It should, it’s been a trick of the Democrats to pin that label on Republicans for years; “The Party of NO.”

I submit to you that despite media reports and observations to the contrary, that label is now firmly stuck not only to the Democrats, but President Nobama Obama as well.

No Plan

Obama has no budget plan, only a campaign agenda. Long on speeches and diatribes, short on specifics, Obama has been vague on what he’ll actually sign at his desk since the beginning. If he ever actually said what he wanted, he shortly thereafter contradicted himself and went the other way; depends on what group he was reading his teleprompter to at the time.

House Speaker Boehner, in fact, described negotiations with the President as “dealing with Jell-O;”

Boehner explained that talks broke down over the weekend because, he said, the president backed off entitlement reforms so much from Friday to Saturday, “It was Jell-o; it was damn near liquid.”

“By Saturday, they’d spent the previous day and a half just going backwards” on reforming entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“The only thing they’ve been firm on is these damn tax increases,” the Speaker said.

No Budget

Democrats, despite having a near Filibuster-proof majority in Congress and control of the White House, refused to pass a budget in the Senate in over 800 days;

“It’s really incredible” said Rep. Todd Young, R-Ind., a member of the House Budget Committee, “Democrats don’t get it. They either have trouble figuring out their priorities or they don’t want to reveal them to the American public.  Instead we just get criticism for our plan, which is the only comprehensive plan out there.”

Young cited the Path to Prosperity, the House Budget Committee’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Resolution, which passed in the House of Representatives back in April.

The problem likely lies in the Democrats being afraid to take any position that may cost them independent voters;

“Maybe I haven’t been in Washington long enough,” Young said, “but it just makes sense to me that if the other side put out a plan, we could compare them and make our arguments to the people. But it’s hard to see how you come to an agreement when the other side won’t put forth their own views. The President and Democrats in Congress need to articulate to the American people what they stand for rather than perpetuating economic uncertainty by refusing to embrace specific, workable solutions.”

Nothing on Paper

“You…have to pass the legislation…to see what’s in it.”

Citing concerns that any plan put forward by Obama would simply become “politically charged,” (should read: “Picked apart as imbecilic”) therefore nothing would be written down until agreed upon – sight-unseen apparently; the White House is relying on smoke, mirrors, and rhetoric to win the day for them. Even the White House Press Corps is starting to notice.

No Ideas

Stephen Hayes notes that two years ago as Republicans were the minority party in the House the Democrats in the White House and Congress wanted specifics from the GOP;

What a difference two years makes. In the spring of 2009, with Republicans in the minority in the House of Representatives, the White House and its Democratic allies were demanding specifics. The House GOP had to produce an alternative budget, the White House demanded, in order to show that they were serious about governing.

On March 24, President Obama complained that the White House and its friends “haven’t seen a budget from the Republicans.” Two days later, after the Republicans presented a 19-page budget framework, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, mocked the plan for its lack of specifics. CNN reported that Gibbs “laughed off the Republican’s proposal, joking that their blueprint has more pictures of windmills than charts.”

So a 19 page framework for a budget from Republicans is “unserious”, while for Democrats today, vague is vogue?

Who here is “unserious”, exactly?

No Way Forward

Nothing that will work to better the US economy is coming from Obama or the Democrat Party at all; everything is political and working toward saving themselves in 2012. Granted we see some of the same from “establishment” Republicans as well, but conservative House Freshmen are filling the ranks, and while largely unnoticed by the media they have the attention of conservative bloggers and the Tea Party groups and they are being heard.

Obama, on the other hand, is relying on so-called “Stimulus” money being gifted to his various union cronies and political action groups (founded by Soros and others) to save their hides, while doing the minimum necessary to stay visible in the press (meaning doing lots of pressers while saying nothing of substance), and his normal tactic of “blame the other guy – as long as he’s a Republican.” Nothing else but spend money on entitlements for his beholden class of voters, and demonize anyone who would dare to cut that funding; even if it means the economic death of our country.

Rhetoric Rules

Obama is even being noticed by his “Immigration Rights” advocates as being long on rhetoric, and short on record. While he promises to “get to it” as long as the advocates do their part (meaning re-elect Obama);

Obama himself appealed to NCLR’s audience on Monday, insisting, “You can feel free to keep the heat on me and the Democrats. But remember who it is that we need to move [real Americans] in order to actually change the laws.”

“I need you to keep building a movement for change outside of Washington, one that they [the GOP] can’t stop. One that’s greater than this community,” he added.

Obama’s anti-drug strategy? “Just words, just speeches.”

Then of course there’s debt negotiations; a nearly nightly television diatribe on what isn’t being done by the GOP (which is to say, a refusal to grant him another credit card to cover his reckless spending to date and more going forward) rather than cluing us in on what he will do. Nothing on what is acceptable, other than cries for a “Balanced approach” (meaning substantial tax increases and modest spending cuts).

The Root of the “Crisis”?

Simply put, it’s the American voters for failing to think before they vote. They voted for Democrats in Congress; they got massive political-based “reforms” shoved down their throats. The voted for Obama; they got massive nearly unchecked spending; accumulating more debt in two years as President than all other US Presidents in history, combined.

We can blame Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, RINO Republicans; but the fact remains if they weren’t voted in, this wouldn’t be happening to us today.

The Cure

2012

Be involved and stay involved

The Tea Parties were the great conservative awakening, and in the short term they offer a solution to slowing the spending madness, but gradually they’re losing steam. Nobody can keep track of all the garbage thrown at us on a daily basis, some days all we have the energy to do is duck to the side and move forward. Other days, we have the energy to get out and throw it back at them. Those days when that kind of energy is required are here again.

Long term is another matter entirely. There simply aren’t enough conservatives in the Senate, and more are needed in the House as well. How does one citizen “get involved” when one’s representatives just do what they want to do anyway?

Well a good place to get started is at The Precinct Project, where the idea is to take over one of the two main political parties and bring conservatives to the front lines where they’re needed. Which party? Well, obviously Democrats and conservative politics have as much in common as Social Security has to a real retirement plan, which leaves only the Republican Party.

The project has had success at recruiting active people and pointing them in the right direction toward actually becoming voting members of the GOP, where a person can have a real say in who moves forward and who doesn’t.

Sure, at first you’ll be a little elephant in a sea of big trunks, but with perseverance and strong principles (the establishment types won’t necessarily like you not toeing their line, but screw ‘em), gradually you can make a long-term difference in getting people pushed forward who can make a real difference in bringing the USA back to an even keel.

Save the Dream

The American dream; it isn’t that everybody who wants to can buy a house whether they can afford it or not. Neither is it that everyone on Earth can come to the United States by any means necessary and become a voting Democrat. The American Dream isn’t everyone has social and financial equality with everyone else, regardless of ability or drive. What the American Dream is, and it’s worth saving at any cost, is that any citizen has the same opportunity as any other citizen, color of skin or ethnicity be damned. Government shouldn’t continue to place obstacles in front of you or your children that prevent you from achieving that dream.

2012, and at every chance we get between now and then, we save the dream.

Crossposted to Unified Patriots

Well, I do like the music video, and my feelings are genuine; seriously, where do we fit in? We can’t be afraid to cross the line when we can’t even see that sucka. And when we do think we know where it is, it moves, or someone steps over and it’s okay for them, but not someone else.

What a day, huh?

I think back to the summer, the actual highlight of my conservative experience to date was being able to meet all the fine folks at RedState that, online at least, I had been able to call friends, allies, and mentors.

I found I can almost keep up with Caleb in the bar department, that EPU and Vassar had the best idea in heading up to bed early and I should’ve followed suit, and that Neil doesn’t actually carry a hammer around with him, it’s only an electronic thing. Most importantly, I found out I was right in calling RedState my home; the place I could go first if I needed clarification, information, or to share my good news, whatever it might be. A community I was proud to belong to and support.

At the RedState Gathering in Austin, I jumped in and manned the registration desk to give Caleb and his lovely wife a break. I carried boxes for EPU. I generally did what I could to help out, not so much for community as I felt like one of the troops. I didn’t do these things to suck up to anybody, or be able to say “I met so and so, I’m important”. I wasn’t bucking for promotion to FP status; fact is I know my limitations. My writing quality isn’t near the level I would expect to see on the Front Page at RedState.com, and I’ve said as much to Caleb (though I can’t specifically remember what brought the subject up, fog of war is what I’m sticking to). Although I’ll confess here that the few times the moon, stars, and planets aligned and I managed to write something that some editor thought FP worthy I was excited enough to call the wife and tell her, frankly I wasn’t expecting a whole lot except to belong to something that could somehow make a difference in our country.

No doubt today that is still the case, insofar as RedState is getting notice nationwide. Politicians are reading these pages, and I’m quite sure the spats that we’ve had over the years have grown tiresome to those in positions of power here who are looking out for the well-being of the site as a whole. Are the spats today worse somehow than they’ve been in years past? No, I don’t believe so. Not necessarily, anyway. I can remember a few good ‘uns that still shake the internet today, and for those you can just do a Google search with the search string G’bye –nt site:www.redstate.com. No doubt someone was banned in those brouhahas.

Today, I feel empty after seeing what has happened here. It feels like RedState has possibly outgrown the community; that there’s no real place for the disagreements we’ve had in the past. Too many outside eyes looking in to be a free-for-all like the Freepers, but somehow becoming strangling more like Malkin or HotAir where you need to be registered to comment, and no one ever gets to register. For months now I’ve been silent when I felt the need to disagree with someone in authority at RS, because it wasn’t worth the risk of banishment. Just sit there and shut up, it’s not your site, it’s theirs. They pay the bills, you just hog the bandwidth.

Yeah, we can still comment and register, so don’t take the last part of the above paragraph too literally. But my God, say the wrong thing to the wrong person (a stealth moderator perhaps), and blam, the dreaded 601 error. Not even a strikethrough in your profile, you just stop showing up.

Myself, I really don’t have to worry about the fatal error, I know who’s who. I know when to shut up. I’m a “good soldier”. In other words, I may not always agree with the LT, but I know what power he has over me. I just wonder if it isn’t just time for a transfer to another unit, because this one isn’t the same one I signed up for anymore.

When Penguin is sad, something is way wrong. Too much confusion, not enough love. Something.

See, this is why I don’t post as often as I once did, ADD is kicking in and I’m rambling. I’ll just put this out to the ether and take my shots.

Miss you guys. Really. Hope you come back. Or maybe give us RedState Lite, where people don’t take themselves so damn seriously.

In steps Big Government.

Back in December, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), was proposed by advisors to the NIH to take point on researching new medicines instead of relying on that crappy old free market;

“NIH has never done anything quite like this,” Collins said in a telephone interview.

“We are asking how can we improve the success of getting the ideas from an early stage to a successful clinical trial, because there is a terrible failure rate right now.”

After taking the leftist sledgehammer to the industry, it’s no surprise that the Obama administration is “concerned” that new drugs may not be reaching the market quickly enough;

The Obama administration has become so concerned about the slowing pace of new drugs coming out of the pharmaceutical industry that officials have decided to start a billion-dollar government drug development center to help create medicines.

The new effort comes as many large drug makers, unable to find enough new drugs, are paring back research. Promising discoveries in illnesses like depression and Parkinson’s that once would have led to clinical trials are instead going unexplored because companies have neither the will nor the resources to undertake the effort.

The initial financing of the government’s new drug center is relatively small compared with the $45.8 billion that the industry estimates it invested in research in 2009. The cost of bringing a single drug to market can exceed $1 billion, according to some estimates, and drug companies have typically spent twice as much on marketing as on research, a business model that is increasingly suspect.
More- [my emphasis]

The pieces are coming together. Blow after blow by the left over the years attempting to destroy medicine as we know it, and who comes to the rescue? But of course, the same leftists who destroyed it in the first place, along with yet another billion-dollar agency (on initial start-up) to do its bidding.

Crossposted

At last, Obama’s NASA will be able to properly concentrate on it’s new mission, that of making the Muslim world feel better about themselves after some bad press lately about blowing people and things up.

Finally, without all the petty annoyances like messing around in the vacuum of space for no reason that is readily apparent to the Obama administration, money that would’ve been wasted on new discoveries will be more properly spent increasing self-esteem for a people who I guess are lacking.

I’m not exactly sure what other world religions will be targeted [sorry, new tone] slated to have their feelings bettered by the United States space agency, but I’m sure once they’ve been identified they’ll no doubt be added to the list.

Will NASA put people in space again? On its own, that is, or will it be “have thumb-will travel”? Much speculation about NASA’s future, but I’m betting they end up becoming another FAA, regulating private flights rather that taking the lead.

Hooray for US.

The footage was shot during operations in Fallujah by LCpl Jan Bender.

Bender is a story unto himself;

Before joining the U.S. Marine Corps where he was trained as a combat correspondent, Jan Bender, 25, grew up playing football and working on his father’s grain farm east of Poseyville, Ind.

But during a tour of duty in Iraq, he found himself both a rifleman, armed with an M-16 and 9 mm pistol, and a cameraman capturing powerful footage of the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines fighting house-to-house during the November 2004 push through the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

His footage was used by nearly every major TV network, but eventually he put a highlights reel to music for the men in his platoon.

“I felt a responsibility. This was their own history,” he said recently from Culver City, Calif., where he’s the host and moderator of “In Their Boots,” an innovative Internet TV series.

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Sounds cool, right up till I got to the following part, then I smelled rats [All links added by me];

“In Their Boots” is supported by a three-year, $4 million grant from the Iraq Afghanistan Deployment Impact Fund and is produced by Brave New Foundation.

“When I heard about the project, I questioned it,” Bender acknowledged, “but the litmus test is watching the program and content. We’re not looking through a political lens. It’s purely the human side of the impact at home. We don’t leave you in a rut. Our stories usually have an optimism, the American spirit.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the foundation is headed by Brave New Films‘ producer/director Robert Greenwald, who masterminded “The Real McCain” and other political attack videos on the Internet.

But the Times quotes Richard Ray Perez, co-producer of “In Their Boots,” as saying the series is trying to be nonpartisan and have compassion for the human experience “outside of any political ideology.”

Richard Ray Perez produced such left-wing classics as the Bush Bash “Free For All“, and “Uncovered: The War On Iraq” where Perez attempts to prove Bush was going to invade Iraq no matter what – the list goes on…

Getting back to Jan Bender, he seems to have disappeared from the “In Their Boots” website around August 2008, and according to his Linked-in profile, it was to finish up his degree.

Honestly? I hope he saw the light and ran away as fast and as far away as he could from these guys, they’re bad news – using returning troops to drive a wedge between the public and our military.

And back to the video I found. Oh yeah! That…

Crossposted

Sec. 578.4 Medal of Honor.

(a) Criteria. The Medal of Honor, established by Joint Resolution of
Congress, 12 July 1862 (amended by Act of 9 July 1918 and Act of 25 July
1963) is awarded in the name of Congress to a person who, while a member
of the Army, distinguished himself conspicuously by gallantry and
intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty
while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States…[More]

Well, one staff sergeant Salvatore Augustine Giunta beat the almost unbeatable odds by not only saving his brothers from Taliban capture but almost certainly death for himself as well;

late on Oct. 25, 2007, Giunta and his fellow soldiers from B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, were on their way back from a major operation when they are ambushed by the enemy.

Giunta was the fourth soldier from the front; Sgt. Josh Brennan was walking point, according to “War.”

The enemy fired machine-gun and small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades from such close range that the Apache attack helicopters overhead were unable to help the soldiers on the ground.

“First Platoon is essentially inside a shooting gallery,” Junger wrote. “Within seconds, every man in the lead squad takes a bullet. Brennan goes down immediately, wounded in eight places.”

As the battle progressed, Giunta “sees two enemy fighters dragging Josh Brennan down the hillside. He empties his M4 magazine at them and starts running toward his friend,” according to the book.

“Giunta jams a new magazine into his gun and yells for a medic. Brennan is lying badly wounded in the open and Giunta grabs him by the vest and drags him behind a little bit of cover.”

Brennan doesn’t survive surgery, [Sebastian] Junger wrote [in a book entitled "War"]

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CBS “60 Minutes” is supposed to do a segment on Giunta tonight, and this will be the first time I watch that show in I don’t know how long. Also via Blackfive, National Geographic will air a special on Nov. 29 at 9pm Eastern and Pacific called “Restrepo“, a clip from which is below.

In the modern world where people pick their heroes from a questionable pool, real heroes are available and should be pushed to the front of the line.

He’ll need your prayers, too. Sometimes surviving isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Crossposted

Yes, the same left that screamed “Ted Kennedy is still alive! He can represent us!” while he was was “sidelined” for much of his last year is now beginning the chant against Jeff Gorell, (R Candidate for the 37^th Assembly District.

His opponent, Saudi born Democrat candidate Ferial Masry, of course “understands” Gorell has a duty to serve when called, also suggested;

…she believes Gorell should consider asking voters not to support him this time around in light of his imminent deployment. “He could say, ‘I can’t serve now. When I come back I will run again.’ You cannot leave the district without representation for a year. It’s honorable what he’s doing, but the district has to be represented, too.”

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Masry shows more class than many a leftist commenter at the Ventura County Star.

OPSEC prior to a mobilization and deployment requires the one mobilized jump through many hoops before being allowed to announce to the world at large that one is under pending orders to deploy, and Mr. Gorell as a Lt.Cdr. in the Navy Reserve was restricted for quite some time from making any announcement until just recently.

This isn’t the first time Mr. Gorell had a wrench thrown into his plans to run for office, either;

For Gorell, a lieutenant commander, this is the second time reserve duty has interrupted his political plans. He had announced his intention to run for the Assembly in the 35th District in 2002, but had to abandon those plans after being called to duty in Afghanistan

The son of a career Navy officer, Gorell has been a reservist for nearly 12 years. He could have resigned his commission before launching his campaign, but said he could not do so now with a deployment pending unless granted an exemption from the secretary of the Navy.

“I have campaigned telling people I was an active reservist,” he said. “I’ve always been proactive in talking about it.”

More-

Tomorrow should be telling as the Democrat spin masters have to decide if they should spin up and demonize a deploying reservist to try to snatch votes away, or just tell Masry and her staff “Better luck next time”.

Oh yeah, I forgot; Military service isn’t real service to the left.

Crossposted

Nice gig if you can get it.

Somehow now the GOP leaders seem to be thinking that this was somehow all pre-ordained; that they should take over leadership of Congress, at least that’s the way it looks.

Not only are they dismissive of the “TEA Party” people who, fed up with the excesses of the new Obama regime, revolted and organized a complete new effort from scratch, yet somehow they don’t think those same fed up people noticed that the GOP was itself complicit in the excesses.

Now we are at the eve of putting the “FIRED” stamp on all those we could on both sides of the isle who were complicit in this mess, and the Democrats are understandably upset and attempting to demonize those in the movement who are threatening their power. So too are the Republicans, who see the conservative activists in the same light as do the Democrats.

They both see us as “Destructive” to their power, and are lashing out against the same activists who are at the brink of putting them back in power.

Well, they may in fact be right, if the status quo is what they want to preserve.

There was a time in this nation when the Constitution was considered “radical”, and we may even be considered “traitors” if by “traitor” you meant you wanted to throw off the power of the King of England.

The people in power today on both side of the isle are today viewing us in that same way; because we want to preserve and protect out Constitution, we are labeled “radical” and “destructive”. Isn’t bi-partisanship wonderful?

Over 220 years have passed since the radical concept of the US Constitution, and you’d think by now our elected representatives would be able to pay it more than lip service?

On Tuesday next week, one side of the isle will be getting a wakeup call. If the other side needs one as well, I’m sure we’ll be happy to oblige in the months that follow.

I, for one, am happy to be a Constitutional Radical, and if that makes me a traitor in their eyes, so be it.

We are a nation founded by traitors committing treason against an oppressive government. It is good to find a growing movement of people, whose duty it is to control the Federal Government (not the other way around) rallying toward a message of liberty and freedom; rallying toward the support of the radical U.S. Constitution. Orwell’s words** should be considered every time we listen to the news or read the press for truly in times of universal deceit the truth really is revolutionary.

*What they don’t get is the networks will never approach them with anything but a leftist agenda, and they really don’t care what any Republican thinks.

**”During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

Download audio here

Crossposted

Van Tran, who is running against Rep. Loretta Sanchez, sent out a flier to central Orange County voters with the scratch-and-sniff section labeled, “something smells rotten about Loretta,” The Orange County Register reported Wednesday.

“It’s the stench of Washington,” the mailer says.

George Andrews, Tran’s campaign manager, said the scratch-and-sniff section is supposed to smell like trash.

Yep, and Van Tran is really close to “taking the trash out“!

Send Van Tran some money love, or if you’re able to do some walking this weekend, go here quickly. Time is short.

Crossposted

As he bashes the “Evil Rich” and “Big Oil” about their carbon-spewing ways, he hopes you’ll forget or ignore the fact that he commutes nearly daily between his LA mansion and Sacramento on a private jet.

So Arnold goes about setting the stage for what he hopes will be a defeat on Prop 23;

“The same players are back trying to destroy our environmental policy,” Schwarzenegger, a Republican, told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer. “Now, the important thing is we push back, wipe out Proposition 23. … It’ll be one of the first times in a long time where oil companies, and the rich people who have polluted the world and have enriched themselves by doing that, have been pushed back.”

The governor also pointed to environmental successes in California, including ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gases, plans to build the largest solar electricity plant in the world and work to develop electric cars.

“The Chinese had outdone us. We built the biggest solar plant in 1980, then the Chinese came and outdid it because they’re always there to flex their muscles,” Schwarzenegger said. “Now, we’re going to outdo them… In California, we’re the biggest solar plants.”

Again, pay no attention to the fact that more jobs will be destroyed by his Global Warming policies and ambitions than would be created.

His use of the military to bash Congress is at 00:55

Oh and by the way, it’s not too late to help Prop 23 (hint hint).

Crossposted

Really??

So I guess in “charging into the breeches” of Congress, Jim Moran got to see friends killed trying to cover his advance to “the front” of the Speaker’s Podium? More likely charging for the last donut at the Cafeteria.

Not sure if his opponent saw combat or not, but dealing with jerks like Moran has to count toward a ribbon of some kind.

Via Barbara Hollingsworth at the Washington Examiner;

Virginia Congressman Jim Moran, D-8th, doesn’t think serving in the military is public service. At the October 6th meeting of the Arlington County Democratic Committee, Moran was videotaped telling fellow party members:

“What [Republicans] do is find candidates, usually stealth candidates, that haven’t been in office, haven’t served or performed in any kind of public service. My opponent is typical, frankly.”

However, Moran’s opponent happens to be Col. Patrick Murray (US Army-Ret.), who served 24 years in uniform, was deployed to four different combat zones, including Baghdad, as part of the 2007 troop surge under Gen. David Petraeus, and was even shot at by foreign combatants. If that isn’t public service, I don’t know what is.

Paper shuffling in Washington, apparently. And this was not Moran’s only military-related misstep.

Read more

Ace has a good take;

By which he means his opponent, Lt. Col. Patrick Murray, was just defending the nation in the military for 20 years, not doing important stuff like sitting in committee and fundraising.

He goes on to equate military service with a form of welfare — like, hey, how dare this guy take a government check for so long and then want to shrink government spending! What an ingrate!

Also Blackfive completes the outrage, and you can see the video below.

Crossposted

An article out today calls the Loretta Sanchez cash advantage “glaring“;

With two weeks to go before the election, Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, still has nearly $1.2 million in her campaign accounts, the most recent campaign-finance reports show. Tran, a termed-out assemblyman hoping to unseat her, has less than $300,000.

The reports, released late Friday, show that Sanchez has already outspent Tran nearly two-to-one in the race for central Orange County’s seat in Congress. One result: She has been able to take her message to television, while Tran has stuck to less-expensive radio and print ads.

In all, Sanchez has raised more than $1.7 million over the course of the campaign – about 56 percent of it from individual donors, and 44 percent from political committees. Tran has raised just under $985,000 – nearly 90 percent of it from individuals.

“All the money in the world won’t change the fact that (Sanchez) has passed only one bill in 14 years in Congress,” Tran campaign spokesman George Andrews said. Sanchez has responded to that line of attack before by reeling off legislative initiatives that she says she placed in bills credited to other members of Congress.

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Looking at the Sanchez cash influx, as you might expect, it’s a lot of unions and lawyers;

There’s more, and you can compare both Van Tran and the Sanchez campaign here, but the bottom line is; with the two week mark here, Van Tran needs some help.

By the way, here’s Van Tran’s latest campaign flier, just don’t touch the scratch and sniff part;

Van Tran’s new Loretta Sanchez mailing

Crossposted

Behold, the closet door falls open. Apparently with Bill Clinton and Gavin Newsom by his side, Moonbeam just couldn’t help himself.

Via No Governor Moonbeam;

Glad to see Whitman is taking the side of the taxpayers.

At a campaign stop in Redding, Whitman pointed out her differences with Moonbeam when it comes to priority for admission to taxpayer-funded colleges.

She chastised Democratic rival Jerry Brown for suggesting at a recent rally that California is still wealthy enough to allow undocumented workers and their children to attend state universities if they qualify.

“Either (Brown) doesn’t recognize we’re in a budget crisis or he’s pandering for votes,” Whitman said, adding she’d give admission priority at public universities to taxpayers.

As he made clear at his speech at UCLA, Jerry Brown’s top priority is undocumented workers and their children.

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So when Jerry Brown says; “We have enough wealth to continue to have a great university and get every kid into this school that can qualify. Now when I say every young man and young woman, I mean everyone – whether they are documented or not. If they went to school, they ought to be here.”, what he of course means is more money California doesn’t have will go to people who shouldn’t be here in the first place, while people who should be given priority in state universities (people who are here legally) are given a lesser priority.

And while on the subject of money California doesn’t have, with billions in debt, Brown says “We have enough wealth…” meaning he’s going to take it from you if you live and/or pay taxes in California. Don’t think he’s just going to “get it from the rich”, because as I mentioned elsewhere, you are “the rich” if you make over $47,055 per year.

Crossposted

It matters not at all what damage is wrought to people struggling in an already battered California economy, there’s always supposedly unending unemployment benefits and social programs to handle those who can’t find work and struggle to survive. The evil rich will be taxed more to pay for whatever their little heart’s desire; no problem.

Actually, there are problems with their reasoning, quite a few in fact.

The rich (in California that would be anyone making a little over $47k per year for tax purposes) are leaving the state for saner pastures in other states without insane environmental legislation. Business owners are cashing out in record numbers and relocating just to survive as the leftists running the state legislature find any excuse to hammer them harder to pay for their pet programs; programs they refuse to roll back.

In the three weeks since my last tally, I’ve learned about another 14 companies that have left California completely or re-directed capital to build facilities out of state. The names of the 14 and justifications for listing them appear below. Today’s entry builds upon the Sept. 21 entry 144 Companies Shrink from Calif. This Year – Three Times the Total for All of 2009.

In short:
Total for 9-1/2 months of 2010: 158
Total for all of 2009: 51

Five enterprises represent the type of operations coveted by many California politicians — “green” companies — namely DayStar Technologies, Vetrazzo, SMA America LLC, Enfinity Corp., and Power-One. Those companies have opted for Georgia, Arizona, Colorado and an apparently as-yet-undetermined “overseas location.” More-

Sooner or later, they will run out of other people’s money. All the “well-meaning” liberal types who believe the class warfare talking points about making the rich “pay their fair share” will find out they’re out of targets. The leftists who fooled them to begin with will want their money next, that’s all that’ll be left.

Passing Proposition 23 will roll back AB-32 and merely postpone its destructive impact on the California jobs market and economy as a whole; it won’t stop AB-32 from eventually kicking in full force once the economy turns around. Who could argue with that but someone completely out of touch with the real working world?

If you’re a small business person you can see nearly exactly what failing to pass Prop 23 will cost you, check out the calculator here.

In these last few days before November 2, the opposition to Prop 23 is gearing up with a potential $5 million infusion of cash and a lot of propaganda to dissuade voters from voting for the prop, while those supporting the prop are finding themselves hamstrung by an Alinskyite attack on their sources of funding. We are all there is to get the word out.

Go here and see what you can do, we have to push this back.

17 days left.

Crossposted

Seems the NRA’s competition has no trouble figuring it out;

Nevada Senator Harry Reid claims to be a defender of the Second Amendment. Is that really the case? You decide. Here is a list of votes he has cast over the past twenty years in the U.S. Senate:

1. June 28, 1991—Voted for a 5 day waiting period for handgun purchases (Vote No. 115).

2. November 19, 1993—Voted to eliminate the five-year sunset in the Brady Bill’s five day waiting period, which would have made the waiting period permanent (Vote No. 386).

