Monthly Archives: August 2012

Social Security not deal it once was for workers

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By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — People retiring today are part of the first generation of workers who have paid more in Social Security taxes during their careers than they will receive in benefits after they retire. It’s a historic shift that will only get worse for future retirees, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

Previous generations got a much better bargain, mainly because payroll taxes were very low when Social Security was enacted in the 1930s and remained so for decades.

“For the early generations, it was an incredibly good deal,” said Andrew Biggs, a former deputy Social Security commissioner who is now a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “The government gave you free money and getting free money is popular.”

Read more at US News
Oped at Information Liberation

Official list of write in candidates for Coconino County

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UPDATED: August 8, 2012

FLAGSTAFF—The list of write in candidates is final and following is that list. We tried to find the web sites of the candidates to add. If your web site is not listed, please leave a comment on this article.

At the TEA party meeting on Monday, the campaign manager for Gary Robbins explained the procedure for writing in a candidate is to write in the name of the candidate and darken in the oval.

Patty Hansen of the Coconino County Elections office advised in an email that it does not matter if you write first name last or vice-versa, or even if you misspell the name. If the write in board can determine the intent of the voter, it counts as a vote for that candidate. It is helpful, however, to be as accurate as possible.

She also notes that you can request to have an early ballot be mailed to you by going to www.coconino.az.gov/elections or call 928-679-7860 or toll free 800-793-6181. The deadline to request an early ballot be mailed to you is 5 pm on August 17th.

This applies to writing in all candidates for office. Ensure you write their name in the appropriate slot on the ballot and darken in the oval.

This list applies to current write in candidates for the primary only. Write in candidates must have registered with the Coconino County Elections office by July 18th. A write in vote for a person who has not registered and is not on this list will not be counted. Anyone wishing to vie for an office in the General Election in November may still register as a write in for that election.

OFFICIAL WRITE-IN CANDIDATES FOR FEDERAL, STATE & COUNTY OFFICES

AUGUST 28, 2012 PRIMARY ELECTION

U.S. Senate

Libertarian
VICTOR, MARC

Republican
ACLE, LUIS
LYON, JOHN

U.S. Representative in Congress – District No. 1

Libertarian
ALLEN, KIM

Corporation Commissioner

Green
MEADOWS, THOMAS
POUT, DANIEL

Libertarian
GOHL, CHRISTOPHER

Sheriff

Republican
DAVIS, GLEN

Judge of the Superior Court – Division V

Libertarian
HAUSER, STEVE
LODGE, JOE

Republican
ROBBINS, GARY

Special meeting of Flagstaff TEA party with Trevor Loudon

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FLAGSTAFF—There will be a special meeting of the Flagstaff TEA party at the Flagstaff Radisson Hotel to hear Trevor Loudon who is promoting his new book Barack Obama and the Enemies Within. The meeting will be held Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and is free of charge.

The internationally renown New Zealand writer is credited with revealing the fact that Obama’s mentor was communist leader Frank Marshall Davis. He is said to have pieced together background research that showed that Obama’s “Green Jobs Czar” was a hard core communist. He appears in “Agenda: Grinding America Down” by Curtis Bowers; an award winning documentary.

More at: Williams TEA Party

Open Primaries will not make the ballot in November

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UPDATE: This article should have stated that the Open Primaries legislation MAY not make the ballot in November. The ruling in this article is a Superior Court ruling and the backers of the Open Primary initiative could take it to the Arizona Supreme Court and obtain a ruling in their favor.

Save Our Vote Arizona has announced that the Arizona Superior Court has ruled against the organizers of the Open Primaries initiative.

The Open Primary system would have put all candidates, basically, on one primary ballot with everyone being able
to vote with only the top two being on the ballot in November. That would mean, perhaps, two Democrats or two Republicans as a choice for the major offices.

The primary system started about the administration of Andrew Jackson and has been used to select the required number of candidates from the major parties to run for offices. The Open Primary system virtually eliminates the chances of parties such as the Green Party and the Libertarian Party from having candidates on the ballot.

In Arizona, Independent and Non-Partisan voter can go to their normal polling place for the primaries on August 28th and ask for the ballot of a major party and vote.

You can download the decision here: PDF

Sales tax increase initiative to go before Supreme Court.

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PHOENIX—Secretary of State Ken Bennett will appeal a lower court ruling on the Quality Education and Jobs initiative to the Supreme Court of Arizona. This initiative would continue the 1% sales tax increase placed on the ballot by Governor Brewer three-years ago and which has ended. The tax increase was promoted to save jobs—union government jobs—and several were cut anyway after the measure passed.

The initiative was denied by the Secretary of State because the official copy of the initiative did not match the copy attached to the petition assigned by voters.

The chairman of the Quality Education and Jobs committee—Ann-Eve Pederson—complained that Secretary Bennett’s decision was “really unfortunate” and charged that he was bending to the will of groups opposed to education. It is more likely that there are no groups opposed to education as much as they are opposed to the quality of education provided no matter how much money is thrown at it.

It is reported that 71% of eighth graders are below proficiency in math which seems to prove that the 1% sales tax does not add up. Many schools do not properly teach civic duties and rights under the Constitution of the United States of America.

