Obama’s Great Alaska Shutout

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President Obama is campaigning as a champion of the oil and gas boom he’s had nothing to do with, and even as his regulators try to stifle it. The latest example is the Interior Department’s little-noticed August decision to close off from drilling nearly half of the 23.5 million acre National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

The area is called the National Petroleum Reserve because in 1976 Congress designated it as a strategic oil and natural gas stockpile to meet the “energy needs of the nation.” Alaska favors exploration in nearly the entire reserve. The feds had been reviewing four potential development plans, and the state of Alaska had strongly objected to the most restrictive of the four. Sure enough, that was the plan Interior chose.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar says his plan “will help the industry bring energy safely to market from this remote location, while also protecting wildlife and subsistence rights of Alaska Natives.” He added that the proposal will expand “safe and responsible oil and gas development, and builds on our efforts to help companies develop the infrastructure that’s needed to bring supplies online.”

The problem is almost no one in the energy industry and few in Alaska agree with him. In an August 22 letter to Mr. Salazar, the entire Alaska delegation in Congress—Senators Mark Begich and Lisa Murkowski and Representative Don Young—call it “the largest wholesale land withdrawal and blocking of access to an energy resource by the federal government in decades.” This decision, they add, “will cause serious harm to the economy and energy security of the United States, as well as to the state of Alaska.” Mr. Begich is a Democrat.

The letter also says the ruling “will significantly limit options for a pipeline” through the reserve. This pipeline has long been sought to transport oil and gas from the Chukchi Sea, the North Slope and future Arctic drilling. Mr. Salazar insists that a pipeline could still be built, but given the Obama Administration’s decision to block the Keystone XL pipeline, Alaskans are right to be skeptical.

Read more from this article HERE.

Dick Morris: The United Nations is Trying to Become the World’s Government

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Photo Credit: United Nations Photo Creative Commons[T]he U.N. is trying to become the world’s government, superseding national sovereignty and making of the world, one nation. And who is to run this global government? The unelected bureaucrats who staff the United Nations. And who will set policy for them? The corrupt, undemocratic nations that comprise the U.N. General Assembly…

The U.N. is an inherently undemocratic institution. Only 45 percent of its members are deemed to be “free” nations by the Freedom Institute. And about one-third of the world’s population –including notably China –are governed, and represented in the U.N., by dictatorial governments.

When the nations of the world sit augustly in the General Assembly chamber behind name plates for each country, the spectacle is deceptive. The delegate from Russia should not be called the representative of the “Russian Federation.” He is the representative of one man — Vladimir Putin. The Chinese delegate should frankly be called the representative of the handful of members of that country’s Politburo. The delegate for Venezuela represents only Hugo Chavez.

To give the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Japan and the other democracies the same one vote each as the U.N. gives dictatorships is a travesty.

When the U.N. was a forum for negotiation to avoid war, it made sense to take the nations as they come, treating free and not free equally. In avoiding war, it doesn’t matter if the Russian representative only speaks for Putin because it is on Putin’s say-so that a war could be launched.

But if we are talking about a global government, how can we accord one man the same power as the elected leaders of democracies elected by hundreds of millions of voters?

Read more from this story HERE.

Scientists: Global Warming Ended 16 Years Ago

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The world stopped getting warmer almost 16 years ago, according to new data released last week.

The figures, which have triggered debate among climate scientists, reveal that from the beginning of 1997 until August 2012, there was no discernible rise in aggregate global temperatures.

This means that the ‘plateau’ or ‘pause’ in global warming has now lasted for about the same time as the previous period when temperatures rose, 1980 to 1996. Before that, temperatures had been stable or declining for about 40 years.

The new data, compiled from more than 3,000 measuring points on land and sea, was issued quietly on the internet, without any media fanfare, and, until today, it has not been reported.

This stands in sharp contrast to the release of the previous figures six months ago, which went only to the end of 2010 – a very warm year.

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Growing Protests Against RFID Tracking in Texas School

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Last night, NBC Nightly News broadcast a segment on the Texas school that is requiring students to wear RFID tags. RFID receivers are placed throughout the school so that administrators instantly know where every child is at. This also allows the school to know how many students are in class or absent at any one time.

