“Caterpillar” on The Daily Caller

BULLITT County, Ky. — Meet the voters at the bi-annual Knob Creek machine gun shoot: They can’t stand Democrats, are weary of Republicans and are still reserving judgment of the Tea Party – at best. (more)

A little over a year ago, venture capitalist John Doerr — of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byer (KPCB) — and General Electric CEO Jeffery Immelt asked, in an op-ed for the Washington Post, how the U.S was going to catch up to China in the world of green innovation and renewable energy technology? (more)

The General and the Dog Robber (more)

The inevitable pictures of pelicans covered in oil finally surfaced, solidifying this oil spill as the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. We have not seen this many pictures of unintelligent animals covered in oil since the first season of “Jersey Shore.” (more)

Just before the House passed the healthcare reform bill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi infamously remarked that “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it.” It’s been nearly six weeks now and we’re finding out that what’s in it isn’t necessarily good for health care. (more)

When Barack Obama played Monopoly as a kid, I can only imagine he did not carefully cultivate a business reputation and earn enough money to buy properties on Boardwalk and Park Place. He probably created a special Democratic version of Monopoly, [intlink id="236613" type="post"]the Hugo Chavez Edition[/intlink], where he would denounce the owners of properties as “greedy and mean” and then simply legislate himself control of those enterprises—for the “greater good,” mind you. The “greater good,” of course, is the perpetuation of his power.
As long as he can conjure up envy from 51 percent of the population, he can take from the more productive 49 percent, thus creating a culture of dependency. The more people need you, the greater your tributary of votes in the next election. It is sad that the rugged individualists who built this country have slowly been replaced by “hitchhikers of virtue,” as Ayn Rand described them in Atlas Shrugged.
Aside from expanding the misguided policies of the Bush administration by taking over automobile companies, firing CEOs and inserting his own operatives, Obama has bullied financial companies and taken control of one-sixth of the economy with a nefarious health care vote he had to buy from his own party (Louisiana Purchase, Cornhusker Kickback, etc.). His government now has quietly taken complete control of the $72 billion student loan lending business, outlawing any private lending in that area.
Obama has been a strange agent of the “change” he promised. He quickly “changed” Washington, D.C., into [intlink id="669123" type="post"]a corrupt, Chicago-style, political strong-arming system[/intlink] of graft, self-dealing, intimidation and payoffs.
Obama found the Bush administration’s wasteful spending on unnecessary wars of choice and prescription drug entitlements to be a good start. He set out to ramp up the pace, enlisting the audacity of dopes to rack up a record $3.2 trillion in national debt in his first six months. In just five years, the Obama-Pelosi-Reid triumvirate will run up another $10.5 trillion in debt, as much as it took every President from George Washington through Dubya Bush to accumulate.
Harry Reid looks like a creepy operator. He reminds me of the only proctologist in town who takes your insurance, and Nancy Pelosi is like his wife who works at the practice keeping two sets of books.
Obama’s Washington has impressed many in the world including Fidel Castro, who applauds his efforts. Even the Somali pirates are so taken by his boldness that they have asked to send some of their pirate trainees to Washington to intern with the Obama administration this summer. (more)

Editor’s Note: Daily Caller High is a group of young writers cutting their teeth in the world of political punditry. This week, the authors’ reflect on events of the past few days. (more)

In the aftermath of World War II, the U.S. Senate War Investigating Committee called hearings in an attempt to publicly shame and excoriate industrial titan Howard Hughes. Hughes was accused of wasting taxpayer money on his F-11 and HK-1 projects. The hearings backfired as the stubborn Hughes accused the Senators of corruption and blackmail and of being beholden to his competitors, and he detailed the millions of his own dollars he spent on these projects.
The committee, embarrassed by the unexpectedly effective defiance of the infamous recluse, disbanded without filing a report. (more)

Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican who chairs the GOP’s Senate campaign committee, says “Democrat elites” are missing the “real story” when it comes to the health care bill just passed by Congress. (more)

Last week, Rep. Henry Waxman demanded that AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, and Deere & Co. justify their claims about the “costs the companies plan to book related to the new health-care law.” According to Business Week, “Dallas-based AT&T said in a regulatory filing yesterday it would record $1 billion of costs, the most of any U.S. company so far. AT&T previously received a tax-free benefit from the government to subsidize health-care costs for retirees. Under the new bill, AT&T will no longer be able to deduct that subsidy.” (more)

Several weeks ago, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the health care bill had to be passed so “you can know what’s in it.” Conservatives pounced on the opportunity to hammer her, and the clip soon became a laughingstock. (more)

Dow Jones Newswires | Caterpillar Inc. said the health-care overhaul legislation being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives would increase the company’s health-care costs by more than $100 million in the first year alone. (more)

Congress dragged Toyota to Washington to testify in one of the indignant show trials they so love. I wish they would subpoena themselves and bring Congress before a Senate hearing, under oath and under the hot lights of TV cameras. Then we might get to the roots of most problems in America: too much government intervention, confusing rules, and second-guessing politicians. (more)