As far as I can tell, Barack Obama’s energy policy consists of windmills and choo-choo trains; considering the fact that the left considers themselves to be “progressive” this policy seems to be quite “regressive.” After all, windmills and trains were all the rage a few centuries ago. But there is another aspect to Barack Obama’s energy policy and that is what I intend to focus on in this post–the electric car.
Government Motors is pushing the Volt on the American people as a viable alternative to the internal combustion engine and the president is so high on this notion that the federal government offers people who buy these vehicles tax incentives for their environmentally correct decision. But there is a dilemma for the government that is beginning to rear its ugly head in regards to the electric car.
Here is the dilemma the left is facing; they have told us for years that we are addicted to oil and we must cut back on it in order to save the planet. Barack Obama even changed the fleet standards auto manufacturers have to live up to–ordering the auto manufacturers to make their vehicles more energy efficient.
When George Bush was president and the American people fell victim to soaring gas prices the Democrats and the media had a field day with gas prices. We saw daily reports on the price of gas and we learned every day how much the price of a barrel of oil had risen. The Democrats and their propaganda arm in the media couldn’t help but remind the American people that never in the history of the United States had we had two oilmen in high office. We were told that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan–as well as President Bush’s “axis of evil” rhetoric were driving up the cost of oil. Democrats thrived on telling the American people that these wars were not about protecting the American people but rather about purposely driving up the price of oil.
What was President Bush’s advice to the American people when gas prices became exorbitant? He told the American people not to buy gas when they didn’t need it. Needless to say, the media had a field day with this impotent advice–and rightfully so as this did nothing to endear him to my heart.
When Barack Obama was elected in November of 2008 gas prices in my area were under $2 a gallon and the public was much relieved, but since his election gas prices have more than doubled and are on the verge of hitting $5 a gallon and some are predicting $6 a gallon this summer. Yet we hear no daily media reports on the price of oil and we do not hear the leftists who blamed President Bush blaming Barack Obama for the increase in the price of gas.
The latest poll conducted by Dartmouth College’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Center shows Mitt Romney beating Barack Obama in a one on one matchup by a margin of 47 percent to 39 percent. This is interesting–not because I support Mitt Romney because I don’t and I will not vote for him–simply for the fact at how abysmal Barack Obama’s showing is against Mitt Romney. Needless to say, anytime a candidate can hold a sitting president to under 40% it should be worrisome to the president.
I have to believe that people in New Hampshire are thinking about the economy first and foremost and that is why Mitt Romney is polling so well here; it certainly isn’t because he has true conservative credentials under his belt. During the 2008 primaries I supported Mitt Romney for that very reason and I think that is what is happening now. At that time I did not feel as if there would be any national healthcare reform bill; I thought there were more important issues–the economy–and I didn’t think a president would be stupid enough to focus on healthcare reform because I didn’t believe that healthcare was a major issue and I thought the topic was being used for political posturing–I was wrong.
There is no way in hell that I will pull the lever for Mitt Romney next November and the fact that as of right now he is the defacto frontrunner in the Republican party is a little more than troubling at this juncture. So how are the other candidates doing against Barack Obama in this latest poll?
Obama leads Mike Huckabee by 8 points, Tim Pawlenty by 16, Haley Barbour by 19, Donald Trump by 22 and Sarah Palin by a yawning 27-point margin.
Barack Obama beats all of the other Republican candidates by good margins; although on a bright note he is unable to get to 50% even against Sarah Palin who he leads by 27%. Barack Obama is weak and he is beatable, but the problem is–and it is a huge problem–that there are no viable Republican candidates in this race and it seems as if there is nobody in the Republican party who wants to take on Barack Obama in 2012.
Barack Obama’s weak showing–even in victory–in this latest poll, combined with his still falling approval rating shows us that Barack Obama is ripe for the picking and can de defeated, all we need is a real candidate and so far we have none.
Eric Cantor claims Republicans will not vote to raise the debt ceiling without concessions from Barack Obama
Everyone seems to agree that if the debt ceiling is not increased (even if in Barack Obama’s own words while he was a senator this is a sign of poor leadership) that it will have disastrous results; I am not going to pretend that I am an expert on this subject so I will just assume that this is true for the sake of this post. What I do know is this; Barack Obama and the Democrats cannot allow the United States to default on her obligations on their watch, so this could provide the Republicans with the opportunity they need to ask for a little bit in return for providing Barack Obama with the increase he needs due to his poor leadership. (His words, not mine.)
And–at least on the surface–it appears as if Eric Cantor is ready to do just that, claiming that the Republicans are ready to let America default on her debts if their demands are not met. Read more…
New Hampshire Senate passes “right-to-work” bill
Earlier today–by a vote of 16-8–the New Hampshire Senate passed a “right-to-work” bill which would give people who are employed by union companies the right to “opt out” of the union if they chose to do so. The bill will now head back to the House–which has already passed its own version of the bill by a vote of 221-131–where they will vote on the changes which the Senate made to the original bill.
Governor John Lynch has already promised to veto this bill if it makes it to his desk and it appears likely that it will. While the Senate passed the bill with a veto proof majority, the House did not. This bill’s fate lies within the New Hampshire House. The House probably will pass the bill with the changes the Senate put in it, but as of yet there is no word as to whether or not these changes will swing enough House Republicans who voted against the original bill to over-ride the threatened veto.
Stay tuned…..
During Barack Obama’s recent campaign/budget speech he declared that Paul Ryan’s proposed budget would fundamentally change the America that he knew:
But the way this plan achieves those goals would lead to a fundamentally different America than the one we’ve known certainly in my lifetime
Apparently forgetting the fact that his healthcare reform law will cut $145 billion from Medicare, he chided the Republican proposal for cutting Medicare funding. I guess when Obama cuts Medicare funding it is good, but when Republicans do it, it is bad. The apparent discrepancy between Barack Obama’s recent words and his actions is astounding and yet the media doesn’t seem to care about the fact that he has already passed legislation that would cut some funding from Medicare and now berates the Republicans for doing the same.
If the Republican proposal does fundamentally change the America that he knew it would seem to me that he would be on board with this idea. After all, this is what Barack Obama said while on the campaign trail in 2008:
He once spoke about fundamentally changing America, but now that he has been offered that opportunity instead of grasping onto the notion he is speaking out against it.
When Barack Obama rammed the healthcare reform law through the Congress against the will of the American people he promised that cutting $145 billion in Medicare payments over the next decade on plans which did not meet the standards he set up would help to pay for this debacle.
But this is the beginning of the 2012 election cycle and seniors disapprove of the president’s handling of the healthcare issue so Barack Obama has lowered the standards required for Medicare Advantage programs to keep their funding. Under Barack Obama’s new standards Medicare Advantage plans which received only an “average” grade will not see a reduction in funding as promised–at least before the 2012 elections–but will actually see an increase in funding. This leaves us to wonder where this funding is ultimately going to come from.
This transparent (at least something this administration has done can now be called transparent) political attempt at placating seniors for political reasons has not gone unseen within the Republican party:
The shift “may represent a thinly veiled use of taxpayer dollars for political purposes,” wrote Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan. Camp chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which oversees Medicare. Hatch is his counterpart as ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee.
The Obama regime is denying that this sudden turn of events is politically motivated, but I cannot see any other justifiable reason behind this turnaround; Barack Obama cannot defend his healthcare reform law, so instead of trying to sell skeptical seniors on the plan he has decided to hand out “bonuses” to plans which ultimately would not qualify for the bonuses if we were not entering the election season. These bonuses will expire–conveniently–well after the 2012 elections are over.
If Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law was everything that we have been told it is, there would be no reason for this attempted political bribe of senior citizens. But much like the healthcare waivers which this regime is handing out at alarming rates, this watering down of the standards by which Medicare Advantage programs can keep their funding does more to show the American people the utter failings of this legislation.
Herman Cain at the New Hampshire Tea Party April 15th, 2011
Because of my weekend trip to Gettysburg I was unable to attend this year’s Tea Party event in New Hampshire, and because of this trip I am also a few days late in posting this. This Tea Party would have been a great event to attend because we are about to enter the 2012 election cycle and several of the potential Republican candidates were scheduled to speak.
Being less than impressed with any of the Republican candidates who are considered to be front-runners, I am taking a good hard look at lesser known candidates and among these candidates is the man with whom I am most impressed; His name is Herman Cain and he spoke at the New Hampshire Tea Party event in Concord New Hampshire (not Massachusetts Michele Bachmann) and from all accounts he “wowed” the attendees of this event.
I found the video of his speech at THE New Hampshire conservative blog, Granite Grok, and thought that I would share it with all of you. Unfortunately I am not able to post the video directly on this blog as WordPress does not support the video format, but I have included the link to the video and I hope that you will all check it out.
Here is the link:
Battlefield diary
…..or more accurately, battlefield tour diary. The family and I have just returned from a long weekend family trip to Gettysburg and I thought that I would share my experience with anyone who is interested.
April 16th, 2011: Unlike the first three days of July in Gettysburg in 1863, it was in the forties, very windy and raw, with a steady rain heavy at times. The weather didn’t matter because we were at the site of one of the most famous battles of the Civil War, the history of the location helped to overcome the less than perfect weather conditions.
Our first stop on Saturday was Cemetery Hill, there were statues and cannons facing the fighting field and we were all in awe of the fact that we were standing on the ground where a great battle once took place. We could see Culp’s Hill–the Union’s right flank– in the distance; we were all surprised at how “intact” and unchanged the area of the battle was, it was if it was frozen in time.
From Cemetery Hill we made our way over to the “Soldiers Cemetery” where the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg are buried–and the site where President Lincoln gave his most famous speech. The graves of the soldiers form a semi-circle pattern and they are buried by state regardless of the rank they held when they were felled. Seeing so many graves in one location–and so many graves of unknowns who were so horribly disfigured they couldn’t be identified–really drove home the enormity of this three day battle.
When we left the cemetery we headed to the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitors Center. This is a must see for anyone who decides to take this trip. The museum is full of Civil War relics–from weapons to uniforms to just about anything else you can think of–including the desk and bed that General Lee carried with him to Gettysburg and the stretcher that carried General Jackson off of the battlefield at Chancellorsville.
Now it was time for a little lunch, so we decided to eat at General Pickett’s All You Can Eat Buffet–which was fittingly located at the edge of Emmitsburg Road. After lunch we began what I thought was the best part of our trip–the auto tour of the battlefield. The auto tour is basically a circuitous road around the battlefield where you can see all of th major points of this battle.
We started out on Confederates Way–monuments mark the exact locations of Confederate divisions. We are basically on the Confederate line at this point and it is remarkable to see how long the line of battle was. From here we travel to Little Round Top.
Standing on Little Round Top I can envision it:
Col. Chamberlain is told that his division–the 20th Maine–is the end of the line. He must hold his position until the last. He cannot let his line be turned and he cannot retreat and he will not be reenforced. The 20th Maine holds off several advances from the Confederates but they are all but out of ammunition when they see the Confederates mounting yet one more attack.
Knowing that there are only two possible outcomes–victory or death–Col. Chamberlain orders a daring bayonet charge on the Confederates and against all odds manages to repel the last Confederate advance on Little Round Top.
With the attacks on the Unions right and left flanks both ending in failure General Lee–who until this point has never lost a battle–has but one option left, attack the Union center. And that is exactly where the auto tour took us next.
The family and I are now standing on Cemetery Ridge, right next to THE copse of trees that General Lee orders the attack to focus on. We are looking over the vast field below, with Emmitsburg Road about halfway between where we are standing and the woods in the distance.
Again, in my mind I can see this all play out:
It has gone down in history as Pickett’s charge, but in reality Pickett was only one of three generals who participated in this charge. As I look over the fields which continue from left to right as far as the eye can see, I can see it. Out of the woods comes a battle line one mile long making its way across the field, attempting to march on the position I am now standing on one mile away.
Against all odds the Confederates manage to continue advancing in spite of the heavy artillery fire. But then they hit Emmitsburg Road-with its fence on both sides–and are shot dead as they try to advance beyond this obstacle. The bodies pile up at the fence, but still the Confederates do not stop.
Amazingly and against all odds the Confederates manage to reach and break the Union line, but General Stuart’s cavalry–which was supposed to meet Pickett’s charge from the rear and split the Union army in two–never reaches the battlefield because he is intercepted by the soon to be infamous General Custer. Union soldiers manage to reverse the Confederate attack–which suffered over 50% losses. The Confederate attack had failed, and on July 4th 1863, General Lee retreated from the battlefield. Looking down from Cemetery Ridge and seeing how far the Confederate soldiers advanced while facing withering artillery fire is simply amazing, but they simply pushed ahead in spite of the long odds.
Looking over Cemetery Ridge and seeing how enormous this attack must have been is hard to describe–standing at the copse of trees, and at Little Round Top looking at the monuments that mark the “Devils Den” and the “Slaughter Pit” really drive home the enormity of the struggle that occurred here.
Gettysburg has done a great job at upkeep in regards to the battlefield. There are modern amenities in the town but the battlefield remains unchanged. I have always wanted to visit the Civil War battlefields in the south and now I want to visit them even more. Anyone who is a Civil War buff should make the trip to Gettysburg–you will not be disappointed.
The weather did not make it easy to take pictures, but here are the pictures that we were able to get on our trip, enjoy:
Check out my Slide Show!
UPDATE: For more on my Gettysburg trip, please read this post.
America's Watchtower 