Redstate

Posted at 9:09am on Jun. 21, 2008 MI Morning Commentary: MI Unemployment National News...McCain Proposed Energy Independence...Nuclear Power

By saul anuzis

136 Days until Election Day

June 21, 2008

MORNING UPDATE:

MICHIGAN'S UNEMPLOYMENT MAKING NEWS...Governor Granholm said "in five
years, you'll be blown away," but many Michigan families are being
blown away now as the state reported the highest monthly jobless rate
(8.5 percent) in 16 years. In addition, 23,000 more people have lost
their jobs since October when Granholm and the Democrats pushed through
the largest tax increase in state history. 
Obama is promising more of the same for America.

If you like what Jennifer Granholm has done to Michigan, you'll love
what Barack Obama will do to Michigan.  It didn't work here...won't
work nationally.

ELLY PETERSON...had a nice tribute and obituary written about her in the NY Times.  I only met Elly a few times when I first got involved in politics.

McCAIN PROPOSES ENERGY INDEPENDENCE...NUCLEAR POWER...America wants
peace and prosperity. We need to become less dependent on foreign oil
and have more domestic sources of power. Cheap, reliable and affordable
energy will change the world. More below.

CARD CHECK...Protect workers' right to a secret ballot. The vast
majority (around 81%) of Americans believe that American workers have a
right to have a secret ballot election before they are forced to join a
union. Last year the House Democrats passed a bill that would strip
American workers of the secret ballot. A new bill should be introduced
reaffirming that right, and it should be brought up again and again
until marginal Democrats are forced to vote with the American people
against the union power structure.  And this, coming from a Teamster.

GINGRICH...3 WAYS TO LOWER GAS PRICES...a practical, realistic approach to lowering the price of gas...NOW!

SLATECARD...AN EASY WAY TO CONTRIBUTE TO OUR FRIENDS...Slatecard
was designed to allow easy, online way to contribute and support our
candidates for federal office. Please take a minute to check it
out...and hopefully help.

FUNDRAISER...2008 Max M. Fisher National Republican Leadership Award
Dinner...Please join President George W. Bush and the Michigan
Republicans as we honor the life of Max M. Fisher at the Max M. Fisher
National Republican Leadership Dinner on Wednesday, June 25, 2008, at
Laurel Manor in Livonia. Click here to reserve your tickets now!

Posted in Archived | Energy | Granholm | McCain | Michigan | Nuclear | Unemplyment — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:38am on Jun. 18, 2008 How Republicans Can Win the Energy Debate in Congress

Let's Have an Old-Fashioned Filibuster

By Bluey

My fellow contributors at RedState have had no shortage of posts the past few days on the need to drill for oil. The message is finally resonating on Capitol Hill, where House Minority Whip Roy Blunt is producing a daily gas chart and Senate Republican leaders are beginning to talk tough.

These are positive developments, but rhetoric alone will not solve our energy problems. That requires leadership and action, two things that are hard to come by in Congress.

Fortunately for the GOP, oil drilling appears to be something everyone can agree on. Republicans who don't always see eye to eye -- Sens. Ted Stevens (Alaska) and Tom Coburn (Okla.) come to mind -- are in sync when it comes to this. The party's nominee, Sen. John McCain, gave his colleagues a big boost this week with an endorsement for offshore drilling.

While McCain's energy position is far from perfect -- ANWR remains off limits for him -- Republicans can't let that slow them down. They should take this fight to the Democrats at every opportunity. And they can begin by shutting down the Senate if Democrats refuse to allow offshore drilling.

I'm talking about an old-fashioned filibuster. I know it won't be like "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," but why not make a spectacle of it? The next time Majority Leader Harry Reid tries to do something, call his bluff.

There's a reason Newt Gingrich has collected nearly 900,000 names for his petition calling for more drilling. Americans are tired of inaction. Forcing a showdown on Capitol Hill is the best move Senate Republicans could make. Not only would it bolster the party in the short term, but it would also give GOP leaders some backbone for future fights.

Posted in Congress | Congress | Energy | filibuster | oil | Republicans — Comments (26)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:38pm on Jun. 14, 2008 If only we could fuel the world with the horse manure Obama hoses on his townhall crowds

By Erick

Barack Obama today blamed the administration for higher gas prices.

Now, it isn’t an accident that gas prices are this high. It’s because Washington failed to deal with the challenge of alternative energy when it had the chance. Instead we’ve had an energy policy that’s been written by and for the big oil and gas companies.

Barack Obama failed to mention that he voted for that energy policy and John McCain voted against it.

Likewise, Obama told the crowd

While Senator McCain has spoken out on energy reform in the past, in this campaign, he isn’t offering any solutions to help Americans pay for high gas prices. Instead, he’s proposing a gas tax holiday that’s nothing more than a Washington stunt.

What Obama did not tell the crowd is that while John McCain wants lower prices, Barack Obama supports higher gas prices to force consumers to use less and seek alternatives.

At the same time though, Obama is opposed to real energy alternatives like nuclear energy and he opposed to expanded drilling for petroleum fuel sources. Well, let's let John McCain remind us of Senator Obama's real position:

So, to summarize: Obama tells people that the energy policy he supported and John McCain opposed was a bad policy. He also said John McCain is offering no solutions to lower gas prices, but failed to say that his position is to support higher gas prices.

No wonder people faint in his presence. The stench is overwhelming.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Energy | Gas Prices | John McCain | Obamafiles — Comments (27)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:45pm on Jun. 10, 2008 House GOP's Bold Economic Agenda

Earmark Moratorium, Flat Tax Among Policy Goals

By Bluey

House Republicans will unveil their economic agenda tomorrow with proposals to end earmarks, simplify the tax code and increase energy production. The GOP's agenda should excite conservatives, who will recognize many of the policy goals as long-sought objectives.

For the past 18 months in the minority, Republicans have struggled to unify around a specific set of policy goals. Their economic agenda comes one month after they promoted an "American Families Agenda." Two other policy plans will be unveiled in the coming months.

The centerpiece of the economic agenda is spending and tax reform. The proposal calls for an "immediate moratorium on congressional earmarks," which constitutes remarkable progress for House Republicans. The GOP was unable to arrive at that goal earlier this year following its retreat. But after pressure from Republican Study Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), conservatives apparently won over Boehner, who has long opposed pork-barrel projects. (Note: Although this plan would impose a moratorium on future earmarks, conservatives are still insisting on one this year.)

On tax reform, Republicans are proposing a "two-tier flat tax system that can be filed on one page," a bold move that moves beyond tinkering with the existing tax code. While it certainly won't satisfy FairTax supporters, it differs drastically from anything Democrats have proposed. Americans will be dealt the largest tax increase in history if liberals have their way in Congress.

Other goals that are noteworthy include:

• Passing entitlement reform that addresses the problems facing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
• Balancing the federal budget by 2012 without raising taxes.
• Prohibiting federal spending from growing faster than the economy.
• Extending the current welfare work requirements to food stamps and housing.
• Making portability a central component of health care reform.

Posted in Congress | Congress | Earmarks | Energy | Flat Tax | Republicans | Spending — Comments (49)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:06pm on May 31, 2008 Barack Obama supported the energy policy before he didn't

By Erick

Barack Obama today in South Dakota suggests the United States does not have a good energy policy. He says "they don't have an energy policy that would actually weaken Iran and take money out of their pockets." I assume by "they" he means the GOP. He goes on to say we need to stop our dependence on foreign oil.

Well, I would point out that Barack Obama voted in favor of the present energy policy when it was put to a vote on June 28, 2005 — the very energy policy he does not now like.

John McCain voted against that energy policy.

I await Barack Obama's backpedaling on this. Every time he stands on the little record he does have, it's something he realizes he has to disown.

It's like the Democrats have nominated the love child of Michael Dukakis and John Kerry and then declared George McGovern his god-father (or is that gaia-mother in the Democrat party).

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Energy | John McCain | Obamafiles — Comments (13)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:30pm on Mar. 31, 2008 Turning Out the Lights on Freedom

The End Result of Earth Hour Thinking is Visible from Space

By Mark I

Did you turn out your lights on Saturday night between 8 and 9 PM to observe Earth Hour? If you didn’t, or if you were like me and turned extra lights on just to Fight the Power!, you exercised that most precious of rights and the one ingredient most essential to maintaining a free society: personal choice. But the peddlers of Earth Hour nonsense don’t want you to have that right. Not, at least, when it comes to lifestyle decisions that may impact on Global Warming.

Note that I use the original term, Global Warming, not the newly preferred moniker "climate change." Climate change only came about when it became clear that Global Warming wasn’t selling so well. I, for one, will not let the alarmists get away with moving the thermometers by changing the terms. But I digress.

If the environmental movement has its way, your betters in the Sierra Club, and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on [Global Warming] will dictate to you when you must turn off lights, what kind car or unreasonable facsimile of one you can drive, where you can live, what kind of job you can take, even how many children you can have. Does all that sound familiar? It does to me. In fact, there is one place I can think of where there is near 100% compliance with Earth Hour every night and where all of the above is already true.

Read on…

Posted in Earth Hour | Energy | Environment | Global Warming | Liberals | Miscellanea | radical environmentalists — Comments (15)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:29pm on Dec. 7, 2007 How High Will Gas Prices Go?

By Bluey

Conservatives have been hard at work this week to derail the Democrats' new energy bill. Despite winning approval in the House yesterday, the measure failed to get cloture in the Senate today on a 53-42 vote. However, it's not dead yet. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could bring it up as early as next week.

My colleagues at the Heritage Foundation's Center for Data Analysis today released an interactive, state-by-state gas map that reveals the legislation making its way through Congress would increase the price of gas from an early December average of $3.06 per gallon to $5.02 in 2016. And that's not all that's bad with the bill. Heritage isn't alone in this fight. The American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform and the National Taxpayers Union have all weighed in against the bill.

Posted at 1:59am on Oct. 24, 2007 The Problem With Biofuels

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Not only does reliance on biofuels dramatically inflate the price of food, it also lead to water shortages. Another reason to root for the increased use of nuclear energy.

PS: See also this and be sure to follow the links.