Florida pastor oversees Quran burning

Enlarge

By Paul J. Richards, AFP/Getty Images

Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service

Posted 3/21/2011 5:50:26 PM |

The controversial Florida pastor who halted plans to burn a Quran on the 9/11 anniversary last year oversaw the burning of the Islamic holy book on Sunday after it was found "guilty" during a "trial" at his church.

"We had a court process," said Pastor Terry Jones, who acted as judge, in a phone interview. "We tried to set it up as fair as possible, which you can imagine, of course, is very difficult."

• QURAN BURNED: What are the repercussions?

• SEPTEMBER: Fla. pastor issues new demands

Jones said about 30 people attended the mock trial at his Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville.

Jones considered the "International Judge the Quran Day" to be a fairer way of addressing the Islamic holy book, and denied breaking earlier promises not to burn a Quran.

If the jury had reached a different conclusion, Jones said he would have issued an apology for his accusations that the Quran promotes violence.

"We still don't feel that we broke our word — that was in relationship to International Burn a Quran Day," he said, referring to his previous plan to burn a pile of Qurans on the 9/11 anniversary to protest plans for an Islamic community center near Ground Zero. "We would not establish another International Burn a Quran Day."

Last year's aborted event provoked criticism from U.S. religious leaders, violent protests abroad and pressure from President Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates before Jones called it off.

After a six-hour trial on Sunday that featured a Christian convert from Islam as a prosecuting attorney and a Dallas imam as a defense lawyer, a jury of 12 church members and volunteers made the judgment, Jones said.

He said the punishment — burning the book after it had been soaked in kerosene for an hour — was determined from four choices on his organization's Facebook page. He said "several hundred" were polled and voted for burning over shredding, drowning and facing a firing squad.

Jones considered the burning — which was conducted by another pastor since Jones was serving as the judge — a one-time event.

"That is not our intention, to run around America burning Qurans," he said.

Jones has launched a new organization, Stand Up America, and plans to protest the Quran, Shariah law and "radical Islam," and has scheduled an April event in front of an Islamic center in Dearborn, Mich.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, declined to comment at length about Jones' trial.

"Terry Jones had his 15 minutes of fame and we're not going to help him get another few minutes," he said.

In Wisconsin, the battle is 'far from over'

By Darren Hauck, for USA TODAY

Allen Schneidewent, left, owner of Rockhead's Comic and Games in Kenosha, Wis., says "There was a bunch of ways they could have cut the budget."

By Judy Keen, USA TODAY

Updated 3/21/2011 10:27:21 AM

NEW BERLIN, Wis. — Robert Bakic, owner of a car repair shop in Republican state Sen. Mary Lazich's district, admires her for voting in favor of legislation that limited collective bargaining for most public employees.

Elizabeth Galewski, a technical college professor directly affected by the divisive law, is organizing an effort to recall Lazich.

Pleasant Prairie real estate developer Dan Hunt heads a petition-gathering campaign seeking the recall of Democratic state Sen. Bob Wirch, who left the state to avoid voting on the bill.

Joan Schultz, who works at a bakery in Kenosha, says her senator "definitely" did the right thing.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed the bill March 11, but the battle in Wisconsin, which launched a national debate on union rights, continues.

• WALKER: Gov. releases e-mails about union rights

• IN COURT: Judge blocks contentious Wis. union law

• PHOTOS: Thousands rally for union rights

Eight Republican senators who voted for the measure and eight Democrats who delayed the vote by denying supporters a quorum are targets of recall attempts.

A Wisconsin judge issued a temporary restraining order Friday blocking the law from taking effect because of a lawsuit that contends Republicans violated open-meetings laws to enact it.

"This is far from over," says Kenneth Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

In Wisconsin, legislators can be recalled after they have served at least one year of their term. Recall organizers have 60 days to collect signatures equal to 25% of votes cast in the district in the last gubernatorial election. If they succeed, a special election is held.

Backlash continues

Lazich, who was elected to the Wisconsin Senate in 1998, had no Democratic opponent when she won another four-year term in 2008. Still, she says of the recall effort, "you have to take it very seriously because people are very angered and motivated."

She hopes the backlash will abate soon. "As people understand the bill more and more, I think they're going to realize that it needs to be done and it's not as draconian as people are portraying it to be," she says. Public workers still have ample protections and benefits, she says.

Lazich, 58, says she does not regret her vote. It was necessary to help ease the state's budget shortfall without dramatic tax increases, she says. Many of her constituents have thanked her, she says, but others "have expressed hatred for me."

Galewski, 36, says people signing the recall petition are transferring "their confusion and anger" into "meaningful activity." Most, she says, "feel they aren't getting the representation that they thought they voted for."

Bakic, 58, has a daughter and sister who are teachers, but he's proud of Lazich. "She's not afraid to go against the grain," he says. "Our budget situation was getting worse. We had to do this."

Retiree and former union member Ed Geb, 62, has mixed feelings about the debate, but he disagrees with those who want to recall Lazich because she and other Republicans "did what they were paid to do," he says.

Sharp divisions remain

Wirch says he has no regrets. The union bill, he says, "was the most shameful piece of legislation I have seen in the state of Wisconsin." He was elected to the Senate in 1996 and got twice as many votes as his opponent in 2008.

