Oil tops $105 per barrel
Oil prices pushed above $105 per barrel Tuesday, as traders focused on a series of international crises that could tighten global supplies at a time when consumption is expected to increase.

Vicente Fox: Mexico at 'War,' Obama's Approach a Failure
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox says his nation is at "war" with drug cartels, and he offered sharp criticism of the Obama administration for failing to assist its beleaguered neighbor. Fox said President Barack Obama's administration has failed to grapple with the deteriorating situation in Mexico. “Obama is thoroughly mixed up with all these things he’s got," Fox said, adding: "He’s got to solve Libya. He’s got to solve Afghanistan. He’s everywhere. And this nation, I don’t know why it’s not showing the leadership and capacity to attend different issues at the same time.”

Leading Obamacare Rep wants Variance for District
Rep. Anthony Weiner said Wednesday he was looking into how a health law waiver might work for New York City. Weiner, who is likely to run for mayor of New York, said that because of the city’s special health care infrastructure, his office was looking into alternatives that might make more sense. Weiner is one of the health care law’s biggest supporters; during the debate leading up to reform, he was one of the last holdouts in Congress for the public option.

Gingrich: Obama’s Libya Policy ‘Indefensible’
Gingrich said there is no “Obama Doctrine” in dealing with Libya, but a “series of Obama excuses.” “First of all there is no international community that has any authority. So the idea that the president of the United States isn’t responsible to Congress and the American people, but is responsible to some vague organization – called the ‘international community’ – is profoundly wrong.” “Second: Gadhafi never had legitimacy, Gadhafi is a dictator – he’s been a dictator since 1969. This idea that dictators lose legitimacy … we ought to understand that dictators don’t have legitimacy – they may have power, but they don’t have legitimacy,” he continued. “Third: if humanitarian is the standard … then Sudan’s destruction in Darfur has to rank as one of the great disasters; there are several places in West Africa that are disasters.”

Judge orders use of Islamic law in Tampa
The question of what law applies in any Florida courtroom usually comes down to two choices: federal or state. But Hillsborough Circuit Judge Richard Nielsen is being attacked by conservative bloggers after he ruled in a lawsuit March 3 that, to resolve one crucial issue in the case, he will consult a different source. "This case," the judge wrote, "will proceed under Ecclesiastical Islamic Law." Nielsen said he will decide in a lawsuit against a local mosque, the Islamic Education Center of Tampa, whether the parties in the litigation properly followed the teachings of the Koran in obtaining an arbitration decision from an Islamic scholar.

Illegal’s wearing US Marine Uniforms and in Van w/ US Government Plates
Border Patrol agents have caught 13 illegal immigrants wearing U.S. Marine uniforms at a checkpoint near San Diego. The immigrants were in a van that was stopped along Interstate 8 on March 14. The van had a U.S. government license plate with an altered number, Border Patrol spokesman Michael Jimenez said.

Who’s in Charge? Libyan Coalition Falls Apart
Deep divisions between allied forces currently bombing Libya worsened today as the German military announced it was pulling forces out of NATO over continued disagreement on who will lead the campaign. The infighting comes as a heated meeting of NATO ambassadors yesterday failed to resolve whether the 28-nation alliance should run the operation to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone, diplomats said.

Judge places California's global warming program on hold
A San Francisco superior court judge has put California's sweeping plan to curb greenhouse gas pollution on hold, saying the state did not adequately evaluate alternatives to its cap-and-trade program. In a 35-page decision, Judge Ernest H. Goldsmith said the Air Resources Board had failed to consider public comments on the proposed measures before adopting the plan, which affects a broad swath of the state's economy.

The U.S. Government Should Not Manage Supply
As a consequence, the government’s role in rare earths supply should be sharply limited. Providing information in what is a quickly changing industry is appropriate. Funding for certain basic research may be. A military stockpile of some elements would be valuable if it is consistently reviewed and updated. A vibrant private sector should be permitted to explore federal land. But interference in commercial production in the form of any sort of subsidy is unnecessary and would probably cause outright harm.

Acton: It’s time to curb welfare growth
A commentary by Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg titled “Deficit Denial, American Style” which was published in Acton News & Commentary on March 9th appeared today in the Detroit News as “It’s time to curb welfare growth” and was also picked up by RealClearPolitics. Gregg provides an enlightening examination on the growth of the welfare system, and with our current budget problems, the need to also reform it.

