So long, Fitzgerald

US Attorney for Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald, is calling it quits after a decade on the job.

He’s stood up to two governors (one democrat and one republican – both in jail at this moment) and all sorts of elected officials and their cronies.

I personally would like to see the indictments go on, especially in the senate seat sale.  In my opinion, there are all sorts of convictions to be had for people who played the bidding game with Blagojevich and didn’t report it.

But at some point the US Attorney must move on to other things.

Godspeed, Mr. Fitzgerald.  You will be missed.

Telling it like it ISN'T

I see that a Latino PAC has launched a guilt-by-association campaign against Romney.  The gist of it is that Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Governor Jan Brewer and Candidate Romney are all picking on those poor illegal aliens.

They aren’t really clear about the PAC’s position.

Is it open borders?

How about, “No human being is illegal”?

Are they suggesting amnesty for all?

One of my favorites is the extension of anchor baby citizenship to their older siblings who are here illegally.  It goes like this.

Step 1: Allow our school system to teach you English and provide you with three to 13 years of free public education.

Step 2: Allow us to give you in-state tuition at our colleges and universities.

Step 3: At the end we will give you citizenship

Wow!  What a dream plan that is.  What’s in it for me?  I guess I get to subsidize the tuition with my tax money.

I’m not hearing any gratitude for what we have already given to Latinos.  For example, do they ever acknowledge the favoritism shown to Mexico?

That one little country of 107 million gets more green cards than any other.

Approximately 15% of Mexican nationals live HERE, not THERE.

We have unified more of their family members based solely on blood line than any other.

We allow about $2 billion a month to flow out of our country tax-free in remittances.

We buy over 12% of our oil from Mexico.

We educate their children in English for free.

We allow them access to food stamps, subsidized housing and health care as though they were native-born.

We provide law enforcement support in the form of cash, training and equipment.

Our politicians cover for Mexicans who are here illegally, choosing to look the other way and grant them individual amnesty rather than send them home.

Do we ever hear any of them say , “Thank you”?

All I’m hearing is demands for more.

Brewer and Arpaio are simply saying “No” and demanding the enforcement of existing immigration laws.  Yet they are being painted as the evil ones for taking a stand.  Russell Pierce was thrown under the bus by his church and the PR machine.  Too bad. 

If Arizona falls, it’ll be another California.

I’ve said it before.  Mitt Romney needs to say, “I refuse to divide America in terms of color.  Immigration laws exist for a reason.  Obey the law or change it.  As President I am bound to uphold it.”

Boats, government spending and the unseen

The boats have to do with Reagan’s notion that lowering taxes increases income that then blesses the economy through spending and investment.  (Paradoxically, JFK first used the term, “A rising tide lifts all boats,” to justify a dam project in 1963.)

Government spending is not investment; it is merely spending.

The “unseen” part comes from the essay by French statesman Frederic Bastiat titled “That Which is Seen.”

The overarching principle here is that money in the hands of government is not the same as money in the hands of the public.  The “redistribution of wealth” is a false notion.  “Destruction of wealth,” is more like it.

Let’s take retirement savings for example.  When you put money in the bank for your retirement, that money is put to work by being loaned to someone else.  People buy cars, go to school, take vacations, remodel the bathroom, start a business, build a new home…with your retirement money.

When government takes your FICA deduction, it goes directly into the hands of a retiree or maybe someone the government has declared “disabled.”  Now, the feds could have acted like a bank and made investments, but instead they used that pot of money to fund day-to-day government costs.  Instead of continuing the creation of wealth, they killed it.  No rising boats.

So when Washington taxes the rich it isn’t much help.  The money takes a detour from the economy and subsidizes dependency and inefficiency. 

The message of those who want to increase taxes is that government can do better with your money than you can.

Frederic Bastiat was a French politician who was an advocate of small government and low taxes.  I suppose we would call him a Libertarian today.  His essay, “That Which is Seen,” invites us to look at the flow of money in various scenarios.  (This encourages us to look beyond the political hype that taxation helps the poor and government workers are nice people.)

Bastiat takes as his first example a broken window in the cobbler’s shop.  The shoemaker pays the glazier to replace it.  And that’s good for the glazier.  He’s got work. 

But that doesn’t mean the broken window is a good thing.  The shoemaker could have used that money for other things.  One must look at tax money the same way.  Is the government better at circulating that money than you?  I don’t think so.

Drum Circle Democrats

Chicago was host to the NATO Summit this week-end.  It was preceded by a week of protests from various groups.  Each day had a theme.  Strangely, the themes had precious little to do with NATO itself.

But beating the drums means you don’t have to provide substance.  Noise trumps logic.  There is no need for an agenda, solutions or proposals.  Just keep the rhythm going.

Here is the daily menu of protest choices:

• Monday – Obama’s Re-election HQ
• Tuesday – Immigration Reform
• Wednesday – Moratorium on Foreclosures and Evictions
• Thursday – Obama’s Re-election HQ (again)
• Friday – Nurses

Now, there are side trips to BP, the stock exchange, Mayor Emanuel’s home, city hall…

The nurses were burdened with a chip on their shoulder from last October.  They claimed to be on-call at the Occupy protest (in case some poor dear got a splinter from their protest poster), but the Chicago Police weren’t buying it after the nurses refused to pack up at the end of the day.  They were warned but they thought they were somehow exempt from the rules.  A few of them spent the night in jail.  They’ve been rather upset ever since.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-10-24/news/ct-met-occupy-chicago-arrests-1023-20111024_1_protesters-nurses-union-national-nurses-united

So the nurses got a day unto themselves for the NATO protest.  They had red t-shirts and green caps.  It was the Robin Hood theme.  Tax the stock market and give the proceeds to government programs for social justice. 

Of course, every liberal cause known to man wanted a chance to be in front of the cameras.  They had guaranteed face time in Chicago all week long.  Who could resist the drum circles?

Much like the Occupy movement, the message is obscure and their solutions even more so.

Here is a partial list of all the “causes” represented during NATO week:

• End Drone Attacks *
• Women’s Rights (except SAHMs and female fetuses)
• Chicago Teachers Union
• Unions in general
• ACLU (Where were they when the Tea Party was protesting?)
• Mental Health Clinics
• Illegal Alien Rights (Do they ever stop to think about the lifestyle the third world escapees already enjoys in NATO countries like France, Great Britain and the United States?)
• Occupy (fill in the blank)
• Vegans
• Ron Paul
• Code Pink
• Global Warming
• National Nurses United
• National Lawyers Guild
• Veterans (throwing their medals away in protest)*
• Obama’s Re-election Campaign HQ
• Canadian Consulate*
• British Consulate*
• German Consulate*
• Afghans for Peace*
• Chicago Tribune
• Social Justice
• Oil Exploration
• Tar Sands Extraction
• Economic Justice
• Chicago’s Homicide Rate
• COEXIST
• Tax Wall Street
• Foreclosures

*indicates those causes marginally associated with NATO

Even some of the protesters got turned off by all the mixed messages.

This sort of reminds me of the Hail Mary effort to get May Day protesters riled up in 2008.  They invited everyone but Sara Palin and had 2,000 participants.  (See previous blog here: http://alienrants.blogspot.com/2008/05/whats-your-point.html )

Those wacky progressives love to gather around a tom-tom and protest something…anything.

I Never Could Say No

Government simply cannot say no.  Politicians can’t do it.  They avoid the negatives.  They don’t want to go on record with a “No can do,” attitude.

Now, mix in a bureaucrat who makes decisions at a government operation…say a school or a welfare office or a Section 8 agency.  That bureaucrat knows liberals in office means more money for their budget.  Conservatives are likely to be more stingy.  (Think Wisconsin or New Jersey.)

The bureaucrat is going to work hard to create grateful customers.  She’s grooming liberal voters who are likely to vote for candidates who will give her a raise and keep the program going.

Look at the folks coming to the aid of the Chicago Teachers Union.  They are liberal parents and pastors.  Look at the people sending out mailers about home health care.  It’s the union (SEIU). 

And the mantra of the Occupy crowd is, Tax the rich and give it to the government for social programs.  In fact, there is a rally in Chicago today by the Nurses’ Union.  They are advocating a tax on the stock market with the money going to social programs.  It’s all part of the NATO Summit protest by the unions.

They are all trying to make more money flow toward government.

They are not particularly interested in efficiency.  More customers means more government employees.  (I might add that there is a tendency to hire government workers who are also liberal.  It makes job-protection easier.)

Essentially you have a sealed system.  Add the public sector unions and it is almost foolproof.  Such a program will never police itself. 

But even liberal politicians like Rahm Emanuel and Pat Quinn realize that the program is not sustainable.  When Illinois Democrats start asking questions you know we are in serious trouble.

But Washington still didn’t get the message.  We heard Harry Reid recently tell us that sending tax refunds to children in Mexico was the right thing to do, even in the face of $5 BILLION in fraud.  We regularly hear politicians defend the DREAM Act (in-state tuition for illegal alien children, followed by amnesty.)  Our own president refuses to prosecute people here unlawfully unless they are violent felons.

They just can’t say no, even in the face of the law itself.

And if you’re an illegal alien you are watching all this and sensing weakness…or maybe insanity.  But it doesn’t exactly command respect.

Defunding

I suppose the process of defunding has been around Washington for a long time.  The public is just now learning about it and how it works.  It has many uses.

First of all, the House handles appropriations based on the president’s budget proposal each year.  And what is in it after they edit it reflects the wishes of the House.  As the largest governing body the intent was to fund those things that are most important for the majority of Americans.

Checks and balances are such that the Senate can either approve the budget or send it back to the House, thus making the necessary adjustments before passage.  And the last step is when the President signs it.

Defunding that occurs early in the process is typically the House taking a stand on an issue.  As they are preparing their version of the budget they debate and decide, for example, that NPR should be defunded because of its left-leaning programming and mismanaged fundraising.  Or, an organization like Planned Parenthood or ACORN is defunded for political reasons.

The idea is that significant numbers of Americans find the functions of certain institutions repulsive and their congressmen react by withholding grant money from said institutions.

Another defunding strategy is an effort by the House to reign in power grabbed by the White House.  For example, Obamacare.  It was rammed through a democrat congress and when the power shifted the House moved to cut off funds for implementation.

In a similar move, the House is defunding efforts by Attorney General Holder to sue the states for their immigration statutes.  The amendment simply states that he is not allowed to spend money on these lawsuits.

And the simple Washington solution is for the Senate to stall any budget at all…for three years!  It’s like you and your spouse disagreeing on how much your entertainment budget should be, so you don’t talk about household spending at all.  That makes sense.  NOT!

But there is another defunding trick to watch for.  This one is calculated to deceive the voters.  A prime example is the border fence.  Back in 2006 Bush was unable to get enough votes for his legalization/amnesty program.  People were asking the obvious question: Why do we want to do another amnesty program like 1986 when you haven’t done your job?  It is the lack of enforcement over the years that has created this problem in the first place.

And everyone seemed to agree that the first step was to stop the flow of illegal aliens.  Then they would later talk about what to do with the ones already here.  (It was, of course, delaying the hard questions.)  It’s shameful what passes for “consensus” these days.  No one even thinks about how this common ground will help solve the real problem.

So, Bush and the democrat congress got together and signed a bill to build 700 miles of fence.  And from the headlines the voters believed they were actually going to do it.

But the strategy didn’t really help.  They still couldn’t get an amnesty bill pushed through.  Some astute congressmen were smart enough to say, “Show me first.”  And they weren’t willing to allow Bush to decide by himself when enough fence had been built to satisfy the law.

So at the end of that year they defunded the fence-building before approving the budget.  But we didn’t really get any press coverage about the defunding.  The voters were still thinking we were getting 700 miles of fence, but Bush and the Senate had taken away the money.

House members were silent because they wanted to continue to tell their constituents that they voted for the fence.

In the end, the voters lost.  The 700 miles of fence took four years to build and every Homeland Security Secretary wrote annual reports telling us what great progress they were making on this urgent program.

Every one of the reports claimed that we are better protected than ever.  What none of them tells us is that by stalling the funding and playing political games that level of protection was delayed by three years.

Hence, the worst kind of defunding happens behind closed doors.  There is no debate, just a few people deciding to quietly draw a line through a project.  It’s the ones we never hear about that bother me the most.

And with all the red ink in Washington it is easy to simply say, “We don’t have the money for it.”  Finally, a little truth oozes out of the Beltway.  But it begs the question, Why do they keep talking about plans and programs when we don’t have any money in the first place?  You would think that after a few years they’d get the idea.

Harry, Harry, Harry

Once again Harry Reid, the Democrat Senator from Nevada, proves that he just doesn’t get it.

I could list some of Harry’s blunders, but I won’t.

I’d rather talk about his latest nonsense.  As I recently wrote, there is a problem with the tax code.  (Well, several really.  But let’s focus on this one for now.)  It has to do with the ITIN holders and their fraudulent use of the Additional Child Tax Credit.

Senator Reid says this about the problem: “I just think the child tax credit is working just fine and there’s no need to punish children.”

“…working just fine..” he says.  He was just given a report from the Inspector General that people were putting down the names of nieces and nephews living in Mexico, children who never have lived in the United States, and the IRS was sending the filer $1,000 per child in addition to their regular tax refund.  Some of these filers were putting down the names of ten relatives and getting more money back than they ever paid in.

He calls that fine???  Here we have a fraud problem to the tune of $5 BILLION a year and growing and Reid says it’s “…working just fine..”?

“…no need to punish children…” he says. 

First off, the point is that these aren’t our children.  They don’t even live here.  Reid can’t even invoke the Anchor Baby logic on this one.  They are children living in Mexico who have never lived here.  If Reid wants to help them it would be in the form of foreign aid, not the tax code.

Secondly, what makes him think that the money is actually getting to those children.  The filer committed fraud to claim the money.  Do you think he’s got the integrity to send his refund to those children? 

Third, the children themselves might be fictitious.  After all, the return is.

I’m beginning to think Harry Reid is a simpleton.  He really doesn’t get it.  He’s just a Washington useful idiot.  Put a quarter in him and he spouts off the party line. 

How does someone like that get to be Senate Majority Leader?