Grassley: Obama’s Immigration ‘Policies Are at Odds with the Rule of Law’

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(CNSNews.com) – Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Thursday that the Obama administration’s immigration polices are contrary to the rule of law.

“It’s well past time that the administration come to its senses and realize that their policies are at odds with the rule of law that our country was founded on,” Grassley said. “They must wake up and change their ways before it’s too late.”

Grassely also said it was “unfortunate” that the Senate Judiciary Committee learned about the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new policy of curbing routine checks for illegal aliens at transportation hubs along the northern border from an Associated Press news story.

“This is a serious situation that has been ignored by the secretary” of DHS, Grassley said at a Judiciary Committee session on Thursday, noting that he thought it was necessary to divert from the planned agenda to discuss DHS’s policy change.

DHS is headed by Secretary Janet Napolitano.

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 Read More at CNS News By Penny Starr, CNS News

Bill Gates Urges Obama to Embrace Global Tax

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When Barack Obama was a senator, he proposed a Global Poverty Act to fulfill the U.N.’s Millennium Development Goals. The cost in additional foreign aid: $845 billion. On Thursday, as part of the G20 summit, Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, delivered a report on “financing for development” that proposes global taxes on America and other “rich” nations to make the Global Poverty Act a reality.

“I am honored to have been given this important opportunity,” said Gates, founder of Microsoft. “My report will address the financing needed to achieve maximum progress on the Millennium Development Goals, and to make faster progress on development over the next decade.”

The report, available on the website of the Gates Foundation, proposes a financial transaction tax (FTT) as well as taxes on tobacco, aviation and bunker fuel, and carbon (energy), by G20 countries and other members of the European Union. The G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, European Union, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

On Wednesday, as part of the coordinated campaign to pass such a tax in the U.S., Democratic Senator Tom Harkin (Iowa) and Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio (Oregon) introduced legislation to put a tax on “certain trading activities undertaken by banking and financial firms.” What they didn’t say was that it would affect stocks and bonds bought and sold by the average American investor.

Kenneth Bentsen Jr., executive vice president for public policy and advocacy at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, said, “A financial transaction tax is essentially a sales tax on investors. At a time when we face a slow economic recovery, such a tax will impede the efficiency of markets and impair depth and liquidity as well as raise costs to the issuers, pensions and investors who help drive economic growth. Major economies that have adopted such taxes have had overwhelmingly negative results, including reduced asset prices, trading moving to other venues, market dislocation and decreased liquidity. We encourage Congress and the Administration to continue to resist efforts to implement such a tax.”

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 Read More at aim.org By Cliff Kincaid, aim.org

Republican run North Dakota: an economic success ignored by the Leftist media – it doesn’t “fit”

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A stunning story about the success of conservative Republican governance is taking place daily in North Dakota, and you’re never going to be told about it by our liberal media elites. The victory of elected officials who take seriously their oaths to honor and serve the public trust serves in sharp contrast to the abject failure of Democrat governance in Detroit.

NEWSMAX Magazine’s feature this month tells of North Dakota’s unemployment rate of just 3.5% compared to the national disgrace of this administration’s 9% of Americans out of work. Over the last ten years, the state “has created over 50,000 net new jobs” with average wage increases hiking to $11,287!”

Reporter David A. Patten ticks off such amazing state statistics as an economic growth of 6.68% over the last decade with the country’s overall growth is stagnant at “less than 1.5% for the first half of this year.”

An export growth of 303% during the Bush and Obama governance years coupled with more than doubling North Dakota’s gross domestic product would seem worthy of enormous praise in anyone’s play book. Yet, we hear virtually nothing about why that state is succeeding in the face of horrific economic and regulatory policies for its lignite coal and Bakken shale deposits.

Governor Jack Dalrymple and former Governor John Hoven have created a model that every state could implement even without their own Bakken. NEWSMAX said the two GOP leaders “embarked on a plan to make North Dakota as attractive to prospective businesses as possible.”

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Read More at Coach Is Right By Suzanne Eovaldi, Coach Is Right

A Subpoena for Solyndra

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Tired of the Obama administration’s “slow-walking” documents related to the Solyndra scandal, Republicans on a House panel voted today to subpoena all documents related to Solyndra. The motion to hold the Obama administration accountable passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee on a 14-9, party-line vote.

The measure authorizes committee chairman Rep. Fred Upton, R-MI, to issue a subpoena against leading figures in the administration, whom Republicans say have withheld pivotal documents that would allow them to understand how the government loaned and lost half-a-billion dollars to a Green energy firm known to be a credit risk.

Congressman Upton greeted the vote by saying the subpoena power “is a tool we use sparingly and only as a last resort. Today, it is our last resort.” Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-FL, who is also on the committee, added frankly, “I am not confident that we will have a good faith response from the White House without issuing a subpoena.” The White House, Stearns said, has been “slow-walking” its response.

Upton was more graphic, stating that prying these documents from the administration’s grip has been like “extracting a tooth without anesthesia.”

Although officials boast they have released 80,000 pages of material, Republicans reveal that much of the material has been irrelevant. The Obama administration has proven its bad faith by releasing reams of Solyndra documents to the press before handing them over to Congress — to allow friendly hands to frame the narrative before researchers have finished combing through the document dump.

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Read More at Floyd Reports By Ben Johnson, The White House Watch

Mitt Romney, the pretzel candidate

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The Republican presidential dynamic — various candidates rise and recede; Mitt Romney remains at about 25 percent support — is peculiar because conservatives correctly believe that it is important to defeat Barack Obama but unimportant that Romney be president. This is not cognitive dissonance.

Obama, a floundering naif who thinks ATMs aggravate unemployment, is bewildered by a national tragedy of shattered dreams, decaying workforce skills and forgone wealth creation. Romney cannot enunciate a defensible, or even decipherable, ethanol policy.

Life poses difficult choices, but not about ethanol. Government subsidizes ethanol production, imposes tariffs to protect manufacturers of it and mandates the use of it — and it injures the nation’s and the world’s economic, environmental, and social (it raises food prices) well-being.

In May, in corn-growing Iowa, Romney said, “I support” — present tense — “the subsidy of ethanol.” And: “I believe ethanol is an important part of our energy solution for this country.” But in October he told Iowans he is “a business guy,” so as president he would review this bipartisan — the last Republican president was an ethanol enthusiast — folly. Romney said that he once favored (past tense) subsidies to get the ethanol industry “on its feet.” (In the 19th century, Republican “business guys” justified high tariffs for protecting “infant industries”). But Romney added, “I’ve indicated I didn’t think the subsidy had to go on forever.” Ethanol subsidies expire in December, but “I might have looked at more of a decline over time” because of “the importance of ethanol as a domestic fuel.” Besides, “ethanol is part of national security.” However, “I don’t want to say” I will propose new subsidies. Still, ethanol has “become an important source of amplifying our energy capacity.” Anyway, ethanol should “continue to have prospects of growing its share of” transportation fuels. Got it?

Every day, 10,000 baby boomers become eligible for Social Security and Medicare, from which they will receive, on average, $1 million of benefits ($550,000 from the former, $450,000 from the latter). Who expects difficult reforms from Romney, whose twists on ethanol make a policy pretzel?

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Read More at The Washington Post By George F. Will, The Washington Post

 

Warning: Obama Ed aims at U.S. takeover

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An organization that monitors the U.S. government’s influence on education, and specifically on parents who choose to school their own children, is warning of a pending move in Washington that would result in “de facto national education standards.”

The measure could not only require parents who homeschool their children to teach certain government agenda issues but also effectively remove much of the decision-making authority of local school boards and districts, warns the Home School Legal Defense Association.

The organization focuses on issues affecting homeschool students and their parents in the United States and overseas but also keeps an eye on the larger picture of education policy

The concern is about Democrat-driven plans in the U.S. Senate to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, a massive federal program last reauthorized in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind Act.

“HSLDA’s federal relations staff have read this 868-page bill, and we believe that while it does not directly impact homeschool freedom, the bill will 1) increase the federal role in education at the expense of state, local and parental control, and 2) will greatly increase the pressure on states to align their curriculum and standards, resulting in de facto national education standards,” said the report compiled by Melanie P. Palazzo, the organization’s congressional action program director, and William A. Estrada of the organization’s federal relations office.

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 Read More at WND By Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily

Who’s to Blame for the “Do-Nothing Congress?” The Democrats

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Last week, President Obama blasted Congress for refusing to “act.” He’s right; it won’t. But Obama ought to focus the blame where it really belongs: on his own party. Because it’s the Democrats in Congress who are causing gridlock — intentionally — especially those in the Senate, which has been in Democratic hands for nearly five years now.

Expect them to keep it up. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid survived his re-election last year with a scorched-earth campaign and is shielded from voters through 2016, when he’ll be 77 and unlikely to seek re-election. He’s hell-bent on making sure the Senate does nothing — at least until after 2012. Why? Politics.

Following the 2010 election wave, which saw Republicans pick up a net 67 seats in the House and seven in the Senate, Reid faced a choice: Compromise for the good of the country by allowing bills to come to the floor with open debate and amendments or cynically begin plotting for the next election.

Guess which he chose? As Roll Call reported, citing Democratic operatives, “Reid has been effective in protecting his members from taking votes with potentially damaging political consequences.” With 22 incumbent Dems facing re-election next year, he’s determined to skirt any action that might threaten his caucus — and his slim majority. Public policy comes second.

The result: The only significant legislation the Senate has passed this year is so-called “must pass” bills (debt-ceiling hike, continuing resolutions to prevent a government shutdown, etc.). No legislation has passed to counter the unemployment crisis. None.

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Read More at Floyd Reports Matt Mackowiak, Floyd Reports

Some 15% of U.S. Uses Food Stamps

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Nearly 15% of the U.S. population relied on food stamps in August, as the number of recipients hit 45.8 million.

Food stamp rolls have risen 8.1% in the past year, the Department of Agriculture reported, though the pace of growth has slowed from the depths of the recession.

The number of recipients in the food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), may continue to rise in coming months as families continue to struggle with high unemployment and September’s data will likely include disaster assistance tied to the destruction and flooding caused by Hurricane Irene.

Mississippi reported the largest share of its population relying on food stamps, more than 21%. One in five residents in New Mexico, Tennessee, Oregon and Louisiana also were food stamp recipients.

Food stamp rolls exploded during the downturn, which began in late 2007. Even after the recession came to its official end in June 2009, families continued to tap into food assistance as unemployment remained high and those lucky enough to find jobs were often met with lower wages.

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 Read More at The Wall Street Journal By Phil Izzo, The Wall Street Journal

Tea Party Says Cities Favor Occupy Protesters

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Tea party activists on Thursday accused officials in at least four cities of giving preferential treatment to anti-Wall Street protesters, and one group in Richmond is asking the city to repay $8,000 spent for permits and other needs.

In addition to Richmond and Charlottesville, Va., tea party groups in Washington and Atlanta said Occupy protesters have openly defied police and local officials without consequence. A national tea party coordinator echoed those claims.

“If you’re law-abiding citizens, they’re going to make you follow every bit and letter of the law,” said Mark Meckler, national coordinator and co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. “What we’re talking about is selective enforcement of the law.”

Officials in those cities have denied accusations of favoritism, and authorities in other cities say they have had no such complaints. Pittsburgh officials said permits for events related to the First Amendment are routinely issued for free, and groups must provide their own portable sanitation. In Denver, Occupy protesters sleep on the sidewalk, which is legal in the city. And in Philadelphia, Occupy Philly organizers are going to be billed for expenses including electricity and portable toilets.

The tea party groups’ claims also come on the heels of mass arrests and shows of force in Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. In Atlanta, police in riot gear recently arrested more than 50 people who had been camped out in a city park. In Oakland, police clashes with protesters left an Iraq war veteran in critical condition with a skull fracture.

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 Read More at Newsmax newsmax.com

Buzz of Israel prepping for Iran attack just a smoke screen?

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NEW YORK – The media buzz claiming Israel is preparing an attack on Iran’s suspected nuclear installations has reached a fevered pitch. My information, however, indicates the Jewish state is prepping for a different war, an international effort that could potentially escalate into a direct confrontation with Iran.

If Israel were indeed on the brink of launching air raids on the mullahs, it would not first hold such a public discussion on the matter or leak to the news media the debate about the subject from within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet.

The visible Israeli military preparations, including this week’s missile tests, most likely are related to the strong possibility of a U.S.-NATO-led campaign against Israel’s Syrian neighbor to the north. The regime of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad – a key partner to Iran – has been accused of major human rights violations, including “crimes against humanity,” in clamping down on a violent insurgency targeting Assad’s rule. That uprising is in large part led by Muslim Brotherhood-oriented militants, some reportedly armed by Turkey.

The same “Responsibility to Protect” global doctrine used to justify the U.S.-NATO airstrikes in Libya could be applied to Assad. Responsibility to Protect, or Responsibility to Act, as cited by President Obama, is a set of principles, now backed by the United Nations, based on the idea that sovereignty is not a privilege but a responsibility that can be revoked if a country is accused of “war crimes,” “genocide,” “crimes against humanity” or “ethnic cleansing.”

Mass demonstrations were held last week in Syrian insurgent strongholds calling for the international coalition in Libya to deploy in Syria. Damascus officials claimed to me that NATO troops are currently training in Turkey for a Turkish-led NATO invasion of Syria. Separately, informed Middle East security officials said Iran has been inspecting Syrian forces and has been advising Syria about possible Syrian military responses should NATO attack Assad’s regime.

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 Read More at WND By Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily