No wonder there is daylight between Republicans in Congress when no one is sure where Romney is going to stand tomorrow or next week.

Mitt Romney is also now the 'non-presumptive nominee' according to RNC Chair Priebus after calling him the 'presumptive' nominee for sometime. Guess he spoke too soon as Romney does not have 50% of the delegate votes to day.  How can they be doing joint fundraising when he doesn't have 50% of the delegates? This chair doesn't seem to let rules stand in his way.  Did he get stopped in his tracks since he has backed way off the "presumptive" nominee he kept using?

Know candidates pander but Romney is taking it to a new low.  His arrogance to go along with pandering treats conservatives like none of us have the brains to look up his past stances and wants us to automatically believe everything he says.  If I don't take Obama at face value why would I take Romney?  Republicans are falling into the same trap that because a candidate has a (D) or (R) behind their name you should not question candidates from your party.  How alike are the DNC and RNC with their attitudes today and forcing candidates on the members of their individual parties refusing to listen to reality.  Too many Republicans at high levels of convinced themselves they can snap their fingers and we are going to vote like we are told.  We are not Democrats and never will be no matter how much the leaders of the Republican Party want a bunch of lemmings -- not going to happen.

Any member of Congress who thinks they can take it to the bank what he says better think again.  Romney says he will repeal ObamaCare -- it is not that simple -- words are cheap.  His words are even cheaper when you discover he wants to have state mandates following his RomneyCare which FL Attorney General Pam Bondi let out of the bag after the FL primary when she said she was joining his health care tax force and they would implement mandatory health care in every state.  Noted that a lot of conservative pundits ignored what she had to say or tried to spin it as they turn themselves into pretzels supporting Romney.

He wants to put Americans back to work -- this coming from the leader at Bain who put companies out of work and shipped their jobs overseas.  This is one issue that has a lot of people concerned that Romney is no conservative and follows a liberal agenda:

Romney has also previously embraced raising the minimum wage, suggesting it should be indexed to inflation. His campaign in March walked back those comments, saying Romney does not currently support an increase to the minimum wage. 

Raising the minimum wage has devastated a lot of college students who have jobs for their expenses who were let go when they raised the minimum wage the last time.  It never should be automatic.  Another case of where his campaign walked back those comments but he still said them which is a liberal philosophy.

Wonder how the Romney camp is going to spin this one new item about his differences with Congress?  Money cannot buy everything but Romney is making a stab at it with targeting to raise $600M for his campaign and $100 for his Super PAC.  Will all that money cause House Leadership to change their stances to Romney's?  How can he target raising money for the Super PAC when there is to be no coordination?  He has people going between all the organizations.  Will the FEC who was short handed during 2008 give Romney the same pass they gave Obama -- doubt it.

Are members of Congress now worried that Romney will try to run over them now like the 'scorched earth' he used to take out other candidates with his Democrat lite campaign?  Just maybe some are concerned the is the real Romney with his true liberal beliefs is going to stand up, and they will be left holding the bag.  There are too many signs pointing to the fact he is a Massachusetts liberal to ignore.  A year ago Romney believed in global warming and carbon tax but now panders to conservatives but will that new stance stand if he is elected?  How could so many members of Congress sell out conservatives by endorsing Romney so early when they knew he was not conservative?  A lot of us will never forget comments that were made about other candidates in order to support Romney.

Whose is going to blink?  Romney or Congress?  We will shortly find out if money really talks if the members of Congress change their stance on key issues to favor Romney.  Stay tuned as this is far from over.

Daylight emerges between Romney, GOP
By Bob Cusack - 04/16/12 10:27 AM ET 

Mitt Romney and Republican leaders in Congress have a surprising number of policy differences, ranging from energy to term limits to immigration. 

The policy daylight is significant because Romney is attempting to unify the party in the wake of his bruising primary. The fact that Romney and Republicans in Congress have different approaches on high-profile issues could hamper that effort. 

Romney and Republicans on Capitol Hill certainly do agree on big-picture items, including repealing President Obama’s healthcare law, lowering taxes and cutting spending. 

But there are an array of other policy areas where Republicans and Romney are at odds and/or have dealt with the same issue differently. Perhaps not coincidentally, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was tapped earlier this month to develop a joint agenda with congressional Republicans and the GOP presidential nominee. 

In a front-page story Monday, The New York Times deemed the situation between Romney and GOP legislators a “delicate tango.” 

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul told The Hill in an e-mail, "Mitt Romney is in this race to turn the economy around and get Americans back to work, and he will need the help of Congress to do that. Under President Obama, more people have lost their jobs than at any time since the Great Depression, and all the president does is blame others and avert responsibility. 

Gov. Romney will welcome the help of Congress to enact his agenda and get the country back on track." 

The following are examples of policy differences between Romney and congressional Republicans: 

Yucca Mountain
Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and other GOP legislators have been outspoken in their support of storing the nation’s nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. 

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Obama, however, have thwarted the initiative. 

Romney’s position is closer to Reid and Obama’s than congressional Republicans'. At an October debate in Nevada, Romney said, “If Nevada says, ‘Look, we don’t want it,' then let other states make bids and say, ‘Hey, look, we will take, here is a geological site that we have evaluated, here is the compensation we want for taking it.’ ” 

China currency 

Romney has accused China of currency manipulation, claiming he would be more aggressive on the issue than Obama. 

The Senate has passed China currency legislation, which was strongly backed by 16 Republicans in the upper chamber. House Democrats have called for the bill to be brought up, but GOP leaders have not heeded that call. Boehner has dubbed the Senate measure “dangerous.” 

Congressional term limits 

In January, Romney endorsed term limits for members of Congress. He said at the time, “I would love to see term limits for congressmen and senators. We have one for the president. It’s a good idea.” 

Romney has not detailed the lengths of the term limits he supports. 

The 1994 GOP "Contract With America" included terms limits, but the House Republicans’ 2010 “Pledge to America” does not. 

Immigration 

Romney strongly supports E-verify legislation, which would mandate that employers check their employees’ legal work status. But the bill has attracted criticism from Democrats and some Republicans. Not one senior House Republican leader has co-sponsored the measure, and the measure is not expected to hit the lower chamber floor before the election. 

Excerpt:  Read More Differences at The Hill

Why is Romney Running as a Republican?

Times: Romney Relied on Kennedy to Help Pass 'Romneycare'
Sunday, 25 Mar 2012 06:47 PM
By Newsmax Wires
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As more truth comes out about Romney, the more conservatives are asking "Why is Romney a Republican?" and the answer lies in the fact the didn't want to oppose Ted Kennedy in the primary so he thought he would get the Republican nomination and run against Senator Kennedy in the general.

Then there are the details that came out that when he was running for Governor in 2002, he ran away from Republicans and Reagan the whole campaign.  Massachusetts residents thought they were getting a liberal Republican which they did.  Only when he decided that after Romneycare he wouldn't get a second term, he decided to track more to the middle to run for President.  Isn't that great -- you cannot get reelected as Governor so you decide to wait two years and run for President.

Once again we ask why did the establishment types think Romney was such a good candidate when conservatives cannot stand him?  This is another example why over 70% of voters in state after state vote for anyone but Romney but yet he is still shoved in our face as he is going to be our candidate.  If he is, it will be because he won so many delegates from Blue States like California and New York where it is hard to find enough conservatives to offset the liberals.  Essentially we have solid blue states choosing our nominee and this is supposed to be good?  I forgot -- conservatives are supposed to sit down, shut up, and vote for Romney in the fall against Obama who is the end of the earth.  So we vote for Obama lite instead?

Looks to me like the people in charge don't have a clue how conservatives think or are going to react.  Don't know anyone who is voting for Romney in various states and they don't like Obama.  Romney is no candidate of conservative Republicans who far outnumber the moderate to liberals in the party, but we don't control the party so they felt free to stick it to conservatives this time with Romney who couldn't beat McCain.  May be for the last time as conservatives won't be silenced no matter how much the elites say we should shut up or those annoying, nasty Romney supporters.

Time to clean house at the RNC and get rid of the Chair from Wisconsin.  Why should a chair from a blue state be running things at the RNC.  Blue states that are large get more delegates than reliably red states so they can choose their moderate to liberal candidates.  Disgusting way to do business.  Whoever decided Romney was the answer needs FIRED yesterday!

Times: Romney Relied on Kennedy to Help Pass 'Romneycare'

Sunday, 25 Mar 2012 06:47 PM

By Newsmax Wires

GOP presidential front-runner Mitt Romney was so close a partner with the liberal late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in the crafting of Massachusetts' sweeping healthcare law that he frequently referred to Kennedy as “my collaborator and friend.” 

Now, of course, Romney is depicting himself as a “severe conservative” and doing everything he can to distance himself from the law that was the basis for Obamacare — the president’s signature healthcare law, The New York Times points out in an extensive article Sunday on the relationship. 

Among other things, the Times reveals that:

• Romney’s attempt in 1994 to “out-Kennedy Kennedy” during a Senate race led him to take stands on issues like abortion and gay rights that he has since backed away from, giving rise to accusations that he is a flip-flopper.

