By Lisa Richards

March 9, 2009

The presidential Messiah has been an unsuccessful god: he can’t raise the dead or heal the sick he could care less about, except when it comes to vote-grabbing from poor minorities and the elderly he and House Democrats love to scare to death. His Holy Spirit-helper is a Teleprompter whose rhetoric is worse than a satanic desert temptation, and this Messiah has an obsession with force-fed pork.

Christians need not fear, Obama is not the anti-Christ. The devil is too intelligent to use a Teleprompter to speak his evil plans, and he would not use government-run healthcare and a face-lifted Congressional actress to take over the world.

If Obama’s moronic Messianic moves aren’t bad enough, he wants Obamacare, which, according to House Blue Dogs and Republicans contains tax-funded abortion, passed into law by Easter Sunday 2010.

Obama is attempting to use a tactic known as “Reconciliation” to force his bill through the House. “Reconciliation” is the method politicians use to ram legislation into law with 51 votes versus the usual 60 vote rule. This form of law is nothing more than phony appeasement. The reason for using the “Reconciliation” ploy is one side cannot force the other to give

into something dangerous to the American people, therefore, force the bill on the people by ramming it through to law.

Now Easter Sunday is being used to “Reconcile” laws Americans overwhelmingly say they do not want: a bill sneaking abortion into America’s taxes. Obama does not care, nor is he interested in listening to the people he refuses to serve. He prefers leading Americans to a crucifixion that won’t raise their quality of life. It will however raise America’s taxes and drive people into bankruptcy.

According to Barry O, “Every idea has been put on the table; every argument has been made, so now is the time to make a decision about how to finally reform health care so that it works, not just for the insurance companies, but for America’s families and businesses.”

Republican ideas have not been allowed to make it to the table, since Republicans are barred from the Roosevelt Room’s closed door sessions.

Senator Mitch said “They’re [Obama and the Democrats] making a vigorous effort to try to jam this down the throats of the American people, who don’t want it. We think that’s a policy mistake, and we think resorting to these kinds of tactics, to thumb your nose at the American people, is something that ought to be resisted.”

John Goodman states in his column for the Library of Economics and Liberty “The most serious defects of Obamacare were never discussed at the Health Care Summit or in the President’s speech [on healthcare]…I blame the Republicans…as a result, things have gotten worse for the GOP. President Obama is now offering to make minor concessions on the issues the Republicans did bring up and call the whole effort a ‘bipartisan compromise.’”

Obama however is not compromising, insisting American insurance companies cannot cover Americans, and Americans need the government to take care of them.

Is healthcare so damaged that it actually needs to be resurrected into a new life form? According to Mark V. Pauly, Bendheim member of the Hoover Institution’s Working Group on Health Care Policy and Professor for the Department of Health Care Systems at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, “While there surely are some serious deficiencies in today’s individual insurance market, the current criticisms are overly harsh, often based on anecdote and speculation, and ignore some important advantages in this market that should be preserved.”

Pauly’s latest book titled Health Reform Without Side Effects: Making Markets Work For Individual Health Insurance, states that the government plans for insurance attempt to make private insurance providers appear harmful. This, Pauly says, is the serious “side effect” of healthcare reform, because, although insurance companies do need improvement, they

can be repaired, and the government should not try to prevent enhancing private insurers. It’s best to fix them, upgrade them, and the system itself can turn around without government interference.

Economist and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute Thomas Sowell states in his latest column “Getting Out Of Medicine,” that today’s doctors are not excited about practicing and healing. Patients no longer visit doctors because they trust individual doctors, rather, because they are given a list of doctors by insurance companies from which to choose from.

Patients no longer decide which doctor they want treating them and doctors no longer are allowed to decide upon treatment; insurance companies make

the decisions about healthcare.

The L.A. Times reporter Peter Nicolas reported in his column “Obama Adds Fire To Healthcare Debate:” “Obama said that Washington pundits obsessed with analyzing the political repercussions of a yes or no vote on healthcare are distracting lawmakers from what’s fundamentally at stake: If Congress fails to act, the president said, premiums will rise, insurers

will deny coverage based on preexisting conditions and more people will be without insurance.”

Goodman says “In 2016, Obamacare will require almost everyone to have insurance that costs an estimated $15,000 for a family…Obamacare would create marginal tax rates in excess of 60% for workers earning as little as $25,000!”

Americans making $25,000 per year are low-income. This sounds more like an Easer egg hunt for rotten eggs.

The strong-arming was unleashed yesterday at Pennsylvania’s Arcadia University when Obama declared the time for talking was over. There has yet to be a time for discussions, Republicans have been banned from the secret backroom healthcare talks. As far as the Messiah is concerned, he’s not interested in discussions: “They [Republicans and Blue Dogs] will keep doing this for as long as they can get away with it. How many more Americans have to lose their health insurance? …. When is the right time for health insurance reform…I’ll be honest with you, I don’t know how passing health care will play politically, but I do know it’s the right thing to do! It’s right for our families, it’s right for our businesses,

it’s right for the United States of America, and if you share that belief, I want you to stand with me and fight!”

How can the lame stand when the Messiah has kicked their crutches out from under them and hurled them under the crucifixion bus?

Obama insists Americans [N]need to hear your [Arcadia University] voices because right now the Washington echo chamber is in full throttle. It is as deafening as it’s ever been. And as we come to that final vote, that echo chamber is telling members of Congress, wait, think about the politics, instead of thinking about doing the right thing.”

It is Americans who want to think, act, and do for themselves and Obama who wishes to destroy that Constitutional idea. If possible, he wantsResurrection Sunday to be Armageddon.

By Lisa Richards Copyright©™ March 9, 2009 all Rights Reserved

www.lisa-richards.com

lisa-richards@lisa-richards.com

Duncan Hunter Interview 3-5-2010: On Obama the Apostrate, The Reagan Doctrine, and Aging Hippies

Saturday, March 06, 2010

DH: Hey, Jim.

AJM: hey, that sounds a lot better. What are you doing back in DC? You finally got an appointment with your son?

DH: No. Next week, but I’m waiting for him (laughs). No , I’m back here, I’m heading up, kind of the chairman of the Armed Forces Foundation. We had a big fundraiser. That’s the group that helps a lot of our wounded guys.

AJM: That’s fantastic. What’s the name of the organization again?

DH: The Armed Forces Foundation.

AJM: The Armed Forces Foundation - So it’s like the Wounded Warrior Project?

DH: Exactly, they give help to military families and have all kinds of good projects. It’s a good deal.

AJM: That’s great. Since you are in your son’s office, is that the same office that you used to have?

DH: No. This is over in Longworth. But he’s got a great office here.

AJM: Oh, so you are over in California then? I thought you were in DC.

DH: No, I’m in DC. He’s in DC. He’s got an office DC, but obviously he’s got an office back in the district as well.

AJM: But it’s not the same spot that you had?

DH: No, mine was in one of the other buildings.

AJM: OK. Well, since we are talking about him, I see there has been some progress made on the efforts to get those three Marines, or excuse me, I mean 3 Navy SEALs exonerated for fattening the lip of that terrorist they caught in Iraq. Mr. Rohrbacher and Dan Burton put in some legislation to get them off the hook. I know that’s following on the heels of Duncan D’s letter that he wrote with a bunch of co-signers to Bob Gates.

DH: I think he (Duncan D) got 170 members of Congress to sign that thing.

AJM: Amazing. I just want to commend your son for doing that.

DH: Oh yeah, no, it’s great stuff. He got that started and those other guys wanted to get in front of the TV cameras, and he said “that’s fine”.

AJM: (laughs) He was the first one that I’m aware of who…

DH: Yeah, he did. He started that thing.

AJM: So he’s following in your footsteps pretty well, wouldn’t you say?

DH: Yeah, he’s a good guy.

AJM: Yes. Speaking of foreign policy, today, Turkey came out and was complaining about the deteriorating atmosphere, the deteriorating relationship with the United States. That follows on the heels of France, and then Great Britain being mad at us for sending Hillary down to Argentina and saying that the British have to talk about this oil thing in the Falklands, and Poland with the Missile Defenses. So I just want you to comment on what you think the state of our foreign policy is, with regards to our “allies”, which Mr. Obama was claiming that he would improve and placate.

DH: Yeah. I think this is the 2nd phase of the Obama foreign policy philosophy or foreign policy operations which was to prostrate, in the first phase, to prostrate himself before the world and deliver a number of applause lines to the effect that the United States is not a very good country and is sorry for all of our ‘transgressions’.

That type of a prostration invites countries to despise us. In the end, countries don’t respect other nations that have no self respect, or appears to have a leader that does not respect his own country. The cheap applause that he got in his early trips has now evolved into resentment in some cases.

The United States – you know it’s often said that countries don’t have friends, they have interests. I think pulling back on the Missile Defense program was a manifestation that there is now a fracture in the position that we held ever since Ronald Reagan started Missile Defense. In the face of opposition from the Soviet Union, and then a lot of people in our own country, and from nervous allies, Ronald Reagan established the doctrine - which truly was a doctrine for American presidents - that we had right in our supreme interest of self-preservation, to defend against incoming missile attacks. And we never took a backwards step with respect to that. That’s why we have today the ability to defend against limited missile attacks against the continental US. And that’s why in the Iraq War, there was a 100% shootdown of the missiles that we felt we needed to take down that came out of Saddam Hussein’s defensive batteries when we launched the attack in March of 2003. We took down a handful of SCUD missiles that came in at the British and American forces in Kuwait when that attack was launched.

AJM: I heard that.

DH: So missile defense has always been non-negotiable. Our right to have it has always been non-negotiable. When Obama essentially retreated in meeting with Poland….you know that retreat was telegraphed when he said early on in his administration that he was “looking at” at that. That’s always a signal that it’s negotiable. And ultimately we backed down from that decision.

I don’t think that inspired respect for the United States. The problem with the United States with a leftwing policy like that is Obama’s always hoping that its going to be interpreted as being a signal of our compassion, humanity, understanding, and graciousness…

AJM: (laughing)

DH: …when in reality, it is interpreted as a sign of weakness. So I think that is now being reflected to some degree.

And I’ll tell you the real barometer for success with our allies is this: The real barometer is if he is able to persuade all those NATO allies, those 26 other countries in NATO, who right now are providing almost no combat forces for Afghanistan. They are ‘in’ Afghanistan, but they are doing things like patrolling gates inside secured facilities. The Germans have a rule that they will not leave the fort at night. The French have a rule that they will not go anywhere where there is real fighting. And we have not been able to induce those countries to get into the fight with us against the terrorists. That’s a real barometer for what the liberals have described as Mr. Obama’s great relationship with the rest of the world. That relationship has not translated into the commitment of combat forces into Afghanistan.

AJM: In fact, people are leaving, or planning on leaving. The Dutch, the Canadians are planning on….

DH: It’s a lot easier to tell the guys you can’t come to the fight on Monday because you got a note from your mom. In order for Germany and France and the others to opt out, once your forces are gone it’s REALLY easy to tell them you can’t come to the fight on Monday. It’s a little more difficult when your troops are poised only a few miles away, yet you will not come out to fight along side of the Americans.

But in fairness, that’s a problem that the Bush Administration had also.

AJM: It didn’t seem like the Bush Administration was trying to do what the Obama Administration is doing right now. Because of Iraq, and what was going on there, they weren’t ready to push the surge button in Afghanistan quite yet. But I think Obama’s lack of success of getting the allies to come along with the surge in Afghanistan is the lack of Realpolitik – that is the ability of the American President to get what he needs with our allies.

DH: Yeah.

AJM: Since you brought up missile defense, I wanted to mention something. General Bentley Rayburn, do you know him?

DH: What’s his name?

AJM: Bentley Rayburn?

DH: I don’t think so.

AJM: I think he’s retired, but he just had a piece in the Washington Times today. It was talking about the success of Airborn Laser missile defense system….

DH: Yeah.

AJM:….that’s been in development since you and Reagan pushed that thing through. I actually worked on it for a little while when I worked at the Boeing Company.

DH: Oh really.

AJM: Yeah. I think it’s the most amazing thing. And they found out through all the research on this particular type of technology that lasers are really coming into their own. Anyway, we had a successful test recently shooting down a missile, but Obama has more or less defunded the Airborn Laser system. I’d like to get your comment on that.

DH: I think that is a progression from his first backwards steps on missile defense, which we just discussed with respect to interceptors and radar systems which were to be installed in the Czech Republic and Poland.

I think it’s a manifestation of a ‘political’ position, not a security position. Because certainly this is the age of missiles, as they’ve demonstrated to us. We’ve had Americans killed by incoming ballistic missiles. And we now see deadly nations, with deadly intentions and instable governments – I’m thinking of Iran particularly – developing missiles and developing nuclear capability to ride the tips of those missiles.

So this is NOT an action being taken by the Obama Administration because the threat has evolved or is going away. It is being taken in the face of a growing threat. So it can only be interpreted as a political position. And that political position is that missile defense is a creature of the Republican Party. They’ve never liked it. And now’s there chance to defund a large part of it. And that is a tragedy, and perilous for the country for this socialist to be tossing the Reagan Doctrine aside.

AJM: There’s certainly a few of the old cold warrior democrats around. I know Ike Skelton was a supporter.

DH: Norm Dicks who is now chairman of the Defense Appropriations sub committee is a strong supporter of missile defense.

AJM: That’s my congressman down in Tacoma.

DH: Yeah. He’s always been a supporter of missile defense.

AJM: He’s also not been a raving leftwing lunatic either.

DH: Yeah. He should be taking the battle to, and I presume he is, taking the battle to the Obama Administration. Now remember, what you see in missile defense being “defunded” is the Administration’s position, but Congress has a say. Congress has the purse strings. And I think Norm Dicks and others on the Republican and the Democratic side will push….

AJM: I seem to remember, not only during the Clinton Administration, Congressman Hunter, but during the Bush Administration, that when they came with their budgets and their defunding requests that you managed to up the ante on them a few times and restore funding.

DH: Yeah, that’s right.

AJM: So I congratulate you for doing that and thank you for doing that.

DH: Yeah. Thanks. Well listen, as usual I’ve got to run out the door in a couple of minutes. I’m always a day late and dollar short.

AJM: Well that’s OK. I appreciate any time that you have for us!

DH: Oh no no. I’m not that special.

AJM: You don’t know, you just don’t know how…

DH: You’ve got to ‘trade up’, Jim (laughs)

AJM: (laughing)

DH: OK, what do you got?

AJM: OK. I wanted to get your comments on this. In the dead of night, this past weekend or it may have been the weekend before on a Saturday, with no fanfare whatsoever, Obama re-signed the Patriot Act with no reforms. Now what does this tell you? He and his wing of the democrat party crucified the Bush Administration for a good 8 years over the Patriot Act, yet here he goes and re-signs it for a year with no reforms. I’d just like you to comment on that.

DH: I don’t know. Maybe it’s an understanding by Obama that the real world is much different than what the fringe left – who provided the energy in the national Democrat campaign in the last election – believes. Perhaps in the same sense he knows Afghanistan is an important theatre of war, and also understanding that we’ve won in Iraq, because his efforts to derail the Surge did not work. We won over his objections. So maybe it is an understanding now that we exist in a real world, not a world as viewed by the Marxists and the fringe left.

AJM: That’s a hopeful interpretation of it. I’m thinking because some of the tragedies, like the terrorist attack at Fort Hood and the airline panty bomber, and that terrorism is in the news big time, that it would have been politically dangerous for him to, uh….

DH: Yeah, to scuttle the Patriot Act. I wanted to attribute the best of motives to him on that. (laughs).

AJM: (laughing) That’s a very gracious stance you are taking.

DH: (laughs) Let’s hope he does have people that he relies on briefing him to the effect that the aging hippies who drove his campaign are not to be relied on with respect to painting a picture of the real world.

AJM: I sure hope you’re right because we’ve got three more years of this…

DH: (laughs) Me too!

AJM: Well, I’ll let you go since you’re in a rush…

DH: Well listen, thanks Jim. And my son Sam is coming home from his Stryker brigade.

AJM: Are you coming up to Tacoma to see him?

DH: No, he’s coming into San Diego to see his baby being born. He’s coming in on a 30 day leave, so it’s kind of neat.

AJM: I didn’t even know he was married. I had no idea.

DH: Yeah, yeah. He’s a great guy and she’s a wonderful girl, so this is a really great time of year for us.

AJM: Is he flying into Ft. Lewis and then heading down?

DH: I’m not sure if he’s coming into Lewis or how he’s coming in. But he’s coming to San Diego. I presume he’ll be coming into LA, then down to San Diego.

AJM: So he’s just on a leave. They’re not done with their tour? How much longer…

DH: They are coming out in August. Incidentally, one thing I’ve got if you want it – I’m back here in Dunc’s office right now – I’ve got the speech that I made in December of ’08 chronicling the Iraq war and the FACT that we’ve won. If you want a copy of that thing to send out, because I saw that “Victory at Last” on the cover of Newsweek Magazine, I think two days ago. And you had Biden claiming that this was his finest hour! (laughing).

AJM: (laughing) Did you just about fall out of your chair when you saw that?

DH: Yeah I did. But you know something? Some people will believe it. So if you want that thing, if you want me to email it to you, I can send that to you. We can set the record straight.

AJM: Yes, please do.

DH: It was the speech I made in the last few days of the Bush Administration, chronicling the war and stating up front, back then, that we won it and how casualties were down to basically nothing.

AJM: Yeah, I’d love to have it. Thanks. If you get Vicky to send that to me – is she still working for Duncan?

DH: Yeah, she is.

AJM: OK. Tell her I said hi. She was awfully nice to me during the campaign. How long are you in DC for?

DH: For a couple days here.

AJM: Excellent, I’ll catch up with next week. Oh, and I wanted to ask you how the Idaho function went?

DH: It was great. We got a great reception there, and Vaughn Ward is doing a wonderful job.

AJM: Yeah, I saw couple of Youtube cuts of him from a previous event. He looks like the real deal.

DH: Yes, he’s really good. He’s going to win that seat from the democrat!

AJM: Well, thank you. And I’ll appreciated getting that speech from you.

DH: Hey, many thanks. Have a good weekend.

 

Why Duncan Hunter is the Man for POTUS, Part 2

Alexander J. Madison  -  March 3, 2010

The 2010 elections are right around the corner.  Once again, I urge all conservatives to work tirelessly to nominate and elect candidates who will not only stop Obama’s socialist agenda, but who will also reverse course on the Republican ‘slow drift’ socialism it has embarked upon.

Though it seems too early to expend effort lobbying for the right 2012 Presidential candidates, one glance through the headlines will demonstrate that a gaggle of Republican politicians are already lining their coffers and elbowing for a place in the primary.

And we see another phenomena repeating, as predictable as the swallows returning to Capistrano:   RINOs pretending to be conservatives when they are challenged in their primaries.  Just the other day, we found out from John McCain that he was apparently bamboozled by former Treasury Secretary Paulson into supporting the “crap sandwich”, the rich-guy & foreign banker bailout known as TARP.  Perhaps Hank, that old romantic, got down on bended knee and stroked McCain’s hand, much like he did to Speaker Pelosi.  With pressure on his right flank from conservative stalwart JD Hayworth, Mr. McCain has resorted to ridiculous statements, unbelievable statements, to get the folks who are angry at Washington to re-elect His Maverickness.  McCain isn’t the only one.  His good pals in Florida and Texas, Charlie “bailout” Crist and Rick “vaccine” Perry, are suddenly claiming to be Reagan Republicans.  Huh?

So what is the solution to this smoke and mirrors nonsense?  The nonsense that has a lifelong liberal limp-wrist like Mitt Romney – who still believes that semi-automatic rifles with a bayonet mount are too scary for American citizens to possess, and that socialized medicine is desirable as long as his name is attached to it - being touted as the 2012 “frontrunner” by the same folks who sold us John McCain in 2008.  The nonsense that has global warming alarmist, treehugger, and anti-smoke nazi Tim Pawlenty being feted as presidential timber.  The nonsense of Newt Gingrich – who was leftwinger Dede Scozzafava’s biggest cheerleader - arrogantly thinking he can waltz into the nomination based on his schizophrenic ideas of his American Solutions racket.  The nonsense that nanny-stater extraordinaire Mike Huckabee – who despite his apparent return to gobbling down Twinkies and fried gizzards is fawning over Michelle Obama’s new anti-fatso campaign – is remotely suitable for the task at hand.  And the nonsense that McCain’s VP, Sarah Palin, by virtue of a pleasant personality and vague conservative credentials, is the only person who can beat back the pack of RINOs.

The Tea Party did not form based upon the Republicanism that these folks represent.  The Tea Party was the direct reaction to these people, working hand in glove with the democrats, saddling America with debt, bureaucracy, nanny-statism, illegal aliens, and Political Correctness.  Its genesis was a combination of Rick Santelli’s famous rant, the GOP and Democrats force feeding TARP to an angry public, the 2007 push for amnesty, and, more recently, the Obama Administration’s blatant attempts to consolidate government power and control.  But these are just the straws that broke the camel’s back!
Real Americans do not want governors and bureaucrats telling them they can’t smoke here, or there, while taxing their tobacco and alcohol products sky high to further feed the nanny state.  They do not want the government to spend one thin dime of their money telling them what and how the hell to eat.  They loathe the notion of the government, be it state or federal, sticking their noses into healthcare -  ObamaCare, RomneyCare, ArKids, Special Needs kids - it does not matter; unleash the free market then stay OUT of it, period. 

Americans reject the entire notion of Amnesty, whether it is La Raza’s call for complete open borders or McCain’s and the GOP establishment’s “pathway to citizenship”.  You sneak in, we catch you, goodbye!
Patriotic Americans overwhelmingly reject the whole notion of Algore’s phony, sovereignty usurping, wealth redistributing scheme called global warming.  Yet, there the Republicans were in a 2008 primary debate, raising their hands like eager, brown-nosing schoolkids when the debate moderator asked who believed that “global warming was a serious problem”.  And there was Governor Pawlenty on the sidelines telling the world to ignore those awful skeptics, and later VP candidate Palin telling us “we must do something about it.”  When you have politicians vowing to fix the weather, you know that the shark has not only been jumped, but they used Evil Knievel’s rocket-bike to jump it.

And Political Correctness?  If the current 2012 media-selected frontrunners became anymore politically correct, they could get jobs in the Chicago Public Schools as diversity coaches teaching tolerance and anti-bullying.

After Ann Coulter, one of the genuinely funny lights of unapologetic conservative punditry, cleverly skewered John “faggot” Edwards and Political Correctness in one brilliant sentence at the 2007 CPAC gathering, Romney, Rudy and McCain could not find  microphones fast enough to reject her “insensitivity” and “divisiveness”.   They also, however, proved her point.  It was Pavlovian.

When presidential nominee John McCain was presented with glaring opportunities to take Barack Obama to the woodshed for his radicalism, he instead wilted like a PC wallflower.  McCain actually said, regarding Obama’s 20 year relationship with anti-Semitic, anti-American preacher Jeremiah Wright:  “Look, I do know Senator Obama and he does not share those (Wright’s) views.”  Why on earth would he say such a thing?? (Hint:  Obama’s half black).
After all the hard work that conservative journalists, bloggers, and talk radio did to illuminate Obama’s radical Marxist, anti-capitalist history, McCain responded by saying “He is a decent person, and a person that you do not have be scared of as President of the United States.”!!!  Top that off with his pandering to the Hispanic community by promoting amnesty – stupidly thinking that most Hispanic-Americans want our laws violated – and you get the picture.  He has no problem sliming his current 2010 primary opponent, a conservative, as if he were a menace to the Republic, but treat a black liberation theology radical as the anti-American he is?   Never!

The problem is this:  The other guys who are gearing up for a 2012 are as bad or worse.  Either they are as politically correct as McCain, share his views on amnesty and global warming, and/or they have liberal streaks a mile wide in their records as politicians.  This goes for T-Paw, Newt, Mitt, Huck as well as the ‘Charlie Crist in cowboy boots’ who just won re-election in Texas.  Not a Reaganite amongst them. 

Sarah Palin is a special case.  With two years as Alaska’s governor under her belt before being plucked onto the national ticket by McCain, she has not had a chance to fully demonstrate what she believes.  She may be supporting RINO McCain’s re-election out of a sense of duty, but she sure gushes on about him every time someone brings him up; including last night on Jay Leno’s program.  And she may have been following the ‘company line’ during the 2008 campaign – despite her repeated statement that she was never asked “to check her views at the door” -  but that just means she needs to enlighten us now with her ‘real’ thinking on critical issues such government bailouts, amnesty, and global warming, which she flunked miserably during the campaign.

The solution is Duncan Hunter.  Hunter was non-committal about his future plans in politics when interviewed last March.  He did specifically say he was not “closing any doors”.  But since then, he has mostly focused on getting a batch of rock ribbed conservative candidates – mostly Iraq and Afghanistan veterans – to run in congressional seats in districts currently held by democrats for the 2010 elections.  Hunter understands that America is in grave peril, and that more CONSERVATIVES in congress is the only way to stop the bleeding.

The guys that Hunter is busy campaigning for include ‘Gunny Pop’ Nick Popaditch (http://www.popaditchforcongress.com/) in California, Jesse Kelly (http://www.votejessekelly.com/) in Tucson, Arizona, and Vaughn Ward (http://www.vaughnward.com/home) up in Idaho.  Look at the platforms of these three warriors and you will see they all stand for slashing (not slowing) the federal government, stopping the illegal alien invasion, genuine job spurring tax cuts, and a stronger military – just like the man who helped recruit them.   Hunter also has several other candidates he will be helping as well.

But once these and other conservatives are elected and we take back at least one house in the Congress (if not both), the party MUST select the right man at the right time to lead us in 2012.  As Hunter succinctly stated, “I think a party is largely defined by it’s president.”  That was true during Nixon’s time, Reagan’s time, as well as during GWB’s tenure.  So the choice is clear.  We can select a presidential nominee who is a slick political animal without clear constitutional convictions similar to Nixon, a “big government” social ‘conservative’ like Bush turned out to be, or a principled constitutionalist and genuine Reaganite – like Duncan Hunter.
With Hunter, we will not get answers that cater to the crowd he happens to be speaking to.  So there will be no democratic advertisements that can skewer him as a liar or a flip flopper.  Hunter gives the exact same message on building the border fence and deporting illegal aliens to Hispanics as he does to every other group of Americans.  And it just so happened that he received tremendous Hispanic support throughout his 28 years in Congress.  Hard to imagine, but these Americans of Hispanic descent do not like being bullshitted anymore than other folks do.  Maybe they appreciated the 90% drop in crime and border smuggling once the ‘Hunter Fence’ was erected in their communities; the same ‘Hunter Fence’ that was called “ridiculous” and “nonsense” by Rick Perry – doing his best Janet Napolitano impression.

