Freedom Line Blog

Last month, I wrote a piece exposing the shady dealings of sleazy environmental activist and billionaire Tom Steyer. If you haven’t been following Steyer’s shenanigans, he has poured millions into a media campaign and a PAC in hopes of preventing the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

While Steyer claims his efforts are rooted in his environmentalism, it turns out his opposition to Keystone are entirely economically motivated. As I pointed out, Steyer stands to make millions of dollars because of his investment in the TransMountain pipeline. Without Keystone in the way TransMountain would have a monopoly in transporting oil from Alberta to refineries and shipping terminals in the U.S. and Canada.

Politico released an article today outlining Steyer’s role in the recently concluded Virginia governor’s race between scandal-plagued Clinton crony Terry McAuliffe and Republican Ken Cuccinelli. Steyer poured $8 million of his personal fortune into McAuliffe’s campaign, perhaps making the difference in a race decided by just 3 percentage points.

Steyer’s campaign “investment” appears to be just another in his continuing effort to fill the top rungs of government in Washington and beyond with environmental loons and lawmakers who will offer tax breaks and other deals that benefit his investments.

In an interview with CFIF, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli discusses the role of the states to protect individual liberty and push back against an expansive federal government, and his new book, “The Last Line of Defense: The New Fight for American Liberty.”

Listen to the interview here.

Join CFIF Corporate Counsel and Senior Vice President Renee Giachino today from 4:00 p.m. CST to 6:00 p.m. CST (that’s 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST) on Northwest Florida’s 1330 AM WEBY, as she hosts her radio show, “Your Turn: Meeting Nonsense with Commonsense.”  Today’s guest lineup includes:

4:00 CST/5:00 pm EST:  Author and Humorist Melinda Rainey Thompson:  Pensacola Symphony Orchestra Guild’s Magnolias & White Linen luncheon and her four top-selling books, including “I’ve Had It Up To Here With Teenagers”;

4:30 CST/5:30 pm EST:  Congressman Steven Palazzo (R-MS):  H.J. Res. 28, Proposed Amendment to Constitution to Limit Power of Congress to Impose a Tax on a Failure to Purchase Goods or Services;

4:45 CST/5:45 pm EST:  Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli:  “The Last Line of Defense: The New Fight for American Liberty;”

5:00 CST/6:00 pm EST:  Michelle Minton, Fellow in Consumer Policy Studies at Competitive Enterprise Institute:  “The Wages of Sin Taxes” and Mayor Bloomberg’s ban on 2-liter sodas with your pizza; and

5:30 CST/6:30 pm EST:  Larry Reed, President of Foundation for Economic Education:  Freedom Academy Ft. Lauderdale, March 9, 2013.

Listen live on the Internet here.   Call in to share your comments or ask questions of today’s guests at (850) 623-1330.

At The American Spectator, I posted this report about what a sleepy election day this is in Virginia. One further thought: Virginia is being ignored in this election. No candidate visits. No national press spending money in the VA hinterlands. Thus, Virginia suffers from its absurdly high hurdles against candidate qualifying. Virginia and other states should learn a lesson from this: Rigging the game in favor of the establishment is counterproductive.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is absolutely right to vow to try to convince the VA legislature to change the law for the future. The hurdles against candidacy should not be so high, and perhaps write-in balloting ought to be allowed……

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that significant parts of ObamaCare are unconstitutional, including the mandate requiring individuals to purchase health care insurance.

As Politico.com is reporting it:

In a highly-anticipated suit brought by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, District Judge Henry E. Hudson ruled that the individual mandate to buy health insurance is unconstitutional as it “exceeds the constitutional boundaries of congressional power.”

Hudson stopped short of blocking the law’s implementation until a higher court acts, but said he expects the administration to honor his ruling.

“The final word will undoubtedly reside with a higher court,” Hudson wrote in his ruling. “In this Court’s view, the award of declaratory judgment is sufficient to stay the hand of the executive branch pending appellate review.”

In light of today’s ruling, the Obama Administration should immediately cease implementation of the unconstitutional individual mandate and all other provisions of ObamCare until the matter is fully resolved by the courts.  If the Administration refuses to act, Congress should act without delay to force the Administration’s hand.