Defending Nikki Haley

Governor Nikki Haley has been criticised by some in South Carolina for giving pay raises to members of her new staff. She is paying her Chief of Staff $125,000 a year. That is close to a 25% increase from the amount Governor Sanford paid his Chief of Staff. Trey Walker her 2nd in command will get a 40% increase and on it goes. Just looking at those numbers you would think Governor Haley had reneged on her promise to streamline government and was giving pay raises to everyone right? Wrong.

While Governor Haley is paying her staff more per person than Governors Sanford and Hodges she is actually spending $944,732 less on them overall. Governor Haley has hired less staff than the last two governors. So while they get raises they will have more responsibilities. This governor's staff will consist of only 16 people. Also while she is paying some of her staff more than Governor Sanford she is still paying them less than previous governors. Her Press Secretary Rob Godfrey is being paid $3,000 more than he was in Sanford's administration, but almost $3,000 less than Governors Beasley and Hodges paid their press secretaries. She also hired Sanford's top lawyer and is paying him $600 less a year than did Sanford.

It appears to me that critics of the Governor are grasping at straws to find fault where there is none. I used the example earlier today of a boss having two employees that each made $10 an hour. He fires one and gives the other guy a raise to $14 a hour the boss still cuts pay by 30% and this is what Governor Haley has done. She has hired less staff, but paid those staffers more while still cutting overall spending. If this is an indication of how she will govern I'd say we're off to a great start.
http://www.wltx.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=117656&catid=2
http://www2.wsav.com/news/2011/jan/14/haley-defends-her-staff-salary-increases-ar-1343760/

Passports Issued to Thousands of Registered Sex Offenders

The Obama Administration has been issuing passports to people involved in sex tourism since the beginning of his presidency. The reason, they did not know that in December 2008 then President Bush signed a law to deny these people passports. Considering Obama was the President-elect you would think that he might what to pay attention to what laws were going into affect right before he took office, or at least have someone pay attention for him. The GAO (Government Accounting Office) says that it wasn't until this April that the state department was informed of this law.

This is dereliction of duty by the President and his Sec of State. To not be aware of a law that is supposed to keep children safe from sexual predators is abhorrent. Oh and it gets worse, "In one case study, the sex offender was issued a passport in his name while in prison, which is allowed under federal law, while another was issued a passport after becoming delinquent in child support, an offense for which State must deny passports. Based on interviews with local police departments, several of our cases showed that sex offenders left the country and moved to Mexico." Mexico is a country listed as a sex tourism destination by our State department. I guess these people are now having a good time having sex with children in Mexico.

Now you would think the State Department would just take responsibility say we'll make sure this doesn't ever happen again and be done with it. However their response was something quite different, The State Department also took issue with the title of the GAO report, "Passports Issued to Thousands of Registered Sex Offenders," calling it "misleading." We are concerned that it conveys more 'shock value' than factual accuracy," reads the response. The title also fails to convey that GAO found no evidence that the offenders used their passports to commit sex offenses abroad," the letter reads.

Well of course these people didn't use their passports to commit sex crimes abroad they just wanted to go to a country that the U.S. list has a sex tourism destination to get a tan. GIVE ME A BREAK! Now I'm not saying every person that goes to Mexico is involved in sex trafficking, but if your already involved in that industry I think it's a pretty good bet that's why your going there.

Surely that's all the bad news out of this report, unfortunately no.

Additionally, 30 of the sex offenders who are federal employees were identified through salary data provided by the Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Postal Service and the Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

"It also is disturbing that the GAO found examples prior to that new law where the State Department issued passports to convicted sex offenders who fled law enforcement, received government housing subsidies and work for the Post Office. This report raises a lot of serious questions about how effectively the government protects us from child predators," Grassley said.

WOW! Let me see if I have this right not only were they fleeing from law enforcement that were also give government housing and jobs. Not just any jobs, but jobs in the postal service which means they might be putting the mail in my box every day. If that doesn't scare you I guess nothing does. I think it should go without saying that sex offenders should not be allowed to have federal or state employment. I like to think we could find a better character of person to work in our government, but wait there's more.

According to GAO, about half of the 4,500 sex offenders who received passports lived in five states -- California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Michigan -- and at least 12 individuals were approved landlords in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 8 housing program during the two years before the study's time frame.

So it's not bad enough that people have to live in government housing, but now they have a sex offender has their landlord. Would you want a sex offender coming to your door collecting rent once a month. I'm not saying they need Donald Trump to be the landlord but could we at least find someone who isn't a sex criminal.

Finally, "The GAO acknowledged that the number of sex offenders it found receiving passports might have been low, because the data compared passport database records to the National Sex Offender Registry, which could lack or contain invalid Social Security numbers."

So the GAO is saying that with all the bad news in this article the situation is probably worse than we know.

Now not all this happened on President Obama's watch, but President Bush signed a law aimed at dealing with this and President Obama basically didn't bother to find out about that law. How can you be President and not know about a law that was signed about one month before you took the Oath of office? It's not like it was signed 30 years ago and everyone had forgotten about it, or that it was an unimportant and seldom used statue that just appeared in a line of a bill. This was a law written to protect children and punish sex traffickers from other countries.

The GAO lays out some examples of what it is talking about on pages 11-13 of it's report. You can find the report at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10643.pdf
However I should warn you that it is very disturbing.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/07/15/thousands-sex-offenders-issued-passports-travel-abroad/

Captialism defeats Socialism at the World Cup.

Anyone watching the World Cup knows that the French embarrassed themselves while the Americans fought through adversity to win their group for the first time since the first world cup. I believe the reason for this can be found in comparing freedom to socialism.

The French team came to the World Cup by way of a handball goal against Ireland. Even the most novice soccer fans knows your not suppose to use your hands in soccer. Then after getting here they embarrassed themselves. Nicholas Anika was sent home after an argument with their head coach Domenech. This resulted in the French team boycotting practice the next day. Then of course Domench retaliates by keeping the French captain Partice Evra off the field for the final game which South Africa won 2-1. France still could have made the next round with a win. After the game Domenech refused to shake the hand of the South African coach. There's also a video of one of the French managers throwing a clipboard but I can't seem to locate that. You probably saw it on ESPN anyway. Let's compare this to the Americans

The United States ties heavily favored England to open play, Then goes down 2-0 in the first half to Slovenia and comes back to tie. Then has their game winner disallowed by a terrible call by a official. Today the U.S. again has a goal disallowed by a terrible call. They have to score in extra time to advance. Meanwhile there was no skipped practices no one was sent home for being mean to the coach and the captain Landon Donavan scored the winning goal.

So what was the difference in the two teams. The French team was more talented by most accounts. They didn't get anywhere near the amount of bad breaks the Americans did. I think the difference is the France felt entitled to be here. The French team believed everything should be handed to them, much like it is in France. When things started going poorly for them they looked for someone to blame instead of sucking it up and playing hard. The coach blamed the captain the team blamed the coach the manager just quit and has a result the French managed all of one goal in the world cup and even that came when they were behind by two.

Capitalism teaches us that we are responsible for ourselves no matter what the circumstances. In other words when the going gets tough the tough get going. Socialism teaches that when the going gets tough go look for someone to blame then tell them to give you their money. Of course were experiencing a little of that with this administration here in America but I'm praying that doesn't last past
2012. Capitalism will always defeat Socialism and this is just another example.

You Can't Clean Up Oil Wthout Fire Extinguishers and Life Vests?!?

Today the oil clean-up was halted by bureaucracy. The Coast Guard stopped barges that were to be used in the oil clean-up because they could not confirm the boats had fire extinguishers and life vests. "We are all in this together. The enemy is the oil," said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dan Lauer. Unfortunately this appears not to be true the enemy of Louisiana and the rest of the Gulf Coast is bureaucracy. The barges have now sat for twenty four hours while thousands of barrels of oil have spilled into the gulf coast. Of course Governor Jindal tried to contact the White House without success. However Jindal is not the only governor that is having problems.

Governor Riley of Alabama is also experiencing difficulty trying to get anything done.

"The governor said the problem is there's still no single person giving a "yes" or "no." While the Gulf Coast governors have developed plans with the Coast Guard's command center in the Gulf, things begin to shift when other agencies start weighing in, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"It's like this huge committee down there," Riley said, "and every decision that we try to implement, any one person on that committee has absolute veto power."

Hey President Obama put one person in charge of the decision making. If you want them to run it by you first by all means, but quit allowing bureaucracy to harm the country. You can't keep having different people giving different answers to every question. Put one person in charge. Oh wait you did, your in charge! At least you say you are. Take control of this situation before all of the beaches on the East Coast are covered with oil. Or at least ask someone else too. Maybe a President with a backbone who knows something about oil. Kinda like the last guy we had in there. I think I'm going to go out and by one of those President Bush miss me yet shirts.

Seriously, this is what happens when you allow someone with no experience running anything to run a country. You almost can't even blame Obama for this, He doesn't know what to do because he never learned. He had no experience running anything before he became President. I mean Heck he only served 153 days in the U.S. Senate before his campaign started. I'll admit he probably had no business running for President having no experience, but 53% of the country voted for him. I guess this really goes back to an old saying, "Be careful what you wish for you just might get it." I wonder if Obama is wishing he had left this President thing to someone who has a clue how to lead.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/bp-oil-spill-gov-bobby-jindals-wishes-crude/story?id=10946379&page=1

It's Game 7!

Hey guys I'm getting a post about the SC Democratic Party ready to post, but I think It will have to wait until tomorrow night. Game 7 Boston vs L.A.

Gather your Armies

I just saw this ad on O'Reilly and I thought it was the best thing I have seen since McCain's Celebrity Ad. If you haven't seen it watch it now if you have seen it watch it again.




The Left is saying that the ad implies that we should overthrow the government by force. I guess they've never heard of a metaphor. The ad is obviously about overthrowing the bums in congress. It's amazing how soon the left forgets about free speech when their not the ones speaking.

Another one Bites the Bus?

It appears has Ken Salazar will be the next member of Obama's inner circle to be thrown under a bus. Before we get to Mr Salazar let's review a list of the other members of the bus club. First we have Our President's own Grandma who he called a racist to gain favor in the African American community. Then we have his pastor whose church Obama attended for the same reason. Then he threw Rev Wright under the bus with his Grandma when he realized that "white America" wouldn't accept a pastor that cursed America from the pulpit. Remember Arlen Spector, Here's a man who switched parties and was promised not to be challenged in the Primary. Of course he was and when he was down and needed the Presidents help President Obama, you guessed it, threw him under the bus. Let's not forget the situation when Obama threw police under the bus when they responded to a call about a possible break in at Henry Louis Gates house. They get there some guy outside says he lives there but can't prove that he does. So Our President says they acted stupidly. He even threw Israel under the bus after their soldiers responded in self defense to an attack aboard a ship illegally in their waters.

Back to Mr. Salazar he was appointed to his position by President Obama. Has Interior Secretary it is his job to make sure these oil rigs don't explode. So he should be fired. The problem is this comes after a long line of Obama appointees were tax cheats or felons. Those that weren't were seen as partisan choices like Leon Panetta to run the CIA. I already written about this on march 3rd if you want to read about it http://thenewconservatives.blogspot.com/2009/03/obama-first-instict-is-usually-wrong.html

The situation with the oil may have worked out differently if Obama had accepted help from the Dutch and many others that was offered immediately after the spill happened. The Dutch offered skimmers that would pick the oil out of the water. According to the AJC (hardly a conservative paper) the skimmers could have removed 4.4. million gallons of oil by now. 5 million is total have entered the gulf. That means that 88% of the oil could have been already removed from the Gulf Coast. http://blogs.ajc.com/kyle-wingfield/2010/06/09/oil-spill-why-did-obama-refuse-to-go-dutch/

Instead the spill is now a crisis. I guess his instincts haven't gotten any better in a year. However first he must show he is not to blame for the on going crisis and the best way to do that is to say that someone else is. However since Bush and Cheney have been gone for over a year it's going to be hard to lay this at there feet. Not that he didn't try last night, "Over the last decade, this agency has become emblematic of a failed philosophy that views all regulation with hostility -- a philosophy that says corporations should be allowed to play by their own rules and police themselves. At this agency, industry insiders were put in charge of industry oversight. Oil companies showered regulators with gifts and favors, and were essentially allowed to conduct their own safety inspections and write their own regulations." http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-nation-bp-oil-spill

Seriously this man has got to quit blaming the last guy for everything that goes wrong during his administration. This is one of the reasons no one trust him anymore. That and he can't deliver on anything he promised in the campaign. Of course most of us at this site already knew that. So since no one with a brain will believe this is the fault of President Bush he will have to find another fall guy. Mr. Salazar get ready I hear the bus coming.

Mexico upsets America ON OUR BORDER!

That's right America has just ceeded terrority to Mexico! The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service has closed part of a national park due to drug smuggling and other illegal activity on the border. “It’s literally out of control,” said Babeu. “We stood with Senator McCain and literally demanded support for 3,000 soldiers to be deployed to Arizona to get this under control and finally secure our border with Mexico.“

How are we going to keep Americans from going into this part of the park. More guards telling them to stay away perhaps, No! Instead we're using the time tested method of posting signs. I can see the press conference now. "President Obama two fourteen year old girls were killed on the border by Mexican drug lords today, what do you have to say about that?" President Obama: "Can't they read didn't they see those signs I had posted."

Of Course Sheriff Paul Babeu had much more to say on the subject. We need support from the federal government. It’s their job to secure the border and they haven’t done it,” said Babeu. “In fact, President Obama suspended the construction of the fence and it’s just simply outrageous.” Oh great no fence either. Let me see if I have this right President Obama wants no troops, no barriers, is it possible he wants no borders?


This just makes me angry. The situation on our border is becoming unbearable. This is why we have to secure our borders now! Let's send some troops down there and stop the crime that is occuring on our border and the illegal immigration. Then after we have secured a permanent solution to the problem we can perhaps talk about Immigration Reform. However just like the oil spill it's hard to accomplish anything until you stop the leak. I think the sheriff sums this up best, “We need action. It’s shameful that we, as the most powerful nation on Earth, … can’t even secure our own border and protect our own families.”

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/16/closes-park-land-mexico-border-americans/

Obama and Bush in a dead heat.

A new poll as come out showing that when people are given a choice between Obama and Bush Obama only comes out with 50% of the vote. Bush actually gets 44%. I guess the other 6% were stoned. Now while this technically means Obama is still more popular than bush you have to remember that when President Bush left office his approval ratings were below 30%. I figure in about six more months Bush will be leading in this hypothetical matchup.
http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2009/12/obamas-december-standing.html
Obama has shown over and over again he is not a strong leader. From taken way too long on his decision on Afghanistan, to being all over the place on the public option and healthcare. If Obama wants to survive the midterms he is going to have to find his backbone if he ever had one to begin with.