Oil-Rich America?

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There is a revolution going on America. But it is not part of the tea party movement or the loud Occupy Wall Street protests.

Instead, massive new reserves of gas, oil and coal are being discovered almost everywhere in the United States, due to revolutionary methods of exploration and exploitation such as fracking and horizontal drilling. Current prices of over $100 a barrel make even complex efforts at recovery enormously profitable.

There were always known to be additional untapped reserves of oil and gas in the petroleum-rich Gulf of Mexico, off America’s shores, and in the American West and Alaska. But even the top energy experts never imagined just how vast was the energy there — or beneath far more unlikely places like South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. Some studies suggest the United States has now expanded its known potential gas and oil reserves tenfold.

The strategic and economic repercussions of these new finds are staggering, and remind us how a once energy-independent and thereby confident American economy soared to world dominance in the early 20th century.

America will soon again be able to supply all of its own domestic natural gas needs — and perhaps for the next 90 years at present rates of consumption. We have recently become a net exporter of refined gas and diesel fuel, and already have cut imported oil from OPEC countries by 1 million barrels per day.

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Read more at RealClearPolitics.com

Obama: More jobs in jobless benefits than Keystone

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President Obama on unemployment benefits, payroll tax cuts, and the Keystone Pipeline project:

“However many jobs might be generated by a Keystone pipeline, they’re going to be a lot fewer than the jobs that are created by extending the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance.”

Does the president understand the meaning of the word “unemployment?”  Well, for his benefit, it basically means that somebody doesn’t have a job!

According to Obama’s apparent logic, there would be zero unemployment in the country if every American received unemployment benefits full-time.

Here’s what Joel Gehrke of the Washington Examiner had to say:

“President Obama said that he will delay his vacation and keep Congress in session until the passage of his desired payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits extension — two proposals that Obama said would create more jobs than the Keystone XL pipeline that his administration recently delayed.

‘I would not ask anyone to do something I’m not willing to do myself,’ Obama said when asked if he would go on vacation while keeping Congress in Washington D.C. ‘We are going to stay here as long as it takes [to get unemployment extended and pass the payroll tax cut].’

As Obama called for passage of those bills, he also responded to a recent Republican push to require him to approve the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada. ‘However many jobs might be generated by a Keystone pipeline,’ he said, ‘they’re going to be a lot fewer than the jobs that are created by extending the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance.'”

Read it at WashingtonExaminer.com HERE.

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Rand Paul says either Gingrich or Romney as the nominee would be GOP disaster

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Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a favorite of the tea party and son of GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Ron Paul, warned Friday that the Republican Party would take a step back if it taps either of the race’s two frontrunners, Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney, as its nominee in the 2012 race.

The younger Mr. Paul described Mr. Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, as a “moderate, Northeastern, don’t-rock-the-boat” candidate in an op-ed that appeared in the Des Moines Register. But he concentrated most of his fire at Mr. Gingrich, the former House speaker, calling him as the “status quo” candidate and a “Rockefeller Republican from the liberal wing of the party.”

Mr. Gingrich “is not from the tea party. He is not even a conservative,” Mr. Paul wrote.

The attack from Mr. Paul follows numerous polls showing Mr. Gingrich leading among Republican voters nationwide and in Iowa, where the Jan. 3 caucuses kick off the race and where Mr. Paul’s father hopes that his loyal base of supports can help him pull off a surprise win.

“Unfortunately, while all Republican candidates would be an improvement over the present administration, two of the current frontrunners simply do not represent the tea party, the conservative movement, or the type of change our country desperately needs in 2012,” said Rand Paul, who emerged as one of the tea party’s biggest stars after handily winning his Senate race in 2010.

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Read more at WashingTimes.com HERE

Obama doesn’t measure up to either Roosevelt

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During President Obama’s speech in Osawatomie this week, he drew direct parallels between his administration’s policies and Teddy Roosevelt’s. This, of course, is not the first time he’s attempted to bail out his failed policies by claiming their connection to an earlier, more popular president. The same approach was used early on in his administration with comparison of his economic stimulus to FDR’s New Deal.

Recent apologists for Obama’s big spending continue to use this comparison. They attempt to justify the injection of trillions of new federal dollars into our economy, claiming that exorbitant spending will eventually bring results as it did for FDR. They also claim support from the theories of John Maynard Keynes, a British economist who advocated government intervention and spending to avoid economic downturns.

In all fairness to Obama, such Keynesian views are not new to U.S. policymakers. Since the time of Franklin Roosevelt, the U.S. has increasingly adopted Keynesianism over the traditional free-market capitalism that carried us from the nation’s founding through the 1920s.