"People stop me in the grocery store and say, 'Thank you for fighting the good fight,' " Wirch, 67, says. "My gut instinct tells me the vast majority of people are in favor of worker rights and collective bargaining. There's a fundamental sense of fairness in this state and Republicans violated it."

Wirch takes the recall effort seriously. "I don't think there's any middle ground," he says. "People either love me or hate me."

Hunt, 56, says Wirch's absence prompted him to get involved in the recall bid. "It was an egregious action which required constituent action," he says.

Schultz, 75, says Wirch's decision took courage. "Somebody's got to fight for the little guy," she says. "Going after working people — it's not right."

Allen Schneidewent, 50, owner of a comics and gaming store in Kenosha, is more conflicted.

He disapproves of the Democratic senators' absence, but he sympathizes with public workers. "There were a bunch of ways they could have cut the budget before going after them," he says.

Mayer says the dispute won't end soon here or across the USA. Wisconsin's fight, he says, "is the opening move in what is going to be a more sustained debate about the place of public unions."

'Wisconsin protests inspire Americans'

Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:18PM

Press TV interviews Host of WRT Radio Norman Stockwell.

Protestors rally outside the State Capitol following the Wisconsin Assembly's vote

Wisconsin protesters have continued to demand their rights while encouraging other unions across the US to put pressure on their politicians.

Press TV interviewed Host of WRT Radio Norman Stockwell regarding the labor unions in Wisconsin. Other states might be reluctant in pushing forward the same type of legislation now thanks to the massive protests in Wisconsin.

Press TV: The governor seems to be moving to implement his controversial labor plans. How are the unions expected to react to this from this time on?

Stockwell: This was announced last Friday when the legislative reference buereau published this law in spite of a judge's order saying it could not be published. Today about one hour ago, that Judge Maryann Sumi in court said in--no uncertain terms that any former implementation of the law limiting public employ unions is barred and anyone violating her order risks sanctions. Therefore, this was just about one hour ago. The actions that the governor has started to take today to implement it are very specifically ruled as illegal by Judge Sumi.

Her court hearing is continuing on Friday as she continues to take testimony. She heard about a dozen people today, and will hear another ten or so Friday giving testimony about the issue whether or not open records and open meetings laws were violated in the implementation of this bill originally. Therefore, I think that we are going to these legal challenges continue. If the governor or the Department of Administration continues to implement the law, according to Jude Sumi they could be sanctions for that. It will be interesting to see how that plays out tomorrow.

Press TV: Indeed, now how has the crisis in Wisconsin affected the situation in other states as far as union rights there?

Stockwell: We are about six weeks into this now because the governor first unveiled the budget bill on February 11th and the protests started on Monday the 14th of February. It has been going on continuously and it has been an inspiration. We have seen it going across the United States with rallies in solidation with Wisconsin. We have also seen that some of the other governors who have been trying to implement similar laws have backed down some.

In Michigan, in particular the governor said they would not do some of the more aggressive attacks on labor law they had been planning. Any Indiana the Senators took the lead from the Wisconsin Senators and left the state to block quorum so they couldn't vote on a similar bill in the state of Indiana. Thus, Wisconsin really is having a large impact on these sorts of things around the country.

Now we saw a large rally in Los Angeles over the weekend and there the workers argued some concessions to the city, and those concessions are being looked at by other cities and states. We may see kind of a backlash now where some other states try to pick up this idea of getting concessions from the unions. Illinois in particular was one mentioned where we may see them try to take some of the workers' rights away now since in Las Angeles they were giving away their pensions and so on.

One on One With Barack Obama

Diane Sawyer sat down with the president to discuss Libya.

03/29/2011

Wis. GOP Pressing Ahead With Anti-Union Law

Wis. GOP signals it may ignore judge's warning, press on with implementing contested law

 

 

By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. March 30, 2011 (AP)

 The Hon. Maryann Sumi reiterates her temporary restraining order barring further implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 at the Dane County Courthouse in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Sumi said Tuesday that her earlier restraining order saying the law shouldn’t be enacted had either been ignored or misinterpreted. Sumi stopped short of saying the law was not already in effect. She says she will take more testimony on that issue. (AP Photo/Michael P. King, Pool)


Wisconsin's Republican leaders appear to be taking the same confident and bullish approach to implementing their divisive collective bargaining law that they took to passing it, suggesting they may ignore a judge's warning that there would be consequences to moving ahead while challenges to the law are pending.
Gov. Scott Walker and his allies in the Republican-controlled Legislature believe they are on solid legal ground as they push forth on a course that could deepen an already toxic crisis in the state's government.
Sidestepping Democratic state senators playing hooky to block the law's passage may have angered their political opponents, but defying a judge's orders — however imprecise — could put GOP lawmakers and state officials at risk of being found in contempt and could lend weight to accusations that the Republicans consider themselves above the law.
"It's dangerous. Arguably they're in contempt of court already," University of Wisconsin law professor Howard Schweber said Wednesday. He was referring to the preparations under way by Walker's administration to begin deducting more money from most public employees' paychecks to help pay for their health and pension plan costs and to stop deducting union dues. The deductions, which would amount to an 8 percent pay cut, on average, would be reflected in the workers' April 21 paychecks, Walker's top aide said Monday.
The Republicans argue that the law, which would also strip most public workers of nearly all their collective bargaining rights, took effect Saturday because a state office posted it online the day before. Typically, a law takes effect in Wisconsin the day after it's published in the state's official newspaper upon the order of the secretary of state. But Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ordered the secretary of state not to order it published until she could hear arguments in one of several lawsuits challenging the law.
On Tuesday, Sumi reiterated that her order barring action by the secretary of state was still in effect, and she threatened to sanction anyone who disobeyed the order, saying she wanted to be "crystal clear" that no further action on its implementation should be taken.

 Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug La Follette listens to Assistant Attorney General Maria Lazar make her opening arguments at a hearing in front of Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi at the Dane County Courthouse in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, March 29, 2011. With Republican Gov. Scott Walker's administration insisting a new law eliminating most of state workers' collective bargaining rights had gone into effect and other state and municipal leaders disputing that, many were looking to today's court hearing for some kind of clarity. (AP Photo/Michael P. King, Pool)


But she didn't rule on the underlying question of whether the law indeed took effect Saturday. That decision could come during a Friday hearing.
Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has advised Walker that because Sumi didn't specifically name the administration in her order barring further action on the law, it can proceed with the payroll changes. Justice Department Executive Assistant Steve Means said Wednesday that the state's position had not changed.
Republican Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald went further, openly questioning the judge's right to rule in the case, saying it "flies in the face of the separation of powers between the three branches of government."
"It's disappointing that a Dane County judge wants to keep interjecting herself into the legislative process with no regard to the state constitution," Fitzgerald said in a statement.
Walker's top aide, Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, said Tuesday that work on the payroll changes would stop if Sumi ruled the law hadn't taken effect. But on Wednesday, he issued a statement that suggested the administration hadn't decided on a course of action, saying the effects of Sumi's order on efforts to implement the law are "unclear."
Unsurprisingly, the Republicans' position drew a sharp response from their opponents, who said it was indicative of the disregard the GOP leadership has shown throughout the bitter fight over the law, which drew weeks of large pro-union protests in the state capital and prompted the Senate's Democrats to flee the state in an attempt to deny a vote.
"I cannot understand the legal rationale of attorneys who are apparently advising this administration to ignore this order for whatever reason," Democratic Sheboygan County District Attorney Joe DeCecco said Wednesday. "The very fabric of a just society is based on the rule of law. We don't have the option of which law we will obey and we don't have the option of which court order we'll ignore."

APThe Hon. Maryann Sumi reiterates her temporary restraining order barring further implementation of 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 at the Dane County Courthouse in Madison, Wis., Tuesday, March 29, 2011. Sumi said Tuesday that her earlier restraining order saying the law shouldn’t be enacted had either been ignored or misinterpreted. Sumi stopped short of saying the law was not already in effect. She says she will take more testimony on that issue. (AP Photo/Michael P. King, Pool)

The Republicans are walking a fine line, politically, by moving ahead as if the law is in effect while apparently defying the court, said Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.
"They naturally want to continue to support their side of the argument, but I think they run the risk of making this look like a claim to being able to do whatever they want regardless," Franklin said. "At some point strength starts to look like arrogance."
Savings under the law — $330 million for the state alone through the higher worker contributions — are designed to help soften more than $1 billion in cuts Walker is proposing under his two-year budget plan to plug a $3.6 billion shortfall.
The state faces a $137 million shortfall for the fiscal year that ends June 30, and Walker was counting on $30 million in savings under the collective bargaining to help chip away at that.
Walker released the rest of this year's budget balancing plan Wednesday, drawing support from Democratic leaders, and the Legislature was expected to pass it next week.
Sumi and others have suggested the Legislature could resolve issues over the legality of the collective bargaining law by simply passing it again.
But it wasn't simple the first time around, and it makes sense for the Republicans to exhaust all their legal challenges first because they could win them, Franklin said. Starting from scratch again could lead to another round of protests and filibusters, and could put more pressure on Senate Republicans, eight of whom are facing recall efforts because of their support for the law.

Ohio legislative body passes bill to curb unions

 

(2011-03-29)

(Reuters) - By Jo Ingles
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Reuters) - An Ohio legislative committee on Tuesday passed a bill that would restrict collective bargaining by public employees and ban them from striking, part of a nationwide Republican push to curb unions.
Labor unions are a key Democratic Party constituency.
The Ohio House's version of the bill was modified to remove jail time as a possible penalty for public workers who participate in strikes. The bill passed along party lines, with nine Republicans voting for it and six Democrats opposed.
The bill next goes to the full House on Wednesday before the Senate takes it up again after passing a tougher version earlier this month by a narrow 17-16 margin. Republicans hold solid majorities in both houses of the legislature.
Governor John Kasich, a Republican who supports the bill, argues it will put taxpayers and public employees on a more equal footing in respect to pay and benefits. He said local communities will be better able to control their costs, as Ohio and other states struggle to close gaping budget deficits.
Democrats say they will seek union help to gather enough signatures for a November referendum to let voters decide whether to keep or kill the law.
The Wisconsin and Idaho legislatures have already passed laws that limit collective bargaining rights for public sector union workers.
Ohio is more important to organized labor than Wisconsin, with twice as many public sector workers. But Wisconsin gained notoriety when Democratic Senators fled the state to temporarily deny Republicans a vote on the legislation and demonstrators camped out inside the Capitol building.
ELECTION BATTLEGROUNDS
Both states have been partisan battlegrounds in recent elections and Democrats have staked out a position defending the interests of unions.
Thousands of union members are expected to descend on the Ohio Capitol in the next few days as the bill progresses through the Republican-led legislature.
In Wisconsin, opponents of the state's new law restricting public sector unions' power were back in court on Tuesday, pursuing one of several legal challenges to the measure.
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi, who issued an injunction two weeks ago blocking the law's implementation, ruled the case could go ahead though Republicans argued she lacks jurisdiction and the law was already in effect.
A Democratic prosecutor has filed suit, charging lawmakers violated state law requiring 24-hour notice of public meetings in hurriedly passing the measure three weeks ago.
"I think this court has a duty to proceed," Sumi said.
Last week, a state agency published the law despite Sumi's restraining order, and Republican Governor Scott Walker said he would implement it. The agency is nonpartisan but its director is appointed by the leaders of the state legislature -- currently both Republicans backing the measure.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mayers in Madison; Editing by Mary Wisniewski, James Kelleher, Andrew Stern)

Union Bill Speeding Through Ohio Legislature

Thursday, March 03, 2011
By Ann Sanner, Associated Press Columbus, Ohio (AP) - While much of the nation's attention remains focused on a stalled proposal in Wisconsin to restrict collective bargaining rights for public workers, an Ohio measure that in some ways is tougher and broader is speeding toward reality.
A Senate panel and then the full chamber approved the Ohio measure Wednesday amid jeers from onlookers. The bill would restrict the collective bargaining rights of roughly 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees, while Wisconsin's would affect about 175,000 workers and exempt police and firefighters.
"For as far-reaching this thing is and how many lives it will affect, I can't believe how fast it moved," said Columbus Police Sgt. Shaun Laird, who wanted lawmakers to spend more time debating the changes.
Wisconsin's bill remains in limbo after Democrats hightailed it for the Illinois border on the day the Senate was to adopt the bill. Their absence left the chamber one member short of the quorum needed for a vote.
In contrast, the Ohio bill could go as early as next week to House committee hearings. Republicans hold a 59-40 majority in the House, where the measure is likely to receive strong support.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican like his Wisconsin counterpart, Scott Walker, praised the development. Both have pushed the collective bargaining bills as part of budget-balancing measures.
"This is a major step forward in correcting the imbalance between taxpayers and the government unions that work for them," Kasich said.
The differences and similarities between the two proposals are many and nuanced, especially because lawmakers continue to debate and insert or subtract individual proposals. But to critics, at least one thing is clear: Both bills are meant to weaken the role of the unions.
"From the perspective of unions, both bills are punitive and would severely restrict what they have traditionally bargained over and what they have done as organizations," said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkley who specializes in labor issues.
The Ohio bill would ban strikes by public workers and establish penalties for those who do participate in walkouts. State workers in Wisconsin are already prohibited from striking.
Unionized workers in Ohio could negotiate wages, hours and certain work conditions -- but not health care, sick time or pension benefits. The measure would do away with automatic pay raises, and base future wage increases on merit.
Wisconsin's measure would forbid most government workers from collectively bargaining except over wage increases that aren't beyond the rate of inflation. Police and firefighters would be exempt.
Both states' capitols have been mobbed by protesters, Ohio's not as intensively as the two-week-long siege in Wisconsin. Protesters in Ohio were fewer Wednesday during the marquee vote in the Senate than they were the day before, when 8,500 demonstrators gathered inside and out.
"Shame!" firefighters and teachers shouted in the Senate chamber as the measure squeaked through on a 17-16 vote.
Standing in the rotunda afterward, Columbus firefighter Terry Marsh said he understood the Legislature's need to look for ways to save on costs and examine collective bargaining.
"But to ram something through within a few weeks is irresponsible, and to blame the budget woes of the state on the workers is a downright travesty," he said.
Ohio's legislation would also set up a new process to settle worker disputes, giving elected officials the final say in contract disagreements. Binding arbitration, which police officers and firefighters use to resolve contract disputes as an alternative to strikes, would be eliminated.
Republican Sens. Tim Grendell of Chesterland and Bill Seitz of Cincinnati spoke out against the new proposed way to resolve disputes. Grendell said the process would turn workers into beggars before city councils and other officials who oversee them.
"No one can be a judge and advocate in their own cause," Seitz said. "That's called 'heads I win, tails you lose.'"
Seitz had expressed disappointment in the bill and was removed from the panel by its leaders, a move that secured the votes needed to get the legislation before the full Senate.
Anthony Caldwell, spokesman for the Service Employees International Union, District 1199, said the union's focus will now turn to the House. Members there serve shorter terms and may be more vulnerable to repercussions at the ballot box than senators, he said.
"We hope that the members of the House will understand the valuable role working families play in their districts," he said. "The House is a two-year body. Whatever happens, people are going to remember that. This isn't just about union issues, this is about working people."

The Sharp Right Turn Of Ohio’s State Legislature

Thursday, 24 March 2011 10:46
by Brian Powell
I used to think the yellow rays in the latest Ohio license plates represented the sunrise – hope, new light, the endless opportunity of the day ahead. The nation’s economic tribulations have generally hit Ohio harder than most places, and I’m sure that desperate voters went to the ballot box this past November with the image of an Ohio sunrise in their minds. November 2010, we thought, would be the dawn of a new future for Ohio – new political blood would invigorate policy debate, bring to the table creative solutions to Ohio’s difficulties and provide a disciplined new focus to problem-solving at the state level.
This is not what Ohio voters received. It’s clear to me now that those rays on our license plates represent a sunset, not a sunrise. Ohio’s visions of progress and revitalization are growing dimmer, not brighter, thanks to a far-right socially-conservative agenda being heaved through the Republican-controlled Senate, House and Executive. Irresponsible and ideologically polarizing bills are being proposed daily by Ohio state legislators who act as though the people of Ohio have turned as “red” as states like Kansas or North Dakota.

