From JONATHAN MARTIN

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she was resigning her office later this month, a stunning decision that could free her to run for president more easily but also raises questions about her political standing at home.

Palin disclosed the surprise news Friday afternoon from her home in Wasilla with her husband, Todd, and Lt. Governor Sean Parnell, who the governor said would take over the state on Saturday, July 25th.

With the passage of the hideous Cap-n-Trade bill, otherwise known as the Waxman-Markey bill, in the House of Representatives last week and Dave Hinz insertion of a great article by Matt Tiabbi called The Great American Bubble Machine into his Morning Coffee post today, I thought I’d continue my series on the coming Carbon Bubble.

First lets explore Goldman-Sachs history with financial bubbles and the way in which they, when not causing them, are always positioned perfectly to profit from them using a technique called Problem-Action-Reaction-Solution!

Tonight we will do Italian Tomatoes live from Long Island, as I have returned to the scenses of my yute, as cousin Vinnie would say. We will discuss the news of the day, including cap&trade, Franken, Honduras and the rising unemployment numbers. Plus a tribute to Mollie Sugden, aka Mrs. Slocombe, who passed away this week at age 86.

Tune in at 9PM Eastern, 8P Central:

The DNC thinks because McConnell doesn’t support Marxist policies put forth by the Obama administration that somehow Kentuckians should be up in arms and angry with the Senate Minority Leader

I love the way they use “create and protect jobs”… sounds a lot like the excuses Obama uses in defending his Stimulus epic Fail!

OurCountryPAC new Ad

For the Past two years the friendly skies have gotten a lot friendlier… on our dime!

A new report out today show a 50% jump in CODEL’s since they took control of Congress just over two years ago.

Spending by lawmakers on taxpayer-financed trips abroad has risen sharply in recent years, a Wall Street Journal analysis of travel records shows, involving everything from war-zone visits to trips to exotic spots such as the Galápagos Islands.

The spending on overseas travel is up almost tenfold since 1995, and has nearly tripled since 2001, according to the Journal analysis of 60,000 travel records. Hundreds of lawmakers traveled overseas in 2008 at a cost of about $13 million. That’s a 50% jump since Democrats took control of Congress two years ago.

The cost of so-called congressional delegations, known among lawmakers as “codels,” has risen nearly 70% since 2005, when an influence-peddling scandal led to a ban on travel funded by lobbyists, according to the data.

Of course, “Lawmakers say that the trips are a good use of government funds because they allow members of Congress and their staff members to learn more about the world” sure, I mean, just because you all have to learn to tighten your belts in order to get by in this horrible economy, doesn’t mean my staff and I have to do the same!!! Go back to your American Idol and Big Brother shows…. nothing to see here!!!

The disconnect between this government and it’s people are widening at and alarming rate and my view is that by the time the government figures it out - it’s going to be too late for them and they’ll be packing their cushy offices in D.C. for home!

It’s fascinating the way in which the war of words over Heath Care Reform is being played out here in America. People on both sides of the issue feverishly debating the merits of their case while the folks in the middle worry about yet another massive spending bill and the prospect of loosing control of their health care. Many nuanced arguments are finding their way from the pundits “on air” studios to our kitchen tables but one striking issue that seems to be intentionally left out of the Heath Care Debate this time around is the immense cost we as Americans spend annually to cover illegal aliens heath needs.

In California alone, according to a 2004 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, that number is on the order of $1.4 billion and rising!

The fact is undocumented immigrants are driving up the number of people without health insurance. USAToday cites “The Pew Hispanic Center estimates that 59% of the nation’s illegal immigrants are uninsured compared with 25% of legal immigrants and 14% of U.S. citizens. Illegal immigrants represent about 15% of the nation’s 47 million uninsured people.”

With numbers like that is little wonder why this administration is conveniently leaving this out of the national discussion and trying their best to keep a lid on it. Although personally popular President Obama knows, given the extreme reaction to the so-called comprehensive immigration reform tried in the past, if this issue becomes the focus of the debate… this bill is doomed to fail.