Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Gloom Of Night

In a television interview yesterday, Newt Gingrich expressed his disgust at the cancellation of the workday for Federal employees due to bad weather, saying that the closure was

“…  on account of an insignificant dusting of snow. The weather was so mild that no one in Denver or Minneapolis would have noticed it.  Federal employees – who we had been told throughout the shutdown were eager to go to work – suddenly had another paid day off.

I went to an 8am breakfast next to the White House.  The roads were clear (and empty, as everyone stayed home).  We had 15 people on time at 8am.  There was no snow accumulating at the White House.

Then I drove out to Dulles Airport with no problems.  There were 200 people at that meeting.  Everyone also made it to our business meeting at work later in the day, and one person even flew in that morning.

So, the private sector kept moving through the light snow, earning the tax money to pay the federal workers who couldn’t manage to make their way through the flurries.”

The full report, via NewsMax, can be found HERE.

Thom Tillis Speaks In Favor Of NC Immigration Reform

When the NC General Assembly meets in short session, as they will next spring, it is mostly about “housekeeping” matters and rarely takes up any legislation that is controversial and may therefore prove to be time consuming.  However, when NC House Speaker Thom Tillis appeared before the annual meeting of the NC Farm Bureau earlier this week, he told them that the session should focus on, among other things, immigration reform.  According to the report by the N&O:

Tillis invited Farm Bureau members to “give us some ideas of more things we need to do around immigration policy and help me communicate across this state why effective immigration policy is so critical and so important to this industry.”

He added, according to Democrats who tracked his remarks: “You all know what we need to do. … You go out there and talk about it. Start talking about smart immigration reform. You’re going to help us get out there and actually get it done.”

For the full article, click HERE.

Teachers File Lawsuit Against School Voucher Law

From WTVD, the ABC television station in Raleigh:

Advocacy groups representing parents and public education are suing North Carolina officials after the General Assembly passed a law this year allowing taxpayer money to help pay private school tuition.

The North Carolina Association of Educators and the North Carolina Justice Center filed their lawsuit Wednesday in Wake County Superior Court, saying the new law violates the state constitution’s requirement that public money go exclusively to free, public schools.

“Now we have no problem with private schools, no problem with home schools … we have a vibrant system of home schools in North Carolina, it’s terrific, but we don’t ask taxpayers to fund it,” said Burton Craig, the union’s attorney.

The state’s top two lawmakers said in response that more than a dozen other states have similar, successful programs.

The law will allow low-income students to take $4,200 a year in taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition beginning in 2014. Lawmakers say they want to expand the program beyond the $10 million budgeted in the first year.

Special County Commissioners Meeting on the TSO

MillPondPost_LogoThe Carteret County Commissioners are holding a special meeting at 10am this Friday (12/13/2013) to consider amendments to the county’s Tall Structures Ordinance.  The meeting will take place at the usual venue, which is on the 2nd floor of the newest county office building in Beaufort, and the public is welcome.

The commissioners’ deliberations on potential modifications to this ordinance come in the wake of interest by Torch Energy of Houston, TX in locating a large wind turbine farm (about 50 turbines) on about 7000 acres of Weyerhaueser land just north of Morehead City and just east of Newport.

For more background information on this project, and on wind energy:

A condensed version from local physicist John Droz of some modifications that the Commissioners will likely consider on Friday is HERE.

The extensive slide presentation on Torch Energy’s proposed “Mill Pond” project, also authored by John Droz, is HERE.

Another Lie "Seared" Into His Memory

In the early spring of 2003, Glenn Kessler was a diplomatic correspondent for the Washington Post, and was closely covering the ongoing negotiations between the GWB administration and Iran over the latter’s nuclear ambitions.  He has up a detailed analysis and, surprise, a refutation of Secretary Of State John Kerry’s recent allegation that the GWB administration muffed an opportunity for a genuine deal with the Mullahs.  The entire WaPo article is HERE.

CCTPP Members Invited To The CCTA Christmas Party

Gladys Suessle has kindly forwarded the news that CCTPP members are cordially invited to the Christmas Party that the Coastal Carolina Taxpayers’ Association is holding on the evening of December 17th.  The party will begin at 7pm, and is to be at Highland Park Christian Church, 905 Carolina Avenue, in New Bern.  Although admission is free, attendees are asked to bring a favorite side dish or dessert if they can.  For further information, e-mail Gladys at GSuessle1@aol.com  (NOT A LINK).

Uncertain Future For Taxation On Public Pensions

Paul Caron, Pepperdine University Law Professor and purveyor of the TaxProfBlog site, is calling attention to THIS new wrinkle arising from the IRS position on changes to public pension systems that would allow municipalities to shift workers into new, less-expensive plans without losing any tax advantages they had under the old plan.  The situation originated in Orange County, California, but could be coming to a municipality near you.

More on Karzai and the Afghanistan SOF Treaty

The associated press is reporting today that:

Karzai says the U.S. is “absolutely” acting like a colonial power in its attempts to force him to sign the bilateral security agreement by the end of this year.  The paper quoted him as saying: “The threats they are making, `We won’t pay salaries, we’ll drive you into a civil war.’  These are threats.”

Ya think?

President Obama had no interest in a slow wind-down in Iraq, which would have preserved the gains made by the GWB administration, so he used the pretext of Iraqi resistance to the US position on a new Status Of Forces (SOF) agreement as an excuse for bugging out.  However, he does want a slow wind-down in Afghanistan, so he is pressuring Karzai to accept essentially the same provisions.  And, to help protect the US forces that will be there for years, I hope he continues the pressure until we get an acceptable treaty.

We Must Not Split Our Vote Next May

On the Crystal Coast Tea Party Patriots’ (CCTPP) Facebook page, Ken Lang posts a link to THIS article in the Charlotte Observer on the Republican candidates vying to be Kay Hagan’s opponent next fall for her US Senate seat.  The CCTPP views Greg Brannon as the most conservative of the candidates who have been in the race for a while, but one thing is becoming clear.  Conservatives need to avoid splitting their votes, because that will ensure the election of Tillis, the non-conservative.  The primary is next May, so it will soon be time to choose.

And To Think We Considered This Guy For President!

ABC News is reporting on some revealing remarks from Colin Powell, retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff and former Secretary of State.  At a prostate cancer survivors breakfast last week, Powell marveled at the quality of single-payer health care systems abroad and suggested the US follow suit.  Powell later added that he would welcome the adoption of a socialized insurance system.

Another Truffle From The ObamaCare Quagmire

KellyAndGottlief

This one I have not heard before.  On the Megyn Kelly show last night, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a practicing physician and former Senior Policy Advisor for the DHHS Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMMS), exposed another of the nuggets that Nancy Pelosi said we could discover only after we passed the ACA.  Dr. Gottlieb has examined the details of the Bronze, Gold, and Platinum plans offered through the exchanges in many states, and as he put it, in some states those who buy insurance cannot “buy up” their benefits.  By that he means that, even if the buyer pays a higher premium in order to get the Gold or Platinum plans, they will only get lower co-pays and lower deductibles, but no better selection of doctors, hospitals, and other medical providers.  In other words, their increased premiums will just go toward pre-paying their deductibles, not toward better health care.

Senator Burr, DO NOT Expand The Plastic Gun Ban!

As some readers may know, the House recently passed an extension of the Reagan-era legislation that banned the manufacture of any firearm that can pass through an airport metal detector without triggering an alarm.  The recently passed bill, known as the “plastic gun ban” bill, is now before the US Senate.  I called Senator Burr’s office in Washington earlier today to get his position on the bill, as there are indications that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may try to use the House-passed bill as a platform for stronger anti-gun measures.  Surprisingly, the guy who took my call (Paul) said that Senator Burr had not taken a position on the bill.  This is unsettling to me, as it suggests that Burr may not oppose the sort of effort that Harry Reid may try to mount.

In my opinion, it is too early to know how the invention of “3D printers” will impact the possibility of such firearms being produced at home by individuals harboring ill intent.  I therefore told Paul to convey to Senator Burr my position, which is that it is okay for the Senate to pass the House bill, as is, and send it on to President Obama for his signature, but that he should resist any attempts in the Senate to expand the scope of the legislation.  If anyone else shares this concern, please let Senator Burr know by calling his Washington office (202/224-3154) or by sending him an e-mail, HERE.

Renee Ellmers Is Getting Primaried

Based on THIS October article from the McClatchy newspaper group, it looks as though 2nd District Congresswoman Renee Ellmers of Dunn may be seen by GOP moderates as a possible convert to the cause of “comprehensive immigration reform”.  If so, that could be one of the reasons that she has recently attracted THIS primary challenge from Frank Roche.

Bush Lied, People Died, Kerry Cried, Obama Denied

Remember when Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States had proof that the nerve-gas attacks on the Syrian rebel forces was made on Assad’s orders?   Remember when President Obama went on national television and said “We know the Assad regime was responsible”, and that this discovery was what pushed him over the “red line” in considering military intervention?   Well, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh is now alleging that Kerry and the President “cherry-picked intelligence” to justify their plans for intervention in Syria.

Hold on, wasn’t that essentially what President George W. Bush was accused of in Iraq?

Anyhoo, the entire article is HERE.

I Cannot Tell A Lie. Well, Maybe Just This Once.

At the Daily Caller blog, Mickey Kaus notes that, since the ObamaCare subsidies are based on AGI, there will be a large incentive for some to fudge the numbers on their tax return, particularly for those who can do so most easily, meaning folks who are self-employed.  In the example he cites, the “bronze” policy premium for a Californian with an AGI of $46K is $507/month.  If the same Californian had an AGI of $25K, he/she would pay $63.  Lemme think, now …

Yes, Now The FBI Is Doing It

USA Today put up an article on Sunday detailing the process by which the FBI and even local police agencies can use hardware devices to mimic the NSA phone tracking methodology, but with cellphones.  The lead from the article:

The National Security Agency isn’t the only government entity secretly collecting data from people’s cellphones. Local police are increasingly scooping it up, too.

Armed with new technologies, including mobile devices that tap into cellphone data in real time …

The chilling details are HERE.

As If We Need Another Entitlement Time Bomb

If the guvmint is to be believed, about 1,600,000 Americans have now enrolled in ObamaCare, but over 91% of them (1.46M) have done so by being added to the Medicaid rolls.  Almost 8 cents out of every dollar that the federal government spends goes to Medicaid already, and that totals more than $265 billion per year.

For the rest of the bad news, check out the complete New York Post story, HERE.

The Pending Farm Bill

A reconciliation committee is trying to reach a compromise recommendation to send out to the full House and Senate by December 13th, when Congress is scheduled to adjourn for the Christmas holidays.  If both chambers of Congress cannot pass a bill to send to President Obama’s desk, a 1949 version will effectively become the law of the land.

The big hang up is food stamps, currently referred to as the SNAP program.  The Senate passed a $955 billion five-year bill in June (with bipartisan support) that cut $4 billion from SNAP.  The House of Representatives passed legislation that reduced SNAP by $39 billion.

The cuts approved by the House would affect an estimated 165,000 people in North Carolina between the ages of 18 and 50, and according to Larry Wooten, president of the North Carolina Farm Bureau, it’s the difference in the amounts of cuts between the House and Senate versions that have “held the farm bill hostage”.

More HERE, from the News-&-Observer.

Rocky Mountain High — The New Twist

If you’re not from Colorado, Washington, California, or Oregon, odds are you’re not familiar with dabbing.  That’s because it’s most popular in the states with the loosest marijuana laws.  Producing dabs — the technical term is “butane hash oil” — is a fairly complex process.  The short version is that you extract resins from marijuana with liquid butane, then evaporate the butane to leave behind a highly concentrated form of THC.

Much more, HERE.

Rebecca Tallent — Another Slant on Boehner's New Hire

Andrew Stiles, writing at the online National Review, has up a new piece on John Boehner’s recent hiring of Rebecca Tallent as his new staff point-man on immigration reform.  I posted on this three days ago, but Stiles thinks that her recent gig is even more telling than the time she spent working with Senator John McCain and Senator Ted Kennedy on the immigration push back in 2006 and 2007.

Common Core Is On The Front Burner Again

EndCommonCore_LogoAs our readers know by now, we are among those opposed to the further implementation of the Common Core program in our North Carolina schools.  Part of the opposition strategy is to have the Common Core Study Committee, created by the NC General Assembly (NC/GA) with a mandate for presenting Common Core recommendations by December of 2014, bring their report and recommendations to the NC/GA early, by May rather than December.  We want the Committee to recommend, at the very least, that the implementation schedule be paused pending further study, and since May comes during the NC/GA spring session, their recommendations may thereby be implemented before the next school year begins next fall.

The remainder of the strategy is to become engaged, to educate the public by contacting our elected officials and our local news outlets (via letters to newspaper editors), and to sway the members of the Study Committee.  To further that last objective, we must have our views represented at the meetings of the Committee, and the first meeting is scheduled for 1:00pm on Tuesday after next, the 17th of December, in Room 643 of the Legislative Office Building (LOB) in Raleigh.  According to one member of the Committee, this first meeting will probably focus on organization rather than actual debate and/or discussion, but all of the Committee’s meetings are open to the public.  It would therefore be helpful if the opposition made their presence known.

For those who may need to get up to speed on the Common Core threat:

Stop Common Core NC is a good clearinghouse for Common Core information and developments, and they have an informative two-page handout that bores into the objectional aspects of Common Core.

The John Locke Foundation (mainly Terry Snoops) has done a lot of research into the ramifications of Common Core, resulting in their Sixty Questions About Common Core.

Paul Ryan Is Doing What?

This can’t be true.  Dan Mitchell of the Cato Institute is reporting that Paul Ryan, the man whom I thought might be the guy to inherit the mantel of Jack Kemp, is now flirting with the idea of allying himself with those Democrats who are “willing to give away the sequester’s real and meaningful spending restraint …”.  Oh, say it ain’t so, Paul.

Health Care Providers Taking It On The Chin Again

Michelle Malkin has up a new post entitled “Obamacare’s Perilous Protection Plan For Debtors”, about how doctors and hospitals are again getting stiffed, this time as a result of the ACA’s 90-day grace period.  A key bit:

The Affordable Care Act created a 90-day grace period before insurers can drop patients who fall behind on premiums.  So, delinquents who obtain tax-subsidized health insurance through an Obamacare health insurance exchange have three months to settle up their bills prior to their policy being canceled.  As written, the law puts insurers on the hook for the grace period.

But the bureaucrats at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services decided to issue a rule …

The full article is HERE.