CDC & The Food & Drug are they Really Protecting Us, Or Companies?

Comment By Bob L.
July 12th 2013

Why are these Ag laws something to worry about, especially when our protector have let a so much bad food get put on the market.

I don’t know about you, I would be a little worries about what is being put on the store shelves, and in the meat coolers and freezers of your favorite food stores.

We know that steroids (illegal for humans to use) are being feed to beef up our meat, and now we have Marijuana starting to be put in the feed, and our food, is this how they are going to make us healthy by putting Drugs in out food, what else is being put into our foods that they don’t want you to know.

I can understand these radical groups that are only there to make people to think their way, and it does not have any thing to do with the safety of out food, just their way to protest, but not for the good of the Country.

Why are our Government Inspector not turning in wrong doings at these plants when Whistleblowers are seeing it going on? Is it I scratch your back you scratch mine, you know how the Government Agencies classify things that are really not to be classified.

Why Big Ag Wants to Keep the Cameras Away

The Fight for the Image: Who Gets to Define the Meat Industry?

Why You Should Be Worried About Ag-Gag Bills

Iowa ‘Ag-Gag’ Bill Targets Undercover Whistleblowers

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National Geographic Photographer Arrested After Taking Photos of Kansas Feedlot

 

 

Takepart.com
07-11-2013

A freelance photographer on assignment for National Geographic was arrested in Finney County, Kansas, on June 28, after snapping aerial photographs of a cattle feedlot as part of a series on food issues scheduled for next year.

According to the Hutchinson News, Steinmetz was spotted in the air by a feedlot employee who reported the sighting to the sheriff’s office, noting that Steinmetz’s SUV was parked on ranch property. After Steinmetz and his ground support, Wei Zhang (described as a self-employed paraglide instructor), moved to another location, the feedlot executives insisted the men be arrested.

To be clear, George Steinmetz, who took the aerial photos from a paraglider, was not charged with breaking the state’s Farm Animal and Field Crop and Research Facilities Protection Act (we’ll get to that in a minute). Finney County Sheriff Kevin Bascue tells us that Steinmetz and Zhang were “arrested for having allegedly driven their vehicle onto private property that was clearly posted ‘No Trespassing.’ ”

Steinmetz did not respond to our request for an interview. National Geographic spokesperson Beth Foster would only issue this statement:

George Steinmetz was briefly detained by authorities in Kansas on June 28, 2013.  He was shooting aerial photographs for National Geographic magazine, as part of a series of stories on food issues that will appear next year.  We believe he did not break any laws and have reached out to local officials about the incident.  We are awaiting more information.  If the matter does require legal action, National Geographic will provide for his and his assistant’s defense.

Susan Richmeier, Finney County attorney, tells TakePart this is a simple criminal trespass misdemeanor case.

“The deal with these animal facilities is they’re not enclosed. They’re contained. There are trade secrets and security issues. What are they taking the photos for? To damage us? Sue us? Why is someone there? If someone is coming onto posted property—the question is why? Most of the feedlot guys would cooperate with any photographer. They just want to be asked,” says Richmeier.

Which feedlot facility are we talking about? Richmeier declined to identify them.

“They don’t want to be put in the public eye,” she says.

A looksee through the Kansas Department of Agriculture Division of Animal Health’s Annual Feedlot Report shows there are at least 12 feedlot facilities in Finney County, with a combined capacity of over 305,000 head of cattle. (To put that in perspective, Finney County has a population of approximately 37,000 people.) At its simplest definition, feedlots are the final stage of production, where cattle go to be fattened for market.

While the call to police was about a trespassing charge, it’s easy to jump to the underlying conclusion—this is really about Kansas’ ag-gag statue.

“Kansas was actually one of the first states to adopt a law restricting access to agricultural operations and prohibiting the photographing of agricultural facilities,” says Susan Schneider, Director, LL.M. in Agricultural & Food Law at the University of Arkansas School of Law. “The Kansas legislature passed the “Farm Animal and Field Crop and Research Facilities Protection Act” (K.S.A. 47-1825-1830) in 1990. This statute makes it a crime to ‘enter an animal facility to take pictures by photograph, video camera or by any other means.’ ”

But Steinmetz didn’t enter the facility; he flew through the air above it. Had he not been arrested for trespassing, would he have been crossing the legal line by taking photos from above? The answer is unclear.

“A landowner’s rights do extend to the airspace above his/her property. But the airways can be analogized to a public highway. If one is traveling through the air for a legitimate purpose in a reasonable manner at a height that would not unreasonably interfere with the landowner’s enjoyment of his/her property, in conformity with relevant flight regulations, then it would not be a trespass,” writes Schneider in an email.

“This issue may be coming up more and more, as state and federal gov’t agencies often need to rely on aerial photos for enforcement of conservation and environmental laws,” she says.

It’s also a hot topic among journalists and animal activists who are considering the use of drones to gather photo evidence of animal abuse.

Schneider says the issue here isn’t whether it’s a charge of trespassing or a violation of the agricultural protection act.

“The real issue is transparency. Farmers, feedlot operators and processors are all producing a product to sell to consumers. And that product is perhaps the most essential product on Earth—our food. Anytime the industry complains that people should not take a picture of how our food is being produced, it casts all of agriculture in a bad light,” she writes.

Related stories on TakePart:

• Why Big Ag Wants to Keep the Cameras Away

• The Fight for the Image: Who Gets to Define the Meat Industry?

• Why You Should Be Worried About Ag-Gag Bills

Hope And Change, Really?

Comment By Bob L.
July 9th 2013

I can remember back in 2008 when a Senator running for President said he was for hope and change and spreading the wealth around by taking it from the rich and having them pay their fair share and giving it to the poor.

Well it has been Four Years and the poor are spreading the wealth while the rich are reaping the glory of the money, just the reverse of what he said was going to do.

Well if you have not heard this person, listen and see if you can see what he went through as a kid in Cuba, and then the United States when he was growing up until now, I think he tells a pretty sad story of what can happen when you don’t pay attention to what is going on.

If you believe in and love this Country, stand up and fight for it, don’t let it be torn down, Listen to this Gentleman all the way through, and then see if we are  not headed in the same direction as Castro and Hitler. 

I believe that we should spend more time finding out who we are going to put in charge of our Country to give true hope and change, not just a bunch of lies just to get elected so they can rewrite the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, if they are caught in lies, throw them out right away, don’t give them a chance to change any thing, freeze what they can do immediately.

This Country has to stop profiling and using each other against one another just to get what they want, they keep saying that all people are equal, but when it comes to wanting some thing, the first thing that comes up is profiling, we are a free nation why can’t we keep it this way and stop this hatred to others, but when you have a Government that thinks that hate groups are only white people, just look at what the White House said about the Westboro Baptist Church, was not a hate group, well it seems falls under what the LAW calls a hate group.

This has become a Country of hate, I can remember when thing were going in the direction of excepting you for who you are not where you came from or your color, today every thing has started to go back to the time of slavery, but this time it is all people making less than $60,000.00 a year or ones who now don’t even have a chance to find a job, this is getting pretty sad for a Country that fought to be free from Dictating Governments.

Called a Government Out of Control Means Dictators Close Behind

Comment By Bob L.
June 30th 2013

This seems to be the type of Government this Country wants, what I mean is that nothing can be done without asking the Government if you can use a plastic bag, water bottle, or maybe your car.

Look around, what do you see, Environmentalists, Special Interest, and the Government telling you what you can eat, how far you can drive your car, what you are going to carry your groceries in, if you have not noticed, every thing they take away for you to use, it comes with a cost of thing left for you to use.

It’s becoming a crime to smoke a cigarette, but it is alright to smoke or eat an illegal product, and that is not a crime, is that because some one is going to make more profit from the poor people again, it is ever ending, they take money away from the poor and think nothing of it, but when it comes to the wealthy, they get Tax breaks. 

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UVA student jailed for possession of bottled water, ice cream

June 29, 2013

A University of Virginia student spent a night and good part of the next day in jail after seven plain-clothes agents from the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control division ambushed her.

The student, 20-year-old Elizabeth Daly, made the mistake of walking to her car with bottled water, cookie dough and ice cream in a dark supermarket parking lot near the UVA campus, reports The Daily Progress.

The seven agents sprung aggressively into action, suspecting that the student was carrying was a 12-pack of beer. She was actually carrying a sky-blue carton of LaCroix sparkling water.

Police admit that one of the high-strung agents vaulted onto the hood of Daly’s car. She contends that one of them also drew a gun.

It’s not clear what about Daly’s appearance gave the six police officers the belief that they had probable cause to confront her en masse.

Daly, along with two roommates who were in the car, did what reasonable, unarmed people usually do when violently pounced upon by seven people. They tried to get away.

“They were showing unidentifiable badges after they approached us, but we became frightened, as they were not in anything close to a uniform,” Daly said in a written account, according to The Daily Progress.

“I couldn’t put my windows down unless I started my car, and when I started my car they began yelling to not move the car, not to start the car. They began trying to break the windows. My roommates and I were … terrified,” the student also wrote.

According to court records obtained by the Charlottesville paper, Daly “grazed” two agents with her vehicle. At this time, the records state, the unidentified passenger in the front seat of her SUV was yelling “go, go, go” and simultaneously diving into the back seat.

Once the three students managed to make it out of the parking lot, they called 911. Daly testified that her goal was to drive immediately to a police station. However, she was stopped by a vehicle with identifiable sirens and lights.

Daly had just left an annual UVA “Take Back the Night” vigil on the famous campus founded by the man who drafted the Declaration of Independence. She was eventually able to explain that she had purchased the water and junk food for a sorority benefit. She also apologized.

The seven Alcoholic Beverage Control agents were not satisfied. They charged Daly with three felonies: one count of eluding police and two counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer. In Virginia, each of these Class Six felonies carries up to five years in prison and up to $2,500 in fines.

The seven agents then had her hauled to the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

The incident occurred April 11. Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman deigned to drop the criminal charges this week.

“You don’t know all the facts until you complete the investigation,” Chapman told The Daily Progress in defense of his own actions and the actions of the Alcoholic Beverage Control agents.

