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Rage and Ruin in the Reign of the EPA
Olson’s comment specifically addressed the Hydraulic Fracturing Study requested by Congress as a part of the FY 2010 appropriations bill, which states: [....]
Toronto Schools Hit Churches With Up to 400% Rental Increases, Leave Most Other Group Rates in Place
by Billy Hallowell,
theblaze.com
September 13, 2012
Is Christianity in America under attack?
This is a question that many faith-based advocates have been asking over the past few years, particularly in the wake of the federal government‘s controversial contraceptive mandate and atheists’ ongoing attacks on religious symbols.
One prominent piece of anecdotal evidence unfolded when churches in New York City found themselves in an epic battle with the government over renting space in public schools last year. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city officials fought to ban the houses of worship from using the public space, churches won an injunction against the city earlier this summer. Now, there’s a new battle up north, where faith leaders in Toronto, Canada, are facing [....]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/toronto-schools-hit-churches-with-up-to-400-rental-increases-leave-most-other-group-rates-in-place/This is a question that many faith-based advocates have been asking over the past few years, particularly in the wake of the federal government‘s controversial contraceptive mandate and atheists’ ongoing attacks on religious symbols.
One prominent piece of anecdotal evidence unfolded when churches in New York City found themselves in an epic battle with the government over renting space in public schools last year. While Mayor Michael Bloomberg and city officials fought to ban the houses of worship from using the public space, churches won an injunction against the city earlier this summer. Now, there’s a new battle up north, where faith leaders in Toronto, Canada, are facing [....]
The Obama Campaign’s Litany of Lies
by Chip Wood,
September 7, 2012
Who's really telling the lies?
Man, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Flacks for President Barack Obama are going absolutely ballistic at Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, denouncing them as liars and implying they are thieves, felons and even murderers.Who's really telling the lies?
And then they have the nerve to accuse Romney and Ryan of running a dirty campaign!
What’s even more disgusting is how their lapdogs in the mainstream media faithfully repeat every new accusation — while never coming within a country mile of holding Obama or Vice President Joe Biden to the same standard. It’s almost enough to make you think you’ve stumbled into a Will McAvoy rant on “The Newsroom.”
I’ll get to all the fuss and fury about Ryan’s auto-plant remarks in a moment. But first let me ask you, what do you think has been Obama’s biggest lie since he took office nearly four years ago?
There sure has been a bunch to choose from. Some were ridiculous, or at least extremely unlikely, when he made them. I’ll put his promise to [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/07/the-obama-campaigns-litany-of-lies/
How Much Does the U.N. Cost Us?
The OMB should be permanently involved in assessing the cost of the United Nations.
nationalreview.com
September 14, 2012
Most everyone knows the United States is the largest contributor to the United Nations and its affiliated funds, programs, and specialized agencies. But nailing down precisely how much we pay into the U.N. system every year is no easy task. Although most U.S. contributions come from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, hundreds of millions of dollars also flow into the U.N. system from other parts of the federal government. For instance, the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides funding to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Department of Energy gives money to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Department of Health and Human Services supports the World Health Organization.
Given the complexity of the funding flow, no definitive tally of total U.S. contributions to the U.N. system was available prior to 2006. Until then, estimates relied on incomplete State Department data. That changed when Senator Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) asked former OMB director Rob Portman for a comprehensive report on total U.S. contributions to the U.N. system for fiscal years 2001 through 2005. Because OMB is in charge of overseeing the preparation of the president’s budget, it was in a position to require all parts of the U.S. government to report the requested information. The first report was an eye-opener. The OMB calculated that [....]http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/316577/how-much-does-un-cost-us-brett-d-schaefer#
Will Democrats Booing God Cost Obama The Election?
by Chip Wood,
Personal Liberty Digest
September 14, 2012
What a weird Democratic National Convention! The two most popular speakers by far — Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton — aren’t running for office. And the man who is supposed to be the Master Orator of the 21st Century, Barack Obama, gave one of the flattest, most disappointing talks of his career.
More on that in a moment. First, I’ll discuss what had to be the strangest moment of a very strange convention: The bungled effort to change the Democratic Party platform after it had been approved.
It all began when the people framing the party platform decided to delete all references to God. If allowed to stand, it would have marked the first time the Creator was not acknowledged in the platform of either major political party.
When the omission sparked a ton of media comments and Republican criticism, word came down from high — no, not heaven, but the Obama White House — that the platform had [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/14/will-democrats-booing-god-cost-obama-the-election/
U.S. Should Challenge Huge U.N. Funding Disparities
by Brent Shaefer,
heritage.org
September 13, 2012
It is well established that the vast majority of United Nations member states pay far less in dues than the United States pays, but the disparity is greater than most realize. Taking U.N. travel subsidies into account, two dozen countries pay roughly $1,000 or less in net contributions to the U.N. regular budget each year while enjoying the same voting privileges as the U.S., which pays nearly $567 million.
No sovereign nation, no matter how poor, should pay so little. Worse, it undermines the incentives for these nations to oversee the U.N. budget properly. The U.S. should call for the elimination of the travel subsidy and for more equitable allocation of U.N. expenses among member states.
Massive Funding Disparities
There are 193 member states in the United Nations. Article 17 of the U.N. Charter states that the “expenses of the Organization shall be borne by the Members as apportioned by the General Assembly.” Since the U.N.’s establishment in 1945, these expenses have been apportioned “broadly according to capacity to pay.” This means that wealthier nations, based principally on per capita income and adjusted by other factors, are asked to pay larger shares of the budget than poorer nations.
Over the past six decades, the contributions, or “assessments,” provided by poor or small U.N. member states have steadily ratcheted downward. Currently, the minimum assessment is 0.001 percent of the regular budget. The 39 countries paying the minimum assessment will pay [....]
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/09/us-should-challenge-huge-un-funding-disparities?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet
What Liberals Don't Understand about Vietnam
This article first appeared in the January 26, 1971, issue of NATIONAL REVIEW.
by J. Bernard Burnham,
nationalreview.com
Those who ostensibly address themselves to the crucial issue of the day, “why Vietnam?” generally fall into one of two camps: those who are explaining why we should “get out” and those who are explaining why we should “win.” Excepting the more extreme members of each group, it is usually difficult to elicit an exact definition of what is meant by “getting out” or “winning.” It is only on the more immediate and tactical level that they tend to become more specific and explain why we should or should not bomb, negotiate or recognize the Vietcong. In the meantime, the formal object of inquiry, “why Vietnam?” has become lost in the concern for the immediate.
A slightly deeper analysis of the question is attempted on relatively rare occasions. There are those who introduce the falling-domino theorem, sometimes along with the threat-of-China corollary, but these advocates seldom go further and explain why these propositions should mean so much more to us than to El Salvador or Iceland. The “get out” crowd, in all its various guises, is similarly unsatisfactory. Their basic responses, after all the protective rhetoric is stripped away, are “we are led by incompetent and power-blinded generals and politicians” or “we are victims of our own illusions.”[....] |
LegiStorm launches PowerBrief
by LegiStorm,
legistorm.com
September 13, 2012
LegiStorm has launched a new product, PowerBrief, which provides customers with all the information LegiStorm has about a specific member of Congress or congressional staffer in one printable PDF document.
PowerBrief leverages LegiStorm's unparalleled knowledge about Washington's power players to provide users with intelligence not found anywhere else, allowing legislative affairs professionals, and advocates get prepared for working with Capitol Hill. PowerBrief offers all the information LegiStorm has about members and their staffers. Among the PowerBrief items:
- Biographical information, including birthplace, hometown, current city, and family.
- Educational history, including any fraternity or sorority memberships and notable accomplishments and activities.
- Contact information, with all social media links
- Employment history, including positions on and off Capitol Hill
- Lobbying records
- And much more... [....]
Muscle Car Flops: The 5 least muscular muscle cars
Staff Report,
FoxNews.com
September 15, 2012
When the golden age of muscle cars ended in 1973, fuel shortages, insurance rate increases and emissions laws ushered in what has been popularly dubbed “The Malaise Era,” which saw low-compression, low-horsepower engines and cars that may have looked like muscle cars but sure didn’t perform like them. Here are some of the 98-pound weaklings of the immediate post-muscle era:
1. 1976 Ford Mustang II Cobra: The Mustang II Cobra was famous as the ride of Farrah Fawcett in the first season of “Charlie’s Angels.” While it reprised the name of the famous Carroll Shelby sports car, there was little that was sporty about the car other than its faux racing stripes. With just 140 hp from a 302 V-8, 0-60 took more than 10 seconds.
2. 1980 “California” Corvette: Anyone who remembers “California emissions” as one of the litany of recited options on game show giveaway cars of the ’70s knows that [....]
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2012/09/15/muscle-car-flops-5-least-muscular-muscle-cars/?intcmp=features#ixzz27Fj6aZAn
Operation Screw
by Peter Schiff,
europac.net
September 14, 2012
With yesterday's Fed decision and press conference, Chairman Ben Bernanke finally and decisively laid his cards on the table. And confirming what I have been saying for many years, all he was holding was more of the same snake oil and bluster. Going further than he has ever gone before, he made it clear that he will be permanently binding the American economy to a losing strategy. As a result, September 13, 2012 may one day be regarded as the day America finally threw in the economic towel.
Here is the outline of the Fed's plan: buy hundreds of billions of home mortgages annually in order to push down mortgage rates and push up home prices, thereby encouraging people to build and buy homes and spend the extracted equity on consumer goods. Furthermore, the Fed hopes that ultra-cheap money will push up stock prices so that Wall Street and stock investors feel wealthier and begin to spend more freely. He won't admit this directly, but rather than building an economy on increased productivity, production, and wealth accumulation, he is trying to build one on confidence, increased leverage, and rising asset prices. In other words, the Fed prefers the illusion of growth to the restructuring needed to allow for real growth.
The problem that went unnoticed by the reporters at the Fed's press conference (and those who have written about it subsequently) is that we already tried this strategy and it ended in disaster. Loose monetary policy created the housing and stock bubbles of the last decade, the bursting of which almost blew up the economy. Apparently for Bernanke and his cohorts, almost isn't good enough. They are coming back to finish the job. But this time, they are packing weaponry of a much higher caliber. Not only are they pushing mortgage rates down to historical lows but now they are buying all the loans!
Last year, the Fed launched the so-called "Operation Twist," which [....]
http://www.europac.net/commentaries/operation_screw
Thank You Mr. President: Despite Recession, Oil Prices Continue to Rise
by John Ransom,
townhall.com
September 19, 2012
The White House is doing a fabulous job keeping oil prices low through strategery, says All-Business Oracle, CNBC, where the motto is: We’re the Real Rock Star of the Stock Market.
“The White House promise that it could release oil from strategic reserves if prices get too high,” says CNBC “is keeping a lid on crude prices, already under pressure from slower global growth.”
CNBC trumpets this view in its not-too-subtle homer headline How the White House Is Keeping a Lid on Oil Prices.
Yes, how indeed has this White House accomplished the marvelous feat of keeping oil prices low despite a worldwide once- in-100-year recession?
Well with due respect to CNBC’s all-knowing wisdom, the truth is that oil prices have [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/09/19/thank_you_mr_president_despite_recession_oil_prices_continue_to_rise/page/full/
From Gadhafi To Benghazi
by George Friedman,
STRATfor.com
September 19, 2012
Last week, four American diplomats were killed when armed men attacked the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attackers' apparent motivation was that someone, apparently American but with an uncertain identity, posted a video on YouTube several months ago that deliberately defamed the Prophet Mohammed. The attack in Benghazi was portrayed as retribution for the defamation, with the attackers holding all Americans equally guilty for the video, though it was likely a pretext for deeper grievances. The riots spread to other countries, including Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, although no American casualties were reported in the other riots. The unrest appears to have subsided over the weekend.
Benghazi and the Fall of Gadhafi
In beginning to make sense of these attacks, one must observe that they took place in Benghazi, the city that had been most opposed to Moammar Gadhafi. Indeed, Gadhafi had promised to slaughter his opponents in Benghazi, and it was that threat that triggered the NATO intervention in Libya. Many conspiracy theories have been devised to explain the intervention, but, like Haiti and Kosovo before it, none of the theories holds up. The intervention occurred because it was believed that Gadhafi would carry out his threats in Benghazi and because it was assumed that he would quickly capitulate in the face of NATO air power, opening the door to democracy.
That Gadhafi was capable of [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/gadhafi-benghazi?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120918&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=e31d3758b6d44f148fece91cfda14e5f
Top 5 Ways To Fail At Eliminating obamaKare
by Michael Bolden,
Personal Liberty Digest
September 18, 2012
Even though millions of people want to keep President Barack Obama’s Health Care “Reform” law, millions more want it gone.
With the June Supreme Court ruling allowing the mandate to continue — and most everything else too — people are trying to focus on just that and asking themselves, “What should I do to spend my time and resources most effectively?”
More than 50 percent of the country wants to see it repealed. Political candidates are basing their electoral success on their position on the law. Groups are holding educational rallies about what to do next.
Here at the Tenth Amendment Center, we’ve offered our own advice on what to do next. But we haven’t really addressed some of the other actions people are being encouraged to take. I figured this was a good time to put together a Top-5 list. But this is not a list of the best things you can do. Instead, these are the things I think you should avoid supporting most.
Why? First of all, because [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/09/18/top-5-ways-to-fail-at-eliminating-obamacare/
New 'Two If By Tea' YouTube Video Contest
by Rush Limbaugh,
rushlimbaugh.com
September 21, 2012
[Radio Transcript]
RUSH: Folks, look, in the midst of all this political tension, it's time for a little break. We need to take a break, just for a moment here. You remember back (it wasn't that long ago) when we at Two If By Tea...? It remains the absolute best-tasting iced tea in this country. We had people make their own Two If By Tea commercials, YouTube-type videos, that were put together by you in the audience. We did this last year.
There were people in New Hampshire that dressed up in colonial gear and did a Two If By Tea rap. Some of the videos that we got, we were jazzed by them. The creativity and the passion and the ambition that was in these videos was a clear indication of just who the people in this country really still are. There are a bunch of people with creativity and ambition just waiting to be turned loose and unleashed, and it was really fun.
We did it just to see what we would get.
I mean, it's a startup. We're looking for people to do commercials for us for free. I was walking around asking people, "Do you believe in free speech?" "Oh, yeah!" "Well, fine. I have a commercial for my tea company I'd like you to do at no charge." "What are you talking about?" "Well, you said you believe in free speech." No, I'm just having fun. We really just wanted to see what we would get, and we were bowled over with the amount of effort that people put into -- and the creativity, and the production values that people put into -- creating these videos.
So what we've done is [....]
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/09/21/new_two_if_by_tea_youtube_video_contest
The Coming Internet 'Kill' Switch
by Rush Limbaugh,
rushlimbaugh.com
September 21, 2012
RUSH: Windermere, Florida. Julie, great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi. How are you?
RUSH: Hi. I'm very well. Thank you.
CALLER: I would like to talk about that YouTube video, Rush. I think that Barack keeps talking about it because he wants to use it as a reason to censor the Internet. It's the only media that he doesn't control.
RUSH: Not for long.
CALLER: (giggles)
RUSH: No, there's legislation that's pending, and it may have already been signed or is in Congress. He's gonna have the master on-off switch.
CALLER: Exactly.
RUSH: The president... It's not just him. I mean, it's happening during his regime. I think you're on to something here. The president of the United States will be able to essentially flip switch and turn off the Internet during times of a national crisis or emergency, as defined by the president. I don't know what limits there are on it, but it's cybersecurity, and the president's going to have that power.
That legislation's working its way through the FCC or through Congress, I'm not sure. I'm going to have to bone up on it, but I know it's a big possibility. So he won't have to control it if he can turn it off, but that doesn't mean that he still wouldn't like to. I mean, that's the way people like this are: Control the flow of information, keep people mal-informed, ill-informed, uninformed, what have you.
Keep 'em dumb.
That's how you stay in power.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, this presidential power to turn off the Internet, it's not legislation. I have it right here. Big Sis, Janet Napolitano, "Says Cybersecurity Executive Order is Almost Ready." The story is dated yesterday. You want [....]
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/09/21/the_coming_internet_kill_switch
Unions Tell Taxpayers: "We Have No Confidence In You"
by John Ransom,
townhall.com
September 22, 2012
All over the country, union leaders are demanding that communities cough up extra cash to help “make teachers whole.” And unions around the country are testing the waters with teachers by asking teachers in budget stricken districts to vote “no confidence” in the community to send a message to taxpayers to cough up cash or else.
The “or else?”
Strike.
Never mind making communities whole; those communities can never be whole under Obama.
As cash-strapped municipalities deal with declining tax revenues and too-rosy assumptions made by administrators and union officials, teachers unions are stamping their feet, holding their breath and mouthing the political equivalent of “La, la, la, I can’t hear you.”
In Palm Beach County, the teachers union is demanding $70 million dollars in raises for teachers at a time when the district has to hire more new teachers just to [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/09/22/unions_tell_taxpayers_we_have_no_confidence_in_you/page/full/
Department of Education: Proposed Spending Cuts
by Chris Edwards,
downsizinggovernment.org
May, 2010
The Department of Education should be closed and its programs terminated. The main activity of the department is to provide grants to state and local governments. However, channeling taxpayer dollars through Washington and then back to the states is an inefficient way to fund local activities such as education. It would be better if the states funded their own education programs free from all the paperwork that comes with federal aid.
Federal intervention into primary and secondary schools has steadily increased since the 1960s, but there have been no obvious improvements in educational achievement. Indeed, standardized test scores for K-12 students have been stagnant for decades. Interestingly, Canada has virtually no federal involvement in its schools, but Canadian students generally score higher on international tests [....]
http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/education/spending-cuts
Mistakes In IOS6 New Apple's New Map App
by Jonathon Seidl,
theblaze.com
September 21, 2012
There’s certainly a lot of buzz today about the new iPhone 5. But earlier this week Apple announced another new item that shouldn’t be overlooked: an update to its operation system now called IOS 6. Included in the update was a new map app that Apple created, getting rid of the standard Google Maps app. But as you’ll soon see, there are plenty of kinks to work out.
The fine folks over at Business Insider have put together a slideshow with the help of theamazingios6maps tumblr page detailing just some of the issues. Among the most hilarious? Road and bridges that are so distorted they look like roller coasters, an airport runway that looks like a quilt, and a very flat Eiffel Tower. Take a look for yourself: [....]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/bridges-that-look-like-roller-coasters-see-the-hilrious-mistakes-in-apples-new-map-app/
Part 2, to follow....
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