• Romney did not make healthcare a cause when he ran for governor in 2002. But by the fall of 2004, changing circumstances in Washington pushed him into it — and into a partnership with Kennedy.

• With Democrats in control of the state legislature,Romney had little hope of passing a massive healthcare bill on his own. Kennedy worked lawmakers behind the scenes, writing notes, cajoling, making telephone calls and stepping in when negotiations between House and Senate Democrats broke down.

• Kennedy schooled Romney, who was notorious for not knowing many lawmakers by name, in how to woo Democrats in the Massachusetts legislature to get the healthcare law passed. In particularly difficult moments for the bill, Romney would attempt to adopt Kennedy’s personal touch leading Democratic lawmakers.

• Kennedy had more pull with the Republican Bush administration and actually intervened on Romney’s behalf to get a deal with the federal government that extended the waiver of certain federal rules, giving Massachusetts flexibility in administering its Medicaid program and extra money for hospitals that cared for the poor. That helped pave the way for what is now known as “Romneycare,” or as some Republican conservatives put it, “Obamneycare.”

© 2012 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


Read more on Newsmax.com: Times: Romney Relied on Kennedy to Help Pass 'Romneycare' Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

Herman Cain Backs Collective Bargaining For Public Employees

On November 14th, Cain sat down with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board for a series of interviews which show him to be much more liberal then he portrays, out of touch on foreign policy, and a lack of knowledge on how Government works.  To be running for President and not know that federal employees don't have collective bargaining shows a lack of interest in even learning how Government works.  Is he another person who wants all the benefits to feed his massive ego but not the work that comes with the Presidency.  We do not need another Obama who is not sure if he has any core values as they change so much.

As one poster put it on the 3 am phone call, "Cain probably wouldn't be able to find the phone!"


Was astounded when I saw the headline.  Then it hit me and I started chuckling because Cain who considers himself to be the Koch Brothers 'other brother' is going against a campaign that the Koch Brothers have been fighting for years to have Right to Work in states and end collective bargaining for public employees.

Why is it different at the state and local level when there is no collective bargaining at the federal level on pay or benefits and you are not allowed to strike?  Herman Cain didn't know that and now that he found out wants to make it the same for federal employees to have collective bargaining.  Why is he considered a conservative?  Republican Conservatives like me believe no public employee should be allowed to strike.  When there was a rash of teacher strikes in the past, I found it unconscionable that teachers whose job is to teach our students went on strike in mostly major cities for more money.  Unions get all upset when you want to tie performance with raises.  Why?  Shouldn't parents be able to expect their child's teacher to be the best teacher possible and just not be one of those teachers who does the bare minimum?

Now along comes Herman Cain who seems to have little core conservative values but tries to talk the talk? Cain has has run into a wall in the last couple of weeks and his more liberal side is coming out.  Typical politician to blame the media but how do you blame the media for your own interview?  How long before Cain goes out and says he didn't mean what he said after the Koch Brothers get in touch with him.  This is what Cain would have to flip flop on with his own words:

On the issue of collective bargaining, Cain said he supported the right of public employees to bargain collectively. 

"But not collective hijacking. What I mean by that, if they have gotten so much for so many years and it's going to bankrupt the state, I don't think that's good. It appears that in some instances, they really don't care."

Asked about last week's vote in Ohio, in which the state's new collective bargaining law was rejected by voters, Cain said that "maybe they tried to get too much and as a result it failed."

Just a short rundown on some of the non-conservative issues Cain supports:

• affirmative action (Senate campaign in 2004) 
• empowerment zones in urban areas who would pay less taxes in his 9-9-9 plan which morphs depending on the audience 
• electrified fence for the border, would rely on advisers to make the decisions on foreign policy, 
• black minister who follows Malcolm X for inspiration in a very liberal Baptist Church where he is an associate minister
• releasing terrorist to get back one hostage
• collective bargaining for government employees including federal

Those are for starters so the question once again is "Why does Cain consider himself a conservative?"  That list doesn't even include his lies which are harder to ignore on sexual harassment with him now saying he doesn't remember before he remembers when confronted with facts.

His latest in his interview with the Milwaukee Journal on foreign policy concerning Libya  makes you cringe and shows he is not ready for that 3am phone call.

Finding out he backs collective bargaining even for federal employees and astounded that they didn't already have it is mind boggling.  Where was Cain when President Reagan fired the Air Traffic Controllers for striking?  Thanks to Cain's comments the AFSCME, Federal employees union immediately pounced with their comments as he played right into their hands.

My biggest question is why give these answers in Milwaukee when they Democrats/unions are launching a recall drive for Governor Walker?  Is he trying to tank Walker in the recall drive which will not make his 'brothers' very happy as the Koch Brothers are heavily invested in Walker.

You be the judge after reading this article and tell me if he is not running in the wrong Party.

Herman Cain Backs Collective Bargaining For Public Employees
Sam Stein stein@huffingtonpost.com Become a fan of this reporter 

First Posted: 11/14/11 05:07 PM ET Updated: 11/14/11 06:15 PM ET  

In a move that will undoubtedly puzzle if not enrage conservative voters, Herman Cain said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Monday that he supported the rights of public workers to collectively bargain. He also said he believed that Ohio Gov. John Kasich went too far when he tried to strip those rights with Senate Bill 5. 

(snip - see above quote) 

Cain also said in the interview that he would support collective bargaining for federal employees. In fact, he seemed to believe they currently enjoy those rights, the Journal Sentinel reported. "Asked if he thought federal employees should have the ability to bargain collectively, Cain said: 'They already have it, don't they?'" 

Cain's answer means he is more progressive on the issue than Mitt Romney, who notably endorsed Kasich's SB 5, then declined to comment on a campaign to repeal it before finally coming out against that campaign. And while it may make some political sense for Cain to make this case in the course of a general election campaign -- Kasich's polling numbers have plummeted -- it will do him no favors in the primary. 

Also notable is the fact that Cain gave his response to a Milwaukee-based newspaper, as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, like Kasich, is staunchly anti-union and has advanced legislation that curbs collective bargaining rights. 

The timing of the discussion with the Journal Sentinel's editorial board struck some as odd, given that Wisconsin does not play an active role in the early part of the primary season. Ellen Carmichael, Cain's former spokeswoman, tweeted: "Question not meant to disparage Herman or the great state of Wisconsin: why would someone meet with the Journal Sentinel ed board right now?" 

UPDATE: 6:15 p.m. -- AFSCME, the union that represents public workers, quickly praised Cain's stance Monday afternoon. Marty Beil, executive director of AFSCME Council 24 in Wisconsin, sent the following statement to The Huffington Post: 

Voters from across party lines and the country support collective bargaining. Even Herman Cain can read a poll. We hope that he took advantage of his time in the state to call Governor Walker to urge him to repeal the anti-worker legislation he rammed through this year.

To view video of this interview, please click on the link:  Huffington Post 

Cain Proposes Cheaper 3-3-3 Plan for Empowerment Zones in Urban Areas

Will someone please explain to me why Herman Cain is considered a conservative and secondly why he is a Republican with his latest 3-3-3 plan for the inner city.  This urban renewal plan for empowerment zones comes right out of the liberal playbook.  Empowerment zones are where the scam of the Government 8(a) program has grown under Obama.  Who would want to work in most of those areas or be there after dark in most cities.  We are going to empower the home turf of the gangs and drug culture?  Money has been thrown at the urban areas of the cities for years.  Government builds new housing in these areas but in a short period the new places look like the old.  If you have gangs and drug running, you cannot create a safe environment until you rid the inner city of the thugs.

Education means nothing to most of these thugs so chances of success are slim to none.  You open a business and your chances of getting robbed could be very high.  Graffiti will be the first thing you see.  During the riots in Watts the thugs went after their own business people.

Anyone who doesn't think there isn't a gang and drug culture in the urban areas hasn't been to a major city or driven to LAX from the Inland Valleys of California.  How about in Cincinnati between the zoo and the stadiums on surface streets?  You drive by parks which frankly unnerved me enough to run a red light since no cars were around.  How about going to a high school football game in San Antonio on the east and south sides of the city?  Our buses had to be guarded to keep them from being destroyed.  The cops do a good job but there is only so much you can do until parents get involved with the schools and their children and say no more.

Can you imagine the amount of fraud by giving employers in those zones the opportunity to take employee salaries off their income tax?  How many phony employees will they have?  You can take it to the bank that it would be rife with fraud because we have seen it before.  It continues today in the 8(a) program of the Federal Contracting which has a program for empowerment zones in the inner cities.

Just who is answering in the polls they support Herman Cain?  One thing is becoming more evident is that he is becoming a more affirmative action candidate as the race continues especially with this 3-3-3 plan which is new for the inner city empowerment zones.  Cain has definitely benefited with affirmative action over the years.  The more the details on his background come out, the more you ask yourself why is he considered a conservative.

