White House Denial Forced Mandate is Unconstitutional

The White House and Congressional Democrats (and any on-the-sidelines potential Repbulicans) who support such a mandate on individuals to purchase health care insurance, or face fines, are so far out of touch with the tenets of our nation's founding it is simply astonishing.

The Constitution guarantees our rights, our individual rights. The federal government was enabled limited powers. We possess the rights, government doesn't give rights to us.

It isn't the government's duty to force a product on to an individual. What's next?

Obama Fit 'n Trim Fast for the obese?

Obama Smoke-free patches for addicted smokers?

Net the Truth Online

White House Says No ‘Veracity’ to Argument That Forcing Individuals to Buy Health Insurance Is Unconstitutional
Thursday, October 29, 2009
By Fred Lucas, Staff Writer


(CNSNews.com) – White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that there is no "veracity" to the argument that the U.S. Constitution does not authorize the federal government to force individuals to buy health insurance.

The Congressional Budget Office has said that the federal government has never before in American history forced Americans to purchase any good or service.

When the health-care bill was being debated in the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised questions about the constitutionality of forcing Americans to buy health insurance, which all congressional versions of the health care bill would do.

Hatch rejected the notion that the Commerce Clause--which empowers Congress to regulate commerce "among the several states"--justifies forcing Americans to purchase a product they do not want to buy. If Congress can make people buy health insurance, Hatch argued, they can force Americans to buy refrigerators or new cars.

But Gibbs said those who make this kind of argument have no federal court cases to back them up.

"I won't be confused as a constitutional scholar, but I don't believe there's a lot of--I don't believe there's a lot of case law that would demonstrate the veracity of what they're commentating on," said Gibbs.

Asked by CNSNews.com last week where specifically the Constitution authorizes Congress to mandate that individuals buy health insurance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “Are you serious? Are you serious?"

A Congressional Research Service report concluded that requiring individuals to purchase or have health insurance could be challenged.

“Whether such a requirement would be constitutional under the Commerce Clause is perhaps the most challenging question posed by such a proposal, as it is a novel issue whether Congress may use this clause to require an individual to purchase a good or service,” the CRS reportedly says.

In 1994, when the Clinton administration attempted to push a health care reform plan through a Democratic Congress that also mandated every American buy health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office determined that the government had never ordered Americans to buy anything.

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=56264

Science bulletin: 'Sun heats Earth!'
Russian research forecasts global cooling
Posted: October 27, 2009
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Habibullo Abdussamatov

In a sharp rebuke to climate alarmists who believe human-generated carbon dioxide is responsible for causing catastrophic global warming, a Russian scientist has issued what amounts to a news flash announcing, "Sun Heats Earth!"

Habibullo Abdussamatov, the head of space research at St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory in Russia, has published a paper in which he tracks sunspot activity going back to the 19th century to argue that total sun irradiance, or TSI, is the primary factor responsible for causing climate variations on Earth, not carbon dioxide.

Moreover, Abdussamatov's analysis of sun activity data has led him to conclude that the Earth is entering a prolonged cooling phase because sunspot activity is currently in a phase regarded as a "minimum."

"Observations of the sun show that as for the increase in temperature, carbon dioxide is 'not guilty,'" Abdussamatov wrote, "and as for what lies ahead in the coming decades, it is not catastrophic warming, but a global, and very prolonged temperature drop."

Abdussamatov's paper is featured on page 140 of a report issued this year by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, documenting more than 700 scientists who disagree over the proposition that global warming is a man-made, or anthropogenic phenomenon.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=114261

Glenn Beck Laying out Road to Dictatorship

Beck appears to be on the road to a lot of what ifs that have to happen before the U.S. gets to where he believes the country is headed. He did it on his program today, and he's done it before.

Hey, we can do that too. But just knock down one what if - doesn't happen - the entirety of the theory is in dispute.

Anyway makes for interesting reading and viewing... potential warning...

July 21

409-Glenn Beck Clips 07-21-09
Seg 1-America in Transition But What Will We End Up As?

http://glennbeckclips.com/week30.htm

Glenn Beck: What system are we?
July 21, 2009 - 14:17 ET

...So the question today I have for you is what system are we? Are we capitalist anymore? Are we a socialist? Are we a communist? Are's an oligarchy? I'm going to tell you what I think we are in a few minutes...

GLENN: Okay, the next one, the last one is fascism. Listen to this one.

...PAT: A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.

GLENN: Let's go back and take this one apart. I personally think we are on the road. We're not any of these right now, including capitalism. We're not any of these because we are going through a metamorphosis. We are a caterpillar in a cocoon right now. When the cocoon comes off, what are we going to be? I believe we are headed towards one of the last two: Oligarchy or fascism. Listen to you have the oligarchy. That is basically a system where, look, it's Russia. Russia's got, you know, popular elections, they do it. But everybody knows Putin runs the show. And he's living by the Russian constitution. What? He's the prime minister now. What? He had term limits. What? He's not running things. Yes, he is. You know it and I know it. And who's really running the country? Putin is the strong man making sure that business runs right. And if you are not doing the things that he wants, you are dead. More journalists die in Russia than any other country. It is a dangerous place because it is run by the uber powerful and the uber rich. Don't even think about trying to break that system up. No matter where you are, they will kill you. That's what's happening in Russia. Is that where we're headed? When the cocoon breaks? Are we an oligarchy? Or are we a fascistic state. Listen carefully.


http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/28190/

Fayette: Jobless Rate Used Pitch Technical School

A similar argument was used over ten years ago to promote the so-called economic development program crafted by state legislators back in 1998, quickly so, known as Keystone Opportunity Zones.

Basically, we need this tax-free designation for property in the area, thousands of acres, to attract "new" industry. Attract new employers, and attract newcomers such as employees who would in turn relocate in declining population areas. In turn, these CEO's would build upscale houses, and employees would relocate as well, either building anew or purchasing existing houses.

They would add to the tax base, meanwhile, the new industry would have tax exemption status on local property taxes, and other taxes and state taxes, for a 'limited' time... all would work out once the tax-free properties go back on the tax rolls.

Nice promise. Reports have not been so glowing statewide.

What's particularly egregious? The website to promote the tax-exemptions is called zerotaxes.

Yep, zero taxes.

http://www.zerotaxes.org/county_Fayette.asp

For some. Meanwhile, during the period of tax-forgiveness for some, who has to continue to pay the tax bill for new construction of schools, deficits in a city beset by fiscal problems, and a county bond arranged back in 2000?

Residential and business property owners who not only face potential fines for 'code violations' but could face loss of property for failure to meet tax obligations.

Meanwhile, the same argument is being used to promote construction of a new votech/career center.

We need the center to train local students for jobs that remain unfilled locally.

According to the Herald-Standard's report highlighting remarks of Michael Krajovic...

Jobless rate tops 10 percent

..."Just as a current example, we see a significant increase in inquiries from different companies that service the natural gas industry about our job market. There are many job opportunities that are being created now and will grow in the future. We don't have the right skill sets in some of these areas and the companies have to go outside to find workers,'' he said.

"We still need to focus on our educational system. While some improvement has been made, it's not enough. We need a new technical school so students can get the proper education to meet the employment requirements of today."...

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1631/2009/october/28/jobless-rate-tops-10-percent.html

Fayette Forward 2020 County Plan

http://www.fayetteforward.org/?page_id=355

Oops, don't consider that it's more than likely the population numbers for the area will have declined after the 2010 census numbers are revealed.

Area schools have reported declines in student population.

What's also astonishing, how the 10% unemployment rate figure is being used.

Is it so bad that Fayette is actually ranked not first, not second, not even 20th, but 50th of 67 counties for jobless rate?

As important to consider, while it's certainly necessary to raise the quality of education in the area public schools, if the jobs are unfilled now, wouldn't one want to attract outsiders into the county to fill the jobs now, thus having the potential for new home construction, an increase in local population, and the potential for new 'outside the area' employees who in turn have children who would enter the schools.

We need far more substantiation than has been given that a new tech school is necessary. But it's not likely we'll be getting that anytime soon because it's a given political deals are usually made behind closed doors.

In other words, what will school districts who'd opt into a plan for a new technical school be promised this time around?

Some have been more than frustrated that the KOZs haven't exactly accomplished what was promised after ten years. School directors (and at least one county commissioner) (and at least a few members of municipality boards) have nixed the more recent KOZ extension, or some portion of it for some municipal property.

Hopefully, before school board members enter into any agreement for a new technical school facility questions will be publicly asked and adequate answers provided.


Net the Truth Online

Jobless rate tops 10 percent
October 28, 2009 02:54 AM TEXT SIZE By: JAMES PLETCHER JR.
Herald Standard
Fayette County is one of seven counties in the PMSA. The others are Washington, Westmoreland, Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler and Beaver.

Nimal blamed layoffs and job cuts in Fayette County for the increase in unemployment, rather than people bloating the labor force searching for jobs. Fayette County's labor force in September totaled 66,400 people. In August, the total was 66,300. However, the number of unemployed residents rose from 6,500 in August to 6,800 in September, according to state figures.

"Fayette County is following a pattern similar in other metropolitan statistical areas where they have had manufacturing job losses. The unemployment count in Fayette is also at its highest level since February 1992,'' Nimal said.

"This high unemployment rate certainly is a result of the global economic downturn but also the failure of our educational institutions to provide the workforce we need today,'' said Mike Krajovic, president of Fay-Pen Economic Development Council.

"It's not surprising to me to hear that the figures are going up. What is disappointing is there are still job opportunities here that are not being filled due to a lack of education or skill levels required for those positions.

"Just as a current example, we see a significant increase in inquiries from different companies that service the natural gas industry about our job market. There are many job opportunities that are being created now and will grow in the future. We don't have the right skill sets in some of these areas and the companies have to go outside to find workers,'' he said.

"We still need to focus on our educational system. While some improvement has been made, it's not enough. We need a new technical school so students can get the proper education to meet the employment requirements of today."

