Yesterday was good news for those believing in freedom, small government, and democracy. The Senate does not plan on voting for Cap and Tax until September. This delay will certainly give us more time to change minds, write letters, send emails, and melt the phones of our representatives. We must continue to do so, even whilst they are away for the month of August. The beginning of the next session begins immediately after Labor Day in which the Senate plans on voting/passing an immigration reform bill. September will be a very busy month for those of us fighting for our country. Hopefully the impact of the 9/12 tea party protest will be felt far and wide. I also hope that we do a little more – Since Congress begins the new session after Labor Day, which is the week of the massive 9/12 March on DC, why not take the week off as vacation time and engage in a sit-in on the steps of Capitol Hill as our Congress-critters come back to work for the first day after their summer vacation!? It’s time to make them realize who they work for; a good government is one that fears its people.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began their hearings on the 1,500 page Waxman-Markey cap and trade legislation Tuesday, and ranking member Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) won a startling admission from Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson. Inhofe produced an EPA chart generated last year during the Senate’s debate of the Lieberman-Warner cap and trade legislation. The chart showed that the carbon reductions under that bill would not materially effect global carbon concentrations in the atmosphere. Inhofe then asked Jackson if she agreed with the chart’s conclusions. Jackson replied: “I believe that essential parts of the chart are that the U.S. action alone will not impact CO2 levels.”
Also at the hearing, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said he did not agree with chart which is interesting since all the best science confirms Inhofe’s and Jackson’s conclusions. For example, a recent study of cap and trade by MIT concluded: “The different U.S. policies have relatively small effects on the CO2 concentration if other regions do not follow the U.S. lead. … The Developed Only scenario cuts only about 0.5 °C of the warming from the reference, again illustrating the importance of developing country participation.”
Michelle Malkin and Nate Silver put some great information together regarding the “softies” on cap and tax in the Senate. There is a chance to change several Democrat’s minds, especially those living in energy and coal producing states. (Don’t forget the liberal repubbies either)!
There is also some new and interesting data coming from those reading through the bill now that it has been posted. One of those interesting tidbits is the amount of money going to ACORN in a CLIMATE CHANGE bill:
“The American people will see tax dollars go to so-called community development organizations like ACORN, to teach low-income residents how to live in accord with the worldview of the Environmental Left,” scowled a news release yesterday from Congressional critics of the Cap and Trade bill.
Sure enough, there are 19 mentions of the term “community development” in the bill, but nothing specific about ACORN.
Sec. 264 of the bill is on “Low Income Community Energy Efficiency Program,” which says the feds will dole out grant money to community development organizations “to provide financing to businesses and projects that improve energy efficiency” for low-income residents.
On page 561, the bill authorizes $50 million per year for six fiscal years, so that’s $300 million in all for these kind of programs.
“I just want to know if ACORN would qualify for these grants,” said House GOP Leader John Boehner, who was the only Republican to note the ACORN issue during debate on the House floor.
If you really want to make your blood boil and find the additional goodies that were hidden in the bill go here.
Orwell is that you? I know the 80′s are back in style but I was hoping it wasn’t 1984 – I was wrong. In fact, maybe they should have named the bill H.R. 1984 instead of 1966!
Democrats scream bloody murder when progressive Republicans usurp the Constitution, but suddenly suffer from double standard glaucoma when their own progressives are running the show.
This is one insidious piece of legislation because it completely violates our first amendment rights. It will now be considered a FELONY, yes, a felony, to say anything offensive over email, on the Internet, through a blog, or anywhere else over the web. Any individual who may not be PC on any given day could face up to 2 years in prison.
a) Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
(b) As used in this section-
(1) the term ‘communication’ means the electronic transmission, between or among points specified by the user, of information of the user’s choosing, without change in the form or content of the information as sent and received;
(2) the term ‘electronic means’ means any equipment dependent on electrical power to access an information service, including email, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones, and text messages.
