links for 2010-12-15

The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking manufacturing base, and an elite environmental ethos that restricts commerce and productivity without curbing consumption.

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Read it all and wonder what happened to the Golden State

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the need to pass a sensible CR rather than a 2,000-page omnibus spending bill:

“Yesterday Democrat leaders unveiled an Omnibus spending bill that some have described as one last spending binge for a Congress that will be long be remembered for them.

“The Senate should reject it.

“It appeared to some of us that we were making good progress on the economy when lawmakers in both parties agreed Monday to let taxpayers keep more of their own money.

“But yesterday, Democrats unveiled a 2,000 page spending bill that repeats all the mistakes voters demanded that we put an end to on Election Day.

“Americans told Democrats last month to stop what they’ve been doing: bigger government, 2,000-page bills jammed through on Christmas Eve, wasteful spending.

“This bill is a monument to all three.
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Agree

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) will force readings of both a nuclear arms treaty and $1.1 trillion spending bill that could eat up hours of the remaining lame-duck Congress.

DeMint will invoke a senatorial privilege to ask that texts of both the New START Treaty and the 2011 omnibus spending bill be read aloud on the Senate floor.

The readings could take seven to 12 hours to verbalize the START Treaty, while the omnibus could take 40 to 60 hours, according to a spokesman for DeMint.
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Poker game between GOP and Harry Reid