Irreverent View » Chris Ingram’s “Irreverent View”

The enemy isn’t Islam

cingram — Wed, 16 May 2012 14:53:06 +0000

The Tampa Tribune

Published May 16, 2012

My ancestors descended from Salzburg (in present-day Austria) after facing religious persecution from the Catholic Church, which opposed the teachings of Martin Luther that the Lutheran Salzburgers followed. In 1731, 20,000 Protestants were ordered by Count Leopold von Firmian, the Catholic archbishop and prince of the Salzburg state, to dispose of their property and leave the country. Most of the Salzburger outcasts settled in other parts of Europe, but some 300 of them settled in the American colony of Georgia after pleading with King George II of England, who had a German duke and a fellow Lutheran, for help.

The plight of my ancestors is similar to those of countless immigrants who settled in what would become the United States of America.

Despite the fact that most Americans have stories of their ancestors coming here under less-than-desirable circumstances, a few among us seek to deny those who don’t share the same religious beliefs the very rights and privileges that make America the place to be for those looking for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Last Saturday a group of self-described “patriots” assembled in Tampa at what they billed as a “Stop the Cultural Jihad” rally. In an email announcing the event, organizers said the purpose of the rally was to protest the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which met in Tampa over the weekend. The “patriots” oppose the ISNA because it was listed as an “un-indicted co-conspirator” in a federal criminal case against the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) that the government believes is associated with the terrorist group Hamas.

Earlier this year the same bunch of knuckle-draggers were outraged when Hassan Shibly, a Muslim associated with a different group on the government’s unindicted co-conspirator list, spoke to Steinbrenner High School students about Islam. (Click here to read the full column in the Tampa Tribune.)

Chris Ingram is the president and founder of 411 Communications a corporate and political communications firm, and publisher of Irreverent View. Ingram is a frequent pundit on Fox News and CNN, and has written opinion columns for the Washington Times, UPI, and National Review online. He is the Republican political analyst for Bay News 9, the only 24 hour all news channel in Florida’s largest media market. The opinions expressed here are those of author and do not represent the views of Bay News 9. E-mail him at: Chris@IrreverentView.com.

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No room at Embassy Suites for Florida, Marco

cingram — Thu, 03 May 2012 13:55:09 +0000

By Chris Ingram

The Tampa Tribune

Published May 3, 2012

The Republican National Committee recently released the hotel assignments for state delegations at the convention in Tampa this summer.

The Florida delegation was severely penalized with an assignment at the lovely Innisbrook Resort — 40 miles away and probably a two-hour commute from downtown Tampa the week of the convention. The RNC’s slight came as a result of the Legislature (dominated by Republicans) thumbing its nose at the RNC when the state chose a presidential preference primary date outside the committee’s preferences.

The RNC retaliation means Florida delegates will have the longest commute of any delegates and will have to endure long days on their feet without a chance for a mid-afternoon nap, or a place to freshen up before the prime-time activities.

The District of Columbia, which has about 287 resident Republicans when Congress is not in session, scored the Wyndham Tampa Westshore. Even the delegation of the postage-stamp-size island of Guam fared better, with an assignment at the Clearwater Beach Hilton.

If you believe in reading between the lines, the hotel assignment suggests all the talk about Sen. Marco Rubio being on Mitt Romney’s short list for vice president is just hype. Rubio will be lamenting all those unexplainable American Express card charges while riding a bus down U.S. 19 on his way to the convention center. If he… (click here to read the rest of the column in The Tampa Tribune)

A very reverent song (and proud father)

cingram — Wed, 02 May 2012 15:14:20 +0000

“Let my light shine”

By Chris Ingram

Late last year, my daughter Casey (who just turned eight-years-old in April) wrote a song called “Let my light shine.” Casey wrote the song which professes her view of God and expresses the generally optimistic nature all children have.

Casey wrote the song — without prompting — in the back seat of the car on her way to gymnastics practice. She wrote it in less than ten minutes in a small notebook. She began singing the song and shared the lyrics she had written with me; I encouraged her to share it with her music teacher Ms. Belinda Womack at Cambridge Christian School in Tampa, which she did.

Ms. Womack liked the lyrics so much she worked with Ms. Hannah Rose to set the lyrics to a score and arrange the song. It’s a catchy and optimistic tune from a child’s perspective — even if you’re not particularly religious.

You can watch the video of the first public performance of “Let my light shine on me” which was performed today in the sanctuary at Cambridge by clicking here. Ms. Womack introduced Casey and also plays the piano and you can view the introduction by clicking here. The song was performed by Casey and her classmates from Mrs. Coney’s second-grade class. In the video, Casey is the tall sandy blonde girl on the left (4th from the right, front row).

