Sharpton Fires Back At O’Reilly: Since When Are You The ‘Expert On What African-Americans Want?’

MSNBC’s Al Sharpton took Bill O’Reilly’s recent comments about race head-on Friday evening, after the Fox anchor singled him out last night for being “in business with people who put out entertainment harmful to children.” Sharpton called it “ridiculous” that O’Reilly is somehow the “expert on what the vast majority of African-Americans want.”

“In the time since George Zimmerman’s acquittal,” Sharpton declared, “some right-wingers have gone into overdrive to push the most negative stereotypes of the African-American community for their own gain.” He lumped O’Reilly in with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity as the “unholy triumvirate of right-wing reaction” that has “been desperate not to have a real conversation about the injustices of the justice system.”

Sharpton mocked O’Reilly and others for their sudden concern about gang violence in Chicago, something he said “many of us in African-American community” have been talking about for months. “Better late than never, I guess.” On O’Reilly’s focus on the breakdown of the African-American family, Sharpton asked, “Is Bill O’Reilly saying George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin because Trayvon was born out of wedlock, even though he wasn’t? That’s ridiculous, right?”

“All of this is an effort to avoid addressing the urgent topic that something is fundamentally flawed with our justice system if laws like Stand Your Ground allow a kid to be gunned down,” Sharpton continued. “But Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly don’t want to talk about that.”

Sarcastically calling O’Reilly the “expert on the vast majority of what African-Americans want,” Sharpton said, “we need a real conversation about justice in this country, not the same old right-wing divide and conquer garbage. Bill O’Reilly, the Willie Horton stuff has got to go.”

Watch video below, via MSNBC:

Via: Mediaite

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Green Jobs: Surely You’re Joking, Mr. President

In his speech at Knox College, President Obama laid out his plan for the Detroitification of America: higher taxes, higher spending, increased minimum wages, more mandates, and rerouting the path of upward mobility through tried-and-failed social programs.

He blames unfettered markets for taking America away from the halcyon days of the 1950s and 1960s, ignoring the phenomenal growth of taxes, spending, and regulation since then. His promise for more of the same makes you wonder if his teleprompter has been inverting his charts and tables.

However, in his depressing litany, he provided some comic relief by repeating the old green jobs joke that more expensive energy creates jobs. The punch line has been provided (repeatedly) by his own Administration’s Department of Labor. In a series of green jobs reports—which was mercifully ended by sequestration after only two reports—the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published tables that provide mirth beyond measure in the form of comical comparisons.

We have discussed those reports here, here, and here. A couple of points from those analyses illustrate the inanity of the reports’ conclusions:

• The BLS found 33 times as many green jobs in the septic tank and portable toilet servicing industry as in solar electricity utilities.
• The BLS determined that there were more green jobs collecting trash (not processing but simply collecting) than in either architectural services or engineering services

Via: The Foundry

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Catholic Hospital Association Continues to Provide Cover for ObamaCare's Abortion Funding

At the height of the contentious debate that surrounded health care reform in 2010, negotiations nearly ground to a halt due objections made by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) over abortion funding provisions in the legislation.  The USCCB, which is considered quite liberal in the American sense of the word on the issues of health care and health insurance, refused to give its blessing to what would become ObamaCare due to the legislation's funding for elective abortions.

At the time, ObamaCare appeared doomed.  Many Democrats stated that they could not support a health care bill which didn't include expanded abortion funding, while other pro-life Democrats (such as then-Rep. Bart Stupak and his "Stupak Dozen") refused to cede any ground and stood with the USCCB.  

Just when it appeared that this controversy would end the Democrats' latest attempt at "health care reform," the Catholic Hospital Association (CHA) intervened in an attempt to end the standoff.  As described by Slate shortly after ObamaCare became law:

In the run-up to passage of the health care bill, representatives of the nearly 60,000 U.S. nuns signed a letter in support of the health care bill, contra the bishops, because, they wrote, supporting better health care is "the real pro-life stance." From there, the dominoes toppled fast-Bart Stupak, the Catholic pro-life Democrat who'd refused to vote in favor of the bill because of the abortion question, initially dismissed the nuns' letter but then backed down and settled for an executive order on abortion of questionable import and scope. And the bill passed.

Via: The American Thinker

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LANDMARK FEDERAL STUDY: NO INDICATION FRACKING CONTAMINATES DRINKING WATER

PITTSBURGH (TheBlaze/AP) — A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, frequently referred to as fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press.

After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said.

Although the results are preliminary – the study is still ongoing – they are a boost to a natural gas industry that has fought complaints from environmental groups and property owners who call fracking dangerous.

Drilling fluids tagged with unique markers were injected more than 8,000 feet below the surface, but were not detected in a monitoring zone 3,000 feet higher. That means the potentially dangerous substances stayed about a mile away from drinking water supplies.

“This is good news,” said Duke University scientist Rob Jackson, who was not involved with the study. He called it a “useful and important approach” to monitoring fracking, but cautioned that the single study doesn’t prove that fracking can’t pollute, since geology and industry practices vary widely in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

The boom in gas drilling has led to tens of thousands of new wells being drilled in recent years, many in the Marcellus Shale formation that lies under parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia. That’s led to major economic benefits but also fears that the chemicals used in the drilling process could spread to water supplies.

Via: The Blaze

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Mike Lee, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Oppose Funding Obamacare

Twelve senators sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) Thursday afternoon declaring their intention to vote against any bill that contains funding for Obamacare.

The senators “believe the only way to avert disaster is to fully repeal Obamacare and start over with a more sensible, practical approach to reforming our healthcare system,” they wrote.

The signatories, led by Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah), include potential presidential hopefuls Sens. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Rand Paul (R., Ky.), and Marco Rubio (R., Fla.).

“However, if Democrats will not agree with Republicans that Obamacare must be repealed, perhaps they can at least agree with the president that the law cannot be implemented as written,” they wrote.  “If the administration will not enforce the law as written, then the American people should not be forced to fund it.”

The administration’s decision a few weeks ago to delay several key parts of Obamacare set off a firestorm among conservative groups and raised concerns among health care experts that the law would not be ready in time.

Following the administration’s announcements, the House leadership and all 46 Republican senators wrote letters to President Barack Obama asking that other parts of the law, including the individual mandate, be delayed as well.

The letter marks the first official salvo regarding the upcoming continuing resolution and Obamacare. If Congress does not pass a continuing resolution by the end of September, the federal government will shut down.

Via:WFB

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Even Before Memorial Defacement, Nat'l Park Service Was $11.5B Short for Maintenance

(CNSNews.com) - The defacement of the Lincoln Memorial, splashed with green paint overnight, comes at a difficult time for the National Park Service, which says it is running way short of money for maintenance projects.

In testimony before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday, the director of the National Park Service said at the end of fiscal 2012, the National Park Service faced an $11.5-billion backlog of deferred maintenance projects.

"This amount grows annually at a far greater rate than the Service is able to pay down," Jonathan Jarvis said.

Just to hold the backlog at $11.5 billion would require the NPS to spend nearly $700 million a year on deferred maintenance projects, he said. "To place this figure in perspective, the annual operating budget of the entire National Park Service in Fiscal Year 2012 was $2.2 billion."

The park service says it needs more money, not only to repair or maintain existing facilities and roads (half the maintenance backlog is roads and bridges), but also for visitor education and safety, resource protection and wildlife management.

"Congress charged the National Park Service with protecting these special places in perpetuity, and it is the fundamental responsibility of Congress to provide annual appropriations commensurate with the responsibilities it has given us to manage these special places," Jarvis said in his written statement to the committee.

Via: CNS News

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Obama to address Organizing for Action summit Monday

President Obama is scheduled on Monday to address supporters of Organizing for Action gathered for a day-long summit in Washington, an event that kicks off a month of stepped-up campaigning by the advocacy group.

Obama will speak at a “working dinner” of volunteers, donors and staff assembled at a downtown hotel, his second in-person address to OFA  since it launched in January. Other speakers will include Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood.

The meeting is part of what OFA has dubbed “Action August” – a month in which it aims step up pressure on lawmakers home for the summer recess over issues such as immigration reform, gun control and environmental protection.

“It’s all about making sure members of Congress hear directly from the people they represent, on the issues that matter to all of us,” OFA executive director Jon Carson wrote in an e-mail to supporters.

Via: Washington Post

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Unions ask Obama for Detroit bailout

Union leaders are calling on Congress and President Obama to provide a federal bailout to the city of Detroit.

The executive council of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, called for an “immediate infusion of federal assistance for Detroit” to be matched by Michigan, which they say has not done enough to keep the city from going through bankruptcy.

“Bankruptcy must not be used as a tool to impoverish city of Detroit workers or retirees. City workers have already made severe concessions to keep the city afloat,” the executive council said in a statement. “They are not to blame for Detroit’s financial problems, yet they have been making sacrifices all along the way to help the city out.”

The executive council, which consists of more than 50 leaders from various organized labor groups, are angry about pensions for retired workers facing suspension if Detroit goes through Chapter 6 bankruptcy.

“It appears that Governor [Rick] Snyder and [Emergency Financial Manager] Kevyn Orr are pushing Detroit into bankruptcy to gut the modest benefits received by Detroit’s retired public service employees,” the AFL-CIO’s statement reads.

Snyder appointed the emergency financial manager in March to try and help the Motor City sort out its finances. 

Via: The Hill

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Krauthammer’s Take: Voter-ID Laws ‘Utterly Logical’

Charles Krauthammer defended the constitutionality of voter-ID laws and criticized Attorney General Eric Holder for seeking to re-establish Justice Department review of Texas election law under the Voting Rights Act. “It seems utterly logical that you would have to ask for a simple demonstration that you are of age, that you live where you live, you aren’t a felon, and in fact that you haven’t voted an hour and a half before,” Krauthammer said.

The syndicated columnist also argued that case law is on the side of the states; he referred specifically to the 2008 Supreme Court case Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, in which a six-justice majority led by John Paul Stevens found that an Indiana law requiring voters to show an official photo ID was not unconstitutional. “What Holder is doing is, he wants to stigmatize [mandatory voter ID] and to go after any state that actually institutes it,” Krauthammer said, adding, “I think he’s got a very weak case.”

Via: National Review Online

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IRS employee union: We don’t want Obamacare

IRS employees have a prominent role in Obamacare, but their union wants no part of the law.

National Treasury Employees Union officials are urging members to write their congressional representatives in opposition to receiving coverage through President Obama’s health care law.

The union leaders are providing members with a form letter to send to the congressmen that says “I am very concerned about legislation that has been introduced by Congressman Dave Camp to push federal employees out of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program and into the insurance exchanges established under the Affordable Care Act.”

The NTEU represents 150,000 federal employees overall, including most of the nearly 100,000 IRS workers.

Like most other federal workers, IRS employees currently get their health insurance through the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which also covers members of Congress.

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House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp offered the bill in response to reports of congressional negotiations that would exempt lawmakers and their staff from ObamaCare.

Via: Washington Examiner

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