Erick Erickson's Blog, page 28
August 6, 2012
Thanks
It is one of the bugs we have to work out. On the weekend of the RedState Gathering, there’s very little content about the RedState Gathering at RedState. Most of us are at the event. Next year we will have to live stream the whole thing on the front page.
This year’s event was a great success. I could not have put this event together without Caleb Howe. He is an indispensable part of the success of the event. This year, Elizabeth Setterlin and Joe Guerriero at Eagle Publishing really helped out too. And, of course, Donna Howe deserves special thanks for keeping Caleb and me in line.
Our speakers were amazing. Thanks to Governor Rick Scott for a great party on Friday night and then a great welcome to the event. Governor Jindal brought the house down. For a guy who supposedly can’t give a good speech, he got repeated standing ovations and used no teleprompter.
David Limbaugh, Ken Cuccinelli, Karen Handel, Ron Johnson, Jim Jordan, Ted Cruz, Reince Priebus, Sharon Day, Dana Loesch, and so many other exceptional speakers got up close and personal with several hundred grassroots activists. They spoke, answered questions, shook hands, and posed for pictures.
This was the first major event Ted Cruz attended since winning last Tuesday. He hung out with the crowd on Thursday night meeting everyone and then spoke Friday morning. This is what makes RedState Gatherings so unique — the candidates come to hang out, not just rush in and out.
On Saturday, NBC News showed up and broke the story to the world that Governor Bobby Jindal gave a pretty strong show of support to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI, HAFA 76%). It wasn’t an endorsement, but it was pretty strong. By the way, I have to say I was impressed with NBC’s coverage of the RedState Gathering. For a network we are all skeptical of, it was really fair, its reporter was quite engaging, and it was willing to show up.
There are a few thank you’s that are essential this year. We could not have put the event together and kept the cost to attendees as low as we did without some major sponsors. The Franklin Center and Ending Spending were our major sponsors this year. They were jointed by Freedom Works, Heritage Action for America, and the Madison Project. Thanks to them for their support and assistance.
We have to also give a special thank you to American Majority. In addition to some truly brilliant training sessions, American Majority provided a crew this year to help with registration. This was the first time we didn’t grab random RedState readers to help out. We could not have done this event without Ned Ryun and his fabulous team at American Majority.
I must also thank the outstanding crew at Breitbart.com. It is kind of funny that over the weekend of the RedState Gathering, Breitbart.com had more coverage of it than us. Thanks guys. Same goes for the outstanding team at Human Events. Cathy Taylor and Pat Frank are both joys to work with and provided a camera and stream of major speeches. The always excellent John Hayward gave us diligent online coverage. I am so proud of Cathy Taylor’s work at Human Events and was so glad she could be at this year’s Gathering.
Lastly, and most importantly, thanks to all of you. The RedState Gathering is like a family reunion for RedState and every year new members of the family come. I met new people and made new friends as did so many others at the Gathering. Four years ago we couldn’t really think of a name for the event. I’d been calling it a “gathering” and it just stuck. Each year like minded conservative activists gather to support small government conservatives and meet face to face.
This year we met at the Jacksonville, FL Omni Hotel. We’re going to do it all over again next year. Originally, because it was our 5th year, we were going to go back to Atlanta, where it all began. But I’m wondering if Governor Jindal might take up the challenge to see if he can throw a better party for the attendees than Governors Perry, Haley, and Scott have these past years. Hmmmm . . . . stay tuned.
The RedState Gathering grows and gets better every single year. We’re already less than a year from the next one. I hope to see you then.
Morning Briefing for August 6, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
August 6, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
It is one of the bugs we have to work out. On the weekend of the RedState Gathering, there’s very little content about the RedState Gathering at RedState. Most of us are at the event. Next year we will have to live stream the whole thing on the front page.
This year’s event was a great success. I could not have put this event together without Caleb Howe. He is an indispensable part of the success of the event. This year, Elizabeth Setterlin and Joe Guerriero at Eagle Publishing really helped out too. And, of course, Donna Howe deserves special thanks for keeping Caleb and me in line.
Our speakers were amazing. Thanks to Governor Rick Scott for a great party on Friday night and then a great welcome to the event. Governor Jindal brought the house down. For a guy who supposedly can’t give a good speech, he got repeated standing ovations and used no teleprompter.
