Monthly Archives: November 2010

Energy & Commerce Chair Critical Call

BY GARY ANDRES

Intra-party fights for political spoils are one of the dark sides of legislative politics.

These battles are divisive and unproductive. They destroy party morale, political efficacy and even lifelong friendships.  Fortunately, the incoming Republican House majority kept most of these internal squabbles to a minimum when it came to selecting their new leadership team.

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Thanksgiving 2010 – Destiny’s Child

BY RICH GALEN

 Reprinted from Mullings.com

This is a rewrite of the Thanksgiving MULLINGS first published in 2002.

Please take a moment on Thanksgiving to say a Prayer of Thanks for those brave Americans in uniform, and also for the civilians, who are serving in far off places, away from their families, protecting us, while projecting America’s values as we enjoy our Thanksgiving dinners safe from fear, and from want; and exercise our freedoms of worship and of speech.

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Futile Death in Afghanistan

BY TONY BLANKLEY

Reprinted from the Washington Times

The administration’s Afghanistan war policy seems to be settling into a dismal combination of confusion and cynicism. Before the November elections, the administration was adamant that the troops would start coming home by July 2011. That, it is presumed, was to keep the president’s liberals calm.

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Obama’s Slump

 BY RICH GALEN

 Reprinted from Mullings.com and Townhall.com

 If you live in Washington, DC and follow the local Major League Baseball team – the Nationals – you know a little something about slumps.

You know how you can deny that one of their players is heading into one; you can deny he’s in the midst of one; and then you celebrate when he comes out the other side – in spite of the previous denials.

President Obama is in a real, hit-into-a-double-play-with-no-one-on-base slump.

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Revisiting Humphrey Hawkins

BY JOHN FEEHERY

Reprinted from the Feehery.theory.com

On the eve of St. Patrick’s Day in 1978, the New York Times reported that the House approved by legislation, which established the official policy of the United States that the unemployment rate should be 4%. “The bill authorizes the use of fiscal and monetary policy, public service jobs, job training and counseling and all other means to achieve full employment…The legislation was supported by a coalition of labor, civil right, liberal, religious and women’s groups and was backed by President Carter.” Amendments offered by Republicans to require a balanced budget and achieve an inflation goal of 3% were rejected, and most GOPers voted against final passage of the bill, calling it an empty promise.

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What Is A Tax Expenditure?

BY FRANK HILL

Reprinted from telemachus.com

 Do you ever get the strange feeling that someone might be getting a better deal under the same federal tax code than you are?

Well, they are…millions of your fellow Americans are.  To the tune of close to $1 trillion in saved tax payments per year. Each year.  And you keep paying all of your taxes like a great American without even knowing why.

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Earmarks and The Power of The Purse

BY JOHN FEEHERY

Reprinted from the feeherytheory.com

Mitch McConnell bowed to reality with his statement on earmarks yesterday.  It couldn’t have been easy and it shouldn’t have been.

Earmarks are essential part of our Constitutional process.  For any member of Congress (House or Senate) to willingly give power away to the executive branch in such a haphazard way is troubling.

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Media Missed Mark on Campaign Coverage

By Michael S. Johnson

Delta Airlines’ Sky Magazine had a 26-page spread last month on the Midwest’s new tourist hotspot, North Dakota . It featured Governor– and now U.S. Senator-elect– John Hoeven, who  gets much of the credit for making North Dakota one of the most prosperous states in the country.

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Five Concerns for Each Party

BY GARY ANDRES

Reprinted from the weeklystandard.com

Never mind the talk of tsunamis and tidal waves, last Tuesday’s results revealed some storm clouds ahead for both parties. (Okay, I promise to stop sounding like the political Weather Channel.)

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Litmus Test for Committee Chairmen?

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON

 Reprinted from The Hill.

The Washington Examiner on Nov. 8th, joined the lobbying campaign to prevent Michigan Congressman Fred Upton from becoming the new Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. 
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Hawks, Doves Analogy Passe

By Tony Blankley

Reprinted from the Washington Times

 Last weekend, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tried his hand at dissecting Republican foreign policy attitudes. I commend the senator for trying to come to grips with this vital question, which is getting so little, if any, national discussion. As foreign events grow ever more threatening, the view of the now both culturally and congressionally dominant party – the GOP – becomes central to the range of political options President Obama has available to him.

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High Cost of Collecting Corporate Tax

BY FRANK HILL

Reprinted from telemachus.com

Ever wonder if all of the money and energy that goes into political fights over the US corporate income tax is really ‘worth it’ or is all this argument over corporate taxes just a huge waste of time and a ‘political pinata’?

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Employ Power of the Purse

BY TONY BLANKLEY

 Reprinted from the Washington Times

 House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, center, accompanied by Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, right, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. takes questions on the sweeping GOP victory in the 2010 midterm elections, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2010. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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A Mulligan for Hope and Change?

BY GARY ANDRES

 Reprinted from Weekly Standard.com

Tuesday’s election produced another opportunity for hope and change in Washington .

Or at least that’s one way of looking at it.

Instead of wallowing in his party’s defeat, President Obama could interpret the outcome as a voter-imposed, political do-over – another swing at rising above the polarized politics of the past.

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Republican Demise A Bit Premature

BY JOHN FEEHERY

Reprinted from the Feehery Theory

In many ways, it was the best-case scenario for the Republican Party.

They swept the House in dramatic fashion, and while they didn’t quite win the Senate, they got the next best thing: Harry Reid is still going to be the chief spokesman for Congressional Democrats.

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