Back to Basics

Al Gore took similar issue recently when he was trying to tout the environmental benefits of a vegetarian diet while at the same time his current weight, cholesterol level and what he ate for dinner the night before were displayed on a monitor above the stage.

From the Daily Caller:

During a House Financial Services Committee hearing Tuesday on the budget, two Democrats complained after House Financial Services Committee chairman Jeb Hensarling instructed that two monitors in the hearing room display a real-time running national debt clock.

California Rep. Maxine Waters and Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison both issued complaints about the displays, according to video of the hearing.

“Clearly it is a political prop designed to message ideologically,” Ellison said.

Waters asked that the debt clock not be on display whenever Democrats spoke, Hensarling said during the hearing.

“At the request of the ranking member, the national debt clock will not be put on the screens during Democratic time,” said Hensarling, a Texas Republican.

Video here.

Did you see Ellison on with Hannity last night? Ellison was so worked up you’d have thought Hannity was displaying a debt clock every time he spoke.

In 1984, his novel about left-wing collectivist tyranny under Big Brother, George Orwell coined the term Newspeak to designate the government’s use of words and phrases to mean whatever the government wanted words to mean.  The aim was to keep Big Brother’s subjects confused and afraid to do or say anything on their own.  As in Thomas Hobbes’s “Leviathan,” the sole source of power was to be the sovereign’s sword, and the principle of political order was continual fear of sudden and violent death.

Robert Curry explains how the Democrat/Socialist Party uses Newspeak.

Liberalism
by Robert Curry

In the United States “liberal” means today a set of ideas and political postulates that in every regard are the opposite of all that liberalism meant to the preceding generations.  The American self-styled liberal aims at government omnipotence, is a resolute foe of free enterprise, and advocates all-round planning by the authorities…Every measure aiming at confiscating some of the assets of those who own more than the average or at restricting the rights of the owners of property is considered as liberal and progressive.
Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism

The term “liberal” comes from the Latin “liber” meaning “free.”  Liberalism originally referred to the philosophy of liberty, that is, the philosophy of the American Founders and their tradition, the great tradition which inspired the Founders and which they did so much to define and advance.

In fact, if Freidrich Hayek is correct, the introduction of the term in its original sense has a very close historical link to the Founders.  Hayek traces the introduction of the term “liberal” to its use by Adam Smith.  Hayek points to such characteristic passages as this one in The Wealth of Nations of 1776 where Smith wrote of “allowing every man to pursue his own interest his own way, upon the liberal plan of equality, liberty, and justice.”

The term “liberal” today means the precise opposite of what it once meant.  Using the original, classical meaning, Mises wrote:

“As the liberal sees it, the task of the state consists solely and exclusively in guaranteeing the protection of life, health, liberty, and private property against violent attacks…Anti-liberal policies have so far expanded the functions of the state as to leave hardly any field of human activity free of government interference.”

The policies Mises refers to here as “anti-liberal” were actually labeled as liberal by their proponents.

So, we have a familiar word with two totally opposite meanings, one meaning having been very nearly completely buried by the other.  How did this confusing state of affairs come about?

It was the result of a political master stroke by that shrewdest of politicians—FDR.

If you measure presidential success simply by the number of times a man is elected to the presidency, then FDR is the most successful American President.  Once elected, FDR was able to hold office until his death.  His claim on the office attests to his astonishing ability to dominate the game of politics.

But to understand the brilliance of his capture for his political purposes the term “liberal,” we need to understand the challenge FDR faced and the opportunity that he seized.

Progressivism

“Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Lord Acton, 1834-1902

“I cannot imagine power as a thing negative and not positive.”
Woodrow Wilson, 1856-1924
As the noted scholar J.

Democrats Heart Medicare Fraudsters
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2013p

Hey, remember when President Obama crusaded against Medicare fraud and vowed to crack down aggressively on scammers who’ve bilked the program out of an estimated $90 billion? Like Archie and Edith Bunker used to sing: Those were the daaaays.

While Democrats pretend to protect the elderly and disabled, leaders of the People’s Party have pocketed gobs of campaign contributions from fat-cat donors tied to massive Medicare rip-off schemes.

