Hoyer Claims To Be “Playing It Straight”

If you think you’ve heard them all, try again.  House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) claims that the Democrats are “playing it straight” regarding their possible attempt to sleaze ObamaCare into law without making House Dems actually vote on the matter.

I’m pretty jaded, but this one takes the cake:

"We are playing it straight," Hoyer insisted. He said American voters would not care what process Congress uses to enact a sweeping health care overhaul and would focus instead on the merits of the new law.

At the same time, he defended the use of the procedural sidestep, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that she was considering employing. He cited statistics that, he said, showed that Republicans had used "deeming" process about twice as often as Democrats over the years.

Hoyer did not specify what period of time or what types of legislation were approved using the procedure.

When, exactly, did the House Republicans ever use this tactic?  Honestly, I’d like to know.  IF – and that’s a BIG IF – Hoyer is not lying, I want to know if any of these GOP pirates are still in office.  If they are we should find primary opponents for those guys.  Proposing to pass legislation without actually voting on it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.  It doesn’t matter if the GOP did it in the past, it’s WRONG.  But even IF Hoyer is telling the truth, I guess his Mom never taught him that two wrongs don’t make a right.

I’m a conservative, not a radical.  However, if House Dems actually use this tactic of “deeming” a bill to have passed to force ObamaCare on an unwilling electorate it’s time to take to the streets.

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Democrats Dance As Your Power Bill Increases

Back in the early ‘80’s, I remember my Intermediate Macroeconomics professor wasting half of a semester extolling the virtues of Marxist economic theory.  One day, I simply had to ask – Does anyone, even YOU, actually believe this nonsense?  His response?  “Well, it’s a valid economic theory”.  Well, I have finally come across someone who actually seems to believe that nonsense.

cassandra_m, over at DelawareLiberal, extols the virtues of Cap and Tax by claiming that Delaware has made over $2 million from selling “carbon credits”.  Sorry cassandra, Delaware TAXED power companies an ADDITIONAL $2 million.  You can call it whatever you want, but IT’S A TAX!  It’s a transfer.  It produces NOTHING!

Here’s how it works in the real world (vs. the imaginary, Marxist, MoveOn.org world):

Power companies are TAXED $2 million for “carbon credits”.  One of three things occur.  One, your power bill rises to make up for the lost $2 million.  Two, instead of raising rates the power company simply takes a reduction in profit.  This means that money will not be returned to shareholders to be put to a PRODUCTIVE use or needed capital upgrades will not occur.  The capital expenditures actually CREATE WEALTH and help to GROW THE ECONOMY (so does returning the money to shareholders).  Three, there is some combination of one and two.

Something tells me that cassandra sat in on the same economics class as WCBOE superintendent John Fredericksen.

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Who Are the Democrats’ True Masters?

As if there was ever any doubt, the answer is …

BIG LABOR and the LOONEY LEFT

“Unstable Isotope” (and appropriate name if ever there was one) over at DelawareLiberal tells all how it really is in the world of Democrat politics:

The party has united behind the bill. 83% of MoveOn members support its passage and organized labor has threatened to primary Democrats who vote against reform. At the same time, the opposition to the bill is weakening and is less organized. The Democratic party’s fortunes in 2010 and beyond are tied up in this bill and I think most Democrats know this.

That’s right folks!  America is OVERWHELMINGLY opposed to ObamaCare; but that doesn’t count.  No – 83% of MoveOn.org members and the SEIU want it.

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Ken Cuccinelli … On Liberty

While the nation’s “economic pie” can be grown through good economic policies, the “liberty pie” is a zero-sum game – it doesn’t grow or shrink – and there are only two slices:  government power and citizens’ liberty.  If the current notions of centralized health care are enacted, government’s raw power over citizens’ lives will increase, and their liberty will be reduced by the same amount.

So writes Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in this month’s issue of the American Spectator.  (sorry, the actual article won’t be available online until April)

Cuccinelli is fast becoming one of the leaders of the conservative movement.  While Cuccinelli has been using the power of his office to fight federal tyranny in the courts, he is also using the pen to make a reasoned argument for all that conservatives hold dear.

During the current resurgence of the conservative movement and the semi-conservative populism inherent among the tea parties, some may dismiss the need for the intellectual strength displayed by officials like Cuccinelli.  Don’t be fooled.  Without its intellectual underpinnings, the conservative movement never would have grown beyond the Bob Taft years.

As I have noted here in the past – Yes, it is important to believe the right things.  However, without a firm understanding of WHY we believe what we do, those beliefs will not survive the test of time.  This is precisely why we need elected officials like General Cuccinelli.

Yes, we all know that ObamaCare is bad policy.  We all know that it would be fiscally disastrous.  We all know that the world’s best health care system would be greatly diminished.  Yet, Cuccinelli has managed to succinctly explain why we should fight ObamaCare – even IF these things were not the case.  If we wish to forfeit our God given individual liberty for a promised blanket of economic security then America ceases to be that shining city.  Liberty forfeited is liberty lost forever.

