Current Events - May 6, 2014

Government Waste: Where Has All The Money Gone?

 By Cal Thomas
....Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) this week releases its 2014 "Pig Book" listing some of the outrageous spending by the federal government. The book focuses mostly on "pork," those earmarks added to a bill after the normal budget process. Earmarks have been outlawed since fiscal 2011, but members of Congress always seem to find ways around the many laws they pass.
This year's Pig Book has found earmarks attached to the 12 appropriations bills that fund the federal government. One paragraph from the introduction reveals the lengths to which some members of Congress will go to circumvent the law in pursuit of their own political interests:
"The 2012 Pig Book noted that although there were fewer earmarks than in prior years, the projects involved larger amounts of money and included fewer details. This is also true in 2014. For instance, a $25 million earmark for the National Predisaster Mitigation Fund appearing in the FY 2014 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act corresponds to 58 earmarks totaling $24.6 million for the same program in the FY 2010 DHS bill. The 2010 earmarks appeared in the 'Congressionally Directed Spending' section at the end of the bill, which contained the names of the members of Congress requesting each project and its location, as required by the pertinent transparency rules. "This is in stark contrast to the FY 2014 earmark, which contains no such information."
When committing a crime, some criminals try not to leave fingerprints at the scene. Congress engages in criminality on a higher plain by not leaving "fingerprints" on their earmarks. Who will hold them accountable? Apparently not enough voters, too many of whom appear indifferent, or deliberately ignorant of it all.
To paraphrase the old Peter, Paul and Mary song: where has all the money gone? Long time passing. Gone to earmarks and down a sinkhole. When will we ever learn?

PK'S NOTE: Just .... wow. The Constitution means nothing to these people. 

Virginia proposal would limit size of gatherings at private homes

By Kenric Ward
A plan to ban "frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes" is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts. 
Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia's most populous county. 
"I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a Constitution challenge by interfering with peoples' right to assemble," Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement. 
The proposed zoning ordinance limits "group assembly" at residences to 49 people a day. Such gatherings "shall not occur more frequently than three times in any 40-day period." 
County officials say they have received complaints about group meetings at homes. But Herrity said "they haven't even reached 1 percent of the thousands of complaints our Department of Code Compliance investigates a year." 
....Church groups, scouting organizations or even sports fans drawn to a home's big-screen TV during playoffs could be potential targets of the proposed county law. Realtors worry that even open houses would invite civil penalties. 
John Whitehead, an attorney and president of the civil-libertarian Rutherford Institute, calls the Fairfax plan "nefarious."
“Broad enactments like these have governments assuming that private property is their property,” Whitehead said in an interview with Watchdog.org.
“If you can’t determine what goes on at your own residence, you have surrendered your rights. The Constitution is founded on property rights.”

California school district cancels lesson plan that involved Holocaust denial

By Carl DeVries
Following a storm of criticism – and at least one death threat – a California school district Monday canceled a lesson plan that instructed middle school students to make arguments denying the Holocaust happened.
The assignment, aimed at eighth-grade students in Southern California’s Rialto Unified School District, sought to teach children to learn the nature of propaganda.
“Some people claim the Holocaust is not an actual event, but instead is a propaganda tool that was used for political and monetary gain,” the assignment said, according to a document posted by The Daily Bulletin. “You will read and discuss multiple, credible articles on the issue, and write an argumentative essay, based upon cited textual evidence, in which you explain whether or not you believe this was an actual event in history, or merely a political scheme created to influence public emotion and gain wealth.”
But critics said the assignment risked misleading the 13- and 14-year-old students into believing that propaganda about the Holocaust bears factual legitimacy.
“Whatever (the district’s) motivation, it ends up elevating hate and history to the same level,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, told FoxNews.com on Monday. “We should train our kids to have critical thinking, but the problem here is the teacher confused teaching critical thinking with common sense, because common sense dictates you don’t comingle propaganda with common truth.”
Cooper added that although teaching children about the nature of propaganda is a worthy lesson plan, the district would have been better off having children research Holocaust denial, while meeting with local survivors of the genocide.
In a statement, the district said Monday afternoon the interim superintendent will be speaking with its educational services department to “assure that any reference to Holocaust ‘not occurring’ will be stricken on any current or future argumentative research assignments.”

