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27 feb 2009
26 feb 2009
24 feb 2009
The 'Governing' GOP Rebels
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in Wasilla, Alaska on Friday. Palin is one of a handful of governors who have said they may join Idaho Gov. Butch Otter in turning down federal stimulus funds.Six GOP governors have found a strategy to fight the Democratic administration dismissing the stimulus funds for their states. The idea is that now things are worse with income and employment and getting worst in the future they can say every day that this if the effect of federal spending, higher taxes for the super-richest people and bad government.
What to do? Vote Republican!
What will the Republican Party do to turn the fate?
Tax cuts for the kleptomaniacs of Wall Street, tax increase for the middle class of 17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
But critics such as Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina say the Republican resistance is a political, even racist, ploy to withhold critical help from the nation’s poorest and most hard-hit communities. But with Americans – even Republicans – split on support for the bill, there could also be fiscal wisdom in cautiously approaching a spending package that could weaken states’ rights, put state taxpayers on the hook to fill future funding gaps, and stymie local innovation to turn the economy around.
Of course is Alaska’s faithful Gov. Sarah Palin also one of the six rebels, notwithstanding Alaska is on the top of the list, where most of the federal funds are spend during the Bush43 terms, while Alaskans pay less taxes than anywhere else in the US and where girls who are raped have to pay for the evidential forensic research, while the state earns huge profits from the exploration of oil and natural gas. A state without a budget deficit and the largest percentage of illiterate inhabitants, living below the accepted level of existence, almost the Republican Utopia. The 11th commandment, “you will not spread the wealth”, is fully implemented in
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has also raised concerns about future state obligations especially for education, welfare, and healthcare spending, which make up the bulk of the $787 billion package.
“Some school systems will see a gusher of money the like of which no one has seen before,” said Governor Daniels at a press conference last week. “When federal funds stop coming, there will not be any way to replace all of that.” A remarkable statement, because it can also be said of his and anybodies’ wages: when it stops coming, because you are fired or the work is done, there will be no replacement. That’s why most people take measures for future circumstances.
The rift in the GOP became evident on “Meet the Press” Sunday as Governor Jindal faced off with Gov. Charlie Crist of
But Jindal, who called the stimulus debate “a great opportunity” to offer conservative-based solutions, countered, “We should be unafraid to stand up on principles and point out alternative solutions.”
23 feb 2009
Bush Rules on Toxic Mercury from Power Plants Overturned
The Supreme Court declines to review the case, forcing the EPA to impose mandatory cuts in mercury pollution
The Supreme Court today denied an industry request to reconsider a lower court ruling against a Bush administration rule on mercury emissions from power plants.
The court announced today that it would not review a decision by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, requested by the Utility Air Regulatory Group, to overturn the Clean Air Mercury Rule.
The utility group asked the court to review the case last fall, arguing that the Bush administration had legally decided not to regulate power plants under the Clean Air Act's Section 112, which requires the strictest emission controls, in order to allow for a more flexible cap-and-trade approach favored by utilities.
Attorneys for the Bush administration's Justice Department also requested a Supreme Court hearing on the mercury case last fall, but the Obama administration asked the Supreme Court earlier this month to drop the request for review.
The court today also granted the Obama administration's request to dismiss the Bush administration's appeal.
Obama's EPA this month announced plans to develop maximum achievable control technology, or MACT, standards for electric utilities that force each individual plant to curb their emissions, as opposed to the Bush administration's cap-and-trade approach that the federal appeals court struck down.
John Walke, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the Obama administration would end eight years of efforts to stave off mercury controls for power plants. "That shameful era is at an end, but thankfully now we can all look forward to strong MACT standards that will sharply reduce mercury emissions from power plants," Walke said.
The utility group maintains that EPA had lawfully decided not to regulate coal- and oil-fired power plants under the stricter section of the Clean Air Act, said Lee Zeugin, the industry group's counsel and an attorney at Hunton & Williams. "I guess we're going to move forward with MACT [standards]," Zeugin said, adding that the group remains concerned about whether EPA has the legal authority to require stricter controls from power plants.
The agency will now embark on several years of MACT rulemaking for power plants with no mercury regulations in place in the meantime, Zeugin said. When the final rule is released, "I'm sure UARG will challenge EPA's authority to do any of it," he said.
11 feb 2009
How Far Can You Go Confronting Good Ratio?
