While every other major component of the economy is shrinking, government at all levels has grown to consume nearly half of America’s gross domestic product.

While Americans were battling cap-and-trade legislation at the national and international levels, global-warming alarmists were quietly building regional systems between state and local governments, private industry, and even foreign governments that basically achieve the same effect -- higher energy prices for consumers and more money for governments.

Amidst strong criticism, the Obama administration’s “Compensation” Czar Kenneth Feinberg (left) took over BP’s $20 billion “slush” fund set up for victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The fund’s new leadership began processing claims on August 23.

After supposedly abandoning the much-touted cap-and-trade scheme due to a lack of support, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced a scaled-back $15 billion energy bill that supporters hope will muster enough votes. But it�s already coming under attack from all angles, and critics are warning that the carbon regime could still be in the cards.

A group of American lawmakers is accusing embattled oil-giant BP of lobbying for the release of a Libyan terrorist convicted of murdering hundreds of people — all to gain a lucrative drilling contract from the socialist Libyan regime. The Senate Foreign Relations committee scheduled a hearing for July 29 to probe the matter, and lawmakers sent a letter to the U.S. State Department asking for an investigation.

Just four days after the Supreme Court essentially struck down the City of Chicago’s draconian handgun ban as unconstitutional, the City Council unanimously approved a tough new gun-control regime that critics are vowing to fight but supporters are hoping will hold up in court.

The federal government has decided to unconstitutionally waste more taxpayer money by demonizing and  supposedly debunking “conspiracy theories” on the State Department’s propaganda-peddling website America.gov, prompting ridicule and criticism across the world.

“Big Labor” and a host of prominent economists announced their support over the weekend for efforts to “Audit the Fed.” These efforts are growing stronger as the bipartisan coalition for Federal Reserve transparency continues to build momentum. But the Obama administration and the banking cartel are pushing back. 

The Associated Press is under fire for distorting the views and comments of two Oklahoma legislators regarding the formation of a state militia in an April 12 article entitled “Okla. tea parties and lawmakers envision militia.”

A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators is teaming up with the Obama administration to legalize illegal immigrants and require biometric national ID cards for every American worker, prompting a swift and bipartisan backlash across the nation.