Friday, July 3, 2009

50 things wrong with the global warming bill

A fairly exhaustive rundown of the bill from Hell. Read it at National Review Online: 
Two main things to understand about Waxman-Markey: First, it will not reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, at least not at any point in the near future. The inclusion of carbon offsets, which can be manufactured out of thin air and political imagination, will eliminate most of the demands that the legislation puts on industry, though in doing so it will manage to drive up the prices consumers pay for every product that requires energy for its manufacture — which is to say, for everything. Second, it represents a worse abuse of the public trust and purse than the stimulus and the bailouts put together. 
Waxman-Markey creates a permanent new regime in which environmental romanticism and corporate welfare are mixed together to form political poison. From comic bureaucratic power grabs (check out the section of the bill on candelabras) to the creation of new welfare programs for Democratic constituencies to, above all, massive giveaways for every financial, industrial, and political lobby imaginable, this bill would permanently deform American politics and economic life. 

MSM worries The One's popularity waning

No, they're not in the tank for him (the supremely charismatic Obama). Nooooo. Read about it at US News and World Report. 

Strategists Worry Obama's Popularity is Dropping

Some worry Obama's honeymoon with the public and the media may be over

N Dakota tea party smashing success!

It's happening all over the country...one at the NYC Times Square, N Dakota and all over the country tomorrow, July 4, INDEPENDENCE DAY! Read about N Dakota's here at Say Anything blog: 
The energy and passion on display at this event was nothing short of amazing.  And it wasn’t just coming from the stage.  While we had a number of intelligent, passionate, fired-up people speaking at the event what really stole the show were the comments from the crowd.  Veterans.  Business owners.  Laborers.  School bus drivers.  Plumbers.  You name it, they were on hand to have their say.  Some of the comments brought gales of laughter.  Others were so poignant people were visibly choked up.

It was an emotional event, all the way around.

I’m not sure there are many moments in my life that I will ever be more proud of than having the opportunity to organize this event with some of my fellow conservatives, and having the honor to add my voice to theirs in an effort to get this country back on the right course.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

More blowback on WaPo's selling of influence

How embarrassing and shameful is that. Supposedly an objective news outlet selling influence of its reporters AND Obama administration officials? It doesn't get any worse than this. Read PowerLine's take on the situation, which was withdrawn when brought to light: 
So the Washington Post is selling lobbyists access to "key Obama administration officials" for a mere $25,000 per evening. Obviously they could not have done this without arranging in advance for those "key officials" to participate. Where does the Obama administration end and the Washington Post begin? That is becoming an increasingly metaphysical question.

There is this, too: participants can "build crucial relationships with Washington Post news executives." Ask yourself: why would it be "crucial" for health sector companies to have relationships with the Washington Post's news executives? Is that a threat or a promise?

California: who gets paid in cash and who gets an IOU?

Well, figure it out! Check it out here: 
California: The haves and have-nots:

People who get California IOUsPeople California pays in cash
Grants to aged, blind or disabled personsUniversity of California
People needing temporary assistance for basic family needsPublic Employees’ Retirement System
People in drug prevention, treatment, and recovery servicesLegislators, legislative employees, and appointees
Persons with developmental disablitiesJudges
People in mental health treatmentDepartment of Corrections
Small Business VendorsHealth Care Services payments to Institutional Providers

Ego porn

The American Thinker has an interesting piece about our president's motivation: 
They've got his number, all the political con artists around the world. For a little balloon-pumping flattery Obama will sell out American national security interests -- not to mention those of our allies. Obama's "historic" Epistle to the Muslims, delivered last month at Cairo's Al Azhar University (an international center for Islamist propaganda) was not really intended to make a billion Muslims fall down at his feet. No, the main goal of all those grand gestures is to make Obama feel better about himself. That's the key to his character.

Walking to work? No more troops?

Regardless if they need them. Bob Woodward reporting that the solution is now "economic" rather than " military." Heh. More taxpayer money (whee! Let's print some more!) will solve the problems of Islamic militants...not more military force, even if their lives depend on it. After all, the president might say "all requests for more troops will prompt a “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” response in the Oval Office. " (For the uninformed....take the first letter of each word...WTF...what do you think that means?) Read Jules Crittenden's take on it: 
Woodward goes on to repeat the strategic mantra, ”security, economic development and reconstruction.” The mission statement: ”Killing the enemy is secondary.” The generals may think they need up to 32,000 more troops in addition to the 68,000 already authorized, but … WTF? Jones tells jarhead commanders in Afghanistan: “The piece of the strategy that has to work in the next year is economic development.”
[SNIP]
“We’re doing this very differently,” Nicholson said to his senior officers a few hours before the mission began. “We’re going to be with the people. We’re not going to drive to work. We’re going to walk to work.”

