RadioActive with Steve Mitton: May 2009

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Power Back to the States

By James Osborne

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.--

U.S. Constitution, Tenth Amendment

Fed up with Washington's involvement in everything from land use to gun control to education spending, states across the country are fighting back against what they say is the federal government's growing intrusion on their rights.

Kmiec proposes end of legally recognized marriage

Doug Kmiec, a prominent Catholic who backed Barack Obama’s presidential bid, has endorsed replacing marriage with a neutral “civil license,” a proposal law professor Robert P. George called a “terrible idea” that would make the government neglect a vital social institution.

Would You Slap Your Father? If So, You’re a Liberal

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

How’s this: Would you be willing to slap your father in the face, with his permission, as part of a comedy skit?
And, second: Does it disgust you to touch the faucet in a public restroom?
Studies suggest that conservatives are more often distressed by actions that seem disrespectful of authority, such as slapping Dad. Liberals don’t worry as long as Dad has given permission.

ONE NATION, OF RELIGIOUS ILLITERATES

By THOMAS W. CARROLL

WHAT do President Obama and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have in common? Both were embroiled in religious controversy during the last few weeks.
Some were scandalized to see Obama honored by Notre Dame, a Catholic university, given his views on abortion. Meanwhile, some objected to Rumsfeld's apparent use of biblical references in daily military-intelligence briefings,

Sonia Sotomayor 'La Raza member'

By Joe Kovacs

According the American Bar Association, Sotomayor is a member of the NCLR, which bills itself as the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the U.S. Meaning "the Race," La Raza also has connections to groups that advocate the separation of several southwestern states from the rest of America.

Abortion rights groups concerned about Sotomayor's stance

By David G. Savage and Peter Nicholas

Reporting from Washington -- President Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has provoked concern from abortion rights advocates, who say they have seen no evidence that she supports upholding Roe vs. Wade.Unlike most finalists for the high court opening, Sotomayor has never ruled on the issue. And in her only abortion-related decision, she did not come down the way activists would have liked.

Empathy Vs. Impartiality

By Jonah Goldberg

Why make this complicated?

President Barack Obama prefers Supreme Court justices who will violate their oath of office. And he hopes Sonia Sotomayor is the right Hispanic woman for the job.

Here’s the oath Supreme Court justices must take:“

I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as (title) under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”

Perceived racism linked to weight gain, Boston researchers say

Posted by Elizabeth Cooney

Perceptions of racism -- from being treated with suspicion in a store to unfairness in employment or housing -- can heighten stress levels and affect health, research has shown. A new study from Boston University links these smoldering signs of racism to weight gain in black women, suggesting a possible explanation for the their higher obesity rates compared to white women.

Sales Tax Gets Fresh Look

By Lori Montgomery

Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.

Sarkozy in climate row over reshuffle

By Ben Hall

President Nicolas Sarkozy's desire to appoint an outspoken climate-change sceptic to a new French super-ministry of industry and innovation has drawn strong protests from party colleagues and environmentalists.
Claude Allègre argues that global warming is not necessarily caused by human activity. Putting him in charge of scientific research would be tantamount to "giving the finger to scientists", said Nicolas Hulot, France's best-known environmental activist.

NKorea threatens to attack US, SKorean warships

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea threatened military action Wednesday against U.S. and South Korean warships plying the waters near the Koreas' disputed maritime border, raising the specter of a naval clash just days after the regime's underground nuclear test.

China warns Federal Reserve over 'printing money'

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, said: "Senior officials of the Chinese government grilled me about whether or not we are going to monetise the actions of our legislature."
"I must have been asked about that a hundred times in China. I was asked at every single meeting about our purchases of Treasuries. That seemed to be the principal preoccupation of those that were invested with their surpluses mostly in the United States,"

IRS tax revenue falls along with taxpayers' income

By John Waggoner

Federal tax revenue plunged $138 billion, or 34%, in April vs. a year ago — the biggest April drop since 1981, a study released Tuesday by the American Institute for Economic Research says.
When the economy slumps, so does tax revenue, and this recession has been no different, says Kerry Lynch, senior fellow at the AIER and author of the study. "It illustrates how severe the recession has been."

Obama Declares War on America’s Gun Owners With Supreme Court Pick

Ken Blackwell

Senior Fellow, American Civil Rights Union/Family Research Council

President Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a declaration of war against America’s gun owners and the Second Amendment to our Constitution. If gun owners mobilize and unite, it’s possible (though unlikely) to stop this radical nominee.

According to Judge Sotomayor, if your state or city bans all guns the way Washington, D.C. did, that’s okay under the Constitution.

Beyond The Law

Rich Lowry

IT was a historic day when President Obama announced his nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. No president had ever nominated a Hispanic woman. Nor had a recent president -- or his nominee -- expressed less genuine interest in the traditional craft of judging.

NORTH KOREAN NUKES:

Peter Brookes

First, on the political front, North Korea's Kim Jong Il has challenged President Obama more in four months than he did President George W. Bush in eight years.

How soup can help you lose weight

By Jack Challoner

If you eat the food and drink the water, you will feel full for a couple of hours before hunger kicks in. But if you blend the food with the water - to make soup - you will stay hunger-free for much longer, and less likely to snack through the afternoon.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Man pushes would-be suicide off bridge

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese man was pushed off a bridge by an angry passer-by after his threat to commit suicide held up traffic for five hours, Chinese media reported on Saturday.
Retired soldier Lian Jiansheng, 66, broke through a police cordon and reached out to shake the hand of would-be jumper Chen Fuchao before shoving him off the bridge.

‘birthright citizenship’

The Associated Press

U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal, a Republican candidate for governor of Georgia, has proposed changing the long-standing federal policy that automatically grants citizenship to any baby born on U.S. soil, a move opposed by immigrant rights advocates.
Supporters of Deal’s proposal say “birthright citizenship” encourages illegal immigration and makes enforcement of immigration laws more difficult. Opponents say the proposed law wouldn’t solve the illegal immigration problem and goes against this country’s traditions of welcoming immigrants.

EPA: Cap-and-Trade Bill Could Hurt U.S. Manufacturing

By Matt Cover

(CNSNews.com) – According to an analysis of climate legislation performed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the cap-and-trade system favored by President Barack Obama and many congressional Democrats could potentially damage the U.S. manufacturing sector and force jobs to move overseas.

Burping of the lambs blows roast off menu

Jonathan Leake

GIVE up lamb roasts and save the planet. Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out “high carbon” food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment.

Obama's War on Talk Radio

by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

Obama's liberal philosophy dictates that when the news is bad, shoot the messenger. The newest data from Arbitron, the company charged with measuring the size of radio audiences, suggests that listenership to hip hop, inner city, and minority radio has been overstated in the past and that the popularity of conservative talk radio has been under-reported.

Man sues book over most-litigious crown

Thomas Clouse

The “Lawsuit Zeus,” also known as “Johnny Sue-nami,” filed a lawsuit this week in federal court seeking an injunction to stop the Guinness Book of World Records from naming him as the person who has filed the most lawsuits in the history of mankind.
Jonathan Lee Riches, aka Irving Picard, filed his latest legal fight this week in the Richland office of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, although he is incarcerated in the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Ky.

Desperately Seeking (Conservative) People

By Robin of Berkeley

Like most women, I'm a social creature. I need friends with whom I can confide, commiserate, complain. So when my 35 year love affair with the Democratic Party fell apart 1 1/2 years ago, I needed someone to talk to, someone who would understand that something was rotten in Denmark.

Questions about Kagan

By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan is reported to be on the short list to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. If she were a Republican on the short list for a court opening, Senate Democrats would move heaven and Earth to turn a 1996 contretemps into a major scandal.

Global Warming the Start of a Scam

By John Coleman

How did we ever get to this point where bad science is driving big government we have to struggle so to stop it?
The story begins with an Oceanographer named Roger Revelle. He served with the Navy in World War II. After the war he became the Director of the Scripps Oceanographic Institute in La Jolla in San Diego, California. Revelle saw the opportunity to obtain major funding from the Navy for doing measurements and research on the ocean around the Pacific Atolls where the US military was conducting atomic bomb tests. He greatly expanded the Institute's areas of interest and among others hired Hans Suess, a noted Chemist from the University of Chicago, who was very interested in the traces of carbon in the environment from the burning of fossil fuels.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Senator says it's time to change immigration laws

By EILEEN SULLIVAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - Contending that U.S. borders are more secure than ever, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer said Wednesday it's time for the White House and Congress to overhaul immigration laws to stem the number of people coming into and living illegally in the U.S.
"We can pass strong, fair, practical and effective immigration reform this year," said Schumer, D-N.Y.

Couple flee after bank error sees $10m transferred into their account

Police are hunting an Asian couple thought to have fled the country with millions of dollars, after a banking error.
The couple, who ran a Rotorua service station, are understood to have applied to Westpac Bank for a $10,000 overdraft and mistakenly had $10 million paid into their account.

Joke review boosts T-shirt sales

By Daniel Emery

A T-shirt has become one of the most popular items sold by online retailer Amazon in the past few weeks.
Sales of the kitsch Three Wolf Moon T-shirt shot up 2,300% after a spate of ironic reviews went viral.

Pension funds also got whacked by Uncle Sam.

Remember how President Obama blamed Chrysler's bankruptcy filing last month on "a small group of speculators" who turned down Treasury's $2 billion final offer for their $6.9 billion in debt? Well, it turns out that hedge funds and other short sellers weren't the only secured creditors who got a raw deal from Uncle Sam.

Paid Vacation Act

By ERIKA LOVLEY

The bill would require companies with more than 100 employees to offer a week of paid vacation for both full-time and part-time employees after they’ve put in a year on the job. Three years after the effective date of the law, those same companies would be required to provide two weeks of paid vacation, and companies with 50 or more employees would have to provide one week.

Obama May Grab for Guns

by Jillian Bandes

The treaty was signed by former President Clinton, but never approved by Congress. It has gained approval in 29 other countries. Obama put his weight behind it during his whirlwind tour abroad late last month.

Scientists: 'Missing Link' Fossil Not Worth Media Hype

By Clara Moskowitz

A new 47-million year old primate fossil unveiled to the world Tuesday has made waves among scientists and non-scientists. Google responded by working an image of the fossil into the logo of its search page Wednesday.

California voters exercise their power -- and that's the problem

By Michael Finnegan

Californians are well known for periodic voter revolts, but on Tuesday they did more than just lash out at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature over the state's fiscal debacle.By rejecting five budget measures, Californians also brought into stark relief the fact that they, too, share blame for the political dysfunction that has brought California to the brink of insolvency.

Palestinians: Obama to give us Jerusalem!

Israel Today Staff

Palestinian officials cited by Ynet on Wednesday said that US President Barack Obama intends to formally bequeath them the eastern half of Jerusalem when he unveils his new Middle East peace initiative in Cairo next month.

U.S. Courts Should ‘Download’ International Law into Domestic Law

By Matt Cover

(CNSNews.com) – Harold Koh, nominated by President Barack Obama to be the State Department’s top legal adviser, once argued that U.S. federal court judges – including the Supreme Court – are the “critical link” between international and domestic law and play a critical role in bringing international norms into force as domestic law.

Liberals Hold Prayer Breakfast

By Adam Brickley

Washington (CNSNews.com) – Union leaders, clergy and liberal members of Congress gathered in the mostly empty U.S. Capitol Visitors Center early Tuesday morning to hear multicultural choir music, speeches from religious leaders--and to pray for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

WOMEN TRIUMPH IN KUWAITI ELECTION

Amir Taheri

FORMER President George W. Bush's policy of en couraging Middle East democratization has just produced spectacular results in the Kuwaiti general election.
In a major victory for the secular reformists over the Islamists, women -- four of them -- were elected to the 50-seat national

ADIOS, NEW YORK

By TOM GOLISANO

I LOVE New York. But how much should it cost to call New York home? Decades of out-of-control budgets, spending hikes and relentless borrowing have made New York simply too expensive.

NRA sues S.F. over firearms laws

Michael Cabanatuan

The NRA filed the lawsuit in federal court Friday on behalf of six residents and the San Francisco Veteran Police Officers Association. It challenges three provisions of the city's police code that it says interfere with their right "to defend themselves and others ... within their own homes."

Revolution

By Herbert E. Meyer

During the last 30 years we Americans have been so politically divided that some of us have called this left-right, liberal-conservative split a "culture war" or even a "second Civil War." These descriptions are no longer accurate. The precise, technical word for what is happening in the United States today is revolution.

St. Paul elementary school to get Obama name

By EMILY JOHNS,

The St. Paul school board voted 5-1 Tuesday night to rename one of the district's elementary schools "Barack and Michelle Obama Service Learning Elementary."
The vote came after board members received intense feedback about the proposed change -- most of it negative -- from community members.

Aspiring school teachers fail in math

Bruce Morin

MALDEN, Mass. (WPRI) - According to state education officials, nearly three-quarters of the people who took the state elementary school teacher’s licensing exam this year failed the new math section.

Airline mechanics who can't read English

By BYRON HARRIS

If mechanics don't speak English, the international language of aviation, they can't read the manual and they can't record their activities.
There are more than 236 FAA-certified aircraft repair stations in Texas, according to the FAA's Web site. News 8 has learned that hundreds of the mechanics working in those shops do not speak English and are unable to read repair manuals for today's sophisticated aircraft.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

How Washington Rations

Try to follow this logic: Last week the Medicare trustees reported that the program has an "unfunded liability" of nearly $38 trillion -- which is the amount of benefits promised but not covered by taxes over the next 75 years. So Democrats have decided that the way to close this gap is to create a new "universal" health insurance entitlement for the middle class.

WILL OBAMANOMICS DESTROY THE U.S. ECONOMY?

Jonathon Moseley

Short-term, the U.S. economy will continue its natural cycle of recovery over the next 18 months. Had Bush and Obama left things alone, the inevitable business cycle would have rebounded on its own. It would have been painful, but the economy inevitably ebbs and flows like the tides. Nothing can hold back the moon-driven tides and nothing can prevent the ripples of unavoidable ups and downs in the economy.

Barack Obama and Religion

By: Dr. Gary Scott Smith

During the 2008 campaign, Obama’s religious convictions became a major issue for several reasons: the false belief that he is a Muslim (according to an April 2009 Pew Research Center poll, 11 percent of Americans still believe this); he made concerted efforts to woo religiously committed Americans; and, most significantly, the pastor of his church in Chicago, Jeremiah Wright, who made inflammatory statements about race and religion.

I wish I were a liberal

By Nancy Morgan

I'd like to be a liberal because it's ever so much easier to allow others to form my opinions for me instead of researching an issue myself. That always gets me in trouble, especially when the facts I discover diverge from the latest politically correct consensus.

Obesity may protect against death from heart disease

Researchers found that obese heart patients respond better to strokes and heart attacks compared to normal or underweight patients.
Although obesity is a leading cause of heart disease, paradoxically scientists say fat and even high cholesterol may have protective benefits.

What's in a Name? Re-Branding Madness Consumes Washington

By Judson Berger

Global War on Terror is out -- "overseas contingency operation" is in.
Terrorist attack is out -- "man-caused disaster" is in.
Since the new administration took office, Washington has been consumed, on both sides of the aisle, by a kind of re-branding madness. This marathon in semantics has had a variety of tactical purposes, depending on who's got his Sharpie on the dictionary.

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