From McClatchydc.com: Federal investigators have opened multiple inquiries into California census operations, including allegations that some workers felt so much pressure that they cut corners or got things wrong during the crucial population count. The investigation isn't unique. Last month, investigators revealed that two Brooklyn census supervisors had directed workers to falsify answers to household questionnaires. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/05/98712/feds-suspect-california-census.html
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Fox News reports: The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia is urging the state police to ignore Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli's ruling that police can ask people about their immigration status during routine stops. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/05/aclu-urges-virginia-police-ignore-attorney-generals-immigration-opinion/
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Glenn Beck on Chris Matthews of CNN: We finished tonight with a stunning new poll that shows only a minority of Americans, 42% believe the president of the United States was born in this country and therefore eligible for the office. The new CNN survey released today found that just 23% of Republicans believe Obama is a native born American.
It's the only thing he could he has to convince everyone that the people opposing him, the 65% of people who want to repeal his stupid healthcare plan must all be racist Birthers. That's all he has. http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/43927/
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Friday, August 6, 2010
Lowering taxes in Democrat Blue State Cities?; Body Scanning E-Rays Stored; UN Climate Change Fund
Forbes informs us: President Obama's stated objective to reduce inequality, as laid out in public addresses and budget plans, is a noble one. Yet it seems more and more likely that raising taxes for urban middle-income workers will, over the long term, add to the flood of people fleeing to less costly locales with lower taxes. This will be particularly true for the growing ranks of information economy "artisans" who might find critical write-offs for home offices and other business expenses cut from their next tax return.
By targeting the urban middle class to pay for its deficit and new social programs, the president's plan could end up draining wealth--and boosting inequality--from our nation's great cities, where he currently draws overwhelming support, to its hinterlands. Not exactly what the White House had in mind, no doubt, but, sadly, it's a distinct possibility. http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/02/obama-tax-urban-opinions-columnists_middle_class.html
[Not to worry! They are, as reported by Fox News, floating the idea to raise taxes everywhere EXCEPT in large cities with high costs of living! Just coincidental of course is the fact that these same cities have been run for decades by Democrats, and the cost of living is so high because of the high state, city and municipality taxes, as well as in some cases a tax on all of one's investments. Once again, as in auto dealership closings, response to oil well spills, etc, the Red (Republican) states are below the blue in importance to this Administration.]
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For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they're viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that "scanned images cannot be stored or recorded."
Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20012583-281.html
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BONN, Germany – Carbon taxes, add-ons to international air fares and a levy on cross-border money movements are among ways being considered by a panel of the world's leading economists to raise a staggering $100 billion a year to fight climate change. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/ap_on_sc/climate_change
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When General Motors went through bankruptcy last year, it suspended its political donations. Now that it's owned by the U.S. government, it's donating to lawmakers' pet projects again.
The carmaker gave $41,000 to groups associated with lawmakers, the vast majority of it -- $36,000 -- to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the company reported on a disclosure form last week. The CBC Foundation is a charity with 11 members of the Congressional Black Caucus on its board. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/04/AR2010080407086_pf.html
[Personally, I don't care which organization gets the money, because it is our money they are donating and it should not be allowed. It is not surprising, however, to see which group got some money.]
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The latest report from the liberal Democracy Corps poll run by former Bill Clinton advisers James Carville and Stan Greenberg won't do anything to cheer up the Obama White House or Democrats in Congress.
"Democrats are lagging further behind Republicans on which party can best deal with the economy," Messrs. Carville and Greenberg report in their new survey of 1,000 voters who cast ballots in 2008. When asked about how they intend to vote in November, 52% of those who voted in 2008 said they plan to vote Republican to lodge a protest about current economic conditions. Only 41% plan to support Democrats.
All in all, the Democracy Corps report ratifies the findings of a host of other polls that point to major Democratic problems this fall. Last year's fateful decision of the Obama administration to pursue ambitious schemes to expand government control of health care and financial services rather than concentrate on job creation may go into the record books as one of the greatest political blunders of all time. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703748904575411382379964828.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinionhttp:
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By targeting the urban middle class to pay for its deficit and new social programs, the president's plan could end up draining wealth--and boosting inequality--from our nation's great cities, where he currently draws overwhelming support, to its hinterlands. Not exactly what the White House had in mind, no doubt, but, sadly, it's a distinct possibility. http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/02/obama-tax-urban-opinions-columnists_middle_class.html
[Not to worry! They are, as reported by Fox News, floating the idea to raise taxes everywhere EXCEPT in large cities with high costs of living! Just coincidental of course is the fact that these same cities have been run for decades by Democrats, and the cost of living is so high because of the high state, city and municipality taxes, as well as in some cases a tax on all of one's investments. Once again, as in auto dealership closings, response to oil well spills, etc, the Red (Republican) states are below the blue in importance to this Administration.]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they're viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that "scanned images cannot be stored or recorded."
Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse. http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20012583-281.html
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BONN, Germany – Carbon taxes, add-ons to international air fares and a levy on cross-border money movements are among ways being considered by a panel of the world's leading economists to raise a staggering $100 billion a year to fight climate change. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100805/ap_on_sc/climate_change
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When General Motors went through bankruptcy last year, it suspended its political donations. Now that it's owned by the U.S. government, it's donating to lawmakers' pet projects again.
The carmaker gave $41,000 to groups associated with lawmakers, the vast majority of it -- $36,000 -- to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, the company reported on a disclosure form last week. The CBC Foundation is a charity with 11 members of the Congressional Black Caucus on its board. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/04/AR2010080407086_pf.html
[Personally, I don't care which organization gets the money, because it is our money they are donating and it should not be allowed. It is not surprising, however, to see which group got some money.]
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The latest report from the liberal Democracy Corps poll run by former Bill Clinton advisers James Carville and Stan Greenberg won't do anything to cheer up the Obama White House or Democrats in Congress.
"Democrats are lagging further behind Republicans on which party can best deal with the economy," Messrs. Carville and Greenberg report in their new survey of 1,000 voters who cast ballots in 2008. When asked about how they intend to vote in November, 52% of those who voted in 2008 said they plan to vote Republican to lodge a protest about current economic conditions. Only 41% plan to support Democrats.
All in all, the Democracy Corps report ratifies the findings of a host of other polls that point to major Democratic problems this fall. Last year's fateful decision of the Obama administration to pursue ambitious schemes to expand government control of health care and financial services rather than concentrate on job creation may go into the record books as one of the greatest political blunders of all time. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703748904575411382379964828.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinionhttp:
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Thursday, August 5, 2010
Racist Spaniards; Shirley Sherrod; Lt. Lakin Court Martial; Obama Cooking Books on Medicare Savings
Due to the fact that this Administration seems to be attempting to overwhelm us with all they are doing, I have decided to shorten each blog. I will be blogging Monday through Friday to make it easier for you to get the late breaking news.
The UK News reports: The Obama administration faced an embarrassing diplomatic blunder today after it was forced to pull a warning about racism in Spain - just as the First Lady arrived in the country for a summer holiday.
Staff at the U.S. State Department removed the contentious advice to travellers, which included the phrase 'racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain,' from its website on Monday.
The UK News reports: The Obama administration faced an embarrassing diplomatic blunder today after it was forced to pull a warning about racism in Spain - just as the First Lady arrived in the country for a summer holiday.
Staff at the U.S. State Department removed the contentious advice to travellers, which included the phrase 'racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain,' from its website on Monday.
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The Washington Examiner opines: Do you think Shirley Sherrod has a good case in suing Andrew Breitbart for showing only some of her speech? From the Washington Examiner comes this testimony from one who used to work for her: What most of Mrs. Sherrod’s supporters are not aware of is the elitist and anti-black-labor role that she and fellow managers of New Communities Inc. (NCI) played. These individuals under-paid, mistreated and fired black laborers–many of them less than 16 years of age–in the same fields of southwest Georgia where their ancestors suffered under chattel slavery. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/Examiner-Opinion-Zone/Former-Shirley-Sherrod-nci-employee-accuses-her-of-exploiting-black-farm-laborers-99880014.html
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LTC Lakin Arraignment Hearing on August 6, 2010
In other words, the CBO agrees with the CMS actuary that the same money can’t be used twice — once to expand coverage, and a second time to extend the life of the Medicare trust fund. The secretary’s statement that “there are two different operating methods of looking at this,” and that CBO disagrees with the administration’s own actuaries on the impact of this budgetary double-counting, is demonstrably false.
http://www.newsmax.com/GroverNorquist/Norquist--Sebelius--Medicare--Medicaid--Obamacare/2010/08/03/id/366484
Terry Lakin: Army Officer Joins Birthers, Defies Orders
Lt. Col. Terry Lakin, an Army physician, has refused to obey any orders from his commanding officers -- including President Obama -- until Obama produces his birth certificate. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/01/terry-lakin-army-birther_n_521549.html
LTC Lakin Arraignment Hearing on August 6, 2010
Western Center for Journalism
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Regarding Medicare/Medicaid's wonderful money saving properties, announced by this Administration, unfortunately for secretary Sebelius, however, as reported by Newsmax: the Congressional Budget Office has on numerous occasions confirmed that any claims the law will improve Medicare’s solvency revolve around notional double-counting under federal budgetary conventions.Obama Administration Caught Cooking the Books on Obamacare
A January CBO letter found that “the majority of the [Medicare] trust fund savings . . . would be used to pay for other spending and therefore would not enhance the ability of the government to pay for future Medicare benefits.” And in a March letter, CBO quantified the amount of that double-counting, estimating that, if the law’s Medicare savings were actually set aside to improve the solvency of the Medicare trust fund (as opposed to being used for other spending), the bill would increase the deficit by $260 billion over its first ten years alone.In other words, the CBO agrees with the CMS actuary that the same money can’t be used twice — once to expand coverage, and a second time to extend the life of the Medicare trust fund. The secretary’s statement that “there are two different operating methods of looking at this,” and that CBO disagrees with the administration’s own actuaries on the impact of this budgetary double-counting, is demonstrably false.
http://www.newsmax.com/GroverNorquist/Norquist--Sebelius--Medicare--Medicaid--Obamacare/2010/08/03/id/366484
r request is being processed...
