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In May 2009, four months into the Obama presidency, retail gasoline prices averaged $2.32 per gallon. Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) wrote Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to express concern about the impact that the Administration’s budgeted changes in tax policy would have on the oil and gas industry. Secretary Geithner clearly laid out the Administration position in his letter of response (pdf link). That was then, this is now. In just three years’ time, retail gasoline prices are up 68%. $4.00+ gasoline prices loom as a key reelection vulnerability for the President; in response, the Administration’s rhetoric has shifted to “energy...

These are my thoughts on the current situations and future possibilities of violations of the "Conscious Clause" or Religious Freedom aspects. Keep in mind that the current Administration did not want to acknowledge the War on Terror while it is still going on. It has been said that Osama Bin Laden had declared war on America but we did not declare it as a war. So there is a war even if we do not choose to acknowledge it. Similiarly, the Administration's War on Religion (other than Muslims, of course) is evident even when some refuse to acknowledge that.From the...

The federal government will no longer forgive student loans in exchange for public service if that service is related to religion, according to a new Education Department rule from the Obama administration. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program announced the change Jan. 31 with little fanfare, while most of Washington was focused on the new ObamaCare rule requiring religious organizations to provide free birth control through health insurance. “Generally, the type or nature of employment with the organization does not matter for PSLF purposes,” reads the new language. “However, if you work for a nonprofit organization, your employment will...

NASHVILLE — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's administration has fired two top officials at the Department of Environment and Conservation, while a third has announced his retirement. The department said in a statement Friday that the changes are "designed to streamline our structure and build management efficiencies." Changes are to include the creation of a single water resources division encompassing the department's pollution control, water supply and groundwater management programs, according to the statement. The fired officials are Mike Apple, head of the department's solid waste management division, and Paul E. Davis, who was in charge of water pollution control. Meanwhile,...

President Barack Obama's administration has been delaying its planned $53 million arms sale to Bahrain due to human rights concerns and congressional opposition, but this week administration officials told several congressional offices that they will move forward with a new and different package of arms sales -- without any formal notification to the public. The congressional offices that led the charge to oppose the original Bahrain arms sales package are upset that the State Department has decided to move forward with the new package. The opposition to Bahrain arms sales is led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Rep. Jim...

Judicial Watch filed a freedom of information request for documents pertaining to the possible leak of the information relating to the killing of Osama bin Laden to a Hollywood producer in August 2011. The administration has yet to cough up the information, so Judicial Watch is suing them. The DOD admitted receiving the FOIA request on August 22, 2011, but advised Judicial Watch that “at this time, we are unable to make a release determination on your request within twenty (20) working days” of August 9, which would have been by September 6, 2011. The CIA acknowledged receiving the FOIA...

(Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday defended the Obama administration's financial reforms, saying they were not hostile to the financial system.

(Reuters) - The Obama administration cleared the way for states to legalize Internet poker and certain other online betting in a switch that may help them reap billions in tax revenue and spur web-based gambling. A Justice Department opinion dated September and made public on Friday reversed decades of previous policy that included civil and criminal charges against operators of some of the most popular online poker sites. Until now, the department held that online gambling in all forms was illegal under the Wire Act of 1961, which bars wagers via telecommunications that cross state lines or international borders.

Marie Carmen Aponte December 13, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The U.S. Senate has blocked the appointment of a controversial homosexual activist nominee to the position of ambassador to El Salvador, in a 49-37 vote that upheld a filibuster against a vote on the nomination. The Associated Press acknowledged that nomination of Marie Carmen Aponte failed in large part because of her open support for the homosexual agenda in El Salvador, which sparked a protest to the U.S. Senate on the part of El Salvadoran civil organizations. The White House immediately responded with a statement denouncing the blockage of the nomination. “Today’s...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration says it has full confidence in the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, despite comments he made about anti-Semitism that prompted angry responses from Jewish groups and Republicans. Howard Gutman, who is Jewish and whose father survived the Holocaust, told a European Jewish gathering last week that some hatred of Jews reflected hostility toward Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. He said it was different from traditional anti-Semitism. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday that Gutman would remain in his post. Toner said Gutman spoke as ambassador, yet expressed his own views. He declined to say if the...

