Print This!
Jun 3, 2009 Political
I can’t believe Hussein has the gall to ask for more than six billion more dollars for transportation costs related to ongoing projects, simply because the federal gasoline taxes won’t cover the bill. This is due mostly to the economic decline that his party began, but he apparently doesn’t know this, because he has never held a real job, where he had to adhere to a budget, or be responsible for employees under his watch.
It’s no wonder that he thinks that all he has to do is print more money, despite warnings from the Chinese, for whom debt is a serious obligation. Somehow this hasn’t translated into anything Hussein has yet to understand, hence the request for more money.
” We’ll just print it, the Chinese were just kidding, besides I am Barak Hussein Obama and I transcend all- They will bow before me soon.” It would sure seem that these must be his thoughts- because what he is doing isn’t rational, in the least.
The Obama administration is warning lawmakers that the trust fund that pays for highway construction will go broke in August unless Congress approves an infusion of as much as $7 billion.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said at a hearing Tuesday that the administration has told senators the Federal Highway Trust Fund will need an estimated $5 billion to $7 billion to keep current construction projects going.
The California Democrat said another $8 billion to $10 billion will be needed to keep the fund solvent through the year ending Sept. 30, 2010.
Transportation Department spokeswoman Jill Zuckman confirmed those figures.
“The administration is working closely with Congress to solve this difficult problem and ensure that states have the resources they need to maintain our roads and highways,” Zuckman said.
chron.com
I want to speak for a minute about the state’s role in roads and transportation. The federal government has, through the years, insidiously slithered into the states’ domain, by offering first money for assistance, but then insisting on control of the projects. This is wrong- I might see that the Interstate system could be federalized, as it assists in interstate commerce, but state roads should be state controlled, with absolutely NO federal interference.
The states know best what suits their states needs than the Feds do, and that is just a logical fact, not to mention that this interference violates the Tenth Amendment regarding States Rights. Still, that hasn’t stopped them before.
Now, here comes a tax increase- yet another, on top of all the other tax increases that liberal socialists say are not true- and this “non-existent” tax increase will hurt the poor the most.
The law that authorizes federal highway programs is due to expire at the end of September, but the issue hasn’t been on Congress’ front burner. There is a consensus among transportation experts and lawmakers that there will have to be some form of a tax increase — always unpopular, but especially so in a recession — to make up for the lower gas tax revenues and to address a backlog of crumbling and congested highways, bridges and public transit systems.
Two congressionally mandated commissions have called for an immediate increase in the gas tax. The first commission, which issued its report in early 2008, recommended a 40-cent per gallon hike. The second panel, which issued its report earlier this year, recommended the tax be increased 10 cents per gallon for gas and 15 cents per gallon for diesel, and that both be indexed to inflation.
The two panels also said fuel taxes are not a sustainable source of revenue over the long term as drivers shift to more fuel efficient vehicles. Both panels recommended Congress find a new revenue source to pay for highway and transit programs.
chron.com
And guess how the new way these brainiacs are going to choose to tax us on fuel as our vehicles begin to be more fuel efficient? Ooohhhh, wait for the tingle down your leg- they want to track your mileage, and probably also track your whereabouts. Big Brother Hussein, oh Boy! I can hardly wait.
Their top recommendation was to tax motorists based on how many miles they drive. That would require equipping cars and trucks with devices that use GPS technology to record not only how many miles the vehicle was driven, but whether the driving occurred on interstate highways or secondary roads and whether it was during peak travel periods. The device would calculate the amount of tax owed and the bill could be downloaded.
A mileage-based tax system would take about 10 years to implement.
chron.com
Yea, I am sure that this is NOT the Change most of the people voted for. I think it is probably fortunate for Hussein that fewer people are reading the papers these days. This way he might be able to fool the people long enough to shackle the people with GPS monitoring of their cars , then their person- who knows how far this could go.
And still the liberal socialists will excuse their exalted leader for destroying this country.
They have Brains You Don’t Use. That should be their real slogan.
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Tags: debt, energy, government intrusion, responsibility, sanity, state's rights
It’s Not Easy Being Green
May 6, 2009 Political
Here’s where the rubber hits the road, policy- wise, for Barama. He has had a lot of fun screwing up our way of life, and pretty much having a blast living in the White House, but now we get down to the real hard stuff- this is the stuff that even Democrats are saying, ” Are you Freaking Nuts?” about- carbon taxes, and this ridiculous Cap and Trade bill that would, in essence, create another layer of thievery. Government- selected businesses could get rich off of the backs of the working people who would pay as much as double the amount for their energy. This would be ALL energy, from switching on a light to running a fax machine, from gassing up to setting your thermostat for your comfort.
Because of the “Smartgrid” technology that Barama’s new friend (and Energy Czar) Jeffery Immelt, the CEO of GE- General Electric (Who just happens to make the smartgrid ) has been pushing on the government, the government will be able to track your energy usage and will determine if you are an energy hog. If the government determines that you are using too much energy (in their opinion), they will tax you far and above the regular rate, causing you financial pain, and hopefully changing your mind about using energy, even if you are freezing to death. Just wonderful. Pavlovian behavior modification as regards your energy usage. Our government at work.
The trouble with this cap and trade gimmick, is that several western lawmakers who are Democrat, are objecting to the burden this bill would put on the citizens of their states, disproportionately.
You see, most of the western states have no mass transit, and a lot of space in between destinations- so just on gasoline used, the tax would be overly burdensome. In addition, many of the western states have temperature fluctuations that cause the use of energy in the wintertime to counter the cold temperatures. If these people want to be warm, they will have to pay extra- oh, and that wood burning fireplace? If you use that, you’ll get a carbon surcharge- a fine for burning wood that causes Co2 and soot to rise in the air. No chestnuts roasting over an open fire for you.
I see that the Democrats have passed a “cash for clunkers” program that will allegedly give cash for older cars, if you buy a new car that is more fuel efficient- this might be a good thing, except that a lot of these hybrids cost so much more than regular cars, and most of any alternative fuel tech cars have no place to fuel.
I mean, let’s face facts here- there is NO infrastructure for electric cars to refuel on the road, so their use is extremely limited to near home. As for ethanol, do you know where your E85 filling station is? I certainly do not, although I did hear of one 30 miles away, on the county line. Gee, I think (and I could be wrong, but i don’t think so) that if I have to travel 30 miles to fill up, that’s kind of inconvenient. No, we need the infrastructure before the demand for cars that are alternative will begin to pay off.
And as for the “alternatives” to coal fired power plants, and those that use natural gas, the only one that makes sense is nuclear energy. Wind turbines seem to be rather weak, they kill many, many birds, and you still have to lay transmission lines that disturb wildlife and deprive people of their property through the use of eminent domain, where the government pays you what they say your property is worth, but they DO take it.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S LESS!
Solar power- ahhh, sounds so easy, I mean, the sun will shine, and all we have to do is put up the panels, and we have instant energy, right? Not so fast.
First, the solar panels are unbelievably inefficient, you need acres and acres of them, they need a LOT of water to operate, and once again, you have that nasty problem of the transmission line route. All of this takes an unbelievable amount of money. Private enterprise would do this eagerly, because private enterprise loves to make money, but the inconvenient facts say that this alternative technology is so grossly inefficient that private enterprise wants to tinker with it some more before they try to make money with it. That seems reasonable to me, but Barama’s administration wants to cram inefficient technology down our throats, hoping it will improve on its way down- it will not.
So now the Sainted one and his posse are getting blowback from the Democrats in the western states, and this is shaping up to be a fight- there can be no super- majority if Democrats defect and join Republicans in resisting this bill, and they should, because this is the one bill that could be the one that actually breaks the back of the economy.
This opposition should take advantage of it’s power, and insist on drilling off of the east and west coasts, because until we do get this alternative energy right, we need a common sense approach to our energy needs, and drilling off of the coasts, plus nuclear home and business needs. Common sense should prevail here- we have coal, we have oil, and we have natural gas. Now, I know, because I am old enough to have lived through the 60s and 70s, that our air now is demonstrably cleaner than back then. This is due, in part, to aggressive enforcement of emissions, and our ability to buy newer cars that emit less.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not against alternative energies, just alternative energies that do not work well. I believe that we can make existing technologies work better, and more efficiently, all while researching and perfecting the alternative energies that, when perfected, will give us the true independence we need.
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McCain Picks Palin
Aug 29, 2008 Political
John McCain energized the race for the presidency by selecting Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, as his running mate. Palin is a conservative who will help firm up support from the base as well as Independents. Palin is the mother of 5 and her oldest is serving in the Army. He will deploy to Iraq in September.
John McCain showed many things with this pick. His campaign was much more disciplined and better able to keep the secret. While this might not be very important in a campaign (but I will say why it was later), it is important to national security. He also made a qualified pick that has Executive experience. While it might only be a year and a half, it is more than any other candidate has. She might just bring some of the Hillary supporters on board.
