Support Israel in the Middle East
March 9, 2010
Obama Lies Again About Opening Off Shore Drilling!
March 5, 2010
Dear Patriots ~ Be sure to follow the link below for the latest promise broken by President Obama: stalling offshort drilling until 2012. You read that right. Apparently President Obama was too busy campaigning in the summer of 2008 to notice the impact that paying nearly $4.50 a gallon for gas had on the economy and our households.
Our President is also apparently unaware that nearly 75% of Americans are in favor of responsible offshore drilling. (Silly us!) As the link below points out, “According to the Minerals Management Service, there are an estimated 86 billion barrels of oil and 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Outer Continental Shelf, collectively representing a clear path toward being able to ignore OPEC and foreign dictators for our energy.
Developing these resources would also create hundreds of thousands of jobs annually and generate billions of dollars in tax revenue for the government.” This is the fundamental problem with having an inexperienced ideologue running the country. The will of the people? What’s best for the country? What’s best for Americans? I know… don’t make you laugh (or weep).
Signed, California Sinking
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This week, Americans twice witnessed the Obama administration flagrantly disregard the will of the people to pursue his anti-job, anti-growth, and anti-freedom agenda.
Jim Judd for Congress – California 6th District
March 5, 2010
Thoughts on Big Government:
Most people don’t realize the extent to which big government negatively affects us as individuals and as a country. Many of the programs created by our legislators seem compassionate on the surface. But when we look deeper, we see that all these well-meaning entitlements have actually hurt the United States and our economy, not just today, but well into the future. As an example of the “Too Big to Fail” mentality, we see “Big Government’s” continued debt doubling down by propping up private businesses, something our government should not be doing.
Here’s my point. In the 80s, American businesses were getting their butts kicked by Japan in all areas of the private sector; most notably manufacturing and specifically in the automobile industry. Japan was the leader in quality improvements, efficiency, and increased productivity. What happened was a change in corporate attitude by U.S. businesses that led to one of our biggest booms in the 90s, where we set the pace in the free market and broke the back of the Soviet Union as well. Remember that one? To accomplish this boom, government stepped back, allowing business the opportunity to succeed in creating an environment based on confidence. Consumers felt confident, as did investors. And who won?…Americans. Jobs where plentiful and, oh boy, we sure could use those jobs today!
Here’s the other side of the coin. Today we are embroiled in three issues that do not speak to the competitive advantage discussed above, but instead continue down the path to becoming more regulated by government. These sectors are energy, health care and education. All three are resistant to the culture of free market competition and have become heavily regulated by “Big Government”. Take a look at the Energy Department with a budget of $24.7 billion. Are we more reliant on foreign oil or less? Are we any closer to innovative alternative fuels without them being taxpayer subsidized? And what about Government Health Care? What will happen when we see one sixth of our economy in the hands of “Big Government,” running it like Amtrak or the USPS? We have the Department of Education with a $63.5 billion budget. How’s that working for us, or should I say, for our children? These questions beg the obvious. “Big Government” needs to get out of the way and let the free market work in new and innovative ways. Not to do so will never allow Americans to feel the confidence we need (remember I said it earlier) to invest in America and in our future. “Big Government” and big entitlement programs will only lead to a nation of dependence and a culture of government elitism.
It would seem that the business of our government is to create more government. In fact, the only sector that has grown during this recession was the Public Sector, i.e., government jobs. And a USA Today report shows that in one year, six-figure government salaries fast became the norm under this current administration. Remember, government jobs put back into the economy only what is left from the taxes it first has taken out of the economy. Government does not create wealth; the Private Sector is where wealth is truly created. Individuals and businesses, big and small, are pulling the cart. Now, while many of us are figuring out ways to cut back and do with less, our government is riding high and giving itself raises like there is no tomorrow.
People are finally starting to realize that the system is broken, and it is time for someone to fix it before it is too late. We have relied on countless numbers of career politicians to solve these problems, and we still are waiting. Instead of listening to their constituents, they seem to think their jobs are about getting re-elected.
