Obama’s Budget Would Use Tax $$ to Fund Lobbyists Pushing Tax Hikes

April 17, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, DOE, Economy/Finances, Energy, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Liberals, Lobbyists, President, Progressives, Regulation, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember when Obama took office and one of his biggest promises was that lobbyists would never gain a foothold in his Administration? Well, now that he doesn’t have to stand for election again he’s doing his level best to give lobbyists one of their biggest perks yet. He’s trying to make it legal to give them your tax dollars so they can lobby to increase your taxes. And in fact he’s already broken laws governing lobbyists several times since 2009.

A report by the government watchdog group Cause of Action found that Obama’s Department of Human Services (HHS) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) gave federal money in the 2009 stimulus program to lobbyists and public relations agencies for them to use to advocate for “tax increases on tobacco and sugar sweetened products.” This is a violation of federal law.

Worse, even more money has been earmarked in Obamacare to do the same thing, again in violation of the law.

It gets even worse.
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Deadbeats: Obama-Supported Fisker Motors Sued for Non-Payment of Bills

April 17, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, DOE, Economy/Finances, Energy, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Jobs, Liberals, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Through President Obama’s loan guarantees, the American people gave hybrid car-maker Fisker Automotive millions of tax dollars, but now Fisker is on the verge of bankruptcy and is facing lawsuits from at least three different groups for not paying its bills.

In the first week of April, lawyers for Fisker’s laid off employees filed suit saying that the government supported company had fired workers without due notice as required by state and federal laws.

The law firm, Outten & Golden, won a similar lawsuit against green energy company Solyndra, another Obama-supported company that went bankrupt.
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Tax Day: Destruction, Yes, Creative, Not Even Close

April 15, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Entitlements, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the concepts of capitalism is that it is “creative destruction,” in that companies will rise and fall as the need for them ebb and flow and that as some fall new ones will rise and this will keep the economy humming along nicely. But government quashes this cycle with oppressive taxes and what better day than Tax Day to remind us all of how this president is doing a lot of destroying but NO creating.

So, as Americans waste $168 billion annually to try and satisfy the Internal Revenue Service, here are a few charts and a video from Heritage Foundation to show how bad it has gotten. Just a reminder on Tax Day…

Obama 2013 Tax Increase Twice as Large as Looming Sequestration.

13 Obama Tax Hikes on the Middle Class in 2013

Where Did Your Tax Dollar Go?

And now a word from the House Republican Conference…

Ill Urges Gay Couples to File ‘As if Married’ on Federal Taxes

April 14, 2013 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Gay Marriage, Gays, Government, Corruption, Illinois, IRS, Liberals, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Illinois Review noticed an interesting thing about the instructions for the State of Illinois 2012 tax returns. Illinois is urging gay couples to file as “married.”

As IR notes, tax filings may be a bit confusing for same sex couple in Illinois. The Land of Lincoln allows for civil unions, but the federal government does not, so figuring out how to file may be a bit of a challenge.

The instructions get even more confusing because the Illinois civil union law does not require couples to denote whether they are same sex when filing for civil union licenses. However, the Illinois tax form and instructions explicitly refer to same-sex couples civil unions and denotes other, special instructions for opposite sex civil unions.

At the top of the tax form, the IL-1040 has a check box option for same-sex couples that reads: “D. Check if same-sex civil union return (see Instructions)”

Here is a scan of the front page of the instruction booklet…

Here is a scan of the actual instructions…
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The CA Bill That Would Shut Down Every Small Restaurant

April 13, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, California, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Progressives, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The State of California has one of the worst proposals of any legislature in the country this year with a new bill that would force every restaurant and food service business in the state to commission an expensive “risk assessment” test for every menu item, a test that could cost thousands of dollars for every food item sold. This outrageous and cost prohibitive testing would certainly cause all but the biggest chain restaurants to go out of business almost instantly.

In another exercise in nanny-statism, California’s State Senate Democrats want this “risk assessment” conducted to determine whether food being sold “contributes significantly to a significant public health epidemic.”

The bill, Senate Bill 747, is an addition to the current health and safety codes and is currently set for a hearing on April 17. It was written and introduced by Sen. Mark DeSauliner (D, Concord).

The introduction of the bill clearly says that the law would require the food service companies to pay the state for the testing in order to fill state coffers and notes that without the assessment, the state would have the right to shut an offending restaurant down.
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Obama’s ‘Poverty Plagued’ America

April 12, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Constitution, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entitlements, Ethics, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Liberty, Policy, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston, Welfare | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a stinging indictment of President Obama’s tenure in the White House, at The Daily Beast Stuart Stevens slams President Obama for the devastating “new normal” that his failed economic polices have brought to the country. Stevens also blames the Old Media complex for ignoring the pain inflicted on America by those same failed policies.

Stevens begins his April 9 piece relating the sort of economic facts that the rest of the media conveniently ignore. He points out that even as the administration claims that unemployment is only around 8 percent, so many people have dropped out of the work force that the unemployment stat is but a hollow representation of the true unemployment rate.

He also points out that 16 million Americans have been added to Obama’s food stamp rolls since 2008, “a 46 percent increase and greater than the population of Ohio,” Stevens says. “More than 50 million Americans now live in poverty. That’s one in six Americans, and one in five American children.”

This, Stevens says sharply, is the worst since LBJ was president and it was so bad then that the Texan launched a “war on poverty” to try and cure it.
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Lawyers: Obama-Supported Fisker Motors Layoff Violated Law

April 12, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Jobs, Liberals, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite millions if federal loans, last week luxury hybrid car maker Fisker Automotive fired 80% of its employees at its California-based company. But now those employees hired the same law firm that sued “green energy” company Solyndra to charge that Fisker violated state and federal laws with the layoffs.

On April 5, Breitbart reported that Fisker Automotive, Inc. laid off up to 80% of its employees due to a cascade of major errors and bad business decisions even though President Obama pumped millions in federal tax dollars via loan guarantees into the company starting in 2011.

Fisker’s employees were already on a two week furlough when upon coming back to work were told they would be laid off. Employees reported they had received no severance package but did receive pay for vacation time earned.
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Supernanny Cass Sunstein’s ‘Friendly Paternalism’: It’s For Your Own Good, America

April 12, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Bill of Rights, Budget, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Nanny State, President, Progressives, Socialism, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Cass Sunsetein, one of President Obama’s leading left-wing, university eggheads, has penned an interesting piece in New Republic explaining how the nanny state is really a very important and useful aspect of today’s modern Democrat scheme. It’s for your own good, don’t you know?

Launching his April 8 piece, “Why Paternalism Is Your Friend,” Sunstein evokes New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s (mostly failed, not that Sunstein says so) nanny state efforts to take away his constituents’ freedom on such things as trans fats, sodas, and guns. Sunstein points out that to his mind, all this “paternalism” isn’t so bad after all. Throughout his piece Sunstein eschews nannyism for “paternalism” because it sounds nicer, of course. Optics, you know?

As an example of useful paternalism, Sunstein praises Obama’s demand that the auto industry once again up its CAFE standards saying that the new requirements would “save money” for everyone and “who could be outraged by that”? Naturally Sunstein simply accepts Obama’s pie-in-the-sky claims and simply assumes the new standards will actually have the impact Obama claims it will.

Sunstein ignores the fact that in many cases the technology doesn’t even yet exist to satisfy Obama’s draconian fuel economy demands. He also ignores many other facts. Such as the fact that one of the easier ways to achieve the new standards is to make smaller, lighter, and more dangerous vehicles. Americans would end up with tiny cars that go slower and have less resistance to accidents making drivers and passengers less safe on the road. Should people be outraged about that, Mr. Sunstein? In his zeal to give Obama all credit, Sunstein apparently doesn’t think so.
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Roll Call: Obama Has ‘Given Up’ On Those Darn Republicans?

April 11, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, President, Progressives, Republicans, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

In an interesting break from reality, Roll Call posits that Obama has now “given up” on Republicans as partners for helping him get some “governing done” in Washington DC. Of course, the Capitol Hill newspaper fails to show when it was that Obama ever consider the GOP to be his governing partner in the first place.

For Roll Call, writer Steven T. Dennis claims that, “Obama already seems resigned to the reality” that he won’t be able to successfully initiate his massive re-tooling of America to reflect his left-wing agenda because the GOP isn’t interested in “bipartisan action.”

Dennis reports Obama’s recent lamentation that he can’t get anything done without California’s Democrat Representative Nancy Pelosi back in the House Speaker’s chair and notes his complaining that Boehner and the Republicans won’t just bend to his will so he can do what he wants to do.

But, Dennis reports from Obama’s side of the argument, refusing to point out that President Obama has never considered the Republicans and the millions of voters they represent as important partners in running Washington DC in the first place.
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CNBC Copies Fox Business Network With Houston, TX Coverage

April 11, 2013 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, CNBC, Economy/Finances, Fox Business Network, Fox News, Jobs, Journalism, Media, Media Bias, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Well, when I said that CNBC’s business coverage was “playing catch up” with Fox Business Network, I didn’t know how close to the truth I had it as this month, CNBC copied FBN’s coverage from last fall of the amazing growth that Houston, Texas has seen over the last few years.

Back on September 20 of last year I noted that Fox Business Network’s Melissa Francis hosted a tour of the growing Texas economy in a series of reports FBN titled “Open for Business in Houston.”

At that time, Francis told the Houston Business Journal how amazing the business climate was down in Texas.
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(VIDEO) Obama’s Budget: The Very Definition of Insanity

April 10, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Entitlements, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Policy, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Hypocrisy: Concert Rocks Fiscal Doomsaying White House

April 10, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Music, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

As President Obama is heard scolding Republicans on a near daily basis for forcing a sequester that is shutting down government and halting funding for things like White House tours, he and First Wife Michelle geared up Tuesday for a star-studded, soul music concert in the White House that featured such stars as Justin Timberlake, Queen Latifah, and the Reverend Al Green.

Only a few days before the big April 9 gala concert, President Obama was still warning of the evils of sequestration, but the purported “severe” cutbacks of government spending didn’t stop the President from enjoying a night of stirring soul music during the program titled, In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul.

The First Lady kicked off the April 9 tribute to Soul with an hour-long, morning program held in the White House State Dining Room and billed as a “guidance” on the upcoming Memphis Soul performance at the White House. The event was held for students and music lovers and featured soul greats Sam Moore, Mavis Staples, Charlie Musselwhite, Ben Harper and also featuring pop star Justin Timberlake as panel members taking questions from the audience.
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Fisker Motors Meltdown, Fires 80% of Staff

April 9, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Electric, Energy, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Jobs, Liberals, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Fisker Automotive, Inc., the much-celebrated maker of luxury electric cars, has announced that it is firing 80% of its employees after failing to finalize an investment deal.

The manufacturer of the rechargeable Karma auto informed 160 workers of the layoffs coming to the Anaheim, California-based company. Fisker was said to have employed 200 before this week’s announcement.

This is only the latest blow to the “green” auto company. Only last month the company’s name-sake, Henrik Fisker, resigned over “unspecified” disagreements with other executives and the company stopped production of its cars after its lithium-ion battery supplier declared bankruptcy.

The battery company, A123 Systems Inc., declared bankruptcy in October of last year despite the millions in in tax dollars pumped into the company by President Obama.

According to Bloomberg, Fisker has retained the services of Kirkland & Ellis LLP to explore a restructuring of the company.
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FAA to Delay Closure of 149 Air Traffic Control Towers Until June

April 9, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has announced it will delay the closing of 149 air traffic control towers until mid-June.

In March, the FAA announced it would close the 149 federal contract air traffic control towers as part of the agency’s $637 million budget cuts as required by sequestration.

The FAA changed the closure schedule to “allow the agency to attempt to resolve multiple legal challenges to the closure decisions” and to allow some 50 airports more time to assume funding of the towers themselves.

Peter Kirsch, a lawyer representing the affected airports, told USA Today that they are seeking a court order to block the closures and expect a ruling by April 12.
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VIDEO: The False Claim that Women Only Earn 77 Cents To a Man’s Dollar

April 9, 2013 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Conservatives, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Ethics, GOP, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Liberals, Policy, President, Progressives, Republicans, Senate, Socialism, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

The truth is women make pretty much the same as men when “apples” are compared to “apples”…

the Independent Women’s Forum, in a continued effort to set the record straight about the real reason for the statistical difference between men and women’s earnings , releases an informative, stop-frame animation web video — Straight Talk About the Wage Gap. The video explains how women’s choices ultimately determine how much they earn and how government intervention in the workplace can backfire on women.

http://www.iwf.org/

Cleveland, OH Paper to Scale Back to 3 Days Per Week Home Delivery

April 8, 2013 | Filed Under Business, Jobs, Journalism, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Ohio, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest newspaper, has announced that while it will continue to print editions every day, it will cut home delivery from a seven-day-a-week schedule to but three for subscribers.

