Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Senator Jim De Mint on GM Bankruptcy

The following paragraphs are from a newsletter published on Senator De Mint's website today. The Obama administration is moving at lightning speed to take our country with its many financial woes, including an already huge deficit and even greater unfunded liabilities for social security, medicare and medicaid, into a European style socialist country. The electorate wanted change and they are getting it. How long will it be before Obama supporters will admit that they made a huge mistake and rebel. Let it be soon!

Dear Friend,

The bankruptcy filing of General Motors last week didn’t have to be this way.

GM could have – and as many of us argued at the time, should have – declared bankruptcy last December. Our bankruptcy laws exist to give troubled companies a chance to restructure their business models and get out from under crushing debts.

But now, after we lost $50 billion in a misguided bailout scheme, the bankruptcy GM is entering is not even real bankruptcy. It’s a political bankruptcy, brokered by the Obama administration to reward the very people who helped to destroy the company in the first place. more

Lies and Saved Jobs

The following appears on the Investors Business Daily website www.Investors.com

Opinion

Lies, Damned Lies And 'Saved' Jobs

Posted 06/09/2009 07:17 PM ET

Economy: More than 1.6 million jobs have disappeared since the stimulus package was signed in February. Government can't create jobs, only dependency. Make-work jobs will not turn the economy around.

The Obama administration, totally unfamiliar with the first rule of holes, has announced it's about to really, really ramp up stimulus spending to create 600,000 jobs this summer. That's on top of the 150,000 jobs it has "saved," though there's no way to identify or measure such jobs.

The unemployment rate, which was never supposed to rise above 8% because of the stimulus, is now approaching 10%. The excuse given is that not enough of the stimulus money has been dispersed.

Monday's announcement of a new and improved stimulus is just old wine in new bottles. In the first 100 days of the stimulus, some $44 billion was spent as jobs continued to hemorrhage. Now we're asked to do more of the same and expect different results.

Obama's 600,000 figure includes 125,000 temporary summer youth jobs and is based on economic projections, not an actual count. The only thing you can accurately count is the number of Americans working — and that's going down fast.

The administration is playing a shell game with its "saved or created" job claims. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said as much to the tax-challenged Timothy Geithner at a March hearing.

"You created a situation where you cannot be wrong," Baucus told Geithner. "If the economy loses 2 million jobs over the next few years, you can say yes, but it would've lost 5.5 million jobs."

We need only see how the Obama administration has mucked up the U.S. auto industry. If the administration wanted to save jobs, what about the car dealerships forced to close by Government Motors? What about the car salesmen and auto mechanics?

We could have just let GM and Chrysler go bankrupt. We were told they were too big to fail, that the job loss would devastate the economy. Yet how was it that after 9/11 we continued to fly bankrupt airlines that stayed in business till they got back on their feet?

Cars could have continued to be built and sold and dealers would have continued. But union contracts would have been voided by a bankruptcy judge. A key Democratic constituency would have been ticked off. Better to wait until tens of billions were squandered and the car companies had no choice but to sell themselves to the government and the unions. One hastened their demise with burdensome regulations, the other with horrendous legacy costs.

This is no way to run a railroad. And speaking of railroads, the U.S. car industry is about to be run by the people who gave us Amtrak, which loses so much money per passenger on some routes that it would be cheaper to buy them plane tickets. All this gives a new meaning to the phrase: Would you buy a used car from this man?

The way to create jobs is to do the things that actually work. Let people and businesses keep more of what they earn. Applaud profit as a reward for success and efficiency. Let the risk takers take the risks and reap the rewards. And when they fail, well, let them fail.

AMEN!

Friday, June 5, 2009

City Council Update from Dick Dewar

SILVER BLUFF REZONING REQUEST: Silver Bluff Associates has rescinded its request for its property on Silver Bluff Road to be rezoned to General Business (GB). In his May 29, 2009 letter, Neil Farfour has informed the City that he has sold this property to a developer who may build patio or duplex style homes on it instead. You may recall that this rezoning request was approved at a recent Council meeting.

FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY: If you visit the South Carolina Comptroller General’s site cg.sc.gov you will see that the City of Aiken is the first one listed under the Local Government Transparency link. Visitors to this site will be able to view city expenditures at this link. Of course, this information remains available at www.aiken.net , our city website. Aiken is a pioneer in this effort, according to Richard Eckstrom, Comptroller General. I raised this issue several weeks ago and am pleased with the rapid response of City Staff. The South Carolina Legislature also passed a similar law relating to School Board transparency.