Malkin: Drilling Ken Salazar
After two years of practicing unrepentant contempt for science, jobs, law and truth, why should Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's words mean anything anymore? While President Obama promotes offshore drilling overseas thousands of miles away in Brazil, Salazar now promises to revitalize America's oil and gas industry. It's like Jack "Dr. Death" Kevorkian promoting himself as a lifesaving CPR specialist.

Brown: I oppose defunding Planned Parenthood
US Senator Scott Brown opposes a House Republican plan to cut all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the womens’ health service provider, and today urged budget negotiators to reach a compromise. “I support family planning and health services for women,” Brown, a Bay State Republican, said in a statement. “Given our severe budget problems, I don’t believe any area of the budget is completely immune from cuts. However, the proposal to eliminate all funding for family planning goes too far. As we continue with our budget negotiations, I hope we can find a compromise that is reasonable and appropriate.”

SEIU official: destabilize banking system, overthrow capital
The Blaze and Business Insider bring us a rather remarkable speech from former SEIU executive Stephen Lerner from last weekend, describing how to make unions relevant again and bring back stability to the American economy. Apparently, Lerner comes from the “you have to break a few eggs to make an omelet” school of economics, because Lerner’s ideas of bringing stability seem to be taken from the ending of Fight Club.

Vegas Drug Prosecutor Arrested for Crack Purchase
A Clark County prosecutor assigned to some of Las Vegas' most high-profile drug cases was arrested Saturday after police say he bought crack cocaine from a street dealer. David Charles Schubert, 47, was arrested Saturday and booked on a possession of cocaine charge, according to jail records. The alleged drug dealer told police that Schubert, who he knew as "Joe," had bought $40 worth of crack cocaine from him two or three times a week for the past six or seven months. The dealer is not in custody. Police said they found cocaine in Schubert's car, along with a handgun and large amount of ammunition. Schubert, a chief deputy district attorney, recently prosecuted the Bruno Mars and Paris Hilton celebrity drug cases.

Bolivian & Russian Leaders: Stripped Obama of Nobel Prize
The Bolivian President and a Russian political leader have launched a campaign to revoke Obama's honor after the US attacked Libya. Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader and Vice-Chairman of the State Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky released a statement today calling for the Nobel Prize Committee to take back the honor bestowed on US President Barack Obama in 2009.

County defies state's ruling, taxes church $50,000
A small church in La Paz County, Ariz., is facing threat of foreclosure over a more than $50,000 tax bill the state has already said it doesn't have to pay, but the county is demanding anyway. "That would almost be a year's income for this church," says Mike Hobby, pastor of Church of the Isaiah 58 Project of Arizona. "We operate on just about that in a year."

Obama’s Gun Control Agenda
Get collared years ago on a bogus drug charge because the oregano in your back pocket looked like was a bag of weed? Or maybe a judge back in 2006 dropped those charges because you were able to provide proof for that Adderall prescription? Under proposed legislation, it will not matter if you were innocent all along or even proven innocent by a court of law. Either way, you can forget about buying a gun. The Fix Gun Checks Act of 2011 would greatly expand the definition of those legally prohibited from owning firearms to include anyone who’s ever been arrested — even if never convicted or found guilty — for drug possession within a five-year period.

Tea Party-favorite Cain preaches ‘common sense’
“Common sense isn’t regional,” former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and self-made businessman Herman Cain told The Daily Caller in a sit-down interview in TheDC’s downtown Washington office. “When I talk about common sense solutions with respect to what I would do about the economy in order to truly stimulate it, it resonates with people all over the country.”

Educational Spending Has a Simple Solution
As the new Republican majority in the House wrestles with ways to cut our unsustainable budget deficit, Barack Obama threw down the gauntlet. On March 14, he said, "We cannot cut education." But why not? If we are going to cut programs that are proven to have failed to achieve their goals, federal spending on education should be at the top of the list.

One-Legged Wrestler Wins NCAA Title
The Sun Devils wrestler was born without a right leg, and yet he still won the 125-lb. class Saturday at the Division I NCAA championships in Philadelphia. After clinching the title against Iowa sophomore Matt McDonough, Robles received a standing ovation. He finished 36-0 as a senior.

