Posted by RTHARRING on 11/14/09

Windrow takes seat on planning board
Zelenik departs to seek Republican nomination
BY SCOTT BRODEN • SBRODEN@DNJ.COM • NOVEMBER 14, 2009

The Rutherford County Commission appointed Vincent Windrow to the county's Regional Planning Commission Thursday.

Windrow, who's the pastor at Olive Branch Missionary Baptist Church on Murfreesboro's John Bragg Highway, succeeds Lou Ann Zelenik on the planning commission.

"I'm excited to have been appointed to such a position," Windrow said. "I think it's a good opportunity for me to learn more about how departments operate in the county. I have already experienced a couple of hours worth of training and have met the other commission members."

Windrow offers 10 years of experience as a pastor. He previously served as vice president of sales, marketing and planning for Zycron Inc., a national information technology staffing firm that's based in Nashville. The new planning commissioner also serves on the Board of Directors for the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties.

"I want to learn as much as I can the approach of the commission and also learn more about the nuances of being on such a commission and to be of value to the commission and be of service to the residents of the county," Windrow said.

Zelenik vacated the position to seek the Republican nomination to run for Congress and hopes to challenge U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Murfreesboro, during the 2010 election.

She said she also stepped down to avoid any potential conflict of interest that could emerge on land-use decisions if developers, property owners and neighbors are involved with supporting her or her opponent's candidacy.

http://www.dnj.com/article/20091114/NEWS05/911140319/1092/Windrow+takes+seat+on+
planning+board

Posted by RTHARRING on 11/13/09

Senate Not Settled on Cap and Trade | Print | E-mail
Written by James Heiser
Wednesday, 11 November 2009 15:30

Apparently, the Senate will not be voting on "cap and trade" any time soon, and all UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon can do about it is tap his foot impatiently and complain to the media.

Despite the decision last week of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to disregard the rules of the Senate to move the Kerry-Boxer bill out of committee, it seems that the prospect of pummeling voters with thousands of dollars a year in new taxes to fund a massive transfer of wealth from the First World to the Third World is proving untenable on the floor of the Senate even for Democrats such as Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.).

Originally, Ban Ki-moon had been pressing for $100 billion a year in financial transfers to the Third World, ostensibly to cover the cost of converting to a "green" economy. Recently, the UN Secretary-General had been implying that such transfers would have to be substantially larger - $300 billion a year, according to some sources.

However, after visiting with members of the U.S. Senate, Ban may be changing his tune - slightly.

According to an Associated Press article ("U.N. Chief Urges Senate to Take On Climate Change"):

The U.N. chief met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee late Tuesday afternoon to discuss the status of negotiations on a new international pact to slow global warming before 192 nations meet in Copenhagen next month. The meeting came a day after President Barack Obama said he was willing to go to Copenhagen if his presence would help clinch a deal.

Ban told the senators it was critical for the U.S. to take the lead, but he also said he understood that the Senate may not be in a position to take concrete action before the talks.

"From what I heard today, there is great support in the Senate for action on climate change," Ban said. "I would sincerely hope that the Senate would take necessary action as soon as possible."

But just how soon the U.S. Senate will act on climate change is uncertain. Leading senators made it clear Tuesday that a bill was unlikely to reach the Senate floor by the end of the year. The House narrowly passed its version of a global warming bill in June.

At the same time, Ban and Janos Pasztor, the director of his Climate Change Support Team, have scaled back their expectations for a new international treaty in Copenhagen. In the past month, they have focused instead on getting a political deal on the basic elements that can be turned into a treaty, hopefully next year.

Ban apparently backed away from recent comments by Rajendra Pachauri of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in which he castigated the Obama administration for failing to deliver on cap and trade. Now, rather than a race to adopt a treaty at the December conference in Copenhagen, Ban appears to be conceding that it will be necessary for the internationalists to pursue their goals more slowly.

But they are not giving up - thus the emphasis on pressing for a treaty in 2010.

According to the AP article, the prevailing attitude among those who are working on the legislation is that it is a matter of when - not if - such legislation will be adopted. However, a regular element of the legislative process is for advocates of legislation to present an air of inevitability. It remains to be seen whether a massive tax increase linked to dubious models for anthropogenic climate change can survive a trip to the Senate floor when an electorate that is already infuriated over schemes to collectivize the nation's healthcare system may unleash the full fury of its wrath at the ballot box next fall.

However, the possibility of a new treaty related to climate change may prove to be a "Trojan horse" for cap-and-trade legislation. If ratified, a treaty equipped with the enforcement mechanisms that Ban is seeking would essentially force the nations that have signed the treaty to comply with its stipulations. If Ban's redistributionist schemes are part of the treaty, the United States would be legally bound to such payments (considering that the U.S. government no longer adheres to the U.S. Constituion), if the Senate ratifies such a treaty.

In the meantime, cap-and-trade advocates are by no means giving up on their efforts to force their legislation through the Senate. According to the AP,

On Tuesday, Kerry said that the bill would come to the floor "as soon as practical" and he was confident that when it did, the U.S. Senate would do its part.

Lieberman said he expects debate before the full Senate to begin early next year.

"But we will go to Copenhagen with a House-passed climate change bill, some momentum in the Senate ... and the Obama administration clearly supportive of climate change legislation," Lieberman said.

Ban acknowledged that some senators had lingering concerns about the costs associated with limiting the gases blamed for global warming and whether other countries will do their share to control emissions.

He responded to those criticisms by saying that the cost of inaction was far greater, and that other countries are already moving down a pathway to cleaner sources of energy.

"I also told the Senate that the world is not standing still," Ban said.

Without the United States agreeing to the plans that will be formally proposed in Copenhagen, any treaty would be "dead on arrival." Regulations that would cripple industry and drain hundreds of billions of dollars from industrialized nations that are already suffering because of the grave economic troubles wracking the world economy cannot be implemented unless the Americans concede to carrying a substantial portion of the bill.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/tech-mainmenu-30/environment/2298-cap-an
d-trade-title-needed

Posted by RTHARRING on 11/13/09

Worried about U.S. debt? Send your donation here

Reuters

James Bowers stands in the rain outside the New York Stock Exchange Reuters - James Bowers, dressed as Uncle Sam, asks people if they can "spare a trillion", as they walk ...

* President Obama's Remarks on the Economy Play Video Video:President Obama's Remarks on the Economy CNBC
* New Way to Buy Gold Play Video Video:New Way to Buy Gold TheStreet.com
* Sales, income tax revenue forecasts gloomy Play Video Economy Video:Sales, income tax revenue forecasts gloomy WRAL Raleigh

By Emily Kaiser Emily Kaiser - Thu Nov 12, 2:40 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Not sure what to give Uncle Sam this Christmas? How about a nice, fat check to help whittle away at the $7.6 trillion national debt?

The U.S. Treasury Department accepts gifts, payable to the Bureau of the Public Debt. Just mail them to the attention of Department G, Post Office Box 2188, Parkersburg, West Virginia, 26106-2188. Make a note in the memo section that it is a gift to reduce the debt held by the public.

Yes, really.

It's all on the Treasury's website, at the end of the list of frequently asked questions. http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resources/faq/faq_publicdebt.htm

Which raises a few more questions. Do people really send in checks? How much and what reasons do they give for voluntarily paying more than just their taxes? And why are the checks directed to a post office box in West Virginia?

According to Treasury spokesman Kim Treat, people do send checks. In the last fiscal year they added up to a little over $3 million, which was the highest total since at least 1996.

Some include notes. Common reasons for donating include a sense of patriotism and immigrants expressing their thanks to the United States for giving them an opportunity, he said.

The growing debt burden has become a more pressing political issue this year as the White House strains to pull the economy out of a deep recession and bring the jobless rate down from its current 26-year high of 10.2 percent.

The federal budget hole grew even deeper in October, according to monthly figures released on Thursday.

WHY WEST VIRGINIA?

As for why the checks go to West Virginia, the town of Parkersburg happens to be where the majority of public debt employees work.

It is a small city where "crime is low, happiness is high," the Treasury boasts on its careers website (although it shows no public debt jobs currently open to the general public).

Parkersburg Mayor Bob Newell said having the public debt office there meant a couple thousand good-paying jobs, helping to insulate the city from the heavy manufacturing job losses suffered in nearby Ohio and surrounding areas.