Krajovic continued, "From our perspective, we have the challenge to address this unemployment rate. Crossing the double-digit threshold shows there are challenges that we need to be doing everything possible to meet at the local level.

Meanwhile, neighboring county unemployment rates also rose in September. Greene County's rates were 8.4 percent in September and 8.2 percent in August. Washington County's unemployment rates also were 8.4 percent in September and 8.2 percent in August. By comparison, Greene County's September 2008 rate was 6.1 percent and Washington County's rate was 5.4 percent.

In terms of ranking among Pennsylvania's 67 counties, Fayette County had the 50th highest rate, while Greene and Washington counties both placed 17th. The highest jobless rate in the state in September was 17 percent in Cameron County and the lowest was 6.1 percent in Centre County.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1631/2009/october/28/jobless-rate-tops-10-percent.html

Related

Guide

http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/lib/fayette/an_economic_development_&_tourism_guide.pdf

Fayette employee contracts H1N1
October 28, 2009 02:54 AM TEXT SIZE By: THE HERALD-STANDARD

Fayette County employees are being asked to be cautious and stay home if they are sick after a county employee was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus.

Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly issued recommendations Tuesday to employees that include staying home with the flu until they are completely well, and increasing hand washing and using hand sanitizer.

Reilly's recommendations also include practicing the avoidance of hand shaking or touching, maintaining interpersonal space and keeping a reasonable distance between yourself and others.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1631/2009/october/28/fayette-employee-contracts-h1n1.html#tx_pbcomments_comment203098

IPCC Rigged Set up by Global Warming Alarmists

Glenn Beck's interview with Christopher Booker, must see/read transcript.

The Real Global Warming Disaster

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/3982101/2008-was-the-year-man-made-global-warming-was-disproved.html

http://www.tfa.net/the_freedom_association/2009/10/christopher-booker-on-the-real-global-warming-disaster.html

Wind farms will be a monument to an age when our leaders collectively went off their heads Last updated at 7:54 AM on 15th July 2009


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1199535/CHRISTOPHER-BOOKER-Wind-farms-monument-age-leaders-collectively-went-heads.html#ixzz0VB2iH6SO
...The causes of Britain's impending energy crisis are manifold. Michael Heseltine's 1992 'dash for gas', when he closed down most of our remaining coal mines because North Sea gas was still cheap and abundant, and because its CO2 emissions were only half those of coal, was one of them.

But nothing has done more to take the politicians' eye off the ball, egged on by environmentalist groups such as Friends Of The Earth and Greenpeace, than their quite incomprehensible obsession with windmills.

For these white elephants can never produce more than a fraction of the electricity we need, and by no means always when we need it - as we saw last winter when, for weeks on end, they were scarcely turning at all.

Do politicians never look outside the windows of their centrally-heated offices to see how often the wind is not blowing?

The Government has now shovelled so much money in hidden subsidies into the pockets of the turbine companies that the 'wind bonanza', promoted on a host of fraudulent claims, has become one of the greatest scams of our age.

But if and when our lights do go out, it will be important to remember just why we got carried away by such a massive blunder.

Left with a land blighted with useless towers of metal, we shall look on those windmills as a monument to the age when the politicians of Britain and Europe collectively went completely off their heads.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1199535/CHRISTOPHER-BOOKER-Wind-farms-monument-age-leaders-collectively-went-heads.html#ixzz0VB2Wq0ND

Danger Recognized Children Walking from School

It's sad, but true. children unaccompanied on a walk home from school, if only a few blocks, not only could be at risk, but actually are at risk of abduction and worse, potential murder, across the country.

Something must be done. Jane Valez Mitchell has mounted an effort to raise awareness on her program on Headline News, Issues.

Issues Transcripts

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ijvm.html

Momlogic's Julie: Last month, the New York Times ran a piece called "Why Can't She Walk to School?"

I'd like to answer that question now. Why can't my kids walk to school? Somer Thompson is the reason why. There are just too many evil, crazy people out there, and her murder is proof of that.

115 children are kidnapped by strangers each year, according to federal statistics. There are 73.7 million children in the U.S. YES, I realize that the odds are slim that the worst could happen. But tell that to Diena Thompson, Somer's mom. The odds were just as slim for her, and it happened.

It happened. And now her child is dead.

The New York Times article said that only 13 percent of kids walk or bike to school these days because parents are so anxious that something awful could happen. I'm definitely one of those paranoid parents, and Somer's heartbreaking case only makes me more vigilant...

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/this-is-why-my-kids-cant-walk-to-school-529441/

James Delingpole: EU spy devices in waste

What an interesting interview by glenn Beck of James Delingpole...

video clips of interest 10/23/09

climate change start world government

http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2009/10/24/glenn-beck-show-october-23-2009/

Book title: Welcome to Obamaland: I Have Seen Your Future and It Doesn't Work

http://jamesdelingpole.com/

Copenhagen: a step closer to one-world government?October 22nd, 2009

http://jamesdelingpole.com/2009/10/22/copenhagen-a-step-closer-to-one-world-government/

The Right Perspective Posts Delingpole interview about book

http://www.therightperspective.org/2009/03/29/james-delingpole-obamaland-interview/

Tuesday, September 29, 2009
James Delingpole: Genius
James Delingpole delightfully demolishes the climate change alarmists in The Daily Telegraph.

http://donalblaney.blogspot.com/2009/09/james-delingpole-genius.html

Review

http://obamanialand.com/?p=350

Glenn Beck transcript

Glenn Beck: GE Recipient of Bailout Funds but No Caps

The red phone and the fax machine didn't start buzzing on Beck's program when he noted GE had been the recipient of bailout largesse.

So here are some finds...

Washington Post

How a Loophole Benefits GE in Bank Rescue

By Jeff Gerth and Brady Dennis
ProPublica and Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 29, 2009

General Electric, the world's largest industrial company, has quietly become the biggest beneficiary of one of the government's key rescue programs for banks.

At the same time, GE has avoided many of the restrictions facing other financial giants getting help from the government.

The company did not initially qualify for the program, under which the government sought to unfreeze credit markets by guaranteeing debt sold by banking firms. But regulators soon loosened the eligibility requirements, in part because of behind-the-scenes appeals from GE.

As a result, GE has joined major banks collectively saving billions of dollars by raising money for their operations at lower interest rates. Public records show that GE Capital, the company's massive financing arm, has issued nearly a quarter of the $340 billion in debt backed by the program, which is known as the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program, or TLGP. The government's actions have been "powerful and helpful" to the company, GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt acknowledged in December.

GE's finance arm is not classified as a bank. Rather, it worked its way into the rescue program by owning two relatively small Utah banking institutions, illustrating how the loopholes in the U.S. regulatory system are manifest in the government's historic intervention in the financial crisis.

The Obama administration now wants to close such loopholes as it works to overhaul the financial system. The plan would reaffirm and strengthen the wall between banking and commerce, forcing companies like GE to essentially choose one or the other.

"We'd like to regulate companies according to what they do, rather than what they call themselves or how they charter themselves," said Andrew Williams, a Treasury spokesman.

GE's ability to live in the best of both worlds -- capitalizing on the federal safety net while avoiding more rigorous regulation -- existed well before last year's crisis, because of its unusual corporate structure.

Banking companies are regulated by the Federal Reserve and not allowed to engage in commerce, but federal law has allowed a small number of commercial companies to engage in banking under the lighter hand of the Office of Thrift Supervision. GE falls in the latter group because of its ownership of a Utah savings and loan.

Unlike other major lenders participating in the debt guarantee program, including Bank of America, Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase, GE has never been subject to the Fed's stress tests or its rules for limiting risk. Also unlike firms that have received bailout money in the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, GE is not subject to restrictions such as limits on executive compensation.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/28/AR2009062802955.html

GE Reaps Bailout Dollars

http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/-gersquos-fist-in-bailout-money-/under-the-radar/

Comment

citivas
Did you even read the article? This is a Bush loophole and Obama expressly wants to close it if the Reps in Congress will let him. So how exactly is that pay for play with Obama?


http://www.thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/item/-gersquos-fist-in-bailout-money-/under-the-radar/#comment_130554

16 Million Doses Only for 300 Million Population

Only 16 million doses of the swine flu vaccine for a population estimated at 300 million.

Mother of Columbine Boy Killer Didn't Have Columbine HIstory

According to editor of "O" magazine, the mother of says: a perfect storm of circumstances. Her son may have had depression, suicidal tendencies... Sue Clibold

Bailout Banks Permitted to Reimburse Now

who has paid back government asks Joe Scarborough, how many of these... a chart of names appears on Joe's help screen...

CITI, AIG BANK OF AMERICA GOLDMAN SACHS JPMORGAN CHASE

Elizabeth Warren: some will pay it all back, more likely won't get paid back completely.

Oh really now, come on, the government had refused to let 10 big banks to leave the TARP program and forestalled the repayments!

Scarborough should have known that, but he doesn't mention.

That's lying. What a sellout.

Bye bye Joe...

Not that any bailout should have occurred to begin with. It shouldn't have. But now the Obama Administration wants to curb CEO's pay and benefits and bonuses, we have to question why when the top banks have plans in the works to payback every dime of TARP money! A few have already paid back.

What industry will be next for government bailouts and more government mandates if they accept the bailouts?

It's like a friend saying hey sure I'll loan you the money, but now I have an investment in everything you earn, and if you become solvent, you can't just pay me back, you have to forego some of your profit and do what I tell you to do.

Seriously folks, this is nothing more than a way for the government to gain more and more power.

What about the bonuses government agencies pay their employees!

The federal government is in a deficit situation. It is borrowing and spending and spending. It doesn't have enough money coming in for anything extra and one could say it doesn't really have enough to pay its own employees.

So why the bonuses in federal government?

Over at Fox at least there is some clarification. Those banks who've paid back the loans won't be subject to the rules changes.

Well, wait until tomorrow. They will all pay back.

Uh oh, too late. You signed, what's yours is ours.

U.S. Unveils New Rules on Bankers' Pay
The U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve unveiled Thursday a set of curbs and rules for executive compensation at banks, marking a watershed moment for government intervention in the private sector.

The Fed is proposing that it more aggressively regulate compensation practices at banks under its control, including thousands of U.S. banks as well as the American subsidiaries of overseas firms.

The central bank "is working to ensure that compensation packages appropriately tie rewards to longer-term performance and do not create undue risk for the firm or the financial system," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. pay czar, Kenneth Feinberg, announced that cash salaries for top executives at seven firms that have received significant government assistance will be limited to $500,000, and their total compensation will be cut by 50%.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125623026446601619.html?mod=igoogle_wsj_gadgv1&

10 Large Banks Allowed to Exit U.S. Aid Program

By ERIC DASH
Published: June 9, 2009
The Obama administration marked with little fanfare a major milestone in its bank rescue effort — its decision on Tuesday to let 10 big banks repay federal aid that had sustained them through the worst of the crisis — as policy makers and industry executives focused on the challenges still before them.

This is not a sign that our troubles are over,” President Obama said. “Far from it.”

While the announcement had been expected for weeks, the official word put the administration’s imprimatur on a corps of big banks considered healthy enough to extricate themselves from Washington’s grip.

The bank holding companies, among them American Express, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, plan to return a combined $68.3 billion. That represents more than a quarter of the federal bailout money that the nation’s banks have received since last October, when many feared that failures might cascade through the industry.

But the decision to allow the banks to exit the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, also ushered in a new, and potentially risky, phase of the banking crisis. Letting the lenders out now — earlier than many had envisioned, and without the industry reforms some consider necessary to prevent future crises — raises many sobering questions for policy makers, bankers and taxpayers.

The program was aimed at purchasing assets and equity from banks to strengthen them and encourage them to expand lending during a tightening credit squeeze. But after banks return the TARP money, the administration will forfeit much of its leverage over them. With that loss goes a rare opportunity to overhaul the industry. The administration’s ability to push institutions to purge themselves quickly of bad assets and do more to help hard-pressed homeowners will be diminished.

Of even deeper concern is the running trouble inside the banking industry. Despite tentative signs of revival, many banks remain fragile. Four of the nation’s five largest lenders, including Citigroup and Bank of America, were not allowed to return their bailout funds.

Some analysts worry that financial institutions that repay bailout money now may turn to Washington again if the economy worsens and losses overwhelm banks. One of the most vexing problems of the credit crisis — how to rid banks of their troubled mortgage investments — remains unresolved.

The banks are eager to escape TARP and the restrictions that come with it, particularly the limits on how much they can pay their 25 most highly compensated workers. (Even so, the Obama administration plans to propose guidelines on executive compensation for the broader industry as early as Wednesday.)

Yet even banks that return taxpayers’ money will remain dependent on other forms of government aid. Among them are enhanced deposit insurance, incentive payments to modify home mortgages and federal guarantees on bonds that banks sell to raise capital.

“They may need the government’s money to get through this storm,” Christopher Whalen, a managing partner at Institutional Risk Analytics, said of the banks. “If the banks have to come back and ask for more money in a few months, I don’t think the response from Washington will be too kind.”

Taxpayers — many of whom probably never imagined that banks would return their bailout money so soon, if ever —stand to make several billion dollars from their investment in the 10 banks. So far, the Treasury has collected about $1.8 billion in interest payments. It also might reap as much as $4.6 billion as the banks seek to expunge other government investments, known as warrants.

The first round of repayments will free up billions of dollars that the administration can then funnel to other troubled banks and companies without having to return to Congress for more money.

But homeowners and consumers are unlikely to benefit if banks repay their TARP funds en masse. Banks are giving back money that might otherwise be used to make loans.

The announcement on Tuesday underscored the stark dividing line across the banking industry. On one side are big banks now considered healthy enough to forgo their TARP money. On the other side are those considered too weak to go without it. Still, some of those weaker banks may be allowed to repay the money soon.




http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10tarp.html

Somer Thomson Disappearance May Be Found Landfill

Headline News Prime news reporting... small child's body found in a landfill...

this is another sad day in the United States. the child was simply walking home from school much the same as any other day.

Now, it's likely she is gone to us forever.

We cannot express adequately condolences.

Net the Truth Online

Heartbreaking Discovery of Child's Body in Dump

Besler said a Georgia medical examiner will conduct an authopsy.

Police, he said, secured the landfill Tuesday night and began their search this morning, scouring 100 tons of trash.

Somer vanished on her mile-long walk home from school Monday in Orange Park, near Jacksonville. The 4-foot-5 tyke had her hair in a ponytail and was wearing a purple Hannah Montana backpack and carrying a lunchbox at the time.

She had been walking with her two siblings, including a twin brother, and friend when she got into an argument with another child. Somer walked ahead of the group and was never seen again.


http://abcnews.go.com/WN/childs-body-found-dump-somer-thompson-vanished/story?id=8883485#

Glenn Beck: Collapse of the Dollar What Will Come

speaking of what might follow the collapse of the dollar, Beck said it might take ten years, but it's coming the last domino standing, using his real-time dollar-sign domino board, is just one - you, or the United Nations - power.

Well, you've got to get the transcript, it was sadly difficult to follow along since he based the segment on the theory of the collapse of the dollar...

"Who knows, we don't...

Related Posting

Pundita
Wednesday, October 7
The Dollar's Demise: Glenn Beck and Larry Kudlow get sucked into Robert Fisk's brain

...Robert Fisk's war reporting has made him one of Britain's most honored journalists, but he is also so notorious for taking liberties with the concept of reporting that a form of literary criticism was devised and named just for him; it's called fisking, whereby the critic publishes an entire Fisk article then does a sentence-by-sentence deconstruction.

I will not attempt to fisk Mr Fisk's October 6, 2009 The Demise of the Dollar for The (U.K.) Independent, any more than I would attempt to draw a perfect circle freehand while drunk.

But in brief he took a dollop of fact from here and a smidgen of fact from there and conjured a soupcon of something from somewhere. Then he crowned the mishmash with a tale told to him by unnamed "Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong."

The tale involved secret meetings among Gulf Arabs, China, Russia, Japan and France "to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar" to go into effect in 2018.

A senior Gulf OPEC official told Dow Jones in Dubai that he had no idea where Fisk got his information but that Arab Gulf members of OPEC were not in talks about dropping the U.S. dollar in favor of a basket of currencies in the trading of crude oil. And Kuwait's oil minister assured a Reuters reporter that there were no talks among Gulf Arab exporters to replace the U.S. dollar for trading oil.

The denials were of course ignored. The Drudge Report picked up Fisk's tale and headlined it, "Arabs plot to drop dollar." And so it came pass on Tuesday night that Fox's Glenn Beck and CNBC's Larry Kudlow based their dire warnings about the state of the U.S. dollar on a Fisk tale. (1)(2)

Robert Fisk is a 9/11 Truther; given how much derision Glenn heaped on Van Jones for Jones's association with the Truthers, I surmise that Glenn or his research team were so riveted by Fisk's assertions they didn't pay attention to the author.

And Larry Kudlow has expressed so much worry in recent weeks about the dollar's weakness that it's likely he saw the article as grist for his mill, but without his noticing the name of the author or researching him.

As a general rule the more controversial the claims in a news story, the more one needs to consider the source. And given the source in this case, and that he didn't name his sources, the Fisk article makes for fish wrap even though it contains bits and pieces of facts.

http://pundita.blogspot.com/2009/10/dollars-demise-glenn-beck-and-larry.html

300 Million Americans Population

And how many uninsured in healthcare necessitating a complete overhaul of what 85 percent polled claim they are happy with it.

all except for the cost.

And who doesn't criticize and scream about the cost of heat, the cost of a car, the cost of a child's bike?

...the cost of candy, have you priced the Halloween candy, not that we should be consuming tons and tons of sugar laden candy, but the cost is up there for one bar.

Coalition for Patients Rights has it right. Question and question more.

PA Citizens: Voter Registration Street Lists Available

Especially in a county which retains a potentially bloated voter registration list, inclusive of potentially names of deceased and those who've moved out of county or state, voters should be concerned about the upcoming election.

Obtain a "Street List" for your precinct, or the entire county.

Cost should be minimal, check with your local election bureau officials.

Assessment Patriot Act Renew Bills

CATO comes through time and time again

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/09/29/a-preliminary-assessment-of-patriot-reform-bills/

Balloon Boy Upchucking while Parents Interviewed

Update Nancy Grace asks good-good questions during her Wednesday programming and interview of Robert Thomas...

what was the plan, Nancy asks Robert Thomas... his idea was to use a weather balloon and spin off of Roswell... create mass of controversy... publicity...

October 19, 2009 10:30 AM
"Mad Scientist" Richard Heene Cooked Up Balloon Boy Hoax Months Ago, Says Denver Man

...Investigators said they want to interview Robert Thomas, who claimed Heene had told him he was planning a media stunt. Thomas, a self-described researcher, sold his story to Gawker.com and provided the Web site with e-mail exchanges between himself and Heene. Thomas said the proposed show would feature Heene as a mad scientist who carries out various experiments.

"This will be the most significant UFO-related news event to take place since the Roswell Crash of 1947, and the result will be a dramatic increase in local and national awareness about The Heene Family, our Reality Series, as well as the UFO Phenomenon in general," according to a copy of the show's proposal provided to the site by Thomas.

Gawker.com editor-in-chief Gabriel Snyder confirmed the New York-based Web site paid Thomas -- but declined to say how much -- for a story billed with the headline: "Exclusive: I Helped Richard Heene Plan a Balloon Hoax."

Snyder said Thomas was planning to meet with investigators Sunday night, though sheriff's officials did not return messages seeking confirmation.

Messages left for Thomas by The Associated Press were not returned.

Thomas, 25, said in his Gawker.com story that the plan he knew about did not involve Heene's children...

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/15/crimesider/entry5386406.shtml

Balloon Boy Hoax to Rival Roswell Crash of 1947; Reseacher Claims to Have Helped Richard Heene
October 19, 2009

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2302233/balloon_boy_hoax_to_rival_roswell_crash.html?cat=9

Update Family Video Rap Song

Dad explains they let the boys cuss at home because he cusses and he isn't going to be a hypocrite... they can cuss in the home but not outside...

interviewer asks, but the rap song is on video on youtube that's outside...

listen to Heene's explanation ...

http://www.metroweekly.com/gauge/last_word/2009/10/more-reasons-to-hate-balloon-b.html

Update. As more comes out concerning the boys and how they've accompanied Dad on some adventures of storm chasing, the youngest boy's story still doesn't add up.

Except for the incidences of the boy upchucking live on Tv, 6-year old Falcon Heene appears extremely hyperactive.

He fidgets while sitting on his Dad's lap during the Larry King interview. One police officer said the boy was hyperactive after it's conjectured he remained in the attic-garage in a box during the search and recovery of the empty balloon.

Sure he did. For five hours? 5 hours when just outside the house a mass of neighbors and filming crew had gathered?

did he have to use the bathroom at any time in 5 hours? Didn't he get hungry? Did he have a supply of candy or snacks or drinks?

Bet the police didn't do a search at all after an investigator found the boy in the garage. In a box. Even if he fell asleep - it's the middle of the day, not night-time. How long could a six year old sleep even if he did take a nap in the middle of the day? Plus the yard was filled with neighbors, phones were ringing, police cars were pulling up - in other words, noise, noise, noise.

It's unbelievable this boy remained out of sight and in a box in an upper level of the garage for 5 hours.

And why was there no search by investigators of the house or garage from the getgo?

They were told something that made them believe one neither Dad or Mom saw the balloon actually released and going up untethered

two one of the older boys claimed the 6-year old climbed into the compartment and closed the door.

Has anyone thoroughly looked at the compartment claimed to be what the boy climbed into?

Because from the family's video it appears there is no dangling box aside from what looks like a compartment.

That's on takeoff.

The absence of any other compartment than the one visible in the video and the fact both parents were present upon takeoff points to inconsistencies in the story given all around.

Interview morning after after? Without the boys.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=38f_1255709976

So this situation must be investigated keeping in mind the family is unusual. They've planned adventures and the boys have participated. Dad had contacted other tv programs and TMZ

And why is it inconceivable a 6-year old is coached to do something that the family considers everything an 'adventure,' and who can prove the boy remained inside that box for 5 hours? Is there another entry or exit from the rafters?

Not only that, the ladder reaching the rafters seems like it is dangerous. Who is to say the boy ever hid up there? Where exactly was he found? Actually in the rafters? below at the ladder area?

It's not inconceivable in the least if there is a hidden door that would allow entry from the rafters into the home, the boy could have been anywhere with family members prompting him to play along on the adventure.

Not inconceivable at all.

Colorado authorities said the Heene family's balloon saga shows no indication it was a hoax, but a video taken of the homemade helium balloon as it floated away raises more questions about the incident.

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden said Friday he has no evidence to believe the Heene family carried out a publicity stunt when their balloon broke away Thursday with their 6-year-old son mistakenly thought to be inside.

The boy was found hiding in the home's garage Thursday afternoon, hours after the balloon launched and traveled more than 50 miles.

But a home video released Friday shows that the boy, Falcon Heene, was nowhere near the balloon as it floated off — despite claims from the boy's 10-year-old brother that Falcon was inside the balloon when it broke away. The boy's father, Richard Heene, is also seen standing next to the balloon as it flew from the family's backyard.

Alderden said any suggestion that the boy was coached to hide seems "inconceivable."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,567304,00.html?test=latestnews

Very odd. Morning Joe showed clips of everything, literally everything that came up in the aftermath of the drama.

The clips of the boy throwing up

warning video graphic

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&rlz=1R2SKPB_enUS349&q=balloon+boy+THROWS+UP&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Kl_YSv7fC82ylAfbmdyhAQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=12&ved=0CDwQqwQwCw#q=balloon+boy+today+show&hl=en&emb=0

http://video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&rlz=1R2SKPB_enUS349&q=balloon+boy+THROWS+UP&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=Kl_YSv7fC82ylAfbmdyhAQ&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=12&ved=0CDwQqwQwCw#

http://digg.com/odd_stuff/Balloon_Boy_Throws_Up_Live_On_TV

http://www.b96hits.com/blog/2009/10/16/balloon-boy-pops-he-throws-up-on-national-tv/

http://musicallmorning.blogspot.com/2009/10/balloon-boy-throws-up-on-today-show.html

Huff Post article with video explains an earlier morning taping and live appearance

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/16/falcon-heene-vomits-ballo_n_323428.html

Whatever. First at home for a satellite interview, then a Live interview, are these parents this dispassionate? the boy was obviously either nervously ill, or maybe he's sick?

Who cares what Dad said, the boy is obviously feeling ill.

Very odd behaviour.

It's really just incredulous. You are the parent. OK maybe you think the boy's just nervous, but you don't know. How many cases of the swine flu in Colorado?

Why were the three boys home anyway on a school day? School was out? It wasn't Columbus Day.

With the swine flu going around as it is, one has to wonder why parents would be this unconcerned the instant a child of any age throws up.

Who would not immediately stand up and say the interview is over, my son takes precedence.

The host also has some major explaining to do... the boy's throwing up and she has to get in just how many questions over how many minutes:

Was this a hoax?

Well we may never know, the clip ends there...

But that was one sick boy.

Really, whether this turns out to be a hoax by the two older boys who reportedly were using a videocam to film the balloon taking off, or a scam by Dad to get his invention some attention, or nothing more than a mishap, these parents need some sort of counseling.

Larry King Live

... said we did this for a show...

thing is the who said is inaudible!

Larry King Live Interview Transcript

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13575076

ABC

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AheadoftheCurve/richard-heenes-business-partner-kids-put-danger/Story?id=8839052&page=2

Uh oh Morning Joe showing clip of video wherein Dad is releasing the balloon... one son approaches as the balloon is going up, up up... Dad not listening... kicks at the ground... guess somebody didn't securely tie down the balloon it wasn't supposed to be released.

Really now. You don't know at all times where your child is located during an experiment of any nature?

Anita Dunn: Mao One of Two Poli-Philosophers Turns To Most

Glenn Beck showed the video, and the red phone - direct line to Beck exclusive use dedicated to Dunn - didn't ring.

search results

video coming up soon

http://www.washingtonmemo.com/2009/10/15/breaking-white-houses-dunn-admires-chairman-mao/

Glenn Beck transcript

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,566221,00.html

On Beck

http://mediamatters.org/search/tag/glenn_beck

Newspapers Should Seek Assurance Dead Off Voter Database

If they don't how can valid voters be assured the local results from the next election will be devoid of ineligibles such as the deceased and/or those who have moved out of the state or the county?

The Fayette County Election Bureau has announced that the official vote count for the results of the Tuesday, Nov. 3, municipal election will begin at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1631/2009/october/15/trick-or-treat-set.html

Let's watch if a candidate's name appears on the ballot as the candidate is deceased, and likewise will the name remain on the voter registration list??

No candidates for several vacant offices
September 27, 2009 04:25 AM TEXT SIZE By: STEVE FERRIS

...In Dunbar, a borough council candidate in the November election died, but the candidate's name is still on the ballot, Lint said. Bill Watson, who served on council and was running for re-election, died in May.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/september/27/no-candidates-for-several-vacant-offices.html

Was the authorized purge completed since Fayette Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky noted during the July 2008 meeting the deadline for conducting the purge was August 8, 2008?

what is the difference between a 5-year SURE purge noted in the July 24, 2008 Fayette County Commissioners' meeting minutes as a motion that was passed, and what the board of commissioners authorized as a plan May 8, 2008, and a continuation of the plan to purge back in May 22, 2008 meeting minutes?

http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/lib/fayette/commminutes2008/july_24_cc_meeting.pdf


http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/lib/fayette/commminutes2008/may_22_2008.pdf

http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/lib/fayette/commminutes2008/may_8_2008.pdf

In light of the recent action taken to fire the director of the Election Bureau, one would think local newspapers would confirm the status of the voter registry excludes names of deceased for the upcoming important Nov. 3, 2009 General Municipal Election.

Net the Truth Online

Fayette postpones purging 25,000 voters

By Mary Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, August 8, 2008

A Fayette County voter purge that was to begin earlier this week has been postponed, the director of the election bureau said Thursday.
"We're going to do it after the (fall) election," Laurie Lint said. "The time constraints were too close. I didn't want to start and not complete it."

The postponement did not sit well with Commissioner Vincent Vicites, who said the purge had been discussed at a May board meeting.

"I'm disappointed it's not being done," Vicites said yesterday.

"We need to make sure our rolls are as accurate as possible. This is probably the most important election cycle in the last four years."

Vicites said Lint was to have a plan ready to present for board approval at the June meeting.

"That did not happen," he said. "I wanted her to move forward on it. The point I'm making is I brought it up in plenty of time.

"Now we have to do it next spring. I will remain fervent about getting it accomplished."

On July 24, the commissioners agreed to authorize the purge, which would have notified as many as 25,000 inactive voters.

At that meeting, Lint said the mailing process had to have been completed by Wednesday, within 90 days of the fall election.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_581779.html

Net the Truth Online

Tibune Review headliners

Director of the Fayette County Election Bureau fired
Buzz up!Thursday, October 8, 2009

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/dailycourier/s_647105.html

clip

Fayette commissioners terminate longtime election bureau chief

Zapotosky said Lint was terminated over alleged "numerous failures to comply with directives." Among the concerns they cited were delays in voter purges, failure to train judges of elections on new voting machines before the spring primary and failure to file quarterly reports with the federal government regarding grant money.

In addition, they said a recent incident in which the county's Democratic Committee — relying on incorrect information provided by the election bureau — missed a deadline to nominate a candidate for Uniontown City Council.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/fayette/s_647225.html?source=rss&feed=2

Herald-Standard editorial

Right move
October 11, 2009 03:35 AM TEXT SIZE By: HERALD STANDARD STAFF
Herald Standard

All county offices are important, but the most vital is the election bureau.

After all, fair and impartial elections are the basis for our democracy, and therefore, the director of this office bears a special responsibility to make sure that elections are run strictly according to the law. It takes a special person, who is not only nonpartisan but intelligent and skilled in carrying out the duties of the office.

Sadly, Lori Lint was found lacking in these areas and was fired this past week as director of the Fayette County Election Bureau. While we take no pleasure in seeing anyone lose their job, we support Commissioners Vincent Zapotosky and Vincent A. Vicites in making the move.

Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink disagreed with her colleagues over the need to remove Lint. She noted that the election bureau has taken on additional duties over the years, making their jobs tougher and more complicated than before. She favored asking the entire election bureau staff to air their problems before the election board and implementing a "monitored improvement plan."

This seems far too lenient given the seriousness of the charges against Lint. Every county employee, especially the head of an office, should be held accountable for subpar job performance.

It all comes down to taxpayers needing to know that their money is being spent wisely. Ineptness wouldn't be tolerated in the business world, and it shouldn't be permitted in the public sector either.

The problems in the election bureau have been building for some time. Zapotosky and Vicites said Lint had failed to conduct a purge of the voter rolls in a timely fashion and didn't offer training for judges of election.

They noted that last spring a candidate in a magisterial district judge race was left off the Republican ticket. Although the error was caught in time, it raised serious concerns about Lint's performance.

Everything came to a head over a vacancy on Uniontown City Council earlier this year.

Councilman Marlin Sprouts was forced to resign last March, and council appointed Phil Michaels with the understanding that he would serve until 2011. when Sprouts' term would expire.

Originally, Lint agreed with city officials. But she should have known better. The election law specifically states that all vacancies should be filled at the next municipal election, and that's certainly the way such openings have been handled over the years in Fayette County.

There's nothing complicated about the rule. If anything, such special elections are routine as they occur frequently given the vast number of local elected officials.

Fortunately, Sheryl Heid, the solicitor for the office, stepped in and ruled properly that a special election should be held in the Nov. 3 general election. The leaders of the Fayette County Democratic and Republican parties were told they had until Sept. 14 to nominate a candidate for the race.

Advertisement But then, things got very murky. Fred Lebder, chairman of the Fayette County Democratic Party, reportedly stopped by the bureau to inquire about the ruling.

Lint wasn't there, and someone in the office called the Department of State, which handles elections in Pennsylvania.

A worker in the office reportedly said the seat could be filled by appointment instead of election, and Lint incredibly took the employee's word as gospel.

But she didn't tell anyone else, including Heid, until talking to a Herald-Standard reporter in September.

Why Lint didn't try to confirm the phone call or immediately contact Heid is reason alone for her to be fired. She reportedly told the commissioners that she forgot about Heid's earlier ruling that an election should be held.

You have to wonder what she was thinking, or if she was thinking at all.

But there was more.

The Republicans did file papers nominating Gary Altman to run for the special election. But the papers were filed incorrectly. Lint reportedly said she accepted the papers because she knew the Sept. 14 deadline was at hand, and she didn't want to disqualify the candidate because of a technicality.

How could Lint have forgotten Heid's ruling but remember the Sept. 14 deadline is beyond comprehension.

But even more importantly, rules are rules, and the Republicans should have been told to file the correct papers or forfeit the election.

After learning of Lint's mistake, Heid correctly ruled that an election should be held, but in the meantime the Democratic Party, thinking an election wasn't needed, didn't nominate a candidate by the Sept. 14 deadline.

They asked Fayette County Judge Ralph C. Warman for an extension, and he wisely agreed.

However, the Republican Party has appealed the ruling to Commonwealth Court, and we're now awaiting word on whether a special election will be needed after all.

If it all sounds confusing, rest assured it is. But it all could have and should have been avoided if Lint had simply done her job.

Zimmerlink was right in suggesting that the commissioners should have been documenting Lint's problems all along.

Perhaps if she was aware of the severity of the problems, she might have made more of an effort to improve her performance.

But in the end, there's no excuse for Lint's abysmal handling of situation involving Uniontown City Council. Let's hope that everyone learns from this fiasco, and it never happens again.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1641/2009/october/11/right-move.html

Comments:

The Herald-Standard can't let one of the noted concerns mentioned in the editorial just become a distant memory. A follow-up must happen within mere days if not hours. According to the editorial "Zapotosky and Vicites said Lint had failed to conduct a purge of the voter rolls in a timely fashion..." Surely, the Herald-Standard wants to determine details of this astonishing pronouncement. Has the "purge" been completed - adequately and according to all legal requirements? How many of the 9,000 electors names which were reported as being sent notices have been removed for being deceased or confirmed to have moved out of the state or the county? The county's Election Bureau site words one of its links, "one vote counts," and that leads to a page headlined: The Importance of Your Vote: Does it Make a Difference? "You Better Believe It". Can we believe in the accuracy of the rolls without any formal report? How can we believe the voter rolls have been rid of deceased names and other ineligible names if we lack an up-to-date and formal report of the status of the voter rolls? How many inactive whose status has not been determined as "ineligible" will remain on precinct-by-pre cinct listings? 8,000? 800? What about names which remain where there is no address listed? Have these been checked? While citizens can of course make a request for such documentation, the time is short. The newspaper should make the request for an open record report, today.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1641/2009/october/11/right-move.html

Previous

County begins purging voter rolls

By Liz Zemba
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, February 27, 2009

Buzz up!


Fayette County on Thursday initiated a long-awaited purge of its voter-registration rolls.

Laurie Lint, election bureau director, said her department began mailing out notices to some 9,000 inactive voters yesterday. The figure represents nearly 10 percent of the county's 91,382 registered voters.

County commissioners last summer discussed conducting the purge, but it was delayed until after the November election because of time constraints. Vince Zapotosky, chairman of the board of commissioners, attributed more recent delays to technical problems with the Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors, or SURE.

Operated by the state, SURE notifies the state's 67 election bureaus when voters die, move or register in another county. Zapotosky said the county worked with the State Department to resolve problems with the system, allowing Fayette to move forward with purging its voter-registration rolls.

Lint said the 9,000 voters who will receive letters have had no election-related activity in five years. Such activity includes voting or making changes to addresses or party registration.

Individuals who receive the letters will be asked to contact the election bureau. If they do not, and then fail to vote in the next two federal elections, their registrations will be purged.

That means affected voters who fail to respond to the notices in time for this year's spring primary will still be permitted to vote, Lint said.

In the past, Fayette purged its voter rolls every two years. Lint said that stopped in 1995, when new rules were introduced with the passage of the Motor Voter Law.

Zapotosky said purging the voter rolls will give voters and candidates an accurate understanding of issues such as party dominance.

Of the county's current 91,382 registered voters, Lint said 62,880 are Democrats and 21,929 are Republicans. The balance, or 6,573, are independents.

http://livesite.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/counties/s_613640.html

Dylan Ratigan Interviews Ron Paul

Dylan Ratigan has interviewed Ron Paul.

Nice short interview by Dylan Ratigan (who escaped the vortex of CNBC) of Ron Paul. Looks like the Fed audit bill is really gaining steam - if you are for transparency you should be behind this bill. Obviously Tim Geithner is against transparency [Aug 26, 2009: Geithner - Auditing the Fed "is a Line We Don't Want to Cross"] And the Federal Reserve doesn't want transparency - as expected they filed an appeal to disclosing what exactly it is doing, and whom it is doing it with after a successful Freedom of Information Act suit. [Aug 25, 2009: Court Orders Federal Reserve to Disclose Emergency Loan Details]

http://www.mrswing.com/articles/Ron_Paul_with_Dylan_Ratigan.html

Video

http://wallstcheatsheet.com/breaking-news/house-hearing-on-federal-reseve-transparency-act/?p=2204/

http://current.com/items/91022581_dylan-ratigan-and-ron-paul-talk-audit-the-fed.htm

Mocked the Fed??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAtSmR7Z-Kg

Related

Stimulus spelled out
Vox Day
World Net Daily Posted: February 16, 2009

Doing nothing is admittedly difficult in times of crisis. But it is always wise to keep in mind that there is no crisis so severe that government intervention cannot make it worse...

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=88991

Birthers v Salon 8 Debunkers

The following is all for informational purposes only. We've tracked the issue of President Obama's birth previously and made posts accordingly...

We just happened upon Salon's Myth Busters.

World Net Daily's rundown including article entitled

Feminist Camille Paglia: Birthers have a point

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110114

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.search&keywords=birthers&search_WND.x=8&search_WND.y=3

Net the Truth Online

Salon's handy-dandy guide to refuting the Birthers
Now you, too, can silence the annoying Birther in your life -- and in just eight easy steps!
By Alex Koppelman
Myth 1: Obama wasn't born in the U.S.

This is the big one. It may also be the most easily refuted. First of all, during the presidential campaign, Obama released a certification of live birth, which is the official document you get if you ask Hawaii for a copy of your birth certificate. There are allegations that what Obama released is a forgery, but state officials have repeatedly affirmed its authenticity and said they've checked it against the original record and that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii.

If that wasn't enough, two Hawaiian newspapers carried announcements of Obama's birth in August 1961. (Read the Honolulu Advertiser's item from Aug. 13, 1961, nine days after Obama's birth, here.) The traditional joke that Birther debunkers make is that his grandparents must have placed those announcements because they knew that he'd want to run for president nearly five decades later. The truth, though, is that the notices are even stronger pieces of evidence than that. Obama's family didn't place them -- Hawaii did, as it does for all births. The announcements were based on official records sent to the papers by the state's Department of Health.

Myth 2: Obama can't be president because his father was a British citizen

Some of the Birthers -- like de facto leader Orly Taitz -- believe that Obama wouldn't be eligible for the presidency even if he were born in the U.S. That's because, in their infinite wisdom, the Founding Fathers included in the Constitution a fair amount of phrases they never really bothered to define. One of those is this explanation of who can be president: "No person except a natural born citizen."

