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Can Trump Make Even the EPA Great Again?

By Dr Mark | March 11, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Show Summary: The Left has painted themselves blue with wode and are howling to Mother Earth to stop Trump from fixing the EPA. Find out why.

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Air Dates: March 11 & 12, 2017 | Myron Ebell & Dr. Tim Ball

About all you need to know about how terrified the Left is over what Donald Trump is going to do to the EPA can be summed up with the title of a recent article from The Hill: “Trump takes Hatchet to the EPA.”

Why the Left is so panicky is easy to explain: Trump threatens their money machine.

Stopping the EPA as the Left’s Slush Fund

News “broke” last week about the secret slush fund the Department of Justice had set up to fund Far Left, social justice groups like Black Lives Matter, La Raza, and others. We say “news ‘broke’ last week” because long-time listeners of I Spy know all about these kinds of slush funds—set up first under Bill Clinton and used extensively under Obama. (In case you don’t know about them, we discuss them with Myron Ebell.)

Many people have heard of sue and settle but it’s more than that. There is a whole host of funding mechanism where Progressives bleed off billions of dollars (yes, billions) from a bloated federal budget and give it to Far Left organizations. The EPA has been a major funding source for all things Far-Left (anti-industry) environmental, which will use these funds to elect Far Left politicians—who will then keep the tax-dollar spigot flowing.

But it’s not just money.

Stopping the EPA’s Job-Killing Regulations

We’ve said it before on I Spy: the difference between free-market health care and government-run health care is that in a free-market system, you’re a customer. But in government-run, socialized health care (i.e., Obamacare), you’re a liability.

In other words, you cost the govt money.

And because you cost the government money, they had a fiduciary duty — even the right — to tell you how to live your life. It’s why big-government politicians like Michael Bloomberg felt he had the right to tell people what size sodas they could have. It sounded trivial and micromanaging but overweight people cost the government more, because they’re typically less healthy and therefore more expensive. So in their minds it was their duty to force people to drink less sugary drinks. And they’re right. Because voters gave them that right when a duly-elected Democrat Congress passed Obamacare.

And here’s the rub: Healthcare is the Left’s means to control people. The Environment is how they control business and industry.

This Week’s Show: Dismantling the EPA

Tune in this week to I Spy Radio to hear Myron Ebell, the Director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the chair of the Cooler Heads Coalition, a coalition of over two dozen non-profit groups in this country and abroad that question global warming alarmism and oppose energy rationing policies.

We’ll talk with Myron about the massive changes coming at the EPA, budgetary cuts, what they mean to Leftist funding, and the incredible turnaround for CEI—compared to where they last year.

Nearly a year ago, Myron’s organization, CEI, was being sued by a group of attorneys general—under the direction of the Obama administration. CEI, along with Exxon-Mobil and other companies and non-profits, was being sued because they didn’t believe in the religion of Global Warming. This was a direct assault on free speech, and the Obama administration went so far as to use RICO laws, normally reserved for racketeering and the mafia.

Think of that. The Obama administration tried to use the power of the federal government to silence free speech.

We also talk with Dr. Tim Ball to get his thoughts on the Left’s funding streams, regulatory changes and their impact on industry and market forces, and the media as they attempt to derail President Trump’s “assault” on the EPA.

Speaking of, don’t miss why the media has always been a supporter of the powerful, going back all the way to the time of King George.

Links Mentioned

Trump Takes Hatchet to the Environmental Protection Agency (The Hill, Mar. 1, 2017)
Transition Chief Floats 50-Percent Cut to EPA (Lifezette, Feb. 14, 2017)
Senators should vote to repeal rules that would hurt western states (The Hill, Mar 1, 2017)
Coal mining begins seeing revival as Trump gives industry hope (Fox News, Mar. 1, 2017)
Trump Orders EPA to ‘Zero Out’ Global Warming Programs (Daily Caller, Mar. 2, 2017)
Meet Myron Ebell, the Climate Contrarian Leading Trump’s EPA Transition (OPB, Nov 14, 2016)
Trump transition team for Energy Department seeks names of employees involved in climate meetings (Washington Post, Dec. 9, 2016)
EPA Imperiled Under Ebell, But Agency May Survive Yet (Climate Central, Nov 23, 2016)

That time the EPA destroyed a river in Colorado because, you know, mining is bad

The Coming Trump Effect on the EPA

By Dr Mark | November 21, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

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Show Summary: You can expect big changes in the coming Trump administration — especially from the Obama administration and compared to what a Hillary administration might have looked like. But what will the Trump effect be on the EPA? From our vantage point, it’ll all be good. (Certainly, it can’t be any worse than what it is under Obama’s EPA!) We talk with one victim of Obama’s EPA — John Shively of the Pebble Mine — and our resident expert on the environmental movement and the EPA, Dr. Tim Ball.

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Air Dates: Nov. 19 & 20, 2016 | John Shivley & Dr. Tim Ball

In 2014 the White House, under President Obama, spent 22.2 billion dollars alone on climate change, helping to fund the very far left groups who support global warming and its affiliated organizations. Just think what that much funding means to those far left groups and how it enables them to fight things such as the Pebble Mine. It also means our own government endorsed and paid for lawsuits and other protests to stop economic development.

Listeners of I Spy will remember Pebble Mine was the mine near Bristol Bay in Alaska, an area that the environmentalists treasure. Pebble Mine has over $500 billion of gold and copper just waiting to be dug up. And it’s also the mine that the EPA preemptively moved to deny even before they’d applied for a permit.

In their ensuing lawsuit, Pebble Mine executives found that there was collusion between the EPA and environmental groups in clear violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act. This act mandates that the federal government is to get feedback on a project from all sides of the aisle. But the EPA was not getting information and feedback from all sides of the aisle; instead, they were colluding with the environmental left, manipulating public meeting laws and so much more. Pebble Mine executives were able to prove the collusion due to e-mails that had been passed back and forth between EPA staff and the environmental groups who were lining up by the dozens to get their share of the money to help stop the Pebble Mine work.

So we check in with John Shivley, Chairman of the Board of Pebble Partnership, to get updated on where the project stands and their more hopeful outlook given how the election turned out. We also discuss what changes he would like to see to happen at the EPA and what reforms would benefit this development as well as future developments.

Then we talk with Dr. Tim Ball, our go-to expert on climate change nonsense and who is also very familiar with the inner workings of the EPA. We’ll ask him what he foresees might be some changing roles of the EPA in a Trump administration. We look at some of the policies that need to be pulled out of the EPA and those that need to be added in to make the EPA a commonsense agency. Is it even possible? We’ll also get his take on new policies and operational changes that are needed to end some of the nonsense that is coming out of the current administration.

Just imagine the difference! After eight years of a far-left lawless Obama administration who did not follow their own rules but also never held government officials responsible (Lois Lerner still has faced any punishment), can we look for a Trump administration to do the opposite and finally hold officials accountable? Join us this week as we take a look down the road.

Links Mentioned & Related

Find out more about the Pebble Mine and its economic advantages by visiting their website, pebblepartnership.com
Remember how Lois Lerner “lost” her hard drive? Another agency tells Congress: File not found (EPA) It is now being reported that the EPA suddenly can not find e-mails about their decision to veto the Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, AK before any impact studies were completed
“Um, yeah, we totally had a hard drive crash too” (Human Events, June 25, 2014)
Pebble Mine supporters see a rare victory (CBS News, Mar. 21, 2014)
Pebble Mine debate in Alaska: EPA becomes target by planning for rare ‘veto’ (Washington Post, Feb. 15, 2015)
From Bad to Worse for the Pebble Mine: Latest Financial News From Its Canadian Owner (Huffington Post, June 9, 2016)
Battle-tested Pebble CEO earned his chops as Clinton Interior official (EE Pub., Jan. 16, 2015)

Opposition to the Pebble Mine

Earth To Pebble Mine: Stay Away From Bristol Bay World Conservation Congress Registers Overwhelming International Opposition to Mega-Mine That Threatens Bristol Bay’s Wild Salmon Fishery (Huffington Post)
Pebble Mine: Canadian Mining Company Threatens to Stick U.S. Taxpayers with Costs of “Potentially Catastrophic” Mining Scheme (Huffington Post, June 13, 2016)
Enviro campaign against Pebble mine reignited (Mining.com, Sept. 16, 2016)
World Unites Against Pebble Mine (NRDC, Sept. 6, 2016)
Pebble Mine still a threat to Bristol Bay (The Hill, April 16, 2015)
Alaska’s Pebble Mine: Fish Versus Gold (Environment 360, Sept. 8, 2008)
Lawmakers from both parties pile on in D.C. fight between Pebble and EPA (ADN, Mar 31, 2016)

Tim Ball

DHS Sued for Ignoring Environmental Effects of Mass Immigration (Breitbart, Nov. 16, 2016)
Permian’s Wolfcamp formation called biggest shale oil field in U.S. (Star Telegram, Nov. 15, 2016)
UN Armed Security Shuts Down Skeptics After Trump Event – SHREDDED UN Climate Treaty at Summit
Obama sets new record for rules and regulations in just one day (WA Examiner, Nov. 17, 2016)
The Paris climate accord is about to be signed. Here’s what happens next (LA Times, Apr 22, 2016)
Paris Climate Accord: Hope, Change — and Collapse (American Thinker, Feb 23, 2016)
Trump says will ‘cancel’ Paris climate change accord (Hindustan Times, May 27, 2016)

How to Destroy your Opposition—Legally | Klamath Dams & Clinton Cash

By Dr Mark | October 21, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

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Show Summary: Nothing is ever dead for the political Left (not even voters). They just keep at it and at it and at it like a plague of ants. One of our early success stories here on I Spy Radio Show was exposing what was happening in the Klamath Basin and environmentalists’ effort to pull out four perfectly fine hydroelectric dams, under the guise of “saving fish” when what was really going on was a mass effort to push farmers off their land by depriving them of water. At the heart of the matter was the environmentalists’ blueprint: how the Left uses federal agencies and the legal system to destroy opposition and to enact their agenda. Really, it’s not unlike how Hillary Clinton uses “non-profit” laws to make herself and her cronies rich behind the scenes, all while claiming she’s doing it all for “charity.” We talk with attorney Larry Kogan about new efforts to remove the dams without Congressional approval and with Brett Smith, the artist behind the Clinton Cash graphic novel, based on the book by the same name.

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Original Air Dates: Oct. 22nd & 23rd, 2016 | Larry Kogan & Brett Smith

When we were first cutting our teeth on the I Spy Radio Show, we were introduced to what was happening in the Klamath Basin and the effort to pull out four perfectly functioning hydroelectric dams but more importantly, it revealed how environmental activists worked. Such as, they used public meetings laws but it turned out their meetings were not at all public—at least not anyone’s normal definition of it. In fact, people who wanted to attend the “public meeting” had to sign non-disclosure agreements and agree to the end results of the meeting, before the meeting even happened. Talk about a rigged deal. After multiple shows on the matter, including a whistleblower on how they manipulated their “scientific claims,” the effort to remove the dams died in Congress, which should have been the end of it.

But now we find out that it’s actually very much alive and efforts are in the works with two new deals having been put into place, which again happened out of the public eye. Attorney Lawrence Kogan (koganlawgroup.com) walks us through the latest updates of how the environmental activists believe they have found the go around to take out the dams without bothering to get consent from a Congress that has already said no. And it’s not just Oregon that is being slammed with this new effort, because the activists are going to use the very same method being used in Oregon to take out dams in Washington and Idaho. Even worse: if Hillary gets into office and can weaponize any of these agencies for her open-border, globalist government, we haven’t seen anything yet.

Clinton Cash

Then we talk with Brett Smith, the illustrator/artist for the graphic novel, Clinton Cash based on the book by Peter Schweizer. Brett talks to us about how the right has missed opportunities to engage with youth and how the graphic novel version of Clinton Cash is designed to wake up the next generation to how the Clintons and politicians like them get around bothersome laws to enrich themselves, their donors, and their political operatives. Check out an excerpt via Breitbart: Clinton Cash: A Graphic Novel’ Ad Shows How Hillary Clinton Helped Transfer U.S. Uranium to Russia and see for yourself. Don’t miss our conversation with Brett and how this book is waking up the youth and that people like Brett refuse to surrender the culture war to the Left.

Because despite people like the Clintons, no one should be able to buy democracy.

Links Mentioned

Larry Kogan’s website: www.koganlawgroup.com
A terrific article by Larry Kogan in Canada Free Press about the situation and new developments in the Klamath Basin
And, in case you doubt, the Deptartment of Energy says the Klamath dams are to come out
On an encouraging note, “Trump met with a leader of the land transfer movement”
You can take a peek at Brett Smith’s Clinton Cash graphic novel at Amazon or anywhere books are sold
We mentioned the Clinton Cash Haiti scam. See what the former Haitian senate president thinks about the Clintons

Obama to Prosecute Global Warming Deniers? Plus a new movie: “Climate Hustle”

By Dr Mark | April 23, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

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Show Summary: An exciting new movie is coming out: Climate Hustle, which destroys many of the sacred myths of the Global Warming Alarmists, like the whole 97% catch phrase. Plus, it’s no fiction—the Obama Administration wants to prosecute Global Warming Deniers. Except our guest has the evidence to turn the tables on Obama and his Nazi-like thought police.

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Air Dates: Month 23 & 24, 2016 | Paul Driessen & Ron Arnold

It’s not really “news” that Obama and his administration hate dissent. If you don’t think in the right way be prepared for the Attorney General’s minions to be knocking on your door, ready to lock you up. Ever heard of RICO? That’s the legal tool that Obama’s attorney general is asking the FBI to consider using to prosecute scientists and corporations who are “deniers” of global warming, aka climate change. Astounding. Except one of our guests has the goods on the Alarmists.

Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that it’s America in the 21^st century and not 1930s Nazi Germany. Fortunately, we have some very brave patriots on the side of true science who are not going to stand for the treatment Obama’s administration is willing to dish.

Climate Hustle: the Movie

Our first guest, Paul Driessen, is part of CFACT.org that has been leading the effort against the global warming alarmists and they have a new movie coming out: Climate Hustle. They go after the false notion (yet so oft repeated in the press) that 97% of scientists believe there is climate warming and much, much more.

The movie is a national, one-day release on May 2^nd with many showings in Oregon (including Salem, Eugene, Portland and many other cities) and across the United States. Just go to http://www.climatehustlemovie.com to find theater locations and times. This is definitely a don’t-miss movie for all you global warming deniers out there!

Plus! We’ll be giving away some tickets, stay tuned for details — or send an email now to be sure to notified about the contest.

Obama to Unleash FBI on Global Warming Deniers?

Then our second guest, Ron Arnold, returns to I Spy Radio to give us the insights into the secret e-mails and documents he obtained that shows collusion by attorneys general offices, criminal manipulation by the State Department, and even the involvement of college professors who plan to “get” the global warming deniers.

Don’t miss this shocking interview with a behind-the-scenes peek at the Far-Left’s attempt to lock up people who refuse to buy into their agendas.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact Global Warming is a $1.5 trillion industry? Is that why Obama and his minions are trying so hard to silence the deniers? (See what a trillion looks like and check out this infographic.)

Links Mentioned

Climate Hustle will hit U.S. theaters on May 2, 2016! Check www.climatehustle.com for showings near you (see the “buy tickets” tab for state-by-state listings)
Paul Driessen’s organization is CFACT.org – producer of Climate Hustle and a fantastic organization leading the fight against the Global Warming Alarmists
The college professor, Jagadish Shukla – Lawmakers probe tax-payer funded academic who wants Obama to prosecute climate change deniers (Mooney, October 2015)
US Attorney General: We’ve discussed prosecuting climate change deniers (Breitbart, Mar ‘16)
Ron Arnold is the premier writer on the Green Movement, including his pioneering work on the hidden funding of the environmental movement (his book, Undue Influence launched a Congressional investigation). See Ron Arnold’s Page on Amazon for links to all his books
See undueinfluence.com and leftexposed.org to do some of your own investigating!

Climate Change – the Philosophical Basis for Modern-Day Democrats and Socialists

By Dr Mark | November 6, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: Nov 7th & 8th, 2015 | Dr. Tim Ball (Canada’s first Climatologist)

Call it global warming or climate change, it’s the ideological basis for modern-day democrats (and socialists). No skepticism. No debate. and lots (and lots!) of big government.

If you can better understand Global Warming (which is what Climate Change used to be called until the globe stopped warming), you will better understand the modern-day Democrat party. Global Warming (Climate Change) is to the political Left what Judeo-Christian beliefs are to the American system of Freedom and Liberty. All of the American founding principles find their origins in Judeo-Christian beliefs, such as “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” That leads to Freedom of Speech (if you want to speak, give your neighbor the same courtesy). It leads to Freedom of Religion (if you want to attend a church of your choice, then your neighbor deserves that same respect). And so on.

Likewise the notion of centralized control, of the sacrifice of individual rights to the collective, and the absolute hatred of dissent all stem from Climate Change (Global Warming) and are the fruit of Democrat policies. The modern-day Democrat/Socialist, not the common-sense Democrat of bygone years.

The map showing Global Warming (Climate Change) is to blame for everything.

But Global Warming (Climate Change) has been under increased skepticism. We talk with Dr Tim Ball, who was awarded Canada’s first degree in Climatology, about the political expression of Climate Change (Global Warming) in democrats and socialists.

Be sure to tune in to hear what Dr. Ball’s four decades of climate-study experience tells him about what the future holds for Global Warming (Climate Change).

Links Mentioned

Some headlines on Global Warming (Climate Change)

Bill Gates says that capitalism can not save us from Climate Change (Global Warming).
The Map. Daily Mail – (Nov 5 2015) Global Warming (Climate Change) caused FOURTEEN extreme weather events (including cooling, heating, drought, rain, ice melting, ice increases…)
Maybe Climate Change (Global Warming) created this: Record Siberian Snowfall; Worst Blizzard in a Decade.
UN Planning International Climate Justice Court
Russia’s Putin says Global Warming is ‘A Fraud’
Russian media taking climate cue from skeptical Putin (Oct 30, 2015)
Antarctica gaining ice says NASA. Is global warming over? (Nov 2015)
Top French meteorologist who questioned global warming fired (Nov 2, 2015)
NOAA Attempts to Hide the Pause in GW: Most Disgraceful Cover-up since Climategate (Oct 29, 2015)
Forbes: Updated NASA Data: Global Warming Not Causing Any Polar Ice Retreat (May 19, 2015)
Chicks on the Right Ted Cruz gets the Climate Change Cultist Mentality EXACTLY Right (Oct 30, 2015)
Trump: Pope is wrong on climate change (Sep 24, 2015)
Daily Mail – MIT Scientist: Global Warmers are a cult (Jan 29, 2015)
Express – Global Cooling: Decade long ice age predicted as sun hibernates (Nov 5, 2015). Model predicts sun activities will slow by 60% over the next decade. Note: it’s a model. Take it with a grain of salt.
An oldie but a goodie – UK Telegraph US Physics Prof: “Global Warming is the Greatest and Most Successful Pseudoscientific Fraud I have seen in my Long Life” (by James Delingpole, Oct 9 2010)

EPA Colluding with Environmentalists and Tribes

By Dr Mark | October 21, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: Oct 24 & 25, 2015 | Lawrence Kogan & Tom Collier (CEO of Pebble Partnership)

The EPA long ago lost its watchdog status and has turned rabid environmentalist. Now, clear evidence of the EPA colluding with environmentalists and tribes is beginning to emerge—ironically, in what the EPA had hoped to turn into one of its trophy cases: the Pebble Mine.

Show 5-43 will air the weekend of Oct 24th & 25th. Join us as we expose collusion between the EPA and “environmental” organizations, the tribes, and other players.

What’s important to understand in this fight against a government agency run-amok, is that they violated the rule of law and a basic tenet of American freedoms: due process. The EPA, by applying an obscure rule that it had never used before in its four-decades’ old existence and by trying to circumvent the permit process, it was denying Pebble Partnership its due process. Just as though it had arrested someone in suspected of a crime and put them in jail without any Miranda rights, no legal counsel, and so on.

Links Mentioned

Lawrence Kogan’s firm: the Kogan Law Group – tons of great info and articles on the assault by the Enviro-Left on our free market system
Tom Collier’s group – the Pebble Partnership.

This Week on I Spy Radio - Public Lands Transfer to States can mean jobs—real jobs

Devolution – Public Lands Transfer to States

By Dr Mark | September 11, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: September 12 & 13, 2015 | Jonathan Williams & Karla Jones

Devolution is defined as “the transfer or delegation of power to a lower level, especially by central government to local or regional administration.” When it comes to the transfer of public lands here in the U.S., this means the federal government giving control of federally held public lands to the states in which those lands reside. Why is this important? Jobs.

With more than 98 million Americans continuing to be out of the workforce, the jobs resulting from a public lands transfer to states means more than ever that the federal government honor their promise to relinquish control of the public lands held in trust. At one time, Illinois and Missouri both had more than 50% of their land controlled by the federal government when they entered statehood. Now, the federal government holds only 1% and 4%, respectively. So why do they maintain control of so much public lands states west of the Rockies—on average, more than 50% of these states? Why should Illinois get to have 99% of their land and Oregon gets less than 47% of its land?

94 million Americans out of work - the U.S. economy as of September 2015 has clearly fallen off a cliff. Time for a public lands transfer to states. — US Economy off a cliff. Time for a public lands transfer to states.

We’ve talked in the past with Ken Ivory and it’s seemed a little theoretical at times: what would it be like if the states got their lands back? Now we some direct evidence of what it would look like from our neighbor to the north: Canada.

We’ll start by talking with Jonathan Williams of ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) about the continuing record numbers of Americans not working and the state policies that consistently work to put people to work; policies that ALEC advocates. We’ll then talk about a federal policy that needs to happen: a public lands transfer to states. Karla Jones, also with ALEC, walks us through the process. We’ll examine the roadblocks and hurdles to making this happen, astonishing examples of federal mismanagement to private land management, and then look at how this has unfolded in Canada.

Sorry, environmentalists; it wasn’t the end of the world.

Links Mentioned

If you’re not visiting American Legislative Exchange Council on a regular basis, you’re missing out on a huge amount of incredible information — policies that your state ought to be implementing if they want to be successful. Don’t you want your state to be successful? Of course you do! Then visit alec.org.
Read ALEC’s State Lands report, which we discuss with Karla Jones. (You can download a copy for easier reading; see the Download PDF link on the right-side of the page.)
Heritage Foundation article, “1,000 people per day: Why Red States are Getting Richer and Blue States Poorer“

In the battle of urban vs rural, city dwellers are starving rural areas—at their own peril

Show 5-19 Urban vs Rural

By Dr Mark | May 5, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

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Air Dates: May 9 & 10, 2015

When it comes to land use and natural resources, it seems to be an unending battle for control between two combatants: urban vs rural. Often, this means that the Urbans (city dwellers) want or need the sanctimonious psychological safety of believing they’ve “protected” or “saved” the environment, which means blocking rural people (country dwellers) from accessing, using, harvesting or otherwise touching natural resources. In other words, they want the benefits of what the rural areas produces (food, wood, water, etc.) without actually harvesting any of it.

This is like wanting beef without touching cows.

Even worse, after blocking rural people from engaging in economic activities that they—the city dwellers—haven’t “sanction” they—the city dwellers—raise taxes and inflict other economic hardships.

If this sounds all too familiar, you probably live in a rural area. If you’ve never ever heard of this, you undoubtedly live in a city.

We talk with William Tucker about the “Detroit-ification” of rural areas and the incomparable harm city dwellers are inflicting on people who’ve chosen to living the country and provide city dwellers with all the benefits of life that the city dwellers just won’t get their hands dirty to do. And we talk with Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) about the perfect example of cities destroying rural areas—California.

Links Mentioned

American Media Institute – news the way it used to be. Reported and investigated, not packaged.
Article by William Tucker: “How high taxes and regulation are killing one of the most prosperous states in the nation.”
Rep. Tom McClintock represents the 4th Congressional District of California, which takes in both urban and rural areas. It runs east of Sacramento to the Nevada border, and then southeast, including mountainous regions and Yosemite National Park. (map)
Wall Street Journal article: “Where are the smelt” another article on California’s self-inflicted devastation.
Article – Gov Brown proposes $10,000 fines for water users

Battle for Public Lands

By Dr Mark | April 21, 2015 | Comments 3 comments

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Air Dates: Jan 10 & 11, 2015

The federal government holds title to 640 million of acres of land, mostly west of the Mississippi. In some states, this is more than 60% of all land within their borders. The battle as to who should own that land, whether the feds or states, has been going on since before the 1900s. Why does this matter? They represent trillions of dollars of economic activity.

This week on I Spy Radio, we talk with Rep. Ken Ivory (UT) about the continuing battle to force the federal government to honor their promise to transfer land to the states in which it belongs. We start by getting some clarification and history on exactly who legally owns the land: the feds or the states? We also discuss on-going battles in states like Utah—which threw down the gauntlet, demanding their land by Dec. 31, 2014—and Wyoming, which had 1 million acres unilaterally seized by Obama’s EPA. Find out what counties can do, why Canada is already transferring control of its land to its territories, and what strategies and tactics the new Republican-controlled Congress is likely to pursue.

Links mentioned

The American Lands Council – be sure to sign their petition to let lawmakers know this matters to you!
Great resource on the issue of the transfer of federal lands: American Lands Council FAQ’s.
Utah passed HB 148 in 2012, demanding the federal government transfer ownership of the land to Utah. Here’s a link to more info on HB 148 (via Constitutional Defense Council)
1 million acres seized from Wyoming by Obama’s EPA 1 million acres seized from Wyoming by Obama’s EPA & an update regarding lawsuit by WY against the EPA’s actions
Politifacts article: Napolitano: Unconstitutional for Fed to own land.

Related Links

The battle over federally held lands is an ongoing effort – Lawmakers from 9 states gather in Utah, discuss ways to take control fed land.
Why this matters: EPA wants to assert control over any land that gets wet.
An interesting timeline of land-use laws in Oregon.

Show 5-07 | Best of: Pebble Mine

By Dr Mark | April 20, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

Air Dates: Feb 14 & 15, 2015

It’s Valentine’s Day and nothing says “love” like a ring. A gold ring with a shiny pebble in it. But you can’t say “love” without getting all of that from a mine somewhere. So for you romantics, we’re running a best-of I Spy on the Pebble Mine and their fight against the EPA.