Big day in the US Senate

Meanwhile, in Washington, the Senate will take up Lisa Murkowski’s bill to block the EPA from imposing carbon regulations.  The bill has a good deal of bipartisan support, and is a worthy effort to challenge an out of control agency using what is now widely discredited science to impose its will.

To give you an idea of how extensive the damage is to the “consensus” on “global warming,” I present all of the posts I have written detailing the errors, data manipulation, and other shenanigans that have been revealed during just the last seven months.  Please keep in mind, there are twenty-nine of them.

Cross-posted to VV

Another badge for the hallowed right-hand column

As we move on to the general election here in Virginia, there are a few states that are still in primary mode.  South Carolina happens to be one of them (somewhat accidentally) as the GOP primary for Governor provided no majority winner.

The two contenders are Nikki Haley and Congressman Gresham Barrett.  I don’t know either very well, beyond the unfortunate storm surrounding Haley and the fact that Barrett voted for TARP.

Well, the latter is enough for me.  Every rumor surrounding Nikki Haley could be proven true, and it wouldn’t matter to me one bit.  What matters is that another TARP-supporter is on a primary ballot.  He must go down – and he must go down hard.

My thoughts on the 11th

After exhausting myself making sure my Congressman (Rob Wittman) was renominated, I ended up crashing on the couch in the middle of the basketball game last night – and if I can’t make it through Game 3 of a Laker-Celtic final, I must be tired.

As such, I’m a little late to the what-happened-last-night discussion, and the first entry I saw came from fellow VV blogger Lovettsville Lady, who looked at the Fairfax County numbers and promptly declared that Democrats had hijacked the 11th District primary.

Well, I looked at the same Fairfax County precincts, and I didn’t get that vibe.

There are three Republican Supervisors in Fairfax County, representing Springfield, Sully, and Braddock.   Fimian carried two of them, losing only Springfield – where Herrity is the Supervisor.

Beyond that, in his race against Sharon Bulova for Board Chairman, Herrity also carried Dranseville and Mount Vernon.  Dranseville isn’t in the 1tth; part of Mount Vernon is.  In the precincts that are in of the 11th, Herrity beat Bulova by 13 points.  Fimian beat him by three in those same precincts.

So yes, Keith Fimian did pretty well in some Fairfax County regions friendly to Democrats, but outside of Herrity’s home base, Fimian did pretty well in the Republican precincts, too.

Overall, Keith Fimian won this primary by double-digits.  A Democrat-led hijack with those numbers would bring the metaphor to a level offensive to 9/11 victims and survivors.  In other words, it didn’t happen.

Pat Herrity has not been on the Board of Supervisors long, but he was there long enough to establish a record as a tax-hiker.  That’s why Fimian beat him in the primary.

Moving forward, I would remind folks that Fimian did better in the 11th than McCain did last year, so he’s no slouch.  As for Herrity, he is a freshman Supervisor with a record of raising taxes.  I don’t follow Fairfax politics closely, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he faces a primary challenge in Springfield next year – and loses.

Cross-posted to VV

The choice in the 1st District tomorrow

Rob Wittman, or this (BD):

Yes, I imagine if a half a dozen or so Congressmen were tried, convicted, and executed, the rest of them would straighten out fast!  It is OUR fault these men and women betraying our country are NOT prosecuted for their obvious crimes against We the People and our Republic.

Oh boy.

Yet another tax runs afoul of the Constitution?

A Fairfax County commerical property tax is before the State Supreme Court (Tertium Quids):

Our friends at the Tax Foundation have filed an amicus brief in a Virginia supreme court case challenging the special property tax Fairfax county imposed on commercial property owners to help finance a Metrorail extension to Dulles airport. the basis for the challenge? An quaint thing called the state constitution.

The fellow who helped Bob Marshall turn HB3202 to ashes – Pat McSweeney – is representing the plantiff in this case.

For anyone interested, this tax was imposed by Fairfax County in 2008.  Two current candidates for the 11th Congressional District voted to enact the tax: Gerry Connolly and Pat Herrity.

Cross-posted to VV

Everything you need to know (and fear) about the latest jobs report

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• less than one in ten new jobs last month came from the outside a government
• The Census accounted for more than 95% of all new jobs in May (state governments slightly reduced their payrolls)

In other words, without Constitutionally mandated make work, the job market is a mess.

Cross-posted to VV

Ron Paul does it again (and no, that’s not a good thing)

Congressman Ron Paul has become a hero to many a limited-government conservative for his unalloyed libertarianism in foreign policy and monetary policy.  Unfortunately, he has a habit of going off the rails and into big-government land when the subject shifts to microeconomics (such as his support for government price controls in prescription drug markets).

Today, he once again exposed his microeconomic weakness, this time in the highly sensitive housing market (MoneyNews):

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., who is usually opposed to government intervention in the economy, has introduced legislation to permanently extend the first-time homebuyer tax credit and to make the credit available to people whose homes have been destroyed by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane.

“It is hard to think of a more beneficial or compassionate expansion of the first-time homebuyer tax credit than to make the credit available to those whose homes have been destroyed or damaged by natural disasters,” Paul says.

Honestly, I’m not sure what’s worse here: Dr. Paul’s determination to reflate the housing bubble, his willingness to intervene in the insurance markets by creating a new moral hazard (insurance firms will be less stringent in property and casualty markets if they know the Feds will kick in with a tax credit for their clients every time), and his resorting to the bubble-gum verbiage so prominent on the left.  If “compassionate” wasn’t enough to alarm you, dear reader, try this (same link):

“In addition, the changes to the casualty loss provision will help more taxpayers affected by natural disasters,” he says. “Providing tax relief to first-time homebuyers and to those affected by natural disasters should be one of Congress’ top priorities.”

Say what?

What happened to scaling back government’s increasing grip on the nation’s economy?  Reducing the number of market perversions caused by the “invisible foot” (Dick Armey’s term)?

Finally, there is this little doozy (same link again):

If passed, the proposed legislation would also help people who have lost their jobs because of a natural disaster by making unemployment payments provided under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act tax-free.

Why are “people who lost their jobs because of a natural disaster” suddenly worthy of a tax break tacked on to a supposed housing measure?  For that, one needs to remember that Paul’s district has more Gulf of Mexico coastline than any other in Texas (map, Paul’s District is #14).

In other words, Ron Paul, the vaunted “Dr. No,” is hoping the rest of us will say “yes” to a new moral hazard in insurance, a permanent bubble reflation policy, and a bare-knuckled attempt to turn the BP oil spill into a pork-barrel bonanza disguised as a tax break.

This is the man Cathy Crabill admires for his constitutional scruples.  Yikes!

Cross-posted to VV

Why I support Rob Wittman

As a delegate at the 2007 convention in which Rob Wittman was nominated, I must confess I was not happy.  I was reminded of that when the fellow I wanted to be nominated that day (Jim Bowden) came out in support of Wittman’s primary opponent (in a letter to my local paper).  However, June 2010 is not November 2007, and I feel I must respond and explain why Jim is now wrong.

Politicians can become drunk with power, or lazy lemmings to party leaders, or captive to interests inimical to liberty.  Jim and I once shared those fears about Wittman.  However, in the fall of 2008, Wittman allayed those fears with his decision to oppose the TARP fiasco despite enormous pressure.

It is easy to oppose the “bank bailout” now.  It was much harder to do so back then, when both presidential nominees, Congressional leadership in both parties, and the President of the United States were demanding its passage and its now-experienced flaws were merely theoretical.

At that moment, Rob Wittman became the limited-government leader Jim and I thought he would never be.  He stood up to George W. Bush, John McCain, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and nearly everyone else in official Washington.  He said no.

I beseech my fellow conservatives who are still suspicious of Rob Wittman to remember that moment.  TARP was and is a big-government fiasco, but it had as many Republicans as Democrats among authors and sponsors.  Those of us who call ourselves Republicans would like to forget that, but we can’t.

We can and should remember, however, that our Republican Congressman stood up to his party, did what was right, and tried to keep government from going where it should never have gone.  If that’s what we want in Washington, we don’t need to replace Congressman Rob Wittman. 

We need to re-elect him.

Cross-posted to VV

What was that about NBA refs again?

Tell it to Tigers fans.

Cross-posted to VV

Surprise! Al Jazeera has a woman problem

From the Syndey Morning-Herald, via Andrew Bolt, a blow for feminism from an unexpected place:

Tell me again how hijabs and burkas aren’t signs of oppression and subjugation:

 Five female presenters have resigned from the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera after being accused of not dressing modestly enough.

The women complained about harassment from a senior editor, whom they accused of making ‘’offensive remarks’’ about their appearance.

The presenters – some of the best-known faces in the Middle East – quit after the channel refused to back them… The women caught up in the clash are Joumana Nammour, Lina Zahr al-Din, Jullinar Mousa, all from Lebanon, Luna al-Shibl, from Syria, and Nawfar Afli, from Tunisia.

The three countries are relatively liberal and the presenters appeared with heavy make-up and their hair uncovered – in contrast to some of Al-Jazeera’s other female presenters.

Whoops.

Cross-posted to VV