MEDICARE FRAUD IN THE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR

October 23, 2009 10:47 AM

Billions of dollars are being stolen from Medicare each year. Steve Kroft spoke to one man who got caught and explained how he managed to bilk the system. 60 Minutes


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Fla Attorney General Considers Suing Fed Govt~Health Care Mandates Unconstitutional

IMMIGRATION ATTORNEYS EXPLAIN HOW TO NOT HIRE AMERICANS TO GET GREEN CARDS FOR ILLEGALS

The following is a video from the Seventh Annual Immigration Law Update held on May 15, 2007. The information following this video is from the Cohen & Grigsby website. Among other things, this firms aids and abets illegals in gaining employment by fraudulently running ads required by the DOL in markets and then reporting to the DOL that they were not able to find any qualified Americans for the position(s) in order to push illegal immigrants into these jobs and secure them a green card. This is a sham and we all should be outraged at this.

Here's their website information: http://www.cohenlaw.com/



Taken from their website:

"IMMIGRATION

In a global economy, conducting business means that your people will pass through more than just a few time zones to get the job done. They may work on another continent at one of your worldwide locations, or they may be a native of another nation working for you here in the United States. When your business goes global, you need attorneys who are experienced in the practice of immigration law.

Cohen & Grigsby attorneys handle a broad range of issues, including inbound immigration for international employees seeking to work or live in the United States and global immigration for domestic or international employees looking to work or live abroad. Our clients include U.S. and multinational corporations, and our attorneys practice before offices of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) and U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) throughout the country. We also represent our clients at embassies and consulates around the world, and we are in direct contact with representatives of other governments on immigration-related matters.

Inbound Immigration

Emigrating to the United States involves the preparation of a host of important documents. To expedite the emigration process, our attorneys ensure that all documentation is properly prepared and filed in a timely manner. We specifically:

Assist clients in securing temporary and permanent visas for employees, their spouses, their children or other immediate relatives.

Work with clients who wish to secure U.S. citizenship.

Ensure that businesses are complying with all federal immigration and labor laws connected to the employment of foreign nationals in the United States.

Keep our finger on the pulse of the changing regulatory climate in this arena so that our clients are fully prepared to deal with new issues that affect their international employees in the U.S.
Obtain visas to facilitate international transfers.

Offer a comprehensive, accurate picture of tax implications and liability issues when companies transfer personnel internationally.

Guide human resources managers as they conduct international recruiting efforts.

Represent foreign nationals who face exclusion or deportation proceedings.

Offer representation and counsel to individuals seeking asylum in the United States.
Global Immigration

Conducting business outside the United States involves much more having employees pack a suitcase, a laptop and a passport. Companies that compete on the world stage realize that they face a host of legal hurdles when they want to recruit at an international location or move their people from here to there. Cohen & Grigsby’s global immigration services include:

Analyzing international work authorization procedures to ensure that companies are in compliance with local regulations.

Constant monitoring of changes in those procedures.

On-site training programs.

Preparation and filing of applications for business visitor visas, temporary work permits, residence permits, entry clearances, entry visas, passports and permanent residence.

Strategic planning for designing immigration program.

Value-Added Services

Cohen & Grigsby’s Immigration Practice Group also provides:

A secure website with client-specific content. Clients may access a host of immigration forms, immigration-related data and an online case tracking system that is password-protected. 

A document exchange that allows our clients to manipulate, copy-edit and proof important documents electronically via e-mail. This shortens the process of preparing such documents, thereby reducing overall processing time. 

Constant updates on legal issues related to immigration through Cohen & Grigsby’s online updates and newsletters.

Contact Us

Please contact any of the attorneys in our Immigration Group for your inbound or outbound immigration needs."

50 years of cooling predicted | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

50 years of cooling predicted Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

Communist Party Touts "labor has unprecedented access to President Obama and can be a significant voice in helping to move him"

Here's a copy of a recent article from a US Communist organizations website.  After the article is a video of Andy Stern that mimics the same militant philosophy of the Communist Party:

This article was appeared on the website www.politcalaffairs.net (Marxist Thought Online)

Capitalism’s Failures and the Struggle Forward
By Scott Marshall
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor’s note: The following are excerpted remarks of Scott Marshall, Vice Chair, Communist Party USA to the 11th International meeting of communist and workers’ parties held in New Delhi, India, Nov. 19th, 2009. The meeting was hosted by the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

In this terrible time of global economic crisis it is most timely that we seek ways to expand and broaden our slogan "workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite." While our slogan has been around for many generations, today it has more meaning than ever. Today global economic integration has reached new incredible levels. Today global finance capital roams the world pillaging and profiteering on a scale unimaginable in Marx's day.

First let me say a few words about how the crisis is affecting working people in the United States. Just this month the percentage of workers in our country who are long-term unemployed has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the beginning stages of this crisis we were losing 700,000 jobs or more a month. Today, when some mainstream economists are declaring the recession over, when obscene banking profits are on the rise again, when the stock market is rising again, when finance capital is returning to its unregulated predatory ways with a vengeance, we are still losing around 200,000 jobs a month.

Among young people in the US the unemployed figures are staggering. In the age group of 16 to 24 only about 45 percent have jobs. And that number is much worse for African American, Latino and other racially and nationally oppressed youth. Racism in the US takes an even more terrible toll in this kind of an economic crisis. In the communities of the racially and nationally oppressed the crisis strikes with a particular violence and vengeance.

At the same time, experts who follow the housing markets, say that 2010 will see a whole new rash of home foreclosures with workers and their families being evicted and thrown into the streets. 40 million people are without health care and every month that number rises because in the US many people get their health care through their employer. In what is supposed to be the richest country in the world, because so much of the world's finance capital is centered there, hundreds of thousands of children go to school hungry every day. In many hard hit working class communities, the schools and medical clinics are crumbling and closing. The streets and bridges, the sewage and water systems, the basic infrastructures are neglected and decaying. And vital public services at all levels of government are being cut back and stopped.

The list of capitalism's failures in this crisis is very long. And of course we know that the crisis hits many in the developing world much harder than it hits the developed countries.
There are always two sides to the class struggle. Two major events are now turning the tide of working class struggle in a more militant and fighting direction in my country. The first is the rise of the movement that defeated the ultra-right Republican Party in the 2008 election and elected Barack Obama. That same movement also defeated many ultra-right members of the U.S. Congress. I know that internationally there are some mixed feelings about the role of president Barack Obama. Let me be clear, he is not a communist, he is not a socialist, and on some issues he is quite a moderate liberal. At the same time, after eight years of George Bush, the worst warmongering president and administration in US history, the election of Barack Obama opens a whole new terrain of struggle for the working class in the US and in the world. And after 30 years of vicious neoliberal attack on the US labor movement, on the working class and on the people's movements in the US, the election of Barack Obama opens the door for a whole new fight for economic justice, peace and equality.

Barack Obama, as I said, is no revolutionary – it’s true. But he doesn’t have to be a revolutionary to do some pretty important things to support labor and the working class. I won’t go into a whole domestic list but it is significant for those of us who work for a living in the US. He did inspire a movement and mobilize a broad coalition of democratic forces to defeat McCain and the ultra right. And, more importantly for our meeting here – he has taken some steps to curb some of the worst features of the international policies that he inherited from the previous administration. As on the domestic scene, in international affairs it will be the mobilization of the peoples forces and labor that will be decisive in shifting US policy even more – the left and the people’s forces had very little affect on the Bush administration – we can help move the Obama administration in a better direction.

The movement that elected Obama was, and continues to be, a broad coalition of social forces including even some sectors of capital. But at its heart is what we like to call the core social forces, the working class and its organized sector the labor movement, the racially and nationally oppressed, women, youth, and the gay rights movement.

The other major event that is helping to turn the tide was the September 2009 convention of the AFL-CIO, the largest labor federation in our country. I believe history will record that convention as a major turning point for our working class. This convention was the culmination of changes and developments that began in the mid-1990s. The AFL-CIO convention in 1995 was a major break with some of the worst features of class collaboration and the Cold War that began with the anti-Communist witchhunts of the early 1950s. In the mid ‘90’s the labor movement began to develop a more class struggle approach. After the '95 convention US labor began to develop its own independent political apparatus. It became more militant in the economic struggle. It increasingly began to see the global nature of capitalism. Further it even began to understand that the labor movement had to be more than just the defender of its own members, it had to become the voice and movement of the whole working class.

The 2009 Convention of the AFL-CIO, which I attended, deepened these trends and was remarkable in many ways. It elected a new leadership, more militant and more rooted in the fighting industrial union traditions of my country. Richard Trumka the new president comes out of the militant traditions of the mine workers union. On the day after his election at the convention he went straight to Wall Street and blasted the banking and insurance industries for causing the economic crisis both at home and abroad. He called for strong new regulatory steps to curb their reckless speculation and for breaking up those banks deemed “too big to fail.” The federation has vigorously pursued a “break up the big banks” policy and mobilized it’s member unions to fight for sharp new limits on finance capital. In another first for our labor movement the convention also elected two women, one African-American, to the other two top leadership positions of the AFL-CIO.
There are way too many examples of labor’s new policies for me to list now but I would like to mention one that I think is important to our international movement and illustrates a new direction and new possibilities for international labor solidarity. I have with me a letter, well publicized in the labor press in the US from Richard Trumka to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In it he says that the AFL-CIO believes that the coup government in Honduras to be totally illegitimate. The letter says the coup’s repression of the trade unions and democratic movements in Honduras make it impossible for there to be free and fair elections this November. And the letter strongly calls on the US State Department to stop all aid to Honduras until the coup is overturned and President Zelaya is returned to power. The letter also says that the position of the AFL-CIO was taken in consultation with the Honduran labor unions.

This is but one dramatic example of the new thinking in US labor on international questions. US labor also strongly opposes the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. (And I should mention here that labor has unprecedented access to President Obama and can be a significant voice in helping to move him.) The convention also passed a resolution calling for an end to travel and monetary restrictions against Cuba and for better relations. These are examples of US labor breaking with the US State Department and US imperialism on international issues for the first time since the cold war began after World War II. We think this opens a whole new world of possibility for rebuilding and strengthening world labor and working class solidarity. And we think that Communist and Workers parties have a critical role to play in helping to take advantage of the new possibilities. It is really time for labor, on all sides of the old cold war political divide to reconsider and rethink labor unity.

Comrades, in our opinion the global economic crisis continues unabated. According to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund the world nation’s produce somewhere in the neighborhood of $65 trillion in goods and services each year. At the same time, according to the International Bank of Settlements, over $515 trillion is speculated in derivatives, credit default swaps and similar forms of exotic finance schemes. Think of it – such incredible imbalance. It’s staggering – think of the stolen surplus value represented in this deadest of all parasitic finance capital. Think of the problems of the world’s people that could be solved with that kind of money.

We think it is also important to look at the splits in capital in this period. In the US there is growing evidence of splits between manufacturing capital and banking capital. This is not just splits between big and small business and may open up serious lines of attack for regulating and reigning in some of the most predatory practices of speculative finance capital around the world.

We have much to discuss and think about. But I would like to end with a paraphrase of something Fredrick Engels once said, “an ounce of actions is worth a pound of theory,” something to that effect. We are most interested in how our parties can play a concrete role in helping to bring about real organized struggle along the lines of “workers of the world unite.” This needs to begin with what we can do to help unite and broaden the global labor movement. Marx and Engels did not say, “Workers of the World – unite to share information.” It was clear that they meant workers of the world unite for struggle. How can we make that a reality in today’s real world. What are our first concrete steps. We hope our meeting and deliberations can move us closer to making it happen.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





Andy Stern, the head of SEIU (Service Employees International Union), one of the largest labor unions in the United States, was on the record in this video using the same "Worker's of the world Unite" mantra used by the Communist Party for decades. Andy Stern also has been the "TOP VISITOR" to the White House with 22 visits in just the first 6 months of this year. Is this who you want in charge of our healthcare? Is this who you want having the ear of the President of the United States? I see no difference between Andy Stern, SEIU, AFL-CIO, ACORN and all of the other associates of President Obama and the Communist Party. They are one in the same. They want to "Fundamentally Transform" The United States of America. Even though this article states that President Obama is not a Communist, it is apparent his agenda is fraught with a need to move this country to a Socialist, Marxist or Communist country. It is apparent he is against capitalism. It is apparent he is trying to "fundamentally transform" this great country into a socialist country.

Therefore, it is our duty to let him and all of the other Communists, Marxists and Socialists that have invaded Washington know that, we the people, will not stand by and see this wonderful country destroyed. We must show up at the voting booths in November 2010 and vote these thugs out of office. If they want to live in a socialist society, I suggest they go find a socialist country that better suits them and MOVE!!!! We will even buy them a ONE-WAY TICKET TO THEIR PARADISE!!!!

Michele

"I realize that on the sea of life, I can't control the weather, but I can adjust my sails."  UNKNOWN

EXCLUSIVE-ACORN Qualifies for Funding in Senate Health Care Bill

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/12/exclusive_acorn_qualifies_for_1.asp

Merry Christmas from the US Senate

Michele
"I realize on the sea of life I can't control the weather, but I can adjust my sails."  UNKNOWN

CRADLE AND THE CROSS VIDEO

Cradle and the Cross tells the poignant connection of the wood of Jesus' cradle and His cross. This song helps to remind us as we celebrate Christmas, why Jesus came.

http://www.sermonspice.com/product/29896/cradle-and-the-cross

We Are No Longer a Nation of Laws. Senate Sets Up Requirement for Super-Majority to Ever Repeal Obamacare

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/12/21/we-are-no-longer-a-nation-of-laws-senate-sets-up-requirement-for-super-majority-to-ever-repeal-obamacare/The Senate Democrats declare a super-majority of senators will be needed to overrule any regulation imposed by the Death Panels


Posted by Erick Erickson
Monday, December 21st at 10:15PM EST


If ever the people of the United States rise up and fight over passage of Obamacare, Harry Reid must be remembered as the man who sacrificed the dignity of his office for a few pieces of silver. The rules of fair play that have kept the basic integrity of the Republic alive have died with Harry Reid. Reid has slipped in a provision into the health care legislation prohibiting future Congresses from changing any regulations imposed on Americans by the Independent Medicare [note: originally referred to as "medical"] Advisory Boards, which are commonly called the “Death Panels.”
It was Reid leading the Democrats who ignored 200 years of Senate precedents to rule that Senator Sanders could withdraw his amendment while it was being read.

It was Reid leading the Democrats who has determined again and again over the past few days that hundreds of years of accumulated Senate parliamentary rulings have no bearing on the health care vote.

On December 21, 2009, however, Harry Reid sold out the Republic in toto.

Upon examination of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment to the health care legislation, Senators discovered section 3403. That section changes the rules of the United States Senate.

To change the rules of the United States Senate, there must be sixty-seven votes.

Section 3403 of Senator Harry Reid’s amendment requires that “it shall not be in order in the Senate or the House of Representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” The good news is that this only applies to one section of the Obamacare legislation. The bad news is that it applies to regulations imposed on doctors and patients by the Independent Medicare Advisory Boards a/k/a the Death Panels.

Section 3403 of Senator Reid’s legislation also states, “Notwithstanding rule XV of the Standing Rules of the Senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph (A) may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance if that matter is relevant to a proposal contained in the bill submitted under subsection (c)(3).” In short, it sets up a rule to ignore another Senate rule.

Senator Jim DeMint confronted the Democrats over Reid’s language. In the past, the Senate Parliamentarian has repeatedly determined that any legislation that also changes the internal standing rules of the Senate must have a two-thirds vote to pass because to change Senate rules, a two-thirds vote is required. Today, the Senate President, acting on the advice of the Senate Parliamentarian, ruled that these rules changes are actually just procedural changes and, despite what the actual words of the legislation say, are not rules changes. Therefore, a two-thirds vote is not needed in contravention to longstanding Senate precedent.

How is that constitutional? It is just like the filibuster. Only 51 votes are needed to pass the amendments, but internally, the Senate is deciding that it will not consider certain business. The Supreme Court is quite clear that it won’t meddle with the internal operations of the House and Senate. To get around the prohibition on considering amendments to that particular subsection of the health care legislation, the Senate must get two-thirds of the Senate to agree to waive the rule. In other words, it will take a super-majority of the people the citizens of our Republican elected to overrule a regulation imposed by a group of faceless bureaucrats and bean counters.

Here is the transcript of the exchange between Jim DeMint and the Senate President:

DEMINT: But, Mr. President, as the chair has confirmed, Rule 22, paragraph 2, of the standing rules of the Senate, states that on a measure or motion to amend the Senate rules, the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the senators present and voting. Let me go to the bill before us, because buried deep within the over 2,000 pages of this bill, we find a rather substantial change to the standing rules of the Senate. It is section 3403 and it begins on page 1,000 of the Reid substitute. . . . These provisions not only amend certain rules, they waive certain rules and create entirely new rules out of whole cloth.”

The Senate President disagreed and said it was a change in procedure, not a change in rules, therefore the Senate precedent that a two-thirds vote is required to change the rules of the Senate does not apply.

Senator DeMint responded:
DEMINT: and so the language you see in this bill that specifically refers to a change in a rule is not a rule change, it’s a procedure change?

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: that is correct.

DEMINT: then i guess our rules mean nothing, do they, if they can re define them. thank you. and i do yield back.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: the senate stands adjourned until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow.

That’s right. When confronted with the facts, the Senate Democrats ran for cover. The Senate Democrats are ignoring the constitution, the law, and their own rules to pass Obamacare.

To quote the Declaration of Indepedence:
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

This, Ladies and Gentlemen, is one of those causes. When the men and women who run this nation, which is supposedly a nation of laws not men, choose to ignore the laws and bribe the men, the people cannot be blamed for wanting to dissolve political bands connecting them to that government.

For your edification, the full transcript of the exchange between Jim DeMint and the Senate President is presented, unedited, below the fold.
7:30 PM

PRESIDENT, I YIELD THE FLOOR.
DEMINT: not. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. demint: mr. president?
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: the senator from south carolina.
DEMINT:mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to speak for ten minutes.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: without objection.
DEMINT: parliamentary inquiry, mr. president. does rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate provide that on a measure or motion to amend the senate rules, the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the senators present and voting?

7:31 PM

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: it does.

DEMINT: further parliamentary inquiry. is it also the case that on numerous occasions, the senate has required a two-thirds cloture vote on bills that combine amendments to senate rules with other legislative provisions that do not amend the rules?
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: that would require a two-thirds vote.
DEMINT:  i have numerous examples here. we did it twice this year on senate bill 2349 and i could read those but i’ll spare the chair all of these. i’m just trying to get at a concern we have here. am i correct that with respect to these bills, there was a combination of legislative provision and rules changes and the chair ruled that because they were — and i’m referring, mr. chairman, to the — earlier this year, those he
referred to where we required the two-thirds cloture. am i correct on these previous bills that with respect to the bills, there was a combination of legislative provisions and rules changes and the chair ruled that because there were rules changes, a two-thirds vote was required?

7:32 PM

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: if there were changes to the standing rules of the senate, a two-thirds vote would have been required to invoke cloture.
DEMINT: i thank the chair. mr. president, am i also correct that the senate has required a two-thirds cloture on amendments to bills where the amendments combine legislative provisions and rules changes?
i have a number of references on bills that this was done if there’s any question, and i have given them to the parliamentarian for consideration. is there an answer? i mean, i know that there have been amendments to bills that we required two-thirds because they include rule changes. i just wanted to get a confirmation from our parliamentarian. is that, in fact, the case, where two-thirds cloture on amendments to bills have been required to have a two-thirds vote because there were rules changes included in them?

7:34 PM

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: the chair would like to check that for a future answer.