Reporters confront tool Gibbs at conference

Listen to the giggling Robert Gibbs respond to questioning by Chip Reid and Helen Thomas, of all people, about the lack of transparency in this administration and the so-called townhall meeting that has pre-selected people and questions...never real questions. Helen is "amazed," at "you people." Are pigs flying? 

Shared sacrifice? Not including politicians

Read about it at American Issues Project. Follow this link.

Politicians may want the greedy bankers and CEO's to suck it up and skip their bonuses, but don't expect the elite in Washington to share in the suffering. This may be the worst recession since the Great Depression or since the Reagan years but don't be fooled, our leaders in Congress aren't hurting any.

After the stock market meltdown late last year, lawmakers gave themselves a $4,700 pay increase. This amounted to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers spent on congressional salaries last year. In fact, Congress set it up so they would get their raise automatically, no matter what their work produces. The Hill reported on this pay increase:

State run media sells access

Unbelievable. Read about it at Politico: 
For $25,000 to $250,000, TheWashington Postis offering lobbyists and association executives off the record, non-confrontational access to "those powerful few" —Obamaadministration officials, members of Congress, and thepaper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health-care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff."

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

What are they cooking up?


So Michelle Malkin points out that, in all the rush to expose fine print and promote transparency, apparently the House doesn't believe in the so-called Democratic philosophy. First of all, they rushed out the cap and tax bill, then they threw in a 300 page amendment that no one had seen a few hours before people were asked to vote on it, then no hard copy of the bill with amendment existed, and now Michelle has discovered a "placeholder." Check it out at her website. What do you suppose this MEANS? What ELSE could they be planning? Here's her graphic. 


Harkening back to our principles of living

Once again, Powerline hits it right on the mark with political historian Paul Rahe:
 It is easy enough to see why progressive doctrine should be attractive to our masters. Tyrannical ambition is nothing new, and throughout human history it has nearly always presented itself to men in the guise of idealism. We are all inclined to meddle in other people's business; we are all inclined to think that we know better; and higher education tends to inflate our vanity and to make us more inclined to lord it over those who are less well-instructed. Never for a moment does a Barack Obama stop to ask whether depriving us of responsibility for our own well-being is demeaning. He and his supporters know that they know better, and their putative wisdom in this regard constitutes for them an absolute claim to rule. The logic unfolding within the progressive impulse requires that there be a class of Guardians empowered to supervise our lives in every particular, and to an ever-increasing degree this is the reality with which we live.

Retrofit your home to be able to sell your house?

Ugh. They're involved in everything: tanning beds, lightbulbs, Tylenol, whether your windows are "tight enough"...read the particulars of the bill just passed in the House:
 The program would involve a system of certified auditors, inspectors, and raters who inspect homes and businesses using devices such as infrared cameras (which measure how much heat a building is giving off) to measure their energy efficiency. 
 
The results of these energy audits would then be used to determine what retrofits need to be performed. The audits would examine things like water usage, infrared photography, and pressurized testing to determine the efficiency of door and window seals, and indoor air quality.  
 
Those retrofits would be performed by licensed retrofit contractors using government-approved methods and resources including roofing materials that reflect solar energy.
UPDATE: White House spokesman Bill Burton just confirmed on Fox News that this is indeed what will happen if the Senate passes this bill. Each home seller will have to retrofit windows, doors, air conditioning and heating units.

Watch the polls

American Thinker has an interesting take on the Rasmussen polls in "Our Melting President": 
Republicans do not need a 1994 Tsunami to de-rail Obama.  A couple of dozen House seats and a handful of Senate seats will force Obama's last two years in the White House into a Jimmy Carter holding action.  The key poll to watch is not the goofy and doctored nonsense of the Leftist press, but the day by day scrupulous polling of Scott Rasmussen.  If the slow, and sometimes uneven, trend continues, and by September the percentage of Americans who "strongly disapprove" of Obama is in the low forties, then the American people have gotten wise to this Chicago politician and his demands that Congress pass huge unread (even unwritten) bills as a way to cure our problems.

Behind the thin veneer

Powerline has an interesting take on the series of pictures of Obama that were posted on Drudge yesterday. Interesting, and truly disturbing: 
The White House has released a series of photographs in which, as the Drudge Report puts it, Obama directed "the evil eye" at various foreign leaders who visited him. Included on the list were German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

I take this, therefore, as an occasion for repeating what I wrote on that earlier occasion: "If we are to comprehend what is going on, we must pay close attention not only to what Obama says but to what he conveys in other ways. His tone is nearly always moderate but what he hints at and what he intimates by way of body language often convey the opposite. Witness his warm embrace of Hugo Chavez. Behind the thin veneer of politeness, there is, I suspect, something ugly lurking

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Volunteerism Michelle O's dream of stimulating economy

It won't work, according to Real Clear Politics. Read about it here: 
Responding to the almost monolithically positive coverage of the Obama administration by the national press, Phil Bronstein, editor-at-large for the Hearst Newspapers, observed recently that the Administration and the reporters covering it should "get a room." And while USA Today's account of Barack and Michelle Obama's "United We Serve" initiative appeared after Bronstein's quip, its coverage of same serves as yet another example of a media apparently unwilling to show even the remotest amount of skepticism about an Administration and program that deserve a great deal of it.

As USA Today's Andrea Stone wrote, "First Lady Michelle Obama will launch a summer of service" that the "White House hopes will help the economy recover through the work of individuals." This is not a joke, and this is also not a parody of slavish White House reportage from the Onion. Stone was serious.

Coleman concedes

Meaning Minnesota has given the big baby Al Franken the Senate seat, meaning the Dems now have a super majority. Of course, they've had a number of Republicans in their pocket anyway, so how is this any different? They are ready to railroad through any number of ridiculous initiatives. And now, they have to take ownership of what they do to this country and the economy. Is Byrd out of the hospital? How about Kennedy? You never know.
Ending an eight-month legal battle, Republican Norm Coleman conceded Tuesday to Democrat Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race after the state's high court ruled that Franken should be certified as the winner. 

Though Coleman could have tried to take the case to the federal Supreme Court, he told reporters outside his home in St. Paul that continuing to drag out his challenge would hurt his state. 

Cap & trade written to fail

And did you know the new tax (waiting to be voted on in the Senate) on carbon emissions does NOT reduce carbon emissions? Read about it at the New York Post: 
The upshot is that an Environmental Protection Agency analysis says that under Waxman-Markey, there will be no reduction in emissions by 2020. The progressive Breakthrough Institute estimates that emissions could continue at their current business-as-usual rate through 2030.

Perversities abound. The Los Angeles Times reported that, under the bill, America "would use more carbon-dioxide heavy coal in 2020 than it did in 2005." Time magazine writes that "the total amount of renewable energy generation . . . would actually be less than the renewable energy that would have been produced without the bill."

Monday, June 29, 2009

From Contractors Talk

Read the chatter here, about the amendment to the cap and trade bill: Cap and Trade a plus for contractors
First off, I consider myself middle of the road political guy. I was against this cap and trade bill until I watched the final two hours of debates in congress. The majority of the time I watched, Rep. Boehner (the minority leader) decided to go through the 300+ pages that were amended to the bill at 3am this morning. There was so many regulations requiring houses to come up to all these new codes for being energy efficient my head was spinning. 

From heat loss, to energy efficiency in appliances, from leaking windows to old boilers. The Rep read that if a house that is put up for sale does not meet these new "green" guidelines, the house has to be made current to these new standards for the house to sell. 

That means opening up walls, adding insulation, new appliances, new fixtures, new doors, new windows, and whatever else that is considered not being "green". 

The best one was every house is going to be required to have a hybird outlet placed in a driveway to accomodate these new electric cars coming out.

Just askin'

The cap and trade bill that just passed the House is based on capping carbon emissions and trading rations for the amount of carbon each company uses, whether by driving or creating a product. Since humans emit carbon, is it conceivable that the government could regulate the number of children we have? Or charge each of us a carbon tax, to be filed along with federal taxes every year, for the carbon dioxide each of us emits? 

Just askin'.

