Friday, June 26, 2009

Brothers: Rahm Emanuel and His Family



Brothers: Rahm Emanuel and His Family


Rahm, Zeke, and Ari Emanuel have become very successful in different fields—politics, medicine, and Hollywood. But it’s hard not to notice the similarities among the brothers. They’re all intense, pugnacious, and in perpetual motion.


By Susan Baer Published Thursday, May 01, 2008





From the May 2008 issue of Washingtonian


The joke among the Emanuel brothers is that Zeke, the eldest, is bringing the family down.


That would be Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, 50, chair of the department of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. Zeke is an oncologist with a master’s from Oxford, an MD from Harvard, a PhD in political philosophy from Harvard, and a 27-page CV that includes fellowships, professorships, books, and numerous awards and honors.


“Ari and I tell Zeke: ‘You haven’t done squat for the family,’ ” says Rahm, the middle brother.


That’s because Zeke hasn’t had a TV character based on him, as have Rahm Emanuel, the Illinois congressman and former Bill Clinton adviser who was said to be part inspiration for White House aide Josh Lyman on The West Wing, and Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, the model for lovably trash-talking agent Ari Gold on HBO’s Entourage.


But part of being one of the hyperkinetic Emanuel brothers is being relentlessly competitive. So Zeke points out that the charge against him is not entirely true. The eldest brother notes that he was a participant in a British reality TV show during his Oxford days. “They loved to hate me there because I was the American on the team, the loud American.”


Loud, like his brothers. And impatient, intense, and successful. Three hard-driving superachievers in one family is kind of like having the Eiffel Tower, Washington Monument, and Statue of Liberty all in one town. People often ask their parents, Benjamin and Marsha Emanuel, what was in the water in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, where the family lived. Benjamin, an Israeli immigrant who still has a heavy accent, says there was no magic to their child rearing. He and his wife just paid a lot of attention to their kids.


“If you figure it out, let me know,” says Marsha, who at age 74 still works as a psychiatric social worker. “I honestly don’t know. I do know there was a lot of love and affection and treating them all like they were intelligent babies.”


The three brothers, less than four years apart, have risen to prominence in three different fields—medicine, politics, Hollywood. But it’s hard not to notice similarities: the wiry frame and dark hair (in varying degrees of volume and gray), the big personalities, the headstrong nature that lands each of them in the headlines and with their share of enemies.






Rahm, 48, is the best known—at least on the East Coast. Now the fourth-highest-ranking Democrat in the House, the three-term congressman gets much of the credit for his party’s success in the 2006 elections, when he raised lots of cash—sometimes by threatening candidates and browbeating colleagues—as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Appointed to that post in 2005, he rattled House Republicans who recognized that for the first time in a while “there was a killer at the helm of the Democratic Party,” says Rahm biographer Naftali Bendavid. “He really, really, really wants to win—whatever it is—and he’ll go to extraordinary lengths to do it.”


The stories of his ruthlessness, honed in the rough world of Chicago politics, are legendary: sending a dead fish to an associate with whom he’d had a falling-out; plunging a steak knife into a restaurant table as he denounced political adversaries; flashing his right middle finger, especially disarming because the finger was severed by a meat slicer when Rahm was a high-school student working at an Arby’s.


Rahm, who was President Clinton’s political director and an original member of the 1992 Little Rock “war room,” admits he’s driven in part by a fear of failure. “You’d bring shame to the family,” he says, only partly joking, in his Capitol hideaway office that’s filled with family photos. “I always tell the staff failure is not an option. You never give in, and you never give up.”


Zeke, who commutes to Washington from his home in Chicago every week, says that his staff jokes that it’s a good thing he’s in the office just three days a week. A pioneer in the field of end-of-life care who’s been an NIH chief for the past decade, Zeke has been a passionate voice for healthcare reform. He’s been so outspoken that he’s had to issue caveats making clear that he speaks for himself only and not as a government official.


“We don’t accept the current circumstances as somehow given,” Zeke says of the brothers. “We’re always challenging. We want to know, ‘Can it be better? Let’s make it better.’ It often comes across as we don’t respect authority a lot.”


Ariel, or Ari, the youngest at 47, has held up his end. He broke off from International Creative Management to start the Endeavor Agency in Beverly Hills and has turned it into one of Hollywood’s most successful talent agencies. Ari’s clients include Larry David, Aaron Sorkin, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Martin Scorsese. He called on Hollywood to blacklist Mel Gibson after the actor’s drunken, anti-Semitic tirade in 2006. He denounced Disney chief Michael Eisner after the mogul tried to prevent distribution of Fahrenheit 9/11, made by Ari’s client Michael Moore.






“It’s not what you’re supposed to do as an agent,” says Rahm, suggesting that his brother has more soul than the TV character based on him.


In the family room of the middle-class suburban home where the boys grew up and where their parents still live is a wall of black-and-white photos of relatives, most of whom never made it to America. One of the photos is of their father’s brother, Emanuel, who was killed in the 1936 Arab insurrection in Palestine. Benjamin’s parents changed the family’s last name from Auerbach to Emanuel in their son’s honor. In the middle of the wall, in a frame, is a crocheted money belt that the boys’ great-grandmother wore when she emigrated from Russia.


“There’s nothing subtle in Jewish families,” Rahm says. “It was my parents’ way of reminding us of our fortune of being here, the sense that it’s a privilege and an honor to be in this country, and that that can’t be wasted.”


Rahm says his parents also gave their children two seemingly contradictory thoughts—“one is to always challenge authority; the other is to always respect it.”


Their father, a pediatrician who moved to the States from Israel in 1959, devoted himself to public-health matters in Chicago, helping to get lead paint removed from houses, treating poor immigrants for free. As a young doctor trying to build a practice, he quit the American Medical Association over its position on national healthcare. “Not exactly the brightest move in 1962 when you’re trying to raise three kids,” says Rahm.


Their mother was a civil-rights activist in the early 1960s. She ran the north-side branch office of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality, and occasionally, if she didn’t expect violence, took the boys to civil-rights marches with her.


“Early on, she wasn’t present in our lives,” says Rahm. “She was in jail.”


There was always extended family living with them—“nerve-racking for me but extremely helpful for the children,” says their mother. It was a loud household where the parents encouraged reading and debate, held monthly meetings at which anyone could say anything, and gave each son 15 minutes of “only child” time each day.


The Emanuels taught the boys to swim by the time they were 18 months old, made them all take ballet lessons, and had no qualms about pulling them out of school for trips all over the world.


Rahm describes dinner-table conversations, which often included his large and opinionated grandfather, a six-foot-four meat cutter from Moldavia, as political free-for-alls. “You had to get ready for dinner conversations at our house,” the congressman says. “You didn’t just come down to dinner and say, ‘How was your day?’ You either came ready or you got shut out.”



Story continues @ : http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/7712.html


Qui Pro Quo = Change?




"You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours"


  1. GOP South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford the State Supreme Court ordered to take federal bail-out funds.
  2. Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina AWOL in Argentina; Involved in a year- long extramarital affair.
  3. Fill in the blank on what comes next?
Within a month the headlines changed from Sanford as a Maverick, to Sanford as Don Juan.

Politics is a dirty business.

Candidate Obama ran on a slogan of "Change".



Well, I see plenty of the old tit for tat in just this case of Governor of South Carolina Mark Sanford's reluctance to accept the bail-out funds for his state, and the subsequent discoveries of the Governor's personal extramarital unfaithfulness. His offense is not to be condoned; But, Slick Willie behaved just as reckless, yet, all he got was everyone's sympathy, and he's still around preaching Rhodes Scholar NWO Philosophy.



I can remember that there is a principle in high and low places of knowing the secrets of enemies and associates as a weapon to use in case all else fails or in case there's a reversal of allegiance. I believe this is what we see here. Mark Sanford refused to play ball, now he is fouling-out, and will soon strike out. The progression from this point forward is like what the script calls for. You're out!





The more things change, the more they remain the same.



Nothing changes under the Sun!





Arsenio

The Watchman's Duty



Ezekiel 33



1Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

3If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;

4Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.

5He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.

6But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

7So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

8When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

9Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

10Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

11Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

12Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

13When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

14Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

15If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

16None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

17Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

18When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.

19But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.

20Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

21And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me, saying, The city is smitten.

22Now the hand of the LORD was upon me in the evening, afore he that was escaped came; and had opened my mouth, until he came to me in the morning; and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb.

23Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

24Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance.

25Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?

26Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?

27Say thou thus unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; As I live, surely they that are in the wastes shall fall by the sword, and him that is in the open field will I give to the beasts to be devoured, and they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die of the pestilence.

28For I will lay the land most desolate, and the pomp of her strength shall cease; and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, that none shall pass through.

29Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed.

30Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the LORD.

31And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.

32And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.

33And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.
.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

ABC: Obama propaganda machine?


Suggestive overlay of ABC News logo over Obama campaign logo, posted on one critic's website


ABC: Obama propaganda machine?


Gibson anchoring from White House, devoting hours of coverage to health care agenda


Posted: June 16, 20093:20 pm Eastern
By Drew Zahn© 2009 WorldNetDaily


Critics are blasting ABC News for its plan to televise blanket coverage of Barack Obama's health care reform initiative, voicing concern that "the media and government [have] become one" and that the network is "virtually turning over news programming to the Obama government" for "a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda."
The media ethics furor stems from ABC News' announcement that next week the network will devote hours of news coverage to the president's plan, televise a primetime "town hall" discussion on the topic called "Questions for the President: Prescription for America" and anchor its nightly "World News" program from inside the White House.
Republican National Committee Chief of Staff Ken McKay was doubly incensed that ABC News reportedly rejected a Republican request to be allowed a response.
"As the national debate on health care reform intensifies, I am deeply concerned and disappointed with ABC's astonishing decision to exclude opposing voices on this critical issue," McKay wrote in a letter to ABC News President David Westin.
McKay's letter detailed that in addition to the primetime town hall special, ABC News has also announced its "Good Morning America," "World News," "Nightline" and web news "will all feature special programming on the president's health care agenda."
"I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda," McKay wrote. "The Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime."
Roger Hedgecock, chairman of the Radio America Free Speech Foundation, suggested ABC News is endangering true freedom of the press by "virtually turning over news programming that night to the Obama government."
"This 'special' will feature Obama government officials promoting the president's proposal for government health care. No opposing views are allowed on the program," Hedgecock wrote in a statement. "For ABC News to present only the Obama government side of this important issue would betray the public interest in a free press."
Further, Hedgecock declared, "ABC News is in danger of becoming a propaganda organ for the Obama government."


Matt Drudge, covering the story on his website, writes, "On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government-run health care – a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!"
Some, however, dispute that ABC News is doing anything unethical or endangering to the freedom of the press.
ABC News Senior Vice President Kerry Smith, for example, defended the network's plans, arguing that members of the town hall audience will be selected by ABC News to include "diverse voices on this issue."
"Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control," Smith wrote in a response letter to the RNC's charges. "To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."
Jane Hall, a journalism professor at American University and Fox News contributor, further suggested that ABC News' plans for coverage aren't necessarily unusual.
"This is not unprecedented," Hall told Fox News. "Every president has tried to use the bully pulpit to spread their message. I hope President Obama does have a range of questions, ranging from people who want a single-payer system to those who want the government to do less."
Nonetheless, Hall suggested ABC News is walking a fine line and knows it.
"ABC News is going to have a balanced program," Hall predicted. "They do not want to be criticized, they don't want to look like they're simply cheerleading for the president and his plan."
ABC's Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer will moderate the primetime special, which is scheduled to be broadcast from the East Room and televised at 10 p.m. on June 24. Coverage will then continue later on "Nightline" and the next morning, when Sawyer will interview Obama for "Good Morning America."
ABC News' announcement of the coverage plans, including instructions on how to participate in the discussion of health care, can be read below:
As the nation debates sweeping changes in healthcare, ABC News' Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer will moderate a conversation with President Obama about this critical issue on the nation's agenda. A special edition of Primetime "Questions for the President: Prescription for America" will air on Wednesday, June 24th from 10:00-11:00 p.m. EDT on the ABC Television Network.During the discussion from the East Room of the White House, President Obama will answer questions from an audience made up of Americans selected by ABC News who have divergent opinions in this historic debate. ABC News' Medical Editor Dr. Timothy Johnson will also take part in the conversation, which will focus on different ideas for how to fix the system and how proposed changes will impact our already fragile economy.The health care conversation will continue on "Nightline" at 11:35 p.m. EDT.Wednesday morning's "Good Morning America" will originate from the South Lawn of the White House and will include an exclusive interview with President Obama. He sits down with Diane Sawyer to discuss healthcare and other issues on the nation's agenda. Wednesday's program will also feature portions of Robin Roberts' exclusive interview with First Lady Michelle Obama.Charles Gibson will anchor "World News" from the Blue Room of the White House on Wednesday.ABCNews.com will invite viewers to join the discussion and share their questions about health care reform at ABCNews.com/Politics starting Tuesday, June 16th.ABCNews.com will also be working with Digg.com to select popular questions voted on by online users. Some of those questions will be put to President Obama during the program. ABC News' daily political webcast, "Top Line," will focus on health care reform throughout the week of June 22. ABCNews.com senior political reporter and author of the Note, Rick Klein, will live-blog and interact with users as the forum airs, and full video coverage of the forum will be posted online. A special section of ABCNews.com/Politics dedicated to the health care debate will offer comprehensive coverage of the forum and will continue as legislation is taken up in Congress.ABC News Radio will air portions of "Questions for the President: Prescription for America" and will also produce a special edition of its weekly news magazine "Perspective," that will include portions of the special. "Perspective" will be available to ABC News Radio affiliates for use over the weekend of June 27-28.Marc Burstein is the executive producer of the special edition of Primetime "Questions for the President: Prescription for America."




Feds criticized in wake of Metro crash


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Aging cars need replacement, council member says
by C. Benjamin Ford and Janel Davis Staff Writers


This story was corrected on June 24, 2009. An explanation of the correction is at the end of the story.


While investigators combed through the wreckage of Monday's Metro crash, a Montgomery County Council member who also served as chairman of the regional Council of Governments ripped the federal government for failing to modernize the cash-strapped rail system.

Councilman Michael J. Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown, reading from a news story at a council meeting Tuesday morning, noted that the federal government — in this case the National Safety Transportation Board — had wanted to phase out the aging train cars involved in the crash, but that Metro had not heeded the cry.

"I appreciate the fact that the NTSB and the federal government said we had these recommendations, but the reality is over the years [regional governments and agencies] have worked on ways to secure adequate funding for Metro," said Knapp, who also chaired the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

"The reality is that the participant who has not stepped up to the plate is the federal government."

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority held a special board meeting Tuesday afternoon to discuss safety and security in the wake of the two-train crash that killed nine people, including a train operator, and injured more than 70 others.

Metro General Manager John Catoe said his "heart and soul" went out to the dead and injured and their families.

"My words cannot change what happened, but they can help change it from happening again," Catoe said. "Of course it was an accident, but this accident should not have happened."

The cause of the crash, the worst in the 33-year history of Metro, still was not determined. Investigators were looking at a range of possibilities, from signal relay problems that help run the automatic trains to operator error by the driver of the second train, to a combination of factors.

"Now is the time to act to find the root and the cause of this tragedy and correct it," Catoe said.

Immediately after Catoe spoke, the WMATA board went into closed executive session to discuss safety and security issues, but told reporters they expected to reconvene before 5 p.m. to take any action in public session.

The WMATA board already was scheduled to discuss $11 billion in unfunded capital improvement projects needed to make system improvements, said Metro spokeswoman Angela Gates.

A National Transportation Safety Board member pointed out that the board had recommended WMATA replace the fleet's oldest cars five years ago or retrofit it to better protect passengers in the event of a crash. The southbound train that crashed into the stopped train on the Red Line near Fort Totten station was one of the oldest models of subway cars.

"We recommended to either retrofit those cars or to phase them out of the fleet," said NTSB member Deborah Hersman at a press conference Tuesday. Metro officials "have not been able to do that and our recommendation was not addressed. So, it has been an unacceptable status."

Metro had planned to replace the aging cars with newer models, but retrofitting the cars was not shown to be feasible, spokeswoman Candace Smith said.

Metro's automated software system was designed to slow the train, but passengers reported that they did not hear the brakes engaged either by the computer or the operator, who can override the automated controls.

"They need to take a really hard look to see if the cause of this is the aging of the system, either the physical system or the computer system, or the software," said transit advocate Ben Ross, president of the Action Committee for Transit.

Alstom Signaling, which makes the relay signals that help control the trains, did not return calls for comment.

The incident signals the need not just to solve the problem that caused the crash, but to invest overall in the system, Knapp said.

The federal government still has not given a plan for an additional $150 million investment that it needs to make, Knapp said.

County Councilwoman Nancy Floreen called the crash "devastating" to the region's transportation reliability and, like Knapp, reiterated the need for more funding for the regional train system.

"This is a wake- up call to Metro," said Floreen (D-At large) of Garrett Park, who chairs the council's Transportation and Environment Committee. "They need to demonstrate to the region that people will be safe when they get on these trains. This is a system we all use. We're totally dependent on it."

But public transit experts said Metro and other systems are safe.

A 2008 National Safety Council study showed that subways and commuter railroads were the safest forms of transportation. There are 0.05 fatalities per 100 million passenger miles on trains compared with 0.71 fatalities in cars.

"Public transportation is one of the safest ways to travel," said Virginia Miller, a spokeswoman for the American Public Transit Association.

As word of the crash spread Monday, various agencies and emergency services within Montgomery County mobilized.

Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring received seven crash patients, all of whom were treated for "various bumps and strains" and released Monday night, said Yolanda Gaskins, a spokeswoman for Holy Cross.

Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park received five patients, one with non life-threatening injuries and four with minor injuries, said Lydia Parris, a Washington Adventist spokeswoman. All five patients have been released, Parris said.

"When something like that happens, management and the emergency room all work together to make sure we are ready for whatever comes our way," Gaskins said Tuesday. "We were all watching the news making sure that if we had additional patients we were ready."

Ronna Borenstein-Levy, a spokeswoman for Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, said two patients from the crash were taken to that hospital. One was treated and released, while a 17-year-old girl remains at the hospital in fair condition. Though far from the scene, the hospital prepared to take on more if necessary.

"We readied ourselves," she said. "We checked our bed situation, our supplies. We could've easily received more patients."

Among the dead identified by deadline were Mary Doolittle, 59, of Northwest Washington, D.C., Ana Fernandez, 40, of Hyattsville, Dennis Hawkins, 64, of Southeast Washington, D.C., Lavanda King, 23, of Northeast Washington, D.C. and train operator Jeanice McMillan, 42, of Springfield, Va.

Staff writers Jason Tomassini and Bradford Pearson contributed to this report.

-Metro officials said they did not know Tuesday when the Red Line would resume normal operations and recommended that commuters check online at www.wmata.com for the latest updates.

-Shuttle buses are being made available to help commuters between the closed stations.

-Service on MARC's Brunswick Line, which runs parallel to the Metro line near the crash scene, was suspended Monday evening and all day Tuesday, but was expected to resume this morning, MARC officials said.

Washington Post coverage: Train Operator Apparently Hit Brakes Before Crash
Washington Post coverage: Rescuers 'Tried Everything We Could'


Correction: Councilman Michael J. Knapp was incorrectly referred to as the chairman of the Council of Governments. He's the former chairman.


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GOP's anti-bailout South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford ordered to take federal stimulus funds


Chastain/AP

GOP South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford the State Supreme Court.


THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Friday, June 5th 2009, 10:03 AM


COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday to request $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools, ending months of wrangling with legislators who accused him of playing politics with people's lives.
The nation's most vocal anti-bailout governor had refused to take the money designated for the state over the next two years, facing down protesters and legislators who passed a budget requiring him to.
While other Republican governors had taken issue with requesting money from the $787 billion federal stimulus package, Sanford was the first to defend in court his desire to reject the money.
But he said Thursday he will not appeal the Supreme Court ruling and plans to sign paperwork to request the money Monday.
Educators quickly hailed the court decision.
They had predicted hundreds of teachers would lose jobs and colleges would see steep tuition increases without the money, though sharp budget cuts will still take a toll.
"Finally. It took way too long. It was so unnecessary and took so long to do what 49 other states figured out how to do a long time ago, but finally is better than not at all. It will allow districts to immediately begin to reconstitute programs and fill positions they didn't think they could fill," state Education Superintendent Jim Rex said.
While Sanford raised the issue, it was Casey Edwards, a Chapin High School student graduating Friday, who brought it to the state's highest court. She beamed as she told reporters she "was very excited that our schools and our teachers and our education system will be getting the funds that are so desperately needed here in South Carolina."
The stimulus fight has raised the national profile of Sanford, the chairman of the Republican Governors Association, and provoked talk of a 2012 GOP presidential bid.
But at home, the episode became a power struggle between Sanford and the Republican-dominated Legislature. The former congressman objected to the stimulus money on several levels that were consistent with his small government, anti-spending stances.
He claims it will devalue the dollar and increase debt. When legislators pushed for the cash, Sanford said they were overstepping their reach into his executive powers.
The unanimous court ruling said the governor had no say in the matter. No discretion on funds "At this stage in the process, the Governor certainly has no discretion to make a contradictory decision on behalf of the State," the ruling said.