Let’s talk some more about Dr. Salomon Melgen, shall we? We now know that the jet-setting Florida eye doctor who flew beleaguered Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., to several alleged sex romps in the Dominican Republic also overbilled the government by $8.9 million for care at his clinic. That’s according to Menendez’s own aides. They acknowledged last week that their boss met with federal health bureaucrats at least twice to lobby on Melgen’s behalf.

“Federal investigators and health-care auditors have had concerns about Melgen’s billing practices at various times over the past decade,” according to two former federal officials who spoke to The Washington Post. “In part, they have examined the volume of eye injections, surgeries and laser treatments performed at his West Palm Beach clinic.”

Now, brace yourselves. A Menendez aide says that while Sen. Sleaze-Bob intervened, he didn’t know nuttin’ about Melgen being under investigation. Just like he didn’t know nuttin’ about his longtime aide working for Melgen’s port security firm in the Dominican Republic, on whose behalf Sen. Sleaze-Bob also intervened.

And just like he didn’t know nuttin’ about yet another ride on Melgen’s plane in 2008 (exposed this week by the conservative Daily Caller), which he forgot to disclose to the Senate.

Senate Democratic leaders have done nuttin’ to prevent Menendez, who also sits on the Senate Finance Committee overseeing Medicare, from playing a prominent role in Medicare reform negotiations while Melgen’s Medicare fraud investigation unfolds.

It’s all par for the Democrats’ conflict-of-interest course, of course. Recently departed Obama health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle raked in millions from her positions on a handful of corporate boards under fire for various regulatory violations, whistleblower complaints and Medicare fraud.

One of the companies for which DeParle served as a director, kidney dialysis empire DaVita, has been plagued by whistleblower fraud allegations for nearly 20 years. These include long-standing claims (many still under investigation or the subject of ongoing litigation) that the company overused the anemia drug Epogen and then billed Medicare for it; submitted fraudulent Medicare claims for dialysis drugs; and forged alleged kickback schemes between doctors and joint ventures.

Another Medicare fraud suspect, the Stryker Corporation, paid nearly $17 million to settle allegations about false claims submissions in 2007. Pat Stryker, liberal heiress to the Stryker fortune, is an Obama bundler and one of the Democratic Party’s wealthiest progressives. She was also behind the now-bankrupt Obama green energy boondoggle in Colorado, Abound Solar.

While the Obama campaign (aided and abetted by the lapdog media) viciously smeared Mitt Romney by tying him to Medicare fraud he had absolutely nothing to do with while at Bain Capital, this White House has escaped any scrutiny of its own ties to accused Medicare scammers. Instead, the administration was happy to powwow with Menendez and other Democratic leaders on policy strategy this week.

Third black president?

Not according to Team Deadfish:

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is said by well-connected Democrats to be considering the idea of running for president if Hillary Clinton opts out of the 2016 race.

The 53-year-old Emanuel, who is busy raising money for his 2015 reelection campaign in the Windy City, has had discussions both over the phone and face to face in the past month with Democratic Party donors and fundraisers about a possible White House run, according to sources.

It’s unclear who raised the subject—Emanuel or the donors—and the mayor’s press secretary initially didn’t offer clarity on who said what to whom. Hours after this story was published, however, Tarah Cooper emailed denying that the mayor “raised or entertained” the subject of a White House run. She also sent a photo of Emanuel’s scrawl on yellow legal paper vowing “not ever” to run “for another office” and reiterated his longstanding pledge that, in his words, he’s “not interested.

Too bad. There aren’t many 2016 possibilities I would be more excited to vote against — regardless of how interesting it would be to have in the White House somebody who confronts his opponents in the most honorable and dignified way possible: naked in the shower.

For now, the Dems have a big “reserved for Hillary” sign on the 2016 nomination slot (sorry, Joe). Knowing that, there aren’t many Democrats who are going to start publicly exploring a run this early, which would give the Clinton machine so much extra time to take that hypothetical candidate down by leaking to the press about the day he was caught in a hotel room in a hot tub filled with melted butter eating jalapeño poppers from between the boobs of two Chilean hookers. Wait, that was Bill. Never mind.

But if Emanuel does decide to run, Nancy Pelosi might be the first to know.

Sheila Jackson Lee might think her constituency is ill-informed on some issues (hard to argue with her there — after all, they keep electing Sheila Jackson Lee), but that doesn’t stop her from tirelessly working on their behalf by spending several hours holding an aisle seat for State of the Union speeches:

It’s one of the great ironies of lawmakers who fight for the aisle seat. They wait up to 12 hours (some try to put a book or a coat down, but the Secret Service says this is technically against the rules) to get one of these choice seats, for some sort of personal glory, but the cost can be more than just the time spent protecting their spot.

“I’m always working on behalf of my constituents,” said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, when asked why she stakes out an aisle seat each year. “I am working on their behalf, and they are seeing me work on their behalf. Many of them are moved by the moment.”

Some other members of Congress don’t consider practically camping out for an aisle seat to be working on behalf of their constituents. If anything, quite the opposite:

“I keep a busy schedule, I don’t have an extra eight hours to keep a seat warm,” said Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, noting that he often is one of the last Democrats to show up so he often sits in the Republican section.

This may be the most bipartisan message of the whole State of the Union, one that members on both sides of the aisle tend to agree with.

“I don’t have eight hours to waste,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., almost echoing his Democratic colleague. “If you are doing this job well, every minute should be spent going to briefings, researching, and figuring out how to move ahead.

“I’m not giving up eight hours of my time for a minute on national television,” he said.
[...]
“On my bucket list, getting one of those spots just isn’t on it,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. “But you know, for the people who do this, it’s probably their 15 seconds of fame.”

How dare he insinuate that Rep. Jackson Lee’s selfless hours of, uh, chair sitting, in return for just a few seconds on TV is just a cheap attempt at temporary fame. There are certain members of Congress, SJL among them, who do their constituents — and indeed the nation — a great service by spending an entire day sitting in a chair doing nothing except waiting for that one, brief, shining moment:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcFxwbVkFQ4

Senator John McAmnesty said last month that we “can’t have 11 million people living in the shadows.” However, I wouldn’t necessarily define the State of the Union speech as “the shadows”:

A number of Democrats, including First Lady Michelle Obama, are bringing illegal immigrants as guests to the State of the Union on Tuesday.

But a spokeswoman with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency declined to comment to The Daily Caller on Tuesday about whether the agency approves of this occurring at the Capitol, where Obama is set to give his annual address on Tuesday night.

“I don’t have any comment for you on this,” Gillian Christensen, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said after TheDC inquired whether the agency was aware of this and whether it was possible the guests could be arrested.

At least five Democrats are bringing illegal immigrants to the State of the Union, according to reports.

The list is here.

Hey, it’s only the U.S. Capitol — why should we expect the law to be enforced there?

We can be almost positive that nothing will be done about Dems bringing illegals to the SOTU, but if Ted Nugent (who will be there) were bring an illegal high capacity magazine, he’d be arrested and perp-walked on the spot.

Dems are bringing illegals to the SOTU while real heroes worthy of recognition are declining the invitation.

If it’s a day that ends in “Y,” it’s another day for a Debbie Wasserman Schultz lie. This one takes a page straight out of the Stephanie Cutter/Joe Soptic Democratic stooge stunt.

See Javier Manjarres for details on how the DNC tried to pass off a party operative as an ordinary “Medicare recipient from Florida” — and then whitewashed the transcript of the Kabuki performance.

The Company Sen. Sleaze-Bob Menendez Keeps
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2013

Put on your shocked faces: Since my bipartisan call last week for Democratic women to join the Ladies Against Senator Sleaze-Bob movement, not a single Democratic woman in Washington has signed up. Here’s the thing. The brewing scandal involving N.J. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is not just a “sex scandal.” It’s a crony corruption scandal of sordid, soap operatic proportions.

Maybe if Menendez were a contestant on “The Bachelor,” he’d finally command more widespread female attention. For their part, the Democratic women on Capitol Hill seem as uninterested in the alleged exploitation of underage prostitutes as they are in cozy donor deals, tax evasion and Medicare fraud.

