Redstate

Posted at 11:47am on Jun. 24, 2008 Burn the Witch

We can totally afford this kind of behavior right now.

By Leon H Wolf

Reasonable minds may disagree about the propriety of the pay raise that the Louisiana Legislature has decided that it needs. To my mind, $16K is a remarkably low salary for even part-time duties of that nature. By way of perspective, I used to live in a very small town in Alaska, and our city council members were paid $12,000 a year. This was 19 years ago. I understand that some people don't like the idea that Jindal appears to be giving a quid pro quo here - the raises for his ethics reforms - but it's hard for me to get very exercised about what the legislature is getting in return. It's especially small potatoes considering the need for serious ethics reform in Lousiana.

However, some conservative commentators, presumably fans of other Vice Presidential candidates have decided to flat-out beclown themselves over this issue. Apparently, Jindal's acquiescence in the legislative pay raises establish conclusively that he is a witch, and therefore must be burned.

More below...

Posted in Bobby Jindal | Club for Growth | Republicans | Spending — Comments (18)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:45pm on Jun. 10, 2008 House GOP's Bold Economic Agenda

Earmark Moratorium, Flat Tax Among Policy Goals

By Bluey

House Republicans will unveil their economic agenda tomorrow with proposals to end earmarks, simplify the tax code and increase energy production. The GOP's agenda should excite conservatives, who will recognize many of the policy goals as long-sought objectives.

For the past 18 months in the minority, Republicans have struggled to unify around a specific set of policy goals. Their economic agenda comes one month after they promoted an "American Families Agenda." Two other policy plans will be unveiled in the coming months.

The centerpiece of the economic agenda is spending and tax reform. The proposal calls for an "immediate moratorium on congressional earmarks," which constitutes remarkable progress for House Republicans. The GOP was unable to arrive at that goal earlier this year following its retreat. But after pressure from Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), conservatives apparently won over Boehner, who has long opposed pork-barrel projects. (Note: Although this plan would impose a moratorium on future earmarks, conservatives are still insisting on one this year.)

On tax reform, Republicans are proposing a "two-tier flat tax system that can be filed on one page," a bold move that moves beyond tinkering with the existing tax code. While it certainly won't satisfy FairTax supporters, it differs drastically from anything Democrats have proposed. Americans will be dealt the largest tax increase in history if liberals have their way in Congress.

Other goals that are noteworthy include:

• Passing entitlement reform that addresses the problems facing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
• Balancing the federal budget by 2012 without raising taxes.
• Prohibiting federal spending from growing faster than the economy.
• Extending the current welfare work requirements to food stamps and housing.
• Making portability a central component of health care reform.

Posted in Congress | Congress | Earmarks | Energy | Flat Tax | Republicans | Spending — Comments (49)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:30pm on Jun. 6, 2008 Pick Your Favorite Part of the Farm Bill!

Bipartisan Socialism and The Audacity of Corporate Welfare

By Dan McLaughlin

Farm policy, although it's complex, can be explained. What it can't be is believed. No cheating spouse, no teen with a wrecked family car, no mayor of Washington, DC, videotaped in flagrante delicto has ever come up with anything as farfetched as U.S. farm policy.

-P.J. O'Rourke.

So yesterday, the United States Senate voted to pass into law H.R. 6124, the "Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008," already passed by the House, in both cases by a veto-proof majority, rendering irrelevant the belatedly principled stand of President Bush, who promises a veto.* Chances are pretty good that your Congressperson and at least one of your Senators voted for this atrocity, which passed the House 306-110 and the Senate 77-15, despite valiant efforts to slow down the bill by Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn. Like all really horrendous things to come out of Washington, this load of legislative fertilizer has broad bipartisan support. So give thanks for the hardy few Senators - 13 Republicans and two Rhode Island Democrats - who voted "no" (as well as the lengtier list of their 98 Republican and 12 Democratic House counterparts you can find here):

Bennett (R-UT), Hatch (R-UT), Coburn (R-OK), Collins (R-ME), DeMint (R-SC), Domenici (R-NM), Ensign (R-NV), Hagel (R-NE), Kyl (R-AZ), Lugar (R-IN), Murkowski (R-AK), Sununu (R-NH), Voinovich (R-OH), Reed (D-RI) Whitehouse (D-RI)

In case you are wondering, John McCain and Barack Obama missed the vote, but McCain says he would have vetoed the bill "and all others like it that serve only the cause of special interests and corporate welfare" and because farm subsidies threaten free trade, whereas Obama is proud to support precisely the kind of legislation that has made Washington so roundly popular with the public (in Obama's statement, he says "I applaud the Senate's passage today of the Farm Bill, which will provide America's hard-working farmers and ranchers with more support and more predictability." So much for "Change").**

Anyway, in honor of this occasion, I ask you to submit your vote for your favorite provision of this new federal law, which your elected representatives have enacted on your behalf. See, Democracy works! Read On...

Posted in Barack Obama | Congress | Farm Bill | John McCain | Spending — Comments (18)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:17pm on Mar. 3, 2008 Redstate Roundtable #4: The GOP/Conservative Domestic Agenda 2009-2012

By Neil Stevens

For this week's roundtable, let's discuss what Republicans in general and conservatives in particular should pursue as our top domestic federal legislative priorities over the next four years. Obviously, if McCain is elected, or if the GOP recaptures at least one House of Congress in November, we will have a foothold from which Republicans can propose a legislative agenda of our own. If none of those things happen, we should still consider what our agenda should look like besides (as the late Bill Buckley would say) simply standing athwart Obamania shouting "stop."

Read on for the discussion...

Posted in Earmarks | Medical Care | Policy | Redstate Roundtable | Schools | Social Security | Spending | taxes — Comments (64) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:04am on Feb. 21, 2008 Democrats defending lobbyists and criminals clammoring for more cops... is this a fever dream?

By RightMichigan.com

Cross-posted on Right Michigan at www.RightMichigan.com.

God Bless the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.  There are times they drive me crazy.  They tend to drift into areas of discussion that advocate for the elimination of Constitutionally protected rights from time to time but other than that they're really swell guys.  And when they're on their game they do one heck of a job exposing the dark underbelly of Lansing policy making.  

Posted in Breaking News | Detroit | Kwame | lobbying | lobbyists | Michigan | Spending — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:05pm on Dec. 21, 2007 Schwarzenegger Considering Release of 12% of California's Prison Population

Good thing we're getting free health care for the future victims of those 22,000 criminals

By Neil Stevens

After California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger fought Republicans for months over their pesky demands that we cut spending to prevent a disastrous budget deficit, it turns out that gee, we're facing a disastrous budget deficit after all! The conservatives were right.

So how does the Governor want to go about saving some money that we can't afford to spend? He's weighing the early release of 22,000 of the state's 172,000 prison inmates in order to save a few hundred million dollars we would spend keeping society safer.

Read on...

Posted in Arnold Schwarzenegger | Budget | California | Crime | girly man | Policy | Republicans | Spending — Comments (12)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:19am on Dec. 2, 2007 MI Morning Update: MI Legislature Repeals Service Tax, But Revenue Replaced - Spending Must Be Controlled! - CAFE Accord Reached

By saul anuzis

340 Days until Election Day

MORNING UPDATE:

Sales tax on services is repealed….surcharge on the MBT replaces revenues. The Democrats left us with the best of two bad choices. Hopefully some in the business community have learned some lessons.

Senate and House Republicans stood together to get the best they could…see release below.

How about a bipartisan approach to dealing with the issues that affect our state? See more below.

Posted in CAFE | Michigan Republican Party | Republicans | Saul Anuzis | Service Tax | Spending — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »