Read, comment, repeat.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/03/08/hold-for-mon-a-m-six-reasons-why-barack-obama-still-favorite/

Rep. Massa goes nuclear on Dems.

Specifically, Bennet’s Plan for Washington Reform would:

Salaries, Spending, and Perk
* Freeze congressional member pay until there are 4 quarters of job growth
*Freeze congressional office budgets until there are 4 quarters of job growth
* End the health care subsidy for Members of Congress until health care reform passes and eliminates discrimination based on pre-existing conditions, doesn’t cut guaranteed Medicare benefits, increases coverage, and is fully paid for
* Require full payment for the seat and disclose of those traveling with a Member of Congress on a charter jet

Lobbying Reform
* Put a lifetime ban on Members of Congress becoming lobbyists
* Ban congressional staff from lobbying their former boss for 6 years
* Ban former committee staff from lobbying their former boss or any member of the committee who was active during their time on staff for 6 years
* Ban lobbyists from joining congressional staff or committee staff for 6 years
* Create stricter rules for lobbyist registration
* Institute penalties for failing to register as a lobbyist

Earmark Reform
* Ban earmarks to private, for-profit companies and institutions.
* Make earmarks transparent
* Members of Congress must report all earmark requests they receive and all earmarks requests made
* Earmarks.gov should list all earmarks requests, sortable by member of Congress
* Hold Members of Congress accountable on earmark requests
* All earmark requests above $1 million should go before the Appropriations Committee
* Hold earmarks recipients accountable
* Each year, a certain percent of all earmarks will be audited to ensure that taxpayer money is being spent wisely. These reports should be made public on earmkarks.gov

Reform the Floor
* Eliminate anonymous holds
* Require holds to be bipartisan. If not, the hold expires in 2 days. Even bi-partisan holds expire in 30 days.
* Reform the filibuster in the Senate
* After 3rd failed cloture vote, the minority must find a member of the opposite party or the threshold raises to 45 votes.
* After the 3rd cloture vote, if the majority finds support from three members of the minority, it raises to 45 votes.
* End the filibuster for motion to proceed
* Require 41 Senators to show up to vote in order to block cloture, or else it’s invoked

Campaign Finance Reform
* Support the Schumer/Van Hollen campaign finance bill, which would require Chief Executive Officers to stand by their ads, quick disclosure and sunshine rules, restrictions on foreign corporations and TARP recipients, and codifying coordination rules.
* Support a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to regulate contributions and expenditures.

On March 3rd, Bennet delivered a speech on the floor of the Senate on the Plan for Washington Reform.

Watch it here:

Now watch as his Democrat brethren eat him alive.

You’ll never guess.

Click “Read more” to find the answer.

ANSWER

You could have knocked me over with a feather!

The rapid pace of growth of the federal government has increased 24.7% from 19.9% of the economy. That is the highest level since World War II. The debt accrued in the past five years, is the total of debt summed up from President George Washington to Bill Clinton.

Read the Wall Street Journal article here.

I’m on the leading edge of the Xer age. And I’ve been convinced since my early years that things will not perpetually get better and better and better in our country, especially not with choices, patterns, and lifestyles that do not reward thrift, restraint, modesty, and patience. When I examine my elder brethren, I am left wondering if their lasting legacy upon this great land will be one which will resign them to the doghouse of historical judgment.

Boomers are poised to leave a determinative mark on their country. The question is what kind.

Compare the Boomers with the Builders generation. The Builders’ formative years, when their impressions of the world were being anchored in the wet cement of youth, consisted of experiences of tremendous loss and hardship – the Depression and successive recession of the 1930’s, followed by World War 2.

People had no choice but to learn the values of thrift, restraint, modesty, and character. There was no margin for reckless living without consequences. Margins were more than a line on a paper; they were rules to keep life in perspective. People retained an accurate view of their humanity—the clay feet that kept them grounded in a truthful, even if slightly harsh, view of life.

And yet, to have survived, endured, and then allowed to thrive after WW2 probably made it feel like they were being given a new lease on life. The future was a confident one, because the values they had learned through the fire were now in a position to pay off. The trials that started their life gave way to the optimism that followed.

