Coburn, White House Spar Over Projects

WASHINGTON/from www.tulsaworld.com ~ U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn issued his own report Tuesday questioning billions in specific stimulus projects, complete with a photo of actors Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment in the decade-old film “The Sixth Sense.”

Instead of dead people, the Oklahoma Republican’s report has Osment’s character seeing stimulus checks.

Without Coburn’s Hollywood flair, the Obama administration questioned the senator’s claims.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Coburn’s “report appears to be, in many, many cases, just flat out wrong.’’

“This president has taken historic steps to ensure that there is adequate transparency and that this money is spent the way it’s intended to be used,’’ Gibbs said.

“There are projects within the report that haven’t been funded — have been canceled based on our own looking into this.’’

Coburn, who voted against the massive $787 billion stimulus package earlier this year, included two Oklahoma projects in his report on 100 of what he said are the worst examples of waste in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Read the entire report at www.tulsaworld.com.

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Istook: Census To Include Fictitious People?

Left-leaning groups want to include millions of pretend people in the real-life 2010 Census, former Congressman Ernest Istook writes today in a Human Events column. It almost happened in 2000, he writes. "This time, they might get their way. The administration claims it has 'no plans' to use statistical sampling to augment the actual headcount next year by adding millions of fictitious people. Not everyone believes this.

"Conservatives worry that, having learned from the failure of Bill Clinton’s high-profile push for census sampling, the administration has adopted a stealth approach."

Istook explains at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31819.

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Russell Rips Napolitano Indictment Of Vets

Senator Steve Russell, a retired Army Colonel and veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, has authored Senate Resolution 42 which demands that President Obama’s Administration retract a Department of Homeland Security report that suggests returning veterans could be a threat to the country.

Russell said the report should be withdrawn and an apology issued to America’s returning war veterans.

The department's office of intelligence and analysis distributed the report to state and local law enforcement agencies April 7. The office regularly publishes intelligence analyses of domestic and international threats to the nation's borders and infrastructure.

The report drew sharp criticism from Republican lawmakers, conservatives and veterans groups, who said it unfairly targets returning military veterans and gun rights advocates without citing specific threats.

The report said the return of military veterans facing challenges with reintegrating into their communities "could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."

"To characterize men and women returning home after defending our country as potential terrorists is offensive and unacceptable," House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement. "The Department of Homeland Security owes our veterans an apology."

A footnote in the report, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," said that while there is no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are planning acts of violence, such acts could come from unnamed "rightwing extremists" concerned about illegal immigration, abortion, increasing federal power and restrictions on firearms -- and singled out returning war veterans as susceptible to recruitment.

“To suggest that we would terrorize the very nation we risked our lives for should give all Americans pause,” said Russell, Oklahoma City Republican.

“Yesterday afternoon I participated in a rally with thousands of good, law-abiding, God-fearing Oklahomans who voiced their concerns about the Federal government’s expenditures of our hard-earned dollars,” said Russell, referring to the Tea Party rally that was held on the steps of the State Capitol. “According to the Department of Homeland Security report, these people would also be considered threats to the national security.

“It is vital that we take a stand and express, in our constitutional right to peaceful assembly and our extreme displeasure and disagreement with the Administration on this important matter,” Russell continued.

“Taken at face value, this report from our Department of Homeland Security would qualify the vast majority of Oklahomans as threats to our national security,” Russell added. “If upholding traditional American values such as the sanctity of life, the right to bear arms and defending your country is extremist, then I stand so accused,” Russell concluded.

Senate Resolution 42 further states that the Oklahoma State Senate supports America’s military veterans, who have risked their lives preserving the nation instead of attacking it, and believes that the traditional American values under attack by the Obama Administration should be respected and revered by the federal government.

The resolution will likely be heard in the Senate on Wednesday.

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Obama Administration Attacks Energy Producers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ~ U.S. oil and natural gas producing companies should not receive federal subsidies in the form of tax breaks because their businesses contribute to global warming, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress on Wednesday.

