Exempting Internet speech from FEC regulation was right thing to do, but the fight isn’t over. As easily as this rule was created in 2006, it can be removed by a new Administration. That’s why the Blogger Protection Act is necessary. It’s critical my House colleagues and I move quickly in making this protection permanent.
This is something all bloggers can get behind, regardless of their political and philosophical orientation.
The ironically-named Employee Free Choice Act is the name of the Big Labor special interest legislation to take away workers’ rights to the secret ballot. EFCA has been beaten many times, but like a bad dream it keeps coming back.
What’s the big deal, you say? Would you want this guy looking over your shoulder when you vote?
Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has conjured up a Scriptural passage from whole cloth to sanction her Left-liberal environmentalist agenda:
In her April 22 Earth Day news release, Pelosi said, “The Bible tells us in the Old Testament, ‘To minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.’ On this Earth Day, and every day, let us pledge to our children, and our children’s children, that they will have clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and the opportunity to experience the wonders of nature.”
Cybercast News Service repeatedly queried the speaker’s office for two days to determine where the alleged Bible quote is found. Thus far, no one has responded.
Distinguished biblical scholars, however, cast doubt on the existence of the passage.
Not that biblical scholars necessarily had to be consulted to disprove the obvious, but they all unanimously point out that nothing approximating such a passage exists – and one even called it “fictional.” (Michelle Malkin links to other bloggers commenting on the subject.) (more…)
RUMOR: Obama is a Muslim. STATUS: False
Obama is not currently a Muslim. He’s a Christian of some sort in the “hate Whitey” sect.
RUMOR: Obama is an enlightened space alien sent to save humanity. STATUS: False
All evidence points towards Obama being a below average man who his wife stopped asking to do chores around the house because he was always getting his head stuck in the mop bucket.
RUMOR: Obama tried to bomb the Pentagon. STATUS: False
That was his friend.
As I noted before, it seems like an appropriate way to commemorate Earth Day by celebrating the remarkable progress made in cleaning our air and water in the last 35 years.
Public opinion seems to evidence that trend. According to the Gallup poll, Americans’ greatest environmental concern consistently has been water pollution, yet even so the percentage of Americans “worried a great deal” about the problem has declined from 72 percent in 2000 to 53 percent in 2008.
After multi-millions spent to scare people into joining High Priest Algore’s Church of Eco-Theology, only about 37 percent of Americans are very concerned about “The ‘greenhouse effect’ or global warming” – a tick down from 41 percent the year before.
By comparison, acid rain – the “global warming” of the 1980s – still has a following of 23 percent.
On the eve of the most crucialest of all crucial votes in this media-obsessed rollercoaster of a Democrat presidential showdown – also known as the Pennsylvania primary – I wanted to turn attention to a major example of in-your-face media bias provided in coverage of the event.
CNN contacted students in several political clubs at Penn State to arrange for the interview and two weeks ago their cameras and crews arrived at the university to film the segment with the on-air personality.
21-year-old journalism student Chelsea Brown, though, was less than impressed by Sanchez’ bellicose confrontations during the taping with several of the students including herself. I spoke with Miss Brown after the interview and she told me was offended and shocked by Sanchez’ lack of professional comportment.
This is just a snippet of the student testimony provided in the story. The good news is that Sanchez and his crew later apologized.
But the reason I decided to link to this story was to highlight Warner’s example of true citizen journalism, making actual phone calls and doing original reporting. That, and the fact that the subject of his story was Penn State University.
I haven’t been back to “dear old State” in the 7 years since I walked away with a dusty degree, but I’m glad to see there’s still some interest in a reasonable political debate – at least from the students CNN attempted to badger, er, interview.
Over at Schaffer v Udall, I have brought to light evidence that challenges the Big Blue Lie Machine’s assumptions and characterizations of Bob Schaffer’s involvement with the Northern Marianas Islands issue, which has gotten press coverage in the Denver Post recently. It’s a long post, but hope if you have an interest in this issue that you will check it out.
Via Politico’s Jonathan Martin and Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey, a new poll shows Republican presidential candidate John McCain with a commanding, double-digit lead here in Colorado versus either Democrat contender – Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton:
McCain 51, Obama 39
McCain 52, Clinton 40
Something is happening on the way to the Left’s plan to turn Colorado blue: Their leaders are generating more disdain than those who have sold out conservatives on the Republican side. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry.
While it takes longer for things happening at the state level to reach the average voter, one can almost imagine some of the reaction against Obama and Clinton trickling down to their inept liberal buddies – like Gov. Bill Ritter and Rep. Mark Udall. Just wait until the Democratic National Convention comes to town….
A sign at a downtown Denver construction site warns, “If you are not currently an active member of a building trades local union, you are NOT allowed to work on this site.”
Picture by Steve Brown – Posted at Face The State
This story prompts a reaction from two different angles.
First, from the legal technical policy wonk side…. Under existing federal law that dates back to the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, private sector “closed shops” are illegal. Simply put, a “closed shop” requires workers to be union members when they’re hired. That seems to be the message of the sign, which would make it patently illegal. To test the case, a non-union laborer who was rejected from working on the site could file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board – which has a regional Denver office.
(In contrast to “closed shops,” “union shops” – “where nonmembers must become union members within a specified period of time or lose their jobs” – are legal in some cases. What are more commonly referred to as “closed shops” – work sites where workers don’t have to join the union but have to pay a fee to the union that in most cases is almost 100% of union dues value – are actually “agency shops.” Admittedly, these are distinctions with very small differences, but a certain Left-wing “watchdog” groups makes a living off criticizing misuses of this terminology.)
Second, from a political point of view, should a story like this one gain traction and publicity, it could only be good for the “right-to-work” ballot initiative, and bad for Democrat and union leaders who want a peaceful, Big Labor-friendly Convention in August.
I have seen this war – and our part in it – at its brutal worst. And I say the transformation over the last 14 months is little short of miraculous.
The change goes far beyond the statistical decline in casualties or incidents of violence. A young Iraqi translator, wounded in battle and fearing death, asked an American commander to bury his heart in America. Iraqi special forces units took to the streets to track down terrorists who killed American soldiers. The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq, and many Iraqi boys dream of becoming American soldiers. Yes, young Iraqi boys know about “GoArmy.com.”
Or:
Over the past 15 months, we have proved that we can win this war. We stand now at the moment of truth. Victory – and a democracy in the Arab world – is within our grasp. But it could yet slip away if our leaders remain transfixed by the war we almost lost, rather than focusing on the war we are winning today.
We should be paying attention to what Michael Yon has to say. The reality-challenged crew in the U.S. Senate Democratic caucus and their online spin machine need to read this more than most, but it’s likely they will miss it altogether.
Over at Schaffer v Udall yesterday, I took on the Left’s attempt to smear Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer with broad strokes of the “Jack Abramoff” brush, despite no evidence of any direct connection whatsoever.
While the lemmings on the Left salivate and gloat that their Big Blue Lie Machine slime job will bring down Bob Schaffer and clear the way for avowed liberal Mark Udall to win, Mike Saccone at the Grand Junction Sentinel‘s Political Notebook offers a more (mentally) balanced assessment:
In the short-term, it could embolden Schaffer’s supporters, much like a New York Times article that was critical or GOP president candidate John McCain did earlier this year. Expect Schaffer’s supporter to return to his campaign manager’s statement to The Denver Post: Schaffer never met Abramoff and didn’t know of Abramoff’s connection to privately sponsored island getaway….
It’s also fair to estimate that the Schaffer article could have almost no impact by the time November roll around. After all, it is only April. Most voters probably are not tuned into the race at this point. Though it will surface in broadcast ads over the summer and into the fall, its initial punch was felt today.
Then again, this could have sticking power. Only time will tell.
A Colorado blogger with whom I have only recently become familiar – Randy Ketner, aka the Night Twister – has put together a post you must read. He hit the nail on the head with ironic precision, comparing the Congressional Democrats’ complaints about the lack of political progress in Iraq with their own lack of progress in meeting legislative benchmarks.
You need to read the whole thing, but here’s a clip to whet your appetite:
Well, there you have it. A fair comparison of the legislative progress by the Iraqi and our own Legislatures. Here’s the scorecard:
U.S. Congress: 0 completed, 1 partially completed, 6 not completed.
Iraqi Government: 4 completed, 2 partially completed, 1 not completed.
It should be noted that for the Iraqi Government, these benchmarks were dictated to them. For our own Congress, they were selected by the very leaders that have failed to carry them out.
I’m starting to agree that the cut-and-run strategy may be the best choice, but only from the legislative body that has failed to meet any of their benchmarks.
This post opens up a rich world of commentary, from serious to satire. Bookmark the Night Twister, whom I look forward to meeting at Samsphere Denver.
Yesterday I wrote about the positive experience of meeting RedState’s Erick Erickson. What I forgot to post was a mention of the speech he gave at Samsphere. It’s good food for thought for those of us who blog on the conservative, pro-freedom side.
Better yet, here’s the link to a written version of the speech, with an excerpt to tease your interest:
Too many of us are frozen by inaction today because of our visions of tomorrow. I can’t tell you how many friends I see sitting around, plotting web strategy and how to crush the left online only to sit on their hands or twiddle their thumbs and give up hope because they don’t have the funding or the knowledge or the connections or the skill set or the message hammered out — great ideas on the ash heap of history because they spent so much time taking stock of tomorrow that they never took stock of today.
Even here this weekend, several people have mentioned the money advantage on the left. We have become fixated on the money advantage. I’ve got to point out that 200 plus years ago a rag tag group of Americans using their own rifles and bullets beat the best organized, best funded army the world had ever seen to gain freedom. Online, it’s time for us to do it again. The money, like the French and Spanish did 200 years ago, will come. But first we need to show what we are capable of with our present tools.
Most of the people fretting about the money we don’t have, have something in common with another set of people we know — the ones who are in the conservative movement and think their project is the cause instead of the cause being their project.
These two groups perfectly encapsulates where the right is online right now. We are, as Screwtape wanted, hag-ridden by the Future—haunted by visions of an imminent heaven or hell upon earth. We are perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow’s end, ignoring every real gift which is offered us in the Present.
It was truly one of the highlights of the Samsphere experience, not in the least because Erick cited C.S. Lewis and the Patriots of the American Revolution.
Texas Congressman Michael Conaway, member of the House Armed Services Committee, has a great online petition you can sign as a way to respond to the Left-wing anti-military smears General David Petraeus has endured:
In response to these attacks, I would like to present the General with a petition that includes signatures and comments from citizens who support both our efforts in Iraq and the men and women in uniform who are currently making such immense sacrifices for victory. We must show solidarity behind our heroic military and make our voices of hope and support louder and stronger than those of the radical anti-war groups. We must illustrate that the efforts of the military in this successful surge have not gone unnoticed. We must proclaim that it would be undeniably disastrous for our national security to retreat and inhumane to leave the Iraqi people in the hands of the brutal and violent Islamic jihadists.
