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Participants in a recent shale gas energy conference held in Hobbs, New Mexico, referred to a whirlwind trip to Lea County, NM, as “exhausting” but “enlightening.” Bradford County Commissioners Doug McLinko, Mark Smith, and Daryl Miller, Susquehanna County Commissioner Mary Ann Warren and Pennsylvania state Rep. Tina Pickett were among local elected officials to partake in discussions and serve as guests on informative panels.

TOWANDA - While Bradford County has experienced extensive gas drilling for a few years, what will it be like after the drilling has gone on for decades? The three Bradford County commissioners and other local officials had a chance to get a sense of what could happen when they traveled last week to participate in a two-day conference in Lea County, N.M.

Analyst: 'This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant' (Editor’s note: This article has been updated with a reaction from a General Motor's official.) Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

The White House dismisses the data, but, according to a study by Brendan Doherty, a U.S. naval academy assistant professor and expert on presidential travel, President Barack Obama has visited swing states “on official business” more times in a shorter span than either George W. Bush or Bill Clinton. The Wall Street Journal reports: Between Jan. 1 and Nov. 17 of his third year in office, Bill Clinton held 40 events over 24 days in the battlegrounds of his time, according to data compiled by Brendan Doherty, a U.S. Naval Academy assistant professor who is widely viewed among political scientists...

The woman accused of keeping four handicapped adults chained in a Philadelphia basement and stealing their Social Security checks may have done the same thing to victims in Florida, Virginia and Texas, Philadelphia police said today. *snip* (hate to butcher article but have to in this case..I apologize) She was charged with beating the man with a hammer, tying him up in a closet with only three meals over the course of two months, and beating him with broomsticks, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. When he died, his body was stuffed into a plastic bag and dumped it in an...

The owner of the not-too-generous traits outlined above is one New York Democratic Senator named Charles Schumer. I suspect that Democrat leadership feels that they can call on “Chuckie” to make a public spectacle out of himself as the spokesman for anything distasteful with which leadership would rather not be connected.

Michelle Obama dazzles in New York, wearing diamond bangles by H-Town's Katie Decker That was no ordinary bling on the wrist of First Lady Michelle Obama at the DNC fundraiser in New York Tuesday night. Those fancy diamond cuffs were the creation of 23-year-old Katie Decker, whose namesake jewelry line has been making a serious splash since her graduation from Texas A&M two years ago. --- blah, blah, blah

A suspected looter in this week’s riots and his mother are being thrown out of their council home. In the first case of its kind, Daniel Sartain-Clarke, 18, and his mother have been served with an eviction notice as council bosses seek to turf them out of their £225,000 taxpayer-subsidised flat. Sartain-Clarke is charged with violent disorder and attempting to steal electronic goods from the Currys store at Clapham Junction, South London, on Monday night.

President Obama Heading Out on 'Economic Bus Tour' Wednesday, August 10, 2011 By Fred Lucas and Susan Jones wheat farming, farm President Obama is heading to farm country on Aug. 15, 2011. (CNSNews.com) - Don't call it a campaign trip: On August 15-17, President Obama will travel to the Midwest on a "three-day economic bus tour," making stops in southern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa and western Illinois, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Tuesday. "The President will discuss ways to grow the economy, strengthen the middle class and accelerate hiring in communities and towns across the nation and hear directly...

The Debt Crisis: Why There Is a Stalemate By Jean F. Drew Ask just about any person on the street nowadays what the U.S. “debt crisis” is all about, and he’ll probably tell you it’s about “raising the debt limit.” He has had it drilled into his head — by the Obama Administration, the Democrat Party, the labor unions, and their various enablers in the “official” media — that the international credit reporting agencies threaten to downgrade sovereign U.S. debt from Triple A to a lesser — and costlier — grade because Congress has failed to increase the debt ceiling...

Coburn on Grover Norquist: ‘Old news..doesn’t matter what he says’ Coburn talks with reporters before their caucus luncheon on Capitol Hill Tuesday. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) An intra-GOP feud played out in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

Focus: The Economic Development Administration, U.S. Commerce Dept....the Senate is currently seeking to increase EDA funding to $500 million a year from $300 million. Worse, this bill passed out of a Senate authorization committee with unanimous, bipartisan support. [snip] In April, the bureau reported that it gave a $2 million grant to build a "culinary amphitheater," wine tasting room, and gift shop at the Port of Benton and the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center in Richland, Wash. The same month, it gave $1.5 million to promote tourism in the Northern Mariana Islands. In January, it spent $1 million on...

Washington – The Obama administration said Wednesday that the government will lose about $14 billion in taxpayer funds from the bailout of the U.S. auto industry. In a report from the president's National Economic Council, officials said that figure is down from the 60 percent the Treasury Department originally estimated the government would lose following its $80 billion bailout of Chrysler and General Motors in 2009. The report's release coincides with the administration's efforts to tout the bailout's role in the revitalization of the U.S. auto industry after last week's announcement that Chrysler is repaying $5.9 billion in U.S.

House Passes Complete Ban on Taxpayer Funding of Abortions Washington, DC -- The House of Representatives today approved a complete ban on taxpayer funding of abortions that ensures abortions are not directly funded in any federal governmental program or department. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/04/house-passes-complete-ban-on-taxpayer-funding-of-abortions/

House May Vote on Taxpayer-Funding of Abortion Ban Next Week Washington, DC -- The House of representative may vote as early as next week on legislation that would institute a government-wide ban on any direct taxpayer funding of abortions in any federal departments or programs. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/26/house-may-vote-on-taxpayer-funding-of-abortion-ban-next-week/

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), arguably the most prominent fiscal conservative in the Senate, is declaring his independence from one of the country's leading anti-tax groups, Americans for Tax Reform - and its fiery founder, Grover Norquist.

RUSH: We've only taken one phone call today, Mary Jo from Madison, Wisconsin. And just to remind you, I am not entirely comfortable with phone calls like that. I'm not into yelling and screaming with people, but it was required because she wouldn't shut up. (interruption) Well, compared to others, yes, I was polite. But I spotted the filibuster going on. The worst thing, though, about Mary Jo, our first caller, the most alarming and dispiriting thing is something that we're all fully aware of. Her thinking demonstrates just how far we have to go to roll all this back....

URL only as Bloomberg cannot be posted: Business Week: Foreign Banks used Federal Reserve Secret Lifeline at peak of CrisisBloomberg: Foreign Banks used Federal Reserve Secret Lifeline at peak of Crisis

Your tax dollars at work… The EPA is now paying the American Lung Association to attack Republicans The ALA put up four billboards like this one near Rep. Fred Upton’s office in Michigan. Upton is the House Energy and Commerce Chairman. (PlowShareGroup) The Environmental Protection Agency is paying the American Lung Association to run attack ads against Republican members of Congress. JunkScience.com reported: “The American Lung Association has targeted House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton for his efforts to stop U.S. EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions by placing billboards within sight of his district offices linking climate change...

For the past couple days members of my circle on facebook who are known to be not-so-conservatives have been whining and nashing their new crowns on the House of Representatives “de-funding” NPR and PBS. Any viable enterprise should be able to survive without government support. In the case of NPR spinning out on their own would not be a far stretch. NPR has its own programming and news bureau which is followed by a core of listeners. That’s the traditional business model for radio and if the powers that be at NPR can make it work as a non-profit, more...

An analysis of the propaganda campaign to get Al-Jazeera carried by more cable and satellite systems reveals an interesting fact. The terrorist TV channel is already available through something called MHz Networks. And it turns out that the MHz Networks is supported by the American taxpayers at the federal and state levels. MHz Networks is a division of Commonwealth Public Broadcasting and receives over $2 million a year from federal and state governments. In this case, because Commonwealth is based in Virginia, the culprit is the state of Virginia. However, Governor Robert F. McDonnell has proposed eliminating state funding of...

Planned Parenthood Spending 200K on Ads for Taxpayer-Funding Washington, DC -- The Planned Parenthood abortion business is rolling out a new television commercial designed to persuade members of the Senate to support the continuation of its taxpayer funding. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/02/28/planned-parenthood-spending-200k-on-ads-for-taxpayer-funding/

Need more poll freeping....Do you agree with efforts by some lawmakers to limit collective bargaining by unions in Ohio?

National Public Radio listeners are being inundated with warnings that they soon may have to drive to work every morning without the sonorous intonations of Morning Edition’s Corey Flintoff, Steve Inskeep, and Renée Montagne, and may be forced to drive home without the narrative drone of All Things Considered’s Robert Siegel, Michele Norris, and Melissa Block. Just this morning, I received a panicked e-mail from the director of broadcasting at an NPR affiliate in my home state, Michigan. You know, one of those state-based public-radio operations that just last October received a portion of George Soros’s $1.8 million Open Society...

This Valentine's Day, National Public Radio chose two curious ways to celebrate the holiday: It thanked President Obama for proposing an increase in its federal funding, then it used its taxpayer money to promote greeting cards for the homosexual lifestyle. During yesterday's "Morning Edition" program, Selena Simmons-Duffin shared a story on air – and expanded in an online article – titled "Greeting Cards that Celebrate a Rainbow of Loves." "It can be especially hard to find the perfect Valentine's Day card for your special someone if you're in a same-sex relationship," Simmons-Duffin writes. "That's because no major greeting card company...

This week, state Sen. Michael Rubio will introduce legislation that would prohibit food stamps from being used to purchase "junk food" or prepared meals at fast-food restaurants. "The question is what should we be using taxpayer funds to purchase," the Bakersfield Democrat said Tuesday. "In my opinion, we should be focusing on what people need, not what they want." Those needs include foods found in the traditional food pyramid, he said, including breads and cereals, meats, beans, nuts, dairy products and other protein sources, and lots of fruits and vegetables. Rubio's idea is not yet an official Senate bill. But...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal taxpayers should stop propping up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Congress will wean the country away from its reliance on the two huge but fiscally feeble housing finance companies, House Republicans said Wednesday. Democrats conceded that changes are needed in Fannie and Freddie, which have swallowed $150 billion in federal aid since the government took them over in September 2008. But they cautioned that care must be taken to avoid jeopardizing the popular 30-year fixed rate mortgage and the access to the housing market that the two companies have helped provide to millions of moderate-income...

In light of a Hizbullah allied Islamist becoming Lebanon's new Prime Minister, headlines in the media read "Clinton, Whitehouse Warn Lebanon Against Hizbullah".Well, we warned the Obama Whitehouse against anymore U.S. taxpayer money, or military aid, to the Hizbullah infiltrated Lebanese Army. See below articles:"No U.S. Money, and No U.S. Military Equipment For Lebanese Army!"-August 2010"Congress Must Stop Obama From Aiding Hezbollah/Lebanese Army"-Sept. 2010The warning did no good:"Key Congressional Democrats Unblock $100 mill for Hizbullah / LAF"-Nov. 2010 "U.S. Military Aid To Lebanon: Even While Hizbullah Has Veto Power"-March 2009To be fair, how our government has deal with this horrible Hizbullah/Lebanon problem did not...

The National Science Foundation (NSF) launched a program in 2010 called Climate Change Education Partnership (CCEP). In this program they funded different opportunities to educate about climate change by giving funds (awards) to colleges who drafted proposals on how they would spend the money. One such proposal caught my eye. The program is entitled "Making the Global Local - Unusual Weather Events as Climate Change Educational Opportunities" and it is taking place at George Mason University (GMU). Here is the program description: This project will focus on establishing a national network of on-air broadcast meteorologists, climate scientists, university research programs,...

WASHINGTON, D.C -- A Channel 2 Action News investigation found that the State Department is sending millions of dollars to save mosques overseas. This investment has received criticism as the United States makes an effort to slash nearly $4 trillion in government spending.

Obama will be leaving 2 days after the election to tour around India... The trip will cost taxpayers 200 million a day for 10 days. The Obama's will rent the entire Hotel Taj, 570 rooms. There are two jumbo jets coming along with Air Force One, which will be flanked by security jets. The President’s convoy has 45 cars.” The Economic Times also reported that Mr Obama’s delegation is so large that another 300 rooms have reportedly been booked in other luxury Mumbai hotels. Except for personnel providing immediate security to the president, the US officials may not be allowed...

The U.S. government is stepping in with millions of taxpayer dollars to create affordable places for Americans to work and live. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last week announced nearly $100 million in new grants "to support more livable and sustainable communities across the country." Forty-five regions will receive various amounts of the funding through the new initiative, which aims to connect housing with jobs, schools and transportation. “Regions that embrace sustainable communities will have a built-in competitive edge in attracting jobs and private investment,”

A new analysis of political signs displayed at a tea party rally in Washington last month reveals that the vast majority of activists expressed narrow concerns about the government's economic and spending policies and steered clear of the racially charged anti-Obama messages that have helped define some media coverage of such events. Emily Ekins, a graduate student at UCLA, conducted the survey at the 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington last month by scouring the crowd, row by row and hour by hour, and taking a picture of every sign she passed. Ekins photographed about 250 signs, and more than half...

Sixty-six per cent of Vancouver’s pricey Olympic Village condos remain unsold — a total of 483 units at the massive False Creek development that served as athletes’ housing during the two-week 2010 Games. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, whose city remains on the hook for more than $1.03 billion of the cost of the project, predicts it will take a “full two-year term” to sell the remaining units. “There is some concern we’re going into another [economic] dip,” Robertson said last week. “[But] I have full confidence in the developer and the marketing taking place. “I hope the market kicks in...

What the great French historian Alexis de Tocqueville would make of today’s Obama administration were he alive today is anyone’s guess. But I would wager that the author of L’Ancien Régime and Democracy in America would be less than impressed with the extravagance and arrogance on display among the White House elites that rule America as though they had been handed some divine right to govern with impunity. It is the kind of impunity that has been highlighted on the world stage this week by Michelle Obama’s hugely costly trip to Spain, which has prompted a New York Post columnist...

Are you ready for the next massive taxpayer bailout? Many of the same lawmakers who infuriated taxpayers by bailing out Wall Street, the auto companies, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recently created a new program virtually guaranteed to require bailouts. And unlike those one-time bailouts, this one will become an annual taxpayer expense. The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act is a new long-term care insurance program. The concept had floated around Washington for years before Congress inserted it into the Obamacare health law — most likely to provide a $70 billion piggybank that could be raided...

Bell, CA - The budget of a Los Angeles suburb is under scrutiny and has some people calling for an investigation. Bell, California has less than 40,000 residents with a median income of little more than $40,000. But Bell’s city manager makes almost $800,000 a year, while the police chief earns $450,000. Even the city’s part-time council members make nearly $100,000 a year. State records indicate council members for a city that size should only be making around $4,800. Bell’s city leaders recently took over running the neighboring city of Maywood. Maywood didn’t have enough funding to keep most of...

TMZ has learned Michelle Obama will be attending tonight's NBA Finals game between the Lakers and the Celtics at Staples Center in L.A. The White House just confirmed rumors that had been circling all day. We're told the outing is a "family event" -- so we're expecting one of the First Daughters to be with her.

After voting to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on TARP, Cash for Clunkers and other costly measures, RINO Republican U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Missouri's 8th Congressional District says she opposes such waste.

President Barack Obama said today the US would send $400m of aid to the Palestinian territories following 10 days of international focus on Gaza, which Israel has blockaded for more than three years.

A prominent US climate scientist at the centre of the "climategate" leaked email controversy has been virtually cleared of professional misconduct by an internal university enquiry. Michael Mann, of Penn State University, featured regularly in the more than 1000 emails that were hacked from the University of East Anglia in the UK last November. His emails and comments have since then featured in countless blogs and news articles. Some have claimed the emails reveal that mainstream climate scientists have massaged data in order to demonstrate that climate change is caused by human activities. The scientists in the emails, including Mann,...

Seventy Republican members of Congress want Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to cancel up to $6 million in bonuses and deferred compensation -- approved before Christmas 2009 -- for the chief executive officers of the failed mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “(T)here’s a letter that’s going to Sec. Geithner from a number of us calling for a rescission of those bonuses,” Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told CNSNews.com Wednesday. On Christmas Eve, at the same time the Obama administration announced that it was removing any cap on the amount of taxpayer aid to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the failed...

The Democrats exhaled in relief yesterday after the CBO announced the Senate Finance version of health care would only cost 829 billion dollars and even better news...it will help decrease the deficit by 81 billion dollars. Oh happy day! You could feel the enthusiasm and back slapping from Washington D.C. out to the far reaches of the west coast. Obama was right, we could get this thing done for under a trillion dollars and reduce the deficit at the same time. Time to pop the balloons. There's nothing to celebrate here. Politicians in Washington never cease to amaze. They throw...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — General Motors’ new 60-day money back guarantee campaign seems to offer something for everyone — except taxpayers, the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) pointed out today. This Sunday, General Motors launched a new marketing campaign, ‘May the Best Car Win,’ and will offer car buyers a 60-day money-back guarantee. It was broadcasted on nearly every Sunday football game.

The Obama Administration has transfered $200 million directly to the Fatah PA in violation of the criteria of the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006. The Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act of 2006 has very specific criteria that the Palestinian Authority must be in compliance with in order to recieve any U.S. funding. Section 620K contains the following criteria: The President must certify to Congress that 1) no ministry, agency, or instrumentality of the Palestinian Authority is controlled by a foreign terrorist organization and no member of a foreign terrorist organization serves in a senior policy making position in a ministry, agency, or...

Soldiers of the 910th Quartermaster Company sort and count excess items at sorting tables in the Forward Redistribution Point warehouse, Joint Base Balad, July 15. As Coalition bases close throughout Iraq, excess inventory is sent here for processing and redistribution, saving U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars. Photo by Spc. Kiyoshi Freeman, 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary). BALAD — Shipping containers arrive here daily filled with every imaginable item: toilet paper, pens, pencils, turbine engines, Humvee repair parts, even a rock climbing wall. As Coalition forces continue their responsible drawdown from Iraq and close bases, Mobile Redistribution Teams (MRTs) comb installations looking...

PENCE AMENDMENT VOTE THIS MORNING - CALL NOW!! Washington, DC (24 July 2009) – We only have a few hours left to strip Planned Parenthood of their Title X cash cow! The Pence Amendment to defund Planned Parenthood of millions of our tax dollars is set for a vote THIS MORNING. PLEASE CALL THE FOLLOWING CONGRESSIONAL OFFICES NOW! 1. Rep. Dan Boren (OK) - (202) 225-2701 2. Rep. Jerry Costello (ILL) - (202) 225-5661 3. Rep. Lincoln Davis (TN) – (202) 225-6831 4. Rep. Joe Donnelly (IN) - (202) 225-3915 5. Rep. Brad Ellsworth (IN) - (202) 225-4636 6. Rep....

Stephen Moore, Mary O'Grady and Dan Henninger join Paul Gigot for a group discussion on the Obama "stimulus" package for the United States economy.

If you don’t understand the uproar in Friendswood about the city’s plan to issue $11 million in debt without voter approval, just ask yourself a couple of questions: What if city leaders are completely right about the legal question? Is it still a good idea to borrow money without asking voters for their approval? Is a good idea to obligate them when they have clearly indicated they want a say about any debt they’d be responsible for? City officials have asked a judge in Travis County for a ruling that says the city can issue certificates of obligation to finance...

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2009 Contact: Nate Bullock Cell: 317-258-6276 E-Mail: nate@signbig.com SIGN BIG LAUNCHES STATEWIDE Tuesday, June 2, 2009 – Yesterday, Sign Big, an Indiana organization focused on taxpayer issues, announced its official launch. “Sign Big has one focus: Hoosier taxpayers,” said Nate Bullock, Sign Big treasurer and spokesperson. “Our top priority now is to inform Hoosiers and get them engaged in the process of fighting inequitable and higher taxes. So, in the spirit of John Hancock, who made his mark larger than life on the Declaration of Independence, we are asking Hoosiers who are...