Monday, March 14, 2011
Consumer Confidence Reaches New Lows in Poll
The economic recovery of our nation sputters on. With starts and stops and conflicting signs, recent polling shows that consumer confidence is sliding again.
The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, rose three points on Sunday. At 78.0. the Index is still 15 points below the high-water mark for this year. The Consumer Index is down five points from a week ago and 12 points from a month ago.
The budget process drama continues in Congress. Another short term continuing resolution is begin written, this one a three week operating budget. Though it was the Democratically controlled Congress of 2010 that failed to produce a budget - for the first time since the 1970's - the President and the Democrats would like for you to think it is the duty of the GOP to produce a budget.
Barack Obama employs a governing pattern of allowing - insisting - that the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill do his dirty work. He tries to remain above the fray as Democrats produce bad legislation (like Obamacare) and then he signs it into law as the will of the people. He is trying desperately to do the same for the federal budget.
There is a shortage of Democrats with actual business experience in Congress. Unfortunately, those such as Senator Chuck Schumer (lawyer and career politician) to put forth the wisdom of big government programs as the solution to huge budget shortfalls. On a Sunday talk show, Schumer pointed his finger at House Republicans for insisting on budget cuts that Democrats would like to hang on to. He even used examples of programs that do cancer research and food safety regulations as economy strengtheners. Democrats do not fathom that a bloated federal government must be whittled down to produce some fiscal sanity. Redundant agencies and bulging payrolls on the backs of the taxpayer should be first on the cutting block.
Senator McConnell wrote an op-ed and spoke to the different approaches of the Republicans versus the Democrats on reining in the federal budget.
As a matter of political ideology, Democrats in Washington and in statehouses across the country are committed to defending every dime that government spends. That’s why even when the president or Democrat leaders pay lip service to the need for cuts, they usually follow it up with an assertion that the money could be better spent elsewhere — not by the American people, but by them.
Republicans, on the other hand, are committed to reining in not only wasteful spending, including the kind outlined in a recent bombshell report on government waste commissioned by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. But also by reforming out-of-control entitlement spending that makes the kind of day-to-day spending Congress is currently arguing about look trivial by comparison.
McConnell addresses the lack of leadership from Barack Obama:
So the recent debate in Washington over discretionary spending is just a dress rehearsal for the big stuff — and so far Democrats are showing they’re just not up to it. They either lack the stomach or the courage, and President Obama, as members of his own party point out, is nowhere to be found on the issue.
It’s no secret that the best time to solve the kind of fiscal crisis we face is when the two parties share power in Washington. Everyone knows that we either address these problems together, or they won’t be addressed at all.
And everyone knows that the president of the United States has to take the lead. Nothing becomes law without his signature, and no one party in Congress will move ahead without an understanding that the other side will not use it against them politically.
That’s precisely why presidents from both parties have chosen to address the big issues during periods of divided government in the past. That’s why many of us are calling on the president to do the same for the good of the country today.
The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, rose three points on Sunday. At 78.0. the Index is still 15 points below the high-water mark for this year. The Consumer Index is down five points from a week ago and 12 points from a month ago.
The budget process drama continues in Congress. Another short term continuing resolution is begin written, this one a three week operating budget. Though it was the Democratically controlled Congress of 2010 that failed to produce a budget - for the first time since the 1970's - the President and the Democrats would like for you to think it is the duty of the GOP to produce a budget.
Barack Obama employs a governing pattern of allowing - insisting - that the Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill do his dirty work. He tries to remain above the fray as Democrats produce bad legislation (like Obamacare) and then he signs it into law as the will of the people. He is trying desperately to do the same for the federal budget.
There is a shortage of Democrats with actual business experience in Congress. Unfortunately, those such as Senator Chuck Schumer (lawyer and career politician) to put forth the wisdom of big government programs as the solution to huge budget shortfalls. On a Sunday talk show, Schumer pointed his finger at House Republicans for insisting on budget cuts that Democrats would like to hang on to. He even used examples of programs that do cancer research and food safety regulations as economy strengtheners. Democrats do not fathom that a bloated federal government must be whittled down to produce some fiscal sanity. Redundant agencies and bulging payrolls on the backs of the taxpayer should be first on the cutting block.
Senator McConnell wrote an op-ed and spoke to the different approaches of the Republicans versus the Democrats on reining in the federal budget.
As a matter of political ideology, Democrats in Washington and in statehouses across the country are committed to defending every dime that government spends. That’s why even when the president or Democrat leaders pay lip service to the need for cuts, they usually follow it up with an assertion that the money could be better spent elsewhere — not by the American people, but by them.
Republicans, on the other hand, are committed to reining in not only wasteful spending, including the kind outlined in a recent bombshell report on government waste commissioned by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla. But also by reforming out-of-control entitlement spending that makes the kind of day-to-day spending Congress is currently arguing about look trivial by comparison.
McConnell addresses the lack of leadership from Barack Obama:
So the recent debate in Washington over discretionary spending is just a dress rehearsal for the big stuff — and so far Democrats are showing they’re just not up to it. They either lack the stomach or the courage, and President Obama, as members of his own party point out, is nowhere to be found on the issue.
It’s no secret that the best time to solve the kind of fiscal crisis we face is when the two parties share power in Washington. Everyone knows that we either address these problems together, or they won’t be addressed at all.
And everyone knows that the president of the United States has to take the lead. Nothing becomes law without his signature, and no one party in Congress will move ahead without an understanding that the other side will not use it against them politically.
That’s precisely why presidents from both parties have chosen to address the big issues during periods of divided government in the past. That’s why many of us are calling on the president to do the same for the good of the country today.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Clinton Calls Obama Energy Policy "Ridiculous"
The Governor of Alaska recently penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal expressing some of the frustration felt by those of us questioning the motives of the Obama administration's mule-headed opposition to domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.
By delaying leasing and permitting for exploration and development, and by locking up lands without congressional approval or authority, these agencies have locked down domestic oil with no responsibility for the consequences. The rest of us feel them: increased reliance on Middle East oil and lost economic opportunity.
As we watch fuel prices rise, inflation take hold, and government debt reach record levels, Alaskans and those in other oil-producing states are frustrated. We wonder why the Obama administration is openly hostile to a sector of our economy that has created hundreds of thousands of jobs, kept the country on an even keel even during the recession, and produces a global commodity we depend on every day.
As residents of our individual states, we desire responsible resource development. We don't want to live and work in a spoiled nest. We also want to create jobs that contribute to our economic recovery. Why should we spend billions overseas for foreign oil when we could spend those dollars here at home?
He explains the very real consequences reaped by unnecessary layers of red tape and new programs created when those in place should be used and enforced.
Alaskans have significant limits placed on us by the federal government, but we are hardly alone. In Wyoming, it takes years to get permits for oil-related development. Republican Gov. Matt Mead has asked the Interior Department to rescind its "Wild Lands" policy, which removes a state's discretion for land use. Last year Gov. Bobby Jindal (R., La.) pleaded with the Obama administration to end the moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which affects 33 permitted exploratory wells. To date, only one new well has been approved.
We remember campaign speeches of then presidential candidate Obama who waxed poetically about "green" energy initiatives that will be decades in the making, in the real world. He frequently voiced approval of rising energy prices at the pump and for operating a home because he sees that as a vehicle to persuade Americans of the necessity of anything but fossil fuels used for our energy needs.
But paying $4 at the pump is not really an emergency – based on Mr. Obama’s moves to wean Americans off oil.
His budget proposal last month, for instance, would repeal $46.2 billion in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry over the next decade – a move designed to raise oil prices in order to boost investment in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
Obama is also reluctant to expand offshore oil drilling. And he’s also trying to boost the sales of electric cars – something that won’t be easy if gasoline prices go down – as part of a broad government effort to reduce carbon emissions and boost energy security.
Even Bill Clinton is weighing in on the "ridiculous" Obama energy non-policy:
Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that delays in offshore oil and gas drilling permits are “ridiculous” at a time when the economy is still rebuilding, according to attendees at the IHS CERAWeek conference.
Clinton spoke on a panel with former President George W. Bush that was closed to the media. Video of their moderated talk with IHS CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin was also prohibited.
But according to multiple people in the room, Clinton, surprisingly, agreed with Bush on many oil and gas issues, including criticism of delays in permitting offshore since last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill.
So, as all this comes to light, and the fact that recent polling shows that Independent voters' support of President Obama has dropped by a solid 10 points in a month, mostly over frustration of rising energy costs with no end in sight, guess what the consummate Chicago politician did? Why, his Interior Department Secretary granted a second deep water drilling permit.
Don't get too excited, though. The permit is like the one issued to Noble Energy recently. It is for work already underway and also a permit held up since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April 2010.
Even so, political attacks on Interior's slowness to approve new permits for deepwater drilling have hardly abated, even after DOI's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement issued a deepwater permit to Noble Energy on Feb. 28.
Like the Noble Energy permit, BHP Billiton's permit is for activity that was under way before the April 20 blowout of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
And like Noble Energy’s, it complies with all new Interior offshore drilling regulations and uses a well-capping mechanism developed by Helix Energy Solutions Group, a BOEMRE official said. Helix and the Marine Well Containment Co., a coalition of major Gulf oil producers led by Exxon Mobil, are developing competing containment systems to meet more stringent Interior guidelines for preventing and containing oil spills.
Ridiculous, indeed.
By delaying leasing and permitting for exploration and development, and by locking up lands without congressional approval or authority, these agencies have locked down domestic oil with no responsibility for the consequences. The rest of us feel them: increased reliance on Middle East oil and lost economic opportunity.
As we watch fuel prices rise, inflation take hold, and government debt reach record levels, Alaskans and those in other oil-producing states are frustrated. We wonder why the Obama administration is openly hostile to a sector of our economy that has created hundreds of thousands of jobs, kept the country on an even keel even during the recession, and produces a global commodity we depend on every day.
As residents of our individual states, we desire responsible resource development. We don't want to live and work in a spoiled nest. We also want to create jobs that contribute to our economic recovery. Why should we spend billions overseas for foreign oil when we could spend those dollars here at home?
He explains the very real consequences reaped by unnecessary layers of red tape and new programs created when those in place should be used and enforced.
Alaskans have significant limits placed on us by the federal government, but we are hardly alone. In Wyoming, it takes years to get permits for oil-related development. Republican Gov. Matt Mead has asked the Interior Department to rescind its "Wild Lands" policy, which removes a state's discretion for land use. Last year Gov. Bobby Jindal (R., La.) pleaded with the Obama administration to end the moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, which affects 33 permitted exploratory wells. To date, only one new well has been approved.
We remember campaign speeches of then presidential candidate Obama who waxed poetically about "green" energy initiatives that will be decades in the making, in the real world. He frequently voiced approval of rising energy prices at the pump and for operating a home because he sees that as a vehicle to persuade Americans of the necessity of anything but fossil fuels used for our energy needs.
But paying $4 at the pump is not really an emergency – based on Mr. Obama’s moves to wean Americans off oil.
His budget proposal last month, for instance, would repeal $46.2 billion in subsidies for the fossil fuel industry over the next decade – a move designed to raise oil prices in order to boost investment in renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.
Obama is also reluctant to expand offshore oil drilling. And he’s also trying to boost the sales of electric cars – something that won’t be easy if gasoline prices go down – as part of a broad government effort to reduce carbon emissions and boost energy security.
Even Bill Clinton is weighing in on the "ridiculous" Obama energy non-policy:
Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that delays in offshore oil and gas drilling permits are “ridiculous” at a time when the economy is still rebuilding, according to attendees at the IHS CERAWeek conference.
Clinton spoke on a panel with former President George W. Bush that was closed to the media. Video of their moderated talk with IHS CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin was also prohibited.
But according to multiple people in the room, Clinton, surprisingly, agreed with Bush on many oil and gas issues, including criticism of delays in permitting offshore since last year’s Gulf of Mexico spill.
So, as all this comes to light, and the fact that recent polling shows that Independent voters' support of President Obama has dropped by a solid 10 points in a month, mostly over frustration of rising energy costs with no end in sight, guess what the consummate Chicago politician did? Why, his Interior Department Secretary granted a second deep water drilling permit.
Don't get too excited, though. The permit is like the one issued to Noble Energy recently. It is for work already underway and also a permit held up since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April 2010.
Even so, political attacks on Interior's slowness to approve new permits for deepwater drilling have hardly abated, even after DOI's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement issued a deepwater permit to Noble Energy on Feb. 28.
Like the Noble Energy permit, BHP Billiton's permit is for activity that was under way before the April 20 blowout of the Deepwater Horizon rig.
And like Noble Energy’s, it complies with all new Interior offshore drilling regulations and uses a well-capping mechanism developed by Helix Energy Solutions Group, a BOEMRE official said. Helix and the Marine Well Containment Co., a coalition of major Gulf oil producers led by Exxon Mobil, are developing competing containment systems to meet more stringent Interior guidelines for preventing and containing oil spills.
Ridiculous, indeed.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Republican Party of Texas on Education Funding
From a press release issued by the Republican Party of Texas Friday:
Today, the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) announced that it has launched a radio spot to fight back against Democratic misinformation and partisanship in the budgeting process as it pertains to the future of the Texas education system. The RPT's commercial is currently running in the Corpus Christi market and will be expanded to other Texas markets as needed.
In the announcement, RPT Chairman Steve Munisteri stated, "This ad campaign is designed to highlight the stark difference in philosophy between the Republican and Democratic parties as our Texas Legislature works through our biennial budget process. The RPT has launched this radio buy to counter the spread of misinformation from House Democratic leaders and to stand up for our hard-working Republican legislators who are doing the heavy lifting on protecting the future of our schoolchildren's education. While Republican legislators are focusing on protecting the classroom, Democrats are offering no solutions other than scare tactics and sharp increases in taxes that will stifle families and the Texas economy. The RPT will not let their attacks go unchallenged."
Listen to the ad:
Today, the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) announced that it has launched a radio spot to fight back against Democratic misinformation and partisanship in the budgeting process as it pertains to the future of the Texas education system. The RPT's commercial is currently running in the Corpus Christi market and will be expanded to other Texas markets as needed.
In the announcement, RPT Chairman Steve Munisteri stated, "This ad campaign is designed to highlight the stark difference in philosophy between the Republican and Democratic parties as our Texas Legislature works through our biennial budget process. The RPT has launched this radio buy to counter the spread of misinformation from House Democratic leaders and to stand up for our hard-working Republican legislators who are doing the heavy lifting on protecting the future of our schoolchildren's education. While Republican legislators are focusing on protecting the classroom, Democrats are offering no solutions other than scare tactics and sharp increases in taxes that will stifle families and the Texas economy. The RPT will not let their attacks go unchallenged."
Listen to the ad:
Friday, March 11, 2011
Obama Evasive on Strategic Petroleum Reserve Release
In 1973, President Nixon signed the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act. The goal: free the U.S. of all oil imports by 1980. Here is the reason for such action: The Arab oil-producing states impose an embargo against nations supporting Israel in the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, also known as the October War or Yom Kippur War.
The effect upon petroleum-consuming countries was immediate, profound and long-lasting. The oil embargo, and the cut in production that accompanied it, doubled the price of crude and reduced overall supply. That forced gas prices to skyrocket at the pump and led to rationing and the imposition of price controls in the United States and Western Europe. Long gas station lines and frustrated motorists became iconic images of the early 1970s.
Energy independence. A worthy goal, right?
Friday President Obama held a press conference and was asked about releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As to be predicted, he said he could do so, if he decided to do so, in a matter of days, not in a matter of weeks. This was to be predicted because this administration has no intention of forming a national energy policy that would utilize our nation's abundance of crude oil and natural gas.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve's mission is described as this:
If hurricanes or other unexpected physical conditions disrupt either crude oil imports or domestic production, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is ready to make replacement oil available to the extent approved by the President and/or the Secretary of Energy.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was formed to combat a shut down in supply due to natural disasters - like hurricanes - to keep our energy needs met. The rise in the price of gas at the pump has encouraged some Democrats to call on President Obama to release some of the crude oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is reactionary and unnecessary. The rise in price at the pump is not due to a shortage in supply. The rise in price is due to uncertainty brought on by the unrest in the middle east. This is not the time to release our reserves. Plus, don't forget that this President and his administration do not believe in supporting domestic offshore oil and gas drilling. The reserves released would have to be replaced.
The reserves are located along the Gulf coast so it is feasible that supplies could be used if oil refineries, also located along the Gulf coast, were interrupted due to natural disasters.
Congress authorized the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the Energy Policy and
Conservation Act (EPCA, P.L. 94-163) to help prevent a repetition of the economic
dislocation caused by the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. The program is managed by the
Department of Energy (DOE). Physically, the SPR comprises five underground storage
facilities, hollowed out from naturally occurring salt domes in Texas and Louisiana. The SPR, with a capacity of 727 million barrels, currently holds roughly 692 million barrels.
Obama would not, when asked by a reporter during his press conference Friday, specify the criteria he is considering as he makes a decision to release crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He does not inspire confidence in his ability to make sound energy policy and has little respect as a leader within the gas and oil industry. He is a man fond of reminding an audience of reporters that he is the President of the United States yet unable to articulate a true message of competence.
A decade ago, as former President George W. Bush and his administration put forth energy exploration and production strategy before the Congress, he was dismissed as beholden to the industry and an enemy of the environment. It was nonsense then and it shows the folly of that logic now. We were told by naysayers it would be a decade before we would reap the rewards of expanded drilling and production. Well, a decade went by and look where we are now. It was completely predictable.
The effect upon petroleum-consuming countries was immediate, profound and long-lasting. The oil embargo, and the cut in production that accompanied it, doubled the price of crude and reduced overall supply. That forced gas prices to skyrocket at the pump and led to rationing and the imposition of price controls in the United States and Western Europe. Long gas station lines and frustrated motorists became iconic images of the early 1970s.
Energy independence. A worthy goal, right?
Friday President Obama held a press conference and was asked about releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. As to be predicted, he said he could do so, if he decided to do so, in a matter of days, not in a matter of weeks. This was to be predicted because this administration has no intention of forming a national energy policy that would utilize our nation's abundance of crude oil and natural gas.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve's mission is described as this:
If hurricanes or other unexpected physical conditions disrupt either crude oil imports or domestic production, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) is ready to make replacement oil available to the extent approved by the President and/or the Secretary of Energy.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was formed to combat a shut down in supply due to natural disasters - like hurricanes - to keep our energy needs met. The rise in the price of gas at the pump has encouraged some Democrats to call on President Obama to release some of the crude oil stored in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This is reactionary and unnecessary. The rise in price at the pump is not due to a shortage in supply. The rise in price is due to uncertainty brought on by the unrest in the middle east. This is not the time to release our reserves. Plus, don't forget that this President and his administration do not believe in supporting domestic offshore oil and gas drilling. The reserves released would have to be replaced.
The reserves are located along the Gulf coast so it is feasible that supplies could be used if oil refineries, also located along the Gulf coast, were interrupted due to natural disasters.
Congress authorized the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in the Energy Policy and
Conservation Act (EPCA, P.L. 94-163) to help prevent a repetition of the economic
dislocation caused by the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo. The program is managed by the
Department of Energy (DOE). Physically, the SPR comprises five underground storage
facilities, hollowed out from naturally occurring salt domes in Texas and Louisiana. The SPR, with a capacity of 727 million barrels, currently holds roughly 692 million barrels.
Obama would not, when asked by a reporter during his press conference Friday, specify the criteria he is considering as he makes a decision to release crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. He does not inspire confidence in his ability to make sound energy policy and has little respect as a leader within the gas and oil industry. He is a man fond of reminding an audience of reporters that he is the President of the United States yet unable to articulate a true message of competence.
A decade ago, as former President George W. Bush and his administration put forth energy exploration and production strategy before the Congress, he was dismissed as beholden to the industry and an enemy of the environment. It was nonsense then and it shows the folly of that logic now. We were told by naysayers it would be a decade before we would reap the rewards of expanded drilling and production. Well, a decade went by and look where we are now. It was completely predictable.
Peter King Delves Into the Radicalization of Muslims
It was an interesting hearing, the hearing called by Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King. The mission of the hearing was to shine a spotlight on the growing problem of some in the Muslim population exploiting young men as they indoctrinate them into a radical form of the Muslim religion. To hear the far left critics, you would think it was the reincarnation of the McCarthy hearings of the 1950's. This comparison is ridiculous at best; deliberate cynicism at worst.
To deny radicalization is to deny reality. It is a small minority of Muslims, to be sure, but it exists. What are liberals afraid of in bringing forward a national conversation that threatens our national security? Once again political correctness is deadly serious.
Senator Joe Lieberman held fourteen hearings on radical Islam as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the Senate. Rep Jane Harmon, on the House side, held six hearings. Where was the outrage from Democrats during those years and those hearings?
I heard Rep Bennie Thompson and Rep Sheila Jackson Lee claim that the hearing would be fodder for negative publicity against our soldiers. I don't recall, however, these two elected officials saying the same as the far left endorsed a full page political ad in The New York Times calling General David Petraeus "General Betrayus".
I heard indignant Democrats call for hearings on the KKK and on "radical" Catholics in this country. Okay, bring it, too. If there is evidence of an increase of harm to our country from any group, it must be looked into by a federal committee. That is the job of those charged with such oversight.
Rep Keith Ellison told a story of a young man killed in the 9/11/01 attacks in Manhattan and broke down in sobs as he told the tale.
The Minnesota Democrat ended his testimony with the story of 23-year-old Mohammad Salman Hamdani, a Pakistani-born American who was killed in New York on Sept. 11, 2001 while trying to save victims from the World Trade Center buildings. Before his remains were found near the north tower, rumor spread that he had been involved in the killings.
“Mr. Hamdani bravely sacrificed his life to try to help others on 9/11. After the tragedy some people tried to smear his character, solely because of his Islamic faith,” Ellison said while straining to hold back tears and his voice cracking. “Some people spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers because he was a Muslim. But it was only when his remains were identified that these lies were exposed. ”
And, as it turns out, the tale was a work of fiction. The story told by Ellison and the real facts are HERE
If the story was a deliberate lie on the part of Ellison, just a bit of testimony theatre, then he should be run out of office. It is quite disgraceful the lengths that some will go to in order to capture a camera or grab a headline in the name of
a political career.
For all the hysterics, no one accused the entire Muslim population in America of plotting the demise of our country. Everyone acknowledged that there are bad apples in every barrel. It is a national conversation long overdue.
To deny radicalization is to deny reality. It is a small minority of Muslims, to be sure, but it exists. What are liberals afraid of in bringing forward a national conversation that threatens our national security? Once again political correctness is deadly serious.
Senator Joe Lieberman held fourteen hearings on radical Islam as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the Senate. Rep Jane Harmon, on the House side, held six hearings. Where was the outrage from Democrats during those years and those hearings?
I heard Rep Bennie Thompson and Rep Sheila Jackson Lee claim that the hearing would be fodder for negative publicity against our soldiers. I don't recall, however, these two elected officials saying the same as the far left endorsed a full page political ad in The New York Times calling General David Petraeus "General Betrayus".
I heard indignant Democrats call for hearings on the KKK and on "radical" Catholics in this country. Okay, bring it, too. If there is evidence of an increase of harm to our country from any group, it must be looked into by a federal committee. That is the job of those charged with such oversight.
Rep Keith Ellison told a story of a young man killed in the 9/11/01 attacks in Manhattan and broke down in sobs as he told the tale.
The Minnesota Democrat ended his testimony with the story of 23-year-old Mohammad Salman Hamdani, a Pakistani-born American who was killed in New York on Sept. 11, 2001 while trying to save victims from the World Trade Center buildings. Before his remains were found near the north tower, rumor spread that he had been involved in the killings.
“Mr. Hamdani bravely sacrificed his life to try to help others on 9/11. After the tragedy some people tried to smear his character, solely because of his Islamic faith,” Ellison said while straining to hold back tears and his voice cracking. “Some people spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers because he was a Muslim. But it was only when his remains were identified that these lies were exposed. ”
And, as it turns out, the tale was a work of fiction. The story told by Ellison and the real facts are HERE
If the story was a deliberate lie on the part of Ellison, just a bit of testimony theatre, then he should be run out of office. It is quite disgraceful the lengths that some will go to in order to capture a camera or grab a headline in the name of
a political career.
For all the hysterics, no one accused the entire Muslim population in America of plotting the demise of our country. Everyone acknowledged that there are bad apples in every barrel. It is a national conversation long overdue.
House GOP Launch American Energy Initiative
The new back and forth going on in Congress is between GOP and Democratic claims on our nation's level of energy production. From the White House down, Democrats claim that we are producing the most energy since the last high mark in 2003.
The New York Times writes:
With gas prices soaring, Congressional Republicans are clamoring for more domestic energy production, echoing the theme of an impromptu 2008 protest when Republicans occupied the floor of the House during the summer recess to demand that Congress lift a ban on drilling off of much of the nation’s coastline.
At a press conference on Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner said Republicans were moving ahead with an umbrella initiative that would seek to spur more domestic energy production and end federal policies he said were contributing to rising gas costs.
“Through the American Energy Initiative, we will work to help lower gas prices, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create new jobs,” Mr. Boehner said.
From Speaker Boehner's website:
Obama Administration policies have caused domestic oil production to drop by 16 percent versus projected levels, and future projections show continued decreases in domestic production and more foreign imports.
The House Natural Resources Committee explains:
According to the House Natural Resources Committee, in 2007 the Energy Information Agency projected that total American oil production in 2010 would be 850 million barrels. After President Obama’s energy freeze – including canceled leases and a de facto moratorium on energy exploration – the actual number is 714 million barrels – or 16 percent less than had been projected before President Obama took office. Less American energy production means higher energy prices. Learn more here.
The Democrats who run Washington have been very clear about their desire to see energy prices rise. President Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar famously said he wouldn’t support drilling for new energy even if gas prices reached $10 per gallon. His Energy Secretary Steven Chu once told the Wall Street Journal “we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe” (where today a gallon of gas costs almost $8). The president himself once admitted his national energy tax would cause utility rates to “necessarily skyrocket.”
Speaker Boehner and House Republicans launched the American Energy Initiative. House Natural Resources Committee chairman Hastings put out this statement on the new initiative:
“One of the most effective ways Congress can create American jobs and lower gasoline prices is to expand production of our own American resources. Unfortunately, due to the Obama Administration, we are years behind where we should be. President Obama has repeatedly taken action to lock-up our American energy resources. This is costing American jobs, enabling energy prices to rise and jeopardizing our national security.
“The Natural Resources Committee is focused on how to responsibly develop our resources to meet our Nation’s energy needs and create jobs. The Committee has scheduled a series of hearings on this issue that will focus on harnessing our American resources to address rising gasoline prices, the impacts of the President’s de facto moratorium in the Gulf, and onshore energy production.
“As part of the American Energy Initiative, we’re also working on an array of specific proposals within our Committee’s jurisdiction. The initial bills will be introduced very, very soon.”
Energy production is down, despite what the administration is trying to claim. The continued strategy of this administration is to squelch domestic offshore oil and gas drilling. This strategy continues to kill jobs, close down small businesses along the Gulf coast and create uncertainty within the business community on hiring projections. The unrest in the middle east continues to wreck havoc on the stock market. Gas prices are rising at the pump and goods purchased reflect rising energy prices, including groceries. Not all Americans are affected by stock market losses or Wall Street unemployment but all Americans do need to purchase groceries and have the necessity of transportation.
The White House announced late Thursday evening that Obama will hold a press conference Friday and a topic is the rise in energy prices. Stay tuned.
The New York Times writes:
With gas prices soaring, Congressional Republicans are clamoring for more domestic energy production, echoing the theme of an impromptu 2008 protest when Republicans occupied the floor of the House during the summer recess to demand that Congress lift a ban on drilling off of much of the nation’s coastline.
At a press conference on Thursday, Speaker John A. Boehner said Republicans were moving ahead with an umbrella initiative that would seek to spur more domestic energy production and end federal policies he said were contributing to rising gas costs.
“Through the American Energy Initiative, we will work to help lower gas prices, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create new jobs,” Mr. Boehner said.
From Speaker Boehner's website:
Obama Administration policies have caused domestic oil production to drop by 16 percent versus projected levels, and future projections show continued decreases in domestic production and more foreign imports.
The House Natural Resources Committee explains:
According to the House Natural Resources Committee, in 2007 the Energy Information Agency projected that total American oil production in 2010 would be 850 million barrels. After President Obama’s energy freeze – including canceled leases and a de facto moratorium on energy exploration – the actual number is 714 million barrels – or 16 percent less than had been projected before President Obama took office. Less American energy production means higher energy prices. Learn more here.
The Democrats who run Washington have been very clear about their desire to see energy prices rise. President Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar famously said he wouldn’t support drilling for new energy even if gas prices reached $10 per gallon. His Energy Secretary Steven Chu once told the Wall Street Journal “we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe” (where today a gallon of gas costs almost $8). The president himself once admitted his national energy tax would cause utility rates to “necessarily skyrocket.”
Speaker Boehner and House Republicans launched the American Energy Initiative. House Natural Resources Committee chairman Hastings put out this statement on the new initiative:
“One of the most effective ways Congress can create American jobs and lower gasoline prices is to expand production of our own American resources. Unfortunately, due to the Obama Administration, we are years behind where we should be. President Obama has repeatedly taken action to lock-up our American energy resources. This is costing American jobs, enabling energy prices to rise and jeopardizing our national security.
“The Natural Resources Committee is focused on how to responsibly develop our resources to meet our Nation’s energy needs and create jobs. The Committee has scheduled a series of hearings on this issue that will focus on harnessing our American resources to address rising gasoline prices, the impacts of the President’s de facto moratorium in the Gulf, and onshore energy production.
“As part of the American Energy Initiative, we’re also working on an array of specific proposals within our Committee’s jurisdiction. The initial bills will be introduced very, very soon.”
Energy production is down, despite what the administration is trying to claim. The continued strategy of this administration is to squelch domestic offshore oil and gas drilling. This strategy continues to kill jobs, close down small businesses along the Gulf coast and create uncertainty within the business community on hiring projections. The unrest in the middle east continues to wreck havoc on the stock market. Gas prices are rising at the pump and goods purchased reflect rising energy prices, including groceries. Not all Americans are affected by stock market losses or Wall Street unemployment but all Americans do need to purchase groceries and have the necessity of transportation.
The White House announced late Thursday evening that Obama will hold a press conference Friday and a topic is the rise in energy prices. Stay tuned.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Liberal Hypocrisy Catches Up With NPR
Good riddance, Vivian Schiller and Ron Schiller (no relation). Vivian Schiller was NPR President and CEO. Ron Schiller was a Senior Vice-President and chief fundraiser for NPR. Both are now gone from NPR due to typical liberal out-of-touch thought put out into public discourse. Both caught on tape spouting off liberal diatribe that insults regular Americans. Both are no doubt surprised that they are looking for work.
You may remember back in October 2010 when Vivian Schiller launched into her explanation of the firing of reporter Juan Williams from the outfit. She told an audience during a q & a session after a speech that Williams should consult his psychiatrist. Williams dared to stray from the progressive talking points during his gig at Fox News, expressing his own personal opinions.
NPR's Ron Schiller launched into a political attack against Republicans at a fundraiser that was a trap set by conservative activists posing as wealthy Muslims wishing to contribute to NPR's coffers. He claimed that the GOP was all up in everyone's personal lives. Interesting. He called Tea Party activists racists and gun toting reactionaries. Wasn't it the far left Democrats determined to ram through a sweeping overhaul of the delivery of health care in our country, led by the far left ideologue in the White House, Barack Obama? What is more personal in one's life than health care?
Schiller, on federal funding, explained on tape: "it is clear that we would be better off in the long run without federal funding." I couldn't agree more. There are lots and lots of progressive urban dwellers on both coasts to support NPR. NPR can do it the old-fashioned way - get out there and get commercial sponsors. Let's stop the farce of claiming that NPR is non-partisan.
Conservatives don't want to kill off Elmo and Big Bird. We want them to get out into the world and make their own way, especially after decades of being on the federal handout list. We want Dora the Explorer to be a strong, self-sufficient young woman. Would Democrats be calling Elmo and Big Bird to come to their photo ops on this subject if PBS was known to be conservative? Of course not. Chances are, NPR and PBS won't even miss the taxpayer money.
And, yes, Barack Obama supports NPR as an "important part of his budget", according to his spokesperson, Jay Carney. Really, Mr. President? This is the sword on which you choose to fall? Matter of fact, Obama has requested increased funding for public media.
Senators Coburn and DeMint have introduced a bill to de-fund NPR and PBS. The federal government issued about $420 million last year for public media. Obama's recent budget request included $451 million for this purpose. The total over the last decade is about $4 billion, according to Coburn and DeMint.
PBS and NPR both receive a mix of federal and corporate funds. NPR gets 2 percent of its funding from federal subsidies, while PBS gets about 15 percent, according to the senators.
The outlets "will do just fine without largess from Washington," Coburn said.
You may remember back in October 2010 when Vivian Schiller launched into her explanation of the firing of reporter Juan Williams from the outfit. She told an audience during a q & a session after a speech that Williams should consult his psychiatrist. Williams dared to stray from the progressive talking points during his gig at Fox News, expressing his own personal opinions.
NPR's Ron Schiller launched into a political attack against Republicans at a fundraiser that was a trap set by conservative activists posing as wealthy Muslims wishing to contribute to NPR's coffers. He claimed that the GOP was all up in everyone's personal lives. Interesting. He called Tea Party activists racists and gun toting reactionaries. Wasn't it the far left Democrats determined to ram through a sweeping overhaul of the delivery of health care in our country, led by the far left ideologue in the White House, Barack Obama? What is more personal in one's life than health care?
Schiller, on federal funding, explained on tape: "it is clear that we would be better off in the long run without federal funding." I couldn't agree more. There are lots and lots of progressive urban dwellers on both coasts to support NPR. NPR can do it the old-fashioned way - get out there and get commercial sponsors. Let's stop the farce of claiming that NPR is non-partisan.
Conservatives don't want to kill off Elmo and Big Bird. We want them to get out into the world and make their own way, especially after decades of being on the federal handout list. We want Dora the Explorer to be a strong, self-sufficient young woman. Would Democrats be calling Elmo and Big Bird to come to their photo ops on this subject if PBS was known to be conservative? Of course not. Chances are, NPR and PBS won't even miss the taxpayer money.
And, yes, Barack Obama supports NPR as an "important part of his budget", according to his spokesperson, Jay Carney. Really, Mr. President? This is the sword on which you choose to fall? Matter of fact, Obama has requested increased funding for public media.
Senators Coburn and DeMint have introduced a bill to de-fund NPR and PBS. The federal government issued about $420 million last year for public media. Obama's recent budget request included $451 million for this purpose. The total over the last decade is about $4 billion, according to Coburn and DeMint.
PBS and NPR both receive a mix of federal and corporate funds. NPR gets 2 percent of its funding from federal subsidies, while PBS gets about 15 percent, according to the senators.
The outlets "will do just fine without largess from Washington," Coburn said.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Oil Company Executives Speak Out Against Permit Moratorium
In a deliberate and coordinated way, the Obama administration is in process of killing off the offshore oil and natural gas industry in our nation's waters. This is obvious to everyone associated with the industry and the company executives are speaking up.
All of the executives said that permit delays that are affecting rigs now will translate to industry-wide slowdowns.
“Each of our companies have pretty varying business models, but what starts at the rig . . . will soon have a negative impact on the entire industry and the region and the country as a whole,” said Jim Noe, a senior vice president for Hercules Offshore and the leader of an industry group lobbying for speedier permit processing. “We are just now experiencing the early phases of what we will be experiencing for years to come.”
Since last year’s oil spill, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has approved 37 permits for new shallow-water wells and four new deep-water wells.
Bureau director Michael Bromwich has stressed that the agency is working to clarify requirements for offshore drillers and is working as expeditiously as possible to vet permit applications.
But the executives said they are seeing a slowdown in the government’s issuance of permits for all sorts of work, including development permits to hook up pipelines.
It is not just those actively involved in the oil drilling process and the owners of drilling rigs that are hurt by our lack of national energy policy. It is also those that build drilling rigs, those that install production platforms, all of the support operations, transportation operators - helicopter and marine operators that transport drilling and production personnel from land to the drilling rigs offshore - and so on. It is a wide and continual motion ripple effect. Do not let anyone try to say that this deliberate slow down in drilling permits is anything but enactment of far left ideology and taking a crisis - the Deepwater Horizon explosion- and using it to kill off fossil fuel in favor of 'green' energy.
This country is decades away from viable amounts of energy production from alternative sources and certainly no where near capable of producing enough 'green' energy to keep our need satisfied. To continue to paint the oil and gas energy sector as bad and greedy and anything other than a necessary provider of fuel for our economic growth is wrong. I believe it is evil.
It is obvious that the political gamble is that Team Obama can satisfy far left environmentalists and keep them in Obama's re-election camp for 2012. Those in the energy industry know it is bare knuckle politics: Johnson predicted that permitting will not rise to historic levels until October 2012, just a month before the presidential elections. “I truly believe a lot of it is political” and it will take “a lot of outcry” about rising gas prices for things to change, Johnson said. Permitting might not return to normal levels until “there’s a level of pain and awareness” about how important the offshore business is, he said.
Even if permits were issued today, oil and natural gas exploration and drilling would take months to get back up to normal. This is not an industry that can start and stop on a whim. It is the plan of Interior Secretary Salazar and this staff to allow the price of gas at the pump to rise. They truly believe Americans will stop driving and be forced to change personal habits.
America needs all methods of energy production at our disposal. There is need for it all.
All of the executives said that permit delays that are affecting rigs now will translate to industry-wide slowdowns.
“Each of our companies have pretty varying business models, but what starts at the rig . . . will soon have a negative impact on the entire industry and the region and the country as a whole,” said Jim Noe, a senior vice president for Hercules Offshore and the leader of an industry group lobbying for speedier permit processing. “We are just now experiencing the early phases of what we will be experiencing for years to come.”
Since last year’s oil spill, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement has approved 37 permits for new shallow-water wells and four new deep-water wells.
Bureau director Michael Bromwich has stressed that the agency is working to clarify requirements for offshore drillers and is working as expeditiously as possible to vet permit applications.
But the executives said they are seeing a slowdown in the government’s issuance of permits for all sorts of work, including development permits to hook up pipelines.
It is not just those actively involved in the oil drilling process and the owners of drilling rigs that are hurt by our lack of national energy policy. It is also those that build drilling rigs, those that install production platforms, all of the support operations, transportation operators - helicopter and marine operators that transport drilling and production personnel from land to the drilling rigs offshore - and so on. It is a wide and continual motion ripple effect. Do not let anyone try to say that this deliberate slow down in drilling permits is anything but enactment of far left ideology and taking a crisis - the Deepwater Horizon explosion- and using it to kill off fossil fuel in favor of 'green' energy.
This country is decades away from viable amounts of energy production from alternative sources and certainly no where near capable of producing enough 'green' energy to keep our need satisfied. To continue to paint the oil and gas energy sector as bad and greedy and anything other than a necessary provider of fuel for our economic growth is wrong. I believe it is evil.
It is obvious that the political gamble is that Team Obama can satisfy far left environmentalists and keep them in Obama's re-election camp for 2012. Those in the energy industry know it is bare knuckle politics: Johnson predicted that permitting will not rise to historic levels until October 2012, just a month before the presidential elections. “I truly believe a lot of it is political” and it will take “a lot of outcry” about rising gas prices for things to change, Johnson said. Permitting might not return to normal levels until “there’s a level of pain and awareness” about how important the offshore business is, he said.
Even if permits were issued today, oil and natural gas exploration and drilling would take months to get back up to normal. This is not an industry that can start and stop on a whim. It is the plan of Interior Secretary Salazar and this staff to allow the price of gas at the pump to rise. They truly believe Americans will stop driving and be forced to change personal habits.
America needs all methods of energy production at our disposal. There is need for it all.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
International Women's Day Celebrates 100th Anniversary
This is International Women's Day, the 100th anniversary. International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women's Day is a national holiday.
The new millennium has witnessed a significant change and attitudinal shift in both women's and society's thoughts about women's equality and emancipation. Many from a younger generation feel that 'all the battles have been won for women' while many feminists from the 1970's know only too well the longevity and ingrained complexity of patriarchy. With more women in the boardroom, greater equality in legislative rights, and an increased critical mass of women's visibility as impressive role models in every aspect of life, one could think that women have gained true equality. The unfortunate fact is that women are still not paid equally to that of their male counterparts, women still are not present in equal numbers in business or politics, and globally women's education, health and the violence against them is worse than that of men.
However, great improvements have been made. We do have female astronauts and prime ministers, school girls are welcomed into university, women can work and have a family, women have real choices. And so the tone and nature of IWD has, for the past few years, moved from being a reminder about the negatives to a celebration of the positives.
As a woman involved in Republican politics, I think an important way to advance the presence of women in leadership positions is to work to expand the number of women in elected office. While the numbers continue to increase - too slowly for some of us - more work is needed to recruit and campaign for strong, fiscally conservative women candidates. From city councils and school boards to state and national level politics, the need is present.
Celebrate the accomplishments of women, then let's get back to work.
Monday, March 07, 2011
Release of Crude Oil From Strategic Petroleum Reserve
A recent Rasmussen poll finds that the average likely voter gets it as far as our national energy policy is concerned - or the complete lack of one due to far left ideology - and that is a bit of a silver lining from the dark cloud looming over us.
An overwhelming 76% of voters nationwide don’t believe the United States does enough to develop its own gas and oil resources. Only 15% think the country does do enough in this area.
Highlighting America's dependence on foreign oil, separate polling finds that Americans overwhelmingly believe the current political unrest in the Arab world will make them pay a lot more at the pump. Most voters have taken notice of the recent spike in gasoline prices and believe gas is likely to top the $5 mark by the beginning of summer.
A Pew Research Center poll finds the same: Drilling is also wildly popular with the public. A Pew Research Center poll from February showed 63 percent support for offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Americans understand the fundamental points: The oil is there, and we need it. If we don’t drill it out, we have to buy it from other countries.
As I write this, crude oil is almost $107 per barrel. For anyone to feign shock or surprise about this is to admit complete denial of reality. Who possibly didn't see this rise in price coming? The sad fact is that we are dependent on foreign sources of crude oil because our political leaders refuse to make and keep a practical, common sense national energy policy. It has been like this for decades and we continue to reap the results of whistling past the graveyard. The nations with the large reserves are the nations that do not wish us well. They do not have our nation's best interests at heart.
It is a disgrace. The pinch at the gas pump does not have to be there at all. The political unrest in the middle east and north Africa will only continue the rise in prices. Now some Democrats are demanding the oil be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). This is insane.
Only twice in its history has oil been released from the SPR. The last time was just after Hurricane Katrina.
Now, just as I predicted, the one drilling permit issued by the Interior Department last week as Sec Salazar went before the House Committee on Natural Resources is proven to be a stunt, a diversion from the fact that Salazar continues on in his far left ideological quest to kill the offshore oil drilling industry in the Gulf of Mexico. He has appealed the ruling by Judge Feldman that demanded Salazar's department rule on the five pending permits that have been held up since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April, 2010.
While oil drilling in the Gulf is being sorted out through the court system, world prices for oil are continuing to skyrocket. That point has frustrated many lawmakers, most notably Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who grilled Salazar last week on permits.
“[B]ut the point that seems to be amiss on this administration is that while current production might not be impacted, future production will be impacted,” said Landrieu over the weekend.
Republican Sen. David Vitter, also of Louisiana, chided the Obama Administration Monday for dragging its feet on the issue.
“I believe we should increase our supply right here at home by unshackling our domestic energy-producing economy, specifically in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Vitter. “Yet the Interior Department is still foot-dragging on permits while our Energy Department is actively seeking to make us more dependent on foreign sources of energy.”
If reserves from the SPR were released, where would the replacement crude come from?
An overwhelming 76% of voters nationwide don’t believe the United States does enough to develop its own gas and oil resources. Only 15% think the country does do enough in this area.
Highlighting America's dependence on foreign oil, separate polling finds that Americans overwhelmingly believe the current political unrest in the Arab world will make them pay a lot more at the pump. Most voters have taken notice of the recent spike in gasoline prices and believe gas is likely to top the $5 mark by the beginning of summer.
A Pew Research Center poll finds the same: Drilling is also wildly popular with the public. A Pew Research Center poll from February showed 63 percent support for offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. Americans understand the fundamental points: The oil is there, and we need it. If we don’t drill it out, we have to buy it from other countries.
As I write this, crude oil is almost $107 per barrel. For anyone to feign shock or surprise about this is to admit complete denial of reality. Who possibly didn't see this rise in price coming? The sad fact is that we are dependent on foreign sources of crude oil because our political leaders refuse to make and keep a practical, common sense national energy policy. It has been like this for decades and we continue to reap the results of whistling past the graveyard. The nations with the large reserves are the nations that do not wish us well. They do not have our nation's best interests at heart.
It is a disgrace. The pinch at the gas pump does not have to be there at all. The political unrest in the middle east and north Africa will only continue the rise in prices. Now some Democrats are demanding the oil be released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). This is insane.
Only twice in its history has oil been released from the SPR. The last time was just after Hurricane Katrina.
Now, just as I predicted, the one drilling permit issued by the Interior Department last week as Sec Salazar went before the House Committee on Natural Resources is proven to be a stunt, a diversion from the fact that Salazar continues on in his far left ideological quest to kill the offshore oil drilling industry in the Gulf of Mexico. He has appealed the ruling by Judge Feldman that demanded Salazar's department rule on the five pending permits that have been held up since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April, 2010.
While oil drilling in the Gulf is being sorted out through the court system, world prices for oil are continuing to skyrocket. That point has frustrated many lawmakers, most notably Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who grilled Salazar last week on permits.
“[B]ut the point that seems to be amiss on this administration is that while current production might not be impacted, future production will be impacted,” said Landrieu over the weekend.
Republican Sen. David Vitter, also of Louisiana, chided the Obama Administration Monday for dragging its feet on the issue.
“I believe we should increase our supply right here at home by unshackling our domestic energy-producing economy, specifically in the Gulf of Mexico,” said Vitter. “Yet the Interior Department is still foot-dragging on permits while our Energy Department is actively seeking to make us more dependent on foreign sources of energy.”
If reserves from the SPR were released, where would the replacement crude come from?
Chief of Staff Daley as The Fixer
The White House sent out new Chief of Staff William Daley to try to convince the viewers of Meet the Press that the administration is on top of the economic recovery, and they are a business-friendly administration. A successful businessman and political insider himself, he has his work cut out for him. It's re-election time for Barack Obama and without Daley's successful message delivery, Obama will be a one term president.
On the budget, Daley reinforces the nonsense that Obama has "frozen the budget" and that is a sign of his seriousness to work on budget issues. It is a farce that this is fiscal responsibility in action, of course, because the budget is frozen at current levels, which Obama exploded to all time high spending levels. Freezing them is not cutting them. It is status quo.
Daley, when asked about the administration's approach that the GOP lead in setting forth reform measures on Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid reform, he of course denied it. The fact is, while Obama has given lip service to reform needs yet has done nothing. He, in fact, is the first to criticize the GOP when reforms are brought into the discussion. He is quite content to stay out of the efforts. This is a contrast to George W. Bush, who was vilified by Democrats when he tried to start the process of reform in these areas.
Senator McConnell made the case that this White House is all talk, no action on a different Sunday morning show, as he responded to the characterizations lobbed by the likes of Sen John Kerry that the GOP budget cuts are "reckless":
The leading Republican Senator said the White House is not intent upon addressing government spending and debt, and disputed a Democratic Senator's accusation that the GOP budget plan was "reckless."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that Republican control of the House and Democratic control of the Senate means it is the "perfect time" to tackle budget matters, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, if both sides embrace a solution before the 2012 elections. "I haven't given up hope, but frankly I'm not optimistic," he said.
When asked if he thought Mr. Obama was serious about getting something done with regards to the budget battles between Republicans and Democrats, McConnell said, "No, I don't. I have now had a number of private conversations with the president and the vice president. I was hopeful that we would step up to the plate here, if you will, and use this divided government opportunity to do something big about our long- term problem.
"I don't have any more complaints about the conversations with them; I've had plenty of conversations with them. What I don't see now is any willingness to do anything that's difficult," he told host Bob Schieffer.
When asked why he thought the administration was not serious, McConnell said, "I've a number of conversations with people who count at the White House, and I think that so far I don't see the level of seriousness that we need. For example, they're in denial about Social Security. They are saying Social Security is not a problem. The Congressional Budget Office said it's running a $50 billion deficit this very year. Medicare, Social Security are unsustainable. Medicare, Medicaid is unsustainable.
