Reagan’s Other Battle: With Environmental Extremists!

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Photo Credit: Human Events

Photo Credit: Human Events

In February 2011, Human Events recalled President Ronald Reagan’s top ten achievements, from winning the Cold War, through restoring the economy, revitalizing the Republican Party and the conservative movement, envisioning the Strategic Defense Initiative, to reforming taxes, and taking on the unions. One aspect of his presidency, however, was missing. Reagan biographer Paul Kengor labeled it, the “forgotten Reagan war—not with the Soviets but environmental extremists.”

Reagan’s bold approach to the Soviet Union (“[W]e win and they lose.”), “flabbergasted” Richard V. Allen, Reagan’s first National Security Adviser: “I’d worked for Nixon and Goldwater and many others, and I’d heard a lot about Kissinger’s policy of détente and about the need to ‘manage the Cold War,’ but never did I hear a leading politician put the goal so starkly.” Similarly, Reagan rejected calls by those who served in the Nixon and Ford administrations to continue what “environmental extremists”—Reagan’s term, as was “modern-day Luddites”—dubbed “a bi-partisan consensus on environmental issues.” Reagan knew much more was at stake than whether America developed the energy and mineral resources beneath the third of the country and the billion acres of Outer Continental Shelf owned by the federal government in order to restore the economy and resist Russian aggression.

A fervent conservationist and an environmentalist himself, Reagan believed in being a good steward, but above all, he believed in people, who are, as Reagan put it, “ecology too.” Reagan knew that, from its beginnings, the conservation movement held human beings at its center. Whether the issue was the need to sustain humans by the wise use (conservation) of nature’s bounty, or the necessity to restore humans—emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually—by setting aside (preservation) a portion of God’s great creation, the focus was always on human beings.

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Senator: Probe of Secret Service Prostitution Scandal Raises Doubts about IG’s Independence

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

A Republican senator is raising questions about whether there was “improper contact” between the former general counsel and the acting inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security in its review of the Secret Service’s 2012 prostitution scandal.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, ranking Republican on the Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on contracting oversight, said at a hearing last week that “troubling aspects” of the review conducted by Homeland Security’s acting Inspector General Charles Edwards have led to questions about the IG’s independence.

Government sources familiar with a bipartisan investigation of Mr. Edwards conducted by Mr. Johnson and Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri Democrat and chairwoman of the subcommittee, say that Ms. McCaskill is steering clear of the matter, and that the Obama administration refuses to cooperate with the probe.

Mr. Johnson’s remarks came during a confirmation hearing for a nominee to replace John Sandweg, former general counsel at Homeland Security and a close ally of former Secretary Janet A. Napolitano, who appointed Mr. Sandweg as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement this summer.

“I’m concerned because I think we’ve seen what I would believe is improper contact between the inspector general and the general counsel’s office of Homeland Security,” Mr. Johnson said. “I’m trying to figure out what that wall of separation really ought to be to maintain the independence of the inspector general.”

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DOJ Lawyers Attacking Louisiana Voucher Program Tied to Liberal Causes

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Department of Justice attorneys pursuing the case against the Louisiana school choice program have a history of liberal advocacy, a fact that experts say calls into question the DOJ’s contention it is not against school vouchers.

The DOJ said it is not opposed to the voucher program in a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner (R., Ohio), insisting that it is only seeking information to ensure the state is in compliance with desegregation laws.

“We are neither opposing Louisiana’s school voucher program nor seeking to revoke vouchers from students,” the DOJ said. “When properly run, state and local voucher programs need not conflict with legal requirements to desegregate schools.”

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R.) said the move was nothing more than a “P.R. stunt.”

“While attempting to rebrand its legal challenge as merely an attempt to seek information about implementation of the scholarship program, the administration’s real motive still stands—forcing parents to go to federal court to seek approval for where they want to send their children to school,” Jindal said in a statement.

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IRS Watchdog: $67 Million Missing from Obamacare Slush Fund

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Photo Credit: thomasmoresociety

Photo Credit: thomasmoresociety

The IRS is unable to account for $67 million spent from a slush fund established for Obamacare implementation, according to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) report released today.

The “Health Insurance Reform Implementation Fund” (HIRIF) was tucked into Obamacare in order to give the IRS money to enforce the tax provisions of the healthcare law. The fund, totaling some $1 billion of taxpayer money, was used to roll out enforcement mechanisms for the approximately 50 tax provisions of Obamacare.

According to the report: “Specifically, the IRS did not account for or attempt to quantify approximately $67 million [from the slush fund] of indirect ACA costs incurred for Fiscal Years 2010 through 2012.”

The report also found several other abuses of taxpayer funds…

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Vatican Official: Pelosi Shouldn’t Receive Communion

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Photo Credit: Leader Nancy Pelosi

Photo Credit: Leader Nancy Pelosi

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke said that Nancy Pelosi should be denied communion because her support of abortion is in conflict of her Catholic faith. He took particular issue with the minority leader’s refusal to comment on abortionist and murderer Kermit Gosnell because she said “as a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground” for her.

“To say that these are simply questions of Catholic faith which have no part in politics is just false and wrong,” Cardinal Burke said in an interview with The Wanderer, a Catholic newspaper. “This is a person who obstinately, after repeated admonitions, persists in a grave sin — cooperating with the crime of procured abortion.”

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Top 5 Moments From Ted Cruz’s Epic Hours Long Anti-ObamaCare Speech

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Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore

Tea party conservative Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) stood tall against President Barack Obama’s health care law on Tuesday, vowing to speak until he could “no longer stand” in a bid to prevent Senate Democrats from restoring the Obamacare funds that the U.S. House voted to strip.

“I rise today in opposition to Obamacare,” Cruz said at 2:41 p.m. ET. He referred to the law as a job killer and a “liberal train wreck.” Seven hours later, he was still going strong.

Here are the top 5 moments from Cruz’s epic anti-Obamacare speech on the Senate floor…so far:

5. CRUZ COMPARES CONGRESS TO THE WWF
“It’s wrestling matches where it’s all rigged, the outcome is pre-determined. They know in advance who’s going to win and lose and it’s all for show!

4. #DEFUNDOBAMACAREBECAUSE: TED CRUZ READS YOUR TWEETS

In addition to the #DefundObamacareBecause hashtag that was trending on Twitter Tuesday, Sen. Cruz also noted that the #MakeDCListen was also gaining steam.

Cruz read a sampling of #DefundObamacareBecause tweets on the Senate floor on Tuesday, allowing the Americans to be directly involved in his effort to defund Obamacare.

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Meet the Man who Caught Cop on Camera Forcibly Removing his Pro-Gun Sign… And why his Attorney Says it Could be a ‘Really Big Deal’

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Photo Credit: Jon Gibson

Photo Credit: Jon Gibson

The man who caught a police officer on camera removing his pro-Second Amendment sign from his front yard says his “First Amendment rights are being stifled” — and he takes his constitutional rights very seriously.

Jon Gibson, of Lake Lincolndale, N.Y., told TheBlaze in an exclusive interview on Tuesday that he has retained an attorney and they are “considering our options moving forward.” His attorney, Richard Bombardo, said there is a potential case for “criminal trespassing, vandalism and larceny,” pending additional findings.

As TheBlaze reported on Monday night, Gibson was fed-up after his pro-gun sign was removed from his front yard for the third time. In response, he set up a hunting “trail camera” to catch the suspected thief when he or she came to take the sign for the fourth time.

He was shocked when he reviewed the images and discovered that a police officer with the Somers Police Department was responsible. Somers, N.Y., is a town located about 5 miles from Gibson’s home. However, the Somers police and fire departments serve his area.

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Miller Applauds Senators for Filibuster to Stop Obamacare, Calls on Alaskans to Join the Cause

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joe_millerFairbanks, Alaska. September 24, 2013 — Joe Miller today applauded Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee for their filibuster to stop funding for Obamacare.

“I applaud Ted Cruz and Mike Lee for standing up for the American people,” said Miller. “This is the moment of truth. Most Republicans ran on opposition to this “train wreck,” and now we’ll have an opportunity to see if they did so in good faith.”

Senator Mark Begich was the 60th and deciding vote on Obamacare, and has laughed off the question of whether he would vote to defund it. We’ll see if he’s laughing in November of 2014.

Miller’s declared primary opponent claims to support defunding Obamacare. But when asked by a Politico reporter whether he would “risk shutting down the government to defund the Affordable Care Act,” Mr. Treadwell responded:

“Do I like this kind of tactic? No, I believe that you need to have bipartisan conversation and sit down.”

As Senator Ted Cruz has reminded us, it took a whole lot of bipartisanship to get us $17 trillion into debt. “The need of the hour is to have more Senators and Representatives in Washington committed to holding Barack Obama accountable and offering real solutions to our nation’s daunting fiscal challenges, not to send reinforcing statist enablers and diplomats bent on negotiating our terms of surrender,” said Miller.

While others offer the charade of meaningless online petitions, Joe Miller is the only candidate who is willing to embrace the accountability of signing the Senate Conservatives Fund pledge to Defund Obamacare. Joe is calling on all Alaskans who stand in opposition to Obamacare to contact their senators and urge them to stand with Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in this important time. Senator Mark Begich: (877) 501-6275/Senator Lisa Murkowski: 202-224-6665

Obama at the UN: Still Absent on Freedom and Democracy

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Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

Photo Credit: Weekly Standard

In his speech today at the United Nations, President Obama continued his administration’s odd and somewhat schizophrenic policy with respect to freedom, human rights, and democracy.

In general, in principle, he is all for it. He said the United States “will continue to promote democracy, human rights, and open markets, because we believe these practices achieve peace and prosperity” though he also made clear that to him, this is not a “core interest” of the United States. He does mention in passing that we see “young people everywhere…who are eager to join the cause of eradicating extreme poverty, combating climate change, starting businesses, expanding freedom and leaving behind the old ideological battles of the past.” (Of course, one of those key ideological battles was precisely about freedom.) And Mr. Obama explains that “although we will be wary of efforts to impose democracy through military force, and will at times be accused of hypocrisy or inconsistency – we will be engaged in the region for the long haul. For the hard work of forging freedom and democracy is the task of a generation.”

Now this is very general. How does it apply when we deal with actual American foreign policy in a particular country? It does not.

The president said in this speech that “America’s diplomatic efforts will focus on two particular issues: Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

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Americans’ Belief That Gov’t Is Too Powerful at Record Level

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Six in 10 Americans (60%) believe the federal government has too much power, one percentage point above the previous high recorded in September 2010. At least half of Americans since 2005 have said the government has too much power. Thirty-two percent now say the government has the right amount of power. Few say it has too little power.

america's perception

These most recent data come from Gallup’s Governance survey, conducted Sept. 5-8. The 7% who feel the government has too little power has been mostly steady since Gallup started tracking the measure regularly in 2002.

Republicans and Democrats Divided on Views of Government

This new high encompasses Republicans (81%), who are now more likely than at any time since 2002 to say the government has too much power, and Democrats (38%), who now are more likely to say this than at any time since President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

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