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POTUS: Drill Baby, Drill
Obama opens up to offshore drilling:
The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday.
Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.
The proposal — a compromise that will please oil companies and domestic drilling advocates but anger some residents of affected states and many environmental organizations — would end a longstanding moratorium on oil exploration along the East Coast from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.
Yet another flip-flop by the President, but at this point nobody in the media or the Obama sycophants in the blogosphere appear too concerned about that. Obama is a “D” after all.
But I’m a bit more cynical than that.
This is, effectively, home state pork for Conservadem Senators who are viewed as winnable votes on the energy bill. Five of the original fifteen Conservadems are listed above (Webb and Graham are not Conservadems). Of course, since the new offshore drilling policy will operate through the executive branch, there is no guarantee at all that the Obama administration will actually get an energy bill out of this deal. Nonetheless, and leaving aside the political efficacy of this ploy, it is clearly a political move designed to make a bill more viable.
This makes sense. I think the White House has cap-and-trade next on the agenda. Winning the healthcare fight was huge, but I don’t think Obama wants another long and drawn out battle like that again–especially as we get closer to the midterms. Today’s announcement seems to be made to win over the moderates in the party for the energy bill in the Senate.
Like healthcare reform not being about healthcare, this proposal is not about energy but about getting votes.
And one more thing—it seems Sarah Palin was right.
McCain: Sure, Obama could cave and repeal the new healthcare law himself
God bless him:
Political pressure might become so intense that President Obama would agree to repeal major portions of the healthcare bill he signed into law recently, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said today.
Even if Republicans win Congress in 2010, Obama could veto any legislation repealing healthcare reform. But McCain suggested the public might feel so strongly that Obama would cave.
“If the intensity level is as high as it is, I can draw you a scenario where the president would be forced to repeal or really replace it with the provisions [Republicans] wanted,” McCain said in an interview with KFYI 550.
Words fail.
What can you say after statements like that? Keep in mind that this was the Republican party’s candidate for President less than two years ago. Completely devoid of any political reality.
One wonders what the Senator would be saying if he wasn’t in a tough primary battle for his political life?
IRS to rubes: Don’t worry about new healthcare requirements, it’s not a big deal
That the new healthcare law requires the hiring of over 16,000 new IRS agents tells you all you need to know about healthcare reform. It’s about government, not healthcare.
But the IRS says we have nothing to worry about:
[…]IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said taxpayers have nothing to fear.
“I think there have been some misconceptions out there,” Shulman told a House committee last week, insisting the new law will not fundamentally alter the relationship between the agency and taxpayers.
Shulman said the new health care law puts the onus on taxpayers to report their insurance coverage on tax forms much as they report income and interest earnings.
“All that will happen with the IRS is similar to a current 1099, where a bank sends the IRS a statement that says ‘here’s the interest’ someone owes, and they send it to the taxpayer,” he said. “We expect to get a simple form that … says this person has acceptable health coverage.”
He said the Department of Health and Human Services will set guidelines for what constitutes “acceptable” health coverage.
See? That’s all there is to it. It will be just like getting a 1099 in the mail every January. Except instead of it having to do with how much money you make, it will be about how much and what type of healthcare insurance you have.
And in five years, it will be about how much energy you use.
And five years after that, it will be about what kind of car you drive.
The bottom line is once you start feeding the beast, it will always demand more.
Governor Christie is on Twitter
As much as I think most politicians come across as lame on social networks, it should be noted that I am following the governor on Twitter.
If you’re a NJ resident who thinks he’s doing the right thing in Trenton, you’re missing out if you’re not following his Twitter feed.
Newark mayor Corey Booker has a good feed as well.
Shocker: Micahel Steele and the RNC love to waste money
It’s all to attract the “big” donors, I’m sure:
A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,620.71 spent [update: the amount is actually $1,946.25] at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex.
RNC trips to other cities produced bills from a long list of chic and costly hotels such as the Venetian and the M Resort in Las Vegas, and the W (for a total of $19,443) in Washington. A midwinter trip to Hawaii cost the RNC $43,828, not including airfare.
None of this crap comes as any surprise of course.
My only question is this: at what point does the RNC realize that Michael Steele is more of a negative than a positive for the party? Hell, for that matter what are the positives? Have there ever been any?
Breaking: Tea Party activist charged with threatening to kill member of the Congressional Black Caucus
And when I say “Tea Party activist”, I really mean “extremist left-winger”. And when I say “Congressional Black Caucus member”, I really mean “conservative Republican”.
Actually a Muslim convert and Barack Obama supporter has been charged with threatening to kill the Jewish and white Eric Cantor, House Minority Whip.
