Posted today on DKos by the spewmaster himself regarding the telco amnesty legislation:

When we started this “netroots” thing, we worked to get “more and better Democrats” elected. At first, we focused on the “more” part. This year, we’re focusing a bit more on the “better” part. And in 2010, we’ll have enough Democrats in the House to exclusively focus on the “better” part.

That means primary challenges. And as we decide who to take on, let it be known that this FISA vote will loom large. Voting to give telecommunication companies retroactive immunity may not guarantee a primary challenge, but it will definitely loom large.

We kicked Joe Lieberman out of the caucus. We got rid of Al Wynn this year. Those were test runs, so to speak. We’ve got a lot more of that ready to unleash in 2010.

House Democrats responded to President’s Bush’s call for Congress to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling. This was at an on-camera press conference fed back live.Among other things, the Democrats called for the government to own refineries so it could better control the flow of the oil supply.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), member of the House Appropriations Committee and one of the most-ardent opponents of off-shore drilling

“We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.”

Fox News

No wonder the left has a love affair with Hugo Chavez. What exactly is nationalization of the oil refineries going to do for the price of gas? Manipulating the market will only make the problem worse. Put the government in control and we’ll likely end up with shortages like we did back in the 70s with Tricky Dick and his price controls. Hinchey needs to be looking at his own face in the mirror if he wants someone to blame for the current cost of fuel.

Hinchey is not the first Democrat to call for nationalization of oil in this country. Is there really any doubt that this party is America’s Socialist party?

I don’t have any more commentary than Sister Toldjah.  Just go read this.

This is an excellent development in the fight of conservatives to retake the GOP and re-establish it as a truly conservative party.  I have always been a big fan of Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Sen. Inhofe of Oklahoma, and several other Senators (and quite a few Congressmen) who are reliable conservatives even in the wake of the K Street Project, “Compassionate Conservatism,” and the GOP losing its track from the historic 1994 Contract With America takeover of Congress.  You can watch Sen. DeMint’s introductory video on this here.

There are already several of these organizations pushing for true conservative policies; these include groups such as the Club For Growth, the conservative blogosphere, the CATO Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the recently formed Conservatives for the Advancement of the Reagan Coalition (formed by former FredHeads), and many others.

There are also a few of these groups within Congress.  Of course there is the Republican Study Committee in the House, led by rock-solid Rep. Jeb Hensarling (formerly by another great conservative, and Party Leader nominee, Mike Pence, and formerly John Shadegg I believe).  In the Senate, also led by Sen. DeMint, is the Republican Steering Committee.  In recent months a bicameral group, Reagan21, was formed that includes many of the conservative rockstars we gloat about so often on this and many other blogs, which took an early initiative in really pushing hard against earmarking along with the Club for Growth.

This Senate Conservative Fund PAC is another great addition to our roster of citizen advocacy groups, PACs, research institutes, and now even more actual governmental groups pushing for conservative principles in our national government.  Along with the Club for Growth, which recommends stellar economically conservative candidates in primary and general races throughout the country, this provides another mechanism for conservatives to channel money to the right candidates who can help push the Republican Party in the right direction.

H/T Don’t Tread on Mike

Oklahoma passed a resolution reaffirming the state’s rights under the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution and informing the Federal government to essentially back off with their unconstitutional power grabs and mandates. Let’s see if they actually stand behind it. We need to start seeing more of this.

This is the text of House Joint Resolution 1089

STATE OF OKLAHOMA

2nd Session of the 51st Legislature (2008)

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 1089 By: Key

AS INTRODUCED

<StartFT>A Joint Resolution claiming sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over certain powers; serving notice to the federal government to cease and desist certain mandates; and directing distribution. <EndFT>

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States reads as follows:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”; and

WHEREAS, the Tenth Amendment defines the total scope of federal power as being that specifically granted by the Constitution of the United States and no more; and

WHEREAS, the scope of power defined by the Tenth Amendment means that the federal government was created by the states specifically to be an agent of the states; and

WHEREAS, today, in 2008, the states are demonstrably treated as agents of the federal government; and

WHEREAS, many federal mandates are directly in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court has ruled in New York v. United States, 112 S. Ct. 2408 (1992), that Congress may not simply commandeer the legislative and regulatory processes of the states; and

WHEREAS, a number of proposals from previous administrations and some now pending from the present administration and from Congress may further violate the Constitution of the United States.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND THE SENATE OF THE 2ND SESSION OF THE 51ST OKLAHOMA LEGISLATURE:

THAT the State of Oklahoma hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States over all powers not otherwise enumerated and granted to the federal government by the Constitution of the United States.

THAT this serve as Notice and Demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.

THAT a copy of this resolution be distributed to the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate of each state’s legislature of the United States of America, and each member of the Oklahoma Congressional Delegation.

51-2-9466 <SD> <12/31/07>

I think this comment, and my response, is front-page worthy regarding the oil situation we are facing:

“Ryan”: How exactly does drilling here help us in the long term? It does not. It keeps us dependent on fossil fuels while available reserves are not infinite. The American people are so short sighted in their vision that sometimes I wonder how we have survived for so long.

The American people are to blame for being so dependent on the fossil fuel economy and drilling for more oil is an act of denial of the future.

My response:

Because drilling and refining more here increases the supply, thus bringing down the price. It also helps our energy security.

The “energy crisis” or “petroleum crisis” is a fraud. There is no shortage of oil, only shortsightedness of our politicians in Washington who want to handicap the free market forces from provided accessible, cheaper energy resources.

I’m not only talking about oil here. It’s also about nuclear energy. Heaven forbid we open more nuclear power plants! France has 80% of their energy provided by nuclear power for crying out loud.

I don’t necessarily buy into the “peak oil” argument. Oil is a naturally recurring resource, and around the world new shales of oil unknown of before are constantly discovered (see the offshore shale discovered last year near Brazil).

Should we have a better variety of energy production? By all means, yes! In the short term, oil isn’t running out any time soon. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t increase the availability of it now to help American consumers, and it certainly doesn’t mean we can’t get more involved in nuclear energy. Hell, we can’t even build a wind farm up in Massachusetts because it would hinder the sight of the bay for Edward Kennedy and his spoiled family.

The American people may be to blame for electing politicians who ignore the laws of economics to Washington, but not for being dependent on oil. Oil is a very efficient resource for energy, and even plastics production. Give me a break.

Could it run out someday, far down the road? The honest answer is, we don’t know. Should we take steps to open up alternative sources of energy? Yeah! Go for it! But in the meantime, don’t hinder oil production so you hurt the American consumer, and quit the nuclear power boogeyman argument. Seems to me that politicians in Washington and enviro-whacko advocation groups want to have their cake and eat it too.

[UPDATE]: An article at RealClearPolitics that offers some similar views, and some differing.

CNN did a spot on how each income bracket would be effected under McCain’s tax plan and Obama’s tax plan.

They said they received their information from the Tax Policy Center, which they claim is a non-partisan organization. I don’t know anything about the TPC and like most Americans I am always skeptical about what I hear from the not-so-mainstream media, however if this comparison is accurate McCain ought to be adopting some of Obama’s tax policy. Instead of soaking wealthier Americans with higher taxes like Obama would do, McCain should continue his policy of sustaining the Bush tax cuts for everyone, but he should make additional cuts on middle and lower income Americans, more than Obama does. Hell, I’d even be as aggressive as eliminating income taxes entirely from people making less than $50,000 a year, just as an example. The Democrats would no longer be able to paint McCain as the second coming of W and his “tax cuts for the rich.” With rising inflation in just about every sector and the middle class being hit the most by it, this would bring a lot of swing voters solidly into McCain’s camp as well as some current Obama supporters.The second thing McCain should do is to change his stance on ANWR and support drilling there as well as off our continental shelves. The price of oil is the culprit behind a lot of the inflation we are experiencing and a lot more people in this country are getting behind expanding domestic drilling. McCain continues to be against drilling in ANWR and that is just stupid in the current political environment. He should claim that he will open the door to ANWR drilling as well as off the oceans and Gulf Coast and that rally voters behind him.

These are two fairly common sense issues in my opinion that would chip away at a lot of Obama’s popularity right now. There is no way that Obama would come back and try to one up him on either of these. These positions would provide the GOP with a solid platform to take to the voters and help not just with the Presidential race but also with Congress.

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford was in Little Rock, Arkansas yesterday speaking to the Arkansas Republicans and stating his opinion that the losses of the Republican Party in Congress will continue. He noted that significant change is needed in the party to get itself back on track.

His statement comes as no shock nor should it, other than maybe to those in Washington D.C. who never have a clue. The political party that produced the Class of 94 has done a complete 180 from those days of success. They became greedy and power hungry. They threw away fiscal responsibility and the tenants of limited government that made them such a favorite with the people 14 years ago.

They said they were fiscal conservatives, but they lied. They said they wouldn’t involve us in nation building, but they lied. They said they believed in limited government and personal responsibility, but they lied about that too. They have a long way to go to regain the trust of the American people to the detriment of what may become of us in the meantime.

I wonder what this is all about?

West is running to win back FL-22 for the Republican Party this year. The man tells it like it is.  Awesome.

“Scientists” from all around the world are going to join ABC News in hoodwinking many gullible Americans into thinking that mankind is at the dawn of extinction from …. drumroll …… climate change!

But don’t press that button just yet. Read on.

Are we living in the last century of our civilization? Is it possible that all of our technology, knowledge and wealth cannot save us from ourselves? Could our society actually be heading towards collapse?

According to many of the world’s top scientists, the answer is yes, unless we take action now.

When Republicans use this kind of language discussing the War on Terror, they’re accused of fear mongering.

This September, in Earth 2100, a dramatic ABC News 2-hour broadcast, the greatest minds across the globe will join together in a countdown to the year 2100 to tell us what we must do to survive the next century … And what may happen if we don’t.

The time to act is now, says Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute.

“The 21st century is going to be the century which determine[s] whether we live or die as a sustainable species,” Gleick said. “As populations grow, as our use of resources grows, I think we get closer and closer to that edge.”

Experts say that extreme changes in climate, combined with dwindling resources, famine, war and disease have the potential to create a post-apocalyptic world in less than a hundred years. Harvard University and Woods Hole climatologist John Holdrens says we cannot continue going down the same path.

“If we continue on business as usual, we are going to see more floods, more droughts, more heat waves, more wildfires, more ice melting, faster sea level rise,” Holdren said.

“We really have less than a decade to start getting this right. If we’re still dragging our feet in 2015 I think it really becomes at that point almost impossible for the world to avert a degree of climate change that we simply will not be able to manage without intolerable cost and consequences.”

In order to avoid this chilling future, we have to first imagine it. In an unprecedented Internet event, ABC is inviting people from around the world to bring the future to life.

ABC News

It’s unprecedented! Well, not really.

I would like to direct you to the June 24, 1974 edition of TIME magazine.

In Africa, drought continues for the sixth consecutive year, adding terribly to the toll of famine victims. During 1972 record rains in parts of the U.S., Pakistan and Japan caused some of the worst flooding in centuries. In Canada’s wheat belt, a particularly chilly and rainy spring has delayed planting and may well bring a disappointingly small harvest. Rainy Britain, on the other hand, has suffered from uncharacteristic dry spells the past few springs. A series of unusually cold winters has gripped the American Far West, while New England and northern Europe have recently experienced the mildest winters within anyone’s recollection.

As they review the bizarre and unpredictable weather pattern of the past several years, a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval. However widely the weather varies from place to place and time to time, when meteorologists take an average of temperatures around the globe they find that the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing. Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age.

Telltale signs are everywhere —from the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland to the southward migration of a warmth-loving creature like the armadillo from the Midwest.Since the 1940s the mean global temperature has dropped about 2.7° F. Although that figure is at best an estimate, it is supported by other convincing data. When Climatologist George J. Kukla of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory and his wife Helena analyzed satellite weather data for the Northern Hemisphere, they found that the area of the ice and snow cover had suddenly increased by 12% in 1971 and the increase has persisted ever since. Areas of Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, for example, were once totally free of any snow in summer; now they are covered year round.

Sound familiar? According to those quacks I should be living in an igloo right now here in the southern U.S. Of course this isn’t the first time that “mainstream” accepted theory has been wrong. Remember when Galileo brought forth the idea of heliocentrism? It didn’t go over real well.

I mean, every scientist and scholar knew that Earth was the center of the universe and sun revolved around us. How dare Galileo not accept the truth!These so called scientists and the leftist media continuing to perpetuate a theory as absolute truth is dishonest and shocking at the lengths they will go to in order to jam this crap down our throats. The accusations of those supporting this idea in attempts to link it to normal occurrences are getting more pathetic and desperate as time goes on. For instance, the Secretary General of the U.N. claimed the slaughters going on in Sudan were due to global warming. They claimed that Katrina was the result of global warming and every year since have predicted even worse hurricanes than that. The last three hurricane seasons since have been about as wild as a Pennsylvanian Quaker.As shown, the scientific community is not all seeing. Hell, they can’t even tell me what the weather is going to be like two days from now and be accurate half the time. I’m supposed to believe them on climate change? And what of these 31,000 scientists who recently signed a petition disputing man made climate change? Are they to just be ignored?

