News and Views is a column containing an assortment of interesting national and international political and financial information, opinions, candidate reviews, scheduled events, Tea Party information, meetings and press releases that we hope will interest you.
An Old West Virginia Hillbilly Saying:
You cannot get the water to clear up, until you get the pigs out of the creek.
ABC Ignores Its Own Report That Obama Was ‘Wealthy’ While Paying Off Student Loans: ABC News has, thus far, ignored its own revelation that, contrary to insinuations made by Barack Obama, the then-private citizen and his wife “were making enough to be considered ‘wealthy’ by the president’s own definition in the years before his loans were paid off.” ABC relegated this story to a posting on its website, not mentioning it on Wednesdays’ World News or Nightline. The story was similarly skipped on Thursday’s Good Morning America. World News did touch on student loans, but only to accuse Mitt Romney of flip-flipping on the issue. David Muir dug up a clip of the Republican telling a college student to shop around and not expect the government to bail him out.
Another Obama Attempt to Divert Public Attention?:Two years and four days after the BP Gulf oil explosion that set off the worst offshore oil spill in US history, federal prosecutors brought the first criminal charges against a former BP engineer alleging Kurt Mix, 50, destroyed e-mail pertaining to the spill. Mix, who resigned from BP in January, appeared in a Huston, Texas, courtroom shackled at his hands and feet and as released on $100,000 bond. If convicted, he could receive up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of two counts of obstruction of justice.
Does Barack Obama hope the public’s attention will be drawn away from terrible unemployment reports and to the trial?
CPAC Chicago: Conservatives Take Back the Midwest
The ACU is teaming up with United to Restore Freedom (URF), home of Right Nation, and The Heartland Institute to bring national and regional leaders together with local grassroots activists for a day of blockbuster speeches, policy discussions and networking opportunities — all celebrating the shared principles of smaller government, a strong national defense and traditional values.
Located just minutes from O’Hare International Airport at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, on June 8, 2012, CPAC Chicago’s confirmed speakers include conservative heroes like U.S. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (MN – 6), Arthur Brooks, CEO Herman Cain, Foster Freiss, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R – WI), Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock, and R.N.C. Chairman Reince Priebus with many other national conservative leaders and local rising stars invited.
Marine Sergeant Gets ‘Other Than honorable’ Discharge Over anti-Obama comment: A conservative Marine who started an armed forces tea party Web page has been given an “other than honorable” discharge for misconduct after declaring on Facebook, “Screw Obama. I will not follow all orders from him.”
Sgt. Gary Stein later clarified his remarks to say he wouldn’t follow unlawful orders from the president and argued his online comments were protected by the First Amendment, ABC News San Diego affiliate KGTV reported.
In addition, he has expressed regret for his remark, at one point writing on Facebook, “The words that I used were tasteless and I could have articulated my point more clearly. I am man enough to admit my mistakes.”
On Thursday, Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo, the commanding general for Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, nevertheless upheld an earlier decision by an administrative separation board to give Stein the “other than honorable” discharge, according to a news release by the Marines.
That’s what any American can expect when they criticize Barack Obama.
And then there’s Ted Nugent Another Example of Messing with Obama Being a Bad Idea: Last week, Rocker and gun right advocate Ted Nugent called for Barack Obama’s defeat at the polls in November and harshly criticized Obama for numerous “offenses’ against the American people. Almost immediately, Americans were deluged with reports in the media of federal charges against Nugent in Alaska for “illegally’ killing a black bear.
Typical gun-nut, right? After Nugent pleaded guilty to the charges on April 24 in a Ketchikan, Alaska, court information about the case came out. And they’re not really what we have been led to believe. It was not a poaching or irresponsible act by Nugent. According to court documents, Nugent shot and killed the bear in May 2009 on Sukkwan Island in southern Alaska after wounding another bear in a bow hunt. The bow incident counted toward a state seasonal limit of one bear – a misdemeanor violation under federal Lacey Act. Nugent admitted ignorance of the “one-strike’ policy as did the presiding judge Michael Thompson.
“The law is not widely known,’ said Thompson, “… this will probably alert other hunters to that very issue and may prevent future violations.
Watch out for Barack!
Netherlands: Fall of Dutch Government a Bad Sign for Europe: The ongoing fiscal austerity debate in the eurozone claimed another victim this week when Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte resigned over his government’s failure to come up with a budget plan for next year. Budget talks collapsed when the parties that make up the ruling coalition failed to agree on committing to policies set by Brussels.
MSNBC’s Jansing to Carter: Has Romney ‘Gone Too Far’ with Conservatism to ‘Be Trusted?’ MSNBC’s Chris Jansing on Wednesday didn’t exactly press Jimmy Carter as she interviewed the ex-President, wondering if Mitt Romney has “gone too far” with conservatism “to be trusted.” Carter appeared to disagree with his former presidential speechwriter, Chris Matthews, who smeared the former Massachusetts governor as a KKK “Grand Wizard” on Monday. Carter asserted he’d be “comfortable” with a “moderate” like Romney. Not seeming to accept this, Jansing pressed, “Do you think that he has gone too far into the conservative positions and do you think that that makes him difficult to be trusted?”
ABC Gives Olbermann a Platform For Delusion About Anti-Obama Conspiracy To Raise Gas prices: Keith Olbermann, ousted from MSNBC and even Al Gore’s Current TV, was nevertheless invited to join the roundtable on Sunday’s ABC This Week, where he spouted about how rising gas prices are supposedly the result a “deliberate” conspiratorial effort to damage President Obama: “The lowest price in the last six years – the nadir of gas prices at the pump – was the day of this President’s inauguration in 2009. There has to be some connection between that being the least busy political moment of a President’s career – where you’re not going to hurt him, you’re not going to harm him that way – and the price of gas. There has to be an almost deliberate, or at least a side effect quality to that. There must be.”
After the program, Stephanopoulos tweeted: “Fantastic having you on the roundtable @KeithOlbermann. Hope to see you back @ThisWeekABC soon.”
New Ruling EEOC to Enforce Equal Rights for Transgenders: An employer who discriminates against an employee or applicant on the basis of the person’s gender identity is violating the prohibition on sex discrimination contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to an opinion issued on April 20 by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The opinion, experts say, could dramatically alter the legal landscape for transgender workers across the nation.
The opinion came in a decision delivered on Monday, April 23, to lawyers for Mia Macy, a transgender woman who claims she was denied employment with the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after the agency learned of her transition. It also comes on the heels of a growing number of federal appellate and trial courts deciding that gender-identity discrimination constitutes sex discrimination, whether based on Title VII or the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the laws.
The EEOC decision, issued without objection by the five-member, bipartisan commission, will apply to all EEOC enforcement and litigation activities at the commission and in its 53 field offices throughout the country. It also will be binding on all federal agencies and departments
In the decision, the EEOC states, ”[T]he Commission hereby clarifies that claims of discrimination based on transgender status, also referred to as claims of discrimination based on gender identity, are cognizable under Title VII’s sex discrimination prohibition ….”
Saudi Arabia’s Oil Reserves: Here Now, Gone Tomorrow?
Over the last 40 years, Saudi Arabia has often used its vast oil wealth as a foreign policy tool, supporting U.S. objectives by raising production when supplies become tight. The Saudis have been called on to step up production this spring and summer to compensate for a European Union (EU) embargo of Iranian oil imports scheduled to be implemented on July 1. The increased production will help control the worldwide price of oil, but Saudi Arabia’s ability to influence the market has its limits, and this year’s soaring gasoline prices indicate that other factors will be at play in determining prices at the pump.
Islamist-Military Tug of War Dominates New Egypt
The recent disqualification of Egyptian presidential candidates has set the stage for an Islamist candidate to win the election, solidifying Islamist control over both the legislative and executive branches. Such a scenario will set up a confrontation between the military and Islamists unless they can agree to a deal where Islamists rule but grant the military some autonomy and influence.
ABC Calls for More Alarmist Advocacy: ABC reporter and global warming enthusiast Bill Blakemore on Sunday condescendingly dismissed climate change skeptics as “denialists.” In a piece on ABCNews.com, he called for yet more advocacy on the part of journalists. After noting that confidence in the science of climate change has varied from year to year, Blakemore huffed that these beliefs “don’t seem to be responding all that much, [Professor Jon Krosnick] says, to whatever the global warming denialist campaigns may have been doing.”
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