Anytime I receive a political email from “Jay the Janitor” (a liberal leaning friend who calls himself an Independent) my instinct is to hit the delete button.  Recently, I actually read the liberal diatribe contained therein.  It was an op-ed by Paul Krugman – the “Conscience of a Liberal” Krugman.  Jay did not add anything to the discussion.  He simply told me and the others he copied “happy reading.”  I’m sure he smiled as he hit the send button.  It’s time for Jay to stop smiling.

Krugman in his “Bigger than Bush” piece encourages President-Elect Obama to expand the size of government and accuses Republicans of being whiners and fundamentally racists.  I doubt if Jay believes that the government is the answer to all of our problems or that Republicans are fundamentally racists.  If Republicans are whining, it is about the subject of Mr. Krugman’s article – George Bush – they are whining about.

Krugman contends that Republicans are complaining that the failures of the Bush Administration were a matter of dumb luck.  To the contrary, the failings of the Bush Administration were the results of bad policy.  Not only were President Bush’s major initiative bad, they were liberal government growing policies and his sidekick is someone that Mr. Krugman aligns with ideologically – Ted Kennedy.  No Child Left Behind – written by Ted Kennedy and George Bush.  Immigration Reform – written by Ted Kennedy and George Bush.  Prescription Drugs – written by Ted Kennedy and George Bush.  I say to Mr. Krugman and Jay, the squeals you hear are not whines, those are screaming voices gone hoarse from yelling at Ted Kennedy and George Bush for proving what Republicans new all long, bigger government means bigger problems.

Krugman without any background information to support his diatribe accuses Republicans of being racist.  His fundamental premise is that Republicans are holding minorities back through tax cuts.  Even Krugman cannot believe this himself.  Krugman hints that Republicans have been fighting against Civil Rights and Voting Rights, but leaves out the fact that Republicans were responsible for passing both, not Democrats.

Krugman also criticizes Republicans because Chip Saltsman of the famous “Barack the Magic Negro” is one of six people trying to become Chairman of the RNC.  This guilt by association is not something Mr. Krugman embraced when the aforementioned Ted Kennedy called Janice Rogers Brown, an African American judicial nominee, a Neanderthal.  As an aside, Jay forgot to email me about this as well.  Mr. Saltsman can join the list of stupid Republicans, but please don’t cross the racial barrier line for the entire party.

Indeed, I say to Mr. Krugman and Jay, it was not the Republicans who took the role of George Wallace today and stood in the trenches between the Senate Chambers to deny the only African American duly appointed his post in the Senate.  Everyone knows that the Senate has routinely overlooked the missing signature from the Secretary of State and that there are no legal grounds to deny Roland Burris his corrupt appointed seat.

Mr. Krugman even rejected the Reagan philosophy that government is not the solution to our problem but the problem.  I say the Mr. Krugman and Jay, that’s the way George Bush has governed from No Child Left Behind to the current bailouts.  The Bush Administration did bring us a string of bad luck.  The bad was Bush and the luck was Ted Kennedy getting most of his liberal policies.  That’s not a whine you hear.  That’s me and others who have lost our voices still trying to yell, “Remember Reagan.”

There are many problems with the Republican Party, but I’ve stumbled upon the most problematic one — misplaced passion.

On January 20th, 168 individuals will cast a vote to elect the next Chairman of the RNC.  Normally this selection is made behind closed doors with very little, if any, fanfare.  This year, six candidates have engaged each other in debate, challenged each others credentials and filled out questionnaires about their qualifications.  They all want to lead the Republicans back.

What have we required of theses individuals?  We have asked them to promise to be fiscally responsible, morally responsible and party leaders not dividers.  This is not something we, or I should say those who voted for him, required of McCain when he was selected to be the Republican Presidential nominee. Indeed, we knew that outside of being somewhat fiscally responsible, McCain would fail us.

These are not standards we require of members of the party, who actually hold certificates of election and can actually cast votes to influence policies that really matter. Insert here your own list of liberal Republicans who would reject at least 50% of the Republican Platform we are holding the potential RNC Chairman accountable for.

The only question missing from the the RNC Chairman debate that really matters is this “when you spot a Democrat in Republican clothing, will you strip the emperor of his robe?” Half of those contending would probably talk about how we need a broad tent.  That broad tent is part of our misplaced passion. If Republicans continue to look at numbers instead of principles, they will continue to flounder in the minority.  Two of the remaining three would probably agree that we don’t need a big tent, but wouldn’t put rubber to the road to back say Pat Toomey versus Arlen Specter in a primary race.  The final one, whoever that might be, will not be selected and even if he is, it is no added measure to leading Republicans back.

I’m tired of discussions about web 1.0 and 2.0.  I’m tired of discussions about changing the image of the party.  I’m tired of the Republican party focusing on the flash instead of the finality.  The Chairman of the RNC is a flash.  The individuals who hold certificates of election represent our final hope and that’s where our passions should be.  Holding the Chairman of the RNC accountable on anything other than disrobing the emperor is worthless.  Not supporting individuals for election who don’t adhere to the platform we create, is priceless.

Honor the Sabbath and keep it holy — not Harry Reid.  Reid prefers to sin on Sunday, and he is using our tax dollars to do it.
 
Today, Senator Reid is calling the Senate back for a rare Sunday session.  What’s the crisis?  Reid has a massive lands bill that he would like to pass without debate and Senator Tom Coburn is standing in the way.
 
Rather than allow Senator Coburn to offer a few common sense amendments to a $10 billion spending spree that makes no sense at all, Senator Reid is using a procedural motion to effectively end debate and avoid adding controversy to a bill that heretofore has been said to be without controversy.  The reason for this is clear; no one has read the bill.
 
Senator Coburn requested the right to offer amendments and filed thirteen for consideration.  Let’s consider a few of those amendments:
 
One would strike $3.5 million allocated for a party in St. Augustine Florida.
 
One would strike $1 billion allocated to save 500 salmon in California.
 
One would strike $5 million allocated for botanical gardens in Hawaii and Florida.
 
Now you can understand why Senator Reid does not want to debate the legislation or have anyone read it. On top of all of the frivolous spending, the bill removes trillions of natural resources from energy exploration and places additional burdens on a backlogged national park system.
 
Senator Reid wants the nation to believe that he is doing our business and that Senator Coburn is the reason for the Sunday session. All of us are guilty at some point of sinning on Sunday, but this Sunday’s vote results from the sins of one man — Harry Reid.

Earlier this year, Senator Dianne Feinstein indicated it should be illegal to scalp inauguration tickets.  She clearly did not check with the President-Elect before introducing the concept.  Under Senator Feinstein’s standard, the President-Elect is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.

The President –Elect plans to throw a big inauguration party and he is inviting his “yes we can” to “yes we did” friends to pay for it, by bidding for tickets to Inauguration Day.

President Clinton sold tickets to the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House.  President-Elect Obama is selling access to lawn chairs on the Capitol grounds.

In an email with the subject “Your Ticket to History” the President-Elect invites individuals to “show your support for a different kind of politics and a different kind of inauguration with a donation of $5 or more today.”  I added an emphasis on the more, because the minimum amount you can automatically select on the contribution form is $25.  Of course, the fine print indicates you can play the lottery as often as you like.

As a defender of the free market, I am not a proponent of criminalizing individuals scalping their wares.  If the highest bidder is foolish enough to pay for an inauguration ticket that has been issued free of charge, he should have the right to do that.  The President-Elect, however, is biting the hand that feeds.

For the President-Elect’s supporters the “change” they can believe in will be the change they have left after trying to be the highest bidder for a cold lawn chair in the dead of winter in Washington.  Their dollars – more than $5 I might add – will be spent on an inauguration party they paid for, but finally did not get the invite to.

Every year millions of children send letters to the North Pole, hoping that Santa and his little helpers might load up the sleigh and deliver them some goodies.  Here’s a controversial statement: parents who allow this are parenting irresponsibly.  Instead of sending a letter to the North Pole, parents really interested in seeing their children have a Merry Christmas should encourage their children to write the Congress and ask for an earmark.

There’s one reason Jesse James robbed banks – that’s where the money is.  If you write to the North Pole, Santa generally sends you a bill for the toys he delivers.  If you write to the Congress, someone else pays for the delivered toys.  In a report released earlier this week Senator Coburn tells you the kind of toys you have been paying for.  I highlight a few of them here:

$15 thousand – voicemail for homeless people

$784 thousand – training for casino workers

$374 thousand – inflatable alligator and underwater-slide

$66 thousand – for a library to provide bicycles to patrons

$326 thousand – search for Alaskan Ice Worms

$2.4 million – 3D space theater

$280 thousand – EPA staff vacation to Australia

$50 thousand – Halloween signs

$13 million – art museum in Iraq

$9.4 million – search for outer space aliens

These are just some of the toys you’re paying for. (You can read the report here.) Speaker Nancy Pelosi has indicated that she plans to have a $600 billion stimulus package ready for President-Elect Obama to sign, assuming the Senate takes action, immediately after his inauguration.  If you want to write the North Pole and pay Santa Claus for his delivery charges, that’s your choice.  I’m sending all of my requests to the Congress.