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links for 2009-04-30
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"That wasn't me," President Barack Obama said on his 100th day in office, disclaiming responsibility for the huge budget deficit waiting for him on Day One. It actually was him — and the other Democrats controlling Congress the previous two years — who shaped a budget so out of balance.
And as a presidential candidate and president-elect, he backed the twilight Bush-era stimulus plan that made the deficit deeper, all before he took over and promoted spending plans that have made it much deeper still.
Obama met citizens at an Arnold, Mo., high school Wednesday in advance of his prime-time news conference. Both forums were a platform to review his progress at the 100-day mark and look ahead.
His assertion that his proposed budget "will cut the deficit in half by the end of my first term" is an eyeball-roller among many economists, given the uncharted terrain of trillion-dollar deficits and economic calamity that the government is negotiating. -
I pretty much concur with Kathryn, but would observe, if Tom Ridge is determined to return to public office, why must he seek a Senate seat? Why must he jump into a primary where there's already an experienced candidate with a great fundraising network and strong grassroots support?
(To put Kathryn's response in a manner Ridge is familiar with, picture a color-coded chart, and I'd put her ire somewhere between "elevated" and "severe.")
Gov. Ed Rendell is term-limited. The only Republican who has set up an exploratory committee for the gubernatorial race is Rep. Jim Gerlach.
Or why not go back to his old House district and knock off freshman Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper?
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Meanwhile, in Virginia, Republican Bob McDonnell continues to lead all Democratic challengers, with his lead ranging from 5 to 12 percentage points. Closest is southerner Creigh Deeds; farthest back is Brian Moran. Terry McAuliffe leads the primary poll, and trails McDonnell, 46 percent to 39 percent.
Polling in this state has been pretty consistent — McDonnell is almost always in the low to mid-40s, Democrats are almost always in the low to high 30s.
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I do not believe that the United States should have a policy of using waterboarding to extract information from captured combatants in the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Let me explain why.
Any decent socie
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North Korea threatened Wednesday to conduct nuclear and missile tests and start an uranium-enrichment program in addition to its existing plutonium-based one, unless the U.N. apologizes for criticizing its recent rocket launch, dramatically raising its stake in the worsening standoff over its atomic programs.
Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry said in a statement the country "will be compelled to take additional self-defensive measures" unless the U.N. Security Council apologizes immediately. "The measures will include nuclear tests and test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles."
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Congressional Democrats turned up the pressure on the Obama administration Tuesday to start a criminal investigation by a special counsel into harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects.
It would be a conflict of interest for President Barack Obama's Justice Department to investigate lawyers from the Bush administration, even though they no longer work for the government, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee said.
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Similarly and contrarianly, I wonder if today’s Arlen Specter party switch, this time to the president’s party, won’t end up being bad for President Obama and the Democrats. With the likely seating of Al Franken from Minnesota, Democrats will have 60 seats in the Senate, giving Obama unambiguous governing majorities in both bodies. He’ll be responsible for everything. GOP obstructionism will go away as an issue, and Democratic defections will become the constant worry and story line.
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Poll Watch: Strong Support for Missile Defense by Americans Across the Political Spectrum
Political Cartoon by Michael Ramirez
A new Investor’s Business Daily poll says Americans strongly support missile defense.With Iran pressing ahead with its nuclear program and North Korea on Wednesday threatening more test-ï¬rings of intercontinental ballistic missiles, it’s little wonder that Americans across the board say it’s important that the U.S. get a missile defense system up and running as soon as possible. That was obvious from the latest IBD/TIPP Poll, which found Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, and 78% in between afï¬rming the importance of such a system. Yet President Obama has said he will “cut investments in unproven missile defense systems.”
The Poll:
Yet, President Obama, despite wide-spread support by Americans will be cutting the national missile defense program by $1.4 Billion this year.
Mr. President, in light of North Korea’s actions and most recent threats, re-evaluate your position on the national missile defense program. To make the budget cuts you are recommending is negligence in the highest order.
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Obama Dodges And Plays Word Games With America’s National Missile Defense
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Missile Defense
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Believe It Or Not: The GOP is NOT a Regional Party
The LEFT and Democrats like to portray the GOP as a regional only party but it just NOT so. Look at the map above of the Obama victory over McCain just a few months ago.Jim Geraghty does the analysis.
Discussing the 2010 elections for the House of Representatives with David Freddoso and Mark Hemingway earlier today, we noticed that the “the Republican Party is becoming a regional party” argument is nonsense — even though it’s widely repeated.
The AP, today: “With Sen. Arlen Specter’s switch to the Democrats, the Republican Party is increasingly at risk of being viewed as a mostly Southern and solidly conservative party, an identity that might take years to overcome.”
Er, no. The South amounts to 44 percent of the Republican House delegation, which means 56 percent has to come from somewhere else.
And that’s just looking at House districts. Examine these charts from CQ. McCain won 193 of the nation’s 435 congressional districts, including 49 that split their tickets to elect Democrats to the U.S. House. There are currently 178 Republicans in the House of Representatives. So a total of 227 House districts voted for either McCain, or a Republican House member, or both — in what everyone would agree was a fantastic year for Democrats.
Even if Republicans won every House seat in the South they would only have 131 seats — leaving 96 other districts across the country.
Even in their shrunken minority, Republicans hold 19 House seats in California, eight in Ohio, seven in Michigan, seven in Illinois, seven in Pennsylvania, five in New Jersey, five in Missouri, three in Minnesota, three in New York, three in Washington state, and the one seat in Delaware.
And it works in the reverse, too — Democrats actually represent more House seats in Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Virginia and North Carolina than Republicans. Neither party is as regional as conventional wisdom suggests.
Let’s look at Flap’s Congressional district that was won by Obama last November:
Yet, long-time incumbent GOP Represenative Elton Gallegly won by a comfortable 16 points in a down GOP year.
The LEFT and Democrats like to blow smoke and hope it catches fire.
Now, the GOP does have a New York and New England problem but not one that marginalizes the national party.
Sorry, Democrats.
Technorati Tags: GOP, Democrats, Elton Gallegly
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American Economy Falls MORE Than Expected – GDP Falls Sharply
The United States economy shrank at an annual rate of 6.1 per cent in the first quater of 2009.The U.S. economy shrank at an annual pace of 6.1% in the first quarter — almost as much as it did in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a government report Wednesday.
The drop was much worse than expected. According to economists surveyed by Briefing.com, expectations were for a drop of 4.7% in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation’s economic activity.
The first quarter decline was the second biggest drop recorded in 26 years, behind only the fourth quarter reading. GDP fell 6.3% in the last three months of last year.
The analyses of the economy are all over the place. But, after massive amounts of government spending and debt by the Obama Administration, there appears to be little improvement.
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Poll Watch: Only 42 Per Cent Say United States Winning “War on Terror”
The lowest confidence since June 30, 2008.
Just 42% of likely voters now believe the United States and its allies are winning the War on Terror, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
That’s down from 50% two weeks ago, down from 62% in early February, and is the lowest level of confidence since June 30, 2008.
Twenty-eight percent (28%) now say the terrorists are winning. That’s the highest number offering that pessimistic assessment since October 2007.
Just over a third (34%) say the situation in Iraq will get better in the next six months, also the lowest level of confidence since last June. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say the situation will get worse.
Americans have to remember that just because President Obama has renamed the War on Terror and promised to withdraw combat troops from Iraq, America’s terrorist enemies persist nonetheless.
Technorati Tags: War on Terror
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Obama Mocks National Tax Day Tea Parties
Those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I’m not very popular, and you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we’re going to stabilize Social Security — Claire and I are working dilligently to do a thorough audit of Federal spending — but let’s not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the Recovery Act.
No, the Tea Pary folks KNOW what you and the Democrat dominated Congress will do – RAISE taxes.
Ignore the protests at your own peril.
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Tea Party
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Senator Tony Strickland: Flood Control Legislation Earns Unanimous Support
From the Press Release:Senate Bill 619, authored by State Senator Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks) and principally co-authored by Assemblyman Pedro Nava (D-Santa Barbara) which provides support for funding Santa Barbara County’s Lower Mission Creek flood control project, earned unanimous bipartisan, support in the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee.
