PureBunkum

Too Big To Fail?

 By Betty Roccograndi

U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski let us all in on a little secret Thursday.  Actually, he did better than that.  He decided to remove the “cloak of secrecy” that our area is in the running for a big federal project, which state Rep.  Todd Eachus said “could make Northeastern Pennsylvania the center of security for our embassies abroad.”

How’s that for news two months before the general election?

But then party pooper,  Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who hopes to unseat Kanjorski, defused Kanjorski’s big bombshell by saying that bombs could actually explode in our little neck of the woods.

So we have to ask ourselves, aren’t a few explosions worth it when we could provide security training for all our embassies abroad – in Conyngham Township of all places?

Kanjorski, donning his man at work apparel, a long-sleeved dark blue denim shirt and construction boots, held a press conference in Ashley to announce our prospects for becoming what he called “little West Point.”  If that’s anything like Little Italy, that’s really something to be excited about.

The project is the Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Security Training Center, where approximately 10,000 security personnel would be trained and about 1,000 jobs would be created, Kanjorski announced.  The estimated $70 million to fund the project would come from the stimulus package, but because stimulus is a dirty word these days, Washington now likes to call it the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which, face it, is a much more soothing name for the billions and billions of dollars it’s spending.

Kanjo told local leaders that he’s discussed this project with President Barack Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  He didn’t say whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Santa Claus were in on the talks.  But we got the point.  Our Kanjo is part of the Washington in-crowd, and it is in our best interest to keep him there.

So stop trying to scare us, Lou, that if this project actually sees the light of day, the poor folks in Conyngham Township and their neighbors might be dodging gun fire.

Which brings us to why did the state of Maryland pass on little West Point?

Well, probably aside from being afraid of bombs bursting in air, Marylanders must be an unreasonable lot.

“A reasonable mind would come to the conclusion that it’s not a bad deal for the area, for the state and for the country, Kanjorski told The Citizens’ Voice.  And let’s not forget for all the world’s embassies that Todd Eachus crowed about.

The CV also reported that Kanjorski, who is seeking his 14th term, said that normally, he would not have made this big announcement about a potential economic development so preliminarily, but he had to because his job is at stake.

Just kidding.  He didn’t really say that last part, but he might as well have.

You simply cannot make up this stuff.  Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is convinced that the government is the solution to all of our problems in the housing market, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal.

Yeah, of course it is.  We saw what a great job the government did with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Where do I start?  Let’s start with Geithner himself.  This is the guy who lied about income he failed to report on his tax return.  He blamed it on “Turbo Tax.”  Then, our nitwit politicians in Washington confirmed  him.

Geithner was our best pick to run the Treasury Department?  Of course he wasn’t, but he shares the Democratic Party’s liberal, progressive, socialist mind set, which is dragging this country deeper into debt.  Like most of those in Barack Obama’s Cabinet, Geithner never worked in the private sector.  He’s held a government job his entire life yet didn’t think the income he earned  was taxable?  Come on!  This really makes me sick.

Of course, the housing crisis has to be solved by some of the very institutions which broke it - the banks and the government.  First, the banks mass produced mortgages without asking for any money down and not even checking on whether the borrowers were capable of paying it back.

So, we bailed out the banks.  Now they won’t lend out money to anyone.  The government pushed 30-year mortgages and literally guaranteed all of them through Fannie & Freddie, allowing the banks to sell them so the the feds could continue the dumb cycle of forcing taxpayers to cover them.

I know numbers tend to bore people to death, but you better get engaged in the political process before your kids and grandchildren resent you down the road for doing nothing.  You need some motivation?  Take a look at your Children’s Legacy!

So how do we fix this mess?  First of all, we have to face the fact that not everyone can afford a house.  Nearly 70% of the U.S. population owned a house a few years ago.  That figure is falling to 66% because of all the foreclosures.

Nitwits like Paul Kanjorski and his cronies need to stop their social engineering.  Some people simply cannot afford a house, Paul, and I’m not willing to pay for your quick fixes when they over extend themselves.  Stop interfering.  It’s not the government’s job.

Answer this, Congressman Kanjorski.  If nearly 50% of the population doesn’t pay income taxes, how the hell can 70% of us own homes?  Stay out of it, and let the markets work.

