The lights literally went out on an EPA Administrator….in the middle of a hearing on capping carbon dioxide emissions. Plus, a bombshell on Benghazi. And, Obamacare’s early warnings come true.
Those stories are below, but first- a major victory for a Montana Wounded Warrior over the VA.
The Great Falls Tribune: Psychologist barred from evaluating traumatic brain injuries
The Montana Board of Psychologists ruled this month that Robert Bateen was not qualified to provide a neuropsychological assessment of Charles Gatlin, a University of Montana graduate student, and that he failed to provide an adequate standard of care.
The implications of this ruling are enormous,” Gatlin’s wife, Ariana Del Negro, said Tuesday. “Not only does it establish a pathway for VA accountability, it also serves to protect the interests of veterans and their families going forward and provides just cause to re-examine the hundreds of other veterans who may have also been wronged by Bateen’s unlawful practice, including from years ago.
“Given that the board pointed to obvious shortcomings in the VA’s own procedures, I would hope that this ruling also serves as a catalyst for VA reform across the country,” Del Negro added.
CBS News: Inspector general “softened” report on VA deaths http://t.co/imafJAx2fg #mtsen #mtpol
— Shane (@realshanedaniel) September 17, 2014
PJmedia.com:EPA Official Explains Agency’s Plan to Curb Carbon Emissions…and Then This Happened (h/t The Drudge Report)
The EPA’s Janet McCabe was testifying in the House today on the agency’s plan to cap carbon emissions. And then the power went out.
The full video can be seen by clicking here.
Meanwhile, the whacktivists (whacked out activists) were out in their fossil-fuel built yoga pants at The University of Montana. (Apparently they don’t like all of the money that comes into education thanks to natural resource development)
The Missoulian: Students, faculty ask UM to divest from fossil fuels
Advocates for renewable energy gathered outside Main Hall at the University of Montana on Tuesday to call on school administrators to wipe the university’s endowment portfolio clean of fossil fuels.
Advocates suggested that roughly 8 percent of UM’s $150 million endowment portfolio is invested in fossil fuels. An exact figure from the University of Montana Foundation wasn’t immediately available on Tuesday.
ABC News: US Senator to Ask Congress to Suspend Coal Sales
A U.S. senator said Tuesday he will ask fellow lawmakers to halt coal sales on federal lands in the West after a senior Obama administration official declined to suspend the troubled government program.
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey said the Interior Department moved too slowly on promised reforms since the Democrat raised concerns earlier this year that “bargain-basement” lease sales to a handful of mining companies might have cost taxpayers $200 million or more.
More than 40 percent of U.S. coal production, or about 450 million tons a year, comes from public lands leased by the government to mining companies under the century-old Mineral Leasing Act. Those leases bring in more than $1 billion in annual revenue.
Apparently Sen. Markey wants to be solely responsible for putting families on American Indian reservations out of work…
The Wall Street Journal- Water Fight: House Republicans Take On EPA
If a ditch fills with rainwater – and nobody’s around to see it – can it still be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency?
That’s a question at the heart of a skirmish between EPA and House Republicans as the agency seeks to define which streams, wetlands, ditches, ponds and other water bodies fall under its jurisdiction. Once classified as a “water of the U.S.,” the water body comes under EPA control and is subject to permits and restrictions under the Clean Water Act. Landowners, including farmers and ranchers, fear they’ll be unable to conduct routine activities on their properties without first obtaining potentially costly permits.
The House on Tuesday voted to block the EPA from moving forward on a proposal the agency released in April with the Army Corps of Engineers. The proposal sought to define a “water of the U.S.” that is then subject to the Clean Water Act.
Sidney Herald: Sidney possible host to Congressional debates
MichelleMalkin.com: Former State Department diplomat alleges effort to scrub damaging Benghazi docs
Also remember that 80 percent of the Benghazi Accountability Review Board was hand-picked by Hillary Clinton, and they never interviewed her. Possibly because they knew what she was going to say and decided to save everybody some time (one of the upsides of choosing your friends to investigate your department).
The Daily Signal- Benghazi Bombshell: Clinton State Department Official Reveals Details of Alleged Document Review
As the House Select Committee on Benghazi prepares for its first hearing this week, a former State Department diplomat is coming forward with a startling allegation: Hillary Clinton confidants were part of an operation to “separate” damaging documents before they were turned over to the Accountability Review Board investigating security lapses surrounding the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.
According to former Deputy Assistant Secretary Raymond Maxwell, the after-hours session took place over a weekend in a basement operations-type center at State Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. This is the first time Maxwell has publicly come forward with the story.
From the WSJ’s Capital Journal:
TWEET OF THE DAY
@SenMikeLee: A month ago the president said arming Syrian rebels is a fantasy. Today I asked Sec. Hagel “what has changed?” ow.ly/Bzt4IHEALTHCARE.GOV FACES SECURITY RISKS: The federal health-care website has continuing security frailties that put users’ sensitive personal information at risk, a government watchdog is set to tell Congress this week. The Government Accountability Office released a report yesterday warning of weaknesses that remain. Officials from the agency in charge of the site said they have already acted on many of the report’s recommendations. Louise Radnofsky and Stephanie Armour report. The same report found that some insurers are not following the health law’s rules on abortions
The Heritage Foundation: 4 Years of Obamacare Early Warnings Come True
Four years after Congress passed the misnamed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, speculation on its effects is largely over. High-profile presidential promises notwithstanding, millions of Americans must now pay higher insurance premium costs and deductibles and deal with the cancellation or disruption of their existing coverage. They are also witnessing the exercise of enormous and arbitrary power by the Secretary of Health and Human Services in developing, applying, and waiving reams of rules and regulations. Heritage Foundation analysts and others repeatedly warned that the law is unaffordable, unworkable, and unfair and offered a series of sober predictions concerning its effects. In this Backgrounder, veteran Heritage health policy analyst Robert Moffit details nine predictions that have already come true.