FTRRadio.com was with us all weekend at The Gathering in South Carolina, and have produced audio versions of all the speakers’ talks. Gov. Haley, who invited us to South Carolina and hosted a great reception on our first night, gave a fantastic speech that really got the crowd fired up Saturday Morning. You find the audio embedded below. If you weren’t able to listen live, we’ll posting all the audio from the event over the course of the next few days.

Download audio here

Thanks again to both Gov. Haley, and the great folks at FTRRadio.com!

“Taxpayers Against Earmarks” is back with a great new advertisement.  The group that helped fight the anti-earmark campaign last year is now called “Ending Spending” — an equally clear name to reflect their broader mission.  With a thought-provoking new ad, Ending Spending is joining the growing fight against raising the debt limit without serious spending cuts and budget process reforms:

Read More →

The Patent Reform bill that sailed through the Senate will be on the House floor next week according to The Hill.  The version considered by the House is a different version than the Senate passed legislation.

The bill, H.R. 1249, would move the U.S. closer to the “first-to-file” patent system used by most of the rest of the developed world, but not all the way there. Congress has worked for years to harmonize its patent system with that of other countries that award patents to those who file for them earliest. In contrast, the U.S. system relies on a determination of who invented the new good or process, and awards patents to those inventors. The U.S. system can lead to expensive disputes over who invented a good or process first.

Most expect this legislation to end up in a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate version of the legislation.

One emerging objection to the House version of the bill is Section 18 of the bill that creates a special procedures exclusive to big banks, Wall Street firms and financial services firms that give them undue power to invalidate legitimate patents. This provision was inserted by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) and will reward his buddies who have already benefited from TARP on Wall Street. Tea Party champion and freshman Representative from Florida Allen West is leading the effort to remove Section 18 from the bill.

Some call Section 18 an unconstitutional give away to the wealthy corporate interests and big banks represented by the fat cat lobbyists on K Street.  The average inventor may be harmed by this provision.  Patent Reform has proven to be a target for banks and other interests to load up this bill with special interest provisions. 

Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) objects to another provision in the bill that moves the Patent and Trademark office spending off-budget.  The Patent and Trademark Office will ignore members of Congress if they are allowed to raise revenues on their own to fund programs.  Look no further than the Federal Reserve to find another government organization that ignores the will of Congress because they don’t have to rely on Congress for discretionary funding.

Some in the House Republican Leaderhsip want this bill moved before Independence Day.  Tea party activists need to step up to the plate and fight to preserve the independence won by those who dumped tea in the Boston Harbor two hundred plus years ago.  Patent reform should not be an opportunity for corporate interests to game the system against the little guy.

Members of the Tea Party and the conservative movement need to be prepared for some serious disappointment if news reports are correct. News reports have emerged indicating that that “dollar for dollar” cuts to spending promised as part of a grand bargain to increase the debt ceiling may be pro-rated over 10, 20 or even 25 years. It is easy for politicians to promise future cuts to spending when many of these politicians cutting the deal will be long gone from Washington, DC.

Politically this deal is very attractive for incumbents of both parties. A $2.4 trillion debt limit increase would negate the need for a further increase in the debt limit until after the next Congressional and Presidential election. This level of a debt limit increase would protect House and Senate incumbent Republicans and Democrats from any further politically difficult votes before they have to face the voters in November of 2012.

Furthermore, the deal may include cuts over a time period that will exceed the 10-year budget window of the Congressional Budget Office making these cuts unenforceable. If an agreement is reached on a $2.4 trillion increase in the debt limit for $2.4 trillion in cuts over 10, 20 or 25 years, politicians would get the double benefit of not having to vote on increasing debt over the next year and a half and they can claim they cut spending by $2.4 trillion. This deal may make for a good talking point for politicians of both parties, but it would turn out to be bad deal for the American people.

Read More →

Dear RedStater,

The Third Annual RedState Gathering is coming up very soon — and we’d like to invite you to attend.

With the race for the GOP presidential nomination shifting into high gear, this much-anticipated annual gathering promises to be the best one yet.

It will be held on August 12-14 at the Francis Marion Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina — and will feature as its keynote speaker South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.

Governor Haley, as I’m sure you know, is one of the most principled, outspoken, articulate and magnetic conservative leaders of our time — a future vice-presidential and even presidential contender to be sure. An uncompromising foe of big government and federal intrusion on states’ rights and individual liberties, she recently took on President Obama over the attempts by one of his appointed thugs, National Labor Relations Board Chief Craig Becker, to prevent Boeing from opening a non-union factory there.

But Governor Haley is not the only conservative “star” you’ll have a chance to hear (and maybe chat with!) in person at this year’s RedState Gathering. Other confirmed speakers include:

	Adam Hasner, former member of the Florida House of Representatives (2002-2010) and current candidate for U.S. Senator from Florida. Best known for serving as Marco Rubio’s hand-picked Majority Leader, Adam is a life long Republican who believes in limited government, free markets, and a strong national defense. At just 41-years of age, Human Events, National Review, Newsmax, The St. Petersburg Times and the Washington Post have all called Hasner Florida’s next conservative rising star.
	Ted Cruz, candidate for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for the United States Senate. What makes Ted a truly remarkable speaker and candidate are, first, his deeply held belief in America and our need to stand up to defend her against the Obama agenda and the Washington establishment; and second, his extraordinary substantive record exhibited throughout his life, highlighted by his repeated fight for the Constitution and conservative principles as Solicitor General of Texas.
	Michael Williams, another candidate for U.S. Senator from Texas, considered the “anti-Obama” for his refusal to toe the liberal line expected of most African-American politicians. “We need conservatives willing to engage the Democrats on the field of ideas… willing to speak of a 21st Century conservatism… willing to stand and fight on principle. We need leaders like Michael Williams.”

Speaking invitations have also been extended to conservative headliners including Jim DeMint,Mike Pence, Tim Pawlenty, and Herman Cain.

With an “all-star” conservative lineup like this, the 3rd Annual RedState Gathering will be the must-attend event of the year — and I promise you’ll have a ball.

REGISTERED MEMBERS OF REDSTATE, USE THE DISCOUNT CODE SENT TO YOU BY EMAIL ON JUNE 3 FOR FRIEND OF REDSTATE DISCOUNT!

Upon registering, details on how to obtain our discount group hotel rate will be sent to you via email.

Click here to register and learn more.

­Want To Cut More From The Budget? Start By Eliminating Subsidies to Compete With Existing Businesses

During the heated budget debate, Members of Congress decried the lack of “quick fix” budget cuts that would reduce spending in the immediate term. Yet many programs exist in government that would provide immediate return to the taxpayers without any harm.

As an example, the broadband loan subsidy program run through the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service program is currently wasting taxpayer dollars in a failed effort to expand broadband service. Tasked with incentivizing broadband deployment in rural areas, RUS has repeatedly failed at that mission.

Read More →

In the few hours since RedState originally ran this post, members of Congress have been weighing in on the apparently deep-sixed CDC report, and they are not pleased. As we reported earlier today, freshman Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler, who ousted Ike Skelton in MO-4 this year, excoriated the CDC’s decision, saying:

“This is the epitome of hypocrisy being exhibited by the Obama Administration as it hides facts and figures on abortion while claiming to want more transparency in government. This is a pattern that has become all too common with the Obama Administration, ranging from its distortion of the facts on taxpayer funding of abortions under ObamaCare to manipulated information to support repeal of the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. It is time for the Obama White House to put a stop to its disregard for openness in government and to end its practice of distorting data for blatantly political purposes.”

RedState has also obtained a copy of a letter written by Senator Tom Coburn, which you can download here (warning, .pdf). In it, Coburn demands a response from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius as to the CDC’s future plans regarding the report, and any internal documents touching on the decision to stop producing the report. In the letter, Senator Coburn notes:

Most Americans – regardless of their view on abortion – share the goal of reducing abortions. These statistics play an important role in determining whether our public and private efforts are effective. As long as abortion is legal in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should continue to provide doctors, health care providers, policymakers, and individuals with standard public health information. It is my sincere hope that the CDC does not intend to abdicate this most basic public health role.

I would respectfully request a response to this letter detailing your agency’s future plans regarding the Abortion Surveillance System. If your agency does not intend to collect or publish this data now and in the future, I would also request a detailed explanation as to why the agency has reversed its position on the public health benefits of abortion surveillance and all internal documents discussing this topic, including emails and memoranda.

Additionally, RedState has heard from Congressman Pete Olson (R-TX), who issued a statement saying,

“It strikes me as convenient for the Obama Administration that states are not required to provide data to the federal government on the number of abortions performed each year. It makes it easier to hide the amount of federal funds that go to abortion providers and robs taxpayers of a genuine accounting of the number of abortions performed annually, some by groups that receive federal tax dollars.

“In a GAO report that I requested – one that was completed after years of ignoring other Congressional requests – GAO determined that during a period of 7 years, almost one billion U.S. tax dollars were spent by groups that promote or perform abortions. I urge the President to stand behind his commitment to ensuring scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda and instruct the CDC to complete the report.”

Clearly, Congress does not intend to let this important public health report die quietly. Stay tuned to see how the CDC responds to this barrage.

Earlier today, Erick posted an item asking “Did You Vote Republican For Nothing?” It’s a good and timely question, as is “did Republicans learn anything from this election, the rise of the Tea Party, and the crushing defeat of a liberal tax-and-spend agenda in November?”

Looking purely at recent national and local political news relevant to folks in just one state – Georgia – it now seems the answer to the first question is “yes” and the answer to the second might just be “no.”

Yesterday, House GOP leadership elevated Hal Rogers, infamous porker and earmark fan, to the post of Appropriations Committee Chairman, where he will be free to lard it up while Republicans seek to reclaim the mantle of fiscal conservatism—rhetorically, we must assume. In taking that step, the House GOP leadership passed over Georgia Rep. Jack Kingston, an infinitely better choice had they actually wanted to govern in a fiscally conservative manner, rather than preach spending restraint while enabling waste we can’t afford.

And in Kingston’s home state of Georgia, currently, a Tax Council has been reviewing the tax code and is widely expected to recommend in the very near future a number of actual or de facto tax hikes. These are rumored to include the “sunsetting” or enforced expiration of certain tax exemptions (so taxes will go up), as well as a hike in the state’s cigarette tax.

Read More →

After the election, it seemed like the White House might have gotten the message. Obama said “the overwhelming message that I hear from the voters is that we…want you to work harder to arrive at consensus. We want you to focus completely on jobs and the economy…” White House officials were reported to be “deeply concerned about winning back political independents”. The FCC also seemed to get it. Chairman Genachowski said “At the FCC, our primary focus is simple: the economy and jobs.”

Message received, right?

Apparently not.

Read More →

Did the FCC miss the recent election? The Obama administration appears to have at least noticed the “jobs and the economy” memo voters sent, but the FCC is about to step on the White House’s message.

This week it was leaked to Politico that the FCC is considering even more regulations – this time, to oversee “data roaming” agreements that give wireless companies access to each other’s networks. The FCC is now apparently moving to create regulations that would abandon today’s market-based negotiations, have the government step in, and tell certain small wireless companies that it is ok to “stop building out new facilities to serve customers, instead you can go ahead and piggy-back off of somebody else’s network.” What this means is that even in parts of the country where companies own spectrum and have FCC licenses to serve wireless customers, they won’t have to invest or spend a dime to build out networks because they can just hoard their own spectrum and free ride off of a larger company’s network through forced government access policies. To add insult to injury, we understand that the FCC is also considering new regulations that would involve government oversight into the rates larger wireless companies charge to use their own data networks.

Read More →

Democrats are busily trying to explain why yesterday’s massive defeats don’t actually mean the public disagrees with Democratic policies. But in one area, the evidence could not be more clear.

In October, the PCCC (“Progressive Change Campaign Committee”) launched a “Net Neutrality Protectors” pledge, signed by 95 Democratic candidates. How did it work out for PCCC and the 95 Democrats who supported regulation of the Internet?

0 for 95.

Read More →

Our CoverItLive Chat will begin at 6:30 ET.

Tonight, we’ve got a special spreadsheet featuring House Districts currently held by Democrats that are legitimately in play. We have divided them up by time zone for readability/ease of use. They will be updated periodically to show the results as they come in.

Read More →

RedState has obtained exclusive video of the precipitating events prior to the “head stomping incident” at a recent Rand Paul event, which can be viewed below the fold.

Let us begin with what should be obvious and unnecessary to discuss: don’t stomp on anyone’s head. There are no mitigating circumstances to be presented in this article or video. You don’t stomp on a person’s head. Tim Profitt was wrong and should not have resorted to violence. If a police officer subduing a suspect were caught on video doing exactly what Profitt did, that officer would be in hot water. Because you don’t stomp on a person’s head. Head-stomping is not what this article is about.

The question we are addressing here today is the story that Lauren Valle is telling, and which is being retold as “conservatives are violent crazy teabaggers” grist on liberal blogs and in the MSM. The official story is that Valle merely attempted to show Rand Paul a sign, and that his supporters simply attacked her for not being a supporter. Watch this interview from Countdown for the tale:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Well just before the tape I was identified by the Rand Paul campaign because they’ve seen me around town at these events. And they realized they know me because of my work and they don’t support it. So they actually formed a blockade around me once they realized that I was there. And as Rand’s car pulls up they step in front of me and start to block me so I stepped off the curb to try and get around them and at that point they pursued me around the car, chased me around the car, and what you see in the video is when I’m in the front of the car and that’s when I’m pulled down and then my head is stomped on.

Read More →

RedState Gathering 2010
September 17 – 19, Austin, Texas
Register for the Gathering here.
Book your room here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have extended the deadline to book your room for the RedState Gathering at the special discounted rate. You have until September 2nd to reserve your room at the group rate. After that the rooms are priced per the hotel’s normal fees. The RedState rate is a steal, with breakfast included with your room, internet access for free throughout your stay, and a deep discount over the regular rate.

As you know, reserving your room now locks in your rate, but you will not, of course, be charged until the END of your stay. And naturally, you can cancel at any time up to 24 hours before your reservation.

Events will begin the afternoon of Friday the 17th, with the bulk of the program taking place during the day Saturday. If you haven’t registered for the RedState Gathering you can do so here. The Gathering brings together activists and politicians in a small, intimate setting. It is a chance for you, the RedState readers and bloggers, to mix with politicians and pundits and get YOUR questions answered.

Read More →

Barbara Boxer is the Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee. Yes, that Senate Ethics Committee that cleared Chris “Sweetheart Mortgage” Dodd of wrongdoing not so long ago.

She’s also a close friend and political ally of ethically-challenged Congresswoman Maxine Waters, as RedState has previously noted. Yes: Boxer and Waters can “look at each other and roll our eyes” when stuff liberals like them don’t like happens in Congress, like, for example, their colleagues voting for troop funding or against using taxpayer money to fund abortions.

So maybe it should be no surprise that when asked about the ethics charges facing her good friend Maxine and whether they could hurt her re-election campaign, Senate Ethics Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer should say things like this:

“No, because Republicans have so many ethics charges pending against their people.”

Get that? The Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee, who is buddy-buddy with Maxine Waters and has aided and abetted a much-criticized political favor-selling racket that involves Waters’ family making money off of their mother’s position as a U.S. Representative, and who thinks Chris Dodd’s behavior is just swell, thinks voters don’t care about ethics.

The Chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee should know better.

Read More →

RedState Gathering 2010
September 17 – 19, Austin, Texas
Register here.
Book your room here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, You have only 3 days left to book your room for the RedState Gathering at the special discounted rate. After that the rooms are priced per the hotel’s normal fees. That means you have only 3 days left to get breakfast included with your room. Only 3 days to get your internet access for free throughout your stay. As you know, reserving your room now locks in your rate, but you will not, of course, be charged until the end of your stay. And naturally, you can cancel at any time up to 24 hours before your reservation.

Events will begin the evening of Friday the 17th, with the bulk of the program taking place during the day Saturday. If you haven’t registered for the RedState Gathering you can do so here. The Gathering brings together activists and politicians in a small, intimate setting. It is a chance for you, the RedState readers and bloggers, to mix with politicians and pundits and get YOUR questions answered.

RedState has contracted with the Sheraton Austin for a low cost special room rate of only $125/night, single. That INCLUDES free breakfast and free wireless internet. Combined with our schedule of events, the free breakfast means your meals are covered from opening events on Friday to close of the Gathering at breakfast on Sunday. We have also arranged to have free wireless internet available in all meeting spaces and meal events for all attendees.

BOOK YOUR ROOM NOW
If you want to take advantage of the special low rate, you can book additional days before and after, from the 16th through the 20th! See below for more information about the hotel.

Read More →

Ladies and gentlemen, the people who run the Canadian health care system:

Losing her first baby was devastating enough but having to do it in a crowded waiting room is what angered Christine Handrahan the most.

The 29-year-old Peakes woman was nine weeks pregnant when on July 12 she started bleeding.

Fearing the worst, Handrahan and her husband, Michael, headed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s new emergency room.

There she waited more than three hours, blood seeping out of her jeans, tears rolling down her face as she feared she was losing her baby — or that she might be bleeding to death.

And now, the people who run our healthcare system:

“It’s emotional. It’s such an emotional time for anybody. We tried for a couple of years to conceive a child and then to lose it. It was horrifying.”

Handrahan says nobody at the hospital showed her any compassion.

“They could have given me a room to go in. Not necessarily a room with a bed. Even if it had been their TV room, or their lunchroom, or their closet. That waiting room was jam packed full of people.”

–snip–

“The sort of things we’re looking at is, was she triaged appropriately?” said Henderson.

“And whether or not she was seen in a reasonable time frame and there are certain guidelines . . . and I won’t pussy foot around it we do have trouble meeting those guidelines at times.”

Late last week, news broke that Rep. Maxine Waters is facing ethics charges and has chosen to go through an ethics trial adjudicated by fellow House members. According to the LA Times, “findings on the investigation into Waters by the Office of Congressional Ethics are expected to be made public on Monday.” However, Politico reported on Friday that “Waters’s case revolves around allegations that she improperly intervened with federal regulators to help a bank that her husband owned stock in and on whose board he once served.”

Waters, however, has a lengthy history of engaging in unethical conduct beyond that which seems to have attracted focus this particular time. She has repeatedly been cited by, among others, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, for various ethical breaches that, like this one, involve her apparently using her station to benefit members of her family.

Waters’ kids have worked as paid consultants for politicians and causes backed by their mother.

Read More →

During the year long ObamaCare debate, there was a spirited debate of the proposition that ObamaCare would cause rationing by the federal government of services and drugs.  Government rationed health care services and drugs have evolved from rhetoric to reality. 

On July 28th, Senator David Vitter (R-Louisiana) raised drug rationing concerns, because of a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pending decision to take the cancer drug Avastin off the list of approved drugs for breast cancer.   This example of rationing by the FDA of a drug to aid those with cancer is exactly what we should expect under an ObamaCare drug rationing regime.  

Read More →