Earth Day 2010: More about blame, than conservation and stewardship.

Earth Day 2010 is here and it seems to lack the hype it once did. Gone is the weeklong celebration by the tree-huggers, Greenpeace and the multi-million dollar corporations that hope to nab a few of their dollars through green marketing campaigns. Today, it would appear that the self annointed enviromental cops have the people they want in leadership, so they can back off and let the government do it now. Or maybe it's because after 40 years of trying, the effort has accomplished nothing but hype. A Gallup Poll released on April 9 shows that Americans are today no more environmentally friendly in their actions than they were at the turn of the century. While more than three in four recycle, have reduced household energy use, and buy environmentally friendly products, these numbers have barely budged since 2000.

Excuse me if I don't act surprised. It is hardly news that everyone wants hard choices to be made, but very few people want to be the ones to make the sacrifices themselves.

When it came to wasteful spending former Senator Trent Lott once said "Pork is anything spent north of Memphis." The same mindset holds true for those who would otherwise be enviromentally friendly.

Case in point: The New York City sightseeing company Gray Line is promoting an “Earth Week” package of day trips that includes visits to “green spots” like the botanical gardens and flower shopping at Chelsea Market. The fact that these tours will be taken on buses running on fossil fuels does not sit well with the first Earth Day national coordinator Denis Hayes who tells The New York Times what he thinks of such green consumerism: “This ridiculous perverted marketing has cheapened the concept of what is really green. It is tragic.”

Even the Old Gray Lady can't help but notice:

At 40, Earth Day Is Now Big Business

So strong was the antibusiness sentiment for the first Earth Day in 1970 that organizers took no money from corporations and held teach-ins “to challenge corporate and government leaders.”

Forty years later, the day has turned into a premier marketing platform for selling a variety of goods and services, like office products, Greek yogurt and eco-dentistry.

And then there is the left’s push for economy-killing energy taxes. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis has found that cap-and-tax legislation pending in Congress would cost the average family-of-four almost $3,000 per year, cause 2.5 million net job losses by 2035, and a produce a cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) loss of $9.4 trillion between 2012 and 2035. Losing that $9.4 trillion to appease the fragile sensibilities of the enviro-left – now that would be tragic.

Especially when one considers that studies clearly show that important indicators of environmental quality actually improve as incomes and levels of consumption go up.

I, for one, would be more than happy to stop increasing my carbon footprint if the government would get the hell out of my money. If I were able to keep more of it, I wouldn't have the need to be constantly burning fossil fuels to find more.

Finally, there is the growing sentiment that we've all been lied to. It's becoming hard to believe traditional media sources as they continue to hype the same old argument despite the 900-pound gorilla sitting behind Katie Couric.

It’s been a rough five months for the credibility of many of the “leading” climate scientists.

First, the ClimateGate e-mails appeared to show unethical or illegal behavior of high profile scientists and a potential conspiracy to distort science for political gain. These weren’t just a few renegade scientists; in the following months, damning information came to light about the world’s leading climate alarmists and their work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Stern Report, the U.S. National Climate Data Center and even NASA.

Even with the 40th anniversary of Earth Day coming up on April 22, Americans are skeptical about the threat of climate change. A March 2010 Gallup poll found that 48 percent of Americans think the threat of global warming is “generally exaggerated". That’s the highest in 13 years, according to Gallup.

The public’s receding fear of climate change may be related to the series of scandals and admissions that have been uncovered since Nov. 20 when e-mails from University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) were leaked. Those e-mails provided “ammunition” to climate skeptics about the authenticity and ethics surrounding the CRU’s work on global warming science.

Including this very damning email:

From: Phil Jones
To: ray bradley ,mann@XXXX, mhughes@XXXX
Subject: Diagram for WMO Statement
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 1999 13:31:15 +0000
Cc: k.briffa@XXX.osborn@XXXX

Dear Ray, Mike and Malcolm,

Once Tim’s got a diagram here we’ll send that either later today or first thing tomorrow.
I’ve just completed Mike’s Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline. Mike’s series got the annual land and marine values while the other two got April-Sept for NH land N of 20N. The latter two are real for 1999, while the estimate for 1999 for NH combined is +0.44C wrt 61-90. The Global estimate for 1999 with data through Oct is +0.35C cf. 0.57 for 1998.

Thanks for the comments, Ray.
Cheers
Phil
Prof. Phil Jones
Climatic Research Unit Telephone XXXX
School of Environmental Sciences Fax XXXX
University of East Anglia
Norwich

As for me and my house, we'll continue to do the very things my family and my faith has always taught me to do; be good stewards of the resources the Lord has provided. At the same time, I will try to get away, hide and otherwise stop those who would take those resources away to give them to someone else who refuses to take the same responsibility for themselves.

Williams: Taxes and Voting

According to the Tax Policy Center, a Washington, D.C., research organization, nearly half of U.S. households will pay no federal income taxes for 2009. That's up from the Tax Foundation's 2006 estimate that 41 percent of the American population, or 121 million Americans, were completely outside the federal income tax system. These Americans pay no federal income tax either because their incomes are too low or they have higher income but credits, deductions and exemptions that relieve them of tax liability. This lack of income tax liability stands in stark contrast to the top 10 percent of earners, those households earning an average of $366,400 in 2006, who paid about 73 percent of federal income taxes. The top 25 percent paid 86 percent. The bottom 50 percent of taxpayers paid less than 4 percent of federal income taxes collected.

Let's not dwell on the fairness of such an arrangement for financing the activities of the federal government. Instead, let's ask what kind of incentives and results such an arrangement produces and ask ourselves whether these results are good for our country. That's a question to be asked whether or not one has federal income tax liabilities.

Having 121 million Americans completely outside the federal income tax system, it's like throwing chum to political sharks. These Americans become a natural spending constituency for big-spending politicians. After all, if you have no income tax liability, how much do you care about deficits, how much Congress spends and the level of taxation? Political calls for tax cuts and spending restraints have little appeal. Survey polls revealed this. According to The Harris Poll taken in June 2003, 51 percent of Democrats thought the tax cuts enacted by Congress were a bad thing while 16 percent of Republicans thought so. Among Democrats, 67 percent thought the tax cuts were unfair while 32 percent of Republicans thought so. When asked whether the $350-billion tax cut package will help your family finances, 59 percent of those surveyed said no and 35 percent said yes. Tax cuts to many Americans mean just one thing: They pose a threat to the federal handouts they receive.

Here's my perhaps politically incorrect question: If one has no financial stake in our country, how much of a say-so should he have in its management? Let's put it another way: I do not own stock, and hence have no financial stake, in Ford Motor Company. Do you think I should have voting rights or any say-so in the management of the company?Let's put it another way: I do not own stock, and hence have no financial stake, in Ford Motor Company. Do you think I should have voting rights or any say-so in the management of the company? I'm guessing that the average sane person's answer is no. You say, "Williams, just where are you heading with this?" I'm not proposing that we take voting rights away from those who do not pay taxes. What I'm suggesting is that every American gets one vote in every federal election, plus another vote for each $20,000 he pays in federal taxes. With such a system, there'd be a modicum of linkage between one's financial stake in our country and his decision-making right. Of course, unequal voting power could be reduced by legislating lower taxes.


This is not a far-out idea. The founders worried about it. James Madison's concern about class warfare between the rich and the poor led him to favor the House of Representatives being elected by the people at large and the Senate elected by property owners. He said, "It is nevertheless certain, that there are various ways in which the rich may oppress the poor; in which property may oppress liberty; and that the world is filled with examples. It is necessary that the poor should have a defense against the danger. On the other hand, the danger to the holders of property cannot be disguised, if they be undefended against a majority without property."

Town Hall

Financial Regulation: The foxes are guarding the hen house

This post from CleanGovernmentNow on the upcoming hearings and financial regulation:

Are We At Farce Yet? The Show Trial of Goldman Sachs


What could possibly be more tragic than a 1400 page financial reform bill written by some of the key architects of financial ruin: Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and Timothy Geithner ?

How about a convenient show trial for Goldman Sachs, one of biggest beneficiaries of the bailout these clever men cooked up?

On the one hand, you have a handful of elite, well-connected financial intermediaries and their investing clients that loaded up on smart gimmicks that were too clever by half. These derivatives instruments went poof when underlying real estate values declined more than expected. In a normal world, this would mean those dabbling in these hot potatoes would get burned. But lo and behold, these cats, who are perfectly capable of fattening themselves up for slaughter, were saved from their own idiocy by the bailout of their chief casino on credit -- AIG.

That was the tragedy. It is a tragedy that continues with an effort by Dodd, Frank, Geithner to play house to the Wall Street whales -- for a cut of the take of course.

Now comes word that one of the main beneficiaries of the AIG bailout -- Goldman Sachs -- might have done something that might have looked like something that might be connected to something that could possibly be interpreted as greedy speculation.

What I do know is that the timing and subject matter has all the earmarks of a show trial meant to distract from a far greater set of sins that took place within the government before, during and after the financial crisis.

Baldwin: SPLC Publishes Patriot Hit List

By Chuck Baldwin

In a report on its web site dated April 2010, entitled "Meet The Patriots,"
the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) profiled "36 individuals at the heart of the resurgent [patriot] movement." (In reading the list, I counted only 35 "patriots" and 5 "enablers" for a total of 40. I'm not really sure how the SPLC came up with "36." Perhaps their ability to count is commensurate with their ability to appreciate patriotism and liberty.) The SPLC (founded by Morris Dees) sees itself as America's guardian against "right wing militias" and loves to label conservatives and libertarians that it doesn't like as "extremists." The SPLC is one of the most ultra-liberal organizations in the country and should be dismissed as a group of paranoid leftists, not worthy of thought or mention.

The sad truth is, however, our federal government has chosen to exalt the SPLC to the position of being its "go to" source for information regarding "potential domestic terrorists" and similar characterizations. As a result, the information and reports disseminated by SPLC wind up in police reports and bulletins all over the United States. As an example, the SPLC had its fingerprints all over the infamous MIAC report. One could even question whether the SPLC is merely a front organization for Big Brother.

Therefore, it is highly likely that the report negatively profiling 40 American patriots will find its way into Department of Homeland Security (DHS) fusion centers and be distributed to police agencies all across the country. So, should the 40 people who find themselves targeted by SPLC expect some kind of government/police attention? Are we really that close to Nazi-style persecution in America? If the SPLC has its way, the answer seems to be a definite yes.

I remind readers that in the book, Nazi Justiz: Law of the Holocaust (page 3), there were five steps to Hitler's plans for the destruction of European Jews. Step 1: Identification/registration of the targeted group as a public menace. Step 2: Ostracism of the targeted persons. Step 3: property confiscation. Step 4: Concentration of members into geographical locations. Step 5: Annihilation. In this latest report, SPLC seems quite willing to accomplish steps 1 and 2.

Here are the 40 names that are targeted in the SPLC report (and guess who is listed at the very top? Yours truly):

1. Chuck Baldwin, Pastor, Radio Broadcaster, Syndicated Columnist, 2008 Constitution Party Presidential nominee.
2. Joe Banister, former IRS special agent, tax protester.
3. Martin "Red" Beckman, tax protester
4. Catherine Bleish, head of the Liberty Restoration Project.
5. Chris Broughton, Second Amendment advocate, member of "We The People" group.
6. Bob Campbell, head of American Grand Jury.
7. Robert Crooks, Army veteran, retired commercial fisherman, anti-illegal immigration proponent.
8. Joseph Farah, CEO of World Net Daily
9. Gary Franchi, producer of "Camp FEMA: American Lockdown," national director of RestoreTheRepublic.com.
10. Al Garza, head of the Patriot's Coalition, an anti-illegal immigration group.
11. Ted Gunderson, retired FBI agent.
12. John Hassey, "The public face of Alabama's militia movement in the late 1990s," says SPLC.
13. Alex Jones, Radio Talk Show host.
14. Devvy Kidd, "prolific columnist, blogger, and public speaker."
15. Larry Kilgore, telecommunications consultant, former US Senate candidate from Texas, pro-secession advocate.
16. Cliff Kincaid, syndicated columnist and author, editor of AIM Report (Accuracy in Media's publication), founder and president of America's Survival, Inc., a UN watchdog group.
17. Mark Koernke, associated with the now-defunct Michigan Militia.
18. Richard Mack, former Graham County, Arizona, Sheriff, author, and public speaker.
19. Jack McLamb, former Phoenix, Arizona, police officer, author, and public speaker.
20. John McManus, former member of the US Marine Corps, president of the John Birch Society.
21. Daniel New, father of Michael New (the Army medic who refused to wear a UN uniform), author, public speaker.
22. Norm Olson, founder of the now-defunct Michigan Militia.
23. Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America.
24. Stewart Rhodes, Army veteran and Yale Law School graduate, founder of Oath Keepers.
25. Jon Roland, computer specialist, founder of the Constitution Society.
26. Luke Rudkowski, founder We Are Change.
27. Robert "Bob" Schultz, founder of We The People.
28. Joel Skousen, editor, World Affairs Brief.
29. Jim Stachowiak, Radio Talk Show host, "Longtime militia organizer,"
claims SPLC.
30. John Stadtmiller, founder, Republic Broadcasting Network.
31. Orly Taitz, California attorney, a leader in the push to make President Obama disclose his US birth certificate.
32. Amanda Teegarden, executive director of Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise.
33. Mike Vanderboegh, anti-Obama health care activist.
34. Paul Venable, former candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives.
35. Edwin Vieira, Jr., attorney, author, proponent of constitutional State militias, lecturer.
36. Michele Bachmann, US Representative from Minnesota.
37. Glenn Beck, Fox News Channel TV host.
38. Paul Broun, medical doctor, US Representative from Georgia.
39. Andrew Napolitano, attorney, former State judge in New Jersey, Fox News Channel legal analyist, lecturer.
40. Ron Paul, former member of the US Air Force, medical doctor, US Representative from Texas, 2008 Republican candidate for President.

See the SPLC report at:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/the-patriots?page=0,0

The SPLC, no doubt, sees each person on the above list as being a leader of the "radical right," a "conspiracist," and "antigovernment." But understand, the SPLC makes its living off of big-government, leftist ideology. To say it is a shill for Big Government Liberalism is an understatement. The SPLC is so radical it makes the ACLU look conservative!

Again, this SPLC report would not even merit a mention (much less an entire column) except for the fact that the SPLC has become a source of information fuelling anti-freedom hysteria for countless bureaucrats at the DHS. Add this to the previously exposed MIAC and DHS reports, and the Army major's report blaming "millennialist" Christians for much of the ills of the world, and a disturbing trend is quickly developing: so-called right-wing ANYTHING is being targeted and demonized as a "public menace."

But the lists that you and I are not seeing are even more disturbing.

Joel Skousen quotes (Radar Magazine's) Christopher Ketcham's The Last Roundup as asking if the federal government is "compiling a secret enemies list of citizens who could face detention?" He goes on to say, "A number of former government employees and intelligence sources with independent knowledge of domestic surveillance operations claim the program that caused the flap between [former assistant attorney general under John Ashcroft, James] Comey and the White House was related to a database of Americans who might be considered potential threats in the event of a national emergency.

Sources familiar with the program say that the government's data gathering has been overzealous and probably conducted in violation of federal law and the protection from unreasonable search and seizure guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.

"A veteran CIA intelligence analyst who maintains active high-level clearances and serves as an advisor to the Department of Defense in the field of emerging technology tells Radar that during the 2004 hospital room drama [between former Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Attorney General Ashcroft, in an attempt by Card to coerce a very ill Ashcroft to authorize President Bush's secretive domestic spying programs as his assistant--and acting--attorney general had refused to do so], James Comey expressed concern over how this secret database was being used 'to accumulate otherwise private data on non-targeted U.S. citizens for use at a future time.'"

The report further states, "According to a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations, 'There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reason, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived "enemies of the state" almost instantaneously.'" At this point, Skousen noted, "And that is precisely why the census bureau took a GPS coordinate on every front door in America, secretly linking this to dissidents and their known addresses."

This database of Americans who are perceived to be potential "enemies of the state" goes by the code name "Main Core." And according to the report, "One knowledgeable source claims that 8 million Americans are now listed in Main Core as potentially suspect. In the event of a national emergency, these people could be subject to everything from heightened surveillance and tracking to direct questioning and possibly even detention.

"Officials at the Department of Homeland Security begin actively scrutinizing people who--for a tremendously broad set of reasons--have been flagged in Main Core as potential domestic threats [sound familiar?]. Some of these individuals might receive a letter or a phone call, others a request to register with local authorities. Still others might hear a knock on the door and find police or armed soldiers outside. In some instances, the authorities might just ask a few questions. Other suspects might be arrested and escorted to federal holding facilities, where they could be detained without counsel until the state of emergency is no longer in effect."

The report also noted that former Assistant Attorney General James Comey "had concluded that the use of that 'Main Core' database compromised the legality of the overall NSA domestic surveillance project. 'If Main Core does exist,' says Philip Giraldi, a former CIA counterterrorism officer and an outspoken critic of the agency, 'the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is its likely home. If a master list is being compiled, it would have to be in a place where there are no legal issues--the CIA and FBI would be restricted by oversight and accountability laws--so I suspect it is at DHS, which as far as I know operates with no such restraints.' Giraldi notes that DHS already maintains a central list of suspected terrorists and has been freely adding people who pose no reasonable threat to domestic security."

So, is there a secret list of 8 million "unfriendly" Americans kept by DHS (if there is, dear reader, you are probably on it!)? Does anyone reading this column doubt that our federal government is more than willing and capable of doing such a thing? All of us are quite familiar with the government's "no fly" or "flagged" airline passenger list. I can personally attest to the authenticity of this list, as airport officials in San Antonio, Texas, told me that I'm on it. I also made it to the "list of three" that were named in the MIAC report (the other two were Ron Paul and Bob Barr). And now I am on the SPLC list of "patriots" (not a compliment in the SPLC lexicon). Wow! I never realize how popular I was! (With the exception of Ron Paul, I'm probably on more lists than anyone in America.)

Who would ever have thought that the day would come in America when to speak up for freedom, constitutional government, and the principles expressed by our Founding Fathers would land one on a government watch list? Well, that day is here, my friend! No doubt, the major media and federal government--in order to further ostracize patriotic, God-fearing Americans--will use the SPLC patriot hit list as a vehicle to carry our country further down the road of oppression.

But what the radical left fearmongers at the Southern Poverty Law Center fail to realize is that the more they try to marginalize and ostracize American patriots such as you and me, the more they isolate themselves from America's future, because millions and millions of hard-working, God-fearing, liberty-loving Americans are not going to sit back and let Morris Dees and his cabal of Big Government elitists destroy the principles of freedom in our land.

So, people such as Morris Dees can put us on as many lists as they like; we will never let liberty die! And the more they try to demonize us, the more people will want to join with us. You see, freedom burns deep and strong in the hearts of real Americans. And that's something the SPLC can't extinguish--no matter how many lists it makes!

Now may be a great time for a good book.

The rats scurry as the ship goes down.

The blood is in the water with respect to Supervisor's Tim Johnson and Karl Banks, Engineer Rudy Warnock and now, Eric Hamer, who himself has not exactly been a good steward of taxpayer money during his time as Board Attorney. Johnson is under fire for his association with the now defunct FAIM charity (also see below article). Karl Banks is getting a close look for potential ethical violations, and Warnock's days are numbered as the State Auditor finally begins to look into his practices.

The best thing the other Supervisor Paul Griffin can hope to do right now is to join Supervisor's John Bell Crosby and DI Smith in ordering a full audit of Madison County's books, and hopes the voters reward him for his change of heart. Either that, or he can take the path of Administrator Mark Houston and jump ship. Otherwise, Griffin can expect to drown with the rest of the rats.

From the Madison County Journal:

Bill Murphy was the highest paid charity bingo director in the state until regulators determined he was operating the dump for personal gain and shut him down.

The Secretary of State ordered the charity shut and levied fines totaling $50,000 against the organization and Murphy.

FAIM paid Murphy $155,000 in 2008 and spent only $22,000 on actual charitable giving, testimony showed.

Murphy's actions are indefensible, but look who's lurking around the bingo hall, District 2 Madison County Supervisor Tim Johnson, the charity's PR hack and their former lobbyist.

Murphy's attorney, Eric Hamer, - who happens to be the attorney for the Madison County Board of Supervisors, Murphy's former employer, as it would happen - argued during hearings that Murphy's compensation shouldn't be in question, claiming there are no statutory rules governing such things. Perhaps, but decent people have morals and principles.

To make things even more interesting, an asset sharing agreement FAIM had with Lynn Johnson, Tim Johnson's wife, was the red flag for regulators, they said.

What kind of confidence can Mississippians have in charities - or our elected public officials (Tim Johnson is president of the Madison County Board of Supervisors) -with these kinds of shenanigans going on?

If bingogate wasn't enough of a scandal, Johnson has been threatening to sue the state Department of Transportation over the failed $37 million Reunion interchange the county was going to build and give to the federal government.

Nearly 300 Madison countians showed up at a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors in January to protest "wasteful and misdirected spending" of county tax dollars, including Reunion.

Examiners from the State Auditor's Office are currently reviewing engineering contracts connected to Reunion. The real meat of that story will be found in the subcontracts the county engineer arranged.

Bill Murphy should be ashamed and so should Tim Johnson and Eric Hamer.

What kind of people stand behind the kind of fraud Murphy was committing?

Read the entire Editorial at the Madison County Journal

The wheels are coming off. Ain't it GRAND?

Local Blogger digging in Madison County Supervisors backgrounds uncovers potential ethics violations by Karl Banks

Kingfish over at Jackson Jambalaya continues his investigative digging in Madison County Supervisors dealings, and it looks like he may have found where some of the bodies are buried. It appears Supervisor Karl Banks buried some of them in shallow graves.

Former Bush advisor says GOP should back immigration reform

By CHARLES C. FOSTER

HOUSTON CHRONICLE

The political and economic climate in our country is right for American leaders to fix our broken immigration system. Although they don't always agree on the solutions, Democrats and Republicans are in a position to forge a much-needed bipartisan consensus that a problem exists, and our Texas congressional delegation should take the lead on a bipartisan basis. No state or city is more affected by immigration than Texas and Houston. And as unfortunate as it is, the current U.S. economic recession has resulted in an exodus of illegal workers who came to our country for jobs that now don't exist. Before the economy resumes steam and new jobs again attract large numbers of workers across our borders, it is essential we confront the problem.

Given the state of our economy, President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress know they cannot pass immigration reform without significant Republican support, and that has been a tough sell to date. GOP congressional members will tell you that their base strongly opposes illegal immigration and are angry when illegal immigrants commit crimes and abuse our social services.

Unfortunately, merely being angry about illegal immigration does not constitute effective policy. Republican leaders should recognize that no one supports illegal immigration and we all agree that with an estimated 12 million illegal aliens in the United States, some break the law and use health care and other services (even if actual statistics show that they do so in percentages lower than other groups in society).

A Republican policy of opposing both illegal immigration and at the same time any meaningful immigration reform results in a dangerous affirmation of the status quo. That is a critical point missed by radio and TV commentators and other shrill anti-immigrant groups that fail to offer realistic answers. When pressed in one of the GOP presidential primary debates about his proposal for the estimated 12 million illegal workers here, Mitt Romney could only say that if elected president, he would issue an executive order giving all illegal aliens 90 days to depart the country. Ultimately, all sides agree that having risked their lives and treasure, illegal workers will not leave on their own and it would be logistically impossible, inhumane and economically insane for the government to round up 12 million men, women and children and deport them.

Just building a longer, higher, more durable fence is no answer, either. Candidly, fence contractors and Border Patrol officials concede that no barrier is foolproof. Illegal aliens will climb over, around, under and even through any fence that is built as long as there is the powerful magnet of higher-paying jobs in the U.S. Ironically, as we have increased border enforcement over the last several decades, the primary beneficiary has been organized crime, which simply charges a greater premium for smuggling services. Further, a harder border only fences illegal immigrants inside our country rather than allowing them to return home and maintain family ties. Legislation mandating use of electronic verification (E-Verify) of all new hires by itself would only push illegal workers further into the underground economy.

Any serious proposal to deal with illegal immigration should include the following points:

* A reliable forge-proof identity document. To dry up the job magnet, Congress should provide a uniform forgery-proof biometric document in the form of an upgraded Social Security card so employers can determine on the spot who is authorized to work. Congress failed in 1986 when it designated the easily copied Social Security card as the primary document to establish U.S. work authorization and did not require that it be upgraded. At the same time, Congress should increase penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants and address the independent-contractor loopholes that allow employers to bypass verification laws. That alone would be far more effective than quadrupling the Border Patrol.

• Temporary worker program. Most illegal workers who come to get a job only want to work, save money and go home. Yet there is no viable temporary worker program for semi- or low-skilled workers. Congress should restrict same to applicants from North America, thus permitting circular immigration, and protect U.S. workers by requiring proof of prior recruitment of U.S. workers at the prevailing wage.

• Registration of illegal workers. Congress should require those here illegally to come forward within a reasonable time frame to be identified, registered and fingerprinted. Those without criminal records would be eligible for an interim status that would allow them to work, pay taxes and travel in and out of the country. Such status could be extended only upon payment of a fine for violating U.S. immigration law and back taxes and registering in English-language and civics courses. Further extension would also be conditioned upon completion of the latter.

• No automatic citizenship. No one would be allowed to cut in line and apply for lawful permanent residency (LPR) or so-called green-card status ahead of someone who has already legally applied through family ties or a U.S. employer. Thus, at best it would take eight to 12 years to establish eligibility to apply for LPR. Furthermore, with interim status and authorization to work in the United States and travel home, many would never seek to apply for LPR. Those who did would not be eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship for another five years. Based upon current statistics, a smaller percentage of those individuals who achieve LPR would gradually apply for citizenship. Thus, immigration reform would not result in an increase in any new voters in our country for decades, but their U.S. citizen children will vote.

By being viewed as obstructionists, Republicans risk alienating Hispanic-American voters who interpret the heated anti-immigrant rhetoric as anti-Hispanic. In the not-too-distant future, this growing generation of Texans will attain political power just as other ethnic groups did in the past. While those voters share many values with the Republican Party, they could condemn the Republican Party in Texas to minority status for years unless it can find a way to support realistic, common-sense immigration reform.

Foster was the senior immigration policy adviser to President George W. Bush during the 2000 and 2004 elections and today chairs the Immigration Task Force of the Greater Houston Partnership.

A Lesson In Deflection

Under pressure from Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler and a number of Madison County residents for a too-cozy relationship with County Engineer Rudy Warnock, Board of Supervisor's President Tim Johnson is deflecting accusations by pointing the finger back at the Mayor. Pointing to a legal contract between the City of Madison and developer Richard Skinner and calling it "extortion" doesn't make it so. In fact, Skinner and the Mayor on behalf of the city both voluntarily signed the agreement.

Unless someone comes forth to claim they witnessed the Mayor pointing a gun at Skinner's head and demanding he sign, this is much ado about nothing. In fact, if Madison County, under the leadership of Supervisor Johnson, would uphold their end of the deal on the Reunion Parkway project and complete it by December of 2011, then the money would be returned to Mr. Skinner as the deal clearly states (posted on Jackson Jambalaya). Then again if the State Auditor would subpoena the UNapproved subcontracts for enviromental work that Engineer Warnock ordered and then way overbilled for on the Reunion project and a couple of others, it would go a long way to help return money to the county that could then be used on construction.

It is a typical response from Johnson: create a problem by using your position to provide a loop hole for your friends to gouge the taxpayer, while shifting money from the original project to others which in turn slows the project (further providing your buddy the engineer with a chance to re-engineer the project). And then, when it comes to light what you have done and bites you in the rear end, blame it on the accuser.  Of course the tactic is used often by the other two Supes in the voting block of three, as well, as my friend Kingfish at Jackson Jambalaya reports and is busy uncovering today.

The lack of ethics in DC ain't got nothing on us!



CLASSY!

Related Posts: Madison County Supervisor's lobbying adds to county's woes

Obama's likely nominee will have to defend stance on military recruitment

Foes may target Kagan's stance on military recruitment at Harvard

Four months after becoming dean of Harvard Law School, Elena Kagan sent an e-mail to students and faculty lamenting that military recruiters had arrived on campus, once again, in violation of the school's anti-discrimination policy. But under government rules, she wrote, the entire university would jeopardize its federal aid unless the law school helped the recruiters, despite the armed forces' ban on openly gay members.

"This action causes me deep distress," Kagan wrote that morning in October 2003. "I abhor the military's discriminatory recruitment policy." It is, she said, "a profound wrong -- a moral injustice of the first order."

Her stance put Kagan squarely in sync with professors at Harvard and other law schools -- and wholly out of sync with the Supreme Court, which later ruled unanimously that the schools were wrong. Four years after that ruling, Kagan, now the U.S. solicitor general, is a leading candidate to succeed retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Conservatives have signaled that if President Obama nominates her, her stance on this issue -- like perhaps no other in her career -- dangles as ripe fruit that opponents would grab to thwart her confirmation.

"For someone who has been so guarded on so many issues, she used strikingly extreme rhetoric. 'Moral injustice of the first order' would seem fit for something like the Holocaust," said Ed Whelan, president of the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center. "This is one issue that provides some jurisprudential clues as to how much her reading of the law will be biased by her policy views. If she is the nominee, that is an angle that I would press."

The Washington Post

Corn farmers enjoy nice weather, increased acreage

Mississippi’s 2010 corn crop is off to a promising start after recent sunny skies and favorable soil conditions gave farmers a chance to plant and manage their fields.

“The nice weather during the past week has allowed a tremendous amount of field work to get done, particularly in North Mississippi where farmers can finally begin planting corn,” said grain crops agronomist Erick Larson of the Mississippi State University Extension Service. “This was the first good weather that many farmers have had in a while.”

Corn planting is rapidly concluding in many areas of the state where rainfall has been light for a few weeks. Young corn plants are growing quickly in response to warm weather, and growers are applying fertilizer and preparing for the next phase of production.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts Mississippi will be one of eight states to increase corn acreage in 2010. The planting intentions report estimate for the state corn crop is 800,000 acres.

Mississippi Business Journal

Madison County Administrator's Resignation: Timing is Everything.

Makes you wonder if the ongoing audit has anything to do with it, huh? Houston is the man in charge of making sure the county books are in order with respect to roadwork and, considering he just took the job three months ago, it seems like a hasty retreat. It was Houston who sent out an email to the Board of Supervisors before the State Auditor's Audit Response Team moved in to "review" some subcontracts, giving the Board Pres and his buddy Warnock a chance to get their press releases ready.

Houston resigns as County Administrator

Madison County Administrator Mark Houston will resign at the end of the month to take a job in the private sector.

Houston offered his resignation to the Board of Supervisors Monday with members saying they were unsure when or if they would name a permanent replacement for Houston.

He called the position one of the most rewarding experiences of his life, but said the opportunity to work in the private sector was to good to pass up.

Houston was named County Administrator in January after former County Administrator Donnie Caughman retired.

The Madison County Journal

Extramarital sex, earthquakes and blindness.

As an adolescent, the old guys at deer camp would always warn me that too much of a certain thing would cause you to go blind. I won't elaborate on exactly what the elder members were speaking about. But needless to say I didn't grow hair in my palms either.

The warning that "you'll go blind" also extended to just about anything a grandparent or elderly person didn't want you to do.

Looks like the old timers in Iran have decided the blindness trick wasn't doing it so they have moved on to outright Armageddon.

Extramarital sex fuels earthquakes, warns Iran cleric

A SENIOR Iranian cleric has claimed that dolled-up women incite extramarital sex, causing more earthquakes in Iran, a country that straddles several fault lines, newspapers reported today.

"Many women who dress inappropriately ... cause youths to go astray, taint their chastity and incite extramarital sex in society, which increases earthquakes," Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi told worshippers at overnight prayers in Tehran.

"Calamities are the result of people's deeds," he was quoted as saying by reformist Aftab-e Yazd newspaper.

"We have no way but conform to Islam to ward off dangers."

The Islamic dress code is mandatory in Iran, which has been under clerical rule for more than three decades.

The Australian

Undoubtedly, there is also a connection to Global Warming. Maybe all those dolled-up women are causing men to get "heated" which in turn is causing the earth to warm, and the Earthquakes to wreak more havoc.

Today's Quakes Deadlier Than In Past


Study: Seismic Activity 5 Times More Energetic Than 20 Years Ago Because Of Global Warming

(AP) New research compiled by Australian scientist Dr. Tom Chalko shows that global seismic activity on Earth is now five times more energetic than it was just 20 years ago.

The research proves that destructive ability of earthquakes on Earth increases alarmingly fast and that this trend is set to continue, unless the problem of "global warming" is comprehensively and urgently addressed.

The analysis of more than 386,000 earthquakes between 1973 and 2007 recorded on the US Geological Survey database proved that the global annual energy of earthquakes on Earth began increasing very fast since 1990.

Dr. Chalko said that global seismic activity was increasing faster than any other global warming indicator on Earth and that this increase is extremely alarming.

CBS

More comparisons to '94

Mistrust in Government: 'Perfect Storm'

Last time the weather got this bad (1980 and 1994), big things happened.

Only 22 percent of all Americans surveyed say they trust the government in Washington almost always or most of the time -- among the lowest measures in half a century - according to a new Pew Research Center survey released tonight.

The results point to "a perfect storm'' of public unrest, Pew reports -- "a dismal economy, an unhappy public, (a) bitter, partisan-based backlash and epic discontent with Congress and elected officials.

There have been political ramifications in the past when the public mood grew this sour: In 1980, Ronald Reagan unseated President Jimmy Carter. In 1994, the GOP won the House.

The current level of public skepticism was matched previously only in the periods leading up to both events -- from 1992 to 1995 (reaching a low of 17 percent trust in government in the summer of 1994), and from 1978 to 1980 (bottoming out at 25 percent in 1980).

The Swamp

Politico runs piece on Barbours possible run for White House in 2012

Barbour, advisers privately mull 2012 run

POLITICO has learned that Barbour is weighing the prospect of a 2012 White House bid, and convened a private meeting last Thursday with a group of some of his oldest and closest advisers, some of whom flew in from the East Coast to Jackson. The gathering stretched for six hours, during which time the topic of a presidential run was discussed.

One adviser familiar with the state capital sit-down said that Barbour concluded that he did not need to make a decision now and that the group should meet again after this fall’s election.

“He’d instantly be in the top-tier of candidates,” said Fred Malek, one of the GOP’s leading moneymen who is working with Barbour on governor’s races this year but is also close with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

“Haley starts with enormous credibility,” said former Bush adviser Karl Rove. “He has been a very successful governor, a very successful party chairman, and his stewardship at the RGA has put him in touch with some movers and shakers he may not have known before. And every one of those experiences has broadened his army of advisers and deepened the commitment of the ones he already had.”

Barbour is already being urged to consider a run by some of the GOP’s top donors, say multiple sources inside and outside his camp.

“To the degree that there is an establishment that is still relevant, a lot of those people have said to him, ‘I don’t want to get involved in 2012 until I know what you’re doing,’” said one Barbour adviser.

Further, Barbour has warmed to the possibility in part because the Republican competition for the nomination still is sparse.

“There’s no dominant frontrunner and there’s even debate about who came in second last time,” said Ed Rogers, Barbour’s former lobbying partner and friend dating back to their work together on President Ford’s 1976 campaign.

As formidable as he would be in a GOP primary—particularly if he becomes the only Southerner in the race—Barbour’s vulnerabilities in a general election would be considerable.

As a former corporate lobbyist with a roster of controversial clients, he’d have Democratic oppo researchers salivating. More than that, is the question of appearance: does the GOP really want to nominate the governor of Mississippi—one who looks and sounds every bit like the Yazoo City, Mississippi, native he is—to take on the country’s first black president?

Democrats appear to relish the contrast and are already seizing on the race issue.

“Being someone who maintains that slavery was an ‘insignificant’ episode in history that didn't ‘amount to diddly’ isn't the type of profile I'd base a national campaign on,” said Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan, alluding to Barbour’s comments on CNN Sunday about Virginia GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell’s controversial recognition of Confederate history. “But, hey, he can always fall back on the fact that he's a former lobbyist.”

What Barbour actually said in the interview was that McDonnell’s resolution—which originally made no mention of slavery—was “not significant” and that the flap amounted to “trying to make a big deal out of something doesn't amount to diddly.”

He also said that “anybody that thinks that you have to explain to people that slavery is a bad thing—I think that goes without saying.”

Still, Barbour’s breezy treatment of the delicate issue, and the Democrats’ aggressive response, illustrates what he’d face in a matchup with Obama.

Read more at Politico

DNC to pour money into midterms while RNC Chairman Steele's downward spiral affects GOP message

Politico is reporting that the DNC and President Obama are preparing to pour in large sums of cash to buy the November midterms. This is a good sign that the Dems are scared of the potential loss of seats this November, and that they are fully aware that the new Health Care Law provided them little to no bounce. If anything it is becoming more of an albatross as the days pass.

The Democratic National Committee will contribute more than $50 million in cash and services for November’s midterm elections, a top Democratic official tells POLITICO.

The payments — for House, Senate and governor’s races — will start in June. Aides are negotiating the split between cash and services.

The report also indicates that the Republican National Committee will be far behind in spending due to the lack of leadership from Chairman Michael Steele.

GOP campaign committees are preparing to get less cash from the Republican National Committee than in the past, in part because big donors are frustrated with the leadership of Chairman Michael Steele.

Steele's most recent decision to speak at Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference has only added fuel to what is now a very big fire.

Reuters: Obama, Clinton fundraiser admits $292 million fraud

A wealthy businessman who raised money for leading Democratic Party politicians, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, pleaded guilty on Thursday to defrauding three major banks out of $292.2 million in loan transactions.

Hassan Nemazee, 60, who once ran a private equity firm, admitted in Manhattan federal court to defrauding Bank of America Corp of more than $142 million, Citigroup Inc of $74.9 million and HSBC Holdings Plc of $74.9 million to pay his debt to Citigroup.

During the plea proceeding, Iranian-born Nemasee, who owned several multimillion dollar properties and had interests in various companies and hedge funds, said he had tried to get out of financial difficulty starting in the 1990s.

Read more at Reuters

JJ: Stacy Pickering: What the hell?

Why exactly would Pickering notify a target of an examination three days before the examination he was coming? Any auditor worth his salt knows such audits are unannounced so the subject can't "prepare" for the audit. If this is standard procedure, then maybe we need a new State Auditor.

Jackson Jambalya

Related Posts: Warnock tells WLBT he embraces audit, but will there be a full investigation?

Mississippi’s foreclosures more than double

The number of Mississippi homeowners facing or hit by foreclosure has more than doubled over the past year.

That is according to RealtyTrac, which tracks foreclosures nationwide.

In March, 518 Mississippi properties were targeted for some kind of foreclosure action, ranging from a notice of default to outright repossession. In March 2009, there were 221 such actions in the state.

Last month, 224 properties were actually taken from their owners. That is down from 333 in February, but up from only 42 in March 2009.

Mississippi ranks 45th on the foreclosure list.

Nationally, foreclosure actions are up 16 percent from a year ago. RealtyTrac says that is due to foreclosure moratoriums ending and banks working through problem loans.

Mississippi Business Journal

AP: Barbour signs transportation bill

JACKSON — Gov. Haley Barbour has signed a bill authorizing more than $300 million in bonds to finance highways, bridges and other transportation projects.


It includes $90 million to improve highways leading to a Toyota plant that has been built, but not yet opened, near Blue Springs in Northeast Mississippi. Barbour calls Toyota roads “very, very important.”

The bill has $100 million to repair or replace state highway bridges, $20 million for local bridges and $20 million for county roads.

It also funds improvements to U.S. 49 near Camp Shelby south of Hattiesburg, and to build new interchanges at the camp’s north and south gates.

A commission made up of the governor, the treasurer and the attorney general will vote later on issuing the bonds.

Despite attempts to brand TEA Partiers, the only thing that sticks is the truth.

The Boston Herald's Michael Graham covered the TEA Party in Boston yesterday and reports that the lefties are getting desperate. Even though Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker, it seems the classiness of the participants to stay focused on the reason for the event made them the real stars of the show.











Yolk’s on the lefties

By Michael Graham

Sarah Palin, star of the Boston Tea Party? Hardly.

And it wasn’t me or any of the other talk show types populating the stage on Boston Common, either.

No, it was the Tea Party crowd itself who stole the show. And not just with their numbers. They proved that the Tea Partiers are ready for prime time.

I’m not talking about the organization, though Holliston mom Christen Varley and her volunteers did an amazing job on a shoestring budget. Were there some technical glitches? Sure. But it didn’t throw the thousands of attendees off their game.

Nothing did. Not even flying eggs.

“I dodged the first one, but couldn’t get away from the second,” said Jack Lambert, a retired Navy vet from Natick. “It nailed me right on the chest.”

But Jack said no thanks when offered a paper towel. “I’m going to wear this badge with honor.”

How classy, how smart. For the rest of the day, the classlessness and anger of the Tea Party foes spoke for itself from his jacket.

Not that the handful of lefty nuts needed any help. Their ignorance was on full display in their vile signs, signs that had they not been about Palin, would have been denounced as sexist by these same Cambridge libs. But instead of inspiring anger among the Tea Partiers, the counter-protests inspired good humor and sincere interest. Attendees reported that attempting to debate with the protesters was a waste because they knew so little about Obamacare, the stimulus, the debt or any of the issues motivating the Tea Partiers.

So why were they there? Ironically, they appeared to be drawn by Palin’s celebrity. “They were the kind of people who think Palin really said she could see Russia from her house,” one caller told me.

Then again, given that The Boston Globe-Democrat made that same suggestion on its front page. . .

No matter. The Tea Partiers knew why they were there. Their signs were about government power, individual freedom and fiscal sanity. You’d have to be illiterate to leave Wednesday’s rally still asking the media’s favorite question: “Why are the Tea Partiers really angry?” Which means that unless you work for MSNBC, you should know what’s up.

My two favorite signs? I loved the Tea Partiers’ embrace of inept mockery in: “I can see November from my house.” (They can.)

The Boston Herald

Democrats Have Increased Taxes by $670 Billion and Counting…

List Includes 14 Tax Hikes Totaling Over $316 Billion on Middle Class Families.

Since January of 2009, President Obama and Congressional Democrats have enacted into law gross tax increases totaling more than $670 billion, or more than $2,100 for every man, woman and child in the United States. The list of tax increases includes at least 14 violations of the President’s pledge not to raise taxes on Americans earning less than $200,000 for singles and $250,000 for married couples.



TAX INCREASES ENACTED

•New tax on individuals who do not purchase government approved health insurance

•New tax on employers who fail to fully comply with government health insurance mandates*

•New 40% excise tax on certain high cost health plans *

•New ban on the purchase of over the counter drugs using funds from FSAs, HSAs and HRAs*

•Increase the Medicare tax on wages and self employment income by 0.9% and impose a new 3.8% surtax on certain investment income (for individuals over $200,000 and couples over $250,000)

•Increase, from 7.5% to 10% of income, the threshold after which individuals can deduct out of pocket medical expenses*

•Impose a new $2,500 annual cap on FSA contributions *

•New annual tax on health insurance *

•New annual tax on brand name pharmaceuticals *

•New 2.3% excise tax on certain medical devices *

•New 10% tax on indoor UV tanning services *

•New tax on insured and self insured health plans *

•Double the penalty for non qualified HSA distributions *

•Eliminate the deduction for expenses allocable to Medicare Part D subsidy

•Limit the deduction for compensation to officers, employees and directors of certain health insurance providers

•Require information reporting on payments to corporations

•Impose additional requirements for section 501(c)(3) hospitals

•Make “black liquor” ineligible for cellulosic biofuel producer credit

•Codify economic substance doctrine and impose penalties for underpayments

•Tobacco tax increase and expanded enforcement authority*

•Repeal guidance allowing certain taxpayers to claim losses of an acquired corporation

•Federal Unemployment surtaxes extended through June 2011 *

•Delay of rules to reduce the double taxation of worldwide American employers until 2018 (worldwide interest allocation)

•Delay of rules to reduce the double taxation of worldwide American employers until 2021 (worldwide interest allocation)

TOTAL = $670.341 BILLION AND COUNTING…

*VIOLATES PRESIDENT’S PLEDGE TO NOT INCREASE TAXES ON MIDDLE CLASS

Click here to see a breakdown of the numbers from the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee

Now it's the established Repubs who want to be like Ron Paul

Brad Jackson of the New Ledger responds as if the latest Rasmussen Poll showing Texas Congressman Ron Paul would give President Obama a run for his money in a general election is a surprise. A quick look at Paul's history both as a Congressman and a Presidential candidate show he was TEA Party when TEA Party wasn't cool.

Paul already had a band of unlikely allies in his run for the Presidency in 2008 that included Conservatice Republicans, disenchanted Democrats and Libertarians who just want to be left the hell alone. Those three groups are what now make up the core of the TEA Party movement.

Jackson's referral to Paul as looney doesn't seem to take into account that the "ole' bird" has led the fight for some pretty popular TEA Party type legislation in the Fed Audit Bill, or ideas of smaller government, less intrusion in our lives, better monetary policy, and bringing an end to world interventionism. He doesn't seem to take into account that it is the Republicans that have moved toward Paul's message, a message that has been far more consistent for not just years, but decades.

Ron Paul and Obama Neck and Neck in Rasmussen Poll

by Brad Jackson

No, this is not a joke. A new Rasmussen poll shows that in a race between Barack Obama and perennial GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul, that the nutty Texas Congressman would come within one point of the current President. According to Rasmussen, “42% of likely voters would vote for Obama and 41% would vote for Paul. This, despite the fact that Paul gets lower support from Republicans (66%) than Obama does from Democrats (79%).”

That’s right, Obama and RON PAUL would be practically tied. Now of course, Ron Paul will not be the GOP nominee, but this has to look bad if your in Camp Obama and surveying 2012. If you’re neck and neck with the local looney, God knows how you’ll fair against a serious contender.

Rasmussen also says that within the Political Class, the Paul/Obama matchup would be a blowout. While 58% of Mainstream voters favor Paul, 95% of the Political Class vote for Obama. However, it is that very "Political Class" that is on the outs with mainstream voters, and why Republicans are on the outside trying to fight their way into the TEA Party movement.

Mainstream voters numbers have grown, and they have grown weary of the pendulum. Memories of George W. Bush's spendthrift bailouts are still fresh. So, it is Republicans trying to convince the TEA Party movers and shakers that they are, well . . . more like Paul.

Warnock tells WLBT he embraces audit, but will there be a full investigation?

Rudy Warnock has told WLBT that he welcomes an audit of his engineering firms dealings with Madison County. But if, as Warnock says, all the subcontracts through the county have been approved, then is it likely the smoking gun exists elsewhere? If there are subcontracts outside of the scope of the Board of Supervisors approval, then will the investigation go further beyond the Madison County Courthouse to find them?

Of course Warnock can be welcoming. He already knows what they're going to find in Madison County's records. As has always been the case, the question isn't whether there were approved subcontracts. The question is whether there are UNapproved subcontracts.

A Madison County engineer said he welcomes an audit of his engineering firm by the state auditor's office.

After an independent audit was done on Rudy Warnock by a group of residents, Madison's mayor wanted to take a closer look at fees he charged her city.

That audit was done by engineer Richard McAfee of Florida.

In his report he claimed to have found multiple instances of excessive charges to the City of Madison and questionable payments to the Warnock and Associates Engineering Firm.

After examining the report, Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler said she believes Warnock sub-contracted much of the work out for a lower fee.

She also accuses Warnock of redesigning road projects simply to increase his profit.

In a press release Tuesday, Warnock stated "I have done absolutely nothing wrong and I embrace this examination by the state auditor."

Warnock went on to say he is looking forward to the results and will be waiting by the phone for the mayor's apology when it is over.

It's not like there isn't already proof of the willingness to skirt the rules of Open Meetings Law as the Madison County Journal reported in October 2009.

the Mississippi Ethics Commission hearing officer found that Northern District Transportation Commissioner Bill Minor and Southern District Transportation Commissioner Wayne Brown did "knowingly and willfully" violate the Open Meetings Act when they met with District 2 Supervisor Tim Johnson and County Engineer Rudy Warnock at Nick's Restaurant on Aug. 10.

MC Journal: Secretary of State's order shuts charity, fines director $25K

The Secretary of State's office ordered a Ridgeland-based charity to close Wednesday and issued $50,000 in fines against the organization and its executive director.

Fine Arts Institute of Mississippi, or FAIM, was ordered to close Wednesday after Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann issued a final order in an ongoing investigation into alleged fraud.

Madison County Journal

Despite declining support, Steele keeps digging the hole.

Peter Flaherty of the conservative National Legal And Policy Center relays a conversation with Angela Sailor, the Republican National Committee's director of coalitions:

RNC Chair Steele Refuses to Cancel Speech at Sharpton Event

"Angela Sailor, the Republican National Committee’s Director of Coalitions, called me today to inform me that Michael Steele will speak as scheduled at the annual conference of Al Sharpton’s group, the National Action Network (NAN). On April 4, NLPC asked Steele to withdraw from the event, which takes place tomorrow through Friday in New York City. When I went through each of our objections, Ms. Sailor gave me some permutation of the following: 'Chairman Steele is going to New York to speak to 500-1,000 people in a ballroom to ask them to support Republican candidates.' When I asked if Steele might have better luck elsewhere, she claimed that many of the attendees are 'independent,' who she characterized as 'swing voters'. When I queried whether most attendees, who are paying for travel and New York hotel rooms, were more likely activists committed to Sharpton’s message, Sailor stuck to the script. She responded: 'If we take time to talk to folks in a ballroom, they will support our candidates if we go and ask them.'"

On Feb. 26, 2009, the 41-year-old Sailor was named director of the RNC’s coalitions department, an office charged with evaluating “every outside constituent organization in the country at the local, state and national levels.” The department is integral to fulfilling Steele’s goal to reach out to minority voting groups on a full-time basis, not just during election season. It also strives to connect to young voters through social media, and trains grassroots activists about using new media to advance the GOP's agenda.

To show he meant business, Steele made the coalitions group an independent departmentwithin the RNC, complete with its own budget and a handsome salary for Sailor.

Is this starting to sound like a Chairman playing loose and goosey with RNC money? It should, because he is.

McMillen is milking it for all it's worth

NMissCommentor: Constance McMillen to be a Grand Marshal for 41st Annual LGBT Pride March, NYC

Scholarship offers, calls from Hollywood celebrities, my how skewed this whole affair has become. The poor girl probably thinks this will be what the rest of her life will be like.

$3M federal grant to help center for river power

A $3 million federal economic stimulus grant will be used to establish a center for commercial development for turbines that can be placed in the Mississippi River and other powerful rivers to generate electricity.

Officials with Tulane University, which is guiding the River Sphere project, said the center could mark a big step forward in the science of hydrokinetics - using flowing water without a dam for generating electricity.

Calling the river one of Louisiana's best potential assets in alternative forms of power, Douglas Meffert, executive director of the project, said hydrokinetic power "is the sleeping giant of energy."

Using the river to generate power is well beyond the thinking stage.

Several companies have received preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to place turbines in the Mississippi and other rivers that would be turned by flowing water. Several different technologies are emerging to do that, such as totally underwater generation and turbines connected to barges on the surface that would do the generation.

Plans call for the turbines to be mounted on pylons below shipping lanes and attached to bridge abutments.

Forbes

Barbour to reveal his new Miss. budget blueprint

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour holds a news conference Wednesday to reveal his new recommendations for the state budget.

His announcement comes six days before legislators return to Jackson to finish writing a $5.5 billion state spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Barbour released his initial budget in November, but lawmakers have rejected some of his ideas, including his proposal to merge the eight public universities into five.

Barbour spokesman Dan Turner says the Republican governor still wants lawmakers to be careful with the state's financial reserves and to give agency directors more flexibility in their individual budgets.

It's not clear how long it will take lawmakers to finish their budget talks.

Next on Obama's hit list: small contractors

On April 22 (Earth Day!) new EPA regulations go into effect that could take down many a small contractor.

It’s all about the rules on lead paint removal, which heretofore had been enforced only for work on homes that were old enough to have lead paint and in which small children or pregnant women (the populations at risk) resided. But that’s not good enough for our nanny state; oh no. Now the rules will apply to work done on any home built before 1978, eliminating the previous sensible escape hatch whereby a homeowner could opt out of the regulations if there were no at-risk individuals living in the house.

You might ask why it is that a homeowner contemplating a remodeling job should be deprived of the ability to refuse to pay for costly lead protection procedures that are not needed. Well, here’s your answer: “this option (the opt-out) was ripe for abuse.” In other words, the government can’t trust people to do what’s in the best interest of their own children or pregnancies, and so we all must suffer.

And suffer we will, especially the contractors. To be in compliance by April 22 would mean that every contractor contemplating a job that would disturb more than six square feet of a home’s area (and this includes not just carpentry but plumbing, window installation, and heating and AC installation) would need to have completed a one-day course in the matter, necessitating taking a day off and spending about two hundred dollars. But since there are nowhere near enough certified teachers, therefore the vast majority of America’s contractors could not possibly comply by April 22 even if they wanted to.

But that’s relatively minor compared to larger problems connected with the new rules, such as the fact that they will increase the costs of renovation for both contractor and homeowner just at a time when the industry and the consumer can least handle it.

Obamacare backlash sends Democrats to the foxholes

There was no health care bounce. In fact, there has been something of a health care swoon.

Democrats have seen the favorable rating of their party drop to the lowest level ever recorded by Gallup — 41 percent — and the president’s job approval rating remains below 50 percent.

Now, as Congress returns to work after a two-week Easter break, the choice before the majority party is this: keep plunging ahead or start running for cover?

President Obama is brimming with transformational ideas. Aside from ratifying a controversial nuclear treaty and confirming a new liberal Supreme Court justice, Obama wants new rules on bank bailouts, immigration reform and global warming legislation.

But Democrats are feeling skittish after being back among their constituents.

Rep. Bart Stupak gave up his bid for a 10th term as tea partiers swarmed his Michigan district. Stupak’s retreat on his abortion concerns in the president’s health plan allowed the bill to become law. His flip-flop also seems to have undone his career.

His fellow Democrats were mostly mum about health care during the spring break.

When they did speak publicly, it was about bringing home the appropriations bacon or their efforts to create jobs.

The Washington Examiner

Jindal Staffer and boyfriend severely beaten following dinner attended by Governor Barbour and Texas Governor Rick Perry

Couple reportedly targeted for wearing Sarah Palin pins. Media silent for three days over Friday night incident.

Republican Party of Louisiana Chairman Roger F. Villere, Jr. hosted an event Friday night which brought together Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour at Brennans Restaurant in New Orleans. The event, in New Orleans, was seen as a highlight of a successful weekend in which Villere and Louisiana Republicans brought in national and regional Republican colleagues to discuss a wide range of Party and political issues at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

The weekends festivities were targeted by protesters all over the city, and at least one left-leaning blog publicized the fundraising dinner writing:

These **sholes are the ones who will drop $10K for a dinner with Piyush Jindal, the worm of a Guv’nor for the Gret Stet of Looziana, but never think of what $10K might mean to to a food bank here.

The Times Picayune reported the incident:

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief campaign fund-raiser is recovering from injuries she suffered in a Friday night altercation with a group of people in the French Quarter, the governor’s office said Monday.


Allee Bautsch suffered a broken leg and her boyfriend suffered a concussion and a fractured nose and jaw in the incident, which happened after a fundraising event at Brennan’s Restaurant on behalf of the Louisiana Republican Party on Friday evening.

According to Right Pundits:

There were protesters in the area at the time of the altercation, however, Jindal’s office refuses to speculate as to whether or not the attack was perpetrated by the democratic protesters. There is also no information being put out there as to what the protesters were protesting. Some are speculating that the assault happened after a heated argument about Sarah Palin.

Sadly, the extent of injuries suffered by both Allee Bautsch and her boyfriend, Joe Brown, make it obvious that it was more than an exchange of cross words that lead to some shoving. Bobby Jindal’s campaign finance director attacked in the French Quarter following a campaign fund-raising event and being left with such severe injuries has the appearance of an assault by people who might have some familiarity with inflicting bodily harm on others.

According to Louisiana political blog The Hayride:

Two people at the Brennan’s event have now confirmed that the protest had largely broken up by the time it ended, but we also understand from someone who visited Allee Bautsch in the hospital Saturday morning that she and Brown were followed and attacked expressly because they had Palin pins on (she heard one of the attackers say “Let’s get them, they have Palin pins on”) – so the attack WAS politically motivated as its victims understood it. It was not a mugging, it was not an argument gone wrong and it was not a bar fight.

Rationing of Care by the Government happens every day

Part of the argument against the government takeover of health care for Americans has been that it would result in rationing of care. Proponents dismissed these claims as scare tactics. But, the simple truth is the Federal Government already runs a portion of health care through Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs provide an example of what we can expect from the system.
Health Care supporters are quick to use the same argument when they are demonizing the "evil" insurance companies that "profit from the misery of the American people." But, the AMA, that group of doctors who supported the President's efforts and showed up with their white coats to the White House, has a report that shows the demonization is a smoke screen.

Will the new Health Care Entitlement result in more denied care? The record indicates that the answer to that question is a resounding yes.

In 2008, Medicare led the pack of AMA's own National Health Insurer Report Card as the most frequent denier of coverage. Of the eight insurers listed on that report, Medicare was the most likely to reject a claim, sending away 6.85% of requests. This was more than any private insurer and double that of the private insurers’ average.

The results for 2009 were only slightly better for Medicare beneficiaries. Last year Medicare was no longer the most frequent denier. However the agency was still double the denials of the head of the pack, Aetna. Aetna decreased the number of denials by 5 percent in a year, a full percentage point more than Medicare's current rate of 4 percent.

Could it be that commercial health insurers have more efficient claims processing centers? Could it be that the private sector is just more all around efficient?

In the case of health insurance claims, firms make more money when they deny more claims, right? Those evil money hungry creeps! So how is the profit motive leading to more private-sector claims approvals?

The truth is competition between insurers INCREASE claims approvals. Most physicians and hospitals must take Medicare because it represents so large a share of the healthcare spending. On the other hand, physicians may decide to only accept patients whose insurance companies have prompt payment with fewer denials. This leads to some incentive for insurance companies to DECREASE claims denials. The way to INCREASE access and DECREASE health care problems is to INCREASE competition.

Get it? Yeah? Well, your leaders in Washington, don't.

It is important to point out that the differential claims denial rates also has a lot to do with the demographics of Medicare and commercial insurance enrollees. Almost all Medicare enrollees are over 65, while commercial insurers have enrollees who are of varying ages. Since older individuals are more likely to demand high cost medical procedures, if high cost medical procedures are the ones that are more likely to be denied then Medicare’s higher denial rate may simply be due, in part, to the composition of its enrollees.

Whatever the reason, the fact that Medicare denies more claims than commercial insurers should dispel the myth that the government is simply a benevolent entity, while commercial insurers are ruthless, profit-hungry wolves.

And then there's the absolute ineptitude that comes from federal rules and government agencies as witnessed just recently by a California Medicaid benificiary; a woman with cancer.

Mom With Cancer Gets Insurance Help For Transplant


A Hollywood woman who was dropped from Medicaid coverage while needing a bone marrow transplant is finally getting the coverage and treatment she needs to stay alive.

Diana Smith is battling a rare form of Leukemia and needs the transplant to survive. She managed to raise money to pay for it thanks to her friends and the community, but then last week she found out her Medicaid coverage was dropped – putting her operation on hold.

Smith had gone through six months of radiation and chemotherapy -- one week out of every month. She is in remission and had a donor for a transplant; being in remission is a prerequisite for the transplant.

But her hopes of receiving the transplant were dashed in March, when she says, the Social Security Administration contacted her –without her soliciting it -- and told her that her three year-old son was entitled to receive Social Security disability payments. Even though she didn't ask for it, she signed the form and received her son's first check.

In April, Medicaid canceled her universal health care policy because her income level had risen with her son's payments – making her ineligible for the insurance program.

The problem is Jackson Memorial Hospital could not provide the procedure because the risk is too high. The universal policy from Medicaid helps shield the hospital from liability in this kind of case. Without it, they are subject to liability issues.

Even though Smith offered to cancel her son's disability benefits, she was told it's too late.

CBS 4

Of course, following the report local state officials, and the hospital jumped in to help see that the woman received the surgery. But, should you have to call the television reporter, or a Congressman everytime one of the newly hired Health Care bureacrats decides you and your doctor have it all wrong?