Friday, June 26, 2009

As of 4:25, Cap and Tax legislation is on life support. It's gonna be close

Republicans are hammering the Dem's about not having read the new 300 page amendment of which no one can seem to get a hard copy.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

"Catholics United" launch radio ad to pressure Congressman Joe Donnelly on cap and trade

A group calling themselves "Catholics United" has launched a pressure ad against South Bend Democratic Congressman Joe Donnelly. Donnelly, a Roman Catholic, represents a largely Roman Catholic district that includes Notre Dame University.

The ad airing today features Sister Sharon Dillon, a supposed Franciscan nun with South Bend ties. Here is the complete text of the audio:

This is Sister Sharon Dillon, and I'm a Franciscan from South Bend. My family has lived in South Bend for four generations, and I know times have never been tougher. I understand the frustration and the fear of so many in our community.
But there's hope for the future.
Congress will soon vote on The American Clean Energy and Security Act, which reduces our dependence on foreign oil, protects our environment, and creates thirty-eight thousand clean energy jobs here in Indiana - jobs building wind farms and solar panels, which can never be outsourced.
Together, we can create a healthier and more prosperous world. For me, it's not about partisan politics. It's about values and families, human dignity and the common good.
Please, call Congressman Joe Donnelly at (202) 225-3915 and ask him to support the energy bill. Because when it comes to jobs, the environment, and a future for our families, we are all in this together.
Paid for by Catholics United

Wow.

The bill is called The American Clean Energy and Security Act. Clean energy? Clean energy is good. Security? Security is good. The bill must be good.

A Catholic nun is in favor of this bill. Nuns are good, so the bill must be good.

The Catholic nun (who we've already established is good) says this bill will reduce dependence on foreign oil, keep the environment clean and create thousands of jobs right here (nuns would never lie--it's part of the job, right?). All that stuff is good. The bill must be good.

The ads were paid for by Catholics United. Catholics are good. Being united is good. The bill must be good.

But, just to be safe, let's take a closer look at the bill and at Catholics United.

Hmm. The American Clean Energy and Security Act is the nice name for the cap and trade bill: the legislation creating the single highest energy tax in American history. This legislation targets the production economy of the Midwest so hard, which Indiana is a part, it would put thousands out of work and hike utility costs for everyone. (Sorry, Sister).

But don't take my word for it, here's the analysis from The Heritage Foundation:
http://www.heritage.org/Research/EnergyandEnvironment/wm2504.cfm

An analysis of the Waxman-Markey bill (as reported out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce) by The Heritage Foundation found that unemployment will increase by nearly 2 million in 2012, the first year of the program, and reach nearly 2.5 million in 2035, the last year of the analysis. Total GDP loss by 2035 would be $9.4 trillion. The national debt would balloon as the economy slowed, saddling a family of four with $114,915 of additional national debt. Families would also suffer, as the bill would slap the equivalent of a $4,609 tax on a family of four by 2035.[1]

And that group that contains the words "Catholic" and "United" in the title? Well, it seems that is yet another George Soros front group.
http://michellemalkin.com/2008/10/22/soros-funding-pro-obama-catholic-groups/

The group's web site contains statements of support for pro-abortion HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Obama's controversial candidate as ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz. And in a statement about the tragic murder of Kansas abortionist, George Tiller this group writes the following:

We fear, however, that this murder is a byproduct of increasingly hateful and intolerant language on the part of some militant opponents of legal abortion...
As for Sister Sharon Dillon, who has chosen to do the work of George Soros, I leave the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, one of the most revered and iconic people of her calling:

"The greatest destroyer of peace is abortion because if a mother can kill her own child, what is left for me to kill you and you to kill me? There is nothing between. "

So tell me, is Sister Dillon being the "pencil in the hand of God" as Mother Teresa called all of us to be?

Thursday, June 18, 2009

From the "You Have Got To Be Kidding Me" Department: Obama says illegal firing of Inspector General was an act of political courage


What kind of "political courage" does it take to fire AmeriCorps IG, Gerald Walpin, the above pictured grandpa figure? From Byron York in the Washington Examiner:


According to first-hand reports from a Congressional aide regarding a conversation with White House lawyers,
[White House Special Council, Norman] Eisen said he knew that removing Walpin might be seen as an action that would raise questions. "But [Eisen] said that what they did in trying to fix the situation was an act of political courage -- and 'political courage' is the phrase they used," says the aide.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

The American Spectator: A Trillion Dollars in Incompetence





Bonaparte famously said to "never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence."
Thus stands the Kennedy health care bill, placeholder for the hard left dream of a government takeover of the American health system. The bill is a taxpayer-supported monument to the lethal stupidity of this statist objective that will leave Americans with fewer choices, more government control over medical decisions, higher taxes, and a smaller private health insurance market (mostly union health plans paid for by taxes on the health benefits of non-union workers) that punishes efforts to reward healthy behavior.

Washington Times Editorial: Obama's attempts at firing AmeriCorps Inspector General questionable



Now it appears that the White House's ace in the hole is actually a joker. News organizations have tied the dismissal of Inspector General Gerald Walpin to a flap over Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's misuse of AmeriCorps funds. The acting U.S. attorney in Sacramento, Lawrence G. Brown, filed a complaint against Mr. Walpin involving that same investigation. The White House seems to think the U.S. attorney's complaint makes Mr. Walpin look bad and thus excuses the firing. One major problem: the U.S. attorney's complaint has more holes in it than a 10-year-old sock.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Senator Tom Coburn dares to question Obama's stimulus spending



We're spending $3.4 million in Florida for an underpass for turtles (yes, the reptile). I thought Slow Joe Biden was personally overseeing how our extorted tax dollars were being spent. Remember, Barack Obama said "Nobody messes with Joe."

Coburn also criticized:
_A Bureau of Land Management project to study the impact wind farms have on the sage grouse population in Oregon. The proposal calls for hiring people to tag sage grouse in areas where wind farms may be built, to help determine where turbines could be located.
_$1.5 million in stimulus money for a $5 million new wastewater treatment plant in Perkins, Okla., his home state. Coburn said the stimulus money came with strings that will increase the costs. With a new total cost of $7.2 million, the city will be forced to borrow money and, as a result, utility taxes have increased by 60 percent this year, the senator said.
_Grants and loans totaling $1.3 million to Solon Township in Leelanau County, Mich., to help pay for construction of a wastewater treatment plant. Local opposition killed the project. The money will now be used for a future treatment plant, for which there is no plan and questionable local support.
_Road signs costing $300 each, being placed at construction sites to alert motorists that the project is being paid for by the stimulus money. Transportation Department spokesman Jill Zuckman said each state decides whether to use stimulus money for signs, and the cost would vary in each state.
_A $3 million project to repair taxiways at Hanscom Field, Mass., which Coburn said is for corporate jets. Richard Walsh, a spokesman for the independent state agency that runs the airport, Massport, said only 18 percent of the traffic at the airport is for corporate jets. Most of the use, 70 percent cent, is for flight students, he said.
_Montana's state-run liquor warehouse, to receive $2.2 million in stimulus cash to install skylights. The project is part of the $27.7 million the state has been awarded for energy programs.

5 Myths the Left Has Created About Itself

I loved this...

http://townhall.com/columnists/JohnHawkins/2009/06/16/5_myths_the_left_has_created_about_itself

Via Hollywood, the mainstream media, and the school systems, the Left has created a number of positive myths about their ideology, none of which stand up to the slightest amount of informed scrutiny.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Oh, how times have changed. Today, the host of the Late Show is a bitter, crusty old man and the Vice President is a hilarious comedian

The Wit Hits the Fan's favorite Joe Biden moments


Slow Joe tries to make the wheelchair-bound walk: "Stand up, Chuck"


VP candidate Biden promises an international crisis within six months, if Barack Obama is elected:


J-O-B-S is a three letter word according to four-letter J-O-E:


Biden says Hillary would be more a more qualified VP candidate:


Thinking of picking up a Bidenberry Blast Slurpee? Better have a slight Indian accent:


Joe Biden's wife: drop dead gorgeous, doctorate degree, poor taste in husbands:


Three and a half years to go. Stay tuned for more.

The Republican energy alternative: clean, efficient nuclear energy and domestic fuel sources



No hidden cap-and-trade energy tax. Decreased reliance on foreign countries. Create (not just "save") American jobs.

