Obama Secretly Talking to Taliban Leaders; Illegal Immigrant Granted Permission to Train Foreigner to Fly Small Aircraft; ABA Takes up Fight for Shari'a; Gaddafi Says I Rule You or I Kill You; Anti-Shari'a Law Proposed in Tennessee; Abortion Clinics Regulated in Virginia; Bush Won't Speak if Assange Does

Expose Obama writes: Nearly a decade after terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon how could the U.S. government permit an illegal immigrant to obtain a pilot’s license and run a school that trains dozens of foreigners to fly small aircraft?  A few months ago a news report alerted TSA officials that a flight school in Stow Massachusetts, a rural community about 25 miles west of Boston, was operated by an illegal immigrant who somehow got a U.S. pilot’s license. Enrolled in the school (TJ Aviation Flight Academy) were more than 30 illegal aliens who were actually cleared by the TSA to train as pilots. Several of them had entered the U.S. legally but their visas expired, just like several of the 9/11 hijackers. http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/02/22/tsa-allows-illegal-alien-to-open-flight-school-for-foreigners/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=ec8058d0fd-EO_02_22_20112_22_2011&utm_medium=email
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American Thinker writes: The American Bar Association (ABA) has decided to undertake the fight for Sharia law. The ABA's Executive Counsel "has organized a Task Force to review the legislation of 14 states -- Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming -- in which anti-Sharia legislation has been introduced."

The goal of the ABA's Task Force is to fight against these legislative initiatives by free people, and to develop "an informal set of ‘talking points' that local opponents of these initiatives could use to make their case in each of these states."

Here's the relevant extract from the ABA's International Policies 2010: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/the_abas_jihad.html

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UK Telegraph writes: In an emotional speech to the UN Security Council in New York, Mr Shalgam, who had previously remained loyal, said: "Muammar Gaddafi is telling the Libyans 'either I rule you or I kill you'." He told the 15 members of the council, who are considering an Anglo-French plan for sanctions against the Gaddafi regime: "We need a courageous resolution from you".

Outside the chamber, he gave another speech in which he pleaded for the outside world to do something "within hours, not days" to stop the bloodshed in the country.

Mr Shalgam said Gaddafi had lost the support of "90 per cent" of his diplomats and predicted further revolution in the middle-east.

"Slavery and the rule of one person is finished – it's finished," he said. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8349048/Libyas-UN-ambassador-denounces-Gaddafi.html
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The Tennessean writes:  proposed Tennessee law would make following the Islamic code known as Shariah law a felony, punishable by 15 years in jail.
State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, and state Rep. Judd Matheny, R-Tullahoma, introduced the same bill in the Senate and House last week. It calls Shariah law a danger to homeland security and gives the attorney general authority to investigate complaints and decide who's practicing it.
It exempts peaceful practice of Islam but labels any adherence to Shariah law — which includes religious practices such as feet washing and prayers — as treasonous. It claims Shariah adherents want to replace the Constitution with their religious law.
A dozen other states are considering anti-Shariah bills, and there's a federal lawsuit in Oklahoma over one. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110223/NEWS0201/102230378/Tennessee-bill-would-jail-Shariah-followers-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
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AP News writes: Virginia took a big step Thursday toward eliminating most of the state's 21 abortion clinics, approving a bill that would likely make rules so strict the medical centers would be forced to close, Democrats and abortion rights supporters said.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican and Catholic, supports the measure and when he signs it into law, Virginia will become the first state to require clinics that provide first-trimester abortions to meet the same standards as hospitals. The requirements could include anything from expensive structural changes like widening hallways to increased training and mandatory equipment the clinics currently don't have.
"It is not about banning abortions," said Sen. Jill Vogel, R-Winchester. "It is simply caring for women who are about to have an invasive surgical procedure and creating an environment for them where they have the opportunity to do that in a place that is safe."  http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110224/D9LJEB8G0.html
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Former President George W. Bush has canceled a scheduled speaking appearance at the YPO [Young Presidents Organization] Global Leadership Summit after learning that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was invited to address the same summit, his spokesperson said today.
Mr. Bush's spokesman David Sherzer said in a statement that Mr. Bush accepted an invitation to speak at the Denver summit six months ago. The former president was slated to speak at the event tomorrow.

"This week, upon learning that Julian Assange had recently been invited to address the same summit, President Bush decided to cancel his appearance," Sherzer said. "The former president has no desire to share a forum with a man who has willfully and repeatedly done great harm to the interests of the United States."  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20036518-503544.html
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Floyd Reports: With Islamic riots, skyrocketing deficits, and state-skipping Democratic legislators hogging the headlines, this item has not yet gotten the attention it deserves. Steve Coll writes in The New Yorker, “The Obama Administration has entered into direct, secret talks with senior Afghan Taliban leaders, several people briefed about the talks told me last week.” Obama mentioned reaching out to “Taliban moderates” in 2009, only to drop the idea after public backlash. Apparently, the Obama administration has decided now is the time it wishes to look weak, hopeless, and pathetic.  Hillary tried to calm the situation, saying, “I know that reconciling with an adversary that can be as brutal as the Taliban sounds distasteful, even unimaginable.” But she insisted, this is what Reagan would do. http://floydreports.com/obama-is-secretly-talking-with-the-taliban-says-its-what-reagan-would-do/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=ec8058d0fd-EO_02_22_20112_22_2011&utm_medium=email 
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News from the Texas Chronicle: Looking at population projections for Texas, demographer Steve Murdock concludes: "It's basically over for Anglos."
Two of every three Texas children are now non-Anglo and the trend line will become even more pronounced in the future, said Murdock, former U.S. Census Bureau director and now director of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University. http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2011/02/texas_demograph.html
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From the Washington Post: The jobs of thousands of state and local workers slipped into deeper jeopardy Friday, as Gov. Scott Walker threatened to trigger as many as 12,000 layoffs beginning next week unless lawmakers enact his plan to strip public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022507027.html
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Redistricting Shenanigans; Tie Teachers Pay to Learning in Florida; Unions Now Exposed; MoTown Party at White House; Home Affordable Modification Program a Failure; Stimulus of Green Energy Company a Fraud and a Failure; A Listing of Items in Obama's Budget Bill

Expose Obama writes: Democratic-drawn redistricting plans will nearly always be rubber stamped by this Justice Department, unless local black or Hispanic Democrats don’t like how their white Democratic colleagues have sliced the pie. Republican-drawn plans, meanwhile, will run into a buzz saw of Voting Section opposition based not on the legal standards set forth under Section 5, but on whether the Section’s lawyers think the plan will hurt or help Democratic candidates. As the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports, “Democrats are looking toward the Justice Department in President Barack Obama’s administration to serve as a counterweight” to Republican control of the redistricting process in Texas. Doubt this will happen? Just look at how Justice blocked Kinston, N.C., from switching from partisan to nonpartisan city-council elections. Justice’s rationale? Minorities wouldn’t know whom to vote for if candidates’ Democratic-party affiliation didn’t appear next to their names on the ballot… http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/02/23/obamaholder-set-to-force-minority-democratic-redistricting-plan-on-racist-states/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=fb021848d8-EO_02_23_20112_23_2011&utm_medium=email
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Sunshine State News writes: A bill that would tie teachers' pay to their students’ learning progress breezed through the Senate Budget Committee Wednesday, and is being fast-tracked to be taken up during the first days of the legislative session next month.

The bill would eliminate tenure for teachers hired after July 1, and establishes one-year contracts for teachers brought on board after that date. Teachers will be rated on the progress of their students in their classrooms over the course of three years, with those deemed “highly effective” or “effective” receiving raises. Those who receive two “unsatisfactory” evaluations in a three-year period or three “needs improvement” evaluations in a five-year period would not be offered another contract. http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/story/de-glitched-teacher-pay-bill-sprints-senate-floor
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Charles Krauthammer wrote about the Wisconsin unions: Unfortunately for them, that telegenic faux-Cairo scene drew national attention to the dispute — and to the sweetheart deals the public-sector unions had negotiated for themselves for years. They were contributing a fifth of a penny on a dollar of wages to their pensions and one-fourth what private-sector workers pay for health insurance.
The unions quickly understood that the more than 85 percent of Wisconsin not part of this privileged special-interest group would not take kindly to “public servants” resisting adjustments that still leave them paying less for benefits than private-sector workers. They immediately capitulated and claimed they were only protesting the other part of the bill, the part about collective-bargaining rights. http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/260667/rubicon-wisconsin-charles-krauthammer
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The Detroit News reveals: The White House will celebrate Black History Month with a Feb. 24concert celebrating Detroit's best-known musical import. President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host "The Motown Sound: In Performance at the White House," a tribute to the record company Berry Gordy Jr. founded here at the dawn of the 1960s. [There shall be no cutting of expenses for "The Won".]

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110216/ENT04/102160391/White-House-to-celebrate-Motown-with-tribute-concert#ixzz1EugY7J7e

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Forbes writes: A House committee plans to write legislation next week ending the Obama administration's flagship effort for helping struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure and abolishing three other housing assistance programs.
At its meeting next Thursday, the highest-profile target of the Republican-run House Financial Services Committee will be the Home Affordable Modification Program. The Treasury Department has acknowledged the program won't meet its original goal of preventing 3 million to 4 million foreclosures, and last month a federal inspector general said it has been a failure.http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/02/24/general-us-congress-foreclosures_8324423.html
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Daily Caller writes about Solyndra, Inc: It was supposed to have showcased the effectiveness of the Obama administration’s stimulus and green jobs initiatives, but instead it has become the center of congressional attention for waste, fraud and abuse of such programs.
According to a Feb. 17 letter signed by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, Michigan Republican, and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns, Florida Republican, to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, the Fremont, Calif.-based solar panel manufacturer squandered $535 million of stimulus money.
The Energy Department estimated in a March 20, 2009 press release that the loan guarantee would create 3,000 construction jobs and a further 1,000 jobs after the plant opened.
Instead, Solyndra announced on Nov. 3 it planned to postpone expanding the plant, which cost the taxpayers $390.5 million, or 73 percent of the total loan guarantee, according to the Wall Street Journal. It also announced that it no longer planned to hire the 1,000 workers that Obama and Biden had touted in their speeches and that it planned to close one of its older factories and planned to lay-off 135 temporary or contract workers and 40 full-time employees.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/22/panel-green-jobs-company-endorsed-by-obama-and-biden-squandered-535-million-in-stimulus-money/#ixzz1EhDNeTGG

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Senator Tom Coburn "the conscience of the US Senate reveals:  "We are going in exactly the wrong direction. We ought to be standing on the principles that made this country great. There ought to be a review of every program in the Federal Government that is not effective, that is not efficient, that is wasteful or fraudulent, and we ought to get rid of it right now. We ought to say, you're gone, to be able to pay for a real stimulus plan that might, in fact, have some impact.

I would be remiss if I didn't remind everybody that next week we are going to hear from the Obama administration wanting another $500 billion. Outside of this, they are going to want another $500 billion to handle the banking system.
Until we treat the real disease, this is pure waste. It is worse than pure waste. It is morally reprehensible, because it steals the future of the next two generations.

[He then read some of the particulars of the bill, which I have abbreviated:]
1) $2 billion in this bill to build a coal plant with zero emissions. That would be great, maybe, if we had the technology, but the greatest brains in the world sitting at MIT say we don't have the technology yet to do that.
2) We eliminated tonight a $246 million payback for the large movie studios in Hollywood .

3) $88 Million to study whether we ought to buy a new ice breaker for the Coast Guard.
4) $448 million to build the Department of Homeland Security a new building. We have $1.3 trillion worth of empty buildings right now, and because it has been blocked in Congress we can't sell them, we can't raze them, we can't do anything, but we are going to spend money on a new building here in Washington ..
5) $248 million for new furniture for that building.
6) $600 million worth of hybrid vehicles for Federal employees
7) $400 million to prevent STDs ..
8) $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs
9) $150 million for a Smithsonian museum
10) $1 billion for the 2010 census? So everybody knows, the census is so poorly managed that the census this year is going to cost twice what it cost 10 years ago, and we wasted $800 million on a contract because it was no-bid that didn't perform. Nobody got fired, no competitive bidding, and we blew $800 million.
11) $75 million for smoking cessation activities.
12) $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges

13) $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas, putting 10 or 15 people to work.
14) $6 billion to turn Federal buildings into green buildings.
15) $500 million for State and local fire stations? Where do you find in the Constitution us paying for local fire stations within our realm of prerogatives?
16) $1.2 billion for youth activities.
17) $88 million for renovating the public health service building
18) $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
19) $850 million for that most "efficient'' Amtrak that hasn't made any money since 1976 and continues to have $2 billion or $3 billion a year in subsidies

20) $75 million to construct a new "security training'' facility for State Department security officers, and we have four other facilities already available to train them.
21) $200 million in funding for a lease-not buying, but a lease of alternative energy vehicles on military installations
22) We are going to bail out the States on Medicaid. Total all of the health programs in this, and we are going to transfer $150 billion out of the private sector and we are going to move it to the Federal Government.
23) We are going to eliminate fees on loans from the Small Business Administration.
24) $160 million to the Job Corps Program to construct or repair buildings.
25) $524 million for information technology upgrades that the Appropriations Committee claims will create 388 jobs. If you do the math on that, that is $1.5 million a job.
26) $79 billion in additional money for the States, a "slush fund,'' to bail out States and provide millions of dollars for education costs.
27) $47 billion for a variety of energy programs that are primarily focused on renewable energy.

Let me conclude by saying we are at a seminal moment in our country. We will either start living within the confines of realism and responsibility or we will blow it and we will create the downfall of the greatest Nation that ever lived.

 

We Need to Get a Little Bloody; Space Launch Rules Go International; $150 Million of Our Money to go to Egypt; Elena Kagen's Possible Need to Recuse Herself; Intrastate Commerce Act in AZ; Texas Might Take Illegals to U.S. Senator or Representatives

Sunset in America......
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New Hampshire Journal writes: A Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts is raising the stakes in the nation’s fight over the future of public employee unions, saying emails aren’t enough to show support and that it is time to “get a little bloody.”
“I’m proud to be here with people who understand that it’s more than just sending an email to get you going. Every once and awhile you need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody when necessary,” Rep. Mike Capuano (D-Ma.) told a crowd in Boston on Tuesday rallying in solidarity for Wisconsin union members.
Capuano’s comments come at a time when there is heightened sensitivity to violent rhetoric in the wake of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ (D-Az.) shooting in January.
Capuano is considered a leading contender to take on Sen. Scott Brown in 2012. http://nhjournal.com/2011/02/23/dem-rep-to-unions-time-to-get-%E2%80%98bloody%E2%80%99/
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Expose Obama reveals: This video from the National Education Association’s top lawyer, Bob Chanin, shows how surprisingly open the nation’s leftists are when they no longer have to pose for the cameras and get to speak to one another. Addressing the 2009 NEA Convention, Chanin admits, “It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power.” The union-led protests across the country are to assure these left-wingers maintain their power and their access to your tax dollars. Watch the admission below. http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/02/23/video-of-the-day-top-nea-lawyer-admits-its-about-power-not-the-children/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=fb021848d8-EO_02_23_20112_23_2011&utm_medium=email
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Floyd Reports opines: By agreeing to international rules concerning space launches and operations, this president will limit the use of space for military and intelligence purposes. Such policies will forbid the U.S. from protecting space assets from anti-space weapons being developed by China and Russia.
When asked by The Washington Times, former National Security Council Director of Space Policy, Peter Marquez stated the agreement will allow other countries to set limits on U.S. assets in space. “It leaves open the door also for the United States to be forced to disclose the nature of its intelligence collection activities and capabilities from orbit.”
Courtesy of WikiLeaks’ State Department leaks, the Bush administration threatened military action over the shooting down of the satellite in 2007. As a show of force the U.S. Navy shot down a crippled satellite USA 193 in 2008. This action outraged Beijing, but they respected “the cowboy.”
Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, told The Washington Times, “One gets the impression from this document that the Obama administration simply wants to ignore the Chinese threat in hopes it will just go away.” He said,“There is apparently no consideration of developing U.S. active defenses for space that would more effectively deter China.”
According to leaked documents, the Chinese shot down another satellite in 2010. The fact is China does not fear “The One.” They are happily militarizing while the rest of the world is rioting and leaders are retreating. The community-organizer-in-chief is surrendering our edge in space. http://floydreports.com/obama-surrenders-space-to-china/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=7c9491b2c8-EO_02_21_20112_21_2011&utm_medium=email
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From AFP:
“I am pleased to announce today that we will be reprogramming $150 million for Egypt to put ourselves in a position to support the transition there and assist with their economic recovery,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/02/21/the-taxpayers-first-invoice-for-the-new-egypt-150-million/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=7c9491b2c8-EO_02_21_20112_21_2011&utm_medium=email
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CNS News writes: The U.S. Justice Department is contesting in federal court a Freedom of Information Act request filed by CNSNews.com that seeks department records that could shed light on the question of whether Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan needs to recuse herself from legal challenges to the health-care reform law President Barack Obama signed last March.The CNSNews.com FOIA asked for three categories of records. These included records of any meetings or communications Kagan might have participated in as solicitor general that involved President Obama’s health-care reform plan, records of any meetings or communications Kagan might have participated in in which legal challenges to the health-care legislation signed by President Obama were discussed, and records of any meetings or communications Kagan might have participated in in which there was discussion of whether Kagan ought to recuse herself from involvement in any particular case in her role as solicitor general due to the prospect that case might later come before her were she confirmed to a seat on a federal court.
On Dec. 30, the Justice Department filed an answer to the MRC’s complaint, asking the court to dismiss the complaint, but not citing any specific exemption in the Freedom of Information Act that would justify such a dismissal.
The Justice Department now has until March 1 to present the court with a brief asking for summary judgment in its favor.  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/justice-department-resists-releasing-rec

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The Tenth Amendment Center writes: Late last week, the Arizona Senate passed Senate Bill 1178 (SB1178), the Intrastate Commerce Act. The bill provides that all services performed in the state, and all goods grown or made here for consumption within Arizona “are not subject to the authority of Congress under its constitutional power to regulate commerce among the several states.” http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2011/02/arizona-sb1178-moves-forward-felony-charges-for-federal-agents/
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WOAI speaks:

A measure filed by State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst (R-Brenham) would allow any law enforcement agency that has custody of an illegal immigrant to take the illegal to 'the office of a U.S. Senator or Representative' and leave them there.

Several thousand people are expected to descend on the [Texas] state capitol today to denounce the measures, and to call on the federal government, not the states, to handle matters related to immigration.

Illegal immigration has emerged as a top priority of the Republican super-majority in the Texas Legislature, and this is just one of several dozen bills introduced in Austin to deny jobs, housing, and government benefits to illegals.

  http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=119078&article=8203908

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Az Republic writes: The Senate Appropriations Committee became the first state legislative committee in the nation to pass a package of bills intended to challenge the practice of granting citizenship to children born in the U.S. to illegal immigrants.  It also approved an "omnibus" bill that would prevent undocumented children from attending school, prohibit illegal immigrants from driving or buying a vehicle and deny illegal immigrants the ability to obtain a marriage license in Arizona.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2011/02/23/20110223arizona-immigration-bills-controversy.html#ixzz1EnwWeSkC

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Yahoo News/Finance writes: The Indiana senate passed a sweeping immigration bill that echoes Arizona's tougher measures on illegal immigrants and despite opposition from some of the largest employers and business groups in the state. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Indiana-lawmakers-pass-rb-1922441018.html?x=0&.v=1
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The Atlantic writes about the Obama Administration's decision to not defend a law passed by Congress, while at the same time defending the Obamacare law which has been declared unconstitutional, null and void! They wrote: By taking that position, the Obama Administration has moved the goalposts of the usual role of the Executive branch in defending statutes. Instead of requiring DOJ to defend the constitutionality of all federal statutes if it has a reasonable basis to do so, the new approach invests within DOJ a power to conduct an independent constitutional review of the issues, to decide the main issues in the case -- in this case, the degree of scrutiny for gay rights issues -- and then, upon deciding the main issue, to decide if there is a reasonable basis for arguing the other side. If you take that view, the Executive Branch essentially has the power to decide what legislation it will defend based on whatever views of the Constitution are popular or associated with that Administration. It changes the role of the Executive branch in defending litigation from the traditional dutiful servant of Congress to major institutional player with a great deal of discretion.
If that approach becomes widely adopted, then it would seem to bring a considerable power shift to the Executive Branch. Here's what I fear will happen. If Congress passes legislation on a largely party-line vote, the losing side just has to fashion some constitutional theories for why the legislation is unconstitutional and then wait for its side to win the Presidency.  [Indeed, Obama is fundamentally changing America once again.]  http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/02/the-imperial-presidency/71632/
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Republicans Must Educate; House Votes to Cut Spending; to; UN Veto; Doctors and Their Fake Examinations; Obama Loves SEIU!; AFL-CIO Speaks to White House Daily; Dems Hiding Out Not to Get Paychecks Automatically; Obama Job Approval Rating at 21%

It's a roller-coaster ride!

As Examiner columnist and former U.S. Office of Personnel Management general counsel Hugh Hewitt wrote recently, "Forewarned is forearmed, and if the public is briefed again and again on the GOP's intention to keep the crucial parts of the government running, while allowing the shutdown of the EPA, the departments of education, labor and interior and various parts of health and human services (not Medicare, not the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not the Food and Drug Administration) the public will not only support the move, they will cheer it."
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2011/02/examiner-editorial-gop-can-cut-spending-without-closing-government#ixzz1EhCes0zv
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At the end of this column, you will find the source from which I am quoting, as usual.  The continuing resolution that passed the House just before dawn on Saturday was the final product of more than 60 hours worth of freewheeling, at times chaotic, debate on the House floor.
Here’s a list of some of these amendments (and the people who sponsored them):

