Glad the McCain campaign has stopped pulling punches. Excellent ad!

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

Straight from the horse’s mouth, former President Bill Clinton (who may be quietly supporting Senator McCain, because he knows that of Obama is elected, Hillary’s future chances for the Presidency evaporate), explains what caused the housing bubble — Democrats in Congress actively resisting reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Small businesses are closing all the time. Some local writers refer to these closures as “signs that the old Rhode Island is slipping away.” I beg to differ. The old Rhode Island is not slipping away; it is being strangled to death by self-serving politicians.

Our political elites do not care about Rhode Island. Some of them even exercise contempt for democracy. Former (it feels good to say that) Democratic State Senator Stephen Alves’s efforts to overturn primary results in West Warwick is a recent example. Alves, like the Narcissus of Greek mythology, only cares about himself. I submit his legislative record as evidence of that fact.

My opponent, Patrick Kennedy, was referred to as the “boy congressman” when he was elected in 1994. He is all grown up now, but Rhode Island tax payers have raised him at considerable cost. Mr. Kennedy has offered few solutions and often is part of the problem.

Our state, once a cornerstone of American industry, now has the second highest unemployment rate in the country. We have one of the worst business climates. Our pension system is under-funded, and young people are fleeing the state for greener pastures.

Congress is a mess and Mr. Kennedy represents a reactionary majority. They had opportunities to prevent the current economic crisis but failed to do so. As your representative I will be proactive in heeding economic warning signs.

Rhode Island’s system is broken. The only way to achieve real change is by changing our representation. Patrick Kennedy is not a bad person, but he has been a bad representative. He needs to be removed from office.

The General Assembly needs to be changed as well. Your representative or senator may be a good person, but elections should not be popularity contests. Ask yourself one question before you vote: is the person you are voting for working to empower you, or is that person working to empower the government?

Rhode Island is slipping away but together we can pull it back.

Jon Scott is the Republican candidate for US Congress in District 1.

My name is Marc R. Coda and I am running for Rhode Island State Senate for District 6. Originally from Pennsylvania, but now a resident and lover of Rhode Island, I am studying at Johnson & Wales University in Providence where I am pursuing a degree in Management and Entrepreneurship along with a concentration in Political Science and Finance.

At Johnson & Wales, I am the parliamentarian of the Student Government Association Senate, as well as an Associate Justice. I also have been the College Republican chairman at JWU since its inception in 2006 and the Treasurer of the College Republican Federation of Rhode Island since 2007. I am also a CFO of a non-profit organization in Pennsylvania called Pike County Youth Coalition which is a youth advocacy group.

If this is really the year of “change”, then genuine change needs to start with Rhode Island! We need to turn this great state around by balancing the budget. We need to lower taxes to improve economic growth and to encourage businesses to establish themselves in the area, and as a result will increase job opportunities for the citizens of this wonderful state.

The reason I can win is because the constituents’ voices in my District are not being heard at all. This is because I am the first challenger to my opponent in X years. They are leaving the state because of high taxes, and the need to find work, but there are no businesses coming to Rhode Island, there only leaving the State.

I am offering the voters in my District real change, change they can count on. I have been going house to house, ringing door bells. I have so much potential but the campaign needs funds to further the message and to make sure that my voice is heard, so their voice can be louder. From one person who wants to see Rhode Island prosper, to another, please help my effort in making Rhode Island a better place for all.

Marc Coda
http://www.codaforsenate.com
codaforsenate08 [at] gmail [dot] com

Club for Growth Pat Toomey released the following statement on the House’s defeat of the bailout plan today:

“The Club for Growth commends the House of Representatives for voting today to take a different approach in addressing the current financial crisis,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “We urge Congress to immediately pass a measure that suspends mark-to-market rules for banks and lifts the cap on the FDIC’s guarantee on transaction accounts for banks. These two relatively non-controversial measures will help stabilize the markets and shore up confidence in our financial institutions. There is no reason why any member of Congress—Democrat or Republican—should oppose these commonsense provisions.”

General Assembly Candidate David Anderson will advocate prosperity for Rhode Island again.

Providence, RI – Nearly all Rhode Islanders favor increasing the well being of the state’s residents. Aside from the widespread desire for a clean environment, that “well being” generally means having thriving businesses and jobs that pay well. There are a number of things the state can do to attract and retain businesses and employers. Instead we have a stagnating economy that is held back by high taxes, over regulation, expensive energy, and, in some cases, too much interference from labor unions.

If elected I will sponsor or support legislation aimed at:

Lowering taxes on businesses and individuals. Doing this requires sifting through existing state services to identify which ones are not needed and then for the ones that are necessary finding more efficient means of delivering those services. It also requires replacing taxes with user fees- typically for those services outside of the state’s responsibilities for welfare, healthcare, and education. I will push for legislation to do this. Lower taxes generally translate into higher business profits and higher wages

Managing an optimum regulatory environment. As anyone who has been involved in government regulations knows, we frequently have situations where some business activities are over regulated while in others (such as in the recent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacles) there are insufficient regulations. The 50 states comprise 50 “laboratories” of regulatory “experiments” from which we can learn what seems to work and what doesn’t. I will support legislation funding studies of best practices in this area and subsequently will propose legislation to convert our state regulatory system into one that simultaneously improves the business climate while protecting those at risk. Doing this will attract businesses to our state.

Reducing the cost and expanding the availability of clean energy. I applaud the state’s recent decision to bring wind power to offshore areas in the ocean. Given those regions’ favorable wind characteristics, these installations promise low-cost electrical power with few environmental side effects. When the need develops or when the current gas fired power station is decommissioned, I will work to bring clean, safe and cheap nuclear power to the state. Finally, given the promise of hydrogen as a transportation fuel, I would use off-peak electrical power to run electrolysis plants to generate that hydrogen fuel.

Encouraging the development of a fair and healthy labor market. In a recent press release we advocated the creation of alternative unions for schoolteachers and other unionized employees in the state. While sharing characteristics with right-to-work systems found in many western and southern states, we still want to encourage employees to exercise their rights of free association to form various kinds of unions, guilds and other organizations representative of their trades or professions. It would remove the coercive powers currently held by unions and we think would foster more harmonious relationships with employers.

For more information, contact David Anderson at info [at] andersonforeastside [dot] org or 793-0421.

Previous news releases are available on Dave’s campaign website at http://www.andersonforeastside.org

Rhode Island’s largest conservative organization (and sponsor of this blog), the RHODE ISLAND REPUBLICAN ASSEMBLY, has POSTPONED it’s next monthly meeting, which was scheduled to be held on Thursday, October 2nd. The meeting has been tentatively rescheduled for Thursday, October 9th. More specific information will be announced shortly.

The RIRA is the Rhode Island affiliate of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, a thoughtful national organization of GOP conservatives working to grow and strengthen the Republican Party in the tradition of President Ronald Reagan. This is a dinner meeting, and if you want to eat, you pay for your own meal. Any like-minded conservative Republican is welcome to attend.

For more information, please contact RIRA President Ray McKay at president [at] ri-ra [dot] org or (401) 487-2514 or NFRA Northeast Region Vice President Will Ricci at NEVP [at] ri-ra [dot] org or visit the RIRA web site at http://www.ri-ra.org.

Cringe-tastic! Oh, you’re going to be hearing about this exchange — a lot.

Sen. McCain’s been wearing his bracelet for a long time. He can even remember the soldier’s name on it without looking, too. Imagine that!

Sen. Obama must have gotten a bracelet just in time for the debate, but does he have the matching earrings and necklace? This is prime SNL skit material to be sure.

Kudos again to the McCain campaign’s ad department for their amazing turnaround time getting these videos out. Shows they have a sense of humor, too!

GAME ON!

Sen. John McCain is resuming his campaign activities and will debate Barack Obama Friday night in Mississippi, McCain’s campaign announced two days after the Republican candidate said he would suspend his campaign to deal with a financial rescue plan being debated in Washington.

McCain’s campaign will resume “all activities and the senator will travel to the debate this afternoon. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to ensure that all voices and interests are represented in the final agreement, especially those of taxpayers and homeowners,” the McCain campaign said in a statement released around 11:30 a.m. ET…

Read More: Fox News

Kill the Bill! Kill it today! It deserves to die!

All members of Congress — especially the House Republicans — have been inundated with calls by voters to oppose the Wall Street bailout proposal (in its current form), which is supported by the likes of liberals Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Chris Dodd (need we say more?).

If this bill is so great, let’s graciously allow the Democratic Majority in both Houses of Congress take the credit for cooperating with the president for passing it. The devil is always in the details. Besides being an overt overreach of government into the private sector, this terrible bill provides taxpayer money to far-left radical groups like ACORN for “affordable housing” and could be used to bail out Illegal Aliens, too!

The US Capitol switchboard was lit up on Thursday. Let’s fry it on Friday!

GOP conservatives present rescue alternative

Rep Eric Cantor (R-VA), said the plan would be to remove the burden of the bailout from taxpayers and instead place it, over time, on Wall Street.

“Instead of a purchase scenario where you have the government injecting $700 billion right up front into the markets, what you have here is an insurance plan,” Cantor told reporters. “In order to get this insurance, the banks with these failed assets would have to pay for the government backing, pay for the insurance.”

The plan emerged after it became clear that House Republicans in large numbers weren’t coming around to the approach favored by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, which is to have the government buy up the troubled securities, hold them, and eventually sell them off.

Under the House conservatives’ plan, institutions holding stronger assets would pay lower premiums for the government backing; higher-risk securities would require higher premiums…

The House conservatives’ plan would:

Offer temporary tax relief to free up capital for companies to lend one another.

Temporarily suspend dividend payments by financial institutions.

Require participating firms to disclose to the Treasury Department the value of mortgage assets on their books, private bids on them in the past year and their last audit reports.

Forbid government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from issuing securities on unsound mortgages.

Require the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the performance of credit-rating agencies.

Here are the contact numbers for our local Congressional delegation:

Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) 202-224-4642
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) 202-224-2921
Rep. James R. Langevin (D -02) 202-225-2735
Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy (D -01) 202-225-4911

NO DEAL! (Not just yet)

Have you noticed how Sen. John McCain has slyly managed to totally absorb the news cycle over that last few days, even though he “suspended” his campaign and pulled down all his ads (which means he’s not spending money on them)? Brilliant.

In a mere matter of days, he’s not only managed to reverse a poll slide, but to pull even (or even slightly ahead) in the major polls going into the first debate on Friday. Brilliant.

Did you notice how friendly McCain was with former President Bill Clinton, and vice-versa, at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting on Thursday morning? Sen. Obama skipped it, and spoke to the same group via satellite (presumably using a teleprompter, too). Bill Clinton was certainly very complementary — if not profusely so — towards “his good friend” Sen. John McCain. (Subliminal?) message sent to public. Brilliant.

Sen. McCain even managed to get Gov. Sarah Palin out in front of the public, meeting and greeting the citizens of cosmopolitan New York City, meeting with various world leaders, and spontaneously having her take unfiltered questions from the press. Brilliant.

Sen. John McCain, by going back to Washington, is seen as standing up to President Bush on behalf of the taxpayers, to work towards a better bailout bill. Brilliant.

Will Sen. John McCain attend the Presidential Debate on Friday night? The whole world waits on the edge of its collective seat with baited breath (hee, hee, hee). Brilliant.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say YES, he will attend. However, he might just wait to announce he’s going to attend, until he’s already on the plane to Mississippi. He will then mercilessly berate Sen. Obama’s willingness to “phone it in” and to go along with an ill-conceived plan to waste $700,000,000,000 of taxpayers money, while Sen. McCain can rightly claim to be working hard to save regular taxpayers boatloads of money. Brilliant.

By the way, we’ll probably have the highest rated presidential debate EVER on Friday.

Game. Set. Match.

…And did I say, “Brilliant!”

Pretty cool…

Whitehouse, Ohio — From the helicopter you can see it clearly, Republican vice-presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s face in a corn maze.

Duke Wheeler of Whitehouse, Ohio, who owns the Butterfly House and surrounding farm, said he did it to bring people to the farm this fall.

It wasn’t an easy process.

“We contracted with an artist in Idaho who drew the picture and entered it into a GPS system, flew in and cut it with a John Deere tractor,” Wheeler said. “It took him about 8-10 hours to cut it. We saw it from the helicopter it’s just a great image of her. I think she’d be proud.”

Wheeler expects thousands to come out and check out the corn maze, Butterfly House, and other activities he has planned for the season.

Source: My Fox Detroit

Governor Donald L. Carcieri today announced that Deepwater Wind was chosen as the successful developer to construct a wind energy project off the shores of Rhode Island that will provide 1.3 million megawatt hours per year of renewable energy – 15 percent of all electricity used in the state. It is expected that the project will cost in excess of $1 billion to construct – all from private investment sources. A team of experts assembled by Governor Carcieri spent several months evaluating the detailed proposals submitted by seven development groups.

Deepwater Wind was established to develop utility-scale offshore wind projects in the northeastern part of the United States. The company’s major investors are FirstWind, a major developer of on-shore wind projects in the United States, DE Shaw & Co., a capital investment firm with deep experience in the energy sector, and Ospraie Management, a leading asset management firm with a focus on alternative energy markets.

“Today marks a major step to bring wind power to Rhode Island and to reach our goal of at least 15 percent of all electricity in the state be renewable energy,” said Governor Donald L. Carcieri. “Of the many forms of renewable energy alternatives available, wind is the proven leader. Wind power is clean, green power that is not subject to variations and increases in fuel price. Rhode Island is uniquely positioned to lead the nation with the development of this country’s first off shore wind farm.”

“This is much more than an energy project. This is about creating a new industry in Rhode Island; an industry that puts Rhode Island at the epicenter of the emerging alternative energy market. Deepwater Wind will help bring new economic activity, jobs and opportunity to Rhode Island. From construction through operation, Deepwater Wind projects will provide high-quality, green collar jobs. Further, Deepwater Wind’s jacket foundations are the ideal cost-effective solution for the deeper waters in our region,” continued Carcieri…

Read More: Office of the Governor

Here is Barack Obama’s recent two-minute infomercial, translated into English. Enjoy!