NC House Votes Down Special Interest "Walk Around Money"

Twenty eight NC House republicans stood by their principles and voted against a crony capitalist bill.  Leadership was split on HB 1224 with U.S. Senate nominee Thom Tillis supporting this “business as usual” legislation.  That’s change in you can believe in, folks.  How pathetic.

At least there are some politicians who refuse to be buffaloed.

Speaker Pro Tem Skip Stam, R-Wake, and Majority Leader Edgar Starnes, R-Caldwell, opposed the legislation. Also in opposition were the Finance Committee’s senior chairwoman, Rep. Julia Howard, R-Davie, and Co-Chairman Mitchell Setzer, R-Catawba. 

First-term Rep. Michael Speciale, R-Craven, made an impassioned plea for members to oppose the bill. Speciale spoke about watching House sessions from the chamber’s balcony for 14 years, watching Republicans argue against “walk-around money” for special incentives to politically favored businesses.

“I thought, ‘Oh, if only the Republicans could be in charge — and that’s what a lot of the state thought — if only the Republicans were in charge, they would fix this,’” Speciale said. “They would quit taking money out of my pocket and give it to someone else.”

Speciale said Republicans now were being asked to support “the very thing that we argued year after year after year [against]. … The only thing I can say is, Please think about what you’re doing here.” 

Yeah, please do.

Source:  http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=11308

North Carolina Politicians Pander to Illegal Aliens

Politicians and pandering is a time honored tradition.  Special interest groups and their deafening squawks for a teat drown out the silent majority.  What is truly reprehensible is the amount of influence illegal aliens has over our elected representatives.  From the state to the federal level, everyone seems to be on board to legitimize these non-citizens.  North Carolina is no different.

In 2006, the Old North State passed a law no longer granting illegal aliens a driver’s license.  I remember what it was like to renew mine before that.  It was hell.  The “undocumented” within a 500 mile radius swarmed into North Carolina.  I thought I was transported into a foreign country.  Hardly any applicant spoke English.

 

Now, our legislators are making the same mistakes in the guise of “public safety.” 

The legislation comes as the U.S. Senate looks ready to take up its own bipartisan legislation following a push from GOP leaders to moderate its tone toward the Latino community. Rep. Harry Warren, R-Rowan, and a primary sponsor, called the measure a "public safety" bill that strikes a balanced approach in an interview Thursday.

"To recognize that people here illegally are driving uninsured and untested and to do nothing about it is irresponsible," he said. "The federal government has tied our hands in so many ways with how we can address the illegal population, but this is one way we can."

The restricted licenses come with special identification numbers, a vertical format set apart from the usual horizontal design and a statement declaring the permit can't be used to verify legal residency. Applicants have to submit to criminal background checks, provide a passport or federal tax form, proof of insurance and proof of at least a year's residency in North Carolina that began prior to April 1, 2013.

Let’s translate that into what is happening on our southern border, since Obama declared de facto amnesty for a subset of illegal aliens:

Officials say the number of people entering the U.S. illegally is way up and, tragically, the number of undocumented immigrants who have been found dead in the unforgiving Texas Brush Country is way up, and is on path this year to beat last year's record for the number of people found dead in the ranch country.

Linda Vickers, who owns a ranch in Brooks County, which is Ground Zero for the immigration debate, pins the blame directly on talk of 'amnesty' and a 'path to citizenship' for people who entered the U.S. illegally.

She recalls one man being arrested on her ranch not long ago.

"The Border Patrol agent was loading one man up, and he told the officer in Spanish, 'Obama's gonna let me go'."

Border Patrol agents report that immigrants are crossing the border, and in some cases surrendering while asking, “Where do I go for my amnesty?”

"When you have amnesty waving in the wind, you're going to get an increase," Vickers says. "And when you get an increase, especially with this heat, you're going to get an increase in deaths."

She says the current increase in illegal immigrant entries began last summer, at almost exactly the same time as President Obama unilaterally announced plans to no longer deport young people who came to the U.S. as children with their illegal immigrant parents.

 We should’ve learned from the failures of the Simpson-Mazzoli Act.  But politicians don’t care about past mistakes.  They only care about pandering to special interest groups.

Source: http://radio.woai.com/articles/woai-local-news-119078/obama-will-let-me-out-11180453/#ixzz2QMKO0aD6

 http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20130411/APN/1304110776?tc=ar

The Democratic Party's Patchwork Quilt of Special Interest Groups is Fraying

The Democratic Party’s patchwork quilt of special interest groups is starting to fray at the edges. The stitches of patronage, paternalism, and pandering can’t hold these single issue constituents together. The ideological fabric is beginning to tear. And the protestors who will march on the DNC convention in Charlotte, NC are a permanent stain on a failed platform that is designed to divide, instead of unite the American people.

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police spokesman stated that over 5000 protestors are expected to swarm “uptown.” And if you look at the participants, you’ll realize these are the Democratic Party’s constituents.

The Coalition to March on Wall Street South includes almost 80 groups who plan to participate in large-scale demonstrations before and during the convention, focused on social and economic issues.

Among the members are the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, AFL-CIO, which hopes to put a spotlight on labor issues, especially those specific to North Carolina.

The convention officially starts Tuesday but gears up on Labor Day with CarolinaFest 2012, a free event uptown that organizers hope will draw thousands. The family friendly event will include music and food vendors.

That same day, labor groups will gather at the Southern Workers Assembly at Wedgewood Baptist Church. That’s off Tyvola Road, near Marion Diehl Park, several miles from the uptown festivities.

“Our goal is to use the national attention and the spotlight around the DNC to highlight some of the pretty serious issues facing farm workers and North Carolinian workers,” said Justin Flores, the director of programs for the farm labor group.

Chapters from UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Asheville and N.C. State’s Students for Democratic Society will also converge as part of the coalition. Students from other areas will also be bused from eastern North Carolina, Greensboro and Asheville, Hickson said.

The only group not mentioned is the illegal alien lobby. I imagine they’re too busy. After all, somebody has to do the work Americans refuse to do. So, I’m told.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/08/04/3431513/protesters-make-their-dnc-plans.html

Demorats Sound Special Interest Clarion Call

The Demorats have sounded the Horn of Gondor, and all of their fellow vermin have answered the clarion call. 400 lobbyists gathered at the behest of Senator Harkin. The free cheese is about to be skimmed from the pig trough, and the gluttons of taxpayer largess are concerned about their livelihood.

"One thing everyone should be able to agree on now is that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that a higher [Labor, Health & Human Services] allocation improves the chances for every stakeholder group to receive more funding," the committee staffer for Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, wrote in an e-mail inviting people to the meeting.

Burdensome taxes and regulations may raise their boats, but it sinks everyone elses.

We all know what is going to happen when the Republicans cut the budget. One rat attendee had this self-serving comment:

"Everyone who was there was desperately concerned and very appreciative of being in a room seeing so many people like them who are also concerned," said a source who attended the meeting.


"We obviously have to cut the budget deficit and address the debt problem, but are we going to do that on the backs of the poor, the unemployed, those without child care, et cetera? That's the kind of thing that could halt the economic recovery in its tracks."

We are about to have a replay of the 90’s budget battle. Here comes demagoguery:

Another source familiar with the meeting said Democrats used the meeting as "an attack on House Republicans."


"They said these evil House Republicans are here and they're going to kill all these programs that support little kids, senior citizens, and health care," the source said. "They're trying to instill the fear of God that Republicans are basically going to blow up all these programs, kill these programs, defund them."


"It seemed to me like they are trying to build momentum to push the Republicans back on their promises on funding levels and I think – to their credit – they were reaching out to a vast number of organizations to build a coalition of people who are willing to take action against whatever may come out of the House."

Does anyone remember Nancy Pelosi’s speech on special interest?





The stink of desperation is wafting over D.C. and the country is witnessing which party belongs to the special interest groups and who is for the people.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/senators-issue-call-arms-lobbyists-ahead-proposed-spending/story?id=12834989&page=2

AARP IN BED WITH OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

Bloomberg News is reporting that the Obama administration wants to start a dialogue on how to convert retirement savings into a reliable stream of revenue for retirees: “The U. S. Treasury and Labor departments will ask for public comment as soon as this week on ways to promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams, according to Assistant Labor Secretary Phyllis C. Borzi and Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Iwry, who are spearheading the effort.”

After the 2008 stock market contraction, which many saw a 30% plus decline in their portfolios, the federal government has taken it upon themselves to protect investors from the vicissitudes of the market. Rahm Emmanuel’s dictum: never let a crisis go to waste; is about to play out before our very eyes; and AARP is about to benefit once again from policies propelled by the Obama administration.

In the ensuing health care debate (if one wishes to call it a debate) the democrats proposed to cut $400 billion in Medicare and $150 billion in Medicare Advantage. Medicare Advantage gives seniors the option to join private plans that pay upwards to 12% in health care benefits than traditional Medicare. This cut would be a cash cow for AARP through its Medigap program, which is a supplemental insurance program to Medicaid. Medigap produces 70% of AARP’s annual income.

It seems that AARP is about to have another “windfall profit”. In 2007 AARP announced they were getting into the annuity business with New York Life Insurance Co. Now members of the Obama administration are trying to convert retirement savings into annuities. Just how cozy is AARP with the federal government and the current administration?

Barry Rand CEO of AARP gave Barack Obama the maximum donation of $8900 and a total amount of $15,900 to democratic candidates dating back to 1995.

AARP gets millions in grants from the federal government. John Carlisle wrote an article in Human Events outlining the largess:

Five cabinet level agencies dispense grants to AARP. The large majority of the money comes from one Department of Labor grant. For the year ending December 31, 2003 when AARP received $68 million in federal funding, the Labor Department gave AARP $63.3 million for its Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), a job training program for low-income senior citizens. The second largest federal grant maker is the IRS. That year, the IRS gave AARP $3.4 million as part of the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program, which provides volunteers to help seniors complete their federal taxes. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) gave $626,279 for its Housing Counseling Assistance Program.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) gave $444,493 for various special programs, typically legal assistance and Medicare fraud prevention programs. The Department of Justice (DOJ) gave $15,000 for telemarketing fraud prevention.The Labor Department’s SCSEP grant for the year beginning in July 2004 and ending in July 2005 was $75 million, which accounts for nearly 90 percent of the $83 million in federal grant money AARP received as of December 31, 2004. The proposed IRS grant for the TCE program in fiscal year 2006 is $4.1 million.

AARP is a registered non-for-profit organization. However, it makes millions on royalties and service provider management fees from its corporate sponsors, while receiving grants from the federal government. It seems that this organization has a special status, unlike any other organization. And right now they are dictating policy that profits them at the expense of the citizenry.

Source: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/02/aarp_annuity.html http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=10731 http://michellemalkin.com/2009/09/22/hmmm-is-the-aarp-getting-kickbacks-from-obamacare/
http://www.galen.org/component,8/action,show_content/id,13/blog_id,1304/category_id,6/type,33/