Now is the time to put people in office with real life experience, ones who REALLY know how to create jobs. It is time we stood together and put our trust in some new faces. When I am elected, my pledge is to represent YOU. Partisan politics will be a thing of the past. I will consider each bill on its merit and how it will best benefit the people in my district. I promise to work hard, speak up and change the way things get done in Washington. You have my word.
- Jim Judd
www.JimJuddForCongress.com
New video from Chevron from API
February 26, 2010
API – Chevron, which as you know is headquartered in San Ramon, posted a new video on YouTube today about offshore production. It features Bobby Ryan, Chevron’s VP of global exploration for Chevron Global Upstream & Gas. The video can be found here.
By the way, Bobby participated in a blogger conference call back in May. If you’d like to hear the audio or read the transcript, click here.
Jane Van Ryan
API
UP Time!
February 24, 2010
Washington Subsidies Can’t Save Nuclear Power
February 17, 2010
Note: Reaching out to Republicans? How about the citizens? – FedUpEditor
Facing new polling showing that 52% of the American people believe that he does not deserve a second term in office, President Barack Obama attempted to reach out to conservatives yesterday by promising $8.33 billion in federal loan guarantees for a pair of nuclear reactors in Georgia. The President told an enthusiastic audience of union officials in Lanham, MD: “Those who have long advocated for nuclear power — including many Republicans — have to recognize that we will not achieve a big boost in nuclear capacity unless we also create a system of incentives to make clean energy profitable.”
In other words, as newspapers across the country have noted this morning, President Obama’s nuclear loan guarantee announcement is really nothing more than a transparently cynical attempt to revive his moribund cap-and-trade/energy tax proposals currently languishing in the Senate. In reality, the $8.3 billion announced yesterday is actually just a first down payment on the $18.5 billion in loan guarantees that were authorized under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. While the administration should be applauded for following the law, loan guarantees are not enough to recreate a robust nuclear industry in the United States. Indeed, an expansion of the program could do much more to stifle the industry’s growth than to help it.
And expanding the nuclear loan guarantee program is exactly the approach the Obama administration plans to pursue. Their 2011 budget provides an additional $36 billion in loan guarantee authority to nuclear energy projects. When added to the $18.5 billion previously authorized under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the American taxpayer will now be subsidizing $54.5 billion in loans to the nuclear industry. But just as conservatives do not support subsidies for wind, solar or biomass energies, conservatives should not support subsidies for nuclear power, either. Heritage Research Fellow Jack Spencer explains:
Expansive loan guarantee programs, however, are wrought with problems. At a minimum, they create taxpayer liabilities, give recipients preferential treatment and distort capital markets. Further, depending on how they are structured, they can remove incentives to decrease costs, stifle innovation, suppress private-sector financing solutions, perpetuate regulatory inefficiency and encourage government dependence.
President Obama’s bureaucratic/special interest/Washington approach to energy policy is clear: tax and regulate those energies unpopular with his political base while subsidizing and mandating the use of those energies that his supporters favor. This is the same approach the United States tried in the 1970s under President Jimmy Carter, and it was a colossal failure.
What America really needs is a true free market approach to the energy sector, and the nuclear industry is a great place to start. Specifically, the federal government should: limit the loan subsidies of Energy Policy Act of 2005 to existing law; avoid creating a government-dependent nuclear industry; remain committed to scientific conclusion on Yucca Mountain; introduce market principles into nuclear waste management reform; and focus the government on key responsibilities like establishing predictable and effective regulation that will ensure safety and security.
Just as with the health care debate, the White House seems to believe they can win conservative support for their big government policies by buying off selected industries. What the White House continues to fail to realize is that true conservatives are pro-market, not pro-business. Subsidies and mandates are never the answer to an ill-functioning market. A predictable and reliable regulatory framework where firms and consumers can find the best solutions through undistorted price signals is the better approach for energy, health care … and really just about everything.
The Morning Bell
Congress Goes Back to Write an Unconstitutional Law – OPINION
February 12, 2010
Let me start the discussion by saying that if a law is unconstitutional, then writing another one just like it will be unconstitutional as well. What they need to do, if they are serious, is change the constitution! Take out the first amendment and be done with it.