Privacy advocates worry that the use of these chips is a preliminary step to wider application in society. As we have mentioned previously at Restoring Liberty, a major concern for privacy advocates is the “normalizing” effect of such applications.

A parent that was interviewed by NBC also posits a religious objection: that RFID technology represents, or is a precursor to, Revelation’s Mark of the Beast:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Video: Stephen Colbert – Romney is Going to Win & Rachel Maddow is Normally Wrong

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In this NBC Meet the Press Interview, Stephen Colbert, with his typical dry humor, has positive things to say about Republican nominee Mitt Romney. He gives him the edge and says he’s “on fire” and “on a rocket ride to plausible.”

Colbert then explains that he doesn’t watch the news that much, and that he doesn’t come into work until 6:30.

He suggests his preparation for his routine is simple: he just says the opposite of whatever Rachel Maddow said the night before.

Colbert says he’s “usually good” with that:

Supposed “Racist” at Romney Event Very Likely an Obama Plant

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I can pretty much guarantee that this man photographed at a Romney rally in Lancaster, Ohio, is not in fact a Republican, but rather is a plant sent out by the Democrats as a dirty trick.

Clue #1: Wearing a “Romney/Ryan” sticker on the back of his T-shirt. Nobody does this. Nobody.

Clue #2: It’s kind of chilly in Ohio this time of year, and the guy’s wearing only a T-shirt, while those around him are wearing coats.

My guess is that this guy also wore a coat when he entered the rally, then stationed himself toward the back of the crowd (in front of the riser where the press photographers are stationed) and then removed his coat to expose the T-shirt, with the explicit purpose of having it photographed.

. . . aaanndd, Clue #3: No name? A press photographer is going to take a picture like this and make no effort to ID the guy? Nuh-uh.

Read more from this story HERE.

Will Obama Try an “October Surprise” to Rescue His Presidency?

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In October 1972, and twelve days before the presidential election, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger made a surprise announcement of a peace agreement ending the war in Vietnam, thus giving birth to the term “October Surprise.” In nearly every election cycle since, one party or the other has attempted to spring some last minute opposition research or policy announcement in the immediate weeks prior to an election. However the Democrats, with their near stranglehold on the mainstream media, have been overwhelmingly more successful in the use of this strategy. That is until this year.

Barack Obama and the Democrats have been blindsided by not one but two October surprises. The first actually occurred in September: the Al Qaeda-sponsored attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and the second: Obama’s abysmal performance in the first presidential debate.

The Libyan consulate attack was the catalyst that prompted Obama and his sycophants to obfuscate the failures of the Obama foreign policy by incessant lying regarding the true nature of the Benghazi attack, choosing instead to blame it on some obscure internet video trailer. This deliberate cover-up is now rapidly unraveling making it a potential election game-changer and the epitome of a self-inflicted October surprise.

Obama’s debate debacle was startling, as he could not live up to the well-crafted image of being one of the most adept, well-liked and intelligent politicians in American history. In fact that balloon was thoroughly deflated. His performance was indicative of an unprepared and unqualified president unable to defend his four years in office or present a cogent plan for the next four years. As he stands for reelection, the global and domestic landscape is one of turmoil, indecision and uncertainty stemming from his stubborn adherence to a failed ideology and personal narcissism.

Barack Obama assumed the office of President as a man brought-up and steeped in 1960’s radicalism which advanced two distinct doctrines. The first, that America, as the lone Western super-power, represented the evil nature of colonialism and capitalism’s exploitation of the masses — whether there was any truth in this assertion or that the United States was guilty of these sins was irrelevant. The material and military success of America and the West could only have come about from expropriating the wealth and labor of the peoples of the world.

Read more from this story HERE.

New Low in Missouri Senate Race: McCaskill Ads Feature Rape Victims Attacking Akin

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By Stoyan Zaimov. Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill released a number of television ads attacking GOP senate challenger Todd Akin featuring rape survivors talking about their experiences and criticizing the representative’s previous comments on “legitimate rape.”

Akin’s comment in August that women’s bodies could prevent pregnancies in cases of “legitimate rape” stirred up a political firestorm for the Republican Party, causing a number of leaders, including GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, to ask him to step down from his position. Akin refused, but apologized in a video for his remarks.