I don’t normally share personal material so publicly, but Casey’s mom and I are so very proud of her (and the song is really good), that I couldn’t resist.

Special thanks to Ms. Womack and Ms. Rose for their contributions to the song.

Enjoy!

A 5th-grader for U.S. Senate?

cingram — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 19:13:32 +0000

By Chris Ingram

The Tampa Tribune

Published April 24, 2012

There is competition for the television show “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?” It is not on TV but it is entertainment nonetheless. It’s called the Florida Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Lacking a talented bench, Florida Republicans have nothing but a Charlie Crist re-tread, a blessed to be born with a good name dipstick, and a wing-nut, now that the ultimate political opportunist, Florida’s CFO Jeff Atwater decided not to get into the race.

First there is George LeMieux. LeMieux was the puppet master of the Crist regime. He also gave Republicans Jim Greer, the disgraced former Chairman of the Florida GOP. The Greer-era left the Republican brand in Florida a disgraceful mess. Crist later appointed LeMieux to fill the unexpired term of Sen. Mel Martinez.

As senator, LeMieux positioned himself as a fiscal conservative concerned with the federal budget and the national debt. Of course, he doesn’t admit that as a Crist adviser he never thought twice about deficits or debt when Florida took billions of Obama bucks in the form of “stimulus” dollars.

Make no mistake LeMieux is a brilliant man and a masterful politician. But in a day in age when Washington is full of guys like George LeMieux, we need something different. His Machiavellian ways are better suited for making interesting copy in the heap of newspaper stories written and yet to be written about his involvement with Greer than they are in fixing America’s problems as a U.S. senator.

(Click here to read the full column in the Tampa Tribune. You can now post a comment on the Tampa Tribune’s website using your Facebook account. Or feel free to comment here.)

Trouble brewing in Hills. REC

cingram — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 21:22:07 +0000

Internal squabble between Secretary and Audit Committee

By Chris Ingram

The Hillsborough County Republican Executive Committee is going through another storm. The party’s internal audit committee in the course of conducting its audit has sought copies of minutes from last year. However, party secretary, Robyn Lankford who has the meeting minutes has declined to provide the minutes to the committee.

When I asked Art Wood, party chairman why the secrecy with the party meeting minutes, he replied, “That’s a head scratcher.”

Wood added he believes Ms. Lankford will ultimately provide the minutes as requested by the audit committee and said he hoped to have this matter worked out in a few days. Wood also made a point of emphasizing the audit committee has reviewed past financial reports and that there are “no irregularities.”

The audit committee is apparently seeking the minutes to determine if expenses in the financials match the requests of the board for those expenditures.

For her part, Ms. Lankford refused to answer any questions about the matter, adding further fuel to the fire that something is remiss here.

The Hillsborough REC has suffered bad press involving several of its former chairmen and committee members including former Chair Deborah Cox-Roush (committee members concerned about expenses paid by the committee to her former catering company while she was chairman), and former state committeewoman Carol Carter (for forwarding racially insensitive e-mails). This new problem doesn’t help the party build the trust and confidence it needs of its members and the public.

The question remains — and Ms. Lankford’s actions fuel the speculation — that the Hillsborough REC has something to hide.

Developing…

Buffett Rules!

cingram — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:45:41 +0000

An irreverent view of the “Buffett Rules”

By Shamus McConomy

Buffett rules are good for America. They bring harmony, sharing and fairness to Americans. I don’t understand all the haters of the Buffett rule. Perhaps the lawmakers overreached (again) and wrote a bill laced with some poison pill pork projects that had to be voted down. Perhaps I could take a stab at some legalese that will establish a Buffett Law that is sure to satisfy Congress and the rest of Americans.

Restaurants shall, in the act of cooking and serving cheeseburgers, garnish said cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, and a Heinz 57 ketchup product. Cheeseburgers shall also be accompanied with French fried potatoes, kosher dill pickles, and an ice cold beer. This law shall be enforceable in all states and territories of the United States of America regardless of the restaurant’s location being designated paradise. In the event that a cook or chef Jamacias a mistaka in the preparation of a cheeseburger, that individual will have up to thirty minutes to replace the errant order, at the sole expense of the restaurant, and the affected customer is entitled to a complementary frozen concoction of his or her choice.

What do you mean wrong Buffett? Warren who? Berkshire what? I’m still not following you. Are you telling me that there is some rich dude saying he is not being taxed enough and Democrats are franchising his name onto a bill to make rich people pay mandatory taxes regardless of existing tax treatment of various income sources? Interesting! Well it sounds like President Obama has finally found that magic bullet to balance the budget. Right?

When President Obama promised he would have the most transparent White House in history most of you thought he meant transparency of information. Well months of closed meetings and back door deals on the healthcare bill proved that wrong. What he really meant is his motives would be incredibly transparent, such as ginning up class warfare in an election year.

I know 60% of Americans favor this rule. Why not? It’s other people’s money. We need to balance the budget and as long as the tax man doesn’t cometh to my door then kudos to the politicians. It doesn’t hurt that liberals have used a complicit media to create a narrative in which Warren Buffett pays the same taxes as his secretary. Really? He may pay the same rate, but unless they changed math since I graduated high school 15% of $100,000 is slightly less than 15% of $1,000,000. I know I went to government schools but let me see if I can recreate the mathematical formula.

(.15 x $100,000) < (.15 x $1,000,000)

(If I remembered Ms Carver correctly, the alligator’s mouth is always open towards the larger number)

But we have been conditioned to think that the more income someone makes the government is entitled to a greater proportion. We call it progressive tax rates and that is the only way we can be fair. A progressive tax ensures that the SOBs making more money than you pay even more taxes. Progressive tax codes combined with social engineering have created a tax system where 5% of the country’s earners pay the lion share of the country’s tax revenues and almost 50% of the population pays none. See how that’s fair? Almost half of the voting population has no skin in the game but gets to benefit from all of government’s inefficient glory. One might call that representation without taxation.

You know why this narrative is allowed to permeate throughout D.C.? Because politicians need votes and there a significantly more working stiff votes at stake than millionaires and billionaires. The unspoken problem with continuing to ratchet up the top end of the tax code while pandering to the freeloading majority is eventually you run out of other people’s money (thank you Margret Thatcher).

It is obvious that the budget will not be balanced through revenue increases. We have the highest corporate taxes in the world and taxing 5% of the population more won’t raise enough revenue. Actually history has shown it raises less. Spending cuts are the only way to handle this crisis. This so called Buffett rule wouldn’t raise enough money to pay for a year’s worth of GSA benders but here we are spending time on a DOA tax bill to score political points. Thankfully the GSA incident occurred at the same time as this Buffett nonsense. Proving once and for all we have a spending problem not a revenue problem.

We must cut spending at all levels and not let the politicians dupe us into thinking cuts equal grandma dying in a nursing home. Instead of forcing the bureaucracies to become leaner and efficient, we currently increase revenue and debt (mostly debt). And there are no sacred cows to government spending. Conservatives seem to believe that every government department and agency is infested with fraud, waste and abuse; except the Department of Defense. I hate to burst your bubble but the same contracting rules and oversight that create workers standing around for months on a road project also built the stealth bomber. The pork barrel buffet needs to be over because there isn’t an all can you tax Buffett solution.

Shamus McConomy is a resident of the Tampa Bay Area where he has spent his career as a lender to small and medium sized businesses. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of South Florida and an M.B.A. from the University of Tampa. E-mail him at: samcconomy@yahoo.com

You’re invited! Mark Ober to address I.V. lunch

cingram — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:05:36 +0000

Mark your calendar! Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober will be the special guest speaker at the next Irreverent View lunch on Wednesday, May 2nd from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Rigatoni on Kennedy in Tampa. If you would like to attend the luncheon, please send and e-mail to Chris@IrreverentView.com More details to follow.

Romney can thank Florida

cingram — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:00:59 +0000

By Chris Ingram

The Tampa Tribune

Published April 14, 2012

With Rick Santorum now out of the race for the Republican nomination for president, Mitt Romney has no serious challengers remaining and can begin to focus on beating Barack Obama.

With all the speculation about a hotly contested floor fight now nothing but a dream in the minds of political prognosticators and the media, there are likely benefits to Florida Republicans headed to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, now that Romney is the apparent nominee.

Florida delegates are currently facing a number of sanctions imposed by the Republican National Committee. The Florida delegation is facing these disciplinary actions because the Florida Legislature moved the state’s presidential primary date ahead of the schedule preferred by the RNC. The sanctions include cutting the state’s delegation in half.

Additionally, the RNC has said it will assign the Florida delegation less-than-preferred hotel and venue locations, revoke additional passes to the convention, and assign convention seating in the nosebleed section of the convention hall.

Florida Republican National Committeewoman Sharon Day (who is also the secretary of the Republican National Committee) recently told a reporter, “The country is going through this awkward, pained process because we jumped so early, and we had no impact.” She also said she doesn’t see the penalties being lifted.

I called Day and challenged her assertion that Florida had no impact. In fact, Florida began the righting of the listing of the S.S. Mitt Romney and had a tremendous impact on the selection of Romney as the eventual nominee. His victory here proved he had broad mainstream appeal in a state with a diverse population that more accurately reflects the demographics of the United States than any other.

(Click here to read the full column in the Tampa Tribune. You can now post a comment on the Tampa Tribune’s website using your Facebook account. Or feel free to comment here.)

A paradoxical view on term limits

cingram — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:12:41 +0000

By Chris Ingram

The Tampa Tribune

Published March 30, 2012

There is an old saying: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

In 1992, 77 percent of Florida voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution to limit the terms of Florida legislators to eight years.

The consequence of the amendment has created multiple obvious problems, including a lack of institutional knowledge and effective leadership. Tallahassee insiders say the last legislative session was one of the worst in the state’s history — due in large part to a leadership vacuum.

In 2000, the year Florida’s term limits law took effect, 220 years of legislative experience was forced out of the chambers of the state House and Senate.

Since then, power in the capitol has been transferred from somewhat accountable elected members to unelected bureaucrats, career political staffers, lobbyists and special interest groups.

John Grant served 21 years as a legislator before being forced out of office in 2000. By then, Grant was something of a career politician — though he says “at that point my work was done,” and says he didn’t plan to run for re-election the following term. Twelve years later Grant admonishes the will of the people as it relates to term limits. It’s hard to disagree with his rationale. Grant believes valuable institutional knowledge can’t be attained in just eight years. He asks rhetorically, “If an airline said after eight years a pilot can’t fly a plane anymore, where are your experienced pilots?” The analogy may be imperfect, but the point is clear.

“[Term limits] has provided fractured politics and a broken system,” Grant says. “The fact that the [the person who will serve as] speaker of the House six years from now is selected before that person is even sworn into office is disturbing to me.”

Grant is referring to… (Click here to read the full column in today’s Tampa Tribune. You can now post a comment on the Tampa Tribune’s website using your Facebook account. Or feel free to comment here.)

Buckhorn to speak at I.V. lunch.

cingram — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 14:17:49 +0000

Mark your calendar! Next month’s Irreverent View lunch will be on Wednesday, April 4th at 11:45 a.m. at Rigatoni Restaurant located at 3437 West Kennedy Blvd. (just east of Himes on the north side of Kennedy). Rigatoni will have an all-inclusive lunch with 3-5 menu choices for under $15.00. Seeting is limited and you must RSVP if you plan to attend. Parking is available in the front, side, and back of the restaurant as well as in the parking lot of the apartment building directly behind Rigatoni.

This month’s guest: Our special guest this month is Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. He will speak about the upcoming GOP convention in Tampa and discuss other issues facing the city and answer your questions. Buckhorn is the first Democrat to speak before an Irreverent View lunch. No, we’re not joining the dark side; Bob is a good man, and a great public servant with Tampa’s best interest at heart. There are a few good Democrats out there, and Bob is one of them. I’m convinced he holds up to the standards of good and fair government that Irreverent View lunch guests expect. So mark your calendar for April 4^th

Please RSVP by noon Tuesday, April 3rd. As always, feel free to bring a friend.

About the lunch*: The lunch group is informal but we have some loose/suggested criteria. They are: You should either be a card-carrying Republican, professed libertarian, a conservative, or someone who thinks our country is currently going down the toilet because most of the politicians (Rs and Ds) we elect are a bunch of bums and morons (think Kevin White and Mike Haridopolos) who are more concerned with their own egos, their own pocket-books, and getting re-elected than they are concerned about the future of the next generation. You can be a liberal Republican, or a conservative Democrat, or a limousine liberal, though the rest of us may wonder what is wrong with you if you are one of those; still, you’re welcome anyway.

IMPORTANT! Please note the following: If you think all Democrats are useless promoters of socialism; or if you frequently stir and drink the GOP’s Kool-aid; or if you believe Rush Limbaugh calling a young co-ed he has never met and knows nothing about a “slut” is okay; or if you don’t think that Rick Santorum isn’t at least just a little bit of a whack job, this particular lunch is not going to be right for you. As such, we ask that you please plan on packing a sack lunch and eating at your desk while listening to the EIB Network that day.

(*) Irreverent View lunch criteria are not necessarily the views of our guest speakers, (but they should be).