Thursday, May 19, 2011

Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party

Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party

Forget the gas tax – a driving tax may be next

Posted: 18 May 2011 10:56 AM PDT

By Steve Hargreaves, CNN Money

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Washington lawmakers are kicking around a new idea to help raise funds to fix our highways and infrastructure: a national driving tax charging motorists by the mile.

A driving tax could either replace the current 18.4 cent a gallon federal gas tax or, possibly, add to it.

Because greater fuel economy is letting motorists drive more miles using less gas, the current gas tax that funds the federal government’s efforts to build and maintain highways isn’t generating enough money.

A driving tax, officially known as a “vehicle miles traveled” tax, could close that gap.

While many see a driving tax as more efficient than the gas tax, there are privacy concerns over how driving information would be collected. Plus, lawmakers opposed to the idea say it places a heavier burden on motorists from rural states.

“It’s a true user tax,” said Ken Orski, publisher of the infrastructure industry publication Innovation NewsBriefs and a former transportation official in the Nixon and Ford administrations. “But there are serious political problems with this proposal.”

Although there’s currently no bill proposing such a tax, lawmakers are looking into it.

Earlier this year, North Dakota Democrat and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad asked the Congressional Budget Office to study the idea. In March CBO issued a report that said such a tax was feasible and had many advantages over a gas tax.

“Because highway costs are more directly determined by miles driven than by fuel used, appropriately designed [mileage] taxes can do more to improve the efficiency of road use than fuel taxes can,” the report said.

The CBO report came on the heels of two congressional commissions that recommended implementing such a tax, said Orski.

To read more, visit:  http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/18/news/economy/gas_tax_drivers/?section=money_latest

ACLU Threatens N.J. High School With Legal Action Over Graduation at Christian-Owned Site

Posted: 18 May 2011 10:51 AM PDT

By Cristina Corbin, FoxNews.com

A New Jersey high school with a 70-year tradition of hosting graduation ceremonies in a historic auditorium is standing firm against legal threats from the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims the event violates the separation of church and state because of the Christian-owned site’s religious displays.

For generations, graduates of Neptune High School have walked down the aisle of the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, where the impressive 6,500-seat venue dominates the landscape of one of the area's most historic beach towns. Built in 1894, the auditorium is owned and operated by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, a Methodist group that owns not just the building, but all of the land beneath every home and structure in town.

The ACLU of New Jersey threatened legal action against the Neptune school district after an attendee at last year's graduation ceremony took offense to the building's religious symbols and Christian-based references — among them a 20-foot white cross above the auditorium's entrance. The ACLU asked the school to remove or cover up the cross and three other religious signs, arguing their visibility during a public school event is a First Amendment violation.

School officials responded by agreeing to change the graduation program to remove the student-led invocation and two hymns — one titled "Onward Christian Soldiers" — to rid the ceremony of any religious references.

"The program was not of a religious nature — it was more tradition than anything else," said Neptune Public Schools Superintendent David Mooij. "But we decided we would change the program and delete the things this individual found offensive."

Removing or covering up the cross was another matter. The Camp Association said it could not cover the cross, said to have been a gift from movie director Woody Allen, who used the auditorium during shooting for the 1980 film “Stardust Memories.” Nor would they cover up the two illuminated indoor signs – "Holiest to the Lord" and "So Be Ye Holy" – which are said to be the oldest operating electric signs in America.

"The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association is a Christian ministry, and we can't change who we are," said Scott Hoffman, the group's chief operating officer. "We want this tradition to keep going as badly as anyone, but not at the expense of who we are."

Mooij said the ACLU then requested that the school change its venue for the June 17 graduation – a move he said isn't feasible. "We already printed 3,000 tickets, and there's no comparable size venue anywhere around us."

To read more, visit:  http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/17/aclu-threatens-legal-action-nj-high-school-amendment-dispute/

Ryan Out, Thompson to Get in Wisconsin Senate Race

Posted: 18 May 2011 10:46 AM PDT

By Steve Peoples, Rollcall.com

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R), a cabinet member in the George W. Bush administration, intends to run for Senate next year, while Rep. Paul Ryan (R) is passing on the open-seat contest.

Ryan, the House Budget chairman, is set to make his intentions public on Tuesday and several news outlets reported that he will not run for the seat being vacated by the retiring Sen. Herb Kohl (D).

Thompson’s thinking, confirmed this morning by a GOP consultant in touch with the Thompson camp, could signal a significant recruiting victory for Republicans, although the former governor is unlikely to have a clear primary.

Democrats have wasted little time in trying to dirty up the former Health and Human Services secretary, suggesting they believe he may be the man to beat as the field comes together in the wake of Kohl’s announcement.

A Democratic campaign strategist describes Thompson as a perennial candidate who has “entertained” running for office four times since 2006, including a run for the presidency in 2008.

“Also, he enthusiastically endorsed Obama’s health care bill and refused to endorse [Gov. Scott] Walker’s collective bargaining bill,” said the strategist. “I’m sure national Republicans would take the Packers towel boy over this guy.”

To read more, visit:  http://www.rollcall.com/news/Ryan-Out-Thompson-In-Wisconsin-Senate-205679-1.html?ET=rollcall:e10305:80096864a:&st=email&pos=epol

Allen West Gives Thumbs Down To Gingrich’s Call To Bring Back Voter Literacy Tests

Posted: 18 May 2011 10:41 AM PDT

By: Eric Kleefeld, tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com

Newt Gingrich is facing criticism for yet another idea he has floated during his presidential campaign — that the country bring back tests for voting, which were banned by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as a tool used to suppress African-American voters. Now, Think Progress reports, none other than Tea Party favorite Rep. Allen West (R-FL), an African-American, is disagreeing — and referring to the sort of discrimination that his own parents faced.

Think Progress asked West about Gingrich’s position that there should be a required knowledge of history in order to vote.

“I mean, that’s going back to some, you know, times that my parents had to contend with,” said West, who then segued into discussing his concerns with America’s education system failing young people, and his admiration of a high school student in his district who has sought to be an intern for him.

He returned to the subject in conclusion: “I think that we need to do a better job educating our young men and women in school, but we don’t need to have a litmus test, no.”

In the pre-Voting Rights Act era, the Jim Crow states used literacy tests as a means of preventing African-Americans from registering to vote. Local registrars (who were all white) would often exempt white voters entirely or only give them a simple task, compared to a complex series of civics questions given to black citizens. (Here is an actual literacy test used in Alabama.)

To read more, visit:  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/allen-west-gives-thumbs-down-to-gingrichs-call-to-bring-back-voter-literacy-tests.php

Ron Paul: Sell the gold in Fort Knox

Posted: 18 May 2011 10:36 AM PDT

By DAVID PIETRUSZA, nysun.com

NEW YORK — The next big question on the federal debt limit could be whether to start selling the government's holdings of gold at Fort Knox — and at least one presidential contender, Ron Paul, has told The New York Sun he thinks it would be a good move.

The question has been ricocheting around the policy circles today. An analyst at the Heritage Foundation, Ron Utt, told the Washington Post that the gold holdings of the government are "just sort of sitting there." He added: "Given the high price it is now, and the tremendous debt problem we now have, by all means, sell at the peak."

His comment came in the wake of not only the government having reached the statutory debt limit of $14.29 trillion but also the release of a report by the Heritage Foundation of a report on asset sales. The report outlined how a "partial sales of federal properties, real estate, mineral rights, the electromagnetic spectrum, and energy-generation facilities" might garner the federal treasury $260 billion over the course of the next 15 years.

The report did not mention the possibility of selling the government's holdings of bullion, though the 261.5 million ounces of gold the Treasury Department lists in its reserve position would, at a recent price of $1,492 an ounce, would theoretically fetch $390.2 billion. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that a group of Republican congressmen supports the idea of selling gold.

Officials of the Obama administration have taken notice — and disagree. The assistant Treasury secretary for financial markets, Mary Miller, wrote in a posting on the Treasury Department's Website May 6 that "fire sale" of the government's financial assets, including gold, would not be a "viable option." She urged instead a raising of the debt limit.

An unnamed senior administration official was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, "Selling off the gold is just one level of crazy away from selling Mount Rushmore." The Wall Street Journal, in its dispatch Monday, reported that Treasury "could be forced to rethink" their opposition if the budget talks fail.

A study of gold reserve sales in the late 1990s noted that seven nations — Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden — had then recently sold off substantial portions of their gold reserves. The sales, which amounted to 48% of those reserves, presaged a 26% devaluation in their nation's respective currencies. Between 1999 and 2002, in 17 separate auctions, Britain sold off half of its gold reserve, netting $3.5 billion. What Britain sold is now worth $10.5 billion.

To read more, visit:  http://www.nysun.com/national/selling-gold-at-fort-knox-emerges-as-next-big/87350/

US outlines global plan for cyberspace

Posted: 18 May 2011 10:32 AM PDT

By: LOLITA C. BALDOR and DARLENE SUPERVILLE, apnews.myway.com

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration laid out plans Monday to work aggressively with other nations to make the Internet more secure, enable law enforcement to work closely on cybercrime and ensure that citizens everywhere have the freedom to express themselves online.

And in the strongest terms to date, the White House made it clear the U.S. will use its military might to strike back if it comes under a cyberattack that threatens national security.

Coming on the heels of populist rebellions in the Middle East, the broad policy stresses Internet freedom, and calls on other nations to give citizens the ability to shop, communicate and express themselves freely online.

The White House plan emerges as international leaders are struggling to improve cooperation on global cybercrime and set guidelines for Internet oversight.

Cybersecurity experts have argued that the Internet cannot become a safer place until nations implement international agreements that better define and regulate cybercrime, provide oversight of the Internet, and set out new standards and rules for industry as it increasingly moves its business into the largely ungoverned online world.

The challenges are vast. International leaders are looking for ways to better secure online financial transactions and other business and high-tech exchanges between nations and corporations that span the globe. And they are also grasping for ways to crack down on hackers and other cybercriminals and terrorists who are routinely using the Internet to steal money, ferret out classified secrets and technology, and disturb or destroy critical infrastructure, ranging from the electrical grid and telecommunications networks to nuclear power plants and transportation systems.

To read more, visit:  http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110517/D9N8S2H80.html

Domestic ‘sneak and peek’ raids spike

Posted: 18 May 2011 10:27 AM PDT

By: koat.com

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A special type of government search warrant that allows authorities to search homes without informing the owner for months is becoming more common, Target 7 has learned.

Imagine someone walking through your neighborhood, coming into your home and rifling through your intimate belongings.

"(They) search through your home, your dresser drawers, your computer files," Peter Simonson, with ACLU New Mexico, said.

These search warrants don't involve knocking on doors or any type of warning at all. Delayed-notice search warrants, or “sneak-and-peek” warrants, allow federal agents to enter your home without telling you they've been there until months later.

The warrants have always been around, but their use has spiked since the War on Terror and revamped Patriot Act was signed in 2005. The number of delayed-notice search warrants spiked nationally from nearly 700 in fiscal year 2007 to approaching close to 2,000 in 2009.

Upwards of 200 warrants and extensions approved during that same three-year stretch came out of the 10th Circuit Court, which covers a handful of states including New Mexico. The majority of those delayed search warrants aren't even for terrorism-related cases. According to the U.S. Department of Justice's figures, the majority of the warrants are for drug cases.

To read more, visit:  http://www.koat.com/news/27922147/detail.html#ixzz1MdoLic15
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