He credits Senator Robert Byrd, who was elected to an unprecedented ninth term in 2006, with bringing the debt office to Parkersburg more than 30 years ago.

Workers there are responsible for a number of tasks beyond just managing the large and growing national debt, including tracking savings bonds and doing some accounting work for other government agencies such as the U.S. Mint.

Because of that, people in town don't necessarily associate the public debt office with the debt burden itself, which has become an increasing source of angst, particularly among conservatives who are worried about rising government spending and how the debt will be repaid.

Newell said the "Tea Party" group, which has sponsored protests around the country against government spending, has held a few rallies in a downtown park between two of the city's public debt office buildings.

"They'll gather and have a little rally about the economy and the (bank) bailouts and, more recently, health care," he said in a telephone interview. "They never relate it to the Bureau of Public Debt here locally. Frankly, it employs a lot of people and they realize that and they appreciate it."

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Posted by RTHARRING on 11/12/09

Rutherford
County Board Of Commissioners votes YES on a resolution approving the
Issuance of Industrisal Revenue Bonsds in an initial amount of up to $
2.5 BILLION in connection with a significant expansion of the Nissan
North America INC. operations in Smyrn, TN to provide for the
manufacturing of batteries and the related... assembly of electric
vehicles.

Contact your Precinct leaders or coordinating Commissioner with any questions.

Posted by RTHARRING on 11/09/09

The House of Representatives passed the ominous health reform bill (H.R. 3962) on Saturday night with a tight vote of 220-215, it's now up to the Senate to pass this disastrous act that will criminalize Americans who don't buy a $15,000 health insurance plan, if you refuse to comply you could face up to five years in prison or be fined up to $250,000.

Ranking Member of the ‘House Ways and Means Committee', Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirms that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in this health care bill that passed (H.R. 3962) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain "acceptable health insurance coverage" and who choose not to pay the bill's new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years.

In response to the JCT letter, Camp said: "This is the ultimate example of the Democrats' command-and-control style of governing - buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately."

Key excerpts from the JCT letter appear below:

H.R. 3962 provides that an individual (or a husband and wife in the case of a joint return) who does not, at any time during the taxable year, maintain acceptable health insurance coverage for himself or herself and each of his or her qualifying children is subject to an additional tax."

[page 1]

"If the government determines that the taxpayer's unpaid tax liability results from willful behavior, the following penalties could apply..."

[page 2]

- - - - - - - - - -

"Criminal penalties

Prosecution is authorized under the Code for a variety of offenses. Depending on the level of the noncompliance, the following penalties could apply to an individual:

Section 7203 - misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.

Section 7201 - felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years." [page 3]

When confronted with this same issue during its consideration of a similar individual mandate tax, the Senate Finance Committee worked on a bipartisan basis to include language in its bill that shielded Americans from civil and criminal penalties. The Pelosi bill, however, contains no similar language protecting American citizens from civil and criminal tax penalties that could include a $250,000 fine and five years in jail.

"The Senate Finance Committee had the good sense to eliminate the extreme penalty of incarceration. Speaker Pelosi's decision to leave in the jail time provision is a threat to every family who cannot afford the $15,000 premium her plan creates. Fortunately, Republicans have an alternative that will lower health insurance costs without raising taxes or cutting Medicare," said Camp.

According to the Congressional Budget Office the lowest cost family non-group plan under the Speaker's bill would cost $15,000 in 2016. [Source]

NoWorldSystem

This will take away the individual right to have health insurance or not, this is complete control giving the government power to decide who will pay for the mandate depending of the level of disobedience they will decide if you pay over a half-a-million dollar fine or face prison for up to five years! This will systematically destroy the middle class, break up the families and will increase poverty turning America into a despotic socialist nanny state. The ultra rich one-percent class along with big pharma, the psychology lobby, insurance companies and the prison industrial complex are the only ones that will benefit from this bill.

If you have children and cannot pay for this insurance plan, your kids will be in the hands of the government whom are most likely to get raped or molested. Fortunately we still have time before this legislation reaches the pen of Barack H. Obama, more than ever do we need each other to participate in the fight against this tyrannical nightmare, we have no choice. Contact your RAPEsentatives and demand the death of this bill, reach as many people as you can about the above information and together we will prevail.