Christian pastor Yousef Nadarkhani still faces the death penalty in Iran because he refuses to renounce his faith. The vigilant defenders of religious freedom at the ACLJ continue to monitor the case and work for Pastor Nadarkhani’s freedom. Here is the very latest — word is that the execution order has been officially handed down: We are hearing reports from our contacts in Iran that the execution orders for Christian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani may have been issued. Pastor Youcef’s situation – an innocent man convicted and sentenced to death for becoming a Christian – has not been this dire since we first brought his case to your attention last year. It is unclear whether Pastor Youcef would have a right of appeal from the execution order [...]

**Written by Doug Powers In 2010, the UK implemented what could be described as their version of the “Buffett Rule” that President Obama has been proposing in the US. Some background : A new 50% tax rate for top earners has come into force at the start of the financial year. The new rate will affect the 300,000 highest earners in the UK, out of the 29 million people who pay income tax [or the "upper one percent" - DP] . It will be levied on taxable incomes greater than £150,000 a year and aims to raise an extra £2.4bn by next year. The 600,000 people who earn more than £100,000 a year will have their personal tax allowance eroded too, raising £1.5bn for the government. [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Unless President Obama opens Thursday’s gas prices address by announcing he’s going to put a Master Lock on the door of the EPA’s offices (better chance Team Biden will win a geographic spelling bee in Road Island ) , I’ll be skeptical about any other suggested solutions : President Barack Obama plans to step into the political debate over rising gasoline prices on Thursday, when he kicks off the first of a series of events focused on his energy plans, senior administration officials said. During an event at the University of Miami, Mr. Obama will discuss the steps the country can take to tackle what the White House sees as an annual cycle of spikes in gas prices, the officials said. At the same time, these officials, who briefed reporters Tuesday on the president’s plans, acknowledged that there is almost nothing the president can do in the near term to lower gas prices. [...]

**Written by Doug Powers One of the many challenges for Team Obama this year is to try and lower expectations from 2008′s “yes we can” down to a slightly more reality-based “re-elect me and I’ll try and get you your house back.” The motivation for doing so comes with the knowledge that, no matter how much lip service is paid to “economic recovery” or how the media helps do the spin , it just doesn’t seem to be happening — at least not at a pace fast enough to keep Obama from having to move back to Chicago next January. From CNS News : Unemployment in the U.S. rose to nine percent in mid-February, up from 8.3 percent a month earlier, according to a new Gallup survey. The polling company said this suggests that it is “premature” to assume the economy will not feature prominently in the 2012 election season. Gallup figures typically provide an indication of what the government will report at the end of the month. [...]

It was all For The Planet, of course. Global warming zealot Peter Gleick, in the name of defending “rational debate,” committed flabbergasting fraud to try and bring down the free-market Heartland Institute. He’s finally ‘fessed up. But the Heartland Institute is going to fight for its reputation and for justice — in court. From the confession : The Origin of the Heartland Documents Peter Gleick Since the release in mid-February of a series of documents related to the internal strategy of the Heartland Institute to cast doubt on climate science, there has been extensive speculation about the origin of the documents and intense discussion about what they reveal. [...]

**Written by Doug Powers With Mitt Romney not walking away with the nomination as many hoped and/or predicted, some in the so-called “establishment” wing of the party (apologies to George Will for using that mythical term ) are reacting like Warden Hazen in The Longest Yard when the Mean Machine took the lead in the game against the guards: This isn’t supposed to happen! From Jonathan Karl : A prominent Republican senator just told me that if Romney can’t win in Michigan, the Republican Party needs to go back to the drawing board and convince somebody new to get into the race. “If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. The unnamed Senator reportedly said that “new candidate” should be Jeb Bush. I won’t venture a guess as to which Senator Jonathan Karl was referring. [...]

**Written by Doug Powers The Social Security Disability Insurance fund will run out of reserves around 2018. As of now over 10 million people draw checks from it, and that number is growing. What could possibly go wrong? Also, it looks as if claiming disability for mental illness is becoming the new version of extended unemployment benefits: Being unemployed for too long reportedly is driving people mad and costing taxpayers billions of dollars in mental illness and other disability claims. The New York Post reported Sunday that as unemployment checks run out, many jobless are trying to gain government benefits by declaring themselves unhealthy [...]

**Written by Doug Powers If the economy is indeed undergoing a miraculous turnaround just in time for the election this year, as ABC’s Diane Sawyer seems to want everybody to believe could be the case, Team Obama will be able to run a positive, results-oriented campaign. But just in case — on the extreme off-chance Obama & Sheriff Biden can’t run on their record — they’ve already trained their guns on Mitt Romney, and are now issuing the call for dirt on a surging Rick Santorum : Long expecting to face Mitt Romney in the fall, President Barack Obama’s campaign team has shifted gears in recent days to consider the possibility his GOP opponent will instead be Rick Santorum. Campaign officials confirm Obama’s Chicago-based organization has begun combing through the former Pennsylvania senator’s background looking for possible lines of attack. It also emailed Obama’s Pennsylvania supporters this past week asking for material that could be used against Santorum in upcoming speeches and ads. Part of the reason: An ARG poll has Santorum up on Romney 37-32 here in Michigan, and Santorum has been gaining speed all month in Arizona [...]

Mmm, mmm, mmm. The culture of corruption. When last we revisited the House ethics case of Maxine “OneUnited Bank” Waters… nothing and more nothing was happening. Readers of this blog will recall that I pointed out some of the incestuous ties on the House Ethics committee that muddied the Waters case last June: The House Ethics Committee suffers from dysfunction by design. It is chronically understaffed and underfunded [...]

**Written by Doug Powers Warning: Don’t read the following while drinking anything or you might accidentally power-wash your computer screen. Here’s DNC Chair & Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on why Catholics who oppose the Obamacare mandate to provide “free” contraceptive & abortifacients are wrong: “The flip side of this is that religious institutions shouldn’t be imposing their values, necessarily, on their employees who don’t necessarily subscribe to those values.” After all, who are they to muscle in on turf over which the government holds sole dominion? (h/t Gateway Pundit ) **Written by Doug Powers Twitter @ThePowersThatBe [...]

**Written by Doug Powers In a selfless display of empathy for the people who have been suffering terrible withdrawal symptoms from not having a Kennedy in Congress (Kennedys, foremost), the grandson of RFK has formally announced that he will be running for the Massachusetts House seat Barney Frank is vacating : Joseph Kennedy III, a scion of the famous political family, announced Thursday that will run for the Massachusetts House seat being vacated by Rep. Barney Frank (D). “Congressman Frank has done so much for Massachusetts and America during his service in Congress and he leaves very big shoes to fill,” Kennedy said in his announcement video for the 4th district. “I believe this country was founded on a simple idea: that every person deserves to be treated fairly, by each other and by their government.” He promises to fight for a “a fair job plan,” a better educational system, “a fair tax code” and “fair housing policy.” At last, a Kennedy is running for office with some ideas nobody in the family had previously thought to champion. This race will be won by originality [...]

**Written by Doug Powers When the Obamacare law starts being dissected in front of the Supreme Court this spring , one of the administration’s arguments will be (and has always been) that the law is constitutional because “requiring individuals to buy health insurance is an exercise of Congress’ taxing authority .” This, they say, is because of the fine (tax, levy, revenue enhancer, whatever you want to call it…) that will have to be paid by those who don’t carry a health insurance policy. Therefore, it isn’t really a mandate at all because you can always opt for the fine. This way you’re free to choose between something you don’t want, and something else you don’t want. Anyway, the key point is the tax, because that’s the crux of the administration’s case. [...]

For Liljenquist, Mourdock, and Cruz: A Tea Party Senate takeover by Michelle Malkin Creators Syndicate Copyright 2012 The tea party isn’t dead. It’s just looking down ballot. While fiscal conservatives remain split over the GOP presidential candidates, grassroots activists are coalescing around a stellar slate of limited-government candidates looking to reinforce and reenergize the right in Washington. And in the spirit of the modern-day tea party movement, no entrenched incumbent — Democrat or Republican — is safe. Utah was Ground Zero for the movement’s first major electoral upset [...]