SnakeRiverLib

Believe it or not, this is a truly non-partisan post.  That doesn't mean that it is going to be nice, to hold hands and sing kumbaya. I am talking about tax reform.  Right now, we have a president with a low approval rating. (mostly self inflicted, admittedly, but the media has done everything possible to push it down).  But for Congress, they could only DREAM of having the ratings that the President has. (the same could be said for the media, FYI) Right now, Senator Mitch McConnell, (R-KY), Majority leader, and Congressman Ryan, (R-WI) Speaker of the House, have said that any reform has to be "revenue neutral".  If you are not sure what that means, it means that if they "cut" revenue by reducing a tax rate, we either have to raise taxes somewhere else, or cut spending, in other words, ultimately, there is no tax cut.  So, before we get into why we shouldn't care about whether tax reform is "revenue neutral" , and if those two are hypocrites

I can't imagine that this would be considered a partisan post. Oregon has implemented a "free for all" tuition program for Community colleges.  Sounds great!  Except, that because of much higher demand than expected (they didn't budget enough), they are creating a metric to make sure the "right" people are put in the front of the line.  It was correctly pointed out to me that an 80% rate is pretty good for a government program the first year. Thanks Fiona. I said correctly, but I would point out that when they budgeted this, they should have budgeted for EVERY non college educated adult in the state to sign up, as well as an anticipation of people moving to Oregon to take advantage of this.  If they didn't do this, then maybe THEY should be the ones taking remedial math.  This is how every entitlement starts.  They lowball the number so that it looks palatable to taxpayers on paper, they vote it in, and once people are hooked on it, there is no cho

i can't take it anymore.  too many staking out positions too far apart to ever come together.  I am not sure if we can recover from this. The President has seriously damaged his ability to move an agenda forward.  I hope he can recover, but really, he was fighting both Democrats and establishment GOP before this recent flap.  The GOP needs to understand that their rank and file is standing against the Congressional branch of the party, and for the President's agenda, if not the President himself. Before you read.  I want to be clear that examples I use are not suggesting in any way the destruction of them.  I am a true student of history, and think that relics are reminders of the good and bad.  Also, if you can't detect sarcasm, please read carefully, and understand that there is some. With terrorism in my beloved Espana in the news,  all the petty back and forth about statues and skinheads being idiots just reminds me of Benjamin Franklin who said that "If we

I would have more respect for people that expressed support for the President of the United States, regardless of party, when they turned away from the President after his press conference yesterday.  For those that have lived in denial for the last 7 months, no one should care what you think.  I certainly have no respect for you at all. President Trump was saying what millions of people have thought;  Hate is wrong.  No matter whose hate it is.  No matter whom you hate.  The thing is, millions of people are not President, President Trump is.  He was NOT presidential, and his agenda is on the ropes.  I am not sure there is any good will left in the Senate and House GOP caucuses to advance it.   You see here is the deal, and why it erupted the way it did. Democrats and the media (sorry for being redundant) have stated for decades that conservatives are racists, and bigots.  Period.  To them, there is no difference between a White Supremacist, a White Nationalist, or just Joe Sixp

Believe me, I have struggled writing this one.  I wanted to lash out in anger at the people that are mobbing, for lumping the rest of us in with this group or that one.  Anger does no good here. I wonder what is the point of sharing opinions anymore.  No one cares.  If you lean conservative/libertarian, you are considered a racist.  If you are a member of the GOP, that automatically brands you as the same.  If you come out against all hate, and not the right hate, no matter who the hater is, you are a racist, and support the white supremacy movement.  Hate is unacceptable.  No matter what the situation, it is the ultimate weapon of the second-hander. It doesn't even matter that the media will not report honestly on President Trump.  It doesn't matter that the majority of power players in the Democrat party won't accept that the worst candidate in history, running the worst campaign in history lost because of it.  Why does none of it matter? I read a blog the othe

It's been a while. The GOP is running out of time to get Tax Reform and Healthcare done. Healthcare is probably dead in the water.  Too many people are receiving the welfare subsidies to make it politically impossible to fix. Tax Reform will be even harder, because lowering the rates for all, will probably mean reducing deductions that most people don't take anyway, but it will be sold that way.   A complex tax code gives power to the powerful. Only an elite few benefit from that complexity.  Do you? It is critical that they get it done THIS YEAR.  It is because of 2018 being an election year, but not because of partisan politics.  It is about no significant legislation will come out because of it.  As a consequence, having whiffed on healthcare, if tax reform isn't done, then Speaker Pelosi, and impeachment of President Trump. Those Senators who voted against "skinny" repeal should name the Democrats that are willing to work with them in a bipartisan fa