It is interesting to see men like Daley still trying to sell Obama as a non-partisan politician when the record is the direct opposite of that meme. This president is completely comfortable chastising Republican politicians, by name, from his bully pulpit in a way not seen before in modern politics. He has a two year record of this behavior as President.
Daley is known as a man who will work for bi-partisan solutions to the nation's pressing issues. One example of his handiwork was seen as President Obama travelled to Florida to do an education event with former governor Jeb Bush. Jeb Bush spoke of the need for state solutions, not big federal government programs and spending.
Simply spending more money is not the answer. Florida is proof that how money in education is spent has a greater impact than how much money is spent. We need to reform federal education funds – such as Title 1 – removing programmatic strings and sending funds directly to the states. Providing maximum flexibility in funding will foster innovations, such as digital learning, that could make our schools world class hubs of learning for the 21st century.
Likewise, if states are not providing access to a quality education, the federal government should find a way to give families the ability to opt out of a failing school system. Call it a voucher, call it a grant, call it a scholarship, call it whatever you want. Knowing that a quality education can end poverty and spur prosperity, it makes sense to create unfettered access to good schools, whether public or private.
While President Obama and I do not agree on all of our positions, I believe his commitment to education reform is sincere. Republicans should engage the administration in an effort to find common ground. Providing a quality education is a moral and economic imperative for the future of our nation. Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind – the right way – is an important part of achieving that goal.
Taking education reform advice from Jeb Bush is a good beginning, if this new leaf of using the best solutions to a problem, regardless of which side of the aisle they come from, is turning.
On the budget, Daley reinforces the nonsense that Obama has "frozen the budget" and that is a sign of his seriousness to work on budget issues. It is a farce that this is fiscal responsibility in action, of course, because the budget is frozen at current levels, which Obama exploded to all time high spending levels. Freezing them is not cutting them. It is status quo.
Daley, when asked about the administration's approach that the GOP lead in setting forth reform measures on Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid reform, he of course denied it. The fact is, while Obama has given lip service to reform needs yet has done nothing. He, in fact, is the first to criticize the GOP when reforms are brought into the discussion. He is quite content to stay out of the efforts. This is a contrast to George W. Bush, who was vilified by Democrats when he tried to start the process of reform in these areas.
Senator McConnell made the case that this White House is all talk, no action on a different Sunday morning show, as he responded to the characterizations lobbed by the likes of Sen John Kerry that the GOP budget cuts are "reckless":
The leading Republican Senator said the White House is not intent upon addressing government spending and debt, and disputed a Democratic Senator's accusation that the GOP budget plan was "reckless."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that Republican control of the House and Democratic control of the Senate means it is the "perfect time" to tackle budget matters, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, if both sides embrace a solution before the 2012 elections. "I haven't given up hope, but frankly I'm not optimistic," he said.
When asked if he thought Mr. Obama was serious about getting something done with regards to the budget battles between Republicans and Democrats, McConnell said, "No, I don't. I have now had a number of private conversations with the president and the vice president. I was hopeful that we would step up to the plate here, if you will, and use this divided government opportunity to do something big about our long- term problem.
"I don't have any more complaints about the conversations with them; I've had plenty of conversations with them. What I don't see now is any willingness to do anything that's difficult," he told host Bob Schieffer.
When asked why he thought the administration was not serious, McConnell said, "I've a number of conversations with people who count at the White House, and I think that so far I don't see the level of seriousness that we need. For example, they're in denial about Social Security. They are saying Social Security is not a problem. The Congressional Budget Office said it's running a $50 billion deficit this very year. Medicare, Social Security are unsustainable. Medicare, Medicaid is unsustainable.
It is interesting to see men like Daley still trying to sell Obama as a non-partisan politician when the record is the direct opposite of that meme. This president is completely comfortable chastising Republican politicians, by name, from his bully pulpit in a way not seen before in modern politics. He has a two year record of this behavior as President.
Daley is known as a man who will work for bi-partisan solutions to the nation's pressing issues. One example of his handiwork was seen as President Obama travelled to Florida to do an education event with former governor Jeb Bush. Jeb Bush spoke of the need for state solutions, not big federal government programs and spending.
Simply spending more money is not the answer. Florida is proof that how money in education is spent has a greater impact than how much money is spent. We need to reform federal education funds – such as Title 1 – removing programmatic strings and sending funds directly to the states. Providing maximum flexibility in funding will foster innovations, such as digital learning, that could make our schools world class hubs of learning for the 21st century.
Likewise, if states are not providing access to a quality education, the federal government should find a way to give families the ability to opt out of a failing school system. Call it a voucher, call it a grant, call it a scholarship, call it whatever you want. Knowing that a quality education can end poverty and spur prosperity, it makes sense to create unfettered access to good schools, whether public or private.
While President Obama and I do not agree on all of our positions, I believe his commitment to education reform is sincere. Republicans should engage the administration in an effort to find common ground. Providing a quality education is a moral and economic imperative for the future of our nation. Reauthorizing No Child Left Behind – the right way – is an important part of achieving that goal.
Taking education reform advice from Jeb Bush is a good beginning, if this new leaf of using the best solutions to a problem, regardless of which side of the aisle they come from, is turning.
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Will Newt Gingrich Run For President?
You would think that a man who has been a part of the political scene for as long as Newt Gingrich would be better organized - or at least better handled - wouldn't you?
He's in, he's not in yet, he's announcing, he's not ready to announce. Please.
"I think it's going to take a fair amount of time.
At least, a number of weeks -- maybe six or seven -- because you want to really -- this is such a big decision if you're serious about it. It covers so many different requirements, if you look what Obama spent last time.... if you're serious about trying to not just run, but to both win the nomination and win the presidency, you really need to take some time to lay the groundwork, think it through, explore the possibility before you make the final decision."
At this point we have to hope the guy is not running in the GOP primary for 2012. If media savvy Gingrich can't surround himself with people capable of making him look ready for the job while possessing every top gun name and phone number in his contact list then how would he possibility inspire confidence that he will be up to the challenge of an uber-sophisticated media shop on the payroll of Barack Obama?
Gingrich should just accept the fact that his time in elected office has come and gone. He is a brilliant, forward thinking policy wonk and that should continue to be his focus. He should continue to mentor and encourage those willing to come forward and run for office. He should continue to promote ideas of outreach to all corners and he should continue to raise money for the party.
No one is better than Gingrich as a teacher - one who can make the stories in American history come alive and hold the attention of an audience. He is a natural story teller. He is a natural in front of an audience or with an interviewer on television. He is comfortable in the role of professor.
It is hard to believe he is truly up for a presidential run but not so difficult to ponder that this exploratory committee formed is for raising money and little else.
In his IRS disclosure, Gingrich states that his organization "Newt Exploratory 2012" was formed for the "purpose of discerning the feasibility of a potential candidacy for federal office." The formal title of the IRS form is Political Organization Notice of Section 527 Status.
Earlier this week Gingrich's political team was careful to say that they were merely entering an "exploratory phase," but this new group allows them to raise money for a potential presidential run without requiring them to register as a candidate with the FEC. If Gingrich decides to officially enter the 2012 presidential race, his campaign can transfer funds from this new 527 group into a formal campaign committee, as long as all donations comply with federal campaign regulations.
The former congressman, businessman, and author has a web of businesses and organizations under his umbrella that complicate the FEC filing process.
Inside the GOP there are many social conservatives that would not support Gingrich because of his personal history with his ex-wives, though he receives support for his political career from them when asked by media. Social conservatives are a bit too heavy on the sanctimonious exercise of judging others, which I was taught that religious people were not to do to others. In 2012 the GOP will need to reach out and get all the support possible against Team Obama. Perhaps the purity test crowd learned a lesson after they stayed home in protest of John McCain and Obama was elected.
Will Newt run? I doubt it.
He's in, he's not in yet, he's announcing, he's not ready to announce. Please.
"I think it's going to take a fair amount of time.
At least, a number of weeks -- maybe six or seven -- because you want to really -- this is such a big decision if you're serious about it. It covers so many different requirements, if you look what Obama spent last time.... if you're serious about trying to not just run, but to both win the nomination and win the presidency, you really need to take some time to lay the groundwork, think it through, explore the possibility before you make the final decision."
At this point we have to hope the guy is not running in the GOP primary for 2012. If media savvy Gingrich can't surround himself with people capable of making him look ready for the job while possessing every top gun name and phone number in his contact list then how would he possibility inspire confidence that he will be up to the challenge of an uber-sophisticated media shop on the payroll of Barack Obama?
Gingrich should just accept the fact that his time in elected office has come and gone. He is a brilliant, forward thinking policy wonk and that should continue to be his focus. He should continue to mentor and encourage those willing to come forward and run for office. He should continue to promote ideas of outreach to all corners and he should continue to raise money for the party.
No one is better than Gingrich as a teacher - one who can make the stories in American history come alive and hold the attention of an audience. He is a natural story teller. He is a natural in front of an audience or with an interviewer on television. He is comfortable in the role of professor.
It is hard to believe he is truly up for a presidential run but not so difficult to ponder that this exploratory committee formed is for raising money and little else.
In his IRS disclosure, Gingrich states that his organization "Newt Exploratory 2012" was formed for the "purpose of discerning the feasibility of a potential candidacy for federal office." The formal title of the IRS form is Political Organization Notice of Section 527 Status.
Earlier this week Gingrich's political team was careful to say that they were merely entering an "exploratory phase," but this new group allows them to raise money for a potential presidential run without requiring them to register as a candidate with the FEC. If Gingrich decides to officially enter the 2012 presidential race, his campaign can transfer funds from this new 527 group into a formal campaign committee, as long as all donations comply with federal campaign regulations.
The former congressman, businessman, and author has a web of businesses and organizations under his umbrella that complicate the FEC filing process.
Inside the GOP there are many social conservatives that would not support Gingrich because of his personal history with his ex-wives, though he receives support for his political career from them when asked by media. Social conservatives are a bit too heavy on the sanctimonious exercise of judging others, which I was taught that religious people were not to do to others. In 2012 the GOP will need to reach out and get all the support possible against Team Obama. Perhaps the purity test crowd learned a lesson after they stayed home in protest of John McCain and Obama was elected.
Will Newt run? I doubt it.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
Meet Rep Diane Black
Freshman Representative Diane Black from Tennessee delivers the GOP Weekly Address. A nurse, small business owner, teacher, wife, mom and grandmother, she brings a common sense, real life background to Congress.
Friday, March 04, 2011
Salazar Appears Before House Natural Resources Committee
Interior Secretary Salazar appeared before the Natural Resources Committee and tried to blow some smoke up the rears of the members present.
During a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Department of the Interior’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget proposal, Rep. John Fleming asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar about the Department’s refusal to issue new offshore drilling permits.
Secretary Salazar responded, “When you look at the production within the Gulf of Mexico, even within the midst of the national crisis of the Deepwater Horizon, the production has remained at an all time high and we expect that it will continue as we bring new production online.”
However, data on the actual production and forecasted production in the Gulf of Mexico collected by the U.S. Energy Information Administration located within the Department of Energy tells a drastically different story. According to the EIA, production in the Gulf has declined by nearly 300,000 barrels a day since last April.
As the government's own data shows on the graph above, Secretary Salazar is either living in an alternate universe or he is deliberately lying before members of Congress. You can come to your own conclusion.
Salazar is under a district judge's order to rule on five pending permit applications by the middle of March. The agency has continued to drag its feet and none have been issued since October 2010. It would appear that one permit was given the green light to was a public relations move to deflect some of the criticism for Salazar's job killing, energy production inhibiting policy decisions. He stated he plans to dispute the order.
At issue is District Court Judge Martin Feldman's mid-February ruling that the government has 30 days to decide whether to grant those five deep-water exploration permits, in response to a challenge by drilling contractor Ensco, whose rigs would be used for the work.
Just before Salazar testified before the committee, his department announced that one drilling permit was issued to Noble Energy - not for a new well but for a bypass well so that drilling could continue at the current site.
The federal government has already acted on one of the permits at issue in the case -- a bid by Noble Energy to drill a bypass well in its Santiago prospect about 70 miles southeast of Venice, La. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement approved that permit on Monday, making it the first of its kind to get the green light since the Obama administration lifted its five-month moratorium on some deep-water exploration last October.
Salazar doesn't think that Judge Feldman has the jurisdiction to make demands on his job performance. Salazar believes he is master of the energy production universe with unfettered control on his destruction of the industry for his far left political ideological agenda.
There is absolutely no honest observer that believes the oil and natural gas drilling industry is at record levels or has confidence in this administration to proceed in a manner that will allow the Gulf coast to approach necessary levels of recovery and meet larger amounts of our country's energy needs.
The industry’s pessimism also is reflected in drilling budgets, many of which have steered away from the Gulf this year because of the uncertainty surrounding permitting. It’s not clear how many companies are willing to reallocate capital now rather than simply waiting until next year.
The turmoil in the Middle East is not going away. It should serve as a wake-up call to those making crucial decisions about our country's energy policy - and the glaring fact that we have no real energy policy - that all forms of energy production is essential for our national security.
Drill here, drill now.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Roemer Considers GOP Presidential Primary Challenge
Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer is considering jumping into the GOP primary for President. This is all the buzz on social media sites and the journalists are spouting off about the story.
One journalist, NBC's Chuck Todd, referred to Buddy Roemer as the "gadfly" of the GOP primary, replacing Herman Cain in the role. Classy, right? Republicans have come to expect it, though. And with Barack Obama still their guy, it will only intensify as the time grows closer.
To add salt to the wound, Roemer was once a Democrat and switched to the GOP. The press never forgave him for that move.
The drumbeat of the press for the re-election of President Obama in 2012 is in high intensity. As previously predicted here, Team Obama has a loyal partner in the U.S. media, both in print and on air.
Here's the latest in-your-face example:
Just four months after posting historic election gains, Republicans are experiencing a reality check about 2012: President Barack Obama is going to be a lot tougher to defeat than he looked late last year.
Having gone from despondency in 2008 to euphoria last November, a more sober GOP is wincing in the light of day as they consider just how difficult unseating an incumbent president with a massive war chest is going to be, even with a still-dismal economy.
It is unclear of whom the writer is speaking about that consider Obama as easy pickings for defeat in 2012. Serious political watchers understand that an incumbent president is a powerful candidate. This president, in particular, will be a strong candidate given his team's ability to raise money and craft the appearance of moderation from him. It is predicted the 2012 presidential campaign will be the first to break the one billion dollar mark.
Money is power.
One journalist, NBC's Chuck Todd, referred to Buddy Roemer as the "gadfly" of the GOP primary, replacing Herman Cain in the role. Classy, right? Republicans have come to expect it, though. And with Barack Obama still their guy, it will only intensify as the time grows closer.
To add salt to the wound, Roemer was once a Democrat and switched to the GOP. The press never forgave him for that move.
The drumbeat of the press for the re-election of President Obama in 2012 is in high intensity. As previously predicted here, Team Obama has a loyal partner in the U.S. media, both in print and on air.
Here's the latest in-your-face example:
Just four months after posting historic election gains, Republicans are experiencing a reality check about 2012: President Barack Obama is going to be a lot tougher to defeat than he looked late last year.
Having gone from despondency in 2008 to euphoria last November, a more sober GOP is wincing in the light of day as they consider just how difficult unseating an incumbent president with a massive war chest is going to be, even with a still-dismal economy.
It is unclear of whom the writer is speaking about that consider Obama as easy pickings for defeat in 2012. Serious political watchers understand that an incumbent president is a powerful candidate. This president, in particular, will be a strong candidate given his team's ability to raise money and craft the appearance of moderation from him. It is predicted the 2012 presidential campaign will be the first to break the one billion dollar mark.
Money is power.
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Culberson Rattles Holder on Black Panthers Case
Rep John Culberson (R-TX) pursued a line of questioning in committee to Attorney General Eric Holder about the Black Panthers and voting in Philadelphia during the 2008 presidential election. We've all seen the photos of two young black men standing at the entrance of a voting place, one welding a baton of some kind as he was dressed in the Black Panther uniform of choice. Holder has since decided to not pursue the case for prosecution.
Attorney General Eric Holder finally got fed up Tuesday with claims that the Justice Department went easy in a voting rights case against members of the New Black Panther Party because they are African American.
Holder's frustration over the criticism became evident during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing as Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) accused the Justice Department of failing to cooperate with a Civil Rights Commission investigation into the handling of the 2008 incident in which Black Panthers in intimidating outfits and wielding a club stood outside a polling place in Philadelphia.
The Attorney General seemed to take personal offense at a comment Culberson read in which former Democratic activist Bartle Bull called the incident the most serious act of voter intimidation he had witnessed in his career.
"Think about that," Holder said. "When you compare what people endured in the South in the 60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, and to compare what people were subjected to there to what happened in Philadelphia—which was inappropriate, certainly that…to describe it in those terms I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line, who risked all, for my people," said Holder, who is black.
Holder noted that his late sister-in-law, Vivian Malone Jones, helped integrate the University of Alabama.
"To compare that kind of courage, that kind of action, and to say that the Black Panther incident wrong thought it might be somehow is greater in magnitude or is of greater concern to us, historically, I think just flies in the face of history and the facts.," Holder said with evident exasperation.
In a series of questions and comments earlier in the hearing, Culberson insisted that race had infected the decision-making process. "There’s clearly evidence, overwhelming evidence, that your Department of Justice refuses to protect the rights of anybody other than African Americans to vote," the Texas Republican said. "There's a pattern of a double standard here."
“I would disagree very vehemently with the notion that there’s overwhelming evidence that that is in fact true,” Holder replied. “This Department of Justice does not enforce the law in a race-conscious way.”
My people, Mr. Holder? Isn't the Attorney General suppose to demand justice for all people? At the least, this sounds unprofessional.
As long as Holder is in the office of Attorney General, the American people are his people. All of us.
Attorney General Eric Holder finally got fed up Tuesday with claims that the Justice Department went easy in a voting rights case against members of the New Black Panther Party because they are African American.
Holder's frustration over the criticism became evident during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing as Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) accused the Justice Department of failing to cooperate with a Civil Rights Commission investigation into the handling of the 2008 incident in which Black Panthers in intimidating outfits and wielding a club stood outside a polling place in Philadelphia.
The Attorney General seemed to take personal offense at a comment Culberson read in which former Democratic activist Bartle Bull called the incident the most serious act of voter intimidation he had witnessed in his career.
"Think about that," Holder said. "When you compare what people endured in the South in the 60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, and to compare what people were subjected to there to what happened in Philadelphia—which was inappropriate, certainly that…to describe it in those terms I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line, who risked all, for my people," said Holder, who is black.
Holder noted that his late sister-in-law, Vivian Malone Jones, helped integrate the University of Alabama.
"To compare that kind of courage, that kind of action, and to say that the Black Panther incident wrong thought it might be somehow is greater in magnitude or is of greater concern to us, historically, I think just flies in the face of history and the facts.," Holder said with evident exasperation.
In a series of questions and comments earlier in the hearing, Culberson insisted that race had infected the decision-making process. "There’s clearly evidence, overwhelming evidence, that your Department of Justice refuses to protect the rights of anybody other than African Americans to vote," the Texas Republican said. "There's a pattern of a double standard here."
“I would disagree very vehemently with the notion that there’s overwhelming evidence that that is in fact true,” Holder replied. “This Department of Justice does not enforce the law in a race-conscious way.”
