1. Help Defeat International Regulatory Schemes for the Internet

2. Obama continues negative campaign – tries to trash Governor Romney

3. 54% of WI AFSCME employees voted with their feet in 2011.

4. Study Reveals the Gulf of Mexico Permitting Mess

5. Colorado Democratic Spokesman Accuses State Parties of Money Laundering

1. Help Defeat International Regulatory Schemes for the Internet

Today the House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology is examining a dangerous international attempt to regulate and tax the Internet.

Several hostile countries are pursuing the expansion of a 1988 International Telecommunication Regulation (ITR) Treaty under the auspices of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency within the United Nations. Their preferred venue for this back-door power play is the December 2012 World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai.

This morning’s hearing will be watched with great interest around the world as everyone looks to see what the United States says about surrendering exclusive inter-governmental policy controls over things like network governance, technical standards, domain names, content controls, access taxes, cybersecurity and more.

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2. Obama continues negative campaign – tries to trash Governor Romney

Having seen Mitt Romney, build a lead among the critical Independent voters and veterans, close the gender gap and improve his favorable ratings while the recently restarted Obama reelection campaign stumbles badly out of the gate. And as hid campaign suffers from the Democrats’ Bain mutiny and a campaign spokesman who bears false witness, Obama decides to continue his negative feedback loop by attempting to trash Romney’s gubernatorial record.

That now seems to be the Obamacrats standard operating procedure. The first thing they do is go negative and try to demonize their opponents rather than stand on their record.

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3. 54% of WI AFSCME employees voted with their feet in 2011.

I am going to try to avoid too much hyperbole and sarcasm for this one; this is one time where the situation requires neither. When Scott Walker and other Republicans instituted labor union reforms in 2009, one of the basic planks of such reforms – the one that was quietly and viciously fought, tooth and nail, by the unions – was removal of mandatory dues collection for public sector union employees. In fact, from the union leaderships’ point of view this was THE reform that needed to be killed; if the Republicans had compromised on it then there probably wouldn’t have been a Wisconsin recall movement at all. But Walker and the Republicans didn’t compromise… and what was the result?

DOOM.

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4. Study Reveals the Gulf of Mexico Permitting Mess

In a rational world, the Federal government would act as a motivated lease owner who was interested in promoting the safe and environmentally responsible development of his mineral resource, consistent with sound conservation practice. That’s why there’s a permit process in the first place.

Since Macondo, that’s backwards. Operating practices must conform to the permitting process that has, um, evolved in a purely political environment: practical considerations, economics and common sense be damned. And while the politicians proclaim a concern for production levels, product prices and jobs, their actions and policies tell another story.

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5. Colorado Democratic Spokesman Accuses State Parties of Money Laundering

The top spokesman for Colorado Democrats told a local paper that both parties in the state engaged in financing activities that resembled money laundering. In an interview with the Colorado Independent, Matt Inzeo, the communications director for the Colorado Democratic Party, said, “In most other lines of work, moving money from committee to committee and finally using a brand new committee no one has heard of to buy the ads would be called money laundering.”

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