On the heals of a report that the United Nations climate report’s summary was changed just before it release for political reasons (most likely because poorer countries do not want to risk the potential money they will be receiving) comes this story about ex-Pentagon officials who stand to profit from global warming in the wake of the alarmist report recently released by the Pentagon:
Retired military officers deeply involved in the climate change movement — and some in companies positioned to profit from it — spearheaded an alarmist global warming report this month that calls on the Defense Department to ramp up spending on what it calls a man-made problem.
The report, which the Obama administration immediately hailed as a call to action, was issued not by a private advocacy group but by a Pentagon-financed think tank that trumpets “absolute objectivity.” The research was funded by a climate change group that is also one of the think tank’s main customers.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced earlier today that it was doing away with employee reviews because it is racist. Here is more:
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on Monday that it will now award all employees the highest rating regardless of performance reviews.
The CFPB, which oversees transactions in the financial sector for the federal government, decided to no longer conduct employee reviews because there were just too many apparent “significant disparities” between the races, ages, and locations of its employees.
According to American Banker, this new policy is set to cost over $5 million dollars, as it will now pay employees as if they received the highest evaluation score. The previous system ranked staff on their performance from a scale ranging from one to five, with five being the best score a CFPB staffer could receive after a review of their work on the job.
Memorial Day 2014
Today is Memorial Day; a day in which we honor those who have paid the ultimate price so that you and I may go about our daily lives as free men and women. So often I think that people take our freedom for granted and just assume that because we are free we will always remain free, forgetting what it actually takes to ensure that we remain free.
There is one reason and one reason alone that we are able to sit here day after day and discuss what is happening in our government and write about how we feel about what is happening and that is our right to free speech, and that is a right that many, many brave men and women have fought and have died for and we must not forget their sacrifice.There is not a single day that goes by that I do not think about the sacrifice that these people have made, but today is the day that we must all remember to step back and say thank you.
So while you are at your cookout with your families and your friends; while you are cooking on the grill, drinking a few beers, and laughing with the people that you most cherish, please take just a little time out to remember those that have died to make this day possible.
Let us also never forget those who are wearing the uniform today–and the families they have left at home–to sacrifice a part of their life so that we may live ours. All of those that have ever worn the uniform of the United States are heroes and we must never forget what they have done and what they are still doing.
With the calls for his resignation growing VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced the agency would allow veterans to be treated in private hospitals in an effort to ease the backlog.
More veterans are being allowed to obtain health care at private hospitals and clinics in an effort to improve their treatment following allegations of falsified records and delays in treatment.
In a statement issued Saturday, Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki also said VA facilities are enhancing capacity of their clinics so veterans can get care sooner. In cases where officials cannot expand capacity at VA centers, the Department of Veterans Affairs is “increasing the care we acquire in the community through non-VA care,” Shinseki said.
This is a much needed and welcome step in the right direction and I am glad some action is finally being taken to help our veterans who have done so much for us–it is the least we can do.
Open thread for Sunday, May 25th: She’s Lost Control
Here is the open thread for Sunday, May 25th; please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
As usual you can follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right. I often post links to articles I probably will not be writing about so it is a great way to keep up with what is going on in the world. You can also subscribe to receive email updates and if you do you will never miss a post again.
In case you have not noticed I have replaced the old Twitter widget with a new, fully interactive Twitter widget. This widget updates my tweets in near real time and allows you to respond to or retweet my tweets right from the blog. Is also allows you to tweet me right from America’s Watchtower. How cool is that! If you do not have a Twitter account what better reason do you need to sign up for one!?
Please check out what the New Federalist Party has been up to by clicking on the link to the right. On the NFP Facebook page you will find a link to the party platform. Check it out and if you like what you see we are currently looking for donations and delegates to the states for the convention.
This week’s musical selection is a song entitled ‘She’s Lost Control’ by ’80’s alternative rockers Joy Division. There is very little live footage of this band due to Ian Curtis’s untimely demise just as the band seemed poised to make a breakout in the United States.
The House passed, in a bipartisan vote of 390-33, the Veterans Affairs Accountability bill which would make it easier for people to be held accountable for their role in the scandal which is currently engulfing the agency, and has been for years.
This seemed like a no-brainer when it reached the Senate but Bernie Sanders blocked the bill claiming we needed more debate on the issue. Now he is defending this decision thusly:
“I happen to think that the bill that was passed in the House yesterday has many important provisions, which I happen to agree with, but as the senator from Florida knows, we have not held a hearing on this legislation. And some of us are old-fashioned enough to know that maybe folks in the Senate might want to know what is in the bill before we voted on it,” said Sanders on the Senate floor.
I happen to agree with the notion that Senators should know what is in a bill before they vote on the bill, however this is quite rich coming from Bernie Sanders.
The Veterans Affairs Accountability bill, which can be read here, is a mere three pages long. Nancy Pelosi once famously quipped that we had to pass Obamacare in order to find out what is in it and Bernie Sanders voted in favor of the legislation.
Are we really supposed to believe that Bernie Sanders knew what was in a bill which was thousands of pages long before he voted for it yet has not had the time to read a three page bill before it came up for a vote?
New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen’s hypocrisy on outside interests contributing to elections
As regular readers of America’s Watchtower already know, I am not a supporter of Scott Brown and I will not be voting for him in the primary nor will I be voting for him when he faces off against Senator Jeanne Shaheen in November. So this post is not intended as a defense of Scott Brown, but rather an attempt to point out the hypocrisy of my current Senator.
Senator Shaheen sent out a fund-raising email about Scott Brown in which she railed against the outside influences which are supporting Scott Brown. Here is more:
Afterburner with Bill Whittle: Eloi
Below is the latest Afterburner video by Bill Whittle entitled ‘Eloi.’ This one is about political correctness, shielding people from reality, and trigger warnings on books. I have to admit that I did not know where the name came from, but if you do not either do not worry because he will explain it brilliantly.
This one is, of course, a must watch!
I read about this story, which has gone relatively unreported by the media, at Bunkerville and Political Realities and it sickens me every time I think about it. I do not write that often about abortion but this story really bothers me and I cannot remain silent.
The New York legislature is debating a bill called the ‘Women’s Equality Act’ which would legalize late-term abortions, including the procedure of giving a lethal injection into the beating heart of an unborn baby which would be viable outside the womb. We can debate the issue of when the unborn is a baby and when it is simply an unwanted clump of tissue, as the left likes to call the unborn, but this goes well beyond that point in my opinion.
Here is more:
Michigan Democratic Representative John Conyers was ruled ineligible to have his name placed on the primary ballot by Michigan’s Secretary of State because he did not gather enough legal signatures.
At issue was signatures gathered by people who were not eligible to collect signatures under Michigan law so the names they collected were removed from the list leaving Representative Conyers with less than half of the required signatures.
But then a Federal judge intervened earlier today and declared John Conyers was eligible to be placed on the ballot because the signatures gathered by the people who were ineligible to gather the signatures should be counted anyway.
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