Sherrod Brown's False Email Response

I had sent a few days ago to the office of Ohio State Senator Sherrod Brown, an email stating NO to CAP & TAX. It was a well written email saying clearly NO!!!! This is the response I get.

Thank you for sharing your views about clean energy legislation.

Effective clean energy legislation will reduce climate pollution and promote the production of renewable energy—but most importantly it will ensure the creation of new clean energy jobs and industries. Clean energy legislation must also ensure the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers and protect consumers by keeping utility rates affordable. We must work to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by making America a global leader in clean energy manufacturing.

For this reason, I recently announced legislation called the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act. This legislation, which was included in the House energy bill, would support manufacturers' transition to the clean energy economy and ensure clean energy jobs are created here in the U.S. This legislation would create a revolving loan fund for small and medium size manufacturers to retool and expand facilities to produce clean energy technology and energy efficient products. It is estimated this measure will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

Any clean energy legislation must also prevent the serious problem of carbon leakage, which can undermine our clean energy goals. If American manufacturers are forced to move operations overseas, we would not only lose jobs but would also see the counterproductive “export” of carbon beyond our borders. To protect against the threat of carbon leakage, I have proposed several provisions that will keep energy costs low and level the playing field for domestic energy-intensive manufacturers.

I appreciate hearing your input on this important topic. As clean energy legislation continues to be discussed in Congress, I will work to ensure that an unfair burden is not placed on Ohio families and businesses. I will only support legislation that creates new jobs and economic opportunities across Ohio.

Thank you again for getting in touch with me.

Sincerely,

Sherrod Brown

United States Senator

What a joke! No wonder the Democratic party is in trouble this coming election. You would figure that after 8 years that they would get it! Guess not! Vote these idiots out of office once and for all!

Black Firefighters Can Sue

This is amazing. Now we have to have two different tests. One for whites with high standards and another with lower standards for all others. Don't you just love it!! I bet that if the whites scored lower, then it would be, "Oh well!" Maybe others did not score well enough because they are not smart enough or didn't study long enough. If you can't pass a test, then you do FAIL! You are putting others life in danger because of your short comings. Choose a new career that doesn't put others in arms way.

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer – 19 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a group of African Americans did not wait too long to sue Chicago over a hiring test they challenged as discriminatory, freeing them to collect a lower court judgment.

It is the second time in as many years that the high court has a 5-4 decision said New Haven, Conn., violated white firefighters' civil rights, throwing out an exam in which no African-Americans scored high enough to be promoted to lieutenant or captain.

In Monday's opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the court that the applicants' lawsuit over a city of Chicago test used to weed out potential firefighter trainee applicants was not too late.

"Today, the Supreme Court affirmed that job-seekers should not be denied justice based on a technicality," said John Payton, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., who argued the case. "This victory goes well beyond the immediate results in Chicago. It should ensure that no other fire department or employer uses a discriminatory test, and LDF will go the extra mile to make sure that they do not."

Anyone who scored 64 or below was deemed not qualified. But the city set a second cutoff score of 89 points.

Officials told applicants who scored below 89 but above 64 that although they passed the test, they likely would not be hired because of the large number of people who scored 89 or above. The majority of those in the top-scoring group were white; only 11 percent were black.

People are supposed to sue within 300 days after an employment action they seek to challenge as unlawful.

The city says the clock started when it announced the use of the test scores on Jan. 26, 1996. The first lawsuit in the case was filed on March 31, 1997, 430 days after the city announced the results.

But the plaintiffs say a new act of discrimination also happened each time the scores were used in hiring firefighter trainees between May 1996 and October 2001.

A U.S. District judge agreed with the black applicants. After an eight-day trial, the federal judge ordered the city to hire 132 randomly selected African American applicants who scored above 64. The court also ordered the city to count up the backpay and divide it among the rest of the applicants.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago overturned that decision.

In Monday's high court ruling, Scalia said: "It may be true that the City's January 1996 decision to adopt the cutoff score (and to create a list of the applicants above it) gave rise to a freestanding disparate impact claim. ... But it does not follow that no new violation occurred — and no new claims could arise — when the City implemented that decision down the road. If petitioners could prove that the City 'used' the 'practice' that 'causes a disparate impact,' they could prevail."

City officials and business groups argue that the court's decision allowing the black firefighter lawsuit and judgment will cause a host of legal problems for them, including opening them to lawsuits claiming unintended discrimination "for practices they have used regularly for years."

"It is not our task to assess the consequences of each approach and adopt the one that produces the least mischief," Scalia wrote. "Our charge is to give effect to the law Congress enacted ... Congress allowed claims to be brought against an employer who uses a practice that causes disparate impact, whatever the employer's motive and whether or not he has employed the same practice in the past. If that effect was unintended, it is a problem for Congress, not one that federal courts can fix."

The case is Lewis v. Chicago, 08-974.

I'm Back

I'm back finally!! This was getting to be like a full time job. Now I have free time and will be turning this blog into a "Take Back America" blog. Stay tuned!!

Cloning Food

I was not happy to find out that we may be consuming cloned products and the FDA is not going to make it official that manufactures must place labels specifing the product is cloned. I think I will now stick to all organic beef and stay away from corn product. I'll turn to wheat. I do not trust the government or anyone who approves of this. Very little research has been done on this and yet it is being approved. One kind of wonders what type of new diseases will be formed. Just think how rich the drug companies and the health insurances will become because of this. What a conspiracy theory this would make!

Below is an article I found which is worth reading.

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Cloning promises many benefits, not least through replicating embryonic stem cells, which may be used to repair and replace organs. Though this is a vexed issue politically, a bill currently under debate in the Senate would allow the use of "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (or cloning) in taking genetic information from human embryonic stem cells and implanting it in other cells for therapeutic purposes.
The same process, used for reproductive ends, results in cloned animals. Yet the outcomes aren't always as hoped. Consider Chance, a sweet, Ferdinand-like bull first reported on in This American Life, whose owner, distraught at the bull's death, had the animal cloned only to be gored by Second Chance. So it's fair to say that the cattle industry is on the horns of a dilemma, facing a reticent public, according to a 2006 poll by the industry-supported International Food Information Council (IFIC), which found that 59 percent of respondents wouldn't buy foods from cloned animals or their offspring even if the FDA said it was safe. Only 16 percent of U.S. adults hold a favorable impression of animal cloning. The industry has been careful to maintain a voluntary ban on selling cloned animal foods, though IFIC's website states that "cloning allows farmers and ranchers to reproduce the most productive, healthiest animals."
The voluntary moratorium on food from cloned animals still stands, but the day of its retirement may be fast approaching. Last December, FDA announced that its peer-reviewed risk assessment on the safety of meat and milk from cloned pigs, cattle and goats had determined that these foods were as safe as those from non-cloned animals and fit for human consumption. Due to lack of information, the FDA recommended against eating food products from sheep clones. Currently, the FDA is accepting public comments on their risk assessment, management plan and draft industry guidance and have extended the comment period by a month. Meanwhile, the European Union, recognizing that member countries may find themselves importing meat from cloned animals (or the descendents of those animals), have assigned the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) the task of determining not only the safety of food from cloned animals but what effect they might have on the environment.
With the public evidently concerned about cloned food, vocal criticisms of the FDA's report followed quickly. In late March, the non-profit Center for Food Safety (CFS) challenged the FDA's position, noting that there will be no labeling for food derived from clones and that cloning can result in the deaths of cows, high percentages of failed pregnancies and on-going health problems for the clone. While CFS also warns about the loss of genetic differences that may make more animals vulnerable to disease, Greg Jaffe, director of Center for Science in the Public Interest's biotechnology project, notes that since one bull may father a thousand calves, "we are currently really reducing the biodiversity of livestock." Jaffe suggests that cloning may even increase the biodiversity of cattle if genes that fight against bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease) and other ailments can be spread to vulnerable animals.
In the pork industry, on the other hand, cloning may not even end up as much of an issue. "Cloning is extremely expensive compared to natural mating," says Mark Boggess, Ph.D., director of animal science at the National Pork Board, adding, "If you have a boar that you might want to clone, through our breeding programs that boar already has sons that are as good or better." Pigs have such a high reproductive rate over such a short interval, Boggess says the incentive is much less than in cattle.
Even with organic foods, there is a chance that cloning may be allowed, since other reproductive techniques such as in vitro fertilization are accepted by the USDA's National Organic Program. Cloning isn't explicitly forbidden under the USDA's organic standards and an advisory panel for the Department of Agriculture will consider the issue this spring.

Dallas Comes Away A Loser

I cannot believe Dallas lost after having a great season! As far as I am concerned, Dallas only beat themselves. Kind of reminds me of the Wolverines. Can't win when your receivers drop passes. One had a good chance to be a touchdown.

Romo needs to learn to throw the ball away if he is out of the pocket instead of getting sacked. Comes with experience I guess. Penalities don't help either. How disappointing this is to the fans! Oh well, I guess there is next year. Go San Diego!!

Divisional Playoffs

Divisional playoffs are this weekend. Go Cowboys!
I am rooting for Jacksonville this time around. I would like to see Fred Taylor get a ring before he retires. He is so under rated and looked great towards the end of the season.




NFC - Seattle @ Greenbay
Sat. 4:30 PM on Fox

AFC - Jacksonville @ New England
Sat. 8:00 PM on CBS
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AFC - San Diego @ Indianapolis
Sun. 1:00 PM on CBS

NFC - New York Giants @ Dallas
Sun. 4:30 PM on Fox

LSU National Champions

Congratulations LSU!
Down with the Bucks!
Someone needed to put them in their place. I did think that Chris Wells did a fantastic job for the Buckeyes and I'm looking forward in seeing him next year. I'm also looking forward seeing him play for the NFL! We need more runningbacks for fantasy football since many are getting to be over the hill or just plain overrated.
Now that a new coach is in store for the Wolverines, maybe they can defeat Ohio State in 2008. We''ll see.

Iowa Caucus

I can't believe Governor Huckabee actually won! What a turn of events. This election should be exciting, but I don't see him winning New Hampshire. I just don't want to see a religious movement moving into the Whitehouse! There is no room for State and Church. A disaster waiting to happen. This is what I want.

Stop the pork spending.

Do not raise taxes! Stop the spending and we will have money.

Fix social security! If I am contributing money for this, I had better see my money. Maybe a lawsuit would come in handy. Isn't that theft when you get right down to it.

Get out of the Middle East as soon as possible.

Start taking care of The American People!

Here is an article from CNN:

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With all Democratic precincts reporting, Obama had the support of 38 percent of voters, compared to 30 percent for John Edwards and 29 percent for Hillary Clinton. "The numbers tell us this was a debate between change and experience, and change won," said CNN political analyst Bill Schneider.
Iowa delivered fatal blows to the campaigns of Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. Both have decided to abandon their White House runs.
New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who finished fourth, said his campaign plans to "take the fight to New Hampshire.
New Hampshire holds the nation's first primary Tuesday. Clinton and Obama are in a statistical dead heat in New Hampshire, according to the latest CNN/WMUR poll.
On the GOP side, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, whose campaign was languishing six months ago, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney are now tied for first place in New Hampshire, according to the poll, which was released Wednesday.
McCain left Iowa before caucus night even began. He was already in New Hampshire by Thursday afternoon, trying to get a jump on his rivals. For the winners of both party's caucuses in Iowa, it's an age revolt for Democrats versus a religious revolt for Republicans, Schneider said.

Among Democrats, Obama took 57 percent of the under-30 vote, according to CNN's analysis of entrance polls. Speaking to supporters, Obama called the night a "defining moment in history."
"You came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents to stand up and say that we are one nation, we are one people and our time for change has come.
Huckabee's victory can be attributed to his overwhelming support among evangelical voters and women, the polls indicate.
With 92 percent of Republican precincts reporting, Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, had the support of 34 percent of voters, compared to 25 percent for Romney.

Fred Thompson had 13 percent, McCain had 13 percent and Ron Paul had 10 percent.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has turned the focus of his campaign to the February 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries, trailed with 4 percent.
"We've paid a lot of attention to states that some other candidates haven't paid a lot of attention to," Giuliani said, adding, "Time will tell what the best strategy is."
Huckabee was vastly outspent by Romney, who poured millions of dollars into a sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation.
"People really are more important than the purse, and what a great lesson for America to learn," Huckabee said in thanking his supporters.
For most of 2007, Huckabee languished in the single digits in the polls and had very little success raising money. But his momentum picked up in the final six weeks of the year when social conservatives -- an important voting bloc in Iowa -- began to move his way.
"We won the silver ... You win the silver in one event. It doesn't mean you're not going to come back and win the gold in the final event, and that we are going to do," Romney said.
Clinton, speaking with 96 percent of the vote in, portrayed herself as the candidate who could bring about the change the voters want. "I am so ready for the rest of this campaign, and I am so ready to lead," she said.
Clinton had worked to convince Iowa caucus-goers she has the experience to enact change, while Edwards and Obama preached that she is too much of a Washington insider to bring change to the nation's capital.
Edwards, in a tight race for second, said Iowa's results show that "the status quo lost and change won."
"Now we move on ... to determine who is best suited to bring about the changes this country so desperately needs," he said.
McCain, who had largely abandoned Iowa to focus on the New Hampshire primary, said, "The lessons of tonight's election in Iowa are that one, you can't buy an election in Iowa; and two, that negative campaigns don't work."
With such a close race on both sides, voter turnout was key. The Iowa Democratic Party reported seeing record turnout. The party said there were at least 227,000 caucus attendees.
The Iowa GOP projected that 120,000 people took part in the Republican caucuses. The Iowa Democratic Party said 124,000 people participated in the 2004 caucuses, while the Republican Party of Iowa estimated that 87,000 people took part in the 2000 caucuses. (President Bush ran unchallenged for a second term in 2004.)
Caucus-goer Kathy Barger, inside a Democratic caucus site in Walnut, Iowa, said the room she was in was packed to the brim with a line out the door.

Happy New Years!

Happy New Years!

Blog at you next year.

Asteroid Collison?

Astronomers have good news, better news and some bad news about an asteroid known as 2007 WD5. The good news is that this 164-ft.-wide chunk of speeding space rock, discovered in November in an ongoing search for potential threats to Earth, won't hit our planet any time in the foreseeable future. The better news — for eager space-watchers — is that the asteroid, currently about halfway between Earth and Mars, has a plausible chance of hitting the Red Planet at the end of January. If it does, astronomers will be treated to an unprecedented sight.
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The Mars Rover is still sending striking images back from the surface of the Red Planet

The event itself, however, will have plenty of precedent. The craters that pock the surface of Mars, the Moon, Mercury and other Solar System bodies come from about four billion years' worth of this sort of thing. Earth has had plenty of collisions too; it's just that erosion, continental drift and vegetation have erased or hidden most of them. Not all, though: Meteor Crater, in Arizona, was blasted out some 50,000 years ago by an asteroid about the same size as 2007 WD5. A much bigger object, a few miles across, is thought by many scientists to be the reason the dinosaurs died out some 65 million years ago.
If 2007 WD5 does smack into Mars, every telescope on Earth will be pointed in that direction — just as they were in 1994 when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter. In that case, the comet broke up while it was still in orbit, so astronomers watched nearly two dozen individual impacts. But Jupiter is made mostly of thick clouds, so there was no lasting scar, and because it lies so far from Earth, the event wasn't quite as spectacular as this one promises to be. Asteroid 2007 WD5 should release some 3 megatons of energy if it slams into solid ground near Mars' equator, and orbiting satellites will show the aftermath with crystal clarity.
Finally, the bad news: 2007 WD5 has only a 1-in-75 chance of actually hitting Mars, which means astronomers would be wise to be pessimistic. But the possibility of impact calls to mind a loosely related incident that occurred almost exactly 100 years ago, when something exploded above the Tunguska region of Siberia, flattening trees in a 25-mile radius, their trunks pointing outward from the epicenter of the blast. Scientists are pretty sure it was a comet or asteroid — about the same size as 2007 WD5, as it happens — that disintegrated from its own shock wave as it plowed through the atmosphere. (UFO enthusiasts have long been convinced it was a flying saucer that somehow made it across trillions of miles of interstellar space safely, only to blow up above Russia.) The scientific explanation would account for the aerial explosion, and also the fact that no crater has been found.
Except that now maybe it has. An Italian team has measured seismic waves reflecting off a high-density spot in the bottom of the suspiciously crater-shaped Lake Cheko, which lies close to the event's ground zero. It could be a piece of the original object — and finding it could help investigators understand exactly what happened a century ago.
If they find a burned-out flying-saucer engine, all bets are off.

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I would love to see this if it happens! This would give us a chance to see what would happen, but from a safe distance. Thank you!