An Open Letter to Nancy

Dear Soon-to-be-Ex-Speaker Pelosi: 

Since you will no longer be needing the services of military aircraft when traveling, as promised, I have made arrangements to tend to your needs for future air travel. 

You will be flying in Coach Class, in the middle seat, perched between a plus-size SEIU "operative" with an aversion to bathing that he "masks" with a liberal splash of Patchouli and a Teamster's wife who will be constantly breast-feeding their colicky infant twins who, by the way, are also subject to chronic ear infections.  No need to thank me -- it's the least I can do.  No, really, it's the very least.

No, wait.  Just one more thing. I do have a suggestion as to what you can do with that gavel now that you won't be needing it anymore. . .  .

Most very sincerely,
MoogieP

ADDENDUM:  This video on Michelle Malkin's blog shows you what liberal Democrat voters are capable of when confronted with differing opinions and loss.  Warning -- the first guy's rant consists mainly of epithets referencing intimate relations with one's maternal parent and unpleasant racial slurs.  Holy. Crap.  I posted the link instead of the actual video because it's really bad, but I think it should be seen.

H/T to Namaste.

Quick! Someone Drop a House on Her!

No caption necessary!

Your Tax Dollars At Work?

You might recall that my sweet, sainted, southern Mama once cautioned me not to say anything at all about someone if I couldn't say something nice.

But this is so funny!

I believe I will allow the billboard speak for itself.

Heh.

Besides, our son is a pharmaceutical sales rep for Botox -- gotta keep up the gross!

Wonder in Pelosiland

Do you seem to notice a recurring theme in editorial cartoons lately?

Damn that rabbit hole!

Healthcare Reform: Speechifying and Voting on the Hill

Sooooooo. As Hot Air reports, Blue Dog Democrat, Mike Ross (D-AR, and potentially my future representative!), suggested that the Town Halls he conducted during the August recess changed his mind on the "public option" facet of healthcare reform. His constituents clearly demonstrated an overwhelming disapproval of most of the proposals that emerged from the House shortly before the recess, and he found their "feedback" helpful. (I think that probably means he found the implicit threat to his re-election in 2010 intimidating. Good! Every stinking member of Congress should feel and fear the groundswell of term limits -- whether by Constitutional amendment or by ballot box -- rising to engulf them).

I guess this means that Nancy will have to drag out the buggy whip -- if not the bull whip -- in days to come. I wonder if that means she'll bring the Dominatrix duds out of mothballs, too. Ewwww, I hope not! But, maybe the moths have gotten to them. Maybe her powers of persuasion have eroded a bit, too, at the "astroturf-stained" hands of the no-longer-silent electorate. I just ache to see her running scared in designer stilettos!

This morning, Walton & Johnson (irreverent "Radio Gawds" in the Gulf South) relayed the White House promise that the Young President intends to come out swinging tonight as he addresses Congress (and commandeers yet another prime-time TV gig) to explain his "positions" on healthcare reform; he'll be angry, emphasizing the crisis in health care that demands immediate action and the pressing need to get it done. W & J characterize the YP's planned performance as that of "an angry and vengeful god;" "no more Mister Nice god." Yet, many other reports suggest that he'll leave a lot of wiggle room around the "public option"(translation: Government Insurance, not to be confused with Government Motors or Government Banking) insurance program.

So, who will he be? Thor with the lightning bolts and hammer-pounding; or the "I'm willing to step across the aisle to secure affordable, comprehensive healthcare for everyone in our fair land" guy (even though this clearly came into focus in August as a non-partisan debate); or the know-it-all Professor, chastising and guilting his captive students for failing to recognize his superior intellect and resources.

Whichever persona he assumes, the YP has burned a big pile of political capital over this issue -- perhaps enough that not even the Fed can print enough replacement bucks to finance his campaigns on Cap & Trade and Education reform. Not to mention EFCA! Or so we can Hope.

Regardless, comprehensive reform of anything is unwise in this time of recession and growing deficit. There's absolutely nothing wrong with taking baby steps -- trying out a few deficit-neutral ideas to shape-up the current system before adopting a brand new, broad and untried costly leap towards socialized medicine. It remains a marathon, not a sprint.

Any bets on the trigger-words for tonight's Health Care Speech Drinking Game?

Sweetest of Dreams: Nancy in the Rearview

I had a dream . . . . that ding, dong, the Witch was dead in the water and headed back to northern California. In disgrace, in off-the-rack clothes, and in coach.

Considering the way she's flip-flopping and hemming and hawing, maybe the end is closer than we dare hope.

Once more -- to sleep, perchance to dream.

NOLA Tea Partiers Flex Their Muscles

The Times-Picayune printed this photograph in yesterday's paper -- note the caption. Senator Vitter had nothing to do with organizing the event -- kudos for that accomplishment go solely to the Northshore Tea Party, Mandeville Tea Party, and Greater News Orleans Tea Party groups. Several (or, apparently a boatload!) of us called and emailed the paper objecting to the inaccurate info in the caption. Here's my email:

"Contrary to the caption beneath the photo of the crowd in today's Times-Picayune, I know for a fact that Senator Vitter had nothing to do with organizing yesterday's Recess Rally Tea Party, although he was welcome to attend as a citizen and taxpayer. I did see Congressman Scalise there, in person, and shook his hand.

"A photograph I took from the Macy's parking deck suggests 1,000+ in attendance at the Rally. The overwhelming sentiment of those in attendance demanded that Congress and the White House slow down and engage in meaningful, multi-partisan debate about the entire issue of health care reform -- not simply how insurance will impact the short-term.

"Tort reform, interstate competition among insurers, regulation of insurability, tax incentives, and increased functionality of Health Savings Accounts are on the table but rarely mentioned. All of the aforementioned can be genuinely deficit-neutral steps to increase access to insurance and reduce health care costs. The bills that have emerged from House and Senate sub-committees are overreaching and bloated, much akin to most legislation emanating from D.C. these days. This issue is too broad and too important to be whisked through the process with little more than Standard Operating Procedure and stealthy, after-hours amendments.

"Our elected representatives from Louisiana need to listen to and heed the well-informed opinions of their constituents. We send them to D.C. to represent us, not to dictate to us. They would do themselves a service by recognizing that their home base ain't Massachusetts or California. Ya know?"

Today, a pretty good retraction appeared on page A-2. One of our organizers also received TWO emails yesterday from the weekend managing editor asking, in essence, that the dogs be called off. Here they are, as forwarded by Glenn Dubroc:

"E-MAIL #1 received at 4:52 pm
Mr. [sic] Dubroc,

I'm letting you know that we plan on publishing a correction on Monday to the photo caption on the rally. Our intention was to give the rally coverage, which is not something we do to all protests. But the size of the group and the relevance of the topic was something that we thought deserved coverage.

The press release sent to the City Desk email account did not make it into the hands of the appropriate editors for Saturday photo assignments. We relied on the robo calls made by Sen. Vitter, including one to my home, as the background for the assignment.

All our corrections run on A2 and believe me, readers know where to find them.

If you have any other concerns, please feel free to contact me. Now maybe we can enjoy the rest of a beautiful Sunday!

FYI: Here's what the Vitter call said:

'Hi, this is Senator David Vitter, calling on behalf of the Louisiana Conservative Action committee, to invite you to join me for a health care tea party this Saturday, Aug. 22. This will be a great opportunity to send a clear message to Washington that we oppose ObamaCare. The health care tea party will be this Saturday, Aug. 22, from 5 to 7 p.m., at Veterans Memorial Boulevard and Causeway, in Metairie. [sic] across from Lakeside Shopping Center. Please join Senator David Vitter at this important health care tea party. I really look forward to seeing you there.'

Your [sic] truly,

Dan Shea

Managing Editor/News

The Times-PicayuneNew Orleans, LA"

Eh -- subject to interpretation, I can see that they got lazy and didn't fact-check the backstory of the tea party. It's still poor journalism, IMHO. Here's the second email:

"E-MAIL #2 received at 6:52 pm
"Dr. Dubroc,

"I was surprised at the size of the rally and had we handled it better we probably would have sent a reporter as well.

"I am [in] no position [to be] looking for a favor, but I would appreciate it if you would let your membership know what happened so our Circulation phone staff are not besieged in the morning. You can forward my email if you like.

"Thanks again. Please feel free to call me if a problem arises again.

"Dan Shea"

Heh. Not only did Shea get the salutation correctly in the second email, he pretty much admitted that we overwhelmed the newspaper. Ah, the smell of newsprint-napalm in the morning!

Does that sound like Astroturf to you, Ms. Pelosi, Barney, Harry? Are y'all ready for September 12th?

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!

Couldn't resist. **smirk**

Winning the Battle of the Form Letters

It's time for us taxpaying constituents to revolt against form letters from our elected officials that may or may not be on topic. Here's my suggestion for our very own form rebuttal:

Dear Mr. and/or Ms. Elected Official:

I am in receipt of your form letter response to my (choose one: email/letter) dated (choose one: 1 month ago; 2 months ago; more than 2 months ago) on the subject of _________________ (fill in the blank). I appreciate your acknowledgement of my correspondence.

I do not appreciate, however, the enormous amount of irrelevant boilerplate contained in your email. You chose not to address my questions or comments, opting instead to pat yourself on the back in an effort to influence my opinion of you and the "job you've been doing for me" (choose one: on Capitol Hill; in the White House; in the state capitol; in the loony bin known in New Orleans as City Hall).

I can quite easily ascertain your position on any issue, and how you voted; I know how to use several search engines on the internet. It is wholly unnecessary for you to explain why an issue is important and how you plan to resolve it -- I already know. That's why I wrote to you.

You, however, need to hear directly from your constituents, in depth, to understand the will of the electorate in our Representative Democratic Republic. That's why we correspond with you -- to communicate our positions, not to solicit you to blow smoke where the sun don't shine.

I will continue to communicate with you, and I will appreciate getting a brief reply from you acknowledging that you comprehend my position. I will not appreciate the heaping mounds of self-congratulatory barky-malarkey in which your previous communications abound.

I remember, I make contributions to candidates, and I vote.

Most VERY sincerely,

MoogieP

Of course, I don't have to worry about receiving form letters from Speaker Pelosi or the Young President -- they never reply to the love letters I send them anyway. Do you have anything to add?

Congressman Anh "Joseph" Cao: Not a Cap & Tr8tor

I just emailed this to my Congressman, Anh "Joseph" Cao. I may be on a roll:

The purpose of this communication is threefold:

1. It angers me when I try to communicate with a Member of Congress via email and learn that he/she accepts electronic communications only from residents of his/her district. I own real property in 3 different states and believe that Members representing all of those properties deserve the benefit of my input, not just the one where I vote (which, in this case, is New Orleans). For that matter, all Members deserve the benefit of my input. Please consider changing your policy and encouraging your colleagues to do the same. I understand that you receive an incredible number of emails, but they should all be read and considered; that's why you have a staff at my expense.

2. Please find someone else to compose your press releases. The piece posted on your website concerning your vote on the ACES Act is rife with grammatical errors and misspellings (i.e., Audubon, not Audobon). It's embarrassing.

3. And finally, THANK YOU!!! Thank you for voting against the ACES Act. Thank you for respecting your constituency and actually thinking about the long-term consequences of this incomplete, overreaching, pork-laced, doomed-to-fail piece of stealth-tax. Smaller, subject-specific measures will more adequately deal with energy issues than a 1,200 page piece of who-knows-what. THANK YOU for voting against a bill that had a 300-page amendment filed in the middle of the night. THANK YOU for voting against a bill that had a placeholder in it for a plan (to be designed by none other than Barney "Just Trust Me" Frank) to carry out the terms of the bill. PLEASE continue to vote against ANY measure that is incomplete. PLEASE continue to vote against any measure that overreaches. PLEASE continue to resist the Speaker's draconian leadership.

Thank you, Congressman Cao.

Sincerely,

Item #1 was engendered after I tried to email the "Cap & Tr8tors," the 8 Republicans who bent to Pelosi's will, and was able to contact only two of the eight because they're SO busy and receive SO many emails. Cao does the same thing. That really ticks me off. Number 2 came about when I read the Congressman's press release posted on his congressional website while I was ticked off. It was embarrassing.

I'm ready to go to a birthday party and blow off some steam!

219 - 212: The Numbers Are Closing, Madame Pelosi

These are the 8 Republicans who voted for the American Clean Energy & Security Act (formerly "Cap and Trade"). Shame, shame, shame on them for betraying their constituencies and every single consumer in America: Bono Mack (CA) (202) 225-5330, Castle (DE) (202) 225-4165, Kirk (IL) (202) 225-4385 (And he’s seriously considering running for Senate!), Lance (NJ) (202) 225-5361, LoBiondo (NJ) (202) 225-6572, McHugh (NY) (202) 225-4611, Reichert (WA) (202) 225-7761, Smith (NJ) (202) 225-3765

Once again, Pelosi and her minions browbeat House members into submissively voting for a bill they could not possibly have read -- 1,200 + pages, with a 300 page amendment filed at 3:00 A.M. on Friday! -- and that is packed with pork, hidden taxes, and the death-knell for MILLIONS of American jobs!

A tip of my chapeau to southeast Louisana Congressmen Cao and Melancon, who saw the light in time to cast a "no" vote. Now it's time to start pouncing on the Senate.

Take note, Madame Speaker -- your grip on the throat of the House is slipping. When you have to drag a Kennedy out of rehab to shore up your numbers, the scales are falling from the eyes of the bewitched.

Musings: Fear Factor For The Day

Two words: North and Korea.

Something to think about while the Young President visits "the birthplace of Islam," and Bin Laden chats with the world, and Pelosi recovers from jet lag caused by coming home from China. Oh, no -- wait. She doesn't have to fly in coach, so she may not have jet lag.

You do realize this means Biden is at the switch.

Nancy, With the Lying Eyes

Saved to my Documents folder as "Lying Pelosi Letter" and mailed this afternoon:

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

I write to you again as an active participant in the T.E.A. Party movement, and as a concerned citizen. You are the leader of my House of Representatives and third in presidential succession. As such, you are answerable to me even though I do not live in your District.

Recently many people have become confused and concerned about national security, in no small part because there are lingering doubts about who said what, when, in connection with enhanced interrogation techniques employed against suspected terrorists. You are one of the "whos;" the Central Intelligence Agency is the other.

Today, I watched televised accounts of your press conference. You and your entourage skirted and refused to answer questions about those lingering doubts. In fact, you noted that you will be answering no further questions about the matter in the future. That will be a mistake.

If the C.I.A. lied to you, and continuously lies to Congress -- as you have stated on more than one occasion -- the American people deserve to know. We simply cannot have prevaricators among those who are responsible for our national and domestic security. We cannot witness as our elected officials -- or our citizens -- become the victims of deceit.

I am certain you are as concerned about this issue as is the rest of the country.

Therefore, I ask that you initiate an investigation into these allegations and demand the release of contemporaneous C.I.A. meeting notes about the 2002 briefings in which you participated. The sooner, the better.

Sincerely,

cc: Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao, Rep. Vic Snyder, President Barack H. Obama

Now, will someone please help me extract my tongue from my cheek?