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True
North Archives - May 12, 2009
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Featured
Articles
How
the Left Wing Energy Scam Works...
 By
Rob Roper
Democrats are using Vermonter's
heart-felt concern for our environment as cover for a massive, tax-payer-funded
pay-off to their own big donors. David Blittersdorf, CEO of Earth Turbines
and Founder of NRG Systems, and his wife Jan have given the Vermont Democrat
Party over $75,000 since 2003 (This number does not include donations to
individual politicians). This seems pretty generous... until you juxtapose
it to the 20 cent a kilowatt guarantee for their product. Then it looks
like a pretty sweetheart investment. A small price to pay for a slice of
that $19 million pie.
Pro-Life
News and Notes
Mary Hahn Beerworth
The latest news from Vermont’s
pro-Life community, including Consensual Texting: The Planned Parenthood
Way and Pro-Lifers Protest Abortion & Physician-Assisted Suicide
at the Health Care Rally.
When
Happy Regulators Contemplate Residential Sprinklers
By Martin Harris
 Occupying
a place of honor, sort of, on my interesting-clippings bulletin board
is a 2001 quote from one Martha Kent, then Director of the Safety Standards
Program for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In it she
says that issuing a regulation is: "…a thrill, a high. I love it. I absolutely
love it. I was born to regulate. I don’t know why, but that’s very true.
So long as I’m regulating, I’m happy". You can read the full account for
yourself in the 11 March 01 issue of Reason Magazine.
A
Report on the Attempt to Audit the Federal Reserve
By Jessica Bernier
HR 1207 is a U.S. House Bill
that calls for auditing the Federal Reserve. This is a report on attempts
to convince Representative Welch to support the bill.
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Quotable
"We are in a situation
now where it is not only too expensive to live in Vermont, it is too expensive
to die in Vermont and now it is too expensive to leave. And if we
want to drown our sorrow over high taxes in drink, it is too expensive
to do that." -- Sen.
Randy Brock
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Vermont
Weekly News Round-Up
Vt.
Yankee Supporters Rally
From WCAX-TV May 4, 2009
A rally at the Vt. Statehouse
Monday by people who want the state's only nuclear power plant to stay
open. The group came by the busload from southern Vermont. They're opposed
to a bill that would force Yankee's owners to set aside hundreds of millions
of dollars to take the plant apart if it shuts down.
Putting
Blinders On The State Board Of Education
From the Caledonia Record,
May 7, 2009
In a recent consideration
of school choice, Vermont Education Commissioner Armando Vilaseca convinced
the State Board of Education not to consider a joint publication of Vermonters
for Better Education & The Friedman Foundation - the Stragetic
Vision Survey on Vermonters' attitudes toward education and school choice.
...
Having succeeded in blanking
that disagreeable news, Commissioner Vilaseca appears now to be maneuvering
to block all other such unfriendly discoveries. Retta Dunlap, of Vermonters
for Better Education, reports that at its April 14 meeting, the board considered
a policy that would not allow the board to "endorse, support, sponsor or
approve the work of other organizations or individuals." The drafted policy
would apply "to all work of other organizations or individuals, regardless
of format, and includes, but is not limited to, surveys, studies, data
collections, analyses, reports, findings, conclusions, and other expressions
of opinion."
Dems
Vote to EXPAND Education Spending and RAISE Property Taxes
From VTGOP RollCall
In a truly jaw dropping vote,
Vermont House Democrats voted to eliminate the cost-containment cap on
Pre-Kindergarten enrollment that was part of the 2007 agreement for Pre-K
passage. This decision to further expand Vermont's already troubled K-12
education funding system puts Vermont property taxpayers on the hook for
what is potentially a $30 million tax increase.
Related: Is
Universal Preschool Really a Good Idea?
Also: Access
a free on-line copy of "Reroute the Preschool Juggernaut"
Running
Out Of Time
From Vermont Tiger May 7,
2009
With only a few hours left
in the legislative session, three large items of business remain unfinished
in Montpelier and are likely to be unresolved, still, at adjournment, probably
this weekend. Left hanging fire are...
Crocodile
Tears
From the Caledonia Record,
May 8, 2009
Last week's Senate passage
of new taxes in a terribly down economy was characterized by a chorus of
pious declinations of responsibility from its Democratic supporters. Murmers
of "It's too bad that..." I wish I didn't have to..." "I had to hold my
nose before voting for it..." "I'm really struggling with this..." Yada,
yada, yada. This from the party that refused to cut anything meaningful
from the menu of entitlements, or support a reduction of the total of state
employees.
Subsidies
Unbound
From Vermont Tiger May 5,
2009
The budget is not the only
contentious matter that Montpelier is dealing with this week. There
is also the question of subsidizing renewable energy sources. One
is tempted to ask, in the face of the budget impasse, why legislators think
we can afford to subsidize anything, but never mind. For the
moment, the question comes down to this: should utilities be compelled
to buy electricity generated by wind, the sun, or the burning of methane
gas and to pay for it at rates that guarantee the producers will make a
profit and the consumers' bills will go up?
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Freedom
Under Fire:
The
Global War on Terrorism
Pakistani
Troops Pummel Taliban as Up to 500,000 Flee
From Fox News, May 06, 2009
Helicopter gunships and mortar
teams pounded militant strongholds, killing dozens outside emerald mines,
the military said, as Taliban reinforcements poured down from their mountain
hide-outs and seized homes and government buildings.
The army began taking the
fight to militants entrenched in both the Swat Valley and in Buner, just
60 miles from the capital, as Pakistan's leader prepared to hear demands
from President Obama for forceful action from a struggling ally.
Related: Pakistani
refugees escape Army offensive – and Taliban rule
Iran
Launches Airstrikes Into Iraq
From The Weekly Standard,
May, 2009
Iranian aircraft attacked
three villages inside Iraq over the weekend. The airstrikes — Iran’s first
on Iraqi soil since the U.S. invasion — could complicate the Obama administration’s
efforts to normalize relations with Tehran.
"The bombardments appeared
to have targeted the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK), an Iranian
Kurdish separatist group which has launched attacks on Iran from rear-supply
bases in the mountains of northern Iraq," AFP reports. Iran has attacked
the Kurdish group before, with artillery. But this is the first time the
Iranians followed up, with assaults from the air.
Words
Matter in the War on Terror
By Raymond Ibrahim, Middle
East Forum, May 4, 2009
Would the free world have
understood the Nazi threat if, instead of calling them what they called
themselves, "Nazis," it had opted to simply call them "extremists" — a
word wholly overlooking the racist, expansionary, and supremacist elements
that are part and parcel of the word "Nazi"?
Unfortunately, the U.S. government,
apparently oblivious to this interconnection between language and knowledge,
appears to be doing just that. Even President
Obama alluded to this soon after taking office when he said,
"Words matter in this situation because one of the ways we're going to
win this struggle [war on terror] is through the battle of [Muslims'] hearts
and minds."
According to an official
memo, when talking about Islamists and their goals, analysts
are to refrain from using Arabic words of Islamic significance ("mujahidin,"
"salafi," "ummah"); nor should they employ helpful English or anglicized
words ("jihadi," "Islamo-fascism," "caliphate"). Instead, vague generics
("terrorists," "extremists," "totalitarians") should suffice.
Al
Qaeda Strengthening in Troubled Pakistan
From Fox News, May 11, 2009
Al Qaeda is seizing on the
turmoil in Pakistan to create chaos and strengthen its presence in the
country while bolstering other Islamic militant groups there, U.S. and
Pakistani officials have reportedly said.
Israel
and the Iranian Bomb
A briefing by Steven J.
Rosen, Middle East Forum
Aside from well-known facts,
such as Iran's sponsorship of Hamas in Gaza and insurgent forces in Iraq,
recent months have witnessed further examples of Iran's unchecked belligerence:
Iranian-backed Hezbollah continues to destabilize Lebanon; Iranian operatives
were arrested in Egypt for plotting to overthrow the government; Iran occupies
islands belonging to the United Arab Emirates; and the speaker of the Iranian
parliament has claimed that Bahrain is part of his country.
Most disturbing of all, Iran
is on pace to complete its first nuclear weapon as early as next year.
Mr. Rosen warned that this would redraw the strategic landscape of the
Middle East. On the one hand, the mullahs might decide to use the bomb
as soon as it becomes operational, fearing an Israeli strike. The constant
hate-mongering emanating from the theocrats makes this a distinct possibility.
On the other hand, an emboldened Iran could employ "a nuclear weapon as
an umbrella," deterring responses to its aggression. Mr. Rosen further
opined that if Iran obtains the bomb, Arab nations will feel more pressured
to attain their own, creating an even more volatile Middle East.
