GOP congressman says we should put up someone of integrity equal to Obama

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2/29/12, "GOP Congressman: 'We Need to Put Forward Someone of Equal Integrity’ to Obama," CNS News, Susan Jones

"(Republican Utah Rep. Jason) Chaffetz said one of the reasons he supports Mitt Romney is Romney's family life: "He's been married for 42 years, he got this wonderful, beautiful family, he's been scandal-free in his personal life.

"That's the kind of person -- that's what the Democrats did, right? They put up someone with a beautiful family in the Obamas.

• And we need to put forward someone of equal integrity."

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Ed. note: Chaffetz is either grossly uninformed or delusional but of course the pathetic state of the GOP is why we have Obama. Obama and the radical left have caused terrible suffering across this country and around the world. He has given Wall Street bankers the greatest wealth and political power they have ever known. He has called the Tea Party racists. He has not condemned Occupy and other gang violence. He has kicked the middle class to the gutter. He has spent billions of US taxpayer dollars supporting and arming terrorist populations. The word integrity does not belong in the same sentence with the name Obama or anyone else on the radical left. The GOP needs to differentiate itself from democrats. If they like democrats so much, fine, go be a democrat.

via Instapundit

54% of likely voters in Wisconsin don't wish Governor Walker to be recalled-Rasmussen Poll

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Poll conducted Feb. 27 among 500 likely voters. I didn't see party affiliation mentioned but in other polls he's done about 1/3 each Repub., Dem., Ind.

2/29/12, "54% in Wisconsin Oppose Recall of GOP Governor Walker," Rasmussen Poll

"Most Wisconsin voters approve of the job embattled Governor Scott Walker is doing and oppose the effort to recall him from office before the next election.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 52% of Likely Wisconsin Voters at least somewhat approve of Walker’s job performance to date, while 46% at least somewhat disapprove. These findings include 40% who Strongly Approve of how the Republican governor is doing and just as many (40%) who Strongly Disapprove. (To see survey question wording, click here.)...

The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Wisconsin was conducted on February 27, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology." via Lucianne

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Did lawsuit hasten Olympia Snowe departure?

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The company was taken over in 2006 by Goldman Sachs who retained Snowe's husband.

3/1/12, "Did lawsuit factor in Olympia Snowe's departure?," Sunlight Foundation, Allison and Young

"Last August, while Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, was in the midst of an intensive round of fundraising for her 2012 reelection bid, a four-year-old civil lawsuit alleging fraud by an education company in which she and her husband are heavily invested became public.

Nationally, most of the coverage of Snowe's decision to drop her reelection bid has focused on the centrist Republican's frustration with the polarized politics on Capitol Hill. But in Maine, a few newspapers have speculated that her husband's legal entanglements had a role in Snowe's sudden and surprising decision, which left her with more than $3 million in her campaign coffers and her party without a Senate candidate less than three weeks before the filing deadline for Maine's June 12 primary.

According to the senator's most recent financial disclosure form, she and her husband, former Maine Gov. John McKernan Jr., have investments worth between $2 million and $10 million in Education Management Corp., a Pittsburgh-based company that operates for-profit higher education institutions. McKernan is chairman of the board of directors of the company, now embroiled in a lawsuit in which the federal goverment, 11 states and the District of Columbia are seeking to recover a portion of the $11 billion in federal student aid that the education firm has received since July 2003.

Originally filed in April 2007 by a pair of whistleblowers, the lawsuit alleges that the company violated a federal law that prohibits schools from paying admissions officers based on the number of students they recruit and enroll. Those numbers can affect a school's revenues because more students mean a school is potentially eligible for more federal aid dollars. The whistleblowers alleged, and provided documents indicating, that they were paid bounties for the number of students they enrolled.

The Justice Department's decision to intervene on Aug. 8 made the lawsuit, which had been under seal, public. In its complaint, Justice alleged that Education Management Corp. submitted "knowingly false, misrepresented, and/or improper certifications" to the Education Department, stating that it did not offer enrollment incentives to its admissions officers. Without those certifications, students enrolling at the the company's schools, which include Argosy University, Brown Mackie College and South University, would not be eligible for federal financial aid. The complaint names Snowe's husband, noting that in December 2006, while he was the company's chief executive officer, McKernan personally signed certifications that Education Management Corp.'s schools complied with the ban on offering compensation to admissions officers based on the number of students they recruit.

Education Management Corp. has asked that the case be dismissed. In a press release issued after the suit was announced, Bonnie Campbell, spokesperson for the company's legal team and a former attorney general of Iowa and Justice Dept. official, described the suit as "flat-out wrong." Campbell stated that the company's compensation policies for admissions officers were based on a number of factors, not solely the number of students they recruited, and had been developed with the aid of outside consultants to ensure they complied with federal law.

According to the company's most recent proxy statement, McKernan, who was briefly named as a defendant in the suit but removed, owns more than 835,000 shares in the company, worth more than $14.9 million at current prices. That was up from the 128,000 shares he owned when he became CEO in 2003. He joined the company in 1999, and stepped down from the CEO position in February 2007.

A report from New America Foundation's Higher Ed Watch noted that Education Management Corp. in the words of its founder, Robert Knutson, was "oriented to the needs of [its] students" until 2006, when a group of private equity investors led by Goldman Sachs acquired the company. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that McKernan was involved in the acquisition talks, receiving the first contact about an acquisition and serving on a special committee to advise the board on the progress of talks. Goldman Sachs retained McKernan, but did away with the rest of the management, according to the Higher Ed Watch Report. The new management greatly increased enrollment at Education Management Corporation's schools, doubling it to 160,000 students.

The company's most recent annual report filed with the SEC shows that 74.3 percent of the company's revenues--some $2.6 billion--came from programs under Title IV of the Higher Education Act, which requires recipients to certify that they don't offer incentives to admissions officers based on the number of students they enroll.

When news of the lawsuit was released, political opponents of Snowe's raised the issue, the Lewiston (Me.) Sun Journal reported. Scott D'Amboise, a Republican challenging her in the Senate primary, called on her to resign, while Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesperson Shripal Shah charged that Snowe and her husband may have personally profited while defrauding low income students.

At the time, Snowe dismissed the charges, citing the care the company took in developing its compensation policies. Her office did not respond to requests for comment." via Instapundit

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Obama homicide against California continues, now set on demolishing 3 dams on Klamath River, loss of clean hydro and irrigation

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"Now, Prof. Paul R. Houser of George Mason University alleges that the administration's plan is all based on junk science."

2/28/12, "Whistleblower exposes Obama junk science," City Square

"Against intense local opposition, the Obama administration wants to demolish three dams on the Klamath River in Siskiyou County, California. Low-cost clean hydroelectricity as well as water for irrigation would be lost if the dams were removed. Removal of the dams would also cause chaos for ranchers, homeowners, and small business who live and work in the downstream of the dams. Despite this, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has been trying to force dam removal for the supposed benefit of some salmon and steelhead spawning habitat.

Now, Prof. Paul R. Houser of George Mason University alleges that the administration's plan is all based on junk science. In his role as science advisor to the Bureau of Reclamation, he was closely involved in the project. He has filed a formal complaint (PDF) alleging "intentional falsification" and "intentional . . . compromise of scientific and scholarly integrity." In particular, he says that, under orders from Ken Salazar, the department produced a "summary" report that "intentionally distorts and generally presents a biased view of the Klamath River dam removal benefits." In particular, he alleges:

• The summary section on Chinook Salmon recovery projects an 81.4 percent recovery, but says nothing about the nine contingencies summarized in the June 13, 2011, Klamath River Expert Panel Final Report: Scientific Assessment of Two Dam Removal Alternatives on Chinook Salmon report that could completely negate this projected recovery . . . .
• The summary states that "Coho salmon reclaim 68 miles of habitat", but says nothing about the April 25, 2011 statement in the Klamath River Expert Panel Final Report: Scientific Assessment of Two Dam Removal Alternatives on Coho Salmon and Steelhead that "the difference between the Proposed Action and Current Conditions is expected to be small, especially in the short term (0-10 years after dam removal)." . . . .
  
• The summary states that dam removal will likely reduce salmon disease, but does not properly state its uncertainty [which is] very high".
• The summary also spins an optimistic outlook for Steelhead trout, providing access to 420 miles of historical habitat. However, the April 25, 2011 Klamath River Expert Panel Final Report: Scientific Assessment of Two Dam Removal Alternatives on Coho Salmon and Steelhead states that this success would be dependent on effective implementation of the proposed and related actions [e.g.Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL)]; whereas ineffective implementation would result in no detectable response.

The changes, Prof. Houser alleges, report only the positive while distorting or falsifying the science.

You can read more about Prof. Houser's extensive qualifications here. Congress has not yet approved Salazar's plan. With luck, they will block it entirely."

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Sept. 22, 2009, "Senate rejects measure to turn California water on," Washington Times, Amanda Carpenter

via Michael Savage

Joe Barton comes on strong citing conflicts of interest among EPA researchers and reviewers, then wimps out, acts like good Democrat

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GOP House Energy and Commerce committee members from Fred Upton on down should change their party registration from R to D.
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2/28/12, "Embarrassing: House GOP wimps out at EPA budget hearing," Junk Science, Steve Milloy

"Lisa Jackson wins again.

We were somewhat excited to hear Texas Rep. Joe Barton use his opening statement at today’s House Energy and Commerce hearing on the EPA 2013 budget to read EPA chief Lisa Jackson the riot act.

Barton denounced EPA science and cost-benefit analysis and the conflict of interest among the agency’s researchers and reviewers. He even waived a copy of a scientific reference manual at Jackson. Barton seemed to imply that this was going to be a rough hearing for Jackson.

