Representative Steven Buyer (R, IN, 4th District) does a great job of highlighting how out of touch and anti-democratic that the Democrats in the House of Representatives in Washington really are.
Month: November 2010
New Hawaii Government Transparency Website Debuts
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is starting a new effort to spotlight wasteful government spending in the Aloha State and one of the central parts of this program is a new website that the group promises will, “revolutionize government accountability in Hawaii by revealing waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars at the state and local level.”
The new site can be seen at hawaiisunshine.org.
The site, that was unveiled to the public Nov. 30th, exposes line item details for more than $12 billion in state spending and transfers since 2008. GRIH filed hundreds of open records requests to procure spending data from nearly every state agency, and has placed it online in an easily searchable database, for free use by interested citizens.
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New Hawaii Government Transparency Website Debuts”
UN Climate Summit: The Con in Cancun
-By Warner Todd Huston
In but a few hours I’ll be headed to Chicago’s O’Hare airport to wing my way to sunny Cancun to do a few days reporting on the U.N. Climate Change Summit. As is my luck in life, sunny Cancun will be rainy Cancun if the weatherman is to be believed. Of course, weather reports aren’t the only thing going on down there that isn’t to be believed.
There has already been some guffaw inducing inanities in Cancun. For instance, an Oxfam report is telling summit attendees that “more than twice the number” of people have died from natural disasters in 2010 than have in 2009. And they tell us this is all due to global warming even though they also admit “it is impossible to link any single event with rising temperatures.”
What is the solution to the problem that Oxfam cannot prove exists? Why your money, of course. Oxfam wants the U.S. to establish a “Green Fund” of at least $100 billion annually to combat all this carnage and global warming.
If a big, multi-billion dollar slush fund that’s at the beck and call of globaloney peddlers isn’t enough, summit attendees are also demanding that the whole civilized world ration itself back to the stone age to “solve” global warming/climate change.
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UN Climate Summit: The Con in Cancun”
More Palin Bashing: How CNN Misleads With Headlines
-By Warner Todd Huston
CNN indulged a classic left media tactic by misleading with a headline in a recent piece on former Governor Sarah Palin. The headline, if read by itself, seems to be saying that Sarah Palin delivered a “gaffe-filled message,” when the truth is that her message talked about gaffes, but wasn’t “filled” with them per se. The effect was that the headline made Palin look worse than the story itself did. If all one read was the headline, one would get a far different opinion of what was going on than if one read the story that went with it.
On Nov. 26, CNN delivered this headline on its Political Ticker blog: Palin delivers a gaffe-filled message.
Think about that headline. Doesn’t it say to you that Palin delivered a bunch of gaffes in her message? If all you did was read that headline, you’d think she made a fool of herself with all sorts of incorrect statements in it. One suspects that CNN fully realized this fact.
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More Palin Bashing: How CNN Misleads With Headlines”
Now That He’s Won, Reid’s Paying Back Unions
-By Warner Todd Huston
Harry Reid survived his brush with electoral death winning yet another term as Nevada’s Senator. Reid knows what side of his bread is buttered, too. Big Labor gave him millions in campaign donations and Reid knows who he owes — or rather who owns him. Now that he’s fairly won he’s promising his patrons in Big Labor that he intends to push one of their favorite laws.
Reid has said that one of his first priorities will be to push a cloture vote on the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act (S.3992) that he ramrodded earlier this year.
This act is focused on the unionization of the nation’s police, firemen and other first responders. It would replace with federal rules all state laws on collective bargaining between state and local governments and their first responder unions and would greatly empower unions to dictate pay scales and benefits on a national level.
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Now That He’s Won, Reid’s Paying Back Unions”
Teachers Union’s BIG Break: Obama Let’s Them Get Out of Obamacare
-By Warner Todd Huston
As the list was revealed of 111 corporations and unions that got a free pass to get out of having to suffer under Obamacare given them by their bought-and-paid-for president, we see that the teachers really got a break.
With over 350,000 members, the United Federation of Teachers is one of the largest organizations on the list of those 111 given such favorable treatment.
But the real hypocrisy is the fact that the UFT was one of the biggest activists in favor of Obamacare And now they are being given a waiver to get out of suffering under it?
