The Senate passed the first part of Porkulus II today as they look to pass several more. This bill has a price tag of $15 Billion, which seems like nothing compared to last years stimulus package
that ended up north of $800 billion. But wait, there’s more!

Immediately after the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was readying a package of jobless benefits, state aid and tax breaks that the Senate could take up next week.
…
But the next bill could carry a much higher price tag, possibly well north of $100 billion.

A draft circulating on Capitol Hill would extend jobless benefits and healthcare subsidies for the unemployed through the end of the year. It would extend aid to states to help pay healthcare costs, and avert a scheduled 21 percent pay cut to doctors who see patients under the Medicare health insurance program.

I’ve said it before and I suspect I will say it again, extending unemployment benefits is counterproductive at some point. We have long since passed that point. As far as helping create jobs, we didn’t do much of that with the first 862 billion, I’m not really sure what they expect to accomplish with 15 billion. Remember the definition of insanity is repeating the same behavior expecting different results. Maybe we should try something new, you know, like maybe not spending money we don’t have.

Biden: “This nuclear option is ultimately an example of the arrogance of power. It is a fundamental power grab.”

Reid: “No, we are not going to follow the Senate rules, no because of the arrogance of power of this Republican administration.”

Biden: “You may own the field right now, but you won’t own it forever, and I pray God when the Democrats take back control we don’t make the kind of naked power grab you are doing.”

Reid: “Mr. President, the right to extend a debate is never more important than when one party controls Congress and the White House. In these cases the filibuster serves as a check on power and preserves our limited government.”

Just wondering how they feel now that their precious health care bill isn’t going to pass, and they plan to use the same tactics they were fighting against just a few years ago.

Hat tip to Flopping Aces

Pretend for a minute that you are the President of the United States. You with me? Ok. Now pretend that you want to have a Bipartisan® talk about solving the health care problem in America. (Scheduled for Thursday). Please tell me why you would release your plan for health care on Monday? Shouldn’t we talk about things on Thursday and make some decisions then? Oh you mean you couldn’t care less what ideas the GOP have about health care. You say that the GOP is the party of no ideas, and you even post about it on your website.

Now this is pretty entertaining - thanks Save Jersey and Michelle Malkin

The GOP does have some good ideas. They are actually quite similar to what I posted a year ago as solutions to the health care problem. Simple things such as:
1. Letting people shop for health insurance across state lines

2. Allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do.

3. Give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs.

4. End junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs by increasing the number of tests and procedures that physicians sometimes order not because they think it’s good medicine, but because they are afraid of being sued.

Not only would these steps go a long ways towards making health care better, they wouldn’t cost a trillion dollars like Obamacare would. If Obama actually cared to consider any of the ideas from the GOP he wouldn’t have made his proposal 3 days before the meeting. He already has the plan he wants to pass and doesn’t care in the least what the Republicans think. He knows they are going filibuster his plan and he doesn’t really care. If they want this joke of a bill to pass, they will have to do it through reconciliation. If that happens they shouldn’t let the door hit them on the way out after the elections in November.

Former Vice President Cheney was hospitalized today with chest pains. He is currently resting at George Washington University Hospital and will be kept overnight for observation. From CNN:

Cheney has a long history of heart problems. He has suffered four heart attacks dating to 1978, when he was 37. He had his second in 1984 and a third in 1988 before undergoing quadruple bypass surgery to unblock his arteries. His fourth heart attack happened in November 2000, after he was elected vice president. At that time, doctors inserted a stent to open an artery.

Doctors in 2001 implanted a heart monitoring device to keep track of his heart rhythm and slow it down if necessary. In 2008, he underwent a procedure to restore his heart to a normal rhythm after doctors found he was experiencing a recurrence of atrial fibrillation.

Hopefully he doesn’t have to rely on government run health care. Get well soon Mr. Vice President.

I can feel the pain of those saying we can’t change things, not enough people vote, not enough people care, both parties suck. I feel the same way a lot of the time. That my friend is not the answer though. Big things don’t just happen. People have to dream big dreams and they have to work hard to accomplish them. Ronald Reagan understood that.

Today we face some of the biggest obstacles to progress that we have had face for a long time. We are staring at huge deficits, huge amounts of debt, massive unemployment, and unfunded liabilities such as Medicare and Social Security as far as the eye can see. Reagan faced huge challenges as well and he met them head on. He said a hundred years from now the people reading what he wrote would know whether he succeeded or not. They would know if those nuclear missiles had been fired and they would know if we still have the freedom we are currently accustomed to. That was 34 years ago and his dreams of changing the world we live in were very successful.

A hundred years from now the people living in America will also know if we succeed in our battle. They will know if we found a way out from under our crushing debt or if we failed. They will know if the Ponzi scheme that is social security has collapsed under it’s own weight or if we come up with an alternative. The things we do today and tomorrow will effect the lives of our children and our children’s children. Our dreams can change the world they will have to live in.

Giving up, saying it is too hard and that everyone in Washington is corrupt is not the answer. Somebody has to really have a DESIRE for real change to happen and then the DILIGENCE to MAKE it happen. There are plenty of things that have happened in the last 200+ years in America that people said couldn’t be done. Today we live in a society that has landed on the moon. A society where we can have a live video conference with people in China on devices the size of a book. These were not easy things to accomplish, but they happened because somebody thought they could be done and wouldn’t rest until they were accomplished. That is what we have to do as well.

I’m not suggesting that changing our government is easy, or even that it will necessarily happen, but having a defeatist attitude is certainly not the answer. As long as there are people like us that care enough to fight it then it can still happen. If you have read this far then you care what happens as well. That means at least two of us want things to change. Now we have to go out and make it happen.

Have meaningful conversations with your friends. Talk to them about what is going on and get like minded individuals excited about your dream and my dream. A dream of a country that spends within its means and gets rid of its debt. A dream of a Washington that works towards solving problems instead of playing politics. This isn’t about tea parties and it isn’t about electing Republicans instead of Democrats. It is about bringing the whole country together to want something different. It is about believing in that Shining City on a Hill that Ronald Reagan believed in and that millions of people still do believe in. America was that Shining City on the Hill for the rest of the world for a long time, and it can be again.

If you’ve made it this far and you’re still with me consider sharing this post with a friend or tweeting about it. If you still think we can make a difference consider subscribing to get more posts like this one in the coming days, weeks, and months. We have important elections coming up in November. We need to come together and show the people currently in Washington that we won’t stand for their games and that we are going to take back our country.

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The following are some of my favorite gun quotes. Some of them show why we need guns. Some show why the Founding Fathers knew we had to have them. Some show why dictators (and idiots in Congress) don’t want you to have any. All of them make me thankful for my Second Amendment rights. If you’re thankful for your Second Amendment rights tweet, stumble, bookmark, and share this list with a friend.

1.”A free people ought to be armed.”
~George Washington

2.”To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them…”
~Richard Henry Lee

3.”The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest possible limits. … and [when] the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
~St. George Tucker

4.”[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation (where) the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
~James Madison

5.”Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples’ liberty’s teeth.”
~George Washington

Read more…

If you’ve watched the news much recently you’ve seen some heartbreaking things in Haiti after the devastating earthquake hit last month. One of our fellow conservative bloggers, Tabitha Hale, or @pinkelephantpun in Twitter, has the opportunity to go to Haiti with Joy in Hope Ministries next month.

They are sending in their first team since the quake the first week of March, and I’ve been asked to go down to Jacmel with them. We will be passing out supplies in the refugee camp, working in an orphanage that has been bombarded with babies since the quake, feeding people, and hopefully rebuilding the home of a Joy in Hope employee. It’s going to be brutal, and as many photos as we’ve seen and first hand accounts as we have heard, nothing can prepare us for what we might see.

Anyways, she needs to raise some money to be able to go and is short on time. If you’ve been thinking of giving to Haiti and haven’t yet, this would be a good opportunity to do so. You can donate at her site or send a check in the mail. The address is on her page. Good luck Tabitha!

This is a guest post from Paul at The Loud Talker. If you are interested in guest posting at Geek Politics, check out the guidelines here.

Phil Jones is the director of the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia. The CRU is one of the primary sources of ammunition for global-warming alarmists. Jones also maintains the time series of the “instrumental temperature record.” This document heavily influenced the authors of the “2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report Summary for Policymakers.” This assessment concluded the following:

1. An increasing body of observations gives a collective picture of a warming world and other changes in the climate system
2. Emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols due to human activities continue to alter the atmosphere in ways that are expected to affect the climate
3. Confidence in the ability of models to project future climate has increased
4. There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities
5. Human influences will continue to change atmospheric composition throughout the 21st century
6. Global average temperature and sea level are projected to rise

Why is this important? This report is supposed to show scientific consensus on the subject of global warming. It is also the foundation on which the Copenhagen Treaty is built upon. The Copenhagen Treaty endorses the continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, and in no uncertain terms, blames industrialized nations for causing global warming. I’ve read the draft document and draft amendments and it is truly a political document that blames developed nations for causing global warming. Furthermore, it seeks to punish these nations financially and to redistribute wealth to developing nations. We are talking trillions of dollars.

Does this affect America? Of course it does. Cap and Trade, carbon credits, and other legislation is the direct result of the past decade or so of man-made global warming hysteria led by the likes of Al Gore and Phil Jones. Gore stands to become a carbon billionaire due to his ownership of and association with various carbon offset/trading companies. Other companies like GE stand to make billions or trillions of dollars thanks to the mandated sale of climate-friendly products such as re-engineered light bulbs. Global Warming fears are the basis of a multi-trillion dollar industry.

Here are some quotes from the leaders of the AGW movement:

* “We will face a string of terrible catastrophes unless we act to prepare ourselves and deal with the underlying causes of global warming.” Al Gore
* “Not only is it real, it’s here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster.” Barack Obama
* “We are facing a global climate crisis. It is deepening. We are entering a period of consequences.” Al Gore
* “We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great.” John McCain

As you can see, world leaders have been buying what Phil Jones is selling. Al Gore will tell you that the science is proven, the debate is over. He will not hear that there are plenty of scientists that disagree with him. But things seem to be changing. In a recent BBC interview Jones — one of the leading voices in the man-made global warming movement — happened to admit a few things. Jones said:

* there has been no statistically significant warming in recent years
* he acknowledged the likelihood of warmer periods in the past (such as the Medieval Warm Period)
* he admitted to manipulating key data to support global warming hysteria.

In other words, he has admitted that everything that the press and governments all over the world have bought hook, line and sinker, is a lie. The world has been warmer before. There has been no warming in recent years. And data was manipulated. Yet for some reason my friends that believe man is causing temperatures to rise cannot accept the possibility that they are on the wrong side of the argument. Scientists have shown that human impact on greenhouse gases is statistically insignificant. I’ve argued for years that the bright yellow thing in the sky has more to do with temperature fluctuations than anything humans could do. But they refuse to listen to opinions other than their own. “What do you mean dude? Are you against conservation?” “What’s the worst that could happen? We will get a better planet out of all of these recommendations, right?”

Wrong.

Pursuit of global warming legislation will add an unbearable load an already massively stressed American financial condition. The taxes and penalties imposed on companies under a cap and trade scheme will cause greater unemployment and price increases. Al Gore and his ilk need to sit back and shut the hell up for a while. President Obama needs to open up his ears and listen to the idea that man-made global warming is NOT a foregone proven scientific fact. He said in his first State of the Union speech “I know that there are those who disagree with the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change.” Overwhelming? I’d like to see the data on that. He continued: “But here’s the thing — even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy-efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future.”

I think most Americans can agree that energy efficiency, conservation, recycling and the like are good things to do. I also think that most Americans can agree that committing trillions of dollars to an unproven concept is a bad thing. Liberals cannot separate the two, conservatives can. We CAN be environmentally conscious AND fiscally responsible. It’s not an all or nothing situation.

Paul is Station Manager of RadioForConservatives.com, the largest web site dedicated solely to conservative podcasters. He also hosts a weekly show called “The Loud Talker.” His personal blog on conservative politics can be found at www.theloudtalker.com, and you can follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/RFCloudtalker.