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NBC finally mentions safe schools czar

Thanks to Newsbusters, we now know that NBC has finally mentioned safe schools czar Kevin Jennings. The progressive news network ignored him when it surfaced that he advised a young student who had a sexual encounter with an older man in a bus station to use a condom. And when it was revealed that his group GLSEN was teaching young students sexual acts during special seminars. And when GLSEN posted a reading list that included gay pornographic material. But with the recent spate of bullying at a Massachusetts school that led to a student's suicide, NBC Nightly News finally found face time for Jennings.

ROSSEN: In Springfield, Massachusetts, a young boy hanged himself last year after being teased about his size. In Ohio, Jessie Logan hanged herself after a nude photo was spread around her school. Experts say warning signs are often there.

BARBARA COLOROSO: They hang up from their phone and they're sad or sullen, they get off the Internet and they look a little frightened, these are all clues that you and I as parents need to be clued in to.

ROSSEN: And education officials are worried, too, worried bullying is causing a drop in the graduation rate. Now the federal government is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a new anti-bullying campaign.

KEVIN JENNINGS (United States Department of Education): What keeps me up at night, and everyone in the US Department of Education, is the idea that out there there are children who'd rather die than go to school.

No comment was afforded to parents kept up at night from having their children taught "fisting" at one of Jennings' seminars. The report also promoted Jennings' $410 million anti-bullying campaigns without mentioning their real intent. The initiative is aimed at grading schools based on "climate" -- specifically how gay-friendly the schools are. Schools that fully incorporate LGBT themes into the curriculum would be rated as "inclusive" while schools that didn't would fail. All this is at the exclusion of Catholic schools, which are expressly forbidden from promoting gay lifestyles.

NBC is owned by General Electric. GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is an ardent Obama backer and sits on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve. His closeness to the administration has helped GE win lucrative health care and green energy contracts with the government. NBC's sister station, MSNBC, is a bastion of Obama adoration and regularly attacks the administration's critics.

Obama twists the knife in Toyota

The president won't cease in his relentless persecution of Toyota. Yesterday the government announced that they were fining the Japanese automaker $16.4 million, a new record that dwarfs any previous fines imposed by the Department of Transportation.

The proposed fine, announced Monday by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, is the most the government could levy for the sticking gas pedals that have led Toyota to recall millions of vehicles. There could be further penalties under continuing federal investigations. The Japanese automaker faces private lawsuits seeking many millions more.

Toyota Motor Corp. has recalled more than 6 million vehicles in the U.S., and more than 8 million worldwide, because of acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius hybrid.

Documents obtained from the automaker show that Toyota knew of the problem with the sticking gas pedals in late September but did not issue a recall until late January, LaHood said. The sticking pedals involved 2.3 million vehicles.

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For those reasons, LaHood said, the government is seeking a fine of $16.375 million, the maximum penalty possible. That dwarfs the previous record: In 2004, General Motors paid a $1 million fine for responding too slowly on a recall of nearly 600,000 vehicles over windshield wiper failure.

Meanwhile, Toyota is facing more than 200 lawsuits from alleged victims of sudden acceleration and their sales have plummeted. All this is to the advantage of GM and Chrysler, both government-owned car companies and competitors of Toyota. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has crusaded against Toyota for months now, a conflict of interest to say the least.

All the government-fueled outrage obscures the fact that this has happened before. In the 1980s, Audi spent five years recalling their Audi 5000 models after allegations of sudden acceleration surfaced. Audi faced lawsuits from more than 7,500 Audi owners and their sales plummeted. The media piled on: 60 Minutes went so far as to air an alleged demonstration of sudden acceleration in an Audi car, which was later discovered to have been staged. It took almost 20 years and a couple name changes of the Audi 5000 for sales to finally recover. All this was without a massive government fine and a showboating secretary of transportation.

Meanwhile, most people are perfectly content with their Toyota cars. The company remains the most popular and successful automaker in the world. Of the top five most popular car brands in the United States, two are Toyotas. Toyota also remains one of the last automakers in the United States without unionized workers.

The president's newest power player

At a recent speech in Peoria, Joe Biden said something very revealing.

During the annual Partners in Peace Celebration on Tuesday, Biden said [Transportation Secretary Ray] LaHood was Barack Obama's first choice for an appointment out of all the Cabinet positions he needed to fill.

"I remember my saying, 'Isn't he Republican?'" Biden said. "Which goes to show you, this is an all-Illinois team."

"He is the star of the Cabinet and he is the reason, he is the reason more than anyone else, why this Recovery Act is actually working, saving people's jobs, rebuilding infrastructure," Biden said. "He's a hands-on guy. There isn't anything, any detail, too small to attend to. And that's the way it gets done.

BIden has been known to exaggerate, but on this he's completely accurate. Ray LaHood's name seems everywhere lately. Most recently, he led the government's crusade against Toyota for allegedly dangerous defects and worked with the EPA to issue new greenhouse gas emission standards for cars. Prior to LaHood, the Department of Transportation was viewed as relatively unimportant, especially compared to the Pentagon or State Department. But this administration has made going green one of its top priorities, and that means getting people out of their cars. As LaHood forthrightly said of his collaboration with the EPA, "It is a way to coerce people out of their cars."

LaHood is a Republican, as Obama never tires of mentioning, but a very moderate one. A former congressman from Illinois, he refused to support George W. Bush's tax cuts and led a crusade against the death penalty. He also gained a reputation as one of the worst porkers and patronage men in Congress. The Club for Growth gave him a 0% rating for 2007 and Citizens Against Government Waste awarded him an 11% rating. Tellingly, LaHood was one of three congressional Republican candidates who didn't sign the Contract for America in 1994, one of the main designs of which was to curb excessive spending in government.

This wasteful fiscal liberal is now presiding over stimulus grants, which he's awarding largely to clean energy projects and bike paths. There's a reason the Amtrak-loving Biden praised LaHood so lavishly. LaHood's aim has been to promote and fund public transportation, particularly rail projects, at the expense of private car ownership. His campaign against Toyota led Rush Limbaugh to remark that LaHood was behaving like "one of the brand managers" for GM, which is now owned by the government.

Indeed, in a cabinet dominated by big names like Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner, LaHood has probably been the biggest showboater. He's also been one of the most dangerous radicals.

Obama caves to the Chinese

Last month, the Obama Administration diplomatically wounded Britain, insulted Israel, chided Canada, and furthered the contempt of France. But while the president is snubbing our allies, he's perfectly content to appease America's rivals and enemies.

Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter, reacting to news that the White House was delaying its report to Congress on whether China is manipulating its currency, told "Fox News Sunday" he's concerned the administration could be missing a chance to help U.S. workers get on a level playing field.

The report was originally scheduled for release by April 15, around the time Chinese President Hu Jintao is visiting Washington for nuclear talks.

"I'm not too happy about a delay," Specter said. "We have a real problem with the Chinese. They are very shrewd and customarily they outmaneuver us. They take our jobs. They take our money and then they lend it back to us and own a big part of America. So let's watch exactly ... what's happening."

Arlen Specter owes his entire political career as a Democrat to Obama and is one of the White House's most dependable allies. If he's making this criticism, then the game is up. Many are speculating that Obama's suck-up is in order to bring China onboard for sanctions against Iran. If that's true, it's the first serious effort Obama has made against the Iranians. Last year, the president almost immediately recognized Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as that nation's president, despite the sham election and the political violence that followed.

The delay is a remarkable turn-of-face from early last year, when the Obama Administration courageously called out the Chinese on currency manipulation. Tim Geithner unequivocally said during his confirmation hearing, "President Obama - backed by the conclusions of a broad range of economists - believes that China is manipulating its currency." Now the president may be willing to cover all that up rather than act unilaterally against Iran.

EPA moves against SUVs

Time for a little Good Friday statism from Obama's EPA. The agency has put into place the nation's first greenhouse gas regulation on automobiles and the results could be devastating.

The new rules, finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency and Transportation Department, require a fleet average of 35.5 miles a gallon by 2016 — up from an average 27.5 miles per gallon today.

Officials said the tougher tailpipe standards would save consumers money at the gas pump, reduce the nation's reliance on foreign oil and lower emissions of carbon dioxide and other climate-altering gases.

In Texas, by one estimate, the new rules will have the same effect on greenhouse gas emissions as removing 1.7 million of today's cars from the road.

The new rule will take effect into 2012, which gives automakers only two years to completely overhaul their lines of cars. Miles-per-gallon averages for automakers are largely dragged down by trucks and SUVs; a Ford Explorer gets only 13 mpg, for example. These also happen to be some of the most popular vehicles on the road today. According to AOL Autos, the bestselling car in the nation is the Ford F-150, a pickup that gets only 14 mpg. If automakers are forced to reduce the average mpg of their fleets of cars, they may have to simply produce fewer SUVs and trucks than are being demanded, which could lose them substantial business. This is a dangerous idea at a time when car sales are still languishing from the recession.

The EPA derives this power from a Supreme Court ruling giving them unilateral authority to enforce the Clean Air Act. This allows the EPA to get around Congress and even the president himself. But the Clean Air Act was designed to reduce smog, not greenhouse gases. Even Democrat Rep. John Dingell who authored the Clean Air Act has admitted, "This is not what was intended by Congress."

The EPA has already used its newfound authority to pass new nitrogen dioxide standards and force container ships trading with America to go green. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has indicated that more regulations are on the way.

Obama set on bankrupting states

How bad has it gotten for states in the current economy? Unlike the federal government, the state governments can't just print more money when they need it. They have to rely on infusions of cash from the feds or raise taxes.

Yes, it's gotten so bad that Maine is actually gearing up to tax clown and juggler performances.

Ominously, this is all pre-ObamaCare. No one is sure how much health care reform will cost state governments, but the estimates have gone up steadily. If the bill functions properly, 16 million new people will be pushed onto the Medicaid rolls, for which states will pick up part of the tab. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger believes ObamaCare will cost California an additional $3 to $4 trillion per year. The Golden State is already collapsing under a budget deficit of $6 trillion with no foreseeable way out.

Everyone knew this was coming. When Massachusetts enacted its own health care reform plan, which ObamaCare was modeled after, costs to the government skyrocketed (and so did premiums to the consumer). Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill has said that the program would have singlehandedly bankrupted the state if it weren't for federal funds bailing them out.

DOJ: Making fun of boys wearing makeup is illegal

The Civil Rights Division has struck again. This time the target was Mohawk Central School District in upstate New York. The CRD's involvement was needed because students had been mean to another of their fellow students who had made some interesting life choices.

On Jan. 14, 2010, in the Northern District of New York, the United States sought to join a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a student, J.L., who was the alleged victim of severe and pervasive student-on-student harassment based on sex. According to the United States’ motion, J.L. failed to conform to gender stereotypes in both behavior and appearance. He exhibited feminine mannerisms, dyed his hair, wore makeup and nail polish, and maintained predominantly female friendships. The United States alleged that the harassment against J.L. escalated from derogatory name-calling to physical threats and violence.

Of course bullying is always wrong, but it's also a natural consequence of grade school. Students are insulted and beat up on the playground for being fat, thin, geeky, snide, poor at sports, and everything in between. If J.L. chooses to be transgendered, it's illegal to discriminate against him as far as things like hiring go. But bullying at school is a much different story. J.L. was awarded $50,000 for the incident.

The Civil Rights Division's lawsuit technically has merit under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. But to use it to criminalize schoolyard bullying stretches the law in a very dangerous direction.

Obama's broken pledge over lobbying

Obama soared into office promising to reduce the impact of lobbyists in the government. Ironically, the president's own insistence on health care reform left that pledge in tatters.

Special interest spending on Capitol Hill broke records in 2009, topping $3.47 billion. And almost half of the president's recess appointments last weekend were tied to or work for so-called special interests.

Finance figures show those interests are giving huge sums to Democrats and Republicans alike -- but while the influence game is hardly the problem of one party, the legislative frenzy on Capitol Hill has only inflated it over the past year.

And those figures don't reflect free face-to-face time that lobbyists got with the president. During the health care debate, Obama spent untold hours with representatives from PHRMA, the pharmaceutical company lobbying group, hammering out a deal. The numbers also don't include people who aren't lobbyists but really should be. Andy Stern, president of the SEIU, is the most frequent guest at the White House, having visited 22 times in six months. Things got so bad that Americans for Tax Reform filed a complaint that Stern was lobbying the president illegally. The Secretary of the Senate later reprimanded Stern and requested that he follow the law.

And while both Democrats and Republicans play the lobbying game, they can't be equally implicated.

The biggest increase in spending last year -- 3,000 percent -- came from the food and beverage industry, which spent $18 million on lobbying and more on campaign donations to kill a national soda tax.

While each party likes to claim the other is in the pocket of special interests, both parties are guilty and, in many cases, corporations favor the party in power.

Sixty percent of Wall Street campaign money last year went to Democrats. Eighty-three percent of the food and beverage spending also went to Democrats.

Obama has spent a good part of his president bashing Wall Street for alleged greed and corruption. But he's more than happy to take their money and spend it on political campaigns where he bashes Wall Street for alleged greed and corruption.

EPA duped on Energy Star program

One of the EPA's signature programs is Energy Star, which awards tax breaks and other incentives to consumers who purchase low-energy appliances. You've probably seen the small, blue Energy Star label on everything from washing machines to light bulbs. Most recently, the EPA awarded $500,000 to two buildings in Hawaii that replaced more than 20,000 incandescent bulbs.

There's just one really serious problem: The entire program is fraudulent.

The Environmental Protection Agency certified that a “gas-powered clock radio” was an energy-efficient product under the government’s Energy Star program, despite the fact that neither the clock nor its manufacturer ever existed.

The clock and 14 other phony products were part of an investigation into the Energy Star program conducted by the Government Accountability Office, which submitted 20 fraudulent Energy Star applications from four fake companies. The EPA evaluated 16 of those products while the Department of Energy (DOE) evaluated four.

Fifteen of the phony products – including the gas-powered alarm clock – and all four of the fake companies were certified by EPA/DOE under the Energy Star program.

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One of the phony products, which GAO submitted as an energy-efficient air cleaner, was pictured on a phony Web site as nothing more than a space heater with a feather duster taped to it.

The EPA was so clueless on this one, it almost seems like the GAO was having a little fun. Let's see what absurd thing we can run past them next. The Energy Star program is a pet favorite of the president's, who awarded states $300 million in his stimulus for the purchase of Energy Star appliances. Obama also started a new program called Home Star, a $6 million initiative designed to make homes more green.

This isn't the first time Energy Star has been knocked by independent investigations. An Inspector General report released in 2008 determined that statements made by Energy Star about its effect on reducing greenhouse gases were grossly exaggerated. EPA chief Lisa Jackson has yet to comment on any of this.