And just as Hunter refrained from jumping on the politically correct, politically popular, anti-tobacco legislation bandwagon that Republicans and Democrats alike were championing not so long ago, so too will he veto any misguided future nanny-state garbage, such as John McCain’s idiotic attempt to put nutritional supplements under FDA control, Huckabee’s anti-fat crusade, Romney’s leftwing ‘gay tolerance’ infestation in America’s schoolrooms, Palin’s welfare spending on “special needs” kids, or Newt’s inexplicable ‘bi-partisan’ – with Nancy Pelosi on the couch no less – “we agree our country must take action to address climate change” nonsense.   
When the going gets tough, we won’t find Hunter ducking for cover and parroting liberal talking points to get better media coverage.  No squawking on about stopping fictional “torture” a la McCain, or repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell like the Flipper Romney, or pimping for automobile “mileage taxes” to curb those mysterious green house gasses like T-Paw, or offering up tuition breaks for illegal aliens like the Amnesty Princess in Texas

.
What you will find with Duncan Hunter is a hard nosed realism based on sound conservative and traditional American principles. 
The hard nosed realism that says the federal government must be REDUCED in size and scope if we are to continue to exist as the country handed to us by our founders.  Everything is on the table, including across the board, non-defense spending CUTS, the elimination of entire departments like Education, Arts, Energy, and Interior, and gutting the scope of the regulatory agencies such as the EPA, OSHA, and the FDA.  Hunter is one of the very few men in congress to propose such genuine, “radical” reductions over his career.

The realism that says the tax system is in drastic need of an overhaul.  As an original sponsor of the FairTax, Hunter wants to eliminate the IRS, by and large, and the billions it costs each year to run that bloated bureaucracy.  He also is the only one to propose eliminating all taxes on US manufacturers, which would go a long, long way to restoring America’s high paying industrial jobs, and becoming competitive once again in the manufacturing sector.
The realism that says that enemies are to be treated as enemies, adversaries as adversaries, and allies as allies.  Hunter’s no holds barred attitude towards Iran, and Islamic jihadists in general, will have Ahmadinejad handing over his nukes immediately.  When Hunter declared in the debates and interviews that he has every intention of taking them out if they are not surrendered, he actually means it.  Iran knows it too

. 
Hunter is also one of the few anti-communists left from the Reagan Revolution and he has always treated and will continue to treat Red China as an adversary, not a “partner” (do you hear that Mitt?).  Hunter vows to bring our trade with China back into balance, and prohibit any more American “dual use” technology from leaving our shores for theirs.  He will harshly punish their continued malfeasance on software and intellectual piracy, devaluation of currency and dumping.  And they know it.  And unlike the other guys, Hunter will command the respect and solidarity with our traditional allies – as well as our newer allies in the former Soviet Bloc – by doing exactly what he says he will do without hidden agendas or triangulating to please Arab, Russian, or Chicom sensibilities.   And the fact that Hunter will restore defense spending to Reagan era levels, as a percent of GDP, means no nation on the planet will contemplate the term “paper tiger” in relationship with the USA.  Hunter’s vow to put America ahead to stay in space based weapons, Naval power, missile defenses, fighter and bomber capabilities, and defense technology will not be an unfulfilled campaign pledge.

Hunter’s American principles say we live in a country founded on certain ideals, ideals that were codified in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and that we cannot have a federal government that does not abide by the constraints of that Constitution.  Hunter – a critic of McCain Feingold – is a champion of the 1st Amendment, stalwart on the 2nd and 10th Amendments, a ferocious defender of property rights, and a champion of US Sovereignty.  He does not abide by the notion that supra-national or international entities can trump the God given sovereignty of the American people – whether it’s the UN, the WTO, the World Bank or any other boondoggle organization. 
As for the poison of political correctness, Hunter’s record speaks for itself.  Last year, when the Senate Armed Services Committee released its “bipartisan” report on ‘war crimes’ in the Iraq and Afghan theatres, implicating Don Rumsfeld and other officials, most Republicans went into hiding and avoided talking about it.  Hunter went on national television and called it “leftwing rubbish”.  When McCain and his sidekick Lindsey Graham joined the democrats in calling for Gitmo to be shuttered due to reports of “abuse”, Hunter went on to CSPAN and not only defended the facility and the soldiers who ran it, but even showed off the delicious meals and prayer rugs these dirtbags were being given.  When the GOP was beginning to fold like a house of cards on global warming, Hunter was right there along with Jim Inhofe to callout Algore’s phony “alarmism”– long before the recent revelations that the global warming science wasn’t science at all.  Now that it’s safe to deride the Algorian fantasy, Pawlenty, Huckabee, and Romney have emerged as critics.  Imagine that.

Hunter has never budged from his position that illegal aliens must not only be prevented from entering the country, but that they all must be deported; the exact opposite of the “pathway to citizenship” crap being pushed by Democrats and Republicans alike.
When the Democrat party, the media, President Bush, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, and the entire GOP leadership signed on to the TARP bailout as absolutely critical to the well being of the nation, Hunter did not just say no, he said “hell no”, and offered up a free market alternative that was utterly ignored by his own party bosses.  Now we know that TARP was not only unnecessary, but was the beginning of a massive campaign of government interference in the free market, just as Hunter predicted.

When General Peter Pace was taking media and democratic fire for his beliefs that open homosexuality was incompatible with military service, George Bush and Robert Gates decided to not re-nominate the warrior for his Joint Chief’s position.  Hunter, on the other hand, published a scathing piece in USA Today defending not only Peter Pace, but calling the whole idea a leftwing “social experiment” that had no place in our fighting forces. 
When Romney, Guiliani, and McCain were talking up their “ability” to work in a bipartisan fashion, Hunter labeled them as members of “the Kennedy Wing of the Republican Party”; a label that remains to this day.  And when Wolf Blitzer asked Hunter if “reaching across the aisle” as demonstrated by the moderate and popular (at the time) governor Schwarzenegger was the future of the GOP, Hunter’s unhesitatingly fast answer was an emphatic “NO!”
And though the entire GOP establishment has rushed out to Arizona to re-elect John McCain to his Senate seat, Hunter declined to endorse him – despite a 30 year friendship with the man. 

In closing, there are those who will say that Hunter had his chance, and couldn’t even get to the front tier of candidates in 2008.  But is America the same country that voted for Mr. Obama in 2008?  Are Americans in the mood to tolerate another “centrist” republican like McCain who could barely articulate the differences between conservative and liberal; who was afraid to label Obama for what he truly is?  Are conservative Americans ready to be fed a stream of lies and flip flops again and put their faith in a politician whose tough talking, newly discovered rhetoric does not match his squishy record in office?  Are we going to let the media dictate who should be frontrunners once more and who needs to be ignored?

 
I contend that America is experiencing a conservative re-awakening; a yearning for the years when the sure hand of Ronald Wilson Reagan was steering the ship.  And this time, in 2012, the phonies and pretenders, those who helped run the ship off its proper and constitutional course, will be upended by a Reaganite.  And that is the way it must be if we are to save this sacred Republic.
 
   

 

 

Dear Democrat Senator or Representative: On Tuesday, January 19th, 2010, the people of Massachusetts sent you a clear message. Vote NO on the current heath care bill before the Congress. Please understand this very clearly – Massachusetts speaks for We the People:

• This was a referendum on the health bill;

• This was a referendum on the bribery;

• This was a referendum on the back-room deal-making;

• This was a referendum on the out-of-control spending – YOUR pork-barrel special interest spending;

• This was a referendum on YOUR arrogance in calling us mobsters, Nazis, tea-baggers and terrorists;

• THIS WAS A REFERENDUM ON YOU! So let’s take a moment to discuss YOUR political future. Unless you change your current pattern of political behavior, YOU HAVE NO POLITICAL FUTURE! Now, we know you have already heard from your leadership. We strongly suspect they are telling you such things as “stay the course” and “even if you lose, you will go down in history by passing this health care bill.” AND NOW, YOUR LEADERSHIP IS WORKING, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, ON PASSING THIS UNCONSTITUTIONAL HEALTHCARE BILL THROUGH RECONCILIATION! You follow them at your own political peril:

• WE will vote YOU and every other progressive-voting Democrat from office;

• WE will see to it, with more than enough votes, that this current health bill (if passed) is repealed;

• WE will demand that all of the back-room deals and legislative bribery is thoroughly investigated for potential violations of federal law; And, if YOU have been a party to any of the illegal and unconstitutional behavior that has characterized this entire legislative process,

• WE will not rest until YOU are prosecuted and imprisoned for your crimes against the Constitution and the American People. Now WE are sure that some of you, particularly those of you who look down their noses at average Americans, are insulted by the effrontery of this letter. Be insulted. You deserve whatever insult you feel for the insults you have heaped upon We the People. Nevertheless, IF YOU possess the sagacity and wisdom to read the lessons of this second Boston Tea Party, we offer YOU a choice. If YOU:

• VOTE NO on any attempt (including reconciliation) to pass the current health bill;

• VOTE NO on any Cap and Trade bill that may come up for future vote;

• Call for hearings into the Attorney General’s decision to try terrorists in New York City;

• Call for hearings into the administration’s tyrannical system of Czars which threaten not only Congressional power but our rights as Americans;

• Call for a detailed Congressional investigation of ACORN;

• Call for a freeze on all increases in federal spending;

• Call for the removal of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader; WE may, just may not invest as much time and money into defeating YOU in November as we will your progressive colleagues who continue to ignore our voice. THE CHOICE IS YOURS. START LISTENING – OR FIND A NEW LINE OF WORK!! With commensurate respect for your office, but little respect for your arrogant abuse of that office, we remain, The American People

Would you speak with the Chief of Staff, your Chief Economics Adviser, your Senior Adviser, or anyone, with your feet up on the Resolute Desk –

a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880?

