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Obama readies 2,375 new regs; sets record with 468,500 Federal Register pages

The pace of agencies issuing new rules and regulations has hit a record high under President Obama, whose administration’s rules have filled 468,500 pages in the Federal Register.
And, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the president is poised to unleash another 2,375 new rules on American businesses without first giving Congress an up or down vote.
CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews, vice president for policy, told Secrets Wednesday that of the top six biggest Federal Register page tallies since 2002, the Obama administration owns five. This year, he said, the Federal Register ended up printing 79,066 pages — 78,978 when blank pages are removed.
The Federal Register is a daily publication of federal issues proposed and final administrative regulations of federal agencies.

'Unbroken': Let Japanese audience see Jolie film, learn truth about POW treatment

On most Mondays, we are fed the mildly diverting and largely irrelevant data about weekend box office grosses. Not this Monday. This week we are left to ponder the gross excesses of censors — three to be exact.
First there was the assertion of a scary cyberbullying attack by North Korea seeking to abort the launch of a comedy about a fictional attempt to off Pyongyang’s awful leader. While there’s now skepticism about North Korea’s role, what’s not in dispute is that there is nothing funny about life in North Korea. Tragically, the long-suffering people there, including hidden Christians, did not wake up on Dec. 25 to find regime change gift-wrapped under illegal Christmas trees.
Next came the thought police in Casablanca and Cairo, who have rated the epic remake of the biblical “Exodus” “Z” for Zionist. Apparently, they are less disturbed that God was relegated to a minor supporting role in the narrative than they are that muscular “white guys” dominate the screen and that the movie has the audacity to suggest that Hebrew slave labor contributed to ancient Egypt’s unique skyline. All this from two of the most “moderate” Arab societies.

Shouldn’t the Japanese people be trusted to face their past, even their history’s darkest chapters like POW abuse? 

But these two incidents, both generated in tightly controlled societies, pale in comparison to the decision of a leading studio to stop the release of a true story in a sister democracy. 
On Christmas Day, Universal Pictures released Angelina Jolie’s “Unbroken" — which depicts the remarkable life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who became a prisoner of war of the Japanese — all over the world … except in Japan. 
The Los Angeles Times reported that “Unbroken,” with its unflinching depiction of the brutality of Japanese POW camps during World War II, would have encountered considerable resistance there. 
Already millions of viewers — most of them born long after the Second World War — have been inspired by Zamperini’s sheer determination to survive unimaginable brutality at the hands of the Japanese; his struggle with post-war PTSD; and his finally being able to forgive his former tormentors. People in the very country where these events took place are now robbed of the opportunity to learn from their nation's past.
Why did Universal feel compelled to make this draconian move? Japan is no North Korea. She is one of the United States’ closest allies, with almost 70 years of friendship based on shared values of democracy and human rights. Shouldn’t the Japanese people be trusted to face their past, even their history’s darkest chapters like POW abuse? 
One of us recently attended the signing at the State Department of a joint agreement between France and the U.S. that calls for France to provide $60 million in compensation to Holocaust survivors it deported to Nazi concentration camps. But it was not only about money. Speaking for France, Patrizianna Sparacino-Thiellay, the ambassador-at-large for human rights in charge of the Holocaust, declared, “This agreement is a further contribution to recognizing France’s commitment to face up to its historic responsibilities.”
The Japanese people deserve this kind of commitment from their leaders, not the overwhelming denial of history that led to the “Unbroken” blackout.
It took until 2009, when then Japanese Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki, on behalf of his government, apologized to former American POWs at their last national reunion, for the real reconciliation to finally start. Because of the ambassador’s commitment to improving U.S.-Japan relations and his willingness to work closely with Dr. Lester Tenney, a survivor of the Bataan Death March and of forced labor in a Japanese coal mine, a POW invitation program to promote reconciliation funded by the Japanese government started in 2010.
Former POWs in their late 80s and 90s who went to Japan were finally able to feel peace and a sense of closure as they visited the places where they had endured hard labor and were warmly welcomed by today’s Japanese. U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy praised this program. The positive publicity generated by the surviving ex-POWs’ yearly visit has been helping younger Japanese to learn about what happened to POWs in their country — in most cases, for the first time.
One group that must have welcomed the “Unbroken” cancellation was the very Japanese companies that enslaved American POWs. Of some 12,000 Americans who were sent to Japan after being captured on the battlefield, 1,115 died while being forced to work for these companies. Their refusal to honor the request of aging ex-POWs who insist “We survivors want our honor returned; we want you to apologize” is not worthy of Asia's leading democracy.
In contrast, France's state-owned railway company, SNCF, whose trains were used to deport Jews from France to Auschwitz, has expressed regret for those actions, opened its WWII archives to historians and increased its financial commitment to Holocaust education in France, Israel and the U.S.
In 2015, some Japanese companies that used and abused American POWs will try to sell their high-speed rail technology to the U.S., as will SNCF. These Japanese companies should emulate their French competitor by issuing an apology and committing themselves to educate the future generation on the history of American POWs of the Japanese. Showing “Unbroken” across Japan can be one way to show such a commitment, as well as reassuring her neighbors on both sides of the Pacific that the mindset that led Japan into World War II is a thing of the past, not an inspiration for the future.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper is associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Follow the Simon Wiesenthal Center on Facebook and on Twitter.

Jeb Bush resigns from remaining board memberships with eye on 2016

Jeb Bush is clearing a path for a 2016 presidential campaign after resigning from all of his board memberships.
The former Florida governor stepped down from his remaining board memberships Wednesday. It is part of the process to actively explore a White House bid.
Spokesman Kristy Campbell called Bush's review of his business interests "a natural next step as he turns his focus to gauging whether there is support for a potential candidacy."
Bush, the son of one president and brother of another, is seen as an early favorite of the Republican establishment as the next presidential primary season begins. He launched a series of private business ventures after leaving the Florida governor's mansion in 2007.
Bush has said his business record will be an asset to his campaign, though strategists say his private-equity work could open him to the same criticisms Mitt Romney received during his run.
He previously announced plans to step down from the board of Tenet Healthcare Corp. and leave his advisory role with British banking giant Barclays by Dec. 31. He severed ties to other business entities on Wednesday including the for-profit education company Academic Partnerships, Empower Software Solutions and CorMatrix Cardiovascular Inc.
Earlier in the week Bush resigned from the board of timber company Rayonier Inc.
Bush also confirmed Wednesday he declined to speak at a political event organized by Steve King, a strident immigration critic due to a scheduling conflict.

Deadly winter storm kills at least 5 in California

Interstate 17

A blustery winter storm has dumped snow across the West, killing at least five people and forcing residents in some usually sun-soaked cities to bundle up for a frosty New Year’s.
Strong gusts toppled trees in Northern California, killing two people in the town of Paradise on Tuesday. Another person was killed by a tree early Wednesday in Redding.
Two other people died and a third was missing after storm winds broke boats loose from moorings at Santa Catalina Island off the Southern California coast late Tuesday night. The National Weather Service said winds up to 40 miles an hour hit the harbor.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said one of the dead is a harbor patrol officer and the other is an unidentified citizen.
More than 180 motorists were rescued after they were stranded by the snow on mountain highways northeast of Los Angeles.
Revelers planning to celebrate in Las Vegas or by watching the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., were bracing for near freezing temperatures.
California citrus growers appeared to pull through the storm unscathed. Potentially damaging cold failed to materialize overnight in most areas, with only a few spots requiring some form of frost protection, said Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual.
Seventy-five percent of this year’s crop was still on trees and yet to be harvested, he said.
The National Weather Service said the storm was moving across California into the Mojave Desert and Las Vegas, dropping snow on parts of northern Arizona and Utah along the way.
Ice and snow also made roads and highways treacherous in New Mexico and along the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma.

36 dead and dozens injured in Shanghai New Year's Eve stampede

SHANGHAI –  People unable to contact friends and relatives streamed into hospitals Thursday, anxious for information after a stampede during New Year's celebrations in Shanghai's historic waterfront area killed 36 people in the worst disaster to hit one of China's showcase cities in recent years.
The Shanghai government said 47 others received hospital treatment, including 13 who were seriously injured, after the chaos about a half-hour before midnight. Seven of the injured people had left hospitals by Thursday afternoon.
The Shanghai government information office said one Taiwanese was among the dead, and two Taiwanese and one Malaysian were among the injured.
The deaths and injuries occurred at Chen Yi Square in Shanghai's popular riverfront Bund area, an avenue lined with art deco buildings from the 1920s and 1930s when Shanghai was home to international banks and trading houses.
The area is often jammed with people during major events.
At one of the hospitals where the injured were being treated, police brought out photos of unidentified dead victims, causing dozens of waiting relatives to crowd around. Not everyone could see, and young women who looked at the photos broke into tears when they recognized someone.
A saleswoman in her 20s, who declined to give her name, said she had been celebrating with three friends. "I heard people screaming, someone fell, people shouted `don't rush,"' she said. "There were so many people and I couldn't stand properly." She added that she still could not contact one of her friends.
The official Xinhua News Agency quoted a woman with the surname Yin who was caught with her 12-year-old son in the middle of crowds of people pushing to go up and down steps leading from the square.
"Then people started to fall down, row by row," Yin said. When her son was finally brought to safety, he had shoe prints over his clothes, "his forehead was bruised, he had two deep creased scars on his neck, and his mouth and nose were bleeding," she said.
Xia Shujie, vice president of Shanghai No. 1 People's Hospital, told reporters that some of the victims had been suffocated.
At the hospital, which was guarded by police, a man who would give only his surname, Li, said he had identified the body of his wife's cousin among the dead.
Relatives desperately seeking information earlier tried to push past hospital guards, who used a bench to hold them back. Police later allowed family members into the hospital.
CCTV America, the U.S. version of state broadcaster China Central Television, posted a video of Shanghai streets after the stampede showing piles of discarded shoes amid the debris.
One photo from the scene shared by Xinhua showed at least one person doing chest compressions on a shirtless man while several other people lay on the ground nearby, amid debris. Another photo showed the area ringed by police.
On Thursday morning, dozens of police officers were in the area and tourists continued to wander by the square, a small patch of grass dominated by a statue of Chen Yi, the city's first Communist mayor.
Steps lead down from the square to a road across from several buildings.
"We were down the stairs and wanted to move up and those who were upstairs wanted to move down, so we were pushed down by the people coming from upstairs," an injured man told Shanghai TV. "All those trying to move up fell down on the stairs."
Xinhua quoted witness Wu Tao as saying some people had scrambled for coupons that looked like dollar bills bearing the name of a bar that were being thrown out of a third-floor window. It said the cause of the stampede was still under investigation.
Last week, the English-language Shanghai Daily reported that the annual New Year's Eve countdown on the Bund that normally attracts about 300,000 people had been canceled, apparently because of crowd control issues. The report said a "toned-down" version of the event would be held instead but that it would not be open to the public.
The stampede appeared to be near that area.

