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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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

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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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/

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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(VIDEO) Victims of Government: Steve’s Story

March 26, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, EPA, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Nanny State, President, Progressives, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

Smith & Wesson Reports Soaring Earnings

March 7, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Constitution, Guns, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Famed American gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson has reported that earnings tripled in its most recent quarter. The company also said it looks forward to continued high sales into the next several quarters.

S&W reported this week that it earned $17.5 million in the quarter that ended on January 31. This is up from $5.4 million during the same quarter in 2012.

The company was projecting an earning of 23 cents per share but realized 26 cents as sales jumped 39 percent to $136.2 million.

The stock has gained 21 percent this year, but had fallen 2 percent in recent trading despite the growth in sales.

Industry analysts expected total earnings to be some $561 million and the company is projecting between $575 and $580 million.

S&W also noted that it has been at manufacturing capacity for the last year.
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Greens Fret Over Obama Admin Keystone Report

March 4, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Canada, Capitalism, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Environment, EPA, Ethics, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Keystone Pipeline, Oil, President, Progressives, State Department, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The State Department has released its much-anticipated report on the environmental impact of the Keystone Pipeline and, to the alarm of the green lobby, it seems to leave President Obama with little reason to continue delaying construction.

The 2,000-page report makes no final recommendation on whether or not to approve construction of the energy project, but does definitively say that the pipeline would have “no significant impacts to most resources along the proposed Project route.”

This runs contrary to the fears of environmental groups that have said the pipeline would be “essentially game over for the climate.”
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New York Times Complains ‘Austerity’ is Already Here ‘Killing’ Gov’t Jobs

March 1, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, New York City, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite that no real cuts to government spending have yet occurred as a result of sequestration and that government spending is actually increasing, The New York Times is fearful that “austerity” has already come and it is “killing” government jobs.

Binyamin Appelbaum, opens his February 26 piece claiming that the federal government is already “cutting back at a pace exceeded in the last half-century only by the military demobilizations after the Vietnam War and the cold war.”

In keeping with his past support for growing government in times of economic downturn, Appelbaum went on to claim that government spending can “expand the nation’s economy, just as private sector transactions do.”

Even as Appelbaum characterized these policies as “austere,” several paragraphs down he did offer a counter point to the theme.

“Total government spending continues to increase, but those broader figures include benefit programs like Social Security. Government purchases and investments expand the nation’s economy, just as private sector transactions do, while benefit programs move money from one group of people to another without directly expanding economic activity,” he wrote. (My bold)

Even with sequestration, federal spending is on track to increase by $5.9 trillion by 2023.

Appelbaum repeatedly uses the word “austerity” to describe the cost-cutting measures being considered–or merely threatened–in Washington. The definition of austerity is “enforced or extreme economy.” But proposed cuts to growth in federal spending amounts to as little as 2.3 percent. These are hardly draconian or “extreme” cuts.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.

For a full bio, please CLICK HERE.

After Millions in Tax Breaks for Hollywood, DreamWorks’ Jeffery Katzenberg Kills 350 Jobs

February 28, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entertainment, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Hollywood, Jobs, Liberals, Movies, Progressives, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite some $430 million in tax breaks for Hollywood in last year’s “fiscal cliff” deal, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has announced that he is cutting 350 people by the end of the year.

After the disappointing box office for DreamWorks’ latest film, The Rise of the Guardians, Katzenberg said that the $165 million loss made him “go back and rethink everything.”

“So it makes you go back and rethink everything, not just the fact that it didn’t work–certainly we spent a lot of time reflecting on that–but more importantly saying, ‘Let’s look at everything and say, ‘What could we be doing better, smarter, more effectively to really position the company in the best possible way gong forward?’ And that’s what we’ve done, and that’s what restructuring is all about,” Katzenberg told the Hollywood Reporter.
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Hurray for Washington!

February 27, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entertainment, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Hollywood, Jobs, Liberals, Michelle Obama, Movies, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Mary Theroux

But it’s OK. The Obamas make us feel good about ourselves, and, after all, that’s what Hollywood, er, Washington, is all about.

The culmination of last night’s Oscars broadcast with a Live! feed from the White House with Mrs. Obama (hangin’ with her military BFs) marks the official recognition of the Presidency as theater: like the old Western sets, no substance required.

From the very beginning, President Obama was elected based on his strong delivery of stirring words, “Hope and change,” with no serious vetting of his record or policies. Having been awarded the presidency, as the Oscars follow the Golden Globes, Mr. Obama was next awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, solely for his well-scripted promises for peace…

Read the rest at The Independent Institute.

Firearms Manufacturers Refusing to Sell to States That Pass Strict Gun Laws

February 27, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Business, Capitalism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Gun Control, Guns, Jobs, Liberals, Media, Progressives, Regulation, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

A number of firearms manufacturers and companies that sell firearms related products have joined a growing list of companies refusing to do business with states, counties, and other government agencies that pass new laws restricting citizens’ Second Amendment rights.

A list of some 34 of these companies has been posted at a website called The Police Loophole. The site informs visitors that the companies have publicly announced that they “will not sell items to states, counties, cities, and municipalities that restrict their citizens rights to own” the products they sell.

“There are some states, counties, cities, and municipalities in our great nation that fail to allow their citizens to fully exercise their right to keep and bear arms with restrictions such as magazine capacity or types of firearms that are widely available to citizens of other states, counties, cities, and municipalities. However, these government entities do not place these restrictions upon their own employees, such as police officers.”

The “police loophole” phrase is a take off on the so-called “gun show loophole” that gun control advocates use in order to push their anti-gun policies. One good “closed” loophole deserves another, as far as these website operators are concerned.
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Could CNBC Be Depriving Viewers of Vital Information?

February 23, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Cable, Capitalism, CNBC, Ethics, Fox Business Network, NBC, TV, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

There was once a day when particular media outlets were so dominant that they could essentially make the rules on who they permitted to appear with them whether in print, on the radio, or on TV. Those days are long gone, of course. So, why does CNBC still think it has the power to demand that guests appear solely on its network? And, in so doing is CNBC depriving its viewers of the vital financial information that they need to plan their business days?

CNBC is the most watched financial-centered cable news network, certainly. Though its younger competitor, Fox Business Network, has been making amazing inroads into CNBCs viewer base, the older network is still on top of the heap… for now.

But will that hold if CNBC’s booking practices stay as they are now? One might wonder.
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Time Warner Looking to Sell Off Time Magazine Group

February 19, 2013 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Time Warner is looking for a way to throw in the towel on its magazine holdings by selling them off to Iowa-based Mederith Corp. and possibly ending its reign as the nation’s largest magazine publisher.

Reports from those close to negotiations say that Time Warner would retain its newsweekly, Time magazine, as well as Sports Illustrated and Forbes. But Time Warner would hand over titles such as People, InStyle, and Real Simple among others.

Sources claim that the proposal would see Time Warner and Meredith spin off their magazine holdings into a new, separate company. This plan, it is said, would afford Time Warner some new tax benefits.
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Democrats Want Background Checks… Except When They Don’t

February 18, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Freedom, Government, Government, Corruption, Gun Control, Guns, Immigration/Immigrants, Jobs, Journalism, Labor Law, Law, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, President, Progressives, Unemployment, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

One of the main discussions in this ginned up, fact-free anti-gun debate coming from the Democrats and their fellow extreme leftists is that they want “universal background checks” for gun purchases. So, “background checks” are a good idea to left-wingers… but in all cases? As it happens, NO is the answer to that. Democrats don’t want universal background checks in all cases.

Jams Bovard shows us this fact quite clearly in his recent Wall Street Journal piece headlined, “Perform Criminal Background Checks at Your Peril.”

Now, Bovard isn’t talking about the gun debate with his piece. In fact, he never mentions guns even one time. Bovard, you see, is talking about background checks as a condition for employment.

As it happens, Democrats and the Obama administration are attempting to eliminate background checks for prospective employees claiming it is a “civil rights” issue.
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Chris Matthews On Obama’s SOTU: ‘There’s Nothing Lefty in Here!’

February 15, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, MSNBC, Nanny State, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Obama’s State of the Union speech was yet another opportunity to demand a new laundry list of big government programs and massive spending, but MSNBC’s Chris Matthews seemed to have some trouble seeing anything “liberal” in it.

As he analyzed the speech during his February 13 broadcast, Matthews told Chuck Todd that he truly couldn’t see any leftiness. “There’s nothing lefty in here. What’s the left-wing part? Objectively, was there a left wing piece to this speech last night? I mean, truly left? I didn’t see it,” he said.

Still, even in his denial a bit of truth broke through Matthews’ partisanship. “I mean, basically, he was moving the ball maybe one foot to the left of the midfield,” Matthews admitted.
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Nanny Bloomberg Cajoles 21 Companies to Remove Salt from Products

February 13, 2013 | Filed Under Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Michael Bloomberg, New York, New York City, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Monday, February 11, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proudly announced that he had succeeded in cajoling 21 companies to remove more salt from some food products.

Companies such as Butterball, Heinz, Starbucks, Oscar Mayer, and Kraft Foods have committed to taking more sodium out of products ranging from popcorn, to cold cuts, to breakfast sandwiches.

Bloomberg announced that 21 companies out of 24 agreed to the changes.

“These companies have demonstrated their commitment to removing excess sodium from their products and to working with public health authorities toward a shared goal — helping their customers lead longer, healthier lives,” Mayor Bloomberg said.
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Apple CEO Joined Michelle Obama at State of the Union Speech

February 13, 2013 | Filed Under Apple, Barack Obama, Business, Capitalism, Computers, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, President, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apple CEO Tim Cook sat with Michelle Obama as the President delivered his State of the Union speech on February 12.

Cook is the second member of the world of Apple to join the First Lady. At last year’s speech, Mrs. Obama invited the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to view the SOTU speech.

Gene Sperling, a top White House economic advisor, confirmed the First Lady’s invitation as well as Mr. Cook’s acceptance.

“Apple is a great American company, and it stands for our sense of innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, and risk taking and I think that’s quite an appropriate person to be in the First Lady’s box when the president is talking about our economic future, the importance of job creation, manufacturing, innovation and how we create strong middle class jobs,” Sperling said.
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Congressman Roskam Previews Obama’s State of the Union Speech

February 12, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Financial Reform, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Liberals, Peter Roskam, President, Progressives, Redistricting, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

I had a few minutes to speak privately to Illinois Congressman Peter Roskam (R, 6th District) about the upcoming State of the Union speech that the President will give tonight and as far as Roskam is concerned the speech tonight will be nothing but a “highly charged and very, very political” speech that won’t contain many actual solutions.

Roskam, the Chief Deputy Whip of the House, said that he hopes that the President will offer ways to grow private sector jobs and a plan to “live within our means,” but he was not sanguine that he will.

“I think the President is going to lapse right into inauguration speech 2.0 and it’s all going to be highly political, and a lot of wedge issues that are not designed to try and get any kind of concessions or solutions on any of these things,” Roskam told me.

“The irony is, he’s got a real opportunity here if he wanted to lead and try and grow the economy but I think he’s just going to follow the old play book.”

Roskam also noted that the President’s Party is also not trying too hard to offer solutions.
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Koch Industries Responds to ‘Misleading’ UK Articles

February 9, 2013 | Filed Under Britain, Business, Capitalism, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Electric, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Newspapers, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Koch Industries recently published a response to the work of UK Independent journalist Steve Connor whose work, Koch says, “misled readers.” The two articles accused Koch Industries of secretly funding attacks on climate change.

The articles written by Connor “got many facts about Koch wrong,” according to the open letter published on the company’s website.

Koch was also unhappy that the British newspaper edited down its letter to the paper without their knowledge “censoring key information and important context.”
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Noam Chomsky: Obama is Like an Old ‘Moderate Republican’

February 5, 2013 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On January 30, professor Noam Chomsky, famed linguistic scholar and long-time anti-American activist, said on Current TV that if President Obama were in office a few decades ago he would have “basically” been considered a “moderate Republican.”

