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GOVERNMENT REPORT ON TERROR THREATS OMITS IRAN & HEZBOLLAH; FUELS DEBATE
STEVE FORBES: This is typical Obama negotiation. Make concessions in advance. It's part of appeasement. Iran is going to get a great deal to get nuclear weapons and we're all going to be in danger because of it.
BRUCE JAPSEN: I don't think this is a political situation.
RICH KARLGAARD: The U.S State Department thinks Iran is an ally in the war against ISIS and sees ISIS as the greater evil and is worried about offending Iran at this time. But I think that is the motivation.
JOHN TAMNY: I don't think so. Let's face it, the exclusion is curious. A report no matter what is in it, that's not going to make us safer. What makes us safer is that Iranian knowledge that if they commit an act of terrorism against us that we will knock them back into the Stone Age.
MIKE OZANIAN: Iran is clear: it want's nuclear weapons and it wants to annihilate Israel. They have come out and said it. I don't think any report matters to Obama, he has his own ideology.
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: Listen to what the Iranian leaders are saying. Hezbollah was responsible for the most US deaths pre-9/11. The fact that they are now downgraded to a cyber-threat, is a seriously big deal.
EPA FUNDING STUDIES ON BBQ GRILL EMISSIONS, SHOWER USE IN HOTELS
SABRINA SCHAEFFER: This is patently absurd! If you look at the numbers of major programs the EPA tries to initiate like the clean power plan, which is almost $500 billion and would have an impact on the environment that is miniscule. I think when we think about showers and grilling we don't assume it's going to have the same impact.
BRUCE JAPSEN: I personally don't want the EPA to look at my grill or shower, but I think that it could be a consumer friendly thing. If they find problems in emissions - they aren't spending that much money it's only a few thousand dollars.
MIKE OZANIAN: I think there must be something in the Constitution that the government cannot get between a man and his grill. This is an imperialistic president- who knows he could never get a law like this passed congress so he has his henchmen at the EPA do it.
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: I hate that half of our income goes towards taxes to pay for behavior modification from the government.
RICH KARLGAARD: It might be time to get rid of the EPA. This is exactly why the EPA needs to be broken and started over.
STEVE FORBES: Ronald Reagan was right; the closest thing to immortality on this Earth is a government program or agency. The best thing to do is wack it back, take the money, and earmark it to the states and say you do what you need to do if you want to clean the environment. It's an $8 billion budget, take it out of the EPA and send it to the states- let them decide what to do with it. I guarantee they won't touch grills.
CONCERNS OVER GOVERNMENT RUN POT SHOP OPENING IN WASHINGTON STATE
STEVE FORBES: Private commerce should be private. The reason the government is in it, is because it wants to steal money so why doesn't it rob banks.
JOHN TAMNY: I like this. Government is incompetent, but I would rather keep the incompetence to towns rather than nations. I would rather this than rolling out national healthcare plans.
RICH KARLGAARD: I think the American experience is built upon a moral foundation- to the degree we have freedom we have to be undergirded on a moral foundation. So when the government gets in the VICE business it's a real bad thing.
BRUCE JAPSEN: We have had liquor control but I think a pot store is not a bad idea. The use of the revenue is good because they use it for police and also for other potential health uses.
SABRINA SCHAEFFER: I am opposed to the idea of the government getting in the business of anything that is competing in the private market. If this is a legal substance than their job is to safely regulate it not get into the business of it. I think it's very dangerous when we see government representation in this area.
SPRING FORWARD STOCKS
ELIZABETH MACDONALD: SCMP. It makes drugs for inflammatory disorders.
MIKE OZANIAN: CSX. Its earnings are on the growth track.
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