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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(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

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/

VP Biden Still Lobbying for Gun Control

April 4, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Barack Obama, Bill of Rights, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Gun Control, Guns, House of Representatives, Joe Biden, Liberals, Liberty, Policy, President, Progressives, Regulation, Security/Safety, Senate, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Vice President Joe Biden is again plying the phones calling his former colleagues on Capitol Hill bending ears over the President’s gun control ideas. His calls are coming on a “near-daily basis” as Obama mounts another push for gun control.

Biden has held private meetings with Republican Senators such as John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and, Johnny Isakson (Ga.), and will be haunting the offices of Capitol Hill in the days ahead.

It appears that President Obama is relying on Biden to leverage the relationships he had built when he was a long-serving Senator from Delaware to cajole Congress into acquiescing to new gun control laws.

“President Obama is the strategist and Vice President Biden is the tactician,” Democratic consultant Chris Kofinis told The Hill. “I think the president is laying out the frame, the message, the vision about where we need to go and why. The vice president understands how to make that happen. You have two interlocking pieces that work very well together.”

Republicans, however, scoff at the idea that Biden is an effective negotiator.
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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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As Local Police Beg for Ammo, Dept. of Homeland Security Orders 1.6 Billion Rounds

March 26, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Barack Obama, Budget, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Guns, Liberals, Policy, President, Progressives, Security/Safety, Taxes, Transparency, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

As local police departments across the country are beginning to find ammunition difficult to find, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ordered up to 1.6 billion rounds for its more than 100,000 armed agents.

Rep. Timothy Huelskamp (R-Kansas) has been attempting to get DHS to explain why it is ordering so many rounds, but the Congressman has reported that the department has thus far refused to answer some key questions submitted by members of Congress.

In a news report, Police Chief Cameron Arthur of Jenks, Oklahoma says that his department and others are starting to have trouble getting rounds for their officers. Some departments are even starting to barter with each other to fulfill needs because suppliers cannot fill orders.

“Ammunition and assault weapons in general have skyrocketed. In the past, $3,000 would get us several rifles or a great deal of ammunition. But we have seen prices go up 30, 40, 50 percent. In addition… the time to get it could be six months to a year, or in some cases even longer,” Arthur said.
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein Lies in Senate Gun-Ban Hearing

March 9, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Dianne Feinstein, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Gun Control, Guns, Liberals, Policy, Progressives, Regulation, Senate, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D, CA) lied outright in a recent hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee as she advocated for her anti-Constitutional gun-ban bill when she said that it is “legal to hunt humans” with large capacity ammunition magazines.

This is why Feinstein and all like her are clowns…

These anti-American, anti-Constitutionalists are little else but ignorant fear merchants.
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S.E. Cupp’s Unhelpful Apostasy

February 20, 2013 | Filed Under Conservatives, Glenn Beck, GOP, Media, Policy, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Youthful commentator S.E. Cupp of the lamentable MSNBC recently made some trouble for herself by an ill-considered slam on Rush Limbaugh. Then, she made it worse with a subsequent doubling down on her unhelpful and unnecessary attack.

For those unaware, S.E. Cupp is a young, conservative commentator that has been close to Glenn Beck–close as in his employee–and last year began a stint as the token conservative on an MSNBC show called The Cycle.

To catch you up on the controversy, Cupp was quoted in The New York Times saying that we should not be afraid to “call out Rush Limbaugh” when he does or says something she deems outrageous.

Unsurprisingly, Miss Cupp was cremated on Twitter for her slam on Rush. While much of the attacks she sustained on Twitter were over the top and unwarranted, the essential criticism of her position is correct.

Instead of taking the criticism, though, in a follow up column published on February 19 in the New York Daily News Miss Cupp doubled down on her position.
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Illinois Congressmen Sign Onto ‘No Budget, No Pay’ Act

January 24, 2013 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Economy/Finances, Elections, GOP, House of Representatives, Policy, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

All the remaining Illinois Republican congressmen have signed onto the House leadership’s new bill with a provision that if Congress doesn’t pass an official budget, then House members won’t get paid.

The “No Budget, No Pay Act” (H.R. 325) garnered the support of Illinois’ Republicans, but also got a “yea” vote from several Illinois Democrats, as well.

This legislation suspends the debt limit and makes mandatory that the House and Senate adopt a budget resolution for Fiscal Year 2014 by April 15, 2013. But if either body does not adopt a budget, members of that body will have their pay put into an escrow account beginning April 16, 2013 until the body adopts a budget. These funds will be released when a budget is adopted or at the end of the current Congress (in compliance with the 27th Amendment).

GOP “Yeas”
Peter Roskam [R-6], Rep Lipinski, Daniel [R-3], Rodney Dais [R-13], Randy Hultgren [R-14], John Shimkus [R-15], Adam Kinzinger [R-16], Aaron Schock [R-18].
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David Gregory Still Under Investigation for Breaking D.C.’s Gun Laws

January 3, 2013 | Filed Under 2nd Amendment, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, NBC, Policy, Progressives, TV, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Despite President Obama trying to come to David Gregory’s rescue by granting him a surprise interview, the Meet the Press host is still under investigation by the Washington D.C. police department for violating D.C.’s strict gun banning laws on his December 23 broadcast.

On Meet the Press a week ago, Gregory broke D.C.’s strict gun laws by brandishing a 30-round magazine from an “assault rifle.” Possession of such high capacity magazines is illegal in the District.

There has been conflicting reports on whether or not the staff of the NBC Sunday show was given permission to use the visual aide, but whether they were given verbal permission or not, the law is pretty clear that possessing the ammunition feeding device is illegal.
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Norquist: Obama’s Failed Fiscal Cliff Ideas Like a ‘Seinfeld Episode Where No Learning Takes Place’

December 5, 2012 | Filed Under Americans for Tax Reform, Barack Obama, Budget, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Entitlements, Ethics, GOP, Government, Corruption, Grover Norquist, House of Representatives, John Boehner, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Policy, President, Progressives, Regulation, Republicans, Senate, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Grover Norquist worries that Obama is like a bad episode of Seinfeld and might prove unable to learn from his past mistakes pushing us over the fiscal cliff whether we like it or not.

This is what Norquist, chief of Americans for Tax Reform — evangelist for the no-tax pledge that so many Republicans have signed — said in an intimate conversation today during which he laid out some ideas on how to push this debate back in our direction.

In a call with only a few conservative bloggers, Norquist laid out the problems we are facing and then went into some of the specifics, the ins and outs of negotiations, and laid out one idea that could help better inform Americans on just what the heck is going on in this debate.

The first thing of interest the ATR chief said was that we should avoid a grand budget bargain that settles everything at once. Instead, Norquist argued to continue the process of having repeated continuing resolutions. Over the last several years, instead of having a full budget passed by Congress, the House has been making do with short-term budgets called continuing resolutions (CR). These CRs fund the government for months or even weeks instead of a full fiscal year.

For his part, Norquist felt that we’ve gotten far better deals and advanced the spending cut/tax cut ball much further with the CRs than we ever could with a single, year-long budget. He also noted that the GOP had a huge amount of power by having control over the debt ceiling and would be stupid to allow the president to take that from them as he’s proposed doing.
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CNN: Now Pushing for a Gas Tax Hike

December 2, 2012 | Filed Under Budget, CNN, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Government, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Policy, Progressives, Regulation, Taxes, Uncategorized, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Talks between the White House and GOP leaders in the House of Representatives are on everyone’s mind and solutions and ideas are coming fast and thick from many corners of Washington. But CNN thinks it has the way to fix it all: raise the gas tax.

Dishonestly portraying “some experts” as offering a new fix to the fiscal cliff, CNN explored the idea of hiking the federal gas tax because, CNN says, the current 18.4 cents per gallon is “not enough.”

“As lawmakers race to negotiate a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff,” CNN urgently reports, “some experts say one tax increase should be on the table: a gas tax hike.”
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The Hill: It’s The Spending, Stupid

December 1, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Entitlements, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, John Boehner, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Nanny State, Newspapers, Policy, President, Progressives, Republicans, Stimulus, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In a very business-like manner The Hill published a report that ought to warm the hearts of all fiscally responsible Republicans and, perhaps, give hope that GOP Speaker John Boehner will hold to his pledges on taxes during theses fiscal cliff talks with the White House.

On November 28 The Hill reported that Speaker Boehner (R, OH) quickly shot down the tax balloon floated by Representative Tom Cole (R, OK) who recently proposed that the House go with Obama’s idea of passing an immediate extension of the current tax rates for the middle class.

As The Hill further notes, Boehner and the rest of the GOP House leadership are sticking with their own pledge to make sure any fiscal cliff solutions are tied to spending cuts.
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Obama’s Economy Makes Criminals Out of Pennsylvania Family, Lose Their Children

November 30, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Children, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Nanny State, Policy, President, Progressives, Rights, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s unemployment rate is the worst continuously down trend seen since The Great Depression. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and, subsequently, lost their homes to foreclosure. One Pennsylvania family, faced with Obama’s destruction, tried to move to another state where they hoped to see a better life but instead of finding opportunity they had their children stolen from them by the state and were turned into criminals.

After losing their home to foreclosure, the Detjen family rented a moving truck, loaded their meager possessions on board, and decided to try and head west to greener pastures. Of course, the problem was that the tiny cab of the truck could not hold the couple and their seven children.

So, the Detjen’s bundled up five of their children in winter clothing and sat them in the cargo hold of the moving truck and then set out for California.

Some nosey citizen, however, called the jackboots on the Detjens because, as the law stands, having riders in the cargo hold of a moving truck is illegal.

Naturally, the cops swooped down on the Detjens as they plied one of Indiana’s highways on their way west. The couple’s belongings were impounded, the truck jacked to the police impound lot, and, naturally, their children were taken away from them by those oh-so-concerned drones from the department of Children and Family Services.

In that ages old American way, this beset upon family was trying desperately to start life anew by bundling up the family and moving to where they think might be greener pastures. But in this age of Obama, this family was instead turned them into criminals.
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Doris Kearns-Goodwin: We Need to Excuse Affairs to Get the ‘Best People in Public Life’

November 14, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Egypt, Elections, Ethics, Foreign Countries, Foreign Policy, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Libya, Media, Media Bias, NBC, Policy, President, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In response to revelations of the extramarital affair that now former CIA Chief David Petraeus admitted to over the weekend, liberal historian Doris Kearns-Goodwin scoffed at the idea of holding highly placed public figures to account for their personal behavior.

On the Sunday, November 11 episode of NBC’s Meet The Press, Kearns-Goodwin made the point that we are too strict with our public officials and because of that we won’t get any more great presidents like Franklin Roosevelt and… Bill Clinton?

“What would we have done if FDR had not been our leader because he had an affair with Lucy Mercer? Think of the productive years that Clinton could have had if Monica Lewinsky hadn’t derailed them. We’ve got to figure out a way that we give a private sphere for our public leaders. We’re not gonna get the best people in public life if we don’t do that.”

Kearns-Goodwin also longed for the day when Americans paid little mind to the private lives of public figures.
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Foodstamps Surge to All Time High, Biggest One Month Growth Ever Recorded

November 13, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media, Media Bias, Nanny State, Policy, President, Progressives, Regulation, Taxes, Unemployment, Warner Todd Huston, Welfare | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Obama administration has finally released its report on the number of Americans on foodstamps. This report was released nine days past its traditional release date and just coincidentally days after the election. Shockingly, those numbers show that Americans on foodstamps is at an all time high. Worse the report shows the highest one month jump ever.

You may recall that just before the election, the Obama administration announced that Hurricane Sandy was going to delay the release of October’s jobless numbers. Many watchers of politics were suspicious about the possible delay in the release of October’s unemployment figures since the proper release date was to come just before the presidential election. While the unemployment report was ultimately released on schedule and before the election, now we find out about another report, the foostamp report, delayed for nine days after its traditional release date. This report was also supposed to have been released before the election.

This report is devastating, so maybe we now know why it was delayed?
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VIDEO: FreePac Speech of Former President of Poland Lech Walesa

October 28, 2012 | Filed Under Democracy, Elections, Foreign Policy, Freedom, Freedom Works, FreedomWorks, GOP, Government, Corruption, Poland, Policy, President, Republicans, Ronald Reagan, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Friday, October 26, I attended Freepac, Chicago held at the Schaumburg Convention Center. The event, sponsored by Freedomworks, had many fine speakers including Judge Andrew Napolitano, former President of Poland Lech Walesa, John Fund, CL Bryant, Deneen Borelli, John Tillman, Congressman Joe Walsh, and Adam Andrzejewski, hosted by Freedmworks CEO Matt Kibbe.

Here is the video I took of Lech Walesa.

Putin Wins: Obama Shutting Down U.S. Pro-Democracy Radio Broadcasts in Russia

October 19, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Policy, President, Russia, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

It won’t be long before America’s voice for democracy will be silenced in Russia after the Obama administration fired most of the staff at the offices of Radio Liberty.

In an effort to silence that U.S. voice for democracy, Putin’s Russia passed a new law on November 10 that makes it illegal to have radio stations that are more than 48 percent foreign-owned. The law ended Radio Liberty’s license to broadcast on the AM band in Russia. The original license was issued by Boris Yelstin in the days when Russia was promising to become a new beacon of democracy and freedom after generations of communist oppression in the former Soviet bloc.

After the law was enacted, on September 20 and 21, U.S. officials fired some 41 staffers, journalists, and broadcasters, gruffly escorted them under armed guard to a lawyer’s office, demanded that they sign a statement ending their own jobs and were then escorted off the premises.

These mass firings came as a great shock to everyone. No advanced notice of shutting down America’s voice in Russia was related ahead of time but this abrupt shut down leaves a bad impression about America’s dedication to liberty.
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Obama and That ‘Act of Terror’

October 18, 2012 | Filed Under al Qaeda, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Libya, Policy, President, Progressives, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

The video juxtaposes Obama’s claim in the debate against multiple televised statements by White House and Administration officials in subsequent days. It clearly shows that while the president now claims his Rose Garden speech called the Benghazi attack an “act of terror,” neither the White House press office nor Administration officials viewed that speech as an affirmation of terrorism in Benghazi.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice repeatedly referred to the “video” as cause of the attack in subsequent administration statements – with Carney specifically affirming that the White House HAD NOT called the Benghazi attack “terrorism” on September 20.

The Rice and Carney statements unambiguously show that Obama’s claim is misleading.
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Book: Top 10% in US Pay 45% of Federal Taxes, More Than European Counterparts

October 14, 2012 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Policy, President, Progressives, Regulation, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Why does anyone imagine that “the rich” don’t “pay their fair share” of federal taxes in the U.S.? Stephen Moore, sure doesn’t and he proves it in his new book, Who’s The Fairest of Them All: The Truth about Opportunity, Taxes and Wealth in America.

While doing research for his book, for instance, Moore discovered that a mere 10 percent of Americans pay nearly half the federal taxes in this country.

With this fact at hand, Moore elaborated further in a recent interview saying that there is “no case on economic grounds” to vote for President Barack Obama, a candidate whose main “solution” to our economic woes is to raise taxes only on the wealthy.
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NYTimes: Libya Attack Discussion is the Republican’s Fault?

October 12, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Foreign Countries, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Islamofascism, Journalism, Liberals, Libya, Media, Media Bias, Policy, President, Progressives, Terrorism, The New York Times, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Surprising to no one, The New York Times agrees with the absurd spin from team Obama that the only reason anyone is talking about the Obama administration’s week worth of lies about the attacks on our embassy in Libya — attacks that resulted in the deaths of four Americans, one of them our own ambassador — is because the Republicans keep bringing it all up in the national discussion.

The Times has decided to ignore the recent hearings about what the Obama administration knew and when it knew it. There’s just no “news” to it, the paper’s editors say. “It’s three weeks before the election and it’s a politicized thing, but if they had made significant news, we would have put it on the front [page],” said Times managing editor, Dean Baquet.
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ACLU: Obama Has Quadrupled Warrantless Wiretaps

October 1, 2012 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, ACLU, Barack Obama, Bill of Rights, Censorship, Congress, Constitution, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Patriot Act, Policy, President, Progressives, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

The ACLU released a report this week that shows that under Obama and his Attorney General Eric Holder, warrantless wiretapping and monitoring of American’s electronic communications is “sharply on the rise.”

After months of litigation and Freedom of Information Act requests, the ACLU obtained documents from the federal government proving that real-time monitoring of electronic communications inside the U.S. has climbed 60 percent since 2009 and far surpasses that under President Bush.

The ACLU reports that the Dept. of Justice used “pen register” and “trap and trace” techniques 23,535 times in 2009 and 37,616 times in 2011.
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Does ‘Separation of Church and State’ Really Exist?

July 4, 2012 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Christianity, Congress, Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Founders, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, History, House of Representatives, Liberals, Policy, President, Religion, Republicans, Thomas Jefferson, Warner Todd Huston | 7 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Note: I wrote this in 2008, but it is so far back in the archives that it isn’t properly showing in searches, so I am updating it.

Secularists today have a catch phrase that they use like a club against religion in America. That club is named “the separation of church and state.”

So many Americans have heard the phrase that they think it is one actually written right into the Constitution of the United States itself. Those who are more learned on the subject realize it is not. Those who are learned on the subject also know that it wasn’t mentioned in any law, or even in the halls of Congress, until long after the Constitution was written. In fact, there was not much attention paid to the phrase at all until after Thomas Jefferson, the originator of the phrase, was long dead.

Not even the Supreme Court paid it much attention until the 1940s. So this “wall of separation” issue is not one that hails from the early Republic with the same meaning as it does today. Our Founders had very different ideas about religion and government, ideas that were not nearly as simple as the stark black or white assumptions of the activists of today.

The Danbury Letter

The man who initially conjured the “wall of separation” phrase, President Thomas Jefferson (1800-1808), wrote it in an 1802 letter to a congregation of Baptist churchmen from Danbury, Connecticut. Only elected president of the United States but two years previously, Jefferson was responding to a letter sent him by the Danbury church members who were attempting to get his support for their struggle against the state’s somewhat oppressive religious requirements for certain rights — not an unusual practice in the states at that time. While Jefferson’s letter only obliquely addressed the Baptist’s concerns, more importantly it addressed the Federal position on establishing a national religion. Jefferson’s reply, in reality, was focused on the Federal issue, not that of the states.

Indiana Law Gives Citizens Legal Right to Shoot Out-Of-Control Cops

June 13, 2012 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Civil Rights, Constitution, Crime, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Guns, Judges, Law, Liberty, Police, Policy, Regulation, The Law, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently the State of Indiana has passed a law allowing citizens to use deadly force against out of control officers of the state, including police officers, who unlawfully enter their home. This is a very touchy subject, especially for conservatives. Can we as law and order types agree that such a deadly force law is a good idea? Or should we defer to the police at every instance?

Well, I can’t speak for all conservatives, of course, but for me, I can’t agree with this law more.

Now, before you get all crazy about how I just don’t understand law “enforcement,” let me warn you that my father, a man I dearly love and respect, was in police work for most of his adult life. I am proud of his service. For the most part I respect and sympathize with our officers of the law. So,l et’s get beyond that.

So, while I most certainly sympathize with our law officials, I sympathize with our founders’ vision and the natural rights they invoked more than I do the expectation that officers of the law can act with impunity. That is why I put “enforcement” in quotes. Properly constituted our law officials don’t “enforce” anything. They really only investigate crime, they don’t and shouldn’t proactively try to “enforce” anything as that implies the power to stop something that has yet to occur.
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America’s Green Enemies

February 21, 2012 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Budget, Climate Change, Democrats/Leftists, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Global Warming, Government, Government, Corruption, Green Energy, Liberals, Policy, President, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Alan Caruba

It was good news that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the nation’s first nuclear power plants on February 9th, clearing the way for the construction of two reactors by Southern Company at its Plant Vogtle site near Atlanta, Georgia. The bad news is that these are the first new nuclear plants since 1978!

In a nation with a growing population and increasing need for electricity to power homes and businesses, it is nothing less than insane to not include nuclear energy in the mix of providers. Environmentalists immediately attacked the announcement using the usual scare campaigns.

Equally insane is the failure to provide the means to safely store the radioactive materials that result. Highly contested by environmentalists, the Nevada-based Yucca Mountain deep geological repository storage facility for spent reactor fuel was cancelled in 2009. Nevada’s Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader in the Senate, played a major role in this disgraceful decision. The Obama administration terminated funding for the development of the site in 2011, leaving the nation with no long-term storage site.
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Appearance by Andrew Breitbart Employee Canceled By Illinois Policy Institute

January 16, 2012 | Filed Under Afghanistan, Andrew Breitbart, Anti-Americanism, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, GOP, Illinois, Illinois Policy Institute, Marines, Media, Military, Policy, Talk Radio, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last Friday, The Illinois Policy Institute disinvited Dana Loesch, the editor of Andrew Breitbart’s Big Journalism site, from a breakfast event that was to be held over the weekend on Saturday.

The Illinois Policy Institute was holding the event in conjunction with the Independent Women’s Forum and Smart Girl Politics and was to be a “discussion on women, liberty, and America’s future.”

Loesch was disinvited due to a small controversy over what she said Friday on her Saint Louis-based radio show on KFTK 97.1 FM. Loesch took umbrage over those criticizing U.S. Marines that were filmed urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Loesch was incensed at those complaining about the conduct of our soldiers and went into one of her patented rants about how she didn’t care if our solders urinated on the corpses of our enemies. “I’d drop trou and do it too,” she said of the incident.

Loesch went on to say, “Do I have a problem with that as a citizen of the United States? No I don’t.”

During the rest of that Friday many progressive sites (like Politico) went after Loesch for her comments.

Loesch herself has said that the left’s attack on her is all unfair. “There is a difference in advocating for the Marines to break the law, which I didn’t do, and defending them from overly-dramatic hysteria,” she said.

Sadly, this faux controversy gave the Illinois Policy Institute cold feet for the weekend breakfast meeting and they told her she was no longer welcome at the event. Worse, the group never even made a public comment on the disinvitation. They just, in the dead of night, disinvited her.
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Remy: Missing You – The Incandescent Light Bulb Song

December 3, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Climate Change, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Environment, Ethics, Global Warming, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Policy, President, Republicans, Senate, Socialism, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Ode to the light bulb. You know. The one in its arrogance and un-Constitutional overreach that the creeps in Washington decided we are no longer “allowed” to have? Yeah that one.

There is no better example of why we need to be tearing down the power of government than this light bulb ban. None. It is totally emblematic of the arrogance of government and proof of how far astray America has gone from her founding principles.
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Business Roundtable: Regulations Are Killing Business

October 28, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Banks, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Conservatives, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, EPA, Ethics, Financial Reform, Free Trade, Freedom, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Government, Ill. County, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Jobs, Liberals, Policy, President, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, The Law, Unemployment, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Friday I attended an informative business roundtable meeting of Chicago-area small businessmen who came together to discuss how government intervention and its avalanche of regulations are killing jobs and businesses not only in Illinois, but nation wide. Some of the stories were chilling, to say the least. These trials go to show how anti-business the most famously capitalist country in the world has become. No wonder we can’t get out of this second great depression!

The event was held at the headquarters of The Rabine Group in Schaumburg, Illinois. The Rabine Group is a group of nationwide companies that specializes in driveway paving, roofing, and other contracting work. The company is headed by owner and CEO Gary Rabine.

Filling out the panel was Moderator, Brian Kelly of Bulk Lift International; Gary Rabine, The Rabine Group; Garrett Patten, Patten Industries; Randy Truckenbrodt, Randall Industries, Inc, and Former State Senator Steve Rauschenberger, Rauschenberger Partners.

The panel began with some of the regulatory horror stories experienced by the panel. Each story illustrated how government stands in the way of job creation, small business, and expansion, and how government is not working hand-in-hand with small business but actually fosters an inimical relationship. The panel showed how the oppressiveness of these regulations actually tempts business to break laws just to be able to carry on with business.
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The Consequence of US Leadership Failure at the UN

October 1, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Egypt, Foreign Countries, GOP, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Pakistan, Palestinians, Peter Roskam, Policy, President, Republicans, Saudi Arabia, Security/Safety, State Department, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (Ill., 6th District)…

In the coming weeks the United Nations Security Council is expected to take a series of misguided procedural steps towards allowing the Palestinian Authority (PA) to unilaterally declare independence (UDI). If they happen they will mark a step backwards from any potentially genuine Middle East peace and illustrate yet another failure of the Obama Administration’s “leading from behind” approach.

This did not have to be a foregone conclusion. This past May, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and I called on the Administration to stand united with the American people, and with Israel, opposing this UN action. The State Department has heard a similar chorus in the months since.
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Rep. Peter Roskam Starts Ball Rolling On Regulation Scale Back

September 1, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, EPA, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Jobs, Liberals, Peter Roskam, Policy, President, Regulation, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, Tea Party, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

I spent most of the day on Aug 30 sort of embeded with Congressman Peter Roskam, Republican of the Illinois 6th District and Chief Deputy Whip in Washington, as he toured his district talking to local businesses. The whirlwind tour of businesses in Roskam’s district — topped with a presser in downtown Chicago — was the precursor of Roskam’s next focus. Roskam wants to begin an assessment of the regulatory edifice in Washington D.C. with any eye toward making Washington more business friendly in this moribund, recessionary economy.

My chauffeur was Roskam communication director, the genial Dan Conston. He told me he was born and bred in Philly, but I assured him that I would not hold that against him. No matter that he is an Eagles fan, he knew his way around the area. Still I promised not to tattle on his driving… but I guess even saying that much is saying something!

Our first stop was Federal Signal Corporation located in Oak Brook. The folks at Federal Signal told Congressman Roskam that they were worried that new EPA rules on the engines they use in their street sweeper machines were threatening to shut down production lines and put workers out of work. And not just for them but the engines of similar styles in every industry that uses them are facing the same jobs-killing requirements.

The problem was all the “uncertainty” which is casting a pall over what Fed Sig’s Dennis Martin, President and CEO, was happy to say is a recent uptick in orders for their machines. Orders have been down for years, said Martin, but now older street sweepers are not only wearing out but are themselves long out of compliance with new EPA rules and new orders are now rolling in.
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