Tag: politics

The Utah legislature is about to pass a law demanding the federal government release to the state almost fifty percent of the state’s federal land.

8:51 pm

Another state vs federal battle: The Utah legislature is about to pass a law demanding the federal government release to the state almost fifty percent of the state’s federal land.

The context here is that, for most western states, the federal government controls almost all of the real estate, and has in recent years increasingly restricted its use to the detriment of local residents. The legal maneuvering here is a push back by the state.

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Explaining the limits of the Congressionally mandated Space Launch System

8:36 pm

Explaining the limits of the Congressionally mandated Space Launch System.

In trying to explain why SLS can never function as a crew ferry for ISS, I think Muncy also illustrates why the whole system makes no sense and is really a complete waste of money. Consider this:

SLS’s first uncrewed test flight would be in December 2017, with the first crewed mission nearly four years later, in late 2021. Even worse, NASA’s plan showed that Orion and SLS would be able to fly only one exploration mission every two (or more) years.

We are spending a lot of money for very little results.

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Play offense

10:25 am

Play offense.

Instead of bowing and scraping to the Islamic supremacists and feebly protesting that we’re not really racists and hatemongers and all the other calumnies and canards they throw at us, we should be taking the fight to them, and standing up and saying, “You are fronting for the most oppressive ideology on the face of the earth. You are fronting for evil. You are carrying water and running interference for the denial of free speech, the denial of the freedom of conscience, the institutionalized oppression of women, the subjugation of non-Muslims, and worse. You’re fronting for stonings, amputations, the murder of apostates, the treatment of women as possessions of men, the madness and senseless violence that we see in this furor over the Quran-burnings, and more. You shout us down on campuses and do everything you can to make sure we are not heard in the public square. And you call us fascists? You are the quintessence of fascism.”

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Boycotting the boycotters.

9:16 am

Boycotting the boycotters.

I’ve said little about the Rush Limbaugh kerfuffle this week, mostly because I consider the whole thing to be a manufactured scandal created by the Democrats to distract everyone from their effort to squelch religious liberty. However, this fake scandal has now morphed into a campaign to destroy Rush Limbaugh, which when you consider it is quite consistent with the Democratic Party’s general lack of respect for freedom and personal liberty. First they came after the church, now they are going after one of the more important commentators in the conservative movement.

It doesn’t matter whether you agree with Limbaugh. What matters is that this effort to destroy him is really an effort to silence any criticism of Obama and the liberal/leftwing agenda. Such attacks cannot be supported under any condition. These cowardly businesses that are fleeing Limbaugh, and thus are supporting a leftwing form of McCarthyism, should be made to suffer for this cowardice.

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The U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops is issuing a flyer to be distributed at Masses over the March 3-4 weekend that asks their congregation to voice their opposition to the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate.

4:20 pm

We’ve only just begun: The U.S. Conference of Catholic bishops is issuing a flyer to be distributed at Masses over the March 3-4 weekend that asks congregations to voice their opposition to the Obama administration’s contraceptive mandate.

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Because of Obamacare, child-only health plans have been discontinued nationwide.

10:25 pm

Repeal it: Because of Obamacare, insurance companies nationwide have stopped offering child-only health plans.

Jared Wolfe, executive director of the Texas Association of Health Plans, said it is not because insurers do not want to cover children. The federal health care overhaul [Obamacare], and in particular the pre-existing condition language, has been interpreted to mean that insurers must write a policy for any child who applies, Mr. Wolfe said. That effectively ensures that only sick children will apply for benefits, he said — an unworkable financial scenario for insurance companies.

This happened in New York state back in the 1990s. The state legislature decided to help everyone by mandating that no insurance company could deny insurance to anyone, no matter how sick they were. The result: there was no point buying insurance until you were sick, which meant there was no way the insurance companies could make any profit at all. Instantly the insurance field shrunk, with many companies (including my own) abandoning the state.

But then, who cares? We live in amazing times, when a President can simply order — on his personal authority and without any basis in law — that insurance companies must provide free contraceptives, without anyone having to pay for their manufacture. Who knew what things were possible before Obama was President?

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A liberal describes the tolerant liberal world.

1:53 am

A liberal takes a closer look at Islam and discovers the intolerance of the West’s liberal community.

I took a second and more critical look inside Islamic scripture, comparing and contrasting the countless acts of Islamic terrorism, with specific commands to carry out these violent and barbaric attacks on innocent infidels as ordered in the Koran, the Hadith, and the Sunnah. And after much difficult soul searching I had realized I was making more than just a documentary. I was making a terrible mistake. So I went back to my backers and told them how I had changed the outline of the documentary, to include a critical examination of the violent dimension that informed so much of the Islamic world today, and throughout history, and how desperately this story needed to be told, and I consequently lost the backing to my film.

As a writer who had written over a hundred articles for The Daily Kos, a liberal blog which receives about a million visitors a day, I wrote 3 articles outlining what I had learned about Islam, it’s execution of homosexuals and how hundreds of millions of women around the world were living under Islamic gender apartheid. I called attention to this as a human rights issue, human rights being in theory a big concern among Liberal audiences. The warm reception that followed included being labeled a “bigot” a “right winger” and an “Islamophobe” in the hundreds of subsequent reader comments, demanding that my “hate speech” be banned. And after that the Islamophobia watchdog site, Loonwatch.com created a link for readers to write directly to the editors of DKOS, demanding my voice be silenced. And I was immediately banned from ever writing for The Daily Kos.

In the weeks that passed I received many “goodbye” texts and emails from friends letting me know that we were no longer friends. I saw my name get smeared in print – lies, misquotes, distortions, character assassination.

Read the whole thing.

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For the fourth year in a row, President Obama has defied a law that demands he take action on Medicare.

3:32 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: For the fourth year in a row, President Obama has defied a law that demands he take action on Medicare.

This paragraph sums up why Obama has been so negligent:

Why won’t Barack Obama put forth a Medicare proposal? Simple. If he does, Democrats lose the opportunity to demagogue the issue in the run-up to the 2012 election.

The only politicians to propose any reasonable plan to make Medicare solvent have been the Republicans, led by Paul Ryan. I don’t like all the details in Ryan’s plan, but at least he’s proposed something. All Obama and the Democrats have been doing is fiddling while Rome burns, while blaming others for the fire.

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Seven Republicans demand increased NASA supervision of the new commercial launch companies.

9:17 am

Seven Republicans demand increased NASA supervision of the new commercial launch companies.

This is what I call shooting yourself in the foot. One reason the tea party movement started is because Republicans during the Bush years had sometimes become as unreliable as Democrats when it came to some basic political issues. If we want private enterprise and the free market to rule, then the last thing a bunch of Republicans should be doing is demanding greater supervision by government agencies.

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Comparing all the global warming climate models for the past twenty years with the actual data.

9:15 pm

A scientist compares all the global warming climate models developed during the past twenty years with the actual data:

We’ve checked all the main predictions of the climate models against the best data. The climate models get them all wrong. … Therefore:

  • The climate models are fundamentally flawed. Their assumed threefold amplification by feedbacks does not in fact exist.
  • The climate models overestimate temperature rises due to CO2 by at least a factor of three.

Read the whole article. Not only does Evans outline the failures of all the climate models, he also clearly and distinctly describes the actual debate that has been going on in the climate field for the past three decades. It isn’t the effects of carbon dioxide that climate scientists have been arguing about, but, as Richard Lindzen explained to the UK Parliament last week, whether other climate factors, called feedbacks, will amplify or suppress the warming produced by CO2.

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Santorum talked himself out of the nomination

9:52 am

“Santorum talked himself out of the nomination.”

As did all the conservative alternatives to Romney:

The auditions are just about over. Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum all had their chances to be the conservative champion of the nation. Each blew it in his own special way. They soared like rockets and faded away.

In Santorum’s case, it was this:

Late-breaking voters went overwhelmingly for Mitt Romney in today’s Michigan primary as Rick Santorum’s robocalls to Democratic voters, who failed to turn out in big numbers, apparently encouraging Republicans to turn out to back the former Massachusetts governor.

If you are going to run as a conservative, don’t campaign using Democrat Party talking points: Santorum tried to win Democratic union votes by criticizing Romney for not backing the auto bailout. Since the auto bailout is generally despised by conservative voters, they heard this and abandoned Santorum in droves.

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The Astros remove a picture of a Colt revolver from their original baseball jerseys.

4:11 pm

Stupidity: The baseball Astros have been forced by league officials to remove the picture of a Colt revolver from their original baseball jerseys.

[Major League Baseball] gave the okay to the uniform, which the Astros will wear to kick off a season of throwbacks commemorating the 50th anniversary of the club. It nixed the pistol on the uniform in an era when guns are a sensitive issue, according to an Astros official.

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Investigators have decided that it was sloppy bookkeeping rather than criminal activity that caused MF Global to illegally misuse and then lose more than a $1 billion of customer funds.

11:04 am

The fix is in: Investigators have decided that it was sloppy bookkeeping rather than criminal activity that caused MF Global to illegally misuse and then lose more than a $1 billion of customer funds.

Regulators and law enforcement officials have spoken to numerous former employees of MF Global since the firm’s demise and continue to review the hundreds of documents before they make their final conclusion. But one employee who hasn’t been interviewed by the criminal investigators is [former Democratic Governor and Senator Jon] Corzine. People close to the probe say they won’t likely depose him unless a criminal probe appears more likely.

How convenient. The man in charge, Corzine, who was also the “go-to” guy for the Obama administration on economic matters, is somehow not questioned.

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A new poll show that Obamacare continues to be a major political problem for Obama.

9:37 am

Surprise, surprise! A new poll shows that Obamacare continues to be a major political problem for Obama, and Romney.

In the poll, Obama lags the two leading Republican rivals in the 12 states likely to determine the outcome of a close race in November:

  • Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum tops Obama 50%-45% in the swing states. Nationwide, Santorum’s lead narrows to 49%-46%.
  • Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney edges Obama 48%-46% in the swing states. Nationwide, they are tied at 47% each.

Romney also has a health care problem: Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in the battleground states, 27% say they are less likely to support him because he signed a Massachusetts law that required residents to have coverage. Just 7% say it makes them more likely to back him.

At least Romney has made it clear he intends to repeal Obamacare, which should help him in the election should he overcome the Republican hostility to RomneyCare and become the Republican candidate. For Obama, however, there is no escape. Obamacare is his problem, and his alone, and he is likely going to go down in flames because of it more than anything else.

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“Well, basically, we’re not looking to the Constitution on that aspect of it.”

6:06 pm

More video of that townhall meeting where Congresswoman Kathy Hochul (D-New York) was challenged by her constituents over Obama’s contraceptive mandate. Her answer:

Well, basically, we’re not looking to the Constitution on that aspect of it.

She essentially admits that when it comes to the Democratic Party and the Obama administration, policy will trump the Constitution every time.

At the end of the videotape, when she finds herself literally speechless and unable to respond intelligently to the questions being put to her, she says, “Clearly, more work needs to be done.” I agree. The work that needs to be done is to throw these thugs out of office.

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Massachusett has proposed a 500-plus percent increase in vending machine license fees in order to meet new regulations imposed by Obamacare.

5:53 pm

Finding out what’s in it: Massachusett has proposed a 500-plus percent increase in vending machine license fees in order to meet new regulations imposed by Obamacare.

And this ain’t the end. Day by day for the next three years — as Obamacare slowly takes effect — we are going to find out again and again how completely bad it is. The important thing will be to remember clearly who imposed this idiocy on us.

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Seven states filed a lawsuit today seeking to overturn Obama’s contraceptive mandate.

6:27 pm

The wave builds: Seven states today filed a joint lawsuit, seeking to overturn Obama’s contraceptive mandate.

“This violation of the [First] Amendment is a threat to every American, regardless of religious faith,” Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning said in a news release. “We will not stand idly by while our constitutionally guaranteed liberties are discarded by an administration that has sworn to uphold them.”

The lawsuit also alleges the “practical effect” of the mandate “will force religious employers to drop health insurance coverage,” in order to avoid violating their religious beliefs.

“Obamacare’s latest mandate tramples the First Amendment’s freedom of religion and compels people of faith to act contrary to their convictions,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a news release. “The very first amendment to our Constitution was intended to protect against this sort of government intrusion into our religious convictions.”

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The Great Gibson Guitar Raid … Months later, still no charges

3:24 pm

The abuse of power: Months after its raid and confiscation of a half a million dollars worth of property from Gibson Guitars, the Obama Justice Department has still not filed any charges.

Reason.tv recently checked in with Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz to see how the case has progressed. Turns out, the DOJ has filed no charges. That means Gibson hasn’t had its day in court to defend itself — and the government still has all that confiscated property.

Are we beginning to sense a pattern here with this administration and how it treats the citizens of the United States?

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Fifteen questions the press would ask Barack Obama if he were a Republican

1:36 pm

Fifteen questions the press would ask Barack Obama if he were a Republican.

I especially like the last three:

13) Why should the American people reelect you when your 10 year budget saddles America with more debt than all previous Presidents combined?

14) Your stimulus bill cost more in real dollars than the moon landing and the interstate highway system combined. Many prominent economists have concluded the stimulus plan was a total failure. What do we have to show for all of that money spent?

15) Members of your administration promised that the trillion dollar stimulus would keep unemployment under 8 percent. Instead, we’ve had 35+ months of 8% and above unemployment. Doesn’t that mean we wasted a trillion dollars on nothing?

These, as well as the other 12 questions, are all perfectly reasonable and are exactly the kinds of questions any good journalist would be itching to ask any elected official with the disastrous track record that Barack Obama has. Unfortunately, we don’t have very many good journalists in the White House press corp or on the major television/cable networks. Instead, what we have are “former” Democratic Party operatives like George Stephanopoulos, disguised as journalists whose only goal is to make Republicans look bad so that Democrats can get elected.

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A federal judge has struck down a Washington state law that required pharmacists to sell contraceptives

9:14 am

A federal judge has struck down a Washington state law that required pharmacists to sell contraceptives.

In his 48-page opinion, [the judge] noted that Washington permitted pharmacy owners to decide they won’t stock certain medications for any number of “secular reasons” – because they drugs are expensive, for example, or inconvenient to dispense, or because they simply don’t fit into the store’s business plan. Yet the rule did not allow pharmacists to assert a religious reason for keeping certain drugs off their shelves. “A pharmacy is permitted to refuse to stock oxycodone because it fears robbery, but the same pharmacy cannot refuse to stock Plan B because it objects on religious grounds,” the judge wrote. “Why are these reasons treated differently under the rules?” The judge also accused the state of enforcing the mandate selectively, noting that regulators had not opened cases against the many Catholic-affiliated pharmacies in the state that also refuse to dispense Plan B.

I would not be at all surprised if we find that Obama’s contraceptive mandate carries with it the same type of selective enforcement.

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A fourteen year old girl has been swamped with death threats after testifying before the Maryland state legislature in opposition to gay marriage.

1:39 pm

Leftwing civility: A fourteen year old girl has been swamped with death threats after testifying before the Maryland state legislature in opposition to gay marriage. A handful of examples:

  • “And now everyone knows her name, so hopefully she will feel what its like to be harassed and bullied…” reads a comment posted on LGBTNation.com
  • From YouTube: “My god I hate people like this. Most (not all) Americans are [expletive] retards. If I ever see this girl, I will kill her. That’s a promise.”
  • Other entries: “Her parents should be exterminated.”
  • “The [sic] is why abortion must stay legal – to prevent little bigots like this from being Born…”
  • “Kill this child and his [sic] parent, for my 11 birthday would be a wonderful gift, thanks.”

The issue here is not gay marriage, but the threatening, hateful behavior of too many of those who support it. She speaks out in disagreement, and the response isn’t to debate the point but to try to shut her up, in any way possible.

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