(Page 2 of 2)
"He has no discretion concerning the appropriation of funds." Sanford on Thursday lamented what he said was a decision that underscores how the little power governors of the state have is ceded to the Legislature.
"In South Carolina, in many ways, we don't have three branches of government. We have only one," he said. "If you put too much power in one place, not many good things happen."
The stimulus money means the state "papered over what was a historic chance to do something about the whole host of programs that could have been reformed or changed," Sanford said.
For the most part, Sanford's spending plans translated that into deeper spending cuts, particularly at colleges. Meanwhile, the state "missed the chance to show other states a different way than simply taking this money and spending it."
The Supreme Court's ruling came a day after arguments in two lawsuits filed by students and school administrators. Sanford had tried to get those cases merged in federal court with his lawsuit against the state, which he filed moments after legislators overrode his budget veto.
But he lost that battle Monday when a federal judge refused to take those cases. Sanford had refused to request the $700 million — the portion of the $2.8 billion bound for the state that he says he controls — unless legislators agreed to offset state debt by an equal amount.
The White House twice rejected that idea, noting the money must be used to help education and avoid job losses. South Carolina, which had the nation's third-highest jobless rate in April — hitting a state record high of 11.5 percent — cut more than $1 billion from its $7 billion spending plan for 2008-09 as tax revenues slumped in the recession.
Sanford's refusal has raised the ire of U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the No. 3 House Democrat, who accused the governor of being a foe of public education.
Amid budget cuts and uncertainty over the federal money, districts had told hundreds of teachers they don't have a job in the upcoming school year.





Don't cry for my Argentina,... Arkansas.







and the band play$ on...

VA Medical System in Shambles, Veterans Groups Say


With Veterans Affairs hospitals giving botched radiation treatments to nearly 100 vets and exposing 10,000 to HIV and hepatitis viruses, veterans advocates and lawmakers say the VA health system is in dire need of proper oversight and funding.


By Joseph Abrams
FOXNews.com
Wednesday, June 24, 2009


Amid growing controversy over procedures that exposed

10,000 veterans to the AIDS and hepatitis viruses, the Department of Veterans Affairs is now bracing against news that one of its facilities in Pennsylvania gave botched radiation treatments to nearly 100 cancer patients.
Veterans groups and lawmakers say VA hospitals have permitted these violations because federal regulations allow doctors to work with little outside scrutiny. They say the VA health system, with its under-funded hospitals and overworked doctors, is showing signs of an "institutional breakdown," in the words of one congressman.
An official with the American Legion who visits and inspects VA health centers said complacency, poor funding and little oversight led to the violations that failed the cancer patients in Philadelphia and possibly infected 53 veterans with hepatitis and HIV from unsterilized equipment at three VA health centers in Florida, Tennessee and Georgia.
"Lack of inspections, lack of transparency" were likely to blame, said Joe Wilson, deputy director of the Veterans Affairs and Rehabilitation Commission for the American Legion, who testified before Congress this month on transparency problems in a budgeting arm of the VA.
Wilson said the American Legion is investigating the case of the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, where doctors gave 92 veterans incorrect radiation doses for treatment of prostate cancer during a six-year span when no peer review or proper oversight measures were in place, the New York Times reported.
Those doctors, whose continuous errors were finally detected last year, were immediately fired from their work at the VA center, but not before putting the lives of the 92 veterans at risk. That news came on the heels of months of investigations into medical lapses that permitted endoscopic procedures like colonoscopies to be performed improperly for years.
Wilson told FOXNews.com that poor funding has aggravated problems, and that money is often misspent on repairs for old facilities and equipment to help manage a construction backlog that has put the VA years behind. He said the aging facilities are incapable of handling or properly operating new technology and equipment.
"The average age of VA facilities is about 49 years," he said. "That's too old. In the private sector the average age of facilities is about 12 years."
The VA Medical Center in Philadelphia is 57 years old. Doctors there were performing a procedure called brachytherapy, in which radioactive seeds the size of rice grains are implanted into organs to kill cancer cells.
But doctors there were sometimes implanting the seeds into the wrong organs, and in many cases gave significantly less radiation than was prescribed -- including during an entire year when their monitoring equipment was broken and they were essentially flying blind, the New York Times reported.
And when one physician, Dr. Gary Kao, was found to have botched a brachytherapy in 2003, he simply changed his surgery plan to make the error appear to be intentional, the Times reported.
Despite the violations that cost Kao his job, some veterans' groups said the general care provided by VA is among the best in the world, and they applauded the department for taking steps to address its problems.
"Our feeling is that the quality of the care is excellent," said Jay Agg, a national spokesman for AMVETS, the American Veterans organization. "However, the fact that it occurred in the first place really points to a lack of oversight, and corrective measures need to be taken."
Both AMVETS and the American Legion welcomed advanced funding that was granted to VA this week, reversing a trend of late funding that has kept the department on tenterhooks for nearly 20 years.
But investigations conducted by the VA last month show that systemic problems remain. Under half of VA centers given surprise inspections had proper training and guidelines in place for common endoscopic procedures.
VA Secretary Gen. Eric Shinseki and senior leadership "are conducting a top to bottom review of the Department," a VA representative told FOXNews.com. "They are implementing aggressive actions to make sure the right policies and procedures are in place to protect our veterans and provide them with the quality health care they have earned."
The representative said that all brachytherapy treatments have been ended at the Philadelphia hospital, and the VA has hired a national director of radiation oncology and developed standard procedures for calculating the accuracy of seed placement.
But veterans advocates say that won't be enough, and they say they haven't seen any evidence of changes that could fix what they call a broken healthcare system.
"How many patients can you see in a day and still give proper care?" asked Jim Strickland, a veterans' advocate and former health care technician who contributes to VAWatchdog.org. "There aren't enough physicians to handle the crisis that the VA faces."
Richard Dodd, a litigator who has represented veterans in lawsuits against the government, said that poor funding has lowered the quality of care and interest from some physicians.
"They're generally under-funded ... and I think the interest of the doctors suffers to some degree," he told FOXNews.com. "Generally speaking, the physicians that work at the VA work there because they have no interest in private health care, and in some situations are unable to find jobs in private industry."
Strickland said care and oversight would not improve until funding is increased and the leadership makes sweeping changes.
In the meantime, he said, "we are doing such a disservice to our veterans."
Lawmakers, who are bristling at that "disservice," led congressional inquiries into the endoscopy debacle during hearings last week.
"[T]here is no question that shoddy standards -- systemic across the VA -- put veterans at risk and dealt a blow to their trust in the VA," said Rep. Harry Mitchell, the Arizona Democrat who chairs the House Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., is now gearing up for action over the Philadelphia facility. He wrote to Shinseki Tuesday asking "what allowed such chronic failures to occur" and demanding to know what steps the VA has taken "to ensure that such problems do not occur at other VA hospitals."
Specter called for a field hearing of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee on Monday, June 29, calling the alleged abuses at VA hospitals "very serious" and promising that they would get a "full and prompt review." A lawyer for Gary Kao said the doctor would appear at the Philadelphia hearing and answer any questions from Specter "fully and completely."




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Work the Cities from Outposts



Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. 2 Cor. 6:17.


As God's commandment-keeping people, we must leave the cities. As did Enoch, we must work in the cities but not dwell in them. {Mar 184.1}

As far as possible, our institutions should be located away from the cities. . . . It is not God's will that His people shall settle in the cities, where there is constant turmoil and confusion. Their children should be spared this; for the whole system is demoralized by the hurry and rush and noise. The Lord desires His people to move into the country, where they can settle on the land, and raise their own fruit and vegetables, and where their children can be brought in direct contact with the works of God in nature. Take your families away from the cities is my message. {Mar 184.2}

The truth must be spoken, whether men will hear, or whether men will forbear. The cities are filled with temptation. We should plan our work in such a way as to keep our young people as far as possible from this contamination. {Mar 184.3}

The cities are to be worked from outposts. Said the messenger of God, "Shall not the cities be warned? Yes; not by God's people living in them, but by their visiting them, to warn them of what is coming upon the earth." {Mar 184.4}

When iniquity abounds in a nation, there is always to be heard some voice giving warning and instruction, as the voice of Lot was heard in Sodom. Yet Lot could have preserved his family from many evils had he not made his home in this wicked, polluted city. All that Lot and his family did in Sodom could have been done by them, even if they had lived in a place some distance away from the city. Enoch walked with God, and yet he did not live in the midst of any city polluted with every kind of violence and wickedness, as did Lot in Sodom. {Mar 184.5}

He [Enoch] did not make his abode with the wicked. . . . He placed himself and his family where the atmosphere would be as pure as possible. Then at times he went forth to the inhabitants of the world with his God-given message. . . . After proclaiming his message, he always took back with him to his place of retirement some who had received the warning. {Mar 184.6}

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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Gov. Sanford in Argentina, not Hiking the Appalacian Trail

Gov. Sanford in Argentina, not Hiking the Appalacian Trail

Posted:

06/24/09


Filed Under:The Capitolist

One day after Gov. Mark Sanford's (R-S.C.) staff told a scrum of reporters that the somewhat-missing governor had gone hiking on the Appalachian trail to clear his head, a reporter for The State newspaper intercepted the governor at Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, where Sanford was returning from a seven-day trip to Argentina.

Sanford told the reporter, Gina Smith, that he had considered hiking the trail, "But I said 'no' I wanted to do something exotic." Sanford also said he had traveled alone, and in addition to spending time in the capital city of Buenos Aires, he drove along the Argentinian coast.

When asked why his staff told reporters that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, he said, "I don't know." Until this week, neither Sanford's wife nor his staff had heard from him since he left South Carolina last Thursday.

Caps, we ask you, is Sanford's tango in Argentina the end of his presidential possibilities or much ado about nada?


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Avoiding Labor Conflicts


Avoiding Labor Conflicts


[APPEARING IN
PAMPHLET, COUNTRY LIVING, pp. 7, 9, 10-12.]


The time is fast coming when the controlling power of the labor unions will be very oppressive. Again and again the Lord has instructed that our people are to take their families away from the cities, into the country, where they can raise their own provisions; for in the future the problem of buying and selling will be a very serious one. We should now begin to heed the instruction given us over and over again: Get out of the cities into rural districts, where the houses are not crowded closely together, and where you will be free from the interference of enemies.--Letter 5, 1904. {2SM 141.1}


Avoid Party Strifes

Men have confederated to oppose the Lord of hosts. These confederacies will continue until Christ shall leave His place of intercession before the mercy seat, and shall put on the garments of vengeance. Satanic agencies are in every city, busily organizing into parties those opposed to the law of God. Professed saints and avowed unbelievers take their stand with these parties. This is no time for the people of God to be weaklings. We cannot afford to be off
142
our guard for a moment.--Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 42 (1904). {2SM 141.2}

The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began.--Letter 200, 1903. {2SM 142.1}


Conflicts Between Trade Confederacies and
Labor Unions


The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force. In the world gigantic monopolies will be formed. Men will bind themselves together in unions that will wrap them in the folds of the enemy. A few men will combine to grasp all the means to be obtained in certain lines of business. Trades unions will be formed, and those who refuse to join these unions will be marked men.--Letter 26, 1903. {2SM 142.2}


Preparing for the Issue

The trades unions and confederacies of the world are a snare. Keep out of them, and away from them, brethren. Have nothing to do with them. Because of these unions and confederacies, it will soon be very difficult for our institutions to carry on their work in the cities. My warning is: Keep out of the cities. Build no sanitariums in the cities. Educate our people to get out of the cities into the country, where they can obtain a small piece of land, and make a home for themselves and their children.... {2SM 142.3}

Our restaurants must be in the cities; for otherwise the workers in these restaurants could not reach the people and teach them the principles of right living. And for the present we shall have to occupy meetinghouses in the cities. But erelong there will be such strife and confusion in the cities, that those who wish to leave them will not be able. We must be preparing for these issues. This is the light that is given me.--General Conference Bulletin, April 6, 1903.
143
{2SM 142.4}


To Preserve Our Individuality

For years I have been given special light that we are not to center our work in the cities. The turmoil and confusion that fill these cities, the conditions brought about by the labor unions and the strikes, would prove a great hindrance to our work. Men are seeking to bring those engaged in the different trades under bondage to certain unions. This is not God's planning, but the planning of a power that we should in no wise acknowledge. God's Word is fulfilling; the wicked are binding themselves up in bundles ready to be burned. {2SM 143.1}

We are now to use all our entrusted capabilities in giving the last warning message to the world. In this work we are to preserve our individuality. We are not to unite with secret societies or with trades unions. We are to stand free in God, looking constantly to Christ for instruction. All our movements are to be made with a realization of the importance of the work to be accomplished for God.--Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 84 (1902). {2SM 143.2}


In Disregard of the Decalogue

These unions are one of the signs of the last days. Men are binding up in bundles ready to be burned. They may be church members, but while they belong to these unions, they cannot possibly keep the commandments of God; for to belong to these unions means to disregard the entire Decalogue. {2SM 143.3}

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself" (Luke 10:27). These words sum up the whole duty of man. They mean the consecration of the whole being, body, soul, and spirit, to God's service. How can men obey these words, and at the same time pledge themselves to support that which deprives their neighbors of freedom of action? And how can men obey these words, and form combinations that rob the poorer classes of the advantages which justly belong to them, preventing them from buying or selling, except under certain conditions?--Letter 26, 1903.
144
{2SM 143.4}


Unions that are Formed or shall be Formed


Those who claim to be the children of God are in no case to bind up with the labor unions that are formed or that shall be formed. This the Lord forbids. Cannot those who study the prophecies see and understand what is before us?--Letter 201, 1902.
146
{2SM 144.1}
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...Wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?



Acts 13



1Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

2As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.

3And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

4So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.

5And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.

6And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:

7Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.

8But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.

9Then Saul, (who also is called Paul,) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him.

10And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?

11And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.

12Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.

13Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.

14But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down.

15And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.

16Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience.

17The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with an high arm brought he them out of it.

18And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.

19And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Chanaan, he divided their land to them by lot.

20And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.

21And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years.

22And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave their testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

23Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

24When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose.

26Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent.

27For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him.

28And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain.

29And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre.

30But God raised him from the dead:

31And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people.

32And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,

33God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

34And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.

35Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

36For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

37But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:

39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

40Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;

41Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

42And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath.

43Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

44And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.

45But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

46Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

47For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

48And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

49And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region.

50But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.

51But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium.

52And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost.
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Washington Train Crash

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Gregorio Luperón




Gregorio Luperón (September 8, 1839 - May 21, 1897), is best known for being a Dominican military and state leader who was the main leader in the restoration of the Dominican Republic after the Spanish annexation in 1863.

Gregorio Luperón was born 8 September 1839 in Puerto Plata to Pedro Castellanos and Nicolasa Luperón. His parents owned a Ventorrillo (small business) which forced their children to sell items such as piñonate, a local delicacy made of sweetened pine-nut kernels, on the street in order to help the family livelihood.

Around the age of 14, Gregorio began working for Pedro Eduardo Dubocq, an owner of a major company specializing in wood. While working there, he displayed a strong strength of character and a knack for getting any job assigned to him completed in the best possible fashion. Because of this, Mr. Dubocq promoted Gregorio to a management position. Mr. Dubocq also allowed Gregorio to spend time in his personal library because Gregorio wanted to enrich his intellect.
In 1861, the annexation of the Dominican Republic by Spain took place. Gregorio was only 22 years old at the time but a sense of nationalism began to swell within him. During one instance, Gregorio was arrested but managed to escape and flee to the United States for protection. Shortly thereafter, Gregorio managed to return to the Dominican Republic through the town of Monte Cristi in time to take part in the uprising of Sabaneta (1863). However, this uprising was short-lived due to the quick Spanish response.
After the failure at Sabaneta, Gregorio and his compatriots hid in the mountains of La Vega in order to prepare for a full-scale revolution against the Spanish forces.

Present Day References: The Gregorio Luperón International Airport in Puerto Plata and the Gregorio Luperón High School for Math & Science in New York are named after him.
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Brother, Can You Spare a Trillion?

Joe Biden Explains the Virtues of Wealth Redistribution

Tuesday, May, 26, 2009

What's the key to getting our economy back on it's feet?

Acccording to Comrade Joe Biden - it's wealth redistribution. Here he explains "the patriotic thing to do" to Katie Couric:

The people who do not need a new tax cut should be willing, as patriotic Americans, to understand the way to get this economy back on its feet, is to give middle class taxpayers a break.

We take the tax cut they're getting, and we give it TO THE MIDDLE CLASS.

Somewhere...out there...beneath the pale moonlight
Karl Marx is thinking of Biden...and loving his words...tonight.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EErkF-Sa4k&feature=player_embeddedhttp://


More on this topic (What's this?)
Is Joe Biden Associated With A Fund Of Funds Feeder Scam? (Zero Hedge, 4/29/09)
US Set To Intercept North Korean Ship Suspected Of Proliferating Nukes (Zero Hedge, 6/19/09)
Is Barack Obama the Next Jimmy Carter? (Part One) (Contrarian Profits, 5/20/09) Read more on Election 2008 at Wikinvest

Source: http://commoditybullmarket.blogspot.com/2009/05/joe-biden-explains-virtues-of-wealth.html


The Wealth Redistribution Has Begun But Problems Loom


March 30, 2009 12:23AM
The Wealth Redistribution Has Begun But Problems Loom
By Brian Sullivan


While campaigning, President Obama made the now-famous comment to the now-infamous plumber that he wants to “spread the wealth around” by raising taxes. He certainly isn’t alone these days in wanting to stick it to the wealthy. Protesters at the G20 meeting, in the streets of New York City and on bus tours of AIG executives’ homes are all calling for higher taxes and their populist rage is being heard. New York state has agreed to a massive tax increase on those making more than $300,000 per year. Other states are discussing similar moves. The federal government’s tax increase on those making $250,000 per year will begin in 2011. That hike is also likely to be accompanied by a reduction in the amount of interest allowed as a deduction on home mortgages. It is a tax triplet whose cumulative impact is that a doctor in New York making $500,000 per year is facing a tax hike of more than $2,000 per month. That increase will then be scattered through government spending, a “middle class tax cut” that provides a two-income family with a meager $13 more per week, along with the filling of a variety of state budget gaps, particularly in government employee pension plans.
The weak economy, bank bailouts, AIG bonuses and a collapsed housing market has created a wave of anger at the top end of the economic spectrum. Out of work laborers hold signs saying “tax the rich,” seemingly under the belief that higher taxes are a panacea to America’s, or at least their, economic problems. Those groups are going to get what they are asking for, as taxes are set to rise on a number of different fronts. And while the higher tax proponents will net a small political victory, history says they will likely encounter few big changes in their own scenarios.
Higher marginal tax rates may provide families with a few extra dollars of temporary relief, but are unlikely to provide better job prospects long term. Higher tax nations do not traditionally have lower unemployment rates than the United States, and periods of higher taxes in America haven’t helped the under or unemployed find new work. In fact, generally the opposite is true. As an example, higher tax European and Scandinavian countries have traditionally also posted much higher unemployment rates than the United States. The percentage of individuals actually looking for work (and are thus counted in those figures) is even lower in these countries. Only a few years ago Italy found itself out of the top 100 list of national employment rates. Many European nations actual unemployment rates are even worse than the numbers indicate, as there are millions in those nations who live entirely off state sponsored welfare their entire lives and are thus not measured in official data. France, a country considered a model of socialist economic thinking more than most, is going in the opposite direction of America and cutting income tax rates. In 2007 the new government led by Nicolas Sarkozy eliminated income taxes on any “overtime” work done beyond the traditional 35-hour work week as part of an overall plan to increase French competitiveness and productivity.
There also appears to be little positive correlation between high taxes on the wealthy and job creation in America. The top tax rate in the 1970s was a staggering 70% yet unemployment averaged around 7-8% for most of the decade, topping out above 10% for the first few months of 1983. Only when the impact of the Reagan tax cuts of the early 80s began to be felt did joblessness fall. Franklin Roosevelt raised the highest end tax rate to 94%, and while the unemployment rate did fall in the later half of the 1930s it was still more than 17% in 1939.
The favored argument of those in favor of higher taxes is that the Obama top-end is simply placing the tax rate back to where it was under Bill Clinton in the go-go 1990s. Supporters of that era tend to forget two important things. First, the 90s decade was highlighted by the boom in personal computing and the growth of an entirely new industry in the Internet and software. Second, we found out the hard way that much of the “go” in the “go-go” 90s was based on a bubble economy in tech stocks. The problem now is that we are recovering from a much bigger economic problem - the housing bubble created by the Fed’s interest rate cuts after the tech bubble burst and the terrorist attacks on 9/11. We also lack a nascent technology such as the Internet to help build a new economy and good jobs to drag us out of the slump as we did in the early 1990s.
New York is raising taxes on the very top earners by a staggering 31%. The second highest group of earners will face a smaller but still punishing tax increase of 14.5%. Assuming many of those earners do not move to lower tax states and their incomes stay the same (big assumptions in this economy), those tax hikes will together add $4 billion dollars to the Empire State’s coffers. It sounds like a lot until you consider that New York’s budget deficit is a whopping 400% more than that amount at $16 billion and growing. Ironically, much of that huge budget gap is due to falling income tax receipts as many of the “rich” Wall Street crowd lose their jobs or make less money. Until those high paying and high tax generating jobs return, the burden will grow on the fewer high earners left. That is, until they too finally break down, leave the state or do as many high income earners do and underreport their incomes to get around higher taxes.
Sadly, it is likely those screaming loudest about higher taxes on the rich who will get hurt the most when they get them. Travel is already down 30-plus percent to Las Vegas this year and the city has one of the fastest growing unemployment rates in the country. Retail workers across America are losing their jobs as stores close and companies go under. Towncar drivers in New York report business is down even more. The stories are endless, but the spending of those with money is not anymore. In the end, that doctor in New York will probably take one fewer vacation per year, drive his car for a year or two longer before buying a new one and perhaps even trade down into a smaller home. Lost in the frenzy though, few will care. Except for the bellhop at the hotel, the car salesman or the worker at the furniture store.
Bizarrely though, the higher tax crowd seems to have little interest in discussing real job creation or long term improvements in the economy. The shouting seems to be more punitive. Many “working party” type organizations have long pressed for tax hikes on those making more than $250,000 per year, saying that the wealthy should “share the sacrifice.” Notice the tone of the language. Instead of “how can we make things better” we instead hear “we should all suffer together.” The implication seems to be that it is more desirable to bring the top down than to try to bring the bottom up.