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Teachers Union’s BIG Break: Obama Let’s Them Get Out of Obamacare”
Roskam Receives Top Leadership Appointment, Named Chief Deputy Majority Whip
From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (L 6th District)…
Rep. Peter Roskam: “The American economy faces serious challenges and we must all work together to end the uncertainty coming out of Washington so that we can once again unleash the American entrepreneurial spirit and get our economy and our country back on the right track.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Majority Whip-designate Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) today named Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) to serve as the Chief Deputy Whip for the 112th Congress.
McCarthy issued the following statement regarding the appointment:
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Roskam Receives Top Leadership Appointment, Named Chief Deputy Majority Whip”
Dems’ Gas Tax Hike Would Fuel Tea Party Anger
-By Chris Slavens
The average price of a gallon of gasoline is $2.87, a number which will continue to climb as the Federal Reserve’s “quantitative easing” scheme lowers the value of the dollar. That’s a 50% increase from only two years ago; in the weeks following the presidential election, the average price was about a dollar lower. But according to some Democrats, today’s price isn’t high enough.
Senator Thomas “Tom” Carper (D-DE) wants to raise the federal gasoline tax by twenty-five cents over a period of two years, increasing the current rate—18.4 cents per gallon—by 136% to 43.4 cents per gallon. The last time the tax went up, in 1993, it was increased by a mere 4.3 cents.
Has Carper filled up recently? Does he drive? Or are his vehicles powered by pixie dust and wishes?
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Dems’ Gas Tax Hike Would Fuel Tea Party Anger”
Another Sign Unions Losing Influence
-By Warner Todd Huston
Unions in America really are under assault from every direction. Certainly they are still powerful and not to be under estimated, but unions really have lost much of the power they once had. At less than 20 percent of the work force these days, the unions that are left have been finding themselves being forced to make the sort of concessions that they once would never even consider.
The New York Times reports on one more bit of news showing that unions are taking deals just to stay working that once would have been flatly refused as two-tiered wage scales are becoming more common in this recessionary economic climate.
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Another Sign Unions Losing Influence”
Obamacare Forces Union to Drop Insurance for 6,000 Children
-By Warner Todd Huston
Remember how Obama said that if you liked your healthcare plan you could keep it? Apparently someone forgot to tell the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in New York because they’ve announced that Obamacare is forcing them to drop coverage for the children of its 30,000 low-wage members.
The union will be dropping coverage for 6,000 children starting in the new year because new state and federal rules will drive up its costs 60% causing it to face a “dramatic shortfall” between what employers contribute and the premiums charged by the insurance provider.
The union is blaming both state and federal rules but had this to say about the new rules Obamacare is forcing upon it.
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Obamacare Forces Union to Drop Insurance for 6,000 Children”
SB600 Update: In Da House
-By Warner Todd Huston
I have been a steady advocate for SB600 for the past year or so, now. SB600 would provide for Illinois Republicans to be able to elect their own state Republican committeemen by vote (as Illinois Democrats already do). Currently the people that guide the Illinois GOP are selected by other party operatives instead of the voters. Many feel, me included, this leads to a closed system of party bosses and insiders that is resistant to change and new ideas and is too far removed from the voters.
The bill passed the Senate earlier in the year and now needs a nod from the House of Representatives. If it doesn’t get passed by the House before January 12, 2011, then this bill is dead and would have to go through the entire process all over again to become law.
January 12 is coming very quickly, of course, and many might think it is too late to get this one done. But it’s not all bad news. If the bill is brought to a vote it will likely pass as it did in the Senate.
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SB600 Update: In Da House”
Man of the People: New Ill Representative Forgoes Pay Raises, Pensions, Healthcare
-By Warner Todd Huston
Republican Bobby Schilling father of ten children, was just elected to Congress for Illinois’s 17th District. He beat out long-time incumbent Democrat Phil Hare.
Hare made himself infamous by saying that he didn’t care much about the U.S. Constitution.
