Sowell: End Run Around Constitution

Thomas Sowell

Townhall - The Constitution of the United States begins with the words "We the people." But neither the Constitution nor "we the people" will mean anything if politicians and judges can continue to do end runs around both. Bills passed too fast for anyone to read them are blatant examples of these end runs. But last week, another of these end runs appeared in a different institution when the medical "end of life consultations" rejected by Congress were quietly enacted through bureaucratic fiat by administrators of Medicare.

Although Congressman Earl Blumenauer and Senator Jay Rockefeller had led an effort by a group of fellow Democrats in Congress to pass Section 1233 of pending Medicare legislation, which would have paid doctors to include "end of life" counselling in their patients' physical checkups, the Congress as a whole voted to delete that provision. Read full column here:

Sowell: End Run Around Constitution

Williams: Airlines Worse Than Ever

Armstrong Williams

Townhall - Considering how much I travel abroad and domestically constantly, I'm actually surprised how much I hate and resent the thought of flying. It’s not the fear of heights, or the turbulence, or even the perpetual fear of a terrorist attack. No, the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of airline carriers. Also, the utter agony and different standards for every airport of what can and can't pass through security screening is baffling. Think about it. Every major industry today is progressing. Auto manufacturers are building cars with better fuel economies, more room, more horsepower and with fewer emissions. The same holds true for consumer electronics, power companies, phone carriers, freight rail, and trucking. Even the Postal Service seems to be trending in the right direction. Except the airlines. Read full column here:

Williams: Airlines Worse Than Ever

One More Fast One From Richardson

Bill Richardson

Capitol Report New Mexico - More tension between the outgoing Richardson administration and the incoming Martinez administration. On Monday (Dec. 27), the state Supreme Court granted departing Department of Public Safety boss John Denko the authority to move the state’s DNA lab from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. Denko says it will save the state $400,000 a year. Susana Martinez released this statement upon hearing the news:

Susana Martinez

“It is politics at its worst to move the DNA lab to Santa Fe in the final hours of the current administration only to move it back to Albuquerque on Monday, which is exactly what will happen. Instead, we should be putting victims and justice first. The move is opposed by both Republicans and Democrats, along with victims’ advocates and law enforcement. I will not be bullied into doing anything that will jeopardize cases and justice for New Mexico victims.” Read full story here:

One More Fast One From Richardson

BCS and NCAA Blind Side Everyone

Michael Oher

If you have not seen the film “Blind Side,” do yourself a favor and buy a copy of the DVD for your collection. We watched “Blind Side” again this weekend. It is a heart warming feel-good family story. The great thing about Blind Side is it is a true story. The bad thing about the film is that near the end of it we are given valuable insight into the self-righteous NCAA and the potential for catastrophic consequences as a result of its so-called policing efforts. Blind Side teaches us many important lessons. One of those lessons is that the NCAA is an organization without a soul, because the NCAA might well have destroyed all the good that came to the life of Michael Oher if it had its way. Fortunately for Michael Oher, there was just too much family love involved for the hypocrisy of the NCAA to kill.

In the sports news over the weekend it was reported that several Ohio State University football players including quarterback Terrelle Pryor got in trouble for selling off some of their “gear” for a few bucks. No doubt when the news reached the NCAA the executives were “deeply concerned.” It would seem that the only thing America’s gigantic industry known as NCAA college football cannot muster any concern for is…….the many creative ways in which young players are used and discarded by the system. Read full story:

BCS and NCAA Blind Side Everyone

US Census: Above Average NM Growth

From bizjournals.com- The U.S. population grew 9.7 percent in the past decade to more than 308.7 million people, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which released the first batch of 2010 census data Tuesday. The U.S. resident population represents the total number of people in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. New Mexico grew 13.2 percent to 2,059,179 residents. The rate is above the national average of 9.7 percent growth. More here

US Census: Above Average NM Growth

EPA Proposes Emission Control for NM Coal Plant

From bloomberg.com- The EPA said the plant, which is more than 30 years old, could reduce nitrogen oxides through selective catalytic reduction or other similar technology. It said selective catalytic reduction is a cost-effective technology that will bring about the greatest improvements in the region that's home to several national parks and monuments. The federal agency contends the plant has not updated pollution controls to meet current air quality goals of the Clean Air Act's Regional Haze program. San Juan Generating Station, New Mexico's single largest source of electricity, would have three years to install the controls. Public Service Company of New Mexico, the largest owner in the 1,800-megawatt plant, said that likely would cost $1 billion or more, and expressed concern about the impact on customers. More here

EPA Proposes Emission Control for NM Coal Plant

Wilderness Areas Face Criticism From Border Security Advocates

From latimes.com- Reporting from the Potrillo Mountains Wilderness — A new front has opened in the centuries-old battle over preserving federal lands in the West, with some advocates of a tighter border arguing that designating some lands as wilderness — meaning they are so precious that no mechanized vehicle can enter — hinders border security. The U.S. Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies can take vehicles into wilderness areas while chasing lawbreakers. But to patrol the lands by vehicle, plant sensors or build operating bases, they must get permission from the federal agency controlling the region. Some retired agents say they were told by managers of wilderness areas that they could not use helicopters to pick up injured migrants, or that they could patrol only on horseback. More here

Wilderness Areas Face Criticism From Border Security Advocates

Obama Still Dreams of Tax Increases

Federal Government

Bloomberg - Valerie Jarrett, a senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said the administration will work over the next two years to end tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that were included in broader tax legislation passed this month. Obama, in a compromise with Senate Republicans, agreed to a two-year extension of tax reductions for family income above $250,000 coupled with an extension of unemployment benefits. Jarrett said the issue will come up again before the 2012 presidential elections. “That’s something he is willing to fight for,” she said in an interview taped for broadcast on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today. “He is going to fight very hard when those two-year extensions expire” to end the breaks for top earners. Read full story here:

Obama Still Dreams of Tax Increases

The Cancun Climate Con

Townhall - by Duggan Flanikan - As conference delegates shivered in Cancun during its coldest weather in 100 years, power-hungry elitists labored behind the scenes to implement the real goal of this “global warming” summit, this sixteenth Conference of the Parties (COP-16), this clever political con job. That the Cancun summit was never a climate conference at all has become increasingly obvious. Even before it began, IPCC Working Group III co-chair Ottmar Edenhofer said, COP-16 is actually “one of the largest economic conferences since the Second World War…. One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy.” In fact, it has “almost nothing to do with the environmental policy.” Its real purpose “is redistributing the world's wealth and natural resources.” A few days later, IPCC Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres told conference attendees, “The world is looking for new answers to the political, economic and social challenges which all countries face.” That the “new answers” focused primarily on how much more money and technology developed nations “owe” poor countries further affirmed the proceedings’ true nature. Read full column here:

The Cancun Climate Con

FACT: One of the Coldest Decembers in History

Investors Business Daily - Climate: Nothing makes fools of more people than trying to predict the weather. Whether in Los Angeles or London, recent predictions have gone crazily awry. Global warming? How about mini ice age? The sight of confused and angry travelers stuck in airports across Europe because of an arctic freeze that has settled across the continent isn't funny.
Sadly, they've been told for more than a decade now that such a thing was an impossibility — that global warming was inevitable, and couldn't be reversed. This is a big problem for those who see human-caused global warming as an irreversible result of the Industrial Revolution's reliance on carbon-based fuels. Based on global warming theory — and according to official weather forecasts made earlier in the year — this winter should be warm and dry. It's anything but. Ice and snow cover vast parts of both Europe and North America, in one of the coldest Decembers in history. Read full column here:

FACT: One of the Coldest Decembers in History