Sen. Ted Cruz’ CPAC 2013 keynote speech: Conservatives are winning

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  March 17th at 05:00 PM  | 

The main theme of Cruz’ speech was how Conservatives can continue to win. Cruz said Conservatives must (1) defend the Constitution and (2) champion growth and opportunity.

Cruz talked about the campaign finance, the administration’s disregard for religious freedom, the campaign to restrict gun rights, called for repeal of the National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), in highlighting the First, Second, Fourth, Fifth and Tenth Amendments, as well as Article VI of the Constitution.

With regard to championing growth and liberty, Cruz focused on the difference in how Presidents Obama and Reagan dealt with severe recessions and the contrasting results.

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Union Hypocrisy On Display: SEIU’s Union Staff Votes To Strike

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary)  |  March 17th at 12:05 PM  | 

There’s nothing more embarrassing for union bosses than their own unionized staff striking against them or, in this case, threatening to strike.

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Cyprus to raid private bank deposits, on orders from European Union.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  March 17th at 12:00 PM  | 

Basically, it goes like this: the EU bails out Cypriot banks to the tune of 10 billion euros, in partial exchange for a 6.75% to 9.9% raid on Cypriot personal accounts (which is supposed to net about 5.8 billion euros in revenue), collectable probably now Tuesday*. See also here, here, and here. Naturally, the subjects of Cyprus (I can’t in either good conscience or grammar | Read More »

Sen. Rand Paul wins CPAC 2013 Straw Poll

By: Dan Spencer (Diary)  |  March 16th at 06:15 PM  | 

Sen. Rand Paul wins the CPAC 2013 Straw Poll, narrowly beating Sen, Marco Rubio: Rand Paul – 25% Marco Rubio – 23% Rick Santorum – 8% Chris Christie – 7% Paul Ryan – 6% Scott Walker – 5% Ben Carson – 4% Ted Cruz – 4% Bobby Jindal – 3% Sarah Palin – 3% Other – 34% Undecided 2% There were 23 candidates on the | Read More »

Energy Week in Review

By: Steve Maley (Diary)  |  March 16th at 11:47 AM  | 

Headlines and commentary for the week ending March 15, 2013.

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Andrew Cuomo tells local governments to consolidate.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  March 16th at 10:04 AM  | 

Alternate title: Son, you’re on your own. The New York state budget currently under negotiation may be remembered years from now as the beginning of the end for many small towns, cities and school districts. Gov. Andrew Cuomo had tough words Friday for local officials facing fiscal crises and seeking more help from Albany, telling them they should consolidate services or whole governments and school | Read More »

Tech at Night: Google Reader popularity again proves nobody cares about privacy. Catch my latest on Aaron Swartz.

By: Neil Stevens (Diary)  |  March 16th at 12:00 AM  | 

More proof people don’t care about privacy: Google announces a service is ending, and the competitor I use to prepare Tech at Night becomes flooded to the point of unusability Wednesday night. People just don’t care what Google is doing.

The Street View WiSpy scandal didn’t scare people off, even as Texas hits Google for those offenses. Glass excites them. The shift toward human biases doesn’t raise questions. People love Google’s services, and privacy doesn’t enter into the equation. So keep regulation out.

Make sure you catch my recent RedState post on Aaron Swartz, and how the blame casting against his prosecutor is not only unfair, it’s wrong.

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Organizing for America is still underperforming. Shocker, I know.

By: Moe Lane (Diary)  |  March 15th at 08:30 PM  | 

Background: Organizing for Action is just as bad at pushing actual policy positions during Obama’s second term as its previous incarnation was as bad at pushing actually policy positions during Obama’s first term. I know that this will disappoint everybody who was expecting OfA a +5 Vorpal Juggernaut, but this was not exactly an unexpected outcome. Well, unexpected by some: there’s possibly an emotional aspect | Read More »

Your surprise ObamaCare taxes of the week

By: John Hayward  |  March 15th at 01:33 PM  | 

Wow, hey, whaddya know?  Starting in 2014, your employer (and, by extension, you) will begin paying a fresh new $63 annual ObamaCare fee, to cover the extra cost of insuring other people’s pre-existing conditions.  The Associated Press describes how this little “unexpected expense” popped out of recently unearthed regulations: The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the | Read More »

Cruz Torches Feinstein’s Straw Men

By: briansikma (Diary)  |  March 15th at 12:00 PM  | 

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took the torch of liberty and started burning some straw man arguments dearly loved by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-California) this week. At issue was a gun ban proposed by Feinstein and other liberals. Feinstein has argued that the ban is necessary because civilians don’t “need a bazooka” and Congress has a responsibility to start banning guns and ammunition that could be | Read More »

Senator Portman, Homosexual Marriage, and the Death of Principle

By: kipling (Diary)  |  March 15th at 11:35 AM  | 

Perhaps the biggest headline this morning was Senator Rob Portman’s reversal of his position on homosexual marriage. In an editorial in The Columbus Dispatch – “Gay couples also deserve chance to get married” – the senator set forth his new found conviction. I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other | Read More »

I’m Evolving on the Color of the Sky

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  March 15th at 10:19 AM  | 

I have come to believe that if three people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn’t deny them the opportunity to get married. One day, my son came home from playgroup and told my wife and I that he desires to marry both of his friends – a boy | Read More »

Scandal in Putin’s Russia

By: Brad Jackson (Diary)  |  March 15th at 09:00 AM  | 

On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss a dramatic scandal at the Bolshoi Ballet, what it says about Putin’s Russia and we answer a listener question.

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Birth Of A DNC Talking Point

By: TobyToons (Diary)  |  March 15th at 08:00 AM  | 

Have you ever wondered where a DNC talking point comes from? Most people think they come from a ‘playbook’ but this cartoon has surfaced, showing the real story. The only thing missing is that big rubber stamp that says “Bush’s Fault!”

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Union Briefs for Fri., March 15, 2013: Obama’s Purported Labor Dept. Pick Is A Lying Racist…?

By: LaborUnionReport (Diary)  |  March 15th at 06:30 AM  | 

There’s brouhaha erupting over Barack Obama’s rumored pick to replace Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

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