Isn’t Unemployment Temporary…?
First off, I know … the gaps continue between posts to the blog, and interestingly enough what compels me to write today is a story about unemployment benefits. What’s interesting is that the reason from my absence this time is that I found a new job and have been busy training and getting on the floor and starting up. But now the schedule is more concrete and stable and I can now find the time to write. Thankfully.
So yes, back to the original question. Aren’t unemployment benefits supposed to be temporary? At least I thought they were. However a new article in The Washington Post on Tuesday spoke about how some of the 11.4 Million people who are out of work in America today are able to or have been recieving their unemployment benefits for as much as 99 weeks. 99 WEEKS!! Seriously?!?! That is almost two full years on unemployment insurance. TWO YEARS!! So is there really an incentive to find a job. And say if I lose my job in about a year when hopefully the economic situation is somewhat more “rosy” shall we say. Will I be able to get almost TWO YEARS of unemployment benefits?
The other situation that brought this to my attention was the debate in the Senate about a week ago, where Senator Lamar Alexander (R-KY) held up an extension of unemployment benefits, not because he thought it was similar to welfare…but because the extension was not paid for! There was an uproar from the public and one instance stood out for me in the public uproar. A woman, from Kentucky (who was unemployed) said in response to a question about the merit of Sen. Alexander’s hold on the bill on the basis of it not being paid for … (paraphrase) ‘I understand unpaid bills, but where are these people going to get their money from. Is Sen. Alexander gonna pay out of pocket?’ WHAT?!?!?
My response to that is that unemployment benefits were never meant to be paid out for this length of time. This is tantamount to welfare. I don’t doubt that the situation is difficult for people who have been unemployed. I was unemployed myself. But regardless of the economic crisis … should these benefits be nearly endless. Back in the 1990’s and 2000’s when the economy was stable and creating jobs… I am sure there were some people who became unemployed. We did not endlessly extend their benefits. I am sure their situation was nearly as rough and possibly even worse. What makes this any different? Unemployment is difficult no matter the economic situation. It would have been just as difficult back in the 90’s as it is today I assume. It is time for fiscal responsibility in Washington.
These are just a few thoughts as I get back into the swing of things on the blog. … And FYI … look for some new San Antonio Conservative Online Radio Shows online at blogtalkradio.com coming soon.
If you want to read the article about Unemployment Benefits from The Washington Post – go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030804927_pf.html
The BELO Debate
Here are some links to watch a replay of the BELO Debate with the three GOP Gubernatorial Candidates. Governor Rick Perry, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, and former Wharton Co. GOP Chairwoman and activist Debra Medina.
PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR
I will post a blog entry on the debate and the primary election, which is coming up in 32 short days.
One Year Later … My State of the Union
It has been a year since I started this blog. Yes there have been times where I have not been able to post as much as I would like or at all. But today I reflect back on the day that I started this blog. It was January 20, 2009 and the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. A lot has changed since that day, and a lot still has not. The things that have not interest me for a President that was elected on a wave of “CHANGE WE CAN HOPE IN (or something…)”. If you asked me what I think the State of our Union is here is what I would say:
My fellow Americans…the State of our Union is troubled. The true core of our Union is strong, because the core of our Union is the people. The American people continue to have an entrepreneurial spirit, a charitable spirit, and a strong sense of character. However, the current state of affairs out of Washington have left the American economy and the American public in a troubled state of affairs. Currently, 10% of our citizens is out of work, and struggling to pay their bills and take care of their children. However, this Administration and this Congress have done nothing but provide smoke and mirrors as solutions to this problem. The stimulus package that was passed last year did not stimulate the economy and did little to boost consumer confidence. It seems that the liberal Democrats have forgotten the basic premise in economic that consumer spending accounts for 70+% of our economy. The stimulus they passed only increased government spending and did little to help the consumer. Rather than empower the American people or American businesses to invest in this economy and truly bring it back from the brink. Our government and our country can no longer afford to spend the way we are spending. Our national debt is skyrocketing, and is devaluing the true value of our currency and our economy. There needs to be some serious change in Washington, pork spending and other government expenditures need to be trimmed and fast. I would advocate the development of an independent panel that would recommend to the President which agencies and programs could “sunset” and reduce the overall cost and budget of the federal government. The size of our government must be reduced and government spending must be brought under control. The government can not be the sole creator of jobs in this country, small business owners are the true job creating engine of this country.