DEMINT: okay. i believe the parliamentarian does have some of the references of times this has been done. we’re quite certain it has. but, mr. president, as the chair has confirmed, rule 22, paragraph 2, of the standing rules of the senate, states that on a measure or motion to amend the senate rules, the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the senators present and voting. let me go to the bill before us, because buried deep within the over 2,000 pages of this bill, we find a rather substantial change to the standing rules of
the senate. it is section 3403 and it begins on page 1,000 of the reid substitute.

these provisions not only amend certain rules, they waive certain rules and create entirely new rules out of whole cloth. again, i’ll skip over some examples but let me read a few of these provisions that amend the senate rules which are contained in section 3403 of the reid substitute. it’s section d, titled referral. the legislation introduced under this paragraph shall be referred to the presiding officers of the prospective houses, to the committee on finance in the senate, and to the committee on energy and commerce, and the committee on ways and means in the house of representatives.

the bill creates out of whole cloth a new rule that this specific bill must be referred to the senate finance committee. another example under section c, titled “committee jurisdiction.” and it references rule here. “notwithstanding rule 15 of the standing rules of the senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph a may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the committee on finance if that matter is relevant to a proposal contained in the bill submitted under subsection c-3. clearly a rule change. so there’s no pretense that this bill is being referred under the rules of the committee of jurisdiction. and now it is allowing the finance committee to add whatever matter it wants to the bill, regardless of any rules regarding committee jurisdiction. and of good measure, the bill even specifically states that it is amending rule 15.

let me just skip over a number of other examples referring to rules just to try to get to the — the point here. because it goes on and on, and i’ve got pages here. but there’s one provision that i found particularly troubling and it’s under section c, titled “limitations on changes to this subsection.” and i quote — “it shall not be in order in the senate or the house of representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment, or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change this subsection.” this is not legislation. it’s not law. this is a rule change. it’s a pretty big deal. we will be passing a new law and at the same time creating a senate rule that makes it out of order to amend or even repeal the law. i’m not even sure that it’s constitutional, but if it is, it most certainly is a senate rule. i don’t see why the majority party wouldn’t put this in every bill. if you like your law, you most certainly would want it to have force for future senates. i mean, we want to bind future congresses. this goes to the fundamental purpose of senate rules: to prevent a tyrannical majority from trampling the rights of the minority or of future co congresses. mr. president, therefore, i would like to propound a parliamentary inquiry to the chair. does section 3403 of this
bill propose amendments to the standing rules of the standing rules of the senate? and further parliamentary inquiry. does the inclusion of these proposed amendments to the senate rules mean that the bill requires two-thirds present and voting to invoke cloture?

7:38 PM

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: the section of the proposed legislation addressed by the senator is not — does not amend the standing rules. the standing rules of the senate.
DEMINT: okay. mr. president –
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: and, therefore, its inclusion does not affect the number of votes required to invoke cloture.
DEMINT: mr. president, is the chair aware of any precedent where the senate created a new law and in doing so created a new rule — and i’m quoting from our bill — “it shall not be in order in the senate or the house of representatives to consider any bill, resolution, amendment or conference report that would repeal or otherwise change the law.” is the chair aware that we have ever put this type of binding legislation on future congresses in a bill?

7:39 PM

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: it is quite common to do that.
DEMINT: i would ask the chair to get those references, if the parliamentarian would, to us. mr. president, another parliamentary inquiry. if this new law will operate as a senate rule, making it out of order for senators to propose amendments to repeal or amend it it — i’ve been in congress 11 years. i have not ever heard of an amendment being called out of order because it changes something that was done before. you know, how is that different from the types of senate rule making for which our predecessors in their wisdom provided a two-thirds cloture vote?

this seems to be a redefinition of words in my mind. mr. president, it’s clear that the parliamentarian is — is going to redefine words, as i’m afraid he has done as part of this process before, but this is truly historic, that we have included rules changes in legislation. we have included rules changes in this legislation yet we’re ignoring a rule that requires a two-thirds cloture vote to pass it. i believe that it’s unconstitutional. it subverts the principles that — i believe it subverts the principles that we’ve operated under and it’s very obvious to everyone that it does change a rule. mr. president, it’s clear that our rules mean nothing if we can redefine the words that we use in them. and i yield the floor.

7:40 PM

THE PRESIDING OFFICER: the chair will note that it is quite common to include provisions affecting senate procedure in legislation.

7:41 PM

DEMINT: is there a difference between senate procedures and rules?
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: yes.
DEMINT: and so the language you see in this bill that specifically refers to a change in a rule is not a rule change, it’s a procedure change?
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: that is correct.
DEMINT: then i guess our rules mean nothing, do they, if they can re define them. thank you. and i do yield back.
THE PRESIDING OFFICER: the senate stands adjourned until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow

British Government Official Daniel Hannan on Socialized Medicine

A Video from the U.S. Citizens Association website: http://www.uscitizensassociation.com/ .
I would encourage you to go to the website and join the cause to help stop the socialist takeover of our country.  This is a great video to give you an honest account of what it's like living in a country that has socialized medicine. WE DO NOT WANT TO BE LIKE ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE DESERVE BETTER THAN WHAT OBAMA WANTS TO STICK US WITH!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Michele
"I realize that on the sea of life, I can't control the weather, but I can adjust my sails."  Unknown

Inspirational Video-The Playground Earth

A Wonderful video from Spirit Monk Media. I do not own any of the footage or music used to create this video.


Some of the footage used in this video is property of BBC and some of ESA. The track "My name is Lincoln" composed by Steve Jablonsky, from the original soundtrack of the motion picture "The Island", is the property of Steve Jablonsky, Warner Bros. Pictures and Dreamworks Pictures. No copyright violation intended.

Pentagon: Islam Expert Fired for Telling the Truth

Steven Emerson  is considered one of the leading authorities on Islamic extremist networks, financing and operations. He serves as the Executive Director of The Investigative Project on Terrorism, one of the world's largest storehouses of archival data and intelligence on Islamic and Middle Eastern terrorist groups. Emerson and his staff frequently provide briefings to U.S. government and law enforcement agencies, members of Congress and congressional committees, and print and electronic media, both national and international. Since 9-11, Emerson has testified before and briefed Congress dozens of times on terrorist financing and operational networks of Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the rest of the worldwide Islamic militant spectrum.





Investors.com - Penetration Even At The Pentagon: Muslim Spies Setting Muslim Policy

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=515712

HARKIN SUGGESTS HE MAY REINTRODUCE CLOTURE REFORM!!!

I found this article on an SEIU BLOG website.  Looks like the DEMS are going to try to get healthcare by changing the "rules of engagement!"  We need to call Harkin and let him know we will not stand for him or anyone else changing the rules! 
His contact information is as follows:  website: http://harkin.senate.gov/ 
email:  https://harkin.senate.gov/c/index.cfm
Address and phone: WASHINGTON DC OFFICE
731 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3254 Phone
(202) 224-9369 Fax
(202) 224-4633 TDD

His offices in Iowa: https://harkin.senate.gov/c/office.cfm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SEIU Blog
5:18 PM Eastern - December 14, 2009
 Update: Harkin Suggests He May Reintroduce Cloture Reform


Last week, SEIU launched a petition to Sen. Joe Lieberman pushing back on his plans to filibuster health insurance reform. The petition points to the year 1995, when Sen. Joe Lieberman co-sponsored legislation with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) to abolish the filibuster. In January of 1995, Lieberman spent weeks making a case to the American people that the filibuster was being abused - that it was nothing more than a tool for obstructing democracy. So far, nearly 10,000 people have signed on to urge Sen. Lieberman to heed the words of his former Senate self, and quit threatening to filibuster health insurance reform.


Well, people are taking notice. Sen. Tom Harkin told reporters this weekend that he's considering re-introducing the same legislation he co-sponsored with Lieberman in 1995. The bill would reform the cloture vote, making it impossible for Joe to get away with precisely what he's doing right now - holding health insurance reform hostage for his own political gain.


Sen. Harkin told the Hawk Eye:


I think, if anything, this health care debate is showing the dangers of unlimited filibuster," Harkin said Thursday during a conference call with reporters. "I think there's a reason for slowing things down ... and getting the public aware of what's happening and maybe even to change public sentiment, but not to just absolutely stop something."


As the Huffington Post notes, under Harkin's measure, a debate could be prolonged by the minority, but not forever.


"You could hold something up for maybe a month, but then, finally you'd come down to 51 votes and a majority would be able to pass," Harkin said. "I may revive that. I pushed it very hard at one time and then things kind of got a little better."


Sen. Harkin confirmed what others have suggested - that the modern-day filibuster is not used as it was originally intended.


"Today, in the age of instant news and Internet and rapid travel -- you can get from anywhere to here within a day or a few hours -- the initial reasons for the filibuster kind of fall by the wayside, and now it's got into an abusive situation," Harkin said.


He and the constitutional scholars agree that the intention was never to hold up legislation entirely.

Glenn Beck 12.7.09 "THE OTHER WHITE HOUSE CRASHER"

GAG ORDER ISSUED BY WHITEHOUSE FOR 2 EMPLOYEES OF THE EPA THAT ARE SPEAKING OUT AGAINST CAP AND TRADE AND GLOBAL WARMING

http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/27452259/gag-order.htm#q=bill+hemmer

CHRISTMAS LIGHT DISPLAY....BEAUTIFUL

THE GATHERING STORM

This is a letter from a retired Naval Aviator and concerned citizen.  It is an email that he sent to a few of his friends in June of 2009.  He never expected it to make it's way across the country.  There are other emails that have been circulating that have been embellished by others but this is the actual email that he wrote.  I have emailed him to confirm this information.  Although he does agree with everything they added,  he just wishes they hadn't published it in conjunction with his piece.  He really hits the mark................


Friends & Fellow Americans,

When the storm finally hits (and it will), those of you who supported the Obama administration will be affected as well. It won’t just be us gun owners or Fair Taxers, or Pro-Lifers that get hit. You’ll be right there next to us.

You see, you all thought the Conservatives were nut cases. You know, all of us who believe in God, small government, the Second Amendment, etc. And you thought you could just go back to sleep after the election was over. In your world, America will continue as before. You’ll still have the same rights, the same nice house, the same big screen television – it’s all good. After all, your high school football team won and the other team lost – go team! Even if you have bothered to look up from the daily grind since Nov 4th, you dismissed everything that has occurred as “politics as usual” – “the same old stuff”.

In the end, it’ll all be OK won’t it?

Not this time. There are a growing number of citizens in the US that are ready to fight to shut down the government’s grab of personal freedom, it’s blatant abuse of the constitution, and it’s attempt to replace the American way of life with socialism. You have to listen carefully to hear them, but they are there. I won’t start that fight, but when it goes down I will join it.

As for you, why you’ll be shocked because you didn’t see it coming. And eventually you’ll be saddened when you see that we have truly lost the way of life with which you grew up. You’ll be saddened that your children and grandchildren live in a socialist, government-controlled gulag where their every movement from cradle to grave is tracked by the government. But most of all, you’ll be saddened by the death of friends and relatives who are brave enough to fight and die for something they believe in.

You know, McCain wasn’t much of a candidate. I’ll give you that. He was the lesser of two evils for most of us. I don’t blame you for not voting for him since, at the time, you didn’t know what we all know now. But at least John McCain was an American. He was a supporter of the American way of life and he understood that you can’t negotiate with terrorists. He understood and appreciated the sacrifice made by my father and other members of the Greatest Generation.

Mark my words friends. All across America groups are forming. They are forming out of anger and out of desperation at the thought of losing America. They’re not militia groups, terrorists as the Department of Homeland security would have you believe; they are Americans, loyal to the constitution. They are mothers and fathers and grandparents. They belong to groups like the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, the Patriotic Resistance, the Constitution Party, the Young Conservatives, the 9/12 Project, and Grassfire. Right now they are fragmented, each focused on their own cause. But sometime in the next two years, our government is going to do something really stupid and these groups will come together. Watch for it, wait for it…get ready. It will happen.

When that event happens, whatever “it” is, our great country is going to plunge into chaos for a while. I pray to God that we make it through that time and emerge a stronger, smarter country.

Jerry Wilson

Ozark, Missouri

Live Free or Die Fighting

jerrywilson@centurytel.net

"TRAGEDY AT FT HOOD" A LETTER BY LT COL ALLEN WEST

“Tragedy at Ft Hood”

By Allen West | 11/08/09 | 08:57 AM EDT |

This past Thursday 13 American Soldiers were killed and another 30 wounded at a horrific mass shooting at US Army installation, Ft Hood Texas. As I watched in horror and then anger I recalled my two years of final service in the Army as a Battalion Commander at Ft Hood, 2002-2004.


My wife and two daughters were stunned at the incident having lived on the post in family housing.


A military installation, whether it is Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine, or Coast Guard, is supposed to be a safe sanctuary for our Warriors and their families. It is intended to provide a home whereby our “Band of Brothers and Sisters” can find solace and bond beyond just the foxhole but as family units.


A military installation is supposed to be a place where our Warriors train for war, to serve and protect our Nation.


On Thursday, 5 November 2009 Ft Hood became a part of the battlefield in the war against Islamic totalitarianism and state sponsored terrorism.


There may be those who feel threatened by my words and would even recommend they not be uttered. To those individuals I say step aside because now is not the time for cowardice. Our Country has become so paralyzed by political correctness that we have allowed a vile and determined enemy to breach what should be the safest place in America, an Army post.


We have become so politically correct that our media is more concerned about the stress of the shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The misplaced benevolence intending to portray him as a victim is despicable. The fact that there are some who have now created an entire new classification called; “pre-virtual vicarious Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)” is unconscionable.


This is not a “man caused disaster”. It is what it is, an Islamic jihadist attack.


We have seen this before in 2003 when a SGT Hasan of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) threw hand grenades and opened fire into his Commanding Officer’s tent in Kuwait. We have seen the foiled attempt of Albanian Muslims who sought to attack Ft Dix, NJ. Recently we saw a young convert to Islam named Carlos Bledsoe travel to Yemen, receive terrorist training, and return to gun down two US Soldiers at a Little Rock, Arkansas Army recruiting station. We thwarted another Islamic terrorist plot in North Carolina which had US Marine Corps Base, Quantico as a target. What have we done with all these prevalent trends? Nothing.


What we see are recalcitrant leaders who are refusing to confront the issue, Islamic terrorist infiltration into America, and possibly further into our Armed Services. Instead we have a multiculturalism and diversity syndrome on steroids.


Major Hasan should have never been transferred to Ft Hood, matter of fact he should have been Chaptered from the Army. His previous statements, poor evaluation reports, and the fact that the FBI had him under investigation for jihadist website posting should have been proof positive.


However, what we have is a typical liberal approach to find a victim, not the 13 and 30 Soldiers and Civilian, but rather the poor shooter. A shooter who we are told was a great American, who loved the Army and serving his Nation and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) stating that his actions had nothing to do with religious belief.


We know that Major Hasan deliberately planned this episode; he did give away his possessions. He stood atop a table in the confined space of the Soldier Readiness Center shouting “Allahu Akhbar”, same chant as the 9-11 terrorists and those we fight against overseas in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of operation.


No one in leadership seems willing to sound the alarm for the American people; they are therefore complicit in any future attacks. Our Congress should suspend the insidious action to vote on a preposterous and unconstitutional healthcare bill and resolve the issue of “protecting the American people”.


The recent incidents in Dearborn Michigan, Boston Massachusetts, Dallas Texas, and Chicago Illinois should bear witness to the fact that we have an Islamic terrorism issue in America. And don’t have CAIR call me and try to issue a vanilla press statement; they are an illegitimate terrorist associated organization which should be disbanded.


We have Saudi Arabia funding close to 80% of the mosques in the United States, one right here in South Florida, Pompano Beach. Are we building churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia? Are “Kaffirs” and “” allowed travel to Mecca?


So much for peaceful coexistence.


Saudi Arabia is sponsoring radical Imams who enter into our prisons and convert young men into a virulent Wahabbist ideology….one resulting in four individuals wanting to destroy synagogues in New York with plastic explosives. Thank God the explosives were dummy. They are sponsoring textbooks which present Islamic centric revisionist history in our schools.


We must recognize that there is an urgent need to separate the theo-political radical Islamic ideology out of our American society. We must begin to demand surveillance of suspected Imams and mosques that are spreading hate and preaching the overthrow of our Constitutional Republic……that speech is not protected under First Amendment, it is sedition and if done by an American treason.


There should not be some 30 Islamic terrorist training camps in America that has nothing to do with First Amendment, Freedom of Religion. The Saudis are not our friends and any American political figure who believes such is delusional.


When tolerance becomes a one way street it certainly leads to cultural suicide. We are on that street. Liberals cannot be trusted to defend our Republic, because their sympathies obviously lie with their perceived victim, Major Nidal Malik Hasan.


I make no apologies for these words, and anyone angered by them, please, go to Ft Hood and look into the eyes of the real victims. The tragedy at Ft Hood Texas did not have to happen. Consider now the feelings of those there and on every military installation in the world. Consider the feelings of the Warriors deployed into combat zones who now are concerned that their loved ones at home are in a combat zone.


Ft Hood suffered an Islamic jihadist attack, stop the denial, and realize a simple point.


The reality of your enemy must become your own.

Here's a fabulous youtube video of Allen West..I found myself cheering!!!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This man is right on...after receiving this letter, I did some research on him and was jumping for joy to see someone actually speaking the truth. He is running for Congress in Fla and in my estimation looks like a potential Presidential candidate for the future. He is just what our country needs. Now if we can find and elect about 500 more like him, we can take back this country from the ACLU and the Socialist party.


http://www.redcounty.com/%E2%80%9Ctragedy-ft-hood%E2%80%9D?taxonomy=1745

Lt. Col. West on Afghanistan:
http://www.captainsjournal.com/2009/10/29/interview-with-lt-col-allen-west/

His website: Allen West for Congress 2010:
http://allenwestforcongress.com/

Michele


"I realize that on the sea of life, I can't control the weather, but I can adjust my sails." unknown

Bill O'Reilly Interviews Gitmo Terrorist's Lawyer Scott Fenstermaker

For those of you that are on board with Eric Holder and Obama putting this trial on in NY, I'm sure you will love this interview. For those of you that are as disgusted as I am, I have no words....I feel deeply saddened and disgusted in our current administration.

The hatred they have for the Bush administration superecedes their concern for the welfare of our country. When, and I mean when, not if, another attack happens, they will all have blood on their hands.



Michele
"I realize that one the sea of life I can't control the weather, but I can adjust my sails."  Unknown

DR LAND: OBAMA NOT SUPPORTING IRANIAN DISSIDENTS

One of the leaders of the nation’s influential Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) tells Newsmax that President Obama is “very dangerous” in his economic policies and his foreign policy.

SNL Obama and His Trip To China

Lawyer: 9/11 defendants want platform for views

By KAREN MATTHEWS Associated Press Writer

The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday.

Scott Fenstermaker, the lawyer for accused terrorist Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, said the men would not deny their role in the 2001 attacks but "would explain what happened and why they did it."

The U.S. Justice Department announced earlier this month that Ali and four other men accused of murdering nearly 3,000 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S. will face a civilian federal trial just blocks from the site of the destroyed World Trade Center.

Ali, also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, is a nephew of professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Mohammed, Ali and the others will explain "their assessment of American foreign policy," Fenstermaker said.

"Their assessment is negative," he said.

Fenstermaker met with Ali last week at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He has not spoken with the others but said the men have discussed the trial among themselves.

Fenstermaker was first quoted in The New York Times in Sunday's editions.

Critics of Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try the men in a New York City civilian courthouse have warned that the trial would provide the defendants with a propaganda platform.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Department of Justice, said Sunday that while the men may attempt to use the trial to express their views, "we have full confidence in the ability of the courts and in particular the federal judge who may preside over the trial to ensure that the proceeding is conducted appropriately and with minimal disruption, as federal courts have done in the past."

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Holder for hours about his decision to send the five 9/11 suspects to New York for trial.

Critics of Holder's decision — mostly Republicans — argued the trial will give Mohammed and his co-defendants a world stage to spout hateful rhetoric. Holder said such concerns are misplaced, and any pronouncements by the suspects would only make them look worse.

"I have every confidence that the nation and the world will see him for the coward that he is," Holder told the committee. "I'm not scared of what Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has to say at trial — and no one else needs to be, either."

The attorney general said he does not believe holding the trial in New York — at a federal courthouse that has seen a number of high-profile terrorism trials in recent decades — will increase the risk of terror attacks there.

**This combination of undated photos shows, from left: Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Waleed bin Attash, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Ramzi Binalshibh. The five men facing trial in the Sept. 11 attacks will plead not guilty so that they can air their criticisms of U.S. foreign policy, the lawyer for one of the defendants said Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009. (AP Photos)

**FILE - This July 2009 photo downloaded from the Arabic language web site www.muslm.net shows a man identified by the site as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, in detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. New York juries are often loath to impose the death penalty, even for radical terrorists. Now comes the ultimate exception: Professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. (AP Photo/www.muslm.net)

© 2009 Associated Press. Displayed by permission. All rights reserved.
You may forward this article or get additional permissions by typing http://license.icopyright.net/3.5721?icx_id=D9C4RM3O0 into any web browser. Press Association and Associated Press logos are registered trademarks of Press Association . The iCopyright logo is a registered trademark of iCopyright, Inc.

SEND CONGRESS A PINK SLIP!

http://shop.wnd.com/store/item.asp?ITEM_ID=3251&AD_ID=100&AD1_ID=   

Did you ever want to send an urgent message to every member of Congress, ensuring delivery to their offices on Capitol Hill and letting them know they are being watched?


Is that time now?

If so, a bold new program might be just what you are looking for.

It's called "Send Congress a Pink Slip." And it ensures that a brief but poignant message will be delivered by Federal Express to all 535 members of the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.

The program is based on several other successful programs of the past, including one last summer that delivered 705,000 letters to senators protesting a "hate crimes" bill dubbed by critics as "the Pedophile Protection Act."

This time, organizers, including WND columnist Janet Porter, president of the Faith2Action organization, have their sights set on 5 million or more letters to all members of Congress.

"I believe this has the potential to be the most successful grass-roots effort in history," said Porter. "After all the town halls and tea parties and the massive demonstration in Washington, Congress still hasn't gotten the message. Now it's time to show them just how serious we are with a message aimed at what they most care about - getting re-elected."

The "pink slip" each official will get is a reminder that they work for the taxpayers. Each is individually printed with the sender's contact information under the closing salutation "Signed, Your Employer:".

The warning lists four key issues that are deemed unacceptable to program participants:

A previous WND FedEx campaign blanketed Congress with over 705,000 personalized letters.

government health care
cap and trade
"hate crimes"
any more spending

"If you vote for any of these, your real pink slip will be issued in the next election," it warns.

To send individual notices to all 535 members of Congress through the Postal Service would cost you $235 in stamps alone – and your letters would be waylaid for irradiation in Ohio before they got anywhere near the Capitol.

The "Send Congress a Pink Slip" program permits participants to FedEx 535 individually addressed pink slips to members of Congress, each one with the name and address of the sender for just $29.95. One click is all it takes. Let us do the rest!

"This is a program that only works with massive numbers of participants that bring paper and printing and shipping costs way down," explains Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND, which has conducted similar programs in the past - this one being the largest and most ambitious.

ALL PINK SLIPS ARE BEING SENT BY FEDEX. PLEASE DISREGARD "ALLOW 3 WEEKS FOR DELIVERY" AT CHECKOUT AS IT DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS CAMPAIGN. CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY. NO CHECKS PLEASE. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE.

NOTE: Purchasing "SEND CONGRESS A PINK SLIP" from WND's online store also qualifies you to receive a FREE 3-month trial subscription to our immensely popular monthly print magazine, Whistleblower. Watch for the FREE offer during checkout.

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PELOSI OUTRAGED THAT SHE ISN'T GIVEN 3 DAYS TO READ THE BILLS....OH YEAH THIS WAS WHEN GEORGE BUSH WAS PRESIDENT

I have to admit that I am a 53 year old woman that has never really paid attention to what was happening in Washington.  I always voted and sometimes my candidate would win and sometimes they would lose.  I really never cared after my vote was cast as I always felt all politicians are crooked and in the pockets of lobbyists, tax payers and special interests. 

Lately, I have been paying attention.  I have seen an administration that has a fanatical and radical agenda to "transform" this country into something I'm not willing to allow.  The hypocracy is truly astounding. This tape just makes me shake my head in disgust. 

We need to get rid of all of them and start over.  We need to pay more attention to the people running for office.  They need to go through a thorough vetting process.  We must NEVER allow this ideology to be in our White House ever again!
Michele

NEW YORK INVESTS IN GREEN COLLAR JOBS

I came across this article today.  I guess I completely missed this with everything going on for the last weeks.  I have been saying for as long as the "global warming", "climate change" "going green" craze has been going on that we must look at the motives of the organizations and individuals that are pushing this.


This recently passed legislation proves my point.  I have been convinced that the only ones truly profitting from this farce are the "lobbyist" aka unions/ radical organizations and those wanting to push the "redistribution of wealth" agenda.  This piece of crap legislation discriminates against non-minorites and non-union members.  Van Jones is quoted as saying this is the way to redistribute the wealth in the interest of fairness to minorities.


          New York Invests in Green-Collar Jobs

November 4, 2009


By Elena Foshay


Apollo News Service http://apolloalliance.org/green-collar-jobs/new-york-invests-in-green-collar-jobs/#more-1231

New York State took a bold step toward improving energy efficiency and creating quality green-collar jobs this October when Gov. David Paterson signed the Green Jobs/Green New York Act of 2009 into law. The product of active collaboration between a wide range of stakeholders, the bill represents an exciting new development in a state that has already shown a strong commitment to energy efficiency and innovation.


Green Jobs/Green New York sets a goal of retrofitting a million homes across the state, and establishes a revolving loan fund, administered by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), to cover up-front costs of residential and commercial energy efficiency improvements. The bill encourages NYSERDA and the Public Service Commission to establish a mechanism to allow loan repayment over a number of years through an added charge on homeowners’ utility bills, but since it does not specifically mandate “on-bill recovery,” this will be the subject of additional legislation. The loan fund will be supported by an initial $112 million in proceeds from a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) auction. An additional $2-4 million in auction proceeds will go toward job training in weatherization.


“New York is on the way to becoming a global green leader,” said Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party (WFP). “Using today’s technology, this program will save millions of homeowners on their utility bills, reduce New York’s carbon footprint, and create thousands of badly needed jobs.”


The bill is the product of two years of work by a coalition of multiple stakeholders, led by the Center for Working families (CWF) and the WFP, with active engagement by the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), the New York Apollo Alliance, and many others. The coalition worked in cooperation with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who authored the bill and carried it through unanimous passage in the Assembly.


“Thanks to the Green Jobs/Green New York legislation, homeowners, small business owners, and not-for-profit agencies are encouraged to undertake the energy efficiency projects that will reduce utility bills as well as greenhouse gas emissions,” said Silver. “As homes and facilities are retrofitted and green jobs are created, this program will become a much needed boost for struggling local economies throughout New York State.”


Getting the bill through the Senate was more difficult. The initial vote on the bill was stalled after a political upset, and then the state’s Republicans mounted a campaign against the bill. But the day before the final vote, Republican Senator Thomas Morahan co-authored an op-ed in support of the bill, which was critical to winning the votes needed for passage.


One of the true victories of the process was “getting everybody to the table and developing a true consensus approach,” said Emmaia Gelman, policy director at the Center for Working Families. Dave Palmer, legislative campaigns director for the Working Families Organization agreed: “This was a real business, labor, environmental, and community-based coalition.”


Another victory will be thousands of green-collar jobs created as a result of the bill, which specifically requires that participating contractors abide by “enforceable agreements to meet standards set by [NYSERDA], including standards for local hiring.” Details on job standards have yet to be fleshed out by the agency. Over the next six months, as NYSERDA develops program regulations, the coalition that helped pass the bill will advocate for strong wage and benefit, local hire, and apprentice hire standards to be built into the program, primarily through contractor certification requirements.


One way to guarantee that the new jobs are high quality is to make sure weatherization jobs are union-represented. Laborers Local 10 is one union that represents weatherization workers. Like Local 55 in New Jersey, Local 10 is a LIUNA affiliate and was formed a year ago to represent New York City and Long Island workers in the residential construction and energy efficiency industries. Local 10 sets a wage rate of $22.10 per hour including benefits – lower than the going rate for commercial construction but still sufficient to support a family. Local 10 also provides four weeks of training that covers all the Department of Energy core competencies in weatherization, and will offer opportunities for advancement next year through supervisor and auditor training. Members of Local 10 are already doing weatherization work, including work funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.


Local 10 is particularly excited about Green Jobs/Green New York. “It’s tremendous,” said Local 10 Manager of Green Operations Myles Lennon. “This is our first opportunity to really bring the residential retrofit market to scale in a sustainable way that will lower the burden on workers and communities to get this work done.”


“They’ve been interested in this from the start and are excited about it; we see them as an ideal partner,” said Gelman, speaking about Local 10. “Based on their model, laborers around the rest of the state have also been really engaged in Green Jobs/Green New York, sitting with contractors and community groups to develop shared ideas about program-wide wage and hiring standards.”


The New York City Apollo Alliance is “very supportive of local 10,” said Mijin Cha, director of campaign research at Urban Agenda and Apollo Alliance convener. Both New York City and New York State Apollo were actively involved in the coalition supporting Green Jobs/Green New York and will continue to participate in its implementation.


“This is a great use of RGGI funds,” said Cha. “It means that they are being used to increase energy efficiency, create good jobs, and help low-income people access those jobs.”


Moving forward, implementation of Green Jobs/Green New York rests on a competitive process that emphasizes community collaboration. The bill requires applicants to include local community groups working in collaboration with contractors, local utilities, and labor and training organizations. Criteria for awards include preference for coalitions that include women and minority-based businesses, and groups in economically distressed communities.


The Center for Working Families is already actively organizing local collaborative stakeholder groups in anticipation of Requests for Proposals becoming available. “What’s great about it is that we have about 350 stakeholders around the state on the same page,” said Gelman. Meanwhile, the statewide stakeholders group, which includes Local 10 and New York City Apollo, will meet in the coming months to develop and make recommendations to NYSERDA on how to incorporate job quality standards into Green Jobs/Green New York’s implementation.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As you can see from this video this is just another extention of ACORN.  Do you really want more of your taxpayer dollars funding these thieves?  They are thieves stealing from you and me and giving to non-whites and non-union members.  I can't believe I am even having to say this.  I have NEVER had a racist bone in my body!!  I have done things throughout my life to reach out to minorites and include them in my life and my childrens lives as if they were family. 


Although I think it is commendable to train those coming out of prisons and put them to work as well as allow underserved a chance at working, the problem I see is that it is illegal to discriminate in your hiring practices based on race, gender, creed, or sexual persuasion. I would think that that would also go for being forced to join or be a part of a union.


A recent lawsuit was just won by ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc)~
https://www.abc.org/Newsroom2/News_Letters/2009_Archives/Issue_45/ABC_Defeats_First_Federal_Government_Mandated_PLA.aspx/


ABC Nov. 6 announced that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) cancelled its solicitation for bids to construct a new Job Corps Center in Manchester, N.H. under a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA). The cancellation came in response to a protest filed with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) by ABC member North Branch Construction of Concord, N.H., with ABC’s support and representation.In an amendment to the bid solicitation filed Nov. 10, DOL stated “The solicitation was cancelled because DOL believes that it is in the public interest for the Department to further evaluate the issues involved in the PLA requirement…The Department of Labor is currently considering next steps for building a new Job Corps Center in Manchester, New Hampshire.”


“This is a real win for the principle of fair and open competition in government procurement,” said North Branch Construction attorney Maurice Baskin of Venable LLP, ABC's General Counsel.


The DOL’s Job Corps Center PLA was believed to be the first government-mandated PLA on a federal construction project since Obama issued an executive order encouraging their use on federal projects. The bid protest challenged the legality of the federal government’s recent shift in federal procurement policy concerning the use of discriminatory and costly PLAs.


“Our company and other New Hampshire businesses deserve a fair opportunity to provide the public with the best construction product at the best price and we hope the Labor Department will build this project without a PLA in early 2010,” said Ken Holmes, president of North Branch Construction.


On Feb. 6, President Obama signed Executive Order 13502, which repealed a 2001-2008 prohibition on federal PLAs and encourages agencies to require PLAs on federal construction projects whose total costs exceed $25 million. The Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council is in the process of reviewing public comments on its controversial July 14 proposed rule that would implement Executive Order 13502 into federal procurement code. ABC filed detailed comments challenging the implementation of Executive Order 13502.


“There is no justification for playing favorites in the government procurement process,” said ABC President and CEO Kirk Pickerel. “We hope that other federal agencies will heed this example and recognize that PLAs only result in delayed construction and harm to taxpayers. ABC will continue to protest any attempt to impose PLAs on federal construction projects in violation of competitive bidding laws.”
For more information, visit http://www.thetruthaboutplas.com./

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What I find laughable is that this whole movement is starting out with "weatherization". Don't most companies that own buildings have a maintenace staff? Why would we have to employ all of these people to caulk windows? As a homeowner, I assure you I can caulk my windows myself. BTW, most electric companies will come to your house to evaluate your home and show you how you can cut your bills by adding insulation and caulking your windows. I don't think we need hundreds of millions of dollars poured into these radical groups. Why do they need all this money from the government? There are also companies in place already that can install solar panels as well. Why do we need all of this government intervention?  


In one of Van Jones more honest moments , Jones explains the ruse, the use of "green" as a deceptive maneuver to destroy the existing American system: "We are going to push it and push it until it becomes the engine for transforming the whole society."


I SEE THIS FIASCO AS OUR NEXT ACORN. ANOTHER WAY TO HAVE AN ENDLESS PIPELINE OF OUR TAX PAYER MONEY FUNDING A RADICAL ORGANIZATION(S) THAT WILL CONTINUE TO BUY POLITICIANS TO PUSH THEIR AGENDA AND ALLOW THEM TO BECOME RICH.~LORD PLEASE HELP ME HOLD ON UNTIL 2012.


MICHELE
"I REALIZE THAT ON THE SEA OF LIFE, I CAN'T CONTROL THE WEATHER, BUT I CAN ADJUST MY SAILS."  UNKNOWN

 RELATED LINKS: American Spectator-Van's Line