Here is a list of just a few of the bills passed or proposed in the Ohio legislature only a couple of months into their new term:
1.    Senate Bill 5 – would weaken and limit collective bargaining for unions representing about 350,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public workers. Opponents of the bill call it a union-busting power grab. [WKYC.com, 03/21/11]
2.    House Bill 159 – “Legislation requiring Ohio voters to show a government-issued photo ID before casting in-person ballots…Minority Leader Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, called the bill a “partisan attack on the right to vote,” targeting the elderly, the young, minorities and poor.” [Dayton Daily News, 03/23/11]
3.    House Bill 3 – Despite out-of-control budget deficits, Ohio Republicans are considering a bill that would eliminate the estate tax and impede the state’s ability to pay off its debt.
4.    House Bill 45 – Permit citizens with concealed carry permit to bring guns into bars and liquor stores.
5.    House Bill 73 – Would eliminate fee requirements for transporting radioactive waste and materials
6.    House Bill 125 – “A House committee delayed a vote Wednesday on legislation to give Ohio the most restrictive abortion law in the nation as concerns swirled about whether it could withstand a legal challenge.
House Bill 125 would outlaw abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be medically detected, generally about six or seven weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.” [Dayton Daily News, 03/23/11]
7.       House Bill 79 – “HB 79 reaches further than the Hyde Amendment, which has prohibited public funding of abortion in most instances since 1977, and existing state laws. Whereas current law requires an individual to write two separate checks, one for her general health care coverage and one for optional abortion coverage, HB 79 would not even allow a woman to use her own personal funds to purchase abortion coverage.” [Gary Dougherty, State Legislative Director, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio, 03/09/2011]

http://mainstreetzoo.wordpress.com/
Even taking the looming redistricting into consideration, the people of Ohio will never be as conservative as lawmakers seem to be presuming, and with a list of priorities as revealing as the one above, you can be sure that Ohio’s progressives will be out in full force come Election Day 2012 to vote for a different direction – one where we can watch the sun rise.

GOP Governors: Obama Energy Policy Harming State Economies

Just destroy the EPA, take away our clean air, clean water, take away the safety regulations for coal, oul, and nuclear.   Let everybody drill, blow up, fracture, and mine without any regulations, or unions, where there are no rules. make men work unitl they drop, no weekends, no vactions and better yet no real pay.  I mean where is the country I love, it has slipped through our fingers and is about to disappear forever......

