UN meeting in Qatar to discuss new global limit on economic activity

United Nations bureaucrats are meeting in Doha, Qatar this week for a new global summit seeking to impose global taxes and caps on carbon dioxide emitted through economic activity.

The Obama administration has kicked off the event by promising aggressive new actions to limit economic activity in the United States.

The Guardian reports Obama representative to the conference Jonathan Pershing tells delegates "the Obama administration has taken a series of steps, including sharply increasing fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, and made good on promises of climate financing for poor countries."

The UN has taken past actions to limit carbon dioxide and curb economic activity, but none of these have affected global climate.

Rather than accept the scientific proof human activity is not altering the global climate, UN bureaucrats are using their failure to instead suggest they don't have enough power and are now pushing even more draconian restrictions on economic activity.

Supreme Court orders Fourth Circuit to hear challenge to ObamaCare

A key, and controversial, component of ObamaCare could soon be ruled upon by the Supreme Court.
The United States Supreme Court this morning ordered the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to hear a lawsuit brought by Liberty University challenging the constitutionality of ObamaCare's mandate forcing employers to finance their employees' birth control.

Liberty claims that mandate violates their constitutionally-guaranteeed right of free exercise of religion by forcing them to finance activities that conflict with their faith.  I agree.

When the Supreme Court last year ruled (incorrectly I believe) that ObamaCare's requirement all Americans buy health insurance or face a fine was constitutional under Congress' power to levy taxes, the court did not rule on whether the "contraception mandate" violated First Amendment protections of religious exercise.

Liberty's original case was dismissed by the Supreme Court when the Court ruled ObamaCare's insurance mandate was constitutional.  Liberty appealed to the Court to hear the case, citing the fact the employer and contraception mandates had not been ruled upon.  The Court agreed and this morning order the Fourth Circuit, based in Richmond, to hear the case.

The Fourth Circuit could hear the case next spring.  It has a reputation for ruling quickly, issuing a ruling in appeals cases in an average of just seven months.

Obama admin suggests stamping out alcohol consumption through 'calorie taxes'

The Taliban deemed alcohol a threat to public health.

As more cities and states seek to expand their control over what citizens eat and drink through 'soda taxes,' the federal government issued a study last week suggesting people who drink alcohol be subjected to the same controls.

The government study, conducted over four years through interviews with more than 11,000 American adults, claims that while soda and other sugary drinks are responsible for six percent of the average adult's calorie consumption, alcoholic beverages account for a nearly identical five percent.

"We've been focusing on sugar-sweetened beverages. This is something new,’" said Cynthia Ogden, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a study author, tells the Associated Press.

The "Center for Science in the Public Interest," a special interest group dedicated to expanding governemnt controls on food consumption and other private behavior, is already using the findings to agitate for new government controls on alcohol labeling.

Anti-calorie activists like the CSPI are already using the study to push for federal regulations mandating calorie labeling on alcohol, along with punitive taxes on those who drink an alcoholic beverage.

"Health officials should think about enacting policies to limit alcoholic intake...said Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the Center for Science in the Public Interest," the AP reports.

‘‘In New York City, it was smart to start with sugary drinks. Let’s see how it goes and then think about next steps,’’ Wooten crowed.

The federal government outlawed alcohol entirely in 1919 through a constitutional amendment, but repealed it in 1933 after prohibition led to a violent and bloody black market. 

But as with most government prohibition efforts, bureaucrats are finding it easier to control behavior through punitive taxation than criminalization.

In 2009 the Obama administration proposed a federal tax on calorie-loaded beverages as part of an effort to socially engineer the nation's health.  It was dropped after heated citizen opposition.