Fiscal Policy: The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on an anti-stimulus package that in the name of saving the earth will destroy the American economy. Smoot-Hawley will seem like a speed bump.Not since a misguided piece of legislation imposed tariffs that turned a recession into a depression has there been a piece of legislation as bad as Waxman-Markey.The 1,000-plus-page American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) is being rushed to a vote by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi before anyone can seriously object to this economic suicide pact.

By Investor’s Business Daily
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/06/26/the_cap-and-trade_bill_is_an_economic_disaster_97284.html

For Release: June 25, 2009
Contact: David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 or e-mail dalmasi@nationalcenter.org

76% of African-Americans want Congress to make economic recovery, not climate change, its top priority, says a newly-released nationwide poll of African-Americans conducted by the National Center for Public Policy Research.

The poll’s release comes as the U.S. House of Representatives is planning a Friday vote on the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade climate bill. The legislation, if adopted, is expected to reduce aggregate GDP by $7.4 trillion in an effort to reduce global warming.

The survey of 800 African-Americans, 80% of which were self-identified Democrats and 4% self-identified Republicans, found significant concern that government action on climate change would have a harmful and disproportionately negative impact on the African-American community.

Among the key findings:

* 38% believe job losses from climate change legislation would be felt most strongly in the black community. 7% believe job losses would fall most on Hispanics and 2% on whites;

* 56% believe Washington policymakers have failed to adequately consider economic and quality of life concerns of the black community when addressing climate issues;

* 52% of respondents don’t want to pay more for gasoline or electricity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 73% are unwilling to pay more than 50 cents more for a gallon of gas; 76% are unwilling to pay more than $50 more per year for electricity;

* Black Americans are virtually deadlocked on plans to reduce emissions if it would increase prices and unemployment. 44% opposed reductions under these circumstances, 45% supported them.

* 76% want Congress to make economic recovery the top priority.

“An overwhelming majority African-Americans want Congress to fix the economy before turning its attention to climate change,” said David Ridenour, vice president of The National Center for Public Policy Research, who directs the group’s Public Opinion Policy Center, which issued the poll.

“Significantly,” Ridenour continued, “not only were 80 percent of the respondents self-identified Democrats, but 67 percent self-identified as ’strong Democrats.’ As African-Americans are a core constituency of the party, if the Congressional leadership ignores this, it does so at its own peril.”

The survey was conducted by Wilson Research Strategies and has a margin of error of +/- 3.4%. It can be viewed at:http://www.nationalcenter.org/BlackOpinion.html.

The National Center for Public Policy Research is non-partisan, non-profit educational foundation based in Washington, DC. 94% of its revenue is received through hundreds of thousands of small contributions; 1.5% from corporations and 4.5% from philanthropic foundations.

Visit the National Center for Public Policy Research’s website at www.nationalcenter.org or call (202) 543-4110.

Issue Date: June 10, 2009

By Steve Adler

Water users—urban and rural alike—have lost another round in the struggle over California’s critically short water supply.

While issuing a final biological opinion relating to endangered species last week, the National Marine Fisheries Service called for action on the part of state and federal water regulators that would have a direct impact on water-pumping operations in California’s Central Valley.

Acting under authority granted by the Endangered Species Act, federal biologists and hydrologists concluded that current water pumping operations in the Central Valley Project and the State Water Project should be changed to ensure survival of winter and spring-run chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, the southern population of North American green sturgeon and Southern Resident killer whales, which rely on chinook salmon runs for food.

To accomplish this goal, the opinion calls for several actions, such as increasing cold-water storage in Lake Shasta, regulating river flow rates to protect migrating fish and curtailing water-transferring pumps in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to a greater degree.

The opinion covers the state and federal export facilities in the delta, the Nimbus hatchery on the American River and the operations of diversion structures, including the Red Bluff Diversion Dam and the Delta Cross Channel gates.

If the directives are put in place, they could reduce available water to cities and farms south of the delta by 300,000 to 500,000 acre-feet, a drop of 5 percent to 7 percent from water deliveries that are already drastically limited by drought and earlier court rulings related to protecting endangered species such as the delta smelt.

Gov. Schwarzenegger reacted strongly to the NMFS opinion.

"This federal biological opinion puts fish above the needs of millions of Californians and the health and security of the world’s eighth largest economy," the governor said. "The piling on of one federal court decision after another in a species-by-species approach is killing our economy and undermining the integrity of the Endangered Species Act."

Schwarzenegger said he would seek a meeting with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke "to discuss our concerns with these biological opinions, and my administration will be pursuing every possible avenue to reconcile the harmful effects of these decisions."

Agricultural groups expressed similar concerns.

"The biological opinion on salmon issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service brings more evidence that our California water system is broken," said Doug Mosebar, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation. "California has outgrown its water supply system, and enforcement of the federal Endangered Species Act ensures that the needs of fish outweigh the needs of people.

"What we’re left with is a situation that allows a handful of biologists to govern the water supply for a state of 38 million people. It will be that way until the people of California take control of their own future," he said.

Mosebar emphasized that California must develop, approve and finance a comprehensive California water plan that features new surface and underground water storage, improved water delivery systems and that stresses water-use efficiency, recycling and other strategies.

"It will be costly, but the cost of not acting will be higher. Already, thousands of people have been thrown out of work in agricultural and fishing communities. Thousands more urban and suburban jobs tied to California’s food production are in jeopardy," he said.

Mosebar pledged that Farm Bureau will continue to press for a long-term solution that serves all Californians and that recognizes the crucial importance of maintaining locally grown food production for the state’s growing population.

Farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley are struggling to keep their operations solvent and more cutbacks in water deliveries could have potentially devastating effects.

Thousands of farm acres lie fallow and will remain that way for this crop year. With an annual requirement of about 2 feet of water per acre, those who farm the valley’s thousands of acres of almonds, pistachios, grapes and citrus run the risk of losing permanent trees and vines due to lack of water.

Sarah Woolf, a spokesperson for Westlands Water District, said federal regulators imposed this new regime of restrictions, cutbacks and prohibitions on California’s water supplies without performing any environmental analysis of the potentially devastating effects.

According to Woolf, the Westlands Water District will join with other public water agencies in bringing a lawsuit to have the biological opinion set aside.

"They have rushed this biological opinion into place without bothering to prepare an environmental impact statement, without public hearings or the kind of independent public review that the law requires," Woolf said. "We intend to compel the National Marine Fisheries Service to perform the careful analysis it should have done to assess the potential harm this plan could do to public health and safety, communities and the environment.

"The implementation of these restrictions will prolong the recession, delay economic recovery, impact the supply of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as other goods and services, and adversely affect consumers throughout the country," Woolf said. "This new order is so extreme and far-reaching that its adverse impacts will extend to businesses throughout the state. It will further reduce supplies for homeowners and increase uncertainty for almost everyone who expects to have water when they turn on the tap."

Association of California Water Agencies Executive Director Timothy Quinn said the opinion adds another layer to a complicated landscape for California’s water managers.

"These new requirements underscore the difficulty of making our half-century-old water delivery infrastructure work for both the environment and the economy," he said.

"Over the past two decades, we have lost about 3 million acre-feet of previously available water supplies to environmental regulation at a cost of roughly $1 billion annually, with little evidence these sacrifices are improving the environment," Quinn said. "We are at a point when we can no longer guarantee the reliability of our water supplies in any given year. People don’t win and the environment doesn’t win in this scenario."

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which operates the Central Valley Project, said it has provisionally accepted the changes to its water pumping operations recommended by NMFS, and said it will begin to implement its near-term elements as it carefully evaluates the overall opinion. NMFS said that water operations will not be affected by the opinion immediately and will be tiered to water-year type. The opinion includes exceptions for drought and health and safety issues.

"The good news is that because of existing water conditions, the most damaging aspects of the biological opinion are not likely to take effect until much later in the year," Woolf said. "That means there will be time to ask the federal court to suspend this biological opinion and compel the federal fisheries agencies to comply with the law that requires the preparation of a proper environmental impact statement."

The operator of the State Water Project, the California Department of Water Resources, responded to the new biological opinion by saying it reaffirms the need for a comprehensive solution to water and environmental conflicts in the delta.

"The new opinion further chips away at our ability to provide a reliable water supply for California. A multi-species approach, as envisioned in the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, is the best approach to achieve habitat and species conservation and a reliable water supply," said DWR Director Lester Snow.

DWR will continue to work with the bureau, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, NMFS, California Department of Fish and Game and others on the BDCP steering committee, to develop a collaborative habitat conservation plan for the delta, Snow said.

A week before this most recent announcement, the CVP issued an updated estimate of water supplies that increased allocations to 40 percent of contract amounts for customers north of the delta. But the agricultural water allocation for south of the delta remains at just 10 percent of contract amount. In its official statement, however, the bureau hinted that "improved hydrologic conditions create a possible 5 percent to 10 percent supply increase, if additional pumping capacity can be made available through the summer."

(Steve Adler is associate editor of Ag Alert. He may be contacted at sadler@cfbf.com .)

California Farm Bureau Federation, 2300 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833
Phone: (916) 561-5500, Fax: (916) 561-5695, General Information: cfbf@cfbf.com
© California Farm Bureau Federation. All rights reserved. Read our legal notice .

http://www.cfbf.com/agalert/AgAlertStory.cfm?ID=1323&ck=4671AEAF49C792689533B00664A5C3EF

Expanding Government Poses a Danger to Individual Rights, Liberties Celebrated on Emancipation Holiday

On the occasion of “Juneteenth,” the oldest and most recognized annual commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, members of the Project 21 black leadership network suggest the civil rights-themed holiday be used to celebrate freedoms that have been won and as a warning of how easily freedom can be threatened by an overbearing government.

Project 21 members have called attention to the Juneteenth since 1999, urging black Americans to use Juneteenth to embrace their inherent talents and strengthen their ties with family and community.

Now, when the Obama Administration and Congress are increasing government intervention into the lives of all Americans, Project 21 members suggest that people reflect upon how this expansion of power can reduce the threaten individual freedom.

“The liberties we enjoy today came at a tremendous cost and after a lot of suffering,” said Project 21 fellow Deneen Borelli. “Today historically marks the day of the opening of the door to opportunity for blacks to seek ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ We should take advantage of this liberty to strive to improve our lives and build upon the sacrifices of those who fought for freedom.”

“It’s important to remember that Juneteenth is rooted in our achieving our freedom. It is the growth of an activist government intent on regulating most - if not all - aspects of our lives that is now threatening that freedom,” said Project 21 member Bishop Council Nedd II. “There’s a lot at risk should politics be allowed to take precedence over the protection of individual rights. Environmental regulations, for instance, already substantially affect private property rights and the ability for many to conduct legitimate business. Just think of what might happen to our independence if we are forced to rely on a partisan government for health care, to determine if we can buy a car or how we can worship without offending perceived sensibilities? This is something we need to consider as we mark Juneteenth this year.”

Project 21 member Ak’bar Shabazz added: “As our nation advances rapidly away from embracing personal responsibility towards government protection and oversight, we should keep in mind that these freed slaves wanted only the opportunity to be free and control their own destinies. Their attitudes towards freedom contrasts greatly from today, as many people look for more government control over their lives.”

Juneteenth commemorates the anniversary of the June 19, 1865 arrival of Union soldiers in Galveston, Texas. The soldiers carried the news that the Civil War was over and that President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had abolished slavery two-and-a-half years earlier.

The annual commemoration became known as Juneteenth and quickly became a stabilizing as well as motivating presence in the lives of black Americans in Texas, who faced many uncertainties associated with newly-acquired freedom. The observance quickly spread from Texas to be recognized across the United States.

Juneteenth is celebrated in many ways, but education and self-improvement have been consistent themes at commemorative community gatherings and picnics in recent years. In 1980, Juneteenth was made an official holiday in Texas. According to the National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign, 25 states currently recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday.

Project 21, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization supported by the National Center for Public Policy Research, has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992. For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 543-4110 x11 or Project21@nationalcenter.org, or visit Project 21’s website at www.project21.org/P21Index.html.

Carolyn Cooke

by: Deidre Almstead, June 16, 2009

Katie Brickell’s new life as a twenty-five-year old newly-wed was all but completely halted when she discovered she had cervical cancer, with only a few years left to live. Her hope for survival was placed in receiving cancer treatments through the United Kingdom’s government-run health care system.

Katie claims that her cancer could have been prevented or at least identified at an earlier stage had she been allowed a pap-smear, a common screening test for cervical cancer. Now all Katie can do is to continue to fight for the health care she needs, and dream of the lost life where she and her husband could “have children naturally.”

Katie’s story as well as the testimonies of many others were documented in a film produced by Conservatives for Patient’s Rights, a non-profit organization pushing for the establishment of a free market health care system. Americans for Tax Reform played host to a June 3rd screening of this documentary, followed by a discussion of the current and future health care structures in the United States.

The Obama Administration, in its passage of the stimulus package, created many government organizations and programs similar to those present in the Canadian and British single-payer health care systems. The appointment of Dr. David Blumenthal as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology assisted with the formation of a national, governmentally-run database housing the medical records of all Americans. In addition to this formation, the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (FCCCR) was established to “help coordinate research and guide investments in comparative effectiveness research funded by the Recovery Act.” …

(Excerpt) Read more at campusreportonline.net …

ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE
Tue Jun 16 2009 08:45:10 ET

Developing…
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashaot.htm

The LA Times:

President Obama should just join the cast of “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!” It’s not that farfetched; he’s been on everything else.

The president is on TV more than the ShamWow guy, but I want to see a little more action. I’m still a fan, but there’s a fine line between being transparent and being overexposed. Every time you turn on the TV, there’s Obama. He’s getting a puppy! He’s eating a cheeseburger with Joe Biden! He’s taking the wife to Broadway and Paris — this is the best season of “The Bachelor” yet!

I get it: You love being on TV. I love my bong, but I take it out of my mouth every once in a while. The other day, I caught myself saying to a friend, “Don’t tell me if he’s fixed the economy yet, I’m Tivo-ing it.”

Remember during the campaign when John McCain attacked Obama for acting like a celebrity and we all laughed at the grumpy old shellshocked fool? Well, it turns out he was right. Sorry, senator. I’m sending a nice gift basket of high-fiber muffins your way.

It’s getting to where you can’t turn on your TV without seeing Obama. Who does he think he is, Dick Cheney? Come on, sir, you don’t have to be on television every minute of every day. You’re the president, not a rerun of “Law and Order.” Save some charisma for a rainy day. Taking strangers from a TV show on a tour of your house? We have that show; it’s called “Cribs.” And letting reporters ask you questions like “You like to be the one who picks out the shaving cream, don’t you?” Or as it’s called today, “journalism.” I was willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt until I saw him take Brian Williams into his bedroom, and at the end of the bed there was a teleprompter and it said, “Who’s your daddy?”

I mean, selling the personal part to stay popular, I’m all for it, but you got us already. We like you, we really like you! You’re skinny and in a hurry and in love with a nice lady. But so’s Lindsay Lohan. And like Lohan, we see your name in the paper a lot, but we’re kind of wondering when you’re actually going to do something.

I know that’s harsh. But when I read about how you sat on the sidelines while bailed-out banks used the money we gave them to hire lobbyists who got Congress to stop homeowners from getting renegotiated loans, or how Congress is already giving up on healthcare reform, or how scientists say it’s essential to reduce CO2 by 40% in 10 years, but your own bill calls for 4%, I say, enough with the character development, let’s get on with the plot.

And let’s stop worrying so much about doing anything that might tarnish the brand. See, this is why I don’t want my president to be a TV star: Because TV stars are too worried about being popular — and too concerned with getting renewed.

You can relax about that, Mr. President, knowing that there’s a large, rich organization doing everything it possibly can to ensure that you’ll get reelected: It’s called the Republican Party.

Speaking of which, if you can’t beat Republicans now, when they’re so down they take orders from Rush Limbaugh, then when? The way to get renewed for your reality show that you love so much is to act boldly now.

Obama needs to start putting it on the line in fights against the banks, the energy companies and the healthcare industry. I never thought I’d say this, but he needs to be more like George W. Bush. Bush was all about, “You’re with us or against us.”

Obama’s more like, “You’re either with us, or you obviously need to see another picture of this adorable puppy!”

Bush had horrible ideas, like torture and deregulation and preemptive war and tax cuts for the rich, but he pushed them through, in their full measure, never mind Congress or the Constitution or the Geneva Convention or the Magna Carta or the Code of Hammurabi.

The point is, he didn’t care if it made him unpopular with every human on the planet not named Cletus or Fred Barnes. Which it did.

And we need to marry the good ideas Obama really believes in with that Bush attitude and Bush certitude. I’d love for Obama to come out one day and say, “Jesus told me to fix healthcare.” Or, “History will decide whether stopping the polar ice caps from melting and drowning us all was a good thing.”

In conclusion, Bush was a jerk, but he never cared about being seen having a burger with Dick Cheney. He picked up the phone in the White House and said, “I’m the president, bring me a burger.” And they’d say, “Sir, this is NORAD. Would you please stop ordering burgers with the red phone?”

I’m glad that Obama is president, but the “Audacity of Hope” part is over. Right now, I’m hoping for a little more audacity.

Bill Maher is the host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”

This is Obama guncontrol by secrecy.

Very Important for you to be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced into the House. 
This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009. 
We just learned yesterday about this on the Peter Boyles radio program. 
Even gun shop owners didn’t know about this because it is flying under the radar. 
To find out about this - go to any government website and type in HR 45 or Google HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009. You will get all the information. 


Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless: 

..It is registered 
.You are fingerprinted 
.You supply a current Driver’s License 
.You supply your Social Security # 
.You will submit to a physical & mental evaluation at any time of their choosing 
.Each update - change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported and costs $25
- Failure to do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm and are subject up to a year in jail.

.There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305 stating a child-access provision. Gun must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18. 

The Government would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to 5 yrs. in prison. 

If you think this is a joke - go to the website and take your pick of many options to read this.. 
http://www.opencong ress.org/ bill/111- h45/text

It is long and lengthy. But, more and more people are becoming aware of this. Pass the wordalong.

FAILURE TO DO SO AT YOUR PERIL!

Any hunters in your family - pass this along.

Peter Boyles is on this and having guests. Listen to him on KHOW 630 a.m. in the morning.

He suggests the best way to fight this is to tell all your friends about it and “spring into action”.

Also he suggests we all join a pro-gun group like the Colorado Rifle Association, hunting associations, gun clubs and especially the NRA.. 

This is just a “termite” approach to complete confiscation of guns and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense - chip away a little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes it.

This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not.

The Second Amendment… .America’s original homeland security