The retirement nest egg of an entire generation is stashed away in this small town along the Ohio River: $2.5 trillion in IOUs from the federal government, payable to the Social Security Administration.
It’s time to start cashing them in.
Like that’s going to work.
via FOXNews.com - Social Security to Start Cashing Uncle Sam’s IOUs.
Documents released today by Judicial Watch reference serious allegations of corruption and voter registration fraud by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform (ACORN), as well as the Obama administration’s decision to shut down a criminal investigation into these matters.
via » Obama Spiked ACORN Investigation: Judicial Watch Releases FBI Documents - Big Government.
Anyone who’s a briefing junkie (there are more than you think) can tell you that the back third of the daily pressers are often the source of fireworks like this. As AURN’s April Ryan tries to ask Gibbs if the CBC has the President’s ear, and if the President has an urban agenda, WorldNetDaily’s Lester Kinsolving tries to fight his way in to ask if the President approves of what he calls the CBC’s “racial segregation.”
via Robert Gibbs, Barack Obama Grilled On Congressional Black Caucus | Mediaite.
House Republicans approved a conference-wide moratorium on earmarks on Thursday, one day after a House committee enacted a ban on for-profit earmarks.
The Republicans’ moratorium is more extensive than the House Appropriations Committee’s ban in that it applies to all earmarks for all members of the caucus.
via House GOP votes to ban all earmarks - The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
Two Republican senators on Wednesday called on President Obama to stop attacking the Supreme Court, lending support to Chief Justice John Roberts, who took umbrage at the president’s criticism of the court’s controversial campaign finance decision during his State of the Union address.
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch told Fox News that he agrees with Roberts, who said Tuesday that Obama’s address was “very troubling” and that the annual State of the Union speech has “degenerated into a political pep rally.”
“Look, it was a political pep rally,” Hatch said. “I guess I’m tired of it myself, just bouncing up and down at whatever strikes you as interesting.
“But the president was wrong on the law, he was wrong on the facts and I thought it was unseemly for him to criticize the Supreme Court while they’re sitting there,” he said.
via FOXNews.com - 2 Republican Senators Call on Obama to Stop ‘Attacks’ on Supreme Court.
Obama’s promise of a better, cleaner, and more transparent brand of politics has not been fulfilled. Not by a long shot. The president appoints the SEIU boss to the deficit commission. Congress behind closed doors churns out colorfully named sweetheart deals on ObamaCare. And then they really reveal the depths of their dependence on special-interest patrons.
Whatever he has done or not done, I will miss Eric Massa, for no other reason than his gift with a phrase.
In an amazing, far-ranging interview/monologue with a Rochester-area radio station, Massa admits making an off-color, sexual comment to a young staffer — but still claims Democratic leadership ratted him out to kill a health care “no” vote.
That brought him to the subject of Rahm Emanuel and arm-twisting:
“Rahm Emanuel is son of the devil’s spawn,” Massa said, according to City Hall. “He is an individual who would sell his mother to get a vote. He would strap his children to the front end of a steam locomotive.”
via Rahm is… “the devil’s spawn” - Glenn Thrush - POLITICO.com.
The Mainstream Media’s (MSM’s) latest sport is to try to accuse the Tea Party activists of being Republican hacks. The reality is that their spin is demonstrative again, of their Pavlovian simplicity and lack of vision for their own agenda.
via » Democrat-Media Complex Accuses Tea Partiers of Being On… the Other Side - Big Journalism.
But now things are looking a bit dicey. According to a recent Rasmussen Poll , only 21 percent of American voters believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed. On the other hand, Rasmussen notes, a full 63 percent of the “political class” believe that the government enjoys the consent of the governed.
It’s tempting to stress the disconnect here, and that disconnect is certainly huge. Unsurprisingly, the political class — which talks mostly to itself — thinks that it is far more popular, and legitimate, in the eyes of the country than is in fact the case. In this, as in so many things, America’s political class is out of touch with reality.
via Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Consent of the governed - and the lack thereof | Washington Examiner.
The ethical woes facing Democrats are piling up, with barely a day passing in recent weeks without headlines from Washington to New York and beyond filled with word of scandal or allegations of wrongdoing.
The troubles of Gov. David A. Paterson of New York, followed by those of two of the state’s congressmen, Charles B. Rangel and Eric J. Massa, have added to the ranks of episodes involving prominent Democrats like Eliot Spitzer, Rod R. Blagojevich and John Edwards.
via Political Memo - Rash of Scandals Tests Democrats at Sensitive Time - NYTimes.com.
YouTube - Harry Reid: Only 36,000 Lost Their Jobs Today.
What an idiot…
Republicans are feeling pretty good about the midterms. Prognosticators don’t laugh anymore when they talk about taking back Congress.