I am sick of Democrat lawmakers and their heavy handedness. They passed laws that limited the ability for corporations to fight back and send campaign contributions to candidates who support the free market and big business. McCain-Feingold was the crown jewel of that effort, and in one Supreme Court Ruling all that was wiped away. After all, if corporations have to live by the laws being passed, shouldn’t they have the right to influence who gets elected to write those laws? After all, unions are nothing more than big corporations with special interests, and they get to contribute to influence elections.
Besides, the Supremes are hardly all conservatives. In fact, one could make the argument that the court is more liberal leaning than conservative. Yet once again liberals are grousing that the court they once supported is “off the reservation on this one”. Liberal lawmakers want to have it they way they want to have it. Let me divert the discussion for one moment to give an example.
When we had heat waves, droughts and little snowfall, it was caused by global warming. Now that we are having excessively cold weather and massive blizzards in places that have seen little snow over the last couple of decades, it is being caused by the same global warming. Huh? They want it both ways. Liberalism is much like dealing with a spoiled child.
Back to the topic. Congress passes laws that affect businesses, mostly to their detriment, and recently the high court said laws prohibiting them from contributing to campaigns was unconstitutional and an assault on free speech. So what does Congress do? As I am writing this, Democrat lawmakers are on C-SPAN doing a press release about how they are passing this new law to protect us from the evil corporations (the ones that hire people)… a law whose essence has already been found unconstitutional. Talk about arrogance! The only way to successfully make it constitutional would be to… change the constitution!!!
My gut tells me they will pass it as quickly as possible so it takes effect before the 2010 election where Democrats already stand to lose big. They hope this law will stanch the bleeding and cause them to not lose as many seats. Then once passed, it could take years to find its way back to the Supreme Court where their expectation is the court will have changed dynamics. Regardless, whether it’s upheld or struck down at a later date, it’s irrelevant as long as it gets enacted before the election; that is the objective.
The people should be outraged. Here we are in the middle of a recession and massive job losses. What do our best and brightest come up with in the middle of that global warming snow blizzard? Their idea of a jobs bill was to extend unemployment benefits so they can say, “Okay, jobs problem fixed. No, let’s not fix the economy so businesses will start hiring again. Let’s just print and borrow more money to pay the extended jobless claims.” Now with the the jobs problem fixed, what’s next? Campaign contributions? Give me a break!
- FedUpEditor
Liberal Lexicon Part 1
February 11, 2010
I have put together a list of “liberal” phrases and words that have been annoying me because they are based in propaganda. Many of them are environmental catch words. Now they have seeped through into our advertising which enforces the notion that we can save our planet if we buy their product. But the only “green” they are targeting is the same green which attracts capitalists. If a liberal thinks we can change the climate, the next time there is a hurricane, tornado, flood or earthquake I challenge them to go out and stop them.
- Global Climate Change – Because global warming is being disputed and all the manipulations have been exposed, the liberals, in order to keep the public upset and thus keep their political agenda on track, have made a concerted effort to call it “climate change” because of all the snow storms and colder temperatures we are experiencing. People are realizing the planet is not warming after all. However, Climate Change activists are saying these cold temperatures mean nothing and we’re stupid for believing it does. So how come warm temperatures last summer meant global warming but this year abnormally strong snow storms and colder temperatures doesn’t mean global cooling? Another example of liberal hypocrisy.
- Green Technology – This one annoys me because all the advertisers are picking up on the catch phrase. First of all, there is nothing we use for energy that doesn’t first come from the planet earth. What makes it green? Because it uses the sun? What about those horribly toxic batteries needed to make the Prius work? And it’s not like we are importing materials from outer space or other planets. By listening to the “Orange Oil” ad for termites you would think that everything that comes from a plant is green and healthy. What about hemlock which comes from a plant? What about arsenic which comes from old Mother Earth’s crust? By the way, if you listen to KSFO there is a solar company advertising that would have you think your electric meter would run backward if you used their product. WRONG! We have solar panels. They are hooked up to the PG and E grid. Our meter is ALWAYS running forward. It is the amount of electricity we send back to the grid and how much we use during peak versus off peak hours that makes the difference in what we pay for power. Truth? We are not saving much, if anything, by having solar. Another SCAM! But it’s the good intentions that counts, right?
- Renewable Energy – If you have solar panels it is considered renewable. However, the sunshine that generated your energy yesterday does not go up and come back around to be used again the next day. It is different sunlight. Of course, in a real sense, everything is recycled over time. For example, the water we drink today is the same water that drowned the chariots in the bible time. It just keeps getting recycled. But then this is also true of petroleum and other fossil fuels. It just takes longer for them to “renew”. However, you won’t hear this kind of talk from environmental activists. This is just another “feel good” term for liberals and an annoying catch phrase for people like me.
- Bi-partisan – When conservatives and Republicans move to the “center” to agree with liberals. What is it called when Democrats move to the center and agree with conservatives and Republicans? Answer: fantasy.
This is by no means a comprehensive list. It is just the first entry in my Liberal Lexicon. If anyone has suggestions for words they would like to see on the list, please e-mail editor@fedupnetwork.com and I will add them to a later post.
- FedUpEditor
Placing the Blame Where It Belongs – OPINION
February 10, 2010
With all the government interference going on you would think even liberals could see that politicians are out of control… or rather trying to control everything. Suffice to say, that is just not the case. Tune in to any show like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity where the insane callers can be heard. Despite evidence to the contrary they will not believe that Obama’s policies are bad for the country. History’s failures mean nothing to them.
One caller even said Socialism works. “Just look at Spain or Greece,” he said.
My thought is, “If you want to live in a place like Spain or Greece… or Cuba, for that matter, then move there. They already have the type of government you seem to like so much already set up. This is our country! We want FREEDOM!”
Today during a sales meeting at the office, the manager was discussing lobbying efforts to support the real estate industry in Sacramento. Several examples of difficulties they were facing were being discussed when a liberal woman Realtor behind me was heard to say, “The party of no.” She is a rabid Democrat and spouts drivel at the drop of a hat. She has drunk the Kool-aid.
Anyway, here’s the problem with her thinking. California is and has been run by Democrats for a very long time. Republicans do not have the votes to stop much of anything that is being proposed, especially when the likes of Republican Moldonado and his pals cave on budget issues. It is not Republicans that are the cause of our state’s budget deficit.
I wanted to turn to her and explain this. I also wanted to let her know that it was Democrats, not Republicans in the House and Senate who said, “no”, to her precious health care bill, not Republicans. Republicans did not have the votes in the House or the Senate to stop anything. So the Party of No is actually depicted by an ASS, not an elephant. In fact, it was the PEOPLE who were responsible for putting the pressure on the government elites as well as their critical votes in special elections that saved the day! But I know I would be wasting my breath trying to convince her she is wrong.
One thing that astounds me is how people who are in business for themselves, as Realtors are, could ever have a liberal philosophy. What this person fails to realize is that what was done to financial CEOs with controls on their pay and bonuses could easily have happened to people in the real estate industry had not the housing bubble hit. In fact, during his campaign, Obama was complaining about the fact that housing prices were soaring because of unscrupulous Realtors, appraisers and mortgage brokers. I could have easily seen him going after real estate professionals had not the housing market bottom fallen out. I guess in a twisted way, my liberal Realtor friend can thank the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for taking the bullseye off her back!
(Note: It seems like Obama always has to have a bad guy because he has nothing to offer himself. How many times has he blamed the previous administration for the mess we are in? And I would submit that six of those years were splendid. It was the last two when Democrats took over majorities in the House and Senate that things started to come apart. Just a comment before I move on. )
Quite frankly, I know I am preaching to the choir for the most part. There are always people who will never be happy with our free market system. But, as I said above, my first words to them are, “Go somewhere else and live. If you love the way Cuba does health care, then move there and leave us alone.”
The majority of us who love our country should not be forced to live under the laws favored by the very few socialist malcontents who hate America, hate freedom and hate our Constitution. I would sumit that Americans have had a taste of totalitarianism and don’t like it. We are waking up. This is why we will win in 2010 and beyond.
- FedUpEditor
Chuck DeVore – Conservative Candidate for Senate in California on Glenn Beck – Part 2
February 9, 2010
