Choosing The Right Lane To Follow

In pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, free markets and individual liberty

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"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. ... Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. Our obligations to our country never cease but with our lives." --John Adams

Liberty Lost: Record 70.4 Million Enrolled in Medicaid in 2011: 1 Out of Every 5 Americans By Matt Cover

A record 70.4 million people were enrolled in the Medicaid health care program for the poor in fiscal year 2011, according to government figures provided to CNSNews.com. That figure equals about 22 percent of the population, which means there was one person on Medicaid for every 5 Americans in 2011. The record number of Medicaid enrollees in 2011 – the earliest year for which figures are available – is a count of all persons enrolled in Medicaid for any part of that year, providing the fullest and most accurate count of the size of the entitlement program. (The federal fiscal year in 2011 ran from Oct. 1, 2010 to Sept. 30, 2011.)  From 2005 to 2011, total enrollees grew by more than 10 million people, going from 60.1 million in 2005 to 70.4 million in 2011.

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‘Final’ Talks on Global Arms Treaty Move Ahead, With U.S. Support By Patrick Goodenough

Hours after President Obama’s re-election, a United Nations committee approved a resolution to hold a “final” conference in March aimed at delivering a global conventional arms trade treaty. The United States voted in favor. U.N. officials said the vote’s timing was not related to the U.S. election, but the result of a delay linked to super storm Sandy. In the U.S., critics fear the ATT could impact on America’s arms sales decisions abroad, for instance allowing some elements to use the treaty to restrict U.S. weapons sales to countries like Israel and Taiwan. Second Amendment advocacy groups also are concerned that the treaty could open the door to restrictions on gun ownership at home, despite the insistence of the U.N. that the initiative will have no such effect. Over the summer, a month-long conference in New York that was intended to produce a U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) ended without achieving that goal. Now, as a result of Wednesday’s committee vote – which the full General Assembly is expected to endorse soon – the world’s nations will meet for 10 days next March in a bid to hammer out a consensus agreement.

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Sudan Elected to Influential U.N. Body, Gets More Votes Than U.S. By Patrick Goodenough

The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday elected Sudan – whose president is accused of war crimes -- to an influential body whose powers include choosing members for agencies dealing with women and children, and accrediting civil society groups wanting to participate in sessions of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The Islamist regime in Khartoum received more votes than the United States did in the election for 18 new members of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the U.N. body that coordinates socio-economic and related affairs. So, again, why are we in the U.N.?

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Turning Attention to the Fiscal Cliff

Thanks to the political shenanigans of our elected representatives, a perfect storm of tax hikes and sequestration -- automatic spending cuts -- will hit all at once in January. All of the Bush-era tax rates will expire, sending the five tax brackets anywhere from 20 percent to 50 percent higher. The payroll tax cut will expire, costing the average worker over $1,000 next year. The Alternative Minimum Tax patch will also lapse, as will the lower death tax rate. More ObamaCare taxes kick on, particularly on the already-targeted top-bracket taxpayers. Automatic federal spending cuts across the board (except for entitlements, of course) will also trigger, and the defense cuts in particular will hurt both our capability and the economy. Indeed, the day after the election, Boeing announced that its defense division will suffer a 30 percent cut in management jobs, and several facilities in California will close. For obvious reasons, the administration demanded that defense contractors wait until after the election to announce cuts.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) opened the public negotiation phase for a deal, offering that Republicans are open to increased revenues, but only if Democrats agree to keep income tax rates from going up and accede to reduced spending and entitlement reform. Boehner made clear that higher revenue should (and would) come from "a growing economy, energized by a simpler, cleaner, fair tax code, with fewer loopholes and lower rates for all." He added a day later, "Raising tax rates is unacceptable." We expect an ugly fight from Democrats, who blew up the deficit only to complain that Republicans won't play the role of tax collector to pay for it. This is especially true of Barack Obama, who will address the nation later today. He would rather push the economy over the cliff than give up his "new economic patriotism" -- i.e., the belief that the wealthy should pay higher tax rates. Those higher rates will hit small businesses extremely hard and likely result in recession, according to the CBO, which also says the cliff will cause unemployment to spike beyond 9 percent.

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Britain to end financial aid to India

LONDON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Britain plans to halt all monetary aid to India and reallocate the funds to poorer countries, International Development Secretary Justine Greening said. Greening was to tell lawmakers that, beginning Friday, no new aid programs or contracts for financial aid to India will be approved since the southeast Asian country is emerging as one of the world's most powerful economies, The Daily Telegraph reported.

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How Many Businesses Have Announced Closings or Layoffs Since Obama Won A Second Term?

Do elections have consequences? If you have been paying attention to the financial markets, you might think so. Wall Street has had two horrible days since President Obama won a second term.

However, stock prices are not the only thing taking a hit. It appears that the job market is also suffering. In the last 48 hours, the following major corporations have announced layoffs in America:

• Energizer - The St. Louis-based company said Thursday that it expects to shed about 1,500 employees. When finished, the restructuring should lead to $200 million in pretax yearly savings • Westinghouse - Westinghouse Anniston, the contractor responsible for shutting down Anniston’s chemical weapons incinerator, has reduced its workforce by another 50 employees.

 • Research in Motion Limited - Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry smartphones, laid off about 200 people at its U.S. headquarters in Irving on Wednesday, according to a source close to the company who did not want to be named.

 • Lightyear Network Solutions - More than one dozen employees at a Pikeville company lost their jobs this week. Officials with Lightyear Network Solutions said they are consolidating offices in Louisville and Pikeville to save money.

 • Providence Journal - The Providence Journal Co. laid off 23 full-time workers Wednesday as part of a cost-cutting effort, including 16 members of the Providence Newspaper Guild and 7 non-union employees.

 • Hawker Beechcraft - The company says 240 employees will lose their jobs with the closing of Hawker Beechcraft Services facilities in Little Rock, Ark.; Mesa, Ariz.; and San Antonio, Texas.

 • Boeing (30% of their management staff) - Boeing Co. said Wednesday it plans to employ 30% fewer executives at its Boeing Defense, Space & Security unit by the end of 2012 compared to 2010 levels.

 • CVPH Medical Center - CVPH Medical Center has handed pink slips to 17 employees. The layoffs — nine in management and eight hourly staffers — are part of an effort to “help bolster the hospital’s financial position in 2013 and beyond,” a press release said.

 • US Cellular - The move will result in 980 job cuts at U.S. Cellular, with 640 in the Chicago area, according to a spokeswoman. The cuts are slightly under 12 percent of the approximately 8,400 total employees U.S. Cellular had at the end of the third quarter.

 • Momentive Performance Materials - About 150 workers at Sistersville’s Momentive Performance Materials plant will be temporarily laid off later this month, officials said this week.

 • Rocketdyne - About 100 employees at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, most of whom work in the San Fernando Valley, were laid off Wednesday in response to dwindling government spending on space exploration, the company said. The layoffs were effective immediately, and 75 percent of them came at the facilities on Canoga and De Soto avenues, which employ about 1,100 people. The company has six sites across the Valley.

 • Brake Parts - The leader of an automotive parts plant in Lincoln County has told state officials that there are plans to lay off 75 workers starting in late December…The layoffs are expected to start Dec. 28 and continue in the first quarter of 2013

• Vestas Wind Systems - Vestas Wind Systems A/S (VWS) is seeking to sell a stake of as much as 20 percent and said it’s reducing headcount by 3,000 to raise the staff cuts by the biggest wind turbine maker to almost a third over two years.

 • Husqvarna - Husqvarna AB (HUSQB), the world’s biggest maker of powered garden tools, plans to cut about 600 jobs in a move that will save 220 million kronor ($33 million) a year by 2014.

 • Center for Hospice New York - The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care plans to temporarily lay off as many as 40 employees next year as it embarks on a major renovation of the inpatient unit at its Cheektowaga campus.

 • Bristol-Meyers - Bristol-Myers Squibb is following up its lackluster third-quarter results with almost 480 layoffs. As Pharmalot reports, the company notified the New Jersey government that it would scale back in Plainsboro, which means the cuts will hit its sales operations.

 • OCE North America - Trumbull printer- and scanning-equipment provider Oce North America, Inc. will lay off 135 workers in three Connecticut communities, including East Hartford, according to its notice with the state Labor Department.

 • Darden Restaurants - The company, which was among those who had received an Obamacare waiver in the past, is looking to limit workers to 28 hours per week. A full time employee that is required to have health insurance (lest the employer pay a fine) works 30 hours per week, as defined by the Obamacare law.

 • West Ridge Mine - In its statement, UtahAmerican Energy blames the Obama administration for instituting policies that will close down “204 American coal-fired power plants by 2014″ and for drastically reducing the market for coal.

 • United Blood Services Gulf - United Blood Services Gulf South region, the non-profit blood service provider for much of south Louisiana and Mississippi, will lay off approximately 10 percent of its workforce. It was a hard decision to make according to Susan Begnaud, Regional Center Director for the Gulf South region. A layoff is tough enough for employees to deal with, imagine hearing the crushing news that your office is shutting down just before Thanksgiving and Christmas…  Here are some of the business closings that were announced in just the past two days:

• Caterpillar Inc. will close its plant in Owatonna Minn.
• Mount Pleasant’s Albrecht Sentry Foods
• The Target store at Manassas Mall Va.
• Millennium Academy in Wake Forest NC
• Target Closing Kissimmee FL Location
• The Andover Gift Shop in Andover MA
• Grand Union Family Markets Closing Storrs Location CT
• Movie Scene Milford Location NH
• Update: TE Connectivity Closing Greensboro Plant – 620 Layoffs Expected
• Gomer’s Fried Chicken in South Kansas City
• Kmart in Homer Glen
• Fresh Market on Pine Street in Burlington
• AGC Glass North America to permanently close its Blue Ridge Plant in Kingsport Tenn.
• The Target store at Platte and Academy in Colorado Springs
• The Roses store on Reynold Road in Winston-Salem NC
• Meanders Kitchen losing its West Seattle location at 6032 California Ave
• Bost Harley-Davidson at 46th Avenue North and Delaware Ave. in West Nashville TN
• Townsend Booksellers in Oakland
• The Kmart store in Parkway Plaza off University Drive in Durham NC – 79 Jobs Lost

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Dear Fellow Conservatives: It Was Not Romney’s Fault We Lost by Chris Graham

Some conservatives have turned on Mitt Romney just as quickly as they embraced him back when he emerged victorious from the brutal Republican primaries to become the official GOP candidate for president. They blame Romney’s candidacy itself on our failure to capture the White House. If we had had a “true conservative” running, these people say, then America would be enjoying the inauguration ceremony of President Romney in just three short months. This is absurd. How can one genuinely believe that, say, Rick Santorum or Michele Bachmann would have defeated Obama, a man who is so personally popular? Santorum and Bachmann were generally considered the true conservative contenders, right? Yet they lost to Mitt Romney. Romney kept rising above them in the polls until finally those two candidates, along with the others, had to admit to themselves that they were not desired by the majority of Republican voters, leading to their exiting the Republican primaries. The simple fact is that we lost this election because we drastically underestimated Obama’s appeal to our superficiality. I think the biggest factor was that Obama is still hip, and yes, America is still that ignorant, still that vain.

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What Good Are Experts? by James J. S. Johnson, J.D., Th.D.

How should we react to “experts” who smugly announce that the Bible is disproven? What about science “authorities” who have assured us that the Higgs boson particle “proves the Big Bang,” contradicting Genesis 1:1? Do experts ever jump to unwarranted conclusions? If so, how do we know? And do experts ever inflate their credibility by stretching their credentials—if a scholar holds an astronomy Ph.D. is that a qualifying reason to believe the man’s opinion about biblical Hebrew? Like Job, we are often surrounded by false counselors, the so-called experts and authorities who misdiagnose, misunderstand, and misinform us about everything imaginable. When we’re faced with unproven assumptions that contradict what the Bible seems to say, the old maxim “consider the source” is a good place to start, especially when the experts’ pronouncements don’t sound biblical. We can learn from Job’s response: “And Job answered and said, ‘No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you’” (Job 12:1-3). Experts tell us that extraterrestrial life forms zoomed to earth “on the backs of crystals,” to “seed” colonies of life here eons ago. Some theorists teach us about empirically unobservable Oort cloud comet maternity wards, birthing and launching baby comets into our solar system. Still other academics conjecture cosmogonical wonders like multiverse “island universes.”…

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"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin