More than 100 staff members appointed by three Minnesota congressmen who serve as chairman or ranking member on powerful House committees appear to be exempt from a key requirement in the controversial health care reform bill recently passed by Congress and signed into law.

Last month, Capitol Confidential reported that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could be set to give the already well-subsidized ethanol industry a big boost by approving an increase in the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline from 10 percent to 15 percent.  That item sits at the top of the agenda of Washington, D.C.’s powerful ethanol lobby; a decision is expected to be reached on it later this year.

However, it is not the only handout to what critics dub “Big Corn” that may be on the table.  Sources tell Capitol Confidential that pro-ethanol groups are also actively pushing for legislation that critics charge constitutes more government meddling in both the auto industry and the energy sector—and that they have some powerful advocates in Congress and the administration on their side.

About a week ago, Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, unveiled a “cap-and-trade alternative,” among whose key provisions would be one to push automotive manufacturers to increase the number of flex-fuel vehicles they build.  Flex fuel vehicles are designed to run on E85, which is 85 percent ethanol.  Consequently, critics charge, it would be a huge boon to ethanol producers—and also to government-controlled General Motors, a big producer of flex fuel vehicles—were Lugar’s legislation to pass and be signed into law.

That, in turn, is an outcome that ethanol critics tell Capitol Confidential Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack would strongly support.

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In an blockbuster interview airing this weekend on my nationally syndicated radio show, a prominent black conservative blew the lid off the racism of the Left. Dr. Christopher Metzler, Associate Dean of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University, told me of the racist attacks he endured after going public with his opposition to the Democrats’ health care bill and President Barack Obama’s overall agenda.

After an appearance a few weeks ago on “The O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News Channel, Metzler began to receive despicable, racist voicemail messages.  One caller swears at him profanely and tells him to get his “black ass back to Africa.” Hear it here:

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Another caller tells him that he looked like a “slave” and expresses his “embarrassment” over Metzler’s public position. Hear it here:

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As Metzler explained to me, the Left engages in exactly the kind of disgusting, racist behavior which they unfairly and incorrectly accuse the Tea Party and all others who oppose Obama of engaging in. Unlike the Left, Metzler actually has the evidence to prove it. During his stunning interview, Metzler exposes the Left’s hypocrisy and dishonesty—and its very real racism.

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Last week we reported that seven Virginia elected officials were invited to the Saturday April 3 Annual Fundraising dinner at the terrorist-linked Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center.

Starting on February 17 we notified those seven officials about the terrorist links of Dar al Hijrah’s past and current imams and congregants.  Two of them, Senator James Webb and State Delegate Kaye Kory, had their names removed from the flyer in the weeks following our notifications.

Yet on the eve of the fundraiser, the remaining five – DNC Chairman and Former Governor Tim Kaine (D-VA), Congressman Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Congressman Jim Moran (D-VA), and Fairfax County Supervisors Penny Gross and Sharon Bulova – still had their names on the invitation.

Last Saturday April 3, Dar al Hijrah went ahead with their annual fundraising banquet at the Fairview Park Marriott in Falls Church, VA.  So did the remaining invited politicians show up?  Watch our latest mini-documentary for the full story:

A group of concerned Virginia citizens including the Virginia Anti-Sharia Taskforce (VAST) and Act for America held a protest outside of the banquet.

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Tomorrow, I will be welcoming one of the biggest stars in our movement to Iowa. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann will be joining me to headline the annual Defenders of Freedom Dinner. I want everyone to know that because you’re not in my state, it doesn’t mean you are unable to participate in this event. I will be broadcasting via a streaming live feed on USTREAM.

All you have to do is CLICK HERE and enjoy! The broadcast will begin at 7:30pm Eastern Time or 4:30pm Pacific Time.

Our nation is at a pivot, we are on the cusp of taking our nation back and drastically reducing the size and scope of government. I encourage everyone to tune in and learn how we can race to the finish and send a fresh pink slip to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of the liberal gang.
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Enough said…

According to Tuesday’s unanimous court ruling, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not above the law – no matter what Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski or his Leftist friends at Free Press might wish.

For the past several years, the Left has breathlessly claimed that without the imposition of government oversight and control, the Internet as we know it will cease to exist.

Just try and follow the Left’s logic for a moment.  The Internet – whose ingenious development and explosive growth has occurred almost entirely free from the heavy hand of the government – will cease to exist as we know it without the heavy hand of government?

This week’s ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit clearly states that the FCC does not have the authority to impose network neutrality rules on Internet service providers.  Indeed, the FCC “failed to tie its assertion” that any law gives the Commission regulatory authority to oversee Internet providers’ network management practices.

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Is California “too big to fail” or is a Golden State bankruptcy in the cards?

Reason’tv’s Ted Balaker sat down with Jon Fleischman, founder and publisher of the FlashReport, to talk about California’s ongoing fiscal meltdown, and how, after a barrage of bipartisan tax hikes and spending sprees, California’s political class has yet to learn its lesson.

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From the Associated Press:

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, the court’s oldest member and leader of its liberal bloc, he is retiring. President Barack Obama now has his second high court opening to fill.

Stevens said Friday he will step down when the court finishes its work for the summer in late June or early July. He said he hopes his successor is confirmed “well in advance of the commencement of the court’s next term.”

His announcement had been hinted at for months. It comes 11 days before his 90th birthday.

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We are in a fascinating period in American history, where a confluence of developments has transformed our citizenry’s relationship with government. The mainstream media is distrusted and dying. The majority of our elected officials – let’s not bother with terming them “leaders” – no longer care to represent the interests of the people. In response, the American people are rising up in protest at a rate and in a manner not seen in decades, if ever.

Congressional approval ratings are at historic lows at around 14% (an acquaintance joked that during the American Revolution, the British Crown had double that approval rating, with roughly a third of colonists supporting the Crown and Parliament). Rasmussen recently reported that only 21% of Americans believe our government has the consent of the governed, and CNN reports that 56% of Americans believe that our government poses an immediate threat to American citizens’ rights and freedoms . . . well you get the idea.

The American people are making it clear where they stand, and in an unmistakable manner. Next week, on April 15th, more than one million people will be at more than 1,000 Tea Party protests across the country as more and more Americans come out to protest where elected officials are taking this country.

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President Obama, speaking at a rally in Iowa City on March 25, challenged opponents of Obamacare who have vowed repeal. To repeal advocates, the President said, “Go for it.”

Before the first light of dawn on the morning after this Pelosi Congress sent Obamacare to the President’s desk, I started the process to repeal.My decision to take this fight to and through the next election and probably through the presidential election in 2012 was not a knee jerk response to a legislative defeat.It is a commitment to the Constitution, fiscal responsibility, real health care reform and American Liberty.

President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid – the troika that controls America today – have long had designs to shove America into the abyss of socialism. Their philosophy, political power and cynical effort to expand the dependency class all lined up to make Obamacare the law of the land. The highest price every generation of Americans will pay is not measured in dollars but in lost liberty.

America is a unique nation with unmatched vitality. The rights and liberties which transformed the “Dream” into the reality of American Exceptionalism are written on our hearts. We have a vitality that is unmatched because we have skimmed the cream of the crop off every donor civilization.

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From the Associated Press:

Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak, targeted for defeat by Tea Party activists for his crucial role in securing House approval of the health care overhaul, said Friday he would retire from Congress this year.

The nine-term congressman told The Associated Press he could have won re-election and insisted he wasn’t being chased from the race by the Tea Party Express, which is holding rallies this week in his northern Michigan district calling for his ouster. Instead, Stupak said he was tired after 18 years in office and wanted to spend more time with his family.

“The Tea Party did not run me out,” he said in a telephone interview. “If you know me and my personality, I would welcome the challenge.”

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In March 2010, Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University released a study about President Obama’s stimulus package.  It contained many informational gems:

• Public entities received 42 percent of awards under the stimulus package, but received over half of dollars awarded (meaning they got larger chunks of change than private contractors);
• Even according to the administration, $285,814.61 was spent to create each job under the stimulus;
• On average, Democratic districts received 1.53 times the amount of awards that Republicans were granted, with Democratic districts receiving 2.65 times the amount of stimulus dollars Republican districts received.  Democratic districts received 73 percent of the total stimulus funds awarded, and Republican districts received 27 percent of the total amount awarded.

De Rugy claimed that “a district’s representation by a Republican decreases the stimulus funds awarded to it by 41.7 percent.”  She also found that unemployment did not correlate with stimulus funds received.  In other words, much of the money under the stimulus was directed at Democratic districts for political reasons.

The mere suggestion that politics had anything to do with allocations under the stimulus got the journalistic left’s panties in a wad.  Some of the criticism of de Rugy’s study was worthwhile.  Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com pointed out that de Rugy had not taken into account the fact that cash was allocated largely to districts containing state capitols, since money allocated to states generally flows through state capitols (which are overwhelmingly represented by Democrats).  There is something to be said for this criticism, of course, which is why de Rugy proceeded to re-run the study taking into account the effect of allocations to state capitols – and found that the average Democratic district still gets 30 percent more cash than the average Republican district.