Arts and Culture   Increased funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to the highest level since 1992. ref, ref, ref Created an artist corps for public schools. refChampioned the importance of arts education. refPromoted cultural diplomacy. ref Section curator: ^pash Banking and Financial Reform   BROAD POLICY:Established the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. refEstablished President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability to assist in financial education for all Americans. ref, ref , refRestoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010. ref, ref Dodd-Frank (DF) Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the biggest financial reform law since...

Obama administration officials refused to say Wednesday whether anybody would be fired over the decision to award solar-panel manufacturer Solyndra LLC a half-billion dollars in loansbefore it went bankrupt and saw its headquarters raided by the FBI. During a hearing in which two top administration officials defended the $535 million loan deal to Solyndra in 2009, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned whether Americans could expect any government officials to be fired. The FBI raided the company after it filed for bankruptcy last week

WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department is refusing to release legal memos the George W. Bush administration used to justify his warrantless surveillance program, one of the most contentious civil liberties issues during the Republican president's time in office.

“Mexican commandos have discreetly traveled to the United States, assembled at designated areasand dispatched helicopter missions back across the border aimed at suspected drug traffickers,” reports the New York Times. This is all part of what the Obama Administration is calling “boomerang operations” which are designed to get at Mexican drug traffickers through the back door. ”The cartels don’t expect Mexican police coming from the U.S.,” one senior military official told the Times. Clearly things are not going well in Mexico.

ExxonMobil, the world’s largest energy company, filed a lawsuit against the federal government for canceling an oil-drilling lease in the Gulf of Mexico that held “billions of barrels of oil,” according to the company. In the suit, filed Aug. 12 in federal court in Louisiana against Interior Department Secretary Ken Salazar and related parties, Exxon alleges that the Interior Department made an “arbitrary, capricious” decision in canceling the deepwater leases, arguing that the government’s action “deprives ExxonMobil of property without due process of law.” ExxonMobil lawsuit

Whether it is the delayed release of the 2011 Department of Defense (DOD) report on Chinese military and security developments or Vice President Joe Biden’s statements regarding Chinese human rights, it is becoming clear that the Obama Administration has an utterly incoherent view of the People’s Republic of China. Biden apparently sees his statement (“Your policy has been one which I fully understand—I’m not second-guessing—of one child per family”) as actually arguing against the Chinese policy. Similarly, even as the Administration was signaling, just before the Vice President’s trip, that it was not going to sell Taiwan badly needed F-16...

In the wake of an onslaught of criticism for Vice President Joe Biden’s comments in China about “not second guessing” the country’s one-child policy, the Obama administration has issued a statement of clarification. “The Obama Administration strongly opposes all aspects of China’s coercive birth limitation policies, including forced abortion and sterilization,” Biden’s spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff told The Daily Caller in an email. “The Vice President believes such practices are repugnant.” Barkoff explained that Biden was attempting to critique the restrictive system with his comments.

President Obama spoke of lofty intentions to help the world reduce greenhouse gases when he addressed delegates to United Nations talks in Copenhagen in 2009. “We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, and we will do what we say,” he said. “Now I believe that it’s time for the nations and people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.” But the Obama administration is on track to fall more than $200 million short on its $1 billion pledge to help prevent the cutting and burning of tropical rain forests. Lawmakers have slashed requests

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was held on August 2 – 6, 2010 in Bonn, Germany. It was the third round of U. N. climate change negotiations with representatives from 178 governments present. The meeting was designed to set the agenda for what they hoped to accomplish at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico in November and December of last year. The information in their press release conveyed the urgency of the U. N. to get this moving forward with solid agreements reached by the November/December conference. The text in this press release...

SAN JOSE, Calif., June 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- WHAT: Three San Jose city unions establish 24/7 mobile negotiations center to demand negotiations on pension reform. Media availability and press conference scheduled. WHO: Negotiating teams for IFPTE, Local 21 & AMSP. WHEN: June 6, 2011 4:00 AM to 12:00 PM Media Availability 12:00 PM Press Conference WHERE: East Santa Clara Street, between 4th & 5th Streets (Across from San Jose City Hall) San Jose, CA 95113 Beginning at 4:00 AM Monday, unions representing architects and engineers (AEA), mid-level managers (CAMP) and maintenance supervisors (AMSP) will staff an RV parked across the...