Patty Murray: The Stupidest Person in America

Ann Coulter   "After Murray was elected to the U.S. Senate, the Democrats tried to keep her locked in her office to prevent her from saying anything that might end up in a newspaper. But in the confusion after the 9/11 attack, the leadership must have lost the keys and Murray escaped to say this about Osama bin Laden:
""He's been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. He's made their lives better."
"Yes, Osama was out building "day-care facilities" -- and probably sponsoring "Bring Your Daughter to Work" days!"

Government’s Light Bulb Ban Is Just Plain Destructive

Heritage  "But the politicians, as they typically do, failed to see the unintended consequences of this program. For example, CFLs use high levels of mercury, and exposure to mercury vapor is dangerous if the bulbs are broken. Hospitals and medical charities warn that CFL bulbs cause migraines and epilepsy attacks. Other critics point out that CFLs do not work well in colder temperatures, so they emit less heat, forcing Americans to use their heaters more and negating some of the energy savings. CFLs do not work well with dimmer switches, and the lifespan of the bulb diminishes when turned off and on frequently. Consumers are now hoarding incandescent bulbs in preparation for their phase-out as a result of their dissatisfaction with CFLs."

Politicizing the Law

National Review  "Probably the most experienced trial attorney in the entire Civil Rights Division, Coates has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. At the Justice Department, he has brought numerous cases on behalf of Americans from every walk of life and every religious and ethnic background. In 2007, he earned the division’s second-highest award, the Walter Barnett Memorial Award for Excellence and Advocacy. He received numerous Special Achievement and Meritorious Performance Awards — some during the Clinton administration..

"Despite his unmatched experience and the accolades earned, January 5 was Coates’s last day as the chief of the Voting Section. An outsider who attended Coates’s going-away party the day before reports that a letter from the section’s historian read at the event said Coates deserved to be on a short list of the most well-known and well-respected civil-rights attorneys in the United States."   Hans A. von Spakovsky

And then, there was that other committee designed to make us all ignore Mr. Coates' hearing.....

Glenn Foden, Townhall



Walloping the Middle Class

WSJ  "A family of four with an income of $45,000 would pay $2,083 more in taxes. Ouch. And that hard-working single mom, who Mr. Obama talks all the time? If she makes $40,000 a year, she will pay the IRS $1,607 a year more.

"Republicans are set to make the tax hit a big campaign issue in the next five weeks. Eric Cantor, the Republican Whip, tells me: "Democrats have always wanted to raise these tax rates on everyone -- not just the rich. I'm not surprised how this turned out." "

Eric Allie, Townhall

Human rights hatchet job: Despicable UN council thugs defame Israel again

NY Daily News  "And so, once more, Israel's enemies spin its unwillingness to commit national suicide as a crime against humanity. Will Obama stand for that?"

Ken Catalino, Townhall



TARP II: Banks and Business Don't Want It

Larry Kudlow    "An AP story quotes community bankers who do not want the Treasury Department or other federal agencies to own stock in their banks. They know the regulatory takeover risk that will come with this program. Next thing you know, the government will order banks to make unaffordable mortgages available to low-income folks, or perhaps force business loans on the basis of race or gender.
""We have taken a strategic decision not to have our primary regulator, the government, also be a partner in our bank," said William Chase Jr., CEO of Triumph Bank in Memphis, Tenn. The upshot is that Obama's whacky $30 billion mini-TARP is likely to be rejected by the vast majority of small banks. They took a look at the TARPed-up regulation overhanging the big banks, and they don't want any part of it."
Why the Democrat love affair with regulation?

Mike Ramirez, Townhall



On Bob Woodward’s Revelations

Max Boot "But I judge a president more by his actions than by his words. For all of Obama’s talk about an exit strategy, the fact remains that he has consistently stiffed those in his administration who favored a precipitous pullout. Now all the signals emanating from the administration suggest that the vaunted December policy review won’t amount to much and that we are unlikely to see a major drawdown next summer. Obama may talk exit strategies but his actions support General Petraeus’s counterinsurgency strategy."
Emphasis added. We heartily endorse President Obama's actions regarding the Predator strikes.

Education Reform’s Kryptonite

Legal Insurrection photo

 Heritage  "It would’ve been the logical follow-up question for Matt Lauer to ask. But just like the rest of NBC’s Education Nation series, Lauer let Obama off easy. The network appears content to give Duncan and union boss Randi Weingarten a platform to promote the same failed policies that got America into this mess."

Obama: Not Rough Enough?

Brent Bozell  "The liberals at NBC Universal want to hug Obama, too, with all the free airtime he wants. But first, they want him to put his every ounce of civility aside and pick up the mud bucket. Liberals can't maintain control of Washington without casting the conservatives as the incoming embodiment of all evil."
Watch NBC sitcoms and dramas and see how many times the characters take digs at Republicans.

Taxing the Rich

John Stossel   "Progressives want to raise taxes on individuals who make more than $200,000 a year because they say it's wrong for the rich to be "given" more money. Sunday's New York Times carries a cartoon showing Uncle Sam handing money to a fat cat. They just don't get it.
"As I've said before, a tax cut is not a handout. It simply means government steals less. What progressives want to do is take money from some -- by force -- and spend it on others. It sounds less noble when plainly stated."

Part-Time, Partisan President to America: ‘Buck up!’

Mike Ramirez, Investors.com

Pajamas Media " President Obama is quick to tell others how to think. The latest: In the face of polls showing Democrats vulnerable everywhere, the president is telling his liberal base to “buck up,”  adding that their lack of enthusiasm for him and his record is “inexcusable.” "

Policies Based on Illusion

Bruce S. Thornton "Yet for all of the efforts at a new beginning he made during his speech last year in Cairo, for all the “extended hands” and solicitous letters to Iranian leaders touting their religion and civilization, Obama has reaped little but contempt. Iran continues its march toward nuclear weapons. As it has in the past, the failure of diplomatic imagination has blinded us to our enemy’s motives, leading us, as Conquest warned, to “policies based on illusions” — and putting our national security at risk."