• To prohibit the use of federal funds to pay the salaries and expenses of the following “czars,” or special presidential advisers who are not required to go through the Senate confirmation process: Obama Care Czar, Climate Change Czar, Global Warming Czar, Green Jobs Czar, Car Czar, Guantanamo Bay Closure Czar, Pay Czar and Fairness Doctrine Czar. — Rep. Steve Scalise (R., La.)
• To prevent federal funds from being made available to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., or any of its affiliates. — Rep. Mike Pence (R., Ind.)
• To eliminate $450 million in funding for the Alternate Engine, produced by GE-Rolls Royce, for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. — Rep. Tom Rooney (R., Fla.)
• To prohibit the use of funds for the Overseas Comparability Pay Adjustment, an increase in pay for overseas Foreign Service Officers approved by President Obama under the supplemental appropriations bill in 2009. — Rep. Tom Reed (R., N.Y.)
• To ban U.S. foreign aid to Saudi Arabia. — Rep. Anthon
• To prohibit funds for UN construction within the United States. — Rep. Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.)
• To prevent funds from being used to construct ethanol blender pumps or ethanol storage facilities. — Rep. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.)
• To block funds for implementing a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Service, part of the President’s fiscal year 2012 budget request. — Rep. Ralph Hall (R., Texas)
• To prohibits the use of funds for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. — Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R., Mo.)
• To prohibits funds for a government sponsored “consumer products complaints database.” — Rep. Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.)
• To restrict public funds from being used for the Presidential Election Campaign Fund or political party conventions. — Rep. Tom Cole (R., Okla.)
• To block funding for the Federal Communications Commission to institute “Net Neutrality” rules.  — Rep. Greg Walden (R., Ore.)
• To eliminate $1.5 million for the “Greening of the Capitol” initiative from the Legislative Branch section of the CR. — Rep. Ed Whitfield (R., Ky.)
• To eliminate $42.6 million in funding from the United States Institute of Peace. — Rep. Anthony Weiner (D., N.Y.)
• To eliminate $10.7 million in funding for the East-West Center, an independent, public nonprofit that has historically not received funding in the Subcommittee bill. — Rep. Quico Canseco (R., Texas) http://amoraloutrage.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/open-process-gets-results/
• ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
• The Daily Caller writes about the UN:
• Last week at the United Nations Security Council, America reluctantly vetoed a resolution attacking Israeli settlement expansion as illegal and an obstacle to peace that was pushed by Arab countries. But the American veto only came after the Palestinians rejected a compromise “presidential statement” that America was willing to support which would have lambasted Israeli settlements as illegitimate.
  Takeaway No. 1: Obama showed a willingness to attack Israel at the U.N.
  Takeaway No. 2: Kissing up to unsavory regimes while kicking friends fails again.
  
  

  Takeaway #3 - Obama fiddles with inconsequential resolution while the Middle East burns

  http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/21/thedc-analysis-three-takeaways-from-obama-admin%E2%80%99s-willingness-to-support-israel-condemnation-at-the-united-nations/2/

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Patriot Action Network opines: Claiming to be “sick” while protesting against the governor and Wisconsin taxpayers  and producing a false statement from a physician to receive sick pay for the time off, surely violates the teachers’ union contracts.   This could be grounds for dismissal.  Further, the doctors who are writing the false “medical permission” slips could be subject to professional misconduct under the state medical board rules.   It could also be that the physical/teacher collusion to defraud taxpayers of sick pay is a violation of state law.  Yet another doctor openly explained the scam to AOL News:

“Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees’ absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said..”

“What employers have a right to know is if the patient was assessed by a duly licensed physician about time off of work,” Sanner said. “Employers don’t have a right to know the nature of that conversation or the nature of that illness. So it’s as valid as every other work note that I’ve written for the last 30 years.”

Here are the doctors who we know were writing “fake” medical excuses Saturday: http://www.patriotactionnetwork.com/forum/topic/show?id=2600775%3ATopic%3A3248206&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_topic
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I just now heard on the radio the recording of this quote while the speaker was addressing the SEIU: "SEIU!!  SEIU!!!   We are going to go out there and show America that the time for change has come!  SEIU!!  I love you guys!"  [Now, just who said this and more?  You guessed it: Barack Obama.]
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Expose Obama reveals this video which shows the shocking level to which union bosses influence the Obama administration’s policies. AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka, whom Michelle Malkin describes as a man with a legacy of violence, states he has been in touch with the White House everyday and is present at meetings inside the White House several times a week. On the other hand, at least half-a-dozen members of his own Cabinet say Obama has never spoken with them in the two years of his administration to date. Video at the following website is convincing. [I'm sure this will be convincing evidence for those who believe Unions are taking too much from America.]  http://www.exposeobama.com/2011/02/22/video-of-the-day-union-boss-talks-with-white-house-everyday-cabinet-secretaries-never/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=ec8058d0fd-EO_02_22_20112_22_2011&utm_medium=email
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(CNSNews.com) - Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest. http://cnsnews.com/news/article/two-thirds-wisconsin-public-school-8th-g
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Madison -- Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to make Democrats hiding out in Illinois come back to Wisconsin to pick up their paychecks.
The Senate Committee on Organization voted on a 3-2 party line vote, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats against, to change Senate rules so that senators who miss two consecutive floor days can no longer have their paychecks dropped automatically into their bank accounts. The vote was taken by paper ballot, which allowed Democrats to cast their votes from out-of-state. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/116686109.html
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American Thinker opines: I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that your tax dollars are being spent wisely by Michele Obama.

