The Club for Growth blog identifies the 15 “Republicans” that voted against giving the president the power to send individual budget items back to congress to force a vote on that item. In other words, these are the 15 “Republicans” that voted in favor of earmarks, big government and continued congressional waste of our taxdollars:

Those with a gray background in the table above actually sit on the powerful Appropriations Committee.

And so the Club for Growth offers the following points in their analysis:

• 9 out of the 15 GOP “NO” votes came from appropriators.
• With 36 GOPers on the Appropriations Committee, this still means that 25% of GOP appropriators “failed to give up even a modest amount of their now unchecked power” (including the Chairman, Rep. Jerry Lewis).
• Only 2 of the 29 Dem appropriators voted “Yes” on the line item veto, meaning 93% of Democrats who spend our money voted to keep the power to spend without further restraint.

Ron Paul from Texas is the one that puzzles me the most.

Technorati Tags: RINO Watch,
Wasting Taxpayer Money,
Line Item Veto,
United States Budget,
Appropriations Committee,
Club for Growth.

The hoplophobes at Handgun Control, Inc., uh, I mean the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, uh, that is the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence (why do they keep changing their name?) is mucking around in politics again:

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence yesterday endorsed Sen. Mike DeWine, Ohio Republican, making him the first Senate candidate of the 2006 election season to win the group’s support.

An NRA newsletter notes:

In lauding the anti-gun efforts of Senator DeWine, the group cited DeWine’s unsuccessful effort to block the “Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act,” (which was signed last fall by President Bush), his ill-conceived efforts to create a “firearm tracing” database, and his push for sweeping semi-auto firearm bans.

Which is why I don’t give to the party, I give to the candidate. Oh, and to the special interest groups.

Technorati Tags: Senator Mike DeWine,
Ohio Politics,
Second Amendment,
Gun Rights,
Individual Rights,
Gun Grabbing Liberals,
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Liberal Agenda,
Eroding Liberty,
Fading Freedoms.

First the Gang of 16 undermined Frist on judicial nominations, but the excuse was that half of them were Democrats. Not so with the Traitorous 25 that played politics with energy:

Twenty-five Republicans, led by Rep. Charles Bass of New Hampshire, signed a letter asking GOP leaders to strike the Alaskan drilling provision from the broader $54 billion budget cut bill. …

The moderates knew they had leverage, given the narrow margin of GOP control of the House. It only takes 14 Republican defections to scuttle a bill, assuming every Democrat opposes it.

Just how RINO (Republican In Name Only) are these RINOs? Michelle Malkin informs us that all 25 are members of the GOP Main Street Partnership, a group of “moderate” Republicans backed by, among others, billionaire socialist George Soros.

Looking at the list of all the members of the organization reveals few no real surprises. Lincoln Chafee, Norm Coleman and John McCain are all members. What is revolting is that Arlen Specter is a member, the same Arlen Specter that Bush chose to back in 2004 against true conservative Pat Toomey.

Which is why I will not send another dime to the National Republican Committee. I will continue to give my money directly to candidates that are backed by groups such as the Club for Growth (which backed Toomey, who is now President and CEO of the Club).

But back to the Traitorous 25. Here is a list of 24 of them, culled from anwr.org:

Anwr.org also has a copy of the letter sent by the traitors.

And if you are concerned about the impact on Alaskan wildlife, check out these graphics that I excerpted from the original:

First, how big is the ANWR? Answer: about the size of South Carolina.

See that little green spot at the top of the ANWR? That’s the 8% of the 30,000 square mile ANWR that Congress set aside in 1980 for future oil development.

But wait! Only 2,300 acres are needed for oil equipment. That’s less than four square miles, represented by the tiny red dot in the green area of the coastal plain below.

I’m fairly certain we can do this without upsetting a few caribou. Now if we could only get Republicans to rule like they were the party in charge . . .

More fun facts! To equal the energy produced by the estimated one million barrels of oil per day from the ANWR, you would need:

• 1700 square miles of windmills, which is larger than Rhode Island!
• 250 sunny acres (i.e., not in Alaska) covered with solar panels

Now, if only solar power wasn’t five times more expensive to produce than electricity from oil, and if only we didn’t have those pesky cloudy days. Or winter.