Is your vote for sale?

            This past election has brought some truths to light that the people of Maine must study in order to better understand the political motivations of those who wish to influence elections.  The Republicans suffered a defeat in their quest to bring security and accountability to the Maine election process.  Those who wished to keep our voting system vulnerable and easily manipulated, have reason to rejoice as the seedy cloak of deceit will, for now, remain to shroud the clear function of the most sacred rite of Maine’s Democratic process.  It is telling that in the State of Mississippi a measure to require voter ID was overwhelmingly passed by the people with a two-thirds majority.

            The true test of a group’s character and integrity is how well they can handle defeat.  The people of Maine will wait and watch to see if the GOP can learn from their mistakes.  Their opponents will revel in the defeat and watch expectantly for Republicans to implode and cannibalize each other.  This will be a true test of the maturation to leadership for a party that has not been in power for over forty years.

            Donald Sussman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, gave over $250,000 to the Yes on 1 campaign in order to try and influence the vote.  He succeeded.  There was no way the Republicans would spend that kind of money on a vote.  Republicans refuse to buy votes.  Mr. Sussman is the husband of U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree.  This reveals to the people of Maine a systemic problem with the Democrat Party and their supporters.  The Democrats view voters as commodities that can be bought and sold, bartered in the mercantile of ideas in exchange for freedoms.

             Much can be learned about a belief system by looking at the groups that propagate it.  The Yes on 1 campaign was funded by a hedge fund, Wall Street manipulator.  It was also supported with thousands of dollars and ground troops from MPA, SEIU, and Equality Maine -all of which have checkered pasts, to put it nicely, with regards to their handling of the voting process.  Maine people will have to decide whether they appreciate having individuals buy the vote and whether they are ready to put their voting rights out to bid for whoever has the deepest pockets.  I, for one, am uncomfortable with the defense that there is no voter fraud in Maine because you couldn’t prove it.  It seems eerily reminiscent of the standard defense that every criminal at every level uses to beat the rap….you can’t prove it.  For me it is not the burden of proof, it is the burden of possibility.  We can’t leave Democracy to chance.

            Congratulations to Ray Wallace for his great victory in District 24.  There is a lesson for the Republican Party to take out of this election also.  While Question 1 was utter defeat for the GOP, the Republican candidate was able to win.  This flies in the face of the Democrats assertion that Mainers are rejecting the Governor’s policies.  The Democrat campaigned on an Anti-LePage platform.  The Green Party candidate, ironically, campaigned on a Pro-LePage/social conservative platform and was able to pull nearly 8% of the vote away from Ray Wallace.  Mr. Wallace still won.

            Mainers are still very loyal to the Governor.  Some polls have him at over 50% popularity.  One poll has his job approval rating higher than his likeability rating.  This speaks to what commonsense people have always known: I don’t have to like you to want you to do the job.  I just have to know you will get the job done and done right.  Those in the Republican Party, which have played the obstructionist to the Governor, would do well to take heed.

During the Question 1 referendum, an out of state group came to do some ads for the No on 1 campaign.  They refused to allow input from the Maine Republicans.  Consequently, Mainers were confused and put off by the image these ads portrayed.  Another lesson learned.  The Maine Republican Party needs to speak directly to the people, like any good team learn from their mistakes and come back stronger, and join with their popular Governor to present to the people of Maine one strong coherent message.  The Maine Conservative Voice is confident that they will.  For the sake of Maine, they have to.

Is your vote for sale?

            This past election has brought some truths to light that the people of Maine must study in order to better understand the political motivations of those who wish to influence elections.  The Republicans suffered a defeat in their quest to bring security and accountability to the Maine election process.  Those who wished to keep our voting system vulnerable and easily manipulated, have reason to rejoice as the seedy cloak of deceit will, for now, remain to shroud the clear function of the most sacred rite of Maine’s Democratic process.  It is telling that in the State of Mississippi a measure to require voter ID was overwhelmingly passed by the people with a two-thirds majority.

            The true test of a group’s character and integrity is how well they can handle defeat.  The people of Maine will wait and watch to see if the GOP can learn from their mistakes.  Their opponents will revel in the defeat and watch expectantly for Republicans to implode and cannibalize each other.  This will be a true test of the maturation to leadership for a party that has not been in power for over forty years.

            Donald Sussman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, gave over $250,000 to the Yes on 1 campaign in order to try and influence the vote.  He succeeded.  There was no way the Republicans would spend that kind of money on a vote.  Republicans refuse to buy votes.  Mr. Sussman is the husband of U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree.  This reveals to the people of Maine a systemic problem with the Democrat Party and their supporters.  The Democrats view voters as commodities that can be bought and sold, bartered in the mercantile of ideas in exchange for freedoms.

             Much can be learned about a belief system by looking at the groups that propagate it.  The Yes on 1 campaign was funded by a hedge fund, Wall Street manipulator.  It was also supported with thousands of dollars and ground troops from MPA, SEIU, and Equality Maine -all of which have checkered pasts, to put it nicely, with regards to their handling of the voting process.  Maine people will have to decide whether they appreciate having individuals buy the vote and whether they are ready to put their voting rights out to bid for whoever has the deepest pockets.  I, for one, am uncomfortable with the defense that there is no voter fraud in Maine because you couldn’t prove it.  It seems eerily reminiscent of the standard defense that every criminal at every level uses to beat the rap….you can’t prove it.  For me it is not the burden of proof, it is the burden of possibility.  We can’t leave Democracy to chance.

            Congratulations to Ray Wallace for his great victory in District 24.  There is a lesson for the Republican Party to take out of this election also.  While Question 1 was utter defeat for the GOP, the Republican candidate was able to win.  This flies in the face of the Democrats assertion that Mainers are rejecting the Governor’s policies.  The Democrat campaigned on an Anti-LePage platform.  The Green Party candidate, ironically, campaigned on a Pro-LePage/social conservative platform and was able to pull nearly 8% of the vote away from Ray Wallace.  Mr. Wallace still won.

            Mainers are still very loyal to the Governor.  Some polls have him at over 50% popularity.  One poll has his job approval rating higher than his likeability rating.  This speaks to what commonsense people have always known: I don’t have to like you to want you to do the job.  I just have to know you will get the job done and done right.  Those in the Republican Party, which have played the obstructionist to the Governor, would do well to take heed.

During the Question 1 referendum, an out of state group came to do some ads for the No on 1 campaign.  They refused to allow input from the Maine Republicans.  Consequently, Mainers were confused and put off by the image these ads portrayed.  Another lesson learned.  The Maine Republican Party needs to speak directly to the people, like any good team learn from their mistakes and come back stronger, and join with their popular Governor to present to the people of Maine one strong coherent message.  The Maine Conservative Voice is confident that they will.  For the sake of Maine, they have to.

John Martin’s pick-up

            A few weeks ago, Representative Jeff McCabe of Skowhegan “wrote” an article published in this paper trying to affix blame for certain healthcare cost increases on the Governor’s reform legislation passed in the 125^th session of the legislature.  It has taken this amount of time to respond to the good legislator because The Maine Conservative Voice had to do something Mr. McCabe failed to do in his “opinion” piece: research.  It seems the “Honorable” Jeff McCabe’s view of research is more of the cut and paste variety.

            As this columnist perused the web in search of material to substantiate the good representative’s “claims”, a curious discovery was unearthed from the strata of Maine’s political landscape. It seems Mr. McCabe’s “assertions” are really not his assertions at all.  One can follow the puppet strings attached to young Mr. McCabe all the way up to the St. John Valley and find them attached to the fingers of the wily yet not so honorable John Martin.

            It seems that prior to the aforementioned article’s printing another striking similar article was printed by John Martin.  The similarity could be categorized in the “word for word” column.  It is certainly evident that Jeff McCabe got the memo but failed to appropriate enough window dressing to hide the trail to the puppet master. 

             John Martin has never been shy about his use of deceit and subterfuge in accomplishment of his goals.  The end justifies the means and Mr. Martin has a whole pick-up truckload of deceit to work with.  This only serves to validate our belief that not only is dishonesty part of the Democrat platform but it is more likely the main support beam.  Since the young Democrat from Skowhegan seems content to merely parrot the words of his more sinister elder, it falls to honest Maine people to decipher the truth for themselves.

            It only takes a nominal understanding of economics and policy to understand that the effect of legislation when implemented takes months even years to be realized in an economy.  The John Martin/Jeff McCabe article revealed its flawed argument from the beginning when it acknowledged that the Republican health insurance reform had only recently gone into effect.  So can a law only a few weeks old already have this effect on the market?

            But there is a healthcare reform that has been in place for some time now and is adversely affecting healthcare all over the nation.  Yes, you guessed it.  ObamaCare.  Democrats are trying to hide the dismal track record of socialized medicine with the Republican efforts to reform it.  So, we are back to John Martin’s pick-up truck.  As has been said before, the Democrat tactic has always been, make a mess, and blame the Republicans.  When the Republicans clean up the mess, steal the credit for it.

            But Martin/McCabe have also failed to reveal that only one portion of the Maine insurance reform has been implemented, the rest is still pending.  They also used a very small, targeted cross-section to obtain their “evidence”, breaking all rules of subjective study.  But they are “honorable” men.  It is part of their title.

            I find it sadly ironic that these men will conjure images of abuse to the less fortunate while their Party cuts aid to LHEAP.  Governor LePage needs funds from the bloated Efficiency Maine coffers to make up the difference so the needy don’t freeze this winter.  The Democrats pledge to block this.  It’s easy to see why.   Democrats don’t want to see monies moved away from their sacred cow, green energy.

            Mainers, like the rest of the nation, have watched in awe as millions and billions of dollars have been swallowed up by the swirling vortex of green energy never to be seen again.  Green Energy and John Martin’s pick-up seem to be magical portals.  Whatever gets near them disappears.

            Let’s stop the slight of hand.  Let’s stop parroting mantras.  Let’s stay focused on turning Maine around from forty years of John Martin’s pick-up.

What is important?

            The Democrat Party has been making it increasingly easier for commonsense Mainers to make correct decisions in the voting booths come November.  After the Republican Party passed legislation to safeguard the integrity of our voting system in Maine, the opposition cried foul.  They waited for the throngs to join them.  To their disappointment, the numbers were not as large as they had hoped.  Mainers are far too endowed with powers of perception to fall for the same old Democrat lies.  After all, they have heard them for forty years and have gotten use to the pattern.  So how to create a throng?

            Well, you can’t just go out and work up Maine people because they might ask tough questions like, “What’s wrong with protecting our votes?” or “Don’t you want to help out overworked town clerks on election day?” and the very embarrassing and awkward “You don’t want to stop voter fraud…why?”  That just wouldn’t work.  So, the Democrats have run to their old standby, the far-left fringe groups such as Maine People’s Alliance.  These groups are great at creating calamity out of tranquility, confusion out of clarity, and joblessness out of prosperity.  Ah yes, the wonderful “community organizers”.

            Your humble columnist has had opportunity to engage in battle with the MPA on a few occasions.  It is a shame to see the lengths these groups will go to create instability, specifically economic instability, throughout the communities of Maine.  One such time, a large company, HoltraChem, had made some mistakes in its handling of chemicals and was required by the State to follow stringent regulations to clean it up.  They did and the expense of which was the demise of their company.  They sold out to another company, which finished the cleanup and maintained the landfills of contaminated soil to State standards.  This was not good enough for the MPA.  They saw an opportunity to bankrupt another big company.  They demanded this company and the town dig up the inert mercury soil now safely contained, reactivate the soil, drag it through Maine towns in rail cars and trucks to Canada, expose the environment, the townspeople of Maine and Canada to reactivated mercury, and burden another business with insurmountable operational expenses.  Why?  Was it to protect the environment or the townspeople?  Certainly not!  Their goal was to destroy another business.

            These are the extremists that the Democrats have aligned themselves with to obstruct the people of Maine from securing protection of the sacred trust of Democracy.  Yes, the Democrats seem to think the process to purchase a bottle of whisky or a pack of cigarettes takes precedence over the process to insure the integrity of basic liberties.

            They cry that there is no voter fraud; yet, a quick google of the words “voter fraud” will immediately grant you 20,000 entries having to do with voter fraud in the nation.  The most recent has an imminent arrest of Democrat leaders in Buffalo, New York.  Another reaches all the way to the Oval Office questioning whether Barack Obama should have ever been on the ballot in Indiana.

            Fellow Mainers, we know better.  This is not about identifying voter fraud.  It is about preventing voter fraud.  Prevention is worth a pound of cure unless you don’t want to be cured.  So perhaps we should ask the Democrats that uncomfortable question again. “Why don’t you want to prevent voter fraud…again?”  The Maine Conservative Voice urges all its readers to vote “No” on 1.  It’s commonsense.  All of our readers in Dexter area make sure you go out and vote for Ray Wallace.  Let’s Set Maine Free!

Means nothing to you, means something to me.

            What is fair?  How do you establish a government that gives every individual an opportunity for success?  Can you possibly protect the interests and hopes of every person?  Our founding fathers wrestled with these questions and more when they set out to lay the foundation of a new fledgling nation.  Not far removed from the violent travail, which gave birth to this new freedom, these wise men knew they could not take lightly the solemn responsibility to guard the future of a newborn nation, whose hopes they now held in their hands.

            Fresh in their minds was the horrors of war and the stench of blood-soaked battlefields.  Stamped into their memories was the ultimate price so many had paid for the hope and dream of freedom.  Our Founding Fathers knew they had to get it right or this would be another bloody revolution that simply shifted the power of tyranny from one faction to another.

            So they started with this basic premise; all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with basic unalienable rights; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It didn’t matter whether you were the majority or the minority, these basic rights could not be taken from you.  Next, the Founders grappled with how to insure this premise would be honored and protected.

            These great men were keenly aware of the failure of government throughout history to be fair to every man.  So how could our government succeed were others had failed?  It couldn’t.  No government can.  The hopes, beliefs, and dreams of so many individuals offer a myriad of goals and intents that no government could ever guarantee.  Someone’s dreams inevitably would be set aside for others the government deemed more worthy of attention.  Perhaps the idea of government based on the belief that all men were created equal was simply folly.

            Unless, that government was marginalized.  What if that government were confined and constrained to a small specific purpose?  What if that government feared the people because it feared the Creator of the people?  What if that government simply protected the nation from the threat of the invasion of a new tyranny?  What if that government was too small to provide an impediment to anyone’s life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness?  Then, perhaps, the aspirations of all American’s could have a hope of realization.

            Government cannot understand the passions of the individual.  It simply cannot.  The human desire is a multi-faceted expression.  What matters little to you many be of utmost importance to another.  But each must be afforded an opportunity to pursue that passion.  This is the responsibility of the individual.  He or she alone knows what they value and desire.

            Big government holds people helpless to its decisions.  The more it fails the more government reminds its people that it can’t please everyone.  Our Forefathers never intended Americans to look to government for answers.  It was not intended to please anyone, just function in its limited role.  They believed that every individual knew his own dream and that was none of government’s business.

            Since the President and his Party have taken power, the private sector has lost 1.6 million jobs.  The government has grown by at least 105,000 jobs.  Senator Harry Reid has said the private sector is “doing just fine”.  He believes government jobs need to be protected.  If Mr. Reid were not a public servant, he would be entitled to his beliefs.  But while the loss of 1.6 million jobs is “just fine” with Democrats, the private sector does not agree.  Government is deciding whose hopes and futures are worth preserving.  Government is now right where our Founding Fathers did not want it to be, in the way.  Big government needs to be, once again, marginalized.  This government needs to be told that the “means nothing to you” means something to me and it is really none of your business, so get out of it.

Oops-the litany, the legacy.

            Shaken by the incessant criticism hurled at this columnist for his consistent adherence to the tenets of conservatism, the Maine Conservative Voice has decided to try and step away from the several writing techniques my critics have deemed boring and unimaginative.  No longer will there be the drab, predictable, irrefutable facts interlaced with bland, cagey, endearing, sarcastic humor.  No, it is time to step it up a little bit, take it to the next level and engage the audience with the scintillating and sensational.  Mothers, hide your children as MCV moves into uncharted waters.  Behold, the jaw-dropping, mouth-gaping, riveting…graph.  Come on!  Don’t be shy.  Look at it.

Wage earnings                    Avg tax%

$20,000-30,000                    5.7%

$40,000-50,000                    12.5%

$50,000-75,000                    15%

$1,000,000+                         29.1%

            Now that this moment of guilty pleasure is over, we can wipe the sweat from our brow, pull ourselves together and concentrate on the reason for this shocking revelation.  The information here was put together by the Associated Press to verify President Obama’s assertion that middle class America is paying more taxes than the wealthy and that it is time for millionaires to start paying their fair share.  You know, I’m still having a hard time getting my head wrapped around “New Math” but, for those of us who are still paddling around the 5.7 mark, 29.1 still seems like a lot more.  Maybe we all just need to have Warren Buffet explain these numbers to us the way he has explained it to the President.  Mr. Buffet wants millionaires to pay more taxes, as long as it is not he.  Mr. Buffet is under investigation for tax evasion issues.

            Here at home, Ms. Quimby wants to turn all her landholdings into a Federal Park.  It is her land.   She can do what she wants with it except….when….it….effects other people’s land and their livelihoods.   Governor Lepage has worked hard to secure the sale and restart of paper mills in Millinocket.  People are headed back to work.  But if Ms. Quimby has her way, Federal Park regulations would block the harvest of wood fiber, which is essential to the survival of the Millinocket mills.  The Democrat Party is a huge supporter of Ms. Quimby’s plan.

            Democrats Chris Dodd and Barney Frank want at least one more financial crisis to add to their legacy.  They along with  Mr. Durbin have allowed banks to charge heavy fees to you the consumer for having….money.  Yes, the banks can now penalize you based on the fact that you have money in their bank.  Talk about a sound fiscal model for economic recovery.   Can anyone say “money in my mattress”?  How about one more Dodd/Frank banking collapse?  This is inevitable when patrons begin wholesale withdrawals.

            Corruption is coming to light fast and very furious, as one CBS investigative reporter has found out.  The White House, for her dogged investigation into the Fast and Furious scandal, deemed Sheryl Attkinson “unreasonable”.  Members of the President’s staff and Department of Justice screamed and shouted explicatives at Ms. Attkinson as she asked for answers to the cover-ups.  From my limited past experience, this loss of control means that a “whole lotta smelly oopses” are about to hit the fan.

            Speaking of the fan, before the aroma of the “Solyndra Oops” was scattered across America, the President was poised to give another loan to the bankrupt solar company.  How big of a funnel was he trying to fill anyway?  Now, the President wants to encourage spoiled college students to shut down Wall Street.  The “oopses” are just piling up both here and abroad.

Oops….again!

            News Flash!  In a rush to beat the final deadline, this past week the Obama administration had to ramrod the last 5 billion dollars of taxpayer funded stimulus out the door in a frantic effort to ensure that its mandate on green energy business is realized.  With most of these companies going bankrupt and many more on the way, it is easy to understand the helpless anger that is boiling throughout America despite efforts of the media to cover for the President.  Where is all this money going?  What kind of return are American citizens getting for their tax dollars?

            Several million dollars were given to the brother-in-law of Nancy Pelosi to start a green energy business.  Now it comes to light that his business has created twelve jobs.   Twelve jobs?  For…. how much?  So this begs the question - what are taxpayers spending per green job created? 

            For every green job created, it is costing the citizens of the United States 20 million dollars.  Green energy is cutting-edge business and inherently risky, no one is arguing that.  But risky is one thing, stupid is another.  Unless these employees are being outfitted with Bionics, a 20 million dollar employee seem a little pricey to the average man.  How can Americans expect to realize a return on investment capital with such expensive employees?  This would be virtually impossible even with a solvent business.  But these businesses were going bankrupt from their inception.  Their business models screamed failure from the very onset and, yet, the White House fell all over itself to infuse monumental amounts of cash from a cash-strapped nation into a yawning, gaping, green vacuum.  Americans now are green with the nausea that comes from the sinking realization that you have been taken and were helpless to prevent it.  Bankrupt green energy is now sending employees back to the jobless ranks at $20 million a pop.

            Compare that to the State of Maine.  Hundreds of jobs are coming back to the Millinocket area and what did it cost Mainers?  The Governor’s salary.  Wait, you say, doesn’t he get paid that anyway?  Exactly!  The Governor did not ask for Mainers to dig a little deeper, sacrifice a little more and stop being soft.   Instead, he worked harder to help convince out of State investors that a more business friendly Maine is in the making. Business owners trust Paul LePage because they have seen him in action in the private sector.  They know his record.  So the private sector is investing in Maine.  People in Northern Maine, even in little towns like Brownville Junction, are seeing the hope of new jobs created without it costing anyone a dime.