The Supreme Court has never ruled directly on the question of what "natural born citizen" means. So the Birthers have simply settled on their own definition -- someone born to two citizen parents -- and found a source,"The Law of Nations," a 1758 book by the Swiss philosopher Emerich de Vattel, to back them up.

There are a couple of problems with this. Most important, Obama isn't the first president with a non-citizen parent: Chester A. Arthur, the 21st president, was. His father was from Ireland and apparently did not become a U.S. citizen until more than 10 years after the future president's birth.

Plus, even if the Founding Fathers did rely on Vattel as much as the Birthers say -- always a dubious proposition -- Swiss philosophy books aren't legal precedent in the United States. British common law is. And in 1898, in the case of U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark, the Supreme Court looked into the meaning of "natural born" in the common law and concluded that a non-citizen's mere presence in the U.S. is enough to make their child, if born here, a natural-born citizen.

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/08/05/birther_faq/?source=newsletter

Dylan Ratigan: Treason

MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan, several days now, on his own program Morning Money appears to be a mad hatter. Credit derivatives and the unfettered market with them allows stealing - and that's treason.

During interviews with Barney Franks and Tom Donovan on separate days, Ratigan screamed treason. His reasoning seemed to be: an unregulated market where investors - become poorer than before they invested from the loss on the investment - is treasonous.

Video availability includes Huff Post analysis (beware)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/14/barney-frank-vows-to-shar_n_321254.html

today Ratigan interviews author Naomi Prins It takes a Pillage!

http://ittakesapillage.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Takes-Pillage-Bailouts-Backroom-Washington/dp/0470529598

When will Ratigan as well interview End the Fed author Ron Paul? Apparently featured on Bullish on Books reviews...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/32881898

Lou Dobbs Mr. Independent Channel Ahead?

Message from a viewer which Dobbs read tonight: hey Lou Olympia Snowe said in defense of her yea vote... when history calls... history calls... What about when the people call?

Gotta love cable switching and the net, hey.

Remarks of Olympia Snowe

http://www.gotchamediablog.com/2009/10/olympia-snowe-saves-health-care-reform.html

What's Dobbs been up to lately?

Honest debate. Invites both sides of global warming issue, discusses illegal immigration and so-called comprehensive immigration reform... and any other hot issue current and past.

Again, don't miss tonight's transcript. He says leftists are calling for his ouster... he asks his guest point blank should every illegal immigrant in this country receive amnesty.

Yes Rep. Louis Gutierrez or whomever says if the undocumented have not broken any other law than entering the country...

The pair then discuss e-verify... but the Rep. won't stipulate e-verify could provide solution in curbing illegal immigration, in fact he faults it... says we need e-verify plus...

Can't you just hear a Lou Dobbs viewer now?

Plus what?

As for Dobbs, if he does leave CNN but doesn't go to Fox he'll survive. Maybe he can start his own network. The Independent Channel.

Is Lou Dobbs Going To Fox?
by Rachel Sklar | 2:02 am, October 12th, 2009» 13 comments

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/is-lou-dobbs-going-to-fox/

Interesting The Story of Stuff and Critique

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vTJdpbUYhY

Dobbs Let Global Warming Sides Air Face to Face

Don't miss the full transcript of the exchange.

Cost of Health Care; Don't Ask, Don't Tell; Swine Flu Vaccine; Visa Security Gap

Aired October 12, 2009 - 19:00 ET

Coming up next - fallout over that video of elementary kids in New Jersey singing the praise of Barack Hussein Obama. Protestors outside the school say the sing-along was really political indoctrination. And former Vice President Al Gore confronted on his global warming claim. Some say his movie "An Inconvenient Truth" turns out not to be a truth at all. One critic taking on Mr. Gore face to face.


WIAN: Yet the debate over climate change is far from settled. Former Vice President Al Gore whose 2006 Oscar-winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", considered a turning point in the effort to combat climate change spoke to a group of environmental journalists Friday. He did not directly answer questions from the director of a soon to be released documentary highly critical of Gore's film.

MCALEER: A judge in the British High Courts, after a (INAUDIBLE) hearing, found there were nine significant errors. This has been shown to children. Now, have you - do you accept those findings and have you done anything to correct those errors?

AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'm not going to go through all of those. The - the ruling was in favor of the movie, by the way, and the ruling was in favor of showing the movie in schools. And that - that's really the - the bottom line on that. There's been such a long discussion of each one of those specific things, one of them, for example, was that, polar bears - if I remember it correctly. It's been a long time ago - that polar bears really aren't endangered. Well, polar bears didn't get that word. So -

MCALEER: Well, the number of polar bears have increased, actually, and are increasing.

GORE: You don't think they're endangered, do you?

MCALEER: The number of polar bears have increased.

GORE: Do you think they're endangered?

MCALEER: The number of polar bears have increased. I mean, if - if the number of polar bears increased, surely they're not endangered.

GORE: But there weren't polar bear...

MCALLER: A judge did a (INAUDIBLE) hearing...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. That's it. We have to move on.

MCALLER: No. But - no. I mean, Vice President Gore - Vice President Gore hasn't...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're not doing a debate here.

MCALEER: No. I just got this question, and he hasn't answered the question. It's (INAUDIBLE)...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have 10 minutes left for these people to ask questions.

MCALEER: Yes, but I would appreciate his answer to the (INAUDIBLE).

WIAN: Conference organizers then cut off McAleer's microphone.

The dispute centers on a 2007 British court ruling that Gore's film had nine significant errors, including its assertion that ice pack melting would cause the sea level to rise 20 feet in the near future and that Hurricane Katrina was caused by global warming. Gore's Spokeswoman had said in a statement earlier that the former vice president was gratified by the judge's decision saying that, "Of the thousands and thousands of facts presented in the film, the judge apparently took issue with a handful."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIAN: Now, we looked into the polar bear question, and it is true that their numbers have increased dramatically since the 1950s, mostly though because of restrictions on hunting. Those who see climate change as a threat point to more recent declines in some polar bear populations as evidence that a warming planet threatens their existence - Lou.

DOBBS: Yes, well the actual point of contention, as I recall - I love the way that Al Gore makes it sound like that was 200 years ago. That was just two years ago, 2007. It involved four drowning polar bears. It turns out they didn't. That's sort of straightforward and a simple fact isn't it?

WIAN: Yes, and it's one of those claims that the film made that this British High Court ruled that, yes, it could be shown in the schools over there, but with the disclaimer that these nine facts asserted in the film were in error, and Al Gore didn't mention that, Lou.

DOBBS: Well - well, we did, didn't you? Appreciate it, Casey. Thanks so much. Casey Wian.

Well, the extent of the threat posed by climate change is the subject of our face-off debate tonight, and, as always, it is an emotional, a controversial issue, and the emotionalism that surround it is in and of itself fascinating - at least to me. Joining me now is Phelim McAleer. He is the director and the producer of the documentary "Not Evil, Just Wrong" - who you just saw, by the way, questioning Al Gore. Good to have you with us. And Fred Krupp. He is the president of the Environmental Defense Fund. Good to have you with us.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0910/12/ldt.01.html

CNN’s Lou Dobbs Hosts Rare Global Warming Debate Over Gore’s ‘Errors’
By Marc Morano Tuesday, October 13, 2009
‘Not Evil Just Wrong’ director rips Fred Krupp of Environmental Defense Fund’s for being ‘millionaire lawyer who calls himself an environmentalist’

Transcript of CNN’s LOU DOBBS TONIGHT - Aired October 12, 2009 - 19:00 ET
Video of Full Segments: Part 1 and Part 2.

Video of Full Segments: Part 1 and Part 2.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/15731

Maher: America, you're stupid
Audio Available: August 26, 2009 - 12:46 ET

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/29737/

http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2009/20090825120853.aspx

Continental Congress by We the People

what's afoot? Internet voting used? Or all mail? Interesting. We take no position on this at this time, just for info.

Ah it looks like the election of delegates occurred in the 21 sign-on states. Conducted by paper ballot mail-in, it appears, with report of results online.

Note PA Results Hagan Smith name interesting

Texas results Michael Badnarak

http://www.cc2009.us/about-cc2009/delegate-voting-info

We the People continental congress

http://www.cc2009.us/

http://www.wethepeoplefoundation.org/UPDATE/Update2009-08-01.htm

Clip

Continental Congress 2009 - The Next Step For A Free People

Voting

...Following high-integrity vote counting and tabulation protocols, votes will be counted by hand in full view of the public at each state Election Center (on October 10th) and then combined with votes cast by mail and sent to the national mail-in vote Center in Austin, TX (on October 17th).

The public hand-counting vote protocol being adopted as part of the CC2009 initiative, is the subject of current federal litigation brought by the We The People Foundation against New York state election officials seeking to end all machine based voting based on the inherent (and unconstitutional) vulnerabilities of machine or electronic voting. The essence of the complaint is that machine based vote counting is essentially performed in secret by un-auditable counting mechanisms inside the machines, and is not visible to the public. WTP’s National Clean Elections Lawsuit, NCEL, is scheduled for jury trial in September, 2010 where a panel of Americans from New York state will decide if machine or electronic voting is constitutional.

http://giveusliberty1776.blogspot.com/2009/10/continental-congress-2009.html

News Talk PA

WHAT: A citizens’ election for delegates to the upcoming Continental Congress 2009, which will convene in the tradition of the Founding Fathers and the Continental Congress of 1774. This assembly of We the People will convene this November 8th-22nd in response to ongoing and escalating governmental violations of the Constitution and Amercia’s founding documents. Voters will elect three delegates from the slate of delegate nominees in each of the 50 states, and from the District of Columbia. The organizer is Robert Schulz of We the People Foundation for Constitutional Education.

The testimony of the constitutional violations will be broadcast world-wide along with the deliberations of the 153 citizen-elected delegates. These delegates are taking on the responsibility to collaborate and produce a blueprint for civic-actions that all Americans can take to peacefully and lawfully bring about compliance with the Constitution … the very Freedom document that our elected officials have sworn an oath to uphold.

Citizens can learn about the delegates who have been nominated in each state by visiting http://www.cc2009.us ( http://www.cc2009.us/about-cc2009/delegate-voting-info )
Details about walk-in voting locations for selected states and the mail-in ballots and instructions on how to vote can also be found there.

NOTE: This is NOT a Constitutional Convention. The modern day Continental Congress is to Defend, NOT amend the Constitution. This is a non-partisan process devoid of party politics.

WHEN - DATES FOR ELECTION AND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS:
Delegate Election at “Voting Centers” in 18 states will be held SATURDAY, October 10th, 2009 for in-person voting. Citizens across the country are invited to cast a transparent, and constitutionally-correct, paper ballot for up to three (3) citizen delegates to represent their state at CC2009.

Mail-in voting with ballots postmarked by October 10th will be counted on October 17th, 2009. Final results will be posted at the CC2009 web site on October 18th. To access ballots and Registration Forms, go to http://www.cc2009.us, and click on the Vote Here links for mail-in registration form, ballot downloads and instructions.

Continental Congress 2009 will be held November 8th – 22nd , 2009, at Pheasant Run Resort and Convention Center in St. Charles, IL.



http://newstalkpa.com/topic.php?id=478

Curious Conviction Case Remains Curious

Attorney wants Fayette County to pay $25,000 in legal fees
Liz Zemba
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

The attorney for a convicted double murderer wants Fayette County to pay $25,378 in legal fees.

The money would be in addition to $126,286 the county already has paid to Noah Geary, attorney for David Munchinski.

Munchinski, 57, was convicted in 1986 of the Dec. 2, 1977, murders of James Alford and Paul Gierke at a Bear Rocks residence. Munchinski, who maintains he is innocent, is serving a life sentence.

Geary, who was court-appointed in 2004 to represent Munchinski in a post-conviction appeal, is to appear before Senior Judge Charles Loughran 10 a.m. Friday in Fayette County for a hearing to determine whether he should be paid. In a petition, Geary indicated the bill is for 507.55 hours of work he did at a rate of $50 per hour on Munchinski's case between 2005 and 2007.

Geary could not be reached yesterday for comment, but he indicated in his petition the $25,378 is his final bill on the appeal.

The appeal is one of many filed in the past two decades on Munchinski's behalf.

Munchinski was nearly freed in 2004 when Senior Judge Barry Feudale ruled that then-prosecutors Gerald Solomon and Ralph Warman, now Fayette County judges, tampered with and withheld evidence that Geary argued would have freed his client.

The state appealed and won its battle to keep Munchinski in prison. In December 2007, Geary filed an appeal in U.S. District Court seeking Munchinski's immediate release. U.S. Magistrate Lisa P. Lenihan in August sent the appeal to the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals.

That court, Lenihan indicated, is to decide whether the appeal should proceed to U.S. District Court for her consideration.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_647891.html

CATO: Tax on High End Plan Forced Minimum Plan

On Glenn Beck's program, CATO Institute analyst Michael Cannon highlighted pretty much what's been said on the CATO website...

The Obama and Congressional Plans for Health Care Reform
President Obama has called upon Congress to pass legislation that will transform the American health care system. The reforms rest upon four distinct pillars:

Mandates for employers and individuals
Subsidies for the middle class
Increased insurance regulation
A government-run health care plan, like Medicare, that will compete with private insurance.
While it appears the White House will not be putting forward its own specific plan, major components likely to emerge from Congress can be clearly identified, and include:

Employers would be required to provide health insurance to their workers or pay a fee (tax) to subsidize government coverage.
Every American would be required to buy an insurance policy that meets certain government requirements. Even individuals who are currently insured, and happy with their insurance, will have to switch to insurance that meets the government's definition of "acceptable insurance."
A government-run plan similar to Medicare would be set up in competition with private insurance, with people able to choose either private insurance or the taxpayer-subsidized public plan. Subsidies and cost-shifting would encourage Americans to shift to the government plan.
The government would undertake comparative-effectiveness research and cost-effectiveness research, and use the results to impose practice guidelines on providers — initially, in government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, but possibly eventually extending such rationing to private insurance plans.
Private insurance would face a host of new regulations, including a requirement to insure all applicants and a prohibition on pricing premiums on the basis of risk.
Subsidies would be available to help middle-income people purchase insurance, while government programs such as Medicare and Medicaid would be expanded.
The government would subsidize and manage the development of a national system of electronic medical records.

http://healthcare.cato.org/obama-congressional-plans

Is health care a right? a privilege? ah well...

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2810342/michael_cannon_is_health_care_a_right/

Obama Administration Government Blog Criticizes Fox News

Watch if you visit the government blog, now, your ip address may be investigated and if they find out who ya are, you may receive an email...

OPINION: JOHN FUND ON THE TRAIL OCTOBER 13, 2009, 1:22 P.M. ET Fox on the Brain
White House Communications Director Anita Dunn has decided to effectively declare war on Fox News. She told CNN's "Reliable Sources" on Sunday that the White House views the cable network as "a wing of the Republican Party. . . . [When President Obama] goes on Fox, he understands that he is not going on -- it really is not a news network at this point. He's going to debate the opposition."

http://online.wsj.com/article/john_fund_on_the_trail.html

White House Escalates War of Words With Fox News
Anita Dunn, White House communications director, calls Fox News a "wing of the Republican Party," after the White House began using its government blog to criticize "Fox lies."

FOXNews.com

Monday, October 12, 2009

Calling Fox News "a wing of the Republican Party," the Obama administration on Sunday escalated its war of words against the channel, even as observers questioned the wisdom of a White House war on a news organization.

"What I think is fair to say about Fox -- and certainly it's the way we view it -- is that it really is more a wing of the Republican Party," said Anita Dunn, White House communications director, on CNN. "They take their talking points, put them on the air; take their opposition research, put them on the air. And that's fine. But let's not pretend they're a news network the way CNN is."

Fox News senior vice president Michael Clemente, who likens the channel to a newspaper with separate sections on straight news and commentary, suggested White House officials were intentionally conflating opinion show hosts like Glenn Beck with news reporters like Major Garrett.

"It's astounding the White House cannot distinguish between news and opinion programming," Clemente said. "It seems self-serving on their part."

In recent weeks, the White House has begun using its government blog to directly attack what it called "Fox lies." David Gergen, who has worked for President Bill Clinton and three Republican presidents, questioned the propriety of the White House declaring war on a news organization.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/12/white-house-escalates-war-words-fox-news/

Fayette Developments May Encourage Citizen Overseers Return

An option during elections anytime in Pennsylvania counties is petitioning by five citizens for the appointment of overseers or monitors of elections at the precinct. With all that's been happening as reported in local newspapers in Fayette, this election might be ripe for a return to that kind of oversight and citizen participation. It's been done before in Fayette.

Excerpts

Brownsville voters want poll overseers
Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | November 1, 2007| Liz Zemba |

Some Fayette County voters want watchdogs appointed to their polling places on election day because of alleged tampering with absentee ballots, voter fraud and threats against at least one write- in candidate.

In petitions filed Wednesday with the prothonotary's office, 15 Brownsville voters have asked a judge to appoint election overseers in each of their respective wards.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-9683110.html

Judge names monitors at Brownsville polls
By Mary Pickels
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, November 3, 2007

Fayette County Judge John F. Wagner Jr. on Friday appointed election overseers in three Brownsville wards where 15 borough residents filed petitions with the prothonotary's office....

...Petitioner Patricia Lee Redigan said yesterday that she felt overseers might be a good idea "any time -- to have somebody there with no ax to grind to oversee things."

"One of the reasons I felt comfortable signing the paper was that, in the first place, my husband had been on council," she said.

While at the polls on one occasion, years ago, she said, "I looked around and some things I saw didn't seem right to me. Not inside the polls, but outside the polls."

She could not elaborate on what in particular had disturbed her, other than "people talking to people."

The overseers, she said, might be helpful if people have trouble with the computers used to cast votes.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_536089.html

Overseer at election infor

Section 5.4 - Provisional Voting

This topic is monitored by Moritz Law Professor Daniel Tokaji

Pennsylvania

Process of marking provisional ballots:

In Pennsylvania, after the provisional ballot has been cast, the voter shall place the ballot in a secrecy envelope and the secrecy envelope in the provisional ballot envelope and shall place his/her signature on the front of the provisional ballot envelope. (25 P.S. § 3050(a.4)(3)) Before voting the provisional ballot, the elector must sign an affidavit that includes the elector’s name, date of birth, the elector’s address at the time of registration and the elector’s current address: after the information is supplied by the elector, the judge of elections and the minority inspector must also sign the affidavit. (25 P.S. § 3050(a.4)(2))

Procedure for addressing conflict among election board officials as to whether a provisional ballot should be counted:

In Pennsylvania, the inspectors of election shall investigate and pass upon the qualifications of all persons claiming the right to vote, and if the inspectors disagree, then the judge of election shall decide the question, and if the judge of election is unable to decide, then the overseers of the election shall decide the question. (25 P.S. § 3053)

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/ebook/part5/provisional05.html

Know dates and deadlines for applying for an absentee ballot and follow all legalities and any specific directions for use of paper ballots should you choose to vote absentee. One downside of absentee ballots is lack of opportunity to 'correct' or 'change' your paper ballot once you've shaded in the boxes.

Should you be fortunate enough to be able to show up at the voting precinct (polling place) to cast your ballot, be a savvy voter whichever voting system you utilize.

Know your rights at the polling place or precinct with regard to the selection of which of the two voting systems the boards of commissioners acquired in 2006 (Hart InterCivic Direct Recording Electronic eSlates) and 2008 (Hart InterCivic paper ballot-based eScans).

There are demonstration videos available for review available by following links posted on the Fayette County website.

Election Bureau

http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/cwp/view.asp?a=2139&q=527565

Fayette Votes

http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/cwp/view.asp?a=2139&q=521160

You Tube links can also be searched for eSlate and eScan voting machines.

Have as smooth a voting experience as possible by being an informed and prepared voter no matter potential long lines as has happened in Fayette and other counties during past "Municipal Elections."

Absorb the message that has made the rounds of the nation and is nicely displayed on Fayette's election bureau page and link

One Vote Counts

The Importance of Your Vote: Does it Make a Difference?

"You Better Believe It"

And in our own Fayette County, one vote has elected Mayors, Supervisors, Council Members, Tax Collectors, Auditors, Assessors, Constables, Judge of Elections, Inspector of Elections, School Board Directors, and Party Committee Members.

http://www.co.fayette.pa.us/fayette/cwp/view.asp?a=2139&q=515581

Don't stop there. Visit the Pennsylvania state government's website if you want any additional information about any aspect of the voting process. Election Day Calendar, How to Vote a Provisional Ballot. There's no excuse when access to the Internet and state-sponsored informative material is available free.

There's as much responsibility on the part of the voter as election officials to enable every valid voter to cast a ballot and enable that ballot to be counted.

Net the Truth Online

Acting Director appointed

http://www.allbusiness.com/government/government-bodies-offices-regional/13286648-1.html

Right Move editorial Herald Standard October 11, 2009

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1641/2009/october/11/right-move/print.html

Fayette commissioners terminate longtime election bureau chief
By Liz Zemba
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, October 9, 2009

The director of Fayette County's election bureau has been terminated from her position.

Laurie Lint, a 20-year employee who was director of elections for the past 10 years, was let go late Wednesday, according to commissioners Vincent Vicites and Vincent Zapotosky.

Vicites and Zapotosky signed off on the termination notice after an emergency meeting of all three county commissioners and their personnel director, Dominick Carnicella. Lint was advised of her termination during a late afternoon meeting with Carnicella.

Zapotosky said Lint was asked to resign in lieu of termination, but she refused to quit voluntarily.

Contacted Thursday by phone, Lint declined to comment.

Zapotosky said Lint was terminated over alleged "numerous failures to comply with directives." Among the concerns they cited were delays in voter purges, failure to train judges of elections on new voting machines before the spring primary and failure to file quarterly reports with the federal government regarding grant money.

In addition, they said a recent incident in which the county's Democratic Committee — relying on incorrect information provided by the election bureau — missed a deadline to nominate a candidate for Uniontown City Council.

"The matter of the city council race was alarming," Zapotosky said. "We passed on erroneous information which now, whether it's the Democratic or Republican committee, is at risk of losing an election."

The Democratic Committee was allowed to nominate a candidate after the deadline when a judge, acting on an emergency motion, extended it.

Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink said she wanted to take corrective action in lieu of outright termination.

"I signed off on a different course of personnel action with a directive for a monitored improvement plan for the entire office, and other reprimands as well," Zimmerlink said yesterday. "Mainly because, prior to the Uniontown City Democratic ballot, there were no documented performance issues for the election bureau."

Vicites and Zapotosky said Lint had been counseled in the past.

"We have counseled her on her performance, so there has been progressive discipline," Vicites said.

Carnicella yesterday said such counseling was oral in nature. The only documented written personnel action prior to yesterday's termination was a one-day, unpaid suspension in May 2008 for alleged falsification of a time card, Carnicella said.

Vicites and Zapotosky yesterday said the decision to terminate Lint was a difficult one.

"To have to terminate somebody is a difficult decision, but I felt it was the right decision for Fayette County," Zapotosky said. "I felt the change needed to be made in order to restore a very important public trust in the election process."

Commissioners yesterday had made no immediate plans to advertise for another director.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/fayette/s_647225.html

Commissioners split over firing of director
October 09, 2009 03:23 AM TEXT SIZE By: JENNIFER HARR
Herald Standard

While two of the Fayette County commissioners said Thursday they hope firing the director of the elections bureau would restore public trust in the office, the third commissioner believes the action was too harsh.

The director, Laurie Lint, was offered the chance to resign or be fired Wednesday afternoon. When she refused to resign, she was fired from the post she has held for 10 years.

Commission Chairman Vincent Zapotosky and Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites each signed off on the termination, and Commissioner Angela M. Zimmerlink declined to do so.

Zapotosky and Vicites said they based their decision to terminate Lint on ongoing issues with her job performance. Included were recent issues such as how to fill a vacant seat on Uniontown City Council, the lack of a purge of the voter rolls and the lack of training offered to judges of elections.

"Maintaining public trust in that office is very, very important. It's the hallmark of democracy," Vicites said.

"There is no room for margin of error + in things that could effect elections," Zapotosky said.

He noted that in the May primary a candidate in a magisterial district judge race was left off the Republican ticket. While it was caught before the primary and corrected, Vicites noted if it hadn't been caught, that election would have needed to be redone.

But while her counterparts believe that Lint's termination was justified, Zimmerlink said all of the things they've noted were done wrong never were documented as things that required discipline.

"There are no documented performance issues for the director, other than one non-related job performance issue that occurred last year," Zimmerlink said.

She said she advocated a different course of action that would have asked the entire election bureau staff to air their problems before the election board. Then, said Zimmerlink, there should have been a "monitored improvement plan" implemented, as well as additional reprimands to Lint and other staff members.

Zimmerlink noted that there have been numerous changes to the election process over the past year, including new voting machines and the consolidation of polling places. That has resulted in the staff getting new, additional duties, she said.

If the staff as a whole had come before the election board, Zimmerlink said that the commissioners could have assisted in easing their concerns and moving forward with a plan to improve operations.

"There are a lot of combined years of experience with the existing staff, so my manner of administration would be to use what we have, and improve on that. I thought that would have been a better course of action," she said.

She maintained that doing that - and leaving Lint as director - would have been a better move for voters.

"I prefer addressing the problem and correcting it," she said.

Zimmerlink acknowledged that Lint mishandled the Uniontown City Council vacancy.

The Fayette County Democratic Party recently received a judge's permission to nominate a candidate for a vacant seat on council.

Party officials said they failed to nominate a candidate because the election bureau led them to believe that the seat would not appear in the Nov. 3 ballot.

During an election board meeting in September, Lint indicated she sent out a letter in March that said there would be a special election, and that both parties had until Sept. 14 to nominate candidates.

Bureau solicitor Sheryl Heid issued the ruling that the election be held.

However, in a Sept. 10 article in the Herald-Standard, Lint said there would not be an election, and that the seat would be filled by an appointment through 2011.

The Republicans nominated a candidate nonetheless, but Democratic Party Chairman Fred L. Lebder said he went to the election bureau, and indicated that an employee there called the state Department of State.

A state employee identified only as "Adam" indicated to the county employee the seat could be filled by an appointment, and Lebder said he believed that they would not have to nominate someone.

Lint never checked that opinion with Heid, according to officials.

Gary Altman, the Republican candidate for City Council, is appealing his ruling to the Commonwealth Court.

"The sailors are only as good as the captain of their ship," Zapotosky said, noting that Lint's termination has left the office with "a new sense of energy."

"It was the right decision to make," he said, noting that he felt bad for firing Lint. "The process is more important than any one person."

"It was the right decision to make for the future," Vicites said.

Lint could not be reached for comment.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1631/2009/october/09/commissioners-split-over-firing-of-director.html

Election bureau director fired
October 08, 2009 11:34 AM TEXT SIZE By: JENNIFER HARR
Herald Standard

The director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, Lori Lint, was fired late Thursday afternoon.

Following a meeting with the county's human resources director, Dominick Carnicella, Lint was terminated, Commission Chairman Vincent Zapotosky said.

Both Zapotosky and Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites said they signed off on a termination order, or resignation letter, and Lint refused to resign from the post.

Zapotosky said there were numerous issues that led to the firing, but the move comes on the heels of the Fayette County Democratic Party having to seek a judge's permission to nominate a candidate for a vacant seat on Uniontown city council.

In that case, the Democrats have said they failed to nominate a candidate because they were led, by the election bureau, to believe that the seat would not appear in the Nov. 3 ballot.

During an election board meeting in September, Lint indicated she sent out a letter in March that said there would be a special election, and that both parties had until Sept. 14 to nominate candidates.

Bureau solicitor Sheryl Heid issued the ruling that the election be held.

However, in a Sept. 10 article in the Herald-Standard, Lint said there would not be an election, and that the seat would be filled by an appointment through 2011.

The Republicans nominated a candidate nonetheless, but Democratic Party Chairman Fred Lebder said he went to the election bureau and indicated that an employee there called the Department of State.

A state employee identified only as "Adam" indicated to the county employee the seat could be filled by an appointment, and Lebder said he believed that they would not have to nominate someone.

Lint never checked that opinion with Heid, according to Zapotosky.

The election was to fill the seat left vacant when Marlin Sprouts resigned after he was sentenced in a federal mortgage fraud case in March.

At that point, council appointed Philip J. Michael to serve the remainder of the term, which would have ended in 2011.

The next month, Michael resigned after a resident filed a legal challenge, claiming he was not qualified to hold the seat because he didn't live in the city for a year prior to his appointment.

At that point, Republican Curtis Sproul was appointed to fill the vacancy until the November election.

Judge Ralph C. Warman last month allowed the Democrats to nominate a candidate belatedly. Gary Altman, the Republican candidate, is appealing his ruling to the Commonwealth Court.

Briefs in that case are due Friday.

http://www.heraldstandard.com/news_detail/article/1220/2009/october/08/election-bureau-director-fired.html

Fayette election bureau director fired
Buzz up!Daily Courier
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Laurie Lint, director of the Fayette County Election Bureau, was fired late Wednesday afternoon.

Fayette County Commissioner Vincent Zapotosky said this morning that Lint was given the option to resign, but declined, so she was terminated for numerous reasons, the most recent involving the vacant Uniontown City Council seat miscue.

Zapotosky and Commissioner Vincent Vicites signed off on the termination order yesterday.

Zapotosky said he plans to meet with the Election Bureau staff this morning. He expects no problems with the upcoming Nov. 3 general election.

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