Erick Erickson's Blog, page 168
April 12, 2011
It's What Happens When the Stupid Party and Evil Party Get Together
There is a quote out there that sometimes get attributed to Republican Senate Leader Everett Dirksen and sometimes not. The quote is that there two parties in Washington — the stupid party and the evil party. Every once in a while the stupid party and the evil party get together and do something that is both stupid and evil. In Washington, that is called bipartisanship.
Our United States Senate, led by Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia are on the verge of leading the Congress into doing something both stupid and evil.
It will be heralded by the Washington Press Corp as a grownup act of bipartisan.
To give you a sense of just how bad it is, even Barack Obama is getting in on the act and signaling he will support what Chambliss and Warner come up with if only as a way to shut down serious conversation about Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity."
Last year, Barack Obama formed a Deficit Reduction Commission. The Commission's report came out and Barack Obama promptly treated it like it was an illegitimate child worthy of being shunned.
The White House did not mention it. During Obama's State of the Union address he glossed over and ignored the panel. He punted on every significant issue.
Fast forward to last week. Congressman Paul Ryan introduced his "Path to Prosperity." Even Democrats were calling Paul Ryan "courageous" for his willingness to step out there. The chairmen of the Deficit Commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, praised Ryan's leadership. Many people noted Barack Obama's absence from the debate.
So Obama has to do something. The Washington Post reports Obama will come out and give a lot of platitudes without much substance, but he will claim that his platitudinal direction is far better than Paul Ryan's substantive direction.
He will have Saxby Chambliss and Mark Warner to back him up.
Already Chambliss and Warner are out subtly criticizing Paul Ryan's plan. They are downplaying its significance and making it clear that it won't pass the Senate.
What Chambliss, Warner, and four other Senators have in store for us is the stupid and evil solution — raise taxes, restructure entitlements, and do it in such a way that it keeps the citizenry of the republic fueling the leviathan.
Saxby Chambliss gave away the game in an interview with the Atlanta Journal. He said, in part, "[Y]ou've got to have enough money to run the government, and then you've got to have excess money to start paying down on that debt."
What we know of the Chambliss-Warner plan is that while entitlements will be reformed and the tax code simplified, restructuring programs, entitlements, and taxes will involve keeping Washington at the center of all reforms.
It is stupid to do this because keeping Washington at the center of all reforms will mean that eventually the leviathan will come looking for future sacrifice again. The appetite will be unabated.
It is evil to do this because these reforms are guaranteed to further enslave future generations of Americans to Washington, D.C.
In Saxby Chambliss, Mark Warner, and Barack Obama's world view, Washington, D.C. is the indispensable party. Any conversation about block grants, handing power and money to the states, etc. is unserious and not grownup. They view themselves as the masters of our destiny.
They will commit us to a bipartisan compromise that, in ten years, we will be having to fix. They will do so in way that makes the nation poorer. But they'll win praise from the Washington media and liberal commentariat.
Conservatives, this is the next fight. They will tie this to the debt ceiling. We can stop them, but we must act fast. Conservatives should stake their ground on a balanced budget amendment and passage of Paul Ryan's reforms.
The stupid and evil compromise must be stopped. It is, at its core, made of the same flawed conventional beltway wisdom where the smartest guys in the room get together, hammer out a deal, have the media praise it, and get it passed. In other words, it is exactly like every other deal that has gotten us into the fiscal mess we are in right now.
Morning Briefing for April 12, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For April 12, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. It's What Happens When the Stupid Party and Evil Party Get Together
2. It's Obamacare, Stupid
3. Romney Announces Exploratory PAC
4. "We Are One!" — Unions and Communists Rally in Chicago
5. Children Of The Corn – How Ethanol Damages America!
6. SEIU Demonstrates Its Lack of Civility With 'Civil Disobedience'
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1. It's What Happens When the Stupid Party and Evil Party Get Together
There is a quote out there that sometimes get attributed to Republican Senate Leader Everett Dirksen and sometimes not. The quote is that there two parties in Washington — the stupid party and the evil party. Every once in a while the stupid party and the evil party get together and do something that is both stupid and evil. In Washington, that is called bipartisanship.
Our United States Senate, led by Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia are on the verge of leading the Congress into doing something both stupid and evil.
It will be heralded by the Washington Press Corp as a grownup act of bipartisan.
To give you a sense of just how bad it is, even Barack Obama is getting in on the act and signaling he will support what Chambliss and Warner come up with if only as a way to shut down serious conversation about Paul Ryan's "Path to Prosperity."
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. It's Obamacare, Stupid
Many establishment conservatives are agog with joy over the grand sellout of a budget deal. They feel that John Boehner was the real winner in the debate. The problem is that they are all focusing on the dollar amount of the discretionary spending cuts. They are forgetting the 800-pound gorilla in the room; Obamacare. The cost of O-care to our economy, liberty, consumer choice, and health care system is incalculable; certainly ions more than the diminutive $38 billion (really $26 billion in new cuts) in discretionary cuts that were secured by Boehner.
The Wall Street Journal penned a disingenuous op-ed lauding the spending deal as the " first victory for the Tea Party." They further admonished conservatives for criticizing the deal.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Romney Announces Exploratory PAC
Almost exactly five years after signing Romneycare into law, Mitt Romney has announced (via Twitter) that he is officially forming his exploratory PAC committee, which is the first official step towards an inevitable Presidential run. As a guy who reluctantly came around to supporting Romney in 2008, I cannot see how Mitt Romney expects to harness any of the anger over Obamacare which propelled Republicans to victory in 2010, given that he himself implemented a healthcare plan that is identical in all almost all its particulars.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. "We Are One!" — Unions and Communists Rally in Chicago
You could say that they are one now. At least, there's no denying they're breaking bread and sipping from the same can of alphabet soup these days under the banner of so-called "solidarity."
Over the weekend, thousands of union workers crowded in Chicago's Daley Plaza to show their solidarity(!) with their union comrades in Wisconsin.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Children Of The Corn – How Ethanol Damages America!
So let's make a deal! I'll give you a new source of fuel that has 1/3 the energy of your gasoline. In return for that, I'll dramatically decrease the food supply. As a result of this screaming bargain, you'll end up spending more cash on gasoline to make up for the lost power from this new fuel additive. And furthermore, once we've obliterated metric tons of food production, governments all over the Middle East will become destabilized and disrupt the original supply of fuel we were using before I offered you this bargain. If this sounds about as enticing as the offer Agent Smith made to Cypher Reagan, that only means you are intelligent and have been paying attention.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. SEIU Demonstrates Its Lack of Civility With 'Civil Disobedience'
You've certainly seen enough video footage of the unruly union mobs in Madison, WI for the last two months. Well, the SEIU has taken its mob show on the road and, like the pioneers of old, headed West.
April 11, 2011
Romney Runs and Trans-Men — The Erick Erickson Show
I'm talking about the Mitt Romney announcement and we'll try to figure out what "trans men" and "two spirit" people are on the Erick Erickson Show tonight.
You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.
Consider this an open thread.
The Compromise
Friday night the Republicans and Democrats reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown. The Republicans had promised $100 billion in cuts. They back pedaled to $61 billion in cuts. They have actually agreed to $38.5 billion in cuts, or about four days worth of spending by the federal government.
Many of the conservatives who booed them for going from $100 billion to $61 billion are now ready to dip John Boehner in bronze and champion him as the second coming of Ronald Reagan.
The most depressing bit of all of this is how quickly conservative pundits who promised they were to going to throw off the shackles of fidelity to the Republican Party after Bush and become again true conservative warriors for freedom have descended, automaton like, into guttural cheerleading for a Republican Party that just went from $100 billion in promised cuts to a third of that in actual cuts while selling out the unborn for roughly $1000 per murdered child assuming reports are true that they got the Democrats to increase cuts $1 billion in exchange for dropping the defunding of Planned Parenthood.
God knows if there is one lesson for the Republican leaders in this, it is that they can promise the moon, deliver dirt, and the sycophantic conservative media will pop fireworks, fly American flags, and proclaim that dirt the second coming of Jesus Christ.
It's embarrassing really. The deal is not terrible, but it is not nearly as good as some would have you believe. For starters, that $38.5 billion is total for the year — not an additional cut on top of what was already cut. Let's review the good and the bad.
The good is that we are about to see real cuts in government. These are not cuts in the rate of spending growth, but actual cuts. That is a good thing.
We will also see the survival of the D.C. school voucher program that black parents in Washington, D.C. have been begging for only to see the first black President of the United States send his kids off to a ritzy private school and tell D.C.'s black parent's to go to public school hell.
The District of Columbia will again be prohibited from using any tax payer dollars to fund abortion. Barack Obama had signed that, called the Dornan Amendment, into law in 2009 and it had the support of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Joe Biden in the past. In 2010, the Democrats scrapped it. It is now restored.
As an added bonus, if we take the Democrats at their word, we see now that the Democrats were willing to shut down the government and defund our troops in combat zones all to ensure the federal funding of children being murdered.
For those on the left who'd reverse that and say the GOP was willing to have troops defunded to stop children being murdered, actually the GOP proffered several resolutions to keep soldiers paid during a shut down and the Democrats blocked them all.
On the bad side, the GOP is getting $38.5 billion in total cuts for the year. Additionally, of the $38.5 billion in cuts, several folks on the Hill tell me that $12 billion is from readjusting baselines in the budget and are mostly smoke. But we'll take it. Again though, the actual cuts Friday night were around $26.8 billion, with the original CR having $10 billion and the stop gap over this weekend being $2 billion.
For perspective, the federal government spends $10.46 billion a day. The Democrats and Republicans have now come together to cut out just under 4 days worth of spending out of 365 days. But wait, the GOP and Democrats will say, the fiscal year ends in October.
True, but the spending cuts remain equal to just four days of spending between now and October.
That's not the only bad part.
The Republicans absolutely caved on defunding Planned Parenthood. Sure, the GOP will get a vote in the United States Senate. They will lose that vote and even if they didn't, the matter would get vetoed.
The GOP will also get a vote on defunding Obamacare in the Senate. They will lose that vote too. In fact, they already had that vote and lost once.
Both of these could be gotten at any time by Senate Republicans, so it is not as monumental as it seems.
For a year now the Republicans and Democrats have told us we have serious problems and need serious solutions. They've told us we have a serious budget deficit crisis. On Friday night the two parties came together and decided the crisis they've been telling us about really isn't worth dealing with.
Today we embrace the status quo and welcome our new Chinese masters.
Morning Briefing for April 11, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For April 11, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
It's Now Or Never
1. The Compromise
2. Ezra Klein Supports Killing Black Babies
3. It's Pretty Much Our Own Fault.
4. Republican "Austerity"
5. When Will the Real Fight Finally Commence?
6. Unions & Racism: An Age-Old, Institutional Problem Continues Unabated
7. Appeals Court Approves of Union Fining Member for Reporting Safety Violation
———————————————————————-
It's Now Or Never
On Friday the Republicans and Democrats agreed to cut just under four days worth of spending out of the federal budget, or only a few tenths, if that, off the budget deficit.
Friends, our economic liberty is being diminished and it is both parties doing it. It's now or never — if you want to find out how our economic liberty is being diminished and what you can do to restore it, you need to attend Hillsdale College's free townhall this week.
It starts at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 16, 2011. You can watch all or part of it from the comfort of your own home. Go here right now and register. Time is running out. It is now or never to save the Republic. Find out how to do your part.
Please click here for more details.
1. The Compromise
Friday night the Republicans and Democrats reached a deal to avoid a government shutdown. The Republicans had promised $100 billion in cuts. They back pedaled to $61 billion in cuts. They have actually agreed to $38.5 billion in cuts, or about four days worth of spending by the federal government.
Many of the conservatives who booed them for going from $100 billion to $61 billion are now ready to dip John Boehner in bronze and champion him as the second coming of Ronald Reagan.
The most depressing bit of all of this is how quickly conservative pundits who promised they were to going to throw off the shackles of fidelity to the Republican Party after Bush and become again true conservative warriors for freedom have descended, automaton like, into guttural cheerleading for a Republican Party that just went from $100 billion in promised cuts to a third of that in actual cuts while selling out the unborn for roughly $1000 per murdered child assuming reports are true that they got the Democrats to increase cuts $1 billion in exchange for dropping the defunding of Planned Parenthood.
God knows if there is one lesson for the Republican leaders in this, it is that they can promise the moon, deliver dirt, and the sycophantic conservative media will pop fireworks, fly American flags, and proclaim that dirt the second coming of Jesus Christ.
It's embarrassing really. The deal is not terrible, but it is not nearly as good as some would have you believe. For starters, that $38.5 billion is total for the year — not an additional cut on top of what was already cut. Let's review the good and the bad.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Ezra Klein Supports Killing Black Babies
What's wrong with you, bitter clingers? Don't you realize that a dead child is a cheap child? I mean, all dead babies cost is the funds to suck or cut them mercilessly from their mother's womb. Presto! No more pesky expenses of a living child.