David Limbaugh, Ken Cuccinelli, Karen Handel, Ron Johnson, Jim Jordan, Ted Cruz, Reince Priebus, Sharon Day, Dana Loesch, and so many other exceptional speakers got up close and personal with several hundred grassroots activists. They spoke, answered questions, shook hands, and posed for pictures.
This was the first major event Ted Cruz attended since winning last Tuesday. He hung out with the crowd on Thursday night meeting everyone and then spoke Friday morning. This is what makes RedState Gatherings so unique — the candidates come to hang out, not just rush in and out.
On Saturday, NBC News showed up and broke the story to the world that Governor Bobby Jindal gave a pretty strong show of support to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI, HAFA 76%). It wasn’t an endorsement, but it was pretty strong. By the way, I have to say I was impressed with NBC’s coverage of the RedState Gathering. For a network we are all skeptical of, it was really fair, its reporter was quite engaging, and it was willing to show up.
There are a few thank you’s that are essential this year. We could not have put the event together and kept the cost to attendees as low as we did without some major sponsors. The Franklin Center and Ending Spending were our major sponsors this year. They were jointed by Freedom Works, Heritage Action for America, and the Madison Project. Thanks to them for their support and assistance.
We have to also give a special thank you to American Majority. In addition to some truly brilliant training sessions, American Majority provided a crew this year to help with registration. This was the first time we didn’t grab random RedState readers to help out. We could not have done this event without Ned Ryun and his fabulous team at American Majority.
I must also thank the outstanding crew at Breitbart.com. It is kind of funny that over the weekend of the RedState Gathering, Breitbart.com had more coverage of it than us. Thanks guys. Same goes for the outstanding team at Human Events. Cathy Taylor and Pat Frank are both joys to work with and provided a camera and stream of major speeches. The always excellent John Hayward gave us diligent online coverage. I am so proud of Cathy Taylor’s work at Human Events and was so glad she could be at this year’s Gathering.
Lastly, and most importantly, thanks to all of you. The RedState Gathering is like a family reunion for RedState and every year new members of the family come. I met new people and made new friends as did so many others at the Gathering. Four years ago we couldn’t really think of a name for the event. I’d been calling it a “gathering” and it just stuck. Each year like minded conservative activists gather to support small government conservatives and meet face to face.
This year we met at the Jacksonville, FL Omni Hotel. We’re going to do it all over again next year. Originally, because it was our 5th year, we were going to go back to Atlanta, where it all began. But I’m wondering if Governor Jindal might take up the challenge to see if he can throw a better party for the attendees than Governors Perry, Haley, and Scott have these past years. Hmmmm . . . . stay tuned.
The RedState Gathering grows and gets better every single year. We’re already less than a year from the next one. I hope to see you then.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
Thank You Steve Penley
If you attended the RedState Gathering last year in Charleston, SC or this year in Jacksonville, FL you would have seen some very beautiful paintings of Presidents and scenes from American history.
My dear friend Steve Penley from Carrollton, GA is one of the best American artists alive today. For two years he has brought over the paintings. This year, though he was at the Olympics, he sent down 8 absolutely gorgeous paintings to flank both sides of the stage.
Steve would not let us cover the cost of transporting the paintings down. It was his gift to the RedState Gathering and we really appreciate it.
I’ve gotten a lot of requests for how to track him down to buy his paintings. All of those on display at the RedState Gathering are for sale and he does stunning work. If you are interested in an original painting or a print, go to www.penleyartco.com for more information.
August 3, 2012
Morning Briefing for August 3, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
August 3, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
Good morning from the RedState Gathering.
Last night we all hung out with Ted Cruz. It was a great night. In a few hours he’ll formally address the Gathering. Tonight we’re taking a cruise on the river with Governor Rick Scott. A good time will be had by all.
If you missed this year, next year we will be back in Atlanta for our fifth anniversary. At our first RedState Gathering we had Nikki Haley, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ken Cuccinelli, and Pat Toomey. I’m going to do my best to put the band back together, so to speak, for next year. Hope to see you then.
Erick
1. Tax-Exempt Liberal Groups Exploit Gray Areas of Financial Disclosure Law
2. Regulation Tidal Wave
3. Scandal Redux: Catholic Relief Services Edition
4. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA): Captain Ahab or Doctor Evil?
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1. Tax-Exempt Liberal Groups Exploit Gray Areas of Financial Disclosure Law
Colorado Common Cause, a political non-profit which aims to serve “the public interest, rather than the special interests,” is a political powerhouse with revenues of more than $6 million in 2011 alone. It first registered to operate in Colorado on October 4, 2002, and spent the next ten years raising money and directing it to liberal causes and candidates. Despite operating in the state as a clearly political entity since its inception, records show that Colorado Common Cause has failed to consistently file required disclosure reports with the state since 2003.
But Common Cause is not alone when it comes to refusing to file required disclosure reports. Liberal organizations in Colorado have been exploiting gray areas surrounding a 2005 amendment to a key financial disclosure law, intentionally refusing to file required periodic reports on time. Before the law was amended, any organization that failed to file its financial disclosure reports on time could be administratively dissolved.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
2. Regulation Tidal Wave
A looming tax increase or the threat of higher unemployment usually receives a lot of attention in Washington, D.C. Many politicians can’t wait to lead a charge to avoid any hardship on the American families. But there is eerie silence on another front that is fast approaching our country: a tidal wave of costly federal regulations.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
3. Scandal Redux: Catholic Relief Services Edition
For those who haven’t been watching, there’s another scandal brewing in the Catholic Church — this time with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the promotion of some very un-Catholic things.
The good folks over at Life Site News just uncovered a rather unsettling relationship between CRS and an organization called the CORE Group, but there seems to be more to the story than a simple working relationship.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
4. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA): Captain Ahab or Doctor Evil?
Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, has a major obsession. Markey’s Great White Whale is called the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act of 1995.
August 2, 2012
Morning Briefing for August 2, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
August 2, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. The Defense Sequester And Tax Hikes
2. About The Budget Agreement
3. Arrogance
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1. The Defense Sequester And Tax Hikes
Rep. Randy Forbes (R-VA) had a battle of words with OMB Director Jeffrey Zients in the House Armed Services Committee yesterday regarding looming automatic defense cuts. This debate is a preview of what we shall see on the national stage this fall’s presidential and Congressional races.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
2. About The Budget Agreement
Yesterday, it was announced that John Boehner and Harry Reid had reached an early agreement on the FY 2013 budget in order to avoid a government shutdown on October 1. Pursuant to the agreement, both chambers will vote on a 6-month continuing resolution after returning from the August recess in September. The CR will provide spending for discretionary programs set at the $1.047 trillion level agreed upon in last year’s debt ceiling agreement instead of the $1.028 trillion figure prescribed in the House-passed budget. It will also continue funding for Obamacare.
Please click here to read the rest of the post.
3. Arrogance
Voters in Georgia do not trust the political establishment in Georgia right now. What compounds this is that I get the sense much of the political establishment in Georgia holds the citizens in contempt. They just won’t do as they are told.
The T-SPLOST fell victim to this conundrum. The Georgia Legislature, in the past four years, has decided that instead of voting to cut spending or raise taxes, they’d send tax increases for votes with the people. The first was on trauma care funding. It failed. Now its was infrastructure spending.
The legislature came up with something called a Transportation Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax, or T-SPLOST. Voters in twelve regions of the state — artificial constructs created by bureaucrats — were told by the legislature to either raise their taxes by 16% or see their transportation funding cut. It didn’t go like the legislature and local politicians expected it to. The voters overwhelmingly rejected the T-SPLOST in most of the state.
Now, of course, several regions of the state went along with it. Some of those areas are the poorest in the state. Their sales tax will now increase putting them at more of a competitive disadvantage to neighboring regions. It is the consequence of some rather narrow thinking of politicians convinced of their own righteousness.
August 1, 2012
Arrogance
Voters in Georgia do not trust the political establishment in Georgia right now. What compounds this is that I get the sense much of the political establishment in Georgia holds the citizens in contempt. They just won’t do as they are told.
The T-SPLOST fell victim to this conundrum. The Georgia Legislature, in the past four years, has decided that instead of voting to cut spending or raise taxes, they’d send tax increases for votes with the people. The first was on trauma care funding. It failed. Now its was infrastructure spending.
The legislature came up with something called a Transportation Special Purpose Local Options Sales Tax, or T-SPLOST. Voters in twelve regions of the state — artificial constructs created by bureaucrats — were told by the legislature to either raise their taxes by 16% or see their transportation funding cut. It didn’t go like the legislature and local politicians expected it to. The voters overwhelmingly rejected the T-SPLOST in most of the state.
Now, of course, several regions of the state went along with it. Some of those areas are the poorest in the state. Their sales tax will now increase putting them at more of a competitive disadvantage to neighboring regions. It is the consequence of some rather narrow thinking of politicians convinced of their own righteousness.
Governor Nathan Deal — truth be told — never liked the T-SPLOST idea. He was a team player and wound up on the losing side of a plan he never much cared for to begin with. The ball is now in his court and he has the opportunity to both restore trust and have a more tremendous impact on the state than his last two predecessors, neither of whom have left much of a legacy.
In doing so, the Governor’s first step should not be to come up with a plan.
Governor Deal’s first step should be to change the attitude of the political leaders in the state, from the Republican leadership to the army of high paid lobbyists and lawyers on Peachtree to the Chamber of Commerce. These people ooze contempt for the average voter. The Chamber’s campaign for the T-SPLOST had more of a “why don’t you people just do as you are told!” feel for it than an actual persuasive effort. The persuasive component was unconvincing, complicated, and rather disingenuous.
Atlanta would not be untied by the T-SPLOST. Everybody knows it. That the T-SPLOST supporters made the argument with a straight face made it even more laughable.
The Mason-Dixon poll by the AJC that came out the Sunday before the election showed that 41% of voters were less likely to vote for the T-SPLOST because Governor Deal got rid of the toll of GA-400. Voters viewed it as a desperate political ploy and they are tired of too clever by half ploys to woo them. 90% of voters know Metro Atlanta needs to address its traffic problems. But the T-SPLOST was a too easy solution for politicians always in search of easy answers.
Voters are tired of the political class in Georgia. They do not trust them. They are pretty sure the political class does not care for them and the feeling is now largely mutual.
On WSB Radio on Monday, the T-SPLOST proponents argued for the T-SPLOSt with the same rhetoric President Obama used to pass his stimulus plan in 2009 — a stimulus plan he no longer talks about given its deep unpopularity. In the WSB debate, Dave Williams of the Chamber of Commerce uttered the T-SPLOST equivalent of Barack Obama’s “you didn’t build that” line. He told the listening audience, “Delta is a job creator, which is something that a lot of these tea parties don’t do.”
In other words, listen to Delta, which stands to benefit from your tax increase instead of the tea party. It ignores that many tea party activists are small businessmen. It pits small businessmen against big business — a growing problem for the Chamber of Commerce. And it just highlighted again the contempt the T-SPLOST campaign showed for its opponents.
Regardless of Dave Williams’ view of the tea party, it and the overwhelming majority of the Atlanta region were much more effective than the Chamber and its friends $8 million. All the opponents of the T-SPLOSt campaign had to do was point out the political opportunism of the T-SPLOST supporters and remind voters of their distrust of government.
You can’t buy trust. You earn it. T-SPLOST supporters never did that.
The Establishment’s Near Sexual Advances on Ted Cruz Are About to Begin
It turned into an atrociously nasty runoff. The same crew who failed Governor Rick Perry’s Presidential bid has now also sunk David Dewhurst’s bid for the Senate and spent tens of millions of dollars in the process. Along the way they damaged Governor Perry’s credibility with the tea party and picked every scab possible to make Ted Cruz’s election as painful as possible.
Who knows — maybe they’ll cut Dewhurst a deal on a gubernatorial bid in two years.
Despite all the barbs and lies and dirty tricks, including phone calls to Cruz voters during yesterday’s primary telling them to vote today, Ted Cruz won.
It is a very satisfying victory. Ted has spoken at every RedState Gathering and will be the first speaker at this year’s Gathering too. He will make a fine Senator.
A lot of people are going to give lots of credit to lots of people for Ted Cruz’s win. Success has many fathers. A lot of people will also make a lot of wild claims about what it means for the GOP and its supposed radical drift right — a drift right that in 2010 saw it pick up more electoral victories than any time since the late 1800′s.
One thing a lot of people will fail to comment on is that the Tea Party victories of 2010 have morphed into anti-establishment victories in 2012. On both the left and right, the base hates its leaders. It has moved beyond distrust to contempt.
In Georgia last night Republican voters across the state rejected Republican proposals for infrastructure taxes and spending and, in the process, threw out a number of incumbent Republicans in retribution. In Texas, several strong conservatives got the nod over candidates backed by Republican leaders. In Florida, Michigan, Tennessee, and Arizona, as the primaries get closer, voters are rallying to the outsiders, the real small government conservatives, and the people most likely to pick a fight with their own party.