As he prepares to undertake his new duties in Washington D.C., Mr. Schilling has made a few decisions that should bring the gratitude of his voters. He’s decided not to accept any pay raises, he’s eschewed the Congressional healthcare plan, he’s opted out of the pension plan, and he intends to term limit himself.
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Man of the People: New Ill Representative Forgoes Pay Raises, Pensions, Healthcare”
Pay Disparity in Illinois
From the Illinois Policy Institute…
Illinois is in rough shape. Out of all of the states, Illinois is:
- 48th in economic performance
- 47th in economic outlook
- 48th in domestic migration
- 48th in job growth
With those poor results it’s curious to note that our state has the:
- 2nd highest Governor’s salary
- 2nd highest Secretary of State’s salary
- 3rd highest Attorney General’s salary
- 5th highest Lieutenant Governor’s salary
Our 17th report in the “Spotlight on Spending” series highlights the alarming disparity between nationwide averages and the salaries and pay levels for our statewide elected officials.
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Pay Disparity in Illinois”
The Betrayal of America’s Children
-By Vince Johnson
Here’s a statement worth repeating every morning:
“Any society will be judged how healthy it is, by the way it treats its children.”
These are the words of Graça Machel, international advocate for women and the rights of children. She is also the wife of Nelson Mandela, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 after he was in prison for 27 years.
Here is a message from John F. Kennedy worth repeating every evening:
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The Betrayal of America’s Children”
Terrorism, Sure. Oh, but it’s ‘Not a Conspiracy’!
-By Warner Todd Huston
How many terror attacks or attempted terror attacks have occurred on U.S. soil since 9/11? Five? Six? Ten? According to our government each and every one of these attacks, whether failed or not, have had one thing in common: “they are not part of a conspiracy.”
Clearly, however, our officials are lying to us on this count.
Just to name a few of these incidents, in no certain order we’ve had Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomber; Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber; Richard Reid, the shoe bomber; Michael Finton (calling himself Talib Islam), the creep in Illinois that wanted to bomb a federal building; Derrick Shareef, the other guy in Illinois planning an attack on a shopping mall and also Major Hassan’s Fort Hood massacre that actually came to fruition. There have been others, too. Just this week, for instance, we got Mohamed Osman Mohamud, the Christmas tree bomber.
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Terrorism, Sure. Oh, but it’s ‘Not a Conspiracy’!”
Illegal Alien’s Bill of Rights
-By Warner Todd Huston
President Barack Obama will soon introduce the Undocumented Resident’s Affirmative Toleration Act (URAT) in order to protect those unfortunate minorities that didn’t win life’s lottery by being born in the U.S.A. President Obama’s compassion for these downtrodden and oppressed peoples is well known, but he wants particular attention paid to those human beings that white Arizona racists have mercilessly attacked with their new ultra strict, unheard of anti-minority resident laws.
President Obama has released information of the URAT Act ahead of the scheduled press conference including the features of URAT.
The 2010 Undocumented Resident’s Affirmative Toleration Act (URAT) will summarily order the following:
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Illegal Alien’s Bill of Rights”
Denying Americans Their Own Energy
-By Alan Caruba
What kind of government deliberately denies its citizens access to the energy they need to live, to conduct business, to transport goods, to travel, and to just turn on the lights? Answer: The United States of America.
In a letter to members of the G-20, the finance ministers and central bankers of leading industrial nations, President Obama said, “We should make sustained effort to carry through with our groundbreaking Pittsburgh commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.”
The result of such action would give international energy companies in other nations a large competitive advantage while penalizing U.S. oil and natural gas companies.
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Denying Americans Their Own Energy”
The Atrocity of Another Black/White Civil War
-By Kevin Roeten
In this war, no one wins. The country will be decimated, mistrust among the citizens will abound, and black/white racism will be rampant in the populace. What could possibly start a war among fellow citizens who share everything except the same skin color?
The war is coming. The clash between the majority of Blacks, and the majority of Whites seems imminent.
Several racial incidents may be harbingers. 1) Non-prosecution of the new Black Panthers in federal Voting Rights Act violations against white victims [No Whites Need Apply], 2) the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) received almost 7,000 complaints (11% increase) over the past year [How’s That Post-Racial America Working Out for You?], 3) gerrymandering, and 4) purposeful indoctrination that lynching in America is still going on.
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The Atrocity of Another Black/White Civil War”
Union Outed Whitman’s Maid Story in CA Gubernatorial Election
-By Warner Todd Huston
Meg Whitman’s race for Governor of California seemed to take a nose dive right after it was discovered late in the campaign that she had employed a maid that was an illegal alien. The San Francisco Chronicle reports on the “tantalizing mystery” of just who it was that launched this torpedo at the Whitman campaign. Unsurprisingly, the SFChron has discovered that it was a union that did the dirty work.
The illegal alien, Nicandra Diaz, worked for about 8 years for the Whitman’s but was fired in 2009 once Whitman found out she was an illegal. So how did this illegal alien get so much press?
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Union Outed Whitman’s Maid Story in CA Gubernatorial Election”
Profile Muslims or Pat Down the Masses?
-By Selwyn Duke
With all the bad press the TSA has received recently, we can’t be sure if the acronym stands for Transportation Security Administration, Touches Sensitive Areas or Truly Scandalous Attention. But, for sure, its pat downs and sci-fi radiation screeners give many of us another good reason to avoid the increasingly unfriendly skies. Yet while the TSA right now has supplanted the IRS as the bureaucracy we most love to hate, its policies are merely part of a longstanding cultural trend: the failure to recognize that the good of the many outweighs the good of the few.
It’s the same reason why certain cities, most notably London, are now surveilling their residents with thousands of video cameras. If you’re not willing to administer punishment sufficient to deter all the criminally inclined save a few intractable miscreants, some of whom you can catch, the only other solution is to have an all-seeing Big Brother that can catch all. It’s much like treating a cancer: If you cannot target just the affected tissue, the only other solution is to treat the whole body.
Because the former is preferable not just in medicine but also law enforcement, behavioral-sciences specialists long ago developed the method called “profiling.” Unfortunately, social-engineering specialists soon after discredited the universal application of profiling with a method called propaganda. Consequently, when we want to administer targeted treatment in the effort to thwart terrorism, we’re told that it’s “racial profiling” and beyond consideration. This is utter nonsense.
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Profile Muslims or Pat Down the Masses?”
Obama’s Government Denying Tax Status Based on Pro-Israeli Support?
-By Warner Todd Huston
A pro-Israel education group called Z Street is claiming that Obama’s IRS has violated its Constitutional rights by denying it tax exempt status solely because it supports Israel, support that apparently runs counter to Obama’s stance on Israel.
Z Street reports that Obama’s IRS asked a telling question of the group as it sought the tax exemption earlier this year. In August, Z Street filed a lawsuit claiming that the IRS was delaying the consideration because the group is a vocal supporter of the State of Israel and that support apparently runs counter to the Obama’s administration’s position.
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Obama’s Government Denying Tax Status Based on Pro-Israeli Support?”
Hollywood Lunatics and Other Stories
-By Warner Todd Huston
It’s a holiday and some might say we should be charitable to the unfortunate. By unfortunate usually they mean those that don’t have as much as you and I. But one might construe “unfortunate” to mean being gut wrenchingly stupid, too. And when one thinks of the gut wrenchingly stupid one often thinks of the denizens of Hollywood above all others. Still it is awfully hard to be charitable toward such stupidity, I have to admit.
Today I have two members of the gut wrenchingly stupid Hollywood set to report upon. It might have been three but the terminal lunacy of Charlie Sheen just goes without saying.
This week Americans stood ready to wish each other a Happy Thanksgiving, to be sure. Well, everyone was but the vapid Angelina Jolie, that is. To her this holiday isn’t a day to thank God for our fortunate bounty and to reflect upon the fortuitous founding of this nation, it’s little else but “happy murder the natives day” and she refuses to take part.
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Hollywood Lunatics and Other Stories”
We Still Hold These Truths …
…To be self evident.
The Heritage Foundation produced a worthy little video expounding America’s true first principles. It is a sort of companion video to Matthew Spalding’s great book, “We Still Hold These Truths.”
Who’s Afraid of the Forensic Audit?