It was one of the sharpest attacks yet on the oil and gas industry by a top Obama administration official, reinforcing the White House stance that new U.S. energy policy will focus on promoting renewable energy sources like wind and solar power and rely less on traditional fossil fuels like oil as America tackles climate change.

"We don't believe it makes sense to significantly subsidize the production and use of sources of energy (like oil and gas) that are dramatically going to add to our climate change (problem). We don't think that's good economic policy and we think changing those incentives is good for the country," Geithner told the Senate Finance Committee at a hearing on the White House's proposed budget for the 2010 spending year.

The Obama administration's budget would levy an excise tax on oil and natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, raising $5.3 billion in revenue from 2011 to 2019. This new 13 percent tax on all oil and gas production in the Gulf would only affect those companies enjoying a loophole that allows them to avoid paying royalties on the energy supplies they drill. Companies already paying royalties would get a tax credit. Obama's budget would also place a $4 per acre annual fee on energy leases in the Gulf that are designated as nonproducing. The budget proposal projects the fee would generate $1.2 billion from 2010 to 2019.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas criticized the tax increases, saying they would hurt independent energy companies that provide a large share of U.S. oil and gas supplies.

"My view is that higher taxes on small and independent producers here in America will make us more dependent on imported oil and gas while we transition to cleaner energy alternatives, a goal we all share," said Cornyn. "And it will also hurt job retention and job creation in the energy sector, which provides an awful lot of jobs in this country."

Geithner said the additional taxes "can be absorbed" by the oil and gas companies, given the billions of dollars they have earned from high energy prices. "The impact of these subsidies are very small relative to revenues produced by U.S. oil and gas producers," he said.

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Belief: Obama Wants More Gun Control Laws

From Rasmussen Reports ~ Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans say it is Very Likely that the Obama Administration will try to implement stricter gun control laws even though 47% see no need for such laws. Another 28% say the administration is somewhat likely to seek tougher gun control. Among gun owners 49% see stricter gun controls as Very Likely.

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Gun Owners Fear Obama Administration

From NewsMax ~ President-elect Barack Obama has a bad reputation regarding the Second Amendment right to bear arms, and it’s having a dramatic effect in gun and ammo retail outlets.

Gun sales across the country were up before Election 2008 – just in anticipation of a Barack Obama victory in the White House race. Now that the President-elect is poised to take the oath of office, guns are flying off the shelves.

“Sales of firearms, in particular handguns and semi-automatic hunting and target rifles, are fast outpacing inventory,” National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) president and CEO Stephen Sanetti disclosed in a statement to the media. “It’s clear that many people are concerned about possible gun bans under the incoming Congress and are reacting accordingly.”

For example, firearms sales in California jumped by a third from a year earlier -- from 99,396 to 132,599, according to the state Attorney General’s Office.

The Franklin Gun Shop outside Nashville, Tenn. sold more than 70 guns on Election Day, racking up the best sales day since the business opened. Also on Election Day, a Cheyenne, Wyoming, gun store set a one-day sales record – only to break that record the next day, according to a report by OneNewsNow.com.

Prior to Election Day, The New York Times reported a Pittsburgh-area merchant taking up to 30 calls daily for inquiries about buying assault rifles, a single-day record in Colorado for required background checks of gun buyers, and sales spiking as much as seven times in Houston gun stores.

So, has Barack Obama over the years said something or intimated anything by his record to cause this apparent panic?

Yes, in spades, maintains the National Rifle Association (NRA).

Read the entire story at www.newsmax.com.

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Dan Boren Has New Political Clout

By Jim Myers/Tulsa World In Washington ~ With only two terms in the U.S. House behind him, Oklahoma Democrat Dan Boren is making preparations to help the new Obama administration fill key federal positions across the state.

Traditionally, that important perk goes to a state's senior U.S. senator or a senator from the same party that controls the White House. As the only Democrat in Oklahoma's congressional delegation, Boren will get that opportunity by default.

