EckerNet.Com

Thursday morning myself and a fair number of other bloggers participated in a conference call with Congressman John Kline. The conference call was about Kline’s new effort to Stop The Pork, essentially to stop the madness and corruption that is earmarks. He’s got a petition at the site, that you can and should go and sign. Go on now, I’ll wait for you…….

Now I’m not gonna give you the summary of what was discussed. If that’s what you want, you can read the writeups by Chief, Janet, Gary, Psycmeister or the Lady Logician. I think they cover all the aspects of the call but one.

And that aspect was the most refreshing part and gives me hope that something might actually result from this effort. Partisanship while it does have value, also is a great inhibitor to causes that otherwise should have virtually unanimous support.

Now John never actually came out and said it, but reading between the lines and picking up pieces of comments it was obvious that he gets this is not a partisan issue. When he talked about building momentum from the original 12 legislators supporting this effort, to the current level of 50, he talked about how he didn’t feel momentum until Democrats started joining in. He also pointed out that this is a problem that really started under Republican leadership, but it has gotten out of control and has to be stopped.

Rather than retreating into a partisan shell, he admits were the initial fault lies. Rather than screaming, “but the Democrats do it too”, he has refused to request earmarks. Rather than slinging mud, he’s trying to bring Democrats into the fold so that this effort can take real momentum.

Bipartisanship, sadly has become less of a reality and more of a punchline. However, this is an issue that needs and most certainly deserves bipartisan support. Governmental waste and political corruption is something that should not be supported, or even tolerated, by either party. And it’s refreshing to see that John Kline is fighting against it in a way that hopefully pulls both sides together.

We can fight and scheme each others demise later, how about we get this out of the way first yeah? So regardless of your ideology or political affiliation, head on over to StopThePork.Com and help your self out (or at least your wallet) by helping John Kline out.

[Crossposted at True North]

The Heller vs DC decision was a huge win for fans of the Second Amendment, personal liberty and those who care about trivial things like being able to defend yourself. It also marks the first time since it was written, that there was even an attempt to interpret the Second Amendment.

While the fight for common sense in “gun laws” continues on and likely will be an endless fight, the DC vs Heller decision marked an important advance.

In part to commemorate that decision, and also help fund future battles, S&W will be releasing a new “D.C. vs. Heller” revolver (photos here). It’s the alloy frame model 442, which is a hammerless J-frame (the small frame) in .38 Special. It’s very lightweight, with rubber grips. It has text commemorating the DC vs Heller decision laser engraved on the side.

It’s a rather interesting pistol, made more interesting by the fact that it is being released by Smith & Wesson. As a particularly alert reader pointed out to me, S&W is the only gun manufacturer that relented to the anti-gun lobby by adding the goofy safety and all sorts of other crap to their firearms.

In looking at the photos I noticed that they are all either of the logo, or from the right side. Since the safety is installed on the left I have to imagine it’s a part of this revolver as well. It’s a bit sad that a revolver commemorating a victory over the anti-gun wackos carries several features forced upon it by those same anti-gun wackos.

But it’s still an interesting concept.

Apparently cop 2 was eventually chaged with Attempted Arrogance 1st Degree.

Remember women, children and spineless politicians first.

Republican Senate leaders have given their member permission to vote whichever way they think will get them re-elected. Basically Republicans are free to abandon conservatism and vote like liberals. Of course, there are many that will claim they’ve been doing that for years….but apparently now it will get worse.

Of course, Republicans forget that the reason their popularity has plummeted is that Republicans stopped acting like conservatives and started abandoning their principals. Even when Republicans do try to make a stand nobody believe them anymore. They so extensively and repeatedly abandoned their principles, that they’ve lost their brand. Nobody associates Republicans with low taxes and low spending any more.

With that all in mind, how could Republican leadership possibly believe by doing more of what lost them their popularity, they’ll gain popularity?? Besides, if the public really wanted liberal positions, they will almost certainly vote for the candidate that votes that way all the time, rather than just occasionally.

Sadely enough, this is what passes for leadership in the Senate these days.

Meet the Angelica Hernandez and Gloria Nunez, and apparently they are the face of poverty in America. The mother, Gloria Nunez, despite being raised middle class, has no high school diploma and has never held a job.

As a result they have lived off the public teat for decades. And now….you won’t believe this, it’s truly horrible. Due to the cost of food prices, the same food stamps that used to be able to buy twelve bags of groceries every month, now only buys seven or eight. They’ve even had to cut out the ice cream!

Oh the humanity. Truly the poor in this country suffer horribly. Due to the greed of the rich, the poor are forced to subsist on meager portions that could feed a small village elsewhere. They’re forced to cut out treats like ice cream. And as we already know, they are forced to tolerate having an HD-TV that’s only 60 inches.

I’m so ashamed of our welfare system.

It’s been said that the opposite of Progress is Congress, and never has that been more true that on the immigration issue. They could have easily passed legislation that secured our borders, expelled the criminals within our borders and reformed our completely broken immigration system. Instead they sat on their ass and kissed the hands of racist nationalist groups like La Raza whose stated goals include the fragmentation of the United States.

Instead states and cities have had to step in to fill the void and pass laws of their own to deal with the problem. And despite the inaction of Congress, ICE has managed to make the most of their situation. In 2005, they reported a 52% increase in arrests over 2004. In 2006, they reported a 340% increase in arrests over 2005. In 2007, they reported a 13% increase in arrests over 2006. And in 2008, ICE is on track to report a 20% increase over 2007, having already almost matched 2007’s total.

While that is impressive, due to very soft laws and a pitiful array of legal tools, many of those arrested illegals go right back out the door with little more than a piece of paper asking them to show up in court later on to be deported. Few do, hence the phrase “Catch & Release”, which DHS claims they have ended every few months, despite evidence to the contrary.

More importantly, in addition to the number of arrests of illegal workers skyrocketing, the number of employers being arrested for hiring illegals is also increasing. Convincing employers that hiring illegals isn’t worth the risk would greatly advance the cause of dealing with illegal immigration.

We have a long way to go but it has increasingly convinced employers to use the E-Verify system to verify the legality of their workers. At the end of fiscal 2007, there were 24,463 employers registered with the E-Verify system, there are now over 75,000, with 1,000 more being added every week. Those employers have queried the status of over 4 million new hires so far this year.

Now the progress that has been made, despite the ineptitude and inaction of Congress, is being threatened by that very same ineptitude and inaction by Congress. The E-Verify program expires in November, and legislation to reauthorize it has to pass both the House and Senate before the fall (August) recess. While there is pending legislation to do so (HR 5596), it has been tied up with attempts, led by Representative Sam Johnson (R-TX), to gut any funding of if, essentially killing the program. By killing this program, Congress eliminates one of the few tools used in our already meager to deal with illegal immigration.

By not only impeding, but outright working against any semblance of progress on fighting illegal immigration, Congress really has become the opposite of Progress.

[Crossposted at True North]

…apparently they are more self-loving. At least according to the master of non-scripted remarks Barack Obama

“Let me be absolutely clear,” Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said today at a press conference in Amman, Jordan. “Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. It will be a strong friend of Israel’s under a McCain…administration. It will be a strong friend of Israel’s under an Obama administration. So that policy is not going to change.”

Yeah, ok so if you’re a little confused, let me help you out with this simple graph explaining it. It’s really rather easy once you see it in visual form.

The online wingnut hippies are having their yearly counseling session. All the usual loonies are there. From the Godfather of Online Wackiness Kos to His Holy Hypocriteness Al Gore. Hotline is covering the madness, including a set of quotes from some of the more prominent lunatics.

“There’s a really huge misconception in the traditional media about who we are as a voting group. And I say ‘traditional media,’ not ‘mainstream media,’ because we are the mainstream…On issue after issue, we are where the American people reside.”
– Markos Moulitsas (aka “Kos”)

Mainstream? You got to be kidding me. This from the same guy that attacked left-winger Harold Ford Jr as a right-wing shill. This from the same guy that helped run the revolt against Lieberman by promoting Ned Lamont, which the voters (the majority) then roundly rejected that choice and re-elected Lieberman.

“I’m even more confident than the money markets that Obama will be the next President.”
– New York Times columnist Paul Krugman

Does that mean I get everything you have invested in the market when he’s not?

“There used to be an old-timey remedy for hangovers called ‘the hair of the dog that bit you.’ They’d recommend going in and just having another drink in the morning if you had a hangover. Well, that’s sort of what this reminds me of. ‘Oh, we have a fossil fuel crisis? Well, let’s just go back for more.’ When you’re in a hole, stop digging!”
– Al Gore

Ok, what’s the remedy when there is also scientific data saying you’re not in a hole, but rather are the fool on the hill? What about when you repeatedly making claims of said hole beneath us, only to be repeatedly proven to be a complete and utterly incorrect baffoon.

“The bigger our victories, the more bipartisanship you’ll see in the Congress.”
– Speaker Nancy Pelosi

So I guess in Nancy’s eyes bi-partisanship means the cooperation of the left and the far left. Neat. They have a place for that, it’s call Europe. And it lags behind the US by leaps and bounds.

“Still today we see the success of the Right’s project of cowing the media…We have a President who has been at 30% approval for about two years now. Where is that viewpoint reflected? Where is the viewpoint on television — cable news especially — that this is a country that soundly, almost universally, rejects this President? Where is that viewpoint portrayed?”
– Duncan Black (aka “Atrios”)

Were is the viewpoint portrayed indicating the even lower approval rating of the Democratic-led Congress???

“The way the mainstream media is treating Michelle Obama right now is a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace. And this community is in a better position than any community in our country to make sure it doesn’t go down that way.”
– Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD)

That’s a disgrace. Then what do you call the “Bush = Hitler = Satan” mantras that have been going on for seven solid years?? What do you call the racist portrayals of Condi Rice?? What do you call the sexist attacks on Laura Bush?

“[Obama’s campaign has] millions of donors and the average gift is $68. You want campaign finance reform? I’ll give you campaign finance reform. When the average gift to your Presidential campaign is $68, you are owned by nobody but the American people.”
– DNC Chairman Howard Dean

Does that count the supporters he has had to throw underneath the bus?? Virtually everyone he’s known longer than 30 seconds, is either a closet racist or utterly corrupt. So do their contributions count in that total?

The Rankings Are As Follows:

• Triple “I Whine Like A Child” A : 5
• NightWriter : 4
• Dan S : 4
• Lloyd :4
• Drunkguy :3
• Mall Diva : 3
• jroosh : 2
• Harvey : 2
• Bogus Doug : 2
• Aelfheld : 2
• Sola-Man : 2
• Bobby_B : 2
• J Ewing : 1
• Professor_Rackmaster : 1
• kingdavid : 1
• tommy g : 1
• spurringirl : 1

For this contest you get to make up your own answers!! That’s right…just pretend you’re a real life journalist and just make shit up. Post answers in the comments. They will be judged on creativity, plausibility and humor.

Question : Caption this picture…

Previous contests