With fuel prices at or near $4.00 per gallon, that comes as no surprise.

President Obama has stated that energy production is at an all time high and through his leadership we are on the path towards energy independence.  However, he has repeatedly stepped in the way of real progress and has made it more difficult for our energy producers to do their jobs.  Over the last few decades, Congress has continued to stop energy producers in their tracks, but the Obama administration may be the worst of them all.

The epitome of the administrations roadblocks have come recently as former EPA regional administrator Al Armedariz’s statement about how the agency wanted to “crucify” energy producers by enacting over the top regulations and tax increases.

The EPA would have singled out only energy producers by repealing the standard business deduction while leaving them intact for nearly all other sectors of the economy. This is just another example of the government picking the winners and losers instead of the free market prevailing.

Keeping up with the anti-energy theme, the administration has directed Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) to propose legislation that would come up for a vote in the next month or two that would strip tax incentives and other federal financial support from the oil and gas industry. Producers in these fields already pay an effective tax rate of over 40%. The average tax rate for an S&P manufacturer is 26.5%.  Penalizing one of the strongest job creation sectors in our economy today is NOT the correct way to bring our nation out of this economic nightmare.

It seems as though this administration has taken the approach of “if it works, stop doing it.”  They are more interested in giving 500 billion dollars to solar companies that go bankrupt. We should instead be investing that money into a sector of our economy that works.

What can we do to help?

Contact your Senators and Representatives today… (Thune and Noem in South Dakota) and tell them to vote no on the proposed tax increases on energy producers when it comes up for debate. 

Email Krist Noem HERE    Email John Thune HERE

Email YOUR Senator HERE

Email YOUR Representative HERE

***Gordon Howie is a nationally syndicated author, host of Liberty Today TV and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***

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Twelve reasons to vote Democrat.

1. I voted Democrat because I believe oil companies’ profits of 4% on a
gallon of gas are obscene, but the government taxing the same gallon of gas
at 15% isn’t.

2. I voted Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job
of spending the money I earn than I would.

3. I voted Democrat because Freedom of Speech is fine as long as nobody is
offended by it.

4. I voted Democrat because I’m way too irresponsible to own a gun, and I
know that my local police are all I need to protect me from murderers and
thieves.

5. I voted Democrat because I believe that people who can’t tell us if it
will rain on Friday can tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in
ten years if I don’t start driving a Prius.

6. I voted Democrat because I’m not concerned about millions of babies
being aborted so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.

7. I voted Democrat because I think illegal aliens have a right to free
health care, education, and Social Security benefits, and we should take
away the social security from those who paid into it.

8. I voted Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed
to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest
away to the government for redistribution as the Democrats see fit.

9. I voted Democrat because I believe liberal judges need to rewrite the
Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would never get
their agendas past the voters.

10. I voted Democrat because I think that it’s better to pay billions to
people who hate us for their oil, but not drill our own because it might
upset some endangered beetle, gopher or fish.

11. I voted Democrat because while we live in the greatest, most wonderful
country in the world, I was promised “HOPE AND CHANGE”.

12. I voted Democrat because my head is …… (at this point, I am excercising editorial priveledge.  You probably get the point!)

A special message for South Dakota voters!

***Gordon Howie is a nationally syndicated author, host of Liberty Today TV and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***

You can help us share this important message with others by clicking the DONATE button on this page. You can also help by SHARING this article with your facebook friends and email list!

      Advertising and come-ons are saturated with discounts for one protected class or another.  Seniors get automatic discounts at certain stores or events.   Someone else is forced to pay.  No choice in the matter.  A struggling family, perhaps with a breadwinner at the helm, might have to pay extra so that a well-heeled senior gets an unneeded boon.

     Same with military, educators, students, and others who surely aren’t making the big bucks like many business people, lawyers, and politicians.  Being in the military is about a period of service to the country and patriotism, not financial gain.  Education has its own rewards, but the pursuit of luxury isn’t included.

     Why kid ourselves.  The best things in life are free.  Lifestyles can be pared down using values-oriented personal finance approaches.  Advertising and consumerist spending are forced into our consciousness at every turn, but it’s our personal responsibility not to surrender or indulge.  If you get to a place that you’re financially hurting in life, it might well be your own fault.

     There used to be lots of people who were “too proud” to accept welfare even if they needed it.  Should we accept one “free” discount after another, only to let others pick up the monetary slack?

Or could the message be slightly different?  Senator Lugar may be the one who moved. 

After 35 years in the US Senate, Lugar was defeated in the Indiana Republican primary by a Tea Party-backed challenger.

The message might be that conservatives have had their fill of “moderates” and liberals, regardless of which party they belong to.  That message seems to be growing louder as the contests continue.

Back in the Reagan era, Lugar was considered a stalwart conservative.  Many of his constituents believed that as he rose in power to become the 3rd ranking Republican in the Senate, he moved away from some of those conservative credentials in the spirit of “bipartisanship”.

One example of his “bipartisanship” was his support of Obama’s Supreme Court appointees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Bipartisanship is a badly misused term.  Liberals use it to beat up on conservatives and make moderates sound like “team players”.  It would seem that Tea Party Patriots are viewing it instead, as a betrayal of conservative principles.

In Indiana, however you define it, the winning formula was strong conservative principles rather than a badge of “bipartisanship”.

We will soon see how this drama plays out in many other states.  South Dakota is one of them.  Republicans who have grown weary of moderates and liberals calling themselves Republican will be voting early next month in nearly 30 contested Republican primaries in State Legislative races.

If you are interested in knowing how YOUR candidate or legislator votes, or what positions they take on important issues, you should visit www.sdLibertyCaucus.com  Voting records and policy positions are available on many important races.