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee warned supporters Tuesday that the $828 billion stimulus package is “anti-religious.”In an e-mail that was also posted on his blog ahead of the Senate’s passage, Huckabee wrote: “The dust is settling on the ‘bipartisan’ stimulus bill and one thing is clear: It is anti-religious.”
The former Republican presidential candidate pointed to a provision in both the House and Senate versions banning higher education funds in the bill from being used on a “school or department of divinity.”
“You would think the ACLU drafted this bill,” Huckabee said. “For all of the talk about bipartisanship, this Congress is blatantly liberal.”
“Emily’s List, radical environmental groups, etc. all have a seat at the decision making table in Washington these days,” he continued. “Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are in charge and they are working with an equally ‘progressive’ President Obama (remember his voting record is more liberal than Ted Kennedy!).”
In the e-mail, Huckabee concedes that there is little that conservatives can do in the near term, but advocated mobilization to defeat those “masquerading as ‘conservative Democrats.’”
“This is the opening round of the Democrats’ campaign for big government,” he wrote. “We cannot afford to sit round one out, because if we do, they will only become more emboldened and their grab for power more audacious and damaging to our country and our freedoms.”
Watch Obama’s reaction to the Senate stimulus vote:
What Obama’s Stimulus Plan is all about is of course that Americans who became unemployed can go back to productive work again and others don’t lose their jobs. This especially in the fields of infra structure, clean energy, improvements in educations and health care and a lot more from which the American society as a whole can profit and what will gain back all the value and money by the time. In fact it is also major repairs what was in disrepair for long times and even at risks of lives.
To call this kind of spending wasteful spilling and oppose it by instead demanding large tax cuts for the 5% very rich, who own already 75% of all the American wealth, as the only and best way to fight the economic crisis and do nothing further ahead, nor regulate something; that’s the ridiculous policy of Republicans that invoked this crisis and will aggravate the pain to end in disaster.
In fact Obama’s case is easy to do better, because randomly doing something Republicans don’t want is always better, never mind how mad it can be. For example, bring all the money together and burn it, that’s not wise and good for nothing, but it can’t be even as disastrous as the policies of three out of the four preceding presidents.
Clinton inherited a mess from Reagan and Bush41, that fairy tale of “trickle down economics” what has failed and he fucked 24.2 million new jobs together and closed the gab of deficit, a policy which became immediately reversed by Bush43 and now they say that president Obama isn’t bi-partisan enough if he doesn’t proceed with the devastating Reagan-Bush-policy. A lot of people don’t notice that Obama is not practicing philosophy or following ideology, but simple acts in the interest of all the American people. It shows that to shamelessly call yourself a Republican, you can’t be else than deeply mental disabled or a declared enemy of the USA.
All right, we new that already before.
Three Republicans Not Mentaly Disabled!
There is enough opposition too; the whole plan is dep[ending on the support of that trio Republicans who feel the pressure from their partisan side.One of them is Arlen Specter and his office was stormed by Republican civilians, look after 4 minutes how deep their anger is.
Politico reported:
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) got into an on air spat Monday with prominent conservative radio host Laura Ingraham over his support for President Barack Obama’s $800 million stimulus package, ending with him telling Ingraham to “get off it.”
Responding to Specter’s Monday Washington Post op-ed announcing his support for the stimulus package, Ingraham asked the senator during an interview on her radio show to name a single conservative economist that supports the legislation.
After Specter named Harvard economist Martin Feldstein, Ingraham responded: “No. No. No.”
“Don’t even go down that road, I’m sorry,” she said, pointing out the Feldstein has supported the idea of a stimulus but criticized the bill being considered by the Senate.
“Just to be clear, you cannot name one conservative or free market economist who thinks this is the right way to go for our country. Can you, senator?” she asked.
“I did name one and you quarreled with me. I’m not going to go down that road again,” Specter responded. “You think you’re right and I think I’m right.”
“It’s a bitter pill,” he said of the stimulus, “but one I think that has to be swallowed.”
Ingraham then suggested that Specter is supporting the package because he has been “wined and dined at the White House,” saying that he gets “treated pretty well when you’re a Republican bucking other Republicans.”
“Oh, get off it Laura,” he responded. “I’m not drinking any wine at the White House and I don’t dine at the White House. If the president wants to talk to me, I talk to him. I make my own independent judgments, don’t give me this wine and dine baloney young lady.”
Abonneren op:
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