Texas took yet another step this week that is certain to tighten its grip on the designation as the nation’s leading state for business. Governors in other states looking to improve their jobs situation should give serious consideration to mirroring the Lone Star State’s aggressive pro-jobs, pro-growth agenda.

On Tuesday the Texas Senate, under the leadership of Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and despite an aggressive lobbying effort by the Trial Lobby, voted unanimously in favor of “loser pays” tort reform legislation. On Wednesday, the House, which had passed a similar bill and was awaiting the Senate’s version, concurred with the Senate bill and passed it through. Gov. Rick Perry has said he will enthusiastically sign the bill into law.

‘Loser pays’ will require plaintiff’s to foot the bill of the winning party’s legal costs if a judge finds the case to be groundless. According to the Wall Street Journal, “This Texas upgrade would build on reforms in 2003 and 2005 that have vastly improved the legal climate in what has not coincidentally become the country’s best state for job creation.”

Negotiations on the bill were highly contentious in recent weeks, mostly due to a well-funded lobbying campaign by the Trial Lobby, which, in Texas, is virtually synonymous with the Democratic Party. Nevertheless, there was a breakthrough over the weekend.

From the Austin Statesman:

By a unanimous vote, the Texas Senate has just given final approval to a once-controversial “loser pays” bill designed to make it easier to get meritless lawsuits tossed out of court.

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After hearing news the other day that the Obama administration had appointed a new position to monitor and push back against negative online press we thought some liberals in DC might think it wasn’t enough. So we sent Joe Schoffstall out to see just how far liberals would go to silence conservative speech. Joe went around Georgetown in DC with a petition to “Ban Conservative Hate Sites” that said this:

The undersigned hereby adamantly demand that the United States government shut down right wing hate sites. The hate speech propagated by sites like the Drudge Report, Hot Air, Instapundit, Big Government, and others must not be allowed to corrupt our political discourse any longer. These sites are dangerous not only to truth and freedom but also to our society as a whole. BAN THEM NOW!

That is pretty radical rhetoric that no reasonable, freedom-loving, red-blooded American could possibly agree with, right? Well, see for yourself:

It’s shocking isn’t it? Then again, perhaps it shouldn’t be.

After all Exposing Leftists, um, exposed that liberal college student in California were willing to ban conservatives from talk radio.

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Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) has filed a simple amendment to the Patriot Act protecting the rights of Americans to lawfully carry a firearm.  His Amendment would stop federal agencies from collecting gun records under the Patriot Act.  The amendment preserves two provisions of current law that protects gun owner privacy from a Patriot Act exemption.

The Paul Amendment (SA 328) states in part “no provision of this Act or an amendment made by this Act shall be construed to authorize access to firearms records in the possession of licensed under Chapter 44 of title 18 of the US Code.”  The purpose of the Amendment is to “clarify that the authority to obtain information under the US PATRIOT Act does not include the authority to obtain certain firearms records.”  Seems like a non-controversial clarification of the powers of the federal government with regard to the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution.

Leadership in both parties disagree and have been doing everything to block consideration of the Paul Amendment. Neil McCabe at Guns and Patriots reported yesterday on Facebook that “finessing arcane procedural tactics, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blocked the amendment by withdrawing his own bill for Patriot Act extension for consideration and then attached it to an unrelated bill.”  McCabe further reported that Reid was overheard on the Senate floor expressing an interest in avoiding this vote.  That was yesterday, now Republicans in the Senate Leadership are actively opposing the Paul Amendment to the Patriot Act.

In an Email obtained by Big Government from a Senate Republican Leadership staffer for Senator Jon Kyl (R-Arizona) to Republican staff below titled “OPPOSE the Paul Firearm Amendment” argues for Republicans to block the Paul 2nd Amendment protection legislation:

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Palin spokesman Tim Crawford says the tour will hit “historical sites that were key to the formation, survival, and growth of the United States of America.”

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Sarah Palin is embarking on an East Coast tour this weekend, hitting historical sites that her political action committee calls key to the country’s formation, survival, and growth.

Limited details of Palin’s “One Nation” tour were released on the website of SarahPAC. The tour is beginning in Washington, D.C., and moving up the East Coast.

The tour comes as speculation mounts that Palin will enter the Republican presidential race.

She has authorized a feature-length film about her career, added staff and said she has “that fire in the belly” for a presidential bid. (more…)

House Democrats in Indiana thought they were being clever by walking out on the legislative session in February, stealing a page out of the Wisconsin Democrats’ playbook.  Instead of having a debate on the serious issues of education reform, they decided to skip town to Urbana, Illinois and enjoy a break.

A break, by the way, that was completely paid for by labor unions.

According to Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma, the stunt actually backfired.

Bosma, in an interview with EAGtv and the Hoosier Report Card, revealed that some Republicans were wavering over the bold reforms, but when the Democrats refused to debate and skipped town, the GOP united and moved forward with its agenda.

“Our Democratic colleagues saw what was going to happen in the House, they knew that I was the co-author or author of a number of these bills.

“While they left the state for Urbana for 35 days, a record by the way in the nation’s history, not just Indiana’s, the guise was over labor issues, construction issues, collective bargaining issues for state employees. But the real fact of the matter is they knew these critical education reforms were going to pass despite the opposition of their key ally, the Indiana State Teachers Association. That is the primary reason they left the state.

“That actually helped my team … to get (reforms) through the House.

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Judge Maryann Sumi Strikes again.

The judge who had been blocking implementation of Wisconsin’s public employee collective bargaining reforms has now struck down the law altogether, saying legislative Republicans failed to give proper notice before acting on the bill in committee.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi issued her ruling Thursday, writing that the law is voided because lawmakers failed to provide proper public notice of a Conference Committee meeting wherein the bill was amended.

“The court must consider the potential damage to public trust and confidence in government if the Legislature is not held to the same rules of transparency that it has created for other governmental bodies,” Sumi wrote.

Republicans argued that the Legislature, when in Special Session, is not bound by the law requiring a broad public notice.

(more…)

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by John Yoo, former Department of Justice official under President George W. Bush to discuss how enhanced interrogation techniques lead to Osama bin Laden’s death, how Bush administration policies have helped the war on terror, and what missteps lie ahead for Obama.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Robert Gates on America’s Role in the World
Robert Gates: ‘If America Declines to Lead in the World, Others Will Not’
John Yoo: Tough interrogations worked
From Guantanamo to Abbottabad
Libya and the War Powers Abdication
John Yoo’s Book – Crisis and Command: A History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush
John Yoo at AEI

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President Obama’s Middle East speech of last week created much controversy surrounding his call for the 1949 armistice lines (commonly called the pre-June 1967 borders) to be the starting point of any territorial negotiations.

While that controversy was justified, the President was deficient in a much bigger issue, one that neither the press nor the majority of the pro-Israel community has picked up on yet.

Israeli Prime Minister outlined it brilliantly in his speech before Congress the other day:

“You see, our conflict has never been about the establishment of a Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish state. This is what this conflict is about….

They were simply unwilling to end the conflict. And I regret to say this: They continue to educate their children to hate. They continue to name public squares after terrorists. And worst of all, they continue to perpetuate the fantasy that Israel will one day be flooded by the descendants of Palestinian refugees.”

My friends, this must come to an end. President Abbas must do what I have done. I stood before my people, and I told you it wasn’t easy for me, and I said… “I will accept a Palestinian state.” It is time for President Abbas to stand before his people and say… “I will accept a Jewish state.”

In his Middle East address President Obama called Israel a Jewish State…

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Big Government has previously discussed the Texas legislature’s surprising move of passing legislation aimed at forcing out-of-state, online only retailers to collect and remit to the state sales/use tax.

Such legislation is constitutionally dubious, and sources say, may well be vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry for multiple reasons.  First, opponents say the bill would increase taxes to the tune of $60-plus million a year.  Second, it appears unlikely to pass constitutional muster.

But third, other red states like South Carolina and Tennessee that are keen to attract and retain business appear to be rejecting similar moves, thus potentially marginalizing the Lone Star state should H.B. 2403– the bill in question– be allowed to become law.

From CNBC:

The House voted 97-20 to give Amazon a five-year exemption from collecting sales taxes from online shoppers in South Carolina.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Tennessee lawmakers on Wednesday backed off trying to force Amazon.com to collect sales taxes on transactions in the state, at least for this year.

Texas is widely regarded as one of the most business-friendly states in the country, and it has a relatively low unemployment rate of 7.7% to prove it.

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During a recent television appearance, former Vermont Gov. and Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean said “charter schools are the future” and suggested that the charter school/teacher union “battle is coming to an end.”

Yeah, right. Or, in Howard Dean’s language:  YYYEEEAARRRR, right!

The “battle” may be over, but the teacher unions’ desire to co-opt (and ultimately destroy) charter schools remains.  The tactics have changed.  Instead of the Gatling-gun approach, they’re now resorting to the Boa Constrictor method.

In fact, the unions have been surprisingly candid about their new strategy of infiltration and suffocation.

United Federation of Teachers Vice President Leo Casey considers charter schools competition that will cost teaching jobs in traditional public schools. His goal is to organize the teachers so public support for charters will drop off. He said this at the recent socialist Left Forum:

“If we do not figure out how to organize charter schools and if we are not successful in doing that, we will end up in the same place as the auto workers. So there is no more key question before us as a union and a broader labor movement with regard to education than how we approach charter schools and our ability to organize them.”

This reinforces something Detroit Federation of Teachers President Keith Johnson wrote a year ago:

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EDITOR’S NOTE: During the past several days at BigGovernment.com and BobMcCarty.com, I’ve been reporting about on the case of the USDA assessing John and Judy Dollarhite a fine of $90,643 for selling more than $500 worth of rabbits in a calendar year. Along the way, I came across details of another effort being waged by the federal agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Earlier this week, I contacted Tim Sonefelt, a South Carolina magician, family entertainer and entrepreneur who broke the story three years ago in the Journal of KIDabra International, The Association of Family and Kid Show Performers.  Below, with his permission, I share a lengthy portion of that original story.

By Tim Sonefelt

What happens when your photo is taken for the newspaper with your fluffy little bunny rabbit? Great publicity, right? Well, not if a U.S Department of Agriculture agent buys a copy of that paper! Enter the Rabbit Police!

Yes, you read correctly, the RABBIT POLICE, and the above story is how my buddy Gary Maurer in Hilton Head Island, S.C., was “busted” in the summer of 2006!

Gary is a full-time performer working heavily during the tourist season at numerous resort areas and tourist attractions on the island. One day, the local newspaper showed up at the show and took some photos to accompany a short blurb about the tourist area. The photo that ran included one of Gary’s beautiful Angora Rabbits.

Imagine Gary’s surprise when, a couple of weeks later, a field inspector from the USDA contacted him explaining that he needed to have a license to use the rabbits in his show. He was so surprised, in fact, that he though it was a joke! He was quickly informed it was indeed no joke.

They made arrangements for the inspector to make the three-hour trek from Columbia, S.C., to Hilton Head and Gary went through the process to become licensed.

“She was very polite and helpful in explaining everything. She also seemed to understand the lunacy of the whole thing. At the same time, I guess she has a job to do,” said Maurer. “She also asked me if I knew other magicians who used rabbits. I told her she’d have to find that out for herself!”

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This week President Obama revealed his latest attempt to control the media, the Internet, and the information revealed to the people of the United States by creating a new “press” office of sorts, an Obama ministry of truth, if you will. Obama’s grandiose name for this new office is the Progressive Media & Online Response department. Also named was its new director, Jesse Lee. Lee, it turns out, has an interesting connection to one of the most outrageous anti-American, anti-military media efforts in recent memory.

Jesse Lee, you see, is married to Nita Chaudhary, one of the people responsible for the 2007 MoveOn.org newspaper ad that maligned General David Petraeus as “General Betray Us.”

That’s right, the guy that President Obama has chosen to “correct” the Internet and media and to relay the president’s “truth” is connected to one of the most anti-American, anti-military, left-wing activist groups in America. Lee and his wife are typical, hardcore, leftist extremists yet now they are in the People’s House with Lee responsible to “correct” the people themselves when they dare to question The One.

As David Steinberg notes, “Lee’s relationship with Chaudhary was not a negative for his White House career.” On the contrary, the man married to the woman that helped head an attack on the very general Obama himself has given greater duties has found her baleful influence to have either helped him reach a position inside the White House, or at the very least been a non-factor.

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Today, in 1907, John Wayne was born.

The police described it as an armed robbery and a hostage situation. Before dawn on Sunday, May, 8th, two robbers stormed into a Walgreens store wearing masks and gloves and carrying guns. Video cameras in the store on Napier Avenue in Benton Township, Michigan captured the whole event. Fortunately, though, Jeremy Hoven, a pharmacist and one of the employees in the store, had a permitted concealed handgun with him. Unfortunately, Walgreens fired Hoven for having a gun at work.

Police Lt. Delmar Lange thought that Hoven had done the right thing firing shots and forcing the robbers to flee. “[Hoven] could see the hostage situation developing. He could not retreat any farther. He was in the back room. If it was me, I would have done the same thing,” Lange told the Detroit Free-Press. Lange thought that the video cameras clearly showed that Hoven had no alternative. The robbers were “very aggressive and very dangerous in what they did and how they did it.”

At least one of the three other workers in the store was also convinced that Hoven did the right thing, sending Hoven a thank-you card with a photograph of his four children.

Other evidence also suggests that Hoven did “the right thing.” The National Crime Victimization Survey shows that defending oneself with a gun is by far the safest course of action when one is confronted by a robber. For example, people who protect themselves with a gun are injured in robberies about 8 percent of the time, but those who behave passively are injured by the criminals 24 percent of the time, a three times higher rate.

(more…)

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson is joined by Pejman Yousefzadeh and Elizabeth Blackney to discuss Jon Huntsman’s past support of Cap and Trade, the stimulus plan, and an Obamacare like individual mandate for healthcare.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Huntsman, Schwarzenegger ink global warming pact
Politico: The Huntsman file
Republican Gov. Huntsman says GOP leaders opposing recovery are engaging in ‘gratuitous political griping.’
Truth outweighs consistency
Flip-flopping is bad; lying is worse
Video: A Common Sense Campaign for America
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I think I can say with a high degree of confidence that the USDA appears to be caving when it comes to the matter of the USDA assessing John and Judy Dollarhite a fine of $90,463 because the Nixa, Mo., couple sold more than $500 worth of rabbits in a calendar year.

I base that conclusion on the following e-mail I received late Tuesday afternoon from USDA/APHIS Spokesperson Dave Sacks:

Hello Mr. McCarty

Here is one final statement I can offer, in the event you write any follow-up stories.

We are working out an alternative to the $90K fine and plan to reach out to Mr. Dollarhite over the next week to discuss. We are hopeful he’ll be amenable to discussing it with us and let us visit his facility as we work the issue out.

Thank you.

Dave

When I contacted John Dollarhite to find out if he was aware of the “alternative,” he said he was aware and has actually received some helpful assistance from staffers at the office of U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). Perhaps, that’s what prompted the arrival of the USDA spokesperson’s timely email.

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Senate Democrats, flatlining America one budget at time

Think back to April 29, 2011. Was there anything special about that day? Yes, Prince William married Kate Middleton in a regal affair at Westminster Abbey, but there is something more important about that date for Americans. April 29^th, in fact, marked two years since Senate Democrats last summoned the courage to pass a budget funding the Federal government.  That’s two entire years of shirking their constitutionally mandated duty.

Let’s revisit the past few budget cycles. In 2009, Democrats were riding high and controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. They were able to pass a budget for fiscal year 2010 in a timely manner.  It was certainly not a budget that conservatives celebrated, but, hey, let’s give the Democrats points for actually following the directive of the Constitution. Of course, the winds of change were blowing in 2009, courtesy of the tea party movement.

Fast-forward to the spring of 2010, time for Democrats (still controlling both houses of Congress) to unveil their budget for fiscal year 2011 . . . a budget we’ve still yet to see one year later and we are smack dab in the middle of said fiscal year.  Oh yes, let’s not forget that 2010 was a key election cycle, one that was not favorable to Democrats. Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, saw his seat as being very much in play and did what is becoming all-too-common for the left these days: he punted. Instead of making the tough decisions required of a leader, particularly during the trying economic times we faced last year and continue to face, Reid simply did nothing. He saw his reelection as being supremely more important than solving the country’s woes.

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California Democrats are about to initiate a big effort to ram through bills that would force out-of-state, online-only retailers with no physical presence in the state to collect and remit to California sales/use taxes. Starting with a press conference today, they are pursuing three different approaches.

The first is Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner’s AB 153, otherwise know as the affiliate nexus approach. As previously reported, the bill would force out-of-state online-only retailers who use websites based in the state– including eBay– to advertise to collect and remit California sales and use taxes.  Amazon and Overstock have threatened to terminate affiliate contracts to keep themselves out of California’s tax net if this bill passes.

The second, deeply problematic bill is SB 234 which enacts “long arm” nexus and allows the Board of Equalization (BoE) a virtual unfettered ability to force anyone it wants, no matter who or where they are, to collect and remit to California sales and use taxes. Critics charge that in addition to enabling tax-hiking and the imposition of new taxes, and extending massive authority to the BoE, if this bill becomes law, it will provoke costly litigation that California is likely to lose.

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