We all know this is unconstitutional, but hypothetically speaking, if this section of the Hate Crimes bill passes, who will be in charge of deciding whether something was offensive to an individual or not? I would make a wager that there will be an emotional distress czar appointed by Obama…unfortunately Stuart Smalley is currently working in Congress, but he’ll probably pick a liberal like Depak Chopra. If Obama does in fact pick a czar for this – your freedom of speech will be politicized. “Right wing extremist” talk, blogging, tweeting, and the like, will all be banned and we could all find ourselves in prison. Emotional distress is so vague that a simple civil argument could possibly offend someone and cause, in their eyes, distress… Like all things in America, a policy like this would be used to excess.
Wouldn’t one think that hate crimes would include every race, creed, religion, and sex? In a common sense world sure – but in DC, never. Take for example the fact that a black teen mob attacked a white family in Ohio. There was barely any mention of this in the news! I know for a fact that there are racists in every group, so why wouldn’t this be a hate crime as well? Why can’t white people be discriminated against? Heck! I was when I lived in Baltimore!
It came after a family night of celebrating America and freedom with a fireworks show at Firestone Stadium. Marshall, his family and two friends were gathered outside a friend’s home in South Akron.
Out of nowhere, the six were attacked by dozens of teenage boys, who shouted ”This is our world” and ”This is a black world” as they confronted Marshall and his family.
The Marshalls, who are white, say the crowd of teens who attacked them and two friends June 27 on Girard Street numbered close to 50. The teens were all black.
This could also be Obama’s back-door way to create an Internet czar to monitor the web, much like Russia, China, Iran, North Korea… getting the hint? Remember the fairness doctrine and net neutrality? I gaurantee that famous blogs will be taken down, conservative hashtags on twitter will give people away, and radio talk show hosts will be accussed of causing emotional distress.
I better watch myself! Here I was thinking I was an equal opportunity proponent by offending everyone – there goes my humor…
Here are the members of the House sponsoring this section of the bill:
Rep. Linda Sánchez [D, CA-39] (wrote the above section)
and 14 Co-Sponsors
* Rep. Timothy Bishop [D, NY-1]
* Rep. Bruce Braley [D, IA-1]
* Rep. Lois Capps [D, CA-23]
* Rep. William Clay [D, MO-1]
* Rep. Joe Courtney [D, CT-2]
* Rep. Danny Davis [D, IL-7]
* Rep. Raul Grijalva [D, AZ-7]
* Rep. Phil Hare [D, IL-17]
* Rep. Brian Higgins [D, NY-27]
* Rep. Marcy Kaptur [D, OH-9] * Rep. Mark Kirk [R, IL-10] (he is not a Republican vote him out! – he voted for Cap and Trade too)
* Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard [D, CA-34] * Rep. John Sarbanes [D, MD-3] (I would give my right arm to run against this man in Maryland) * Rep. John Yarmuth [D, KY-3]
The latest bill set to pass through congress, the health care bill, is stacked with pork products, and not the type you eat at baseball games.
Congress is trying to stuff the bill full of projects that have absolutely nothing to do with health care. I will provide some examples:
1. Walking Paths: walking paths drastically increase health because it is almost impossible to walk and exercise on streets, grass, gyms, your home, or school race tracks.
2. Streetlights: Although not directly associated with vitamin D – it could serve as a great replacement for the sun some time in the future… or wait…
3. Jungle Gyms: I am hoping that those who need health care the most, i.e. senior citizens, get some new ‘sneaks’ and hit the playground. I’m sure their hips and joints will love climbing up and down. Is it just me or aren’t jungle gyms and things related to parks and recreation considered city works? – eh… who am I kidding – it’s not like Congress follows the rules; the Constitution.
4. Farmer’s Markets: After cap and tax and the new Food bill on the table – why worry about additional Farmer’s markets? Our grocery stores will become just that… Plus, given the economic downturn I may just be forced to grow my own food or steal some from Michelle Obama’s garden!
