The Democrats, worried about higher gas prices, want to set up a board that would apply a "windfall profit tax" as high as 100 percent on the sale of oil and gas, according to their legislation. The bill provides no specific guidance for how the board would determine what constitutes a reasonable profit.
The Gas Price Spike Act, H.R. 3784, would apply a windfall tax on the sale of oil and gas that ranges from 50 percent to 100 percent on all surplus earnings exceeding "a reasonable profit." It would set up a Reasonable Profits Board made up of three presidential nominees that will serve three-year terms. Unlike other bills setting up advisory boards, the Reasonable Profits Board would not be made up of any nominees from Congress. http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/205085-dems-propose-reasonable-profits-board-to-regulate-oil-company-profits
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CNN reveals: Here is the video clip of the opening question at last night's debate, concerning Newt Gingrich's ex-wife. Newt's answer received a standing ovation and a smack-down of the liberal media. His final words were, "I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking the Republicans." It was Newt at his best.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/politics/gop-debate/index.html
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The Hill reports: Democrats have accepted more political donations than Republicans from executives at Bain Capital, complicating the left’s plan to attack Mitt Romney for his record at the private equity firm.
During the last three election cycles, Bain employees have given Democratic candidates and party committees more than $1.2 million. The vast majority of that sum came from senior executives.
Republican candidates and party committees raised over $480,000 from senior Bain executives during that time period. http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/205025-dems-receive-more-bain-dollars-than-gop
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The great Thomas Sowell writes: When institutions of higher learning turn out highly qualified doctors, scientists, engineers and others with skills that can raise the standard of living of a whole society and make possible a better and longer life, the benefits are obvious.
What is not so obvious, but is painfully true nonetheless, is that colleges and universities can also turn out vast numbers of people with credentials, but with no marketable skills with which to fulfill their expectations.A decade after graduation, people whose degrees were in a hard field like engineering earned twice as much as people whose degrees were in the ultimate soft field, education. Nor is a degree from a prestigious institution a guarantee of a big pay-off, especially not for those who failed to specialize in subjects that would give them skills valued in the real world.
But that is not even half the story. In countries around the world, people with credentials but no marketable skills have been a major source of political turmoil, social polarization and ideologically driven violence, sometimes escalating into civil war.
People with degrees in soft subjects, which impart neither skills nor a realistic understanding of the world, have been the driving forces behind many extremist movements with disastrous consequences.
It was much the same story of soft-subject "educated" but unsuccessful young men who promoted pro-fascist and anti-Semitic movements in Romania in the 1930s.
The targets have been different in different countries but the basic story has been much the same. Those who cannot compete in the marketplace, despite their degrees, not only resent those who have succeeded where they have failed, but push demands for preferential treatment, in order to negate the "unfair" advantages that others have.
The semi-literate sloganizing of our own Occupy Wall Street mobs recalls the distinction that Milton Friedman often made between those who are educated and those who have simply been in schools. Generating more such people, in the name of expanding education, may serve the interests of the Obama administration but hardly the interests of America.
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2012/01/18/an_ignored_disparity_part_ii/page/full/
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Israel Matzav writes: Echoing a Defense Department determination that called the Fort Hood massacre 'workplace violence,' President Obama has denied purple hearts to the soldiers who were murdered there by an Islamic terrorist. I received the following email from the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Dear DHFC Supporter,
Barack Obama has just done something truly disgraceful! He's declared the 2009 Fort Hood massacre - where a radical Islamic terrorist killed 13 American soldiers and wounded 29 more - "work place violence," not a terrorist attack. http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2012/01/obama-declares-fort-hood-work-accident.html
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Red State writes: Nearly a year ago, the Democratic National Committee opened a wound with union bosses, the Democratic party’s biggest financial backers, by choosing Charlotte, NC as the host-city for its 2012 convention. While the circumstances that led to the decision to choose one of the least unionized states in the nation may have been a union turf war, the DNC convention planners have tried to make up for it by discriminating against union-free vendors.
Nevertheless, the AFL-CIO’s Building & Construction Trades Division has chosen to boycott the convention entirely and, now, DNC convention planners may just have added more salt to union bosses’ wound by choosing the venue for Obama to make his acceptance speech at Charlotte’s Bank of America stadium—a stadium built by non-union labor. http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2012/01/17/dnc-planners-provide-stark-contrast-with-choice-of-union-free-stadium/
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Go Army posts this: Internment/Resettlement (I/R) Specialists in the Army are primarily responsible for day-to-day operations in a military confinement/correctional facility or detention/internment facility. I/R Specialists provide rehabilitative, health, welfare, and security to U.S. military prisoners within a confinement or correctional facility; conduct inspections; prepare written reports; and coordinate activities of prisoners/internees and staff personnel. [If our glorious president had not declared that he needed a civilian "army" larger and just as powerful as the military; if Congress had not just passed a law permitting the internment of American citizens without a trial, this would not feel so ominous.] http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/legal-and-law-enforcement/internment-resettlement-specialist.html
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Washington Times reports: In a stunning turn of events, Rick Santorum now appears to have won the Iowa caucuses, though the state’s Republican Party says there are too many holes in the results for them to ever be able to say for certain.
The party, which runs the caucuses, has done a recount since the Jan. 3 voting, and told the Des Moines Register the tally now shows Mr. Santorum up by 34 votes. On caucus night the party said Mitt Romney had won by eight votes.
The deadline for final certification of the results was Wednesday. Party officials said eight precincts failed to follow the rules and fill out the official forms on caucus night, meaning those results can never be certified, while other precincts turned in forms that didn’t meet the legal requirements.
[I can't begin to express my disgust that the Republicans cannot get the job done right. What chance do we have? http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/19/recount-gives-santorum-edge-iowa-caucuses/
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Heritage.org reports: Under Obama, Oil and Gas Production on Federal Lands Is Down 40%
House Natural Resources Committee noted these figures:
- Oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down by more than 40 percent compared to 10 years ago.
- Under the Obama administration, 2010 had the lowest number of onshore leases issued since 1984.
- The Obama administration held only one offshore lease sale in 2011.
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/01/18/under-obama-oil-and-gas-production-on-federal-lands-is-down-40/
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Fox News reports: Michael LoPorto arrived at the Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, N.Y. on Tuesday for his trial, which accuses him of being part of a “massive” voter fraud scheme.
The former Democratic city councilman and popular local restaurant owner appeared jaunty and relaxed as he answered a series of questions from Fox News -- despite facing felony allegations that could send him to prison for seven years.
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You tell 'em, Newt!
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