-By Marita Noon
Over a three-year period, 2009-2012, Department of Justice data shows American taxpayers footed the bill for more than $53 million in so-called environmental groups’ legal fees–and the actual number could be much higher. The real motivation behind the Endangered Species Act (ESA) litigation, perhaps, could have more to do with vengeance and penance than with a real desire to protect flora and fauna.
On May 7, I spoke at the Four Corners Oil and Gas Conference in Farmington, New Mexico. During the two-day event, I sat in on many of the other sessions and had conversations with dozens of attendees. I left the event with the distinct impression that the current implementation of the ESA is a major impediment to the economic growth, tax revenue, and job creation that comes with oil-and-gas development. I have written on ESA issues many times, most recently I wrote about the lesser prairie chicken’s proposed “threatened” listing (which the Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS] listed on March 27) and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s lawsuit against the federal government over the “sue and settle” tactics of FWS and the Department of the Interior.
While at the conference, I received an email announcing that FWS has asked a federal court for a six-month delay in making a final determination on whether to list the Gunnison sage grouse as an endangered species–moving the decision past the November elections. Up for re-election, Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) “cheered” the extension request. The E & E report states: Colorado elected leaders “fear the listing could have significant economic impacts.”
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Environmental Shakedown Through Bastardized Application of Science, Policy and Education”
Senior Airman, Brian Kolfage Jr., is the most severely wounded Airman in US history–a triple amputee. Now the Veterans Admin is trying to force him to “pay back” $4,825 it claims he was “over paid” in benefits.
The superintendent of Greenburgh Central School District in Westchester County, New York has had a lawsuit filed against him in federal court charging that he racially and sexually harassed employees. This is interesting in that this same superintendent was once lauded as a “model for racial harmony” by The New York Times.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that the US government has engaged in a secret war against… well, even those not under a rock are fuzzy on just who the government views as the enemy. That is exactly what Fox News looks to explore with its new special, “Fox News Reporting: The NSA’s Secret War – Who’s the Enemy?”
They’ve ignored the violent region for a decade, they’ve never spoken out about the Islamist radical terrorists who have killed thousands, but now that over 250 girls have been kidnapped by the Islamist terror group Boko Haram, suddenly a handful of Hollywooders have deigned to notice… and weeks late at that.
For the last three years a Democrat affiliated Milwaukee County District Attorney has been engaged in a political jihad of sorts, using “secret subpoenas” and illegally invading homes and offices of a wide range of conservatives and Republicans in an “investigation” into collusion between activist groups and Wis. Gov. Scott Walker’s re-election campaign. At last, a federal judge has ordered that the illicit probe be halted on First Amendment grounds.
April brought us Earth Day and with it at focus on both our ecosystem and those that claim it is their highest interest to protect the same. With reflection, though, we have to wonder if these self-appointed guardians of our environment are really just foxes guarding the henhouse succumbing to the temptation of power and money, even as they demonize those “greedy” corporate interests, they oppose. In many cases we may discover that these supposed “non-profits” are anything but.
A Broward County, Florida public school teacher sought to ban an elementary school student from reading the Bible or any religious book during an independent reading time where kids are required to pick their own books to read.
Earlier this year a gun shop in California began to gear up to sell a “smart gun,” but gun enthusiasts raised such a stink about the sale that the store backed off and even claimed they never intended to sell the gun. Now a shop in Maryland has had the same experience with similar results.
The NBA may think it has set in motion the eventual sale of the L.A. Clippers thanks to racist comments made by team owner Donald Sterling, but Sterling has a long history of launching tough lawsuits and is rumored to have told a friend that he isn’t going to just roll over in this deal.
Now that the feds have reluctantly released even more documents from its handling, or should we say mis-handling, of the Benghazi incident during which four Americans including our US ambassador to Libya were killed, Fox News is going to revisit the story with a new special titled, Fox News Reporting: Benghazi: White House Cover-Up Revealed?.
That darned old media is just out of control and filled with “hate crimes,” Senator Ed Markey (D, Mass.) says. So, he thinks the best solution is that government should control everything we see and hear. What could go wrong with that, Mr. Orwell?
Politics might make strange bedfellows, but this one really takes the cake. In California Elizabeth Emken is running for the 7th District U.S. House seat in an attempt to unseat Democrat Ami Bera. But even though Emken was a lobbyist for Obamacare, she is strangely running as a Republican and using Bera’s support for Obamacare as a weapon against him.
Remember how our liar in chief said that under his all powerful Obamacare law medical costs would go down? That apparently was the next lie of the year after his lie that we could all keep our doctors and insurance if we liked it as spending on healthcare exploded in the first Obamacare quarter and it’s now higher than ever.
Four restaurants, three of which are McDonald’s, have closed down on several military bases and a host of other outlets, like Pizza Huts, are also saying they will soon be closing their shops. These closures will seriously damage the quality of life for our soldiers on our military bases and it is all thanks to Barack Obama.
Why is it not a surprise that the first moves to make Chicago the home of the Barack Hussein Obama Presidential Library are born in corruption? But I suppose it is a fitting way to start a library for one of the biggest failure and most corrupt politicians ever to sit in the White House.
As a conservative it is easy to look at Washington and find nothing but despair. Socialism is once again on the march with autocratic Democrats and left leaning “Republicans” all seeking to raise taxes, spend more, destroy the integrity of our borders, eviscerate our military, spy on us all, and impose a one-size-fits-all education scheme. In DC, the Democrats are practically indistinguishable from the Republicans. But a bright spot is seen in those states who are rebelling over this top down control by liberalizing gun laws, restricting abortion, and otherwise beginning to look for ways to assert their long dormant powers.
Now, usually when a state is dissed it is dissed by people from outside the state. With the usual hometown bravado, and all, denizens of a state used to stick up for their own in the face of criticism. But a new poll finds that Illinois is so bad, even people that live there say it sucks.
Witnesses say that at a recent anti-gun forum Democrat Congressman Brad Schneider (10th District, Illinois) strangely reused to stand up and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
The city council of Seattle saw a pay-to-park lot owned by a private landowner and businesswoman and collectively thought to itself, “ya know, it would be nice to have the income from that parking lot for our own.” And so, in the typically lawless way that Democrats operate, the city council sent the woman a note telling her that they have decided that she must hand over the land to them so that they can make the money off the parking lot instead of her. The land owner, though, saw no reason to comply, and oddly enough and a court fight ensued.
On Thursday, April 17, Chelsea Clinton said that she and husband of four years, investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, have a blessed event to announce as the couple is now expecting their first child. But the Old Media may be more excited than Chelsea that the Clinton dynasty is growing.
The Clinton Library has released over 7,000 pages of documents from Bill’s presidency, likely hoping that what ever is in them will be “old news” by the time Hillary announces her bid for president. But one of the documents is very interesting and shows that Bill and Hillary really feared and hated the free flow of information on the Internet.
Eric Kohn over at Illinois Mirror has a great piece that highlights the main difference between real capitalism and the sort of crony capitalism (which isn’t capitalism at all) that the left so dearly loves.