America's
'Punk the FBI' Imam Gets Punked by Britain
By David J. Rusin, Islamist
Watch, May 8, 2009
On May 5 the British Home
Office published
a list of "individuals banned from the UK for stirring up
hatred." The inclusion of radio host Michael
Savage has garnered most of the press, given his placement
alongside terrorists such as Samir
Kuntar. However, another American on the roster deserves
some attention of his own: Abdul
Alim Musa.
Born Clarence Reams, Musa
converted to Islam in jail and now heads a D.C. mosque. He founded the
radical organization As-Sabiqun,
which seeks
the "establishment of Islam as a complete way of life in America," citing
Muslim Brotherhood thinkers and Ayatollah Khomeini as influences. According
to the Washington
Post, Musa "has been trying for years to build an Islamic
community [in D.C.] … that he would like to see replicated nationwide until
the United States becomes an Islamic state."
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From
Elsewhere
Pope
Calls for Universal Recognition of the Natural Law as the Basis of Human
Rights
By Deacon Keith Fournier,
Catholic Online, May 7, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI strongly
reaffirmed the position of the Catholic Church that there is a Natural
Law and that this Natural Law can be known by all men and women through
the exercise of reason. He affirmed that this Natural Law has also made
known to all men and women the existence of fundamental human rights which
are binding upon all Nations and for all time: "The Church has always affirmed
that fundamental rights, above and beyond the different ways in which they
are formulated and the different degrees of importance they may have in
various cultural contexts, are to be upheld and accorded universal recognition
because they are inherent in the very nature of man, who is created in
the image and likeness of God. If all human beings are created in the image
and likeness of God, then they share a common nature that binds them together
and calls for universal respect."
From
Crisis to Creative Entrepreneurial Liberation
By Anthony B. Bradley Ph.D.,
Acton Institute for Religion and Liberty
Necessity is the mother of
invention, said Plato, and the truth of the proverb has been borne out
once again. Necessity is generating entrepreneurial energy amid America’s
current economic crisis, according to a new study by the Kansas City-based
Kaufman Foundation. The study reveals an increase in business startups
during 2008, as the recession was taking hold. The rise is consistent with
similar previous trends, such as the boomlet occurring after the tech bust
of the 1990s. Throughout human history, a nation’s best resource in time
of crisis has been the unleashed creative and entrepreneurial spirit of
its citizens.
According to the study, U.S.
entrepreneurship rates increased for lowest-income-potential and middle-income-potential
types of businesses from 2007 to 2008 but decreased for the highest-income-potential
types of businesses. In other words, the highest growth rates were among
necessity-inspired everyday Americans. The entrepreneurial spirit embedded
in all human persons has been stirred in women and men at all levels of
society.
Obama,
Hayek, Central Planning and Despotism
By Lee Cary, American Thinker,
May 06, 2009
"A claim for equality
of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian
powers." F. A. Hayek (1899-1992)
President Obama’s attempt
to circumvent the Rule of Law in the bankruptcy deliberations concerning
the disposition of Chrysler is the act of a despot.
A harsh and audacious claim,
for sure. But so are Obama’s effort to use the power of his office, supplemented
by alleged intimidation of those representing some Chrysler bond holders
by one or more persons in his administration. All of it as part of an orchestrated
move to give to the United Auto Workers (UAW) privileged consideration
in the Chrysler bankruptcy disposition over against the claims of some
bond holders.
Obama
Criticism Shuts Down Conversation
BY Laura Varon Brown, Detroit
Free Press, May 3, 2009
Parties were more fun when
George W. Bush was president. You could debate, argue even, praise and
condemn, throw darts and laurels and solve the world's problems over a
bottle of wine.
No more. At least not in
my circles. If you want to stop a conversation in its tracks, just question
something President Barack Obama has said or done. It's not open to debate
-- and I don't think that's healthy, for the country or the president.
Global
Something
By Randall Hoven, American
Thinker, May 06, 2009
How do we know the globe
is warming? Because glaciers are melting, silly.
Well recently, we found that
glaciers have been shrinking
for the last 700 to 6500 years, depending on where you look. I don't
know about you, but I wasn't driving a car, cutting a lawn, barbequing,
or even breathing that long ago. It wasn't my fault.
But apparently, not all glaciers
are shrinking now. Discovery reports
on a group of 230 glaciers that are growing, and have been for three
decades.
Washington
Is Hooked on Subsidy Programs
By Chris Edwards, Cato Institute,
May 8, 2009
Most people know that federal
spending and budget deficits are soaring. But an equally troubling trend
is that the government is funding a growing array of activities that used
to be left to state governments, businesses, charities, and individuals.
An increasing part of American society is suckling on the federal subsidy
teat.
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