Rational Nation USA

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny The Supreme Court is considering striking down Section V of the voting rights act. The conservative members of the Court, along with swing vote Justice Kennedy, question whether the specific section has outlived its usefulness. Appears the President concurs. At least partially. Striking Section V would remove the need for certain states and counties to get federal government approval before changing their voting laws. THE HILL - President Obama also seemed to signal earlier this week that a loss at the Supreme Court was possible, if not likely. Obama said in a local television interview last week that losing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act would not cause people to lose their right to vote. “People will still have the same rights not to be discriminated against when it comes to voting," Obama said. "You just won't have this mechanism, this tool, that allows you to kind of stay ahead of certain practic...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny The whole sequestration issue is sort of amusing really. Two parties of adult legislators plus one President playing politics again. Rather than governing effectively and in the best interests of the nation as a whole. The following is quite informative. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - And when the Republicans opened the seventh seal of the sequester, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black and the stars fell unto the Earth; and our nation's ability to forecast severe weather, such as drought events, hurricanes and tornados, was seriously undermined. Lo, and the children were not vaccinated, and all the beasts starved in the zoos, and the planes were grounded. Or so President Obama and his Cabinet prophets have been preaching ahead of the automatic budget cuts due to begin Friday. The bit about the weather is a real quote from the White House budget director. But if any of these cataclysms do come t...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Bob Woodward, the very same investigative reporter that along with Carl Bernstein was ultimately responsible for bringing down President Richard M. Nixon in the early seventies is reporting the White House is responsible for the looming sequestration. Hm, anybody else hear the scrambling of liberals ardently and strenuously denying Woodward's allegations? What Woodward is reporting is very plausible, in fact it is more likely than not in the world of dirty political gamesmanship. And for those who believe the democrat party is above dirty politics one only needs to harken back to the days of LBJ and Mayor Daley to realize the democrats are primo at dirty politics in the furtherance of their agenda. The Washington Post - Misunderstanding, misstatements and all the classic contortions of partisan message management surround the sequester, the term for the $85 billion in ugly and largely irrational federal spending ...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny Sequestration. Who's responsible for the idea? I personally do not know, so I will leave the discussion to someone with a tad bit more klnowledge than I posses on this matter. The New York Times - On July 26, 2011, Jack Lew, then the White House budget director, went to Harry Reid’s office for a budget strategy session. According to Bob Woodward’s book, “The Price of Politics,” Lew told the Senate majority leader that they had come up with a trigger idea to force a budget deal. “What’s the idea?” Reid asked. “Sequestration,” Lew responded. Reid folded himself over with his head between his knees, as if he were going to throw up. Then he came upright and gaped at the ceiling. “A couple of weeks ago,” he exclaimed, “my staff said to me there is one more possible” enforcement method: sequestration. Reid said he had told his staff at the time, “Get the hell out of here. That’s insane. The White House surely will ...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -VS- Tyranny Senator Ted Cruz There has been just a bit of an uproar by the liberal media and blogs over Senator Ted Cruz and his methodology with respect to questions over former Senator Chuck Hagel's income and the sources from whence they came. He has been characterized by many on the left as the "new McCarthy"." After listening to the following several times I find no reason to characterize Senator Cruz as a "new McCarthy". I do think there was a better and more diplomatic way to have enunciated his very legitimate concerns. Giving the benefit of the doubt to Senator Cruz at this point seems prudent as he is is a freshman senator and likely will learn better diplomacy as he settles into his senatorial duties. The following from Lanny Davis, former Clinton White House Counsel confirms my sentiments. Maybe it's just me, however, with our overly heated national partisanship both sides are m...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny John Huntsman - Former Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China There are many things to like about Jon Huntsman. A fiscal conservative Republican with libertarian leanings on some issues he has come out strong for marriage equality. This is one issues the republican leadership and representatives in Congress would do well to follow his lead. THINKPROGRESS - Former GOP Presidential candidate and Utah governor Jon Huntsman has endorsed marriage equality. Huntsman, a Mormon whose previous support for civil unions set him (and libertarian Gary Johnson) apart from an otherwise virulently anti-gay field, came out in favor of equal marriage rights in an essay in The American Conservative entitled “Marriage Equality Is a Conservative Cause.” In the piece, Huntsman argued that if the Republican Party wants to survive, it needs to be able to appeal to gay Americans and the growing majority of all Americans that support marri...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny The Republican Party leadership, those who guide the political strategy in Washington, need to take a long look at what the public is saying. When a USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll shows a majority of Americans, including republicans as being more supportive of Obama's plan for cutting the deficit than their own party's plan for the future it certainly spells trouble for limited government/fiscal stability advocates. Having a good sensible plan and marketing it well is certainly something the republican leadership has failed to do, on both counts. WASHINGTON — President Obama starts his second term with a clear upper hand over GOP leaders on issues from guns to immigration that are likely to dominate the year, a USA TODAY/Pew Research Center Poll finds. On the legislation rated most urgent — cutting the budget deficit — even a majority of Republican voters endorse Obama's approach of seeking tax hikes as...

by: Les Carpenter Rational Nation USA Liberty -vs- Tyranny The rEpublicans are getting their strategic plan in place as to how and when to strike. By this I mean how to push the issue (or maybe better stated ignore the issue until it serves their purposes)of possible sequestration to the cliffs edge. All in the hopes that Obama and his fellow democrats cry uncle and become more malleable in the the enlightened rEpublicans. The Hill has a good article laying it all out that really focuses ones attention on the issue. There is a time to stand and fight and there is a time to sit back and wait for the right time to fight. To the rational observer it definitely appears that the rEpublican party doesn't really understand the difference. Republicans have decided that the sequester scheduled for March 1 — not a government-funding bill due at the end of March — is where they’ll make their stand on spending cuts. After the bruising political battles of the last Congress, GOP lead...