Update: Stop The War on Coal Act

Here's an update by Jazz Shaw at Hot Air on the administration's War On Coal and the HR 3409 (Stop The War on Coal Act):

In the ongoing effort to protect jobs and affordable energy, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.3409, the Stop the War on Coal Act. The legislative package passed the full House with bipartisan support by a vote of 233 to 175. This important jobs and energy package, sponsored by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH), includes key measures advanced by the Energy and Commerce Committee: the Energy Tax Prevention Act, the TRAIN Act, and the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act. The legislation also includes important measures advanced by the Natural Resources Committee and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. 

“Today, the House took a stand for jobs, families, and affordable energy. On Tuesday this week, we learned of Alpha Natural Resources will be closing 8 mines and laying off 1200 workers. I met with the Alpha CEO shortly after the announcement, and he lamented the administration’s regulatory assault on coal. Sadly, the list of layoffs goes on because of the administration’s ‘all of the above, but nothing from below,’ energy policy,” said Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). “Coal is the cornerstone of our economy – estimates suggest that every mining job creates an additional 3.5 jobs. We are electricity independent – and we want to stay that way.”.... 

The sad truth is that the Stop the War on Coal Act has no chance of getting through the Senate and the president would simply veto it anyway. (At least with the current occupants of the White House and the Senate leadership.) So the layoffs currently taking place at Alpha Natural Resources and their subsequent losses on the market will still take place. This pattern is being repeated across places like Ohio and Pennsylvania, but if there is help in sight, it’s not coming soon.

The roll call vote is here. Among the No votes: Fudge, Kaptur, Kucinich, and Sutton.

Happy Constitution Day

Well here we are on constitution day and I'm not sure whether to celebrate or write a eulogy. 
If you have been following along with the entire middle east burning thing, then you know the Obama administration is blaming it on a film that outraged Muslims. The media as usual lapped up the narrative and every time the word Islam is mentioned it is usually followed by, "protesting a anti-Islamic film". Of course this is a complete falsehood. The film has been out since July and this outrage just happened to spill over on the completely random date of 9-11. If you believe this please have your IQ checked because I think you may actually be too stupid to breathe. I know our patriots are smarter than this, but there are those people that buy into this lie. 

Speaking of people with low IQs, I think Hollywood may bring the entire national average down. There have been celebrities tweeting that the film's producer should at very least be jailed. In some instances they would like to see him killed. Those who would like to silence the terrible film makers right to the first amendment are none other than Bette Midler, Russell Simmons and Anthea Butler. Now, we get to the meat of the situation though. Not only do private citizens want to see this guy go down but so does your government. Huh? How can that be? The United States government wants to silence a citizen from speaking out? I'm afraid so. 

The government has actually used its immense resources to track down a guy who made a crappy YouTube video. The Pentagon actually asked the producer to pull this video and denounce it. Does this seem right to you? How many of you  remember when people were up in arms about the piss Christ? For those of you that don't remember, piss Christ was basically a crucifix in a jar of urine. It was art according to the artist, and guess what else? It was paid for by your tax dollars! The government labeled it free speech and said you must pay for it, offended or not. So how do we go from piss Christ to hunting down and trying to silence a guy that made a barely coherent video with his own money, that offends Muslims? I'm not sure, but I can tell you this. If you do anything to hurt this administration politically or if Barack Obama feels you have slighted him in some way, watch out, you may be next on his enemies list. We know how that worked out for some and it wasn't too pretty. Have a great Constitution Day folks. See the ridiculous video that Obama and the media said caused terrorist attacks in over 17 countries below. I'm not sure Saturday Night Live could have made a worse video. 

Allen West on the administration's foreign policy

From The Western Center for Journalism: here's Congressman Allen West on Pres. Obama's foreign policy, Israel, and more. And this was yesterday, before the killings in Libya.

Progressive culture and the 2012 election

At National Review Online (“Double-Minded Republicans”), Andrew McCarthy has sobering words about why conservatives need to get out the conservative vote:

After a first term that has been historically abysmal, President Obama stands a good chance of being reelected. How can that be?

Here is the blunt explanation: We have lost a third of the country and, as if that weren’t bad enough, Republicans act as if it were two-thirds.

The lost third cannot be recovered overnight. For now, it is gone. You cannot cede the campus and the culture to the progressive, post-American Left for two generations and expect a different outcome. So even if Obama is the second coming of Jimmy Carter — and he has actually been much more effective, and therefore much worse — it is unreasonable to expect a Reagan-style landslide, and would be even if we had Reagan. The people coming of age in our country today have been reared very differently from those who were just beginning to take the wheel in the early 1980s. They have marinated in an unapologetically progressive system that prizes group discipline and narrative over free will and critical thought.

. . .

The third of the country we’ve lost may seem like a decided minority. Progressives do not need more than that, though, to run the show, not today. They proved that at their own convention this week, with the laughable platform-amendment episode.

. . .

Obama’s base, that lost third of the country, may not be as enthralled as they were in 2008. But they are committed, utterly convinced about who the villains are, and prepared to be as chameleon as it takes to reel in, from the culture they dominate, the additional 15 percent or so needed to push their guy across the finish line. That’s how what should be a landslide for his opponent becomes a squeaker.

Tea Party Patriots need to stay focused on ANY wobbly voters, those who may fall in the "enthusiasm gap,” and those even thinking about a third party candidate, in this election countdown.

Labor Day 2012: Empty Chair Day

If you watched or listened to Clint Eastwood's speech at the RNC the other day, you will not be surprised that his "empty chair" interview with the President has gone viral. Michelle Malkin has posted two threads with lots of creative photographs of empty chairs on display today from all over the country. Links here and here. And here's Mark Steyn's take on the RNC speech.

Eastwood's 11-minute performance is getting zillions of views on YouTube. Yesterday, just two of the postings were over the 900,000 viewers mark. There are so many postings up there now that it is impossible to keep track.

Navy Week in Cleveland

Navy Week Cleveland to finish summer

with ships, sailors and the Blue Angels

Navy Week starts tomorrow (Monday, Aug. 27):

The War of 1812 was the first declared war in the history of the United States of America, and it established the U. S Navy as a force to be reckoned with. The Navy is commemorating the bicentennial of the war with Navy Week in Cleveland, August 27 through September 4.

It includes a US Navy Bicentennial of the War of 1812 Commemoration event, and of course The US Navy Blue Angels performing in the Cleveland Air Show. The full calendar of events is here. More details here.

"Why this Fat Cat Likes Obama's Tax Plan"

This letter appeared in a full-page ad in the New York Times the other day. It is making the rounds; the text below is from the Countervailing Truths blog:


(Full Page ad in the New York Times, August 20, 2012)

I certainly don't qualify for the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list, but it surely feels that way. With my income averaging close to eight figures annually for the past seven years and with personal expenditures comprising about 2% of such income (thereby qualifying me for a potential Forbes list of America's wealthiest tightwads), I have built a net worth far above anything to which I ever aspired. I simply don't know how to spend money (nor do I enjoy doing so), having purchased only one residence (a condo) in the past 40 years, one used car in 25 years, and detest wasting my time shopping. My one passion, travel, accounts for about half my expenditures.

I find my work as a sole, private equity investor challenging and intellectually stimulating and especially enjoy mentoring and interacting with my small staff of trusted employees. My father long ago taught me that individuals are nothing more than custodians of their funds, ultimately to be passed down to future generations, especially the less fortunate. I have taken this to heart and have aspired to a legacy goal of ultimately leaving $50 million to various charities. And with continued good fortune, perhaps higher.

My one significant regret (profoundly shared by my fiancee, Rachel Martin) is that my diligent and compulsive pursuit of my goals does not leave enough time to smell the rose. She wishes to travel more and she may very well achieve her wish! Assuming Barack Obama wins reelection and successfully achieves his redistributionist tax agenda ( with 39%+ marginal rates plus a 3.8% tax on investment income plus substantially high dividend and capital gains rates), I will find myself, when my high California taxes are added in, at a marginal rate of taxation well over 50%. This represents the crossing of an inviolate threshold to me and is entirely unacceptable. I realize paying taxes is a form of charitable giving in a sense, but if I'm the one that's doing the work and tendering the money, then I want to be the one who chooses the charity.

Consequently, should these tax laws go into effect, I probably will simply shutter my business and say my sweet farewells to half a dozen great employees (who are unlikely to equal their current remuneration elsewhere... if they are fortunate enough to get new jobs in this economy). I will then take my money and instead of productively employing it in venture capital, will stick it in short-term U.S. Treasuries, providing me with a moderately safe, extremely low-yielding investment on which the high tax rates are moot since there's virtually no income to tax.

And Rachel will get her dream come true, since I will finally be free of my compulsive financial pursuits, and health permitting we will live the luxurious lifestyle we both feel we deserve.

To the many charities which ultimately will have to settle for about half of what they could have received... my profound and deepest apologies. For the medical innovations which may be years delayed, the music which may never be performed, the shelter that might not be offered, I grieve. To Barack Obama, I say thank you... for freeing me from the yoke and bondage of my current endeavors and providing a new found freedom. I just hope, however, that there are not thousands and thousands of others in the same position as I am in... the multiplier effect on jobs, the economy and charitable giving could be devastating!

Norman Lizt
PO Box 1423
La Jolla, CA