Dad Serves Up A Warm Plate Of Constitutional Law To Teacher Who Banned Son From Reading Bible

By Emily Hulsey
When Giovanni Rubeo, a fifth grader at Park Lakes Elementary School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, received a Bible for Christmas, it quickly became one of his favorite possessions. He started taking it to school to read during his class’s free reading time.
When his teacher saw Giovanni reading the Bible, she ordered him to stop reading it and put it on her desk. She then called his parents, leaving this voicemail message:

“Good morning Mr. Rubeo, Mrs. Thomas.  Uh. Uh. Giovanni called you because I asked him to.  I noticed that he has a book – a religious book – in the classroom.  He’s not permitted to read those books in my classroom.  He said, if I told him to put it away you s– … you said not to do that.”

“So, please give me a call, I need to have some understanding on direction to him about the book he’s reading as opposed to the curriculum for public school.  Mrs. S. Thomas.  Thank you.  Have a wonderful day. Bye-bye.”

His father then called the school and sent this letter stating that the teacher’s actions violated his son’s 1st amendment rights:

The principal sent a two-sentence reply that still didn’t address whether Giovanni would be allowed to read his Bible during free reading time:

After giving the school multiple chances to correct its mistake, Mr. Rubeo had had enough. He enlisted the help of the Liberty Institute, an organization that specializes in promoting religious freedom.
The Liberty Institute has now given the school district ten days to issue a written apology to Giovanni and restore its students’ rights to read a religious book during free reading time, threatening legal action if it doesn’t comply; in other words, these guys are not messing around. I bet the school is regretting it ever got into this mess…

MSNBC's Cinco de Mayo: White Guy in Sombrero Pretends to Be Drunk on Tequila

By Warner Todd Huston
MSNBC chose a novel way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Over the banner "Mexican Heritage Celebration," MSNBC had a white staffer parade across the screen in a cheap, straw sombrero while pretending to be drunk on tequila.
On the morning of May 5, as the MSNBC morning show Way too Early was coming to a close and about to switch over to Morning Joe, one of host Thomas Roberts' producers thought it would be funny to try the stunt. He did a little dance for the viewers as Roberts yucked it up.

'This Town' Author: Tea Party Movement 'Has Truth on Their Side' Against D.C. Permanent Political Class

By Tony Lee
New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich may have realized after writing This Town that if you make 90% of the Washington, D.C.-No Labels-St. Albans permanent political class uncomfortable, then 90% of America will probably appreciate you.
Appearing on Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot channel 125 with Breitbart News Executive Chairman and host Stephen K. Bannon, Leibovich excoriated the White House Correspondents' Dinner, which is the symbol of the cozy interconnectedness between government officials and politicians and the press that are supposed to afflict them (the comfortable) and comfort the afflicted. 
He said the event that in recent years has been emblematic of a "Boomtown" that has gone wild and become completely out of touch with the rest of the country has "jumped the shark years ago" and was "ridiculous." Leibovich said he wrote the book because it was a "good time to deconstruct what has happened to Washington" and conceded, without pretense, that he was still an insider attached to a major news organization before emphasizing how the political class and the press that cover them have become so "comfortable" and "clubby."
He acknowledged that he his job may be more difficult by writing the book, but also maintained that "discomfort should be more a part of our jobs."
...Though Washington does not really produce anything, it is, as Leibovich noted, "by far the wealthiest metropolitan area" because there is so much money in politics, government, and consulting that can benefit Democrats and Republicans in the permanent political class greatly. Like professional wrestling, much of the "fighting" is scripted and, at the end of the day, both sides benefit while nothing of significance ever gets accomplished.
..."What are we celebrating? We are talking about 15-20 pre-parties and after parties over a four or five day period," Leibovich said. "Why? Because the country feels so great about the job the Washington media is doing, the Washington political class is doing, or all the major institutions like Congress are doing?"

Obama's chief science adviser must explain secret emails

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director John Holdren or somebody on his staff would have been well-advised to heed Sir Walter Scott's poetic warning: “What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” As a result, the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed suit in a federal court Monday claiming Holdren violated federal law and regulation by doing something he specifically advised employees not to do. That something was using a private email account to conduct official government business. Holdren used the account he had held in his prior position as director of the Woods Hole Research Center, a prominent environmental advocacy group.

