Right Opposition

President Obama has many weaknesses and blind spots. Terrorism is probably the biggest. The President’s administration has already shown itself to be either impotent or too ignorant to keep our nation safe. But the stakes are far higher when it comes to nuclear proliferation.

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton, himself an arms control expert, argues forcefully that the Obama Administration is taking the wrong track in negotiations with Russia, Iran and North Korea. He is especailly wary of attempts to appease the Russians.

Reducing our nuclear arsenal will not somehow persuade Iran and North Korea to alter their behavior or encourage others to apply more pressure on them to do so. Obama’s remarks reflect a complete misreading of strategic realities.

The President’s naivete is on display as he tinkers with the economy but his dalliance with nuclear powers has profound implications for our future – - or the lack of it.

Does your wallet feel a little lighter? It should. Uncle Sam just bumped the debt ceiling to $1.9 trillion. That means you have even more that you have to pay back in the form of taxes in coming years.

Politico reports that Congress approved the record $1.9 trillion debt ceiling increase Thursday together with legislation to reinstate “pay-as-you-go” rules credited with helping to rein in deficits during the 1990s. CNN reports that the total U.S. Federal debt now stands at a staggering $12.3 trillion.

Earlier Alabama’s Senators Sessions and Shelby voted against the debt resolution in the upper chamber. Joe Bonner of Alabama’s 1st voted against it in the House.In fact, every single Republican in the House voted against the debt increase – every one. 37 Democrats voted against it.

This isn’t the end either. Remember the Obama budget? It is full of even more red ink and continues to ignore the economic reality that government cannot spend us out of debt. The roost is ready and the chickens are on their way in.

Oh and by the way, only one Alabama Congressman voted to raise the debt ceiling: Artur Davis (D-Birmingham). Davis is a leftist who has introduced a bill to provide federal loans to small businesses. Davis should remember that such loans are the province of banks. If left alone the banks will lend to any credit worthy organization or business. Fortunately Davis is the only Democrat among Alabama’s entire delegation.

Full vote results from the House are here:

Moody’s is warning that the United States could lose it’s top ranked credit ranking because of rising deficits. This is an important warning which politicians should be listening to.

If the government’s credit rating drops it will have effects that will echo throughout the global economy. First of all, the government will have to pay more on its debt. That’s bad news because it will raise the deficit more or require deeper budget cuts.

Second, if the government’s rates go up it may create pressure on other debt rates or interest rates. The government occupies such a large part of the credit markets that anything that happens to it has an impact on everyone else.

Remember, the only way for the government to raise is money is to print it, causing inflation for everyone, or raise taxes which everyone pays in some way.

It’s time to cut the deficit by taking bold, courageous steps to reign in the growth of government.

President Obama wants to expand loan guarantees to the nuclear power industry as a way to promote green energy options. That’s an acceptable goal and does move us off of a dependence on foreign oil.

However loan subsides are not the right way to go to achieve that goal. The Heritage Foundation in a post called Conditions and Policy Reforms Must Accompany Nuclear Loan Guarantee Boost says this:

“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.”

The critical factor is the shift in the markets that government subsides create. The better idea is remove the massive hurdles and provide a raid path to certification of new systems. In fact, the government could promote a “type-acceptance” which would allow rapid deployment of new reactor systems. Bringing new plants online quickly is the best way to help the economy, green the energy sector and provide greater economic security.

It’s basic economics Mr. President. Do some reading.

Funny how everyone, including me, got such a kick out of Scott Brown taking the seat once held by Ted Kennedy. But it looks like there may be enough voter anger to go around. Here’s the article from  HUMAN EVENTS.

Republican Sen. John McCain, the man who might have been president, suddenly appears vulnerable in his bid for a fourth term. A recent statewide poll conducted in January by the Behavior Research Center in Phoenix found McCain with a favorability rating of just 41 percent, his lowest numbers since 1994, when he was immersed in the Keating Five scandal.

There is a rising drumbeat of solid conservative values. All should listen including present faux conservatives.

Scott Brown told the Republicans that they could do it. He proved that lesser known candidate promoting more conservative values could win the seat that seemed to be endowed to the democrats. There was probably no other seat so publically humiliating to lose than that held by Ted Kennedy. Scott Brown proved there was no lock on the royal throne.

Now Republicans smell blood in the water. Even some democrats are talking about a Republican controlled Congress. Now, most people thinks that’s bit of a stretch but the excitement is there.

Liz Sidoti has an article a Real Clear Politics for your consideration. She argues that a swing from Democrat to Republican control is possible even if unlikely. She maps out the path seen by experts on both sides which could sweep the left back out the same door their came in.

The grand political process is now open to everyone, thanks to the recent Citizens v. FEC case that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The implications of the decision are broad and are anchored in a respect for the Constitution and especially the First Amendment.

Some on the left have bemoaned the decision because corporations can now participate in the advertising and funding of political campaigns without the restrictions that existed before the decision.

I’d like to direct your attention to a post at American Thinker which details why democrats oppose Citizens v. FEC. You see before the decision, media companies were exempted from prohibitions which applied to other companies. Here’s a quick peek:

As is pointed out in the Citizens opinion, media corporations are currently exempted from the ban on political speech. So the corporate giant GE is free to influence the political leanings of the media businesses it owns. These include NBC and MS-NBC, as well as the political content within the shows airing on GE’s SyFy, USA, Bravo, and Sleuth channels.

The tift between gaming interests in Alabama and Governor Bob Riley are putting the ugly side of gambling front and center for all to see.

Riley has all but broken with his own Attorney General who warns that Riley actions could put the state in an expensive legal position. The two feud regularly about electronic bingo and every couple of days that feud breaks out in the public.

Riley appointed Mobile DA John Tyson as the commander of his gambling task force. The bombastic Tyson has vowed to eliminate electronic bingo from state regulated areas and has even gone so far as to declare he would remove them from the Indian Reservations that are under Federal control and jurisdiction.

But then we learned that in 2006 Tyson asked Milton MacGregor, the top gamer in the state, for $200,000 dollars for  his race to become Alabama Attorney General. He got a paltry $100,000. Don’t forget that Tyson is the Governors handpicked replacement because he didn’t like the current AG, Troy King, who beat Tyson in the 2006 race.

We wonder how a man running for AG could take that massive sum of money? At the very least there is an appearance of undue influence.

Gambling is not good; I have written about it before on another blog. It doesn’t solve all the problems people think and it does create serious social ills. But if the state has a compelling interest in controlling gaming then the principles all need to get on the same page. You guys are an embarrassment!

Alabama Governor Bob Riley is fighting back against electronic bingo in the state. The Republican Governor sent a message via the Alabama Republican Party. After charges were leveled against gaming task force head John Tyson of Mobile that Tyson accepted campaign funds from gambling interests, Riley responded with a broadside against his opponents. You can read the letter here.

It is curious to note that the Governor used the Alabama Republican Party as a mechanism for distribution of the email. You’ll see at the bottom the line “paid for by the Alabama Republican Party. It doesn’t seem wise to further politicize an ugly, ongoing battle over law enforcement. It is especially odd given the attempt in the email to make this a bipartisan issue.

“While 8 of the 9 members on the Supreme Court are Republican, this is not a partisan issue. One Democratic federal judge in Huntsville and three Democratic state court judges in Birmingham have also recently held that so called “electronic bingo” is not bingo at all and is illegal.”

A couple of paragraphs later he continues:

“In 62 of our 67 counties, Democratic and Republican prosecutors have stopped numerous slot machine gambling operations that said they were only playing “electronic bingo,” but these illegal facilities remain in a few counties because some public officials refuse to enforce the law. This inaction has allowed gambling bosses to operate their illegal casinos with impunity.”

The Governor also repeats allegations against one of the casino owners who he is trying to shut down. There are serious allegations that are being investigated but it does appear that Riley is having a bit of partisan temper-tantrum.

What are your thoughts? Please comment.

The Obama Administration has released its proposed budgetfor the coming fiscal year. Deficit reduction does not occur but some tax breaks are eliminated in an effort to reduce the growth of the deficit. According to Terri Cullen, writing for Reuters News Service, teachers will be loosing a $250 per year tax credit for classroom teaching supplies. Note, this is a credit, not a deduction and it is removed in the 2011 fiscal budget.

Anyone who knows public school teachers knows they spend considerably on their classrooms every year. This is money from their pockets and is often not reimbursed by their school systems. In our Baldwin County system teachers are already being hit by limited supplies and decreasing support staff. This will add a touch more burden to their work.

Other middle class tax breaks are also threatened. For example, the tax deduction for up to $4,000 of college tuition and expenses is set to be eliminated too.

(NOTE: Reuters has pulled the story from their site but it should still be available at the link above. They say it will run later…)