'Mandatory Youth Service Bill Advances, States' Rebellion Pending, Space Storm

1) 'Mandatory youth service' bill advances: House version commissions panel to consider 'volunteer' requirement  Congress appears ready to pass an Obama administration plan that could create mandatory public service requirements for all American youth, fulfilling a campaign promise.  The bill, HR 1388: The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, otherwise known as the "GIVE Act," has already passed the House by a vote of 321-105.  On Tuesday, the Senate voted closure on the motion to proceed by a margin of 74-14 in a move that makes its ultimate passage likely.  The bill, promoted by the Obama administration as a means of encouraging America's youth to participate in voluntary community service, has received little scrutiny from Congress or the public.  Yet, a version of the bill in the House proposes to establish a Congressional Commission on Civil Service tasked with determining whether a mandatory service requirement for all young people in America could be developed and implemented, though it is not clear that provision will survive a conference committee. Moreover, an amendment to the bill introduced by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., one of the bill's 37 co-sponsors in the House, appears to severely restrict the First Amendment by prohibiting the youth participating in the program from attempting to influence legislation, organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts or strikes. See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=92902 2) States' Rebellion Pending Our Colonial ancestors petitioned and pleaded with King George III to get his boot off their necks. He ignored their pleas, and in 1776, they rightfully declared unilateral independence and went to war. Today it's the same story except Congress is the one usurping the rights of the people and the states, making King George's actions look mild in comparison. Our constitutional ignorance -- perhaps contempt, coupled with the fact that we've become a nation of wimps, sissies and supplicants -- has made us easy prey for Washington's tyrannical forces. But that might be changing a bit. There are rumblings of a long overdue re-emergence of Americans' characteristic spirit of rebellion. Eight state legislatures have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and 10th amendments to the U.S. Constitution… …The eight state legislatures that have enacted 10th Amendment resolutions deserve our praise, but their next step is to give them teeth. See: http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2009/03/25/states_rebellion_pending 3) Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe IT IS midnight on 22 September 2012 and the skies above Manhattan are filled with a flickering curtain of colourful light. Few New Yorkers have seen the aurora this far south but their fascination is short-lived. Within a few seconds, electric bulbs dim and flicker, then become unusually bright for a fleeting moment. Then all the lights in the state go out. Within 90 seconds, the entire eastern half of the US is without power. A year later and millions of Americans are dead and the nation's infrastructure lies in tatters. The World Bank declares America a developing nation. Europe, Scandinavia, China and Japan are also struggling to recover from the same fateful event - a violent storm, 150 million kilometres away on the surface of the sun. It sounds ridiculous. Surely the sun couldn't create so profound a disaster on Earth. Yet an extraordinary report funded by NASA and issued by the US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in January this year claims it could do just that. See: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127001.300-space-storm-alert-90-seconds-from-catastrophe.html?full=true 4) FNC's Morris Contends Obama Wants Bank Package to Fail It is one thing - as Rush Limbaugh has been vilified for - to say you have a desire for the president to fail, but what about accusing the president of wanting his own policies to fail? That's what Fox News Channel's Dick Morris said on the March 25 broadcast of "Your World with Neil Cavuto." According to Morris, those who are criticizing Obama for his spending, including Daniel Hannan, who represents South East England for the Conservative Party, made famous by a YouTube video eviscerating Keynesian politics, are missing the point. Obama wants to worsen the economic conditions to expand the powers of government according to Morris. See: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/03/26/fncs-morris-contends-obama-wants-bank-package-fail 5) GOP gloves off for budget brawl House Republicans have begun unveiling detailed alternatives to President Barack Obama’s policies — a concerted effort to push back against Democratic efforts to label them “the Party of No.”  On Wednesday, it was a housing plan. Thursday, it will be a big, TV-friendly stack of budget blueprints, “The Republican Road to Recovery.” That’s to match the president’s own platitudinous budget title, “A New Era of Responsibility.”  The House Republicans’ budget document, provided to POLITICO ahead of its release, makes sure no one can miss the point: Each chapter begins “The Republican Plan,” and each section is divided into “The President’s Budget” and “Republicans’ Solution.” House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the housing proposal that he rolled out with eight other House Republicans on Tuesday was “in response to the administration — and the president himself, who continues to say that Republicans don’t have any ideas.” See: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20509.html 6) Glenn Beck: 98% of Obama's budget through..except He has now spent more than even most critics including me could have possibly imagined. We have the largest deficits in our history by far locked in for the next 10 years and now this from ABC News: On a conference call with reporters, budget director Peter Orszag indicated that while 98% of the budget markups in the House and Senate are on par with the administration's budget blueprint, some campaign trail promises may get left on the cutting room floor like... wait for it, wait for it. Let me give you a second just to guess. 98% of the things that he wanted and he promised are in the budget. That means of every 50 things he wants, he's only not able to get one. What's that one thing? What's that one thing he really wants, he really, really cares about that he's not going to be able to get? Wait for it. Remember he wants it so very much. Give you a second to think. Time's up. Oh, what is free milk? No, sorry. While 98% of the budget markups quoting from ABC News in the House and Senate are on par with the administration's budget blueprint, some campaign trail promises may get left on the cutting room floor like middle class tax cuts. What?  See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/23229/ 7) Glenn Beck: Finland vs. Estonia: Freedom vs. Socialism I mean it. It's not like there's 50 years of evidence to look at and say socialism doesn't really work, I mean unless, unless you count let's say a recent interview with Mart Laar. He is the former president of Estonia. He made the following statement, quote: In 1939 it was hard to find two more similar countries as Finland and Estonia. They are very similar in language, culture and living standards. Our economies were more or less the same. Then in 1940 Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union and Finland successfully protected its independence.  So now what does it look like at the end of a 50-year period of communism in Estonia and relative freedom in Finland? There are over 5 million people in Finland, now less than 2 million in Estonia. The average female in Finland lived almost five years longer. The average male in Finland lived more than seven years longer. Astonia's infant mortality rate was four times that of Finland. Finland's GDP was almost nine times that of Estonia. GDP per capita was three times as high in Finland. And in Estonia there were only 25 telephones for every 100 people, less than half the amount in Finland. Personally I think these are all a coincidence. I mean, I don't see any patterns here at all. By the way, Estonia freed up their economy and now it is rated as the 12th most economically free country in the world. Since then they average 6% GDP growth per year. That average is higher than our growth rates during the dot-com boom. But you know what we should do? We should totally try socialism out. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? See: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/23185/