Buckley Protege Brookhiser: GOP Must learn from the past... Sat. June 25, 2011 by Matthew Belvedere and Ashley Martella

Buckley Protege Brookhiser: GOP Must Learn From Past

Saturday, June 25, 2011 05:30 PM

By: Matthew Belvedere and Ashley Martella

The Republican candidates for president should learn from history, says National Review senior editor Richard Brookhiser. Specifically, Brookhiser cites 1980, because he says President Barack Obama seems to be following the tracks of Jimmy Carter.

Like in the Carter years, "the economy is just murder out there. And unless it really turns around, [Obama] has a good chance of losing to whoever the Republicans put up," Brookhiser tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview. Republicans certainly hope that the 2012 race for the White House turns out like the contest in 1980, when Democratic incumbent Carter lost to the charismatic Republican challenger, Ronald Reagan.

Brookhiser, who has been writing about politicians for most of his life and whose new book is "Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement," has been at National Review for three decades. It was his first job out of college, but his connection to the magazine began when he was just 15. National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. published the young writer's article about antiwar protests in his high school as a cover story in 1970.

"They published me when I'm a freshman in high school. How cool is that?" Brookhiser says proudly.

Thus began what would become a decades-long professional relationship and friendship between Brookhiser and mentor Buckley, who started National Review in 1955 and launched a conservative movement in American politics.

Editor's Note: This exclusive Newsmax.TV video interview includes firsthand historical events, including an insider's assessment of the character of William F. Buckley Jr. and behind-the-scenes details about the inner workings of the iconic conservative publication.

Story continues below video.




Shortly after Buckley died at the age of 82, Brookhiser started writing "Right Time." The book is "about the last 40 years of American politics. It's also a portrait of Bill Buckley . . . but it's also a memoir about the relationship we had," Brookhiser says.

The relationship had some bumps, Brookhiser notes, such as the time Buckley took the then-22-year-old out to lunch after only a year at the magazine and said: "'Rick, I've decided that you will be my successor as editor and owner of the magazine.'"

Brookhiser recalls being flabbergasted at the time, as he was later, when Buckley rescinded the offer: "After seven years, he leaves a letter one day on my desk saying, 'Well, on second thought, I've decided you won't be my successor.'"

Brookhiser was greatly disappointed, shocked, and angered at the reversal, but he surmised that Buckley realized that his very public job of writing, being on television, and speaking was not a perfect fit for Brookhiser, who says he's "not a triple threat" and doesn't want to be. He likes writing and believes that's what he does best.

Despite the blips, Brookhiser says Buckley was extremely generous. "Generosity informed the way he edited. It informed his professional life."

Brookhiser describes the editorial meetings Buckley led at the magazine as theater: "Everyone performed for him." And when Buckley laid out an editorial section, he turned over and shuffled story pages in and out like "laying mosaic at the speed of a hit and run. It was the coolest thing. It took about 15 minutes."

Perhaps surprising to some, the producer of Buckley's popular television series "Firing Line" was not a conservative. In fact, Warren Steibel was a liberal who often didn't share Buckley's views. But the two found their rhythm and worked together on one of the longest-running television programs in the history of PBS.

Buckley first met Ronald Reagan in 1960 at a speaking engagement. Brookhiser recalls the story as Buckley told it. The public address system wasn't working, and the equipment was locked in a second-floor room. With no one to call, Reagan "'opened the window of an adjoining room. He got on the ledge and he sidled over to the control room window. Broke a pane of glass with his elbow, reached in and opened the window'" and then unlocked the door.

Buckley loved to tell this story of the man who was to become the nation's 40th president, Brookhiser says.

Buckley's courage as a journalist also impressed Brookhiser. Buckley, who was a supporter of Richard Nixon, accompanied the president on his historic trip to China in 1972. Buckley "wrote the only hostile coverage of it," Brookhiser says.

Buckley could understand the political reasons behind the trip, but "what he couldn't stand was Richard Nixon toasting . . . the Chinese regime and the Chinese government. And he just wrote some furious, noble denunciations of that. It was one of his finest moments," Brookhiser recounts.

Looking at the Republican roster of presidential candidates so far for 2012, Brookhiser says, "It all seems up in the air . . . we're still waiting for people to get into the field. I mean, is Rick Perry [governor of Texas] going to announce? Who knows?"

But Brookhiser observes that Obama's supporters didn't do the president any favors by putting him up on such a pedestal. "It was inevitable that he would fall from these heights. Not only has he fallen from the heights to the level of a normal politician, he's now falling to the level of a less-than-normal politician."

Editor's note: To get Richard Brookhiser's book, "Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement," at a good price — Click Here Now.

NORCO: Fate of Redevelopment Projects Unclear.. (Sat. June 25, 2011) By Leslie Parrilla

NORCO: Fate of redevelopment projects unclear

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11:18 PM PDT on Saturday, June 25, 2011

By LESLIE PARRILLA
The Press-Enterprise

Bulldozers are still dumping dirt and grading land as Norco moves forward with projects that could be in jeopardy if the state pushes through plans to dissolve redevelopment agencies.

The city's largest development, the 122-acre Silverlakes equestrian sports park, is insulated from that threat because its funding was privately secured.

But five other city projects funded partially or fully with redevelopment money could be affected.

"I don't know how these projects would be impacted, whether they would go on or not go on," said Norco Finance Director Andy Okoro. "No one knows the particulars or how this dissolution is going to be implemented by the state."

State lawmakers are looking to rein in redevelopment agencies. Gov. Jerry Brown proposed abolishing them earlier this year to help balance the state budget and find money for schools.

This week, city redevelopment agencies were in limbo as state legislators passed two bills that would eliminate some 400 redevelopment agencies but allow for the creation of new agencies if cities pay their share of the $1.7 billion to bolster school funding. The bills are awaiting Brown's signature.

Norco's first payment to the state would be due next fiscal year for roughly $3.2 million.

Redevelopment agencies were created in California in the 1950s to fight urban blight. The agencies often finance improvements through bonds eventually repaid using the increased property taxes that result from the improvements.

Redevelopment supporters say the programs have built libraries and parks and created thousands of jobs in many cities. The program allows local officials to spur development by offering incentives such as helping finance construction for affordable housing.

But critics say redevelopment is a way for cities to basically bankroll commercial and residential developers. Some have used it for a luxury golf resort and others, including Norco, use it to pay portions of city salaries, according to a report by state Controller John Chiang's office.

Similar to other cities, Norco's roughly $18 million redevelopment agency could suffer if the bills become law. It recently cut more than $3 million from its budget to balance its 2011-12 budget and doesn't know how it would come up with $3.2 million in cash for the state to keep the agency running.

"I don't see funding elsewhere in the city to make such payments," Okoro said in an email, adding that there are many unknowns about how the law would be implemented.

It's also unknown whether redevelopment money for current and planned projects would be available.

City officials are thankful that construction that began this month in north Norco related to Silverlakes won't be impacted. A $700,000 dike is being built north of the Santa Ana River between Hamner Avenue and Highway 15 to protect the equestrian park.

The Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District is paying for the dike because it has facilities in the area damaged from the December storms.

The city paid about $10,000 for design and surveying, said Public Works Director Bill Thompson. The dike is expected to be complete within two months, with the actual construction for Silverlakes beginning shortly after, he said.

Redevelopment projects that could be at risk are the widening of Hamner Avenue, Second Street improvements, an expansion of the animal shelter, lights at the Wayne Makin/Shearer Sports Complex and improvements to George Ingalls Equestrian Event Center.

The Hamner widening is scheduled to begin Aug. 1 and involves $1.6 million in redevelopment money. About $600,000 in redevelopment money is being used to realign Second Street and should be completed within the next month. And a construction contract awarded this month to improve conditions at the animal shelter involves redevelopment money.

Salaries of some city employees and the city housing program could also be affected.

Norco's housing manager is paid with redevelopment money and several other employees, including Okoro, are partially paid with redevelopment agency funds.

The bulk of redevelopment money, however, is used to pay debt for bonds that were issued to fund projects, something Okoro hopes the city would be absolved from paying if the agency is dissolved.

For now, there's not much the city can do besides move forward, and wait and see, Okoro said.

Reach Leslie Parrilla at 951-368-9644 or lparrilla@PE.com

Web Expert: Obama Certificate falls short in authenticity, Cites images sharing space, anomalous for typed pages

Web expert: Obama certificate falls short in authenticity Cites images sharing space, anomalous for typed pages

Editor's note: Jerome Corsi's "Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President" is available today for immediate shipping, autographed by the author, exclusively by the WND Superstore. HONOLULU, Hawaii – A Web expert who has built and run Internet and networking companies says the image the White House released as Barack Obama's "Certificate of Live Birth" essentially fails the authenticity test and that the image was more "assembled" than copied from an original. That's the conclusion of Karl Denninger, whose resume includes work as CEO of MCSNet, a Chicago networking and Internet company; time with D&D Software/Macro Computer Solutions; work as a programming team leader for network software; and service in network engineering with ratings as a Unix System administrator. Denninger's work follows on the opinion from another analyst, Ivan Zatkovich of Tampa-based eComp Consultants, which consults on intellectual property for telecommunications, Web publishing and e-commerce. He also has provided services for corporations such as McGraw-Hill, Houghton-Mifflin, Citicorp and Amazon.com. Zatkovich, who has 28 years experience in computer science and document management and for more than 10 years has been an expert witness in federal court in both criminal and civil litigation, told WND the White House image "has specific content extracted from that base layer and enhanced." Click here to get your copy of "Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President". Zatkovich said, "This was done through an explicit operation to edit and/or enhance the printing in the document. There is no ambiguity here. There was an explicit action by a person to modify the document. ... Mostly like to enhance the legibility, but still an explicit action nonetheless." He explained that his analysis was similar to that routinely done on evidentiary documents for cell phones and computers in cases involving child porn, fraud and murder cases. "The content clearly indicates that the document was knowingly and explicitly edited and modified before it was placed on the web," he said. Now Denninger has posted a series of reports online, including on YouTube, where he explains his concerns, which focus around the lettering as it appears on the document that reportedly is a photocopy on green "safety paper" of the original record in Hawaii. He explains that the type on the birth document show evidence of "kerning," the squeezing of letters into a line so that they intrude into adjacent letter spaces. Kerning is routine, since the advent of word processors and computers, but impossible with a typewriter. Denninger explains that in the image above, of the name of the hospital, the "a" and the "p" share vertical space on the line. "This process, of course, requires that you know what the next letter is. With a computer this is pretty easy, since the computer can retroactively go back and adjust, and it also can typeset the current letter with the knowledge of what the previous one was," he reported. "A typewriter, on the other hand, is a mechanical device. It does not know what the next letter is that you will type, nor does it know what the last letter was that you typed. It thus has a typeface that always leaves physical space between the boundary of each character." To those who argue that some sort of physical condition – such as a malfunctioning typewriter carriage – could have caused what appears to be kerning, he says the document doesn't support that explanation. Further, he says, another scan of the document, done by the Associated Press, produced an image with critical differences from what document the White House released. For example, he said the White House image's background isn't consistent. "Somebody took two images, the safety paper image as a background, and laid this other document on top of it. This is not a scan, this is assembled from two, or more than two documents, that were put together by computerized means," he said. His full explanation is on video: "To refute this point you must come up with a typewriter that contains a flux capacitor and thus is capable of accurately predicting the future," he said. "This document has been assembled by somebody on a computer." He contends "there's only one way we're going to get the truth – a forensic document examiner is going to have to go look at the certificate and authenticate it. The real one – not a printout." Denninger, who says he voted for Obama, also talked about the typewriter characters' alignment. The B from Barack and the K from Kapiolani line up vertically, but the line then goes through the middle of the M in Male, he said. He said the only explanation would be that someone typed "Male" after filling out the rest of the document, and then took the paper out and reinserted it. That, he concluded, is illogical. "Draw your own conclusions, but what I see here is a document that was not put into a typewriter and typed in one operation. Has this proved somebody tampered with it? Not necessarily. But it's another piece of the puzzle." He also noted the scanned document from the White House has no "chromatic artifacts," as one would expect in a color scan. Chromatic artifacts, however, show up in the AP scan of the same document, and their absence in the White House release document shows "is not an unaltered color scan." He also wondered why the typist had not used tab stops, as a clerk typing many forms probably would. "We're talking about probabilities," he told WND. "When you look at a handful of layers, that's not proof … but it's more evidence." The White House had trumpeted the release of the document, calling it "proof positive" Obama was born in Hawaii, as if that would answer all of the questions about his presidential eligibility. But who contend the country's founders understood a "natural born Citizen" to be a person born of two American parents say the document actually proves Obama's ineligibility. Barack Obama Sr., who is listed as the father, was not a U.S. citizen. The president himself even seemed to acknowledge the relevance of parental citizenship when he co-sponsored a resolution to address Sen. John McCain's presidential eligibility that implied a "natural born Citizen" must be born to "American citizen" parents. Hawaii officials say they have Obama's original birth certificate and made copies for the president. One of the copies then was scanned and posted on the White House website.

Rove: Obama Will Likely Lose in 2012.. by Henry J. Reske (NewsMax) Thursday June 23, 2011

Newsmax

Rove: Obama Will Likely Lose in 2012

Thursday, June 23, 2011 09:40 AM

By: Henry J. Reske
President Barack Obama will likely be defeated in 2012 because of a weak economy, lost support from key constituents, unpopular policies and bad strategic decisions, Karl Rove, former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, argues in an Op-Ed in The Wall Street Journal.

Rove notes that unemployment now stands at 9.1 percent with many of the 14 million Americans out of work for more than six months. A recent Bloomberg poll showed Americans believe they are worse off than when Mr. Obama took office by a 44% to 34% margin and the last president reelected with unemployment over 7.2 percent was FDR in 1936.

Obama's relationship with his base is also troubled. Jewish voters are upset with his policy toward Israel, and "left-wing bloggers at last week's NetRoots conference were angry over Mr. Obama's failure to deliver a leftist utopia."

His job approval rating is down and his support amongst younger voters has dropped 22 percent and among Latinos 20 percent. "Even African-American voters are less excited about Mr. Obama than they were—and than he needs them to be. For example, if their share of the turnout drops just one point in North Carolina, Mr. Obama's 2008 winning margin there is wiped out two and a half times over," Rove wrote.

Obama's policies are also a drag, Rove wrote, noting that "his health-care reform still holds its unique place as the only major piece of social legislation that became less popular after it was passed. According to yesterday's Pollster.com average of recent surveys, 38% approve of ObamaCare, while its survey average when the bill was passed in March 2010 showed that 41% approved."

Obama is also making a strategic blunder of actively attacking "potential GOP opponents and (slandering) Republican proposals with abandon. This is not what the public is looking for from the former apostle of hope and change."

"In politics, 17 months can constitute several geological ages. Political fortunes can wax and wane. And weak incumbents can defeat even weaker challengers," Rove concluded.

"At the same time, objective circumstances like an anemic economy and bad decisions not only matter; they become very nearly dispositive. Mr. Obama is now at the mercy of policies and events he has set in motion. He can't escape accountability, especially on the economy. He's not done yet, but it will be tough to recover."








© Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Obama slips DREAM ACT AMNESTY past Congress (World Net Daily News) By Drew Zahn June 25, 2011

Friday, June 24, 2011

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INVASION USA
WND
Obama slips DREAM Act amnesty past Congress
Columnist charges, 'This is outright lawlessness on part of the administration'

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Posted: June 25, 2011
1:00 am Eastern

By Drew Zahn

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WND

A new enforcement memo handed down by the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week has some accusing the White House of running around Congress to implement the DREAM Act – and consequent amnesty for some illegal immigrants – by executive fiat.

The new memo, penned by ICE Director John Morton, directs ICE agents, attorneys and directors to exercise "prosecutorial discretion" – meaning less likelihood of deportation – for illegal aliens who have been students in the U.S., who have been in the country since childhood or who have served in the American military.

Critics have pointed out the new leniency standards parallel the provisions of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, or DREAM Act, which could not pass the Senate, despite several votes over the past decade, including three failed attempts at passage last year.

"This is outright lawlessness on the part of the administration," argued syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer on a discussion panel with Fox News' anchor Chris Wallace. "Whatever the politics of this, we do have a Constitution. And under it, the Legislature, the Congress enacts the laws and the executive executes them. It doesn't make them up.

"The DREAM Act was rejected by Congress," Krauthammer continued. "It is now being enacted by the executive, despite the express will of the Congress. That is lawless. It may not be an explicit executive order; it's an implicit one."

(Story continues below)

Other guests on Wallace's program admitted that President Obama has been under pressure from Hispanic lobbyists to do what Krauthammer is accusing: an end run around Congress.

"Immigration-rights activists have been pressing the president to do exactly this, because they couldn't get the DREAM Act enacted," commented Nina Easton of Fortune Magazine. "They have been saying, 'Let's do it administratively.' He has done the same thing on labor issues, union issues, by the way."

Mara Liasson of National Public Radio added, "That's exactly what the president has promised to do. Latino activists were asking him to issue an executive order to make the DREAM Act a law. That would truly be an end run around Congress. And he said he doesn't have the power to do that.

"What he does have is prosecutorial discretion," Liasson continued. "That's existed long before he came in office. And what ICE did today was it said, 'Here are all the factors that you can take into consideration.'"

Specifically, the memo argues, "Because the agency is confronted with more violations than its resources can address, the agency must regularly exercise prosecutorial discretion."

Therefore, it states, priority in prosecution should be given to "felons," "gang members" and "repeat offenders."

But other determinants are listed "positive factors [that] should prompt particular care and consideration," namely if the illegal immigrant is a veteran of the U.S. armed forces, present in the U.S. since childhood, pregnant, a victim of violent crime or suffering from serious health conditions.

In addition, the memo states, "When weighing whether an exercise of prosecutorial discretion may be warranted for a given alien, ICE officers, agents and attorneys should consider all relevant factors, including, but not limited to:

• The person's length of presence in the United States;
  
• The circumstances of the person's arrival in the United States and the manner of his or her entry, particularly if the alien came to the United States as a young child;
  
• The person's pursuit of education in the United States, with particular consideration given to those who have graduated from a U.S. high school or have successfully pursued or are pursuing a college or advanced degrees at a legitimate institution of higher education in the United States."

The DREAM Act would similarly grant children in the country illegally the opportunity to become U.S. citizens if they attend college or enlist in the military.

Though the Nancy Pelosi-led U.S. House of Representatives passed the DREAM Act during the "lame duck" session after last year's election, the U.S. Senate has repeatedly failed to clear the 60-vote threshold necessary to bring it up for vote over Republican filibusters.

FIELD POLL; Voters are less likely to Re-Elect Feinstien (The Press-Enterprise June 21, 2011) by Ben Goad

FIELD POLL: Voters are less inclined to re-elect Feinstein

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06:35 AM PDT on Tuesday, June 21, 2011

By BEN GOAD
Washington Bureau

California voters are less inclined to give Sen. Dianne Feinstein another term than they were at this point in any previous election cycle, a new survey found.

But more voters than not approve of the job Feinstein, D-Calif., is doing in Washington and the pool of potential 2012 Republican challengers is murky.

Polls taken within a year of her previous election bids found that most voters favored Feinstein.

AP photo

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has raised $5 million already for a 2012 campaign.

Today's Field Poll, conducted for The Press-Enterprise and other California media subscribers, found that just 43 percent are inclined to cast a ballot for the state's senior senator. Thirty-nine percent are not inclined to voter for her, and 18 percent are without an opinion.

The shift may say more about voter attitudes toward the state of national politics than it does about Feinstein, Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo said. He noted that the same survey found far more voters (46 percent) approve of the job she is doing in Washington than disapprove (31 percent.)

"It's not a great year for incumbents," DiCamillo said. "Given where she had been in prior years, this would appear to be a more opportune year to challenge her."

Feinstein campaign strategist Bill Carrick blamed such suggestions on "political amnesia ." Carrick pointed to 1994, when a Republicans won control of the House and Senate in a landslide victory but failed to unseat Feinstein.

Carrick said Feinstein already has raised $5 million for her campaign, and soon will sharpen her focus on the race ahead.

"We're going into a campaign cycle that gives us the opportunity to communicate with the voters and tell them what the senator's been doing in Washington," he said.

It remains unclear who might emerge from the GOP to take on Feinstein.

In most years, the House of Representatives would be seen as a logical place for the party to find a challenger. But since voters returned Republicans to power in the House, a run at the Democrat-controlled Senate may look less attractive to high profile members of Congress.

"You certainly don't want to give up all the pleasures of majority status for a risky run against an entrenched incumbent senator in a blue state," Claremont McKenna College politics professor Jack Pitney said.

The ongoing redistricting process could yield a challenger. The state panel created to draw new political lines for California has released draft maps that, if made final, would put several Republican House members into seats they would have a hard time winning.

"It's quite possible that a couple of Republicans will find themselves squeezed out," Pitney said. "And if they want to return to Washington, a run for the Senate might be the way to do it."

Today's poll of 950 voters was conducted from June 3 to June 11. Some questions were asked of a sub-sample. Margins of error ranged from 3.3 percentage points for the overall sample to 4.6 percentage points for the sub-samples.

Reach Ben Goad at 202-661-8422 or bgoad@PE.com

Corona: City gives 15 Officers Notice... (The Press-Enterprise) June 21, 2011 by Leslie Parrilla

CORONA: City gives 15 officers notice

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06:39 AM PDT on Tuesday, June 21, 2011

By LESLIE PARRILLA
The Press-Enterprise

Corona police issued layoff notices to 15 patrol officers Monday in an effort to shave roughly $4 million from the city's budget over the next three years.

Officials said the nearly 10 percent reduction in the force is the largest reduction in police manpower in over two decades.

Corona Police Chief Richard Madory said the officers' final work day is June 30.

The move came as a surprise to Madory, who was told by city officials Thursday to begin sending out notices after salary negotiations had stalled after several months.

City officials would like to continue talks but for now have decided layoffs were a difficult, but only, option.

"I was, as many are, shocked that we were going to have to do this. I'm shocked and saddened. This is very unfortunate," Madory said.

Corona Police Officers Association President Jim Auck said he was baffled by the city's decision to order layoffs.

"I'm just flabbergasted," Auck said. "We offered them $3.5 million and they turned it down. We didn't know what they wanted."

Auck said the association is essentially being forced to take salary increases they didn't want and were willing to continue deferring, but the city offered different cuts that would have cost officers more than they were willing to pay in the long run.

City officials said some of the proposal included conditions they were not certain were legal.

The cut to Corona's force represents about 10 percent of the department's 164 sworn officers and about 21 percent of the roughly 70 officers in the patrol division.

Recent hires

The officers given notice were the most recent hires to the patrol division and were hired within the last four years, Madory said.

Madory said he plans to fill Corona's vacancies with officers from other departments and on special assignments to prevent response times and calls for service from suffering.

"We'll have to see how that impacts other functions of the department," Madory said. "We'll make sure there's enough people in the patrol function to fill that void. Fifteen people is a lot of people."

In 2008 Corona Police Department took a big hit when losing 24 positions, but no active officers were laid off. Nearly half of those jobs were unfilled, including four sworn officer positions.

Corona Mayor Stan Skipworth said the city's needs to save some $4 million over the next three years.

He had expected that money to be saved through salary negotiations with the Corona Police Officers Association, but conversations between the city and the labor group took an unexpected turn.

"I thought we were making tremendous progress," Skipworth said. "We had the sudden change. It's very disappointing."

Labor negotiators made a final salary offer that would save the city about $1.1 million over the next three years, Skipworth said.

"That was something we couldn't accept at the time," he said.

The offer would have saved about one-third of the savings the city needed, $4 million, Skipworth said.

The city had agreed to a five percent salary raises to begin this fiscal year and 4 percent next year, Skipworth said. But the city wanted to defer those increases, causing negotiations to reach a sticking point.

The department will receive the raises, but that means layoffs must happen to recoup the savings.

He hopes the two groups can return to the bargaining table and avoid layoffs but for now the positions remain cut. "This was an extremely difficult decision," Skipworth said.

INLAND REACTION

Riverside Police Department spokesman Sgt. Cliff Mason said laying off that many officers from his department would certainly affect response times and calls for service. He could not remember any Riverside officers being laid off in his 23 years with the department.

"If we were given notice that we had to drop 15 officers from patrol, that would have a huge impact on our ability to effectively police the city of Riverside," Mason said.

Earlier this month, Colton Police Department let go of six police officers.

Reach Leslie Parrilla at 951-368-9644 or lparrilla@PE.com

S.B. Airport: Losses to hit almost $1 Million next year.. (The Press Enterprise) June 23, 2011. by Kimberly Bierceall

S.B. Airport: Losses to hit almost $1 million next year

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10:00 PM PDT on Thursday, June 23, 2011

By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL
The Press-Enterprise

San Bernardino International Airport will spend more than it makes in its next fiscal year and that's even if it lands an airline that starts flying by November or December, bringing in passengers that buy food from concessions, pay to park or rent cars.

On Wednesday, commissioners approved the airport's next budget that forecasts it earning $6.1 million but spending $12.4 million starting July 1. Of those revenues, 39 percent is expected to come from airline service in the form of landing fees or passengers paying to park or eat. A $5.5 million grant from the Inland Valley Development Agency, a related group that has been overseeing the development of the former Norton Air Force Base, will shrink the airport's overall losses next year to $982,400.

For years, airport officials have attempted to persuade airlines to be the first to offer scheduled passenger service. The main terminal building is all but officially finished, the runway has been repaved and empty parking lots at the airport have landscaping and in some cases solar panels. The electric signs posted nearby indicate all the lots are "full."

2009 / The Press-Enterprise

A year ago, airport officials said they were close to luring an airline.

Airport officials have long said that the airport would operate at a deficit and remain subsidized by the IVDA through at least 2015.

"We are birthing the baby," said Don Rogers, director of the IVDA and San Bernardino International Airport Authority.

The IVDA has paid $101.5 million, so far, to finish building the airport terminal including improvements to the tarmac, parking and equipment inside. The Million Air terminal, which opened in August 2010, cost $20 million, while the U.S. Customs building under construction has cost about $21 million so far. Those figures don't account for the additional amount of grant funding the IVDA and airport has received from the FAA and Department of Commerce's Economic Development Agency.

The IVDA collects its revenue from tax increment from three surrounding cities and San Bernardino County. The agency expects to earn $28.3 million next year and spend $27.3 million, not counting $94.2 million to be spent on capital projects and funding to support the airport.

Kimberly Pierceall / The Press-Enterprise

The parking signs near San Bernardino International Airport say "full" even though the parking lots are empty.

Airline or not, the airport is managed by San Bernardino Airport Management LLC, also known as SBAM, which is poised to get $250,000 next year on top of $2.6 million to reimburse SBAM for employee costs and $257,500 to pay for an airport manager and overhead.

SBAM is guaranteed a percentage of revenue earned at the airport, but in the absence of revenue, it gets paid at least $250,000, officials said Wednesday.

Scot Spencer, the landlord of a majority of hangar space at the base that has recently housed test Boeing 747-8s, and developer of the airport's main terminal, U.S. Customs building and Million Air general aviation complex, is also the manager of SBAM. An employee with Virginia-based airport management firm AvPorts is SBAM's chief operating officer.

A year ago, airport officials said they were close to luring an airline and additional incentives were offered. This year, the airport has added $550,000 to its budget to help an airline market its San Bernardino service and a $250,000 finder's fee to be given to SBAM if that entity persuades an airline to sign up for regular service.

IVDA and SBIAA commissioners also approved consulting agreements worth up to $668,702.42 for 13 individuals and businesses, including the airport's aviation director Bill Ingraham and legal counsel Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP who can be paid up to $200,000 each, according to their contracts.

Reach Kimberly Pierceall at 951-368-9552 or kpierceall@PE.com

L.A. Times Attacks Palin Because She Isn't a Thief, Liar, Pervert, or Criminal. (June 20, 2011) by News Editor..

L.A. Times Attacks Palin Because She Isn't a Thief, Liar, Pervert or Criminal

Posted by NewsEditor on June 20, 2011 · Comments (10)

Anyone not convinced of the abject terror Sarah Palin instills in members of the American media needs only read the brief, L.A. Times reflection on the former Governor's released emails.

A number of media outlets filed Freedom of Information Requests demanding the release of Governor Palin's emails upon her acceptance of John McCain's VP offer in 2008. The fact that these self-proclaimed guardians of liberty have yet to exhibit the slightest interest in the murky, personal and political histories of the President or the workings of the Obama White House…well, no doubt there is a very good reason.

Imagine the giddy, Christmas morning type expectations of drooling journalists when 24,000 pages of Sarah's most intimate, previously private correspondence were dumped on a desk in Juneau by Alaska State officials last Friday.

So certain were these Sherlocks of the airwaves that they finally held the key to Palin's ultimate destruction, a number of media moguls even advertised for help from viewers/readers to wade through the mass of paper.

But in the end, liberal heads exploded in frustration as Sarah Palin was discovered to be an honest, hard working Governor. No schemes, no criminal enterprises, no racist tendencies, no theft nor lies, no perverse photo attachments or clandestine trysts.

Read More at Coach is Right by Doug Book, Coach is Right

INLAND: Many Cities Weighing Police vs. Sheriff (The Press-Enterprise) by John Asbury June 20, 2011.

INLAND: Many cities weighing police vs. sheriff

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12:52 PM PDT on Monday, June 20, 2011

By JOHN ASBURY
The Press-Enterprise

As Inland cities try to put the most police officers on the streets for the least amount of money, communities are asking if the best option is a city police department or a county sheriff's contract.

In several cities, including San Jacinto, Canyon Lake and Norco, leaders have questioned the rising costs of their contracts with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Meanwhile, other cities such as Hemet and Redlands have discussed reviewing whether running their own police department is the most economical option amid a budget crunch.

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Jurupa Valley, which will incorporate as a new city on July 1, is determining how much police service it needs from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department. In his budget, the sheriff anticipates getting $13 million from Jurupa for his department's services.

Both city police chiefs and sheriff's officials say what they provide is the best model.

Police chiefs tout a local connection with the community, whereas sheriff's officials say they can bring the strength of a larger organization to communities.

"Every business model shows a broad set of shoulders is a more cost-effective way of doing things," Riverside County Sheriff Stan Sniff said. "The bigger we are across the board, the more economic it becomes. ... What makes it cost-effective is you end up sharing. You don't have to have all the overhead. When you duplicate overhead, it becomes very expensive."

Sheriff's contracts are generally more cost-efficient, agreed Andrew Scott, a police consultant and former police chief of Boca Raton, Fla., but they also offer less service than a city police department and the costs are more likely to increase more steeply.

"On first blush, it makes sense that a city may consider bringing in the county sheriff to bring in services with more personnel," Scott said. "But historically, though the numbers look attractive, the cost of business and police services has a tendency to escalate."

PROS, CONS OF POLICE

Hemet is at a crossroads when it comes to police services. Though a sheriff's contract has not been proposed, city leaders have spent months discussing hiring a consultant to review the most cost-effective option, or hiring a public safety director.

Its police force has been besieged by cuts, and its staff is one-third smaller than it was in 2008. Faced with closing a multimillion-dollar budget gap next year, the city has been issuing layoff notices in the Police Department with the intention of demoting some officers to save money and get more officers on patrol. At least two top officials have taken early retirement.

Still, Hemet Police Chief Dave Brown said he's confident the city will find the Police Department is the best option.

"I feel that way now more than ever, without reservation. There's been no discussion at the city level of contracting with the sheriff," Brown said. "Our community and our City Council believe we are the better option."

Many Hemet police officers have spent their entire careers in the city, know the residents well and care about the issues the city faces, Brown said.

Brown noted that each city's budget allocates costs differently. The Hemet Police Department's budget last year also included $1 million in city employee retirement funds not related to police services.

However, some residents have also expressed concerns that with recent layoffs notices and retirements, they may be seeing their city Police Department slipping away.

Connie Hall, a 25-year resident of the San Jacinto Valley and vice president of the Central County United Way, said she has pride in Hemet maintaining its own Police Department. She knows many of the officers who have been affected and fears that the service level may drop if the department changes.

"The decline of our precious community is upsetting. For whatever reason, I know the city's got a tough job at hand, but chipping away will only lead to an increase in crime," Hall said. "Hemet's still a small town and I want to know the police officers."

The Rialto City Council voted in 2005 to disband its Police Department, established in 1911, and use the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department to save $3.2 million. The next year, the city rescinded the plan and kept its police force.

SHERIFF'S COSTS

In San Jacinto, which eliminated its city-run Police Department in 2004 in favor of sheriff's services, the annual sheriff's fee increases have drawn criticism from City Councilman Steve Di Memmo.

"Every year we get increases and we're not increasing our service or adding more officers," Di Memmo said. "If we're going to pay for everything, why don't we have our own Police Department?"

The city voted last week to continue its sheriff's contract and not explore forming a police department, with conditions that the city would explore other options, such as having a third party provide police services or forming a Joint Powers Authority to serve both San Jacinto and Hemet.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department does raise its fees most years because of increasing personnel costs. Last year, the contract rate rose by about 4 percent.

The sheriff's contracts are solely based on the cost of services in each contract city, Sniff said.

He attributed the rising costs either to raises with unions -- which are approved by the supervisors, not the Sheriff's Department -- or to cities' requests for additional services or materials.

"Every city's howling about how much it costs, but it's driven by the board's approval of multiyear raises," Sniff said.

A number of smaller cities also are struggling with the sheriff's contract costs.

The Norco City Council voted unanimously last month to lay off some staff members at the Norco sheriff's substation.

Canyon Lake has the minimum sheriff's service, requiring one deputy on duty during each 12-hour shift, and is trying to renegotiate its contract.

"We appreciate the sheriff's service and we get the best service possible, but we can't afford it," Mayor Barry Talbot said.

PRAISE FOR SHERIFF

While many cities have complained about rising sheriff's contract costs, an analysis of city budgets shows that Inland cities with their own police departments spend more per capita on those services.

Among 12 cities with police departments in Riverside and San Bernardino counties that were reviewed, the average policing cost per person is $245.

Among 18 cities reviewed that have contracts with the sheriff's departments, the average cost was $160 per person.

The sheriff's departments also provide a wide range of specialized units that contract cities aren't required to maintain, such as a team of homicide detectives, a special investigations bureau, a bomb squad and an aviation unit.

Some of those services are available to city police departments through a mutual-aid agreement.

The Riverside County sheriff's largest contract city, Moreno Valley, has praised the services it receives.

Mayor Richard Stewart said the sheriff's contract offers a host of advantages. It shields the city from police liability claims and gives it access to all of the specialty teams. In addition, the city can label the Moreno Valley sheriff's station as its own police department, with its own patches and cars.

Moreno Valley has hired three consultants since the city's inception 1984, Stewart said, and each study showed it would cost $5 million to start a city-run Police Department.

"The sheriff has kept costs down. They provide services you don't get in Riverside," Stewart said. "It's too bad we have to spend millions each year and not get more officers, but those are part of contract negotiations."

Reach John Asbury at 951-763-3451 or jasbury@PE.com

Obama's Budget Plan: Class-Warfare Tax Policy and Bureaucrat-Controlled Health Care.... by Dan Mitchell..

Obama's Budget Plan: Class-Warfare Tax Policy and Bureaucrat-Controlled Health Care

by Dan Mitchell

President Obama didn't offer a budget plan yesterday. The White House hasn't released anything beyond a set of talking points.

But that's not terribly surprising since his speech was really the opening salvo of his 2012 reelection fight. And it's clear that a central theme of his campaign will be class warfare.

But if we translate his campaign-style demagoguery into the overall budget framework, we get something like this fiscal continuum. Obama, for all intents and purposes, has taken the moderately left-wing proposal crafted by his Fiscal Commission and moved it significantly in the wrong direction by adding class-warfare tax policy. As such, he is close to the left end of the line, which represents "Statism."

The Ryan plan, by contrast, is the moderately right-wing mirror image of the Fiscal Commission. But rather than cementing in place bigger government, as proposed by Simpson and Bowles, Ryan's budget slowly shrinks the fiscal burden of government. As such, it is on the "Liberty" side of the continuum.

America's Founding Fathers had the right idea, of course, They envisioned a very limited central government, and for much of our nation's history, the federal budget consumed about 3 percent of GDP. Unfortunately, the Hoover-Roosevelt policies began the process of moving America in the wrong direction, and federal spending now consumes nearly one-fourth of America's economic output.

But enough history.

Let's revisit Obama's speech and the accompanying talking points. In addition to the class warfare (more on that below), we also see an explicit call to reduce the growth of Medicare spending by "strengthening the Independent Payment Advisory Board."

In other words, Obama wants to use his control of the purse strings to give bureaucrats more ability to decide what kind of care seniors can receive. It's politically incorrect to call this type of entity a "death panel," so I'll simply contrast Obama's top-down bureaucratic approach with the Ryan plan, which is based on giving vouchers to future seniors so they can pick the health plans that best fit their needs (people over 55 would be stuck with the current system). And since this is very similar to the system used to provide health care for Members of Congress and their staff, you know it must work reasonably well.

Let's briefly return to the tax side of the fiscal equation. I'll have more to say about this in a separate post giving a behind-the-scenes look at what Democrats really hope to achieve in the area of tax policy, but I want to offer a basic explanation of why the soak-the-rich approach is doomed to fail. There are five reasons in this video to reject class warfare, including a very important warning that high tax rates on the rich almost always are a tactical move to facilitate higher taxes for the rest of us.

Barack Obama Fully Embraces Death Panels (by Erick Erickson)

Barack Obama Fully Embraces Death Panels

Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile)

Thursday, April 14th at 5:05AM EDT

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While everyone else was focused on Barack Obama bashing Paul Ryan, I noticed that he took full ownership of death panels yesterday. Naturally, Obama did not call them death panels. He called them "an independent commission of doctors, nurses, medical experts and consumers." But his description hits dead on with what his death panels will do.

According to Barack Obama yesterday, the death panels "will look at all the evidence and recommend the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending while protecting access to the services seniors need."

We already know what they'll recommend as "the best ways to reduce unnecessary spending". Barack Obama's own advisers have told us. They will prioritize giving health care to healthier people and let sicker people die. At end of life, they will deny people life sustaining treatment because, after all, they're going to die anyway. Note his phrasing: "protecting access to the services seniors need." Dying people, according to Obama's advisers, need hospice not hope. They certainly do not need expensive treatments that may buy them time to see the birth of a new grandchild or other reasons.

"We will change the way we pay for health care – not by procedure or the number of days spent in a hospital, but with new incentives for doctors and hospitals to prevent injuries and improve results. . . . If we're wrong, and Medicare costs rise faster than we expect, this approach will give the independent commission the authority to make additional savings by further improving Medicare," Obama said. At a time Democrats are saying Republicans want to starve old people to death, Democrats are intent on embracing a cost savings model for Medicare that incentivizes doctors to encourage people to die and, when all else fails, gives a death panel "the authority to make additional savings by" ensuring the dying elderly die quickly.

"Our approach lowers the government's health care bills by reducing the cost of health care itself," Obama said. Really? The only way that will happen is by rationing. You may not like the use of the phrase "death panel," but make no mistake about it — at the end of your life, in Barack Obama's America, his death panel will throw you under the bus in a way much closer to reality than metaphor.

Rev.Wright Admits Black Liberation Theology and Socialism the Same, Atta...

Baca (D-Rialto) Supports Ontario Airport Transfer (Press Enterprise~Business) March 16, 2011

Baca (D-Rialto) supports Ontario Airport transfer

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PE Business

on March 16, 2011 7:00 AM Share:

Amid all of the recent Ontario Inernational Airport back-and-forth between the city of Ontario which wants to control the airport and the city of Los Angeles which currently owns and manages it, I missed a letter that Inland Congressman Joe Baca (D-Rialto) sent to the city's chief administrator.

On Feb. 24, not long after state Sen. Bob Dutton (R-Rancho Cucamonga) introduced Bill 446 that would establish the Ontario International Airport Authority to usurp control of the Inland airport from the city of Los Angeles, Baca wrote a letter to the City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana to support transferring the management of Ontario airport to a local authority.

"I believe that under local operating control, ONT can recover from the the economic downturn of the past several years while positioning itself for long-term growth," he wrote.

Baca's letter follows one from the Southern California Association of Governments that also supported transferring the airport to local control. The Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation has also said the city of Los Angeles should look at giving up management control of the airport, although the group didn't say who should manage it. An editorial from The Los Angeles Times questioned why the city of Los Angeles' control of an airport so far away.

Gov. Brown releases plan for California Pension Changes.. (Associated Press) by Adam Weintraub... March 31, 2011

Brown releases plan for Calif. pension changes

By ADAM WEINTRAUB

The Associated Press

SACRAMENTO

Gov. Jerry Brown released a 12-point proposal to revamp California's public-employee pensions Thursday, drawing immediate outcry from state workers complaining that it asks too much and from Republican lawmakers who said it doesn't go far enough.

The proposals target practices that critics say drive up costs for taxpayers and provide public-sector workers with far more generous benefits than private workers receive.

The package includes specific bill language to limit pension spiking, the practice of boosting pension benefits with a big raise in the last year before a worker retires. Instead, pensions would be based on a three-year average of base pay, not overtime or unused vacation time.

It also would ban retroactive pension benefit increases, "holidays" when employers do not have to contribute to pensions, cash payments to raise pension benefits and paying benefits to workers who have been convicted of an employment-related felony. Brown's package also would prohibit the state and local governments from paying an employee's share of pension contributions.

Several other changes are still being developed, Brown said. They include a cap on benefits, limits on employees returning to government work after they retire and a shift toward a hybrid plan in which employees would be responsible for part of their retirement planning.

Brown, a Democrat, won election last year in part on a platform of pension reform, and much of that platform is reflected in Thursday's proposal.

Republican lawmakers had pushed during budget negotiations for more extensive pension changes, but both sides say the talks broke down last week over other issues such as a spending cap and tax changes.

"We're pleased to see that the governor is interested in pension reform," said Sabrina Lockhart, spokeswoman for Assembly Republican leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare.

Nevertheless, the said Republican lawmakers are unhappy that Brown is looking to run it through the Legislature, which could easily change the rules in the future, rather than put the plan before voters, where it would be much harder to undo.

"There are more protections for the taxpayers if the voters approve," Lockhart said.

Senate Republican leader Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said the GOP supports most of Brown's proposals but wants the public to vote on them and doesn't believe a voluntary hybrid pension system will work.

"Governor Brown's proposal assumes public employees will volunteer for lower benefits, which ignores reality," Dutton said in a statement.

Public employee groups said state workers already have made pension concessions while negotiating new contracts that have saved hundreds of millions of dollars.

Brown's proposals "fly in the face of collective bargaining law and amount to a breach of agreements that state government has made with millions of workers in California," said Dave Low, chairman of a coalition of public employee unions. "California's policymakers need to take a careful look at the billions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthy in our state budget before they launch an assault on California's middle class."

Published: Thursday, March 31, 2011 18:17 PDT

© 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

"Battle: Los Angeles": Go SEE THIS MOVIE!! by Declaration Entertainment

'Battle: Los Angeles': Go. See. This. Movie. by Declaration Entertainment On the most recent addition of Take A Movie to Work over at Declaration Entertainment, Bill Whittle discusses the importance of this terrific action movie, which – MOST SHOCKING, EXHILARATING SPOILER ALERT OF ALL TIME – makes American soldiers, the best people our society has to offer, look like THE BEST PEOPLE OUR SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER! Missing are all of the clichés we have come to expect from movies that depict our fighting men and women. There are no brooding loaners bemoaning the futility of war, no racist loud-mouth adrenaline junkies itching to kill anything they don't understand, the troops aren't victims of nefarious political posturing or trying to steal from the third-world… Even the relationship between Aaron Eckhart's battle-hardened Staff Sergeant Nash and the fresh-faced, just-out-of-school, naive Lieutenant is respectful and authentic. When the Lieutenant breaks down from his first exposure to the chaos of battle, there is no condescending moment of the wise-old enlisted man rising up to take command. Instead, Eckhart reminds the younger man of his responsibility, pulls him out of his own head, prompts him to make a decision, and then says "Yes sir." Every moment of this film inspires envy of the discipline, decisiveness, charity, and just general good character our military demands of its fighters. Plus, they kick butt. Lots of it. You know, according to German authorities, Arid Uka, the terrorist who shot and killed two US Servicemen last month, had recently viewed an Islamist propaganda video titled "American Soldiers Rape our Sisters!" Read The Full Story:

Another Obama War (by Llewyn H. Rockwell Jr.)

Another Obama War By Llewyn H. Rockwell, Jr. Following the US-lobbied UN authorization of military murder in Libya, the death-dealing regime of Colonel Gaddafi said immediately that it would stop all killing. That put Obama's war on hold, for a little while. The crazy Colonel has learned a thing or two about American foreign policy. If you pretend to favor the stated goals of the empire and comply with its stated dictates, you can otherwise do what every government in the world is structured to do: stay in power at all costs. Gaddafi learned this lesson about a decade ago, when, with much fanfare, he announced that he would stop his nuclear weapons program and join the war on terror. The US then decided to rank him and his regime among the world's good guys, and proceeded to hold him up as an example of wise statesmanship. Then he proceeded to dig in more deeply and tighten his despotic control over his citizens, all with the implied blessing of the US. But this time it may not work. For weeks, American officials have been decrying Gaddafi's bloody attacks on his people, but does the US really have a problem with dictatorship of his sort? This fact is unknown to Americans, but in the Middle East, and in Arab nations in particular, American commercial interests are regarded as a force for liberation but not the US government. The US has been the key to the power of Middle East dictatorships for decades, among which are Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Yemen. I leave aside the killing of hundreds of thousands of Iaqi civilians to liberate them. So it is something of a joke that the US would push a war against Libya in order to save that country from dictatorship. More likely, the real issue here is the same one that inspired the wars against Iraq: the ownership and control of the oil. And even if freedom were the driving motivation, when in modern history has war ever actually brought that to people? All war by nation states today ends in massive civilian deaths, destruction of infrastructure, political upheaval without end (see Afghanistan and Iraq), vast expense, and bitterness all around. War will not achieve its claimed objective. It might even end up entrenching Gaddafi's power. But let's say that he ends up dead, like Saddam Hussein. What then? The new government will be handpicked by the victor, and never gain any credibility, just as in Iraq. People resent foreign conquerors even more than local despots, and this resentment is not a good foundation for a future of liberty.

California GOP Denounces Schwarzenegger Clemency (NewsMax.com) Sunday March 20, 2011

Newsmax

Calif. GOP Denounces Schwarzenegger Clemency

Sunday, March 20, 2011 06:19 PM

By:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Republican Party has denounced the decision by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to commute the sentence of the son of a political ally.

The resolution approved Sunday by delegates attending the state party's convention condemns the former Republican governor's action, which reduced the prison sentence from 16 years to seven for Esteban Nunez.

Nunez is the son of former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, a Democrat, and pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the 2008 stabbing death of a college student in San Diego.

Schwarzenegger's action during his final night in office angered the San Diego County district attorney and enraged the victim's family. Neither was notified beforehand.

The resolution condemns the commutation and "the manner in which it was done." A Schwarzenegger spokesman says the former governor declined comment.

© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Highest in the World!

U.S. Corporate Tax Rate Highest in World

We're No. 1!

But that's the bad news. After a reign as the nation with the second highest corporate income tax rate, the United States is set to move into first place when Japan lowers its rate next month.

The combined federal and state rate in the U.S. is 39.2 percent of corporate profits, a new analysis by the Tax Foundation disclosed. When Japan, which currently has a rate of 39.5 percent, enacts a planned cut of 4.5 percentage points in April, America will have the highest rate of all the economies in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the group of 34 advanced nations with economies most comparable to the U.S.

"United States companies are now in the position of trying to compete in the 21st-century world economy with a 20th-century tax system," said Scott A. Hodge, the Tax Foundation's president and author of the new study.

America has moved to the top of the corporate tax list not by raising taxes but through inaction. Between 2000 and 2010, nine OECD countries cut their corporate tax rates by double-digit figures, and almost every OECD nation has cut rates to some extent.

In the United States, on the other hand, the rate has remained essentially unchanged during that 10-year period.

Germany, which had the highest rate in 2000, 52 percent, has slashed its rate to 30.2 percent, and Canada, No. 2 in 2000, cut its rate from 42.57 to 29.52 percent.

The rate in Ireland is now just 12.5 percent, while in Iceland it is 15 percent and in Chile, 17 percent. Four other OECD nations have a rate lower than 20 percent.

Worldwide, about 75 countries have cut their rates since 2006, according to the Tax Foundation.

But 2011 marks the 20th year in which the U.S. statutory tax rate has been above the average of OECD nations.

For the United States to move to the OECD average and match China — which significantly lowered its rate in 2008 — the federal rate would have to be reduced to 20 percent.

"The scope of corporate tax reform so far endorsed by the White House would fall far short of this goal," the Tax Foundation stated.

Hodge said: "Dozens of countries around the world — including many of the United States' closest trading partners — have realized that sky-high corporate tax rates are an economic dead end.

"Now more than ever, Americans want to see policies that will help create increased growth, more jobs, and higher standards of living — exactly the things that a lower and more streamlined corporate tax system can help achieve."

And the National Center for Policy Analysis, commenting on the Foundation's report, observed: "As other nations enact reforms and rate cuts, the U.S. corporate rate will continue to stand out as a hindrance to economic growth and competitiveness unless lawmakers move to lower the tax burden for businesses."

Hawaii Elections Clerk: Obama not born here! By Joe Kovacs, WND March 13, 2011

Hawaii elections clerk: Obama not born here By Joe Kovacs, WND A college instructor who worked as a senior elections clerk for the city and county of Honolulu in 2008 is making the stunning claim Barack Obama was definitely not born in Hawaii as the White House maintains, and that a long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate for Obama does not even exist in the Aloha State. Tim Adams, a former senior elections clerk for Honolulu, now teaches English at Western Kentucky University. "There is no birth certificate," said Tim Adams, a graduate assistant who teaches English at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Ky. "It's like an open secret. There isn't one. Everyone in the government there knows this." Adams, who says he's a Hillary Clinton supporter who ended up voting for John McCain when Clinton lost the Democratic nomination to Obama, told WND, "I managed the absentee-ballot office. It was my job to verify the voters' identity." He says during the 2008 campaign when the issue of Obama's constitutional eligibility first arose, the elections office was inundated with requests to verify the birthplace of the U.S. senator from Illinois.