Billy “wasn’t sure where he might come down on the proposal" to end airport subsidy in Joplin.

From the Erstwhile Conservative:

Closer to home, Ozark Billy Long made the local paper. The front page of Sunday’s Joplin Globe prominently featured an article on the possible elimination of a federal program that subsidizes airline service to about 150 cities around the country, including here in Joplin. Whoops! When we sent Ozark Billy to Washington to shrink the government, we didn’t mean shrink the part of the government that makes life easier for business travelers and other local bigwigs who can afford to pay the expensive fares to fly out of Joplin!

Our airport manager and city officials, according to the paper, say the subsidized service is “a vital link to economic development.” Yeah, that’s what they all say. These officials will, of course, lobby our legislators to keep the subsidy in place.

As for Ozark Billy, the Globe points out that he is a member of the House Republican Study Committee, a radical bunch of tea partiers that has already proposed killing the subsidy program, which will pay American Eagle nearly $3 million annually for service to Dallas twice a day.

But the paper reported that Ozark Billy “wasn’t sure where he might come down on the proposal.” Ah…It’s so easy to talk all that smack about cutting government spending, as long as it is spending on the poor or the working class. Cut! Cut! Cut! says our congressman. But when it involves cutting subsidies for business travelers and wealthy jetsetters, it gets a little harder for some Republicans.

Here's what Billy had to say to the Joplin Globe on July 10,2010:

Americans are fed up with federal programs that never end. Ronald Reagan said the closest thing to eternal life is a government bureau. I favor looking at all federal programs and assessing whether or not they work or if they are needed anymore. I would work to end Visa Lottery that literally allows people from countries on the terrorist watch list to get a visa with a minimal background check, if their number is pulled in the lottery. We also have over 2 million federal employees. We need to put the federal government on a diet and reduce its size.

We're still waiting, Billy.

Does Billy Long bring bad luck to people who get their photo taken with him?

Sure seems that way:

Not long after Billy Long had his photo taken with Tim Davis, Davis lost an election.


Not long after Billy Long had his photo taken with Scott Eckersley, Eckersley lost an election.


Not long after Billy Long had his photo taken at the Mount Vernon parade, he broke his foot.


Not long after Billy Long had his photo taken with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, she lost her speaker's position.

Not long after Billy Long had his photo taken with Speaker of the House John Boehner, news broke of his involvement in a sex scandal which put his speaker's position in jeopardy.


Here's hoping:

Boehner in sex scandal? Did you ever wonder if he bawls when he balls?

This from Firedoglake

John Boehner’s speakership in the U.S. House of Representatives might be short lived.

Boehner has been involved in extramarital affairs with at least two women, according to a new report in the National Enquirer. We don’t normally cite supermarket tabloids as primary source material. But the Enquirer was first to write about the John Edwards’ infidelity, and the newspaper proved to be right on target. And back in the early ’90s, the mainstream press picked up on the Bill Clinton/Gennifer Flowers story after it broke in a tabloid.

In Boehner’s case, the Enquirer gets into specifics–and that gives the story a ring of truth:

Capitol Hill insiders and political bloggers have been buzzing about an upcoming New York Times probe–detailing an alleged affair that the 61-year-old married father of two had with pretty Washington lobbyist LISBETH LYONS.

And an ENQUIRER investigation has uncovered a bedroom encounter that Boehner–second in line of succession to the presidency–allegedly had with LEIGH LaMORA, a 46-year-old former press secretary to ex-Colorado Congressman JOEL HEFLEY.

Who is Lisbeth Lyons? Here is her biography from the Printing Industries of America Web site. Here are her duties:

Lisbeth Lyons is the Vice President, Government Affairs for the Printing Industries of America, having joined PIA/GATF in March 2005 as Director of Legislative Affairs. In this position, she is responsible for providing direct advocacy before Congress and the Administration on key industry legislative initiatives, as well as for the strategic direction of the organization’s grassroots and external outreach activities.

You can check out her Facebook page here. Among her likes? John Boehner. That’s our girl. Sounds like her advocacy, indeed, has been rather direct with Mr. Speaker.

As for Leigh LaMora, here is some background from her LinkedIn page.

With the somnolent nature of today’s mainstream press, there’s no telling if this story will gain traction. Mike Stark at StarkReports.com is giving the story serious attention. In fact, Stark contacted Lisbeth Lyons and found her to be not terribly anxious to comment:

I don't think Blake and Billy are brothers, or even cousins.

But they sure have some of the same habits and they even resemble each other.

Here's a photo of Blake acting like a kid:

And here's a photo of Billy acting like a kid:

Here's a photo of Blake using his phone:

Here's is a photo of Billy using his phone:


Here's another photo of Billy using his phone:

Here is Chris Leahman's Blake:

Here is Chris Leahman's Billy:

This from Bungalow Bill:

Meet Blake. Blake is a fun loving guy, who likes the wine, women, and song, who coincidentally sounds like a Tea Party guy as well. Pay attention to what he says on his campaign Web site. It's impressive.

I believe our government is too big and too expensive. We need to return to the ideals outlined by our founding Fathers in our Constitution and return the power to states, local governments and most importantly the individual. I believe in less government (which means more freedom) and lower taxes (which means bigger paychecks). I’ll fight to defend your freedoms including freedom of speech & religion, the right to bear arms and the right to be free from discrimination.

Right on, right on, right on. A funny thing happened to Blake, he became Congressman Farenthold and bought into John Boehner's rhetoric.

Soon he began acting like the establishment, promoting big intrusive federal government that our founding fathers would be furious over. One of the first bills he sponsored was the "If You See Something Say Something Act of 2011" which increases the size and power of the Department of Homeland Security--you know the same people that want to touch Blake's junk when he travels back to Corpus Christi.

He began to listen to the establishment like gun grabbing Republican Peter King who chairs the Homeland Security committee that Blake sits on. Then he began listening to Boehner, who decided it was in the federal government's best interest to continue spying on Americans in the name of national security without any warrants.

He also began to meet other Tea Party frauds like Billy Long from Southwest Missouri, who also pretend to care about what the founding fathers had to say while voting exactly the way the establishment tells him to vote.

Wouldn't you know it. Both these self-proclaimed champions of liberty decided to a very bad thing last night. They didn't join the 26 Republicans who remained true to the Tea Party. Oh, now both Blake and Billy voted against freedom and liberty and the Constitution. They voted to extend the Patriot Act. In other words, all those nice words Blake said on his blog are quite meaningless, because he believes the federal government has the right to wiretap your phone, e-mails, and text messages.

ROCK ON!

Charlie wants to keep them furriners off our highways!

From SN-L political reporter Roseann Moring:

Rep. Charlie Denison, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee, said he plans to hold another hearing for a controversial bill that would make driver’s license tests administered in English only.

Denison, R-Springfield, kept on the schedule a hearing for the bill that occurred during the blizzard, when most Missourians could not arrive to testify.

So he said he’ll hold another hour of testimony next Tuesday, and the committee will vote on the bill immediately afterward.

Ah jeez, Charlie, who's gonna drive our cabs?

Just what did we get for our $14,500? A trip to the Ronald Reagan Museum and drinks at a happy hour? Oh yeah, we got a new definition of rape too.

I'll let Bungalow Bill fill you in:

Shortly after Billy Long won his seat to Congress, he began crying about having to take a pay cut.

In his first month in Congress, Billy Long made $14,500 plus expenses and a per diem. Who knows what perks he got from lobbyists, after all, Congressman Long decided to skip the reading of the Constitution to meet with a lobbyist. Let's not forget the broken foot that was injured on the campaign trail was covered as a pre-existing condition with his new Congressional benefits package as well.

So let's take a look at what Long did in his first month that delivered this nice size check into his pocket at the expense of the taxpayers. In his first month of Congress Long voted 21 times. He was not present for one vote. This totals $690 per button push. He introduced no legislation to the floor based on records using the Congress Android and iPhone Ap, and co-sponsored a bill that will increase the size of government and give the Department of Homeland Security more freedom-killing power.

But wait, of those votes, many of them were procedural votes that directed the debate or brought a bill to the floor for a vote. In Long's first month, he only voted twice for the passage of a bill. Which produces an eye opening $7,250 per vote on passage votes. Do you think he broke a sweat? Remember, this was a man who wanted the job, and then began complaining about the pay cut he was going to have to take to serve Southwest Missouri.

By all accounts, it appears Long has returned to the district once in this time, which was last weekend. Long has dedicated himself to the forces he once claimed he was fed up with, spending time with lobbyists and special interest groups, even traveling to California with the establishment. Long still hasn't addressed the media's questions about who is responsible and why his office decided to use the FBI to intimidate his most vocal critic.

Something I noticed about Billy Long during the campaign; he liked to compare himself to the Founding Father's vision of the citizen legislator that came to Washington and represented his district for a short period of time and then came back home to a normal life. What Mr. Long didn't tell you in those speeches is the citizen legislators our Founding Fathers envisioned also went to Washington without the promise of any salary. That's right, there was no such thing as a Congressional salary.

From 1789 to 1855, a member of Congress was paid a $6 per diem. Now Congress has their salaries, their expense accounts, and per diem. Yup, Congressman Long left out that little bit of information about the Founding Fathers as he tried to label himself as the vision of the Founders, and then griped about his pay cut.

Here's something I also want you to consider. Billy Long never laced up combat boots, instead he went to frat parties immediately after school and avoided any military commitment. An E-1 enlisting in the United States military at a time of war in 2011, which means they know when they enlist they are putting their lives on the line, makes $17,611.20 per year. That's right Congress critters like Billy Long, who showed no bravery as a young man and only wanted to serve his country in a suit and not boots, makes almost in one month what a young soldier willing to put his life on the line for his country makes in a year. Long had the nerve enough to complain about taking a pay cut. Really those numbers don't improve much for E-2, E-3, and E-4 ranks in the military either.

Long pushes a button and gets paid the big bucks and complains about his pay cut from his real world existence, while soldiers dodge bullets for much less to fight for the liberty and freedom Long's office attacked in their first month in Congress. I bet Billy Long wouldn't even have run for Congress if Congress was paid a soldiers salary and was forced to live in the conditions a soldier must live in.

In defense to Billy, he did do something while he was in Washington. He co-sponsored a couple of bills.
But I don't think he read them before he signed on to them.

One of the bills Billy co-sponsored re-defines rape and another one called the "Let Women Die" bill.

These two bills are raising some eyebrows in the 7th district and not from the regular Billy watchers. This is a post written by one of the people Billy would let die:

There's a new saying now among the cynical:

"If a woman is raped when no one is around, is she still raped?"

In 1976, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment which prohibits the use of federal funds in cases of abortions. At the moment, under Medicaid, abortions are covered by federal funds in cases of rape, incest, or if the woman's life is endangered. So the debate at the present is the "definition" of rape and how it impacts the use of these funds.

First and foremost, what the public needs to know (and this needs to be reiterated) is the Hyde Amendment forbids federally funded abortions (except in special cases like the ones mentioned above). This means that the government is not footing the bill by giving out abortions like popsicles from an ice cream truck. Much like any amendment, there are restrictions - such as a definition of rape.

Why is this issue arising? The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion" aims to "redefine" rape ("forcible" rape vs. "non-forcible" such as statutory rape and incest). In fact, its aim is to eliminate ANY federal funding to cover abortions, even in cases of "non-forcible" rape. So how does this bill promote any sort of woman's right?

It doesn't.

What it does do is take away a woman's right, her voice, her ability to overcome a trauma. The definition of rape is this: if a man forces himself on a woman by shoving his penis inside her vagina without consent, it is rape. If a woman is raped and wants an abortion, she should be able to have one without having to answer questions about the validity of her experience. That is insulting. If a woman becomes pregnant and wants to terminate her pregnancy, she should be able to exercise her Constitutional right. The Speaker Boehner isn't focusing on the real issues here. Furthermore, no one is "pro-abortion" - this is why activists are referred to as "pro-choice."

Rape is a horrific, life altering event. As such, "pro-lifers" are not necessarily pro-life if they are willing to dimish the quality of life for rape victims.

ps-- I thought Billy was out of the real estate/auction business.

The Busplunge says "Happy Birthday, Ronald Reagan!"