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Nat'l Guard in AZ; IED on Border; Our Gov't Has Become Our Own Enemy; Maxine Waters; Disappearing Oil; VA Lawsuit Goes Forward
The NY Post writes: Arizonans will be grateful for some extra help from the National Guard, starting Sunday, in protecting the border and fighting drug violence -- especially now that a federal judge has blocked key parts of their recent illegal-immigration law. But there's a more pressing border issue that goes beyond Arizona: the alliance between drug cartels and groups that aim to smuggle terrorists into our country through the Mexican border. Last week's detonation along the Texas-Mexico border of an Improvised Explosive Device similar to those used in Iraq and Afghanistan strongly suggests that Hezbollah is working with the drug cartels http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/looming_threat_from_illegals_terror_fxLo773X6OkZJXUCLXVIXJ
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CNS News reports: Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff Paul Babeu is hopping mad at the federal government.
“What’s very troubling is the fact that at a time when we in law enforcement and our state need help from the federal government, instead of sending help they put up billboard-size signs warning our citizens to stay out of the desert in my county because of dangerous drug and human smuggling and weapons and bandits and all these other things and then, behind that, they drag us into court with the ACLU,” Babeu said.
The sheriff was referring to the law suits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Justice challenging the state’s new immigration law.
“So who has partnered with the ACLU?” Babeu said in a telephone interview with CNSNews.com. “It’s the president and (Attorney General) Eric Holder himself. And that’s simply outrageous.”
“Our own government has become our enemy and is taking us to court at a time when we need help,” Babeu said.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70324
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[She who voiced her desire for our government to just take over all oil companies], Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, [according to the NYT]: "will face charges of misusing her office and is expected to contest the claims in a House trial, the second powerful House Democrat to opt for such a public airing in recent days, Congressional officials said Friday. A House ethics subcommittee has charged Ms. Waters, 71, a 10-term congresswoman, in a case involving communications that she had with the top executive of a bank that her husband owned stock in while it was applying for a federal bailout in 2008, two House officials said. Charges are expected..." http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/us/politics/31waters.html?_r=1
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[From Agora Financial - more on the disappearing oil from the BP oil spill "disaster"] The scientific-biological point is that in a normal environment, oil-eating bacteria are in equilibrium with their surroundings. If there's not much oil in the water, the bacteria are few and far between. But if you add oil to the mix, the bacteria bloom. The process works really well in warm seas with plenty of sunlight, such as in the GOM. And it doesn't hurt if there's weather action to stir up the water and add oxygen to the mix.
As the bloom progresses, more bacteria eat more and more of the oil. They eat the oil until it's mostly gone. When the "oil-food" is gone, the bacteria die off. The result is much less oil, and much more microscopic biomass in the water. According to Marcio, biomass is another way of describing "fish food." Marcio said, "In perhaps two years time, the Gulf fishing industry will recover in such a way as will be spectacular. Just wait. You can tell me if I'm wrong."
To illustrate the idea, Marcio showed astonishing data about oil seeps offshore Mexico. According to satellite data, there are hundreds of oil seeps off Mexico. (Marcio showed detailed satellite images in which everybody in the room could see the slicks from the oil seeps.) The total of oil leaking into the GOM is in the range of tens of millions of barrels per year, or MORE than what blew out from the BP well over the past three months. Yet the Mexican seeps are not "news" -- certainly not an environmental disaster -- because the oil-eating bacteria somehow keep this naturally occurring Mexican oil under control.
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The Washington Examiner reports: Judge Henry Hudson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia today denied the motion by the U.S. Department of Justice that Virginia’s challenge of the constitutionality of Obamacare be dismissed. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/federal-judge-denies-holder-request-to-dismiss-obamacare-constitutionality-challenge-99768809.html-
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“Human Events writes about Holdren ( Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy): In the longer term, it may be that the solution to the employment problem will require a reduction in the amount of work done by each worker in order to create more jobs,” wrote Holdren and his co-authors.
“Gradually shortening the work week (ultimately to 20 hours or less) or decreasing the number of work weeks per year (companies could have different spring-summer and fall-winter shifts) would accomplish this,” they wrote.
