NSA scandal separates liberty lovers from poseurs
By Steven Greenhut | Franklin Center
Most Americans who pay any attention to politics believe the nation’s great chasm is between “Red State” Republicans and “Blue State” Democrats. While the nation’s two major parties have their differences, the real divide is and always has been between those who reflexively trust the authorities and those who recognize [...]
Gov’t workers voted for Obama with their dollars
By Rob Nikolewski │ New Mexico Watchdog
A review of Federal Election Commission records by a law professor at Pepperdine University found that not only did lawyers at federal agencies contribute more to Barack Obama than Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election, but that every federal agency reported an overwhelming advantage to Obama.
Top NE Democrat’s mantra: ‘We don’t want to be Kansas’
Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog
Six simple words: “We don’t want to be Kansas,” are off and running as the Nebraska Democratic Party’s election year slogan for 2014.
During an exclusive on camera interview (see video below) with Nebraska Watchdog’s Joe Jordan, State Chairman Vince Powers put the anti-Kansas bumper sticker front and center.
All this as Democrats [...]
MN city proposes settlement in muni-network debacle
The city of Monticello has proposed buying out bondholders of the troubled municipal Fibernet broadband network for $5.75 million, plus an estimated $3 million in escrow funds, to settle an impending class action lawsuit, Watchdog Minnesota has learned.
Pension reforms ready to move, even as state plans underfund
It’s the last of Gov. Tom Corbett’s three major policy initiatives to get out of the starting blocks, but reforms to the state’s public pension systems will finally get a public hearing this week.
House can kill Obamacare insurance tax, but Senate stands in way
By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON – Proponents of a U.S. House bill that would repeal Obamacare have the numbers. But will it matter – again – in the end, with a Senate stifling any attempt to kill a tax one analysis predicts will add thousands of dollars in individual premiums over the next decade.
Madison mayor’s say-to-play politics demands deeper disclosure for city business
By Ryan Ekvall | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON — Your political papers, please.
If Madison Mayor Paul Soglin gets his wish, individuals and businesses soon will have to disclose their private political activity to do business with the city of Madison.
The Madison Common Council will take up Soglin’s ordinance Tuesday night, where it’s expected to pass.
Under the proposal, any business or [...]
KS congressman voices support for NSA spying initiatives
By Travis Perry │ Kansas Watchdog
OSAWATOMIE — Kansas Congressman Mike Pompeo, who readily admits his “deep distrust of government,” says the National Security Agency‘s big government spying operations are essential to keeping Americans safe.
“I know those programs have saved lives,” Pompeo said. “There are human beings in the United States that have not been blown to [...]
All of Obamacare could hang in balance
By Bre Payton | Watchdog.org, Virginia Bureau
ALEXANDRIA — All of the Affordable Care Act could hang on the outcome of an upcoming court case.
The court’s decision in Halbig v. Sebelius will determine the extent of the federal government’s authority to establish exchanges on behalf of states that have effectively opted out of Obamacare.
If the court sides [...]
A 401(k)-style plan for public workers makes sense, but it probably won’t happen
Expectations for this week’s special legislative session on pension reform is somewhere between low and nonexistent. Still, a group of Republicans are working to promote their plan.
SCOTUS says states can’t require proof of citizenship to register voters
ALEXANDRIA—The highest court in the land has ruled that states can’t require people to prove their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote.
U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled in a 7-2 decision on Monday morning that Arizona can’t enforce its voter-approved requirement that would-be voters document their status as citizens before using a registration form under the [...]
Video: Joe Biden used to think telephone snooping was a bad thing
Back in 2006, then-U.S. Joe Biden, D-Del., was an outspoken critic of the Bush administration’s use of phone records to track would-be terrorists (and find out how many times you called your mom last month). My, how things have changed.
Video: A liberal and a libertarian debate income inequality
When it comes to income inequality in the U.S., Nick Estes says “government is the only solution” while Paul Gessing says “it’s not inequality, it’s about poverty.” The two spoke with Watchdog.org’s Rob Nicolewski.
