Insider Report
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Obama Curtails Drilling in Oil-Rich Alaskan Reserve
2. Egypt's President Supports Call to 'Destroy the Jews'
3. Single Women Becoming Democrats' 'Core Constituency'
4. Scott Rasmussen 'Kickstarts' Son's Musical Career
5. Report Urges New Bans on Firearms
6. TV News Losing Audience to Online Media
1. Obama Curtails Drilling in Oil-Rich Alaskan Reserve
The Obama administration, citing environmental concerns, has banned drilling on half of the vast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in a move decried even by Alaska's congressional delegation.
"The price of gasoline, which was $1.84 a gallon the day President Obama took office, has more than doubled since, willfully aided and abetted by an administration that claims we can't drill our way to energy independence as we ignore vast reserves of North American energy that dwarf OPEC's and we sit on 100 years' supply of petroleum," Investor's Business Daily (IBD) stated in an editorial.
The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA), not to be confused with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to the east, is a 23.5-million-acre, Indiana-sized tract on Alaska's North Slope. It was established by President Harding in 1923 to ensure oil supplies for the U.S. Navy.
The desolate NPRA has been described as the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the United States and includes a point 120 miles from the nearest village or usable road.
In 1976, the reserve was transferred to the Interior Department and Congress designated it as a strategic oil and natural gas stockpile to meet the "energy needs of the nation."
But in August, Obama's Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that new drilling would be allowed on half of the reserve while the other half will be off-limits to oil and gas exploration.
Environmentalists had lobbied to protect the habitat of caribou, eider ducks and other Arctic species.
"The move drew praise from environmentalists but sharp criticism from oil and gas proponents who said it would restrict the industry's ability to tap the nation's hydrocarbon resources," the Washington Post reported.
The off-limits portions of the reserve are "the most productive areas" of a tract that IBD says contains 2.7 billion barrels of oil and 114 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Alaska's congressional delegation — Sens. Mark Begich (a Democrat) and Lisa Murkowski, and Rep. Don Young — call the administration's action "the largest wholesale land withdrawal and blocking of access to an energy resource by the federal government in decades."
They also said the move "will significantly limit options for a pipeline" through the reserve to transport oil and gas.
Erik Milito, the American Petroleum Institute's group director of upstream and industry operations, said the plan "continues to leave domestic energy resources, jobs and government revenue off the table."
IBD concludes: "The move is typical Obama sleight of hand: Take credit for increased oil production on public lands that you had nothing to do with, lock up resources on federal lands with the exception of places the oil companies find unprofitable or unpromising, then blame them, not your administration, for driving up prices."
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2. Egypt's President Supports Call to 'Destroy the Jews'
A leading Jewish human rights group is once again calling on President Obama to sever ties with the Muslim Brotherhood after its former leader, new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, was seen answering "amen" to a call to "destroy the Jews."
Egyptian state television aired a video showing Morsi attending services in a mosque in the coastal city of Marsa Matruh on Friday, Oct. 19.
Morsi was shown in fervent prayer as a Muslim cleric declared, in remarks translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute: "Oh Allah, absolve us of our sins, strengthen us, and grant us victory over the infidels. Oh Allah, destroy the Jews and their supporters. Oh Allah, disperse them, rend them asunder. Oh Allah, demonstrate your might and greatness upon them."
Morsi could be seen on tape mouthing "amen" to these calls.
The word "amen," used by both Hebrew and Arabic speakers, is translated as "so be it."
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which monitors anti-Semitic acts around the world, issued a strong condemnation of Morsi after his mosque appearance, the Israel Hayom website reported.
"This is a slap in the face to America as Egypt's President Morsi pockets billions in U.S. aid and says amen to principles that are repugnant to all Americans," the Center said in a statement, quoting its dean Marvin Hier and associate dean Abraham Cooper.
They called on President Obama to condemn "the growing chorus of anti-Semitism in Egypt, led by the Muslim Brotherhood," and to sever ties with the group.
As the Insider Report disclosed last week, the Wiesenthal Center also urged Obama to sever ties with the Brotherhood after its "Supreme Guide" Mohammed Badie called for "holy war" against Israel and said Jews "have increased corruption on earth."
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also expressed outrage over President Morsi's action, The Times of Israel reported.
ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said: "The drumbeat of anti-Semitism in the 'new' Egypt is growing louder and reverberating further under President Morsi and we are increasingly concerned about the continuing expressions of hatred for Jews and Israel in Egyptian society.
"The United States and other governments with influence on the Egyptian leadership should publicly urge President Morsi to speak out against this disturbing manifestation of hatred toward Jews."
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3. Single Women Becoming Democrats' 'Core Constituency'
A huge political rift has developed over the last few decades between married and single Americans and people with children and those without them.
And except for African-Americans, there may be no constituency more loyal to President Obama and his party "than the growing ranks of childless and single voters," according to Joel Kotkin, executive editor of NewGeography.com.
He points to these figures:
Since 1960, the percentage of Americans over age 15 who are unmarried rose from 32 percent to 45 percent.
Since 1976, the percentage of women in the United States who did not have children by their 40s doubled to nearly 20 percent.
The number of adults who believe children are very important for a successful marriage dropped from 65 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2010, according to the Pew Research Center.
The number of households with children today is 38 million, about the same number as 10 years ago, although the total number of households has risen by nearly 10 million. There are now more houses with dogs than with children.
The "Single Nation," as Kotkin calls it, has lined up solidly behind Obama. Single women prefer Obama by nearly 20 percentage points, according to Gallup, while married voters prefer Mitt Romney by a similar margin.
"Unmarried women (along with ethnic minorities, the poor and the workers in the public bureaucracy) are rapidly becoming a core constituency of the Democratic Party, in a sense replacing the ethnic white working class," writes Kotkin, who is also a distinguished presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University and a contributing editor to the City Journal. His article first appeared in The Daily Beast, and his latest book is "The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050."
Democratic strategist Stanley Greenberg is urging the party to target singles, in particular single women, who he calls "the largest progressive voting bloc in the country."
But Kotkin adds that the Single Nation's influence on politics may not persist for more than a generation, because "after all they, by definition, will have no heirs," while "generally conservative family-oriented households often have two or more children."
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4. Scott Rasmussen 'Kickstarts' Son's Musical Career
Respected pollster Scott Rasmussen has taken a short break from his busy pre-election schedule to promote the musical career of his college-age son Philip.
"In the midst of a crazy season, I get the pleasure of taking a moment to be a proud father," Scott tells Newsmax.
Philip "PJ" Rasmussen, a jazz guitarist, was selected to be his college's representative at the 40th anniversary All-Star Jam at the New Jersey Jazz Society.
PJ has also received an enthusiastic response from executives at BMI and the Nashville Songwriters Association International who have heard his demo tapes.
But before they can present his music to potential producers, "BMI needs better recordings than I can make on my own," PJ says.
So he is seeking to raise $6,000 to cover recording time and other costs. And to do that, he is using an online service known as Kickstarter. It basically allows people to pre-order PJ's album or purchase other rewards in exchange for a contribution to help him meet his goal.
For example, a $10 contribution brings a download of the first two tracks from the debut album he will record, "Adventures in Flight," along with other rewards, and a pledge of $20 brings a download of the entire album two weeks before the official release.
A pledge of $500 wins a private solo show from PJ, five copies of the album, concert tickets and more.
His Kickstarter site is at http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1824766914/pj-rasmussen-debut-album-adventures-in-flight
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5. Report Urges New Bans on Firearms
President Obama has been largely silent about gun control during his first term, but many gun owners have expressed concerns that he would address the issue if he is re-elected and no longer constrained by re-election worries.
Gun control advocates who have also stayed relatively quiet during Obama's first term are already coming forward. The Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research has issued a new report whose recommendations include the regulation of gun designs and banning "problem drinkers" from owning firearms.
