Waxman Speaks into the Wind About Global Warming

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2012/12/12/henry-waxman-shouts-into-wind-on-climate-change/

Henry Waxman: Still Blowing Hot Air

Congressman Henry Waxman is winding up about global warming again.

The research, the science, the investigations, and the general consensus about global warming suggest that yes indeed the world has gotten a little warmer.

How many reports printed in the last decade suggested that half the United States would be under water, or that Polar Bears would marching along in Manhattan Beach eating up beach-fronts and mauling visitors?

The Global Warming entourage has worked its way up to University elites, has taken over editorial boards, and now Congressman are pushing for more laws, regulations, and every other intervention imaginable to slow the heating of the planet by one or two degrees.

The United State is in hot water already because of the spending spree, yet Congressman Waxman wants to resurrect Cap and Trade once again. Has he already forgotten that the bill passed on the slimmest of majorities in the House in 2009, then died in the Senate? Then Joe Manchin of West Virginia replaced the longest-serving Robert Byrd, and he pledged in his election campaign to shoot a bullet through Cap and Trade.

Waxman is full of hot air and blowing nothing but empty winds and waves of environmental extremism. While the threat of polar ice caps melting has not reimposed the diluvian period across the planet, the tsunami of red ink drowning this country and the next generation simply cannot be ignored.

Forget global-warming. When will Congressman Henry Waxman warm up to the "inconvenient truth" that our government is spending money that we do not have on programs that we cannot afford or on  federal departments that we do not need? What good is a cooler planet with heated global bond-holders threatening a massive sell-off of their accounts, with the tumbling fiscal crises to follow?

Waxman has denied the reality of this country's fiscal problems before with empty calls of "We're Not Broke!" Instead of worrying about the break-up of the polars ice caps, Waxman needs to get off the Cap and Trade jag and get our country from ruby red to jet black.

Does Waxman Care About Medicare or Not?

Hanukkah: 'Tis the season for lighting candles. There is a lot candle-lighting planned for the Beverly Center in front of Waxman's satellite office. The California Nurses Association has amassed their numbers and their wicks to tell Waxman and other California Congressional Democrats, including Karen Bass, to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid during the fraught negotiations over the fiscal cliff.

Congresswoman Bass plans to discuss with LA constituents her plans for helping Congress to avert the fiscal cliff. What about Congressman Waxman? December 11, 2012, Waxman was at a DC press conference declaring his stern opposition to support Medicare cuts. While Congressman Henry Waxman loves the camera and takes in the spotlight, the laws of supply and demand will enforce these cuts (and severely so) if Congress does not cut through the political gamesmanship, starts telling voters in this country the truth, and makes a move to cut the spending.

What are the facts about Medicare? The assets for the program are declining. The United States Government faces $24 trillion in Medicare liabilities. What good do government promises amount to if the government has no money to spend, no credibility to borrow off of? Gossip and slander abound about the "Ponzi Scheme" which is Social Security, but Bernie Madoff should have been taking notes on the Medicare Ponzi scheme. Current recipients are getting more than they paid in, nothing like the deepening gap between funding and withdrawals in Social Security. This program is not to the fault of the seniors, but a cowardly government that will not demand at least more than a token deductible to help control costs and allocation.

Still, there is hope. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has met with seniors throughout the country, many of whom have shown their willingness to take a haircut in order to preserve these entitlement programs for the next generation. Working with Democrat-turned Independent Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Coburn proposed aggressive reforms on Medicare abuse, fraud, and a much-needed provision for recipients to share a little bit of the cost in order to prevent waste. This kind of bipartisanship is rising up in Washington, yet Waxman does not know about it or does not care, or perhaps he is still repeating the empty chorus of "We're Not Broke!"


Congressman Waxman has also beat the fiscal table about the rich paying "their fair share." I still remember the silly crack he made at the October 24 Venice Neighborhood Council meeting, in which he declared that the "rich" like Independent challenger Bill Bloomfield would be the only one paying higher taxes, if he has his way. It's all fun and games to collect a vote, but what happens when the 65+ retirees want to collect the benefit, with nothing but a federal IOU in their warm, elderly hands?

Despite the moral and political simplicity of the measure, Waxman has declared that he opposes means testing for Medicare, which would ask wealthy seniors to pay more for their disbursements.
What gives? Does he care about the plight of the poor and the middle class or not, aside from voting against tax cuts for middle income earners. The times are long-gone in which the Westside legislator could cruise into office and continue the spending-spree that this country and future generations cannot afford. Reality is bearing down on everyone, left and right, with open primaries ready to swallow up and spit out anyone with his or her head in the sand on the crushing problems facing this nation.
A comprehensive package to deal with the fiscal cliff and the spending problem in this country will focus on means-testing for entitlements, then turn them into block grants to the states so that the legislators closer to the voters can allocate the funding with the red tape and bureaucracy that wastes so much to deliver what's left. President Clinton pushed Welfare Reform to great success, so there is no reason that would prevent Democrats like Congressman Waxman from pursuing a similar policy.

Republicans should hold their noses and let the sequestration go through. Raising taxes on those who have earned $1 million or more should be a concession only because the country by majority sent Democrats back into power. Let the Democrats have their increases and fall on them. The Republicans can sit back and watch as the wealthy ferret their wealth into trust funds, especially in Democratic bastions like California, New York, and Illinois, where they are desperate for business as it is, and the liberal base will have only their liberal colleagues to thank.

The unions are getting fired about the fiscal cliff (with candles and all), and so should the rest of the 33rd Congressional District. Congress is at an all-time low in public opinion polls, yet Congressman Waxman is back in D.C. talking to reporters. Does Waxman care about Medicare, the country, or our fiscal future or not? He better make a move, or perhaps his tenure in Congress will go over a cliff of its own in the near future.

Happy Hanukkah, Henry! (Still Waiting for the Big Miracle)

Shalom and Happy Hanukkah, Congressman Waxman.

Yehuda HaMakabi(Judas Maccabeus, or "Judah the Hammer") led the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid monarchy, under the rule of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who had no wisdom or insight into anything but his profane need for fame and gain. The Jewish people regained their temple, reinstated the holy customs of worship, and rejoiced to receive their homeland once more. The reinstated Jewish leaders had only one day's worth of oil, yet they were able to light the Menorah in the Temple for eight days.

Thus "Hanukkah" was born, and I do not care how you light the candles. "A Big miracle happened there", as represented by the four letters on all sides of the dreidl.

Just like the Jews who regained their homeland and their house of worship, the voters in the state of California want their state and their country back. They want an end to the tyranny from Washington (riddled with gridlock and dysfunction) and a resurrection of peace and prosperity at home and abroad. Congressman Waxman, it should not take a miracle to enlighten your colleagues and the voters not just about the problems facing this country, but to lead on real reforms and long-term solutions. It should not take a miracle to get our country's problems fixed, so I ask for the following eight things for this Hanukkah season:

1. A solution to our entitlement obligations which will honor what current recipients have already invested while permitting future retirees to choose the means for retrieving their payments. Stop treating the Ryan plan like a heathen proposition. If it's really so bad, then come up with something better, but unlike the menorah oil, the funding for our entitlements is dwindling fast without any replenishment. Any kind of voucher would expand choice for the 54 and under set, not bankrupt the elderly or throw Grandma off the cliff.

2. Comprehensive immigration reform: First, better border control. No fence please. Next, a diminution of the "white" welfare state with an emphasis on welfare-to-work and unemployment-to-work programs. The STEM Jobs Act would allow foreign nationals who have received advanced degrees in American universities to receive their green cards right away.

3. An extension of President Obama's "Race to the Top", but this time, instead of outlaying stimulus money for bits and pieces of education reform, implement a provision which will engage states to enact widespread public-private voucher programs in their respective states.

4. Get our armed forces out of Afghanistan. Our troops have fought this war long enough (Eleven years!), and the likelihood of a stable central Asian state has diminished considerably since President Obama offered to make the Afghan conflict the "good war". 2014 is not soon enough. The McLaughlin Group predicts a quicker withdrawal. Make it happen.

5. Get our homeless veterans a warm bed to sleep on. California columnist Thomas Elias has now gotten into the fray, demanding that you and your colleagues get our veterans off the street and into the Brentwood VA, where they belong. When the King of Persia wrote letters to the exiles in Jerusalem, they received full support and got busy rebuilding the Temple. What's your excuse?

6. About union power in California and the United States, start by signing Senator Rand Paul's (R-KY) "Right to Work" Petition. Since you have joined "No Labels", it's about time that you put your new allegiance to work. Everyone has the right to work, and if that means they do not want to join a union, then let them have the choice. The ILWU is bracing for another crippling strike a the Ports of LA and Long Beach in 2014. Amend the federal rules about collective bargaining and strike-threats. Why does one interest have the right to withhold trade for the entire country?

7. This fiscal cliff nonsense has got to stop. The voters do not deserve to be housed up against our will like the Israelites of Masada. Budget reform with a plan for less spending and more state power will allow the state of California to receive the entitlement funding while cutting the waste and fraud. The Daily News has claimed that you are an influential Congressman in California. Prove it by giving your state more freedom to spend its own money.

8. A few more things: Revise and amend the Clean Water Act. Why should homeowners have to tie up their resources in federal court for years just to build property om their own land? While you're at it, why not broker a leasing arrangement with private mail carriers so that the 5th Street Post Office in Santa Monica does not have to close down for good?

I know that you cannot wrap all of these gifts right away and put them under the Menorah, but at least make haste to move on them. I have lighted the first candle; when will you light the rest?

Daily Kos Reflects on "Lagging" Waxman Victory

Consistent with the pattern we've seen, minority-heavy districts swung towards Obama.  Republican Gary DeLong kept it respectable in the Long Beach-based CA-47, but with Romney lagging by more than 22, there wasn't much of a chance for him. Elsewhere, there was some, but not substantial, softening. (Obama got 61% in the Westside/South Bay-based CA-33, but Henry Waxman lagged substantially with his 54% performance.) Outside of L.A. County, Obama saw a slight drop in the Central Coast-based CA-24 and the Silicon Valley-based CA-18, but also saw improvements and mostly held the line in the other San Jose-based districts. (Daily Kos)

Obama does not have the lock that one presumed on the state of California. Even if San Jose went heavily for the President, the same municipality passed by plebiscite a bond measure which would reform the city's overwhelming pension obligations.

The most telling aspect of this post -- "Henry Waxman lagged substantially with his 54% performance" -- should give hope to all fiscal conservatives, Independents, and Republicans in the 33rd Congressional District.

Because of his much poorer showing than in decades past, Waxman may pull a "Jane Harman" and step down after this unprecedented twentieth term in office. If an Independent from Manhattan Beach could shake up his complacency and engage his former constituencies, then very likely another Democrat will be more than able to challenge him and push him out, just like the upstart freshman Eric Swalwell, who pushed out the ignorant and arrogant Peter Stark from the 15th Congressional District.

The liabilities of incumbency are shaking up the faultlines of political machines and entrenched politicians who had expected nothing less than 60% in election after election. Now that politicians cannot pay the drafters to carve up easy districts to protect their seats, along with open primaries which encourage spirited primary challenges, every Democrat must be on the alert every election.

That includes Congressman Henry Waxman.

Why Bloomfield Failed to Blossom (A Further Consideration)

After the June 6^th primary, when Bloomfield carried the second spot to take on Congressman Henry Waxman for the 33^rdCongressional District, I got involved individually as well as corporately with the rest of the Bloomfield team to get Waxman out. I welcomed, as did his staff, any opportunity to bring down “Waxman the Taxman”. However, Bloomfield the person, his platform, and his stunning lack of promotion culminated in preventing Bloomfield’s campaign from blossoming into a victory.

Regarding the person, Bloomfield was a Republican who left the party to become an independent. His March 2011 declaration of independence remained unpersuasive. Bloomfield was Romney-esque not just because of wealth, but an unclear identity, an unclear message. In newspaper interviews, Bloomfield spent more time explaining himself instead of defining the problem or his opponent. Previously, I had written that Bloomfield did not break away clearly enough from his “former party” – yet in retrospect post-November 6^th, the Independent candidate avowed this mistake, a sign of greater self-awareness.

As for the platform that Bloomfield was running on, it often seemed that he was building it while walking on it. More than the person, the platform and his preparation were foundering. One of the team members informed me that they had been preparing for the “Republican” line of attack since June 2012 (not 2011). Bloomfield needed to prepare for those slights on his record long before he ran for election.

By choosing to be an Independent, Bloomfield had to engage Republicans as well as Democrats without distancing them over his liberal stance on social issues. Some voters stayed home because neither candidate was pro-life, which he could not help, but the more glaring “platform” issues protruded at the Santa Monica “No Labels Press Conference”. A “No Labels” spokesperson bestowed on him an award for his bipartisanship. I was the only “guest” of the six people who attended (the rest were staff and his fiancee). Bloomfield in his rumbled suit looked more like a high school senior running for student council, right down to his “thanking” the “No Labels” proxy by reading off a set of notes.

On another note, the “No Labels” mission is a self-contradiction which misdiagnoses the current ‘crisis’ of Washington gridlock, which the Framers would have called ‘business as usual’, an inherent certainty of representative democracy, in which the leaders we send have to do what we want, which is more often not what we need. Telling voters that “I want to fix problems” if one offers nothing about the problems and the solutions with pertinent detail. To bring down the debt without bringing up a better vision for the country does not sell well.

Regarding promotion, Bloomfield admirably avoided petty sniping or personal attacks. However, Congressman Waxman’s thirty-eight years deserved more vetting. More than a partisan liberal, Waxman’s record was demonstrably inconsistent, pandering, and incompetent. From pursuing issues of picayune importance to ignoring pressing problems weighing on this country, Waxman epitomizes the quintessence of a Congressman waiting for a coronation rather than caring about his constituents.

Aside from Waxman’s hyperpartisanship and lengthy tenure, Bloomfield refused to hold the Congressman accountable for his frequent ignorance on issues before his own Oversight Committee (“I Don’t Know!”), his insouciant attitude about government waste (“I’m sorry!”), or our nation’s debt (“We’re Not Broke!”).

Waxman tailored his comments to the specific constituencies which he was communicating with. At the Venice Neighborhood Council, Waxman not only rolled out his previous legislative record, but he lamented the Venice Post Office. Waxman greeted long-time friends on the council. Bloomfield’s generic appeal for “better with bipartisanship” was distant and unconvincing. The independent also failed to acknowledge his endorsement for Democrat Mike Feuer for the State Assembly, even though he had just launched his campaign for city attorney in the same meeting. He could have mentioned Mayor Riordian’s endorsement, without whom there would be no Neighborhood Councils in Los Angeles. To his credit, Bloomfield tailored his message for the Jewish Community Center in Redondo Beach, mentioning his peace-negotiation efforts in Syria, yet Bloomfield neglected to promote this humanitarian record sooner.

Candidly, the billionaire businessman admitted that he was not the “in your face” type. Too often, Bloomfield’s fire and venom was damp and docile. In July, one of his friends told me that she was unaware of his run for Congress. This sad fact I learned while I was telling local residents in the Palos Verdes Peninsula about “Bloomfield for Congress”. The director excused this reticence: “That’s just Bill.” If Bloomfield was running for office, he needed to carry a sense of conviction about the whole thing. Why launch a million-dollar affront if a candidate cannot be bothered to tell his own friends? At the Venice Neighborhood Council meeting, he praised Congressman Waxman’s legislative record. Bloomfield acted like the opening act, while Waxman stole the show. To quote Texas’ US Senator-elect Ted Cruz, Bloomfield was “French-kissing” the Congressman.

Simply put, Bloomfield failed because he was everything that Waxman dreaded, except that he failed to promote himself as the independent politician with the proper platform to put Waxman out of office.

Congressman Waxman: Impeach Obama!

Congressman Henry Waxman attended a progressive forum in the Westside in 2007. He tried to allay the outrage of Progressives and Leftists that he would not support impeachment of President Bush.

He concluded that  it would take too long to get the information and backfire on the Democrats

Furthemore, Waxman stalled on the idea by suggesting that  nothing would happen this year.

"You would be going to the polls whether the issue was right or wrong."

President Obama did win the election in 2008, but not because of Bush's foreign policies. His domesti policies of spend and spend some more with tax less and less created deficits, debt, and dysfunction. Obama inherited a bad economy, but he made it so much worse.


"I know you all want impeachment. I would like to see him driven from office, But I do not see it succeeding."

Waxman shared his reluctance over and over, with nothing to show for his candor except investigations in steroid abuse in baseball. Liberals and conservatives have slammed Waxman for this waste of time.

One of his former supporters slammed Waxman: "You had been one of my heroes."

"You swore to protect the constitution. Who cares about the poltiical expediency --- how can you not cosponsor impeachment?"

President Obama has advanced many of the same military policies as President Bush. Why not impeach President Obama, Congressman?

Then again, if he refused to stand up to a Republican chief executive, then what chance would there be that Waxman would stand up to President Obama?

How Waxman Left the Left -- and Why They Should Return the Favor

When Congressman Henry Waxman (D-33rd, Beverly Hills, South Bay) was running the Westside during the previous decade, he never once received less than 60% of the vote. In 2008, he ran unopposed by a major party. In 2010, Chuck Wilkerson sponsored a spirited campaign, complete with embarrassing footage of Waxman openly acknowledging his ignorance about key portions of his Cap and Trade Bill. Republicans swept the House, increased their numbers in the Senate, but Waxman survived.

Waxman raises nothing but rage and hackles for conservative and libertarian voters. Democrats are not too thrilled with the Congressman, either, which explains why the Daily Bruin and the Santa Monica Daily Press offered tepid endorsements for his reelection in 2012. Progressives and outspoken leftists, including WeAreChangeLA, despise this man, too. The outrage and calumny which he endured at a 2007townhall meeting dominated by WeAreChange LA cemented the movement’s disdain for the Congressman.

The day after Christmas, 2007: Waxman spoke at the Westside Pavilion (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wei_hJdwkxY). Some of the members belonged to the “9-11 Truth” movement, claiming that the attacks on the World Trade Center were an “inside job”. December 26 is also known as “Boxing Day” in Canada, and the one hundred plus members in that meeting were in fighting form, pummeling Waxman left and right.

The Congressman predicted that the audience wanted to talk about impeaching President George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. The Bush administration’s domestic wiretapping, the invasive Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, the looming girth of Big Government, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan under the Bush Administration offended voters left and right, both limited government and progressive advocates alike. Instead of respecting their concerns, Waxman gave the audience a twelfth-grade lecture on the impeachment process. As always, he blamed the Republicans for gumming up the works. Then again, he failed to point out that President George W. Bush successfully pushed for a troop surge in Iraq that year from Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate.

Peter Thottam, a Westside lawyer, tore Waxman up:

“I met with you in July, and we got the same load of crap the last time” about impeaching Bush. He outlined his credentials as an attorney, offering that there was “clear and convincing” evidence to impeach President Bush. The previous year, a resolution from liberal Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), demanding a trial failed by only 26 votes. “Nothing less than the integrity of this government is at stake,” Thottam continued. If Clinton could be impeached for perjury, he argued, then Bush all the more deserved to be put on trial. He then finished by shouting at the bedeviled Congressman: “Show some spine!”

The next question touched on Congresswoman Jane Harman’s (D-South Bay, ret.) bill HR-1955, which authorized extended supervision of suspected domestic terrorists, offensively including the “9-11 Truth Commission”.Waxman voted for that bill, and the audience wanted to know why. This is what he had to say:

“I wish someone had contacted me about that bill. It was on the suspension calendar for non-controversial bills.”

Then:

“I had no reason not to vote for the bill.”

The audience chanted back: “Did you read it? Did you read the bill?”

His response: “I did not know that it was a controversial bill. I do not read every bill.”

Waxman admitted in an open forum on camera in a townhall meeting that he had no reason not to vote for a bill that he did not even read. Unbelievable.

Another member asked:

“If you don’t serve our interests, whose interests do you serve?” followed by a demand for the Congressman to get some backbone, to show some spine. He then hammered him for going after steroid abuse in baseball instead of more pressing issues. Defending his investigations, Waxman tepidly claimed that he was concerned about young children using steroids because their heroes, major league sports figures, were using the drug. His concern is forever repudiated in one telling scene from “Bigger, Faster, Stronger”, in which the Congressman admitted that he did not know the legal drinking age or the medical exceptions for steroids.

Judging from his brief appearance at the Westside Pavilion, Congressman Waxman did not take his own left-wing constituents seriously. Until the 2012 election, he could take them for granted because if they did not vote for him, they would either endorse a minority candidate who had no chance of winning, or just sit out the election.

Waxman brazenly admits that he does not read his own or other colleagues’ legislation. He investigates issues of no interest to voters left or right, or even of interest to himself. This man has no business being in office. A future candidate, perhaps a libertarian Republican, could claim: “I would have impeached President Bush.” The candidate could the corral progressive votes with reductions of police power and a reduced American military which defends this country instead of invading other countries. The likely challenger must expose Waxman’s glib, “on camera” indifference.

If such a candidate could inspire leftists to leave Waxman behind and back him instead for office, Waxman’s days would be numbered in earnest.