That's Our Dave!

(HT Michelle Malkin)

I've got to meet and talk to Amanda Carpenter out here in DC a couple of times. She's not the "make up a story" type.

The man who controls the House purse strings to fund the war in Iraq said the President’s “surge” was showing recent signs of success because U.S. soldiers have “run out of people to kill.”

“One of the reason we’ve had incidents of violence, sectarian violence go down is because they are running out of people to kill,” said the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Rep. David Obey (D.-Wisc.) at a National Press Club luncheon Monday afternoon.

“They’ve killed so many in so many areas, that there are fewer opportunity targets, if you want to put it that way, for each side,” Obey said. “I welcome any reduction in the level in violence for whatever reasons it occurs, but I don’t think that tells us much for what the future is going to be.”

Obey’s remarks were prompted by a question that asked, “Some Republicans say the casualties are going down in Iraq, there seems to be signs the surge is working. Do you think that is true?”

See for yourself. The video is posted below.

Northern Wisconsin, thanks for the continual embarrassment.

Um, Dave...who's "they?"

Fun With Numbers

On Friday November 2nd, two interesting numbers were introduced to the public. The first, was from the Washington Post on U.S. Military deaths in Iraq for October.

The number of attacks against U.S. soldiers has fallen to levels not seen since before the February 2006 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra that touched off waves of sectarian killing, according to U.S. military statistics released Thursday. The death toll for American troops in October fell to 39, the lowest level since March 2006, and the eighth-lowest total in 56 months of fighting, according to the Web site icasualties.org, which tracks military fatalities.

An unofficial Health Ministry tally showed that civilian deaths across Iraq rose last month compared with September, but the U.S. military found that such deaths fell from a high this year of about 2,800 in January to about 800 in October.

Then there was the number of highway deaths in October from the Wisconsin DOT.

In October, 59 people died in 51 Wisconsin traffic crashes, according to preliminary statistics from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. In terms of traffic deaths, last month was the fourth safest month of October since World War II. The lowest total occurred in 1997 with 53 traffic fatalities. The deadliest month of October was in 1971 with 127 fatalities

The 59 deaths in October were eight fewer than in October 2006 when 67 people died in 60 crashes and 10 fewer than the five-year average for the month of October of 69 fatalities in 65 crashes.

As of Oct. 31, a total of 634 people have died in Wisconsin traffic crashes during 2007, including 105 motorcycle drivers, five motorcycle passengers, eight bicyclists and 48 pedestrians. Traffic deaths through October were 41 more than during the same period in 2006 but 23 fewer than the five-year average.

Going by the logic of anti-war liberals, the media, and Democrats; there is just one conclusion to draw here: THE DOT'S SURGE HAS FAILED.

It is time we admit that we are trapped; engaged in a civil war on Wisconsin's roads. That all the manpower, marketing, and effort is wasted that will only lead to more dead drivers.

DOT Secretary Frank Busalacci is no doubt a fine man with years of transportation experience behind him; but he is incorporating the same failed "Stay the Course" philosophy of those before him. His ways will only lead to more dead drivers.

Yeah, no wonder folks like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Steve Kagen, and countless other liberals sound like fools when they talk about statistics in Iraq.

Only idiots see failure in progress.

Now this is Just a Flat-Out Lie

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), was on "This Week with George "Former Clinton Press Secretary" Stephanopoulis" on ABC this morning.

She was asked about the lack of passage on any of the Fiscal Year 2008 Appropriation (Budget) Bills.

Here's the transcript:

STEPHANOPOULOS: "Last year you criticized the Republican Congress as a do-nothing Congress, and one of the points you cited was they hadn't passed any of their appropriations bills by the fall. Democrats haven't passed any either."

PELOSI: "Oh, well we've – in the House we've passed every one of our bills."

STEPHANOPOULOS: "None are law yet, though."

PELOSI: "Well, they will be. And we're on schedule."

On Schedule? Who's schedule, this the same clock that worked on the Democrats' "100 Working Hours?"

First the facts; the Federal Government's fiscal year begins every year on October 1st. It's October 14th, and in order to avoid a total governmental shutdown, the House and Senate passed a 45-day Continuing Resolution on September 28th to keep the government running and Democrats from facing the same PR fate as Newt Gingrich did in 1995.

Secondly, the House has NOT passed every one of its bills. There is one they haven't even touched: The Pentagon's. Seems John Murtha (D-PA) and Wisconsin's own Dave Obey want to play games while the country's at war.

No bill has yet to be sent to the White House for the President's signature or veto.

Finally, no matter how many bills are passed by each house of Congress, all will have to be worked out by a conference committee. Pelosi hasn't appointed a soul to these committees.

Pelosi once pledged to get the budget passed by the Fourth of July. (No idea which Fourth of July of course.)

This isn't just a do-nothing Congress, it's a do nothing but b!+ch Congress.

Sir, You're Not in the Navy Anymore

Funny thing about going from Vice Admiral to Congressman is that in Congress, your staff is only your yeomen for certain hours of the day; not all the time.

Someone didn't pass that on to Freshman Democrat from Pennsylvania, Joe Sestak, as he's seen thirteen staffers "jump ship" if you may.

Freshman Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a retired three-star Navy admiral, has fast developed a reputation for being a temperamental and demanding boss. Thirteen staffers have quit this year, say former aides citing public records.

Sestak’s reputation as a difficult manager, which hounded him in the Navy, has followed him to Congress. The Navy Times reported in 2005 that Sestak was relieved from his last post as deputy chief of Naval operations because of “poor command climate.”

Now, in running his congressional office, Sestak has imported a measure of military toughness; he is battling a “misguided” culture in Washington, said William Walsh, Sestak’s district director.

Aides are expected to work seven days a week, including holidays, often 14 hours each day, going for months without a day off. These are very long hours even by Capitol Hill standards.

After more than nine years on Capitol Hill and only six months as chief of staff, Brian Branton announced on Aug. 17 that he would be leaving Sestak to become vice president for congressional affairs at USA Funds, a nonprofit corporation that guarantees student loans. Sestak also has seen three press secretaries come and go.

In Sestak’s district office in Media, Pa., staffers are expected to work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., during the week and part of the day on Saturday. One aide manages the office on Sundays, Walsh said.

Some aides have also bristled at their boss’s temper. At a markup in the House Education and Labor Committee this year, Sestak dressed down a legislative assistant in a manner that got the attention of other lawmakers and aides.

But Sestak does not attribute staff resignations to problems of his own making. “Some had other opportunities, some were not the perfect fit,” he said when asked about the 13 departures, adding, “I have had wonderful people working for me. I have asked a lot of my staff.”

Staff changes occur all the time up on the Hill. Some get jobs on K Street that pay three times what their Hill job pays. Some get offers to work on campaigns and head there. But thirteen staffers in eight months?

That's a statement on management style.

It's Pretty Obvious, Ain't It?

Come on folks, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why Steve Kagen voted against the ability to wiretap terrorists.

They aren't on the plane yet. Only then will he take action, remember?

UPDATE: For those interested, the first Cook Political Report rankings for 2008 from Charlie Cook are out. No seats currently held by one party are currently listed as going to the other side, which at fifteen months out, is probably about right.

He lists WI-08 as "Lean Democratic," which is where I'd put it too at this stage in the game. You have a likely Democratic year coming up, the GOP potentially looking at a primary, and the standard bearer from 2006 given a lukewarm reception at his announcement he's considering a re-match.

Some Free Public Relations Advice

For Curtis Ellis, Steve Kagen's Communications Director, aka "The New York guy."

Don't issue a Press Release saying this:

You sent me to Washington to fight for positive change and a new direction, and to bring an end to the dishonest ways of doing business in Congress. You sent me to Washington to fight for positive change and a new direction, and to bring an end to the dishonest ways of doing business in Congress.

Promise made - promise delivered.

Today, Congress is continuing to free our government from the influence of political insiders and special interests.

Working together in a bipartisan fashion, the House and the Senate just passed the toughest ethics law in our nation’s history.

It requires lobbyists to disclose all their contributions to lawmakers. It denies pensions to Members of Congress convicted of corruption. It ends the K St project and prohibits hiring and firing based on politics.

This is not about party or politics. It is about restoring confidence in our own government.

I am working hard to restore your belief that good government can make a real difference in your lives.

Today, I call upon President Bush to sign this law.

The American people need to know their government is serving the public interest, not vested interests."

When your boss is taking about 80% of his re-election donations from Lobbyist PACs, you're touting a bill called the "Open Government Act" that had to be negotiated behind closed doors, and on the same day there's over ten minutes of video of this floating out there; it makes your boss look like a hypocrite.

(Of course, he's doing a fine job making himself look like a clown.)
My favorite part was the rush of Freshmen Democrats flooding the Clerk's desk to change their vote about ten seconds in after the gavel. It's about 27 seconds into the video.

Then about at the 50 second mark, you see Steny Hoyer make a quick, angry dash to the Congressional Podium.

What did he say?

Well, the House GOP took apart that video. The Democratic House Majority Leader is caught saying: "We control this House, not the Parliamentarian."

But hey, if the Dems have to cheat to ensure Illegal Immigrants continue to receive welfare benefits, more power to them.

For those wondering, Kagen voted along party lines on the contested vote; thus voting to keep illegal aliens on the federal dime. Guess he's got to write another column -- like this one -- on how tough he's been on illegals, hoping the folks back home buy it.

Hey Idiot, Wrong Bill

At first I was going to have a post on how this press release from Cong. Steve Kagen (D-Appleton) was a sign on how vulnerable he is.

For a man who has a near identical voting record as Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- a woman he once hoped would run for President -- you need all you can to highlight "bipartisanship" when it occurs. So, today, you see a press release giving high-fives for a 409-2 vote.

That's what Kagen's press office gives us today. Self-serving political excrement.

But then I realized why I was glad Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel only brow beat the Kagen Press Office for the January Incident (WH Story) and not fired anybody.

The place is still occupied with idiots.

They got their facts wrong.

President Bush had threatened to veto the bill and its critical expenditures. "President Bush must not veto this bill. He shares a solemn responsibility to take of our troops he placed in harms way," Kagen said.

Actually, the bill the President is threatening to veto is the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill for FY 2008. It passed the House by a narrower 268-150.

Kagen didn't issue a release for that vote.

In fact, a simple search of Google News will give you this fact from the AP about what happened with the Veteran's Affairs bill.

But the White House is giving a free pass to a politically sacrosanct bill funding veterans' programs, which passed the House Friday afternoon by a 409-2 vote. That measure exceeds Bush's request by $4 billion, or 7 percent.

The Homeland Security Bill is roughly 6 percent higher than the President's initial budget request. It's got about $2.1 Billion in pork barrel earmarks.

Kagen used to think this way about earmarks in October of last year.

Appleton, WI - Saying that professional politicians in Washington need to start showing more respect for middle-class Wisconsin taxpayers, Dr. Steve Kagen today said that a top priority for the next Congress must be ending pork-barrel projects and special-interest spending.

"The old Congress that left town last week amid scandal and controversy will be replaced on November 7 with a new Congress," Dr. Kagen said. "We will stand up for true Wisconsin values by balancing the federal budget, putting an end to pork, and enacting strict new spending limits to bring down the record deficits we are inheriting."

Dr. Kagen said Congress this session set records for padding legislation with special-interest spending. Last year, some 15,877 pork projects were slipped into bills, costing taxpayers more than $47 billion.

"That's five times as much pork, at more than twice the cost, as a decade ago and more than last year's entire $41 billion budget for homeland security," Dr. Kagen said. "Instead of refocusing resources on supporting our troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq or investing in a more competitive economy, they have squandered the taxpayers' money on special-interest projects."

The Dr.'s since refused to disclose his own earmarks, and said nothing when Dave Obey wanted to create slush funds from inside the Appropriations Committee.

Washington does change you I guess.

Dr. Kagen Disappoints the Loons

For a man who ranted and raved all throughout last year on the campaign trail about Iraq being a mess, declaring he'd never back Bush policy on the War, and most importantly stating he'd never vote for straight blank checks on the War in Iraq; the 'Good Doctor' did just that this evening.

Makes you wonder what that Fox Cities Peace Group he told the Rove-Bush story to now feels when they discover he voted to save his political backside from NRCC attack and not his principles.

What a guy!

Don't hold your breath for the press release on this one.

UPDATE: Further proof I did indeed get under Kagen's office's skin. In what appears to be both an effort to spite conservative commentators like myself, and to hold off liberal attacks before they come aplenty during the Memorial Day recess, both Kagen and Kind -- the two Democratic members in the Wisconsin Delegation to vote for the Iraq War funding -- issued press releases on their votes.

What makes Kagen's truly impressive is the thing comes off like he's a raving lunatic. What else explains the thing being completely in UPPER CASE!

Did Kagen 'Laugh' All the Way to the Bank?

(Who said I wouldn't stop being a pain in the man's back-side?)

Admittedly, the Politico doesn't list who John Murtha (D-PA) laughed it up with last night...

The House denied Republicans a chance to officially reprimand Rep. John Murtha on Tuesday, days after the powerful Pennsylvania Democrat allegedly threatened to deny future defense projects to a Michigan Republican who challenged one of his earmarks.

The House voted to table a resolution offered by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), 219-189.

The vote ends a brief episode on Capitol Hill about whether Murtha’s alleged tirade violated House rules.

Rogers offered his resolution Monday, alleging that Murtha approached him on the House floor on Thursday to yell at him for trying to strip $23 million from legislation that the Pennsylvania Democrat requested to prevent the administration from shuttering an intelligence-gathering facility in his district.

During the vote, Murtha sat in a darkened corner of the House floor, laughing with colleagues who surrounded him. As the clock wound down, other Democrats congratulated the senior member of the Appropriations Committee who oversees a massive defense spending bill every year.

But reports from the Majority Accountability Project - a Conservative Watchdog Group on the new Dem Congress - show that most of the 23 freshmen who huffed and puffed about ethics earlier this month didn't just end up voting against reprimanding Murtha, they apparently are returning Murtha a $2000 contribution favor from 2006.

In fact, twenty-two of the twenty three freshmen who spent last week promoting tougher House ethics voted on Tuesday to kill the reprimand. One, North Carolina’s Heath Shuler, voted “present.” Shuler did not receive any funds from Murtha during his campaign.

In addition to the members already mentioned, the following freshmen who vowed tougher ethics rules, yet refused to rebuke Murtha, received the following contributions from the Pennsylvania Democrat. They are: Patrick Murphy, PA, $7,000; David Loebsack, IA, $4,500; Peter Welch, VT, $4,000; Yvette Clarke, NY, $4,000.

Additionally, Murtha contributed $2,000 each to Harry Mitchell, AZ; Jerry McNerney, CA; Ed Perlmutter, CO; Tim Mahoney, FL; Brad Ellsworth, IN; Baron Hill, IN; Tim Walz, MN; Paul Hodes, NH; Albio Sires, NJ; Kirsten Gillibrand, NY; Betty Sutton, OH; and Steven Kagen, WI.

Perhaps residents of the 8th CD can ask the Congressman about the ethical lapse while he's pumping their gas in this blatant political stunt this weekend.

They can also ask him if his "brother's" clinic price gouges as well, since they're pulling in a greater profit margin than those "Evil, Big Oil Companies" according from Kagen's own financial disclosure.

Odd Civics Lesson

This is just pathetic. Why doesn't Dave Obey (D-WI) just call it the "Save the Vulnerable Freshmen Democrats" Rule?

Obey outlined an unusual procedure in which lawmakers in the House could cast two votes, one on the war-related provisions, and a second on all other items. That would allow liberal Democrats to oppose the war funds, confident that Republicans would supply the support needed for it to prevail. The opposite would be true for the domestic spending, which draws more support from Democrats than Republicans.

The bill would then go to the Senate, where senators would have to vote yes-or-no on the entire package.

I don't recall hearing this in my High School Civics Class on how a bill becomes a law. Then again, Kiel is not what I would call a "progressive" place.

RE: Re: Re: Green Bay's GP Workers in Fear for Their Jobs

Hey, anyone ask Mr. "Let's Superfund the Fox" about this?

His idea will kill at least as many GP jobs as Sheryl Crow's.

HR "Secret"

This man is doing my surname a horrible, horrible disservice:

In one of the more unusual proposals to emerge in the Senate debate on Iraq withdrawal, Sen. Mark Pryor wants to keep any plans for bringing troops home a secret.

The Arkansas Democrat is a key holdout on his party's proposal to approve $122 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while setting a goal of March 31, 2008, for winding up military operations in Iraq. Unlike the plan's Republican opponents, Pryor wants a withdrawal deadline of some kind. He just doesn't want anyone outside the White House, Congress and the Iraqi government to know what it is.

"My strong preference would be to have a classified plan and a classified timetable that should be shared with Congress," Pryor said yesterday. A public deadline would tip off the enemy, "who might just bide their time and wait for us to leave," he said. "Then you'd have chaos and mayhem and instability."

Pryor said a classified plan would be provided by the president, shepherded by Senate committees and ultimately shared with Congress and Iraqi leaders. He is confident that the plan would remain secret, because Congress is entrusted with secrets "all the time."

Everyone who believes Senator Pryor that Congress is good at keeping secrets, raise your hands.

That's what I thought.

Other than that fallacy, this seems suspiciously like a ploy for Democrats to pass one of their precious timetables without any flack from the public or press. I really don't like my elected representatives, in Washington to do work for me, keeping legislative secrets from me. It's a horrible precedent to set.

War bill hikes special spending

This disgusts me:

House Democratic leaders are offering billions in federal funds for lawmakers' pet projects large and small to secure enough votes this week to pass an Iraq funding bill that would end the war next year.

So far, the projects -- which range from the reconstruction of New Orleans levees to the building of peanut storehouses in Georgia -- have had little impact on the tally. For a funding bill that establishes tough new readiness standards for deploying combat forces and sets an Aug. 31, 2008, deadline to bring the troops home, votes do not come cheap.

But at least a few Republicans and conservative Democrats who otherwise would vote "no" remain undecided, as they ponder whether they can leave on the table millions of dollars for constituents by opposing the $124 billion war funding bill due for a vote on Thursday.

The Democrats are using elected officials' ravenous appetite for pork to coerce them into voting for a politically-motivated war funding bill, which apparently can't pass on the timeline's own merits. Disgusting.

ADDED: One candidate has put together a short list here.