Obama flips . . . but not far enough

When running for president in 2008, Barack Obama, campaigning in Jacksonville, promised to "keep in place the moratorium here in Florida and around the country that prevents oil companies from drilling off Florida's coasts."  (Link here.)

Today, Obama pulled a John Kerry and flip-flopped on that position and lifted the moratorium on such drilling "along the southern Atlantic coastline [which includes Florida, last time I checked], the eastern Gulf of Mexico [ditto] and part of Alaska."  (Link here.)

Kudos to President Obama for that decision . . . BUT . . . as House Republican Leader John Boehner points out, Obama has NOT lifted the ban on drilling off the Pacific Coast, the majority of Alaska's shoreline, "as well as the most promising resources off the Gulf of Mexico."  (Link here.)

This is a good first step - an encouraging one even - but in an age of energy dependence on foreign nations . . . America needs to stop dabbling in reality and confront it.  Develop ALL available resources.

Missouri Senate Race is a Referendum on Barack Obama and the Government Takeover of Healthcare . . . and that's good news for Roy Blunt!

In a poll released today from Public Policy Polling, Roy Blunt is leading Robin Carnahan 45%-41% in Missouri's Senate race.  Why?  Blunt is a good candidate of course, worthy of support even in a vacuum, but this race boils down to Barack Obama and Obamacare.

This latest poll shows that 80% of Missourians who disapprove of Obama's job as president plan to vote for Blunt (while 6% plan to vote for Carnahan - maybe those are the ultra-far-left liberal crazies who think Obama's not Socialist enough).  On the other hand, folks who approve of the job Obama is doing back Carnahan 84%-6%.  Thankfully, for the state and the country, only 43% of Missourians approve of Obama's job performance.

And how does Obama's signature issue . . . Obamacare . . . impact the race, well, Missouri voters oppose Obamacare 54% to 37% and 51% think that it should be repealed. 

So here's a message from SLC to any undecided Missouri voters . . . Robin Carnahan is another vote for Barack Obama and his agenda.  She's a Democrat.  And how many Democrats did you see in the effort to try to stop Obamacare?

A vote for Carnahan is a vote for Barack Obama.

A vote for Roy Blunt is a vote for referendum and repeal.  (And we'll get a good Senator as a bonus.)

Does care suffer when the government runs a healthcare system?

Just ask the English . . . 

Specifically, ask the family of Derek Sauter, who died of pneumonia after British nurses failed to check his oxygen levels for 11 hours (they were low) and - believe it or not - after he had to use his cell phone to call his wife so that he could get someone to bring him a drink of water.  (Link to story here.)

I know this is only anecdotal.  But it is endemic of systems where bureaucracies are in command - systems like the "universal" healthcare systems in the U.K. and the rest of Europe . . . and systems like the one that, thanks to Barack Obama and his liberal Democrat friends, will soon be coming to a hospital near you.

Unless, that is, something BIG (and probably impossible) happens in November's mid-term elections.

Al Sharpton, Barack Obama and Socialism

Barack Obama's agenda is Socialism.  Rev. Sharpton, however, seems to be under the mistaken impression that Barack Obama was honest during his campaign.  In fact, he's a wolf in sheep's clothing.  Had he admitted his plans for country during the campaign, John McCain would be president today.

What does the Obama debt mean to your household?

The Congressional Budget Office released a revised report on Thursday projecting new budget deficits of $9.75 trillion over the next ten years.  $9,750,000,000,000.00!  (Link to story here.)

This $9.75 trillion will be added to the national debt, of course, and the CBO projects that by 2020, the federal government's debt total will be $20.3 trillion.  $20,300,000,000,000.00!

Again, a trillion dollars is a lot of money.  This many trillions of dollars are so far beyond human comprehension that these deficits risk being ignored as incomprehensible.  But the story linked above breaks the debt story down to meaningful terms:

When Barack Obama took office in 2009, the debt was $6.3 trillion or $56,000.00 per American household.

Today, the debt is $8.2 trillion or $72,000.00 per household.

By 2020, if something doesn't change - fast, the $20.3 trillion debt will divide to more than $170,000.00 per household!

In other words, on Obama's watch, the federal government has already saddled you and your family with $16,000.00 more in debt.  And if he and his liberal Democrat friends are allowed to spend what they plan to spend, your family will be borrowing another $98,000.00 or more for D.C. to spend in the next ten years.

This spending is not sustainable.  That's simply put but it is reality.  We can't do this.

The spending must be stopped.  The spenders must be stopped.

2010 is your next chance - maybe the last chance.  After seeing what happened in the healthcare "reform" battle, realize this, a vote for a Democrat, any Democrat, in 2010 is a vote for unbelievable and out-of-control spending of money that doesn't exist and will have to either be printed (with resulting massive inflation) or confiscated from you in the form of crippling taxation.  

How not to treat an ally

From the guy who gave the Queen of England an iPod with his own speeches   . . . 

From the guy who gave the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom a Dollar Store collection of DVDs . . . 

Barack Obama met the Prime Minister of Israel at the White House on Tuesday and refused to pose for photographers and then, apparently in a presidential first, slighted Binyamin Netanyahu by leaving "him to his own devices while the President withdraws to have dinner in                                                                private."  (Link to story here.)

Obama seems to be going out of his way to slight America's friends around the world.  He's either doing this intentionally or he's a dunce.  I don't think he is a dunce.  

An endorsement of Obamacare that should tell you something . . .

Fidel Castro, the Communist former (?) dictator of Cuba, lauded America's passage of healthcare "reform."  (Link to story here.)

When this guy pat's you on the back, any non-Communist should want to re-think his actions.

"This is our most desperate hour. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi; you're my only hope."

The nation is at a desperate hour.  America as we know it is on the brink.  It is time to pull out all the stops.  It is time to throw the "Hail Mary" pass.  It is time to get the plans to the Death Star to the Rebel Alliance.  It is time to sue.  (Link to the present-day story of some hope here.)

219-212

219 votes for a government takeover of American healthcare.

219 votes to take a giant step toward the end of America as we know it.  

219 votes for Socialism . . . against the will of the people.

If you can stomach the bad enough facts and the even worse AP spin, link here.

Stop the Presses! A Massachusetts Democrat and ally of Nancy Pelosi may vote to uphold the integrity of the democratic process!

According to this article from the Boston Herald, Representative Stephen Lynch (D-Massachusetts), one of Speaker Nancy Pelosi's floor whips, previously a "yes" vote on Pelosi's version of Obamacare, has indicated that he will "probably" vote against the Senate version of the bill when it comes up and could not support Pelosi's plan to "deem" the Senate bill passed without anybody casting a vote.  To do that would be "disingenuous.  . . . It would really call into question the credibility of the House."

It would do more than that Congressman Lynch.  There would be no question of credibility if the Democrat leaders jam this through in such a squirrelly way.  There would simply be no credibility.

A personal story about healthcare in America

My daughter had a routine checkup with her pediatrician today.  He discovered that her heart was beating too fast.  He wanted her to have an EKG.  We drove her to a local hospital and within five minutes of walking in the door, she had her EKG.  Unfortunately, the EKG showed a problem and we're booked to see a specialist tomorrow morning.

Would my daughter have such rapid access to hospital procedures and specialists under Obamacare?  I sincerely doubt it.

Right now, Americans have access to the best healthcare system in the world.  And the liberals in Washington want to destroy that system.  Are there problems with the system?  Sure.  And those problems can and should be solved.  But we don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water.

How democracy works in Obama, Pelosi, and Reid's (the Democrats')Washington

I found this chart on my friend The Timman's blog.  Check out the interactive version at the site of origin.  It is eye-opening.

Understatement of the Year

In an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News, Barack Obama made the understatement of the year . . . "I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or Senate."  (Link to story here.)

How true.  How true.  But what an understatement.

Here's what Obama really meant . . . "I don't give a rat's ___ about any rules, or laws, or pesky things like constitutions.  They don't apply to me.  I'm The Obama.  I'm a Democrat.  I can do whatever I want because it's all about me, me, me.  Damn the public.  Damn the country.  Full steam ahead!"

