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Feed and clothe the poor. Now there’s a noble endeavor. And let’s not forget to give welfare recipients an ATM card. It would be equally enlightening to allow them to use the ATM card at their favorite casino.

ATM cards given to welfare recipients in, go figure, California, are enabled to withdraw money at more than half the state’s casinos. Now ’state officials’ are trying to determine how much ‘taxpayer’ money has been withdrawn from casinos using California’s welfare debit cards.

“We have instructed our vendors to prohibit these cards from being accepted at ATMs located in casinos and card rooms,” Schwarzenegger spokesman Aaron McLear said Wednesday. “It is reprehensible that anyone would use taxpayer money for anything other than its intended purpose.”

While term-limited Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger has done nothing to change California’s image as the poster child for nanny state failures the state’s prospect of having shamnesty advocate Meg Whitman or Moonbeam Jerry Brown as the next governor almost guarantees the continued path to disaster for one of this nation’s socialist strongholds.

And you have to love McLear’s statement. So, limiting the use of the cards was not on their mind after reaching the hair-brained idea to give welfare recipients an ATM card in the first place? That’s more ‘reprehensible’ than what he suggests in the second sentence. Like you do not have to assume some will ‘game’ the system when you create one.

Individual liberty, individual responsibility and conservative principles are lost on the land of fruits, nuts and flakes.

Stanford Matthews
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Cuomo Accepts Millions From Interests He Assails (NYT)

But as he delivered his announcement, Mr. Cuomo was sitting on millions in campaign cash from the very special interests whose influence he said he wanted to limit.

from Wiki….

Cuomo was born in Queens, New York, the elder son of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and the older brother of ABC News journalist Chris Cuomo. Andrew and his ex-wife, Kerry Kennedy, the seventh child of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy, have three daughters. The couple announced their separation in 2003 and have subsequently divorced.

According to the NYT’s fishwrap Cuomo ‘declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this article.’ Gee, why wouldn’t you want to answer the NYT?  Maybe it is because a Cuomo spokesman claims Andrew Cuomo ‘had consistently demonstrated his independence from special interests and others who contribute to his campaign.’

Is there really a need to say this is what is wrong with American politics?

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

During the last 12 months or so a local radio station began airing the Allen Hunt Show. The station describes itself as ‘news/talk’ and gives the impression they offer conservative talk shows. A local radio personality has a talk show for about 2 1/2 hours in the morning. That is followed by Rush Limbaugh, then Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Mark Levin during the week.

There is a mixture of syndicated programming on the weekends that now includes the Allen Hunt Show. I never heard of Allen Hunt before this local programming began. One weekend evening as I worked around the house I listened to the show. I was not impressed. Tried to listen again a couple of times but was not interested as I was opposed to many of this man’s opinions.

Now comes a reason to seriously oppose the Allen Hunt Show. His take on illegal immigration includes his statement that he believes in open borders/immigration. This past weekend I listened to the last hour of a financial program that was pre-empted for sports programming for the first two hours. That was followed by the Allen Hunt Show and his topic from the 16th according to the website was aired today on this station.

Allen Hunt believes a man who was brought here illegally by his parents when he was 4 should be allowed to stay. The man is now 19 and finished his first year at Harvard. Hunt says Obama will deport all those fitting this description and that ICE or CBP have apprehended this man and have him in custody scheduled for deportation.

First it was a student here in Georgia. Now the controversy has moved to Harvard. A student there was arrested for being an illegal immigrant in the country even though he has been her since he was 4, and can’t remember not speaking English. It’s just another example of how messed up our immigration policy is, and how we are targeting the wrong people.

One caller to the show made the correct rebuttal to Mr Hunt’s misguided kindness. Don’t blame the US or Americans for this person’s situation. The blame falls on his parents. If this man is unhappy with his situation he has no one else to blame other than his parents.

If you give this man a pass on immigration laws it simply gives other illegals another reason to break the law. You cannot reward people for breaking the law. It is unfortunate that this man has to suffer the consequences of his parents’ actions. But it is not for the US or its citizens to ignore the rule of law.

Laws are necessary for a civil society to exist. Laws maintain order, protect citizens and their liberty and keep things from getting out of control. Not enforcing the laws related to immigration is why illegal immigration is, go figure, out of control. Eliminating the laws will not solve the problem. Enforcing them will.

Had the law been enforced effectively about 15 years ago the man mentioned on Hunt’s show would not be in the position he is in now. His parents plan to break the law would have been thwarted and we would not be having these discussions.

