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3/28/2011 | Governmental Control, Oil and Gas
Obama hinders U.S. drilling, celebrates Brazil's
OneNewsNow
With the national average for gas prices hovering around $4 a gallon, President Barack Obama recently promised increased oil exploration and production to Brazil, vowing that the U.S. would be one of Brazil's "best customers."
Dan Kish of the Institute for Energy Research says it is a decision that is "very difficult to follow."
"We could use the jobs, we could use the energy security, and we could use the revenue that we're currently using to buy foreign oil," he explains, "and yet the government won't let us do that -- but he goes there celebrating the fact that they're doing it."
In an unusual, yet not entirely unexpected turn of events, one of the oil rig contractors involved in the Brazil exploration is Noble Corporation, which moved out of the Gulf of Mexico, citing a shortage of work in the moratorium, which has come to be known as the "permitorium."
"These big rigs need to be employed in gainful work [and] making money to pay off the loans that they use to build them," the IER spokesman says. "My guess is we'll lose more equipment to Brazil, because in Brazil they can get permits and drill. In the United States they can't."
Kish points out that the federal government has only allowed one-sixth of the companies that were drilling at the time of the BP Gult oil spill to go back to work.
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3/28/2011 | Economy
Gold Replacing Dollar as World’s Reserve Currency?
CNBC
$105 per barrel oil. Cotton prices at record levels. Food prices at 2008 highs. Typically, such commodity price increases would send central banks running to the U.S. Dollar to secure the value of their savings. After all, the dollar has been the reserve currency since World War I.
But not this time.
Central banks are shedding dollars, reducing their holdings by about $9 billion in previous quarter, according to Nomura Securities’ Jens Nordvig, global head of G10 FX Strategy.
What are they buying instead? Gold.
The yellow metal hit a fresh record high this morning, while the dollar index dropped to a 15-month low. The news had Fast Money’s Brian Kelly looking to add more gold and silver longs to his portfolio Thursday morning.
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3/25/2011 | Economy, Governmental Control
CBO Sees Benefits in Taxing Motorists Based on Miles Driven
CNS News
A new Congressional Budget Office study says taxing motorists based on the number of miles they drive would be a fair and "efficient" way to charge motorists for the real cost of using the nation's highways. "Vehicle-miles traveled" taxes (or VMT taxes) also would provide a strong incentive for people to drive less.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood floated the idea of a VMT tax one month after President Obama took office, but Obama’s spokesman immediately shot it down. "It is not and will not be the policy of the Obama administration," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters in February 2009.
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3/25/2011 | Economy
Former Clinton Official Paid $26 Million by Fannie Mae Before Taxpayer Bailout Now on Obama Shortlist to Run FBI
CNS News
Jamie Gorelick, a former Clinton administration official who reportedly has made the Obama administration's short list to become the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was paid more than $26 million in total compensation as a top executive at Fannie Mae--before taxpayers had to bail out the mortgage giant.
Gorelick, who left the Clinton Justice Department in 1997 to work for Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines, was paid $26,466,834 in salary, bonuses, performance pay and stock options from 1998 to 2003, according to the Report of the Special Examination of Fannie Mae (2006), conducted by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.
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3/24/2011 | Healthcare
Anthony Weiner: Waiver might work for New York
Politico
Rep. Anthony Weiner said Wednesday he was looking into how a health law waiver might work for New York City.
Weiner, who is likely to run for mayor of New York, said that because of the city’s special health care infrastructure, his office was looking into alternatives that might make more sense. Weiner is one of the health care law’s biggest supporters; during the debate leading up to reform, he was one of the last holdouts in Congress for the public option.
“The president said, ‘If you have better ideas that can accomplish the same thing, go for it,’” said Weiner. “I’m in the process now of trying to see if we can take [President Barack Obama] up on it in the city of New York, … and I’m taking a look at all of the money we spend in Medicaid and Medicare and maybe New York City can come up with a better plan.”
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3/24/2011 | Homosexuality
Obama Administration Presses Its Homosexual ‘Rights’ Agenda on Other Nations
CNS News
The Obama administration is pressing the rest of the world to join the U.S. in “advancing the human rights of minorities and the marginalized,” a category that it says includes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
On Tuesday, the United States joined 84 other countries at the United Nations Human Rights Council in a joint commitment to end acts of violence and human rights abuses on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
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3/23/2011 | Israel, Radical Islam
Terrorist attack in Jerusalem
Associated Press
Israeli police are blaming Palestinian terrorists for a bomb attack at a crowded bus stop in central Jerusalem. The blast occurred near the main entrance to Jerusalem and was heard throughout the city. At least one person is dead.
Yitzhak Aharonovich, Israel's minister of public security, says terrorists planted the one-kilogram (2-pound) device in a bag on the sidewalk. The blast blew out the windows of two crowded buses. Rescuers were removing bloodied people from the area on stretchers.
Authorities say about 25 people were wounded, several critically, in Wednesday's attack. State-run Israel Radio says a woman has died from the blast.
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3/23/2011 | Homosexuality, Religion
Apple pulls ‘ex-gay’ app from iTunes App Store
Mac Daily News
Apple has pulled the Exodus International app from their iTunes App Store.
