Senate

Alan Caruba - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - China - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Foreign Countries - Government - Liberals - Money - President - Taxes

Destroying the Dollar

June 12, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Alan Caruba

Something I never thought I would ever see in my former hometown, a wealthy New Jersey suburb of New York City, was a Dollar Store, but one opened recently in a former supermarket. Dollar Stores are giving Wal-Mart, Target, and similar outlets a run for their money and it’s not hard to see why. The local one has just about everything you could need and all for astonishing low prices.

In countless ways people are looking to save money these days. The looming problem, however, is the question of what happens when Americans wake up to learn that even a dollar can no longer buy anything?

“When Faith in U.S. Dollars and U.S. Debt is Dead the Game is over – And that Day is Closer than You May Think” is the cheery title of an article recently posted on EconomicCollapse.com.
Continue reading “

Destroying the Dollar”

Anti-Americanism - Communism - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Free Speech - Freedom - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Judges - Law - Liberals - Libertarian - Liberty - Nanny State - Policy - President - Regulation - Republicans - Senate - Supreme Court - The Law - Transparency - Warner Todd Huston

American Government Must Be Torn Down and Rebuilt

May 23, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In New York you need a license to work as a gas pumper at a gas station. A contradiction since you do not need that expensive license, training, and government meddling to pump your own gas in New York. In Chicago it is supposedly illegal to fly a kite inside the city limits. In Delaware it is illegal to have a basketball hoop on your driveway. In nearly every city and town it is illegal to build a shed on your own property without government approval and fees spent to “allow” you to do so.

These are all examples of how the United States of America has fallen severely away from the land of liberty and personal freedom we once enjoyed. These are also examples of why we need politicians that will run on eliminating laws, regulations, a government meddling, not adding more.

We are being “governmented” to death, America. The nanny state has reached out to quash everything we as individuals want to do. We cannot put up a yard fence, we aren’t allowed to park certain vehicles on our own property, we cannot have garage sales without licenses, fees, “allowances,” and government meddling.
Continue reading “

American Government Must Be Torn Down and Rebuilt”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Government - Liberals - Nevada - Regulation - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Even American ‘Cowboys’ Now Government Teat Suckers

April 12, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last month when the current series of budget debates began to heat up, the ineffectual leader of the Democrats in the U.S. Senate thought he had a great little point against proposed tax cuts by crying that the cuts would destroy Nevada’s “Cowboy Poetry.”

Oh, the humanities.

You might recall that last month Reid ambled up to the podium on the floor of the Senate and loosed his six shooters on GOP tax cutters saying that the cuts would kill off the famous cowboy poetry event held every January in Elko, Nevada.

As idiotic as that claim is, there was a paucity of replies to Reid’s claims by the very cowboy poets that he claimed he was wearin’ the white hat for. Well, The New York Times has a piece rectifying that problem by giving speaking space to some of the cowboys involved in this taxpayers funded event.
Continue reading “

Even American ‘Cowboys’ Now Government Teat Suckers”

Budget - Business - Conservatives - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Republicans Urge Fiscal Responsibility, Energy Policies That Create Jobs

April 6, 2011 by

This video was shown to GOP senators Tuesday highlighting the fight for responsible spending policies and the need to create an environment in which private-sector job creation can flourish. Democrats, on the other hand, continue to balk at any attempt to seriously address our nation’s spiraling debt. Senate Republicans continue to fight burdensome energy taxes that would cripple our nation’s businesses and drive up the cost of energy for American families.

courtesy of the Senate Republican Conference.

Chris Lauzen - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Republicans - SB600 - State Central Committee - Warner Todd Huston

Chris Lauzen: Direct Election of Republican State Central Committeemen

April 1, 2011 by

From the office of State Senator Chris Lauzen (R, 25th District)…


“You Decide . . . .” That’s what SB35 (the old SB600) is all about.

If you think it’s “OK” for Republican State Central Committeemen to give thousands of dollars and serious support to Mayor Daley, Governor Blagojevich, and other Democrat politicians . . . if you think it makes any sense at all to have Jim Oberweis, who has spent more than $10,000,000 to lose five (5) major elections, advising Republicans about how to win political campaigns . . . and, if you think it is in any way appropriate for the Republican State Central Committee to threaten Republican precinct committeemen with punishment for not supporting every single Republican candidate on the ticket, no matter how corrupt or opposed to the Illinois Republican Party Platform they are . . . do not support fundamental reform and change. No need to read further.

SB35 provides for direct election of Republican State Central Committeemen. Proponents want the right to vote for their leaders just like Republicans had for more than fifty (50) years, before Governor Thompson and his allies took it away through legislation. We want what Democrat primary voters have continued to enjoy.

If Republicans were in good shape in Illinois, I would say it doesn’t make any difference how we elect our leaders. However, Democrats have been slaughtering us with nine (9) years of corrupt or incompetent Governors and nearly veto-proof majorities in the State House and Senate. This gross mismanagement has led to a staggering 67% personal income tax increase, a redefinition of marriage in homosexual “unions”, constant threats to our right to self-defense, the obvious bankruptcy of our state through crippling spending and debt, and now the protection of murderers, terrorists and rapists from the death penalty.
Continue reading “

Chris Lauzen: Direct Election of Republican State Central Committeemen”

Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Missouri - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Claire McCaskill: Another Example of How Democrats Can Get Away With Anything

March 23, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Back in 2005 Clair McCaskill had a great campaign taunt for her opponent: he used state planes and state funds for
the political use of airplanes all on the taxpayer’s dime. That was bad, she told Missouri’s voters. Now McCakill is the Senator from the Show Me State and guess what? She’s been caught using taxpayer money to fund her own personal flights about the county.

Check out her 2006 political ad:

Notice her money quote: “And we have paid every dime of our taxes.”
Continue reading “

Claire McCaskill: Another Example of How Democrats Can Get Away With Anything”

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

Citizen’s Right to Know Under Attack in Illinois!

March 17, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Illinois Senate is currently debating SB1645 which would arbitrarily limit a citizen’s “right to know.” If a citizen asks more than fifteen questions per year under FOI rules (Freedom of Information Act Requests), the citizen’s requests would be characterized as a “vexatious” requests.

With this appellation applied, FOI requests can then be ignored.

Now, at first this may seem sensible in some way. After all, if Joe Blow from East Peoria keeps bombarding the state with FOI requests this might seem odd or troublesome. But what about journalists? What about public watchdog organizations? These folks are highly likely to be requesting many bits of public information. Are they to be shut down too?

Even still, so what if Joe Blow does ask for a bunch of FOIs? Isn’t it the right of a citizen to know what his government is doing?

So, what does the government have to hide? Further how arrogant of them to say that we, the people, are “vexing” them!

Please contact your legislator, click here and tell them to vote “NO” on SB1645.
Continue reading “

Citizen’s Right to Know Under Attack in Illinois!”

Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Nevada - Warner Todd Huston

Nevada Democrats Avoiding Voters, Hiding Actions From Public, Firing People Without Cause

March 16, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once in a while a story of the sort of arrogance in government that should make every fair-minded American sick at heart comes out to show how Democrats act when have a lock on power and when they think no one is looking. This time we find an amazing amount of arrogance in Nevada, one that is obviously a violation of Thomas Jefferson’s axiom that men are not born to be ridden “booted and spurred” by government but are free men. This government arrogance is truly as un-American as can be.

There are many instances of Democrat arrogance, of course. Like when North Carolina Democrat Congressman Bob Etheridge Democrat Al Green hectored a Washington Times reporter about the KKK (when it was Democrats that created the terror group in the first place), or when Congressman Charlie Rangel stormed out of an ethics hearing after being convicted on 11 counts because, well, he was incensed that anyone had the temerity to call him on his perfidy. Well, there are just too many to cover fully.

Chuck Muth of Citizen Outreach has the outrageous story of a lowly legislative aide fired for no reason whatever because a public record email was released to the public. Imagine the people thinking that they have a right to see the official emails of their own government officials! The gall of those voters!
Continue reading “

Nevada Democrats Avoiding Voters, Hiding Actions From Public, Firing People Without Cause”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - Washington D.C.

VIDEO: We Need Less Talk, More Action From President on Debt

March 16, 2011 by

Here is the latest video shown to Republican senators on Tuesday. It highlights how our enormous national debt is one of the greatest threats facing our country and highlights the need for swift, serious action to address it. Republicans are urging the president to match his actions to his rhetoric and work with Republicans to develop long-term solutions to our nation’s debt crisis.

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - EPA - GOP - Government - Kentucky - Liberals - Mitch McConnell - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - Washington D.C.

Senate News: McConnell Introduces Amendment To Stop EPA’s Back-Door National Energy Tax

March 16, 2011 by

From the office of Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (KY)…

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell introduced an amendment Tuesday to the pending small business bill that would stop the Environmental Protection Agency’s back-door national energy tax from taking effect.

“Imposing a backdoor national energy tax through the EPA is a strange way to respond to rising gas prices,” McConnell said. “Fourteen million Americans are looking for work. Gas prices are approaching $4 a gallon. And the Obama administration wants unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats to impose new regulations that will destroy even more jobs – and drive gas prices even higher.”
Continue reading “

Senate News: McConnell Introduces Amendment To Stop EPA’s Back-Door National Energy Tax”

Banks - Budget - Capitalism - Congress - Energy - GOP - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Libya - Mark Kirk - Oil - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

What Do You Think? Gas Prices – Caused by Libya? Boutique Fuels?‏

March 11, 2011 by

From the office of Senator Mark Kirk (R, ILL…

Gasoline prices are up 50 cents per gallon just this month, now averaging $3.65 in Illinois. Why are prices so high?

While much of the price rise is caused by instability in Libya, another cause is an obscure federal rule that mandates little gasoline monopolies in Chicagoland and Metro East, called the “Boutique Fuels Rule.”

The federal government divides the nation’s gasoline market into 17 separate zones, each with their own recipe for gasoline. While we can buy regular gasoline in Peoria, only “N RFG with Ethanol” is available in Chicago and in Metro East, we can only buy “7.2 RVP” gas. If one region runs short, it cannot borrow from another region – is it any wonder that gas costs 10 cents less per gallon in Green Bay?

This map illustrates the isolated pockets of the country where the federal government mandates the use of the complicated boutique fuel rule. This balkanization of fuel distribution leads to supply problems and high prices. Conversely, some say the regulation is necessary for compliance with the Clean Air Act.

Mark Kirk

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - Liberals - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

VIDEO: Democrats, the President Continue to Ignore Responsibilities

March 9, 2011 by

This video was shown at the GOP Senator’s luncheon on March 8, 2011. The video focuses on Republican efforts to put our nation on a path of fiscal responsibility and create an environment in which job creation can flourish. The video highlights the lack of leadership by the president on deficit reduction as well as the GAO report on duplicative programs and the harm gas prices are causing to our economy.

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - GOP - Government - Liberals - President - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

We’ve Got to Stop Spending Money We Don’t Have

March 2, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the video that was shown to the Republican Senators at their weekly caucus luncheon on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011.

The video highlights the president’s unsustainable fiscal path and how his ideas on the budget adds to our national debt and at the same time failing to address the serious fiscal problems facing the country.

Senate Republicans realize that we must stop the wild spending of money we do not have if we want to put the country back on the path to fiscal health so that we can create the jobs we sorely need.

Continue reading “

We’ve Got to Stop Spending Money We Don’t Have”

Chicago - Cook County - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Warner Todd Huston

Ill. State Sen. Rickey Hendon Suddenly Resigns

February 24, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a surprise move State Senator Rickey R. Hendon of Chicago has announced that he is resigning his 5th District seat at the state capitol. Hendon has held his seat since 1993.

Hendon denies claims that he is resigning over any “federal problems,” but it is interesting that he should resign after information on people tied to him was demanded by a grad jury only last December.

The federal grand jury is investigating misuse of Illinois state grants as part of “an official criminal investigation.”
Continue reading “

Ill. State Sen. Rickey Hendon Suddenly Resigns”

Anti-Semitism - Budget - Chicago - Chris Lauzen - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Guarded Optimism, But Show Us The Cuts

February 23, 2011 by

From the Office of State Senator Chris Lauzen (21st District)…

I am generally a gullible person, typically believing what people tell me. Age is tempering my natural inclination by teaching me that it is wiser to watch what people do, rather than to immediately believe what they say.

I hope that I am not being naïve to be encouraged by several developments within the swamp of Springfield events. My constituents can barely endure discussing the state’s current political and financial situation. They avert their eyes from the train wreck. They shake their heads, throw up their hands, and finally stick out their tongues. They instinctively realize that bankruptcy is the most severe failure of financial trust. And, Illinois is bankrupt.
Continue reading “

Guarded Optimism, But Show Us The Cuts”

Anti-Americanism - Civil War - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - GOP - Government - History - Liberals - Republicans - Senate - Virginia - Warner Todd Huston - West Virginia

Senator Jim Webb: The Hypocrisy at the Core of the Democrat Party

February 10, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Virginia’s Junior Senator, Jim Webb, is already hanging up his senatorial career. One term was enough for the so-called moderate Virginia Democrat. He’s announced that he will not run for reelection. But the fact that he got elected at all shows the essential hypocrisy at the heart of the Democrat Party. Webb, you see, is what many might consider a “neo-confederate.”

If Jim Webb had run for the Senate from Virginia as a Republican in the modern era he could never, ever have gotten elected no matter which party the state is leaning toward at any given time. Yet Webb was given a pass for his neo-confederate sympathies and allowed to sail to election back in 2006.

What about all this “neo-confederate” business? Well, back in 2004 Webb published a book titled “Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America.” This book was very friendly to the old Confederacy of our Ciil War era.
Continue reading “

Senator Jim Webb: The Hypocrisy at the Core of the Democrat Party”

Congress - Conservatives - Elections - GOP - Government - President - Republicans - Ronald Reagan - Tea Party - Warner Todd Huston

Ronald Reagan: Father of the Tea Party

February 6, 2011 by 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

We are still living in Ronald Reagan’s era, despite the constant refrains from Democrats and the left that Reaganism is long dead. As we observe his 100th birthday, it is also beneficial to point out that in many ways Reagan is the father of the Tea Party Movement. It was his great success, his sunny optimism that gave the Tea Partiers the grounding and confidence that they could, indeed, make a difference.

Like many politically active people today, Ronald Reagan is my favorite president in my lifetime. For me, he was also the first president for whom I could vote and I did so with glee.

In fact, if it weren’t for Ronald Reagan I may well have entered my voting age with too much cynicism to overcome in order to make me feel invested in the system. I’d posit that this is true for most Tea Party patriots older than 40, too. I would also argue that the Reagan effect is responsible for giving Tea Partiers the feeling that they could affect government like Reagan did and that without Reagan there’d be no Tea Party movement at all.
Continue reading “

Ronald Reagan: Father of the Tea Party”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Free Trade - GOP - Government - Liberals - Mitch McConnell - Nanny State - Regulation - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Tea Party - Warner Todd Huston - Washington D.C.

Senate’s Repeal Healthcare Vote Failure Further Makes Lie to Term ‘Conservative Democrat’

February 2, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Newly minted West Virginia Senator, Democrat Joe Manchin, ran for office denigrating Obama’s take over of our national healthcare system with his Obamacare law. Tonight he and other so-called “conservative Democrats” in the Senate got a chance to prove that they were, indeed, as conservative as they claimed to be by voting to repeal Obamacare. Not one of them made that vote, however.

In a vote strictly down party lines, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R, KY) repeal measure lost in a 51 to 47 vote. It needed a 60 vote super majority to pass.

McConnell did not likely expect his measure to pass, to be sure. His aim was meant at the very least to put everyone in the Senate on record as to where they stood on Obamacare. This isn’t the last word on the debate, either, as Republican Senator John Cornyn (Texas) vowed that this fight was not nearly over.

Within minutes after the vote, on the GOP’s Senate Twitter feed, Cornyn talked of the battle to come. “These are the first steps in a long road that will culminate in 2012 where we will continue to expose the flaws in this bill,” he said.
Continue reading “

Senate’s Repeal Healthcare Vote Failure Further Makes Lie to Term ‘Conservative Democrat’”

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - GOP - Government - Health - Liberals - Mitch McConnell - President - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Senate Republicans Call for Vote on a Repeal of Obamacare for Wednesday

February 2, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R, KY) announced on Tuesday that he intends to bring to the floor a vote to repeal Obamacare on Wednesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid certainly does not want this vote to occur but even so it is highly doubtful that McConnell can get the 60 votes needed to sustain a repeal. The Democrats still out number Republicans 53 to 47.

But a repeal is not all that McConnell wants with this vote. At the very least the Republican leader wants to put the entire senate on record giving the voters a clear accounting of which senators support Obamacare and which do not. McConnell hopes to put centrist Democrats on record as to where they stand.
Continue reading “

Senate Republicans Call for Vote on a Repeal of Obamacare for Wednesday”

Chuck Schumer - CNN - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - New York - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

NY Senator Chuck Schumer Doesn’t Know the Three Branches of Government?

February 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

My latest little video shows that the honorable moron from New York, Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer, doesn’t even know the three branches of our federal government. These arrogant cusses have the gal to tell us how to live our lives but they don’t even know how our own government even works??

Continue reading “

NY Senator Chuck Schumer Doesn’t Know the Three Branches of Government?”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Conservatives - Constitution - Economy/Finances - Elections - GOP - Government - Jim DeMint - Journalism - Media - Media Bias - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Jim DeMint…. A Squish?

February 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

David Weigel’s recent Slate piece on Jim DeMint (R, SC) is a perfect example of a gentle leftwing undertone sprinkled into a story like seasoning salt in order to gently spin a story to negatively effect conservatives, or at the very least to artificially heighten tensions in order to make it seem as if conservatives are at each other’s throats.

Weigel’s Slate piece was a report on the first ever meeting of the Senate’s Tea Party Caucus headed up by Senator Jim DeMint and Weigel was bound and determined to make the meeting into some sort of conservative slugfest where all parties were taking each other on in a cage match to top even the World Wrestling Federation’s best brawls.

Mr. Weigel started out with an account of DeMint’s encounter with Tea Party activist Lisa Miller from Alexandria, Virginia. Miller was insisting that DeMint balance the budget but opposed any constitutional amendment to require it. DeMint, on the other hand, was adamant that it would take a constitutional amendment to balance the budget because regardless that congress always has had the tools to balance the budget anytime they wish — as Miller pointed out – he maintains that congress does not have the “institutional discipline” to do so.
Continue reading “

Jim DeMint…. A Squish?”

Conservatives - GOP - Government - President - Republicans - Ronald Reagan - Warner Todd Huston

GOP Honors Reagan’s 100th With New Website

February 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

Happy 100th Birthday President Reagan

This Sunday, February 6th, marks the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, our 40th President, and a towering, visionary figure in the history of the Republican Party, the United States and the free world.

The Republican National Committee is celebrating this milestone with a special website devoted to President Reagan. The website will feature video tributes to The Gipper throughout the week from Republicans leading up to his birthday. I hope you will join in the Centennial Celebration by signing our birthday card to President Reagan and joining the conversation about keeping his legacy alive using the Twitter hashtag #Reagan100.

GOP On Twitter: http://twitter.com/RNC

Congress - Conservatives - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Republicans - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

The Twitter List of GOP Freshman in Congress

January 31, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Want to know what all the GOP freshmen in the House of Representatives and the Senate are twittering about? Well, with this list you can tune into the Twitter feed of each of them and find out what is going on minute by minute.

Well, OK, not exactly minute-by-minute but at least week-by-week. Not all of them are using their Twitter to its full potential. A very few of these fellows have barley touched their Twitter feed at all, some don’t even seem to have one. Most of them, however, have fully populated their feed with Tweets and seem to understand that this is a great outreach tool. If the new reps that haven’t used it know what’s good for them they’ll get their feeds moving with some news.

