China Deal Benefits Obama Donors

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The government watchdog group Judicial Watch is suing the Treasury Department for records pertaining to the department’s decision to grant a Chinese government-backed company access to oil deposits in the Gulf of Mexico, a move that will benefit Obama donors.

The Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) reached a “definitive agreement” with Nexen, Inc., a Canadian energy company, announced on July 23, 2012, to buy all of the company’s outstanding public shares. Nexen has holdings in the Gulf of Mexico and Canada, giving the Chinese government access to millions of barrels of Keystone XL and Gulf reserve oil.

Nexen’s holdings in the Gulf, coupled with the Chinese government’s ownership of CNOOC, meant the Treasury Department’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States had to approve the takeover, which it did on Feb. 12.

The secretaries of several major executive departments—including treasury, state, defense, and homeland security—sit on the committee.

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information on the deal in November, but the Treasury Department did not reply within the mandatory 20 days. Judicial Watch then filed suit on Feb. 14 to get access to the documents.

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High School Student Disarms Gunman . . . Gets Suspended

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A Florida high school student wrestled a loaded gun away from another teen on the bus ride home this week and was slapped with a suspension in return.

The 16-year-old Cypress Lake High student in Fort Myers, Fla. told WFTX-TV there was “no doubt” he saved a life after grappling for the loaded .22 caliber revolver being aimed point-blank at another student on Tuesday.

“I think he was really going to shoot him right then and there,” said the suspended student, not identified by WFTX because of safety concerns. “Not taking no pity.”

The student said the suspect, a football player, threatened to shoot a teammate because he had been arguing with his friend.

Authorities confirmed to WFTX the weapon was indeed loaded, and the arrest report stated the suspect, identified by WVZN-TV as Quadryle Davis, was “pointing the gun directly” at the other student and “threatening to shoot him.”

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Surrender: Rep. Issa Reportedly Cut Deal to Ease Up on Obama Investigations

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Photo Credit: Chris MaddaloniIn late February 1997, the second month of President Bill Clinton’s second term, the media was in a feeding frenzy over documents obtained by the House oversight panel that showed Clinton had used perks such as overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom to woo big-dollar donors.

Sixteen years later, a Democratic president begins his second term with Republicans controlling the House, and, as in 1997, the two parties are locked in a heated showdown over spending cuts.

But when The New York Times reported Feb. 22 that President Barack Obama’s campaign arm was offering quarterly meetings with the commander in chief for a $500,000 donation, the news was met with silence from California Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Issa, in his past two years as chairman of the panel, is turning over a new leaf, focusing on legislative work he hopes could buttress his legacy.

Despite the heated conflict of the past two years, the California Republican has brokered something of a truce with his combative foil, Maryland Democrat Elijah E. Cummings, the committee’s ranking member.

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RNC Event Snags 2016 Hopefuls

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Five of the most talked-about potential 2016 GOP presidential candidates will spend the weekend together next month huddling with top Republican donors near Miami.

The RNC has snagged former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to attend their quarterly finance meeting, according to an invitation obtained by POLITICO.

The Republican VIPs will convene at Coral Gables’ ritzy Biltmore Hotel over the weekend of March 9th-10th for an event that’s a perk for the RNC’s top donors. There’s a reception and dinner Friday, a full slate of events Saturday and a breakfast on Sunday. It’s less of a fundraiser than a chance for big givers to get face time with some of the biggest names in the party. RNC Chair Reince Priebus will also be in attendance and speak about the GOP’s future and will be joined by assorted other Republican members of Congress and officials.

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Moral Decay in Bull’s-Eye of Billboard, Banner Campaigns: ‘What Happens in Vegas, God Knows’

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A man who has been placing Ten Commandment billboards and displays around the country for several years says he is excited about WND founder Joseph Farah’s new billboard campaign to remind the public of their accountability to God’s moral law.

“If between us we can put thousands of these billboards and displays up, I truly believe America could turn around from the moral decay we have been seeing,” Philip Klevmoen founder of God’s Ten Commandments said.

Klevmoen founded the ministry in 2005 to draw people’s hearts back to God through public displays of the Ten Commandments, along with Scripture verses to convict people of their need to establish a relationship with God. The ministry provides banners as well as magnets and T-shirts of various sizes for display on vehicles.

“My goal is to have it where everywhere a person goes they will see the word of God, which will pierce their soul and remind them they are accountable for their sin before God,” he explained. “People can put it on the tailgates of their pickups or the sides of their vehicles. When a person is stuck behind or beside them in traffic they have God’s Ten Commandments in front of them where they cannot help but read them.”

He said one of the key people who motivated him to begin his ministry was Alabama state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. The judge is known as the Ten Commandments judge following his refusal to remove a display of the Ten Commandments from his state court building.

