EAGLE FREEDOM LINKS: 4-17-11 - Baseball Edition

EAGLE FREEDOM LINKS

American Perspective posts 24 signs of nursing home abuse and neglect

 Amusing Bunni's Musings asks Which side are you on? 

Atlas Shrugs posts 911 human remains: "Who owns the dead?" 

 40 Days For Life London Blog posts Archbishop Charles Chaput's wise words 

It Don't Make Sense posts Why it's called the death penalty 

A Catholic View posts on St. Damien de Veuster 




A Conservative Teacher says USA is wrong 58.5% of Americans have jobs, not 45.4% as reported

A Western Heart posts Those heartless Israelis 

Abigail and Dolley posts Israel's faithful generation 

Adrienne's Corner posts The Mendacity of Obama

Allied Liberty News posts The Midas Touch 

Always On Watch shows us Political mental illness 




America! Oh How We'll Miss You! posts In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act 

Another Black Conservative posts ZZZZZ! Biden caught napping during Obama's speech 

BBCW posts Complain about the TSA, you might be considered a terrorist

Beers With Demo posts When policy isn't 

Blowing San #1 posts On Catholic discouragement with the 2011 budget

Bluegrass Pundit posts Liberals are getting nervous. PBS calls for repeal of "natural born" constitutional requirement. 




Bluepitbull posts Sanchez beats the sh*t out of straw man in a typical Loretta passive/aggressive fashion

Barking Spider posts Islam and multiculturalism in France 

Bread Upon the Waters shows us Psalm 130 - Martha 

Bonsai From the Right posts Tea Party ad delivers knockout to Obama 

Bruce Political Watch posts 5000 non-citizens voting in Colorado a 'wake up call' for states

Can We Keep Our Republic? posts Union greed, government incompetence and a few facts 



Catholic Once Again posts Yes, Virginia, Easter really is a Christian holiday 

Cmblake6's Weblog posts A little history, re: gun control 

Commentarama asks When is a coyote not a coyote? 

Common Cents shows Sarah Palin addresses a tax day rally in Madison, WI 

Conservative Scalawag posts The law of unintended consequences 

Conservative Hideout 2.0 posts Tea Party in Wisconsin: it ought to be interesting



Creative Minority Report posts Steve the pig. An American saga. 

Conservatives On Fire posts Guest Saturday with my tea party chronicle 

Conservative Perspective posts What do those initials stand for? 'Reason' shows us 47 ways to say "IRS"

Deacon For Life posts Day 39: "I'm keeping my baby" 

DeanO posts Today's political cartoon

Diary of a Right Wing Loving Pussycat posts This from Ronald Reagan's budget man

Domine, da mihi hanc aquam! posts Coffee bowl browsing 

DRScoundrels posts Ryan responds to Obama's ridiculous budget 'solutions' 

EconomyPolitics posts Bill Gross acknowledges that US will default on its debt

Eye of Polyphemus posts Formspring question #133 - casualties of war edition 

Fleeceme posts Effect then cause - the key to the progressive strategy for America 

Fuzzy Logic posts Fuzzy's Faux news: rebelling against the "hippie fossil culture"



Generational Dysfunction posts A government of the people 

Greg Mankiw's Blog posts No grand bargain on the horizon 

Hack Wilson posts The States overrules the parent in modern day America

Holy Coast posts Government jobs programs destroy jobs

Innominatus posts I'mma let ya finish 

Jo-Joe Politico posts Raise the debt ceiling - we can afford it! Sure we can!



Just a Conservative Girl posts Conservative principles Vs. progressive principles 

Journey of a Mercedarian Pilgrim posts Inner fire - Intimacy with God 

Just An Artist shows us the Strict carnivore 

Landshark 5150 posts Today is the 150th anniversary of the bombardment of Fort Sumter

Left Coast Rebel posts Jesse Jackson Jr. thinks ipad, not liberal policies are killing American jobs

Let The Truth Be Known posts Garbage in, garbage out 



Legal Insurrection posts The Fogel family murderers captured

Liberty at Stake posts Quickie Analysis: Barry's big deficit speech 

Lone Star Parson posts Exterminate!

Maggie's Notebook posts Father Michael Pfleger thinks Obama is corrupted: Can power corrupt blacks?

Mind Numbed Robot posts From the mail bag...

Mindless and Spineless posts Salary caps don't apply to Obama's friends



Motivation Truth posts Governor Palin shares her faith testimony

My Daily Trek posts Boehner crumples and Obama stayed strong

Musings of a Vast Right-Winger posts Islam 101- license to rape, torture, kill, kidnap, steal, extort, persecute and much more 


My Photography posts Moon images and imaginings 

New Zeal posts Andrew Breitbart to union thugs "Go to hell!" 

Nikon Sniper shows us a Rocky Mountain sundown

No Sheeples Here posts The lamentations of America's spoiled child emperor 



Obama Cartoons posts Burning Koran 

Pathetically Incorrect says WOW Wisconsin 

Pedaling Fast & Trying To Keep Up posts Can't wait for Wednesday nights

Political Realities posts President Obama's deficit reduction plan - raise taxes 

Proof Positive posts "Wars that were unpaid for" 

Pundit & Pundette posts Obama refuses to defund czars, flips on signing statements



Randy's Roundtable posts More proof Boehner got rolled 

Random Musings By Cliff posts Lewis & Clark, peace through superior firepower

Reaganite Republican posts Trump's plan to ride the birther issue right to the US presidency 

Robbing America asks Why isn't Obama laughed out of town by the people? 

Self Evident Truths posts On civil liberties and morality 

Sentry Journal posts Late Friday night ramblings: Trump 



Shawsblog asks Has U.S. and NATO given up in Libya? 

The Audacity of Logic posts Civil War Anniversary -- Are we still a nation divided? 

The Blog posts Cubular news 

The Born Again Americans posts Not to be confused with "girls gone wild" 

The Busted Nut posts F*ing seriously? Spring spheres?

The Catholic Knight posts A new constitutional convention!!!!



 The Conservative Lady posts Hillary hosts Islamic world forum in DC this week 

The Camp of the Saints gives us Rule 5 news 

The Country Thinker posts The President's budget speech and his breach of the social compact

The Daley Gator posts Senator Grassley has damning documents on Obama's stimulus-funded gunrunner project 

The Libertarian Patriot posts Rand schools congressional committee on Rand 

The Last Tradition posts Herman Cain gives rousing speech at tax day rally: We need some 'altering & abolishing' 



The Malcontent posts TSA security guard pats down a 6 year old little girl

The Observatorium posts Heresy: The latest cottage industry 

The OH, Bama Files posts Afghanis idea of a fireside chat

The Other McCain posts Oh, my goodness: Jesse Jackson accused of sexually harassing gay staffer? 

The Right Guy posts Lindsay Graham: Jackass 

The Wisdom of Soloman posts Fox News Channel and Glenn Beck "agree to divorce" 

 The Scottcarp Dream posts Holder lets a big one get away



Theblogprof posts The 'new civility': Bill Maher jokes about a wall collapsing on Eric Cantor and Michele Bachmann 

TOTUS posts Budget time and the Kenyan dung beetle 

Trestin Meacham posts on Population control 

Tu Ne Cede Malis posts Stabat Mater Dolorosa 

Virtual Mirage posts More czars to come?

Vox Popoli asks Why do atheists love killing people? 



We The People posts the Toon of the Day 

What Does The Prayer Really Say? posts US castigates Holy See over "family planning" 

 Why I Am Catholic posts Because my boys needed to know about Hildegard of Bingen

Woman Honor Thyself posts Arab children: born to kill? 

Woodsterman says Happy tea party tax day! 

Zilla of the Resistance says It's National tell Congress to impeach Obama day!

Republicans Introduce Bill to Eliminate Obama's 39 Czars

                          (Moonbattery)

House Republicans introduced a bill today to eliminate Obama’s 39 czars.
The Hill reported:

A group of House Republicans introduced a bill on Wednesday to rein in the various “czars” in the Obama administration.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and 28 other House Republicans introduced legislation to do away with the informal, paid advisers President Obama has employed over the past two years.

The legislation, which was introduced in the last Congress but was not allowed to advance under Democratic control, would do away with the 39 czars Obama has employed during his administration.

The bill defines a czar as “a head of any task force, council, policy office within the Executive Office of the President, or similar office established by or at the direction of the President” who is appointed to a position that would otherwise require Senate confirmation.

This is great news! These radical czars need to be reined in, big time. I hope that the GOP eliminates the "Czar" position completely or at least adds an amendment which would state that if Czars want to be advisers of the president they must be confirmed by the Senate. 

H/T Gateway Pundit 

Yes Rep. Issa, Please, by All Means Dig, Dig, Dig

This New York Times article asks whether Rep. Darrell Issa and the GOP will be digging or investigating a long laundry list of violations that the Obama admin has committed over the last two years.  I can almost guarantee that Rep. Issa and the GOP will be investigating away.  YEA!! The N.Y. Times columnist Brian Friel makes an educated guess as to which issues he thinks that Darrell Issa and the GOP will be investigating after they takeover the reigns in January.  Friel even goes onto mention some additional issues which he thinks should be investigated as well. 

Here is the list:

White House job offers. The question is whether the administration offered plum positions to get two Senate primary challengers — Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania and Andrew Romanoff in Colorado — to drop their bids against Democratic incumbents. While the White House insists and most legal experts agree that no law was broken, Mr. Issa has said that that Americans could have “confidence in the legitimacy of the conclusions drawn” by the administration in the cases only if they have access to all related documents.


“Friends of Angelo.” Several prominent Democrats, including two senators, Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Chris Dodd of Connecticut (who chose not to run for re-election this month), were found to have received sweetheart mortgage rates from Countrywide Financial and its former chief executive, Angelo Mozilo. While the Senate Ethics Committee found “no substantial credible evidence” that the two senators had violated ethics rules, Mr. Issa says more investigation is warranted into whether other government officials got such deals.

Acorn. The liberal nonprofit group dissolved last year in the glare of conservative scrutiny, but some Republicans want an investigation into Acorn’s federal financing for its housing programs, which amounted to at least $53 million since 1994.

New Black Panthers. Last year the Justice Department convened and then dropped an investigation into whether members of the New Black Panther Party intimidated voters at a polling place in Philadelphia in 2008. Many conservatives feel the case was concluded prematurely and would like the Justice Department to take it up again.

Climate science. Conservatives who question the consensus that climate change is manmade want to use various committees’ oversight powers to challenge its scientific underpinnings, many of which were reached by federally financed researchers. Mr. Issa has focused on the so-called Climategate scandal involving alleged manipulation of data by British scientists: “For me, settled science starts out with settled raw data,” Mr. Issa said. “If the raw data’s in doubt, then the idea that we have settled science doesn’t exist. I want settled science.”

BP oil-spill response. Republicans may want to emphasize the White House’s missteps in dealing with the Gulf oil spill in April. In July, Mr. Issa said that the administration’s “preoccupation with public relations” might have hindered local officials’ efforts to deal with the disaster.

Economic stimulus. Representative Issa created a Web site where people can post pictures of road signs touting projects financed by the $787 billion economic stimulus package; he says the signs are little more than expensive propaganda, costing taxpayers $192 million. Mr. Issa will no doubt find additional creative ways to raise doubts about the administration’s response to the Great Recession, which he says has wasted money on swimming pools, zoos and golf courses.


Czars. Mr. Issa wants to give special scrutiny to unconfirmed presidential advisers including Elizabeth Warren, who is setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Carol Browner, who oversees environmental policy. Such czars are a sign of the “arrogance of government,” Mr. Issa says, because their appointments avoid Congress’s constitutional advise-and-consent role.


INVESTIGATIONS WE COULD REALLY USE


Federal contracts. Agencies paid private contractors at least $539 billion in fiscal 2009, much of it with little or no competition or performance evaluation. An additional $660 billion-plus in grants to states, local governments and nonprofits has undergone no systemic Congressional review. The committee should look into possible waste and whether contracting rules were followed.

The Civil Service. As with contractors, Congress has not systemically reviewed the performance and efficiency of the government’s 1.8 million-member work force.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. At $136 billion so far, the federal takeover of the quasi-private housing corporations is the most expensive component of the government’s response to the economic crisis. Figuring out the government’s role in the housing market going forward is essential after decades of Congressional neglect.

Defense spending. Congress has been loath to dig too deeply into waste in the Pentagon budget, in part because every state and Congressional district benefits from the spending. But 8 of the 31 agencies on the Government Accountability Office high-risk list of programs “vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement” are run out of the Defense Department. Certainly Congress should scrutinize them.

Food safety. A series of recalls, including that of half a billion eggs last summer in a salmonella outbreak, has highlighted the strains on the Food and Drug Administration. Congress should investigate whether it needs to be reformed or its duties taken up by other agencies.

Transparency. The government keeps too much information secret, operating a costly system of classification. Much of the information it does make public is impossible for most citizens to comprehend. Republicans could push agencies to declassify more information more quickly and draft legislation to compel the bureaucracy to release data in more usable formats.

Veterans health. Since the exposure of terrible conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007, Congress has dumped billions into the veterans health system. But there has been little follow-up to examine the quality of care and the cost-effectiveness of efforts by the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies.

Loan guarantees. Congress has backed more than $100 billion in loans in energy-related private projects. Because the guarantees don’t cost much up front, they tend to get little scrutiny. But the taxpayers are on the hook for any projects that go bust, and Congress should scrutinize them more carefully to determine the risk of failure and whether the projects truly deserve our backing.

Agency performance. Do taxpayers get what they pay for? In 1993, Congress passed the Government Performance and Results Act, requiring federal agencies to report each year on how well they were meeting goals, like whether the Internal Revenue Service is collecting all taxes due or whether the Education Department is improving student achievement. Agencies still produce those reports, but everyone involved knows that nobody really reads them. Oversight committees should start using them the way shareholders use companies’ annual reports: to see if their investments are paying off.

Congress itself. Committees in general do little sustained oversight, instead chasing headlines. And they operate with significant overlap — more than 100 committees and subcommittees oversee the Homeland Security Department, for example. The committees offer few channels for public input and participation. As one expert says, “I’d like to see Congress take a hard look at how it does oversight before it does any more of it.”


I am looking forward to seeing Rep. Darrell Issa dig, dig, dig, and the deeper the better.