Flyover Country

From CNSNews.com:

The congressional Democrats’ cap-and-trade plan  to tax carbon emissions could cost every American family as much as $3,100 a year and is equivalent to a “declaration of war on the Midwest,”  Republican lawmakers told CNSNews.com this week.

But Democrats disputed the Republicans’ cost figure and said the plan can be accomplished without imposing a net cost on the American people.

In general, under cap and trade, the amount of carbon that energy producers emit is capped. They can exceed that cap through the purchase, i.e., “trade,” of carbon permits. The money for those permits would be collected by the government and presumably redistributed under a system still being crafted.

“The reality is the cap-and-trade legislation offered by the Democrats amounts to an economic declaration of war on the Midwest by liberals on Capitol Hill,” Chairman of the House Republican Conference Mike Pence (R-Ind.) told CNSNews.com.

Congressman Pence is one of the few leaders we have in Washington who is willing to stick his neck out there and actually lead.  Congressman Pence never wavers from his principles and is a true conservative.  If we were to ever run for President, I can’t think of anyone who I would vote for over him.  He is a true Fly Over Country hero!

From the New York Post:

After pushing Congress for weeks to hurry up and pass the massive $787 billion stimulus bill, President Obama promptly took off for a three-day holiday getaway.

I remember a certain group of media outlets, usually referred to as the “mainstream media”, criticising a certain former President, usually referred to as “President George W. Bush”, for spending a lot of time “vacationing”.  However, now our current Messiah-in-Chief (who’s been on the job an entire three weeks, by the way) takes a three day vacation before signing the stimulus bill.  However, here’s a quote from President Obama:

“Nobody disagrees with the idea that if we keep on putting this off that we’re going to end up seeing more months with half a million people losing their job each month. We can’t afford to wait.”

Apparently we can afford to wait three more days while he takes a break.

On a related note, did anyone see Huckabee this weekend?  If you’ve never watched the program, Gov. Huckabee usually spends the last segment of the show by giving his thoughts on a particular subject before his “Little Rockers” take to the stage to play a classic song.  (This is off the subject, but who does the sound for this show??  The “Little Rockers” aren’t great, but the sound makes them sound 100 times worse than what they really are.  It’s terrible!)

Anyway, this was from this weekend’s program and it was hilarious, and spot on!

Will these people say anything to get their $1,000,000,000 spending bill passed?

500,000,000 people in America lose their jobs each month.  I guess most people must lose their jobs twice a month?

From Reuters via Yahoo News:

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination as President Barack Obama’s health secretary on Tuesday, saying he did not want to be a distraction after tax errors forced him to pay $140,000 in back taxes.

“This morning, Tom Daschle asked me to withdraw his nomination for secretary of health and human services,” Obama said in a statement. “I accept his decision with sadness and regret.”

If Obama were a Republican, these nominations would be attacked on every front page, on every lead story, and on the lips of every liberal political pundit – probably with a label like “Nominationgate” or something ending in “gate”.

Once again from our friends at breitbart.com:

Despite the tax problems faced by high-level nominees, and the exceptions made to the no-lobbyists pledge, President Barack Obama’s spokesman is defending the administration’s ethical standards.Robert Gibbs told reporters Tuesday, “The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set.”

He’s joking, right?

I guess if you don’t count paying taxes as ethical.  I guess if you don’t count conflict of interest issues.

If hyperbole was unethical they would be the lest ethical in history on that basis alone.

First, the stimulus package.  Here’s a partial list of some of the things in the move to socialism stimulus package that was passed by the house and is due to be voted on this week:

• $1,000,000,000 for Amtrak.  Yes, that Amtrak.  My wife really wants to take a vacation sometime on a train.  I looked up prices for a family of four in a sleeper.  Yikes!  If this passes, I want to ride for free.
• $50,000,000 for the National Endowment of the Arts.  Lots of bull whips up the rear could be had for this amount of money.
• $400,000,000 for global warming research.  (Why do we need this if global warming is already a forgone conclusion and all we have to do is return to the dark ages to fix it?  Wait.. is that why it was called the dark ages??  Hmmm..)
• $2,400,000,000 for carbon-capture demonstration projects.  (huh?)
• $650,000,000 for more digital TV conversion box coupons.  (Are you kidding me?  Have you heard that they are going to postpone the digital TV conversion because people aren’t ready?  If they aren’t ready now after you’ve been hearing this ad nauseum for the last two years, they aren’t going to be ready in four months!)
• $252,000,000,000 will be paid to people to do nothing.  This comes in the form of expanded medicare, unemployment, etc. etc.

However, I must confess that there is a silver lining to this cloud.  Not a single Republican in the House voted for this package.  Maybe the party isn’t a lost cause after all.  Too bad it was AFTER the election they got a backbone or maybe we wouldn’t be heading towards this disaster.

In other news, it’s freaking cold here in this part of Fly Over Country.  In theory, we should all be able to break out our lawn mowers, idle all our cars, pump gas all at the same time, leave our lights on, and spray a bunch of aerosol cans and we should be able to get the temperature up to a more tolerable level.  I declare tomorrow “Heat Up Fly Over Country Day”.

Michael Steele was elected as GOP chair.  I have liked him when I’ve seen him on political TV shows, but don’t know a lot about him.  It will be interesting to watch.  At least, for once, we know who the GOP chair IS..

Isn’t it ironic that there are several Democrats who have had tax issues in Obama’s cabinet picks?  Isn’t it patriotic to pay taxes?  Let’s apply some FLC math to this:  Paying taxes = Patriotic, Democrats seem to have difficulty paying taxes, therefore Democrats have trouble being patriotic.  It’s right there in black and white!

The Super Bowl is this weekend.  I don’t have a dog in this hunt since my beloved Colts laid an egg vs. the Chargers.  I guess I’m rooting for the Cardinals for several reasons:  First, I’d like to see the Edge get a ring.  Second, I like Kurt Warner as a person.  (By the way, All Things Possible: My Story of Faith, Football, and the First Miracle Season is a good book written by Kurt Warner. You should check it out!)  Anyway, I would like to see him get another ring.  And, of course, one of my good friends is a HUGE Steelers fan and I will never hear the end of it if they win.  God, help me!

From a press release right off of Speaker Pelosi’s website:

“Last week, in a stunning display of democracy, the American people voted for change,” said Pelosi.  “Today, House Democrats have elected the leaders who will help take our nation in a New Direction.  We will work together to lead the House of Representatives with a commitment to integrity, to civility, and to fiscal responsibility.  This leadership team will create the most honest, most open, and most ethical Congress in history.”

And Congressman Rahm Emanuelhad this to say in that release:

“On the campaign trail, we made a promise to change the tone in Washington. And last week, the American people sent a message to Washington: it’s time for a New Direction. Today, we took the first step toward fulfilling our commitment. Under this leadership, this Caucus will be the agents of change and reform the People’s House deserves.”

So in keeping with their “change of tone” in Washington, I saw this article on HumanEvents.com today:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to re-write House rules today to ensure that the Republican minority is unable to have any influence on legislation. Pelosi’s proposals are so draconian, and will so polarize the Capitol, that any thought President-elect Obama has of bipartisan cooperation will be rendered impossible before he even takes office.

Pelosi’s rule changes — which may be voted on today — will reverse the fairness rules that were written around Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America.”

I guess this is more of that “chagne we can believe in”…

Here’s a cool thing I found on Google Maps today:

I thought that was pretty neat. I especially liked the last step!

Have I mentioned that I love this woman?

She was a little gray on the issue of global warming, but that’s the only thing I can fault her on.  What do you all think?

From johnmccain.com:

Joe Biden’s 14 Lies

1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

I had my shoes off while watching the debate so I got to 20 and had to stop.