The
pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, free markets and individual
liberty
"There is but one straight
course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington
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Obama Shuts Down White House Tours Run By Volunteers,
Blames Sequester
On Tuesday, the
White House announced that it was canceling all public tours of the
presidential residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue due to the sequester, the
Washington Post reported.
“Due to staffing reductions resulting from sequestration,
we regret to inform you that White House Tours will be canceled effective
Saturday, March 9, 2013 until further notice. Unfortunately, we will not be
able to reschedule affected tours,” the White House
said. When asked about the decision to cancel the tours, Obama simply smiled
and waved, the Washington Times said. Well
folks, the White House tours have always been conducted by volunteers as many
of you have experienced in other parts of our Nation's Capital. Sequester Theater of the absurd!
Sequester Antics Backfires on Obama
Politico has a
story: “Now Democrats Worry: Did
President Obama Cry Wolf? — President Barack Obama hopes to spark a pitchfork
revolt against Republicans over sequester-induced budget cuts — but many
Democrats fret that he’s undermined that effort with an early strategy marred
by hype, poor planning and muddled messaging.” Imagine, Democrats saying all of that about
Obama? Hype, poor planning, muddled messaging? The stakes in the sequester
debate aren’t quite as high as they were during the debt ceiling battle of
2011, but Democratic veterans of the Obama-Republican wars of 2009 and 2010 are
getting a creepy sense of deja vu from a White House messaging shop they
believe fumbled the rollouts of the stimulus and health care initiatives.
~~~~~~
A Warped Worldview: Another Moral Effect of Pornography By Dr.
R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
The moral effects
of pornography are, by now, well attested.
The scourge of pornography has brought ruin and harm into the lives of millions
of our friends and neighbors, destroying marriages, distorting sexuality, and
poisoning minds. Even so, the pornography industrial complex continues to grow,
representing one of the most lucrative segments of the Internet economy. For
the most part, previous research into the effects of pornography has focused on
the psychological and physiological effects of pornography exposure. Among
males, exposure to pornography is associated with addictive behaviors traced to
the release of chemicals in the brain, stimulating arousal and excitement. In
the larger context, pornography is also associated with an exaggerated
masculinity, negative attitudes toward women, and relational breakdowns due to
unrealistic sexual expectations. Pornography
reduces women to objects of sexual attraction and the endless permutations of
sexual behaviors available on the Internet are evidence of the insatiable
desire for innovation and excitement that pornography produces. This, to a
large extent, is what makes pornography such an expansive industry. Its product
builds an apparently insatiable appetite for more, and then even more. More recently, research has emerged that
points to another effect of pornography exposure — it warps the worldview of
the viewer.
~~~~~~
Most Say Cut Spending, but Exclude Defense
Most Americans
support the idea of cutting federal spending across the board, but insist defense programs be kept off limits
when trimming the government's budget, according
to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll. The
survey of 1,017 conducted nationally Feb. 27 to March 3 found that 61 percent of respondents support a 5
percent, across-the-board spending reduction in domestic programs, but 60
percent oppose an 8 percent reduction in military spending. The two
reductions approximate the automatic spending cuts that began Saturday in
domestic and defense programs brought on by the sequester, which encompasses
$1.2 trillion of spending cuts over the next 10 years.
~~~~~~
60,000 Border and Customs Agents Told to Take Furloughs By
Todd Beamon
Sixty-thousand
federal employees responsible for securing the nation’s borders and
facilitating trade will be furloughed for as many as 14 days starting next
month because of $85 billion in cross-government spending cuts. The federal
government notified the workers on Thursday, CNN
reports. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said the furloughs
and other austerity measures would cause delays at ports of entry, including
international arrivals at airports, and would reduce the number of border
patrol officers on duty at any one time, CNN reports. This, while Napolitano insists our boarders are secure. More political theater by the Administration.
~~~~~~
Feinstein: Veterans cannot be trusted with firearms
During the Senate
Judiciary meeting today to markup a potpourri of bills designed to deny the
American people their rights under the Second Amendment and disarm them,
Senator Dianne Feinstein opposed an amendment to her so-called assault weapons
ban legislation that would allow veterans to continue buying firearms the bill
would outlaw. Feinstein basically said all veterans
have PTSD and should have their Second Amendment stripped. In response to the
amendment, she said the following:
…this adds an exemption of retired
military. As I understand our bill, no issue has arose in this regard during
the 10 years the expired ban was effect… and what we did in the other bill was
exempt possession by the United States or a department or agency of the United
States… that included active military. The problem with expanding this is that you know with the
advent of PTSD, which I think is a new phenomenon as a product of the Iraq War,
it’s not clear how the seller or transferrer of a firearm covered by this bill
would verify that an individual was a member, or a veteran, and that there was
no impairment of that individual with respect to having a weapon like this.