Posted by admin in Uncategorized on March 18th, 2011 | View Comments Responses Twenty Republican governors sent a letter today to President Barack Obama detailing ways in which the regulatory agenda pursued by the Obama Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are curtailing economic growth in the states and threatening America’s long-term prosperity.
“Simply put, the Obama Administration and the EPA are on a crusade against American businesses and state governments,” said Republican Governors Association Chairman Rick Perry. “Over the last decade, Texas has reduced ozone levels by 27 percent, more than any other state, and cut nitrogen oxide emissions by 53 percent while also creating more jobs than any other state in the nation. But instead of hailing Texas as a model, the EPA has attempted to usurp regulatory authority traditionally left to the state.”
“Virginia’s efforts to become the energy capital of the East Coast include innovative, safe and affordable plans for investment in nuclear energy, coal, offshore exploration for oil and natural gas, and offshore wind energy development,” said RGA Vice Chairman Bob McDonnell. “It will only be through a combination of these energy sources that the nation will be able to meet its energy demands and curtail its dependence upon foreign oil. Our plans to develop Virginia’s offshore oil and natural gas supplies have been thwarted by the Obama administration’s failure to include drilling 50 miles off the coast of Virginia in the five-year lease plan. Once again, rising gas prices are hurting families and small businesses due to the shortsightedness of overzealous federal regulators.”
“For the sake of economic growth, our country needs a policy of more abundant, affordable, American energy,” added RGA Policy Chairman Haley Barbour. “Unfortunately, the President is doing exactly the opposite and road-blocking reasonable ways to increase America’s energy supply and create jobs.”
A copy of the governors’ letter is below.
Seven specific concerns of the Republican governors include:
1.         Federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from industrial, manufacturing and electric generation facilities;
2.         Promulgation of new Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards for industrial boilers.
3.         Promulgation of stringent National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone, SO₂, NO₂, and particulates.
4.         Proposed new MACT and cooling water intake structures requirements for power plants.
5.         Multiple policy interpretations by the Agency related to American coal mining have resulted in the withdrawal of over 50% of pending applications, a 9% approval rate for those remaining, and an unprecedented revocation of an existing permit.
6.         Continued uncertainty over whether Coal Combustion Residue will be regulated as a hazardous waste even though it does not meet any of the characteristics of a hazardous waste.
7.         The impending EPA study which threatens to usurp state regulation of hydraulic fracturing.
March 18, 2011
The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
The geopolitical upheaval in the Middle East is once again increasing energy costs in world markets, which directly impacts the costs of energy supplies in the United States.  Faced with uncertainty over energy prices, employers are being forced to reassess planned investments during a precarious time for our nation’s extended economic recovery.
The uncertainties caused by international events that are well beyond the Administration’s control are further compounded by the unreasonably aggressive regulatory agenda being pursued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  As the stewards of our states’ natural resources, we share the broad goals of the EPA to protect our air and water. However, we wish to express our strong concerns over the contents and timing of many of the recently adopted and pending regulations, which together could seriously impact energy supply, reliability, and affordability for the residents, small businesses, and manufacturers in our states and across the country.
The President’s Executive Order on January 18, 2011, emphasized the need for predictability and certainty when it comes to federal regulations.  However, the EPA is simultaneously developing and implementing a number of regulatory and policy initiatives with extremely short and converging compliance deadlines within the next five years which will significantly impact the energy industry, increase burdensome costs to consumers, and hurt the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers. An abbreviated list of these new regulations and policy uncertainties includes:
1.         Federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions from industrial, manufacturing and electric generation facilities;
2.         Promulgation of new Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standards for industrial boilers.
3.         Promulgation of stringent National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone, SO₂, NO₂, and particulates.
4.         Proposed new MACT and cooling water intake structures requirements for power plants.
5.         Multiple policy interpretations by the Agency related to American coal mining have resulted in the withdrawal of over 50% of pending applications, a 9% approval rate for those remaining, and an unprecedented revocation of an existing permit.
6.         Continued uncertainty over whether Coal Combustion Residue will be regulated as a hazardous waste even though it does not meet any of the characteristics of a hazardous waste.
7.         The impending EPA study which threatens to usurp state regulation of hydraulic fracturing.
It is vital for our citizens and businesses to have access to a wide diversity of energy sources in order to facilitate our economic recovery.  The fact that our dominant energy source, oil, is heavily imported reinforces the need for utilizing our abundant domestic energy supply.  The United States has bounteous reserves of oil and natural gas, and we believe that your administration should allow for adequate utilization of these domestic resources.  Not only will domestic extraction of oil and natural gas hedge against the uncertainties of the global oil market, but a lifting of the de facto moratorium on oil drilling could also stimulate the creation of thousands of stable jobs in a sector that can propel our economy forward in uncertain times.  Further, we would discourage the administration from tapping into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) at this time.  The SPR should only be tapped when we face both international crisis and domestic decline in resource capacity.  We have not yet reached this point.
The cumulative impact of EPA’s regulatory actions, resulting in a reduction of domestic energy supply and higher energy prices, could force the U.S. to rely even more heavily on foreign energy which can potentially stifle our fragile economic recovery. Additionally, EPA’s actions are adding to already overburdened state resources and are limiting the ability of states to administer their own, effective environmental programs and further slow the nation’s economic recovery.
We believe the EPA’s proposed rules harm domestic energy production and are hostile to the Administration’s stated goals of creating jobs, improving the regulatory process, and increasing our nation’s energy security. America has an expansive portfolio of domestic energy resources such as oil, natural gas, nuclear, coal, and renewables and our states are well equipped to work in partnership with, not for, the federal government in providing the energy our economy needs to thrive.  We request that you ensure any EPA rule maintains the partnership between the federal government and the states; allows for a full analysis of the costs and benefits of the proposed regulations on the economy, jobs and American economic competitiveness; and ensures that new rules do not increase the already high cost of energy to American consumers. We further request that EPA, in partnership with state regulators, analyze and make available cost estimates to states for implementing new regulations.
Sincerely,
Governor Robert J. Bentley
Alabama
Governor Sean Parnell
Alaska
Governor Janice K. Brewer
Arizona
Governor Nathan Deal
Georgia
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter
Idaho
Governor Mitch Daniels
Indiana
Governor Terry E. Branstad
Iowa
Governor Bobby Jindal
Louisiana
Governor Haley Barbour
Mississippi
Governor Jack Dalrymple
North Dakota
Governor John R. Kasich
Ohio
Governor Mary Fallin
Oklahoma
Governor Tom Corbett
Pennsylvania
Governor Luis Fortuño
Puerto Rico
Governor Nikki Haley
South Carolina
Governor Dennis Daugaard
South Dakota
Governor Rick Perry
Texas
Governor Gary R. Herbert
Utah
Governor Robert F. McDonnell
Virginia
Governor Matthew H. Mead
Wyoming

Michigan GOP Governor Snyder May Dissolve A Town Near You!

(By Jillian Barclay)