My conclusion about the Allen Hunt Show early on was correct. His opinions are flawed. He says he is not a liberal. But his opinions say otherwise.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Just a little note on da big futbol event this year. Those who hope to have soccer become as pppular in the US as it is elsewhere were given a leg up this week. It seems World Cup Soccer shares at least one characteristic with American sports… controversial calls by game officials.

The Americans frantically charged back from a 2-0 deficit at halftime and seemed to go ahead, 3-2, in the 86th minute on a goal that was nullified by a controversial and unexplained foul call from the referee, Koman Coulibaly of Mali.

It is axiomatic to state a given in athletic competition and the use of scoring to determine the winner. You must be ahead of your opponent by a score capable of rendering bad calls inconsequential.

Stanford Matthews
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Upon reading an article from the Washington Examiner this morning I was once again reminded of the timely work of Michelle Malkin and her book the Culture of Corruption. This story has a connetion to the University of Chicago, the Obama administration and funny business going on in public office. Maybe not so funny for those affected by the acts of those in public office.

Fenty administration raided workers’ insurance fund
June 19, 2010

The Fenty administration took $10 million from a workers’ insurance fund that is now the center of multiple investigations, sources told The Washington Examiner .

Fenty and his attorney general, Peter Nickles, have now acknowledged that hundreds of disabled workers were charged for life insurance but weren’t actually given the policies. The administration announced that it was handing the matter over to the city’s inspector general last week.

The workers’ money, which might be worth up to $6 million, went into the city’s workers’ compensation fund.

And now for the Obama administration connection…..

Dan Tangherlini was the city administrator at the time and determined the city was safe in ‘raiding’ the fund. Tangherlini has been with Obama’s Treasury Department for a while now. The Examiner said he wasn’t available for comment on the story. Imagine that.

And the connection to the University of Chicago is, you guessed it, Dan Tangherlini. And even though the report states ‘authorities have not found any evidence of corruption’ you can bet there is.

It seems the Obamanation just can’t get enough people with questionable pasts to work for them. The only annoying part of the story is a common problem. ‘Sources familiar with the investigations’ and ’speaking on condition of anonymity’ appears in the report.

Tangherlini has been busy. He has had more than a few jobs at different levels of government. You can get his official info at Treasury simply searching on his last name. He seems a compatible match for tax cheat Tim Geithner. Although after AIG and his history at the NY Fed, Geithner’s tax problems may decline on the corruption scale.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

If you are the most liberal president the United States has ever seen and you give a speech that is panned by the mainstream media what does that tell you? If you cannot win the praises of the liberal media who fawned all over you since you declared your intention to run for the White House in 2008 it’s time to consider a career change.

For those who are interested and haven’t had a chance to review the commentary on Obama’s Tuesday night Oval Office speech two links are provided below:

Media on Obama’s speech: Did we mention it was short on specifics?

Reaction to President Obama’s Speech

Then there is the review from this blog. The handy White House transcript of the speech provides the targets. In just the third paragraph Mr President raised a question or two.

Because there has never been a leak this size at this depth, stopping it has tested the limits of human technology. That’s why just after the rig sank, I assembled a team of our nation’s best scientists and engineers to tackle this challenge — a team led by Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and our nation’s Secretary of Energy. Scientists at our national labs and experts from academia and other oil companies have also provided ideas and advice.

Not having any evidence to the contrary the size and depth of this gusher is not contested. But Mr President, if you ‘assembled a team’ of the best and the brightest to ‘tackle this challenge’ almost immediately what does that say about two months passing with little to show for it? And stating the event has ‘tested the limits of human technology’ is hard to believe. If reports are correct it appears you have declined assistance from those who have offered to help. A good example would be the Dutch offering to perform skimming operations.

The very next paragraph Mr President you claim the brain trust results had you tell BP to bring out more stuff. Hardly a testament to the limits of human technology if you simply ordered more stuff. And if, as you say, up to 90% of the gushing oil can be captured in weeks why wasn’t it possible before now? Or is ‘up to 90%’ a set of weasel words allowing for nothing more than has been done to date?

And it just gets better in paragraph number six.

But make no mistake: We will fight this spill with everything we’ve got for as long as it takes. We will make BP pay for the damage their company has caused. And we will do whatever’s necessary to help the Gulf Coast and its people recover from this tragedy.

That pretty much leaves everything open to interpretation. That may why the MSM said the speech was short on specifics. Think of the words in paragraph six as you would when discussing work to be performed by a potential contractor for your home repairs after some disaster. ‘For as long as it takes’ and ‘whatever’s necessary’ are not phrases you want to hear. Making someone pay for damage they caused is subject to legal challenge and in any event can take years longer than anyone can wait. So there you are, nowhere.

Obama says the federal government has been in charge of the cleanup since the beginning. But carefully says ‘we now have nearly 30,000 personnel’ cleaning up. Meaning ‘now’ and not since the beginning. Mr Obama also urges governors in the region to activate the National Guard yet carefully mentions he authorized it but when…. just before the speech?

It gets worse from this point. There is no reason to continue but feel free to review the video or transcript which is widely available and of course the White House website has it.

This is just pathetic. And yes, President Obama does not warrant all the blame for the spill. But his performance as President of the United States regarding this matter falls miserably below any minimum standard acceptable. If the person sitting in the Oval Office cannot muster the resources public or private to address the issue in a timely manner this country is in real trouble.

Gee, what will he do when a real disaster occurs? By his actions this apparently was not considered a disaster of the magnitude he describes in the speech. Or at least not until public opinion changed his mind.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Economic stimulus legislation, aka, Porkulus, along with government bailouts and nationalizing private sector entities also with taxpayer dollars reeks of socialism of the European style and causes many voters to be outraged. Most of this occurs at the federal level but the public needs to focus on other similar circumstances as well.

An earlier post on this blog reminds readers that state governments have a knack for whining for federal dollars (taxpayer money of course) as if it is somehow manna from heaven and not associated with the citizen burden known as taxes.

Just as POLS in Washington are crippling our nation with debt those at the state and local level are not immune to the addiction. We need to understand that this disease is widespread and more failures and disaster loom if it is not corrected. A welcome report from the WSJ helps illuminate the problem further. Wreckless borrowing is alive and well at the state and local level in these United States.

These abuses came to a head in the second half of 2008, when spooked investors were unwilling to bet on more municipal debt after several insurers who typically back these bonds exited the market. Then Washington stepped in with a new Build America Bond (BAB), allowing states and municipalities to issue them. Thanks to a federal subsidy, they carry attractive interest rates. Last year municipalities used BABs to rack up another $58 billion in debt.

Taxpayers are only slowly realizing that their states and municipalities face long-term obligations that will be increasingly hard to meet. Rick Bookstaber, a senior policy adviser to the Securities and Exchange Commission, recently warned that the muni market has all the characteristics of a crisis that might unfold with “a widespread cascade in defaults.” If that painful scenario materializes, it will be because we have too long ignored how some politicians have become addicted to debt.

Just what we need. More fiduciary malfeasance from other levels of irresponsible government.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

This is a story that demonstrates why voters distrust politicians, especially career politicians. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s explanation for not campaigning against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is suspect. To characterize it as a polite gesture or an effort to ‘return some of the decorum’ to politics doesn’t pass the smell test.

That is supported by the notion that other POLS were ‘rankled’ by Frist’s 2004 campaigning against then Minority Leader Tom Daschle. In a year when voter anger toward incumbents has reached a fever pitch, tea party influence has elevated party outsiders and both major parties are worried about re-election deals between Dems and the GOP smell of the joke called ‘bipartisanship’.

That term exclusively defines the only time both major parties work together. When they are equally vulnerable and broker deals to retain their collective power in politics. That is to say, they will work together to defend their stranglehold on business as usual in Washington and elsewhere.

McConnell will not campaign against Reid, according to GOP sources, despite the fact that the Majority Leader is among the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents on the ballot this year.

McConnell’s decision, which follows Reid’s move to avoid directly attacking the Minority Leader during his somewhat competitive 2008 re-election bid, is an unspoken deal between the two Senators to return some of the decorum lost in the chamber in 2004. That year, then-

Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) traveled to South Dakota to campaign against then-Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a deviation from tradition that rankled even many Republicans who were otherwise happy to see Daschle ousted.

“McConnell’s view is that we can have the most aggressive opposition possible. But at the end of the day, the Senate has to run,” the Republican source said. “To do that, the two leaders need to have a relationship.”

That ‘relationship’ is part of the problem in pursuing good governance. Let the sentiment be expressed yet again. Take a stand. Stand on principle. If you cannot do that you do not belong in public office. Making deals and compromising principle is responsible for what is wrong in American politics. Expose the corruptocrats and send them packing.

Throw the bums out and repeat as necessary.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Nothin’ like throwin’ a little mud on the liberals. For all the years of adoration toward the Kennedy administration, Camelot and the popular fascination with such American icons one thing seems certain. No matter how good some works are in politics there always seems to be a downside. That which can cause one to shake their head in disappointment.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Kennedy orgies in romper room
FBI’s XXX files on John, Bobby & Ted

The file on the mob plot began with the informant’s disclosures to the FBI’s Milwaukee office. The FBI added an unsigned statement that said a multimillionaire Manhattan divorcée knew about the orgies.

“It was reported that Mrs. Jacqueline Hammond, age 40, has considerable information concerning sex parties,” the statement said.

Among those who took part were John, Robert and Ted Kennedy, Monroe, Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Lawford and his wife, Patricia Kennedy, it said.

The statement indicated Hammond, who was divorced from a US ambassador, was credible.

It was widely reported in the early 1960s that John Kennedy kept a two-bedroom apartment at The Carlyle, and it was later claimed that he spent the night there with Monroe after she sang “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” at his 45th-birthday celebration.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday sought to shift the nation’s attention to a sunnier topic: the coming benefits from the Democrats’ recently-passed healthcare reforms.

Surrounded by a sea of seniors in Wheaton, Md., Obama defended the legislation from GOP attacks and trumpeted the arrival of one of earliest benefits of the new law: a $250 rebate to tens of thousands of seniors caught in the coverage gap of Medicare’s prescription drug benefit — a gap known unendearingly as the “doughnut hole.” The government will begin mailing out those checks on Thursday.

That Barry, what a joker. Does he know anything at all about the ‘doughnut hole’? A $250 check to cover the gap would be laughable if it wasn’t so pathetic. Aside from being able to carry your lame-ass live-at-home 26 year old children on your health insurance nothing much happens with Obamacare until 2014. Well, except for all the new taxes and reductions in Medicare to pay Medicaid for all the new participants Barry wants.

No point in retelling all the sad points about Obamacare here. If you have not learned about it by now you are either disinterested or one of those nut cases believing Barry is going to pay for everything you want.

BTW, the only reason President Obama is ‘trumpeting’ Obamacare is he knows most voters will thump Democrats at the polls this November and he is in campaign mode as usual doing damage control. He should have thought about that before the Cornhusker Cash or Louisiana Purchase bribes he gave Democrats to pass his legislation.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Republican Rand Paul said Tuesday he differs with the Libertarian Party by opposing abortion and supporting judicious overseas troop deployment, distancing himself from the party his father once represented in a presidential election.

The U.S. Senate candidate from Kentucky told syndicated conservative talk show host Sean Hannity that he doesn’t fit the mold of a Libertarian. Paul said his conservative social views and willingness to send troops abroad to protect the U.S. set him apart from the party some have tried to associate him with.

An earlier post on this blog reminded readers that Rand Paul is a Libertarian and not a conservative. It would be nice to think that is responsible for his statements on Sean Hannity’s radio show. But then this is just another insignificant blog and could not possibly influence big time politicians.

Mark Levin supports Rand Paul and from what I heard considers him a conservative. I respect Mark Levin and his opinions but am reminded of Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts. I don’t believe Scott Brown is a conservative either.

Maybe Rand Paul could explain in detail what he means by ‘judicious overseas troop deployment.’ Is this someone carefully dancing around the facts or is he truly a conservative in libertarian’s clothing. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

If politics was an honest living it might not be necessary to be so skeptical. (or cynical if you prefer that word)

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Liberals in public office and elsewhere are willing and eager to punish BP for the oil spill. They are equally excited about bashing President Bush for everything they do not like. They always love to raise taxes especially for the wealthy but that doesn’t stop them from doing it to the rest of us. And certainly nothing would please them more than to cripple the recovery by making Wall Street villain of the year as their version of trickle down economics cripples Main Street as well.

So why do we never hear about liberals wanting to cap teachers salaries as they would do to all CEOs? Why don’t we hear about professors being held to the same standard of villain for getting in bed with special interest in a quid pro quo involving research? If TAs do most of the teaching why do professors command the salaries and perks they do? You can add the salaries of many others connected to education programs when asking that question.

Let’s not overlook school budgets, sports programs and coaching salaries either. Liberals cry foul that education is too expensive while athletic departments are like prostitutes for professional sports. Just like the sleazy relationships between professors and special interest funding for research the ADs as well as coaches, professional sports interests and athletic programs do little for the institutions they represent.

The current story about ‘realignment’ in college sports is a case in point. And go figure, Barry Switzer is central to making the point about college sports being sleazy.

Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, a coaching rival of Osborne’s in the 1970s and ’80s and longtime friend, said hearing Nebraska and the Big Ten in the same sentence doesn’t sound right.

Switzer told The Associated Press he doesn’t envy Osborne having to play a major role in the possible destruction of the Big 12, which evolved from the old Big Eight and Southwest Conference.

“I’m sure it weighs heavily on Tom,” Switzer said. “I hate to think we would lose what we have and what we built for so long. Finances are a factor, and sometimes you have to give up tradition for finances.”

McClurg said the Big 12 has been a good fit for Nebraska but the Big Ten, if it extends an invitation, could be better. It would greatly expand the school’s reach and could mean far more money for the school’s athletic programs.

“We have to seriously evaluate any opportunity that comes our way,” McClurg said, “because everybody else is doing that.”

Isn’t that special. ‘Everybody else is doing that.’ Wisdom coming from a venue of higher learning. Switzer says, ’sometimes you have to give up tradition for finances.’

American taxpayers are constantly presented with soaring expenses for education programs. And American education continues to decline when compared to other nations. There is a theory that liberals, you know, the educated elite from Ivy League diploma mills, favor dumbing down the public to enable their socialist agenda.

So crack open that beer. Remain on the couch until that next collega game is on the TV. While you’re waiting consider this.

Your interest in watching may be driven by tradition. But that’s not what drives college sports any longer. Another piece of Americana is slipping away. Let’s stop that. Refuse to be dumbed down and take a stand. Or simply crack open another beer and ignore this minor rant.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Although this battle has concluded by virtue of Carly Fiorina’s primary win, I expect Chuck DeVore to be a force in American politics for some time to come. And we will all be better off because of it.

Politics can be a dirty game with no shortage of bad behavior and actions that run counter to the pursuit of good governance. Chuck DeVore is a refreshing change from all that. This was just one battle. Let’s bring him back for more.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

In an earlier post it was suggested a biblical reference about teaching a person to fish can feed them for a lifetime. It was part of commentary on entitlements and out of control spending. A final comment in the post warned the NEA would then ask for more funding but suggested the NEA would not ask to be held accountable for actually teaching. That brings us to the following story.

NY passes students who get wrong answers on tests

Despite promises that the exams — which determine whether students advance to the next grade — would not be dumbed down this year, students got “partial credit” for wrong answers after failing to correctly add, subtract, multiply and divide. Some got credit for no answer at all.

Examples in the fourth-grade scoring guide include:

* A kid who answers that a 2-foot-long skateboard is 48 inches long gets half-credit for adding 24 and 24 instead of the correct 12 plus 12.

That’s just one item in the guide. You can follow the link for the full story. But you do not need to read the rest to understand the sad state of affairs in US education. Is there any wonder why US education continues to cost more while student achievement continues to flat line and fall behind other students around the world?

You cannot teach a kid to fish if they don’t know what a fish is. But with this style of education you can all but guarantee most of these students will become entitlement recipients that promote the liberal agenda of the nanny state. Not to mention burden the taxpayer who will always be expected to pay for this failure.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com

Here’s a perfect example of why PORK, earmarks, ’stimulus’ or any other call for ‘government help’ is nothing more than politicians seeking political cover or nanny state advocates portraying taxpayer funds as manna from heaven.

Cash-strapped states press Congress for more Medicaid help

States are turning up the pressure on federal lawmakers to help them pay their Medicaid bills, cautioning that they’ll otherwise face a dire fiscal situation that could hurt their economic recovery.

The state-federal health program for the poor consumes more than 20 percent of state spending, according to the National Governors Association, and without extra federal funds advocates say states will have to raise taxes, slash social spending or cripple their Medicaid programs.

The first paragraph above might accidentally point to the real problem. POLS suggest their ‘economic recovery’ will be hurt if they don’t get federal TAXPAYER dollars to fund shortfalls for state Medicaid spending. That’s their emotional ploy to justify getting the money.

What they should be saying is that taxpayers cannot continue being asked to pay more for entitlements! Asking for federal taxpayer dollars merely let’s them seek political cover by not speaking the truth on out of control spending and avoiding personal political damage by increasing state taxes to cover the entitlement spending.

You can draw your own conclusion on why programs like Medicaid continue to require more spending. But it is hard to avoid the reality. As long as you offer ‘freebies’ for program participants that are paid for by someone else the demand for the program benefits and the associated costs will continue to rise. The costs will always exceed the taxpayer’s ability to pay for it.

That is the twisted burden shift caused by entitlements. Someone creates a program to provide benefit to someone lacking the funds to pay for it themselves. Over time the taxpayer lacks the funds to pay for the benefit of the recipient who lacks the funds.

There is a biblical reference that fits this scenario. Give someone a fish and you can feed them for a day. Teach them to fish and they can feed themselves for a lifetime.

OMG, with that reference the NEA will ask for more education funding. It doesn’t matter. They would ask for more funding without the reference. But they won’t ask to be held accountable to teach anyone to feed themselves for a lifetime.

Stanford Matthews
MoreWhat.com