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earth day 2014

Only 18 percent plan to celebrate Earth Day 2014, while the number of global warming skeptics has more than doubled since 2001.

While most Americans still consider Earth Day important, a traditional that was established in 1970, fewer adults plan to recognize the day this year than in previous years.

A new Rasmussen Reports survey found 39 percent of American adults say Earth Day has helped raise the environmental awareness, but 42 percent do not. After nearly 45 years, 19 percent of American adults are still not sure. They may be on to something, because only 18 say they plan to recognize Earth Day 2014.

We recently reported on a series of articles outlining the findings of the Gallup Environment poll conducted from March 6 – 9, which found that — even though Americans are well-aware of the unusually cold weather in 2014, just as they were aware of warmer weather in 2013 and 2012 — they do not attribute temperatures to climate change or global warming, or whichever term Democrats are using these days.

Now, a new survey from Gallup finds the trend line is moving away from the direction climate change believers would want to see, despite Americans being generally concerned about the environment. A whole 1 in 4 Americans — the “Cool Skeptics” — are not worried about global warming “much or at all,” a more than doubling of those dubbed “skeptics” or “flat-earthers” by the environmental lobby since 2001.

Further, the number of “Concerned Believers” has barely moved over the same period, and is now identical to the number first measured by Gallup in 2001. Despite efforts from the various climate change alarmists groups, such as the latest U.N. report conducted by the IPCC, which predicted apocalyptic scenarios, the movement isn’t gaining much traction.

“Over the same period of time, the ranks of Cool Skeptics have swelled, while the Mixed Middle — once the largest group — has declined modestly,” says Lydia Saad of Gallup.

These numbers should be alarming considering “skeptics” have not had the financial and educational resources to wage a PR campaign as the alarmist groups have had over the period. Only now have NGO organizations put together comprehensive rebuttals to the far better-funded intergovernmental organizations. A recent article by PeoplesPunditDaily.com compared the nongovernmental (NGO) and intergovernmental (IGO) climate change panel reports, which are at odds with one another regarding the existence and impact of climate change.

It would appear that “Concerned Believers” have a long way to go in the court of public opinion.

The Rasmussen survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on April 20-21, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Results for Gallup are based on telephone interviews conducted March 6-9, 2014, on with a random sample of 1,048 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

While most Americans still consider Earth Day

supreme court

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has upheld the Michigan affirmative action ban, or the process of using race as a factor in college admissions.

The high court justices handed down a 6-2 ruling Tuesday that says Michigan voters had every right to change their own state constitution to ban public colleges and universities from factoring race in their admissions process. The justices struck down a lower federal court ruling, stating the court was incorrect to strike down the will of the voters based upon the legal change being discriminatory.

Justice Anthony Kennedy said voters chose to eliminate racial preferences because they deemed them unwise, adding that nowhere in the Constitution or the legal precedent is the judge granted the authority to undermine the election results.

Only Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s appointee, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, arguably the single-most liberal justice on the court, dissented from the majority. Sotomayor read her dissent out loud in the courtroom Tuesday, a nontraditional display that has become customary in Obama’s Supreme Court.

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has upheld the

Existing home sales in the U.S. fell to their lowest level in more than 1-1/2 years in March, according to a Tuesday report from the National Association of Realtors.

The upside, analysts say, is that there were some indications that what has been a recent negative trend in the housing market may be showing signs of ending.

The National Association of Realtors said on Tuesday that existing home sales dipped down 0.2 percent to an annual rate of 4.59 million units, which was the lowest level since July 2012.

Even though the numbers were discouraging, the decline in resales was less than economists had forecast. Economists predicted a decrease to an annual 4.55-million rate.

Meanwhile, resales in the month of February was unrevised to 4.60 million units.

The numbers reflect those at the closing of contracts, with March’s sales reflecting contracts signed in January and February. Some economists continue to scapegoat winter weather, stating the country was in the grip of an unusually cold and snowy winter.

However, even if they factor the terrible weather, the housing market has been more than sluggish since last summer, when mortgage rates showed just how violatile the sector remains. Resales have been trending lower since last August, prior to the winter weather and actually ticked up momentarily in the month of December. Compared to March of last year, sales were off by 7.5 percent.

Higher-than-usual prices and a lack of properties sidelined many potential buyers.

Existing home sales in the U.S. fell

north korean nuclear tests

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un looks on as North Korean nuclear tests are performed. (Photo: AP)

South Korea’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday they “detected various types of activities at Punggye-ri,” raising concerns that more North Korean nuclear tests could be planned ahead of President Obama’s trip to the region. Punggye-ri is the test site in northeastern North Korea, and could be the location the regime plans to celebrate the Friday anniversary of the founding of the North Korean army.

The Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo reported that witnessed had alarmingly observed what they described as “a very brisk movement of vehicles and people in and around” the site. The paper said that it did not necessarily appear a nuclear test was imminent, but “I don’t think it’s physically impossible for the North, if it has the political will, to do it to coincide” with President Obama’s trip to Japan and South Korea scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

Since 2006, three North Korean nuclear tests were conducted underground at Punggye-ri. However, the time-frame is a bit misleading, because the most recent of these tests was carried out back in February 2013.

The tension on the Korean peninsula has been increasing as of late. In late MarchSouth Korean Marines returned artillery fire across a disputed sea border after North Korean shells from a live fire drill fell into the water South of the frontier. North Korea fired 500 rounds of artillery shells over more than a 3-hour period.

While most of the ordinance fell North of the boundary, nearly a fifth — or, about 100 of — fell south of the sea boundary, according to South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok.

In response, South Korea fired 300 shells into North Korean waters.

Meanwhile, on March 29, just a few days before the incident, a North Korea envoy told diplomats to “mind your own business” during a vote to punish the regime for crimes against humanity at a United Nations human rights meeting in Geneva. The vote took place in response to a U.N. report released back in February, which called for an international criminal investigation into human rights violations by the oppressive-leftist North Korean regime.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday they

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens

Retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens (Photo: AP)

In his new book, “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution,” retired Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens calls for restricting gun rights and free speech, as well as other changes to the Constitution he swore to defend.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that states could not be forced to participate in a federal background check system. Justice Stevens dissented from the court’s 5-4 ruling in Printz v. United States, so he would like Congress to change federal gun laws to force them to. His justification isn’t exactly what you might expect from a legal scholar.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he said that after the Newtown shootings in December 2012, he decided we should do “whatever we could to prevent such a thing from happening again.” Knee-jerk reactions from politicians are to be expected, but the law is founded in logic, not feeling. While it was tragic that twenty first-graders and six educators were killed that day, all of the data suggest his proposal would do nothing to ensure another tragic event doesn’t take place.

A study commission by Eric Holder’s Justice Department found that the 1994 gun ban did nothing to stop gun violence.

“Attributing the decline in gun murders and shootings to the AW-LCM ban is problematic, however, considering the crimes with LCMs appear to have been steady or rising since the ban,” says Christopher Koper, whose report on gun violence was included in the Report to the National Institute of Justice.

“I’d think the chance of changing the Second Amendment is pretty remote,” Stevens said. “The purpose is to cause further reflection over a period of time because it seems to me with ample time and ample reflection, people in the United States would come to the same conclusion that people in other countries have.”

Except, even if other countries’ laws actually worked, which they do not, comparing a confederation of states like the United States with individual nation-states like England or France, is a textbook apples to oranges comparison. Further, what Stevens is essentially stating is that he and the leaders of other countries abroad are wiser than our own Founding Fathers.

It is a wild proposal considering recent events and reports. A recent report from a government watchdog group found an extraordinary amount of federal agencies arming up, particularly agencies that Americans would never consider to need a police force. And all of these events occurred amid the Nevada ranch standoff, which if nothing else demonstrated the willingness of the federal government to call up police power and use force.

He also proposed limiting free speech by limiting the total contributions individuals can make to candidates for Congress, president, political parties and political action committees. The 2010 ruling in Citizens United, which Stevens again disagreed with, leveled the playing field between individuals and labor unions. 

“It’s about financing the election of representatives of other people,” Stevens said.”It’s about the influence of out-of-state voters on the election in your district. It sort of exposes a basic flaw in the recent cases.” Again, that’s exactly what labor unions had a monopoly on prior to the ruling, which was affirmed last month in McCutcheon v. FEC, albeit they and other pro-Democrat actors had backdoor methods for doing so.

John Paul Stevens was nominated to the Supreme Court in 1975 by Republican President Gerald Ford, the establishment candidate who nearly lost his own nomination to President Ronald Reagan. Ford lost reelection to Jimmy Carter. Nevertheless, there is little wonder the Supreme Court has seen its confidence ratings plummet.

In his new book, retired Supreme Court

2014 midterms

(Credit: Columbus Dispatch)

A new poll confirms what most pundits have been claiming all along, which is that ObamaCare will play big in the 2014 midterms this November. A new Fox News poll found that by a 53-39 percent margin, voters say they would back the anti-ObamaCare candidate, and all the enthusiasm is on the side of the Republicans.

Republicans, at 36 percent, are more likely than Democrats (25 percent) and independents (25 percent) to say they are “extremely” interested in the 2014 midterm elections. Independents are far more aligned with Republicans this year, with a whopping 25 percentage-point margin — 54-29 percent — saying they will vote against a candidate who supports the president’s signature health care law.

Speaking of which, a 51-percent majority believes that 20 years from now ObamaCare will be seen as “one of the worst” things Obama did as president, while just 37 percent say it will be seen as “one of the best things” Obama did. Nearly 1 in 5 Democrats side with 81 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of independents.

The number of voters who say ObamaCare will be the “single most important factor” has more than doubled since 2012, fueled by a doubling of Republicans who have refocused their attention to the government overhaul of health care.

Overall, voters say they disapprove of ObamaCare, with 39 percent approving and 56 percent disapproving. While recent Gallup and Rasmussen surveys found a slight uptick in approval, the new Fox News poll is in line with recent surveys from USA Today/Pew Research (37-50), Quinnipiac University (41-55) and Reason-Rupe/PSRAI (36-53). The current PPD average of polls finds just 41 percent approval to 53 disapproval, which includes a recent ABC/WaPo survey that resulted in a downgrade due to the pollster’s tendency to be an outlier.

Republicans led in the generic ballot with 44 percent to 41 percent for the Democratic candidate, though Democrats still lead on the PPD average by a .8-point margin (Update: Rasmussen weekly tracking released hours after this article was first published found Republicans ahead 41 percent to 40 percent).

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,012 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from April 13-15, 2014. The full poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

A new poll confirms what most pundits

syria chemical weapons

The White House said Monday there are “indications” that in the month of April chemical weapons were again used in Syria, but that it is unclear if the Assad regime was responsible. The Obama administration claims it is now investigating who was behind the attack, though French President Francois Hollande said France also had information the regime is still using chemical weapons.

Last year, Bashar Assad promised to ship chemical weapons out of his country following a sarin gas attack that President Obama said was a “red line.” However, after botching a push for an “extremely limited strike” on the Syrian regime, the president was rebuked by members of both parties in Congress. The president quickly walked-back the threats of military force even before the agreement was reached, which was brokered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The latest attack was allegedly carried out on April 11 in the rebel-controlled village of Kfar Zeita, casting doubt on the claim rebels could have potentially been responsible.

“We have indications of the use of a toxic industrial chemical — probably chlorine — in Syria this month in the opposition-dominated village of Kfar Zeita,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday.

“We’re examining allegations that the government was responsible. We take all allegations of the use of chemicals in combat use very seriously.”

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney echoed her statement shortly thereafter at the daily White House press conference, stating the event was “being investigated.”

Carney claimed after more information is known, the president and his administration will discuss “what reaction, if any” there would be from the international community, not what unilateral action the U.S. would take. He noted that under last year’s deal, 65 percent of Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles have been removed for destruction, and “that process continues.” But Syria, since the agreement was reached, has been negligent and late on several set deadlines. Following the president’s lack of resolve in Ukraine, Assad even seemed to be contemplating whether or not to allow U.N. convoys back in the country.

Yet, all Jay Carney said at the briefing was that the new allegations are “of concern.” Meanwhile, both sides in Syria’s civil war blamed each other for the attack in Kfar Zeita.

Rebel activists from Kfar Zeita posted videos that mirrored earlier images, hoping to excite a world outcry exceeding the pressure on the West from last year. The video showing pale-faced men, women and children gasping for breath at a field hospital, while exhibiting excretions symptomatic of a chemical weapons attack, notably sarin gas.

The Syrian National Coalition, who enjoys support from the West, said the poison gas attack injured dozens of people. However, they declined to mention the specific gas used in the attack.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group that relies on a network of on-the-ground volunteers, said the gas attack happened during air raids that left heavy smoke over the area. It reported that people suffered from suffocation and breathing problems after the attack.

Naturally, Syrian state-run media blamed members of the Al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front rebel group, claiming the gas used was chlorine and that it killed two people and injured more than 100 others. Despite its apparent certainty, the state-run media did not mention how exactly it managed to confirm chlorine gas was used in the attack.

Chlorine, as a gas, can be extremely deadly, as the German army demonstrated by their use of it in World War I. In the Geneva Protocol of 1925, which Syria signed prior to Assad yet is still bound by, supposedly eliminated its use in battle through international ban.

The White House said Monday there are

netflix

Netflix Inc. headquarters. (Photo: REUTERS)

Netflix, the biggest percentage gainer on the S&P 500 last year, revealed first-quarter profits of 83 cents per share, beating Wall Street’s estimates by three cents. Revenues of $1.27 billion just narrowly surpassed forecasts of $1.26 billion. Yet, shares of the video-streaming service still fell about 1 percent in extended trading.

Net income for the first quarter hit $53 million, an increase from $3 million a year earlier. The increase was fueled by an additional 2.25 million customers to its movie and TV streaming service in the United States.

Investors were awaiting on results from Netflix Inc. after the market closed. The online movie renter was recently a trading favorite, rocketing to a 300 percent increase last year. The stock, shaken by experts claiming it was overvalued, has been hurting for justification for its equity growth, causing a flat-line trend recently with other high-flying names. Analysts have been waiting to see whether or not the earnings report would justify what is largely believed to be a still-elevated price.

Netflix, the biggest percentage gainer on the

wall street stock markets

The U.S. stock markets rose modestly Monday, kicking off a week investors await a slew of earnings reports following a week of good old fashion bargain buying.

As traders picked up beaten down stocks from two weeks ago, the broad S&P 500 increased by 2.7 percent last week in what was its best performance since last summer. The move came as traders snatched up equities that were beaten down in the prior week.

As of 2:52 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 43.2 points, or 0.19%, to 16451, the S&P 500 rose 5.90 points, or 0.05 percent to 1870 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 21.90 points, or 0.41 percent to 4117.

More than 30 companies in the Nasdaq are scheduled to release earnings reports, while fewer than one-fifth of S&P 500 companies have already reported earnings. According to Thomson Reuters, 62 percent have beat Wall Street’s expectations, compared with the 66 percent average over the past four quarters. However, around 52 percent have exceeded revenue forecasts, which is closer to the 54 percent average over the past four quarters.

Traders were focusing on a report from Japan, that showed the trade deficit in the world’s third-biggest economy swelling to 1.7 trillion yen on a seasonally-adjusted basis, which was far more than the 1.4 trillion measurement economists forecasted. According to Japan-based investment bank Nomura, the deficits was driven by a larger-than-expected increase in imports along with a smaller-than-expected increase in exports.

Dozens of S&P components will report this week, including closely watched companies like Apple Inc, Biogen Idec and Facebook Inc . Also, a number of Dow components will be closely watched as they report, including McDonald’s Corp, AT&T Inc, as well as the two giants of industry, Procter & Gamble and Caterpillar Inc.

Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil fell 12 cents, or 0.12 percent to $104.17 a barrel, while Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline fell 0.39 percent, down to $3.04 a gallon. Gold ticked down $9.10, or 0.7 percent to $1,285 a troy ounce. 

The U.S. stock markets rose modestly Monday,

gao report

A new GAO report drops a bomb on President Obama and Kathleen Sebelius. (Photo: AP)

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was supposedly the only official to have solicited financial support for Enroll America, a nonprofit pro-ObamaCare PR group. That is, until now. A new GAO report says that even though HHS claimed they were “not aware” of any federal government officials outside the agency soliciting funds for Enroll America, a former White House advisor pushed at least one organization to give a “significant” contribution.

A representative from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation told the Government Accountability Office that they recalled “a discussion” in 2012 between one of their staffers and the “Deputy Assistant to the President for Health Policy,” who would have been Jeanne Lambrew. 

“The representative of RWJF, one of the two organizations that HHS contacted to solicit funds on behalf of Enroll America, told us about a discussion that occurred in 2012 between an RWJF staff member and the Deputy Assistant to the President for Health Policy,” the GAO said. “According to RWJF, this official estimated that Enroll America or other similar national enrollment organizations would likely need about $30 million to finance a national outreach effort.”

The White House originally said that no one outside of Kathleen Sebelius and HHS were involved in soliciting funds for Enroll America, but now have changed their tune. When contacted by the GAO to clear up the discrepancy, the administration stated that this official did not offer RWJF a specific estimate of the level of financial support needed for nation outreach efforts,” i.e. enrollment propaganda. However, the representative remembers the conversation differently.

“RWJF told us that the official also indicated a hope that RWJF would provide a significant financial contribution to support such efforts,” the GAO report stated.

The report was requested by congressional Republicans, who have been questioning whether the scope of these solicitations had been disclosed, or whether the White House got around congressional limits on spending for the health law, breaching ethical guidelines. The extent to which Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was involved was also discovered to be far more than previously disclosed by White House officials.

Sebelius contacted the CEOs of five large organizations to “solicit support” for Enroll America, one of which was the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, ending in one $3 million grant and one $10 million grant after the call. 

She also reportedly requested “non-financial support such as technical assistance” from Kaiser and Ascension Health, who gave money to Enroll America regardless of supposedly not being “nudged” to do so. This is particularly disturbing, considering Kaiser is often portrayed as a nonpartisan organization, who frequently provides data cited by experts to gauge the effectiveness of the law. 

 

HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius was supposedly the

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