The Right of Recall

Congress is out of control.  The public overwhelming opposes a government takedover of our health care. But Congressional leaders are telling us they don’t care – that they know best, and they’re going to pass it anyway.

We are getting the same attitude on other issues, from global warming regulation, to taxes, government spending, deficits, federal debt, energy policy, welfare, corporate bailouts, and beyond.  Too many of our elected Members of Congress are making behind-closed-door deals and ignoring their constituents, calling them “yahoos,” “Nazis”,“and “tea-baggers.”

This isn’t American democracy — this is a shop-worn, elitist, authoritarianism closer to abuses we see in countries like Venezuela.

So, what would happen if the people could change this rotten situation?

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: congressmen, corporate bailout, Deficit, federal debt, global warming
Posted Feb 9th 2010 at 8:19 am in Congress, Justice/Legal, News, Politics, State Politics | 7258285 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/pferrara/2010/02/09/the-right-of-recall/The+Right+of+Recall2010-02-09+16%3A19%3A49Peter+Ferrara

Drillgate: Internal Emails Shows Obama Team Lying to Public

If you’re the President of the United States or one of his political appointees and you’re ideologically opposed to new oil and natural gas development offshore, what do you do when the public registers its overwhelming support for new drilling in public opinion polls?

You dance, delay, and deceive. You speak melodious words about seeking the wisdom of the public in making these decisions and then ignore evidence of the public will when you get it, or worse, you hide it.

First came the dance.  In August 2008, after soaring gas prices and a dramatic shift in public opinion caused President Bush, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, and Republican presidential candidate John McCain to reverse their positions on offshore drilling, then-Senator Obama also changed. The Democratic presidential nominee reversed his own position and that of his party, saying he was open to offshore drilling as part of an overall energy plan.  The Democratic Congress followed a month later by quietly dropping the 25-year Congressional ban on offshore drilling.

Then came the delay. In January 2009, President Obama inherited a draft five year offshore drilling plan prepared by the outgoing Bush administration.  The plan was already receiving public comment as part of the elaborate rule making process followed by federal agencies.  Ken Salazar, Obama’s new Secretary of Interior, determined the decision about new offshore drilling was so important that he ordered a six-month extension to the comment period.

Third comes the dishonesty.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: American Solutions, Department of Interior, Drillgate, FOIA, Ken Salazar
Posted Feb 9th 2010 at 6:37 am in Congress, Environment, News, Obama, Politics | 72358117 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/vhaley/2010/02/09/drillgate-internal-emails-shows-obama-team-lying-to-public/Drillgate%3A+Internal+Emails+Shows+Obama+Team+Lying+to+Public2010-02-09+14%3A37%3A37Vince+Haley

Political Alchemy, Part I: Turning Spending Increases into Tax Cuts

Politicians in Washington have come up with something far more impressive than turning lead into gold or water into wine. Using self-serving budget rules, they can increase the burden of government spending and say they are cutting taxes instead.

This bit of legerdemain is made possible, thanks to the convolutions of the personal income tax, by adopting or expanding refundable tax credits. But in this case, “refundable” does not mean the government is returning money to taxpayers. Instead, it means that money is being redistributed to people who do not earn enough to be subject to the income tax.

This is hardly a trivial issue. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the amount of income redistribution being laundered through the tax code is now so large that the bottom 40 percent of the population has a negative “effective” income tax rate. In simple terms (though perhaps with profound political implications), the income tax is a revenue generator for a big share of the population.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: 1040, Big Government, EITC, federal spending, Flat Tax
Posted Feb 8th 2010 at 12:57 pm in Congress, Economics, Flat Tax, News, Obama, Politics, Tax Reform, Uncategorized, federal spending | 7025048 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2010/02/08/political-alchemy-part-i-turning-spending-increases-into-tax-cuts/Political+Alchemy%2C+Part+I%3A+Turning+Spending+Increases+into+Tax+Cuts2010-02-08+20%3A57%3A34Dan+Mitchell

Show ACORN the Money

From 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.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: ACORN, ACORN funding, ACORN funding ban, acorn scandal, Bill Clinton
Posted Feb 8th 2010 at 10:41 am in ACORN, Congress, federal spending | 7189460 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/02/08/show-acorn-the-money/Show+ACORN+the+Money2010-02-08+18%3A41%3A37Publius

Discussing Citizens United, Free Speech, Congressional Corruption, and More With Bill Moyers and Larry Lessig

On Friday, I appeared on Bill Moyers Journal with Harvard law prof and cyberspace theorist Lawrence Lessig to discuss the whys and wherefores of the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. From the show’s writeup:

The Supreme Court’s January 2010 decision of the Citizen’s United v. Federal Election Commission on campaign finance regulations has caused a stir around the political spectrum. A poll from Angus Reid Public Opinion found that 65 percent of people surveyed disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision — 67 percent of Democrats, 63 percent of Republicans, and 72 percent of independents.

Libertarian journalist Nick Gillespie says all that worry is misplaced in a much-watched video “Three Reasons Not to Sweat Citizens United.” “If you want to get bent out of shape about something, direct your ire at a massive and constantly growing government that has its hands in virtually every aspect of economic and social life in America,” Says Gillespie.

Harvard legal scholar Lawrence Lessig disagrees, viewing the ruling as a another step in the takeover of democracy by big money. In an article for THE NATION entitled “How to Get Our Democracy Back: If You Want Change, You Have to Change Congress,” Lessig calls for a constitutional convention to make public financing of campaigns the law of the land, “What both sides must come to see is that the reform of neither is possible until we solve our first problem first — the dependency of the Fundraising Congress.”

As you might guess, we didn’t agree on much, but it was a spirited and civil conversation well worth having. A full transcript is available, along with video of the segment and links to related materials, by clicking on the image below.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: bill moyers, campaign finance, Citizens United, Lawrence Lessig
Posted Feb 6th 2010 at 2:25 pm in Big Labor, Congress, Justice/Legal, Media Criticism, Politics | 7085435 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2010/02/06/discussing-citizens-united-free-speech-congressional-corruption-and-more-with-bill-moyers-and-larry-lessig/Discussing+Citizens+United%2C+Free+Speech%2C+Congressional+Corruption%2C+and+More+With+Bill+Moyers+and+Larry+Lessig2010-02-06+22%3A25%3A17Nick+Gillespie

How to Get Our Democracy Back: If You Want Change, You Have to Change Congress

Editors Note: This post is re-printed with permission from The Nation magazine, where it appears as the February 4, 2010 cover story. You can see a video interview with Professor Lessig about the piece here, or take action on issues raised in the piece by visiting FixCongressFirst.org.

We should remember what it felt like one year ago, as the ability to recall it emotionally will pass and it is an emotional memory as much as anything else. It was a moment rare in a democracy’s history. The feeling was palpable–to supporters and opponents alike–that something important had happened. America had elected, the young candidate promised, a transformational president. And wrapped in a campaign that had produced the biggest influx of new voters and small-dollar contributions in a generation, the claim seemed credible, almost intoxicating, and just in time.

Yet a year into the presidency of Barack Obama, it is already clear that this administration is an opportunity missed. Not because it is too conservative. Not because it is too liberal. But because it is too conventional. Obama has given up the rhetoric of his early campaign–a campaign that promised to “challenge the broken system in Washington” and to “fundamentally change the way Washington works.” Indeed, “fundamental change” is no longer even a hint.

Instead, we are now seeing the consequences of a decision made at the most vulnerable point of Obama’s campaign–just when it seemed that he might really have beaten the party’s presumed nominee. For at that moment, Obama handed the architecture of his new administration over to a team that thought what America needed most was another Bill Clinton. A team chosen by the brother of one of DC’s most powerful lobbyists, and a White House headed by the quintessential DC politician. A team that could envision nothing more than the ordinary politics of Washington–the kind of politics Obama had called “small.” A team whose imagination–politically–is tiny.

These tiny minds–brilliant though they may be in the conventional game of DC–have given up what distinguished Obama’s extraordinary campaign. Not the promise of healthcare reform or global warming legislation–Hillary Clinton had embraced both of those ideas, and every other substantive proposal that Obama advanced. Instead, the passion that Obama inspired grew from the recognition that something fundamental had gone wrong in the way our government functions, and his commitment to reform it.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Ben Nelson, Bill Clinton, bush v gore, cap-and-trade
Posted Feb 5th 2010 at 7:04 am in Congress, Culture, Featured Story, Healthcare, History, Justice/Legal, Obama, Politics, Tea Party | 70270130 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/llessig/2010/02/05/how-to-get-our-democracy-back-if-you-want-change-you-have-to-change-congress/How+to+Get+Our+Democracy+Back%3A+If+You+Want+Change%2C+You+Have+to+Change+Congress2010-02-05+15%3A04%3A13Lawrence+Lessig

With Scott Brown, America Chose the Pickup Truck Over the Prius

Later today Scott Brown will be sworn in as the 41st Republican in the United States Senate.
He is on his way to Washington DC right now with certificatation in hand.

One of the many players who contributed to Scott Brown’s victory is Ken Pittman from WBSM in Massachusetts. Ken interviewed Democrat Martha Coakley the week before the Massachusetts election. It was during this interview that Martha told Ken that if you object to abortion and are a devout Catholic then…

“You probably shouldn’t work in the emergency room.”

That was the wrong answer.

Ken sent me this article last night that he wrote on this historic Massachusetts election:

America Chose the Pickup Truck Over the Prius

In what has to be the most important non-presidential election race in many decades, Scott Brown won a most unlikely race in the state bluer than Frank Sinatra’s eyes, Massachusetts. So much weighed on the outcome outside of our state that the RNC finally heeded to the desperate cries for help from those of us here who have fought behind the enemy lines, praying for the cavalry for a half century.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: curt schilling, ken pittman, martha coakley, massachusetts senate election, massachusetts special election
Posted Feb 4th 2010 at 12:41 pm in Congress, News, Politics, State Politics | 70014135 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jhoft/2010/02/04/with-scott-brown-america-chose-the-pickup-truck-over-the-prius/With+Scott+Brown%2C+America+Chose+the+Pickup+Truck+Over+the+Prius+2010-02-04+20%3A41%3A10Jim+Hoft

Senator Paul Kirk Must Resign His Seat This Morning

Reporting yesterday on Big Government, I reiterated the fact that interim Senator Paul Kirk should have resigned his Senate seat after the election. However, Kirk certainly has no option but to vacate the MA Senate seat once Brown’s election is certified–all based on Massachusetts state law and Senate rules. In following-up the story it is being reported by The Hill that Senator-elect Brown will be sworn in about 5PM Thursday, February 4th.

In learning this information, I wanted to confirm when Senator Kirk was going to resign his interim Senate seat. Staff at Kirk’s office said that he would step down once Brown was sworn in.

In case Kirk needs a reminder of the changed Massachusetts law that allowed for his appointment by Governor Patrick as the interim senator, here it is:

Chapter 92 of the Acts of 2009
AN ACT RELATIVE TO FILLING A TEMPORARY VACANCY IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Section 140 of chapter 54 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following subsection:–

(f) Upon failure to choose a senator in congress or upon a vacancy in that office, the governor shall make a temporary appointment to fill the vacancy; provided, however, that the person so appointed shall serve until the election and qualification of the person duly elected to fill the vacancy pursuant to subsection (a) or (c). Approved September 24, 2009. Emphasis mine.

The original MA law can be found here.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: deval patrick, election certification, election law, paul kirk, scott brown
Posted Feb 4th 2010 at 6:29 am in Congress, Justice/Legal, News, Politics, State Politics | 6969473 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/02/04/senator-paul-kirk-must-resign-his-seat-this-morning/Senator+Paul+Kirk+Must+Resign+His+Seat+This+Morning2010-02-04+14%3A29%3A15SusanAnne+++Hiller

Why You Should Know About Craig Becker (and Why You Need to Be Worried)

Craig Becker is President Obama’s nominee to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and you should be afraid…very, very afraid.

According to the NLRB website, Congress established the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the primary law that governs relations between unions, employees and employers in the private sector. The Act guarantees employees the right to organize and to bargain collectively with their employers or to refrain from such activities. The Act, which generally applies to all employers involved in interstate commerce, implements the national labor policy of assuring free choice and encouraging collective bargaining as a means of maintaining industrial peace.

The NLRB has two primary functions: one, to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices, whether committed by labor organizations or employers, and; two, to establish whether or not certain groups of employees desire labor organization representation for collective-bargaining purposes, and if so, which union.

Becker will be the third person on the five person Board and the second Democrat thus giving them majority on the Board. To say that Becker’s views are “extreme” would be an insult. His views of employer-employee relations invites thoughts of hammers and sickles.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Craig Becker, NLRB
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 at 1:29 pm in Big Labor, Congress | 6939066 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/brjohnson/2010/02/03/why-you-should-know-about-craig-becker-and-why-you-need-to-be-worried/Why+You+Should+Know+About+Craig+Becker+%28and+Why+You+Need+to+Be+Worried%292010-02-03+21%3A29%3A30Brian++Johnson

Reason.tv: 3 Reasons Not to Sweat Citizens United

No recent Supreme Court ruling have evoked more liberal fury than Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a campaign-finance case involving government censorship of a political documentary called Hillary: The Movie. The Federal Election Commission prevented the anti-Hillary Clinton film from being shown on television just before the 2008 Democratic primaries, a decision that was upheld by lower courts. Siding with The First Amendment, the Court struck down laws regulating independent political advertising by for-profit and non-profit corporations before an election even as they reaffirmed rules about disclosure and disclosures for ads and against direct corporate giving to candidates.

Critics fear that corporations will now overwhelm the political marketplace with commercials and advertisements that will program citizens to vote for whatever agenda “the corprations” want at a given moment.

MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann railed against the decision, calling it “a Supreme Court-sanctioned murder of what little democracy is left in this democracy” and comparing it to the notorious Dred Scott decision, which ruled that  had no rights under the Constitution. His fellow corporate media host at MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, exclaimed, “If you are a regular person who has ever made a campaign donation before, forget about ever having to do that again. What’s the point?”

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, campaign finance, campaign finance reform, Citizens United, Dred Scott decision
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 at 12:59 pm in Big Labor, Congress, Justice/Legal, Media Criticism, Obama, Politics | 6929867 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2010/02/03/reason-tv-3-reasons-not-to-sweat-citizens-united/Reason.tv%3A+3+Reasons+Not+to+Sweat+Citizens+United2010-02-03+20%3A59%3A01Nick+Gillespie

Sen. Kirk Must Step Down; Brown Election To Be Certified Thursday

In a previous post on Big Government, I questioned why Senator Paul Kirk has not stepped down as the Senator from Massachusetts, as he should have on January 19th.  Today, the attorney for Senator-elect Scott Brown stated in a letter Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick that Brown wanted the results of the January 19 election certified by 11 a.m. Thursday, so they could be forwarded to U.S. Senate officials for immediate action.

Governor Patrick’s office also issued this statement via email today:

As the Lieutenant Governor stated earlier today, the Governor will convene the Governor’s Council at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning and certify the results. This will ensure that Senator-elect Brown’s request to receive the final paperwork by 11:00 a.m. tomorrow is fulfilled.

This stunning move by Brown and fulfillment by the governor’s office forces Kirk to resign his seat–presenting problems for the Democrats as they move forward with the current Senate schedule, which includes the controversial M. Patricia Smith nomination.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Al Franken, election certification, norm coleman, paul kirk, Roland Burris
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 at 12:25 pm in Congress, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 6827887 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/02/03/sen-kirk-must-step-down-brown-election-to-be-certified-thursday/Sen.+Kirk+Must+Step+Down%3B+Brown+Election+To+Be+Certified+Thursday2010-02-03+20%3A25%3A18SusanAnne+++Hiller

How Many Fights Will Obama Pick With America?

Politics is a game of addition – successful politics anyway.  Great leaders, when faced with a divided electorate, not to mention difficult economic times, use a limited agenda to forge consensus out of broken paradigms.  Once they achieve an initial success, they seek a broader consensus.  In the 1980’s Reagan faced a divided Republican Party and a fractured and dispirited nation.  Concentrating on the prosperity issue and our national prestige, Reagan first brought Republicans together and then independents and even many Democrats.  Indeed, so successful was Reagan at bringing people together, that in time he could rely on a group of Reagan Democrats.  Few other Presidents have had such success at building consensus let alone are able to claim a voting block from the other party in their name.

There is little doubt that Obama faced a divided electorate when he first took office and a difficult economic climate.  Rather than start with a limited agenda designed to build consensus, Obama did the opposite.  Obama chased too many rabbits at once and preferred ideological fights over practical solutions.  As a result, the Country is more divided than ever – not less.

The most recent manifestation of that divisive M.O. is the White House’s amazing decision to insist on a terror trial in New York.   Of course, it remains a jarring ideological decision to treat KSM as a “criminal” versus the warring “terrorist” that he is.  As I wrote, in my article Internment, CSI and Eric Holder’s Disarming of America, that decision will have profound negative consequences for decades to come.  To the point of this article, Obama is compounding his initial divisive decision (treating him as a criminal) by fighting with New York over the place of the trial.  It is a political fight which he cannot win regardless of the outcome of the trial.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, cap-and-trade, economic recession, government health care
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 at 5:44 am in Congress, Environment, Featured Story, Healthcare, Obama, Politics | 67970172 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/tdelbeccaro/2010/02/03/how-many-fights-will-obama-pick-with-america/How+Many+Fights+Will+Obama+Pick+With+America%3F2010-02-03+13%3A44%3A49Thomas+Del+Beccaro

Geithner and Bernanke: Laundering Money Through an Illegal Trust?

This afternoon on Secure Freedom Radio we announced a breaking news story concerning the Administration’s ongoing cover-up of AIG financial wrong-doing.  In an interview with David Yerushalmi, senior litigator on the Murray v. Geithner et al lawsuit, we expose possible fraud, money-laundering and criminal activity.

As Yerushalmi says in the interview, “So here’s what we find out in the midst of discovery when we depose the Treasury Department’s deponent and the Fed and get documents, here’s what we’ve learned: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the time that it structured the debt that it was going to give AIG insisted that not only did it get the debt, not only would it get principal and interest payments and collateral for that, it wanted 80% of AIG, precisely 77.9% of the shares and the voting rights.  But the Federal Reserve Bank and Geithner knew that it was illegal for the Fed system whether there’s a Fed or the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to own that, so what did they do….”

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: AIG, Ben Bernacke, Ben Bernanke, David Yerushalmi, Federal Reserve
Posted Feb 2nd 2010 at 5:10 pm in Congress, Economics, Tax Reform, federal spending | 68910143 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/fgaffney/2010/02/02/geithner-and-bernanke-laundering-money-through-an-illegal-trust/Geithner+and+Bernanke%3A+Laundering+Money+Through+an+Illegal+Trust%3F2010-02-03+01%3A10%3A36Frank+Gaffney

Sen. Harkin and Rep. Charlie Rangel Both Have Same CBO Story; Healthcare Deal Was Done BEFORE MA Election

As reported in a previous article, Senator Harkin clearly contradicted President Obama when he stated:

Labor leaders had announced an agreement with White House and congressional representatives over an excise tax on high-cost insurance plans on the Thursday before the special election.

Harkin said “we had an agreement, with the House, the White House and the Senate. We sent it to [the Congressional Budget Office] to get scored and then Tuesday happened and we didn’t get it back.” He said negotiators had an agreement in hand on Friday, Jan. 15.

Harkin made clear that negotiators had reached a final deal on the entire bill, not just the excise plans, which had been reported the previous day, Jan. 14.

Harkin said the deal covered the prescription-drug “donut hole,” the level of federal insurance subsidies, national insurance exchanges and federal Medicaid assistance to states.

Senator Harkin would know if a deal was done as he was in the marathon meeting at the White House on January 13, 2010. On the same day, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid put out a brief joint statement:

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Charlie Rangel, conference committee, Harry Reid, health care
Posted Feb 2nd 2010 at 2:41 pm in Big Labor, Congress, Healthcare, News, Obama, Politics | 6857473 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/02/02/sen-harkin-and-rep-charlie-rangel-both-have-same-cbo-story-healthcare-deal-was-done-before-ma-election/Sen.+Harkin+and+Rep.+Charlie+Rangel+Both+Have+Same+CBO+Story%3B+Healthcare+Deal+Was+Done+BEFORE+MA+Election2010-02-02+22%3A41%3A40SusanAnne+++Hiller

Another EPA Power Grab in the Offing

Sources in Washington say Sen. Frank Lautenberg is drafting a new version of his Kids Safe Chemicals Act, which stalled out in 2008 after environmentalists complained the bill was toothless and didn’t grant the EPA enough power to regulate chemicals used to make products. Lautenberg’s new version of the bill is likely to increase the EPA’s authority to limit – or even ban – the use of common chemicals.

As the EPA’s carbon “endangerment finding” in December has demonstrated, it might not be such a good idea to vest virtually unlimited power in a single government agency, especially one that has become as politicized as the EPA.

And like the global warming hysteria the “endangerment finding” was supposed to address, the argument in favor of this aggressive power grab is thin, based on emotional, not scientific appeals, and fairly obviously designed to encroach on the free market. One organization advocating for the EPA power grab, “Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families,” is actually sponsoring a virtual Million Baby Crawl on Washington. Expect the stunts to get more ridiculous after Lautenberg’s bill drops.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: chemical exposure, chemical regulation, chemical toxicity, EPA, EPA regulations
Posted Feb 2nd 2010 at 11:41 am in Congress, Environment, News, Politics | 6875447 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/02/02/another-epa-power-grab-in-the-offing/Another+EPA+Power+Grab+in+the+Offing2010-02-02+19%3A41%3A25Capitol++Confidential

Reason.tv: Obama’s Doublethink Doubletalk (SOTU Remix)

George Orwell defined doublethink as “the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.

When it comes to war, spending, and more, President Barack Obama’s 2010 State of the Union address showed that doublethink is alive and well in Washington, D.C.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: bank bailout, Barack Obama, federal budget deficit, federal spending, SOTU address
Posted Feb 2nd 2010 at 10:21 am in Congress, Defense, Economics, Education, Obama, federal spending | 6855457 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2010/02/02/reason-tv-obamas-doublethink-doubletalk-sotu-remix/Reason.tv%3A+Obama%27s+Doublethink+Doubletalk+%28SOTU+Remix%292010-02-02+18%3A21%3A56Nick+Gillespie

You Don’t Need a Washington Task Force to Understand the Middle Class

It was kind of hard to stop laughing when I read that Joe Biden is leading a Task Force to study what’s on the mind of middle class Americans. Give me a break.

It would be funny if it were not so sad that those in Washington need a special commission to figure out what America thinks. How can we be represented in the first place if the people we hired to carry our hopes and fears are so clueless?

Here’s my suggestion Mr. Biden—take a trip to any town or city and sit down for an early breakfast in a coffee shop. Stop talking long enough to listen. Try a barber or beauty shop for the same lesson. Have a beer in a tavern. The key here, Mr. Biden—and all you folks from Washington, D.C. who have become so frightened that people are expressing their independent will at the polls—is to stop pontificating long enough to actually hear what we are saying.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: economic task force, guns and bibles, Joe Biden, Lobbyist, middle class
Posted Feb 1st 2010 at 11:13 am in Congress, Obama, Politics | 67858203 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jwurzelbacher/2010/02/01/you-dont-need-a-washington-task-force-to-understand-the-middle-class/You+Don%E2%80%99t+Need+a+Washington+Task+Force+to+Understand+the+Middle+Class2010-02-01+19%3A13%3A47Joe+%26%2339%3BThe+Plumber%26%2339%3B+Wurzelbacher

We Need a Real Spending Freeze and Tax Cuts

Don’t you hate it when you go to a 50% off sale and then realize the store marked up all the prices in order to offer the big savings? Welcome to President Barack Obama’s spending freeze.

It’s hard to keep up with the shocking numbers under Obama. Federal spending was up 18% in his first year and the deficit was $1.4 trillion, almost three times greater than it was the previous year. That’s 9.9% of 2009’s GDP, more than three times the post World War II average. (Sorry, Barry, but you can’t blame it all on Bush. That budget was done under a Democrat House and Senate and signed by you. ) Depending on whose numbers you believe federal nondefense discretionary spending will increase another 7-10% for 2010.

The Congressional Budget Office says we’ll run at least another $1.35 trillion deficit. The average deficit for 2011-2020 will be around $600 billion per year. Even in Washington that’s a lot of money.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Big Government, federal spending
Posted Feb 1st 2010 at 8:37 am in Congress, Obama, Political Humor, Politics, Tax Reform, federal spending | 6801083 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/gknapp/2010/02/01/we-need-a-real-spending-freeze-and-tax-cuts/We+Need+a+Real+Spending+Freeze+and+Tax+Cuts+2010-02-01+16%3A37%3A05Greg+Knapp

Montesquieu, Tocqueville, and the Political Psychology of the Modern Republic

In earlier posts – here, here, and here – I drew attention to the pre-eminence of Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu in and for a time after the eighteenth century, and I suggested that at least two of the reasons for his pre-eminence are still pertinent today. There is at least one other such reason, and it, too, deserves careful consideration.

In The Spirit of Laws, Montesquieu pays exceedingly close attention to the political psychology regnant within the various forms of government that he examines. Republics have as their psychological principle, he tells us, virtue or love of the fatherland and its laws; and, when this fails, they collapse. As we have just seen, monarchies have as their principle the love of honor; and, when monarchs make holding public office degrading and demeaning, they subvert their own authority. And by the same token, despotisms have as their principle fear, and they are corrupt through and through. In The Spirit of Laws, all of this is made crystal clear.

But when it comes time for Montesquieu to specify the principle or passion that sets in motion “the republic concealed as a monarchy” that he discovered when he visited England, he is ostentatiously silent. Eventually, however, in oblique fashion, he will tiptoe around the question.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: alexander hamilton, despotism, George Washington, inquiétude, james madison
Posted Jan 31st 2010 at 11:23 am in Congress, Defense, Economics, History, Politics | 6757063 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/prahe/2010/01/31/montesquieu-tocqueville-and-the-political-psychology-of-the-modern-republic/Montesquieu%2C+Tocqueville%2C+and+the+Political+Psychology+of+the+Modern+Republic2010-01-31+19%3A23%3A36Paul+A.++Rahe

Sen. Harkin Contradicts Obama, Says Final Healthcare Deal Done BEFORE the MA Election

The Hill is reporting that Senator Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health Committee, stated that negotiators from the White House, Senate and House reached a final deal on healthcare reform days before Scott Brown’s win in Massachusetts.

From the article:

Labor leaders had announced an agreement with White House and congressional representatives over an excise tax on high-cost insurance plans on the Thursday before the special election.

Harkin said “we had an agreement, with the House, the White House and the Senate. We sent it to [the Congressional Budget Office] to get scored and then Tuesday happened and we didn’t get it back.” He said negotiators had an agreement in hand on Friday, Jan. 15.

Harkin made clear that negotiators had reached a final deal on the entire bill, not just the excise plans, which had been reported the previous day, Jan. 14.

Harkin said the deal covered the prescription-drug “donut hole,” the level of federal insurance subsidies, national insurance exchanges and federal Medicaid assistance to states.

This cannot be right.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: government health care, health care deal, massachusetts senate election, massachusetts special election, Obama GOP retreat
Posted Jan 31st 2010 at 9:02 am in Big Labor, Congress, Healthcare, News, Obama, Politics | 67486130 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/01/31/sen-harkin-contradicts-obama-says-final-healthcare-deal-done-before-the-ma-election/Sen.+Harkin+Contradicts+Obama%2C+Says+Final+Healthcare+Deal+Done+BEFORE+the+MA+Election2010-01-31+17%3A02%3A06SusanAnne+++Hiller

Obama Admits Partisanship at GOP Retreat; Forgets About Change.gov

Building on Real Clear Politics observation by Tom Bevan:

There’s been a remarkable amount of coverage of President Obama’s appearance at the House Republican retreat today, but I haven’t seen anyone focus on the President’s rather stunning admission about the Democrats’ health care legislation:

President Obama stated at the GOP retreat in Baltimore:

“The last thing I will say, though — let me say this about health care and the health care debate, because I think it also bears on a whole lot of other issues. If you look at the package that we’ve presented — and there’s some stray cats and dogs that got in there that we were eliminating, we were in the process of eliminating. For example, we said from the start that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you can have your — if you want to keep the health insurance you got, you can keep it, that you’re not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decision making. And I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge.”

Bevan continues his analysis of Obama’s statements:

If we take this statement at face value, President Obama is admitting the the health care bills passed by either the House or Senate (or both) contained provisions which were “snuck in” – presumably by Democratic members and perhaps on behalf of certain lobbyists – that would have in fact prevented people from keeping their current insurance and/or choosing the doctor they want.

Let’s re-read Obama’s statement:

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: 2008 Presidential Campaign, Barack Obama, Change.gov, GOP retreat, Hope and Change
Posted Jan 30th 2010 at 11:25 am in Congress, News, Obama, Politics | 67314227 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/01/30/obama-admits-partisanship-at-gop-retreat-forgets-about-change-gov/Obama+Admits+Partisanship+at+GOP+Retreat%3B+Forgets+About+Change.gov2010-01-30+19%3A25%3A31SusanAnne+++Hiller

More Bailouts? Forever? Not So Fast

Pollster 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:

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: bailout fund, bank bailout, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Federal Reserve
Posted Jan 30th 2010 at 9:19 am in Congress, Economics, News, Obama | 6728668 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/01/30/more-bailouts-forever-not-so-fast/More+Bailouts%3F+Forever%3F+Not+So+Fast2010-01-30+17%3A19%3A38Publius

Citizens United Huge Step Forward for Free Speech

On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court empowered ordinary Americans to speak out on an equal footing with millionaires and the media in U.S. elections. Threatened by people being able to freely speak their minds, the president of the United States deceived the American people when discussing this court decision in the State of the Union.

In Citizens United v. FEC, the Court held that Americans acting together through a corporation or other type of group enjoy the same free speech rights that they enjoy individually. Noting that wealthy individuals can spend unlimited money on election ads for radio and television, the Court held that ordinary individuals could likewise pool their money together to engage in the same type of speech, striking down a federal law that made such corporate action a felony.

Writing the majority opinion, moderate Justice Anthony Kennedy declared that in our free country, the First Amendment provides that, “more speech, not less, is the governing rule.” The Court wrote that this case involved a domestic corporation, funded and run by U.S. citizens, seeking to distribute a documentary on a presidential candidate to inform voters’ choices. The Court noted that the Constitution allows combating corruption, but that no one alleged any corruption or quid pro quo here, and so all this amounted to was people joining together in an organization to express their views during the election.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: campaign finance, Congress, Free Speech, Obama, Supreme Court
Posted Jan 29th 2010 at 1:33 pm in Congress, Justice/Legal, News, Obama, Politics | 67162172 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/kenandken/2010/01/29/citizens-united-huge-step-forward-for-free-speech/Citizens+United+Huge+Step+Forward+for+Free+Speech2010-01-29+21%3A33%3A27Ken+Blackwell+and++Ken+Klukowski

Obama’s Lobbyist Slams Mask Big K Street Payday

In his State of the Union speech, the president puffed up his chest, fixed his Mr. Scornful face, and once again pulled out the populist’s handbook to bash those evil, monstrous lobbyists.

Obama mentioned lobbyists seven times in his address and in every case they were used as a scapegoat to explain away Washington’s inability to get one thing or another done.

Obama promised — again and for the thousandth time — to “end the outsized influence of lobbyists” in Washington. He then praised himself for excluding lobbyists from jobs in his administration and he proposed even more limits on them.

This attack on lobbyists is cathartic and makes for great populist boilerplate, of course, but there isn’t much truth in Obama’s attack on them because the fact is K Street — the D.C. street where many lobbying firms are located — has made more money off the Obama Administration than from any previous president.

And Obama has been pretty blatant about ignoring the obvious disconnect between his populist harangues against lobbyists and his coddling and sidling up to them. Obama’s big paydays to lobbyists at nearly every level has been nothing short of breathtaking. It has been like this since day one.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Big Government, Financial Services, influence peddling, K Street
Posted Jan 29th 2010 at 12:51 pm in Congress, Economics, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 6688683 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/wthuston/2010/01/29/obamas-lobbyist-slams-masks-big-k-street-payday/Obama%27s+Lobbyist+Slams+Mask+Big+K+Street+Payday2010-01-29+20%3A51%3A17Warner+Todd++Huston

Obama: We Had Nothing to Do With Cornhusker Kickback, Emanuel: Yes We Did

Rahm Emanuel: "We were involved in the legislation all the way through."

Video by Real Clear Politics

Hours before his embattled boss gave his first State of the Union address, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel contradicted President Barack Obama’s claim made just two days before that he had nothing to do with the much maligned deal to get the vote of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) for the Senate’s healthcare bill just before Christmas.

Speaking to ABC News’ World News Tonight anchor Diane Sawyer in an exclusive interview on Monday, Obama denied being involved in what has come to be known as the “Cornhusker Kickback”

SAWYER: A lot of people think you must say at the end of the day, this is not who I was in 2008, these deals with Nebraska, with Florida…

OBAMA: Let’s hold on a second, Diane. I mean, I think that this gets into a big mush. So let’s just clarify. I didn’t make a bunch of deals. There is a legislative process that is taking place in Congress and I am happy to own up to the fact that I have not changed Congress and how it operates the way I would have liked. So that’s point number one.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Ben Nelson, ben nelson bribe, cornhusker kickback, Diane Sawyer
Posted Jan 29th 2010 at 12:29 pm in Congress, News, Obama, Politics | 66650185 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ktaylor/2010/01/29/obamas-clean-hands-claim-on-cornhusker-kickback-contradicted-by-rahm-emanuel/Obama%3A+We+Had+Nothing+to+Do+With+Cornhusker+Kickback%2C+Emanuel%3A+Yes+We+Did2010-01-29+20%3A29%3A29Kristinn+Taylor

Reason.tv: Celebrating Obama’s Surprising Jobs Program Successes

The president has increased opportunities in at least three different fields.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Posted Jan 29th 2010 at 12:41 am in Congress, Earmarks, Economics, Obama, Political Humor, federal spending | 6633467 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/ngillespie/2010/01/29/reason-tv-celebrating-obamas-surprising-jobs-program-successes/Reason.tv%3A+Celebrating+Obama%27s+Surprising+Jobs+Program+Successes2010-01-29+08%3A41%3A55Nick+Gillespie

Why Is Senator Kirk Still Voting on Legislation?

The Senate has voted on three pieces of legislation today that required 60 votes–to raise the debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion, to reduce the deficit by establishing five-year discretionary spending caps, and Ben Bernanke’s confirmation–all of which interim Senator Paul Kirk (D-MA) has voted on. In addition, there have been other Senate votes since Scott Brown was elected as Massachusetts senator that Kirk cast a vote.

The main question here is: why is former Senator Kirk still voting on these legislative pieces? According to Senate rules and precedent, Kirk’s term expired last Tuesday upon the election of Scott Brown. Furthermore, Massachusetts law can be interpreted, according to GOP lawyers, as:

Based on Massachusetts law, Senate precedent, and the U.S. Constitution, Republican attorneys said Kirk will no longer be a senator after election day, period. Brown meets the age, citizenship, and residency requirements in the Constitution to qualify for the Senate. “Qualification” does not require state “certification,” the lawyers said.

Additionally, as reported in the Weekly Standard and investigated and confirmed by GOP lawyers:

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Posted Jan 28th 2010 at 5:41 pm in Congress, Justice/Legal, News, Politics | 66590220 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/sahiller/2010/01/28/why-is-senator-kirk-still-voting-on-legislation/Why+Is+Senator+Kirk+Still+Voting+on+Legislation%3F2010-01-29+01%3A41%3A06SusanAnne+++Hiller

What Was Missing from the SOTU Address

Wednesday nights, I usually watch “Ghost Hunters” on the SyFy Channel. Yes, I am one of those geeks. But this week, I set the DVR so that I could watch President Obama give the annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress and the American people.

I might as well have watched a bunch of people using high-tech gadgetry to try to make contact with the other side, because I certainly didn’t learn anything new in this world.

Anyone who has paid even scant attention to Obama over the past year or two has heard it all before. We heard about the need to act “boldly” and “aggressively” in a crisis, the need to pass climate change legislation, the need to pass the health care boondoggle, the requisite bashing of banks and Wall Street, and, lest we forget, blaming Bush for everything except ABC’s cancellation of the show “Ugly Betty.”

In the private sector, constant passing of the buck gets you fired. In government, it earns you points with your base.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Congress, Diane Sawyer, Frank Luntz, Joe Biden
Posted Jan 28th 2010 at 1:03 pm in Congress, News, Obama | 66402121 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/pmeister/2010/01/28/what-was-missing-from-the-sotu-address/What+Was+Missing+from+the+SOTU+Address2010-01-28+21%3A03%3A11Pam+Meister

Now, Even Speeches Fail President Obama

Prior to last night, we could have all agreed that President Obama had one undeniable and great skill; the man could deliver a speech. His national political career, after all, had been launched with a speech, at the Democrat Party Convention in 2004. More than that though, his entire political history–and trajectory–can be mapped by speeches. When his primary campaign for the Presidency was sputtering, a rousing speech at the Iowa Democrat’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner created the momentum he needed to win that state’s pivotal caucus. When inflammatory video of his long-time pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, surfaced and threatened to derail his campaign, a well-received speech on race allowed him to turn away the controversy.  A Will.I.Am video riff of one of Obama’s speeches was such a potent piece of political propaganda that even I developed a bit of a man-crush on the One.

Obama seemed to have a gift for perfectly capturing the tone and mood of the public. It may seem a tired cliche now, but his speeches did much to inspire the hope people attached to his candidacy. Even rather vague or pedestrian phrases seemed to soar in his gifted hands. I had accepted it as a given that, if his political fortunes were ever down, Obama would be able to reverse his troubles by pulling just the right speech from his rhetorical bag of tricks.

No more.

Obama’s State of the Union address last night was not just overly long and dull, it was totally tone-deaf politically. Coming on the heels of a political upset in Massachusetts, with deteriorating poll numbers and anxious members of his own party, Obama badly needed a home-run to change the political dynamics. He struck out.

(more…)

Email this to a friend | Print | Share on Facebook | Tweet this |

Tags: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, era of big government is over, GOP revolution, GOP takeover of Congress
Posted Jan 28th 2010 at 9:37 am in Congress, News, Obama, Politics | 66278153 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/mikeflynn/2010/01/28/now-even-speeches-fail-president-obama/Now%2C+Even+Speeches+Fail+President+Obama+2010-01-28+17%3A37%3A04Mike+Flynn