Falmouth Citizen

Just when you think things cannot get worse, our government proves us wrong! I was sent the disturbing information about the administration's proposed closing of nine Border Patrol stations with an additional 4 stations being reviewed with an eye to closing them as well, by a former colleague and old friend who served in the U.S. Border Patrol as well as an INS Special Agent. Read the rest of this entry »

President Obama has been touring all over the midwest these past few weeks, giving speeches to crowds of fans, anxious to hear what’s next on his agenda. One could be forgiven for believing that these are less about pushing the president’s current agenda, and more about launching the reelection campaign, however this is a charge that the administration adamantly denies. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many ways to improve the economy. Our Congress – people we elected – moan and groan saying they can’t do anything about national monetary policy or make the marketplace user friendly for job creation. That is untrue. They have control… what they don’t have is the cojones to exercise it. For example, many experts believe the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 is illegal. Read the rest of this entry »

Murder rates don't fall when guns are banned. Murder rates tend to climb when guns are banned. Those are the facts, people. A Sept. 13 report on crime statistics from the FBI shows that all violent crime rates dropped in 2009 – murder rates by 7.4 percent and robbery rates by 9 percent! John R. Lott, Jr., economist and author of "More Guns, Less Crime," credits President Barack Obama's election for causing gun sales to skyrocket and crime rates to plummet. This must tickle Lott a lot, since he was in college with Obama and treated frostily by him when Lott would try to convince Obama that guns weren't evil things. Read the rest of this entry »

Our nation got a look at the city of New Orleans this past weekend as the media marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s path of destruction. Most of the coverage centered on how much of the city has been rebuilt since that time, and whether or not the federal government has done enough to restore The Crescent City to its former self. I heard no discussions of a determination to avoid the corruption that led to the worst of the devastation. Read the rest of this entry »

The taxpayers of the United States were given a reprieve when Congress left town earlier this month for their Labor Day holiday vacation without the U.S. Senate passing the Police and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill. That's not for lack of trying. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi played down and dirty by trying to attach it to a "must-pass" war-funding bill. It didn't happen. Read the rest of this entry »

In January 2011, America will have a new conservative Congress. Between now and the day they take office, we want to collect 1 million signatures demanding that this new Congress repeal the unconstitutional Health Care Reform Act signed by President Obama. We don’t want the conservatives to cave under intense pressure from the media, so let your voice be heard.

Obama and Liberal Democrats in Congress have pushed mandatory, government-run healthcare on Americans forcing us into a system like Canada or Europe. Most Americans will no longer be able to keep the insurance they have. Instead, American citizens are dealing with the reality of impending transfer from private healthcare to a government-run health plan. The vast majority of Americans are not satisfied with the newly passed government-run health care because they know it will reduce the quality and increase the cost. Not to mention, our country cannot afford to go deeper in debt to pay for this new program. Obama will continue to dig a deeper and deeper financial hole in which our children and grandchildren will never be able to climb out. We have elected you to make a stand for the American people against Obama’s healthcare plan. Please listen to the voice of the American people and make the repeal of Obama’s healthcare your highest priority.

by Tom DeWeese July 18, 2010 NewsWithViews.com

Al Gore stumps the nation spreading the virtues of going green, thrilled at the prospects of new industries that will crop up in the process. Of course, green jobs are the center of the scheme to enforce sustainable development. “We can shut down those old industries and yet be prosperous in the future as we protect the environment,” goes the mantra.

A large part of Obama’s $786 billion stimulus bill was devoted to green or renewable energy projects. Obama and his environmentalist hordes convinced Congress that the money would be used to create an army of home weatherizers, wind-turbine factory jobs and other employment opportunities that would help put to work the nearly 8 million people who have lost their jobs during the recession. “We know the jobs of the 21st century will be created in developing alternative energy,” Obama proudly proclaimed. This, of coursed, from a man who doesn’t know the difference between price and earnings or overhead and profit. Well, he doesn’t know shineola about the economy and job creation either.

Economic lesson number one: Government regulations do not create jobs. Private industry serving the wants and needs of the consumers create jobs. Period. The reality is that after massive spending programs, not just from the stimulus program, but from energy bills, development bills, and economic packages over the past several years, all of which have poured billions into the “green” industries, alternative energy and the jobs that are supposed to go with them simply have not materialized.

The fact is, no more than 100,000 jobs have been created, economists say, and the prospects are for only modest growth for years to come. Jobs that have been created are for highly educated workers involved in basically experimental industries. There is virtually nothing for the lower educated, manual laborers who so desperately need work.

The answer for them has been the destruction of American industry jobs in the name of protecting the environment as the rustbelt grows. Those jobs have been deported to foreign nations. Of course, that does nothing to protect the environment, as the industries are just relocated. But, as with all “green” claptrap, the reality is destruction of our very prosperous way of life and the redistribution of our wealth to somebody else. Thanks Obama. Good job.

© 2010 Tom DeWeese – All Rights Reserved

Falmouth Citizens should follow Arizona’s example and protest against any increases in utility bills.

Groups want utilities to fight emission rules that raise costs

by Ryan Randazzo – Jan. 8, 2010 12:00 AM The Arizona Republic

Stop Cap and Trade

Executives from several large, publicly traded electric utilities were greeted in Scottsdale on Thursday by a group of “tea party” protesters demanding that the companies fight global-warming legislation.

The protesters – Americans for Prosperity, the Scottsdale Tea Party and FreedomWorks – said that man-made global warming is not real and that utilities should reject new regulations on the emissions from their power plants that raise energy prices.

Inside the Fairmont Scottsdale, about 75 top executives from major utilities, including Arizona Public Service Co., conducted a private quarterly board meeting of the Edison Electric Institute, including a presentation from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Edison represents about 95 percent of the shareholder-owned utilities in the country and supports legislation that would reduce greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants and other sources, so long as it limits price increases for electricity customers.

“We stopped debating the science of climate change many years ago,” Edison spokesman Jim Owen said. “The science issue is fundamentally settled. Let’s get engaged in the solution.”

Protesters said the utilities should use their vast financial resources to fight “the lies” that scientists spread about global warming, not embrace new regulations.

“Coal is clean, our technology is phenomenal,” said state Sen. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, who addressed the crowd of about 60 protesters. “Those utilities should be helping us fight this battle and should not be saying to me the debate (over global warming) is over. It is bad science.”

Protesters held signs that read “Crooks are running the EPA,” “Carbon isn’t the problem, Congress is.” Some had flags depicting President Obama’s face over crossbones.

Protesters said proposed legislation in Congress regarding global warming is as important as the debate over health care.

“It is going to destroy business and the economy as a whole,” said Judy Hoelscher of Phoenix, who brought her daughters, ages 11 and 14, to the protest.

Officials from Arizona’s largest utility said they agree with Edison’s position on climate change.

“It’s not even a debate over whether the science is sound,” said Jim McDonald, a spokesman for APS, whose CEO is on the Edison board. “It is an acknowledgement that the issue is an important issue. We want to be part of the solution.”

In June 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, and in October Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., introduced a new, similar bill, although the issue appears to have taken a backseat to health-care reform.

The aim of the climate bills is to limit the amount of carbon dioxide and other emissions that cause global warming and let companies trade permits to release those emissions.

Over time, the pollution permits, or “allowances,” would be reduced to encourage utilities to switch to technologies like wind or solar or perhaps even nuclear power.

Advocates of a cap-and-trade system hope to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions to avoid catastrophic effects of global warming.

Several groups analyzed what the House bill could cost the average U.S. household in higher energy bills and costs for goods and services that use a lot of energy.

“We believe there will be a cost, and our goal is to make the costs manageable,” said Owen, from Edison. “But we would not support a poorly designed bill, one we thought was unrealistic or that did not contain adequate safeguards for customers.”

APS estimates put the cost to its customers at $28 to $112 a year in 2012 if the House bill passed.

Estimates from Salt River Project, which is not a member of Edison because it is a municipal utility, ranged from $65 to $245 a year in 2012.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration concluded the legislation could cost the average household $83 annually, with costs as low as $59 and as high as $292. By 2030, the impact could be from $157 to $850.

How much it would cost consumers and affect the greater economy depends on how fast utilities can build nuclear plants or trap the greenhouse gases from coal plants; how they’ll be credited for doing things such as planting trees; and whether renewable-energy jobs like those at wind farms will adequately replace those lost at coal plants.

The Congressional Budget Office concluded that household expenses would rise $175 a year under the bill. That analysis found the lowest-income households would see an average net benefit of $40 a year, while the highest income homes would take a $245-$340 annual hit.

Activist groups that support a cap-and-trade program say the tea-party groups don’t give enough credit to the jobs that will be created at solar power plants and other alternative-energy projects.

“We can produce more energy than our state uses, and it could be a commodity we export to other states,” said Beth Pramme of Repower America in Arizona. “We could get out of our own state’s financial crisis.”