I will be taking a break from posting on this site for about five weeks. I will be back online again in mid-June. See you then.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
The President's Private War
Did you know that the United States government is using drones to
kill innocent people in Pakistan? Did you know that the Pakistani
government has asked President Obama to stop it and he won't? Did you
know that Pakistan is a sovereign country that has nuclear weapons and
is an American ally?
Last week, the Obama administration not only acknowledged the use of the drones; it also revealed that it has plans to increase the frequency and ferocity of the attacks. White House counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan argued that these attacks are "in full accordance with the law" and are not likely to be stopped anytime soon.
Brennan declined to say how many people were killed or just where the killings took place or who is doing it. But we know that Obama has a morbid fascination with his plastic killing machines, and we know that these machines are among the favored tools of the CIA. We also know that if the president had been using the military to do this, he'd be legally compelled to reveal it to Congress and eventually to seek permission.
We know about the need to tell Congress and ask for permission because of the War Powers Act. This law, enacted in 1973 over President Nixon's veto, permits the president to use the military for 90 days before telling Congress and for 180 days before he needs congressional authorization. Obama must believe that he can bypass this law by using civilian CIA agents, rather than uniformed military, to do his killing.
Read more: http://townhall.com/columnists/judgeandrewnapolitano/2012/05/04/the_presidents_private_war
Last week, the Obama administration not only acknowledged the use of the drones; it also revealed that it has plans to increase the frequency and ferocity of the attacks. White House counterterrorism adviser John O. Brennan argued that these attacks are "in full accordance with the law" and are not likely to be stopped anytime soon.
Brennan declined to say how many people were killed or just where the killings took place or who is doing it. But we know that Obama has a morbid fascination with his plastic killing machines, and we know that these machines are among the favored tools of the CIA. We also know that if the president had been using the military to do this, he'd be legally compelled to reveal it to Congress and eventually to seek permission.
We know about the need to tell Congress and ask for permission because of the War Powers Act. This law, enacted in 1973 over President Nixon's veto, permits the president to use the military for 90 days before telling Congress and for 180 days before he needs congressional authorization. Obama must believe that he can bypass this law by using civilian CIA agents, rather than uniformed military, to do his killing.
Read more: http://townhall.com/columnists/judgeandrewnapolitano/2012/05/04/the_presidents_private_war
On Texas, Energy, and Opportunity
Today
we sit at a crossroads in both the economic future of the United States
and the energy model that will fuel the world over the next century.
Texas is positioned to be one of the biggest winners in what promises to
be a disruptive shift in the world's energy production and economic
leadership. Texas sits at the intersection of a past where energy was
ostensibly cheap but expensive in ways few would acknowledge and a
future where energy is no longer taken for granted.
The price of a century of cheap oil
The global energy mix of the past few decades has been based largely on fossil fuels, particularly oil sourced from some of the most hostile regions of the planet. The negative implications of this have been numerous.
Energy is vital to modern economies. The remarkable ascendance of the U.S. in the decades since World War II would not have been possible without cheap, uninterrupted access to energy, and oil in particular. Because of this, the U.S. has been forced into numerous uncomfortable situations politically and economically. It has been forced to embrace foreign despots whose policies and tactics run counter to American ideals. Painful compromises have been made in order to maintain the political stability necessary to keep the oil that powers American prosperity flowing.
Worse, the steady flow of capital out of America into these oil-producing regions has shifted a large portion of American treasure into the hands of people who despise the American ideology of freedom, tolerance, and opportunity. They use American money, the fruits of American labor, to attack these very ideals.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/on_texas_energy_and_opportunity.html#ixzz1tz9VsWOp
The price of a century of cheap oil
The global energy mix of the past few decades has been based largely on fossil fuels, particularly oil sourced from some of the most hostile regions of the planet. The negative implications of this have been numerous.
Energy is vital to modern economies. The remarkable ascendance of the U.S. in the decades since World War II would not have been possible without cheap, uninterrupted access to energy, and oil in particular. Because of this, the U.S. has been forced into numerous uncomfortable situations politically and economically. It has been forced to embrace foreign despots whose policies and tactics run counter to American ideals. Painful compromises have been made in order to maintain the political stability necessary to keep the oil that powers American prosperity flowing.
Worse, the steady flow of capital out of America into these oil-producing regions has shifted a large portion of American treasure into the hands of people who despise the American ideology of freedom, tolerance, and opportunity. They use American money, the fruits of American labor, to attack these very ideals.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/05/on_texas_energy_and_opportunity.html#ixzz1tz9VsWOp
Panetta links environment, energy and national security in groundbreaking speech
Climate change and oil dependence are issues of national security,
and the Pentagon will take a lead role in shifting the way the country
uses energy, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last night.
In remarks made at a Washington, D.C., reception held by the Environmental Defense Fund, Panetta became the highest-level official to draw a clear line between environmental, energy and security issues since their relationship was formally established in Pentagon strategy two years ago.
"In the 21st century, reality is that there are environmental threats that constitute threats to our national security," he said last night. With carefully chosen words, the Defense secretary stopped short of naming individual threats, such as the standoff with Iran that has raised global oil prices, instead laying out a strategic framework for how the military thinks about and is acting on long-term environmental and energy issues.
At a time when the scientific grounding of climate change and the military's alternative energy investments are under assault from some members of Congress, Panetta signaled a personal investment in the issues -- a gesture that was not lost on a room packed with many of the country's top environmental and security experts (Greenwire, Feb. 23).
"As someone who now faces a budget shortfall exceeding $3 billion because of higher-than-expected fuel costs, I have a deep interest in more sustainable and efficient energy options," Panetta said, pointing to the services' commitment to adding 3 gigawatts of renewable energy in the coming years and emphasizing the military's history of anticipating trends.
Read more: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/05/03/1
In remarks made at a Washington, D.C., reception held by the Environmental Defense Fund, Panetta became the highest-level official to draw a clear line between environmental, energy and security issues since their relationship was formally established in Pentagon strategy two years ago.
"In the 21st century, reality is that there are environmental threats that constitute threats to our national security," he said last night. With carefully chosen words, the Defense secretary stopped short of naming individual threats, such as the standoff with Iran that has raised global oil prices, instead laying out a strategic framework for how the military thinks about and is acting on long-term environmental and energy issues.
At a time when the scientific grounding of climate change and the military's alternative energy investments are under assault from some members of Congress, Panetta signaled a personal investment in the issues -- a gesture that was not lost on a room packed with many of the country's top environmental and security experts (Greenwire, Feb. 23).
"As someone who now faces a budget shortfall exceeding $3 billion because of higher-than-expected fuel costs, I have a deep interest in more sustainable and efficient energy options," Panetta said, pointing to the services' commitment to adding 3 gigawatts of renewable energy in the coming years and emphasizing the military's history of anticipating trends.
Read more: http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/05/03/1
The End of Obama Liberalism as an Intellectual Movement
Over
the past six months the public has watched the current liberal
intellectual movement crumble as its leaders have failed to provide a
tenable solution to the serious problems facing our nation. President
Obama is desperately searching for a way to convince the public he
should be reelected. But his liberal ideology is no longer capable of
providing effective answers to the questions of the 21st century.
Today's liberalism has been reduced to an opposition movement, rather
than a coherent ideological alternative to conservatism. The Democratic
Party all but confirmed this notion with their latest slogan for the 2012 campaign: "Not A Republican."
When President Obama and the Democrats used the largest majority in over three decades to pass Obamacare -- despite the objections of the country -- they did so because they believed that it offered a significant solution to a problem. Though it remains unpopular with a majority of citizens, at least Obamacare was introduced as a bill, debated publicly, and signed into law. However, after being rejected by the people in 2010, modern liberalism has ceased to be a serious intellectual movement, trading gimmicks and demagoguery for substantial policy initiatives. Starting with the introduction of the Ryan budget in 2011, Democrats -- led by the president -- have disengaged from discussing ideas and negotiating legislation. Instead, emotional rhetoric has been used to mask the evidence that liberal programs offer very little substance to move the nation forward in the modern world.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner exhibited the lack of ideas coming from the Democrats when he told House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan that the administration "doesn't have a definitive solution" to the impending debt crisis, but that they do know that they "just don't like" the House Republican plan. In other words, liberals have admitted that they only have the intellectual disposition to oppose Ryan rather than providing a different way forward. Democrats have become the armchair quarterbacks of public policy. They offer criticism without a workable alternative.
When President Obama and the Democrats used the largest majority in over three decades to pass Obamacare -- despite the objections of the country -- they did so because they believed that it offered a significant solution to a problem. Though it remains unpopular with a majority of citizens, at least Obamacare was introduced as a bill, debated publicly, and signed into law. However, after being rejected by the people in 2010, modern liberalism has ceased to be a serious intellectual movement, trading gimmicks and demagoguery for substantial policy initiatives. Starting with the introduction of the Ryan budget in 2011, Democrats -- led by the president -- have disengaged from discussing ideas and negotiating legislation. Instead, emotional rhetoric has been used to mask the evidence that liberal programs offer very little substance to move the nation forward in the modern world.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner exhibited the lack of ideas coming from the Democrats when he told House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan that the administration "doesn't have a definitive solution" to the impending debt crisis, but that they do know that they "just don't like" the House Republican plan. In other words, liberals have admitted that they only have the intellectual disposition to oppose Ryan rather than providing a different way forward. Democrats have become the armchair quarterbacks of public policy. They offer criticism without a workable alternative.
Judge says Facebook ‘like’ not protected by First Amendment
The “like” button on Facebook seems like a relatively clear way to
express your support for something, but a federal judge says that
doesn’t mean clicking it is constitutionally protected speech.
Exactly what a “like” means — if anything — played a part in a case in Virginia involving six people who say Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts fired them for supporting an opponent in his 2009 re-election bid, which he won. The workers sued, saying their First Amendment rights were violated.
Roberts said some of the workers were let go because he wanted to replace them with sworn deputies while others were fired because of poor performance or his belief that their actions “hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office.”
One of those workers, Daniel Ray Carter, had “liked” the Facebook page of Roberts’ opponent, Jim Adams.
While public employees are allowed to speak as citizens on matters of public concern, U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson ruled that clicking the “like” button does not amount to expressive speech. In other words, it’s not the same as actually writing out a message and posting it on the site.
The case enters a murky legal area: Previous cases have dealt with postings on social networks such as Facebook, but there are no explicit words in this situation. Marcus Messner, a journalism and mass communications professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who specializes in social media, said it was likely the matter would have to be settled by a higher court.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/is-a-click-worth-a-thousand-words-judge-says-facebook-like-not-protected-by-first-amendment/2012/05/04/gIQAvvpd0T_story.html
Exactly what a “like” means — if anything — played a part in a case in Virginia involving six people who say Hampton Sheriff B.J. Roberts fired them for supporting an opponent in his 2009 re-election bid, which he won. The workers sued, saying their First Amendment rights were violated.
Roberts said some of the workers were let go because he wanted to replace them with sworn deputies while others were fired because of poor performance or his belief that their actions “hindered the harmony and efficiency of the office.”
One of those workers, Daniel Ray Carter, had “liked” the Facebook page of Roberts’ opponent, Jim Adams.
