Sunday, November 22, 2009

"Historic" Health Care Vote...WOW!!...Hurrah!!!



It's Official. And it's officially historic.

Yes, history is being made while you wait. With only 60 Senators in their Caucus the Democrats have been able to win a vote in the United States Senate. And oh boy, it is helping to "move the debate" on Health Care. How do they do it you ask? This surely is pulling a rabbit out of their...hat. You have to marvel at the strong leadership we see from great leaders like...Harry Reid. He's making history after all. And surely, there were no shennanigans getting all 60 Democrats to vote this way. These guys and gals hold America and our Constitution is such high esteem. Honestly, I get a tear in my eye each time I see Harry Reid heading into the Senate.

And the History being made. My gosh! Yet another entitlement in the making, in the land of the free (loaders) and the home of the brave (government).

Higher taxes, reduced freedom, greater government dependency, and greater deficits. How do they do it? It's historic! Makes you proud to be an American, huh?

Setting out with a goal of reducing health care costs they now have a plan. They are not quite meeting the goal of reducing Health Care costs but hey, it's only your money. Not theirs. After all, they are, and will remain so, exempt from any changes in their health care coverage and costs. It's historic!!! Normally, you know, they suffer right along with the rest of us when they create a historic mess with legislation.

And the greatest part of all. They claim it will reduce the deficit. I love that part. Our government is soooooo good at reducing the deficit that here they are, doing it yet again!!! They really have the people in the mind. And of course, it's historic!

On the plus side, yet another reason not to go to work. Let's see, your taxes go up, health care costs go up.... if you go to work. Why do it? History in the making you say? Read the headlines. Everywhere proclaiming this to be historic. It must be true. The media is saying it. You know, the public watchdog.

I just love history. Remember the last presidential campaign and how historic it was. This history making is really working out. That popular well thought out stimulus plan. Terrorist now heading to New York City. Terrorists released in the Bahamas. Buying car companies and then paying people to buy cars. More hate crime legislation. 200 tonnes of American gold to India, and not a penny for America. Apologies for our abuse of other countries everywhere. And now on a course to better Health Care. Who would have thought you could cram this much history is so little....time.

Thank god for historic moments like these. All brought to you by your Constitutionally Conscious, Masters of the Will of the People, Freedom Loving, Budget Responsible, members of the United States Senate, taking yet another historic vote.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Democrat Congressman Gets Off Easy


A low key story in the news this week is the sentencing of one of the major criminals straight from the halls from Congress. Not much publicity and actually a pretty light sentence. Read the details from WSJ:



Jefferson Sentenced to 13 Years


By DIONNE SEARCEY


Former Louisiana congressman William Jefferson was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison following his conviction in a corruption case that featured a freezer full of suspected bribe money stuffed into boxes of veggie burgers.


A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., handed down the sentence to Mr. Jefferson, a 62-year-old Democrat ousted by voters last year. He had been convicted by a jury of bribery, money laundering and racketeering in schemes that prosecutors said he devised to enrich himself and his family.


Prosecutors asked for a sentence of at least 27 years, which likely would have amounted to a life term and one that defense attorneys called unprecedented.


Mr. Jefferson's defense attorneys, who had hoped their client's sentence would be less than 10 years, have said they will appeal his conviction. In seeking leniency, they pointed out that Mr. Jefferson ascended from humble beginnings to "the nation's finest educational institutions and its highest corridors of power."


Neil H. MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, suggested a stiff penalty was in order. "Mr. Jefferson's repeated attempts to sell his office caused significant damage to the public's trust in our elected leaders," he said. "This sentence will begin to repair that damage and to restore that trust."


Mr. Jefferson's seven-week trial included video and audio tapes of him meeting with a federal informant at Washington, D.C., restaurants. Prosecutors said he used his congressional status to concoct plans that would help pay college tuition for his daughters. Mr. Jefferson served on a trade subcommittee and is alleged to have shaken down businessmen who came to his office seeking help with African deals.


The most notorious episode in the saga involved $100,000 in cash that prosecutors said Mr. Jefferson intended to use to bribe the vice president of Nigeria in Washington. He had hoped the money would help pave the way for a telecommunications deal that would have been lucrative for the congressman's family, prosecutors said.


Most of that money was found wrapped in foil in Mr. Jefferson's freezer in a 2005 raid of his Washington home by the Federal Bureau of investigation. Prosecutors said the Nigerian vice president left town before Mr. Jefferson could deliver the payment to him.


Defense attorneys portrayed Mr. Jefferson as possibly unethical but not a criminal, and said he was a victim of an over-aggressive prosecution aimed at "bagging a congressman." They said Mr. Jefferson was entrapped by investigators who wired the informant to try to nab him.


Write to Dionne Searcey at dionne.searcey@wsj.com


Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A5