She has deep sixed her regular fashion expert and hired someone who is now drawing a government salary in the White House. Koop is employed by the White House. It may be "unfashionable" to ask, but why does the First Lady need a taxpayer funded fashion consultant? [I, for one, think it is patently obvious.]
Nancy Reagan had a relationship with designers similar to Michele Obama's friendship with Goldman. The payoff for the designer was not in getting a taxpayer funded paycheck, but in seeing their designs worn by a highly visible celebrity.
I guess that's just not good enough for our nutritionist in chief. [Please! It is only we lowly citizens who must be on a budget, surely not our Michelle!]  http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/02/shakeup_in_first_ladys_fashion.html
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Just 21 percent of US voters strongly approve of the president’s job performance in contrast to 41 percent who strongly disapprove. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100077285/the-obama-bounce-is-falling-flat/
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Reflections fromTahrir Square; Won't Anyone Sing the Praises of Obama?; At War With Imposition of Shari'a Law; Wisconsin Affects All American Unions - and the Elections; Gov't Workers Got Unionization Thru a Kennedy Executive Order Only; Slush Fund for Wisconsin Dems at Motel; Public Stands with Wisconsin Governor; Pensions in NYC

Polling divulges: While reporting from Tahrir Square, did you interview members of the Muslim Brotherhood? They were there, although they arrived belatedly. No mention in your columns that 82% of Egyptian Muslims favor stoning people who commit adultery; 77% favor whipping/ cutting off of hands for theft and robbery; and 84% favor the death penalty for people who abandon Islam. Some 95% of Egypt's Muslims believe that it is good that Islam plays a large role in politics. Is this fertile ground for democracy?  http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/
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Rush Limbaugh reports on the real reporting by CNN: Friday afternoon, CNN's Newsroom, live in Cairo.  After Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power, the senior international correspondent Nic Robertson and a man identified as Achmed have this exchange about the Egyptian anti-government protests and Pharaoh Obama.
ROBERTSON:  Achmed, you've been here down here on the square for many days.  The United States and the international community. You've just listened to President Obama saying that America will support Egypt if it wants help and assistance, and hopes that there will be a good transition for jobs for the young people.  What would be your message to Obama?  ACHMED: We don't know, actually, who he supports.  He serves for his own purposes, and the Egyptian people serve for our freedom and democracy.  Any democratic country should see for the people, not for its own purposes.

Rush Limbaugh clarifies: The CNN reporter's purpose is to find somebody in the midst of the Egyptian uprising that will sing the praises of Barack Obama.  This guy thinks that his country is now gonna be free. He thinks he might have a chance to make more than two bucks a day.  He thinks that maybe he might have a chance at some freedom.  That's what he thinks, and here comes this CNN reporter -- an American reporter with a British accent -- asking what this guy thinks of Obama! These reporters think that everybody in the world looks at every event through the prism of Obama?  

But Nic Robertson, undeterred, found another peasant to try to praise President Obama, and once again he doesn't find what he's looking for.

ROBERTSON:  Mustapha is joining me now.  We just heard President Obama say that he wants to extend, eh, support and assistance to Egypt and Egyptians if they want any, and he hopes that there are more jobs for the young people in the future.  What's your message for President Obama?

MUSTAPHA:  Well, my message to President Obama is just, "We started this revolution without any outside help, and we are going to finish it also without any outside help." [He actually ended his camera time with an excited statement about how this crowd in Egypt  is surely "happy" that Barack Obama supports them.  Talk about a total fabrication! Can anyone say with a straight face that CNN is not totally biased toward Obama's supposed greatness, and that they aren't already trying to get him reelected?  Obama should not be the story here.  A true investigative reporter would be focusing on the changes this will create for the Egyptians, not attempting to garner praise for our President.  I know - I'm dreaming.]
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Canary in the Coalmine writes: "We have to understand that we are in a war here – certainly with the terrorists; certainly with Al Qaida; certainly with Hamas and Hezbollah," Woolsey said. "We're also at war, with no choice of our own, with those who want to, over the long run, impose Shariah [Islamic law] upon us.
"And it is one of the toughest fights we have ever had or will have," he continued, "because Americans are used to religious liberty and not criticizing one another's religions."


Yet as CIA director, never once was he able to have a one-on-one meeting with President Clinton. He was quoted by Paula Kaufman of "Insight on the News" as saying: "Remember the guy who in 1994 crashed his plane onto the White House lawn? That was me trying to get an appointment to see President Clinton!"  
"When a totalitarian government grows out of a religion as, let's say the Spanish Inquisition grew out of one aspect of Catholicism, you are not being a 'Christianphobe' if you criticize burning Jews and Muslims and dissident Christians at the stake," Woolsey explained. "And if you're opposed to Shariah and the beating of women and killing of apostates, you are not an 'Islamophobe.'" source: world net daily
'"http://canaryinthecoalmine.typepad.com/my-blog/2011/02/former-cia-chief-warns-us-at-war-with-shariah.html