Score One for Religious Liberty in Italy
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italian public schools can continue to display crucifixes in classrooms, providing a final resolution to a case that had sparked concern about aggressive secularism on the continent. The decision, which cannot be appealed within the European system, concludes a five-year legal battle that began in 2006. The President of the Bishops' Conference of the European Community, Cardinal Peter Erdo, said, “To consider the presence of the crucifix in public space to be against human rights, would be to deny the very idea of Europe,” he observed. “Without the crucifix, the Europe we know today would not exist.”

Pornography Boom Headed for Your Home
Many parents thought at first that the “.xxx” designation would give them an easier way to block this material, they were shocked to find out that this expansion does not mean that pornographers would be taken out of their regular “.com” domains. So now they can lure your children with “playwithcarly.com” and “playwithcarly.xxx.”

Government Protects Employees Who Watch Porn on the Job
Employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might not be able to get away with murder, but they can get away with downloading and watching massive amounts of pornography while on the job. When word got out that they were doing this, none of the offenders were fired or even reported to or disciplined by their professional associations. Your tax dollars at work.

The Costs of Not Defending Marriage
Defending marriage is not only in the nation's cultural interest--it's in our economic interest. A few years ago, Georgia State University put together a cost analysis of marital breakdown. By their calculations, America spends $112 billion a year just from divorce and out-of-wedlock births. That's more than $1 trillion each decade! In other words, it would cost the country a lot more not to defend marriage than it would to invest in it now. What's more, if DOMA falls, the U.S. budget will become a free-for-all for domestic partner benefits and other perks that the law currently prevents. According to experts, the price tag--just for same-sex partner benefits--is roughly $670 million over the next ten years. Add that to the cost of family breakdown, and suddenly the legal fees don't seem that much. Liberals America can't afford to defend marriage--but in reality, we can't afford not to!

The Incoherence of Federal S*x Policy
The regulations that control Medicaid treatment of contraceptives illustrate that fundamental incoherence. Through Medicaid rules, the federal government has been implicitly imposing a morality of its own. Medicaid’s policies actively promoting contraception have empirical claims and moral arguments embedded within them. A nation cannot avoid legislating morality. The attempt to remain neutral is itself, not neutral. The federal government’s policies have eroded the social norms around sexual activity, marriage, and childbearing.

Celebs Petition Obama on 'Gay Marriage'
Some Hollywood icons have banded together under a campaign called "Say I Do" to request that President Barack Obama legalize same-sex "marriage" in the United States. The president has stated publicly that his views on same-sex marriage are "constantly evolving" and that it is an issue he is "wrestling with”. 31 states have voted on this and there is a 31-0 record for voting against it.

LGBT Acronym Changes to LGBTQI
In the beginning there was Male and Female. Soon there was homosexual. Hold on America, the flood gate is open! The Australian Human Rights Commission now recognizes a further list of “genders”. To date (by the time you read this, the AHRC's family of sexualities may have increased and multiplied) these are: transgender, trans, transsexual, intersex, androgynous, agender, cross dresser, drag king, drag queen, genderfluid, genderqueer, intergender, neutrois, pansexual, pan-gendered, third gender, third sex, sistergirl and brotherboy. So if we add these genders to the LGBTQ list we get 23 in all, not to mention the divisions within the transgendered group. For PR purposes, however, the “gendered" community now identifies itself as LGBTQI (the "I" stands for "intersex".)

Massacre of the Innocents
In Itamar, an Israeli settlement in the Samarian hills, terrorists infiltrated the home of Udi and Ruth Fogel and perpetrated a massacre of the innocents. As news of the massacre in Itamar spread, young men in Gaza distributed candy and pastries in celebration. The Al-Qassam Brigades, a branch of Hamas, argued that the murder of Israeli settlers was permitted by international law.

Ethiopia: 10,000 Christians Flee Homes After 69 Churches Burned Down
Muslim extremists have burned down 69 Protestant churches-- 46 of them Pentecostal-- in southwestern Ethiopia. The violence started in the town of Asendabo following reports that the Qur’an was being flushed down the toilet at one of the churches.

