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Pelosi Blamed ‘Oil Men in the White House’ for Gas Prices in ’08, Now Who’s To Blame?

CNS News

Back in 2008 then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) knew where she wanted to place the blame for high gas prices. “The price of oil is at the doorstep -- 4 dollars plus per gallon for oil, is attributed to two oil men in the White House,” Pelosi said in a CNN interview on July 17th, 2008.

Now that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are out of the White House, Pelosi has been silent on the issue. She has made no public comments on gas prices over the past few months. President Barack Obama however, has been fielding questions on the issue as he begins his bid for re-election.

Debt ceiling: More Democrats threaten to vote against raising borrowing limit

The Washington Post

A growing number of Democrats are threatening to defy the White House over the national debt, joining Republican calls for deficit cuts as a requirement for consenting to lift the country’s borrowing limit.

The tension is the latest illustration of how the tea-party-infused GOP is driving the debate in Washington over federal spending. And it shows how the debt issue is testing the Obama administration’s clout as Democrats, particularly those from politically competitive states, resist White House arguments against setting conditions on legislation to raise the debt ceiling.

Cutting Oil Company Tax Breaks Could Push Prices Up, Analysts Say

CNS News

President Barack Obama’s call to end “subsidies” for oil companies will not lower the price of gas, but could likely increase it, analysts said Tuesday.

“It will contribute to the increase in oil prices,” said Sterling Burnett, senior fellow for energy and environmental studies at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a free-market think tank.

Burnett said the tax breaks were primarily for equipment, which are write-offs available to all businesses. Calling these write-offs “subsidies” was deceptive, he added.

Bullet 333Barry Asmus, Senior Economist, National Center for Policy Analysis
Bullet 333David Bossie, President, Citizens United
Bullet 333Dan Celia, Host, "Financial Issues Live" Radio Program
Bullet 333Phil Clements, Managing Director, Center for Christian Business Ethics Today, LLC.
Bullet 333Ward Connerly, Author/Founder and Chairman, American Civil Rights Institute
Bullet 333Tom DeLay, Former House Majority Leader, United States House of Representatives
Bullet 333William Devlin, Senior Pastor-Manhattan Bible Church
Bullet 333Chuck Donovan, Senior Research Fellow-DeVos Center for Religion a, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333James Edwards, Cofounder, Olive, Edwards, & Cooper, LLC
Bullet 333Steve Elliott, President, Grassfire.org
Bullet 333Joseph Farah, CEO, Founder, WorldNetDaily
Bullet 333Frank Gaffney, Founder and President , Center for Security Policy
Bullet 333James Gelfand, Senior Manager of Health Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Bullet 333Lou Giuliano, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (r, ITT Corporation
Bullet 333Rick Green, President, Torch of Freedom Foundation
Bullet 333Colin Hanna, Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring USA
Bullet 333Lowman Henry, Chairman & CEO, Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc.
Bullet 333Larry Hunter, President, The Social Security Institute
Bullet 333Phillip Kim, Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resour, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business
Bullet 333Cliff Kincaid, President, America's Survival, Inc.
Bullet 333Jennifer Marshall, Director of Domestic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Gary Marx, Executive Director, Judicial Confirmation Network
Bullet 333Ryan Messmore, William E. Simon fellow in Religion and a Free Soc, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Joe Murray, Columnist, The Bulletin
Bullet 333Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)
Bullet 333Phyllis Schlafly, President and Founder, Eagle Forum
Bullet 333Chuck Stetson, Co-founder and Managing Director, PEI Funds
Bullet 333Tony Strickland, Taxpayer Advocate
Bullet 333Lorianne Updike, President & Executive Director, The Constitutional Sources Project
Bullet 333John Weiser, Board Member, Westminster Theological Seminary , In Medias Res

Media let gas, oil policy connections slip by

OneNewsNow

A new report says the three major network evening news shows have largely ignored any connection between White House policies and skyrocketing gas prices in the year following the BP oil spill.

ABC, CBS, and NBC ran a combined 280 "oil" stories in the year following the BP Gulf oil spill. But only three of those stories -- one percent -- mentioned any connection between the Obama administration's anti-oil policies and rising gas prices. That's according to Julia Seymour of Media Research Center's Business & Media Institute.

"Obama barely gets mentioned in these stories, despite his drilling ban and moratorium," she notes.

In addition, says the MRC spokeswoman, when one compares that to the news coverage of President George W. Bush during the 2008 gas crunch, "it's the exact opposite." She observes: "Bush was routinely accused of being connected to big oil."

Egypt gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan explodes

BBC News

A pipeline carrying gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan has exploded after an attack by an armed gang in the north Sinai area of Egypt.

A tower of flames shot into the air and forced the pipeline to be shut down, Egyptian security officials say.

It is the second such attack in a month on the pipeline, south of the town of el-Arish, just 30 miles (50km) from the border with Israel.

On that occasion, when gunmen planted explosives, they failed to detonate.

"An unknown armed gang attacked the gas pipeline," an unnamed security source told Reuters, adding that the flow of gas to Israel and Jordan had been hit.

Obama Issued Proclamations for Ramadan, Eid al Fitr, Eid al Adha, Hajj and Earth Day--But Not Easter

CNS News

The White House updated its response to questions Monday to explain why the president did not put out a formal proclamation for Easter--after putting out proclamations for Muslim holidays and Earth Day.

Obama attended Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington on Easter Sunday and held a White House prayer breakfast last Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney pointed out.

On Friday, the President Barack Obama issued a proclamation on Earth Day. However, two days later, he did not issue such a proclamation for Easter, despite having issued similar proclamations for other religious holidays. During 2010, the White House released proclamations on Muslim holidays Ramadan, Eid-al-Fitr , Hajj, and Eid-al-Adha . The president also issued a statement on the Jewish holiday Hanukah. Also, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wished the public a Merry Christmas on Dec. 25, 2010, in a video message.

Egyptians Cool Toward U.S.; Want to Scrap Peace Treaty With Israel

CNS News

A new survey of Egyptians’ attitudes two months after President Hosni Mubarak’s departure depicts a society in which the Muslim Brotherhood is broadly popular, the United States is not, and more than half the country would like to scrap Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel.

Muslim respondents in the poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center, were almost equally divided between those who say they agree with Islamic fundamentalists (31 percent) and those who say they do not (30 percent).

Sixty-two percent said Egypt’s laws should strictly follow the teachings of the Qur’an, while only five percent said laws should not be influenced by Qur’anic teachings. Another 27 percent favored another option – that laws should follow the values and principles of Islam but should not strictly follow the teachings of the Qur’an.

GOP escalates debt-limit demands

Politico

One day after being named to a presidential task force to negotiate deficit reduction, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor fired off a stark warning to Democrats that the GOP “will not grant their request for a debt limit increase” without major spending cuts or budget process reforms.

The Virginia Republican’s missive is a clear escalation in the long-running Washington spending war, with no less than the full faith and credit of the United States hanging in the balance.

In the most recent budget battle — over a six-month spending bill — Republican leaders carefully avoided threatening to shut down the government. Now, Cantor says he’s ready to plunge the nation into default if the GOP’s demands are not met. People close to Cantor say that he hopes to make clear that small concessions from Democrats, including President Barack Obama, will not be enough to deliver the GOP on a debt increase.

Hidden Tracking Files Found in iPhone, iPad

New York Times

Apple faced questions on Wednesday about the security of its iPhone and iPad after a report that the devices regularly record their locations in a hidden file.

The report came from a technology conference in San Francisco, where two computer programmers presented research showing that the iPhone and 3G versions of the iPad began logging users’ locations a year ago, when Apple updated its mobile operating system.

After customers upgraded the software, a new hidden file began periodically storing location data, apparently gleaned from nearby cellphone towers and Wi-Fi networks, along with the time.