Video: PA’s governor and the Keystone state’s private liquor battle
With 17 days left until the state budget deadline, Gov. Tom Corbett is in the home stretch trying to clinch one of his top priorities — liquor privatization. But opponents aren’t letting that happen without a fight.
MORE VIDEOS
On Monday, June 10, 2013, Gov. Tom Corbett held a press conference to call for an expansion to the human services block grant program introduced in a pilot program for 20 counties last year. The program lets counties spend their human service dollars on whatever programs they see fit, as opposed to having line items [...]
Video: PA Gov wants smarter bloc grant spending
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairwoman and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and House Intelligence Committee, respectively, appeared together on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, to offer a bipartisan defense for the NSA’s unprecedented-and-questionably-legal-but-unquestionably-creepy secret collection of Americans’ phone records.
Video: Bipartisan spying support
Some Wisconsin lawmakers say the have concerns about the “unique relationship” created between a non-profit journalism center and the University of Wisconsin.
Video: WI lawmakers defend targeting U-W journalism center
WATCHBLOG
By Shelby Sebens | Northwest Watchdog
The Oregon Legislature is considering a proposal that urges Congress to amend the constitution to say that corporations do not have the same rights as people.
House Joint Memorial 6 tries to send a message that big money is taking over politics and that the U.S. Supreme Court was wrong in its Citizens [...]
OR lawmakers to Congress: Corporate political spending shouldn’t be free speech
By Shelby Sebens | Northwest Watchdog
Session isn’t over yet for the Oregon Legislature, but the partying has begun.
Last week lawmakers held their annual sine die party that featured parody videos made by their legislative staffers. It’s an annual tradition in Salem as the session nears its close. Lawmakers are on track to wrap up the [...]
Top 4 videos you won’t believe were made in the Oregon capitol
By Travis Perry │ Kansas Watchdog
OSAWATOMIE — Gov. Sam Brownback is attempting to land some high flying feats of negotiating prowess while promoting the Kansas aviation industry at the Paris Air Show this week.
What that specifically entails, however, has yet to be seen.
Starting today, Brownback and Commerce Secretary Pat George will lead a Kansas delegation on [...]
Brownback leads week-long excursion to Paris Air Show
By Calvin Thompson | Colorado Watchdog
Last weekend, I went to the Wyoming Sportsman’s Gun Show in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and for less than $20, myself and two friends were given access to one of the last truly free markets in the United States.
As CO prepares for tighter gun control, it’s open season in WY
ALEXANDRIA—The highest court in the land has ruled that states can’t require people to prove their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote.
U.S. Supreme Court justices ruled in a 7-2 decision on Monday morning that Arizona can’t enforce its voter-approved requirement that would-be voters document their status as citizens before using a registration form under the [...]
SCOTUS says states can’t require proof of citizenship to register voters
By M.D. Kittle | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON – Two Wisconsin congressmen from different sides of the aisle have won a major victory in their campaign to award a Civil War hero with the Congressional Medal of Honor.
An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act authored by U.S. Reps. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, and Jim Sensenbrenner, R- [...]
House approves WI reps’ measure to honor Civil War hero
SPECIAL REPORT
Terry McAuliffe, gubernatorial candidate and carmogul
- VA: As he runs for governor, McAuliffe wheels and deals electric cars in Mississippi
- VA: Media echo Watchdog exclusive on McAuliffe’s electric car maneuvers
- No news here: PolitFact brands Terry McAuliffe’s electric-car claim ‘false’
- Experts question source of McAuliffe car-company funding
- Terry McAuliffe on business ventures: ‘Some work, some don’t’
- How McAuliffe’s car company failed the Virginia test, landed in Mississippi
- Virginia official wants probe of McAuliffe company ‘visa-for-sale’ program
- McAuliffe car company sues Watchdog in libel claim
- Barack Obama’s GreenTech connection: Rick Wade
- Silence, secrecy, cops follow GreenTech’s China deal
- McAuliffe hones China’s crony-capitalism model in U.S.
- Promises keep Tunica County afloat
- McAuliffe company’s China hook-up: Will it work?
- McAuliffe car lags in Domino’s delivery
- McAuliffe car co. parent in off-shore tax shelter
- Lawmaker gives feds one more week for EB-5 answers
- Bolling: McAuliffe’s Mississippi package ‘attractive’
- Inside, execs knew McAuliffe plan had ‘substantial risk’
- Union darling McAuliffe and his non-union car company
- Did Clinton aid the birth of ‘McAuliffe’ car company?
- McAuliffe feels heat over GreenTech resignation
Section 7
From our Citizen Correspondents
FROM AROUND THE WEB
By Katy Grimes | Cal Watchdog
SACRAMENTO – The California Assembly and Senate Republicans should have registered their ‘no’ votes on the budget, and packed up and gone home to their districts on Friday, instead of allowing the process to be dragged out for another 24 hours.
The Democratic supermajority not only has enough votes to pass [...]
CA’s ‘mullet budget’: conservative in the front, liberal in the back
By Rick Brundrett | The Nerve
Jackie Fowler wonders out loud if she will be able to continue offering health insurance to her employees at her Columbia office furniture store known as The Office Place.
“It’s kind of wait and see,” said Fowler, who has been in business with her husband, Lee Fowler, for about 25 years. [...]
SC business owners uncertain about Obamacare’s effect
By Dan Greenberg | The Arkansas Project
My children will be adolescents in a few years; occasionally, when I recall the way I behaved towards my parents as a teenager, I react less in happy anticipation than in horror. Too often as a teenager, in an attempt to get my way, I said things to my [...]
Arkansas AG vs. FOIA: Regrettably, FOIA loses
By Mark Smith | Maryland Reporter
Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called Edward Joseph Snowden, who recently leaked classified information about the National Security Agency, “a legend in his own mind,” and said President Obama made “a big mistake” in saying he had informed Congress about the surveillance of phone records, [...]
MD congressman: Obama bungled phone surveillance controversy
By Steven Horwitz | Michigan Capitol Confidential
In a replay of a drama that has taken place countless times across North America, the opponents of Walmart have teamed up to prevent a new superstore from opening in Whitehall Township.
Back Off Walmart – Not Our Town is questioning whether another Walmart is needed given that there are several [...]
Why Whitehall Township, MI, residents should say yes to Walmart
By Rebecca Phillips | Freedom Foundation
It’s that time of year in Washington when things begin to emerge. Flowers bloom. The sun finally shrugs off its cloudy cloak. Students leave school for summer break, and people get out of their houses more often to enjoy the summertime splendor.
Meanwhile, there’s one group still stuck indoors: the Washington [...]
Second special session in WA: Repeating or ignoring the past?
By Sunshine State News
Gov. Rick Scott and Amazon announced Thursday Amazon’s proposal to create more than 3,000 full-time jobs with benefits and more than $300 million in investment in Florida by the end of 2016.
The Fortune 500 online-only company first will seek economic development incentives to find the best site and make its investment a [...]
Amazon bringing 3,000 jobs to Florida
By Maryland Reporter.com
A large and diverse crowd usually flocks to Del. Guy Guzzone’s annual pizza party, filling the streets of his quiet Columbia neighborhood. But Senate President-for-life Mike Miller hasn’t showed up before at the event that asks only for a voluntary contribution.
So when the Senate chief popped out of his trooper-driven Crown Vic Thursday [...]
Maryland delegate makes bid for state Senate
By Curt Olson | The Nerve
A Lexington County man who faced a fine of up to $10,000 after he was accused of selling $300 “pre-need” caskets without a state license had his case closed recently by the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs.
The department in a Jan. 14 letter threatened Swansea resident Mike White that [...]











