INDIANA REPUBLICANS ATTEMPT TO USURP MORE LOCAL AUTHORITY

The Indiana General Assembly – make that the Republican assembly – just can’t get enough of snatching power away from county and local authorities.  Their latest effort is to abuse the power to amend our Indiana Constitution to protect the big business of factory farming – those confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that are hazardous to our health and our environment.

As this year’s session ended, little attention was paid to a number of legislative efforts that made it through.  One of those “under the radar” pieces of legislation is Senate Joint Resolution 9.  The disingenuous caption given to this slippery piece of legislation is “Constitutional right to hunt and fish.”

Ah, one might ask just what is wrong with protecting hunting and fishing?  Were that the only wording, it might be somewhat palatable even if it is an absurd use of the amending power.  But the text of the Resolution reads as follows:

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO HUNT AND FISH.  Provides that the people have a right to hunt, fish, harvest game, or engage in the agricultural or commercial production of meat, fish, poultry, or dairy products, which is a valued part of our heritage and shall be forever preserved for the public good, subject to laws prescribed by the general assembly and rules prescribed by virtue of the authority of the general assembly.  Provides that hunting and fishing is the preferred means of managing and controlling wildlife.  Provides that this constitutional amendment does not limit the application of any laws relating to trespass or property rights.  This proposed amendment has not been previously agreed to by a general assembly.

The Republicans are abusing the amending power by enshrining forever what they have determined to be a constitutional right to hunt and fish.  But this isn’t the real reason for the disingenuous use of the amending process.  Notice the addition of the “right” to engage in the agricultural or commercial production of meat, fish, poultry, or dairy products.  Calling these a “valued” part of our heritage is absolutely absurd.

What the Republicans are really attempting to do is constitutionally protect the mega-farms of which Daniels is so fond and remove any county and local attempts to limit their construction or regulation.  Recall back in 2005, Daniels and his subservient Lieutenant Governor, Becky Skillman, came up with their “Possibilities Unbound.”  The plan was to double hog production as well as increase other forms of livestock production.

The amendment was just put forth in this session, so it must go through additional passages and be placed on the ballot for voter approval.  Of course, who wouldn’t want to memorialize hunting and fishing as our “heritage” – picturing those musket-toting Hoosier ancestors out there in the woods and fields of Indiana – coonskin caps pulled jauntily to the side covering heads full of bushy hair.

But hiding under visions of frontier hunters hauling home their kill for the sustenance of their families is a flat-out misrepresentation of the true intentions of Republican Senate Joint Resolution 9.  The big agricultural forces have inserted their sticky, manure-covered fingers into the pockets of the Republicans and have come up with an amendment that, while raising visions of rough and tough Hoosier hunters and fishers on the prowl, actually protects  hazardous CAFOs – factory farms so far from our ancestral ideals of hunting and fishing that would our ancestors be here, they would be saying “shame on you” for even attempting a comparison.

CAFO where thousands of animals are confined with no access to the outdoors

Compare the above picture to the accepted notion of hunting and fishing.

Angler enjoying the solitude of fishing

The public needs to understand that, should they be fooled into adopting this amendment, local and county control of factory farms will be gone.  Local control will be replaced with rules made by the Republican-controlled and factory farm friendly General Assembly – just another Republican ploy to remove local control.  Haven’t we seem enough of this lately?

TRUMP MISREMEMBERS DRAFT DODGING

Looks like the Donald is getting some of his own medicine.  In an earlier interview, Trump stated he “got lucky” and didn’t get drafted because his number was high.  Trump was born on June 14, 1946.  So, let’s, just for fun, look at how he avoided the draft from 1964 at the age of 18 through 1972 when he turned 26, and the draft was on its way out.

