It's safe to say we've been lied to.

The Democrats are in a lot of trouble. They've made a lot of promises and so far it's looking like they're slowing backing out of all of them. Obama is quickly looking like he'll be a one term president. Don't get me wrong I'm not excessively happy about that because that will likely mean the Republicans will pick up the presidency in 2012 and in 2010 might get some seats in Congress back. Right now I don't see how either party is really in it for WE THE PEOPLE. However, I do think we should be happy to see Obama, Pelosi and Reed go home if possible. I've not been very impressed with the Republicans but the damage that those three are planning on doing to us is by far worse than anything Bush ever did. At this point based on recent events I feel it save to call them LIARS.

They need to raise taxes on the middle class when they promised not to. Many of these taxes come in a hidden form. Two examples of hidden tax hikes on middle America are Cap and Trade, CAFE standards.

Cap and Trade is expected to raise the cost of the average American electric bill by $1400.00 a year. All companies with factories will also have to raise the costs of their products to cover the added costs of high electric bills but also the Carbon Tax which they too will need to pay for their Carbon footprint.

The CAFE standards aren't initally evident to most people I talk to as a tax on them. However, when you consider that the Obama admin now OWNS a portion of Chrysler and GM it begins to become obvious. Why the Obama admin would reduce the time frame from the Bush plan of a 35.5 m/g car from 2020 to 2016? Increasing fuel efficiency increases the cost of the car. Increasing the cost of the car means that the amount of money the government gets from the sale of every car goes up. I know you're thinking WHAT DID HE JUST SAY?! It's simple math though really. As the government OWNS shares of the car companies they get a percentage of the sales via dividend checks. So the more money into the company the more money the government gets. It's expected that the CAFE standards will raise the cost of cars by a minimum of $1300.00. If you buy a Chrysler and the cost of that car is $1300.00 more expensive next year than this year $104.00 goes to the government. The government OWNS 8% of Chrysler.

With their health care plan they anticipate putting the government in direct competition with the private health insurance companies. Apart from this being destructive to the economy they are essentially going to raise your taxes to pay for this plan and in addition to paying higher taxes you'll need to find the money to pay for their plan. You the hard working American will need to pay for those that can't pay for their own insurance via higher taxes. Then in addition the government will require you to have a health insurance plan. So you'll either have to buy from the government plan or from a private plan. We all know that the government plan will be cheaper than the private plan because they have the advantage of raising your taxes to cover their shortfalls or they can just operate on deficient spending like all other government programs. If private insurance companies tried that they'd go out of business. So here once again Obama lied. He will raise your taxes he just won't call it a tax raise. To me I personally view any increased cash flow to the government a tax raise. Call me crazy.

Then there is the expiration of the Bush tax cuts next year. Maybe you didn't get a big tax cut. However, a cut is still a cut. Next year when the Bush tax plan expires that cut will vanish effectively raising your taxes to the levels prior to the Bush plan. So the Dems haven't created a new tax plan they just wait out the cut to expire thereby raising your taxes.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many other point to discuss which I'll get into next week. I think it's save to say that on taxes Obama and the other Dems lied. Middle America is going to be paying higher taxes under their watch.

ecoAmerica

When I first heard about it I thought....geeeee....didn't I blog about this not so long ago. In fact I did. ecoAmerica believes:

"Our engagement marketing approach creates new audience and consumer opportunities.... By harnessing our audience understanding and developing measurably successful programs, we create partnerships that reach out to new people and create lasting behavior changes that benefit our project partners..."

OK maybe the scariest couple of words in that paragraph are "lasting behavior changes". So they believe that by using marketing techniques they can sway their audience to their point of view to benefit their project partners....oh and by the way the environment too. Lets see if I have this straight....they're going to make money by helping other companies sell to the public that global warming is man made and if you buy their partners products you'll help prevent it. In doing so they expect to be able to influence your behavior for the long term. Wow! Quality! Nice to see they're not afraid to admit what I've been saying for years.....environmentalism is about money not the environment.

The best though is from their "research".

Climate and Energy Media Center (new program)
The Climate and Energy Media Center is a plan for a media “war room” that would repudiate the climate deniers; help change the framing on climate change from a long-term catastrophe to a near term economic and national security opportunity; and work to make climate change relevant by connecting climate and weather with Americans' everyday lives. Fresh polling data from Pew and Rasmussen indicate the increasing need for this program - global warming still ranks last out among the
top 20% public priorities and for the first time, more Americans attributed global warming to natural causes (44%) than human activity (41%). Since October, Bob Perkowitz and David Fenton have fleshed out the strategy and organization of the operation. Because this project requires a significant capital investment to launch – we won’t move forward until we have raised at least $1,000,000 for it. We have secured about $300,000 of initial pledges and are working with ACP/WE, EDF, NRDC, Open Society and others to secure necessary additional funding, but we have not secured any additional commitments at this point.

These people have no shame. Rather than letting science frame the debate they'd rather use slogans and rhetoric. For those that don't think that there's big money in the environmental movement you've just been given a cold slap in the face with this group. They basically state they must spend money to convince the public. Sorry I thought science would do that? No?

Bigger than Barnum

I can't wait for the big show to kick off. I really hope that the Dems do start a in depth investigation of the torture that took place under the Bush Admin. It's just what we need as a nation. It will set us straight in the eyes of the world. No longer will we be viewed as a tyrannical superpower. We need to bring light to those dark days and watch the roaches scatter. Sarcasm aside, I'm serious. I'll TiVo the whole show. Why? Well I know what the outcome will be or at least I think I know what it will be. You see the Dems, claiming morale superiority, have beaten the Repubs with the torture stick for about 6 years now. Now that they have both houses and the presidency they are on the hook. Just like they were with the "vote for us and we'll get you out of Iraq" and here we are going on 3 years since they've had control of both houses and we're still in Iraq. This is no different. They made a lot of noise last Fall just before the election about vote for me and we'll have trails and now people want to hold them to it. Obama knows better. That's why he initially said there won't be any trials. Which is why he released the CIA documents. He had hoped that by releasing those documents he would placate his base and avoid having to actually investigate the individuals that were involved. What a colossal blunder releasing those documents have been. In releasing those documents he made an enemy of the intelligence community. Not only has the release of those documents put us in greater risk by showing our hand to the enemy it will also make the intel community skittish about taking risks for the nation. Now with the potential of being brought to trail for offering legal opinions and for following orders the intel community will be even less likely to actively protect us. They will become what they were prior to 9-11 a reactive organization rather than a proactive one. Who can blame them?

So WHY am I looking forward to the trials and investigations and the testimony on the Hill? Well, to chase the roaches back into their holes. In this case it's Pelosi, Reed and the rest of the screaming mimi's. Some of the young and new blood on the Hill are idealist and might yet still have some delusions about cleaning house. The old guard though knows, or should know, better. Here's my predictions for any trails regarding torture. I would bet that the people in charge of the interrogations of captive terrorist practiced some CYA. For those that don't know CYA means Cover Your Ass. My guess is that Pelosi and Reed and all the rest were fully briefed on what practices were not only in the Bush Admins opinion legal but which were actually being used or going to be used. Now Pelosi can claim all she wants that knowing something might be used is not the same thing as something being used. That just doesn't cut it. No American will buy that line except the truly dense, blind followers. Furthermore, by releasing those documents Obama all but guaranteed that some staffer, lawyer, or interrogator practicing some good CYA will squirrel or has squirreled away documents, recordings, and/or video tapes which will show that the screaming mimi's were implicit in the aggressive interrogation techniques. Using this evidence of their innocence if they are brought to trial. Time and time again this has happened during show trials. Just like when the Dems created the Un-American Activities Committee to seek out Communists (which by the way was originally created to seek out the KKK but then again the KKK was run by the Dems and by their voter base so they switched their focus to Communists) this too will blow up in their faces.

The American Center for Law and Justice has filed a Freedom of Information request to get the memo of the briefing that Pelosi received back in 2002 regarding water boarding. If they get the memo I have a strong suspicion it will show that Pelosi and other Dems knew about it and accepted it. The Dems should've known better than to light the pyre while standing in it when burning witches. Obviously, they did not and will suffer for it. When it comes out that some of these terrorists gave up information that saved lives they will burn for it. When it comes out that they knew about these techniques being used and then feigned indignation to further their political goals (like they did with denying any sort of WMD materials were in Iraq oh yeah except for the nearly 800 tons of yellow cake that our government knew about since 1992 but hey lets pretend that doesn't exist). When people begin to connect the dots and see that to further their political careers they denied knowing about water boarding, helped close GitMo, and remove water boarding from the table of interrogations and in doing so put all Americans at greater risk they will burn.

All of the Dems talk is just that TALK. They don't want trials. They could've started an active investigation into the water boarding over 2 years ago. They haven't, didn't and won't. They fear what will come out. They know that once the public finds out about the scam they've been running there will be a house cleaning in the next election. Just like they never mounted any serious effect to cut funding for the war in Iraq they won't mount any serious effort to hold hearings about water boarding. They know it will be their political death to so. Just as it would've been if the Dems were actually successful in cutting funding for the war in Iraq.

So bring on the trials! Let's air the dirty laundry! This will bring down the Obama administration and cost him the next election. It will ruin the Dem party and will cost them both houses within 2-4 years. I hope that with an already weaken Republican party prior to any hearings and a destroyed Dem party after the hearing a serious 3rd party might gain enough seats to have meaning. I do not necessarily like a particular 3rd party but I believe a 3rd party with some teeth might help restore some balance to D.C. The shift to the left by both parties is appalling. Over the last 10 years or so the Republicans shifted away from the right and picked up the ideals of the Dems while the Dems began picking up the ideals of Marx and Lenin. Now is the time for a new 3rd party that will shift the other two parties back towards their center left and center right homes. So let's get ready for the show and POSSIBLY a new political awakening of the silent American center right majority. Enjoy!