Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board chairman H.R. Crawford told the panel at its Wednesday meeting that he heard some congresscritters talking about removing President Ronald Reagan’s name from DC’s airport.

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Today, Senator Cornyn asks the question of Judge Sotomayor to which an increasing number of Americans seem to be interested in knowing the answer… what with her recent slap-down by the Supreme Court and her past comments on the issue of race.

What say you, Judge Sotomayor?

Sen. Cornyn’s Daily Question for Judge Sotomayor
Question 15: Thursday, July 2, 2009

Is the Constitution color-blind?

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As I’ve noted before, the left has found its hill to die for, at least when it comes to Obamacare: they demand a government-run plan. That’s because they recognize that a government-run plan will swamp private-sector competitors, and eventually lead to a single-payer federal program.

With that in mind, it makes sense that they’ll do their best to destroy the reputation of anyone who points out what they’re up to, or who points out how expensive this will be. As a result, when the CBO released its estimate of the cost of the revised HELP Committee plan, the gang at ThinkProgress immediately attacked Republicans for allegedly responding to the plan before they had all the facts:

A couple of weeks ago, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a preliminary score of the health care legislation under consideration in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. The bill was estimated to cost $1 trillion over 10 years, while reducing the number of uninsured by “only” one-third. As many informed bloggers noted at the time, the cost estimate was incomplete because the legislation that the CBO reviewed did not contain language about a public health insurance plan or an employer mandate.

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I’m not particularly sold on Sonia Sotomayor one way or the other, other than to believe that nothing good could ever come from Obama.  My lawyer colleagues here on Redstate are much better versed on the merits of her rulings and arguments in the courtroom, but they are not necessarily free to pass judgment on them, as there could be conflicts of interest in the future.  It does seem that while she is certainly not a nominee that would come from a Republican president, she could be less harmful than some of the alternatives.

Despite what one thinks of her potential benefit or damage to the rule of law in the United States, it seems that Ms. Sotomayor’s journey to the Supreme Court bench has hit a couple of speed bumps.  First it was her borderline-racist statements implying that a “wise Latina” judge would reach better conclusions than a “white male who hasn’t lived that life,” and the fact that her comments were not an isolated incident, contrary to the spin of the Obama administration.  That particular episode seemed to be defused by th administration, as it seems to (at the time) have had little impact on her popularity.  But it appears the latest, more significant courtroom events have had an impact on the public’s perception of Ms. Sotomayor.

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In Maricopa County, AZ there are 700,000 registered Republican voters.

There are 6,000 precinct captain positions for the Republican Party in Maricopa County. Of those, only 2,000 or filled. In other words, one-third of the precinct captain positions are filled. More bluntly, three-tenths of one percent of the registered Republicans in Maricopa County, AZ are actively engaged in their party.

Back in February, 200 people showed up at a tea party protest in Maricopa County. Assume, if you will, that half are not actively involved in the local Republican Party. That makes 100 people who were so hacked off at out of control government that they showed up at noon on a weekday to protest.

If those 100 people each became a precinct captain, they would have enough impact to make significant changes in the Maricopa County Republican Party. Why? Because of the 2000 named captains, not all are actively engaged. And of those who are, not all can show up at a meeting because of schedule conflicts.

If the 100 stand strong, they can approve the larger leadership of Maricopa County.

Just 100 people.

Yes, let’s remember that 300 Spartans held off the Persian Army. Small numbers compared to the thousands of well armed Persians (sorry, Pej).

Small numbers working well together can be powerful numbers. It just takes some dedication.

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The people of Honduras have struggled too long to have their hard-won democracy stolen from them by a Chavez-style dictator. The Honduran Congress, the Honduran Supreme Court, and the Honduran military have acted in accordance to the Honduran constitution and the rule of law.

For weeks leading to his arrest, Zelaya flouted the constitutional authority of the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court, and claimed for himself extra-constitutional control of his nation’s military and political institutions. Every institution from the Electoral Tribunal to the Supreme Court ruled that his actions were unjustified and illegal. Zelaya’s open defiance of democratic norms has set Honduras on a path toward violence, instability, and tyranny.

I am hopeful that as President Obama grows in office, he will eventually turn away from despots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya, and give the United States’ full-throated support to the people of any country who are fighting for the same values we cherish and defend in America. The people fighting for freedom around the world, in Iran and Honduras, should never have to wonder which side America will choose between freedom and tyranny.

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Despite all the happy talk that there are signs that the economy is improving, or at least bottoming out, there is little hope that the unemployment rate will improve anytime soon.

Job losses accelerated last month to 467,000, “an unexpectedly large amount.”

The unemployment rate rose to 9.5%, the highest level since August 1983.

According to the Associated Press, unemployment is actually much worse:

If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.5 percent in June, the highest on records dating to 1994.

Even before the June unemployment numbers were announced, the Los Angeles Times reported many of the jobs are gone forever.

Also, instead of shrinking operations, companies have shut down whole business units or made sweeping structural changes: General Motors Corp. and Chrysler, for example, closed hundreds of dealerships. Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. cut tens of thousands of positions.

It didn’t have to be like this. Obama’s $787-billion so-stimulus plan should have been more about creating jobs, rather than a vehicle to fund “every liberal, entitlement cause under the sun.”

As James Pethokoukis wrote, Obama’s stimulus boondoggle was a ruse. Some two-thirds of the Obama stimulus is not intended to be spent until after 2009. Obviously, immediate “stimulus” was not the primary intent of Obama’s stimulus. If it had been, the plan would have been front-loaded. The main goal of the Obama stimulus was to make a down payment on Obama’s health care, energy and education agenda.

Maybe now that even Obama admits unemployment will break 10 percent, the Obama stimulus ruse will be seen for the great deception it was.

From Gallup:

The sharp decline in Gallup’s Index of Investor Optimism in June — particularly the plunge in expectations for the economy — suggests that investors may be losing some of their hopes for an immediate improvement in the U.S. economy later this year. This is consistent with the leveling off of consumers’ mood over the past few weeks and the drop in the consumer sentiment index on Tuesday.

Gallup’s job-market and consumer spending measures suggest that the reality on Main Street has not improved substantially over the past couple of months. Perhaps the average investor and the American consumer see the fragile nature of the current U.S. economy more clearly than do those on Wall Street.

As Nouriel Roubini says:

Job report suggests that green shoots are yellow weeds turning into brown manure. Jobs & hours & wage losses are pushing down labor income

How do you like the ’stimulus’ so far?

Here’s an interesting tidbit: before Republicans lost control of the Congress, they banned most lobbyist-funded travel. Since Democrats took control of Congress, taxpayer-funded travel has gone up dramatically:

Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands….

The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as “codels,” has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data…

The Journal analysis, based on information published in the Congressional Record, also shows that taxpayer-funded travel is a big and growing perk for lawmakers and their families. Some members of Congress have complained in recent months about chief executives of bailed-out banks, insurance companies and car makers who sponsored corporate trips to resorts or used corporate jets for their own travel.

Although complete travel records aren’t yet available for 2009, it appears that such costs continue to rise. The Journal analysis shows that the government has picked up the tab for travel to destinations such as Jamaica, the Virgin Islands and Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

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Why? For writing this.

Employers in the U.S. cut 467,000 jobs in June, the unemployment rate rose and hourly earnings stagnated, offering little evidence the Obama administration’s stimulus package is shoring up the labor market.

The payroll decline was more than forecast and followed a 322,000 drop in May, according to Labor Department figures released today in Washington. The jobless rate jumped to 9.5 percent, the highest since August 1983, from 9.4 percent.

Unemployment is projected to keep rising for the rest of the year just as the income boost from the stimulus package fades, undermining prospects for a sustained rebound in household purchases, analysts said. As companies from General Motors Corp. to Kimberly-Clark Corp. cut costs, the lack of jobs will limit any recovery.

Most media outlets have started engaging in pro-Obama “it’s not that bad” spin. But this is a harsh reality. Unemployment will keep going up. Wages will stagnate. The Obama stimulus plan is not working.

Sadly, we all knew that before the stimulus passed Congress. But it still passed and now we’ve added trillions of dollars to the deficit for nothing.

Let’s begin revealing the RedState agenda.

For the next 15 days we’ll roll out the agenda, revealing a bit more each day.

You can still register and stay at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead for a super low price.

Registration will be cut of on July 15, 2009.

Go here to register and get the special link to reserve your hotel room.

July 31st - August 1st
Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead

6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.: Cocktail Reception.

7:00 p.m.: Special Presentation of John Ziegler’s Media Malpractice with popcorn, of course.

Join Erick and the RedState contributors at the hotel bar after the movie.

More of the agenda tomorrow.

Register now.

It’s not the state run media, it’s media to the highest bidder.

For $25,000 to $250,000, the Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off the record, non-confrontational access to “those powerful few” — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health-care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff.”

The offer—which essentially turns a news organization into a facilitator for private lobbyist-official encounters—is a new sign of the lengths to which news organizations will go to find revenue at a time when most newspapers are struggling for survival.

This is disgusting, but not surprising. The media has become increasingly ideologically tilted in the past few years with the New York Times editorial page editors increasingly controlling the direction and slant of front page news stories.

Now the Washington Post is going to make you pay to play. You want access to reporters to cover your side of the story? Cough up the cash. More damning, the Obama administration appears to be playing along.

Do you think they would if the Washington Post stopped giving the administration favorable coverage? Probably not.

The upside, of course, is that conservatives can now compete on a more level playing field. Having large donors and corporations on our side, we can buy off the Washington Post it would seem. And we can get access to Obama administration officials to chew them out before the Washington Post ignores us, apologizes for us showing up, and kowtows to Barry O’s editorial wishes anyway.

And the mainstream media wonders why it keeps losing money.

The most insidious part of Obamacare is the backdoor taxes, and defacto control of our healthcare by the nanny state that President Obama’s plan is loaded with. And here is another one that is not getting much play. Employers would be socked with requirements to pay for 72.5 percent of the cost of insurance premiums for their full-time employees under the plan being considered in the House.

They would also be required to pick up an as yet undetermined percentage of the insurance plans for part-time employees, as well. This alone will insure that part-time jobs across the nation are terminated for the destructive cost involved in having them.

Or, conversely, many full-time jobs will be eliminated if the costs of insurance is so steep and that of part-timers less so. Either way, jobs will be lost because of these new, never before seen expenses.

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Part 4 and Part 5 of his cap-and-trade review are up.  Part 4 goes in quickly about the differences between the cap-and-trade restrictions of Waxman-Markey and the Clean Air Act (very quickly: it’s the difference between carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide); Part 5 discusses the problems that W-M is going to give Texas specifically.  Still remaining: the Chinese connection and how people can get involved.

Energy policy is going to loom rather large, running up the 2010 elections; should KBH resign her seat to run for Governor, it would be helpful to have this guy in there.  Heck, I wouldn’t mind having him in there now.

Moe Lane

PS: He’ll be at the RS Gathering.

Full disclosure: I am in regular contact with the Michael Williams campaign, and I endorse him as a replacement to Senator Hutchison, should she resign her Senate seat.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

JULY 2, 2009

Sign up to get the morning briefing by email here.

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Republican candidate for governor Christopher Christie continues to lead incumbent Governor Jon Corzine, according to a new poll released in the governor’s race.  The Public Mind poll shows Christie with a statistically significant 45-39 percent lead over Corzine, although Corzine has narrowed the gap from 42-33 since the last poll by the group in April.  This is the sixth consecutive survey showing Christie with a healthy lead over the Democrat, and the only one of the six to show him garnering less than 50 percent.

The poll is a catalog of bad news for Corzine.  Here are the lowlights:

• Just one in five voters (21%) say New Jersey is on the right track.
• Among all voters, 54% say their view of Corzine is unfavorable, while 31% say their view is favorable.
• Only two-thirds of Democratic voters (66%) support Corzine, while one in five (20%) say they prefer Christie.
• In contrast to Obama’s 61%-29% approval rating, Corzine’s approval stands at 36%-49%.
• Asked which candidate is better described as “honest, trustworthy,” Christie comes out ahead by 33%-24%.
• Asked which candidate better “understands the concerns of the average person,” Christie wins 40%-28%.

All of this bad news for Corzine comes in a poll in which Christie has his worst showing since April.

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Hi, Mister Campaign Fundraiser Technician?

Yes, you. I don’t care if you work in a campaign, or just sell your services to campaigns. I’m talking to you.

We at RedState.com do enjoy asking our readers to give money to candidates. When a good Republican needs help, we want to find that help. And one thing you guys have already figured out is that nifty website widgets draw attention and can fire up donors.

So please, when you make those widgets, design them to be flexible. Help us help you by making them resizeable, or at least available in a variety of sizes. Don’t make them a javascript which embeds unknown HTML and runs unknown code on our site, possibly conflicting with other code or even our ads, forcing us to take down the widget and helping nobody.

A Flash widget is best. Make it as easy on us to embed your widgets as Youtube makes it to embed their videos. With those, we can paste in the code, change the size if we want, and ship it. The easier and more reliable that process is, and the more compatible your widget is, the more likely it is we’ll be able to drive money to your candidate or client.

And I’m sure it’s not just us who has these problems. So by helping us, you’ll help others make your widgets work, too.

Thank you.

[Pigs fly: Someone on RedState says "Well done, Helen Thomas." - Moe Lane]

h/t Drudge, Breitbart: http://www.breitbart.tv/white-house-reporters-grill-gibbs-over-selected-questions-for-obama/

See the attached video with CBS news and Helen Thomas taking Robert Gibbs to the woodshed on Obama and co.’s attempts to control the press. Thomas called this a pattern of planting questions as both denounced the process. Gibbs’ reaction was to belittle and ridicule the rep from CBS and Thomas both, which produced some interesting reactions from the surrounding press corps members. Hmm, maybe the usual m.o. of ridiculing those who criticize you and expecting that to end the issue for the press doesn’t work here Mr. Gibbs.

Much has been made of the “honeymoon” or “lovefest” between Obama and the press. This seems to be the part where the press’s eyes are finally opening a bit to who they got into bed with. Underneath their liberal instincts, the MSM is still on some level fiercely protective of their trust to protect the integrity and freedom of the press. Obama and co effectively here cheated on them and then blamed the victim. And belittling Helen Thomas, a veritable icon for what a White House press corps member would aspire to be is akin to the Obama and co. love team striking the beloved grandmother of the profession.

Perhaps the Obama team thinks other matters are more important now than their relationship with the press and that the press’s goodwill at this time doesn’t matter. Perhaps they think everything they read on Kos and agree amongst themselves and their supermajority is beyond question. They have become infatuated with their perceived mandate and believe they are not accountable to the press. Maybe, just maybe they are about to find out they are wrong.

After a little thought about today’s nobody-showed-up-to-see-Joe-Biden-in-Erie-PA fiasco….

“Rural broadband build-out” has become a new Golden Calf of Liberalism….

(Note that it says “a” not “the” - it’s just one of them, but a relatively new one….)

Default here to Open Thread….