Already the pick has caused a gaffe by the Obama campaign. It released a statement on her selection questioning her qualifications. The release might be seen as an insult to Mayors across the country. The release, which stated that McCain has picked someone with no foreign policy experience to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, undercuts Obama. He selected Biden for his foreign policy credentials which is an admission that he lacks in that area. So he is saying that it is bad to have a person like her a heartbeat away but that he should be the heartbeat. As for experience, she has more Executive experience than he does so the question of experience reflects back on Obama. If she is not qualified than how can he be? The release also neglected to acknowledge that she was a Governor and instead stated that McCain selected the Mayor of a town of 9000 to be his running mate. Seems to me that is more than the number of votes Joe Biden got when he was running for president.
I am very excited that John McCain selected her. She will be good for the campaign and good for the country. I am also happy because this is who I wanted him to pick. My support depended on his selection and now he has it.
If we want to discuss change and a broken DC, who selected the person that is not a DC insider?
For those who think Biden will walk all over her in the debate, her nickname is Sarah Barracuda.
I wonder if Obama or his supporters are wishing that Hillary had been selected as the running mate? I certainly believe there are a number of people second guessing the Biden decision today. Perhaps this is why the selection was such a well kept secret.
DC Republican has a list of facts on the next Vice President of the US, Sarah Palin.
Kat from Cathouse Chat is now on board as is Gribbit from Gribbit’s Word.
Tags: energy, McCain, nra, palin, vice president
Democrats Say Screw You, We Want To Win
Aug 5, 2008 Political
The Democrats are not concerned with high energy prices and they do not care about people who are suffering because of it. They have made it clear that they will not allow drilling for our own oil and they have made it clear that they would rather go on a five week vacation rather than solve problems. It is evident that they are playing politics when one reads an article at Politico.
According to the article, Nancy Pelosi has been secretly telling vulnerable Democrats to support drilling and push the idea. She will continue to oppose it and allow the focus of the wrath to be on her. This is designed to fool voters into voting for the Democrats who are vulnerable by making people believe they actually disagree with the Speaker.
But what looks like intraparty tension on the surface is part of an intentional strategy in which Pelosi takes the heat on energy policy, while behind the scenes she’s encouraging vulnerable Democrats to express their independence if it helps them politically, according to Democratic aides on and off Capitol Hill.
Pelosi’s gambit rests on one big assumption: that Democrats will own Washington after the election and will be able to craft a sweeping energy policy that is heavy on conservation and fuel alternatives while allowing for some new oil drilling. Democrats see no need to make major concessions on energy policy with a party poised to lose seats in both chambers in just three months — even if recess-averse Republicans continue to pound away on the issue.
No need to make concessions since Republicans will lose seats. in other words, no need to do our jobs and do the work America expects of us. No, screw the people, we want to win.
Democrats are extremely confident that they will pick up enough seats to be push any legislation that they want and they are absolutely certain that they will have a Democrat in the White House to rubber stamp what they push through. The idea is to play voters as fools until they can win enough seats to make the Republican party inconsequential.
In other words, they are playing games now, while people are suffering, so that they can win. I have always said Democrats will do anything to win because they believe they know better than you how to run your life. They want to have no opposition from the other party so they can run roughshod over the country.
They are so confident that they are going to win big they do not feel the energy issue will hurt them. They believe that by allowing vulnerable Democrats to feign support for drilling they will have taken care of the only obstacles to their victory in November. They are so arrogant they do not mind if people are hurting and if their budgets are suffering. Why should they, we pay for everything they need in addition to paying for our own needs.
Remember this in November. Democrats went on a five week vacation without addressing the major issue on people’s minds. They went on a five week vacation at a time when many families are canceling vacation plans or staying at home because they cannot afford the fuel involved in traveling.
They really care about you. Vote them out in November and show them that we will not be used as their pawns.
Tags: energy, games, gasoline prices, lying, Pelosi, vacation
Thirty-two Years of Lies About Energy
Jul 2, 2008 Opinion
I have discussed before how politicians (from both parties) have been saying for decades that we need energy independence. Before environmental moonbattery became vogue many of our politicians said we needed to drill for our own oil and after the wackos came to power that changed to use our own natural gas instead.
Starting with Jimmy Carter and his vow that we would not use one drop more of foreign oil then we were at that time (when oil was under $30 a barrel) and ending with $140 oil today we have not drilled for our own and we have not become energy independent. We use more foreign oil while we sit on top of untold reserves that would truly make us energy independent. They always say it will take time but time has passed us by and they still have not accomplished a thing. Here is the link to a video that has a montage of clips from Carter to Bush and everyone in between. The video features them all telling the same lie over and over. Keep that in mind when you hear the candidates tell you about energy independence.
Our country should be embarrassed that the French have more nuclear power than we do.
Big Dog Salute to Stop the ACLU