It’s unclear why Chapman’s investigation took some 80 days.

The Charlottesville broadsheet also does not mention how much Daly paid her defense attorney, Francis Lawrence.

A spokeswoman for Alcoholic Beverage Control’s regional office, Carol Mawyer, refused to provide details other than saying that the bureau’s agents cunningly wear plainclothes.

“This has been an extremely trying experience,” Daly wrote in her statement. “It is something to this day I cannot understand or believe has come to this point.”

Follow Eric on Twitter and send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com. Join the conversation on The Daily Caller

40% Of Small Businesses Not Hiring Any New Workers

Comment By Bob L.
June 25th 2013
[ I know some don’t like what I say, but today it is greed running this Country for ones self, and the truth hurt ]

Every one just had to have Obamacare, but no one had any idea that it was a scam pulled on the American people, well it is, because they are going to make sure that they the Politician will not have to get it, because they knew that it was that nothing more than a scam that they put together so they could invest in it, just like the scam they are pulling for Global Warming, it is a profit-making deal for them to invest in, like Carbon Futures. (The rich protect themselves before any one else)

Boy if you can not see it, then you are dumber than I thought, because of your ignorance, and just got to have what you call the best of every thing, you are bring this Country down to a Third world Nation, and will soon be in another Depression worst then the Nineteen Thirties Depression.

Tighten your belts, because it is coming, and it is going to be a rude awaking when it happens, and if you have not noticed it has already started, people have been warned, and are turning a blind eye on it and say it won’t happen, well you better hope so for your Children’s sake. 

This Whole thing with Obamacare like they say, was set by some one other than the ones who said you have to pass it if you want to know what is in it.

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40% Of Small Businesses Not Hiring Any New Workers Thanks To Obamacare

AUTHOR By Warner Todd Huston
June 24, 2013

Just at a time when we need the job-creating talents of small businesses to pull us out of the Obama Depression, he’s made it harder to do so with his jobs-killing healthcare law. It is now reported that Obama’s odious and country-killing healthcare law is causing 41 percent of small businesses to stop hiring.

A recent CNBC news report said that, “Forty-one percent of the businesses surveyed have frozen hiring because of the health-care law known as Obamacare. And 19 percent answered ‘yes’ when asked if they had ‘reduced the number of employees you have in your business as a specific result of the Affordable Care Act.’”

Obama is killing jobs at a record pace and already we have millions of Americans out of work, under employed, or have just plain given up looking. Worse, poverty is rising under this anti-capitalist president.

Yet, just as the President is telling us that Obamacare is a must have for all we lowly citizens, his party is working to get Congress exempted from Obamacare because “it’s not fair” to force Congressmen and their staffers to live under the same laws we have to live under.

Obamacare is also about to levy $130 billion in fines on business, too. This is also squashing the growth of the economy because businesses understand that they’ll have $130 billion removed from them, a whopping fee they had never had to pay before.

And this doesn’t even count the cost of insurance that is right now already skyrocketing. In Ohio insurace is already up 88% and in California it is a crushing rise of 140%! And this is just the beginning, America.

This isn’t the only new tax that Obamacare forces on America. Obamacare even charges a tax to use a tanning booth!

Remember, the law doesn’t even fully kick in until 2014. This economic devastation will only get worse.

Related articles

• Congressional Bill to Tackle the Leviathan, ObamaCare (dprogram.net)

State shutdown would close state parks

 

Comment By Bob L.
June 21st 2013

Contingency planning for state agency operations

I can not believe that the American people are so Stupid, they complain about the intrusion of the Government in to their lives, and then turn right around and let the Governments tell them that they don’t own these State, City, County, and State Parks.

These entities’ don’t own any thing they are owned by the American people and they are only care takers of them for the people who give them Tax money to maintain them, so I do not under stand how they can tell the people how they are going to use them and when, or even charge them to use them just to have a family Picnic for the day.

Now I did not say Camp, I said Picnic for the day, that should Always be free, if you want to camp then that should be chargeable, like they say, Water if an Electric pump is used, and Power are there, they are not free to any one. 

But when they say they say they own them, they DO NOT the PEOPLE DO.

If the Government says they need money to Operate, then they need to do some House Cleaning in their Organization of Offices that are not needed, and should have never been started.

Looking at that list if Offices that will close if a budget is not achieved, they are nothing more than a Duplicate or Triplicate that one Office with fewer people could do, I know you have to give your Family and Friends a Lavished job with some one else’s money. 

A good example is Liquor Control Board could be cut and be run by the State Patrol, being the state washed their hands of Alcohol and went private, Board of Education can take over all the Colleges with fewer people, you can go on and on and see where they can cut a lot of money in this Bureaucracy of Government Agencies. 

These 34 state agencies could be totally cut in and made in to one, not Three Offices for every one office, and this could save money, Contingency planning for state agency operations, who will be shut down and who won’t.

There are probable more that could be phased into one, and use fewer people to do the work, but they think that they are so over worked, every time I have gone to a Government Office, all I see, is people waiting in line to talk to some one, while the people working there, were talking to each other and drinking Coffee, and all but two windows were closed out of Six or More that were unattended, then when someone opened a window one that was open, Closed.

It seems that Government Employees have more Breaks on the Taxpayers Dime, than they have time in working.

 

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By Lee Stoll
Thursday, June 20, 2013

LYNNWOOD, Wash. — The list of state-run programs that would be cut or scaled back by a government shutdown is 12 pages long. It would affect everything from state park summer trips to how officers keep tabs on sex offenders.

Marisol Silva’s first trip to Deception Pass State Park may be her only trip here this year.

“It’s terribly sad news,” said Silva.

If the state does not approve a new budget, parks will close just as the tourist season is starting.

Campsite and cabin reservations will be canceled.

“I’m going camping with our church in July over in Leavenworth.  I don’t know if it’s a state park.  I sure hope not,” said visitor Melynda Bly.

The list released Thursday says several offices will close down, including the Lottery, Liquor Control Board, Services for the Blind and the Arts Commission.

GPS tracking information for sex offenders will be suspended.

“I’m just astonished,” said Heidi Bride., who lost her job two weeks ago and is using WorkSource to get back on her feet.  The state will close those offices, too.  A skeletal staff will process unemployment benefits but Bride will have to find a job on her own.

“I depend on this.  I’ll be out on the streets without WorkSource,” said Bride.

College students and their families face uncertainty too.  They won’t know what financial aid will be available as they plan for the 2014 school year.

 

Government Sequester, Don’t Blame the Sequester, BUT, Did You Know?

Comment By Bob L.
Mon. 10 2013

Sequester hits cancer patients, this is just Obamacare before 2014, you might just as well get ready for it, because this is what you will be getting when 2014 and beyond gets here, Oh that won’t happen, sorry it has already started.

This is what they call getting you ready for Obamacare, and a bigger Government with more Control over the People.

They say that it is because of the sequester, THINK AGAIN, if you remember back when they cut money from Medicare, and Medicaid to pay for Obamacare, drugs were included in those cuts, and if they had to cut all this, then why are they hiring 20 Thousand and MORE for Government JOBS if they don’t have the money.

This  Sequester is nothing more than getting back at the American people for not supporting him and his Czars in taking over this Country .

If you read between the lines you will see that the White House is Starving you at the front door, and hire more people at the back door, if I remember right, I think they said TWENTY Thousand or more to be hired at the rate of $160,000.00 THOUSAND a year, so I see it as a Government OUT OF CONTROL, continually hiding and covering up the truth from the people,.

Lets see, say Twenty Thousand times at $160,000,00 comes somewhere around Thirty Two Million Dollars ($32,000,000,00) a year plus their Automatic Pay Raises every year plus Cost of Living, what about if there is more than that, WOW and the American people are going to PAY for a blotted Government, the people did not higher them, Government Bureaucrats did because they are lazy.

This nothing more than a Government acting like HITLER, and wanting to eliminate the people’s Voice along with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

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Sequester hits cancer patients — doctors, lawmakers seek fix

By Rachel Rose Hartman, Yahoo! NewsThe Ticket
Mon. June 10 2013

You may have heard that White House tours were cut due to across-the-board federal spending cuts known as the sequester. Or that Congress made sure to minimize disruptions to air travel. Or perhaps you know someone being furloughed as a result of the cuts.

But did you know a major fight is being waged over sequester cuts to some cancer drugs?

After Congress failed to pass a budget this spring, a 2 percent cut to Medicare chemotherapy drug reimbursements went into effect April 1 as part of the across-the-board federal spending cuts designed to save $85.4 billion this year.

[Read sequester stories from Yahoo News readers here.]

Many doctors and patients are infuriated, and the issue has made its way into Congress, with a bill introduced in the House to help alleviate the burden being put on those in the cancer community.

Dr. John Cox, a community oncologist at Texas Oncology Methodist Cancer Centers in Dallas and a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), told Yahoo News that the idea of treating Medicare patients differently from other patients goes against everything for which doctors stand.

“It makes all of us uneasy when we realize we are treating different populations in our practice differently,” Cox said.

The pressure put on doctors is significant. Oncologists are typically reimbursed the average sales price for chemotherapy drugs plus 6 percent to cover the cost of storing and administering these drugs. Because purchasing those drugs costs the same as it did before the sequester, many cancer doctors, especially community oncologists who operate in smaller, nonhospital settings—are now unable to keep up with the costs associated with treating Medicare cancer patients who are typically elderly and on fixed incomes.

Indeed, studies from various oncology groups bear out a negative trend: Due to the sequester cut, community practices have begun to turn some people away or to close their doors entirely, shifting patients to hospitals for their chemotherapy treatments where the infrastructure is larger, costs can be better absorbed and some drugs can be purchased for less.

A May 9 survey from the Community Oncology Alliance found 49 percent of respondents were sending Medicare patients elsewhere, with many more planning to begin doing so; 21 percent of practices were laying off staff; and 14 percent were in talks with hospitals about forming alliances.

A new survey from ASCO found that 80 percent of respondents say the sequester has affected their practice. Nearly 50 percent said they wouldn’t be able to continue caring for Medicare patients who didn’t have supplemental insurance, and 50 percent had begun sending patients elsewhere, primarily to hospitals.

Some doctors say that the shift to hospitals could be detrimental to Medicare patients’ care due to less personalized service, personal mobility issues and the typically higher overall cost of treatment at a hospital.

“I’m sure that there’s some people who say that they are enraged,” Dr. Jeffery Ward, a community oncologist at Swedish Cancer Institute in Edmonds, Wash., told Yahoo News of the cut. “I’m just saddened that our government system is so completely inept that they will take the most fragile and vulnerable people in our society and hang them out to dry—and that’s what Congress and our government has done.”

Ward said that his practice as a result of the crush of costs—which in addition to the sequester cut includes a shrinking reimbursement system and a Washington state business and operations tax—formed a nonprofit and became part of a local hospital group on April 1. It’s a fate he says will become more common under the sequester.

He added that he and his patients are among the luckier ones: Not only can his new hospital group help with costs, but the convenient location means his doctors can continue treating the same patients. But he noted that others might not be as fortunate, especially those in rural areas.

“If you’re in a situation where [a] hospital is not willing to work with you or does not wish to take on cancer care, or if you’re operating a long ways from a hospital, those are places where clinics may end up closing their doors and where patients will be disadvantaged or put out,” Ward said.

Cox said some of the talk about the damaging impacts of the sequester from the oncology community might be hyperbole, but negative effects are real and contributing to an already crushing system of physician reimbursement, in his opinion.

“We have not changed any practice, at least that I’m aware of, in our group because of the 2 percent sequester,” Cox said of his larger practice. But he said that fact belies a gradual “belt-tightening” and “dramatic” changes in outpatient medical oncology.

If the cut remains and other financial pressures continue to ramp up, he added, his group will reevaluate its ability to operate outreach centers and conduct clinical research work.

“Fiscally, I want people to be responsible, but taking a blood axe to the federal budget and doing it broadly across the board seems crazy to me,” he added about the sequester.

Similar opinions were expressed earlier this year about the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controller furloughs under the sequester, which threatened to result in the cancellation of flights and disruption of air travel for millions, as well as the closing of some airports.

Congress asked the FAA to step in and shift money to avoid furloughs, but the government said it had no authority to do so. As a result, Congress united and passed a bill to give special permission to the FAA to transfer money within its budget and cut elsewhere to avoid furloughs to air traffic controllers.

Members of Congress have urged the government to make a similar exception to protect cancer drugs from the sequester.

Members of the Senate and House sent letters—124 House members to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and Republican Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) —asking if officials could exempt cancer drugs.

The 124 House members who wrote CMS received their response last Wednesday, and it wasn’t encouraging.

From Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the CMS:

The Department of Health and Human Services assessed whether the law allows discretion to administer the sequestration reductions in a manner that is different from the across the board approach that has been used to implement it. We do not believe that we have the authority under the Budget Control Act of 2011 to exempt Medicare payment for Part B drugs.

That response appears to put the onus on Congress for a policy solution.

North Carolina Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers, a former registered nurse—who supports the sequester’s aim to reduce federal spending, but not its indiscriminate cuts—introduced in early April a bill to exempt cancer drugs from the sequester and to force Medicare to reimburse oncologists for the reduced payments they have so far been issued under the sequester.

She told Yahoo News last week that she believes Tavenner’s response, while disappointing, boosts the argument for her legislative fix.

“I feel that this will increase the number of co-sponsors quickly,” Ellmers said of the CMS response. Indeed, supporters believe that some members were awaiting a formal response from the government before signing on to Ellmers’ bill.

Ellmers said she picked up two co-sponsors the day after Tavenner’s letter was released—”probably the result” of the response from CMS. She ended the week with four additional co-sponsors, putting her total at 85 supporters from both parties as of late Friday.

Supporters of Ellmers’ bill say that much like the FAA fix, this legislation has the potential of being passed due to wide bipartisan support.

“Needing those spending cuts to me was the ultimate goal, but at the same time when you realize that you’ve hurt vulnerable individuals, that’s when you need to make the changes,” Ellmers said. “And that’s what we should be doing here in Washington. … If we see that we’ve affected someone on a personal level as an unintended consequence of something that we’ve done, then we need to fix that problem.”

Just Another Way to Take it Away from the American Economy

Comment By Bob L.
05-27-2013

This is just an other way that Obama and his Administration are trying to Destroy relations with Canada and the American People with more taxes and FEES. Remember, he said that he was going to stuff it to the American people if he got Elected. You got what you Elected, DESTRUCTION.

Just think when YOU the American Citizen, go up in to Canada you will have to pay that same fee to come back, so by all means, SO HAVE AT IT YOU GREEDY PEOPLE you will get what you ask for, more FEES and more TAXES.

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U.S.-Canada border entry fee study sparks opposition in Wash.

By MANUEL VALDES, Associated Press
Published: May 27, 2013

SEATTLE (AP) – By Michael Hill’s estimation, 90 percent of the people pumping gas at his station just south of the U.S.-Canada border in Washington state are Canadians.

Gas north of the 49th parallel, he said, is about $1.30 per gallon more expensive than in the United States. But that’s not the only product that Canadians seek in visits to Washington state: Beer, wine and milk are significantly cheaper (beer and wine alone are roughly half the price in the U.S.).

