FreedomTalks

As Jon Henke and Rob Bluey have pointed out, Alaska porker Rep. Don Young received a “hero of the American Taxpayer” award from Americans for Tax Reform, 60 Plus and other organizations. But as Henke and Bluey point out, Rep. Young is far from a friend of the taxpayers, much less a hero.
From The Next [...]

Being from Texas, it made me happy to see that Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) was among the 16 heroes who stood up to oppose a portion of the Dodd/Frank Mortgage Bailout bill that was before the Senate today. Senator Cornyn and the 15 other Senators who voted “No” should be commended for their commitment to [...]

I am probably less sanguine about gun ownership than most folks on the right, but I’m firmly convinced that today’s Supreme Court ruling, which strikes down DC’s long-standing ban on handgun ownership, is the correct one.  Cato’s done some very good work on this, and they’ve got more information at their place.

CQ on the trouble with earmark reform:
A second GOP aide suggested it may have more to do with some discomfort in the conference over changes being proposed.
“Earmark reform has not been popular with either party,” the aide said.
In other news, reports indicate middle school students  overwhelmingly oppose doing homework.
Of course politicians have been reluctant to [...]

From the New York Times piece today on the mortgage bailout:
Skeptics say the plan is a handout for irresponsible borrowers and lenders, who would be able to get rid of their worst-performing mortgages, putting taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars in risky loans.
But in a contested election year, with Americans losing billions of [...]

Rich Lowry, today:
As an indirect tax on carbon, cap-and-trade would increase energy prices when people are already straining under $4-a-gallon gas. Even a political naif — which McConnell assuredly is not — would realize the benefit of hanging the proposal around its supporters’ necks. Lately, we’ve seen the tech and housing bubbles burst, and now [...]

The RSC pushes an earmark moratorium, and, not surprisingly, there’s pushback.  CongressDaily has the goods:
The idea has drawn opposition from within the Republican Conference and from K Street.
“I just don’t think it is helpful right now,” said one top GOP fundraiser. “People that are ordinary Republicans are looking at this discussion of earmarks and saying [...]

It’s not just Countrywide that would benefit from the Dodd bailout.  Its suitor, Bank of America, would also love to see the bill pass.  As Tim Carney reports in the Examiner, the bill is referred to on Capitol Hill as “the Bank of America bill on steroids.”  Carney’s got the whole story behind BoA’s love [...]

You just saved $75,000 through Countrywide’s VIP lending program!

Representative Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) called for a government takeover of the oil refineries at a press conference yesterday. Paraphrasing, he said, We (the government) should own the refineries. Then we can control how much gets out into the market.
Apparently Hinchey is reading the memos of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez these days. How did that [...]