01/22/10

Nevada News & Views – January 21, 2010

By: Chuck Muth
Nevada News and Views

WAHOO! SUPREMES STRIKE DON’T SPEECH LIMITATIONS

From this morning’s Wall Street Journal:

“The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on their participation in federal campaigns.

“By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said corporations can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

“The justices also struck down part of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill that barred union- and corporate-paid issue ads in the closing days of election campaigns.”

Here’s the most important part of what the Court said:

“Political speech is so ingrained in this country’s culture that speakers find ways around campaign finance laws. Rapid changes in technology—and the creative dynamic inherent in the concept of free expression—counsel against upholding a law that restricts political speech in certain media or by certain speakers. In addition, no serious reliance issues are at stake.

“Thus, due consideration leads to the conclusion that Austin should be overruled. The Court returns to the principle established in Buckley and Bellotti that the Government may not suppress political speech based on the speaker’s corporate identity. No sufficient governmental interest justifies limits on the political speech of nonprofit or for-profit corporations. Pp. 47–50.”

Continue reading →

01/22/10

ALG Applauds Rep. Towns for Investigating White House Budget Office’s Threats to OPM Inspector General

For Immediate Release
Contact: Robert Romano

January 22nd, 2010
Phone: (703) 383-0880

“Nobody should be threatened by the White House for doing their jobs as stipulated by law.” – ALG President Bill Wilson

ALG Applauds Rep. Towns for Investigating White House Budget Office’s Threats to OPM Inspector General

January 22nd, 2010, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today applauded Congressman Ed Towns for ordering an investigation into the White House Office of Management and Budget for allegedly threatening an Inspector General from Congress’ Office of Personnel Management, Patrick MacFarland.

“Congressman Towns should be praised for investigating his own party’s Administration, who in this case threatened an inspector general because he wanted to warn Congress that his budget was too low as proposed for his office to complete its mission,” said Wilson.

Towns is the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, who in a statement said, “If such statements were made they were entirely improper and pose a direct threat to the independence and integrity of the Inspectors General, and an affront to clear Congressional intent as expressed in statute.

Wilson agreed, saying, “Especially with the inspectors general whose purpose it is to monitor wasteful spending, OMB’s threats to any inspector ought to be investigated.”

Wilson continued, “Under law, any inspectors general who believe that they are being cut either maliciously or in error has a duty to inform Congress, and neither OMB nor any other arm of the Obama Administration should be targeting those inspectors as a result.”

“Nobody should be threatened by the White House for doing their jobs as stipulated by law,” Wilson added.

According to the NY Daily News, MacFarland “alleged that his office got a ‘not so veiled threat from OMB’ that it ‘will make life miserable’ if he informs legislators of his complaint.”

In his letter, McFarland wrote, “I am alerting to you about a very serious matter that represents an attempt to thwart an authority provided to us by the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008 and that creates a risk of compromising our operational independence.”

Wilson called on the Obama White House to cooperate with Towns’ investigation, and to reprimand the budget official responsible for making the threats.

“At this juncture, it would be very appropriate for the Obama Administration to follow protocol and if necessary fire the official who abused his position to keep an inspector general quiet about a policy issue,” Wilson said, concluding, “and to immediately inform Congress of whatever action it is taking to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

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Americans for Limited Government is a non- partisan, nationwide network committed to advancing free market reforms,private property rights and core American liberties. For more information on ALG please call us at 703-383-0880 or visit our website at www.GetLiberty.org.

01/22/10

Help wanted finding AWOL couple who may be trapped in the Sierra snows

By: Bookworm Room
Reposted from Bookworm Room

UPDATE: Hurrah! They were stranded in the snow and a rescue helicopter found them. 01/23/10

URGENT

This has been a wild weather week in California, with rain, snow, sleet, hail, thunder and lightening, etc. Usually, I enjoy this weather. Right now, I find it very worrisome, because close friends of mine are deeply, deeply worried that their nephew and his girlfriend may be trapped somewhere because of this extreme weather. Ryan and Viola left Saturday for a two night camping trip, and haven’t been heard from since. They are very responsible people, and their prolonged silence is ominous.

The family thinks they’re most likely in the Sierras but, really, they could be anywhere in California. Since my friends know I blog, they’ve asked me to put the word out in the blogosphere, just in case any of you in California (or Western Nevada) might have seen Ryan and Viola. Here’s the press release that’s going out today:

Ryan Barrett and his girlfriend, Viola Liu left on Saturday, January 16, at 2:00 p.m. to go camping with their three dogs (2 huskies & a lab) in his red 2005 Toyota Tacoma pick up truck (with shell.) They were scheduled to return home on Monday evening, January 18, 2010. We have not heard from them. We need your help. We filed the attached missing persons report on Wednesday, January, 20, 2010 in the early morning with the Fremont police. The problem is Ryan did not tell us where they were going. Ryan told his father, “We think we’ll go to the Sierra Nevada to play in the snow.” We fear they were caught in the storm.

The police need leads. Our families need leads. We need you to broadcast this to your audience as soon as possible in the hope that someone saw them and we can focus our search efforts. KCBS has already run the story, but I need to reach more people and so many people get their news on line.

Ryan is a white 31 year old male, 5′9″, blue eyes, brown hair, and his smile lights up the room.

Viola is a Chinese-American woman, slim, 31 years old female, 5′7″, brown eyes, brown hair with highlights and a quiet beauty. (The photo makes it look like her hair is blondish, it isn’t)

Ryan is familiar with the mountains, very strong and brought a tent, sleeping bags, camping gear, dog food, freeze dried food and water.

We have been looking for them since Monday.

Thank you for your help.

God speed.

If you have any information about Ryan or Viola, please contact the Fremont Police Department, at 510.790.6800. This is the police report, with a picture of Ryan, Viola, and their three dogs: