Tag: Camp

AYES: Benishek, Camp, Huizenga, Miller, Rogers, Upton, Walberg

We've seen the movie before.  Spoiler alert: in this sequel, Paul Ryan and John Boehner lie, and the Marxstream Media prints the lie.  Once again, the Michigan GOP delegation majority has voted with Gary Peters, which is their ongoing endorsement of Gary Peters for U.S. Senate.

I cannot do much in other congressional districts, however, I am aware of what I can effect in CD-1.

Congressman Dan Benishek, go f#@% yourself.  With a chainsaw.

In the side twitter bar the question

"What? After paying for #AFP/#RTW #Tentgate 2012 Dick DeVos' Greg McNeilly now anti-#MITeaParty?"

appears.

Having been a part of the RTW/FTW effort, I must say I was quite pleased with the impetus placed on FTW in Dec 2012 by Dick DeVos and Ron Weiser, without which, it might never have happened.  But it isn't a free pass for the abuses laid out by operatives of the GOP, and in particular the MiGOP club which doubled down on the national slaparound the tea folk have been getting from media and complicit (Vichy) Republicans.

December 2012 WAS important though. Snyder at the time might have even overcome a bit of the reaction to the Prop 2 debacle by Michigan's labor unions, but a reminder that anything he had done good was outweighed by cronyism, unilateral international transactions, and the promise of tax increases that moved him.  Truthfully, if not for Weiser and DeVos RTW might never have come to be.  It never was a part of Rick Snyder's agenda, and never really will be heart-fought from ongoing union boss opposition.

Remember that.

Something those two saw that the governor could care less about, was the strength of the Tea party movement within the GOP construct.  There was a very real possibility that the governor, sans a significant policy delivery to the base, would face a primary challenge (perhaps by the sitting AG) thus creating a divide in the 'acceptable' GOP hierarchy.  The AG, already on record as opposing the Obamacare Exchanges, Medicaid Expansion, and showing significant support among the Tea types worried the power brokers.

And those "wackos" were brought under control, right?

Jeez Mike, you sure talk a good game when the camera is on but, your vote says you're lying.

As posited by Scales (a thoughtful and accurate analysis) in his comment:

"Benishek, Camp, Rogers, and Upton just endorsed Gary Peters for US Senate!"

On matters of amounts, levels of funding, and minor issues like renaming parks for your friends agreement across the aisle might not be such a big thing.  However in this issue of surrendering Principle and giving the worst president in the history of this nation a football spiking win and subsequent destruction of our healthcare?

It must be intentional.  They mean it.  They agree with it.  They want it, and so does Gary Peters. The similarity of thought is amazing.

An appropriations bill that does not specifically deny USDA funding to conduct inspections of horsemeat for human consumption could allow horse processing to resume in the U.S. The Fiscal Year 2012 Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 2112), or the so-called "Mini-bus Bill," establishes 2012 budgets for the Department of Agriculture and several other federal departments through September 2012.

Prior to 2005 USDA personnel carried out horsemeat food safety inspections at U.S. horse processing plants. In 2006 Congress voted to strip the USDA of funding for horsemeat inspections. USDA personnel continued to conduct those inspections on a fee-for-service basis until 2007 when a federal court judge ruled against the arrangement. The combination of the funding prohibition and the court decision resulted in the decline of the horse processing industry in the U.S.

Language stripping the USDA of horsemeat inspection funding did not appear in the original fiscal 2012 House Agricultural Appropriations bill when it was introduced earlier this year. However, the House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment prohibiting the use of federal dollars to fund USDA horsemeat inspections. No such provision was contained in the Senate's version of the Appropriations bill.

After passage in their respective legislative houses, both the House and Senate bills were referred to a conference committee. The resulting consolidated bill did not contain the defunding language. The committee recommended the bill for passage, then forwarded to the full House and Senate for vote. On Nov. 17 the full House passed H.R. 2112 by 298-121 vote. The Senate also passed the bill by a 70 to 30 vote. President Barak Obama signed the bill into law on Nov. 18. As a result, the USDA could conduct horsemeat inspections at least until September 2012.

Michigan US Reps. Benishek, Camp, Clarke, Dingell, Kildee, Levin, Peters, Rogers, and Upton voted YES.  Both Michigan US Sens. Stabenow and Levin voted YES too.

It was actually Jason's column last week about that stupid gold coin idea being floated around the Supercommittee that put me over the edge.  "What other stupid ideas is the supercommittee considering," I wondered, and so I did a little digging and what I found was enough to finally push me over the edge from lurker to genuine participant.  

I actually want to make the argument that if it is serious about spending cuts, the supercommittee should SAVE a certain spending item--Medicare Part D--that a few lazy mathematicians and high school economics class dropouts want to cut.  Hear me out.

Should it hang until the next election is over? Should we update with fresh scarlet letters from even more recent miserable failures of those who are hanging patiently for all this time? Should we offer a positive spin on their recent accomplishments and then sigh, noting how they really screwed up before, and then point again to the left?

While waiting for some discussion on this, it should be noted that our concern about the debt ceiling being increased has been vindicated.  We were right, and those guys on the left were not. The trillions they added to the burden our children must carry, cannot be voted away as easily as their tenure in congress.  Experience DOES account for something, but it is not an excuse for repeatedly ducking responsibility, and they are indeed responsible for that fact.

Good men who screw up need to admit and own up to it, and offer their mistakes as lessons.  Personally, I see genuine contrition as a character building exercise.