Senate

Anti-Americanism - Campaign Finance - Congress - Conservatives - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Republicans - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

Lefty Group Calling for Disclosure of Conservative Donors has Felon as Advisor

March 29, 2012 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Recently the Washington Post had a story about a coalition of left-wing advocacy groups calling for their counterparts on the conservative side to reveal all their donors even though the law does not require it. The Post feels the crusade is a bit odd since most of the lefty groups doing the complaining also don’t disclose all their donors. Even odder, the post itself doesn’t disclose that one of the representatives of the left-wing groups they quote is a convicted felon!

The story by Don Eggen talks about the “secret money” problem of the 2012 elections, laments the lack of transparency and disclosure of donors for many of these 501c3 and PAC organizations, and notes that the “liberal-leaning groups” that have allied to call for transparency on the right also don’t disclose their donors.

One lefty group in particular, though, fails this transparency test more than the rest. Sadly, even the WaPost doesn’t point out the fact that the representative from Americans United for Change that the paper quotes in the story is not only the husband of a vicious left-wing member of Congress, but is also a convicted felon.
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Lefty Group Calling for Disclosure of Conservative Donors has Felon as Advisor”

1st Amendment - Budget - Chicago - Conservatives - Constitution - Cook County - Elections - Free Speech - Freedom - GOP - Government - Illinois - President - Republicans - Rick Santorum - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Rick Santorum’s Illinois Rally

March 17, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Rick Santorum visited Illinois last night stopping at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, a Chicago suburb, for a 7PM rally that drew over 2,000 people who came to hear the presidential primary candidate speak.

The place was packed with all the gym bleachers filled and most of the balcony seating also filled, not to mention standing room only on the gym floor. The capacity seating of the place was 2,500, but one is tempted to think that they allowed a bit more than capacity to rally for Rick.

An array of elected officials and long-time activists appeared to support the candidate. The crowd was energetic and Santorum signs were waved enthusiastically at many moments during Rick’s address.

On the dais before Sen. Santorum took the podium were such notables as Al Salvi and his wife Kathy, former Illinois politician Penny Pullen, State Rep. Tom Morrison, and New York Times writer Brad Thor.

Senator Santorum took the stage to raucous applause and gave a speech laden with allusions to the founding fathers, the economy, and religious freedom. He also bashed President Obama over Obamacare and his abject failure to fix this economy.
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Rick Santorum’s Illinois Rally”

Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - GOP - Liberals - Republicans - Senate

Taking the Constitution on Offense

March 13, 2012 by

-By Chad Kent

Last week, Misfit Politics posted a video tribute to honor the passing of Andrew Breitbart. In it, Brandon Morse said that, for the first time ever conservatism is going on the offense… and he couldn’t be more right. Over the last few years we’ve learned a few things and gotten organized. All you have to do now is talk to a few conservatives or libertarians and you can feel the energy coming from them.

The problem is, as conservatives we are often put in the position of defending the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the ideas of our Founding Fathers. Any time you are defending your position you aren’t gaining ground.

If you want to learn how to take conservative ideas on offense, let Calvin Coolidge give you an example of how to destroy progressive ideas:
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Taking the Constitution on Offense”

Congress - Conservatives - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

GOP Voter Enthusiasm Higher, Democrat Collapse from 2008 High

March 9, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Gallup has a poll that informs us that voter enthusiasm is higher for Republicans today than it is for Democrats. This is not a big surprise considering that it is the GOP that is the party currently on the outside looking in at the Oval Office. It is pretty common to see the party on the outs a bit more enthusiastic than the party in. But the Democrat’s numbers show that the bottom fell out for them since 2007.

What Gallup found was that by 53% to 43%, Republicans held the edge in voter enthusiasm.

Republicans, including independents who lean Republican, are slightly more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to say they are “more enthusiastic than usual about voting” this year. Republicans have consistently led Democrats in voting enthusiasm since last fall, but to varying degrees.

