Dems Did It

Ritter and Udall trash Colorado's economy

Colorado's liberal Governor Bill Ritter has long avoided specific solutions to specific issues. He's relied on delaying tactics like blue ribbon panels to sidestep making any actual decision that would do anything of substance. The two exceptions, of course, being to kowtow to dirty labor union politics and shutdown major segments of Colorado's economy via astronomical tax increases.

One of his favorite targets, also a convenient whipping post for liberal U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall, is the oil and gas industry. He's even gone so far as to propose a half-baked $300 million tax on this specific industry. The money, of course, would go "to the children." None of it -- he promises -- would end up going to labor unions, or Planned Parenthood, or any of Ritter's other favorite government pork projects.

Many times, the result of half-baked ideas is the Law of Unintended Consequences. In this case, Ritter's latest tax increase has had real consequences for Colorado's economy. According to an article in the Denver Business Journal,

"Oil and gas executives put Colorado in the same league as Ukraine, Pakistan and Indonesia in terms of investment potential, according to the Global Petroleum Survey 2008."

If you're in Colorado, we feel for ya. Congratulations. A huge international industry sector once had the potential to bring great prosperity to Colorado thanks to the state's vast reserves of oil, gas, and especially oil shale. But that industry now looks at bringing jobs to Colorado about the same way you or I would look at taking a family vacation to Pakistan.

Is it malice that drives Bill Ritter and Mark Udall's extreme left-wing agenda, or is it simply idiocy? Do they know they are wrecking the state's economy, or is it just a natural byproduct of his desire for a socialist utopia?

Business is packing their bags. Voters should ask Ritter and Udall to do the same.

'Colorado on Autopilot'

From The Colorado Index:

"We think it very likely that Bill Ritter will be a one term Governor. We think that THE major issue in the next campaign will be his willingness to put the state on auto pilot and let those he trusts take it in any direction they choose without any supervision...

"We now know that the campaign was so far over budget that alarm bells should have been tolling in Bill Ritter's head in September, 2006. He ended the campaign with a half million dollars in bills, and now claims/admits not to have known that."

The Index also has several links to related media articles.

Ritter aide misspent $300,000?

On Tuesday, Colorado's Democrat Governor Bill Ritter threw former campaign manager Greg Kolomitz under the bus after being forced to admit his campaign committee and inaugural committee danced a little too close, apparently committing embezzlement and fraud to the tune of almost $300,000.

"Greg was the signer on the account," Ritter said, "and all of the checks in question relating to the campaign expenses and the overpayment were all checks that he wrote and that he signed."

Ritter, a former lobbyist at a high profile Denver law firm, expressed "disappointment" in his former aide, refusing to shoulder any responsibility for the deceit, which the governor apparently knew about several months ago.

"The financial discrepancies were discovered as the inaugural committee's accountant prepared tax records in February.

"The firm reported that $217,164 in campaign expenses were paid with inaugural money and that Greg Kolomitz, Ritter's campaign manager and the head of his inaugural committee, overpaid himself $83,250."

At issue is how closely Ritter was involved in the decision to make the illegal transfer. GIven the Ritter campaign's propensity to take hundreds of thousands of dollars of questionable small donor committee transfers from unions, the news that inaugural funds were used in roughly the same manner should come as no shock.

In the face of over $250,000 in outstanding campaign debt, Ritter pushed forward with a portentous  inaugural costing over $1 million. In his own words, "The people of this state were very excited about the fact that I'd been elected..."

Pelosi dodges FISA for wedding

The liberals running Congress are literally running from responsibility by adjourning early this week to avoid a vote on FISA. What pressing, urgent, selfless act of service to our nation could possibly trump the reauthorization of one of the pillars of our nation's national security?

Hint: it likely involves champagne, cake, and bad 80s music.

Michelle Malkin has more.

Ritter pulls back on health plan

Another broken Colorado promise.

Economics 101

Democrat Budget Committee Member, Marcy Kaptur, apparently doesn’t know the difference between Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve Chairman.

In an embarrassing, but telling moment about the fundamental misunderstanding Democrats have about how to deal with America’s economic uncertainty, it just became certain that Democrats are failing Economics 101.

Click here to watch the uncomfortable exchange.

Carter casts stones

In a moment of incredible irony, Jimmy Carter accuses President Bush of being the "worst in history."

"I think as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history," Carter told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a story that appeared in the newspaper's Saturday editions. "The overt reversal of America's basic values as expressed by previous administrations, including those of George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon and others, has been the most disturbing to me."

This coming from the former one-term president who left American hostages in Iran and prolonged the Cold War. Come to think of it, gas prices didn't do too well under his watch either...

Perhaps even more ironic was the purpose of the interview during which Carter made these comments:

He spoke while promoting his new audiobook series, "Sunday Mornings in Plains," a collection of weekly Bible lessons from his hometown of Plains, Ga.

With all due respect to the former president turned ranting raving lunatic, I think my family will look elsewhere for Christian resources and Bible lessons.

An exercise in futility

Question: How do you waste billions of dollars and endanger thousands of lives?

Answer: Let the Democrats parade in Washington.

Today the United States Senate took the audacious and unthinkable step of cutting off our troops in the field by passing a bill, supposedly to keep supplies moving to our solidiers in harms way, that has no - ZERO - chance of becoming law. They hamstrung the bill with so much pork and red tape that the President has no choice but to veto it. Their callous actions only prolong a real funding bill, which clearly demonstrates that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would rather see troops in the field without supplies than victory in Iraq.

Among the Democrat leadership in Washington, it appears there is no talk of "hey, let's give it all we've got and win this." It's all "OMG, if we support our troops, then how will we buy gas for our Gulfstream jets???" Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it appears that support for our troops to do their job in the field is taking a back seat to Nancy Pelosi's "shadow presidency" and her appetite for fresh Middle East cuisine.

The most telling reaction to Reid and Pelosi's childish behavior comes from Iraq, where a government spokesman condemned their action saying:

"Coalition forces gave lots of sacrifices and they should continue their mission, which is building Iraqi security forces to take over," al-Dabbagh said. "We see (it) as a loss of four years of sacrifices."

Thanks, Dems. Those of us watching from out in America hope you'll remember this foolish moment someday when you're flying around on your taxpayer-provided Gulfstream and read the story of the thousands of lives lost in Iraq. Hope that champagne loses it's taste, Ms. Pelosi. Your fellow countrymen and women, serving our nation with honor, deserve better.

Link: Iraqi spokesman criticizes Senate vote - Yahoo! News.

A Primer on Media Bias

The blog Power Line does a great job this morning of deconstructing just how the artsy-fartsy liberal media stick it to mainstream America.

Sometimes media bias is blatant and grotesque; it can extend to flat misrepresentations, use of fake documents, etc. Much more often, it is relatively subtle, as reporters push their version of a story in small ways, day after day.

It's too good to just post it all here, so visit Power Line, read this post, THEN go ready your morning paper... it will never look the same. Link: Power Line: Media Bias: How It Works.

Is Pelosi a Felon?

Previously, we've discussed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's trip to the Middle East as annoying, counterproductive, self-serving, and 'foolish.' But now, as this article from today's Wall Street Journal reports, Pelosi's trip may be much worse. It may be illegal.

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may well have committed a felony in traveling to Damascus this week, against the wishes of the president, to communicate on foreign-policy issues with Syrian President Bashar Assad..."

Could Pelosi's quest for an in with Big Oil be her downfall? Could her naive and juvenile attempts at diplomacy put Speaker Pelosi in prison?

UPDATE: USA Today is now covering the story of Pelosi's illegal trip to Syria as well.

"The Logan Act of 1799 sets out the punishment for unauthorized U.S. citizens who 'directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States.'"

Stay tuned...