C.O.P.S. = Conservative Oversight of Progressive Stupidity
Since the CINOs (conservatives in name only) of the Republican party leadership will not attempt to stop President Obama's liberal leaning, I will post what he is doing for you.
#renewable #green #globalcooling #globalwarming In a reversal of a long-standing ban on most offshore drilling, President Barack Obama plans to allow oil drilling 50 miles off of Virginia and is considering opening up significant additional stretches along the Atlantic and Alaskan coasts.
Obama's plan will cover a lot of ground -- and water -- offering few concessions to environmentalists, who have been strident in their opposition to more oil platforms off the nation's shores. Hinted at for months, the move would modify a ban that has limited coastal drilling outside the Gulf of Mexico for more than 20 years.
The Los Angeles Times, citing administration officials, summed up the four biggest elements of the plan:
Eventually open two-thirds of the eastern Gulf's oil and gas resources for drilling. Proceed with drilling off Virginia, provided the project clears environmental and military reviews.
Study the viability of drilling off the mid- and southern Atlantic coasts.
Study the viability of drilling in Alaska's Beaufort and Chukchi seas -- areas hotly defended by environmentalists -- but issue no new drilling leases in either sea before 2013. Source: Huffy Puffy PostWARNING: This is a distraction to hide new draconian EPA standards that were issued.
Wind and Solar are NOT 24/7. They will not replace oil or coal fired power plants. Wind turbines use a lot of oil products.
The NYC Auto Show is suppose to have a lot of electric cars but all those will be charged at centralized coal fired power plants.
Obamacare costs big $$ #hcr #hci #abortion #obamacare As Americans learn the facts and figures of the massive health care reform package, House Minority Leader John Boehner warns "the tourism industry in New Hampshire facing millions of dollars in fines because it hires seasonal workers."
One provision targets employers who hire seasonal workers for at least 120 days and do not provide them health insurance.
A 750 dollars per employee fine in the senate version more than doubled to 2000 dollars a piece in the final draft.
"To have any kind of penalty on that additional amount of workforce could really prove disastrous to ski areas bottom line," says Alice Pearce, president of SkiNH.
Some of the larger ski resorts in New Hampshire, which hire up to 500 seasonal workers, could face a million dollar penalty.
Pearce is worried ski areas will have to reduce their seasonal workforces to make up the cost. Then they'll have to consider, "how do we staff and how do we adequately have enough employees to make sure that there isn't something missing on the guest services side?" Source: NECNMany businesses that use seasonal workers are just breaking even. These costs will be passed along to the consumer but some businesses will still have to shut down. And Obama will have caused more unemployment.
Thnx Mr Prez 4 creating jobs #college # education #unemployment Indiana's unemployment rate held steady in March, but with impending layoffs at Sallie Mae, the state may not be so lucky in April.
While Congress could not come to an agreement on single-payer health insurance, it did reach a consensus - or should we say reconciliation - in the correction passed on Thursday for a single-payer student loan program.
"You basically will be borrowing from the government as if it were a bank," said Sallie Mae Senior VP Jon Kroehler.
So the private partnership version of student lending, which is the heart and soul of Sallie Mae's business, gives way to direct government lending. Sallie Mae employs 8,500 people nationwide, with 1,700 of those working in Fishers and 700 more in Muncie. "We estimate that we will have 2,500 who will lose their jobs as a result of this. Some of those will happen almost immediately and some this summer, as the work dies down," Kroehler said.
"For Sallie Mae, unfortunately, it is very bad news for our employees. I will give you two answers," Kroehler said. "For Sallie Mae as a corporation long-term, we will be fine. For our employees, we are going to have a lot of employees, unfortunately, who are going to lose their jobs."
The company expects to have some answers for its employees by the middle of April. Source: WTHR TV Only 6% of the Obama administration has business experience so clearly they don’t have a clue on how to create jobs.
Silence the bad news facts. Obamacare costs big $$ #hcr #hci #abortion #obamacare Since the passage of ObamaCare, several major U.S. companies -- so far, they include AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, Deere, Valero Energy, AK Steel and 3M -- have announced that they expect the law to cost them billions of dollars in higher health care expenses.
This has prompted an angry Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and one of many Democrats who swore up and down that the measure would actually cut costs, to summon some of the executives to Capitol Hill to defend their assessment.
Rep. Waxman is also demanding that the executives give lawmakers internal company documents related to health care finances, a move one committee Republican describes to Byron York of the Washington Examiner as "an attempt to intimidate and silence opponents" of ObamaCare.
"Most of these people (in the administration) have never had a real job in their lives," a senior lobbyist for one of the firms told the American Spectator over the weekend. "They don't understand a thing about business, and that includes the president. My CEO sat with the president over lunch with two other CEOs, and each of them tried to explain to the president what this bill would do to our companies and the economy in general. First the president didn't understand what they were talking about. Then he basically told my boss he was lying."
Nor is this just coming from Republicans. One Democratic staffer affiliated with the Waxman committee told the magazine that neither Rep. Waxman nor Rep. Bart Stupak, chairman of the Oversight and Investigations panel, had anything more than a cursory understanding of how the many sections of the bill would impact business or even individuals before they voted on the legislation.
"We had memos on these issues, but none of our people, we think, looked at them," says the staffer. "When they saw the stories last week about the charges some of the companies were taking, they were genuinely surprised and assumed that the companies were just doing this to embarrass them. ... They just didn't understand what they were voting on."
And it's only just begun. Source: Las Vegas Review JournalGet memos, emails etc. to find something to embarrass companies into silence about how bad Obamacare is for America.
AT&T’s $1 billion hit from healthcare reform #obamacare # healthcare #hcr #hciBoeing is slashing the benefits of about 600 nonunion employees who provide support services to the military, claiming the move is needed to compete against other contractors.
In addition, the company said Friday almost 70 Machinists union members working at four Air Force bases are in line for similar cuts, an assertion the union vigorously denied.
Boeing said the benefit cuts affect only a specialized group of employees in its defense division who work at military bases around the U.S. and overseas. Their jobs include training Air Force F-15 and F-16 fighter pilots and providing maintenance and ground support to Navy aircrews.
They will be cut from Boeing's annual incentive-bonus plan, see their medical benefits drastically reduced and their sick leave discontinued. Also, the company will no longer make matching contributions to their 401(k) plan.
"These are substantial changes, we know that," said Boeing defense-unit spokesman Joe Tedino. "They are necessary changes we need to make to stay in this business."
a Boeing notice to affected nonunion employees this month said it will make these benefit cuts July 1:
• Raise the medical deductible to $500 per person, from $200.
• Cut medical-plan payments to 80 percent of costs after deductible, from 100 percent.
• Raise medical copays for office visits and prescriptions.
• Cut annual maximum dental benefit in half, to $1,000.
• Cut short-term disability pay to 60 percent of base salary from 80 percent.
• Discontinue severance pay and sick leave.
• Exclude employees from Boeing's annual incentive plan.
• Discontinue company matching contributions to employee 401(k) plan.
Tedino said 68 members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union working at Air Force bases in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Utah are expected be similarly affected as their contracts expire.
But Mark Blondin, national aerospace coordinator for the IAM, said Boeing won't be able to impose the same cuts on the union.
"We have contracts in place. Any cuts will have to be negotiated," he said. "These types of cuts will be unacceptable." Source: Seattle TimesAs Obama and the Socialist Congress of America hopes will occur, companies are starting to dump private healthcare insurance.
South Pole is cold! #renewable #green #globalcooling #globalwarming Famed global warming activist James Schneider and a journalist friend were both found frozen to death on Saturday, about 90 miles from South Pole Station, by the pilot of a ski plane practicing emergency evacuation procedures.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing", recounted the pilot, Jimmy Dolittle. "There were two snowmobiles with cargo sleds, a tent, and a bright orange rope that had been laid out on the ice, forming the words, 'HELP-COLD'".
One friend of Prof. Schneider told ecoEnquirer that he had been planning a trip to an ice sheet to film the devastation brought on by global warming. His wife, Linda, said that she had heard him discussing the trip with his environmental activist friends, but she assumed that he was talking about the Greenland ice sheet, a much smaller ice sheet than Antarctica.
Mr. Dolittle related how some people do not realize that, even if there has been warming in Antarctica, the average temperature at the South Pole in July still runs about 70 degrees F below zero. "Some people think that July is warm everywhere on Earth."
"And I was surprised to see how close they got to South Pole Station. They ran through all of their gas supplies for the snowmobiles", explained Doolittle. "They had cold weather gear and clothes, but during this time of year you just don't go outside unless it is an emergency."
