Posts from Big Government Editorial Panel.
Publius
Tuesday Open Thread: Climate Change Edition
by PubliusYesterday, President Obama announced his plan to create a new federal agency tasked with climate change. Later that day, the National Weather Service announced that DC was due to receive another 10-20 inches of snow today. (On top of the 2 1/2 feet of snow over the weekend.) Now THAT is some climate change.
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Podcast: Mark Steyn and John Yoo and Rob Long and Andrew Breitbart, Oh My
by PubliusRob Long and Mark Steyn are joined by guests law professor John C. Yoo and Breitbart.com’s Andrew Breitbart. Topics covered include Miranda rights for terrorists, a report from the Tea Party convention, the joyless MSM, Al-Qaeda’s potential new bomb making strategy that may be particularly problematic for certain parts of Los Angeles, and some unconventional Super Bowl picks.
(Click on PLAY button and subscribe to podcast)
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New Federal Climate Change Agency Forming
by PubliusFrom ABC News:
The Obama administration on Monday proposed a new agency to study and report on the changing climate.
Also known as global warming, climate change has drawn widespread concern in recent years as temperatures around the world rise, threatening to harm crops, spread disease, increase sea levels, change storm and drought patterns and cause polar melting.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, announced NOAA will set up the new Climate Service to operate in tandem with NOAA’s National Weather Service and National Ocean Service.
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Congressman John Murtha Dead at 77
by PubliusFrom the Associated Press:
Spokesman for Rep. John Murtha says the Pennsylvania Democrat has died at 77.
ED Note: Rep. Murtha was a close political ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He was her choice for Majority Leader, but he was edged out in a caucus-wide vote by Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD). He became a darling of the on-line left as a fierce critic of the Iraq War. For many conservatives, he was a personification of the Congressional earmark system and its potential for abuse. His final months in office were marked by serious questions surrounding his steering of millions of dollars in Pentagon appropriations.
Consider this an open thread.
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Show ACORN the Money
by PubliusFrom The American Spectator:
ACORN and other left-wing advocacy groups could be eligible for up to $3.99 billion in federal funding included in the $3.83 trillion fiscal 2011 budget blueprint that President Obama unveiled last week.
ACORN and other left-wing advocacy groups could be eligible for up to $3.99 billion in federal funding included in the $3.83 trillion fiscal 2011 budget blueprint that President Obama unveiled last week.
The $3.99 billion comes from a congressional slush fund known as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which is part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) $48.5 billion fiscal 2011 budget. CDBG grants, which are awarded to states and localities, pass indirectly to ACORN.
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Monday Open Thread: Internet Regulation Edition
by PubliusToday, in 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Communications Decency Act, an attempt by the then-GOP led Congress to regulate content on the Internet. Just over a year earlier, the GOP had won control of Congress on a promise of limited government. File this away for November 3, 2010.
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Sunday Open Thread: Embargo Edition
by PubliusToday, in 1962, the United States banned all trade with Cuba. The Castro regime capitulated soon after…oh, wait…
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Happy Birthday Ronald Reagan Open Thread
by PubliusToday, in 1911, Ronald Wilson Reagan was born in rural Illinois. He’s the kind of leader who ordinarily comes along only once in a life-time. We’re hoping we can beat those odds.
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Friday Free-For-All: Carlyle Edition
by PubliusToday, in 1881, Scottish historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle died. These days are an interesting test of Carlyle’s beliefs.
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Thursday Open Thread: Washington Edition
by PubliusToday, in 1789, the Electoral College unanimously elected George Washington as the first President of the United States. (Yes, we understand there were a few other “presidents” preceding Washington, but he was the first President under the U.S. Constitution.)
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Wednesday Open Thread: Spending Edition
by PubliusFrom the fine folks at CATO Institute comes this chart, detailing the allocation of federal spending:
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NPR’s ‘All Things Considered’ Profiles Andrew Breitbart
by PubliusFrom NPR’s “All Things Considered”:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Conservative Blogger Faces Criticism Over Protege, by DAVID FOLKENFLIK
The conservative online news entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart is, for the moment, doing little to dispel stereotypes about bloggers. During a recent visit to his home on the west side of Los Angeles, Breitbart, 41, is working from his own basement. Barefoot. At the beck and call of his own kids.
But that basement is light and airy, with a decent view of the city. A young assistant works there with Breitbart to help funnel wire service stories to Breitbart.com, his main news aggregation site. And his reach, thanks to a brawling rhetorical style and a protege who taped the undercover ACORN videos last year, is only expanding.
Over the past year, Breitbart has hired editors to run a new network of conservative blogs called BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com and BigJournalism.com. No matter the focus, the media are a prime target throughout. (more…)
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Illinois Primary Open Thread
by PubliusPolls have closed in Illinois, where voters will decide a number of hotly contested primaries in both parties. Democrats have tight races for Governor and U.S. Senate. GOP has a close race for Governor and a less competitive race for U.S. Senate. There are a number of other competitive races across the ballot. Turnout seems at an almost historic low, so almost anything could happen.
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Canadian Premier Comes to U.S. For Health Care
by PubliusFrom Canada’s National Post:
Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams
Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.
Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.
“He has gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done,” said Ms. Dunderdale, who will become acting premier while Mr. Williams is away for three to 12 weeks.
“In consultation with his own doctors, he’s decided to go that route.”
Mr. Williams’ decision to leave Canada for the surgery has raised eyebrows over his apparent shunning of Canada’s health-care system.
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Tuesday Open Thread: Groundhog Edition
by PubliusSo, do you think Punxsutawney Phil reads IPCC Global Warming reports? Actually, Phil is probably verifiably more reliable.
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James O’Keefe ‘Hannity’ Interview
by PubliusTonight on “Hannity,” James O’Keefe gave his first public interview since his arrest in New Orleans:
“The People’s Office”
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U.S. Attorney Steps Down From O’Keefe Case
by PubliusFrom FoxNews:
The same day the man who first published James O’Keefe’s explosive videos exposing wrongdoing at community organizer ACORN came to his defense Monday, claiming the conservative filmmaker “sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney” while the prosecutor made his case to the media, the U.S. attorney involved stepped down.
O’Keefe, accused of trying to tamper with the phones of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu, was “framed” by the media and the U.S. attorney’s office, Andrew Breitbart, publisher of BigGovernment.com, told Fox News Monday.
Hours later, Jim Letten, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, recused himself from the case.
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Monday Open Thread: Oh, Not Again Edition
by PubliusOn January 28th, President Obama traveled to Tampa, FL. This is how he greeted the mayor of Tampa, an American city the last time we checked. These gratuitous displays of public humility suggest a deeper narcissism than we feared.
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Sunday Open Thread: Tet Edition
by PubliusToday, in 1968, the Viet Cong launched what came to be known as the Tet Offensive. It was a military disaster for the Viet Cong, but a smashing PR victory.
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More Bailouts? Forever? Not So Fast
by PubliusPollster Frank Luntz has confirmed what conservatives, Tea Party activists and, well, every other American not affiliated with Wall Street banks have known all along — voting for bailouts is a political death sentence.
Big Government has obtained a copy of a new poll conducted by The Word Doctors that should send shivers down the spine of proponents of the Financial Reform bill that passed the House of Representatives in December. The legislation created a $150 billion bailout fund for future bailouts for banks and corporations and authorizes the Fed to spend up to another $4 Trillion.
Luntz’s poll asked whether “you would be more or less likely to vote for your member of Congress if they voted for a Financial Reform bill that contained a fund to bail out banks and Wall Street?” The results: 5% more likely. 79% Less Likely. An incredible 52% of respondents said that they would be “much more likely” to vote against bailout supporters. A copy of the Luntz poll can be found here:
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Saturday Open Thread: Chaos Edition
by PubliusToday, in 1649, British King Charles I was beheaded. On the same day, in 1661, his usurper, Oliver Cromwell, was executed. In 1835, an assassin tried to kill President Andrew Jackson. In 1948, Gandi was assassinated. And, in 1968, today, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam began.
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Friday Free-For-All: Walesa Edition
by PubliusToday, in Chicago, anti-Communist hero Lech Walesa is headlining a Tea Party Rally. The Rally is in support of Republican Candidate for Governor Adam Andrzejewski. 20+ years ago an American President helped Lech take back his country. Today Lech returns the favor and helps us take back ours.
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White House Orders: No Terror Trials in NYC
by PubliusFrom the New York Daily News:
The White House ordered the Justice Department to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan.
The White House took the action hours after Mayor Bloomberg called Attorney General Eric Holder to say he would “prefer that they did it elsewhere.”
“It would be an inconvenience at the least, and probably that’s too mild a word for people that live in the neighborhood and businesses in the neighborhood,” Bloomberg told reporters.
“There are places that would be less expensive for the taxpayers and less disruptive for New York City.”
State leaders have railed against a plan to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Manhattan federal court since Holder proposed it last month.
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Lawyer: Phone Scheme Meant to Embarrass Senator
by PubliusFrom the Associated Press:
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Four conservative activists accused of trying to tamper with a senator’s phones were just trying to record embarrassing undercover video of her staff ignoring phone calls from constituents angry that she supported health care reform, one of their attorneys said Thurday.
The four, including activist James O’Keefe, known for posing as a pimp and using a hidden camera to target the community-organizing group ACORN, were arrested Monday after targeting Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in a New Orleans federal building.
Attorney J. Garrison Jordan denied they were trying to disable or wiretap the phones in Landrieu’s office.
“You’re dealing with kids,” he said. “I don’t think they thought it through that far.”
Instead, Jordan said, they hoped to get embarrassing video footage of Landrieu’s staff handling constituent calls. Her office received complaints last month that callers opposed to her health care stance couldn’t get through.
Landrieu was not impressed with Jordan’s explanation.
“Attorneys are hired to spin for their clients,” she said Thursday in an interview in Washington. “Good luck.” (more…)
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Poll: Americans – and Millennials – Lack Confidence in Government and Wall Street on Economy
by PubliusA new national poll finds a crisis of confidence on economic issues among Americans — and younger Americans (those 18-29) — alike.
Among the key findings, Americans and Millennials:
Are not confident in the government’s ability to handle the economic crisis. (59% of Americans; 55% of Millennials)
- Want a free market approach and oppose greater government regulation of business. (55% of Americans; 53% of Millennials)
- Believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. (67% of Americans; 60% of Millennials)
- Want the same set of moral standards in business life as in personal life. (75% of Americans; 66% of Millennials)
- See business decisions based on greed as morally wrong. (74% of Americans; 77% of Millennials)
- Think their careers will be negatively impacted for the long-term by the current economic situation (55% of Americans under 65 years old; 55% of Millennials).
“A year into the Obama administration, we find that Americans — and younger Americans — are having a crisis of confidence,” says Carl Anderson, CEO of the Knights of Columbus, the group that commissioned the poll. “People are increasingly pessimistic about the government’s ability to handle the economic crisis and a majority believes that increased government regulation will hurt the economy.”
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Thursday Open Thread: Challenger Edition
by PubliusToday, in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded just seconds after lift-off. All seven crew members were killed.
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SOTU Address Open Thread
by PubliusWe’ve closed down the live blog, but feel free to move the conversation to the the comments.
“With all due deference to separation of powers…”
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Wednesday Open Thread: SOTU Edition
by PubliusTonight, President Obama delivers his first State of the Union Address. Quaint that we once set aside specific time to ensure the President communicated with the public.
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James O’Keefe Arrested in New Orleans
by PubliusStatement from Andrew Breitbart:
“We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O’Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office. We only just learned about the alleged incident this afternoon. We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press. Accordingly, we simply are not in a position to make any further comment.”
From the Associated Press:
A conservative activist who posed as a pimp to target the community-organizing group ACORN and the son of a federal prosecutor were among four people arrested by the FBI and accused of trying to interfere with phones at Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office.
Activist James O’Keefe, 25, was already in Landrieu’s New Orleans office Monday when Robert Flanagan and Joseph Basel, both 24, showed up claiming to be telephone repairmen, U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office said Tuesday. Letten says O’Keefe recorded the two with his cell phone.
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Tuesday Open Thread: Teleprompter Edition
by PubliusNot…a…damn…thing…more…needs…to…be…said.
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