Add a strong Canadian dollar and the result is a key element of the economy in the towns of Whatcom County. For example, the town of Blaine, population just shy of 5,000, generates over $225,000 from a penny per gallon gas tax, which is about 30 percent of its street maintenance budget.

That’s why Hill and others are troubled by the notion of charging a fee to enter the U.S. by land. Last month, in its 2014 fiscal year budget proposal, the Department of Homeland Security requested permission to study a fee at the nation’s land border crossings.

“It’s a deterrent,” said Hill, whose station is fully stocked with wine and has a reader board that says “Thank you Canadians.”

“They should be doing anything they can to get them down here to buy more,” he added.

That lone request sparked wide opposition among members of Congress from northern states, who vowed to stop it. A fee, they say, would hurt communities on the border that rely on people, goods and money moving between the U.S. and Canada.

“The imposition of such a toll would act as a barrier to the greater economic integration that we seek, and is the absolute last thing we should be doing to grow our economy,” stated a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano earlier this month signed by 18 Republican and Democratic House lawmakers.

Democrat U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont is sponsoring an amendment to the immigration reform bill that bars Homeland Security from conducting the study. The senator has also promised to stop any funding for the study. In the House, Democrat Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington state introduced a bill to stop the creation of a fee.

This week an amendment by Democrat Rep. Bill Owens of New York to stop the study was introduced to the House to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill.

Lawmakers and people from the southern border, though, did not show such strong opposition, highlighting a north-south divide on how to pay for border infrastructure.

Democrat Congressman Ruben E. Hinojosa, who represents a district in Texas that includes McAllen and its nearby border region, said fees would be good if the revenue stream is used to improve infrastructure.

“I would support crossing fees only if the funds garnered would be used to upgrade our facilities, provide better equipment for our agents, or used for the hiring of more agents at our border crossings,” Hinojosa said.

Currently it costs nothing to enter the country by land. Air and sea crossings already have a fee of under $2, which are included in ticket prices.

The proposal would mean creating a pilot program that tests all the steps needed to create a fee collection – short of actually collecting money. The proposed fee would offset costs of providing border screening and infrastructure. Customs and Border Protection did not specify the cost of the study.

The quick response from northern states lawmakers bolsters the thought that the study won’t happen this fiscal year, said Ken Oplinger, president of the Bellingham/Whatcom County Chamber of Commerce in Washington state.

But he thinks that due to the expensive border security measures that have been implemented since Sept. 11, the idea could make a comeback in the future unless other sources of funding not reliant on a border fee appear.

One of busiest northern border crossings – the Peace Arch – is located in Whatcom County. It connects Washington state with British Columbia. In places, the border is just farmland, with no wall or fence and grazing cows. About 12,000 people cross the border there every day, according to CBP figures.

Oplinger has two main concerns. The lesser is people who will refuse to pay the toll and thus stop visiting Whatcom County all together. His greater worry, however, would be any increase to the wait time at the border. He said border traffic has just fully rebounded to pre-Sept. 11 volumes, adding that on summer weekends the wait to enter the U.S. can be as high as two hours. He fears that adding some sort of mechanism to collect the toll would mean more waiting time.

Border fees, albeit local ones, already exist on the southern border. In Texas, local municipalities charge fees to use bridges that connect Mexico and the U.S.

For Kenn Morris, president of marketing research firm Crossborder Group Inc. in San Diego, the future of the border is in public-private partnerships, unless the government acts to improve ports of entry. For example, a private company operates and builds a port of entry, booths and roads, and charges a fee to recoup investments.

“I think that it’s inevitable that more border regions use those tools and those who don’t want to use it that’s they’re choice, but they shouldn’t take the ability for other regions to at least look at that option,” he said. “For those regions that want the ability to charge a fee, we need good analyses to create good policy.”

Citing a 2009 University of Texas study, Morris said tolls at the border don’t affect traffic flow negatively, but provide a source of revenue to build more border infrastructure.

At the nation’s busiest border entry at San Ysidro in California, 50,000 vehicles and 25,000 pedestrians go north from Mexico every day. For the past few years, Congress has sent chunks of money to improve the infrastructure. In his last budget, President Barack Obama asked for $226 million to continue the improvements.

In the meantime, people face hours of waiting every day.

“People are tired of waiting,” Morris said.

Why is It Always Entitlements Cuts, and Not Their Pork To Get Them Elected

Comment By Bob L.
05-06-2013

They always talk about entitlements, there is one side of that PIG (pork) that they don’t want to talk about, that is their free ride on the taxpayer train, Health care that we Americans will have to have and pay for out of our pockets twice.

One is right up front, Health Insurance, and Second is Taxes to fund Obamacare, how does a person pay for something out of minimum income, and you all know that down the road that what they say will eventually be cut or down sized just like Bush’s drug plan to where you will have to carry all the load, OOPs, spend on and pay taxes on, to support all free riders who don’t pay and won’t work.

This Country today is good for bring people in to work, but won’t make sure Americans have a job first, or they would rather send jobs overseas then to keep them here.

When it all comes down to it, this Government today only cares what THEY can get out of it, and to hell with the American people (not politicians) who make this Country a free place to live, and THIS Administration is unloading it bit by bit to foreign Countries.

Don’t be surprised to see this Country sell Vacant Government buildings to Foreign Countries, and then spend the money they got for them to fix them up for them.

Four Cuts to Save $27.5 Billion video

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What a waste: Four easy cuts to save us $27.5 billion

By Jeff Zeleny, Richard Coolidge, and Jordyn Phelps | Power Players
05-06-2013

Government buildings sitting empty and unused, many flights to rural airports that carry practically no passengers, and minimum milk prices are based on the gallon’s distance from Eau Claire, Wis.

These are just a few of the 557 government programs and subsidies that the non-profit Citizens Against Government Waste says could be eliminated to save taxpayers close to $2 trillion over the next five years. Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, tells Power Players about some highlights from the organization’s annual suggested cuts, which are outlined in the book, “Prime Cuts 2013.”

He points to agriculture subsidies, such as the sugar subsidy–that Citizens Against Government Waste says inflates the U.S. price of sugar to nearly twice the world average sugar price–as one of the areas where outdated programs are draining taxpayers’ wallets unnecessarily.

“It’s an old style Soviet command and control program,” Schatz says. “By eliminating the sugar program, tax payers could save $1.2 billion in one year and $6 billion over five years.”

After sugar, Schatz says the next program that is in need of reform is dairy.

“Also an old-fashioned program,” he says. “The price of milk is based on the distance from which it’s produced from Eau Claire, Wis.—very old-fashioned way to produce milk. Savings there: $1.1 billion in one year, and $5.7 billion over five years.”

But the agriculture industry is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to wasteful government spending, according to Schatz.

Citizens Against Government Waste estimates that there are between 55,000 and 77,000 government buildings sitting empty and unused across the country—but, Schatz qualifies, that’s just an estimate.

“The fact is the government isn’t even sure how many empty buildings they have,” he says.

Another program Schatz says should be cut is the Essential Air Service program that benefits small airports generating little revenue.

“One in particular that comes to mind as very wasteful is the airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania,” Schatz says, referring to John Murtha airport, named after the late congressman, which he says has “very few flights during the day or at night, and therefore little used and heavily subsidized.”

ABC’s Avery Miller, Robin Gradison, Betsy Klein, Alexandra Dukakis, Gary Westphalen, Jim Martin and Bob Bramson contributed to this episode.

Bring Environmentalists Down

Comment By Bob L.
03-29-2013

It is time to put Environmentalists in their place, if they want to destroy the United States and the World, then shut down all Refineries, (NO Gas, kerosene, Propane, Jet Fuel every one of these have a soot and sulphur content), Sulphur [A pale-yellow, brittle nonmetallic element that occurs widely in nature, especially in volcanic deposits, minerals, natural gas, and petroleum.] Power Plants, stop Wind Power, and Solar Power, and No weapons of any kind, because any thing that is made causes Pollution of some kind, if this is what they want then let’s go back to before there was any thing but candles, oooops that even causes pollution and soot. And they want you to use Natural gas in your vehicle, but not with Sulphur read the article.

To do this that means that you would have no houses unless you had only hand tools to cut down trees,oops you can not do that because that would cause pollution from fires so you could not even cook your food because that would cause pollution, so now you would have to live from roots, berries, and just think you would be the food of the wild animals, so if this is what they want then give it to them and lets see how long it would last.

No More Free Ride For Any One, every one will pay the price of what the Environmentalists, Special Interest, and Governments wants.

You can put any thing on paper, it might look good, but that does not mean it is true or fact.

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EPA taking aim at auto emissions, sulfur in gas

By DINA CAPPIELLO | Associated Press
03-29-2013

WASHINGTON (AP) — Reducing sulfur in gasoline and tightening emissions standards on cars beginning in 2017, as the Obama administration is proposing, would come with costs as well as rewards. The cost at the pump for cleaner air across the country could be less than a penny or as high as 9 cents a gallon, depending on who is providing the estimate.

An oil industry study says the proposed rule being unveiled Friday by the administration could increase gasoline prices by 6 cents to 9 cents a gallon. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates an increase of less than a penny and an additional $130 to the cost of a vehicle in 2025.

The EPA is quick to add that the change aimed at cleaning up gasoline and automobile emissions would yield billions of dollars in health benefits by 2030 by slashing smog- and soot-forming pollution. Still, the oil industry, Republicans and some Democrats have pressed the EPA to delay the rule, citing higher costs.

Environmentalists hailed the proposal as potentially the most significant in President Barack Obama’s second term.

The so-called Tier 3 standards would reduce sulfur in gasoline by more than 60 percent and reduce nitrogen oxides by 80 percent, by expanding across the country a standard already in place in California. For states, the regulation would make it easier to comply with health-based standards for the main ingredient in smog and soot. For automakers, the regulation allows them to sell the same autos in all 50 states.

The Obama administration already has moved to clean up motor vehicles by adopting rules that will double fuel efficiency and putting in place the first standards to reduce the pollution from cars and trucks blamed for global warming.

“We know of no other air pollution control strategy that can achieve such substantial, cost-effective and immediate emission reductions,” said Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. Becker said the rule would reduce pollution equal to taking 33 million cars off the road.

But the head of American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Charles Drevna, said in an interview Thursday that the refiners’ group was still unclear on the motives behind the agency’s regulation, since refining companies already have spent $10 billion to reduce sulfur by 90 percent. The additional cuts, while smaller, will cost just as much, Drevna said, and the energy needed for the additional refining actually could increase carbon pollution by 1 percent to 2 percent.

“I haven’t seen an EPA rule on fuels that has come out since 1995 that hasn’t said it would cost only a penny or two more,” Drevna said.

A study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute estimated that lowering the sulfur in gasoline would add 6 cents to 9 cents a gallon to refiners’ manufacturing costs, an increase that likely would be passed on to consumers at the pump. The EPA estimate of less than 1 cent is also an additional manufacturing cost and likely to be passed on.

A senior administration official said Thursday that only 16 of 111 refineries would need to invest in major equipment to meet the new standards, which could be final by the end of this year. Of the remaining refineries, 29 already are meeting the standards because they are selling cleaner fuel in California or other countries, and 66 would have to make modifications.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the rule was still undergoing White House budget office review.

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Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dinacappiello

Good Example of Wasted Taxpayer money

Comment By Bob L.
03-20-2013

It seem that the taxpayer get stuck with every thing, from having to pay for Parks that are owned by the people of Washington State not the Government, these parks are Governments responsible to take care of, this is why we pay taxes so the State can take care of the people’s parks, but no they think they are theirs to do with what ever they want, like  privatizing them.

Now on the opposite side the taxpayers are paying for such things like Art Museums, Theaters of Performing arts who collect money for you to go see, I think it is time that these so-called non-profit organisations start paying their way and not the taxpayer, if they can pay them selves a wage then they can pay to maintain where the work and perform not the taxpayer, it is time for these Actors, Performers, Entertainers, and Symphony Orchestras start pony up their money, the Taxpayer should not be subsidizing for any one who charges a fee for service, this goes for Public or Private, it is just like any Private Citizen, or Company, they have to work to pay their bills to see that their homes or offices don’t fall down.

Government Agencies should not be in the Realestate Business Owning or Renting to private businesses or Organizations, because who gets stuck repairing these buildings, YOU the TAXPAYER, and just think what happens, THEY Raise Taxes to pay for the Maintenance. Put the money into school books for a better Education to get these kids an Education they need, and NOT into WAGES so no teacher will be left behind, that is not giving a good Education when wages for Teachers and Unions are more important than our Kids futures.

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Olympia council considers cost to repair Washington Center

By MATT BATCHELDOR | Staff writer
Published March 19, 2013

The Olympia City Council will consider tonight whether to spend $3.3 million to replace the leaky exterior of the Washington Center for the Performing Arts.

City Manager Steve Hall recommends the council choose the lowest bidder for the job, Corp Inc. Construction of Salem, Ore. The bid is 4 percent higher than an architect’s estimate.

All told, the city could spend about $4.6 million to renovate the building at 512 Washington St. SE, including replacing the roof and rooftop mechanical equipment.

Olympia owns the building and is in charge of major maintenance, while the nonprofit arts organization also known as the Washington Center runs the theater and is responsible for interior maintenance.

The city has been looking to stem the deterioration at the building since at least 2008, when the Public Works department found “widespread water intrusion was compromising the integrity of the building exterior,” according to a city staff report. Crews made emergency repairs designed to last five years.

A more detailed study found that the entire exterior, a synthetic stucco-like material called EIFS, needed to be removed and replaced.

Last June, the council recommended the most expensive of three repair options — including a new brick exterior, canopy with lighting, glass doors, a ticket window, poster display windows, custom windows and stone cladding above the canopy, a canopy over the adjacent alley and a permanent marquee sign.

At the time, the council decided it would drop some of the design elements, including the marquee and the stone cladding, if it didn’t receive an $816,000 state grant. The state has recommended the city receive the grant, but the State Legislature has to include it in its final budget.

But City Manager Steve Hall is now recommending the council go with those extras anyway. According to the staff report, the project needs to start before a decision on the grant is announced later this month or next month. The council will make the final decision of going with the extras or without, which would save $197,890.

The center’s roof and mechanical systems would be replaced at the same time, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said that part of the council’s decision tonight is how the city will pay for the repairs. Minus design expenses, which have already been paid, the city will owe $4.2 million. Council members will decide on whether to borrow the rest.

Debbie Sullivan, director of Technical Services, said the plan is to start construction in April and wrap by this fall. That way, the construction will avoid the bulk of the center’s seasonal entertainment.

“We’re going to do the bulk of the work during their off-season,” she said. Chad Carpenter, director of event services for the center, said the construction will impact 14 events, but construction will not occur during the shows. And no events have been cancelled as a result.

“The impact that it’s going to have… although it will be significant, I think it will be minor,” he said.

Matt Batcheldor: 360-704-6869 mbatcheldor@theolympian.com @MattBatcheldor