Nancy Pelosi was right: We had to pass the bill to learn what was in those 2,500 pages

We learned today that BO-Care is not really The Affordable Act:

"The Congressional Budget Office has extended its cost estimates for President Obama's health care law out to 2022, taking in more years of full implementation, and showing that the bill is substantially more expensive -- twice as much as the original $900 billion price tag."

OK.....the people who gave us the $787 billion stimulus, $1.3 trillion federal budget deficits for 3 years in a row, Solyndra, 2,000 guns in the hands of Mexican cartels, more other companies like Solyndra, more green energy disasters like Bright Automotive, the rejection of The Keystone Pipeline, going around the Congress and supporting a war in Libya, telling the enemy in Afghanistan of our withdrawal plans in advance.....and so on.....

Yes, the people who gave us The Chevy Volt (that no one wants to buy because it costs $40,000 and has a fire problem) are now telling us that the health care program will cost a lot, a lot more!  And we also learned that many will lose their own coverage.

Can someone say incompetence?  Nancy Pelosi was right.  We had to pass it first to find out what was in those 2,500 pages that no one read!

Check out my commentary on Friday's show about incompetence:

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The recall in Wisconsin is not going well

Gov Walker is a bit rare these days.  He is a leader who speaks bluntly about economic reality, does something about it and the voters are happy when they see that.

To be honest, Gov Walker also got a huge assist from a very irrational opposition that did not understand the 2010 election.  It does not hurt Gov Walker when his opponents engage in tactics that turn off Mr & Mrs Wisconsin trying to raise a family and live within their own economic reality every month.

First, and foremost, the reforms are working.  Read John Steele Gordon:

"The reforms did a number of things. They ended the automatic collection of union dues by the state, causing an immediate drop in union income and the laying off of numerous union employees. They required that state employees kick in 5.8 percent of their salaries towards their own pensions and to pick up 12.6 percent of their health insurance premiums, bringing public employees more in line with private employee realities. Most important, it limited collective bargaining to salaries (and even that bargaining is limited by the rate of inflation).

For the first time in decades, school administrations are now actually able to administer their districts without union interference, and the savings have been huge. The MacIver Institute, a Wisconsin think tank, reports that of the 108 school districts that completed contracts with employees, 74 of them, with 319,000 students, have reported savings of no less than $162 million. If this is extrapolated out to all districts, it would amount to savings of nearly $448 million.

The biggest area of savings have been in health insurance. The teachers union insisted that districts use the union’s own health insurance company to provide coverage. No longer forced to use a monopoly provider, districts have either switched providers or used the threat of switching to force the union health insurance company to dramatically lower premiums. Savings have averaged $730,000 in districts that have switched providers or forced competitive bidding.

As a result of these dramatic savings, districts that have been able to benefit immediately from the reforms (some districts are locked into long-term contracts and cannot) have been able to avoid laying off teachers despite a significant drop in state aid and to avoid raising school taxes. Indeed, school tax bills that went out last December had an average increase of only 0.3 percent.

It is hard to imagine that with results like this, Governor Walker has anything to worry about.."

Speaking of the "irrational opposition", Frank Burke pointed out how "Walker Derangement Syndrome" ended up costing Wisconsin a lot of jobs and hurting an area of the state desperately lacking economic development.  This is what Frank wrote and discussed on our Monday night show:

"Despite the fact that most of the jobs associated with the mine would be represented by industry trade unions -- and that State Senator Tim Carpenter, a Democrat who represents a largely Hispanic district and was arranging a fully funded program to train inner-city high school students for mining and manufacturing jobs -- the more powerful public service unions demanded the bill's defeat.  The unions, led by out-of-state interests, were resentful of Walker's budget reforms and have spared no expense in demanding obedience from state Democratic office-holders and hopefuls."

So Gov Walker has survived the challenge.  He is also showing Pres BO what leadership is all about. Am I the only one who thinks that Gov Walker would make a great VP candidate in 2012?  Romney-Walker....I like it! 

Click here for our conversation with Frank Burke & Mario Yngerto:

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The day after and Romney got the most delegates again

We congratulate Rick Santorum for winning Alabama & Mississippi.  

They were good victories even if Mississippi was extremely close.  However, a win is a win and Santorum is entitled to a celebration.

What about the very important delegate count?  It looks like Romney got them the biggest number, as reported by Ed Morrissey of Hot Air:

"despite the disappointing results in the two southern states, Romney ended up winning the night anyway — at least in delegates".

It is about delegates.....isn't it?

Let me say it again:  I love Gingrich and Santorum and even Paul.  I also believe in Reagan's 11th amendment about not attacking Republicans.

Gingrich is a great conservative leader and the source of wonderful ideas.  However, it's time for someone to tell Gingrich that he is not going to be the 2012 GOP nominee.

At this point, Gingrich is hurting himself, and potentially the GOP, by continuing to repeat all of this stuff about money and negative advertising.

Gingrich has won 2 primaries, SC and Georgia.  He came in second in Alabama & Mississippi.  He has not done that well despite huge name recognition & campaigning in the South.

So it's time for Gingrich to get out & endorse someone.  It's also time for Gingrich to admit that he did not get enough votes and that's why he is losing.

Check for our conversation with Barry Casselman:

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Tags: The morning after and Romney got the most delegates again  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

The elections in Mexico matter a lot more than you think

Mexico's presidential election is less than 120 days from today.  Therefore, we are going to start posting about Mexico because it matters a lot more than most Americans realize. 

Mexico is our southern neighbor and huge economic partner along with Canada.  

We want Mexico to prosper so Mexicans will find work in Mexico, come shopping to our malls, and do business here.   

We want more trade with Mexico because it helps both sides of the border.   Prosperity in Mexico is also the best medicine for the illegal immigration problem.

Speaking of the elections, I read that the leader of the PRI is calling for change, or specifically an end of the "....sexenio “de odio ni muerte”."

I guess that the PRI is promising to end the six years of "hate and death".  

However, I'm not exactly sure how the PRI will do that.    

Is he going to sign a peace treaty with people who "cut off" heads?  Is he going to tell the people of Monterrey, or frankly much of North Mexico, that the war is over and it's time for all to get along, or some Mexican version of Obama's feel good "si se puede"?  

I understand that most Mexicans are tired of the killing and reading that 40,000 people have died.  However, I have not heard any serious alternatives to Pres Calderon's war.

Again, is the PRI really ready to "co-exist" with people who blow up casinos or kill anyone who gets in their way?  Is the PRI ready to surrender Mexican territory to the cartels? 

Mr. Pena-Nieto is cynically exploiting the current difficulties and just telling a lot of Mexicans what they want to hear.  Mexico needs more than that from the man most likely to win this election. (He leads in most polls)

Mr Lopez-Obrador is back for another performance.  I guess that he didn't get enough of pretending that he won the last election.   I'm sorry but one "LO show" is enough for me. 

Mrs. Vazquez-Mota is a quiet lady with a good background.  At the same time, I'm not convinced that Mexico will elect a woman no matter how many times my friends in Mexico tell me that it does not matter.

Get ready Mexico.  You have a big decision to make.  Don't get "swooned" by "hope and change".   

I am not suggesting that Pres Calderon has been a perfect president or that anyone has all of the answers.  However, Pres Calderon has seriously addressed security problems.  He attempted to reform "the sacred cows", like PEMEX.  He tried to make Mexico more competitive with Chile, South Korea and others rushing into the 21st century.

Click here for our chat about Mexico:

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Afghanistan is getting more and more complicated, specially for the Dems who used to tell us that this was the "right war"!

Can things get any worse for Pres BO?  High gasoline prices?  the Middle East falling apart? a $230 billion federal deficit in the month of February......what else can go wrong?

What about Afghanistan?

We heard about the US soldier who went "crazy" over the weekend and killed a dozen or so civilians.  It was wrong.  It will probably create more bad feelings between the two governments.

What do we do now? 

