The Substitution of Legislation by Regulation
The Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant in Rogers City, Mi Part 21
The Heavy Hand of the EPA
One of the things that makes America different from other countries is our political system, presumably. I mean to say that we elect leaders to represent us and work in our interest among the political causes of the day. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case in the United States of America.
Under the Obama Administration, what cannot be done through legislation is now being done by decree.
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson said in a press release on Friday, “Business leaders, security experts, government officials, concerned citizens and the United States Supreme Court have called for enduring, pragmatic solutions to reduce the greenhouse gas pollution that is causing climate change. This continues our work towards clean energy reform that will cut GHGs and reduce the dependence on foreign oil that threatens our national security and our economy.”
The fact that the science of global warming has come under serious question and even been shown to be made up, seems not to be an issue for Ms. Jackson.
Since these regulations will most likely ban the domestic drilling of oil, it will in no way “reduce the dependence on foreign oil.”
What does this all mean for the Rogers City Coal Plant? Well, as of this writing, Wolverine has not been issued an air permit or a permit to install. But if it does receive the main permit, it will be a double-edged sword.
With Cap and Trade legislation largely considered dead-on-arrival in the Senate, the EPA means to enact similar, without a doubt, more stringent commands on coal plants. It is not to be ignored that a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute concluded, “The only certainty is that EPA regulation would be far more expensive than congressional-designed legislation.”
After all, why is the Global Warming bill (Cap and Trade H.R. 2454) in trouble in the Senate? Is it not because a large number of Senators have constituencies that are very much opposed to the bill? In fact, the only way Cap and Trade was passed in the House was in the middle of the night by a vote of 219-212.
The people of this nation have no say in the matter.
This is not how the U.S.A. is supposed to work.
Obama the Dream-Sucker.
Yesterday, I listened to President Obama say these words.
Despite the progress we’ve made, many businesses are still skittish about hiring. Some are still digging themselves out of the losses they incurred over the past year. Many have figured out how to squeeze more productivity out of fewer workers. And that cost-cutting has become embedded in their operations and in their culture. That may result in good profits, but it’s not translating into hiring and so that’s the question that we have to ask ourselves today: How do we get businesses to start hiring again?
From the perspective of an employee of a small business, I can’t tell you how cynical and dream-crushing your perspective is, Mr. President.
I don’t see how you can claim, sir, that your administration has made any progress, economy-wise. Here in Michigan, I’ve been told there were some stimulus jobs in the 83rd congressional district, however, there are only 15 districts in Michigan, and they number 1 through 15.
I don’t like to talk about myself as much as you do, but I’d like to share some of my experience to let you know what types of things you all are doing “in Washington that are inhibiting” me.
I was hired 4 years ago to do a highly-skilled job that I had no idea how to do. With the help of my fellow co-workers, I learned. I learned fast. It wasn’t long before I could see some ways of doing things at work to make the job simpler, and more effective. I became supervisor and was involved in the hiring process. I helped hire people who had the same amount of knowledge of the job as I did when I got hired. I am now helping them to become as successful as I have been.
I can’t tell you how many jobs I’ve had before this that I literally stared at the clock, waiting to go home-where I never did anything either. That’s not living, that is only existing.
You see, when you learn something, a skill or a piece of knowledge, you feel good about yourself. You say to yourself, “Wow, I did that. Maybe there are more things I don’t yet know I can do.”
When you know you are able to do something that you never thought you could, you start to think that what you have been dreaming about doesn’t just happen to lucky people, you start to think that those people who have reached their dreams worked at it, and learned as much as they could to achieve them.
Those people become entrepreneurs, small businessmen and businesswomen.
Every person has a dream of what they really want to do. Some dreams become nothing because of the lack of work involved in making them come true. In Michigan, I believe the back-breaking amount of work involved in holding one’s dream is a direct result of the “inhibiting” effects of Michigan’s current administration and your administration.
Sir, why would any small business person hire someone to do nothing? After they worked so hard to take the chance to reach their dreams, why would they disrespect another human being in such a manner? Who would say to an applicant, “Look, don’t try to get ahead in life, sure I did it, but you can’t.” Not me, never ever.
It takes hard work to reach your dreams, it takes a non-productive existence to suck them away.
For the small business owner out there, I have a few questions that I’d like to ask you to answer in the form of a comment.
Questions:
What do you think are the major contributors, specifically, to the past year’s loss in sales and/or revenue?
Do you believe intrusive government is slowing your recovery? If so, how?
Do you believe the current administration has made progress in the economy?
Are you cutting costs on your workers? If so, how has that resulted in good profits?
When do you plan to hire, and, what needs to happen so you can hire again?
Gitmo North
While we wait to hear the fate of the prison of Standish, MI, let’s put together the facts. The facility is one of a few in the U.S.that may be used to house Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Bart Stupak, Congressman of the 1st District, is enthusiastic about the idea, and helped suggest his district as a home to the Gitmo prisoners. He first suggested an Upper Peninsula prison, but settled on Standish, which was due to close November 1st, 2009, 150 miles from Dearborn.
The town is divided on the issue, but efforts led by Dave Munson, and Kelly Kimball to oppose the transfer to the small prison town seem effective. Munson has testified in Washington D.C., and Kimball has been involved with protesting the move.
A major townhall was held in August which offered more information to the locals. Attending were Pete Hoekstra (R) Holland, Deb Burlingame, 911 Families for a Safe and Strong America, and Munson.
Although interested in the prospects of keeping the prison open, since it is the town’s major employer, the City council of Standish changed their minds about housing the detainees. The council wanted some questions answered about the move because they noted that not a lot of information is being offered by the administration, nor from Stupak.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court of the United States agrees to hear a case involving Chinese Muslims, or “Uighurs” and refuses to hear a case from a Yemeni detainee. The Uighurs are pushing to enjoy a free life on American soil.
Just like a slap to reality, a Detroit Imam was shot by the FBI in Dearborn. Luqman Ameen
Abdullah was “‘advocating and encouraging his followers to commit violent acts against the United States,’ FBI agent Gary Leone said in an affidavit…” The leader of the radical U.S. Sunni Muslim group has members that are, “mostly are black and some converted to Islam while in prisons across the United States.” Abdullah’s son was arrested in Canada.
Gordon Cullulu, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, who spoke at a town hall in October in Standish, wrote a very detailed and informative article for Human Events, dealing with the real threat to the citizenry of Standish with examples from across the globe to back it up. Cullulu writes, “The mythical 1,000 promised jobs, the lure that continues to entice naive officials, would be filled not by state Department of Corrections personnel but by federal employees. As of latest reporting the administration plans a hybrid system of confinement – some military personnel, others in the Federal Corrections system – but little or no local hiring.”
With little information from the Obama Administration, it leaves me to guess that Standish is still on the table. In an email I received from my friend, Tim Sumner, a retired U.S. Army NCO and co-founder of 911 Families For a Safe & Strong America, more information:
Tim writes, “You see, the largest number of detainees fit into Category C: too dangerous to release but not enough evidence to prosecute them. Out of the 215 remaining at Gitmo, about 60 will be prosecuted, about 60 will be (at some point) offloaded to other nations, and about 100 are Category C detainees. The latter are not going to be spread around in either prisons or military brigs because 1) the Geneva Convention says detainees can’t be placed in prisons with common criminals, 2) military brigs are for the common criminals who happen to have been in the military at the time of their crimes, and 3) it would spread the security concerns to those brigs.
So, what seems to be the plan?
Detainees change status from war criminal to federal defendant if charged under Article III. Thus, they can be housed in federal prisons and the administration has opened up 40 beds at Supermax.
The Navy brig in Charleston was toured in October by the Assistant Vice-Deputy Undersecretary of Semi-Defense for Detaining Overseas Operating Contingents (too much?) and those charged with war crimes and prosecuted by Military Commissions might go to a nearby national guard base that the brig there also controls. In other words, that part of the plan remains fuzzy.
Standish is still very much on the Category C table. If that is the decision, Obama will likely throw the town some money “from his stash” to keep the sewer system running in the black yet he will restore not one prison job to the locals as it will be DOD operated with DOJ oversight.”
I remain convinced that this possible move is a direct threat to the 1st District of Michigan, and the fact that Bart Stupak is all for it knowing what we know, means he is either clueless or evil. I was against this move when I first heard of it, I am even more convinced now that this move, though not inevitable right now, is the stupidest thing ever considered and is against both the nation’s interest and Michigan’s.
The Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant in Rogers City, MI Part 8
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7
After the Biomass public hearing, Tom Karas (Michigan Energy Alternatives,) wrote an editorial that appeared in the Advance to counter an argument between himself and Bob Noffze, president of the citizen-formed Wolverine Clean Energy Venture Support Group. Apparently, after the biomass hearing, Bob and Tom had a brief exchange during which Bob made it clear he did not wish to invite Tom to speak at the next meeting of WCEVSG because Mr. Karas had stated in an Alpena News article that the coal plant in in Rogers City would be “a monument to ignorance.” Bob took offense to the statement. The editorial pointed out that when Karas said the word ignorant, he just meant that the people of Rogers City are unaware of the “current position that the coal industry is in.” He may be right about that, but it isn’t because the people of this state don’t want energy, it is precisely because of people like Tom Karas.
20/20 hindsight provides this perspective. On November 2, 2008 this story ran on Fox News.
The interview of then candidate Obama, according to Michelle Malkin’s website, was given in January, 2008. Obama tells the San Francisco Chronicle that he is for clean coal technology, but the cap and trade system he plans to put in place will “necessarily skyrocket” energy prices and “bankrupt” the coal industry.
What I gather from knowing this information is, that if the environmentalists involved in killing the proposed Rogers City plant fail in their endeavors, they have a safety net. The fact that now-President Obama wishes to use a cap and trade system that will force clean coal into bankruptcy.
If that happens, the environmentalists will declare a win and we all lose, because older coal plants will still operate, and our rates will dramatically increase.
Mr. Karas talked about “the current position that the coal industry is in.” I would remind Mr. Karas that Rogers City is a mining town, and whether we take limestone out of the earth to utilize across the globe or somebody in Wyoming takes coal out of the earth to utilize across the globe, we are all families whose lives depend on mining.
By July, 2008 the DEQ held a meeting in Lansing to describe the permit process and the public comment period. The Advance does an extremely good job of reporting on this meeting and all the criteria needed and the process. I thought this excerpt was interesting, now a year and 9 months after submitting the air permit request.
“The average time for a permit right now is running at about 70 days,” Dolehanty said. “But these applications for power plants have been in house as long as a year and one-half.” Wolverine submitted its air permit application September 26 of last year. Consumers Energy submitted its application October 15, Mid-Michigan turned in its application September 12 while Holland Board of Public Works submitted its application January 17, 2007.
Byron DeLong was at it again in August, raising questions with the permit already issued of what fuel will be burned by the plant. He suggested during the Planning Commission meeting that since the company had not specifically stated that they were to burn petroleum coke, Wolverine would have to amend it’s permit. Other planning commission members objected, saying they were to understand that petroleum coke was already permitted. Petroleum coke sounds scary, but it is used in making steel. Wolverine representatives pointed out that during the CFB presentation in 2006, all was very clear. DeLong insisted that the language in the original permit must be changed, therefore they would need to amend the permit. No action was taken then about the permit, but during the same meeting, Bob Noffze wished to ask about some concerns he had about DeLong serving on the planning commission while at the same time being a member of a group that was using the legal system to try to stop coal plants in Michigan. I mention this lawsuit in Part 3 of this series. The lawsuit was thrown out, but was in the appeals process in August, 2008. Bob Noffze called for the removal of Byron (Bud) DeLong from his post as planning commission member due to a conflict of interest.
To be continued…..
Sonia and Barry
In the President’s weekly radio address, he said this, “In fact, there has not been a nominee in several generations who has brought the depth of judicial experience to this job that she offers.”
He also said this, “There are, of course, some in Washington who are attempting to draw old battle lines and playing the usual political games, pulling a few comments out of context to paint a distorted picture of Judge Sotomayor’s record. But I am confident that these efforts will fail; because Judge Sotomayor’s seventeen-year record on the bench – hundreds of judicial decisions that every American can read for him or herself – speak far louder than any attack; her record makes clear that she is fair, unbiased, and dedicated to the rule of law. As a fellow judge on her court, appointed by Ronald Reagan, said recently, ‘I don’t think I’d go as far as to classify her in one camp or another. I think she just deserves the classification of outstanding judge.’”
Where to begin? Our President is a liar, simply put. What he describes as fact is indeed, a lie. There has not been a nominee in several generations? What is that, 80-100 years? Several generations? And he specifically states her judicial experience. The other side has no valid points right? The people who have actually read her decisions and noted her temperament and overturned her rulings to the tune of 80% the time?
But what is the most striking is Obama’s attempt to misguide the American public on just who is playing politics and which quotes by Sotomayor should be on trial here. When Obama says that the right is pulling a few comments out of context to paint a distorted picture, he doesn’t specify which comments he is speaking of. Over the weekend the lazy press kept putting the comments up on the screen of when she said she would make a better decision than a white man. But that’s not the meat and potatoes issue. I mean, obviously that is a racist and sexist comment, but to me, the more bellicose statement was in 2005 at a panel discussion in Durham, North Carolina at Duke School of Law when she said, “All of the legal defense funds out there, they’re looking for people with Court of Appeals experience because it is — Court of Appeals is where policy is made. And I know, and I know this is on tape, and I should never say that because we don’t make law, I know. (laughing) Okay, I know. I know. I’m not promoting it and I’m not advocating it. I’m — you know. (laughing)” This is the Constitutional fight we have on our hands, Ladies and Gents. I seem to recall 20 years ago in my senior year of high school when I had to take Government class. We all had to make a flow chart of how a bill becomes a law. We also made posters of the three branches of government and were asked to memorize all of it. If memory serves, and it always does, the Judiciary Branch is supposed to interpret, not make law or public policy.
I also have to say that the fact that the judge “appointed by Ronald Reagan” gives the reader or listener the impression that the “judge” shares the philosophy of Ronald Reagan. He doesn’t name the judge, he doesn’t provide us with anything but invokes the name of Ronald Reagan. We don’t know anything about that judge, but we know plenty about Sotomayor and how her judicial philosophy and President Obama’s are one.
Remarks of President Barack Obama
Weekly Address
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Washington D.C.
This week, I nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. Court of Appeals to replace Justice David Souter, who is retiring after nearly two decades on the Supreme Court. After reviewing many terrific candidates, I am certain that she is the right choice. In fact, there has not been a nominee in several generations who has brought the depth of judicial experience to this job that she offers.
Judge Sotomayor’s career began when she served as an Assistant District Attorney in New York, prosecuting violent crimes in America’s largest city. After leaving the DA’s office, she became a litigator, representing clients in complex international legal disputes. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court, serving six years as a trial judge where she presided over hundreds of cases. And most recently, she has spent eleven years on the U.S. Court of Appeals, our nation’s second highest court, grappling with some of the most difficult constitutional and legal issues we face as a nation. She has more experience on the federal bench than any incoming Supreme Court Justice in the past 100 years. Quite simply, Judge Sotomayor has a deep familiarity with our judicial system from almost every angle.
And her achievements are all the more impressive when you consider what she had to overcome in order to achieve them. Judge Sotomayor grew up in a housing project in the South Bronx; her parents came to New York from Puerto Rico during the Second World War. Her father was a factory worker with a third grade education; when she was just nine years old, he passed away. Her mother worked six days a week as a nurse to provide for her and her brother, buying the only set of encyclopedias in the neighborhood and sending her children to Catholic school. That’s what made it possible for Judge Sotomayor to attend two of America’s leading universities, graduating at the top of her class at Princeton University, and studying at Yale Law School where she won a prestigious post as an editor of the school’s Law Journal.
These many years later, it was hard not to be moved by Judge Sotomayor’s mother, sitting in the front row at the White House, her eyes welling with tears, as her daughter – who had come so far, for whom she sacrificed so much – was nominated to the highest court in the land.
And this is what makes Judge Sotomayor so extraordinary. Even as she has reached the heights of her profession, she has never forgotten where she began. She has faced down barriers, overcome difficult odds, and lived the American dream. As a Justice of the Supreme Court, she will bring not only the experience acquired over the course of a brilliant legal career, but the wisdom accumulated over the course of an extraordinary journey – a journey defined by hard work, fierce intelligence, and the enduring faith that, in America, all things are possible.
It is her experience in life and her achievements in the legal profession that have earned Judge Sotomayor respect across party lines and ideological divides. She was originally named to the U.S. District Court by the first President Bush, a Republican. She was appointed to the federal Court of Appeals by President Clinton, a Democrat. She twice has been overwhelmingly confirmed by the U.S. Senate. And I am gratified by the support for this nomination voiced by members of the legal community who represent views from across the political spectrum.
There are, of course, some in Washington who are attempting to draw old battle lines and playing the usual political games, pulling a few comments out of context to paint a distorted picture of Judge Sotomayor’s record. But I am confident that these efforts will fail; because Judge Sotomayor’s seventeen-year record on the bench – hundreds of judicial decisions that every American can read for him or herself – speak far louder than any attack; her record makes clear that she is fair, unbiased, and dedicated to the rule of law. As a fellow judge on her court, appointed by Ronald Reagan, said recently, “I don’t think I’d go as far as to classify her in one camp or another. I think she just deserves the classification of outstanding judge.”
Congress returns this week and I hope the confirmation process will begin without delay. No nominee should be seated without rigorous evaluation and hearing; I expect nothing less. But what I hope is that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this process, and Congress, in the past. Judge Sotomayor ought to be on the bench when the Supreme Court decides what cases to hear this year and I’m calling on Democrats and Republicans to be thorough, and timely in dealing with this nomination.
As President, there are few responsibilities more serious or consequential than the naming of a Supreme Court Justice. The members of our highest court are granted life tenure. They are charged with applying principles put to paper more than two centuries ago to some of the most difficult questions of our time. And the impact of their decisions extends beyond an administration, but for generations to come.
This is a decision that I have not taken lightly and it is one that I am proud to have made. I know that Justice Sotomayor will serve this nation with distinction. And when she ascends those marble steps to assume her seat on the Supreme Court, bringing a lifetime of experience on and off the bench, America will have taken another important step toward realizing the ideal that is chiseled above its entrance: Equal justice under the law.
Thanks.
Protest Song
Sunshine by Jonathan Edwards has new meaning to me.
Sure, he’s a creep, barefoot and all, but if you changed the meaning from Nixon and Vietnam to Obama and Taxes, it’s actually a kind of cool song.
No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar. Abraham Lincoln
So far, the Obama administration has been true to it’s campaign promises.
He ran on change, and he is changing our nation, to be sure.
Ordinary, everyday people are mildly tiffed at his arrogance, his whining about the Bush administration, and his constant interruption of American Idol.
But what has become disgusting is his use of Lincoln.
Obama used Lincoln in his inauguration in such a dispicable way, that people you know actually think Lincoln was a Democrat.
For instance, I googled ‘Obama Lincoln’ and I just took a sampling of atrocious reports of how Obama compares to Lincoln.
Obama’s Lincoln
During the campaign, he pledged to be a unifying leader. Good thing for Obama there are other presidents whose experiences he can draw on, including one, in particular, from his home state.
The Obama-Lincoln Parallel: A Closer Look
Two Presidential Historians Discuss The Leaders, Closely Linked But Separated By 150 Years
Jan. 17, 2009 | by Phil Hirschkorn CBS
For Obama, Lincoln was model president
By Ed Hornick
CNN
Obama Will Eat Like Lincoln on Inauguration Day
January 10, 2009 11:41 AM Jake Tapper ABC
Obama team emphasizing Lincoln connection in inauguration
Obama invokes the Great Emancipator for many purposes
Also this website provides an artist’s rendition of ugh, I need a barf bag.
Now, I can’t tell you how much I despise liars. It is beyond words for me to tell you how much I resent the reshaping of history by popular culture. However, what is most upsetting to me is the blatent, purposeful torture of truth that our current President is inflicting on this great nation.
The fact is, Lincoln was a republican, he ran his campaign on putting an end to slavery and he really did come from humble beginnings.
You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Abraham Lincoln
To stand in silence when they should be protesting makes cowards out of men.
Abraham Lincoln
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.
Abraham Lincoln
I want it said of me by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.
Abraham Lincoln
Don’t interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties.
Abraham Lincoln
Obama is nothing at all like Lincoln.
I had to laugh..
Last weekend, Obama held a meeting with journalists on board Air Force One. One of the questions asked him during the meeting was if he agrees with the socialist label that many people have tagged him with.
“The answer would be no,” he said, laughing for a moment before defending his administration for “making some very tough choices” on the budget.
He rambled on about the budget, and, not satisfied with his answer, he called the New York Times to re-answer the question.
He then went on to say that his Presidency is Bush’s Third Term.