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American Spectator writes: The White House has been watching the Wisconsin state employee labor fight with a degree of alarm, says a White House aide: "I think all of us recognize what this could mean for us in the re-election fight," says the aide. "Without well financed labor, we're screwed."
For several weeks, now, the Obama Administration, with staff from the Labor Department and Department of Education, among others, have been setting up working groups to examine how, if at all, they could block or reverse in some way state-based rules and laws that would draw back labor unions' abilities to collect chunks of member pay for political purposes on the state and national level.
In fact, some political advisers to President Barack Obama have been speaking with senior national labor officials about the roles they might play in the re-election bid. Says the aide: "One way to strengthen labor's position and get them politically engaged for us is through contract negotiations, and there are several, large contracts coming due in 2011 and 2012. Corporations may think they can push these unions around because of the economic situation, but we're looking for ways to ensure that if organized labor wants to fight, they will be able to fight. That can only help us politically."  http://spectator.org/archives/2011/02/21/the-white-house-and-wisconsin
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The LA Times writes: [Unlike mine workers and others in the private sector] government workers were making good salaries in 1962 when President Kennedy lifted, by executive order (so much for democracy), the federal ban on government unions. Civil service regulations and similar laws had guaranteed good working conditions for generations.
The argument for public unionization wasn't moral, economic or intellectual. It was rankly political.  http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-goldberg-wisconsin-20110222,0,4678423.column
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American Spectator reveals: Former Vermont Governor and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, a one-time presidential candidate, is the founder of a group that by mid-day of President's Day had raised over $100,000 in a slush fund to "back" the on-the-lam Wisconsin Democratic State Senators.
The Dean Dollars are being specifically funneled to the Wisconsin State Senate Democratic Committee (SSDC) -- an apparent violation of Wisconsin election law that pointedly says, according to the Wisconsin Election Board's Legal Counsel in a 2005 decision, that the "SSDC may not accept a contribution of more than $6,000 from a single committee in a calendar year." (Note: the Election Board is now called the "Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.")  http://spectator.org/archives/2011/02/22/howard-dean-and-the-100000-wis
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The Washington Examiner tells us: a new national poll just released by pollster Scott Rasmussen shows that 48 percent of those surveyed support Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker in his showdown with the state's public-employee unions, while 38 percent support the union.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/new-poll-public-sides-wisconsin-governor-over-union#ixzz1Eh8DVEby

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The Washington Post writes: In New York City, the No. 2 guy in the fire department retired on a pension worth $242,000 a year. In New York State, a single official holding two jobs and one pension took in $641,000. A lieutenant with the Port Authority police retired with an annual pension of $196,767, and 738 of the city's teachers, principals and such have pensions worth more than $100,000 a year.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/21/AR2011022103775.html

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How a President Should Act; Shari'a Law Demonstration Outside White House; Wisconsin Lawlessness; Ethanol Subsidies Protected; Farmers Amassing Wealth; Mercury Risk of CFL Bulbs; China Hoarding Rare Earth Metals

Is This How a President Should Act?

From the Washington Post:
The president's political machine worked in close coordination Thursday with state and national union officials to mobilize thousands of protesters to gather in Madison and to plan similar demonstrations in other state capitals. umbus, Ohio, to protest a measure from Gov. John Kasich (R) that would cut collective-bargaining rights,
Their efforts began to spread, as thousands of labor supporters turned out for a hearing in ColumBy the end of the day, Democratic Party officials were working to organize additional demonstrations in Ohio and Indiana, where an effort is underway to trim benefits for public workers. Some union activists predicted similar protests in Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. [...]  The White House political operation, Organizing for America, got involved Monday, after Democratic National Committee Chairman Timothy M. Kaine, a former Virginia governor, spoke to union leaders in Madison, a party official said. http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/18/is-this-how-a-president-should
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The UK Daily Mail writes: A hardline Muslim cleric who sparked anger across the U.S. with his anti-American comments in a television interview this month is to hold a protest outside the White House. 
British extremist Anjem Choudary - who once said 'the flag of Islam will fly over the White House' - has announced he will lead a demonstration calling on Muslims to establish the Sharia law across America.
The rally, planned for March 3, is to take place just weeks after his on-screen row with Fox News presenter Sean Hannity.
Mr Choudary, 43, called Americans 'the biggest criminals in the world to
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358792/Anjem-Choudary-lead-White-House-protest-calling-Muslims-rise-up.html#ixzz1EWRXDpgV

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Last night one Senator told me they had been told to clear the [Wisconsin] Capitol because the new groups coming in overnight are filled with with people "who aren't afraid to be arrested" and the Administration could not guarantee the safety of the legislators and their staffs in our Capitol.

On Thursday, legislators were advised to return to their offices and lock their doors. Mobs roamed the halls, banging on the glass of the doors, pounding on the walls. No one could move in the halls or enter or leave the building. The glass of the Supreme Court's entrance was broken. Legislators were genuinely afraid. Our elected representatives were afraid. In our Capitol.

A young female reporter trying to get into the Senate chamber struggled to get through the crowd. She arrived disheveled and upset because she had been roughed up as she tried to get through "Bitch-slapped" the mob told her. A senior senator was spat on. A senator and his female staffer struggled to get into the capitol. He was worried about his staffer because the crowd was grabbing at her and pushing her. University Police were two arms lengths away and did nothing. They, of course, are union.

Can you imagine the wall-to-wall media coverage if Tea Partiers were acting so disrespectfully?  http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/view-wisconsin-our-political-process-has-been-stopped-mob_550457.html
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 The Canada Free Press writes: This country is becoming one big pot for our usurper president and imminent dictator.  He shows his ignorance and unfamiliarity with the United States Constitution when he starts telling state Governors how to run their provinces which THEY were duly elected to govern.
This man who stole his way into the highest office in this land is either the most brazen, or the most stupid, or perhaps equal parts of each, iconoclast or rule breaker.
His position and statements against the elected authority of the Governor of the State of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, are a violation of states’ rights and the Constitution and are absolutely out of order; a brazen attempt to coddle labor unions as payback for the many millions of dollars of their members’ dues money that they used to get this charlatan elected in 2008.  http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/33516
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The Sky Valley Chronicle writes: Could it be the U.S. government thinks peaceful, civilian protest against government is fine on the streets of Cairo, Egypt but not on U.S. soil?

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a speech at George Washington University yesterday condemning governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression - and lauding freedom of speech on the Internet - 71-year-old military veteran Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes and hustled out of the building and, according to McGovern and his supporters, was “brutalized and left bleeding in jail.”
What McGovern did was simply remain standing silently in the audience and turned his back on her as Secretary Clinton began her speech.
That was it. [I invite you to watch the video, below.]
http://www.skyvalleychronicle.com/BREAKING-NEWS/VETERAN-S-GROUP-DEMANDS-APOLOGY-FROM-SEC-OF-STATE-CLINTON-BR-Claims-vet-was-manhandled-for-silent-protest-596038
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 The CATO Institute opines: We are seeing the usual quadrennial pilgrimage of supposedly fiscally conservative Republican presidential candidates to Iowa, where they swear eternal fealty to farm subsidies generally, but, even worse, to ethanol subsidies in particular. Perhaps the most revolting example of this spectacle was former House speaker Newt Gingrich's claim that opposition to ethanol subsidies and mandates stems from "big city" folks who just don't like farmers. [What??  So much for considering each side of that debate.  Perhaps I should send to him all the problems with ethanol, which even Mr. Global Warming himself, Al Gore, has debunked.  I think Newt is an amazing thinker, but I now would pause before ever voting for him, for he has with this one statement pitted one group of Americans against another.  How dare he make such a pronouncement!]

But Gingrich is hardly alone. Mitt Romney defends farm subsidies as a "national-security issue," because somehow if farmers don't get an annual government check, al-Qaeda will hold our food supply hostage. Romney, of course, is also a big backer of ethanol subsidies, as is former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who once keynoted the annual convention of the American Coalition for Ethanol. Sarah Palin? Mike Huckabee? Sorry, they are on the farm-subsidy/ethanol bandwagon too. Indiana governor Mitch Daniels sounded promising: "Farm subsidies in general ought to go away," he says. But he too can't break the ethanol addiction. A "national-security issue," he says.
Incidentally, ethanol subsidies were extended as part of the lame-duck session's compromise tax agreement in December. It was pushed in large part by six Republican senators, including John Thune, another putative presidential candidate.
The level of hypocrisy is breathtaking. For example, conservatives rightly denounced government subsidies to business when the auto industry was at issue. Why, then, are subsidies a good idea when directed to, say, Archer Daniels Midland? [How about subsidizing them, if at all, only when their profits don't come close to covering their expenses?  I wonder if we continue to pay farmers for NOT planting a crop.]  http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12771
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From Omaha comes this: Warnings of higher food prices headed for American supermarkets and restaurants were swallowed easily across much of farm country Wednesday.
The big gulp came when the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that global demand had pushed U.S. corn supplies to their lowest point in 15 years.
The price of corn, which has doubled over the past six months, affects most food products in supermarkets. It's used to feed the cattle, hogs and chickens that fill the meat aisles.
It is the main ingredient in Cap'n Crunch and Doritos. Turned into syrup, it sweetens most soft drinks and many foods.
Corn also is part of the agricultural blend that fuels the economies of Nebraska, Iowa and other farming states. Iowa is the nation's top corn-producing state; Nebraska is third.
We're seeing record income levels for the ag community and ... wealth accumulation that cannot be denied,” said Bruce Johnson, an agricultural economist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. “We've moved into a whole new level.”[Well that will surely get Obama's eye and anger, won't it?]
Corn prices have risen over the past six months from $3.50 a bushel to nearly $7.
The U.S. will have a reserve of 675 million bushels left over in late August, when this year's harvest begins. That's roughly 5 percent of all corn that will be consumed, the lowest surplus level since 1996.
“There is going to be enough corn for food, for feed, for fuel and for export opportunities,” Tom Vilsack, the U.S. agriculture secretary, said at a Washington press conference.
Babcock, the Iowa State economist, said the U.S. mandate to increase the use of renewable fuels like ethanol is a major reason why the nation's corn supply is so low. About a quarter of the nation's corn crop is consumed by the production of ethanol. The ethanol industry's projected corn orders this year have risen . . . after record-high production in December and January, USDA said.
“Ethanol is a factor, but it's not the driver,” he said.
Johnson said the declining value of the dollar not only has fueled greater agricultural export demand, but also has driven up the price of oil. That, in turn, has propelled higher prices for corn-based ethanol.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110210/NEWS01/702109884/0#get-ready-for-higher-food-prices
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National Review Online opines: The incandescent light bulb ban is this decade’s version of the old 55 m.p.h. speed limit, and sooner or later Congress needs to be pressed into repealing this idiocy. Along with mailing in tea bags to members of Congress, we should send them our compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) for proper disposal in hazardous-waste landfills, since they contain mercury. An unsurprising irony of our time: We’re going to sock it to industry with new air-quality regulations to reduce airborne mercury, but we’re going to subject everyone to increased mercury risk in their homes by forcing them to use CFL bulbs. Have a look at EPA guidance for disposing CFLs and what to do if one breaks in your house.  http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/259616/another-dud-dim-bulb-greens-steven-f-hayward
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Breitbart writes: China is building up strategic reserves of rare earth metals in a move that could give it better control over the resource so indispensable to high tech products, the Wall Street Journal reported. Storage facilities have been built in recent months in the northern region of Inner Mongolia with the capacity to hold more than the 39,813 tonnes of the metals China exported last year, the paper said.
But details of the strategic reserves have not been made public, it added on Monday.
China controls about 95 percent of the global trade for the 17 minerals that collectively make up the rare earth metals market.
The metals, prized for their special chemical or electromagnetic properties, are used in making mobile phones, batteries for hybrid cars, wind turbines, flat-screen televisions and other high tech products. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.a1f3243ab58c6b6ab6455cbca4443759.a91&show_article=1
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