McCaskill’s ads bring the issue back to light, however, and feature three women sharing their rape experiences and the choices they made regarding taking emergency contraception, which Akin stands against. One of the ads features a mother who calls herself a “woman of faith,” and is a member of the Republican Party, who said that she is pro-life and decided not to take the contraception after she was attacked, but still supports a woman’s individual right to choose.

Representatives of Todd Akin did not respond to phone calls and email messages from The Christian Post by time of press, and the Missouri politician has not yet made a statement addressing the hard-hitting ads.

Akin has clearly stated his views on abortion, however, saying at an interview in August with Kansas City radio station KCMO: “As far as I’m concerned, the morning-after pill is a form of abortion. I think we just shouldn’t have abortion in this country.” Read more from this story HERE.

Gingrich calls out Rove super PAC, NRSC for abandoning Akin

By Paul Conner. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticized two major Republican campaign organizations for not continuing to back Republican candidate Todd Akin in the Missouri Senate race.

In an interview with The Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas, Gingrich called out GOP “establishment types” — Crossroads GPS super PAC and the National Republican Senatorial Committee — for pulling funding from Akin, a congressman whose comments about “legitimate rape” caused a national uproar.

“If you applied the Todd Akin rule to Joe Biden, he’d be resigning the vice presidency once a week,” Gingrich said in Akin’s defense. “You have this bizarre double standard where Biden can say the weirdest things, and people just laugh and say, well, that’s just old Crazy Joe, you know; after all, he’s only vice president.”

“In Akin’s case, the establishment types saw a chance to get rid of a trouble-maker, replace him with somebody who’d be malleable, do it in the name of winning the election — and some of the things they said were quite extraordinary.”

“I mean, Karl Rove’s not-very-funny statement ‘If Akin gets murdered, don’t look for me,’ you know, I told Karl: in the age of Gabby Giffords, this isn’t funny, this isn’t a joke, you shouldn’t be able to say this in polite company.” Read more from this story HERE.

Doctors File Legal Brief: 20-Week-Old Babies Feel Pain During Abortion

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A doctors group that supports an Arizona law restricting non-emergency abortions after 20 weeks filed a legal brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit showing that babies feel pain during an abortion as early as the same amount of weeks into a pregnancy.

The 9th Circuit ruled to temporarily prevent implementation of Arizona H.B. 2036 on Aug. 1. The passed law, which is now being considered by the court, would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy save in the event of medical emergency.

A district court found that “the unborn child has developed pain sensors all over its body by 20 weeks gestational age” and that there is concern for “the health of the pregnant woman” because the instance of complications is highest after this time.

“Every innocent life deserves to be protected. Not only does this law protect children in the womb who experience horrific pain during a late-term abortion, it also protects mothers from the dangers and tremendous psychological consequences of late-term abortions,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Steven H. Aden. “The ACLU and the Center for Reproductive Rights, who filed this lawsuit, apparently don’t care about this. Instead, they prefer to pursue their own agenda.”

“This brief is intended to educate the court and the public about the reality that babies feel pain during an abortion as early as 20 weeks into a pregnancy,” Aden added. “That’s just one reason that Arizona’s law is entirely reasonable and constitutional.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Arlen Specter, Pro-Abortion Senator Who Torpedoed Bork & Switched to the Democratic Party, Dead at 82

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Former Sen. Arlen Specter, a one time Republican moderate who ultimately abandoned the GOP in the face of the growing Tea Party movement, passed away Sunday, according to the Associated Press.

Specter, 82, died after a long battle with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

A former prosecutor, Specter was elected to the Senate in 1980 and quickly made a name for himself on the Judiciary Committee.

Although often viewed as prickly and gruff, Specter had a dry sense of humor and developed close personal relationships with many of his colleagues. And while he also had a reputation in the halls of Congress as a task master, many of his staff remained fiercely loyal him, moving parties with him when he changed allegiances in 2009.

He first came into the national spotlight during the 1987 Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Judge Robert Bork. Although strongly backed by the Reagan Administration and his fellow Republicans, Specter balked at Bork’s harshly conservative interpretation of constitutional law and opposed his nomination to the high court, ultimately helping torpedo it.

Read more from this story HERE.