We need true bipartisan health care reform, without a government funded, government executed, government facilitated health insurance program. We need this government to focus on the economy and our troops in the war zone. We do not need government to increase taxes because this will in the end reduce economic growth. We need to give the money back to the people who earn it and truly and realistically reduce spending in Washington. The freeze being proposed by the President tonight does little to alleviate the true spending concern, it simply halts the spending level at its already elevated level. This can not continue for much longer. There needs to be change.
These are just a few quick thoughts I had time to jot down before the State of the Union Address tonight. I will post my reaction to the address tonight and as we continue I will to detail what I think the State of our Union is right now and how it can be addressed.
YCT Releases Ratings of Texas’ 81st Leg. Session – Where is YOUR incumbent?
This is a news release from awhile back, I have been meaning to post it to the site but I hadn’t had internet access for awhile. Now that I am back online I am posting it now. This is from my friends over at the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT) – and just an FYI I will have another post about YCT tonight!
For Immediate Release
January 6, 2010
Contact: Tony McDonald, Vice Chairman of Legislative Affairs, 512-923-6893
Laura Elizabeth Morales, Senior Vice Chairman, 956-821-7925
NEWS RELEASE
Where Does YOUR Incumbent Stand?
YCT Releases Ratings of the 81st Legislative Session
(Austin, TX) Since 1975, Young Conservatives of Texas have provided Texans with reviews of the voting records of legislators as a public service. YCT strives to measure each representative and senator’s fidelity to conservative principles. YCT is proud to release the 18th installment of our Legislative Ratings, the longest running and most respected legislative ratings in the state of Texas.
“Now is the chance for citizens to see where their incumbents stand and how they really voted,” said Laura Elizabeth Morales, Senior Vice Chairman.
Legislators are scored on a scale from 0 to 100, with points being awarded for each correct vote.
“YCT strives to choose votes that offer a clear choice between conservatism and liberalism,” explained Tony McDonald, Vice Chairman for Legislative Affairs.
The 81st Legislative Ratings also include a comparison of scores between House committee chairs from the 80th and 81st Sessions, a feature added to the ratings to assist voters in comparing the change in House leadership.
“Now that the candidate filing deadline has passed, we hope voters will take a look at how their incumbents performed and decide whether they need to be replaced in the primary or general election,” remarked McDonald.
YCT congratulates the members of the Historic Honor Roll, whose career ratings rank above 90%: Rep. Ken Paxton, Rep. Wayne Christian, Rep. Tan Parker, Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, Rep. Charlie Howard, Rep. Carl Isett, Rep. Joe Crabb and Sen. Jane Nelson.
YCT also congratulates the 81st Session Rookies of the Year: Rep. Randy Weber and Sen. Joan Huffman. Representative Weber tied for the highest score in the House, with a 97.
“We would like voters to be aware of who the Certified RINO’s, or ‘Republicans in Name Only’, are,” adds McDonald, “Rep. Charlie Geren, Rep. Delwin Jones, Rep. Tommy Merritt, Sen. Kip Averitt, and Sen. Kevin Eltife, all scored below 60% in the House and 50% in the Senate, respectively. Texans can also add Rep. Chuck Hopson to that list, who, while classified as one of the “Highest Scoring Democrats” for the session, recently switched to the Republican Party. Voters should keep this in mind as these candidates campaign as ‘Republicans’.”
The complete ratings can be found online at www.yct.org.
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Click here to see the Google Docs version of the YCT Ratings
Massachusetts: The Shot Heard ‘Round the World
Last night the voice of voters in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was strong and clear. They wanted to send a message to Washington that the American people are not lock step behind the liberal Democratic agenda. For months (maybe a year) Democrats have been telling us that the American people overwhelmingly support their efforts on healthcare reform. They know that this is not true, and no matter how many times they say it in front of the cameras it won’t be true.
Last night, the people of Massachusetts took a stand. Took a stand against out of control spending, balooning deficits and debt, and a Congress that is out of touch with the desires and the needs of the American people. As Scott Brown said in his victory speech last night, “We Can Do Better!” Here is a video with excerpts from the victory speech last night (From CBS News on YouTube):
So far the response from the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress is that the addition of a 41st Republican to the United States Senate, and an end to the filibuster proof Democratic majority means little or nothing. To them, this doesn’t change their agenda and in essence will only make them work harder to pass their liberal agenda. There is even talk about moving further to the left, when clearly that is not what the voters of Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have responded to. I am not sure if this one victory in Massachusetts means Republicans will run the table like they did in 1994, but it certainly puts that within reach. The American people did vote for change in 2006 and 2008, they did want to give the Democrats a chance to do better than Republicans had done. Republicans learned the lesson, and have committed themselves back to the principles our party has always believed in. Limited government, reducing spending, and cutting taxes to truly stimulate the economy. However simply being the Republican candidate is not going to be the answer for getting elected in this cycle. If you don’t have the proven record (a new face or something like that), and even if you are an incumbent Republican … basically what our party needs to do is to make a tangible promise to the American people like we did in 1994 and stick to it. We did pretty well after ‘94, balanced the budget and reduced the national debt. We got blinded by the power and spent like we were Democrat-lite. We need our 1994 moment again…maybe Scott Brown can be the spark that brings that about.
But there is no doubt… this is the beginning. Republicans and conservatives need to capitalize upon it now and maybe … just maybe … we can take back Congress in 2010 and the White House in 2012.
BREAKING NEWS: Scott Brown Elected to United States Senate
The Associated Press is projecting that Massachusetts State Senator Scott Brown is now United States Senator-Elect Scott Brown. Republican Scott Brown has won the Massachusetts Senate seat held for nearly a half-century by Democrat Edward Kennedy.
Brown’s victory in the special election gives Senate Republicans the 41st vote they need to block legislation favored by majority Democrats and President Barack Obama.
CHANGE Coming in Massachusetts…TONIGHT
We are less than three hours away from the closing of polls all across Massachusetts, and the election of new United States Senator for the Commonwealth. For sure there is plenty of excitement among Republicans and conservatives about the possibility of the election of State Senator Scott Brown to fill a seat that was held by the late Senator Edward Kennedy. In the bluest of blue states, where Democrats far outnumber Republicans, a Republican has a CHANCE. Some have told me that there is no way Scott Brown wins tonight … thats simply because it hasn’t happened in a LONG TIME. In fact WRKO in Boston back in November, made it seem that it was a foregone conclusion that State Attorney General Martha Coakley would win, just listen to this audio clip:
Now, it is really only the first sound bite that puts WRKO’s coverage of the race in question. The succeeding clips sound a bit more reasonable and more like a discussion of simply a primary win. To be honest, while I have been hopeful for a GOP win in Mass., I knew it would be hard to come to fruition and likely would never happen. I can not explain how excited I am that the polls show that people are choosing to vote for something more meaningful than party, they are choosing to vote for the future of America and not for a quick political victory. Tonight, I believe that Scott Brown will become the Junior Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Yet, even if the people of Massachusetts elect him, Brown will face shenanigans from Democrats in the Senate. I mean, seriously? Who could possibly imagine the dog and pony show that this situation would turn into. The excuses that Democratic leaders have thrown out there are ridiculous. Hot Air is reporting that the latest excuse for not seating Brown should he win is that Vice President Joe Biden is out of town (HERE). Yet before it was because the Senate would need to wait for the proper certification. Which is essentially true, Brown would need to have the election results certified and a signature of the Massachusetts Secretary of State to serve. But will the Secretary of State promptly certify the election, or will the SOS drag their feet? This was the same standard that was posed when Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) was appointed by Governor Blago in Illinois. However, this does not mean that interim Sen. Kirk would be necessarily able to vote on any healthcare bill (or any other bill for that matter). An interpretation of the current Massachusetts law (which was changed to allow Governor Deval Patrick to appoint a interim, which was a power that was stripped of Republican Gov. Mitt Romney in 2004) would suggest that once the election has taken place and the results are in, interim Sen. Kirk would no longer serve in the capacity of a US Senator.
But even if Brown is allowed to assume his role in the Senate, should he win. Democrats still have the intention of shoving healthcare reform (which in its current form is something that the American people disagree with, while supporting the idea of overall healthcare reform) down the throats of the American people and putting it on President Obama’s desk. They have two options. One option being, forcing the House into a corner and passing the Senate bill, as-is. This presents a problem in that many House Democrats do not support the Senate bill in its current version. The other option for Congressional Democrats is to go through a reconciliation process (reserved normally for budgetary legislation) that only requires 51 votes in the Senate. The problem here is that they would need to strip several provisions in the bill and gut it to a bare bones skeleton version that involves only budgetary provisions and changes. Either way the healthcare issue is still toxic in the political arena. Perhaps, with a Brown win, Democrats might be better served by holding off.
Regardless of the outcome tonight, there will certainly be interesting political issues that arise out of whomever is named the winner. I can tell you one thing. I will be glued to my TV and computer screens to see the results and begin to examine what the turnout means for future races. Because even if Coakley wins (which to me it’s hard to see that happening when registered Dems in Mass are waiting in line for more than two hours in some cases to vote for a REPUBLICAN!) the fact that the Democratic machine had to pour resources and money into a solidly blue state speaks volumes.
Check back for my post-election post TONIGHT (or TOMORROW if we don’t get a winner tonight). Should be interesting no matter what.
- Andres Bocanegra
Follow me on Twitter: @andresbocanegra
Back for 2010
Let me be the first to apologize for my absence from my blog for the better part of the end of 2009. As you know I was a college senior and getting ready to graduate from the University of Texas at San Antonio in December. Note the key word “was” … I am now officially a graduate of the University of Texas at San Antonio.
The end of my final semester was beyond crazy and left little extra time to do anything much less run a successful blog. Right at the end I had and exam and four papers due within a two week period. It was intense. But I am back, and ready to get back into the swing of things with blogging about the politics and events that led me to create this blog. I hope that it all starts tomorrow with a Scott Brown victory in the Senate race in Massachusetts.
With Barack Obama set to give his first State of the Union, I too will present my own viewpoint on the state of the nation this week. Then comes the heart of what 2010 will be about. The economy, jobs, healthcare, and the elections and midterms. 2010 is set to be an intense election cycle and you can be sure that politics will be everywhere.
2010 will also be a year of additions to the blog. I have plans to seek out friends, colleagues, and like-minded politicos and have them become permanent contributors to this site. This development is two fold. First, if I ever need to take a brief time off, there will still be people here to post stories and issues. Second, I have a vision of creating a site that becomes a one stop shop for the multitude of conservative points of view and common sense analysis of the issues and stories of our time.
So this is my plan, and again … I am back. I hope nobody worried that I had given up on debating the issues or presenting news. If you did … you were mistaken, I will be here for a long while. As long as there are elections, debates, politicians, and politics … I will be here.
Andres Bocanegra
San Antonio Conservative
Follow me on Twitter: @andresbocanegra
tcr press release: TCR Rallies Around the Troops and Families at Ft. Hood
The Texas College Republicans issued the following press release in reaction to the tragic shooting this afternoon at Fort Hood:
TEXAS COLLEGE REPUBLICANS
Office of Communications and Public Relations
Andres Bocanegra, Director of Communications
2626 Babcock Rd #2407
San Antonio, TX 78229
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 5, 2009
Contact: Andres Bocanegra
andres.bocanegra@txcollegerepublicans.com
956.463.1626
TCR RALLIES TO SUPPORT TROOPS AND FAMILIES AT FT. HOOD
AUSTIN – With the current events that occurred today at the Ft. Hood Army Post
in Killeen, Texas, the Texas College Republicans express our grief for the deaths of our members of the Armed Services in the United States Army and its support personnel.The events that transpired today at 1:30PM CST, it has been reported that a tragic shooting occurred at Fort Hood military base, with at least 12 people who died tragically at the hands of an armed assailant and wounded an additional 30. The Texas College Republicans are very saddened at the events that have transpired. We ask that our members and the public pray for all of our soldiers, their families, and the support personnel at Ft. Hood and across the world who are bravely serving our country in this time of struggle.
For those of you, who wish to help, can go to your local Red Cross or blood bank center to donate blood to assist in the medical needs of your communities and this tragedy at Ft. Hood. You can locate your local Red Cross location at http://bit.ly/UEH80. And for those College Republican chapters that are in the area, we would ask that you volunteer your time to assist in the USO effort at Fort Hood.
Thank you,
Nickole Heather, Chairwoman
Colt Ables, Vice Chair
Texas College Republicans
president@txcollegerepublicans.com
www.txcollegerepublicans.com###
TEXAS COLLEGE REPUBLICANS IS AN OFFICIAL AUXILIARY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS AND IS A RECOGNIZED STATE FEDERATION WITHIN THE COLLEGE REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE. THE CRNC IS THE NATION’S LARGEST AND OLDEST YOUTH POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN AMERICA. TEXAS COLLEGE REPUBLICANS HAS MORE THAN THIRTY CHAPTERS AND NEARLY 2,000 MEMBERS IN OUR CHAPTERS ACROSS THE STATE.
And We’re Back …
Just wanted to post something quick … I am sorry that it has been so long since I have posted a blog post about anything. As many of you know I am a college student at UTSA and October has been a crazy month full of papers and midterms – which is not conducive to regular blog posting. I am back though and ready to get back into the blog world. I will be posting my thoughts about the recent Republican wins of Governorships in New Jersey and Virginia by the end of the week.
For now … follow me on twitter (where I have been all along) twitter.com/andresbocanegra or tweet me @andresbocanegra
It’s good to be back …
Perry 2010