Working less to make room for other people to enter the job market would be good for Americans, Holdren and his co-authors concluded, even if it meant workers had to accept less pay.
“There should be few but positive consequences from such a reduction in working time,” they wrote. “Pay would perhaps be reduced but so would many expenses if material goods were built to endure and there was no longer social pressure to consume for the sake of consuming. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38359 [But don't you dare suggest that this would mean our government will be even more intrusive into our private businesses. Without knowing about a book he had written, Congress confirmed this radical, who is known for writing that: "To provide a high quality of life for all, there must be fewer people." ]
Popular Science suggests: The raising of livestock consumes two-thirds of the planet's farmland, and is a major source of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, tons of edible, sustainable protein swarms all around us, free for the taking. In a new policy paper being considered by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Belgian entomologist Arnold van Huis makes the sensible recommendation that the western world eat more insects. Farming edible insects like mealworms and crickets would produce far less greenhouse gas -- 10 times less methane and 100 times less nitrous oxide -- than the large mammals we currently farm. http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-08/humanity-needs-start-farming-bugs-food-says-united-nations-policy-paper [And if we Americans would just stop exhaling, think how much good we could do? :)]
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Politico opines: Don’t bother trying to count up the number of agencies, boards and commissions created under the new health care law. Estimating the number is “impossible,” a recent Congressional Research Service report says, and a true count “unknowable.” http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40561.html
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Liberty Central writes: One action that should not be taken is to vote on a massive package of tax increases and spending cuts once a new Congress has been elected, but before that new Congress is sworn in. Some reports suggest that the debt commission recommendations could total $100 trillion in new taxing and spending decisions. These decisions should not be decide by an unaccountable body filled with dozens of retiring and defeated Members of Congress. If Congress lacks the will to make difficult decisions before an election, they should leave such decisions to the new Congress to tackle.
And besides the risk of allowing a lame duck Congress to vote on these recommendations with little public debate, a lame duck session would also be an occasion for plenty of other mischief. According to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, cap and trade could be passed in a lame duck session. And Harry Reid himself is considering votes on amnesty, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and ENDA as well. We need to put an end to plans for a lame duck session. http://www.libertycentral.org/conrad-gregg-lame-duck-session-should-vote-on-massive-tax-increases-2010-07
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National Review points out: There are now six unelected members of the U.S. Senate; they represent Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New York, and West Virginia. The rules governing the seating of senators elected to replace appointed senators are left to the states in the 17th amendment. New York’s law specifies the date the new senator takes office as January 3, so Kirsten Gillibrand will still be a senator in a potential lame-duck session, regardless of the outcome of her election bid. The other five states, however, all have laws that indicate the election winners may be seated immediately following their election — in time for the lame-duck session.
http://article.nationalreview.com/438496/election-wins-can-stop-lame-duck-threat/phil-kerpen
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American Spectator Reports: The Show Me state, in the first public referendum on
ObamaCare in the nation, says "No!" by 71 percent.
Yesterday, by an overwhelming 71 percent to 29 percent margin, voters in the bellwether state approved the resulting initiative known as Proposition C, which is aimed at protecting Missouri residents from the mandate that will force individuals to purchase health insurance policies approved by the government, or pay a penalty.
“Missouri is the first public referendum on ObamaCare in the nation,” Cunningham said, noting that efforts to shield residents from the affects of ObamaCare are underway -- at various stages -- in 42 states.
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/04/missouri-says-no-to-obamacare
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Thomas Sowell reports: The CBO report points out that the national debt, which was 36 percent of the Gross Domestic Product three years ago, is now projected to be 62 percent of GDP at the end of fiscal year 2010-- and rising in future years. http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/08/04/democrats_bite_democrats_part_ii/page/full
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CNS News reports: Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff Paul Babeu is hopping mad at the federal government.
“What’s very troubling is the fact that at a time when we in law enforcement and our state need help from the federal government, instead of sending help they put up billboard-size signs warning our citizens to stay out of the desert in my county because of dangerous drug and human smuggling and weapons and bandits and all these other things and then, behind that, they drag us into court with the ACLU,” Babeu said.
The sheriff was referring to the law suits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the U.S. Department of Justice challenging the state’s new immigration law.
“So who has partnered with the ACLU?” Babeu said in a telephone interview with CNSNews.com. “It’s the president and (Attorney General) Eric Holder himself. And that’s simply outrageous.”
“Our own government has become our enemy and is taking us to court at a time when we need help,” Babeu said.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/70324
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[She who voiced her desire for our government to just take over all oil companies], Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, [according to the NYT]: "will face charges of misusing her office and is expected to contest the claims in a House trial, the second powerful House Democrat to opt for such a public airing in recent days, Congressional officials said Friday. A House ethics subcommittee has charged Ms. Waters, 71, a 10-term congresswoman, in a case involving communications that she had with the top executive of a bank that her husband owned stock in while it was applying for a federal bailout in 2008, two House officials said. Charges are expected..." http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/31/us/politics/31waters.html?_r=1
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[From Agora Financial - more on the disappearing oil from the BP oil spill "disaster"] The scientific-biological point is that in a normal environment, oil-eating bacteria are in equilibrium with their surroundings. If there's not much oil in the water, the bacteria are few and far between. But if you add oil to the mix, the bacteria bloom. The process works really well in warm seas with plenty of sunlight, such as in the GOM. And it doesn't hurt if there's weather action to stir up the water and add oxygen to the mix.
As the bloom progresses, more bacteria eat more and more of the oil. They eat the oil until it's mostly gone. When the "oil-food" is gone, the bacteria die off. The result is much less oil, and much more microscopic biomass in the water. According to Marcio, biomass is another way of describing "fish food." Marcio said, "In perhaps two years time, the Gulf fishing industry will recover in such a way as will be spectacular. Just wait. You can tell me if I'm wrong."
To illustrate the idea, Marcio showed astonishing data about oil seeps offshore Mexico. According to satellite data, there are hundreds of oil seeps off Mexico. (Marcio showed detailed satellite images in which everybody in the room could see the slicks from the oil seeps.) The total of oil leaking into the GOM is in the range of tens of millions of barrels per year, or MORE than what blew out from the BP well over the past three months. Yet the Mexican seeps are not "news" -- certainly not an environmental disaster -- because the oil-eating bacteria somehow keep this naturally occurring Mexican oil under control.
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The Washington Examiner reports: Judge Henry Hudson of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia today denied the motion by the U.S. Department of Justice that Virginia’s challenge of the constitutionality of Obamacare be dismissed. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/federal-judge-denies-holder-request-to-dismiss-obamacare-constitutionality-challenge-99768809.html-
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“Human Events writes about Holdren ( Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy): In the longer term, it may be that the solution to the employment problem will require a reduction in the amount of work done by each worker in order to create more jobs,” wrote Holdren and his co-authors.
“Gradually shortening the work week (ultimately to 20 hours or less) or decreasing the number of work weeks per year (companies could have different spring-summer and fall-winter shifts) would accomplish this,” they wrote.
Working less to make room for other people to enter the job market would be good for Americans, Holdren and his co-authors concluded, even if it meant workers had to accept less pay.
“There should be few but positive consequences from such a reduction in working time,” they wrote. “Pay would perhaps be reduced but so would many expenses if material goods were built to endure and there was no longer social pressure to consume for the sake of consuming. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38359 [But don't you dare suggest that this would mean our government will be even more intrusive into our private businesses. Without knowing about a book he had written, Congress confirmed this radical, who is known for writing that: "To provide a high quality of life for all, there must be fewer people." ]
"Those plans include forcing single women to abort their babies or put them up for adoption; implanting sterilizing capsules in people when they reach puberty; and spiking water reserves and staple foods with a chemical that would make people sterile.
To help achieve those goals, they formulate a "world government scheme" they call the Planetary Regime, which would administer the world's resources and human growth, and they discuss the development of an "armed international organization, a global analogue of a police force" to which nations would surrender part of their sovereignty." [Nothing radical here, folks, so just confirm him!] http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/21/obamas-science-czar-considered-forced-abortions-sterilization-population-growth/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Popular Science suggests: The raising of livestock consumes two-thirds of the planet's farmland, and is a major source of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, tons of edible, sustainable protein swarms all around us, free for the taking. In a new policy paper being considered by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Belgian entomologist Arnold van Huis makes the sensible recommendation that the western world eat more insects. Farming edible insects like mealworms and crickets would produce far less greenhouse gas -- 10 times less methane and 100 times less nitrous oxide -- than the large mammals we currently farm. http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-08/humanity-needs-start-farming-bugs-food-says-united-nations-policy-paper [And if we Americans would just stop exhaling, think how much good we could do? :)]
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Politico opines: Don’t bother trying to count up the number of agencies, boards and commissions created under the new health care law. Estimating the number is “impossible,” a recent Congressional Research Service report says, and a true count “unknowable.” http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/40561.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Liberty Central writes: One action that should not be taken is to vote on a massive package of tax increases and spending cuts once a new Congress has been elected, but before that new Congress is sworn in. Some reports suggest that the debt commission recommendations could total $100 trillion in new taxing and spending decisions. These decisions should not be decide by an unaccountable body filled with dozens of retiring and defeated Members of Congress. If Congress lacks the will to make difficult decisions before an election, they should leave such decisions to the new Congress to tackle.
And besides the risk of allowing a lame duck Congress to vote on these recommendations with little public debate, a lame duck session would also be an occasion for plenty of other mischief. According to Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, cap and trade could be passed in a lame duck session. And Harry Reid himself is considering votes on amnesty, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and ENDA as well. We need to put an end to plans for a lame duck session. http://www.libertycentral.org/conrad-gregg-lame-duck-session-should-vote-on-massive-tax-increases-2010-07
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National Review points out: There are now six unelected members of the U.S. Senate; they represent Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New York, and West Virginia. The rules governing the seating of senators elected to replace appointed senators are left to the states in the 17th amendment. New York’s law specifies the date the new senator takes office as January 3, so Kirsten Gillibrand will still be a senator in a potential lame-duck session, regardless of the outcome of her election bid. The other five states, however, all have laws that indicate the election winners may be seated immediately following their election — in time for the lame-duck session.
http://article.nationalreview.com/438496/election-wins-can-stop-lame-duck-threat/phil-kerpen
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American Spectator Reports: The Show Me state, in the first public referendum on
ObamaCare in the nation, says "No!" by 71 percent.
Yesterday, by an overwhelming 71 percent to 29 percent margin, voters in the bellwether state approved the resulting initiative known as Proposition C, which is aimed at protecting Missouri residents from the mandate that will force individuals to purchase health insurance policies approved by the government, or pay a penalty.
“Missouri is the first public referendum on ObamaCare in the nation,” Cunningham said, noting that efforts to shield residents from the affects of ObamaCare are underway -- at various stages -- in 42 states.
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/08/04/missouri-says-no-to-obamacare
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Thomas Sowell reports: The CBO report points out that the national debt, which was 36 percent of the Gross Domestic Product three years ago, is now projected to be 62 percent of GDP at the end of fiscal year 2010-- and rising in future years. http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/08/04/democrats_bite_democrats_part_ii/page/full
Monday, August 2, 2010
The Electoral College, and Democrats' Scheme to Negate It; Oil Spill Disappearing, Planet Healing Self; Financial Reform Bill Particulars; Moscow's Old KGB; Government Plans to Look at Our Email; Compromising our Afghanistan Friends
National Review Reports: The Massachusetts legislature seems poised to enact a plan, as evil as it is ingenious, to run an end-around on the electoral college and the Constitution.
It would work by tying the Bay State's 12 electoral votes to the winner of the popular vote nationwide. If a number of states equivalent to at least 270 electoral votes were to pass the measure, it would effectively neuter the college.I know that this is remedial for Cornerites, but the electoral college is one of the last vestiges of federalism we have left. It reflects the Founders' conviction that the method of choosing the Executive should reflect the will of the several states qua states — he's called the President of the United States, not the President of America. The desire to protect the integrity and discreteness of the states, and to prevent the most populous states from running up the score in the vote, was the essence of the Connecticut Compromise. Do away with the college and you might as well abolish the Senate. Not that many on the Left would shed too many tears over that prospect.
In any event, there is something of a consolation prize here: unless and until enough states adopt the measure to give it teeth, Massachusetts will wind up serving as a mere rubber stamp for whoever wins the presidency by accruing enough votes in the other 49 states. Which means Massachusetts could realistically go Republican in 2012. . . http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjIwYjUxMWFjYmIyMzdiZTljNTllZmY5NjczMmU4ZmQ=
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[Time reports: Regarding the disastrous BP spill, according to many]: So far — while it's important to acknowledge that the long-term potential danger is simply unknowable for an underwater event that took place just three months ago — it does not seem to be inflicting severe environmental damage. "The impacts have been much, much less than everyone feared," says geochemist Jacqueline Michel, a federal contractor who is coordinating shoreline assessments in Louisiana. [For instance,] Yes, we've heard horror stories about oiled dolphins — but, so far, wildlife response teams have collected only three visibly oiled carcasses of any mammals.
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2007202,00.html#ixzz0v4XDLGUs
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Fox Business News writes: So much for transparency.
Under a little-noticed provision of the recently passed financial-reform legislation, the Securities and Exchange Commission no longer has to comply with virtually all requests for information releases from the public, including those filed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The law, signed last week by President Obama, exempts the SEC from disclosing records or information derived from "surveillance, risk assessments, or other regulatory and oversight activities." Given that the SEC is a regulatory body, the provision covers almost every action by the agency, lawyers say. Congress and federal agencies can request information, but the public cannot. http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/07/28/sec-says-new-finreg-law-exempts-public-disclosure/?test=latestnews
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The AP reports out of MOSCOW: - Russia has broadened the authority of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor agency, giving it Soviet-style repressive powers in a move critics say could be used to stifle protests and intimidate government opponents.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law Thursday allowing the agency, known by its initials FSB, to issue warnings or detain people suspected of preparing to commit crimes against Russia's security - which could include participating in anti-government rallies. Perpetrators face fines or up to 15 days detention. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100729/D9H8LTJO1.html
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From CNBC: The nascent US economic recovery would be halted in 2011 if Congress fails to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, analysts at Deutsche Bank said. http://www.cnbc.com/id/38467149
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The NYT reports: It is just a technical matter, the Obama administration says: We just need to make a slight change in a law to make clear that we have the right to see the names of anyone’s e-mail correspondents and their Web browsing history without the messy complication of asking a judge for permission. It is far more than a technical change. The administration’s request, reported Thursday in The Washington Post, is an unnecessary and disappointing step backward toward more intrusive surveillance from a president who promised something very different during the 2008 campaign. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/opinion/30fri1.html?_r=2&hp
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American Thinker writes: Barack Obama seems to have a pattern of using ceremonial or stately events as opportunities to ambush and humiliate people. This behavior is unpresidential and reveals a vindictive streak that makes Richard Nixon look like Mister Rogers. [They cite the Supreme Court, doctors, financial executives, and Pete Hoekstra, Boards of Directors, among others.] This was not the first time he chose to turn a celebration into an ambush, a party into a shooting gallery.
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By Bob Unruh: But a little-reported move to begin demolition of the health-care system takeover already is pending in the House and has gained about three-quarters of the support it needs to repeal the law that demands citizens buy insurance or pay financial penalties.
As of last night, the discharge petition sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, had collected 162 signatures of the 218 it would need to advance – even in the face of continued opposition from Obamacare promoter House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. World Net Daily http://www.exposeobama.com/2010/07/29/good-news-obamacare-reversal-now-has-75-of-needed-votes/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=d922b845ab-EO_7_29_107_29_2010&utm_medium=email
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"I think Charlie Rangel served a very long time and served-- his constituents very well. But these-- allegations are very troubling," Obama told Harry Smith in an interview to be aired on the "Early Show." and first broadcast on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
"And he'll-- he's somebody who's at the end of his career. Eighty years old. I'm sure that-- what he wants is to be able to-- end his career with dignity. And my hope is that-- it happens. " http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0710/Obama_Time_for_Rangel_to_end_career_with_dignity.html
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/30/it-is-us/
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The Examiner writes: A chilling audio tape with text, circulating by e-mail, has been reported that puts a million dollar price on conservative hero, [Arizona's] Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head. Is it a coincidence that this was reported on the same day that Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, became effective? http://www.examiner.com/x-35532-Dallas-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m7d30-Arizona-Sheriff-Joes-head-Mexican-drug-cartel-offers-1M--price-for-Arpaio-video
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ABC New reports: The Pentagon is adding workers to a team that is working around the clock sifting through the thousands of leaked secret documents on the Afghan war to determine whether sources have been compromised, ABC News has learned. Sources also told ABC News that measures are being taken in Afghanistan to protect sources who may have been unmasked from Taliban revenge. Investigators are also reportedly widening their search for suspects amid growing evidence that suspected leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning had outside help leaking the documents.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/pentagon-search-wikileaks-documents-protect-sources-taliban-revenge/story?id=11297565
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From Bill Kristol, no less:A failed presidency is a terrible thing to witness. A failed presidency with more than two years left to run is also dangerous for the country. So, even though it would be easy for The Weekly Standard to allow your administration to continue on its current path to perdition, thereby ensuring massive GOP gains this November and a likely victory in 2012, we offer, in a spirit of bipartisanship and patriotism, some advice. Here are three simple steps that you can take that would help right your presidential ship, reduce the scale of what now looks like a huge blowout in November, and give you a chance to govern successfully over the next couple of years.
All you have to do is . . .
1) Extend current tax rates
2) Rescind the July 2011 Afghanistan deadline.
3) Come out against the Ground Zero mosque.
Read more at http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/memo-president
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The AP reports out of MOSCOW: - Russia has broadened the authority of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor agency, giving it Soviet-style repressive powers in a move critics say could be used to stifle protests and intimidate government opponents.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law Thursday allowing the agency, known by its initials FSB, to issue warnings or detain people suspected of preparing to commit crimes against Russia's security - which could include participating in anti-government rallies. Perpetrators face fines or up to 15 days detention. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100729/D9H8LTJO1.html
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From CNBC: The nascent US economic recovery would be halted in 2011 if Congress fails to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, analysts at Deutsche Bank said. http://www.cnbc.com/id/38467149
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The NYT reports: It is just a technical matter, the Obama administration says: We just need to make a slight change in a law to make clear that we have the right to see the names of anyone’s e-mail correspondents and their Web browsing history without the messy complication of asking a judge for permission. It is far more than a technical change. The administration’s request, reported Thursday in The Washington Post, is an unnecessary and disappointing step backward toward more intrusive surveillance from a president who promised something very different during the 2008 campaign. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/opinion/30fri1.html?_r=2&hp
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American Thinker writes: Barack Obama seems to have a pattern of using ceremonial or stately events as opportunities to ambush and humiliate people. This behavior is unpresidential and reveals a vindictive streak that makes Richard Nixon look like Mister Rogers. [They cite the Supreme Court, doctors, financial executives, and Pete Hoekstra, Boards of Directors, among others.] This was not the first time he chose to turn a celebration into an ambush, a party into a shooting gallery.
Can we forget the lack of graciousness when Obama told John McCain during the health care summit that he convened, supposedly in the spirit of comity, that "the election is over"? [This fails to surprise those of us who actually pay attention to the arrogance, the supposed comedic remarks of this oh-so unpresidential President.]
The milk of human kindness does not flow in this man's veins, but rather something bitterer -- a type of personal poison that he enjoys spraying on others.http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/07/obamas_mean_streak_1.html------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Bob Unruh: But a little-reported move to begin demolition of the health-care system takeover already is pending in the House and has gained about three-quarters of the support it needs to repeal the law that demands citizens buy insurance or pay financial penalties.
As of last night, the discharge petition sponsored by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, had collected 162 signatures of the 218 it would need to advance – even in the face of continued opposition from Obamacare promoter House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. World Net Daily http://www.exposeobama.com/2010/07/29/good-news-obamacare-reversal-now-has-75-of-needed-votes/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=d922b845ab-EO_7_29_107_29_2010&utm_medium=email
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From Politico: President Barack Obama has kept mum on the fate of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) for days -- but he tells CBS News that it's time for the embattled 80-year-old former Ways and Means Chairman to end his career "with dignity."
"I think Charlie Rangel served a very long time and served-- his constituents very well. But these-- allegations are very troubling," Obama told Harry Smith in an interview to be aired on the "Early Show." and first broadcast on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
"And he'll-- he's somebody who's at the end of his career. Eighty years old. I'm sure that-- what he wants is to be able to-- end his career with dignity. And my hope is that-- it happens. " http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0710/Obama_Time_for_Rangel_to_end_career_with_dignity.html
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Ted NUGENT: It is us [Actually, it is WE, but who cares about learning proper English these days?]
We're the ones who allowed anti-Americans to take over America
Barack Hussein Obama did not sneak into power. An army of clueless, disconnected, ignorant Americans invited him to bring his Marxist, glaringly anti-American jihad into our lives. This president's overtly destructive, clear-and-present-danger agenda is surpassed in transparency only by his ultra-leftist public voting record and overall lifetime conduct of consorting with the enemy as a child and student of Marxism, socialist and racist community organizer, congregant of the blatant America-hating black-theology- and social-justice-spewing Rev. Jeremiah Wright and close personal friend of convicted communist terrorists like Bill Ayers, and by his unflinching appointment of an array of communist czars, including Van Jones, Cass Sunstein, Anita Dunne, et al. So let me get this straight: You claim your intentions were noble because you simply wanted to get your child a puppy but somehow didn't notice that it was foaming at the mouth, and now you're shocked that your child has rabies? I think not. That is not a mistake. It is negligence -- dangerous, life threatening and, I am convinced, downright criminal negligence.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/30/it-is-us/
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The Examiner writes: A chilling audio tape with text, circulating by e-mail, has been reported that puts a million dollar price on conservative hero, [Arizona's] Sheriff Joe Arpaio's head. Is it a coincidence that this was reported on the same day that Arizona's immigration law, SB 1070, became effective? http://www.examiner.com/x-35532-Dallas-Political-Buzz-Examiner~y2010m7d30-Arizona-Sheriff-Joes-head-Mexican-drug-cartel-offers-1M--price-for-Arpaio-video
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ABC New reports: The Pentagon is adding workers to a team that is working around the clock sifting through the thousands of leaked secret documents on the Afghan war to determine whether sources have been compromised, ABC News has learned. Sources also told ABC News that measures are being taken in Afghanistan to protect sources who may have been unmasked from Taliban revenge. Investigators are also reportedly widening their search for suspects amid growing evidence that suspected leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning had outside help leaking the documents.
http://abcnews.go.com/WN/pentagon-search-wikileaks-documents-protect-sources-taliban-revenge/story?id=11297565
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From Bill Kristol, no less:A failed presidency is a terrible thing to witness. A failed presidency with more than two years left to run is also dangerous for the country. So, even though it would be easy for The Weekly Standard to allow your administration to continue on its current path to perdition, thereby ensuring massive GOP gains this November and a likely victory in 2012, we offer, in a spirit of bipartisanship and patriotism, some advice. Here are three simple steps that you can take that would help right your presidential ship, reduce the scale of what now looks like a huge blowout in November, and give you a chance to govern successfully over the next couple of years.
All you have to do is . . .
1) Extend current tax rates
2) Rescind the July 2011 Afghanistan deadline.
3) Come out against the Ground Zero mosque.
Read more at http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/memo-president
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