3. November 19, 1993—Voted to end a filibuster led by pro-gun Senators against the Brady Bill (Vote No. 387).

4. November 20, 1993—Voted for the Brady Bill, which imposed a 5-day waiting period before purchasing a handgun (Vote No. 394).

5. August 25, 1994—Voted to end a filibuster led by pro-gun Senators against the Clinton Crime Bill, which contained the ban on many semi-automatic firearms (the so-called “assualt weapons ban; Vote No. 294).

6. August 25, 1994—Voted for the Clinton Crime Bill, which contained the ban on many semi-automatic firearms (the so-called “assault weapons” ban; Vote No. 295).

7. April 17, 1996—Voted to expand the statute of limitations for paperwork violations in the National Firearms Act from 3 years to 5 years (Vote No. 64).

8. June 27, 1996—Voted to destroy 176,000 M-1 Garand rifles from World War II, and 150 million rounds of .30 caliber ammunition, rather than giving them to the Federal Civilian Marksmanship program (Vote No. 178).

9. September 12, 1996—Voted to spend $21.5 million for a study on putting “taggants” in black and smokeless gunpowder (Vote No. 287).

10. September 12, 1996—Voted to make it a Federal crime to possess a gun within 1,000 feet of any school, private or public, and impose a 5-year prison sentence for violating the law (Vote No. 290).

11. July 28, 1998—Voted against killing an amendment offered by Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) to prohibit the importation of firearm magazines holding over 10 rounds that were manufactured before the 1994 ban was enacted (Vote No. 240).

12. May 12, 1999—Voted to ban the private sales of firearms at gun shows unless buyers submitted to background registration checks. Draconian restrictions would have also been imposed on gun show promoters, expanding federal authority in this area (Vote No. 111).

13. May 13, 1999—Voted to ban the importation of ammunition magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds (Vote No. 116).

14. May 14, 1999—Voted for an amendment introduced by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) that would regulate the transfer of firearms over the Internet (Vote No. 119).

15. May 18, 1999—Voted for an amendment to force gun sellers to include trigger locks with every handgun sold (Vote No. 122).

16. May 20, 1999—Voted for legislation to subject repair shop and pawn shop transactions to the same registration and background check requirements as purchases from dealers—even if a person was reclaiming his own firearm (Vote No. 133).

17. May 20, 1999—Voted for an amendment offered by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) that would ban private sales at gun shows, unless the buyer first submits to a background registration check. Even displaying a firearm at a gun show, and subsequently transferring that gun to a non-licensee, would result in a two-year prison sentence. The amendment would also have granted BATF open-ended inspection authority to harass vendors at gun shows, and explicitly gives BATF the right to keep a gun owner registration list for up to 90 days. This amendment passed 51-50, with Vice President Al Gore breaking the tie (Vote No. 134).

18. May 20, 1999—Voted for the Clinton Juvenile Justice bill, which contained a host of gun control provisions (Vote No. 140).

19. July 28, 1999—Voted to end a filibuster on the Clinton Juvenile Justice bill. The filibuster was led by Sen. Bib Smith (R-NH) because of concerns with the gun control provisions in the bill (Vote No. 224).

20. February 2, 2000—Voted for an amendment offered by Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) to help the cities bring frivolous suits against gun makers (Vote No. 4).

21. March 2, 2000—Voted for an amendment offered by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) blaming school violence on the fact that Congress “failed to pass reasonable, common-sense gun control measures” and call for new gun ownership restrictions on the anniversary of the Columbine shootings (Vote No. 28).

22. March 2, 2000—Voted to use Federal taxpayer funds to hand out anti-gun literature in schools and to run anti-gun public service announcements (Vote No. 32).

23. April 6, 2000—Voted for and cosponsored a “sense of the Senate” amendment urging the passage of new gun control restrictions (Vote No. 64).

24. March 2, 2000—Voted for an amendment offered by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) urging the passage of the ant-gun juvenile crime bill being opposed by GOA (Vote No. 28).

25. April 10, 2000—Voted for a non-binding amendment offered by Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) urging the House-Senate conferees to get the juvenile anti-gun bill to the floor of each chamber by April 20 (Vote No. 64).

26. May 17, 2000—Voted with 29 other F-rated Senators against an amendment stating “the right of each law-abiding United States citizen to own a firearm for any legitimate purpose, including self-defense or recreation, should not be infringed.” (Vote No. 103).

27. May 17, 2000—Voted for a resolution praising the participants of the so-called Million Mom March, and calling on Congress to pass the anti-gun juvenile crime bill that GOA was fighting (Vote No. 104).

28. April 2, 2001—Voted for the Incumbent Protection Act, so-called campaign finance reform (Vote No. 64).

29. March 20, 2002—Voted to end a filibuster of the odious Incumbent Protection bill. The blatantly unconstitutional legislation squelches the voice of groups like Gun Owners of America in the final days before an election. By making it difficult, if not impossible, for groups to criticize the anti-gun actions of legislators prior to an election, incumbents are able to duck accountability for those actions (Vote No. 53).

30. February 26, 2004—Voted for an amendment to require all handgun purchasers to pay an implicit “gun tax” by requiring them to buy a trigger lock when they purchase their handgun, irrespective of need. In addition, the amendment would create a broad cause of action against gun owners who fail to actually use the storage device to lock up their firearms (Vote No. 17).

31. March 2, 2004—Voted to outlaw the private sale of firearms at gun shows unless the buyer agrees to submit to an FBI background registration check. This legislative would have effectively eliminated gun shows because of stringent requirements placed on event sponsors (Vote No. 25).

32. July 28, 2005—Voted for an amendment to require all handgun purchasers to pay an implicit “gun tax” by requiring them to buy a trigger lock when they purchase their handgun, irrespective of need (Vote No. 207).

33. September 29, 2005—Voted against John Roberts for Supreme Court Justice. Roberts’ record and testimony to the Senate show that he is strong advocate for Second Amendment rights. Had Reid’s position prevailed on this vote, the 5-4 decisions in Heller and McDonald could have gone the other way (Vote No. 245).

34. January 18, 2007—Voted against an amendment to strike language in a bill that would infringe upon the free speech rights of groups like GOA by requiring them to monitor and report on communications with members, and could easily have led to government demands for organizational membership list (a.k.a. registration) (Vote No. 17).

35. January 31, 2006—Voted against Samuel Alito for Supreme Court Justice. Justice Alito’s record and testimony to the Senate show that he is strong advocate for Second Amendment rights. Had Reid’s position prevailed on this vote, the 5-4 decisions in Heller and McDonald could have gone the other way (Vote No. 2) .

36. February 2, 2009—Voted to confirm Eric Holder as Attorney General. Holder was an anti-Second Amendment official for the Clinton administration, and has called for a renewal of the Clinton gun ban (Vote No. 32).

37. March 19, 2009—Voted to massively expand the amount of land covered by the National Parks gun ban. As Majority Leader, Reid frustrated the efforts of pro-gun Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) for more than a year to repeal the gun ban. Sen. Coburn’s position ultimately prevailed after overcoming Reid’s opposition later in 2009 (Vote No. 106).

38. June 25, 2009—Voted to confirm Harold Koh as Legal Advisor to the Department of State. GOA warned all Senators that Koh is a radical globalist pushing for worldwide gun control regulation, including the UN Treaty on Small Arms (Vote No. 213).

39. August 6, 2009—Voted to confirm Sonya Sotomayor as Supreme Court Justice. GOA warned all Senators that Judge Sotomayor’s record on gun rights was one of hostility to the Second Amendment, which was born out in her dissent in the McDonald decision (Vote No. 262).

40. September 9, 2009—Voted to confirm Cass Sunstein as Administrator of Regulatory Affairs (Regulatory Czar). GOA notified all Senators that Cass Sunstein is a radical leftist who would like to ban hunting and give animals some of the same rights as humans in the courtroom (Vote No. 273).

41. November 19, 2009—Reid voted to confirm the highly controversial Richard Hamilton to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Hamilton has stated that the Founding Fathers intended judges to amend the Constitution through “evolving case law” (Vote No. 350).

42. December 24, 2009—Reid used his position as Majority Leader to pass the ObamaCare legislation. This bill will allow the BATFE and FBI to troll through the ObamaCare database for gun owners who would be disqualified because of their medical information (Vote No. 396).

43. March 25, 2010—Reid voted against an amendment offered by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to prevent Veterans from losing their Second Amendment rights without due process of law (Vote No. 94).

44. HARRY REID WILL CONTINUE TO VOTE AGAINST GUNS UNTIL HE IS DEFEATED!

With all that, what does it take to wake the NRA up? If the NRA given all the above can still give Harry Reid a “B” grade, then that organization is either infiltrated by leftists, or seriously confused.

Also check out Sharron Angle, Harry’s replacement.

Crossposted

Thomas Steyer (center) with Gavin Newsom (L)

Seems they have no problem with their own billionaires gaming the system for personal financial gain;

by Ann McElhinney

We hear a lot about “vested interests” in America these days.

Here in California – it is the cry of Global Warming alarmists who are opposed to proposition 23 that is to be voted on in the November election.

Prop 23 will suspend a “Global Warming solutions” act that will push up energy prices and drive even more jobs out of the state during one the biggest recessions in living memory.

Understandably there is a lot of opposition to the Global Warming Act and Prop 23 is proving surprisingly popular in a state that practically invented the Green movement. Two Texan oil companies are supporting the campaign which has allowed the environmental movement to keep shouting about “vested interests” who are behind the campaign.

But as usual for environmentalists they are being selective in their concern. Just as they want the rest of us to stop flying but they seem [to] have no problem with the Green aristocrats such as Al Gore and James Cameron flying around the world.

And so it is with Prop 23. The other side has vested interests. The environmentalists have angels on their side. At least that is the narrative being pushed and pretty much accepted by the media.

Of course it is nonsense but it is green nonsense so it goes pretty much unchallenged.

Thomas Steyer owns Farallon Capital Management, a $33bln hedge fund. He’s also donated $2.5m to blocking Prop 23 and has pledged a further $2.5m if needed.

There has been almost no investigation of why this citizen would give so much money and of course no suggestion that these donations would make Thomas Steyer a “vested interest”.

But bury deep into Farallon’s website and you will see Steyer admits his hedge fund invests in areas which will become profitable “due to a catalyzing event or a change in circumstances, including regulatory or legislative change.”

Read more-

So “The Evil Rich™” only qualify as such when they are not in the Protected Class of leftists, it seems (others include Hollywood celebs, mysteriously wealthy union types, etc).

Even liberal “Republicans” are getting into the act of demonizing opponents of Prop 23 in an appearance with Keith Olberman [WARNING] Link takes you to a video of Olberman-not responsible for monitor damage if you throw something at your screen.

If you want to help stop the job loss, help get Prop 23 passed, the left is now winning this one.

Crossposted

Seems the “Crying Indian” ad had no affect on the left this weekend, as chronicled by Jenny Erikson in DC today.

"Hope & change? Aftermath of One Nation rally."

Guy in a "no war" shirt: "I don't understand the trash...I heard there was none at Beck's rally."

How about bring your trash with you rather than throw it on the ground?

One Nation attendees, you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves

Obama supporters did this:

Yeah, the whole nation is “proud” of Obama’s supporters today, or would be, I’m sure, if the MSM told the real story.

Thanks Jenny, sorry you had to see America at it’s worst thanks to “Hope and Change”. Hope the rest of your trip to DC was nicer than today.

Also via Hot Air;

Crossposted

Gloria is such a hack;

This is just an awesome smackdown.

Awesome.

Greta before the show posted this;

I like Gloria… but this time ? She has gone way off the deep end….including calling Meg Whitman a liar.

Am I wrong?

[By the way, Gloria Allred will be ON THE RECORD at 10pm tonight. Tune in and watch!]

Below (first still pic) is what Gloria Allred thinks is the “smoking gun” in the Meg Whitman/illegal housekeeper story…..I agree with Gloria that it could be the “smoking gun” but draw a completely different conclusion. I don’t know how Gloria arrives at her conclusion. It hurts her client, it does not help.

On the letter (see pic below) Meg Whitman’s husband writes “Nicky[the housekeeper], please check on this.” I conclude from this handwritten note by the husband that he and his wife, Meg Whitman, did not have a clue there was a problem (check on this?) and referred it to the housekeeper to figure it out as she is the one with knowledge. I suspect the issue was ignored by the housekeeper and that for the busy couple the matter then got lost in the shuffle. I don’t see an INTENT to evade or avoid the law.

And here is another thing: the letter has THE HUSBAND’s handwriting on it. The husband is not running for Governor. Meg Whitman’s handwriting is not on it. Is there any information to suggest that Meg Whitman knew about it? You can’t just assign this to her.

Gloria goes way out on this one (watch video)…calling Meg Whitman a liar and her client (who was and may still be illegally in this country) the Rosa Parks of Latinos. [By the way, I would not loosely throw around the Rosa Parks reference as Gloria does at the end of this video. Rosa Parks was a hero....there are few - almost none - in history that have been so heroic as Rosa Parks.]

Read more-

Crossposted

Well, there is hope for that district, in what will hopefully be a successful campaign by Dan Sahagun to take that seat from Lofgren.

One well respected conservative warrior is Chuck DeVore, and it’s been announced today he’s formally endorsing Dan Sahagun for Congress;

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chuck DeVore, California State Assemblyman, endorses Dan Sahagun for Congress

September 27, 2010 (SAN JOSE, CA). California State Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has endorsed Daniel Sahagun for Congress representing California’s 16th Congressional District.

DeVore said, “Dan Sahagun believes in the conservative principles of small government, less government spending and constitutional principles. He is the kind of representative California needs in Washington.”

Sahagun responded, “I appreciate the endorsement of State Assemblyman DeVote; the conservative principles that we share can help make government more efficient and responsible. By working together, we can create jobs and help move our country forward.”
About Chuck DeVore

Charles S. “Chuck” DeVore (born May 20, 1962) is currently serving as a Republican member of the California State Assembly, representing the 70th District, which includes portions of Orange County. DeVore serves as Vice Chair of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee and is also a member of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee and Veterans Affairs Committee.
About Dan Sahagun

Daniel Sahagun was born in Ocotlan, Jalisco, Mexico. Dan’s family legally immigrated to California and settled in Salinas, California when he was eight years old. After finishing high school and working for 6 years to help support the family, Dan enlisted in the U.S. Marines where he trained in electronics. He was honorably discharged in 1969 as a Sergeant E5 and started his electronics career at Information Storage Systems, which became a division of Univac in Cupertino, CA in 1970.

After working for the company for a year, Dan was transferred to Virginia and later Europe to start up a new customer support division overseas. He later became a Field Engineering Manager for Memorex in Latin America, Asia, and Canada. Receiving his AA in Business Administration, Dan moved on to become Vice President of Customer Services for Valid Logic Systems in the Silicon Valley. In 1995, he branched out to start his own computer company for the next three years. From 2003 to 2006 he worked for Synopsys and PathScale, both high performance hardware and software companies. His experience in both hardware and software companies has given him a solid knowledge of the needs of Silicon Valley. Dan began working in his current position as a Customer Relations manager for Sonic Automotive at Honda of Stevens Creek in 2007. Dan will bring some solid skills as a negotiator and a variety of world wide experiences to Washington.

Dan has a long way to go, and can use your help.

Crossposted

h/t MagicGus

Via Mercury News;

Jerry Brown and pal Gavin Newsom

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California Attorney General Jerry Brown told the editorial board of The Sacramento Bee that he is not morally opposed to the death penalty, even though he said the opposite in 1992.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate made the comment Friday. Brown says he would “prefer a society that didn’t have to use the death penalty” but also has said consistently that he will enforce the law.

He was a vocal opponent of capital punishment as governor from 1975 to 1983, once suggesting that banning it would elevate society to a “higher state of consciousness.”

More-

However…as late as 2002 we have him saying this;

Via RedCounty;

Lately, Jerry Brown has been implying that as governor, he will “uphold the law” in California (whatever that means in Moonbeam’s mind), even going so far as to imply he’d support the death penalty.

In this short video clip we have dug up from his run for mayor of Oakland, you can see he said something quite different as recently as 2002!

Jerry actually has the impudence to argue the case that he’s an effective leader, citing evidence that he “stopped the death penalty” as governor. Time for a little history lesson, which apparently Jerry thinks we have all forgotten.

First to the tape: During the Oakland debate he called himself effective because “I not only opposed the death penalty, but as governor I stopped the death penalty. We didn’t have anybody executed when I was governor of California.”

And how’s this for effectiveness? An outraged Legislature had to override his veto of the death penalty to restore it in 1977. The next year, California voters spoke too, and strengthened the law. And then, finally, in a stunning display of what Brown call effectiveness, the electorate was so disgusted with Brown that they overwhelmingly threw out his anti-death penalty judges he’d placed on the state’s Supreme Court.

Read more-

Yeah, need us some more Jerry Brown.

Go see Meg Whitman.

Crossposted