A bill slowly moving through the state Legislature would make it legal for Wisconsin residents to use deadly force if necessary to protect their homes. Under current law, someone could break into a house, and if the intruder was injured in the act, he or she could sue the homeowner, said state Rep. Amy Sue Vruwink, D Milladore, whose district includes central Wood County.
Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=13679
The Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of a group seeking to allow students with concealed gun permits to carry their weapons on campus. Gun rights organization Students for Concealed Carry on Campus argued that a 1994 University of Colorado policy banning concealed weapons from its campus violates state gun laws, particularly the Concealed Carry Act of 2003. Thursday’s ruling revives a lawsuit that a judge tossed out.
Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=13678
Pentagon will adopt a broad policy governing how privately owned guns can be carried or stored at military installations. The new policy is expected to mirror restrictions already in place at some military installations that, for example, require guns brought onto a base to be registered with military police.
Source: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/InTheNews.aspx?ID=13677
In 2009, environmentalists were sure global warming was the reason Californias Bay Area fog was increasing.* Now theyre saying global warming is making the fog go awayindicating that the science may not be as settled as some seem to think.
Gateway Pundit noted that in 2009, The San Francisco Chronicle claimed that The Bay Area just had its foggiest May in 50 years. And thanks to global warming, it’s about to get even foggier.* Yet, in 2010, The Telegraph has asserted that the sight of Golden Gate Bridge towering above the fog will become increasing [sic] rare as climate change warms San Francisco bay.
The first article was written in May of 2009; the second, February of 2010.* When scientists start trying to explain how global warming is affecting our everyday life, their findings conflict drastically.* Both papers and claims are under a year old.* Which one do we trust?
The issue isnt whether or not global warming is happening: the issue is how much scientists really can know about how new climates will effect us. There are far more variables involved with climate change than any scientist in todays world could hope to understand. Given the constantly evolving stances of climate scientists, we ought to be more careful when it comes to what we believe about climate change.
As Heritage expert Dr. James Carafano explained in his 2009 testimony before the Environment and Public Works Committee, the global warming theory suffers the folly of simplicity, pointing out that in Jared Diamonds study Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Diamond lists a daunting 12 factors that historically contributed to the collapse of a society–and these are only the factors directly controlled by humans. It is worth noting, Dr. Carafano went on, that Diamond is able to detail how this myriad of forces and choices interacted with one another only through the hindsight gained through hundreds of years of historical and archeological research.
In other words, the complexity of human-environment causal relationships is such that it typically takes many yearscenturies, evento fully understand what causes what when it comes to humans interacting with the environment:
History is in fact littered with case studies that suggest straight-line mapping of human-environment interaction is problematic, Dr. Carafano testified.* Anticipating with certainty how climate change will affect human progress is a march of folly.
His points are only validated by the assumptions regarding the Bay Areas fog today.* We cannot anticipate anything regarding climate change with certaintyand the new research is proving it.
Allie Winegar Duzett currently is a member of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation. For more information on interning at Heritage, please visit: http://www.heritage.org/About/Intern…rnship-Program
As Race to the Top the Obama administrations $4.35 billion grant program designed to spur education reform becomes a summer-long marathon for the remaining states that did not win grants in the first round of competition, the U.S. Department of Education has added an additional contest to the education grant Olympics. The Race to the Top Assessment (RTA) will provide $350 million to a consortium of states to develop an assessment system tracking student mastery of common college- and career-ready standards. While the prospect of additional funds might sound enticing to financially-strapped states, the federal strings attached to Race to the Top assessments could pull state and local education decisions out of communities and into the hands of Washington bureaucrats.
Incentivizing the adoption of certain standards, even if not directly written by a federal entity, allows the federal government unprecedented sway over how states and local governments should choose curriculum guidelines. Picking up the tab for an accompanying assessment system of federally-incentivized standards only further validates a federal hand in local education decisions.
The RTA application suggests that only one or two consortia, consisting of at least 15 states dedicated to adopting the Common Core, will win the coveted grant. The grant application also specifies that member states are legally bound to uphold and implement the assessment system and rules determined by their consortium and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. This will provide the federal government with one or two centralized bargaining partners, thereby increasing the possibility of federal control over education decisions, including definitions of curriculum standards, traditionally left to state and local entities.
Pursuing this path would mean parents and taxpayers would give up one of their most powerful tools for control of education to the federal government. Rather than heading down this road, Washington should take the grant competition opportunity to promote reforms that bring innovation and school choice to local communities.
In the perennial race to serve American families with a quality education, state and local governments dont need federal red tape to further bind their hands. Given the freedom to respond to community needs and attempt innovative education reforms like voucher programs and virtual schooling, states and local governments can effectively provide educational quality and opportunity to parents and students.
The folks over at Reason.tv have produced a great video explaining how public sector unions are stifling economic recovery. It notes that unionized workers already made more than their private sector counterparts before the recession and that the pay gap has only grown since then.
Government jobs don’t create wealth because all the money they spend comes from tax dollars that are taken from another part of the economy. Government union jobs are not a net gain like a private sector jobs are.
With the Obama Administration hiring more and more government workers and making it more and more difficult for private sector companies to survive, it could be a long time before our nation’s unemployment rate returns to normal
California is an example of what not to do. Unions (because of the laws they worked to pass) have put California on the edge of bankruptcy and turned their bonds into junk bonds. The LA Times reported:
Institutions such as mutual funds and insurance companies are more likely than individuals to focus on the state’s low credit rating, a byproduct of Sacramento’s ongoing budget woes. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service both give California the lowest rating of any of the 50 states — A and A2, respectively.
This is due to the fact that public sector unions have forced California lawmakers to spend a certain amount of the budget on certain things (as the video points out, 40% of the budget just for education) which caused a budget crisis that lead the state to consider selling its landmarks.
The Obama Administrations signature K-12 education program, Race to the Top, has gotten a lot of press in the last couple weeks with the announcement of first-round winners Tennessee and Delaware. But for all the hullabaloo and homework its created for states, Race to the Top represents only a small part of the overall K-12 education budget ($4.5 billion compared to $46.2 billion in 2010, not to mention $80 billion overall in K-12 funding from the 2009 stimulus bill) and functions outside the existent federal policy apparatusessentially as the Secretarys slush fund.
Now the Obama administrations plans for the legislative overhaul of its predecessors No Child Left Behind (NCLB) are emerging. The Department of Education recently released A Blueprint for Reform. As with Race to the Top, the blueprint has been couched in reform-minded terms–flexibility rather than compliance, turning around failing schools. But just as Race to the Top seems to let unions set the high-water mark for state reforms, the blueprints familiar liberal refrains raise questions about how far the Obama administrations ideas will actually depart from the status quo.
Spread the wealth goes to school: The blueprint talks quite a bit about “resource equity” among schools, which sounds a lot like liberals perennial goal of equalizing funding among schools. It even calls for the equitable distribution of effective teachers and principals:
Over time, districts will be required to ensure that their high-poverty schools receive state and local funding levels (for personnel and relevant non-personnel expenditures) comparable to those received by their low-poverty schools.* States will be asked to measure and report on resource disparities and develop a plan to tackle them.
States will also be required to develop meaningful plans to ensure the equitable distribution of teachers and principals that receive at least an ‘effective’ rating.
The trouble is we know that increased spending doesnt equal increased achievement. Since 1989, federal education spending has tripled (in inflation-adjusted dollars). Yet education results have remained fairly flat over that time. Reading scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released last month once again showed little improvement despite massive education spending increases under both Presidents Bush and Obama.
New push for national standards: The blueprint would make funding to states contingent on adoption of common standards, currently under design by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. This would breach yet another wall of federalism, involving the federal government in curriculum issues.
Beginning in 2015, formula funds will be available only to states that are implementing assessments based on college- and career-ready standards that are common to a significant number of states.
Now comes word that the administration is also offering $350 million to a consortium of states to develop an assessment system tracking student mastery of common college- and career-ready standards.
Washington should steer clear of the standards and testing business and instead set policies that lead to greater transparency for parents and other taxpayers about the information already delivered by state standards and testing along with the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Parents and other taxpayers should not give up one of their most powerful tools for control of education to the federal government.
Retreats on parental options: The Obama plan backs away from requirements that parents be allowed to choose other public schools or private tutoring when schools repeatedly failed. Empowering parents was a key theme of the Bush administrations NCLB. The Obama draft does more to empower bureaucrats.
As one example, the Obama administration wants to ramp up activities of the 600-employee Office of Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Education to address racial disparities in areas like disciplinary action and Advanced Placement courses. Last month Secretary Arne Duncan announced:
In coming weeks and months, we will be issuing a series of guidance letters to school districts and postsecondary institutions that will address issues of fairness and equity. We will be announcing a number of compliance reviews to ensure that all students have access to educational opportunities
Educational opportunity should be a priority and the achievement gap is a problem. But rather than pursuing equalized inputs like funding (which hasnt proven successful), why not empower parents of all races and income levels to choose a safe and effective school? The Obama administration could, for example, champion options like the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. Instead, its remained silent as the D. C. scholarship students futures hang in the balance.
Shows the problems with federal overreach in education: The federal government supplies about 10 percent of the funding that goes to local schools but is calling far more than its share of the policy shots. The Bush Administrations No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was already a significant federal overreach. Now the Obama Administration is going to overhaul it and change the measuring stick. Rather than the NCLB requirement that all students show proficiency by 2014, the new requirement would be high school graduates meeting college and career-readiness standards by 2020. (Note that both plans push the due date outside their authoring administrations tenure.)
Plus, each new plan comes with a significant compliance burden: According to the Office of Management and Budget, NCLB has increased the annual paperwork burden on state and local communities by 7 million hours, or $140 million. The new blueprint would leave states, districts, and schools trying to catch up with this new plan for at least the next half decadeuntil a new president comes along with the next remake.
100,000 American public schools shouldnt become a political football. Instead, we need federal policies that allow those closest to students to make the decisions that work for them. Florida, for example, has implemented a set of reforms and Hispanic students are making significant stridesmatching or outscoring the average of all students in 31 states on the recent NAEP results.
At the federal level, the A-PLUS alternative to NCLB would allow states flexibility to put funding where local needs most demand it while maintaining true accountability through state-level testing and information reporting to parents to ensure transparency.
At the close of this week’s nuclear summit, President Barack Obama told a press conference: “Whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them.”
Yesterday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) responded to these comments, calling President Obama’s remark a “direct contradiction to everything America believes in.” McCain went on to tell Fox News:
That’s one of the more incredible statements I’ve ever heard a president of the United States make in modern times. We are the dominant superpower, and we’re the greatest force for good in the history of this country, and I thank God every day that we are a dominant superpower.
Sensing trouble, the White House quickly set out to spin the President’s words with deputy national security adviser for strategic communications Ben Rhodes telling The Daily Caller: He was saying we are the global superpower. Like it or not that means that we are going to have to play a role. But notice what word is conspicuously absent from Rhodes recasting of the President’s remarks … “military.”
Nobody doubts that President Obama wants the United States to play a leadership role on the world stage. You don’t get Nobel Peace Prizes for being an isolationist. But what is very much in doubt is President Obama’s commitment to maintaining our nation’s role as the world’s dominant military superpower.
Assuming we will remain a dominant military power under this President is a bad assumption. Since becoming Commander in Chief, President Obama has ended production of the Air Force’s top fighter, the F-22; canceled missile defense installations in central Europe; cut the Army’s Future Combat System; made large cuts to the missile defense program; and recently announced an almost 20% cut in the dedicated forces they could allocate to respond to a weapons of mass destruction attack on U.S. soil.
We are not burdened with military powerwe have it for a reason. The Constitution calls for the federal government to provide for the common defense. The purpose of American power is to protect Americans – not act as the worlds policeman.
If the President does not want to get dragged into conflict he should not pursue policies that increase the likelihood of war. His New START agreement signed last week with Russia not only clearly links our missile defense shield with Russian missile reduction, but it also limits our own conventional weapons capabilities as well. Obama’s New START will make the United States more vulnerable.
You can do something to help stop Obama’s anti-military agenda. Today at 10 AM* Heritage Action for America will be hosting a live-chat to discuss the security implications of the New START and how you can prevent its ratification. Go to Heritage Action for America for more information today.
Quick Hits:
You may seek perpetual motion; we’re more fascinated by the (made up) principles of perpetual explosion exhibited by the BANG BOOM* Comic Book Lamp. More »
The Parents Television Council is the nation’s most influential advocacy organization protecting children against sex, violence and profanity in entertainment. That’s a big job. Much of what Hollywood considers "entertainment" today is offensive and even harmful to children — so that most of what the PTC does is alerting parents to the negative programming on TV.
That’s why it’s such a joy and a pleasure for me to recommend a new made-for-TV movie airing tomorrow night, Friday, April 16th, at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 pm Central on NBC.
Secrets of the Mountain is a delightful movie of the kind "they don’t make anymore." It’s a fun, adventurous romp that the entire family can enjoy. It’s filled with action and suspense, but also has a lot of positive family messages in it. Best of all, it’s completely free of sex, profanity, and disturbing violence.
It is wonderful that such a family-friendly program is being shown on network TV in prime time…but there’s another reason why this movie is important.
For years now, Americans have been aching for entertainment appropriate for families. Survey after survey has shown that Americans want family-friendly entertainment…and movie box office results prove it. Clean, safe entertainment nearly always outperforms movies with extreme sex and violence. But those in charge of the TV networks have consistently refused to listen.
During the Alliance for Family Entertainment symposium last year, the Association of National Advertisers told TV writers and network executives that the lack of family-friendly programming on TV represents the biggest missed opportunity in Hollywood today. As has happened so often, those in charge of creating new programming ignored them — so the sponsors decided to do something about it themselves!
Secrets of the Mountain was financed by Procter & Gamble and Wal-Mart. Two of America’s biggest advertisers have stepped up to the plate, and put their own money on the line to create programming appropriate for families and children.
We all should applaud these two sponsors for doing what the networks aren’t willing to do. But more than that, it is vital that we support them!
This movie is very much a "trial balloon" for family-friendly programming. If Secrets of the Mountain gets good ratings and positive comments from viewers, it will send the message loud and clear that audiences care about decency, and that they want — and will watch –programming appropriate for families!
I urge you watch Secrets of the Mountain with your family tomorrow night — and encourage your friends and family members to do the same. Don’t miss this chance to show your support for clean family programming!
Secrets of the Mountain airs on NBC Friday, April 16 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. Central).
Tim Winter
President
Another year, another iPhone. Everything’s falling right into place. The rumor mill is churning at full forcing, and Apple has purportedly locked down their regular theater in San Francisco on June 22nd. Now, like they do each time an iPhone rolls around, AT&T is telling their employees not to make vacation plans in the month of June.
The word comes from the Boy Genius, who claims to have multiple sources verifying that June vacations are a no-go.
The first iPhone was announced in January, and then shipped in June, the iPhone 3G was announcing in June and then shipped in July, and the 3GS was announced in June and shipped in the same month about 11 days later.
Assuming that Apple’s announcing the 4th-gen iPhone on June 22nd, any bets on the date it’ll hit the shelves?
This morning I write to you from Sacramento, CA where last night hundreds of fired-up grassroots activists attened the Americans for Prosperity Foundation’s Defending the American Dream Summit®.
CLICK here for pictures.
Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans will stand up for freedom by participating in hundreds of tea parties across our great nation. Hopefully, you’re heading out to an event near you!
I’ll be at Diablo Stadium in Tempe, Arizona for the big tea party there. If you’re there, make sure you come up and say hello.
This Tax Day, we face big challenges.
* The new Obama/Pelosi/Reid health care takeover includes almost $564 billion in new taxes on American families and businesses.
* If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire on December 31 of this year (and President Obama and Speaker Pelosi say that is their intention), then we will see an almost $1-trillion tax increase.
* The Death Tax will come roaring back. The best news about today’s tax day is that for the first time in 94 years, death is not a taxable event in America. Unfortunately, Democrats want to bring back the death tax at an outrageous 55% rate!
* The top personal income tax rate will go back up to 39.6%. Taxes will skyrocket on capital gains.
* 47% of Americans no longer pay personal income taxes due to policies coming out of Washington, D.C., and it’s not surprising that the burden on the remaining most productive Americans keeps going up.
* You would think all this taxing means a balanced budget. Of course, you would be wrong. The federal budget deficit this year is expected to end up over $1.5 trillion.
Not surprisingly, all this taxing and spending is killing prosperity for Americans. In fact, personal income is down 3.2% since President Obama took office when you exclude government handouts. It’s the same old story. As government advances, opportunity and economic prosperity for Americans recedes.
Thankfully, a majority of our fellow Americans are joining with us to turn things around. Here in California, the energy is electric.
Tonight I talked to grassroots activists and tea party leaders who are spearheading the drive for freedom in our biggest state, and they are on a roll. Trust me when I say this: liberal icon Senator Barbara Boxer is in trouble. After 28 years of radical left-wing votes, and after demonstrating her arrogance (remember when she scolded an American Army General telling him to call her "Senator" when he dared to call her "Ma’am"), I believe it’s clear the people have had enough of her.
We’re starting to win and the Left knows it. I do not often quote the late Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi, but speaking of his own country’s fight from freedom from Great Britain he said the following: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."
Gandhi may have been speaking decades ago, but he summed up where we stand pretty darned well.
So this Tax Day, be of good cheer. Keep up the fight. Endure assaults from the Left with the knowledge that the Left’s slurs and attacks only show their weakness and desperation.
Our ideas matter. And, the dedicated work of grassroots leaders like you matters.
Tim Phillips
PS: Please send along your pictures and thoughts on today’s tea parties across the nation. Send them to me here at this address or post them on our Facebook Fan Page here.
Thanks for all you’re doing. Much lies ahead.
[JURIST] UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday decried the recent decision by Hamas to execute several of its prisoners. On Thursday, the de-facto government of Palestinian Gaza executed Naser Abu Furaih and Mohamed al-Sabaa, both of whom were convicted of treason last February in connection with the Israeli occupation of Gaza. Pillay, who said that she was “alarmed” by reports that Hamas planned to execute several more prisoners soon, called on the Islamist authority to abolish the use of the death penalty:
It is extremely disappointing that Hamas is contemplating a return to the use of the death penalty, despite the fact that no officially-sanctioned death sentences have been carried out in Gaza since 2005. … I call on Hamas to reconsider its position and exhibit respect for the international community’s firm rejection of the death penalty … and to fully uphold and promote the right to life.Human rights groups have also denounced the executions. On Thursday, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem condemned Hamas, saying that the prisoners’ trial “did not meet even minimal standards of due process.” Also Thursday, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) said that any execution conducted without the ratification of Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the secular Palestinian National Authority (PNA), was unconstitutional.Hamas has recently fallen under fire from human rights groups recently for its failure to conduct an independent investigation into accusations of war crimes during the January 2009 Gaza conflict. The UN called on the Islamist authority to conduct a thorough investigation in a report last October.
When a volcano in Iceland began pumping plumes
of ash over Europe this week, airlines across the continent went on high alert,
canceling
tens of thousands of flights and bringing air travel to a crawl. (See a
gallery of amazing
photos from the eruption.)
While the ash wasn’t always visible from the ground, the cancellations weren’t an overreaction: A volcano’s ash
clouds can be one of its most dangerous features.
That was made especially clear in December 1989,
when a Boeing 747 flew into an ash cloud unleashed by Mount Rebout in Alaska, causing all four of
its engines to lose power. The plane briefly plummeted toward the ground until
the crew finally managed to restart its engines, averting a disaster. But the
event served as a harrowing reminder – not only that the sky is no refuge from
volcanoes, but also that many parts of the Western United States are within
range of powerful volcanoes that could explode to life with little or no
warning.
As the Fimmvorduhals
volcano in Iceland continues raging – and experts point out its last major
eruption went on for two years, from 1821 to 1823 – the threat of volcanic
eruptions has suddenly become a red-hot issue for people around the world.
There are three main sections of the United States that tend to experience
volcanic activity, and scientists believe many of the volcanoes there may be
about due for a major eruption. Below is a brief look at six specific U.S. volcanoes that pose some of the
highest risks.
Mount Rainier,
Washington
The
highest peak in the Cascade Range is also a volcano loaded with the most glacier ice of any mountain in
the contiguous United States, which
will complicate things whenever it does erupt because erupting through ice tends
to create lahars (volcanic mud flows that form when hot
gas, rocks, and lava melt ice and churn up a superheated slurry).
The
U.S. Geological Survey calls Mount Rainier “potentially the most dangerous”
mainland U.S. volcano because in addition to all that ice, it looms over the Seattle-Tacoma metro area
and its 3.2 million inhabitants.
Mount Rainier’s potential volatility and its
proximity to large cities helped make it one of two U.S. Decade Volcanoes, a group of 16 volcanoes
worldwide that U.N. delegates deemed especially dangerous to human populations.
It last erupted in the 1840s, and larger
eruptions occurred as recently as 1,000 and 2,300 years ago. It’s now
considered active but dormant.
Still, it’s one of the most intensely monitored
volcanoes in the United States due to the havoc it could wreak.
Mauna Loa,
Hawaii
The
other U.S. Decade Volcano is also the largest volcano on the
planet: Hawaii’s Mauna Loa. Its last eruption was in 1984, when the lava
flow reached to within four miles of Hilo, a city of more
than 40,000.
It’s
an especially active volcano, having erupted 33 times in recorded history — the two largest
were in 1950 and 1859, and one
in 1880-81 covered land now in Hilo’s city
limits. Like Mount Rainier, it’s also closely monitored, and one theory suggests it’s currently at the
end of a 2,000-year cycle, with its summit lava flows poised to increase toward
the northwest and southeast.
Mount Saint
Helens, Washington
About
50 miles south of Mount Rainier sits the shell of Mount St. Helens, the scene of one of the
worst volcanic eruptions in U.S. history, which took place on May 18, 1980. Fifty-seven people and thousands of
animals were killed in all, and damages topped $1 billion.
Mount
St. Helens reawakened in 2004, when four explosions
blasted steam and ash 10,000 feet above the crater. Lava continued gurgling out
and forming a dome on the crater floor until late January 2008.
Although it’s calmed
down now, this remains an “active and dangerous” volcano, according to
the USGS, and history shows it’s been relatively active since the Middle Ages,
including a blast in 1480 that was five times stronger than the 1980
eruption.
Mount Baker, Washington
After
Mount Rainier, Mount Baker is the most glaciated mountain
in the Cascades, supporting more ice than all the range’s other peaks combined,
aside from Rainier. This means it presents many of the same mudslide dangers as
Rainier, although 14,000 years of sediments show Baker to be less explosive and
less active than some other Cascade mountains.
Baker
gave locals a scare in 1975 when it began emitting large amounts
of volcanic gases, and heat flows around the mountain increased tenfold, but the feared eruption never
happened. The fumarolic activity still continues, but
there’s no evidence it’s tied to the movement of magma, which signals an
eruption may be imminent.
Lassen Peak,
California
The
southernmost active volcano in the Cascades, Lassen Peak has one of the most massive
lava domes on earth, totaling half a cubic mile. It’s the largest of more than
30 volcanic domes in Lassen Volcanic National Park that
have erupted in the last 300,000 years, and it’s part of a region that’s been volcanically active for more than 3
million years.
Lassen Peak is now dormant but remains active, posing a distant
threat to some nearby cities such as Redding and Chico.
Mount Hood,
Oregon
At
more than 500,000 years old, Mount Hood is a moody volcano, following
centuries of frequent eruptions with quiet periods that have lasted a few
centuries to more than 10,000 years. It last erupted in the 1790s, a few years
before Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific
Northwest.
Oregon’s tallest peak has produced many debris
avalanches of various sizes throughout its history, the largest of which
removed the mountain’s summit and big chunks of its flanks.
The USGS identifies two past eruptions at Mount Hood that
offer perspective on future eruptions. Mount Hood dominates the Cascade skyline from
Portland, OR, and while it’s probably not close enough to douse Portland with
a volcanic mudflow, it could dust it with tephra or ash, as Mount St. Helens did in 1980.
Russell McLendon is an associate editor at the Mother Nature Network, where a version of this post originally appeared.
More from Mother Nature Network
The City Council unanimously unanimously approved Friday increasing Detrich Brown Allen’s by $30,000 Friday, restoring her pay to $152,299 a year despite the elimination of the Environmental Affairs Department and her job as general manager.
It was done as part of the 12-0 approval of more than 20 agenda items without any discusion, totally routine.
She is now protected by Civil Service rules as an environmental officer in the Transportation Department, a job that is designated for a $122,607 salary.
Since bringing this to light, I have learned other members of her staff who lost their jobs, with at least two moving to the DWP and one becoming the mayor’s deputy for “sustainability.
When we reported the Samsung Galaxy S could be headed to AT&T many of our readers groaned and expressed their desire to see the phone on T-Mobile. New evidence suggest they might get their wish.
Unwired View has spotted a new Samsung phone (SGH-T959) that features Android, TouchWiz 3.0, and a 4 inch AMOLED display. If those specs sound familiar that is because they match up with the upcoming Galaxy S. The device has already received its Wi-Fi certification and Bluetooth SIG approval.
All Samsung phones that begin with SGH-T are designated for T-Mobile so this leads us to believe that some version of the Galaxy S is a good candidate to appear on the Big Magenta.
The Bluetooth SIG has just approved the Samsung SGH-T959.
(This guest post comes courtesy of the author’s site)
Market Update – Stocks are on pace for their largest % decline since Feb 4 (the sp500 dropped 3.1% on that day); as of 12:15pmET, the sp500 is down ~1.7% on the day as of 12:15pmET, near its lows (off ~21 points to 1190). Equities were seeing some selling pressure even before the GS/SEC headlines hit (they started to cross around 10:35amET) as investors took some profits heading into the weekend. As of this morning, the sp500 was on pace for a 7th consecutive week of gains, although as of 12pmET, the index was flattish-to-down small over the last 5 sessions.
The financials are obviously bearing the brunt of the selling pressure today – in light of the big run in the space (the banks especially) and this new (potentially large) overhang from the SEC, investors are viewing the risk/reward as turning in favor of taking profits/shorting the group. The SEC on its 11amET call today discussed how the charges are coming from a brand new unit that is just starting to look at the industry and certain practices over the last few years – this could leave the issue in the headlines for a while. The desk is seeing large selling occurring in the financials – volumes are stepped up w/both larger vanilla MFs and quicker trading HFs selling/shorting the group.
There hasn’t been a ton of interest in stepping in on the long side into the weekend given the uncertainty. The other non-financial sectors are also seeing profit taking, as investors use the GS/SEC headlines as an excuse to take profits, but the selling isn’t nearly as panicked as is occurring in the banks/brokers. Some investors are starting to notice some eerie similarities to the Q4 reporting period back in Jan: recall back then the market peaked on the Thurs of the first week of earnings season. Back then, as now, #s came in great but were met w/selling pressure (GE and BAC, both of which exceeded forecasts, were for sale today even before the SEC headlines). Also recall back in mid-Jan Washington was a headwind (as it is today w/the SEC charges) as it was then that we first started to hear about the White House plan to tax a portion of bank liabilities. The Bottom Line for this tape: stocks have had a big run and are very extended. Earnings so far for this season have been great, but the reporting period has barely begun and the bar has been set very high. The new headline risk w/the SEC charges will weigh on the market’s best acting group, the financials. Technically, Near term trend stays up above 1190, and 1175; the 20day on sp500 MA is 1183
· Equity sectors – Financials are obviously the big story here today and are the weakest sector in the market, plunging over 3.5% on the SEC charge of Goldman Sachs. The news is weighing heavily on regional and investment banks although a lot of insurers are acting fairly well. Materials are the next weakest group as dollar strength slams commodities on the Goldman news. We’re seeing metals get hit hard and many names have fallen nearly 10% or more from their early April highs. Industrials are second worst, down over 2% after GE reported earnings this morning. GE’s number was very strong but investors were a little worried about a -8% order number when the street was looking for flattish. Energy is off around 2% as the group gets hit on the stronger dollar and a sharp slide in crude. Tech is in line with the market, weighted down by GOOG and AMD on earnings last night. Discretionary is mostly in line with the tape on minimal news. Healthcare is outperforming but still off 75 bps, continuing to slide as it has most of this week. Telecoms, utilities, and staples are all outperforming but still lower as investors move into lower risk assets given the uncertainty in the market.
· Commodities: Commodities are trading near their lows (with the exception of natural gas) – falling as Goldman Sachs was charged with fraud [Bloomberg] Oil is trading near is lows just above $83, down ~2.9%. Natural Gas trading near its highs with choppy trading – its near $4.04 up ~1.4%. Copper trading near its lows, down 2.4%. Gold also near its lows around $1133, down 2.4% as well.
· FX: USD (DXY) has posted gains in choppy trading – near $80.73 up ~0.3%. The dollar is trading near its highs vs. the euro/pound/yen, up ~0.75% vs. both. Both the dollar and the euro are trading close to its lows vs. the yen, down ~1.1% and ~1.8% respectively.
· Corp. Credit: Corp Credit is mixed with Financials the worst performing sector in the S&P500 (down ~3.8%) and GS being sued for fraud for CDO’s [Bloomberg] IG 14 have sold off more than HY – IG 14 is out 4 bps while HY 14 has lost ¾ pt – outperforming equities.
· Treasuries: Treasuries have strengthened with the market moving lower – the 2s have rallied to 96bps (the first time they have been under 100bps since 3/23) while the 10s are yielding 3.76% (the first time yields are below 380bps since 3/23) The spread is relatively unchanged from yesterday at 281bps.
Economics Headlines
· US housing – Construction of new housing units were started in March at an annual rate of 626,000; while this was only a modest 1.6% increase from the prior month, the February level was revised up noticeably from a 575,000 rate to a 616,000 rate. More impressive yet was the 7.5% increase in building permits to 685,000, the highest level since October, 2008. Both single-family permits (up 5.6%) and multi-family permits (up 15.4%) shared in the gain. Feroli.
· Michigan Confidence – came in light at 69.5 vs. the St consensus at 75.
Europe: Europe is weak across the board – indices are mixed relatively to the S&P 500. The Swedish OMX has posted the most modest loss with the Spanish IBEX and the French CAC (amongst others) >2%. Financials driving the losses in both the S&P500 and throughout Europe off the news regarding Goldman Sachs [Bloomberg]
· The SX5E is down >2% while the FTSE is trading a touch higher the S&P500. In addition to Financials – Tech and Basic Materials also weak in the SX5E.
· The Spanish IBEX posting the biggest loss; down >2.3%. Worst performing stocks include: Arcelormittal, Banco Popular and Iberia
· The Swedish OMX outperforming, mostly due to strength in Industrial. Best performing stocks include: Ssndvik, Assa Abloy and Alfa Laval
Sectors
Tech/telecom
· Hardware – the group is in the red today although selling not all that intense. AAPL, DELL, EMC, HPQ, IBM are all down (both less than 1%). IBM reports this Mon night and AAPL comes on Tues.
· SOX – the SOX is off ~2.2% today although is still up >3% on the week. The AMD #s are being used as an excuse to take profits – AMD is off ~6% (although hasn’t even broken through its 20day MA). NVDA off 6% after being downgraded at Needham.
· Wireless – the group is getting hit today after Sony-Ericsson’s #s – SE itself had decent op profit #s, but its unit sales fell short (NOK, MOT, RFMD, SWKS are all pretty heavy on the earnings today).
· PALM – the stock is up 2% and outperforming on back of bullish RBC comments
· Internets – GOOG shares are off 6% on the day after earnings last night disappoint (CPCs came in light and expenses ticked up). Other internets getting hit in sympathy. YHOO is off 5% on the day ahead of its earnings on Tues.
· Weakest performing sp500 tech stocks: AMD, NVDA, GOOG, YHOO, MOT, JDSU, WDC, LSI, SNDK, WFR
· Best performing sp500 tech stocks: FLIR, ERTS, INTU, BMC, IBM, MOLX, MSFT
Financials
· Brokers – obviously the big story of the day is the GS news – GS is down ~13%+ on the day on back of the SEC headlines. MS is down ~6%.
· Asset managers – the group is off across the board today; not a ton of news, but selling off along w/the broader tape.
· Banks – the group is for sale today. The space was pressured even before the SEC headlines hit but the threat of more lawsuits is weighing on the whole group now. The group isn’t actually much weaker from where it was before the SEC headlines hit (its down, but not to the same % magnitude as GS or some other brokers). The regional banks are off ~4-5% nearly across the board – people aren’t too worried about the SEC headlines as most weren’t major securitizers, but profit taking setting in nonetheless ahead of a very big week of earnings coming up.
· MIs/financial guarantors – seeing some uptick in the guarantor stocks as people view the space as a beneficiary of the fraud charges (w/the thought being that if certain securities are found to have been fraudulently originated, then the space may not be as liable).
· Credit cards – the group is coming for sale today along w/the rest of the financials. COF and AXP are both off ~4% on the day.
· Best performing sp500 financials: AIG is the only major financial in the green today
· Weakest performing sp500 financials: GS, FHN, MCO, HBAN, FITB, MS, STI, MI, KEY, JNS
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On Thursday, April 15, 2010, the President signed into law:
H.R. 4851, the “Continuing Extension Act of 2010,” which provides short-term extensions of several authorities, including those related to: (1) unemployment compensation; (2) COBRA health insurance premiums; (3) Medicare physician payments; (4) Federal poverty guidelines; (5) flood insurance programs; and (6) small business loan guarantee programs.
Department of the Interior
Washington, D.C.
10:17 A.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat. Thank you.
It is a great privilege to join [you] for this conference on America’s Great Outdoors. There are a number of people that obviously I want to acknowledge here who have worked tirelessly to move this agenda forward. At the top of our list, our Secretary of the Interior — who I believe is going to be one of the best Secretaries of Interior in American history — Ken Salazar, who has just fully embraced this issue, we’re thrilled with the work he’s done. Thank you. Thank you, Ken. (Applause.)
Secretary Tom Vilsack, Administrator Lisa Jackson, Nancy Sutley — all have been part of what we call our “green team,” and are consistently providing creative ideas to make sure that we understand that conservation is not contrary to economic growth, it is an integral part of economic growth. And they have just done a fabulous job on that so please give them a big round of applause. (Applause.)
We have my outstanding NOAA Administrator, Dr. Jane Lubchenco. We have Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, Jo-Ellen Darcy. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and the Environment, Dr. Dorothy Robyn. And in the audience, if I’m not mistaken, we’ve got some luminaries. Is Governor Bill Richardson in the house? There he is — from New Mexico, a great conservationist. (Applause.) Former Secretary of the Interior, Secretary Bruce Babbitt is here. (Applause.) One of the finest young mayors in the country, Mayor Cory Booker. (Applause.) And to all the outstanding members of Congress who have been so diligent in promoting a conservation agenda.
Now, I am mindful that the first such conference was held over one century ago by one of my favorite Presidents, one of our greatest Presidents — and certainly our greatest conservation President. Upon taking office, Theodore Roosevelt –- avid birdwatcher, bear hunter –- set out on a tour of the American West that would change his life and the life of a nation forever.
He stood in awe of the geysers at Yellowstone. He camped in a snow blizzard at Yosemite. He stood on the lip of the Grand Canyon. “The ages have been at work on it,” he declared. “Man can only mar it.”
And from that sense of commitment sprang five national parks, 18 national monuments, 51 federal bird reservations, and 150 national forests. From that commitment sprang an effort to save the great Redwoods of California and the Petrified Forest of Arizona, the great bird rocks of the Aleutian Islands and the Tongass of Alaska. From that commitment sprang a breathtaking legacy of conservation that still enhances our lives.
Now, that legacy is an extraordinary achievement -– and no matter how long I have the privilege of serving as President, I know I can never match it. And I will probably never shoot a bear. (Laughter.) That’s a fair bet there, fair guess. (Laughter.) But I do intend to enrich that legacy, and I feel an abiding bond with the land that is the United States of America.
I do, for the same reasons that all of you do; for the same reason families go outside for a picnic or campers spend a night in a national park, and sportsmen track game through the woods or wade deep into a river. It’s a recognition passed down from one generation to the next, that few pursuits are more satisfying to the spirit than discovering the greatness of America’s outdoors.
And when we see America’s land, we understand what an incredible bounty that we have been given. And it’s our obligation to make sure that the next generation enjoys that same bounty.
That recognition has been a touchstone of this presidency thanks to the outstanding leadership of Ken Salazar and Secretary Vilsack and Lisa Jackson and Nancy Sutley. They have done extraordinary work.
Last year, I signed into law a public lands bill –- the most significant in decades -– that designated 2 million acres of wilderness, over 1,000 miles of wild and scenic rivers, and three national parks. We better protected cherished places like Oregon’s Mount Hood. We’re taking a new approach to our National Forests to make sure they’re not just providing timber for lumber companies, but water and jobs for rural communities. We are restoring our rivers and coasts, from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf Coast, from the Great Lakes to the Everglades.
So, yes, we are working faithfully to carry on the legacy of Teddy Roosevelt in the 21st century. But we also know that we must adapt our strategies to meet the new challenges of our time. Over the last century, our population grew from about 90 million to 300 million people, and as it did, we lost more and more of our natural landscape to development. Meanwhile, a host of other factors –- from a changing climate to new sources of pollution -– have put a growing strain on our wildlife and our waters and our lands.
So rising to meet these challenges is a task and an obligation, but it’s one that government cannot and should not meet alone. There are roughly 1,600 privately run land trusts in this country that have protected over 10 million acres through voluntary efforts. And by working with farmers and ranchers and landowners, the Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program has protected over 30 million acres, and its Natural Resource Conservation Service -– a service that is 75 years old this year –- has protected almost 3 million more. So together, we are conserving our working lands in a way that preserves the environment and protects local communities.
And that’s the kind of collaborative spirit at the heart of the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative that we’re launching today. In the months ahead, members of this administration will host regional listening sessions across America. We’ll meet with everybody — from tribal leaders to farmers, from young people to businesspeople, from elected officials to recreation and conservation groups. And their ideas will help us form a 21st century strategy for America’s great outdoors to better protect our natural landscape and our history for generations to come.
Understand, we’re not talking about a big federal agenda being driven out of Washington. We’re talking about how we can collect best ideas on conservation; how we can pursue good ideas that local communities embrace; and how we can be more responsible stewards of tax dollars to promote conservation.
First, we’re going to build on successful conservation efforts being spearheaded outside of Washington -– by local and state governments, by tribes, and by private groups -– so we can write a new chapter in the protection of rivers, wildlife habitats, historic sites, and the great landscapes of our country.
Secondly, we’re going to help farmers, ranchers, property owners who want to protect their lands for their children and their grandchildren.
Third, we’ll help families spend more time outdoors, building on what the First Lady has done through the “Let’s Move” initiative to encourage young people to hike and bike and get outside more often.
And fourth, we want to foster a new generation of community and urban parks so that children across America have the chance to experience places like Millennium Park in my own Chicago.
We’re launching this strategy because it’s the right thing to do -– because, as TR said, we must not mar the work of the ages. But we’re also doing it because it’s the right thing to do for our economy. It’s how we’re going to spur job creation in the tourism industry and the recreation industry. It’s how we’ll create jobs preserving and maintaining our forests, our rivers, our great outdoors.
In a time of great difficulty, when we are recovering from the worst recession in generations, and waging two wars abroad, some may ask whether now is the time to reaffirm our commitment to our national heritage. But I want everybody to recall, it was in the midst of civil war that Abraham Lincoln set aside lands that are now Yosemite. It was in midst of a great depression that FDR formed the Civilian Conservation Corps that built the trails and campgrounds and parks we enjoy today.
Even in times of crisis, we’re called to take the long view to preserve our national heritage –- because in doing so we fulfill one of the responsibilities that falls to all of us as Americans, and as inhabitants of this same small planet. And that is the responsibility that we are rising to meet today.
So thank you all for the outstanding work that you’re doing individually. I look forward to the work that you’re going to be doing collectively and advising this administration. Thank you. God bless you. God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)
END
10:28 A.M. EDT