Shady Menendez campaign contributor and BFF Salomon Melgen is the high-flying eye doctor at the center of the senior senator’s ills. Melgen is owner of the Casa de Campo resort home where he and Menendez reportedly engaged in sexual romps with a bevy of Dominican escorts, including at least one minor girl. In his latest statement on the matter Monday, Menendez repeated his blanket denials of any wrongdoing, recycled his attack on conservative media reporting the story and labeled accounts of the alleged island sex parties “smears.”

While his lips keep denying, his actions smack of lying. Last week, he sheepishly disclosed that he had just reimbursed Melgen in January of this year for nearly $60,000 in expenses tied to two of three private jet trips to the Dominican Republic in 2010 — which he had never admitted taking before. Senate rules require prior approval of such private jet travel and luxury lodging. Senate rules also require financial disclosure of such gifts after approval.

Menendez ignored all the rules, blamed his staff and now wheedles that the matter simply “fell through the cracks.”

But you know what didn’t fall through the cracks? A special multimillion-dollar port security contract Melgen wanted with the Dominican Republic. The politically connected ophthalmologist — who forked over $700,000 to help Menendez and other Democrats get re-elected last cycle — has zero experience in port security. But Menendez used a Senate hearing last summer to lobby for enforcement of the contract Melgen’s company has with the Dominican government.

Menendez also met with officials from the Obama State and Commerce departments on the matter, though he was careful not to mention Melgen by name. One of Menendez’s longtime senior legislative aides, Pedro Pablo Permuy, will be in charge of operations, according to Melgen’s cousin and legal mouthpiece Vinicio Castillo Seman. The contract is estimated to be worth up to $1 billion over the next 20 years, according to The Miami Herald.

How do you say “crony government” in Spanish? Know-nothing Menendez denies any knowledge of his veteran aide’s involvement with the company, of course. Or rather, his lips have issued another in a long line of denials.

Wait, there’s more. While Melgen shelled out millions to Menendez and the Democratic Party over the years, he is a serial tax evader. The jet-setting doc incurred liens of $1.3 million before 2002, $6.2 million in 2011, and a still outstanding $11.1 million lien between 2006 and 2009. And the FBI and U.S.

Iowa’s liberal-left Sen. Tom Harkin announced Saturday that he won’t run for re-election in 2014, according to Fox News Channel. While the media shower Harkin with accolades for his liberal-left agenda, few if any mention one of Harkin’s biggest lies regarding his military service in the killing fields of Vietnam.

Harkin told several news organizations, including the Washington Post, that its time for him “to step aside” for new blood in the U.S. Senate. In 2014, Harkin will be 81-years-old as he completes his sixth term.

The popular senator claims his departure will lead to a new crop of Democrats who will seek his senate seat.

According to FNC, Harkin’s statement is a surprise move, since his campaign coffers already have close to $3 million. His campaign staff were also planning a fundraiser in February.

Harkin claims one of his proudest accomplishments was his role in pushing the Senate’s vote in favor of 2010 health care bill, also known as Obamacare.

According to political strategist, Mike Baker, Harkin’s resignation will ease the stress on the Republican Party, who must gain six seats to win the majority.

Despite Harkin’s popularity with the mainstream news media, there have been serious lapses of honesty that deserve mentioning, according to former intelligence officer and police detective Mike Snopes.

For example, during the Bush-Kerry presidential race, on the same day that the Fraternal Order of Police made their decision to support President Bush for reelection, Senator Harkin , a fierce Kerry supporter, was all over the news shows and cable news networks calling Bush a liar about his military service in the National Guard.

However, according to Baker, Harkins allegations rang hollow and displayed on his part a hypocrisy which knew no bounds.

For it was Senator Harkin who lied about his military record. In 1992, during his own presidential bid, Harkin advanced the myth that he flew fighter missions over Vietnam.

It turned out that he never saw action in Vietnam. He was never a Vietnam veteran. Yet here was a liar calling the Commander-in-Chief a liar. “Truth be told, Harkin later switched his campaign biography description by claiming he was a Vietnam-era military member,” said Baker.

During the Obama-McCain presidential race, Harkin viciously denounced McCain’s war record:

“Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, “and he has a hard time thinking beyond that.

“I think he’s trapped in that. Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous.

“It’s one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that’s just how you’re steeped, how you’ve learned, how you’ve grown up.”