Besides, if these guys at ABC were half as smart as they think they are, they would know that we don’t even have until the 22nd Century. The world is going to end on December 21, 2012. Mayan scientists said so, after all. Duh!

I couldn’t believe that this was an actual story on Foxnews.com. But here it is:

Political activists planning protest rallies at the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver have their stomachs in knots over a rumor about a crowd control weapon - known as the “crap cannon” - that might be unleashed against them.

Also called “Brown Note,” it is believed to be an infrasound frequency that debilitates a person by making them defecate involuntarily.

Mark Cohen, co-founder of Re-create 68, an alliance of local activists working for the protection of first amendment rights, said he believes this could be deployed at the convention in August to subdue crowds.

“We know this weapon and weapons like it have been used at other large protests before,” he said.

Cohen, who described Brown Note as a “sonic weapon used to disrupt people’s equilibrium,” cited eyewitness accounts of its use during free-trade agreement protests in Miami in 2003.

To say that these people are complete and utter morons is a serious understatement. Does no one watch South Park anymore?

More: Peach Pundit, Hot Air.

That’s all I have to say about that.

A morning perusal of the Drudge Report is making me want a double scotch at 9 AM.

Floods are devastating the midwest, but the citizens are helping one another to see it through. In no way does that remind anyone of the citizens’ response to Katrina in the Democrat paradise of New Orleans. What wonders a Nanny state does for people…

Aspen ski resorts will reopen in June. I suppose I need to drive my SUV a bit more. In a related story, it seems as though scientists who study the sun have no idea what it will do next. Will it get hotter…cooler? I guess the sun didn’t get the memo that there is a consensus within the UN.

NBC news guy Brian Williams tells some graduates that the country is broken and they must fix it. Hey Brian, you are part of the problem. Go back to Obama HQ and talk about “change”. It’s not as if you are an “actual” news guy anymore.

Oil is back up today, the Saudi’s say they are pumping more, Congress is blaming the big 5 integrated oil companies and debating a bill on a “windfall” profits tax. The bill would let Congress determine what a “reasonable” profit is, and everything over gets 25% stolen by the Congress to buy votes with. If we could ever remove members of Congress for not being “reasonable”, Capitol Hill would be empty. It is amazing that the People have not burned down the Capitol.

At 4 bucks a gallon, $1.24 goes to the Congress to waste, while $0.52 goes to the company that refined it. The balance is the cost of the crude oil (deposited directly in the Saudi Treasury) and a few pennies for the guy running the gas station. Can someone tell me why the oil companies aren’t the ones trying to obliterate Congress?

A nice nugget in the story:

The American Petroleum Institute, which represents the major oil companies, has been reminding lawmakers that in the early 1980s, when the government imposed windfall profits taxes on oil companies domestic oil production dropped and imports increased.

But Democrats reject the comparison.

In other “Politicians Are Idiots” news: John McCain thinks that the government should be involved in CEO pay decisions within private companies. If he keeps this up, I’ll be voting for the monkey fisherman.

The Israeli soldier that was captured two years ago is still pleading for his release and indicating that he is not doing well. This is the guy that triggered the conflict about two years ago. The Israelis would have taken care of the problem if Condi and W hadn’t stepped in to screw up yet another thing. Amazingly enough, they will be back at war soon.

On the bright side, American science can still be beautiful. The Polar Mars Lander is carrying out some remarkable experiments and checking out all that Mars’ north pole has to offer. I suggest this, this and really this.

Per a new poll from the National Center for Public Policy Research:

Washington, DC - Most Americans - including those in the Farm Belt - want Congress to reduce or eliminate the corn ethanol mandate, according to a new poll released today by the National Center for Public Policy Research.

The poll, published by the Public Opinion and Policy Center of the National Center for Public Policy Research, found that 41% of Americans want Congress to repeal the corn ethanol mandate entirely, while 35% want Congress to repeal the law it passed last December to double it. Just 6% want the mandate to increase as planned while 5% want it to be even expanded further.

The reality is that Americans know that ethanol subsidies raise grocery prices and make it more difficult for people to pay for food. Thankfully, we have a presidential nominee who gets it, running against one of the biggest proponents of farm subsidies in Washington in Barack Obama.

If only the sellout Republicans in congress hadn’t supported the latest Farm Bill en masse, this could have been a fantastic issue for the party to use across the board in elections this fall.

Today is the primary down here in South Carolina. A mini revolution has been brewing with the Republican Party to clean house and get rid of some of these tax and spend RINOs that Columbia is infested with. I am working at a poll today in Fort Mill for Kyle Boyd who is running for State Representative in the attempt to oust the incumbent State Rep, Carl Gullick. Gullick is a filthy, filthy RINO who recently wrote a bill to raise taxes so that the state could expand the Socialist welfare state by putting more kids on Medicaid. Fortunately, the Governor vetoed the bill and it was sustained. No Democrat has filed for this seat so if Kyle wins today, he wins the whole thing.

There are a few other races that the Governor himself has weighed in on and endorsed the challengers over the incumbents. Hopefully, we’ll see some success tonight when the returns come in. Lindsey Grahamnesty is also facing a primary challenge today, but Lindsey will likely pull through.

Thanks to CO2!

Day by day, the envirowhackos’ and global warming alarmists screeching just gets more and more ridiculous.

The practice of decorating legislation with billions of dollars in pet projects and federal contracts is thriving on Capitol Hill - despite public outrage that helped flip control of Congress two years ago.The Wilmington Star

Of course it’s still thriving. It doesn’t matter which party Congress flips to if it’s still the same people there plundering our tax dollars to buy votes from lobbyists and special interest groups for their reelection campaigns.

A new earmarking cycle begins this month as the House and Senate Appropriations committees reveal spending bills for the 2009 budget year that starts Oct. 1. The House committee alone has 23,438 earmark requests before it, so many that its Web site for accepting requests froze up, and the deadline for receiving them had to be extended. Lawmakers are unlikely to obtain many earmarks in time for Election Day, but they may tout them in hundreds of press releases anyway.

Defenders of earmarks note that the Founding Fathers explicitly gave Congress control over spending. And earmarks make up less than 2 percent of the annual spending bills passed each year.

Oh, yeah. I’m sure Washington and Jefferson were all about this process when they were risking their lives and personal fortunes on creating an independent nation based on expanded liberty and minimal government. As for that two percent, that could go a long way to helping pay down the national debt.

That’s the verdict from my one man jury after seeing the result of the U.S. Senate Republican Primary. This is our U.S. Senate candidate to take on Max Baucus this year.

He has a bit of an eyebrow problem and he’s 85 years old and he beat out four other candidates in the primary, not barely squeaking by, but by a 13 point margin. His name is Bob Kelleher. He has run for Governor in Montana as a Democrat. He has run for the U.S. Senate in Montana as the Green Party candidate. This year I guess it was his turn to be a Republican. He has a long resume of political failure and some ideas that are pretty far out there:

Since 1964, Kelleher, an 85-year-old Butte attorney, has run for public office 15 times, losing all but once. His single victory came in 1971, when he was elected as a delegate to the 1972 convention that rewrote Montana’s state constitution.

Kelleher’s lone rallying whoop then - as now - probably has something to do with his extended losing streak: Kelleher wants to do away with America’s unique system of representative democracy and replace it with a parliament.

Although Kelleher has launched most of his campaigns as a Democrat and dabbled briefly as a Green Party candidate in the early 2000s, this election marks the second time Kelleher has run as a Republican.

His parliamentary pitch, however, is unchanged.

“My position has always been the same,” Kelleher said in a recent interview. “Because 26 countries have a higher standard of living than we do, including health care, we should copy their form of government, which is a parliamentary system.”

The Billings Gazette

Kelleher reminds me of this kook I knew back in Pittsburgh that has run for just about every state and local office imaginable and manages to get his name on some ballot every year. Alex, Mark, and Dave know exactly who I am talking about.

I can’t believe that this is the current state of the Montana Republican Party. What the hell were these people thinking when they went out and voted? Honestly, I doubt anybody was going to beat Baucus anyway, but even a sacrificial lamb has some credibility and they don’t generally have one foot in the grave on their way to Election Day. Instead the Montana GOP took a lesson from the French and raised the white flag before the battle even began.

Remember last summer when the American people manage to shut down the switchboards on Capitol Hill by flooding them with phone calls to stop the George Bush shamnesty?  Remember how the powers that be in the GOP kept telling us we were wrong and that if we legalize the illegals under a Republican president they’ll vote Republican?  Of course, we knew they were wrong.

A new Gallup poll just came out showing Barack Obama getting 62% of the Latino vote while McCain garners only 29%.  Now isn’t that interesting?  Aside from Bush, who other than John McCain was the biggest face in this push for legalization?  According to the logic of Bush, McCain, and Martinez and others shouldn’t this poll be the other way around?  McCain was out there lobbying hard for them after all.