The American Energy Act establishes a national goal of licensing 100 new nuclear reactors over the next 20 years. With 31 announced reactor applications already in the pipeline, this goal can be achieved -- and it will revitalize an entire manufacturing sector, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. The bill also streamlines a cumbersome regulatory process by offering a two-year, fast-track approval program for power-plant applications that employ safe reactor designs already approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The American Energy Act allows for exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and for environmentally sound leasing of oil and natural gas fields in the outer continental shelf and on federally owned lands with oil shale in the West. Revenues generated by the leases would fund development of technologies to increase clean, renewable and alternative energy sources such as wind and solar.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Top 10 utterly immeasurable and unprovable accomplishments thus far of the Barack Obama presidency


The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported the national unemployment rate has climbed to 9.6 percent--the highest in 25 years. This comes despite the billions of dollars the administration has spent in order to stimulate the economy. Barack Obama has desperately tried to divert focus from the fact that these numbers are much worse than he projected.

One laughable way he is doing so is by claiming (without releasing any supporting data) that despite the net loss, he has "saved 150,000 jobs." In addition, he has pledged to ramp up the government spending in order to "create and save 600,000 jobs."

Inspired by the rather nebulous concept of saved jobs, here is the official top ten list of utterly immeasurable and unprovable accomplishments thus far of the Barack Obama presidency:

10. The number of angels able to dance on the head of a pin has increased by 35%.

9. It has become 8.35 times less likely that Rosie O’Donnell and Barney Frank will ever conceive a child together.

8. A tree falling in the woods without anyone around to hear it makes 1.75 decibels less sound.

7. Conversely, the sound of one hand clapping has actually doubled.

6. The number of crimes not committed has increased to 21,357,687,562.

5. The pen has become increasingly mightier than the sword by a factor of 18%.

4. The universe is now slightly less infinite.

3. The mathematical value of Pi is now even more irrational.

2. Lucky Charms cereal is now 10% more magically delicious.

1. The number of Barack Obamas it takes to change a light bulb has been reduced to one. He simply lifts the bulb in place and the world revolves around him.

Monday, June 8, 2009

More evidence of the voting undead -- this time in Minnesota



Minnesota Majority employed a data enhancement service to flag potentially deceased individuals on Minnesota’s voter registration file. Over 2,800 individuals who voted in the 2008 general election were flagged as being “deceased” prior to the election. Minnesota Majority then selected a sample of a dozen records for additional investigation. A representative drove to addresses listed on voter registration records. Interviews conducted with residents or neighbors confirmed that at least 5 individuals from the sample were deceased, the latest having died in March 2007.

What's scarier -- zombies voting or Al Franken in the U.S. Senate?

Friday, June 5, 2009

And now a word from the people who will be running GM and want to take over our health care system

My father-in-law forwarded this to me.


Here is a congressional hearing in which the Federal Reserve Inspector General, Elizabeth Coleman, is asked to account for the trillions of tax dollars that have been spent since September. This deer in the headlights doesn't know where it went and doesn't seem to be motivated to find out.

Congressman Alan Grayson is not asking her to produce an obscure dry cleaning receipt from five years ago. We're talking TRILLIONS of your dollars (Look at your pay stub. That's where it came from.) which have been spent JUST SINCE SEPTEMBER.

Here is the Bloomberg article Congressman Grayson is referring to:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aGq2B3XeGKok

Among the lowlights:

Only the stimulus bill to be approved this week, the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program passed four months ago and $168 billion in tax cuts and rebates enacted in 2008 have been voted on by lawmakers. The remaining $8 trillion is in lending programs and guarantees, almost all under the Fed and FDIC. Recipients’ names have not been disclosed.
“We’ve seen money go out the back door of this government unlike any time in the history of our country,” Senator Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, said on the Senate floor Feb. 3. “Nobody knows what went out of the Federal Reserve Board, to whom and for what purpose. How much from the FDIC? How much from TARP? When? Why?”


Outraged? I hope so. Act on it. And pass it on.

Ready to take back our electoral system from the corrupt? Here's a good first step


Help Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann prevent ACORN from accessing federal tax dollars. Sign the petition.


Related -- In today's headlines: 4 ACORN ex-workers to face fraud trial in Pennsylvania.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Investor's Business Daily: Obama's Justice Department undermining American free and fair elections



Where is Jimmy Carter to oversee our elections when we need him?

The Washington Times says that "political appointees" at Justice "overruled career lawyers and ended a civil complaint." Federal authorities had charged King Samir Shabazz, who carried a nightstick at the voting precinct, Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson of violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

That same Justice Department told Georgia last week that it cannot check Social Security numbers and driver's license data to confirm U.S. citizenship of prospective voters. The department reasoned that the state's system was often inaccurate and has a "discriminatory effect."

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Thomas Sowell: empathy vs the rule of law




Dr. Thomas Sowell puts the Sotomayer nomination in perspective.

I loved this line:

It would be considered a disgrace if an umpire in a baseball game let his "empathy" determine whether a pitch was called a ball or strike. Surely we should accept nothing less from a judge.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Exposing the Snake Oil Salesman-In-Chief: The White House "Jobs-Saved" Deception



After nearly twenty years in Washington I thought I've seen every trick ever conceived, but the White House claims of "jobs saved" attributed to the stimulus bill is unrivaled. What causes the jaw to drop is not just the breathtaking deception of the claim, but the gullibility of the Washington press corps to continue reporting it.

Top 10 changes now that General Motors is owned by the Obama administration



Top 10 changes now that General Motors is owned by the Obama administration:

10. There will be no difference in the way a standard oil change is preformed as long as a simple environmental study is done and the applicable permits are obtained.

9. NASCAR advertising decals on race cars will be focus grouped to ensure they contain nothing offensive like tobacco, alcohol or American flags.

8. Pine tree air fresheners will be banned because they shockingly resemble Christmas trees.

7. Car radio station presets must contain an equal number of NPR stations as conservative talk radio stations. In addition, liberal talk credits may be obtained by listening to Alan Colmes for every minute listened to Rush Limbaugh.

6. Gone are elitist models like Buick Park Avenue and Chevy Malibu. Instead, welcome the Buick Main Street and Chevy Compton. Good bye Olds Achieva. Hello Olds Doyourbest-a. And, of course, the Pontiac LeMans will be replaced by the Pontiac LePersons.

5. Roofs of all cars will be painted white to reflect heat and reverse global warming. An exception will be made, however, if the car will be within 100 miles of a protected arctic wildlife refuge. In this case, roofs must be painted orange so as not to be mistaken as tundra by polar bears or penguins.

4. Road kill first aid kits will become a standard option on all models.

3. Teenage driver’s education must now be expanded to include a showing of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, a reading of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, and free condoms, courtesy of Planned Parenthood.

2. Auto bodies will be made of high-density foam to prevent the bark and branch carnage which often occurs when a car strikes a tree.

1. Everyone buys a Ford.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Obama Dept of Justice forces Chicago-style voting in Georgia




Atlanta - “The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to deny preclearance of Georgia’s already implemented citizenship verification process shows a shocking disregard for the integrity of our elections. With this decision, DOJ has now barred Georgia from continuing the citizenship verification program that DOJ lawyers helped to craft. DOJ’s decision also nullifies the orders of two federal courts directing Georgia to implement the procedure for the 2008 general election. The decision comes seven months after Georgia requested an expedited review of the preclearance submission.

“DOJ has thrown open the door for activist organizations such as ACORN to register non-citizens to vote in Georgia’s elections, and the state has no ability to verify an applicant’s citizenship status or whether the individual even exists. DOJ completely disregarded Georgia’s obvious and direct interest in preventing non-citizens from voting, instead siding with the ACLU and MALDEF. Clearly, politics took priority over common sense and good public policy. "

Tune in next time when the DOJ will forbid states from requiring proof of actually being alive in order to be eligible to vote.

Sorry, Arlen. Your new friends aren't playing along. Sestak to challenge Specter in PA Dem primary



Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), confirmed to Talking Points Memo earlier this week that, pending the approval of his family, he would challenge Sen. Arlen Specter in the Democratic Primary in 2010. Sestak was considering a run before Specter announced that he would be switching parties, which made his involvement much murkier. Democratic activists and the more liberal wing of the Democratic base have been advocating Sestak's run, even though Sestak is a moderate to conservative member of the House Democratic Caucus, and a member of the Blue Dog Caucus. Both President Obama and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell have pledged to campaign for Specter.

Looks like Arlen is running out of political parties.