While there is much to dislike about the various incarnations of the Boehner Plan, there is a fair bit in their that we can like. It contains actual immediate decreases in federal spending. Yes, they are only reductions from baseline projections, not reductions in current spending, but at least they are real, instead of the smoke and mirrors we’ll get from The Cheat and the Pretender. The problem with the Boehner plan is phase 2: another congressional committee and an automatic approval process for whatever the committee decides; and the committee will be stacked with tax and spenders. So jettison it. Offer only the cuts of the first phase and the increase in the debt limit that goes with it. Add some rhetorical flourishes that we aren’t opposed to increasing revenues, then point to increasing the rate at which permits for drilling in the gulf are issued, and approving the transcontinental gas pipeline, both of which will pump more money into the American economy which will increase revenues as well as reduce expenditures, which will extend the operating room under the now increased debt ceiling. Pass this as a clean bill before voting on a revised phase 2.

The revised phase 2 is a single page bill that specifies priorities for spending cash in the future if the debt ceiling is reached. Interest and scheduled bond redemption come 1^st, the troops second, medicare and medicaid, third, and after that everything else get prioritized according to when it was adopted by Congress as a program we should run. There should be a statement in the bill that whereas Social Security is NOT a federal tax expenditure and if funded by an independent tax and a lock box, there is no need to prioritize its payments because those monies are already sacrosanct. And yes, they are allowed to twist the knife as they deliver that one. And yes, that means the last thing funded would be Obamacare. We can of course be conciliatory and willing to entertain future changes to the order of spending priorities, but given the emergency circumstances, only the current bill will be debated.

Finally, having passed both phases out of the House, preferably late at night when all of the senators have gone home, implement the Krauthammer plan – adjourn for the summer. Then if Harry Reid and Obama want to run out of debt ceiling, they can vote it down. ‘But Gadfly’, you say, ‘if Republicans do that, they’ll be criticized for not compromising.’ We already are grasshopper, so you might as well get some mileage out of it.

Meanwhile ACORN has fired the two people from Baltimore, because they “did not meet ACORN’s standards of professionalism.” So Beck’s supposition on his program yesterday was correct. “They’ll definitely fire these two women,” he said as he dramatically crumpled a piece of paper and threw it away. But the context in which he said it is even more important:

Let me make one thing clear: This is not about these two women at ACORN. If the media does what they did to Van Jones, the real message will be lost. It’s not about these women — not even ACORN.

It’s about the power behind ACORN. The power of Wade Rathke. He and his brother run, out of New Orleans, ACORN and SEIU. Those two organizations are in the inner circle of the president of the United States.

They’ll shut ACORN down if they have to. They’ll definitely fire these two women. But this is a shell game: Rathke will just keep doing the same thing under something else.

This is about who the president surrounds himself with.

from ACORN Corruption Caught on Tape

I can feel corruption fatigue starting to set in already, but there’s more. Last night on Beck’s show Hannah started to tell her part of the story. Yesterday most of the focus was on James, and by some postings it sounded like it was his idea. But while they are full partners in the project, she was the one with the ridiculous idea that started it. Armed only with the idea, she called James, and as he immediately recognized its genius, he jumped on it. Today she expanded on it, once again on BigGovernment.com. Please check out her story as well. She wants to be a journalist (her words, not mine; I’d be more inclined to call what she wants to do reporting, or possibly muckraking, but then I rank journalists as a regression past the most primitive form of life) and if she can produce something like this so early in her career, we should all try to see that she is a successful one. I think her best lines are:

We connected with these people on a level they were comfortable with. We came off as troubled, torn, innovative and devoted individuals who couldn’t skirt the system unless the system helped us along our journey.

Our presence screamed, as James puts it, “unique situation.” And so when we sought council in regards to tax evasion, obtaining a house for use as an underage brothel, the avoidance of an abusive pimp, and establishing illegitimate congressional campaign funds, they were ready and unfazed by the direction our conversation took.

James and I saw the ACORN Housing location in Baltimore as a target–the den of a giant corrupt lion. We wanted to get a reaction and gauge the corruption. We came armed with the things necessary to cause a reaction; we came equipped with the things necessary to capture the reaction.

Meanwhile the MSM (or State Controlled Media as Rush likes to call them) used this as their leads across the board right? Nope, cue the crickets instead. At 3:42 PM today I ran a Google search that reported 59 hits for “ACORN prostitution” out of the big three only ABC had a story, and it’s not clear they ran anything on tv. Note their closing paragraph:

We’ve learned the pair tried to pull off the same undercover act at ACORN offices in LA, New York and Philadelphia but were turned away. Merchant-Jones admits it looks bad for Baltimore, so employees will work harder to enforce their own policies. As for the taping, it is illegal in Maryland to record someone’s voice without his or her permission so acorn may be pursing legal action.

Way to stand up for the People’s Right Need to Know, eh?

Meanwhile over at CNN, they did their best job to cover for The Big 0′s water carriers. They trotted out the ever handy adverb “allegedly” to modify their description of statements that are clearly made on the audio, then follow it up by prominently quoting an ACORN official:

Sonja Merchant-Jones, chair of Baltimore City ACORN, told CNN affiliate WMAR-TV that the fired workers were seasonal, part-time employees and that no senior ACORN staff members were in the building at the time the film was made.

You know, the “What me worry?” shtick might work in Mad Magazine but it is a poor response for a non-profit corporation slated to get 7-9 billion dollars from the government, and which is suppose to be playing a major roll in collecting data for the next census. There should be some serious cross-examination of the people offering such a lame excuse.

But CNN wasn’t quite finished yet. It seems that after their lame coverage, they decided to ask James to appear for one of their shows. Needless to say, he was not amused, and like me does not tolerate fools gladly. He has posted his response at BigGovernment.com and Rush read it on his broadcast this afternoon (heard in the car as I was on my way back from getting supplies for tomorrow’s 9/12 March). In it, he thew down the gauntlet, although I expect we will again hear only crickets in response:

Now that ACORN lied to you, Jonathan Klein, what are you going to do?

Maybe Democrat Presidents should stop lying to the American people. It seems to be setting a universally bad precedent.

Update 9/11/2009 10:30 pm Shortly after Beck’s program was over, Fox News announced that the Census Bureau has sent official letters to ACORN national headquarters and the appropriate Congressional committees stating that ACORN will not be involved in any 2010 census activities.

—————

Yes, after yesterday my outrage is again finding words that while not fully adequate, at least begin to convey its full fury.

H/T Moe, who posted before me today.

Mr. O’Keefe’s article includes links to the full audio and a typed transcript of the exchange. You really need to watch the video to get the full impact, and as today is their first day, it seems appropriate to drive traffic to their site rather than simply link to the YouTube clips.

It isn’t often I fail to come up with words that properly convey my level of disgust and contempt for our alleged custodians of the public good, but this is one of them. Fox News is all over this one this morning. I expect Glen Beck will be all over it tonight, as his teaser last night suggested he had already seen previews of the tape.

Update 9/10/2009 6:35 PM

Glen Beck had O’Keefe’s associate on his program tonight

Her name is Hannah and she is a 20 year old journalism student. According to her statements during the program, it was her idea for the script. She called O’Keefe and they worked for 6 weeks planning how they were going to do it. When Glen Beck asked her who funded her (one his current schticks mocking astroturfing charges) she said “I drained my saving account to do the project.” She clarified that her account only covered her costs and O’Keefe covered his costs from his own funding.

Also, they had Judge Andrew Napolitano on. Beck had copies of the tape on Saturday and asked the judge to review it in preparation for tonight’s broadcast. Judge Napolitano rattled off 8 or 9 charges that he thought could be prosecuted, noting that since ACORN gets federal funding, they could be tried in Federal Courts. He also said each of the charges carried a penalty of up to 5 years in prison.

Update 9/11/2009 Wrote a better diary today with lots of updated information.

Update: Beck is reporting Cloture passed with 63 votes in favor. So who are we sending the electronic stink bombs to?

They haven’t voted yet, so if you’ve got a Senator that can be moved, CALL NOW!

At the Red State gathering in Atlanta Georgia this past weekend just by chance I happened to sit at the table where John Randall was eating lunch. I listened to what he had to say, and since I’m generally anonymous, he didn’t know who I am (not that I’m important enough to know in the first place) or things I might have written at Red State. He talked passionately about beating the Democrats and taking back the House. He spoke knowledgeably about races without notes. Later at his public address he repeated some of those same things and said some things that tell me that he, and the NRCC get it. It looks like Moe just posted a link to his public speech, so I’ll just highlight a few things John said that I like (some may have been during lunch):

• He wants a Republican majority in the House next year. He doesn’t care if you don’t give to the NRCC as long as you do donate to Republicans in races against Democrats.

• He thinks the NRCC needs to be an echo chamber for the grassroots, not the other way around.

• He’ll consider himself to have accomplished one of his key jobs when Nancy Pelosi starts having nightmares about what John Randall at the NRCC is going to do to her today.

As John was rushing off to on Sunday morning, I promised him my first post on RedState would be an apology for my earlier statements. I spent about 45 minutes trying to find the most egregious one I know I have made, but was unable to locate it*, so I’m leaving the apology here. I’m including Neil because he did attempt to defend the NRCC. When we are wrong, it is important to acknowledge that we have been wrong, and then attempt to make restitution for that wrong. And on this count, I was wrong. Ordinarily, this would be followed by me sending my standard $25.00 off to a worthwhile cause, but as I was laid-off last Monday it would be irresponsible for me to do that today. I will commit to doing so after I have again found gainful employment.

And a note to the RNC and the NRSC: Look at what the NRCC is doing, and think about the damage that your actions are having on them. I may have been wrong, but there are still a lot of people out there who feel what I expressed in those earlier posts. And that hurts everybody’s chances at accomplishing what needs to be done in 2010 and 2012.

*I found this one, but there was a thread where Neil said the NRCC was different and I said something along the line of it didn’t matter they were all the same to those of us in the base who were tired of getting shafted. If anyone finds the specific exchange I will link to it and wish I could edit the comment to link to this post.

I use to work in IT for a government contracting company that specializes in working government contracts related to healthcare in their IT department. On Monday afternoon July 27, 2009 I, along with 9 other coworkers got canned/laid off/riffed/whatever you want to call it. The bottom line for me is I am now unemployed and looking for work. But first, I have to dig through the mound of paperwork the HR department so helpfully provided as I was being shown the door (at least they did it right this time, my accounts were locked WHILE they were talking to me). It’s a bewildering amount of data to consume at a time when you are in a bit of shock to begin with, and I see why some people want to throw up their hands and let somebody else make the decisions. But guess what? Even facing the worst employment market in my life, I still don’t want The Big 0′s socialized medical plan!

You see, while I might not like listening to Mark Levin because like me he really has a voice for the newspaper, what he says is so important and has such clarity that it is usually worth the irritation. A few nights ago he said we don’t have a health care issue, we don’t even really have a health care insurance issue, what we have are a jobs issue and a government regulation issue. (Wish I could find an audio link but I can’t.) Because of the way the regulations are written, almost all issued health insurance policies are tied to jobs, and Obama and his comrades in Congress have so sabotaged job creation that even more people are being laid off and losing their health insurance.

But instead of simply complaining, let’s take a look at some real numbers, and how George W. Bush’s** proposal on reforming health care would have helped me: universally available Health Savings Accounts (HSA’s). A couple of weeks back, I made an off the cuff, back of the envelop calculation of how much of a fine I’d pay if the Democratic Socialists in Congress pass their healthcare nationalization plan. I thought it might work out to about $225 a year because I’m single on an HMO plan, which of the plans available through my employer was the cheapest one available. Turns out I was wrong, at least if the numbers my employer provided for self-paid cobra coverage will cost are correct. Instead, I’d be saving about $2300 a year by paying the fine. Quite frankly, as a mostly healthy (technically I’m obese, and borderline on cholesterol and blood pressure, but not on any kind of prescription meds) male in my mid 40s, I don’t need that kind of gold plated healthcare plan. So let’s work with those numbers and see how things would have worked if I would have been able to open one W’s HSA accounts.

The first thing I did in thinking about my healthcare insurance was to look on Google to see what sorts of plans might be out there that I could purchase. I found one from a company I didn’t recognize for about $60/month. It had a $10,000 deductible, 20% copay, and didn’t cover office visits. The very next item on the list was from Blue Cross and Blue shield, with similar coverage for a buck more. Prices ranged all the way up to a platinum deluxe plan for about $650/month on a $500 deductible, 20% copay, and you pay 20% of office visit costs after the deductible has been met. Somewhere in the middle, Blue Cross has a plan for about $120/month with a deductible of $2500. So, if I max/min’d this under the HSA, I’d contribute the cost of the insurance plus $2500/year for a total of $4440/year in contributions. First off, this is $860 less than what my former employer had budgeted for me for the current year, money that either I or my employer could have put to more productive uses elsewhere (possibly even having succeeded at growing the business so I’d still be employed). But there’s more: the money would have grown while I was working. For the most part, I haven’t used that health care plan since W was in office. The one time I did need it, I went to the person I thought was my doctor only to find he was no longer in the Aetna network, so I paid that visit out of pocket anyway. Because it is healthcare money that I might need at any point, within the HSA fund, I would have had it in bonds instead of stocks because I might need to tap into the principle IF something bad did happen. So looking at the Van Guard performance indexes for Total Bond fund, and picking 5.3%/yr growth (the midpoint performance between 5 and 10 years because we are talking about 7 years ago more or less), the current balance in my HSA account would be about $18,000 and I wouldn’t HAVE an insurance problem. I’d probably have more money actually, because at the end of the second year I could switch to a $5000 deductible and at the end of the third year I’d probably switch to the $10,000 deductible. And all that money would be invested in growing the economy either by me directly spending it or investing it via the HSA.

In short, W, with most of the heavy lifting having actually been done by The CATO Institute and maybe some help from The Heritage Foundation, solved the health insurance problem years ago. It’s just that The Big 0 and his socialist allies in Congress were unwilling to implement the solution.

** Yeah, I still think he’s a bit of a squish, and only a right leaning moderate as opposed to a conservative, but I owe credit where it’s due, and he did at least propose this as a possible solution to the problem.