Moran being investigated for C street

 KC prime buzz:

The Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reported today that House investigators are checking into the well-known "C Street house" that was home to several members of Congress.
The issue: Have members received an improper gift in the form of below-market rent?
Among house residents have been Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a candidate for governor this year, and Kansas Congressman Jerry Moran, who is now a candidate for Brownback's Senate seat.

The Hill:

At an April campaign event with Coburn in Wichita, Kan., Moran was asked about the CREW complaint. He described the C Street house as a place where Members gather for Bible study, and he said, “It became a residence of mine several years ago. I rent a room there with other colleagues and moved my bed in and share a bathroom with other folks.”

Moran added, “I’ve never even showered at C Street.” (my emphasis)


Moran has said he believes the complaint is groundless, and he said at the Wichita event: “I do believe that there are those people that want to make certain that one’s religious faith is not something that is mingled with their public service. ... My public service is clearly related to my beliefs as a Christian.”

Economic Non-sense from Jerry Moran

The other day I heard Rep. Jerry Moran proclaim in a radio ad "you can't spend your way" out of a recession. 

Does Moran think we can "hoard" our way out of the recession?  Does he imagine that we can get out of the recession, if everyone spends less today than they spent yesterday?

What non-sense.  Collectively, as an economy the only way to get out of a recession to spend our way of it.  Keynes called this the paradox of thrift.

A recession is a lack of effective demand.  There has been a precipitous drop in investment spending by corporations.  Due to rising unemployment, the collapse of the housing bubble, and uncertainty, consumers are spending far less. State governments are cutting back drastically.

The only sector of the economy that can pick up the slack is the federal government.  Stimulus spending has kept the economy from entering a free fall and now seems to have sparked a turnaround.

Now, the stimulus was too small because of the opposition of folks like Moran.

There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

—Proverbs 11:24–25

Tiahrt Goes Dirty in Campaign Against Moran

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Appearing recently on a Wichita Christian radio station, Republican Congressman Todd Tiahrt attempted to paint Jerry Moran, his rival for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination, as soft on gays, and managed to distort the record of his party's 2008 standard bearer.

His evidence Moran has been endorsed by 2008 Republican Presidential nominee John McCain. McCain on October 7 signed the conference report for the 2010 Defense Appropriation, which includes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act.

According to Tiahrt, this means that Moran isn't fit to represent Kansas family values. According to Tiahr's logic, McCain and Moran are soft on homosexuals. Tiahrt claims the hare crimes prevention act will mean that Ministers will be prosecuted for reading 1st Corinthians from the pulpit.

There's a big problem with Tiahrt's guilt by association. At the time that McCain endorsed Moran, McCain was leading the fight against including the hate crimes bill.

Another problem: the bill protects military personnel against hate crimes because of their status.