Chomsky made his comments on Cenk Uygur’s Current TV show The Young Turks.

The MIT professor’s main point was that the Democrats have moved rightward toward “moderate” positions while the GOP has moved even further to right to the point of being extremists. This move, Chomsky said, has essentially eliminated “moderate Republicans.”

“The Republican Party has become overwhelmingly so extreme that it’s hardly a traditional political party anymore,” Chomsky said.
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Paul Krugman: Let’s Just Print More Money

February 3, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Business, C-SPAN, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Nanny State, President, Progressives, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again liberal economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has said that our government trillions in debt is not a problem and even intimated that we might we crank up the printing presses and print more fiat money to get us out of our bad economy.

Krugman appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” program on January 30 and scoffed at Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R, WS) claim that our country is on the verge of a debt crisis.

The C-SPAN host played a clip of comments made at last week’s National Review Summit by Rep. Paul Ryan where the former GOP VP candidate warned about economic collapse.
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Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon’s Anti-Fracking Protest Song–’Don’t Frack My Mother’?

January 30, 2013 | Filed Under Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Ethics, Fracking, Jobs, Liberals, Natural Gas, Oil, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

NPR is again flogging a recent anti-fracking protest song performed by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon that features the memorable refrain, “pleeeease, don’t frack my mother.”

The half-comedic song debuted during the Summer on the late night TV talk show Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and was performed by Ono, the former paramour of the Beatle’s John Lennon, Sean, John’s son from his union with Yoko, and host Fallon.

On a side note, are we to understand that congenial Jimmy Fallon is taking a stand against the economic growth that has come to millions of Americans as a result of fracking? Is that a good idea, Mr. Fallon?

NPR dredged up the mostly adolescent song in a January 27 report on the protests against fracking.
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Cost of Obama’s 2012 Regulations: $236 Billion

January 18, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entitlements, Ethics, Free Trade, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Liberals, President, Regulation, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite Obama’s promise to cut unnecessary regulations, his administration issued $236.7 billion in new regulations in 2012.

According to a report by the American Action Forum, headed by former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, the direct costs of the regulations force America’s businesses to waste 87 million man-hours to fill out regulatory paperwork.

Adding Obama’s 2012 regulatory costs to that of the rest of his first term adds up to a total of $518 billion in new costs forced onto an already anemic economic recovery.

This onslaught of new regulations comes even after Obama was celebrated for claiming he was going to be the regulation-cutting president.

Indeed, in 2011, Obama released a plan claiming he would cut regulations and reduce the burden on the business sector. Not long after, Obama operative Cass Sunstein praised Obama claiming that his plan would work “to eliminate unjustified regulatory costs and to reduce burdens.” Sunstein went on to say that Obama had done more to cut regulations than any president in recent history.

Sunstein was given one Pinocchio for his misleading claims and for good reason as Obama’s small cuts have been dwarfed by the increases.

American Action Forum says that the costs of regulations have “added tremendous costs to the economy” and finds that the year 2012 tops every year in the past twelve in “terms of final rule cost.”
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Obama’s Labor Sec: Jobs Are ‘Saved’ By Unemployment Payments

January 7, 2013 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, DOL, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Jobs, Liberals, NLRB, President, Progressives, Taxes, Unemployment, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, recently gave a quixotic assessment of how many jobs were “saved” by Obama’s work in the White House. In fact, she felt it was the constant extension of unemployment benefits that somehow “saved” millions of jobs.

On a January 4 segment on CNBC, Solis maintained that the benefits “generate” spending in “the community.”

“…what I think about is, those 2 million people that would have lost their unemployment insurance. Because think about it, all that money that goes out in terms of what’s being spent by that unemployment check helps to generate two additional dollars back in the community. Everyone continues to keep their jobs. I can’t give you an exact figure, but I’ll tell you just by the movement that the President made, we’ve saved millions and millions of jobs,” Solis claimed.

This is, of course, a perfect example of the classic “broken windows fallacy.”
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