Gallup Poll: Socialism Viewed Positively by 36% of Americans

From Gallup:

 More than one-third of Americans (36%) have a positive image of “socialism,” while 58% have a negative image. Views differ by party and ideology….

I’m sure you can guess which party gives socialism its highest marks, but it is amazing just how many of those on the left think socialism isn’t so bad.  The tally was a whopping 53%! 

That’s right, a majority of those on the left side of the aisle think Hugo Chavez’s style of governing is “A-Okay”.  Oh, the horror of it.  We’ve got a lot of work to do.

Aunt Zeituni Makes Second Attempt For Asylum

From the AP (via Breitbart):

President Barack Obama’s African aunt has testified at a hearing in U.S. Immigration Court, making another bid for asylum because of what her lawyer said included medical reasons.

A spokeswoman for her lawyer says Kenya native Zeituni Onyango (zay-TUH’-nee awn-YAHN’-goh) testified for about 2 1/2 hours Thursday in the closed hearing. Amy Cohn, a spokeswoman for attorney Margaret Wong, says two doctors also will testify at the hearing. It is expected to last at least two more hours.

Onyango, the half-sister of Obama’s late father, moved to the United States in 2000. Her first asylum request was rejected, and she was ordered deported in 2004. But she didn’t leave the country and continued to live in public housing in Boston. (emphasis mine)

 

Why is this woman is still here?  After being ordered deported, she continued to live in PUBLIC HOUSING.  Back in 2008,when presidential candidate Obama learned of his aunt’s presence in this country, he said immigration laws should be upheld.  But still, she remained here illegally. 

So where does her nephew stand on the situation now?  He’s recently received a Noble Peace Prize and some substantial cash to go with it.  Can he not step up and help her out with her medical condition if she is sent back to Kenya?  After all, I seem to remember him saying something about being his brother’s keeper.

Jobs Bill a “Cap and Trade” Trojan Horse?

From CQ Politics:

Despite the obituaries being written for Senate passage of a cap-and-trade bill this year, President Obama is expected to reiterate his call for comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation and to rebrand it as part of his job-creation agenda.

It appears that “Cap and Trade” has achieved zombie-like status as something that just can’t be killed.   Despite the fact that much of the data used to promote the “global warming,” now called “climate change,” agenda has been proven to be falsified or innaccurate, the Obama administration seems to want to continue to keep the monster alive.” 

From the article:

At a clean energy forum Wednesday, White House energy and climate adviser Carole Browner previewed the energy and environment slice of the president’s State of the Union address.

Stressing the need for legislation to eliminate dependence on foreign oil, put a price signal on carbon emissions and mandate an increase in electricity from renewable sources, Browner stuck to the “jobs” script and never used the phrase “cap and trade.”

“This is about creating a new generation of clean energy jobs that will position us in a global market, and we need the legislation to do that,” she said.

Experts expect the president also to avoid the cap-and-trade label —which many lawmakers see as a confusing turn-off to voters — in his remarks to the nation, instead framing the plan with the rhetoric of jobs creation.

“Confusing-turn off to voters?”  I call BS.  Cap and Trade is not confusing at all.  It creates new taxes and limitations on traditional energy supplies in order to fund the development of renewable resources, all under the guise of “saving the planet.”  If included in the proposed bill, this legislation would drive up the cost of everything in our lives.  Anything that uses traditional energy sources will be more expensive in order to pay for the new tax demands.  In short, this administration wants to tax you out the wazoo in order to chase a pipe dream of “saving the planet,” which, as it turns out, seems not to need saving. 

Perhaps worst of all, it looks as if the democrats aren’t even going to be honest about their intentions any longer.  Instead of letting Cap and Trade legislation be debated and rise or fall on its own merits, it will instead be included under the guise of a “jobs” bill. 

Most transparent administration ever?  Yeah  right.

Air America Bites the Dust

From Politics Daily:

Air America has announced it will end all broadcast operations and file for bankruptcy protection.

“The company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding down of the business,” Krieker wrote.

Air America was founded in 2004 and filed for bankruptcy protection two years later. It managed to remain on the air but continued to struggle to find an audience and advertisers.

The bankruptcy of Air America proves that the audience for “progressive” ideas is small, and there is not enough support for such ideas in the free market. The only way liberal views survive is by being subsidized with taxpayer dollars (hello PBS and NPR). But here in the U.S.,  it’s sink or swim in the pool of capitalism.  If you cannot run your business profitably, you pay the price by going out of business.  And that’s the way it should be.

Peter Robinson Interviews Thomas Sowell About His Book, “Intellectuals and Society”

As a huge fan of Thomas Sowell, I was excited to learn that he’s coming out with a new book entitled “Intellectuals and Society.”  The following links are a series of interviews done by National Review Online’s Peter Robinson for his “Uncommon Knowledge” NRO TV segments.  Click each link to take you to the segment to play.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

 Enjoy!

Gallup Poll: Democratic Support Dips Below Majority Level in 2009

From Gallup:

The year 2009 marked the end of a three-year run of majority Democratic support among U.S. adults. Last year, an average of 49.0% of Americans identified as Democrats or said they leaned Democratic, the party’s first yearly average below 50% since 2005. Still, Democrats maintained an average eight-point advantage in support over Republicans last year, as 40.7% of Americans identified as Republicans or leaned Republican.

These numbers are averages for the year.  But, if you look at the poll data for the last quarter of 2009, the Democrats only had a 5% advantage (47.2% to 42.2%) over the Republicans.  And the most interesting thing:

The five-point party gap in the fourth quarter of 2009 represents the smallest Democratic advantage since the second quarter of 2005. Thus, the gains the Democratic Party made in public support during the last several years of the George W. Bush administration have disappeared. (emphasis mine)

Yep, all of the Democrat gains from the years of anti-war, “Bush lied, people died” protests have been swept away in just one year of “hope and change.”

I Guess It Depends On What Their Definition of “Transparency” Is

In a rush to finalize a health care bill for President Obama to sign, Democrats are trying to forego a formal conference committee and complete the bill in secret.  From Politics Daily:

Today, Brian Lamb, the president of C-SPAN, sent a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders of the House and Senate, asking them to live up to the promise of opening health care negotiations to C-SPAN cameras. Although the non-profit cable channel has broadcast hundreds of hours of committee mark-ups and floor debate on health care reform, Democratic leaders are attempting to bypass a formal conference committee and negotiate the final deal behind closed doors.

Despite President Obama’s promise to sit everyone down around a big round table and hold the health care negotiations live on C-SPAN, and Speaker Pelosi’s promise that hers was going to be the most open, ethical congress; the final dealmaking for revamping 1/6 of the U.S. economy won’t be open for all to see.   It looks as if it will be cobbled together, behind big wooden doors, by a few elected officials, with the promise that the American people will love it when we find out what’s in it.

Personally, my definition of transparency is not “trust us” while we hid in a room and make all the decisions.  But, I guess it depends on what their definition of “transparency” is.

What’s So Great About Life in the Socialist Utopia of Venezuela?

With celebraties like Sean Penn, Danny Glover, Kevin Spacey, Ed Asner, Harry Belafonte, and supermodel Naomi Campbell touting the greatness of Venezuela’s wanna-be President for life (a.k.a. king) President Hugo Chavez and his socialist politcal system, I began to ponder what it was about the socialist president that I was missing.  Why did I still think the man only claimed to be for the people but has continually instituted policies that keep the population in poverty and dependent on government?  I decided to take a closer look at was is happening in Venezuela to see if I’d misjudged Mr. Chavez.  Which policy was it that made me think so negatively of the socialist president?

Was it the policy that, although Venezuela is “flush” with oil and natural gas, President Chavez prefers that his country rely on hydroelectric plants (even in the middle of a drought) for power which has resulted in a shortage of electricity?  Doing this so he can continue to export oil and gas (industries which he has taken over and nationalized) to other nations.

And then, instead of pursuing the construction of oil and /or natural gas power plants which would provide a constant supply of electricity for all, did I judge President Chavez’s new regulations which require the rationing of electricity to businesses too harshly?  Violations of which could be punished by outages and fines and which are predicted to negatively affect a large number of businesses.  Leaving them the only option of trying to use generators after 9pm to produce whatever electricity they may need.

Maybe I got the wrong idea about Venezuela’s socialist government when they revoked the license of a radio station that expressed negative opinions about Chavez and his policies, and instead have transformed it into a state-run station. The government closed 33 other radio stations as well, with no details of what will happen with them.  200 additional stations are now under ”investigation,” with critics claiming Chavez and his government of trying to stifle dissent.

Maybe I was in the wrong to think it was unfair for President Chavez to insist that foreign private automakers share their technology with local businesses or be forced to leave the country.  And if these companies are booted, in his great wisdom, Chavez will invite in the Russians, Chinese and Belorusians because they make such great cars which are in ever-increasing demand…

And surely I’m mistaken to think it unjust that President Chavez has seized control of a U.S managed gold mine  in his attempt to nationalize all the mineral resources and stifle any outside private investment in the country.

Finally, I must be absolutely wrong about the President Chavez’s  water rationing policy (which can last up to 48 hours per week) that took effect in early November in the capital city of Caracas and is expected to last through spring of this year.  The policy which encourages three minute showers and using less water when brushing teeth, I’m sure, will be a great help in the water convservation effort.  The drought really must be to blame, not the misuse of the country’s water supply (remember those hydroelectric plants - see link’s last paragraph) and decades of negligence leaving some rural cities not able to turn off their water at all.  I’m absolutely wrong to think that the money from oil and gas exports should have been spent on the country’s infrastructure instead of weapons. 

After further review, Mr. Penn and Mr. Glover could be right.  Maybe President Chavez’s policies do improve the lives of his country’s people.  Perhaps we should all move to the socialist utopia that is Venezuela.  And to Mr. Penn and Mr. Glover, I’ve only got one thing to say:

“You go first.”

List of Federal Legislation Enacted In 2009

Out of curiosity, I did a search at www.govtrack.us to see what our federal government accomplished last year.  My search included all the legislation sponsored by either house that was signed into law in 2009.  Here’s the round up:

Democrat Sponsored Legislation:

• H.R. 1626: Statutory Time-Periods Technical Amendments Act of 2009 (co-sponsors from both major parties)
• H.R. 1687, H.R. 2162, H.R. 2004, H.R. 2053, H.R. 1713, H.R. 1284, H.R. 1397, H.R. 1271:  All of these either name or rename a various government buildings (courthouses, post offices …) in honor of a specific person.  Most of these have co-sponsors from both major parties.
• H.R. 1512: Federal Aviation Admin. Extension Act of 2009 (co-sponsors from both major parties)
• H.R. 1541: Provides additional temporary extension of programs under Small Business Act & Small Business Investement Act of 1958 (Democrat co-sponsors only)
• H.R. 1777: Makes technical corrections to the Higher Education Act of 1965 (co-sponsors from both major parties).
• H.R. 2131: Amends the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 to reauthorize the U.S. Advisory Commision on Public Diplomacy (Democrat co-sponsors only).
• H.R. 1016: Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 (co-sponsors from both major parties)
• H.R. 1105: Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009 (no co-sponsors)
• H.R. 1127: Extends certain immigration programs (no co-sponsors)
• H.R. 146: Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (co-sponsors from both major parties)
• H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Stimulus Bill) (Democrat co-sponsors only)
• H.R. 2: Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 (Democrat co-sponsors only)
• H.R. 1209: Medal of Honor Commemorative Coin Act of 2009 (co-sponsors from both parties)
• H.R. 1388: Serve America Act (Democrat co-sponsors only)
• H.R. 1275 Utah Recreational Land Exchange Act of 2009 (1 Republican co-sponsor)
• H.R. 1243: To provide for the award of a gold medal on behalf of Congress to Arnold Palmer to recognize his service and promotion of excellence and good sportsmanship in golf (co-sponsors from both major parties)
• H.R. 1256: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (co-sponsors from both major parties)

Republican Sponsored Legislation:

• H.R. 1595, H.R. 1516, H.R. 2215, H.R. 2090:  All of these name or rename post office buildings (co-sponsors from both major parties)
• H.R. 2121: Authorizes the conveyance of a parcel of property in Texas to the Galveston Historical Foundation (co-sponsors from both major parties)
• H.R. 131: Establishes a Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission (co-sponsors from both major parties)

In comparing the Democrat sponsored legislation with the Republican sponsored legsilation, what do we see?  A paltry amount of Republican legislation has been passed. And it isn’t even any legislation of significance: naming post offices, a land grant, and establishing a commission for the celebration of Reagan’s birthday.

Does this mean that Republicans didn’t introduce any other legislation?  Not at all.  Looking through the records, Republicans introduced into Congress hundreds of bills.  The thing to remember is that the party in charge gets to pick what is brought up for debate and vote.  When all of congress is controlled by the Democrats, there is virtually no chance of any Republican bill of substance even being debated, let alone voted on.  So, it is no wonder that Republican accomplishments are limited.

Expect more of the same for this coming year as Democrats really aren’t interested in any legislation the Republicans introduce.  This is the lesson of one party rule. It’s something to remember come election time this year.

It’s now an election year!

Well we’ve finally arrived at day 1, 2010.  The best news so far?  It’s now an election year! Starting with the primaries, let’s make sure we push through out the entire election season for politicians who stand for a return to the values that made this country so great: freedom, liberty, self-determination, sacrifice, and limited government! 

Now, go get’em!