Gallup also found that Republicans were less enthusiastic about their primary race this time last presidential election, too. In February of 2008 Republicans stood only at 44% in enthusiasm compared to the 53% they stand at now.
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GOP Voter Enthusiasm Higher, Democrat Collapse from 2008 High”

Budget - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Frank Hyland - Liberals - Senate - Taxes

Robbing Grandma to Pay Junior

March 3, 2012 by

-By Frank Hyland

Almost a year ago, we were treated to a political TV ad showing a man (intended to look like Congressman Paul Ryan) pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair off the edge of a cliff. The eye-catching ad was meant to portray Ryan and the remainder of the GOP as villains for daring to even talk about reforming “entitlements,” including Social Security. The ad neglected to mention that Ryan and others had stated publicly and unequivocally that, under their plan, those already receiving Social Security would see absolutely no change in their benefits.

Fast forward to today and we are now seeing news that the so-called “payroll tax cut” trumpeted by the White House will be extended for another year. How can anyone possibly be against putting more money in the pockets of the American middle class? While loudly and repeatedly trumpeting the “giving” of $1,000.00 to members of the middle class, has anything been said about where the money is coming from? Do you know?
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Robbing Grandma to Pay Junior”

Congress - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Maryland - Republicans - Senate

VIDEO: Dan Bongino for U.S. Senate, Maryland

February 28, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

More in my Challenger Series of videos taken at this year’s CPAC. Today we have Dan Bongino who is running for the U.S. Senate for Maryland.

Bongino is a former Secret Service agent with two graduate degrees and a firm grounding in conservative ideals. When we spoke he seemed an eloquent spokesman for conservative principle.

Apparently the ignorati of the left have something to fear in Bongino as last November when he and his campaign staff were attending the Maryland GOP convention he found that his car and the cars of his staffers were vandalized with their tires flattened.

Bongino is most activated by the spiraling debt that Democrats have dragged this country into, but he also deftly addressed some of my foreign policy questions.

Dan Bongino is another solid new comer for the GOP.
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VIDEO: Dan Bongino for U.S. Senate, Maryland”

Congress - Connecticut - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Republicans - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

VIDEO: Brian K. Hill for U.S. Senate From Connecticut

February 25, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The next in my Challenger Series of videos shot with new candidates I met at CPAC 2012 is Brian K. Hill a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Connecticut.

I found Mr. Hill to be a serious-minded candidate, sure in his positions, comfortable in his skin, hard-charging, and quick with a sure-footed answer to my questions. A former leader in both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, he is a commanding presence.

Hill as no mere ground pounder, either (not that there is any shame in being a ground pounder). While in service, Hill, a JAG officer, was a resident expert on federal contract law, international law, and administrative law. This means he has familiarity with the nitty-gritty of how government procurement and relations works. And that is something we sorely need in a representative, especially if we expect that rep. to help untangle the mess that the system has become.

Hill is facing two primary opponents. Linda McMahon the wrestling industry magnate who ran and lost in 2010, and the less than conservative former U.S. Representative Chris Shays.

Hill seems to be an attractive candidate. See if you agree.

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VIDEO: Brian K. Hill for U.S. Senate From Connecticut”

Budget - Congress - Conservatives - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - Immigration/Immigrants - Jim DeMint - Senate - Taxes - The Law - Uncategorized

A Few Moments With Senator Jim DeMint

February 9, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Senator Jim DeMint (R, SC) is well known as the most conservative man in the upper chamber. He gave a rousing speech here at CPAC and afterward told a small gathering of us that many of the points he made will appear in his forthcoming book, Now or Never, Saving America From Economic Collapse. That message is, he said, that we have only a short time to turn this mess around and get this country back on track.

DeMint said that we need to remind our people — or in too many cases teach them from scratch — about America’s exceptionalism, but we also need to learn what changed from the days when our exceptionalism was better understood by the people. DeMint also noted that one of the problems we have to over come is that the Democrats agenda now prevents them from working in any way with the GOP and because their agenda is so extreme we just can’t compromise with them any more.

“Something’s gotta give,” DeMint said, “We have about a year before its too late
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A Few Moments With Senator Jim DeMint”

Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Frederick Meekins - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Senate - Taxes

Stream Of Consciousness Observations Regarding The 2012 State Of The Union

February 9, 2012 by

-By Frederick Meekins

Obama insists he doesn’t want our energy needs linked to unstable parts of the world. Service to do anything about the Occupy beatniks laying siege to a number of parks in Washington, DC?

Why should it be portrayed as a greater tragedy when a “single mother” loses her job rather than a man with a wife that stays at home? Seems both domestic arrangements are in similar positions without income.