Job-seekers are wasting no time. Boren said resumes began pouring into his office weeks before Democrat Barack Obama won the election Tuesday.

"I've actually already met with several people in person,'' he said. To help sort out applicants for posts such as U.S. attorney, marshal and agricultural slots and come up with recommendations for the new administration, Boren said he is forming a board.

"The final say will come from me, but their recommendations will weigh heavily on the decision that is made,'' he said.

With a few details such as the board's size still to be worked out, Boren said the names of its members will not be made public and that it will not meet with individual applicants.

"If you make the names public, then each individual applying for these different positions will then campaign individual members of the board,'' he said. "So, I think it best for my decision-making process that it does not get political and that it is based solely on the qualifications of the individuals applying for those positions.''

Under Senate procedures, nominations that require confirmation usually must have the support of a state's two senators to move forward. Failure to win their blessing can either kill a nomination outright or delay it so long the clock runs out.

When faced with an identical situation in the 1990s, the Clinton administration made it clear that it would not send up a nomination for an Oklahoma slot unless both of the state's senators had signed off on it.

Boren said he plans to work with the state's Republican senators, Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, to ensure that recommendations he gives the Obama administration will have their support.

"I will be in constant contact with both senators,'' he said. "I won't do anything and send someone up they don't sign off on. That would be a mistake.''

On judicial nominations — which sometimes can generate controversy because, unlike others, they are lifetime appointments — Boren again said he will look for those who can get through the confirmation process. No litmus test will be applied to judicial applicants, he said, adding that they should represent "Oklahoma values'' and not have any blemishes on their record.

Inhofe, who as the state's senior senator is losing the privilege of recommending appointees to the White House, predicted a smooth process under the new arrangement.

He described his working relationship with Boren as "very close.''

"I would prefer, actually, even though technically that is not the way it happens, that he do that,'' Inhofe said of Boren's new role. "I know him well enough that he and I would agree on these appointments pretty much.''

He then quickly added that either senator can stop any nomination. "I seriously doubt that could happen,'' Inhofe said.

Coburn declined to comment.

During the recent presidential election campaign, Boren said he would vote for Obama but withheld an official endorsement, citing the Illinois senator's "liberal'' record. He does not expect that to be a problem when working with the administration on appointments. "They recognize that I've got to represent my district and my people,'' Boren said. "Also, I have a vote to cast in Congress, and they are definitely going to need my vote over the next few years on the various issues. I don't think they would do anything to change that relationship.''

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Obama Redefines Meaning Of 'Change'

President-elect Barack Obama campaigned for "change," but if he follows through in naming those on his short list for top administration posts, it will be more of the same in Washington.

Obama has drafted a short list of cabinet candidates, with political heavyweights Caroline Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Colin Powell and John Kerry among the most notable names being eyed by his transition team, it's reported.

Illinois Democrat Rahm Emanuel has already accepted Obama's offer to be the next White House chief of staff.

The President-elect is strongly considering Robert F. Kennedy to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and is weighing Kennedy's cousin, Caroline, for the position of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations -- a move that would please Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy, Politico reported.

If Obama chooses to oust Robert Gates as Defense Secretary, Colin Powell has been short-listed as a candidate. Powell's endorsement of Obama fueled speculation that the former Secretary of State would be considered for a Cabinet position. But the New York Daily News and New York Post report that Obama could ask Gates to stay in the job.

John Kerry is considered the front-runner for the nation's top diplomat. The senator from Massachusetts selected Obama to be the keynote speaker at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, where Obama delivered the critically acclaimed speech that put him on the map.

Others considered for top jobs are Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell for Secretary of Energy and Chancellor of New York City's Department of Education Joel Klein.

Obama also is considering tapping high-level Clinton administration officials. His transition team consists of former one-time Clinton chief of staff John Podesta and Obama has staffed an advisory board overseeing the transition with former Clinton administration officials Carol Browner, William Daley and Federico Pena.

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