Cain is giving political contributions to his motivational company to buy his books, is an associate pastor at the ultra liberal Antioch Baptist Church in Atlanta with a minister who praises Malcolm X,  has an empowerment zone plan for his tax cut where they pay 3-3-3 versus the middle class paying 9-9-9,  and cannot give a straight answer on pro-life for starters makes you wonder just who is Herman Cain and how can he be considered a conservative?  His campaign manager admits that he doesn't know who his economic advisers are which begs to question what is going on inside his campaign.

Yet some people are still pushing Cain?  Beam me up Scotty!

9-9-9, Take 2: Cain's Tax Plan Revamp Still Stings the Middle Class
By Bruce Watson Posted 2:00PM 10/24/11 

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain unveiled several major changes to his popular 9-9-9 tax plan on Friday. The former Godfather's Pizza CEO even announced that those below the poverty line wouldn't have to pay income taxes. Yet the country's middle class won't find much relief in Cain's fleshed-out 9-9-9 plan. 

Here's a detailed look: 

A Simple Plan

Cain's plan seems to be the height of simplicity: It would levy a 9% income tax, a 9% corporate income tax, and a 9% federal sales tax on all purchases. On the surface, the drop in income tax would help most taxpayers, but the sales tax would be very tough on middle class households. Given that middle class families spend most of their income on necessities, a 9% sales tax pretty much functions as an additional 9% income tax. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, a household making the median income of $49,445 currently pays an effective federal tax rate (income tax plus payroll tax minus deductions) of 14.3%. Cain's proposal would increase this rate by 3.7%.

It gets worse. According to Edward D. Kleinbard, a tax law professor at USC's Gould School of Law, at least part of the 9% corporate tax would also fall on the heads of workers. Cain's tax plan allows businesses to deduct money based on investments, exports, and purchases made from U.S.-located businesses. What it does not do, however, is allow companies to deduct the wages that they pay their employees. Forced to pay taxes on these wages, Kleinbard argues, corporations would face a major tax increase -- and would pass a large portion of that boost on to their workers.

The Tax Policy Center agrees, noting that a household making the median income of $49,445 would see its total federal tax percentage increase by 9.5 percentage points, to 23.8%.

Class Warfare
On Friday, Cain offered some concessions to the nation's poorest citizens, but did little to alleviate the burden his plan would place on middle tier earners.

Speaking in Detroit, Cain told a crowd of supporters that the nation's poorest citizens wouldn't pay the 9% income tax. While generous, however, this cut wouldn't erase the damage that his 9-9-9 plan would do to the poor. According to estimates, the full 9-9-9 plan would increase taxes on the poor by 15.8 percentage points. Although the removal of the 9% income tax for them would help, they would still pay more taxes than they currently do. 

What's worse, the poor would also lose tax-based benefits that they rely on. Some programs -- such as the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit -- aren't merely tax deductions: They are actually refunds. In other words, poor families receive these benefits even if they are larger than the total tax levy that they would pay. As Elaine Maag, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute notes, these programs translate into "money in their pockets." Maag points out, however, that "Under Cain's plan, that portion of the social safety net would disappear." 

What Kind of Empowerment?

One of the most mysterious aspects of Cain's plan has been his "Empowerment Zones" or "Opportunity Zones." In these areas -- which he didn't really define until Friday -- his plan allowed companies to take "deductions for the payroll of those employed in the zone." As for the workers themselves, his plan offered "additional deductions for those living and/or working in the zone." On Friday, he gave a hint at what those changes could be, noting that in the designated zones, 9-9-9 could become 3-3-3, with taxes slashed in each category. 

The fact that he made his speech in Detroit gave a clear idea of which areas he planned to target for empowerment: depressed urban zones. For households either living in these zones or willing to relocate to them, Cain's plan could be a major boon, offering sweeping tax cuts and a major stimulus to job-creating corporations. However, there was also a sharp bite of medicine to go with the spoonful of sugar: To be designated as an opportunity zone, Cain noted that "cities will have to step up and remove some of the barriers that are within their city limits, so that the cities do what they can do to help themselves." 

While Cain didn't give a complete list of all the "barriers" that would need to be changed, he outlined a few requirements. Opportunity zones would have to eliminate the minimum wage, enact school voucher programs, and designate themselves as "right to work" areas. Noting that zoning laws and building codes can add to business costs, he also announced that companies in these areas could apply for waivers that would enable them to bypass these rules.

In other words, Cain's plan wouldn't just cut taxes for companies that move into blighted urban areas. Through the empowerment zone program, it would also remove or scale back many twentieth-century laws that were designed to protect workers.

