More Democrat twilight government

It looks like Gov. Culver has found yet another way to operate the state government like the Star Chamber.

Iowa was one of the first states to adopt a “sunshine” statute, now known as “Iowa’s Freedom of Information Act”. The IFOIA has been a cornerstone brake on the exercise of secret as well as almost unlimited power.

Going back to the destruction of Gov. Vilsack’s emails to prevent their disclosure the Democrats have been working hard, albeit somewhat secretly, to block the disclosure of information that describes the inner working of government.

Now, we learn in today’s DM Register is reporting that Culver is actually going to bill the public for the time the state lawyer’s spend reviewing documents. At even the relatively modest charge of $25 - $35 per hour all but affluent inquirers would be priced into disinterest.

Although the State lawyers are paid salaries, hence already paid by the taxpayers to review documents that we, the taxpayers who pay the lawyers to review documents, request, Chet sees the FOIA as a profit center.

The Democrats new motto-all the government you can pay for?

Capital Punishment-Exhibit A

Dave “The Taxpayers Watchdog” Vaudt fills in a blank.

We caught a most apropos` comment on an earlier column today. It seems State Auditor, who truly is the Taxpayers Watch Dog, disclosed that Governors Vilsack and Culver had the good idea of engaging an out of state consulting firm to find ways to save the State money, kind of like training workers in Iowa’s almost 0% unemployment through CIETC sounded like a good idea.

Today’s Des Moines Register described the cost benefit result from the good idea of hiring an expensive out of state consulting firm to trim the bankrupt state budget.

In total for both phases of the contract, taxpayers have paid A.T. Kearney roughly $4.5 million – including $766,000 in bonuses – for its work over the past two years. During that time, state auditors have verified that the company saved the state less than $3 million in annual savings.

The production bonuses alone represent 25% of the savings although the taxpayers paid the consultant $1.50 for every $1 the consultant saved the State. The Democrats only wish that math was fuzzy.

Auditor Vaudt's report certainly illustrates, yet again, the Gov. Culver and his legislative minions' attachment to increasing taxes on food, fuel, milk, and housing. Just as he did in exposing CIETC, our outstanding state auditor David Vaudt, has well served the public interest in exposing yet additional millions of your dollars that evaporated under the Democrat management principles of cronyism, unionism and victimism.

Remember things like this the next time you hear a Democrat talk about “fiscal responsibility”.

HILarious video about the DRAMA on Century of the Common Iowan

NoNeed4thNeed over at Century of the Common Iowan, yes a notorious liberal blog, has a hilarious video about the Democrat race this morning.

Well worth the time to watch. Start your week with a little bipartisan good spirit and humor.

This morning, immediately after saying that Republicans were hate filled racists who used things like Willie Horton (as if Willy wasn’t released under Gov. Dukakis’ administration) to racially divide people, Howard said that Democrats will “bring people together”.

While one might wonder how a speaker who is not afflicted with dissociative identity disorder could simultaneously believe both statements, a quick look back at some other Deanisms creates little doubt that unity is hardly a goal Dean embraces, at least in a small “d” democratic sense of the word.

Today’s attack was not, by far, the most divisive and despicable things in the Howard Dean catalogue. Remember when Howard Dean floated the rumor that 9.11 was George W. Bush’s inside job? Yes, that one’s my favorite. Some find the statements that the only black people at Republican events are the wait staff, particularly here in Iowa where our state Co-chair is black, our state Central Committee has at least one other black man the President of our largest chapter of the FRW is black and none of them wait on any other members, as uniquely divisive.

Howard’s is the liberal language of inclusion. Of course, it’s a form of inclusion that is more commonly found in the foreign governments with which Democrat leaderships seem to always support: Marxist totalitarian types like Mao and Minh in the late 60s and early 70s, and less historically prominent Marxist or Islamofascist thugs like Pol Pot Muammar al-Gaddafi, Khomeini, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and the iconic favorite thug of American liberals, Fidel Castro.

