What Transparency Looks Like In Obama Administration!

Dear Bob,

As you may know, EPA released a new batch of "Richard Windsor" emails late last Friday night.  You would think this would have us pouring through the emails, gleaning information on what EPA administrator Lisa Jackson (ie, "Richard Windsor") had to say about energy policy-related matters. Except for the fact the emails were heavily redacted.  So we thought you might want to have a look for yourself.  See William Yeatman's post about it on Globalwarming.org, excerpted below.  This is what the "most transparent administration in history" seems to consider full disclosure.

Best,
Christine
CEI Communications Director

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What EPA Transparency Looks Like in Most Open, Honest Administration Ever

by William Yeatman on February 22, 2013

First, it was 1,200 emails of the Washington Post daily headlines, Google alerts of everything written about the Environmental Protection Agency on a given day and a compendium of blogs that mentioned the EPA. Then, having had their fun, EPA officials got serious in the second tranche of emails they released to CEI late Friday, pursuant to a court ruling that ordered the agency to comply with our FOIA requests. This time, we got actual emails … that revealed a lot … about the fine art of redaction. Remember, this is the production of the most powerful regulatory agency of the most transparent administration in history. “We have nothing to hide,” the EPA has told us. Sure doesn’t seem that way to us:


> See a bunch more of redacted emails

NRA Targets Democratic Senators Up in 2014 With Local Newspaper Ads

http://atr.rollcall.com/nra-targets-democratic-senators-up-in-2014-with-local-newspaper-ads/

By David Drucker

The National Rifle Association will launch a print advertising campaign targeting mostly Democratic senators up for re-election in 2014, according to sources close to the group.

On Thursday, full-page ads are scheduled to run in local newspapers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina and West Virginia. They will be supplemented by digital advertising in these states and 10 others, including Alaska, Colorado, Montana, New Hampshire and South Dakota.

Additionally, the group has scheduled full-page ads to run Feb. 25 in regional editions of USA Today, reaching parts of 15 states.

The campaign is estimated to cost north of $375,000, sources said. The NRA’s newspaper ads will run in three states with Democratic incumbents up in 2014: Sens. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana and Kay Hagan of North Carolina. In West Virginia, Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller is retiring, but the race to replace him is competitive.

The NRA’s newspaper campaign will run in one state with a GOP incumbent, Maine Sen. Susan Collins.

Local newspapers in smaller states remain an effective way to reach voters. The advertisements are part of a broader NRA advocacy campaign highlighting an internal Justice Department memorandum that the organization claims proves President Barack Obama’s gun control proposals will not reduce gun violence.

The NRA made its case on the matter in a Web video advertisement that it released the same night as the State of the Union address.

Choose Your Own Crime Stats!

Interesting thesis on crime in the USA and how the media picks and chooses the statistics that best fit with the agenda they are currently pushing.  /bobdm

WildBillForAmerica - Liberals With Guns!

Now here's an angle on gun violence that the media seems to have missed in their putting together a crusade against guns. Wonder what else they have missed?  

/bobdm

NHInsider Owner/Operator

Update on Sunday, February 3, 2013 at 07:56AM by NH INSIDER

Thought you'd like to see how the national gun violence statistics stack up against the recent Presidential election statistics.

Yes we have a serious problem. Statistics show everywhere we have a lot of liberals and progressives we also have a drastic increase in violent crime!

Amtrak Called ‘Symbol of Government Waste’

The federal government is going down the wrong track by continuing to subsidize an inefficient Amtrak rail service, an economist asserts.

The bad news: Amtrak posted a loss of $361 million last year.

The “good” news: That was the smallest operating loss for Amtrak since 1975, thanks to increased ridership in the Northeast Corridor.

“Amtrak has never been profitable. From its outset in 1971, it has been backed by taxpayers with billions of dollars in direct aid and loans," writes Daniel Hanson, an economics researcher with the American Enterprise Institute, in an Op-Ed piece for The Washington Examiner.

“Over the past three years alone, Amtrak has received more than $4.4 billion in federal aid, and it still was not able to finish any of those years in the black.”

Tickets for trains running in the Northeast Corridor taking riders from Washington, D.C., to Boston cost about $150 — little more than a $125 ticket in 1997 — but the federal government kicks in nearly $50 for every ticket, pushing the real average price close to $200.

Yet the Northeast Corridor isn’t any faster than the same train route 40 years and $50 billion in federal subsidies ago, Hanson points out. Amtrak’s fastest train, the Acela, can make it from Washington to New York in 2 hours, 45 minutes at best — 15 minutes slower than the Penn Central Railroad could in 1969.

Since 2010 alone, the federal government has given Amtrak $6.1 million for each of the 730 miles of track it maintains. The 1,800-mile Transcontinental Railroad, built without modern equipment in the 1860s, cost $1.2 million per mile to construct. And the 47,182-mile Interstate Highway System cost about $10 million per mile to construct, and only $900,000 per mile per year to maintain.

“After four decades of federal funding, Amtrak has only stagnation and inefficiency to show for it,” Hanson states.

“Amtrak provides slower trains at higher prices. It is a symbol of government waste because it fails to make any progress toward self-sufficiency and fails to innovate.”

Amtrak’s inefficiency came into sharp focus last year when Rep. John Mica, the Florida Republican who chaired the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, disclosed that over the previous 10 years, Amtrak had cost taxpayers a whopping $833.8 million for its food and beverage service.

“It costs passengers $9.50 to buy a cheeseburger on Amtrak, but the cost to taxpayers is $16.15,” Mica said.

Hanson concludes: “It is time to admit this train has left the station. Amtrak cannot and will not be run efficiently with the backstop of government funding behind it.

“Someday a public-private partnership on railroads could be in the American interest, but for Amtrak, the government should shut off the spigot.”

Editor's Note:

• Report: 25% of US Households Have ZERO Net Worth