Clipfile - June 30, 2011

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Upton goes through the motions

Beltway Confidential spins for the RINO:

Upton flip-flops on the light bulb ban

Three bills have been introduced on the national level to repeal the ban on incandescent light bulbs in Congress’s 2007 energy bill.  That bill was co-sponsored by Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., now the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.  Upton has now become the law's worst foe...

Suuure he has...

The Michigan View reports:

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., has finally agreed to support a bill this summer that means lights out on the looming 2012 ban on the common light bulb.  Upton himself co-sponsored 2007 legislation making light bulbs illegal, a ban that has become a symbol of bipartisan Big Government run amok.

Upton has come under increased pressure in recent weeks, sources say, after failing to follow up on a promise he made after assuming the committee chairmanship that he would hold hearings on reversing the ban.  After months of paralysis - and with the ban just six months from going into effect on January 1 - outrage was building among his own Republican committee colleagues and conservative activists...

Sooo... Beltway doesn’t get it: "Finally” agreed.  "Failing to follow up” on a promise (that he never intended to keep).  Doesn’t sound like someone who is "the ban’s worst foe” to me.  And if we read the rest of the View’s post (the part BC didn’t quote), we find that:

...Upton [initially] scheduled hearings ... featuring rent-seeking corporate fat cats that stood to benefit from the ban...

Which was the last straw for some members.

...Anger boiled over and the chairman agreed not only to cancel the hearings but to bring up a bill repealing the ban.

...after being dragged kicking and screaming.  But still laying traps:

The View’s source says that the bill will likely be brought up under "suspension,” which means no amendments will be allowed and passage requires a two-thirds majority.

Making it harder for anything to pass, while leaving Upton saying, "Hey, I sent it to the floor. I allowed a vote. Just too bad that it couldn’t make it.”

Just remember, RINOs, it’s all about results, not excuses.  And until we see an actual repeal pass the House, Upton’s no hero, he’s just another weasel.

Previously:
Via: Glenn Reynolds (in this case displaying a distressing naïveté about how Congress does things.)

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We knew that.

Glenn Reynolds:

...In the face of evidence that an armed populace prevents genocide, the "human rights community” has largely gotten behind a campaign to ensure that there will be no armed populaces anywhere in the world. [scare quotes added - o.g.]

Because the "human rights community” isn’t about human rights, it’s about control.

LATER, Related:

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Clipfile - June 29, 2011

Posted by: Old Grouch in Clipfile at 17:09:33 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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“Yet another important reason that Dick Lugar should be sent packing...”

Scott Fuhr:

Here’s another brilliant idea from the (perhaps a little rusty) steel trap mind of Indiana’s senior senator... a bill that does away with the requirement that the Senate approve of hundreds of Presidential appointees.

If you thought Obama’s czars were bad, just wait until he can appoint all sorts of regular government officials to positions of authority without Senate approval.

Saint Dick apparently thought this was such a good idea that he signed on the dotted line to sponsor this legislation (known as S. 679) on the very first day it was filed, alongside Dick Durbin of Illinois, Chuck Schumer of New York, and Harry Reid himself.

...not to mention the 6 other Republicans on the list:

Just what America needs.  Less congressional supervision of the executive. 

WTF is wrong with these people?

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Clipfile - June 28, 2011

"When the feds get serious about the real security issues, like protecting our borders or at least admitting that radical Islam is part of the problem, then talk to me about Granny’s Depends.

But as long as it’s easier for Whitey Bulger to bring illegal prescription drugs across the border from Mexico than it is for an elderly leukemia patient to go home to Michigan, forget it.” - Michael Graham

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Here’s your “compromise,” Congressman Upton

Hot Air:

Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) today hinted at a possible agreement that would alter the ... 2012 phase-out of the incandescent light bulb.

At The Heritage Foundation’s Bloggers Briefing this afternoon, Heritage web editor Amy Payne directed a pointed question to the Congressman.  "Will we be able to keep our light bulbs?” she asked.

Upton’s answer was cryptic, but encouraging.  "That is an issue that is out there,” he said. "I’ve been working closely with [Rep.] Joe Barton [R-Tex.] and [Rep.] Mike Burgess [R-Tex.] and we’re very close to seeing an agreement merge and happen, so stay tuned. … A couple different things that we’re looking at. Just stay tuned in the next couple days, actually.  Maybe a little breaking news — well, let’s just say ‘soon.’ We’ve had some good conversations and we’ll see where we are later in the week.”

Excuse me, Congressman Fred, but your answer is 100% bullshit, and I am fed up with it.  It’s time you delivered some results:  Not hints, cryptic comments, or vague promises.

How friggin’ difficult is it to write a piece of legislation that repeals that portion of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007? ...  Upton’s making it out like he’s setting up the game plan for the Super Bowl. - "William Teach”

If you really wanted repeal, congressman, you would have started here:
I imagine that all of the necessary i-dotting and t-crossing would have taken about one page and about 30 minutes.

But instead it sounds as if congressional labors are going to bring us forth yet another chewing-gum-and-bailing-wire legislative mess.  That’s assuming we get any repeal at all.

Unsurprising from the man who thought sponsoring the original restrictions was a good idea. 

Can somebody primary this guy, please?

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Lots of talk...

Jennifer Rubin:

[Obamacare,] the Democrats’ "historic achievement,” shocking as it seems, turns out to be an expensive, jobs-crippling monstrosity that is filled with unintended consequences...  And today, the Associated Press reports:

President Barack Obama’s health care law would let several million middle-class people get nearly free insurance meant for the poor...

Up to 3 million people could qualify for Medicaid in 2014 as a result of the anomaly.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s communications director e-mailed me in response to this report, "Nearly every week we find a new reason to say ‘repeal and replace.’ ”

But that’s all the Republicans have been doing- blathering endlessly.

Over at Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds created a meme^[1] about the talk-vs-action hypocrisy of the global warming activists.  Well, Glenn has inspired me:  I will no longer believe the Republicans really want to do something about Obamacare until they actually do something– anything– about it.

Until then, it’s just empty talk.  Just like everything else the gentry GOP has "accomplished” since the 2010 election.”

Elsewhere:

-----

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Democrats find God, film at 11

You know what they say about praying when all else fails...?
 
CNBC:

If all the brightest minds in Harrisburg [Pennsylvania]’s government can’t solve the city’s financial problems, maybe God can.

That seems to be the thinking in Pennsylvania’s capital city, where Mayor Linda Thompson and a host of other religious leaders are about to embark on a three-day fast and prayer campaign to cure the city’s daunting money woes.
...
"Things that are above and beyond my control, I need God,” Thompson told WHTM TV, the region’s ABC news affiliate...

Chicago Sun-Times:

After a five-month post-mortem about the Blizzard of 2011 fiasco, Chicago’s top emergency officer was asked Monday how he intends to prevent another shutdown on Lake Shore Drive.
...
"We’re gonna pray a lot and hope that God doesn’t dump another 40 inches of snow on us,” said [Gary] Schenkel, executive director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

I guess "all else” must have failed.

Credits:  Harrisburg via Andy, Chicago via Second City Cop

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:03:59 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Choose carefully

So...
You’re facing down a band of terrorists. Which would be your best backup?

• Eric Holder and "hundreds of progressive lawyers, advocates, judges and students”
• SEAL Team 6

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:26:37 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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