From Adam Andrzejewski and For The Good of Illinois…
An orchestrated attempt to discredit the forensic audit is well underway.
On Sunday, Bernie Schoenburg wrote an article defending Illinois Audit General William Holland. Holland claims that we misunderstand the term “forensic audit”. Holland said, “A forensic audit normally involves using accounting methods to investigate criminal activity, such as embezzlement and fraud.” Click here to read the full article in the State Journal-Register.
Whew, thanks for the clarification Auditor Holland. Sure glad we don’t have to worry about criminal activity, embezzlement, or fraud here in squeaky-clean Illinois. Guess we’ll just ignore the $4 million in wire transfer receipts that were found in Blago’s desk.
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Who’s Afraid of the Forensic Audit?”
North Korea, China’s Hidden Dagger
-By Alan Caruba
The Korean War ended in a stalemate in 1953. Having begun on June 25, 1950 with the blessings of Joseph Stalin, an armistice agreement on July 27, 1953 left the peninsula divided between the Republic of South Korea and the Peoples Republic of North Korea. How long ago was that? Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected largely on the promise to go there and secure an end to the conflict
By the time it was over the Red Chinese had intervened and American casualties were around 54,000 with 103,000 wounded. The North Koreans and Chinese were estimated to have lost ten times that number. The war was immensely unpopular with an American public that was still recovering from World War Two that had ended in 1945.
To his credit, President Truman did not hesitate to commit troops. Within two days after the invasion, Americans were fighting another war in Asia. The United Nations provided cover and the conflict was officially a UN action.
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North Korea, China’s Hidden Dagger”
Roger Ebert As Black Hearted as His Disease is Cancerous
-By Warner Todd Huston
One would think that a fellow as ravaged by cancer as Roger Ebert would find his soul a bit less rancorous toward others. One would think that a man that has had such pain would not wish pain on others. But Roger Ebert is a liberal. Pain and hate is what they do.
Proof of this is in the latest hatred that spewed from Roger Ebert’s keyboard over the Thanksgiving holiday. While everyone else was enjoying family and thanking God for their bounty, this black-souled, venom-spitting, hatemonger was taking a little time out of his holiday to wish ill on others. Worse he was doing so in the name of thanksgiving.
The hateful Ebert wrote the following tweet on his Twitter account on thanksgiving:
Today let us give thanks for the right of trial by jury. Especially Tom Delay’s jury.
Now, no matter what you think about Tom Delay, it is sure that Thanksgiving is not the day to be reveling in someone else’s tribulations. The day of Thanksgiving is not the day to be spewing hatred on others. It is the day to be thankful to God for one’s own blessings.
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Roger Ebert As Black Hearted as His Disease is Cancerous”
A Thanksgiving Message From Congressman Peter Roskam (R, IL)
-By Peter Roskam, Representative from the Illinois 6th District
As we enjoy this Thanksgiving Day, we have much to be thankful for. This holiday is an opportunity to enjoy time with friends and family, and to reflect on the many accomplishments and challenges the past year has brought.
One of the challenges most on the minds of families and individuals throughout Illinois is the looming federal income tax hike set to take effect in just five short weeks.
As I have traveled across the Sixth Congressional District, speaking to small business owners and local residents, I have heard an outpouring of concern that without immediate action, Congress will allow tax rates to climb higher for every American taxpayer, from the very lowest end of the tax bracket to the very highest. Meanwhile, our economy continues to struggle with persistently high unemployment that has left many in Illinois hurting from unemployment and under-employment.
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A Thanksgiving Message From Congressman Peter Roskam (R, IL)”
The Pilgrims and Property Rights: How Our Ancestors Got Fat & Happy
From the good folks at Reason.com…
Happy Thanksgiving 2010
We take today off to be with family and friends. But, please do take some time to look over our past work in the archives. In the meantime, God bless you and have a Happy Thanksgiving and see you tomorrow. And we are thankful for your readership.
First Major Endorsement for Chicago Mayor: Vallas Nods to Chico
From Fox Chicago:
Chicago – Former Chicago Public Schools Chief Paul Vallas has endorsed Gery Chico in the race for Mayor of Chicago. Paul Vallas joined us in the studio to talk about it.