“Santa Barbara County Residents are aware of the damage that a flood can do to their home and property. Local flooding as recent as 1995 and 1998 have left devastating effects on the surrounding community of Lower Mission Creek. SB 619 provides much needed support for crucial funding to the Lower Mission Creek flood control project. This important legislation will help save hundreds of homes from future flood damage,†said Senator Strickland.
SB 619 authorizes California to provide subvention funds to Santa Barbara County for the Lower Mission Creek flood control project. The flood control project has been an on going project for many years and is a joint effort between the City of Santa Barbara, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Santa Barbara County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. The Lower Mission Creek flood control project stretches 1.3 miles from Cabrillo Boulevard at the ocean to Canon Perdido Street. The goal of the project is to widen the banks of the creek channel to increase water capacity. This will lead to a reduction in flooding and property damage done by floods.
Assemblymember Nava stated, “I am very pleased that SB 619 passed the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee this week. This is an important measure that will not only protect homes and property, but ultimately save lives in the City of Santa Barbara.”
Santa Barbara County’s Lower Mission Creek flood control project has also earned broad community support with several environmental benefits as well. For more information on Santa Barbara County’s Lower Mission Creek project please visit www.lowermissioncreek.com.
Proving once again that district priorities always trump partisan politics.
Technorati Tags: Tony Strickland
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Obama’s First 100 Days and Expired Campaign Promises
Find this shocking that President Obama statements from the campaign have expired? Jim Geraghty has the list:1. “As President I will recognize the Armenian Genocide.”
2. “I will make sure that we renegotiate [NAFTA].“
3. Opposed a Colombian Free Trade Agreement because advocates ignore that “labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis.”
4. “Now, what I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.”
13. “We must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights.”
14. “Lobbyists won’t work in my White House!“
17. “Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.” Obama is 1-for-11 on this promise so far.
Just remembering there is a difference between campaigning and actual governing. But, since Obama has embarked on a permanent campaign……
Well, you get the idea…..
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama
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Poll Watch: All California Budget Propositions Likely to Lose May 19
So says the latest Field Poll.
- Prop. 1A (Rainy Day Budget Stabilization Fund)
This proposition, which would establish a “rainy day†budget reserve and limit state spending, is
trailing by nine points – 49% No, 40% Yes and 11% undecided.- Prop. 1B (Education Funding)
Prop. 1B, the measure that would provide supplemental funding to local schools and community
colleges, is also behind by nine points – 49% No vs. 40% Yes, with 11% undecided.- Prop. 1C (Lottery Modernization)
The measure receiving the least support is Prop. 1C. It calls for modernizing the state lottery and
borrowing against its future proceeds. Likely voters are opposing it 59% to 32%.- Prop. 1D (Children’s Services Funding)
This measure would transfer early childhood development monies out of the California Children and
Families Program to the state general fund. Voters divide 49% No, 40% Yes, with 11% undecided.- Prop. 1E (Mental Health Funding)
Prop. 1E would temporarily transfer funds currently allocated to mental health programs under the
Mental Health Services Act to the state general fund. Currently 51% are voting No and 40% Yes.No big surprise here.
But, Governor Schwarzenegger and the Democrat dominated California Legislature will have to make up the budget shortfalls that result from these electral decisions.
Will there be another attempt to run around the Proposition 13 restriction to pass tax increases by a 2/3’rds vote of the Legislature?
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: California Special Election May 19 2009
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San Fernando Valley Young Republicans to Hold Mixer in Woodland Hills
A new chapter of the Young Republicans is forming in Los Angeles County but neighboring San Fernando Valley.Here is the information on their April 30th mixer:When: Thursday, April 30, 2009. 7:00pm
Where:
The Rack in Woodland Hills
6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd #2160
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
(818) 716-0123
View Google MapMore Info:
Technorati Tags: San Fernando Valley Young Republicans, Ventura County Young Republicans