California Conservative

Because if you’re black, Yahoo and Google may not be good ’nuff.

No joke. Evidently.

In yet another submission to the you-can’t-make-this-shi’ite-up file, we find the following entry via SearchEngineWatch:

RushmoreDrive.com, the new “Super Search Engine” for the Black community from Barry Diller’s IAC (InterActiveCorp) announced its Range Rover Sport Drive Away Sweepstakes at the Michael Baisden LIVE event held at the Nokia Theatre in New York City.

The time has come. At long last, there shall be equality — online.

When it comes to searching the internet, no longer will blacks be shackled to conformity, forced to join whites and other non-blacks. As the Rev. Jeremiah Wright prayed for a miracle and new messiah Barack Obama the prophesy foretold, their people will now be getting a seat at the keyboard, righteously empowered to search the web as they please. Controlling their own destiny with a new “super” search engine for blacks, they will now be in charge of self-segregating themselves.

RushmoreDrive.com hopes to change the way the Black community searches the World Wide Web for information, jobs and news. The job search feature is especially important given the current job market and economic uncertainty caused by the sub prime mortgage crisis, high gas prices, etc.

Indeed, the job search feature is very important. And no longer should the “white community” impose its ways of online search on the “Black community.” There must be racial equality, both offline and on. Let the healing begin…

Michael Baisden encouraged members of the Black community to not only register at www.RushmoreDrive.com every day from now until the September 5, 2008 drawing for the Range Rover Sport, but he also reminded them that this first-of-its-kind search engine was built by Black people, for Black people.

RushmoreDrive.com employs a patent-pending technology that reputedly enables the search engine to identify sites with heavy online traffic from Black users and to elevate relevant information in the way in which it is listed.

Patent-pending technology. By the people, for the people. Word.

“Finally, Black people across the country have a search engine that is shaped by the interests and usage of the Black community,” said RushmoreDrive.com’s Johnny Taylor in a statement.

Finally. Amen. Praise be to Brother Barry Diller! May his stock (Nasdaq quote: IACI) rise like our collective prayers onto heaven, and may advertisers of all race, creed and color rejoice!

No comment provided on whether or not the giveaway Range Rover comes fully-loaded with extra bass speakers, sub-woofer, and special alloy rims. To do so would be stereotypical.

Truly ridiculous.

Disclaimer: Obama has not endorsed this search engine. And there’s no confirmation that he actually uses it. But he does want the “Black community” to vote for him, so maybe they’ll find out more online — on their own special, “super” search engine.

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Michelle Malkin: Left-wing journalists show true colors

For days, Democrats have said that “We can’t drill our way out of this crisis.” They’ve also implied that even if we opened the OCS and ANWR, that we wouldn’t get any oil from those places for a decade, maybe longer. They’ve also implied that the savings would be almost nonexistent. For all their chirping, I’ll simply direct people’s attention to Larry Kudlow’s NRO article. Here’s what Larry said that stuck out like a neon sign:

In a dramatic move yesterday President Bush removed the executive-branch moratorium on offshore drilling. Today, at a news conference, Bush repeated his new position, and slammed the Democratic Congress for not removing the congressional moratorium on the Outer Continental Shelf and elsewhere. Crude-oil futures for August delivery plunged $9.26, or 6.3 percent, almost immediately as Bush was speaking, bringing the barrel price down to $136.

It would be presumtuous to think that opening the OCS would immediately drive prices down that dramatically but it isn’t a stretch to think that prices would steadily drop each time a new bid was approved. Not only isn’t it a stretch, it’s a likelihood.

While Republicans have an easy, effective message, this post from Michele Bachmann’s blog shows the difficulty Democrats are having crafting a coherent energy strategy: (more…)

Just when you thought that Democrats had done a partial flip-flop by saying that they’d allow some increased drilling in Alaska, Ms. Pelosi says that increased drilling is a hoax perpetrated by the White House. If it’s such a hoax, why did Steny Hoyer call for more drilling?

“Once again, the oilman in the White House is echoing the demands of Big Oil,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said. “The Bush plan is a hoax. It will neither reduce gas prices nor increase energy independence. It just gives millions more acres to the same companies that are sitting on nearly 68 million acres of public lands and coastal areas.”

Ms. Pelosi, How can you read this report and say that increasing energy supplies won’t drop prices? What thinking person can look at that report and say that the basic tenets of capitalism don’t apply to oil? Here’s what the DOI said about the oil and natural gas contained in federal lands that are currently offlimits:

Recent DOI estimates put the amount of energy in these off-limits areas at 19.1 billion barrels of oil and 83.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, approximately 30 years’ worth of imports from Saudi Arabia and enough natural gas to power America’s homes for 17 years. It should also be noted that these initial estimates tend to be low.

Ms. Pelosi, what economist could you find that would agree that adding approximately 30 years worth of Saudi imports wouldn’t have an effect on oil prices? It’s obvious that Ms. Pelosi doens’t have a clue about capitalism or market economies. If she had even a basic understanding of it, she wouldn’t be able to make these declarations with a straight face. (more…)

It’s good to know that Congress is taking this crisis of choice seriously. Thanks to this article, I now know that Congress is working on legislation to ensure that the oil market won’t be manipulated:

“When I brought that up to the commodities traders and told them that was the same thing that Exxon had said, the same thing that the OPEC secretary-general had said, the same thing that many of us are asking the questions on, they said, well they’re all wrong and we’re right,” commented Walz.

Walz says Congress is working on several proposals to make sure prices are not manipulated.

It’s nice knowing that “Congress is working on several proposals to make sure prices are not manipulated” but what are they doing to increase energy supplies? Does Rep. Walz and other Democrats realize that speculators only influence markets when there’s a shortage of whatever commodity happens to be trading?

I wrote that speculators weren’t important when oil traded for $20/bbl because the world was producing 9 million more bbl/daily than they consumed. That cushion is now approximately 1 million/bbl daily. Rather than attribute high gas prices on the greed of Big Oil or speculators, perhaps Democrats should admit that rising demand and flatlining supplies are what’s causing this price spike. Of course, they’d likely need to attend Econ 101 to learn about basic market principles, something that they’re either unwilling to accept or are unwilling to admit in public.

It’s irritating that Democrats skirt the issue instead of providing real solutions. It’s time that they either led, followed or got the hell out of the way before this economy sinks.

Technorati Tags: Tim Walz, Gas Crisis, Speculators, Supply And Demand, OPEC, Big Oil

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

Based on this St. Cloud Times editorial, written by James Mogen, pro-growth capitalism is now part of the far right. Here’s how Mr. Mogen arrives at that conclusion:

Continuing to use her office for campaign activities, Rep. Michele Bachmann recently touted her support from the right-wing radical organization Club for Growth on her congressional Web site. The club is a far right-wing group made up of Wall Street financiers. You may be familiar with the group for its negative ads in 2004.

Instead of denouncing extreme groups like them, Bachmann is proud of its support and is now taking direction from the club. After the club demanded that representatives submit to their “key votes,” Bachmann opposed the recently passed farm bill, which promises to bring major support for area farmers, environmental initiatives and hungry children and families.

CFG is a “right-wing radical organization”? Based on what criteria? Mr. Mogen doesn’t give us the criteria by which he arrived at that conclusion. Instead, this is typical of his ‘logic’:

This group, like Bachmann, is far more conservative than the Minnesotans she is supposed to represent.

In fact, the club has been known to go after moderates who vote their district. The club’s support for Bachmann illustrates her own far-right positions are out of line with those of the 6th District.

Saying that Rep. Bachmann is “far more conservative than the district” she’s supposed to represent doesn’t make sense. If this were true, how did she get elected? Mr. Mogen certainly can’t honestly say that Rep. Bachmann ran as a squishy moderate, either. Anytime I hear someone speaking with this type of certitude, I worry because there isn’t room for differing perspectives. (more…)

I just wrote about Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s corruption. Now I find that he’s anti-capitalist, too:

The current high price of gas has led to a lot of crazy proposals from gas tax holidays to creating a tax deduction based upon energy consumption. But Rep. Paul Kanjorski’s (D-PA) may top them all in terms of its stupidity. From the Times Leader, Kanjorski’s plan would do the following:

• H.R. 5800 would tax industries’ windfall profits.
• The bill would set up a Reasonable Profits Board to determine when these companies’ profits are in excess, and then tax them on those windfall profits.
• As oil and gas companies’ windfall profits increase, so would the tax rate for those companies.
• Kanjorski said his legislation will encourage oil companies to lower prices to prevent them from receiving higher tax rates.

Here’s what the Tax Foundation said about Kanjorski’s economic model:

While Hillary Clinton may have failed ECON 101 along with John McCain, it appears as if Kanjorski may been enrolled in Marxism 450 at the time. In all honesty, nationalization of the oil industry (i.e. Venezuela) may be better than Kanjorski’s ridiculous proposal.

(more…)

Wednesday, Democrats tried grilling oil executives on the high price of oil. Instead, oil executives turned the heat up on Democrats, with a bit of help from Republican senators like Jeff Sessions and Orrin Hatch. Here’s a noteable quote from John Lowe, executive vice president of ConocoPhillips:

John Lowe, executive vice president of ConocoPhillips, said Congress should enact a balanced energy policy. In addition to lifting the drilling ban, such a policy could include measures to encourage alternative energy sources, remove the ethanol tariff, promote energy conservation, cut regulations around refining.

“We must work together to find a real solution,” said Lowe. “U.S. oil companies should be viewed not as scapegoats, but as assets.”

Peter Robinson, vice chairman of Chevron, had this to say:

“Americans need companies that can effectively compete for access to new resources. Punitive measures that weakened us in the face of international competition are the wrong measures.”

The most devastating testimony, in my opinion, was given by John Hofmeister. Here’s part of what he said: (more…)

Fred Barnes’ article says that Republicans are justified in feeling gloomy about this election. That pessimism, I believe, is Beltway-centric. First, let’s see what Mr. Barnes has to say:

“It’s the erosion in party affiliation that’s pulling McCain down,” says a Republican strategist, and it could doom his chances of winning the presidency. The strategist fears Republican leaders and McCain campaign officials “don’t realize the trouble they’re going to be in.”

I’ve said this before and I’ll repeat it as often as I think it needs repeating: I’d fire every GOP strategist with a defeatist attitude. I’d also advocate cleaning house at the RNC headquarters until they stopped undercutting reform-minded conservatives. Real conservatives haven’t been recruited in recent years. We’ve been told that real conservatives can’t get elected in certain swing districts.

That’s BS.

Reaganite conservatism is more than taking stands on a handful of issues. It’s really a philosophy, a philosophy that applies common sense to problems. It’s a philosophy that mandates doing everything possible to help people be more free and more prosperous. It’s not that complicated. This is too important a principle to not repeat it:

Conservatives’ first priority must be about using common sense in putting together policies that make the most amount of people free and prosperous. (more…)

I’ve long been a fan of the Club for Growth blog. I recently contacted CFG to see if Pat Toomey would grant me an interview. I was told that, while scheduling an interview would be difficult, Mr. Toomey was willing to do a brief ‘email interview’. Here’s that ‘email interview’:

Q: Every conservative knows abut the Repork Card. What are some of the other tools that the Club for Growth uses to spread its message of fiscal conservatism?

The Club for Growth uses a number of other tools. For example, we issue an annual congressional scorecard that grades congressional members on how they voted on a number of important economic issues. Last year, our scorecard includes votes on government spending, taxes, free speech, regulatory issues, free trade, and property rights. Members receive scores ranging from 0 to 100 with a score of 100 indicating the highest support for pro-growth policies. Last year, three senators and six representatives received perfect scores. You can check out last year’s scorecard here, and we hope to release the 2007 congressional scorecard soon.

During the year, we also send all congressional members “key vote” alerts when a particularly important economic vote is coming up with an explanation of the issue and what is the pro-growth position.

Over the past year, we have tackled a number of other important issues. We organized a petition in support of free trade and in opposition to tariffs on China. We got this idea from a petition organized in 1930 protesting the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, signed by President Herbert Hoover, imposing massive tariffs on a wide swath of industries. Since the 1930 petition was signed by 1,028 economists across the country, we also gathered 1,028 signatures from economists, including four Nobel Prize winners, and ran the petition as a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal. We also held a press conference publicizing the petition.

We have also been very involved in the presidential race, issuing white papers on each of the major candidates. These papers provide readers with a comprehensive report of the economic records of the various candidates. These white papers, which can be viewed on our website, were instrumental on helping voters and the media discern which candidates truly represent economic conservative values. (more…)

Most people don’t care about politics. Most people don’t take the time to read about the issues. Most people just glance at the headlines. That’s why this caught our eyes.

Republicans block a plan to boost economy? Wow.

The actual AP article reads: “The fate of $600-$1,200 rebate checks for more than 100 million Americans is in limbo after Senate Republicans blocked a bid by Democrats to add $44 billion in help for the elderly, disabled veterans, the unemployed and businesses to the House-passed economic aid package.”

These “rebate” checks are a joke, and the people who will be getting them are certainly not going to be boosting anything. They are low-wage earners who already pay little taxes.

The reason for this stimulus package is to help people hurt by the subprime meltdown. So, what is $1200 going to do for the economy? Recipients are either going to pay down some debt (if they’re smart), or more likely squander it. It happens. And from where will the government make up the $44B?

Once again, another example of Democrats being generous with other people’s money, instead of really addressing the problem: Creating an economic climate that spurs job creation through private innovation that contributes to new wealth creation. In short, capitalism.

If nothing else, we just hope you read the headline.