Oil Industry Starts Push to End Ban on Exports of Crude Oil

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Photo Credit: Thinkstock

Photo Credit: Thinkstock

The oil and gas industry is seizing on recent comments by Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to push for an end to the United States’ 40-year-old ban on crude oil exports.

The American Petroleum Institute says the U.S. energy boom has made the ban irrelevant, citing Energy Information Administration projections this week that domestic oil production would hit a near-record 9.5 million barrels per day by 2016.

“It is undeniable that the American energy revolution has rendered our energy export policies obsolete,” said Erik Milito, API’s upstream director.

The comments come after Moniz suggested that the U.S. should “relook” at the ban, which was imposed in response to the 1970s Arab oil embargo, which caused worldwide shortages.

“There are lots of issues in the energy space that deserve some new analysis and examination in the context of what is now an energy world that is no longer like the 1970s,” Moniz said at the Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum in New York.

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Three US Military Aircraft Hit In Southern Sudan, 4 Wounded

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Gunfire hit three U.S. military aircraft trying to evacuate American citizens in a remote region of South Sudan that on Saturday became a battle ground between the country’s military and renegade troops, officials said. Four U.S. service members were wounded in the attack in the same region where gunfire downed a U.N. helicopter the day before.

The U.S. military aircraft were about to land in Bor, the capital of the state of Jonglei and scene of some of the nation’s worst violence over the last week, when they were hit. The military said the four wounded troops were in stable condition.

The U.S. military said three CV-22 Ospreys – the kind of aircraft that can fly like a helicopter and plane – were “participating in a mission to evacuate American citizens in Bor.” A South Sudan official said violence against civilians there has resulted in bodies “sprinkled all over town.”

“After receiving fire from the ground while approaching the site, the aircraft diverted to an airfield outside the country and aborted the mission,” the statement said. “The injured troops are being treated for their wounds.” It was not known how many U.S. civilians are in Bor.

After the aircraft took incoming fire, they turned around and flew to Entebbe, Uganda. From there the service members were flown to Nairobi, Kenya aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 for medical treatment, the statement said.

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Federal Judge Deals Another Blow to ObamaCare Contraceptive Mandate

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A federal judge granted an injunction this weekend that prevents the government from enforcing the ObamaCare mandate requiring religious groups across the country to provide insurance that includes access to the morning-after pill and other contraceptives.

The preliminary injunction, issued in an Oklahoma City federal court, is based on a class-action lawsuit filed in October by 187 ministries.

The court order Friday came just days before ObamaCare coverage begins January 1, which could have resulted in the ministries facing thousands of dollars a day in tax penalties.

The groups provide employees with health benefits through GuideStone Financial Resources, the health benefits arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.

“This is an overwhelming victory for GuideStone and the nearly 200 plaintiffs in this class-action lawsuit,” said Adele Keim, a lawyer for GuideStone and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty — a non-profit, public-interest law firm that helped represent the ministries in the case.

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Christian Group Plans 100-Foot-Tall Jesus Statue in Muslim-Dominated Nazareth

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riojesusAs Christians from across the globe flock to the Holy Land in time for Christmas prayers and ceremonies, some in the community in Nazareth are seeking to reaffirm the historical importance of their town by erecting a statue of Jesus that would tower more than 100 feet above the city.

The idea for the statue comes from Bishara Shlayan, a Christian merchant seaman who lives in Nazareth, the childhood home of Jesus. Shlayan has seen the demographics of Nazareth change considerably in recent years, with the Christian community becoming a minority while the Muslim population has grown to 70 percent of the 80,000 residents of the northern Israeli town.

“Slowly, but surely, the Christian identity in Nazareth is beginning to disappear,” said Shlayan, noting that signs in the main square declare that “There is no power but Allah.”

The plan is for the statue of Jesus to be sit atop Mount Precipice, also known as the Mount of the Leap of the Lord, the promontory where according to Luke 4:29-30, a mob attempted to drive Jesus off the hilltop only for him to pass through them without injury. Shlayan is raising money for the project, but recently got what may be even more important backing: Israel’s Tourism Minister Uzi Landau gave him the green light, saying, “Start it, and we will bless it.”

“I don’t believe in statues, but it is a symbol of love and peace,” Shlayan told The Jerusalem Post. “People who are against it, it comes from jealousy.”

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Senate Invokes New Filibuster Restrictions to Confirm IRS Chief

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The Senate voted Friday to confirm President Obama’s pick to head the beleaguered Internal Revenue Service, which has been under intense congressional scrutiny over its treatment of Tea Party groups seeking tax exempt status.

John Koskinen was confirmed in a 59-36 vote, below the 60-vote approval threshold that would have been required before Senate Democrats changed the chamber’s rules to prevent Republicans from continuing to block presidential nominees.

Obama immediately praised the confirmation, but Republicans mostly opposed it, in part because they are angry over the rules change and want a greater say in deciding who will next head the troubled tax agency.

In May, a Treasury Inspector General report found that the IRS had issued a “Be on the lookout” order for groups seeking tax exempt status with names that signaled a conservative bent, like “Tea Party” or “Patriot.”

Many of the Tea Party groups that applied for tax exempt status had their applications delayed ahead of the 2012 presidential election, prompting some to suspect the targeting was politically motivated.

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UN Endorses Iran’s Call for a ‘World Against Violence and Extremism’

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Photo Credit: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

Photo Credit: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

Three months after Iran’s president first invited the international community to embrace Tehran’s vision of a “world against violence and extremism” – or what he calls WAVE – the U.N. General Assembly has endorsed a resolution on the matter.

The Iranian text, whose 11 co-sponsors included Syria and Cuba, was approved “by consensus” on Wednesday; no member-state called for a recorded vote.

Several delegates did raise allegations of Iran’s own record of promoting “violence and extremism,” however, and the session in New York witnessed a heated exchange between the Iranian and Israeli ambassadors.

The WAVE resolution calls on all countries to unite against “violent extremism” in all its forms, including sectarian violence.

It also touches on a range of issues that most democratic governments would be keen to endorse, with references to eliminating violence against women; condemnation of attacks on religious sites; and the importance of tolerance, dialogue and the exercise of free expression.

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How the Fed’s Pullback of Stimulus Could Affect You

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Photo Credit: Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty

Photo Credit: Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty

Consumers will likely pay more for home loans. Savers may earn a few more dollars on CDs and Treasurys. Banks could profit. Investors may get squeezed.

The Federal Reserve’s move Wednesday to slow its stimulus will ripple through the global economy. But exactly how it will affect people and businesses depends on who you are.

The drop in the Fed’s monthly bond purchases from $85 billion to $75 billion is expected to lead to higher long-term borrowing rates. Which means loan rates could tick up, though no one knows by how much.

The move could also weigh on stock markets from the United States to Asia, even though the early response from investors was surprisingly positive.

Just keep in mind: The impact of the Fed’s action is hard to predict. It will be blunted by these factors…

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ObamaCare May Make Finding Treatment Harder for Mentally Ill

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Photo Credit: REUTERS

Photo Credit: REUTERS

To the outside world, it came across as mood swings and anger. But Regina Cullison would later be told by psychiatrists she struggled with depression and anxiety—and that she needed help. And that is where her trouble began and ended.

According to her mother, there were few psychiatrists in the county who took private insurance. When Ms. Cullison lost her job as a dentist’s assistant, and with it her insurance, she switched to a nonprofit facility. Doctors came and went, and none stayed long enough to establish a regular pattern of treatment.

After two years, Ms. Cullison abandoned her search for professional help and tried marijuana. Her mother, Carolyn Cullison, who is the director of a mental-health peer support group, said that helped push away the demons. But in May, while living together, the pair argued. Ms. Cullison apologized, retreated to a bedroom and shot herself. She was 26.

As hard as it might be to acknowledge having a mental-health illness, finding professional help can be even harder.

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Fraudulent Election? New Ohio Vote Integrity Charges Put Obama’s 2% Margin In Question

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votingbooth_100212Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted announced Wednesday that his office discovered another 17 non-citizens illegally cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election. Ohio voter fraud charges were rampant during early voting duration, with PPD’s own assistant editor Laura Baris, documenting a massive operation to shuttle Somali citizens to illegally vote for Barack Obama through a myriad of tactics.

Other Ohio voter fraud charges claimed that voting machines were programmed to either double count votes for the president, which was also the case in at least one county in Palm Beach, FL, or votes intended for Romney switching to Obama, without recourse to rectify the malfunction.

Now, Husted says he has referred the latest case for possible prosecution, but Ohio officials admit that they did not stop many illegal, non-citizen voters from getting around the system.

“I have a responsibility to uphold election law, and under both federal and state law you must be a citizen to vote,” said Husted, a Republican who has aggressively tried to investigate the rampant Ohio voter fraud cases in the swing state that President Obama beat Mitt Romney by just 2 percentage points.

Husted also discovered that, despite efforts to cover their tracks, 274 non-citizens still remain on the voting rolls, blatantly demonstrating an Ohio voter fraud operation.

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Photo Credit: REUTERS

Man in Same-Sex Marriage May Wed Woman Too, Says North Dakota

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Photo Credit: midwest/rgbstock.com

Photo Credit: midwest/rgbstock.com

A man already married to another man in a state that permits same-sex marriage could wed a woman in North Dakota without breaking state laws, the state’s top attorney has found.

The finding raises potentially complex issues about Social Security and death benefits, tax exemptions and even possible prosecutions for bigamy or polygamy, said a constitutional law expert.

Those issues are likely to arise more often with 16 states plus the District of Columbia now recognizing same-sex marriage while a majority of states still ban it, said Jeffrey Shaman, a professor at DePaul University’s College of Law.

The issue came up when a man giving only his first name called Burleigh County Recorder Debbie Kroshus in September to ask if he could marry a woman in North Dakota if he were already married to a man in another state, she said.

“I didn’t ask where this caller was calling from or where he planned on getting a marriage license,” Kroshus said in a telephone interview, adding that it was not possible to determine if the man had applied for a marriage license.

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