Paul Ryan schools Chris Matthews on spending cuts:
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I take a look at Obama’s Oval Office speech on the Market Center blog:
CommentsPresident Obama used his first televised speech from the Oval Office, ostensibly on the topic of the BP oil spill, to run through his usual speech-making checklist, which includes blaming Bush and beating up on idealogical straw-men, like his long ago debunked contention that there was significant “deregulation” during the previous decade. He also continued his pattern of declaring every problem to be unprecedented, though he’s also undermined that same argument by making a bizarre comparison between the spill and 9/11.
The heart of his speech, however, was no doubt inspired by Rahm Emanual’s famous, or infamous, exhortation to let no good crisis go to waste. As such, Obama thinks the oil spill is a perfect time to revive his job killing, economy destroying cap-and-trade bill, though he dared not call it that…
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Indications late last year suggested it might be. Now, Lindsay Graham says it is:
Three key senators are engaged in a radical behind-the-scenes overhaul of climate legislation, preparing to jettison the broad “cap-and-trade” approach that has defined the legislative debate for close to a decade.
The sharp change of direction demonstrates the extent to which the cap-and-trade strategy — allowing facilities to buy and sell pollution credits in order to meet a national limit on greenhouse gas emissions — has become political poison. In a private meeting with several environmental leaders on Wednesday, according to participants, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), declared, “Cap-and-trade is dead.”
Climategate no doubt played a role in cap-and-trade’s diminishing prospects.
But it’s not time to cheer yet. If you thought nothing could be worse than such a terrible idea, then you are sure to be disappointed:
Graham and Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) have worked for months to develop an alternative to cap-and-trade, which the House approved eight months ago. They plan to introduce legislation next month that would apply different carbon controls to individual sectors of the economy instead of setting a national target.
Just about the only thing I can imagine worse than the across-the-board cap-and-trade tax is to allow politicians to pick and choose specific industries to target. That’s a recipe for special interest favoritism and economic inefficiency if I’ve ever seen one.
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This New Republic article from a couple days ago caught my attention. In it, the author says that the Democrats are doomed, so they ought to go ahead and destroy America anyway, with the cap-and-trade bill being their Kamikaze vehicle of choice. Ok, he didn’t quite say it like that, but that’s what it would mean.
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Definition of irony: when global warming believing, cap-and-trade supporting, RINO Gov. Charlie Crist is forced to issue an emergency order to deal with Florida’s record cold.
Florida’s governor has signed an emergency order to deal with the cold weather threatening the state’s crops.
Gov. Charlie Crist on Tuesday signed the executive order that relaxes the normal restrictions on transporting crops. It also gives the state’s Division of Emergency Management and other agencies the authority to provide growers with assistance.
Throughout central and south Florida, farmers are trying to salvage millions of dollars worth of citrus and vegetable crops. They are spraying them in protective layers of ice and covering them in plastic.
Forecasters say the cold spell will last through the weekend, likely breaking records for continuous cold temperatures in many parts of the state.
It’s been a tough week for the warm-mongers.
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A major victory for the anti-warmmongers, if true:
Bruised by the health care debate and worried about what 2010 will bring, moderate Senate Democrats are urging the White House to give up now on any effort to pass a cap-and-trade bill next year.
“I am communicating that in every way I know how,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of at least a half-dozen Democrats who’ve told the White House or their own leaders that it’s time to jettison the centerpiece of their party’s plan to curb global warming.
After passing in the House, cap-and-trade has languished in the Senate. As economic recovery proves illusive, burdening the economy with a massive new tax on productivity becomes ever more unappealing for Democrats worried about the coming electoral backlash. Add in the damage done by Climategate, and this beast might just be vanquished.
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Bullying is a favored tactic of this administration. They’ve set their sights on insurance, pharmaceuticals, and energy, among many others. Don Blankenship of Massey Energy is not intimidated:
CommentsThe reality, which many Americans may not realize, is that CEOs, presidents and shareholders of publicly traded companies fear that if they are clear in expressing their opinions in opposition to legislation like cap-and-trade, the government of the United States of America will exercise “extra scrutiny” in its regulation of their companies. Certainly, domestic energy companies like Massey can’t withstand much extra scrutiny or retaliatory regulation from the government.
However, the truth is the truth and lies are lies. Neither politicians nor government nor the media can change that. In Spain, an economics professor calculates that green jobs schemes have destroyed more than 110,000 jobs in that country, or 2.2 jobs destroyed for every one created. The CEO of the world’s largest renewable energy company, Eon, is warning the EU that further cuts to CO2 emissions will only raise the cost of energy, putting the region at a competitive disadvantage and driving production overseas.
The truth about global warming alarmists in the business community who say Congress must pass laws immediately to stop the planet from warming is that they are driven more by pursuit of profit than pursuit of science and real atmospheric temperatures. These companies lie for profit and at the expense of American families’ budgets, American’s homeland security, and the quality of the world’s air and water.
You see, they know cap-and-trade will hurt the American economy. That it will cost American jobs. That it will increase our dependency on foreign energy. And yes, they know that it will increase global pollution by moving production to unregulated countries like China. They also know the world is cooling. They know that cap-and-trade won’t lower the earth’s temperature. To those saying otherwise I say simply, “You lie.”
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Only certain interests can be respectably represented in Washington. Unions are a-okay. Lawyers get the stamp of approval when it comes to lobbying. But businesses? Why, that’s gotta be criminal.
The Chamber of Commerce rightly opposes destroying our economy on the moronic assumption that we can prevent “climate change.” In response, the left has gone completely batty. They latched on to several prominent defections as evidence that the chamber is out of touch with environmental issues and to just generally attack the chamber. What they don’t note is that the companies support cap-and-trade because they stand to make billions off of it at the expense of everyone else. This is rent-seeking at its worst, but the loony left holds it up as an example of model corporate governance.
Now they’ve gone a step further and are calling for criminal investigations. A coalition of anti-business lefties called StopTheChamber whines that, “The Chamber is spending over $100 million to defeat new initiatives to reform the banking and health care industries and oppose legislation to curb global warming.” For this terrible crime of opposing socialism, StopTheChamber wants criminal prosecutions. Clearly they must not only be opposed; they must be destroyed. But remember, it’s Rush Limbaugh that’s really dividing the country.
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Having lost his best opportunity to steer the Republican Party over a cliff of squishy moderation on November 4th last year, John McCain is diligently working behind the scenes to bring about his vision of a worthless, Democratic-lite party.
His strategy is to recruit and support “moderate” candidates in his own mold – despite the fact that he was an electoral loser – like Mark Kirk of Illinois, who supported cap-and-tax.
Senator Grahamnesty rationalizes, “[McCain] has an understanding that the party is in trouble with certain demographics and wants to have a tone that would allow us to grow.” If he succeeds, the Republican Party will most certainly not grow. Pandering to identity groups is a strategy that has been a proven failure for Republicans. The most important demographic, which Graham unsurprisingly ignores, is the conservative base. Lose them and the party is finished.
He also underestimates the power of attracting followers by staking out principled positions. Reagan expanded the Republican Party with principled leadership that convinced conservative democrats to switch parties. With the growing backlash against Obama’s massive government, many Americans not currently identified as Republicans are yearning for a principled, limited government alternative. If Republicans listen to the likes of John McCain, they will find themselves ill-prepared to rise to the challenge and take advantage of an opportunity to increase their ranks through principled leadership.
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The Cap and Tax Bill has just passed the House with a final vote of 219-212. Eight moronic and soon to be infamous Republicans crossed the line to give the Democrats, despite losing 44 of their own, a victory. Meanwhile, the loser, unless the Senate steps up, is the average American family, which will be raided now for an additional $3,000+ per year.
Edit: The Crap and Trade Eight
Mary Bono Mack (CA-45th)
Michael Castle (DE – At Large)
Mark Kirk (IL – 10th)
Leonard Lance (NJ – 7th)
Frank LoBiondo (NJ – 2nd)
John McHugh (NY – 23rd)
Christopher Smith (NJ – 4th)
Dave Reichert (WA – 8th)
They’ve been named, now they must be shamed.
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I am a libertarian-conservative blogger living in the DC area. I have a Master's degree in Political Science and work in public policy, but please don't hold that against me.