So you know I would be happy to sit down with you again and see if we could
work something out but I think we have to — if you’re going to do this, find a
way that veterans who are incapacitated for one reason or another mentally
don’t have access to this kind of weapon.
~~~~~~
Rand Paul Sets New Standards For Republican Party As
Establishment Whines
The political world
changed its orbit Wednesday as Rand Paul seized the spotlight in his March 6
filibuster. Rand Paul — not this author’s favorite before — is probably now the
2016 front-runner for president. But the difference results from fundamental
changes in substance. How can one day be
that big of a deal? Because Rand Paul demonstrated a reproducible, winning
formula. It was as if Ronald Reagan were granted just one day to come back
to Earth to remind the Party of Lincoln of “how it’s done.” Rand demonstrated a
repeatable formula that all Republicans can copy. It is the template that is
significant.
But was March 6
“Republicans’ Last Stand” or “Rand’s First Stand?” What is most optimistic as
the basis for this analysis is that Republican senators started showing up. The Senate floor was more crowded at 10:00
and 11:00 PM than it was at 6:00 PM. They felt it. They saw it. They “got” it.
It clicked. In other words, Republicans
might possibly do more of same. If Rand disappears back into the woodwork, then
March 6 will have meant nothing.
~~~~~~
'Secret energy revolution' could hasten end to dependence
on foreign oil
A wealth of new
technologies -- from underwater robots to 3-D scanners to nano-engineered
lubricants -- are transforming the energy exploration industry in ways that
will hasten the end of America’s reliance on Middle East oil. That’s the take on America’s “secret energy
revolution,” according to a report in the Washington Guardian.
And the proof is in the balance sheets:
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, monthly imports of oil peaked in Sept. 2006 at 12.7
million barrels per day and has declined 40 percent since then, to 7.6 million
barrels in Nov. 2012. That’s partly due to falling demand, as
the U.S. economy contracted and drivers with smaller wallets balked at the high
price of gas. Cars became more fuel efficient as well, often powered by
batteries rather than gas. But it’s also
largely due to the increased production of oil on U.S. shores, the IISS said. 'Myriad
advances are opening up titanic new supplies of fossil fuels, many of them in
unexpected places … perhaps most significantly, North America.' “Rising
production of liquid fuels in the United States accounts for 60 percent of the
fall in U.S. oil imports since 2006 and nearly 100 percent since 2010,” the
group reported. If the trend continues, the U.S. could become oil independent
in the coming years, they added. What’s
led to such a surge? An assortment of new technologies and innovative means to
tap the oil trapped in shale rock formations, helping sip every last drop from
deep wells beneath U.S. soil. “Nanoengineered materials, underwater
robots, side-scanning 3-D sonar, specially engineered lubricants, and myriad
other advances are opening up titanic new supplies of fossil fuels, many of
them in unexpected places … perhaps most significantly, North America,” wrote
Vince Beiser in Pacific Standard.
The problem for domestic oil has never
been a lack of supply, surprisingly. It’s been the inability to tap into that
oil, Beiser noted. Fracking is the most
high-profile means of doing so, a method for pumping pressurized,
specially treated mud into the dense shale formations that trap oil and gas.
Fracking has brought with it real environmental concerns, however, including
charges that it increases the risk of earthquakes and pollutes ground water. But
there’s no doubt the process succeeds in getting fuel out of the ground.
“Fracking is about as popular with the general public as puppy kicking, but
it’s very big business,” Beiser wrote. American
shale gas production totaled 320 billion cubic feet in 2000; in 2011, the
number was 7.8 trillion.
That’s by no means
the only innovation. To hit some of the deepest ocean wells, Houston’s FMC Technologies
wants to move oil production to the
bottom of the ocean, with special undersea robots built to survive the
incredible pressure at those depths. “We
are not far from this vision. Maybe 15 years,” Paulo Couto, a vice
president of technology for FMC, told Pacific Standard. Other companies
are using chemistry to tweak the mud shot down pipes into the ground to
lubricate the path for drills, and using new means to detect the pockets of oil
that do lie nearby. “The dynamics of
abundant fuel supplies will be a catalyst for major geo-political shifts,” the
Washington Guardian wrote. This while Washington is funding the search for water on
planets, planning trips to Mars and landing astronauts on a meteor!!
~~~~~~
Cruz And Paul Introduce Bill To Ban Drone Killings Of
American Citizens
U.S. Senators Ted
Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) today introduced legislation to prohibit drone
killings of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil if they do not represent an imminent
threat. “Our Constitution restrains
government power,” Cruz said. “The federal government may not use drones to
kill U.S. citizens on U.S. soil if they do not represent an imminent threat.
The Commander in Chief does, of course, have the power to protect Americans
from imminent attack, and nothing in this legislation interferes with that
power.” Key bill text:
The
Federal Government may not use a drone to kill a citizen of the United States
who is located in the United States. The prohibition under this subsection
shall not apply to an individual who poses an imminent threat of death or
serious bodily injury to another individual. Nothing in this section shall be
construed to suggest that the Constitution would otherwise allow the killing of
a citizen of the United States in the United States without due process of law.
~~~~~~
63% Think Congress Can Always Make Things Worse
Few voters believe
Congress cares what they think which helps explain why most feel their
legislators can always make a bad situation worse. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only nine
percent (9%) of Likely U.S. Voters think the average member of Congress listens
to the voters he or she represents more than to congressional party
leaders. Eighty-one percent (81%)
believe the average member listens most to his or her party’s leaders in
Congress. Ten percent (10%) are not sure.
~~~~~~
Only 11% Say Congress is Good Reflection of Americans’
Views
Despite a deeply
held belief in Washington that Congress reflects the views of the people, most
Americans don’t share that sentiment. The
latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 11% of
Adults believe Congress is a good reflection of the views of the American
people. Seventy-four percent (74%) say
Congress is not a good reflection of those views, while another 15% are undecided.
~~~~~~
SPLC Targets Patriot Groups as “Non-Islamic Domestic
Terrorists” by Gary DeMar
Fund raising must
be down at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Because the KKK and
skin-head groups are a distant memory, the folks at the SPLC have worked
feverishly to find radial bad guys so the money will keep rolling in. Their new
phantom targets are “far right hate groups.” Mark Potok, the so-called “Senior
Fellow” at the SPLC, wrote the following in its Spring 2013 Intelligence
Report:
“Capping
four years of explosive growth sparked by the election of America’s first black
president and anger over the economy, the number of conspiracy-minded
antigovernment ‘Patriot’ groups reached an all-time high of 1,360 in 2012,
while the number of hard-core hate groups remained above 1,000. As President
Obama enters his second term with an agenda of gun control and immigration
reform, the rage on the right is likely to intensify.”
J. Richard Cohen, President & CEO, of the SPLC sent a
letter to Attorney General Holder and Secretary Janet Napolitano of the
Department of Homeland Security with this outrageous charge:
“Because of the looming dangers, we
urge you to establish an interagency task force to assess the adequacy of the
resources devoted to responding to the growing threat of non-Islamic domestic
terrorism. A patriot group is identified as a group of individuals who are opposed to “gun control”
and “immigration reform,” both of which are constitutional issues. If you stand
against the President and other anti-Second Amendment advocates, then you are a
“conspiracy-minded antigovernment ‘Patriot.’”
Where are the actions of these “far-right militia
groups”? It wasn’t militia groups that killed people in the Aurora, Colorado,
movie theater or the elementary students in Newtown, Connecticut. In
fact, there hasn’t been a single
“far-right militia group” incident since Obama’s been president. We do know
that Floyd Lee Corkins, who opened fire at the Family Research Council,
injuring a guard before he was subdued, was not a far-right militia type. In
fact, he was in full agreement with the “hate-group” label stamped on many
conservative groups. Tony Perkins, president of the FRC, blamed the Southern
Poverty Law Center’s “hate group” label as a contributor to Corkins’ actions.
After Corkins pleaded guilty, Perkins said the following:
“The day after Floyd Corkins came into
the FRC headquarters and opened fire wounding one of our team members, I stated
that while Corkins was responsible for the shooting, he had been given a
license to perpetrate this act of violence by groups like the Southern Poverty
Law Center which has systematically and recklessly labeled every organization with
which they disagree as a ‘hate group.’ “Today both
assertions were validated in court as Corkins plead guilty to multiple criminal
charges, including terrorism. The
Southern Poverty Law Center can no longer say that it is not a source for those
bent on committing acts of violence. Only by ending its hate-labeling
practices will the SPLC send a message that it no longer wishes to be a source
for those who would commit acts of violence that are only designed to
intimidate and silence Christians and others who support natural marriage
and traditional morality.”
Corkins was
carrying 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches in his bag when he was taken into custody.
He wanted to kill people and put a bag next to each victim. The SPLC had designated the Family Research
Council as a “hate group” because of the organization’s views on homosexual
practices and homosexual marriage. The SPLC
never lists Leftist groups as “hate groups.” It’s only organizations and groups
on the so-called right of the political and social spectrum. When homosexual
groups targeted people who supported California’s anti-homosexual marriage
‘Proposition 8,’ the SPLC remained silent
~~~~~~
80 Percent of NYC High School Graduates Can’t Read but
they Eat Salads for Lunch by
Gary DeMar
New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg is concerned about the people of New York. He’s banned sugary
drinks in containers larger than 32 ounces, salt, and polystyrene foam
products. Smokers were no longer allowed to light up in New York parks. In
order to cut down on elementary and middle school obesity rates, Bloomberg
initiated the Salads in Schools program. In 2007, Bloomberg introduced an
initiative for chain restaurants to display calorie information on menus and
menu boards. Here’s the problem. The
majority of young people graduating from high school won’t be able to read the
regulations or know what a 62-ounce drink is since 80 percent of them are
deficient in reading and math skills:
“Nearly 80 percent of New York City high school graduates need
to relearn basic skills before they can enter the City University’s community
college system. . . . [T]hose who graduate from city high schools arrived at
City University’s community college system without having mastered the skills
to do college-level work. In sheer numbers it means that nearly 11,000 kids who
got diplomas from city high schools needed remedial courses to re-learn the
basics. . . .They had to re-learn basic skills — reading, writing and math —
first before they could begin college courses.”
This is typical of utopian visions of State-control of
behavior. So much emphasis is put into forcing people to behave in certain ways
while the necessary skills to make it in life are neglected.
The kids might know
all about recycling, the myth of global warming, how sexual differences really
aren’t different, and the implementation of extreme measures to make sure no
one even thinks about a gun, but they aren’t able to read and fill out an
employment application or give change at a retail establishment. But if some
kid points his finger or bites a piece of pastry so it looks like a gun, the
full force of repression will come down on him. Here’s the kicker on the dismal
report on reading results.
“[T]he
NYC Department of Education said it has raised high school graduation rates by
40 percent over the last seven years. And that the number of students needing
remedial courses to do college work has declined slightly — by half a
percentage point overall.”
This means that the 80 percent deficiency in reading is
an improvement. Liberals create a problem, and then they praise
themselves for fixing it by a few percentage points.
Of course, all of these government-made problems will mean that tax payers will have to give up more of their
hard-earned pay to remedy what should have been taken care of in the first
grade! One has to wonder if the educational establishment wants low reading
and math skills. With kids not able to read (or know what the word “sequester”
means) or know the difference between a billion dollars and a trillion dollars,
they are sheep looking for a shepherd. If
you want to know how low information voters are created, look to New York City
Public Schools or most any Public School!!
~~~~~~
Unemployment falls to 7.7 percent as many adults quit
looking for work By PETER MORICI
January figure was
only 119,000. Employees were added in significant numbers in most sectors, with
construction adding a quite impressive 48,000 jobs. Unemployment fell to 7.7
percent from 7.9 percent in January. Despite
strong jobs gains, most of the reduction in unemployment resulted from fewer
adults looking for work. Although the adult population increased 165,000, the
labor force decreased 130,000 as about 295,000 additional adults chose not to
look for work. First quarter growth appears a bit stronger than expected
earlier in the winter. Most of the reduction in unemployment from its 10.0
percent peak in October 2009 has been
accomplished through a significant drop in the percentage of adults working or
looking for work. Were the
participation rate the same as when U.S. President Barack Obama took office, it
would be about 10.9 percent. Adding in part-time workers who would prefer full
employment but can't find it, the unemployment rate becomes 14.2 percent.
~~~~~~
"All see, and
most admire, the glare which hovers round the external trappings of elevated
office. To me there is nothing in it, beyond the lustre which may be reflected
from its connection with a power of promoting human felicity." --George Washington, letter to Catherine MacAuly Graham, 1790
"But while
property is considered as the basis of the freedom of the American yeomanry,
there are other auxiliary supports; among which is the information of the
people. In no country, is education so general -- in no country, have the body
of the people such a knowledge of the rights of men and the principles of
government. This knowledge, joined with a keen sense of liberty and a watchful
jealousy, will guard our constitutions and awaken the people to an
instantaneous resistance of encroachments." --Noah
Webster, On Education of Youth in America, 1790
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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