Ken Bennett originally wrote in an op-ed that he would abide by the lower court ruling which violates the laws on initiatives. He decided to fight the decision because he felt that leaving this decision in place would lead to future abuses. He claims that his office follows the laws exactly.

The initiative passed three-years ago by approximately 24% of the voters. In Arizona a majority of those who cast a vote is all that is necessary to pass an initiative, not a majority of the registered voters. Only about 35% of registered voters cast a vote in that election. This is why it is important to vote to offset the union vote.

News Briefs

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CFO that bullies Chick-Fil-A employee gets more than his free cup of water

The CFO of a medical supply company that video taped himself bashing a Chick-Fil-A employee in Tuscon got his free cup of water from the restaurant and a pink slip from his employer.

TUCSON, AZ–(Marketwire – Aug 2, 2012) – The following is a statement from Vante:

Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith and an employee at Chick-fil-A. Effective immediately, Mr. Smith is no longer an employee of our company.

The actions of Mr. Smith do not reflect our corporate values in any manner. Vante is an equal opportunity company with a diverse workforce, which holds diverse opinions. We respect the right of our employees and all Americans to hold and express their personal opinions, however, we also expect our company officers to behave in a manner commensurate with their position and in a respectful fashion that conveys these values of civility with others.

We hope that the general population does not hold Mr. Smith’s actions against Vante and its employees.

Read more at the Business Insider

Farmer takes revenge for arrest, drives tractor over top of 7 police cars

NEWPORT, Vt. – Roger Pion, a Vermont man who authorities say was angry over an arrest and used his tractor to drive over seven police vehicles on Thursday, is expected in court today.

Read more at the CBS News

Independents can vote August 28th

ARIZONA—Arizona law allows independent and non-partisan voters to vote in the primary election on August 28th. Those registered voters can go into the polls and ask for the ballot for any major party except the Libertarian party which holds closed primaries.

The Primary elections were originally designed for nothing more than to allow the parties to select the person(s) they want to represent their party for a political office. It was designed to trim a host of candidates down to sufficient numbers for each office in the November election. This gives a choice of candidates from each party.

Recently some have been promoting “Open Primaries” which limits the choice of candidates for each office to the top two vote getters in the primary whether they be both Republican, Democrat or whatever. The Open Primary initiative would actually limit your choice in the November election.

Court Upholds Domestic Drone Use in Arrest of American Citizen

A North Dakota court has preliminarily upheld the first-ever use of an unmanned drone to assist in the arrest of an American citizen.

A judge denied a request to dismiss charges Wednesday against Rodney Brossart, a man arrested last year after a 16-hour standoff with police at his Lakota, N.D., ranch. Brossart’s lawyer argued that law enforcement’s “warrantless use of [an] unmanned military-like surveillance aircraft” and “outrageous governmental conduct” warranted dismissal of the case, according to court documents obtained by U.S. News.

Read more at US News

Only 24.6 Percent Of All Jobs In The United States Are Good Jobs

Do you want to know why it seems like good jobs are very rare in the United States today? It is because good jobs are very rare in the United States today. According to a paper that was just released by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, only 24.6 percent of all American jobs qualified as “good jobs” in 2010. Over the past several decades, there has been increasing pressure on corporations to reduce expenses and increase corporate profits. One of the biggest expenses that any corporation faces is labor. Large corporations all over the globe are in an endless race to gain a competitive advantage by pushing labor costs as low as possible. Sometimes this is done by using technology. Computers, automation, robotics and other forms of technology have eliminated millions of jobs in the United States and those jobs are never coming back. Millions of other jobs have been eliminated by offshoring. In our globalized economy, American workers have been merged into one giant labor pool with everyone else. That makes it very tempting for big corporations to move jobs from areas where workers are very expensive (such as the United States) to areas of the world where it is legal to pay slave labor wages. When big corporations do this, corporate profits go up, but the number of good jobs in the United States goes down. As a result, there is increased competition for the jobs that remain in the United States and this drives down wages. Meanwhile, the cost of living just keeps going up. So millions of American families have fallen into poverty in recent years, and millions of others have gone deep into debt in an attempt to survive. This dynamic is absolutely shredding the middle class in the United States.

Read more at The American Dream

Cybersecurity bill amendment craze

Frank Lautenberg (C-N.J.) has refused to pull his gun ban amendment from the Cybersecurity bill now being processed in the Senate. Utah Republican Mike Lee followed up with an amendment to make abortion illegal after 20-weeks of pregnacy. That would ban the tool that commits more mass murder in the United States each year than guns.

Radical imam OK but not Chick-fil-A

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By Michael Graham
Boston Herald

Given his stance on Chick-fil-A, would Mayor Tom Menino grant permits to a group that has counted among its leaders a man who has repeatedly called homosexuality a “crime that must be punished” by death?

Actually, he has done that  . . . and more! Menino effectively gave away city land valued at $1.8 million to the organization, and he gave a speech at its ribbon-cutting ceremony.

It’s the Islamic Society of Boston’s mosque, and when it comes to anti-gay sentiment, one of its early supporters makes Chick-fil-A look like the Provincetown Men’s Chorus.

Read more at the Boston Herald