Congress

Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Frank Salvato - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Republicans - Senate

So, What Actually Came of the ‘Shellacking’ of 2010?

January 4, 2012 by

-By Frank Salvato

We were so full of “hope” for “change.” No, I am not talking about the election of Barack Obama, one of the most effective Progressive presidents in American history. I am speaking of the excitement felt within the Conservative, Libertarian and Center Right and Left political communities after the 2010 election delivered the House and a non-filibuster proof Senate to the American people. Finally, most of us thought, some balance in the federal government. Maybe, just maybe, the Progressives and Liberal Democrats in federal government would be forced to the ingenuous table of true and honest compromise; compromise fitting of a truly free people. But, as we look back over the year, what did we really get for all that so-called “compromise?”

With Republicans in control of the US House of Representatives, the body where – by the mandate of the US Constitution – all legislation relating to revenue is to begin, many on the Right and in the Center believed that the reckless and spendthrift fiscal actions of the 111th Congress would be constrained if not reversed. With a sizable number of new members identifying with the oft demonized TEA Party, there was high hope for a glimmer of fiscal sanity to emerge from the halls of Congress. And while the TEA Party members of Congress are to be congratulated for doing exactly what their constituents sent them to Washington to do, in the end, they were thwarted by establishment, inside the beltway Republicans and the despotic obstructionism foisted upon them by Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, D-NV, (to be fair, Reid was aided by a less than reform-minded Republican leadership in the senate, led by Mitch McConnell, R-KY).
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So, What Actually Came of the ‘Shellacking’ of 2010?”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Money - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - Washington Post

Wash. Post Plays Hate-The-Rich-Republicans With Graphic Chart

December 30, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Wednesday morning the Washington Post’s Aaron Blake posted an infographic that was a perfect example of how one can use a graphic chart to influence the public in subtle ways, ways that we of the center right better start employing in our own efforts if we want to win over the public.

Blake’s post, “Why People Hate Congress,” fits in well with President Obama’s class warfare rhetoric as employed in his campaign to set different economic classes against each other in a desperate and cynically populist bid to get reelected next year. There is little of substance to Blake’s post other than to fan the flames of the sort of hatred that he wants to see grow in order to aid Obama in 2012.

The Post’s Blake also ended up having to pull the graphic off his The Fix blog post because it simply did not illustrate what he claimed it did in his story — but that is another issue that we’ll deal with at the end of this report.

Blake begins his piece asking, “Want to know why Americans hate Congress?” He then goes on to claim it is in part because our elected representatives in Washington D.C. are members of the eeeevil rich.

The fact that members of Congress are getting richer (and 57 members come from the top 1 percent, according to USA Today) confirms what Americans suspect about the people who are running this country: that they don’t empathize with normal people.

Of course, with a dispassionate application of logic, having a few dollars more than the next guy does not ipso facto make the richer guy so out of touch that he cannot empathize with anyone in a lower salary range. Only those filled with hate make this assumption. Empathy has nothing to do with class, money, or politics. It has to do with one’s character.

Further there are plenty of members of Congress with the character to understand and have empathy with others. Then there are some that don’t. People are people, rich or poor.

It is also telling that even Blake admits that Congress has always been filled with “the rich.” The founders were not groveling in poverty, after all. It often takes a person that has achieved a certain place in society to become elected. I mean, should they be elected, how can anyone expect “the poor” or even the lower middle class to afford to fund homes both in D.C. and back in their district? Who can afford to leave their family and business if half the year off more to fly off the D.C. to attend to government business? And with the costs of elections and the Byzantine election laws these days causing many candidates to self fund, it will only be natural that “the rich” end up being our representatives in Congress.

But special attention has to be paid to the graphic Blake used to illustrate his story. And what a masterwork of subtlety it is. Blake claimed that the illustration made by a well-known hate-the-rich researcher from California showed in graphic form the distribution of wealth among both chambers of Congress. The graphic depicts the “top 1%” and the “next 9%” in the color red. Then it uses blue to show the “following 10%” and the “bottom 80%.” Notice what is going on? That’s right, this graphic uses the color red to depict the eeevil rich. And what is the color red in politics these days? None other than the color the Old Media has assigned to the Republican Party.
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Wash. Post Plays Hate-The-Rich-Republicans With Graphic Chart”

Alan Caruba - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - Jobs - Liberals - President - Republicans - Taxes

The 2012 Check List for America’s Survival

December 29, 2011 by

-By Alan Caruba

Many people make resolutions to start the year, but I think a list of things that must be done to protect and preserve the Republic should be tallied.

1. President Obama must be defeated in 2012 and the obstructionist Democratic Party must lose power in the Senate to ensure both houses of Congress will be Republican and in a position to initiate real change.

2. The Environmental Protection Agency must be reined in with increased Congressional oversight and legislative limits on its rule-making capacity. Having fulfilled its 1970 mandate to clean the nation’s air and water, it should be scaled back to the maintenance of these functions.

3. Americans, despite the administration’s efforts to redefine and distract us, must keep clearly in mind the threat of Islam to the nation and the world. A Middle East in turmoil lays ahead for 2012.

4. To jump-start the economy, taxes and spending must be reduced across the board. A tax on consumption, rather than income would be a good start. Only 49% of Americans currently pay income taxes, the lowest in decades.
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The 2012 Check List for America’s Survival”

2nd Amendment - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Eric Holder - Ethics - GOP - House of Representatives - Liberals - Mexico - President - RightPundits.com - War On Drugs - Warner Todd Huston

Now 91 Congressmen Have ‘No Confidence’ In AG Holder

December 23, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Fully 91 members of Congress have signed onto a resolution of no confidence in U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the man that bears the most responsibility for Operation Fast and Furious — an Obama administration policy that allowed thousands of American guns to get into the hands of Mexican narco-terrorists, guns that were later used to kill hundreds of Mexican citizens and several American law enforcement officials.

As Matthew Boyle reports, “it’s not directly a call for Holder to step down, the resolution alleges that the nation’s top law enforcement official’s actions have proven he is not ‘competent, trustworthy and beyond reproach,’ and that he has sought to ‘cover up’ mistakes rather than cooperate with Congress ‘in disclosing the events and circumstances and transparently addressing the issues.'”

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Dick Durbin - Ethics - Government - Illinois - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Senator Dick Durbin: Pants on Fire

December 23, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois Senior Senator, Democrat Dickie Durbin wants you to know that the fact that the Democrats have not passed a full, working budget in over 900 days is all because of those wascally Republicans.

Never mind that the Democrats have had the majority for over three years in the Senate, never mind that before the 2010 midterm elections they had 100% control of both Congress and the White House… it’s all them gosh darn Republican’s fault.

Never mind that they passed the boondoggle healthcare bill that will cause the U.S. to go bankrupt, never mind that Obama has gotten all his little sops to Big Labor to spite the faltering economy, never mind…. well, never mid all the things the Democrats seemed to have no problem getting done, they just can’t get that danged ld budget passed.

The fact is, Democrats are playing politics with one of the only real Constitutional duties they have, creating and passing a federal budget. Yet, the Old Media allows Obama to stand before the American people and pretend that he and his party are the ones interested in fiscal sanity? This is why our politics is so messed up. The Democrats operate on bald faced lies and the Old Media allows them get away with it.
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Senator Dick Durbin: Pants on Fire”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Congress - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - President - Race - Republicans - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

Ron Paul’s Dissembling About His Newsletters

December 22, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Famed opposition researcher Andrew Kaczynksi has dug up the ultimate video proof that Ron Paul is a liar with his current claims that he had no knowledge about those racist newsletters that carried his name for so many decades.

Ron Paul has lately claimed that he had no idea that his newsletters were filled with anti-Jew, anti-black, even anti-Asian sentiment, not to mention more conspiracy theories than a season of a TV series hosted by Jesse Ventura. He has explained that he just never had much to do with those newsletters, he didn’t write them, and he doesn’t know who did so no one should hold the contents of them against him. He’s even getting testy over this issue as is evident from his storming off an interview with CNN just yesterday.

Yet in 1995 he was happily hawking his newsletters to C-SPAN audiences (at about 1:50 into video):

But along with that, I also put out a political type of business investment newsletter that sort of covered all these areas. And it covered a lot about what was going on in Washington, and financial events, and especially some of the monetary events. Since I had been especially interested in monetary policy, had been on the banking committee, and still very interested in, in that subject, that this newsletter dealt with it. This had to do with the value of the dollar, the pros and cons of the gold standard, and of course the disadvantages of all the high taxes and spending that our government seems to continue to do.

Are we expected to believe Ron Paul when he claims he never paid much mind to these newsletters, even after we see him hawking them on C-SPAN in 1995? Are we expected to believe that the millions of dollars he made from these newsletters deposited into his coffers came without his slightest interest in where it was all coming from?
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Ron Paul’s Dissembling About His Newsletters”

Congress - Elections - GOP - House of Representatives - President - Republicans - RightPundits.com - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

Just Who The Heck IS A Ron Paul Voter?

December 21, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Aaron Blake made a great comment on Twitter about Ron Paul’s support. Blake noted that Ron Paul has a big percentage of younger voters in Iowa, but a paltry number of those over 45.

Ron Paul wins more than 50 percent of 18-29 and 30-44 year olds, but less than 12% of 45-64 and 65+.

This age breakdown of Iowa supporters for Paul causes Paul’s opponents to doubt that this young demographic will bother to turn out at the Iowa caucuses when push comes to shove….

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Anti-Americanism - CAIR - Congress - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Islam - Islamofascism - Jihad - Koran - Liberals - PCism - Religion - Society/Culture - Terrorism - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

CAIR Insists That Candidates Answer 11 Questions on Muslim Interests

December 21, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued it’s new candidate questionnaire for the 2012 election season. CAIR is insisting that candidates answer to them before getting that jihadi stamp of approval, apparently.

CAIR has devised 11 questions for the candidates so that they can “empower American Muslims by increasing their political capacity and presence.” Because, you know, it is working so well for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, after all.

Not surprisingly, the very first question is a misconstruction of the truth. Question one states (my bold):
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CAIR Insists That Candidates Answer 11 Questions on Muslim Interests”

Anti-Americanism - Anti-Semitism - Congress - Conservatives - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Israel - Jews - Judaism - President - Race - Religion - Republicans - Ron Paul - Warner Todd Huston

Ron Paul: Conspiracy Nut, Anti-Semite

December 19, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last year Ron Paul said that the CIA perpetrated a coup over the United States. “There’s been a coup, have you heard? It’s the CIA coup. They’re in businesses, in drug businesses.” That fits in as just another part of the wacky world of Ron Paul that has spanned decades of denigrating blacks, assigning all sorts of crazy conspiracies to the US government, and above all hatred for Israel. It is a disgusting sin that this man is a political candidate for anything much less for the GOP nomination for President of the United States.

A lot of the credit for exposing the worst of Paul’s outrages belongs to James Kirchick who in 2008 wrote a short piece for The New Republic detailing what he found in an archive of Ron Paul’s racist newsletters.

Also back in 2008, then Fox News host John Gibson had a must hear interview with Kirchick asking why so many white supremacists and racists were in such slavish support of Ron Paul when he ran for president in 2008.

Aside from his racist newsletters, Kirchick notes that in 1994, Paul predicted a “holocaust” against South African whites and then advocated for a separate white state in South Africa. Kirchick also says Paul seemed to support the same thing in America.
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Ron Paul: Conspiracy Nut, Anti-Semite”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Jobs - Liberals - President - Regulation - RightPundits.com - Stimulus - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Stimulus Bigger Failure Than First Thought

December 14, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Democrats have for at least a year claimed that Obama’s various stimulus plans were a great success — that they even “saved the country” — and put people back to work. But a new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is proving that claim to be chimerical.

Past news reports of Obama’s stimulus spending has claimed that 3.5 million jobs were “saved” or created by the stimulus programs. But new CBO numbers puts that at a far, far lower 600,000 jobs making the expense incurred to “save” or create those jobs ring in at $1.3 million per job. Not a very good deal, that….

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Alan Caruba - Banks - Barack Obama - Budget - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Europe - Foreign Countries - France - Germany - Liberals - Taxes

Looking to the Dollar, Gold, and “Mutti” to Save the World

December 14, 2011 by

-By Alan Caruba

The most formidable couple in the world during the 1980s was Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher, a conservative and a woman of iron will, must be looking across the Channel with some amusement to see how her German counterpart, Chancellor Angela Merkel, is literally the only person keeping the European economy from collapsing and, it must be said, taking England and America with it.

The cover article of this week’s Business Week noted that “Merkel is the daughter of a Lutheran pastor. She won a PhD for a thesis on quantum chemistry…though childless, she is known as Mutti, for Mother.” Born in the post-war years, “Merkel’s worldview reflects the German desire for stability. Chaos plagued the German-speaking people long before there was a German nation…Later the hyperinflation of the 1920s and Depression of the 1930s, both of which undermined the middle-class, gave rise to Nazism.”

Plainly said, Angela Merkel is showing the rest of the world why Keynesian economics doesn’t work; that governments with huge “entitlement” programs and a tendency to throw vast amounts of money at their problems invite disaster. If Europe does not plunge into chaos, it will be because she refused to bail it out with the deutschmark.

Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve is moving billions to Europe to ease its lending crisis.
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Looking to the Dollar, Gold, and “Mutti” to Save the World”

Barack Obama - Congress - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Eric Holder - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Mexico - President - RightPundits.com - War On Drugs - Warner Todd Huston

Congressional ‘No Confidence’ Resolution Filed Against AG Holder

December 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

A couple of new things have occurred concerning the deepening scandal over Operation Fast And Furious, the Obama policy of arming Mexican narco-terrorists that has killed so many. The biggest is, of course, that an official resolution of no confidence has been introduced in the House of Representatives that has more support than any recent no confidence resolution filed against a U.S. Attorney General in a long time.

The resolution (H.R. 490) was filed by Rep. Paul Gosar (R, AZ) who says that Congress needs to “raise awareness” of the failed gunrunning program. Gosar hopes that the resolution will spur needed discussion about the program. He also feels Congress has an important role in determining if an administration is on the right track….

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Crony Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Liberals - President - Stimulus - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Why Obama’s Stimulus Failed: A Case Study of Silver Spring, Maryland

December 13, 2011 by

High, persistent unemployment and a sluggish economy underscore what all but the most-dedicated supporters of Barack Obama know to be true: The president’s 2009 stimulus program was a massively expensive bust.

Understanding why the stimulus failed is an important step in understanding how the government can—and cannot—goose economic recovery. To get a better sense of how and where the stimulus went wrong, Reason.tv focused on Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C., that’s home to a large number of government contractors and other recipients of money earmarked for the sorts of “shovel ready” projects that were going to bring the economy back to life.

President Obama’s top economic advisor Larry Summers laid out ground rules for how stimulus dollars should be spent: The funds must be “targeted” at resources idled by the recession, the interventions must be “temporary,” and they needed to “timely,” or injected quickly into the economy.
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Why Obama’s Stimulus Failed: A Case Study of Silver Spring, Maryland”

Anti-Americanism - Banks - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Crime - Crony Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Trade - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Nanny State - Taxes - Tea Party - Time Magazine - Warner Todd Huston

Time Mag: Occupy Wall Street The Number One Story of 2011?

December 12, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s that time of year again, time for newspapers and magazines to start floating their “top stories of the year” lists and Time Magazine has a whole “Top of Everything” list with which to thrill us. But it is Time’s Top U.S. News Stories list that deserves some closer scrutiny because on it Time has determined that the Occupy Wall Street tale is the number one story of the year. As if anyone ever doubted that this left-wing temper tantrum would pique Time’s interest most.

But, seriously, now. Is Gabrielle Giffords somehow a lesser story than the Occupiers? Is the long-drawn out GOP primary campaign a lesser story? How about the debt crisis? Is that somehow a less important story than Occupy Wall Street? Apparently Time thinks so.

Certainly these lists are always somewhat subjective. After all, what one considers important another may not. But some of these entries seem to point out Time’s ideology as opposed to a serious attempt to pick the top stories of 2011. And making the Occupy story number one is pure ideology.

Time puts this story above the bad economy, Iraq, the Penn State sex abuse case, and the Gabrielle Giffords shooting. In fact, if it weren’t for the bad economy, the debt ceiling debate and the bank crisis this Occupy business would not have occurred at all.
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Time Mag: Occupy Wall Street The Number One Story of 2011?”

Anti-Semitism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - DNC - Elections - Florida - GOP - Hamas - House of Representatives - Islamofascism - Israel - Liberals - Republicans - Society/Culture - Terrorism - Warner Todd Huston - Western Civilization

My Video At Heart of Controversy in Florida House Race

December 12, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently, a video I made in Denver is at the heart of a controversy in a race for the House of Representatives in Florida.

While at Blogcon 2011 I had the opportunity to interview Karen Harrington, a Republican candidate for the 20th District House seat now held by Debbie Wasserman Schultz — who is also the Chairman of the Democrat National Committee. I made a video of that short interview as I have so many other candidates.

In our interview Harrington, recently endorsed by GOP Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, went through some of the points she’s been campaigning on and since the 20th District has a large and active Jewish community, the issue of Israel naturally came up. It was during that segment of our little video that she said a few things that the media are attacking her over.

What got Harrington some special focus was her reply to my question about Israel:

Debbie’s latest thing as well as her lack of support for Israel — is ’cause she has to stand by this president — she also has blamed the Republicans for the creation of Hamas — that’s been her latest thing. This president asked them to stop building in the settlements, asked them to return to the ’67 borders and just the other day was caught with (French President Nicolas) Sarkozy saying negative things about Israel. This is a country and a nation that needs to stand by Israel as our history has shown us to. And Debbie supports this president and his policies, and you are right — Israel has become more endangered over there because of our approach and lack of strong support of Israel.

The St. Petersburg Times took issue with various parts of Harrington’s statement but the paper’s main problem was with the claim that Wasserman Schultz has blamed Republicans for the creation of Hamas. Of that they rated Harrington’s claim “false.”
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My Video At Heart of Controversy in Florida House Race”

Alan Caruba - Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Liberals - President - Taxes

Spending More has Never Worked!

December 12, 2011 by

-By Alan Caruba

Ask any financial advisor what to do when you are drowning in debt and they will tell you to spend less and pay down your debt. This is just common sense. However, if you ask politicians what to do, they will advise that the nation spend more and borrow more.

Despite a huge national debt and deficit, the federal government just concluded its biggest spending year with its second biggest annual budget deficit. For fiscal 2011 which ended September 30, the government spent $3.6 trillion, an increase over the $3.52 trillion posted in 2009.

The budget “deficit” is the difference between the revenues that government took in and what it spent. The “debt” is the accumulation of yearly deficits. The U.S. has a debt of $15 trillion and this grows by billions daily due to the interest that must be paid on the amount of borrowing required to sustain its operations. Fully 40 cents of every dollar the government spends is now borrowed.

The Congressional Budget Office noted that the deficit is “greater than in any year since 1945” as World War Two wound down. As a Wall Street Journal editorial expressed it, “The Obama years have racked up the three largest deficits, both in absolute amounts and as a share of GDP, since Hitler still terrorized Europe.”
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Spending More has Never Worked!”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Cook County - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Jobs - Joe Walsh - Republicans - Taxes - Tea Party - Warner Todd Huston

FULL VIDEO: Rep. Walsh Picks 8th District for 2nd Run

December 9, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Thursday night I attended the Chicago Tea Party meeting which featured a jazzed up first term Congressman Joe Walsh who came to announce in which District he’d take a crack at running to affect his reelection to Congress. Without stringing you along, Walsh chose the newly redistricted 8th for his run.

The Chicago Tea Party event was held at Chicago’s famous Cubby Bear restaurant right across the street from The Cub’s Wrigley field stadium.

With the Democrats in control of how Illinois’ electoral map was redrawn — due to the fact that the Illinois GOP has practically no power at all in the state — Walsh became the chief target that Democrats wanted to eliminate for 2012. Walsh’s home is currently in his 8th District, but redistricting casts his home into the 14th District, a district that is already represented by Randy Hultgren, also a solid Republican (and also a freshman congressman To boot).


A full House for Joe’s announcement at Chicago’s favorite Cubby Bear Pub

Initially Walsh announced plans to primary Hultgren and run in the newly jiggered 14th District. But as the weeks rolled on that prospect seemed an increasingly dismal idea. To primary another Republican would have meant a very, very bloody primary fight, one that would do neither Hultgren nor Walsh — nor Republicans for that matter — any good at all regardless of who won the primary.

This led Walsh to a hard decision and that is what brought him to the Cubby Bear that night.
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FULL VIDEO: Rep. Walsh Picks 8th District for 2nd Run”

Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - GOP - Liberals - Liberty - Nancy Salvato - Republicans - Rights

Where Your Rights End and Mine Begin

December 9, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Nancy Salvato

As a child, I used to play with the neighbors across the street in one of the coolest sandboxes one could imagine. It was built into the landscape, with giant boulders lining the back and sides. Five kids could easily play in it, building sandcastles and manipulating bulldozers and dump trucks to their hearts content. Hours could go by before being called home to dinner. There was only one problem… neighborhood cats considered that magical place as their personal giant sized litter box. We were often told, sadly, that we could not play in it because of this ongoing problem.

These past few months, renting a home in a beach community has allowed my dog and I the opportunity to take a daily walk along the shore, where I hunt for shells, watch for porpoise, and occasionally exchange niceties with the fisherman who set up their poles in the sand, and with the locals who are also enjoying their surroundings. Every day, I thank my blessings that I’ve been given this chance to live in such surroundings but my happiness is often interrupted by dogs roaming the beach, unleashed, in violation of the rules which are clearly posted at each entrance. Not only do these dogs defecate on the sand but often they are not well behaved, running at leashed dogs, children, solitary walkers, and anyone within their proximity.
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Where Your Rights End and Mine Begin”

Congress - Elections - GOP - Government - Mitt Romney - Newt Gingrich - President - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

VIDEO, Romney’s New Hampshire Ad: I am a Steady Leader

December 8, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Mitt Romney’s new ad being aired in New Hampshire is a not so subtle slap at Newt Gingrich for Newt’s several marriages.

I have to say, when I think of Mitt Romney, “steadiness” is not the first word that comes to mind. Oh, sure he may be a faithful husband, but he’s hardly been a steady leader in politics. With his million flip flops he’s been on every side of every issue. That isn’t very “steady” if you ask me.
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VIDEO, Romney’s New Hampshire Ad: I am a Steady Leader”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Peter Roskam - Regulation - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

REINing Regs In

December 7, 2011 by

-By GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy & Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam

“Please don’t challenge us with more rules and regulations from Washington.” That was the plea to President Obama from Rock Katschnig, an Atkinson, Ill.-based soybean farmer and small-businessman at an August town-hall meeting.

While Mr. Katschnig was specifically referencing his opposition to the Administration’s imposed Farm Dust rule, a rule that if implemented would affect America’s 1.8 million farmers, his sentiments have become an all too common refrain from American businesses of all sizes across countless sectors.

Appropriate and responsible regulations are important, helping to keep us safe and our environment clean. Yet Washington has become a red-tape factory stunting job creation with a dizzying amount of federally imposed regulations written by unaccountable bureaucrats with little or no regard for the jobs each will cost.

The sheer amount and breadth of the administration’s proposed regulations make it impossible to address each and every one. Yet we can take action to stop the most excessive and economically-devastating regulations. Right now, the Obama Administration has 4,257 new regulations in the works, 219 of which will cost over $100 million annually – 15 percent more than last year. At a time when job creators are fighting to survive in an already tough economy, thousands of additional regulations will only result in significantly fewer jobs – hitting small businesses particularly hard.
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REINing Regs In”

Alan Caruba - Anti-Americanism - Banks - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Liberals - Money - Republicans - Taxes

Paper Money, Real Debt, and Spendthrift Nations

December 7, 2011 by

-By Alan Caruba

As the citizens of the United States and the seventeen member-nations of the European Union look on, a great drama regarding the future of the EU and its currency, the Euro, is occurring.

The essential problem is that both the U.S. dollar and the Euro are just so much paper, despite the promises and guarantees that they will be honored as real money. The trick has been to keep everyone believing there are sufficient real assets to back up those promises.

Since the U.S. dollar is a kind of universal currency to which other nations peg the value of their currencies the problem for everyone is that the U.S. is broke. Its debt exceeds its annual capacity to generate income, otherwise known as its Gross Domestic Product. Every hour of every day it must borrow billions to meet its obligations. Forty cents of every dollar the U.S. spends is borrowed.

There is a reason why television these days if filled with commercials offering to sell gold. Gold has always retained its value though it does fluctuate. The U.S. Treasury’s gold hoard has a value of more than $400 billion these days, but that value is the flip side of the Federal Reserve’s demolition of the dollar which has lost 95% of its value since1913, the same year the Fed was created.
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Paper Money, Real Debt, and Spendthrift Nations”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Declaration of Independence - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Founders - GOP - Government - History - House of Representatives - Liberals - Nancy Salvato - Republicans - Senate - Socialism - Taxes

Contrasting World Views

December 5, 2011 by

-By Nancy Salvato

Thomas Jefferson outlined the philosophy of our nation’s government in the Declaration of Independence with the words,

“All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Make no mistake; this is the philosophy on which our fundamental law is based. The goals for our government, which are listed in the preamble to our constitution, are intended to secure these unalienable rights.

“In Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,…”

If the electors and elected officials of our country do not honor our covenant

“We the People…[who] do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America…”

And if they choose not to uphold the blessings of liberty, then

“Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new Government.”

What happens if the electorate and elected officials of our country do not understand the covenant, or what if they choose not to subscribe to the mission? What if the goals of our electorate are not aligned with the fundamental law set down by the Founders and Framers? What if the policy on which our representatives vote and implement is at odds with the philosophy on which our government was founded?

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Contrasting World Views”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Congress - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Eric Holder - Ethics - GOP - Government - Guns - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - RightPundits.com - War On Drugs - Warner Todd Huston

Oh, So DOJ DID Lie About Fast & Furious — Plus A New DEA Criminal Program

December 4, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Friday the Department of Justice indulged a favorite Washington practice, one meant to hide the truth from the American people even while submitting the same info to public scrutiny. It is called the Friday evening document dump and this one tends to show that the DOJ did lie about what it knew of Fast and Furious. And in a second story we find that the Drug Enforcement Agency (SEA) appears to have helped Mexican narco-terrorists launder their money in another failed “tracking” program.

… The documents show that several ATF and DOJ operatives were trying hard to hide what they knew, were discussing the process of how to hide it, and were attacking members of Congress as they did so…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Animal Rights - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Energy - Ethics - GOP - Government - History - House of Representatives - Oil - President - Regulation - Warner Todd Huston

‘Historian’ Gets Mouthy At Congressional Hearing

December 4, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I meant to get to this last week, but “historian” Douglas Brinkley is so forgettable as a writer that it all slipped my mind. But, it’s a slow news day, so let’s take a look at the temper tantrum this hack threw when he visited the House Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 22, shall we?

Brinkley was there to provide his, uh, “insight” into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, testimony that Alaska Rep. Don Young called “an exercise in futility” because the hearing wasn’t going to be changing anyone’s mind about the subject. I’d have to agree that anything including hack Brinkley truly is an exercise in futility. He’s one of the worst writers of popular history out there.

The fireworks began when Rep. Young accidentally called Brinkley by the wrong last name. This sent the scribbler off into paroxysms of pique and spurred him to interrupt not only Rep. Young, but also Committee Chair Doc Hastings when he tried to restore order.

Rep. Young later told the Washington Post’s Amy Argetsinger that he thought that Brinkley was just trying to get publicity with his outburst.
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‘Historian’ Gets Mouthy At Congressional Hearing”

Abortion - Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Jobs - Joe Walsh - Liberals - McHenry - Republicans - Taxes - Tea Party - The Heartland Institute - Warner Todd Huston

Illinois Values Voters Forum: Rep. Joe Walsh, State Rep. Morrison, More

December 4, 2011 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Saturday morning, Dec. 3, I attended an event put on in Carpentersville, Illinois by Allen Skillcorn. The Illinois Value Voters Forum was billed as a forum on social issues, but it was also a great opportunity to have a nice friendly chat with several Illinois politicians on a variety of issues, not just those “values” issues we generally associate with social conservatism.

Results of Straw Poll Below the Fold


The Panel

Panelists included 8th District Congressman Joe Walsh, 54th District State Representative Tom Morrison, former State Rep Penny Pullen (currently of the Life Advocacy Research Project), and Bruno Behrend who was on hand to represent Adam Andrzejewski’s Open The Books Portal Project, a website where you can learn how much your public officials are making off the taxpayers. Along with the panel above, quite a few local officials and candidates in the hunt for the GOP nomination in their district also came out to meet and greet attendees.


Allen Skillcorn introducing Rep. Joe Walsh

Rep. Joe Walsh and Bruno Behrend

The first question posed by moderator Skillcorn was “when does life begin,” a common enough question for the values crowd. Ever the rebel, Congressman Walsh went on a ten-minute discussion on why we need to change Congress to GOP control and why we need to send “the right kind of Republicans” to Washington. But, after the stump speech, he did answer the question: “at conception,” of course.

The rest of the panel generally agreed with that, but I’d like to dwell a bit on Walsh’s stump speech. He reminded us of the fiscal disaster that this nation faces and he said that we should not forget that “the Republican Party helped us get here and we have to say that forcefully and respectfully.”

But Walsh saw a “revolution” stirring with the Tea Party and the 2010 midterm vote, one that has “only just started.”
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Illinois Values Voters Forum: Rep. Joe Walsh, State Rep. Morrison, More”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Climate Change - Communism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Environment - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Policy - President - Republicans - Senate - Socialism - Warner Todd Huston

Remy: Missing You – The Incandescent Light Bulb Song

December 3, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Ode to the light bulb. You know. The one in its arrogance and un-Constitutional overreach that the creeps in Washington decided we are no longer “allowed” to have? Yeah that one.

There is no better example of why we need to be tearing down the power of government than this light bulb ban. None. It is totally emblematic of the arrogance of government and proof of how far astray America has gone from her founding principles.
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Remy: Missing You – The Incandescent Light Bulb Song”

Congress - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

Direct Phone Numbers to Your U.S. Senators

December 2, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Just a little resource I found on the web.If you’d like to know the direct phone number to your Senator, look for your state below and call away.

Alabama

  • Sen. Richard Shelby (R) (202) 224-5744; 224-3416
  • Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) (202) 224-4124; 224-3149

Alaska

  • Sen. Mark Begich (D) (202) 224-3004; 224-2354
  • Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R) (202) 224-6665; 224-5301

Arizona

  • Sen. Jon Kyl (R) (202) 224-4521; 224-2207
  • Sen. John McCain (R) (202) 224-2235; 228-2862

Arkansas

  • Sen. John Boozman (R) (202) 224-4843; 228-1371
  • Sen. Mark Pryor (D) (202) 224-2353; 228-0908

California

  • Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) (202) 224-3553; (202)228-2382
  • Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) (202) 224-3841; 228-3954

Colorado

  • Sen. Mark Udall (D) (202) 224-5941; 224-6471
  • Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D) (202) 224-5852; 228-5036

Connecticut

  • Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) (202) 224-2823; 224-1083
  • Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I) (202) 224-4041; 224-9750

Delaware

Congress - Ethics - Government - Regulation - RightPundits.com - Security/Safety - Terrorism - TSA - Warner Todd Huston

Purse With Image of Gun Gets Teen Accosted by TSA

December 2, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In today’s “teh stupid” files, a teen in Norfolk, Virginia missed her flight because Transportation Security Administration screeners pulled her out of line for close scrutiny because she had a leather purse with an image of a pistol engraved on it. You read that right, a leather engraving of a pistol emblazoned on a purse made TSA screeners imagine a pregnant teenaged girl was a security threat.

Vanessa Gibbs was attempting to board a plane to get home to Jacksonville, Florida, but the TSA screeners spied the leather design of a pistol on the exterior of her purse. This, they somehow imagined, made the teen a security risk, so they pulled her out of line for interrogation.

How could a design of a purse cause such panic in the TSA, you might ask? TSA agents told the girl that it is a federal crime to take replicas of firearms onto an airplane. This, they claimed, justified their focus on her purse.

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

Animals - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Business - Canada - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Entertainment - Ethics - Jobs - Liberals - Mexico - Regulation - Warner Todd Huston

Looks Like Obama Lost These Boobs as Fans, Anyway

December 2, 2011 by 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Barbi Twins are no longer big fans of the Obammessiah. They think he’s turned his back on the horses. No, not the ones at the race track — well, maybe after they retire from the track they’ll fit in this story. No the Barbi twins think Obama has abandoned the horses that had until now been protected by a federal ban from being sent to U.S.-based horse slaughter houses.

Now, I did not choose to write about this story because it features two “hot” blondes with big boobs — though that doesn’t hurt. I’ve actually written about this horse meat issue before. Naturally I came down on the opposite side of the issue that the girls chose.

The two blond bobble heads are upset that Congress is repealing a ban on horse slaughter houses in the U.S. Absurdly, they seem to imagine that all horses in the country are “pets.” This is their theme to rail against the idea of having equine abattoirs operating inside the U.S.A.

Now, to millionaires that are out of touch with normal people, I guess horses might always be thought of as “pets.” But in the real world horses are often draft animals working on farms. And when they get sick or old and infirm or when owners can no longer afford to keep them they are properly — and humanely, I might add — destined for the slaughter house.
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Looks Like Obama Lost These Boobs as Fans, Anyway”

Chad Kent - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Liberals

Big shock: Politicians are corrupt. So what do we do about it?

December 1, 2011 by

-By Chad Kent

Clearly not satisfied with their sky high approval ratings, members of Congress seem to be doing everything they can to convince that final 12% of Americans who support them to reconsider. Last week, Peter Schweizer revealed in his new book that a lot of them have been using their offices to engage in insider trading. For example, while most American citizens were debating the merits of Obamacare, John Kerry was busy making sure it benefitted his stock portfolio:

[A]t least $200,000 of stock in medical device manufacturer ResMed was purchased in the $20 to $25 per share range. After Obamacare passed, ResMed jumped to $34, an increase of as much as 71%. “ResMed was a winner in the health care reform legislation—as Reuters declared—thanks in part to John Kerry’s efforts,” says Schweizer. The reason: earlier versions of the Obamacare bill would have slapped companies like ResMed with an “industry fee” tax. Kerry opposed the higher taxes on medical device companies and helped delay the taxes until 2013.

The sickest part is that John Kerry’s behavior here isn’t the exception in Congress – it’s the rule. But as disgusting as that is, there are two important lessons that can be learned from this situation: 1) members of Congress currently have way too much power, and 2) all of our laws must apply to all Americans in the exact same way…

Read the rest at Conservative Daily News.