Showing posts with label us senate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label us senate. Show all posts

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Tuesday's Republican Primary

I received an e-mail from Robin Yess about Tuesday's primary.  I did a bit of homework about the three candidates, Wendy Long, George Maragos, and Bob Turner. Like most Republicans, the three say that they favor lower taxes; however, they are vague about how low.  Turner says that Obamacare should be repealed and tax increases should be avoided.  Avoided? How about tax cuts to eliminate the Departments of Energy, Education, and Labor?

Wendy Long is a lawyer. Her website says this:

 The main purpose and idea of my campaign is not original. I can't claim authorship. An inspired group of New Yorkers and other Americans came up with the idea, about 225 years ago.
It's called limited self-government, of the people, by the people, and for the people.

No one in this country is above the law, and no one is beneath it. The law is what protects the weak from the strong, affirms the dignity of every person, and overlooks no one in its demand of equal justice.


That sounds good, but what does it mean?  Would she have opposed the Bush-Obama bailout of Wall Street and the Fed's $29 trillion subsidization of global banks?  Her Republican colleagues believed those actions were constitutional. Local news sources such as Cayuga County's Auburnpub.com offer sketchy information about the three candidates.

When you log onto George Maragos's website, there is a video that does not work properly. How come Netflix can stream two hour movies into my television, but Maragos can't get a one-minute video to work?  Also, his secure e-mail (the site doesn't give any other contact information) limits questions to 245 characters (characters, not words), so I could not ask him a few simple questions.

According to Maragos's site:

We must take action now to reduce the deficit, eliminate wasteful spending, and reform entitlements in order to restore America's economic strength, provide for individual opportunity and guarantee future prosperity for our children. Government programs which have proven ineffective and wasteful should be terminated...Medicare and Social Security are a sacred commitment to our seniors and should be protected. Senator Gillibrand voted to kill these programs by her vote against raising the national debt ceiling.

I thought the Bible is sacred, but Medicare is a political program.  Maragos puts Social Security up there with the Ten Commandments.  On the one hand he says that government programs that are ineffective should be terminated.  On the other he says that one of the most ineffective programs, Social Security, is sacred.   Might we conclude that Maragos is a Three-card Monte dealer who says one thing to attract conservatives' votes and another thing to attract special interest money?

I have a basic question for any candidate: Where did you stand on the bailout?  None of the coverage in New York's all-thumbs media answers that question.  I attempted to send e-mails to the three candidates.  Only Ms. Long has an e-mail program that allows voters to send her an e-mail to inquire as to her positions.  The following is the e-mail I sent to her aide, Lynn:


Dear Lynn:

What are Ms. Long’s position on local governments’ transferring political authority to NGOs (as has been recommended with respect to the Route 28 Bypass proposal in Ulster County)? This is a longstanding strategy of environmental extremists like the WWF that has been supported by both Republican and Democratic politicians.

What is Ms. Long’s position on Ron Paul’s proposal to audit the Fed?

What is Ms. Long’s position on the 2009 bailout?

Sincerely,

Mitchell Langbert

Within minutes, Lynn responded with the following message:
 
From: Lynn Krogh [mailto:lynnkrogh@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 24, 2012 12:50 PM
To: Mitchell
Subject: Re: NGOs, Fed, Bailout

I just passed on your inquiry to Wendy.  She's traveling in Buffalo right now, but I'm hoping to have these answered asap.
Thnx
Lynn Krogh
518.618.7074

M

My response to her was as follows:

Thank you. You’re the only campaign that has a way to e-mail questions, and I’m very impressed that you got back to me so quickly. 

Of the three, Wendy Long seems to be the one who knows how to run a campaign.  So few candidates do.  I don't think we can expect a true limited government candidate at this point in history.  The best we can do is split the nation's governance between Democrats and Republicans and hope that they will do as little as possible. Unfortunately, both parties seem to like Agenda 21 and both love the Fed, so unless the public gets tired of being milked like cattle we can expect an increasing degree of totalitarianism no matter who gets elected. 
 


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Jay Townsend: Chuck Schumer Sells out New York to Become Majority Leader



GOP senatorial candidate Jay Townsend visited the Kingston/Rhinebeck Tea Party on Monday.  Due to heavy teaching responsibilities (I was grading my students' papers) I was unable to attend.  But here is an excellent video courtesy of Tom Santopietro.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

US Senate Roll Call Vote 110th Congress 2nd Session, Bail Out

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 110th Congress - 2nd Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On Passage of the Bill (H. R. 1424 As Amended )
Vote Number: 213 Vote Date: October 1, 2008, 09:22 PM
Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Bill Passed
Measure Number: H.R. 1424 (A bill to provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for energy production and conservation, to extend certain expiring provisions, to provide individual income tax relief, and for other purposes. )
Measure Title: A bill to provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide incentives for energy production and conservation, to extend certain expiring provisions, to provide individual income tax relief, and for other purposes

Grouped by Home State A

Alabama: Sessions (R-AL), Nay Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Alaska: Murkowski (R-AK), Yea Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Arizona: Kyl (R-AZ), Yea McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR), Yea
California: Boxer (D-CA), Yea Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Colorado: Allard (R-CO), Nay Salazar (D-CO), Yea
Connecticut: Dodd (D-CT), Yea Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Delaware: Biden (D-DE), Yea Carper (D-DE), Yea
Florida: Martinez (R-FL), Yea Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Georgia: Chambliss (R-GA), Yea Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Hawaii: Akaka (D-HI), Yea Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Idaho: Craig (R-ID), Yea Crapo (R-ID), Nay
Illinois: Durbin (D-IL), Yea Obama (D-IL), Yea
Indiana: Bayh (D-IN), Yea Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa: Grassley (R-IA), Yea Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Kansas: Brownback (R-KS), Nay Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Kentucky: Bunning (R-KY), Nay McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana: Landrieu (D-LA), Nay Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Maine: Collins (R-ME), Yea Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Maryland: Cardin (D-MD), Yea Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Michigan: Levin (D-MI), Yea Stabenow (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota: Coleman (R-MN), Yea Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Mississippi: Cochran (R-MS), Nay Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Missouri: Bond (R-MO), Yea McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
Montana: Baucus (D-MT), Yea Tester (D-MT), Nay
Nebraska: Hagel (R-NE), Yea Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Nevada: Ensign (R-NV), Yea Reid (D-NV), Yea
New Hampshire: Gregg (R-NH), Yea Sununu (R-NH), Yea
New Jersey: Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
New Mexico: Bingaman (D-NM), Yea Domenici (R-NM), Yea
New York: Clinton (D-NY), Yea Schumer (D-NY), Yea
North Carolina: Burr (R-NC), Yea Dole (R-NC), Nay
North Dakota: Conrad (D-ND), Yea Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio: Brown (D-OH), Yea Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma: Coburn (R-OK), Yea Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Oregon: Smith (R-OR), Yea Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania: Casey (D-PA), Yea Specter (R-PA), Yea
Rhode Island: Reed (D-RI), Yea Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
South Carolina: DeMint (R-SC), Nay Graham (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota: Johnson (D-SD), Nay Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tennessee: Alexander (R-TN), Yea Corker (R-TN), Yea
Texas: Cornyn (R-TX), Yea Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Utah: Bennett (R-UT), Yea Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont: Leahy (D-VT), Yea Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Virginia: Warner (R-VA), Yea Webb (D-VA), Yea
Washington: Cantwell (D-WA), Nay Murray (D-WA), Yea
West Virginia: Byrd (D-WV), Yea Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Wisconsin: Feingold (D-WI), Nay Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Wyoming: Barrasso (R-WY), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay