SWGA Politics

Tea Party, Meet the Coffee Party

One central belief of Tom and I is that by and large, when a movement springs up on one end of the political spectrum another corresponding movement will spring up on the other side.

Fascism and Communism are examples. Liberals and Conservatives are another. Democrats and Republicans. Greens and Constitutionals. You get the idea.

Is it therefore any surprise that the Tea Party has a similar opponent forming as we speak, with chapters across the US – including here in Georgia?

This opponent is the Coffee Party.
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I was a Corpsman, not a Corpse-man

A week ago, President Obama had a very Bush-like gaffe.  Three different times in a speech during the National Prayer Breakfast, he made reference to Navy “Corpse-men.”  In my mind, this is akin to Bush talking about “nucular” weapons, but I take a special affront to the Commander in Chief not grasping the correct pronunciation of the members of the United States Navy Hospital Corps.

I take special affront because I was one. Read More …

The Constitution and the State of the Union

About 75 minutes from the time I start writing this post, the 44th President of the United States, President Barack Hussein Obama, will give his second State of the Union address.

Honestly, I’m not paying attention to it at all. I might read the text of it tomorrow, as is my custom, but I will not be watching live, and any clips I happen to see will be from TVs that happen to be playing it.

But I did want to touch on one issue about the State of the Union in general.

You see, much like Christians have built up their own religion that has absolutely nothing to do with the text of the Bible, so too has a whole lot of pomp and circumstance built up around the State of the Union that there is no basis for.
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House Weighs In On Healthcare Reform Reconciliation Strategy

A source just called to report that the Democrats in the House met on Friday to discuss their options with the healthcare reform bill. With the recent election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts, the Democrats no longer have a filibuster free Senate. The remaining option would be for House members to hold their nose and pass the Senate bill as it stands with the idea that the bill can be fixed later in a process called reconciliation through the use of a sidecar bill.

On Tuesday, House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer said that passing the Senate version was clearly better than doing nothing, and he went on to say that the fix (or sidecar bill) could be passed within 15 days, presumably less time than it will take to seat Brown. This appears to be the last best chance that Congress has to pass this piece of legislation. In the meantime, we are being told that there are not enough votes for the House to pass the bill. Could it be that this gambit is designed to get activists to sit on their hands? Don’t do it! Before they play this behind the scenes maneuver, call your Congressman and tell him or her that you are aware of this plan. Tell them not to sidestep the will of the people. This may be your last best chance to stop this bill.

Raise the Roof!

The Senate opened debate Wednesday on a plan to raise the nation’s debt limit by $1.9 trillion!

This will put it in perspective.

Visual Aid

Why does our federal Government show some leadership. Develop a budget that saves 10% of the incoming tax dollars, puts 15% towards paying down current debt, force it’s agencies to become hatchet men letting go of dead weight and dead programs.
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Taxing behavior they don’t like

It’s been said before that it’ll happen. I never had a doubt, but I was a little shocked that it happened so quickly…and in the actual bill. 

What am I talking about?  The healthcare bill and the proposed 10% tax on using a tanning bed of all things.  Read More …

How many times do we have to say it?

Here at SWGAPolitics.com, we can see who links to us.  I have checked out the vast majority of those links, and have seen some interesting posts and discovered some interesting blogs that way.  Yesterday afternoon, a new one popped up.  At first, I read a fellow blogger’s take on the Obama effigy.  No surprise, he saw it as a symptom of racism, rather than an extremely tacky display of displeasure at Obama’s policies.  Now, until or unless we find out who actually put up the effigy and ask them, we will probably never find out exactly why.

But then this guy goes on to talk about the July 4th Tea Party in Plains.  The writer, Bruce Gourley who has a Phd. in history, makes all kind of links to racism at the Tea Party.  Here’s a quote. Read More …

Obama Effigy and Free Speech

By now most people in southwest Georgia have heard about the incident in Plains, Georgia where a doll depicting President Barack Obama was hanged in effigy. I first learned about it yesterday when checking the Drudge Report. By then, it had already made national news.

Similar displays were done to President Obama’s predecessor, President George W. Bush. However, this occurrence carries an emotional sting because it happened to our nation’s first black president. The fact that it also happened in the small southern hometown of our nation’s 39th president was surprising.
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Don’t Jump George Bailey, The Estate Tax Might Come Back!

These days it seems that Washington has its greedy hands in everybody’s pockets to pay for all of the entitlement programs and stimulus packages. Free health care, ain’t exactly free you know. So, it is surprising to see that the estate tax, also called the death tax, has not been reinstated—yet. You may recall that the Bush administration set out to repeal the death tax. After the threat of a filibuster, Republicans in 2001 opted to phase out the tax through 2010 with the idea that they would totally repeal it at a later date when the political climate was more favorable. That never happened. With no further action from Congress, the tax will resurface in 2011. If you are Jimmy Stewart playing George Bailey in the movie, It’s A Wonderful Life, you may be thinking this could be the year to jump off of the bridge. Not so fast though.
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Saxby Chambliss on Healthcare Bill

With the Senate’s vote on the new healthcare reform bill now in the history books, both sides are getting ready for the final fight as the House and Senate sit down and work out the details between the two chamber’s bills.

What follows is a statement released by the Saxby Chambliss’ office just moments ago. Read More …