My people, Mr. Holder? Isn't the Attorney General suppose to demand justice for all people? At the least, this sounds unprofessional.
As long as Holder is in the office of Attorney General, the American people are his people. All of us.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Deep Water Drilling Permit Issued by Obama Administration
Much is being made in the press reports that a drilling permit for deep water oil drilling has been issued - the first one since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April 2010. This is a bit misleading, as Rep Jeff Landry points out in his press release:
Congressman Jeff Landry (Republican, New Iberia), the House’s leading proponent of domestic oil and gas drilling, released the following statement after the Interior Department announced it approved Noble Energy’s deep water drilling permit:
“I’m glad to see the Administration is starting to come to its senses as the American people have been forced – since the time of the accident, the moratorium, and the unconstitutional de facto moratorium – to pay more at the gas pump. I certainly hope that over the course of the next few days, we will see additional permits issued and – in the very near future – we will get back to the level of permitting activity we had prior to the Deepwater Horizon Spill. However, it is important to note that this is not a new permit; this is basically an existing permit that has been re-authorized to do work and is just one of the permits that was suspended from drilling. I surely hope this is not a political stunt to take pressure off Secretary Salazar during his visit to the Hill this week.”
The Obama administration - Salazar - has been warned by the federal judge to get moving on issuing permits, as they have completely ignored or disputed the judge's rulings so far. Salazar is a hyper-partisan far left ideologue who is hell-bent to shut down domestic oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and other areas off our shores. He is easily seen as believing he is not under the judge's rulings.
He is very wrong and it is high time he stepped up and did his job. No doubt he is happy to allow the story to be reported as a big step in the oil drilling process.
It's a permit for Noble Energy to bypass a well it had already begun about 70 miles southeast of Venice, not far from BP's Macondo well that blew out last April. But regulators are confident that the new well won't have the same dangerous pressure problems that doomed BP's project last April.
Top offshore regulator Michael Bromwich -- director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement -- said the approval is a milestone, even though it's to resume work on a previously approved well and to drill around an obstacle.
Senator Landrieu and Governor Jindal weighed in on the permit, too:
"I hope that this permit is the first of many to come and I will continue to use every lever at my disposal to ensure that it is," she said in a statement. "While one permit is good, it's long overdue."
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal also claimed some credit for the breakthrough, saying his administration had been working closely with Bromwich to get the industry back to work. He also said he wants to make sure the permits continue now to get back to a "critical mass so thousands of oil and gas industry workers can get back to work fueling America again."
So far the stunt aspect is prevalent - allowing it to sound as though it is a new drilling permit with new work being performed - and that is for public relations purposes for the administration. The test will be to track how long before more true new permits are issued. Bromwich says it will be weeks or months.
Hardly progress or good news.
Congressman Jeff Landry (Republican, New Iberia), the House’s leading proponent of domestic oil and gas drilling, released the following statement after the Interior Department announced it approved Noble Energy’s deep water drilling permit:
“I’m glad to see the Administration is starting to come to its senses as the American people have been forced – since the time of the accident, the moratorium, and the unconstitutional de facto moratorium – to pay more at the gas pump. I certainly hope that over the course of the next few days, we will see additional permits issued and – in the very near future – we will get back to the level of permitting activity we had prior to the Deepwater Horizon Spill. However, it is important to note that this is not a new permit; this is basically an existing permit that has been re-authorized to do work and is just one of the permits that was suspended from drilling. I surely hope this is not a political stunt to take pressure off Secretary Salazar during his visit to the Hill this week.”
The Obama administration - Salazar - has been warned by the federal judge to get moving on issuing permits, as they have completely ignored or disputed the judge's rulings so far. Salazar is a hyper-partisan far left ideologue who is hell-bent to shut down domestic oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and other areas off our shores. He is easily seen as believing he is not under the judge's rulings.
He is very wrong and it is high time he stepped up and did his job. No doubt he is happy to allow the story to be reported as a big step in the oil drilling process.
It's a permit for Noble Energy to bypass a well it had already begun about 70 miles southeast of Venice, not far from BP's Macondo well that blew out last April. But regulators are confident that the new well won't have the same dangerous pressure problems that doomed BP's project last April.
Top offshore regulator Michael Bromwich -- director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement -- said the approval is a milestone, even though it's to resume work on a previously approved well and to drill around an obstacle.
Senator Landrieu and Governor Jindal weighed in on the permit, too:
"I hope that this permit is the first of many to come and I will continue to use every lever at my disposal to ensure that it is," she said in a statement. "While one permit is good, it's long overdue."
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal also claimed some credit for the breakthrough, saying his administration had been working closely with Bromwich to get the industry back to work. He also said he wants to make sure the permits continue now to get back to a "critical mass so thousands of oil and gas industry workers can get back to work fueling America again."
So far the stunt aspect is prevalent - allowing it to sound as though it is a new drilling permit with new work being performed - and that is for public relations purposes for the administration. The test will be to track how long before more true new permits are issued. Bromwich says it will be weeks or months.
Hardly progress or good news.
Obama Continues to Wade Into Wisconsin Protests
This is a line that jumps out for anyone following politics in our nation and understands the philosophical difference between Republicans and Democrats:
A choice, not an echo: Democrats desperately defending the status quo; Republicans charging the barricades.
That one 15 word sentence sums it all up, the turmoil in the midwest over state budget balancing and demands of the public employee unions. The Democrats are now the party of the status quo. The Republicans are the party of thinking long term and insisting on fiscal sanity.
During his speech to the governors present at the White House today, President Obama again sided with the union membership over the governors. Make no mistake, Obama is nervous at how all of this shakes out. Without public employee unions holding state budgets hostage, the Democrats lose big time financial support. Thus, this affects the re-election of Barack Obama.
Barack Obama addressed the nation’s governors today with sympathy over budgetary crises, but a warning not to solve their shortfalls by infringing on the rights of public employees. He also scolded governors for vilifying and denigrating PEUs, which raises the question of whether Obama has bothered to look at the protests in Wisconsin and elsewhere. Besides, the governors in question are mainly fighting to limit collective bargaining rights to a standard that the federal government prohibits for its own employees.
Democrats are panicked and not hesitant to get into the fight through the union leadership.
Recognizing this threat to union power, the Democratic Party is pouring money and fury into the fight. Fewer than 7 percent of private-sector workers are unionized. The Democrats' strength lies in government workers, who now constitute a majority of union members and provide massive support to the party. For them, Wisconsin represents a dangerous contagion.
Hence the import of the current moment - its blinding clarity. Here stand the Democrats, avatars of reactionary liberalism, desperately trying to hang on to the gains of their glory years - from unsustainable federal entitlements for the elderly enacted when life expectancy was 62 to the massive promissory notes issued to government unions when state coffers were full and no one was looking.
No one is "vilifying" public employees. Taxpayers, however, have decided that enough is enough. Gone are the days now of huge promises of full benefits and trumped up pension payments at retirement for public employees, given the huge explosion of costs to states without the funds to sustain them. There is no "right" to collective bargaining. The unions are a privileged class. The folks touted as regular people just making a living as they serve the public are privy to benefits and retirement packages that few in the private sector receive.
WI Governor Walker responded to President Obama's personal involvement with this statement:
“I'm sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I'm sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.
“Furthermore, I’m sure the President knows that we have repeatedly praised the more than 300,000 government workers who come to work every day in Wisconsin.
“I’m sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn’t acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another.”
A choice, not an echo: Democrats desperately defending the status quo; Republicans charging the barricades.
That one 15 word sentence sums it all up, the turmoil in the midwest over state budget balancing and demands of the public employee unions. The Democrats are now the party of the status quo. The Republicans are the party of thinking long term and insisting on fiscal sanity.
During his speech to the governors present at the White House today, President Obama again sided with the union membership over the governors. Make no mistake, Obama is nervous at how all of this shakes out. Without public employee unions holding state budgets hostage, the Democrats lose big time financial support. Thus, this affects the re-election of Barack Obama.
Barack Obama addressed the nation’s governors today with sympathy over budgetary crises, but a warning not to solve their shortfalls by infringing on the rights of public employees. He also scolded governors for vilifying and denigrating PEUs, which raises the question of whether Obama has bothered to look at the protests in Wisconsin and elsewhere. Besides, the governors in question are mainly fighting to limit collective bargaining rights to a standard that the federal government prohibits for its own employees.
Democrats are panicked and not hesitant to get into the fight through the union leadership.
Recognizing this threat to union power, the Democratic Party is pouring money and fury into the fight. Fewer than 7 percent of private-sector workers are unionized. The Democrats' strength lies in government workers, who now constitute a majority of union members and provide massive support to the party. For them, Wisconsin represents a dangerous contagion.
Hence the import of the current moment - its blinding clarity. Here stand the Democrats, avatars of reactionary liberalism, desperately trying to hang on to the gains of their glory years - from unsustainable federal entitlements for the elderly enacted when life expectancy was 62 to the massive promissory notes issued to government unions when state coffers were full and no one was looking.
No one is "vilifying" public employees. Taxpayers, however, have decided that enough is enough. Gone are the days now of huge promises of full benefits and trumped up pension payments at retirement for public employees, given the huge explosion of costs to states without the funds to sustain them. There is no "right" to collective bargaining. The unions are a privileged class. The folks touted as regular people just making a living as they serve the public are privy to benefits and retirement packages that few in the private sector receive.
WI Governor Walker responded to President Obama's personal involvement with this statement:
“I'm sure the President knows that most federal employees do not have collective bargaining for wages and benefits while our plan allows it for base pay. And I'm sure the President knows that the average federal worker pays twice as much for health insurance as what we are asking for in Wisconsin. At least I would hope he knows these facts.
“Furthermore, I’m sure the President knows that we have repeatedly praised the more than 300,000 government workers who come to work every day in Wisconsin.
“I’m sure that President Obama simply misunderstands the issues in Wisconsin, and isn’t acting like the union bosses in saying one thing and doing another.”
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