Tag: government

Minnesota government shuts down over budget and taxes

9:33 am

The Minnesota state government shut down on Friday over budget and taxes.

“We have divided government, and a governor that believes that he has a mandate to raise taxes and increase spending, and we have a Legislature that believes we should cut taxes and reduce spending,” said House Majority Leader Matt Dean. “It is a sort of a microcosm, in the middle of the country, of what’s going on throughout the nation.”

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U.S. National Parks’ Cultural and Natural Resources Threatened

6:55 pm

The pigs begin squealing again: According to a report written by a D.C. advocacy group, the national parks face serious problems due to a lack of sufficient funds.

It’s never enough. The National Park Service budget [pdf] has grown from $2.5 billion in 2003 to $3.1 billion in 2011. At the same time, they have increased fees on all public lands, often introducing fees where none had ever existed before.

Somehow, they managed for decades on smaller budgets. At this time of unimaginable federal debt, I have no sympathy for them, despite the fact that I am a passionate lover of the natural wonders contained in the national parks.

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Another billion in free money for homeowners who can’t pay their mortgage

3:44 pm

The Obama administration is offering another billion in free money to homeowners who can’t pay their mortgage.

So, considering the trillions in debt that is overwhelming the budget of the federal government, I wonder where is billion dollars coming from. Do they grow it on trees? I’d really like to know, since it would be nice if I could manufacture cash out of thin air as easily whenever I thought I needed it.

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EPA approves 15% ethanol gasoline despite the risk of engine damage

10:55 am

We’re here to help you: The EPA has approved a warning label for its approval of 15% ethanol gasoline.

EPA says tests show E15 won’t harm 2001 and newer vehicles, which have hoses and gaskets and seals specially designed to resist corrosive ethanol. But using E15 fuel in older vehicles or in power equipment such as mowers, chainsaws and boats, can cause damage and now is literally a federal offense.

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The Obama administration versus the lumber industry

5:36 pm

Lumber and regulation: First, the Obama administration is about to release its spotted owl recovery plan for the northwest United States, and no one knows what’s in it. Second, a timber industry group has sued the Obama administration for not selling “at least 502 million board feet each year, the amount provided for under the resource management plans for the agency’s districts in Western Oregon.”

With the first story, I wonder what happened to the “most transparent administration in history.” With the second, the Obama administration continues its pattern of ignoring the law in favor of its own preferences.

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VA cemetery director accused of censoring religious speech

5:30 pm

Freedom of worship in modern America: The cemetery director at the Houston National Cemetery, run by the Veterans administration. has been accused of censoring religious speech.

According to court documents, [Arleen] Ocasio banned members of the groups from using certain religious words such as “God” or “Jesus,” censored the content of prayer, and forbade the use of religious messages in burial rituals unless the deceased’s family submitted the text to her for prior approval.

Court documents also describe the closure of the cemetery’s chapel after Ocasio’s appointment as director two years ago. “The doors remain locked during Houston National Cemetery operating hours, the cross and the Bible have been removed, and the Chapel bells, which tolled at least twice a day, are now inoperative,” the complaint reads. “Director Ocasio only unlocks the Chapel doors when meetings or training sessions are held at the building. Furthermore it is no longer called a ‘chapel’ but a ‘meeting facility.’” [emphasis mine]

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Charges against woman videotaping police from her front yard have been dropped

5:22 pm

The charges against a woman, Emily Good, who was arrested for videotaping the police from her front yard have been dropped.

As far as I am concerned, the cop who did this should be fired. So should the cops who did this:

There will be an internal review into the original videotaped incident as well as one last week where police officers wrote five tickets outside a meeting supporting Good, using rulers to measure distance from the curb. [emphasis mine]

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The shocking true size of our nation’s debt

9:17 am

The day of reckoning beckons: The shocking true size of our nation’s debt.

Add it all up, and total US debt actually exceeds 900% of GDP. That’s somewhere in excess of $120 trillion. We are beginning to talk real money here.

The Congressional Budget Office [CBO] also contains bad news for those who believe that we can fix this problem simply by cutting “fraud, waste and abuse.” As CBO points out, the projected growth in the debt “is attributable entirely to increases in spending on several large mandatory programs: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and (to a lesser extent) insurance subsidies that will be provided through [Obamacare].” There is simply no way to deal with our debt problems without reforming those entitlement programs.

Finally, the CBO report makes it clear that we have a debt problem because spending is too high, not because taxes are too low. In fact, even though taxes are currently at a near historic low as a proportion of the economy, that is largely a result of the recession. If the economy returns to normal growth rates (a big “if”), federal revenues will not only rise, but will actually be higher than the postwar average percentage of GDP by the end of the decade. In fact, this will happen even if the Bush tax cuts are extended and the Alternative Minimum Tax AMT continues to be patched.

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At House hearing head of NOAA challenged on ignoring Congressional law

12:54 pm

At House hearings this week the head of NOAA was attacked for ignoring Congressional law in setting up a National Climate Service.

One big sticking point for legislators is language in this spring’s final 2011 spending bill that averted a government shutdown, which states that “none of the funds made available by this division may be used to implement, establish, or create a NOAA Climate Service.” Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) said the appointment of Karl and the hiring of six regional directors appear to have ignored those instructions. He quipped that NOAA was “living in climate sin,” a reference to Karl’s statement during an interview in December 2010 with ClimateWire that “we’ve moved in, … we’re waiting for the marriage certificate, but we’re acting like we have a climate service.”

Lubchenco defended her actions, saying that her appointments were “smart” and merely “good planning.” She said their salaries are drawn from “existing funds” and that legislation dating back to the National Climate Program Act of 1978 describes providing climate services as part of NOAA’s mission. She responded to Hall’s concerns that the climate service would take away from NOAA’s other activities by saying, “It’s good government to reorganize periodically.” She also referred to its economic potential, citing the $1 billion industry that has emerged around the National Weather Service.

Speaking with ScienceInsider after the hearing, she made it clear that NOAA intends to push ahead. “This is an idea whose time has come.” [emphasis mine]

In other words, so what the law forbids NOAA from doing this. We know best, Congress can go to hell.

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“Unable to pass its immigration agenda through legislation, the Administration is now implementing it through agency policy.”

7:11 pm

From the head of union representing agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE): “Unable to pass its immigration agenda through legislation, the Administration is now implementing it through agency policy.” And if you still have doubts about the unwillingness of the Obama administration to enforce the law, there’s also this quote:

Our officers are already under orders not to make arrests or even talk to foreign nationals in most cases unless another agency has already arrested them; you won’t find that written in any public ICE policy.

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Senate Republicans pull out of Biden debt limit negotiations

2:12 pm

The Senate Republicans have pulled out of Biden’s debt limit negotiations.

This article strongly suggests to me that the Democrats, who hold a majority in this negotiating group, have refused to take seriously the Republicans’ demand to cut spending, instead focusing on tax increases as a solution. The problem is that you could raise our taxes to 100 percent and you wouldn’t solve the debt problem. The government has got to reduce its spending.

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Dutch populist Geert Wilders acquitted of hate speech

2:06 pm

Dutch politician Geert Wilders was acquitted today of hate speech for his criticisms of Islam.

Not surprisingly, the Islamic whiners who never seem to notice the tens of thousands killed by Islamic terrorists were very unhappy about the ruling.

Farid Azarkan of the SMN association of Moroccans in the Netherlands said he feared the acquittal could further split Dutch society and encourage others to repeat Wilders’s comments. “You see that people feel more and more supported in saying that minorities are good for nothing,” Azarkan said. “Wilders has said very extreme things about Muslims and Moroccans, so when will it ever stop? Some will feel this as a sort of support for what they feel and as justification.”

Minorities groups said they would now take the case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, arguing the ruling meant the Netherlands had failed to protect ethnic minorities from discrimination. “The acquittal means that the right of minorities to remain free of hate speech has been breached. We are going to claim our rights at the U.N.,” said Mohamed Rabbae of the National Council for Moroccans.

Of course, the murder of innocents by Islamic radicals has nothing to do with the distrust people have of Islam. That’s totally irrelevant, and must be ignored.

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Texas anti-groping bill moving ahead despite TSA changes

10:08 am

Texas anti-groping bill against the TSA moves forward with changes. In related news, under pressure the head of the TSA agreed yesterday that it should modify its patdowns of children.

Unfortunately, the changes being introduced to the Texas bill will make it nothing more than a symbolic act. Similarly, the TSA’s so-called modification of its policy towards children really changes nothing, as they will continue to grope and violate the rights of everyone else.

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