ACARE Declares Kerry-Lieberman Bill an 'Assault on Taxpayers, the Economy and the Energy Industry'

/PRNewswire/ -- Today the American Council for Affordable and Reliable Energy (ACARE) declared opposition to the Kerry-Lieberman (KL) "Cap and Trade" bill that was introduced this morning. After many months of speculation, it can be confirmed that the bill contains many costly elements of no benefit to Americans that the Senators claimed it wouldn't, as well as many special giveaways to certain major energy companies who helped to craft the bill.

Mike Carey, President of ACARE, commented that "Senators Kerry and Lieberman have put together an enormously expensive government power grab worse than the recently passed health care reform bill. It will create huge costs for every American family, job losses and redistribution of wealth with no environmental benefit. The escalating costs, mandates, penalties, regulations and taxes in this bill will prove to be a death blow to our economy as it struggles to climb out of a recession. This bill actually creates 60 new agencies, boards, reports and programs that will only bleed money while strangling businesses. This is by far the most egregious expansion of government in history, and our economy cannot withstand it."

Senators Kerry and Lieberman have denied that there will be a specific gasoline tax, and so throughout the bill it is called a "linked fee." This "linked fee" will hit the lower and middle income families particularly hard as they pay a disproportionate percentage of their income on energy. This will run counter to President Obama's promise not to raise taxes on those making under $250,000. This bill directly impacts about 20 percent of the economy through new mandates on transportation, manufacturing industries, electricity and energy production as well as any business that consumes electricity such as agriculture or service-based industries.

Carey continued, "Make no mistake, this bill will kill jobs in the Midwest and across the country. Manufacturers will either be forced out of business or have to export their jobs offshore to places like India, China, Brazil and Mexico. Those countries would never place caps on carbon that the Kerry Lieberman bill will impose here at home, as they know it would kill their economies. This bill is nothing more than an assault on taxpayers, the economy and the energy sector and a massive wealth transfer to energy and other companies, such as General Electric, that bought space at the trough."

ACARE is committed to providing America with the energy it needs, from coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear power, renewable sources and technologies yet to be invented. ACARE supports policies that make affordable and reliable energy a reality, energy that will fuel our high standard of living, protect a clean environment and serve as bridge to the future. Public policies, such as the Kerry Lieberman bill should not arbitrarily or unfairly discriminate among energy sources and should be based on sound science and cost-effective and growth-promoting government regulation.

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CDA: Obama Should End the Cuba Travel Ban and Stop Wasting U.S. Funds on Regime Change Effort

/PRNewswire/ -- Sarah Stephens, executive director of the Center for Democracy in the Americas, issued the following statement about the Foreign Aid budget request for 2011 which proposes $20 million in wasteful spending on regime change programs for Cuba:

"Unless it's okay for the United States government to waste money on foreign aid programs that don't work, the Obama administration should remove the $20 million in spending it has proposed on 'regime change' on Cuba.

"Many activities funded by this program are illegal in Cuba, would certainly be illegal if Cuba conducted them in our country, and they have long histories of wasteful spending in the U.S. and hurting the intended beneficiaries in Cuba. Activities funded by this program recently landed a U.S. contractor in a Cuban prison. If you ever wanted to find a wasteful and counter-productive foreign aid program, this is it.

"The paradox is this: not one of these wasteful programs can hold a candle to the one policy change that would pour American information and ideas into Cuba, and bring both countries together - namely, ending the travel ban that stops all Americans from visiting the island and engaging the Cuban people, a 'program' which would cost the taxpayers nothing."

The Center for Democracy in the Americas (CDA) is devoted to changing U.S. policy toward the countries of the Americas by basing our relations on mutual respect, fostering dialogue with those governments and movements with which U.S. policy is at odds, and recognizing positive trends in democracy and governance. For more information about CDA, visit our website.

CDA's report, "9 Ways for US to Talk to Cuba and for Cuba to Talk to US," published last year, recommended ending counter-productive 'regime change' programs and relying instead on policies of engagement to advance America's interests and lead to normal relations between the U.S. and Cuba.

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Bauer Notes Obama's Coattails 'Were Cut Off,' Voters Return to the Right

/PRNewswire/ -- Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer on Wednesday said that it was clear that the pundits were wrong, rather than President Obama changing the nature of the electorate, "it's a center-right country, and Obama's coattails were cut off last night as his coalitions stayed home." The chairman of the Campaign for Working Families offered the following analysis of the evening's events:

NEW JERSEY LEADS THE WAY:

"New Jersey is a ground breaking story this morning as a hard-core blue state for the Democratic Party where they have institutional power and media support failed to deliver. And despite many campaign stops, Obama could not transfer his 15 point win from 2008 to his ticket's standard bearer barely a year later. The biggest shock at the White House today has to be the loss of independent voters in both New Jersey and Virginia.

"It's clear that voters, especially independent voters, do not like the change they have experienced since Obama's election ... changes like higher unemployment, strangled credit, and massive proposed tax increases on everything from health insurance to fuel and food. These results show that the voters are rejecting runaway deficit spending, higher taxes and bigger government. If the White House and Congressional liberals are listening, they will pull Obamacare off the agenda and stop the march to socialized medicine."

HOFFMAN'S CAMPAIGN SENDS A MESSAGE:

"The small showing of the independent in the New Jersey race reveals why Hoffman's near win is so significant. The Democratic National Committee even ran ads for New Jersey Independent Chris Daggett to draw away from Republican Chris Christie, but he made a feeble, single-digit showing. But in New York's 23rd, a district that went to Obama, Hoffman ran a simple campaign with a single message, 'I will not be a vote for Nancy Pelosi.' With the Republican establishment against him, with the media against him, with the Democratic establishment against him, Hoffman pulled in 46 percent of the vote on a confusing ballot on which he was not listed at the GOP's candidate. If Hoffman's performance is combined with the numbers of failed Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, who was listed as the GOP's candidate, he would have carried the day.

"That simple Reaganite message that higher taxes and government take-over of industry must stop was powerful enough to create real drama all night. And in fact, when the Democratic Party winner Bill Owen gave his own victory speech, he was careful to reach out to the Republicans in his district ... something Obama might try.

"As one of the first conservative leaders to endorse Hoffman, I was moved to act by the fact that the long-term Republican was standing on the core Reaganesque principles - smaller government, lower taxes, a strong national defense, and support for life. And while some may mock these American ideals, they remain bedrock issues for most Americans. The fact that a district which went so solidly for Obama came so close to electing an unknown third party candidate shows the power of those ideas. "

A REPUDIATION OF SOCIAL ISSUES?:

"Some pundits today insinuate that Hoffman's loss was a repudiation of social issues. Nothing could be further from the truth. In Maine, where the governor and both chambers of their legislature tried to lead in the nation in radically redefining marriage, once again - for the 31st time - voters said no to gay marriage. Values issues have a place in the national discussion."

THE PICTURE BECOMES CLEAR:

"Obama came to office as the political equivalent of a Rorschach test. People could read into his message of 'change' anything they wished. But the picture is becoming clearer by the day. He embraces a socialist agenda through government-run businesses, from the auto industry to health care. He proposes a nanny state where taxes are used to punish politically incorrect behavior like drinking soda or turning on the heat in winter. He supports schemes for redistribution of hard earned money to those who did not earn it, through higher and higher taxes, and more and more give away programs. He expands government power through unelected 'czars' who use government power as a weapon against those they do not agree with, rather than building a consensus on how to go forward.

"But while it's clear that hard-core liberals are rallying to Obama's side and that he is uniting the Republican Party in new and energizing ways, the big news in the numbers is Obama's loss of support among independents. Independents are abandoning the Democrats and have been very sophisticated in cutting through the political noise. Calling a liberal a 'moderate' does not change political reality. Democrats have assumed that independents want more government and support higher taxes and ballooning deficits. But they are wrong.

"They are also wrong to claim that conservatives like me do not want the GOP to be a big tent or that the party is engaged in some kind of civil war. Nothing could be further from the truth. All people, regardless of race, creed or color, are welcome to join together in support of timeless, American values. The GOP is a party of principles and ideas, and a healthy party talks about how best to implement those ideas. The GOP desires to free Americans from the weight of government taxes and regulations so that they can build a better life for themselves and their families. Ideas such as smaller government, strong national defense, and respect for all people at all stages of life are the bedrock of a winning party. Tuesday those values won and with them so did the GOP."

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Guess who’s funding ObamaCare advocates?

Facebook finding:

Greg Sargent notes that a familiar face will start showering cash on organizations trying to build support for ObamaCare. George Soros, who once pledged his entire fortune in an unsuccessful effort to unseat George Bush, has pledged another $5 million to overcome popular opposition to the government takeover of the health-care industry. Sargent rightly notes that this will become a flashpoint for both sides of the divide:

In another sign of the urgency gripping the pro-health care reform camp, billionaire George Soros has pledged to sink $5 million into the fight, the group getting the money confirmed.

Soros — whose operation carefully guards the privacy of such donations — made the pledge to Health Care For America Now, the leading coalition of pro-reform groups, unions and providers, HCAN chief Richard Kirsch confirmed in an email that was forwarded to me. …

The Soros pledge is noteworthy, because both sides will seize on it. The right will say it shows the real astroturfing is coming from the pro-reform side — billionaire bogeyman Soros is bankrolling this fight!

The left will cite the donation to demand that HCAN show real results. Some on the left, such as blogger Jane Hamsher, have been asking why heavily-bankrolled HCAN hasn’t been able to secure more commitments from Dem members of Congress to stand firm behind a public option.
However, that group may run afoul of Rahm Emanuel and the White House. Emanuel has demanded that HCAN and other advocacy groups focus their sights on Republicans and stop attacking vulnerable Democrats — which, in this case, would be those who have shown great reluctance to get on board with ObamaCare. If HCAN takes Emanuel’s advice, it’s hard to see what they’ll use the money to do, other than buy advertising that strictly focuses on the issue. That issue hasn’t played well thus far, and $5 million of advertising won’t make a dent in the opposition.

That’s where the pharmaceutical industry’s cash will come in handy:

The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday.

The unusually large scale of the industry’s commitment to the cause helps explain some of a contentious back-and-forth playing out in recent days between the odd-couple allies over a deal that the White House struck with the industry in June to secure its support. The terms of the deal were not fully disclosed. Both sides had announced that the drug industry would contribute $80 billion over 10 years to the cost of the health care overhaul without spelling out the details.

With House Democrats moving to extract more than that just as the drug makers finalized their advertising plans, the industry lobbyists pressed the Obama administration for public reassurances that it had agreed to cap the industry’s additional costs at $80 billion. The White House, meanwhile, has struggled to mollify its most pivotal health industry ally without alienating Congressional Democrats who want to demand far more of the drug makers. White House officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

To give this some perspective, it helps to recall that John McCain spent $126 million on advertising for the entire general election campaign in 2008. Why have the pharmaceuticals gone for ObamaCare in a big way? Obama promised not to use Medicare’s market advantage to drive down prices any more than the $80 billion already pledged by the industry. That’s basically price-fixing of a kind that the Federal Trade Commission would investigate if it involved a private-sector insurance giant.

Remind me again which side is Astroturfing and getting big, powerful firms funding their operation, and which one represents the actual sense of Americans on government-controlled health care.

From:
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White House Launches 'Fishy' Expedition

/PRNewswire/ -- In a web video released today, Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins denounced the White House's appeal for individuals to send the White House any email or health care messages deemed "fishy."