But while wind at one’s back is a good thing, cash in the bank would be better, and on that score Republicans are lagging behind. Their candidates have raised less than half the $84 million that experts estimate it will take to seriously threaten the Democratic majority in the House. The situation at the National Republican Congressional Committee is even bleaker.
via Money worries curb GOP optimism - Jeanne Cummings - POLITICO.com.
Democrats are racing the clock to pass health care reform ahead of a wave of Tea Party-driven town hall meetings planned for the spring recess — the kind of gatherings that nearly derailed the package last August.
But there’s a big difference this time around. Last summer, Democrats were encouraged to hold the town hall meetings, and they were blindsided by the backlash, which was recorded and promoted in countless YouTube clips. This time around, they have a good idea of what’s coming — and they’re lying low, in case work on health care carries over into the recess.
“There’s not been the same push as there was in August to encourage members to do town halls,” said Stephanie Lundberg, spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
via FOXNews.com - Dems Race to Pass Health Care Bill as Tea Partiers Plan Town Hall Wave.
Tonight, Barack Obama will host ten House Democrats who voted against the health care bill in November at the White House; he’s obviously trying to persuade them to switch their votes to yes. One of the ten is Jim Matheson of Utah. The White House just sent out a press release announcing that today President Obama nominated Matheson’s brother Scott M. Matheson, Jr. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
via Obama Now Selling Judgeships for Health Care Votes? | The Weekly Standard.
Charlie Rangel is on the verge of losing his Ways and Means gavel – by choice or by force, permanently or temporarily – and is taking the night to review his options, according to Democratic insiders.
As he emerged Tuesday night from a meeting in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ceremonial office – sometimes known on Capitol Hill as “the woodshed” – the New York Democrat insisted that he is still the chairman of the powerful tax-writing committee.
But he couldn’t guarantee that would be the case by Wednesday.
via Charlie Rangel on the brink - Jonathan Allen and Jake Sherman - POLITICO.com.
Even Mother Jones reported in January that Dale Robertson is not and never was a tea party leader and that the mainstream media had “lost its edge” in linking Robertson to the movement.
But, that didn’t stop liberal media hacks from repeating the lie that Robertson was a leader in the Tea Party movement.
via Gateway Pundit.
New York Gov. David Paterson announced Friday that he will not seek election in the fall, responding to mounting pressure in the wake of controversy over a top aide involved in a domestic violence dispute.
The governor insisted that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and pledged to serve out the remainder of his term “fighting for the people” of New York, but he acknowledged that the scandal made it too difficult for him to stay in the race.
via FOXNews.com - Paterson Drops Election Bid Amid Scandal Over Aide.
Rep. Charles Rangel, the most powerful tax-writing lawmaker in Congress and a 40-year veteran of Capitol Hill, acknowledged Thursday that an ethics panel has accused him of accepting Caribbean trips from a corporation in violation of House rules.
At least four other members of the Congressional Black Caucus who were also on the 2007 and 2008 trips were exonerated by the panel, a congressional source familiar with the findings told The Associated Press.
via Ethics panel finds Rep. Charles Rangel broke rules - Yahoo! News.
In his remarks just minutes ago at the health-care summit, Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) compared risk pooling in health insurance to racial segregation.
After remarking that the U.S. bans discrimination on the basis of race, religion, creed, and national origin, Harkin said, “We still allow segregation in America today based on health. Why should we allow that to happen? This is why health-care reform is so vital.”
Idiot!
Two committees in the U.S. House of Representatives are holding hearings this week concerning allegations of sudden acceleration problems in Toyota cars and trucks sold in this country.
…
There is a combined total of 59 Democrats serving on these two panels, which hold potentially life-and-death power over Toyota’s ability to continue offering its products to American consumers. So far this year, 31 of the 59 have received re-election campaign contributions ranging from as low as $500 to as high as $10,000 from the United Auto Workers union.
So the government, that owns two auto companies, is grilling a Toyota who recently took over the top spot. No conflict of interest here. Move along.
via Thirty-one House Dems quizzing Toyota execs got UAW campaign cash.
Republican National Chairman Michael Steele is spending twice as much as his recent predecessors on private planes and paying more for limousines, catering and flowers – expenses that are infuriating the party’s major donors who say Republicans need every penny they can get for the fight to win back Congress.
Most recently, donors grumbled when Steele hired renowned chef Wolfgang Puck’s local crew to cater the RNC’s Christmas party inside the trendy Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, and then moved its annual winter meeting from Washington to Hawaii.