Although both Obama’s out-of-control spending and Roosevelt’s New Deal find support from this Keynesian approach, all is not the same between them. In fact, the differences are so significant that one cannot reasonably refer to the Obama stimulus plan, like Time magazine once did, as the “New New Deal.”

Read the rest of this article by Joe Miller HERE at WND.com

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Convictions, political machines & vote fraud: corrupting the U.S. system

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In late November, Obama friend and fundraiser Tony Rezko was sentenced to ten years in prison for political corruption schemes that netted him millions of dollars.  And this week, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was sentenced to fourteen years for his eighteen felony political corruption charges.  But Rezko and Blagojevich have far more in common than just hard federal time:  they are both part of the Chicago Democratic political machine that has been instrumental in the pervasive corruption of not only the Windy City, but also the State of Illinois.  This machine deserves special attention because of its obvious connections to the current President of the United States, Barack Obama.

First, a brief history lesson.  Since the rise of the political party early in our nation’s history, the political machines have been a challenge to the integrity of the American system of government.  These corrupt machines, no stranger to either party, groom and buy political agents to do their dirty work.  The modern Ruling Class reeks from their corrupt influence, as was in apparent in my 2010 Alaskan race.

History has also shown that there are essentially two types of politicians who operate in the vicinity of this political machine: the insider and the outsider.

The outsider is easy to spot because of his or her political scars, visible as a result of fights with the political machine.  The outsider earns many enemies because he has decided to challenge the influence of the machine over the political process, striking at the heart of the machine’s corruption game.

During the primaries — and increasingly general elections — you will frequently see the outsider candidate’s own party elite be the outsider’s biggest enemy because it is they who stand to lose the most.  Just as Al Capone didn’t like being the bane of Elliot Ness’ existence, political machines don’t like being the target of an honest candidate.

The insiders are also easy to identify because, after making their deals with the political machine, they come away smelling like roses with no substantial political enemies.  Sordid allegations of drug use, sexual misconduct, bribery, or any other personal or public misconduct will rarely grace the page of the main stream media.  Campaign funds will flow freely.  Most political leaders will endorse.  In short, the easy life of back slapping crony capitalists, smoke-filled rooms, and campaign slush funds will dominate the insider’s political life.

The insider politician has no quarrel with the machine because the machine paves the path to higher office.  In exchange for the politician’s influence and vote, the machine’s agents not only guarantee the office, they also supply the addictive rewards of office:  insider trading, promises of future employment, and royalty treatment that our Ruling Class is so used to.  Tony Rezko’s and Jack Abramoff’s are everywhere.

One product of the political machine has made it to the top.  In 2008, the mainstream media very effectively built a brick wall around this insider’s past.  It seemed he had won the support of the media based simply on his campaign slogan of “hope and change.”  Little was said about this insider’s intimate relationship to the Chicago political machine.  But regardless of the media cover-up, the President of the United States is obviously the product of that machine.

With the recent Rezko and Blagojevich cases, the modern Chicago machine’s corruption cannot be reasonably contested.  And now another product of that machine, insider Rahm Emanuel, is Chicago’s mayor.

What a mess.  If we want to change the direction of our country, we must first recognize that our political system suffers from significant corruption.  Whether it’s the political machine, vote fraud, or a complicit media, the Ruling Class must rely on corrupt tactics to level the playing field against every-day Americans.  Once we’ve identified the agents of this corruption, We the People must then target them for defeat.  Never reelect incumbents who are part of the machine.  Get engaged, be a poll watcher, run for office yourself.  And never stop fighting.

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Murkowski lone GOP supporter for Obama’s radical activist judge

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In case you didn’t catch it this week, Murkowski was the only Republican in the entire Senate to support a vote on the radical activist judge Caitlin Halligan, President Obama’s nominee for the Court of Appeals.  According to the Family Research Council, Halligan is pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion, and liberal on immigration, environmentalism, guns and affirmative action:

“Like so many others, Halligan is an attractive candidate to the Left because she brings to the table an extensive resume of radicalism. As New York’s Solicitor General, Halligan openly attacked marriage, arguing that the Constitution had evolved on the issue. To help clarify the state’s Domestic Relations Law (DRL) in 2004, Halligan wrote a brief for then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, which openly lobbied for same-sex “marriage”–even though it contradicted both the law and the authors’ intent in writing it. “The question of whether the DRL authorizes and permits same-sex marriage must be analyzed”–not in light of the law, but “in light of an ongoing and rapidly shifting debate about whether it is constitutional to deny eligibility for marital status to same-sex couples.” She argued no court would agree that the state’s interests are served in “promoting procreation” and the “welfare of children” through traditional marriage. Instead, she insisted that same-sex couples be “treated as spouses for the purpose of New York law.” On same-sex “marriage,” Halligan “led the parade.”

Unfortunately for conservatives, her activism isn’t limited to marriage. As Solicitor General, Halligan sided with the National Organization for Women in a brief that tried to slam pro-life protestors with extortion and racketeering charges under a twisted interpretation of the Hobbs Act. Their claim was so outside the mainstream that the U.S. Supreme Court threw it out in an 8-1 decision. Her brand of judicial activism would be a devastating blow in the D.C. Circuit Court, which plays a major role in interpreting federal statutes and regulations. If she really does view the courts as a “special friend of liberty,” there’s no telling what damage she could do under the guise of social progress.

Our friends in the conservative movement also point to her extreme liberal streak on terrorism, immigration, environmentalism, and affirmative action. In fact, Halligan is so anti-gun that she is just the second circuit court judge opposed by the National Rifle Association in its history!”

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Read more at FRC HERE.

CAN THE ‘INDEFINITE DETENTION’ BILL SEND AMERICANS TO MILITARY PRISON WITHOUT TRIAL?

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U.S. Citizens suspected of terrorism and caught on U.S. soil forfeit their rights to due process and the presumption of innocence underlying the Constitution.

That appears to be the current position of the Senate, according to many legal analysts and some in Congress, unless President Obama vetoes the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed on Tuesday.

Two provisions that have survived heated debate in the massive NDAA, also called Senate Bill 1867, are causing these concerns. Once the House and Senate bills are reconciled, they will head to the President’s desk to be signed into law, or struck down with the veto pen.

The NDAA bill, which passed 97-3 in the Senate, would fund a huge swathe of military operations for 2012. But tucked into the bill are provisions dealing with detention of terrorism suspects that cut deeply into the Constitutionally-guaranteed rights of U.S. citizens in the post-9/11 era. Now referred to by some as the “indefinite detention bill,” it has caused a firestorm of controversy from disparate corners of government and American society.

The controversial components of the bill can be broken down into two parts. The first questionable portion of the bill (section 1031) explicitly exempts U.S. citizens, and according to Slate, states that the government would be mandated to place into military custody:

“any suspected member of Al Qaeda or one of its allies connected to a plot against the United States or its allies.. [and] would otherwise extend to arrests on United States soil. The executive branch could issue a waiver and keep such a prisoner in the civilian system.”

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 Read More at The Blaze By Buck Sexton , The Blaze

Ron Paul Rally’s the Youth Vote, Draws Big Crowds

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Hot on the heels of Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in Iowa, Ron Paul is rallying the youth vote and drawing big crowds.

Speaking to a standing-room-only gathering of more than 1,000 college-age students in Ames, Iowa, Thursday night, Paul declared again that the war on drugs had been a failure, reminding the audience that more people had died in preventing people from using drugs than from the drugs themselves.

“I’m just not frightened by a free society,” said Paul. “I’m frightened by those who prevent us from having a free society. That’s where the real threats are.”

The Paul campaign has picked up steam and has its sights set on new national front-runner Newt Gingrich, by going after the anti-Washington, anti-establishment voters. Paul’s speech Thursday night again attacked the Patriot Act, telling the audience that it passed quickly and overwhelmingly even though it contained “a lot of bad stuff.”

Gingrich and Paul sparred over the Patriot Act during a recent CNN debate in which Gingrich advocated for strengthening the law, which provides law enforcement authorities enhanced tools to combat terrorism.

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 Read More at ABC News By Jason M. Volack, ABC News

Media Promote Global Tax as Financial Crisis Deepens

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A New York Times story about a “modest” global tax mentions some of those supporting the idea but forgets an important one—the United Nations. I attended a November 30 U.N.-sponsored conference in Washington, D.C., where officials of the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) appeared on a panel endorsing the idea.

The UNDP is supported by about $100 million in U.S. taxpayer money annually. The U.N. as a whole received $7.7 billion from American taxpayers last year.

Elizabeth Shogren of National Public Radio was the moderator of the discussion, which carried the title, “Sustainability & Equity: A Better Future for All.”

Olav Kjorven, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of Development Policy at UNDP, said that while U.S. taxpayers may not support the global tax idea, the French do. Indeed, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have proposed a financial transaction tax on the European Union in order to generate more bailout money for bankrupt European states.

A former UNDP official in the audience by the name of Fred Tipson said it was crazy for the U.N. to be promoting the raising of taxes to an American audience and that the world body should instead adopt the lingo of Occupy Wall Street and emphasize the problem of “social inequality.”

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 Read More at Accuracy in Media By Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy In Media