Ezra Klein, writing at the Washington Post, actually proffers that argument in favor of taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood; that abortions are cheaper for the government than having an "unintended pregnancy". (That's their euphemism for unborn baby killed by abortion.) His article is filled with predictable talking points, all easily disproved – the SBA List has already done so here. Setting the horrid spin aside, his concluding paragraph is truly vile.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. It's Pretty Much Our Own Fault.
Any honest reckoning of the budget deal the House GOP appears to have reached must view it as a result of negotiations in which one side — the Democrats — believed they had the upper hand, and the other — the GOP — agreed. From the start, the brain trust that nominally holds the majority in the House made clear that they would brutally knife their own mothers to avoid a shutdown, because the memory of the last is burned into their pathetic neurons for all of time, and they believe they'll suffer the way the last Republican majority did. I don't believe that's an accurate assessment of the likely fallout of the shutdown the submorons on the Hill clearly felt they needed to avoid, and I'll discuss that, but we all need to remember: This is our fault, yours and mine, and every activist's and voter's who helped these clowns get elected.
That's sort of counterintuitive, isn't it? It isn't, if you think about it.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Republican "Austerity"
o, let me get this straight…
After all the back and forth, pledges, promises, tough fiscal talk and discussions of shutdown… Republicans have agreed to pass another short term CR with a few billion dollars in cuts - all being jammed through tonight by voice vote and basically sight-unseen (classic Washington transparency). This to get us to next week.
Then, Republicans are likely going to cut a deal for something around $40 billion max (likely upper-30's) of cuts, and not uphold their own pledge to cut $100 billion (much less the smaller amount of $61 billion originally offered), and then fail to draw even the faintest line in the sand on policies (so-called "riders") of any significance, such as federal funding of Planned Parenthood (i.e. tax dollars used to support the death of hundreds of thousands of babies annually) or Obamacare.
Oh sure, Republican leadership will hide behind some symbolic votes in the Senate (which can easily be gained through any real effort anyway) and behind supposedly "significant" cuts of $39 billion, or some such.
Keep in mind that our national deficit - not debt, mind you, but annual deficit - this year alone will surpass $1.5 Trillion, and thus, the $39 billion in cuts represents well less than 3% of the hole we are digging…
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. When Will the Real Fight Finally Commence?
ver the weekend, Speaker John Boehner showed that he is even more conservative than the Tea Party. While the petulant rubes in the Tea Party were credulously focusing on the 'small potatoes' of the 2011 budget, Boehner wisely decided to proceed to the real fight; the debt ceiling and the FY 2012 budget. In the process, he even secured $38 billion, or 1%, in cuts from this year's budget, along with the funding for a D.C. voucher program.
In addition to being an intrepid conservative and a tenacious negotiator, Boehner is also a skilled mathematician. He knew from the very beginning that 38 billion is more than half way between 0 and 61 billion. Game over, Democrats lose! Even though half of the alleged cuts might comprise of Democrat cuts in mandatory spending, and another $10 billion might include the previous CR cuts, those are just minor points.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. Unions & Racism: An Age-Old, Institutional Problem Continues Unabated
It is rather ironic that, last week, union bosses used the anniversary Rev. Martin Luther King's assassination to try to drum up support for the union cause. You see, even after all these years, racism and discrimination within the walls of the House of Labor is still very real. As noted by UnionFacts.com, since 2000, there have been over 4,200 complaints filed against unions for racial discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. In some cities, it is a bigger problem than in others. However, the one area where union racism seems to rear its ugly head the most often is with the construction trade unions, where African Americans are often excluded from work.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
7. Appeals Court Approves of Union Fining Member for Reporting Safety Violation
It should come as no shock that unions have rules. They are usually a codified set of rules and union members are expected to abide by those rules. Almost always, a union's rules are spelled out in the union's constitution. If a member violates a union rule, a union has the legal right to place that member on trial (a union trial). If the member is found guilty at the union trial, the union has the right to impose fines, suspend or even expel the member.
Some of the more well-known rules are don't cross a picket line or don't be disloyal to the union. However, there are some lesser known union rules that could cause members to be tried by their union. For example, showing up at a union meeting intoxicated, or trying to kick a union out of the workplace (that's disloyal), or even wronging a fellow member are all examples of rules that are in many union constitutions. And, let there be no mistake, unions do enforce their rules and fine their members.
April 8, 2011
Live Coverage of the Shutdown — The Erick Erickson Show
Tonight at 7pm ET on the Erick Erickson Show, I'll go live to Washington, DC for coverage of the possible government shutdown.
You can listen live at http://wsbradio.com and call in at 1-800-WSB-TALK.
Consider this an open thread.
Why Won't John Boehner Give HR 1297 A Vote?
Editorial Note: As mentioned below, there is late breaking news that the GOP and Democrat may have reached a deal for $38 billion in cuts and another continuing resolution. No word yet on if the Defense budget will be fully funded in the deal.
UPDATE: I'm told that the Speaker's Office does not think there is a firm deal yet, which makes passage of HR 1297 all the more important.
UPDATE 2: The Senate has 60 votes for HR 1297 right now. The House wants to move H.R. 1363, which would fund the entire Department of Defense instead of just making sure troops get paid during a shutdown.
————-
HR 1297 is a measure drafted by Reps. Gohmert of Texas and Kingston of Georgia to ensure the military will get paid even if there is a shutdown.
Senator Hutchison has the corresponding measure in the Senate with 50 co-sponsors.
Because it is an appropriations matter, it had to start in the House.
The Speaker and leadership have not let it come to a vote. In fact, one source I spoke to said freshmen congressmen had been told military pay needed to be addressed in the continuing resolution.
That's not true if HR 1297 passes.
Senate sources tell me that the matter would be handled expeditiously in the Senate if the House would just pass it, thereby putting the burden on Barack Obama to either pay the troops or hold them hostage to a shutdown.
With news breaking right now that there may be a deal for cuts around $38 billion, it seems the matter may not be necessary. But this is key — if the House would pass HR 1297, it would free up conservatives to fight for more cuts without a threat of not paying troops.
Of course, that might mean the compromise of only $38 billion gets shot down by conservatives if the conservatives know the troops are spared.
The House should pass HR 1297 and get it to the Senate today.
Barack Obama Takes Our Soldiers Hostage to a Shutdown
Over at Big Government, Mike Flynn has a fascinating post on what Barack Obama is doing to our soldiers.
In the past, American soldiers were classified as essential personnel. Therefore, should the government shut down our soldiers would keep getting paid.
But Barack Obama has decided to hold our American soldiers hostage to a government shutdown. The Commander-in-Chief has, via the Secretary of the Department of Defense, proposed classifying our men and women in harm's way as "non-essential." That means, should the government shut down, they will not be paid.
As Mike Flynn notes, during the previous two government shutdowns during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, soldiers were treated as essential. Barack Obama is not following suit.
It is important to note that the "non-essential" classification is a draft recommendation, but it is a huge departure from prior shutdowns and comes directly from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Why would Barack Obama and the Democrats do this? The answer is simple.
They need to change the message because right now they are losing. And they are willing to use our soldiers as hostages to get that message changed. Let me tell you why.
Democrats are getting pasted in the budget debate generally. They can't beat the GOP on the argument that cuts are needed. The Democrats have no plan for cutting the deficit, and even liberals are calling Paul Ryan 'courageous.' They can't win, because they simply can't engage on cutting entitlements. So the GOP was winning on budget cutting, winning on the FY 2012 budget, and likely to win on the debt ceiling vote. The Democrats need a way to change the debate.
Remember, the only reason we are on the verge of a government shutdown is because for the first time since the budget act was passed in the mid-seventies, a Congress — controlled by Democrats last year — failed to pass a budget. That's right. We are where we are because the Democrats last year failed to pass a budget and now are refusing to go along with cuts as the GOP sorts out the mess the Democrats made.
The only way the White House can do that is to get a shutdown. They want to put the blame on the GOP, but even more than that, they want a shutdown. So the argument will be that spending bills start in the House, and the House still hasn't passed anything that can get 60 votes in the Senate. And until they do, the fault for the shutdown lies with the GOP. And, in the meantime, our soldiers are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya and cannot get paid.
With a media all too willing to push the anti-GOP position, we can bet the first photo in the newspapers the day after the shutdown will be of a boy scout locked out of the Smithsonian and the second picture will be of a flag draped coffin of a soldier with the headline "Because of the GOP, He Died Without Pay".
The Democrats will get their shutdown, and the debate will change to how to get the government open again. And when there is an agreement, Obama will take the credit for bringing the sides together. And he will be the hero.
Meanwhile, our troops fighting a non-essential non-war in Libya are reclassified just like the non-war.
Morning Briefing for April 8, 2011
RedState Morning Briefing
For April 8, 2011
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. Barack Obama Takes Our Soldiers Hostage to a Shutdown
2. Why a Government Shutdown is Not a Bad Thing
3. Possibility of Terrorist Attacks Coming From Libya
4. Recount Gives Prosser a Lead in Wisconsin…For Now
5. Can't Afford Gas For Your Car? Trade It in, Rubes Says Obama
6. Obama to Reduce Gas Prices by Blowing Smoke
———————————————————————-
1. Barack Obama Takes Our Soldiers Hostage to a Shutdown
Over at Big Government, Mike Flynn has a fascinating post on what Barack Obama is doing to our soldiers.
In the past, American soldiers were classified as essential personnel. Therefore, should the government shut down our soldiers would keep getting paid.
But Barack Obama has decided to hold our American soldiers hostage to a government shutdown. The Commander-in-Chief has, via the Secretary of the Department of Defense, proposed classifying our men and women in harm's way as "non-essential." That means, should the government shut down, they will not be paid.
As Mike Flynn notes, during the previous two government shutdowns during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, soldiers were treated as essential. Barack Obama is not following suit.
It is important to note that the "non-essential" classification is a draft recommendation, but it is a huge departure from prior shutdowns and comes directly from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Why would Barack Obama and the Democrats do this? The answer is simple.
They need to change the message because right now they are losing. And they are willing to use our soldiers as hostages to get that message changed. Let me tell you why.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. Why a Government Shutdown is Not a Bad Thing
The same media and Democrat communications apparati (but I repeat myself) that have been claiming that the Republican-proposed budget would kill 700,000 children are now wringing their hands about a looming "government shutdown," which we may assume would be fictively responsible for an astronomically higher number of deaths than a federal budget that spends 98.4% of what was spent the previous year.
If passing a budget alone really is the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of young Americans, the Democrats sure do have a lot of blood on their hands for the last year-plus they spent not passing a budget so that they wouldn't have to have difficult votes on their records heading into last November's electoral referendum on unsustainable fiscal practices.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. Possibility of Terrorist Attacks Coming From Libya
Well that's a fine mess you've gotten us into Mr. Obama.
"The U.S. is monitoring the possibility of terrorist attacks originating in Libya, either from the forces of Muammar Qaddafi or rebels who may have associated with terror groups in the past, FBI Director Robert Mueller said."
I think any of us could and would expect terror attacks originating from (Kh)(G(h))(Q)addafi. But from the rebels?
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Recount Gives Prosser a Lead in Wisconsin…For Now
I'm sure most of you remember that, according to the official results of the initial count, JoAnne Kloppenburg led the incumbent David Prosser 740,090 to 739,886, or by 204 votes. Obviously with results this close, a recount was in order.
Fortunately, things seem to be looking up for Prosser as the re-canvassing has brought more votes in for him. Many more.
Per the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, some more Prosser votes started to trickle in from Winnebago county, netting him 244 more votes, which translates into a 40 vote lead statewide.
The good news by no means ends there, though. The bombshell development that could seal this for Prosser came in the form of 7000+ votes for him that weren't counted in Waukesha County (a Prosser stronghold) thanks to a computer error.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
5. Can't Afford Gas For Your Car? Trade It in, Rubes Says Obama
According to the AP, after bravely running away from the impending Government shut-down Crisis ™, President Obama attended a townhall meeting in Pennsylvania. During the course of the rally townhall meeting, he had this to say in response to a father of ten children relaying that he could not afford to fill his gas tank.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
6. Obama to Reduce Gas Prices by Blowing Smoke
Oil and natural gas are our primary transportation fuels, supplying 97% of the energy (27 quadrillion BTUs!) that we use annually to move our cars, trucks, buses, boats, planes and trains.
The 3% that comes from renewables is ethanol.
Beware the man who tells you he's ever going to reduce our oil imports by growing wind and solar energy. Wind and solar are used to generate electricity, which they do in paltry amounts.
Beware the man who tells you that it's going to take a "couple of years" of high gas prices to turn things around.
April 7, 2011
Congress is Taking a Vacation
Jim Moran (D-VA) says that if the government shuts down (or not), Congress is going to go on a two week vacation. Barack Obama has decided to go off on a mini-vacation already.
In other words, Moran wants you to think it'll be two weeks before the government opens back up. Not really. The Speaker and Senate Majority Leader or the President himself can call Congress back to Washington to deal with a matter.
But, if Moran is right, why not stick around and try to not shut down the government, Jim? You'd rather your vacation?
What about the troops?
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