Congress

Americans for Tax Reform - Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - Liberals - President - Regulation - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

ATR: Why Business Extenders in the Tax Deal Aren’t Earmarks, TARP, Pork, Etc.

December 13, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Americans for Tax Reform has a must read piece on some of the provisions in the tax deal that Obama is trying to work out with Republicans. Many on the left are saying that the business extenders in the deal are pork, or are an earmark, or are even “costing the government.” Ryan Ellis explains why these claims are incorrect re the business extenders.

The first thing he mentions is that business extenders aren’t new to this tax deal and that they’ve been around for a long time. For the left and the Old Media to be focusing on them as if they are new policy is simply wrong.

In any case, whatever else is wrong with this idea — such as the pork that is being added every other hour at this point — the business extenders are not a detraction here.
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ATR: Why Business Extenders in the Tax Deal Aren’t Earmarks, TARP, Pork, Etc.”

Barack Obama - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Free Trade - GOP - Government - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Regulation - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

The Case for Reform by Stand-Alone Legislation

December 11, 2010 by

-By Frank Salvato

The healthcare reform bill, officially titled The Affordable Care Act, was a stunning 1,018 pages long. The stimulus bill – the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act – weighed in at 1,079 pages. And the American Clean Energy & Security Act, or cap and trade bill, passed the House at a length of approximately 1,500 pages. Omnibus bill this, comprehensive bill that…have you ever stopped to wonder why Congress produces such grotesquely long pieces of legislation? The answers are several and all disturbing but there is a way to reduce the length of legislation while assuring transparency and accountability in government: stand-alone legislation.

Forget for the moment the legalese required to enshrine a piece of legislation into law and pay no attention to the fact that Congress passed legislation mandating the use of “plain language” for the Executive Branch agencies, those status quo elements of Congress who produce behemoth pieces of legislation do so to hide things. Be they earmarks, pork, vote-for-mine-and-I’ll-vote-for-yours quid pro quo or votes that would see their constituencies preparing recall petitions, establishment members of Congress routinely attach bills and amendments to legislation that have nothing to do with the original bill and they do so to hide “politics as usual.”

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The Case for Reform by Stand-Alone Legislation”

Congress - Conservatives - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Mark Kirk - Randy Hultgren - Republicans - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

Rep. Randy Hultgren Townhall Meeting Sat. Dec. 11

December 10, 2010 by

From the office of Rep. Randy Hultgren (14th District)…

These past few weeks have been focused on the economy and impending tax hikes that go into effect on January 1st.

Please join Senator Mark Kirk and myself for a town hall meeting TOMORROW, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11th from 12:00-1:30 p.m. at the Norris Dellora Cultural Arts Center.

1040 Dunham Road, St. Charles, Illinois (CLICK HERE FOR A MAP)

I hope to see you tomorrow and I look forward to talking soon.

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Health - Liberals - Medicaid - Medicare - Nanny State - President - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Claims Power to Decide if Your Medicine is Too Expensive to be Allowed

December 10, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s very easy for Obamacare supporters to scoff at the whole idea that there are “death panels” ensconced in Obama’s health care power grab. But the fact of the matter is that they exist in a defacto form. One of those defacto death panels is the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), an agency invented under Obamacare that has no congressional oversight and will be able to summarily cancel your drug prescriptions as paid for by Medicare.

The IPAB is not well known by Americans, but it is a 15-member board appointed by the president and while members are confirmed by the Senate, the board is not otherwise answerable to anyone but the president. As to its duties, this board was given the responsibility to put a spending cap on Medicare. One way that the IPAB intends to do that is to decide what drugs are cost effective enough for government to pay for.

In other words, the IPAB will decide whether or not Medicare patients will be allowed to have a drug and its decision to eliminate the drug will be based solely on cost, not effectiveness or medical necessity. These decisions will also not be made with your doctor. It will be a top down, bureaucratic decision, not a decision based on medical science.
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Obama Claims Power to Decide if Your Medicine is Too Expensive to be Allowed”

Anti-Americanism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Nancy Pelosi - President - Regulation - Warner Todd Huston

Democrats: Say, Let’s Change Rules to Push Our Agenda FASTER in Lame Duck Session

December 9, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

There is nothing more dangerous than a party that is about to lose power but still has temporary control of the reins of government. That is, of course, what we call the lame duck session of congress — more like a zombie congress; dead men walking… or sitting as the case may be. It has gotten so bad that Democrats are even throwing away the rules in order to indulge a bacchanalia of a left-wing agenda, the same sort that got them kicked out of office.

Attempting to indulge every activity that got them kicked out of office in a landslide that the country hasn’t seen in decades, House Democrats have instituted what is being called “martial law.” They are trying their level best to shove every profligate spending plan, every extremist, left-wing, anti-American idea they can fling at the people of the United States all in an effort to beat the clock before most of them have to relinquish their seats to Republicans.

House Democrats passed a rules change that would allow them to skirt the usual process and bring any bill they want quickly to the floor for a vote. This rules change is meant to help them push their extremist agenda as quickly as possible before the new congress is convened next year.
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Democrats: Say, Let’s Change Rules to Push Our Agenda FASTER in Lame Duck Session”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Congress - Constitution - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Federalism - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Nancy Morgan - PCism - President - Republicans - Senate - Society/Culture - Taxes - Western Civilization

Woe Is Me!

December 9, 2010 by

-By Nancy Morgan

In today’s America, feelings have replaced facts as our governing policy. Shame has been relegated to the back of the bus and squeaky wheels have been given the place of honor.

Merit has been replaced by grievance mongers. Accomplishment and material success are vilified as having been attained on the backs of the have-nots. And that’s not fair!

In a rush to attain unearned moral virtue, millions of Americans have bowed to the PC police and advocated issues about which they know nothing in a desperate attempt to appear relevant, compassionate and non-judgmental. Useful idiots reign supreme.

We now see our elected officials on the floor of Congress debating who has come from the most humble background, as they wage a war on those greedy rich people in an effort to show how compassionate they are.
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Woe Is Me!”

Budget - Business - Children - Congress - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Immigration/Immigrants - Liberals - Mexico - President - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

DREAM Act Passes House: The Eight Republicans that Voted for it

December 8, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Want to dispense some bile? Well here are the names of the eight Republicans that just voted “yes” on the DREAM Act (HR 6497). Even worse are the eleven that didn’t vote at all.

  • Ahn “Joseph” Cao, Louisiana
  • Mike Castle, Delaware
  • Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Florida
  • Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida
  • Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida
  • Charles Djou, Hawaii
  • Vern Ehlers, Michigan
  • Bob Inglis, South Carolina

Of course, we may not be able to squawk too much. Of these reps, Cao, Castle, Djou, and Inglis were not reelected to Congress and Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ehlers are both retiring and will also not be returning. Of the eight only Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen are going to be there to kick around next year and to possibly primary next election.

Worse is the whopping eleven craven Republicans who didn’t even bother to vote:

  • Brian Bilbray, California
  • Roy Blunt, Missouri
  • Steve Buyer, Indiana
  • Mary Fallin, Oklahoma
  • Phil Gingrey, Georgia
  • Kay Granger, Texas
  • Parker Griffith, Alabama
  • Kenny Marchant, Texas
  • Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Washington State
  • George Radanovich, California
  • Marlin Stutzman, Indiana

You folks in the districts of those that didn’t vote have to ask why their representative was not voting.
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DREAM Act Passes House: The Eight Republicans that Voted for it”

Budget - Congress - Conservatives - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Regulation - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Pensions Troubles Getting Some Attention

December 8, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michael Corkery of the Wall Street Journal reports that congressional Republicans are finally paying a bit of attention to the coming pension bomb that is about to explode in nearly every state in the union, causing further damage to our economy and our state budgets. House Republicans are making moves to prevent bailouts of state pension funds.

Currently the federal government does not have too much influence over state pension funds. But with moves by some Democrats to change that so that the federal government can bailout their union supporters in the states, Republicans are looking to head off further federal involvement in the state’s floundering pension funds. (For more on Democrats trying to bailout state pensions see my earlier reports, here and here, among others.)

One of these moves is an attempt to force states to report more honestly on their pension problems before they are allowed to sell tax-free bonds.
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Pensions Troubles Getting Some Attention”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Economy/Finances - Free Trade - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Peter Roskam - President - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Rep. Peter Roskam: What You Need to Know About the Deficit Commission‏

December 8, 2010 by

From the office of Representative Peter Roskam…

Recently, President Obama’s Deficit Reduction Commission put forth a plan to address our country’s staggering deficits and national debt. The plan did not receive enough votes to make it out of it’s own committee and into Congress, but it does provide an important opportunity to discuss a critical economic issue – spending.

Although the report does recognize the need for spending restraint in Washington, particularly focusing on the federal bureaucracy, it also advocates for raising taxes at a time when Americans can least afford it. For all of my observations, click below to watch my interview on Fox News Chicago:
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Rep. Peter Roskam: What You Need to Know About the Deficit Commission‏”

Barack Obama - Budget - Capitalism - Congress - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Police - President - Regulation - Republicans - Security/Safety - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Wed. in the Senate: Reid to Try and Force Cloture Votes on DREAM Act and Forced Unionization Act

December 7, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Call Your Senator Tell Them to Vote NO on DREAM Act and Forced Nationalized Unionization of Police/Firemen

From contacts in the Senate we’ve learned that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D, Nev.) will likely on Wednesday (Dec. 8th) try and bring a cloture vote on The DREAM Act and the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act in order to grab as much power for his supporters as he can before his power is weakened starting in the next congress.

Quite despite the obvious will of the American people as evinced by the last election, Reid intends to push these unpopular bills anyway. While Americans professed their desire to extend the Bush tax rates and for congress to address the floundering economy, the business that voters really want taken up is being put on hold as Harry Reid endeavors to give more payoffs to his union pals and his pro-amnesty supporters.
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Wed. in the Senate: Reid to Try and Force Cloture Votes on DREAM Act and Forced Unionization Act”

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Happy As Hell About That Tax Deal With GOP

December 7, 2010 by

This just in, President Obama was thrilled to announce the deal he made with the Republicans to further cement Bush’s legacy tax rates.

Why, just look at the giddy happiness with which he made the announcement…

ACORN - Budget - Congress - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Lobbyists - President - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Waste: Feds Gave ACORN Half a Million for ‘Fire Prevention’

December 7, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Jonathan Strong of the Daily Caller has another sad tale of massive government waste involving the criminal group ACORN.

Everybody knows about ACORN, the dead, but not really dead activist group charged with all sorts of improprieties and illegalities, the most significant of which is voter fraud, including registering Mickey Mouse to vote.

But how did ACORN, a “grassroots reform” group, get grant money reserved mostly for local fire departments to do “fire prevention” work?

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Waste: Feds Gave ACORN Half a Million for ‘Fire Prevention’”

Budget - Chicago - Congress - Cook County - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Joe Walsh - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Joe Walsh Launches Listening Tour (8th District)

December 7, 2010 by

From the office of Congressman elect Joe Walsh, 8th District…

I will launch a series of town hall meetings across the district during the month of December. I expect the meetings to give my constituents an opportunity to voice their thoughts and concerns. Please check the schedule below for dates, times, and locations. These meetings are open to the public and all opinions are welcome.

Please forward this e-mail to your friends, neighbors, and co-workers, especially those who may not have voted for me. I would like this to be an opportunity to hear the concerns of the 8th District regardless of political viewpoint.

Joe Walsh,
Congressman-elect of the 8th District
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Joe Walsh Launches Listening Tour (8th District)”

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Mitch McConnell - President - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tax Hike Agreement

December 6, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

All day the Democrats and Republicans have been trying to reach an agreement on extending the Bush tax cuts. They may be close to an agreement. GOP Senate minority leader McConnell issued a statement today on the issue:

A Framework of a Bipartisan Agreement to Prevent Tax Hikes

“Members of the Senate and House will review this bipartisan agreement, but I am cautiously optimistic that our Democratic friends will have the same openness to preventing tax hikes that the administration has already shown.”

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Monday regarding a framework of a bipartisan agreement to prevent tax hikes on every American taxpayer :

“I appreciate the determined efforts of the President and Vice President in working with Republicans on a bipartisan plan to prevent a tax hike on any American and in creating incentives for economic growth. Their efforts reflect a growing bipartisan belief that a new direction is needed if we are to revive the economy and help put millions of Americans back to work. Members of the Senate and House will review this bipartisan agreement, but I am optimistic that Democrats in Congress will show the same openness to preventing tax hikes the administration has already shown.”
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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tax Hike Agreement”

Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Pensions - President - Public Employees Unions - Senate - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Lame Duck Threat to Bailout Union Pensions

December 2, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Connie Hair has an informative piece at Human Events about what Democrats are hoping to do in the next few weeks in this lame duck session by pushing another big union bailout.

In October, Sen. Tom Harkin (D, Iowa) heard witnesses advancing the “Guaranteed Retirement Account” (GRA) idea authored by left-wing activist and purported “labor economist” Theresa Guilarducci.

As an aside, Guilarducci being called an “economist” is an hilarious conceit. She is nothing of the kind but is merely a big labor activist disguising herself as an “economist.”

Anyway, the Democrats would love to slip this budget busting nonsense past the American people in this zombie congress. Here is how Hair defines the policy:
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Lame Duck Threat to Bailout Union Pensions”

Barack Obama - Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Journalism - Liberals - Mark Kirk - Media - Media Bias - President - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

Why has Media Not Played up Republicans Taking Obama’s Senate Seat?

December 1, 2010 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Wouldn’t you think it would be a big deal if a Republican president lost his senate seat to a Democrat only 2 short years after he was elected to the highest office in the land? I mean, don’t you think the media would think that a Republican president losing his own former office to the opposing party would be a story they wouldn’t be able to resist?

Yet with the election of Republican Mark Kirk, here we have a Republican taking the former senate seat of a Democrat president only two years in office (and only two years after a Democrat landslide at that) and the media has been practically nonchalant about the whole turnover of that seat to the opposition party.

Just think about this for a moment. Barack Obama resigned his senate seat in Illinois, the bluest of blue states, when he was elected president in a Democrat landslide that seemed to engulf the whole country. It was so tremendous a landslide that many pundits in the chattering classes at the time thought that it was the beginning of a permanent Democrat majority.

A scant two years later, that bluest of blue senate seats went to the Republicans who themselves won a landslide of epic proportions wholly reversing Obama’s great wave election.
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Why has Media Not Played up Republicans Taking Obama’s Senate Seat?”

Congress - Conservatives - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Peter Roskam - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

What They’re Saying About Rep. Roskam’s New Leadership Post

December 1, 2010 by

From the Office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, IL, 6th Distirct)…

Here is what they are saying on the various news outlets about Roskam’s appointment to Chief Deputy Whip. Also, enjoy the mashup video of the Chicago TV coverage below.

Crain’s Chicago Business

“Rep. Peter Roskam was named chief deputy majority whip of the incoming GOP-controlled House on Monday. The Wheaton Republican will rank fourth among House Republican leaders, giving Illinois a voice at the upper levels of the party’s hierarchy.”

“Mr. Roskam is positioned to be a go-between with the White House for the House GOP leadership. He and President Barack Obama served together in the Illinois Senate and collaborated in Springfield on issues such as death penalty reform.”
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What They’re Saying About Rep. Roskam’s New Leadership Post”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Dr. Don Boys - Economy/Finances - Government - Islamofascism - Liberals - Security/Safety - Society/Culture - TSA - Washington D.C. - Western Civilization

Surrender our Liberty for a Little Security?

December 1, 2010 by

-By Don Boys, Ph.D.

Now I know where all the perverts go after a short stint in prison or with ACORN: they work for the Federal Government, specifically for TSA. All sane people agree that safety must be a major concern in this day of Muslim terrorism, but the fools, fanatics, and fascists have taken control at various levels of government. A virus seems to have infected people in power: it results in a loss of common sense, self-respect, modesty, and gratitude for the privilege of working for the American people.

Just the thought of a stranger, even one with a badge, gun, and in uniform running his or her hands up a ladies’ dress (“until resistance is reached”) or grabbing a man’s genitals is indicative of the spiritual, mental, and political condition of the American public. Moreover, it is staggering that any sane person would defend such molestation of anyone especially helpless children.

Janet Napolitano (who has her job because of her support for Obama) says that we must put up with this “inconvenience” for the sake of safety, but that is outrageous. Moreover, it is not an inconvenience but a power grab by the U.S. Government. For a TSA supervisor to say that we have a choice not to fly is appalling, arrogant, and asinine. Americans have a right to travel (not a privilege) without being harassed, hassled, or humiliated by Federal thugs. Federal thugs need to be reminded that we pay their salaries, and they are not being paid to irritate, intimidate, and insult innocent people. That does not go with the badge, gun, and uniform.
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Surrender our Liberty for a Little Security?”

Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Indiana - Liberals - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

GOP’s Buyer Blasts Dem Speaker: ‘This is why the People have Thrown You Out’

November 30, 2010 by

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.

9/11 - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Labor Law - Law - Liberals - Lobbyists - Nevada - Police - Security/Safety - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Now That He’s Won, Reid’s Paying Back Unions

November 30, 2010 by

-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”

Congress - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Peter Roskam - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

Roskam Receives Top Leadership Appointment, Named Chief Deputy Majority Whip

November 30, 2010 by

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”

Bobby Schilling - Budget - Congress - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Man of the People: New Ill Representative Forgoes Pay Raises, Pensions, Healthcare

November 29, 2010 by

-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”

Alan Caruba - Budget - Coal - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Energy - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Nuclear Power - Oil - President - Republicans - Taxes

Denying Americans Their Own Energy

November 28, 2010 by

-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”

Alan Caruba - China - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - North Korea - South Korea

North Korea, China’s Hidden Dagger‏

November 26, 2010 by

-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”

Congress - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Peter Roskam - Republicans - Warner Todd Huston

A Thanksgiving Message From Congressman Peter Roskam (R, IL)

November 25, 2010 by

-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)”

Alan Caruba - Anti-Americanism - Budget - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Federalism - GOP - Government - Liberals - Money - Republicans - Taxes

The Federal Reserve’s Magic Money

November 22, 2010 by

-By Alan Caruba

Historically, the Federal Reserve has had a poor record when it comes to correcting an economic slide into Depression.

In his book, “New Deal or Raw Deal?” historian Burton Folsom, Jr, asked and answered the question “What caused the Great Depression?” Among the factors he cited was the huge debt left over from World War One. In the United States, the national debt had ballooned from $1.3 billion to $24 billion in three short years, half of which consisted of loans made to the allies.

Today the U.S. is feeling the impact of the aftermath of 9/11 when military action was taken first in 2001 and then in 2003. We are still in Afghanistan and Iraq without much to show for it. As opposed to short, preemptive, lightning strikes, we have become involved in “nation building.” Forgotten is the fact that it was the Russian intervention in Afghanistan that ultimately brought down the former Soviet Union.

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The Federal Reserve’s Magic Money”

Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Health - Liberals - Nanny State - Warner Todd Huston

If You Got Cancer From Smoking, That’s YOUR Problem

November 21, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The government’s newest great idea to save us all from ourselves is to put billboard sized photos of cancer victims on packs of cigarettes. Big pictures of guys with holes in their necks, lungs blackened, maybe even the occasional really yellow teeth, or perhaps the severely calloused thumb of a smoker who was constantly flicking his Bic will assault our eyes when we go to buy our smokes.

Whatever.

But does anyone really care about people that have damaged themselves for smoking? Not really. In fact, the logical reaction is to shrug one’s shoulders in a too-bad-for-you-pal way and move on with your life. The fact is, no one cares if you got cancer from smoking. It is not only your problem but it’s your fault.
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If You Got Cancer From Smoking, That’s YOUR Problem”

AFL-CIO - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Warner Todd Huston

Unions Fighting Over 2012 Democrat Convention

November 21, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Cleveland, Ohio chapter of the AFL-CIO is mad. After Cleveland was chosen as the host city for the 2012 Democrat Party convention some carped that Cleveland was not sufficiently unionized to qualify as the right place for the Democrats to hold their event. Cleveland’s AFL-CIO, however, begs to differ.

The AFL-CIO was so incensed at the accusation that they wrote a letter to the DNC.

“Cleveland and the Cleveland metropolitan area boast a healthy number of union hotels,” the executive secretary of the region’s AFL-CIO federation, Harriet Applegate, wrote in a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine this week.

In October the union agitation group UNITE HERE sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee demanding that both Cleveland and Charlotte, N.C. be dropped from contention because there isn’t enough union participation in those cities. UNITE HERE insisted that only St. Louis, Missouri and Minneapolis, Minnesota satisfied the favored amount of unionization to suit them.
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Unions Fighting Over 2012 Democrat Convention”