune, all for what?   Liberty is not a “salad bar”; if you are going to accept it, you have to accept the whole package.

He also feels the 700+ bases around the world need to be reevaluated from a socio-economic perspective.  We really should stop at “what is constitutional” and what isn’t.  Upon review, we may find that these bases do not make us safer, and certainly are not affordable.

Regarding Social Security, John considers it a pyramid scheme that depends on population growth.  We should allow people to opt out of the system and be responsible for their own retirement.

Pelosi Action Figure

The Speaker of the House is the latest luminary to be immortalized as an action figure by Connecticut-based HeroBuilders.com, joining the likes of Rod Blagojevich, Bernie Madoff, John McCain and Barack Obama. The smiling new doll wears an elegant  black pantsuit and comes with a tiny waterboard inscribed with the words ”Water Board: Fun for the Whole Family.”

The 2005 video of Nancy Pelosi defending the 3-day rule in order to combat lengthy legislation has been watched by many.

Recently she passed a 1,990 paged health care reform bill that had been amended and changed frequently, then passed without sufficient time for review.  The hypocrisy is too blatant to ignore.

The Washington Examiner sums up the following in their “opinion” section:

The most obvious and immediate take on the video is disgust with the unsurpassed hypocriscy of Pelosi in forcing the Obamacare bill through to passage despite its massive size, its gigantic implications for changing the daily lives of every American, and its enormous impact on the financial integrity of the government.

But let’s not forget the context in which Pelosi’s 2005 speech was delivered. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other leaders of the Republican majority that held power prior to 2006 were routinely doing exactly what Pelosi just did wth Obamacare – jamming continuing resolutions consisting of thousands of pages and costing trillions of dollars through Congress with barely enough time to read the titles, much less the entire text.

Bottomline: A binding, 72-hour public posting of all legislation should be an inviolate rule no matter which party is in power in either chamber of Congress. And it cannot happen too soon. The people at Readthebill.org need your help.

In the audio clip below from today (Nov. 24), Pelosi explains very clearly that we will be happier once her “job creation” bill goes through, and the increased debt will all be forgotten.  She says if people were asked they would rather a job than to protect our national debt from going up.

We have two choices according to Madame Speaker: more debt with jobs, or less debt with continued (or increased) unemployment.  This “A or B” trickery is exactly the kind of manipulative strategy politicians are best at.  When you set the stage, you can control the outcome.  Creative thinking and debate are avoided at all cost by most politicians, especially ones with low approval ratings, such as Pelosi.

Job creation is very important to communities, but is our government best suited for the job?  Besides, what ever happened to the nearly $1 trillion bailout, wasn’t that supposed to somehow provide jobs?  And we saved GM, why don’t people simply apply there?  They must be hiring.  Considering the banks made out best, you would think they’d be hiring some more tellers or something, right?  This is sarcastic, as obviously the aid wouldn’t be direct, but indirectly these measures were supposed to employ more people.  I guess that bailout is ancient history, and we have to start looking towards future, to new ways we can indenture our children into slavery — I mean, give them jobs.  Pelosi and Reid are just the team to do it.  By the time they’re through, our children will have “jobs” from cradle to grave.

The main idea is to compromise on a highway construction bill the Democrats have been trying to pass through the Senate.  “One of the best ways to spur job creation and economic recovery is through infrastructure investment,” 7 Committee members wrote in a letter to Reid and McConnell.  “That is why a longer term extension of the surface transportation program is so important to maintaining our nation’s vital bridges, roads, public transportation and other related infrastructure, restoring our economy and creating good jobs for American workers.”  (NY Times)  To reiterate: They are willing to compromise this bill ($500 billion over 6 years) in order to pass a bailout job creation bill.  Does this make sense?

Perhaps this “job-creation” bailout, possibly on the floor before Christmas, will provide some jobs in the New Year.  But I wouldn’t plan the celebration just yet.

Last Halloween, Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave birth to her ugliest child, The Affordable Health Care for America Act. The bill was a 1,990-page legislative behemoth fathered by

With time of the essence, Pelosi quickly made concessions for the Stupak Amendment, which prevented government funds from paying for abortions, giving her pro-choice constituents a Catholic snub and her health care package the support needed to pass.

The bill cleared congress with a 220-215 (D-R) vote on November 7th, which paved the way for a Senate version that passed it’s 2,074-page bill Saturday. Although a vote has been tallied, the bill is not yet final, giving Senators a few weeks to make amendments. There is some speculation that this bill might not pass the Senate, but it seems unlikely that Pelosi would put her name on anything but a sure thing.

Pelosi’s legislation was labeled “The Worst Bill Ever” by The Wall Street Journal due to the half trillion dollars in new taxes that will be placed on income earners. Language added by Pelosi increases the top marginal tax rate to 45 percent. The bill is riddled with smaller taxes and fees on both consumers and suppliers, not to mention a 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic surgery. This is far from being the “free” solution touted by it’s supporters.

Between never ending wars that Nancy has repeatedly voted to fund and a trillion dollars worth of new debt that her health care program is expected to add; this woman is recklessly mortgaging our future. The sole beneficiaries to our financial burden are our lenders. China and the private bankers who collect a premium on the massive deficits our treasury incurs will be happy for years to come while our borrowed principle inflates at the speed of compounding interest.

It is blatantly obvious, Pelosi is an agent of huge business. Her constituents are not the free-thinking individualists of San Francisco, but the conformist conglomerates who keep Pelosi elected. She does not want to save our country money; Pelosi hates money, because money is her only constraint now that she has ruled out any constitutional obligation. Debt is a non-issue to Pelosi as long as the interest is paid and the creditors are happy. For interest to be paid, taxes need to be raised, and this is Pelosi’s only fiscal goal.

America’s most powerful woman and her quasi-government social planners want to harness the power of clockwork. Patient in, patient out. They will not pass a public option. Why? Partially, because the American people will never stand for limitation placed on choice, and partially because Pelosi’s high rollers will never allow for a separation of government and economy. They want fascism, they want the private property rights protected by capitalism and to earn a profit by means of a monopoly offered by big government contracts. These cowards do not want to pay for the infrastructure or be exposed to the risk it takes to set up a nation-wide health care network, but still they want a return on it. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

A prime example of Pelosi’s wheel n’ deal politics are the 2 billion dollars worth of taxation she was going to place on the medical device industry. Democrat Senator Evan Bayh from Indiana, whose state is home to prominent medical device makers, including Zimmer Holdings Inc., Biomet and DePuy Orthopaedics Inc., was one of a handful of red state Democrats whose support was vital in getting the 60 Senate votes necessary to advance the health care overhaul. The taxes were removed when Pelosi’s bedfellow, Harry Reid, convinced Bayh to vote for the bill if Reid agreed to slash the medical device taxes. It almost seems like the taxes were added in the House by Pelosi in order to get the vote from Bayh in the Senate. It is one thing to indiscriminately raise taxes in order to fund certain programs, it is quite anther to pick and choose which industries to tax in order to bully Senators into votes.

Health care lobbying exceeded $422 million during the first nine months of this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. An estimated 31 million to 36 million people would be added to insurance rolls because of the mandates in both bills — even if these people don’t use doctors, hospitals or prescription drugs. Now Pelosi affiliated insurance companies will enjoy millions of new forced insurance subscriptions.

Hoards of additional people with health insurance would also mean billions more in drug sales for Pelosi picked pharmaceutical companies. When government is choosing the meds, the free-market is bypassed and Pelosi decides which pharmaceutical drug slangin’ multi-national corporation will be the benefactor. Smaller, generic drug manufacturers who didn’t send a lobbyist to DC on time will be facing language in both bills that lengthen patents on new drugs entering the market. Bully legislation like HR 3962 creates the oligarchs, monopolists, and robber barons of American industry. Pelosi’s bill is not what true health care reform looks like, but a re-enactment of the policies that destroyed a health care system that was once the shining example of the world.

Our country needs term limits, monetary reform, and balanced budgets — these are bi-partisan issues. These are the only policies that will put an end to incumbents like Pelosi wreaking havoc on our country in order to stay in power.  She has won the battle, but not the war. She has passed her re-distributive monstrosity, and will be heading back to San Francisco for Thanksgiving to spend time with her family. Hopefully Nancy gets the wrong side of the wishbone this year, because in 2010, she needs to be DROPPED.