March 3

Morning Briefing for March 3, 2011.

1. The Passion Deficit

2. A Note to Labor Secretary Solis: Collective Bargaining Has No Place in Government

3. Secretary Chu’s Insidious Economics of Energy

4. Collective bargaining reform passes Ohio Senate.

5. Eminent domain in Texas: still work to be done.

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1. The Passion Deficit

Now comes news that House Republican Leader Eric Cantor (R.-Va.) is refusing to commit that the Pence amendment to defund Planned Parenthood will be in the final version of the bill which will fund the government for the rest of the year -– the “long-term continuing resolution.”

This, despite the fact that Planned Parenthood, which performs 324,000 abortions a year, could, according to some insiders, collapse if denied the $350 million it annually receives in taxpayer dollars.

So, given a Schindler’s list with 324,000 names, why would anyone who believes the unborn are human beings not move heaven and earth to protect them?

Said Cantor: “…we’re trying to demonstrate right now that we don’t want to see a [government] shutdown…”

Really!

In fact, the House had, weeks earlier, passed its version of a resolution to fund the government through the remainder of the fiscal year –- until September 30, 2011. If government funding is not yet guaranteed -– if a shutdown has not been rendered impossible — it is because Harry Reid and Barack Obama refuse to consider the House’s resolution because it contains provisions unacceptable to them, such as defunding ObamaCare.

But hold on a minute: Cantor and his colleagues campaigned on the promise that they would repeal ObamaCare –- or at least defund it.

And, if the criterion of Cantor, House Speaker John Boehner, and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is the avoidance of any issue that will trigger an Obama veto, then they have raised the white flag before the battle has even begun.

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2. A Note to Labor Secretary Solis: Collective Bargaining Has No Place in Government

This past weekend, when ethically-challenged U.S. Secretary Hilda Solis told a cheering DNC crowd that “the fight is on” (referring to the Battle of Wisconsin) she openly declared her devotion to union bosses, as well as her disdain for the 88% of Americans who are union-free and stuck with the tab. Though it shouldn’t be a surprise as Solis was a board member of the American Rights at Work—the union “shadow group” mouthpiece pushing the hallucinogenically-named Employee Free Choice Act—while she served in Congress, such a blatant provocation on behalf of a particular constituency from an official in a cabinet-level position is a good reminder of just how far America has fallen.

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3. Secretary Chu’s Insidious Economics of Energy

Yesterday, Energy Secretary Steven Chu reiterated his insouciance to the plight of the American consumer of oil and gas. Chu told members of the Senate Budget Committee that there is no need to tap into the Strategic Petroleum Reserves because it will be corrected by spare world oil capacity:

“we have spare capacity, we expect naturally that the market forces will take care of this.” “But we are concerned and we will watch it very carefully.”

Well, it is nice to know that Chu actually has faith in the free market. It is just a shame that the market of “spare capacity” is controlled by Saudi Arabia and not our own energy production- thanks to Chu and his boss. Imagine if George Bush had refused to release the Strategic Petroleum Reserves in 2006 out of deference to the market forces.

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4. Collective bargaining reform passes Ohio Senate.

The bill is SB5, and it will limit future collective bargaining for Ohio state employees to base salary: it passed the Ohio Senate with a one-vote margin (all hail the power of having a strong enough majority to allow you breathing room: elections matter, folks*). The bill now goes to the House, where the GOP has a 59-40 advantage: and a simple majority constitutes a quorum in the Ohio legislature, which means that the bill will likewise almost certainly pass there with sufficient margin to permit a defection or two. Governor Kasich will of course sign the bill once it is law.

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5. Eminent domain in Texas: still work to be done.

Texas seems to be at or near the top of about every major ranking of the states one can find: jobs created, Fortune 500 companies, attracting new business, and overall economic performance. We may even be the national leader in lawsuits against the federal government.

However, one area where Texas notoriously lags behind: the protection of private property rights.