Breaking: Sarah Palin Resigning as Governor of Alaska

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin announced today that she will resign from office July 26. Palin made the announcement from her home in Wasilla, she was flanked by her husband, Todd, her family and state commissioners. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will succeed her.

Wow, this is a bit of a shocker… The only question is where does she go from here? I tend to agree with Jim Geraghty, her national political career is over. You can’t resign from a governorship you’ve held for roughly 30 months and then run for President.

Update: The Wall Street Journal has the full text of her remarks here.

Update II (5:45 p.m.): MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell claims sources close to Gov. Palin have told her that Palin’s “had it” with national politics and told her top backers to go ahead and commit to other candidates for 2012. Real Clear Politics has the video here.

Given the source I’m taking that report with a grain of salt… To be honest, though, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Mitchell’s report turns out to true. Sarah Palin has been beaten senseless by the media and her family has been dragged through the mud. Why would any sane person want to subject herself and her family to the kind treatment Palin has endured?

Update III (9:35 p.m.): I’ve been without power for the last three hours so I’m playing catch up here… First, Mike Allen at the Politico is reporting that Palin plans to remain “extremely visible and will give serious consideration to running for president in 2012.”

Second, Ed Morrissey at Hot Air points out an interview Palin did with John Ziegler last month and wonders if Gov. Palin hinted at quitting last month?

I’m not sure what to make of Gov. Palin’s decision, my gut feeling is she’s done with elective politics. I suspect she’ll remain an active and visible champion for conservative principle through speaking engagements and by campaigning for other candidates but I doubt she’ll ever run for office again.

Fiscal Irresponsibility: Congress’s Travel Tab Swells

You would think record budget deficits and the need fiscal restraint would curtail Congressional travel… but you’d be wrong:

WASHINGTON — Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That’s a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as “codels,” has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.

Lawmakers say that the trips are a good use of government funds because they allow members of Congress and their staff members to learn more about the world, inspect U.S. assets abroad and forge better working relationships with each other. The travel, for example, includes official visits to American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

You can’t really blame members of Congress… after all they’re important people who have places to go and facts to find. Places like the Galápagos Islands to learn about global warming or junkets to the Virgin Islands, Italy, Paris and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

All this travel is made possible by a fleet of 16 passenger aircraft maintained by the Air Force… How, exactly, is that any different from a fleet of corporate jets???

Anyway my favorite bit of questionable travel highlighted by the Journal’s analysis has to be the February trip to Afghanistan and Italy led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (emphasis mine):

Often, lawmakers combine trips to war zones with visits to more tranquil spots. In February, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a delegation of Democratic lawmakers to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan for a day. Before landing in Kabul, the eight lawmakers and their entourage of spouses and aides spent eight days in Italy, spending $57,697 on hotels and meals.

Pfft… these are the same self serving parasites who have the nerve to lecture corporate executives on the use of corporate jets while jetting all over the world on our dime??? Hypocrites!

Reminder: Connecticut July 4th Tea Parties

Just a quick reminder that on Independence Day, the Connecticut Tea Party Patriots will hold public rallies in Hartford, Norwich and Stratford to encourage elected officials to exercise fiscal restraint, rein in government growth and support America’s free market economy.

The Hartford Tea Party will take place from noon to 3 p.m. on the Capitol steps, 210 Capitol Ave. For more information contact the organizer, Dan Reale at head...@gmail.com

The Norwich Tea Party will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chelsea Parade, at the intersection of Broadway and Washington streets. For more information contact the organizer, Jen at j...@freenorwich.com

The Stratford Tea Party will take place from 10 a.m. to noon at Boothe Memorial Park, 5800 Main St. For more information contact the organizer, Mike Taylor at mtta...@gmail.com

The organizers ask attendees to bring American flags to celebrate Independence Day and to rally to preserve the individual freedoms that the Founders won with their blood, sweat and tears. All are invited to attend.

Cross posted at CTLiberty.com.

Unemployment Climbs to 9.5 Percent

Unemployment climbed to its highest level in 26 years rising to 9.5 percent in June. All told, 14.7 million people were unemployed in June:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employers cut far more jobs than expected last month and the unemployment rate hit 9.5 percent, the highest in nearly 26 years, underscoring the likelihood of a long, slow recovery from recession.

The loss of 467,000 jobs reported by the Labor Department on Thursday was 100,000 more than Wall Street economists had expected, with virtually no sector of the economy spared.

Since the economy fell into recession in December 2007, 6.5 million nonfarm jobs have been lost and the unemployment rate has nearly doubled.

“It looks like the economy was still losing substantial momentum as the second quarter came to a close. This report is weak across the board,” said William Sullivan, chief economist at the JVB Financial Group in Boca Raton, Florida.

U.S. stock prices fell, with the Dow Jones industrial average down 2 percent by afternoon as investors worried the data darkened the recovery outlook. Prices for safe-haven U.S. government debt rose.

Clearly we’re headed in the wrong direction… I said last month that I thought the numbers were misleading and shouldn’t be take them at face value. Simply put we aren’t anywhere near the bottom yet, unemployment is going to continue to rise and I suspect we’ll see unemployment well above 10% and U-6 above 20% before we do reach bottom.

Related

• Payrolls Fall More Than Forecast, Unemployment Rises – Bloomberg.com
  
• Obamanomics Proving To Be An Abysmal Failure – The Strata-Sphere
• A Grim Jobs Report – Larry Kudlow
• Poll: Obama slipping further on economy – Hot Air

A Military Coup in Honduras? Not Quite.

As is all to often the case our pop culture obsessed, sound bite focused media is either ignoring or deliberately misreporting the facts of what’s happening in Honduras.

If you haven’t Mary Anastasia O’Grady’s column on Honduras in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal you should. In short what happening in Honduras is not a military coup d’état but rather a restoration constitutional rule:

Hugo Chávez’s coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation’s constitution.

It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.

But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya’s abuses, also wants him back in power. It will be a miracle if Honduran patriots can hold their ground.

That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law, there is no doubt. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress.

But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do.

The top military commander, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, told the president that he would have to comply. Mr. Zelaya promptly fired him. The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Mr. Zelaya refused.

Calculating that some critical mass of Hondurans would take his side, the president decided he would run the referendum himself. So on Thursday he led a mob that broke into the military installation where the ballots from Venezuela were being stored and then had his supporters distribute them in defiance of the Supreme Court’s order.

The attorney general had already made clear that the referendum was illegal, and he further announced that he would prosecute anyone involved in carrying it out. Yesterday, Mr. Zelaya was arrested by the military and is now in exile in Costa Rica. Read the rest…

The Obama Administration’s siding with Hugo Chávez in support Pres. Zelaya is quite telling… Given the choice between standing up for freedom and the rule of law or supporting a tinpot dictator they opted for the tinpot dictator.

Shame, shame!

House Passes Cap and Tax Bill 219-212

The House of Representatives passed President Barack Obama’s massive Cap and Trade energy tax bill by a vote 219-212 yesterday… 211 Democrats and eight Republicans voted for the bill.

WASHINGTON — Landmark legislation to curb U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions was approved by the House of Representatives in a close vote late Friday, securing an initial victory for a cornerstone of President Barack Obama’s agenda.

The 1,200 page bill — formally known as the “American Clean Energy and Security Act” — will reach into almost every corner of the U.S. economy. By putting a price on emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, the bill would affect the way electricity is generated, how homes and offices are designed, how foreign trade is conducted and how much Americans pay to drive cars or to heat their homes.

The House climate bill, approved by a 219-212 vote Friday evening, would mandate that 15% of the nation’s electricity come from renewable sources such as wind and solar power by 2020, potentially expanding the market and profit potential for companies in those sectors. Towards that goal, it seeks to boost nascent industries such as wind-generated electricity and solar power.

It’s not clear whether the bill will pass the Senate though. Call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to vote no this economy killer… According to an analysis conducted by The Heritage Foundation, the bill would raise energy costs for a household of four, by $436 in 2102, when it’s provisions go into effect, and by an average or $1,241 in 2035. That same families electricity costs would rise up to 90 percent by 2035, gasoline by 58 percent, and natural gas by 55 percent by 2035.

The Eight House Republicans who voted for the Cap and Tax bill are:

Mary Bono Mack (CA) (202) 225-5330
Mike Castle (DE) (202) 225-4165
Mark Kirk (IL) (202) 225-4385
Leonard Lance (NJ) (202) 225-5361
Frank LoBiondo (NJ) (202) 225-6572
John McHugh (NY) (202) 225-4611
Dave Reichert (WA) (202) 225-7761
Chris Smith (NJ) (202) 225-3765

Special thanks to Michelle Malkin for the names and phone numbers.

Related

• The Cap and Tax Fiction – Wall Street Journal
• The Climate Change Climate Change – Wall Street Journal
• The Economic Impact of the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade Bill – Heritage Foundation

Barney Frank’s Bad Idea

From the Wall Street Journal:

Back when the housing mania was taking off, Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank famously said he wanted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to “roll the dice” in the name of affordable housing. That didn’t turn out so well, but Mr. Frank has since only accumulated more power. And now he is returning to the scene of the calamity — with your money. He and New York Representative Anthony Weiner have sent a letter to the heads of Fannie and Freddie exhorting them to lower lending standards for condo buyers.

You read that right. After two years of telling us how lax lending standards drove up the market and led to loans that should never have been made, Mr. Frank wants Fannie and Freddie to take more risk in condo developments with high percentages of unsold units, high delinquency rates or high concentrations of ownership within the development.

Fannie and Freddie have restricted loans to condo buyers in these situations because they represent a red flag that the developments — many of which were planned and built at the height of the housing bubble — may face financial trouble down the road. But never mind all that. Messrs. Frank and Weiner think, in all their wisdom and years of experience underwriting mortgages, that the new rules “may be too onerous.”

Here we go again… Umm, congressman you do remember we how got into this mess don’t you? On the off chance you’ve forgotten it was, among other things, lowered lending standards that helped inflate the housing market to unrealistic levels.The last thing we thing we should be doing is repeating the mistakes that got us here.

Simply put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are political creature and they have no better friend than Barney Frank. Congressman Frank needs to explain why he pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into underwriting loans to people who couldn’t afford them and then resisted every attempt to to tighten oversight of Fannie and Freddie.

Until he’s called to account for his actions in helping to create this mess he’s free to keep pushing the same bad ideas over and over.

South Carolina Govenor Admits Affair, Was in Argentina

From the Wall Street Journal:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford admitted that he has had an extramarital affair and apologized to his wife and children. He held a press conference to explain a five-day trip to Argentina during which his staff and family said they did not know his whereabouts.

During his absence, his staff had said he was off hiking the Appalachian Trail to relax after a stressful legislative session, and his wife said he was away writing.

Well the Republican field for 2012 just got smaller… Schmuck.

Update: Michelle Malkin sums Sanford’s actions in one word: Bastard, that’s about covers it… Sanford betrayed his wife, his staff and the people of South Carolina.

Her Name was Neda

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) lays a smackdown on the Mullahs and President Obama:

Neda Agha Soltan was 26, and to those new she was ‘a beam of light‘… Contrast the statements and actions of this administration with those of Ronald Reagan. Reagan was unequivocal in his support of the of the Polish Solidarity movement, this administration inviting Iranian diplomats to the White House to celebrate… wait for it… Independence Day.

I’m betting the irony of that is lost on them.

Chris Dodd Flips on Gay Marriage

Remember the anti-gay marriage stance Chris Dodd took during his presidential bid? It’s apparently become a liability in his senate reelection bid so he’s now in favor of gay marriage:

Public officials aren’t supposed to change their minds. But I firmly believe that it’s important to keep learning. Last week, while I was in Connecticut meeting with members of the gay and lesbian community from across the state, I had the opportunity to tell them what I’ve learned about marriage, and about equality.

While I’ve long been for extending every benefit of marriage to same-sex couples, I have in the past drawn a distinction between a marriage-like status (“civil unions”) and full marriage rights.

The reason was simple: I was raised to believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And as many other Americans have realized as they’ve struggled to reconcile the principle of fairness with the lessons they learned early in life, that’s not an easy thing to overcome.

But the fact that I was raised a certain way just isn’t a good enough reason to stand in the way of fairness anymore.

The Connecticut Supreme Court, of course, has ruled that such a distinction holds no merit under the law. And the Court is right.

Say what? No one has ever argued that public officials can’t “change their minds”… Public officials can and do change their mind all the time. That’s not the issue, as Jim Geraghty says:

It’s the craven, sudden about-faces, taken in response to shifting poll numbers, that spur the cynicism and the snickering.

You know, like when a senator runs for president and takes a position on gay marriage that’s designed to get him into national office — you know, opposing it, but insisting that the same “traditional view of marriage” that stirs him to oppose it leaves a loophole for civil unions — and then throws it away when he faces a tough reelection campaign in his home state.

And there in lies my problem with Sen Dodd’s flip-flop… I’m pretty much an agnostic on the issue of gay marriage but I don’t believe a minute Chris Dodd’s change of position has anything to with fairness or principle. It has everything to with political expediency, he’s facing what maybe the toughest reelection fight of his political career so he’s pandering to every interest group he can in effort to garner their support.

Simply put Chris Dodd is the embodiment of everything that’s wrong with our political class… When it was in his political interest to be opposed to gay marriage he was. Now that it’s in his political interests to be a supporter of  gay marriage he is. The man is nothing if not a profile in political courage!

Cross posted at CTLiberty.com.

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