This arrogant, immature, self-centered man has no sense of honor, or simple decency.

While this posture is disrespectful in any culture, it is not appropriate in any executive setting. Further, in over half of the cultures of the world,

it is recognized not only as disrespectful, but as an extreme insult.

He thinks of himself as a king, not as a servant of the people, humbly occupying our White House for his term in office.

Electing him was an enormous mistake and will cost us in many ways, for generations.

Republican Ideas Included in the President’s Proposal

It’s clear that the American people want health insurance reform. They aren’t interested in Democratic ideas or Republican ideas. They’re interested in the best ideas to reduce costs, guarantee choices and ensure the highest quality care.

They’re interested in ideas that will put them back in control of their own health care.

Throughout the debate on health insurance reform, Republican concepts and proposals have been included in legislation. In fact, hundreds of Republican amendments were adopted during the committee mark-up process. As a result, both the Senate and the House passed key Republican proposals that are incorporated into the President’s Proposal. 

Review a few of the Republican initiatives included in legislation passed by Congress:

Includes personal responsibility incentives: Allows health insurance premium to vary based on participation in proven employer wellness programs (Sources: H.R. 3468, “Promoting Health and Preventing Chronic Disease through Prevention and Wellness Programs for Employees, Communities, and Individuals Act” (Castle bill); H.R. 4038, “Common Sense Health Care Reform & Accountability Act” (Republican Substitute bill); H.R. 3400, “Empowering Patients First Act” (Republican Study Committee bill); H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act” (Kirk bill), “Coverage, Prevention and Reform Act”)

Advances medical liability reform through grants to States: Provides grants to States to jump-start and evaluate promising medical liability reform ideas to put patient safety first, prevent medical errors, and reduce liability premiums. (Sources: S. 1783, “Ten Steps to Transform Health Care in America Act” (Enzi bill); H.R. 3400, “Empowering Patients First Act” (Republican Study Committee bill); H.R. 4529, “Roadmap for America’s Future Act” (Ryan bill); S. 1099, “Patients’ Choice Act” (Burr-Coburn, Ryan-Nunes bill))

Extends dependent coverage to age 26: Gives young adults new options. (Sources: H.R. 4038, “Common Sense Health Care Reform & Accountability Act” (Republican Substitute bill); H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act” (Kirk bill))

Allows automatic enrollment by employers in health insurance: Allows employee to opt-out. (Sources: House Republican Substitute; H.R. 3400, “Empowering Patients First Act” (Republican Study Committee bill); “Coverage, Prevention, and Reform Act” )

Mechanisms to improve quality. (Sources: H.R. 4529, “Roadmap for America’s Future Act;” S. 1099, “Patients’ Choice Act;” H.R. 3400, Republican Study Group bill; S. 1783, “Ten Steps to Transform Health Care in America Act” (Enzi bill))

In addition to the Republican ideas already included in the legislation that’s passed the House and the Senate, the President’s Proposal incorporates a number of additional proposals that were included in Republican plans that focus on combating waste, fraud and abuse in government.

The President remains open to other policies as well. And the purpose of the Bipartisan Summit is to review all ideas and ensure that the best ideas are included in the plan. 

Review the new Republican initiatives included in the President’s Proposal:

Comprehensive Sanctions Database. The President’s Proposal establishes a comprehensive Medicare and Medicaid sanctions database, overseen by the HHS Inspector General. This database will provide a central storage location, allowing for law enforcement access to information related to past sanctions on health care providers, suppliers and related entities. (Source: H.R. 3400, “Empowering Patients First Act” (Republican Study Committee bill))

Registration and Background Checks of Billing Agencies and Individuals. In an effort to decrease dishonest billing practices in the Medicare program, the President’s Proposal will assist in reducing the number of individuals and agencies with a history of fraudulent activities participating in Federal health care programs. It ensures that entities that bill for Medicare on behalf of providers are in good standing. It also strengthens the Secretary’s ability to exclude from Medicare individuals who knowingly submit false or fraudulent claims. (Source: H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act”)

Expanded Access to the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank. Increasing access to the health care integrity data bank will improve coordination and information sharing in anti-fraud efforts. The President’s Proposal broadens access to the data bank to quality control and peer review organizations and private plans that are involved in furnishing items or services reimbursed by Federal health care program. It includes criminal penalties for misuse. (Source: H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act”)

Liability of Medicare Administrative Contractors for Claims Submitted by Excluded Providers. In attacking fraud, it is critical to ensure the contractors that are paying claims are doing their utmost to ensure excluded providers do not receive Medicare payments. Therefore, the President’s Proposal provision holds Medicare Administrative Contractors accountable for Federal payment for individuals or entities excluded from the Federal programs or items or services for which payment is denied. (Source: H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act”)

Community Mental Health Centers. The President’s Proposal ensures that individuals have access to comprehensive mental health services in the community setting, but strengthens standards for facilities that seek reimbursement as community mental health centers by ensuring these facilities are not taking advantage of Medicare patients or the taxpayers. (Source: H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act”)

Limiting Debt Discharge in Bankruptcies of Fraudulent Health Care Providers or Suppliers. The President’s Proposal will assist in recovering overpayments made to providers and suppliers and return such funds to the Medicare Trust Fund. It prevents fraudulent health care providers from discharging through bankruptcy amounts due to the Secretary from overpayments. (Source: H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act”)

Use of Technology for Real-Time Data Review. The President’s Proposal speeds access to claims data to identify potentially fraudulent payments more quickly. It establishes a system for using technology to provide real-time data analysis of claim and payments under public programs to identify and stop waste, fraud and abuse. (Source: Roskam Amendment offered in House Ways & Means Committee markup)

Illegal Distribution of a Medicare or Medicaid Beneficiary Identification or Billing Privileges. Fraudulent billing to Medicare and Medicaid programs costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Individuals looking to gain access to a beneficiary’s personal information approach Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries with false incentives. Many beneficiaries unwittingly give over this personal information without ever receiving promised services. The President’s Proposal adds strong sanctions, including jail time, for individuals who purchase, sell or distribute Medicare beneficiary identification numbers or billing privileges under Medicare or Medicaid – if done knowingly, intentionally, and with intent to defraud. (Source: H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act”)

Study of Universal Product Numbers Claims Forms for Selected Items and Services Under the Medicare Program. The President’s Proposal requires HHS to study and issue a report to Congress that examines the costs and benefits of assigning universal product numbers (UPNs) to selected items and services reimbursed under Medicare. The report must examine whether UPNs could help improve the efficient operation of Medicare and its ability to detect fraud and abuse. (Source: H.R. 3970, “Medical Rights & Reform Act”, Roskam Amendment offered in House Ways & Means Committee markup)

Seen and Heard at CPAC: Glenn Beck for President?

By: Mark Tapscott

02/20/10 7:42 PM

That was one heck of a stem-winder of a keynote address delivered tonight at the Conservative Political Action Conference, so powerful that somebody out there right now is probably trying to figure out a way to get a grassroots presidential draft movement organized….

Ron Paul wins CPAC straw poll; Palin a distant third

By: David Freddoso

02/20/10 7:40 PM

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., won CPAC’s presidential straw poll with 31 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in second at 22 percent. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin came in third with 7 percent, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty close behind at 6 percent. The straw poll had other interesting results, as well. Eighty percent of the 2,400 conservatives who voted (54 percent of them young people between 18 and 25 years of age) identified themselves primarily as limited-government conservatives, as opposed to being primarily national-security or social conservatives. Forty-four percent had an unfavorable view of RNC Chairman Michael Steele, with just 42 percent viewing him favorably. Far and away, the highest priority of those participating was to reduce the size of…

Paul Ryan: Obama ‘very insincere’

By: Byron York

02/20/10 6:41 PM

Republican Rep. Paul Ryan says he was disappointed by the way President Obama, at the January 29 meeting with House Republicans in Baltimore, first praised him and then turned around and attacked him almost immediately after the meeting was over. At the bipartisan session, Obama called Ryan’s anti-deficit plan “a serious proposal.” And then, Ryan tells the New York Times, “the next day, his budget director starts ripping me and then the day after that the entire Democratic National Committee political machine starts launching demagogic attacks on me and my plan. So when you hear the word ‘bipartisanship’ come from the president and then you see his political machine get in full-force attack mode, it comes across as very insincere.” When the Times’ Deborah Solomon notes that Obama…

Want to know how to really astroturf a movement? Just ask Democrat money men Craig Varoga and George Rakis

By: Mark Tapscott

02/20/10 3:59 PM

Remember all those accusations last summer from the Obama White House and Democratic congressional leaders like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that the Tea Party movement was nothing more than an astroturfed mirage paid for by a few rich Repubican donors?…

Seen and Heard at CPAC: Former Examiner associate editorial page editor chairs panel on saving freedom from fascism

By: Mark Tapscott

02/20/10 3:06 PM

Quin Hillyer, former associate editorial page editor of The Washington Examiner, chaired a tremendous panel at CPAC featuring National Review’s Jonah Goldberg, author of “Liberalism Facism,” Amy Schlaes, and Herb London. If you watch nothing else from the 2010 CPAC, this panel may well be the most enlightening….

EPA official says no evidence states aren’t properly regulating hydraulic fracturing, but enviros launching new assaults anyway

By: Mark Tapscott

02/20/10 2:23 PM

You’ve probably never heard of either hydraulic fracturing or Steve Heare, but odds are good that you will soon be hearing a lot in the Mainstream Media about both of them. Hydraulic fracturing - ka “hydro fracking - is an old technology used for six decades in places like Oklahoma and Texas to get to oil and natural gas deposits that would otherwise be unreachable by injecting water into adjoining rock formations….

Here’s another reason why public sector unions should be banned

By: Mark Tapscott

02/20/10 1:39 PM

It’s not only that public sector unions are driving many state and local governments into fiscal insolvency by forcing them to accept contracts providing compensation benefits that far exceed those in the private sector for comparable work and that cannot be paid for without crippling tax increases….

New video: Obama didn’t tell the truth about his relationship to ACORN

By: Mark Hemingway

02/20/10 11:27 AM

At CPAC, Rep. Daryl Issa, R-Cal., released the following video that shows the President didn’t tell the truth about the extent of his relationship with ACORN: Bluegrass Pundit tracked down the transcripts. While campaigning for President and amid controversy over ACORN’s role in fraudulent voter registration, Obama described his relationship thusly: Well, first of all my relationship with ACORN is pretty straightforward. It’s probably 13 years ago when I was still practicing law, I represented ACORN and my partner in that investigation was the US Justice department in having Illinois implement what was called the motor voter law, to make sure people could go to DMV’s and driver license facilities to get registered. It wasn’t being implemented. That was my…

Heard and seen at CPAC, Thursday and Friday

By: David Freddoso

02/20/10 11:03 AM

Ron Paul: Marco Rubio: Jim DeMint: John…

Are these the 12 most outrageous economic stimulus grants?

By: Mark Tapscott

02/20/10 10:41 AM

When Sen, Evan Bayh, D-IN, announced last week that he will not seek a third term in the U.S. Senate, most of the mainstream media reporting focused on his statement that Congress has become too partisan. But Bayh said something else that may hint at another reason the respected Indiana Democrat is calling it quits: “If I could create one job in the private sector by helping to grow a business, that would be one more than Congress has created in the last six…

Seen and Heard at CPAC: Pence on managing America’s decline

By: Mark Tapscott

02/20/10 10:13 AM

House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana recalls a summons from Margaret Thatcher during Britain’s dark days of 1976 and wonders if it is true that Obama administration officials privately express the view that their task is to “manage American…

Obama envoy admits to lying about defending terrorist — and did he try and cover it up?

By: Mark Hemingway

02/20/10 10:09 AM

Rashad Hussain, Obama’s envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, had previously denied vouching for a convicted terrorist and criticizing the U.S. for prosecuting him. Now according to ABC News, Hussain admits he wasn’t telling the truth: Presented with a transcript of his remarks at a 2004 conference, Rashad Hussain, President Obama’s nominee to be special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, issued a statement Friday evening acknowledging having criticized the U.S. government’s case against Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiracy to aid Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Originally, the White House claimed that Hussain denied having made the comments, attributing them instead to Al-Arian’s daughter, Laila. But Politico’s Josh Gerstein…

President Obama, meet Candidate Obama on nuclear energy

By: Mark Tapscott

02/20/10 9:49 AM

President Obama’s proposal for government guaranteed loans to build new nuclear energy plants in Georgia is a perfect illustration of one of the fundamental reasons public confidence in government is so low, and why politicians in both major parties are so distrusted….

Will the U.S. flush another $2.4 trillion down the drain?

02/20/10 12:55 AM

That’s how much the U.S. economy will lose over the next two decades by continuing current federal policies that limit drilling for oil and gas on federal lands and the continental shelf, according to an independent study by Science Applications International Corp. and the Gas Technology Institute. The study was commissioned by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and sponsored in part by the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA). Under current federal policies, production of domestic crude oil will decrease nearly 15 percent annually, the study found, while Americans will be forced to pay $607 billion for the extra 4.1 billion barrels they will have to import from OPEC countries. Even imports of clean-burning natural gas will…

T-Paw: Tea partiers are great, cannot be ‘harnessed’

By: David Freddoso

02/19/10 7:58 PM

Despite the very late-running schedule at CPAC today, I had the opportunity to drop in on a happy hour this evening for Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, who had spoken at the event in the morning. He was asked by another reporter about the tea party movement and why there weren’t more Tea Partiers at CPAC, and he surmised that probably there were a lot of them. “I think the tea party movement is great,” Pawlenty said. He rejected the idea that they were some kind of marginal force at the edges of the conservative movement. “There was a time when the Reagan people were the outsiders,” he said. Pawlenty was then asked how conservatives could “harness” the tea party movement. “I don’t think they want to be harnessed,” he said. “It’s going to have to be more like a collaboration.” The…

Dana Loesch: Tea parties mean we are at war

02/19/10 7:16 PM

During a CPAC panel on tea parties, St. Louis, Mo., blogger/radio host Dana Loesch (who also helped organize a number of tea party events) insisted that “we are at war.” Further, she noted, that we have to stop being so polite. What I love about conservatives is that we’re so polite. But you can throw manners out the window when we are trying to save Liberty. We have an ACORN problem in St. Louis. We have a lot of purple shirts in St. Louis. We have lots of bars that are infested by liberals. Go there and talk about how you love the Constitution and Ronald Reagan. She went on to talk about her and her husband going to dinner, and engaging diners at nearby tables whose conversations they overhear, with which they disagree. This is, of course, activist sentiment, but this is a…

Tea Partiers: ‘You’re listening to us now’

By: Barbara Hollingsworth

02/19/10 5:54 PM

Exactly one year ago today, Jenny Beth Martin made a conference call that ignited the political wildfire now know as the Tea Party Patriots (www.TeaPartyPatriots.org). Initially ignored and even ridiculed by political insiders of both major parities, the grassroots movement has doubled its numbers since January 1st, mostly by word-of-mouth and email-to-email contacts. Tea Partiers now threaten to end the careers of once invulnerable incumbents who are silly enough not to take them seriously. At a Thursday press conference at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington , TPP announced that it will reveal its “Contract From America” – a bottom-up roadmap to restore the movement’s core principles of fiscal responsibility, limited government and free…

Are unions responsible for stimulus failures?

By: Mark Hemingway

02/19/10 5:38 PM

Yesterday, I noted that the Department of Energy’s plan to use $5 billion in stimulus cash to weatherize homes has been a big floperoo — so far only 9,100 homes have been weatherized with stimulus cash at a cost of — this is not a typo — $57,362 per home. The Government Accountability Office blames “red tape” for the problem, or more specifically, dealing with prevailing wage laws. But Mickey Kaus cuts to the chase — the problem is really unions: The home “weatherization” jobs in the stimulus bill were subjected to Davis-Bacon wage regulations–a favorite of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department–under which federal Labor Department officials establish “prevailing wage” rates that must be paid. Why do unions like this system? Because the “prevailing wages” are…

Krugman’s health insurance dishonesty

By: Mark Hemingway

02/19/10 5:13 PM

The Obama administration has turned insurance company Wellpoint into something of a punching bag for it’s decision to sharply raise rates in California. Predictably, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman picks up the ball and runs with it. Here’s how the Nobel prize-winning economist explains Wellpoint’s decision to raise rates: Bear in mind that private health insurance only works if insurers can sell policies to both sick and healthy customers. If too many healthy people decide that they’d rather take their chances and remain uninsured, the risk pool deteriorates, forcing insurers to raise premiums. This, in turn, leads more healthy people to drop coverage, worsening the risk pool even further, and so on. Now, what WellPoint claims is that it has been forced to raise premiums…

Can Obama save the Democrats?

By: Julie Mason

02/19/10 4:51 PM

The First Flosser gets back in touch with the people. (ap photo) Shirtsleeves? Check. Twangy vernacular? Check. Vigorous defense of economic policies combined with a lot of anti-Washington rhetoric? Hello, midterm election year. President Obama this week was in Colorado and Nevada, stumping for two of the Senate’s most vulnerable Democratic incumbents, Michael Bennet and Harry Reid.Whether the president’s coattails are sufficiently commodious for all the Dems who need help this year is a problem without an easy answer. “Look, I think the political landscape, not just in these two states but throughout the country, continues to be dominated by concern about the economy — not surprisingly,” said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Obama has a few things going for him — he…

DC: Worst snow removal, best snow-removal computer map

By: David Freddoso

02/19/10 4:31 PM

From the D.C. government’s online alert system: DC Snow Map Recognized For Interactive Features A website that monitors creative government initiatives has confirmed what many District residents already know: the city has one of the best online tools for tracking snow removal efforts. OhMyGov says the DC Snow Map, provides a “snow mountain of useful information” and is ranked a close second in a review of government snow removal websites across the nation. The DC Snow Map was developed by the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) and the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and allows users to search by address or intersection to see what streets have been plowed and salted. Animation on the map shows the progress of the plows, and integrated links to…

Just how dumb is the new tobacco law?

By: David Freddoso

02/19/10 4:16 PM

Remember that new tobacco regulation bill — the one written by America’s largest tobacco company to kill off its smaller competitors and lock in its majority market share? It bars cigarette companies from using words like “light” and “mild” on their labels. Well, here’s another unlearned-lesson-in-the-making for government do-gooders: [I]n a move that critics say simply skirts the new rules, tobacco companies plan to use packaging to make those same distinctions: light colors for light cigarettes. So Marlboro Lights, the nation’s best-selling brand, from Philip Morris, will be renamed Marlboro Gold, according to a flier the company recently sent to distributors. Likewise, Marlboro Ultra Lights will morph into Marlboro Silver. And anticipating the new rules, R.J. Reynolds has already…

GOP Diagnoses Dems With ‘Summititis’

By: Susan Ferrechio

02/19/10 3:58 PM

President Obama put Republicans in a corner when he invited them to this week’s health care summit on health care. Republicans have to show up and act nice for the cameras, but Democrats will have already struck a deal on a health care bill before the talks even begin. So Republicans have been hammering the Democrats in the days leading up to the event. On Friday they declared the White House is suffering from Summititis as a result of their unpopular agenda. “Next week’s health care summit marks a return to the same dead-end gabfests of President Obama’s first year,” reads a missive from Minority Leader John Boehner’s office. Obama has already held summits on jobs, fiscal responsibility and health care since taking office. “These summits seem like little…

Holder admits nine Obama Dept. of Justice officials worked for terrorist detainees, offers no details

By: Byron York

02/19/10 3:52 PM

Attorney General Eric Holder says nine Obama appointees in the Justice Department have represented or advocated for terrorist detainees before joining the Justice Department. But he does not reveal any names beyond the two officials whose work has already been publicly reported. And all the lawyers, according to Holder, are eligible to work on general detainee matters, even if there are specific parts of some cases they cannot be involved in. Holder’s admission comes in the form of an answer to a question posed last November by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley. Noting that one Obama appointee, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, formerly represented Osama bin Laden’s driver, and another appointee, Jennifer Daskal, previously advocated for detainees at Human Rights Watch,…

Obama ends ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’

By: Mark Hemingway

02/19/10 2:37 PM

According to The Washington Post, the Obama administration is declaring Operation Iraqi Freedom officially over: The Obama administration has decided to give the war in Iraq a new name — “Operation New Dawn” — to reflect the reduced role U.S. troops will play in securing the country this year as troop levels fall, according to a memo from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates. Since U.S. forces charged across the Kuwaiti border toward Baghdad in 2003, the war has been known as Operation Iraqi Freedom. The new name is scheduled to take effect in September, when U.S. troop levels are supposed to drop to about 50,000. Tom Maguire wonders: Ok, so how did Operation Iraqi Freedom end - in victory? I would like to think so, and I would love to hear them say so. Maybe someone even…

Rep. Sestak, D: I turned down Obama’s bribe

By: David Freddoso

02/19/10 2:04 PM

From the Philly Inquirer: Rep. Joe Sestak (D., Pa.) said yesterday that the White House offered him a federal job in an effort to dissuade him from challenging Sen. Arlen Specter in the state’s Democratic primary. The disclosure came during an afternoon taping of Larry Kane: Voice of Reason, a Sunday news-analysis show on the Comcast Network. Sestak would not elaborate on the circumstances and seemed chagrined after blurting out “yes” to veteran news anchor Kane’s direct question. “Was it secretary of the Navy?” Kane asked. “No comment,” Sestak said. The White House naturally denied that such an offer was made. Sestak said it was made over the summer, before he entered the race against incumbent Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter, Pa. The episode illustrates the White House’s concern over…

Lautenberg diagnosed with stomach cancer

By: David Freddoso

02/19/10 1:56 PM

The announcement from earlier today that Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., has stomach cancer is a sad one. From his office: “We expect a full and complete recovery for Senator Lautenberg. The senator will be treated with chemotherapy administered approximately every three weeks. We anticipate that he will receive between six and eight treatments, and in between treatments, the senator is expected to be back at work in the Senate.” Wishing him a speedy recovery, it is also worth noting that his absence from any major votes in the near future could be difficult for Democrats. The 60-vote bar on most Senate legislation does not adjust with the number of senators who are actually present to vote. Moreover, because Democrats failed to pass a Massachusetts-style succession law in…

Obama makes amends to Vegas!

By: Julie Mason

02/19/10 1:54 PM

Hug it out! (reuters photo) After slagging off Vegas as a bad way to waste money and generating the ill will of local tourism and development boosters, President Obama is now all about losing your money at the casino! At a town hall in nearby Henderson, Obama took a question from the audience about dental care and health reform. The guy who asked the question was from out of town, so Obama asked what he was doing in Las Vegas. “Everybody comes to Vegas,” the man told him. Obama repeated it, laughing. “Everybody comes to Vegas! That’s what I’m talking about.” Obama asked, “Have you spent some money here in Vegas?” Affirmative, the man said. “Yes, sir, that is good,” Obama said. “We like to see that.” Take that, Vegas Chamber of Commerce! But, true to…

Myths about crime and immigration

By: David Freddoso

02/19/10 1:19 PM

What would you think if someone told you that the Hispanic incarceration rate in state prisons, when adjusted for age, is only slightly higher than that of whites? It certainly runs against the common wisdom voiced daily by radio and television hosts railing against the hordes of illegal immigrants descending upon America. In the March print edition of The American Conservative, Ron Unz runs the numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics on state prisons, where nearly all violent criminals serve sentences for rape, murder, robbery and other such felonies. Unz consulted BJS numbers from 2005, which included better state breakdowns than the more recent numbers, and which also looked at a period of time when Hispanic incarceration rates were slightly higher than they are today. Unz’s…

Sin City to Obama: Oh, whatever.

By: Julie Mason

02/19/10 12:49 PM

Viva Las Vegas turning day into nighttime….. Concerned tourists on the elevator at the Bellagio last night asked Beltway Confidential what was up with the heavy police presence and security at the hotel. Informed that Obama was in the house, they asked, “Is he on vacation?!” Ah, no. BUT! Two big questions loom ahead of Obama’s two appearances in the Vegas area today: Will he mention Tiger Woods? And will he apologize to Vegas for besmirching this fair city? We guess no on Tiger, yes on the other. But amends must be made! At a recent town hall in Nashua, NH, Obama told the crowd, “You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you are trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices.” A year ago in Elkhart, Ind., he said something similar: “You are not going to…



Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/#ixzz0g8HSzYU4

 

Guest Post By Alexander J. Madison - February 08, 2010

The 2010 elections are right around the corner. All conservatives must work tirelessly to nominate and elect candidates who will not only stop Obama’s socialist agenda dead in it’s tracks, but who will also reverse course on the Republican ‘slow drift’ socialism it has embarked upon since Reagan departed.

Though it may now appear too early to spend much effort lobbying for the right 2012 Presidential candidate, all one needs to do is glance through the headlines to understand that a gaggle of Republican politicians are already lining their coffers and elbowing for a place in the primary.

Examples? Sure.

Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota, has set up his Freedom First PAC and has hired some of President Bush’s old campaign hands to steer him to victory. Yes, the same Tiny Tim who has spent much of his governorship tongue kissing the wacko environmentalists and who stated: “We should not spend time on voices that say climate change is not real” and “We should have listened to President Carter” (about energy policy). Zoinks!!

How about the old Newster? Gingrich is well positioned financially to make a run for the Presidency. He has hinted strongly he will do just that, even proclaiming himself to be considered a “frontrunner”, naturally. If his global warming couch-pimping with Nancy Pelosi wasn’t enough to compel a little bile into the back of conservatives’ throats, then his cross country treks with Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Al Sharpton singing the praises of Obama’s education policy should do the trick.

