RINO Mike Castle Votes for DISCLOSE Act: Christine O'Donnell Would Not Vote for DISCLOSE

RINO Congressman Mike Castle (R-DE) voted for the House DISCLOSE Act. Castle just took away portions of your free speech and mine. He is challenged by a true conservative, Christine O'Donnell in the November election. Don't forget this face. With our help, she will be Delaware's U.S. Senate replacement for Joe Biden.

Christine O'Donnell for Senate in Delaware

The DISCLOSE Act (Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections), otherwise known as H.R. 5175 passed the House yesterday with help from two Republicans, Delaware's Mike Castle and Louisiana's Joseph Cao. DISCLOSE will be put into effect within 30 days - even before the FEC can write the guidelines. Democrats see this imperative to stifling our free speech - and especially the free speech of grassroots organizations, for example...TEA Parties, and here's another example:

Remember the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court which restored First Amendment rights to corporations, saying the government as no right to regulate free speech? The DISCLOSE Act, if implemented, is seen as a first step to an end run against that Supreme Court decision. Listen to a CATO Institute podcast about this important issue here.


Read more about DISCLOSE here, and in November don't forget that Castle and Cao took a swipe at your free speech, and smack them right back with a vote for Christine O'Donnell for Joe Biden's senate seat. Find in-depth insight into RINO Castle and Ms. O'Donnell at The Other McCain.

Pelosi Will Pass Senate Bill in House? Slaughter Rule Ruled Out? Reconciliation a Shell Bill

With a "shell" reconciliation bill posted online last night, it seems everyone is agreed that the House must pass the Senate health care bill and send it to the President for his signature, before reconciliation can take place. In other words, you can't reconcile a bill that has not been signed into law. Intrigue looms, however, as Rep. Louise Slaughter's Rules Committee seems prepared to "deem the bill passed" without a vote (straight from Pelosi's mouth) - even though the Senate Parliamentarian says, no... 'deeming' a bill passed will not happen in the Senate. See videos below.

Louise Slaughter - The Queen of Deem

On March 12th Speaker Pelosi acknowledged the Parliamentarian's ruling and said she will pass the Senate Bill:

"...the Senate Parliamentarian as you have said, said in order for them to do a reconciliation based on the Senate bill, it must be signed by the President."

Nevertheless, the Senate bill is not signed by the President and Pelosi the word is, she is working behind closed door writing reconciliation legislation.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) responded to Rep. Eric Cantor's question, and agreed with Pelosi: 

[CANTOR] ...that this House must pass the Senate bill first, it must be signed into law before the Senate can even take up the reconciliation package?

[HOYER]  I think the gentleman correctly states the Senate parliamentarian's position. and therefore I think

Rep. Paul Ryan also referred to the verbal comment made to Republicans from Democrat Senate Parliamentarian, Kurt Conrad. While Politico is saying Republicans misinterpreted Conrad's remark, Ryan doesn't see it that way, and it is reasonable to believe that Pelosi and Hoyer agree with Ryan.

Ryan said that the Senate parliamentarian's ruling that President Obama must sign a health care bill into law before the Senate can change it through reconciliation largely renders moot the attempt by Rep. Louise Slaughter to shield members from a direct vote on the senate health care bill. He said the idea would also violate Obama's call for an up-or-down vote. "that's not an up-or-down vote, that's sweeping it under the rug and into law," Ryan said:

From Politico, March 12th:

...it looks like House Democrats won't have to vote directly on a Senate bill they really don't like. The speaker hasn't made a final decision, but she told her rank-and-file during the meeting that the plan now is to craft a rule that would "deem" the Senate bill passed once they approve the package of fixes.

That means they would vote on the rule and the so-called reconciliation package, which would make changes to the Senate bill andonly requires 51 votes to pass in the Upper Chamber....

The question is, is Pelosi playing word games? She is saying the Senate bill must be signed by the President, but is she relying on the Slaughter made-up bill that the House can "deem" it passed without a vote?

Here is how the "shell" bill works. Philip Klein writing at The American Spectator says this is not the "actual reconciliation bill." He quotes Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) saying that this bill is a "shell" bill. Democrats will approve it, probably today, it will go to the Rules Committee, "be stripped," and then all the things they have supposedly negotiated will be added in.

Ryan says the process begins with the Budget committee approving the "shell" bill, then the bill goes to the Rules Committee. In the budget committee, Republicans are out-numbered 2-to-1, and do not have the votes to stop it. Republicans will not be able to offer any amendments, but can offer "motions to instruct the Rules Committee, which will hopefully show the outlandish maneuver Democrats are taking for what it is - unconstitutional. Illegal?

Ryan said that the Senate parliamentarian's ruling that President Obama must sign a health care bill into law before the Senate can change it through reconciliation largely renders moot the attempt by Rep. Louise Slaughter to shield members from a direct vote on the senate health care bill. He said the idea would also violate Obama's call for an up-or-down vote. "that's not an up-or-down vote, that's sweeping it under the rug and into law," Ryan said.

In The American Spectator piece, Rep. Ryan warned about focusing on reconciliation, which he says is a "distraction."

Paul Ryan's op-ed in today's Washington Post shows that nothing has changed and whatever you see in the 2309-page tome posted last night is up for embellishment or deletion.

Ed Morrisey, writing before it was clear that this is a shell bill, asked what the bill might contain that makes it ineligible for reconciliation and points out page 1557 of the existing reconciliation calls for the creation of a Comparative Effectiveness Center (panel) which finds ways to ration health care based on certain parameters, one of which in the bill is "Economics."  Much of the newly written bill will surely contain language from this one. We can count on the Comparative Effectiveness Center also being included.

Any part not directly germane to budgeting should, according to the rules, have to go through normal Senate debate.  Republicans will want to find as many of these as possible.

There is a post I think you'll want to read at Jus' Sayin'. Don't leave without taking a look at the very last statement on the page.

Hot Air has a quote from Steny Hoyer saying that "deeming" is demeaning to democracy.

Linked by The Thinker - thank you!



Pelosi says she will pass the Senate Bill in the House (video) Steny Hoyer says House must pass the Senate Health Care Bill (video)

Congress Abdicates: Obama Task Force to Decide Taxes

Barack Obama has the agreement of Congress to form a task force to once again abdicate the duties and responsibilities of that increasingly laughable body that sits on Capitol Hill. Where the Constitution grants Congress the sole right to tax and spend, a new task force of 18 congressional members will now try to solve the country's deficit.

Two senators came up with the idea and drafted the legislation: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH). May Judd Gregg feel the weight of what he has done each and every night he lays his head on a pillow. Once the panel makes a recommendation, it will be voted on by Congress, no amendments with a straight up or down vote in both the House and the Senate. Not that Congress has done much responsible thinking of late; now they need to do none.

In this column by George Will, he points out a sentence in The Washington Post:

The White House has been talking to Congress to try to craft a proposal that would not wholly relinquish congressional control over major decisions on taxes and spending.

What is it that Congress does these days? Czars do the work, plant the seeds, the seed is carried to the House and Senate leaders and the troops bring out the goose-step.

Will points out that the oath of office for members of Congress doesn't ask them to "partially or occasionally or when convenient" support and defend the Constitution - and faithfully discharge their duties.

Substantively, the task force would be a means of conscripting Republican participation in huge tax increases.

Were the Conrad-Gregg task force to come to a consensus, it almost certainly would be that Congress must make the supposedly “difficult choice” of spending more of other people's money. Fortunately, the task force probably would be paralyzed by the requirement that its proposals must be endorsed by at least 14 — 78 percent — of its members. Given the difficulty of getting 60 percent of the Senate to agree on anything important, a 78 percent consensus on raising taxes and cutting entitlements will be extremely elusive.

Here's a suggestion whose time has come:

So the Gregg-Conrad legislation should be amended to include this language:

“During the life of this task force, which will perform Congress' fundamental duties, all senators and representatives will be considered on vacation and will not be paid. If the task force's recommendations are accepted by Congress, there will be no congressional pay until 2050.”

This would be a Madisonian measure, altering incentives in order to encourage responsibility. Let's vote.

 Others talking about the abdication of Congress:
Left Coast Rebel

Copenhagen Junket Cost Millions - Millions for Failure: Jim Inhofe on Copenhagen and Caviar

Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) attended the Copenhagen summit separate from the gang of 20-or-so Congressional global warming, and cap and tax advocates. Without Inhofe, we would know nothing about these arrogant politicians traveling on our millions, some taking family along in three luxurious military jets. The number was actually 101-or-so when Senators flying commercial with staff are counted.

Note that it was well-known before the summit, that Copenhagen would yield nothing. Still yet, swimming against the tide of strong American opposition to the goals of Copenhagen, our elected officials took a vacation courtesy of the taxpayer. The official line is that there was a need to "show support." Why should we support failure and spend millions to do so? We have let these people get away with this for so many years. How will we ever turn it around?

Also note that no one in Copenhagen was interested in Inhofe's message. That is clear evidence that the Senator has had a tremendous impact in fighting the global warming insanity. What greater honor than to have this gang ignore your message. Politico mentions that Inhofe was wearing black snakeskin cowboy boots (I can hear the derision in the printed words). Inhofe called global warming a hoax, and told the few gathered that the U.S. Senate will not pass cap and trade. And a der Speigel reporter told him he was "ridiculous." At this time ClimateGate had already broken...and this reporter calls Inhofe "ridiculous?"

Inhofe, a well-spoken and well-informed global warming opponent, gave CBS News some details. Why would CBS go to a Republican for the scoop? Because Democrats are not talking. Here's Inhofe:

Senator Inhofe is one of the few who provided us any detail. He attended the summit on his own for just a few hours, to give an "opposing view."

"They're going because it's the biggest party of the year," Sen. Inhofe said. "The worst thing that happened there is they ran out of caviar."

According to CBS:

Our investigation found that the congressional delegation was so large, it needed three military jets: two 737's and a Gulfstream Five -- up to 64 passengers -- traveling in luxurious comfort.

Add senators and staff, most of whom flew commercial, and we counted at least 101 Congress-related attendees. All for a summit that failed to deliver a global climate deal.

As a perk, some took spouses, since they could snag an open seat on a military jet or share a room at no extra cost to taxpayers. Rep. Cabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was there with her husband. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito was also there with her husband. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) took his wife, as did Rep. Jim Sensebrenner (R-WI) -- a climate change skeptic -- even brought along his daughter.

Here's the math:

# Three military jets at $9,900 per hour - $168,000 just in flight time.

# Dozens flew commercial at up to $2,000 each.

# 321 hotel nights booked - the bulk at Copenhagen's five-star Marriott. 

# Meals add tens of thousands more.

Here's the size of the carbon footprint, and I question the implication that carbon dioxide is "climate-stunting." Nevertheless, all that carbon footprint business is Liberal rhetoric, designed to harness our way of life, but not theirs:

And all those attendees who went to the summit rather than hooking up by teleconference? They produced enough climate-stunting carbon dioxide to fill 10,000 Olympic swimming pools. Which means even if Congress didn't get a global agreement - they left an indelible footprint all the same.

Inhofe says he made the trip to the frigid conference, which experienced record snowfalls, to correct what Senators Barbara Boxer and "maybe" John Kerry might say - that "we're going to pass climate change legislation." Inhofe said:

I want to make sure they know it's dead and it's not going to pass the United States Senate. It's not even close."

The above statement was made in early December - perhaps before we knew the lengths of disgrace this Senate will go to secure a vote. See the video below - which is a very good discussion - and don't miss, toward the end at about 5:36 minutes-in when Inhofe reveals why Liberals will not consider a simple carbon tax.

A little interesting tidbit: the interviewer here is CNN's Kiran Chetry. Remember when she jumped ship from FOX's Saturday morning FOX and Friends? When E.D. Hill left the top- rated weekday FOX and Friends, Kiran was a tad upset that Gretchen Carlson was chosen as E.D.'s  replacement. She and husband, a FOX meteorologist, jumped the deck of the sleek racing vessel at FOX to the sinking barge at CNN.

Back at Copenhagen, it is doubtful that frigid weather and record-breaking snowfalls kept the caviar or champagne from flowing, (until it ran out). Five-star Marriotts can throw a pretty good party.




Jim Inhofe - Kiran Chetry on Copenhagen Global Warming (video)   Related and Background:

Ocean Rise; Sea Levels Rise Never Began: Scientists Withdraw Claims of Sea Levels Rising

ClimateGate Phil Jones: No Global Warming Since 1995 Says Jones

ClimateGate 2008: Media Assisted Polar Bear Hysteria: Polar Bears Vanishing? Uh, no. And the Senate Knows it

Hottest Decade in History? Maybe Not - Earth-Based Climate Stations Manipulated

*****Phil Jones Hides Data from 42 Weather Stations

Inhofe Family Igloo Mocks Al Gore's Global Warming

Paul Dennis ClimateGate EMail Leaker? Were the Emails really hacked?

IPCC ClimateGate Grow: Counterfeit Claims about Netherlands 


ABC Questions Climate Forecasts: Can Climate Science be Trusted?

ClimateGate: Global Warming Bullies 

ClimateGate Scientist Phil Jones Not Prosecuted: UAE Asks for Jones Resignation  

Murari Lal Glacier Scientist: Unverified Data Used for Political Pressure

Copenhagen Junket Cost Millions - Millions for Failure: Inhofe on Copenhagen Caviar

Copenhagen Hopenhagen Nopenhagen? Rajendra Pachauri Apocalypse Now

EPA Endangerment Finding: Obama's Carbon Dioxide Pollutant: Obama TopDown Control

Andrew Watson Marc Morano: Andrew Watson Calls Marc Morano A-Hole

Chris Horner Sues NASA? NASA Hidden Data: ClimateGate NASA FOIA
Network Media Silent on ClimateGate: Day 14 and Counting

Hide the Decline Graph: ClimateGate Hide the Decline "Trick": Jones and Mann Hide the Decline

Rajendra Pachauri Dismisses Top Warming Scientists: Jim Inhofe ClimateGate Investigation

ClimateGate Phil Jones Steps Down

Philip Jones ClimateGate: Phil Jones Global Chief Liar and Cheat 

CRU Souce Code Decoded: Marc Sheppard Finds the Fudge Factor 

ClimateGate: Global Warming Bullies 

ClimateGate Phil Jones Steps Aside: CRU Climategate Chief Steps Down

Jim Inhofe ClimateGate Investigation: Rajendra Pachauri Dismisses Top Warming Scientists

Scientists may sue Gore over "Warming and Change" Fraud

Jaws Dropped as Solar Scientist, Archibald, Praised C02

EPA Silences, Suppresses Opposition: EPA Lies

The EU's Carbon Trade: A Scheme and a Failure

The Fight for Human-made Global Warming


Important Resources:

Climate Depot

Watts Up With That?

Climate Audit, stephen McIntyre

A list of prominent scientists who have reversed their opinions

PelosiCare Democrats Voting Nay: Dan Boren No vote on health care HR 3962

Rep. Dan Boren tops the list of Democrats voting 'no' on health care HR 3962. Boren, from my home state of Oklahoma, is our only Democrat in congress. See a list Democrat congressmen voting no on HR 3962 below, along with a link to the actual bill.

Dan Boren

Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) said he voted against the PelosiCare because:

...it raises taxes and will lead to a single-payer health care system in the United States.

In town hall meetings in August, Boren told constituents he would not support a health care bill that raised taxes on small businesses or that included a public option.

The worst thing we could do during a recession is raise taxes and this bill does just that,” said Boren. 

“I also believe the public option would ultimately lead to a single-payer health care system,” Boren added.  

Although I support eliminating health insurance companies’ ability to deny applicants coverage based on pre-existing conditions, this 2,000-page and $1 trillion bill, is just not the answer to America’s health care problems,” said Boren.

Thirty-eight fellow Democrats voted nay, plus DanBoren.

Read the House bill (PDF)

Barack Obama won these districts in the 2008 presidential election.
John Adler freshman NJ 3rd district
Brian Baird WA 3rd district
John Barrow GA 12th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Artur Davis AL 7th district
Larry Kissell, freshman NC 8th district
Michael E. McMahon, freshman NY 13th district
Scott Murphy, freshman NY 20th district
Glenn Nye freshman VA 2nd district - member Blue Dog Coalition

John McCain won these districts in the 2008 presidential election.
Jason Altmire PA 4th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
John Boccieri, freshman OH 16th district
Dan Boren OK 2nd district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Rick Boucher VA 9th district
Allen Boyd FL 2nd district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Bobby Bright, freshman AL 2nd district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Ben Chandler KY 6th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Travis Childers MS 1st district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Lincoln Davis TN 4th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Suzanne Kosmas freshman FL 24th district
Dennis Kucinich OH 10th district
Chet Edwards TX 17th district
Bart Gordon TN 6th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Parker Griffith freshman AL 5th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Tim Holden PA 17th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Frank Kratovil, Jr. freshman MD 2nd district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Jim Marshall GA 8th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Jim Matheson UT 2nd district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Mike McIntyre NC 7th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Charlie Melacon LA 3rd district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Walt Minnick, freshman ID 1st district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Betsy Markey, freshman CO 4th district
Eric Massa freshman NY 29th district
Collin C. Peterson MN 7th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Heath Shuler NC 11th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Ike Skelton MO 4th district
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin SD - member Blue Dog Coalition
Mike Ross AR 4th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
John Tanner TN 8th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Gene Taylor MS 4th district - member Blue Dog Coalition
Henry Teague, freshman NM 2nd district

See more details on no votes.

Related and background:
PelosiCare House Bill 3962 passes at 11:08 p.m. CST on a Saturday night
Joseph Cao is Louisiana republican voting for HR3962