The Sunday 'Report;' 04/22/2012

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Why is Obama Lying About US Oil Reserves?
by MasterResource
oilprice.com
March 20, 2012
“With only 2% of the world’s oil reserves, we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices,” President Barack Obama said in his weekly address March 10. “Not when we consume 20% of the world’s oil.”
The claim is, if not blatantly false, at best grossly misleading. If the President didn’t know this, some advisors should be dismissed. If he did, he needs to accept the blame and formally correct it.
As Investors Business Daily explained,
… the figure Obama uses—proved oil reserves—vastly undercounts how much oil the U.S. actually contains. In fact, far from being oil-poor, the country is awash in vast quantities—enough to meet all the country’s oil needs for hundreds of years.
    The U.S. has 22.3 billion barrels of proved reserves, a little less than 2% of the entire world’s proved reserves, according to the Energy Information Administration. But as the EIA explains, proved reserves “are a small subset of recoverable resources,” because they only count oil that companies are currently drilling for in existing fields.  How much recoverable oil does the U.S. have in addition to the 22.3 billion Obama had in mind? Start with the Green River Formation in Wyoming: 1.4 trillion barrels—sixty-two times as much as Obama counts.  After Green River, it’s almost embarrassing to count other sources: 86 billion on the outer continental shelf; 24 billion [....]
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Why-is-Obama-Lying-About-US-Oil-Reserves.html

Why High Taxes Will Never Soak Rich
by Daniel J. Mitchell
townhall.com
April 18, 2012
    Whether it’s through the Buffett Rule, higher income-tax rates or double taxation of dividends and capital gains, President Obama often demands that “rich” taxpayers and big corporations send more money to Washington.  But as Americans pay their taxes by today’s deadline, we might note that trying to get more money from upper-income taxpayers is like playing whack-a-mole. So long as tax rates are high, rich people will figure out ways to protect their income.
    It doesn’t take a tax genius; any rich person can make a phone call or hit a few computer keys and shift his or her investments to tax-free municipal bonds. It’s not good for the economy when capital gets diverted to help finance the excess spending of Detroit or California, but it’s an effective way of stiff-arming the IRS.
"Work, production, saving and investment are how we generate national income, so it doesn't make sense to discourage taxable income with higher tax rates."  Or the rich can play the [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/danieljmitchell/2012/04/18/why_high_taxes_will_never_soak_rich/page/full/

Warren Buffett is not paying less taxes than his secretary
Staff Report,
Values Voter News

valuesvoternews.com
January, 2012
    When something sounds to radical to be true sometimes it is. I heard this claim some time ago and then Obama is still using it in his speeches and Warren and his secretary were on ABC recently. Unbelievably terrible fact checking done by those who are still promoting this half truth.
True: Warren is taxed at like 15% apparently.
True: His secretary is taxed at about 35%.
This is indeed true. But this is not the whole story. Let us add some further truths.
Also true: Warren's tax is via capital gains.
Also true: His secretary is taxed via income tax.
What does this mean?
Also true: The reason why capital gains are not taxed as high as income tax is because the corporations that Warren invested in were already taxed at 35%.
Also true: To illustrate this further not even Obama's proposals to increase capital gains tax to 20% would make him pay more in taxes than his secretary if one doesn't consider the 35% that has already been taxed via the corporations that Buffett has invested in.
So now that we have considered all taxes we can now see that:
The truth: Warren is taxed at 50%
The truth: His secretary is [....]
http://www.valuesvoternews.com/2012/01/warren-buffett-is-not-paying-less-taxes.html

The U.S. Sugar Program: Bad for Consumers, Bad for Agriculture, and Bad for America
by Bryan Riley,
heritage.org

April 18, 2012
    More Government interference in the sugar market hurts consumers and food manufacturers by driving up the price of sugar, threatening competitive farmers and ranchers by jeopardizing export growth, and weakening the U.S. economy by diverting resources from more competitive uses. This Depression-era program, which was supposed to end in 1940, has outlived its intended lifespan by 72 years.[1] It should be abolished.
How Trade Barriers Increase Sugar Prices
    The U.S. government artificially inflates sugar prices by imposing quotas that cap the amount that food manufacturers and consumers in the United States can buy from producers in other countries. If a bakery or a candy company wants to import [....]
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/04/us-sugar-program-bad-for-consumers-agriculture-and-america

Turkey's Strategy
by George Friedman,
STRATfor.com
April 17, 2012
    Turkey is re-emerging as a significant regional power. In some sense, it is in the process of returning to its position prior to World War I when it was the seat of the Ottoman Empire. But while the Ottoman parallel has superficial value in understanding the situation, it fails to take into account changes in how the global system and the region work. Therefore, to understand Turkish strategy, we need to understand the circumstances it finds itself in today.
    The end of World War I brought with it the end of the Ottoman Empire and the contraction of Turkish sovereignty to Asia Minor and a strip of land on the European side of the Bosporus. That contraction relieved Turkey of the overextended position it had tried to maintain as an empire stretching from the Arabian Peninsula to the Balkans. In a practical sense, defeat solved the problem of Turkey's strategic interests having come to outstrip its power. After World War I, Turkey realigned its interests to its power. Though the country was much smaller, it was also much less vulnerable than the Ottoman Empire had been.
The Russia Problem
    At the same time, a single thread connected both periods: the fear of Russia. For its part, Russia suffered from a major [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/turkeys-strategy?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120417&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=2315eb19173444f18d819ed4588470ce

Secret Service looking into Ted Nugent violent anti-Obama message

by Olivier Knox
White House Correspondent
The Ticket
April 17, 2012
    The U.S. Secret Service is looking into a violent rant by "Cat Scratch Fever" rocker Ted Nugent in which he denounced President Barack Obama and his top advisers as "evil" and urged National Rifle Association members to help "chop their heads off in November." 
"I'll tell you this right now: If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, again, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year," Nugent said. "We need [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/secret-looking-ted-nugent-violent-anti-obama-message-225142639.html

[Related Content]
Military Cancels Ted Nugent Performance Citing Violent Rhetoric About Obama

by The Hollywood Reporter
April 21, 2012    Getting the boot from Fort Knox is the latest wrinkle in a controversy that began last weekend at an NRA convention and led to a visit from the Secret Service.  Citing inflammatory language while expressing his displeasure with President Barack Obama, the military has uninvited rock star and conservative political activist Ted Nugent from performing at Fort Knox in Kentucky, according to the U.S. Army post's Facebook page.  "After learning of opening act Ted Nugent's recent public comments about the president of the United States, Fort Knox leadership decided to cancel his performance on the installation," it's Facebook posting says.
    So far, the June 23 concert remains on the Fort Knox schedule, with REO Speedwagon and Styx listed as "co-headliners," but army personnel said they will grant requests for refunds in light of their decision to nix the opening act.  The cancellation is the latest wrinkle in a controversy that [....]
http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/stop-the-presses/military-cancels-ted-nugent-performance-citing-violent-rhetoric-171841819.html

Romney’s budget plan shouldn’t be a secret saved for wealthy donors

Staff Report,
yahoo.com
Tue, Apr 17, 2012
    The Sunday night slipup by Mitt Romney’s Florida advance team illustrates why presidential campaigns are as obsessed with tiny details as the creators of “Mad Men.” With its imposing stone gateway and ivy-covered walls, the waterfront home of financier Jerry Jordan seemed the perfect secluded spot for Romney to hold a no-press-allowed, $50,000-a-person fundraising dinner. But in this political version of “The Palm Beach Story,” Romney’s hush-hush speech was overheard by reporters from the Wall Street Journal and NBC News who adroitly planted themselves on the public sidewalk outside the mansion.
    During the long run-up until November, we are facing nearly seven months of Teleprompter Politics when virtually every syllable uttered by Romney and President Barack Obama will reflect the artistry of pollsters and spinmeisters. That is why the only salvation for voters who [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/romney%E2%80%99s-budget-plan-shouldn%E2%80%99t-be-a-secret-saved-for-wealthy-donors.html

Record Number Of U.S. Citizens Renounce Citizenship In 2011

by Bryan Nash,
Personal Liberty Digest
April 18, 2012
    The number of people who renounced their citizenship in 2011 is more than the total for 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined.Last year, at least 1,788 people renounced their U.S. citizenship; many of them did so due to heavy taxation.  In actuality, the number is probably higher. The Internal Revenue Service releases the names of those who give up their citizenship (referred to as “name and shame”), and some who renounced say they haven’t seen their name on the list yet. The IRS began listing former citizens in 1998; last year’s number set a record.  In recent times, more and more citizens have given up their citizenship. The number of people who did so in 2011 is more than the total for 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined.  Most commonly, Americans living abroad are the ones who renounce their citizenship. Few countries tax their citizens [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/04/18/record-number-of-u-s-citizens-renounce-citizenship-in-2011/?eiid=

President Flip Flop: Barack Obama’s Broken Promises, Policy Reversals and Continuous Flip Flops

by Allen Ginzburg,
therightsphere.com
April 16, 2012
    President Obama’s reelection campaign has accused Mitt Romney of being a flip-flopper that changes his positions all the time. In actuality, it is the President himself who has a history of doing just that. Here is an extensive list ofn President Obama’s flip-flops, hypocrisies and broken promises:
Running for President
The very first flip-flop that Obama committed since running for President is actually running for the office in 2008. Obama said in 2004 that he would not run for President in the next election. Based on what has happened in the last 3 years, this is one promise that most Americans would likely prefer he had kept.
Taxes & Spending
Adding Debt & Raising the Debt Ceiling
As a Senator, Obama opposed raising the debt ceiling, and said adding 4 trillion in was ”unpatriotic”. As President, he insisted the debt ceiling be raised and has added substantially more than 4 trillion to the debt.
Bush Tax Cuts
In 2008, Obama said that, as President, he would repeal the Bush tax cuts for the rich. In 2010, he extended those cuts.  [....]
http://www.therightsphere.com/2012/04/president-flip-flop-barack-obamas-broken-promises-policy-reversals-and-continuous-flip-flops/

Olympic marathon cup from 1896 sells for record price at auction

by Chris Chase
Fourth-Place Medal
April 19, 2012
    The cup awarded to the first Olympic marathon winner sold for a record $868,000 at an auction this week in London.  Greek farmer Spiridon Louis earned the Breal Cup for winning the marathon at the 1896 Olympics in Athens. The grandson of the national hero put the artifact up for sale.  Christie's auction house said that there was a "heated" battle between six bidders for the cup. The eventual winner was a Greek foundation that plans to make the cup a centerpiece of a cultural center set to open in 2015.
    The final sale price was more than double the previous high auction price for a piece of Olympics memorabilia. Last year, a torch from the 1952 Helsinki Games was sold for $400,000 in Paris.  The cup was named after Michel Breal, a French linguist who suggested in 1894 that the first modern Olympics include the marathon, the famed race from ancient Greek texts. Breal offered up the cup as part of his proposal.  Louis outlasted 16 competitors [....]
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/olympic-marathon-cup-1896-sells-record-price-auction-195928469.html

Ohio baseball player can’t walk at graduation after caring for cancer-stricken mother

by Cameron Smith,
yahoo.com
Pep Rally
April 16, 2012
    A 17-year-old varsity baseball player in Ohio is being banned from walking at his own graduation for racking up two too many unexcused absences. While those circumstances might be considered the fault of the athlete in most cases, Carrollton (Ohio) High senior Austin Fisher's case is a rather extraordinary one: His absences were all brought on by time he spent caring for his mother, who has spent the past six years battling breast cancer.
    As reported by Cleveland Fox affiliate WJW, Fisher has missed 16 days during his senior year, none of which have technically been excused. The Carrollton school district [....]
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/ohio-baseball-player-t-walk-graduation-caring-forcancer-102922017.html

Mexico's Plan to Create a Paramilitary Force
by Scott Stewart,
STRATfor.com
April 19, 2012
    Institutional Revolutionary Party presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, the front-runner in the lead-up to Mexico's presidential election in July, told Reuters last week that if elected, he would seek to increase the size of the current Mexican federal police force. Pena Nieto also expressed a desire to create a new national gendarmerie, or paramilitary police force, to use in place of the Mexican army and Marine troops currently deployed to combat the heavily armed criminal cartels in Mexico's most violent hot spots. According to Pena Nieto, the new gendarmerie force would comprise some 40,000 agents.  As Stratfor has previously noted, soldiers are not optimal for law enforcement functions. The use of the military in this manner has produced accusations of human rights abuses and has brought criticism and political pressure on the administration of President Felipe Calderon. However, while the Calderon administration greatly increased the use of the military in the drug war, it was not the first administration in Mexico to deploy the military in this manner. Even former President Vicente Fox, who declared war on the cartels in 2001, was not the first to use the military in this manner. For many decades now, the Mexican government has used the military in counternarcotics operations, and the Mexican military has been used periodically to combat criminals and bandits in Mexico's wild and expansive north for well over a century.
    In recent years, Mexico has had very little choice but to use the military against the cartels due to the violent nature of the cartels themselves and the rampant corruption in many municipal and state police forces. The creation of a new paramilitary police force would provide the Mexican government with a new option, allowing it to remove the military from law enforcement functions. But such a plan would be very expensive and would require the consent of both houses of the Mexican Congress, which could pose political obstacles. But perhaps the most difficult task will be creating a new police force not susceptible to the corruption that historically has plagued Mexican law enforcement agencies.
Paramilitary Police Forces
The concept of a paramilitary police force is not new. Such police forces have existed for years in Europe in the form of the Carabinieri in Italy, the Guardia Civil in Spain and Gendarmerie Nationale in France. As the name of the Italian paramilitary police agency implies, such police normally were [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/mexicos-plan-create-paramilitary-force?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120419&utm_term=sweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=b2774c3bdf80460eaa5f6160b3c0367c
International Conference on Climate Change
Staff Report
Heartland.org
Follow @HeartlandInst on Twitter.
(Undated Material)
    The Heartland Institute’s Seventh International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC-7) will take place in Chicago, Illinois from Monday, May 21 to Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at the Hilton Chicago Hotel, 720 South Michigan Avenue. The event will follow the NATO Summit taking place in Chicago on May 19–21.
We hope you can attend.
The previous ICCC to take place in Chicago, ICCC-5 in 2010, attracted nearly 800 scientists, policy experts, elected officials, journalists, and other guests. We expect another large turn-out due to recent developments in the international debate over climate change, a line-up of outstanding speakers, and the global focus on Chicago due to the NATO Summit.
    This conference is open to the public. Register to attend this event by visiting the conference sign-up form. Reporters, bloggers and documentary filmmakers may request credentials at the media sign-up form. Federal, state, and local elected officials may attend for free by contacting John Nothdurft at 312/377-4000 or jnothdurft@heartland.org.
Real Science, Real Choices
This year’s theme is “Real Science, Real Choices.” Our goal is to feature approximately 60 scientists and policy experts speaking at plenary sessions and on three tracks of concurrent panel sessions exploring what real climate science is telling us about the causes and consequences of climate change, and the real consequences of choices being made based on the current perceptions of the state of climate science.  Major developments on the science front since the last ICCC took place include publication of a new report by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) updating its 2009 report, Climate Change Reconsidered, and a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on climate change and extreme weather events.  The past year was marked by major retreats in the U.S. and other developing nations from government [....]
http://climateconference.heartland.org/

Hurrah for the One and his One Percent!

by John Ransom
townhall.com
April 17, 2012    When GE announced at the end of February that it would be bailing out General Motor’s green car strategy by ordering 12,000 electric-gasoline powered Chevy Volts for their fleet, it was more than just Government Electric doing a solid for Government Motors doing a solid for the Government Owners in the Obama administration.  Rather it was an admission of failure by the monetization arm of the Green Conspiracy to control market behavior.
Note: This column was orginally run March 6, 2012. But it was so darn good that I had to run it again ;-)
    While GM bet that Volt would be “a magnet around everything we are trying to do to showcase our brand,” so far it’s been a millstone for the government-controlled car company. GE, for their part, has been buying up alternative electric schemes around the country to support what they suppose will be burgeoning demand for electric power, fueled by electric cars, fueled by federal tax dollars.  Yet new data indicates that consumers are getting tired of the green-sales hard-sell by corporations, governments and general do-gooders.  Because, despite years of governments, corporations and general do-gooders spending huge dollars on marketing, public relations and soft sales to get consumers to accept “green,” it turns out that 99% percent of Americans still do what makes the most economic sense for themselves and their families.
Hurrah for the One and his One Percent!
And economic sense doesn’t [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/04/17/hurrah_for_the_one_and_his_one_percent/page/full/


How Hilary Rosen saved Barack Obama from a more damaging episode

by Jeff Greenfield,
Yahoo! News
April 17, 2012
    Hilary Rosen’s snark at Ann Romney may have sent President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign reaching for the Maalox, but she may have done it a major favor. The dust-up obscured a far more dangerous burst of friendly fire, one that illustrates one of the few reliable rules of political warfare.
On Saturday, as the Sunday talk shows were readying their “war-on-mothers” programs, the New York Times published an op-ed article arguing that the Obama administration’s assertion about the cost of its health care programs was flat-out wrong. While arguing that Republican proposals “would eviscerate Medicare rather than preserve it,” the author, Steve Rattner, also charged that the administration was “double-counting’” about $1 trillion, asserting that the same trillion dollars would pay for new programs and bend the Medicare cost curve.
“The truth,” Rattner said, “is that the law will either be fully paid for or it will begin to address the Medicare problem--but not both.”
    What’s eye-opening is not so much the assertion--congressional Republicans have regularly pummeled Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s secretary of health and human services, on this point—but [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/how-hilary-rosen-saved-barack-obama-from-a-more-damaging-scandal.html;_ylt=Av08RK0jU0OIWr_InQRaSISbCMZ_;_ylu=X3oDMTFobDF0N3FnBG1pdANCbG9nIEJvZHkEcG9zAzQEc2VjA01lZGlhQmxvZ0JvZHlUZW1wQXNzZW1ibHk-;_ylg=X3oDMTNjMDF0ZWdrBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDMzM1M2U3MDgtZTZmMS0zZjQ1LTg5ODgtN2RmNTQyMmQyMTU2BHBzdGNhdANvcmlnaW5hbHN8dGhldGlja2V0BHB0A3N0b3J5cGFnZQR0ZXN0Aw--;_ylv=3
Holder Meets Sharpton
The attorney general heaps praise on an infamous huckster.
by Andrew C. McCarthy,
nationalreview.com
April 14, 2012 
    Eric Holder rode in on the stench of Marc Rich and will ride out on the stench of Al Sharpton. He’s spent the three-plus years in between branding Americans as “cowards” on race matters; investigating the CIA; coddling CAIR and the New Black Panthers; green-lighting voter fraud; swaddling Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in the Bill of Rights; and converting the Justice Department into a full-employment program for the Lawyer Left and its Gitmo boutique. But now he’s hit the big time.
    This week, our esteemed attorney general canoodled with Reverend Al at the annual convention of the “National Action Network,” home base for the infamous huckster (that would be Sharpton, not Holder — sorry for any confusion). It is difficult to imagine  [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/296005/holder-meets-sharpton-andrew-c-mccarthy

George Washington voted Britain's greatest enemy commander

by Angus MacSwan,
Reuters
April 15, 2012
LONDON (Reuters) - American revolutionary leader George Washington has been voted the greatest enemy commander to face Britain, lauded for his spirit of endurance against the odds and the enormous impact of his victory.  In a contest organised by the National Army Museum, Washington triumphed over Irish independence hero Michael Collins, France's Napoleon Bonaparte, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.
    Making the case for Washington, historian Stephen Brumwell said the American War of Independence (1775-83) was "the worst defeat for the British Empire ever."
"His personal leadership was crucial," he said.
Washington was a courageous and inspirational battlefield commander who led from the front but also had the skills to deal with his political counterparts in Congress and with his French allies, Brumwell said. Above all, he never gave up even when [....]
http://news.yahoo.com/george-washington-voted-britains-greatest-enemy-commander-153037718.html

Criminal Law Will Go On

by Joe Luppino-Esposito,
heritage.org
April 11, 2012
    Everywhere you turn, there’s no escaping the 100 year commemoration of the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic. The film is back in the theaters—in 3D no less. There are television specials and new books coming out every day this week. And Congress is passing a federal criminal law to protect the sunken ship. The latter fact might be more confounding than the reasons why “Rose” tossed her gigantic diamond necklace into the ocean at the end of the Oscar-winning 1997 film.
    Former Democrat Presidential Candidate and Senator John Kerry (D-MA) is sponsoring S. 2279: R.M.S. Titanic Maritime Memorial Preservation Act of 2012. This bill makes it a federal crime, punishable by up to five years imprisonment, to disturb, remove or injure Titanic property; engage in activities that threaten public safety; sell, purchase, barter, or import Titanic property, including human remains; or to enter the hull of the sunken vessel.  There is no denying that the “right thing to do” is to try to protect the site for historical reasons, as well as out [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/04/11/criminal-law-will-go-on/

Missouri Republican Assembly No Longer Stands Up for Conservative Values
by 'Bungalow Bill,'
http://bungalowbillscw.blogspot.com
April 20,2012
    The verbiage of the Missouri Republican Assembly's Web page recently caught my eye. On their home page they lay out the mission of the Missouri Republican Assembly.
The Missouri Republican Assembly (MRA) is a member of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies. The MRA works to unite conservatives, both economic and social, whose interests range from tax cuts and reform to national defense, from pro-life to education concerns, from Second Amendment to national sovereignty, and for the advancement of traditional Republican values.
    Unite is a funny word when you consider the recent actions of the 7th MRA President Scott Magill over the past month. After getting beat by a group of Constitutional conservatives at the Greene County Caucus who gave Ron Paul a win, Magill sent an e-mail out to members that is anything but a symbol of conservatives uniting.  Although I have reservations of a meeting on Holy Saturday, we will have a "laid back" meeting this Sat. Justin Hill will be present to discuss the Greene County caucus. We will discuss all 7th Dist Caucus's as well as the upcoming 7th Dist Caucus. Included in this discussion will be how damaged was the conservative community by the Greene and Tanny results.
    Now how do you call yourself an organization that united conservatives when you are using language like this attacking conservatives who showed up and supported Constitutional conservative Ron Paul, who has never voted for a federal government spending increase, new taxes, is pro-life, wants to reform the Department of Defense, has spoken out against the United Nations entering our schools [....]
http://bungalowbillscw.blogspot.com/2012/04/missouri-republican-assembly-no-longer.html
Until Next Sunday....