Freedom Day Tea Party: Bellingham

The Fourth of July Tea Party in Bellingham was a great success by any standard. Hundreds of patriots, perhaps as many as two thousand, came in a festive mood to celebrate Independence Day in a unique way. All manner of signs, custumes, props and buttons displayed deep devotion for the foundational principles of liberty and love of country. Underlying the celebratory atmosphere however, was a sense of urgency and anxiety about where Congress and the White House is taking our country. The recent passage in the House of Representatives of the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill prompted many to come out and protest that disastrous legislation.

I spent most of my Tea Party time collecting sigantures for Ref. 71 (preserving marriage between a man and a woman in Washington State) so I didn't get to read all the clever and original signs but I did manage to take a few pictures. The Bellingham Herald reports an "unoffical count" of 700 but just like the Tea Party on April 15 they seriously understated the attendance. I imagine the Tea Party movement is a threat to the liberal elites at the Bellingham Herald. Follow this link to the BH article.

Yeah for Ferndale Ready Mix and son Jordan!

Brother-in-law and sister-in-law joined the Tea Party. You know it's bad out there when Nancy engages in protest = )

Butch and Polly came in their super cool Cobra

Banner day for signature gathering. I saw a table for "Recall Rick Larsen" and we were collecting signatures for Ref. 71

50 Things Wrong with the Cap-and-Trade Bill

NRO Special Edition

SPECIAL-INTEREST SOPS
1. Free money for well-connected business interests.
2. A little something for Goldman Sachs. Again.
3. Alcoa and Dupont get their share. The utilities, too.
4. A tree grows in Botswana.
5. Selling indulgences.
6. Protecting refineries.
7. All carrot, no stick for the farm lobby.
8. Replacing the EPA with the USDA.
9. Ignoring ethanol’s impact.
10. Buying off electric cooperatives.
11. Monsanto rounds up favors.
12. Interfering with free trade.
13. Billions for “international clean technology.”
14. Inflating union wages.

Click here to read the rest

Congress's Travel Tab Swells

Spending on Taxpayer-Funded Trips Rises Tenfold; From Italy to the Galápagos

WASHINGTON -- 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 spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That's a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago. Read more.

Boehner's Bloodhounds

'Bureaucratic Nightmare'

By a narrow margin of 219-212 the House of Representives passes a 1,200 page behemoth cap and tax climate change bill. Eight Republican turn-coats (including Washington's own Dave Reichert, 8th CD) helped the Democrats pass this massive national energy tax and 44 Democrats bucked the junk-science based bill with a NO vote.

The final version of the bill grew to be a 1,200 page boondoggle including a 300 page amendment was added in the early morning hours. By the way, Rep. Rick Larsen's (2nd CD) office insisted he read and studied the bill but that would have been humanly impossible and he should be ashamed for making his staff make such a preposterous claim.

For sound research on the economic impact of the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade bill read the Congressional testimony of Ben Liberman from the Heritage Foundation. Another BTW: the two states which stand to benefit the most from the cap and tax bill are California and Massachusetts, which incidentally are the two states represented by Waxman and Markey. The rest of us get soaked!

Read also: House GOP Leadership Warns Climate Change Bill Will Hurt Economy.

The bill now goes on to the Senate where it must die! Murray and Cantwell have drunk the koolaide but we must still melt their phone lines.

Sen. Murray: (202) 224-2621
Sen. Cantwell: (202) 224-3441

NEW RNC TV AD "Bipartisan"

Today a national TV network turns its airwaves over to President Obamas pitch for government-run health care. Shouldn't this be a bipartisan discussion?