Recently, Jeff Buchanan, Exodus International’s Senior Director of Church Equipping & Student Ministries, told The Christian Post, “In no way shape or form is our message about trying to cure or do we try to promote that type of methodology or message… This is a label (gay cure app) that has been put forth by opponents to the application to serve as propaganda in order to stigmatize and really label the application in a false way and provoking a response such as you are seeing with the application.”
Katherine T. Phan reports for The Christian Post, “Over 107,477 people have petitioned Apple to remove the Exodus app from the iTunes store. The petition, launched by Truth Wins Out, a LGBT rights group, calls Exodus’ message ‘hateful’ and ‘bigoted.’ On Monday, Truth Wins Out, whose name is a play on words of Exodus’ Love Won Out conferences, urged more people to sign its petition.”
In addition to releasing a video on why Apple should remove the app, the LGBT rights group also pledged to continue pressuring Apple until the app is removed, even promising to hold a press conference featuring victims of ‘ex-gay’ programs in front of the company’s offices if their demands are not met,” Phan reports. “We are disheartened at the fact that there are activists who are rising up to silence our voice on the Exodus iTunes platform,” said Buchanan. “We want to ask that there would be fair and equal representation of religious belief on this platform as is already existing. We would like the spirit of diversity and tolerance that is so valued within the LGBT community.”
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3/22/2011 | Israel, UN
House Foreign Affairs Chairman: U.S. Must Withdraw from U.N. Human Rights Council
CNS News
The chair of the U.S House Foreign Affairs Committee said Monday she will introduce legislation that makes U.S. funding for the United Nations contingent on reform. It also calls for the U.S. to withdraw from the Human Rights Council.
Describing the Obama administration’s attempts to reform the HRC as a failure, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said the U.S. should quit the HRC and “explore credible, alternative forums to advance human rights.”
The Florida Republican’s statement came as the Geneva-based HRC began the final week of a month-long session in which it will adopt up to six resolutions condemning Israel.
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3/22/2011 | Radical Islam
Egyptian Vote Brings Concerns About Sectarianism, Rise of Muslim Brotherhood
CNS News
Egypt’s controversial Muslim Brotherhood edged closer to a dominant role in the Arab world’s biggest country this week, with victory in a referendum on a package of constitutional reforms backed by the Islamist group, but opposed by Egypt’s emerging pro-democracy opposition.
Although the package includes some important reforms, such as limiting presidential powers and tenure, it also paves the way for a rapid move to presidential and legislative elections, a situation that benefits established groups like the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the former ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
More than 77 percent of Egyptians who took part in the referendum voted in favor of the package, according to official results. Turnout exceeded 40 percent, much higher than the norm in Egyptian elections.
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3/21/2011 | Education, Homosexuality
California bill to foist acceptance of 'gay' lifestyle on kids
In California, a bill that will mandate public school textbooks to be rewritten to contain information about the lesbian, "gay," bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement will go before lawmakers this month.
On March 23, the first hearing and vote for Senate Bill 48, proposed by homosexual Senator Mark Leno, will proceed. Pro-family activists are urging lawmakers to vote against the bill, which would encourage open discussion on the LGBT lifestyle in classrooms of all ages. Under S.B. 48, textbooks must highlight key LGBT figures who were contributors to the history of the United States, as well as details about the homosexual movement.
Dr. Scott Lively, president of Defend the Family International, tells OneNewsNow that now is the time for Christians to voice their concern.
"And politics is a part of every church, it's part of every family -- and frankly, the reason we're suffering the consequences that we are is because the church has abdicated its responsibilities to be stewards of civil society."
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3/18/2011 | Economy, Governmental Control
House Votes to Defund National Public Radio
CNS News
The House of Representatives voted 228-192 on Thursday to deny federal funding to National Public Radio, stripping the radio network of any federal tax money despite opposition from Democrats.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), would prohibit any federal grants, loans, or direct appropriations from going to NPR or its affiliates. The bill would also prohibit those affiliates from using federal funds to pay their dues or purchase content from NPR.
The bill targets two sources of funding for NPR: direct federal subsidies and member stations’ fees. While direct federal grants from entities such as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the Department of Education make up only two percent of NPR’s revenues, member station fees and dues account for 36 percent.
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3/18/2011 | Israel
Israeli PM Criticizes Palestinian Unity Effort
Associated Press
Israel's prime minister criticized Palestinian efforts for national unity in an interview with the U.S. cable news channel CNN, suggesting Palestinian moderates must choose either peace with Israel or reconciliation with Hamas militants.
Benjamin Netanyahu's comments late Thursday came a day after the Palestinians' Western-backed president, Mahmoud Abbas, offered to visit Hamas-ruled Gaza and form a new government with his bitter rivals from the Iran-backed group.
"How can you be for peace with Israel and peace with Hamas that calls for our destruction?" Netanyahu said. "Can you imagine a peace deal with al-Qaida? Of course not."
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3/16/2011 | Economy, Governmental Control, Healthcare
Medicare and Medicaid Made $70 Billion in ‘Improper Payments’ Last Year—More Than All Spending by Homeland Security and State Departments Combined
CNS News
The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services—the federal health-care agency that is a key bureaucracy in implementing Obamacare—made at least $70.5 billion in “improper payments” last year.
These improper federal health-care payments amounted to more than the combined total of $68.3 billion spent by the entire Homeland Security and the State departments last year, which spent $44.5 billion and $23.8 billion respectively according to the White House Office of Management and Budget.
Medicare made at least $48 billion in improper payments in fiscal 2010 and Medicaid made $22.5 billion, according to written testimony on "Medicare and Medicaid Fraud, Waste and Abuse" presented to the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management by Kathleen King, director of health care for the Government Accountability Office.
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3/16/2011 | Economy
Saul Alinsky tactics evident in Wisconsin protests
OneNewsNow
While protests continue in Wisconsin over new collective bargaining restrictions that were signed into law last week by Governor Scott Walker, there's a critical aspect of the debate that has seemingly gone unnoticed -- forced unionism.
Collective bargaining is not a right but a service, says Gary Beckner, executive director of the Association of American Educators, the largest national non-union professional teachers association. He tells OneNewsNow the unions are fighting so hard to preserve forced unions because they want to "keep their cash cow alive."
"I mean the point is now if teachers realize that they don't have to pay dues to the union, they might start to look for professional alternatives to provide the kinds of benefits and services that they felt like they had to pay the union for in the first place," he shares. "And that's what really scares the union -- that's what's causing this battle."
And this battle, Beckner argues, is not a grass-roots effort. Instead, he says, it is "a very orchestrated demonstration" taken right out of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals handbook.
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3/10/2011 | Politics, Radical Islam, Terrorism
Anti-American propaganda is 'real news,' huh?
OneNewsNow
Speaking recently before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lauded the pro-Arab network Al-Jazeera while criticizing U.S. broadcasters.
While defending her department budget before a committee of lawmakers, Clinton said Al-Jazeera is gaining more stature in the U.S. because it offers -- what she called -- "real news." Speaking on C-SPAN, she said:
"In fact viewership of al-Jazeera is going up in the United States because it's real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners."
Dan Gainor is vice president of business and culture at the Media Research Center.
"She's frustrated that they're out there doing a better job of propaganda, apparently, than the United States is doing," he remarks. "[Did] you hear what she cites? She cites specifically 'state news networks' that propagandize against the United States. And so then she, of course, says Al-Jazeera, that's what people watch. Well, of course -- it's the pro-terrorist network and it's got a lot of attention around the globe."
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3/10/2011 | Economy, Oil and Gas
Gasoline cost to jump $700 for average household
Reuters
U.S. drivers will pay another 10 cents a gallon for gasoline before the latest jump in wholesale costs is fully passed on at the pump, and yearly motor fuel costs will rise 28 percent from last year, the Energy Department said on Wednesday.
The average U.S. household will spend about $700 more for gasoline in 2011 than it spent last year, bringing total motor fuel expenses up 28 percent to $3,235, based on an annual pump price of $3.61 a gallon, the department's Energy Information Administration said.
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3/9/2011 | Israel, Radical Islam, UN
U.N. Body Condemns Israel’s Treatment of Palestinian Women, but Ignores Plight of Women in Iran and Libya
CNS News
A U.N. policy-making body dedicated to “gender equality and the advancement of women” adopted a resolution accusing Israel of holding back the advancement of Palestinian women, but it took no action on the emergency in Libya or the legally enshrined discrimination faced by women in Iran.
The only country-specific resolution passed by the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at its recent session in New York was one condemning Israel over the Palestinian issue.
Libya is a member of the 45-country CSW, and Iran has just taken up a seat on the body for the next four years.
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3/9/2011 | Economy
Brent Bozell: New Revelations Justify Defunding NPR
CNS News
A video showing a senior official of National Public Radio (NPR) apparently making controversial comments about the Tea Party, the Republican Party, and Evangelical Christians reveals the nature of NPR and is reason enough for Congress to end all federal funding to the organization, said Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog group.
Bozell issued a statement on Tuesday, after the undercover video of NPR Foundation Senior Vice President Ron Schiller and NPR Senior Driector of Institutional Giving Betsy Liley was posted by the group Project Veritas on YouTube and picked up by several news outlets.
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3/8/2011 | Illegal Immigration, UN
Obama Administration Responding to 228 Proposals -- Including Some From Libya, Cuba, North Korea -- on Human Rights in the U.S.
CNS News
The United States’ human rights record will be back in the spotlight at the U.N. Human Rights Council next week, when the U.S. delegation provides its response to more than 200 recommendations made by other governments, ranging from liberal democracies to the repressive regimes ruling Libya, Iran, Cuba, North Korea and China.
The recommendations cover a broad range of issues, from combating “Islamophobia” to scrapping Arizona’s controversial immigration law, Senate Bill 1070.
March 18 marks the final step in the process known as the United States’ first universal periodic review (UPR), an examination supervised by the Human Rights Council that every U.N. member state is expected to undergo every four years.
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