Redstate

Posted at 12:26pm on Jun. 6, 2008 Democrats Can't Abandon The Most Important Issue Facing The Planet Fast Enough

So much for the "New Direction" Congress

By haystack

So sayeth Sen. Mitch McConnell at least:

The message is clear: the majority can’t abandon this bill fast enough.

So now we’re in a most peculiar situation. On the one hand, the majority says climate change is the most important issue facing the planet. Yet they’ve rushed the debate on that topic and brought the bill to a premature end. They brought it down before we could vote on gas prices, on clean energy technology, or on protecting American jobs.

This whole exercise will have had no effect on either climate change or gas prices. But it does send an unambiguous message: on the issue of high gas prices, our friends on the other side have no plan to lower the price at the pump.

Look, folks, this can't be emphasized enough: Democrats are bad for Americans. They see Government "largesse" as the answer to everything. They see spending large sums of money (that would be OUR money) as the way to solve problems, and they seem to think their nifty little "back-room wheeling and dealing" will go right over our heads somehow...that we'll just trudge along like good little sheep whenever we hear some pretty little words like "hope, faith, and optimism" or Hope and Change and Change and Hope.

For the moment, at least, the most recent attempt by the Democrats to crush us under the weight of a bloated Government and higher taxes and bureaucratic interventionalism has been stopped. It's too late to stop the Farm Bill, we're STILL waiting for them to fund the Troops (which they are in no hurry to do nearly 500 days after being asked to do so), we escaped the Immigration disaster by the skin of our teeth, and they are hell-bent on trying to cram the Energy bill down our throats as early as next week. S. 3044 means to introduce an all-out assault on us, indirectly, by attacking big oil and anyone that makes "too much" money...and they'll be blaming the President for it for good measure.

The promises of a New Direction and an ethical and transparent Congress have been broken. Say what you will about President Bush's approval numbers...Congress enjoys HALF as much approval as he does, and they can't seem to get out of their own way. They have failed themselves, their constituents, and the rest of us poor slobs out here just trying to make ends meet.

November 2008 is just around the corner. These guys must be fired and replaced before they drive "we the People" into the ground.

Posted in Cap and Trade | Liberals | sticking it to the little guy | Tax and Spend Democrats — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:22am on Jun. 6, 2008 Breaking News: Cloture For Cap And Trade Defeated!

Well done Boys And Girls...well done.

By haystack

The disaster, originally known as "Cap and Trade", and now known as the Boxer amendment has been stopped in the Senate [for now]. A "Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Boxer Amdt. No. 4825; In the nature of a substitute" has JUST been defeated. [3/5 majority was not reached] Take THAT, Babs.

Here is the vote tally and I say to all the Senators who voted against cloture "good job folks-well done!"

But...as I am always wont to do, let us advertise the Republicans that voted FOR cloture so they might be given a good scolding by their constituents before the bill actually GETS to a vote...which we KNOW will happen sooner or later:

Collins (R-ME), Dole (R-NC), Martinez (R-FL), Smith (R-OR), Snowe (R-ME), Sununu (R-NH), Warner (R-VA)

As an aside, here are the R's "Not Voting":

Coleman (R-MN), Cornyn (R-TX), Craig (R-ID), DeMint (R-SC), Graham (R-SC), Gregg (R-NH), McCain (R-AZ), Murkowski (R-AK), Specter (R-PA), Stevens (R-AK)

To the Republicans (and Democrats) that can't stomach sticking it to us little guys anymore?

This Bud's for you!

Posted in Breaking News | Cap and Trade | We're watching you Senators — Comments (16)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:25pm on Jun. 3, 2008 Democrats Have Forgotten Their Forefathers

By haystack

Though not a Constitutional or History expert, I'm fairly certain our Founding Fathers intended that this idea of "America" would, at its base, be set up in such a way as to ensure we never again had to face tyranny and oppression from those in power over us. Somewhere in the Declaration of Independence it is said that:

Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Further, our Forefathers suggested that in creating this new "America", we would "institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their (our) Safety and Happiness." This seems basic and simple enough for the least academically inclined among us to understand..."Safe and Happy"... yet our friends in the Democrat party seem to have a problem grasping this fundamental tenet of "America" and what that used to mean to "We the People" who lived in it back then.

There are countless examples of where the Democrats have gone wrong since they ascended to the throne of the Majority (as illustrated in part, above), but I can't get past this most recent spate of pandering to environmental activists in both the Senate, and now...the People's House itself. Attempts to solve a problem by creating new ones we can't even fully anticipate surely is a Democrat hallmark. Instead of looking at the current pain we're enduring via oil and gas prices and the downline effects on the whole economy, seeking ways to stop the immediate bleeding and in parallel encourage a slow wean off of one energy source and on to another (as yet unavailable in sufficient amounts as to make fossil fuels irrelevant), Democrats mean to force a change in how we DO things by making it so expensive that we'll not be ABLE to do them. I fail to see Safety and Happiness in ANY of what Congress has in mind for this "America" that bears no resemblance to the one the Founders put together.

Ed Markey is convinced that "unchecked global warming poses a significant threat to the national security and economy of the United States, the public health and welfare in the United States, the well-being of other countries, and the global environment" and I say bully for Ed Markey. Where this goes so terribly wrong is in his suggesting that "we the people" are going to be made to do something about it for him and his environmentalist friends; pay for something against our will, and make him and his friends feel better about themselves for it.

In his speech announcing the introduction of iCAP (Investing in Climate Action and Protection) [the House version of the Lieberman-Warner fiasco called Cap and Trade], Markey blames Republicans for Global Warming. He suggested this to an audience at the Center for American Progress...

There's a WHOLE lot more, below the fold..

Posted in Bad Policy | Cap and Invest | Cap and Trade | Democrat Majority | Liberals — Comments (19)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:11pm on Jun. 2, 2008 Psst-Congress Means To Stick It To You, *Again*, And You'll Just Have to Like It

And they're not even going to kiss you first-or send you flowers and a thank you note

By haystack

I know we're all much too busy with the American POTUS Idol runoff (err, I mean Primaries) to care much about policy stuff...it can be fairly boring, even when bill after bill after ever-lovin' bill puts the screws to us. But you might want to raise an eyebrow and take a closer look at what the Senate has in mind for your wallets and your livelihoods today:

According to a study released by the National Association of Manufacturers earlier this year, Lieberman-Warner would cause 1.8 million job losses, as much as a $210 billion gross domestic product reduction and possibly a 33% increase in electricity prices by 2020.

How awesome is that? Don't let the facts about how crippling this legislation will be to ALL of us get in the way of years of hard work from boisterous and well-funded PACs, and former Vice Presidential (and Nobel prize-winning) hysteria over an issue we aren't completely sure exists, let alone whether we actually caused, OR even whether we can really do much to effect a significant change. [Remember, folks, much to the chagrin of our greenie friends cave men really DIDN'T have Escalades.]

Congress means to stick it to businesses and individuals...and stick it to us GOOD...just because they can.

It's worth noting, before we delve into the dirty little details, that our Political heroes understand just how much their mistreatment of their constituents goes toward forcing control over our lives. They seem to relish the thought that they can exert so much influence..whether we like it or not.

[addendum: Funny how Congress would have you believe it's the evil Oil companies that are sticking it to us when you consider who the REAL Carbon Power Brokers are, or will be soon enough...just sayin']

More "thank you sir, may I have another" below the fold...

Posted in Bad Policy | Cap and Trade | Congress | Energy Bill | Global Warming | Screwing the little guy — Comments (34)/ Email this page » / Read More »