            When the government creates jobs, good or bad, it costs the taxpayer.  At one time the automobile and the assembly line was cutting-edge technology.  The government didn’t force it down our throats nor did it try to prop up the carriage industry.  The free market played out and Henry Ford succeeded, while a successful carriage maker saw the handwriting on the wall, sold out and formed General Motors.

            Job creation should not be hurting Americans.  It should be helping Americans.  Call me simple, but it seems like common sense.  The President now wants us to entrust him with another $447 billion in stimulus…yeah.  Perhaps, Mr. President, if your campaign donors could return the billions of our money you gave them; it could help the nation recover from the green nausea that is sweeping the nation….perhaps.  On a personal note, thank you, Governor  Paul R. LePage J! 

Oops!

            Readers of this column may be taken aback that this columnist would immediately delve into controversy with this title.  Perhaps no word has triggered so much debate as to the when, where, why and how that definitively defines an “oops”.  Is it that scrumptious honey glazed spiral ham you so graciously brought to your neighbor’s celebration dinner for their son’s Bar Mitzvah?  Or is it wearing your favorite Peyton Manning jersey to an exclusive tour of Gillette stadium by Robert Kraft?  How about that date with your dream hottie, who spends the whole night peppering you with questions about your younger brother?  Ah, ever the eternal nagging question.  What is an “oops”?  Well, the leaders of the Democrat Party and their allies have been kind enough in recent weeks to give some much needed clarity to this highly contentious and, yes, confusing issue.

            The recent almost religious fixation with green energy from the Democrat Party has driven the nation deeper and deeper into the red.  More than half a billion dollars was awarded to one business, Solyndra.  This is, well was, a solar panel company which had a brilliant business model of producing solar units at a production cost of  $6 per unit and selling them at $3 per unit.  You know I’m just a logger turned construction guy but even I can tell that’s probably not a good business model to work from….probably….just saying.  Anyway, no surprise that Solyndra along with a myriad of other green energy companies created a log jam at the President’s door at the advent of the last stimulus engorgement bemoaning the fact that their businesses could not survive or even get off the ground without an infusement of tax dollars.  In a normal world, at this point a government would remind these businesses that government does not pick winners and losers.  If their business cannot withstand the scrutiny of the free market, it is not worthy to stand in the free market.  But we are in the new normal.  We have hope and change. 

Solyndra convinced the Obama administration that building units for $6 and selling them at $3 is new cutting edge business and, not to worry, losing money at a $3 per unit clip is indeed a safe and secure way for the taxpayers to realize a return on their precious hard earned funds.   One company alone was given more supposed job creating stimulus dollars than 35 States combined received for “shovel ready” jobs.  Then this company went bankrupt, the money disappeared and no one is talking.  That’s a colossal “oops”!

Or is it?  Somehow the name Rahm Emmanuel keeps popping up intertwined with all of this.  The owners of many of these green energy, cutting edge, now over the edge businesses are major Democrat donors.   Billions of dollars are funneled or given (did I say funneled? Oops) to these businesses and few weeks later they go belly up, bankrupt.  And the money disappears.  Oh, and all the workers who are not so stimulated as they are now out of work are being given tax payer funded “trade adjustment assistance”.  More money, as if half a billion wasn’t enough.  

You know, in some sectors of society, say like the underworld of Chicago for an example, a business that is created to do nothing but lose money is called a front for the ….well, you know.  Oops!  Did I say that?  Oh, yes I did!  And there is more to come in the “Oops Saga” -both in Washington and right here in Maine.  See you next week!

On the lemmings march

They tramp

They tromp

They fit and fuss and stomp

They call for this

Protest for that

To dodge the calls to stay on track

With jobs a must

It’s jobs or bust

The answer? One more stimulus

When the people do say, “but,

How to pay for all this glut?”

They smile and say,  “There is a way”

“We’ll tax your bony butt.”

They cry,

“On, on and on the lemmings march

Be not deterred

From what we’ve heard

Ignore the damage we’ve incurred

Despite the fright

The nations plight

We’ll game the same

From frame to blame

We have the nation’s wealth to parch

Here on the lemmings’ march”

A scheme

For green

Hid by a solar dream

So now we see

A bankruptcy

A half a bill passed out for free

What jobs? You sigh

For you and I

There’s plenty for the FBI

When the people say, “No more.

Your record here is poor.”

They say, “You bet, but don’t you fret.

We’re funding fifteen more.”

They shout,

“On, on and on the lemmings march

Be not deterred

From what we’ve heard

Ignore the damage we’ve incurred

Despite the fright

The nations plight

We’ll game the same

From frame to blame

We have the nation’s wealth to parch

Here on the lemmings’ march”

With no one the wiser

Save maybe the Kaiser

Money keeps drifting

A political gifting

Through channels unchecked

No accident, you bet

All will march by

Without a hue or a cry

And do as they’re told

With integrity sold

They wait for the shout

For the citizens to flout

They march,

“On, on and on the lemmings march

Be not deterred

From what we’ve heard

Ignore the damage we’ve incurred

Despite the fright

The nations plight

We’ll game the same

From frame to blame

We have the nation’s wealth to parch

Here on the lemmings’ march”

On, on and on the lemmings march…. 

What Emily hates

            The tender shoots of young job growth are beginning to break through the volcanic ash, which is the residue of the 40-year liberal scorching of the business landscape of Maine.  Democrats are now faced with the stark realization that the first steps the LePage administration have made towards making Maine palatable to business again are working.  Despite the work of Emily Cain’s “Party of No” and their obstructionist moderate allies in the Republican Party, the effects of a pro-jobs Governor on Maine’s business climate has been quickly evident as we discussed last week.  This did not sit well with the minority party.  This was no more evident than through the words of the Democrat leader Emily Cain.

            After the legislature had passed an admittedly imperfect budget (it was much too large for a conservative), Ms. Cain told the media emphatically that she and her Caucus “just hated these tax cuts, just hated them!” This after moderates had helped to grant the Democrats concessions beyond the Governor’s liking.  This is just a reminder that a Democrat’s 40-year definition of bi-partisan is “do everything our way”.  It seems those tax cuts Emily hates are sending a message, both to entrepreneurs within the state and without, that Maine is truly open for business.

            But why does Emily hate them so? Could it be that the advent of job growth, prosperity and the independence it brings signals the end to the strangle hold the Democrat party has held upon the futures of the people of Maine?  With more of their own money left in their pockets to spend and save for their own future, residents will begin to feel that heady sense of accomplishment that comes from providing ones own needs from the fruit of ones own labor.   Instead, Ms. Cain seems to prefer we remain in the Democrat’s pattern of choice that has the people being herded into entitlement systems like so many cattle. Back, she wails, to the dependence on big Democrat government to get us through the endless meager years under the grey drab famine of socialism.

            Is this why she hates tax cuts so?  Perhaps, by extension, she hates the inevitable fiscal independence prosperity will bring to Mainers?  The people will begin to realize this truth.  They don’t need government.  Government needs them.  Maybe it is the great sense of satisfaction a young businessperson can feel by growing a business that they can pass on to their young ones that she hates so much?  Or maybe its that sense of calm that comes to a family when they know there is enough work to pay the bills and even get ahead that she takes exception to?  One thing we know for sure, Emily Cain hates tax cuts.   She “just hates them”.

Simply put, tax cuts give the people’s money back to the people.  Tax cuts show businesses we are serious about bringing them back to Maine.  Tax cuts are the tried and proven way to fix an economy.  Now Emily Cain, how could you hate a thing like that?  We the people don’t.  

And behind this curtain…

            Remember the old days when there were journalists?  Ah, the days of the intrepid investigator digging and searching with dogged determination for who, what, why, where and when.  Like a hound on the trail, the steely sleuth would stay on the scent of truth unswerving until truth was exposed regardless of who and what it uncovered.  Remember those days?  Neither can I.

            The days of an objective media have long since passed into the filmy ghostly memories of the ancient history of Maine.  Those with better memories than mine assure me that there was a time when the raising of a question would be followed by a gathering of facts to ascertain, yes that word again, truth.  This almost sounds like it could be defined as research, which is a word that sends a collective shudder down the spines for some of the Maine media.  To the rest who claim to be reporters, the word research elicits a blank stare. 

            The Democrat Party has been able to utilize one most effective tool against Governor LePage to hide any of his accomplishments, the curtain of media silence.  The lack of job growth in the national economy has provided damning evidence against the business and fiscal policies of the Obama administration and the Democrat Party as a whole.  Conversely, here in the State of Maine, Governor LePage has experienced surprisingly quick success in job creation despite the obstructionist tactics of the Democrat Party and their allies in the moderate wing of the Republican Party.  The Democrats have smugly asked, “Where are all the jobs?” yet all the while holding the curtain of media silence tightly over the evidence of job creation here in our State.  This was sadly apparent in the recent announcement of the two new mills in the Millinocket area.

            Yes, the media has sold its integrity for an agenda.   With its lips tightly sealed against the truth, the media seems to have a vested interest in returning to the job killing policies of the 40-year tenure of Democrats.  It now falls to us, the foot soldiers of this Conservative Revolution, to expose the truth behind the curtain of silence.

            “Today’s announcement would not be possible without the tireless efforts of the Governor…” This is a quote from Richard Legualt, Senior Managing Partner Brookfield Asset Management, as he announced the development of mills in the Millinocket area.  Somehow, that was not part of the media coverage of the event.  Mr. Legualt goes on to say “the Governor’s ability to broker this transaction against the backdrop of current market conditions demonstrates his commitment to jobs and economic development in the State.”  Strange, that was never talked about either.   Perhaps it may be a little embarrassing to have the “incompetent” conservative Governor “broker” jobs while, coincidentally, the Democrat messiah in the White House has brokered nada, nil, nothing for jobs.  Oh, they’re trying to pull that curtain down again.  Quick, here are some more facts:

            Lewiston has seen 400 new jobs created this summer.

            Tax Reforms helped the aviation industry in Maine expand and create hundreds of new jobs.

            Brunswick saw a new manufacturer bring 100 new jobs to their economy.

            There are 18 new jobs in Auburn due to just one regulatory reform.

            Thanks to regulatory certainty and a pro business Governor, thousands of new construction jobs have sprung up all over this State.

            Windham, Gouldsboro and North Berwick are just some of the towns experiencing job growth.

            And the Governor hasn’t even had a full year under his belt yet.  So while the media prefers to cloak the truth in silence and commit crimes of omission, we the people must seek the truth.  Go to http://www.mainepeoplebeforepolitics.com/2011/07/where-are-the-jobs/. 

Do your own research.  Find the truth and then help spread the news.  Let’s keep working to Set Maine Free!