Mitt Romney has been busy as well, and will no doubt be running. He’s already the favorite of the GOP elite and the “it’s his turn” crowd. Of course, his flip flops are so numerous and spectacular, that he will be made into a Mitt sausage all over again, just like McCain did to him. It would be a miracle if the Obama camp isn’t already secretly shuffling donations his way.

Sarah Palin pretty much erased all doubt about her intention to run during her interview with Fox’s Chris Wallace. With a good percentage of the tea partiers solidly behind her, she could be a formidable force. Unfortunately, her inexperience regarding foreign policy is an Achilles heel, just as it is for Mitt Hucklenty. And she will certainly have to answer for some of the weak tea responses she gave the media as McCain’s VP selection.

Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, also is making lots of noise and has a Fox TV gig to promote himself. However, his inexplicable record of criminal pardons and commutations as governor once again reared its ugly head in 2009 – this time with 4 dead police officers – and he should seriously rethink his candidacy.

Others that are “maybes” to run include Rick “Vaccine” Perry of Texas (assuming he wins re-election), Lou Dobbs of CNN fame, Haley “Eminent Domain” Barbour, and Libertarians such as former NM governor Gary Johnson and Ron Paul.

With this in mind, it is incumbent upon conservatives to promote a rock-ribbed Reaganite instead. A rock-ribber without a PC bone in his body, who doesn’t moisten his finger or ‘focus group’ to help him determine his views, whose arm does not twist when the Party bosses come calling, and who has a certifiable, undeniable record of domestic and foreign policy conservatism. That man is Duncan Lee Hunter.

While it is true that Hunter, like several others mentioned above, ran for the 2008 nomination, it is also true that the rank and file GOP and independent voters largely wanted nothing to do with a return to conservative principles in 2007 and 2008. The absolute proof of this is that the 2008 frontrunners were named Giuliani, Romney and McCain throughout the entire campaign (with a late surge of panic for Huckabee).

Today is a different day. The guy Glenn Beck and Mike Reagan and Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin “really liked”, but “couldn’t win” is poised to reap the benefit of Americans finally waking up from their slumber and demanding a return to Constitutional governance and Reaganesque foreign policy. Duncan Hunter is the only likely candidate that comes close to satisfying this demand. But it is up to him and those that know this to get out in front of the train early and spread the word – that America can finish the revolution Reagan started if they support the right man for the job.

Hunter throughout his Congressional career advocated wholesale deletions of Federal departments and agencies such as the Department of Energy, the Department of Education and the NEA. He has an unvarnished record of opposing the drivel coming out of regulatory agencies such as the EPA and OSHA, and has pushed to slash their scope and funding. When asked this past January whether he still advocated getting rid of these dead weights, his response was “Oh absolutely!”

And Mr. Hunter delivered perhaps the finest defense of free market healthcare in the Congressional Record, dating back to the days when Clinton and Co. were pushing their version of socialized medicine. It can be found in it’s entirety at this link:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2363325/posts

When it comes to amnesty and illegal aliens, even old Tom Tancredo didn’t promote the kind of toughness that Duncan Hunter advocated. That toughness not only included building a double fence separated by a Border Patrol road across all the smuggling corridors on the Mexican border, but insisted on the deportations of all illegal aliens as they are apprehended. A 2007 interview with PBS’s Judy Woodruff sheds light on Mr. Hunter’s unwillingness to bend on illegal Aliens:

JUDY WOODRUFF: You also have been adamant in saying that you think that the illegals, known illegals in this country should be deported. How do you go about finding them?

REP. DUNCAN HUNTER: Well, I think, to some degree, we’re like a boat that’s got a big hole in it, and we’re bailing water furiously. You have to plug the hole in the boat, which means you have to secure the border.

Once you secure the border, we have a deportation system, in fact, for people that say, “You can’t deport people by the thousands,” we deport thousands of people from this country every month! And if we don’t, if we don’t adhere to the law, the many people who are here right now, the millions of people who are here right now, who came in illegally after the amnesty of the 1980s, came in after the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House held up a big sign and we said, “This time we really mean it,” 1986, I believe. We said, “We really mean it. Nobody else can come in illegally.” And folks came in illegally and left tire tracks on those signs.

Regarding foreign policy, Ronald Reagan restored America’s confidence and superpower status after years of drift during the previous RINO and democrat administrations. George W. Bush provided a stop gap after Clinton and the supposed post Soviet Union “peace dividend”, but our nation is in dire need of increasing defense spending once more. Duncan Hunter vows to follow the Reagan model of “Peace through Strength”. Indeed, you can find no stauncher supporter for beefing up our Naval strength, increasing the size of our Army and Marine Corps, and perfecting our missile defense systems. Hunter is also adamant about America leading the world. Especially our adversaries, in space based weaponry, something that President Obama foolishly has vowed not to pursue.

You can be sure of one thing. If Hunter had been nominated last time, he would have wiped the floor with Mr. Obama in the debates, unlike a very stiff and uncertain John McCain. You can be sure of another thing. If Duncan Hunter were president right now, Iran would have already halted its pursuit of nuclear weapons, one way or another. When Hunter stated in an interview last October that “the West must move quickly. I think the United States needs to destroy those facilities”, he meant it. And if Mr. Hunter were now president, the ever bellicose China would be far less bellicose, knowing they had an adversary who would never blink. As Hunter said in the same interview, “the storm on the horizon is clearly China”. This too, he meant.

In summary, the reawakening of the American people to finish the Reagan revolution, to return to the federal government back to its constitutional duties, to restore the confidence of our nation, to checkmate our adversaries, and to jealously protect our sovereignty calls out for a leader of exceptional fortitude and love of country. Duncan Hunter is that man.

(Part 2 will focus on economics and the poison of political correctness – stay tuned)

This is on the mark. From:Posted by foucaultspendulum

After 12 months of a flaccid presidency and a democratic congress full of prostitutes, I would think President Obama would stop pretending and ask himself: “what have I learned from this?”

The continuation of torture and rendition programs, a renewed Patriot Act, a majority edge in Congress squandered, a State of the Union that will be forgotten in history, a totally screwed-up health reform plan engineered to fail that rewards insurance companies with bigger profits, an election in Massachusetts reflecting a national power loss to the Democrats which delivered on a silver platter power to a Republican bum to come up with even dumber solutions, an expanded military with a gargantuan budget which includes the global consolidation of military war garrisons, an expanded war with more to come, a crumbling national infrastructure with a reduction in social programs as a complement, along with lost jobs, lost homes and lost dignity.

The good old Bush Junior fun days of walking into doors and choking on pretzels are gone. The slapstick comedy up front and with Voldemort behind the scenes is over. Today’s ring master who delivers the Daily Theater platitudes in the White House is even more deceptive. He may talk the flowery rhetoric of change and hope to the populace with attention spans the length of a TV commercial to distract them for two minutes but there are people in America still living poor as dump dogs and relying on sewing up their own wounds with needle and thread bought or stolen from K-Mart. And the predatory 2% are still getting richer.

The American empire was carefully thought out by four men: Mahan, Brooks Adams, Cabot Lodge, and Theodore Roosevelt. In the last 200 years or so we have had an oligarchic system in which men of property can do well and others are on their own. Or, as Book Adams put it, “ the sole problem of the ruling class is whether to coerce or to bribe the powerless majority”. Nothing has changed.

And it turns out the Democratic Progressive alternative is no alternative at all to the republican party of death and deceit. Both sides are allowed to rule as long as they don’t mess with anything that matters.

A sharp ideological turn is coming. Although America bristles with sensible and logical options which our two major political parties can’t seem to grasp; like expanding the concept of Medicare into health reform or rebuilding infrastructure to provide jobs instead of useless wars and torture, there is not enough outrage in America of the kind that dragged the French aristocracy to the guillotine. And nor do most Americans grasp the reasons they keep electing the same bums over again. We elect presidents who work against our own interests and pack the Supreme Court with ideologues who now allow corporations to buy democracy. Now no one can deny that corporations decide policy and that corporate control of the country seems inevitable.

And what has Obama even remotely tried to do to chip away at this monolith of malefactors who are busy redistributing wealth from the bottom and the middle to the top? Just talk is all.

And at the most token changes with little bite. I wasn’t expecting the changes Obama advertised but I was hoping he would have at least tried to fight against the status quo at the expense of losing a second term. Now he has stupidly wrecked himself and may lose a second term anyway. He is like Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton who made it easier for the rich while the sham rituals of democracy continued as they employed the usual scapegoats; gays, socialists, Arabs, immigrants and government, to take the blame. The crap covered the land, and still does today, disguised as fluff and patriotism to hide the huge illusion of the America Way.

People still seem to believe that problems can be solved if the parties sit down and rationally talk it over. This is no longer possible in an America where communication itself has become the problem, in an overcommunicated society where we “send” more and “receive” less.

But now the masquerade is over and the dumbed-down are waking up too late and all the defensives the plutocracy has tried to continue to dumb down the populace is wearing thin. If Americans have any backbone, that could only leave blood in the streets as the final solution.

I believe I am not alone in thinking that Barack Obama is not up to the challenges of the job and should be sent home as soon as possible.

By: Dick Morris