The classifications given to Trump over the eight-year period of time were:

• 2-S  – 1964  – received July 1964 (student deferment)
• 2-S – 1965  -  received December 1965 (student deferment)
• 1-A – 1966  – received November 1966 (unrestricted military service)
• 2-S – 1966  – received December 1966 (student deferment)
• 2-S -1968  -  received January 1968 (student deferment)
• 1-A – 1968 – received July 1968 (unrestricted military service)
• 1-Y – 1968 – received October 1968 (Registrant available for military service, but qualified only in case of war or national emergency. Usually given to registrants with medical conditions that were limiting but not disabling (examples: high blood pressure, mild muscular or skeletal injuries or disorders, skin disorders, severe allergies, etc.). Class was discontinued in December, 1971 and its members were reclassified as 4-F.
• 4-F – 1972 – received February 1972

According to Selective Service records, Trump received three deferments while he attended college.  He graduated in 1968, which ended his college deferment.  At the end of his second college deferment, he was re-classified to a 1-A, which surely sent him into a panic as he anxiously watched the mailbox each day for that letter with the salutation – “Greetings” and ended with instructions to report for duty.

Trump actually had the lack of foresight to say he was “sitting at college” watching the draft numbers being drawn.  Excuse me, Mr. Trump, but the lottery didn’t begin officially until 1969 with the first drawing in 1970 and you graduated in 1968.

After graduating from college, he apparently went to work for his father’s business and somehow finagled a 1-Y deferment.  The 1-Y provided that the registrant was eligible but for some health reason, the registrant was unable to serve.  In the next few weeks expect to become privy to Trump’s medical records so we can see just what horrendous medical condition plagued Trump so badly that he was prevented from reporting for duty.

The draft lottery to which Trump refers was in place in 1970, 1971, and 1972.   During all three years of the draft lottery, Trump hid under the blanket of his 1-Y classification.  In 1972, Trump turned 26 and was still in possession of his 4-F classification.  His lottery number for 1972 was 95 – a  number that put him in the first 25% of young men who were subject to being drafted.  In all likelihood, had he not had his 4-F classification, he would have been drafted based on his number of 95.

Trump is now getting a dose of his own medicine, and he will soon find out how uncharitable the right is to candidates who dodged the draft.  For Trump, the games have just begun.

Donald Trump - draft status record - credit to Smoking Gun

DANIELS MANIPULATES WOMEN’S HEALTH CARE TO PUSH PRESIDENTIAL BID

One has to hand it to the Guv – he has figured out a way to sign the bill defunding Planned Parenthood while knowing that enforcement of the bill may very well be enjoined.  His actions are pure and straightforward manipulation with women as the pawns in his game of presidential chess.

I am sure there are those who will say what an  absurd conclusion, but Daniels knows  he is already in hot water with the social conservatives.  His statement last year that a “truce” on social issues may have to be called infuriated those who pride themselves on stepping into the private lives of individuals – especially in the area of abortion rights.  His latest fiasco with defunding Planned Parenthood showcases just what lengths he will go to in order to traverse the maze of earning and keeping support for a presidential bid.

Indiana’s Medicaid program – of which Planned Parenthood is a funding recipient – operates under United States Code Title 42. Public Health and Welfare, and a set of federal regulations called the Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.).

Here is the applicable “Free Choice of Providers” section pursuant to the C.F.R.:

§ 431.51 Free choice of providers.

(a) Statutory basis. This section is based on sections 1902(a)(23), 1902(e)(2), and 1915(a) and (b) and 1932(a)(3) of the Act.

(1) Section 1902(a)(23) of the Act provides that recipients may obtain services from any qualified Medicaid provider that undertakes to provide the services to them.

(2) Section 1915(a) of the Act provides that a State shall not be found out of compliance with section 1902(a)(23) solely because it imposes certain specified allowable restrictions on freedom of choice.

(3) Section 1915(b) of the Act authorizes waiver of the section 1902(a)(23) freedom of choice of providers requirement in certain specified circumstances, but not with respect to providers of family planning services.

(4) Section 1902(a)(23) of the Act provides that a recipient enrolled in a primary care case management system or Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) may not be denied freedom of choice of qualified providers of family planning services.

(5) Section 1902(e)(2) of the Act provides that an enrollee who, while completing a minimum enrollment period, is deemed eligible only for services furnished by or through the MCO or PCCM, may, as an exception to the deemed limitation, seek family planning services from any qualified provider.

(6) Section 1932(a) of the Act permits a State to restrict the freedom of choice required by section 1902(a)(23), under specified circumstances, for all services except family planning services.

Here is where Daniels has outdone himself on the backs of women’s healthcare services.  Daniels will sign the bill – all the while knowing that he and his Republican minions cannot legitimately restrict freedom of choice – that is pretty plainly set out in the above C.F.R. sections.  If the Republicans do this, and it isn’t countered by a lawsuit, Indiana is in jeopardy of losing its Medicaid funding.

But, Daniels knows that Planned Parenthood will file to enjoin enforcement of his signing of the bill – even before the ink is dry.  Given the explicit sections above, the court should grant the injunction prohibiting the state from denying funds to Planned Parenthood.  I say should since it all depends on how willing the court will be to uphold the federal regulations – states’ rights raising a corollary issue.

This gives Daniels much needed cover with social conservatives, which he desperately needs to rehabilitate his standing in their eyes given his apparent previous willingness to back off social issues.  They will be thrilled that he “stood strong and signed the bill”.  Daniels, on the other hand, will be patting himself on the back knowing he could sign the bill and toss the ball into Planned Parenthood’s court – literally.

One has to admit his strategy is excellent.  Although he won’t ultimately be the nominee – he sure would be following in his old boss’s artful use of manipulation of another issue – WMDs in Iraq – or lack thereof.  But what he has really done is manipulate women’s healthcare services to prop up support for his presidential hopes.

DANIELS DALLIES OVER DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD

Over the past seven years, Mitch Daniels has attempted to paint his Indiana reign as one of an orderly haven of wondrous progress in our Midwest sea of woes.  But Daniels has failed on numerous occasions.  Who can forget his magical disappearing act when the Indiana House of Representatives flipped to a majority and he found himself unable to pass many of his legislative initiatives.

And, who can forget his privatization mess with IBM – a situation that is still in litigation.   And, to top it off,  just as the new legislative session was underway this year and his presidential star appeared to be in quasi-rising mode, the uppity Democrats walked out of the legislature.  Like a laser beam, the national spotlight shifted to Indiana with questions about Daniels’ struggle to govern given a missing delegation – not the type of publicity the Guv wanted as he continued to mull over a presidential run.

And, now, Daniels finds himself hoisted “on the horns of  a dilemma” – the Indiana legislature has given him a gift-wrapped opportunity to take a stand on abortion by defunding Planned Parenthood.   But, if he signs the legislation, he puts the state at risk to lose an additional $4,000,000 in federal grants for family planning services – a loss that will hurt an already somewhat precarious financial situation.

On the other hand, if he vetoes it, Daniels could antagonize ardent social conservatives already wary of his public statements about the importance of focusing on economic issues by calling a “truce” on social issues.  Although he is not expected to make a decision for a few days, Daniels will, more than likely sign the bill, taking away millions in funding that is marked to help low income women obtain health care services.

As Daniels mulls over his dilemma, the horns he finds himself riding are nothing compared to those of the women who will be deprived of much needed health care that has been available for decades through Planned Parenthood.  But, when it comes to a potential presidential bid, why let the health of thousands of low income Hoosier women get in the way?

Indiana Governor, Mitch Daniels, is faced with a dilemma.

OUT-TRUMPED – TOP BIRTHER STILL IN DENIAL

The Donald has been out-trumped.  President Obama yesterday released his much sought after long form birth certificate showing that, “yes, he was indeed born in Hawaii” just as he has said for all these years.  But, wait, not to be foiled, birthers have not given up on the game and have, instead, yanked those goal posts out of the ground and huffed and puffed and carried them to a different yard line.

First, it was the constant yapping to see the birth certificate.  Then, when that was produced way back in 2008, the birthers threw down the yellow flag and screamed foul.  They shouted that it was a fake and not the real birth certificate.  Never mind that almost all states do not provide long form birth certificates for proof of birth but rather, upon request and payment, provide a condensed version with basic information included.

Indiana has three types of birth certificates:  the long form (a copy of the actual birth certificate completed at birth), a standard size (a condensed version with relevant information on it), and a wallet size (a condensed version with the relevant information on it).  Neither the standard size nor the wallet size contains the information contained on the full birth certificate.

Despite his “boots on the ground” cloak and dagger act, Trump failed to come up with anything tangible.  His “you won’t believe what they are finding” must have turned into “I don’t believe it, they haven’t found anything.”   Trump has decidedly lost some punch on this issue now that President Obama has produced the certificate that has caused so much angst.

But no sooner had the President released the birth certificate, then Trump turned his comb over in another direction.  Now, the Donald says, the President’s grades need to be placed under a microscope for review.  And, his student loans.  After all, the fact that President Obama graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Harvard Law School and the fact that Obama was President of the prestigious Harvard Law Review – why those just have to be mistakes and somehow undeserved accolades.

The only mistake that has been made is the relentless, unfounded Trump-eting by the Donald.  With an ego larger than the Trump Towers, and, in classic Trump style, he took to the microphones to stoke himself on the back for being the only one in America who could have accomplished this non feat.  No doubt he just wasn’t able to admit that, after weeks of demands and weeks of self-aggrandizing statements, he was out-Trumped by President Obama.

President Obama - Born in the USA

OPERATION ODYSSEY DAWN – U.S. GIVES BIRTH TO THIRD WAR

I have always wondered how the powers that be select the names that are attached to military actions.   The names usually consist of titles that ring of noble goals – Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Provide Comfort, Operation Desert Storm, and on and on.  Now we have given birth to Operation Odyssey Dawn.

The U.N. Security Council, composed of five permanent members and ten rotating members, moved quickly after the Arab League requested a vote on establishing the no-fly zone.   China and Russia, both permanent members, abstained from the voting, thus only three of the permanent members supported the vote.  Seven of the ten rotating members also supported the request for the no-fly zone.

But, the birth of Operation Odyssey Dawn may lead to yet another twilight in American dealings in the Middle East.  The goal is a “no-fly” zone – a zone where aircraft is disallowed – similar to a demilitarized zone on land.  This goal is not to be confused with regime change.  Those who were looking for “boots on the ground” to rid Libya of Gadhafi will be sorely disappointed.

The Arab League already is expressing reservations about the actions taken to establish the no-fly zone.  League Secretary General Amr Mussa indicated to reporters that preparations were under way to convene an emergency meeting of the 22-member Arab League at which Libya would top the agenda.  Disharmony within the Arab League is not a good sign since it was at their request that the U.N. Security Council took up the no-fly zone issue.

What remains to be seen is how intertwined the establishment of a no-fly zone becomes with the desire to pursue regime change.  If that happens, the United States will plunge down a slippery slope of yet another incursion into the Middle East, its politics, and its hold on our troops and our future.

“THE DONALD” DESCENDS INTO BIRTHER MADNESS

No one can say Donald Trump is lack luster.  But what can be said is that he has little, if any, chance of becoming the Republican nominee for president in 2012.  Perhaps that is why he threw in his two cents on the lingering “birther” non-issue – perhaps hoping to generate some support from the extreme far righties.

Flaunting a true inability to correlate one idea with another, the Donald jumped back onto the birther bandwagon, albeit indirectly, by noting:

“Let me tell you, I’m a really smart guy,” Trump said. “I was a really good student at the best school in the country. The reason I have a little doubt, just a little, is because he grew up and nobody knew him.”

“You may go back and interview people from my kindergarten,” he continued. “They’ll remember me. Nobody comes forward. Nobody knows who he is until later in his life. It’s very strange. The whole thing is very strange.”

Under Trump’s convoluted  mental gymnastics, the lack of knowledge about Obama’s upbringing – including knowing who his friends were at every step of the way – must mean he wasn’t born here.   How else could it be explained that Obama’s childhood friends were unknown?

Trump labels himself a “really smart guy”, yet a really smart guy would be able to demonstrate some type of correlation between not knowing about Obama’s childhood and Obama’s birth in a foreign country  – if that is what Trump is intimating.  The flip side that Trump is pushing is that if one knows all about an individual, then that person surely must have been born here.

Here’s my correlation for the Donald – since there isn’t  a correlation, maybe, just maybe, Trump isn’t a really smart guy.  Now that is a correlation I like.

FLORIDA’S GOVERNOR USING PRETENSE TO FIGHT STATE EMPLOYEES

Florida’s governor, Rick Scott, has decided to use a pretense to generate hostility toward state employees.  Under the guise of  “the public’s right to know”, Scott has established a website which includes all state employees’ salaries as well as listing pensions of $100,000 or more.

The pensions are listed by office and do not disclose the recipient’s name; however, the information on state employees includes the employee’s name, salary, and date of hire.  Under the misnomer of “holding government accountable”, Scott is using a thinly veiled tactic to generate animosity toward state employees.

Scott’s tactic is, in main part, due to the protection of collective bargaining provisions in the Florida State Constitution.  In 1968, the applicable section of the Constitution was rewritten and now states:

The right of employees, by and through a labor organization, to bargain collectively shall not be denied or abridged. Public employees shall not have the right to strike.

In 1969, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the new constitutional provision, giving Florida state employees the right to bargain collectively.  However, they do not have the right to strike.   Originally in favor of collective bargaining and critical of Wisconsin’s governor, Scott now says he wants the Constitutional protection removed.

However, the constitutional protection makes it much more difficult to abolish collective bargaining.  Unlike Mitch Daniels, who, with the stroke of a pen, ended Indiana’s collective bargaining provisions a few hours after he took office in 2005, or Scott Walker, who pushed legislation through the Wisconsin State legislature, Rick Scott is hemmed in by the Florida constitution.  This surely has created a great deal of angst for the flip-flopping governor.

With Florida’s Constitution containing protection for worker collective bargaining, Scott must try another tactic to garner support to abolish the Constitutional provision.  And, what better way to build support for abolishing collective bargaining than to pit worker against worker, private sector employee against public sector employee than to show wages for comparison?

Governor Scott’s plan is nothing short of a devious way of triggering warfare between state employees and private workforce employees.

DANIELS “SPREADING THE WEALTH” WITH VOUCHER PROGRAM

Way back during the campaign of 2008, “Joe, the whoever” attempted to corner candidate Obama by accusing Obama of wanting to spread the wealth around by using taxes.  The incident led to national recognition for Joe,  interviews, and hero status.

Now, in 2011, Daniels is saying the same thing, and his Republican cronies are eating it up.  Daniels and Bennett want to “give” up to $4500 per child from taxpayer funds to low to moderate income families so that they can send their children to private schools so  that “students who don’t come from wealthy families should have the same opportunity to attend private schools as those who do.”

Pardon me if I am somewhat confused at this point.  Why such a sudden charitable attitude by Daniels and the Republicans?  If the Democrats had come up with a plan like this, they would have been crucified for wasting taxpayer funds.  I guess the fact that it is coming from the public school system’s funds takes them off the proverbial “hook.”

Mitch Daniels- Who me? Spread the wealth?

But, regardless of how it is explained by Daniels and his group, this is a “spreading” of the wealth that so many fear-ridden Republicans and right-wingers called “socialism” when the issue was raised against Obama.   The Republicans even note that taking these tax dollars will give poorer families the same opportunities for their children as wealthy families enjoy.

But, hey, they aren’t “raising” taxes – yet – they are just robbing from Peter to pay Paul and doing a little “smoke and mirrors” two-step to transfer wealth.

 

DANIELS RACE TO DESTROY COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

Mitch Daniels comes from the corporate world which feeds on privatization and decreasing workers’ rights.  Just hours after Mitch Daniels took over as governor of Indiana in 2005, he rescinded the rights of highway police, hospital attendants, mechanics, and other state workers to collectively bargain for wage and hour increases, working conditions, and other benefits.

Under the theory that he needed to restructure the government and could not run the government efficiently with collective bargaining agreements in place – poor man – Daniels began his vendetta against state workers who were covered by collective bargaining agreement. However, in 2006, Daniels was forced to take a brief hiatus from his daunting task of destroying collective bargaining when Hoosiers turned the Indiana House over to Democratic control.

Daniels became a “missing in action” governor with the disappearance of his rubber-stamp general assembly.  But, last November, with the shift back to a completely Republican-controlled General Assembly, Daniels got back on his steed of destruction and once again began his ride to stamp out collective bargaining – this time turning his efforts toward the collective bargaining rights of teachers’ unions.

To accomplish his goal, Daniels’ first move was to rid himself of Dr. Sue Ellen Reed, an experienced educator who was elected and who served four terms, two of those under Democratic governors.  Reed’s bipartisanship when it came to Hoosier children just didn’t sit well with Daniels, who needed a superintendent of education who would kowtow to Daniels’ plans to rid the state of collective bargaining in public education.

Daniels found his ally and soul mate in Tony Bennett, who had less than a year’s experience as a superintendent.  Daniels backed Bennett in the 2008 campaign, effectively forcing Dr. Reed out of the race.  Bennett was elected in 2008, and, with his new soul mate in tow, Daniels again turned his gaze toward the teachers’ unions and their collective bargaining rights, but, alas, he could not yet make his move since the Democrats maintained their Indiana House majority in the 2008 elections.   Without a majority in the House as well as the Senate, Daniels and Bennett couldn’t get their horsey out of the gate.

The 2010 elections gave Daniels and Bennett their dream come true – the Indiana General Assembly flipped – and heavily – to the Republicans.  Now, Daniels had everything he needed to get rid of the collective bargaining in the public educational system.  He had successfully forced out a bipartisan superintendent of education and replaced her with a clone of himself, and the Indiana General Assembly was now full of senators and representatives licking their lips and champing at the bit at the prospect of smacking down the teachers’ union through whatever means necessary.

While Daniels and Bennett have been on a crusade to convince the public, in general, and teachers, in particular, that the changes to be made really are to help the suffering public education system,  a more than cursory glance reveals how the proposals actually undermine collective bargaining.

The real focus of Daniels and Bennett, though, is the push to establish new charter schools, which will have a major role in diminishing the role of collective bargaining.  Charter schools can be created in one of two ways:  either by converting an existing public school which has been forced to be abandoned by financial pressures, or by creating a new school.

A charter converted from an existing school (requires approval of 60% of teachers and 51% of parents to convert) must recognize existing collective bargaining agreements.  However, new charter schools do not have to recognize any collective bargaining agreements.  Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see which one will take priority.  And, with the push to force existing public school corporations to “sell” an unused building for $1.00, creating a new charter school has a leg up on the a converted school.  Talk about favoritism.

Legislation now winding its way through the General Assembly – aside from creating a charter school board controlled by the state, with members appointed by the governor and state superintendent – provides for the following:

1. allows newly established charter schools to use under-utilized buildings in school corporations at the school corporations’ expense;
2. requires charter school credits to be accepted at other public or private schools;
3. allows up to 50 percent of teachers to be unlicensed; and,
4. allows the charter to go into debt without having to pay it back themselves, forcing their debt to be paid by the common school fund.

Daniels has slashed the educational budget of the public schools forcing them to close schools, lay off teachers, cut services, and outsource service contracts.  But his draconian budget cuts just weren’t enough.  With the aid of the rubber-stamping General Assembly, Daniels and his yes-man par excellence, Bennett, have created additional avenues to completely weaken the public education sector and push toward the destruction of collective bargaining rights.

Mitch Daniels