The Boomers did not have it the same way. Their early years were full of bounty, plenty, even opulence by the world’s standards. They reveled and regaled in their abundance, and became consumed by triviality to where it became a staple of their life, a defining more of their generation. They had the ‘luxury’ of being radicalists, socialists, Marxists, anarchists, or whatever-ists because there was a thick, soft bottom known as prosperity that gave them the margin to experiment with all kinds of whacky, unrealistic philosophies on life – and get away with it, at least for a long time. If you’re leaping off a steep deck, it’s good to know whether you’ll land on a plush mattress or a concrete slab.

American Socialism as we see it today is not driven (or at least promoted and communicated) as much by an ideological purity to its European ancestors as it is by its own unique Yankee twist – something I would call “self-absorbed” socialism. It’s a socialism that is driven more by self-gratification and self-security than anything else. Unlike Bolshevism, which was driven into power during harsh and lean economic times in Russia, American socialism is driven by a sense of fulfillment – I want mine. It is rationalized into an entitlement – I deserve it. Don’t these phrases sound like typical commercial jingles and slogans heard ubiquitously on air?

When I heard the phrases a year ago about how “Obama will pay our mortgage” or “Obama will hand out cash”, it wasn’t for some noble cause of philosophical advancement. It was simply a case of “I want it, I need it, so give it.” Easy money from an unending supply, something the Boomers would have been accustomed to expecting. Thus they perpetuate the expectation.

The irony is that with the policies so favored among the receding hairline crowd of old 60’s flower kids now holding positions of power in DC, culture, and community, we could very well see the return of hardship to our country. Chief among these is a recognition that while the Builders endured great hardships on their way to a better future, the Boomers could see the squandering of their predecessors’ wealth from their own early years turned into an unforgiving winter of their final days as a generation.

Only this time, the character of the generation may not be ready to endure it.

When President Obama embraced what he calls the, “fifty-plus-one pattern of presidential politics,” to pass a health care bill, he admitted that he “can’t govern.”

Last February, President Obama tapped Joe Biden to oversee the $787 billion stimulus package saying, “The fact that I’m asking my vice president to personally lead this effort shows how important it is for our country and future to get this right,”

At last weeks health care summit, Joe Biden was overheard telling a participant, “It’s easy being vice president – you don’t have to do anything.”

Now Americans knows why the $787 billion stimulus package isn’t working and the country is going to hell in a hand basket – the President can’t govern and the vice president forgot he had a job to do.

America is not in a position to have leaders that either can’t or don’t do their jobs.

Having to tighten their own belts, many Americans support Senator Bunning for finally addressing something they have felt strongly about for years.

While Democrats and the liberal media try to vilify Senator Bunning for holding up legislation tied to an extension of unemployment benefits, Americans are starting to rally behind him.

Timing is everything, and Senator Bunning is betting this may be the perfect time to take a stand.

Revered conservative and PD hero Daniel Hannan decided to host an American style Tea Party protest with only 2 days notice – and they packed the house. They were expecting 50, and over 300+ showed up. It was wildly received. And they did serve the real stuff – a spot of tea, what?

Here he is being interviewed just ahead of the event on Friday.

Me thinks pockets of common sense are starting to break out around the world.

Some issues don’t seem that important, but they can make our lives a bit more enjoyable. For example:
License plates: The state can provide European style plates for those willing to pay for them. They look great on some vehicles that have the space, and make some cars look better.

Now I personally am against said license plates because these imports will surely take the jobs of hundreds of American inmates, who will have to go on the prison unemployment dole and become even more of a burden to the state then they already are.

But they certainly are stylish, aren’t they? And this one even has my initials!

Instead, I thought I’d write a fresh post on the issue of the main message coming from CPAC last weekend. As we’ve all been made aware, Ron Paul stole…er, rigged…I mean, won the straw poll released on Sunday (that was for all the conspiracy theorists among us).

Whether or not Ron Paul is the man to lead the masses is beside the point. The message is loud and clear: fiscal restraint and responsibility need to be the leading edge, the rallying cry, and the media message this fall. Smaller government, fiscal discipline, and individual liberties all lie at the heart of what Paul has championed over the years. Regardless of whether we think Ron Paul is a crazy old coot, or a long-lost wandering extra from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, his message is sinking in with a growing percentage of people. Maybe CPAC was a tipping point.

Even if we take out half of his “supporters”, Ron Paul still ends up at 15%. He finishes second. Second. We all knew Mitt would pull numbers; but for Paul to get that many, and for the rest of the pack to poll so low, illustrates the point. The people want action; they want something done. Enough of the personality games and Fox News show hosts; we need real action in real time. There’s too much at stake, and not much time left, especially as the Communist-in-Chief keeps transforming us into a “Workers’ Paradise” more and more each day.

If we don’t secure the purse strings soon, there will be no treasury left. We will become vassals of the Chinese. They may even start calling us “Taiwan East”. Our military will not only be unable to sustain their campaigns; they may even need to go through massive reductions in force and strength, thus rendering our own country vulnerable, or neutering us as our interests around the world are violated and taken away.

Republicans, ignore the message at your own peril.

To be fair, there are some who already get it. Mike Pence gets it. Paul Ryan, whose Roadmap for America is the most appealing thing out there right now, gets it. Demint and Coburn get it. My own HR Rep Platts gets it. But the fact that I can name individuals should tell you how dispiriting it is that I can’t just lump all the Repubs together and say that they all get it.

Republicans, if you don’t hear this message and embrace it like you’re squeezing the life out of Angelina Jolie, two things willl happen:

1 – there will come a third party split, one that will definitely affect you more negatively than any of the moderate or conservative Dems still possibly remaining in the Dem party. This will lead to…

2 – Obama dumping a crap load of his nation-destroying agenda on us for 6 more years, with the consequences reverberating for a decade, if not a generation.

It’s morning in America, Republicans. The six AM alarm is going off. You gonna get it?

Didn’t those Democrats learn anything from that Massachusetts election?

Oh that’s right – that was his election.

Serve up another liberal tax and spend RINO.

Snow and Collins should feel more comfortable now.

Nice looking guy though – and a great politician!

What do you want to bet he votes for Obama’s health bill compromise?

So naturally I asked her why Walt Disney was a bad man. She told me he cut down trees and covered water in swamps to build Disney World and this made him a bad man. I asked her who told her this. She responded, “My teacher”. I was then and two days later am still disgusted, frustrated, and extremely annoyed by this. School is not for indoctrinating our children with someone’s social values. It is for teaching math, science, true history, and language.

Now we are reaching the apex one well-laid plan (of many) from the 1930s. As evidence, read this plaque I look a picture of in the Smithsonian American History museum when I was in Washington DC on 9/12/2009 with around 1,000,000 of my closest friends:

“Progressive educators” desired a “more standardized education”. This way they could indoctrinate the rising generations (oh the history I’ve had to relearn!) and now I have to constantly quiz my daughter on what she was taught due to the need to reteach her! She is taught so many fallacies, such as FDR being the greatest President of all time and that we should never drive our cars. Apparently her teacher missed all the parts where FDR attempted to unravel the constitution (and in many ways did) and how transportation allows us to grow the economy by doing important things such as work, not to mention taking the children to school for more of this indoctrination! When children in school are taught this kind of drivel it is no wonder each new generation is more confused, lost, and lacking moral grounding.

Amazing that in our poll prediction contest (with poor participation by the way, you slackers) not a single entry predicted the Ron Paul victory.

Why did Ron Paul, a guy who has never and will never have a chance of actually being elected, win this thing?

Not me. Yes. I am crushed. I would demand a recount, but considering the guy who actually walked away with the prize I will put aside any questions about the actual vote counting.

All kidding aside, I humbly tip my hat to a HotAir’s “Captain” Ed Morrissey, formerly of CaptainsQuarters. He’s done yeoman’s work for years and this award is well deserved if not overdue. Being introduced and lauded by Rush Limbaugh more than made up for the delay.

I had the honor of meeting Ed a few CPACs ago. Having met the man, I can categorically deny the swirling rumors that he is a closet pinko commie. Those are lies. Damn lies! There is no truth to them what so ever!

Congrats, Ed. Well done.

It’s not just his handlers and staff; it’s him.

In a politico post, describing a recent meeting he and other congressional leaders had at the White House, Ohio Republican Rep John Boehner said President Obama “looked at me and slapped the table and said, ‘Boehner, it’s not my policies that are polarizing the American people; it’s you Republicans scaring them.’”

Boehner then said he responded: “No, it’s your policies.”

Wow, the amazing power of an out-of-power minority party that has no bargaining chips nor ability to derail the “train of transformational politics”. It’s not the fractious shards of democratic alliances with labor thugs, other special interests, and members of their own party; it’s not the staffing of communists and other liberal fringe throughout the WH; it’s not running up debt faster than Paris Hilton on a shopping bender, all payable by the rest of the country.

No, it’s those tiny clusters of Republicans, shut out of most major media markets and forums by biased commentators, able to somehow conjure up a tidal wave of momentum on all these issues combined.

Wow, if the R’s can do all this while in the political wilderness, can you imagine what they could influence and command if ever able to regain actual power?

Marco Rubio kicked off the conference this morning with an inspiring speech that brought the room to tears as he reminded us why America is the greatest country in the world and what it means to be an American. He is truly a rising star in the GOP. Look for a run for the Presidency in 2016 or 2020. Assuming he doesn’t pull a Mark Sanford or make some other unforgiveable, bonehead move, he will be the future of the Republican Party.

Jim DeMint was not as exciting as Rubio, but discussed the problem with Washington’s spending spree. He spoke of a bill that he created last week to put a one year moratorium on earmark spending in Congress.  If you’d like to read more and see which Senator’s have co-sponsored the bills and which haven’t, go to his website at senateconservatives.com.

Dick Armey was forgettable and Liz Cheney was predictable, until she introduced her father as a surprise guest speaker. Dick Cheney continued to rattle liberal cages when he announced that Obama would be a one term President. Say what you will about the man, but he knows how to keep this country safe and forces the Obama Administration to defend their decisions on the treatment of terrorists. For that, I will forever be grateful.

Scott Brown was the next surprise guest and brought the house down. The energy in the room was like nothing I’ve ever felt, but he didn’t speak long before introducing Mitt Romney.

Romney was the disappointment of the day.  He spent an entire half hour bashing Obama and all of 30 seconds discussing very high level solutions to the problems this administration is creating.  My advice to Romney: Know your audience.  There wasn’t a single person in that room that needed to be sold on conservative values and a lesson on why Obama’s policies are detrimental to our country, with the obvious exception of members of the liberal elite media that were being paid to be there.  As a potential presidential candidate, he should have provided specific actions that he would take now or 2012 if he were President.

By contrast, John Boehner was excellent. His began his speech by discussing his accomplishments this year as the House Minority Leader and discussed 3 lessons that he learned while serving in the House: Have the willingness and ability to listen, good things will happen if you do good things and always work harder than your opponents. To close, he provided 7 specific, measurable actions that he would implement if he becomes Speaker of the House in 2010.  That is exactly the kind of speech that Republicans should be giving going into the 2010 elections.

If you’re at CPAC this weekend and would like to meet for a cup of coffee or listen to one of the speeches together, please feel free to email me at alaina.segovia@gmail.com.

Predict the top three finishers and their percentages in the post comments. Closest to actual results will win a signed advance copy of The Cross Gardener a week before it goes on sale.

Here are the contenders as they appear on the CPAC ballot:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
Texas Rep. Ron Paul
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty
Indiana Rep. Mike Pence
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum
South Dakota Sen. John Thune
Other

SPECIAL BONUS CONTEST:

Predict the exact order of all 11 contenders (no percentages necessary) and I’ll let you pick any three books from my collection. Please post this prediction in a separate comment from your “top 3″ prediction.

Both contests close Saturday at 8:00 AM, EST.

Good luck!