No exact date for implementation of the new delivery schedule was announced, but the change will come later this summer.

The delivery schedule change is part of a larger reorganization and coincides with the creation of a new company, the Northeast Ohio Media Group, which will oversee the print edition as well as its growing online content.
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Even Piers Morgan Criticizes Obama Over Lavish Vacation Spending

April 7, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Cable, CNN, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Taxes, TV, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Wednesday, April 3, President Obama announced he would be returning 5% of his paycheck to the federal treasury in a show of shared sacrifice with federal workers facing furloughs because of the sequester. The news came as he once again flew about the country pushing his anti-Second Amendment policies and only days after another lavish vacation indulged by the first family was in the news.

Morgan lambasted Obama’s attempt to spread the pain of austerity to his own household calling it a “pointless exercise” and despaired that the President wasn’t doing something more substantive.

Morgan railed saying, “if he gave up the vacations, which are costing the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of dollars, it might have more impact than five percent of $400,000.”

But even here Morgan soft-pedaled the money the American people have spent on Obama’s many vacations.
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Foreign Policy Mag Maligns Ted Cruz as ‘Most Hated Man in the Senate’

April 6, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, Government, Liberals, Progressives, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, Ted Cruz, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Foreign Policy magazine has made the stark pronouncement about Texas Senator Ted Cruz. According to FP’s Erica Grieder, Cruz is “the most hated man in the U.S. Senate.”

In a March 29 piece, Grieder made this extreme pronouncement based on the new Senator’s outspoken positions on many issues as well as on how irksome he is to old guard Senators who imagine that first year colleagues should be seen and not heard.

Grieder starts her piece with several gratuitous insults. Right off she says that Cruz is “the human equivalent of one of those flower-squirters that clowns wear on their lapels.” She then calls his initiatives and ideas “non-sequiturs” and says they are “self-defeating.” This was all just the first paragraph.

Next we learn that Cruz has “irritated” Democrats like Dianne Feinstein and been a “headache for GOP leaders.” This all because he stands up strongly for his principles and the positions that got him elected.

Does this really make him “hated,” though? He may elicit distaste in these old guard Senators and in those Senators that stand squarely against his principles, but “hated”? That is quite a subjective assessment.
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Should Congressional Staffers Have Their Private Twitter Accounts Published?

April 6, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Progressives, Republicans, Taxes, Transparency, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

A Congressional watchdog group called LegiStorm has announced a sweeping new project aimed at government transparency. But part of that project has staffers on Capitol Hill crying foul because it lists all their private Twitter accounts.

On April 3, LegiStorm announced its new StormFeed tool saying it is a, “real-time, full-text searchable access to every official press release and official tweet from Capitol Hill plus the tweets of thousands of congressional staffers.”

But many staffers began to complain when they began finding their own private info on the thing. Worse, many found out of date or simply wrong info on it. As one staffer told Politico, “I was pretty surprised to show that they even listed who I married, when I married him and where. Why in the world does that need to be in there?”

Politico also said this: “A Democratic staffer said the new feature brings an unwelcome level of scrutiny to a group of people who haven’t sought the spotlight.”

Democrat or no, isn’t this staffer correct, here?
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NBC’s Chuck Todd: Is Gay Marriage Issue a Sign the Economy is Coming Back?

April 5, 2013 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Freedom, Gay Marriage, Gays, Journalism, Liberals, Liberty, Marriage, Media, Media Bias, NBC, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Chuck Todd presented an odd premise on last Sunday’s Meet the Press. Since the issue of gay marriage is now before the Supreme Court of the United States, Todd wondered if this meant that the economy is back on track because people’s attention has drifted from the economy to gay marriage?

During the March 31 broadcast, Todd noted that we are suddenly beset by a major debate on gay marriage and abortion. The NBC newser then pointed out that in the past the “big polarizing issues of the last two generations” have benefited Republicans.

Panelist Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal didn’t really think that we were exactly seeing any new focus on social issues because these fights have been going on for half a century. It was just part and parcel to our political climate, she pointed out.
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Eagle-Killing, Investment-Wasting ‘Renewable’ Energy

April 3, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Biofuels, Budget, Capitalism, Congress, Crime, Crony Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Electric, Energy, EPA, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, House of Representatives, Jobs, Keystone Pipeline, Liberals, Natural Gas, Oil, Policy, President, Progressives, Senate, Socialism, Solar, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The “Green Energy” sector has been hit with a series of setbacks over the last few years. From a wind farm being cited for killing an endangered eagle, to solar energy’s tumble from investor favor over dismal performance, to a growing list of companies gone bankrupt even after President Obama pumped millions of our tax dollars into them, the so-called Green Energy sector has certainly seen better, more hopeful days.

In the realm of farce, a wind farm in Nevada finds itself at an unfortunate crossroads of political correctness. Even as the wind farm in White Pine County, Nevada is a favored “Green Energy” nirvana, the company that runs it is under threat of sanctions by the federal government. Why? Because a protected Golden Eagle flew into one of the farm’s turbines killing itself.

Now, San Francisco-based Pattern Energy is awaiting a decision from the feds on whether or not they will have to pay a $3,000 fine for killing the endangered bird.

But as the President might say, that is but “a bump in the road.” Worse than the death of a protected eagle, a recent analysis reveals that the bottom has fallen out of solar energy investments.
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New York Investigating Anti-Fracking Lobbying by Yoko One, Mark Ruffalo, Robert De Niro

April 3, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Electric, Energy, Entertainment, Ethics, Fracking, Government, Government, Corruption, Hollywood, Liberals, Movies, Music, Natural Gas, New York, Oil, Progressives, TV, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

A formal complaint has been filed with a New York lobbying board to investigate whether Yoko Ono, Robert De Niro and nearly 200 other celebrities have violated state laws with their Artists Against Fracking activist group.

Celebrities are well known for dabbling in social activism whether what they have to say makes sense or not and the recent cause célèbre is the anti-fracking movement. Along with Yoko Ono, actors Mark Ruffalo and Robert De Niro, and ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, the movement has drawn the support of some 200 celebrities all donating time and money to stop efforts toward American energy independence.

The group has sponsored rallies and concerts and on it’s website the celebrity group urges visitors to “Tell Governor Cuomo Don’t Frack New York!”

Pushing the issue on a national TV audience, Ono and son Sean even appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to sing a somewhat ridiculous anti-fracking song at the end of January.
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Iowa Newspaper Posts, Then Pulls Interactive Map Showing Schools With No Security Officers

April 3, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Children, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Gun Control, Guns, Iowa, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Progressives, Property Taxes, Security/Safety, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Des Moines Register courted controversy on Wednesday by posting on the Internet an interactive map featuring the locations of Iowa schools that didn’t have security guards. But after a wave of criticism, only hours later the newspaper pulled the map down and reworked it to eliminate the names and addresses of the specific schools. The map was re-launched later that evening.

Initially the map featured flag pins which when clicked would bring up detailed information about the school the flag represented. Each flag had the name of the school, the location of the school and its security situation when known. Red flags were schools with no security guards, green flags were schools with guards, and gray were schools that had not supplied the paper with enough information to delineate whether there were guards or not.

But almost immediately Iowans began to complain, alarmed that the newspaper would set up a map to every school that was totally unprotected. Citizens accused the paper of putting thousands of kids in danger.
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Chgo Reporter Attacked by Chgo Teachers Union Thugs at Rally

April 3, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Chicago, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Jesse Jackson, Liberals, Rights, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Jeremy Segal was filming the protesting Chicago Teachers downtown on Monday trying to get a few questions in with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and agitator Rev. Jesse Jackson when operatives for the union began to push him, manhandle his video equipment and punch him in the chest.

Segal was filming for EAGnews,org when the assault occurred.

It was witnessed by a CTU supporter who was so unnerved by the violent treatment that she told police what she saw.

But even though the police gathered up the men that assaulted the reporter, they were later let go even though Segal told police he wanted to file charges.
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VIDEO: What Can Washington Politicians Learn From America’s Moms?

April 2, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Children, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Entitlements, Ethics, Freedom, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Liberals, Liberty, Money, Nanny State, President, Progressives, Regulation, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Bankrupting America asks American mothers what Washington D.C. could do better. Their answers are so filled with common sense, that one wonders how Washington could be so stupid.

