Fun With Dick & Jane

Today’s show was really fun. First of all it was election day – the primary to fill Senator Kennedy’s seat. We predicted Coakley (d) and Brown (r) to win and we were right. Dick then went into campaign mode and made the case for a republican taking the seat. Listening to the rest of the media you would have been hard pressed to know 2 republicans were on the ballot.

Next we moved to Climategate, which I have been talking about for 3 weeks. The story got more complicated right before the broadcast when the UN declared that CO2 is “a danger to human health” thus giving the executive branch the power to regulate without Congress – which of course will be used as leverage to pass Cap and Trade.

We talked a little about health care and then Dick told me something I didn’t know: Apparently the Obama administration threw Deval Patrick under the bus over the weekend. You will have to listen to see how.

Enjoy!

The first segment today was all about Sarah Palin. We talked about her resignation, what we think it means and what will be next for Governor Palin. I believe she represents those of us fed up with Washington, “Government As Usual” and the “Politics of Personal Destruction” – aka the tea party-ers. I reiterated Ross Douthat’s thesis:

Palin’s popularity has as much to do with class as it does with ideology. In this sense, she really is the perfect foil for Barack Obama. Our president represents the meritocratic ideal — that anyone, from any background, can grow up to attend Columbia and Harvard Law School and become a great American success story. But Sarah Palin represents the democratic ideal — that anyone can grow up to be a great success story without graduating from Columbia and Harvard.

We then talked about State Treasurer Tim Cahill who has switched parties (democrat to independent) to run for Governor against Deval Patrick.

We also talked about things happening in Iran, Honduras and Russia, and the President’s rather disconnected handling of each situation.

There is more – take a listen!

We began Tuesday talking about the Chrysler stay pending at the Supreme Court.   I spent some time explaining   the difference between unsecured and secured creditors and the importance of dealing with the executive branch’s power grab.

(Later in the day the Court removed the stay much to my chagrin, allowing the sale to go forward, but preserving the substantive issues.)

Next we talked about the latest MA democrat Speaker of the House to be indicted – Sal DiMasi (the last three Massachusetts Speakers, all democrats have been indicted).  I wondered what Governor Patrick knew and when he knew it.  Unfortunately no one in the press is wondering the same thing.

We talked about North Korea, the two women being held there, the escalation of their nuclear weapons program and their threat to use nuclear weapons in “a merciless offensive” if provoked.  What will the president do?

Dick spent some time praising MA State Senator Steve Brewer’s 29 years of service right before criticizing life time appointments to the Supreme Court.  Senator Brewer was our guest at Rotary the night before.  He is a very gracious tax and spend liberal.

I mentioned Senator Kerry’s $819,848 IRS lien which Dick seemed to think meant he wasn’t getting favortism from the IRS.

We discussed the Cuban spies, and their motive, (which escapes me entirely), Europe’s turn right in this week’s elections, and Hezbollah’s failure to get a majority in Lebanon.

Finally we talked about the Boston Globe’s Newspaper Guild’s  “no” vote to voluntarily cut wages and the impact going forward.

Enjoy!

Dick returned this week and we talk about Massachusetts’ 25 % sales tax hike voted in by the democrat legislature the night before.  The Governor preferred a 19 cent hike on gasoline, but was handed his hat by his own party.  Dick thinks the sales tax is certainly more fair than the gas tax.  I agree, but am bummed out that the democrat legislature didn’t even give lip service to a cut in spending.

Next we discussed the President’s first 100 days in office.  I asked Dick what he felt were President Obama’s accomplishments.  The answer spoke volumes.  We went on to discuss swine flu, and the incident involving the President’s plane terrorizing Manhatten.    I still have no idea why the plane was dispatched, and the excuses thus far don’t pass the giggle test.  I wondered who actually has to sign off on this sort of event, as I suspect the President was aware of it.

We talked a bit about Barney Frank and wondered why in the first quarter, Fidelity employees have given  Frank ten times as much money has they gave him in the last two decades combines.  We should keep a close eye on that.

Dick managed to add something about Leveritt Saltonstall before we were done, which has become somewhat of a tradition.  He also managed to remind me of his political expertise.  C’est la vie.

Enjoy!

The first half of FWDAJ was about as contentious as it gets. Dick had been plotting for days to blame the corrupt prosecution of Ted Stevens on President Bush forgetting the furor over the “politicization of Justice” and what would have been the consequences of a republican President firing a democrat prosecutor who was prosecuting a republican Senator immediately before election day.

it got worse as I talked about the President’s “Apology Tour” and Dick declared it a raging success. As I said, it got ugly. I expressed concern about the President’s ongoing criticism of this country to Europeans, and Dick thought it was just fine to criticize “since it is true”. When I asked him “To what end” the criticism served, he changed the subject.

During the second half we recovered a bit. We talked about the usual suspects, Dodd and Frank, particularly this extravaganza.

And of course we talked about the corruption on Wall Street and in Washington, and agreed that it was time to THROW THE BUMS OUT!

We both noted with some surprise that Governor Deval Patrick says he is running for re-election. Once again I encouraged our listeners to meet me at the Worcester Tea Party on April 15th.

Enjoy!

AIG was all over the broadcast today. Dick is mad at the bonuses – I’m mad at the smokescreen, and the power grab. Dick no longer hides his disdain for the current President, and even backed off on his adoration for Andy Cuomo particularly when I pointed out Cuomo’s role as President Clinton’s HUD secretary where he forced risky loans on banks the same loans that led to the current economic crisis.

The usual suspects – Barney Frank and Chris Dodd made an appearance, as did Governor Patrick and others in the cast of characters robbing us blind.

Enjoy! And don’t forget to plan for the April 15th tea party at a location near you!

It was an interesting hour. Dick managed to filibuster the first ten minutes despite my on-going attempts to chime in, interrupt, knock him out and just generally get a word in edgewise.

Dick complained about labor and I reminded him that Democrats get lots of money from labor so if you want to loosen labor’s grip, stop electing democrats.

We talked about President Obama’s first 50 days. Dick is certainly not defending the president at this point, but assumes some expertise on the president’s part because he wants to get re-elected. I’m of the opinion that incompetence is the order of the day despite any re-election plan.

We talked about the economy, all the spending and the fact that to date the government is costing every household $80,000 – nearly twice the medium income in this country. Both Dick and I believe we should THROW THE BUMS OUT!

Finally we discussed the Governor of Massachusetts latest junket to Jamaica accompanied by a posse of state police (paid for by the taxpayers). Both Dick and I wondered who exactly would recognize Deval Patrick in Jamaica, never mind want to cause him harm

The New Era of Arrogance is simply astounding. Enjoy!

Dick begins today’s hour with a swat at MA Governor Deval Patrick’s latest idea which is to implant a GPS chip in everyone’s car inspection sticker to tax us on every mile we drive. Dick than slams Governor Patrick’s choice to spend the state’s Porkulus money, who, Dick believes, has been named to the post to boost his government pension.

Ted Kennedy’s name enters the fray and I ask why MA can’t get past electing Kennedy’s. Dick seems to think it is the pork, while I can’t think of a thing either he or John Kerry has done for the state.

We also talk about Judd Gregg’s departure.

I then bring up the Ted Steven’s trial and suggest that Brenda Morris the prosecutor is being held in contempt of Court because of a report of an inappropriate relationship with a witness. Brenda Morris is being held in contempt of Court (and has now been dismissed by the Obama administration), but is not being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a witness. The person accused of having the inappropriate relationship with the witness is the FBI agent in charge Mary Beth Kepner. My mistake. Dick doesn’t seem to think it matters if Steven’s was railroaded because he doesn’t like Stevens. I think it matters a lot, whether you like Stevens or not. I also note that if Stevens was still in the Senate, Porkulus would not have passed.

Dick talks about a local story where a prostitute is prosecuted for extortion and he is upset that, ala Spitzer, the john isn’t prosecuted. My ambivalence for the entire incident is apparent.

About a half hour in we get to the Porkulus bill, and Dick asks me to recite the pork. I comply for a while and then go off on President Obama’s doomsday rhetoric and how I think he used the politics of fear to pass the bill. Dick follows with the obligatory Bush bashing.

At this point I lost the recording, but hopefully Roger can put it back together.

Enjoy!

We start today with MA Governor Deval Patrick, who Dick is not thrilled with; then move on to the stimulus bill and President Obama’s first press conference. I get in the mandatory disgust about pork, the medical provisions stuck in the so-called stimulus bill, and the wrestling of the census from the Commerce Department to the White House. Meanwhile we watch the market crash in reaction to the Geithner speech.

Dick then talks about a proposed fiat by the Massachusetts Speaker of the House who is introducing legislation to prohibit the elected leadership in Massachusetts to serve “in leadership” after indictment. (I kid you not)

That leads us to talk about how pols protect each other, regardless of party, and how we really need to throw the bums out. We end with Dick’s usual rant about Sarah Palin, who I am convinced he has a crush on.