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President Obama, in words and in deeds, is once again pushing forward with his agenda to rid the World of Nuclear weapons. Obama believes (1) that the U.S. has a “moral responsibility” to lead because we are the only nation that has used a nuclear weapon and (2) that if we do so, our example will make the world a safer place. The question is whether Obama is simply that naïve or is he just posturing?

A broad view of Obama’s policies should well leave many, including terrorists and provocative nations, to consider whether Obama is simply weak on defense.  Indeed, Obama’s latest comments on nuclear weapons came just hours after the US Pakistani embassy, i.e. US territory, came under attack – not to mention the Christmas day bomber, the Ft. Hood Shooter, Iran’s continuing snubs, North Korean missile launches and more.  As I wrote earlier this year, in my article, Obama’s World Peace Offensive Yields Few Peace Dividends, one has to question what tangible benefits Obama’s policies have provided to the cause of peace let alone our security.

This latest Obama peace offensive, the reduction in the amount and the use of nuclear weapons, quite possibly could be his ultimate demonstration of being weak on defense.  That is so because the record demonstrates that nuclear weapons have been the ultimate guarantor of peace.

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Today, in 1865, Robert E. Lee conquered his ego and surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to US Grant at Appomattox Courthouse. The surrender brought an effective, and final, end to the Civil War.

I thought that we had moved past the KKK era and left behind us a time in which it was acceptable to openly engage bigoted policies on the basis of race and religion. It seems that I was wrong.

Sen. James Blaine

Until just a few days ago, Oregon enforced a law that banned religious believers who are required by their beliefs to wear distinctive garb from teaching in the public schools exclusively on the basis of their dress. It did not matter that many of these people were likely fabulous teachers who desired only to teach children math, English, and music. The governor of Oregon saw the light and signed the repeal on April 1. But much work remains to be done. Today the state constitutions of nearly 40 states contain provisions known as Blaine Amendments that discriminate in precisely the same way:  They deny state funding to people who are religious on the basis of their religious identities rather than on the basis of their actions and words.

Next week the people of Florida will have the opportunity to be rid of this type of discrimination. Let me explain.

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This is the question that Rush Limbaugh posed to his listeners on Monday: Is Paul Rahe right? And it is, alas, an all-too-open question. Rush was responding to a piece, entitled “A New Birth of Freedom,” posted on BigGovernment.com early on Saturday, in which I endorsed in part the analysis of our current situation articulated by Mark Steyn here and, at greater length, here, but insisted that he underestimates American civic spirit. Where Mark sees catastrophe, I see opportunity.

Mark is, I believe, undoubtedly right in supposing that, if we acquiesce in the massive expansion of the administrative entitlement state shoved through a reluctant Congress on 21 March by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid, the game is up. The progressives have for the most part dominated American politics for something like a century — ever since the election of Woodrow Wilson in 1912 in a presidential race in which the only defender of the American constitution came in third. And step by step they have centralized power and influence in Washington and subverted the separation of powers. In consequence, today, our real rulers are the bureaucrats. Within the administrative state, they make rules that have the force of law, they enforce those rules, they adjudicate all disputes arising therefore, and they are unaccountable. It is no accident that civil servants have tenure in their jobs and boast of higher salaries and far better benefits than their counterparts in the private sector.

Moreover, the progressives have succeeded in making a substantial proportion of the American people wards of the state — dependent in one fashion or another on federal largesse — and no body of men is more beholden to the federal government than the CEOs of our largest corporations. It is telling that Wall Street voted with its pocketbook for Barack Obama in 2008. It is telling that the pharmaceutical companies and health insurance companies lined up behind the Obama administration’s healthcare proposals. And it is telling that big business is treading cautiously now. Those who run these companies know where their bread is buttered.

Mark Steyn’s two replies to my piece — here and, more emphatically, here — are cogent.

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Democrats understand that passage of Obama’s healthcare “reforms” will probably hurt them in November, so they’re doing everything they can to dampen the anger directed at them and turn it against someone – anyone – else.

Anger-dampening was built into the bill, postponing the tax increases and other burdens Americans will feel directly until after the 2010 elections (and some until after 2012). Obama and the congressional Democrats are out bragging about the rainbows and unicorns they’ve produced.

But now several major American companies – AT&T, Verizon, Deere & Co. and Caterpillar – are spoiling the carefully-planned narrative by saying that they will incur huge losses (impliedly causing job losses) because of the costs they will incur under the Obamacare plan.

As a result, congressional Dems are planning a public punishment of the heretics.

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