Kennedy Demonstrates Lack of Principles to the Very End

Like I was sayin… what’s good for you now might not be good for you later.  Ailing Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy wants to roll back a law that he pushed for that removes the power of the state governor to appoint a replacement senator.

In 2004, he was concerned that John Kerry would win the presidential elections forcing then Republican Mitt Romney to appoint a replacement senator.  Kennedy was concerned that Romney would appoint a republican so he pushed for a law that required an election within five months of the seat becoming vacant leaving the seat vacant until the special election.

Now that Kennedy is ill and will most likely not finish out his term, he wants to restore the power of the governor to appoint a replacement.  Kennedy even went so far as to say that it is very important that the state have two representatives in the senate at all times.  Interestingly enough, there is a Democrat in the Massachusetts governor’s mansion now.  It seems that Kennedy’s principles are only as strong as the way the political winds blow.

If every there was a reason for term limits, Ted Kennedy’s over 40 years in congress is a strong reason limiting the political ruling class.

More Bad News from the Most Ethical Congress Ever

Like I was sayin… if this is the most ethical congress ever, we are in trouble.

Not long ago, Nancy Pelosi promised the most ethical congress every.  Before and since then, there have been all sorts of issues some ignored by the MSM like this story commenting on Chris Dodd’s ethical lapses.

Interestingly enough, I haven’t heard much about this.  As the referenced post indicated, when Sen. Ted Stephens got some construction work for favors and didn’t disclose it, the story was front page news.

Thankfully, we all have blogs that we can follow to keep up with stuff like this.

Dems Fail to Place Cap on Profits

Like I was sayin… you can’t put a ceiling on success.  Today, the Dem run congress failed to get enough votes to push forward a tax on oil company profits that go above a certain level.

According to Dick Durbin the No. 2 Dem in the Senate, “The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy”.  My question is, who sets that limit?  The government?  Aside from the obvious issues, there are several things that need to be considered with this effort.

First, the cost of taxes are passed on to the consumer.  The tax would not take away from the oil companies, but take away from the gas buying public.  Do we really need to pay more for gas?

Secondly, the taxes wouldn’t lower oil company profits (which the government doesn’t have the right to do), but rather would most likely lower production which would also increase prices.  A basic tenet of economics is that when demand goes up and supply goes down, price goes up.

The other scary thing about this thinking is who is the next target?  Do I make too much profit?  Can my excess money somehow help the economy if they take it away from me?  The congress does have the right to levee taxes, but does not have the right to determine how much profit a company can make.

The Dems do have one thing right in this fight.  Durbin indicated that if something isn’t done to bring down prices, “we’re going to find ourselves in a deep recession.”  Perhaps he should consider increasing supply by allowing domestic drilling and expanding processing capacity.  Going back to economics 101, if supply goes up, the price goes down. 

With all the push to bring down prices, you would think that they would stop blocking efforts to increase supply.  We haven’t substantially expanded a refinery or built a new one in decades due to government interference.  It has gotten to the point that foreign countries have started drilling off of our coasts since we won’t.

America does need to have a long term strategy to move away from oil and other fossil fuels.  But taxing oil companies doesn’t move us in this direction. 

Kevorkian to Run for Congress?

(March 12, 2008) – Like I was sayin… what?  Assisted-suicide doc Jack Kevorkian plans to run for Congress in MI.

I read today that Jack Kevorkian plans to run for Congress in MI this year.  You may remember him as helping 130 or so terminally ill people commit suicide in the 90’s.  I don’t want to get into a debate about assisted suicide here, but can you run for Congress after being convicted of 2nd degree murder?  Can he even vote for himself?

The prosecutor responsible for sending him to jail believes Kevorkian’s run is a publicity stunt. 

We will have to wait and see if he gets the required 3000 signatures to be on the ballot.