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TAXPAYER
BREAKING NEWS, May, 2007 May 31,
2007. Examiner editorial: What's Anne Arundel Hiding?
"Either Anne Arundel
County handwrites records, or officials are purposefully trying to thwart
taxpayers from reviewing how much they are paying their county employees." May 30, 2007. Making the pain worse - commentary by Ben Lieberman in the Washington Times. "Instead, several new bills seek to pile on even more restrictions and red tape, which would further drive down oil production in the years ahead. How lower supplies of American oil will benefit the driving public is something proponents of these measures have yet to explain. The above-mentioned efforts, if successful, should be enough to end $3-a-gallon gas -- and replace it with $4 a gallon. But Congress is considering other measures that could send prices far higher." May 30,
2007. Lawmakers renew effort for health coverage,
reports Kristen Wyatt for the Associated Press. "Maryland
lawmakers began work yesterday on another effort to expand health coverage
-- but they were warned by several specialists that the task will be both
difficult and expensive." May 25, 2007. Lawmaker renews call to raise tax on alcoholic beverages, reports Alan Brody in the Gazette. "But Bruce C. Bereano, an Annapolis lobbyist who represents the Licensed Beverage Distributors of Maryland, said higher taxes will hurt Maryland businesses. 'You increase the tax, and everybody’s going to go to the District to buy their friendly drinks,' he said." May 25,
2007. Taxpayer Voices Taxpayer Voices Question
Prince George’s Phone Tax Hike. Prince George’s OKs $2.64 billion
budget, But phone tax issue remains unresolved, reports Judson Berger
in the Gazette. "But the phone tax increase has generated
opposition from residents who say the county can’t impose it without
voter approval. Opponents say the county is trying to circumvent a 1996
measure that requires any new taxes or fees to be approved by referendum.
'I just think it should be shot down completely,' said activist Judy Robinson,
who helped push the referendum measure in 1996. 'The law is very clear.
There are no gray areas here,' she said.'The issues are the excessiveness
of the tax, and that the voters are being denied their say,' said Tara
Potter, assistant vice president for Verizon, a telephone service provider." May 25,
3007. Charles Stadium Bid Still Over Budget, reports
Alan Brody in the Gazette."After the Waldorf site was identified,
the county, state and a private baseball investor, Opening Day Partners,
agreed to contribute $7 million apiece for the project. The bid award
puts the state share at about $8.7 million, while the county and team
owner will pay about $8.5 million." May 22, 2007. Federal Interference in State Highway Public-Private Partnerships Is Unwarranted, A Response to Oberstar and DeFazio, write Robert Poole and Peter Samuel in Reason. "The letter repeatedly alleges states are in a 'rush' to sign public-private partnership deals. There is no rush. The states have each taken time to consider and pass public-private partnership legislation, moving carefully to make amendments where problems have arisen. For example, Texas is currently updating its public-private partnership law to address taxpayer concerns. The states that are furthest advanced - Texas, Georgia and Virginia - now have a carefully evolved legislative and regulatory framework for PPPs and considerable expertise based on experience in handling them." May 23, 2007. Congressman Roscoe Bartlett voted against "the feel good, but counterproductive" Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act (H.R. 1252), reports Congressman Bartlett's office. "'Congress can't suspend the economic laws of supply and demand,' said Congressman Bartlett. "This well-intentioned, but destructive bill, would take us back to the future of the 1970's policies of Jimmy Carter that led to gasoline shortages, gas lines and rationing.' The Federal Trade Commission found no evidence of price gouging from investigations after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Nowhere in H.R. 1252 are key terms such as 'unconscionably excessive,' 'unfair advantage,' 'unreasonably,' 'reasonably foreseeable,' 'grossly exceeds,' 'reasonably reflected,' 'substantially attributable,' or 'usual seasonal demand variations' defined explicitly." May 22, 2007. Federal Interference in State Highway Public-Private Partnerships Is Unwarranted, argues a Reason Foundation report by Robert W. Poole, Jr. and Peter Samuel. “Public-private partnerships certainly offer states, taxpayers, and commuters a lot more than two congressman butting into state business.” May 21, 2007. In the National Review, MTA's Jim Boulet, executive director of English First, details Hillary’s immigration dilemma - - - If she supports English requirements, this immigration bill isn’t for her. "Section 702 claims to protect English but actually mandates multilingualism. A more concise version would read, 'English is OK unless the government decides otherwise.' And the government has often decided otherwise. You are also well aware that, thanks to your husband’s Executive Order 13166, the only time anyone can legally be required to demonstrate even a modest knowledge of America’s national language is during his one-time citizenship test. Furthermore, E.O. 13166 and its accompanying regulations require all recipients of federal funds to provide its services in whatever language a person may request (even Klingon, it would seem), and at no cost. You hope no one notices this immigration bill would codify E.O. 13166 in far more permanent legislation." May 19, 2007.O'Malley making case for tax rise reports Tom LoBianco in the Washington Times. "Mr. O'Malley has said he expects to raise taxes, but has not specified how or when. The governor bought himself one year to build the case for budget cuts, tax increases and legalized slot machines when he drew from the state's savings accounts, and he has spent the past few weeks making his public pitch."
May 17,
2007. MTA's Jim Boulet executive director of English First,
warns of expensive guests. "On page 32296 of its E.O.
13166 “policy guidance,” the Department of Labor actually recommends
the hiring of two or more interpreters for every unemployment-insurance
applicant who claims difficulties with the English language:
May 17, 2007. Iran crosses the red line, writes MTA's former President Kenneth Timmerman in FrontPageMag.com. "ElBaradei and the New York Times are hoping that the U.S. will now see reason, and make accommodations with a nuclear Iran. But appeasement will only encourage Tehran’s leaders to become bolder and more brazen. (To Nick Burns’s credit, he has rejected that temptation.) The way forward has been blazed by the Department of Treasury, and by courageous and imaginative state legislators in California, Maryland, and Ohio, and by the State Treasury of Missouri, Sarah Steelman." May 16, 2007. Eminent domain questioned in city, county, writes Rita Chappelle in The Examiner. “'The city thinks they can just go around seizing people’s land for their own purposes,” said John Murphy, who is one of the top eminent domain lawyers in the state. “Promising private owners’ properties to developers even before going to court to legitimately seize it. Just look at how they promised the Weinberg Foundation privately held property in the city’s Westside. It’s unimaginable.” May 15, 2007. Climate Momentum Shifting: Prominent Scientists Reverse Belief in Man-made Global Warming - Now Skeptics; Growing Number of Scientists Convert to Skeptics After Reviewing New Research, writes Marc Moano on the U.S. Senate Committeer on Environment and Public Work website. "The names included below are just a sampling of the prominent scientists who have spoken out recently to oppose former Vice President Al Gore, the United Nations, and the media driven 'consensus' on man-made global warming. The list below is just the tip of the iceberg. A more detailed and comprehensive sampling of scientists who have only recently spoken out against climate hysteria will be forthcoming in a soon to be released U.S. Senate report." May 14, 2007.Cutting the Grass; Congressional Democrats prepare another assault on the First Amendment, werites John Fund in the Opinion Journal."But the legislation may be amended on the floor to restrict grassroots groups that encourage citizens to contact members of Congress. The amendment, pushed by Rep. Marty Meehan of Massachusetts, would require groups that organize such grassroots campaigns to register as "lobbyists" and file detailed quarterly reports on their donors and activities. The law would apply to any group that took in at least $100,000 in any given quarter for 'paid communications campaigns' aimed at mobilizing the public." May 11, 2007. Governor wants $200M cut in 30 days; O'Malley begins push to fill $1.5B hole by seeking spending efficiencies, writes Alan Brody in the Gazette. ‘‘'It appears to be a little sugar to make the pill go down easier,' said Richard Falknor, executive vice president of the Maryland Taxpayers Association. 'The governor should be commended for any sensible cut, but unless he makes systemic changes, it’s not going to change a thing and we’re going to be hit with a tax tsunami.'” May 11, 2005. Examiner Editorial: Edison Schools deserves fair shake. "As Dwayne Andrews, Edison’s vice president for government relations ,said, 'If we are not doing our job then we can be fired.' The same cannot be said for the city’s school system, where parents of children in chronically failing schools have few if any options." May 8, 2007. AIM Editor to Confront Post Chairman on Financial Assistance for Illegal Aliens, writes Sarah Schaerr Norton in an AIM press release - call (202) 364-4401 ext. 107. "CASA of Maryland, which distributes an eight-page book telling illegal aliens how to avoid law enforcement authorities, names the Philip L. Graham Fund as one of its financial supporters in its annual report. The Graham Fund is staffed by current and former officials of the Washington Post and includes Donald E. Graham, chairman of the board and CEO of The Washington Post Company, as a trustee." May 7,
2007.Guide coaches
illegals on raids, reports Jerry Seper in the Washington Times.
"Demos Chrissos, who co-founded Citizens Above Party in
Maryland to investigate suspected links between illegal immigration and
widespread voter fraud, said the book's distribution warranted an investigation
to determine whether taxpayer funds were being used to advance CASA's
agenda. 'Is CASA using the people's money to fund their own agenda and
is that not worthy of an investigation?' Mr. Chrissos said. 'I'd like
to see how they justify putting out a publication on how to skirt U.S.
immigration law.'" May 7,
2007. Tax
Increases Ahead: The Impact of the House Budget Resolution, By
Congressional District, reports Shanea Watkins, Ph.D., of the Heritage
Foundation. May 7, 2007. Bush Pushes Amnesty for Illegals, writes Andy Selepak of Accuracy in Media."Les Kinsolving of Baltimore’s WCBM asked deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino why there was no invitation to the hosts participating in the 'Hold Their Feet to the Fire' event to come to the White House for a meeting with Bush. He said, 'The President has more than once invited up to two dozen talk-radio hosts to broadcast from the White House. But now, while three dozen are broadcasting on Capitol Hill for three days on illegal immigration, we have received no such presidential invitation or even word of welcome. And my question, does the President wish we would all go home?'” May 6,
2007. Md.
joins pollution pact; Ten states to seek ways to address climate
change, reports Andrew A. Green in the Baltimore Sun. "When
fully phased in, RGGI will force a 10 percent reduction of carbon dioxide
emissions from power plants in 10 Northeastern states, and O'Malley said
that given the magnitude of the threat posed by global warming, that agreement
must be only a starting point for Maryland. May 4, 2007. Motorists pay the price at the pump; Reuters: Gasoline prices hit $3 ad refiners strain, writes Matthew Dempsey on the U.S. Senate's Environmental and Public Works blog. "As Chairman, Senator Inhofe conducted a hearing to examine the environmental regulations in the refining industry in 2004. At that hearing, Senator Inhofe stated: '“In this constrained market, we must consider the environmental and the economic. More stringent environmental regulations mean that refiners must make environmental upgrades rather than increase capacity to meet consumer demand. But you don’t just have to take my word for it - the Energy Information Administration concluded that tighter product specifications will result in: Increased likelihood of outages; diminished yields of prime fuels; and additional investment hurdles for small refiners.'The 2004 hearing was one of several to examine the issue which eventually led to Senator Inhofe introducing the Gas Price Act which would improve and expand domestic refining capacity in the United States." May 4,
2007. John R. Bolton's Acceptance
Remarks for the 2007 Bradley Prizes Awards Ceremony at the American Enterprise
Institute. "In my first significant government job, General Counsel
of the Agency for International Development in 1981, I decided I should
make decisions by asking myself, 'what would Ronald Reagan decide if he
were sitting in my chair?' I see nothing extraordinary or meritorious
about following this course of action, which is a simple extrapolation
from the democratic legitimacy constitutionally conferred on a President.
The Supreme Court said as much in Myers v. United States: 'Each
head of a department is and must be the President's alter ego in the matters
of that department. . . .' In a specific example, in Ponzi v. Fessenden,
the Court said: 'The Attorney General is . . . the hand of the President
in taking care that the laws of the United States be faithfully executed.
'Below the Cabinet level, other Presidential appointees carry his democratic
legitimacy deeper into the bureaucracy, and should have as their primary
objective the implementation of the President's policies. May 4, 2007. Motorists pay the price at the pump; Reuters: Gasoline prices hit $3 ad refiners strain, writes Matthew Dempsey on the U.S. Senate's Environmental and Public Works blog. "As Chairman, Senator Inhofe conducted a hearing to examine the environmental regulations in the refining industry in 2004. At that hearing, Senator Inhofe stated: '“In this constrained market, we must consider the environmental and the economic. More stringent environmental regulations mean that refiners must make environmental upgrades rather than increase capacity to meet consumer demand. But you don’t just have to take my word for it - the Energy Information Administration concluded that tighter product specifications will result in: Increased likelihood of outages; diminished yields of prime fuels; and additional investment hurdles for small refiners.'The 2004 hearing was one of several to examine the issue which eventually led to Senator Inhofe introducing the Gas Price Act which would improve and expand domestic refining capacity in the United States." May 4, 2007. John
R. Bolton's Acceptance
Remarks for the 2007 Bradley Prizes Awards Ceremony at the American
Enterprise Institute. "In my first significant government job, General
Counsel of the Agency for International Development in 1981, I decided
I should make decisions by asking myself, 'what would Ronald Reagan decide
if he were sitting in my chair?' I see nothing extraordinary or meritorious
about following this course of action, which is a simple extrapolation
from the democratic legitimacy constitutionally conferred on a President.
The Supreme Court said as much in Myers v. United States: 'Each head of
a department is and must be the President's alter ego in the matters of
that department. . . .' In a specific example, in Ponzi v. Fessenden,
the Court said: 'The Attorney General is . . . the hand of the President
in taking care that the laws of the United States be faithfully executed.
'Below the Cabinet level, other Presidential appointees carry his democratic
legitimacy deeper into the bureaucracy, and should have as their primary
objective the implementation of the President's policies. |