Radical Islam Cartoon

Gas tax, infrastructure funding puts some daylight between GOP House, Senate leaders

Falling gasoline prices have sparked congressional debate about increasing the federal gas tax to help fund upcoming infrastructure projects and have set up a potential disagreement among House and Senate Republicans.
The federal gas tax primarily pays for transportation projects but has stayed at 18.4 cents a gallon for roughly two decades, helping create the funding gap.  
In addition, increasing construction costs combined with less revenue from the gas tax, in large part because of more fuel-efficient vehicles, have further contributed to the estimated $16 billion funding gap over the past several years.
Though Congress has managed to find money elsewhere in the federal budget to cover the shortages, lawmakers say the country needs more than a stop-gap solution.
However, House Speaker John Boehner suggested Thursday that getting a gas-tax increase passed in the now-Republican-controlled House and Senate seems unlikely.
“When the Democrats had total control of the Congress they couldn't find the votes,” he told reporters. “It's doubtful the votes are here to raise the gas tax again. … I’ve never voted to raise the gas tax. We'll have to work our way through it.”
But at least four Senate Republicans -- Bob Corker, Tenn.; James Inhofe, Okla.; Orrin Hatch, Utah; and John Thune, S.D. -- appear open to the idea of increasing the tax.
Last week, Thune, the third-ranking Senate Republican, told “Fox News Sunday” that he didn’t “favor increasing any tax, but I think we have to look at all of the option.”
Gas prices are now $2.50 a gallon, which some economic experts argue now gives Americans enough money to absorb such a tax increase.
The federal highway bill expires at the end of May. And there is a roughly $100 billion shortfall on funding the agency’s Highway Trust Fund at its current levels.
Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, has suggested lawmakers have little choice but to at least consider an increase, in light of the state of the fund and the country’s crumbling roads and bridges.
Corker, who is backing a proposal for a 12-cent-a-gallon increase in the gas tax over the next two years, says such a hike would be offset by other taxes that Americans now pay.
“At least it would put our infrastructure on strong footing,” he said. “And that second component seems to get left out of the conversation most of the time. But, yes, I believe that's what we should do.”
Democrats including Sen. Barbara Boxer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, both of California, have urged Congress to increase the tax or find other ways to better fund infrastructure projects.
“If there's ever going to be a time to raise the gas tax, the time when gas is so low is the time to do it,” Pelosi said last week.

Sledding on ice: Fear of lawsuits makes Dubuque latest city to ban winter rite

DES MOINES, Iowa –  Yet another city is pulling kids from city-owned sledding hills and slapping hefty fines on anyone trying to use the public property, but it might be more for fear of lawsuits than for kids' safety.
The City Council in Dubuque, Iowa, voted Jan. 7 to ban sledding in 48 of its 50 public parks. The new ordinance, which council members acknowledged was put in place to protect the city from expensive lawsuits, provides for $750 fines for repeat offenses.
According to council members during the Monday night meeting and an editorial in U.S. News and World Report by Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol, sledding injury lawsuits are real concern for the city. A lawsuit in Boone, Iowa, cost that city $12 million after a woman hit a concrete block on public property and claimed negligence on the part of the city. And in Omaha, Neb., a sledding collision with a tree paralyzed a young girl and cost the city $2 million. Still another case, in Sioux City, Iowa, saw a man win a $2.75 million settlement after he struck a city sign and sued.
Buol said the city did not want to restrict sledding, but was forced to because state lawmakers have not moved on legislation that would protect cities from what he called frivolous lawsuits. In Iowa, someone cannot sue a city if they are injured while doing activities like biking on public property. But sledding is not covered under that law and leaves cities open to lawsuits.
In his editorial in U.S News and World report, Buol wrote, “Our legal counsel advises us we limit our liability for negligence, which is the failure to exercise reasonable care to maintain a park safe for sledding…Safe sledding areas require inspections, ongoing evaluation and maintenance throughout the season, and we do not have the resources to do that for our other 47 parks.”
According a report that looked at sledding injuries from 2000-2007 by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, 20,000 children are injured in sledding incidents each year. These could be injuries from minor scraps, to broken bones and more serious injuries.
In a counter editorial piece in U.S. News and World Report to Buol’s, Nicole Kaeding of the Cato Institute says kids should be allowed to be kids, which includes getting bumps and bruises.
“The quest for safety doesn’t mean that we eliminate all the fun in childhood. Kids should be kids. As parents, we should teach our children to look, understand, listen and access their surroundings,” wrote Kaeding, adding, “Banning sledding is just another absurd item fostered by overzealous safety experts.”
Cities all over the country are banning sledding on public property. And others, like Des Moines, are trying to avoid all-out bans by posting signs that warn sledders of the risk. However, it doesn’t completely get cities legally off the hook.
The Mayor and City Council said that if anyone has a problem with the new ordinance they should direct their frustration towards their state-elected officials in the capital. Who they say, can enact laws that would cut down on the lawsuits. The Mayor also wrote in his editorial that if more funding becomes available, they can ensure safety at more parks and open more hills for sledding.

HHS execs doing good and living large, flying first class around the world

Helping America's poor, aged and sick is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' reason for being, but hundreds of its top officials are traveling in style and luxury at taxpayer expense.
Records obtained by the Washington Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act show that HHS executives spent $31 million taking 7,000 first class and business class flights between 2009 and 2013, including 253 trips for which a one-way ticket cost more than $15,000.
Half the records listed the price of a coach ticket for comparison. For that portion alone, the upgrade boosted the cost by almost $14 million, from $4.9 million to $18.5 million.
Federal employees are allowed to fly business or first class if the flight is longer than 14 hours, but only 1,400 of the 7,000 flights met that description.

Leaked Al Jazeera emails reveal disdain for Paris murder victims

While citizens around the free world embraced the mantra “Je suis Charlie” to show solidarity with the murdered employees of a French satirical magazine, a top editor at a Muslim-owned news organization had a different message for his colleagues: “We are Al Jazeera.”
A leaked email from Al Jazeera English Editor and Executive Producer Salah-Aldeen Khadr used the twist on a viral phrase used around the world to show support for victims of Wednesday’s Islamist terror attack on Charlie Hebdow in Paris. The magazine was targeted for its penchant for publishing forbidden caricatures of Prophet Muhammed, which it did in addition to poking fun at other religions.
“Was this really an attack on “free speech?” Khadr asked his subordinates in the email blast. “Who is attacking free speech here exactly?
“Defending freedom of expression in the face of oppression is one thing; insisting on the right to be obnoxious and offensive just because you can is infantile,” wrote Khadr, who urged Al Jazeera staffers to consider that “I am Charlie” is an “alienating slogan – with us or against us type of statement – one can be anti-CH’s racism and ALSO against murdering people.”
The email, first obtained by National Review Online, appears to have touched off a vigorous debate among editorial employees of the Qatar-owned outlet, which has often been accused of showing sympathy to Muslim extremists.

“Defending freedom of expression in the face of oppression is one thing; insisting on the right to be obnoxious and offensive just because you can is infantile,”- English Editor and Executive Producer Salah-Aldeen Khadr

Al Jazeera English channel reporter Omar Al Saleh responded with an obligatory condemnation of the killings of 12 people, including four well-known cartoonists, in the attack, but made his real point in all capital letters, for extra emphasis.
“I AM NOT CHARLIE,” Saleh wrote. “JOURNALISM IS NOT A CRIME. INSULTISM IS NOT JOURNALISM AND NOT DOING JOURNALISM PROPERLY IS CRIME.”
But Al Jazeera’s U.S. correspondent Tom Ackerman disagreed, in another portion of the leaked email chain.
“If a large enough group of someone is willing to kill you for saying something, then it’s something that almost certainly needs to be said, because otherwise the violent have veto power over liberal civilization,” Ackerman wrote. “When offenses are policed by murder, that’s when we need more of them, not less, because the murderers cannot be allowed for a single moment to think that their strategy can succeed.
FULL COVERAGE: Islamic Terror Massacre in Paris
Al Jazeera, whose headquarters are in Doha, also has international offices in London and New York. It received a U.S. license and began broadcasting in August 2013 under its Al Jazeera America brand. On its mission statement the company outlines its values saying, “We maintain credibility through impartial, accurate and comprehensive representation of the story,” and adds, “Integrity and respect guide our conduct internally and externally.”
The company is Al Jazeera is owned and funded by Qatar’s ruling Al Thani family, whose regime has been accused of financing radical Islamist terror groups in the Middle East, most notably Hamas in Gaza and the Al Nusra Front in Syria.
Reached for comment about the internal debate, an Al Jazeera spokesman said such discussions are part of the reporting process.
“We have arguably the most diverse newsroom in the world, and the robustness of our internal discussions that flow from this are a great strength,” the spokesman said. “Viewers judge us on our output, which on the Paris story has been first class, relaying events in real time, all the while providing a full spectrum of context.”
The spokesman also added that Khadr is one of several executive producers at the organization and his opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Al Jazeera

Iowa Republicans vote in favor of keeping presidential straw poll

DES MOINES, Iowa –  State Republican party leaders voted unanimously Saturday in favor of keeping their annual presidential straw poll, defeating critics who said the summer tradition attracts only fringe contenders while keeping away mainstream candidates.
The vote by the Republican Party Central Committee was 16 yeas to 0 nays.
Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said he was pleased with the outcome of the vote, after saying earlier in the week that he had a “hunch” that members would vote as such.
“I knew in the end we would circle the wagons. We have a unified party at this point,” he said. “This was about making sure the (Republican National Committee) is comfortable about what we’re doing.” 
The event will be held in August. Kaufmann said the exact date and location will be decided “within weeks, not months.”
Among the critics of the poll are such prominent Republicans as Gov. Terry Branstad.
However, the governor’s office said Branstad “looks forward to working with the Republican Party of Iowa and the State Central Committee to make it a successful event.”
Committee members said the poll energizes the party base and serves as an important early test of campaign strength.
“I think what’s so valuable is that it brings Iowans into the political arena,” committee member Trudy Caviness said. “To move our country forward, we have got to have more informed and active young and old.”
The RNC’s legal counsel told Kaufmann on Thursday that continuing to have the straw poll wouldn't jeopardize the Iowa’s status as the first state to hold a primary in the presidential election cycle, as long as party officials make clear the poll is unofficial and unscientific.
“Most people who come to the straw poll intuitively know that this is snapshot in time,” Kaufmann said in response. “They know the difference between a scientific poll.”
First conducted in 1979, the Iowa straw poll has grown from a county GOP fundraiser stop to a large event on the Iowa State University campus, where candidates spend heavily to entertain supporters.
The poll has been a lackluster predictor of who will win the GOP nomination. Its winners in 1979 (George H.W. Bush), 1987 (Pat Robertson), 2007 (Mitt Romney) and 2011 (Michele Bachmann) did not win the nomination. Only twice — in 1995 (Bob Dole, who tied with Phil Gramm) and 1999 (George W. Bush) — did the straw poll winner go on to win the GOP nomination.
In 2011, about 17,000 people turned out — far less than the roughly 120,000 who voted in the January 2012 caucuses. Bachmann, a Minnesota congresswoman, spent $2 million on the event and won the poll, while Romney, the eventual nominee, chose not to participate. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the nomination race after a third-place finish.

The Pen is Cartoon

Krauthammer: France terror attacks 'the third stage of the jihadist war against us'

Charles Krauthammer told viewers Friday on “Special Report with Bret Baier” that this week’s terror attacks in France are “the third stage of the jihadist war against us.”
Krauthammer, a syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor, said the first stage “of course is 9/11. All of the attackers were from the Middle East. And then for the last year or two, we have seen the lone wolf attacks, usually home grown but fairly unstable.”
Now, he said, “it’s as if there’s a critical mass of these dissident jihadists in the West who are now in a position rather than act like the single guy in Australia or the single guys acting separately in Canada, as a group, as a cell, and as an organized wave. And that could be what we’re facing right now.”