SUMMER THURSDAY NIGHTS AT THE FARMERS’ MARKET: The Farmers’ Market will be open each Thursday night from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. These additional hours began May 28, 2009. Current plans are to continue to be open Thursday evenings in June, July, and August.

CITY BOND RATING: Finance Department Director Kim Abney has shared the Moody’s Investors Service rating of Aiken’s Water and Sewer Revenue Bond rating. Our rating is reviewed every three years. Our current rating of A3 represents what Moody’s describes as:

“. . . outstanding water and sewer revenue bonds, secured by a senior lien on net revenues of the enterprise system. The rating reflects the water and sewer system’s mature customer base, manageable debt position with limited plans for additional debt financing, and satisfactory financial operations.”

The systems debt ratio is only 8.9%, which Moody’s considers to be low. They also point to our system’s increased liquidity up to 71% in 2008 from 54% in 2004 – a 17% improvement in just four years.

TRAFFIC SIGNAL IMPROVEMENTS: To improve traffic flow in Aiken’s central business district, SCDOT will work this June and July on all of our downtown signals to test a new method of traffic signal operation in August and September. New traffic signals, turn arrows, and pedestrian signal heads will hopefully ease the flow of traffic downtown. We are also working with SCDOT on traffic flow improvements for Whiskey Road. It will be a state-of-the-art system using sensors and cameras to more efficiently manage traffic flow. Cameras will not be used for traffic enforcement.

EQUINE COMMITTEE RESOLUTIONS: Lucy Knowles, City Equine Committee Chair, has forwarded two resolutions. The first seeks city support of Whitney Trust projects. We have contacted the Trustees, and will bring this before Council once they provide us with a detailed list of projects. The second involves use of LOST III monies, to be voted on in 2010, for equestrian green space acquisition

COMMENDATIONS: Mary Goins, State League Director, USTA/SC, has written PRT Director Glenn Parker commending them for hosting the 2009 USTA state tennis championships. They are looking forward to another great state championship series in Aiken next year...

Tom Lex, President, Aiken Bicycle Club, has taken time to write and commend the Department of Public Safety for its support of the annual Aiken to Ride Century event.

Dean Porter and Tracey Bradley of Atlantic Broadband have also written in to commend Sgt. Bob Patterson, Fire Division, ADPS for his assistance training employees in proper fire extinguisher use. In addition, Sgt. Patterson has also trained several of our staff in fire extinguisher use at our annual safety cookout on June 3rd.

SECOND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND THE CONCEPT PLAN FOR UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES, INC. – This ordinance passed at our last meeting. I cast the only negative vote because of my concerns about traffic on Silver Bluff Road. The Traffic Report clearly stated that this road is at “near capacity”. While we have approved a new right turn lane from Silver Bluff Road to Daugherty Road, we do not know whether or how much capacity for Silver Bluff will be added. If Silver Bluff Road is modified in the future, even more capacity may be added. I saw no sense in approving a project on a road that is near capacity.

SECOND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO SET THE MILLAGE RATE OF THE YEAR 2009-2010 – Every year the Council sets the millage rate. It has not increased in 21 consecutive years, assuming tonight’s approval to retain the current rate. This is largely caused by the steady growth the City of Aiken has experienced and excellent management of city funds. In fact over the years, the millage rate has reduced on five separate occasions including last year when it was reduced from 71 mills to the current 66 mills. This outstanding record has occurred despite recent revenue losses during these economic times and the loss of revenues from reduced telecommunication and vehicle taxes amounting to well over $1 million every year.

SECOND READING OF AN ORDINANCE TO APPROVE A BUDGET FOR THE YEAR 2009-2010 – Each year City Council adopts a budget for the City of Aiken representing the policies and goals for the city’s upcoming year. It should not surprise residents to know that we are facing difficult times. Our revenues are projected to be lower than last year with Building Permits down 55%, State revenues down 27%, Interest Earned on Investments down 73%, Vehicle Taxes down 11%, and Business License Fees down 8%. All of this represents a decrease of $1.8 million in revenue. Nonetheless, the City Manager has done an outstanding job of preparing a budget without recommending a tax increase at this time. Some programs have been reduced, hiring delayed, travel expenses reduced, and some maintenance items reduced. Capital purchases have been delayed saving $800,000 and $640,000 has been shifted from Reserve Funds. Depending on water usage, a rate increase may be imposed later in the year.

AN ORDINANCE TO ANNEX TO THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF THE CITY OF AIKEN CERTAIN PROPERTY CONSISTING OF 5 ACRES OF LAND, MORE OR LESS, OWNED BY NORTHPOINTE DEVELOPMENT GROUP, LLC AND TO ZONE THE SAME PLANNED COMMERCIAL (PC). – The owner of an undeveloped 51.4 acre tract on the south side of University parkway near Arbor Court is requesting annexation of 5 acres under the Planned Commercial zone. They would like to develop the site as a cosmetology school and later some office buildings. They would like to receive city water and sewer. The property is contiguous by means of the University Parkway right of way. The layout of this concept plan does not comply with the proposed Corridor Overlay District.

AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF AIKEN TO SELL LOTS TO HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: Council will consider approval to sell a lot at 731 Abbeville Avenue NW to Habitat for Humanity. Also included are lots at 442 Ridge Avenue, 636 Hampton, and 724 Abbeville Avenue.

PARKS, RECREATION AND TOURISM SECURITY RECOMMENDATIONS – Many residents are aware that on Sunday, May 17, 2009, in the middle of the afternoon a shooting took place at the Odell Weeks gymnasium. It occurred during a pickup basketball game and to our knowledge is the first shooting that has ever occurred within the Weeks Center for the past 25 years. Although we believe this is an isolated incident, we feel we need to consider several security measures to make this location as safe as possible for our staff, citizens and visitors alike.

For the last several years the staff has been looking at measures to increase security within our parks system. We feel the following four items listed in order of priority would help to achieve this goal.

Card System: For the last two years, the PRT staff has recommended a security card system. These cards would be given to all city residents at no cost and a small fee would be instituted for those living outside the city. Non-residents could either purchase a day pass or an individual or family season pass. During events or organized basketball games those visitors would be admitted at no charge. This will allow us to know who is in our gym, and those that have been put on trespass notice could no longer get into our buildings without our knowledge. Currently we have several individuals on trespass notice, but due to the number of entrances and doorways and lack of a security system these individuals could easily enter our gyms without our knowledge. This system can be instituted immediately with little or no cost and over the next several months we could begin issuing these cards to all of our residents and have the system fully implemented sometime this fall or winter. Eventually the main entrance would be moved to its former location to the north and all the other doors would become exits only.

Additional Personnel: For the last couple of years staff has talked about adding a position called Community Service Officers (CSO). These individuals would act as security persons for our parks and also have the ability to investigate accidents on private property. These individuals could also do a variety of duties that occupy the time of our current accredited police officers. They would be in a police type uniform and spend most, if not all of their time, within our park system. We recommend hiring two part time individuals who would work 20 hours per week with the city from approximately 5 P.M. to 9 P.M. Monday through Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday when our recreational centers are open. Their duties would consist of walking and riding around our parks and building during those hours. We feel their daily presence would alleviate some of the concerns we currently have at Virginia Acres and Smith Hazel. The budget for these two individuals would be approximately $25,000 per year.

. Security Cameras: Currently there are 27 cameras throughout the Odell Weeks Center. Many of these cameras do not have the resolution or wide angle lens that are currently available today. We recommend hiring a security consultant to do an assessment of the cameras at the Weeks Center, its system, their possible adaptable reuse and what new areas we should monitor. Additionally, we feel cameras in outside areas such as the parking lots, playgrounds, skate park, tennis center, soccer fields and basketball courts are necessary. The total cost for this recommendation is approximately $50,000.

Call Box System: In discussions with USC-Aiken and Aiken Tech we found out that they have recently installed call boxes throughout their campuses and in their parking lot areas. We feel the same type of system is needed along the Virginia Acres walking track and the tennis/basketball/skate park area. This will provide security plus a call system for any medical emergencies that may occur in these areas. These calls would go directly to the Public Safety Dispatch Office. At this time we do not have a price for this system, but we feel its cost would be reasonable.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Obama Cairo Speech Analyzed

Hugh Fitzgerald of Jihad Watch has posted an analysis of President Obama's Cairo speech. He makes some interesting observations. Having lived in Cairo for 7 years I am very interested in knowing local reactions and have checked blogs from there but it is not yet clear how well it went down. I disagree however with Spencer's unnecessary put-down concerning the use of the phrase "assalaamu alaykum." (peace be upon you) I was often greeted by Egyptian acquaintances with this phrase to which the appropriate response was "alayukum salaam! (Peace unto you)

June 4, 2009

Featured Post: Platitudes and naivete: Obama's Cairo speech
NOTE: This speech is pivotal, and the importance attached to it makes it even more so, so we are going to keep it up top here for awhile. However, the site is still being updated -- please scroll down for updates.
Here is the text as prepared for delivery, provided by the White House, via USA Today, June 4 -- with my comments interspersed:
I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning,
...whose Grand Sheikh, Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, has given his approval — on Islamic grounds — to suicide bombing.
and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.
According to Islamic law, a Muslim may only extend this greeting -- Peace be upon you -- to a fellow Muslim. To a non-Muslim he is to say, "Peace be upon those who are rightly guided," i.e., Peace be upon the Muslims. Islamic law is silent about what Muslims must do when naive non-Muslim Islamophilic Presidents offer the greeting to Muslims.more

Obama and the Freedom Agenda

By PAUL WOLFOWITZ

President Barack Obama faces great challenges when he speaks to the Muslim world tomorrow from Cairo. He must counter some of the myths and outright falsehoods about the United States that are commonly believed in many parts of the Muslim world, and he needs to present his audience with some inconvenient truths. But he also has an opportunity, based in no small part on his own remarkable career, to make the case that the political principles and values that are sometimes mistakenly labeled as "Western" are appropriate for the Muslim world.

The challenge of addressing the entire Muslim world in a single speech can be appreciated if one imagines what the reaction would be if some other world leader attempted to speak to the "Christian world," with all of its diversity. For example, although Islam is the state religion in most countries with Muslim majorities, there are a number -- including Indonesia, which has the largest Muslim population in the world -- where it is not. Moreover, some countries have large non-Muslim minorities. And the second largest Muslim population in the world lives as a minority in India. There is an enormous variety of views among Muslims around the world on everything from religion to politics to family values.

Although there are many expectations for this speech, one that Mr. Obama hopefully will disappoint is the expectation that he will walk away from what President George W. Bush called "the freedom agenda." That would be a great mistake for the U.S. and for the Muslim world.

Some observers have viewed the choice of Egypt as the venue for this important speech as a deliberate distancing from that idea. Egypt is an important country and the largest in the Arab world. But it is not the largest country in the Muslim world, or the most tolerant, or the freest, or the most democratic, or the most developed, or the most prosperous. The president should make clear that his decision to speak in Cairo does not mean he is indifferent to how the Egyptian government treats its own people, despite the importance of Egypt in the Arab-Israeli peace process and as an ally in confronting Iran.

The president said correctly in an NPR interview on Monday that "part of being a good friend is being honest," and that we need to be honest with Israel about "the fact that the current direction, the current trajectory, in the region is profoundly negative, not only for Israeli interests but also U.S. interests." The president also needs to be honest with the Muslim world. That means addressing the causes of the poverty and tyranny which are so pervasive that they create a widespread belief the U.S. is at best indifferent -- and at worst actively complicit -- in maintaining those conditions in order to deny Muslims their rightful place in the world.

Mr. Obama's own remarkable career is living testimony to the strengths of America's open society and free institutions. Most Muslims recognize his achievement in becoming the leader of a country that, despite our problems, is still admired and envied for its prosperity and freedom. At the same time, they recognize that no one of comparable background could become the leader of any of their own countries. That empowers Mr. Obama to argue persuasively that the institutions and practices that have enabled the U.S. to change so much over the course of two centuries can provide the key for their progress as well.

Genuine democracy is a matter of making government accountable and transparent, not only through elections but through many other means as well, including a free press. It means protecting the rights of all citizens to develop their full potential, both for their own prosperity and for the society as a whole, by protecting equal rights under the law. That includes the right of private property, which is recognized clearly in Islam. In speaking to the Muslim world, it is particularly important for the president to emphasize the importance of protecting the rights of women and those of minorities -- subjects on which he can be particularly eloquent and persuasive.

The denial of equal rights to women is unjust. It hurts society as a whole when half the population is prevented from achieving its full potential. The countries in the Muslim world that have developed most successfully are those -- such as Indonesia, Turkey and Malaysia -- where women have been able to play a substantial role. Those same countries have also benefited enormously from giving scope to Christian and Jewish minorities to prosper, although the record is imperfect. Turkey's Jewish minority found refuge there 500 years ago from the Spanish Inquisition. In those days, when Islamic civilization was the most advanced in the world, it was also one of the most tolerant.

Unfortunately, today's trend is in the wrong direction in much of the Muslim world. Church burnings and other intolerant acts are increasing. As a member of a minority himself, Mr. Obama is strongly positioned to speak out against that trend.

More generally, the president could counter the belief that the U.S. is indifferent to the fate of the world's Muslims or, worse, that we demonize Islam. He could remind his listeners of the many occasions in the past 20 years when the U.S. put its men and women in harm's way -- in Kuwait, Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo, not to mention Afghanistan and Iraq -- to assist people suffering from tyranny or famine who happened to be Muslims.

He could tell them of the deep respect that Americans have for religious belief in general and for Islam as one of the world's great religions. He could reiterate our understanding that the actions of extremists do not represent the majority of Muslims, as his predecessors emphasized repeatedly.

Hopefully, however, the president will not repeat what he said to Al-Arabiyah television in January about going back to "the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago." Throughout the Muslim world that was interpreted as a return to a time when, as President Bush said, the U.S. preferred stability to freedom in the Middle East and ended up with neither.

The president should make clear that the U.S. does not believe that democracy can be imposed by force. Nor should he suggest that stability is unimportant. Free institutions cannot be expected to develop overnight, and certainly not in Egypt. But particularly in Egypt it is appropriate to emphasize that true stability requires giving that country's persecuted liberal democrats the space to begin growing free institutions, rather than leaving the field entirely to extremists who organize effectively in secret.

One of those persecuted Egyptian liberals, Ayman Nour, recently asked whether Mr. Obama will "confirm his commitment to democracy, or will he appease dictators and aggressors?" One single speech cannot definitively answer that question but hopefully, tomorrow in Cairo, Ayman Nour will be pleased with Barack Obama's words.

Mr. Wolfowitz, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has served as deputy U.S. secretary of defense and U.S. ambassador to Indonesia.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Obama says Iran entitled to nuclear power

By NANCY ZUCKERBROD
The Associated Press
Tuesday, June 2, 2009 9:24 AM

LONDON -- President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy _ provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful.

In a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, he also restated plans to pursue direct diplomacy with Tehran to encourage it set aside any ambitions for nuclear weapons it might harbor.

Iran has insisted its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity. But the U.S. and other Western governments accuse Tehran of seeking atomic weapons.

"What I do believe is that Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations," Obama said, adding that the international community also "has a very real interest" in preventing a nuclear arms race.

The president has indicated a willingness to seek deeper international sanctions against Tehran if it does not respond positively to U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. Obama has said Tehran has until the end of the year to show it wants to engage with Washington.

"Although I don't want to put artificial time tables on that process, we do want to make sure that, by the end of this year, we've actually seen a serious process move forward. And I think that we can measure whether or not the Iranians are serious," Obama said.

Obama's interview offered a preview of a speech he is to deliver in Egypt this week, saying he hoped the address would warm relations between Americans and Muslims abroad.

"What we want to do is open a dialogue," Obama told the BBC. "You know, there are misapprehensions about the West, on the part of the Muslim world. And, obviously, there are some big misapprehensions about the Muslim world when it comes to those of us in the West."

Obama leaves in the evening on a trip to Egypt and Saudi Arabia aimed at reaching out to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. He is due to make his speech in Cairo on Thursday.

Obama sounded an optimistic note about making progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although he offered no new ideas for how he might try to secure a freeze on new building of Israeli settlements. The United States has called for a freeze, but Israeli leaders have rejected that.

Asked what he would say during his visit about human rights abuses, including the detention of political prisoners in Egypt, Obama indicated no stern lecture would be forthcoming.

He said he hoped to deliver the message that democratic values are principles that "they can embrace and affirm."

Obama added that there is a danger "when the United States, or any country, thinks that we can simply impose these values on another country with a different history and a different culture."

Monday, June 1, 2009