If ever there was a Swamp Creature, it’s Corrupticrat Charlie Rangel (D - Swamp) . . .

Via The Patriot Post.

Maricopa County, which includes the Phoenix Metro area, extends far enough North to include Wickenburg which is where our new home will be. The statistics below show a significant shift to the right, probably because of the county’s voters collective disgust with The administration and Congress in D.C. and approval of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s Constitutional gun and immigration enforcement policies.

From the Campaign Spot:

A Sudden Shift in Maricopa County Voter Registration

By Jim Geraghty

This June in Arizona’s Maricopa County, 227 voters switched from no affiliation or some other party to the Democratic party. This includes 44 former registered Republicans.

Another 211 voters switched to “independent”; this total included 55 Democrats and 69 Republicans.

Another 217 left the Democratic party to become “Party Not Designated.”

And 530 joined the Republican party, including 190 former registered Democrats and 252 who were “Party Not Designated.”

Emphasis added.

Scott Adams and the Dilbert crew nail the manner in which this administration reports statistics.

Ramirez, of course . . .

It’s not only seniors who should be wary of the healthcare games the administration and congress are now playing. Everyone stands to lose from the government’s grab, including the younger demographic who will be forced to buy insurance whether they want it or not.

As we used to say when I was a kid, “there’s a rat in the woodpile.” Or maybe more appropriately, “there’s a hidden virus inside the Trojan Horse.”

From the Patriot Post:

Something Smells Fishy About This Kool-Aid

President Barack Obama appeared to backtrack on a key provision of his attempted health care coup, telling a Colorado town hall audience that “the public option, whether we have it or we don’t have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. This is just one sliver of it, one aspect of it.” So the president is giving in on the government-run option, right? Wrong.

While it’s a given that some on the Left are going bananas over the announcement, none other than former DNC Chief Howard “The Scream” Dean let the cat out of the bag on the strategy. “[T]he president knows very well that you aren’t really going to have health care reform without a public option,” Dean told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough. “But he also knows he has to get this out of the Senate.” So the president is playing a cynical game of politics with health care? Say it ain’t so!

For now, 60 votes in the Senate are necessary to avoid a filibuster, and the public option is making that threshold harder to reach. If the bill were passed without the public option, it could be added back during reconciliation, at which point only 50 votes would be necessary for passage.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs spun the strategy shift by calling it a “boring consistency to our rhetoric.” Nothing’s changed, according to Gibbs. The facts, as usual, contradict the Democrats. On July 18, Obama said, “[A]ny plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans — including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest — and choose what’s best for your family.” But according to Gibbs, changing “must include” to “whether we have it or we don’t have it” is just “boring consistency.”

The proposed alternative to the public option is nonprofit health insurance cooperatives. However, as the Cato Institute’s Michael Tanner explains, “Government-run health care is government-run health care no matter what you call it. The health care ‘co-op’ approach now embraced by the Obama administration will still give the federal government control over one-sixth of the U.S. economy, with a government-appointed board, taxpayer funding, and with bureaucrats setting premiums, benefits and operating rules. Plus,” Tanner adds, “it won’t be a true co-op, like rural electrical co-ops or your local health-food store — owned and controlled by its workers and the people who use its services. Under the government plan, the members wouldn’t choose its officers — the president would.”

As for the public option, Jacob S. Hacker, the liberal Yale scholar widely attributed with originating the idea, denies that it is a “Trojan Horse” to sneak in single-payer, government-run health insurance behind citizens’ backs. It seems, however, that Hacker also suffers from an acute case of “boring consistency.” In 2008, Hacker sounded a different note: “Someone once said to me, ‘Well, this is a Trojan horse for single payer.’ I said, ‘Well, it’s not a Trojan horse, right? It’s just right there! I’m telling you!’ We’re going to get there [to a government-run system] — over time, slowly.” He continued, “But we’ll do it in a way that we’re not going to frighten people into thinking they’re going to lose their private insurance.”

Sounds like the frog in the boiling water to us.

. . . in the cost of fuel, that is - $4.35 per gallon of regular.

On the way to the indoor target range today, I stopped to fill up the truck. The tank was a little dryer for my bi-weekly fill-up because of the trip out to the gun show yesterday. I lost the bet to Damsel that it would take over a hundred bucks to fill the tank - barely.

I blame the asswipes in government that disallow drilling, refining and production of petroleum products domestically.

Specifically (update 6/9/08 14:38z):

ANWR Exploration
House Republicans: 91% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Coal-to-Liquid
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 78% Opposed

Oil Shale Exploration
House Republicans: 90% Supported
House Democrats: 86% Opposed

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Exploration
House Republicans: 81% Supported
House Democrats: 83% Opposed

Refinery Increased Capacity
House Republicans: 97% Supported
House Democrats: 96% Opposed

Hat Tip Redstate

Update: The Pelosi Premium . . .

For a moment it was fun to think that our Sacramento Gun and Ammo Grabbers might be overruled by Federal mandate . . . but it’s probably going to be DOA in the House.

Image - A California-educated gun protester.

U.S. Representative John Boozman (R-AR) today introduced bipartisan legislation that protects the rights of gun owners. The Secure Access to Firearms Enhancement (SAFE) Act allows law-abiding citizens who can legally carry guns in their home state to carry all across the country.

“The right to bear arms shouldn’t end at a state’s border,” Boozman said. “This legislation is key to giving gun owners the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.”

The SAFE Act will replace laws that only establish reciprocity between gun control states forcing gun owners to get carry permits before they bring their firearms into neighboring states.

“Growing up in Arkansas where it’s not uncommon to see gun rights held in high regard, I never felt like there was any potential for questioning this right,” Boozman said. “I feel very strongly that this law is needed to address national gun right concerns.”

Gun Owners of America, a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners is a proponent of the SAFE Act.

“Americans can travel from state to state with their driver’s licenses. Now, it’s time to do the same thing with our concealed carry permits. Kudos to Rep. Boozman for introducing this reciprocity bill,” said Executive Director of Gun Owners of America, Larry Pratt.

The SAFE Act has 33 bipartisan original cosponsors.

And secure the borders while we’re at it.

Oh, and a pox on illegal alien drug runners.

The Patriot Post has taken the Texas Three’s plight to heart and arranged a petition to ask that their sentences be commuted, that the borders be secured and that the illegal alien scumbag that got a bullet in his backside be prosecuted for his drug-running offenses.

You should read Mark Alexander’s Article on this issue for all the details.

I think that’s a good cause. Here’s the text that came in the mail:

Make your voice heard TODAY!

Please join fellow Patriots and sign “Free the Texas Three and Secure our Borders” — A citizen petition calling on President Bush to commute the sentences of both former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, and their colleague, former Sheriff’s Deputy Guillermo Hernandez; asking Congress to insist that the DEA prosecute Mexican national Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila on felony drug distribution charges; and demanding that Congress and the Bush administration secure our borders.

“It is not honorable to take mere legal advantage, when it happens to be contrary to justice.” -Thomas Jefferson

To sign this petition online, go to — http://PatriotPetitions.US/borders

Please forward this invitation to Patriot family members, friends and associates. In order to encourage serious consideration of this critical issue, we must collect in excess of 100,000 signatures.

Is it just me, or does United States Attorney Johnny Sutton specialize in prosecuting law enforcement officers protecting our international borders? Why does he believe the testimony of degenerates and criminals over that of the officers themselves?

The film “Amityville Horror” was a box office success despite being given poor reviews by critics such as Leonard Maltin and Roger Ebert, who described it as “dreary and terminally depressing.”

The past few weeks have been “dreary and terminally depressing” for those of us who oppose this terrible legislation. It’s as if our Senators have gone totally deaf.

While President Bush, key Republicans and most Democrats in the Senate embrace this turd, seventy percent of Americans see it for what it is - a badly cobbled together morass of pork, inadequate security and abundant entitlements for illegal aliens. Yep - illegal means they broke the law - illegal means they should be punished, deported and get in the back of the line.

I’m told that there’s still time to do something about it . . .

Continue reading » The Amnestybill Horror

With the important issue of immigration reform before the United States Senate, Senator Jim Inhofe and friends have established a new blog, Secure Borders Now. The primary focus of the new blog is to “Secure Our Borders. No Amnesty.”

The Secure Borders Now Petition (link at the top of the left sidebar) has been rather successful over the last several days. The map at the left depicts the signatories in a demographic — red flags are signatures placed on the map at the point of origin.

If you haven’t done so, sign the petition now. Also visit the Secure Borders Now blog.

This is off-topic, but important to point out that Senator Inhofe, as you may or may not know, also has a common-sense, rational approach to Global Warming and Climate issues. The Senate EPW Blog is Senator Inhofe’s official minority website.

Congress recently polled at a miserable 14% approval rating. With their political feeding frenzy and blatant disregard for public opinion, I suggest this:

You might also consider signing the “Secure Our Borders - No Amnesty” petition and the “We Win, They Lose - No Surrender” petition. Both links currently at the top of the left sidebar.

Mark Steyn writes this interesting piece regarding ‘fast-track’ legalization for illegal aliens. The ‘Kathryn’ Mark is speaking to is KJ Lopez who also blogs on NRO’s The Corner.

Great news! The terrorist Z-visas will take 48 hours! [Mark Steyn]

Kathryn, that [Senator John] Cornyn amendment is a good example of the kind of final “bipartisan compromise” Congress may settle for: The 12-20 million illegal immigrants will get legal residency in the United States by the end of the next business day (and, incidentally, I’d love to see a list of other US agencies which guarantee full service within 24 hours - or is the express line only available to lawbreaking foreigners?), but terrorists will have to be subjected to what Sheila Jackson-Lee described to me as an “ongoing background check”.

The more you look at this bill the more it seems just the usual Beltway kabuki. Secretary Chertoff says in a time of war we need to know who’s in the country. Okay. But is dumping a gazillion new applications on a sclerotic immigration system the way to do that? Mohammed Atta was the second most famous terrorist in the world and on the front page of every American newspaper but the then INS still sent him a valid US visa six months to the day after he died, and without even updating his address from that Florida flight school to Big Hole In The Ground, Lower Manhattan. And the excuse the agency made was, oh well, we’re only issuing visas to dead terrorists not living ones - which Americans pretty much had to take on trust and which seems a distinction far less likely to be maintained once there’s another 15 million in the system entitled to next-day service. If I were Mullah Omar, I’d apply for a Z-visa. The odds have got to be better than even.

So it will be a fraud on “conservative” enforcement grounds. As for “liberal” fast-track-to-citizenship grounds, I would be surprised if most of those “undocumented” choose to go beyond limited legalization. If you’re remitting vast percentages of your income back to your village in Mexico every month, US citizenship is only going to complicate your life, given that the IRS is one of the few revenue agencies on the planet to claim global jurisdiction. Some things are best left “living in the shadows”.

“Comprehensive” reforms usually backfire in spectacular ways: the “war on poverty” gave us ongoing cross-generational poverty, etc. “Comprehensive” immigration reform will metastasize illegal immigration, embed the “undocumented” support networks as a permanent feature of American life, expand identity fraud, and make it even more impossible for Washington to know which aliens are in the country at any one time.