Bullet 333Barry Asmus, Senior Economist, National Center for Policy Analysis
Bullet 333Michael Barry, Director of Pastoral Care, Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Phila.
Bullet 333Phil Clements, Managing Director, Center for Christian Business Ethics Today, LLC.
Bullet 333Jeffrey Conway, Former CFO, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse
Bullet 333Chuck Donovan, Senior Research Fellow-DeVos Center for Religion a, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333William Edgar, Professor of Apologetics, Coordinator of the Apolo, Westminster Theological Seminary
Bullet 333Ron Ferner, Dean of the School of Business and Leadership, Philadelphia Biblical University
Bullet 333Lou Giuliano, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (r, ITT Corporation
Bullet 333Mike Gottfried, Founder, Team Focus
Bullet 333Wayne Grudem, Research Professor of Theology and Biblical Studie, Phoenix Seminary
Bullet 333Colin Hanna, Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring USA
Bullet 333Dr. Janice Hollis, Bishop, Progressive Believers Ministries
Bullet 333Julius Kim, Westminster Seminary California
Bullet 333Phillip Kim, Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resour, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business
Bullet 333Peter Lillback, President, Westminster Theological Seminary
Bullet 333Jennifer Marshall, Director of Domestic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Alex McFarland, President, Southern Evangelical Seminary
Bullet 333Fran McGowen, Founder and President , CarSense
Bullet 333David "Mac" Mcquiston, President/CEO, CEO Forum, Inc.
Bullet 333Ryan Messmore, William E. Simon fellow in Religion and a Free Soc, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Joe Murray, Columnist, The Bulletin
Bullet 333Jeff Myers, Incoming President, Summit Ministries
Bullet 333K. Scott Oliphint, Professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary
Bullet 333Andrew Peterson, Reformed Theological Seminary, Virtual Campus
Bullet 333Vern Poythress, Westminster Theological Seminary
Bullet 333Gale Radebaugh, Vice President, Pharmaceutical Sciences (Ret.), Pfizer Research
Bullet 333Phil Ryken, President-Elect , Wheaton College
Bullet 333Chuck Stetson, Co-founder and Managing Director, PEI Funds
Bullet 333John Weiser, Board Member, Westminster Theological Seminary , In Medias Res
Bullet 333David Wheaton, Author, Speaker, Radio Talk Show Host, TheChristianWorldview.com

Obama Misrepresents Republicans’ Plan to Reform Medicare

CNS News

A fact-check group says President Barack Obama has misrepresented and “exaggerated” the House Republicans’ deficit-reduction plan, but he’s sticking with his interpretation of what the Republican legislation would mean for seniors.

“The House Republicans just passed a proposal, and their main plan to reduce our long-term deficits and debt is to turn Medicare into a voucher program,” Obama told a town hall meeting in Annandale, Va., on Tuesday.

According to Obama, the Republican proposal would give senior citizens “a set amount of money” to buy insurance in the private marketplace. But, he added, “If the voucher you were getting (was) for $6,000 or $7,000, and the insurance company said it’s going to cost you $12,000 -- well, you’re going to have to make up that difference.”

The non-partisan Factcheck.org says Obama is exaggerating the impact of the Republicans’ Medicare reform proposal.

U.S. Hurries to Sell GM Stake

Wall Street Journal

The U.S. government plans to sell a significant share of its remaining stake in General Motors Co. this summer despite the disappointing performance of the auto maker's stock, people familiar with the matter said.

A sale within the next several months would almost certainly mean U.S. taxpayers will take a loss on their $50 billion rescue of the Detroit auto maker in 2009.

To break even, the U.S. Treasury would need to sell its remaining stake—about 500 million shares—at $53 apiece. GM closed off 27 cents a share at $29.97 in 4 p.m. trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, hitting a new low since its $33-a-share November initial public offering.

