Dead Wrong
August 29, 2008 | Filed Under Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Foreign Policy, Media Bias, News, President, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Thomas Brewton, War on Terror | No Comments
-By Thomas E. Brewton
Relying on Senator Biden’s foreign policy judgment is risky. Both he and Senator Obama backed the wrong horses in Iraq.
When it was unpopular, Senator McCain stood up for victory in Iraq and pushed for what later became known as the successful Surge.
Senator Obama, of course, put his finger to the wind and followed public opinion down the path of least resistance. He famously campaigned on a pledge to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq immediately. He has since failed to acknowledge the effectiveness of the Surge, a denial that demeans the superior performance and valor of our troops.
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Empty Ethics Rhetoric Exposed
August 29, 2008 | Filed Under Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, News, Publius Contributor, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Heritage Foundation | No Comments
-By The Heritage Foundation
DENVER — One of Barack Obama’s only legislative accomplishments in the U.S. Senate is the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act, which passed in September 2007. When he announced his candidacy in Springfield, Ill., Obama called the bill “the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate.” Critics from left and right, however, have called it a chilling threat to free speech. This is something to boast about?
Obama’s ethics bill sounds good on paper: “strict bans on receiving gifts and meals from lobbyists; new rules to slow the revolving door between public and private sector service.” But once this lofty rhetoric hits reality, it crumbles. Just as Obama can’t define a “windfall profit,” defining “gifts” and “meals” also proves difficult.
The First Amendment protects “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” That’s what lobbying is. Under Obama’s ethics law, groups sponsoring events here in Denver have to consult a lawyer at every step. The New York Times reports:
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Reuters’ Class Warfare: Lower Tax Takes ‘Costs’ Gov’t
August 26, 2008 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Reuters thinks that tax breaks and loopholes “costs” government its tax receipts. This is a perfect example of class hatred ginned up by the media to further class warfare between Americans. The absolute truth is that if people use the tax code to limit their tax burden they are not costing the government anything, but are using legal means to avoid a higher tax burden. Further, our money is NOT the government’s property in the first place so a lower tax take is in no way “costing” the government anything. Yet, Reuters still uses this class warfare rhetoric to report its story revealing its attack-the-rich agenda.
The Reuters headline employs the class warfare rhetoric right off the top screaming, Tax loopholes seen costing billions annually. “Costing”? No, if tax receipts are lower it isn’t because people are depriving government of due receipts. Again, it is because taxpayers are obeying the law and properly using the tax code as crated by Congress. If there are loopholes in the tax code they were placed there by Congress, whether wittingly or unwittingly, but still it’s the fault of Congress not “the rich.”
The first paragraph gins up the class warfare rhetoric to an even higher level.
Union Tries to Interfere in Petition Results, Fails
August 18, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Security/Safety, Socialism, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Denver right-to-work balloters won a small victory last week when a judge accepted the legitimacy of the gathered signatures on their ballot effort by tossing out a nuisance lawsuit brought against them by unions.
The union representatives sought to have more than the legally required amount of petition signatures verified hoping to have Amendment 47 thrown out. But Judge Christina Habas said she had no authority to do so.
Judge Christina Habas ruled Wednesday that she doesn’t have the authority to review every signature submitted by the right-to-work group. State law limits the court’s jurisdiction to the random sample reviewed by the Colorado secretary of state’s office, she said.
The Judge determined that the Colorado Secretary of State followed the proper procedures to verify the signatures on the ballots and therefore Amendment 47, a move to ban forced paying of union dues, is legal and correct.
Amendment 47 spokesman Kelley Harp said Thursday the ruling shows that the allegations are “frivolous.”
It goes to show that unions will go to any lengths from intimidation, to threats, to any manner of nuisance lawsuits to thwart the ability of people to democratically vote and have their voices heard.
Union Loses in California, Now Trying to go National
August 17, 2008 | Filed Under Business, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Corruption, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
One of the most annoying sayings in American politics is “what happens in California will next happen in the rest of the country” as if California is always at the cusp of all the good ideas in politics. Well, apparently the Service Employee International Union (SEIU) is finding that old bromide not very helpful because its latest political coup failed to pass in California. So, in true never-say-die union thug fashion, the SEIU is reversing the truism. It didn’t work in California, so they are trying to force it on the rest of the nation anyway.
The Wall Street Journal’s Deal Journal has an interesting little story on how the SEIU is taking their legislative fight against Private Equity firms to Congress since they lost their battle in the California State House to force the PEs into stricter regulation.
It seems that the SEIU thinks that the PEs should have greater transparency in their investing practices. The SEIU imagines that it should be allowed to create rules for the PEs to reveal all sorts of information on their investments they currently don’t have to disclose.
Of course, what the SEIU is trying to do here is use that info to root out what investments that the PEs have with non union companies and then use that info to try to pressure the PEs into closer involvement with unions.
In any case, the transparency law failed in Sacramento so the SEIU is now shifting focus to Congress to try and force the bill that failed in California on all of us.
It is interesting how the unions are trying to force other people to comply with more transparency laws when unions have always fought tooth-and-nail to defeat transparency laws when it comes to their own business!
Obama Lied About Vote Against Live-Birth Abortion Ban, Media Mum
August 14, 2008 | Filed Under Abortion, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Family, Media Bias, News, Publius Contributor, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments
-By Warner Todd Huston
Jill Stanek has done yeoman’s work on uncovering the fact that Barack Obama and his surrogates have been outright lying about Obama’s constant votes against the Live-Birth abortion bills when he was in office in the State legislature. His claims have been a staple of Old Media reports from the beginning, but now that Stanek has revealed the truth we will have to see if the Old Media corrects the record or if they suddenly just go mum on the subject like they have so far.
The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act (BAIPA) both in the Illinois and Federal legislatures was meant to make illegal death by neglect of born but unwanted infants. These bills were opposed by the bulk of the Democrat Party because of the fact that the original bills could have been construed to say that a pre-birth fetus was a “person” that was protected by law. So, the bill in Congress was altered to address that concern by adding a “neutrality clause” that made it clear that the bill would not protect a fetus in utero.
As Obama continues to tell the tale, as a State Senator he said he voted against the Illinois bill because the Federal “neutrality clause” was not included and that therefore he could not support the Illinois bill. Turns out he is not telling the truth about this fact. Even worse, he knows better because he was part of the legislative committee that added that very “neutrality clause” to the very bill he voted against in 2003.