1. The Cut, Cap, and Balance Strategy

2. Dirty Spending Secrets

3. Why Did Obama Open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

4. Jim DeMint Brings His A Game To the Debt Vote

1. The Cut, Cap, and Balance Strategy

There is a lot of handwringing out there about how to actually implement the Cut, Cap, and Balance Pledge.First, let me say that you should take the pledge and every Republican in Washington should sign on to the pledge.Second, the strategy is very, very simple. Refuse to vote to raise the debt ceiling until we have cut, capped, and balanced.Yes, I know to people in Washington this sounds willfully naive. In Washington, things are done through a series of compromises. In Washington, people give and take and get things done.But if we believe the rhetoric that we are in a terrible crisis, then the best option should be to do nothing — either extract major cuts, cap spending, and get a balanced budget amendment, or do not raise the debt ceiling.The conservative strategy should be clear on this — hold the freaking line.Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Dirty Spending Secrets

How bad is Washington spending? Well, there is a new website that’s up called Dirty Spending Secrets with a Q&A format to uncover some of Washington’s dirtiest spending secrets.Several friends of mine have emailed it to me. It’s actually pretty easy to figure out, but also horribly shocking — in the Q&A multiple choice, just go for the worst answer and you’ll probably be right.With the debt ceiling vote coming up, it’s just another reminder of how unserious Washington is when it comes to spending.Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Why Did Obama Open the Strategic Petroleum Reserve?

On Thursday, the Department of Energy announced a release of thirty million barrels of crude oil over the next 60 days from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the nation’s stockpile supposedly set aside for emergency supply disruptions.Upon hearing the news, my first question was “What’s the emergency?” Crude oil prices have been falling recently. The market abruptly fell 5%, which will affect gasoline prices in the short term, but the futures market is less convinced that the impact is permanent. (We noted last week, before the release, that the futures premium 6-12 months out was $2 to $3; now it is $4 to $5, all the better for the Koch Brothers.)I concluded that the President’s goal is a bump in the polls, but that the effect would be short-lived. Most in the media concluded the same.But then I reread the DOE press release: “… the U.S. and its partners in the International Energy Agency have decided … .” Ach so. Our International President strikes again. Ceding control of a uniquely American asset to an international body is troubling, but par for the course in the Obama Administration.Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Jim DeMint Brings His A Game To the Debt Vote

Finally. Conservatives are starting to fire up on the Cut, Cap, and Balance pledge and are deciding they must hold people accountable.Senator Jim DeMint appears to be one of them. He tells ABC News that “It would be the most toxic vote” for Republicans.Now, he’s not saying necessarily that he is going to challenge them, but there are growing hints that he might. I, for one, hope he will.Please click here for the rest of the post.