As with so much else on the Freedom of Information and government transparency fronts in recent years, CEI's suit came about as a result of something the conservative think tank's lawyers discovered in materials they received from the Environmental Protection Agency in the Richard Windsor case. “Richard Windsor” was the alias used by former EPA Director Lisa Jackson in a secret government email account and her personal email to coordinate official business with the agency's activist allies in the environmental movement.

References to the illegal Holdren email account were inadvertently included in a Vaughn index prepared by EPA for CEI. Such an index describes for a FOIA requestor documents the government is withholding and redactions made in documents that are being released.
When CEI found the reference, the think tank filed a FOIA seeking copies of all Holdren correspondence on official government business going to and from the illegal account. The response from OSTP was initially to deny CEI’s request because the records were possessed by Woods Hole and thus allegedly beyond the reach of the FOIA.
In its suit Monday, CEI pointed out that “OSTP and OSTP Director Holdren are required by law and regulation to conduct all work-related correspondence on official accounts. When employees create or receive work-related correspondence on non-official accounts, this correspondence is presumptively an agency record but regardless must be provided to the employee’s agency.” In other words, Holdren was obligated to copy his official business correspondence on the private email account to his agency’s FOIA officer for federal record-keeping purpose

'Green' Power Line On Track As Obama Blocks Keystone

By Stephen Moore
Only a few weeks after President Obama's controversial decision to delay the building of the Keystone XL pipeline, the Obama administration is expected in the next several weeks to approve a 500-mile green energy transmission line project running through Arizona and New Mexico that his own Defense Department says may pose "an unacceptable risk to national security."
The multibillion-dollar electric power line project, financed by a group called SunZia, would connect wind power facilities in eastern New Mexico to the electric grid and supply power to Arizona and California.
About 45 miles of the transmission lines would be located in a "restricted zone" because it would overlap an Army missile testing ground at New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range.
'National Security Risk'
Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., says the plan would compromise the military base's central mission of testing cruise missiles and "create a serious national security risk."  New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez has also weighed in, saying: "I am seriously concerned that the planned route for the project" poses "an unacceptable national security risk."
Pearce and Martinez have for many months advised the SunZia management to reroute the power lines in a way that won't interfere with the army base operations. But the investors have objected on the grounds that drawing up a new course for the lines would be too expensive and lead to years of environmental impact delays.

...The power line could obstruct vital operations at White Sands, which is the Pentagon's largest testing station for long-range weapons. DOD has already vetoed the project twice, but the greens in the administration keep agitating for it.

....What is striking about this debate is that the position of the White House and Harry Reid is diametrically opposite to the reaction to the Keystone XL pipeline. Harry Reid won't even allow the pipeline to come up for a vote in the U.S. Senate, but the SunZia dispute should be resolved "immediately."
On Keystone, the White House announced that the project should not go forward until it can be proven to be in "the national interest."  On SunZia, the White House wants to override critical national security risks to promote green energy.
This is a clear pattern in this White House, says Dan Kish, of the Institute for Energy Research in Washington, D.C.  "They've titled the entire playing field toward green energy.  The double standard is truly remarkable."
Then he adds: "It's too bad every industry and taxpayer can't get this kind of favorable treatment from the government regulators."
"It is irresponsible that the White House would side with corporate profits over the safety and well-being of our men and women in uniform," says Rep. Pearce. "Allowing the SunZia project to interfere with our national security shows this project is driven by crony capitalism, just like Solyndra."

PK'S NOTE: This is an EXTREMELY long article but it is a MUST READ. The corruption is staggering. 

Podesta Power and Center for American Progress: The dark, driving force behind the president’s massive green energy scheme

.....Now labeled "climate change and energy transformation agenda," Obama and his minions have been, and continue to push through their radical views with mandates, regulations and legislation, which benefits special interest groups and the Obama administration's green cronies, while adversely affecting American families. Even the non-partisan organization Reason.com, too, sees the dire reality here: "Obama’s [Climate Five-Year] plan ambitiously seeks to control nearly every aspect of how Americans produce and consume energy." One of those is directing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “to work expeditiously to complete carbon pollution standards for both new and existing power plants.” 

Using the iron fist of the EPA –– a key department in Obama's "war on energy" known for its abuse of power –– the president also tried to force refiners to produce cellulosic biofuels. However, as noted by Political Outcast, "The standards set were completely unrealistic and unattainable." On the horizon are new green rules for trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles, as well as whatever maneuvers the White House deems suited for their "green energy revolution."

Additionally, whether we like it or not, this clean-energy mission is funded by taxpayers –– President Obama's "save the planet slush fund." A March 2012 report by the Brookings Institute places the Obama administrations' "total government spending (both stimulus and non-stimulus) on green initiatives at $150 billion through 2014. But that's not enough to save the planet. Last month, the president began pushing for a $1 billion taxpayer-funded program "to help communities across the country prepare for the effects of climate change" –– AKA the climate resilience fund. This program is separate from the “Climate Action Plan” that the president introduced in June 2013, which also calls for releasing more taxpayer money ($8 billion from the DOE Loan Guarantee Program).

Furthermore, Obama's DOE is attempting to establish a new renewable energy section (under the DOE Loan Guarantee Program), for grid-integrated green power projects –– with the plan of spending anywhere from $1.5 billion to as much as $4 billion of taxpayer money. The Obama administration is also restarting the DOE's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM), which is also part of the DOE Loan Guarantee Program –– with more than $15 billion in remaining authority.

This is the same Energy Department program which the Green Corruption Files has exposed many times how, in the process of doling out $34 billion of taxpayer money, at least 90 percent of the recipients have meaningful politically connections (bundlers, top donors, fundraisers, etc) to the president and other high-ranking Democrats –– in many cases, to both. While the DOE will have you believe that these loans were based on "merit," the kicker is that in March 2012, the House Oversight and Government Reform committee unleashed a damaging report revealing that the stimulus-created 1705 section of the DOE's Loan Program had doled out in excess of $16 billion to 26 projects, of which 22 of the loans were rated “Junk" grade due to their poor credit quality. "The remaining ended up on lowest end of the investment grade of categories, giving the DOE’s 1705 loan portfolio an overall average of BB-."

So, it's no wonder that this loan program fostered big alternative energy losers such as Solyndra, Beacon Power, Abound Solar, Vehicle Production Group, and Fisker Automotive, flushing billions of tax dollars down the toilet –– with billions more still at risk. Yet, the loan program is not the only one place you'll find the president's "cleantech" losers. In January, I released my new study, documenting 32 Obama-backed green energy failures, while tracking the financially troubled, and even those, ironically, having environmental issues as well –– over 30 and counting.

Besides the fact that the Energy Department continues to subsidize green energy, there are also many stimulus-created programs that have been extended and are still dishing out "the green." One of the largest is the 1603 Grant Program, which to date has awarded over $20 billion of tax-free cash. The Advanced Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit program (48C Program), which was funded by $2.3 billion, just unleashed Phase II. The currently passed 1,000-page trillion-dollar farm bill will continue to fund renewable energy programs such as the Biorefinery Assistance Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA). The USDA, with $1.02 billion in loan power, along with $600 million stimulus funds from the Energy Department and a $132 million DOE stimulus loan, used taxpayer money to fund 31 "not so shovel-ready" risky projects (also politically connected) –– of which last time I checked (August 2013), about a third were having issues.  

 
PK'S NOTE: Boy, it's a good thing we're gutting our military, relieving sanctions, ignoring their nuclear advancements, and giving Iran $6 billion in unfrozen assets because then they'll be our friends. 

Iranian Navy Commander States His Goal Simply: ‘Destruction of the U.S. Navy’

By Sharona SchwartzThe naval commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards says that his goal is to destroy the U.S. Navy and that Iran has the ability to sink an American aircraft carrier in “50 seconds.”
“The Americans and the entire world know that one of the operational objectives of the Revolutionary Guard’s naval force is the destruction of the U.S. Navy,” Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi told the semi-official Fars News Agency Tuesday.
The admiral also boasted of possessing an advanced torpedo that can move at “unbelievable velocity” in the words of Fars News.
Fadavi said that the Iranian Navy has been training how to destroy U.S. vessels for several years using replicas, saying that his forces have an understanding of the “design, construction and structure of the U.S. warships.”
“They [Americans] know nothing. We have been making and sinking replicas of U.S. destroyers, frigates and warships for long years, and we have sunk the replica of their vessels in 50 seconds through a series of operational measures,” Fadavi said. “We practice the same drills on replica aircraft carriers because sinking and destroying U.S. warships has, is and will be on our agenda.”