Silly

Still neck deep in research of the myriad of Democrat folly, the labyrinth of bureaucracies created by John Martin to cover them up and keep them intact, and the desperate attempts by Emily Cain and others to blame the forty year compilation of such on the one year of efforts to clean it up by the LePage administration.  So I decided to shine the light of scrutiny on a much lighter subject, just plain old media stupidity.  Yes, we all love to watch the media’s inept attempts to simply tell the facts.  This is always followed with that warm nostalgic feeling when this same media follows its own predictable pattern of insulting our intelligence by claiming through spin and diversion that it is telling the facts.

I am a fan of the game of football.  I am a fan of the New England Patriots.  The Patriots won a decisive playoff victory over the Denver Broncos, which is in the process of training and molding a very young quarterback.  This young man has been the subject of, perhaps, the greatest outpouring of media stupidity I have seen or heard.  I have stayed away from this hilarity for reasons of trying to maintain some dignity.  But there are some sad tendencies within the media that ooze throughout the reporting world with unfortunate regularity.  The tendency most consistent is the tendency to….lie.

A couple of weeks ago, it was widely reported, after a poor showing against the Kansas City Chiefs, that the back-up quarterback was getting most of the reps and that Denver had installed a new offense for him for the play-offs.  Well then, a nasty thing called the truth appeared that Sunday.  Tim Tebow did play and did beat the Pittsburg Steelers.  The great quarterback Phil Simms revealed in his color commentary that the “new offense” installed was the customary two reps that a back-up receives at the Friday practice before the game.  This is done to remind the quarterback next in line what a football looks like, how it feels in his hand, and that it should be thrown in the direction of his teammates with some semblance of accuracy and purpose.  The coach then hopes his back-up will, in an emergency, show some mastery of the choreographed dance of large, overly padded men hurling and smashing themselves into each other with extreme prejudice.  What a great sport!

Did the media apologize for such a glaring lie?  Did sports writers admit their lack of knowledge of truth and that they are better suited to be writing talking points for Emily Cain or John Martin?  No!  Why?  Because they hate the fact that he exercises his Constitutional right to express his faith in public.

I share a very similar faith with this young man.  So you may ask how I feel about his expression of faith.  I DON’T CARE!!  He is an American and he can express his faith how he pleases.  Some have accused him of saying God helps him win.  He has never said that.  Another lie!

I’m going to drop a theological bombshell here.  Hang on!!  God doesn’t care a hoot what team wins a football game.  What he cares about is that all of us who claim to be Christians live out our lives, in the other six days of a week, as reflection of the God we worship on Sunday.

The behavior around Tim Tebow is silly.  The tendency of the media to lie with arrogant impunity is not.  The media will continue to do this unless we the people demand they stop and respond with the truth.

The godfather: Dead Man’s Bones

 

 

I recently listened to an album…did I say album, ahhh…ha ha ha, I meant CD of one of my favorite artists.  In one of the songs, the lyricist repeatedly poses the question to the listener, “What is your legacy?” For most honest people, this would trigger thoughts of reflection and self-evaluation.  But for the John Martin Democrats the response seems to be “it’s LePage’s fault”, “You can’t prove it” or, my favorite, “There wouldn’t be a shortfall if you let us add up the numbers”.   To the consternation of Democrats of the John Martin ilk, Mainers are not as impressed with the labyrinth of deceitful accounting practices that have accumulated over forty years as the Party, whose symbol is an Ass, seems to be.  As the Governor does the unthinkable and opens the books for the people to see, the specter of prosperity lost calls from the ghostly hallows with tales of the stolen and lost treasure of the people.  The graves and bones of Maine’s hopes and dreams of a bright future filled with wealth now slowly begin to piece together their story of betrayal and waste of precious things entrusted to those not worthy of trust.

First, it was the Turnpike Commission.  The revelation of fraud, waste and corruption made us all angry, but for different reasons.  For the people, who work hard for every dime, it was anger that money was being mishandled without any oversight and accountability.  Democrats were angry that such a big fuss was being made over “relatively” so little.  They called the State Treasurer an “activist” on a “witch hunt”.  I mean, what’s hundreds of thousands of dollars between thieves, right?  And more skeletons are still being discovered in that little dungeon.

Affordable Housing.  There’s nothing confusing about that title, correct?  Pretty self-explanatory, right?  Not to a Democrat.  No, Affordable means over $300,000 per unit.  Yeah, you all know where this is going.  In the ongoing investigation, there are “troubling” things coming to light on where and to whom that  $300,000 was dispersed.  What? Corruption in government?  Say it isn’t so?

Oh, you’ll just get the biggest giggle out of this.  Democrats want to force us to use Green Energy.   Aren’t you excited?  Yes, since we all have so much extra money hanging around, the left wants us, not them, us taxpayers to fund a clean energy initiative to increase our usage of new experimental energy sources by 20%, whether it works or not and whether you want to or not.  Isn’t this awesome?  It’s called legislation.  Just when you thought oil and fuel prices were way too low, here come your friendly favorite liberals with another energy tax.

By the way, the Governor thinks this is a bad idea because it’s bad for the economy and just pads the pockets of the special interests.  That’s why it’s called green energy.  It fills crooked politician’s pockets with taxpayer greenbacks and makes Maine’s economy green sick.  Just for chuckles, giggles and snorts, those gorgeous giant white windmills that we are blowing the tops off our mountains to put up, in England the wind keeps blowing the propellers off them.  Doesn’t that just make you…green?  The government picking your source of energy….and how did gasohol work out again?

This is the legacy of the Maine Democrat Party.  It has built a behemoth of bureaucracies that are dragging our State and its futures to its grave.  We have to face these ugly truths as they are revealed and all work together to turn the tide.  There is more to come.  Let’s Set Maine Free!

The godfather

 

The godfather

One of the primary goals here at The Maine Conservative Voice is to lend a voice to the many residents of Maine who wish to see our state government exercise fiscal restraint and commonsense in Augusta.  This past week MCV sent an email to the Appropriations Committee imploring them to pass the Governor’s plan, which specifically addresses the DHHS  $212 million shortfall.  We received some positive responses from the committee and one scathing rebuke from a certain John L. Martin, Democrat Representative from Eagle Lake.

It is common knowledge that Mr. Martin rules the St. John Valley with an iron fist and none dare challenge him.  Yes, it seems like an eternity that Martin has wielded his ruthless power within the Democrat ranks; in fact, there may be some evidence that, when Moses was hurling his Ten Commandment tablets, he was aiming at John Martin.  When this columnist states that the Democrat party has a lot to hide and a lot to hold on to, Representative and former Senator John L Martin may be the prime example.

In his email reply, Rep. Martin accused this writer of blindly following the Governor.  He presented the same old tired, tattered and torn pictorials of the elderly….and the children…and the sick…and the infirmed….on and on.  It seems the “Honorable” John Martin would have us believe that all the above imagery falls under the category of “healthy childless adult”.

Oh, have we forgotten that already?  Yes, yes, that is what the Governor said.  He wants healthy, childless, adults off the dole.   But Democrats raise these same old worn images every time the people cry for reform.  Why?   It is to use our own sense of compassion as the very thing to whip the public back into compliance with the Democrat agenda.  For most of us, our Judeo-Christian heritage demands that we not ignore those less fortunate than us.  It is engrained into the very fabric of our society straight from our Christian roots.  The Democrats know it.  And they shame us into silence every time we call for some to develop their own independence.  But….the….Bible does say those that don’t work, don’t eat…..just a thought.

Those predictable arguments were, of course, no surprise.  But one argument gave pause and deserved attention.  Martin claimed that Veterans Homes in Maine were going to lose funding as a result of the Governor’s plan to rein in spending.  As the proud son of a Vietnam Vet, I certainly did not want to see that happen.  I did something that sends a shudder through the very bones of Democrats and their media allies, research.

The loss of funds for Veterans Homes is not going to happen, it already has.  In a town hall meeting with the Governor in Ft. Kent, Martin announced that the Federal government would not be funding PNMI or Private Non Medical Institutions.  Veterans Homes fall under this category.  There was a glaring omission from the “Honorable” John Martin’s announcement. Why?

Mr. Martin neglected to inform his constituents that his party had been caught scamming the PNMI Federal matching funds.  They had been cut off during the Baldacci administration.  The Federal government was obligated to do this to protect the other 49 States from the deceitful practices of Maine Democrats.  The “Honorable” John Martin had the audacity to insinuate that this somehow was the fault of Governor LePage.  Remember, that deceit is the support system of the Democrat platform.  Make a mess.  Blame the Republicans.  Republicans clean it up.  Democrats take the credit for it.  The Democrats have a lot to hide and a lot to hold on to.

I’ve blown through my word limit.  There is much, so much more, on this.  See you next week!

A Blue Christmas

 

A blue Christmas

 

I’m not enough of a political historian to know why and when the colors blue and red were designated as the colors of the Democrat and Republican parties, respectively, but it has become increasingly clear in recent weeks that Democrats are determined to have a blue Christmas.  The late rock-in-roller Elvis Presley crooned, in that Christmas classic “Blue Christmas”, assuring his estranged lover that he would have a blue Christmas without her.  The lyrics of this song were meant to invoke images and emotions of sorrow and loneliness.  Democrats, on the other hand, seem quite content to have a blue Christmas without you.

Democrats have ignored the will of the people for years on the issue of LURC.  Now that the people have given the Republicans a chance to free rural Maine from this onerous regulatory beast, Republicans seem reluctant to make the right choice for Maine.  In the last legislative session, the opportunity was available to rid Maine of this burden.  Moderate Republicans entranced by the beckoning sounds of that hazy blue light followed it like so many moths to the flame and voted instead to form a commission to study the effects LURC on the State of Maine.  It seems that forty years of economic devastation wasn’t enough.

So the commission was formed and produced a compromise, which doesn’t seem to reflect the will of so many in rural Maine that cried for repeal.  There is a provision for Counties to opt out, but already Democrats are working to eliminate that.  If the moderate Republicans hold true to their pattern of obstruction, the future looks very blue indeed.  Mainers will be left with only promises of change but nothing to show for it.  This may prove to be a very blue Christmas for Democrats, a Christmas where the will of the people is ignored.  A gift Democrats thrive upon.

DHHS is facing a 212 million dollar shortfall.  The Governor has produced a plan to deal with it.  It asks that all healthy, childless adults be taken off the taxpayer dole.  The crazy thing about this plan is that it almost sounds like commonsense.  But Democrats and their media allies have produced the same old tired pictorials of the many defenseless the Republicans will hurt, like the front-page picture of a man who lives in need of oxygen.  The media and the liberals would have us believe that this is healthy male.  I’m sorry but the word “healthy” does not immediately conjure up images of a man who is confined by a need for oxygen.  Talk about your redefinitions.

Once again, the Democrat party is practicing diversionary tactics because they do not want the will of the people to be enacted.  If so, it will spell the end of bureaucracy.  Reformation will portend the targeting of fat-cat politicians and their corrupt agendas.  The Democrats have a lot to hide and hold on to.  They are determined to have a blue Christmas without you the people.

A thought from Judge Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

One day, the war on terrorism will come to an end. All wars do. And when it does, we will find ourselves still living in fear: not of terrorism or radical Islam, but of the domestic rulers that fear has left behind.” — Corey Robin

My latest column

http://www.svweekly.com/joom1511/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8811:the-maine-conservative-voice-filibuster-a-legacy&catid=17:political&Itemid=197

Hot Potato Couch Potato

 

Hot potato, couch potato

 

Imagine if you will, the following scenario.  Joe Mainer is in the process of trying to support a family.  Joe and his wife have three dependents living at home, one healthy child, one with a debilitating handicap and Joe’s crippled mother, who is confined to a wheelchair.  Despite some financial assistance, the family’s budget is stretched to the maximum with very little room for the unexpected.  I would daresay that this scenario is not fiction for some who read this column.

But the unexpected does happen.  Joe’s 18-year-old son inexplicably drops out of college and moves back home.  Joe Jr. now spends his days on the couch eating, watching TV and railing against the establishment that doesn’t “understand” him.  Mom and Dad love their son.  Stung by his criticism that their dysfunctional parenting has led him to his emotionally crippled state, they try to do his every bidding to “help” him.  But his demands begin to pull funds away from the dependents, which have life threatening needs.

Mr. and Mrs. Mainer are in full crises mode.  In desperation, they use their credit card to bridge the financial gap.  Soon the payments are due.  They don’t have the money and, with mortgage payments and healthcare bills pending or in arrears, they now face a calamity of their own making.  Their friends and neighbors are willing to make a portion of the payments, but the Mainers have to come up with the balance with money they don’t have.  Joe Sr. is faced with a tough decision.  He now can better understand the tough parenting of his parents.

Joe the elder’s parents didn’t care if they were called dysfunctional.  They didn’t care whether their children liked them or not.  Their primary goal in parenting Joe was that he be a responsible hardworking adult. Now the father, Joe must make a very, very difficult decision.

Joe Sr. orders his son out of the house.  He demands that his son get his own job and support himself.  The father understands that, if the healthy adult son isn’t kicked out of the nest, he risks losing the whole nest.

The Governor of Maine faces this very situation with this great State.  For over forty years, Maine’s operating budgets were stretched very thin.  Instead of balancing the budgets, Democrats enabled the debt increasing tactics of the left by creating more pathways to entitlements for all who wished to indulge.  Soon droves of seekers came to bathe in Maine’s entitlement utopia.

The payments have come due.  The Governor is asking the couch potatoes to get off the couch and work before the whole system comes crashing down.  If it does, only the most vulnerable will lose.  The couch potatoes will simply move to a different couch.

As expected, the Democrats are in full uproar as Governor LePage works to balance the books.  These obstructionists have a vested interest in keeping things in crisis mode.  A crisis usually spawns another government bureaucracy. So they are in full attack and no dishonesty is too low.

The Governor wants all healthy childless adults off the dole, from middle aged and no lower than 19.  But Democrats now have redefined middle-aged as “elders” and children as 19-20 year olds.  The State has no money but Democrats rant that if we implement reform we will lose Federal matching funds, which make up 65% of the costs.  It seems the left is comfortable with defaulting on 35% of the DHHS budget.  There is no money to cover the extravagant entitlement spending.  We must stay within our means if we want to continue to protect our State’s most vulnerable.  We must get the couch potatoes out of the nest if we want to save the nest.  Let’s Set Maine Free!

The Stuff of Tyranny

 

The stuff of tyrants

 

The pressure is on.  The intensity is rising and anxiety is mounting.  The sacred golden calf of environmentalists is beginning to creak and groan under the beat of the march of the “villagers”.  Yes, the “villagers”, those scabby little things that dare to own land in the far reaches of eastern and northern Maine.  Those scalawags who rape mother earth with tools that plant gardens, chainsaws that cut down trees and, worst of all, produce offspring that run like little vermin in and out of the pristine lakes and streams of the goddess’ green earth.  Eh gads, the fiends!  Who knows what bodily fluids those little monsters are emitting into the mother’s pools of purity. Ah….weeeell, all I can say is when this guy was a little guy there was no getting me out of the water….okay…..just saying.

While this sarcasm is a little over the top (hard to believe, I know), there is an underlying motive behind many of the left’s passionate arguments in defense of LURC, the Land Use Regulatory Commission.  Many of the more liberal persuasion simply do not believe in landowner rights or perhaps other landowners’ rights.  Amazingly, liberals always find a waiver for their own property, but I digress.  The Founding Father’s unwavering belief that a man’s land was his own to do with as he pleases flies directly in the face of the socialist belief that there are a certain select few who know what is best for everybody else.

A Mr. Ron Joseph recently penned an opinion article for the Bangor Daily.  In this piece, Mr. Joseph bemoans the fact that the hearings to review the effect of LURC on rural areas are being held in the rural areas that are affected by LURC.  Of course, to most of us, that would be common sense, but the retired State and Federal biologist fails to see the obvious here.

Mr. Joseph, in his defense of LURC, reveals the prevailing thought process that was the genesis of LURC. That is, landowners of the North and East wild lands are a danger to the land and cannot be trusted with the stewardship of their own lands; therefore, in order to protect the land at risk from these less than worthy landowners a government bureaucracy most be established that can super-impose the will of more earth-minded people upon the rights of those who own the land.  Mr. Joseph clearly states in his editorial that former members of LURC should be the ones deciding its fate.  He never once acknowledges that these are the very members who ignored the will of landowners in years past.  He refuses to admit that there is a reason that rural Maine has such a negative feeling towards this organization.  Rural Maine has suffered immeasurably under the tyranny of this organization.  The political establishment for years has ignored their cries for help.

Now comes a Governor who is determined to see that rural Maine has a voice.  Now the sacred environmental cow begins to feel the tremble of revolt.  But there is danger in this for the Governor.  If the obstructionist moderates within his own party block the abolishment of this hated commission, he and his party may feel backlash from the very ones who voted him in.

Mr. Joseph started his piece with a quote from Earnest Benn.  “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.”  I can’t think of a better description for formation of LURC.  A danger to the earth was created that never was.  LURC was formed to govern that which need not and should not be governed.  Now this behemoth of “government gone bad’ has done immense damage to the towns and villages of rural Maine and allows the persnickety, pompous and prudish elitist the power to dictate to landowners what they can and cannot do with their own property.  This is the stuff of tyranny and is why we cry “Abolish LURC and Set Maine Free”!

Bismirch

SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/andytorbett/Documents/Besmirch.doc

Besmirch

 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery or so they say.  But the clear lines between truth and perception have faded precipitously in recent weeks.  Anarchy once again blindly assaults the very foundations that hold and gird the stalwart common man.  While pure imitation remains still the purest form of flattery, the claim to imitation with vile intent holds no form of flattery and is by no means pure.

Americans have watched with no small consternation as the Democrat party has embraced with relish the anarchist tactics of the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Our military has at times engaged their enemies with “shock and awe”.  In the streets of our cities, Americans have been assaulted with “shock and recoil”.  But the leaders of the Democrat party have embraced this behavior, championing the tantrums as legitimate.

The Democrat party does not need the offensive methods of the Defecate Wall Street movement as some new aggressive revolutionary campaign.  The Party, whose symbol is an Ass, has a heinous bag full of tricks that would make the not so happy city campers’ duffels look paltry in comparison.  There is a more sinister reason to why the Democrats have locked arms with these vagrants.

The constant theme threaded throughout the commentary used to describe these “protests” has been “like the Tea Party”.  Other frequently used descriptive terms have been “tactics of the Tea Party” or “things in common with the Tea Party”.  The Democrat Party, either by design or by crises seized, is attempting to smear the Tea Party with the misbehaviors of those who smear the streets of our cities with their refuse.

Americans are by nature law-abiding, God-fearing and peace-loving.  With good reason and to maintain those standards, they will ignore and separate themselves from those who act out with delinquent behavior.  It’s repulsive to honest people and they prefer to have nothing to do with the stench.  What an effective political ploy!  To encourage behavior that has all the intellectual integrity of a drunken hormone addled teenager and then label it, as the “tactics of the Tea Party”. This would be a very effective way to diffuse the energy of hard-working Americans.  Now Democrats can smear the Tea Party the same way Occupy Wall Street’s movements have smeared the tops of law enforcement vehicles across the United States.  Now the rights of freedom loving Americans to protest can be sullied in the same way as the rights of young women to safe nights sleep has been violated in their tents on the streets of our cities.  One commentator said it best when he observed that there are only two places where there are “rape free zones”: prison and Occupy Wall Street.  Yes, Americans are disgusted.

But there is no comparison.  Tea Party rallies were usually one-day events, at the most a weekend, because the participants had to get back to….work.  The Occupy groups have camped out, supported by the very “one percent” they protest.  The media worked at a ferocious fever pitch trying to find deviants within the Tea Party to highlight.  Now they are working with the same ferocity to cover up the disgusting behavior of the Occupy anarchists.

Leaders of the Tea Party have, perhaps out of good will, tried to acknowledge that there are some possible similarities between the two.  This is playing directly into the hands of the groups who wish the Tea Party’s demise: the Democrat Party and their media allies.  The Tea Party must stand resolute in its assertion that there is no similarity.  The foundational motives are polar opposites.  The Tea Party is calling for the restoration of a strong and vibrant America.  The Occupy group is calling for its utter destruction.  The Tea Party is calling for the chance that all Americans can work in freedom to pursue their dreams.  The anarchist blocked streets so that Americans cannot get to work, children cannot pursue their education.  This columnist was taught in my grade school social studies class that we were all entitled to our free rights until we infringed upon the rights of our fellow citizens.  Just a thought to ponder from an 8^th grade Social Studies teacher.

A Thanksgiving poem I wrote last week for the paper

 

The thanksgiving in me.

 

The thanksgiving in me

Looks forward to see

What blessings this season does bring

 

It’s more than the feast

The dough and the yeast

It’s freedoms we hale, we sing

 

We gaze misty eyed

At heroes who’ve died

To insure that we celebrate free

 

A child’s pleading eye

For a big piece of pie

In part is thanksgiving in me

 

To view nature’s charm

With my wife on my arm

Indeed, this is heaven on earth

 

The trees shed their leaves

Children play as they please

Oh, how I treasure their birth

 

This dinner of cheer

Heralds winter is near

Soon Dad, cut our big Christmas tree

 

Mom’s final say

Picks the tree that will stay

I love this thanksgiving in me

 

The land soon will bow

With snow covered boughs

We’re all warm and cozy inside

 

This land that I love

Blessings sent from above

Is why I still live here with pride

 

The things dear to me

The thanksgiving in me

Is why I will never refrain

 

To thank God above

For my family I love

This is Thanksgiving in ME

Is your vote for sale?

Is your vote for sale?

 

This past election has brought some truths to light that the people of Maine must study in order to better understand the political motivations of those who wish to influence elections.  The Republicans suffered a defeat in their quest to bring security and accountability to the Maine election process.  Those who wished to keep our voting system vulnerable and easily manipulated, have reason to rejoice as the seedy cloak of deceit will, for now, remain to shroud the clear function of the most sacred rite of Maine’s Democratic process.  It is telling that in the State of Mississippi a measure to require voter ID was overwhelmingly passed by the people with a two-thirds majority.

The true test of a group’s character and integrity is how well they can handle defeat.  The people of Maine will wait and watch to see if the GOP can learn from their mistakes.  Their opponents will revel in the defeat and watch expectantly for Republicans to implode and cannibalize each other.  This will be a true test of the maturation to leadership for a party that has not been in power for over forty years.

Donald Sussman, a billionaire hedge fund manager, gave over $250,000 to the Yes on 1 campaign in order to try and influence the vote.  He succeeded.  There was no way the Republicans would spend that kind of money on a vote.  Republicans refuse to buy votes.  Mr. Sussman is the husband of U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree.  This reveals to the people of Maine a systemic problem with the Democrat Party and their supporters.  The Democrats view voters as commodities that can be bought and sold, bartered in the mercantile of ideas in exchange for freedoms.

Much can be learned about a belief system by looking at the groups that propagate it.  The Yes on 1 campaign was funded by a hedge fund, Wall Street manipulator.  It was also supported with thousands of dollars and ground troops from MPA, SEIU, and Equality Maine -all of which have checkered pasts, to put it nicely, with regards to their handling of the voting process.  Maine people will have to decide whether they appreciate having individuals buy the vote and whether they are ready to put their voting rights out to bid for whoever has the deepest pockets.  I, for one, am uncomfortable with the defense that there is no voter fraud in Maine because you couldn’t prove it.  It seems eerily reminiscent of the standard defense that every criminal at every level uses to beat the rap….you can’t prove it.  For me it is not the burden of proof, it is the burden of possibility.  We can’t leave Democracy to chance.

Congratulations to Ray Wallace for his great victory in District 24.  There is a lesson for the Republican Party to take out of this election also.  While Question 1 was utter defeat for the GOP, the Republican candidate was able to win.  This flies in the face of the Democrats assertion that Mainers are rejecting the Governor’s policies.  The Democrat campaigned on an Anti-LePage platform.  The Green Party candidate, ironically, campaigned on a Pro-LePage/social conservative platform and was able to pull nearly 8% of the vote away from Ray Wallace.  Mr. Wallace still won.

Mainers are still very loyal to the Governor.  Some polls have him at over 50% popularity.  One poll has his job approval rating higher than his likeability rating.  This speaks to what commonsense people have always known: I don’t have to like you to want you to do the job.  I just have to know you will get the job done and done right.  Those in the Republican Party, which have played the obstructionist to the Governor, would do well to take heed.

During the Question 1 referendum, an out of state group came to do some ads for the No on 1 campaign.  They refused to allow input from the Maine Republicans.  Consequently, Mainers were confused and put off by the image these ads portrayed.  Another lesson learned.  The Maine Republican Party needs to speak directly to the people, like any good team learn from their mistakes and come back stronger, and join with their popular Governor to present to the people of Maine one strong coherent message.  The Maine Conservative Voice is confident that they will.  For the sake of Maine, they have to.

John Martin’s pick-up

A few weeks ago, Representative Jeff McCabe of Skowhegan “wrote” an article published in this paper trying to affix blame for certain healthcare cost increases on the Governor’s reform legislation passed in the 125^th session of the legislature.  It has taken this amount of time to respond to the good legislator because The Maine Conservative Voice had to do something Mr. McCabe failed to do in his “opinion” piece: research.  It seems the “Honorable” Jeff McCabe’s view of research is more of the cut and paste variety.

As this columnist perused the web in search of material to substantiate the good representative’s “claims”, a curious discovery was unearthed from the strata of Maine’s political landscape. It seems Mr. McCabe’s “assertions” are really not his assertions at all.  One can follow the puppet strings attached to young Mr. McCabe all the way up to the St. John Valley and find them attached to the fingers of the wily yet not so honorable John Martin.

It seems that prior to the aforementioned article’s printing another striking similar article was printed by John Martin.  The similarity could be categorized in the “word for word” column.  It is certainly evident that Jeff McCabe got the memo but failed to appropriate enough window dressing to hide the trail to the puppet master.

John Martin has never been shy about his use of deceit and subterfuge in accomplishment of his goals.  The end justifies the means and Mr. Martin has a whole pick-up truckload of deceit to work with.  This only serves to validate our belief that not only is dishonesty part of the Democrat platform but it is more likely the main support beam.  Since the young Democrat from Skowhegan seems content to merely parrot the words of his more sinister elder, it falls to honest Maine people to decipher the truth for themselves.

It only takes a nominal understanding of economics and policy to understand that the effect of legislation when implemented takes months even years to be realized in an economy.  The John Martin/Jeff McCabe article revealed its flawed argument from the beginning when it acknowledged that the Republican health insurance reform had only recently gone into effect.  So can a law only a few weeks old already have this effect on the market?

But there is a healthcare reform that has been in place for some time now and is adversely affecting healthcare all over the nation.  Yes, you guessed it.  ObamaCare.  Democrats are trying to hide the dismal track record of socialized medicine with the Republican efforts to reform it.  So, we are back to John Martin’s pick-up truck.  As has been said before, the Democrat tactic has always been, make a mess, and blame the Republicans.  When the Republicans clean up the mess, steal the credit for it.

But Martin/McCabe have also failed to reveal that only one portion of the Maine insurance reform has been implemented, the rest is still pending.  They also used a very small, targeted cross-section to obtain their “evidence”, breaking all rules of subjective study.  But they are “honorable” men.  It is part of their title.

I find it sadly ironic that these men will conjure images of abuse to the less fortunate while their Party cuts aid to LHEAP.  Governor LePage needs funds from the bloated Efficiency Maine coffers to make up the difference so the needy don’t freeze this winter.  The Democrats pledge to block this.  It’s easy to see why.   Democrats don’t want to see monies moved away from their sacred cow, green energy.

Mainers, like the rest of the nation, have watched in awe as millions and billions of dollars have been swallowed up by the swirling vortex of green energy never to be seen again.  Green Energy and John Martin’s pick-up seem to be magical portals.  Whatever gets near them disappears.

Let’s stop the slight of hand.  Let’s stop parroting mantras.  Let’s stay focused on turning Maine around from forty years of John Martin’s pick-up.

What is important?

What is important?

 

The Democrat Party has been making it increasingly easier for commonsense Mainers to make correct decisions in the voting booths come November.  After the Republican Party passed legislation to safeguard the integrity of our voting system in Maine, the opposition cried foul.  They waited for the throngs to join them.  To their disappointment, the numbers were not as large as they had hoped.  Mainers are far too endowed with powers of perception to fall for the same old Democrat lies.  After all, they have heard them for forty years and have gotten use to the pattern.  So how to create a throng?

Well, you can’t just go out and work up Maine people because they might ask tough questions like, “What’s wrong with protecting our votes?” or “Don’t you want to help out overworked town clerks on election day?” and the very embarrassing and awkward “You don’t want to stop voter fraud…why?”  That just wouldn’t work.  So, the Democrats have run to their old standby, the far-left fringe groups such as Maine People’s Alliance.  These groups are great at creating calamity out of tranquility, confusion out of clarity, and joblessness out of prosperity.  Ah yes, the wonderful “community organizers”.

Your humble columnist has had opportunity to engage in battle with the MPA on a few occasions.  It is a shame to see the lengths these groups will go to create instability, specifically economic instability, throughout the communities of Maine.  One such time, a large company, HoltraChem, had made some mistakes in its handling of chemicals and was required by the State to follow stringent regulations to clean it up.  They did and the expense of which was the demise of their company.  They sold out to another company, which finished the cleanup and maintained the landfills of contaminated soil to State standards.  This was not good enough for the MPA.  They saw an opportunity to bankrupt another big company.  They demanded this company and the town dig up the inert mercury soil now safely contained, reactivate the soil, drag it through Maine towns in rail cars and trucks to Canada, expose the environment, the townspeople of Maine and Canada to reactivated mercury, and burden another business with insurmountable operational expenses.  Why?  Was it to protect the environment or the townspeople?  Certainly not!  Their goal was to destroy another business.

These are the extremists that the Democrats have aligned themselves with to obstruct the people of Maine from securing protection of the sacred trust of Democracy.  Yes, the Democrats seem to think the process to purchase a bottle of whisky or a pack of cigarettes takes precedence over the process to insure the integrity of basic liberties.

They cry that there is no voter fraud; yet, a quick google of the words “voter fraud” will immediately grant you 20,000 entries having to do with voter fraud in the nation.  The most recent has an imminent arrest of Democrat leaders in Buffalo, New York.  Another reaches all the way to the Oval Office questioning whether Barack Obama should have ever been on the ballot in Indiana.

Fellow Mainers, we know better.  This is not about identifying voter fraud.  It is about preventing voter fraud.  Prevention is worth a pound of cure unless you don’t want to be cured.  So perhaps we should ask the Democrats that uncomfortable question again. “Why don’t you want to prevent voter fraud…again?”  The Maine Conservative Voice urges all its readers to vote “No” on 1.  It’s commonsense.  All of our readers in Dexter area make sure you go out and vote for Ray Wallace.  Let’s Set Maine Free!

Means nothing to you, means something to me.

Means nothing to you, means something to me.

 

What is fair?  How do you establish a government that gives every individual an opportunity for success?  Can you possibly protect the interests and hopes of every person?  Our founding fathers wrestled with these questions and more when they set out to lay the foundation of a new fledgling nation.  Not far removed from the violent travail, which gave birth to this new freedom, these wise men knew they could not take lightly the solemn responsibility to guard the future of a newborn nation, whose hopes they now held in their hands.

Fresh in their minds was the horrors of war and the stench of blood-soaked battlefields.  Stamped into their memories was the ultimate price so many had paid for the hope and dream of freedom.  Our Founding Fathers knew they had to get it right or this would be another bloody revolution that simply shifted the power of tyranny from one faction to another.

So they started with this basic premise; all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with basic unalienable rights; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  It didn’t matter whether you were the majority or the minority, these basic rights could not be taken from you.  Next, the Founders grappled with how to insure this premise would be honored and protected.

These great men were keenly aware of the failure of government throughout history to be fair to every man.  So how could our government succeed were others had failed?  It couldn’t.  No government can.  The hopes, beliefs, and dreams of so many individuals offer a myriad of goals and intents that no government could ever guarantee.  Someone’s dreams inevitably would be set aside for others the government deemed more worthy of attention.  Perhaps the idea of government based on the belief that all men were created equal was simply folly.

Unless, that government was marginalized.  What if that government were confined and constrained to a small specific purpose?  What if that government feared the people because it feared the Creator of the people?  What if that government simply protected the nation from the threat of the invasion of a new tyranny?  What if that government was too small to provide an impediment to anyone’s life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness?  Then, perhaps, the aspirations of all American’s could have a hope of realization.

Government cannot understand the passions of the individual.  It simply cannot.  The human desire is a multi-faceted expression.  What matters little to you many be of utmost importance to another.  But each must be afforded an opportunity to pursue that passion.  This is the responsibility of the individual.  He or she alone knows what they value and desire.

Big government holds people helpless to its decisions.  The more it fails the more government reminds its people that it can’t please everyone.  Our Forefathers never intended Americans to look to government for answers.  It was not intended to please anyone, just function in its limited role.  They believed that every individual knew his own dream and that was none of government’s business.

Since the President and his Party have taken power, the private sector has lost 1.6 million jobs.  The government has grown by at least 105,000 jobs.  Senator Harry Reid has said the private sector is “doing just fine”.  He believes government jobs need to be protected.  If Mr. Reid were not a public servant, he would be entitled to his beliefs.  But while the loss of 1.6 million jobs is “just fine” with Democrats, the private sector does not agree.  Government is deciding whose hopes and futures are worth preserving.  Government is now right where our Founding Fathers did not want it to be, in the way.  Big government needs to be, once again, marginalized.  This government needs to be told that the “means nothing to you” means something to me and it is really none of your business, so get out of it.

Oops-the litany, the legacy.

Oops-the litany, the legacy.

 

Shaken by the incessant criticism hurled at this columnist for his consistent adherence to the tenets of conservatism, the Maine Conservative Voice has decided to try and step away from the several writing techniques my critics have deemed boring and unimaginative.  No longer will there be the drab, predictable, irrefutable facts interlaced with bland, cagey, endearing, sarcastic humor.  No, it is time to step it up a little bit, take it to the next level and engage the audience with the scintillating and sensational.  Mothers, hide your children as MCV moves into uncharted waters.  Behold, the jaw-dropping, mouth-gaping, riveting…graph.  Come on!  Don’t be shy.  Look at it.

 

Wage earnings                    Avg tax%

$20,000-30,000                    5.7%

$40,000-50,000                    12.5%

$50,000-75,000                    15%

$1,000,000+                         29.1%

 

Now that this moment of guilty pleasure is over, we can wipe the sweat from our brow, pull ourselves together and concentrate on the reason for this shocking revelation.  The information here was put together by the Associated Press to verify President Obama’s assertion that middle class America is paying more taxes than the wealthy and that it is time for millionaires to start paying their fair share.  You know, I’m still having a hard time getting my head wrapped around “New Math” but, for those of us who are still paddling around the 5.7 mark, 29.1 still seems like a lot more.  Maybe we all just need to have Warren Buffet explain these numbers to us the way he has explained it to the President.  Mr. Buffet wants millionaires to pay more taxes, as long as it is not he.  Mr. Buffet is under investigation for tax evasion issues.

Here at home, Ms. Quimby wants to turn all her landholdings into a Federal Park.  It is her land.   She can do what she wants with it except….when….it….effects other people’s land and their livelihoods.   Governor Lepage has worked hard to secure the sale and restart of paper mills in Millinocket.  People are headed back to work.  But if Ms. Quimby has her way, Federal Park regulations would block the harvest of wood fiber, which is essential to the survival of the Millinocket mills.  The Democrat Party is a huge supporter of Ms. Quimby’s plan.

Democrats Chris Dodd and Barney Frank want at least one more financial crisis to add to their legacy.  They along with Dick Durbin have allowed banks to charge heavy fees to you the consumer for having….money.  Yes, the banks can now penalize you based on the fact that you have money in their bank.  Talk about a sound fiscal model for economic recovery.   Can anyone say “money in my mattress”?  How about one more Dodd/Frank banking collapse?  This is inevitable when patrons begin wholesale withdrawals.

Corruption is coming to light fast and very furious, as one CBS investigative reporter has found out.  The White House, for her dogged investigation into the Fast and Furious scandal, deemed Sheryl Attkinson “unreasonable”.  Members of the President’s staff and Department of Justice screamed and shouted explicatives at Ms. Attkinson as she asked for answers to the cover-ups.  From my limited past experience, this loss of control means that a “whole lotta smelly oopses” are about to hit the fan.

Speaking of the fan, before the aroma of the “Solyndra Oops” was scattered across America, the President was poised to give another loan to the bankrupt solar company.  How big of a funnel was he trying to fill anyway?  Now, the President wants to encourage spoiled college students to shut down Wall Street.  The “oopses” are just piling up both here and abroad.

Oops…again!

Oops….again!

 

News Flash!  In a rush to beat the final deadline, this past week the Obama administration had to ramrod the last 5 billion dollars of taxpayer funded stimulus out the door in a frantic effort to ensure that its mandate on green energy business is realized.  With most of these companies going bankrupt and many more on the way, it is easy to understand the helpless anger that is boiling throughout America despite efforts of the media to cover for the President.  Where is all this money going?  What kind of return are American citizens getting for their tax dollars?

Several million dollars were given to the brother-in-law of Nancy Pelosi to start a green energy business.  Now it comes to light that his business has created twelve jobs.   Twelve jobs?  For…. how much?  So this begs the question – what are taxpayers spending per green job created?

For every green job created, it is costing the citizens of the United States 20 million dollars.  Green energy is cutting-edge business and inherently risky, no one is arguing that.  But risky is one thing, stupid is another.  Unless these employees are being outfitted with Bionics, a 20 million dollar employee seem a little pricey to the average man.  How can Americans expect to realize a return on investment capital with such expensive employees?  This would be virtually impossible even with a solvent business.  But these businesses were going bankrupt from their inception.  Their business models screamed failure from the very onset and, yet, the White House fell all over itself to infuse monumental amounts of cash from a cash-strapped nation into a yawning, gaping, green vacuum.  Americans now are green with the nausea that comes from the sinking realization that you have been taken and were helpless to prevent it.  Bankrupt green energy is now sending employees back to the jobless ranks at $20 million a pop.

Compare that to the State of Maine.  Hundreds of jobs are coming back to the Millinocket area and what did it cost Mainers?  The Governor’s salary.  Wait, you say, doesn’t he get paid that anyway?  Exactly!  The Governor did not ask for Mainers to dig a little deeper, sacrifice a little more and stop being soft.   Instead, he worked harder to help convince out of State investors that a more business friendly Maine is in the making. Business owners trust Paul LePage because they have seen him in action in the private sector.  They know his record.  So the private sector is investing in Maine.  People in Northern Maine, even in little towns like Brownville Junction, are seeing the hope of new jobs created without it costing anyone a dime.

When the government creates jobs, good or bad, it costs the taxpayer.  At one time the automobile and the assembly line was cutting-edge technology.  The government didn’t force it down our throats nor did it try to prop up the carriage industry.  The free market played out and Henry Ford succeeded, while a successful carriage maker saw the handwriting on the wall, sold out and formed General Motors.

Job creation should not be hurting Americans.  It should be helping Americans.  Call me simple, but it seems like common sense.  The President now wants us to entrust him with another $447 billion in stimulus…yeah.  Perhaps, Mr. President, if your campaign donors could return the billions of our money you gave them; it could help the nation recover from the green nausea that is sweeping the nation….perhaps.  On a personal note, thank you, Governor  Paul R. LePage !

Amazing

Amazing!

 

A man will protect the things he values.  A people will defend the integrity of the things they revere.  The people of Maine have watched in incredulous dismay as the very things important to them have been flippantly tossed and maneuvered like so many pawns on a game table. Their leaders’ behavior has been a stark juxtaposition to the desires of Maine people.

“Restore integrity to the Democracy we so treasure” was a cry and demand sent to our political leaders.  Now efforts have been made to ensure the validity of the voting process.  Laws were passed to relieve the unnecessary workload of clerks and registrars.  But some have cried foul seeming to prefer the cloak of ambiguity.  While some would say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, others seem to think that the pound of cure provides much needed job security for the various and sundry governmental regulatory investigative agencies.

It is ironic indeed that an individual wishing to purchase a bottle of whiskey or a pack of cigarettes has to prove that he qualifies to participate in the purchase of these socially acceptable vices.  These laws were put into effect to relieve the pressure on the poor clerk at the local convenience store who has to decide whether this customer has satisfied the legal adherence to purchase these products.  Keen to the uncomfortable responsibility that weighs upon the cashier who has to “make the call”, Laws were enacted that demanded verification of a purchaser’s right to purchase these products; thus, the integrity of the system was hoped to be maintained and only legal buyers could buy.  It is amazing to see that some hold the purchase of a bottle of whiskey or a pack of cigarettes in higher regard than the maintenance of the integrity of our Democratic system.

It is sad to read that a representative of the people would so callously use his constituents as a political battering ram against an opponent.  In Allagash, Senator Troy Jackson is furious that Governor LePage has not meet with him on the Senator’s timetable.  Residents of Maine would like to gently remind Mr. Jackson that Governor Lepage is Governor for the whole State of Maine and runs a pretty tight schedule.  The Governor has made two attempts to meet with the Senator.  Mr. Jackson’s most recent rant, fuming that he could not schedule a meeting with the Governor to address the lack of work because they were….working, certainly gives fellow Mainers, those who aren’t working, pause.

No one, especially not the Governor, has ever denied that the logging industry needs to recover if Maine is to recover.  But, sadly for the people of Allagash, some leaders are more concerned with using their unfortunate situations as a thinly veiled opportunity to try and embarrass a political opponent rather than find solutions.  The loggers of the Allagash may find it better to sidestep the unsightly mess of Senator Jackson’s temper tantrums and meet the Governor themselves.

Oops

Oops!

 

Readers of this column may be taken aback that this columnist would immediately delve into controversy with this title.  Perhaps no word has triggered so much debate as to the when, where, why and how that definitively defines an “oops”.  Is it that scrumptious honey glazed spiral ham you so graciously brought to your neighbor’s celebration dinner for their son’s Bar Mitzvah?  Or is it wearing your favorite Peyton Manning jersey to an exclusive tour of Gillette stadium by Robert Kraft?  How about that date with your dream hottie, who spends the whole night peppering you with questions about your younger brother?  Ah, ever the eternal nagging question.  What is an “oops”?  Well, the leaders of the Democrat Party and their allies have been kind enough in recent weeks to give some much needed clarity to this highly contentious and, yes, confusing issue.

The recent almost religious fixation with green energy from the Democrat Party has driven the nation deeper and deeper into the red.  More than half a billion dollars was awarded to one business, Solyndra.  This is, well was, a solar panel company which had a brilliant business model of producing solar units at a production cost of  $6 per unit and selling them at $3 per unit.  You know I’m just a logger turned construction guy but even I can tell that’s probably not a good business model to work from….probably….just saying.  Anyway, no surprise that Solyndra along with a myriad of other green energy companies created a log jam at the President’s door at the advent of the last stimulus engorgement bemoaning the fact that their businesses could not survive or even get off the ground without an infusement of tax dollars.  In a normal world, at this point a government would remind these businesses that government does not pick winners and losers.  If their business cannot withstand the scrutiny of the free market, it is not worthy to stand in the free market.  But we are in the new normal.  We have hope and change.

Solyndra convinced the Obama administration that building units for $6 and selling them at $3 is new cutting-edge business and, not to worry, losing money at a $3 per unit clip is indeed a safe and secure way for the taxpayers to realize a return on their precious hard earned funds.   One company alone was given more supposed job creating stimulus dollars than 35 States combined received for “shovel ready” jobs.  Then this company went bankrupt, the money disappeared and no one is talking.  That’s a colossal “oops”!

Or is it?  Somehow the name Rahm Emmanuel keeps popping up intertwined with all of this.  The owners of many of these green energy, cutting-edge, now-over-the-edge businesses are major Democrat donors.   Billions of dollars are funneled or given (did I say funneled? Oops) to these businesses and few weeks later they go belly up, bankrupt.  And the money disappears.  Oh, and all the workers who are not so stimulated as they are now out of work are being given tax payer funded “trade adjustment assistance”.  More money, as if half a billion wasn’t enough.

You know, in some sectors of society, say like the underworld of Chicago for an example, a business that is created to do nothing but lose money is called a front for the ….well, you know.  Oops!  Did I say that?  Oh, yes I did!  And there is more to come in the “Oops Saga” -both in Washington and right here in Maine.  See you next week!

On the Lemmings March

On the lemmings march

 

They tramp

They tromp

They fit and fuss and stomp

 

They call for this

Protest for that

To dodge the calls to stay on track

 

With jobs a must

It’s jobs or bust

The answer? One more stimulus

 

When the people do say, “but,

How to pay for all this glut?”

They smile and say,  “There is a way”

“We’ll tax your bony butt.”

They cry,

 

“On, on and on the lemmings march

Be not deterred

From what we’ve heard

Ignore the damage we’ve incurred

Despite the fright

The nations plight

We’ll game the same

From frame to blame

We have the nation’s wealth to parch

Here on the lemmings’ march”

 

A scheme

For green

Hid by a solar dream

 

So now we see

A bankruptcy

A half a bill passed out for free

 

What jobs? You sigh

For you and I

There’s plenty for the FBI

 

When the people say, “No more.

Your record here is poor.”

They say, “You bet, but don’t you fret.

We’re funding fifteen more.”

They shout,

 

“On, on and on the lemmings march

Be not deterred

From what we’ve heard

Ignore the damage we’ve incurred

Despite the fright

The nations plight

We’ll game the same

From frame to blame

We have the nation’s wealth to parch

Here on the lemmings’ march”

 

With no one the wiser

Save maybe the Kaiser

Money keeps drifting

A political gifting

Through channels unchecked

No accident, you bet

All will march by

Without a hue or a cry

And do as they’re told

With integrity sold

They wait for the shout

For the citizens to flout

They march,

 

“On, on and on the lemmings march

Be not deterred

From what we’ve heard

Ignore the damage we’ve incurred

Despite the fright

The nations plight

We’ll game the same

From frame to blame

We have the nation’s wealth to parch

Here on the lemmings’ march”

On, on and on the lemmings march….

What Emily hates

What Emily hates

 

The tender shoots of young job growth are beginning to break through the volcanic ash, which is the residue of the 40-year liberal scorching of the business landscape of Maine.  Democrats are now faced with the stark realization that the first steps the LePage administration have made towards making Maine palatable to business again are working.  Despite the work of Emily Cain’s “Party of No” and their obstructionist moderate allies in the Republican Party, the effects of a pro-jobs Governor on Maine’s business climate has been quickly evident as we discussed last week.  This did not sit well with the minority party.  This was no more evident than through the words of the Democrat leader Emily Cain.

After the legislature had passed an admittedly imperfect budget (it was much too large for a conservative), Ms. Cain told the media emphatically that she and her Caucus “just hated these tax cuts, just hated them!” This after moderates had helped to grant the Democrats concessions beyond the Governor’s liking.  This is just a reminder that a Democrat’s 40-year definition of bi-partisan is “do everything our way”.  It seems those tax cuts Emily hates are sending a message, both to entrepreneurs within the state and without, that Maine is truly open for business.

But why does Emily hate them so? Could it be that the advent of job growth, prosperity and the independence it brings signals the end to the strangle hold the Democrat party has held upon the futures of the people of Maine?  With more of their own money left in their pockets to spend and save for their own future, residents will begin to feel that heady sense of accomplishment that comes from providing ones own needs from the fruit of ones own labor.   Instead, Ms. Cain seems to prefer we remain in the Democrat’s pattern of choice that has the people being herded into entitlement systems like so many cattle. Back, she wails, to the dependence on big Democrat government to get us through the endless meager years under the grey drab famine of socialism.

Is this why she hates tax cuts so?  Perhaps, by extension, she hates the inevitable fiscal independence prosperity will bring to Mainers?  The people will begin to realize this truth.  They don’t need government.  Government needs them.  Maybe it is the great sense of satisfaction a young businessperson can feel by growing a business that they can pass on to their young ones that she hates so much?  Or maybe its that sense of calm that comes to a family when they know there is enough work to pay the bills and even get ahead that she takes exception to?  One thing we know for sure, Emily Cain hates tax cuts.   She “just hates them”.

Simply put, tax cuts give the people’s money back to the people.  Tax cuts show businesses we are serious about bringing them back to Maine.  Tax cuts are the tried and proven way to fix an economy.  Now Emily Cain, how could you hate a thing like that?  We the people don’t.