Friday, June 18, 2010
As the Spill Expands, So Does Presidential Power
Subject: txt hots grn engry lbrty crpt libs sclm bbro -
The other day, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked what will happen if the people running BP decline to go along with everything the administration demands of it. "The president," he replied with chilly menace, "has the legal authority to compel them to do so, and if they don't, he will."
As a matter of law, Barack Obama may not have the legal authority to do so, but if recent history is any guide that won't matter...
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Where Does He Get the Authority to ‘Inform’ a Private Company That It Must Surrender Its Money?
Subject: txt hots grn engry lbrty crpt -
In his first-ever address from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, President Barack Obama said he was going to “inform” the chairman of BP that he must surrender the company’s money to an independent party that will distribute it to people and businesses determined to have been harmed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The president’s declaration raises a serious constitutional question about his authority: Where does the president get the lawful power to order any private-sector company—BP or any other—that it must surrender its money?
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Obama BP meeting: No Interior Secretary, but lots of lawyers
Subject: txt hots grn engry -
The White House has sent out the list of attendees for the president's meeting with BP executives. Other than the president and vice president, the people from the administration were: energy/climate advisor Carol Browner, economics adviser Larry Summers, and the domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes. Along with those three officials were three lawyers: White House counsel Robert Bauer, White House lawyer Don Verrilli, and Tom Perrelli, the number-three official in the Justice Department. Adm. Thad Allen also attended.
Missing from the list: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar...
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Oil rig workers forced to job hunt after drill ban
Subject: txt hots engry econ -
Mr. Charlie has seen the up and downs over the years in the oil patch off Louisiana's coast, but this could be the toughest slump of all. Earlier this week, the steel rig stationed on the Atchafalaya River graduated what could be one of its last classes of workers prepping for the rigors of offshore life.
President Barack Obama's six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf has sent shudders across the coast's offshore oil industry — where no one knows just how extensive or long-lasting the damage to jobs may be...
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Obama Draws Bipartisan Criticism for Using Oil Spill to Push Energy Policy
Subject: txt hots engry grn - libs -
President Obama is drawing bipartisan criticism for using the BP oil spill to revive an energy regulation bill that's been on the back burner since last year, with lawmakers saying the so-called "cap-and-trade" package does nothing to stop the leak or mitigate the damage.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was quoted by The San Francisco Chronicle saying, "the climate bill isn't going to stop the oil leak." Stopping the leak should come first, she said.
READ MORE.
A call to reduce fossil fuels, without specifics
Subject: txt grn engry -
President Obama on Tuesday night capped his Oval Office address on the massive gulf oil spill with a call for new efforts to reduce U.S. dependence on oil, saying "the tragedy unfolding on our coast is the most painful and powerful reminder yet that the time to embrace a clean-energy future is now."
In a bow to political reality and the still-troubled economy, however, he stopped short of spelling out specifics for dealing with a problem that has bedeviled presidents since Richard Nixon in the 1970s...
[Because this nation runs on oil, and there's nothing anywhere close to being capable of replacing it in our lifetime.]
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The President's Oil Reserves Lie
Subject: txt hots grn engry -
... According to a June 2008 article in Kiplinger Magazine, the United States has enough oil reserves to power the nation for upwards of three centuries. That's three-hundred years, Mr. President. We are not running out of oil reserves, it's just that those oil reserves have been declared off limits due to decades of environmental lobbying of our politicians, especially those on the Left. This lobbying has driven the likes of BP and others out deep into the Gulf of Mexico to extract the nation's needed oil.
Note the following statement from the article:
"...untapped reserves are estimated at about 2.3 trillion barrels, nearly three times more than the reserves held by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Counties (OPEC) and sufficient to meet 300 years of demand-at today's levels-for auto, aircraft, heating and industrial fuel, without importing a single barrel of oil."
Think about that.
The nations that currently hold us hostage by their massive oil production actually have far less reserves than our own nation. Put another way, some of the very nations in which we are dependent upon oil are also the same nations that help to sponsor worldwide terrorism. Were we to extract our own oil, it would make our nation and the world a safer place. But, isn't a spotted owl more important than the safety of the world?
Let's use some common sense. Drill first on land, then in water. It's really not that difficult.
[Highly Recommended > ]
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Unwanted sludge-treatment plant may cost taxpayers $217 million
Subject: txt grn engry - Waste:
Local officials acknowledge that a giant sewage-cooking machine in west suburban Stickney is a waste of money, but they have decided to move ahead anyway with a project that could cost Chicago and Cook County taxpayers $217 million. Once billed as an innovative way to turn the region's sewage sludge into fertilizer, the project is a decade behind schedule...
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Americans Not Inclined To Pay More To Fight Global Warming
Subject: txt lbrty 2010 grn -
Democratic Senators John Kerry and Joe Lieberman declared yesterday that a new EPA study shows their new global warming legislation won't cost Americans much after all. But so far most Americans don't show an inclination to pay anything for such legislation....
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The Surrender of the Republic
The Senate Votes for Suicide—Theirs and Ours
While everyone is concerned about the big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, something much more ominous just happened: the United States ceased to be a representative republic. It happened on Thursday when the Senate voted to abdicate its central powers to the executive branch. Not that it was billed in such momentous terms. In the news, it was reported merely as the failure of the Murkowski Resolution.
What did the Murkowski Resolution say? It said that
"Congress disapproves the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to the endangerment finding and the cause or contribute findings for greenhouse gases under section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act and that such rule shall have no force or effect."
Note what this vote was not about.
The Senate did not actually vote on whether or not to regulate carbon dioxide emissions. The debate in the Senate was not about what form those regulations should take, how strict they should be, or even whether the science behind those regulations has been discredited by Climategate. The vote was simply over who is in charge: the legislative branch of government, or the executive. As the bill's chief sponsor, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, argued:
"Politically accountable members of the House and Senate, not unelected bureaucrats, must develop our nation's energy and climate policies."
Or to put it simply, legislation should be made by legislators.
In our system of government—or rather, in our former system of government—there was a division of power between the legislature and the executive. The legislators, who answer to the people directly, had the power to write the laws, to decide exactly what should be controlled by government and how, and the job of the executive was to implement those laws. Our nation's Founders knew that if the executive branch could both write the laws and enforce them, there would be virtually no limits on its power. They knew that a system in which all power is concentrated in one institution—an institution that is not composed of the representatives of the people—is a form of dictatorship.
That is precisely what we now have, if the EPA can write its own rules on carbon dioxide...
[Highly Recommended > ] READ MORE
EPA Classifies Milk as Oil, Forcing Costly Rules on Farmers
Subject: txt bdd lbrty grn sclm bbro -
Having watched the oil gushing in the Gulf of Mexico, dairy farmer Frank Konkel has a hard time seeing how spilled milk can be labeled the same kind of environmental hazard.
But the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is classifying milk as oil because it contains a percentage of animal fat...
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America – Simply Running Out of Money
Subject: txt tax mny econ libs sclm -
Nothing will explain the bias of the liberal mainstream media better than their collective silence on our ever increasing annual deficits and our national debt. It appears that the Democrats in Congress and President Obama recognize that the November elections might bring about changes that will end their reckless spending sprees and so they keep piling on with new social programs and governmental controls before their reign is up come January 2011. The national debt stands currently near thirteen trillion dollars and that is about ninety percent of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
This is absolutely unsustainable, but sustaining our current system of government doesn't seem to be the real goal of our current 'leadership' in Washington...
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Spain: the new crisis in Euroland
Subject: txt intl sclm mny -
European leaders meet in Brussels today amid growing fears that Spain, Europe's fifth-largest economy, is preparing to ask for a bailout which would dwarf the €110bn (£90bn) rescue plan for Greece. The Spanish government yesterday dismissed reports that it was already in discussions with the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and the US Treasury for a rescue package worth up to €250bn...
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Obama’s Marxist Allies Move Forward on Healthcare, Socialist Agenda
Subject: txt hcare sclm -
Democratic Socialists of America, is despite its deceptive name, the U.S.’s largest and probably most influential Marxist based organization. Many of its several thousand members operate through the Democratic Party, New York’s influential Working Families Party and the organization also counts thousands of of labor unionists, religious activists, journalists and college professors in its ranks. D.S.A. helped establish and continues to support the more than 80 strong Congressional Progressive Caucus and is particularly close to “single payer” healthcare champions Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and Caucus founder Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont...
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Health overhaul to force changes in employer plans
Subject: txt hcare sclm bbro bdd -
An early draft of an Obama administration regulation says that many employers will be forced to make changes to their health plans under the new law. The draft says in just three years, a majority of workers—51 percent—will be in plans subject to new federal requirements. Employers say it's another sign that the law will drive up costs.
[It never had anything to do with health care, and if we don't repeal it immediately we never will.]
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Network News Shows Largely Skip President's $50 Billion Spending Request
[Meanwhile, in our professional media...]
The network morning and evening news shows have all but ignored President Obama's Saturday letter to congressional leaders asking for $50 billion in additional spending to prevent the "massive layoffs of teachers, police, and firefighters." Only Sunday's Good Morning America on ABC has covered the President's request so far...