It is also interesting to note that some newly elected folks have not yet separated their campaign Twitter feed from their feed as elected congressmen which might be a violation of election law. I have every new GOP senator and representative listed but where no feed is noted below I couldn’t find one for that member of congress. (And if anyone knows if I am missing one, please contact me so I can update the list)

I’ve put them all in a Twitter Follow List, too, at my gopfreshman Twitter List.

Senate

Arkansas: John Boozman http://twitter.com/JohnBoozman

Florida: Marco Rubio http://twitter.com/SenRubioPress

Indiana: Dan Coats http://twitter.com/SenDanCoats

Kansas: Jerry Moran http://twitter.com/JerryMoran

Kentucky: Rand Paul http://twitter.com/SenRandPaul

Missouri: Roy Blunt http://twitter.com/RoyBlunt
Continue reading “

The Twitter List of GOP Freshman in Congress”

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Mark Kirk - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

A Snap Shot of Congressional Arrogance

January 31, 2011 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

POLITICO posted a piece last week that shows the arrogance of our duly elected Senators in Washington D.C. After reading this piece, one gets the impression that this good old boys club is not only one that not just anyone is allowed to join but one that finds itself beyond even the voters that put them there. It is an arrogance of self-assumed stature in this great Republic that is galling and should be.

The piece, headlined “Mark Kirk not sorry for Senate ‘end zone dance,'” was all full of the tsk tsking by nose-in-the-air senators that didn’t like the fact that newly minted Senator Mark Kirk was ebullient about the GOP having won a recent legislative victory. It was gauche, these senators said, not proper, completely untoward, over-the-top, low-rent, “amateurish,”and entirely eyebrow raising.

What did Senator Kirk do to cause all this finger wagging to be unleashed like a torrent in his direction? In a news conference Kirk put on a “demeanor” that amounted to “spiking a football on the decorous Senate floor,” after the GOP defeated the Democrat’s $1.1 trillion spending bill riddled with pork, waste, and earmarks.
Continue reading “

A Snap Shot of Congressional Arrogance”

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - Liberals - President - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Shameful Behavior: U.S. Senate Continues Spending Money in Secret

January 25, 2011 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently for at least ten years our U.S. Senators have been creating operating rules that allow them to get out of doing one of their most important jobs: actually voting on legislation. As it happens ninety three percent of the approved measures that have come out of the Senate never got a roll call vote.

This means that the massive spending that the Senate has approved for the last ten years has simply sailed through the so-called most deliberative body in the world without all that annoying deliberating stuff being forced on our busy, busy Senators.

In the Washington Examiner Tina Korbe highlights the Senate’s use of the “unanimous consent” rule that allows bills to flow quickly through the Senate by dispensing with Senators having to actually sit down and hit the “yea” or “nay” button before a bill is passed on to the reconciliation phase of the lawmaking process.
Continue reading “

Shameful Behavior: U.S. Senate Continues Spending Money in Secret”

Budget - Chris Lauzen - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Republicans - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Happy New Years from Downtown Chicago Democrats

January 15, 2011 by

From the office of State Senator Chris Lauzen (25th District)…

Majorities in 99 out of 102 counties voted for his opponent, however Governor Pat Quinn declares that he has a mandate to raise our taxes. If the State of Illinois spent what we currently sacrifice in taxes prudently and ethically, the Governor and his enablers in the Legislature might be able to make their case against my assessment that we are “taxed enough already”.

Illinois Medicaid eligibility levels substantially higher than averages, grants for favorite pork projects like Oswego Park District’s purchase and bulldozing of perfectly good and property-tax-paying homes, and unsustainable public employee pensions are all examples of cuts to unnecessary government spending that have not been made. It is no secret that public employee unions provided the money and manpower to get Quinn elected; now “to the victors to the spoils” . . . at your expense . . . during already difficult times for most taxpaying families in Illinois.

During the election, Pat Quinn claimed that he had cut state spending by $3 Billion. This is false – – some people would say it is a deliberate campaign lie. According to a report (that I would be happy to provide you) that his own Budget Office sent last summer to New York bankers and bond rating agencies, Quinn has actually increased spending $1 Billion. I would think that he would be embarrassed by a $4 B error, and that the Establishment Press would scold him every time he lied. Did you know that Quinn promised the state’s employee union that there will be no layoffs for them for the next two years? He did accept their endorsement and did cash their campaign contribution check.
Continue reading “

Happy New Years from Downtown Chicago Democrats”

GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Republicans - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

Illinois: Strange Case of the State Rep for One Day

January 11, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Russell Geisler was an Illinois State Representative from the 105th District… for one day.

You see, when the 24-hour stint occurred Geisler was an aide to State Rep Shane Cultra of the 105. Cultra was appointed by the party to fill State Senator Dan Rutherford’s vacated seat because Dan was elected to the State Treasurer’s office. Since Cultra left his seat to take his appointed Senate seat, that left the 105’s state rep seat empty until the new legislature was sworn in and the next man could that the 105’s seat.

So, Cultra thought that instead of leaving the 105 unrepresented for the last day of the session, he’d appoint his aide to the seat. And that is exactly what he did.

This isn’t a sudden story, though. Cultra announced that he had plans to do this weeks ago.

His plan did not meet with the approval of everyone in his party, however. Some Republicans have been grumbling that the idea is a slight to the voting process and treats the State Rep’s seat in a trivial manner.

Geisler’s big vote was to take away from seniors the free rides on the CTA.
Continue reading “

Illinois: Strange Case of the State Rep for One Day”

Chicago - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Liberals - Warner Todd Huston

Want Proof That Our Legislature is too Often Filled With Idiots?

January 4, 2011 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Chicago Tribune had one of those ubiquitous year-end pieces to inform us about how some thing or another ended up as the year came to a close. On Dec. 30 the Trib gave us a little round up of some of the really stupid, useless, pointless new laws that our wonderful state representatives in Springfield worked so hard to give to us in 2010.

As the Trib notes, our state budget is in practical bankruptcy and while our stalwart politicians have failed to do a single thing about it, they haven’t been completely idle. Oh, no. They’ve been very busy with the important work of the state.

Yes, they’ve been diligently working for you and me, don’t you know? They have been hard at work passing those most important laws, new rules that will surely make all our lives better.
Continue reading “

Want Proof That Our Legislature is too Often Filled With Idiots?”

Budget - Chicago - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Illinois - Illinois State Government - Judges - Law - Liberals - Regulation - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

‘Kill’ Lawsuit Loan Shark Bill Editorial Blasts Bill — Help Us Stop it Today!

January 4, 2011 by

From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce…

Thanks to your grassroots efforts, we have so far stalled a bill in Springfield that would legitimize an industry of “Lawsuit Loan Sharks” in Illinois.

This weekend, the Chicago Tribune editorial board also weighed in, urging the General Assembly to reject this wrongheaded bill:

Bottom line: The bill would give legal certainty to an abusive practice and put it under a light regulatory scheme where it can flourish — spawning lawsuits galore. Illinois already has a notorious reputation for jackpot justice. Kill the bill.

We agree.
Continue reading “

‘Kill’ Lawsuit Loan Shark Bill Editorial Blasts Bill — Help Us Stop it Today!”

Campaign Finance - Crime - Delaware - Elections - GOP - Government - Republicans - Senate - Warner Todd Huston

Christine O’Donnell Responds to Rumors of Investigations

December 29, 2010 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Word has run like wildfire through the Internet that former GOP Senate candidate for Delaware, Christine O’Donnell, is under investigation for misuse of campaign funds. O’Donnell flatly refutes the claims and says that these rumors were started by operatives of the establishment of both parties in Delaware, rumors meant to prevent her from ever running for office again.

In an email to supporters, O’Donnell and her staffers said that claims she is under investigation are nothing but “unfounded rumors” and she has not been contacted by officials about an investigation. She also vowed to fully cooperate if authorities do contact her.

O’Donnell’s campaign manager, Matt Moran, claims that the rumors were started by a disgruntled former campaign staffer and pushed by “the George Soros-funded CREW” organization in an attempt to “intimidate and threaten Christine, even after the election.”

O’Donnell herself added:
Continue reading “

Christine O’Donnell Responds to Rumors of Investigations”