Disdain

            Webster defines the word disdain as “to regard as beneath one’s dignity; scorn”.  The attitude and actions of the Democrat Party in these past weeks have given a clear stark real life representation of this definition.  From the President on down to State officials, the Democrat Party has collectively thumbed its nose at the citizens of this Nation.

            The President has ordered the review of all deportment cases using the DRAIN, I mean, the DREAM ACT as the criteria for the review.  This is the legislation that was rejected by the majority of legal American citizens and, yes, even a bi-partisan congress.  But this President is above us and above our democracy with its document of “negative liberties”.  Whether the we the people want it or not, we are going to get the DRAIN FACTS, I mean, DREAM ACT shoved right down our throats.

            Our Governor has stated emphatically that Maine does want another state park.  Our State Congress issued a statement against a state park.  The people of the second district in an overwhelming majority have rejected a state park. Yet a member of the President’s cabinet, Ken Salazar, has come to Millinocket to circumvent the people and force them to accept a state park.  Senator Doug Thomas asked Mr. Salazar to explain where his invitation to trample State and local authority had come from.  Mr. Salazar replied that he “invited himself”. 

Oh, well see, that’s the problem with us little people in the upper serfdom of the 2^nd District, we keep forgetting that having trees, lakes and streams in our backyards is a free license for the Democrat pompous to exercise their pomposity with arrogant impunity.  I’m sorry, Mr. Salazar.  I guess perhaps we should all forget we are citizens of a free nation, that you are a public servant, resign ourselves to bow before you and put your “boot on our necks”.  Sarcasm aside, my true feelings for Secretary Salazar’s scorn of our sovereign rights is not suitable for public discourse in an open forum.

            The voters of the second district sent a loud message to the Governor and legislature that they want to have fair and equitable representation.  The Republicans came up with a redistricting plan that puts the 1^st and 2^nd districts within one vote of each other….one vote.  But the Democrats are furious at the thought of the second district receiving fair treatment because, remember, we are just supposed to be a wildlands project.  All is to be swallowed up into the bio-diversity as a sacrifice to mother earth that she might be appeased.  Now if those hicks up in the sticks get an even shake, they might turn their economies around.  People might start to prosper.  The paupers might get all filled up with themselves and lead a revolt.

            The Democrats want to “invite themselves” into our lives to control our lives.  In order to achieve their goal, they will ignore the rule of law because they truly believe they are above the law.  In a historical context, this behavior would be considered tyranny.  The Democrats are rabid with power and the only cure is a steady dose of minority.  We the people must continue to block the Democrats from regaining power.  We must marginalize their influence.  Perhaps enough time spent on the sidelines will show Democrats the error of their ways but until then, remember this, there is only one response the Democrats have for the will of the people…disdain.  

Liberty’s Progress

            Many years ago, but not so many as Nations go, a group of men with funny wigs and stubborn temperaments established a radical new causeway for a fledgling Nation to embark upon a progress for liberty.  Paved with the words of the Federalist Papers, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, our Forefathers took the first resolute steps on this experiment called Democracy.  The road was rife with peril and almost immediately our enemies began to build off ramps enticing the unwary towards the regress of European fallacies, the failed government structures to which we had fought so hard and bitterly to be free of.  But under the firm hands of Thomas Jefferson, John and Samuel Adams, George Washington and so many others who were of one mind, this nation was set securely on a progress towards its inevitable emergence as the most powerful Nation on the face of the earth.  Bolstered by its belief in the one true God and bursting with the unfettered talents and futures of its diverse peoples, it seemed the United States would never be diverted from its course of freedom. Soon, it seemed, those Nations calling to it from the swamps of their mediocrity would examine their own failures, wisely choose to follow our example and join us on our way.

            But time has a way of clouding the memory and this not so old Nation has allowed the enticements of universal acceptance to shake it from the resolve to be the standard for freedom.  Many of us who should have stood in vigilance are only now realizing the awful intent in those who work to crumble the great progress built by those before us.  It now falls to us to hail those lost in the confusing beltways, that meander off and lead in the dismal directions of the regress, to come back to Liberty’s Progress.

            Many there are that would like for this nation to fully embark upon the regress and head back towards the bland grey haze of the inconsequential, forsaking our exceptional call to freedom.  There are many within our ranks.  These we thought perhaps were allies.  They present our greatest danger and bring us to the point of this symbolism.

            The Democrats have long traversed the Regress and have been very open about their belief in the strength of government rather than the people.  But the moderate Republicans have been the builders of the off ramps from Liberty’s Progress.  We have seen in our own State how the Moderates have blocked the attempt from Conservatives and the people to return Maine to the Progress.  They have continued to try and mix statutes, which pave the causeways of the European socialist Regress, into the restorative policies our Governor wishes to implement.  These moderates openly campaigned on the fervor of the Tea Party, capitalizing on it.  Now, these politicians have betrayed those who trusted them and there is danger the Republican Party, as a whole, will pay for the misdeeds of a few.

            So, I have an admonition to my friends in the Tea Party movement.  The Republican Party on its whole still represents the best opportunity to realize the revolution we seek in Maine.  If we abandon this path now, we will lose all the ground we have gained.  We must use the primary system to punish those who have opposed the Governor and the people.

            My secondary admonition is to warn those who choose to challenge these moderates.  Make sure to pick viable stellar candidates with a strong apparatus to support them.  If not, you risk another clumsy, inept campaign such as what we have seen of Scott D’Amboise.  The only mark then left for political history is a mere reference point for non-partisan mockery.  We then do more damage than good.  We must take the next step in the maturation process of making wise decisions of progress rather than of regress.

THE UNFIXABLE

            And they thought the Governor was joking.  At the recent Piscataquis “Capital for a Day”, Governor LePage and Treasurer Poliquin both explained the dire fiscal picture they found painted on the books of the accounts in Augusta.  They revealed to us that one of the first hurdles for the duo to overcome was convincing the S&P not to downgrade the credit rating of the State of Maine, which they had learned was imminent.  Those of the “People are Merely Percentage Points” ers crowd scoffed at this revelation.  It was unthinkable that we would receive a credit downgrade.  Just scare tactics, stuff and nonsense.

            Yes, thankfully the strength of leadership shown by the Governor and the Treasurer has saved Maine from such an embarrassment; in fact, a recent listing of the worst States to do business did not even mention the State of Maine.  It is quite a turnaround in seven months to go from a “top of the list regular” to a “no show”.  There is some recognition we’d rather not have.

            Not so good though for the President and his merry band of obstructionists.  While the “Hope and Change messiah” has yet to lower the sea level, he has succeeded in lowering our credit rating for the first time in the history of this great Nation.  It was simple really.  Standard and Poor’s wanted 4 trillion in deficit reduction.  Paul Ryan and the Republicans wanted 4 trillion in spending cuts. 

            Enter Harry Reid.  Nevada must be so proud.  Smugly preening his arrogance before any microphone and camera he could find, Harry, no he’s not a Prince, promised that he would kill such a plan in the Senate.  He did.  Nevada must be so proud.

            The President and the Senate President balked and stonewalled until they were forced into a desperate last minute anemic $2.4 trillion compromise that still raised the debt ceiling.  The S&P was not bluffing.  They lowered the credit rating of the United States for the first time in its history.  They have also warned in no uncertain terms that if remaining cuts are not found to reach the $4 trillion mark, where have we heard that before, they will downgrade our credit rating once again.

            So the unthinkable has happened.  This begs the question- is Washington fixable?  I think not.  As we watch all the posturing, playacting and nonsensical behavior, it becomes more apparent the Federal government is a delinquent who is completely out of control beyond the reaches of reason.  Our Governor calls their actions “antics”.  Treasure Poliquin aptly calls them “poison”.  The restoration of this great nation to its once proud glory will not come through the Federal government.  We the people must look to our several States and local Counties to apply pressure upon our state officials to be fiscally prudent in their approach to governing.  As we strengthen the might of our States from the Counties up and wean them from their dependence upon the Federal government, we will find that the pathetic behavior of our Federal officials will have much less the detrimental effect on our lives.  Perhaps if those in Washington come to realize that they have thought of themselves more highly than they ought, they may start to behave better.    

THE GODS OF HYPOCRISY

            Imagine yourself in need of an army.  You are faced with the task of changing the political landscape of rural New England states that for years had been known for their frugal, independent and God-fearing lifestyles.  How would you accomplish this?  How would you wrest the traditions that made up the fabric of years of generations linked by blood from the very fingers of the parents that birthed them?  You would follow the template set forth in the European Marxist and Communist revolutions of so many years ago.

            Take the earnest hopes of parents who have sacrificed for a better future for their little ones.  Promise to be trusted stewards of these children’s education.  Pretend to hold this sacred trust in reverent high regard.  Now that you have control of these children at their most vulnerable stage, just beginning to blossom into adulthood, instead of teaching the very skills and practicum necessary to excel at the specific professions they may choose, you begin to barrage and impregnate their young impressionable fertile minds with your own agenda in an effort to stimulate a revolution that would devastate and crumble years of foundations laid in the hearts and minds of America’s youth.  You would capitalize on the rebellious nature of young emotions encouraging their propensity to defy authority, enflaming them with rhetoric railing against the institutions of government claiming it has failed the common man.  At the same time, you would mock the homespun common sense beliefs of the children’s upbringing, declaring them not worthy of higher learning.  In time, it would seem success was nothing short of imminent.

            Imagine yourself in the present.  You have established a death grip on the educational system of New England.  Your classrooms have been the breeding ground for liberal think tanks across the nation for years.  Students have followed your model of “the end justifies the means” and have wreaked havoc on the local and State political system compromising its integrity.  But the common man in Maine finds himself in much worse conditions than before all the promises of a New Deal were made to him.  So the “commoners” revolt and, much to your surprise put a common man in a place of power.

            Imagine your reaction when the leaders put there by the common man, despite their weak and clumsy attempts at leadership, put in place a reform that shakes the very core of your power structure.  They demand honesty, accountability and integrity in the voting system.  No longer will there be giggles and snorts at fraternity and sorority parties after young students have done your dirty work and made a mockery of the democratic process on election nights.

            Imagine how you would retaliate.  It would be loud and angry.  You would decry the fact that the Republicans are denying these young students the right to vote…and vote…and vote again.  After all, these are educational opportunities.  They’re young and they need the practice.  And voting in multiple States brings so much diversity to the experience. 

            Imagine if the empire you had worked so hard to build was in danger of crumbling.  You would use every diversionary tactic you could think of to avoid the honest truth.  Wouldn’t you….or would you?