Listen to your mothers, Washington!

http://BankruptingAmerica.org

New Gov’t Testing Proves Britain Has at LEAST 900,000 Liars

April 1, 2013 | Filed Under Britain, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Entitlements, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston, Welfare | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This story from Britain is hilarious on several levels. It really shows the worst of government waste, helps prove how pernicious government welfare programs are, not to mention that people can’t be trusted.

So, after the British government decided to institute a test to prove that disability applicants really have medical problems that would lead them to need the benefit, 900,000 Brits mysteriously stopped applying for their free government checks.

The new requirements force applicants to have actual, real, medical excuses to apply for the “sickness benefits” and went into force at the end of March. As soon as they had to actually prove they had real medical problems, some 900,000 Brits that were sponging off the system suddenly found they weren’t as sick as they thought… or pretended.
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On Easter, Google Doodle Celebrates Union Leader Cesar Chavez

March 31, 2013 | Filed Under Business, Christianity, Computers, Democrats/Leftists, Easter, Ethics, Google, Government, Corruption, Holiday, Inernet, Liberals, PCism, Progressives, Society/Culture, Technology, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This year, March 31 is Easter Day, the day that American Christians celebrate Jesus Christ having risen from the tomb to join his Father in Heaven. But instead of hosting a doodle celebrating that sacred holiday, this March 31, Google is celebrating the birth of famed union activist Cesar Chavez.

Cesar Chavez was born on March 31, 1927 and is most well known for organizing south western farm workers into unions in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. In 1962, Chavez co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with fellow activist Dolores Huerta. By 1972, the NFWA had merged with another union to become the United Farm Workers union (UFW).

Under Chavez, the UFW constantly used violence, threats, and strong arm tactics to coerce workers into joining the union and the FBI often investigated Chavez for ties to the Communist Party.

So on this March 31, Google has chosen to celebrate the life of a union activist instead of the Risen Christ with its “doodle.”

A Google “doodle” is a cartoon graphic celebrating a day of historical interest. The doodle is placed on the search engine’s main landing page just above the search field. Doodles are often whimsical and animated.

Google’s most recent doodles include Bangladesh Independence Day, Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro’s 167th Birthday (Portugal), Persian New Year, St. Patrick’s Day, Hungary National Day, Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky’s 150th Birthday, and Women’s Day.
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All Other Problems Solved, Chicago Democrats’ New Law Worried About Dogs Behind the Wheel

March 30, 2013 | Filed Under Animals, Budget, Business, Chicago, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Government, Ill. County, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Jobs, John Cullerton, Liberals, Michael Madigan, Pat Quinn, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Having apparently solved all of the other debilitating problems Illinois is facing, Chicago Democrats have now turned their considered attention to making sure dog owners don’t let their puppies get behind the wheel of an automobile.

This important bill (HB1581) amends the Illinois vehicle code to ban drivers from putting their pooch on their laps as they drive. Presumably the Democrats understand it is the humans that are doing the driving, not the dogs–but we may need to launch a second legislative campaign to clarify that.

As Chicago-based Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, Rep. Bully Burke, says, “Because I travel, I can’t help but observe the number of people with dogs on their laps.” And so, ol’ Billy is out to correct this egregious public safety issue. He’s all about solving the puppy-distracted driver issue.

This is a vital issue, to be sure.

Why? Well, it’s obvious that Illinois Democrats have solved every other nagging issue in the Land of Lincoln, right?
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VIDEO: Basketball’s Magic Johnson: ‘Obamacare is Working’

March 28, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, MSNBC, Nanny State, President, Progressives, Sports, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Former NBA great Earvin “Magic” Johnson has seen Obamacare and has pronounced it good. According to Johnson, “a lot” of CEOs at hospitals have told him that Obamacare “is working.”

Johnson was invited on MSNBC to talk about the sport’s March Madness tournaments, but as the interview ended, he had an off topic and unsolicited assessment of Obamacare.

“Obamacare is working,” Johnson suddenly said. “I talk to a lot of CEOs of hospitals–it is working. And I’m glad Governor Scott down in Florida accepted Obamacare because it will work”

This is an interesting assessment seeing as how the President’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010–dubbed Obamacare–doesn’t really kick in fully until 2014. In fact, the current phase of the law, the Health Insurance Marketplace which was supposed to be ready by now, is being put off because of poor planning, confusion, and other problems among the various states.
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