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Sanford Is Frontrunner in S.C. House Race, But Says Political Return ‘Humbling, Difficult’

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South Carolina’s unpredictable political universe is now in full orbit with a special election next month that features 18 congressional candidates including a former governor and two first-timers with celebrity last names.

That former Republican Gov. Mark Sanford is an early favorite for the seat he held from 1995 to 2001, despite having had an extra-marital affair while in office, is no surprise.

The open seat is in the conservative 1st congressional district, in largely conservative South Carolina. Furthermore, only Sanford appears to have the kind of political name recognition to raise enough money over such a short period.

“We’ve got a tight time frame, and Sanford’s name ID allows him to be the frontrunner,” said Republican strategist Adam Temple, who has worked for South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint and on Arizona Sen. John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Sanford told FoxNews.com this week he’s so far been humbled by the experience, with everybody from fellow state Republicans to everyday voters appearing ready to give him another shot at elected office.

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Wall Street Legend Warns: A ‘Storm’ Is Coming

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Photo Credit: BloombergNoted hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller, 59, on Friday warned that the U.S. economy is headed for a “storm” that could prove to be far worse than the financial meltdown of 2008.

But first, if you’re not familiar with his name, here’s what you need to know: He’s one of the most respected and successful hedge fund managers in the past 30 years.

Obviously, you don’t achieve that type of success (or notoriety) on Wall Street by running your mouth. That being said, if Druckenmiller, a former partner of billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros, is predicting serious economic trouble for the U.S., perhaps we should listen.

“I see a storm coming, maybe bigger than the storm we had in 2008, 2010. And really, the reason could happen without people looking as for a lot of similar reasons that we could get into,” he said during an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Stephanie Ruhle.

“But the basic the basic story is, the demographic bubble I was looking at way back in ’94 that started in 2011, we are right at the first ramp-up of this thing that is about to hit,” he added.

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College Shuts Down Student Bible Study

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Photo Credit: Town Hall Officials at a Florida college ordered a group of students to shut down a Bible study they were holding in the privacy of a dorm room – because it violated the rules.

The incident occurred at Rollins College in the midst of a campus battle over whether religious groups that require their leaders to follow specific religious beliefs are violating the school’s non-discrimination policies.

Four students affiliated with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship were holding an informal Bible study in the common area of a dorm suite. Midway through the study, a resident hall assistant entered the room and asked the student leading the study to step outside.

“He was told they were no longer allowed inside the dorm – even with the express consent of the students to do Bible studies,” said Greg Jao, InterVarsity’s national field director. “They said it was because InterVarsity was no longer a registered student group on campus.”

The well-known Christian ministry was de-recognized as an official campus organization after they refused to comply with the college’s non-discrimination policy.

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Report May Ease Path for New Pipeline

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Photo Credit: Larry W. SmithThe State Department issued a revised environmental impact statement for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline on Friday that makes no recommendation about whether the project should be built but presents no conclusive environmental reason it should not be.

The 2,000-page document also makes no statement on whether the pipeline is in the United States’ economic and energy interests, a determination to be made later this year by President Obama.

But it will certainly add a new element to the already robust climate change and energy debate around the $7 billion proposed project. The new report does not make any policy recommendations, but its conclusion that the environmental and climate change impacts are manageable could provide Mr. Obama political cover if he decides to approve the pipeline.

Although the study will help guide the president’s decision, it does not make the politics any easier. Environmental advocates and landowners along the route have mounted spirited protests against the project, including a large demonstration in Washington last month. They say they view Keystone as a test of Mr. Obama’s seriousness about addressing global warming.

The president faces equally strong pressure from industry, the Canadian government, most Republicans and some Democrats in Congress, local officials and union leaders, who say the project will create thousands of jobs and provide a secure source of oil that will replace crude from Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and other potentially hostile suppliers.

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Chocola: Rove Only Cares About GOP ‘Brand’

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photo credit: silas216Club for Growth President Chris Chocola says Republican strategist Karl Rove is more concerned about the packaging of GOP candidates than their political philosophy, a position he believes dismisses how voters feel about a candidate’s “core beliefs.”

“What Karl Rove and some of the establishment groups care about is only the brand,” Chocola told CBS’ “Face to Face” Thursday. “They only care if someone’s a Republican or not. They don’t really care what their core beliefs are.”

Chocola, whose own limited government group just targeted nine GOP congressmen for defeat because their voting records aren’t conservative enough, was referring to Rove’s Conservative Victory Project, which plans to target conservative Republican candidates whose views may be too extreme to get them elected.

Chocola says there’s a difference between how Club for Growth measures candidates and how Rove does it.

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