Sunday, October 31, 2010
THE LAWSUITS AGAINST THE BRITISH CONTINUE TO POUR IN....OSAMA'S JUSTICE DEPT. IS STILL MISSING IN ACTION!!!
Gulf Oil Spill: Conservation Groups Sue BP For Impact On Wildlife
10/21/2010 12:24 AM ET
(RTTNews) - Three conservation groups filed a suit Wednesday in a federal court in New Orleans against oil giant BP Plc., under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), for the killing of endangered and threatened wildlife and the harm caused by its massive oil spill following the blow out of the Deepwater Horizon well in the Gulf of Mexico.
Defenders of Wildlife, Gulf Restoration Network Inc., and Save-the-Manatee Club Inc., alleged in their complaint that more than 27 federally-protected species inhabiting the Gulf region were harmed by the worst marine oil spill in U.S. history.
The endangered animals included five species of sea turtle, four species of whales as also Florida's manatees, which the Conservation groups claimed were being harmed, harassed and "taken" in violation of the ESA because of the oil spill.
The three environmentalist groups urged the court to order BP to mitigate the oil spill's impact by setting up a permanent fund to rehabilitate and restore the endangered species and habitat that were a part of the web of life in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as to continue to clean up residual oil until all effects of the spill were removed.
It further said testimony during the President's National Oil Spill Commission September 27 revealed that more than half of the total discharge of oil from the Deepwater Horizon blowout remained in the Gulf ecosystem, much of it in coastal and marine sediments.
Though the well was capped in mid-July and sealed permanently two months later, the environmentalists expressed concern about oil still being found in the Gulf. The complaint added that oil continued to clog Louisiana's marshes, and scientists investigating effects of the spill found extensive near-shore tar mats and ocean-floor sedimentary deposits.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com
HOW DID OUR HAND-DELIVERED BALLOTS GET LOST IN DUBAI & BRITAIN??? THE IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY WILL SORT THIS OUT!!!
http://www.impeachobamacampaign.com/tag/conservative-movement/
IMPEACHMENT IS IN THE MAIL
Posted on October 15, 2010 by Ben Johnson
by Ben Johnson
Conservatives have long been waiting for impeachment to come to Capitol Hill. Soon, it will come to their mailboxes.
Constitutional conservatives around the country will soon receive a 17-page package from the National Campaign for an Impeachment Inquiry, an undertaking of The Conservative Caucus (TCC). The conservative watchdog organization bills the mailing a “national ballot of 5,000,000 registered voters” on “Whether Congress Should Launch An Impeachment Inquiry Into President Barack Hussein Obama’s Assault On Our Constitution.” It will include a survey and “Special Report” asking recipients to note whether they agree with each reason the report offers.
The left-wing Talking Points Memo announced the letter on its website today.
Founded in 1974, TCC is chaired by Howard Phillips. Phillips initiated impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton in 1994 – a full four years before Congressional Republicans got around to it. Now, he is turning his sights on Barack Obama.
The ballot begins:
The purpose of this survey of 5,000,000 registered voters is to show pro-freedom, pro-Constitutional members of Congress that there is broad public support for the new Congress to conduct a full Inquiry into whether President Barack Hussein Obama has kept his oath of office to faithfully “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.”
If this inquiry concludes that he has not, Impeachment proceedings would then begin.
Those who receive the survey will get to answer, point blank: “Do you think the new Congress should immediately launch an Impeachment Inquiry into whether or not President Obama has faithfully protected and defended the Constitution of the United States, as required by his oath of office?”
The package reviews the Obama administration’s shameless and pervasive violation of the U.S. Constitution and its desire to remake our form of government. Rahm Emanuel vowed never to “let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.” The report continues, “Now we know what Rahm Emanuel meant by that statement. He meant that the Obama Administration planned to use the economic recession to permanently and fundamentally transform America.”
The nationalization of the health care industry is the most significant step taken to that end in a generation. Phillips shows that the bill is unconstitutional on several grounds, beginning with the mandate that Americans purchase health care insurance. He quotes a judgment the Congressional Budget Office made about HillaryCare in 1994: “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of Federal action.” Then he quotes Judge Andrew Napolitano, who found the act unconstitutional because it commandeers the state legislatures, forcing them to pay for ObamaCare and regulate their internal state markets. The fraudulent accounting employed in ObamaCare and its establishment of 159 new government agencies – none authorized by the U.S. Constitution – give readers a panoply of reasons to reject the bill’s legality.
Both the executive and the legislative branches share responsibility for passing government-run health care – a bill that a strict constructionist court would strike down. However, the president alone bears responsibility for enforcing the law, something Phillips proves Obama willingly fails to do. In a section entitled “Obama Refuses to Enforce Laws He Does Not Like,” Phillips specifically mentions the president’s unilateral decision to waive accountability for labor unions. The law requires organized labor to itemize its expenditures and report conflicts of interest, but Obama – who is deeply indebted to Big Labor – has excused its fat cat leaders from doing so.
This section alone could fill a book. President Obama similarly fails to apply voter intimidation laws against the New Black Panther Party, federal deportation laws against illegal immigrants (including his Kenyan aunt), federal guidelines about mailing ballots to military voters to a number of states, requirements to purge the dead from the voting rolls nationally, and the U.S. Constitution to virtually any bill he has ever signed, endorsed, or proposed. Officials in his home state even look the other way when the first lady, Michelle Obama, openly violates state campaign laws by flagrantly electioneering inside a polling place.
A number of other reasons are given – although at 17 pages, the list seems merely the tip of an iceberg. These include President Obama’s plan to “seize more than 10 million acres of oil and natural gas-rich land in the Western United States by placing it under the ‘protection’ of the Department of the Interior.” (Phillips speculates this may be “the first step in an Obama plan to build a massive government-owned and operated oil and natural gas company.” Perhaps, but this author would have a hard time seeing Obama drill anywhere.)
The survey asks recipients if they agree or disagree with each aspect of the report in detail. Obama’s view that the U.S. Constitution “represents the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.” He has institutionalized his constitutional philosophy in the activist justices he has nominated for the Supreme Court.
This reference is the key strength of the TCC report. The Constitution is the charter of our national government, and it empowers the Congress to impeach any president who refuses to abide by its limitations. Any president who steps outside its well-defined boundaries is a legitimate target for impeachment. No statutory criminal violations are necessary; if the president violates the Constitution, the Constitution enables the people, through their elected officials, to remove him from office.
No one makes this point better than Phillips, a three-time presidential candidate for the Constitution Party (formerly the U.S. Taxpayers Party). Phillips resigned the Nixon administration after Nixon promised to shut down the Office of Economic Opportunity, which Phillips headed. Long before others discovered the free-flowing spigot of federal largesse into left-wing groups like ACORN and La Raza, Phillips was fighting the good fight to end this – and all – unconstitutional spending. He has testified not only against the nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court, but also David Souter – and the nation would have been better off had the Senate listened either time. Today, he continues his educational and political efforts. Additionally, his television program Conservative Roundtable is available in 32 states and on by demand on YouTube.
Phillips writes that this mailing will be the first of one million “Voter Education Letters per month to explain why an Impeachment Inquiry is needed and showing voters how to pressure their elected representatives in Congress to launch an immediate Impeachment Inquiry.”
The reason, he explains, is clear: politicians need to feel the fire. He acknowledges “even a conservative Congressional majority will be reluctant to begin impeachment proceedings without overwhelming public support. That’s why we must begin now to educate voters and build public pressure on Congress to begin Impeachment proceedings.”
That’s what Floyd Brown has said for years. That’s why he launched the website ImpeachObamaCampaign.com.
Some did – and some still do – deride the notion of impeaching a commander-in-chief who is manifestly hostile to the constitution of the United States. In the opening months of Obama’s presidency – believing they had seen a political realignment against traditional conservatism – they counseled conservatives to shut up and be grateful the president had appointed “moderates”…like Hillary Clinton.
Others, like Howard Phillips and Floyd Brown, were not so blind, unscrupulous, or opportunistic.
In the intervening 22 months, Barack Obama’s criminality and disregard for the American form of government have become undeniable to virtually everyone.
Together, a growing chorus of conservatives, Tea Party patriots, and constitutionalists are calling for someone to finally face the consequences of violating the charter our Founding Fathers sacrificed so much to give to us and our posterity. Our campaign is succeeding. Rep. Darrell Issa plans a flurry of investigations in the new Congress. Even Jonathan Chait of The New Republic agrees; the Republican Party will eventually impeach Barack Obama.
Conservatives, constitutionalists, and patriots – it is up to us to keep the pressure on.
Watch your mail for the National Campaign for an Impeachment Inquiry. If you cannot wait to receive TCC’s survey in the mail, sign the Impeach Obama Petition. Better yet, do both.
America’s permanent “transformation” may hang in the balance.
IMPEACHMENT IS IN THE MAIL
Posted on October 15, 2010 by Ben Johnson
by Ben Johnson
Conservatives have long been waiting for impeachment to come to Capitol Hill. Soon, it will come to their mailboxes.
Constitutional conservatives around the country will soon receive a 17-page package from the National Campaign for an Impeachment Inquiry, an undertaking of The Conservative Caucus (TCC). The conservative watchdog organization bills the mailing a “national ballot of 5,000,000 registered voters” on “Whether Congress Should Launch An Impeachment Inquiry Into President Barack Hussein Obama’s Assault On Our Constitution.” It will include a survey and “Special Report” asking recipients to note whether they agree with each reason the report offers.
The left-wing Talking Points Memo announced the letter on its website today.
Founded in 1974, TCC is chaired by Howard Phillips. Phillips initiated impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton in 1994 – a full four years before Congressional Republicans got around to it. Now, he is turning his sights on Barack Obama.
The ballot begins:
The purpose of this survey of 5,000,000 registered voters is to show pro-freedom, pro-Constitutional members of Congress that there is broad public support for the new Congress to conduct a full Inquiry into whether President Barack Hussein Obama has kept his oath of office to faithfully “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.”
If this inquiry concludes that he has not, Impeachment proceedings would then begin.
Those who receive the survey will get to answer, point blank: “Do you think the new Congress should immediately launch an Impeachment Inquiry into whether or not President Obama has faithfully protected and defended the Constitution of the United States, as required by his oath of office?”
The package reviews the Obama administration’s shameless and pervasive violation of the U.S. Constitution and its desire to remake our form of government. Rahm Emanuel vowed never to “let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before.” The report continues, “Now we know what Rahm Emanuel meant by that statement. He meant that the Obama Administration planned to use the economic recession to permanently and fundamentally transform America.”
The nationalization of the health care industry is the most significant step taken to that end in a generation. Phillips shows that the bill is unconstitutional on several grounds, beginning with the mandate that Americans purchase health care insurance. He quotes a judgment the Congressional Budget Office made about HillaryCare in 1994: “A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of Federal action.” Then he quotes Judge Andrew Napolitano, who found the act unconstitutional because it commandeers the state legislatures, forcing them to pay for ObamaCare and regulate their internal state markets. The fraudulent accounting employed in ObamaCare and its establishment of 159 new government agencies – none authorized by the U.S. Constitution – give readers a panoply of reasons to reject the bill’s legality.
Both the executive and the legislative branches share responsibility for passing government-run health care – a bill that a strict constructionist court would strike down. However, the president alone bears responsibility for enforcing the law, something Phillips proves Obama willingly fails to do. In a section entitled “Obama Refuses to Enforce Laws He Does Not Like,” Phillips specifically mentions the president’s unilateral decision to waive accountability for labor unions. The law requires organized labor to itemize its expenditures and report conflicts of interest, but Obama – who is deeply indebted to Big Labor – has excused its fat cat leaders from doing so.
This section alone could fill a book. President Obama similarly fails to apply voter intimidation laws against the New Black Panther Party, federal deportation laws against illegal immigrants (including his Kenyan aunt), federal guidelines about mailing ballots to military voters to a number of states, requirements to purge the dead from the voting rolls nationally, and the U.S. Constitution to virtually any bill he has ever signed, endorsed, or proposed. Officials in his home state even look the other way when the first lady, Michelle Obama, openly violates state campaign laws by flagrantly electioneering inside a polling place.
A number of other reasons are given – although at 17 pages, the list seems merely the tip of an iceberg. These include President Obama’s plan to “seize more than 10 million acres of oil and natural gas-rich land in the Western United States by placing it under the ‘protection’ of the Department of the Interior.” (Phillips speculates this may be “the first step in an Obama plan to build a massive government-owned and operated oil and natural gas company.” Perhaps, but this author would have a hard time seeing Obama drill anywhere.)
The survey asks recipients if they agree or disagree with each aspect of the report in detail. Obama’s view that the U.S. Constitution “represents the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day.” He has institutionalized his constitutional philosophy in the activist justices he has nominated for the Supreme Court.
This reference is the key strength of the TCC report. The Constitution is the charter of our national government, and it empowers the Congress to impeach any president who refuses to abide by its limitations. Any president who steps outside its well-defined boundaries is a legitimate target for impeachment. No statutory criminal violations are necessary; if the president violates the Constitution, the Constitution enables the people, through their elected officials, to remove him from office.
No one makes this point better than Phillips, a three-time presidential candidate for the Constitution Party (formerly the U.S. Taxpayers Party). Phillips resigned the Nixon administration after Nixon promised to shut down the Office of Economic Opportunity, which Phillips headed. Long before others discovered the free-flowing spigot of federal largesse into left-wing groups like ACORN and La Raza, Phillips was fighting the good fight to end this – and all – unconstitutional spending. He has testified not only against the nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court, but also David Souter – and the nation would have been better off had the Senate listened either time. Today, he continues his educational and political efforts. Additionally, his television program Conservative Roundtable is available in 32 states and on by demand on YouTube.
Phillips writes that this mailing will be the first of one million “Voter Education Letters per month to explain why an Impeachment Inquiry is needed and showing voters how to pressure their elected representatives in Congress to launch an immediate Impeachment Inquiry.”
The reason, he explains, is clear: politicians need to feel the fire. He acknowledges “even a conservative Congressional majority will be reluctant to begin impeachment proceedings without overwhelming public support. That’s why we must begin now to educate voters and build public pressure on Congress to begin Impeachment proceedings.”
That’s what Floyd Brown has said for years. That’s why he launched the website ImpeachObamaCampaign.com.
Some did – and some still do – deride the notion of impeaching a commander-in-chief who is manifestly hostile to the constitution of the United States. In the opening months of Obama’s presidency – believing they had seen a political realignment against traditional conservatism – they counseled conservatives to shut up and be grateful the president had appointed “moderates”…like Hillary Clinton.
Others, like Howard Phillips and Floyd Brown, were not so blind, unscrupulous, or opportunistic.
In the intervening 22 months, Barack Obama’s criminality and disregard for the American form of government have become undeniable to virtually everyone.
Together, a growing chorus of conservatives, Tea Party patriots, and constitutionalists are calling for someone to finally face the consequences of violating the charter our Founding Fathers sacrificed so much to give to us and our posterity. Our campaign is succeeding. Rep. Darrell Issa plans a flurry of investigations in the new Congress. Even Jonathan Chait of The New Republic agrees; the Republican Party will eventually impeach Barack Obama.
Conservatives, constitutionalists, and patriots – it is up to us to keep the pressure on.
Watch your mail for the National Campaign for an Impeachment Inquiry. If you cannot wait to receive TCC’s survey in the mail, sign the Impeach Obama Petition. Better yet, do both.
America’s permanent “transformation” may hang in the balance.
PALIN POUNCES ON STATE DEPARTMENT OVER AHMADINEJAD BIRTHDAY TWEET --- WOW...HILLARY IS UP TO HER OLD ABORTION, CHILD TRAFFICKING TACTIC AGAIN!
SARAH PALIN POUNCES ON STATE DEPARTMENT OVER AHMADINEJAD BIRTHDAY TWEET!!!
Palin Pounces on State Department over Ahmadinejad Birthday Tweet
By Elise Viebeck - 10/29/10 01:09 PM ET
When State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley tweeted a sardonic birthday wish to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, he likely assumed it would be interpreted for the substance of its intent: a wish that for his birthday, Ahmadinejad would release imprisoned American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer.
According to her most recent tweets, however, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) didn't catch the drift.
On Friday, she took to Twitter to blast the Obama administration for "kowtowing" and "coddling" enemies.
"Happy B'day Ahmadinejad wish sent by US Govt. Mind boggling foreign policy ... Obama Doctrine is nonsense," she tweeted, adding that the birthday greeting after Ahmadinejad's "call 4 Israel's destruction" speaks "volumes."
Crowley's original tweets had read:
Happy birthday President #Ahmadinejad. Celebrate by sending Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. What a gift that would be.
Your 54th year was full of lost opportunities. Hope in your 55th year you will open #Iran to a different relationship with the world.
So far, there's been no response from him on Twitter.
UPS & FED-EX MORE RELIABLE THAN THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE? OSAMA'S GOT MAIL, HAND-DELIVERED FROM THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY!!!
The Latest In Conservative Direct Mail: Impeach Obama!
Ryan J. Reilly | October 14, 2010, 1:16PM
FROM AN OBAMA IMPEACHMENT MAILER ---
OBAMA IMPEACHMENT, THE CONSERVATIVE CAUCAS
"This might be our last chance to save freedom in America."
That's the message a piece of direct mail sent out by the National Campaign for an Impeachment Inquiry, a project of The Conservative Caucus, which is calling -- as their name would suggest -- for the impeachment of President Barack Obama.
Why you ask? Well, for one, there's "ObamaCare," which TCC brands as an effort to "control the people." Also, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro like Obama and his "march of America toward Socialism, or worse."
The flyer, obtained by TPMMuckraker, includes a "national ballot of 5,000,000 registered voters" on "Whether Congress Should Launch An Impeachment Inquiry Into President Barack Hussein Obama's Assault On Our Constitution."
"The purpose of this survey of 5,000,000 registered voters is to show pro-freedom, pro-Constitutional members of Congress that there is broad public support for the new Congress to conduct a full Inquiry into whether President Barack Hussein Obama has kept his oath of office to faithfully 'protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America'," the flyer reads. Cited in the survey are Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano and Sen. Jim DeMint.
"We certainly will not get any action on Impeachment from the current Congress -- now controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid," reads the piece of direct mail. "But we should demand an Impeachment Inquiry as one of the first orders of business of the new Congress. We must begin our campaign to educate voters and mobilize public support for an Impeachment Inquiry now, before the election of the new Congress.
Here are some highlights:
* "Fidel Castro is not the only Communist dictator to applaud Obama's march of America toward Socialism, or worse. The America-hating Communist dictator of Venezuela Hugo Chavez noted in a speech that Obama is to the Left of him and Chavez's good friend, Fidel Castro. Chavez even calls President Obama 'Comrade Obama!'" (page 13).
* "ObamaCare sets up 159 new government agencies -- and builds an enormousness Soviet-style bureaucratic government administrative apparatus." (page 13)
* Obama is "refusing to enforce the law concerning homosexuals in the military." (page 16).
* "President Obama is rapidly consolidating his power and destroying our Constitutional Republic." (page 16).
So how can you stop Obama's march to towards socialism? By answering their "Rescue Liberty Call-to-Action" by donating money to help fund the direct mail campaign, of course!
The Board of Directors includes Chairman Howard Phillips, a three-time presidential candidate who served in the Nixon administration; Secretary Matthew L. Chancey, who is a member of a group that equates "homosexuals, pedophiles, bestials and rapists"; and Treasurer Darrell Castle, who is a member of the conservative Constitution Party. Other members of the board include James Clymer, the current chair of the Constitution Party; Dr. William Campbell Douglass II, a doctor who has written against Obamacare; Maj. F. Andy Messing, who founded the conservative think tank National Defense Council Foundation that, among other things, defended the apartheid state of Rhodesia; and Marc Morano, who runs a climate change skeptic website according to the document.
A secretary said that Phillips wasn't available for an interview on Thursday.
Check out the full mailer here. Additional reporting by David Taintor.
Ryan J. Reilly | October 14, 2010, 1:16PM
FROM AN OBAMA IMPEACHMENT MAILER ---
OBAMA IMPEACHMENT, THE CONSERVATIVE CAUCAS
"This might be our last chance to save freedom in America."
That's the message a piece of direct mail sent out by the National Campaign for an Impeachment Inquiry, a project of The Conservative Caucus, which is calling -- as their name would suggest -- for the impeachment of President Barack Obama.
Why you ask? Well, for one, there's "ObamaCare," which TCC brands as an effort to "control the people." Also, Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro like Obama and his "march of America toward Socialism, or worse."
The flyer, obtained by TPMMuckraker, includes a "national ballot of 5,000,000 registered voters" on "Whether Congress Should Launch An Impeachment Inquiry Into President Barack Hussein Obama's Assault On Our Constitution."
"The purpose of this survey of 5,000,000 registered voters is to show pro-freedom, pro-Constitutional members of Congress that there is broad public support for the new Congress to conduct a full Inquiry into whether President Barack Hussein Obama has kept his oath of office to faithfully 'protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America'," the flyer reads. Cited in the survey are Fox News' Judge Andrew Napolitano and Sen. Jim DeMint.
"We certainly will not get any action on Impeachment from the current Congress -- now controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid," reads the piece of direct mail. "But we should demand an Impeachment Inquiry as one of the first orders of business of the new Congress. We must begin our campaign to educate voters and mobilize public support for an Impeachment Inquiry now, before the election of the new Congress.
Here are some highlights:
* "Fidel Castro is not the only Communist dictator to applaud Obama's march of America toward Socialism, or worse. The America-hating Communist dictator of Venezuela Hugo Chavez noted in a speech that Obama is to the Left of him and Chavez's good friend, Fidel Castro. Chavez even calls President Obama 'Comrade Obama!'" (page 13).
* "ObamaCare sets up 159 new government agencies -- and builds an enormousness Soviet-style bureaucratic government administrative apparatus." (page 13)
* Obama is "refusing to enforce the law concerning homosexuals in the military." (page 16).
* "President Obama is rapidly consolidating his power and destroying our Constitutional Republic." (page 16).
So how can you stop Obama's march to towards socialism? By answering their "Rescue Liberty Call-to-Action" by donating money to help fund the direct mail campaign, of course!
The Board of Directors includes Chairman Howard Phillips, a three-time presidential candidate who served in the Nixon administration; Secretary Matthew L. Chancey, who is a member of a group that equates "homosexuals, pedophiles, bestials and rapists"; and Treasurer Darrell Castle, who is a member of the conservative Constitution Party. Other members of the board include James Clymer, the current chair of the Constitution Party; Dr. William Campbell Douglass II, a doctor who has written against Obamacare; Maj. F. Andy Messing, who founded the conservative think tank National Defense Council Foundation that, among other things, defended the apartheid state of Rhodesia; and Marc Morano, who runs a climate change skeptic website according to the document.
A secretary said that Phillips wasn't available for an interview on Thursday.
Check out the full mailer here. Additional reporting by David Taintor.
OBAMA HUSSEIN'S FEDERAL DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE NOW VIOLATING FEDERAL ELECTION LAWS DENYING U.S. VOTES TO CITIZENS & MILITARY PERSONNEL!!!
VOTE MARK KIRK UNITED STATES SENATE ILLINOIS 2010
VOTE BILL BRADY GOVERNOR ILLINOIS 2010
Military Vote in Question After DOJ Gives Illinois 'Pass' on MOVE Act
10/25/2010
From Fox News
Military voters from the land of Lincoln could be shut out of the midterm election after the Justice Department reached an agreement with Illinois that gave the state "a pass" for violating federal election law, an advocacy group warned Monday.
The Justice Department hammered out the court agreement Friday addressing the failure of 35 Illinois counties to send military and overseas absentee ballots 45 days before the election -- a requirement of the MOVE Act. The agreement gave voters from six of those counties a few extra days to send back their ballots but did not specifically address the other 29 counties.
Eric Eversole, a former Justice voting section attorney who runs the nonprofit Military Voter Protection Project, told FoxNews.com the deal effectively lets wayward Illinois election officials off the hook and does little to ensure the state's military voters get their ballots in time.
"For at least 29 counties, there were absolutely no consequences," he said. "Illinois is precisely the reason why you can't wait until a week before the election to try and resolve a clear violation of military voting rights."
For some overseas military voters, he said, "it might not get there."
The Illinois agreement was the final deal struck by the Justice Department to address states' failure to send their ballots out in time. While agreements with other states had tougher provisions compelling them to send out more express ballots and extending the deadline to receive them by many more days, Eversole's group said the Illinois decree gave "no meaningful relief" to military voters.
There is an online alternative for some military voters who do not receive paper ballots in time, and the administration is urging service members to use that option if they need to.
Bob Carey, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, said in a written statement that voters from 39 states can access full ballots online.
"That number includes New York and Illinois, where we have the most significant problems with late ballot delivery," he said.
Military voters can visit FVAP.gov to access the online system; all voters also can file federal write-in absentee ballots, which are available online and include federal candidates.
"Even if voters have not received their absentee ballots, it's not too late to vote," Carey said.
Nearly a dozen states have struggled to come into compliance with the MOVE Act. The Justice Department has reached agreements with eight of them, including Illinois, and has filed lawsuits against three of them. The department subsequently hammered out agreements with those three states -- New York, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement Friday that the Illinois agreement "will ensure that the state's military and overseas voters can participate in the upcoming federal elections."
The deadline to send out ballots, which 35 counties missed, was Sept. 18. For six counties where ballots were sent out between 16 and 20 days late, the agreement extends the deadline to receive ballots from Nov. 16 by two to three days. For those counties, the deadline to postmark the ballots moves from Nov. 1 to Nov. 2.
But the agreement does not offer a specific remedy for the 29 counties where ballots were mailed out between two and 12 days late. It instead includes a section that says election officials must mail out, either electronically or by express mail, "properly and timely requested" ballots they learn were not transmitted -- and then accept Nov. 2-postmarked ballots until Nov. 19. The decree also orders officials to make sure all requested electronic ballots are sent out.
Justice spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said the 29 counties did not get extra time because they already have 14 extra days after the election for their ballots to be received. She said the ballots will get to them in time and if any voter's on-time ballot is not counted, "we can file a lawsuit."
Eversole, though, said the agreement just doesn't go far enough. He said it could have at the very least explicitly extended the deadline for all 35 counties. And he expressed concern that the agreement did little to prevent the violations from happening again in 2012, saying it sends the message that so long as states accept ballots after Election Day, they can ignore the 45-day requirement in the MOVE Act. The 45 days, though, were meant to give military voters enough time to receive and send back their ballots before Election Day.
"It's just the wrong message to send," Eversole said.
VOTE BILL BRADY GOVERNOR ILLINOIS 2010
Military Vote in Question After DOJ Gives Illinois 'Pass' on MOVE Act
10/25/2010
From Fox News
Military voters from the land of Lincoln could be shut out of the midterm election after the Justice Department reached an agreement with Illinois that gave the state "a pass" for violating federal election law, an advocacy group warned Monday.
The Justice Department hammered out the court agreement Friday addressing the failure of 35 Illinois counties to send military and overseas absentee ballots 45 days before the election -- a requirement of the MOVE Act. The agreement gave voters from six of those counties a few extra days to send back their ballots but did not specifically address the other 29 counties.
Eric Eversole, a former Justice voting section attorney who runs the nonprofit Military Voter Protection Project, told FoxNews.com the deal effectively lets wayward Illinois election officials off the hook and does little to ensure the state's military voters get their ballots in time.
"For at least 29 counties, there were absolutely no consequences," he said. "Illinois is precisely the reason why you can't wait until a week before the election to try and resolve a clear violation of military voting rights."
For some overseas military voters, he said, "it might not get there."
The Illinois agreement was the final deal struck by the Justice Department to address states' failure to send their ballots out in time. While agreements with other states had tougher provisions compelling them to send out more express ballots and extending the deadline to receive them by many more days, Eversole's group said the Illinois decree gave "no meaningful relief" to military voters.
There is an online alternative for some military voters who do not receive paper ballots in time, and the administration is urging service members to use that option if they need to.
Bob Carey, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, said in a written statement that voters from 39 states can access full ballots online.
"That number includes New York and Illinois, where we have the most significant problems with late ballot delivery," he said.
Military voters can visit FVAP.gov to access the online system; all voters also can file federal write-in absentee ballots, which are available online and include federal candidates.
"Even if voters have not received their absentee ballots, it's not too late to vote," Carey said.
Nearly a dozen states have struggled to come into compliance with the MOVE Act. The Justice Department has reached agreements with eight of them, including Illinois, and has filed lawsuits against three of them. The department subsequently hammered out agreements with those three states -- New York, New Mexico and Wisconsin.
Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement Friday that the Illinois agreement "will ensure that the state's military and overseas voters can participate in the upcoming federal elections."
The deadline to send out ballots, which 35 counties missed, was Sept. 18. For six counties where ballots were sent out between 16 and 20 days late, the agreement extends the deadline to receive ballots from Nov. 16 by two to three days. For those counties, the deadline to postmark the ballots moves from Nov. 1 to Nov. 2.
But the agreement does not offer a specific remedy for the 29 counties where ballots were mailed out between two and 12 days late. It instead includes a section that says election officials must mail out, either electronically or by express mail, "properly and timely requested" ballots they learn were not transmitted -- and then accept Nov. 2-postmarked ballots until Nov. 19. The decree also orders officials to make sure all requested electronic ballots are sent out.
Justice spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said the 29 counties did not get extra time because they already have 14 extra days after the election for their ballots to be received. She said the ballots will get to them in time and if any voter's on-time ballot is not counted, "we can file a lawsuit."
Eversole, though, said the agreement just doesn't go far enough. He said it could have at the very least explicitly extended the deadline for all 35 counties. And he expressed concern that the agreement did little to prevent the violations from happening again in 2012, saying it sends the message that so long as states accept ballots after Election Day, they can ignore the 45-day requirement in the MOVE Act. The 45 days, though, were meant to give military voters enough time to receive and send back their ballots before Election Day.
"It's just the wrong message to send," Eversole said.
OSAMA'S GOT MAIL ---- THE COMING GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN!!!
Paul Jacob with Townhall.com
The coming government shutdown
After next Tuesday’s election, Republicans will be the ultimate political power in the universe — or, at least, in the United States of America. That is, if GOP candidates perform anywhere near expectations and, indeed, capture even the slimmest majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
More powerful than the man who put the “O” in Obamania, the POTUS, the commander-in-chief with his finger on the nuclear trigger?
Well, yes. (Unless President Obama intends to aim missiles at the Congress. In which case, his popularity might improve.)
Forget the U.S. Senate. A Senate majority is not required. The House, alone, possesses the most awesome weapon in the federal government’s arsenal: the power of the purse.
Article I, Section 7 of our Constitution clearly reads: “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives . . .” And Section 9 states, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.”
So, if Republicans in Congress are serious about restoring fiscal sanity to Washington, they will hold all the cards necessary to do so. The Obama Administration simply cannot spend money the U.S. House refuses to raise or appropriate.
What does this mean for post-November 2nd governance?
Two very important things: (1) Holding Republicans feet to the fire will be critical, requiring the Tea Party movement to continue to be an engaged, energized and take-no-excuses force, and (2) Democrats are likely to look back at their public relations success in 1995, when the new Republican Congress and Bill Clinton, their man then in the White House, had a showdown over the longest government shutdown in history — some 21 days.
Tea Party activists, smartened up by past bad behavior by Republican officeholders, are no longer willing to play the patsy role. From the special election race in New York’s 23rd congressional district, in which conservatives abandoned a moderate to liberal Republican in favor of a long-shot Conservative Party candidate, to the surprise dumping of three incumbent U.S. Senators in Republican primaries, conservatives and libertarians are putting principle before party.
It’s happening inside the Senate as well. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a Tea Party favorite, has been actively battling big-government colleagues. After the Delaware GOP primary provided yet another incumbent scalp, DeMint was asked if his principled campaign might not hurt Republican chances of gaining a Senate majority.“I came into the Senate with 55 Republicans, and I’m afraid that not enough of them believed in free-market capitalism and limited government,” DeMint replied. “I want to make sure that if we’re trusted again, that this time we do what we promise. And we can’t do that with the same people who created the problem.”
Furthermore, the fastest rising GOP star, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, has shown that fiscal responsibility — actual budget-cutting — is popular. Even in a blue state. Christie explains that reducing spending is “not easy” because “it’s hard to say no.” But he adds, “If Republicans win the Congress we’ve got to put up or shut up.”
But, what about the Democrats?
The last time congressional Republicans, buoyed by an influx of new blood and a new majority, tried to force a reduced increase in federal spending, the Democrats won. How? By blaming the budget impasse on Republicans, and having an almost universally supportive media agree that those darn Republicans are deserving of all the blame.
So, reading the media tea leaves, the GOP congressional leadership blinked, caving-in to Bill Clinton. Clinton went on to win a second term; Republicans in Congress went on to cave in to everyone else they bumped into at the trough.
Can the back-room brains in the White House resist replaying that 16-year-old gambit?
Just as Republicans seek to portray Democrats as supporting government as the answer for every problem, Democrats attempt to paint Republicans as anti-government anarchists. A government shutdown, or even a big controversy over a possible shutdown, might serve the PR narrative of Democrats far better than that of Republicans.
What to do?
Congressional Republicans should consider three simple facts:
1. Their base of support (including swing voters) will remain awake throughout the next cycle and fully expect them to keep their word to cut runaway government spending.
2. The media is still largely in the tank for Democrats. That includes every TV network other than Fox as well as virtually every single newspaper in the country. But Fox and the Internet mean that a message of fiscal sanity can indeed compete in the media despite all the Democrats’ cries of wolf and interest group’s pleas of “Where’s my subsidy check?”
3. The Democrats will suffer far more damage in a prolonged government shutdown than Republicans, because their base supporters are far more dependent on the continued splurging of federal funds than are GOP supporters.
The goal is not a shutdown, of course, but a fiscally sound budget. What is needed is the guts to fight for it. In short, the advice for this week’s GOP victors is: “Have a spot of tea. And don’t blink.”
Saturday, October 30, 2010
GET YOUR COPY TODAY ---- BROKE --- BY GLENN BECK
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/videos/?uri=channels/390088/1057469
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/books/?ibid=46535
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/videos/?uri=channels/390088/1057469
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/books/?ibid=46535
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/books/?ibid=46535
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/videos/?uri=channels/390088/1057469
http://www.glennbeck.com/content/books/?ibid=46535
OUR COUNTRY NEEDS US
Remember the Dream. Remember November. from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.
Friday, October 29, 2010
CHICAGO YOUNG REPUBLICAN GET OUT THE VOTE RALLY OCTOBER 31, 2010
Join voters from around Chicago for a
Get Out The Vote Rally!
Featuring:
Congressman Mark Kirk, Candidate for U.S. Senate
State Senator Bill Brady, Candidate for Governor
U.S. Senator Scott Brown (R-MA)
It’s time for fiscally responsible leadership in Washington and Illinois to cut spending and keep taxes low. Join Mark Kirk, Bill Brady and Senator Scott Brown, as we rally to get out the vote and elect leaders we can be proud of!
Sunday, October 31
6:00pm
Joe's Bar
940 W. Weed St.
Chicago, IL
No charge for admission
Please RSVP to volunteer@kirkforsenate.com
NO MORE FRANKIES!!!
We now know that Republicans should have won the 2008 Senate Race in Minnesota - Act immediately to prevent another Franken!
http://nomorefrankens.com/
It is no longer enough to win close races. In the next 72-hours we must guarantee that an additional 5-Million Republicans turn-out to vote so we win by big numbers. Will you make your most important commitment of 2010, and help fund our 72-hour, Get Out The Vote Program?
Leftist lawyers, labor unions, and liberal shadow organizations were ready in 2008 - and they're ready again this year. Facts:
* In 2008, Norm Coleman was ahead on Election Night by over 700 votes.
* Soon, additional ballots were discovered, over 300 of which should have been disqualified as they appear to be have been cast by convicted felons.
* Yet, Franken was declared the winner by 225 votes out of nearly 2.5 million cast.
* Now...Reports are emerging in Las Vegas that Republican voters are finding electronic ballots defaulting to Harry Reid.
* And...Governments in New York and Illinois failed to mail absentee ballots to U.S. service members on time, potentially disenfranchising those who wear the uniform.
We need to stand together in 2010, to ensure that there will be No More Frankens. Will you make your most important contribution right now?
Donate by phone: 800-287-7149
The only way to prevent more Al Frankens is to win and win big. Your contribution will go toward the RNC's proven 72-hour Get Out the Vote program and help us get the margins of victory we need to make sure the real winners are recognized on November 3rd. There is no margin for error. Will you help us?
http://nomorefrankens.com/
CHRIS BARDEN ATTORNEY GENERAL OF MINNESOTA 2010
Defending Liberty and the Constitution
Restoring Trust and Integrity to the Office of Attorney General
Dear Fellow Minnesotans,
I am so grateful to have grown up in our great state! My wife, Robin, and I love raising our four children in this very special part of the world.
As a private citizen, I have become increasingly concerned for our state's future. I wish to change and reform the partisan, anti-business, pro-ACORN, troubled recent history of the Attorney General's Office.
My top priorities as Minnesota's Attorney General are to improve the business climate and bring jobs to Minnesota, ensure the integrity of our election process by implementing Photo ID requirements, improve our criminal justice system to better protect children and families, and to challenge the Federal Government's unwise and unconstitutional attempt to takeover the U.S. health care system. To implement these important reforms we must end the 40 year political machine monopoly in the AG's Office that has deteriorated into recent scandals, turmoil and trouble for our state.
As the unanimously endorsed Republican candidate, I will represent all of the people of Minnesota including the poor and the needy, as well as business owners, investors and employers who help provide essential, free-enterprise jobs for Minnesota workers. With your support, I am prepared to reform, improve and re-energize the Office of the Attorney General, making it a model for the nation.
Sincerely,
Chris Barden
FIRE SPEAKER MADIGAN & ILLINOIS ATTORNEY GENERAL LISA MADIGAN!!!
Fire Speaker Madigan
House Speaker Michael Madigan entered the Illinois House back in 1971.
For some perspective, Richard Nixon was President, the nation was still entrenched in Vietnam and the Ford Pinto rode into infamy. The Pinto would go on to earn the distinction as one of the greatest lemons of the car industry.
Just as the Pinto lost millions of dollars for Ford, Michael Madigan has presided over a failed Illinois government that’s now $13 billion in debt.
We think it’s time Illinois voters fire Speaker Madigan by electing Republican candidates for the Illinois House. Nationally known pollster Frank Luntz has predicted we can do it but we need your help. Speaker Madigan is also the Chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party and just last week, Big Labor bosses dropped $1.4 million into Illinois Democratic campaign coffers to prevent the 2010 Republican wave of economic reform from coming to Illinois.
Please go to ILGOPDonate.com and give whatever you can – $5, $50, or $500 – and then please forward this to your friends and family that it’s time to Fire Speaker Madigan.
IT'S TIME TO CLOSE THE DOOR ON THE JANATOPOULOS-SPY RING. VOTE NO TO THIS INVASIVE SPECIES OF CARP ON NOVEMBER 2, 2010!!!
Judge focuses on carp DNA in lawsuit over locks
By MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press Writer Michael Tarm, Associated Press Writer –
Mon Oct 18, 6:48 pm ET
CHICAGO – The reliability of DNA testing suggesting Asian carp may already be in waterways near Lake Michigan was the focus of final arguments Monday in a lawsuit seeking the closure of Chicago-area shipping locks to halt the spread of the invasive fish.
The issue pits five states asking for the emergency measure — Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — against the city of Chicago, barge companies and others.
The states want two locks closed and barriers installed to prevent the ravenous fish from slipping into the Great Lakes and potentially decimating a $7 billion-a-year fishing industry.
Opponents counter that shutting the locks would undermine critical flood-control measures in the Chicago region, as well as cost barge, tour-boat and others billions of dollars in lost business.
U.S. District Judge Robert Dow is expected to rule on the matter within several weeks.
His decision could hinge on whether he thinks environmental DNA testing is reliable, an issue he asked both sides about repeatedly during Monday's three-hour hearing.
In three days of witness testimony in September, arguably the most critical witness in the case, biologist David Lodge, said his genetic tests showed carp were in the Chicago area.
But the test he used looks not for the fish itself, but for traces of carp DNA. And attorneys opposing the closures called Lodge's findings and his scientific methods into doubt.
"It's not reliable," David Rieser told Judge Dow Monday. Rieser represents industry groups opposed to shutting the locks. "It shouldn't inform the court's determination."
An absence of easy-to-find Asian carp populations, Rieser added, only supports the contention that the voracious fish are far from the lake and no imminent threat.
Those fighting the closures argue the carp DNA could have been transported in barges' ballast water or bird droppings — meaning the fish themselves aren't necessarily present.
But Lodge has said that by far the most plausible explanation is that the DNA came from discarded cells of carp living in the waterway. DNA can degrade within hours, he said, so it probably wouldn't have survived transport in a barge or a bird.
Asian carp, which can weigh up to 100 pounds, have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers toward the Great Lakes for decades. Biologists fear if the fish get into the lakes, they would gobble plankton and starve out prized species such as salmon and walleye.
"When one looks at the balance of harms . . . the balance falls in favor of the plaintiffs," Michigan assistant attorney general Robert Reichel told the court Monday.
The five states want to temporarily close the O'Brien and Chicago locks. Their request makes allowances for water releases to prevent flooding and other threats to public safety.
The U.S. Supreme Court has twice rejected state pleas to close the locks, but did not rule on the merits of the legal claims.
On the first day of hearings in September, Reichel argued the threat has reached a "biological tipping point" and the Chicago waterways have become "a carp highway."
Maureen Rudolph, a U.S. Department of Justice attorney, has said Congress gave the Corps discretion in how to deal with the problem and the court should be reluctant to get involved.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
VOTE KEITH NELSON FOR ST. LOUIS COUNTY COMMISSIONER, BECAUSE AMERICA'S NATIONAL SECURITY SHOULDN'T BE ALL GREEK TO US!!!
6th District
Commissioner Keith Nelson
Virginia Courthouse
300 South 5th Avenue
Virginia, MN 55792
(218) 749-7108
Term Expires: 12/31/2010
Click envelope to send e-mail Click to send an email
MARK KIRK UNITED STATES SENATE ILLINOIS 2010
TELL ALEXI & HIS TRASHY LORRI DRIVERS, THAT AMERICA'S CHILDRENS' INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, NATURAL RESOURCES, AND NATIONAL SECURITY ARE ALL OUTLINED IN PLAIN ENGLISH AND WORTH MORE THAN HIS LOT LIZARDS...
OH...DON'T LOOK NOW, GREECE IS GOING TO BURN!!!
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT:
Greece — Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights for Motion Pictures and Television Programs
This summary has been prepared by the Secretariat under its own responsibility. The summary is for general information only and is not intended to affect the rights and obligations of Members.
Other disputes involving:
> Copyright and Related Rights
> United States of America
> Greece
> Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
Settled or terminated (withdrawn, mutually agreed solution) on 20 March 2001
Complainant:
United States of America
Respondent:
Greece
Third Parties:
Agreements cited:
(as cited in request for consultations)
Intellectual Property (TRIPS): Art. 41, 61
Request for Consultations received:
Mutually Agreed Solution notified: 26 March 2001
The summary below was up-to-date at 24 February 2010
Complaint by the United States.
This request, dated 30 April 1998, is in respect of the same measures raised against the EC (WT/DS124).
Mutually agreed solution
On 20 March 2001, the parties to the dispute notified a mutually satisfactory solution on the matter to the DSB.
++++++++++++++++++++++
China to Consider Appealing WTO Decision on U.S. Steel Duties
October 23, 2010, 4:03 AM EDT
Businessweek
By Bloomberg News
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- China will consider appealing a World Trade Organization decision to reject the bulk of the country’s complaints against U.S. duties on imports of steel pipes and other products.
China will “carefully study” the WTO’s report and appeal against some of the findings in line with the trade group’s dispute settlement procedures, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement posted on its website today. WTO judges yesterday rejected eight out of 11 complaints by China against U.S. duties on imports of steel pipes, some off-road tires and woven sacks.
The U.S. announced levies in July 2008 on $200 million of steel pipe shipments from China, South Korea and Mexico. Chinese exporters of the light, rectangular piping face countervailing duties, used to offset subsidies, of as much as 200 percent of the product’s price. They are also subject to anti-dumping duties, which compensate for goods sold overseas at prices below those at home, of as much as 265 percent.
Judges upheld the right of the U.S. to impose both sets of tariffs on the Chinese products, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said in a statement yesterday. It’s the second time the U.S. has imposed duties on Chinese imports to compensate for subsidies, after a similar case in June 2008 involving a different type of steel pipe.
Judges agreed with China, the world’s biggest steel producer, that the duties themselves weren’t compliant because one element ran counter to WTO rules.
“We recommend that the United States bring its measures into conformity with its obligations” under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the judges said in their 283-page report published on the WTO’s website.
Both China and the U.S. have 60 days to appeal the decision.
--With assistance from Mark Drajem in Washington. Editors: Dylan Griffith, Russell Ward
To contact the Bloomberg staff on this story: Jennifer M. Freedman in Geneva at jfreedman@bloomberg.net; Huiwen Yang in Shanghai at hyang66@bloomberg.net
+++++++++++++++
‘Lorrie’ takes on Nelson for St. Louis County Board seat
Lorrie Janatopoulos got around the name thing on her campaign signs this fall by simply having “LORRIE” printed in big letters.
By: John Myers, Duluth News Tribune
Lorrie Janatopoulos got around the name thing on her campaign signs this fall by simply having “LORRIE” printed in big letters.
She’s hoping that voters will cast a ballot for the first-time candidate for the St. Louis County Board — even if her name is Greek to them.
But she’ll have to overcome a lot more than her hard-to-spell last name to win on Nov. 2.
Janatopoulos, 53, of rural Eveleth is challenging popular incumbent Keith Nelson for the County Board seat that covers the Quad Cities on the Iron Range and townships south nearly to Duluth’s suburbs.
Nelson, 52, also of rural Eveleth, has served on the board since 2002. He’s a third-generation farmer, a former taconite plant worker and a small-business owner, including of a convenience store.
Janatopoulos is making her first run for office but has been a longtime DFL party and community activist. She’s the planning director for the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency and previously served as aide to former County Commissioner Liz Prebich. She says her current job and past experience give her invaluable experience to be a county commissioner.
“I’ve dealt with budgets. I’ve dealt with constituents who have problems and worked to find solutions,” she said. “I have experience on the issues the county deals with every day.”
Nelson has been the County Board’s chief budget cruncher in recent years. He works with staff to develop the basic blueprint that other commissioners help massage and that determines the county’s share of local property taxes. It’s a job Nelson relishes, and he often touts the county’s stingy tax increases.
“Each and every family in this county is tightening their belts. The message I want to send is that St. Louis County is tightening our belt, too,” Nelson said last month when the board set its maximum tax levy for 2011 at just 0.6 percent above 2010.
Part of that budget-cutting effort, spurred by big state cuts in payments to the county, has come at the expense of county jobs — more than 600 have been shed over the past decade.
With those efforts to cut county budget and staff, Nelson has come under fire from county employees, for what they consider to be disrespectful comments during board meetings and for his role in slashing budgets.
County employee unions — including the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Deputy Association Local 288, Teamsters Joint Council 32 DRIVE and AFSCME Minnesota Council 5 — have endorsed Janatopoulos.
Nelson has said the bad blood is spurred by his efforts to keep county budgets lean, including staff pay and benefits, and that he is not disrespectful to workers on the job. The rift widened last year when Nelson and the majority of the board voted to cut county ties with the Chris Jensen nursing home in Duluth, which had been staffed by county workers. Those workers now are employed by a private firm.
The board also cut home-care services in Duluth low-income apartments that had been staffed by county employees.
Nelson notes that the county’s work force has been trimmed from about 2,300 to about 1,680 without layoffs, mostly through attrition, and that the county has streamlined its staff by innovative measures such as having highway sign and bridge crews serving on snowplows during snow emergencies.
Janatopoulos and some county labor leaders say Nelson has been disrespectful and downright mean in his dealings with county employees. She said Nelson’s frequent criticisms of county workers have been disruptive to county government.
“I’m running because I know I have the skills and experience to be a great county commissioner, to bring people together to find solutions,” Janatopoulos said. “But I’m also running because I can be a better leader than our current commissioner. Leaders listen to everyone on an issue. Leaders are respectful of others’ opinions and viewpoints. Our current commissioner has not been respectful, and that’s hurting our ability to get things done.”
Nelson also has been active in supporting the Northern Lights Express, the proposed Twin Ports-to-Twin Cities passenger rail line that Nelson says will boost the regional economy and someday include spurs to bring people to the Iron Range.
Being a county commissioner is the toughest job he’s ever had, Nelson said, adding that he works on county issues 50 to 60 hours a week, often behind the scenes. But he said it’s also his most rewarding job ever.
“It’s all about customer service,” Nelson told the News Tribune. “My agenda is the people I serve.”
That credo might have led him into a political and ethical quagmire when he stated at a 2007 County Board meeting, when pressed by another commissioner, that he is so intent on representing his constituents that he would even support slavery if his constituents did.
The slavery comment, widely seen on YouTube, was also widely criticized, including by the Virginia Human Rights Commission. Nelson later said he apologized if his words offended anyone. But he has also blamed the issue’s traction on political opponents among county labor unions and on Duluth media, including the Duluth News Tribune, which he says are biased against him.
Janatopoulos said Nelson seems too quick to blame others.
“I’m finding a lot of people don’t really know who our commissioner is or what they do,” Janatopoulos said. “But I’m also running into people who say they know Keith for what he’s said at some board meetings and that they don’t appreciate how he’s acted.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Notre Dame Student Dies in Video Tower Collapse
By Sara Hammel
Declan Sullivan
A Notre Dame student died Wednesday while videotaping football practice after the tower he was filming from collapsed from high winds.
Declan Sullivan, 20, a junior from Long Grove, Ill., died at a South Bend hospital after being rushed from the LaBar practice complex, say published reports.
Sullivan's Tweets described frightening weather conditions as he sat atop the hydraulic scissor lift, a tower that can be lowered or raised as needed.
"Gust of wind up to 60mph well today will be fun at work ... I guess I've lived long enough :-/," he posted on his Facebook page via Twitter, shown in an image on the Web site Indy Posted.
His next Tweet was sent at 4:06 p.m. "Holy f-- holy f--- this is terrifying," he wrote. The camera tower collapsed at about 4:50 p.m., as winds in the area were gusting to 51 m.p.h.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Declan's family and friends," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said in a statement. "Declan was a diligent student worker in our video department and had a tremendous personality and great sense of humor. He brightened the days for all that had the privilege to work with him, and the Notre Dame football family will dearly miss him."
A Notre Dame player also shared his feelings about the incident. "In the midst of a season where you are disappointed with the outcomes ... you can lose sight of what's most important. Sad day at practice," senior linebacker Brian Smith posted on his Twitter page. "I will never forget today."
Authorities were investigating the incident. There will be a Mass said in Sullivan's memory on Thursday.
See what other readers have to say about this story – or leave a comment of your own
OH...DON'T LOOK NOW, GREECE IS GOING TO BURN!!!
DISPUTE SETTLEMENT:
Greece — Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights for Motion Pictures and Television Programs
This summary has been prepared by the Secretariat under its own responsibility. The summary is for general information only and is not intended to affect the rights and obligations of Members.
Other disputes involving:
> Copyright and Related Rights
> United States of America
> Greece
> Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
Settled or terminated (withdrawn, mutually agreed solution) on 20 March 2001
Complainant:
United States of America
Respondent:
Greece
Third Parties:
Agreements cited:
(as cited in request for consultations)
Intellectual Property (TRIPS): Art. 41, 61
Request for Consultations received:
Mutually Agreed Solution notified: 26 March 2001
The summary below was up-to-date at 24 February 2010
Complaint by the United States.
This request, dated 30 April 1998, is in respect of the same measures raised against the EC (WT/DS124).
Mutually agreed solution
On 20 March 2001, the parties to the dispute notified a mutually satisfactory solution on the matter to the DSB.
++++++++++++++++++++++
China to Consider Appealing WTO Decision on U.S. Steel Duties
October 23, 2010, 4:03 AM EDT
Businessweek
By Bloomberg News
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- China will consider appealing a World Trade Organization decision to reject the bulk of the country’s complaints against U.S. duties on imports of steel pipes and other products.
China will “carefully study” the WTO’s report and appeal against some of the findings in line with the trade group’s dispute settlement procedures, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement posted on its website today. WTO judges yesterday rejected eight out of 11 complaints by China against U.S. duties on imports of steel pipes, some off-road tires and woven sacks.
The U.S. announced levies in July 2008 on $200 million of steel pipe shipments from China, South Korea and Mexico. Chinese exporters of the light, rectangular piping face countervailing duties, used to offset subsidies, of as much as 200 percent of the product’s price. They are also subject to anti-dumping duties, which compensate for goods sold overseas at prices below those at home, of as much as 265 percent.
Judges upheld the right of the U.S. to impose both sets of tariffs on the Chinese products, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said in a statement yesterday. It’s the second time the U.S. has imposed duties on Chinese imports to compensate for subsidies, after a similar case in June 2008 involving a different type of steel pipe.
Judges agreed with China, the world’s biggest steel producer, that the duties themselves weren’t compliant because one element ran counter to WTO rules.
“We recommend that the United States bring its measures into conformity with its obligations” under the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the judges said in their 283-page report published on the WTO’s website.
Both China and the U.S. have 60 days to appeal the decision.
--With assistance from Mark Drajem in Washington. Editors: Dylan Griffith, Russell Ward
To contact the Bloomberg staff on this story: Jennifer M. Freedman in Geneva at jfreedman@bloomberg.net; Huiwen Yang in Shanghai at hyang66@bloomberg.net
+++++++++++++++
‘Lorrie’ takes on Nelson for St. Louis County Board seat
Lorrie Janatopoulos got around the name thing on her campaign signs this fall by simply having “LORRIE” printed in big letters.
By: John Myers, Duluth News Tribune
Lorrie Janatopoulos got around the name thing on her campaign signs this fall by simply having “LORRIE” printed in big letters.
She’s hoping that voters will cast a ballot for the first-time candidate for the St. Louis County Board — even if her name is Greek to them.
But she’ll have to overcome a lot more than her hard-to-spell last name to win on Nov. 2.
Janatopoulos, 53, of rural Eveleth is challenging popular incumbent Keith Nelson for the County Board seat that covers the Quad Cities on the Iron Range and townships south nearly to Duluth’s suburbs.
Nelson, 52, also of rural Eveleth, has served on the board since 2002. He’s a third-generation farmer, a former taconite plant worker and a small-business owner, including of a convenience store.
Janatopoulos is making her first run for office but has been a longtime DFL party and community activist. She’s the planning director for the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency and previously served as aide to former County Commissioner Liz Prebich. She says her current job and past experience give her invaluable experience to be a county commissioner.
“I’ve dealt with budgets. I’ve dealt with constituents who have problems and worked to find solutions,” she said. “I have experience on the issues the county deals with every day.”
Nelson has been the County Board’s chief budget cruncher in recent years. He works with staff to develop the basic blueprint that other commissioners help massage and that determines the county’s share of local property taxes. It’s a job Nelson relishes, and he often touts the county’s stingy tax increases.
“Each and every family in this county is tightening their belts. The message I want to send is that St. Louis County is tightening our belt, too,” Nelson said last month when the board set its maximum tax levy for 2011 at just 0.6 percent above 2010.
Part of that budget-cutting effort, spurred by big state cuts in payments to the county, has come at the expense of county jobs — more than 600 have been shed over the past decade.
With those efforts to cut county budget and staff, Nelson has come under fire from county employees, for what they consider to be disrespectful comments during board meetings and for his role in slashing budgets.
County employee unions — including the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Deputy Association Local 288, Teamsters Joint Council 32 DRIVE and AFSCME Minnesota Council 5 — have endorsed Janatopoulos.
Nelson has said the bad blood is spurred by his efforts to keep county budgets lean, including staff pay and benefits, and that he is not disrespectful to workers on the job. The rift widened last year when Nelson and the majority of the board voted to cut county ties with the Chris Jensen nursing home in Duluth, which had been staffed by county workers. Those workers now are employed by a private firm.
The board also cut home-care services in Duluth low-income apartments that had been staffed by county employees.
Nelson notes that the county’s work force has been trimmed from about 2,300 to about 1,680 without layoffs, mostly through attrition, and that the county has streamlined its staff by innovative measures such as having highway sign and bridge crews serving on snowplows during snow emergencies.
Janatopoulos and some county labor leaders say Nelson has been disrespectful and downright mean in his dealings with county employees. She said Nelson’s frequent criticisms of county workers have been disruptive to county government.
“I’m running because I know I have the skills and experience to be a great county commissioner, to bring people together to find solutions,” Janatopoulos said. “But I’m also running because I can be a better leader than our current commissioner. Leaders listen to everyone on an issue. Leaders are respectful of others’ opinions and viewpoints. Our current commissioner has not been respectful, and that’s hurting our ability to get things done.”
Nelson also has been active in supporting the Northern Lights Express, the proposed Twin Ports-to-Twin Cities passenger rail line that Nelson says will boost the regional economy and someday include spurs to bring people to the Iron Range.
Being a county commissioner is the toughest job he’s ever had, Nelson said, adding that he works on county issues 50 to 60 hours a week, often behind the scenes. But he said it’s also his most rewarding job ever.
“It’s all about customer service,” Nelson told the News Tribune. “My agenda is the people I serve.”
That credo might have led him into a political and ethical quagmire when he stated at a 2007 County Board meeting, when pressed by another commissioner, that he is so intent on representing his constituents that he would even support slavery if his constituents did.
The slavery comment, widely seen on YouTube, was also widely criticized, including by the Virginia Human Rights Commission. Nelson later said he apologized if his words offended anyone. But he has also blamed the issue’s traction on political opponents among county labor unions and on Duluth media, including the Duluth News Tribune, which he says are biased against him.
Janatopoulos said Nelson seems too quick to blame others.
“I’m finding a lot of people don’t really know who our commissioner is or what they do,” Janatopoulos said. “But I’m also running into people who say they know Keith for what he’s said at some board meetings and that they don’t appreciate how he’s acted.”
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Notre Dame Student Dies in Video Tower Collapse
By Sara Hammel
Declan Sullivan
A Notre Dame student died Wednesday while videotaping football practice after the tower he was filming from collapsed from high winds.
Declan Sullivan, 20, a junior from Long Grove, Ill., died at a South Bend hospital after being rushed from the LaBar practice complex, say published reports.
Sullivan's Tweets described frightening weather conditions as he sat atop the hydraulic scissor lift, a tower that can be lowered or raised as needed.
"Gust of wind up to 60mph well today will be fun at work ... I guess I've lived long enough :-/," he posted on his Facebook page via Twitter, shown in an image on the Web site Indy Posted.
His next Tweet was sent at 4:06 p.m. "Holy f-- holy f--- this is terrifying," he wrote. The camera tower collapsed at about 4:50 p.m., as winds in the area were gusting to 51 m.p.h.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Declan's family and friends," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said in a statement. "Declan was a diligent student worker in our video department and had a tremendous personality and great sense of humor. He brightened the days for all that had the privilege to work with him, and the Notre Dame football family will dearly miss him."
A Notre Dame player also shared his feelings about the incident. "In the midst of a season where you are disappointed with the outcomes ... you can lose sight of what's most important. Sad day at practice," senior linebacker Brian Smith posted on his Twitter page. "I will never forget today."
Authorities were investigating the incident. There will be a Mass said in Sullivan's memory on Thursday.
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