Nothing unifies the expression of disparate public thought like the criminalization of dissent, eh Howard? And this is from the party that wants to return over government regulation of public speech in the form of the fairness doctrine.

Never, ever trust these guys.

New Link: the Demo Memo

We newly discovered another local Democrat blog worthy of linking.

The author of The Demo Memo (pictured above left) will engage in some debate so it's not just the usual liberal name calling or ad homs.

Give it a read and challenge the author. We won't win the Culture War if we abandon the battlefield.

Lessons from the Courthouse vote.

Polk County voters handily defeated the Courthouse referendum last Tuesday.

What does the vote say?

Although we here at TRS supported the Courthouse imitative we figured we were on the losing side. After being swindled by the Democrats on the Event Center and the new jail, Polk County voters, like their counterparts all over the country, are showing an unwillingness to countenance further borrow, tax and spend projects.

The problem with which we are left, however, is the need for things like courthouses and jails continues notwithstanding public skepticism.

So what’s the answer?

Maybe reprioritize our existing spending to pay for the essential functions of government first? C’mon Iowa, let’s give that a try.

The Courthouse serves everyone in Polk County. Most of the municipal money spent in Polk County doesn’t. Most of the money we spend benefits only small subparts of the County population. Let’s dedicate say, Prairie Meadows money, to the cost of a new Courthouse. If that doesn’t work, any County money spent on job training can get thrown into the project. After all our unemployment rate is below 2% here in Polk County. ........... and so on.

What the Courthouse vote really teaches is that the tipping point where government can no longer deliver its essential function is rushing upon us.

Republicans have an excellent opportunity to educate the public about the poverty of liberalism. Will we take it?

The sky isn’t falling?

We've now had seven years of Democrats and their liberal press allies telling the world that the United States wasn’t just in a recession but that our economy had actually collapsed. Democrats, especially the Drama and Evita, have been all over the talk shows comparing the status quo to the Great Depression. The liberal media, who described the booming years of 03-07 as “the jobless recovery” (at a time when the US experienced full employment), have essentially convinced the public that we are living in catastrophic times.

All lies. There is no recession. Growth is weak but continuing.

The liberals told us that the job market had collapsed with the housing market yet the already low unemployment rate fell further. The US remains at or near full employment.

The stock market is rebounding. Confidence is creeping back into support for the dollar.

Has the economy stumbled as we cross the hurdles of higher energy prices and the now burst housing “bubble”? Sure. Rather than solve the problem, the libs just bitch. (Before Art and the rest of the mindless talk about the Clinton economy remember he inherited a booming economy, slowed the boom through taxes by 96 and left a real recession-as in one that actually occurred-to his successor.)

It’s kind of like we said earlier this week. You just cannot believe anything these guys say.

How can you take these guys seriously?

It’s hard to find the most disingenuous argument that Democrats urge on the body politic. The choices are so vast.

The dumbest and most misleading has to be “there is no military solution” in Iraq.
Hillary Clinton’s interview with O’Reilly just demonstrated why Democrats simply make no sense. When O’Reilly confronted Hillary with the specters of Iranian dominance of Iraq followed by war with Saudi Arabia she quite had no response but reiteration of the tired, trite and absurd “there is no military solution”.

For the love of God, woman-this isn’t the Wellesley debate team here. This is the real world. What the hell does Evita think will happen if the United States withdraws from Iraq before the Iraqi military can secure their own internal and external security without significant US assistance?

For example, how would Iraq defend against Iraqi incursions without US air power? I want the liberals who howl at us here at TRS to answer that question. No liberal can or even tries. The response is just either a tag line (e.g. “there is no military solution” or “the world hates us”) or attack the person who poses the question. Sometimes it’s both. Either way, you never get an answer.

No one, no one should ever take the Democrats seriously until one of them can describe the day after they take office in the REAL WORLD.