On April 6th, Tom Price (R-GA, 6th District) posted this statement on his web site:

“It’s outrageous that President Obama is willing to bury the country under a mountain of debt with his reckless domestic agenda but refuses to fund programs critical to our national defense,” said Rep. Price. “One of the world’s most dangerous rogue states flexed its muscle this weekend with a defiant missile launch. Instead of ensuring that America has the capability to respond to all credible threats, the President has responded by cutting the critical F-22 program. This decision will not only cost thousands of jobs at a critical time, it is detrimental to the country’s national defense capabilities. It seems the only place the President is willing to cut spending is on the armed forces. The President’s priorities are deeply flawed. We will fight to preserve this important program.”

Mr. Price implies here that if he were president he would stop a North Korean missile attack with F-22's. That's Ridiculous.

He criticizes President Obama for not responding appropriately to credible threats. However, it is Price's criticism that is not credible.

Price likes to rail against wasteful government spending, well buddy the F-22 is a classic example of wasteful spending. Lockheed has been making the F-22 for more than six years. So far this fighter has not been used in any combat situation. Why hasn't our military used the F-22 in Iraq or Afghanistan? The F-22 performs one function, it shoots down other aircraft. Saddam buried his jets in the sand and Afghan's only leave the ground with the help of poppies. The price tag for each fighter is extraordinary at $137 million. Also, let's not discount the fact that our military leadership is on record in support of Obama's plan to shift from the F-22 to the F-35 ($83 million each).

Since the defense department wants to ramp-up production of the much less expensive F-35, the threat of massive job losses over the discontinuation of the F-22 is hyped.

The F-22 is built in 43 states (how efficient is that?). In large part, this is why this program has lasted this long. Politicians in those states can't bring themselves to reassess their support for it. In the end, the F-22 continues because of campaign money. But for Tom Price it's also about criticising President Obama. He will challenge Obama at every turn regardless of the merit of his argument.

Johnny Isakson deals in fear and misrepresentations

This weekend, Johnny Isakson spoke to the Floyd County Republicans. His appearance confirms that the Georgia GOP has found no insights or learned any lessons from the drubbing the Republicans took nationally in the last election.

In his speech he warned, "Terror has earned no place in my heart or this country," he said. "We cannot dismantle the military." No one disagrees with that statement, yet the statement implies that his political opponents do disagree with him. In fact, President Obama’s budget calls for an increase over former President Bush’s spending for the military. Isakson used the fear card to mislead his audience.

It is my hope that Floyd County Republicans would demand that Party leaders make honest arguments.

To read the article in the Rome New-Tribune about Isakson's address

Tom Price shows ignorance about economy

In the March 13th, 2009 edition of The Washington Independent, Tom Price (R-GA) commented about the stimulus package with, “When they continue to throw money out there and inflation begins, then that’s a telltale sign that they’re even losing that battle. When the Fed puts out an auction of Treasury notes that they have to fill themselves, that in essence will be a moment of default. That’s something to watch. And that’s coming — that will happen, out of necessity, because you can’t continue to throw money out there.”

Tom Price is predicting two events here. First, he believes that inflation will soon become a problem. Secondly, he thinks that our government will default. He anticipates that we will not be able to find buyers for our Treasury notes.

Regarding inflation, Price should know that the cause of our slumping economy is decreased spending. Weak sales have led to increases in unemployment and decreases in wages. All of this is leading to deflation. The size of the stimulus package was not nearly enough to fully compensate for the decreases in private spending. As such, it is extremely unlikely that inflation will become a problem. Price's comment shows his ignorance.

Regarding his prediction about a failed Treasury note sale. The world economy is in crisis. Consequently, our primary debt buyers (China, Japan, UK, etc) all have a vested interest in our recovery. They will not risk exacerbating this economic recession by rejecting our need for the financing of our debt. Also, it is possible that Americans will carry much more of this new debt than we have in the past. Price's statement was reckless and ignorant.

State Representative Joe Wilkinson tries to harass a constituent

Late last month, I left a phone message for my state representative, Joe Wilkinson (R-SS) in which I expressed concern over the possible corruption of the legislative process regarding legislation that financially benefited Georgia Power and its shareholders at the expense of individual rate payers.

Instead of noting my criticism and moving on, Mr. Wilkinson reacted by involving the Georgia Sheriffs Association. He called them and had them call me. On the morning of Wednesday, March 4th, I received that phone call. One of the executives of that organization asked me if I had any specific information to start an investigation.

Mr. Wilkinson knew that I had no specific information regarding corruption charges. He also knew that if I had such information, I would know to contact the appropriate authorities. Also, if he were really interested in connecting me with the proper authorities, why didn’t he have someone from the FBI or GBI call me? The Sheriffs Association has no authority to investigate; it is a support group for Sheriffs.

If on the other hand, Wilkinson had really wanted to harass or intimidate me he would have been better served by having the computer at the Fulton County Library leave me a voicemail message telling me I had past due books. Now that would have freaked me out.

Tom Price misrepresents "card check" legislation

Representative Tom Price (R-GA, 6th district) has frequently had difficulty with the truth. Perhaps that was why he created a "truth squad" page on his congressional web site. His "truth squad" was either meant as self therapy or self parody.

Anyway, on the matter of "card check" the labor legislation that would enable employees the option of simply filling-out a card that states their desire to form a union. Here is Price's press release of February 26th, 2009 on this matter.

“The secret ballot is a pillar of American democracy,” said Rep. Price. “Unfortunately, congressional Democrats have said they are willing to throw the secret ballot aside in order to advance a political agenda and expand the influence of Big Labor in the workplace. Forcing a worker’s decision to be made public would open the door for coercive and intimidating tactics – from both union and employer.

“With the introduction of the Secret Ballot Protection Act, Republicans have vowed to preserve the fundamental right to keep the personal decision to join a union a private matter. We must not allow workers’ rights and individual liberty to be trampled to appease special interests. We are offering American workers the peace of mind that comes from knowing important decisions will not be made with someone looking over their shoulder.”

http://tom.house.gov/html/release.cfm?id=469

In this press release, Price sounds like a protector of workers rights. Unfortunately, he's not. "card check" does not take away the right to a secret ballot. "card check" adds to that right by granting workers the ability to simply sign-up for a union if they so choose. That's right, the workers get to decide how they go about forming a union. As it is now, the employers hold that power.

Why doesn't Price just say that he's opposed to unions and make an honest argument for that position? As it is Price's stance on this issue is fraudulent.