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins had this to say:

"I guess President Obama is unhinged by the prospect of something entrenched in the American political tradition: Dissent," said Perkins. "The right to free speech seems to be, for the President, a rather pesky annoyance that keeps him from having his way on health care. Well, welcome to representative democracy and the reality of opposing viewpoints, Mr. President. And for the next three and one-half years, with all due respect, get used to it."

In the video, Perkins says:

"The White House apparently subscribes to Vince Lombardi's idea that the best defense is a good offense. The wide spread opposition to the President's proposed takeover of health care has apparently blind sided the administration and is causing panic over the prospects the whole plan could be sacked by the American public.

"As a result, the White House is striking back. Macon Phillips on the White House blog wrote, 'Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet' ... he goes on to says that 'since we can't keep track of all of them here at the White House, we're asking for your help.' Phillips goes on to ask individuals to send the White House any email or health care message on the web that seems 'fishy.'

"Fishy? If there is anything fishy it is the White House asking people to help them keep track of those who oppose the government takeover of health care. Is the White House simply wanting to keep a scrapbook of the emails that primarily quote the President and the legislation that he is pushing or is it possible they are simply looking to use this information to intimidate and if possible silence their opponents?"

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Poll: Independents reject Obama, agree with Libertarian Party

Despite a deep financial crisis and the election of a left-wing president, political independents still see “big government” as a greater threat than “big business” by an unchanged two-to-one margin, America’s third-largest party notes today.

“Independent voters believed Candidate Obama when he said he would be mainstream. Their trusting votes gave him a narrow victory,” said Donny Ferguson, Libertarian National Committee Communications Director. “But now that the real Barack Obama has revealed himself, they’re not following his bootlegger turn toward the radical left. They still believe the same Big Government that Obama promises as our global salvation will be America’s undoing.”

“Only one party in America agrees with independent voters, and that is the Libertarian Party,” said Ferguson. “Republicans spent 14 years fattening government with their ever-escalating budgets. Even the Republican ‘alternative budget’ called for massive deficits and bigger spending.”

“Once again, Libertarians are the only mainstream party in America. Only Libertarians will reduce the size and cost of government. Obama and the Republicans have us spiraling towards national bankruptcy.”

A Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday asked 1,007 adults “which of the following will be the biggest threat to the country in the future –”big business”, big labor or “big government?” Fifty-nine percent (59%) of politically independent Americans viewed “big government” as the greatest threat, virtually unchanged from the 60 percent measured the last time the question was asked in 2006 – before the financial crisis and election of Barack Obama.

Only 30 percent answered “big business” and 8 percent answered “big labor,” both also virtually unchanged from the 26 percent and 10 percent measured in 2006.

Since the question was asked major financial crises have weakened the economy and the White House has been occupied by a president pushing radical expansions of government size and power -- with virtually no effect on independents. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent.

The poll was released on the same day the White House released numbers showing the economy performing worse than Obama promised, and the federal budget deficit growing to a size four times larger than the 2008 Bush record. Under Obama, the federal government will borrow nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends, an unsustainable and inflationary level of borrowing.

In more bad news for Obama, the only Americans buying into his opposition to capitalism are largely those who already voted for him, leaving little room to expand his support.

Democrats in 2006 feared “big government” more than “big business” by a 55 percent to 32 percent margin. Following in lockstep with Obama, they have flipped their views. Now, Democrats fear job creators more than government by a 52 percent to 32 percent margin.

Opposition to “big government” grew among grassroots Republicans, though their party leadership doesn’t seem to share that view, based on their “alternative budget.” In 2006, Republicans feared “big government” more than “big business” by a 68 percent to 18 percent margin. That grew in 2009 to 80 percent to 10 percent.

“Grassroots Republicans oppose Big Government and want a party that agrees with them. Once again, the Libertarian Party is the only party that proposes cutting spending. We don’t follow the still-vibrant Republican tradition of making government bigger and costlier each year,” said Ferguson.

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