"At least James died for something he believed in", said Mrs. Schneider. "He died while trying to raise awareness of the enormous toll that global warming is taking on the Earth." Source: ECO Enquirer
APRIL FOOLS: EcoEnquirer is a satire site. Click on the disclaimer link at the bottom of the page.
#seder #Jerusalem #Muslim #PalestineAs Jews throughout the world gather for Passover seders on Monday evening, the world's most prominent political leader will be hosting one of his own.
For the second straight year, U.S. President Barack Obama will hold a seder at the White House with a group of family members, aides and friends.
Among those expected to be in attendance are senior advisors David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett as well as first lady Michelle and Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia.
Passover begins at sundown on Monday and celebrates the Jewish exodus from Egypt after 400 years of slavery. The holiday concludes at sundown on Tuesday April 6th.
Last year at the White House, the seder meal included matza, gefilte fish, bitter herbs, a roasted egg and greens in the family dining room in the executive mansion. The main course was brisket.
The presidential seder also included readings from the Haggadah, the religious text of the holiday meal. Obama's daughters Sasha and Malia asked the four questions and also found the afikomen.
The White House seder is a private affair, with no Jewish leaders on the guest list.
Given recent tensions between the U.S. and Israel over construction in East Jerusalem, there will no doubt be some in the room who smile with irony at the traditional seder-ending declaration: "Next Year in Jerusalem".
Perhaps Obama will add a caveat to exclude Ramat Shlomo. Source: Haaretz.com Ramat Shlomo is the East Jerusalem neighborhood that is causing tensions between the U.S. and Israel.Some at Democrat Underground thinks this proves he isn’t Muslim and laughs at what the right wingnuts will think about the story.
What I think is Obama is not Jewish either so how does that prove or disproves that he is Muslim.
Wind farms increase food costs #renewable #green #farming Bill Durdan has farmed northeast of Grand Ridge for 43 years and often relied on crop dusters. Now, however, he has been told his proximity to wind turbine towers will prevent him from receiving that service. The cost to him could be lost crops and lost revenue, he told the La Salle County Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday evening.
The board was considering a special use application for the Top Crop wind farm proposed by Horizon Wind Energy for Allen Township.
Durdan lives in the already developed Grand Ridge wind farm area. He said was there to alert the board of the problem. Durdan does not have Grand Ridge turbines on his land, but he does have seven of them on three sides of his property within a half mile. That nearness led the aerial sprayer he deals with to advise him he could no longer provide his services to Durdan, and that even if he could it would be at a 50 percent surcharge.
Sprayers charge more around wind farms because they have to take lighter loads and the spraying takes longer in order to negotiate the wind towers.
Durdan considers aerial spraying necessary to apply fungicides to increase crop production and in emergencies. Two years ago, he said, he called in aerial sprayers after an aphid infestation and they responded in six hours. He also is concerned about the availability of aerial sprayers if soybean rust makes its way to La Salle County. If it hits, he said, a fungicide spraying is necessary within 36 hours—otherwise a 50 to 60 percent crop loss could be expected.
He said ground sprayers could not respond quick enough.
Durdan is concerned about the financial losses and wanted to know who would make good on them, if they happen, and aerial spraying surcharges, if he could arrange for them.
He contacted Invenergy, the Grand Ridge wind farm operator.
"They said they had crossed all their t's and dotted all their i's and they didn't have to do anything—but they were willing to negotiate just to be a good neighbor."
Joel Link of Invenergy, who was sitting in on the zoning meeting, said the company would work with property owners. "We understand it's an issue, but we have not decided what path to take." He said the company probably would not agree out of hand to pay all the surcharges.
Kim Schertz of Hudson, who works in her husband's crop dusting business, said the problem is pilots simply can not safely pull up and make the necessary turns in a wind farm area.
"These guys are good, but they're not kamikazes."
Those willing to fly in wind farms typically were the "egotistical young bucks" with less insurance and willing to take greater risks with their flying.
Schertz said her husband told her he can feel turbine turbulence as far as two miles away.
"But the bigger issue is that if we're 100,000 acres behind, do you think we're going to screw around with trying to get your fields first if they're the most dangerous, most expensive and most difficult to do?" Source: My Web TimesIf crop dusters charge a surcharge for farms around wind farms, the cost gets passed to the consumer.
Kudos, Mr. President #iraq #waronterrorism I do sometimes wonder whether all his townhall meetings are just an excuse to fly on Air Force One. And I do wonder why he made this trip? He does most the time get national security right.
Was the trip to counter moral downer of removing Burger King, Pizza Hut and other touches of home that are being removed?
They still won’t pay 4 it #paygo Bunning not holding it up Image Source: Report that Dems were blocking UE last October.The Senate Thursday adjourned until April 12 without extending unemployment insurance benefits due to expire April 5.
Attempts to pass a 30-day extension of federal unemployment benefits were thwarted yesterday by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla), supported by fellow Republicans and a few Democrats who wanted the measure paid for out of unused stimulus funds.
The majority of Senate Democrats thought the extension should be passed as an emergency measure without being funded by stimulus dollars.
Because of the stalemate, federal COBRA subsidies and flood insurance programs will expire March 30, and unemployment benefits will expire April 5.
Senators plan to pass legislation when they come back. "Whatever we do will be retroactive," said Michigan Senator Debbie Stabenow in a Time report. Source: Mlive Dems still have a majority. Dems knew the extension deadline but waited to the last day to deal with it. Dems knew they were leaving town for two weeks but waited to the last day to deal with it. Dems knew the GOP would want to obey the PAYGO law and pay for the extension now. Some dems voted to obey the PAYGO law.
The stimulus funds were supposed to create long term jobs. A large chunk of those funds are still in the bank doing nothing. The republicans want to use a portion of the stimulus funds to pay for the unemployment extension so the unemployed can pay bills and put food on their table. The socialists say screw the unemployed we want the stimulus funds to remain it the bank. The funds may be needed for some “green” project.
Democrats: Laws? Laws? We don’t need to obey no stinkin’ PAYGO laws!
And why is the extension again only for one month?
The unemployment extension ends in a week but Congress is on vacation for two weeks. Senate dems agreed to obey PAYGO for a one week so the extension remains in effect until Congress gets back. House dems said they would be refuse to obey PAYGO for even one week so the extension will expire April 5th.
Is the media liberal? #paygo unemployment extension News media version of the failure of Senate to extend unemployment extension:
Attempts to pass a 30-day extension of federal unemployment benefits were thwarted yesterday by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla), supported by fellow Republicans and a few Democrats who wanted the measure paid for out of unused stimulus funds.
The majority of Senate Democrats thought the extension should be passed as an emergency measure without being funded by stimulus dollars. Source: Mlive
My version of the failure of Senate to extend unemployment extension:
Attempts to pass a 30-day extension of federal unemployment benefits were thwarted yesterday by Senate Democrats who thought the extension should be passed as an emergency measure without being funded by stimulus dollars.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla) used a procedural step to insure obeying the PAYGO law was not bypassed by the Democrats. Coburn was supported by fellow Republicans and a few Democrats who wanted the measure paid for out of unused stimulus funds.
The unemployment extension ends in a week but Congress is on vacation for two weeks. Senate Democrats agreed to obey the PAYGO law for a one week so the extension would remain in effect until Congress got back from vacation. House Democrats said they would refuse to obey the PAYGO law for even one week so the Senate compromise fell through. The extension will expire April 5th.
Both sides wanted the 30-day extension of federal unemployment benefits passed.
...of fast food. #iraq #afghanistan #terrorism President Obama orders withdrawal from Afghanistan...of fast food.
President Obama has begun withdrawing fast food restaurants from the battlefield in Afghanistan, reports AOL News. Major fast food outlets like Orange Julius, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Dairy Queen will be shut down in U.S. bases in the country in preparation for the troop surge. Nonessential luxuries are being cleared to refocus resources on combat operations and forward bases. The BBC noted that General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, "expressed concern that burger bars, pizza restaurants and other stores... served as a distraction to the military mission." Source: Huffy Puffy PostIn principle, I can see what they are saying.
But the pizza, burgers and such are still going to be served so it basically takes up the same space.
What about the moral of soldier eating something from "home" like Pizza Hut or going to a TGI Fridays "restaurant"?
Did Dems accept any? #hcr #hci #abortion #obamacare Some Senate amendments to the House bill that would “fix” Obamacare:
S.Amdt. 3668 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Vitter Amdt. No. 3668; To increase women's access to breast cancer screenings. (see below - Agreed to - Motion to Table means amendment was rejected.)
S.Amdt. 3635 - Rejected - Motion to Waive All Applicable Budgetary Discipline Re: Hutchison Amdt. No. 3635; To repeal the sunset on marriage penalty relief and to make the election to deduct State and local sales taxes permanent.
S.Amdt. 3645 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Risch Amdt. No. 3645; To repeal the limitation on itemized medical expense deductions.
S.Amdt. 3568 - Rejected - Motion to Waive All Applicable Budgetary Discipline Re: Bennett Amdt. No. 3568; To protect the democratic process and the right of the people of the District of Columbia to define marriage.
S.Amdt. 3681 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Bunning Amdt. No. 3681; To allow individuals to elect to opt out of the Medicare part A benefits.
S.Amdt. 3577 - Rejected - Motion to Waive All Applicable Budgetary Discipline Re: Roberts Amdt. No. 3577; To protect Medicare beneficiary access to hospital care in rural areas from recommendations by the Independent Payment Advisory Board.
S.Amdt. 3553 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Vitter Amdt. No. 3553; To repeal the government takeover of health care.
S.Amdt. 3652 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Burr Amdt. No. 3652; To protect the integrity of Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense health care programs for veterans, active-duty service members, their families, widows and widowers, and orphans who have sacrificed in defense of our Nation.
S.Amdt. 3651 - Rejected - Motion to Waive All Applicable Budgetary Discipline Re: Gregg Amdt. No. 3651; To provide for a long-term fix to the Medicare sustainable growth rate formula in order to improve access for Medicare beneficiaries.
S.Amdt. 3644 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Hatch Amdt. No. 3644; To protect access for America's wounded warriors.
S.Amdt. 3588 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Inhofe Amdt. No. 3588; To exclude pediatric devices for persons with disabilities from the medical device tax.
S.Amdt. 3579 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Roberts Amdt. No. 3579; To strike the medical device tax.
S.Amdt. 3640 - Rejected - Motion to Waive All Applicable Budgetary Discipline Re: Thune Amdt. No. 3640; To repeal the CLASS Act.
S.Amdt. 3639 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Thune Amdt. No. 3639; To ensure that no State experiences a net job loss as a result of the enactment of the SAFRA Act.
Table S.Amdt. 3638 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Collins Amdt. No. 3638; To improve the bill by waiving the $40,000 penalty on hiring previously unemployed individuals.
S.Amdt. 3608 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Hutchison Amdt. No. 3608; To protect the right of States to opt out of a Federal health care takeover.
S.Amdt. 3556 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Coburn Amdt. No. 3556; To reduce the cost of providing federally funded prescription drugs by eliminating fraudulent payments and prohibiting coverage of Viagra for child molesters and rapists and for drugs intended to induce abortion.
S.Amdt. 3586 - Rejected - Motion to Waive All Applicable Budgetary Discipline Lemieux Amdt. No. 3586; To enroll Members of Congress in the Medicaid program.
S.Amdt. 3564 - Rejected - Motion to Waive Sec. 313 of the CBA Grassley Amdt. No. 3564; To make sure the President, Cabinet Members, all White House Senior staff and Congressional Committee and Leadership Staff are purchasing health insurance through the health insurance exchanges established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
S.Amdt. 3582 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Barrasso Amdt. No. 3582; To ensure that Americans can keep the coverage they have by keeping premiums affordable.
S.Amdt. 3570 - Agreed to - Motion to Table McCain Amdt. No. 3570; To eliminate the sweetheart deals for Tennessee, Hawaii, Louisiana, Montana, Connecticut, and frontier States.
S.Amdt. 3567 - Agreed to - Motion to Table Gregg Amdt. No. 3567 As Modified; To prevent Medicare from being used for new entitlements and to use Medicare savings to save Medicare.
Source: US Senatemotion to table - A Senator may move to table any pending question. The motion is not debatable, and agreement to the motion is equivalent to defeating the question tabled. The motion is used to dispose quickly of questions the Senate does not wish to consider further.
The CLASS Act – an acronym for the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act – would establish a national long-term care insurance program. Proponents claim that it would help seniors and the disabled pay for things like an in-home caretaker or adult day services – all while purportedly lowering the federal budget deficit.
The CLASS program is designed to be self-financed by monthly premiums deducted from workers' paychecks. Participants in the program would be eligible for cash benefits of $50 to $100 per day if they became disabled – but only if they had paid premiums for at least five years.Yes the Viagra sex offender amendment was a nuisance amendment but the liberals are now going to have to defend voting for federally funded Viagra for sex offenders.
But really look at the others that the liberals rejected and ask yourself are the really nuisance amendments.
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