California Conservative

I just got an email from Gabriela at the Sunlight Foundation. She’s proud to announce that, thanks to the Sunlight Foundation’s supporters, congresscritters are now free to use blogs, Twitter and YouTube. Here’s the text of the email:

Dear Sunlighters,

Good news! Thanks to your help, the House and Senate recently updated the guidelines that govern how members of Congress can use the Internet to communicate with us about their work.

The new rules now allow members of Congress to interact with us on sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. Sunlight advocated for these rules changes through our bipartisan collaborative effort; the Open House Project, http://www.theopenhouseproject.com/, and through our popular Let Our Congress Tweet campaign, the first Twitter-based petition to Congress. Thanks to the hundreds of you who joined our call for change!

To show our gratitude, we’ve created Capitol Tweets at http://sunlightfoundation.com/CAPITOLTWEETS/. This widget, which you can embed on your site, lets you follow the latest tweets from members of Congress who use Twitter.

Get the code to embed the Capitol Tweets widget here:

http://sunlightfoundation.com/capitoltweets/

While you’re at it, be sure to check out PC Magazine’s list of the “5 sites That Will Boost your Political Knowledge”

http://tinyurl.com/pcworld5sites

You might recognize a few Sunlight friends such OpenSecrets.org, OpenCongress.org and FedSpending.org, who do great work to bring more transparency to work of our federal government.

Thanks again for your support,

Gabriela Schneider & the Sunlight team

Anytime that We The People win another battle for disinfectant of transparency is a good day. Our work must continue, though, because politicians, by nature, are resistant to transparency. This victory is sweet but the fight continues.

Congratulations to the vigilant efforts of the Sunlight Foundation.

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Twitter, YouTube, Sunlight Foundation, Flickr, Transparency

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Last Thursday, Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit reported that St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce and St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch were forming an Obama truth squad:

St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce and St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch are threatening to bring libel charges against those who speak out falsely against Barack Obama.

KMOV aired a story last night, that stated that St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, both Obama supporters, are threatening to bring criminal libel charges against anyone who levels what turns out to be false criticisms of their chosen candidate for President.

Now, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is running this quote from Jennifer Joyce about the OTS:

As a citizen, I believe that elections should be about issues. I also have enormous respect for our First Amendment and freedom of speech. My sole purpose in participating in this initiative is about getting truthful information to the voters. This has never been or never will be about prosecuting people.

Clearly there are those who are attempting to twist the purpose of this initiative for their own benefit. This attack is a great example of how the truth is distorted in campaigns and what we’re trying to stand up against.

Ms. Joyce’s line that she has “enormous respect for our First Amendment” is downright laughable. (more…)

Ralph Peters isn’t just a little upset with liberal elites about their criticism of Sarah Palin’s religious beliefs. Based on this article, I’d bet the ranch that Ralph Peters is PO’ed and then some. Here’s the first hint that there was a bee in Col. Peters’ bonnet:

NOTHING in recent memory has driven home the divide between our self-appointed aristocracy and “commoners” as sharply as the intelligentsia’s rush to mock Gov. Sarah Palin’s religious faith.

While the attacks and insults are backfiring on the mortified elites, the double standard applied to “Sarah America” is a disgrace that can’t be excused as “just politics.”

Here’s where Col. Peters empties the clip:

But the root of the left’s dread of this happily married mother of five seems to be that she actually believes in God: How could anyone be that stupid? (more…)

Kevin Hassett’s article for Bloomberg is today’s fun read. Here’s the opening to Mr. Hassett’s article:

There was much talk about change last week at the Democratic convention. But are the Democrats really offering any substantive change?
To find out, I pulled out John Kerry’s 2004 Democratic national platform and compared its fiscal policy with that contained in today’s Barack Obama-inspired missive.
The documents are so similar it’s creepy. While there are a number of new minor policies, and fresh details on old targets such as health care, the big picture has stayed the same.

If they take the time, that’s the type of change that voters will reject. To be fair, Mr. Hassett did notice some change between 2004 and 2008:

Both platforms promise to extend the Bush income-tax cuts for the middle class, but repeal them for the rich. In 2004, Kerry defined rich as those making more than $200,000. Today, Obama promises not to increase taxes on anyone making less than $250,000. So the definition of rich has increased from $200,000 to $250,000. That’s change you can believe in that will be especially appreciated by everyone making between $200,000 and $249,999.

Then there’s this section of the Democratic Platform: (more…)

John Hinderaker’s post on Powerline is today’s must reading. To say that John is upset with the anarchists is understatement. He’s got a right to be. I’ll let John’s words speak for themselves. Here’s what John said:

The first day of the RNC was fun but muted. One group, though, wasn’t deterred from pursuing its agenda by events in the Gulf. The Communist/anarchist/truther/pro-Obama protesters were out in force, committing various crimes and attempting to disrupt the proceedings.
The most shocking events are described by Jim Hoft, who was on a bus that was attacked from above when a group of protesters dropped sand bags on to the top of the bus. This is attempted murder: if the protesters had succeeded in hitting the windshield, a sand bag would have crashed through and killed the driver. The resulting accident would have killed or injured others on the bus. To my knowledge, the left-wingers/would-be murderers were not caught. (more…)

Kirsten Powers is one of the rational liberals on the national scene. Her column in this morning’s NY Post is additional proof that she’s got her head screwed on straight. Here’s my favorite line in the column:

Hmm: Palin isn’t running for president; she’s running for vice president. Last time I checked, John McCain isn’t dying. And if experience is your worry, there’s plenty to worry about on the opposing ticket if, God forbid, something happens to Joe Biden.

AMEN, Kirsten. That thought should scare the living bejeebers out of thoughtful voters all across the nation. It’s impossible to forget Sen. Obama’s deer-in-the-headlights look when Russia invaded Georgia. If not for that, Obama likely would’ve picked Kathleen Sebelius as his running mate:

“He really wanted [Kansas Gov. Kathleen] Sebelius,” says one Obama insider with knowledge of the Democrat candidate’s vetting process. “And if our European tour had played better here at home, she might have been the pick.”

But, says the insider, the campaign’s internal polling indicated what the public polling indicated, that Obama failed in his European sojourn to build out his foreign policy credentials. “We needed the foreign policy on the bottom of the ticket more than we want to admit,” says the insider.

That isn’t the only wisdom found in Ms. Powers’ column. Here’s another great tidbit of wisdom: (more…)

Pundits all across the country are buzzing about Sarah Palin and the impact she’s having on the Obama-McCain matchup. This represents typical inside-the-box thinking. I think it’s also out of step with a new matchup that’s taking center stage: the Palin-Obama matchup.

People across America still understand that the presidential matchup is still McCain-Obama but they’re starting to notice that, when it comes to reform, it’s really a Palin-Obama matchup.

Prior to Gov. Palin’s entry into the mix, people generally thought of Sen. Obama as a change agent, a reformer. Now that people are finding out how Sarah Palin took on the powers-that-be within the Republican Party of Alaska and how she ran out the Republican Attorney General before thrashing the sitting Republican governor in a GOP primary, people are taking a second look at Sen. Obama’s reformer’s credentials.

The closer the scrutiny, I predict, the less impressed voters will be with Sen. Obama. The reason for that is because his reformer’s credentials are largely nonexistent. While he made his way up the food chain in Chicago’s crony-laden political system, Sen. Obama didn’t utter a peep about the corruption that dotted Chicago’s political landscape.

Instead, he picked friends like Jeremiah Wright, a racist, and William Ayers, a terrorist. While those relationships with radicals prove that Obama isn’t an inside-the-box politician, those relationships don’t prove that he’s got an ambition to change the status quo when the status quo is corrupt.

In fact, what it really proves is that, putting it charitably, Sen. Obama’s judgment on personal matters is suspect. It also calls into question Sen. Obama’s priorities. Based on this information, it’s difficult to prove that reforming Washington is a priority. (more…)

Friday evening, Mort Kondracke of the Beltway Boys said during the roundtable portion of Special Report that Sarah Palin wasn’t qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. I took offense with that, especially considering the ineptitude and qualifications of Sen. Obama, who wouldn’t be “one heartbeat away from the Oval Office”.

This morning, I wrote an email to Mr. Kondracke. Here’s the text of that email:

Mort, You’ve really outdid yourself this time. Saying that Gov. Palin, who’s visited Kuwait to talk with the troops from Alaska’s National Guard deployed in the Gulf, who’s rooted out corruption within her own party, isn’t qualified is uninformed opinion. It’s also irresponsible journalism.

Why haven’t you talked about Obama’s lack of qualifications? As you know, he chairs a subcommittee with oversight on Afghanistan. As you know, that subcommittee hasn’t met under his control. He’s been to Iraq twice. The last time he visited, he couldn’t even admit that the surge had worked because his hyperpartisanship wouldn’t allow him to admit that.

Who’s qualified to be commander-in-chief? It isn’t the junior senator from Illinois. (more…)

The Politico’s Jim Vandehei and John Harris have written something analyzing Sen. McCain’s pick of Gov. Palin. In their article they cite “six things the Palin pick says about McCain.” According to Mssrs. Vandehei and Harris, here’s what the pick tells us about Sen. McCain:

1. He’s desperate. Let’s stop pretending this race is as close as national polling suggests. The truth is McCain is essentially tied or trailing in every swing state that matters, and too close for comfort in several states like Indiana and Montana the GOP usually wins pretty easily in presidential races. On top of that, voters seem very inclined to elect Democrats in general this election, and very sick of the Bush years.

McCain could easily lose in an electoral landslide. That is the private view of Democrats and Republicans alike.

McCain’s pick shows he is not pretending. Politicians, even “mavericks” like McCain, play it safe when they think they are winning, or see an easy path to winning. They roll the dice only when they know that the risks of conventionality are greater than the risks of boldness.

Listen to the BS in that fist sentence. Mssrs. VandeHei and Harris are suggesting that all of the polling is badly wrong. Talk about arrogant. It’s beyond their belief that Sen. McCain could hang with this smooth-talking do-nothing liberal. Perhaps they didn’t notice that Sen. Obama’s fundraising comments about rural voters clinging to their guns and to God alienated voters to the extent that they wouldn’t trust him if their life depended on it. (more…)

If anyone doubted that the House GOP’s attacks are wearing Ms. Pelosi down, this article removes all doubt:

House Democratic leaders and protesters waving McCain signs had a war of words Tuesday at a press event outside an old train station. The demonstrators interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with chants of “Drill here! Drill now!”

Pelosi paused and asked the group, “Right here?”

Seeming to enjoy the back and forth, she followed with another question: “Can we drill your brains?”

What a totally snotty thing of Ms. Pelosi to say. She isn’t the first politician to take heat from protesters but she might be the first politician who’s responded with such hostility and hatefulness to protesters. Ms. Pelosi owes these protesters, indeed all of America, an apology for conduct unbecoming the office she holds.

Simply put, if she can’t take the heat, then she doesn’t belong in that position.

BTW, here’s the video:

Disgusting just begins to describe Ms. Pelosi’s behavior. Childish, petulant and bitter fit, too. Adult isn’t an adjective I’d use.

Technorati Tags: Gas Crisis, Nancy Pelosi, Protesters, Drill Here, Drill Now, Hissy Fit, YouTube

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog