Texas goes to war with the EPA over carbon-emission rules
The war between Texas and the EPA over carbon-emission rules heats up.
The war between Texas and the EPA over carbon-emission rules heats up.
The war between Texas and the EPA over carbon-emission rules heats up.
Numbers to scare you: The just ended 111th Congress added more debt than the first hundred Congresses combined.
As I’ve said, it’s all pork: NASA’s Ares rocket is supposingly dead, but the continuing resolution from Congress requires NASA to spend $500 million more for it.
It is also a mess, but I’ve said that before also!
The lawless Obama administration. Key quote:
Obama uses his control over Executive Branch agencies to do what Congress or the courts have forbidden. It’s worked, sometimes, for him over the past few years. But he’s out of time now: the GOP-led House can defund many of these efforts, even if it can’t put a stop to them completely.
Just so no one has any doubts, doing something that both Congress and the courts say is forbidden is breaking the law. And it appears that the Obama administration has a fetish for this sort of thing.
The government solution to everything: A Texas district attorney says that funeral processions should be banned.
Oink! “Nonprofit groups, for-profit businesses, the University of Hawaii, and state and local governments” in Hawaii are faced with a loss of funding due to the end of earmarks in Congress.
What is most interesting about this article isn’t just that it gives a great deal of space to those who oppose earmarks and spending (something you don’t see that often in an AP article), but that the comments are almost universally in favor of eliminating earmarks as well as cutting the federal government. A truly hopeful sign.
Democratic tolerance: Al Sharpton, in his effort to get the FCC to outlaw conservative speech on the airwaves, says it is arrogant to “allow people to say what they want.”
Oink! Scientists rail against senator who belittled research.
More TSA abuse: A rape-survivor is arrested for refusing an enhanced pat-down at Texas airport.
The space war over NASA: The continuing resolution puts NASA where it was back in February, with everything uncertain.
Our government at work: For the past seven years, Maryland has used prisoners, some with fraud and theft convictions, to process Social Security numbers and other personal information of low income residences.
Power grab! The EPA has taken from Texas regulators the permitting process for air quality on major industrial facilities.
More on that Sacramento-area pilot who is being threatened by the TSA for posting a video showing airport security flaws.
Alabama town’s failed pension is a warning.
A pilot videotapes what he thinks are serious airport security flaws and immediately gets threatened by the TSA for doing it. Key quote:
Three days after the pilot posted his airport security tour on YouTube, four federal air marshals and two sheriff’s deputies arrived at the pilot’s house, which he also recorded. They were there to confiscate his federally-issued handgun. A letter later arrived saying, “An FFDO [Federal Flight Deck Officer] must not engage in… conduct that impairs the efficiency of TSA… or causes the loss of public confidence in TSA…”
The pilot’s attorney believes the feds sent six people to the pilot’s house to send a message. “And the message was you’ve angered us by telling the truth and by showing America that there are major security problems despite the fact that we’ve spent billions of dollars allegedly to improve airline safety,” says Don Werno, the airline pilot’s attorney.
When will the left learn? A big tax hike in Oregon results instead in substantially less revenue for the state.
So you think NASA’s gonna get some money, eh? According the Treasury Department, the government’s debt rose by $2 trillion last year alone.
The space war will continue until March: Unable to pass a real budget, Congress has instead passed a continuing resolution that, among everything else, freezes NASA’s budget at 2010 numbers through the spring.
So what happens when California goes bankrupt?
Repeal the damn bill! How Obamacare is hastening the bankruptcy of state governments. Key quote:
If state Medicaid spending increases by 41 percent as projected by [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services], then by next year Medicaid could end up consuming nearly 30 percent of the average state budget. Medicaid would greatly exceed all other state priorities, including education, which tops state budgets at about 22 percent. In fact, state spending on education would experience certain cuts next year. [emphasis mine]
Resisting the power grab: Automakers sue the EPA over its new ethanol regulations allowing the sale of gasoline with 15% ethanol.
Power grab! FCC votes 3-2 to regulate the internet via net neutrality.
Who says the healthcare bill didn’t nationalize the healthcare industry? Under the new law, the Obama administration will be reviewing all health insurance rate increases next year, approving only those it agrees with.
Repeal the damn bill!
Power grab! Eight former park superintendents are pressing the U.S. and Canadian governments to expand government control over lands adjacent to Glacier National Park in Montana and Waterton Lakes National Park.
Your tax dollars at work: Twenty idiotic things the U.S. government is spending money on. My favorite, #8, also happens to be one of the most expensive:
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spent $175 million during 2010 to maintain hundreds of buildings that it does not even use. This includes a pink, octagonal monkey house in the city of Dayton, Ohio.
A TSA worker gets probation after being convicted of using TSA surveillance equipment to steal travelers’ laptops.
Want to trim the federal debt? Here’s a place to start: Federal paychecks in the San Diego area are one third higher than private pay, according to census numbers. The pay raises were also more than three times higher.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has commuted the sentence of man who was serving seven years for the possession of two legal handguns.
The space war over NASA continues: The continuing resolution being offered by the Senate would freeze NASA’s budget at 2010 numbers through March. Also,
NASA would be prohibited from initiating new programs, and could be required to continue spending about $200 million per month on the Moon-bound Constellation program.
As I’ve said repeatedly, the whole thing is a mess.
Good intentions strikes again! Automakers are suing the EPA over its decision to allow a higher ethanol mixture in gasoline. Key quote:
Automakers say they are worried the EPA decision would eventually lead to motorists unknowingly filling up their older cars and trucks with E15 and hurting their engines. The problem could be exacerbated if E15 fuels are cheaper than more conventional blends, prompting owners of older vehicles to use the fuel despite the potential engine problems.