First, you don't have Pres BO make a public statement saying that ".....he is "proud generally" of U.S. forces in Afghanistan."

We are talking about volunteers.  They are 18-20 year old young men and women who "volunteer" to defend their country.  For example, our # 3 son is serving in the US Army. 

How can the commander in chief who put them in such a horrible landscape say that he "generally" proud?  

Bad choice of words, to say the least!

Second, it's time to reconsider the policy and move our troops from the urban areas.  Also, we need to focus more on blowing up caves and killing terrorists in the countryside.   Again, our mission should be to kill the leaders (drones) and to use our technology to make every cave in Afghanistan a very unpleasant place for terrorists to spend the night.

As we've said since Pres Bush started the war in 2001, our mission in Afghanistan is to kill terrorists and to keep them from taking over the Afghanistan government.  In other words, we don't need US, or NATO troops, in cities as targets for extremists.

Yes, I supported the surge of 30,000 troops back in December 2009.  Like most GOP members, we supported Pres BO until he told everyone that we were leaving before the commanders on the ground said that the mission was finished. 

Click here for our chat with Frank Burke & Mario Yngerto:

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Pres BO is stuck with high gasoline prices because he has not done enough to increase domestic supplies

Pres BO is not 100% responsible for the fact that it costs $45 to fill up my Focus.  At the same time, he is responsible for "the anti-oil climate" that has pushed all of these "green tech" fantasies that have not worked.

To be expected, this is having an impact on Pres BO's approvals, according to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll:

"With rising gas prices hitting Americans at the pump, 65 percent said they found Obama's handling of the issue unsatisfactory. Of that number, 52 percent were said to "disapprove strongly" and only 14 percent "approve strongly" of Obama's performance on gas prices."

Again, it's not entirely Pres BO's fault but politics is not fair.   Remember how Pres BO shamelessly attacked Pres Bush 4 years ago:

Be careful about blaming the incumbent for high gasoline prices.....you may be the incumbent someday.

Frankly, there is no magic bullet at this point to cut prices.  In fact, they may go higher because of all of the uncertainty about Iran.

Incredibly, our two neighbors have lots of oil.  Canada & Mexico are reliable allies and we are not buying enough oil from them.

Pres BO has rejected the Keystone pipeline, a new source of oil destined for Houston's refineries.

Down in Mexico, we are not doing enough to encourage Mexico to reform PEMEX, find more oil and generate the kind of jobs that would employ lots of Mexicans.   Check out our discussion on Monday night:

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It's hard to take Pres BO & Dems seriously about civility when they sit with Bill Maher

Rush Limbaugh's unfortunate "slut" remark bought the Dems a little time.  However, time is up and the truth is now exposing their hypocrisy.

It starts with a fellow named Bill Maher, the HBO host and major contributor to Pres BO's PAC.

He is one of those "comedians" who likes to make jokes about Sarah Palin's little boy with "down syndrome".   He has called Sarah Palin a “c***” and a “dumb t***,” along with other things.   

Do you think it's funny to say that about a woman and her son?   I don't hear any "joke" and I love political humor:

Who were those people who found this funny?  How sincere was Pres BO when he said that he'd not want to have Sasha and Malia hear stuff like that about a woman?

Yes, the Dems are getting "fluked" because their "game" is promoting ideology rather than respect for women.   Click here for our Monday night show:

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Obama 2012, Madrid 2004 bombing & HBO's "Game change"

It was 8 years ago that bombs went off and Madrid lost 200 innocent people and 2,000 were injured.  It was called Spain's 9-11!  Unfortunately, the bombing was politicized by the left and seen as a reaction to Spain's presence in Iraq.   It led to the removal of Spanish troops but the terrorists did not leave Spain.  It also poisoned the political climate in Spain and the wounds have not really healed.

HBO is running "Game Change", a show based on the book published last year.  I don't plan to see the movie because I'm not a fan of this kind of "history" anyway.  At the same time, this is another effort to make Sarah Palin look stupid and unqualified to be VP.    

There is an article by Stacy Drake called the 10 lies of Game Change.    Again, I will not watch it because I don't trust that the movie-makers will give Sarah Palin a fair chance.

Remember all of the stories about the GOP contest hurting the candidates?

We just learned over the weekend that Gov Romney is leading Pres BO, 48-43.  

This is consistent with Gallup where Pres BO's February approval is 45%.

These numbers confirm two important points:

1) Gov Romney can defeat Pres BO in November; and,

2) Pres BO has big, and I mean, big electoral problems.  How do you get reelected when you keep hanging around on the wrong side of 50%?

Pres BO's problems are more than just the economy.  He faces bigger problems and it starts with a perception that he is not a leader. 

He has not been a leader on energy, entitlement reform and bringing people together.  On the contrary, he's been a divisive figure more interested in class warfare and little else.

John Podhoretz has a good post today:  Enjoy the roses now, O

"A re-election will be a validation of Barack Obama’s first term. That is, ultimately, what voters will have to decide they want to do. And he hasn’t made the sale — not remotely."

He has not made the sale, and that's why he is under 50% all of the time.

Tags: Obama is not looking very strong, Madrid 2004 bombing and some thoughts on HBO's "Game change"  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!

The first place Dallas Stars won Saturday night

It was a 1-0 lead until very late when the Stars scored against an empty net.  

More importantly, the Dallas Stars are in first place just like every expert predicted last October.  

Didn't everyone around here predict that the Mavs would be struggling to make the playffs and the Stars would be leading their division?

On Saturday, the Stars had Morrow back and he made the difference:

"Brenden Morrow scored a power-play goal in his return from an 18-game injury absence, Kari Lehtonen made 21 saves for his 20th career shutout, and the Dallas Stars stretched their winning streak to five games with a 2-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night.

Morrow, the Stars' captain, had been out with neck and shoulder stiffness. Morrow skated on the left side of a line with Jamie Benn and Steve Ott. He scored his ninth goal of the season at 2:37 of the second period, converting Benn's centering pass just as a 5-on-3 Stars power play expired. Ott also assisted on the goal.

Morrow registered his 514th career point, tying him with Jere Lehtinen for ninth in franchise history.

Lehtonen made the goal stand up, preserving his third shutout of the season with a sharp glove save against Anaheim's Saku Koivu with under 15 minutes to play.

Michael Ryder added an empty-netter, tying a career high with his 30th of the season, with 45.5 seconds left to clinch the victory.

The victory gave the Pacific Division-leading Stars, 9-0-1 in their last 10 games, 81 points."

How far will this team go?   I don't know but they are playing so well that anything is possible.  Last, but not least, it's nice to see this town cheering for the Stars again!

Check our sports show with David Busby:

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Jobs and very bad deficit numbers

Let's agree that the new "jobs number" is confusing again.  On one hand, the rate stayed at 8.3% but there is still a lot of confusion about the people who are no longer looking for work. 

Furthermore, Gallup is reporting that the rate is 9.1%!  

The Gallup report is more pessimistic across the board and it "....found a decline in its Job Creation Index, which tends to support an increase in the February unemployment rate."

We are not trying to push "doom and gloom" but let's just say that I'm confused about these unemployment numbers.  Also, unemployment, for those between 16 and 19, is 23.8%. Black youth unemployment is 34.7%. 

At the same time, the "deficit" numbers are not good at all:

".....government recorded its worst monthly deficit in history in February, according to a preliminary report Wednesday from the Congressional Budget Office that said the deficit in fiscal year 2012 is already more than half a trillion dollars.

The CBO's figures show that despite repeated efforts to trim spending, the government has borrowed 42 cents of every dollar it spent during the first five months of this fiscal year.

The nonpartisan agency projected the government will run a deficit of $229 billion in February, the highest monthly figure ever. The previous high was $223 billion a year ago, in February 2011."

Please note that we are "borrowing" 42 cents of every dollar that we spend.  That is rather amazing, shocking and, frankly, very dangerous.

Click here for the Friday show with Dr Johnson:

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