The Insider Report disclosed in April that Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference that Obama "intends to destroy the Second Amendment" during his second term.
LaPierre said: "All of our Second Amendment liberty, all of the rights we've worked so hard to defend, all of what we know is good and right about America — all of it could be lost if Barack Obama is re-elected."
And he asserted that Obama has not pursued an anti-gun agenda during his first term because of a "political calculation" aimed at NRA supporters and gun owners who might oppose him in his re-election bid.
In its report, the Johns Hopkins Center, an arm of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said "there are enormous economic costs associated with gun violence in the U.S.," claiming that firearm-related deaths and injuries resulted in medical and lost productivity expenses of about $32 billion in one recent year — as well as around 30,000 deaths and more than 335,000 injuries a year.
The Center's "Case for Gun Policy Reforms in America" argues that the Second Amendment doesn't prevent lawmakers from strengthening gun laws that are already on the books, CNS News noted in an article about the Center's report.
Among its recommendations:
- Increase the number of "high-risk individuals" who are prohibited from possessing guns by extending the ban on firearms ownership to people convicted of misdemeanors involving violence, people who committed felonies as juveniles, and alcoholics and problem drinkers.
- Raise the minimum age for buying a gun from 18 to 21.
- Regulate gun sales between private individuals who are not licensed gun dealers. The Brady Law requires prospective buyers to pass a background check only if they are purchasing the gun from a licensed firearms dealer.
- Boost regulation and oversight of gun sellers.
- Eliminate so-called "right-to-carry" laws, which allow individuals who are not legally barred from possessing firearms to carry concealed weapons in public either by making it easy to get a permit to do so or by not requiring permits at all. The laws "do not make us safer and likely increase aggravated assaults," the Center argues, rejecting research that shows just the opposite, CNS News observed.
- Regulate the design of guns. "Not all firearms are created equal," the report states. "Aside from ammunition capacity, other characteristics of firearms that are relevant to public safety include how easily the gun can be concealed, and how prone it is to misfire or fire unintentionally."
- Reintroduce the now-expired 1994 ban on assault weapons and large capacity magazines.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he does not favor "new pieces of legislation" on guns – "or making certain guns illegal."
President Obama has called for enforcing the laws already on the books and for reintroducing the ban on assault weapons.
Obama's strategy, according to the NRA's LaPierre, is to "get re-elected and, with no more elections to worry about, get busy dismantling and destroying our firearm freedom — erase the Second Amendment from the Bill of Rights and excise it from the U.S. Constitution."
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6. TV News Losing Audience to Online Media
It's no secret that readership of print newspapers has steadily declined over recent years due to the increasing popularity of online media.
Now TV news also appears to be falling victim to online and digital sources — particularly among the youngest generation of news consumers.
That's one of the key findings of the Pew Research Center's biennial news consumption survey, which has tracked patterns in news audiences for nearly two decades.
Pew asked survey respondents where they got their news the previous day. In 1991, 68 percent said they watched news on TV, but the percentage has now plummeted to 55 percent.
Among those ages 18 to 29, the percentage who watched news on TV the previous day dropped from 49 percent in 2006 to 34 percent today.
The percentage who read a newspaper dropped from 56 percent in 1991 to just 29 percent today, and radio news listenership has fallen from 54 percent in 1991 to 33 percent today.
But the percentage who said they got their news from online or digital sources has risen from 24 percent in 2004 to 39 percent today.
Local news broadcasting has been hit hard among younger viewers, with the number of 18-to-29-year-olds watching local news dropping from 42 percent in 2006 to 28 percent today.
And only 23 percent of respondents in that younger demographic said they regularly watch cable news broadcasts.
"Perhaps the most dramatic change in the news environment has been the rise of social networking sites," Pew observed.
"The percentage of Americans saying they saw news or news headlines on a social networking site the previous day has more than doubled from 9 percent in 2010 to 19 percent today."
Pew also found that 16 percent of respondents got their news the previous day via email.
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