**Gordon Howie is a nationally syndicated author, host of Liberty Today TV and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***

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Representative Kristi Noem (R-SD) delivers the Weekly Republican Address on Mother’s Day.

In it she exposes the fact that President Obama talks a lot about job creation but has done nothing but obstruct it. While the President continues to choke businesses, the real job creators, with his obtrusive and onerous regulations, the Democratic-controlled US Senate has done nothing as well.

While the President campaigns for re-election, “evolves” his opinion on same-sex marriage and continues to attack our religious freedoms, two dozen US House-passed jobs bills languish in the Senate.

Let’s resolve to make this the last Mothers Day of Obama’s regime.

***Ed Randazzo, is a nationally syndicated author. He has been a conservative activist and consultant for over 30 years and is currently the Chief News Editor of Life and Liberty Media***

New Jersey and South Dakota are very different.

So are their Governors, when it comes to ObamaCare.

Governor Chris Christie just VETOED legislation that would have begun the march toward ObamaCare.

“I am concerned that a hastily created exchange in New Jersey will impose unnecessary obligations upon the state’s citizens,” Christie said in his veto message. “I believe the better course of action … is to continue to monitor the ever-changing landscape surrounding the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and to refrain from imposing its mandates upon our citizens until outstanding issues are settled.”

Governor Dennis Daugaard has taken a much different approach.

He has taken the lead to implement ObamaCare in South Dakota.  Beginning with two laws last year to make South Dakota one of only TWELVE states to embrace ObamaCare, Daugaard has already taken a cool million dollars from the Federal government to establish a “health care exchange”.

The health exchange is a key component of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.

We heard last week that the Daugaard administration has now made application for another $4-6 million dollars for FURTHER implementation.

SOoooo… Which direction would YOU choose for YOUR state?  Your Governor may have already made the choice for you!!  In South Dakota, you can see which Legislators agree with Governor Daugaard at www.sdLibertyCaucus.com

***Gordon Howie is a nationally syndicated author, host of Liberty Today TV and CEO of Life and Liberty Media***

You can help us share this important message with others by clicking the DONATE button on this page. You can also help by SHARING this article with your facebook friends and email list!

Did you ever notice that liberals are aghast when Christians quote the Bible but if a liberal can find a single verse, even a word, that supports one of their Statist programs, they will get all Biblical on you.

The latest comes from MSNBC’s Martin Bashir. Bashir has been on the wrong side of religion for a long time.

Some Republicans are taking their commitment to make budget cuts seriously. This means cutting bloated and unconstitutional programs. When a conservative politician talks about cuts, liberal religionists go into action. Instantly, the Bible becomes important. In his interview with Representative Joe Barton (R-TX), Bashir uses the Bible to support his claim that government programs are good for the poor. He sees a government directive in Psalm 146:

“How do you square your approach to the words of Psalm 146, where the Psalmist writes this: ‘He gives food to the hungry, the Lord protects the foreigners, He defends orphans and widows.’ this the exact opposite of the cuts that are being proposed by Republicans in Congress?”

Note #1 to Liberal Bashir: Psalm 146 says that it’s God who gives food to the hungry, not the State. Bashir would probably come back and argue that government is God’s agent to give food to the hungry. But there is no directive in Scripture to use the power of the State to accomplish the goal.

Note #2 to Liberal Bashir: In the same Psalm there is a warning:

“Do not trust in princes,

In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;

In that very day his thoughts perish.”

(Psalm 146:3–4)

The hungry have been trusting in princes for decades, and what has it gotten them? Many of them are warehoused in housing projects where there are high rates of violence, drug addiction, and illegitimacy. In an attempt to free them from hunger, the State has made them slaves who are only good for the next election.

Note #3 for Liberal Bashir: Don’t comment on things you know nothing about.

***Ed Randazzo, is a nationally syndicated author. He has been a conservative activist and consultant for over 30 years and is currently the Chief News Editor of Life and Liberty Media***

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     There’s no government handout in this approach.  You get back what you’ve already put in.  As with any savings account, once you’ve used up what you’ve put in, you’re cut off.  Should your local bank or credit union be forced to keep giving people funds once they’ve spent what they added?  Taking the money from other people’s accounts?

    Shouldn’t social security be limited to what you’ve contributed, and not a dime more?

      It’s easy to demagogue the plight of the poor soul who’s spent all his money, however profligately, and now must face the prospect of doing without.  Throughout history, these folks turned to their families for support, unless of course they thumbed their nose at them.  People without funds also turned to the church community they were part of, unless they decided to renounce religion.

       Real social security of the past was vested in the family and the church, and aged parents didn’t have to worry about being taken of.  You took care of them as children; now they’ll take care of you.  But many of today’s trendy, toy-loving, consumer-oriented moderns think that being “liberated” is more important than grounding their lives in their families.  Send the kids off as early as possible to head start daycare facilities, letting the state bring them up.  Then off to college with a federal loan.

    But they shouldn’t expect much help later in life when they need it then.  Perhaps being dumped in a no-frills old-folks “warehouse” is poetic justice, a form of unacknowledged payback.

    Today most people just look at the social security benefit amount in the same way that some ask “What’s my monthly payment” when buying a car.  No social context, no matter the long-term cost.

     According to a recent article “History Lesson on Your Social Security Card,” it was the Democratic Party in America that has been turning social security away from a retirement investment program into a full-blown welfare giveaway, but one that is increasing more like a Ponzi scheme.  Liberal fiscal managers in both parties can actually take credit.

Many people were very disappointed in what they saw.  Bob Ellis talks with me about this issue on a recent Liberty Today TV segment.