Obama has given up on leadership, because he's failed to lead.  He's given up on representative democracy because he doesn't agree with the people he represents and he doesn't - at the moment - have the votes.

Limbaugh: "This is ballgame."

Today, Rush Limbaugh took a nearly unprecedented step and urged his listeners to call the offices of the undecided Democrats on in the House of Representatives to urge them to vote "no" on Obamacare - and gave out the numbers of the Capitol switchboard.  (Link to transcript here.)  People listened and so clogged the phone lines that the system nearly crashed.  

Why would Limbaugh pull out all stops now?  Because, as he put it, "this is ballgame."  Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats in Congress, with the blessing of Barack Obama, seem willing to say, or do anything to ram this monstrosity through.  And, as Limbaugh continued, "if this bill passes, the Constitution's carefully crafted limits on congressional power will have been reduced substantially."  They're trying to declare a bill "passed" without even voting on it!

Limbaugh's right.  This is it.  This is the ballgame.  If the Democrats win this one, we're sunk.  The country is sunk.  We'll be so far on our way to socialism that there's no turning back.  

So why not rely on the GOP . . . they don't have the votes to stop it.  It will take Democrats and, frankly, the direct urging of the American people to remind them that they represent the people, not the president, or their party.  

We don't want this!  Stop it!  Kill the bill!

Join Limbaugh's listeners and call Congress . . . 877-762-8762 or 202-224-3121.  Pick one of these "undecided" and do your persuasive best.

Juxtaposition

It is universally accepted that infanticide after birth (as seen in this French case) is evil, horrid, and criminal, while abortion remains legal.

Can anyone from the "Pro-Choice" community explain to me what a difference a day makes?

Hey diddle, diddle

The British Department of Energy and Climate Change (yes, they have one) proposed an overly sensational advertising campaign that has been rejected by the British Advertising Standards Authority (yes, they have one of those too).  The campaign featured posters with "adapted" two nursery rhymes and illustrations making "exaggerated claims about the threat to Britain from global warming."  (Link to story here.)

Here's one "adapted" nursery rhyme sure that should be included in any future advertising campaign about the "threat" of "global warming" . . . 

Hey diddle, diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The government caught in a lie.

The people all laughed when they realized the hoax,

Until taxes still went sky high.  

Trending up . . . good sense

Three polls released today caught my eye today:

First, is Barack Obama's job approval rating . . . in a little more than one year, the percentage of Americans who "approve" of the way the president is doing his job has plummeted from 68% to 46%.  And the number of Americans who "disapprove" has climbed from 12% to 45%.

The second poll shows the number of Americans who believe that the threat of "global warming" is "generally exaggerated" has risen from a low of 30% in 2001 and 35% in 2008 all the way to 48%.  That poll also indicated that while 50% still believe that "global warming" is due mostly to human activities opposed to 46% blame natural causes, that split is much better than the 61-33 split in 2003.

Third, Roy Blunt is holding a 47%-41% lead over Robin Carnahan in Missouri's U.S. Senate race.

So, overall, I think the polls are showing that the reality trend is rising.  Man-made "global warming" is a hoax, Barack Obama a terrible mistake, and Robin Carnahan a soon-to-be failed candidate.  Given the trends, before long, good sense will be the majority view.

And if that happens before November, the Democrats are in really big trouble.

White House engaging in bribery?

Representative Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania) "has said that the administration offered him a high ranking government job if he'd stay out of the race" against former-Republican Arlen Specter.  (Link to story here.)

Whoever was behind this proffered deal "may have violated a federal statute which makes it a crime for a government employee to use his authority 'for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or election of any candidate' for certain offices, including Senate seats.

Will this be Obama's Watergate?  Unless Sestak is lying, the answer should be "yes."  But, I expect that standards in the post-Bill Clinton era may have changed to the point where nobody would care.  And, perhaps more important than the country's tolerance for bad behavior, Obama's friends in Big Media are likely to sweep this under the rug and forget about it for Obama's sake.

President Obama was in Missouri today. Where were all the Democrats?

