From Red State

To Each His Own

By: Erick Erickson (Diary) | October 18^th

I don’t really care if you want to stand with Mitch McConnell in his re-election. I hope you might go with Matt Bevin, but I’m not going to get worked up over it. I’m excited to support Matt Bevin. Likewise, I’m very pleased to support Chris McDaniel in Mississippi against Thad Cochran, who has been Mississippi’s Senator since I was three years old. But I’m not going to be upset if you don’t.

There is a whole lot of outrage at the Senate Conservatives Fund for endorsing Matt Bevin today. I will personally be sending SCF more money to help with their fight. There was, likewise, a lot of angst over Club for Growth throwing in with Chris McDaniel. I’ll have to remember to send them some money too.  I think many of the Republicans in Washington need to be replaced. It is not that they are liberal and my picks are conservative. It’s that I think we can do better. It’s that I think they have lost touch with their base and many of them have been corrupted by their long tenure in Washington.. . . ‘please click here for the rest of the post’

The Abortion Truce Trap

By: streiff (Diary) | October 18th, 2013

We social conservatives are often counseled to not fight on “divisive” social issues as they are presumed to be losers. Take for instance abortion. As early as 1996, a “truce” was declared within the GOP on the subject to soft pedal opposition to the normalization of in utero infanticide. In an article titled GOP Strikes Truce on Abortion Issue, CNN covered the machinations of the pro-abort faction of the GOP to torpedo the pro-life language in the GOP platform even:. . . ‘please click here for the rest of the post’

Chuck Schumer Introduces the ‘McConnell Rule’

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary) | October 20th, 2013

Last week, I noted that Mitch McConnell’s slick debt ceiling plan would pave the road for permanently abolishing the debt limit, as long as members would get a ceremonial vote of disapproval. Well, it didn’t take long for the idea to grow roots. On Meet the Press, Chuck Schumer, who has enthusiastically praised McConnell for doing his bidding, announced that he would introduce legislation echoing the “McConnell rule.” ‘. . . please click here for the rest of the post ’

The Tea Party vindication

By: John Hayward | October 18th, 2013

Tea Party supporters are supposed to be disheartened by how the great shutdown saga turned out. We’re back where we started, following an expense of political capital that achieved nothing, with polls showing damage to the Republican “brand.” Worse, the balance of power in our representative government has permanently shifted toward the executive branch. The legislature is now virtually powerless. Raising the debt ceiling is a hollow ritual to be performed every few months. Continuing resolutions to fund the no-budget government will continue, on automatic pilot, forever. The House will never dare exert its entirely hypothetical “power of the purse” again.

The oversight functions of the legislature aren’t looking too healthy, either. They hold hearings that never go anywhere, at which Administration officials feel no compulsion to speak honestly, if they even bother to show up. Documents demanded by House committees languish in bureaucratic dungeons for years. Every investigation is stonewalled until the media can declare it “old news.”....... The system has been growing larger, and more corrupt, for a very long time. Power and money have been squirreled away in the dark corners of bureaucratic mazes for decades. The system can defend itself from assault. It has many private-sector supporters, who grow very wealthy by manipulating it.......people on the lower end of the income scale who consider themselves beneficiaries of the system’s generosity as well...... What sane person celebrates such conditions? . . . ‘please click here for the rest of the post ’

Wireless Spectrum: Free Market or Rigged Market?

Guest post by Geoffrey A. Manne

By: Neil Stevens (Diary) | October 18th, 2013

The debates over mobile spectrum aggregation and the auction rules for the FCC’s upcoming incentive auction — like all regulatory rent-seeking — can be farcical. One aspect of the debate in particular is worth highlighting, as it puts into stark relief the tendentiousness of self-interested companies making claims about the public interestedness of their preferred policies: The debate over how and whether to limit the buying and aggregating of lower frequency (in this case 600 MHz) spectrum.

......Two birds, one stone: lower your costs, raise your competitor’s costs.....The lesson is this: If we want 600 MHz spectrum to be used efficiently to provide rural LTE service, we should assume that the highest bidder will make the most valuable use of the spectrum. The experience of the relatively unrestricted 700 MHz auction in 2008 confirms this. The purchase of 700 MHz spectrum by AT&T and Verizon led to the US becoming the world leader in LTE. Why mess with success?. . . ‘please click here for the rest of the post ’