Wednesday, September 30, 2015

How Your Tax Money Is Spent
Planned Parenthood, a private organization that receives $500 million a year in tax dollars, came under fire during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. The chairman, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, accused the group of spending $40 million on travel, office space and entertainment, including $622,706 on "blowout parties" with celebrity guests.

Here's a bit of irony to digest. Bill O'Reilly, the combative host of "The Factor" who regularly browbeats his guests and sometimes throws tantrums on the air, advised presidential candidate Donald Trump to change his style and "be a bit kinder and more mature." Trump appeared on O'Reilly's show after ending a boycott of Fox News, which he had accused of being unfair.
"I won't be as tanned." - House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, asked how he would differ from outgoing House Speaker John Boehner if he succeeds him.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Lax enforcement of asset tests is allowing millionaire lottery winners, people with vacation homes and owners of jet skis, boats and motorhomes to use taxpayers' money to buy their groceries. It's estimated that four million recipients of food stamps have assets higher than the federal limits.

Thousands of thrillseekers took "selfies" of Pope Francis with their phones during his six-day visit to the U.S. but one congressman collected a special souvenir. After the pope addressed a joint session of Congress, Rep. Bob Brady, D-Pa., snatched the glass of water the pontiff drank from. He poured part of it into a bottle for use in blessing his grandchildren. But the rest of it he drank, along with his wife and two of his staffers.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is favored to replace retiring House Speaker John Boehner, but another candidate -- Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla. -- has announced his intentions to run. He certainly has a good name. Daniel Webster was a powerful lawmaker, statesman and orator in the early days of American history.


Friday, September 25, 2015

Disgraced ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner lost another job, but no worries. His wife, Huma Abeden, makes enough money for both of them. As a close associate of Hillary Clinton she is accustomed to being on multiple payrolls -- Clinton's PAC, the State Department, the Clinton foundation, and so on.

Members of Congress "behaved reasonably well" when Pope Francis spoke to an unprecedented joint session, according to The Washington Post.  Maybe they thought Catholic nuns were stationed around with rulers to slap the hands of unruly lawmakers. As expected House Speaker John Boehner cried a lot. But at least he didn't blow his nose loudly.

How Your Taxes Are Spent
Over the past decade the Environmental Protection Agency has spent $92.4 million on office furniture including designer chairs and tables and "a simple drawer to store pencils that cost $813.57," The Wash
ington Times reports.

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Hillary Clinton bowed to environmentalists and after years of dodging the question took a stand against the Keystone XL pipeline. It's about time. The Hill newspaper says it has taken longer for the federal government to review the pipeline's permit application than it did to build the entire transcontinental railroad 150 years ago.

Shortly before the arrival of Pope Francis in Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest made a number of comparisons between President Obama and his distinguished guest. An eager public saw one glaring difference right away. While the U.S. president rides in a gas-guzzling limousine, the pope chose a humble Fiat 500L to travel from the air base into Washington.

"You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Berra (1925-2015)

Monday, September 21, 2015

Because of voter animosity toward Washington candidates for the 2016 presidential race are trying to run as outsiders. In fact, only three -- all Republicans -- have never held political office. Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, is trying a new tack. She claims that being the first woman president would make her an outsider.

One billionaire plows money into his own presidential campaign, but David Rubenstein spends his wealth on panda sex. He just gave $4.5 million to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington to support research on panda reproduction and pay for upgrades to the panda habitat at the National Zoo, where a new panda cub was born recently.

When asked to describe herself in three words, Hillary Clinton responded: "I am a real person." That's five words. But after all you don't have to be able to count to serve in Congress.

Friday, September 18, 2015

Presidential candidate Donald Trump says he's the best one to fill the bully pulpit. Well, he got the bully part right.

In August of 1979 Ted Kennedy was the odds-on favorite to get the Democratic nomination for president. Then Roger Mudd of CBS asked him: "Why do you want to be president?" Kennedy's incoherent non-answer doomed his chances. Hillary Clinton did something similar when CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked her to name her "number one accomplishment" as Secretary of State. She couldn't do it.  She responded by ridiculing the Republican debate and telling Blitzer, "this is just the silly season."

While President Obama happily boasts about the Iran nuclear deal that seems destined to sail through Congress, his CIA director, John Brennan, is worried that Tehran may outsource parts of its nuclear and missiles program to North Korea. The deal would not prohibit it and Iran could pay for it with the $150 billion in assets the deal frees up.

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Big Brother government is testing you. President Obama has signed an executive order authorizing federal agencies to conduct behavioral experiments on citizens as a means of advancing administration initiatives.

How does the U.S. Supreme Court differ from Congress? Justice Stephen Breyer told Stephen Colbert: "Of course, we disagree. (But) I have never heard a voice raised in anger. I have never heard one member of our court say something insulting about another. "

The National Press Club in Washington offered this menu of cocktails named to match the contestants in the second Republican debate: The Rubio (Cuba Libre), The Cruz (Canadian Club), The Christie (Boilermaker), The Trump (Corona) and The Carly (Cosmopolitan).

Monday, September 14, 2015

Did Miss South Carolina blow a chance to become Miss America by her answer to a question about a ban on assault weapons? Daja Dial responded: "If we teach people the proper way to use guns, then we will reduce the risk on having gun related accidents."

In Virginia there were guns in evidence at an anti-gun rally attended by Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe. Te governor, who recently called for more gun control laws, showed up with his armed security detail protecting him.

President Obama's newest adviser is none other than Donald Trump. The Republican frontrunner offered the Democratic president this unsolicited advice: " ...you can make deals on a golf course... He should play with people who can help the country."

Friday, September 11, 2015

Hillary Clinton is about to tie Donald Trump in the polls. She's at 37 percent in a CNN survey while Trump has surged to 32 percent.

Carly Fiorina made it into the main event for the second Republican debate and she might have Donald Trump to thank for it. His sexist insults about her looks and her ability to be president have given her a lot of exposure on the national stage.

"You know why he hasn't read the Bible? Because he's not in it." - Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., jabbing his Republican presidential rival Donald Trump, calling him a "narcissist" and an "egomaniac."

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The do-gooders (and a couple of Republican presidential candidates) who favor helping Europe deal with its migrant crisis seem to forget the U.S. already has an immigration crisis on its hands.

A top master of spin, David Axelrod, is hard pressed to name Hillary Clinton's positive attributes in her race for president. Defending her descending favorability ratings, he said, "her numbers were artificially high to start with."

"I always felt that I was in the military at military school." - Donald Trump, who, with deferments, never served in the armed forces. Trump a virtual GI?

Monday, September 7, 2015

Who would have thought a year ago that an avowed Socialist would be leading in the early polls as the top choice for the Democratic nominee for president? Bernie Sanders is nine points ahead of Hillary Clinton, the former presumed shoo-in, in the key state of New Hampshire.
 
Cold Hard Facts
On this Labor Day, a record number of Americans -- 94,031,000 -- were not in the labor force. That figure for August was up 261,000 more than July. And for the third straight month, the labor force participation rate stayed stuck at 62.6 percent, a 38-year low. Under the Democratic administration of Barack Obama, the labor force participation rate for women has declined to 58.2 percent and the unemployment rate is higher than white workers for blacks (9.5 percent) and Hispanics (6.6 percent).

One excuse Hillary Clinton and her campaign staffers use to defend her use of a personal computer and server for emails about sensitive national security matters is that all her successors had done it, too. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell put the lie to that in an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press. He said he had two machines on his desk: a secure State Department computer for classified material and a laptop for emails.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Hillary Clinton has revealed a new political wrinkle (as opposed to a skin wrinkle) in her run for president: to thank her supporters she's going to send them a "mystery box." But who wants a box of shredded top secret messages?

There he goes again. Rick Perry, whose 2012 bid for president was doomed when he fumbled a debate question about which federal department he would eliminate, dropped this pearl of wisdom in a TV appearance: "You know, a broken clock is right once a day." Perry had been asked about Donald Trump's hint that the former Texas governor was getting out of the 2016 presidential race.

Critics of President Obama's crusade against global warming have suggested he put his policies where the sun doesn't shine. That he did, when he went to the frozen north and promoted solar energy in an Alaskan town that gets less than six hours of sunlight on winter days.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin drew a stout defender against attacks by Donald Trump, who burrowed into the former secretary of state's email practices. Trump suggested Abedin might have shared state secrets with her husband, then a congressman. But former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who was tarred by an Internet sexting scandal, is not exactly her best character witness.

Despite the disgusting scenes of bargaining over sale of tissue from aborted fetuses, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says they don't persuade enough members of Congress to stand up to President Obama and cut off federal funds going to Planned Parenthood. "That awaits a new president," he said.

How Your Taxes Are Spent
Acording to Independent Institute, a liberal think tank, a federal patent examiner did no work for 18 weeks while getting paid his full salary. Also, a senior policy adviser for the Environmental Protection Agency told his bosses he worked for the CIA and did no work for two and a half years.