Happy 2015? Newsweek hit piece smears Bible, Christians

Newsweek is launching the New Year with an old school attack on the Bible and Christians. It was just the sort of holiday hit piece that we’ve come to expect from these anti-Christian pinheads.
I imagine the Yuletide season must bring about near celebrations in the hallways of Newsweek as writers giddily try to find new ways to defile the followers of Christ.
This year’s winner was Kurt Eichenwald – and he certainly spun quite a yarn – one truly worthy to be published in a magazine. Mr. Eichenwald is known around literary circles as a man of words – and he certainly used most of them in his verbose essay.

I’m not sure why, but the folks over at Newsweek seem to hold a mighty big grudge against Christians. Maybe somebody spiked their Kool-Aid during Vacation Bible School? Who knows?

“The Bible – So Misunderstood it’s a Sin,” was the title of his treatise – of such import that editors demanded it grace the cover of the magazine. 
At first glance, I thought Mr. Eichenwald’s essay was a failed attempt at satire. However, by the end of the first paragraph, I realized it was meant to be a scholarly work. By the end of the second paragraph I was overcome by the fumes from this steaming pile of stink.
Newsweek’s 16-page diatribe portrays Evangelical Christians as homophobic, right-wing fundamentalist hypocrites who believe an unbelievable Bible. And just in case the reader misses the writer’s subtle nuance, the essay was illustrated with images of snake handlers, Pat Robertson and the Westboro Baptist Church.
That’s because in the minds of Newsweek’s esteemed editors, most evangelical Christians spend their weekends dancing with snakes and picketing gay nightclubs. Merry Christmas, America.
“They wave their Bibles at passersby, screaming their condemnation of homosexuals,” Eichenwald wrote. “They fall on their knees, worshipping at the base of granite monuments to the Ten Commandments while demanding prayer in school. They appeal to God to save America from their political opponents, mostly Democrats. They gather in football stadiums by the thousands to pray for the country’s salvation.”
I’m not sure why, but the folks over at Newsweek seem to hold a mighty big grudge against Christians. Maybe somebody spiked their Kool-Aid during Vacation Bible School? Who knows?
“These are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch,” Newsweek’s writer blathered. “They are joined by religious rationalizers – fundamentalists who, unable to find Scripture supporting their biases and beliefs, twist phrase and modify translations to prove they are honoring the Bible’s words.”
As if Newsweek was trying to honor the Bible.  The magazine goes on to advance theories that some of the New Testament books are forgeries and it calls I Timothy “one of the most virulently anti-woman books of the New Testament.”
That statement then leads to a virulently anti-woman attack on Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin – because nothing says “Merry Christmas” to liberals like bashing the Baby Jesus and Sarah Palin.
Get a load of this subheadline: “Sarah Palin is sinning right now.”
Here’s what the magazine had to say about Bachmann: “Well, according to the Bible, Bachmann should shut up and sit down. In fact, every female politician who insists the New Testament is the inerrant word of God needs to resign immediately or admit that she is a hypocrite.”
I don’t know Mr. Eichenwald personally, but it strikes me that he might not have a good time at a Billy Graham Crusade.
Newsweek also wagged its finger at Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for attending public prayer rallies.
“Jesus would have been horrified,” Eichenwald wrote.  
Dr. Albert Mohler is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary – one of the largest seminaries in the world. He’s also one of the nation’s leading evangelicals.
Mohler’s takedown of Newsweek and Eichenwald is brilliant. You can read it here. 
“Newsweek’s cover story is exactly what happens when a writer fueled by open antipathy to evangelical Christianity tries to throw every argument he can think of against the Bible and its authority,” Mohler wrote on his blog. “To put the matter plainly, no honest historian would recognize the portrait of Christian history presented in this essay as accurate and no credible journalist would recognize this screed as balanced.”
Mohler called the essay an “embarrassment” and correctly noted that the writer had an axe to grind “and grind he does.”
“To take advantage of Newsweek’s title – it so misrepresents the truth, it’s a sin,” he wrote.
The news magazines do this all the time – attacking Christians during the Christmas and Easter seasons. It’s a free country. We have a free press. They can write whatever they choose.
But the national news magazines never seem to target Islam. When was the last time Newsweek or Time published an attack piece on Muhammad during Ramadan?
I wonder if Newsweek would have the courage to publish “The Koran: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin”? 
I wonder if Newsweek would allow a feminist to weigh in on what the Islamic holy book says about women?  Perhaps Newsweek could illustrate their story with cartoons of Muhammad – or maybe photographs of jihadists beading Christians in the name of Allah?
But we all know that won’t happen, right Newsweek?

VA facing new congressional crackdown after Colorado hospital boondoggle

A congressional battle is brewing over the Department of Veterans Affairs' admitted mismanagement of construction projects across the country -- including an over-budget, billion-dollar hospital in Colorado that was, briefly, abandoned by the contractor. 
"VA construction managers couldn't lead starving troops to a chow hall," Colorado Rep. Mike Coffman said in a recent statement. 
Coffman, an Army and Marine Corps combat veteran, plans to introduce legislation stripping the VA of its authority to manage construction projects, and putting the Army Corps of Engineers in charge instead. 
The Republican congressman's district includes the location of the troubled VA hospital project in Aurora, Colo. -- the latest black eye for the agency following the scandal over secret waiting lists. 
The VA's original design in 2005 was estimated to cost $328 million. By 2008, design changes led Congress to authorize $568 million for the project. By 2010, Congress increased the authorization to $800 million. 
With most of that money already spent, the hospital is still only half-finished, leaving area veterans frustrated and angry. 
"It makes no sense to me why the VA is managing the project," one veteran named Mark said while entering the aging Denver hospital which the Aurora project is supposed to replace. "I am one of the many hundreds of thousands who need a better facility to get treatment quicker." 
With costs soaring and the VA falling behind on payments to general contractor Kiewit-Turner, the company sued. 
In December, the U.S. Civilian Board of Contract Appeals agreed with the company's assessment that the project could not be completed for less than $1 billion -- and let it out of its contract. 
Kiewit-Turner then initially walked off the half-finished project, leaving 1,400 workers out of a job. 
In a visit to Colorado to negotiate a deal to bring workers back, VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson admitted the agency was at fault. "I apologize to veterans here in Colorado. I apologize to the taxpayers. We have let you down," he said. 
Coffman maintains, "It's not isolated to Aurora, Colorado. Every major construction project that the [VA] has right now is hundreds of millions of dollars over-budget and years behind schedule." 
A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office said that VA hospital construction projects in several cities were, on average, $300 million over-budget and three years behind schedule. 
During his visit to the construction site in Colorado, Sloan announced an interim agreement for work to resume temporarily. Kiewit-Turner is now back on the job, but with the Army Corps of Engineers overseeing the project. 
"Their role here on-site will be to advise and support VA in the execution of this interim contract," Sloan said. Sloan said the Army Corps will also figure out just how off-track the project is, and negotiate with the contractor on a plan to actually finish it. 
"We don't know, I don't know, quite frankly I don't think KT knows right now, what it will cost to complete the project." He said he hopes it will finally be ready for area veterans, "sometime in 2017." 
While work has resumed for now, Sloan said the VA only has enough money left to keep the project going for a few months. To finish it, Congress will have to come up with more. 
If passed, Coffman's legislation would lift the current $800 million spending cap. "Right now there is nothing that we can do to reverse the costly mistakes that the VA has made," he said. "This project can't be left sitting there half-finished." 
However, Coffman said his legislation will also include the requirement that the VA transfer authority over all its construction projects to the Army Corps. "We cannot expect those who drove us into the ditch at the [VA] to drive us out of the ditch. That's just not going to happen." 
Sloan said the agency wants to stay in control. "Whether or not it makes sense for the Corps to take over all the VA's construction activity, I'm not there yet," he said.  
Colorado veteran John Dennis expressed disgust at the course of the project. "The people that are spearheading this new hospital, which is a much-needed thing, to me are acting like selfish children," he said.