Financial Times on cap and trade

FT says Obama is choosing to be weak, with astronomical price tags. Read about it at the Financial Times: 
The cap-and-trade bill is a travesty. Its net effect on short- to medium-term carbon emissions will be small to none. This is by design: a law that really made a difference would make energy dearer, hurt consumers and force an economic restructuring that would be painful for many industries and their workers. Congress cannot contemplate those effects. So the Waxman-Markey bill, while going through the complex motions of creating a carbon abatement regime, takes care to neutralise itself.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

An anticipated movie

Bailout trackdown

Go here for a trackdown of the money spent on the bailout. Why, you may ask, is so much of the bailout money not yet spent? Are the politicians having trouble finding places to spend it? Or are they being frugal with your money. Well, the answer to those questions would be no. This is simply another political scam politicians are running to feather their own nests. Remember how it was SO urgent it had to be passed NOW, right this MINUTE, or the whole country would fail? Then Obama went on a "date" to Chicago with his wife, leaving the bill unsigned for almost another week? This is a tactic the Democratic congress is employing to get their taxes passed, and then dole out the proceeds to constituencies that will support Democratic politicians. So those billions just waiting to be spent (although ACORN has already received billions of dollars) will be allotted closer to the 2010 election. Yep, that's right. Political spending. 
See, not all of the money was simply doled out to banks. A lot of the $700 billion that was appropriated either hasn't been spent, or went to programs such as housing relief, auto company assistance, and credit market unclogging.

Using data from the Treasury's official bailout website -- financialstability.gov -- here are the latest figures:

Insanity Rules

is the title of an article over at EU Referendum. Follow this link to read it. 
This passage of this bill does not signify any great "green revolution" or "growing" climate "awareness" on the part of Congress. Instead, the methods and manner that the Pelosi-led House achieved final passage, represents nothing more than unrestrained exercise of raw political power, arm-twisting, intimidation and special interest handouts.

The House of Representatives passed a bill it did not read, did not understand. A bill that is based on crumbling scientific claims and a bill that will have no detectable climate impact (assuming climate fear promoters are correct on the science and the bill is fully implemented – both implausible assumptions).

No official copy and unread

Apparently the cap and tax bill the House just passed had no official copy, nor have the 300 pages of amendment been added to the main body of the bill. Which means, of course, that no one actually READ the bill they passed, as it is written with all the add this paragraph, drop that paragraphs. Which means, of course, that anything could be in it. But we knew that already, didn't we. Read the Washington Examiner:
By all appearances, the House is about to vote on a very long bill of which it has no completed official copy.

Texas Republican Reps. Joe Barton and Louie Gohmert have just asked the chair whether there exists a complete, updated copy of the Waxman-Markey carbon-cap bill. 

"If a bill for which there is no copy were to actually pass this body," Barton asked, "could the bill without a copy be sent to the Senate for its consideration?" 

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Monica Conyers pleads guilty

Heh. What a surprise. A corrupt Detroit politician. Who could have imagined. Read about it at the Detroit Free Press: 
The federal trap finally snapped Friday on Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, ending a year of speculation about her role in the Synagro sludge contract scandal.

The normally boisterous Conyers, 44, appeared in U.S. District Court to quietly plead guilty to a bribery conspiracy charge during a brief hearing.

Conyers, the wife of powerful U.S. Rep. John Conyers, left the courtroom on personal bond without commenting.

In a few short weeks, Conyers, who was the council's president pro tem, went from one of Detroit's most politically powerful and mercurial women to an admitted felon in a pay-to-play scheme for a $1.2-billion-plus sludge treatment contract.

Vote them all out

So eight Republicans helped. I say vote 'em all out. They deserve the boot. Read PowerLine's viewpoint: 
As John notes below, the House passed cap-and-trade energy tax legislation last night even though no complete copy of that legislation existed, making it impossible for our representatives to know exactly what they were voting on. The vote was 219-212.

Eight Republicans voted in favor of the legislation. They are: Mary Bono (CA), Mike Castle (DE), Mark Kirk (IL), Leonard Lance (NJ), Frank LoBiondo (NJ), Chris Smith (NJ), John McHugh (NY), and David Reichert (WA).

It doesn't follow that these Republican votes (or at least four them) were critical to the passage of cap-and-trade. In the absence of Republican support, the Democratic leadership probably would have forced the necessary number of reluctant Dems to vote for the measure, instead of letting them off the hook.


Friday, June 26, 2009

Largest tax in history passed today

It is sad to note that the House of Representatives passed the largest tax in history today. Nancy Pelosi, Al Gore and Edward Markey stand to become millionaires from stock they have bought that is worthless without passing this legislation. In addition, this bill was unread. No one knows what is in it, except for those people who wrote it. 

Shame! Shame! Everyone of the individuals who voted for this bill, including the eight Republicans, deserve to be voted out of office. It does nothing to stem so-called global warming (http://junkscience.com). All it does is give these greedy, money-grubbing politicians access to our lives, our work effort and our money. Shame, shame.

Cap & trade to be passed in House today?

Groan. The largest tax increase in human history. How DARE they!!? 
Like most good scams, cap and trade as outlined in the Markey-Waxman legislation is simple. The government sets a cap on how much pollution the nation's factories, cars (and flatulent cows) are allowed to expel into the atmosphere. Companies can buy, sell or trade their emissions, or lack thereof. (If the cows must be cited for violations, Al Gore, a onetime tobacco farmer, can measure the barnyard effluvium.)

But the most acute pain will be the rising costs of everything as companies pass the effects of the tax on to consumers. Nobody knows this better than Mrs. Pelosi and her merry band of robbers. When this far-reaching legislation was debated in the House Energy Committee, the Republicans offered amendments to suspend the legislation if the price of gasoline exceeds $5 a gallon, if the price of electricity rises more than 10 percent over 2009, and if the unemployment rate, now hovering close to 9 percent, exceeds 15 percent. The Democrats, who know very well the devastation this "biggest tax increase in history" is likely to wreak on American families, nevertheless defeated all three amendments.

Altercation on House floor over other people's money

Call the waaambulance. They're fighting over how to grab our money with their greedy fingers out. Huh. What an embarrassment to see those jokers up in front of hearings questioning private business people in the most juvenile,  contentious manner when they themselves behave as badly as children in a school yard:
 You’re out of line,” Waters shot while walking down toward the well.

“You’re out of line,” Obey shot back before turning and walking away.

But then Obey stopped, turned back toward Waters, and shouted: “I’m not going to approve that earmark!”

Obey turned away, but Waters went to go huddle with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. She could be over heard telling them: “He touched me first.”

Waters was escorted by her colleagues into the cloakroom.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Don't get hurt health plan

Obama admits cap and trade will skyrocket energy costs

EPA suppresses truth

Apparently they didn't like the true scientific findings of a study about global warming so they hid the results. Read about it at Global Warming:
 As part of a just-ended public comment period, CEI submitted a set of four EPA emails, dated March 12-17, 2009, which indicate that a significant internal critique of the agency’s global warming position was put under wraps and concealed.

The study the emails refer to, which ran counter to the administration’s views on carbon dioxide and climate change, was kept from circulating within the agency, was never disclosed to the public, and was not added to the body of materials relevant to EPA’s current “endangerment” proceeding. The emails further show that the study was treated in this manner not because of any problem with its quality, but for political reasons.


Detroit Public Schools $430 million in the hole

They did an audit and found hundreds of "ghost employees." In addition, Detroit has "more registered voters than residents." Read about it at BlogProf: 
Ghosts over at DPS is so apropos for DPS since it is located in Detroit which, incidentally, not only has more registered voters than it does residents (to the tune of 200,000+), but it is also ranked by Forbes as #2 in the emptiest cities in the U.S. So it looks like ghosts vote in elections and collect paychecks while living in a ghost town! Speaking of more registered voters than residents, those mystery voters tend to vote overwhelmingly Democratic, as Detroit, by voting record, is the most liberal city in the U.S. Here are some statistics:

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Warren Buffett criticizes cap and trade

Buffett has repeatedly criticized the cap and trade tax about to be passed on Friday as detrimental to the struggling economy. Duh. Ya think? Read about it at CNBC: 
Buffett repeated his criticism of "cap and trade" as a method to control pollution, saying it would be a huge, regressive tax.

Neda's family harassed, forced to leave

The video of Neda that has circulated so widely on the net and in the media has caused the Iranian militia to uproot and punish her family. Read it here on The Guardian:
 The Iranian authorities have ordered the family of Neda Agha Soltan out of their Tehran home after shocking images of her death were circulated around the world.

Neighbours said that her family no longer lives in the four-floor apartment building on Meshkini Street, in eastern Tehran, having been forced to move since she was killed. The police did not hand the body back to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried without letting her family know and the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbours said.


Who will benefit from cap & trade to be passed Friday in House?

Read about it at National Mining Association: costofcapandtrade.jpg

Barney Frank recommends lowering standards for condo buyers!

After all the controversy surrounding the underwater mortgage holders across the United States, Frank is ONCE AGAIN recommending that standards be lowered for those seeking mortgages for condos. This is exactly what he did that produced the initial lowering of standards and ultimate crash of the housing industry. Read about it at the WSJ: 
After two years of telling us how lax lending standards drove up the market and led to loans that should never have been made, Mr. Frank wants Fannie and Freddie to take more risk in condo developments with high percentages of unsold units, high delinquency rates or high concentrations of ownership within the development.