How long will the White House, the Congressional Democrats and left-wing media types wait to denounce the hateful rhetoric and incendiary actions from the extreme right-wing left?
Senator Smalley is angry
Watch this video.
Apparently, the new healthcare law mandates all sorts of great stuff–like building playgrounds to “encourage” healthy lifestyles.
Jason Mattera asks Senator Al Franken how things like that help to lower healthcare costs, as proponents of reform says it does. And the larger question–is it the Federal government’s place to mandate these kind of things?
Age has not been good to Al Franken. He’s obviously a bitter and angry person. More importantly, he appears to have no clue about what exactly is in the healthcare reform bill. It’s probably a fair guess that not many Democrats do either.
And yes, at one point Mattera refers to Franken as “Senator Smalley”. Priceless!
Democrat party fail and the myth of the “last eight years”
It’s about time Democrats start accepting some responsibility of the ship they’ve been running for the better part of three years now.
Via Instapundit, a Goy and His Blog notes:
The horror of “the last 8 years” has become it’s own self-perpetuating meme. The problem is that it’s a meme without meaning. Two of those eight years – now stretched to three out of the last nine – saw fiscal and regulatory policies determined by the Democrat Congressional majority, elected in 2006. Every economic indicator available shows that this is where America’s recent tribulations began.
The real horror – the years since the Democrat Congress rose to absolute power – hasn’t seen much discussion. It’s “all Bush’s fault”, as they say. But as the last ten years recede into the rear view mirror, we can see them in context. And 20/20 hindsight can often be quite revealing.
And if they don’t take most of the responsibility, which I’m sure they won’t, the Republicans need to force it on them come the midterm campaign, and establish that narrative.
I wrote along these lines back in January and how Republicans need to keep pointing out this fact. I’m not excusing the blatant excessive spending of the Republicans back during the Bush administration. But as Goy notes in his post, those years are quickly receding.
One other point worth noting–the entire “success” of the Obama administration and to an extent, that of Democrats in control, depends on the “Bush and Republicans screwed things up and we’re making it better” meme. This is made easier thanks to a complicit media. If Republicans want to roll back healthcare, if they want to stop whatever more economic destruction the Obama Democrats want to bring down on the country from now until November, Republicans need to grow a backbone and fight back–hard.
Chris Christie unleashed
Governor Chris Christie is pulling no punches in what’s shaping up to be an epic battle between fiscal sanity and the obstinate teachers union.
As I wrote earlier this week, conservatives nationwide should be paying attention to how the governor is calling out the teachers union and isn’t buying into their sob stories and their constant self-victimization.
Yesterday, Christie landed another jab:
Christie said teachers could avoid layoffs if they reopen their contracts, take pay freezes and pay 1.5 percent of their salary toward their health care. He said students should ask their teachers why they are unwilling to do that.
“They should ask their teachers, if they want to teach free thinking, why they’re in the throes of the dicta from their union, rather than resorting to common sense,” he said. “This is where they abuse their position of trust. Those are our children in that classroom. To be inundated with that type of propaganda – self-serving, self-interested, greedy propaganda – is reprehensible. And they know it.”
It’s so refreshing to see a Republican show some spine and not cave into the same, tired left-wing tactics. Under the Corzine regime, when the teachers union yelled “Jump!”, the only answer from Trenton was, “How high?”.
Christie apparently, doesn’t play by those rules. He’s calling them out for the hypocrites that they are, and provided he himself doesn’t cave, the citizens of New Jersey will be much better off.
UPDATE. The Washington Times picks up on the Christie story:
Most contentious have been his attacks on teachers and public-sector unions, which are getting a 7 percent pay raise over two years but contribute little or nothing toward health care at a time when one in 10 New Jerseyans are out of work. This week, the governor called on all public school employees to agree to salary freezes for the coming year and to contribute to their health insurance.
Mr. Christie’s budget proposal calls for laying off 1,300 public employees and looks to save $50 million by privatizing some state services.
“The leaders of the union who represent these teachers have used their political muscle to set up two classes of citizens in New Jersey: those who enjoy rich public benefits and those who pay for them,” he said in his budget address last week.
Here in New Jersey, the Christie/public union fight is all we’re hearing about on our local television and radio news. Jersey is still deep blue, but that voters put Christie into office speaks volumes. And I hate to rehash the election of 2009, but Christie picked up support in blue precincts and counties, especially in middle class areas, like along the Middlesex County corridor.
Long story short, this is not a fluke. Christie is doing exactly what the tax-weary electorate voted him in for. The teachers union can stuff it!
I can’t repeat it enough–this story should be getting national attention from conservatives and the Republican party.
Olliander 
Who’s talking…