For some major GOP donors, both decisions were symbolic of the kind of wasteful spending habits they claim has become endemic to his tenure at the RNC. When Ken Mehlman served as the committee chairman during the critical 2006 midterm elections, the holiday party was held in a headquarters conference room and Chic-fil-A was the caterer.
via Michael Steele’s spending spree angers donors - Jeanne Cummings - POLITICO.com.
“The answer to that is no,” Reid said abruptly. “But I have been told that my Republican friends are lamenting reconciliation. I would recommend to them to go back and look at history. Since 1981, reconciliation has been used 21 times—the vast majority of those reconciliation efforts have been by Republicans. So nothing’s off the table. We’ll have to take a look at that.
“But realistically, they should stop crying about reconciliation as if it’s never been done before. It’s been done by almost every Congress, and they’re the ones who have used it more than anyone else. Contract for America was done with reconciliation. Tax cuts, done with reconciliation. Medicare, done with reconciliation,” Reid continued
via Reid to Republicans: “Stop crying over reconciliation” - Live Pulse - POLITICO.com.
In an alarming finding, the Rasmussen Report found only 21% of Americans believe the Democrat-controlled U.S. government has the consent of the governed. Amazingly, this view is held by only 32% of Democrats.
Spurred by the unjust Wall Street Bailout, this crisis of consent is exacerbated by an Obama Administration and its Democratic Congress’ insistence on ramming through a government-run health care scheme in defiance of the sovereign American people’s emphatic opposition.
Prodded by the release of dozens of declassified CIA documents, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reasserted her longstanding position about what she knew regarding the agency’s use of harsh interrogation practices.
“I have never been briefed by the CIA or anyone else on the subject of those interrogations, to the extent that they were being used,” the California Democrat told reporters Tuesday. “We were only briefed that there were lawyers in the Justice Department that thought they were legal, period.”
The comments marked Pelosi’s first foray into the controversy in nine months that pitted the top House Democrat against the nation’s premier spy agency. Responding to a lawsuit filed by Amnesty International and two other human rights watchdog groups, the CIA released several dozen documents detailing how the CIA handled suspected terrorism suspects and briefed lawmakers about it.
via FOXNews.com - Pelosi Reasserts Claims On CIA Interrogation Techniques.
Have you watched with amusement as various political commentators have tried to demonize the amorphous Tea Party movement by outing behind-the-scenes bogeymen allegedly pulling the strings of this latter day Great Awakening?
Sarah Palin. Glenn Beck. Dick Armey. Newt Gingrich. Grover Norquist. Jack Abramoff. Lyndon LaRouche. The John Birch Society. The list goes on.
None of it is sticking.
Political handicapper Charlie Cook said that it was “very hard to come up with a scenario where Democrats don’t lose the House” in an interview with National Journal late last week.
Cook, who, in the interest of full disclosure, gave the Fix our first job in political Washington, went on to note that while House Republicans have their fair share of problems but “you could triple the Republican Party’s problems and I’d still rather have their problems than the problems facing Democrats.”
via The Fix - Charlie Cook: “Very hard” to see how Democrats keep House.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) suggested Monday that domestic violence by men has increased due to U.S. joblessness.
Reid, speaking in the midst of a Senate debate over whether to pass a $15 billion package meant to spur job creation, appeared to argue that joblessness would lead to more domestic violence.
via Reid: ‘Men, when they’re out of work, tend to become abusive’ - The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
What a difference a year makes. A year ago, the liberal media in America (i.e. about 90% of the print press) had written off conservatism as dead and buried. An avowedly left-wing president worshipped with almost messianic zeal across much of the world, from Paris to Nairobi, had swept into the White House, bolstered by a Democrat-dominated Congress in both the House and the Senate. The Right appeared broken, divided, and disillusioned, rudderless and leaderless, supposedly the political equivalent of the remnants of Custer’s Last Stand.
…
As a series of Gallup polls have categorically shown over the past few months, the United States is not only a conservative nation, but one that is becoming significantly more conservative in the face of the Obama administration. Conservatism is not the past for America, it is the country’s future.
via Conservatism is the future of America – Telegraph Blogs.
When suicide pilot Andrew Stack flew his plane Thursday into a Texas building that houses the IRS, killing himself and injuring at least two others, a number of media outlets immediately connected the words of his online suicide letter to those of the Tea Party movement — despite any evidence that Stack has ever been involved in the movement.
That’s something Levi Russell, spokesman for Tea Party Express, called “absurd.”
President Barack Obama will be a one-term president, former Vice President Dick Cheney confidently predicted Thursday.
During a surprise appearance at the end of his daughter Liz’s speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington, the former vice president said Republicans would have a “phenomenal year” with the midterm elections, and said Obama would be defeated in 2012.
via In surprise speech, Cheney says Obama will last one term - The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.
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