Lovers of liberty, it's not time to be resigned or downtrodden. It's time to stand up and be heard. This week the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the massive energy tax sometimes known as the Waxman-Markey bill or "Cap and Trade". FreedomWorks not only tells you why this bill is bad but provides easy links for you to take action and contact your representative. I already contacted Rep. Ed Perlmutter's office. (Of course, we also have the problem of an already very long piece of legislation that has suddenly added several hundred pages. Unlike the stimulus bill, will our Congressman be able to read it all in time? Consider me skeptical.) As it turns out, the timing of the House vote is proving to be quite … [Read more...]
Big Labor Ramps Up Pro-EFCA Efforts with Biased Report, Religious Lobbyists
Update, 10:00 AM: Labor Pains' Justin Wilson has a more thorough refutation of Big Labor's new report here. In an effort to ramp up their efforts to pass the Employee Forced Choice Act (EFCA), Big Labor is touting a new report that suggests employers are rampantly breaking the law (PDF) during union organizing elections. The problem? The report's data all are based on interviews with union organizers -- hardly an unbiased source. But anything goes. While Big Labor appeals to EFCA apologists who need rational cover with impressive-sounding reports, it seems they also think they must appeal to the populist masses of religious believers. So they have sent clergy member lobbyists to Washington, DC, to insist that card-check legislation is … [Read more...]
Democrats’ Anti-Taxpayer Shell Game Demands a Principled “Party of No”
The other half of Colorado Democrats' shell game rolled through the state senate last night - with one of the longest debates on a state legislative bill in recent memory. Senate Bill 228 would repeal the state general fund's 6 percent spending limit and allow additional funds to be diverted from transportation to pet government programs (now mainly supported by Democrats). It's the latest in a series of actions by Governor Bill Ritter to raise taxes and grow government without asking the people of Colorado first. So much for confidence in his own agenda. … [Read more...]
Fitting for a Monday Morning: Rossputin’s Sobering Economic Outlook
Just time for a quick link this morning: Rossputin has a well-informed and sobering outlook on the state of the markets and the economy. Simply put, Barack Obama and the Democrats in Washington are out of control. … [Read more...]
Tea Parties Today in Denver and Nationwide: Is a Revolution Brewing?
Update, 2/28: Western Slope blogger Gene Kinsey has links to more Tea Party accounts from across the nation. Update, 6 PM: My brother-in-law, an excellent photographer not usually inclined to attend politically-oriented rallies and events, had his pictures from today's Denver Tea Party linked and featured by Instapundit. How cool is that? More than 40 "Tea Party" rallies around the country today: Is there a revolution brewing? (Pun intended) Who knows? But the energy on display today can't be left to simmer away in a lukewarm acceptance of wasteful government spending and mounting, endless debt. Pictures of the Denver Tea Party are up at People's Press Collective and Slapstick Politics (with video to come later). Great pics from … [Read more...]
Charles Chaput Observes Obamessiah Phenomenon — Really a Big Deal?
The observations made by the Denver's archbishop are hardly anything new or unreasonable, but the Rocky Mountain News reports that his words are stirring up the blogs (which ones? not clear):Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput told a Canadian audience this week that some Catholics are treating President Barack Obama with a "spirit of adulation bordering on servility." "In democracies, we elect public servants, not messiahs," he said. [link added] And:"Americans, including many Catholics, elected a gifted man to fix an economic crisis. That's the mandate. They gave nobody a mandate to retool American culture on the issues of marriage and the family, sexuality, bioethics, religion in public life and abortion," he said. [emphasis … [Read more...]
Markets Don’t Like What Obama and Dems Are Inflicting on Economy
Rossputin has the in-depth commentary on the markets' reaction to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, and points to two polls showing the American people want more tax cuts, less federal spending. Are Colorado's U.S. Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Udall even paying attention? Polipundit has the telling visual about Geithner's negative impact on the markets. What's so funny? I guess you had to be there. Finally, Michael at Best Destiny says it's time to start tagging this as "the Reid/Pelosi/Obama economy". I agree: they can have it. If it only didn't hurt so many of the rest of us in the process. Things do look bleak - you can't blame investors for their reactions. The President isn't the Savior. Here's a start: sign the No … [Read more...]
The Democrat “Stimulus” Bill: “Serious times call for silly, self-serving solutions”
Here's my new slogan for the day: "Serious times call for silly, self-serving solutions." At least as it applies to Democrats and their approach to addressing the current economic downturn . The Wall Street Journal sorts it out very nicely in today's editorial "The Stimulus Time Machine":The stimulus bill currently steaming through Congress looks like a legislative freight train, but given last week's analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, it is more accurate to think of it as a time machine. That may be the only way to explain how spending on public works in 2011 and beyond will help the economy today. According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, a mere $26 billion of the House stimulus bill's $355 billion in new spending … [Read more...]
Ed Perlmutter “Working for Change”–Congress Doesn’t Deserve Pay Raise
Today I received in the mail a colorful brochure with the following written on the front: "Ed Perlmutter is On the Job, Working for Change". Franking privileges being what they are, I'm not generally surprised to receive these sorts of notices. But at first I was a little offended by the thought that my Congressman - who made a $169,300 salary in 2008 - would use bold letters to complain that he is "working for change," and to someone who makes considerably less. I braced myself: Was this a set-up? Was I about to open up the brochure and see the case for why Congress needed a bailout from itself? Has the economy gone so sour as all that? Fortunately, no, nothing so unusual as that. Like nearly all members of Congress, Perlmutter's … [Read more...]
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...]