Thanks Ken.

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Thank You Jim Bunning

Red State has a great piece about Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) (along with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)) being the only person to stand up and fight the extension of the Obama PORKULUS.  Bunning deserves our gratitude.

While his colleagues were watching the Olympics or fundraising, it was Bunning who stood firm and kept objecting to attempts by the Senate majority to sleaze through more wasteful spending.  I wonder where his colleague and fellow Kentuckian Mitch McConnell was?

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In Florida Senate Race, Be Careful What You Wish For

Red State’s Erick Erickson writes that Florida Gov. Charlie Crist may be bolting the GOP to run for the Senate seat Crist arrogantly believes is his by right.  If he does so, the conservative response should be a simple one – marshal every resource possible to elect Marco Rubio and THEN (after the election) make it our mission to destroy Crist politically so that he can never run for office again or benefit financially from his service as Florida’s governor.

Now, this may seem hard hearted.  It is.  However, if you play the game you should play by the rules.  If Crist bolts or campaigns for the Democrat nominee he has left the realm of civil political behavior and should be handled as such.

Erickson writes:

Here’s what will happen if Charlie Crist leaves the GOP. The DC-GOP Establishment crowd will attack RedState, Jim DeMint, and Marco Rubio for shrinking the GOP. Instead of pointing out that moderate Republicans are sore loser who don’t play well with conservatives, conservatives will be attacked for chasing Crist out of the party.

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Steele Flunks the Test Again

MPPI Senior Fellow Marta Hummel Mossburg tags RNC chair Michael Steele for the rank hypocrisy of his book – "Right Now: A 12-step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda".  While Mossburg hits Steele on many of the right specifics, she should have expounded more on her “Ignatius Reilly” theory of the Michael Steele persona.

Steele’s problem is a simple one – he believes in nothing.  Michael Steele has shown himself willing to pander to almost any audience at the drop of a dime.  He’s conservative.  He’s cool.  He’ll use scarce RNC resources to back an unapologetic left-winger in the NY-23 race.  He’ll take credit for the victories in Virginia and New Jersey, when he had absolutely nothing to do with them (and the RNC’s contribution was an appreciated one of finance and a few bodies).

Michael Steele is the embodiment for why tea party activists, and the conservative movement in general, should look at the GOP as ONLY a means to an end and hold them off with a ten foot poll.  Sure, various state parties (such as RPV) should be looked on as allies.  Some state parties, such as MDGOP, should be viewed as irrelevant except for their easy access to the ballot.

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Should We “Throw All The Bums Out”?

As usual, last night’s Lower Shore AFP meeting was interesting.  Ed Urban of the Wicomico Tourism Board spoke about why the County Council did the right thing by spending $1.5 million of “free money” for a new parking lot at the civic center.  While I don’t thing many folks agreed, the discussion was civil.  Salisbury City Councilwoman Debbie Campbell came to explain how the current council majority AND the Ireton administration are illegally spending tax dollars WITHOUT appropriation.

For me, the most engaging moments came AFTER the meeting was over.  I listened to several good people make the argument that just because someone is an incumbent, they are somehow “tainted”.  This is a view that disturbs me greatly.  Experience is not a crime.  In fact, most societies have considered it a virtue.

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Bob McDonnell – Expressing America’s TRUE Values

On Wednesday Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell delivered the GOP response to Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address.  You can view the speech here:

McDonnell’s message will prove important because he expressed the ideas upon which this great nation were founded and those ideas which have made our nation the greatest on earth.  While Obama wishes to continue throwing hard earned tax dollars (and even more money borrowed from the likes of Communist China) at problems, McDonnell’s message was one of self-reliance, self-sacrifice, liberty, and innovation:

Good government policy should spur economic growth, and strengthen the private sector’s ability to create new jobs.  We must enact policies that promote entrepreneurship and innovation, so America can better compete with the world.  What government should not do is pile on more taxation, regulation, and litigation that kill jobs and hurt the middle class.  It was Thomas Jefferson who called for “A wise and frugal Government which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry ….and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned…” He was right.

Today, the federal government is simply trying to do too much.

While most Democrats and far too many Republicans seek enhanced personal and corporate power through the overreaching hand of government, McDonnell’s message was one reminiscent of Ronald Reagan:

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Obama Coming to Charm City

President Barack Obama will be paying a visit to Baltimore Friday.  Obama is scheduled to visit an unidentified small business and address a retreat of House Republicans.  Given that Congressional Dems seem to lock the GOP out of everything meaningful going on in Congress, I thought it was mighty kind of the Republicans to invite the left’s once upon a time messiah.

I was wondering if Obama was going to hand out any “cash from his stash” while visiting Charm City.

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