It wasn’t. Barton didn’t even come back to question Jackson. The rest of his Republican colleagues were more in supplicant than oversight mode.

Many (most) GOP questioners seemed to be more interested in asking Jackson for favors concerning their parochial interests. No one — not even West Virginia firebrand David McKinley — pressed Jackson along the lines that Barton started.

It’s clear that House Republicans lack fire in their belly,

• knowledge of EPA’s regulatory over-reach and
  

• lack the ability to competently cross-examine Lisa Jackson.

It was a thoroughly disappointing and disheartening hearing.

No GOP-er on the Energy and Commerce Committee earned re-election with that performance. They are fortunate that the alternative (Henry Waxman, Ed Markey, et al.) is so unacceptable.

Tomorrow, Lisa Jackson will be testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on the 2013 budget. The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing with Jackson, originally scheduled for March 2, has been postponed.

• So we’ll see what happens with those hearings.

Until then, read “Showdown at the EPA Corral.”

Click to watch the hearing."

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2/1/12, "Upton challenger cites light bulb ban," Junk Science, Steve Milloy

via Climate Depot

'US in talks to swap terrorist Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and 49 others for 19 Americans held in Egypt'

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2/29/12, "BOMBSHELL: US in talks to swap jihad terror Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman & 49 others for 19 Americans held in Egypt," Atlas Shrugs, Pamela Geller

"Shocking. This would be the nadir of Obama's craven foreign policy of surrender, releasing the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that left killed six people and injured more than a thousand. Treason.

Al-Arabiya: US in talks to swap jihad terror Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman & 49 others for 19 Americans held in Egypt thanks to Robert Spencer

Al-Arabiya is reporting, in Arabic only so far, that the U.S. is talking with the Egyptian government to free the blind Sheikh and 49 other Egyptians currently imprisoned in the U.S. in exchange for the freedom of the 19 Americans the Egyptians are holding.

The blind Sheikh, Omar Abdel Rahman, is in prison for his role in masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center jihad terror bombing. If he is freed, it will be the apotheosis of Obama's policy of appeasement toward the Islamic world.

"Omar Abdel Rahman at the head of Egyptian-American swap deal," from al-Arabiya (Arabic), February 28 (thanks to Emad):

The Egyptian government has started real action to respond to a U.S. offer offering to release 50 Egyptians in American prisons, including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, in return for the release of 19 Americans accused of foreign funding of nongovernmental organizations, as confirmed by Major General Mohamed Hani Zaher, an expert on military research and the fight against international terrorism.

Zaher told the newspaper that the Egyptians need to exploit the weak U.S. position,especially after the conviction of their nationals on charges affecting Egypt's sovereignty over its territory, and not to allow this deal to take place without the agreement of the U.S. administration to release more than 500 Egyptian prisoners in U.S. custody; the Egyptian Foreign Ministry does not know anything about them.

He added that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry asked the Egyptian Embassy in Washington for a list of Egyptian prisoners in the United States of America,

and the Egyptian consulate there had already started procedures to account for the number of Egyptian prisoners and detainees in custody on a number of charges in the United States, he said, adding that among the prisoners in the Consulate files was Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the Mufti of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group) and currently imprisoned in America...." photo of Sheikh Rahman from Atlas Shrugs. Above Time Magazine cover, 1993

1993 World Trade Center bombing, photo Pendleton Panther

2/26/93, World Trade Center bombing, charliekennedy

2/26/93, World Trade Center bombing, withfriendship

NY Times front page, 2/26/93

Sheikh Rahman, photo Al Arabiya

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Salafist Muslims amend oath of Egypt upper house, note constitution must agree with "God's law" and have "no contradictions"

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2/28/12, "Islamist elected speaker of Egypt's upper house," BBC

"Egypt's upper house of parliament has chosen an Islamist as its speaker, consolidating the Muslim Brotherhood's control of the country's legislature.

Ahmed Fahmi, a little-known member of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), was elected during the Shura Council's inaugural session.

The FJP now controls 59% of the seats in the Shura Council and 43% in the lower house, the People's Assembly.

They will select a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution on Saturday....

As happened when the People's Assembly held its first session in January, Salafists made impromptu additions to the text of the oath. It [sic] with a pledge to respect the constitution and law, but several added "God's law" or "as long as there are no contradictions with God's law"."...

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India growth in 4Q 2011 slowest pace in nearly 3 years-BBC

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2/29/12, "India growth drops to slowest in nearly three years," BBC

"The Indian economy expanded at its slowest pace in nearly three years as the manufacturing sector continued to slow.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.1% between October and December, from a year earlier.

Growth in manufacturing sector slowed to 0.4% during the period, down from 2.7% in the previous quarter.

India's growth has also been hurt by a series of interest rate hikes aimed at reining in high prices....

Analysts said that given the slowdown in key sectors such as manufacturing and mining, Asia's third-largest economy may not be able to achieve its growth targets for the current financial year."...

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