I am hoping that those of you reading this are beginning to see the insanity if you haven’t already. This is unbelievable, and the sad part; most Democrats think it all makes sense:
Advocates, including Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, defend the proposed spending as a necessary way to promote healthier lives and, in the long run, cut medical costs. “These are not public works grants; they are community transformation grants,’’ said Anthony Coley, a spokesman for Kennedy, chairman of the Senate health committee whose healthcare bill includes the projects.
Let’s compare public works to community transformation, because the way in which politicians mask the truth is through words and labels: Community = Society at large; a commonwealth or state; a body politic; the public, or people in general. Transformation = to perform a specified action or activity; work; operate
“If improving the lighting in a playground or clearing a walking path or a bike path or restoring a park are determined as needed by a community to create more opportunities for physical activity, we should not prohibit this from happening,’’ Coley said in a statement.
Teddy’s idea of exercise comes in the form of running from a murder scene…
Counties that supported Obama last year have reaped twice as much money per person from the administration’s $787 billion economic stimulus package as those that voted for his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, a USA TODAY analysis of government disclosure and accounting records shows. That money includes aid to repair military bases, improve public housing and help students pay for college.
$17 Billion in aid has gone to Obama backers from his stimulus bill. This is a captain obvious moment, but it should be disconcerting that when the country’s future is at stake, the good of the citizens takes a backseat to the pay-to-play political games of politicians – including Mr. Hope and Change himself.
The latest news is dreadful for the Obama administration and wonderful for those of us who care about this country and the founding principles it was built upon.
Obama’s approval rating over the last couple of days is in free fall. Rasmussen reported yesterday that his approval rating had dropped a full percentage point (-5) – which is huge for one day and usually indicates a trend. Today’s report showed that Obama was at -8 making those who approve 51% and those opposed 48%. The writing is on the wall and I think that other leaders in the conservative movement may have read these signs in advance – making their decisions that much easier.
If Obama’s approval drops below 50% it will be incredibly difficult to get it over that point again – barring some miracle, economically speaking. The chances of economic improvement are minimal and his empty slogan of hope and change is ringing hollow on the masses. The economy does not look as though it will improve any time soon due to massive amounts of spending, a war waged against the middle class and small businesses, and the private sector, we will be in a massive downturn for a couple of years – inflation will be inevitable. The chances of him surviving another term if he enacts legislation that would drastically dismantle the foundation this country was built upon, are slim-to-none.
Two swing states that turned blue last year were also polled. The trend that is occurring at a national level is also occurring at the local level. Both Ohio’s and Virginia’s approval ratings for Obama are below 50%.
It will only be a matter of time before his personal approval rating comes down along with it! My guess: October; when unemployment is worse, the market has taken another massive nose-dive (and it will – it will go lower than it did the first quarter of this year), and inflation hits.
It’s important to remember that Massachusetts had a Republican governor at the helm, who proposed the same type of system that Obama is proposing. As much as those out there argue that the governor’s plan was taken to extremes by the next liberal administration – that still does not excuse the fact that a progressive politician (be it Republican or Democrat) set in motion a piece of legislation that harms more than it helps. The same could be said for Bush’s ‘No Child Left Behind Act.’ It was still Bush’s idea and he pushed for the legislation, even after it was made into something unintended.
A recent study released from Massachusetts showed that only 26% felt that the state’s universal health care program worked. Those who actually were the poorest and previously did not have health care, liked the program the least. Progressives want people to believe that billions of people are without health care, when that’s not the case, and the few million who don’t have it, are either here illegally, choose not to use one of the many programs in existence that offers health care, or are fine with going to the emergency rooms in hospitals.
Make no bones about it, Obama wants his way or it’s the highway. He WON remember? Get over it! He doesn’t want to compromise on the health care debate, and he made that point abundantly clear today, even from overseas. He told the moderate Democrats in Congress that he does not want a compromise with Republicans… He wants exactly what he proposed. Smoke and mirrors legislation that looks as though the program is competitive, but would eventually make it too expensive for small and medium sized business to carry insurance for their employees. The government cannot compete with the private sector – it always wins.