The media views these races as the “fringe” taking over. But the media has been and is as much a part of the problem as the people being thrown on the ash heap of history in these primaries. The media likes the “smart” guys who sit in the room and make deals. Voters increasingly want people to say not just “no” but “hell no.”
Should Ted Cruz win the general election, and the odds are in his favor, he will join Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Pat Toomey, and Ron Johnson as yet another Senator who owed his nomination more to Jim DeMint than the Republican leaders in Congress.
Already, as the sun rises this morning, there is a great game of co-opting happening. Republican leaders and conservative establishmentarians are already whispering that Ted is a “reasonable” and “smart” conservative. “He won’t be like Jim DeMint.”
Ted Cruz established himself by being like Jim DeMint. He better remember that as the great fellating of his ego by Washington insiders begins. The Republicans in Washington aim to co-opt him, to pacify him, and to make him an ally in preservation of the status quo. They will use conservative editorialists, fundraisers, and others to do the dirty work. They will try to surround him with staff who can “tame” him and “show him the ropes.” They will push conservative think tankers on him who know the game and where their real allegiance is. They will try to undermine him while building him up.
Washington insiders always try to bring outsiders to the inside. Jim DeMint remains a hero to the antiestablishment crowd because that crowd knows he won’t be bought off. Ted Cruz will, we can all hope and expect, be a Texas version of Jim DeMint, and not just another go along to get along Republican on the way past $16 trillion in debt.
The message of this election is that the trend continues — the base is tired of politics and usual and back room compromises that keep growing government. The base wants Ted Cruz to fight.
One parting point worth reiterating – the Perry-Dewhurst shared campaign team spent $50 million in the past year to ruin the reputations of Rick Perry and Ted Cruz. That’s just sad.
RedState Gathering 2012: The Agenda #RSG12
The RedState Gathering starts tomorrow — well really Friday morning. Ted Cruz of Texas will kick us off Friday and Governor Rick Scott is going to join us for a cruise down the St. Johns River that evening.
There is still time to register. Go to www.redstategathering.com if you are interested. In the meantime, on Twitter we’re using the hashtag #RSG12.
Here now is the complete and final RedState Gathering 2012 agenda. Oh, and if you come, you might just get a sneak peek at a redesign of RedState coming very soon.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
2:00 p.m. Registration Begins
5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Florida GOP Straw Poll Vote
7:00 p.m. Welcome Reception
8:30 p.m. Blogger Happy Hour
Friday, August 3, 2012
8:45 a.m. Welcome by Erick Erickson, Editor, RedState.com
9:00 a.m. Hon. Ted Cruz
Candidate for the United States Senate in Texas
Introduction by Brian Baker, President of Ending Spending
9:30 a.m. Hon. Sharon Day
Co-Chair of the Republican National Committee
10:00 a.m. American Majority training sessions
1:00 p.m. LUNCH
2:00 pm. Hon. Karen Harrington
Candidate for Congress from Florida
2:30 p.m. Hon. Reince Priebus
Chairman, Republican National Committee
3:00 p.m. Ice Cream Social
3:30 p.m. Occupy Unmasked
A panel discussion with a preview of Citizens United’s latest movie
4:30 p.m. Hon. Ken Cuccinelli
Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia
5:00 p.m. Maj. Sean Bielat (USMCR)
Candidate for Congress in Massachusetts
6:00 p.m. Reception hosted by Florida Gov. Rick Scott
Saturday, August 4, 2012
8:30 a.m. Morning Overview by Erick Erickson, Editor, RedState.com
9:00 a.m. Welcome by Hon. Rick Scott
Governor of Florida
9:30 a.m. Hon. Karen Handel
Former Secretary of State of Georgia
10:00 a.m. Hon. Jim Jordan
U.S. Representative from Ohio
Chairman, Republican Study Committee
10:30 a.m. BREAK
10:45 a.m. Hon. Ron Johnson
U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
11:15 a.m. RNC Presentation by Mr. Matt DeLuca
11:45 a.m. LUNCH
1:30 p.m. Hon. Sandy Adams
U.S. Representative from Florida
2:00 p.m. Lt. Ron DeSantis (USNR)
Candidate for Congress in Florida
2:30 p.m. Hon. Bobby Jindal
Governor of Louisiana
3:00 p.m. Best selling author David Limbaugh
Author of The Great Destroyer
3:30 p.m. BREAK
David Limbaugh Book Signing
4:00 p.m. Chauncey Goss
Candidate for Congress in Florida
4:30 p.m. Meet the RedState Contributors
Annual Diarist Promotion
6:15 p.m. Reception
7:00 p.m. Dinner
Presentation by the Franklin Center
for Government & Public Integrity
Sunday Morning — informal gathering for breakfast and prayers.
Morning Briefing for August 1, 2012
RedState Morning Briefing
August 1, 2012
Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.
1. RedState Gathering 2012: The Agenda #RSG12
2. The Establishment’s Near Sexual Advances on Ted Cruz Are About to Begin
3. The Department of Labor’s attempt to cover for Obama
4. Brilliant, Ohio coal plant closes: guess why?
———————————————————————-
1. RedState Gathering 2012: The Agenda #RSG12
The RedState Gathering starts tomorrow — well really Friday morning. Ted Cruz of Texas will kick us off Friday and Governor Rick Scott is going to join us for a cruise down the St. Johns River that evening.
There is still time to register. Go to www.redstategathering.com if you are interested. In the meantime, on Twitter we’re using the hashtag #RSG12.
Here now is the complete and final RedState Gathering 2012 agenda. Oh, and if you come, you might just get a sneak peek at a redesign of RedState coming very soon.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
2. The Establishment’s Near Sexual Advances on Ted Cruz Are About to Begin
It turned into an atrociously nasty runoff. The same crew who failed Governor Rick Perry’s Presidential bid has now also sunk David Dewhurst’s bid for the Senate and spent tens of millions of dollars in the process. Along the way they damaged Governor Perry’s credibility with the tea party and picked every scab possible to make Ted Cruz’s election as painful as possible.
Who knows — maybe they’ll cut Dewhurst a deal on a gubernatorial bid in two years.
Despite all the barbs and lies and dirty tricks, including phone calls to Cruz voters during yesterday’s primary telling them to vote today, Ted Cruz won.
It is a very satisfying victory. Ted has spoken at every RedState Gathering and will be the first speaker at this year’s Gathering too. He will make a fine Senator.
A lot of people are going to give lots of credit to lots of people for Ted Cruz’s win. Success has many fathers. A lot of people will also make a lot of wild claims about what it means for the GOP and its supposed radical drift right — a drift right that in 2010 saw it pick up more electoral victories than any time since the late 1800?s.
One thing a lot of people will fail to comment on is that the Tea Party victories of 2010 have morphed into anti-establishment victories in 2012. On both the left and right, the base hates its leaders. It has moved beyond distrust to contempt.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
3. The Department of Labor’s attempt to cover for Obama
What happens when you combine the Budget Control Act of 2011 with huge mandatory cuts in the defense budget? Lots of layoffs and unemployment, that’s what. And what happens – or is supposed to happen – when mass layoffs occur? According to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, there is supposed to be a 60-day notice of the impending layoffs. And herein lies the problem…for Barack Obama.
Please click here for the rest of the post.
4. Brilliant, Ohio coal plant closes: guess why?
Well, your ability to guess why the Murray Energy Corporation today announced that it is closing a mine in Brilliant, Ohio will be largely dependent on whether you rely on local news or not. If you’re just paying attention to local news… you won’t be told at all why a coal mine that employed 239 people at its peak laid off 24 of its remaining 56 employees today, with the remaining to be (hopefully) integrated into the company elsewhere; in fact, you won’t even be told that the mine employed that many people directly. But if you go to the company’s own press release… yeah. That’s a different story.
July 31, 2012
Under the Radar: Erin DeLullo
The first time I met Ken Cuccinelli it was because of the persistence of a lady named Erin DeLullo. She would not leave me alone. She, a long time friend and wife of the Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis (he’d totally write about her if he hadn’t put a ring on her finger then got her pregnant. After marriage of course), found out I was headed to Washington, D.C. and insisted on picking me up at the airport and driving me to a coffee shop to meet a guy whose last name I could neither really pronounce or spell.
She had the audacity to tell me he would be Virginia’s Attorney General. Within five minutes I was sold. But she would not let up. Saying I was on board was not enough. She wanted me all in. I couldn’t say no. I’m glad I did go all in.
Time and again Erin has unearthed gems and helped them fundraise their way into office. When Erin tenaciously insists I meet a candidate, I know immediately they are pro-life and they’ve convinced her they actually will cut the size of government. One of the funniest and admirable things about Erin is she is not afraid to ditch a candidate the moment they go wobbly on life or reducing the size of government. She sticks to her guns. I respect and like that.
Tonight, Ted Cruz won in Texas. I’ll have more to say about that in the morning. There are many people who deserve credit for his win. John Drogin did a remarkable, level headed job. I have many friends involved in that race.
Erin DeLullo will not get a lot of credit. She rarely does. She’s one of those people in the background who works hard for the candidate and cause, not the credit. But I want to take a minute and give her some credit for sticking with Ted. He’s another solid pick in a long list of solid picks on Erin’s roster of clients.
Well done.
The Politician and the Crackhead
If Satan’s best trick is to make us believe he does not exist, his second best trick is to convince us that one more taste of sin will satiate our desire.
It is the same with the politician and the crackhead.
The crackhead holds the pipe in his hands and thinks, “Just one more hit and then I’ll get clean.” It is never really enough. He gets his fix. It wears off. And then . . .
“Just one more . . .”
It is the same with politicians and our tax dollars. “Just one more penny is all we need,” says the politician. But one more penny is never enough. The devil is always in the details.
In Georgia today, voters around the state are being asked by Republican politicians and the Chamber of Commerce to support the largest tax increase in Georgia history — a 16% increase in taxes. The tax increase will fund infrastructure spending. The Chamber of Commerce and Republican politicians are using Ronald Reagan’s image in a desperate appeal for the tax.
“Just one more penny,” the politicians say. The Chamber of Commerce, which also supported Barack Obama’s stimulus plan in 2009, is selling this tax increase, called a Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or “T-SPLOST”, as curing everything from traffic congestion to jobs to erectile dysfunction. Polling suggests the effort will fail and the tax advocates are already beginning to whisper about the next effort to pillage pockets.
“Just one more penny.”
Georgia has the 18th highest gas tax in the nation and is 48th in infrastructure spending per capita because its Democrat leaders who are now the Republican leaders could not restrain themselves. The Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce, on Atlanta radio yesterday, said that Delta creates jobs — the tea party does not. Therefore, people should listen to Delta, not small government advocates.
That contempt for smaller government is shared at state levels and national levels. Politicians want just one more penny to solve all problems. Like a crack head resenting intervention, the politician resents those who would deny it money.
At the national level, politicians want just one more penny from the rich, not from you. Steny Hoyer, the Democrat Whip in the House, gave away the game a few weeks ago when he admitted the Democrats would come for the middle class after the election.
But Republicans are no better.
After years of claiming they would starve the beast and necessitate spending cuts, the Washington GOP has decided the path of least resistance is to just borrow from China to fund the leviathan. Instead of asking taxpayers for “just one more penny,” the GOP in Washington is asking China.
Even now Republicans in Congress are trying to impose a national sales tax regime for the very first time to help Republican Governors who cannot get enough of your pennies. The next logical step, already being proposed by some Democrats, is to take this new national sales tax regime and use it to tax iTunes and Amazon downloads. Hey! It’s just a penny.
The similarity between the crackhead and the politician is that the crackhead looks at his crack pipe and thinks he can get clean after just one more hit — assuming he has any self-awareness left.
The politician looks at the taxpayers and does not see them as a source of a high and really does not even see them as a cash cow. The politician, unlike the crackhead, looks at that which fuels his addiction and gives him his fix and views it, the taxpayer, with absolute contempt — “why don’t they shut up and just do as they are told.”
Actually, truth be told, a cleaned up crack addict once told me that she viewed crack that way too — a contemptible evil that served a useful purpose for her. So there really isn’t much difference between the two. One is in the gutter of a major metropolitan area and the other is in a swamp on the outskirts of Northern Virginia.
Today, in Texas, if all goes well the voters will nominate Ted Cruz for the United States Senate. Cruz is, like Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Jim DeMint, committed to reducing Washington’s influence in our lives. They are not there to figure out a way to get one more penny or rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic. They are there to upend the established order.
Today, in Georgia, if all goes well the voters will reject their Republican legislature’s bid for just one more penny to solve problems the very act of this tax referendum shows the legislature lacks the testicular fortitude to solve.
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