Archive for September, 2008

Yeah, like this race was ever four points apart.

According to a new SUSA poll:

Daniels Holds Lead in Indiana Governor Re-Election Contest: In an election for Governor of Indiana held today, 09/30/08, Incumbent Republican Mitch Daniels defeats Democratic Jill Long Thompson, according to this latest SurveyUSA tracking poll conducted exclusively for WHAS-TV in Louisville and WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. Today, it’s Daniels and running mate Lt. Governor Becky Skillman 53%, Democrat Long Thompson and running mate Dennie Oxley 37%. The Libertarian ticket of Andy Horning and Lisa Kelly take 6%; 4% of likely voters are undecided. Compared to a SurveyUSA poll released six weeks ago, Daniels is up 1 point; Long Thompson is down 1 point.

Daniels now leads in all regions of the state: in previous polling, Long Thompson led in Northern Indiana. 25% of Democrats cross over to vote for incumbent Republican Daniels; 14% of Republicans cross over to vote for Democrat Long Thompson. Independents favor Daniels by 25 points.

JLT is about to go down in history as the Democrats version of Linley Pearson.

Especially in light of this…(yeah, after the leap) (more…)

New McCain ad regarding Fannie and Freddie - It didn’t have to happen

State Senator Marvin Riegsecker passed away today finally succumbing to his battle with cancer.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the Riegsecker family.

Below is the statement of Lt. Governor Becky Skillman, who had the pleasure of serving with Senator Riegsecker in the Indiana State Senate.

“Senator Riegsecker was my dear friend and colleague in the Indiana Senate for the past 16 years. I always appreciated his caring and compassionate nature, as well as his great sense of humor. As a pharmacist by trade, Sen. Riegsecker was a leader in many areas to improve the health and well-being of Hoosiers, particularly those with special needs. I have lost a friend; Hoosiers have lost a dedicated public servant. My prayers are with Norma and the Riegsecker family.”

So, conservative republicans and very very liberal democrats (many who were in tight re-election races) banded together yesterday to defeat President Bush and Democrats $700 Billion bailout bill. That’s the good news.  Now what?

We still have a credit crisis, mainly caused by over-regulation in the first place.  We still have banks failing, mainly caused by “mark to market” accounting rules.  We still have a non-existent housing market, mainly caused by the media’s infatuation with talking about housing recession.  So, now what?

Open Market.Org calls for Mark to Market Reform and calls for another look at Republican Study Committee proposal.

The Foundry suggests that there are dire constitutional problems with credit bailout proposals.

Word has it that the Senate will try to take up a revised version tomorrow.  I’m still calling for Senator John McCain to vote against it, and then immediately propose a bill with private insurance, reforming mark to market, leave capital gains taxes alone, and re-instate FHA down payment assistance (which is private money not government)

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Other right-of-center blogs have trumpeted the defeat of the rescue legislation.

You won’t find that opinion in this post. It was a terrible, awful bill. But this is a terrible, awful situation. That vote was nothing to celebrate.

In the end, passing a short-term purity test on conservative principles will prove useless if the lack of rescue legislation torpedoes the market, sinks the economy into a deep recession or even depression, and causes a sharp turn toward interventionism and statism in the United States regardless of the party that is in power after November.

The last time that the country made that turn, in the 1930s, it was 1980 before it turned back. In that sense, a vote by conservatives against this legislation was a case of cutting off their nose to spite their face.

Further, we’re not talking about a limited or isolated situation here. A collapse of credit markets and banks in the United States will inevitably spread overseas. Already, European banks are failing too.

The collapse of American credit markets will rapidly spread to global credit markets, and we will see the entire world economy freeze up. Development and growth will halt. The global economy will contract. Unemployment will skyrocket. Not just here, but in developing countries as well.

We now face a situation that will undermine if not destroy the global free market system created after the end of the Cold War.

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Final Vote Results

Voted Against the Bailout:

• Dan Burton
• Mike Pence
• Steve Buyer
• Pete Visclosky
• Andre Carson
• Baron Hill

Voted For the Bailout:

• Joe Donnelly
• Brad Ellsworth
• Mark Souder

Thanks to Sean Hackbarth for sending me the link.

Right now, I’m a little speechless that Mark Souder voted for the bailout.  I’m interested to find out why.  I hope to have press releases shortly from a few of our congressmen on the issue.

Cross Posted from Frugal Hoosiers.

The Indianapolis Star penned a lengthy article today that describes a problem in Indiana with regard to the state’s ability to revoke a teacher’s license.  It seems that once you have that thing, you can pretty much do whatever you want and not lose it.

The 7-year-old tried to keep her teacher’s hands off her.

She faked stomachaches, hoping to stay home from school.

When that failed, a prosecutor later said, the girl wore dresses so the teacher couldn’t slip his hand down the back of her pants.

It was a battle she might have been spared in another state: Four years earlier, two different girls in different classes accused the same teacher, Jeffrey Baber, of the same thing. Nothing happened after police discounted those claims.

In Georgia, the accusations would have been enough to spark a review by state investigators.

In Ohio, the allegations would have been put on record for parents to check.

In Utah and other states, the complaints likely would have cost him his educator’s license.

In Indiana, he kept teaching.

The case highlights flaws in the state’s approach to protecting schoolchildren. The Indiana Department of Education’s efforts are largely limited to conducting criminal background checks within Indiana and checking newspaper clippings for educators who have been arrested. That information helps the state revoke 10 to 20 licenses a year. — Indianapolis Star

So after laying out a compelling case for change, Dick Wood, the democrat candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, offers up this gem:

“You just have to deal with those situations on a case-by-case basis,” he said. “I’m not advocating any change. I would not initiate anything to make the process more lenient or anything to make it more stringent. The law we have in place is working at present.”

Working?  Tell that to the 7 year old whose teacher couldn’t keep his hands to himself.  I don’t think anyone is saying it should be easy to revoke a teacher’s license, but there has to be some basic standard that disqualifies you from teaching if you participate in heinous crimes.  The Dick Wood plan seems to be supporting the status quo where a felon can keep on teaching.  Someone should have mentioned to him that people want change this year from their politicians, especially when it comes to felons teaching their kids.

It was reported all over today on the cable news channels that Nancy Pelosi “allowed” certain congressmen who were in tight re-election races to vote against the bailout bill (apparently there were more tight races than she thought).  The Sodrel campaign release the following presser questioning whether Baron actually voted in good faith or because he got a pass from the General.

SODREL SAYS HILL GOT A PASS TO VOTE AGAINST BAILOUT

(Jeffersonville, IN) – Congressional Candidate Mike Sodrel today made the following statement regarding the bailout vote:

“Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi does not want to lose her position as Speaker of the House. She has allowed vulnerable Democrat members like Baron Hill to vote against the $700 billion bailout. Apparently she believes House Members Brad Ellsworth and Joe Donnelly are safe as they voted for the bailout.

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Posted in Baron Hill, Congress, Economy, Mike Sodrel | 2 Comments » | Read more..

CONGRESSMAN DAN BURTON VOTES AGAINST

RISKY WALL STREET BAILOUT PLAN

(Washington, D.C.) – Congressman Dan Burton [R-IN-05] released the following statement regarding the proposed $700 Billion Wall Street bailout package which failed earlier today in the House of Representatives by a vote of 228 to 205.

“I firmly believe Congress must pass an Alternative Economic Rescue Plan. Congress should not leave Washington until we solve this problem. I voted no today because, in the long term, I believe this particular bill would be devastating to the economy and create an inflationary nightmare. We must also ensure that we are not inadvertently purchasing bad debt from China or other countries. We must establish guidelines to prevent Wall Street from taking the same risks in the future.

“I am backing legislation that helps our financial markets work through this current crisis instead of just providing a handout. The bill I support would provide tax incentives like removing the Capital Gains tax to companies as well as individuals, reform the rules governing government-sponsored enterprises like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to make them more stable, and would provide companies with increased oversight and accountability.

“I believe that we should come back immediately following the Jewish holidays, bring in William Isaac, former chairman of the FDIC who got us through the savings and loan crisis in the 1980’s, and other experts who have helped get our country through similar financial crises in the past. We should then pass a bill that will protect the American people and prevent this type of thing from happening in the future.”

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In a bi-partisan shocker, Congress voted down a $700 Billion dollar bail out of Wall Street that amounted to socialism.

From Foxnews.com (the only site that would load after the vote came through):

House leaders held open the vote as they tried to sway reluctant lawmakers to support the plan, which failed 205-228. Arm-twisting continued even after the vote clock expired. One member, retiring Republican Rep. Jerry Weller, did not vote.

The bill aimed to open up clogged credit lines for financial markets that had come to a near collapse. Sellers continued to shed stocks as the market teetered down more than 450 points after the vote ended.

Representatives worked throughout the weekend to make a bill palatable. Republicans had insisted on a mortgage securities insurance paid by firms who had invested in bad housing loans.

But many lawmakers continued to oppose the plan for a variety of reasons, including the massive price tag that would expand the national debt, and GOP members said constituents were calling 10-1 in opposition to the bill, which had been described as too much government intervention. Of 235 Democrats, 141 supported the legislation. Of 199 Republicans, 132 opposed it.

I hope to post later the way our Hoosier Congressmen voted on this bill once the House.gov sites are able to load again.

 Baron’s been exceptionally transparent with his phony pandering of late, and the Indiana Daily Student calls him on it:

Lately, Baron Hill has been looking more like a populist than an economist. This was evident in his support of the Commodity Markets Transparency and Accounting Act, which recently passed through the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill is supposed to increase regulation on oil speculators and lower the price of gasoline. The problem is that speculators aren’t to blame for the dramatic rise in oil and gas prices.

Hill would have us believe that this bill will significantly lower the price of oil, but almost any economist would disagree.

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Posted in Another Baron Lie, Baron Hill, Congress, Energy, Gas Prices, Taxes | 1 Comment » | Read more..