Brandon

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Obama Tells Congress to "do their job" on Debt!

This is the same guy with NO plan, NO leadership and NOTHING to offer but more partisan attacks!

In a Wednesday news conference notable for Obama's testiness and typical soak the rich class warfare rhetoric, one attack on Congress stood out. Obama claimed he had demonstrated leadership on the debt crisis and said that it's time Congress did it's job. "At a certain point, they need to do their job," is the actual quote from the official transcript.

I nearly fell out of my chair. Anyone who has followed the progress of legislation passed by Republicans in the U.S. House (Speaker Boehner's blog is an excellent resource) knows that House Republicans have passed a federal budget and numerous other bills designed to address the most urgent problems facing Americans. Nearly all of this has been stalled or defeated by Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

But Obama's only submitted budget failed by a unanimous vote of 97-0 in the U.S. Senate just a month ago. The speech he gave in April which was billed as a new way forward contained no specifics but was full of partisan attack rhetoric accusing Republicans of undermining health care for seniors and disabled children. When asked by the Congressional Budget Office to analyze Obama's plan, the CBO head replied "we don't estimate speeches."

Neither Obama, nor Democrats in either house have put forward a budget or any workable plan for handing the debt. When asked what to do about the fiscal crisis all they can they do is play the class warfare card and demand higher taxes and more spending. Have they detailed ANY significant cuts in spending?

Real Cuts, not Horror Stories

PhotobucketCombine Obama's Stimulus spending with the other spending bills and over the last 2.5 years the baseline for federal spending has ballooned alarmingly. Huge increases in agencies like EPA and clean energy programs have not created jobs and in many cases have hampered job creation by promoting new aggressive federal regulations.

Overall, federal spending has moved from an already high average 20% of the gross domestic product of the entire United States annual economy to well over 22%. So, how is it that any discussion of REAL cuts should be met with such dire horror stories of kids and old people suffering? Were things really that bad before?

Instead of leading to find real solutions to the SPENDING problem, Obama is scapegoating the rich, who already pay the lion's share of taxes.Perhaps Obama needs to drop the partisan attack rhetoric and spend less time on the golf course (75 outings and counting) and more time coming up with workable ideas.

The days of Tax and Spend are over. Someone please tell Obama!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Libs Lie to Punish and Unseat GOP Wisc. Supreme Court Justice?

I've said it before: they will stop at nothing to "punish their enemies!"

Readers may recall my April 15th post titled "The Prosser Warning."  It detailed how the left sought to remove Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser in a special election so as to overturn the law signed by Republican Governor Walker to limit the rights of public teacher's unions in that state.

The left failed to remove Prosser in that election and the court went on to affirm the validity of the law signed by the Governor. But that's not the end of it.

Now, the left has come out with a shocking accusation that Justice Prosser physically assaulted another member of the court, one of the liberal Democrats, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, by choking her with his hands.

Following the left's usual technique they presented just that bit of information to willing accomplices in the left wing blogosphere who immediately started a drumbeat of calls demanding Prosser's immediate resignation.

But as is so often the case, the facts that the left wingers were using the fans the flames of astroturf outrage were only half the story. It turns out that multiple witnesses in the room told reporters for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Bradley attacked Prosser. Hot Air has a full breakdown of the various report.

Ann Althouse, a blogger and law professor in Madison, Wisconsin raises the following issue: "Everyone who thinks Prosser must to resign if he attacked Bradley ought to say that if Bradley attacked Prosser, she should resign."

But Ann must know, as surely most of my readers do, that the left will NEVER accept the same standard of accountability they daily demand of us. Besides, as Ann points out, if either justice resigns, Governor Walker will appoint a replacement that will surely be a conservative.

Hot Air records that now the truth is starting to emerge the left wing sites which falsely accused Prosser are deleting the smears launched against the justice. We can expect that they will now try to quietly sweep the matter under the rug and hope no one follows through on calls for Bradley to resign.
By every appearance, the left has been caught in their own web of lies on this one. But not to worry. They'll find a way to excuse their conduct and blame the right for starting the whole thing. After all, we're still waiting for an apology from the left that the right, Andrew Breitbart in particular, hacked Rep. Anthony Weiner's email.

This latest episode is further proof from my earlier post on the "Prosser Warning" and a similar warning following our great success in the 2010 election. The left will stop at nothing to win so we better be prepared NOW!

Monday, June 27, 2011

New Paper Shows Global Warming Scare Over Hurricanes to Be Hot Air!

Will the "scientists" who claimed more and larger hurricanes would be the result of manmade global warming now come forward and admit they were wrong?

In the study of physical sciences that are uncorrupted by political agendas and money the rule is that you test a theory over time based on actual observations.

In the case of global warming, the "theory" put forward by those with a political agenda and the "scientists" chasing grant money put forward to advance that agenda have long claimed that as the earth warms, the greenhouse effect would create more frequent and more violent hurricanes. Former Vice President Al Gore capitalized on that fear by using a graphic of Hurricane Katrina devouring the Gulf States in 2005 for his scare book and propaganda film "An Inconvenient Truth." Gore, and "scientists" who accept his political agenda warned that Katrina was just the beginning. It wasn't.

And now, the latest report, peer-reviewed research paper (the Warmists also claimed no credible "peer reviewed" papers dispute their propaganda gives us the FACTS, NOT THEORY:
During the past 6-years since Hurricane Katrina, global tropical cyclone frequency and energy have decreased dramatically, and are currently at near-historical record lows. According to a new peer-reviewed research paper accepted to be published, only 69 tropical storms were observed globally during 2010, the fewest in almost 40-years of reliable records.

Furthermore, when each storm's intensity and duration were taken into account, the total global tropical cyclone accumulated energy (ACE) was found to have fallen by half to the lowest level since 1977.

In his new paper, "Recent historically low global tropical cyclone activity", Dr. Ryan Maue, a meteorologist from Florida State University, examined the last 40-years of global hurricane records and found strikingly large variability in both tropical cyclone frequency and energy from year-to-year. Since 2007, global tropical cyclone activity has decreased dramatically and has continued at near-historical low levels. Indeed, only 64 tropical cyclones were observed globally in the 12-months from June 2010 - May 2011, nearly 23-storms below average obliterating the previous record low set in 1977.
The chart below, also from the report, shows the decline in what is called "accumulated cyclone energy" worldwide. Note the dramatic decline which is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what Gore and his Warmist buddies predicted would happen:

Photobucket

But this isn't the first and only time the Warmists scare stories predicting doom and gloom were wrong. For years the Warmists were saying that the polar ice caps would melt and flood the coastlines. As late as 2008 the prediction that this would occur in the following year was "50-50." It didn't happen.

More proof that the theory of manmade global warming is a fraud comes from the actual temperature observations measured against the climate models the Warmists used to scare the pants off everyone decades earlier. In testimony before Congress in 2009, the following chart was produced by a top NASA scientist:


Numbers Don't Lie

It's clear that the actual observations over time of real climate change show nothing like the Warmist scaremongering predictions and yet the Obama Administration continues to pump billions of dollars into promoting the global warming agenda and enriching Al Gore and his green friends with taxpayer money so they may be better able to give generously to Obama's presidential campaign.

But of the billions in taxpayer money for global warming (total $108 billion according to May 2011 GAO report) slightly more than 1% goes to fund satellites and other direct measuring instrumentation that has up to now yielded the best scientific data, nearly all of which has undermined the Warmists alarming prediction.

With Obama pumping billions more into the global warming gravy train (a 557% increase in funding for the Global Climate Change Initiative) it's hard to see how the scientists who sold their integrity for grant money and other favors will come clean any time soon.

But like Obama's failed stimulus, which predicted millions of new jobs for a $trillion in new spending, the truth will one day emerge. Meanwhile, the Heartland Institute is sponsoring it's sixth climate change conference in Washington, DC starting this week with the theme of restoring the scientific method (you test a theory with FACTS). Let's hope that at least a few of those "scientists" in town chasing grant money will stop by and restore their integrity!

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Experts Now "Expect" More BAD Economic News

After two years of being surprised at the "unexpected" failure of Obama's economic plan are the experts starting to come clean?

Just a few weeks ago we were talking about how the experts were shocked at the poor performance of the U.S. economy and news stories about the failure of Obamanomics usually included some variation of surprising or "unexpected" bad news.

Now it seems the so-called experts who have got it wrong all this time might be hedging their bets:
Forecasts for Growth Drop, Some Sharply
By: Motokoa Rich
The New York Times via CNBC
June 25, 2011

A drumbeat of disappointing data about consumer behavior, factory sales and weak hiring in recent weeks has prompted economists to ratchet down their 2011 economic forecasts to as little as half what they expected at the beginning of the year.

Two months ago, Goldman Sachs projected that the economy would grow at a 4 percent annual rate in the quarter ending in June. The company now expects the government to report no more than 2 percent growth when data for the second quarter is released in a few weeks.

Macroeconomic Advisers, a research firm, projected 3.5 percent growth back in April and is now down to just 2.1 percent for this quarter.

Both these firms, well respected in their analysis, have cut their forecasts for the second half of the year as well. Then this week, the Federal Reserve downgraded its projections for the full year, to under 3 percent growth. It started the year with guidance as high as 3.9 percent.

My guess is that there is a little c.y.a. going on among the experts. But perhaps they would also like to blunt the coming bad news and avoid any more repeat of headlines with the word "unexpected" in them. Or perhaps they are just hoping that if they lower expectations enough that Obama will be able to point to any slight improvement as a sign his plan is working.

Either way, it's further proof that Obama's economic policy is a dismal failure. Time for another P.R. campaign and more slogans about recovery summer?

Photobucket


Thursday, June 23, 2011

Democrats Answer to Debt Crisis: MORE SPENDING/RAISE TAXES

We don't call them "tax and spend" Democrats for nothing!

I was astounded to learn that in the midst of a debt crisis, with Democrats predicting dire consequences if we fail to increase the debt limit, that Democrats would also be demanding MORE SPENDING! While debt talks are going nowhere fast due to the absolute failure on the part of President Obama to lead, Democrats in the U.S. Senate are asking for another stimulus bill:
Democratic leaders called on Wednesday for new spending and tax cuts to boost the sluggish U.S. economy, setting up a fresh hurdle for bipartisan efforts to head off a government debt default this summer.
...
Senate Democrats want the deal to include a payroll tax cut, more money for highway construction and clean-energy subsidies to bring down the 9.1 percent unemployment rate. "Get the recovery right before you get in this deficit-cutting mode," Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Dick Durbin told reporters. "Get people back to work."
We all know how the $TRILLION+ in past stimulus spending failed to create jobs but Democrats seem to be stuck on stupid eyeing a deal on debt as an opportunity to throw more pork spending to unions and green crony capitalists.

GOP's Cantor Quits Debt Talks

Highlighting just how unserious Democrats are in the current debt talks, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) walked out of the talks chaired by Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday suggesting in a statement that until President Obama breaks the impasse over Democrat demands for new and higher taxes, which Republicans have repeatedly said are off the table, there was no point in continuing.

The prior day, before walking out, Cantor said:
Heading into the first of up to four pivotal negotiations this week on deficit reduction, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor declared “it is crunch time now” and that as the negotiations tighten “it’s time for the president to step up.”

“Everything that we’ve discussed has led to the point now that we are in some very tough discussions right now, and you know, as we approach July, where there’s not much time now if we’re going to come to see some agreement, I would just call on the president to be willing to make some of these tough decisions now,” Cantor, R-Va., said. “The president has not seemed willing to engage and say that he’s willing to do the tough stuff with us.”
Where's Obama? Where is HIS plan?

Republicans have put forward multiple plans to deal with the budget, spending and debt only to have Democrats use them as a target for partisan political attacks. Thus far, Democrats have presented no viable budget and no plan for solving the debt crisis that doesn't include massive job-killing tax increases and more wasteful spending.

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell went to the Senate floor Thursday and reminded Senators that even when Democrats held a near veto proof majority, they refused to pass tax increases. So why now do Democrats continue to demand something which they could not pass when they had so many more votes?

McConnell went on to say:
And that’s to say nothing of those who are now proposing more spending as a solution to our debt crisis. This isn’t just mystifying, it’s farcical. I mean, most Americans had to wonder if they were dreaming this morning when they saw this headline:

'Democrats call for new spending in U.S. debt deal’

More spending? As a solution to a debt crisis? What planet are they on?

All of which gets at a larger issue in this whole debate. And here I’m referring to the continuing silence of the one person who matters most to its outcome.

For weeks, lawmakers have worked around the clock to hammer out a plan that would help us avert a crisis we all know is coming — all the while knowing that at some point the president would have to sign it. So it’s worth asking: Where in the world has President Obama been for the past month?

What does he propose? What is he willing to do to reduce the debt and avoid the crisis that is building on his watch.

He’s in charge. I think most Americans think it’s about time he starts acting like it. It’s not enough for the President to step in front of a microphone every once in a while and say a few words that someone hands him to say about jobs and the economy.


Americans want to see that he’s actually doing something about it. What they see instead is more bad economic news every day, a gathering crisis that threatens to make current problems even worse, and a President who is either unwilling or unable to recognize that our nation’s economy is in serious trouble.

He’s the president. He needs to lead. He needs to show that he recognizes the problem. And do something about it.

We’re not in the majority. We can’t sign anything into law. That’s the president’s job.

Yet until now, he’s stood in the background. He’s acted as if it’s not his problem. Well, it is. This is his problem to solve.

America is waiting.
Senator McConnell won't say it but I will. Obama is AWOL on leadership on this issue because: A. he has no idea what to do and B. he intends to use this crisis as another weapon to bludgeon Republicans.

There is NO PLAN from Obama and NO LEADERSHIP. Only crass political moves designed to help bolster his fading hopes for re-election!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

NJ's Gov. Chris Christie Tells Off Nosy Citizen

This is why people like Chris Christie!


CHRISTIE: "Hey, Gail, you know what? First off, it’s none of your business. I don’t ask you where you send your kids to school, don’t bother me about where I send mine. Secondly, I pay $38,000 a year in property taxes for a public school system, predominantly in Mendham, that my wife and I don’t choose to utilize because we believe – we’ve decided as parents – that we believe a religious education should be part of our children’s everyday education so we send our children to parochial school. Third, I as Governor, am responsible for every child in this state, not just my own, and the decisions I make are to try to improve educational opportunities of every child in this state. So, with all due respect, it’s none of your business.”
Imagine Christie in a debate with Obama!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Rick Perry Wows Republican Leadership Conference

If he's not running, he should!

"I stand before you today as a disciplined, conservative Texan, a committed Republican and a proud American, united with you in the desire to restore our nation and revive the American dream."
 -- Texas Governor Rick Perry

Take a listen to Perry's speech and tell me what you think...


"This administration in Washington that's in power now clearly believes that government is not only the answer to every need, but it's the most qualified to make the most central decisions for every American in every area.

That mix of arrogance and audacity that guides the Obama administration is an affront to every freedom-loving American and a threat to every private sector job in this country.... They clearly think that they know best. And let me tell you I vehemently disagree. They don’t know best.”

“That mix of arrogance and audacity that guides the Obama administration is an affront to every freedom-loving American and a threat to every private sector job in this country.They clearly think that they know best. And let me tell you I vehemently disagree. They don’t know best.”

"In November 2008 there were too many Americans who voted for some vague promises of hope and change. And they ended up with unprecedented deficits, unrestrained spending and unacceptable unemployment. Americans voted for hope and got nothing but greater economic misery."

“It saddens me when sometimes my fellow Republicans duck and cover in the face of pressure from the left. Our party cannot be all things to all people. It can’t be. Our loudest opponents on the left are never going to like us, so let’s stop trying to curry favor with them.”

“Our goal is to displace the entrenched powers in Washington, restore the right balance between state and federal government. We now live in this strange, inverted version of what our founders intended.”

For those who lean toward Romney because he looks "presidential" but are squeamish about his conservative credentials, here's a thought: Perry is tall, has good hair and there is no such thing as "PerryCare."

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Weinie Roast

Weiner heckled and insulted at resignation speech!


"Bye bye pervert" shouts heckler as crowd erupts!

Ordinarily, I would not cheer on a heckler in a situation like this. But Weiner is one of the most noxious and toxic yapping attack dachsunds the Democrats have ever had helping to poison the water of political discourse. He deserves this circus of a sendoff.

And no doubt, some big $$$ Dem has already lined up some cushy new job to take care of dear Anthony!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The Unhappy Anniversary of "Recovery Summer"

Trillions in new deficit spending and still more Americans out of work than when Obama took over!

This post concludes a trifecta of web ads highlighting the incompetence and stupidity of the Obama economic and political team.
  • The first in this series came from the Romney campaign with it's commentary on Obma's comment that the increase in unemployment was just a "bump in the road."
  • The second was this ad from the Republican National Committee highlighting the ridiculous claim by Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, new head of the Democrat National Committee, that Obama has "turned this economy around."
  • The third in our series comes from American Crossroads, who highlight Obama's laughing it off that his stimulus bill, with it's "shovel ready jobs" was such a failure:


Who is to blame for all this bad news? One word: O - B - A - M - A !!!

On a lighter note and as a reward to all those who viewed the three videos above (and shared them with their friends) is this clip from Jimmy Kimmel taken from the GOP presidential candidates debate in New Hampshire last Monday. Who is to blame for all the bad news? Say it with me....

Debbie, the DNC Dim Bulb Gets Schooled by NBC's David Gregory

Wasserman-Schultz manages to make Nancy Pelosi look intelligent!

And Dems say Sarah Palin is an idiot? Compare Palin's focused, polished and presidential appearance recently on Fox News Sunday to that of new Democrat National Committee head Debbie Wasserman-Schultz on Meet the Press with NBC's David Gregory:



She's got that deer in the headlights look and is just as dumb as a bag of rocks! But Obama warned Republicans this week "don't mess with Debbie." Obama also said: "“If you're in the foxhole, you want Debbie alongside you, because not only is she charming and has that dazzling smile." How's that for an endorsement, she's got a "dazzling smile." And yes, she has all the charm and brains of a presenter on the Home Shopping Network!

Readers may recall that Dim Wit Debbie said that Republicans wanted to make illegal immigration a crime and bring back Jim Crow.

There are a lot of bright and capable women in politics who also have "dazzling smiles" (a sexist comment if ever there was one) who also happen to be a heck of alot smarter and more capable than Debbie Wasserman Schultz. But of course, most of these are REPUBLICAN WOMEN!

Big Defeat for Loud Mouth Labor Unions: Wisc. Supreme Court Gives OK to Walker Bill

Boo hoo to all the left wing fascists who tried to overturn democractic government in Wisconsin!

From Politico:
Wisconsin’s supreme court ordered a law ending collective bargaining for most of its public employees reinstated Tuesday, granting a significant victory to Republican Gov. Scott Walker and a crushing defeat for infuriated labor unions.

The ruling came hours before the state assembly was to begin debating Wisconsin’s annual budget, though GOP lawmakers ultimately delayed deliberations until Wednesday because they were unable to finish writing it, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Like in February and March, protestors filled the Madison capitol’s rotunda and public areas, though this time police increased security measures and issued strict rules forbidding noisemakers.

Walker, elected in the 2010 GOP wave that flipped the state’s executive mansion and two legislative houses from Democratic to Republican, issued a brief statement cheering the verdict.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling provides our state the opportunity to move forward together and focus on getting Wisconsin working again,” he said.
...
The state high court ruled 4-3 that the lower court judge who voided the law on grounds that lawmakers violated Wisconsin’s open meetings law while passing it “invaded the legislature’s constitutional powers.”

“Choices about what laws represent wise public policy for the state of Wisconsin are not within the constitutional purview of the courts,” the court’s majority wrote. “The court’s task in the action for original jurisdiction that we have granted is limited to determining whether the Legislature employed a constitutionally violative process in the enactment of the act.”

The unions and their goon squads and hippie brown shirts won't stop here. They'll keep trying to overturn the lawful, democratically elected government of the state of Wisconsin by any means in their power. Let this be a warning to the rest of us. Winning elections is not the end of the fight and we cannot let down our guard!

Big Media Frenzy Over Palin While Looking Other Way with Obama

In the end, it matters what Obama does, but the media would rather focus on an ex-governor!

Don't you think it was a little odd that the media went into a frenzy over the Palin email release and then the story just disappeared? I guess it's obvious they didn't find any dirt or you would have heard about it.

This NY Post editorial sums up the story perfectly:
Could Big Media look any dumber?
NY Post Editorial
June 14, 2011

The all-points-bulletin attention that national media organizations gave to the release last week of official e-mails from Sarah Palin's tenure as Alaska's governor sure backfired.

Not only was Palin not discredited by the emails, but they exposed to the public a competent leader and a rather decent human being.

Imagine the disappointment of The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets.

To help sift through 24,000 pages of e-mails, coughed up via freedom-of-information requests, the publications recruited readers to wade through the pages online, in search of embarrassing tidbits.

This, in addition to the teams of reporters they sent.

It all yielded precious little.

A governor who tried to keep spending under control and taxes low?

Simply shocking.

It's all rather unseemly -- and not just because Palin is a private citizen now (albeit one with a very high profile).

No, what's really embarrassing to Big Media -- or would be, if it had any shame -- is the contrast between the Palin frenzy and the lap-dog lethargy with which it covered the details of Obamacare, the administration's near-trillion-dollar stimulus package or economy-killing regulatory decisions by the EPA or National Labor Relations Board.

You know, legislation and agencies that actually affect the livelihoods of millions of Americans every single day.

But obviously what Sarah Palin was doing three and four years ago is more important to the country's well-being than what Barack Obama is doing now.

Who knew?
One thing we did learn from the Palin emails is that as governor she strongly opposed the hunting of wolves from helicopters. Do you think that all those mainstream sources will now correct the record which left the impression that she strongly supported the idea (1,2,3)? Don't bet on it. Besides, like all the other lies told about Palin the damage is already done. We still have people out there who think Palin said "I can see Russia from my house." It was Tina Fey playing Palin on Saturday Night Live but don't tell the ignoramuses who believe otherwise. They won't listen.

Is it any wonder that simple-minded Obama voters couldn't answer questions about basic political knowledge yet knew every false rumor about Sarah Palin and accepted it as truth?

America is facing it's greatest economic challenge since the great depression and we have a news media that is not informing the people about the real issues which have a direct, daily impact on their lives. In two words, it is an utter disgrace!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Obama's War on Jobs

Give Obama "Credit" for job killing regulatory burden and failed economic policies!

From House Speaker John Boehnr's blog:
President Obama “cracked wise” about his failed “stimulus” spending bill yesterday and told supporters in Florida he deserves credit for our sluggish economic recovery, according to the Washington Times. Credit? President Obama wants “credit” for…
  • …9.1% Unemployment? The “unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent” in May according to UPI and has averaged 9.5% since the president’s “stimulus” was enacted (far above what the Administration promised).
  • …A “Double-Dip” in Housing Prices? CNBC reported that “home prices are back to their mid-2002 levels” as single-family home prices dipped “below their 2009 low.”
  • Plunging Economic Confidence? The latest Gallup survey shows “two out of three Americans say …the U.S. economy is ‘getting worse’ -- approaching the high for the year.”
  • Falling Retail Sales? Associated Press reports that “[s]ales among U.S. retailers fell 0.2 percent last month … the latest report signaling the economy has lost momentum.”
  • The Worst Economic Growth Since the Great Depression? “[R]eal annual growth in GDP has been just 1.5 percent” on President Obama’s watch – the worst since the Great Depression, according to The Weekly Standard.
This isn’t the first time the president has sought credit for our faltering economy. Almost one year ago, the White House launched “Recovery Summer” to celebrate the failed “stimulus” – a PR stunt that went bust as the Democratic onslaught of spending, taxing, and regulating left the economy staggering.

Is it any wonder even Democrats are worried the president sounds “tone deaf – economically and politically?” Or that a majority of the American people disapprove of his handling of the economy?

Republicans are focused on jobs. The Republican Plan for America’s Job Creators is a blueprint for job creation that builds on the Pledge to America to eliminate the threat of tax hikes, pay down our debt, and rein in the mountains of red tape created by unelected bureaucrats. Learn more about it here.
Obama's Job Killing Bureaucracy

Want to know why it's so difficult to create new jobs? Former head of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Holtz-Eakin put together this short 44 second video:

Now of course not every business is subject to every  federal regulation but as a businessman you darn well better make sure which of this mountain of red tape and rules applies to you OR ELSE!

One example of how regulatory agencies are killing jobs comes from my former employer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Failing to get a carbon limit bill through congress the political activists who run EPA are now twisting the Clean Air Act to do the job for them and it's killing jobs. The Wall Street Journal has a piece titled: "The EPA's War on Jobs " in which the threat of elemental mercury from coal fired power plants is vastly overstated to the point where even career bureaucrats were alarmed.

The bottom line, is that the activism behind Obama's regulatory policies will cost 50,000 to 200,000 jobs and force the closure of many coal plants. In addition to that, electricity rates for all Americans would, in the phrase used by then candidate Obama, "necessarily skyrocket."

Whether it's Obama's failed stimulus or economic policies, his regulatory assault on job creators or sheer economic incompetence from a team with almost NO business experience, the result has been a crippling and extended recession; the worst since the Great Depression. And you can't blame George Bush for that! Obama should get the credit for the failure his policies have created!

Obama's "Recovery" No Laughing Matter to the Unemployed

But as long as Obama and his friends are jetting around the world in style there's no way they will feel our pain!

On the same day Obama joked that some of those shovel ready jobs in the Stimulus Bill weren't as "shovel-ready as we expected" the Romney campaign put out this web ad featuring Americans whose economic travails are not a "bump in the road" as Obama recently described the unemployment situation:



To Obama all those little people out of work are nothing more than a statistic, if that!

Sunday, June 12, 2011

The Last Desperate Act of Weinergate

Now, even Nancy Pelosi says he should go!

24 hours ago the headline on the Drudge Report was "PELOSI: WEINER CAN STAY * " On Saturday, Pelosi is reported to have called Weiner and tell him he had to go. On the same day, Weiner's staff announced that he would be entering a mental health treatment center of some kind and has requested a leave of absence from the House. The New York Times has the story.

What happened in the last 24 hours? My guess is that Pelosi saw a new opinion poll which indicated the scandal was picking up traction and people were blaming Democrats for protecting Weiner.

The same Times story has statements from un-named Weiner associates describing him as "distraught and fragile," "anguished" and "falling apart" to the point that he "was no longer in a position to make clear-headed decisions about his career and health."

It's quite a fall for Weiner, the vicious little dachsund who could be counted on to be abrasive, abusive, arrogant and insulting to Republicans at every available opportunity. It couldn't happen to a nicer person!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Texas Gov. Rick Perry the Anti-Romney Favorite?

Compare their views on global warming...

PhotobucketAt a Town Hall Meeting in New Hampshire on Friday, June 3rd, GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former Governor of Massauchetts, got a lengthy question about global warming from a man in the crowd. The complete question and answer is here (video).

The relevant excerpt is:
ROMNEY:I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that. ...It's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors.
Mitt then veered the topic to energy independence and stated that he wanted to use more natural gas which also contributes to carbon emissions.

The answer raised questions in the minds of many conservative voters who are already concerned that Romney might be a RINO (Republican in name only) whom they could not trust to govern as a conservative if he were elected President. That and other concerns about the Massachusetts health care plan Romney signed into law that is a model for ObamaCare has some GOP voters looking for a STOP MITT candidate.

One name that is being talked about is Texas Governor Rick Perry. In 2007, Gov. Perry addressed the California Republican state convention and said this:

PERRY: And since when did the field of science become the sole purview of left-wing politicians? I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard Al Gore talk about man-made global warming so much that I’m starting to think that his mouth is the leading source of all that supposedly deadly carbon dioxide.

Virtually every day another scientist leaves the global warming bandwagon…but you won’t read about that in the press because they have already invested in one side of the story. I’m not saying we shouldn’t be good stewards of our environment. We should. I am just saying when politics hijack science, it quells true scientific debate and can have dire consequences for our future.
Rush Limbaugh has the audio of Perry's remarks here. Cue the player to the 5:29 mark.

Perry's speech in California, which was a full frontal attack on liberalism, included this excerpt which some may feel applies to Romney:
It’s a sad, sad state of affairs when liberals campaign like Republicans to get elected, and Republicans govern like liberals to be loved. We need to hold the line on what it means to be a Republican which is, of course: being conservative. If you see a candidate who wants to tax like a Democrat, regulate like a Democrat, and educate like a Democrat, they should not have the honor of being called a Republican.

Nor should they be elected by Republicans.
Perry has been hinting he might make a run for the nomination. Whether he does or not, let's hope Romney is asked to be even more specific about his views on global warming and energy use before the primary season begins!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Rudy Running, Gingrich Imploding, Pawlenty Picking Up, Perry Contemplating?

Shakeups in the GOP 2012 lineup are in the cards!

Strike Two for Newt

It's been a busy week for GOP presidential hopefuls. First, the bad news: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich suffered another major setback with the resignation of much of his top campaign team. It's something of a mass exit including his campaign manager and spokesman. Newt still suffers from an earlier strike made after he appeared to attack the Paul Ryan plan. This is his second strike. One more and he's out.

Pawlenty Picking Up?

Former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is the first beneficiary of the latest Newt meltdown scoring the support of former Georgia Governor Sunny Perdue who had been a co-chair of Newt's campaign. On Thursday, Perdue switched his support to Pawlenty.

Perry In?

Another beneficiary to the Newt meltdown is Texas Governor Rick Perry. Many of his top political aides went to work for Newt but have quit at the same time Perry is leaning towards making a run. Perry would be a sound, conservative choice that would appeal to establishment GOP voters as well.

Rudy Running?

Word is that former NY City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is considering getting into the race. He flopped bigtime in 2008 after cutting and running from early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina hoping to win big in Florida. He didn't. Those who went out on a limb for him in those early states may be a bit cautious about giving him a second chance to leave them high and dry.

Bachmann Hires Rollins who Disses Palin

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) recently hired political pro Ed Rollins (former Huckabee campaign manager) to work on her as yet unannounced campaign. In a radio interview on Tuesday he took a shot at Sarah Palin calling her unserious. That might not be a wise move if Bachmann wants to pick up Palin supporters if the former Alaska Governor decides not to run.

The Anti-Romney?

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who remains at the top of most early polls (which frankly aren't worth much) seems to be the man to beat. And for those looking for an alternative to Mitt there seem to be plenty of strong candidates including those mentioned above. Romney has announced he will skip the Iowa Straw Poll in August, which is a traditional early test for nominees, and has hinted he may downplay campaign efforts in South Carolina. None of that will sit well with conservatives in those states who are already concerned about the Massachusetts health care law Mitt signed or his stand on global warming.

Though the GOP has the often unfortunate tradition of nominating the guy who came in second the last time, it's possible that a strong "Stop Mitt" movement is able to coalesce around one or two of the top contenders. Rudy, Perry and Pawlenty would all appeal to establishment GOP voters who are not comfortable with Mitt. Of those three, Perry is the most conservative.

The fun is starting and it's only June. Stay Tuned!

Thursday, June 09, 2011

More "Unexpected" Bad Unemployment News

At what point does Obama admit things are getting worse not better?

A week ago, we discussed how many times bad economic news during the Obama years was reported with the adjective "unexpected" attached. To those who warned about the danger of Obama's reckless economic and fiscal policies there is nothing unexpected about their failure and the damage they are doing.

But here's a new story running the same line:
U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Show Unexpected Increase
6/9/2011 8:39 AM ET

(RTTNews) - First time claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly showed a modest increase in the week ended June 4th, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, with the data likely to add to recent concerns about the job market.

The report showed that initial jobless claims edged up by 1,000 to 427,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 426,000. The modest increase surprised economists, who had been expecting jobless claims to slip to 418,000 from the 422,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Failure of Obama's Economic Plan

The chart below is full of "unexpected" bad news. It is based on Obama's own unemployment projections (page 4) with or without the Stimulus bill. We should point out that the Congressional Budget Office said that the Stimulus bill would be worse than doing nothing.
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Rats Leaving Sinking Ship

This week we got the announcement that Austan Goolsbee was resinging as Obama's top economic advisor. He had only been in the job for nine months replacing Christina Roemer who also did not last very long. Three other top members of Obama's economic team have also resigned. Michelle Malkin has the story.

Most of these former advisors return to academia from whence they came. You know the old saying "If you can, do. If you can't teach." And I doubt there is much disagreement that Obama's team can't "do."

The emphasis on academics in the Obama economic team is symptomtic of a wider problem: the historic lack of people with business experience in his Administration.

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There is nothing "unexpected" about the failure of left wing academics and theoreticians. Don't say we didn't warn you!

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Weiner's X Rated Photo Exposed

Is it still his private life if he transmitted pornography using federal government computers?

Would you still have your job if you posted X rated pictures like this from work?

Massive Explosion on the Sun and Hellish Volcano in Chile

How long before Obama blames it on Republicans?
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A monster solar flare that could have proved disastrous for earth. More here.

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Lightning strikes over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Monday June 6, 2011. More photos at the Daily Mail.

Obama Lied About Auto Bailouts and Almost No One Cares

But Sarah Palin got the history of Paul Revere RIGHT and the media still went bonkers!

We discussed below how the "news" media went nuts when they thought they caught Sarah Palin screwing up the history of Paul Revere's midnight ride. Turns out she was right and the people who were calling her an idiot look like idiots themselves.

Even if Palin had got the history wrong, it would have been an unimportant story of no account. But when President Obama makes statements that are clearly untrue, you hardly hear a whimper in the press.

Here's an example: One of the few places the following story was reported was the Washington Post.
"Chrysler has repaid every dime and more of what it owes American taxpayers for their support during my presidency.”
— President Obama, June 4, 2011
...
What we found is one of the most misleading collections of assertions we have seen in a short presidential speech. Virtually every claim by the president regarding the auto industry needs an asterisk, just like the fine print in that too-good-to-be-true car loan.
...
Through [] sleight-of-hand accounting, the White House can conveniently ignore Bush’s loan, but even the Treasury Department admits that U.S. taxpayers will not recoup about $1.3 billion of the entire $12.5 billion investment when all is said and done.
...
The president is straining too hard. If the auto industry bailout is really a success, there should be no need to resort to trumped-up rhetoric and phony accounting to make your case. Let the facts speak for themselves.

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If there was any balance in the "news" media they would be shouting "liar, liar pants on fire" at Obama. But instead they are too busy distorting history and trying to make Sarah Palin look like an idiot!

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Palin Haters Proved WRONG Again!

Not only was she right about Paul Revere, she gave an impressive, presidential interview to Chris Wallace on Sunday!
This interview with Sarah Palin from Fox News Sunday is a must see. Those who hear only media soundbites selected by her detractors may be astonished how polished, focused and yes, presidential she appears:


The Left's Big Lie Hits Palin with Paul Revere!

Palin's excellent interview got buried by the left wing media which went apoplectic when Palin said this after visiting the Old North Church in Boston where Paul Revere started his famous midnight ride:
SARAH PALIN (Former Governor, Alaska): We saw where Paul Revere hung out as a teenager, which was something new to learn. And, you know, he who warned the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms by ringing those bells and making sure, as he is riding his horse through town, to send those warning shots and bells, that we were going to be secure and we were going to be free.
The Palin haters went bonkers calling her an idiot and stupid for saying that Revere warned the British about taking away guns and ringing bells. But the same people who called her stupid had THEIR facts wrong.

National Public Radio, not exactly a news source friendly to Palin, went to an expert on Paul Revere:
Professor ROBERT ALLISON (Chairman, History Department, Suffolk University): Well, he's not firing warning shots. He is telling people so that they can ring bells to alert others. What he's doing is going from house to house, knocking on doors of members of the Committees of Safety saying the regulars are out. That is, he knew that General Gage was sending troops out to Lexington and Concord, really Concord, to seize the weapons being stockpiled there, but also perhaps to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams, leaders of the Continental Congress, who were staying in the town of Lexington.

Remember, Gage was planning - this is a secret operation, that's why he's moving at night. He gets over to Cambridge, the troops start marching from Cambridge, and church bells are ringing throughout the countryside.

BLOCK: So Paul Revere was ringing those bells? He was a silversmith, right?

Prof. ALLISON: Well, he was - he also was a bell ringer. That is, he rang the bells at Old North Church as a boy. But he personally is not getting off his horse and going to ring bells. He's telling other people - and this is their system before Facebook, before Twitter, before NPR, this was the way you get a message out is by having people ring church bells and everyone knows there is an emergency.

And by this time, of course, the various town Committees of Safety, militia knew what the signals were, so they knew something was afoot. So this is no longer a secret operation for the British.

Revere isn't trying to alert the British, but he is trying to warn them. And in April of 1775, no one was talking about independence. We're still part of the British Empire. We're trying to save it. So this is a warning to the British Empire what will happen if you provoke Americans.
Who's a Bigger Idiot? Palin or "57 states" Obama?

Facts and history didn't get in the way of the Palin haters who trumpeted their own ignorance by insisting she was wrong about Paul Revere. Still, the damage was done. In the millions of Google hits on stories about this episode you'll likely find the clear majority trumpeting the bad information and insisting Palin is an idiot. As Winston Churchill once said: " A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on."

Many on the left pointing fingers at Sarah Palin were used and manipulated to support the Palin hating cause. They don't really care about simple things like the truth or facts.

It's also a safe bet that many of those calling Palin an idiot voted for Obama who famously said he had visited "57 states with one left to go" (video). And who can forget Obama's insistence that a kid with asthma should take a breathalyzer, instead of an inhaler (video). And we could spend a whole day talking about the verbal blunders of V.P. Joe Biden.

If the same standards were applied to Obama, Biden or ANY Democrat that have been applied to Palin and most Republicans Democrats would be hounded from office by laughter and ridicule. But the truth is that the Palin haters don't hate her for any perceived miscues, they just hate her PERIOD!

Monday, June 06, 2011

Rep. Weiner (DEMOCRAT-NY) Admits Lying About Sending Photos of Himself

But insists he won't resign. Standards of conduct are only enforceable against Republicans, not gutter trash and Democrats!

Viewers of 1960's television may remember Gomer Pyle, the dunderhead Marine who was always getting into trouble with Sgt. Carter. There's one moment from that television show that stands out right now and it's when Gomer said "surprise, surprise, surprise!"

But no one here is likely to be surprised with the admission by Rep. Anthony Weiner that he sent that lewd photo of himself to a young woman in Seattle then lied about his Twitter account being hacked. The man had guilt written all over him from the first second he appeared on TV to lie, lie, lie.

Weiner was left with little choice to come clean as Andrew Breitbart's Big Government web site, which broke the original story had begun running other photos which Weiner had sent to another person on the web.

Nancy Pelosi Requests Investigation

In the wake of Weiner's admission, Nancy Pelosi has called for an ethics investigation. Yeah. That will take care of it. Readers will recall how Democrats investigated Rep. Charlie Rangel for not paying income taxes and gave him nothing but a slap on the wrist. Weiner admits to being a liar and a scumbag. As a Democrat in Congress that is expected behavior.

Again, we are reminded of Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY) who resigned immediately after it became public that he posted one shirtless photo of himself online. Lee never lied to his constituents or the American people. He took responsibility for his actions and left.

Not so with Weiner, Rangel or most Democrats. As I have long said, the GOP takes out the trash. The Dems leave the garbage sitting in the middle of the House and let it stink!

Reagan's D-Day Tribute

On the 67th anniversary of that epic day, Reagan's words delivered on the 40th anniversary still stand out as the best tribute to the bravery and sacrifice which made D-Day a success!


Cue the player to the 6:29 mark and watch as President Reagan visibly chokes up as he reads the words of Lisa Zanatta Henn, who wrote the words honoring her father and his service. The words spoken are not those which flicker past on a telepromper but come from the heart.
PRESIDENT REAGAN: Lisa Zanatta Henn began her story by quoting her father, who promised that he would return to Normandy. She ended with a promise to her father, who died 8 years ago of cancer: ``I'm going there, Dad, and I'll see the beaches and the barricades and the monuments. I'll see the graves, and I'll put flowers there just like you wanted to do. I'll feel all the things you made me feel through your stories and your eyes. I'll never forget what you went through, Dad, nor will I let anyone else forget. And, Dad, I'll always be proud.'
Earlier in the day President Reagan met with surviving veterans of the Rangers who took the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc. The speech, was equally moving, but the following photo sums up the moment perfectly:

God Bless the veterans who gave so much on D-Day for the freedom and hopes of a world scarred by appeasement, war and evil. On this anniversary, let us rededicate ourselves to that bloody memory and the lessons learned so that we may never again be called to repeat such an awful task!

Rick Santorum Makes it Offical

He's "in it to win it" for the GOP 2012 nomination!

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum made it official today with his announcement that he will be a candidate for the GOP nomination for President in 2012.

The video for his announcement is vintage Santorum; filled with direct attacks on the weakness and failures of President Obama. But the video I would prefer you watch is the speech he delivered at the National Press Club in April. It was a speech without cheering crowds or as many barbed statements about Obama but was a well thought out speech about the dangerous direction our current foreign policy is heading and pointing to a better way:



I'm not sure how good Santorum's chances are to break out of the pack of GOP contenders. But he certainly does have something to add to this debate!

Saturday, June 04, 2011

Romney Has a RINO Moment on Global Warming

This and his record on health care in Massachusetts won't help him win over conservatives!

Romney has plenty of conservatives asking if he is really one of us. This won't help:

"The world is getting warmer": Romney
By Ros Krasny
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire | Fri Jun 3, 2011 12:52pm EDT

Reuters - Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney broke with Republican orthodoxy on Friday by saying he believes that humans are responsible, at least to some extent, for climate change.

"I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that," he told a crowd of about 200 at a town hall meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire.

"It's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors."
I suppose if you live in Massachusetts where you are constantly bombarded with the phony liberal propaganda that claims man is destroying the planet some of it is going to sink in.

The danger is that a President Romney might allow some of the damaging EPA regulations which are hamstringing American energy production and use  to remain in place in the foolish hope that somehow this would alleviate any negative human impact on climate.

Friday, June 03, 2011

Nothing "Unexpected" About Latest Bad Economic News

Those who warned about the danger of Obama's fiscal and regulatory policies fully expected these bad outcomes!

Increase in unemployment to 9.1% "unexpected?"

Here's how the Wall Street Journal's "Market Watch" put it:
Job growth decelerated sharply in May, the Labor Department said Friday. Total nonfarm payrolls increased by 54,000, much lower than the 125,000 gain expected by Wall Street economists. This is the smallest increase in nonfarm payroll since September. The unemployment rate ticked higher 9.1% in May from 9.0% in the previous month.
The unexpected uptick in bad economic news follows on more news lately. From CNBC:
The last month has been a horror show for the U.S. economy, with economic data falling off a cliff, according to Mike Riddell, a fund manager at M&G Investments in London.
"It seems that almost every bit of data about the health of the US economy has disappointed expectations recently," said Riddell, in a note sent to CNBC on Wednesday.

"US house prices have fallen by more than 5 percent year on year, pending home sales have collapsed and existing home sales disappointed, the trend of improving jobless claims has arrested, first quarter GDP wasn’t revised upwards by the 0.4 percent forecast, durables goods orders shrank, manufacturing surveys from Philadelphia Fed, Richmond Fed and Chicago Fed were all very disappointing."

"And that’s just in the last week and a bit," said Riddell.

Pointing to the dramatic turnaround in the Citigroup "Economic Surprise Index" for the United States, Riddell said the tumble in a matter of months to negative from positive is almost as bad as the situation before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
Michael Barone points us to the work of blogger Glenn Reynolds who has tracked the use of the word "unexpected" and it's variants found in news reports about the Obama economy:
"New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly climbed," reported CNBC.com May 25.

"Personal consumption fell," Business Insider reported the same day, "when it was expected to rise."

"Durable goods declined 3.6 percent last month," Reuters reported May 25, "worse than economists' expectations."

"Previously owned home sales unexpectedly fall," headlined Bloomberg News May 19.

"U.S. home construction fell unexpectedly in April," wrote the Wall Street Journal May 18.

Those examples are all from the last two weeks. Reynolds has been linking to similar items since October 2009.
...
Which raises some questions. As Instapundit reader Gordon Stewart, quoted by Reynolds on May 17, put it, "How many times in a row can something happen unexpectedly before the experts start to, you know, expect it? At some point, shouldn't they be required to state the foundation for their expectations?"

One answer is that many in the mainstream media have been cheerleading for Barack Obama. They and he both naturally hope for a strong economic recovery. After all, Obama can't keep blaming the economic doldrums on George W. Bush forever.
Let's sum this up shall we? Bad economic news ACROSS THE BOARD! And if Bush were President the news would not be "unexpected" but a crisis slapped across the front page of every newspaper in tne country on a daily basis. But because it's Obama, no great urgency for action is demanded!

Obama's policies to blame!

But this is no longer Bush's recession. I imagine most people would love to go back to the Bush years of relatively low unemployment and inflation. Obama is now in his third year in office and he promised that if we did things his way in terms of stimulus and regulatory reform that things would get better. They haven't.

Obama’s chief economist Austan Goolsbee called the latest bad news the “bumps on the road to recovery.” But this road is not leading to recovery, it's leading off the cliff. Readers may recall how last summer was touted by the Obama Administration as "Recovery Summer." It was anything but. Remember when V.P. Joe Biden touted the Stimulus Bill? "In my wildest dreams, I never thought it would work this well," said Biden.

The reason things haven't worked out so well is simple. When Obama took office he insisted that he was going to do things his way. He told Republican leaders who offered alternative suggestions that "I won" and he was going to do it his way.

He enacted a stimulus bill that didn't save jobs but did reward Obama's big government and big union supporters. He pushed a health care bill that made it more expensive for employers to hire new workers. His financial and environmental regulatory "reforms" also made it more difficult for business to hire. His oil moratorium, followed by a deliberate slowdown in new permits for oil work meant the loss of thousands of jobs in that industry. His National Labor Relations Board is trying to prevent a new plant for Boeing aircraft from opening in South Carolina because they want the workers to be unionized.

Obama and the Democrats have rejected nearly every measure put forward by the GOP House to restore sanity to economic policy. Meanwhile, Obama's budget was rejected unanimously in the Senate and no Democrat alternative has come forward to challenge the Ryan Plan. The only plan Obama has put forward recently to deal with economic issues is a demand for more taxes and to once again attack Republicans suggesting the Ryan Plan would cause children and seniors to suffer.

Obama to get "unexpected" news in 2012?

The only question now is whether voters will be sufficiently well informed to see through the billion dollar blizzard of scare tactics and deception that Obama and the Democrats will throw at them in 2012 to obfuscate the appalling disaster that is the Obama record on the economy? While most people pay scant attention to politics, they can't help but notice that things are not going well. And there is only one person and one party to blame!

Thursday, June 02, 2011

Mitt Romney Makes it Official

And he comes out swinging hard against Obama!

GOP primary voters are looking for a fighter. We remember how timid Sen. John McCain was about criticizing Obama and we recall how well that worked out. Here's a clip from Mitt Romney's official announcement that he will be a candidate for President in 2012. Cue the player to the 3:30 mark and see if this is the kind of fighter you are looking for:

“A few years ago, Americans did something that was, actually, very much the sort of thing Americans like to do: We gave someone new a chance to lead, someone we hadn’t known for very long, who didn’t have much of a record but promised to lead us to a better place.

At the time, we didn’t know what sort of a president he would make. … Now, in the third year of his four-year term, we have more than promises and slogans to go by. Barack Obama has failed America.”

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Huge Bi-Partisan Majority Rejects Obama Debt Ceiling Increase Request

Even Democrats who earlier demanded a "clean bill" without cuts voted against the bill!

Just six weeks ago Democrats were demanding a straight up or down vote on a bill to increase the debt limit free of any additional cuts or measures to control spending. The White House Spokesperson Jay Carney was on record saying that it was "imperative" that a debt-limit vote not be "held hostage to any other action, because of the consequences of not raising the debt ceiling."

In the U.S. House of Representatives, 114 Democrats signed a letter (PDF) sent to House Democrat leadership demanding that they support a straight up or down vote on a clean bill. The letter stated that "to do otherwise, or to threaten to do so or to leverage our duty to pay our bills to achieve a partisan advantage in budget disputes jeopardizes the full faith and credit of the United States of America."

Obama and House Democrats got their wish on Tuesday with the vote on a clean bill to raise the debt limit by $2 trillion with no strings attached. It went down to defeat with 318 members voting against and only 97 members voting yea. Even some Dems who had earlier signed the letter urging a vote on a clean bill refused to vote yea.

This defeat, sends a strong signal that cuts and some form of spending control MUST be enacted before additional authority is given for new borrowing. Even Democrats now recognize this reality. And the shift in this direction is largely due to the persistance and leadership of House Republicans who have refused to give way in the face of Obama scare tactics about refusing a debt ceiling increase.

Why Rep. Weiner Has Nothing to Fear from Weinergate

You can be a lying scumbag and get away with it if you have a "D" after your name!

Here's a scenario: say you are a  married (Bill Clinton presided over the ceremony last year), powerful and influential congressman from New York and one of your personal online accounts is hacked and the hacker sends a lewd photo, purportedly of you, to a young woman, one of the 200 people you follow on Twitter.  Do you:

A. Call the FBI and demand an investigation.
B. Issue immediate and repeated declarations that the photo is not you and you did not send it to the woman in question.
C. Hire a lawyer and stop talking to the press insisting that further questions are a "distraction."

Rep. Anthony Weiner (DEMOCRAT-NY) choose option "C."

After first insisting his personal Twitter account was hacked, now Weiner is saying it was a "prank" of some sort. Either way, it is a serious criminal matter but  one that Rep. Weiner would apparently rather not pursue. Watch this extraordinary exchange where Weiner refuses to answer point blank questions put to him by reporters on Tuesday:


Text of the interview is here. Weiner stuck to his prepared script repeating the phony comparison of questions regarding this issue to a heckler at a speech to 45,000. Note at one point he calls one reporter a "jack-ass" for pressing the point and demanding an answer to the questions.

Readers may recall that it was little more than three months ago that Rep. Chris Lee, a Republican congressman from New York, resigned after sending shirtless photos of himself to a woman not his wife. Following the special election to fill that seat last week it is now in Democrat hands.

Rep. Lee was pushed out the door by GOP congressional leaders immediately after the story broke. Don't expect Nancy Pelosi to do the same for Weiner. Remember also that when Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned in 2006 after sending text emails to House Pages it wasn't enough that he left Congress. Democrats demanded that GOP leaders be investigated to see what they knew and when. Again, don't hold your breathe for ANY action by House Democrats in this matter.

Rep. Weiner is a noxious little #%*! at the best of times and deserves to be held to the same standard of accountability that he and fellow Dems daily demand of Republicans. But don't bet on it.

It's pretty clear that Weiner is lying about sending the photo. Otherwise, why not make a denial? But since Democrat voters regularly cast their votes for lying scumbags of dubious moral character who cares right?
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