Tuesday, January 31, 2012
CHICAGO FED TRIES TO SUE FOX NEWS REPORTER FOR REPORTING IRANIAN THREAT TO U.S. CITIZENS ON AMERICAN SOIL INVOLVING SOMALIA, YEMEN, & THE AFRICAN UNION!
WATCH CATHERINE HERRIDGE VIDEO HERE:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1426148783001/where-does-iranian-threat-to-us-stand/?playlist_id=86857
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1426148783001/where-does-iranian-threat-to-us-stand/?playlist_id=86857
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1426148783001/where-does-iranian-threat-to-us-stand/?playlist_id=86857
.
The courthouse is imposing: a large metal box. Several rings of fencing surround it. The barbs on the wire are three inches long and razor sharp. They glint in the sunlight. It is custom built for the trial of the century: the five 9/11 conspirators, almost two dozen lawyers, both civilian and military, as well as a handful of translators.
Just before 0900, the temperature is nearly 80 degrees though it feels much hotter. There are two screening checkpoints. Ids are shown. No bags, no electronics, no water bottles with labels are allowed in court. After some prodding, a young man with the coast guard explains that the detainees think they are being poisoned if their water bottles look different than ours.
There is no name patch on his uniform. Many of the sailors don't want to be identified. They don't want their families harassed. They didn't ask for the Guantanamo assignment in the first place. When their fellow soldiers come back from Afghanistan and Iraq, they get a pat on the back, a well done and a thank you. Those who return from Guantanamo speak of sneers and dirty looks.
With surveillance cameras trained down on us, the ACLU observers and others are having a smoke. We are waiting in the gravel courtyard for the final okay to enter. As the courthouse door opens, a blast of cold air hits us. As I cross the threshold, I wonder if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of 9/11, and his four co-conspirators ever feel Cuba’s oppressive heat or scan the picture perfect waves of the Atlantic. Guantanamo Bay is a place where absurd thoughts intrude with regularity.
Every journalist signs in. We are shown to our seats. Reinforced glass separates us from the terrorists. They are no more than 15 yards away. I am in the front row just to the left of a pillar with a fairly good vantage point. From what I can see, most of the men are not shackled. They wear white slip-on sneakers with no laces like little girls.
Having covered most of the big terrorism trials, experience has taught me that the most important moments come when court is not in session. This pre-trial period lives up to my expectations.
At the front left side of the court is the man himself – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. There is no resemblance to his mug shot that we, covering the trial, refer to as the terrorist’s John Belushi period. The disheveled hair and white T-shirt are replaced by a long white robe and head covering. His beard is now grey and well over 6 inches long. His glasses are military issue with thick black frames.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed is smiling. Though the sound, which is controlled by the military, is turned off or at least very low, we can see KSM gesturing wildly with his hands and talking at the top of his lungs. He greets his fellow co-conspirators like old friends at a high school reunion.
The men are survivors. They withstood the worst the US government could throw at them. The water boarding, sleep deprivation and pressure positions at the CIA secret prisons did not destroy them.
I am distracted by the sound of scratching. The sketch artist, Janet Hamlin, a small woman from Brooklyn with a gentle smile is feverishly drawing on her sketchpad. First, she lays out the raw outline of the courtroom and the men. Color comes next. I jerk myself back because an extraordinary scene is unfolding before me. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is now motioning to the others. He wants them to follow his lead. He waves a single defiant finger in the air when he senses dissent to his plan.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is already working the system. He wants the 9/11 conspirators to act as their own attorneys. He mocks the proceeding by calling it “an inquisition.” His delivery and body language suggest he’s been practicing the line in his cell.
KSM understands us better than we understand him. He knows whatever he says will be reported around the world. A military source says KSM devours every story, every web posting, every TV clip about him. Without question, he is Al Qaeda’s media whore.
And then, things get really crazy. For some unknown reason, a court security officer who is making decisions way above his pay grade thinks it’s a good idea for KSM to review Janet’s sketch. It's the one where he dominates the picture. Turns out, KSM hates the sketch. He says the nose is all wrong, It’s too big or too ethnic or too something. It has to be fixed. KSM orders the sailors to get Janet his FBI mug shot. He, apparently, prefers this picture because he looks composed. His clothes are pressed.
So Janet fixes the sketch to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s satisfaction. Within minutes, the sketch is carried to our live shot position on the tarmac about 50 yards from the courthouse. It is filmed by the pool TV crew and then broadcast to millions.
Later in the evening, I sit on the equipment box near the live shot position. The sun is dropping like a red, hot ball into the Cuban hills.
"Who's in control," I say under my breath. "Us or the terrorists?"
--------------------------------------------The five 9/11 suspects are Al Qaeda’s old guard. It would crush their mammoth egos to know that they are yesterday’s news because the next wave of recruits is already crashing across America’s shores.
There is Faisal Shahzad. On a Saturday night, in May 2010, the naturalized American of Pakistani decent was accused of driving a crude car bomb into Times Square. Though trained by the Pakistani Taliban, Shahzad’s bomb failed to explode. Unrepentant to the end, the 31-year old was sentenced to life in prison.
There is Najibullah Zazi. Just three months earlier, the Denver airport shuttle bus driver, who was born in Afghanistan and raised in Pakistan and the U.S., pleaded guilty to an Al Qaeda plot to blow up the New York City subway system. He was trained overseas by Usama bin Laden’s network.
And there is Major Nidal Hasan. The Army psychiatrist allegedly shot to death 13 at Fort Hood in Texas, including 12 soldiers, one of them pregnant. Shortly after 13:30, on November 5th, 2009, Hasan walked into the Readiness Center where soldiers get medical checks before and after deployments. According to eyewitness accounts, Hasan opened fire as he shouted “Allahu Akbar” which means “God is great.” It took the Obama Administration three months to publicly acknowledge the Fort Hood massacre as an act of terrorism.
There are cases, like that of Anthony Joseph Tracy, a 35-year old Virginia man, that do not make national headlines. Described by his court appointed attorney as a father and a husband, Tracy was arrested for allegedly smuggling approximately 272 Somalis into the US. Some may have terrorist ties to an Al Qaeda affiliate known as al-Shabaab that is based in East Africa. In a polygraph test, Tracy told the Feds that Al-Shabaab approached him for help. And though he claims he refused, Tracy was held without bond because federal prosecutors said he was a public threat and a flight risk. He was later convicted on human trafficking charges and sentenced to three years probation and time served.
The list continues: Omar Hammami in Alabama, Daniel Boyd in North Carolina, Carlos Bledsoe in Arkansas, David Headley and Michael Finton in Illinois, Hosam Smadi in Texas, Betim Kaziu in New York, Tarek Mehanna in Massachusetts. Analysts may disagree over whether these men truly qualify as Al Qaeda members or simply Al Qaeda wannabes inspired by the network’s message. They may even be innocent.
After 9/11, Al Qaeda’s top down structure, much like a Fortune 500 company, splintered and morphed. With the US invasion of Afghanistan, Al Qaeda reconstituted in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Recruits still travelled to the camps to get hands on experience in bombing making and explosives. But by 2006, there was a perceptible shift.
As CIA director Leon Panetta warned Congress in January of 2010, Al Qaeda’s tactics were evolving. The new recruits were in their 20’s with clean backgrounds. They were hard to detect. They no longer made the obligatory pilgrimage to Pakistan and Afghanistan for training. Instead, they travelled to Yemen or Somalia. Some were radicalized right here in America.
In a growing number of cases, Al Qaeda’s followers are just like us. They are educated here or born here. The radicalization process is compressed. An offbeat loner can reach out and become a dedicated killer in a matter of months.
In the late 90’s, as a foreign correspondent based in London, a former weapons inspector in Iraq gave me a piece of advice that still rings true today. We were in a London pub, talking over warm beers.
“Catherine, “he said. “Terrorism is like water. It takes the path of least resistance. You move one way and it moves another. It is a thinking enemy.”
Al Qaeda and its attack on our country continue to shape my life and career. To my knowledge, I am the only network TV correspondent to cover 9/11 in New York, to report on the war on terror from Washington D.C. for nearly a decade and to follow the narrative of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators to a military court in Guantanamo Bay.
I live in a military family so my perspective is different. I am not sitting on the sidelines reporting the story. I am feeling the impact. In 2009, my husband an Air Force Major and West Point graduate was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan. It is the birthplace of the Taliban. For nine months, I was a single parent with two children under five. Phone calls late at night made me nervous.
When I investigate the future of Al Qaeda, it’s personal. I need to know what my family and our nation are in for. What I see, through my reporting, is a growing body of evidence that Al Qaeda’s American recruits are already here.
Reprinted with permission from Crown Forum.
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1426148783001/where-does-iranian-threat-to-us-stand/?playlist_id=86857
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1426148783001/where-does-iranian-threat-to-us-stand/?playlist_id=86857
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1426148783001/where-does-iranian-threat-to-us-stand/?playlist_id=86857
.
The courthouse is imposing: a large metal box. Several rings of fencing surround it. The barbs on the wire are three inches long and razor sharp. They glint in the sunlight. It is custom built for the trial of the century: the five 9/11 conspirators, almost two dozen lawyers, both civilian and military, as well as a handful of translators.
Just before 0900, the temperature is nearly 80 degrees though it feels much hotter. There are two screening checkpoints. Ids are shown. No bags, no electronics, no water bottles with labels are allowed in court. After some prodding, a young man with the coast guard explains that the detainees think they are being poisoned if their water bottles look different than ours.
There is no name patch on his uniform. Many of the sailors don't want to be identified. They don't want their families harassed. They didn't ask for the Guantanamo assignment in the first place. When their fellow soldiers come back from Afghanistan and Iraq, they get a pat on the back, a well done and a thank you. Those who return from Guantanamo speak of sneers and dirty looks.
With surveillance cameras trained down on us, the ACLU observers and others are having a smoke. We are waiting in the gravel courtyard for the final okay to enter. As the courthouse door opens, a blast of cold air hits us. As I cross the threshold, I wonder if Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described architect of 9/11, and his four co-conspirators ever feel Cuba’s oppressive heat or scan the picture perfect waves of the Atlantic. Guantanamo Bay is a place where absurd thoughts intrude with regularity.
Every journalist signs in. We are shown to our seats. Reinforced glass separates us from the terrorists. They are no more than 15 yards away. I am in the front row just to the left of a pillar with a fairly good vantage point. From what I can see, most of the men are not shackled. They wear white slip-on sneakers with no laces like little girls.
Having covered most of the big terrorism trials, experience has taught me that the most important moments come when court is not in session. This pre-trial period lives up to my expectations.
At the front left side of the court is the man himself – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. There is no resemblance to his mug shot that we, covering the trial, refer to as the terrorist’s John Belushi period. The disheveled hair and white T-shirt are replaced by a long white robe and head covering. His beard is now grey and well over 6 inches long. His glasses are military issue with thick black frames.
Khalid Sheik Mohammed is smiling. Though the sound, which is controlled by the military, is turned off or at least very low, we can see KSM gesturing wildly with his hands and talking at the top of his lungs. He greets his fellow co-conspirators like old friends at a high school reunion.
The men are survivors. They withstood the worst the US government could throw at them. The water boarding, sleep deprivation and pressure positions at the CIA secret prisons did not destroy them.
I am distracted by the sound of scratching. The sketch artist, Janet Hamlin, a small woman from Brooklyn with a gentle smile is feverishly drawing on her sketchpad. First, she lays out the raw outline of the courtroom and the men. Color comes next. I jerk myself back because an extraordinary scene is unfolding before me. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is now motioning to the others. He wants them to follow his lead. He waves a single defiant finger in the air when he senses dissent to his plan.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is already working the system. He wants the 9/11 conspirators to act as their own attorneys. He mocks the proceeding by calling it “an inquisition.” His delivery and body language suggest he’s been practicing the line in his cell.
KSM understands us better than we understand him. He knows whatever he says will be reported around the world. A military source says KSM devours every story, every web posting, every TV clip about him. Without question, he is Al Qaeda’s media whore.
And then, things get really crazy. For some unknown reason, a court security officer who is making decisions way above his pay grade thinks it’s a good idea for KSM to review Janet’s sketch. It's the one where he dominates the picture. Turns out, KSM hates the sketch. He says the nose is all wrong, It’s too big or too ethnic or too something. It has to be fixed. KSM orders the sailors to get Janet his FBI mug shot. He, apparently, prefers this picture because he looks composed. His clothes are pressed.
So Janet fixes the sketch to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s satisfaction. Within minutes, the sketch is carried to our live shot position on the tarmac about 50 yards from the courthouse. It is filmed by the pool TV crew and then broadcast to millions.
Later in the evening, I sit on the equipment box near the live shot position. The sun is dropping like a red, hot ball into the Cuban hills.
"Who's in control," I say under my breath. "Us or the terrorists?"
--------------------------------------------The five 9/11 suspects are Al Qaeda’s old guard. It would crush their mammoth egos to know that they are yesterday’s news because the next wave of recruits is already crashing across America’s shores.
There is Faisal Shahzad. On a Saturday night, in May 2010, the naturalized American of Pakistani decent was accused of driving a crude car bomb into Times Square. Though trained by the Pakistani Taliban, Shahzad’s bomb failed to explode. Unrepentant to the end, the 31-year old was sentenced to life in prison.
There is Najibullah Zazi. Just three months earlier, the Denver airport shuttle bus driver, who was born in Afghanistan and raised in Pakistan and the U.S., pleaded guilty to an Al Qaeda plot to blow up the New York City subway system. He was trained overseas by Usama bin Laden’s network.
And there is Major Nidal Hasan. The Army psychiatrist allegedly shot to death 13 at Fort Hood in Texas, including 12 soldiers, one of them pregnant. Shortly after 13:30, on November 5th, 2009, Hasan walked into the Readiness Center where soldiers get medical checks before and after deployments. According to eyewitness accounts, Hasan opened fire as he shouted “Allahu Akbar” which means “God is great.” It took the Obama Administration three months to publicly acknowledge the Fort Hood massacre as an act of terrorism.
There are cases, like that of Anthony Joseph Tracy, a 35-year old Virginia man, that do not make national headlines. Described by his court appointed attorney as a father and a husband, Tracy was arrested for allegedly smuggling approximately 272 Somalis into the US. Some may have terrorist ties to an Al Qaeda affiliate known as al-Shabaab that is based in East Africa. In a polygraph test, Tracy told the Feds that Al-Shabaab approached him for help. And though he claims he refused, Tracy was held without bond because federal prosecutors said he was a public threat and a flight risk. He was later convicted on human trafficking charges and sentenced to three years probation and time served.
The list continues: Omar Hammami in Alabama, Daniel Boyd in North Carolina, Carlos Bledsoe in Arkansas, David Headley and Michael Finton in Illinois, Hosam Smadi in Texas, Betim Kaziu in New York, Tarek Mehanna in Massachusetts. Analysts may disagree over whether these men truly qualify as Al Qaeda members or simply Al Qaeda wannabes inspired by the network’s message. They may even be innocent.
After 9/11, Al Qaeda’s top down structure, much like a Fortune 500 company, splintered and morphed. With the US invasion of Afghanistan, Al Qaeda reconstituted in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Recruits still travelled to the camps to get hands on experience in bombing making and explosives. But by 2006, there was a perceptible shift.
As CIA director Leon Panetta warned Congress in January of 2010, Al Qaeda’s tactics were evolving. The new recruits were in their 20’s with clean backgrounds. They were hard to detect. They no longer made the obligatory pilgrimage to Pakistan and Afghanistan for training. Instead, they travelled to Yemen or Somalia. Some were radicalized right here in America.
In a growing number of cases, Al Qaeda’s followers are just like us. They are educated here or born here. The radicalization process is compressed. An offbeat loner can reach out and become a dedicated killer in a matter of months.
In the late 90’s, as a foreign correspondent based in London, a former weapons inspector in Iraq gave me a piece of advice that still rings true today. We were in a London pub, talking over warm beers.
“Catherine, “he said. “Terrorism is like water. It takes the path of least resistance. You move one way and it moves another. It is a thinking enemy.”
Al Qaeda and its attack on our country continue to shape my life and career. To my knowledge, I am the only network TV correspondent to cover 9/11 in New York, to report on the war on terror from Washington D.C. for nearly a decade and to follow the narrative of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators to a military court in Guantanamo Bay.
I live in a military family so my perspective is different. I am not sitting on the sidelines reporting the story. I am feeling the impact. In 2009, my husband an Air Force Major and West Point graduate was deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan. It is the birthplace of the Taliban. For nine months, I was a single parent with two children under five. Phone calls late at night made me nervous.
When I investigate the future of Al Qaeda, it’s personal. I need to know what my family and our nation are in for. What I see, through my reporting, is a growing body of evidence that Al Qaeda’s American recruits are already here.
Reprinted with permission from Crown Forum.
BRAZIL & SPAIN WORKING TOGETHER TO UNDERMINE U.S.-EU-NATO NATIONAL SECURITY, ASSETS, & GLOBAL ECONOMIES WITH OBAMA'S SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES!
BRAZIL'S CSN ACQUIRES GERMAN STEEL ASSETS FROM SPAIN FOR $482.5 MILLION
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSNA3.BR, SID), or CSN, said it acquired some German steel assets from Spain's Grupo Alfonso Gallardo SLU for 482.5 million euros ($631.3 million).
The assets are shares previously held by Gallardo in German long-steel-products producer Stahlwerk Thuringen GmbH, or SWT, and Gallardo Sections SLU, CSN said.
SWT has capacity to produce 1.1 million metric tons a year of steel annually and will strengthen CSN's presence in the long steel products market, CSN said.
CSN is building a new 500,000 tons-a-year long-steel-products works in Brazil, due to start production later this year.
Copyright © 2012 Dow Jones Newswires
ISSA THREATENS 'CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS' PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HOLDER IF JUSTICE FAILS TO COMPLY WITH SLOW & SLOWER SUBPOENAS
ISSA THREATENS 'CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS' PROCEEDINGS AGAINST HOLDER IF JUSTICE FAILS TO COMPLY WITH SLOW & SLOWER SUBPOENAS
By William Lajeunesse Published January 31, 2012 | FoxNews.com
The head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is threatening to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress if he fails to comply with congressional subpoenas for documents.
Holder has until Feb. 9 to comply.
In a four-page letter to Holder, Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., claims the Department of Justice has "misrepresented facts and misled Congress," which began its investigation of Operation Fast and Furious one year ago.
Issa wrote that Holder's "actions lead us to conclude that the department is actively engaged in a cover-up" because it refuses to comply with previous subpoenas.
"If the department continues to obstruct the congressional inquiry by not providing documents and information, this committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress," Issa warned in the letter.
Issa claims the Justice Department has stonewalled the congressional investigation of the gun-running scandal that sent some 2,000 weapons to the Mexican cartels with the assistance of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In December, Holder testified to the House Judiciary Committee that he understands Congress wants answers, and Justice Department employees were working "tirelessly to identify, locate and provide relevant information" to lawmakers "all while preserving the integrity of ongoing criminal investigations and prosecutions."
He added that documents provided to congressional investigators show that department personnel relied on information provided by supervisors in Arizona thought to be in the best position to relay those facts, but some of that information was later found to be "inaccurate.”
"The documents produced to date also belie the remarkable notion that this operation was conceived by department leaders, as some have claimed," Holder said. "It is my understanding that department leaders were not informed about the inappropriate tactics employed in this operation until those tactics were made public and, as is customary, turned to those with supervisory responsibility over the operation in an effort to learn the facts."
But in his letter Tuesday, Issa wrote that Holder has only provided Congress with 6,000 pages of documents while providing some 80,000 to the department's inspector general, which Holder requested investigate last year.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, Issa's Senate counterpart in the inquiry, said Tuesday that the documents sent to Congress are not even 10 percent of those received at the inspector general's office but the department has yet to explain why it is "withholding each of those 74,000 pages."
Grassley, responding to a Democratic minority report out of the committee on Tuesday, suggested that nothing coming from the Justice Department should be taken at face value, especially since Holder initially denied "gunwalking" had occurred but has since admitted to the operation.
"Documents turned over late Friday night indicate (Criminal Division chief Lanny Breuer) was still discussing plans to let guns cross the border with Mexican officials on the same day the department denied to me in writing that ATF would ever let guns walk,"
FAILED STATE UPDATE: GERMAN CHANCELLOR, ANGELA MERKEL, SIGNALS GREECE DEBT DEAL DELAYS
GERMAN CHANCELLOR, ANGELA MERKEL, SIGNALS GREECE DEBT DEAL DELAYS
By James G. Neuger and Jurjen van de Pol January 30, 2012 11:06 AM EST
European leaders sparred with Greece over a second rescue program, clouding progress toward a permanent aid fund and tougher budget rules designed to stabilize the euro.
Greece faced criticism that its economic makeover is faltering, and it fended off German-led calls for a European overseer to take command of its budget after its deficits surpassed targets for two years.
“What the Greeks have to do is show they are ready to implement the package,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters as he arrived for a European Union summit in Brussels today. “We can help Greece through this difficult phase, but then Greece has to execute all agreements they made with us.”
Bargaining with Greece over a debt writedown and its economic management threatened to overshadow a summit meant to point the way out of the financial crisis by speeding the setup of a full-time 500 billion-euro ($654 billion) rescue fund and signing off on a German-inspired deficit-control treaty.
A start-of-year respite from market pressures continued today when Italy raised 7.5 billion euros, close to its maximum target, in preparation for its biggest redemption of 2012. At least five more countries plan bond sales this week. The euro slipped 0.9 percent to $1.3160 at 5:30 p.m. in Brussels, snapping a five-day rally.
Cautious Outlook “We can say -- with caution -- that we see elements of financial stability in France , in Europe and in the world,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday. “Europe is no longer at the edge of the cliff.”
Greece is making progress on one component of the package, nearing an agreement for bondholders to accept deeper losses on a 50 percent cut in the face value of more than 200 billion euros of debt.
Creditors are willing to take an average coupon of as low as 3.6 percent on new 30-year bonds, said a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because a final deal hasn’t been struck yet. As recently as Jan. 23, creditors wanted an average coupon of about 4.25 percent, two people familiar with the talks said then. That offer equated to a loss of about 69 percent on the net present value of Greek debt.
European concerns that Greece can deliver budget cuts and economic reforms are holding up other parts of the package, which Greece needs to meet a 14.5 billion-euro bond payment due on March 20.
Deal Delay “We won’t have a thorough discussion of Greece because the troika is in Greece and we don’t have a result of the talks with the banks,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.
The troika -- the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund -- oversees the 110 billion-euro program awarded to Greece in 2010 and conducts talks on an additional 130 billion euros pledged in October.
Germany ’s call for an EU-appointed overseer of Greece’s budget prompted consternation in Athens and led other European governments to warn against treating Greece differently than other countries.
“It is right that one controls strictly but using one commissioner especially for one country, I don’t think is a good idea,” Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann said.
The German view was captured by Michael Fuchs , the head economic spokesman for Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union in parliament. In an interview in Berlin, Fuchs said: “The free lunch is over: no external controls, no money. I can’t look my constituents in the eye and say anything different.”
Countering Contraction With the euro economy set to contract by 0.5 percent this year, according to the median of 19 forecasts compiled by Bloomberg, the leaders will seek to send a pro-growth message by breaking down barriers to cross-border commerce.
Leaders will pledge to channel unspent subsidies and consider boosting the lending of the bloc’s project-financing arm, though without providing any figures, according to a draft summit statement obtained by Bloomberg News.
“We must do more to get Europe out of the crisis,” the draft statement said.
Leaders also plan to complete the fiscal-discipline pact, which has gone through five drafts since nine countries outside the euro teamed with the 17 on the inside to work up the new rules in December. Britain was alone in boycotting the process.
A call by Poland, the biggest country with aspirations to adopt the common currency, to take part in euro-area decision- making looms as the main obstacle to a deal on the fiscal compact.
Poland’s Position Poland’s plea to take part in euro summits is running into opposition from a group led by France, which has long aimed to turn the euro area into an exclusive policymaking club.
Poland will join the fiscal pact “under one condition -- that these countries that take this co-responsibility are also participating in the decision-making process in terms of how this fiscal compact is executed,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today in Brussels.
Only countries that ratify the fiscal compact will be eligible for aid from the permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism. Leaders today will pledge to bring the ESM into operation on July 1, a year ahead of schedule.
Leaders are unlikely to address mounting pressure to raise the ceiling on rescue lending from 500 billion euros once the permanent fund goes on line, two EU officials said last week.
To contact the reporters on this story: James G. Neuger in Brussels at jneuger@bloomberg.net ; Jurjen van de Pol in Brussels at jvandepol@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net
ART LAFFER: WHY GINGRICH'S PLAN BEATS ROMNEY!
NEWT GINGRICH SPEAKS TO 4,000 PEOPLE AT THE VILLAGES, FLORIDA
ART LAFFER: WHY GINGRICH'S TAX PLAN BEATS ROMNEY
WALLSTREETJOURNAL.COM
By ARTHUR B. LAFFER If we judge both leading contenders in the Republican primary, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, by what they've done in life and by what they propose to do if elected, either one could be an excellent president. But when it comes to the election's core issue—restoring a healthy economy—the key is a good tax plan and the ability to implement it.
Mr. Gingrich has a significantly better plan than does Mr. Romney, and he has twice before been instrumental in implementing a successful tax plan on a national level —once when he served in Congress as a Reagan supporter in the 1980s and again when he was President Clinton's partner as speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1990s. During both of these periods the economy prospered incredibly—in good part because of Mr. Gingrich.
Jobs and wealth are created by those who are taxed, not by those who do the taxing. Government, by its very nature, doesn't create resources but redistributes resources. To minimize the damages taxes cause the economy, the best way for government to raise revenue is a broad-based, low-rate flat tax that provides people and businesses with the fewest incentives to avoid or otherwise not report taxable income, and the least number of places where they can escape taxation. On these counts it doesn't get any better than Mr. Gingrich's optional 15% flat tax for individuals and his 12.5% flat tax for business. Each of these taxes has been tried and tested and found to be enormously successful.
Hong Kong, where there has been a 15% flat income tax on individuals since 1947, is truly a shining city on the hill and one of the most prosperous cities in history. Ireland's 12.5% flat business income tax propelled the Emerald Isle out of two and a half centuries of poverty. Mr. Romney's tax proposals—including eliminating the death tax, reducing the corporate tax rate to 25%, and extending the current tax rates on personal income, interest, dividends and capital gains—would be an improvement over those of President Obama, but they don't have the boldness or internal integrity of Mr. Gingrich's personal and business flat taxes.
Imagine what would happen to international capital flows if the U.S. went from the second highest business tax country in the world to one of the lowest. Low taxes along with all of America's other great attributes would precipitate a flood of new investment in this country as well as a quick repatriation of American funds held abroad. We would create more jobs than you could shake a stick at. And those jobs would be productive jobs, not make-work jobs like so many of Mr. Obama's stimulus jobs.
Tax codes, in order to work well, require widespread voluntary compliance from taxpayers. And for taxpayers to voluntarily comply with a tax code they have to believe that it is both fair and efficient.
Fairness in taxation means that people and businesses in like circumstances have similar tax burdens. A flat tax, whether on business or individuals, achieves fairness in spades. A person who makes 10 times as much as another person should pay 10 times more in taxes. It is also patently obvious that it is unfair to tax some people's income twice, three times or more after it has been earned, as is the case with the death tax.
The current administration's notion of fairness—taxing high-income earners at high rates and not taxing other income earners at all—is totally unfair. It is also anathema to prosperity and ultimately leads to the situation we have in our nation today.
In 2012, those least capable of navigating complex government-created economic environments find themselves in their worst economic circumstances in generations. And the reason minority, lesser-educated and younger members of our society are struggling so greatly is not because we have too few redistributionist, class-warfare policies but because we have too many. Overtaxing people who work and overpaying people not to work has its consequences.
On a bipartisan basis, government has enacted the very policies that have created the current extremely uneven distribution of income. And then in turn they have used the very desperation they created as their rationale for even more antibusiness and antirich policies. As my friend Jack Kemp used to say, "You can't love jobs and hate job creators." Economic growth achieved through a flat tax in conjunction with a pro-growth safety net is the only way to raise incomes of those on the bottom rungs of our economic ladder.
When it comes to economic efficiency, nothing holds a candle to a low-rate, simple flat tax. As I explained in a op-ed on this page last spring ("The 30-Cent Tax Premium," April 18), for every dollar of net income tax collected by the Internal Revenue Service, there is an additional 30¢ paid out of pocket by the taxpayers to maintain compliance with the tax code. Such inefficiency is outrageous. Mr. Gingrich's flat taxes would go a lot further toward reducing these additional expenses than would Mr. Romney's proposals.
Mr. Gingrich's tax proposal is not revenue-neutral, nor should it be. If there's one truism in fiscal policy, it's this: Wasteful spending will always rise to the level of revenues. Whether you're in Greece, Washington, D.C., or California, overspending is a prosperity killer of the first order. Mr. Gingrich's flat tax proposals—along with his proposed balanced budget amendment—would put a quick stop to overspending and return America to fiscal soundness. No other candidate comes close to doing this.
Mr. Laffer, chairman of Laffer Associates, is co-author with Stephen Moore of "Return to Prosperity: How America Can Regain Its Economic Superpower Status" (Threshold, 2010).
INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: IRAN, RUSSIA, CHINA TOP INTEL THREATS TO U.S.
INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: IRAN, RUSSIA, CHINA TOP INTEL THREATS TO U.S.
By Shaun Waterman - The Washington Times
Updated: 11:13 a.m. on Tuesday, January 31, 2012
There’s a growing risk that Iran might launch terror attacks against U.S. targets, including in the homeland, as tensions rise over Tehran’s nuclear program and the U.S.-led sanctions against the Islamic regime, according the U.S. intelligence chief.
Last year’s discovery of a plot by Iranian officials to kill a Saudi diplomat in Washington “shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States,” Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper said in testimony prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday.
“We are also concerned about Iranian plotting against U.S. or allied interests overseas,” Mr. Clapper said during a committee hearing on global threats against the United States.
Iran has joined Russia and China as one of the “most menacing foreign intelligence threats” to the U.S., Mr. Clapper told the committee. Foreign intelligence services from these three countries “will remain the top threats to the United States in the coming years.”
“Iran’s intelligence operations against the United States, including cyber capabilities, have dramatically increased in recent years in depth and complexity,” he said.
The Washington Times reported in October that an Iranian hacker, possibly state-sponsored, is widely believed to have been behind several breaches last year of the Internet security system known as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Computer users know the system as the padlock in the browser that shows that online shopping, banking and other communications are secure.
Without mentioning Iran, Mr. Clapper said the SSL breach “represents a threat to one of the most fundamental technologies used to secure online communications and sensitive transactions.”
Previous assessments of the foreign spy threat, like last year’s report to Congress by the National Counter-Intelligence Executive, had identified economic espionage by Russia and China as a top-tier intelligence threat, but had not highlighted Iran.
Foreign intelligence services “have launched numerous computer network operations targeting U.S. government agencies, businesses, and universities,” said Mr. Clapper, without naming them. “Foreign cyber actors have also begun targeting classified networks.”
ILLINOIS EXELON'S NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT & FLIGHT RISK: FAILED INSULATOR CAUSED OUTAGE AT BYRON NUCLEAR PLANT!
CHICAGOTRIBUNE.COM + FEBRUARY 1, 2012
Exelon Energy ofials say they've traced a power failure at a nuclear reactor in northern Illinois to an electrical insulator in a switchyard.
The insulator failed and fell off Monday morning, causing one of the reactors at the Byron Generating Station to shut down automatically, company spokesman Paul Dempsey says.
The bad insulator will be sent to a lab for analysis and officials hope to replace it by Tuesday evening. It's unclear how soon before the reactor could return to service.
Steam containing low levels of tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen, is being vented to reduce pressure within the reactor. But federal and plant officials say the levels are safe for workers and the public. The plant is 95 miles northwest of Chicago.
The switchyard is similar to a large substation that delivers power to the plant from the electrical grid and from the plant to the electrical grid.
Diesel generators were supplying the reactor with electricity, though it hasn't been generating power during the investigation into what happened. One question is why smoke was seen from an onsite station transformer, though no evidence of a fire was found when the plant's fire brigade responded, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said.
She said Exelon was testing equipment and inspecting various systems to determine exactly what went wrong, and no repairs would be made until the root cause was found.
"If you do a Band-Aid fix and have the same situation, it's not in anybody's interest to have a repeat," Mitlyng said, adding that the NRC is monitoring the activities.
Exelon officials did not immediately return a message Tuesday morning.
The commission declared the incident an "unusual event," the lowest of four levels of emergency. Commission officials also said the release of tritium was expected.
Mitlyng said officials can't yet calculate how much tritium was released. They know the amounts were small because monitors around the plant didn't show increased levels of radiation, she said.
Tritium molecules are so microscopic that small amounts are able to pass from radioactive steam that originates in the reactor through tubing and into the water used to cool turbines and other equipment outside the reactor, Mitlyng said. The steam that was being released was coming from the turbine side.
Tritium is relatively short-lived and penetrates the body weakly through the air compared to other radioactive contaminants. It can cause cell damage if it enters the body, but the amounts released from the Byron station under normal operating conditions and within the steam that's being vented now is not a health concern, said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer and director of the nuclear safety project for the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Releasing steam helps "take away some of that energy still being produced by nuclear reaction but that doesn't have anywhere to go now," Mitlyng said. Even though the turbine is not turning to produce electricity, she said, "you still need to cool the equipment."
Candace Humphrey, Ogle County's emergency management coordinator, said county officials were notified of the incident as soon as it happened and that public safety was never in danger.
"It was standard procedure that they would notify county officials," she said. "There is always concern. But, it never crossed my mind that there was any danger to the people of Ogle County."
Another reactor at the plant was operating normally.
In March 2008, federal officials said they were investigating a problem with electrical transformers at the plant after outside power to a unit was interrupted.
In an unrelated issue last April, the commission said it was conducting special inspections of backup water pumps at the Byron and Braidwood generating stations after the agency's inspectors raised concerns about whether the pumps would be able to cool the reactors if the normal system wasn't working. The plants' operator, Exelon Corp., initially said the pumps would work but later concluded they wouldn't.
Ads by Google
Energy News and Analysis Covering the Business of Energy for Electric Power Executives energybiz.com
Nuclear Industry Webinar Learn how to manage requirements & leverage tools @ IEEE Spectrum spectrum.ieee.org/webinar
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
FAILED STATE OF ILLINOIS GOVERNOR, QUINN, APPOINTS FED CONVICT BLAGO & SYRIAN FUNDRAISERS' AIDE, JACK LAVIN, AS DIRECTOR OF THE DEPT. OF COMMERCE & ECONOMIC LOOTING!
Lavin served as Blagojevich's director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity after [convicted fundraiser Tony] Rezko recommended him for the post. Lavin once worked as the chief financial officer for Rezko's food-related business, and took more than $12,000 in donations from Rezko's firm while considering a run for elected office in 2001.
ILLINOIS FACING "FINANCIAL DISASTER": WATCHDOG
ILLINOIS FACING "FINANCIAL DISASTER": WATCHDOG
By Karen Pierog CHICAGO | Mon Jan 30, 2012
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois could see its pile of overdue bills climb to an unprecedented $35 billion in five years if the state fails to rein in pension and other costs, a watchdog group said in a report released on Monday.
"Failure to address unsustainable trends in the state's pension and Medicaid systems will only result in financial disaster for the state of Illinois," said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, the financial government watchdog group that produced the report. Msall said the governor and General Assembly need to act now.
The Civic Federation's five-year budget projection showed the backlog of bills owed vendors and others rising to $9.2 billion when fiscal 2012 ends in July.
Those numbers could balloon to $34.8 billion at the end of fiscal 2017, the report said. The rise was pegged largely to an unsustainable increase in the state's costs for Medicaid, the health care program for the poor that is jointly funded by states and the federal government.
At the end of fiscal 2011, Illinois had about $8.5 billion in bills, tax refunds and other obligations outstanding despite a big income tax rate hike enacted in January 2011, according to the state comptroller.
Illinois' fiscal woes and reliance on one-time revenue measures, such as borrowing, have made the state a riskier investment in the U.S. municipal bond market, where it has issued billions of dollars of bonds to make pension payments. Earlier this month, Moody's Investors Service cut Illinois' credit rating to A2, the lowest rating among the states it rates.
Medicaid-related bills alone could account for $21 billion of the projected fiscal 2017 bill backlog as Illinois budget appropriations lag rising costs for the program, the watchdog's report said.
As for pensions, chronic underfunding, exacerbated by investment losses in fiscal years 2008 and 2009, have left Illinois with a $83.1 billion unfunded liability and a funded ratio of only 43.3 percent, according to the Civic Federation. The group called for curbing pension benefit increases for all retirees and current employees.
Illinois has consistently been ranked by the Pew Center on the States as having the lowest pension funding level among states.
Meanwhile, Illinois' operating deficit, which is projected at $508 million in the current general funds budget, could jump to $3.2 billion in fiscal 2017 if the state continues to spend more than what it collects in revenue, the report said.
A statement from Governor Pat Quinn's Office of Management and Budget called the report constructive and said that Quinn, a Democrat, has proposed reforms such as a reduction in the Medicaid reimbursement rate.
It added that Quinn's fiscal 2013 budget plan will "continue to market the tough decisions necessary to address the state's financial challenges."
(Reporting By Karen Pierog)
THE ILLINOIS DOWNGRADE: LIBERALISM FAILS AGAIN. THERE IS NO REASON TO TAKE THE LEFT SERIOUSLY ABOUT THE JOY OF TAX INCREASES!
HUMANEVENTS.COM
THE ILLINOIS DOWNGRADE: LIBERALISM FAILS AGAIN. THERE IS NO REASON TO TAKE THE LEFT SERIOUSLY ABOUT THE JOY OF TAX INCREASES!
By John Hayward 01/20/2012
It didn’t get a lot of media attention, but a couple of weeks ago, Moody’s downgraded the credit rating of Illinois to A2, giving it the worst credit rating among all of the United States. This was terribly disappointing to the Chicago Tribune:
Though Illinois took steps in the last year to address its fiscal crisis, including a temporary hike in the corporate and personal income tax rates, the steps did not lift the ratings on its debt.
As the state prepares to take $800 million in general obligation bonds to market next week, two of the three major credit rating agencies kept their ratings the same and one downgraded its rating a notch, which means Illinois continues to lag most other states. The bond issue will help finance school, transportation and other capital projects.
(Emphasis mine.) Gosh, they did everything right in the Land of Lincoln, and still ended up with a downgrade. There might be more downgrades to come, as Fitch Ratings doesn’t sound very confident:
"Challenges remain, including addressing increasing spending demands in the general fund from Medicaid and rising pension costs, enacting a plan to reduce the outstanding accounts payable balance, and maintaining budgetary balance in light of the temporary nature of the tax increases," Fitch wrote in its report, issued Thursday.
So what measures failed in Illinois? What philosophy of government was a total bust? Why, it was a perfect expression of the governing philosophy of Chicago’s favorite son, President Barack Obama. They did literally everything the national Democrat Party wants the entire country to do: out-of-control spending and huge soak-the-rich, sock-it-to-corporations tax increases. It was an unmitigated disaster, and they’re still $7 billion in the hole. The Wall Street Journal was moved to call them “The Greece Next Door” (article behind a paywall, but Daniel Mitchell of the Cato Institute has some excerpts.)
Incidentally, this Midwestern “Greece Next Door” is next door to Wisconsin, which actually did balance a horrific Democrat budget under a Republican governor… who is now the target of a frenzied recall effort from deranged leftists carrying stacks of fraudulent recall petitions. Don’t worry, Wisconsin voters! If you lose the War On Taxpayers, you’ll get to be Greece, too.
Mitchell sums up the painfully obvious lessons from the Illinois downgrade, which are being taught with even more vigor in Europe. To paraphrase:
1. If you raise taxes to reduce the deficit, politicians will simply spend the extra money. They always think the existing deficit is sustainable, concern about deficits is overblown, and the day of reckoning will never come.
2. Raising taxes never pulls in anywhere near as much money as politicians promise, because people and corporations take action to avoid the taxes. These actions are generally detrimental to the overall economy. At higher levels, taxes begin cannibalizing the economic machinery that fuels growth, meaning there is less productive activity to tax, and government revenue “mysteriously” collapses.
3. The targets of tax increases always have the option to escape the system entirely. This is true at the national level as well, as you can see from “outsourcing” and capital flight, which Democrats only pretend to care about when they are out of power.
History provides very few examples of a tax increase that raised anything close to the promised revenue, or tax increases that actually were used for significant debt reduction. In fact, it’s hard to find a case where tax increases were coupled with spending cuts, and the spending cuts actually happened at all. Have you noticed these deals never involve immediate, real, verifiable spending cuts (not just slight reductions in the rate of spending growth), to be followed with a tax increase somewhere down the line, once all the spending cut goals have been met?
Why doesn’t a deal like that ever appear on the table, not even once? If we supposedly can’t trust the American people to submit to the tax increases after Big Government completes its spending cuts, why are we expected to place absolute faith in the reverse proposition… no matter how many times politicians have betrayed that faith?
And yet, the American voter continues to take liberals seriously when they claim ignorance of this history, and promise that this time, everything will work as planned. There is no more absurd pronouncement in American politics, and those who make it should be greeted with nothing but derisive laughter.
John Hayward is a staff writer for HUMAN EVENTS, and author of the recently published Doctor Zero: Year One. Follow him on Twitter: Doc_0.
THE ILLINOIS DOWNGRADE: LIBERALISM FAILS AGAIN. THERE IS NO REASON TO TAKE THE LEFT SERIOUSLY ABOUT THE JOY OF TAX INCREASES!
By John Hayward 01/20/2012
It didn’t get a lot of media attention, but a couple of weeks ago, Moody’s downgraded the credit rating of Illinois to A2, giving it the worst credit rating among all of the United States. This was terribly disappointing to the Chicago Tribune:
Though Illinois took steps in the last year to address its fiscal crisis, including a temporary hike in the corporate and personal income tax rates, the steps did not lift the ratings on its debt.
As the state prepares to take $800 million in general obligation bonds to market next week, two of the three major credit rating agencies kept their ratings the same and one downgraded its rating a notch, which means Illinois continues to lag most other states. The bond issue will help finance school, transportation and other capital projects.
(Emphasis mine.) Gosh, they did everything right in the Land of Lincoln, and still ended up with a downgrade. There might be more downgrades to come, as Fitch Ratings doesn’t sound very confident:
"Challenges remain, including addressing increasing spending demands in the general fund from Medicaid and rising pension costs, enacting a plan to reduce the outstanding accounts payable balance, and maintaining budgetary balance in light of the temporary nature of the tax increases," Fitch wrote in its report, issued Thursday.
So what measures failed in Illinois? What philosophy of government was a total bust? Why, it was a perfect expression of the governing philosophy of Chicago’s favorite son, President Barack Obama. They did literally everything the national Democrat Party wants the entire country to do: out-of-control spending and huge soak-the-rich, sock-it-to-corporations tax increases. It was an unmitigated disaster, and they’re still $7 billion in the hole. The Wall Street Journal was moved to call them “The Greece Next Door” (article behind a paywall, but Daniel Mitchell of the Cato Institute has some excerpts.)
Incidentally, this Midwestern “Greece Next Door” is next door to Wisconsin, which actually did balance a horrific Democrat budget under a Republican governor… who is now the target of a frenzied recall effort from deranged leftists carrying stacks of fraudulent recall petitions. Don’t worry, Wisconsin voters! If you lose the War On Taxpayers, you’ll get to be Greece, too.
Mitchell sums up the painfully obvious lessons from the Illinois downgrade, which are being taught with even more vigor in Europe. To paraphrase:
1. If you raise taxes to reduce the deficit, politicians will simply spend the extra money. They always think the existing deficit is sustainable, concern about deficits is overblown, and the day of reckoning will never come.
2. Raising taxes never pulls in anywhere near as much money as politicians promise, because people and corporations take action to avoid the taxes. These actions are generally detrimental to the overall economy. At higher levels, taxes begin cannibalizing the economic machinery that fuels growth, meaning there is less productive activity to tax, and government revenue “mysteriously” collapses.
3. The targets of tax increases always have the option to escape the system entirely. This is true at the national level as well, as you can see from “outsourcing” and capital flight, which Democrats only pretend to care about when they are out of power.
History provides very few examples of a tax increase that raised anything close to the promised revenue, or tax increases that actually were used for significant debt reduction. In fact, it’s hard to find a case where tax increases were coupled with spending cuts, and the spending cuts actually happened at all. Have you noticed these deals never involve immediate, real, verifiable spending cuts (not just slight reductions in the rate of spending growth), to be followed with a tax increase somewhere down the line, once all the spending cut goals have been met?
Why doesn’t a deal like that ever appear on the table, not even once? If we supposedly can’t trust the American people to submit to the tax increases after Big Government completes its spending cuts, why are we expected to place absolute faith in the reverse proposition… no matter how many times politicians have betrayed that faith?
And yet, the American voter continues to take liberals seriously when they claim ignorance of this history, and promise that this time, everything will work as planned. There is no more absurd pronouncement in American politics, and those who make it should be greeted with nothing but derisive laughter.
John Hayward is a staff writer for HUMAN EVENTS, and author of the recently published Doctor Zero: Year One. Follow him on Twitter: Doc_0.
TELL US NOW, GOVERNOR --- ILLINOIS HEADS TO INSOLVANCY WITH NO CHANCE OF U.S. BAILOUT!
TELL US NOW, GOVERNOR
1/31/2012 + Chicago Tribune Editorial
A year ago, Gov. Pat Quinn and his fellow Democrats assured Illinois taxpayers: Yes, their huge income tax increase on families and employers — rammed into law without a single Republican vote — really would roll back at the end of calendar 2014. "A portion of this tax (increase) is going to expire in four years," Senate President John Cullerton said on that fateful 1/11/11. "This, again, is a temporary tax." House Speaker Michael Madigan concurred.
Their failure to pass serious pension reforms throughout 2011 aggravates suspicions that the Democrats have no intention of allowing their tax increase to go away. Now comes the Civic Federation of Chicago — budget watchdog and public finance think tank — with an alarming analysis of state government's trajectory. The clear takeaway: Without spending reform, Illinois faces perpetual insolvency.
So tell the 12.8 million of us right now, Governor: Do you and your fellow Democrats intend to make crucial spending decisions right now? Or do you want to make your tax increases permanent? Your answer is crucial: Over the year since you enacted those damaging increases, Illinois' unemployment rate has generally trended up, even as the national rate has declined.
You have two excellent chances, Governor, to be candid with all of us about your plans: your State of the State address Wednesday, and your annual budget speech Feb. 22. If you and your spending plans don't prepare to allow those tax increases to be "temporary," forgive us for concluding that you'd like to make them permanent.
The Civic Federation's report, to be released Monday, offers 54 pages of disturbing trends in state spending, debt and unfunded obligations. The document is nonpartisan and spin-free, projecting five years in which — given rising pension and Medicaid costs — state government will sink deeper into distress.
Without remedies from the governor and Legislature, the federation projects, Illinois' unpaid bills could rise from a dreadful $9.2 billion at the end of fiscal 2012 to $34.8 billion at the end of fiscal 2017. That would be more money than lawmakers and Quinn expect to spend from general funds — the day-to-day cost of state operations — in this entire fiscal year.
The Civic Fed report illustrates, in readable detail, what citizens already see: With so many dollars preordained for pension systems and Medicaid payments, spending on other priorities — schools, public safety and so forth — likely will constrict. Among other findings:
• The cost of funding pension systems is exploding, up from 8.9 percent of general funds spending in fiscal 2008 to 17.1 percent this year — and an expected 21.6 percent in 2017.
• Even as the cost of group health insurance for state employees will keep rising (by an expected 39 percent over five years), "roughly 91 percent of the 81,900 retirees covered by the group insurance program do not pay any premiums for their coverage."
• Downbeat financial projections issued Jan. 3 by Quinn's office understate the full annual costs of Medicaid and health insurance — "and do not address the increase in unpaid bills."
The report explains numerous fixes Illinois pols can employ to break their addictions to current spending and debt obligations. Those include:
• The long overdue pension changes.
• No more borrowing for operations or old bills, the better to constrain debt service costs.
• More aggressive Medicaid reform.
• No bargaining unit pay hikes "for the foreseeable future."
• Taxing federally taxable Social Security and other retirement income.
• Raising the cigarette tax from 98 cents per pack to $1.98.
• Retirees' participation in their health care costs.
• No more economic development incentives until lawmakers set a comprehensive incentive policy — and examine whether incentives do or don't work as intended.
All of us can debate these and other Civic Fed proposals. But we suspect many politicians would rather take an easy route this report doesn't suggest: renewing the "temporary" income tax hikes for years beyond 2014.
Tell us, Governor, where you stand. Candor in these two speeches might restore some of the credibility lost when you (a) pledged during the 2010 campaign to veto any personal income tax increase above 1 percentage point and (b) after the election, signed your 2-percentage-point increase into law.
Tell every Illinoisan, Governor, that "temporary" does not mean "permanent."
WRONG WAY, ILLINOIS...UNEMPLOYMENT RATE INCREASED TO HIGHEST LEVELS
Friday, January 27. 2012 + THE NEW EDITOR
From the Illinois Policy Institute:
Almost a year after Illinois' record income tax increase, the state's unemployment woes contrast starkly with the slow but positive national economic recovery. Unemployment rates in 46 states dropped since January 2011, and some dramatically. Illinois' unemployment rate, on the other hand, was 9.8 percent in December, up from 9 percent in January 2011. Simply put, Illinois placed more people on the unemployment rolls than any other state in the country.
On a related note, I was watching IL Gov. Pat Quinn on MSNBC's Morning Joe program this morning and noted that Gov. Quinn talked of the state's 'investment in educational spending' being an important part of recovery. However, an examination of education spending in Illinois reveals that huge portions of overall spending, and majority portions of new education spending are going not to classroom spending, but to funding for teacher pensions.
How is that 'investment spending'?
From the Illinois Policy Institute:
Almost a year after Illinois' record income tax increase, the state's unemployment woes contrast starkly with the slow but positive national economic recovery. Unemployment rates in 46 states dropped since January 2011, and some dramatically. Illinois' unemployment rate, on the other hand, was 9.8 percent in December, up from 9 percent in January 2011. Simply put, Illinois placed more people on the unemployment rolls than any other state in the country.
On a related note, I was watching IL Gov. Pat Quinn on MSNBC's Morning Joe program this morning and noted that Gov. Quinn talked of the state's 'investment in educational spending' being an important part of recovery. However, an examination of education spending in Illinois reveals that huge portions of overall spending, and majority portions of new education spending are going not to classroom spending, but to funding for teacher pensions.
How is that 'investment spending'?
D.C. HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR RESIGNS AMID THOMAS INVESTIGATION
D.C. HOMELAND SECURITY DIRECTOR RESIGNS AMID THOMAS INVESTIGATION
Nikita Stewart and Mike DeBonis Tuesday, Jan 31, 2012
Millicent D. West, director of the District’s homeland security agency, said she resigned Tuesday because of the ongoing investigation surrounding former D.C. Council member Harry Thomas Jr., who recently pleaded guilty to stealing more than $350,000 in city funds.
West, whose resignation was first reported Tuesday by the Washington City Paper, said she stepped down from the post she has held since 2009 “to ensure the work of the agency can carry on without any distractions. ... It’s in the best interest of the city and in the best interest of the agency.”
The money Thomas stole was funneled through the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corp., which provided money to nonprofits which then kicked back funds to Thomas. West was the trust’s president and chief executive in 2008 when Thomas took some of the funds.
Two people involved in nonprofits that funneled money to Thomas have also pleaded guilty.
Pedro Ribeiro, director of communications for Mayor Vincent C. Gray, said West submitted her resignation letter Tuesday morning. He said he was not aware of Gray asking for the resignation. West described her departure as voluntary.
In the letter, submitted to Gray this morning, West wrote that, “[g]iven the current distractions, I believe that this is the best decision for both my family and the District.”
West is one of the city’s top managers who survived the transition between the administrations of Gray and former Mayor Adrian M. Fenty.
Gray kept her on as director of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.
IRAN, PERCEIVING THREAT FROM WEST - WILLING TO ATTACK ON U.S. SOIL - U.S. SPY CHIEF GREG MILLER
IRAN, PERCEIVING THREAT FROM WEST - WILLING TO ATTACK ON U.S. SOIL - U.S. SPY CHIEF GREG MILLER
Jan 31, 2012
U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Iran is prepared to launch terrorist attacks inside the United States in response to perceived threats from America and its allies, the U.S. spy chief said Tuesday.
Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said in prepared testimony that an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington that was uncovered last year reflects an aggressive new willingness within the upper ranks of the Islamist republic to authorize attacks against the United States.
That plot “shows that some Iranian officials — probably including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — have changed their calculus and are now more willing to conduct an attack in the United States in response to real or perceived U.S. actions that threaten the regime,” Clapper said in the testimony, which was submitted to the Senate Intelligence Committee in advance of a threat assessment hearing Tuesday. “We are also concerned about Iranian plotting against U.S. or allied interests overseas.”
The assessment signals a potentially dire new direction in the adversarial relationship between the United States and Iran, at a time when there are indications that a covert campaign is already underway to thwart Iran’s alleged ambition to develop a nuclear weapon.
Clapper’s warning about Iran was delivered as part of the U.S. intelligence community’s annual overview of the nation’s most serious national security concerns. As the hearing got underway, Clapper signaled that the United States is seeking to avoid a violent confrontation with Iran, instead pushing for more and more sanctions while also monitoring the possibility of a preemptive strike by Israel.
“Our hope is that the sanctions ... would have the effect of inducing a change in Iranian policy toward their apparent pursuit of a nuclear capability,” Clapper said. “Obviously this is a very sensitive issue right now. We’re doing a lot with the Israelis.”
Clapper’s testimony also calls attention to a heightened concern over cyber-related threats, as well as the diminished but persistent danger to the United States posed by al-Qaeda.
This year’s assessment is the first to evaluate al-Qaeda’s capabilities since Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. commando raid in May. That blow, combined with the toll taken by subsequent strikes and raids, has destroyed al-Qaeda’s core.
As a result, Clapper said in the testimony, the United States is entering a “critical transitional phase for the terrorist threat,” in which smaller-bore strikes from regional nodes are more likely than elaborate, mass-casualty plots.
If the pressure on al-Qaeda can be maintained, “there is a better-than-even chance that decentralization will lead to fragmentation,” Clapper said. The terrorist group “will seek to execute smaller, simpler plots to demonstrate relevance to the global jihad.”
The group’s affiliate in Yemen continues to be seen as the most likely source of plots targeting the United States. But the death of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki in a CIA drone strike in Yemen last year has at least temporarily eroded the affiliate’s ability to mount international attacks.
The indications of al-Qaeda’s declining potency were offset by the grim new concern about the potential for terror attacks from Iran.
In October, U.S. officials accused Iran of being behind the disrupted plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. The convoluted scheme was to rely on assassins from a Mexican drug cartel to carry out the killing at a restaurant in Washington.
U.S. officials said the plot was devised by an Iranian American with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. But the plan was foiled when the Iranian American mistakenly hired a paid informant of the Drug Enforcement Administration to carry it out. Iranian officials have denied any role in the plot.
At the time, Obama administration officials said they were unclear on “how high up” in the Iranian leadership approval of the alleged plan extended. Clapper’s reference to Khamenei marks the first time that U.S. officials have mentioned Iran’s supreme leader in connection with the plot, signaling new belief that the alleged willingness to authorize such attacks comes directly from the top.
The view of U.S. intelligence agencies on Iran’s nuclear intentions has not shifted since last year. Clapper said that Iran still appears to be “keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons,” but that “we do not know” what the republic will decide.
Iran has blamed the United States and Israel for a series of mysterious developments, including the apparently targeted killing of yet another Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran on Jan. 11, as well as a crippling cyberattack on the country’s largest uranium enrichment facility.
In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama raised the threat of military intervention to halt Iran’s alleged pursuit of an atomic bomb, saying he would “take no options off the table to achieve that goal.”
But the administration insists that it has refrained from violent measures so far. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denied “any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran.”
millergreg@washpost.com
NEWT GINGRICH FOR PRESIDENT 2012
August 23, 1984 -- in his speech to the Republican National Convention
"The poet called Miss Liberty's torch 'the lamp beside the golden door.' Well, that was the entrance to America, and it still is. And now you really know why we're here tonight. The glistening hope of that lamp is still ours. Every promise, every opportunity, is still golden in this land. And through that golden door our children can walk into tomorrow with the knowledge that no one can be denied the promise that is America. Her heart is full; her torch is still golden, her future bright. She has arms big enough to comfort and strong enough to support, for the strength in her arms is the strength of her people. She will carry on in the '80s unafraid, unashamed, and unsurpassed. In this springtime of hope, some lights seem eternal; America's is."
February 4, 1986 -- from the State of the Union Address
Monday, January 30, 2012
POPE BENEDICT XVI TO PLACE GOLDEN ROSE BEFORE PATRONESS OF CUBA!
Madrid, Spain, Jan 30, 2012 / 12:34 pm (CNA).-
Pope Benedict XVI will place a golden rose before the statue of Our Lady of Charity, the patroness of Cuba, during his March 26-28 visit to the country.
Cuban officials also said it was “foreseeable” that the Pope would meet with 86-year-old Fidel Castro, reported the Efe News Agency.
Cuba’s current president, Raul Castro, may attend the papal Mass, as Fidel did in 1998 during Blessed John Paul II’s visit.
Meanwhile, on Jan. 25, the Spanish government honored Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana with the Order of the Great Cross of Isabel the Catholic.
The ceremony took place at the residence of the Spanish ambassador to Cuba, Manuel Cacho.
Ambassador Cacho praised Cardinal Ortega for “his efforts and dedication” to the Cuban people, while Cardinal Ortega praised the legacy of the Catholic Queen Isabel of Spain.
GLOBAL CATHOLIC CHURCH LAUNCHES INITIATIVE AGAINST U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AS U.S. SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE FULL REPEAL OBAM-NEY CARE!
NEW INITIATIVE LAUNCHED AGAINST U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Washington D.C., Jan 30, 2012 / 07:29 pm (CNA).-
A new “Protect Our Conscience” campaign has been launched to help Catholic individuals, families, and parishes voice their opposition to the newly-confirmed federal contraception coverage mandate.
Matt Smith, president of Catholic Advocate, announced in a statement that his goal was “to have at least 100,000 faithful Catholics participate each month until Congress acts” to protect the rights of institutions that could be forced to cover contraception and sterilization for their employees.
“There are 17,782 parishes in the United States,” Smith noted. “If faithful Catholics were able to average 115 letters per parish to their representative and each senator, Capitol Hill would receive over six million contacts on this issue. We would send a powerful message that cannot be ignored.”
The campaign is currently seeking “parish leaders,” who will receive a set of tools designed to answer questions, facilitate letter-writing, and help raise awareness within their churches.
Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. bishops' conference, has called on Catholics to “let your elected leaders know that you want religious liberty and rights of conscience restored and that you want the administration’s contraceptive mandate rescinded.”
Along with the reversal of the mandate, the Protect Our Conscience campaign aims to build support for the “Respect for the Rights of Conscience Act,” a bill that would amend federal health care reform to let employers opt out of covering some services.
Under the proposed legislation, health plans could “decline coverage of specific items and services that are contrary to the religious beliefs of the sponsor, issuer, or other entity offering the plan or the purchaser or beneficiary (in the case of individual coverage) without penalty.”
Over the weekend of Jan. 28-29, a large number of U.S. bishops spoke out against the coverage mandate in letters read at Mass. The letters called for prayer and civic engagement, appealing to believers' right against state coercion in matters of faith and conscience.
Health and Human Services' contraception mandate, enacted as part of federal health care reform, has draw criticism for its narrow religious exemption, which applies only to groups that primarily employ and serve people of the same faith for the purpose of inculcating religious values.
THE URGENCY OF "ANITA N.O.W.": WOMAN CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLING $1 MILLION FROM NEW YORK ARCHDIOCESE
WOMAN CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLING $1 MILLION FROM NEW YORK ARCHDIOCESE
By David Gibson| Religion News Service
NEW YORK — A 67-year-old woman with a criminal record for theft has been charged with siphoning $1 million in donations while working in a finance office of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, church officials announced Monday (Jan. 30).
The archdiocese said it did not conduct a criminal background check when the employee, Anita Collins, was hired in 2003. Collins’ complex scheme drained money from an education fund at the same time the church was closing Catholic schools.
Church and law enforcement officials said that over seven years Collins sent fake invoices to the archdiocese, then issued some 450 checks to accounts she controlled, all in amounts just under the $2,500 threshold that would have required a supervisor’s approval.
Most of the money was apparently siphoned from the accounts payable system in the archdiocesan Department of Education Finance Office, according to a statement from archdiocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling.
In a 2010 article in the archdiocese newspaper Catholic New York, Collins was lauded for volunteering at St. Patrick’s Cathedral when Archbishop Timothy Dolan presided over a Mass welcoming 600 people to Catholicism.
Collins was described as an “unassuming” person; in a 2010 article in the archdiocesan newspaper she said, “My faith has always been a steadfast part of my life.”
Most of the money Collins allegedly embezzled was spent on mortgage payments and on “a lifestyle that was not extravagant but was far beyond her lawful means,” Adam Kaufmann, the chief of investigations for the Manhattan District Attorney, told The New York Times.
Outside auditors implementing enhanced financial safeguards in late 2011 initially found $350,000 in missing funds, Zwilling said. After law enforcement officials were called in, the full extent of the theft was uncovered. Collins was confronted with the evidence and was fired on Dec. 6, 2011.
“Sadly, there will always be individuals who seek to exploit and circumvent whatever system is established, but we will remain vigilant in our oversight,” Zwilling said.
There have been a rash of large-scale embezzlement cases in the Catholic Church in recent years, ranging from lay people embezzling from dioceses to pastors pilfering from their parishes. Many of these cases occurred despite warnings to church officials in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandals that they needed to tighten financial oversight as well.
Collins had previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges in fraud schemes at other New York employers in 1986 and 1999. The archdiocese says it now conducts criminal background checks on all employees and is reviewing its financial oversight policies.
Copyright: For copyright information, please check with the distributor of this item, Universal Uclick.
EURO MEMBERS SIGN ON TO GERMAN PAC!
By Julien Toyer and Paul Taylor
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel cemented her political ascendancy in Europe on Monday when 25 out of 27 EU states agreed to a German-inspired pact for stricter budget discipline, even as they struggled to rekindle growth from the ashes of austerity.
Only Britain and the Czech Republic refused to sign a fiscal compact in March that will impose quasi-automatic sanctions on countries that breach European Union budget deficit limits and will enshrine balanced budget rules in national law.
The accord was eagerly greeted by the European Central Bank which has long pressed euro zone governments to put their houses in order.
"It is the first step towards a fiscal union. It certainly will strengthen confidence in the euro area," ECB President Mario Draghi said.
Officially, the half-day summit focused mainly on a strategy to revive growth and create jobs at a time when governments across Europe are having to cut public spending and raise taxes to tackle mountains of debt.
But differences over the limits of austerity, and Greece's unfinished debt restructuring negotiations, hampered efforts to convey a more optimistic message that Europe is getting on top of its debt crisis.
Merkel told a news conference the agreements on the fiscal pact and a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone were a "small but fine step on the path to restoring confidence."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he expected a deal on reducing Greece's debt to private bondholders within days and he believed independent European institutions - a clear reference to the ECB - would help meet a funding gap.
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said a deal was needed this week to be finalized in time to avert a chaotic Greek default in mid-March when it faces huge bond repayments.
Leaders agreed that a 500-billion-euro European Stability Mechanism will enter into force in July, a year earlier than planned, to back heavily indebted states.
Europe is already under pressure from the United States, China, the International Monetary Fund and some of its own members to increase the size of the financial firewall, but Merkel has refused to consider the issue before March.
EURO "MESS"
Many economists doubt the wisdom of so severely restricting deficit spending, and EU diplomats say the fiscal compact was mostly a political gesture to calm German voters angry at repeated euro zone bailouts and to restore market confidence.
"To write into law a Germanic view of how one should run an economy and that essentially makes Keynesianism illegal is not something we would do," a British official said.
There was no repetition of last month's confrontation between British Prime Minister David Cameron and Sarkozy when Cameron vetoed efforts to amend the EU treaty to tighten euro zone budget discipline.
But the British and French leaders sniped at each other at separate news conferences while professing mutual respect.
Cameron told reporters: "Our national interest is that these countries get on and sort out the mess that is the euro."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that although Cameron had shown no sign of relenting in his opposition to treaty change, the new pact could be easily slotted into EU law at a later date and she expected it would be within five years.
Financial markets fretted over the lack of tangible progress in the Greek debt talks and gloom about Europe's economic outlook. The risk premium on southern European government bonds rose while the euro and stocks fell.
Highlighting those fears, Spain's economy contracted in the last quarter of 2011 for the first time in two years and looks set to slip into a long recession.
France halved its 2012 growth forecast to a mere 0.5 percent in a potentially ominous sign for Sarkozy's troubled bid for re-election in May. But the president said Paris could achieve its deficit reduction target without further savings.
Italy, rushing through sweeping economic reforms under new Prime Minister Mario Monti, was rewarded with a significant fall in its borrowing costs at an auction of 10- and 5-year bonds, despite two-notch downgrades of its credit rating by Standard & Poor's and Fitch this month.
But Portugal's slide towards becoming the next Greece - needing a second bailout to avoid chaotic bankruptcy - gathered pace as banks raised the cost of insuring government bonds against default and insisted the money be paid up front instead of over several years.
The yield spread on 10-year Portuguese bonds over safe haven German Bunds topped 15 percentage points for the first time in the euro era.
GREEK UNCERTAINTY
Negotiations between Greece and private bondholders over restructuring 200 billion euros of debt made progress over the weekend, but were not concluded before the summit.
Until there is a deal, EU leaders cannot move forward with a second, 130-billion-euro rescue program for Athens, which they originally pledged at a summit last October.
Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and his finance minister met the heads of EU institutions right after the summit to discuss conditions for the rescue package, officials said.
The ESM was meant to replace the European Financial Stability Facility, a temporary fund that has been used to bail out Ireland and Portugal. But pressure is mounting to combine the resources of the two funds to create a super-firewall of 750 billion euros ($1 trillion).
The IMF says if Europe puts up more of its own money, that will convince others to give more resources to the IMF, boosting its crisis-fighting abilities and improving market sentiment.
Germany has so far resisted such a step.
Merkel has said she will not discuss the issue of the ESM/EFSF's ceiling until the next EU summit in March. Meanwhile, financial markets will continue to worry that there may not be sufficient rescue funds available to help the likes of Italy and Spain if they run into renewed debt funding problems.
The EU will consider how to deploy 82 billion euros of unspent funds from the EU's 2007-2013 budget. Some will be recycled towards job creation, especially among the young.
But with no new public money available for a stimulus, they focused mainly on promoting structural reforms such as loosening labor market regulation, cutting red tape for business and promoting innovation.
($1 = 0.7615 euros)
(Additional reporting by Julien Toyer, Harry Papachristou and Robin Emmott in Brussels, Marius Zaharia, William James, Chris Wickham and Jeremy Gaunt in London,; Roberta Cowan in Amsterdam,; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Mike Peacock)
LOCKHEED MARTIN AWARDED $921 MILLION FROM THE U.S. ARMY FOR TAIWAN MISSILE DEFENSE
Published on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 12:44 By FNNO Staff in News Corner
Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) received contracts from the U.S. Army and Missile Command for hardware and services associated with the combat-proven Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missle Segment program totaling $912 million.
The contract includes FY12 missile and command launch system production for the U.S. Army and a follow-on sale of the PAC-3 Missile Segment to Taiwan. The contract includes production of hit-to-kill PAC-3 Missiles, launcher modification kits, spares and other equipment, as well as program management and services.
Mike Trotsky, vice president of air & missile defense programs at Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control business said, "Demand remains strong from the U.S. and our global partners for the combat-proven PAC-3 Missile. In today's uncertain environment, Lockheed Martin remains focused on delivering this important capability to our customers on schedule and on budget."
Deliveries will begin the first half of 2013.
Lockheed Martin is currently above its 50-day moving average (MA) of $79.08 and above its 200-day of $77.04.
In the last five trading sessions, the 50-day MA has climbed 0.63% while the 200-day MA has remained constant.
Lockheed Martin Corporation is a global security company that primarily researches, designs, develops, manufactures, and integrates advanced technology products and services. The Company's businesses span space, telecommunications, electronics, information and services, aeronautics, energy, and systems integration. Lockheed Martin operates worldwide.
By FNNO Staff publisher@fnno.com
GINGRICH RECEIVES STANDING OVATION: "I'LL BAN STEM CELL RESEARCH ON EMRYOS, INVITRO...AND BAN HUMAN CLONING"
Monday, 30,January 2012
Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich told congregants in a Winter Park, Fla., church over the weekend that if elected president, he would advocate for the ban of stem cell research from human embryos, reports The Washington Post.
Gingrich charged that such research leads to “the use of science to desensitize society over the killing of babies,” which was received by a thunderous standing ovation from the Baptist congregation.
Gingrich went on to question whether fertility clinics should be able to house leftover embryos from in vitro fertilization in the first place.
“If you have in vitro fertilization you are creating life. And therefore we should look seriously at what should the rules be for clinics that do that because they’re creating life,” Gingrich told the Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church congregation Sunday after attending services there.
Gingrich added that if elected, he would create an ethics commission to study in vitro fertilization.
“I believe life begins at conception, and the question I was raising was what happens to embryos in fertility clinics, and I would favor a commission to look seriously at the ethics of how we manage fertility clinics,” he said during a news conference outside the church.
As it stands now, federal regulations only require clinics to report on their success rates.
Gingrich has taken a stance against abortion arguing that life begins at conception.
POPE BENEDICT XVI WARNS OBAMA ....U.S. CATHOLICS TO PREPARE FOR WAR AGAINST OBAMA!
OBAMA'S "WAR ON THE CHURCH"
By Sheila Liaugminas | 26 Jan 2012
This was an extraordinary provocation.
On the day after Pope Benedict warned the church in America about unprecedented political and cultural threats to religious freedom, the Obama adminstration issued a mandate that will force religious institutions to comply with health care rules profoundly against their fundamental moral beliefs.
The ACLJ was already preparing briefs for the Supreme Court hearing on the Obama healthcare legislation, based on the individual mandate that required citizens to purchase something, by federal law, for the first time. Now, that mandate requires them to purchase something that violates their moral conscience.
Never before has an American president so openly and wantonly disregarded the religious civil liberties of so many.
Last Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would make final the rule mandating that insurance policies provide for contraceptive services, including sterilization, and drugs with an abortifacient mechanism of action.
With this rule, hundreds of religious colleges and hospitals, for example, will now be required –in fact, coerced — into providing insurance coverage for practices they believe to be morally wrong and violative of their religious beliefs. These institutions, which have educated citizens and cared for the infirm for hundreds of years, will now have to cave into the federal government or close their doors.
US Bishops conference president Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, responded time and again, Wednesday in an op-ed piece that ran in the WSJ and many of the nation’s larger newspapers.
Religious freedom is the lifeblood of the American people, the cornerstone of American government. When the Founding Fathers determined that the innate rights of men and women should be enshrined in our Constitution, they so esteemed religious liberty that they made it the first freedom in the Bill of Rights.
In particular, the Founding Fathers fiercely defended the right of conscience. George Washington himself declared: “The conscientious scruples of all men should be treated with great delicacy and tenderness; and it is my wish and desire, that the laws may always be extensively accommodated to them.” James Madison, a key defender of religious freedom and author of the First Amendment, said: “Conscience is the most sacred of all property.”
Scarcely two weeks ago, in its Hosanna-Tabor decision upholding the right of churches to make ministerial hiring decisions, the Supreme Court unanimously and enthusiastically reaffirmed these longstanding and foundational principles of religious freedom. The court made clear that they include the right of religious institutions to control their internal affairs.
Yet the Obama administration has veered in the opposite direction. It has refused to exempt religious institutions that serve the common good—including Catholic schools, charities and hospitals—from its sweeping new health-care mandate that requires employers to purchase contraception, including abortion-producing drugs, and sterilization coverage for their employees.
What readers from countries outside the US should understand for proper context, this is a radical departure from US law and custom.
Last August, when the administration first proposed this nationwide mandate for contraception and sterilization coverage, it also proposed a “religious employer” exemption. But this was so narrow that…even Jesus and His disciples would not qualify for the exemption in that case, because they were committed to serve those of other faiths.
Since then, hundreds of religious institutions, and hundreds of thousands of individual citizens, have raised their voices in principled opposition to this requirement that religious institutions and individuals violate their own basic moral teaching in their health plans. Certainly many of these good people and groups were Catholic, but many were Americans of other faiths, or no faith at all, who recognize that their beliefs could be next on the block. They also recognize that the cleverest way for the government to erode the broader principle of religious freedom is to target unpopular beliefs first.
Now we have learned that those loud and strong appeals were ignored. On Friday, the administration reaffirmed the mandate, and offered only a one-year delay in enforcement in some cases—as if we might suddenly be more willing to violate our consciences 12 months from now.
In one sweeping move, president Obama and his Catholic health secretary have succeeded in something no other groups or efforts or initatives or projects have been able to do: unite and galvanize Catholics on the right and left. It’s an amazing feat, really.
When Barack Obama secured his party’s nomination for president in 2008, one group of Democrats had special reason to cheer.
These were Democrats who were reliably liberal on policy but horrified by the party’s sometimes knee-jerk animosity to faith. The low point may have been the 1992 Democratic convention. There the liberal but pro-life governor of Pennsylvania, Bob Casey Sr., was humiliated when he was denied a speaking slot while a pro-choice Republican activist from his home state was allowed.
With Mr. Obama, all this looked to be in the past…And Mr. Obama would go on to capture a majority of the Catholic vote.
Now, suddenly, we have headlines about the president’s “war on the Catholic Church.” Mostly they stem from a Health and Human Services mandate that forces every employer to provide employees with health coverage that not only covers birth control and sterilization, but makes them free. Predictably, the move has drawn fire from the Catholic bishops.
Less predictable—and far more interesting—has been the heat from the Catholic left, including many who have in the past given the president vital cover. In a post for the left-leaning National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters minces few words. Under the headline “J’ACCUSE,” he rightly takes the president to the woodshed for the politics of the decision, for the substance, and for how “shamefully” it treats “those Catholics who went out on a limb” for him.
The message Mr. Obama is sending, says Mr. Winters, is “that there is no room in this great country of ours for the institutions our Church has built over the years to be Catholic in ways that are important to us.”
Mr. Winters is not alone. The liberal Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles, blogged that he “cannot imagine a more direct and frontal attack on freedom of conscience”—and he urged people to fight it. Another liberal favorite, Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, Fla., has raised the specter of “civil disobedience” and vowed that he will drop coverage for diocesan workers rather than comply. They are joined in their expressions of discontent by the leaders of Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities, which alone employs 70,000 people.
In the run-up to the ruling, the president of Notre Dame, the Rev. John Jenkins, suggested a modest compromise by which the president could have avoided most of this strife. That would have been by allowing the traditional exemption for religious organizations. That’s the same understanding two of the president’s own appointees to the Supreme Court just reaffirmed in a 9-0 ruling that recognized a faith-based school’s First Amendment right to choose its own ministers without government interference, regardless of antidiscrimination law.
A few years ago Father Jenkins took enormous grief when he invited President Obama to speak at a Notre Dame commencement; now Father Jenkins finds himself publicly disapproving of an “unnecessary government intervention” that puts many organizations such as his in an “untenable position.”
Here’s just part of what he means by “untenable”: Were Notre Dame to drop coverage for its 5,229 employees, the HHS penalty alone would amount to $10 million each year.
The irony, of course, is that the ruling is being imposed by a Catholic Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, working in an administration with a Catholic vice president, Joe Biden. A few years back the voluble Mr. Biden famously threatened to “shove my rosary beads” down the throat of those who dared suggest that his party’s positions on social issues put it at odds with people of faith. Does he now mean to include Mr. Winters, Cardinal Mahony and Father Jenkins?
Catholic liberals appreciate that this HHS decision is more than a return to the hostility that sent so many Catholic Democrats fleeing to the Republican Party these past few decades. They understand that if left to stand, this ruling threatens the religious institutions closest to their hearts—those serving Americans in need, such as hospitals, soup kitchens and immigrant services.
Conservatives may enjoy the problems this creates for Mr. Obama this election year. Still, for those who care about issues such as life and marriage and religious liberty that so roil our body politic, we ought to wish Catholic progressives well in their intra-liberal fight. For we shall never arrive at the consensus we hope for if we allow our politics to be divided between a party of faith and a party of animosity to faith.
Stay tuned. This is ramping up by the day.
FDA SUED OVER SPYING ON AMERICANS & STAFF OVER COMPLAINTS TO U.S. CONGRESS
NEWSMAX
The personal e-mails of a group of scientists and doctors alerting Congress about possibly unsafe medical devices were monitored by the Food and Drug Administration. The monitoring occurred over a two-year period, according to documents filed in a lawsuit against the FDA, The Washington Post reported.
The six scientists and doctors accessed their personal e-mail accounts from government computers. The suit charges that the six, who worked in an office responsible for reviewing devices for cancer screening among other things, were harassed or dismissed with the help of the information, the Post reported.
While FDA computers warn users each time they log on that they have no expectation of privacy, the suit charges that the government violated the constitutional privacy rights of the workers by viewing personal e-mail accounts involved in lawful activity, the Post reported.
“Who would have thought that they would have the nerve to be monitoring my communications to Congress?” plaintiff Robert Smith, a former radiology professor at Yale and Cornell universities who worked as a device reviewer at the FDA, told the Post. “How dare they?”
The Post reported that Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the “FDA has a huge responsibility to protect public health and safety. It’s hard to see how managers apparently thought it was a good use of time to shadow agency scientists and monitor their e-mail accounts for legally protected communications with Congress.”
The employees of the Office of Device Evaluation had initially complained internally about suspect devices in 2007 before bringing their concerns to Congress, the White House and the HHS inspector general, the Post reported.
The personal e-mails of a group of scientists and doctors alerting Congress about possibly unsafe medical devices were monitored by the Food and Drug Administration. The monitoring occurred over a two-year period, according to documents filed in a lawsuit against the FDA, The Washington Post reported.
The six scientists and doctors accessed their personal e-mail accounts from government computers. The suit charges that the six, who worked in an office responsible for reviewing devices for cancer screening among other things, were harassed or dismissed with the help of the information, the Post reported.
While FDA computers warn users each time they log on that they have no expectation of privacy, the suit charges that the government violated the constitutional privacy rights of the workers by viewing personal e-mail accounts involved in lawful activity, the Post reported.
“Who would have thought that they would have the nerve to be monitoring my communications to Congress?” plaintiff Robert Smith, a former radiology professor at Yale and Cornell universities who worked as a device reviewer at the FDA, told the Post. “How dare they?”
The Post reported that Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the “FDA has a huge responsibility to protect public health and safety. It’s hard to see how managers apparently thought it was a good use of time to shadow agency scientists and monitor their e-mail accounts for legally protected communications with Congress.”
The employees of the Office of Device Evaluation had initially complained internally about suspect devices in 2007 before bringing their concerns to Congress, the White House and the HHS inspector general, the Post reported.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