The president came to St. Louis today to give a speech in St. Charles and another at a fundraiser downtown for Claire McCaskill.  At least she was there.

Where were the rest of their fellow Democrats?

Not wanting to be seen with Barack Obama, that's for sure.  Robin Carnahan, Russ Carnahan, and Ike Skelton skipped both events.

But, folks, don't give the skippers too much credit.  Especially the Carnahans.  Russ has supported and Robin certainly would support everything Obama stands for.  They just don't want you to know that.

Link to story here.

Pray for the resolve of these House Democrats . . .

Bart Stupak - Michigan;

Dan Lipinski - Illinois;

James Oberstar - Minnesota;

Kathy Dahlkemper - Pennsylvania;

Steve Driehaus - Ohio;

Marion Berry - Arkansas; and

Joe Donnelly - Indiana.

These seven Democrats voted for Nancy Pelosi's Obamacare bill on Christmas Eve.  But all seven are Pro-Life and have gone on record declaring that they will vote "no" on the current version of healthcare "reform" because that Senate bill fails to prevent federal tax dollars from funding abortion.  As Representative Lipinski put it, "protecting the sanctity of life is a matter of principle."  (Link to story here.)

Seven votes may not seem like a groundswell but seven is enough to block passage of the current Senate bill (if Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat majority follows rules and decorum, which they might not) and 41 Republicans can now filibuster any other version.

But, as we saw with Senator Ben Nelson, a "Pro-Life" Democrat from Nebraska, the White House and congressional leadership will put enormous pressure on these seven representatives in an effort to get what they want - no matter the cost.

So, again, I ask you to pray for their resolve to stand for principle in the face of unbelievable pressure from their fellow Democrats. 

Anybody going to see Barack Obama tomorrow? Not you. Not me. And not Robin Carnahan.

President Obama will be delivering a speech tomorrow afternoon at St. Charles High School.  But will he be facing a crowd of typical Missourians?  A representative sample?

No way.  Typical Missourians would boo Obama off the stage.  A representative sample would be overwhelmingly against Obamacare.

The Democrats can't be seen with real people these days.  They have to be hand-picked props.  To ensure an enthusiastic response and an artificial photo-op or sound-bite of cheering throngs, Obama's speech is by invitation only.  (Link to story here.)

But even though she's an enthusiastic supporter of Obama's, Robin Carnahan, the Democrats' U.S. Senate nominee-in-waiting, won't be seen with him.  Nope.  Even though I begged her to appear with her party's president and sink her campaign (link here), she didn't take the bait.  Instead, Carnahan will be in Washington, D.C. tomorrow.  (Link here.)

That's too bad.  So I'll try one more time . . . Please Robin.  Pretty please.  Change your plans and stand up with your guy.

Ever wonder how the Carnahan family can afford to be the "first family" of Missouri?

Stimulus money for Tom Carnahan's wind farm.  $90 million of stimulus money.  (Link here.)

By the way - the "first family" reference is a joke.  Link here (if you're looking at this post alone) or just look at yesterday's post, right below this one.

"First family of Missouri Politics" . . . My Eye!

Okay.  It's official.  I'm sick and tired of "the Carnahans are the first family of Missouri politics" stuff!  Check out this puff piece from today's Post-Dispatch.  

Here's the reality . . . Robin Carnahan's grandfather served in Congress and was an ambassador.  In 2000, her father was governor and ran for U.S. Senate.  Sadly, he died in a plane crash during his campaign against John Ashcroft.  (May he rest in peace.)  But here's the oft-forgotten truth . . . Ashcroft was running slightly ahead of Mel Carnahan before the crash.  (Link here.)  And, under a month later when the general election rolled around, George Bush beat Al Gore 50% to 47%.  (Link here.)  That adds up to this . . . if Mel Carnahan had survived, it is very likely that he would have lost his U.S. Senate race and the Carnahan dynasty would have come to an abrupt end.

Instead, riding a wave sympathy, Mel Carnahan's name on the ballot got 50% of the senate vote in 2000 to Ashcroft's 48%.  (Link here.)  Mel's widow and Robin's mother, Jean Carnahan, was appointed to the Senate to serve in her husband's place.  She did, for two years, until Jim Talent defeated her in a 2002 special election.  (Link here.)  Jean was never elected and never held another elected office.

Robin Carnahan and her older brother Russ, both ran for office in 2004.  Neither of them served in any elected office before then and Robin had never run.  Robin was elected Secretary of State and Russ to the U.S. Congress.

So, here's a reality check, the Carnahans aren't Missouri's Kennedys.  Russ and Robin are third-generation politicians, whose political fortunes but for family tragedy would likely have turned out very differently.

Missourians are independent folks.  We don't have a "first family" so lets stop all this fluff about the Carnahan name.

$9,700,000,000,000.00

We conservatives don't count George W. Bush as a full member of the club.  We voted for him, twice and en masse, but only because he was so much better for the country than Al Gore and John Kerry.  But during his term in office, the national debt of the United State of America increased by $4.97 trillion.  (Link here.)  That's not conservative folks, not by any method of accounting.

So what's the difference between George W. Bush and Barack Obama?  $4.73 trillion or so.  That's a whole bunch of money.

I wish that I was kidding.  I wish that I was just piling on a president I don't like.  But, unfortunately, I'm not kidding.  The Congressional budget office has issued a report projecting that Obama's proposed budget will add $9.7 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.  (Link to story here.)

As bad as Bush was at spending our money (and more) . . . Obama's twice as bad.

How to increase tourism to America? Tax the tourists!

Foreign tourism is down.  According to the U.S. Travel Association, the country welcomed 2.4 million fewer overseas visitors last year" than a decade ago.  (Link here.)  In response, President Obama singed a bill into law that creates a public-private partnership to promote U.S. tourism.  (Link to story here.)

Give credit where credit is due . . . Obama isn't using tax dollars to pay for this and promotion of tourism should result in a net economic benefit to the country.

But where is the public portion of the partnership's funds coming from?  A new tax, of course.  A $10.00 per head tax on those very same foreign travelers this campaign is trying to attract.

Brilliant.  Just brilliant.  

Here's the text of the first ad . . . "We're out of money so come to America and give us yours.  Thanks."

The convoluted "logic" of "gun control" advocates

In this otherwise nondescript story about the U.S. Supreme Court hearing (not deciding - which would actually be news) a gun control case pertaining to the City of Chicago's ban on handguns in the home comes this "logical" nugget in two, back-to-back paragraphs . . .

"In 1982, Chicago imposed the strict gun ordinance to help combat rampant gang and firearm violence that plagued the city.

"In court papers, lawyers for the city of Chicago [arguing in favor of the ban] pointed out that 402 of the 412 firearm homicides occurred with the use of handguns in 2008."

Did everybody catch that?  Handguns were responsible for 402 of 412 homicides involving firearms in 2008 . . . that's 26 year after those handguns were banned.

How's that handgun ban workin' out for you Chicago?

Brilliant.  Let's keep passing laws that make the law-abiding disarm while those who couldn't care less about laws against harming other people, much less laws banning handguns, keep their weapons.  That makes for a fair fight, doesn't it?

Bart is back!

In the never-ending saga of the Democrats' healthcare "reform" package, a familiar character has resurfaced . . . Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak.  Stupak forced a provision into the House of Representatives' version prohibiting federal funding of abortion.  (Flashback to November here.)  No such provision is included in the Senate's version or the White House version.

So, where does that leave us?

Well, it leaves Stupak and other Pro-Life Democrats on the outside.  And it leaves them in opposition to the bill.  When asked whether he would vote for the current version currently being ramrodded through Congress, Stupak replied simply, "Nope."  Because of the abortion issue and other problems that he has with the current bill.  (Link to story here.)

And, though Stupak hasn't counted up the votes, he does not believe that there are enough for passage in the House.  And, according to this story at Politico, "[Nancy] Pelosi and other top House Democrats say publicly that they have the votes to push through a comprehensive package, but privately, they know they don't."

I'd be relieved if I truly believed that.  But, as things stand, this is good news.  But we'll have to wait and see.