[EDITORIAL] Keystone pipeline delay insults taxpayers

For many Americans, the Keystone XL pipeline seems like an artifact from the last decade, like the death of Michael Jackson or Captain "Sully" Sullenberger landing a jetliner in the Hudson River. The pipeline, however, is still unfinished, still needing White House approval to cross the Canadian border.

Even more bizarrely, the southern half of the pipeline, running from Oklahoma to Port Arthur, has been completed. All it needs is tar sands oil from Canada to be fed into its northern half.

President Obama still claims he's just following normal procedures. But the political reality is that he doesn't want to approve the pipeline to placate his environmental supporters ... but he doesn't want to kill it either. So it remains in limbo and may stay that way until Obama leaves the White House.

By now the federal review of the pipeline has set some kind of dubious bureaucratic record. It has gone on for nearly seven years, more than five times the average for other pipeline applications. It's a good thing these people weren't in charge of World War II, or D-Day might still be on the drawing board.

Ironically, the current procedure that Obama is slow-walking was put in place by PresidentGeorge W. Bush to speed up these reviews.Robert McNally, an energy adviser to Bush, said approving a pipeline permit "was seen as the most routine, boring thing in the world."

The real victim in all this is the American people. The pipeline will bring more oil and thus lower gasoline prices to this country. If the Canadians can't sell their oil to us, they'll sell it to China. That will create more pollution and strengthen a key adversary.

Members of Congress have been demanding action, but the president has ignored them. He might listen if voters made it clear that there's a price for this dawdling. If nothing else, all current candidates for the presidency should state forcefully whether they will approve or disapprove this pipeline after all these years.

Via: Beaumont Enterprise

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15 States Finally Standing Up Against Obama’s Unconstitutional Regulations

Fifteen State Attorney Generals have filed suit against Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency for their sweeping and unconstitutional carbon regulations.

The fifteen states who petitioned the court on Thursday are West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

If you are like me, you are wondering where your state is in the list.

The Blaze reports that under the unconstitutional regulations, the EPA will “regulate the electricity industry and require states and utility companies to meet goals, providing rewards and penalties.”

EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia told Reuters, “To ensure that the Clean Power Plan’s significant health benefits and progress against climate change are delivered to all Americans, EPA and the Department of Justice will vigorously defend it in court.”

Fine, but you have no constitutional authority to do so.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said, “This rule is the most far-reaching energy regulation in the ... to transform itself from an environmental regulator to a central planning agency for states’ energy economies. The Clean Air Act was never intended to be used to create this type of regulatory regime, and it flies in the face of the powers granted to states under the U.S. Constitution.”

The attempt by the states could be more easily dismissed through nullification of EPApolicies, since they are not even law and since the EPA is an unconstitutional agency. However, something had to be done immediately.

“If we were to wait on the EPA to get this rule published, it could be well into 2016 before the States complete arguments and receive a ruling on a request to stay this rule,” Attorney General Morrisey said. “By that time, many states will already be in the middle of drafting their compliance plans ahead of the September 2016 deadline. We want to ensure that no more taxpayer money or resources are wastefully spent in an attempt to comply with this unlawful rule that we believe will ultimately be thrown out in court.”

“While this request is not typical, the EPA is playing games by putting the risk of a delay in publication entirely on the states,” Morrisey added. “We hope the court will spare our states any more unnecessary harm, and that the EPA will not needlessly delay the publication date.”

Of course, Barack Obama, being the Marxist that he is, called the unconstitutional measures “the single most important step the U.S. has ever taken to fight climate change.”

The problem is that there is no climate change. There is no global warming. All of this is false science in order to extort money from the American people, impose communism inAmerica, shutdown business and eventually control the people.

“This is one of those rare issues because of its magnitude, because of its scope, that if we don’t get it right, we may not be able to reverse it,” Obama said. “There is such a thing as being too late when it comes to climate change. That doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. We can take action.”

The problem is that men do no create the weather or change the climate. God does. He determines how far the seas go (Job 38:8-11) and how hard the winds blow (matt 4:39). Yes, even hurricanes, tempests and such are at His command. Climate change is nothing more than a ruse. It is a lie because it comes from those whose father is the father of lies (John 8:44), the devil.

It’s long past time that states began to start banding together to ignore, not go to court with, the federal government in matters like this. Furthermore, they should ignore the court’s ruling, which is just that (ie. A ruling), and begin nullifying and interposing themselves between citizens, businesses and other entities in the states and the federal government.

Better yet, why don’t we simply band together to eliminate the federal government altogether and go back to sovereign states and Articles of Confederation. That would eliminate much of the tyranny that is strangling us today.

Via: Tea Party Command Center

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Oklahoma Governor Issues Executive Order Authorizing Officials To Arm Full-time Military Personnel At Certain Facilities…

In response to the attack on Marines in Tennessee, Gov. Mary Fallin has authorized Oklahoma military officials to arm full-time personnel at facilities similar to the ones that were attacked on Thursday.

On Friday, Gov. Fallin issued an executive order that allows Maj. Gen. Robbie Asher to arm certain full-time personnel in military installations throughout Oklahoma.

“Four unarmed Marines were killed in what appears to be a domestic terrorist attack,” Gov. Fallin said. “It is painful enough when we lose members of our armed forces when they are sent in harm’s way, but it is unfathomable that they should be vulnerable for attack in our own communities. For that reason, I want to make sure that our National Guardsmen are authorized to arm themselves at our military facilities.”

The personnel may be armed with weapons that “adequately provide for security of the facilities and their occupants.”

Those facilities include military recruiting offices.

“This attack is a horrible tragedy for our country and especially those in the State of Tennessee,” she said. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who were killed.”

Denying a soft target for the terrorists.

Via: Weasel Zippers

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Obama to free dozens of inmates, tour federal prison this week

President Obama arrives to join first lady Michelle Obama (not pictured) to welcome children to a Kids’ State Dinner at the White House. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

President Obama will use his clemency power to release dozens of inmates from federal custody this week, doubling the commutations he’s granted so far and reassuring advocates that he is serious about using his executive authority to free people serving long decades for nonviolent crimes.

If the president grants another 40 or so commutations as expected, he will have shortened the sentences of more prisoners than any president since Gerald Ford, who extended clemency to thousands of Vietnam draft dodgers. (Obama’s record on pardoning ex-convicts outside of prison, however, has remained stingy by historical standards.)

The commutations will be granted during a criminal-justice-heavy week for the president. On Tuesday, he addresses the NAACP’s annual conference in Philadelphia, where he will speak about the need to reform mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent crimes, which disproportionately affect men and women of color. On Thursday, Obama will travel to El Reno prison in Oklahoma, becoming the first sitting president to tour a federal prison, according to White House spokesman Josh Earnest. The president will also give an interview to VICE magazine at the prison, on his criminal justice reform efforts.

Last year, the Obama administration made a historic call for applications from prisoners serving more than a decade in prison for nonviolent crimes that would have been prosecuted less harshly today. Obama is expected to shorten the sentences of hundreds of these prisoners before he leaves office, though the White House maintains there is no set number of commutations. The president has shown a special interest in people sent away for decades for crack cocaine violations, which were punished 100 times more harshly than powder cocaine until Congress scaled down that gap in 2010.

Obama may cross paths with one such prisoner seeking his clemency when he visits the federal prison in Oklahoma on Thursday. Douglas Dunkins, 49, has served more than 20 years of a life sentence at El Reno for dealing crack cocaine. (If Dunkins had been convicted of dealing the same amount of powder cocaine, his sentence would have been 20 years.) The judge in Dunkins’ case expressed discomfort with the mandatory minimum laws that forced him to put a 26-year-old with no prior felonies on his record in prison for life.

Via: Yahoo

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Yay Obamacare! Health Insurance Companies Seeking Big Increases, 20 To 40% (Or More) In 2016

But we’ll be saving $2500 on premiums, right?

Washington- Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected. Federal officials say they are determined to see that the requests are scaled back.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans — market leaders in many states — are seeking rate increases that average 23 percent in Illinois, 25 percent in North Carolina, 31 percent in Oklahoma, 36 percent in Tennessee and 54 percent in Minnesota, according to documents posted online by the federal government and state insurance commissioners and interviews with insurance executives.

The Oregon insurance commissioner, Laura N. Cali, has just approved 2016 rate increases for companies that cover more than 220,000 people. Moda Health Plan, which has the largest enrollment in the state, received a 25 percent increase, and the second-largest plan, LifeWise, received a 33 percent increase.Washington- Health insurance companies around the country are seeking rate increases of 20 percent to 40 percent or more, saying their new customers under the Affordable Care Act turned out to be sicker than expected. Federal officials say they are determined to see that the requests are scaled back.

Via: Weasel Zippers

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Supreme Court upholds use of drug implicated in botched executions

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the use of a controversial drug that has been implicated in several botched executions. Two of the justices said for first time that death penalty itself probably is unconstitutional.

The justices voted 5-4 in a case from Oklahoma that the sedative midazolam can be used in executions without violating the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

The drug was used in executions in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma in 2014 that took longer than usual and raised concerns that it did not perform its intended task of putting inmates into a coma-like sleep.

Justice Samuel Alito said for a conservative majority that arguments the drug could not be used effectively as a sedative in executions is speculative.

In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said, "Under the court's new rule, it would not matter whether the state intended to use midazolam, or instead to have petitioners drawn and quartered, slowly tortured to death, or actually burned at the stake."

Alito responded, saying "the dissent's resort to this outlandish rhetoric reveals the weakness of its legal arguments."

In a separate dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer said the time has come for the court to debate whether the death penalty itself is constitutional. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined Breyer's opinion.

The Supreme Court's involvement in the case began in January with an unusually public disagreement among the justices over executions.

Via: Fox News

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Sequoyah Elementary School Takes Proactive Steps to Ensure Inclusion for All

The name Sequoyah is synonymous with education and progress. Sequoyah, the great legendary Cherokee figure, worked towards these goals and preserved his native language by creating the first Cherokee alphabet, eventually propelling it to be the strongest surviving indigenous American language. In the spirit of his name, the Sequoyah Elementary School also takes great strides towards education and progress. In working to make a more open and accepting environment for its students, the school is creating a more productive learning environment.

On Tuesday morning, upon invitation by school officials, Adam Soltani and Veronica Laizure of the Council on American Islamic Relations Oklahoma Chapter held a diversity-training program for the school’s educational staff. In this diversity-training program, the two CAIR officials made presentations outlining some of the basics of the Islamic faith and the challenges faced by Muslim Students, and they answered questions in an environment which was truly open and inviting.

Veronica, CAIR Oklahoma’s Civil Rights Director, gave an outline of some of the basic tenets of Islam and showed the teachers how these would affect their students in their school. Her topics ranged from the significance and procedure of prayer and proper religious attire, to the meaning and scheduling of Islamic holy days. She and Adam also answered questions on how these religious matters would affect the students in during the school day and how to have an open, comfortable dialogue with Muslim families to facilitate a productive environment.

Executive Director Adam Soltani gave the next presentation on how “Islamic Extremism” is perceived in the public and in the media. He also inspired an insightful discussion on how miscommunication and misunderstanding can cause problems for the overwhelming majority of Muslims who do not prescribe to this extremist ideology. These problems can be especially harmful to young students, which can affect the way that society continues to develop in the future as a whole.

The diversity-training program at Sequoyah Elementary School was a positive step forward in the cause of making our community more inclusive and open for all. From my own perspective, as a white-American-born-Muslim convert, I often find myself living in the midst of a common identity crisis among Muslim converts: that of living in two different worlds at the same time. This identity crisis is often exacerbated by feelings of abandonment and isolation because of personal choices, and it often results in an individual feeling as if they must abandon everything about one of these identities in order to be accepted in one of these worlds. Educational events like this go a long way as to help encourage inclusiveness in our society and ensure that these worlds do not become mutually exclusive.

Setting aside all personal feelings and opinions towards Islam, in this event, a group of adults got together and learned about Islam in order to achieve this common goal of creating an open and inclusive educational environment for the children of the community.

No matter what our beliefs are, we can all agree that our public schools need to be as open and inclusive as possible to create a more positive and productive learning environment; we can all agree that the education and protection of the children is more important than personal dogma. We hope that other schools and organizations will follow Sequoyah Elementary’s example.

Via: Cair Oklahoma
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Texas Governor Declares States Of Emergency, More Severe Weather Expected…

 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Monday described the flash flooding that had killed at least three people in his state as "a relentless wall of water that mowed down huge trees like they were grass."

Abbott declared states of disaster in 24 counties and flew over the area south of Austin to assess the damage caused by tornadoes, heavy rainfall, thunderstorms and flooding that forced evacuations and rooftop rescues and left thousands of residents without electrical power.

"This is the biggest flood this area of Texas has ever seen," Abbott said.

"It is absolutely massive - the relentless tsunami-type power of this wave of water," the governor said.

He described homes that were "completely wiped off the map" by the dangerous weather system that struck Texas and Oklahoma.

Widespread severe thunderstorms were forecast to continue on Monday in north-central and northeast Texas and southern Oklahoma, likely bringing destructive winds, tornadoes and hail, the National Weather Service said.

The bodies of a 14-year-old boy and his dog were found in a storm drain on Monday morning in the Dallas suburb of DeSoto, police said. Two other people killed in the storm were described as an unidentified man found dead from the flooding in San Marcos, Texas, and in Oklahoma, a firefighter who was swept into a storm drain.

A possible fourth person killed was reported by the New York Times, which said a Tulsa woman died on Saturday after her automobile hydroplaned on a highway.

Via: Reuters

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Sen. Coburn Demands Pentagon Show How $500B Budget Is 'Squandered'

Retiring Sen. Tom Coburn has called on Congress to force the Pentagon to start showing American taxpayers exactly where the military is spending – and overspending – its $500 billion annual budget.

In a commentary for The Washington Times, the Oklahoma Republican said the Department of Defense is violating the Constitution by never having "passed a single audit," while also attacking the agency for its "wanton mismanagement" of government money.

Coburn wrote that the Pentagon is the only government agency that cannot produce auditable financial statements "in accordance with the law."

"Not knowing where this money is going isn’t just lawless, it is a threat to both our economic and national security," he said, adding that "Congress is fully complicit in this scam on American taxpayers."

He said that without an annual financial audit, the Pentagon has no idea where its tax dollars are going, whether it’s getting good value for money or even if it got what it paid for last year.

"Sadly, few in Congress seem to care that untold billions are squandered every year through wanton mismanagement and neglect," wrote the senator, who was diagnosed with a recurrence of prostate cancer last year and is stepping down after the November elections, two years before his term expires.

"The only way this cycle can be broken is for the American people to demand that Congress use its power of the purse to demand accountability at the Defense Department, rather than simply rubber-stamp the defense budget."

In his guest column, Coburn said that an "open amendment process" would result in the push for an annual Pentagon audit being debated in Congress.

He singled out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for criticism, saying that the Nevada Democrat would not even allow amendments to be introduced and debated on the nearly $700 billion, 600-page annual defense authorization bill.

Via: Newsmax
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Dick Morris: Oklahoma Suit May End Obamacare

Political pundit Dick Morris believes that a suit brought by Oklahoma against Obamacare could be what ultimately knocks down the president's healthcare law.

"Why didn't anyone else think of it?" Morris wrote in The Hill.  "Unlike the suit brought by 26 state attorney generals, this suit does not make a constitutional objection to the Affordable Care Act. Instead, it uses the language of the law to challenge the elaborate system of subsidies, tax credits, and individual or employer mandates and fines the act has spawned."

The suit, filed by Oklahoma's Republican Attorney General Scott Pruitt, was published in the Case Western Reserve School of Law Journal. The article contends that the wording of the Affordable Care Act only allows a subsidy for health insurance for those who got their coverage through state exchanges rather than the federal exchange.

Urgent: Should GOP Stick to Its Guns on Obamacare? Vote Here. 

"The IRS has ruled that the language of the statute should be 'interpreted' to extend the subsidies to those enrolled in state or federal exchanges, but that's not what the law says," Morris explained, adding, "Section 1041 of the act, according to their article, 'authorizes premium-assistance tax credits and makes them available only through state-run exchanges.'"

It also says tax credit can only be given if the taxpayer has a plan that was enrolled in through an exchange established by the state under section 1311 of the Affordable Care Act.

"Adler and Cannon argue that 'by its express terms, this provision only applies to exchanges 'established by a state' and 'established…under Section 1311,'" Morris pointed out.

Morris argued that the IRS and supporters of Obamacare try to "stretch the language to imply a mandate to cover those in federal exchanges."

Via: Newsmax

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Fallin: Obama Speaking on Killing Would Be a ‘Nice Gesture’

The Republican governor of Oklahoma, Mary Fallin, told host Chris Wallace onFox News Sunday that she thought it would be a “nice gesture” for President Obama to comment on the killing of Australian baseball player Chris Lane.

Fallin said she also intends to speak about the killing.

Lane was killed earlier this week by a trio of teenagers while jogging in Duncan, Oklahoma. The town’s police chief says that one of the teens, Michael Jones, claims they did it because they were bored.

Via: National Review Online

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EPA Continues Crackdown On Glass Manufacturing

The Environmental Protection Agency continued its crackdown on the glass manufacturing sector Monday.

The nation’s largest glass-container manufacturer has agreed to spend an estimated $37.5 million on reducing pollutant emissions after reaching a settlement with the EPA and the Department of Justice. The settlement was the fourth to result from EPA’s initiative to regulate glass manufacturers, which began in 2011.

Owens-Brockway Glass Container, headquartered in Perrysburg, Ohio, and a subsidiary of Owens-Illinois (O-I), must also pay a combined $1.45 million to the federal government and the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Equality.

“This agreement will significantly reduce the amount of air pollution, known to cause a variety of environmental and health problems, from the nation’s largest manufacturer of glass containers,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice. “The settlement, the latest in a series of agreements with the glass manufacturing sector, addresses major sources of pollution at facilities located in four states and will mean cleaner air for the people living in those communities.”

Via: Daily Caller

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Report: 2,000 Dead People Received Food Stamps

(CNSNews.com) – New York and Massachusetts are administering food stamps to 2,000 dead people, according to Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) catalog of government waste.

The 2012 Waste Book, released earlier this week, documents $4.5 billion in waste in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

Among his findings, Coburn said that, “The USDA Inspector General found roughly 2,000 dead people are still receiving food stamps in New York and Massachusetts combined.”

“Additionally, its investigation revealed 7,236 people in these states are receiving duplicate benefits, while 286 are on state lists that should exclude them from receiving food stamps,” the report said, amounting to $1.4 million in unnecessary payments each month, or $147.03 for each recipient, dead or alive.

But the waste in SNAP does not end there, as Coburn found that individuals who smoke marijuana can receive added benefits.

“In three states,” Coburn writes, “some individuals received more food stamp benefits simply because they smoke marijuana.”

Under the section “More money for the marijuana munchies,” the Oklahoma Senator detailed how some states previously offered a deduction for pot smokers.

Marijuana cigarettes and marijuana pipe. (AP)

“Marijuana has been linked to an increased appetite, known as getting the ‘munchies,’ so perhaps it is no surprise the states of Maine, New Mexico, and Oregon gave extra food stamp benefits to users of the illegal drug,” the report states.

It continues: “These states allowed some marijuana users to deduct the cost of the drug from their income when determining the amount of the benefits provided for which they are eligible.  In Oregon, the deduction ‘[i]ncluded … fees for obtaining a state-issued medical marijuana card, expenses incurred while cultivating marijuana and the costs of purchasing it from a third-party grower.’”

Via: CNS News

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Senate report: Quarter of Social Security disability benefits improperly awarded

The Social Security Administration improperly awarded disability benefits in more than 25 percent of cases examined between 2006 and 2010, according to a new Senate report -- potentially costing taxpayers millions of dollars.

The findings conclude an 18-month investigation by the chamber’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and show that roughly a quarter of the 300 randomly selected disability cases were awarded benefits “without properly addressing insufficient, contradictory and incomplete evidence.” 

Each questionable decision can mean a big taxpayer expense. According to one estimate, the average lifetime disability award is $300,000. 

The investigation was led by Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, a medical doctor and the subcommittee’s top Republican. He said the bipartisan report shows information gathered over the past several years concludes the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs are “teetering on financial bankruptcy.”

The 136-page report focuses on questionable benefits rulings made by administrative law judges, including one in Oklahoma who was found to have awarded more than $1.6 billion in lifetime benefits in just three years. Judge Howard O’Bryan, in Oklahoma City, approved roughly 90 percent of more than 5,400 cases from 2007 to 2009 -- most of them held “on-the-record” without hearings, according to the minority report.

The report also found the agency since January 2009 added 5.9 million Americans to the disability rolls. And in 2011, 10.6 million people were receiving more $128.billion in disability insurance payments, the report said.

“The question is: Are benefits going only to those who are supposed to be getting to them?” Coburn asked Thursday during a Capitol Hill hearing on the issue. “The purpose of this program is to make sure that all Americans have a safety net if they become disabled and can no longer work. It should be remembered though that this law means ‘being unable to work any job in the national economy.’ ”

The Social Security Administration responded Monday, acknowledging the concerns and vowing continued improvement.

Via: Fox News

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BEST PLACES FOR JOB GROWTH LARGELY RED STATES

Texas is a great place to move if you’re looking for work.

Duh.

Of course it is; Texas is a red state. And one example is Fort Bend County, which once was famous for farming, but now attracts company after company looking for a business-friendly environment. Texas doesn’t kill businesses with taxes, the county has a strong school system, and it’s close to Houston, so corporations are flocking to Fort Bend. Among them are a Fluor Enterprises, an engineering firm that is purchasing land for a plant that will add 2,000 jobs; oil services firm Schlumberger, which has a 240-acre campus; CVR Energy, whose headquarters reside there; and Team Industrial Services, which intends to relocate its headquarters and 100 jobs to Fort Bend.

It’s not just Texas; in this era of rampant unemployment, guess which color states had the lowest unemployment in July? The top four were red: North Dakota, at 3.0%, Nebraska, 4.0%, South Dakota, 4,4%, and Oklahoma, 4.9%. 

And the elites on the coasts think they’re so much smarter.

Via: Breitbart

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