Free Republic

Shill Here, Shill Now The offshore drilling movement seems silly, but could it spark a smarter movement? David Weigel | August 15, 2008 “I taught in the second Earth Day,” Newt Gingrich recalled in Real Change, published in January, the most recent of his annual, not-quite-consistent handbooks for conservatives. As gas prices hovered around $3 per gallon, Gingrich told good men of either party to look at tax credits for companies that curb their pollution, or for homeowners who slap solar panels on their roofs, or for drivers who get rid of their gas-guzzlers. The former speaker of the House...

Republican John McCain is scheduled to make it today to an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico to promote his energy policy -- and bash Democratic rival Barack Obama. The Democratic National Committee is handing out "ExxonMcCain '08" bumper stickers to reporters today, along with a stress reliever shaped like an oil drum. The antiwar advocacy group MoveOn.org is planning protests across the country, including one at noon today at Republican Party offices in Boston. "Senator Obama opposes new drilling," McCain plans to say, according to excerpts released by his campaign. "He has said it will not 'solve our...

Be sure to READ THIS!!Please continue prayers for TrueblackmanDON'T STOP FOLKS!!JUST SAY NO TO GANGS!!Congressman John R Carter of Texas says Gang of 10 a "Bad Deal"Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed a total lack of our "Establishment Media/Misinformation Socialist Monarchy" reporting on the price of gas and food for the past 2 weeks?New FTC Rule Could Apply To Pelosi After reading this post I decided to pull up her financial disclosure report and look for any other natural gas producers. On 11/8/07, she purchased between $250,001 and $500,000 of Quest Energy Partners, LP. (see pages 12...

New taxes on beverages and health care claims to be on November 4 ballot. AUGUSTA, Maine – Maine people will have the last word on $75 million of new taxes on beverages and health care claims, now that the Secretary of State today certified that the Fed Up With Taxes/YES on 1 coalition submitted more than enough signatures to put the issue to a statewide vote on November 4.

THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank members of the Coalition for Affordable American Energy for joining me today. We just had a very interesting and informative discussion. I heard from businesses, large and small. They -- these folks are representing a lot of workers, people who are really concerned about the energy situation here in America, a lot of people wondering why their government is not doing something about the supply of crude oil. One of the things that came out in this discussion was there's a lot of folks in our country who understand we could be doing something...

Still Blocking Vote on the American Energy Act, Speaker Pelosi Crafts “No Energy” Bill Loaded With Poison Pills Dow Jones News: Instead Of Allowing Vote on All-of-the-Above Energy Reforms, Speaker to Load Bill With Killer Provisions “Dooming the Election-Year Effort to Failure” Washington, Aug 18 - All year long, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has blocked a meaningful vote on the “all of the above” energy reforms the American people want – and she’s still blocking one. Congress’ five-week summer break continues to drag on – and there’s been no indication from the Speaker that she will allow an honest...

I saw a Republicans for Obama bumper sticker the other day and couldn't help laughing out loud. Republicans for Obama is an oxymoron. Oil and water, fire and ice. Impossible. Then I stumbled across a news article about this craze that featured two "Republicans" who are supporting the O Man. Former GOP Senator Lincoln Chaffee, who put down the bong long enough to vote for John Kerry in 2004, and Jim Leach, former Iowa Congressman who always looks concerned, have jumped on the Obama bandwagon. Neither man is a conservative, and both were voted out of office, so this isn't...

Has Ellen DeGeneres won the culture war? It’s somewhat surprising that DeGeneres’ daytime television show has become Republican central over the past several months, with high-profile appearances by Laura Bush, Jenna Bush and John McCain. Even more surprising: the fact that DeGeneres treated both Bushes and McCain with the utmost respect, although McCain and DeGeneres had a civil disagreement over same-sex marriage. One cannot imagine, say, Rosie O’Donnell showing any respect for McCain and the Bush ladies. DeGeneres is far more tolerant—but mere tolerance isn’t the only reason DeGeneres avoids the usual Hollywood anti-Republican shtick. DeGeneres realizes that her show...

In this legislative district, consisting of East Manatee and parts of Sarasota and Hillsborough counties, incumbent Ron Reagan vies with newcomer Kirk Faryniasz in the Republican primary. The winner will compete with Democrat Richard Jackson in the November general election. Reagan's passion for politics and policy and the leadership skills and experience he has gained in his three terms in the Legislature give district residents strong representation. Due to term limits, a fourth term would be his last. The biggest issues again are pocketbook concerns - taxes, property insurance, energy costs - and economic development. Tired of high property insurance...

Lately I have heard from some of you, asking about the Corridor. Most folks believe it is over, dead, gone from our beautiful East Texas. I have been watching our government's actions on this subject. Did you know that in TxDOT's cover letter to the federal government it states they will only use existing highways to build their corridor? Did you know that TxDOT also stated that it may need to build in non-existing paths also, some time in the future. Citizens, I write you today to make sure you understand that the corridor issue in Trinity County has not...

Isn't it ironic how every time the 'race card' is played it is always from a leading member of today's Demockacratic Party. Today, while speaking at a press conference Howard Dean brought race front and center once again when he tauted the Democratic Party as a party where ...

Once again, the "greater good" has been served inside the Beltway, "bipartisanship" has broken a stalemate, the rancor over energy policy has ended and, as is always the case when such milestones are achieved, conservative America has been sold out. Somehow, Republicans never seem to figure out that when right and wrong attempt to find common ground with eachother, "right," by design, will inevitably be the first casualty. This latest effort involves a "Gang of Ten" U.S. Senators, five Republicans and five Democrats, who are promoting their "New Energy Reform Act of 2008." In truth it is anything but new,...

As House GOP members continued their protests to force a vote on more domestic oil drilling, the Senate's "Gang of 10" was hard at work dismantling their efforts. The five Republicans on the "Gang of 10," known by some reports as the "5 Stooges," are supporting a bill that is not only unconservative, but gives the Democrats a gift by taking away one of our strongest election issues: more drilling.The plan represents more government control (not less), more taxes (not less), and continues to provide barriers (rather than reducing them) to offshore oil production. Americans want more drilling, and members...

Be sure to READ THIS!!New FTC Rule Could Apply To PelosiBEHOLD the Power of the People, and the Power of  Nancy: "most open, most honest, and most ethical Congress in history"Nancy: "and Democrats promise to work together in a bi-partisan way for all Americans."What is the truth about Nancy?"Madam Speaker has a substantial amount of money invested in Clean Energy Fuels Corporation." dontgo"T Boone Pickens runs CLNE, this is the company Nancy has invested in, and apparently, the push is Natural Gas, which is the focus of the $5 billion in Ca. tax money and $5 billion in fed money...

Six out of 10 Americans (61%) say Congress should return to Washington immediately to vote on lifting the ban on offshore oil drilling, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. But voters overwhelmingly expect Congress to adjourn this year without taking action. Even more (67%) recognize that Republicans are the ones pushing for offshore drilling, and 77% say the issue is important to them in terms of how they will vote for Congress this November. Forty-five percent (45%) of voters say it is Very Important. Voters see a clear difference between the political parties on this issue as...

In the showdown between House Republicans and Speaker Nancy Pelosi over an up-or-down vote on increasing American oil supply by opening up offshore drilling, Pelosi blinked before a national TV audience on Larry King Live Monday night. When asked by King about bringing Congress back into session for a vote, Pelosi responded in part, “[Republicans] have this thing that says drill offshore in the protected areas. Well, we can do that. We can have a vote on that.” Before her book tour flopped, Pelosi haughtily informed Republicans that they needed to “imagine” a vote. As monumental as that capitulation to...

WASHINGTON - Even in the absence of lights, cameras and microphones, Republicans still seem to have a steady crowd of listeners to speak to on the House floor. The people filling the seats aren't members of Congress but a line of tourists sporting shorts, flip-flops and baseball caps, intrigued by the loosened rules that allow them to take a seat and listen to the ongoing GOP performance. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., led the second week of the House Republican revolt against Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats who adjourned for the month despite congressional gridlock and with no vote on...

It sounds very nice to say, as Barack Obama has done perhaps too much, that the upcoming election is about "hope" and "change." But those anodyne words conceal what I think is the public's true desire: Negation....

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Obama creates the illusion of Republicans for Obama: scrapes barrel with 2 unknown GOP discards & a NY lib with dodgy friends Democrats for McCain including many of the millions who form part of the Just Say No Deal/ PUMA/ and NoBama coalitions are providing a solid block of support for John McCain. Not to be outdone Obama today, with great media fanfare, announced his Republicans for Obama group. This is another desperate attempt to reassure Democrat super-delegates that Obama is commanding broad support across the country, especially from Republicans who Obama argues would never rally...

A trio of Republicans have defected from their party's likely presidential nominee and kicked off an effort to garner support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. The group, called Republicans for Obama, is led by two moderate Republicans -- James Leach, a former U.S. representative from Iowa, and Lincoln Chafee, a former U.S. senator from Rhode Island -- along with Rita Hauser, a prominent fund-raiser for President George W. Bush. Their reasons for crossing party lines are diverse, ranging from the war in Iraq to overspending in Washington, and signal unhappiness not just with the candidacy of Republican Sen. John...

When House Speaker Pelosi abruptly and literally turned off the lights in Congress on August 1st and sent the members on a five-week vacation, she thought she was doing something clever. C-SPAN can only broadcast Congress while Congress is in session. If there was no session, there would be no cameras to cover the debate over providing relief to American families from historically high gas prices. If there were no C-SPAN, Americans would never get to see the Speaker and the anti-energy left's stubborn refusal to lift the ban on offshore drilling, refusal to lift the ban on drilling in...

Be sure to READ THIS!!BEHOLD the Power of the People, and the Power of  Nancy: "most open, most honest, and most ethical Congress in history"Nancy: "and Democrats promise to work together in a bi-partisan way for all Americans."What is the truth about Nancy?"Madam Speaker has a substantial amount of money invested in Clean Energy Fuels Corporation." dontgo"T Boone Pickens runs CLNE, this is the company Nancy has invested in, and apparently, the push is Natural Gas, which is the focus of the $5 billion in Ca. tax money and $5 billion in fed money they are seeking."From the same article:"the...

SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline)-A John McCain presidency would be illegal because the Arizona senator was not born in the United States, says a lawsuit filed by the American Independent Party. The minor party says it wants McCain's name removed from ballots in California because federal law would bar the former Vietnam War POW from taking office were he to be elected in November, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Article II of the U.S. Constitution disqualifies McCain from assuming office because he was born in the Commonwealth of Panama in 1936, while his father...

"Lincoln Chafee has a long history of being one of the least supportive Senators of the American-Israel relationship, and having lost the most recent election, is now teaching students international affairs at Brown University.He also has a history of expressing views that are certainly not warm towards our embattled ally. Rita Hauser is a fierce critic of Israel; an activist who tours the country promoting anti-Israel views."

WESLEY CHAPEL, FLA. -- The first in an occasional series. -- Cheap mortgages and cheap gas built this sprawling landscape of tan and gray stucco homes, iron gates and golf course communities. And the people who flocked here over the last decade -- upwardly mobile young families in pursuit of lower taxes and wholesome neighborhoods -- emerged as a Republican voting bloc crucial to President Bush's 2004 reelection. * Feeling the pinch Feeling the pinch But listen to Anna Rodriguez and her neighbors who gather nightly on lawn chairs to unwind, and a change comes into focus that could shift...

One particularly unreliable energy supplier is Russia, whose murderous aggression in the Caucasus nation of Georgia is not just about toppling a democratic government allied with the United States and the West. It is also designed to consolidate the Kremlin’s control over oil flows to Europe by seizing the one pipeline from the petroleum-rich Caspian not currently in its grasp or that of Islamofascist Iran. Moscow has already demonstrated its serial willingness to use energy as a coercive weapon. Europe’s acquiescence to the Russian rape of Georgia is an ominous indicator - both of the prospects for freedom-loving, but relatively...

The war I witnessed for more than five years in Iraq is over. In July, there were five American fatalities in Iraq, the lowest since the war began in March 2003. In Mosul recently, I chatted with shopkeepers on the same corner where last January a Humvee was blown apart in front of me. In the Baghdad district of Ghazilia -- where last January snipers controlled streets awash in human waste -- I saw clean streets and soccer games. In Basra, the local British colonel was dining at a restaurant in the center of the bustling city. For the first...

LACK OF ENERGY IN WASHINGTON While Obama preaches about tire pressure and “tune ups” and Pelosi struggles to save the planet and sends Congress on a 5 week vacation, and other Democrats campaign against new oil exploration and new refineries, something odd has been going on: Oil prices peaked and are now in a virtual freefall. Why? Don’t expect gas prices to fall under a buck again or to see $10. a barrel oil again in our lifetimes but that freefall began for a reason, for various reasons, actually. And it wasn’t due to using tire gauges or Democrat inaction....

Texas Tea Party continues The recent actions of the House Republicans—staging a revolt and refusing to leave the House for a five week vacation in protest of the Drill Nowhere Democrats—have the potential to turn the tide. Read more about it here:House GOP persists in protest of energy stalemateTo give visitors a better view, Republicans have opened the chamber floor to the public, which normally is restricted to the balcony. Although the chamber lights are dimmed, the microphones muted and the cameras shuttered, the Republicans say their message is spreading and that their populist-styled "talk-a-thons" are resonating with voters at...

There is something especially inspiring in watching democracy in action. Today, as has been the case all week, Republican Members of Congress took to the House floor to stand up for Americans who need relief from rising energy costs. Sadly, what we’ve also seen this week is democratic inaction. When Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat Congress skipped town last week, adjourning before Republican Members had a chance to speak about their energy plan on the House floor, they walked out on Congress and essentially walked out on the needs of the American people. I cannot commend the Republican House...

At a recent writers conference in Southern California, one of my colleagues on a screenwriters panel told the crowd of about 50 people that she hoped Barack Obama would win the presidency. A number of people applauded. When it was my turn to speak, I politely said that I disagreed with her politics and moved on to other topics. There was no applause for me, but several writers approached me afterward. Each dropped his voice to a whisper and, looking around to make sure no one would overhear, said, "Thank you for saying that." Which raises a question for all...

It doesn’t matter if they talk about it on the evening news or not according to Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana. Pence, along with two of his Republican colleagues – Reps. Dan Burton. Ind., and Bob Goodlatte, Va., met with reporters about the protest they are waging against congressional Democratic leaders at the Capitol on Friday. Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, have prevented an up-or-down vote on expanding offshore oil exploration and drilling. “We don’t need to be on the mainstream media,” Pence said. “I think the switchboard at the Capitol is melting. Quite frankly, you know,...

The Republican Party suffers from a pervasive and inexplicable failure to identify some key points of distinction between themselves and their Democratic opponents on issues that speak clearly and forcefully to the public consciousness - and to run with them. I.e. to put and keep those issues in the spotlight of the campaign. The latest case in point: Racial preferences - i.e. Affirmative Action. Many "red meat" Democrats as well as most Republicans see these measures for what they are - state-sponsored racism - plain and simple. More deeply - an attempted end run around the most basic tenet of...

Still, it was probably too much to assume every Republican would work out that their side was winning this issue. And so, last Friday, in stumbled Sens. Lindsey Graham, John Thune, Saxby Chambliss, Bob Corker and Johnny Isakson -- alongside five Senate Democrats. This "Gang of 10" announced a "sweeping" and "bipartisan" energy plan to break Washington's energy "stalemate." What they did was throw every vulnerable Democrat, and Mr. Obama, a life preserver.

Oil prices resumed their descent Friday, dropping briefly below $116 a barrel as a huge jump in the U.S. dollar and expectations of slowing global demand offset supply concerns over a sabotaged pipeline in Turkey.

Well, no sooner did I write a column envisioning it than we almost had the real thing. Last Friday, about 40 House Republicans staged a spontaneous protest on the floor of the chamber, when Speaker Nancy “Nine Percent Approval Rating” Pelosi forcibly adjourned the House for a five-week vacation to avoid taking any vote on domestic energy drilling – precisely because she would lose it. Pelosi was caught between a political rock and a hard place: Allow the vote, watch a good number of Democrats defect so as to protect themselves in an election year, and see the enviro-wacko lobby...

There’s a very odd mood among House Republicans this week. Rebelling against Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s adjournment of the House last Friday, Reps. Mike Pence (R-Ind) and Tom Price (R-Ga) had a sort of Howard Beale moment. Beale, the mad newscaster in “Network," asked his audience to throw open a window and shout, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.” Pence and Price refused to leave the House floor and began the open revolt against Nancy Pelosi’s “Drill Nothing” Congress. Five days into the revolt -- as I saw yesterday in the Republican cloak room...

Republicans have their backs against the wall, facing a bloodbath on Election Day that will leave the party in shambles and the nation in the hands of the worst conglomeration of demagogues, scoundrels and loony leftists ever put together in our nation’s history. When you’re fighting for your life, you have two choices: whimper about your plight while the other side cuts you to pieces, or fight as if your life depends on it, which of course it does. Dark as the outlook for survival may seem, there is a ray of light that if taken advantage of can not...

WASHINGTON — - A Connecticut congressman took his turn Wednesday in an unusual piece of political guerrilla theater taking place on one of the most prominent stages in the country: the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Chris Shays, the lone New England Republican in the House, stood in the chamber of the recessed Congress — where the lights are low and microphones are off until the session resumes in September — and demanded that the Democratic majority come back to the Capitol and allow a debate on energy policy. More specifically, Shays and several other Republicans who...

Republican mocks 'Beijing George' Posted: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 12:31 PM by Domenico MontanaroFiled Under: White House, Republicans, 2008 *snip* before jetting off, the President's spokesman Tony Fratto bid "Beijing George's" best wishes to the Democrats' "Drill Nothing" 110th Congress: 'We don't have plans to call Congress into session -- it won't make a difference if Democratic leaders are unwilling to bring up a bill for an up-down vote.'" *snip* Facing an "impossible" re-election, on July 26, 1948, the wildly unpopular and doggedly anti-communist President Harry S. Truman accepted his Democratic nomination and boldly confronted the GOP's "Do Nothing"80th Congress:"My duty...

How Obama and the Democrats Screwed Up on Drillingby Steve Kornacki August 6, 2008 The Democrats are supposed to own the issue of energy, if only because they've mastered the art of tarring Republicans as the party of Big Oil. It's a caricature that the G.O.P., with its mocking scorn for conservation, addiction to corporate tax cuts and unkickable habit of nominating oil men for national office, has done nothing to refute. Of course, the Democrats are also (supposedly) the masters of the blown political save, experts at devising new and ever more elaborate means of snatching electoral defeat from...

House Democrats are not just hearing about offshore drilling from Republicans who have taken over the House floor for a recess revolt; the conservative advocacy group Freedom’s Watch is going up with radio and TV advertisements against Democratic candidates in a dozen races around the country. The ads, scheduled to be aired beginning Wednesday against incumbents seeking re-election and Democrats vying for open seats, echo the theme Republicans are sounding on the floor: Democrats left town for August without allowing a vote on lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling. “No to offshore drilling. Yes to a vacation for Congress,”...

<p>Speaker of the House returns to show Nancy what Leadership Looks Like!</p> <p>NEWT GINGRICH JOINS OUR CAUSE!</p> <p>REAL LEADERSHIP Returns to the People's House to Represent the American People!</p> <p>“More than 1.4 million Americans have signed a petition demanding that Congress pass legislation to lower gas prices and increase production of American-made energy" Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH).</p>

Politicians are mostly stupid, and they are mostly slimy. And there is no better example of this than the current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. The belief of a lot of pundits both on the left and the right is that the Democrats can take the White House and increase their Congressional numbers due to the downturn in the economy that was caused by the credit crises. The economy is the number one issue that many Americans are looking at this election year when they cast their votes, as so many have in fact forgotten that we are fighting...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's finest moment was the day she was elected as Speaker of the House. That's when she curled her fist and flexed her right bicep, he-man style, promising to institute "the most ethical Congress in history" after all those years of testosterone-addled, business-as-usual in the U.S. Congress. Shortly afterwards she named Rep. William Jefferson, caught with $90,000 funny-money in the fridge, to the Homeland Security Committee. That's the committee that's supposed to protect us from terrorists. Then in a dramatic move, she proposed a rule to ban earmarks from all appropriations bills. (Just kidding.) That was the...

As Sen. John McCain and the GOP leadership nationalize the drill, drill, drill message, the Republican party might conceivably be riding a summer political rally. The question of offshore drilling, along with expanded domestic energy production, has suddenly become the biggest political and economic wedge issue of this election. Is there a Republican tsunami in the making? Continues... ================================================================= Treading on air In response to almost $4 a gallon gas, Nancy Pelosi sent Congress on vacation for the rest of the summer without a vote on more domestic oil drilling. On the bright side, 74 new post offices were named!...

Talk about a puff piece, this Associated Press short is a story with absolutely no substance. Not only that but after seeing the headline and then reading the story, one is hard pressed to believe they belong together. This Amy Forliti puffery is incongruously headlined "Protesters expected to transform the streets outside GOP convention into marketplace of ideas," yet there isn't any discussion at all of any such "marketplace" or about any real "ideas" in the story. In fact, the only "ideas" are ages old, stale and losing their grip among more Americans everyday. Oh, Forliti talks about protests filled...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain may be thrust into the public spat between House Republicans and Democrats over the Democratic leadership’s decision to take summer recess without vote on offshore oil drilling. The Democratic leadership allowed the legislature’s scheduled summer break to begin August 1 without holding an up-or-down vote on increasing domestic oil drilling. Republicans stayed behind to protest the decision and have been delivering speeches on the floor of House in support of more drilling. In a briefing with bloggers in House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office August 5, Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz ,said he would “love...

For those of you watching the Republicans in their oil standoff in Congress on Twitter, this may be of some interest. Hope none of us has gotten this attack yet. Article is linked due to being unsure of copyright issues.

We have the left rattled and on the run. For proof, consider three developments from late last week. But first, I want to make a special announcement. Many of you are probably following the story of how House Republicans are staging a protest in the House Chamber, demanding that Nancy Pelosi call the House back into session in order to vote on The American Energy Act, an "all of the above" energy strategy that includes more drilling, funding for scientific breakthroughs, as well as common-sense conservation efforts. (More info on that story below.) Tomorrow at 10am, I will meet with...