The Reason for the Season
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2The same was in the beginning with God.
3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
-John 1:1-18 (KJV)
The Death of the Internet – For Real
I’ve written a couple of times about how the “Death of the Internet” seemed to be just over the horizon. These were technical issues, and they were overcome by technical fixes. But congress is about to make changes that will not only usher in an age of censorship on the US part of the Internet, but will cause stability and security issues that will not just affect us in the US, but will have a ripple effect around the globe. The people who are sponsoring and trying to pass SOPA (the Stop Internet Piracy Act) are positioning themselves as friends of tyrants everywhere at the behest of Hollywood.
Eric Erickson wrote about the political aspects and suggests action. You should read the whole thing, but here is the nub of the problem:
The Act intends to stop online piracy. The way the Act goes about doing this is, in large part, allowing Eric Holder to take control of the internet and shut down websites he does not like. It is a totalitarian response from a bipartisan coalition of Congresscritters most of whom admit they have no freaking idea how the internet even works. Don’t believe me?
In a committee hearing on SOPA, co-sponsor Mel Watts (D-NC) was really open about itsaying, “I’m not a nerd” before proceeding to admit he understood nothing about the law, how the internet worked, or pretty much anything else related to it.
This is really important. If anything, Erickson understates the issue. SOPA provides for the Internet Death Penalty as soon as anyone accuses you of infringing. Your domain name is seized and Internet companies are ordered not to send traffic to your site. It stays that way till you prove that you’re innocent. How many times have you heard of false accusations causing a page or video to be taken down on Facebook or YouTube? This will make the entire public Internet operate like that. Got an opinion someone doesn’t like? It will vanish off the net till you hire a lawyer and prove you’re innocent in a hearing. If you can afford that and manage to win your case someone can start all over on you the day after your site goes live. All they have to do is complain about another item on your site.
One of the reasons bringing power to much of even large cities in Iraq was that the power grid had a basic design requirement that wasn’t consistent with reliable power. Saddam Hussein ordered the power grid set up so that he could turn off power to a block, a neighborhood, or entire sections of the city in order to punish them for some wrong, real or imagined. In effect that’s what SOPA wants to do to the Internet, and the effects on reliability may well be worse than the problems with power distribution that Hussein left his people.
SOPA will also likely cost us high-tech jobs in the US. We’re already exporting jobs by the truckload due to regulation. Why would any company with the resources to locate their web hosting or data centers elsewhere pay higher US costs to be connected to a less secure Internet? Outsourcing and bringing jobs back to the US tends to move in a cycle every few years in US high tech. If the US portion of the net becomes less secure that cycle is likely to be broken, with network and data center operations remaining overseas forever.
Then there’s the security angle. If I tried to explain a few of the ways that SOPA would compromise security it is likely your eyes would glaze over. (You probably don’t read mailing lists where Internet core operational issues are discussed for fun.) But consider the number of stories of hackers from overseas, often from China, stealing valuable information. Just this week it was revealed that cyber spies from China had hacked into the US Chamber of Commerce, stealing information on Asia policy. But with identity theft, credit card fraud, and spying rampant somehow congress thinks it’s a good idea to make the Internet less secure.
Joshua Kopstein wrote after the SOPA hearings:
This used to be funny, but now it’s really just terrifying. We’re dealing with legislation that will completely change the face of the internet and free speech for years to come. Yet here we are, still at the mercy of underachieving Congressional know-nothings that have more in common with the slacker students sitting in the back of math class than elected representatives. The fact that some of the people charged with representing us must be dragged kicking and screaming out of their complacency on such matters is no longer endearing — it’s just pathetic and sad.
He titled his piece “Dear Congress, It’s No Longer OK To Not Know How The Internet Works.” It’s true. While congress can’t be expert in everything, they should be willing to listen to people who are, especially on highly complex technical subjects. They could start by listening to the 83 leading Internet Engineers who signed “An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the U.S. Congress.”
It’s past time we rid ourselves of Luddites who in an earlier age would have voted to set the value of pi to 3, and those who are willing to sell our First Amendment rights for Hollywood campaign contributions - No matter what party they’re in.
A Couple of Rude People Aren’t the Whole Hall
If you didn’t hear about it last night you’re going to wake to news stories about Republicans at the debate in Florida booing a gay American service man last night. It’s likely that this will be represented as the sentiment of the whole hall, and used by assorted talking heads to smear Republicans, the Tea Party, and Fox News. There’s just one problem- The story as it has already begun to spread is a lie. Far from being a major eruption in the hall, it was a couple of people, with those around the offenders trying to get them to stop.
Sarah Rumpf, one of the top political bloggers in Florida, was at the debate on Thursday night. She was sitting only a few rows from where the booing originated, and tweeted just afterwards
FTR that was ONLY 1 or 2 people who booed at the gay soldier’s question & LOTS of people shushed at him.
#FloridaP5#gopdebate#sayfie
If you pursue her timeline on Twitter you’ll see that she was explaining that it was one or two with those around them trying to get them to stop. Unfortunately, horrified hissing doesn’t carry as well as intentional loud booing from a couple of jerks with deep voices in a large mostly empty room with concrete floors, so what the eyewitnesses saw and heard didn’t make it to microphones up on stage.
Sarah was there and I wasn’t, so you should read her account over at Sunshine State Sarah. You should read the whole thing so that you know the truth when the lie surfaces.
A couple of rude jerks aren’t the whole hall, and the Left and their MSM allies should not be allowed to get away with a lie.
9/11, Ten Years Later
People more eloquent than I am will be writing of all of the details of the attack on America that happened on September 11, 2001, often remembered by the short form “9/11.” The media will be full of tributes and time lines, and that is as it should be. Others will look at how our rights have eroded over the past decade, often in the name of something that is nothing more than security theater. Some may even comment on the irony that the current mayor of New York not only erodes the liberties of his own city, but seeks to export those restrictions on liberty through his hostility to our second amendment civil rights.
It was one of those rare days that come every generation or two where everyone remembers where they were when they heard about it. I grew up hearing about where people were when they heard that Pearl Harbor had been born. The generation after mine suffered through listening to where we were when we heard that JFK had been assassinated. Half a generation too young to understand what happened on September 11, or born since then are already experiencing that. They can watch whatever footage the networks allow us to watch, but for them it lacks the immediacy of that day. They’ll never feel it the way that we did, no more than I felt Pearl Harbor when listening to my elders tell of it, or watching footage of smoke rising from Battleship Row.
I worked second shift at the time. My wife was fiercely protective of my sleep. (If you’ve never been a shift worker in a town that doesn’t have a lot of large employers with three shifts you have NO idea of how cavalierly others treat your normal hours of sleep.) So when she woke me herself hours early I knew something was wrong. She turned on the TV and said “There’s something you need to see.” One tower was already burning, and while I was still trying to clear the fog from my brain I saw the second airliner hit. We watched events unwind until I had to go to work. Since I worked at a networking company, we had lots of bandwidth for the news almost everyone was streaming (though there were fewer options back then.) Work did get done in between looking at the news and sharing shocked glances. Aside from all of the data switching equipment in each tower, Tower 7 was a switching center for some networks, and the loss of the power substation in the basement of Tower 7 caused a good deal of network disruption on the part of the Internet that my employer operated.
There will be essays from all sides telling how we grew stronger, or grew weaker, or grew stronger and then weaker again. I’m not sure that “weaker” is the correct term. As we watched those who leaped rather than burn fall, as we watched the towers fall, as we watched the cloud of dust and ash (some of it human ash) sweep through New York, our emotions were at a peak. Shock piled on shock as images from the Pentagon and from Pennsylvania. When we discovered more about the attackers and those who sent them we were filled with rage and determination. But humans can’t live at that peak forever. We aren’t equipped for it mentally, emotionally, or physically. Our peaks are only high because we have lower levels to compare them to. Not living at the peak every moment for ten years doesn’t mean that we are weaker, just that we are human.
As Dogbert once pointed out in a Dilbert cartoon, we’re fond of big round numbers. 10 isn’t terribly big in one sense, but it’s certainly round. In some ways it’s a lifetime ago. For each of us the world changed that day, even if in small ways. We can’t remain at a high peak of anger and grief all of the time, but on this anniversary of a large attack on the United States (and western civilization) by a form of radical Islam it is fitting that we remember our grief and rage, and teach those who come after what it means. Perhaps if they understand that this war is an existential one as much as the last war started by militant Islam this one won’t last 800 years and leave large parts of the western world permanently overrun.
Never Forget.
Giving the Post Office CPR
The US Postal Service is in trouble, and we are facing a bailout that will make the auto makers’ bailout seem small by comparison.
The post office lost $8.5 billion last year. This year they probably will only ( ! ) lose $8.3 billion. And they’re running out of money. It would be bad enough if it was Postal Service money and a bankruptcy would cure things, but it’s our money. The US Postal Service has a $15 billion line of credit from the US Government, and by the end of the fiscal year (which ends this month) they will be out of our money.
Five years ago the Post Office was in trouble and Congress bailed them out. The US Government took on a greater share of the pension and retirement medical costs of former US Military members who went to work at the Postal Service, which eliminated most of their deficit. Congress also extended a $15 billion dollar line of credit. The price on the Postal Service side was that they would have to fully fund their retirement obligations and the health care plan for retirees.
Ever since then, the requirement to fully fund the pensions and benefits of retirees has been represented by both the Postal Service and the unions that represent the postal workers as an unfair and unusual burden on the Post Office. It may be unusual. The retirement systems for California public employees were underfunded by over half a trillion dollars as of April, 2010. What falling stock prices have done to it since then probably gives the trustees ulcers. That requiring that the Postal Service actually fund its’ future obligations is considered “unusual” in governmental and quasi-governmental circles is a symptom of the nation’s larger problem.
When you start setting aside money for future retirement expenses you know that some people aren’t going to collect. Some will leave the job before becoming vested. Some will get fired (yes, even in a government union environment.) And some just won’t live long enough to collect. So there is an over payment for retirement costs, especially in an organization with over half a million employees. Even the GAO is OK with refunding overpayments or suspending payments till the overpayments are used up. The debate is about how big the overpayment is.
If you look at the comment thread for this Businessweek article you’ll find defenders of the post office claiming that the over payment is $75 billion, and if they had all that money everything would be hunky-dory. It’s true that $75 billion would be considerably more than a shot in the arm for the post office, but $75 billion is everything paid in since the last time Congress bailed out the Postal Service. In other words, the Postal Service and its’ unions want to go to a system of paying for future retirements out of future income. This, of course, assumes that there will actually be future income.
The House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform held hearings last March about the problems. Between those hearings and assorted news stories and editorials, it became clear that something would have to be done. In May Senator Carper (D-DE) introduced a bill that would provide some modest deregulation, but also lift the requirement that retiree pensions and benefits be funded at the time they are accrued by the employee. (One part of the deregulation might also permit the Postmaster General to select the Inspector General for the Postal Service, a recipe for mischief.)
This amounts to a $75 billion bailout of the Postal Service. The automaker bailout was only $57 billion. But to understand why it is a bailout you have to understand a bit of history. From 1792 (when Benjamin Franklin was the first Postmaster General) until 1971 the Post Office was officially the US Postal Department, a department of the Executive Branch of the US government. As a government agency they had government retirement benefits. In 1971 it was semi-privatized, and became the US Postal Service. It was officially a separate company, but everyone knew the government was behind it and would come running if there was trouble (as they did five years ago.)
For those working there at the time of the split it meant that their pension and retirement health benefits now had two entities that were responsible for paying. Some of you reading this might think they must all be gone by now, but someone starting in 1970 at age 18 would now be 59, with six years of work ahead of him before becoming one of the 300,000 postal workers expected to retire by 2020. But it’s not just the dwindling number of people who worked at the Post Office in 1971 that are involved. One can move from government service into the post office and carry over your government pension. Thus, any former government employee has a pension that the US government and the Postal Service are jointly responsible for. Likewise, former military pension & benefits carry over to the Postal Service (though as noted earlier the government took on a greater share of that expense five years ago.)
So not only a relatively few old folks are at risk. Anyone working at the Post Office who used to be a federal employee or a member of the military has a pension and health benefits that the Postal Service and the US government are jointly responsible for. If the Postal Service is unable to pay those costs out of shrinking revenues, the taxpayer is left holding the sack.
Congressman Issa (R-CA) and Congressman Ross (R-FL) have introduced HR 2309 that would remove some regulations that make the Postal Service particularly inefficient. For instance, at the moment it is illegal to close a post office just for financial reasons. In other words, the Postal Service that was spun off from the government to act much like a private company can’t take basic cost cutting measures that any company would take for granted. Nor can they put ads on their ubiquitous vehicles. It also allows delivery to be reduced to five days a week, which the Postmaster General has requested. While the short title of the bill is “Postal Reform Act of 2011″ the usual game of cute acronyms was played with the commission established in Article I:
This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Commission on Postal Reorganization Act’’ or the ‘‘CPR Act’’.
Five days a week is not as shocking as it might sound. I get Christmas cards, birthday cards, thank you notes, wedding invitations, and condolence notes via snail mail. Pretty much everything else has been paid via computer for a decade. The last time I wrote a check (to a plumber a couple of years ago) the bank actually called to make sure that I had written it. I literally can’t remember the last time I wrote a check and dropped it in the mail to pay a bill. And I’m not alone – According to an April 2010 GAO report mail volume dropped by 36 million pieces (17%) from 2007 to 2009 (three fiscal years.)
The default on paying the next installment of retirement funds is almost upon us, as Businessweek noted:
On Mar. 2, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe warned Congress that his agency would default on $5.5 billion of health-care costs set aside for its future retirees scheduled for payment on Sept. 30 unless the government comes to the rescue. “At the end of the year, we are out of cash,” Donahoe said. He noted that the unusual requirement was enacted five years ago by Congress before mail started to disappear.
(Note again that people who work in government and government-related agencies have a mindset that thinks it is “unusual” to set aside money to pay your debts.)
Now the Committee on Oversight & Government Reform (where Congressman Issa is chairman) has established a web site to inform the public about the problem. It contains links to news stories, the text of HR 2309, fact sheets about the bill (the bill itself is long and dull reading,) comparisons to senator Carper’s bill, videos from the hearings last March, and a tool that lets you pick your own solution to the problem by picking various ways to save money.
It’s hard to think about the Post Office having problems. The Mail Man (now “Letter Carrier”) is an enduring piece of Americana. In elementary school we tour a post office, looking at gleaming machines sorting hundreds of letters a minute. You may even have been made to memorize the unofficial Post Office Creed:
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
The mail is just there. You know about what time yours will arrive. In older neighborhoods it goes in a box hanging outside the door, or through a slot in the door. In rural or more recent construction the mail box is at the curb, and the carrier arrives in a small utility vehicle. If you’re a tiny community way out in the sticks you have gang boxes, which look like someone cut part of the wall of post office boxes out of an old post office and mounted them on a pair of poles at a wide spot in the road. The mail just IS, and we only think of it if it’s late or misdelivered.
One more thing: The US Post Office is BIG. Really, really big. As Businessweek put it in May of 2011:
The USPS is a wondrous American creation. Six days a week it delivers an average of 563 million pieces of mail—40 percent of the entire world’s volume. For the price of a 44¢ stamp, you can mail a letter anywhere within the nation’s borders. The service will carry it by pack mule to the Havasupai Indian reservation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Mailmen on snowmobiles take it to the wilds of Alaska. If your recipient can no longer be found, the USPS will return it at no extra charge. It may be the greatest bargain on earth.
It takes an enormous organization to carry out such a mission. The USPS has 571,566 full-time workers, making it the country’s second-largest civilian employer after Wal-Mart Stores (WMT). It has 31,871 post offices, more than the combined domestic retail outlets of Wal-Mart, Starbucks (SBUX), and McDonald’s (MCD). Last year its revenues were $67 billion, and its expenses were even greater. Postal service executives proudly note that if it were a private company, it would be No. 29 on the Fortune 500.
But all that is at the heart of the problem. The Postal Service ceased to be a part of the Executive Branch of the US Government in 1971. It was performing what was essentially a commercial service, and already had 100% market penetration. Even if courier services cherry picked some fast package deliveries there was no competition.
Times have changed since 1971, but by and large the Postal Service hasn’t kept up. The machines are newer, there are more routes that use vehicles instead of door to door delivery, most Post Offices are cleaner and in better repair than I remember as a kid in the 60′s, but the mind set has not changed. They deliver letters, they deliver packages, they sell stamps and other things related to those functions. The problem is that the times have changed. The number of pieces of snail mail I send in a month is usually zero. The number of pieces of mail in my box that are not junk mail is also usually zero. Looking at the issues facing the Postal Service the GAO found:
USPS’s business model is not viable due to USPS’s inability to reduce costs sufficiently in response to continuing mail volume and revenue declines. Mail volume declined 36 billion pieces (17 percent) over the last 3 fiscal years(2007 through 2009) with the recession accelerating shifts to electronic communications and payments. USPS lost nearly $12 billion over this period,despite achieving billions in cost savings by reducing its career workforce by over 84,000 employees, reducing capital investments, and raising rates.However, USPS had difficulty in eliminating costly excess capacity, and its revenue initiatives have had limited results. USPS also is nearing its $15 billion borrowing limit with the U.S. Treasury and has unfunded pension and retiree health obligations and other liabilities of about $90 billion. In 2009, Congress reduced USPS’s retiree health benefit payment by $4 billion to address a looming cash shortfall, but USPS still recorded a loss of $3.8 billion. Given its financial problems and outlook, USPS cannot support its current level of service and operations. USPS projects that volume will decline by about 27 billion pieces over the next decade, while revenues will stagnate; costs will rise; and, without major changes, cumulative losses could exceed $238 billion.
The Postal Service has been broken for a long time. Go to the committee web site and read about it. Use the tool at the site to find your own solution to the issue. Then don’t be silent – Contact your congressperson and senators.
A Debt Deal?
Around 8:30 Eastern tonight Harry Reid took to the floor of the Senate to announce that we had a framework for a deal on the spending limit, followed by Mitch McConnell. A few minutes later President Obama made a brief statement, saying that the leaders of both parties in both houses had agreed on the framework for a deal. Obama said that this deal would be a down payment on the deficit, while still leaving room for “investments.”
As anyone reading this likely knows. “investments” is Obama’s code word for “spending.” (I used to wonder why the left accused us of using code words, when most on the right said what they actually meant. It took me years to understand that they expected us to be using code words because that is what they did themselves.) I’ll save my rant about Obama’s “investments” for another post.
The basics seem to be:
- Cuts over $900 billion now.
- Spending limit increase of $900 billion now.
- A commission of 12 members from both parties and both houses that must report back with cuts by Thanksgiving.
- The vote on the commission would be a straight up or down vote
- Everything would be on the board for the commission
- If no cuts are agreed on by Thanksgiving then across the board cuts to things that will offend both parties (military, entitlements) will automatically happen.
- The president can request another increase in the debt limit if one of three things happen:
- The cuts are agreed to by both houses.
- Across the board cuts happen. (But he can only ask AFTER the painful across the board cuts happen.)
- A balanced budget agreement is sent to the states.
If I am smart enough, the Speaker’s presentation is embedded below.
Republican Lawmakers on Twitter
If you were watching Twitter on Friday you saw President Obama try to muster pressure on Republican legislators to compromise their principles. @BarackObama tweeted for hours, urging people to contact their legislators, one state at a time, losing tens of thousands of followers in the process. At the end of it, a tweet pointed to a list you could check in case you missed the tweet for your state. I took a look at the list, and it seemed like a useful resource, so I thought I would preserve it here in case it goes down the memory hole after the budget battle is over.
As a side note, the fact that Obama’s staff only listed Republican legislators and only called for pressure on them gives away the game. If Obama was truly interested in compromise they would have listed all legislators on Twitter and called for us to contact them. The one sided drive shows that the only compromise Obama is interested in is us compromising our principles.
Update:
Fixed @RepMikeTurner from Ohio, which was incorrect on the Obama list.
Fixed @congjoewilson from South Carolina, which was incorrect on the Obama list.
Fixed @replouiegohmert from Texas, which was incorrect on the Obama list.
Fixed @JudgeTedPoe from Texas, which was incorrect on the Obama list.
Fixed @RepKayGranger from Texas, which was incorrect on the Obama list.
Fixed @LamarSmithTX21 from Texas, which was incorrect on the Obama list.
Added @johnboehner (Ohio district account) and @SpeakerBoehner (Speaker account,) which were left off of the Obama list.
Republican Senators on Twitter
Lisa Murkowski-AK: @lisamurkowski
Jeff Sessions-AL: @SenatorSessions
Richard C. Shelby-AL: @SenShelbyPress
John Boozman-AR: @JohnBoozman
Jon Kyl-AZ: @SenJonKyl
John McCain-AZ: @SenJohnMcCain
Marco Rubio-FL: @SenRubioPress
Saxby Chambliss-GA: @saxby08
Johnny Isakson-GA: @SenatorIsakson
Chuck Grassley-IA: @ChuckGrassley
Mark Kirk-IL: @SenatorKirk
Daniel Coats-IN: @SenDanCoats
Richard G. Lugar-IN: @senatorlugar
Jerry Moran-KS: @SenPatRoberts
Pat Roberts-KS: @JerryMoran
Rand Paul- KY: @SenRandPaul
David Vitter-LA: @DavidVitter
Scott P Brown-MA: @USSenScottBrown
Roy Blunt-MO: @RoyBlunt
Olympia J Snowe-ME: @SenatorSnowe
Susan M Collins-ME: @SenatorCollins
Roger F Wicker-MS: @RogerWicker
Richard Burr-NC: @SenatorBurr
Dean Heller NV: @DeanHeller
Rob Portman-OH: @robportman
Tom Coburn-OK: @TomCoburn
James M Inhofe-OK: @jiminhofe
Patrick J Toomey-PA: @SenToomey
Jim Demint-SC: @JimDeMint
Lindsey Graham-SC: @GrahamBlog
John Cornyn-TX: @JohnCornyn
Kay Bailey Hutchinson-TX: @kaybaileyhutch
Orrin G Hatch-UT: @OrrinHatch
Ron Johnson-WI: @SenRonJohnson
John Barrasso-WY: @SenJohnBarrasso
Republican Representatives on Twitter
Speaker John Boehner: @SpeakerBoehner
ALABAMA
Jo Bonner: @RepJoBonner
Martha Roby: @RepMarthaRoby
Mike Rogers: @RepMikeRogersAL
Robert B. Aderholt: @Robert_Aderholt
Mo Brooks: @RepMoBrooks
Spencer Bachus: @BachusAL06
ALASKA
Donald Young: @repdonyoung
ARIZONA
Paul A. Gosar: @RepGosar
Trent Franks: @RepTrentFranks
Ben Quayle: @benquayle
David Schweikert: @RepDavid
Jeff Flake: @JeffFlake
ARKANSAS
Rick Crawford: @RepRickCrawford
Tim Griffin: @RepTimGriffin
Steve Womack: @rep_stevewomack
CALIFORNIA
Tom McClintock: @RepMcClintock
Kevin McCarthy: @GOPWhip
Elton Gallegly: @eltongallegly24
Howard P. (Buck) McKeon: @BuckMcKeon
Ed Royce: @RepEdRoyce
Jerry Lewis: @RepJerryLewis
Gary Miller: @RepGaryMiller
Ken Calvert: @KenCalvert
Mary Bono Mack: @MaryBonoMack
Dana Rohrabacher: @DanaRohrabacher
John Campbell: @RepJohnCampbell
Darrell Issa: @DarrellIssa
Brian P. Bilbray: @BilbrayCA50
Jeff Denham: @repjeffdenham
COLORADO
Scott R. Tipton: @RepTipton
Cory Garner: @repcorygardner
Mike Coffman: @RepMikeCoffman
FLORIDA
Jeff Miller: @CongJeffMiller
Steve Southerland: @Rep_Southerland
Ander Crenshaw: @AnderCrenshaw
Richard Nugent: @RepRichNugent
Daniel Webster: @RepWebster
Cliff Stearns: @RepCliffStearns
Gus M. Bilirakis: @RepGusBilirakis
Dennis Ross: @RepDennisRoss
Vern Buchanan: @VernBuchanan
Connie Mack: @ConnieMackIV
Bill Posey: @congbillposey
Thomas J. Rooney: @tomrooney
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: @roslehtinen
Allen West: @allenwest
Mario Diaz-Balart: @mariodb
David Rivera: @reprivera
Sandy Adams: @repsandyadams
GEORGIA
Jack Kingston: @JackKingston
Lynn Westmoreland: @RepWestmoreland
Tom Price: @RepTomPrice
Austin Scott: @AustinScottGA08
Tom Graves: @RepTomGraves
Paul C. Broun: @RepPaulBrounMD
Phil Gingrey: @repphilgingrey
IDAHO
Mike Simpson: @CongMikeSimpson
Raul Labrador: @Labrador4Idaho
ILLINOIS
Peter Roskam: @PeterRoskam
Joe Walsh: @RepJoeWalsh
Robert J. Dold: @RepDold
Adam Kinzinger: @RepKinzinger
Judy Biggert: @JudyBiggert
Randy Hultgren: @RepHultgren
Don Manzullo: @donmanzullo
Timothy Johnson: @reptimjohnson
Bobby Schilling: @RepSchilling
Aaron Schock: @repaaronschock
John Shimkus: @RepShimkus
INDIANA
Martin Stutzman: @repstutzman
Todd Rokita: @toddrokita
Dan Burton: @repdanburton
Mike Pence: @repmikepence
Larry Bucshon: @replarrybucshon
Todd Young: @reptoddyoung
IOWA
Tom Latham: @TomLatham
Steve King: @SteveKingIA
KANSAS
Tim Huelskamp: @conghuelskamp
Lynn Jenkins: @replynnjenkins
Kevin Yoder: @kevinyoder
Mike Pompeo: @repmikepompeo
LOUISIANA
Jeff Landry: @repjefflandry
John Fleming: @repfleming
Rodney Alexander: @usrepalexander
Charles Boustany: @repboustany
MICHIGAN
Dan Benishek: @congressmandan
Bill Huizenga: @rephuizenga
Justin Amash: @repjustinamash
Dave Camp: @repdavecamp
Fred Upton: @repfredupton
Tim Walberg: @repwalberg
Candice Miller: @candicemiller
Thaddeus McCotter: @thadmccotter
MINNESOTA
John Kline: @repjohnkline
Erik Paulsen: @reperikpaulsen
Michele Bachmann: @michelebachmann
Chip Cravaack: @repchipcravaack
MISSISSIPPI
Alan Nunnelee: @repalannunnelee
Gregg Harper: @greggharper
MISSOURI
Todd Akin: @reptoddakin
Vicky Hartzler: @rephartzler
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Balance the Budget: Now is the Time
A new video from Representative Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA,) Co-Chair of the Republican New Media Caucus. Since President Obama has been claiming the mantle of Reagan, it’s particularly appropriate to look at what President Reagan actually said when he spoke to the nation about a Balanced Budget Amendment.
Brave Sir Obama
It’s been reported that President Obama walked out of budget negotiations today.
All I could think of was “Brave Sir Robin” from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” So herewith my small alteration:
Bravely bold Sir Obama
Rode forth to spend a lot.
He was not afraid to lie,
Oh brave Sir Obama.
He was not at all afraid
To smear GOP in nasty ways.
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Obama.
* * *
Brave Sir Obama ran away.
(“No!”)
Bravely ran away away.
(“I didn’t!”)
When spend cuts reared it’s ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
(“no!”)
Yes, brave Sir Obama turned about
(“I didn’t!”)
And gallantly he chickened out.
****Bravely**** taking (“I never did!”) to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat.
(“all lies!”)
Bravest of the braaaave, Sir Obama!
(“I never!”)
Here’s the original:
