Jim DeMint, Tea Parties Fight the Entrenched Establishment
On the candidates he's backing through the Senate Conservatives Fund and with the help of Tea Party groups:
These candidates are leaders in their own right. I’m supporting them, because they’re not running on some consultant’s talking points. They’re running on principle.” Jockeying for a leadership position, he says, is not his focus. “What I’m interested in is turning this country away from its fiscal cliff — and for the first time since Reagan, I think that we have a chance for real action, not just political posturing.”
On the GOP establishment:
Still, without naming names, DeMint remains critical of many establishment GOP senators. Earlier this summer, former Senate majority leader Trent Lott (Miss.) told the Washington Post that the Senate does not “need a lot of Jim DeMint disciples.” Party leaders, he said, need to move quickly to “co-opt” any rabble-rousing conservatives who may find their way to the marble halls of Washington. DeMint, with a hint of disgust, says, “We need to realize that Trent Lott was speaking for many senior Republicans.”
Looking at what has happened in Republican primaries across the country--most recently with Joe Miller in Alaska--establishment Republicans have a reason to be worried.
Carly Fiorina Speaks Out Against Net Neutrality
“The principle sounds fantastic, but the principle is not the problem,” Fiorina said in an interview at the Technology Policy Institute’s conference in Aspen, Colo. “The problem is how companies and regulatory bodies are trying to translate that principle into policy, which would have a bad effect.”
A spokeswoman later added that Fiorina “opposes Net neutrality and thinks government intervention and more regulation will not be helpful where the Internet is concerned.”
It’s really helpful to have someone running for office publicly standing opposed to NN who is as knowledgeable on it as is Fiorina – she is a former (1999-2005) chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard (HP).
Fiorina’s opponent is a big NN proponent.
Fiorina’s position contrasts greatly with that of her opponent, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who previously cosponsored legislation that would have set open Internet rules firmly in place.
In a statement, Boxer reaffirmed her support for Net neutrality. Her office later added that Boxer felt it was “premature to comment” on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s efforts to mandate Net neutrality using its own rule-making process.
I have written on Net Neutrality on here before. It basically amounts to a government takeover of the internet. I'm glad Republicans have at least one candidate that is well-informed on the issue.
RSLC: Things Are Looking Good For Republicans
“Republican candidates hoping to end Democratic dominance of the Alabama Legislature unveiled an agenda Monday,” according to The Associated Press. “House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, who’s also chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, said all Republican candidates for the Legislature are supporting the ‘2010 Republican Handshake with Alabama,’ and its passage depends on Republicans taking control of the Legislature for the first time in 136 years. To try to accomplish that, GOP candidates are doing more than saying what they will do. Hubbard said they are tying Alabama Democrats to Washington to capitalize on voters’ uneasiness with the national economy and dislike of some new federal policies, particularly health care. ‘The Democrats in Alabama are no different than the Democrats in Washington. They have the same philosophy,’ said state Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston. Marsh, the GOP’s state finance chairman, was one of 17 legislative candidates who joined Hubbard to unveil the legislative agenda.”
Have Republicans Learned Their Lesson?
Meet the New Boss. Same as the Old Boss.
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)
Tuesday, August 24th at 5:00AM EDT
112 Comments
Has the GOP learned its lessons from 2006?
That’s the big question many on the right are asking themselves. After all, on the Senate side the same leadership that led the GOP out of power will be the same leadership leading the GOP back into power if they take back the Senate.
In the House of Representatives, the members did a good job replacing their failed leadership. Hastert retired, DeLay quit, Blunt left leadership. Blunt’s Deputy Whip, Eric Cantor, moved up to Whip. Kevin McCarthy and Mike Pence came in underneath. In fact, Eric Cantor is the only member of the Hastert-DeLay-Blunt-Cantor House GOP Leadership team to remain.
On the House side, as a very public repudiation of their past, John Boehner led the GOP to refuse earmarks — the bribes both sides have used for so long to grow government and get their pet programs passed.
Earmarks were used to bribe Republicans to support the prescription drug benefit and TARP. Earmarks were used to bribe Democrats to support Obamacare. Earmarks are a drug and the GOP, to absolve itself of its own sins, publicly declared that House Republicans would give up the very corrupting practice.
But it was all for show, or so it seems. House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) declares earmarks will be back in full swing once the GOP takes back Congress. Read More...
It's kind of discouraging that the GOP leadership still hasn't learned its lesson. What's it going to take to make them get it? We have to concentrate on winning majorities in both houses first, but then we need to start cleaning our own house...
Sarah Palin and the Rise of Conservative Feminism
This past month, liberal feminists made more hay made over Palin's "mama grizzlies" talk than the matter of the Food and Drug Administration jerking Avastin off the market. Avastin is a drug used to treat late-stage breast cancer and has been shown to extend the life of some breast cancer patients by five months, but was deemed "cost-prohibitive" by the government.Emily's List cared enough about women to make a video criticizing Palin, but apparently not enough about breast cancer patients to make a video criticizing the FDA's move.Liberal feminists made more hay about Palin's chest than I saw them make over the nine women who were recently stoned to death in the Middle East. Those same liberal feminists were also silent when Alle Bautsch was beaten in the street for being a conservative woman.Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Sarah-Palin-and-the-rise-of-the-Feminist-Right-534655-101265274.html#ixzz0xUXK2FC9
Republican Handshake With Alabama
To see the document click here.
I think this is a pretty solid agenda, and I hope they can get all these things done. I saw Sen. Scott Beason (R-Gardendale) speak at the GBYR meeting last Thursday, and he sounded pretty confident the Republicans had their act together. He told the YR's, "If we don't do what we say we're going to do, fire us...every single one of us...and get people in there who will." Statements like that are why Scott Beason needs to be pro tempore.
Moderation: Why Both the Left and the Right Are Necessary
"In politics, again, it is almost a commonplace, that a party of order or stability, and a party of progress or reform, are both necessary elements of a healthy state of political life; until the one or the other shall have so enlarged its mental grasp as to be a party equally of order and of progress, knowing and distinguishing what is fit to be preserved from what ought to be swept away. Each of these modes of thinking derives its utility from the deficiencies of the other; but it is in a great measure the opposition of the other that keeps each within the limits of reason and sanity."
As conservatives, is it our goal to completely eliminate liberalism in government? Is some liberalism actually a necessary part of society? I don't have the answers, but these are interesting questions. I'd love to hear what others think about this...
Net Neutrality: Government Takeover of the Internet
We all know there are different types of content on the internet--emails, websites, photos, videos, etc. Certain types of content (especially videos and very large files) take a lot more bandwidth than other types of content. Think of the internet as a highway, and content as cars. A simple email with no attachments is like a small, fast sports car. It can get from point A to point B in a zip. A You Tube video is more like a big bus. It gets from point A to point B, but has to go a lot slower because of it's size. When the smaller, faster sports cars get stuck behind the big bus, it slows them down significantly. In order to keep the smaller content like emails from getting slowed down by large files and videos, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) prioritize content that takes less bandwidth. This would be akin to a fast lane on a highway just for small, fast cars.
Net Neutrality is the principle that all content should be treated equally no matter the size or amount of bandwidth they use. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently considering a regulatory scheme that would enforce this principle prohibiting ISPs from prioritizing certain kinds of content over others.
Net Neutrality is ultimately a huge power grab for the FCC. It would be the first time in history the Internet would be subject to regulation by the federal government. The FCC is becoming increasingly irrelevant with more and more of our daily communication moving to the internet from radio and television. The Net Neutrality movement is essentially a way to justify its continued existence.
Net Neutrality would at its base, be another federal government take over, this time, control of the internet. It will allow the federal government to regulate how ISPs manage content and data that travels across their networks. This will result in more congestion on the internet and less investment in broadband expansion.
The FCC has already attempted to enforce Net Neutrality and was prevented from doing so by a federal court in April 2010. The Federal Court of Appeals in DC said the FCC was trying to "shatter" the bounds of their legal authority by regulating the Internet. As a result, the FCC is now trying to reclassify the internet as a Title II "telecommunications service" which would allow them to enact Net Neutrality as well as many other harmful provisions. Title II contains 40+ provisions that were created to address monopoly telephone carriers during WWII. The FCC claims that they are only going to enforce 6 of these provisions and forebear the rest. The forebearance, however, is not legally binding and they could enforce any of the provisions they choose.
One of the worrisome provisions in Title II would allow the FCC to set price controls. They claim they don't intend to enforce this provision, but they would have a wide open path to set rates for Internet service. Most ISPs currently have a tiered pricing system. A consumer who just uses the internet to check email and look up the occasional website doesn't have the same bandwidth needs as someone who downloads a lot of You Tube videos or files. Thus, ISPs allow consumers to choose a wireless plan that best fits their needs. FCC enforcement of Net Neutrality will likely eliminate that option.
An organization called Free Press is the most vocal advocate for Net Neutrality. Free Press is a neo-Marxist group whose goal is to eliminate all private media in this country. They have repeatedly said that Net Neutrality is the first step toward eliminating private media and making broadband service a public utility. Google has been another ardent supporter of Net Neutrality. The concern of content providers like Google is that the ISPs will want to charge them to prioritize their content.
While the concerns of content providers are understandable, prioritizing can actually be a good thing. It creates a fast lane for companies that want to create a high amount of data. Google is afraid they will have to pay extra for that fast lane. That too, is not necessarily a bad thing. Allowing companies to pay extra to make sure that their product is delivered on time is not a new concept. Many companies switched from USPS to Fed Ex even though Fed Ex was more expensive, because they wanted to make sure their products got delivered on time. This would also provide another source of revenue for broadband expansion.
The coalition against Net Neutrality is bi-partisan with all House Republicans and 77 House and Senate Democrats sending a letter to the FCC in opposition. Reports are that the FCC has ended all talks with ISPs at the behest of Free Press, which would seem to be a step toward Title II regulation. However, there are signs that Google and some of the other content providers are concerned about the possibility of overburdensome regulations under Title II and have stepped back their efforts in favor of Net Neutrality. Google and Verizon are reportedly in talks, and Amazon is attempting to broker a compromise on Title II reclassification. It is looking more and more like content providers are going to be forced to work with ISPs to provide the best product to the consumer; thus, enabling free market forces to work without the heavy hand of government.
Propaganda At Its Finest

Kinda makes you sick doesn't it? Big Brother has to remind you of all the "good" things he's done to put people to work...
Allied Women/Eagle Forum Sponsor Activist Boot Camp

Chance to Win a Trip to New York, $3000 Shopping Spree, and a Meeting with Bill O'Reilly
Martha Roby on WSFA Newsmakers
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Roby has a tough fight ahead with Democrat Bobby Bright. He's very popular and has voted conservatively on all the "big bills" that you hear about on the news. He has made some missteps lately on the issue of repealing Obamacare, which he says he's not in favor of. Roby has been arguing that his vote for Nancy Pelosi as speaker allows the Democrats to move their agenda forward even if Bright isn't voting for each individual piece of legislation.
Oil Spill Is Just Another Example of the Inefficiency of the Federal Government
Just an hour ago, we caught a group of local workers who were employed by a sub contractor doing the clean up today and talked to a few of them.
The contractor is given eight miles of beach to "sweep". Employees receive $12 per hour, they are on a 20 minute work 40 minute off hourly schedule in the sun and a 30 minute on 30 minute off schedule if overcast. You can see the rest wagon in the background. Certain humidity readings are reviewed before deployment is allowed.
They are not allowed to get within 4 feet of the water (where most of the tar balls collect ,first fifteen feet, mostly in the water). Each are equipped with rubber boots, gloves, sweepers and identifying gear.
They fill bags with tar balls and sand but are instructed not to fill bags more than the equivalent size of a loaf of bread, so others can carry later in the process. The bags are picked up by tractor and sent for incineration.
We talked at length to one guy who had been unemployed for quite some time. He said, "I needed the work to put food on my table but let me tell you this is a cluster of inefficiency. we spend most of our time waiting for approval to go to work."
Here are some pictures he took:


So, in essence we have workers who are paid $12 to work 1/3 of an hour to collect tar balls, but aren't allowed to go where the tar balls are to pick them up...and to think, people actually want this same government to run our health care system....
RWN: 7 Things The GOP Can Do For The Right Side Of The Blogosphere
Here are the 7 steps.
1) Funding help
2) Some sort of centralized teleconference scheduling
3) Feeding stories to bloggers
4) Promote Bloggers
5) Access to aides
6) Listen to bloggers
7) Build a relationship with the bloggers
He explains each of these in more detail in the article, and he has a good point. The Left has built an entire network of blogs, journalists, and other new media professionals that are adept at getting out their message. They have cultivated relationships with these people and assisted through the buying of ads and giving of information. The Right is way behind in this regard. They have shied away from the blogosphere, and in some cases are openly hostile. There are far too many on the Right that still resist using Facebook.
Life is changing, and Generations Y and Z don't communicate through traditional mediums. Newspapers and even television are slowly becoming obselete in terms of getting out a message. You can reach far more people for far less money by posting on Twitter and making a You Tube video. As long as the Right remains resistant to this change, they will continue to fail to reach the younger generations.
What I'm Reading Right Now
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms The Way We Live And Do Business by Erik Qualman

The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Orders by Samuel P. Huntington

Ron Sparks Wants to Regulate
Byrne Piling Up The Endorsements
Gov. Riley came out formally for Byrne on Friday, saying he would vote for Byrne, but stopped short of a formal endorsement because he said he didn't want to tell the people of Alabama how to vote.
Senator Jeff Sessions and Representative Mike Rogers have made de facto endorsements of Bradley through letters sent to ALGOP Chairman Mike Hubbard condemning the attempt by AEA to influence the Republican primary.
If Bentley wins this run-off on Tuesday it looks like he's going to have his work cut out for him in trying to reunite conservatives in Alabama...
Red State's Erick Erickson Endorses Bradley Byrne
Erick Erickson, editor of Red State, says "Byrne for Alabama"
Byrne For Alabama (RedState)
Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)
Saturday, July 10th at 8:00AM EDT
4 Comments
Alabama voters head to the polls on Tuesday and I haven’t had as much to say about this race as I should.
I’m supporting Bradley Byrne. Unions in Alabama are doing everything in their power to stop him — spending millions on him.
His opponent, Robert Bentley, regularly sided with the Alabama teachers union to stop school reform in Alabama. People always make jokes about the smarts of people from Alabama largely because of how entrenched the school unions are and just how much damage they are doing. Robert Bentley sided with them.
Contrast him with Bradley Byrne who has been fighting the teachers unions for years. He started out a Democrat and moved over time to the GOP. He is conservative. He is pro-life. He is willing to beat up the establishment, fight the unions, and make enemies within the GOP for doing what’s right.
Quin Hillyer has a great review of why Alabama is important and I hope those of you living in the state next to me will go vote for Bradley Byrne on Tuesday.
Alabama Politics: In the News
From CD 2:
Doc's Political Parlor does a round up of the CD 2 run-off
Martha Roby and Rick Barber have op-eds in today's Montgomery Advertiser
Gubernatorial Race:
Chuck Dean at The Birmingham News covers last night's debate in Springville, AL
Dean also covers Marengo County GOP Chairman's resignation over ties to Paul Hubbert and AEA in today's Birmingham News
J.D. Crowe has an amusing cartoon in today's Press-Register
