The headline at Michelle Malkin’s site implies something very daunting:

The Donkey Congress is allergic to debate

Conservative stalwart Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint blew the whistle  last  week on a new report from the Congressional Research Service showing that 94 percent of bills passed in thee Dem-controlled Senate have been rammed through without debate or vote.

Via CNS:

Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) dismissed Democratic claims of obstructionism and expressed outrage last week over a government report that shows the majority of bills that have passed in the Democrat-controlled Senate of the 110th Congress have done so without any debate or even a vote.

“The U.S. Senate has a nine percent approval rating, because the American people believe that much of our work is done in secret with no debate, no transparency and no accountability,” Coburn told reporters at press conference Wednesday at the Capitol.

This clearly implies outrage over a procedure where a motion or bill is passed using Unanimous Consent.  This is clearly blamed on the Democrat leadership:

We pause in our political blogging for some personal reflections.

I got an email from an old Military friend today.

It made my day. 

A big shout out to Eric, and congrats on making Chief!  Hope I get down your way soon.

It reminds me that even though many years pass, sometimes those ties we form never go away.

A few years ago I did an almost frantic amount of research and contact and ‘found’ a lot of friends I had lost.  I got in touch with people I had not seen since High School, and few even earlier that that.  in 2002 I drove around for a week visiting several and reacquainting myself with them and their families.

A few I had been in casual contact with, but not many.  Many I have stayed in pretty consistent contact with since, some have slipped away into memories, but at some time I am sure those doors will open again.

A few will never be far from my thoughts and I am sure I will be burning many cell phone minutes just checking in now and then.

While many will not agree, to me this is a great example of the Republican’s playing by the other side’s rules. 

The Democrats have proven themselves to be masters of all things obstinate and obstructionist in the past, particular regarding confirmation hearings.

Regardless, they, the Republicans have taken the bull by the horns and are forcing the Senate Democrats to put up or shut up.

At issue is Oil.

Senate GOP hands Dems oil ultimatum

Senate Republicans have threatened to block nearly all other bills pending before the August recess if Democrats refuse to vote with them on expanding offshore drilling.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said bills that do not pertain to energy can wait until after the August recess, with gas prices now surpassing $4 per gallon. McConnell and top Republicans indicated Wednesday they would oppose any procedural votes to take up other legislation, which require 60 votes to succeed.

The Republican’s have a winning strategy, with 75% of Voters demanding more domestic oil production.

I haven’t taken the time to put together a round up of the Enviro-nitwit Supreme and all the other fun, so now seems like a good time.

I do want to note one thing though, and that is the I am retiring the phrase “eco-nazi” from the blog, except in rare occasions.

I decided that the term “Eco-Nanny” instead.  It seems to fit the “we know what’s best for you” mentality that so many of these idiots seem to favor.

With that in mind, let’s see what’s going on.

First up is the Mighty Alarmists Supreme, the Grand Goracle, the mighty Al Gore, the biggest nanny of them all.

Al has taken on a new target for his science-less propaganda:  Bloggers.

Gore pushes environment with activist bloggers

Former Vice President Al Gore made a surprise appearance Saturday at the Netroots Nation conference, a gathering of nearly 2,000 left-leaning bloggers and political organizers. He urged the activists to mobilize for global climate protection by amplifying his call to generate all the nation’s electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar and geothermal in 10 years.

All state pupils may be taught Islamic traditions as part of compulsory citizenship lessons

State school pupils are set to be taught Islamic traditions and values in compulsory citizenship lessons.

The move  -  part of a package of initiatives announced by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears yesterday  -  is designed to curb extremism.

The obvious question is whether this is a move to push understanding of Islam as opposed to other faiths.  Why should Islam be the darling religion?  What about Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and so many more?

Education campaigners warned however against giving Islam a privileged position over other faiths.

Other plans announced by Miss Blears also drew criticism  -  including a state-funded panel of Islamic scholars and theologians to provide community leadership.

Again, why patronize the Islamic community?

maybe because of the extremists that lurk within the rank and file of Islam who tend to do crazy things like riot and blow up cars (France).  And that’s not even mentioning the ones that do far far worse in the name of the religion of peace.

I read about this a few days ago and I really wasn’t sure I wanted to address it.

First of all, I am unconcerned about Elisabeth Hasselbeck being moved to tears by the bigotry and hypocrisy of her co stars.  She goes to work every day knowing that her fellow View ladies are ideologically opposed to her.  While I admire her refusal to quit, I have to hope she is strong enough to deal with what she deals with every week.  In fact, I have to say that she has sown incredible strength previously, so I know that she has it in her.

So my outrage is not that sweet Elisabeth cried.  It is that her co hosts are so pitifully racist.

The issue is of course the word Nigger.  After Jesse Jackson got caught muttering it over a hot mic, the topic has once again raged discussing who can say it, when they can say it, and who they can say it to.

I am back after 3 or 4 days of wrestling with computers.

My laptop where I write a lot of my posts has been a plague for a while, and got to the point where it was unusable.

The problem was that when I had some problems a while back, I fixed it by upgrading to Vista.

Now, let me state that I have two computers in my house, one a laptop, that run Vista flawlessly.  I have no real beefs about the new Windows OS, except one feature I dislike, but that I can live with on my other computers.

The problem is, that my laptop is a bit older (3 years) and it was not designed to run Vista.  So when I ran the upgrade adviser it passed, but only barely did it meet the requirements. 

So in effect, I had to dumb Vista down immensely, and even then, it was slow and chunky.

I have enjoyed making snarky comments about the gas prices and the complete failure of the democrat leadership to do anything about it.  Bad enough that prices have doubled since the democrats were elected, but now that they are historically high, they are paralyzed by the necessity to pander to their environmental base.

And make no mistake, that’s what this is all about.  The democrats know the environmental lobby has a huge voice and they don’t want to be seen as caving in to the pressures of the evil oil barons.

Some friends of mine and I have been having a spirited debate about this, and we all tend to agree that dependency on foreign oil is a problem.  But, I wonder how many people realize that the biggest importer of oil and petroleum to the US is not a bunch of greedy Arabs, it is Canada.  Not only that, but 40% of our oil imports come from non OPEC countries.  Canada and Mexico alone sell us about one third of our imports. 

Or that while we import 10 million barrels a day or so, we produce more then 5 Million domestically.

This is terrible.  First we lost Tim Russert, and now Tony Snow.  Both brilliant political commentators, and both far too young.

Two great political minds and voices in a year where the presidential race promises to take on historic proportions.

The fact Tony passed away, I guess is not a surprise, as he has battled cancer for years.  But it is always a shock.

Tony was one of the main voices I listened to in the early days of my growing interest in politics.  His common sense and patience with rabid liberal callers was always impressive.

I plan to post a bigger tribute later, including his great work as White House Correspondent.

But first, the bad news:  Westboro Baptists has come out of their horrid little hole in the ground, and Tony is their target.

I have despised these fruitcakes for years, and this just adds to my dislike.

Westboro Baptist Church Plans Tony Snow Funeral Protest

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