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Most 'Angry' with Liberal, Pro-Obama Media
Subject: txt hots fnn gdd poll: Rasmussen Finds
A new Rasmussen Reports survey finds most Americans (51%) say the average reporter is more liberal than they are, and nearly as many (48%) think the media are “are trying to help” President Obama pass his left-wing agenda. Perhaps as a result, the poll finds an astonishing two-thirds of the public (66%) say they are angry with the media, “including 33% who are very angry” with the press.
Most Americans seem to have a low view of journalists’ integrity and professionalism. Rasmussen discovered that “68% say most reporters when covering a political campaign try to help the candidate they want to win,” vs. 23% who think most reporters “try to offer unbiased coverage.” At the same time, “54% of voters think most reporters would hide any information they uncovered that might hurt a candidate they wanted to win, up seven points from November 2008.”
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Michelle, my belly
Subject: txt nanny -
There is no work more important than what first lady Michelle Obama is doing to get America fit, and she deserves a tip of the Nuge cowboy hat for it. Mrs. Obama is promoting a get-fit-and-get-active campaign for American kids. God bless her for it. Our children need Mrs. Obama and her campaign now more than ever. Equally important, she needs the support of American parents. The bottom line in the blubberization of American youth is a very ugly manifestation of parental neglect, extremely poor parental choices and overt laziness...
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Colombia Election Disproves Empty Media Campaign
Subject: txt intl wst - sclm gcon -
Elections: Loopy Green candidate Antanas Mockus was hailed in the press as Colombia's next president. But the voters had someone else in mind and stunned with Sunday's result. It exposed Mockus' rise as pure media hype.
Where have we seen this movie before?
The media hailed the vaguely leftwing Green Party candidate with his hip sunflower campaign theme as "The New Obama." They pointed to polls as proof he'd win the election, said he was a new kind of politician and voters were in a mood for "change."
"Colombian election tilting toward a maverick," crowed the Global Post, in a piece published in the Minneapolis Star on May 30.
Reality was very different: The conservative Juan Manuel Santos mopped the floor with Mockus, 46-21, winning every Colombian department (state) by big margins...
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To Mexico: Seal The Border
Subject: txt immig -
When you sleep with dogs, you wake up with fleas.... MEXICO CITY — More than 200 people have been slaughtered during the past seven days in the most violent week in the criminal insurgency racking Mexico since President Felipe Calderón unleashed federal forces against drug trafficking gangs. ...
The solutions to this are simple and obvious: 1. Close the border. Period. Seal it. Post the National Guard with orders to shoot and fence the place. Make clear to Calderon that if his goons - whether wearing uniforms or not - come across the border via any means other than through...
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Whitman Softens on Immigration (Can't we get one Republican with integrity?)
CALIFORNIA
Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor of California, is softening her stance on immigration. A month after she cut an ad during her primary promising “no drivers’ licenses, no sanctuary cities, and absolutely no amnesty, period,” she’s launched new ads to air during Mexico’s World Cup match calling herself a “different kind of candidate” who “understands our community” and “the Republican who opposes the Arizona law and was against Proposition 187.”
Latinos who are interested in Whitman’s positions on immigration can learn more about them at the new section of her website not-at-all-subtly targeted at them...
[Again and again Republicans elect rinos, which are just liberalism lite. I think I'll reserve my future votes for candidates I truly believe in, and stop playing the lesser-or-evils game, it's getting us nowhere.]
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Democrats Surrender to Christie in N.J. Budget Battle
What looked to be an impending showdown between the Democratic-controlled New Jersey legislature and Republican Gov. Chris Christie over the state budget for fiscal 2011 may be over before it ever began. Democrats in the state assembly publicly conceded this week that Christie’s $29 billion budget would pass largely intact with Democratic support. The move comes on the heels of last week’s collision between Christie and State Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Camden).
Sweeney delivered two bills reinstating New Jersey’s expired “millionaire’s tax” to the governor’s office in the State House, only to see Christie veto the bills almost as quickly...
[It can be done. It's called resolve and it works - Reagan taught us that.]
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Goodbye to One Man, One Vote
If you thought that "one man, one vote" reflected the full flowering of representative democracy, think again. In the village of Port Chester, N.Y., just a few towns north of my locality in Westchester County, there is a new system. It's "one (minority) man, six votes" -- brought to us courtesy of the U.S. Department of Injustice and a lunkhead of a federal judge named Stephen Robinson.
... And the kicker is Robinson's remedy: He approved a plan to give every resident six votes, which they can apportion among the six trustees to be elected any way they wish...
[Crisis? We've a legal-system crisis, from top to bottom.]
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