And while you’re at it, stop the nonsensical 30-year mortgages.  If you need 30 years to pay them off, you can’t afford that house.  With 20% or more down and no more than 15-20 years to pay it off, the lending institutions would lessen their risks and wouldn’t need government guarantees to back them.

Basically, a lending institution can only take a property back if a borrower doesn’t pay his mortgage.  How about allowing those institutions to seize the deadbeats’ boats, cars, and other toys as well, especially if they took out a home equity loan or a second mortgage.  Maybe people will them stop using their homes as piggy banks.

There is no doubt in my mind that Obama and his merry band of socialists will tell you that the government can fix all of this.  No matter what nonsense they spew in January,  protest a government takeover of the housing industry, which no doubt will include a bailout of people whose mortgages are under water.

I can already hear the knocks on the doors.  ”I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.”

-The Plumber

There was an interesting opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal regarding what I had previously called the coming pension catastrophe.

While the author did list several options for alleviating the looming crisis, he failed to emphasize strongly enough that these pensions promise far too much in terms of retirement benefits.

He also didn’t make a case for taxpayers, who will pay the bills.  While he did correctly say that this should be a state or municipality problem, not a federal one, he forgot about the taxpayers in some of those states like Illinois, which is practically bankrupt.

I remind  you once again that nobody is bailing out those who work in the private sector and saved for retirement through 401(k)’s and IRA’s.  They’ve lost money too, yet they’re the ones who will be forced to bail out public sector employees.  Where’s the fairness here?  There is none.

These public service unions have a good friend in Barack Obama, which is hardly surprising considering that most of his Cabinet has only worked in academia or for the government.  They have no concern whatsoever for those in the private sector.  So, I warn you again to hold onto your wallets.  And keep an eye on U.S. Sen. Bobby Casey.  If he gets his way, you’ll surely pay.  Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat, is pushing for legislation for a taxpayer-funded bailout of the Teamsters’ retirement pension fund, according to the National Review’s online site.

I predict that state officials will put heavy pressure on Obama to solve their pension woes, especially in liberal states like California and Illinois.  And, yes, in Pennsylvania.  Just wait and see how much more we’ll all be paying in real estate taxes because of under-funded teachers’ pensions.

Remember the TARP,  that massive bailout for banks?  Well, the banks have paid back that money to the government with interest and stock.  The government; however, didn’t reimburse taxpayers.  The money’s still sitting there, a giant piggie bank for self-serving politicians to plunder.  Presto, union pension problems solved.

Our kids and grandkids don’t have a clue what’s in store for them.   Take a look.

-The Plumber

Oh, the irony! 

The politics surrounding the planned mosque near Ground Zero in New York City are just so juicy.  Much like Obama used the NAACP to put the tea parties on the defensive by calling them racists, the GOP has been able to put the left-wingers in a no-win situation by politicizing the Islamic mosque.

I was reading what Gort had to say about the issue over at Gort42.  While we respect Gort and all of the local liberal bloggers, this mosque thing has them defending the U.S. Constitution, and that’s funny.  They didn’t dredge up the Constitution when Obama and the Democrats pushed through health care reform,  forcing all Americans to purchase a policy.  However, the liberals and Gort are 100% correct.  We are all protected by the Constitution, but let’s be realistic.

Seventy percent of New Yorkers do not want this mosque anywhere near the site where 3,000 Americans, including their friends, family members, police offiicers and firefighters, were slaughtered by Islamic extremists.  This isn’t just your run-of-the-mill mosque.  This is going to be in the Burlington Coat Factory building.  The mosque’s planners are trying to raise a reported $100,000,000.  That’s one helluva mosque.

This isn’t about religious freedom; this is more like a sharp stick in the eye to New Yorkers and all Americans.  They could build multiple mosques all over the country for that kind of money.

These liberals fighting in the name of religious rights are part of the same crowd which protests prayers in school and wants IN GOD WE TRUST removed from our currency.

Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, who is going to run this “shrine,” will neither denounce Hamas as a terrorist organization nor the radical precepts of Sharia law.  I’m no religious scholar, but I do know that radical Islamists have been known to stone and torture women.  There was no clearer example than on Time magazine’s shocking cover of an 18-year old girl, whose nose and ears were cut off after she fled from her abusive husband and in-laws.

I bet at least half of the women in New York City would have their noses cut off if they followed Sharia law.  As for the city’s homosexuals, if they lived under Sharia law, there would be a daily stoning at Rockefeller Center.

So why won’t the imam, a self-proclaimed peace-maker, condemn this barbaric law?

Gort mentioned in his blog that he is proud of President Obama for taking a principled stance.   Is that what he did?  One day, Obama says that Muslims have the right to build a mosque in lower New York.  The next day, after it hit the fan, he back pedals, saying he never commented on whether building it there was the right thing to do.

While Gort took his usual shot at Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta for supporting the GOP’s position, he couldn’t defend Paul Kanjorski.  Kanjo, through his mouth piece Ed Mitchell, said he has no opinion on the matter.  

While we’re obviously no fan of Paul Kanjorski’s here at PureBunkum, we know he’s no dummy.  There just aren’t that many Muslim voters in his district.  Sorry Gort, but we both know that Paul Kanjorski has nothing to gain by telling us where he stands on the mosque issue.

One last note, I find it ironic that Jon Stewart, a left-wing Jewish comedian, is also championing the mosque in the name of  religious freedom.  Does he believe that Daniel Pearl’s family thinks  this is simply about religious freedom?  The funny man is right about one thing, though, that all these self  righteous do-gooders are all for freedom of religion until it creeps into their backyards.

It reminds me of the Kennedys who were gung ho for clean energy windmills as long as they didn’t have to look at them from their massive, luxury compound.

Finally, if you’re such a strong advocate of upholding the Constitution, maybe you should ask the President and the liberals in Congress why they refuse to enforce our immigration laws.  Isn’t it interesting how the liberals always blame conservatives for hiding behind the Constitution?

 Oh, the irony!

- The Plumber

My Opponent's For Big Oil and Not Jobs

By Betty Roccograndi

Congressman Joe Sestak gave himself one big pat on the back Monday.

He said in a guest “Commentary” in The Times Leader that he helped pass a bill that “will create millions of jobs across the country, reduce pollution and spur investment in new energy technology.”  Wow, what’s not to like, except we’re still waiting for those 400,000 new jobs that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised would  magically appear the minute the health care bill passed.

The bill Sestak was touting is the “American Clean Energy and Security Act, or ACES.  Sestak said that he worked “to ensure” that ACES “was focused on creating jobs.”   Jobs plus clean air.  Nobody could be against that, with the possible exception of Pat Toomey, Sestak’s opponent to replace Sen. Arlen Specter in November’s general election.

In his piece, Sestak took the opportunity to regurgitate the Democratic talking points in attacking  Toomey.  He said his Republican opponent has “consistently taken the side of oil companies and big business,” which we all know means being against jobs and clean air.

Toomey, said Sestak, has “cited skewed, oil industry-backed studies (one by an organization funded by Exxon Mobil) to attack and mislead,  falsely asserting that the energy bill will cost jobs and hurt the coal industry.”

The nerve of Toomey.  Sestak, on the other hand, cited “independent analysis,” which shows that “this bill will create as many as 78,000 jobs in Pennsylvania alone and will increase our commonwealth’s gross domestic product by up to $4.3 billion by 2020.”

That’s quite impressive.  Who again  provided that independent analysis?  Darn, Sestak doesn’t say in his article.  We’ll just have to take his word for it that up to 78,000 Pennsylvania jobs will be created.

And as if that’s not already enough great news resulting from one bill,  Congressman Sestak said ACES  ”will provide clarity about government policies that currently remain ambiguous (and thus hamper growth), allowing coal companies to move forward aggressively.”

We have to admit, he lost us there.  Is he saying that there are actually government policies that are ambiguous?

Then came ACES’  piece de resistance – it will bolster the United States’ national security by indirectly depriving Iran of $100 million in daily oil revenues.

In contrast, (you knew this was coming), “Toomey’s agenda poses a grave threat to Pennylvania’s economy and the future of the coal industry.”

So, Pat Toomey, are you going to sit back and say nothing after you’ve just been accused of posing a “grave” threat to Pennsylvania’s future?

Or are you confident that as much as voters care about clean air, they’re more interested in Sestak coming clean on that high-ranking federal job he said someone offered him to drop out of the senate race?