Just Like Starting Over

While Cain's tax plan has alarmed many economists and analysts, it has also highlighted a key problem with the tax code: It's simply too complex. Including all associated laws, the code totals more than 72,000 pages and contains a near-endless collection of cuts, breaks and deductions. However, Kleinbard notes, Cain's plan throws the baby out with the bathwater: "The solution is to directly address the twists and turns of the tax code. You don't abandon a hundred years of intellectual investment in the tax code in favor of a radically different, highly regressive plan. If we have the political will to enact Cain's plan, then we have a political will that is more than capable of addressing the complexities of the current tax code." 

Bruce Watson is a senior features writer for DailyFinance. You can reach him by e-mail at bruce.watson@teamaol.com, or follow him on Twitter at @bruce1971.

Source:  9-9-9, Take 2: Cain's Tax Plan Revamp Still Stings the Middle Class - DailyFinance

Alex Sink Spending Increases According to Facts for Florida Blog by Scott Campaign

Alex Sink is the poster person for what a liberal Democrat wants to do when put in charge of any State Government. She is following the Obama playbook for liberals and if elected would tank the Florida economy even more.

When Sink compares salaries of government workers, does she take into consideration that Florida has no State Income Tax while the states surrounding Florida do? Now she wants to hire more Government workers and pay them more money. Bet the people in the Florida households are saying 'no way!' Sink wants $1,600 a year from every household in Florida to pay for her plans as documented below.

That is 180 degrees from what Rick Scott is touting to get the Florida economy back on track. He wants to cut State Government and make it more responsive to the citizens in Florida. The goal is to cut the budget not raise it like Sink wants to do.

Another typical liberal -- throw more at education and think it is going to work. Not going to happen. Until you hold teachers and parents accountable for their child's education, more money is not going to make a difference as evidenced in the past. Parents need to become involved in their child's education and demand better schools and teachers so their child can learn.

Alex Sink will bankrupt Florida following the Obama plan plus her lack of transparency just like Obama will allow the same good old boy network to continue to flourish in Tallahassee. Time to clean up State Government in Florida and make it responsive to the citizens of Florida.

If you live in Florida, look at these figures and share them with anyone who cannot make up their mind. Remind them they will be paying 'at least' $1600 more a year with Alex Sink as Governor and State Government will be adding tens of thousands of new employees to the already bloated rolls. If you want responsible government, then Rick Scott is the person to vote for on November 2nd.

If you live outside of Florida, better think twice before helping to elect a Democrat Governor by not voting as they will follow the Obama playbook just like Alex Sink wants to do in Florida.

Get Out The Vote is crucial in this election for Republicans to return Common Sense to the Government. We don't think Alex Sink has one shred of Common Sense.

October 8th, 2010

ALEX SINK SPENDING INCREASES – $1600 per every Florida household
Increase government workers pay $575 million
Increase pre-k funding $350 million
Increase student aid $302 million
Increase % of GR spent on education $2.0 billion
Develop rail networks $9.2 billion
ObamaCare $1.4 billion

TOTAL $14 billion

Increasing state workers pay to national average – $575 million (or $7 billion)

In 2008, the average annual state employee salary of $38,839 was 4.5 percent below Florida’s average wage for all industries. Compared to other states, Florida ranks last in the ratio of employees to residents: 118 per 10,000 compared to the national average of 216 employees per 10,000 residents. And Florida is dead last in the nation in state employee payroll expenditures per resident: $38 compared to the national average of $69 per resident. As Governor, Alex Sink will push to ensure that state employees are recognized for high performance by receiving fair and competitive compensation. http://www.alexsink2010.com/agenda?id=0003

18.5 million residents x $69-38 ($31) = $575 million

The number of state workers needed to bring Florida up to national average Sink advocates is 181,300 new state employees at an additional cost to the state of $7 billion.


Increase per child spending from $2500 to $4700 for Pre-K – $350 million

Florida was one of the first states to make pre-Kindergarten available to all four-year-olds, but our investment in the program ranks us toward the bottom: the state averages less than $2,500 per child while the national average is more than $4,700. http://www.alexsink2010.com/agenda?id=0011

160,000 kids x $4700-2500 ($2200) = $350 million


Increase the Proportion of Needs-based Student Aid – $283 million

Florida is one of only a dozen states that spends more on merit-based scholarships than needs-based aid – comprising only 20% of the state’s overall student financial aid. Alex Sink will work to strike a fairer balance with merit-based scholarships, which comprise about 60% of the state’s student financial aid. http://www.alexsink2010.com/agenda?id=0011

Merit based (Bright Futures) $437.3m – $135m (Needs based) = $302 million

Total bright futures for 2010-11 is $437.3 million (includes appropriations $338.4 m plus 73.9 m stimulus plus $25 m FMAP adjustment in HB 5201:

Increase % of budget spent on education from 53% to 61% – $2 billion

When Florida voters approved a state lottery in 1986, supporters promised it would be used to supplement existing state dollars dedicated to education. In reality, lottery funds have actually replaced General Revenue dollars. Prior to 1986, education received almost 61% of GR; since then, it has received only 53%. The proportion devoted to public schools dropped between 1988 and 2005 from about 70% to only 40%. http://www.alexsink2010.com/agenda?id=0011

61% of GR budget (.61 x $23.8b) = $14.5 b. – $12.5 b. (current GR for education) = $2 billion


High Speed and commuter rail lines – $9.2 billion

Ensure Continued Development of Coordinated Rail Networks. Florida’s high-speed passenger rail line from Tampa to Orlando is just the first phase of a multi-city rail project. Continued enhancement of Florida’s rail system will be a boon to our economy by employing thousands of Floridians over a 20-year period. Alex supports plans for future high-speed and commuter rail lines, and will partner with the Florida Rail Enterprise to fulfill and extend Florida’s comprehensive rail vision. http://www.alexsink2010.com/agenda?id=0009

State: Tampa-to Orlando 1.2b. + $8b. est. construction cost for Orlando-Miami = $9.2 billion


ObamaCare – $1.4 billion

ObamaCare. Sink has stated her support for Obamacare. The cost of Obamacare to the state will be $1.4 billion by FY19

SFY 2018-2019 State Cost $1,012,206,268 $391,646,501 $1,403,852,769
Total Cost $7,767,863,258 $1,092,757,761 $8,860,621,019
Enrollment 1,896,363 n/a 1,896,363

Source: Agency for Health Care Administration, August 13, 2010

Source: Facts for Florida.com

Democrat Governor's candidates Alex Sink and Jari Askins Avoiding Obama? Why?

Like so many Democrats who are running for Governor, two Democrat women candidates don't want to be seen with Obama. Alex Sink from Florida ran away from her own fundraiser with Obama before he took the stage. Guess she didn't want a picture with Obama like Charlie Crist. In Oklahoma, the Democrat, Jari Askins, told Obama to stay out of the state.   Are they afraid to be seen with Obama and remind voters how they both supported him and his agenda completely?

Jari Askins had the nerve to do a commercial that she was a 'conservative' which was laughable as she has a liberal voting record from her time in the Legislature even voting to keep partial birth abortion in Oklahoma but considers herself a conservative?  That one had people laughing around the state that she would think Oklahoma voters are that stupid.  We are not stupid as we only gave Obama 34% of the vote in 2008 and every county went for McCain which shows 2/3's of Oklahoma had Obama pegged although must admit he worse than we predicted.

In Sink's case, she was a member of Emily's List which is a very liberal organization but now wants voters to think she is more conservative than she is.  If she cannot admit she supported Obama and his liberal agenda, what makes anyone in Florida think she is telling the truth about what she would do as Governor.  Is Alex Sink another of the Democrat bait and switch candidates?  You can bet on that one!   This ad from the Scott campaign nails the Liberal Alex Sink as she speaks about Obama in her own words:



How many other Democrats running for Governor are pretending to be more conservative than they are?  After all, that was the Rahm Emanuel strategy to win seats in the House in 2006 and 2008 -- run candidates declaring they were conservative Democrats and then vote once they were elected as liberals. It worked in 2006 and 2008 -- it will not work on November 2nd. Americans have caught on to the Democrat bait and switch tactics of saying one thing and doing the opposite.

Cafe Hayek Smackdown to a Young Artist Letter to Washington Post

These comments by Don Boudreaux pertain to every self loathing liberal who needs to be reminded of History!

He Should Bone-up on History
by Don Boudreaux on July 16, 2010
in Everyday Life,History,Myths and Fallacies,Standard of Living

Here’s a letter to the Washington Post:

Benjamin Kelley says that his art “represents the dehumanization of modern society” (“An artistic body of work’s bone of contention,” July 16). I’d like to ask him which aspects of pre-modern society he believes to have been most humane. Was it a life-expectancy of about 30 years? How about mass illiteracy? Maybe Mr. Kelley longs for the odors, lice, and scabs that regularly adorned human bodies that seldom bathed and that slept on dirt or straw?

Possibly Mr. Kelley regrets that the homicide rate in modern society is far lower – as much as 90 percent lower – than in pre-modern societies? Perchance he laments modernity’s liberation of women from the oppressive dominance of men? Maybe he finds fault with modern humans’ greater skepticism of tales of witches and sentient volcanoes? Or perhaps Mr. Kelley is upset simply because modernity has eradicated slavery?

Being only 26 years old in modern society, Mr. Kelley has many decades left to reject his fashionable romantic nonsense about a past Golden Age. Were he born just a few generations earlier, however, not only would he have been unable to earn a living as an artist, his own stint in humanity would have been much shorter.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Boudreaux

Source: Cafe Hayek

ABC News Discovers Obama Liberal Who Loves Raising Taxes

ABC News sent Terry Moran to Springfield, the capital of Illinois, to explore Barack Obama's record as a state Senator and, deep in his Monday story on World News, Moran acknowledged a reality rarely mentioned in network campaign coverage: "Obama was...considered a reliable liberal Democratic vote in Illinois, voting for most gun control measures, opposing efforts to ban so-called 'partial birth abortions,' and supporting hundreds of tax increases." Moran then showed a soundbite of Republican State Senator Kirk Dillard, who declared: "Senator Obama certainly is a liberal."

Earlier in the story, without applying any liberal label, Moran trumpeted how "before he left for Washington, Obama did rack up some accomplishments -- a major overhaul of the state's death penalty system, an ethics reform bill, expanded health care for the state's children."

[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Tuesday morning on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]

Moran's recognition of Obama's liberal ideology aired just a day after Cokie Roberts, in the roundtable on Sunday's This Week on ABC, pegged Obama as "squarely on the left of the Democratic Party" and contended that the Illinois Senator, "oddly enough given the rhetoric, has not reached across the aisle and worked with people in the other party to get things done, which she [Hillary Clinton] has done." See Brad Wilmouth's NewsBusters item: newsbusters.org

A longer version of Moran's World News story led Monday's Nightline with an added portion about Obama's "sweetheart" real estate deal with Tony Rezko.

A transcript of the February 25 World News story:

CHARLES GIBSON: Well Barack Obama during his campaign has made much of his ability to bring people together, to accomplish compromise, to change the tone of Washington. The bulk of his political career was as a state senator in the Illinois legislature. Was he able to bring people together there? Terry Moran went to Springfield, Illinois to look at the Obama record.

TERRY MORAN: Before there was this [crowds cheering Obama] -- there was this, the workaday legislative world of young Illinois state Senator Barack Obama. Obama was 35 years old when he began serving in Springfield in 1997. And even Republican colleagues say he stood out from the start. SENATOR KIRK DILLARD (R): From the minute I met Senator Obama, I knew he was on to bigger and better things.

MORAN: He was clearly ambitious. Just after Illinois Democrats took over the state senate in 2002, Obama approached party leader Emil Jones, who's now running the chamber. EMIL JONES, JR.: And he said to me, he said, "you're the Senate President, now with that you have a lot of power. I said, "Barack, what kind of power do you think I have?" He said, "you have the power to make a United States Senator."

MORAN: But before he left for Washington, Obama did rack up some accomplishments -- a major overhaul of the state's death penalty system, an ethics reform bill, expanded health care for the state's children. OBAMA: I did all these things by getting Democrats and Republicans to work together.

MORAN: But his former colleagues say the picture is more mixed. For instance, Obama voted not for or against but "present" on 129 bills, including a bill to ban sex shops and strip clubs near schools, churches, and day-care centers, and a bill to allow juveniles who committed a crime with a gun near a school to be tried as adults. Voting present is a common tactic in the Illinois legislature. The Obama campaign says he was trying to avoid burdening local authorities on the sex shop measure and did not think the other bill would reduce crime.. But others say his votes should be an issue. SENATOR DAN CRONIN (R): Whatever it is, he didn't want to stick his neck out. He didn't want to risk alienating some group.

MORAN: And Obama was also considered a reliable liberal Democratic vote in Illinois, voting for most gun control measures, opposing efforts to ban so-called "partial birth abortions," and supporting hundreds of tax increases. Republican State Senator Kirk Dillard worked closely with Obama on some issues. DILLARD: Senator Obama certainly is a liberal. I guess what I show is that you can respect somebody like Senator Obama, work with him, like him, but you don't necessarily have to vote for him for President.

MORAN: Now the Obama campaign responded to our story in a statement tonight, saying "distorting a few votes out of a thousands is the kind of old politics that the American people are tired of and we believe voters care about Senator Obama's record of bipartisan leadership," unquote. One thing everyone agrees on: Obama's record in Illinois is bound to increasing scrutiny from here on in.

http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2008/cyb20080226.asp#1