Freedom of BLEEP

President Obama continues to say, “[U]nder our plan, no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” This is such deceitful statement that even some of his Democratic colleagues are beginning to call him out on it:

“If you take a look at H.R. 3200 as originally written, abortion was never mentioned. It was the amendment process that added this amendment which now makes public funding for abortion available,” says Bart Stupak (D-MI). He continued, “If your talking about 3200, technically he’s correct. But you all know about the Capps amendment. You all know it’s become part of the bill. [...] So I was disappointed when the President got up there last week and said no funding for abortion is found in the bill. That is not true.”

As clearly stated in the Capps Amendment to H.R. 3200, “The public health insurance option shall provide coverage for [...] Abortions for which public funding is allowed.” Specifically this includes abortions performed in cases or rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother.

So already the President is lying, and it gets worse. The Capps Amendment would also allow private plans purchased with federal subsidies (”affordability credits” for low-income families and workers) to cover other kinds of abortion. So now people will be able to use federal money to obtain private insurance that will pay for their abortion - even abortions where direct federal funding would be prohibited.

The Capps Amendment leaves it to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to decide which other kinds of abortions can be covered. And if you look at the track record of Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, this is bad news for pro-life supporters. As the governor of Kansas, she vetoed anti-abortion legislation in 2003, 2005, 2006, and 2008, including Senate Bill 389 which aimed to strengthen laws against late-term abortion.

After being caught in this lie, the President and his goon Robert Gibbs have upped the ante and still insist they are telling the truth! Three times in one week Gibbs has tried to deceive the American people by saying “There’s a law the precludes the use of federal funds for abortion.” Upon further questioning, he responded, “My answer is indifferent from what it was on Wednesday. There’s a fairly clear [as in not very clear?] federal law prohibiting the federal use of money for abortion.”

Meanwhile, Obama has claimed that he wasn’t talking about the House bill when he said, “under our plan no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” Who’s plan was he talking about then? The purpose of his whole speech was to promote the Democratic health care plan, otherwise known as H.R. 3200.

Increased Energy Prices

Cap and Trade will require utility companies to supply 20 percent of their power from renewable energy sources by 2020. The Senate was unable to pass a smaller mandate in 2007, mainly because favored sources of renewable energy just don’t work in certain regions of the country. This standard will force utilities to increasingly rely on expensive sources of energy like wind and solar – expensive because they must be located far away from urban areas, necessitating long transmission lines. The associated costs will find their way into your monthly utility bills.

Forthcoming Obama Tariffs

The Cap and Trade Bill will give the Obama administration broad new powers to enact tariffs on imports from countries that have not imposed similar offset limits. All of the inexpensive goods we enjoy from the East will become more of a luxury. Additionally, the Obama Tariffs will inevitably lead to other countries placing tariffs on our goods and our economy will suffer even more. According to the New York Times:

A House committee working on sweeping energy legislation seems determined to make sure that the United States will tax China and other carbon polluters, potentially disrupting an already-sensitive climate change debate in Congress. The Ways and Means Committee’s proposed bill language would virtually require that the president impose an import tariff on any country that fails to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions.

Increased Fuel Prices

Relative to other companies in the energy sector, domestic oil refineries will receive a low number of permits. This will rapidly decrease the supply of gasoline. Even if refineries are able to meet offset limits through improved efficiency, the associated cost will still be passed down to consumers. Not only will you be paying more to fill your own tank, but you’ll be paying higher prices for everything you buy that has been transported.

Inefficient Government Expenditures

The projects receiving grants and financing under this legislation will not go to the cheapest bidder or even to the most competent contractor. Instead, companies will be required to implement Davis-Bacon union-wage rules, making it hard for non-union companies to compete. Most often, the grants will be paying inflated union wages.

Handouts for Other Nations

The Cap and Trade Bill will channel billions of dollars into subsidies for “international clean technology deployment for emerging markets.” For some reason, Democrats want to spend huge sums of money trying to impose our regulations on other countries. And remember, we’re talking about money taken from your pockets through cap and trade taxes. The value of the dollar is dropping, interest rates are shooting up, we are under a mountain of debt… But liberals want to give our money away to countries like China and India - countries that are already on track to surpass our GDP.

Increased Appliance Prices

The bill even extends to cover appliances. Washers and dryers, dishwashers, showerheads, televisions, and just about anything else you might want to buy will be subject to strict efficiency regulations. Like everything else, the price for these appliances will go up.

Another $25 Billion for Detroit

It’s part of the Auto Bailout Ad Infinitum Program.

Government Galore

Who do you think will be tracking offsets, micromanaging manufacturers, inspecting factories, inspecting power plants, inspecting farms, inspecting your house, inspecting imports, collecting tariffs, reviewing subsidy applicants, testing appliances, monitoring retailers, managing auctions, calculating costs, awarding grants, writing reports, and organizing data - all in between games of solitaire? Dozens of taxpayer-funded government agencies that run about as efficiently as your local DMV.

CAP AND TRADE IS A TAX ON THE MIDDLE CLASS

Cap and Trade Invites Corruption and Wasteful Spending

1. Politicians Handpick Handout Recipients

Eighty-five percent of the carbon permits will not be auctioned. They will be given to specific (politically connected) companies instead, at the discretion of government officials. Who is already slated to receive handouts? General Electric (with the CEO on Obama’s advisory counsel), AIG, and of course Government Motors. Smaller businesses will be among those fighting for the scraps and having to pay for permits.

2. Funding for Non-existent Programs and Ambiguous Causes

Example: Under the Cap and Trade legislation, US funding will be used to “build capacity to reduce deforestation in developing countries experiencing deforestation, including preparing developing countries to participate in international markets for international offset credits for reduced emissions from deforestation.” Give me a break. International offset markets don’t exist yet, nor do they even appear feasible at this point. How can we prepare developing countries to participate in a market with unknown structure and incomprehensible dynamics? And the “capacity” to reduce deforestation is so ill-defined that huge sums of money will inevitably be spent on nothing at all. Kind of like Obama’s economic stimulus package.

3. Taxpayers Sow, Lobbyists Reap

The farm lobby will be rewarded for practices that do not reduce greenhouse gases, such as no-till planting. One peer reviewed study shows that no-till does nothing to reduce carbon emissions in some soils; another peer reviewed study shows that this method actually increases nitrous oxide emissions, a more harmful greenhouse gas. But it is known that no-till makes weed control much more difficult. This is great news for the lobbyists of Monsanto (manufacturers of RoundUp and other herbicides), who have been especially aggressive throughout the drafting of this bill. In addition, agricultural businesses that are exempt from cap-and-trade regulations will still be given permits to sell. How much do you think Waxman received from the farm lobby to overlook this non sequitur?

4. Freebies for Fraudsters

Corrupt gangs of “community organizers” like ACORN will be eligible to receive billions in funding through cap and trade (despite their long history of fraud). The bill “authorizes the Secretary [of Energy] to make grants to community development organizations to provide financing to businesses and projects that improve energy efficiency.” Such projects will probably enlist overpaid ACORN “consultants” to walk around and ask businesses to turn down their AC.

Just how incompetent are the Democrats in power?

The $1 trillion dollar stimulus package overlooked thousands and thousands of shovel-ready jobs that are provided by maintaining and expanding our highway system. As a result, the American highway funds will be completely broke by August this year. Why did the Democrats slate “stimulus” spending for 2012 without even considering what can be done to help our economy this year? Sustaining and creating highway projects should be the most obvious way to create jobs, especially at a time when the construction industry is hurting.

But don’t worry, the liberal airheads already have a solution - and it shouldn’t surprise anyone. An additional $450 billion transportation bill is up for discussion.

According to the latest Rasmussen poll, 58% of Americans think that the stimulus package has not helped the economy at all, and 27% of these even think that it has hurt the economy. The surprising part is that 31% of Americans are actually stupid enough to believe that the stimulus package has helped the economy. When are you people going to realize that the Democrats’ spending bill had nothing to do with economic stimulus? The legislation included everything from health care to tattoo removal without even setting aside money to sustain highway projects.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate continues to skyrocket.

Democrats promise to serve the people through the expansion of government. In reality, these politicians only support big government to increase their wealth and power. This week’s corrupt politician is Congressman John Murtha.

As the head of the Defense Committee, Congressman Murtha controls hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. How does he distribute funding? Seemingly, it all depends on which contractor gives him the most money.

Murtha is granting $8 million to Argon ST. The CEO donated the maximum amount allowed by law toward Murtha’s last campaign. Murtha is directing a $5 million earmark toward Advanced Acoustic Concepts, which also gave the max to his campaign. CBS News reports, “10 recent Murtha donors are slated to receive $31 million in Murtha earmarks for 2010.”

Who isn’t getting earmarks? One defense contractor was set to receive $1 million from Murtha. He was told in order to get the money, he should “consider opening an office” in Murtha’s hometown. Officials distributing the money also chided the contractor for not giving “enough campaign contributions to Murtha,” and for not making “a showing at Murtha’s annual defense contractor fair.” The defense contractor didn’t care to play that game… And they didn’t get the funds.

Murtha has not commented on quid pro quo suspicions, but he did recently tell his local newspaper that he’s only trying to bring home the bacon.

Rock on!

Murtha isn’t the only one bringing home the bacon. Murtech, his nephew’s company also gets about $1.4 million every year from the Pentagon (without competitive bidding). Conveniently, everything Murtech does for the government is classified.

Don’t forget the John Murtha Airport he had built in his tiny hometown with $180 million of tax payer money (that also received $30 million in military upgrades which have never been used).

Come see our airport!

Speaking of corrupt liberals…

You may have noticed that this site was down for a few hours earlier today. The database was corrupted by what was most definitely a malicious attack.

Note to the hacker: Your ability to hack an open source framework with publicly known vulnerabilities is most impressive. But I have automated backups running so you wasted a lot more time than I did.

Less than one week after passing the $787 billion stimulus bill, the Democrats have already unveiled another $410 billion spending bill to increase revenue for government programs.

Didn’t President Obama call for more fiscal responsibility during his speech at the Economic Summit on Monday? Apparently someone forgot to pass the memo - possibly the head of Obama’s National Economic Council who actually fell asleep during the conference!

According to the Associated Press, the new spending bill includes thousands of earmarks, pet projects, and other forms of pork barrel spending.

Recovery: A Laughing Matter?

When combined with funding from the “economic stimulus,” there has been an astronomical increase in spending on government programs. Where is the extra money going to come from?

During his campaign, Obama said he would run the most transparent government we’ve ever had. But the new stimulus bill is up for vote today, and the Republican congressmen still haven’t even seen it - let alone the general public!

The day after inauguration, our President said, “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency. Our commitment to openness means more than simply informing the American people about how decisions are made.”

Well at least we know how decisions are made… Congressmen will have only a few hours to read hundreds of pages of legislation before 9 AM!

What happened to the democrats’ promise that the new stimulus bill would be posted on the internet at least 48 hours prior to the vote? They flat out lied. Why are they are so afraid of letting the American people know what’s in this bill?

Furthermore, our President has been telling lies left and right to get this bill passed. According to Obama, the CEO of Caterpillar “said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off.”

But Jim Owens actually said the exact opposite! “I think realistically no. The reality is we’re going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again.”

What else is Obama lying about?

Democrats in office have already made it clear that they care more about their careers than they care about democracy itself.

In the first part of their new rules package, the Democrats have abolished term limits for committee chairmanship - limits that Republicans established in 1995. In addition, the rules essentially prevent Republicans from having any voice whatsoever. It will be close to impossible to send Democrat sponsored bills back to committee for revision. And as Pelosi said herself, the House will no longer entertain bills sponsored by Republicans. Is this the bi-partisanship on which all the Democrats based their campaigns?

But it’s time to stop complaining about the their childish behavior and start doing something about it.

I encourage you to join the Intelligent Thinkers Movement. This organization will send you an email whenever important bills are up for vote in your area.

When you get the emails, write your representative to let them know how you feel and be sure to tell them that you don’t have a short memory. You can look up your representative from the link on the right, labeled “Write Your Representative.” It’s very easy, and your voice will make a difference.