When all government, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the Center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated.— Thomas Jefferson
Government-mandated and union-backed project labor agreements (PLAs) are increasing costs on taxpayer-funded projects across the country even as local, state, and federal governments face a budget crunch.
A PLA sets construction conditions on bidding for federally funded projects. While the conditions for each PLA vary depending on the locale within which they are passed, they frequently require employees to join a union or force contractors to employ union labor exclusively.
PLAs also “require [non-union] contractors to pay their workers’ health and retirement benefits to union trust funds,” causing the contractors to pay workers’ benefits twice—once for the union and once for their company plan
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Though the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate forcing employers to violate their conscience by providing birth control and pills that cause abortions has been temporarily stoppedtoday in a Federal District Court, there is no question the Obama Administration will appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court.This is the fight of our time. Either this country will stand for religious freedom, or it won't. And we will know the answer if the courts allow the government (by way of the HHS to brazenly) violate the First Amendment by forcing individuals to fund birth control and the abomination of abortion.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/03/14/Dominos-Wins-Court-Order-Stopping-HHS-Abortion-Mandate
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George Orwell once said that some ideas are so foolish that only an intellectual could believe them. Multiculturalism is one of those ideas. The intelligentsia burst into indignation or outrage at "gaps" or "disparities" in educational, economic or other outcomes -- and denounce any cultural explanation of these group differences as "blaming the victim."
Yet intellectuals see themselves as friends, allies and defenders of racial minorities, even as they paint them into a corner of cultural stagnation. This allows the intelligentsia to flatter themselves that they are on the side of the angels against the forces of evil that are conspiring to keep minorities down.
When they cannot come up with hard evidence in any particular case to support this theory today, that just proves to the intelligentsia how fiendishly clever and covert these pervasive efforts to hold down minorities are.
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ABC News really knows how to cause a coffee spit-take. All you have to do is introduce George Stephanopoulos talking to President Obama and put these hyperbolic words on screen: "No Holds Barred."
To be fair, the questions were about policy, including budget matters and North Korea. But they weren't challenging. Ask any conservative Republican about "no holds barred" media questions, and I'll show you the tire tracks on his back. Here's the kind of tough questions the president will never get:
1. When are you going to address how your administration failed to protect our diplomats in Benghazi? Why is Susan Rice still being considered for jobs after she was sent out to lie about the causes of Benghazi on five Sunday news shows?
2. Why does your administration prefer to kill foreign terrorists in drone attacks rather than capturing them for intelligence purposes? And why wasn't there more than one liberal joining Rand Paul's Senate filibuster on the grounds that drone attacks shouldn't kill American citizens who aren't an imminent threat on American soil?
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Three diplomatic security agents were among the Americans injured during the terrorist attack last September on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, according to a State Department official speaking exclusively to Fox News.
According to the official, who confirmed Fox's reporting on the condition of anonymity, two were injured, including one “seriously,” at the CIA facility known as the “annex” and a third suffered smoke inhalation at the consulate where Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/15/3-benghazi-survivors-in-diplomatic-security-sources-say-as-gop-demands-access/#ixzz2NbnJZZXA
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Texas governor Rick Perry had harsh words for President Obama and his administration’s “hysteria” over the sequester during his speech this afternoon at CPAC. After poking fun at the decision to shut down White House tours, Perry’s remarks took a more serious turn. The former 2012 presidential candidate discussed the Department of Homeland Security’s release of undocumented immigrants, calling the move a “federally sponsored jailbreak” that “crossed a line from politics of spin to politics as a craven form of cynicism.”
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In an interview with former Bill Clinton apparatchik George Stephanopoulos aired on ABC Wednesday morning, President Barack Obama shared his beliefs about where the nation stands financially.
The takeaway quotes from that sit-down concern Obama’s unserious take on the size and grave nature of the federal government’s annual deficits, which have exceeded $1 trillion during each of the past four fiscal years, and the national debt, which, at $16.71 trillion as of Tuesday, has increased by over $6 trillion since he took office less than 50 months ago:
And, y– you know– I think what’s important to recognize is that– we’ve already cut– $2.5– $2.7 trillion out of the deficit. If the sequester stays in, you’ve got over $3.5 trillion of deficit reduction already.
And, so, we don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt
http://pjmedia.com/blog/obama-out-of-control-debt/?singlepage=true
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There are so many jaw-dropping moments in “The World According to Dick Cheney” that I’m sure to forget several of them. One comes right at the beginning, when interviewer and co-director R.J. Cutler asks the most “consequential” vice president in American history – that’s Cheney’s word – a series of softball questions to get him warmed up. Cheney looks undeniably older and thinner after his recent heart transplant (talk about jokes that write themselves!), and he does deliver a few minuscule nuggets of warm-and-fuzzy: Happiness is fly-fishing on the Snake River, and misery is the loss of a family member. In case you’ve been wondering, his favorite food is spaghetti. Then Cutler asks Cheney about his biggest flaw. It’s a standard Barbara Walters-style question, for which every skilled politician has a faux-humble answer at the ready.
http://www.salon.com/2013/03/15/pick_of_the_week_dick_cheney_has_no_regrets/
