Stupid: Coach Cal criticizes Indiana Religious Freedom Law

UK Coach John Calipari needs to shut up and coach. He doesn't need this distraction and it could be divisive for UK fans.

Via CoachCal

Early today, the National Association of Basketball Coaches facilitated a conference call between the four coaches playing this week in the 2015 NCAA Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis to discuss concerns expressed regarding the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
On the call, the four coaches – John Calipari of the University of Kentucky, Tom Izzo of Michigan State University, Bo Ryan of the University of Wisconsin and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke University – were in unanimous support of the policies expressed by their institutions and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
The following is their statement.
“We are aware of the recent actions in Indiana and have made a point to talk about this sensitive and important issue among ourselves and with our teams. Each of us strongly supports the positions of the NCAA and our respective institutions on this matter – that discrimination of any kind should not be tolerated. As a part of America’s higher education system, college basketball plays an important role in diversity, equality, fairness and inclusion, and will continue to do so in the future.”

Interesting: In 1998, State Sen. Barack Obama voted for same version of Indiana Religious Freedom Reformation Act

Hypocrisy, thy name is Barack Obama.

Via Washington Times

“When you have a law like this one in Indiana that seems to legitimize discrimination, it’s important for everybody to stand up and speak out,” said Mr. Earnest on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Just before Mr. Earnest made his comments, however, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence defended the law in an interview on the same show, noting that the federal government and 19 other states previously passed a Religious Freedom Reformation Act, including Illinois.
After President Bill Clinton signed the federal Religious Freedom Reformation Act (RFRA) in 1993, “some 19 states followed that, and after last year’s Hobby Lobby case, Indiana properly brought the same version that then-state Sen. Barack Obama voted for in Illinois,” Mr. Pence said.
Indiana Senate Republicans made the same point in a Thursday press release: “The bipartisan respect for religious freedom has also carried over to the votes for most state-level RFRAs. For example, when President Obama was an Illinois State Senator in 1998, he voted for Illinois’ RFRA.”
Mr. Obama served as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004. The Illinois RFRA took effect in July 1998.

Don't look, but Indiana is now a border state...

Dumping...

Via NRO

Indiana governor Mike Pence said he first learned the federal government had placed 245 unaccompanied alien children in Indiana through media reports.
In a letter to President Obama, Pence wrote that the Department of Health and Human Services informed him that the federal government had housed hundreds of unaccompanied alien children in Indiana from January 1, 2014, to July 7, 2014, but only after reports surfaced in the media.
“While we feel deep compassion for these children, our country must secure its borders and provide for a legal and orderly immigration process,” Pence wrote. “Failure to expedite the return of unaccompanied children thwarts the rule of law and will only continue to send a distorted message that illegally crossing into America is without consequence.”
Pence said HHS would only provide him with updated monthly numbers of unaccompanied alien children living in the Hoosier State during the first week of each month. Pence called this unacceptable and noted that Indiana may be expected to be responsible for the illegal immigrant children’s education, health and welfare.
Keep on reading…

Indiana drops out of voluntary Common Core. Gets threatening letter from U.S. Department of Education

Liberals won't give up any control easily...

Via EAG News:

Indiana lawmakers recently voted to opt out of the “voluntary, state-led” Common Core public education experiment, and now they’re paying the price.

The Indiana Department of Education received a letter from federal officials last week threatening to revoke the state’s waiver from No Child Left Behind – reforms enacted under the Bush administration to improve public schools, Heritage.org reports.

In 2009, U.S. Department of Education officials offered states exemptions from the more stringent provisions of No Child Left Behind in exchange for adopting the Common Core national education standards. Officials in Indiana and numerous other states jumped at the opportunity to ditch the tough No Child Left Behind requirements and adopted Common Core instead.

Amid strong public backlash over Common Core, Indiana lawmakers recently scrapped the national standards and instead opted to devise their own college- and career-ready standards by July 1 for use next school year, according to Heritage.org. Keep on reading...

Green Fail: Indiana Duke Energy clean coal plant uses more energy than it produces

Well, this plant isn't very environmentally friendly...

The National Legal and Policy Center reported:

NLPC has detailed extensively the wastefulness and folly of spending billions of taxpayer and consumer dollars to subsidize wind energy, solar energy and electric vehicles, all in the name of fighting climate change.
But the complicated, uneconomical boondoggle that Duke Energy built inEdwardsport, Ind. so as to burn coal gasrather than coal – and thus produce less carbon dioxide than a traditional coal plant – may be the dumbest idea to fight imaginary global warming to date. If you swallow the alarmists’ premise and “solutions,” the plant so far is a joke, as recent evidence shows it is using more energy than it produces.
Edwardsport was supposed to cost $1.9 billion but that estimate was about $1.6 billion short. The project has hacked and wheezed since 2006 under evidence of cronyism, corruption, conflicts of interest, cost overruns, delays, waste, and mismanagement, but at least it became operational in June – for six days. Then it broke down, and intermittently juiced the grid for the remainder of 2013. Duke was only able to extract 37 percent of Edwardsport’s maximum capacity during the period,according to the Indianapolis Star. Hoosier State customers are paying up to 16 percent more for the privilege – a rate hike pretty much cemented into their bills last week by a state Court of Appeals decision.
Technology is supposed to improve over time, apparently except in the case of electric vehicle batteries and Southwest Indiana power plants. As the Indianapolis Business Journal reported, in an extremely cold January, the art-of-the-state coal gasifier eked out only four percent of its capacity.
“Edwardsport generated 19,644 megawatt hours of electricity,” theJournal reported, “enough to power about 20,000 homes, in one of the most frigid months on record, according to a Feb. 28 filing with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission. The new plant, at its maximum capacity, could have generated almost 460,000 megawatt hours in January.”

Change: Obamacare will cause 72 percent increase for Indiana individual plans in 2014...

If you like your insurance you can keep it if you can pay the sky high premium...

Insurance rates in Indiana will increase 72 percent for those with individual plans and 8 percent for small group plans under President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, according to the state’s insurance department.


The spike in costs is due primarily to new mandates under the law, which requires insurers to cover those with pre-existing conditions and to offer a minimum level of benefits, said Logan Harrison, chief deputy commissioner with the Indiana Department of Insurance under Republican Gov. Mike Pence. New taxes and fees under the law also contributed, Harrison said.[...]

Costs for individual plans is expected to increase from an average of $255 per member per month in 2012 to $570 in 2014, when the most aspects of the law go into effect, Harrison said.

Green Fail: $17 million in Stimulus money and a visit from President Obama creates 2 jobs in Elkhart, Indiana

President Obama visited in 2009 and made a nice speech. Taxpayers ponied up 17 million in stimulus tax credits to a Swedish electric car company a questionable track record. The result is a mostly empty warehouse and two jobs. Way to go President Obama.

Via CBS News:

As incentive, the federal government offered Think City $17 million in stimulus tax credits. 

Dorinda Heiden-Guss heads up the local economic development effort. "We were excited," she said. "We were invigorated at a very devastating time."

But it turns out the company had a checkered track record, including three previous bankruptcies. We recently visited Think City's Indiana plant, and here's what we found: a largely empty warehouse.

Everybody hoped that by this time there would be more than 400 workers inside a bustling plant. Instead, today, there are just two workers at Think City. Rodney and Josh are slowly finishing assembly on a few dozen 2011 models shipped in from Norway.

We were able to drive a Think City car around the empty space where investors once envisioned an assembly line churning out 20,000 vehicles a year.

Now in its fourth bankruptcy, Think Global has been bought by a Russian investor who didn't return our calls.

Sunday Video: Exploring America's Ghost Town -- Gary, Indiana

Is this the future of America under Democrats?

Indiana Union: Working alongside non-union personnel is slavery or something

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 has filed a lawsuit against Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels over right-to-work legislation. They compare it to slavery.

(Capitol Confidential) — An Indiana union suing Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels over right-to-work legislation is claiming that it violates the 13^th amendment — the law that outlaws slavery.

In the lawsuit, the union claims that the Indiana right-to-work bill “requires dues-paying union members to work alongside non-union personnel,” which the union contends is slavery.

Ed Maher, spokesman for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, didn’t return a message left on his office phone.

Patrick Wright, senior legal analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the union’s claim was ridiculous.

“The legal argument expands the definition of chutzpa,” Wright said. “Compulsory membership and coerced dues and fees are the hallmarks of the union movement, yet they claim that giving workers more choice is an act of enslavement.”

The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 filed its lawsuit Feb. 22 against Indiana’s governor, attorney general and labor commissioner.

Keep on reading…

Dirty Indiana Dems Busted For 2008 Election Fraud

A Google search reveals all the major networks except FOX are avoiding this story like the plague. I wonder what's up? Oh, they are Democrats...

Via FOX News:

"Felony charges related to election fraud have touched the 2008 race for the highest office in the land.

Prosecutors in South Bend, Ind., filed charges Monday against four St. Joseph County Democratic officials and deputies as part of a multiple-felony case involving the alleged forging of Democratic presidential primary petitions in the 2008 election, which put then-candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Indiana ballot.

The officials are accused of taking part in a scheme to fake signatures and names on the primary petitions needed to run for president. Court papers say the plan was hatched by local Democratic Party officials inside the local party headquarters."

Indiana Tells Obama Administration To Go Pound Sand

Indiana plans to defy a federal order to continue funding Planned Parenthood.

(National Journal) — Indiana officials said Thursday they will defy a federal order to continue funding Planned Parenthood and other clinics that offer abortion services.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a law in May that would cut off federal funding from Indiana clinics that perform abortions. The law is primarily aimed at the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics, which get federal family planning grants to administer services unrelated to abortion.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Donald Berwick said on Wednesday the federal government could not endorse the  law because it restricts access to a range of important family planning services. Federal money cannot be spent directly on abortion services anyway, but most clinics that offer abortion also offer other family planning and health services, from breast cancer screening to birth control advice.

Indiana says it will implement the amendment despite Berwick’s warning.

Indiana House Democrats Flee State to Avoid The Duty

 
This would be funny, if it weren't so sad. Indiana House Democrats have now fled the state to avoid voting on a "Right to Work" bill.

(Indianapolis Star) — House Democrats are leaving the state rather than vote on anti-union legislation, The Indianapolis Star has learned.

A source said Democrats are headed to Illinois, though it was possible some also might go to Kentucky. They need to go to a state with a Democratic governor to avoid being taken into police custody and returned to Indiana.