Editorial Page Editor Mark Tapscott was voted Conservative Journalist of the Year for 2008 by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and he was inducted into the Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame in 2006. Before joining the Examiner in 2006, he was director of The Heritage Foundation's Center for Media and Public Policy and founded its Database 101 Computer-Assisted Research and Reporting Boot Camps at the National Press Club. He's a former assistant managing editor and managing editor for two other Washington region daily newspapers. He is also proprietor of Tapscott's Copy Desk blog.
House Speaker John Boehner's office has released the following list of elements in the new budget deal that make it an important milestone on the road to restoring the nation's economic strength:
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Yes, there is a deal between House Speaker John Boehner and congressional Democrats that funds the government for the five-month balance of the 2011 fiscal year and staves off a temporary shutdown.
But in the early hours after announcement of the agreement, there is a sense of anger and resignation rather than relief or victory in some quarters of House GOP.
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Right on schedule, allegations that somebody committed voter fraud or other election illegalities in yesterday's Wisconsin Supreme Court balloting are being heard this afternoon in a county that voted heavily for incumbent conservative Justice David Prosser.
Pundit Press, which closely followed the election balloting yesterday, offers this analysis:
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Unless something dramatic happens in the next 12 hours or so, a partial government shutdown appears all but inevitable, as President Obama earlier today rejected a House GOP proposal for another stop-gap continuing resolution that would have cuty $12 billion from 2011 outlays.
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Bad polling news for President Obama just keeps rolling in, this time falling public approval ratings on his handling of foreign policy issues in the wake of his nationally televised address on the Libyan situation last week.
"A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows 37% give the president good or excellent ratings on his handling of national security issues," Rasmussen said. "Slightly more voters (40%) say the president is doing a poor job when it comes to national security."
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Leave it to a couple of Tea Party guys in Flyover America to show Washington's professional politicians how to come up with a reasonable budget at a time of economic crisis.
Chris Littleon and Dan Lilback are, according to The Hill which published their budget oped, "Tea Party leaders in Ohio and work with the Ohio Liberty Council, a statewide coalition of more than 65 liberty-minded organizations."
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President Obama's public support continues to head downward, according to the latest monthly compilation of Rasmussen Reports daily tracking survey.
"The number of voters who Strongly Disapprove of the president’s performance inched up a point in March - for the second month in a row - to 40%. This figure has stayed in a narrow range of 37% to 44% since July 2009.
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Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Oklahoma Repubican who is the ranking minority member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has released a video report in which he claims "bipartisan support" for his bill to stop EPA from implementing via regulation the cap-and-trade program Congress refused to adopt.
"We have an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the United States Senate opposed to the Obama-EPA cap-and-trade agenda...
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One thing became clear early on in the Battle of Wisconsin between entrenched, powerful public employee unions and Republican Gov. Scott Walker - the crucial issue was not whether the labor bosses would accept cuts in pension and health care benefits sought by the state's chief executive and a newly elected GOP majority in the state legislature.
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Check out The Dylan Ratigan Show today at 4 pm EST on MSNBC where I will be doing a segment on energy issues. Ratigan periodically takes his show on the road from New York in a "Steel on Wheels" campaign sponsored by Nucor.
This week, Ratigan is in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on the lovely campus at Oklahoma State University, of which I just happen to be a graduate (1972). Ratigan is participating in a program on energy issues at OSU hosted by T. Boone Pickens, another OSU graduate (but one who has been a bit more successful than yours truly!)
Anyway, check it out.
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How's this for a conversation opener at your next Capitol Hill fund raiser?
"A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 16% of Likely U.S. Voters feel that, generally speaking, it would be better for the country if most incumbents in Congress were reelected. That’s a seven-point drop from 23% last August and down from 19% in February 2010.
"Fifty-six percent (56%) say it would be better if most incumbents were defeated and 28% are not sure.
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How's this for a conversation opener at your next Capitol Hill fund raiser?
"A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 16% of Likely U.S. Voters feel that, generally speaking, it would be better for the country if most incumbents in Congress were reelected. That’s a seven-point drop from 23% last August and down from 19% in February 2010.
"Fifty-six percent (56%) say it would be better if most incumbents were defeated and 28% are not sure.
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National Journal reports that former Democratic presidential aspirant and Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean says he "would be quietly rooting" for a government shutdown in the current budget showdown with House Speaker John Boehner and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
“If I was head of DNC, I would be quietly rooting for it,” said Dean while speaking on a National Journal Insider’s Conference panel earlier today.
“I know who’s going to get blamed – we’ve been down this road before," Dean said.
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European Union officials are preparing to ban all cars from major cities, according to The Telegraph in London. The ban would begin in 2050, and would be in effect in most major European cities.
Fighting global warming is, of course, the alleged justification for the coming ban, which is contained in a larger transportation plan for Europe that EU officials say is designed to force Europeans to stop driving conventionally fueled vehicles.
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