Indications multiply that those who hoped Barack Obama and the resurgent Democratic Party tidal wave would calm down and \u201cgovern to the center\u201d are about to face a rude awakening. <\/p>\n
On the campaign trail, candidate Obama — whose legislative record showed him to be a gun-grabber of radical degree — toned down his hoplophobia, vowing in soothing tones that he would \u201cnot take away\u201d Americans\u2019 firearms. Yet his just-announced choice for attorney general, Eric Holder, earlier this year signed an amicus brief in the court case District of Columbia vs. Heller, supporting the District\u2019s ban on the use of any firearm for self-defense in the home — as Barack Obama himself supported that patently unconstitutional measure. <\/p>\n
As deputy attorney general, the gun-rights stances of Mr. Holder — who played a key role in the gunpoint, night-time kidnapping of 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez so he could be sent back to Communist Cuba to live with a man who cannot be his natural father, on the grounds someone in his American family might have been licensed to carry a handgun under Florida law — made Janet Reno look like Annie Oakley. <\/p>\n
The man now tapped to become our next Attorney General advocated federal licensing of American handgun owners, a three-day waiting period on handgun sales, and rationing handgun sales to no more than one per month — for starters. <\/p>\n
Not to be outdone in this race to the radical left, congressional Democrats responded in kind Thursday, dumping Rep. John D. Dingell, D-Mich., as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and replacing him with Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. <\/p>\n
The secret ballot among members of the Democratic caucus — the kind of ballot congressional Democrats hope to soon take away from American workers threatened with unionization — swung 137-122 to depart from the chamber\u2019s usual seniority system. <\/p>\n
Congressman Dingell, 82, is hardly a free-market zealot. Nonetheless, he represents greater Detroit and is seen as a champion of the auto business. Skeptical of massive steps to cripple the economy in pursuit of the chimera of \u201cman-made global warming,\u201d he has slowed or blocked action on stricter vehicle emissions standards, fuel-economy improvements and other initiatives to accelerate the \u201cgreen\u201d destruction of the domestic auto industry. <\/p>\n
Congressman Waxman, on the other hand, represents not constituents who manufacture a product made of steel, but rather a town that manufactures dreams. <\/p>\n
And it shows. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhether you agree with him or not, Chairman Dingell has long been respected as an insightful, reasonable and pragmatic legislator,\u201d said Thomas Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a pro-business research group. \u201cThese are not qualities for which Mr. Waxman is known.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pyle said that Waxman probably would bring \u201csweeping changes\u201d to the committee\u2019s focus, \u201cwhich isn\u2019t good news if you\u2019re in the business of American energy or other kinds of free-market commerce.\u201d <\/p>\n
By contrast, environmentalists hailed Waxman\u2019s promotion. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a whole new day for the environment,\u201d cheers Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, an environmental advocacy group. \u201cThe committee through which all major environmental legislation has to pass has gone from someone hostile to environmental protection to a real champion.\u201d <\/p>\n
Rep. Waxman\u2019s selection \u201cwill put him at the center of efforts to advance President-elect Barack Obama\u2019s proposals to curb global warming, develop alternative fuels and expand health insurance coverage,\u201d his hometown Los Angeles Times enthused on Friday. <\/p>\n
Rep. Waxman will not maintain a low profile — he never has. Even when his bailiwick was limited to the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the Ben Turpin look-alike did not hesitate to bask in the camera lights as he hauled everyone from hedge-fund managers to steroid-using baseball players to former spy Valerie Plame through his committee room to testify at high-profile hearings. <\/p>\n
\u201cWaxman\u2019s election suggests that Congress will tackle climate-change legislation next year,\u201d the L.A. Times crowed. \u201cWaxman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate committee on the environment, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have called for tough new limits on emissions from power plants, factories and other pollution sources.\u201d <\/p>\n
By \u201cpollution,\u201d of course, the Times refers primarily to the non-toxic gas carbon dioxide — the stuff Rep. Waxman and his constituents produce when they exhale. <\/p>\n
Most of the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere comes from volcanoes and the oceans, and levels regularly fluctuate every 20,000 years. But the new state religion of Environmentalism (taught in the government youth camps, in blatant violation of the First Amendment) says we must stop burning coal, oil, and natural gas — never mind the effect on our economy — lest we all end up frying like bacon on a griddle. <\/p>\n
Think those edicts in which our regal rulers wave their magic wands and declare what arbitrary percentage of our power \u201cmust\u201d be generated by windmills and solar panels were already a bit wacky? Think your energy bills were already a tad high? <\/p>\n
Hold on, folks. You voted for \u201cchange.\u201d And you ain\u2019t seen nothin\u2019 yet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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