Tuesday, March 13, 2012

GAMBLING: Two pending state bills toss the dice.... Press Enterprise.... Ca. Lawmakers have introduced legislation to legalize poker and sports wagering.. chances for success vary...

SACRAMENTO — Someday in the near future, a California resident might be able to play a few hands of poker on the Internet and then, after a short drive, bet the winnings on that night's basketball game. And it would all be legal.

Legislation recently introduced would significantly broaden the state's portfolio of legal gambling beyond the lottery, horse racing, card clubs and tribal casinos that now exist.

The Senate's top Democrat is the co-author of a bill to legalize online poker as a way to generate as much as $200 million for the state's beleaguered general fund. Wealthy gaming tribes in Inland Southern California are among those that have expressed interest in participating, but there has long been disagreement over the details.

Another measure would legalize sports wagering at licensed gambling establishments such as casinos and horse tracks. Federal law prohibits sports betting in most states, and California's approval of a law to legalize it would hasten a legal and political showdown over the issue.

The online poker bill, introduced Feb. 24, was widely anticipated. But many in the gaming industry were surprised by the introduction of the sports wagering measure, the first time since the late 1980s that such a bill has been put forward.

California residents who want to legally bet on sports now must go to Nevada, one of four states exempted from the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. The other three states are Montana, Oregon and Delaware.

New Jersey unsuccessfully sued the federal government to end the ban. Lawmakers there recently approved a law to legalize sports betting in that state, but only if the federal prohibition ends. In Congress, Garden State representatives have introduced two measures: one that would let New Jersey have sports wagering, another to lift the federal prohibition entirely.

If California lawmakers passed SB 1390, the state could join forces with New Jersey to try to end the federal sports betting ban. The state bill would allow any licensed gaming establishment to offer sports wagering.

It's expected that the state's struggling horse tracks, which have unsuccessfully tried to get slot machines to boost foot traffic, would be most likely to participate.

"It would be the greatest thing to ever happen to California horse racing," said Kirk Breed, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, offering his personal opinion.

The state would get a share of any winnings, the same way it does with existing legal games. The additional revenue, however, is not expected to be significant.

POKER LEGISLATION

The bill to legalize online poker, however, has a goal of raising $200 million for the state general fund.

Proponents say the bill would get the state a piece of the millions of dollars that Californians currently bet on online poker on sites that are based in foreign countries to get around a federal ban on Internet gambling.

Federal officials have suggested that states can legalize online games within their boundaries.

The California bill would offer an unlimited number of 10-year licenses to would-be poker site operators. Officials expect that the proposed $30 million up-front payment effectively would limit participation to serious operators.

"We're going to want some real certainty that the return to the state is going to be significant. That's the only reason to do it," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who introduced the bill with state Sen. Rod Wright, D-Los Angeles, who is also the author of the sports wagering measure.

OPPONENTS, SKEPTICS

James Butler of the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, said there are better ways for the state to raise money.

"When you bring (gambling) into homes and businesses, you're asking for more trouble," Butler said.

Other public reaction to the legislation has been muted. Many influential interest groups, from tribes with casinos and horse tracks to card clubs and companies that sell online gaming computer servers and other equipment, are still scrutinizing the 46-page measure.

Also quiet is the California Online Poker Association, a Riverside-based consortium of card clubs and gaming tribes led by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Cabazon and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near San Bernardino. The group sponsored an online poker bill last year that never gained traction.

David Quintana, political director for the California Tribal Business Alliance, said many tribes privately have serious concerns with the bill. He said the measure seems to violate the tribes' casino revenue-sharing agreements with the state. Those agreements protect the casinos from competition in exchange for making substantial payments to the state.

"This bill has so many fundamental problems with it from very powerful large stakeholders, I don't see a path to success for it this year," Quintana said.

Steinberg said he is looking for a compromise.

"Part of the art here, if we're going to get the money for the general fund, is we have to put together a coalition," he said.

GAMBLING EXPANSION

Two bills were introduced last month that would legalize additional gambling in California.

SB 1463: Legalizes online poker no later than Jan. 1, 2014. The goal is to raise $200 million for the state general fund.

SB 1390: Legalizes sports wagering in California. Federal law currently bans sports wagering in all but four states.

Barack Obama's Oil Lies are Rooted in His Contempt for the United States of America... Posted March 8, 2012 by Conservative Bytes..

Barack Obama's Oil Lies are Rooted in His Contempt for the United States of America

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Conservative Byte

replacing oil is not going to make energy cheaper. Oil is the cheapest form of energy, for what it provides, that we have. That's what the market does. The market provides the cheapest and the most efficient of everything. Or it won't survive. Eventually it'll go kaput. It's called competition. Oil does not have any competition right now, not any serious competition.
Great to have you back, Rush Limbaugh and the EIB Network, the Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies. Telephone number if you want to be on the program, we will get to your calls in this hour, 800-282-2882.
So Obama's in North Carolina, yeah, we're gonna have alternative energy, gonna bring down energy costs. Nope, they're gonna skyrocket. President Obama wants higher energy costs. Barack Obama wants higher gasoline prices. When it hit four dollars a gallon years ago Barack Hussein Obama said he was only unhappy about how fast the price got to four dollars. He was not unhappy that it did get to four dollars. His Nobel prize-winning energy secretary, a guy named
Steven Chu, said that they have no interest in lowering gas prices; they just want to get us off of oil. Not possible. That's what the free market does, folks, it gives you the cheapest and most efficient of everything. If there were something better than oil it would have been found, it would have been invented. If it were cost sensible, if it was affordable, if it made sense to produce it. It doesn't. Oil is it. It's the beauty of free markets.
Free markets tell you what work. So whatever he comes up with as his alternative, A, there isn't one, and, B, it's simply a way to raise taxes and raise prices and raise costs. You say, "Why would he want to do that?" Well, to accept the answer to that you have to — (interruption) Yes, I am saying algae is not better than oil. That's right, President Obama proposed algae as a substitute for oil a couple of weeks ago. Algae. Pond scum, for those of you in Rio Linda. Why would he want higher prices? Why does he want higher taxes? Well, you have to understand what he thinks of America to answer that and to believe the answer.

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Beck and Guests Dissect Skyrocketing Gas Prices and Obama Admin's ' Misleading Facts About Oil Production.... by Mytheos Holt March 5, 2012

GBTVBECK AND GUESTS DISSECT SKYROCKETING GAS PRICES AND OBAMA ADMIN'S 'MISLEADING FACTS ABOUT OIL PRODUCTION'

Posted on March 5, 2012 at 10:40pm by Mytheos Holt

On Monday, Glenn welcomed two guests with quite a lot to say on the subject of energy prices to dissect the Obama administration's "misleading facts about oil prodcution." The first of these was Jack Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API). The second was the founder of Cross Consulting and Services and author of the book "Secret Weapon," Kevin Freeman:

Both men brought ample knowledge of the field to the program. Gerard has been the head of API — the foremost trade association for oil companies — since November 2008, after a long career in public service. From his bio at API's website:

Gerard has led API since November 2008, expanding its membership and influence in all 50 states and globally, adding offices in Dubai and Singapore to its operations in Beijing, enabling API to better inform the public and policymakers on important energy issues. API's Washington presence is the foundation for the oil and natural gas industry's advocacy and outreach at state, federal and global levels on public policy, standards and certification programs, and as the source for information on industry best practices.

Gerard is recognized by numerous publications and his peers as one of Washington's most influential advocates.Washington Life magazine named him one of the city's "Power 100" and a Fortune magazine profile said Gerard's effort to build a 50 state advocacy network for the oil and natural gas industry was "showing signs of success" through its outreach to workers and non-traditional allies.

Prior to joining API, Gerard served as president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, and earlier held the same position at the National Mining Association. Gerard also spent close to a decade working in the U.S. Senate and House. He came to Washington in 1981, and worked for Rep. George Hansen. He also worked for Sen. James A. McClure, who chaired the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Freeman, meanwhile, runs a company known simply as Freeman Global Holdings, LLC., which operates at the global level trying to gauge world markets for clients. His book alleges that foreign countries deliberately sabotaged the United States economy. From his bio:

Kevin Freeman is considered one of the world's leading experts on the issues of Economic Warfare and Financial Terrorism. He has consulted for and briefed members of both the U.S. House and Senate, present and past CIA, DIA, FBI, SEC, Homeland Security, the Justice Department, as well as local and state law enforcement. He has traveled extensively with research trips to Russia and China and throughout Europe and the Americas.

Glenn opened the segment with a quote from Energy Secretary Steven Chu that gas prices should be "boosted" to the level of Europe (around $10/gallon now). He then segued into speaking with Gerard about the effects of Obama administration policies on the energy market. Specifically, Glenn pushed Gerard on the topic of why oil imports have decreased in the United States, as President Obama trumpeted in a recent weekly address. Gerard's response is below:

That's factually correct, but let me tell you why it's misleading. The reason our imports are down is because demand in the United States has dropped significantly because of the recession. So either the President is impliedly taking credit for the downturn in the economy or he's taking credit for the increase in domestic production, which is what we in the industry have done on state and private land.

Obama's Pump Dream.. March 7, 2012 by John Myers....

Obama’s Pump Dream

March 7, 2012 by John Myers

“This president, systematically, is doing everything he can to raise the price of energy in this country. He’s shutting down all sorts of opportunities for us to drill for oil.”
–Rick Santorum

If you think gasoline is expensive now, just wait and see the price at the pump if Barack Obama is re-elected. His policies have steadily dragged the country toward $5 per gallon. If he gets another term in office, affordable gas will be a faint memory. And that will have Obama and his Green backers tickled pink.

The Obama Administration doesn’t seem to care that every 1 cent increase in the price of gasoline costs the economy $1.4 billion. America is becoming more dependent on Muslim oil while turning its back on a half-century energy alliance with Canada. This has been made evident by the President’s rejection of the Keystone Pipeline.

When Obama was sworn into office, the price of gasoline was $1.80 a gallon. Three years into his term, prices for some Americans are approaching $5 per gallon.

That is just the way Obama likes it. Given another four years, gasoline prices could reach $8 a gallon. This is because Obama has a greater allegiance to the Green Machine that drove home his victory in 2008 and that is fueling his chances for another victory lap come November.

The specifics of what the President promised to the environmentalists if he is re-elected remain a secret. But what we know for certain is that Obama clamped down on deep-water drilling inside the Gulf, tightened Federal restrictions for onshore oil exploration and vetoed the Keystone Pipeline, a major oil artery that would secure dependable Canadian crude to a nation thirsting for oil.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) said the evidence is in, that the Obama Administration has willfully brought higher prices to the gas pump because it has put an embargo on fresh and dependable sources of North American petroleum.

“We can’t slow down global demand for oil and gas, but we can do a lot more here at home to assure that we have the energy we need and to halt skyrocketing costs,” Hutchison said. “President Obama’s policy has resulted in an unprecedented slowdown in new exploration and production of oil and gas.”

Speaker of the House John Boehner said the President has been reckless in mismanaging the nation’s energy policies.

When added up, not passing the Keystone Pipeline and “scrapping leases for oil-shale development” makes the President responsible for $5 gasoline, read a press release from Boehner.

“The Obama administration has spent more than three years blocking efforts to expand energy production and bring down gas prices, while pushing job-crushing tax hikes and taxpayer-backed loans to companies like Solyndra.”

Boehner laid out a timeline showing Obama’s purposeful drive to sending gasoline prices higher:

Jan. 7, 2010 – The Obama administration announces new bureaucratic hurdles to American energy production that Secretary Salazar admitted “could add delays to the leasing and drilling process.” Gas is $2.67 a gallon.

March 31, 2010 – Instead of opening new areas to energy exploration and development, President Obama blocks deep-ocean energy production on 60 percent of America’s Outer Continental Shelf. Gas is $2.80 a gallon.

Dec. 1, 2010 – The president re-imposes and expands the moratorium on offshore energy production. Gas is $2.86 a gallon.

Jan. 2, 2011 – TIME reported that the Obama administration issued the first in a series of regulations on January 2 designed to unilaterally impose a national energy tax. Gas is $3.05 a gallon.

May 5, 2011 – The White House issues a formal statement opposing House-passed Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act and Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act, legislation designed to jumpstart [sic] American energy production, address rising gas prices, and help create new jobs. Gas is $3.96 a gallon.

June 21, 2011 – The White House opposes the House-passed Jobs & Energy Permitting Act that would unlock an estimated 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Gas is $3.65 a gallon.

Nov. 8, 2011 – The Obama Administration releases a plan for a five-year moratorium on offshore energy production, placing “some of the most promising energy resources in the world off-limits,” according to the House Natural Resources Committee. Gas is $3.42 a gallon.

Jan. 18, 2012 – President Obama rejects the bipartisan Keystone XL pipeline and the more than 20,000 jobs that would come with it. Gas is $3.39 a gallon, and rising faster and earlier than ever before.

Rising in tandem with gasoline prices has been crude oil. As you can see from the chart below, crude oil has risen almost 40 percent in the past two years and last week had an upward gap at $105 per barrel. This is a bullish signal and technically indicates the price of oil is going to go higher. More importantly, I think Obama will continue to provide the fundamentals for crude and gasoline to increase, perhaps another 40 percent higher if he is re-elected this November.
Crude Oil Prices Rising Steadily under Obama's Influence

Crude Oil Prices Rising Steadily under Obama's Influence

While debating other GOP candidates last month, Newt Gingrich criticized Obama’s national energy program, saying it has been instrumental in driving the price of gasoline to $5 per gallon in some parts of the country.

“[America needs a new] energy policy, getting back to $2.50 a gallon gasoline, outlining both the economic and National Security implications, indicating that instead of bowing to a Saudi King we ought to be drilling, and our goal should be to be so independent that we don’t care what the Iranians are doing in the Straits of Hormuz,” Gingrich said.

That really is a pipe dream for Gingrich and it can only happen if a Republican is in the Oval Office next year. Short of that, Obama’s pump dream of $8 per gallon gasoline is what we will have. That might good for Green backers and tree huggers, but it will cripple the recovery for the rest of the Nation that depends on affordable gasoline.

Yours in good times and bad,

–John Myers
Editor, Myers’ Energy & Gold Report

Editor’s Note: Last week, TransCanada announced it would move ahead with part of the Keystone XL pipeline, completing a section Oklahoma to Texas. This plan does not require Federal approval. In January, the Obama Administration rejected TransCanada’s proposal to build a pipeline from the Montana-Canada border through Nebraska because of pressure from environmentalist groups.

Monday, March 05, 2012

Health Law Costs Increase Triggers House Republican Inquiry... March 2, 2012 Bloomberg News

Health Law Cost Increase Triggers House Republican Inquiry

Friday, 02 Mar 2012 06:37 PM

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The Republican chairman of the U.S. House tax-writing committee questioned why Obama administration spending estimates for insurance subsidies under the health-care law rose by $111 billion from a year ago.
President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2013 budget request, released Feb. 13, projected that subsidies for low-income and working-class families would total $478 billion through 2021. The administration pegged the cost at $367 billion over the same period in its fiscal 2012 budget proposal.
The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Republican Dave Camp of Michigan, asked the Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, Kathleen Sebelius, to explain the change in a budget hearing Tuesday. Sebelius didn’t have an answer, saying the estimate appears in the Treasury Department’s budget. Camp followed up with a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today.
The increase “cannot be explained by legislative changes or new economic assumptions, and therefore must reflect substantial changes in underlying assumptions” about the way the subsidies would work, Camp wrote. He asked whether the administration believes insurance premiums would be more expensive than earlier predictions, or if more workers would lose coverage through their employers than expected.
Obama’s 2013 budget more than offsets the higher cost of insurance subsidies with lower spending on Medicaid, the U.S. health program for the poor. Medicaid is projected to spend $3.6 trillion, or $275 billion less than in 2012.
Insurance Subsidies
Republicans are seizing on the higher subsidies knowing that changes Congress made to the health-care law since it was enacted in 2010 also reduced Medicaid costs, said Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California. “They will say anything in their quest to put insurance companies back in charge,” he said in an e-mail.
The subsidies will be provided to uninsured people to buy individual policies in marketplaces called exchanges that begin operating in 2014. Medicaid and the exchange subsidies are related because people who seek insurance through the exchanges will be enrolled in Medicaid if they earn poverty-level wages.
About two-thirds of the increase in exchange subsidies is due to changes Congress made to the law, Sabrina Siddiqui, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Congress passed a measure last year that would reduce eligibility for Medicaid and result in higher enrollment in subsidized private insurance policies sold through the exchanges, Camp said.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the Medicaid change would add $11 billion to the cost of subsidies through 2021, Camp said.

© Copyright 2012 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Time to support Arpaio's posse

Time is truly running out.

Barack Obama's constitutional qualifications for the presidency have never been investigated by any law-enforcement agency.

Until now.

But that investigation by Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "Cold Case Posse" could easily be derailed for lack of financial support coupled with attacks being launched against his office by Obama's Justice Department.

That's why it is imperative for every American who questions the very legality of Obama's reign and his efforts at re-election to support Arpaio's probe in a tangible way – no matter how small.

Let me tell you why I think it's important and why I am personally making a donation to this cause.

On the very face of it, Obama is not eligible to be president. Every action he has taken under the color of authority as president should be repealed, negated and voided. If we take him at his word and accept at face value the evidence he has provided about his birth, he is simply not a "natural born citizen," as documented in Jerome Corsi's authoritative and best-selling book, "Where's the Birth Certificate?" The man he claims as his father was a Kenyan national visiting student who would have conferred foreign citizenship upon his son. The very purpose and intent of the "natural born citizen" clause of the Constitution's requirements for the presidency was to avoid any such perceptions of divided loyalty.

Worse yet, there are very grave doubts about whether his biological father was who he claims. All of Obama's biographical tales about this relationship have been called into question by the actual evidence.

Then we have the problem of Obama's apparent adoption by his mother's second husband, Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian foreign national. Obama's name was changed to Soetoro and he moved to Indonesia with his stepfather, registering for school as an Indonesian citizen. Such an adoption would have required the destruction of the original birth certificate and the issuance of a new one showing Soetoro as Obama's actual birth father. That's the way adoption law works in Hawaii and most other states. So why didn't that take place? Why was his adoption not recorded? And if it was simply never reported to Hawaiian authorities, does it in anyway change the facts?

Click here to learn more about how you can help.

Then we have the problem of the birth document itself. It was only released last April in response to the impending release of Corsi's devastating book, which had hit the No. 1 best-seller position. But is it genuine? To date, there is nearly 100 percent agreement among qualified forensics investigators and document experts that it is not.

What I am saying might be very shocking. It might even sound a tad bizarre given the fact that the national media treats it as such. But what I have stated here is completely factual and well documented.

In other words, the man occupying the White House today and seeking re-election next year is a political enigma, an unknown quantity, completely unvetted and certainly not eligible to serve under the Constitution's simple, straightforward requirements for office.

It is into this amazing and dangerous scenario that Sheriff Joe Arpaio fearlessly steps, backed only by his own "Cold Case Posse" of volunteer investigators.

They represent what is probably America's last chance to salvage the integrity of the Constitution for all time.

Trust me, both political parties consider the Constitution a dead letter on the matter of presidential eligibility right now and both are actively shopping candidates for president and vice president who are not qualified.

No court has looked at this matter. No government agency has. No law enforcement agency has.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "Cold Case Posse" is likely our last chance to get to the truth about Obama and to restore constitutional integrity to our political system.

That's why I urge you to make a donation to this active investigation right now – no matter the amount. If everyone who reads this appeal gave the minimum amount of $5, it would raise millions, far more than the necessary resources to get the job done and the truth about Obama out.

Can you make your contribution right now?

Time is truly running out.

Joseph Farah
Editor and Chief Executive Officer
WND.com

Investigators Now in Hunt for Forger.... Cold Case Posse briefs county law enforcement on birth certificate case... By Bob Unruh..

WND EXCLUSIVE

INVESTIGATORS NOW IN HUNT FOR FORGER

Cold Case Posse briefs county law enforcement on birth certificate case

Published: 1 day ago

by BOB UNRUH Email | Archive

Bob Unruh joined WND in 2006 after spending nearly three decades writing on a wide range of issues for several Upper Midwest newspapers and the Associated Press. Sports, tornadoes, homicidal survivalists, and legislative battles all fell within his bailiwick. His scenic photography has been used commercially, and he sometimes plays in a church worship band.

Members of the Cold Case Posse in Maricopa County, Ariz., whose report to Sheriff Joe Arpaio yesterday confirmed there is probable cause to believe Barack Obama’s much-ballyhooed birth certificate document is a forgery, have begun briefing members of the county law enforcement team who may be involved in hunting for those responsible.

At a news conference yesterday, Arpaio and the chief investigator for the specially appointed Cold Case Posse, Mike Zullo, confirmed that they had found evidence of forgery in the creation of the birth certificate image and fraud in the presentation of that piece of work as a real government document.

They also said they found Obama’s Selective Service registration likely forged, and they said it appeared as though officials in Hawaii were covering up information about Obama. They also said it was not outside the realm of possibility that Obama might have been born overseas.

All of this relates to the Constitution’s demand that a president be only a “natural born citizen,” which is not defined in the Constitution. But many analysts believe at the time the document was written that would have meant the offspring of two citizens of the country.

GET A FREE COPY OF THE ARPAIO REPORT THAT WAS DISTRIBUTED TO PRESS TODAY

Arpaio began the review at the request of hundreds of his constituents. They were concerned a fraudulent document was being used by Obama to be on the 2012 election ballot in Arizona.

Arpaio said at the news conference that the investigation would continue, and he might ask for a congressional investigation to address the issue. He also suggested that other outside agencies may end up participating.

While he said that decision remained in the future, sources told WND today that the Cold Case Posse, a team of volunteers not being paid by taxpayers, were briefing sheriff’s office investigators on the status of evidence, so that they might be able to participate in the future as those responsible for the fraud and forgery uncovered already might be pursued.

Interestingly, the Cold Case Posse report said, “To quell the popular idea that Obama was actually born outside the United States, we examined the records of Immigration and Naturalization Service cards routinely filled out by airplane passengers arriving on international flights that originated outside the United States in the month of August 1961 [Obama's birth month]. Those records are housed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Interestingly, records from the days surrounding Obama’s birth, August 1, 1961 to August 7, 1961 are missing. This is the only week in 1961 were these immigration cards cannot be found.”

The posse said it already has identified at least one person of interest in the alleged forgery.

The Cold Case Posse had advised Arpaio that they believe forgers committed two crimes and sources say they now are sharing that information with Arpaio’s investigative team.

They say it appears the White House fraudulently created a forgery that it characterized as an officially produced governmental birth record. And they said White House fraudulently presented to the residents of Maricopa County and to the American public at large a forgery represented as “proof positive” of President Obama’s authentic 1961 Hawaii long-form birth certificate.

Videos connected to the investigation:

1. Introduction – Regular Scan: