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With a newly minted sixty-vote Democrat majority in the US Senate, the approval of the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is all but assured.
But what isn’t assured is that it won’t cost the Democrats something before all the dust settles.  And that’s up to the Republicans.

Do they have what it takes to make her positions on hot-button issues so toxic that the Democrats from “purple” or “red” states who support her will find themselves in political hot water back home?
Her record represents just such an opportunity.

Before becoming a judge, Sotomayor was a leader of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF), even serving as the Chairman of its Litigation Committee.  And there we get a glimpse of some of the issues she was willing to lend her support to.

On abortion: On two separate occasions, the PRLDEF filed briefs arguing that taxpayer dollars must be used to fund abortions and further argued that restrictions on abortion were analogous to slavery.  They also argued against such modest abortion restrictions as parental notification or waiting periods on abortion.  read more »

Despite the fact that Obama ran for office (as so many Democrats do) saying he wanted to "reduce" the number of abortions, it doesn't seem to have any bearing on his party's support of unlimited taxpayer funding of abortion.  In this case in Washington, DC.

For the past several decades, taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation's capital has been blocked by what has been known as the Dornan Amendment.  But on Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee voted down a pro-life amendment designed to to stop Obam's plan to use taxpayer dollars to fund abortions with taxpayer dollars in DC - in keeping with Obama's direct request.

So much for "reducing" the number of abortions.

As everyone knows, if you want less of something, you tax it.  You want more of something, you subsidize it.  And now we're well on the way to subsidized abortions in DC.

As you can imagine, the NARAL crowd is thrilled:

But Nancy Keenan, the president of NARAL representing the minority of Americans who back the pro-abortion position, commended the members of the panel who voted for abortion funding.

She called prohibiting taxpayer funded abortions in the District of Columbia a "discriminatory policy" and applauded the panel for "follow[ing] President Obama's lead."

Five months after the stimulus bill was passed, we can now say that we’ve witnessed the following under-stimulating results.

Payrolls are falling more than forecast, with employers cutting 467,000 jobs in June, following a 322,000-job decline in May.  Factory jobs fell by 136,000 after falling 156,000 in May.

Unemployment is at 9.5%, the highest level in 15 years, and projected to exceed 10% by the end of 2009.  Some economists expect it to remain at historically high levels for years.

The average workweek is at 33 hours, the lowest in 45 years.

Average weekly earnings are down to $611.

The national debt is $11.5 trillion.  The Congressional Budget Office projects the deficit for 2009 to be almost $2 trillion and for 2010 to be more than $1.4 trillion.

The Treasury is increasing its sale of debt to pay for spending.  Treasury offered $1 trillion in notes and bonds in the first half of 2009 and plans to offer another $1 trillion by the end of 2009.

Colin Powell, of all people, is alarmed that Obama’s spending orgy may be swelling government and the national debt: “I’m concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them…  [We have] a huge, huge national debt that, if we don’t pay for [it] in our lifetime, our kids and grandkids and great-grandchildren will have to pay for…”  Now he tells us!

Jared Bernstein, chief economic advisor to Joe Biden, whose office is managing the stimulus, says, “It’s working, it’s demonstrably working.”  According to Bernstein, $200 billion in stimulus money has already been obligated or spent.  Case closed!  read more »