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Freedom-Loving Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my freedom-loving friends at Liberty on the Rocks: Singing along with the chorus can be quite a cathartic experience, given all the recent federal government bailouts. … [Read more...]

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Pre-Christmas Friday Laughs

It's Friday, so I'm keeping it light and to the point. Besides the close proximity to the Christmas holiday and other reasons, I'm just too mad about our lame-duck President Bush copping to the auto bailout and too mystified by the intensity of the Senate appointment process for Governor Ritter to replace Ken Salazar. So here goes an opportunity for a few laughs: Yesterday, a friend introduced me to the It's Lovely! I'll Take It blog, which glibly pans bad real estate listing photos (something in the spirit of this humorous masterpiece of a book). If you're looking for something a little more Christmas-y, you ought to read "Twas the Night Before Single-Payer" posted by Dr. Paul Hsieh over at the We Stand FIRM blog. … [Read more...]

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If You Think the Auto Bailout is Bad, Wait for the Price Tag from Card-Check

I've written before about the bad deal for workers if Congress passes the poorly-named Employee Free Choice Act (aka union card-check legislation). But what kind of impact could it have on the economy? In a recent 8-minute iVoices podcast interview, Barbara Comstock of the Workforce Fairness Institute says it's "more of a threat" than the proposed bailout of the Big 3 auto makers: As my good friend Joshua Sharf frequently remarks about putting the Democrats in charge:Progressively more intrusive. Progressively more expensive. Progressively more restrictive. Sadly, the disease is all over Washington D.C., with no apparent hope for recovery any time soon. Hold on to your hats. And your wallets. … [Read more...]

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“Un-American”? Michigan Bailout Rhetoric Reaches Fever Pitch

I can feel the pain of my home state of Michigan (and no, I'm not referring to the bitter cold temperatures we're experiencing here along the Front Range). The angst coming from the Motor City and its environs is palpable. One of the most poignant examples, at least from my perspective, relates to a scheduled weekend appearance by Kentucky's U.S. Senator (and former Detroit Tigers pitcher) Jim Bunning. Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson ripped Bunning a new one after the Republican Senator voted against the UAW's federal government bailout deal. Dickerson wrote:He may be losing his marbles, but U.S. senator and ex-Tiger pitching great Jim Bunning still has big brass cojones. After all, most of the GOP senators … [Read more...]

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Have You Seen Just How Big a United Auto Workers Contract Is?

(Via Michelle Malkin) The Labor Pains blog has a great visual and links to the huge labor contracts negotiated between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and Detroit's Big Three:Ever wondered what a UAW contract looks like? Here is all 22 pounds of it (in this case, Ford’s 2,215 page 2007 master contract; Coke can is for scale and because I was thirsty). I’ll tell you this much, those 2,215 pages don’t include much regarding efficiency and competitiveness. What you’ll find are hundreds of rules, regulations, and letters of understanding that have hamstrung the auto companies for years. One of my claims to distinction (certainly not fame) is I have read all 45 or so collective bargaining agreements between Colorado school districts … [Read more...]

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Chesser Gives Climate Change Alarmism a Well-Deserved Slap in the Face

A great read for this Friday is Paul Chesser's well-documented rant in the American Spectator. He gets it rolling as follows:Someone please tell me it's about to end. That it's O-V-A-H in New England. That's it's D-U-N in Rio Linda. That it's fini in France and finito in Italy. I've experienced a build-up of evidence that undermines climate change alarmism, and I'm at the tipping point. My head has formed a canopy of truth-trapping that can only contain so much before my circuits overheat, blood pressure elevates, and my faith in broad-based common sense melts away. So please: polish it off in Poznan -- wishful thinking, you might think, but signs point to the beginning of that end. Read on. As global warming pathologists insist that … [Read more...]

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Auto Bailout Dead for Now: GOP, UAW Won’t Strike Last-Minute Deal

Update: Colorado's own Ken Salazar voted for the bailout. John Hawkins at Right Wing News reports within the past hour that the automotive bailout deal is dead in the U.S. Senate for this year. Confirmed by the Associated Press:A $14 billion emergency bailout for U.S. automakers has collapsed in the Senate after the United Auto Workers refused to accede to Republican demands for swift wage cuts. Michelle Malkin reports only 52 votes in the U.S. Senate, eight short of the 60 needed for cloture to move the auto bailout forward. Good news. If this economic disaster ends up going forward, the Democrats and their UAW sugar-daddies will own it. … [Read more...]

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Associated Press Notices Barack Obama’s “Questionable Associations”

About 5 weeks after the election. (H/T Gene Kinsey) At the top of the list? Fellow Democrat Gov. Rod "Pay-for-Play" Blagojevich, of whom the AP writes:Obama's circle of major Illinois political allies and supporters is largely separate from Blagojevich's, with two major exceptions. Both Obama and Blagojevich got extensive money and support from Chicago businessman Antoin "Tony" Rezko. At least one top aide to Obama, Michael Strautmanis, previously worked for Blagojevich. But Blagojevich's disdain for Obama was clear in court documents released Tuesday after the Illinois governor was arrested. Blagojevich, accused by federal prosecutors of conspiring to sell or trade for personal benefits the Senate seat left vacant by Obama, was … [Read more...]