It looks like the Soros machine isn’t done with Net Neutrality, even after its December coup at the FCC.

Our Soros-supported socialist friends at Free Press just announced that David Saldana will be its new communications director.  If that name doesn’t ring a bell, you evidently haven’t been following Mr. Soros’ funding priorities.

Before joining Free Press, he was with the Soros’ front group, the National Security and Human Rights Campaign.  Think calling it a front group is too strong?  Then just go to its website, which is conveniently located at Soros.org.  The group’s mission is to promote “progressive national security policies,” a term as embedded in contradiction as “French steadfastness.”

Prior to that, Saldana was the Deputy Editorial Director at Media Matters for America, the beneficiary of a seven-figure donation from Mr. Soros’ Open Society Initiative.

Chances are, this means that even last December’s FCC power grab over the web hasn’t gone far enough to satisfy Mr. Soros.  This isn’t surprising.  We can see his fingers in the most obvious places, like the FCC’s Net Neutrality Order, all the way down to the least lit reaches – as in the recent Comcast Merger Order and one of the company’s “voluntary” commitments to boost local journalism via the “Voice of Sand Diego Model,” a socially progressive news organization, which gets funding in part from, you guessed it, George Soros’ Open Society Foundations).

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Our investigative team has just released the second undercover video revealing Planned Parenthood counseling a pimp on how to obtain secret abortions for his under age sex slaves, by bypassing Virginia parental consent laws meant to protect children. In the footage, taken January 12, 2011, undercover actors tell the Planned Parenthood worker that they are involved in sex work, and manage 14 and 15 year old girls,
“some of them from out of state, out of country.” The Planned Parenthood staffer assures him it is confidential, that “we see people here from all walks of life,” and goes on to coach the pimp how to obtain secret abortions for his sex slaves by circumventing Virginia law that require parental consent for underage abortions.

Just last Tuesday, our team released footage showing the manager of the second largest clinic of Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey counseling a pimp how to have his under age sex slaves lie on paper, how to purchase cheap birth control, and how to ensure that his young victims can still make money for him “waist up” after coerced abortions. Along with the New Jersey footage, the Virginia footage further reveals the endemic cover up of abuse at Planned Parenthood clinic across the country. For four years, our investigative team has been documenting the widespread abuse cover up at Planned Parenthood.

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Several days ago, while visiting the home of a dear friend, Andrew Breitbart, I was asked to view a series of videos which were intended for immediate release into the news cycle. They were made through the efforts of Lila Rose, a woman I had never met. The videos depicted several senior staff members of various Planned Parenthood clinics aiding the efforts of a supposed human- sex-trafficker of children. The pro-life activists who made the videos were posing as a victim of sex-trafficking and as a perpetrator who was actively involved in illegally abducting and smuggling little girls into our country for the purpose of holding the children against their wills and allowing grown men to rape them for money.

Needless to say, a deeply profound conversation took place once he finished showing me the material. He asked me what I thought the Mainstream Media Establishment would do with this evidence. I told him there was no way they would be able to defend such injustices. He said they would — that they would misrepresent the facts and attack the videos creator. He, in graphic detail, described what the media would do. I didn’t agree and couldn’t imagine such an effort could be pulled off. I explained that it was impossible for two reasons: The videos were clear and the consciences of the journalists and editors would prevent such a dastardly spin from occurring. He explained that the Left’s darlings are always above reproach and the media would protect them to the point of absurdity.

Throughout the day, both of our minds couldn’t stop from returning to the Planned Parenthood issue. He couldn’t believe I could be so naïve as to really believe the Mainstream Media Establishment would honor truth and not protect their darling. My mind could not stop returning to the two subjects I always try to avoid thinking about: abortion and human-trafficking.

I explained to him that I didn’t take a position on the issue of abortion and that looking at the matter might force me to revisit an experience I was a part of in my past. I didn’t want to think about it or look at it, as I might have to come to some harsh conclusions about my own actions. He explained that he was adopted. The conversation stopped after this was said and didn’t resurface again. We went about our business of doing interviews and discussing news items.

On the night before the videos release, I went to bed alone in a Los Angeles hotel. Andrew had given me a pre-release copy of his new book and I couldn’t put it down. The realization of this man having been adopted and instead of being aborted, that he was born and thus able to create, think, express himself and participate in being an American citizen weighed heavy on my heart. I fell asleep wondering what would happen with the Planned Parenthood scandal the following morning.

The following morning started early with a cab ride to LAX. The first Planned Parenthood video was released on BigGovernment.com and I began frantically doing media analysis. Lo and behold, Andrew had been right.

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As we look around the country today, it’s easy to be discouraged. Unemployment remains high and the Obama Administration continues to stubbornly endorse the same tired policies that have been proven failures. But as we approach the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birthday, it’s worth remembering that there are lessons in the past that we should take to heart. After all, as Heritage President Ed Feulner pointed out Tuesday, even liberals have been working to co-opt Reagan’s legacy.

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I recently took a two-day trip down to Palm Springs to attend an event called “Uncloaking the Kochs” hosted by Common Cause. Accompanied by my dear friend, former assembly candidate Alvaro Day, I traveled as an independent investigative journalist, and not in any official capacity on behalf of Big Government or Breitbart.com (though I was pleasantly surprised to run into a familiar friend of mine on rollerblades jovially inviting everyone to Applebee’s).

Among Common Cause’s, well, common causes, are campaign finance reform, net neutrality, outlawing the filibuster, promoting cap and trade, and in this particular case, herding a mass of protesters outside a nearby hotel to yell at Charles and David Koch for being conservative and rich.

Unfortunately several “haves” have missed the memo that you’re not to be both rich and conservative at the same time, and that bankrolling your pet causes is an extra no-no if you’re conservative—thus exempting left-wing billionaire philanthropists George Soros (from whom Common Cause has received $2 million over the past eight years) Peter Lewis, John Doerr, Julian Robertson, Nicolas Berggruen, and many others from being yelled at too. (more…)

Today, in 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. The amendment authorized the collection of the income tax. Thank you Democrat Woodrow Wilson!

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This via a press release from the Young America’s Foundation (YAF). Reagan paraphrases a bit of scripture in the preview below, “I look to the hills, from whence cometh my strength.” Reads the actual scripture, “I lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Divine; Maker of heaven and earth.”

SANTA BARBRA, CA – Young America’s Foundation announced today that their inaugural film production, Still Point in a Turning World: Ronald and his Ranch, will premier at the conclusion of the Foundation’s Reagan 100 Gala with Vice President Dick Cheney. The dinner banquet will be held at the Reagan Ranch Center on Saturday night. The film, written and directed by Stephen K. Bannon, is the definitive examination of Ronald Reagan’s beloved ranch and its personification of his philosophy and values. Ronald Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo, the “‘Ranch in the Sky,” was not just a respite from the chaotic world that his Presidency encountered, but also a living embodiment of the values he held dear. The Ranch was where hard work and self-reliance showed themselves in the principles he championed for all Americans: Freedom, Prosperity, Victory.

The thought of an homage to Reagan’s Ranch left me thinking about Sarah Palin’s recent travelogue from Alaska, which some in the establishment viewed as un-presidential. Somehow I doubt they would dare say the same thing about former President Reagan drawing strength from his ranch. It’s also worth noting how his Crawford ranch played such a significant role in the presidency of George Bush. The theme of a rugged outdoorsman, or perhaps one day a woman, and the American spirit, and even the presidency, goes all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt, if not further. (more…)

Despite the media firestorm over her military travel abuses, Nancy Pelosi continued to use the United States Air Force as her own personal travel agency right up until her final days as House Speaker according to documents we uncovered from the Air Force.

According to these new documents, which we obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Pelosi used Air Force aircraft for 43 flights from January 1 to October 1, 2010. By comparison, Nancy Pelosi logged 47 flights in the previous nine-month period, April 1, 2009, to January 1, 2010, according to previous documents we uncovered.

So, in other words, she did not back off at all from her pattern of abuse.

Here’s a quick summary of what these documents include: a mission activity chart detailing all of former Speaker Pelosi’s flights January 1 to October 1, 2010, as well as detailed shopping lists for some flights, flight authorization forms, mission expense records and internal Air Force correspondence related to the flights.

And here are two quick highlights:

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From The Hill:

The Senate on Wednesday voted down a repeal of President Obama’s healthcare law in a 47-51 party-line vote.

The vote came two weeks to the day the Republican House voted 245-189 to repeal the law, and just days after a federal judge ruled Obama’s signature legislative achievement is unconstitutional.

Republicans have vowed to carry the fight forward, saying they will seek to de-fund the law as it is implemented. The GOP also has promised Wednesday’s repeal vote will not be the last in this Congress.

The vote came on a budgetary point of order, which Republicans needed 60 votes to overcome. Democrats argued repealing healthcare would add an estimated $230 billion to the deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) called that estimate “preposterous.”

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From Bob Dylan’s lyrics to a real California workplace policy, progress is being made. Despite an economy on life support with only weeks, if not hours, remaining to survive fiscally before the State Treasurer of California begins issuing IOU’s for payments, legislators have come up with a plan. Their plan is now to force employers to accept employees who come to work stoned. This should really help light-up the ailing economy. It may sound like a joke, but it’s serious.

A state lawmaker in California, during the nation’s worst recession, wants to outlaw employers from firing workers who come to work stoned. Isn’t that special? Or course the worker must have a medical marijuana card, which in California you can get at the checkout line in most supermarkets, or about as easily. Sneeze and you’ve got it.

So now truck drivers, heavy machine operators, accountants and secretaries all can continue their weekend binges into Monday. How else can a single bill: endanger lives, lose productivity, get the few remaining businesses to pack up and leave the state, while simultaneously encouraging increased drug use? That’s a four-fer! You get four objectives satisfied with a single law. Way to go, California! Who said California couldn’t get any higher?

No way that this type of insanity would ever pass the sober state legislature. Uh, wrong again. Pass the joint man, you just ain’t paying attention, dude. The legislature overwhelming passed this same bill in 2007, but was vetoed by the then Governor Arnold, who was probably stoned at the time. Now, with Governor Brown as the new sheriff in town, who knows? Brown doesn’t want to alienate his union base.

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Last month Reason.tv recognized 2010’s Nanny of the Year, and now it’s onto a brand new year of nagging nannies.

This month’s slate features heartland regulators targeting drinking games and New Jersey educators drug testing 11-year-olds.

But top dishonors go to the New York pol who’s pushing a bill that would make it illegal to cross the street while iPodding, cell-phoning or being otherwise engaged with an electronic gadget.

Presenting Reason.tv’s Nanny of the Month: New York State Senator Carl Kruger!

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Planned Parenthood has a lot to cover up. The video released yesterday at LiveAction.org reveals that at Planned Parenthood of Central New Jersey a clinic manager was willing to aid and abet a pimp who ran an underage prostitution ring.  Planned Parenthood’s cooperation with sexual abuse is not new–We have documented it before.

From sex abuse cover up to sex trafficking cover up, we’ve seen Planned Parenthood’s willingness to repeatedly violate the mandatory reporting laws for sexual abuse and send young girls back into the arms of abusers. We’ve documented it in 11 different clinics now (www.liveaction.org/monalisa).

PP’s response to the release of the video? First, they claimed the footage was a “hoax” because it was “highly edited.” Live Action released the full footage:

Then Planned Parenthood used the contrived back-up plan they hatched last week, claiming they had reported the sex traffickers immediately following Live Action’s undercover visits to their clinics. But the undercover footage tells quite a different story. No shock, no outrage, no report, only a clinic manager working with the pimp and prostitute to enable their prostitution ring of underage girls.

By Tuesday night we get news that PP has effectively thrown their employee under the bus and fired her. Now why would they do that if she and the others had reported the abuse, like they claim?

The visual evidence speaks for itself. And there’s more to come. Planned Parenthood is scrambling to silence our story and evidence. But in the end, the truth will get out.

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Soon-to-be White House Press Secretary Jay Carney’s former employer Time Magazine has given President Obama a big thank you gift this week. Not only is President Obama on the cover of Time Magazine for the 24th time in little more than four years, but the editors are trying to portray Obama as the next Ronald Reagan. President Obama and President Reagan are polar opposites in both politics and style. For a struggling magazine, I guess putting Reagan on the cover is the only way to sell some copies. Time Magazine and the left will stop at nothing to prop up President Obama’s sagging presidency. Just over two years ago, Time portrayed President Obama as the next FDR on the cover of the magazine, but after the failure of Obama’s big government agenda, Time is jumping to have Obama reflect the country’s more conservative mood. These ploys are pathetic and desperate.

President Reagan served his country with a grace and style that cannot be matched, especially by the current occupant of the White House. He stood up to the Soviet Union by calling them the “evil empire” and courageously implored General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” President Obama used his most recent State of the Union address to tell us how great communist China is and how Americans are lagging behind the Chinese in innovation. President Obama does not believe in American Exceptionalism. If he did, he would not have said “…America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.” President Reagan believed America was a “shining city on the hill” and that it was always morning in America.

Citizens United has produced a short video showing that there is no comparison between Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. Both men may share the same title, but they view America and the world quite differently. The difference is pretty stark when you hear Reagan and Obama speaking about America. Can you imagine a circumstance in which President Reagan would criticize America in a speech overseas?

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To rephrase President Obama’s State of the Union theme:  “This is our generation’s apparatchik moment.”

Yes, he said “Sputnik” instead, but his actual agenda is about the apparatchik—government by party leaders, bureaucrats and the well-connected.

His agenda is symbolized by his push for “green jobs” as the path to a better future.

Simply put, the green jobs agenda spends billions of taxpayer dollars to destroy existing jobs and replace them with jobs in politically-favored businesses, raising the costs of energy along the way.

The politically-connected win.  Existing job-holders and companies lose.  Home electric bills go up.  Power also costs more for companies, making it more expensive to go into business or to stay in business.

It’s cronyism that is building a political power structure based on false claims about clean green jobs.

It’s economic cannibalism because creating the green jobs requires killing off existing jobs.

As Bloomberg News reported, “Subsidizing renewable energy in the U.S. may destroy two jobs for every one created if Spain’s experience with windmills and solar farms is any guide.”

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In Texas, where Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is retiring, we’re likely to see the biggest, most expensive Senate primary of the 2012 season. Today on Coffee and Markets we’re talking with Michael Williams, a candidate for the job, about what his priorities will be for the race, what he would bring to the Senate, and what role he thinks the Tea Party will play in the election.

We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Michael Williams for Texas
Texas Tribune: A Conversation With Michael Williams
The Hill: Candidate Hopes Early Start Nets Him KBH Seat
Politics Daily: Cruz, Williams Battle for Conservatives
TNL: Cruz on His Race for the Senate in Texas
Michael Williams on Twitter

The next time you hear of a school district that cannot afford new textbooks for its students, or is forced to lay off teachers due to budget constraints, remember the following story.

A former public school superintendent in Wayne Township, Indiana is comfortably settling into retirement, thanks in large part to a $1 million golden parachute provided by the local school board. He was given a lump sum payout of $817,000 plus another $200,000 for his 150-day reign as “superintendent emeritus.” I’m not sure what a “superintendent emeritus” does, but hey, it only cost the district $1,300 a day. I’m sure the taxpayers got their money’s worth, don’t you?

Unfortunately, this story is not an anomaly.

Consider the case of Central Falls, Rhode Island in which a city and its school system both teeter on the edge of financial ruin. Bet those schools are paying their teachers next to nothing, right? According to the Wall Street Journal, the district’s teachers are paid four times the median household income.

And get this: last month the U.S. Department of Education awarded $1.3 million to the Central Falls School District as part of the federal government’s effort to help turnaround the nation’s worst schools. (Please note: laughing or crying are both acceptable reactions.)

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Ronald Reagan would have been 100 years old on February 6, so let’s celebrate his life by comparing the success of his pro-market policies with the failure of Barack Obama’s policies (which are basically a continuation of George W. Bush’s policies, so this is not a partisan jab).

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis has a fascinating (at least for economic geeks) interactive webpage that allows readers to compare economic downturns and recoveries, both on the basis of output and employment.

The results are remarkable. Reagan focused on reducing the burden of government and the economy responded. Obama (and Bush) tried the opposite approach, but spending, bailouts, and intervention have not worked. This first chart shows economic output.

The employment chart below provides an equally stark comparison. If anything, this second chart is even more damning since employment has not bounced back from the trough. But that shouldn’t be too surprising. Why create jobs when government is subsidizing unemployment and penalizing production? And we already know the so-called stimulus has been a flop.

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Senator David Vitter (R-LA) introduced legislation yesterday to prevent the Federal Reserve from secretly bailing out states with budget problems.  Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) have joined the effort and signed onto S.251, the State Bailout Prevention Act.  This legislation music to the taxpayer’s ears.

The Hill reports that Senator Vitter wants to use this legislation to slam the door on state and local bailouts by the federal government.

With the State Bailout Prevention Act, Vitter is looking to make legally binding an earlier commitment from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke that the central bank would not make loans to states and municipalities struggling with budget gaps and large debt burdens. Testifying before the Senate Budget Committee on Jan. 7, Bernanke said states “should not expect loans from the Fed.”

Vitter is memorializing the Bernanke promise into law.  Because of Bernanke’s promise, one should expect the Federal Reserve to wholeheartedly support this effort by Senators Vitter, DeMint and Crapo.  This law would make it the iron clad promise of the federal government not to use taxpayer money or taxpayer backed loans to prop up, bail out and otherwise enable state and local governments in deep financial distress because of irresponsible budgetary decisions.

The legislation is a comprehensive effort to shut the door on all of the federal government’s financial tools available today to bailout states and localities.  This legislation follows on the heels of the termination of President Obama’s “Build America Bonds” (BABs) created in the President’s so called “Stimulus” plan.  The BABs were tax free federal bonds that served to provide a rolling blue state bailout for states that have spent more than they take in.  The BABs expired at the end of 2010 and conservatives blocked all efforts to renew these bonds.

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Last evening on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow took a few moments on her show to jab at the Beltway press, suggesting that the press in DC is so annoyed at being “sidelined” by the Egypt story that it’s “clawing and scratching to find some partisan story to tell here.”  Maddow then proceeded to slam a list of conservative politicians and bloggers, including freshman Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, former UN Ambassador John Bolton, and blogger Pam Geller.

One other story that Maddow called out was from RedState.com, to which she mocked the suggestion that unions and the U.S. state department are involved in the Egypt protests and quipped, “What, no ACORN?”

The author of that post is a friend of mine and fellow BigGovernment contributor, who, in addition to blogging at RedState.com, also runs Labor Union Report.  I was surprised when I saw his post called out on Maddow’s show.  Not only is he not usually a typical target of MSNBC’s brand of snark, but it was obvious that Maddow – or whomever does her research – had not even read the post beyond paragraph two.  If they had, they would have noticed that the information came from a few familiar sources:  the Huffington Post and WikiLeaks. And those sources contained some potent information that’s directly related to the current uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.

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