While public employees are allowed to speak as citizens on matters of public concern, U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson ruled that clicking the “like” button does not amount to expressive speech. In other words, it’s not the same as actually writing out a message and posting it on the site.
The case enters a murky legal area: Previous cases have dealt with postings on social networks such as Facebook, but there are no explicit words in this situation. Marcus Messner, a journalism and mass communications professor at Virginia Commonwealth University who specializes in social media, said it was likely the matter would have to be settled by a higher court.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/is-a-click-worth-a-thousand-words-judge-says-facebook-like-not-protected-by-first-amendment/2012/05/04/gIQAvvpd0T_story.html
Economy so bad that scam artists suffer, says Justice Dept. official
How bad is the post-bubble economy?
The economy is so bad that even con artists are giving up on real-estate scams, Tom Perez, a top Justice Department official, told an audience of progressives on Friday.
“Equity stripping is largely a thing of the past because there’s no equity to strip,” said Perez.
“Equity stripping” is a scam where con-artists persuade confused or ill-prepared people to sign home-loan contracts that transfer the property rights. Victims — often old or ill-educated — are left without their homes, but with much new debt.
Instead of equity stripping, the con artists are moving to new areas, Perez said. “Unscrupulous lenders are moving from [one legal] subject matter to [another] subject matter,” he told a May 4 meeting at the Center for American Progress.
Perez, a veteran civil rights lawyer, has changed his focus.
He and his deputies are filing lawsuits against mortgage sector firms for treating minority borrowers differently from white borrowers.
The economy is so bad that even con artists are giving up on real-estate scams, Tom Perez, a top Justice Department official, told an audience of progressives on Friday.
“Equity stripping is largely a thing of the past because there’s no equity to strip,” said Perez.
“Equity stripping” is a scam where con-artists persuade confused or ill-prepared people to sign home-loan contracts that transfer the property rights. Victims — often old or ill-educated — are left without their homes, but with much new debt.
Instead of equity stripping, the con artists are moving to new areas, Perez said. “Unscrupulous lenders are moving from [one legal] subject matter to [another] subject matter,” he told a May 4 meeting at the Center for American Progress.
Perez, a veteran civil rights lawyer, has changed his focus.
He and his deputies are filing lawsuits against mortgage sector firms for treating minority borrowers differently from white borrowers.
The EPA is earning a reputation for abuse
MAYBE AL ARMENDARIZ — until Monday, one of the Environmental
Protection Agency’s top administrators — didn’t mean his comments to
sound quite how they did. But they didn’t sound good. In a 2010 speech,
now circulating online, Mr. Armendariz compared his “philosophy of enforcement” to ancient Roman soldiers’ practice of crucifying random victims in recently conquered territory.
The most reasonable interpretation is also among the most disturbing — that Mr. Armendariz preferred to exact harsh punishments on an arbitrary number of firms to scare others into cooperating. This sort of talk isn’t merely unjust and threatening to investors in energy projects. It hurts the EPA. Mr. Armendariz was right to resign this week, while EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson denied that his comments reflected the agency’s approach. Yet the question will remain: Is an aggressive attitude like the one Mr. Armendariz described common among EPA officials?
Maintaining the legitimacy of the EPA’s broad regulatory authorities requires the agency to use its powers fairly and, in so doing, avoid the impression that its enforcement is capricious or unduly severe. Mr. Armendariz’s comments violated the latter principle. Another recent, high-profile miscalculation on the part of the EPA violated the former.
Earlier this year, Mike and Chantell Sackett brought a case against the EPA to the Supreme Court, challenging a “compliance order” commanding the couple to halt work on a home near Priest Lake, Idaho. The Sacketts pointed out that the land was adjacent to other vacation homes and came with a sewer hookup. The EPA said that the couple was building on protected wetlands and that they couldn’t challenge that determination in court until much later, possibly after large fines accrued.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-epa-is-earning-a-reputation-for-abuse/2012/05/03/gIQAucvzzT_story.html
The most reasonable interpretation is also among the most disturbing — that Mr. Armendariz preferred to exact harsh punishments on an arbitrary number of firms to scare others into cooperating. This sort of talk isn’t merely unjust and threatening to investors in energy projects. It hurts the EPA. Mr. Armendariz was right to resign this week, while EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson denied that his comments reflected the agency’s approach. Yet the question will remain: Is an aggressive attitude like the one Mr. Armendariz described common among EPA officials?
Maintaining the legitimacy of the EPA’s broad regulatory authorities requires the agency to use its powers fairly and, in so doing, avoid the impression that its enforcement is capricious or unduly severe. Mr. Armendariz’s comments violated the latter principle. Another recent, high-profile miscalculation on the part of the EPA violated the former.
Earlier this year, Mike and Chantell Sackett brought a case against the EPA to the Supreme Court, challenging a “compliance order” commanding the couple to halt work on a home near Priest Lake, Idaho. The Sacketts pointed out that the land was adjacent to other vacation homes and came with a sewer hookup. The EPA said that the couple was building on protected wetlands and that they couldn’t challenge that determination in court until much later, possibly after large fines accrued.
Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-epa-is-earning-a-reputation-for-abuse/2012/05/03/gIQAucvzzT_story.html
National Security Is No Place For Double Standards
The
Obama Administration says it wants to create a special new spy agency
in the Pentagon which will focus on emerging threats and needs.
"The Pentagon is revamping its spy operations to focus on high-priority targets like Iran and China," wrote New York Times reporter Eric Schmitt
this week, seeming to support the need to expand intelligence gathering
capabilities as new threats emerge or older threats grow, and when the
CIA is clearly not doing the job on its own.
One
can imagine that if George W. Bush, Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld had
asked for more data-gathering power they would have been condemned by
Democrats and the press for making a naked power play. Indeed, one need
not imagine, because this actually happened, several times.
Rumsfeld, Cheney, Assistant Defense Secretary Doug Feith and analyst Richard Perle felt the CIA dropped the ball before and after
9-11. The Bush security team saw CIA needed help. Rumsfeld tried to
beef up the Defense Intelligence Agency, the DIA. He and his aides were
often attacked by Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) for their efforts.
Worse,
the Bush security team was regularly pilloried by liberal media press
and Democrats for sabotaging the CIA, for abusing their powers and
American liberties.
Times
columnist Maureen Dowd and her colleagues slammed Rumsfeld, Cheney,
Perle with epithets like "Darth Vader" and "the Prince of Darkness."
They and other media voices alleged torture of suspected terrorists at
Guantanamo prison, which The Times and presidential candidate Barack
Obama demanded be closed.
Food lobby flexes muscle in 2012 campaign
The food and beverage industry has already donated over $7.9 million
to federal candidates, parties and outside political groups during the
2012 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics,
demonstrating its power and influence in Washington.
The industry’s political spending has increased since the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, but its lobbying efforts have long carried a hefty price tag, and critics warn that the lobbying has influenced the highest levels of government.
Critics say that first lady Michelle Obama has made the administration vulnerable to the powerful food lobby in her push to address childhood obesity through the Let’s Move campaign.
Reuters reported a meeting in the White House with executives from companies including Kellogg, General Mills, and Nestle USA, Let’s Move backed off of its messaging against diet choices and began to emphasize exercise as a means to end childhood obesity.
Yale professor and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Kelly D. Brownell, believes that the first lady has found herself in a bit of a catch-22, becoming friendly with the food industry, while trying to advocate for healthier food.
“It does seem that there’s been a shift in priorities in the Let’s Move campaign in an election year,” Brownell said. “And with the Citizens United case and the companies being able to lobby almost without limit, it’s not surprising that the White House is more friendly toward the industry.”
Center for Science in the Public Interest director Margo Wootan reflected a similar sentiment, telling Reuters, “I’d focus more on exercise, too, if my husband was up for re-election.”
The industry’s political spending has increased since the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision, but its lobbying efforts have long carried a hefty price tag, and critics warn that the lobbying has influenced the highest levels of government.
Critics say that first lady Michelle Obama has made the administration vulnerable to the powerful food lobby in her push to address childhood obesity through the Let’s Move campaign.
Reuters reported a meeting in the White House with executives from companies including Kellogg, General Mills, and Nestle USA, Let’s Move backed off of its messaging against diet choices and began to emphasize exercise as a means to end childhood obesity.
Yale professor and director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, Kelly D. Brownell, believes that the first lady has found herself in a bit of a catch-22, becoming friendly with the food industry, while trying to advocate for healthier food.
“It does seem that there’s been a shift in priorities in the Let’s Move campaign in an election year,” Brownell said. “And with the Citizens United case and the companies being able to lobby almost without limit, it’s not surprising that the White House is more friendly toward the industry.”
Center for Science in the Public Interest director Margo Wootan reflected a similar sentiment, telling Reuters, “I’d focus more on exercise, too, if my husband was up for re-election.”
Two Reasons Why Shut Down Of Japan's Nuclear Power Reactors Could Cause Trouble
Japan will shut down the last of its 54 nuclear power reactors this
weekend, a little over a year after the tsunami and nuclear disaster in Fukushima that left 16,000 dead and 3,000 missing, Reuters reports.
But the move, which leaves Japan without nuclear power for the first time since 1970, could signal economic, energy, and environmental problems for the country.
But public concern meant the plants not only had to be shut for maintenance, but the government is also loath to reopen them, according to Reuters. As a result, Japan is having to spend billions more on oil and gas imports, leading to its first deficit in more than three decades in 2011.
But the move, which leaves Japan without nuclear power for the first time since 1970, could signal economic, energy, and environmental problems for the country.
It could increase public spending on oil and gas and cause electricity shortages over the summer
Nuclear power used to provide for about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity needs before the Fukushima disaster. The government even had plans to increase that dependence to over 50 percent by 2030.But public concern meant the plants not only had to be shut for maintenance, but the government is also loath to reopen them, according to Reuters. As a result, Japan is having to spend billions more on oil and gas imports, leading to its first deficit in more than three decades in 2011.
Obama's Historical Fiction
For the sake of compression, some of the characters that appear are composites of people I've known, and some events appear out of precise chronology.Devices such as composite characters and shifting times to compress the narrative do not belong to the world of biography and autobiography. Such books are expected to be as long as they need be to tell the author's entire story. With a serious academic work, that can mean thick multiple volumes.
Narrative compression is used when adapting a book for the stage or in a film. There it is both vital to hold the audience's attention and to keep the overall length within the capacity of the average bladder. Readers can skip a section of a book they find uninteresting. An audience falls asleep or exits the theater at intermission. Thus, a writer adapting a book for a play or screenplay will combine salient parts of two or more characters or multiple episodes from the print source into composites in order to compress the narrative for dramatic effect. A classic example is how the suspense novel Six Days of the Condor became Three Days of the Condor when adapted to film.
The political left has a long history of using plays, movies, and TV series to push their agenda because dramatic media showcase their agenda items to good effect. Many audience members get so wrapped up in the images, characters, and action that they don't stop to think about the huge dose of political propaganda being served on the side. This is one reason why the left talks so much of narratives. The political right, on the other hand, completely dominates the emotionally cooler medium of talk radio, where words alone have to carry the message. On radio, one does not compress words for dramatic effect. Words are amended or abridged to tighten arguments. If the argument isn't cogent, the radio audience turns the dial.
One could speculate that people on the political left have gotten so out of the habit of forming cogent arguments in favor of framing dramatic narratives that they were gobsmacked at how poorly their proposals fared during recent oral arguments at the Supreme Court.
Few actions, minimal compliance from Holder on Fast and Furious subpoena
A draft of a ”contempt of Congress” citation House Republicans released on Thursday shows that Attorney General Eric Holder is still far from complying with a congressional subpoena over Operation Fast and Furious.
And even within the categories of the subpoena where his Department of
Justice has taken some action, Holder’s document production has been
minimal.
Rep. Darrell Issa, who chairs the House Oversight committee, subpoenaed 22 categories of information about the evolving firearms scandal on Oct. 12. But according to Issa’s contempt of Congress citation draft, Holder hasn’t provided any documents reflecting 13 of those categories — including some that reference him personally.
In a briefing paper accompanying the drafted contempt citation, Issa said Holder hasn’t “completely fulfilled” any of the categories in which Justice has produced documents.
The DOJ has provided some, but not all, documents Issa subpoenaed that connect holder and 15 other high-ranking Justice officials to “Operation Fast and Furious, the Jacob Chambers case, or any Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) firearms trafficking case based in Phoenix, Arizona.”
According to the draft contempt citation, in “late October 2011, the Department acknowledged that it had ‘already begun searches’” for those documents. But to date, Justice has not turned over any files connecting Holder and four other officials to the gun-walking scandal, the citation shows. Holder has produced “only two documents” related to another official and “very few” linked with two others.
David Ogden, a former Deputy Attorney General, is one official for whom Justice’s document production has been nonexistent. But Ogden was on record in early 2009 describing the genesis of what would later become Fast and Furious. As the Obama administration began to revamp Project Gunrunner, a Bush administration program aimed at combating drug cartels and trafficking, Ogden explained the program’s rationale during a March 24, 2009 press conference.
President Barack Obama, he said then, “has directed us to take action to fight these cartels, and Attorney General Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration’s comprehensive plan.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/05/few-actions-minimal-compliance-from-holder-on-fast-and-furious-subpoena/#ixzz1tz4atKb2
Rep. Darrell Issa, who chairs the House Oversight committee, subpoenaed 22 categories of information about the evolving firearms scandal on Oct. 12. But according to Issa’s contempt of Congress citation draft, Holder hasn’t provided any documents reflecting 13 of those categories — including some that reference him personally.
In a briefing paper accompanying the drafted contempt citation, Issa said Holder hasn’t “completely fulfilled” any of the categories in which Justice has produced documents.
The DOJ has provided some, but not all, documents Issa subpoenaed that connect holder and 15 other high-ranking Justice officials to “Operation Fast and Furious, the Jacob Chambers case, or any Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) firearms trafficking case based in Phoenix, Arizona.”
According to the draft contempt citation, in “late October 2011, the Department acknowledged that it had ‘already begun searches’” for those documents. But to date, Justice has not turned over any files connecting Holder and four other officials to the gun-walking scandal, the citation shows. Holder has produced “only two documents” related to another official and “very few” linked with two others.
David Ogden, a former Deputy Attorney General, is one official for whom Justice’s document production has been nonexistent. But Ogden was on record in early 2009 describing the genesis of what would later become Fast and Furious. As the Obama administration began to revamp Project Gunrunner, a Bush administration program aimed at combating drug cartels and trafficking, Ogden explained the program’s rationale during a March 24, 2009 press conference.
President Barack Obama, he said then, “has directed us to take action to fight these cartels, and Attorney General Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration’s comprehensive plan.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/05/few-actions-minimal-compliance-from-holder-on-fast-and-furious-subpoena/#ixzz1tz4atKb2
TransCanada Files Amended Bid for Keystone
TransCanada Corp. has re-applied for a U.S. permit for the $5.3 billion
Keystone XL oil pipeline, this time seeking permission to build a
portion of the original project from the Canadian border to Steele City,
Nebraska.
The application uses already reviewed routes through Montana and South Dakota and will add an “alternative” path through Nebraska determined by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, according to a statement from the Calgary-based company today.
TransCanada’s prior application for the Keystone XL project, stretching from Canada to the Gulf Coast, was rejected by President Barack Obama on Jan. 18 in part because of potential environmental effects in Nebraska. The project needs approval from the U.S. State Department because it crosses an international border.
“The Keystone XL project offers Americans a choice of receiving a reliable source of Canadian and U.S. oil through this pipeline system or continuing to import crude oil from unstable places such as the Middle East and Venezuela that do not share American values,” TransCanada said in the statement.
As originally envisioned, the $7.6 billion project would’ve expanded TransCanada’s existing Keystone pipeline to carry as much as 830,000 barrels a day from Canada’s oil sands and North Dakota’s Bakken Shale along a 1,661-mile (2,672-kilometer) path to Gulf Coast refineries. The scaled-back proposal covers 1,179 miles of the northern portion of the project.
TransCanada expects to start construction of this portion of Keystone XL in the first quarter and finish by as late as early 2015, the company said. It expects to begin construction as soon as June on a pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Texas refineries that was part of the original Keystone XL proposal.
The application uses already reviewed routes through Montana and South Dakota and will add an “alternative” path through Nebraska determined by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, according to a statement from the Calgary-based company today.
TransCanada’s prior application for the Keystone XL project, stretching from Canada to the Gulf Coast, was rejected by President Barack Obama on Jan. 18 in part because of potential environmental effects in Nebraska. The project needs approval from the U.S. State Department because it crosses an international border.
“The Keystone XL project offers Americans a choice of receiving a reliable source of Canadian and U.S. oil through this pipeline system or continuing to import crude oil from unstable places such as the Middle East and Venezuela that do not share American values,” TransCanada said in the statement.
As originally envisioned, the $7.6 billion project would’ve expanded TransCanada’s existing Keystone pipeline to carry as much as 830,000 barrels a day from Canada’s oil sands and North Dakota’s Bakken Shale along a 1,661-mile (2,672-kilometer) path to Gulf Coast refineries. The scaled-back proposal covers 1,179 miles of the northern portion of the project.
TransCanada expects to start construction of this portion of Keystone XL in the first quarter and finish by as late as early 2015, the company said. It expects to begin construction as soon as June on a pipeline from Cushing, Oklahoma, to Texas refineries that was part of the original Keystone XL proposal.
One Thing Is Clear: Not Enough New Jobs
Summer is approaching and nerves are jangling. In recent years the
green shoots of the early months withered in the heat of summer. The
queue of people worried that this summer will be another in which a
recovery is aborted is long: the unemployed, retailers, investors,
President Barak Obama and his team, incumbent congressmen of both
parties, home builders, and car salesman—to name just a few. Mitt
Romney, although not one to wish the nation ill, would be less than
human if he did not feel a frisson of excitement at every bit of news
that suggests the green shoots won’t flower until after the November
elections.
Friday’s
jobs report provided the Republican contender with just such a frisson.
Only 115,000 jobs were created in April, and the unemployment rate
dropped from 8.2 percent in March to 8.1 percent, the lowest level since
Barack Obama took the oath of office in January of 2009, but only
because thousands more workers gave up the job hunt. If those
discouraged workers had remained in the work force, the unemployment
rate would be in double digits.
GDP, which grew at the satisfactory rate of 3
percent in the final quarter of 2011, managed only a tepid 2.2 percent
growth in the first quarter of this year. That’s half the growth rate of
all our recoveries since World War II. Some economists estimate that
unseasonably warm weather—the warmest since 1895—added 0.2 percent to
growth. Worse still, 0.6 percent of the first quarter growth in output
merely swelled inventories of unsold goods. Back out the weather and
inventory build-up, and growth comes to a measly 1.4 percent. Business
investment declined at an annual rate of 2.1 percent. A bad start to the
year—bad enough, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, “to give the word recovery a bad name.”
U.S. Debt Culture and the Dollar's Fate
IN OUR common narrative, the modern era of global finance—what we
call the Old Order—begins with the Great Depression and New Deal of the
1930s. The economic model put in place by President Franklin D.
Roosevelt and others at the end of World War II is seen as a political
as well as economic break point. But arbitrarily selected demarcation
points in any human timeline can be misleading. The purpose of
narrative, after all, is to simplify the complex and, over time, to
remake the past in today’s terms. As we approach any discussion of the
Old Order, we must acknowledge that the image of intelligent design in
public policy is largely an illusion.
There is no question that the world after 1950 was a reflection of the wants and needs of the United States, the victor in war and thus the designer of the peacetime system of commerce and finance that followed. Just as the Roman, Mongol and British empires did centuries earlier, America made the post–World War II peace in its own image. The U.S.-centric model enjoyed enormous success due to factors such as relatively low inflation, financial transactions that respect anonymity, an open court system and a relatively enlightened foreign policy—all unique attributes of the American system.
But the framework of the global financial system in the twentieth century and its U.S.-centric design were the end results of a series of terrible wars—starting, in the case of America, with the Civil War. The roots of the U.S.-centric financial order that arose at the end of World War II extend back into the nineteenth century and reflect the political response of a very young nation to acute problems of employment and economic growth—problems that remain unresolved today.
Read more: http://nationalinterest.org/article/us-debt-culture-the-dollars-fate-6798
There is no question that the world after 1950 was a reflection of the wants and needs of the United States, the victor in war and thus the designer of the peacetime system of commerce and finance that followed. Just as the Roman, Mongol and British empires did centuries earlier, America made the post–World War II peace in its own image. The U.S.-centric model enjoyed enormous success due to factors such as relatively low inflation, financial transactions that respect anonymity, an open court system and a relatively enlightened foreign policy—all unique attributes of the American system.
But the framework of the global financial system in the twentieth century and its U.S.-centric design were the end results of a series of terrible wars—starting, in the case of America, with the Civil War. The roots of the U.S.-centric financial order that arose at the end of World War II extend back into the nineteenth century and reflect the political response of a very young nation to acute problems of employment and economic growth—problems that remain unresolved today.
Read more: http://nationalinterest.org/article/us-debt-culture-the-dollars-fate-6798
Putting Our Slow Jobs Recovery Into Perspective
Disappointing, but not shocking. The government’s report
Friday that the economy created fewer jobs than expected in
April—115,000—showed an unwelcome deceleration of America’s job-creating
machine. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News
had a median forecast of 160,000 jobs created. In the big picture,
though, the nearly three-year-old expansion is proceeding at the same
pace as the previous two. Slow recovery, in other words, is the New
Normal.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the
unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent in April from 8.2 percent in
March. But that wasn’t great news, because it reflected a decline in the
share of the population in the labor force, to the lowest level since
December 1981. When people drop out of the labor force they aren’t
counted as unemployed, so the jobless rate goes down.More bad news: Average hourly earnings were essentially unchanged, and there was no increase in the length of the average hourly workweek. One of the few bright spots is that the government revised upward its estimate of job creation in March, to 154,000 from the initially reported 120,000.
What makes this recovery seem so frustratingly slow is that the U.S. is coming out of a deeper hole this time. In the 1990-91 slump, employment fell by 1.6 million. The 2001 slump was worse: 2.7 million jobs lost. But neither comes close to the disaster of the 2007-2009 recession, when employment fell by 8.8 million.
Read more: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-05-04/putting-our-slow-jobs-recovery-into-perspective
WI recall watch on full blast
As the calendar nudges closer to Tuesday's recall primary elections, the national media hones its attention on the Badger State for what’s being called the second most important U.S. election of the year.
Read more: http://watchdog.org/15423/week-in-review-wi-recall-watch-on-full-blast/
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie joined Gov. Scott Walker to stump in Wisconsin earlier this week.
“America is going to find out the answer to what is more powerful: The
people or the money (and) special interests from Washington, D.C.? Wisconsin will answer that question,” Christie said at a campaign stop in Oak Creek.
Campaign fundraising reports
Plenty of money is going around for what’s being called the most expensive election in Wisconsin history. Walker pulled in $13.1 million in first quarter fundraising, bringing his total since January 2011 to more than $25 million.
His top opponents, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, raked in just under $1 million and $831,508,
respectively. Barrett’s fundraising totals his first 25 days in the
race, while Falk has campaigned since the mid-January reporting date.Read more: http://watchdog.org/15423/week-in-review-wi-recall-watch-on-full-blast/
THE KAGAN DECEPTION
It has become abundantly clear that Elena Kagan was put on the Supreme
Court, not to uphold and defend our Constitution as her oath requires,
but to destroy that grand document and fundamentally transform America
into a new Socialist state.
Elena Kagan's actions and questions as a Supreme Court Justice hearing the ObamaCare case were telling enough...but as reported earlier, (see below), her long history of public display of anti-Constitutionalism provide the proof.
The fact is:
Elena Kagan is committed to destroying the Constitution.
Elena Kagan is intent upon implementing Socialism in America.
Elena Kagan is unfit for duty as a Supreme Court Justice and MUST be immediately removed from the court.
We MUST protect the Constitution and the integrity of the court. Elena Kagan MUST be removed from the bench.
What would you say if you learned that a member of the highest court in the land has spent the last 30 years openly advocating for the destruction of the US Constitution and even went so far as to accept $20 million from Shariah Law proponents to accomplish her goal? That Supreme Court Justice is Elena Kagan.
The year after Ronald Reagan entered the Oval Office with the goal of restoring America to greatness; Elena Kagan penned a telling and disturbing senior thesis titled "To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933." In that body of work, Kagan lamented that "a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States"; and that," no "radical party" had yet "attained the status of a major political force." Kagan went on to sound a rally cry for "those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America."
Apparently, this was no mere college dalliance, as the Elena Kagan has spent the rest of her career working to remove the underpinnings of freedom and destroy the American Constitution from within. And Kagan's grand plan has worked very well indeed.
After graduate school Kagan went on to become Dean of Harvard Law, where she removed Constitutional Law classes from the curriculum, and replaced those necessary and time honored classes with required studies of international law. And in what appears to be a game of using a mutual enemy's resources to accomplish ones' true objective, Kagan also accepted a $20 million grant from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal - a noted Shariah Law proponent - to implement an "Islamic Studies" program.
Read more: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_301_31815.php
Elena Kagan's actions and questions as a Supreme Court Justice hearing the ObamaCare case were telling enough...but as reported earlier, (see below), her long history of public display of anti-Constitutionalism provide the proof.
The fact is:
Elena Kagan is committed to destroying the Constitution.
Elena Kagan is intent upon implementing Socialism in America.
Elena Kagan is unfit for duty as a Supreme Court Justice and MUST be immediately removed from the court.
We MUST protect the Constitution and the integrity of the court. Elena Kagan MUST be removed from the bench.
What would you say if you learned that a member of the highest court in the land has spent the last 30 years openly advocating for the destruction of the US Constitution and even went so far as to accept $20 million from Shariah Law proponents to accomplish her goal? That Supreme Court Justice is Elena Kagan.
The year after Ronald Reagan entered the Oval Office with the goal of restoring America to greatness; Elena Kagan penned a telling and disturbing senior thesis titled "To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933." In that body of work, Kagan lamented that "a coherent socialist movement is nowhere to be found in the United States"; and that," no "radical party" had yet "attained the status of a major political force." Kagan went on to sound a rally cry for "those who, more than half a century after socialism's decline, still wish to change America."
Apparently, this was no mere college dalliance, as the Elena Kagan has spent the rest of her career working to remove the underpinnings of freedom and destroy the American Constitution from within. And Kagan's grand plan has worked very well indeed.
After graduate school Kagan went on to become Dean of Harvard Law, where she removed Constitutional Law classes from the curriculum, and replaced those necessary and time honored classes with required studies of international law. And in what appears to be a game of using a mutual enemy's resources to accomplish ones' true objective, Kagan also accepted a $20 million grant from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal - a noted Shariah Law proponent - to implement an "Islamic Studies" program.
Read more: http://www.libertynewsonline.com/article_301_31815.php
Admin Presses for Renewal of FISA Surveillance Authority
The Obama Administration is urging Congress to renew provisions of
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act that are
set to expire at the end of this year.
“Reauthorizing this authority is the top legislative priority of the Intelligence Community,” wrote Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Attorney General Eric Holder in a February 8 letter to Congress.
One of the key provisions, they explained, would permit the electronic surveillance of entire categories of non-U.S. persons who are located abroad “without the need for a court order for each individual target.”
Under this provision, “instead of issuing individual court orders, the FISC [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] approves annual certifications submitted by the Attorney General and the DNI that identify categories of foreign intelligence targets.”
“The provision contains a number of important protections for U.S. persons and others in the United States,” according to a background paper attached to the February 8 letter, including limitations on targeting, minimization procedures to exclude information about U.S. persons, and other guidelines on acquisition.
“Failure to reauthorize [this section] would result in a loss of significant intelligence and impede the ability of the Intelligence Community to respond quickly to new threats and intelligence opportunities,” the background paper stated.
Read more: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
“Reauthorizing this authority is the top legislative priority of the Intelligence Community,” wrote Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Attorney General Eric Holder in a February 8 letter to Congress.
One of the key provisions, they explained, would permit the electronic surveillance of entire categories of non-U.S. persons who are located abroad “without the need for a court order for each individual target.”
Under this provision, “instead of issuing individual court orders, the FISC [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court] approves annual certifications submitted by the Attorney General and the DNI that identify categories of foreign intelligence targets.”
“The provision contains a number of important protections for U.S. persons and others in the United States,” according to a background paper attached to the February 8 letter, including limitations on targeting, minimization procedures to exclude information about U.S. persons, and other guidelines on acquisition.
“Failure to reauthorize [this section] would result in a loss of significant intelligence and impede the ability of the Intelligence Community to respond quickly to new threats and intelligence opportunities,” the background paper stated.
Read more: http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/
Ron Paul on CNBC 4/23/12
Ron Paul was guest host on CNBC, here is that segment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG2uDf2F3cA&feature=g-vrec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG2uDf2F3cA&feature=g-vrec
Friday, May 4, 2012
Ignore the Income Gap
‘Every time
a bank fails an angel gets its wings.” So goes a graffito in
Manhattan’s East Village. One block away, as marchers occupied Broadway on May Day, their picket signs
proclaimed, “Millionaires must pay their fair share” and “No free ride
for Wall Street.” Lacking capital letters, another oddly stated: “i put
all my books in the oven and i’ll never read again.”
Apart from that last, puzzling sentiment, the placards echoed Occupy
Wall Street and its spiritual leader, President Barack Obama. Class
warriors scream about imposing “fairness” on the rich, but their shouts
become mumbles when asked what precise tax rate achieves “fairness.”Liberals fall mum amid these facts: In 2009, the latest IRS figures demonstrate, the much-maligned top 1 percent of taxpayers earned 17 percent of national income and paid 37 percent of federal income taxes. The top 10 percent made 43 percent of national income and surrendered 70.5 percent of income-tax revenues. Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent scored 13.5 percent of national income and paid just 2.3 percent of income taxes.
Unfair? If so, the Left should specify what heavier tax burden on the wealthy or lighter tax load on the lower half of taxpayers would constitute “fairness.”
Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/298932/ignore-income-gap-deroy-murdock
More Navy SEALs coming forward to criticize Obama for aftermath of Bin Laden raid?
Remember that brutal ad from “Veterans for a Strong America” that I posted in the open thread for O’s Afghanistan speech on Tuesday?
There’s more on the way.
Read more: http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/03/more-navy-seals-coming-forward-to-criticize-obama-for-aftermath-of-bin-laden-raid/
There’s more on the way.
In the wake of a warm conservative reception for a web video trashing the president for “spiking the football” on the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s death, the conservative group Veterans for a Strong America plans to gather Navy SEALs and Special Forces operators to criticize the White House during the 2012 campaign.Arends won’t identify the group’s donors but another Republican source tells BuzzFeed they’ll have money to air their ad in markets with military communities. (Aren’t those communities voting Romney anyway?) Serious question: Does Obama mind this line of attack? I understand why it’s potentially effective. Rule one in the Rove playbook is to attack your opponent’s strength until it becomes a weakness; that was the point of going after Kerry’s military record in 2004. Turning the Bin Laden raid into a story about Obama’s ego would break one of the biggest arrows in his electoral quiver. And needless to say, the optics of SEALs criticizing O for making the OBL raid all about him are … not so good for the White House. Are they worse, though, than Obama having to defend eight-plus percent unemployment? He’d much rather have an argument with conservatives over the OBL raid than the economy since every minute spent talking about Bin Laden is (a) a reminder that O did in fact give the order to liquidate the bastard, however shoddy his behavior might have been afterward, and (b) a minute not spent talking about the thoroughgoing crappiness of, oh, pretty much every other part of his record.
“We’re looking to [put together] a coalition, to field SEALs and operators that want to come out publicly,” executive director of Veterans for a Strong America, Joel Arends, tells BuzzFeed. “I’ve had a lot of discussions with former SEALs and current SEALs. I’ve been talking to operators in the community. There is palatable discontent.”…
Arends denies he’s trying to “swift boat” Obama, however, a phrase coined in the conservative attacks on the details of John Kerry’s service in Vietnam. “I’m not adverse to that term,” he says. “But we’re not going to run a swift boat campaign against him. We’re going to talk about the issues.”
Read more: http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/03/more-navy-seals-coming-forward-to-criticize-obama-for-aftermath-of-bin-laden-raid/
Unemployment rate at 8.1%, only 115K jobs added, participation rate shrinks again to new low
The April jobs report
fell short of analysts expectations, as only 115,000 jobs were added.
Consensus expectations had been in the 165K-170K range, which still
would have been below the rate jobs were added in February, January, and
December. While the jobless rate dropped slightly, the number of jobs
added came in short of March’s disappointing level:
Read more: http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/04/unemployment-rate-at-8-1-only-115k-jobs-added-participation-rate-shrinks-again-to-new-low/
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 115,000 in April, and the unemployment rate was little changed at 8.1 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Employment increased in professional and business services, retail trade, and health care, but declined in transportation and warehousing.So how did the jobless rate drop? The same way it’s been dropping all along — people exiting the workforce:
Both the number of unemployed persons (12.5 million) and the unemployment rate (8.1 percent) changed little in April. (See table A-1.)
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.5 percent), adult women (7.4 percent), teenagers (24.9 percent), whites (7.4 percent), and Hispanics (10.3 percent) showed little or no change in April, while the rate for blacks (13.0 percent) declined over the month. The jobless rate for Asians was 5.2 percent in April (not seasonally adjusted), little changed from a year earlier. (See tables A-1, A-2, and A-3.)
The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks and over) was little changed at 5.1 million in April. These individuals made up 41.3 percent of the unemployed. Over the year, the number of long-term unemployed has fallen by 759,000. (See table A-12.)
The civilian labor force participation rate declined in April to 63.6 percent, while the employment-population ratio, at 58.4 percent, changed little.That’s a new 30-year low in the participation rate. Here’s the chart from the BLS for the last 30 years:
Read more: http://hotair.com/archives/2012/05/04/unemployment-rate-at-8-1-only-115k-jobs-added-participation-rate-shrinks-again-to-new-low/
US Natural Gas Price Nears $10 per Barrel Equivalence
While the average pump price of gasoline has held the attention of
most Americans for much of this year, the price trend for natural gas
has been equally dramatic in the opposite direction. Gasoline prices
flirted with the psychologically important $4 per gallon mark for
several weeks before receding to around $3.82 today. Meanwhile natural
gas prices continued their steady drift downward, briefly crossing $2
per million BTUs (MMBTU) before recovering slightly. To put this in
perspective, when the spot price of natural gas bottomed out at $1.82
earlier this month, it was selling for the energy equivalent of oil at
$10.56 per barrel. The last time oil prices were that low was during
the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s, and we're still feeling the
consequences of that crash. The longer-term impact of today's dirt
cheap natural gas is likely to be quite different, however.
Oil and natural gas used to be joined at the hip, and in the minds of many people they still are, even though the days when most US natural gas was a direct or indirect byproduct of oil production--either produced with oil or found by accident when a company was drilling for oil--are long past. The vast majority of our gas comes from dedicated gas wells in fields that were explored because of their gas potential, with shale gas and other so-called "tight gas" increasingly dominating output. The widely discussed shale gas revolution is the main reason natural gas is so cheap today, instead of costing over $10 per MMBTU as it would if shale gas hadn't happened and the industry's expectations about increasing LNG imports had materialized instead. Unfortunately for producers, because the surge of shale production has coincided with a weak US economy that is still struggling to get out of first gear, post-recession, the shale gas bounty is turning into a temporary glut.
Here's why the distinction between modern oil and gas production dynamics matter. When oil prices crashed in the late 1990s due to the combination of weaker-than-expected global demand and growing production, producers cut investments and scaled back new projects. Because of the time lags inherent in big oil projects the impact of those decisions was felt in the middle of the last decade, just as demand growth in the developing world hit its stride. Other things were happening, as well, but there's a good case that $10 oil in the late '90s helped set up $145 oil in 2008 and contributed to the persistence of prices well over $100/bbl today. So is the current natural gas price slump setting up a spike back over $10/MMBTU within a few years? I think that's unlikely, though I do believe gas prices will recover somewhat.
Read more: http://www.energytribune.com//articles.cfm/10495/US-Natural-Gas-Price-Nears-$10-per-Barrel-Equivalence
Oil and natural gas used to be joined at the hip, and in the minds of many people they still are, even though the days when most US natural gas was a direct or indirect byproduct of oil production--either produced with oil or found by accident when a company was drilling for oil--are long past. The vast majority of our gas comes from dedicated gas wells in fields that were explored because of their gas potential, with shale gas and other so-called "tight gas" increasingly dominating output. The widely discussed shale gas revolution is the main reason natural gas is so cheap today, instead of costing over $10 per MMBTU as it would if shale gas hadn't happened and the industry's expectations about increasing LNG imports had materialized instead. Unfortunately for producers, because the surge of shale production has coincided with a weak US economy that is still struggling to get out of first gear, post-recession, the shale gas bounty is turning into a temporary glut.
Here's why the distinction between modern oil and gas production dynamics matter. When oil prices crashed in the late 1990s due to the combination of weaker-than-expected global demand and growing production, producers cut investments and scaled back new projects. Because of the time lags inherent in big oil projects the impact of those decisions was felt in the middle of the last decade, just as demand growth in the developing world hit its stride. Other things were happening, as well, but there's a good case that $10 oil in the late '90s helped set up $145 oil in 2008 and contributed to the persistence of prices well over $100/bbl today. So is the current natural gas price slump setting up a spike back over $10/MMBTU within a few years? I think that's unlikely, though I do believe gas prices will recover somewhat.
Read more: http://www.energytribune.com//articles.cfm/10495/US-Natural-Gas-Price-Nears-$10-per-Barrel-Equivalence
2012 Bundlers
Bundlers are people with friends in high places who,
after bumping against personal contribution limits, turn
to those friends, associates, and, well, anyone who's willing to
give, and deliver the checks to the candidate in one big "bundle."
Even though these donors direct more
money to the candidates than anyone else, disclosure can be spotty,
candidates generally release
bundlers by ranges of fundraising, indicated in this chart with the
"max" and "min" columns, and with the top ranges being simply "$500,000
or more." NOTE:
Federal Election Commission regulations only require disclosure of
funds bundled by registered lobbyists. In 2008, both Barack Obama and
John McCain agreed to disclose any bundlers who raised over $50,000 for
their campaigns. Obama's re-election campaign is again disclosing those
bundlers for the 2012 election. No 2012 Republican presidential
candidates have agreed to voluntarily disclose their entire bundlers
lists. As such, the only bundlers listed for Republican candidates are
registered lobbyists.
USDA Quarantines 2 Farms Over Mad Cow
Two farms have been quarantined by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture as the agency continues to investigate
last month's discovery of mad cow disease at a California dairy farm.
Authorities also have launched an investigation at a calf ranch where the initial infected cow was raised 10 years ago, according to a statement released late Wednesday by the USDA.Last week, the USDA documented the fourth confirmed U.S. case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy -- a brain wasting disease affecting cattle -- known commonly as mad cow disease, at a rendering facility in central California. USDA officials said the cow was never presented for human consumption and was never a threat.The farm where the cow was initially discovered has been under quarantine since the discovery, agriculture officials said. Wednesday's announcement of a second quarantine involves a farm closely associated with the dairy where the sick cow was discovered last month, the USDA said. The agency is still trying to determine if any at-risk cattle are present at either of the two farms.Eating contaminated meat or some other animal products from cattle that have BSE is thought to be the cause of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The fatal brain disease was blamed for the deaths of 150 people in Britain, where there was an outbreak in the 1980s and 1990s.In people, symptoms of the disease include psychiatric and behavioral changes, movement deficits, memory disturbances and cognitive impairments.BSE can cause infected animals to display nervousness or aggression, difficulty in coordination and standing up, decreased milk production or weight loss.It is usually transmitted between cows through the practice of recycling bovine carcasses for meat and bone meal protein, which is fed to other cattle.In this case, the Agricultural Department reported that the cow had a rare form of BSE not likely carried by contaminated feed.
Read more: http://www.ktxs.com/news/30996588/detail.html
Authorities also have launched an investigation at a calf ranch where the initial infected cow was raised 10 years ago, according to a statement released late Wednesday by the USDA.Last week, the USDA documented the fourth confirmed U.S. case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy -- a brain wasting disease affecting cattle -- known commonly as mad cow disease, at a rendering facility in central California. USDA officials said the cow was never presented for human consumption and was never a threat.The farm where the cow was initially discovered has been under quarantine since the discovery, agriculture officials said. Wednesday's announcement of a second quarantine involves a farm closely associated with the dairy where the sick cow was discovered last month, the USDA said. The agency is still trying to determine if any at-risk cattle are present at either of the two farms.Eating contaminated meat or some other animal products from cattle that have BSE is thought to be the cause of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The fatal brain disease was blamed for the deaths of 150 people in Britain, where there was an outbreak in the 1980s and 1990s.In people, symptoms of the disease include psychiatric and behavioral changes, movement deficits, memory disturbances and cognitive impairments.BSE can cause infected animals to display nervousness or aggression, difficulty in coordination and standing up, decreased milk production or weight loss.It is usually transmitted between cows through the practice of recycling bovine carcasses for meat and bone meal protein, which is fed to other cattle.In this case, the Agricultural Department reported that the cow had a rare form of BSE not likely carried by contaminated feed.
Read more: http://www.ktxs.com/news/30996588/detail.html
Three Step Plan to Completely Fix the Judicial Crisis
The Obama administration is apparently inviting supporters to a
strategy session about getting more federal judges approved by the
Senate, according to the Washington Times.
While we desperately do need more judges, this really isn’t a “judicial crisis” since it is such an easily solved problem. The only real crisis here is the crisis of Senate Democrats not wanting to govern. They have decided time and time again protecting the bizarre and destructive rules of their silly clubhouse takes precedence over actually trying to fix any real world problems facing the American people.
Read more: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2012/05/03/three-step-plan-to-completely-fix-the-judicial-crisis/
This strategy session sounds like a thinly veiled campaign event designed to make 150 potential donors feel important and listened to. If it is actually a sincere effort to try to solve this problem, let me take five minutes to completely fix it with my three step plan.The president has invited 150 supporters from across the country concerned about the judicial vacancy rate to the White House on Monday for a forum and strategy session with administration officials, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by the Washington Times.
In the invite, the White House accused Republicans of subjecting consensus nominees to “unprecedented delays and filibusters.” [...]
In 37 cases, the courts have declared emergencies because of the length of vacancy and backlog of cases.
Step 1) Have Majority
Leader Harry Reid say there is a judicial crisis and that he is prepared
to have the Senate consent to judicial nominees with a simple majority
vote if need be.
Step 2) Have at least 51 Senate Democrats take a procedural vote saying that the constitutional or senate rules don’t allow appointees to be filibustered. After all, the actual authority for determining what the Senate rules mean rests solely with a majority of Senators.
Step 3) Take a day to quickly approve all pending judicial nominees with majority votes.
I’m not being glib, just pointing out the facts that almost everyone
ignores. This isn’t some highly complex unsolvable conundrum that
requires an elaborate strategy. A simple solution already exists. The
only problem is that Democrats don’t want to use it.Step 2) Have at least 51 Senate Democrats take a procedural vote saying that the constitutional or senate rules don’t allow appointees to be filibustered. After all, the actual authority for determining what the Senate rules mean rests solely with a majority of Senators.
Step 3) Take a day to quickly approve all pending judicial nominees with majority votes.
While we desperately do need more judges, this really isn’t a “judicial crisis” since it is such an easily solved problem. The only real crisis here is the crisis of Senate Democrats not wanting to govern. They have decided time and time again protecting the bizarre and destructive rules of their silly clubhouse takes precedence over actually trying to fix any real world problems facing the American people.
Read more: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2012/05/03/three-step-plan-to-completely-fix-the-judicial-crisis/
Incumbents are more entrenched than ever.
More Americans approve of polygamy than of Congress. A February
CBS News/New York Times poll found just 10 percent of
respondents approved of Congress’s job performance. A recent poll
from the same source found 11 percent of respondents thought
polygamy “morally acceptable.” Other polls have found that the
“U.S. going communist” has 11 percent support—meaning that concept
has more fans than Congress has.
But here’s the paradox: While the approval rating for Congress has hit an all-time low, well over 90 percent of incumbent House members routinely win re-election. Even in the Tea Party election of 2010, 86 percent of House incumbents were returned to office. How can this be? It’s because the game is rigged in favor of incumbents, with more than four out of five congressional districts a lock for one party or another. Incumbent gerrymandering and enormous campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists make it nearly impossible to dislodge members short of major scandal. The general elections in which they cruise to victory time and time again are really fake fights, like the ones in pro wrestling.
A new group called the Campaign for Primary Accountability (CFPA) plans to shake up this stagnant system. Its key insight is that incumbents who are ethically challenged, lazy, or ideologically mismatched to their district can be beaten—but in party primaries. And it has already had some impact on this year’s elections.
Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/04/incumbency-shakers
But here’s the paradox: While the approval rating for Congress has hit an all-time low, well over 90 percent of incumbent House members routinely win re-election. Even in the Tea Party election of 2010, 86 percent of House incumbents were returned to office. How can this be? It’s because the game is rigged in favor of incumbents, with more than four out of five congressional districts a lock for one party or another. Incumbent gerrymandering and enormous campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists make it nearly impossible to dislodge members short of major scandal. The general elections in which they cruise to victory time and time again are really fake fights, like the ones in pro wrestling.
A new group called the Campaign for Primary Accountability (CFPA) plans to shake up this stagnant system. Its key insight is that incumbents who are ethically challenged, lazy, or ideologically mismatched to their district can be beaten—but in party primaries. And it has already had some impact on this year’s elections.
Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/04/incumbency-shakers
Interior to release ‘fracking’ rules by Friday
The proposal would regulate the oil-and-gas development method known as
fracking, in which water, chemicals and sand are injected at high
pressure into rock formations to open up seams that enable trapped oil
and natural gas to flow.
The rules are expected to include the required disclosure of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, along with regulations on well integrity and wastewater management.
Fracking and advances in horizontal drilling technology are enabling a natural gas and oil production boom in many states, but have raised concerns about air pollution and water contamination as well. The rules are likely to set off a debate among energy companies and environmental groups.
Industry groups and a number of individual companies that argue state-based rules are sufficient and that federal regulations could create burdens have recently lobbied White House officials about the Interior regulations.
Bloomberg, which obtained a recent draft of the rules, reported that they have been modified to allow companies to wait until after the fracking process has been completed to disclose the chemicals used.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/225035-industry-official-interior-fracking-rules-are-imminent
The rules are expected to include the required disclosure of chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process, along with regulations on well integrity and wastewater management.
Fracking and advances in horizontal drilling technology are enabling a natural gas and oil production boom in many states, but have raised concerns about air pollution and water contamination as well. The rules are likely to set off a debate among energy companies and environmental groups.
Industry groups and a number of individual companies that argue state-based rules are sufficient and that federal regulations could create burdens have recently lobbied White House officials about the Interior regulations.
Bloomberg, which obtained a recent draft of the rules, reported that they have been modified to allow companies to wait until after the fracking process has been completed to disclose the chemicals used.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/225035-industry-official-interior-fracking-rules-are-imminent
Smartest Guy in the Room
Failed Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry’s (D., Mass.)
long history of ethically dubious investments could invite controversy
as he takes on a new role as a “top surrogate” for President Obama’s reelection campaign.
Kerry’s net worth as listed on his 2011 financial disclosure form is at least $193 million and likely much higher, making him the wealthiest member of the Senate. He is also a prolific investor, maintaining an array of stocks and other holdings through a mix of family trusts, marital trusts, and commingled fund accounts with his wife, Big Ketchup baroness Teresa Heinz.
The five-term Senator has a well-documented history of investing in companies that would benefit from policies he supports, as well as making conveniently timed and highly profitable trades coinciding with the passage of major legislation and, in some cases, the dissemination of privileged information.
For years, Kerry has invested millions in a number of green energy companies that have benefitted from the president’s efforts to aggressively subsidize the industry with taxpayer dollars.
These companies include Exelon, which received a $646 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan in 2011 to build a solar facility in California and created only 20 permanent jobs, as well as Fisker Automotive, the fledgling electric car company that offshored its manufacturing operation to Finland after receiving a $529 million federal loan guarantee in 2010.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/smartest-guy-in-the-room/
Kerry’s net worth as listed on his 2011 financial disclosure form is at least $193 million and likely much higher, making him the wealthiest member of the Senate. He is also a prolific investor, maintaining an array of stocks and other holdings through a mix of family trusts, marital trusts, and commingled fund accounts with his wife, Big Ketchup baroness Teresa Heinz.
The five-term Senator has a well-documented history of investing in companies that would benefit from policies he supports, as well as making conveniently timed and highly profitable trades coinciding with the passage of major legislation and, in some cases, the dissemination of privileged information.
For years, Kerry has invested millions in a number of green energy companies that have benefitted from the president’s efforts to aggressively subsidize the industry with taxpayer dollars.
These companies include Exelon, which received a $646 million taxpayer-guaranteed loan in 2011 to build a solar facility in California and created only 20 permanent jobs, as well as Fisker Automotive, the fledgling electric car company that offshored its manufacturing operation to Finland after receiving a $529 million federal loan guarantee in 2010.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/smartest-guy-in-the-room/
Allen West and His Critics
Congressman Allen West is being hammered for his comments alleging
that certain Democratic members of Congress are communists. It's
the kind of accusation (West
is not backing down) that sets liberals seething in rage. An
even worse sin was that West dared to quantify his accusation,
attaching a number to the alleged Reds. He said there are "78 to
81" Congressional Democrats who are communists.
Naturally, all of this is a huge no-no, reflexively sending liberals into fits and shouts of "McCarthyism!"
I want to say three things relating to West's remarks: First, some criticism of West's critics. Second, a defense of West's critics. And, finally, some criticism of West, which I offer constructively. I like Allen West, consider him a rising star in the Republican Party and conservative movement, and want him to succeed.
First, on West's critics:
Their concern about West's exaggeration and name-calling and lack of "civility" has little credibility coming from an ideology (liberalism) and political party (Democrats) that thrive on exaggeration and name-calling and a lack of civility. I could easily point out a litany of examples. It's as simple as the latest liberal/Democrat gambit accusing Republicans of a "war on women" merely because they believe the federal government shouldn't force taxpayers to fund contraception and Planned Parenthood. For that crime, West's colleague Maxine Waters called Republicans "demons." Nancy Pelosi said they want women to "die on the floor." Dianne Feinstein insisted they want "to sock it to women." Harry Reid claimed Republicans have placed a "bull's eye on women." Barbara Boxer described it as a "vendetta" against women. And, in sum, Congresswoman Barbara Lee called it a GOP "war on women."
Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/04/allen-west-and-his-critics
Naturally, all of this is a huge no-no, reflexively sending liberals into fits and shouts of "McCarthyism!"
I want to say three things relating to West's remarks: First, some criticism of West's critics. Second, a defense of West's critics. And, finally, some criticism of West, which I offer constructively. I like Allen West, consider him a rising star in the Republican Party and conservative movement, and want him to succeed.
First, on West's critics:
Their concern about West's exaggeration and name-calling and lack of "civility" has little credibility coming from an ideology (liberalism) and political party (Democrats) that thrive on exaggeration and name-calling and a lack of civility. I could easily point out a litany of examples. It's as simple as the latest liberal/Democrat gambit accusing Republicans of a "war on women" merely because they believe the federal government shouldn't force taxpayers to fund contraception and Planned Parenthood. For that crime, West's colleague Maxine Waters called Republicans "demons." Nancy Pelosi said they want women to "die on the floor." Dianne Feinstein insisted they want "to sock it to women." Harry Reid claimed Republicans have placed a "bull's eye on women." Barbara Boxer described it as a "vendetta" against women. And, in sum, Congresswoman Barbara Lee called it a GOP "war on women."
Read more: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/05/04/allen-west-and-his-critics
Obama’s Disgraceful Abandonment of Chen Guangcheng
It’s
hard to know which is worse: one’s grief over Chen Guangcheng’s fate,
or the fury over the Obama administration’s abandonment of him to that
fate.
Chen was already an internationally known human-rights activist when
he showed up at the U.S. embassy in Beijing last week seeking refuge. A
blind, self-taught lawyer from Shandong Province, Chen had been held
prisoner for 19 months for the crime of publicizing Chinese atrocities
enforcing the “one child” policy. Chen had chosen a moonless night (his
captors were not blind) to scale several high walls and stumble his way
to a predetermined meeting place where Christian friends would help him
make the harrowing, 300-mile journey to Beijing. He told supporters that
he fell 200 times that night — breaking a foot in the process.At some point, it’s not clear exactly where or when, U.S. officials did help Chen get to the embassy — which is gratifying. What happened next was not.
Four days of negotiations with the Chinese government followed. The State Department was gearing up for the visit of Secretary Clinton, Treasury Secretary Geithner, and other top officials. Chen’s presence in the embassy would cast a pall over the diplomatic niceties. So while U.S. officials held discussions with the Chinese about Chen’s future, it’s clear that they did so with the usual disregard for the nature of the regime they were confronting.
Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/298920/obama-s-disgraceful-abandonment-chen-guangcheng-mona-charen
UD's long-term monitoring shows 60 percent reduction in acidity of Delaware rain
Several decades ago, precipitation in Delaware was among the most acidic
in the country. Pollutants in the air reacted with rainwater to
sprinkle sulfuric, nitric and carbonic acids onto the ground below,
affecting crops and ecosystems statewide.
The scientific consensus is that pollution controls enacted through the Clean Air Act Amendments in the 1990s and other measures have helped decrease the acidity of rain by approximately 60 percent to less harmful levels, as reflected in data gathered nationwide and by UD researchers in Lewes, Del., as part of a longstanding study.
“Every time it’s rained since 1978, we’ve collected and analyzed samples,” said Joseph Scudlark, assistant director of the School of Marine Science and Policy in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. “It’s one of the largest, longest continual records in the whole country, and the data shows pretty dramatically that the legislation is working.”
Scudlark oversees an acid rain collection site in an isolated part of Cape Henlopen State Park. A specialized container sits out in the open with a small canopy to prevent debris from entering, and precipitation triggers a sensor powered by a nearby solar panel to open the lid and capture samples. Once the rain stops, the device automatically returns the cover.
Each day at 9 a.m. Scudlark’s assistant collects the sample, which is prepared in a lab and shipped off with others obtained the same week to a central analysis station in Illinois through the National Atmospheric Deposition Program. The pH and concentration of certain substances are measured along with samples from 250 other locations around the country.
Read more: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/may/acidrain050212.html
The scientific consensus is that pollution controls enacted through the Clean Air Act Amendments in the 1990s and other measures have helped decrease the acidity of rain by approximately 60 percent to less harmful levels, as reflected in data gathered nationwide and by UD researchers in Lewes, Del., as part of a longstanding study.
“Every time it’s rained since 1978, we’ve collected and analyzed samples,” said Joseph Scudlark, assistant director of the School of Marine Science and Policy in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. “It’s one of the largest, longest continual records in the whole country, and the data shows pretty dramatically that the legislation is working.”
Scudlark oversees an acid rain collection site in an isolated part of Cape Henlopen State Park. A specialized container sits out in the open with a small canopy to prevent debris from entering, and precipitation triggers a sensor powered by a nearby solar panel to open the lid and capture samples. Once the rain stops, the device automatically returns the cover.
Each day at 9 a.m. Scudlark’s assistant collects the sample, which is prepared in a lab and shipped off with others obtained the same week to a central analysis station in Illinois through the National Atmospheric Deposition Program. The pH and concentration of certain substances are measured along with samples from 250 other locations around the country.
Read more: http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2012/may/acidrain050212.html
Romney attacks Obama on human rights in handling of dissident now held by Chinese authorities in a hospital
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Thursday attacked
the Obama administration over its handling of the case of Chinese
dissident Chen Guangcheng, calling the case a “dark day for freedom” and
a “day of shame for the Obama administration.”
“The reports are, if they are accurate, that our administration, willingly or unwittingly communicated to Chen an implicit threat to his family, and also probably sped up, or may have sped up the process of his decision to leave the embassy because they wanted to move on to a series of discussions that Mr. Geithner and our secretary of state are planning to have with China,” Romney said in a campaign speech in Portsmouth, Va.
It was the first time the candidate and presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the November elections criticized the president on an issue related to China.
“It’s also apparent according to these reports, if they are accurate, that our embassy failed to put in place the kind of verifiable measures that would ensure the safety of Mr. Chen and his family,” Romney said. “If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom. And it’s a day of shame for the Obama administration. We are a place of freedom here and around the world, and we should stand up and defend freedom wherever it is under attack.”
The unfolding drama of the blind human rights activist has put the Obama administration on the defensive as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are in Beijing for high-profile economic and strategic talks designed to promote U.S.-China relations.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/dark-day-for-freedom/
“The reports are, if they are accurate, that our administration, willingly or unwittingly communicated to Chen an implicit threat to his family, and also probably sped up, or may have sped up the process of his decision to leave the embassy because they wanted to move on to a series of discussions that Mr. Geithner and our secretary of state are planning to have with China,” Romney said in a campaign speech in Portsmouth, Va.
It was the first time the candidate and presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the November elections criticized the president on an issue related to China.
“It’s also apparent according to these reports, if they are accurate, that our embassy failed to put in place the kind of verifiable measures that would ensure the safety of Mr. Chen and his family,” Romney said. “If these reports are true, this is a dark day for freedom. And it’s a day of shame for the Obama administration. We are a place of freedom here and around the world, and we should stand up and defend freedom wherever it is under attack.”
The unfolding drama of the blind human rights activist has put the Obama administration on the defensive as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner are in Beijing for high-profile economic and strategic talks designed to promote U.S.-China relations.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/dark-day-for-freedom/
Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be ‘Julia’
Quick,
hide under the covers. The nation’s storyteller, Barack Obama, unveiled
a frightening new fable on the Internet intended to scare women away
from supporting fiscal conservatives in November. But as is increasingly
common with Obama’s social-media propaganda initiatives, “The Life of
Julia” immediately flopped.
Why? Because 1) self-sufficient women voters
aren’t as sheeple-ish as Democratic strategists make them out to be, 2)
conservative activists are overtaking Obama’s zombie army online, 3)
non-delusional Americans don’t want cradle-to-grave utopians turning
their country into the next Greece or Spain, and 4) responsible grownups
are getting sick and tired of radical Saul Alinsky–style tall tales
from the progressive Pied Piper.
Using snazzy graphics and interactive slideshow features,
BarackObama.com spins a glowing narrative of imaginary Julia’s life from
age 3 to age 67. But “Julia” is a pathetic figment of the progressive
imagination. She simply cannot function without the lifelong
intervention of federal patriarchs.
Instead of two parents preparing her for
school, Obama credits Head Start bureaucrats with ensuring that Julia is
“ready to learn and succeed” in kindergarten.
Run 'Em Out of Town If it were only that easy …
It appears increasingly likely that Senator Richard Lugar will not be
the senior U.S. senator from Indiana when the next Congress is sworn
in. After 36 years on the job, he is running behind in a tough primary.
His opponent's main knock on Lugar is that he has been in Washington too
long and been infected with the incumbency virus.
To many, this is always a compelling argument.
Anyone who has served in Congress so long that he can navigate
Washington, D.C. without a roadmap needs to return home and go back to
doing honest work.
Now Senator Lugar, who is a gentleman, doesn't
deserve to be run out of town on a rail. A seat in business class would
be more fitting. But even if he is defeated in the primary and his
career in the Senate should come to a not-at-all-premature end, he may
not be leaving Washington or the great game.
Headhunters said Lugar could make more than $1 million per year if he chose to work full-time at a government affairs or lobby firm, and could pull in $250,000 annually in a part-time role, perhaps for as little as one day of work a week.
The fact that Lugar could make that kind of money
if he stays in town may be the best argument, yet, for term limits and,
failing that, for a citizens' movement urging people to vote against any
and every incumbent is running for a third term, regardless of party
affiliation or record. Otherwise, we can look forward to the labors of
enterprises like the …
Economically devastating tax hikes loom if Obama takes no action, global financial consultancy says
Americans face in 2013 the largest tax increase since World War II
and there is little hope of President Barack Obama or the divided
Congress dealing with the looming crisis until after the November
election, according to financial and budgetary experts.
Expiring tax cuts, new Obamacare tax hikes, and automatic cuts resulting from “sequestration” will cost Americans between $300 and $700 billion in 2013 if nothing is done. Analysts at Strategas, a global financial consultancy, say Obama’s campaign rhetoric has painted him into a corner that will make it impossible to resolve the crisis before Election Day.
“If Congress does not act within the year, the drag will be twice as large as the largest tax increase since World War II,” analyst Daniel Clifton said. But Obama “can’t accept the entire package of tax cuts because of how he is campaigning.”
Clifton predicts that the expiring cuts, pending hikes, and sequester cuts will drag the economy down by $573 billion, or 3.5 percent of gross domestic product; that would be double the burden of the tax increase implemented by Democrat Lyndon Johnson to fund his Great Society campaign in 1968.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts the economic drag will cause a 2 percent decline in real GDP for the year. The majority of the increases will come from the expiring Bush tax rates that Obama extended in 2010.
The president has painted low taxes as a boon for the wealthy.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/forward-to-the-fiscal-cliff/
Expiring tax cuts, new Obamacare tax hikes, and automatic cuts resulting from “sequestration” will cost Americans between $300 and $700 billion in 2013 if nothing is done. Analysts at Strategas, a global financial consultancy, say Obama’s campaign rhetoric has painted him into a corner that will make it impossible to resolve the crisis before Election Day.
“If Congress does not act within the year, the drag will be twice as large as the largest tax increase since World War II,” analyst Daniel Clifton said. But Obama “can’t accept the entire package of tax cuts because of how he is campaigning.”
Clifton predicts that the expiring cuts, pending hikes, and sequester cuts will drag the economy down by $573 billion, or 3.5 percent of gross domestic product; that would be double the burden of the tax increase implemented by Democrat Lyndon Johnson to fund his Great Society campaign in 1968.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicts the economic drag will cause a 2 percent decline in real GDP for the year. The majority of the increases will come from the expiring Bush tax rates that Obama extended in 2010.
The president has painted low taxes as a boon for the wealthy.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/forward-to-the-fiscal-cliff/
Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what your country can do for you.
In
the competition for the creepiest campaign material of 2012, we may
already have a winner. It is “The Life of Julia,” the Obama reelection
team’s cartoon chronicle of a fictional woman who is dependent on
government at every step of her life.
The phrase “cradle-to-grave welfare state” originated with
Clement Attlee’s socialist government in post–World War II Britain. Back
then, it was meant as a boastful description of a new age of government
activism. Subsequently, it became a term of derision for critics of an
overweening government. In the spirit of Attlee, the Obama campaign
revives the concept of “cradle to grave” as it highlights
Obama-supported programs that take care of Julia from age 3 to her retirement at age 67.Julia begins her interaction with the welfare state as a little tot through the pre-kindergarten program Head Start. She then proceeds through all of life’s important phases, not Shakespeare’s progression from “mewling and puking” infant to “second childishness and mere oblivion,” but the Health and Human Services and Education Departments version: a Pell grant (age 18), surgery on insurance coverage guaranteed by Obamacare (22), a job where she can sue her employers for more pay thanks to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (23), free contraception (27), a Small Business Administration loan (42) and, finally, Medicare (65) and Social Security (67). (In a sci-fi touch, these entitlements are presumed to be blissfully unchanged sometime off in the 2070s.)
Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/298936/nation-julias-rich-lowry
Markets, Risk, and Fashion: The Hindenburg’s Smoking Lounge
The historian of science Thomas Kuhn used to advise his students to
read the books and papers of the past not for their insights into
present-day science but, to the contrary, to notice what was strange
about them. Those puzzling ideas, he believed, could reveal the hidden
and deep assumptions of their age.
The same may apply to the technology and commerce of the past. And few of its innovations seem odder today than the smoking lounge on the airship Hindenburg, which caught fire upon landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937.
Wikipedia has an excellent summary of the facts of, and theories surrounding, the disaster. A ball of flame appeared as the great ship was docking at the mooring mast. It sank to earth, killing 35 of the 97 passengers and crew members, plus one worker on the landing field. Almost exactly 25 years earlier, when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank at night, there were no photographs or outside witnesses. The Hindenburg’s crash, on the other hand, was broadcast the next day on network radio and memorialized in countless newsreels, television programs, and (more recently) Internet videos. (In a strange inversion of the Titanic tragedy, at least one crew member of the Hindenburg survived thanks to the bursting of a water ballast tank, saving him from the flames.)
Even after the nuclear meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima, the Hindenburg remains the most spectacular technological tragedy captured on film, outside military and terrorist attacks.
Despite revisionist theories, such as one claiming that the paint on the airship’s surface both sparked and fed the explosion, most experts still blame hydrogen. The Zeppelin company originally preferred the cheaper and more readily obtainable hydrogen, but after 48 of 56 passengers on a British airship were killed in a storm in 1930, Zeppelin’s engineers planned the new design for the safer, nonflammable helium. Unfortunately for Zeppelin, Congress had passed a law in 1927 banning the export of helium because it was a strategic gas with military aviation potential. There was thus no alternative to hydrogen, despite its risks. (Interestingly, the United States lifted the ban on helium after the Hindenburg disaster, although it was reinstated in 1938 after Nazi Germany annexed Austria.)
Read more: http://www.american.com/archive/2012/may/markets-risk-and-fashion-the-hindenburgs-smoking-lounge
The same may apply to the technology and commerce of the past. And few of its innovations seem odder today than the smoking lounge on the airship Hindenburg, which caught fire upon landing at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937.
Wikipedia has an excellent summary of the facts of, and theories surrounding, the disaster. A ball of flame appeared as the great ship was docking at the mooring mast. It sank to earth, killing 35 of the 97 passengers and crew members, plus one worker on the landing field. Almost exactly 25 years earlier, when the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank at night, there were no photographs or outside witnesses. The Hindenburg’s crash, on the other hand, was broadcast the next day on network radio and memorialized in countless newsreels, television programs, and (more recently) Internet videos. (In a strange inversion of the Titanic tragedy, at least one crew member of the Hindenburg survived thanks to the bursting of a water ballast tank, saving him from the flames.)
Even after the nuclear meltdowns at Chernobyl and Fukushima, the Hindenburg remains the most spectacular technological tragedy captured on film, outside military and terrorist attacks.
Despite revisionist theories, such as one claiming that the paint on the airship’s surface both sparked and fed the explosion, most experts still blame hydrogen. The Zeppelin company originally preferred the cheaper and more readily obtainable hydrogen, but after 48 of 56 passengers on a British airship were killed in a storm in 1930, Zeppelin’s engineers planned the new design for the safer, nonflammable helium. Unfortunately for Zeppelin, Congress had passed a law in 1927 banning the export of helium because it was a strategic gas with military aviation potential. There was thus no alternative to hydrogen, despite its risks. (Interestingly, the United States lifted the ban on helium after the Hindenburg disaster, although it was reinstated in 1938 after Nazi Germany annexed Austria.)
Read more: http://www.american.com/archive/2012/may/markets-risk-and-fashion-the-hindenburgs-smoking-lounge
Presidential rhetoric shows the antidemocratic strain in progressivism
One of President Obama’s most annoying habits is his tendency to
mistake the 300 million people of the United States for soldiers in an
army charged with national reconstruction. He, of course, is the
general.
The tic is often barely perceptible, revealed subtly in those moments when Obama decries partisan politics for interfering with his plans; when he speaks of coming together for the common purpose of redistributing private income to—sorry, “investing” taxpayer dollars in—Democratic client groups; and during the rare occasions when he feels it necessary to address the nation on matters of national security and war.
Here is the president in August 2010, announcing the end of combat operations in Iraq: “And so at this moment, as we wind down the war in Iraq, we must tackle those challenges at home with as much energy, and grit, and sense of common purpose as our men and women in uniform who have served abroad.”
The way to “honor” American heroes who serve overseas, Obama said, is “by coming together, all of us, and working to secure the dream that so many generations have fought for—the dream that a better life awaits anyone who is willing to work for it and reach for it.”
What does “coming together” mean? Why, silly, it means passing Obama’s domestic agenda: more money for education and job training and to “jumpstart industries that create jobs, and end our dependence on foreign oil,” and just happen to be owned by donors to the president’s campaigns. Missing from the 2010 speech was a line saying the path to heroism is through support for the Buffett Rule, probably because David Axelrod hadn’t yet come up with that particular gimmick.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/generalissimo-obama/
The tic is often barely perceptible, revealed subtly in those moments when Obama decries partisan politics for interfering with his plans; when he speaks of coming together for the common purpose of redistributing private income to—sorry, “investing” taxpayer dollars in—Democratic client groups; and during the rare occasions when he feels it necessary to address the nation on matters of national security and war.
Here is the president in August 2010, announcing the end of combat operations in Iraq: “And so at this moment, as we wind down the war in Iraq, we must tackle those challenges at home with as much energy, and grit, and sense of common purpose as our men and women in uniform who have served abroad.”
The way to “honor” American heroes who serve overseas, Obama said, is “by coming together, all of us, and working to secure the dream that so many generations have fought for—the dream that a better life awaits anyone who is willing to work for it and reach for it.”
What does “coming together” mean? Why, silly, it means passing Obama’s domestic agenda: more money for education and job training and to “jumpstart industries that create jobs, and end our dependence on foreign oil,” and just happen to be owned by donors to the president’s campaigns. Missing from the 2010 speech was a line saying the path to heroism is through support for the Buffett Rule, probably because David Axelrod hadn’t yet come up with that particular gimmick.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/generalissimo-obama/
Argentina nationalizes oil company YPF
Argentina's Congress nationalized the country's biggest oil company, YPF, by an overwhelming lower house vote on Thursday that underscored broad popular support for a measure that threatens to scare off foreign investment.
The Chamber of Deputies voted 207-32 in favor of expropriating YPF, clearing the way for President Cristina Fernandez to sign the bill into law. The Senate last week approved the measure by a similarly overwhelming margin.
Fernandez, who has tightened state control of the economy, unveiled the plan to seize a majority stake in YPF from Spain's Repsol six months after her landslide re-election.
The move drew a swift reprisal from Spain, which curtailed Argentine biodiesel shipments. Wall Street warns that Argentina risks scaring off investment needed to bolster growth against fallout from Europe's debt crisis and slower demand from key trade partner Brazil.
Business groups have long been put off by Fernandez's policies, such as her government's takeover of Argentina's private pension system in 2008 and, more recently, import and foreign exchange controls that have hurt confidence.
Fernandez justifies the renationalization of YPF - which was privatized in the 1990s after decades as a state-owned company - on the grounds that it failed to boost oil and natural gas production needed to keep up with local demand.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/04/us-argentina-ypf-idUSBRE8421GV20120504
Europe Sinks Ahead Of US Jobs Data And Crucial Weekend Elections
European shares are off this morning, as concerns about U.S. jobs data
and a huge weekend of elections spark investor trepidation. So far, the
DAX is down 0.6 percent and the CAC 40 is 0.7 percent in the red.
Spain continues to be the anomaly—with the IBEX 35 trading 0.9 percent higher.
U.S. futures point to a slightly higher open, though all this could change with a highly anticipated jobs report at 8:30 AM ET.
So far this morning, eurozone PMI numbers come in ugly. The latest reading of Markit's PMI index for the eurozone showed that business activity fell from 49.1 in March to 46.7 in April, showing that private-sector business activity is contracting sharply across the region.
UPDATE: Despite the disastrous PMI numbers we've been talking about, we now have a bright spot: retail sales. Retail sales for the euro area grew at a pace of 0.3 percent month-over-month, versus expectations of an 0.2 percent decline.
Markets do not seem to have paid much attention to this announcement, however, as most European markets have extended losses (though Spain has extended gains). The DAX is now off 0.9 percent.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/europe-sinks-ahead-of-jobs-data-and-election-concerns-2012-5#ixzz1ttOQUKsi
Spain continues to be the anomaly—with the IBEX 35 trading 0.9 percent higher.
U.S. futures point to a slightly higher open, though all this could change with a highly anticipated jobs report at 8:30 AM ET.
So far this morning, eurozone PMI numbers come in ugly. The latest reading of Markit's PMI index for the eurozone showed that business activity fell from 49.1 in March to 46.7 in April, showing that private-sector business activity is contracting sharply across the region.
UPDATE: Despite the disastrous PMI numbers we've been talking about, we now have a bright spot: retail sales. Retail sales for the euro area grew at a pace of 0.3 percent month-over-month, versus expectations of an 0.2 percent decline.
Markets do not seem to have paid much attention to this announcement, however, as most European markets have extended losses (though Spain has extended gains). The DAX is now off 0.9 percent.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/europe-sinks-ahead-of-jobs-data-and-election-concerns-2012-5#ixzz1ttOQUKsi
Paying Off Debt Doesn't Mean You're Out Of The Woods Yet
For a lot of people, debt is a cycle.
They’ll spend themselves to the breaking point, watching their credit card balances surge.
Then, once they reach a point where they are having difficulty paying their bills, they cut back and start living frugally for a while until the credit cards are under control.
After that, they splurge, and the cycle continues.
I’ve witnessed this with friends and family. I’ve read stories like this from lots of readers.
The cycle of debt can be a long and painful one. It keeps you in financial shackles for your whole life, because you’re never quite free of those debt payments.
It’s time to break free.
Read more: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2012/05/02/resist-temptation-to-use-your-credit-card-once-you-pay-it-down-122365/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thesimpledollar+%28The+Simple+Dollar%29&utm_content=Google+Reader#ixzz1ttOAopIJ
They’ll spend themselves to the breaking point, watching their credit card balances surge.
Then, once they reach a point where they are having difficulty paying their bills, they cut back and start living frugally for a while until the credit cards are under control.
After that, they splurge, and the cycle continues.
I’ve witnessed this with friends and family. I’ve read stories like this from lots of readers.
The cycle of debt can be a long and painful one. It keeps you in financial shackles for your whole life, because you’re never quite free of those debt payments.
It’s time to break free.
The best way to do this is to not necessarily focus on minimizing your debt to the absolute smallest dollar as fast as you can. That’s right, don’t do that.
Instead, focus on spending routines and habits that you can sustain over a long period. Focus on cutting out spending that you don’t find personally important, but make sure that it won’t return to your life by finding new life patterns to replace it.
Instead, focus on spending routines and habits that you can sustain over a long period. Focus on cutting out spending that you don’t find personally important, but make sure that it won’t return to your life by finding new life patterns to replace it.
Read more: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2012/05/02/resist-temptation-to-use-your-credit-card-once-you-pay-it-down-122365/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thesimpledollar+%28The+Simple+Dollar%29&utm_content=Google+Reader#ixzz1ttOAopIJ
Playing Out Our Absurd National Debates at the Local Level: The Case of Fracking
I
originally sought election to the school board of the community where I
live for many reasons. I grew up there, I spent my entire public
school career in the district, and I care a great deal about its future.
I also have four young children in the school and want to make sure
they get the best education possible. Three years in, I like to think I've been able to do some real good in these respects.
But the experience has also afforded me the opportunity to help play out many of our national debates on a local level. The board routinely decides on issues related to public education, and since education touches so many other matters, we also act on a host of broader topics: debt, taxes and spending, church and state, health care, etc.
I live in Western Pennsylvania, which is a boom area for Marcellus shale and a hotbed for the "fracking" debate. And now, because of the geological quirks that have situated many Pennsylvania school districts upon vast reserves of natural gas, school boards have become "dramatis personæ" in the national debate over energy. Our board recently voted to approve a gas drilling lease that will give us a bonus amounting to about 1.3 percent of our total budget and 18 percent royalties on gross revenues for many years...this while barring all surface activity on our property. To a large majority of board members, this seemed like a reasonable course, all things considered.
But the experience has also afforded me the opportunity to help play out many of our national debates on a local level. The board routinely decides on issues related to public education, and since education touches so many other matters, we also act on a host of broader topics: debt, taxes and spending, church and state, health care, etc.
I live in Western Pennsylvania, which is a boom area for Marcellus shale and a hotbed for the "fracking" debate. And now, because of the geological quirks that have situated many Pennsylvania school districts upon vast reserves of natural gas, school boards have become "dramatis personæ" in the national debate over energy. Our board recently voted to approve a gas drilling lease that will give us a bonus amounting to about 1.3 percent of our total budget and 18 percent royalties on gross revenues for many years...this while barring all surface activity on our property. To a large majority of board members, this seemed like a reasonable course, all things considered.
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