As the GOP Senate and House are sworn in today, the liberal media is not surprisingly grilling new GOP representatives on how and where they plan to work with Obama. Donny Deutsch on MSNBC went so far this morning to say to an incoming GOP House member that considering the “low gas prices, new dialogue with Cuba, and one of the most important pieces of legislation passed in a generation (ACA), this President is viewed as a huge success, so what are your plans to continue to get things done”. Appropriately the response was right on target when he responded by saying (and I don’t remember who he was) that “thanks to folks in North Dakota and Montana we have aggressively extracted our domestic crude resources on private lands almost in spite of the President’s desire, and have added substantially to the world supply helping lower prices, and if you are referring to the ACA I would remind you that that bill is still very unpopular with the majority of Americans and has many problems, and in regards to Cuba, that open dialogue has done nothing to free dissidents, or to stop the flow of Cubans who so desperately want to leave that country”.
Obama has already demonstrated that he has no intention of working with the new GOP Congress, so it should come as no surprise that the media will follow his lead and berate the GOP for actually representing their constituents rather than being a lap dog for Obama as Harry Reid was for so many years. Let the games begin.
Blogs For Victory 
This story in most administrations would be a huge story. Covered wall to wall by “journalists”.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/01/05/sharyl-attkisson-sues-administration-over-computer-hacking/
Not so much in the day and age of Obama. Sad.
Brandon Smith has a great post at “Personal Liberty” this morning. This part, in particular, reflects something that I, and probably most of you have either said or thought in the past:
Ah feel their pain, self-induced though it is.
And when the younger generation does find gainful employment, they will have the pleasure of paying higher health insurance premiums to help support their parents generation medical needs thanks to Obama. Or be fined. Or is that a tax? Whatever it is, they had just better STFU and pay it.
Breaking news out of Paris – Muslim radicals slaughter ten people, possibly more. Not so breaking news from MSNBC – the liberals are falling all over themselves not to blame Islam.
Breaking news out of Washington – GOP Rep. Scalise spoke at a gathering associated with David Duke over ten years ago. Not so breaking news from MSNBC – the liberals are falling all over themselves to brand the entire party as racists.
In the wake of the radical islamic murders in Paris, I think we should to hear from former SecState Hillary Clinton and presumed 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee to get a sense of how this threat to civil society will be dealt with in the years ahead:
“What difference – at this point, what difference does it make?”
Oh sorry, that was her quote pertaining to previous Islamic bloodshed (there are so many Islamic bloodsheds that it’s hard to keep them straight)
“This is what we call smart power, using every possible tool and partner to advance peace and security, leaving no one on the sidelines. Showing respect even for ones enemies. Trying to understand and in so far as psychologically possible, empathize with their perspective and point of view.”
There we go. We need to use “smart power”, “show them respect” and “empathize with their perspective”.
Any questions?
Workers repairing a water leak recently found a 1795 time capsule in the corner stone of the Massachusetts State House, placed there by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. The first comment to the article had me rolling on the floor laughing.
It hasn’t been confirmed if Boehner has any balls.
They are in a jar in the White House residence.
Looks like the new Republican Congress is getting off on the right foot.
It Should Come As No Surprise, Redux
Or, the gummint screws up something else, making it worse.
I recently came across an old article about the impact of the new federal rules on truck drivers. it hit home because those rules have impacted our little company, to the point of simply selling off all but two of the trucks we used for longer hauls, because the restrictions are so goofy. I’ll bet they have added half an hour per time card, per employee, when it comes to billing, not to mention the time the office manager has had to spend going over the rules to get the drivers to understand them, and comply. We actually had to hire a former DOT inspector to make sure we understand them and remain in compliance.
Basically, they impose rigid rules, so a driver MUST take a mandated “rest break” as well as a non-driving “lunch break” whether or not he is tired, whether or not he is hungry. After a certain number of hours there is a mandatory “reset” so the driver can’t return to work till that period is over, no matter how he feels.
A small example of an impact of this ruling: A good, thorough, pre-trip inspection can take half an hour or more. A driver who wants to get paid for that time, and for the time he spends greasing his truck, cleaning it up and so on (and who wouldn’t want to get paid for that) can’t punch in because that is an hour, or more, taken out of his Big Brother-allotted driving time. (No one will admit it, but it’s obvious that this will result in less-thorough pre-trip safety inspections.) If he gets stuck behind a wreck, or has to drive slower due to weather, this can be deducted from that allotted time as well. The assumption by the Ruling Elite is that the man who has been doing this job for years, whose life and livelihood are on the line, who has the experience, who is behind the wheel in varying circumstances, is less qualified to decide for himself what is safe and what is not than a bureaucrat (or worse, covey of bureaucrats) in some bloated federal agency looking for a way to justify its existence.
If an employer has a job come up a driver who is 30 hours into his mandatory 34-hour “reset” can’t take the job. Who cares if the truck has to go out now because bad weather will be moving in by the time the reset period is over? Who cares that this reset will mean that a driver either has to lose income or drive in dangerous, and wholly avoidable, conditions? And it’s one size fits all, the favorite of the Ruling Elite. So the driver who has been on the clock for 11 hours but spent that time driving 40 MPH on back roads and then waiting to be loaded or unloaded, sometimes for an hour or more, when he can nap or walk around, is held to the same imposed “we know what is best for you” mandates as the driver who put in his hours nonstop at highway speeds.
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/366297
Truckers under Siege II
“But it isn’t just anecdotal reporting from truckers that is in abundance. There is research, too, from the American Transportation Research Institute. It surveyed more than 2,300 professional truck drivers this fall about the impact of the new rules and released a comprehensive report of its findings. Here are a few:
• A total of 67.4 percent of the survey respondents reported experiencing a decrease in their income.
• Pay reduction from the new rules was estimated at between $1.6 billion and $3.9 billion annually for 1.6 million long-haul truckers.
• Nearly half of the drivers indicated that the rule changes had a “very negative” impact, and a combined 82.5 percent indicated a “somewhat negative” or “very negative” impact.
And then there was this data point, the most alarming of them all: Though the new rules were designed to lessen driver fatigue, drivers overwhelmingly reported that the rule changes actually increased fatigue levels; 66 percent thought the new rules made them more tired, not less.
It wasn’t just truckers who chimed in. The American Trucking Associations (ATA), the trucking industry’s largest trade group, with over 30,000 members, surveyed over 400 businesses and found that the rules are hurting them too, particularly small trucking companies.”
Just a reminder: Trucking costs are passed on to the consumers so this is true trickle-down economics in action
These are not the only rules, but they give an idea. Perhaps these make sense to East Coast urban types who have never driven long distances,
11-Hour Driving Limit
May drive a maximum of 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty.
14-Hour Limit
May not drive beyond the 14th consecutive hour after coming on duty, following 10 consecutive hours off duty. Off-duty time does not extend the 14-hour period.
Rest Breaks
May drive only if 8 hours or less have passed since end of driver’s last off-duty or sleeper berth period of at least 30 minutes. Does not apply to drivers using either of the short-haul exceptions in 395.1(e). [49 CFR 397.5 mandatory “in attendance” time may be included in break if no other duties performed]
60/70-Hour Limit
May not drive after 60/70 hours on duty in 7/8 consecutive days. A driver may restart a 7/8 consecutive day period after taking 34 or more consecutive hours off duty.