In calling for a single source for the unemployed to seek information on training opportunities, doesn’t that involve the federal government assuming more control over education?

Obama insists it should be illegal for students to drop out of school before they are 18. Why should this be a matter of federal interference and what will the punishment be for those leaving prior to that age?
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Stream Of Consciousness Observations Regarding The 2012 State Of The Union”

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - President - Republicans - Selwyn Duke - Senate - Taxes

In Praise of a Do-nothing Congress

January 28, 2012 by

-By Selwyn Duke

Here’s a question: how can we expect to have small government if we condemn Congress for not growing it?

It’s always a disturbing experience when you’re accosted with a picture of Harry Reid, as I was upon logging on to Drudge last Monday afternoon. But at least his image bore a fitting caption: “MOST FUTILE EVER.” I then clicked the link and found myself at The Washington Times – normally a quite sane organ of the media – and learned the meaning of the caption: the Times was lamenting a do-nothing Congress and presented Reid as its poster boy. Writes the paper, “It’s official: Congress ended its least-productive year in modern history after passing 80 bills – fewer than during any other session since year-end records began being kept in 1947.”

Writes Duke, “It’s official: conservatives are completely confused about what begets big government.”

The paper then expanded on its theme, pointing out that Congress set a record for “legislative futility” according to something called the “futility index.”

I’ll tell you what’s futile: complaining about a loss of freedom while chastising legislators for not spawning enough bills.
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In Praise of a Do-nothing Congress”

Alan Caruba - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Energy - Ethics - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Money - Oil - President - Senate - Taxes

Destroying America by Denying Access to Energy

January 27, 2012 by

-By Alan Caruba

It is the crime of the century that America, home to some of the world’s greatest reserves of coal, natural gas and oil, is being deliberately destroyed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior as they do everything in their power to restrict access and drive energy producers out of business.

It is common sense that a nation that cannot produce sufficient electricity to turn on its lights and power its manufacturing sector will be destroyed if current Obama administration regulations and actions continue. Our vital transportation sector and all others that utilize petroleum-based products will suffer, too.

While President Obama babbles about millionaires and billionaires, everyone will be impoverished by the loss of jobs and revenue our energy sector produces now and can produce in the future.

This isn’t an “energy policy.” It’s a “no-energy policy” and it is a guarantee of economic disaster.
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Destroying America by Denying Access to Energy”

Chicago Sun-Times - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - House of Representatives - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

Chicago Sun-Times Shows White Flag: No More Political Endorsements

January 25, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Chicago Sun Times has received your message loud and clear, dear readers. As much as admitting that they are biased and they know it, the long-time Windy City staple has decided that hence forth it will no longer endorse candidates for political office.

In a Sunday editorial, the 71-year-old paper announced its new policy amusingly touting the Old Media’s party line that it engages in “unbiased news coverage” and that newspapers today wish to “appeal to the widest possible readership.”

“They want to inform you, not spin you,” the editorial avers. Yet, the editorial goes on to admit that it has heard from readers who seriously doubt that dedication to unbiased news coverage. And when you note that over the last several decades few national news papers have endorsed a Republican for President — most especially the left-leaning Chicago Sun-Times — it is easy to doubt that purported dedication to just-the-facts reporting.
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Chicago Sun-Times Shows White Flag: No More Political Endorsements”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Video - Warner Todd Huston

Cut the Spending NOW, Washington

January 24, 2012 by

We are 1,000 without the Democrat controlled Senate authorizing a budget. Worse, the President’s party hasn’t ben offered a budget tis whole time, even back when they controlled the House, the Senate and the White House.

It’s long past time to stop the spending and get serious about our deficit, Washington.

Video courtesy of BankruptingAmerica.org.

Alan Caruba - Anti-Americanism - Anti-War - Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - Liberals - Military - President - Senate - Taxes

Obama Weakens the Military

January 24, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Alan Caruba

“Si vis pacem, para bellum.” If you want peace, plan for war. The adage is attributed to the 4th or 5th century Latin author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus’s tract De Re Militari book 3. This fundamental wisdom is being ignored by President Obama, one of two recent Commanders-in-Chief who never spent a day in uniform, let alone under fire.

In a recent American Thinker commentary by Jim Yardley, he said, “It is apparent that the president, in developing his strategy, used the same extensive knowledge, his superior intellect, and worldly wealth of experience that he brought to his strategy for his $800-billion stimulus, his strategy for providing cost-free health care to millions of Americans, and his strategy for using ‘smart diplomacy’ to defuse not spots around the world.”

Perhaps receiving the Nobel Peace Prize barely months into his first year as President has convinced Obama that he is the man to get all our enemies to join hands and sing Kumbaya. Obama accepted the prize that has gone to other seekers of peace like Yassir Arafat, founder of the Palestinian Liberation Organization or co-winners, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Al Gore. The IPCC and Gore have led the greatest hoax of the modern era, global warming, and Arafat rejected every effort at peace offered by Israel by going back on his word and using terrorism to achieve his goals.

There is no question that the announced cuts to the U.S. military budget are, in part, the result of the domestic run up of debt and borrowing the followed the financial crisis of 2008; itself the result of bad government policies regarding the wholesale granting of mortgages to people who could not afford homes, then bundling those bad mortgages and selling them as assets to the banks.
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Obama Weakens the Military”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Chicago - Children - Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - President - Public Employees Unions - Radio - Republicans - Rights - School Choice - Senate - Talk Radio - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Vouchers - Warner Todd Huston

Restoring American Exceptionalism – Chicago Townhall

January 24, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I just got back from a wonderful evening taking school choice at the Restoring American Exceptionalism, Chicago Townhall. In attendance were radio talk show host Michael Medved, Fox News contributor Juan Williams, and Dr. Paul Worfel, Director of Education of Trinity International University. The discussion was moderated by John Tillman of the Illinois Policy Institute.

The event was sponsored by National School Choice Week, an effort by Americans for Prosperity, and is one of many events being held across the country to encourage parents, legislators, and activists to work toward allowing parents a choice in their children’s education. Co-sponsors were Townhall.com, Salem Radio Networks, and Chicago’s WIND Radio, AM 560

Arriving at the sprawling campus of Trinity International University of Deerfield, Illinois, the biting cold outside was quickly forgotten by the warm reception all received by the event staff. The program started promptly with an introduction by local radio host Big John Howell of AM 560, WIND radio who turned the program over to John Tillman of the Illinois Policy Institute.

The night’s debate was nicely balanced from right, center and left with a panel featuring the conservative side of the debate on education represented by talk show host Michael Medved, the center represented by Fox News contributor Juan Williams, and the more traditional educrat’s position taken by Dr. Worfel.

I won’t repeat the whole discussion, but here are some of the more interesting (and some might say provocative) highlights.
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Restoring American Exceptionalism – Chicago Townhall”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Money - President - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

VIDEO: ‘Change has come,’ Alright! But How Good Has it Been?

January 20, 2012 by 2 Comments

In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama announced that change had come to America. After three years, the results of that change make many Americans ready to change it back.

And here is a great for-instance of how the Old Media establishment is covering for their Obammessiah. Let’s get in the way back machine and recall how the price of gas was used as a sledgehammer with which to beat George W. Bush about the head. Remember how it was front page news on a daily basis? Well now gas has lingered at highs that it never stayed at during the Bush years and now analysts are saying gas will reach to $4 a gallon this year — an all time high.

Where is the media on this story? Why isn’t it as big a deal as it was 5 and 6 years ago? Ah, yes. We have The One in office. Gosh. How could I forget that the Old Media doesn’t want negative stories about their messiah? Silly me.

Courtesy AllAmericanBlogger.com

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Indiana - Jobs - Liberals - Mitch Daniels - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - Right To Work - Senate - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Indiana Democrats Fleebagging Again, Abandoning Their Jobs

January 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again Indiana Democrats are playing the fleebagger game. Because they don’t have enough votes in the Indiana Statehouse, Hoosier Democrats are abandoning their rightful duties and fleeing the Capitol over Indiana’s right-to-work bill currently under consideration in Indianapolis.

Indiana Senate Bill 269 and House Bill 1001 would make it illegal to require workers in Indiana to join a union as a condition of being allowed to have a job. Allowing workers a choice seems like an inherently American idea, doesn’t it?

After all, how could anyone tell you that you must belong to a union or you’re not allowed to have your job? That sort of forced association seems so contrary to the American character. But forcing people to join unions just so that they can have a job is precisely what Indiana Democrats are fighting to protect.
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Indiana Democrats Fleebagging Again, Abandoning Their Jobs”

Congress - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - Libertarian - President - Republicans - Senate - Socialism - Warner Todd Huston

Are You a Conservative? Welcome to the Majority!

January 13, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

There has been a lot of lament by the far left in America that the Tea Party has somehow driven the Republican Party to conservative extremes. This, however, is untrue. The truth is, the American public has been trending toward conservative views for more than a decade before the Tea Party even came about.

According to Gallup, for the last three years more Americans have self-proclaimed themselves as conservatives than have claimed the moniker of moderate.

Political ideology in the U.S. held steady in 2011, with 40% of Americans continuing to describe their views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This marks the third straight year that conservatives have outnumbered moderates, after more than a decade in which moderates mainly tied or outnumbered conservatives.

But think about this for a minute. This means that fully 75% of America is more conservative than the Democrat Party, a party that decades ago stopped being a party of centrism becoming instead a European-like, liberal party.

Gallup’s several decades of polling finds that “moderates” have been in slow decline since 1992 with Americans calling themselves “liberal” now only measuring at 21 percent. With this we see a nation that is not just center-right as many political pundits have for years claimed, but is actually trending conservative.
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Are You a Conservative? Welcome to the Majority!”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Senate - Socialism - Stimulus - Taxes - Unemployment - Warner Todd Huston

VIDEO: The Story of Broke Response, Why Annie Leonard is Wrong… AGAIN!

January 13, 2012 by

Extremist “progressive” Annie Leonard recently perpetrated another video attempting to “explain” why capitalism and the United States is evil. Well, LearnLiberty.org couldn’t let her lies and left-wing propaganda go by unaddressed. So, they made this excellent video…

Prof. Art Carden responds to “The Story of Broke”, a recent video by the creators of “The Story of Stuff.” In “The Story of Broke,” Annie Leonard claims that the government isn’t actually broke. Rather, the government just wastes resources on the wrong things like subsidies to the dinosaur economy and war. She claims that the government should change its ways, and instead, subsidize firms that will bring us the future we really want.

Art Carden agrees with Leonard that war and subsidies are wasteful, but is skeptical of notion that there is one unified vision for the future. To Carden, everyone has a different vision for the future. Our path to the future, he argues, is determined by the interactions of billions of unique individuals pursuing their own objectives.

Additionally, Carden questions Leonard’s distinction between bad subsidies and good subsidies. Every subsidy, deemed good or bad, must be allocated through the political process. Lobbyists and special interests exert a large degree of influence on political decisions, and they use this power to direct subsidies in their own favor at everyone else’s expense.

Carden concludes that government spending won’t buy a brighter future. A brighter future will emerge when people are allowed to spend money on things they care about. Put another way, positive change will come from billions of people cooperating freely and voluntarily with one another, not from pushing trillions of dollars through a broken political process.

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Obamacare - President - Public Employees Unions - Senate - Socialism - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Excuses Over 500,000 Union Members From Obamacare

January 12, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember back in the days of the debate over Obamacare when unions were the biggest voices screaming in support of the legislation? Many labor union bosses said that nationalized healthcare was exactly what they wanted. Further they said it was what was good for the country. Yet now we learn that Obama has given waivers to some 550,000 union members so that they don;t have to suffer under Obamacare.

Paul Connor reports that a classic Friday evening document dump from the White House shows that unions employing up to 543,812 members have received waivers fro the Obama administration.

Fridays are often the one day of the week when government agencies satisfy transparency rules and release documents that show what they’ve been up to. They release them on Friday in the early evening because they understand that reporters are already headed home for the weekend and TV news departments have already programed their evening newscasts. These agencies also understand that news agencies don’t often cover heavy news on weekends. Further, by the time Monday rolls around the document will be “old news” and many of them will simply escape attention.
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Obama Excuses Over 500,000 Union Members From Obamacare”

Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

Illinois GOP Follies: Establishment vs Reform in Champagne County

January 11, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois is drowning in debt and corruption. The state ranks as the worst state in nearly every category vying only with California for the worst-of rankings. The biggest factor in its downfall is the corrupt Democrat Party. So one would think that the state GOP could make good headway against this corruption. Unfortunately, the establishment GOP is in utter disarray. Worse, the establishment GOP fights to deep six any candidate from its own ranks that might offer reform and we have yet another story illustrating this fact in the 52nd District State Senate race in Champaign County.

The primary race in the 52nd is between the early announced John Bambenek(photo left), a long-time reform advocate, and establishment GOP candidate Alan Nudo, both of Champaign.

Bambenek is a well-known reform advocate and even wrote a book titled, “Illinois Deserves Better.”

For his part, Mr. Nudo, a 63-year-old Champaign County Board member, has in the past supported local tax hikes. He also was keen on securing stimulus spending for big government-style construction projects in his district.

But that isn’t all. Mr. Nudo has also had a hand in donating the single largest non-PAC donation to the incumbent Democrat Senator in the 52nd District!
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Illinois GOP Follies: Establishment vs Reform in Champagne County”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Health - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Money - Obamacare - President - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Electronic Medical Records Requirements Already Causing Job Loss

January 9, 2012 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

While the Old Media has been ecstatic over recent job numbers, claiming that some 200,000 jobs have been added to the economy, we should note that while Obama giveth Obama also taketh away. The media may be trying to claim the President has “created or saved” jobs (the latest weasel word is he’s created job opportunity) but his policies have also cost jobs. In particular his policies are costing jobs in the medical field.

Last week, layoffs were announced in Mississippi at the University of Mississippi Medical Center due in part to the 80 million dollars that it will cost to implement a new computer system named EPIC Systems, Obama’s newly mandated electronic medical records system.

Naturally, the system Obama is forcing on an entire nation of medical professionals and hospitals is the same system owned and operated by Judith Faulkner, one of his own big donors. Faulkner is also a big donor to the Democrat Party. Not surprisingly, besides affording her the lucrative, crony capitalist business deal, Obama also put Faulkner in a key role on the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, the committee responsible for implementing the President’s e-records policy. She has become known as Obama’s medical records czar.

As hospitals and doctors are forced to launch their own EPIC Systems portals, the costs are forcing hard choices for administrators. All to implement what many call a flawed system.
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Obama’s Electronic Medical Records Requirements Already Causing Job Loss”

Alan Caruba - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate

How Not to Go Crazy in 2012

January 6, 2012 by

-By Alan Caruba

Election years tend to create a level of frenzy concerning the selection of the nominees and the outcome. The media feed this in order to keep readers reading and viewers viewing. The history of American elections has always been one of vituperation between the parties, so there is nothing new about this. Indeed, since so much depends on it, the political free-for-all is a healthy exercise.

It can, however, make for a difficult environment in which to go about one’s life; the air filled with charge and counter-charge, polls going up and down, and a general sense that something is very wrong with the way the government functions.

On the bright side, a gridlocked Congress may bring a measure of relief to everyone. Writing about gridlock in January 2011, Marcus E. Ethridge, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, noted that “By fostering gridlock, the U.S. Constitution increases the likelihood that policies will reflect broad, unorganized interests instead of the interests of narrow, organized groups.” In 2011, we saw what happens when advocates of “renewable energy”, wind and solar power, or electric cars, get priority over the needs of most Americans for reliable energy and transportation.
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How Not to Go Crazy in 2012″

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”

Democrats/Leftists - Judges - Law - Liberals - Media - New York - RightPundits.com - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

Democrats Playing Politics With Judges Again

December 26, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

There was once a time when the courts were considered a place of staid scholarship and considered opinion. Those days have been gone for a long time as decades ago the courts became merely another avenue for Democrats to play politics not to mention a tool with which to install in America a left-wing agenda instead of a place to adjudicate the law. This week aged New Jersey Democrat Senator Frank Lautenberg gives us a prime example of the former that will inevitably lead to the latter.

In a move that surprised everyone in both New York and New Jersey, the decrepit Lautenberg submitted the name of New York Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer’s brother-in-law as his nominee for a federal judgeship in the Garden State. I say it came as a surprise because no one at all was aware that Schumer’s relative was even in the running until the nomination became public knowledge.

It smacks of backroom political deal making instead of a legitimate choice for the bench….

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 - 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 - 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