Airport Encounter with Archbishop Timothy Dolan
Because of the media attention of the sex abuse crisis, faithful priests are constantly attacked and vilified for the sins of a few. Archbishop Timothy Dolan handles a confrontational situation with grace at the airport. It has become a horrible mess for victims and their families, the Catholic people and to priests.

Morley Safer Interviews Archbishop Timothy Dolan
Morley Safer from CBS “60 Minutes” interviewed New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan. Morley calls the archbishop “right wing”. Archbishop Dolan, thoughtfully responds, “I would bristle at being termed “right-wing,” but if somebody means enthusiastically committed and grateful for the timeless heritage of the Church, and feeling that my best service is when I try to preserve that and pass that on in its fullness and beauty and radiance, I’m a conservative, no doubt.”

USDA Offers Free Food Backpack
Lawrence children who eat free meals through a summer food program soon will be able to take home pre-packaged lunches for the weekend, too. The Lawrence school district won approval for a Food Backpack Demonstration project, announced Monday by the USDA. Beginning in June, an estimated 550 youngsters age 18 and younger can take home reusable bags filled with enough milk, fruits, vegetables and entrees to feed them lunch each Saturday and Sunday until school’s back in session for the fall. USDA will pick up the tab: an estimated $100,000 for this summer, plus financing to continue the service again next summer, too.

Est C:12, 14-16, 23-25
Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish, had recourse to the LORD. She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids, from morning until evening, and said: “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you. Help me, who am alone and have no help but you, for I am taking my life in my hand. As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers that you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you. Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you, O LORD, my God. “And now, come to help me, an orphan.Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion and turn his heart to hatred for our enemy, so that he and those who are in league with him may perish. Save us from the hand of our enemies; turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness.”

Yesterday, American B-2 stealth bombers, F-16s, F-15s, and Harrier attack jets bombed both Libyan air and ground defenses including Colonel Muammar Qadhafi’s massive residential compound in Tripoli. “We judge these strikes to have been very effective in significantly degrading the regime’s air defense capability,” Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, director of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Sunday.

But the fact that these operations could be successfully undertaken by coalition forces was never in doubt. The problem is that these operations by themselves will not be decisive in either eliminating the regime or fully protecting civilians.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday that the U.S. expects to turn control of the Libya military mission over to a coalition (headed by the French? the British? or by NATO?) “in a matter of days.” What happens if Qadhafi is still in power by that time? The United Nations mandate authorizing these strikes is extremely broad, permitting anything but “occupying” Libya. The coalition has yet to state specific goals for the operation. What does protecting civilians mean?

Qadhafi’s next move will be to try and exploit the ambiguity the Obama Administration’s leadership failure has created. Within hours of the attack there were already signs that support from the Arab League was weakening. “What is happening in Libya differs from the aim of imposing a no-fly zone, and what we want is the protection of civilians and not the bombardment of more civilians,” said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. These fissures will only grow if Qadhafi retains power and operations become protracted.

A simple and quick decisive outcome in Libya is unlikely. If the U.S. wants to safeguard its interests in the region, it is going to need a long-term strategy. The U.S. must: 1) Identify, aid, and muster support for a legitimate opposition that is free of terrorist elements; 2) Support responsible efforts to isolate the regime in Tripoli; 3) Support humanitarian operations to safeguard the lives of innocents; and 4) Prevent the regime from reacquiring weapons of mass destruction technologies, supporting international terrorism, or establishing terrorist sanctuaries in the country.

Conditions could always change (e.g. Qadhafi could sponsor another terrorist attack on the U.S.), but the U.S. contribution must be limited to avoid mission creep. Otherwise, a once limited U.S. involvement could grow into something more costly like Somalia and Lebanon. Unlike Iraq and Afghanistan there simply are no vital American interests that would justify wider intervention.

Libya is just one country in a region going through world-historical transformation. The U.S. needs proactive long-term strategies that look ahead of events rather than trail them. Unfortunately we are getting the exact opposite from our Commander in Chief. President Obama is putting the U.S. military to work at the behest of the world rather than leading the world. Brit Hume accurately described this yesterday: “This is not leadership, this is followership.” In two major areas now the President has voted “present” in the last two weeks: on the budget, where he is AWOL, and on Libya, where he has purposely chosen to follow even as our troops do the heavy lifting.

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