Passionate About Conservatism

By Alan Caruba

This appeared here and I wish to thank Alan for allowing me to publish his work.  RK

We conservatives tend to be rather low key when it comes to expressing our commitment to conservative values. We are all about the Constitution, small government, a strong military, and fiscal prudence, but these are not things that are easy to talk about in a passionate way, no matter how strongly we feel about them.

As a longtime—try fifty-plus years—book reviewer, I get lots of them and recently “Right for a Reason: Life, Liberty, and a Crapload of Common Sense” by “the Chicks on the Right”, Miriam Waver and Amy Jo Clark arrived ($26.95, Penguin Group).

The “Chicks” started a website in 2009 that quickly gained a large audience of people who love their approach to conservatism and their interpretation of the events of the day, issues, and personalities. Need it be said it also attracted all manner of rude, nasty responses from liberals?

“If you’re reading this right now”, they say in the introduction, “chances are you’re a frustrated conservative. And you’ve got good reason to be frustrated. If you’re like us, you’re practically dizzy from how often you’ve shaken your head at the stupidity of low-information voters who couldn’t pick Nancy Pelosi out of a photo lineup, but can rattle off the names of every single member of the Kardashion clan.”

“Maybe you’re frustrated that conservatives haven’t been able to effectively communicate their ideas in a way that resonates with the public. Maybe you’re frustrated that the mainstream media has been complicit in glamorizing the liberal narrative.” Well, yes, I have felt this way, but I am also aware that the Internet has provided those with the nation’s political life with scads of information on many excellent websites.

Then, too, Rush Limbaugh has been a major voice on radio with a huge audience as is Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and others. By far the most popular shows devoted to the issues are conservative while liberals attract so few listeners and viewers you wonder why there are still so many liberals. One need only compare the Fox News Channel with MSNBC to know the appeal of conservatism and, yes, a conservative interpretation of the news--accurate facts!

In the lead up to the November 4 midterm elections, something remarkable is happening. There are stories noting that Obama has lost the support of a significant number of women and among black Americans. Even the mainstream press has taken note of this and it suggests that, despite our frustrations, maybe our message is having an impact. Or, maybe, these two groups, after six years of Mr. Hope and Change, have decided independently that his policies have not helped them in any way other than turn them into people dependent on the government instead of being able to support themselves and their families.

As the “Chicks” point out, “Despite what the mainstream media wants you to believe, there are thousands and thousands of people out there who are just like us.” Yes! That is the answer. I recall when Ronald Reagan so encouraged and inspired them that a large segment became known as Reagan Democrats. But that was then and this is now.

“Right for a Reason” will, I believe, appeal a tad more to women readers, though men will enjoy their straight-forward analysis and the humor with which they infuse a book that is passionate about conservatism.

I think, too, that this book will appeal to younger readers, the Millennials, because it addresses the fundamental differences between liberals and conservatives. “While liberals cling like tree sloths to promise of everything being provided to them by the government, conservatives cling to the notion of self-sufficiency.” And conservatives don’t think you’re greedy if you want to make a good living and more money than someone who is not willing to work as hard as you.

That’s why conservatives were so annoyed when President Obama said, regarding anyone who is successful, “If you’ve got a business—you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” There isn’t a single man or woman who has put hours into their business that did not instantly take offense, but Obama was also revealing his deeply socialistic point of view that it is the “collective” that gets things done, not individuals. Wrong! In the earliest days of the nation, roads, bridges, and canals were built to facilitate business. A huge railroad system was built both to make money and to make it easier for people to travel to the west coast to create businesses or sell to those who were already there, and vice versa.

America is all about capitalism and that explains why it became the world’s superpower in the wake of World War II. In the process it saved Europe from communism and entered into 46 years of a Cold War with the then-Soviet Union. Even so, Europe has long since embraced socialism.

To a great degree, so has America with is vast plethora of “entitlement” programs that were introduced as “a safety net”, but are now so integrated into the life of the nation that millions use them to avoid work because one can often receive more from the government than a job would provide! As the “Chicks” put it, “There is a time and a place for welfare. We believe in safety nets. We believe in helping people. We believe that the weakest among us and the people down on their luck should get assistance."

It’s refreshing to read a book that is passionate about conservatism. We all need to be.

© Alan Caruba, 2014

 

EU climate compromise: I will if you will

Commentary by Marita Noon. Executive Director, Energy Makes America Great Inc.

I wish to thank Marita for allowing me to publish her work.  RK

After the 2009 Copenhagen global climate conference failed to produce a legally-binding global treaty to replace the lapsing Kyoto Protocol, climate campaigners are eager to put some kind of win on the board. Therefore, despite threats to veto the deal and discussions that ran into the wee hours, the European Union’s agreement on a new set of climate and energy goals is being heralded as “a new global standard”—though it is really more “I will, if you will.”

On Thursday October 23, 28 European leaders met at a summit in Brussels to reach a climate deal that would build on previous targets of a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gases, a 20 percent boost in the use of renewable sources, and a 20 percent increase in energy efficiency, from the benchmark year of 1990, by 2020.

Prior to the meeting, countries such as Poland (which wanted to protect its coal industry) and Portugal (which has excess renewable energy that it cannot, currently, export to the rest of Europe) threatened to block the deal. Poorer states in Eastern Europe feared new cuts in carbon output would hurt them economically by slowing business growth. Industrialists complained that the new regulations would discourage business and investment in the bloc, at a time when its faltering economy can ill afford to lose it.

In an interview with Reuters before the summit, Connie Hedegaard, European Climate Commissioner, declared: “There should not be problems that could not be overcome.” As predicated, a deal was struck—though the current team of commissioners steps aside in days and the new commission will have to finesse the implementation.

“It was not easy, not at all, but we managed to reach a fair decision,” European Council President Herman Van Rompuy stated.

The “problems” mentioned by Hedegaard were “overcome”—by cash. To get opposing countries, like Poland, to come onboard, Van Rompuy pledged “extra support for lower-income countries, both through adequate targets and through additional funds to help them catch up in their clean-energy transition.” Reports indicate that Poland “secured a complex set of financial incentives …to soften the impact of the target on Polish coal miners and the coal-fired power stations on which its 38 million people depend.”

The “decision” calls for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of at least 40 percent and a 27 percent increase in renewables and energy efficiency, from 1990 levels, by 2030—though the original plan called for a 30-percent increase in renewables and efficiency.

Already complaining, environmentalists are accusing Europe of abdicating its “climate policy leadership.” The EU accounts for about a tenth of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, but has generally done more than other major industrial powers to curb them.

Greenpeace claimed the compromise “pulled the handbrake on clean energy” and Oxfam called for targets of 55 percent in emissions cuts, and increases of 40 percent in energy savings (efficiency) and 45 percent for use of renewable energy.

While Environmentalists are not happy, the BBC reports: “Europe’s leaders have been under heavy pressure not to impose much higher costs, especially when the economy is struggling.”

“Poland has long argued,” according to Reuters, “there is no reason for Europe …to commit to deeper emissions cuts before the rest of the world does”—and this is where “I will, if you will” comes in.

EU leaders claim to be “setting an example for the rest of the world,” yet the final text includes a “flexibility clause,” also called the “Paris review clause.” According to the EU Observer, “The EU agreement—the so-called climate and energy framework—is to be reviewed after an international summit on climate change in Paris in 2015. This means that, in theory, the European Council can change the targets if they are not matched by non-European countries.” The report continued: “Several eastern and central European countries feared that if the EU set too ambitious targets, while other nations like China or the US, slack, it could harm their competitiveness.”

The Daily Caller’s Michael Bastasch explains it this way: “the EU goals are not legally binding until a new United Nations climate treaty is approved.” He adds: “the EU’s climate targets are only proposals laid out as a bargaining chip before next year’s UN summit in Paris. A clause in the EU agreement would trigger a ‘review’ of key climate targets if the UN summit is a dud.”

Dr. Benny Peiser of the Global Warming Policy Foundation agrees: “The EU announcement was reported in the media as if the EU has already adopted these aggressive new CO2 targets. This is however not the case. In reality the EU Commission only proposed a conditional offer as a negotiation card to be played during the 2015 negotiations at the UN climate conference in Paris. In the absence of an international agreement it is very unlikely that the EU will adopt any new unilateral targets. The EU has made it perfectly clear that it is no longer willing to go it alone.”

The chances of a new global treaty in Paris are slim.

190 countries, that, in 2009, pledged $190 billion in aid for climate-related projects for developing countries, can’t agree on a formula for their aid commitments. Without the aid, island nations won’t agree to emissions reductions.

President Obama, according to the New York Times (NYT), looks toward an “agreement,” a “politically binding” deal, not a “legally binding treaty”—as the Senate will not ratify a new climate treaty (especially if the Republicans take control). The NYT quotes Paul Bledsoe, a top climate-change official in the Clinton administration who works closely with the Obama White House in international climate policy: “If you want a deal that includes all the major emitters, including the U.S., you cannot realistically pursue a legally binding treaty at this time.” The “agreement” would include “voluntary pledges.”

Addressing the potential success of a 2015 global climate agreement, Roman Kilisek, in Breaking Energy, posits that “it will be illusive and will at best consist of a plethora of watered down, voluntary, and above all, flexible carbon emission reduction targets and strategies.”

The NYT’s reporting concurs with the “I will, if you will” approach: “unilateral action by the world’s largest economy will not be enough to curb the rise of carbon pollution across the globe. That will be possible only if the world’s largest economies, including India and China, agree to enact similar cuts.”

For more than twenty years, international discussions designed to address climate change have taken place. Parties have signed treaties, pledges, agreements, and accords. Yet, carbon dioxide emissions are higher than ever, predictions haven’t come true, and the planet hasn’t warmed. Polls continue to show that climate change is a low priority for Americans. Even NPR has cut its climate reporting staff by 75 percent.

Engaging in the symbolism over substance that is typical of the climate change campaign, the EU agreed to emissions cuts—but only if everyone else does (the U.S. won’t).

(A version of this content was originally published on Breitbart.com)

The author of Energy Freedom, Marita Noon serves as the executive director for Energy Makes America Great Inc. and the companion educational organization, the Citizens’ Alliance for Responsible Energy (CARE). She hosts a weekly radio program: America’s Voice for Energy—which expands on the content of her weekly column.

Hillary Versus Reagan

Hillary: 'Don't Let Anybody Tell You' That 'Businesses Create Jobs'

Historic Ronald Reagan speech turns 50

From Pam Geller's Atlas Shrugs

Nigeria: Boko Haram Kidnap 30 Children - Kidnapped girls describe the horrors they suffered at the hands (or is that hooves) of their Muslim captors. The Obama administration for years refused to designate Boko Haram as a terrorist organization insisting they had “legitimate concerns.” Apparently a bloody and brutal war in the cause of Islam and the African caliphate is Obama’s idea of a legit concern. Around 30 adolescents, some aged as young as 11, have been abducted in northeast Nigeria over the weekend by suspected Boko Haram, a local village chief says. “The insurgents… grabbed young people, boys and girls, from our region,” said Alhaji Shettima Maina, who is in charge of the Mafa village around 50 kilometres east of the city of...

Massachusetts Public Schools Teaching the Shahada: ‘There Is No God But Allah’ - This is an outrage, but expected and exactly what I warned of in my book, Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance, in the chapter “The Mosqueing of the Public Schools.”  The shahada that the children are forced to recite in Massachusetts public schools is the Muslim profession of faith (“there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”).  In order to convert to Islam, one says the shahada. Saying the shahada makes you a Muslim.  The shahada is what is on the black flag of jihad. This is Massachusetts — home of the Boston Marathon jihad bombing.  This parent is hardly the first to protest this egregious submission to the most vicious and brutal ideology on the face of the...

Despicable. AOL and Hamas — two of a piece. Hamas celebrated this Islamic Jew-killing. - The jihadi was shot and killed in the wake of Islamic attack. - 20 year old Palestinian terrorist, Abed a-Rahman a-Shalud, drove his car into a Jerusalem light rail station, killing a three-month-old infant, Haya Zissel Braun, and injuring seven other people. In the wake of this attack, Hamas launched a media campaign promoting terrorism and the murder of Israelis. Shehab News Agency, an online news agency linked to Hamas, posted the following picture on their...

More than half of French prisoners are Muslims: report - More of the poison fruit of Europe’s multicultural experiment. Knowing what we know about prisons being hotbeds of jihad recruitment, dawah and Islamic supremacist intimidation and inculcation — this is not going to end well. It was my understanding that the figure was more like 70%. Give it a bit of time — and they will all convert (whether they like it or not). That ain’t a prison — that’s a madrassa. Perhaps that’s why a French court struck down halal meals in French prisons. Talk about encouraging violence and a Muslim insurgency in France …

US journalist murdered after exposing Turkey’s support for the Islamic State - Obama said that Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan was his “most trusted,” “favorite” ally on the world stage. And where did that get us? Not only is Erdogan supporting the Islamic State, but his party is killing American journalists who expose it.

With Obama at the helm, Americans are fair game. It’s open season. And just as I predicted in my 2010 book, The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America, Obama endeavored to dismantle and succeeded in dismantling American hegemony across the world. We have lost our power, influence and prestige — and instead there is left an enormous vacuum. Ayn Rand said, “the spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it...

Former CBS Investigative Reporter Bombshell Book on the Media’s Vicious War on America - In communist countries and Islamic countries, it is understood that the press is state-run. People know to distrust it. Here in America, the press is voluntarily state-run press. So the American people only think we have a free press. But they are waking up to the terrible, traitorous truth. Here it is — an embattled reporter on the front lines of the media’s war on the truth and the American people. Read. it. all. It’s amazing she found a publisher, but don’t expect to find it reviewed in the Sunday New York Times. There is conspiracy theory and conspiracy fact — the left’s war on America (individualism) is conspiracy fact. This not just about Obama, but a vicious, subversive machine that means…….

Al-Qaeda in India Launches English-Language Magazine Encouraging Muslims in Every Corner of the Globe to target the arch-enemy of Islam and Muslims, the United States:” “America’s Defeat Is Only The Prelude’ ‘This War Is Still In Infancy’ - Obama say, “al Qaeda is on the run!” as he turns over Afghanistan to the Taliban, Libya to the jihadists, Egypt to the Muslim Brotherhood, Syria to the Islamic State, Iraq to the Islamic State, Gaza to Hamas ….Obama say, “the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. Islam teaches peace.” Hundreds of millions of “misunderstanders” of Islam are merely “fringe.” Because Obama, Karen Armstrong, John Esposito and other apologists with huge platforms are the true understanders of Islam, despite the bodies (and the countries) piling up. “Al-Qaeda In The Indian Subcontinent’s (AQIS) English-Language ‘Resurgence’ Magazine,” MEMRI

National Post: “It’s been a tough week for Canadian Muslims” - Imagine if, in the wake of Pearl Harbor, the political and media elites lamented, “it’s been a bad week for the Japanese.” Or after Hitler took Czechoslovakia, if they had said, “it’s been a bad week for the Germans.” Well, it is exactly like that.  Islamic supremacists and their enemedia lapdogs in the National Post and the Toronto Star are victimizing the victims before they are buried and their families and countrymen have time to mourn. Yesterday a Canadian Muslim leader said after jihad murders: “The main victims, other than the people who died yesterday, are Muslims themselves.”  I will be speaking in Toronto, Canada about this...

‘Ground Zero mosque’ faces eviction from condo board -  There is an important lesson to be learned here — and one we would be wise to adopt. They never stop. Mo matter how absolutely they lose, how many setbacks they suffer, they keep on pursuing their supremacist goals.  No one knows exactly what the Ground Zero mosqueteer Sharif El Gamal is up to, or what exactly he will do with his 39-story glass and steel condo tower, because he has been very secretive and covert with these plans. But I would love to know what traitor provided his company Soho Properties with $33 million in financing for the project last month.  “‘Ground Zero mosque’ faces eviction from rich condo board,” The NY Post, October...

Jihad in India: Indian Counter-Terrorism Police Arrest Muslim Youth Over Conspiracy To Blow Up City’s American School, Support For Islamic State - I am sure Obama will take to this opportunity to assure us that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam, despite the fact that tens of thousands of Muslims are joining them, not just in Iraq and Syria but Europe, the US, Canada …..

Euro War Zone: Germany’s 7,000 JIhadists - I assure you that they are underestimating the number. And the more success the Islamic State has, the more they recruit Muslims worldwide. After supporters of the Islamic Sate were found patrolling the streets of Germany enforcing Sharia law last month, Germany made the decision to criminalize all forms of support for the terrorist organization. But this had little effect. The war is in their streets.“We are living in Hamburgistan.” — Daniel Abdin, imam of Hamburg’s Al-Nour Mosque. One politician has been repeatedly threatened with beheading as the price to pay for leading a fundraising campaign to provide food and water for Kurds in northern Iraq. “As a society we must ask ourselves: how can it be that people...

Ginger Jihadist Threatens West: We Will Conquer White House, Buckingham Palace - The holy war cry is daily from all points across the world.

Obama say, “we have reaffirmed that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam.” Indeed. But they are at war with us…..Following are excerpts from a video featuring ISIS foreign fighter Abu Khaled from Australia, which was posted on the Internet on October 21, 2014:  Abu Khaled: “This message I deliver to you, the people of America. I deliver this message to you, the people of Britain, and I deliver this message to you, especially, the people of Australia, and I say this about your coalition: You threaten us with this coalition of countries....

Human Rights Activists Rally at White House, Call on Obama to Stop Genocide of Yazidis in the Islamic State - About 200 Yazidis from all over US along with members of Christians, Hindus and Jewish communities joined hands to make an urgent plea for the U.S. intervention to halt the murderous ISIS campaign of forced conversion, enslavement, and genocide of Yazidi men, women, and children in the Sinjar area of northern Iraq. Since their initial attack on Yazidi homelands on Aug. 3, the Islamic terror army ISIS has killed several thousand Yazidis, displaced over 300,000, and engaged in the mass kidnapping of nearly 7,000 Yazidis—primarily women and girls. They made an urgent plea for immediate action for the following:  1) Evacuate about 1200 families from top of mountain Sinjar while...

The Many Roads to Currency Ruination

Frank O. Trotter, Executive Vice President – EverBank

Total abject failure. Mad Max. Breakdown of society. Chaos.  How’s that for an upbeat start? Failure is a tough thing to talk about, particularly here in the US where it’s all about optimism. What’s the best? Who's the fastest? Where should I put my money for the highest return? But examining failures can help us avoid mistakes. So let’s take a tour of a few currencies and money systems that fell apart. We’ll learn some principles of sound money and hopefully, have a little fun.

What Is Money?  Even though we don’t think about it every day, we all know that money is a fiction. It is a medium of exchange – a token we pass back and forth instead of bartering, and a store of value that keeps score of our assets and debts. It is based on belief and faith—nothing more. At times, money has been metals or tobacco or wampum. There are the famous Yap Island stones. At other times, like today, paper tokens with no intrinsic value stand in as money…......To Read More.....

More Revelations of Market Manipulation

By Staff News & Analysis - October 22, 2014  

'Plunge protection' behind market's sudden recovery ... Mysterious forces were trying their best, but they couldn't keep the stock market from swooning Wednesday. They failed in the morning, despite massive purchases of stock index futures contracts. Within minutes of the market's opening, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 350 points. Later in the day – after a lot of shocking ebb and flow – the Dow bottomed out with a decline of 460 points. It was only in the last hour of trading that the market saviors managed to trim the Dow loss to just 173 points. And they succeeded only after Janet Yellen's private, upbeat remarks about the economy were leaked. Welcome to a new kind of stock market – one that the average investor should refuse to be invested in. – New York Post, John Crudele Dominant Social Theme: Markets are fairly free, not manipulated. Free-Market Analysis: Veteran financial reporter John Crudele has blown up the myth of the market-driven stock exchange with this astonishing article in the New York Post. We were attracted to it not only because it tells the truth, in our view, but because we have been making the same points regularly for years. The market is managed. Its managers want it to rise. Central banks and governments are now buying markets directly. - See more at:

New Material Posted on the CO2 Science Web site 16 October - 22 October 2014

Effects of CO2 on the Growth & Flavonoids of Two Medicinal Plants (22 October 2014) - The yield and pharmaceutical quality of Scutellaria species can be enhanced "with controlled environment production and CO2 enrichment"...

Why 2014 Won’t Be the Warmest Year on Record (21 October 2014) - Much is being made of the “global” surface thermometer data, which three-quarters the way through 2014 is now suggesting the global average this year will be the warmest in the modern instrumental record. Dr. Roy Spencer explains why he feels this is wrong...

Sea Level Rates-of-Rise Along Europe's North Sea Coastline (21 October 2014)
Have they accelerated as the air's CO2 concentration has continued its upward climb?...

Gene Expression Plasticity Evolution in Threespine Stickleback Fish (21 October 2014) - A new study finds extremely compelling support for it, and that is encouraging news for those concerned about animal range expansions or shifts caused by climate change...

Mid- and High-Latitude Forests Respond to Environmental Change (20 October 2014) - To "reduce the uncertainties in predicting future carbon dynamics in forest ecosystems, land surface models should not only consider land-use history, but also account for key physiological processes governing the fate of carbon sequestration in forest ecosystems, such as the effects of CO2 fertilization, nitrogen deposition, and climate warming on vegetation growth."...

Historical Diurnal (why can't they just say "daily") Temperature Range Trends in CMIP5 Models (20 October 2014) - It would seem that "ubiquitous model deficiencies in cloud cover and land surface processes that impact the accurate simulation of regional minimum or maximum temperature changes" are likely responsible for the inability of the models to simulate real-world DTR observations...

Effects of Elevated CO2 on Eucalypt Growth and Leaf-Spot Severity (18 October 2014) - In going from the lowest to the highest atmospheric CO2 concentrations, shoot dry weight increased by 47% and root dry weight by 24%, while leaf-spot disease incidence declined by 36% and its severity by 57%...

Twentieth Century Changes in California's Sierra Nevada Forests (18 October 2014) - If the CO2 emitted to the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels over the past century or so has been having an effect on the forests of California's Sierra Nevada, that effect has been not only positive, but hugely positive...

CMIP5 Simulations of the North American Monsoon System (17 October 2014) - In how many ways are the current best models still falling short of reality?...

Plant Growth Database (17 October 2014) - Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Garden Bean (Bunce, 2014)...

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Hollow Justice and Courts of Order in an Age of Government-Sanctioned Tyranny

John Whitehead October 26, 2014

"The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of the people."—Justice William O. Douglas

Justice in America makes less sense with each passing day. A Michigan couple that has been raising chickens in their backyard as a source of healthy food for their family could get up to 90 days in jail for violating a local ban on backyard hens. A Kentucky prison guard who was charged with 25 counts of sexual abuse against female inmates, trafficking controlled substances, and 50 counts of official misconduct walks away with no jail time and seven years' probation. A 53-year-old Virginia man is facing 20 years in jail for kidnapping, despite the fact that key evidence shows him to be innocent and his accuser a liar, yet the courts claim they're unable to do anything about it. Meanwhile, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's recent refusal to hear the case of Jones v. U.S., judges can now punish individuals for crimes of which they may never have been convicted or even charged.....To Read More....

My Take - There are some serious flaws in this writer's logic and the examples he uses here to describe what actually went on in the Warren court, but the principles he embraces are correct. 

Ferguson Family Feud: Michael Brown’s Mom and Posse Shut Down Grandma’s Business, Assault Cousin With Metal Pipe, and Steal $1400

Dean Garrison October 26, 2014

Like many Americans, and media sources, I stopped paying a lot of attention to the happenings in Ferguson just as soon as it looked like Officer Darren Wilson was likely justified in the shooting of Michael Brown. The courts may decide differently, but from my perspective it looks like Brown was a thug and the officer more than likely acted in self-defense.  But new reports have emerged of an incident that was reported to have happened last weekend.  It appears that Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, showed up at a make-shift vendor's booth that was selling Michael Brown merchandise. The interesting part is that the merchandiser was Brown's grandmother and Grandma was being assisted by one of Brown's cousins.  Someone with McSpadden allegedly assaulted the cousin, Tony ……… It is being reported that surveillance cameras may have caught it all, so we will wait for more truth to come out in the details. If we have learned anything at all from the Michael Brown case, it should be that things are not always as they first seem to be…..To Read More……

Government to Ordained Ministers: Celebrate Same-Sex Wedding or Go to Jail

Ryan T. Anderson

For years, those in favor of same-sex marriage have argued that all Americans should be free to live as they choose. And yet in countless cases, the government has coerced those who simply wish to be free to live in accordance with their belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman. Ministers face a 180-day jail term and $1,000 fine for each day they decline to celebrate the same-sex wedding. Just this weekend, a case has arisen in Idaho, where city officials have told ordained ministers they have to celebrate same-sex weddings or face fines and jail time…….To Read More….

From Watchdog.org

Cook County ballot box tries to cast GOP votes for Democrats - Early Voting in Illinois got off to its typical start Monday, as votes being cast for Republican candidates were transformed into votes for Democrats. Republican state representative candidate Jim Moynihan went to vote Monday at the Schaumburg Public Library. “I tried to cast a vote for myself and instead it cast the vote for my opponent,” Moynihan said. “You could imagine my surprise as the same thing happened with a number of races when I tried to vote for a Republican and the machine registered a vote for a Democrat.”…

Court says not so fast with those red-light camera tickets - Big changes could be coming to cities with red-light cameras after a Florida District Court of Appeals judge said it’s illegal for camera operators to issue citations to drivers.

SMILE: A Florida driver who challenged his red-light camera ticket won’t have to pay the fine. “In Florida, only law enforcement officers and traffic enforcement officers have the legal authority to issue citations for traffic infractions, which means only law enforcement officers and traffic enforcement officers are entitled to determine who gets prosecuted for a red light violation,” the ruling read. The program works like this: Cameras installed at traffic signals snap photos and are examined by the camera’s owner — not law enforcement — to determine whether a violation occurred. A citation is sent to the alleged violator. The driver has 60 days to appeal the ticket before it’s converted into a fine, just like any other citation issued by law enforcement officers…..

Obama program puts noncitizens on voter rolls - With early voting starting Thursday, North Carolina’s election board found 154 ineligible voters on its poll lists — and officials are examining thousands more questionable registrations. The illegal immigrants landed on the state’s voter rolls, courtesy of the Obama administration’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The State Board of Elections said late Tuesday that more than 9,000 additional voters’ names are being checked for legal status. They do not expect to finish checking before early voting starts Thursday…..

Taxpayers stripped of $117,521 for naked hippie commune researchs - Americans will soon get the full monty on the hippie commune movement that invaded Vermont in the 1970s, thanks to a federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.The taxpayer-funded historical project about oft-nude, drug-addled drifter colonies earned a No. 16 ranking in the 2014 Wastebook report on wasteful government spending. ….

North Dakota has almost 3 job openings for every unemployed person - The latest unemployment figures from North Dakota paint a familiar picture for citizens of the oil-rich state. A rock-bottom unemployment rate, and far more jobs than available workers, have become common themes. “The nation’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.9 percent for September, a slight decrease from prior month,” a Tuesday press release from North Dakota Job Service states. “The seasonally adjusted rate for North Dakota was 2.8 percent in September, unchanged over the month and year.”….

Why Houston mayor’s attack on preachers was not a 1st Amendment issue

By Bob Livingstone

The voter revolt took the form of a petition drive that generated some 50,000 signatures — almost three times as many as required to put a referendum on the issue on the ballot. Demonstrating that the rule of law in Houston city government has disappeared into the memory hole, the psychopaths ruling the place threw the petition out. This prompted a lawsuit against the city by opponents of the ordinance. The city responded by attacking preachers, issuing subpoenas that ordered them to submit any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity or lesbian Mayor Annise Parker, or else face charges of contempt of court. The preachers were not even part of the lawsuit against the city. However, they are part of a coalition of some 400 Houston-area churches opposing the ordinance. So the subpoenas were a clear-cut case of religious discrimination and an attempt to quell free speech and Bible teaching. To their credit, the preachers vowed to defy the city…..To Read More…..

My Take – This is an excellent article for those who know little about the founding of the Constitution and how it applied in days gone by and the intent of the Founders.  The states really were independent nations, not only in their minds, but also in the minds of those in power at the federal level.  

 

The Constitution was intended to be a brake on the central government.  It was not intended to change anything the states wished to do except in two areas.  Interstate commerce and national defense.  This article will highlight how the Founders really did intend for the national government to have limited and enumerated responsibilities. 

From the Heartland Institute

Human Events: Activists Push to Censor Texas Textbooks, H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D., The Heartland Institute

For weeks now, controversy has raged over proposed new school textbooks in Texas. Environmental lobbyists are pressuring the Texas Board of Education to keep scientific facts about global warming out of the books. The activists don’t want students to know there is a debate taking place about the underlying science and economics of climate change....

Washington Examiner: Promised Savings from ACOs Look Increasingly Unlikely to Occur, Sean Parnell, The Heartland Institute

Here’s another disconnect between the promise of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and the reality. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) have been touted by the Obama administration as a solution for rising health care costs. But patients and providers don’t like ACOs, and data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services show they aren’t effective at controlling costs....

Climate Change Weekly, H. Sterling Burnett, The Heartland Institute

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recently unveiled a plan for how the U.S. military will address the effects of climate change. This is a potentially dangerous distraction when the administration ought to be focused on Ebola, Russia, and ISIS. Also in this issue: Oregon State University scientists have discovered carbonate rocks are a previously unrecognized methane sink; new research published on climate models explains how they consistently overestimate the growth rate of carbon dioxide; and a new paper published in the journal Ocean Science measures the rise of sea levels.....

Wireless Taxes Growing Out of Control, Matthew Glans, The Heartland Institute

Wireless tax rates have reached all-time highs. A new report released on October 10 by the Tax Foundation noted the national average combined federal, state, and local taxes and fees on cell phone bills  is now 17 percent. With wireless taxes growing out of control, legislators should take another look at the Wireless Tax Fairness Act....

 

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Frac Sand Study: Lots of Scare, Little Science, Isaac Orr, The Heartland Institute

Special-interest groups have published a study attempting to scare the people of Wisconsin and other parts of the Upper Midwest about mining sand used for hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as “frac sand.” The study also purports to have evidence of acid mine drainage, which frac sand mining does not create.....

School Choice Weekly, Joy Pullmann, The Heartland Institute
This week’s edition takes a closer look at what the best-quality research has to say about government-run preschool programs. “[T]he Cato Institute issued a highly useful review of the major and highest-quality research on government preschool, which continues to show such programs, at best, don’t benefit kids beyond first grade,” writes Heartland Research Fellow Joy Pullmann. This issue also features news about Common Core; why reading tests don’t actually measure reading; Rick Hess’ thoughts on what the outcome of the U.S. Senate elections will mean for national education policy; and more.....

 Self-Referral Problem Can Be Solved by Self-Pay , Sean Parnell, The Heartland Institute

On October 22, The Wall Street Journal reports a chain of cancer clinics that may be over-utilizing a particular test for patients that offers generous reimbursement from Medicare. Under a third-party payment regime, when their doctor recommends a $1,000 test patients have no incentive to ask if there’s a less expensive substitute. Such waste and abuse cannot be avoided so long as we leave in place a system that relies heavily on third-party payment.....

Consumer Power Report, Benjamin Domenech, The Heartland Institute

“When it comes to making the case for Obamacare’s persistence,” writes Senior Fellow Benjamin Domenech, “few Republicans have been as insistent as Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is in a bit of hot water after talking it up recently to the Associated Press.” This week’s edition also covers insurers reaction to the Supreme Court’s Halbig decision, other Obamacare lawsuits that may reach the Court, and the rise in Obamacare insurance premiums....

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Ex-CBS reporter’s book reveals how liberal media protects Obama

By Kyle Smith, October 25, 2014

Sharyl Attkisson is an unreasonable woman. Important people have told her so.  When the longtime CBS reporter asked for details about reinforcements sent to the Benghazi compound during the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attack, White House national security spokesman Tommy Vietor replied, “I give up, Sharyl . . . I’ll work with more reasonable folks that follow up, I guess.”  Another White House flack, Eric Schultz, didn’t like being pressed for answers about the Fast and Furious scandal in which American agents directed guns into the arms of Mexican drug lords. “Goddammit, Sharyl!” he screamed at her. “The Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, The New York Times is reasonable. You’re the only one who’s not reasonable!” Two of her former bosses, CBS Evening News executive producers Jim Murphy and Rick Kaplan, called her a “pit bull.”

 That was when Sharyl was being nice.

 Now that she’s no longer on the CBS payroll, this pit bull is off the leash and tearing flesh off the behinds of senior media and government officials. In her new memoir/exposé “Stonewalled: My Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington” (Harper), Attkisson unloads on her colleagues in big-time TV news for their cowardice and cheerleading for the Obama administration while unmasking the corruption, misdirection and outright lying of today’s Washington political machine......To Read More......

Coburn releases his final government Wastebook

Outgoing Sen. Tom Coburn’s final rendition of his government Wastebook was released this week, chronicling $25 billion worth of wasteful spending on 100 “silly, unnecessary, and low priority projects.” “Washington politicians are more focused on their own political futures than the future of our country,” Coburn declares in the introduction of the publication. “And with no one watching over the vast bureaucracy, the problem again isn’t just what Washington isn’t doing, but what it is doing.” The lawmaker’s 182-page report provides example of government’s wasteful use of taxpayer dollars at all levels, pointing out examples everywhere from the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department to the National Science Foundation.   Here are just a few examples of the sort of waste Coburn highlights:

• Here is a response to "refute" some of the criticism regarding the value of these scientific studies. Even when the nuances of these studies are explained by the researchers or their representatives, we still have to wonder at their value.  While any insanity can be represented in such a fashion to seem rational we must ask ourselves - irrespective of how interesting the results may be - do these explanations justify these kinds of monetary outlays that have gone on for decades?  Outlays that seem to me to amount to not much more than academic welfare!  We now know that between 80% and 90 % of all studies are incapable of being replicated.  
   
  We now know in medical research “80 percent of non-randomized studies (by far the most common type) turn out to be wrong, as do 25 percent of supposedly gold-standard randomized trials, and as much as 10 percent of the platinum-standard large randomized trials. The article spelled out his belief that researchers were frequently manipulating data analyses, chasing career-advancing findings rather than good science, and even using the peer-review process—in which journals ask researchers to help decide which studies to publish—to suppress opposing views. “You can question some of the details of John’s calculations, but it’s hard to argue that the essential ideas aren’t absolutely correct,” says Doug Altman, an Oxford University researcher who directs the Centre for Statistics in Medicine.” 

At some point these rationalizations must be recognized for what they are.