All I want for Christmas is...
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
All I want for Christmas is…a better understanding of politics. Or even a remote understanding of politics. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, but not even the Jolly Old Elf can deliver on this Christmas wish list.
Consider: When Ohio lawmakers voted on the nearly $1.1 trillion bipartisan bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts through 2012, five Ohio congressmen voted against the pork-filled spending package.
Two conservative Republicans, Rep. Jean Schmidt of Loveland and Rep. Jim Jordan of Urbana, joined three liberal Ohio Democrats, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Rep. Marcia Fudge and Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, in voting no. Third District Rep. Mike Turner sided with Republican Leader Rep. John Boehner and voted for the bill.
The latter opined that the tax cut extension was worth all the new federal spending. The former either argued there was too much pork in the bill (and there is) or, in the case of Reps. Kaptur, Fudge and Kilroy, they couldn’t stand “tax cuts for the wealthy.”
Talk about strange political bedfellows.
From this perspective, I’ve got to conclude that if Jean Schmidt, Jim Jordan and Mary Jo Kilroy all agree that a piece of legislation is bad news, it’s probably bad news.
The bill includes more than 5,000 earmarks, or pork-barrel spending projects, totaling almost $4 billion. We’ll see which Ohio lawmakers start grandstanding about what “they’ve” done for Ohio when the bacon gets sliced.
Just remember, congressmen aren’t funding any of these projects, you are. Maybe, for once, they’ll thank you, the taxpayers, in their forthcoming news releases about what “they” have provided for their respective districts. But I doubt it.
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…a Congress and a president who give us time to read the proposed legislation that we are compelled to pay for. During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised a five-day period of “sunlight before signing” any legislation.
“Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them,” the Obama-Biden campaign website said. “As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.”
He signed the latest porker last Wednesday, just hours after the congressional moneychangers approved it. Maybe he meant there was a five-hour waiting period, not a five-day waiting period. (And don’t call H.R. 4853 an emergency. If it were, why did it take a lame-duck session for any action?)
* * *
All I want for Christmas is… Ted Strickland to fade away gracefully. His final speech consisted of one underlying message: “Without me, it could have been worse.”
How about this: without you, it might have been better.
In his final parting shot as Ohio governor, Ted told us: “But for all that we have seen this economy do to people, it could have been far worse. Because this entire economy stood on the brink of a total collapse of the international financial markets. A collapse that would have swallowed even the most profitable companies and likely brought on a second Great Depression. … There is much we must leave unfinished. But I know this. The foundation of Ohio is stronger now than the day I took office.”
Tell that to the 300,000 Ohioans who lost jobs in the past four years.
Gov. Ted Strickland leaves office much as he arrived: A relatively decent man who believes his way is best. Turns out, it isn’t. Nor was his predecessor’s.
Gov. Strickland closed his farewell address by saying, “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right, the scriptures teach. And so I say to each of you: I believe in the future. I believe in Ohio.”
As Tug McGraw once said “Ya Gotta Believe.”
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…to say goodbye to the 111th Congress.
As Frank Donatelli writes in Washington’s best newspaper (the Times), “This may have been the worst Congress since Lyndon Johnson’s landslide ushered in the Congress that gave us the Great Society and the Vietnam War. Memo to voters: Democratic landslides are usually followed by disastrous results.
“The 111th Congress got off to a fast start. Barely two weeks into the Obama era, it enacted an $800 billion stimulus bill, the largest in American history,” Mr. Donatelli writes. “Why take any time to study the contents when you know exactly what to do? The problem was that most of the money went to states to preserve the jobs of government workers. Some stimulus. The president said it would keep unemployment at 8 percent. It is now near 10 percent.”
He also points out the other “accomplishments” of the infamous 111th:
• Cash for Clunkers. Talk to any used-car auto place and ask what Cash for Clunkers did for their industry.
• ObamaCare. Yes, this unconstitutional mandate was passed by Congress. And, yes, it will go down in history – much to the chagrin of my liberal pals – as ObamaCare. You guys use the term Reaganomics, I’ll use ObamaCare – but only in a literary usage, not within the confines of the medical profession.
• Record-high unemployment for nearly two years.
• Virtually no economic growth.
• Double-digit spending increases in nearly every budget category.
• $3 trillion of new debt.
“We’ll be paying the price of the 111th Congress for years to come, but we’ve learned a valuable lesson: This is what happens when liberals are put in charge of the federal government,” Mr. Donatelli concludes.
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…an explanation from Congress on why they continue to show such blatant disrespect for the taxpaying public. Or, barring anything that complicated, an explanation for the recent late-night vote on H.R. 2751, the so-called Food Safety Bill that promises additional regulation on small farmers.
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…an honest explanation from the Ohio Senate on why Southern State Community College Board of Trustees member Judith Craig’s appointment by Gov. Strickland has been rejected. If the reason, as stated by Sen. John Carey, is that she was appointed after the Nov. 2 election, then the rejection ought to be reversed. If there’s another reason – political or otherwise – say so. I know my memory isn’t what it once was, but I seem to recall Judy being sworn in to serve on the SSCC board by Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss back in September, two months before the midterm election.
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…to read the greatest wartime newspaper headline ever written: PEACE.
But since Santa Claus is more real than any of these requests and since not even Kris Kringle himself can possibly deliver on any of these gifts, All I want for Christmas is…Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men, and for all of you, a very Merry Christmas.
Thanks for reading and thanks for letting us be a small part of your week. We look forward to having the opportunity to work with you again in 2011. All the best for the New Year.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]
Consider: When Ohio lawmakers voted on the nearly $1.1 trillion bipartisan bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts through 2012, five Ohio congressmen voted against the pork-filled spending package.
Two conservative Republicans, Rep. Jean Schmidt of Loveland and Rep. Jim Jordan of Urbana, joined three liberal Ohio Democrats, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Rep. Marcia Fudge and Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, in voting no. Third District Rep. Mike Turner sided with Republican Leader Rep. John Boehner and voted for the bill.
The latter opined that the tax cut extension was worth all the new federal spending. The former either argued there was too much pork in the bill (and there is) or, in the case of Reps. Kaptur, Fudge and Kilroy, they couldn’t stand “tax cuts for the wealthy.”
Talk about strange political bedfellows.
From this perspective, I’ve got to conclude that if Jean Schmidt, Jim Jordan and Mary Jo Kilroy all agree that a piece of legislation is bad news, it’s probably bad news.
The bill includes more than 5,000 earmarks, or pork-barrel spending projects, totaling almost $4 billion. We’ll see which Ohio lawmakers start grandstanding about what “they’ve” done for Ohio when the bacon gets sliced.
Just remember, congressmen aren’t funding any of these projects, you are. Maybe, for once, they’ll thank you, the taxpayers, in their forthcoming news releases about what “they” have provided for their respective districts. But I doubt it.
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…a Congress and a president who give us time to read the proposed legislation that we are compelled to pay for. During his presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised a five-day period of “sunlight before signing” any legislation.
“Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them,” the Obama-Biden campaign website said. “As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.”
He signed the latest porker last Wednesday, just hours after the congressional moneychangers approved it. Maybe he meant there was a five-hour waiting period, not a five-day waiting period. (And don’t call H.R. 4853 an emergency. If it were, why did it take a lame-duck session for any action?)
* * *
All I want for Christmas is… Ted Strickland to fade away gracefully. His final speech consisted of one underlying message: “Without me, it could have been worse.”
How about this: without you, it might have been better.
In his final parting shot as Ohio governor, Ted told us: “But for all that we have seen this economy do to people, it could have been far worse. Because this entire economy stood on the brink of a total collapse of the international financial markets. A collapse that would have swallowed even the most profitable companies and likely brought on a second Great Depression. … There is much we must leave unfinished. But I know this. The foundation of Ohio is stronger now than the day I took office.”
Tell that to the 300,000 Ohioans who lost jobs in the past four years.
Gov. Ted Strickland leaves office much as he arrived: A relatively decent man who believes his way is best. Turns out, it isn’t. Nor was his predecessor’s.
Gov. Strickland closed his farewell address by saying, “Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right, the scriptures teach. And so I say to each of you: I believe in the future. I believe in Ohio.”
As Tug McGraw once said “Ya Gotta Believe.”
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…to say goodbye to the 111th Congress.
As Frank Donatelli writes in Washington’s best newspaper (the Times), “This may have been the worst Congress since Lyndon Johnson’s landslide ushered in the Congress that gave us the Great Society and the Vietnam War. Memo to voters: Democratic landslides are usually followed by disastrous results.
“The 111th Congress got off to a fast start. Barely two weeks into the Obama era, it enacted an $800 billion stimulus bill, the largest in American history,” Mr. Donatelli writes. “Why take any time to study the contents when you know exactly what to do? The problem was that most of the money went to states to preserve the jobs of government workers. Some stimulus. The president said it would keep unemployment at 8 percent. It is now near 10 percent.”
He also points out the other “accomplishments” of the infamous 111th:
• Cash for Clunkers. Talk to any used-car auto place and ask what Cash for Clunkers did for their industry.
• ObamaCare. Yes, this unconstitutional mandate was passed by Congress. And, yes, it will go down in history – much to the chagrin of my liberal pals – as ObamaCare. You guys use the term Reaganomics, I’ll use ObamaCare – but only in a literary usage, not within the confines of the medical profession.
• Record-high unemployment for nearly two years.
• Virtually no economic growth.
• Double-digit spending increases in nearly every budget category.
• $3 trillion of new debt.
“We’ll be paying the price of the 111th Congress for years to come, but we’ve learned a valuable lesson: This is what happens when liberals are put in charge of the federal government,” Mr. Donatelli concludes.
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…an explanation from Congress on why they continue to show such blatant disrespect for the taxpaying public. Or, barring anything that complicated, an explanation for the recent late-night vote on H.R. 2751, the so-called Food Safety Bill that promises additional regulation on small farmers.
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…an honest explanation from the Ohio Senate on why Southern State Community College Board of Trustees member Judith Craig’s appointment by Gov. Strickland has been rejected. If the reason, as stated by Sen. John Carey, is that she was appointed after the Nov. 2 election, then the rejection ought to be reversed. If there’s another reason – political or otherwise – say so. I know my memory isn’t what it once was, but I seem to recall Judy being sworn in to serve on the SSCC board by Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss back in September, two months before the midterm election.
* * *
All I want for Christmas is…to read the greatest wartime newspaper headline ever written: PEACE.
But since Santa Claus is more real than any of these requests and since not even Kris Kringle himself can possibly deliver on any of these gifts, All I want for Christmas is…Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men, and for all of you, a very Merry Christmas.
Thanks for reading and thanks for letting us be a small part of your week. We look forward to having the opportunity to work with you again in 2011. All the best for the New Year.
Rory Ryan is publisher and editor of The Highland County Press.[[In-content Ad]]