sticking it to the little guy
Posted at 11:28am on Jun. 9, 2008 Who Luvs Ya Baby? If You Live In The Heartland, It Ain't The Democrats
By haystack
Tacking on to Erick's earlier piece, it's worth noting this New York Times article which points out that it's rural America that is taking the worst hit from gas prices:
Gasoline prices reached a national average of $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, adding more strain to motorists across the country.
But the pain is not being felt uniformly. Across broad swaths of the South, Southwest and the upper Great Plains, the combination of low incomes, high gas prices and heavy dependence on pickup trucks and vans is putting an even tighter squeeze on family budgets.
There is an outstanding map that shows just how distinct the differences are between rural America and the rest of the country in terms of the percentage of income currently being spent on fuel. This is a MUST see graphic folks.
What is amazing to me, at least, is the willingness of Democrats from Massachusetts to California to advocate bills (Energy and Cap and Trade, for example) that makes gas more expensive while simultaneously ignoring the plight of most American families – those living outside large cities and those without access to mass transportation.
Look closely at the map, then call your Democrat Political Heroes and thank them for the Pelosi Premium...not that they'll actually give a flip.
Posted in Bad Democrat Policy | Gas Prices | Liberals | sticking it to the little guy — Comments (15)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 12:26pm on Jun. 6, 2008 Democrats Can't Abandon The Most Important Issue Facing The Planet Fast Enough
So much for the "New Direction" Congress
By haystack
So sayeth Sen. Mitch McConnell at least:
The message is clear: the majority can’t abandon this bill fast enough.
So now we’re in a most peculiar situation. On the one hand, the majority says climate change is the most important issue facing the planet. Yet they’ve rushed the debate on that topic and brought the bill to a premature end. They brought it down before we could vote on gas prices, on clean energy technology, or on protecting American jobs.
This whole exercise will have had no effect on either climate change or gas prices. But it does send an unambiguous message: on the issue of high gas prices, our friends on the other side have no plan to lower the price at the pump.
Look, folks, this can't be emphasized enough: Democrats are bad for Americans. They see Government "largesse" as the answer to everything. They see spending large sums of money (that would be OUR money) as the way to solve problems, and they seem to think their nifty little "back-room wheeling and dealing" will go right over our heads somehow...that we'll just trudge along like good little sheep whenever we hear some pretty little words like "hope, faith, and optimism" or Hope and Change and Change and Hope.
For the moment, at least, the most recent attempt by the Democrats to crush us under the weight of a bloated Government and higher taxes and bureaucratic interventionalism has been stopped. It's too late to stop the Farm Bill, we're STILL waiting for them to fund the Troops (which they are in no hurry to do nearly 500 days after being asked to do so), we escaped the Immigration disaster by the skin of our teeth, and they are hell-bent on trying to cram the Energy bill down our throats as early as next week. S. 3044 means to introduce an all-out assault on us, indirectly, by attacking big oil and anyone that makes "too much" money...and they'll be blaming the President for it for good measure.
The promises of a New Direction and an ethical and transparent Congress have been broken. Say what you will about President Bush's approval numbers...Congress enjoys HALF as much approval as he does, and they can't seem to get out of their own way. They have failed themselves, their constituents, and the rest of us poor slobs out here just trying to make ends meet.
November 2008 is just around the corner. These guys must be fired and replaced before they drive "we the People" into the ground.
Posted in Cap and Trade | Liberals | sticking it to the little guy | Tax and Spend Democrats — Comments (14)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:32pm on Jun. 4, 2008 At Least *Someone* Up There Gets It: Cornyn Reminds Us Of Unintended Consequences
By haystack
US Senator John Cornyn, representing the greatest State in the nation, has a news release posted at his official Senate website that is a must read for anyone that thinks this Cap and Trade nonsense is...well, nonsense. Titled "Climate Debate Must Be Mindful Of Unintended Consequences", the good Senator from Texas shows that HE, at least, gets it regarding the problem(s) with the Democrat majority's master plan to destroy the economy...err, I mean, save the planet:
The bill [S. 3036] appears to implement a $6.7 trillion program that could undermine economic growth, raise energy costs for American consumers and send jobs overseas to countries such as India and China. We need a thoughtful and serious debate on how to be the best stewards of the environment possible. As we do this, I hope Congress pays heed to the law of unintended consequences, including what impact it might have on the budgets of families in Texas and across the country.
At a time, when many working families are struggling with high gas prices, we must take steps to address this problem, and not add to it.
I have been ranting and I have been raving for two days about Democrats preferring "Comprehensive Global Climate Protection" (to the tune of trillions of dollars) over chipping away, Conservatively, one piece of this at a time. I'm fine with giving the planet a couple aspirins over the next 10 years to break her "fever", but I am NOT ok with Congress ruining our lives NOW, so they can prop us back up later with bloated Government and wealth redistribution and tax breaks for the poor and middle class by giving us "tax initiatives to protect us."
On the Senate floor Cornyn continues trying to get these crazy Democrats to understand what's at stake, and who the real problem is:
[I]nstead of dealing with that urgent need that affects every man, woman, and child in this country, this Congress has decided to head down another path and that path is a bigger government, more taxes, higher energy costs for electricity and gasoline and with the uncertainty that any of this will actually have an impact on climate. Especially given the fact that countries like China and India of a billion people each are not going to agree to impose this upon themselves. And so America is going to do this, presumably, while our major global competitors are not and we're going to suffer not only those higher prices, but job losses, reduction in our gross domestic product, and a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world. Why would we do that our ourselves? At the same time we see this sort of Rube Goldberg bureaucracy that would be created. I think that Senator Dorgan yesterday said that this bureaucracy would make "Hillary care" pale in comparison with its complexity as reflected on this chart. This is the kind of huge expansion in government power over our lives and over the economy that is really unprecedented in our country, and I suggest is the wrong solution -- is a wrong answer to what confronts us today.
Props to Cornyn for the "Rube Goldberg" comment...he gets it...why is this so hard for the Democrats?
More below the fold...
Posted in Congress | Global Warming bill | John Cornyn | sticking it to the little guy — Comments (27)/ Email this page » / Read More »
