Super Duper Special Session

The state legislature is finishing up "Doing Nothing" tonight in Hartford. And before they have even finished the hard work of doing nothing they are planning another session!

So says CT News Junk. What could make majority Democrats want to come back for a special session and why before this one is even done? Naturally they want to institute a tax! The real estate conveyance tax is scheduled to sunset this summer, and they can't let that happen. They also aren't calling it before the end of the session because the GOP will try again to attach an amendment with their version of the budget to it.

The session ends when the clock strikes midnight, and then it's game over. You can still catch the festivities on TV!

If you really want a treat, watch CTN, and you can observe for yourself your democracy at work. God knows that when Captain Joseph Wadsworth hid the colonial charter in that oak tree, he prayed one day our self-governance would evolve to the point of televised images of General Assembly members sucking down orange Fanta with whoopie pie crumbs all over their bellies.

Jefferson would be proud.

So here comes the special session to raise your taxes. Enjoy.

Do Nothing. Accomplish Nothing. Be Nothing.

The Democrats in the Connecticut General Assembly have apparently settled on "Do Nothing" a their mantra for the budget this year.

But it's more than that. It's their philosophy. It's their slogan. It defines their entire two years in the "supermajority."

As News Junk is reporting, Connecticut Mayors and First Selectmen swarmed the Capitol today to protest this "Do Nothing Approach."

The cast of characters showing up to criticize the plan included Democratic governors-in-waiting Dannel Malloy of Stamford, John DeStefano of New Haven, and Eddie "Bisque Bathroom" Perez of Hartford.

What does DeStefano think of the "Do Nothing" budget? He says it will lead to "tax increases, lay-offs and service reductions."

No one seems to like this alternative other than legislative Democrats and Governor Rell.

The legislative Republicans have an alternative that balances, gives gas tax relief, if only for the summer, and achieves savings through early retirement, a plan panned by comptroller Nancy Wyman, and OPM Secretary Bob Genuario. Both of whom, incidentally, have voted for early retirement proposal s before.

If I were a liberal, I would be very unhappy with what I have seen over he past two years. In 2006, Democrats rolled to victory with a supermajority. Liberals rejoiced.

Now, I await one of these liberals two years later to tell me the achievements of that supermajority that were worth the efforts, cash and time expended in earning their signal political victories.

We still have high taxes. Our energy prices are increasing. Our gas prices are increasing. Our economy is tanking. Population is leaving our state. Businesses do not want to relocate here.

Do nothing. It's not just a phrase... it's a political way of life.

When Children Vote

The State Senate passed a resolution allowing seventeen-year-olds to vote in primaries that are held for general elections they will be eighteen years old and eligible to vote in. And I am very pleased about it!

Let's be clear about why liberals want seventeen-year olds to vote in primaries. These are young, usually liberal minds, far more prone to radical nonsense than adult voters. At this age, most of them are little more than children who have had their first hormonal surge. They embrace the immature, fatuous tennets of liberalism and socialism with great zeal.

In Connecticut, there is an ongoing effort from within the Democratic party by the far left to purge its party of moderates. Doubt me? Look around the state and observe how many moderate Democratic state legislators face a primary opponent this year. There is a concerted, organized effort to purify the Connecticut Democratic party as a far-left entity.

This proposal fits snugly into the plan. Allowing seventeen-year olds to vote in primaries helps further radicalize their party base, and gives them added electoral power when it comes to nominating extremist left-wing candidates.

Republicans should embrace this. As Democrats make the internal decision to radicalize themselves, they are deciding to move further away from the mainstream moderate Connecticut voter. They are sowing the seeds today for tremendous ballot failure tomorrow. We should nurture this effort, and allow it to bear bitter fruit for them.

There should, however, be limits. If we start allowing thirteen-year olds or nine-year olds to vote in primaries the Democrats may end up nominating Batman, Count Chocula or Pokemon characters for office. That woud be too refreshing.

Senate Ends Drunk Driving

The Courant reports that the State Senate has ended drunk driving!

Well, not really. They passed a bill today that prohibits having an open container of alcohol in a car. Good Lord, I didn't know it was currently legal to have an open container of alcohol in a vehicle. I guess you learn something old every day.

But the State Senate has passed this bill, and according to the Courant, the Senators, who voted for this 36-0 claim fewer people will die of alcohol -related accidents on the road.

Oh, come on.

It was already illegal for the driver of the car to be drinking, or to even be holding an open can of beer or a bottle of Jack in his lap. Now they think they are saving lives now that the passenger can't be holding hooch either?

But hold on! The bill apparently allows someone to have an open container of liquor inside a locked glove compartment or in a trunk or hatchback. Seem silly?

Well of course it's not! It gives the Senators the chance to come back next year, ban open liquor containers in glove compartments and claim to save lives all over again.

...and the Pigs Burp.

As expected it took about thirty seconds after House and Senate Republicans in the General Assembly offered an alternative budget to the "do nothing" policy and attitude of legislative Democrats, for the poo poos to fly.

Bob Genuario, Governor Rell's budget director said the proposal offered "phantom" savings. Of course Genuario, fresh after being shot up like Sonny Corleone at the toll booth by his own governor's people over the Rail Yard fiasco, isn't likely to step out of his boundaries unless he wants to get stuffed into a political stump grinder.

And naturally, the swaggering, intellectually deficient governor-wanna-be Speaker James Amann offered this intellectual gem:

"The minority is out of step with their governor, and more importantly taxpayers, who need their representatives to face up to an uncertain economy. They offer a house of cards that would decimate state government, causing our most experienced personnel in critical areas, such as public safety, transportation, and environmental protection to leave."

I love a good political platitude. Why, it's a house of cards built on shifting sand in the perfect storm blah blah blah! Jim Amann unscripted. It amazes me he has time in the day to comment, what with needing to shave six times a day... that guy can grow a beard you could lose a badger in in under eight hours.

Amann is the last person who should critique who is in step or out of step with taxpayers. It was just weeks ago that the Speaker was calling for an increase in the state's gas tax to give us a "world class" transportation system. With a now projected $50 million budget deficit where a $120 million surplus once stood, it is Amann who is not thinking of the taxpayers, only what will happen to the precious state government.

GOP Rolls out another No Tax Increase Budget

The Democrats in the Connecticut General Assembly were, to listen to their rhetoric, ready to go home and do absolutely nothing on the budget since the revenue picture wasn't as bright as it had been at the beginning of the year. Thankfully, the Republicans there don't seem ready to let that happen.

Just as they did last year to great success, the GOP legislators have introduced another alternative budget which does not raise taxes, and actually cuts the gas tax.

The plan on the gas tax would give a ten cent per gallon Gas Tax Holiday that runs from July 1st until Labor Day Weekend, would, according to their information save us $25 million at the pumps. It would also eliminate the gross receipts tax increase which is planned for July 1st of this year, and would cap the gross receipts tax so that as oil prices go up, the built-in tax does not grow at out-of-control rates along with it.

The plan also eliminates the business entity tax, and cuts rates on the estate tax while phasing it out.

The GOP budget is balanced, streamlines and downsizes the state government with early retirement options, and gives meaningful tax relief.

I guess it isn't a shock that Democrats have said they want to do nothing, call it a day and go home. They have truly done nothing of significance since getting their supermajority status nearly two years ago.

Is this what Connecticut elected its legislators to do? Nothing? Our gas taxes are among the highest, and our overall tax burden is far in a way the greatest per capita of any state in the U.S.

At least there's finally some Republicans in Hartford willing to actually try to do something for us. Last year the Republicans changed the debate, and we got a "No Tax increase" budget. Perhaps that will happen again.

Pride of Connecticut

It's a rite of springtime, apparently. The University of Connecticut... the pride of our state... the vanguard of our achievement in higher education... erupts with drunken, semi-retarded, vomiting teenagers.

It's apparently a time to put down your books and relax by pushing a urine-soaked community room couch out the dorm window and into a bonfire. It's time to celebrate, to expose yourself, blackout for four hours and wake up testing positive for chlamydia.

It always gives me great pride to read the papers and review the arrest stories and then consider the taxpayer investment that goes into providing this opportunity to the future generation.

The Courant reports today on the weekend's proceedings where 51 students and non-students were arrested:

The arrests were made for a variety of charges including narcotics offenses,
underage possession of alcohol, forgery, criminal impersonation, interfering
with police, breach of peace, driving under the influence and weapons offenses.

That's quite an assortment of interesting charges.

Hard to imagine with this resume of debauchery UCONN still isn't the home to the Kennedy School of Government. Go Huskies!