Bullet 333Barry Asmus, Senior Economist, National Center for Policy Analysis
Bullet 333David Bossie, President, Citizens United
Bullet 333Dan Celia, Host, "Financial Issues Live" Radio Program
Bullet 333Phil Clements, Managing Director, Center for Christian Business Ethics Today, LLC.
Bullet 333Ward Connerly, Author/Founder and Chairman, American Civil Rights Institute
Bullet 333Tom DeLay, Former House Majority Leader, United States House of Representatives
Bullet 333William Devlin, Senior Pastor-Manhattan Bible Church
Bullet 333Chuck Donovan, Senior Research Fellow-DeVos Center for Religion a, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333James Edwards, Cofounder, Olive, Edwards, & Cooper, LLC
Bullet 333Steve Elliott, President, Grassfire.org
Bullet 333Joseph Farah, CEO, Founder, WorldNetDaily
Bullet 333Frank Gaffney, Founder and President , Center for Security Policy
Bullet 333James Gelfand, Senior Manager of Health Policy, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Bullet 333Lou Giuliano, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer (r, ITT Corporation
Bullet 333Rick Green, President, Torch of Freedom Foundation
Bullet 333Colin Hanna, Colin Hanna, President, Let Freedom Ring USA
Bullet 333Lowman Henry, Chairman & CEO, Lincoln Institute of Public Opinion Research, Inc.
Bullet 333Larry Hunter, President, The Social Security Institute
Bullet 333Phillip Kim, Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resour, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business
Bullet 333Cliff Kincaid, President, America's Survival, Inc.
Bullet 333Jennifer Marshall, Director of Domestic Policy Studies, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Gary Marx, Executive Director, Judicial Confirmation Network
Bullet 333Ryan Messmore, William E. Simon fellow in Religion and a Free Soc, The Heritage Foundation
Bullet 333Joe Murray, Columnist, The Bulletin
Bullet 333Grover Norquist, President, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)
Bullet 333Phyllis Schlafly, President and Founder, Eagle Forum
Bullet 333Chuck Stetson, Co-founder and Managing Director, PEI Funds
Bullet 333Tony Strickland, Taxpayer Advocate
Bullet 333Lorianne Updike, President & Executive Director, The Constitutional Sources Project
Bullet 333John Weiser, Board Member, Westminster Theological Seminary , In Medias Res

Inflation in China Poses Big Threat to Global Trade

New York Times

As the United States and Europe struggle to get their economies rolling again, China is having the opposite problem: figuring out how to keep its revved-up growth engine from generating runaway inflation.

The latest sign that things were moving too fast came on Sunday, when China’s central bank ordered the biggest banks to set aside more cash reserves.

The move essentially reduces the amount of money available for loans, and is an attempt to cool down the economy. It follows the government announcement on Friday that China’s economy was growing at an annual rate of 9.7 percent, by far the strongest performance by any of the world’s biggest economies.

Because China is now the world’s second largest economy, after the United States, and because the country has been a leading source of global growth during the last two years, money problems here can reverberate from Wal-Mart to Wall Street and the world beyond.

Fed policy trumps state amnesty law

OneNewsNow

A coalition of sheriffs dedicated to defending the border from the illegal alien intrusion says a recent ruling from the Ninth Circuit is "judicially imposed amnesty."

The Ninth Circuit Panel recently voted 2-1 to uphold a lower court's decision to gut the law enforcement provisions of Arizona S.B. 1070 that were designed to help state and local law enforcement officers better enforce federal immigration laws. The constitutionality of those aspects was challenged by the Obama administration shortly after the state's governor signed the measure into law.

Sheriff Larry Dever"The court basically said that Obama administration policy trumps state law," reports Larry Dever, fourth-term sheriff of Cochise County, Arizona and honorary co-chair of the Southwest Border Sheriff's Project. "There is in the Constitution a superiority clause that says federal law can trump state law under certain conditions. But we're not talking about federal law here; we're talking about federal policy trumping state law."

Shutting down sharia in U.S.

OneNewsNow

A California-based constitutional attorney has joined a group in urging state legislatures across the U.S. to pass a law to prevent sharia law from transcending the nation's criminal law.

Karen Lugo, an attorney based in southern California, serves as The Federalist Society's expert on sharia law and was recently appointed to the California Advisory Committee's Commission on Civil Rights. She reports that 25 of the 50 U.S. states have taken it upon themselves to stand up for constitutional freedoms through legislation and court cases, as many state legislators are concerned about a recent ruling from a judge in New Jersey.

"A judge ruled that a former husband was not guilty of rape or violating his former wife's rights when he had harassed her through the period of a separation because the man acted according to what he perceived as his sharia right," Lugo explains.

Why illegals anticipate April 15

OneNewsNow

While Congress wrangles over what to cut from the government's spending, one economic consultant says the Internal Revenue Service is refusing to take steps to prevent $13 billion from being doled out to illegal aliens every year.

As millions of Americans brace themselves to pay taxes this month, Ed Rubenstein, president of ESR Research and former research director at the Hudson Institute, says millions of illegal aliens get ready to celebrate receiving a cash bonus of up to $5,750 from the IRS.

In his recently updated report, "Defrauding the American Taxpayer - The Earned Income Tax Credit," Rubenstein explains how illegal aliens are among the chief beneficiaries of the $62.5 billion transfer scheme known as the Earned Income Tax Credit, which is part of the tax code.

"If your income is below a certain amount, and if you have children, you are entitled to a tax credit that in many cases is larger than the total amount of taxes that you paid to the federal government," Rubenstein reports. "Right now, it is the most expensive cash transfer program in the federal government."

And he points out that more than half of the people who claim the income tax credit are illegal aliens.

BRICS demand global monetary shake-up, greater influence

Reuters

The BRICS group of emerging-market powers kept up the pressure on Thursday for a revamped global monetary system that relies less on the dollar and for a louder voice in international financial institutions.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also called for stronger regulation of commodity derivatives to dampen excessive volatility in food and energy prices, which they said posed new risks for the recovery of the world economy.

Meeting on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, they said the recent financial crisis had exposed the inadequacies of the current monetary order, which has the dollar as its linchpin.

What was needed, they said in a statement, was "a broad-based international reserve currency system providing stability and certainty" -- thinly veiled criticism of what the BRICS see as Washington's neglect of its global monetary responsibilities.

Big banks are government-backed: Fed's Hoenig

Reuters

Big banks like Bank of America Corp and Citigroup Inc should be reclassified as government-sponsored entities and have their activities restricted, a senior Fed official said on Tuesday.

The 2008 bank bailouts at the height of the financial crisis and other implicit guarantees effectively make the largest U.S. banks government-guaranteed enterprises, like mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said Kansas City Fed President Thomas Hoenig.

"That's what they are," Hoenig said at the National Association of Attorneys General 2011 conference.

He said these lenders should be restricted to commercial banking activities, advocating a policy that existed for decades barring banks from engaging in investment banking activities.

"You're a public utility, for crying out loud," he said.

UN document would give 'Mother Earth' same rights as humans

Canada.com

Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving "Mother Earth" the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.

The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to "dominate and exploit" — to the point that the "well-being and existence of many beings" is now threatened.

The wording may yet evolve, but the general structure is meant to mirror Bolivia's Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, which Bolivian President Evo Morales enacted in January.

That document speaks of the country's natural resources as "blessings," and grants the Earth a series of specific rights that include rights to life, water and clean air; the right to repair livelihoods affected by human activities; and the right to be free from pollution.

Democratic senator wants Internet sales taxes

CNET News

A Democratic senator is preparing to introduce legislation that aims to end the golden era of tax-free Internet shopping.

The proposal--expected to be made public soon after Tax Day--would rewrite the ground rules for Internet and mail order sales by eliminating the ability of Americans to shop at Web sites like Amazon.com and Overstock.com without paying state sales taxes.

Dick Durbin of Illinois, the second most senior Senate Democrat, will introduce the bill after the Easter recess, a Democratic aide told CNET.

"Why should out-of-state companies that sell their products online have an unfair advantage over Main Street bricks-and-mortar businesses?" Durbin said in a speech in Collinsville, Ill., in February. "Out-of-state companies that aren't paying their fair share of taxes are sticking Illinois residents and businesses with the tab."

Iron Dome intercepts first rocket

Ynet News

Residents in Ashkelon reported Thursday seeing Israel's new Iron Dome defense system intercept a Grad rocket fired towards the southern city from the Gaza Strip. IDF officials called the interception a "historical moment", saying it was the first of its kind in the world.

Two intercepting missiles were fired at the rocket, but the first succeeded in hitting it, an army official said.

Eyewitnesses told Ynet they saw the rocket explode in midair and realized that the system had intercepted its first rocket.

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