While much of the media attention has been on the antics of GOP Governors in Wisconsin and Ohio, new Michigan GOP Governor Rick Snyder has been rapidly pushing a radical agenda.  Perhaps the most egregious example of this is the new Emergency Manager law that Snyder and the Republican state legislature passed last week that provides that if the Governor determines that a city, town or even school district is in financial jeopardy the state may dismantle the entire entity, dissolving locally elected government. In addition, the state would have the same powers with regards to schools, dismissing school board members, and taking over any and all schools in a district.
Heard enough? Of course not! Under the terms of the bill, corporations can be appointed and paid to take control and assume management of these disbanded cities, towns and school districts, selling assets, closing schools and eliminating all employee agreements. All collective bargaining can be dissolved, but even more than that, the mayors, city councils and local school boards that have been elected by the people will lose all control. They could be fired! In addition, police forces and prisons may be privatized under the law.  In essence, Michigan’s locally elected governments will serve at the pleasure of the governor, not the people who elected them.
Gov. Snyder is wasting no time using the authority under this radical law.  In fact, the law is already being used in cities like Pontiac, Benton Harbor, and Ecorse to lay off police officers and may even be used to disband the city council in Benton Harbor.  Governor Snyder and his state treasurer, Andy Dillon, already have a training manual and program set up to instruct corporations and potential managers on such topics such as: How To Dissolve A City, Privatization of Assets, Sale of Assets, Merger of Services with Other Governmental Entities. Latest estimates suggest that additional training will take place in April or May. They are wasting no time!
The Emergency Manager Law is a great example of how panic and fear cause otherwise rational people to allow irrational action. Uttering the words fiscal crisis does not make it so, but Governor Snyder will not have to prove that a city, town or school district is suffering a fiscal crisis. The legislation allows the Governor and his chosen staff to redefine and determine fiscal crisis. The Emergency Managers will have unprecedented new powers. Already, dozens of Michigan cities and towns that are on the verge of financial collapse are concerned about the new legislation. Due to state funding cuts, there will be many more that will become cash strapped. Which of those will the governor choose to dissolve? No one knows. He will make the decision based upon his own definition of fiscal crisis.

A further question about the legislation is who will Gov. Snyder put in charge of the cities and towns that he takes over?  Goldman-Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley all donated to Snyder’s campaign. The governor holds major interests in several bio-tech and health-related companies. Under the provisions of the new bill, the governor will choose the managers. Maybe Detroit will eventually change its name to Morgan Stanleyville or Chaseton. At one time, I thought this idea was far-fetched, but after reading newspapers printed in Michigan which debate, discuss and report the facts of this bill, the over reaching bill frightens many who believe in a representative form of government. While you may dislike your mayor or even your city council, the idea that the state will be allowed to take your town and assets may just frighten you a little bit. It is scaring the people of Michigan!
The Emergency Manager Law is far from the only radical attack on working people being launched by Gov. Snyder.  For example, Gov. Snyder’s recent budget and tax proposals clearly demonstrate that he is in bed with his rich buddies. Pat Garofalo at Think Progress points out:

Snyder has proposed ending his state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, cutting a $600 per child tax credit, and reducing credits for seniors, while also cutting funding for school districts by 8 to 10%. At the same time, as the Michigan League for Human Services found, the state’s business taxes would be reduced by nearly $2 Billion dollars, or 86%.

The good news is that Gov. Snyder’s proposals are highly unpopular.  In fact, the latest polls have Snyder’s approval rating down to 33%, with 50% disapproving of his job as Governor so far.  In addition, an effort to recall the Governor has been started.  You can visit the Facebook page of the folks who are working on the recall effort here.
If you live in Michigan, now is the time to get involved in pushing back against the radical agenda being pushed by Republican office holders throughout the country.  Help to do so by writing letters to your local newspaper editors, and calling your state and federal elected officials to let them know that you oppose Gov. Snyder’s radical agenda.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 27th, 2011 at 7:16 am and is filed under Uncategorized.

Insane GOP Governors Walker, Kasich and Snyder would lose in do-over elections

Posted on March 23, 2011

It comes as no surprise when the Republicans try to overstep as soon as they get out of the gate that they will see their approval numbers plummet. They also drag down with them anyone who falls for their antics and this should come as a matter of political survival for other Republicans who feel that rubber-stamping their policies is a good thing.
It turns out that buyer’s remorse is indeed in the works for what some call the Three Stooges of politics.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Walker promised to make tough decisions on state spending, and beat Democrat Tom Barret 52% to 46% on election day. But when PPP polled the state in late February, they found that Walker would lose a do-over election by a seven-point margin.
After taking office, Walker, citing a budget shortfall, began to push a measure to strip most state employees of the right to collectively bargain on non-pay related issues, a proposal that deadlocked the state legislature as Democratic lawmakers fled to Illinois to stall the bill.
As the stalemate played out, Walker’s approval rating took a nose dive. By late February, PPP found that nearly six in ten voters in the state disapproved of his job performance.
In Ohio, a similar story has played out for Gov. Kasich, who also ran on a platform of reining in government spending. In November, Kasich defeated incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland (D) 49% to 47%.
By mid-March, PPP found Kasich’s approval rating deep underwater, with just 35% of voters approving of his job performance, compared to 54% who disapproved. Furthermore, in a proposed do-over election, PPP found Kasich losing to Strickland by 15 points.
Kasich began his short tenure with a mini scandal when he called a state trooper an idiot, on camera, three times. He also pushed to strip state union’s of their collective bargaining rights through a bill called SB 5. That bill would actually go further than the one in Wisconsin by not exempting fire and law enforcement unions from the changes.
In his first budget proposal released earlier this month, Kasich aimed to close an $8 billion budget gap largely through cuts to government services, such as a tightening of the eligibility requirements for government-subsidized health care for children in low income families. That has some Ohioans grousing that Kasich’s budget cuts will most hurt the state’s poor.
In Michigan, Governor Rick Snyder (R) is facing a backlash of his own.
Last November, Snyder beat Democrat Virg Bernero by a huge 18-point margin. But in a PPP poll released yesterday, registered voters suggested they wish they’d elected Bernero — who won a hypothetical do over, 47% to 45%.

Republican Governor Rick Snyder Falling Out Of Favor In Michigan

Posted in Battleground States, Election 2012 on March 23, 2011

This is not a good sign.  If the eventual GOP presidential nominee is to unseat Obama in 2012 that road goes through the Midwest, and it could include Michigan.
Over the last few weeks we’ve found that voters in Ohio and Wisconsin have quickly soured on their new Republican Governors, John Kasich and Scott Walker respectively. But Michigan’s Rick Snyder wasn’t like Kasich and Walker. He campaigned as a moderate and won by 18 points in a state bluer than either Ohio or Wisconsin while his counterparts were just squeaking by in their races. You would think that even if Snyder’s popularity has fallen after two months in office it hasn’t fallen as far as Kasich and Walker’s.
Think again. Snyder actually now has the worst numbers of this new trio of GOP Governors, with only 33% of voters approving of him to 50% who disapprove. And despite his overwhelming victory last fall voters now say that if they could do it over they’d pick Virg Bernero over Snyder by a 47-45 margin. Snyder’s current status is definitely emblematic of the adage that the higher you climb the farther you fall.
What’s happened to Snyder? What made him such a formidable candidate last fall was incredibly strong support from independents and an unusual amount of crossover appeal to Democrats. Neither of those things has lasted. His approval with independents is now just 32% with more of them at 44% disapproving. That’s a remarkable drop given that our final poll of the race last fall found him leading by 40 points with those voters. He’s also down to just a 10% approval with Democratic voters. If there’s any silver lining in his numbers it’s that he does maintain strong support within his own party- 68% of Republicans approve of him to 13% disapproving. Click Here For Full Survey Results

16 March 2011

Michigan's Republican Governor Rick Snyder Signs Draconian Bill Into Law

Gov. Rick Snyder signed the much despised emergency financial manager legislation in to law today, giving him far too much power over the people in his state. Even the power to ignore the will of the people and the votes they cast. The local ABC affiliate reports:

LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) - Governor Rick Snyder has signed a bill giving broad new powers to emergency financial managers appointed by the state of Michigan to run struggling cities and schools, including the ability to terminate union contracts.
The bill was signed as thousands of union protesters rallied inside and outside the Capitol to protest the bill.
Vulnerable cities like Ecorse, Highland Park and Pontiac could get Emergency Financial Managers. This problem is so serious across this state, more than 60 communities that are on a Michigan Department of Treasury special watch list.  Hamtramck is once again in danger.
In Hamtramck, City Manager Bill Cooper’s position was created out of the financial crisis. The city fell in to receivership but emerged five years ago. He says the city fell in to debt when the emergency manager was here. He says they are still digging out from under it. “The Emergency Manager does the short-term fixes and leaves, a lot of them don't look five or ten years down the road.”
65 people have been trained as Emergency Managers and Cooper says the state is preparing to train 150 more.

It is imperative that we recall this man and his supporters in the legislature.

19 March 2011

Correction

I was contacted by Terry Stanton, Public Information Officer for the Michigan Dept. of Treasury yesterday, regarding a report originating with WXYZ that I quoted here.

He advised me that WXYZ had gotten the facts wrong, that he had also advised them of this, and that he would like both of us to remove or correct the articles.

WXYZs original statement:  "Vulnerable cities like Ecorse, Highland Park and Pontiac could get Emergency Financial Managers. This problem is so serious across this state, more than 60 communities are on a Michigan Department of Treasury special watch list.  Hamtramck is once again in danger."
Mr. Stanton’s clarification: “The Cities of Ecorse & Pontiac are currently under authority of an Emergency Manager.  Highland Park, while no longer under an EM, is still under a financial emergency declaration.”

After doing some fact checking, I found that three cities and one school district are currently under EFM management:

Only Pontiac, Benton Harbor, Ecorse and the Detroit Public Schools have state-appointed emergency financial managers in place, and critics say the current law isn't strong enough to do much good.

The cities of Highland Park, and the village of Three Oaks no longer have EFMs, although they remain under the declaration of a financial emergency.
While I’m talking about these cities, allow me to digress a moment and go where several others already have, and point out that the cities which currently have EFMs are all places where minorities are the majority. So yes, I have very few doubts that the decision to install EFMs in these cities is in part, racial

Additionally, Mr. Stanton had this to say about the “special watch list”, emphasis mine:

In addition, the department (Treasury) does not have a "special watch list" as was reported.  We are aware that some local units of government are facing very trying financial circumstances.  Following the bill signing yesterday, State Treasurer Andy Dillon noted that we are currently aware of "less than ten" municipalities and school districts that may experience additional difficulties in the weeks and months ahead.  However, we do not have a "special watch list."

I have to say, without being at all surprised by it, it at least appears that WXYZ once again did not do their homework, and, as of yet, they have not made a correction or removed the article.

Finally, if you have any information to the contrary, such as knowledge of the existence of such a watch list, please contact me at nscATpoliticalruminationsDOTcom.

Videos concerning our involvement in Lybia

Obama: 'Libya's governance going to be up to the Libyan people'
Erica Hill interview President Obama about the US Military involvement in Libya.

March 24, 2011

 Chip Read after WH briefing with Jay Carney

ABC Mar 27, 2011
Hillary Clinton urges Gadhafi to leave Libya





Interview with Clinton and Gates


CBS Mar 27, 2011

Gates Clinton promote Libya strategy



Mar 29, 2011

Obama Allies to Gadhafi: Time to Go


Mar 26, 2011

Obama says pressure increasing against Gadhafi